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Author: Marta ID: 16 Races/Places: Hobbits (90): General
Reviewer: Tanaqui 2005-09-25 06:42:48

Its hard to know where to begin with an author review for Marta, because her
output is so diverse. She writes (well!) about many different cultures and
offers us a broad range of genres, apparently able to handle drama and
humour with equal aplomb. She is also a writer who is able to lightly mix
canon knowledge with her own invention, so that it is often hard to tell
where one begins and the other ends, and she has a knack for finding unusual
angles and insights on canon and characters.

Marta repeatedly tells me that Hobbits are her favourite culture. In the two
stories in this category, I can see why that is so. She captures the Hobbit
mindset and culture effectively, and cleverly weaves together canon history
and invention. The songs in Master Gamgee of Bag End give a strong
Tolkienesque flavour to this piece, while the dialogue is a delight and
captures the flavour of Hobbit speech in a way few writers master. A
Conspiracy Forged shows the facility I have remarked on in other reviews for
writing youthful characters. While the pieces are superficially very
different, both explore the underlying theme of true friends sticking by you
through thick and thin and bringing comfort which runs throughout Tolkiens
work.

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Author: Kielle ID: 197 Genres: Drama (includes Angst) (135): General
Reviewer: ErinRua 2005-09-25 23:39:26
Kielle's gift was that of presenting the familiar in fresh and even
unexpected ways. Nothing she wrote was ever "just like" anyone else's work.
No story she penned echoed another writer. No idea or premise was ever
borrowed from another fic writer, and often she delved beyond what Tolkien
gave us to the sinew and bone beneath. In "Seven for a Secret" she touches
us with the bitter chill of regret; in "Wreath of Steel and Silver" she
draws us close to Galadriel's silent guilt and slides the blade of horror
between our ribs as we watch. In "Blood and Warm Blankets" the tone
drastically changes, to the absurd, the merrily tongue-in-cheek, to gleeful
mocking that invites even those it aims at to join in and laugh 'til our
ribs hurt. "Weregild" haunts us. "Green Seas" charms us even as it saddens
us. "For Another Time Should Be" chills us to the bone. "Rekindled" brings
us in from the cold ash of defeat to the simplest victory of all: coming
home. "Grey and Pale Gold" wrenches the heart and touches the spirit with
its artful blend of grief and hope. Kielle was a master of the comedic and
the tragic, and nor did drama escape her deft touch, as we see in "Singing
in the Sun" and "Chasing The Moon." The latter two were her marvelous
Eomer-and-Boromir AU fics, which were the stories that first drew me to her
writings. As a fellow writer and affecianado of all things Rohirrim, she
leant special grace to all her stories of Rohan, artful in capturing both
the grimness of affairs in Rohan and the undaunted fire of the Rohirrim
spirit. Rare I find it indeed, that a writer so good at angst and tragedy is
just as much at home with laughter, and just as good with swords and spears.
I salute her now as a treasure of the LOTR fandom, one who should have got
even more recognition for her writings in life, and who now deserves our
fondest farewell as she passes beyond the circles of this world. In Mandos
Halls she now spins her tales, but we left behind are much bereft. Let us
remember her, and the gifts of storytelling she leaves for us, even though
the silence echoes in the chambers of our hearts, to be answered nevermore.
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Author: Marta ID: 16 Races/Places: Gondor (79): Drabble
Reviewer: Dwimordene 2005-09-26 10:15:05
Marta can do wonderful humor, and seems to do particularly well at capturing
it in drabble form. It's hard to squeeze a punchline into so short a space,
but she does it. But more than that, she manages to do so in a way that
still addresses some more serious events: in "So Other Men May Fight" and
"High King and Halfling", for example, she gives us a snapshot of the
political foundation of the Shire and of Beregond's decision to let Bergil
remain in Minas Tirith during the siege. The humor helps avoid angst fests
and fluff alike, and makes those moments memorable.
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Author: Marta ID: 16 Genres: Humor (85): Drabble
Reviewer: Dwimordene 2005-09-26 10:15:30
Marta can do wonderful humor, and seems to do particularly well at capturing
it in drabble form. It's hard to squeeze a punchline into so short a space,
but she does it. But more than that, she manages to do so in a way that
still addresses some more serious events: in "So Other Men May Fight" and
"High King and Halfling", for example, she gives us a snapshot of the
political foundation of the Shire and of Beregond's decision to let Bergil
remain in Minas Tirith during the siege. The humor helps avoid angst fests
and fluff alike, and makes those moments memorable.v
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Author: Marta ID: 16 Books/Time: The Silmarillion (67): Drabble
Reviewer: Dwimordene 2005-09-26 10:15:46
Marta can do wonderful humor, and seems to do particularly well at capturing
it in drabble form. It's hard to squeeze a punchline into so short a space,
but she does it. But more than that, she manages to do so in a way that
still addresses some more serious events: in "So Other Men May Fight" and
"High King and Halfling", for example, she gives us a snapshot of the
political foundation of the Shire and of Beregond's decision to let Bergil
remain in Minas Tirith during the siege. The humor helps avoid angst fests
and fluff alike, and makes those moments memorable.
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Author: Marta ID: 16 Races/Places: Hobbits (90): Drabble
Reviewer: Dwimordene 2005-09-26 10:16:34
It was a brilliant move to drabble Fatty's career as a resistance fighter
during the Occupation, and I personally find this to be a really sharp,
insightful set of pieces, a real quantum leap in some ways. Marta doesn't
usually do grim, to my way of thinkingthere's usually something sunny about
her writing that works against grimness. Not in this case, however! Here she
shows that she can do bleak and do it well, and in a remarkably short space.
Each of these drabbles is complete in itself, but it's their cumulative
effect that really drives home Fatty's trials. Her schema for incorporating
all these drabbles (beyond the obvious one of following Fatty from his close
encounter with a Nazgl to his interrogation in the Lockholes) is the five
elements that came out of pre-Socratic philosophy, and this works much
better than one would expect as an organizing plan. Marta deploys it, as I
said in the story review, in such a way that it isn't intrusive, and
actually fits the story rather than the reverse. That's key, I think, in the
success of this drabble set, which shows us a much different hobbit than we
ordinarily see. Well done, Marta!
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