Judges' Mention - Author: letmesign

Not knowing who the authors were as we read the entries, I had no idea that entries 50 and 91 were written by the same author. I enjoyed both entries, and now that I know the same person wrote both, I'm even more impressed. The author has taken on canon and AH, M-rated and T-rated, and done both beautifully.

I had the pleasure of reading FLJ_050 in the preliminary round, and it was one of my selections to go through to the finals for the Judges' Selection Round. This entry captivated me the first time I read it. Jasper is a homeless musician, his most prized possession an inherited violin...and the hopeful sentiment that came with it. His playing draws the attention of a crowd, and he is relieved earn enough money to eat that day. His playing also captures the attention of a homeless woman, Alice; he notices and follows her. He doesn't trust her immediately--the author beautifully conveys the cynicism of the marginalized and disadvantaged--but her directness wins him over. The ending of the story is sweet and hopeful, perhaps best summed up by this line: "'I don’t know you,' he murmured, bringing his hands up to frame her petite face. 'But I want to.'"

The author's descriptive writing is what really drew me in. I could feel the chill wind of Minnesota, where the story is set. I could hear the plaintive cry of Jasper's violin. I could feel the hope in his heart as he finally found someone he could trust. Thank you to the author for crafting such a lovely and engaging piece.

~

Like Legna, I had no idea these were written by the same person! They are such vastly different stories, appealing to what feels like very different audiences. “Cadence” is a T-rated human Jasper, while “Identities and Shadow” is an M-rated vamp fic.

This story takes us through a brief moment of Jasper's human time, his time with Maria, and beyond. The author so beautifully and clearly conveys the weight of emotion Jasper is under in brilliant sentences like this, "So when I am immersed in my past, I become immobile, standing still for days at a time as I wait for over a hundred years’ worth of agony to subside."

Jasper meets Alice, and very canon-like, his whole world is turned around. Their lemon is powerful, beautiful, and the tiniest bit funny when Alice says something cheeky to him -- just as I expect them to behave.

We're carried through Alice and Jasper joining the Cullen clan, Jasper's camaraderie with Edward, his bonding with Carlisle, the strengthening of his bond with Alice.

Even though this was "just" a one-shot, I felt like this was one of the most complete pictures of Jasper I've ever read.

- Legna989 and MsKathy

Link to author: letmesign with Cadence and Identities and Shadows

First Time Writer Mention: daisy3853 with Underexposed

Every time we got an entry from someone who hadn't written anything before, I did a silent little squee of excitement and pride. It's kind of like all those fics you read where Bella has saved herself for Edward and when they finally get together it's beautiful and wonderful and Edward is all giddy because she's never been with anyone else, and so no matter what, he has solidified himself as numero uno in the story of her life. That's what it was like for me, knowing that writer saved herself for this contest, and it's like this magical beautiful thing and we were her first, well, or Jasper was I guess. I guess it's kind of like the writer's first time ends up being a foursome with Jasper, Elle and me, and well...with a whole lot of people watching. Actually, I guess that's kind of skanky, so I don't know why I ever thought it was so special...

Wait, no. It's amazing because here we thought we were going to be this little dinky contest and then boom all these people decide to write their first-ever story for us, and about Jasper. And since we love Jasper, we love that he inspired so many people to write and that we could provide a vehicle for them to get a little extra attention for it. So yeah, it is magical how many amazing entries we got, and how many of those were from folks who never posted a story before. "Underexposed" by daisy3853 is an example of one of the best from that category.

Man, this one spans the categories. It's got a JILF, a JILS, hell, a BILS, and even a damn RILS (that would be Rose). It begins in a photography class, ends in a darkroom and everything in between is a gorgeous, heart-wrenching, beautifully written story of two people who fall in love, while sharing a love for the camera. Jasper and his little sister Rosie have a lot of pain in their lives and Bella picks up on it instantly. She's no stranger to it, having lost her mother just shortly after she gave birth to Bella, and knowing she is a constant reminder of that loss to her father. Bella is instantly drawn to Jasper and feels an almost immediate desire to dissolve, or, at the very least, shoulder some of Jasper's pain. They get to know each other in photo class, and as Bella learns more about Jasper, she falls deeper in love. The feeling is far from one-sided but before Jasper can give himself over to Bella, he must learn to let go of his darkness and let her in.

Daisy does a beautiful job weaving the beauty and power of photography into the story and using it as a tool to show the deepening of Bella and Jasper's relationship and affections. Her love for the art shines through clearly in this story and yet it never becomes boring or instructional - not even close. As I read, I often found myself wide-eyed at the sheer beauty of some of her words and images, and I was deeply impressed at how fluidly she tells the story. I read the end again, to write this blurb, and again my jaw dropped and my eyes teared up. That her first endeavor could be something so masterful and moving is insanely impressive. I truly hope you'll give it a shot, if only to read that wonderful ending.

