Disclaimer: All reviews on this page, and the pages pages directly linked from here were written by John "Roninja" Nolan (roninja@bcpl.net) . His views, no matter how silly, are entirely his own.
Those lovely sites:
Show:Spy Games
Review:"Spy Games" seems to have been a short lived series that aired on
ABC. I don't remember ever seeing it.
The "Spy Game Fanfic Page" is rather attractive. The stories are
easily accessible. There are very few stories here, and unfortunately,
what stories there are seem woefully underwritten. "The Echo Files",
for instance, the mandatory "X-Files" crossover, has very little
character development, and all the real action happens off-stage.
Reviewed Stories:
"Spy the Vampire slayer" - CoolSpy001 suffers from bad dialogue.
"Max and Lorne's Summer Adventure" - Nita Dee is a pretty good story.
Final Verdict:
I give the "Spy Game Fanfic Page" [2/5]
Literature:Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories
Review:Before there were x-philes or trekkers there was a tribe of fandom
whose members called themselves sherlockians. These are people devoted
to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's great creation, Sherlock Holmes. After more
than a hundred years they can, and do nitpick a story like no other kind
of fan. They write scholarly articles about Holmes and Doctor Watson.
As with other devotees of fiction, they write stories about their hero. They do not call these works fan fiction, they call them pastiches. One of the earliest writers of Holmesian fan fic- er, pastiches was Samuel L. Clements. [Also note that one of my favourites - the great Stephen King - has tried his hand at Homes fan fiction, sorry, pastiches - Dan]
There is a web page devoted to sherlockian fan fic- um, pastiches. It
is part of a bigger site concerning The Great Detective. The page itself
is very attractive, headed by a Paget illustration from The Strand
Magazine. The stories are easily accessible, with practically no
waiting time. Some stories, of course, are better than others.
Reviewed Stories:
"The Repulsive Story of the Red Leech" - Mark W. Plemmons has an interesting
twist at the end.
"The Dundas Seperation Case" - Sonia Fetherston is amusing.
"The Case of the Winning Woman" - Rebecca Anderson is an unfinished MP
which shows great promise.
"Silver Daze" is a wacko crossover with Pinky and The Brain. The author
wisely chooses to remain anomynous.
"The Adventure of the Deadly Gift" - Lee Shackleford is a ripping good
story.
"The Adventure of the Field Theorems" - Vonda M. Mcintyre, a noted
fantasist, has an interesting, if unoriginal, conceit.
"Convergergence at Baker Street" - Jeannine Ackerson is an X-File
crossover. Geez, the boss is right! [It's a conspiracy I tells ya! - Dan] Mulder and Scully are everywhere.
Despite this, it is a pretty good story, with a real mystery. It was
obviously by an x-phile and not a sherlockian. A sherlockian would know
that Mrs Hudson lived downstairs, and no sherlockian would treat Dr.
Watson so shabbily.
Final Verdict:
I give The Sherlock Holmes site [4/5]
I live in Baltimore, Maryland. Actually, I live in Towson, Maryland- a town just north of Baltimore. Baltimore is a pretty nice city. Some great writers came from here, like Anne Tyler, H. L. Mencken, James M. Caine and John Barth. Dashiell Hammett was born in St. Mary's county, and worked in the city, for a while, as a Pinkerton detective. Tom Clancy also comes from Baltimore. OK, so he sucks as a writer, but the city claims him anyway.
The most important writer to come from Baltimore, in my opinion, is Edgar Allen Poe. He invented the modern detective story. Some Brits say Wilkie Collins did this, but they are just plain wrong.
I love mystery and detective stories. I have even written a couple. So, I was delighted when "Homicide: Life on the Street" was shot here.
The show is loosely based on the book, "Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets" by David Simon. Simon is a reporter for the Baltimore Sun. He spent a year with the homicide unit of the Baltimore City Police Department.
I have found two sites devoted to the show "Homicide: Life on the Street", known by fans as; "H:LotS" One is very good. The other one is not.
Show:Homicide: Life On The Streets
Review:"The Leaper's Page"-How can I say this?- is horrible, stinks to high
heaven, is an abysmal failure, sucks. The site itself is about as
attractive as a pre-fabricated outhouse. Many of the stories are
inaccessible.
