The Haunting of Haderon by Lillian Sheperd (G)

[grumpoldusenaut.livejournal.com]

Fandom: BLAKE'S 7  
Pairing:  None
Author on LJ:
Author Website:
Why this must be read:

A genuine sf story (rarer than you might think for an allegedly sf fandom) with superb characterisation of the first season crew, and a beautifully drawn relationship between Avon and Vila. It's the sort of gen story that slash fans read for the emotional content, while still being a good political/adventure story. It was first published in the very early zine Liberator 5, then again by the author's own press, and then again in the zine Star Three. It's now available online in the Hermit library:

The Haunting of Haderon, all on one page

The Haunting of Haderon, first page of 20

Yes, this is the second story from Star Three I've recced. The zine is excellent, and is still available for those who like dead tree format, while several of the stories are available online. Detailed contents listing at
Star Three

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

OMG, I loved this story the first time I read it -- and it's wonderful to get a chance to read it again. Thank you for the link!

[grumpoldusenaut.livejournal.com]

It's the only story by the author that I know to be available online (although I can ask if there are any more), but several of her stories are still available in print, as Lillian Sheperd and also under the pseudonym EPS. Everything of hers that I've read has been superb. I did the scanning to get the original printing of The Quibell Abduction into an electronic format so that it could be reprinted by a friend, and ended up having to sit down and read the story properly before finishing the scanner error corrections, because I kept being distracted by what I was reading. :-)

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

Lillian Sheperd stories are well worth the rec.

Gina

[kathyh]

This was one of the first pieces of fanfic I ever read (and the start of a total addiction *g*). It blew me away then so I'm very glad it's available on the internet now for all to read.

[hafren.livejournal.com]

That's a fun one, and I don't even usually like genuine sf stories. But a lot of them are one damn thing after another and no chance to get to know anyone before they get zapped. That's quite different.

[grumpoldusenaut.livejournal.com]

Or at least for all those who have unmetered, uncensored internet access to read.

(One of the reasons I personally do not normally read fanfic on the web is that I formed the habit of not doing so back when it would have cost me significant amounts of money.)

[kathyh]

I know what you mean. Reading stories on the net when it cost me large sums of money meant that I learned to judge a story by its first paragraph. If it interested me I carried on, if it didn't I stopped reading. The net access may be cheaper but that habit hasn't altered. Sadly I now can't afford the zines!

Viewing figures

[grumpoldusenaut.livejournal.com]

Because I am a deeply sad person and keep records of this sort of thing, I can report that 12 people have viewed this story since I posted the link yesterday (and 1 person has rated the story). Normal viewing figures for a story that's been up for a while would be typically no more than 1 or 2. It's been similar with the other two stories I recommended - about 10 or 12 the first day, and then an extra one or two a day for a few days before it settles back to the usual level. So the crack_van is clearly doing something useful for some people.

[grumpoldusenaut.livejournal.com]

Judith says she has permission to put up most of the zines by Lillian that she did reprints of, and they'll be going up once the printzines are down to a couple of copies.

The Quibell Abduction
The Machiavelli Factor
The Price of Justice (including Helltide)

are likely to go up soon.

Mindfire still has a lot of stock, so won't be going up for a while.

Re: Viewing figures

[hafren.livejournal.com]

Nice to know. BTW, if anyone can't be bothered to click "next page" 19 times, it should be possible to access the whole lot at once from here (http://www.hermit.org/blakes7/Library/DispAll.cgi?SR=18845&ST=0427&COUNT)

Re: Viewing figures

[grumpoldusenaut.livejournal.com]

Entry duly modified, thanks.

You can tell I don't actually *read* stuff via the Library if I can avoid it, can't you?

Re: Viewing figures

[grumpoldusenaut.livejournal.com]

Added the "single page" urls to the other two stories I've recced.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love this story. I just signed up to do recs here and this was going to be my first one! :-( I'm glad someone recced it though as it's just superb for all the reasons you give.