Mass Effect Slipstream, Book I: The Streamer's Edge

Before I even get started, I feel I need to say something.  I've always felt a little ashamed of this, but not because I feel it's my worst work ... far from it. The moment I started writing it, I made a promise to myself to hold it up to as high a standard as any of my books.  No, it's because this is a fanfiction.

There are a lot of reasons for me feeling this way, I suppose; why work on a project guaranteed to have no monetary payoff?  Why work on a book I can never actually publish? Then there's the other reasons; the slash fictions, the teenage angst, every damn thing in the infamous 'My Immortal' fanfic (seriously, go read or listen to the My Immortal Story.  Not only is it a perfect example of everything you shouldn't do while writing fiction, be it fanfiction or otherwise, it will honestly make you feel better about yourself as a writer.  Plus Bennet the Sage's reading is pretty damn awesome).

I fully admit that it's unfair to think of fanfiction that way.  There are quite a few really well-written fanfictions (such as You Came Back to Me, which indirectly inspired this).  Hell, Licensed novels of series like Star Wars, Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms ... technically, they are fanfiction, as they were not written by the original author(s).  Those books, however, follow a set of rules I feel are necessary for writing fanfiction well.  That's a list for another time, however.

This story came about as a direct result of the disastrous ending of Mass Effect 3.  Don't even bother commenting if you don't agree; it was a badly written pretentious ending slammed into a game where it wasn't needed or wanted.  A six-year old could've written a better ending than what we got, and to this day, it ranks as the most disappointing ending in a game, even with the extended cut.  As bad endings often do, it just wouldn't leave my mind; I needed to move beyond it.  That's when I realized the usual defensive argument for the endings, 'Let's see you do better', was perfectly accurate.  I'm a writer with four novels under his belt, and have already created my own little universe.  Surely I could write a story that would soften the blow, as it were; rectify the ending without changing anything that was actually there to make it more palatable, so I could go back and play it again without feeling the crippling disappointment again.

Thus began the story of Finn and Jake.  Finn is a human repairman on a small space station in the middle of nowhere, and Jake is his brother/best friend who happens to be a KEI-9 unit with an AI.  Yes, of course it's a reference to Adventure Time, but in truth, it's a reference in name only, aside from a few quotes here and there.  This is another 'it's about the journey' story (a reference in itself to another defense of the original endings), and it sees Finn and company fleeing across the galaxy from a threat from the past - The Illusive Man, whose resolution in the original story felt weak.  Since the story is set four-hundred years after Mass Effect: Citadel, I distanced myself from the old crew and built a new one.  Darsan, an elcor with a penchant for style, is my favorite, both in this and my other works. 

They see some familiar faces along the way; Aria is still leading the den of debauchery that is Omega, Liara is still the Shadow Broker and Javik is with her, and even Wrex makes an appearance near the end.  On the whole, though, it really is Finn's story, and I feel stands apart from Citadel.  While the Slipstream Series is ongoing (working on it now, in fact), this was the first book, and as such it sets the premise.  If you hate the ending of ME3, want to see an adventure with new characters (with a few new races in the mix), or if you've never even played the games and just want a fun little sci-fi adventure, give Mass Effect Slipstream Book I - The Streamer's Edge a try.

And if you're annoyed that I'm giving a fanfiction my full attention over my original work at the moment, review my other work!  Seriously, how do you think I feel when the only reviews I get are on my fanfiction?  I work on what people seem interested in, and at the moment, that's it.  I'll work on the others as I have time, of course, but for now, it's Adventure Time! In SPAAAAAAAAACE!