Yahoo Forum Archive

Title: In Dreams · Author: Phyncke · Genres: Romance: Elven Lands ·
ID: 609
Reviewer: nancylea · 2008-09-03 20:32:05
too many kings in one place truthfully. but thats still to be written,
what you have written here is simply delightful. yes, simply sensual
does spend a lot of time sniping drop dead gorgeous. and drop dead may
spend a bit more time primping, but look at the results. hunka hunka's
all around. i adored your introduction, the placement and use of
nature's bounty give you nice little shadows to dance across the
landscape of your fiction. as we stand in the silly banquet hall and
do the necessary business of enjoying our companions (please valar
there's enough drinks) you allude to the spring vision you open with
and keep a breeze moving in our minds so that the story never gets
stuffy or stale. you prolong the moment of re-introduction until some
of us are squirming in our seats, pushing at the chess pieces to work
them across the board. then just when we think its time for
gratiatious satisfaction, you fine tune that other camera lens and we
are blindsided by the depth and drama of long denied desire. oh i want
to find that story next, please vala get it ready. you end this story
with two compelling couples who are begging for more and more tales of
life in a place where the biggest arguement maybe which king is your
king. can you imagine when poor leggers gats here, loyality to his
father who hasn't come yet, or fideliety to a grandsire he doesn't
know as a living breathing being. you have opened a door with that
aside about kings i hope, given the talent you have displayed here
that you will step through the door and give such works that you will
always be on the nomination list for years and years to come.

Title: Summer's Lease · Author: Raksha the Demon · Genres: Romance:
Gondor · ID: 650
Reviewer: nancylea · 2008-09-03 20:54:00
it has gotten to the point that when i see your name on a story i am
about to read i know that if not sexual teased i am about to be
sensually pleased out of all bounds. you write so deeply pleasing a
tale that it would be hard to imagine these three have not formed a
truly lasting bond of friendship. here are three very much adult
beings, who lost all chance at childhood as their friend the hobbits
had because of accidents of birth. born in a time when war was
knocking at the door of civilazation, grown and trained to dedication
to duty and service, polished by their own personal losses and honored
for their wins. who expects to find them barefoot in the middle of a
fountain? i'm so glad you found and captured the memory so that we
could see the joy and gladness that has rewarded these three mighty
warriors in their great retirement years. ahh yes the stodgy
statesman, the haughty courtier, and the ice princess; mmay we never
view them as so simply one sided ever again. and aren't you the sly
bugger, wet slick salasious men and cut to black before the x-rating
of dripping feminine charm. yes even linen leaves little to the
imagination of a writer as profound as yourself and this is a family
rated program. you paint such a pretty pitcure of hot sweaty muscles
in action that when you slow us to that long lingering look of
comparision, who can lose; both of them are such fine specimens of
their kind,,, and did i mention dripping wet (siggggh, oh yeah) thank
you thank you thank you.(wiping drool from lips) good night.... what
do you mean it's not bed time?

Title: The Wedding Gift · Author: annmarwalk · Genres: Romance: Other
Fixed-Length Ficlets · ID: 40
Reviewer: nancylea · 2008-09-03 21:11:10
the description says gloin and his bride so i will not need the
spoiler button or so i think. you have just described the best kind of
gift i think people can exchange, and i have a pretty firm idea what
her side was, thank you for leaving some mysteries in life. you know
in some cultures it is necessary to display all your wealth so that
everyone knows how to treat you if you have four gold chains and the
other guy has ten.. you lose. the harad supposedly carried their
wealth with them to war so that if they died they would not arrive in
paradise broke, wonder if anyone ever explained that looting was a two
way custom. or maybe their spirit only needed the spirit of the gold
so that when he was burned without it he never missed it. i think i
prefer those cultures were wealth is underplayed and woman and
children are the greatest rewards the male ever wishes for ( too bad
it's becoming more and more a story book tale) but if we could get
this tale out and widely read there could be a resergence of male
dedication to family. i'm glad to find someone so talented at writing
giving us this view of family life within the dwarfen world. i hope
they have many years and several children to share these kinds of
moments with. we of course know there's at least one.

