2006 Orion Awards:
Categories and Nominations

by Dim Aldebaran

The 2006 Orion Awards Nominations

By Dim Aldebaran

This year our turnout has been spectacular so far, with almost fifty authors represented in more than seventy fics, for a total of 120 nominations! The nomination masterlist may be viewed here.

However, with five days left to nominate, more are always appreciated! If you have a fav fic that has not been represented as of yet, please don’t hesitate to nominate it, even if you fear that it might be ought of its depth. If you like it, then chances are that it is exactly the kind of fic we seek to honor in the Orion Awards. Please use our nomination form, or our nomination board at the Orion Awards forum.

Later on this year, many of these categories and fics will be included in the People’s Choice Awards. Polls for this will be open from January 20^th to February 20^th at the Orion Awards forums. Anyone can vote, even those who do not choose to register, and the votes are completely anonymous. It only takes a moment, so please take the time to express your opinion in the People’s Choice Awards!

BEST OVERALL

Best Overall is the most prestigious of the Orion Awards: those fics nominated represent the very best that the AF fandom has to offer, and most of these fics have multiple nominations in other categories as well. There will also be a corresponding set of People’s Choice Awards for this category.

Nominations in this category include AgiVega’s AH epic The Sword of God and The White Lily’s fascinating conceptual pair The Mother of Invention and On Becoming an Axiom. The Humble Mosquito has two fics nominated in this as well, Forsythia and Cúchulainn, both detailing the depths to which Artemis can be driven to. Blue Yeti’s Serendipity presents a new, very fresh perspective on Butler and Juliet’s relationship. hollybridgetpeppermint’s ArtemisHollyThing and Usuani_theslayer’s Artemis Fowl:A love Story both represent a lighter take on affairs. Genghis Khan’s Classic vs Rock presents a humorous take on Artemis and music. Ever1’s A Crowd by contrast presents a sumptuous tale of teenage relationships. Dreamlight’s The Narcissus Flower is a delicate AH, and Know My Dark’s Artemis Fowl and the Last Atlantis is bold and rich as Colfer himself may have written it.

TYPE

Best Songfic

Songfics are a common enough type of story. However, so few of them are done with any amount of quality, which is what makes these especially worthwhile to read.

Serpentira’s The Most Unbelievable Blue Eyes is a delicate and sweet AFOC, but by contrast ckontowderdon32’s Changed is dark and dramatic take on AH and AM. Moriko-Demon’s Giving It Up For You explores Artemis’s conscience through a dream. Blue Yeti’s Serendipity is an expansive, humanistic exploration of Butler, and of his real relationship with Juliet…

Best Drabble

Best Drabble is a new category in the Orion Awards, but it is by no means underrepresented, with drabble archives and communities cropping up all over the fandom.

Kitty Rainbow’s Surrogate is an understated drabble touching on Angeline’s insanity. TrunkZy’s Butler and Dim Aldebaran’s My Dante shows a variety of flashes of an impassioned Butler. Graysong, by Dim Aldebaran, is a stream of conscious work—of a troll! FairyHunter’s Reflection and The White Lily’s On Becoming An Axiom touch on what Artemis could love—and how he would deal with it. Smidgie’s Angels and Demons plays on Holly as an avenging angel. Dreamlight’s The Narcissus Flower is a flowing abstract on AH.

Best Shortfic

Oneshots are the predominant genre in the fandom, and this is another category with many a worthy nomination.

The White Lily’s conceptual maze The Mother of Invention and her twisted, beautiful Watching are two such nominations. Blue Yeti’s theme-and-variation HollyJuliet Dreamwalking and her lush, sumptuous Aquarium are another pair with many other nominations. Dim Aldebaran’s tight, emotive Hyacinth and her exploration of Opal’s insanity in Echoes of the White Narcissus are another pair. To end the pair theme, The Humble Mosquito’s Forsythia and Cúchulainn are both complex, somewhat controversial fics dealing with Artemis, morality, and exactly how much a genius can take. Olynara Sedai’s Unique and Forgotten-Heart’s Empathy are both complex, emotionally rich explorations of Artemis’s sense of identity. On a lighter note, Lessa and Ryn strike again with an adorable fic on what exactly Artemis thinks of females, Adoration.

Best WIP

WIP is filled with novels that have a whole lot of promise—but haven’t been quite finished yet.

