Okay, I admit it

I admit it. One of the reasons I write so slowly is that I also spend a lot of time reading fanfiction. I currently have around 288 MB saved away on my hard disk.

(If you care about breakdowns, there's about 97 MB of Ranma; 40 MB of Sailor Moon; 79 MB of crossovers (most of which, inevitably, tend to include either Ranma or Sailor Moon); 9 MB of Evangelion; and dribs and drabs of other series.)

Who are my favourite authors? Damn hard question to answer. There're hundreds of authors I wish were still writing. The Judge's story Millennials springs to mind—though admittedly it's only been a year since the last chapter, and my own last chapter took two years. Fire is another author I'd love to see more from. Brian Randall, Ken Wolfe and D B Sommer also come to mind (D B is still writing, but not so fast any more). The current writer I'm most enjoying is Aondehafka; but that could easily change tomorrow if I find a good story by someone else.

The story that's affected me most strongly, ever, is Damaged by Elizabeth Tuckwood. I've never worked up the courage to re-read it. Not sure if I'm more afraid that it would affect me that way again, or that it wouldn't.

I check the latest postings on fanfiction.net every day or two—doesn't everybody?—but it's very hard to separate the wheat from the chaff there. They could really use some kind of rating system. (I've developed my own private set of rules for cutting down the number of stories I even look at; I expect a lot of other readers have, too.) Meanwhile, if you have any recommendations for terrific stories, I'd be interesting in hearing them…