Shadowlands

I often abandon series for months at a time, wandering on to other things like the fickle writer I am. After all, when such a huge proportion of the stories you write insist upon turning themselves into series, you can't keep up with everything.

Thankfully, I rarely have to worry about Shadowlands being neglected. One little story of mine, written in response to a personal challenge, somehow managed to spawn an ever-expanding shared universe. Wander over to the Shadowlands archive ; you'll see what I mean.

So, I find myself able to wander on to other things--and increasingly disinclined to, especially when I'm plotting with the fabulous group of folks working with me on the Oasis storyline. Shadowlands has (inexplicably and wonderfully) grown into an Epic, and Epics have always had a special place in my heart.

Feedback makes a writer bloom. Be kind and water me .--Alicia

 


These are among my all-time favorites. Of all the worlds Alicia has created, this may be the most compelling. What she has done here is truly outstanding, not only for what she has written, but for what she has inspired. I truly cannot recommend these stories enough. When you have finished savoring them, I suggest you visit the Shadowlands Archive, and see what others have done with this complex and compelling world. ~JenMorrioghan


Aspect
(R)
Reality has been shattered, and two old soldiers find comfort in each other amid the ruins. This is the proverbial 'Story That Started It All'. I was challenged by a certain Kaylee (hey, KJ! ;) to write a Cable/Logan slash story, a challenge that went dormant in my mind for quite some time until I was inspired by a certain Diamonde (hey, Dia! ;) to pick it back up again. Therefore, I guess they both share some responsibility for what Shadowlands has become. Looking back on this story, I'm still rather proud of it, even after all this time. Once I decided to do it, I threw myself into it wholeheartedly, and that's always been my personal yardstick to measure whether or not a story was successful. 

Mercy Flight
(PG-13)
Arriving in Earth orbit, just beyond the reach of the shifts, for a conference with the Shi'ar scientists monitoring the phenomenon, Christopher Summers and Lilandra find out that the threat is not only to Earth, and the Starjammers find themselves drawn into a dangerous plan to help those lost in the madness below. Not specifically part of the Oasis timeline, but stuff happens in this story that's going to become critical to the main plot, so it's a must-read if you're following the overarching storyline. I've always liked Corsair and the Starjammers, although I rarely seem to get the opportunity to write them. This story also has a whole heck of a lot of pseudo-scientific gobbledygook. It's hard to try and create a 'scientific' basis for the shifts when I've always seen them as more metaphysically-based than anything else... ;)

Worlds Between Us
(PG-13)
Lost in the shifting zones, Scott Summers find himself the prisoner of the son he never knew, about to pay the price for a 'crime' he never committed. Eventually, I will write more non-Oasis Shadowlands one-shots, but for now, this one remains a solitary little creature. ;) I wrote it after finishing the written part of my comprehensive exams; you could consider this an attempt to vent a little excess angst.


History of the Oasis

NOTE: The only Oasis stories archived here are the ones that I've written. For the full Oasis series, please see the Shadowlands archive; believe me, you'll be missing a lot of great fic if you don't. Incidentally, my Oasis stories are listed in chronological order.

Oasis
(R)
In the shifting zones, an older version of Franklin Richards manages to establish a sanctuary where reality is stable. There, he and his companions attempt to reassemble the Twelve and reverse the accident that caused the rupture in the multiverse. As more stories appeared set in the Shadowlands universe, I decided that I needed to create a central plotline, a narrative core of sorts. What I came up with was the Oasis--and it has to have been one of my more fortuitous fic-decisions ever, given the fact that I'm now part of a very talented team working on the Oasis timeline. Thinking back on it, the setting and mix of characters organized themselves in my mind nearly as 'organically' as the shifting world itself did in 'Aspect'. Sometimes I seriously feel like these story ideas are coming from somewhere else, and I'm just the mouthpiece...and it's a NICE feeling.

Sinatra Night At The World's End
(PG-13)
Nathan brings back some rather remarkable 'salvaged goods' from the shifts, and the people of the Oasis relax, and remember... Written for Lise, one of my brilliant fellow Oasis-writers, and written because I figured the Oasis-folk needed the odd moment of relaxation, once in a while. I seem to have one heck of a fixation on Sinatra; there's nothing like taking a stray canonical reference (in this case, the fact that Sinatra is Cable's favorite singer) and running with it.

Scheherazade
1 2 3 4 5 6
(R)
Nathan is injured in a bar fight at the World's End, and for the rest of that night, Domino finds herself overcome by memories of her past, especially how she and Nathan met and came to the Oasis. Oasis-Domino is not quite the standard Dom we all know and love from Marvel canon. Her life before the shifts was a little different, and her psychological make-up reflects that. 'Scheherazade' is where I've chosen to explore that, as I outline how she survived in the shifts, met this Nathan, and made her way to the Oasis.

Viriditas
(PG-13)
Lorna witnesses an intimate moment and a painful discussion between Nathan and Domino, and it gives her some uncomfortable food for thought. This story existed on my hard-drive in different versions of different pieces for a number of months before I got back to it and finished it. Lorna is one of the more intriguing characters of the Oasis, I think, and I needed to set the stage for her later development, which Viriditas does quite nicely, if I do say so myself. ;)

A Walk Through Niflheim
1 2 in progress...
(R)
After a horrific encounter with an insane Magneto in the shifts, Nathan responds to a strange summons and leaves the Oasis once more. He winds up in a strange, surreal shift, where the potential for revelation is almost as great as the danger. Initially, I'd conceptualized this story as Nathan's version of 'Scheherazade'. It still deals significantly with his life before the shifts, but it also introduces some fairly important plot-related concepts, and a new mythology to go with Lise's introduction of 'things Egyptian'.

You Can Count On Me
(PG)
When Nathan is overdue in returning to the Oasis, Domino keeps his 'histories' updated with an account of the first Christmas at the Oasis. Just a very short vignette, written for the CFAN Holiday Project 2001. It doesn't advance the Oasis plot at all, but I thought it might be interested to have Dom as the chronicler, for once, and see how she handled it...;)

Akashic Gospels
1 2 in progress...
(PG-13)
At the Oasis, Nathan keeps a diary, not knowing if anyone will ever read it, but determined to record life amid the shifts. I started this as an attempt to get myself back into writing Shadowlands after some months away, and I've decided to let it develop into an ongoing series of journal entries. Some will deal with events that happen in other stories, while some will cover things that fall between the panels. It's a good way to fill in some of the blanks in a moderately compelling way.

Fable
(PG-13)
The story of a little girl, a lion, and how curiosity can be the most dangerous thing of all in the shifts. I was in a creepy mood. ;) That's about all that needs to be said about this. Except maybe that the story-within-a-story-within-a-story thing was a whole lot of fun. :)


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