Marz1’s The Demon Design is a surprisingly complex take on Artemis in adventures. shadowgirlVG’s The Charity Case details Artemis at school, exploring his developing social life with delicious detail. Stradivari’s Blood Sonata, finished but currently revising, is a marvelous fic that explores how Artemis might react to the most startling of female presences. A Cinderella Fairy Tale, by Brizo, is an AH that takes a twist on an old tale. Ever1’s A Crowd is a focused, intense tale of the dynamics between three teenagers in love. Simmetra’s Gold is Power is a good gen fic of Artemis essentially ‘doing his thing’. Know My Dark’s Artemis Fowl and the Last Atlantis could have almost been written by Colfer himself with its rollicking style and realistic exploration of the fairy world.

Best Complete Chaptered

To complete a novel is a difficult task, but to complete it with quality is even more so.

AgiVega’s epic AH of time traveling and more, The Sword of God, is a sure example of true quality in a novellength. Kelitzo’s light frolicking in AH and FoalyOC in If This Isn’t Love is great fun to read. RavenWriter89’s The Future of Fowl is a fine action novel detailing another adventure by the gang. Usuani_theslayer’s Artemis Fowl:A love Story and crazygirliecaptain’s Back in Action are a pair of fine AH romances. KumquatBanana’s I Feel Like A Woman is a light, humorous fic with enough twists to sustain interest.

GENRE

Best Action/Adventure

Action-Adventure is the genre of the Artemis Fowl books, so it is of little surprise that this is a common genre in the fandom. However, it is a surprisingly difficult task to write in a quick, suspenseful style, having a twisting, intriguing plot and the killer—the action sequences.

Crystalocean’s The Hotshots is a good example of a suspenseful style that maintains interest with intriguing character interactions. Marz1’s The Demon Design has a concept behind it that would make you blink—if you were able to stop reading long enough to do so. Know My Dark’s Artemis Fowl and the Last Atlantis is a rollicking fic written just as Colfer might have. AgiVega’s The Sword of God differs from these three, in that it lacks the lightness. Rather, this conceptually all-encompassing epic on time travel takes its strength from a suspense that really hits you where it hurts—your head.

Best AU

AU is a fascinating genre, in manipulating canon to see how changing one slight detail might change the entire universe—dropping the stone in the pond to see the ripples. Though it is only (so far!) represented by two nominations, they are clearly deserving.

FairyHunter’s Security toys with a decidedly different way Butler and Artemis could have been reunited in TEC to a heart-wrenching, but logical, end. Blue Yeti’s Dreamwalking uses a theme-and-variation structure to play with not one alternate universe, but dozens, walking through each and every one with an attention to detail and a sense of inevitability that leaves one weak and trembling by the final line…

Best Angst

Angst is another popular genre. After all, who wouldn’t want to toy with a bit of angst in the midst of so much trauma and pain that is half-forgotten by Colfer himself?

Synthetic Humanity’s SugarCoated and Forgotten-Heart’s Empathy both present images of a broken Artemis, the former with a raw, blank style and the latter with a rich elegance. Dim Aldebaran’s Penthesileia and Droplets of Grey’s The Speed of the Seasons are both emotional takes on the inevitable end of love. The White Lily’s Watching is a masterpiece of all the things that go unsaid in tangled relationships, but by contrast her The Mother of Invention states the emotions fairly up front, but they lose none of their potency because of it. Annoying Schizoid’s Children of Sodom and Gomorrah explores Angeline’s sense of morality with an understatement that only doubles the punch. Dim Aldebaran’s Echoes of the White Narcissus details Opal’s madness as seen by a succession of admirers—and finally, by herself. Her Tartarus, a poem, explores Artemis and suicide and what must happen between. Linwen’s Baby Blues, though somewhat understated, still presents with an authenticity that in many others is covered with melodrama. Olynara Sedai’s Unique details Artemis’s fear regarding his lack of sense of identity—and how this must present to the world.

Best Drama

Honestly, who doesn’t like a little drama in their stories, that added interest? This category will be combined with Best Angst in the People’s Choice Awards later this year.

The Humble Mosquito’s controversial pair Forsythia and Cúchulainn both deal to what depths that Artemis can be driven to—from torturing a friend to death to an act of terrorism. Blue Yeti’s rich, all-encompassing Aquarium follow a twisted love triangle to its inevitable end. Linwen’s understated Baby Blues touches on arguably the most underappreciated character in the fandom—Angeline.

Best Crossover

Crossovers in this fandom usually have something to do with “Colfer’s gang” meeting “Rowling’s gang”, usually by the way of Artemis going to Hogwarts and following the ensuing chaos. However, all of the crossovers here present crossovers that are very different from the norm, whether by placing them in a different crossover entirely, or by mussing with the time frame in HP.

