Rhapsody
Stories nominated in 2006
Autumn Hunter : Genres: Romance: Fixed-length ficlet (Story Info)
Letters in the sand : Races: Elves: Feanorians (Story Info)
Oaths Foresworn : Times: First Age and Prior - First Place (Story Info)
Of Flustering and Blustering : Races: Cross-Cultural: With Hobbits - Honorable Mention (Story Info)
Requiem : Times: First Age and Prior: Incomplete (Story Info) WIP
Shattered Twilight : Genres: Drama: First Age Elves - First Place (Story Info)
Swan Dance : Times: First Age and Prior: Fixed-Length Ficlet - First Place (Story Info)
The Gift of Time : Genres: Drama: Pre-Fellowship - Second Place (Story Info)
The question of being fair : Genres: Humor: Fixed-Length Ficlet (Story Info)
Reviewed by: Marigold -- Score: 2
Rhapsody has an extensive knowledge of canon, and this strengthens every story that she write. Her tales are well concieved and highly descriptive.
Reviewed by: Marta -- Score: 6
It amazes me that Rhapsody, as an author who writes English as a second language, should write it so affectively in short forms like drabbles. I don't think that I've read a multi-chaptered piece by her because I tend to more or less stick to Third Age stuff, and I'm sure she can write longer pieces just as convincingly. But when you're writing drabbles or pieces that aren't that longer, then every word has to count. And Rhapsody is one of the best drabblists I know; her pieces always pack a punch in their short length and never feel rushed. More than that, she is one of those authors that has made the Third Age come to life for me. Her characterizations are vivid and fallible in ways that fit the elves she's writing about. I had a hard time remembering which son of Feanor was which before I read stuff by authors like Rhapsody. She has definitely enhanced Tolkien's world for me.
Reviewed by: Alassante -- Score: 10
Rhapsody is one of the most versatile and amazing writers in Lord of the Rings Fan Fiction that I know. She writes about so many characters and manages to pull it off every time. Some people can only write hobbits. Others can only write men or elves. She’s written men, elves, women, hobbits, HORSES, even Valar and managed to nail it. In the time that I have known her I have watched her grow so much as a writer, I am in awe. At first I was always impressed with the fact that she was an ESL writer and does it so well now, most people would never know English wasn’t her first language. Now that I know her as well as I do, I realize her writing has so much of her heart and her love for each character in it. She will research something to the very smallest detail but still manages to put so much emotion into her writing; you don’t even realize how much research she might have done for it. Her brain and her heart work in perfect concert together to write a story, whether it is one hundred words long or multi-chapters, you always feel the full impact of what she was trying to convey. I have not read one of her stories and felt like something was missing which in drabbles and short stories is so difficult. I personally struggle with writing short stories at all. I cannot get all my characterizations, details, and the events all in just a few pages. Rhapsody does not have this problem. I also love the way she takes an itty-bitty detail or gap filler and turns it into a real gem. Writing about a dog or horse, Fëanor’s letters (Letters in the Sand), Arathorn delivering tragic news to a new widow and her children, Bilbo’s growing obsession with the ring, all little plot bunnies that she turned into a brilliantly engaging story. Of all of her stories the one that struck me the most is Oaths Foresworn. I do not think I can rave about this one enough. Why it struck me so much was the emotion in it. A story that can make me cry every time I read it and if anyone asks about stories about Maglor, it is the first one I recommend. Her Maglor became my Maglor in my head. She has claimed that character and every time I read something she has written with him as her character I know what to expect. I know him as well as I know the movie versions of the other characters just because she has explored him in so many different ways and from different angles, I have seen how he will react under different circumstances. I think certain people claim characters so well and she has done that with Maglor and is starting to become that way with Celegorm. Her knowledge of their history is immense. In fact her Silmarillion and Lord of the Rings knowledge in general is extensive. I have not ever talked to her about The Hobbit because I haven’t read that one yet but I’m sure she has knowledge in that as well. I like to think of Rhapsody as the ‘lil writer that could’. Give her a book, movie, or TV show and she will find something to write about. I constantly wonder if she lays awake at night analyzing what was missing from HoME that she can write about. And everyone knows about her rabid plot bunny attacks and thankfully we all get the joy of reading about them sooner or later.