Shards (Sylvia Knight's story)
| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Shards |
| Author(s): | Sylvia Knight |
| Date(s): | 1989 |
| Length: | 6,709 words |
| Genre: | slash |
| Fandom: | Blake's 7 |
| External Links: | the story on AO3 |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Shards is a Blake's 7 slash story by Sylvia Knight, prequel to her Descending Horizon story and part of the Descending Horizon series. It was published in Resistance #3 in January 1989 alongside A Friend in Need and On the Edge, sequels of Descending Horizon.
Summary
"Young Avon's childhood takes a drastic turn when his parents, uncle and sister are murdered by Federation troops right before his eyes."
Previously published in the zine Resistance #3. Prequel to Descending Horizon.
Reactions and Reviews
Shards (A as child) -- Sylvia Knight: Stunningly powerful & wrenching story that despite no overt sex is more adult than most sex stories. This author has a lucid style (with occasional lyrical touches) and an ability to write internal description without drifting into bad writing. She also never lets the POV slip (not faint praise at all after the "wobbly" POV all-too-prevalent in other zine stories, including some from this). The implicit child-abuse plot is chilling, and A's evil brother is a worthy villain: a nascent puppeteer with decadent tastes, he treats the family circle as a private brothel. Don't miss this story whatever other 'zine you miss. Also fits in a cycle with two other stories in this issue and *Descending Horizon* -- Resistance 2. [1]
Following on from 'Descending Horizon' from Resistance #2 there are three interconnected stories by Sylvia Knight - 'Shards' (set pre-series), 'A Friend in Need' (after Countdown - B/V, a very rare item, and not bad at all, though poor Vilakins is so blatantly second-choice), and 'On The Edge' (pre-Star One, A/B, and even more explosive and intense than the earlier story). All three men are well, if quite harshly, portrayed, and the emotion between Our Heroes is a satisfying mix of passion and vitriol, though I did miss the humour of the series. Recommended, especially the last. [2]
Sylvia Knight, "Shards" (A/oc) Sylvia Knight is a good writer; this is a well written fic and some of the stuff, particularly in the Joban section, about how the Federation treats treachery is interesting. However, at the end of the day I just don't like fandom's obsession with Avon's rapey Alpha Elite family backstory. It's not cool. [3]
[Descending Horizon and Shards]: I have finished reading first two parts of Descending Horizon. The writing is actually good. The backstory is convincing. And that ‘laugh’ part is quite funny..
Minor complaints: it’s older fandom stuff so I know the ao3 tags might be incomplete, considering it was generously transfered from paper format. But it could use some warnings, also a third relationship tag needed.
I can see where most Nova’s background ideas were from lol. [4]
References
- ^ from Predatrix at Judith Proctor's Blake's 7 site, Archived version
- ^ from Sally Manton at Judith Proctor's Blake's 7 site, Archived version
- ^ Aralias' review of "Resistance", August 9, 2015
- ^ Review by hadescavedish, 12 April 2020