The Humble Mosquito’s A Man Walks Into A Bar is a quirky fic using an unusual timeframe in both AF and HP—and oft forgotten characters from each. Lessa and Ryn’s Der Letzte Tanze uses a Death taken from the obscure play “Elisabeth” and relates an incident between him and none other than Artemis himself. hollybridgetpeppermint’s Star Wars Fic is a rolling, light take on what would happen if—you guessed it—Star Wars characters met with Artemis and company. By contrast, FairyHunter’s Solving Riddle is a chilling exploration of the inevitabilities involved in putting two ambitious genii together—especially if one of them isn’t so evil, and the other has plans to be something more... Similarly, Blue Yeti’s untitled series of sentences toy with the complications in putting Artemis with a similar character, Will Parry from the His Dark Materials universe.

Best Humour

Humor is a surprisingly difficult thing to write. Not only must one have the head for what really makes people laugh, but one must also know how to write it without driving everyone hideously out-of-character. These fics, however, manage to avoid that fatal pitfall and deliver side-splitting performances.

Black Knight’s An Unexpected Visit toys not only with the idea of a repentant Spiro, but with Artemis’s startled reaction to it. Lessa and Ryn’s Adoration is a cute fic detailing what Artemis thinks of all the fangirls he must inevitably (of course!) acquire. Overdue’s Ex Post Facto is jewel: not only is it genuine humor with Foaly, but it is also humor with heart to it. Genghis Khan’s Classic vs Rock, KumquatBanana’s I Feel Like A Woman, and Kelitzo’s Wear Iron Shoes all use common concepts, but then adds enough hilarious twists and snippets of dialogue to keep any reader laughing long after they’ve finished the fic.

Best Parody

In all frankness, there are enough mediocre fics in the fandom to make anyone feel like a bit fun-poking is in order—not to mention all of the fodder Colfer provides us with. This category will be combined with Best Humour in the People’s Choice Awards later this year.

emeralddarkness’ Condensed Fowl and Carmane’s Artemis Fowl: The pointless parody of book one both pick at the original AF book. Scrivania’s The MarySueism and VampirePeach’s Stalked both have a go at that most irritating of clichés: the Mary Sue. Tora and TheEvilestGirlChild in Employee of the Month by contrast is a somewhat more dignified take on the AF parody.

Best Het Romance

Romance between two of the opposite sex is enough to make enough any pubescent female go: *squee*, especially when the male part of the relationships happens to be everybody’s favorite genius—who is notorious for his difficulty in developing relationships.

Kelitzo’s If This Isn’t Love and hollybridgetpeppermint’s ArtemisHolly Thing both have a light, frolicking take on the most popular ship of the time, AH. By contrast, Blue Yeti’s Aquarium is a dark, luscious tale of a twisted love triangle that builds heart-wrenchingly to the inevitable end. The White Lily’s On Becoming An Axiom is sure to become the definitive perspective on Artemis in love. Kraven Ergeist’s Professional Relationship toys with AH in a spectaciular bit of banter between the two that shows remarkable constraintdoesn’t quite go all the way. plasticphoenix’s Voyeur Fifty employs an unusual structure to display all of the complications and facets involved in the AJ pairing.

Best Slash Romance

Some may find slash—homosexual romance— offensive: but there can be no mistaking the talent displayed in these fics. This category will be combined with the Best Het Romance category to form the Best Relationship Category in the People’s Choice Awards later this year.

The White Lily’s The Mother of Invention brings a whole new meaning to the term ‘narcisssism’, but her Watching focuses not on love of oneself but on a twisted, volatile love triangle. Blue Yeti’s Dreamwalking explores dozens of surreal alternate universes in search of Holly and Juliet. Ever1’s A Crowd, by contrast, is a startlingly concrete fic on the volatile properties of teenage relationships.

Best Misc

There are many genres represented in the Orion Awards: however, there will always be those odd bunnies that can’t seem to find a home anywhere else, like horror, mystery or even just gen fics.

Kelitzo’s poem The Old Religion touches lightly into the angst of fairies losing their sense of spirituality with their abandonment of the surface. Kitty Rainbow’s Surrogate and Fuzzy Grapes’s Not Good Enough also have that light touch of angst, but they focus more on the irony present in the situations: Juliet attending to Angeline in her madness, and Lili attending to her parents, respectively. The Black Knight’s Almost Forever and Toru-kun126’s Lao Hu are both startling in their almost epic feel to each, the sense of inevitability in their respective concepts of the fairy afterlife and a certain Good Doctor Frankenstein aspect applied to Artemis. The Humble Mosquito’s Immure may present as dry, but this blurring between sensation and perception, reality and fantasy is something that will leave you staggered—assuming you can pull yourself out of it.

