Aadler’s Favorites —
Fan Fiction by Other Authors

Mariner

One of the few people who write thoughtful and sympathetic (to the character) Riley fic, Mariner is best known for the Halo-winning “Another Peaceful War”. This is a favorites list, however, and for whatever reason, “War” just didn’t quite strike that proper resonant spot with me. Fortunately, other stories by Mariner are more in keeping with my discriminating tastes. “Entangled”, while matching Mariner’s habit of providing character insight during the course of the narrative, also qualifies as a conventional Buffy action story; but “Hazy Shade of Winter”, with little or no action, lays a creepily convincing foundation for the eventual dynamic between Riley Finn and Maggie Walsh. True to both characters as we know them, while delving far deeper into them than canon ever did, “Winter” is one to remember.
Entangled	Season: 4	Spoilers: between “Who Are You?” and “Where the Wild Things Are”
Hazy Shade of Winter	Season: N/A (pre-canon)	Spoilers: none