AstroGirl

Also has a journal at http://astrogirl2.livejournal.com/.

Acidity (House/Pretender)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 21st May 2009 (1)
Tags: Vignette, Crossover
Characters: Miss Parker, Gregory House
(2K)

Summary: Miss Parker is one of House's walk-ins.

This little ficlet captures both House and Miss Parker beautifully. Ah, the snark.

Box of Tricks (Blake's 7/Doctor Who)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 10th December 2007 (2)
Tags: Short Story, Crossover
Characters: Vila Restal, Fourth Doctor
(19K)

Not for the first time, Vila wondered why they had to keep meeting people in these horrible, boring rock pits. Why not on a beach? Or maybe a nice, friendly pub?

Vila just wants to be safe. And the man doesn't appear to be unfriendly, or dangeous...

I particularly liked how the author displayed the Doctor flipping between grins and completely serious.

Companionable Silence (Doctor Who)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 29th July 2007 (8)
Tags: Novelette
(50K)

Ninth Doctor and Jabe, in an AU where she didn't die. Written for the "Friendship" ficathon (for me!)

Lovely how the Doctor isn't very good at being still, and Jabe is.

Connection (Blake's 7/Farscape)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 12th July 2009 (1)
Tags: Vignette, Crossover
Characters: Jenna Stannis, Pilot
(3K)

Summary:Jenna Stannis, meet Pilot

This vigniette is nicely bittersweet; you can see that these two would have quite a bit in common.

First-Hand Knowledge (Doctor Who)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 10th December 2007 (3)
Tags: Short Story
(27K)

You know that, um, thing that the Doctor lost on top of the spaceship in 'The Christmas Invasion?' This is the story of what happens to it.

This is fantastic. The narrator is endearingly stuffy, the er, guest-character is endearing and anything but stuffy, indeed, he's irresistable. I love how he is irrepressable; if he's only got a world to explore rather than a universe, well, he'll just go and explore the world, then.

Liberations (Farscape/Blake's 7)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 1st November 2004
Tags: Vignette, Crossover, Missing Scene
Characters: Stark, Zen
(5K)

An unexpected treat... which won't make as much sense if you haven't seen the episodes of both series for which this is spoilerish: "The Ugly Truth" (Farscape) and "Terminal" (Blake's 7). I really don't want to say a lot more, because this is such a short story, but it's touching, poignant, and in character. And answers a question or two.

Love is a Give and Take (Doctor Who)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 10th August 2008 (1)
Tags: Vignette
(2K)

Summary:So what was it between Lucy and the Master?

As the warning says: "It's about sex... Not at all graphic, but kind of dark. Call it PG-13, maybe?" Spoilers through Last of the Time Lords.

I take this story as my personal fanon; it makes much more sense than the wife-beating that was implied in canon, both for Lucy and for the Master.

Mirror Image (Blake's 7)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 17th August 2004 (12)
Tags: Short Story
(8K)

This is an angsty Blake story written for the B7 ficathon. Blake's past catches up with him, and its truth is devastating.

More Things in Heaven and Earth (Numb3rs/Doctor Who)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 9th December 2008 (3)
Tags: Short Story, Crossover, Missing Scene
Characters: Larry Fleinhardt, Ninth Doctor, Rose Tyler
(14K)

Summary: "My own suspicion," said the great naturalist J.B.S. Haldane, "is that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose."

Written for me for the dw_cross ficathon 2008, for the prompt "Larry Fleinhardt, The Doctor, sense of wonder, alien planets."

This was lovely. It wasn't just that it had a good Larry voice, and had alien planets and a sense of wonder, but it fit into Numb3rs canon; this was the profound thing that Larry was struggling with when he came back to Earth. His struggle on the page, to simply express his wonder, and also wondering whether he should tell anyone; the glimpses we get of Nine and Rose... Yes, one could wish for more actual descriptions of what he saw, but the emotional core of this story is the effect it has on Larry.

Quote:Oh, dear. That didn't really bring me to the point at all, did it? No, here I am circling the point like some tidally-locked satellite: always facing it, always drawn inexorably toward it, but never moving any closer on timescales a human being can actually perceive. And here I thought that writing this down, trying to shape the experience and its effects and meanings into words, would help me clarify my thoughts.

Navigable Waters (Doctor Who)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 12th July 2009 (2)
Tags: Short Story
(25K)

Summary:Post-"Journey's End" story featuring Donna, the Seventh Doctor, and added bonus Wilf; Donna gets something more like what she deserves.

This left me grinning. Sure, there were parts of this that were common to most post-JE fixit stories, but other things that were its own. The Seventh Doctor was spot-on; I could not only hear him, but see him. I wish there was a sequel; the further adventures of...

