Fanfiction Crossovers

    I may have mentioned before that I read a lot. Sometimes “real” books don’t satisfy me or I want something completely off the wall or my book has been left at home for some reason. During these times I like to read fanfiction. Now I know what you are thinking, “fanfiction? How dumb can you get?” And yes, there is a lot of bad and weird fanfiction. There is also a lot of good fanfiction. I’m going to point out my favorites just because I can. I tend not to read works in progress since I hate investing a bunch of time into something that may be abandoned mid-story. The only exceptions I make to this are writers who have written the story and are just posting chapters til it ends.

     The first thing to know before searching for fanfiction is some of the abbreviations that people use to label their stories. This website has most of the basic ones: http://mokisfanfictionblog.com/blog/mokis-fanfiction-glossary/. This way if there is something you don’t want to read, you are forewarned and can skip anything you might find offensive. I try to keep to stories based on things I already like: Firefly, Buffy, Harry Potter, various other movies and TV shows. I read a lot of crossovers which are stories involving two or more categories.


My five favorite crossovers (in no particular order):

1. Various – Tales from the Barman

http://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-11757/Methos+Tales+from+the+Barman.htm

     This story is huge. It was originally started by a person going by the name of Methos on a site named Twisting the Hellmouth, a fanfiction site for Buffy fans. The main idea of the story was Xander got tired of fighting the good fight and opened a bar. Xander having his typical luck, opened said bar on a dimensional crossroads. He trades a drink, sometimes a meal or a place to set up for the night, for good stories and a small token from the patrons. There are so many good stories (and universes) included in this that it’s impossible to talk about them all. The whole community decided to kick in and add their own chapters to this story. After six months and 269 chapters, the story winds down. A couple years later, the tales were resurrected and another 101 chapters have been added to the epic. Some stories are funny, some are cute, and some are touching. There is a little something for everyone in this massive fanfiction.

2. GhostWriter84 – Rule Eight

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9408955/1/Rule-Eight

     Sadly this fanfic was never finished. It is a crossover between Zombieland and the Walking Dead. It takes place after the Zombieland movie and around Season 3 of the Walking Dead. The Zombieland crew has worked themselves across the country and run across Rick’s group. They are taken in by the group. The story follows what happens through part of season 3 with Florida, Columbus, and the girls’ special brand of insanity added. Unfortunately, the story ends after 9 chapters and hasn’t been updated since March of 2014. It’s a shame because the story was well written and the characters were true to their official counterparts.

3. Jedi Buttercup – Things That Never Happened to Buffy Summers

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/1977157/1/Things-That-Never-Happened-to-Buffy-Summers

     This is a collection of short (less than a paragraph usually) stories about things that never happened to Buffy aka the Slayer. It’s mostly her running into characters played by former actors from Buffy the Vampire or the spinoff Angel. This one is a neat little collection, a palette cleanser type of story. There’s no big reveals, just a few what ifs to entertain you for a few minutes.

4. Nonjon – Browncoat, Green Eyes

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2857962/1/Browncoat-Green-Eyes

     This is a cross over between Firefly and Harry Potter. It sounds like it wouldn’t be a good idea but surprisingly it works. Shortly after his wife’s death, a depressed Harry Potter puts himself into stasis until the next big bad shows up that he can help defeat. Fast forward 500 years to the Firefly ‘verse. After the Miranda wave, the Alliance hears of this “wizard hero” and wakes him up to take care of their River Tam problem. What follows is an entertaining look at the world of Firefly and the chaos Harry Potter brings to the future as he tries to figure out what happened to all the wizards and how Earth was made uninhabitable.

5. Livi2Jack -- Window Of Opportunity Bonanza

https://www.fanfiction.net/Stargate-SG-1-and-Bonanza-Crossovers/68/414/

     During a mission gone wrong, the Stargate is hit by blast of energy from a Jaffa ship as the team is trying to evacuate. The overload shuts down the gate and the last scientist to go through is catapulted back to the Old West, where it turns out the Ponderosa ranch and Virginia City exists. The SG-1 team receives packets of letters written by the scientist and held in trust by Wells-Fargo. The story goes back and forth between surviving the Old West and trying to get the scientist back to the present. It’s a great example of how a writer can put an original character into a fanfiction without going over the top about it. Too many writers go over the top with original characters, like adding the character to the main group or writing themselves into the story without making it believable. For the unexpected mix of Old West and Stargate technology, the story is entertaining and keeps my attention the whole way through.

Circle

And now for something completely different. An actual movie review.

     The movie opens in a dark room with a bunch of lit up, red circles around a center console. People appear standing on the circles. Every few minutes, the console sends out electricity of some sort and kills one of the people. After a few minutes of panic, the people figure out the rules of this game they are forced to play. The person with the most votes will die every few minutes (the time gets longer as fewer people remain) until only one remains. What happens after that is anyone’s guess.

     What a weird movie. The whole movie is a big debate over who is the worthiest person to survive until the ending. There is small twist at the ending but it’s nothing earthshattering. There is no real beginning or ending. It is one big middle. There is minimal explanation of how they ended up in the circles or what happens after the final person is left and no real character development. The only actress I recognized was Julie Benz. Despite this, I have been arguing with people since I’ve seen it over whether this is a good movie or not. The choices of the characters make you think but there’s not a lot detail about why this happened. It’s an hour and a half long but was paced well. It didn’t feel like I’d been waiting to finding out the ending that long. One person’s opinion is that some writers had a good idea but didn’t really know how to flesh out an ending. I find myself agreeing with this opinion the more I think about it. If you are curious or like character driven stories, it’s on Netflix and worth the time to watch it. I’d love to hear some other opinions on this one. 

The Black Company -- Glen Cook

" We are minions of the villain of the piece. There are no self-proclaimed villains, only regiments of self-proclaimed saints. Victorious historians rule where good or evil lies. We abjure labels. We fight for money and an indefinable pride. The politics, the ethics, the moralities, are irrelevant.”

     The Black Company is a mercenary troop working for the city of Beryl. When the city riots and their employer plans to betray them, the Company defects. They escape with the help of a recruiter for the army of the Lady. The Lady is the leader of the largest army ever seen in recent times and happens to be one of the ancient evil sorcerers locked away centuries ago. She and ten of her followers were released when a curious wizard freed them accidentally. The Lady left her husband imprisoned and began her own bid for world dominion. The Lady’s campaign is failing on most fronts with only the Black Company led forces having any kind of victory. The story is told through the eyes of Croaker the Company’s physician and chronicler. He catches the fancy of the Lady through an ill-advised crush early on and his penchant for writing only the truth in the Annals of the Company. Over the 2 years of the campaign that the book covers, Croaker and the Company take out the leaders of the Rebel faction but it’s not enough. The Lady’s stronghold is surrounded by the Rebel, her own cadre of sorcerers is warring among themselves, and the strength of the Black Company is the only thing holding the army together.  Will the Lady stop her enemies in time? Will the Company survive this predicament? You’ll just have to read it to find out.

     This is the first book of a fairly long series. The writing may seem disjointed until the realization that you are reading the actual Annals of the Company as they are being written. A lot of reviews have issues with this and the fact everyone has descriptive names. There are reasons for both these things and are explained as the story goes on. This is a book that needs the reader’s full attention or details will be missed. It is almost impossible to get a full impression of this book on a first reading. So much is happening between the war, special missions, and things that are learned near the end of the book, that it’s hard to keep everything straight. I’ve read this book a half dozen times and I’m still trying to figure out some of the behind-the-scenes action. This book is great if you like long stories, big payoffs, and lots of world building. It keeps you guessing until the final ending.