2007 Year in Review

[bedlamsbard]

Fic: 22
Answer When They're Called to Serving (CSI:NY, AU)
And Your Friends Which Are No More (CSI:NY, AU, flocked)
Close to Bone (CSI:NY, AU)
What is Lost (Star Wars, AU)
Highway to Hell (SPN/Drive, with limmenel)
Pieces that weren't (eight very brief CSI:NY crossovers) (CSI:NY/various)
Signs and Portents (PotC)
Never Tell Me the Odds (S:AaB)
Still Life (CSI:NY)
Secrets in the Basement (SGA/Transformers)
The Old Man of the Sea (PotC, AU)
Those That Shalt be Kings Hereafter (PotC)
The Naked Truth (Star Wars, AU)
Intersections (CSI:NY)
Immutable (Star Wars)
A New Beginning (Star Wars, AU)
Things Unsaid (Star Wars)
Summerlong (Star Wars)
Here at the End of All Things (Star Wars, AU)
A Night at the Palace (Star Wars)
Manhattan Moon (Firefly)
Morning After (Eureka)

Fandoms: 10 (two crossovers)

CSI:NY: 6
Supernatural/Drive: 1
Pirates of the Caribbean: 3
Space: Above and Beyond: 1
Stargate Atlantis/Transformers: 1
Star Wars: 8
Firefly: 1
Eureka: 1

Completed ficathons/fests/challenges: 9
alien_altars
apocalyptothon
shakes_that_fic
timerevised
summer_bits
dvd_commentary
ficwriters_anon
Come As You Aren't Party
jedi_mistletoe

Various drabbles:
SW drabblebits (Lostverse)
Five Songs/Five Fics

Bardverse:
The Man Who Wasn't There outline
Scenes from The Man Who Wasn't There (1)
Scene from The Man Who Wasn't There (2)
Flack in New Orleans (1)
Flack in New Orleans (2)
Scene from Drought (1)
Scene from Drought (2)
King Rat outline
Scenes from King Rat
Amazing Grace outline
Five Scenes from Danny's Life After He Gets Made
The Five Most Important People in Carmine d'Alessandro's Life
Five Moments Between Val and Danny
My Danny...

Season X:
Season X outline
Scene from Season X (1)
Scenes from Season X (2)
Scenes from "A Thin Blue Line"

My favorite story this year: "What is Lost", which is my baby, my baby, because it's Anakin laid bare and drawn taut and the universe as it might have been if not for one little thing and what's changed -- what's gone completely, and what's just missing, and things that will never be there again.

Runner-up: "The Old Man of the Sea", because it just fell together, and I really think it caught the flavor of the PotC 'verse, which isn't all that easy to do -- salt and sorcery both, tied up in the characters.

My best story this year: "The Old Man of the Sea", because it works, and it makes sense, and I had a couple of great beta readers -- and it's complete in itself, but there's room behind it for more stories.

My worst story this year: "The Naked Truth", because I wrote it in a hurry and it shows -- the bones of something good are there, but barely, and it's just a mess.

Story most underappreciated by the universe: "Intersections", because it's CSI:NY, and more-or-less gen, and -- I don't know, I'm used to my CSI:NY fic getting more reception. *waves hands*

Most fun story to write: "Pieces that weren't", which I guess isn't a story, technically, but it's always fun doing all those teeny, tiny little bits without having to go into the grand sweeping what not.

Least fun story to write: Tie between "The Naked Truth" and "A Night at the Palace", because I wrote both of them at the last minute and really, really didn't know what to say.

Most fertile stories: "Answer When They're Called to Serving", because it led to my original novel, and "What is Lost", because it spawned a trilogy. A trilogy.

Favorite opening line: Danny lifts the skull in his hands, feeling the curve of the bone beneath his fingers, the small splinters around the perfect hole where the bullet entered. -- "Close to Bone"

Favorite closing line: "He won't touch you again, pretty girl," she said, and let go with a jerk that hurt, her fingernails scraping through the fabric. "You go now." -- "Signs and Portents"

Top 10 36 Fic Bits from This Year (Completely Self-Indulgent):

1. “Oh, please, Sheriff,” he repeats, “don’t blame me for your lost heterosexuality.” -- "Morning After"

2. “The planets revolve around the sun,” she says, peering around one of Inara’s hangings the same way Mal does. “On an ellipse. Not a perfect circle. Common misconception.” -- "Manhattan Moon"

3. Over a thousand Jedi were dead and Ani Skywalker was sitting in front of him, asking like she had so many times before. There is no passion, there is serenity, Obi-Wan thought grimly, but the code also said, There is no death, there is the Force, and all he could feel was the weight of the murder of the Jedi. -- "Here At the End of All Things"

4. Qui-Gon draws him forward, presses a brief ceremonial kiss to his forehead, and cuts his braid off just behind the ear. Then he leaves the Council chamber. -- "A New Beginning"