TYPE

Best Concept/Idea

The concepts and ideas behind a fic are really what give them their ‘oomph’, the part of the fic that really strains the brain… and our fandom is not lacking in imaginative authors. This category will also be included in the People’s Choice Awards later this year.

The White Lily’s The Mother of Invention has a whole boatload of fascinating concepts, from her unusual choice in POV and tenses to a whole new way of defining ‘narcissism’. AgiVega’s The Sword of God plays with time travel, but does not stop there: she expands upon all the consequences of it with an attention to detail that many authors trying similar concepts have failed to provide. Brizo’s A Cinderella Fairy Tale provides a new twist on an old fairytale. Stradivari’s Can You Hear Me Cry has an attention to Artemis’s sense of conscience and awareness that leaves one staggered. Blue Yeti’s Dreamwalking employs a theme and variation structure as she shifts between startling different universes that share but one aspect. RavenWriter89’s The Future of Fowl presents ideas and concepts that are quite reminiscent of Colfer. Usuani_theslayer’s Artemis Fowl: A love Story is another take on a popular pairing, AH. Upon reading The Humble Mosquito’s Immure one is left staggered, the border between perception and reality erased—providing a whole new way of looking at the genesis of the Artemis Fowl books. Olynara Sedai’s Tug of War toys with three characters and muddles how we perceive their relationships to the point of hilarity.

Best/Most Memorable Line

Some lines will remain ingrained in your mind forever, because they made you laugh, because they made you cry, because they made you think—or because of some indefinable aspect that leaves you puzzled as to why you would remember such a line. This category will also be included in the People’s Choice Awards later this year.

Two lines from two very different authors provide similar glimpses into Artemis’s personality from RavenWriter89’s The Future of Fowl and from Olynara Sedai’s Unique. A line from Kelitzo’s If This Isn’t Love has the bravado to poke a bit of good fun at everyone’s favorite beet-faced commander. A line from hollybridgetpeppermint’s Now or Never provides a concise, but thought provoking take on the difference between human and fairy archaeology. A scathing, witty line from Black Knight’s But Why? presents a very different way the climax of AF could have been perceived. A line from The White Lily’s Watching summarizes the problem with Artemis and any amount of longevity in a tidy pair of sentences. A line from plasticphoenix’s Voyeur Fifty—structured entirely with such oneliners—generalizes and summarizes the problem with heartbreak with a sympathy that anyone who has dealt with a bit of heartbreak can appreciate.

Best Original Character

Original characters are decidedly difficult to find in this fandom, overrun as it is with Mary Sues (and the occasional Gary Stu). Finding an interesting, 3D OC can be a difficult task at times, especially if one is trying to perfect the art of creating good OCs for their own fics. This category will also be represented in the People’s Choice Awards later this year.

“Mathew Burbenshire” from shadowgirlVG’s The Charity Case is an excellent example of a character with enough quirks to keep one interested—and to manage a realistic bit of social interaction with Artemis. Evangeline Chen Ling from Stradivari’s Blood Sonata and Andrea Black from Mockingbirdflyaway’s Cause and Effect are both matches for Artemis Fowl, the former for her subtlety and the latter for her conspicuous lack of. Frederic Berlioz from The Humble Mosquito’s Cúchulainn by contrast is not presented with the intent for a romantic relationship: rather, he is an evil character, but an evil character with complexity that makes one feel the hatred towards him all more keenly.

Best Overall Characterisation

Without a good sense of characterization, it is flat-out impossible to write a decent fic: if one does not know how the characters might actually react, how can a fic even approach believability? This category will be represented in the People’s Choice Awards later this year.

The White Lily’s On Becoming An Axiom has literally defined how Artemis would react when in love. Blue Yeti’s Aquarium and Ever1’s A Crowd both focus on a trio of characters trapped in a twisted love triangle, struggling with themselves and with each other as they are inevitably, inexorably changed. Blue Yeti’s Serendipity tackles the decidedly difficult task of characterization, an angsting Butler—and Juliet as a child—through a series of revelations that will leave both changed.

Special Notes

There are many fics this year that have received multiple nominations, which is truly a representation of their quality. AgiVega’s The Sword of God has received nominations in Best Complete Novellength, Best Action/Adventure and Best Concept, not to mention Best Overall. The White Lily’s On Becoming An Axiom and The Mother of Invention have both received multiple nominations as well. Blue Yeti’s Serendipity, Aquarium and Dreamwalking are a trio of heavyweights from one of the fandom’s most prestigious authors. The Humble Mosquito’s Forsythia and Cúchulainn are also multiple nominees. Ever1’s A Crowd is another fic that has been nominated across the board. If not any other fics in these awards, these fics deserve special commendation, and a few hours of devotion to read!