The stories that are accessible are sexual fantasies concerning the
authors and characters in the show. Ther are a lot of "Law & Order"
stories here that are equally insufferable.
Reviewed Stories:
"The Meeting of the Mikes" - Olga Stewart is a soap opera. I hate soap
operas. There seems to be no crime involved. It concerns Mike
Kellerman And Mike Logan and their girlfriends. Didn't both these guys
get booted off their respective forces?
Final Verdict:
So, "The Leaper's Fanfic Page" gets [1/5]
Show:Homicide: Life On The Streets
Review:On the other hand, The "11 Cents; Homicide: Life on the Street Fan
Fiction Site" is worth a lot more than its title infers. It has the
best graphics I have seen of any fan site, so far, and has more bells
and whistles than my poor old Mac can handle.
The story archive can be accessed by title, author, or category. You
can even search the story data base. All the stories are quickly
accessible.
Reviewed Stories:
"Daddy's Girl" - Shannon is a solid example of a show-like piece of
fiction.
"The Silence of Belief" - Plotter is a strange and fanciful tale
involving John Munch. It is not an X-File crossover, though Mulder,
Scully, and The Lone Gunmen are mentioned.
"The Other Side" and "Adena 1950" - Scott are the two best stories
here. The first is about an interrogation from the p.o.v. of a
suspect. The second is a inspired combination of James Ellroy and
Walter Mosley, two of the best mystery writers working today.
Final Verdict:
[5/5]
If you read Sir Walter Scott's 'Ivanhoe' and Owen Wister's 'The Virginian' you will find the only difference between the two heroes is that one carries a broadsword and lance while the other uses a six-shooter and Winchester. I also recommend Jack Schaefer's 'Shane'.
So this time I mount up my old cayuse Megabyte and ride the dusty cyber-trail! Corny, huh?
Show:Lonesome Dove
Review:
'Lonesome Dove' is a book by Larry McMurtry which was turned into a mini-series and then a syndicated series. The 'Lonsome Dove Fan Fiction Archive' is for devotees of the show. Just in passing, I once ran a used paperback bookstore. We sold plenty of westerns, mostly to older men, but this site is predominated by women. Go figure.
The site is attractive and well maintained by Lisa [LFhere@aol.com].
The stories are easily accessible. I could find no broken links. The
music it plays comes from Ken Burns' 'The Civil War'.
Reviewed Stories:
'The Reckoning' - Jill Russell is a good story with plenty of action.
It is also based on historical fact.
'The Sodbusters' - Jill Russell is a` la 'Shane' with a touch of
'Casablanca' at the end.
'Traveler' - Debbie Minyard is a bitter sweet story.
'The Stranger' - Brady Lee Hutchinson is a good action story.
'To Forgive' - BEKi is an interesting 'Highlander' crossover.
Final Verdict:
[3/5]
Show:Magnificent Seven
Review:
The TV series "The Magnificent Seven" is based on the movie directed by John Sturges. This, in turn, was based on the film "The Seven Samurai" directed by the great Akira Kurosawa. This is an example of how world mythology works. One culture steals or borrows a narrative template from another.
"The Reading Room" is part of "The Watering Hole". "The Reading Room" is mainly dedicated to "The
Magnificent Seven" fan fiction. While not visually stunning, it does
play the theme to the show. The stories are easily accessible.
Reviewed Stories:
"Full Circle" - Calamity Jane Wilson gives us a retrospective look at
our heroes' adventures. It is pretty good.
"Mistaken Identity" - Molly tells what happens when the boys defend an
innocent man accused of murder. Plenty of action.
"Shenendoah Waltz" - Sue Bartholomew may be the best story in the
bunch. Though, I found parts too maudlin for my taste, and I have never
had nuch sympathy for southern gentility.
"A Piece of the Fortune" - Rob Nunn is action-packed, if not memorable.
"High Card Wins" - Rob Nunn is a crossover with "Maverick". I liked
this, because the devout cowardice of the Mavericks always seemed
sensible to me.
"The Fifth Horseman" - Terrance Keith Harrington is my personal
favorite. It is a crossover with "Highlander" and "The Wild, Wild
West". When I was a kid, I wanted to be James West. Boy, does that
date me!
Final Verdict:
[3/5]
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