5. “I would die for him, you know,” he tells the night quietly. “If it was a question of giving him the chance to live one heartbeat longer, I would throw myself in front of a lightsaber without a moment’s hesitation.” -- "Immutable"

6. “I have killed for him,” Obi-Wan says finally. “And I think that I would do worse. Have done worse. Without a moment’s hesitation. Without a second thought. Without regret. I think that I would betray my vows for him.” -- "Immutable"

7. Mac looks out the window and expects to see real jungle instead of urban decay; glances at the passenger seat and expects his camouflage instead of Danny in a button-down shirt and jeans, head tilted against the side of the car as his glasses slip millimeter by millimeter down his nose. He remembers that Jimmy LeBeau had spoken in a bastard French patois while sleeping; Danny mutters in Italian, quick murmurs of language that Mac won’t pretend to understand. He never would have expected it from Danny, of all people, but even he can tell from Danny’s quiet murmurs that he speaks the language with the same fluency as someone who learned at his cradle, who learned Italian at the same time he learned English. No one unconsciously speaks a language they don’t know inside and out. -- "Intersections"

8. “I may be captain of this boat – and a fine boat it is, of course – but the Black Pearl’s been sunk for years. How am I supposed to get my hands on a ship that’s – the best ship in the Caribbean, but one that’s never been seen or sailed since she vanished in that hurricane decades ago? And the Dutchman’s just a legend itself, and she has a captain – you can’t just tell a man something like this, love! You’ve got to give some details!” -- "Those That Shalt Be Kings Hereafter"

9. The navy will be decimated by this night’s work, more than anything Sparrow or Jones could have done even given a year and a full fleet. It hurts to think of, because he has always been a staunch patriot, a true believer in crown and country even after Jack Sparrow destroyed everything he loved, but his heart is given over to the navy, to his men and his ships. They don’t deserve what the sea is giving them and he half-fancies that it’s his own fault for selling his soul to Beckett for the sake of a piece of paper with his name and the king’s seal – bargaining away the freedom of the seas for his own sake. -- "The Old Man of the Sea"

10. On the eighth day, when it becomes clear that the water will not return, the first riot occurs. -- "The Old Man of the Sea"

11. He cuts down anyone who comes at him with an unfriendly look and a weapon, even bared fists, because he no longer has time to think and wonder if they want him dead or just want him out of the way. So he cuts and he shoots and he kills and he loses a little more of the honor he thought he’d come back to regain, until his admiral’s blue coat and gold trim are entirely spoiled and he takes some poor dead seaman’s clothes, borrowing a blue coat whose trim he remembers from what seems like a century ago. He was an officer of His Majesty’s Navy once; that time is a long time gone. -- "The Old Man of the Sea"

12. “My apologies for my tardiness,” Norrington says as politely as he can. He’d bow his head for the blow, but that’s a coward’s move; he’s better than that. He has nothing left; he can at least meet his death honorably. The townsfolk can see his eyes when the light goes out of them; this is cold-blooded murder, not the righteous execution that characterized Beckett’s death only hours earlier. -- "The Old Man of the Sea"

13. “Can’t your imbecilic government even manage to inform one department dealing with aliens that there’s another department dealing with aliens that’s been doing it with considerably more success, by which I mean, ‘not tearing apart Los Angeles’?” -- "Secrets in the Basement"

14. “Why wasn’t Area 51 informed about this? No one thought it would be a good idea to tell the SGC that giant alien space death robots were wandering around trying to hack into your computers? Or that you had one frozen in the basement? I mean, at least you figured out how to use the Stargate.” -- "Secrets in the Basement"

15. Someday someone will put a knife through Will's heart, though, and maybe then she'll have him back again. -- "Beyond the Sea" (Five Fics/Five Songs)

16. The queen keeps asking her what has happened, how could she let this happen, but in the end she has no words at all. -- "cost of desire" (SW drabblebits [Lostverse])

17. "You ever notice how everyone around you leaves or dies, Mac? Claire, me, Aiden, Flack, Peyton Driscoll -- I heard about what you did to Stella when that serial went down. Who's next on your hit list? Hawkes, your golden girl Monroe, that homicide dick Angell? You gonna fire Stella next or do you think she's gonna get sick of your shit first and walk out, follow Flack outta town? You're like some kinda poison. I never seen people drop so fast as with you, and I'm in the Mafia." -- "Drought"

18. Back on Earth, when she was a little girl, her father used to tell her how close he and the men in his unit were. In space, trapped in an ISSCV without communications to the outside world, there really is no one else – saying the same things, finishing sentences, not even having to talk – they haven’t even been together a year and the Wildcards are already there. They would kill for each other, die for each other. Shane wonders what her father would say if he saw his baby girl today. -- "Never Tell Me the Odds"

19. She beckoned with one hand. "Come to me, sweet Will," she said and he went to her, ignoring all the eyes on him. "I have something for you." -- "Signs and Portents"