Title: Sing My Worth Immortal · Author: Perelleth · Races:
Cross-Cultural · ID: 168
Reviewer: nancylea · 2008-09-03 21:39:30
if you ever wondered why some people say they were just born that way,
this story will prevent you ever maintaining a straight face again.
yes, it must have seeped into their blood, back in the dark recesses
of time.if a reader has any funny bone at all they are going to be
laughing too hard to try logic on this. you take the concept of
cultural differences and the inevetiable differences of opinions that
arise and make one of the most entertaining and enlightening events in
what ever time\place this is. but then of course the
gender-discrimination would never be funny to anyone. unless of course
they have common sense. and as it is so common, i'd be willing to cut
any detractors a deal and sell them (some common sense) at fifty
dollars a gram. real bargain here folks, but first you have to admit
you have none by dislikng this story.

i find myself voting for the story just simply because it appeals to
my sense of mirth. there are several factors that i just can't get my
logic to settle on: where are they in this story? not lothlorien, you
refer to the cellars and dashing about great hallways. not shangralai
(brain refuses to share elven haven name), you have arwen and some
dwarf other than gimli present. speaking of, dwarf, it must be before
the big elf-dwarf fiasco. just how old are these grandsons and should
they be drinking? where's haldir and gang? as i said a couple of small
hangups.

well the good news is so far i've had no takers on my offer. good luck.

Title: Celevon a Mallen · Author: Tanaqui · Genres: Romance: Other
Fixed-Length Ficlets · ID: 279
Reviewer: Isabeau of Greenlea · 2008-09-03 21:49:52
Spoilers!
A lovely, lovely drabble series. Celeborn is always a bit of an enigma
in Tolkien's world-quiet, seemingly second-fiddle to his powerful
sorceress wife. But he is surnamed the Wise and his counsel is valued
among his people. This series provides brief snapshots of his and
Galadriel's life together-their meeting, the birth of their child, her
marriage, their parting and the promise of an eventual reunion beyond
the sea. Though these are true drabbles, the enduring love between the
two of them comes through clearly.

Title: A Little Misunderstanding · Author: Radbooks · Races:
Cross-Cultural: Elves and Men · ID: 275
Reviewer: nancylea · 2008-09-03 21:55:37
the first time i read this i felt such compassion for halabarad, to
have this much happen so quickly and so mysteriously. it had to leave
some very big and threatening images in his brain. life as he knew it
was turned every which way and people were missing and mom and dad
were upset. now when things are settling down and he is finding a new
center in his life, THEY come back. if he had been a little older and
maybe just a hair more reckless, this could have ended up being a
tragedy, explaining to elrond why his boys were not coming home. i can
see halabarad avenging his clan and making his very special spot in
history, if only.... as it is you show talent and tact in dealing with
a young grieving human who is mildly terrified. i have enjoyed
watching so many people remind us that the first step should be level
the field. in your case you must also even the field so that he
doesn't feel surrounded. i have not as of yet found many of your works
but i hope there are a great many more of them as it is ten months
from the begining of the next round of mefa reading and i need lots
and lots of choices. you display great skills and i look forward to
reading anything i can find with your name on it.good luck and
hopefully you have brought halabarad back his friend by now.

Title: A Large Bold Hand · Author: Jay of Lasgalen · Races:
Cross-Cultural: Fixed-Length Ficlets · ID: 10
Reviewer: nancylea · 2008-09-03 22:13:55
drabbles are a constant amazement to me, to limit yourself to one
hundred words and paint such a wonderful pitcure. of course in this
case you have chosen such a small line in such an action packed time
that many of us had overlooked the implications of the words and every
bit of light just makes it glow all the more. you found a time and a
method that leaves no feeling of manipulation on anyone'e part. it
fits, a craftsman wonders into a scene of everyday life and sees not
the mundane ordinariness but the delicate artistic wonder of the view.
and of course, modest and unprepossing little one that he is known to
be (was that delicate enough, did i keep you from snorting?) the
viewee acts in a way that is a recommendation to his upbringing. both
of your characters have such reputations for pranks its nice to see
their serious and studious side handled with such class and finese. to
say nothing for the reasons that qualifies you in the sub categoty of
coss-cultural, you show that when beings exchange ideas and admiration
it does not have to be 'not bad for a(n),,,' these two simple respond
to each other without any implication that either one is viewing the
other as anthing other then a peer. kudos on a job well done and enjoy
your moments of glory, they should be plentiful based on the evidence
in front of us.

