Maggie Fitzgerald and the Saltwater Drip

Fanfiction
Title:	Maggie Fitzgerald and the Saltwater Drip
Author(s):	antistar_e
Date(s):	August 23rd, 2013
Length:	81,400 words
Genre(s):	het (Gwen/Peter), AU
Fandom(s):	The Amazing Spider-Man
Relationship(s):
External Links:	LiveJournal Masterpost, AO3
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Maggie Fitzgerald and the Saltwater Drip is an Amazing Spider-Man Spider-Gwen fic by antistar_e, in which Gwen Stacy becomes Spider-Man. It was created for heroinebigbang.

Summary

Google politely tells her there are no poisonous spiders in Manhattan. Judging by her symptoms -- fever, superstrength, newfound desire to shove herself into small dark spaces, and sudden reputation as a masked vigilante -- Gwen would beg to differ.

Author Notes

Its final posting to AO3 was delayed for many reasons, but it's now here because I really wanted to post it before, you know, TASM 2 comes out in the UK/Europe/Australia and Josses all my characterization :D

At this point, it's the longest, most complicated, and most ambitious thing I've ever written, and as such, credit goes where credit is due: this fic would not exist without ammayrica and salvadore, who were my initial sounding board when I first turned to them and asked "what I wrote the AU where Gwen is Spider-Man and nobody dies?" and volunteered information from the comics when I asked; ceridweyn-lin, who was my Hapless Fic Writer's Guide to New York City; salvadore (again) and quintenttsy, my patient, long-suffering, and overwhelming excellent cheerleaders and artists; and lastly, to scrollgirl and musesfool, for providing invaluable feedback on the rough draft. And, of course, to everybody who left a comment on the LJ version. Thank you very, very much for your support.

Warnings for SPIDERS. LOTS OF SPIDERS. Blood and minor amounts of gore. Direct displays and discussion of racism, sexism, ableism, and police brutality. Offscreen references to rape, rape culture, gun violence, gun culture.

Comments & Recs

" This is pretty much the only thing I read for a couple days running, which for me is pretty impressive.

I can not say how in love I am with Gwen as spiderman. Both because she is just plain awesome, and because she actually thinks things through before getting involved with stupid SH**.

No insult meant to Peter Parker, but he is notorious for the leap first, screw everything up, and very rarely remember to ask questions brand of superheroing. Gwen is still an impulsive teenager but she doesn't take things at face value for long, and is willing to admit when she makes mistakes. Which makes all the difference when it comes to the events of the first Amazing Spiderman movie.

There are dozens of side characters, some you only meet for a chapter and yet all of them will stick with you for weeks after you read the fic"

Give this author the next Spiderman screenplay, because I would have loved to have seen this story—a genuinely original take on the Spiderman mythos—explored on screen. Well written and laugh-out-loud funny at parts, this remains my absolute favourite fic in the whole fandom.