20. At least, Danny thinks grimly, stumbling down dirty, dusty floors that haven't been walked in millennia, Flack can shoot things, for all he doesn't appreciate history. Right now he's glad for all of that, because Flack can shoot the history that's made mincemeat out of God knows how many of their companions. -- "Pieces that weren't"

21. "Think a headshot'll do it?" Dean mutters under his breath to Sam. The bullets are half the size of his fist, rolled in holy water blessed with a silver crucifix. If the blessing doesn't take the big bitch out, the bullets will. If they don't, well, Dean's got a grenade or two tucked away in the bag Sam's carrying. -- "Highway to Hell"

22. The report he'd written up hit him in the chest as soon as he closed the door behind him. "Your report's wrong," Yamata said. "Christ, I hate eyewitnesses." // "What the hell?" Flack snapped. "I was there. And what the hell are you doing here, this is my case." // "Not anymore," Yamata said bitingly. "Maybe you better get your eyes checked, Detective, because your facts are wrong." -- "Season X"

23. "Get out," Yamata snarled, Cloke still struggling to get ouf his grip and spitting out incoherent cusswords. "Get the hell out of my precinct before I develop a case of Gulf War Syndrome on your criminal ass." -- "Season X"

24. "Then arrest me for assaulting an officer," Danny said, and punched him in the face. -- "Season X"

25. Nakin smiled slightly. “Good call. It’s Tatooine – but I haven’t been back in years.” // “Hypnos,” Hellsbane said. “But I was only there the once.” // “Tiny little swamp of a moon in the Core. Fail to see why I should care.” -- "What is Lost"

26. “Are you holding back?” Hellsbane asked. // “Little bit.” // “Well, don’t!” Hellsbane said sharply, and they were at each other again. -- "What is Lost"

27. “A Jedi’s weapon,” Nakin said, not moving. “And there are no Jedi anymore. Your treacherous master made sure of that. No, Sha’re Yulalli, I’m not Jedi. And I think you’ve said it yourself: I never was.” // “But I am.” Ben Hellsbane stepped out of thin air and put his unlit lightsaber against the back of Yulalli’s neck. “So you can see where we might have a difference of opinion.” -- "What is Lost"

28. He likes the dark of the cold case room the same way he likes the morgue, the way the walls close in on him and he can hear the room breathe – the loneliness. The isolation. It’s not that he doesn’t like his fellow pathologists, but there’s a reason he works the night shift. -- "Close to Bone"

29. “Here’s the thing,” she says, leaning over his desk and shoving back the jean jacket she’s wearing over her shoulder holster – apparently a fashion decision, since most detectives Danny knows wear their guns on their hips, just like Aiden usually does. -- "Close to Bone"

30. “Good,” Sunstark said. “Because I really don’t like people trying to kill me, but I don’t actually have a problem with killing them back.” -- "And Your Friends Which Are No More"

31. ”You are fucked in the head,” Danny told him flatly. “That is not right.” // The reply he got was a bright, cheerful grin. “By your planet’s standards or mine?” -- "And Your Friends Which Are No More"

32. “Contrary to popular opinion, the Empire doesn’t actually make a habit out of slaughtering entire species. We save that for special occasions.” -- "And Your Friends Which Are No More?"

33. “So tell me, Lieutenant Messer, exactly what you’re fighting for? Now, it’s hard to be sure since it’s a very large galaxy, but I’m fairly certain I’ve never heard of your planet before, so you’ll excuse me for wondering how the Confederacy recruited you.” // “They appealed to our sense of truth, justice, and the American way,” Danny said firmly. -- "And Your Friends Which Are No More"

34. “Good evening. For the past five years now, the United States has been involved in a war not our own, one we are not prepared to fight. We should not have to fight this war – we should not be fighting it! Americans are fighting and dying on the Outer Rim of space, for a people that are not our own – not even human! Tell me, my fellow Americans, why we should be doing this? For knowledge? Already we have gathered enough extraterrestrial technology to leap the field of science generations ahead. In self-defense? The Rokasa Empire poses no threat to Earth. We are speaking of an alien people whose culture and politics we cannot begin to comprehend. What right do we have, as Americans, to make judgments on these people? What right do we have to interfere in their war and send our sons and daughters to die light years away from their homes, not even in another part of this planet, but in another part of this galaxy? We have no right. The Rokasa War has no bearing on the United States of America and our troops should be recalled back to Earth immediately, before more die for nothing. Thank you. I give the floor to my opponent, the President of the United States…” -- "Answer When They're Called to Serving"

35. Five years on the front lines of what liberals back on Earth were now scathingly calling the Galactic War on Terror had done wonders with the concept of military formality. -- "Answer When They're Called to Serving"

36. "All of you have your orders. All of you are human. If you choose to follow your orders, then I will turn a blind eye. If you fear court-martial, then return to Earth by all means. If you remember what it means to be truly American, then remain here. Remain fighting.” -- "Answer When They're Called to Serving"