2005 Author Reviews for
Tehta

Tehta's humor ranges from long, drawn out explorations of the hysterically suggestive lines that Tolkien actually wrote; to novella romances that are played straight up, as it were; to filking bad canonical songs and rendering them even more outrageously awful; to giving canonical events that off-beat, in-canon humorous interpretation. She manages to make it all seem fresh, and her own commentary and footnotes just add to the humor. Although her humor is pointed, it's not cutting or cynical, and it never depends on cheap shots (almost never?that Orc-slaying Ditty will live in infamy) that diminish the characters. If at times, due to the slashy nature of some of Tehta's humor, one finds the moralism a bit thick, the author's notes and extracts almost immediately overthrow that impression and, as noted, just serve to make the serious bits funny/-ier. Nevertheless, in their own right, I appreciate the moralizing bits?not possible to get wholly away from them in the stories she tells, and she recognizes this.

I think the best way to describe what Tehta does in the orc-slaying ditty is to call it disturbing. That's meant in a good way, and the way this disturbing thing comes about is nothing short of brilliant. By taking a familiar poem from The Hobbit (one that was associated with good, peaceful times) and transforming it into something that sounded very gruesome and blood-thirsty, Tehta is able to create a fantastic juxtaposition that highlights just how very extreme both poems are. The result is somewhat frantic laughter because the readers are trying not to think about how disturbed they are, and in my book, that's grounds for kudos and bonus points. Well done, Tehta.

Tehta's strength seems to be reinterpretation, and that goes for poems, moments, cultures, epic histories, etc. "Beleg's Doom" is a fantastic retelling of major Silmarillion events, and it's accompanied by such a wry, rambling narrative that makes you wonder if events actually happened this way from the perspective of this particular narrator. Tehta does it again in "The Eagle Silmarillion," and once again, the reinterpretation is presented as the perspective of someone who really did think it happened this way. And after all, isn't that what history really is? The interpretation of the majority in the winner's bracket? Perhaps that's a tad cynical, but I think there's an element of both hilarity and plausibility in Tehta's reinterpretations. I'm eager and waiting for the next masterpiece!

Although Tehta often writes humor, she shows she can do the heavy, angsty fics, too, and do them well. She keeps us at a necessary distance from the character's brooding, but paints an unrelenting image of bleak hopelessness kept at bay by a variety of masks.