This category's reviews are the work of two people. One read three of the longer stories, and the other one covered the rest.


Truthiness And Relative Dimensions In Space by Erin Ptah

Crossover fandom is Fake News. It tells the story of how Stephen Colbert (the character, not the actor) travelled in the TARDIS at two distinct times during his life: at age seventeen with Ten and Jack and at age forty-four with Four and Sarah Jane. There is a lot of fun with ontological paradoxes and other wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff. The author alternates between the two narratives quite deftly: the story would not have worked nearly as well if they'd been separated. It's quite long and it looks a bit daunting at first, but, unlike a lot of the long stories I've reviewed for cot_tossed, it never felt quite so long while I was reading it. It's very well-written, very funny, and the various extras are neato keen. Best of all, it's written so that fans of Fake News and fans of Doctor Who can both understand the fic without knowledge of the other fandom. I was very favorably impressed with this fic and I don't even usually like RPF. Good job, Erin Ptah.


Snark and Explosives by TigerKat

Crossover fandom is Firefly. These are two drabbles whose basic premise boils down to this: wouldn't Ace/Jayne be an awesome pairing? I'm not entirely convinced, but considering some of the boyfriends Ace has had (I'm looking at you, Mike the Fascist and Sabalom Glitz the semi-canonical) it's not entirely inconceivable that she might hook up with someone like Jayne. Especially since this seems to be Badass!Ace from the NA novels. Anyhow, the author has a good Jayne voice and it's quite decently written on the whole. One nitpick, though: I'm pretty sure Ace's brand of high explosive is called Nitro-Nine, not Nitro Five.


Companions at the Chalet School by hhertzof

Crossover fandom is the Chalet School book series. Readers have to accept the premise the author sets up, or pretty quickly the story won't work for them. That premise is that in 1965, Jo Grant, Sarah Jane Smith, and Ace McShane all become students at the school, while Barbara Wright is a teacher. (Turns out that after being away for two years during her travels with the Doctor, on her return home Barbara had trouble finding a job and had to take a position at what just happens to be her old school.) Ace is an undercover student because the Seventh Doctor wants to investigate a school mystery. I've read a few of the Chalet School books, and the author does a nice job of capturing their spirit. Plenty of cliches from the books are included, in a loving manner. All in all, this is an enjoyable, charming story.


Heartbeats by nonelvis

Crossover fandom is The Sandman. It's a lovely, bizarre little story about the Doctor being lost in Delirium's realm after the end of the Time War as he's busy regenerating from Eight to Nine (at which point Death shows up as well.) It's pretty well-written for the most part, though a bit confusing in places. Since one of the main characters in this fic is the personification of confusion, though, I choose to see it as a deliberate move on the author's part. I found it quite enjoyable to read, though I'm not sure if readers unfamiliar with The Sandman would get as much out of it.


Things That Never Were by KerrAvonsen

Crossover fandom is Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. Eight rescues Ford and Arthur from the Daleks (which aren't supposed to exist.) It's quite decently written and the author does a fairly decent job of replicating the Douglas Adams style in places. I especially liked the Dalek section of the Guide.

Travel Light by Astrogirl

Crossover fandom is Farscape. Unfortunately, I've only had the chance to see a couple of first season episodes of Farscape, so I won't be able to properly evaluate this story on those merits. That being said, all the Farscape bits do line up with the little bit I've seen. Anyhow, Ace and Seven land the TARDIS inside Moya, which doesn't really have a crew anymore. Then they get involved in liberating a planet. The author does a good job with the Seven and Ace voices and the fic is quite well-written on the whole. It was interesting, but I think I would have got more out of it if I'd seen more Farscape.


The Trouble With Harry by Azar

Previously reviewed here.


Mrs. Pollifax And the Resurrecting Man by jadelennox

Crossover fandom is Dorothy Gilman's Mrs Pollifax books. It's another one where I have little to no familiarity with the source material, although I've sort of decided on the basis of this story and what Wikipedia tells me that I should actually start reading these books: they sound pretty interesting. Anyhow, Mrs Pollifax is an elderly woman who ended up becoming a spy for the CIA at the age of sixty. Also, according to this story, she's secretly a former companion to the Doctor. There's not much of a plot to the story--and what plot exists is basically this is Mrs Pollifax; here are some nasty street thugs that want to mug her; watch her meet the Doctor again--but it is for the most part well-written. Also characterization for the Doctor Who characters are quite strong: Tegan, Adric, and Five were immediately identifiable as themselves before ever being named.


Sarah Jane of the Chalet School by Paranoidangel

Crossover fandom is the Chalet School book series. Yes, another one. This story and Companions at the Chalet School were both written for the 2008 TARDIS Big Bang challenge. This fic is an AU set in the 1930s. Sarah Jane is a teacher the Chalet School, while Harry Sullivan works as a doctor at the nearby Sanatorium. He and Sarah Jane meet and start to date, but can their relationship last? While the story has a lot of exposition, as with the previous Chalet School crossover in this category the author does a very good job of capturing the tone and spirit of the books. And even in this very different setting, Harry and Sarah Jane are recognizable as the characters seen in Doctor Who.


Overall: All of the stories seem to be reasonably well written, though one reviewer's pick is Truthiness And Relative Dimensions In Space, while the other one had fun reading both Chalet School crossovers.