My Favorite Top Ten Stories on
The Mystic Muse

by Susan

I just want to say that love ALL the stories on both of my sites The Mystic Muse and Forever Faith, but certain ones just seem to stick out and I wanted to share them with my guests. So without further ado, here's my top ten favorite fic list. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

—Susan

1. Terra Firma by Tulipp
   The first time I read this wonderful story by Tulipp I thought I was never going to stop crying. Emotional fan fiction...who'd have thought! Tara mysteriously returns three months after her death and has to deal with a shattered Willow and the suspicious Scoobies. The most poignant scene is where Willow confesses her crimes to Tara and Tulipp managed to bring out every heart-rending emotion using as few words as possible. Along with CN Winters, Tulipp is the most talented author featured on The Mystic Muse. Be sure to check out her other story here, Bread.
   
   

2. Season 4 Behind the Scenes Series By SpikeMe4Now4200
   I've read a lot of behind the scenes stories about the start of Willow and Tara's relationship and while most are good, this one is the best. I never thought it would be possible to write pages and pages about a single kiss and not sound maudlin or at the very least boring, but Irena manages to do just that. Each emotion and each new experience is described in wonderful detail while at the same time cleverly woven into canon. I look forward to the next and final update, but I'll be sad to see the series end. Hopefully, we'll have lots more in the future from this wonderful author.
   
   

3. Rising From the Wreckage by The Megawitches Round Robin
   With some of the best authors in the Buffy fan fiction universe writing this, how can it NOT be good? Talent aside, it's a great story and a great concept and a great way to rewrite the mess of Season Six. Plus, how can anyone resist a good Buffy/Willow/Tara threesome?
   
   

4. The Game Series by Crys Loch
   I read the first seven parts of this series months ago when I first got into Buffy fan fiction. When time passed without seeing an update, I popped an email off to the author, but didn't get a reply until recently. She said I'd inspired her to continue writing and the eighth chapter is the result. It's moments like that which make all the work I put into The Mystic Muse more than worth it. Anyway, check out this story…it's got it all and the fact that it appears in six categories of the Subject Index just proves it.
   
   

5. Tough Love by CN Winters
   CN wrote this story in response to a teen who wanted to see a realistic story of the kinds of discrimination Willow and Tara must have faced, but which we never got to see in the rosy world of canon. CN managed to poignantly capture exactly what all the Scoobies go through when one of their own is the victim of a hate crime.
   
   

6. Birthright by Loki
   Of all the new Kennedy fics out there, this one is amongst the best. Kennedy describes the exact moment she's called as the Slayer and in the next moment dreads having to tell Buffy and Willow, both of whom weep—Buffy for Faith and Willow for Kennedy. I love the scene where Buffy reveals to Kennedy the secret to Slaying…love. Loki also has some other great stories on The Mystic Muse including the only male slash fic Spark.
   
   

7. Curfews for Cowgirls by Buffonia
   I admit I'm amongst the few Buffy/Tara 'shippers out there, but this one really caught my fancy despite it's even stranger pairing…Faith and Tara. I guess it's the combination of bad girl/good girl that makes it work. Curfews goes back to Tara's past just after her mother died, when she went rebellious and ends up being saved by a vampire slayer on her way out to seek sanctuary in California. Actually, I couldn't decide which Faith/Tara story I liked better…equally good is Are You Experienced? by Dasha K where Tara tells Willow about her first time and poor Willow freaks when she learns who Tara's first was.
   
   

8. Turned by JustSkipIt
   Other than my own The Witch and the Sorceress, this is my favorite Vampire Tara story. (Actually, I'm pretty fond of Zahir's Never the Twain, but he's not on The Mystic Muse...yet!) JustSkipIt manages to write some of the best vampire eroticism I've read since Medea's Masters and Minions series. I was very happy to host her stories here. Be sure to check out her other, equally good fics, Please and Two Days.
   
   

9. Show Me by CN Winters and Susan Carr
   Okay, I know it's kinda cheesy adding one of my own stories to my list of favorite fics, but in all fairness I was a co-author and CN did do most of the work. And besides, I had so much fun working with her on it, I can't help but love it. It's safe to say that this little PWP with a moral is amongst the most drool inspiring of all the wonderful fics on The Mystic Muse.
   
   

10. Ice Cream Dreams by CN Winters
    I'm starting to wonder at the number of times CN has appeared in this list…hmmm. However, I wanted to include Ice Cream Dreams in this list not only because it's the only X rated fic on The Mystic Muse, but also because it's one of the few het fics I like. (I just added another one…As in 'Recent' by Nautibitz…I love it when Spike accuses Buffy of making her motivational speeches to hide the fact the two of them are boffing like bunnies.) Whenever someone wants a good example of PWP, I point them to Ice Cream Dreams.