Farscape: Weight of the World by analise

[fourteenlines.livejournal.com]

Fandom: FARSCAPE
Pairing: John Crichton/Aeryn Sun, assorted others
Author on LJ: n/a
Author Website: The ScapeFiction of analise
Direct Link: Weight of the World
Misc. Info: Rated R, Alternate Universe
Why this must be read: It might seem strange to recommend an AU on my first go at it, but this story is quite possibly the quintessential Farscape fic - and has been for some time now. As suelac said, this story is on every rec page in the fandom...and there's a reason for that. When analise posted this story, I think we understood for the first time what Farscape fanfiction could do, could be about. For that reason, it's really a predecessor to many of the later epic stories told by other authors.



It's a densely-told epic (coming in at 288 K, it's hardly the longest fic out there, but it feels much longer than it is) with superb characterization, believable tension, and action that is positively a pleasure to read. John and Aeryn are the only members of Moya's crew in this story, and aside from Jack Crichton, nearly all the other characters are originals. But not one of them rings false, and analise does some wonderful things with POV. You care about her OCs, if you're not creeped out by them beyond words. (Which is another way of saying her villains are fascinating and horrible.)

Fairly soon after the Aurora Chair and the introduction of Scorpius, it became a very real possibility that the Peacekeepers would find Earth and, in the spirit of conquest, invade. The disaster this would bring about made a lot of fanfic writers shy away from the topic. This story explores that possibility in depth, and is, above all, a story about the human (and Sebacean) spirit.

As far as I'm concerned, this story is only AU now because the show has gone in a different direction. Fair warning, it was posted in 2001, with spoilers only through the S3 "Self-Inflicted Wounds" arc, so analise has invented John's sisters from scratch, as any writer had to do before the S4 episodes "Kansas" and "Terra Firma."

And now I'm running out of superlatives, so I'll leave you to read in peace.

Comments

[ladysorka]

I haven't re-read that one in ages.

Thanks for the reminder, Shaye. I always loved that one. *g*

[cofax7]

And if you go to the Gallery page on Analise's site, you can find the unedited & never-officially-posted first 600K of the story. It's a little different in its themes and focus than TWOTW eventually ended up using, but it's worth reading for the return-to-Earth scenario alone. I love the bit in Florida with DK.

Good choice, Shaye. Frankly, I wouldn't call this AU because it was future-fic at the time it was written. As compared to, say, "In the Company of Ghosts" which was consciously AU from the first moment.

[fourteenlines.livejournal.com]

I've never read the unedited "extra" stuff. And I only called this an AU because analise labelled that way at the time she posted it...

(As opposed to Ghosts indeed. The grandmommy of AUs, if you will.)

[cofax7]

Good point. I do recall being baffled by the presence of both Zhaan and Jool in the unedited sections. That would indeed make it AU.