So thank you, Daisy, for making us your first. Jasper, Elle and me. We think this may be the start of something beautiful.

-LaViePastiche

Link to story: Underexposed by daisy3853

Host Mention - Favorite JILS: Footfalls Echo in the Memory by inside-the-disarray

Honestly, by the end of “Footfalls Echo in the Memory” by inside-the-disarray, I wanted to snuggle everyone in sight, including Alice (and if you know me at all, you know that’s significant).

I won’t give too much away, because the uncertainty that surrounds Jasper, and how it unfolds, is part of what ups the snuggleability factor, but to give you the basics.... Jasper is a CIA operative who vanishes after a mission. Alice finds him in an alley in Morocco, and when he wakes up, he has no memories of who he is or how he – a blond, blue-eyed guy with a southern-American accent – ended up in a foreign country. Tiny flashes of his life start to come to him slowly – “I speak fluent Arabic. And French. And Farsi I believe, though I haven’t had the chance to actually test that one yet.” – but the majority of who he was is lost. He can’t even explain the “B” tattoo on the inside of his arm.

We follow Jasper (aka. Ben), Alice, and Bella, as they all deal with life following Jasper’s disappearance and discovery in the alley. Jasper’s deepening feelings for Alice are tainted with frustration about what he doesn’t know, and I found myself reading his journal entries (a smart way for inside-the-disarray to share his real worries and concerns) wondering if each tiny surfacing memory would be what would break open his world.

Bella, his fiancée, tries to contact him and is stonewalled by the CIA, and her memories about how things used to be and how things were supposed to be are heart-wrenching.

Alice’s unwavering love and support of him, even though she knows it could all go to hell at any moment if he remembers just the wrong (or right) thing, is beautifully moving.

The contest was filled with sad and broken Jaspers, and this one – who lived a dangerous life but fell victim in a completely unexpected way – deserves to be at the center of a massive #jaspersnuggle.

- ElleCC

Link to story: Footfalls Echo in the Memory by inside-the-disarray

2nd Place Open Voting: Unspoken by staceygirl aka jackbauer

 

Staceygirl's entry, “Unspoken,” landed in Elle's queue for validation first. We alternated (as best we could) validating ALL the entries that came in before shipping them off in anonymous gdocs to the judges. Often we'd read stories from each other’s queue, particularly if a pairing or summary caught our interest. Stacey's was Bella/Jasper so I knew I was going to have to read it, but before I got to it, Elle informed me that it made her sob like a baby (on her birthday, no less). I hate it when people make me sad (even when I love it), so I put off reading it for a while. Finally, I had one of those days where I really wanted to have my heart ripped out, and so I dove in.

Elle was right, it is sad as hell. But on top of that, it's also funny, sweet, cute, and touching. It's a story of missed opportunities, of bad timing, of "what could have been." As hard as it is to stomach that kind of emotional stuff sometimes, it's also the stuff that sticks with you the most, long after you've read it.

This is the story of Bella and Jasper, who meet in college and form a deep and meaningful friendship over long lines and very embarrassing cafeteria experience. It's the story of what happens when you hide your feelings, due to insecurity or uncertainty, and what impact that decision has on your whole life. It's a story about choices and the ambiguous line between what makes any choice the right or wrong one. It's like a Choose Your Own Adventure in which a wrong choice at the first fork in the story just leads the main character down a path from bad to worse. It's not all doom and gloom though; there is something to be learned from it all, and it will certainly leave you thinking long after you've read it.

The subject matter will hit close to home for some, but whether you have a similar story or not, there is no way you'll be able to read this and not empathize - not with the very real, very engaging way Stacey has written it. She's not wordy or manipulative. You never feel like she wants you to cry, but the character development is so rich and thorough that you find yourself naturally invested in the characters and their emotions. It's the kind of story that has you giggling, screaming at the screen, pulling your hair out and eventually weeping and just wanting to pull both Bella and Jasper to your bosom for a good hard snuggle. This story is most definitely worthy of every one of its votes. I thank Stacey for writing it, and I encourage you to check it out, if you haven't already.

Just don't forget the box of Kleenex.

- LaViePastiche

Link to story: Unspoken by staceygirl aka jackbauer

Entries: T-rated Fics

We were surprised by how many T-rated fics, which don't tend to be the favorite of the majority, were entered. Four of them even went on to the Final Round of Open Voting.

Here are those 33 entries.