Aadler’s Favorites —
Fan Fiction by Other Authors

Gyrus

Several writers have essayed Faith-in-prison stories, with Liz Estrada’s “the Way, Way Back” being my favorite. Gyrus is a very close runner-up in this category, and has followed the initial story — “Inside” — with two sequels, “Fool Me Twice” and “Outside Chance”. The last of the series chronicles Faith’s post-lockup exploits, and is a satisfying and entertaining episodic action story as well as being the completion of the “Inside” cycle. All three stories come closer to depicting Faith as I see her (the never-ending conflict between vulnerability, self-hatred, and sporadic violence) than any other writer I know; even the redoubtable Dreamsmith leans a bit in the direction of psycho-Faith. A fourth (non-Faith) story, “Predator vs. Slayer”, deservedly won the 2001 Halo Summer Awards for Best Crossover, and is a solid action piece even if you aren’t a fan of, or even familiar with, the “Predator” venue.
Inside	Season: post-4 (Buffy), post-1 (Angel)	Spoilers: “Who Are You?” (Buffy) and “Sanctuary” (Angel)
Fool Me Twice	Season: 5 (Buffy), 2 (Angel)	Spoilers: indeterminate, but just after the beginning of the respective seasons
Outside Chance	Season: post-5	Spoilers: “the Gift”
Predator vs. Slayer	Season: between 4 and 5	Spoilers: “Restless”