Isabella Buchanan

Oh nice! I sense there may be some trouble ahead. I liked the line ‘He believed it less cleanly than he had an hour ago.’

‘Eyes staring quantum torpedoes’ just totally set the scene there. I love how you start this with a palpable air of frustration on Pantuso’s part that falls away little by little as she realises just how bad the situation is. Regular tuesday, indeed! Great post!

Lovely start here with a nod to her backstory. I feel her boredom there, and loved the conversation with the computer that insists everything is normal! Then the creepiness hits with the distortion! Looking forward to seeing where this is going!

This is a great intro! The visual with the dream sequences then him explaining them away as dissatisfaction with where he’s ended up was solid character work. Given the setup I was surprised he admitted that to the captain, but the contradiction really works and keeps us on our toes!

Love this! The characterisation and banter between the characters is great and I can feel Hollis’s frustration there. These are going to be interesting characters to follow! Love Madame Collage.

Fever dream is right! This was a delicious confusion of a post as I tried to work out what was going on. I love the little details in here like the cold made her joints crunchy and tight, and the part about Flavia never hinting at using the gym but then outruns Taes is great! You build the urgency throughout, even in the midst of a chaotic scene, which is really hard to do and get the pacing right. And that ending! More! I need more!

Oh, this is delightful! I love the father-daughter interaction there and you deftly wove in the wrongness, layering it and building it through the scene in a really natural way. I loved the ‘cruiser not colander’ line. And then that line at the end! More!

Talk about pulling the rug out from underfoot! I thought this was going one way, and then it went completely the other, and now I’m not sure what is going on! But I’m definitely interested in reading more. As always, I enjoy the banter between your characters, it really sets the scene.

I really enjoyed this. I liked the ‘children were small, in the way all children are small’ but you spun it out into it was their worldview rather than physical size. Very nice! I like how you brought out Hargrave’s exhaustion of the same old, same old, and then her realisation that people really don’t think she’s up to taking that new assignment. This is a really good glimpse into her mind, I really enjoyed it. I hope to see more of her!

Nice start to the mission! Little character touches were deftly woven in: like the cold drink at the start, the conversation that ended abruptly at the doorway and the line about Bert finding everything interesting out there. An intriguing start and a nice setup with the psionic devices… I can’t help feeling that something will go wrong for someone there! Looking forward to reading more!

Oh, I do love your way with words. ‘It was as if two different centuries had been slapped together and then generously called a starship.’ in the first paragraph? I’m sold! I also like the way you write alien species, it’s very clear and visual as you describe Nelli’s movements. The way you built tension in the scene was very nice. One moment everything is nice and calm with just an undercurrent of tension from Yuulik, but then *boom* it all falls apart! And that end line!! Perfect! I like Elbon, I think he and Mason would get on well. Looking forward to reading more!

OMG! Talk about tension! That was a hell of a scene, and you took us on a rollercoaster right from the tension of the beginning firefight, through John’s decision and left us, just dangling there (DANGLING!), on that last precipice. What happens? Do they get clear? Do they get John back? I need answers!!!

This is a lovely little snippet in the middle of all the action. Sometimes, in the thick of it all, we forget that little moments like this exist and it helps to take a beat and be reminded of them. It’s lovely to see Taes in a moment of reflection and connection here, her thoughts on the person she is now and who she used to be. My favourite part is the empathic sea-stars! Lovely!

Love the banter here. It really brings you into the heart of a functional-disfunctionally pro team and gives you clues into the characters. I like how you have a thread of John’s thoughts and feelings about AC throughout, but it’s a light touch. It gives me the feeling this mission is going to be a rough ride for him. And I’m totally calling them the Veebwoo from now on. Favourite line from this (it was a hard choice): ‘I didn’t sign up to be a canary in a coal mine when that coal mine is a war-zone.’

The ‘work in progress’ crew angle is great, really liked that! Who hasn’t dealt with one of those people who have a problem for every solution? I can totally see why she wants to shove him out of an airlock! But this does give us a great insight into the captain as you drop the situation with the White Rose. So many questions!

Love this opening! The way you interweave Cassidy and Rouke’s conversation with each officer’s current situation was a great way to introduce them and bring us up to speed. And each situation gave us some grounding into that character and who they are. I particuarly liked the line ‘Pretty sure she just… showed up’… looking forward to reading more!

Love this opening. The sense of being so done with all this comes over loud and clear. I loved Nathan so not being engrossed in the padd but still not looking up and the effort it took him to look up. Great moment I could really see there. But the stand out line for me was the andorian looking at the console like it was in some obscure language. That was delightful. Looking forward to reading more!

I do love Yuulik. She is just so uncompromisingly… Yuulik. The fact that she wound herself up over Nova not being there for coffee, then entirely missed the subtext. Delightful! (Although I’m really feeling for Nova here) And all the while we’re reading Yuulik-based drama, we know the hammer is about to fall, paid off at the end. It all builds the tension wonderfully… Love it!

Loved this. You have a lovely way of painting the scene with words so I feel like I’m there in the room. Mellasitox’s frustration with the inspections came over loud and clear and I liked that she also appreciated Mordic’s position (no glory in inspections). The standout part for me was the stress toy, great touch there to show the frustration!

Oh this is lovely. Some great conflict and character building right off the bat. You’ve immediately built empathy for Katris right away… who doesn’t love a good backstory like that? Love the fact that the ensign just walked right into the middle of that! Can’t wait to see how this crew develops!