Title: Jewels of Light · Author: Larner · Races: Cross-Cultural:
Friendship · ID: 394
Reviewer: nancylea · 2008-09-03 22:43:28
larner, this is one of those gems that you should put in a slightly
less well lighted areas because it generates such pure and gentle
light that there can be no shadows around it. it radiates with love
and kindness on so many levels that we must begin to see it is those
cuts that seem so senseless are actually leaving more and more
surfaces to reflect back anything we send its direction. gee that
would mean that we are seeing a reflection of you and what you have
put into the shaping and forming of this gem. i hope that is true
because it reflects the image of a person who has taken the little
tumbles that life has put out there and managed to turn them into a
polishing process that has added value and appeal to the everyday and
oh so practical person that you must have been and makes you a
priceless and rare addition to the lives of those around you. you make
the petty bickering and the instant sarcasm that these two have fallen
into so easy to leave behind because they are starting to realize that
the view they see is really not all that different, yes there are
differences but from this point on you can bet that they are going to
look beyond the fence and actually see the vista that lays behind it.
great writing bonnie keep up the great work and i'll see more at lotr
community gfic, right?

Title: Of First Impressions and Old Friends · Author: Dreamflower ·
Races: Cross-Cultural: Frodo and Faramir · ID: 146
Reviewer: nancylea · 2008-09-03 23:32:16
i'm breaking my own rules and writing this review differently then any
of my others. pardon me Dreamflower if this upsets you.

[Finally Mithrandir had spoken. "Good morning, eh? What do you mean?
Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning
whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that
it is a morning to be good on?"]

how many of us would be better served to try this method of greeting
people, you enlighten us on many ways and outcomes from this scenario.
this greeting method seems to be a way in which gandalf can gauge the
content of a beings soul. and it makes me wonder who do you think
failed if and how did they answer. this is not the main plot line of
this story but its the one that has made me remember and return to it
time and time again. of course frodo probably never faced the question
as an introduction but i imagine that gandalf challenged him more than
once while visiting bilbo, if for no other reason, it would show
frodo's growth and expanding realization of the world as a whole.

your overall story is a wonderful tennis match of view points, and
tenses. we move back and forth and around the robin. and never do you
lose the thread of how the impressions formed early in a meeting form
and shape the way we react to the next and all future challenges. in
the words of one famous hobbit it probably [shows what kind of quality
you have]. you find a flash back point to bring most of the players a
moment in the spotlight and then you bring us back to the 'present' of
the tale and end the story with a bit of tantalizing cliffie. we can
not know if it leads to more wonderful dreamflower universe or of you
are releasing us into the tender care of the master of all things
middle earth. thank you for this short cruise on the river of memory
and recall.[Finest kind] [Finest kind.]

Title: Parting Gifts · Author: Fiondil · Races: Cross-Cultural:
Post-Ring War · ID: 452
Reviewer: nancylea · 2008-09-03 23:58:46
Spoilers!
do you know that mistletoe prefers to grow on oak trees. do you know
that spanish moss, that beautifull wispy curtain that is so often used
to create romantic scenes in movies, is actually another parasitic
growth. but both examples here are long standing and in most cases not
harmful to either organism. i fear that gimli is feeling a little
uncertain as to how people precieve him after he's gone. legalos of
course is the oak tree, and i wonder if gimli has a preference to
which growth he would be?

it has been said so many ways and never better; it is easier to leave
then to be left. that is why so many people walk away from others
rather then risk investing time and effort into afriendship let alone
a relationship. and in every way legalos and gimli are in a
relationship. they song left friendship as too small a vessel to
contain all the levels and baggage that such a long involved knowing
would generate. here are two beings that have spend so long being
paired and now have had an untimed frame of space together without
relief they are so intertwined that gimli is having very real concerns
that once the trellis is removed the much beloved flower bush will
collapse in on itself and drown in it own unsupported weight, even
though he knows there are many waiting to slip small timbers of love
into the vacancy that occurs. can anyone still doubt these two love
each other and have left all the rigamarole to narrowminded critics.
wonderful story and i hope you don't think i gave it all away.

