Shipperriffic Awards!

I'm a total shipper-- everything I do is shippy. What's a shipper, you ask? And what's "shippy" mean? Both terms come from "Relationshipper", a word originally coined to describe fans of The X-files who wanted to see Mulder & Scully "get together" (just "how" exactly varied from fan to fan, as did the "when they should"). The term was shortened to "'shipper", while the meaning was broadened to refer to any people who wanted to see their favorite characters get together in a romantic way-- i.e., the romantic tension was a big reason they like the storyline. A few examples would be Eduardo & Kylie (and Janine & Egon) from Extreme Ghostbusters, Buffy and Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Goliath & Elysa (and Demona and Macbeth) from Gargoyles, and Xena & Gabriel (or Xena & Ares) from, of course, Xena (all of these are "ships" I "sail" on) ... Anyway, I noticed that my fanfiction tended to be "shippiyish", and I usually stuck to reading shippyish stories, so that's how these awards started!

Here I feature sites and authors that promote the ideals of Shipperdom-- i.e., that love conquers all (or at least tries REAAALLY hard). For me, it's the love that makes life & stories worthwhile. I love reading about agnst, about miscommunication, about secret crushes-- but more importantly, about when these scenarios are reconciled! I PREFER happy endings (if I wanted sad, I would watch the news...), but not every fic has to have a happy ending, so long as it's written WELL. It's funny, I can't STAND romance novels. I think that when the stories ae written about something ELSE and happen to BE romantic, it's much better than romance written for the sake of itself. Generally. In any case, I believe in love, and shipper fics I think offer HOPE, something we need a LOT of in this day & age... And, in case ya can't tell from al the Spuffy fics listed, I especially love "redemptionistra"! (That's stories where bad guys become good-- I even offer another award for fics that feature THAT, and aren't necessarily shipperish! Wanna try for that one? Go here.) So, if you think yer up to my standards, or know of a fic that is, send the URL my way. I'm not promising I'll give it my stamp of approval, or even that I'll READ it... but it's worth a shot, right? ^_^ I have one condition if I DO give you an award-- to put it on your site, you MUST put the .gif on your OWN server, and link it back to THIS PAGE! Now that's not asking much, is it? ^_~

I know most of these stories are Spuffy (Spike & Buffy--"ships" are often named for the people they feature), but really, these awards are just for great shipper fiction, period. of course, it helps if I like the ship! ^_~ And keep in mind that I don't have a lot of time to read, anymore, so dont feel sad if I never seem to get to you ... But you can still try! ^_^ And check out my own fics ...