We've come back yet again in the wake of our second anniversary since this club's formation and in the spirit of celebrating our favourite ship and the best authors a fandom could hope for, we voted from a list of nominations coming from our own members' roster of work.
This week, we selected the very appropriate and soulful piece For A Nihilist, I'm Pretty Optimistic by our very own PhyllisDietrichson. This work pulled all the stops when it comes to an exploration of Shane's relationship with shame, dependence and his attachments by way of Ryan. We wept over the nostalgia of the past year, some stellar Puppet History references, double-knotted shoelaces while we marvelled at the author's use of magical realism to tell us this extraordinarily unique werewolf-y tale.
A story of moonlit nights, little puppet songs, and shoelace knots. And sorting through your own bullshit to conjure up the self-worth within.
i absolutely love how it takes both fact and solidly established interpretations of them and makes it all work in a "yeah, you know what, this WOULD happen like this" way. that's the essence of magical realism also extended to characterization! it's perfect!
I love the way the details about Ryan untying Shane's shoelaces was woven into this, the little ways that Shane unintentionally was protecting Ryan but also sealing himself off. Like PLS, feels off the charts.
[the author] really showed up here in this fandom and made me walk back through the journey of Shane's puppet history songs and the pieces of himself that exist in each one and you're gonna make me FEEL each one over again
Shane thinking of himself as a monster is heartbreaking but of course only he would magic himself into becoming a not-werewolf bc heâs too in love and messed up and full of self-loathing to deal with anything
I absolutely did a big sigh over [the author's] descriptions in the scene when Shane takes off running with the wolves to the point where he wakes up with them
just the whole idea that shane is so empathetic and generous with his dumb animated characters and puppets but can't extend it to himself??!
I love that like, the were-puppiness of it all was a conflict but wasnât necessarily the central conflict - it was the instigating factor and the way of revealing Shaneâs actual inner conflict
i loooooove when fic relationships allow them to grow with the help of the other person but they're still their own people, you know? like ryan helped shane so much but shane still did this for himself and for ryan. it's such a good mutual strong adult relationship!
i love that it's not just Shane's Magical, but ryan also has access to some magic of his own that he can pull out and use to help heal shane.
there's this quote floating around that's something along the lines of "good sci-fi makes marvels look mundane". and this fic does the same thing with fantasy and magic. spells aren't about big rituals and magic words. it's about shoelaces, it's about dancing, it's about wishes you make alone on a quiet night in the woods
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