Title: Tonight We Are Alive · Author: Eyborg · Races: Dwarves · ID: 504
Reviewer: nancylea · 2008-09-04 00:17:44
the one side of me feels cheated, i didn't cry over this one. the
other side of me prays that he left behind more than he knows. i would
agree with your opener there are not enough dwarf stories out there. i
read some of these bios and wonder just what kind of stories do people
expect of dwarfs. you portray a group af beings who have wants and
feelings that seem very much like my own. the dwarfs that are on your
page seem to be good beings and as worthy of love and respect as any
other race i've read about. you give us a story that if not designated
dwarf leaving for moria could be just about any young committed male
leaving for a long diffucult journey, a young scots man sailing for
america. a young jet-eye leaving for another galaxy. even a soldier
leaving for the battlefield. none of them beleive that they will never
return, they believe that they will win thru their struggles and come
back and reclaim their love and in most cased their livestyles. they
may move away to the site of their victory, but they refuse to damn
themselves and their companions by even hinting that failure may
happen. this is the way of courage and honor. this is the best of the
best in any society. and with true wisdom, you realize if this must be
done best it be done quickly. very well done, dignity and honor are
yours and your families for long and longer.

Title: Hammer · Author: Aranel Took · Races: Dwarves: Drabbles · ID: 468
Reviewer: nancylea · 2008-09-04 00:37:53
ahh, my famous babble about drabble act: i'm going to apply for the
copyright one of these days.

with this as a pickup line the world needs to be thankful that some
women are adventurers. of course he may end up with only a necklace to
show for this night. wouldn't that hurt the ego?

aranel, some people spend twice as many words (at a guess) in setting
up their work and twice as much again explaining how and where from\to
they were going; you have exactly one hundred words that you set the
scene, lured the victim, and sprung the trap. no wasting time dibbling
and dabbling around the edges, you went right in and caught us by our
short fuzzy foot hairs (where were you thinking those hairs were
again) and dragged us to the end. now in a politically correct manner
you are letting our imaginations take us to the finish line. wonder
who else is betting on a necklace? (people who know me think that the
pod people have visited, it was actually the stepford husbands that
dropped by for a visit. now i have all these pretty pastel sweater
sets and a really classy pearl choker. oh i'm so lucky.) have you
considered writing her side of the little drama as a follow up act. or
maybe give us a view of her plot to get him to utter his best speech?

Title: Healing · Author: Bodkin · Races: Elves · ID: 419
Reviewer: nancylea · 2008-09-04 01:07:36
Spoilers!
how many thousands of people can relate to the basics of this story.
he loves his wife and child, he really really does. but this is his
world, here not over there and he wants to help to reclaim all that
can be salvaged from the wreckage....but time and reality settle in.
he must choose to go or risk losing them forever. you tell us the tale
of how he strove and what he thinks he accomplished, you let him
express things that are hard to explain and harder to live. you paint
a pitcure of the difference between a physical relationship and an
intimate one. by staying when she left, you give this ancient married
couple a chance to rekindle and re-explore the glory of their lives,
both together and apart and give them the oppurtunity to restart a
possible dormaint relationship (seems to me there sould {now was the
thought should or could, think i'll leave it up to you} be siblings in
celebrains future.) you write of moments of recovery and moments of
loss irretrieviable, you don't try to sugar coat or white wash the
aftereffects that he saw.you write with a light feather touch that
keeps the story on track and lets the wheels roll and the best
possible speed for the track conditions. this was a pleasure to read
and i hope to read much more of yours in the future. he could not cure
middle earth but he definitely left it a better place then it was.
thank you.

Title: Blood and Iron · Author: Ribby · Races: Elves: Drabbles · ID: 122
Reviewer: nancylea · 2008-09-04 01:27:27
well before i begin the babble for drabbles, let me say this was a
first for me i would not have thought to cast elrond as. i can say
that visions of the twins as smiths have worked for me, the idea that
glorfindel was a maker as well as a weilder had occurred, i've read
stories where erestor is a smith. BUT elrond never entered my mind. of
course looking at some of the stills again with this story is the
front of my brain i can see that elf standing in the front of the line
of waiting elven swordmen as the sweating figure weilding the hammer
in the movies short glimpse of the reforging. i find that most elfish
writers feel that undr those smooth sleek looking robes there are more
adonis' then flabby statesmen. heck even tolkien tries to use the
robes to hide phyisical strenght when he has denethor throw off his
robe and reveal his armour; as if wearing and sleeping in armour is
enough to keep you fit. i like the way you work the custom of blooding
a sword into consideration. but to work **** into the story like that
is truly very slick. it took me typing a question about the identity
of the gondorian to remember the scene from the movie. slick as
whistle spit. you're really really good with so few words to cover so
much ground. and i really never got to bable mode. great work, good luck.