Sandman

Out of the Valley (Stargate)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 2nd January 2003
Tags: Short Story
(8K)

Thought I'd peek at the Stargate Fan Fiction Awards again, and noticed this story nominated for "best original character" in the 2002 awards. The original character so nominated is just designated as "tree guy"... because, well, he was the guy in the tree, observing the events of the story.

I liked this; I do tend to like other-point-of-view stories, especially if they are done with a faithfulness to that point of view, making sure that the person in question (a) doesn't know things they shouldn't, and (b) brings their own uniqueness to the view. And this story did both. This is more like an incident than a full story, but it was an absorbing incident all the same, a snapshot of dramatic action.

The Present Crisis (Stargate/Quantum Leap)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 1st January 2003 (5)
Tags: Novella
(252K)

This was another of the nominees in the Crossover section of this year's Stargate Fan Fiction Awards, though interestingly enough, I realized after I downloaded it from Heliopolis, that I'd already downloaded it from the crossover section of the Stargate Novel Archive.

This was great! I'm kind of surprised that this wasn't the one that won, since it not only managed to be true to both shows, but it was adventuresome, painful without being gratuitous torture, expressions of friendship without being over the top, didn't concentrate on only one character, gave tense scenes tension, character interaction with subtlety (well, except for the Gou'ald characters, they're never subtle...) and it all came together well. Great stuff. That's why I usually consider it worthwhile to check out nominees for awards as well as winners, because even being nominated means that a fair few people thought it was a good story. (Though of course I don't always agree with their assessment!)

I liked the reason for Sam (Beckett)'s Leap; it was deliciously ironic. I also liked the way the end was done, I mean, what happened to Sam at the end: it made sense. I liked how it wasn't just a Jack-and-Sam-Beckett (and Al) show; Daniel got a chance to shine in his Daniel way, and Sam(antha Carter) had some nifty Samness. Teal'c was himself, but he didn't come to the fore a lot in this one. And the main support characters from QL got a look-in too. Well, this was posted to the SG Novel archive -- something that long does give more characters a chance to do more than just say a few lines.

(Also at Stargate Novel Archive http://www.shahrazad.net/~sgnovels/)