Field Reports

Bela LeBeau's Journey is a look at Gambit's dark and desolate future as the Witness and the beginnings of the warrior called Bishop. It's a story that's full of such brutally beautiful atmosphere, full of lost ghosts, of life and fight fading out into desert -- all very intangible terms, but the careful prose anchors the reader right in the middle of it all. I kept imagining The Dark Tower, or even Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome -- and since these are two masterpieces of the journey story, being reminded of them is a Very Good Thing.

ETA: As of January 2012, I can't find this story anywhere on the Internet. Link help would be appreciated!

Valerie Jones is a Gambit-centric writer, both in her Betrayal universe and the Two Thieves universe (see prev. link) she shares with Lori McDonald (who is also fabulous), as well as in her X-Men/X-Files crossover -- all of which are simply stunning. I'll only talk about the Betrayal stories here because they were how I first discovered Valerie.

Betrayal has plot like there's no tomorrow -- time travel, paradox, action, romance, revelation, loss, sorrow, heroes and villains who possess deep reserves of complexity and humanity. It ought to be required reading for anyone, in any fandom. The only drawback to reading Valerie is that none of the series are finished (although there is plenty of material to read).

NOTE: Valerie has apparently evaporated from the web, and I've only been able to find a copy of the first story in the Betrayal arc at fanfiction.net. I'd appreciate pointers to the other stories.

ETA: As of January 2012, the third and last story in the Betrayal series is being updated here at FF.net.