That's entirely possible.

For my part, I didn't register who the author was until I'd finished reading, and in point of fact I've heard some highly unflattering things about her conduct towards other fen which does not predispose me to fangirl her - indeed, quite the reverse. But I liked the story, and I liked the format. ymmv

I am plot's bitch, so I wanted to see more of the actual story unfolding rather than just the commentary on the action, though it was enjoyable to see the characters through others' eyes. I rarely read the sex scenes, either, I'm more interested by the emotional porn.

I've heard some highly unflattering things about her conduct towards other fen which does not predispose me to fangirl her

I honestly have no idea what this is about and I know Ces (although I won't claim to know her well), but now I'm even more paranoid about what people are saying about me -- if in fact they're even saying anything at all.

FWIW, I've never heard anything. Bad. Um, about Ces. But especially not about you.

I've never heard anything bad on a personal level, though I imagine her widespread fame in fandom would make people take the occasional venting about same more personally than they would a voiced pet peeve from some random person.

As for the story itself, I liked it in general but I think it involved unrealistically aggressive shows of force from the SGC when they've been proven willing to cut their losses with Atlantis in the hands of an actively hostile enemy. And the John Sheppard in my head wouldn't be willingly fathering a child no matter who thinks it's politically advantageous.

I'm with Shrift. I've met Ces briefly, know a ton of people who know her, and I've never heard anything that would lead me to respect her any less than I do, which is actually a great deal. I do think that anyone who gets that much good fannish press ends up with a number of people willing to cut them down. You can't, after all, actually be friends with everyone who has friended you, and some people are insulted by that.

Okay, despite not loving "Written by the Victors" quite as much as some other folks do, I still think this: [link] is remarkable. How cool is that?

I honestly have no idea what this is about and I know Ces (although I won't claim to know her well), but now I'm even more paranoid about what people are saying about me

Ah, I shouldn't have said anything, because I'm totally not going to go into details. This is the first and last time I've made any reference to said behaviour; it isn't general knowledge and it was inappropriate of me to refer to it - I only mentioned it to underline the fact that I genuinely liked the story, and that this response may have shown a lack of literary discrimination on my part, but it definitely wasn't tinged by fangirling.

Sorry - I was tired, and I was feeling defensive about the suggestion (which I realise wasn't actually being directed at me, but as I said - tired) that people were praising the story just because of who wrote it, when I knew fine well that I was erring in the other direction.

But, really, I should have shut the fuck up. Really sorry about that. I feel like I just made a sodding bear, and I'd like to undo it.

Shrift, I'm sure that the only thing anyone is saying about you is that you look hot in leather pants. And I admire the way that all the people who know Ces are coming down on me for hinting at anything disparaging about her. Good on you. You are good people and good friends to have.

I sure hope I didn't come off as coming down on you! It's just that I'm so very familiar with the phenomenon of fans (profic, especially) praising to the skies so-so work based on love of previous work, or else being down on very good work based on personal opinions about the writer, et cetera. I actually wasn't putting you in that class at all, seriously.

No, you really didn't - it's entirely my bad.

You know, on a slightly different note, I've been listening to the soundtrack to Hairspray for the past two weeks and I so want someone to make an X Men vid set to James Marsden's rendition of "The Nicest Kids In Town", with Scott as Corny Collins (although it probably OUGHT to be Prof X, but, but) and Wolverine as Link and Storm glaring at the "Negro Day" bit, and...I think it would be awesome.