Natasa wrote: < Say, Jenna and Inga, Gan and Servalan, Dayna and Vargas,>
Blake and Tyce :-)
<I bet Sally would like a cave with Avon and Jarriere>
Heavens, I can't really imagine who'd be *less* enamoured of the Great Outdoor Indoors ... though I know who'd complain more, ohhhh yes. They're neither of them nature people. Anyway, as anyone on FC will confirm, I'm already busily trapping them together on the dreamship instead. A *much* more comfortable battleground.
What *I'd* like to see is a touch of naturalistic realism in the 'cave' stories: I recall very few nasty, dark, damp, musty and evil-smelling caves already inhabited by EEEK-y local bugs and remarkable disgusting other fauna. Or alternately, have Our Heroes 'trapped and alone' in a screamingly fake nature-theme park, where the caves come heated, discretely lit and with decoratively designed faux-waterfalls and carefully landscaped (and all Astroturfed) wilderness ... (and Avon still finds things to complain about, of course).
Back to real stories, though ... < Oh, I wasn't looking for serious critical approach, just a recommendation by more experienced readers than myself. Any stories you've most enjoyed reading.>
<grin> a non A-B Top ten? From moi? Do I even have one?
Short answer, I thought about it, and no. My favourites are all either in that Little List, or would have been had they appeared in time :-).
Thinking more about it, most of the stories that I really liked for other reasons are also rich in *that* aspect as well; hey, I'm a character junkie, I go first and foremost for character stuff and these two are the richest source of it. And if it's not Avon and Blake, it's Avon *or* Blake. So sue me :-)
But a few I've liked that weren't on My Two Favourite Topics (gen only):
'Doppelganger', by Susan Lovett (The Road to Hell) No it's not cheating (well, not much). The clone is a person in his own right, it's got Rashel, and the depictions of the Scorpio crew are terrific (I especially liked her Tarrant).
'Aftermath', 'Timeslip' and 'Nightmare' from Avon 1: Late S2 AU (quite literally) centred on Vila.
'Under the Influence' by Una McCormick (Star Four). (Oops, that's Blake. But I *like* it).
'The Gilbert and Servalan Songbook' by Chris Blenkarn.
'Diary of a Rebel Somebody' by Chris Blenkarn (Pressure Point)
'The Quibell Abduction' by Lilian Shepherd, is good *if* you like Cally.
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