Never a Dull Moment (Doctor Who)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 10th August 2008 (2)
Tags: Short Story
(13K)

Summary:A little conversation, a little action.

This was written for me for Multiverse5000, so perhaps I am a little biased, but I do like this very much. What's not to like? Daniel! Romana! Linguistics! Banter! Peril! Snark! I wish it were longer.

(Also archived at http://astrogirl2.livejournal.com/517924.html and http://www.whofic.com/viewstory.php?sid=24507)

Omega Is Not Equal To One (The Future Is Now Remix) (Doctor Who)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 29th April 2008 (1)
Tags: Vignette
(4K)

Summary:He said once that he'd make a very bad god.

This is a remix of "Beyond the End of Time", and a very lovely remix it is too. It resonates even more than the original, resonates with who the Doctor is and his past and his future and what he loves.

Out of the Dark (Doctor Who)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 6th September 2008 (2)
Tags: Short Story, AU
Characters: Jenny
(26K)

Summary: Jenny finds the limits of the universe, and keeps right on going.

Magnificent. This really captures Jenny: her curiosity, her openness, her restlessness, her desire to learn (and to overthrow Evil Overlords). The descriptions of the things she sees at the end of the universe really capture the atmosphere of desolation. To top it off, there's actually more going on than just Jenny running randomly about the universe (though there is that too).

Paleolinguistics (Doctor Who)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 29th July 2007 (19)
Tags: Vignette
(2K)

One tiny ficlet on the subject of the Doctor and language. Spoilers for "The Sound of Drums". Double-drabble

Poignant.

Res-Q (Farscape/Star Trek: The Next Generation)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 17th August 2004 (5)
Tags: Short Story, Crossover
Characters: John Crichton, Q
(42K)

This is one of my favourite multiverse2004 stories. The request was "Q in the Farscape universe", and boy, was it fun! Fun, indeed, is what motivates Q here: his own, not necessarily anyone else's. There is action, there is wit, there are cross-universe jokes. Crichton is snarky, Q is smug, and everyone else... is just right too.

Sandstorm in a Sideways Hourglass (Torchwood)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 29th April 2008 (2)
Tags: Vignette
(4K)

Summary:The world was destroyed in 1911.

There's a community on LiveJournal which is dedicated to the AU idea that Sarah-Jane Smith ended up working for Torchwood. This story is one of the fruits of that. It's an interesting shivvery vignette about might-have-beens, and things that aren't spoken of.

Shaped by Our Futures (Pretender/Doctor Who)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 21st May 2009 (2)
Tags: Vignette, Crossover, AU
Characters: Jarod, Jenny
(3K)

Summary: Jarod and Jenny; saving the world with an awful lot of running.

This is a highly-compressed take on what might happen if these two naive super-geniuses were to team up. I loved it! It gave many small glimpses of them, which only whet one's appetite for more. So, yes, it would be better if it was fleshed out, but I'll take what I can get.

Of course, if you don't know either one of the characters, then this wouldn't appeal at all. But if you know only one of them, either Jarod (The Pretender) or Jenny (Doctor Who, "The Doctor's Daughter") then I think you would still enjoy it.

A Stranger in the City (Torchwood/Star Trek)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 10th August 2008 (3)
Tags: Short Story, Crossover, Missing Scene
Characters: Jack Harkness, Spock
(36K)

Summary: The 51st century and the 23rd cross paths in 1930, where they discover that tragedy is timeless.

If you haven't seen the Classic Trek episode "The City on the Edge of Forever", you probably wouldn't be interested in reading a Classic Trek crossover anyway. This was a perfect point of intersection for these two universes; time travel and tragedy. The characterisation of Jack here is by no means a one-note song: it dances between the light and the dark; disillusionment, hope, grimmness, charm, and compassion. It is also interesting to see Spock through Jack's eyes, and how it reflects on Jack himself.

(Also at http://www.whofic.com/viewstory.php?sid=24508)

Two (Doctor Who)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 29th July 2007 (22)
Tags: Short Story
(14K)

There was one. And then there were two.

Romana and Nine; Romana has a favour to ask.

It doesn't have to make sense, because the characterisation makes sense. And it made me smile.

Upon A Time (Doctor Who)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 18th December 2005 (6)
Tags: Short Story
(8K)

What do you get when you mix the TARDIS-as-a-character, and fairy tales? With AstroGirl at the helm, something so lovely! Full of myths, symbolism, fittingness, resonance, love.

Zoosemiotics (Blake's 7)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 3rd July 2007 (1)
Tags: Short Story
(15K)

Cally's moondisk dies and everyone else tries to find her a new pet to make her feel better.

This was a lovely piece of character-fluff, where each crewmember's gift reflects their own nature, as they try to give her things that would make them feel better -- and which are no help at all to Cally. Until the last gift...