Shadow Unit
Dec. 26th, 2008 09:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerI've been meaning to write a post about the awesomeness of Shadow Unit for a while, and as my Yuletide present is a Shadow Unit story I figure this as a good a time as any.
Shadow Unit is, in a nutshell, Criminal Minds except the serial killers have magic; but that doesn't begin to capture how intense and exciting and awesome and brutal it is.
Yes, Shadow Unit is more brutal than Criminal Minds. Not in the sense that it's gory, although one episode (the stories are called episodes; the conceit is that Shadow Unit is a real TV show) is extremely gory, but because the authors don't pull punches.
Did I mention the authors writing this? Elizabeth Bear, who wrote Carnival, Emma Bull who wrote War for the Oaks, Sarah Monette who wrote Melusine and sequels, and Will Shetterly who wrote...something. (Sorry, Mr. Shetterly.) Holly Black is writing an episode next year. Professional and well-respected authors, writing for free (well, there is a donation button), because they love the story they're telling.
Did I mention before that this is one of the most awesome things I've found this year?
Anyway, back to the "not pulling punches." The characters' back stories are to varying degrees angst-ridden, with damage that echoes through their thoughts and actions, and no magical epiphany healing for anyone.
And they get more damaged as the season goes on. Sometimes badly so. And some of the gammas (shorthand for "serial killer with freaky magical abilities") are tragic, and some of their victims are too.
(I feel I should add, in case that's making anyone twitchy, that none of our beloved team members have died yet.Probably because the authors want the readers to really love the characters before they get offed. And there is joy and happiness and human connection, too, especially in the extras.)
Did I mention the extras before? Not only are there eight episodes, seven novella and one novel length, but there are little extra slice of life stories too.
There's also a fan community, although it seems to have quieted down some during the hiatus (I don't actually know when hiatus ends - I think January/February, but that could be wishful thinking). The old threads are well worth reading, though, because Shadow Unit fans are freakishly smart. The theories about what causes and creates and motivates gammas are fascinating.
I was oversimplifying when I said gammas were magic, you see. A big part of the show is figuring out what makes gammas tick, and with that what makes humans tick, and how do human relations work, and what's the effect of stress and trauma and life on all this? All wrapped up in fascinating, pulse-pounding stories with multilayered characters who have multilayered interactions.
Eight of them. And they all have complicated relationships with each other, and none of them are sleeping together, which is a big selling point for me if for no one else. (Some of them have significant others outside the unit, though.)
It takes a couple of episodes to get all the characters sorted out. Don't worry about it; just keep reading. There's a list of characters (with descriptions) if you get too confused, but it really is better to just keep going, because sometime around episode two or three it will all click and then you will be ensnared by the awesomeness that is Shadow Unit.
Surprisingly, there's not much fanfic yet. Probably because writing fanfic about a source material where the authors are so extraordinarily online means that they could potentially read it (I expect there are copyright reasons why they wouldn't/shouldn't, but authors are not quite superhuman and might give in to morbid curiosity) and the fic would be nowhere near as good as the original and that would be so embarrassing.
Or maybe that's just why I'm not writing any Shadow Unit fic.
Also, the season finale is quite possibly one of the most brilliant things I've ever read. It's just INTENSE.
I hope I've convinced someone to give Shadow Unit a try; it really is very, very awesome.
Shadow Unit is, in a nutshell, Criminal Minds except the serial killers have magic; but that doesn't begin to capture how intense and exciting and awesome and brutal it is.
Yes, Shadow Unit is more brutal than Criminal Minds. Not in the sense that it's gory, although one episode (the stories are called episodes; the conceit is that Shadow Unit is a real TV show) is extremely gory, but because the authors don't pull punches.
Did I mention the authors writing this? Elizabeth Bear, who wrote Carnival, Emma Bull who wrote War for the Oaks, Sarah Monette who wrote Melusine and sequels, and Will Shetterly who wrote...something. (Sorry, Mr. Shetterly.) Holly Black is writing an episode next year. Professional and well-respected authors, writing for free (well, there is a donation button), because they love the story they're telling.
Did I mention before that this is one of the most awesome things I've found this year?
Anyway, back to the "not pulling punches." The characters' back stories are to varying degrees angst-ridden, with damage that echoes through their thoughts and actions, and no magical epiphany healing for anyone.
And they get more damaged as the season goes on. Sometimes badly so. And some of the gammas (shorthand for "serial killer with freaky magical abilities") are tragic, and some of their victims are too.
(I feel I should add, in case that's making anyone twitchy, that none of our beloved team members have died yet.
Did I mention the extras before? Not only are there eight episodes, seven novella and one novel length, but there are little extra slice of life stories too.
There's also a fan community, although it seems to have quieted down some during the hiatus (I don't actually know when hiatus ends - I think January/February, but that could be wishful thinking). The old threads are well worth reading, though, because Shadow Unit fans are freakishly smart. The theories about what causes and creates and motivates gammas are fascinating.
I was oversimplifying when I said gammas were magic, you see. A big part of the show is figuring out what makes gammas tick, and with that what makes humans tick, and how do human relations work, and what's the effect of stress and trauma and life on all this? All wrapped up in fascinating, pulse-pounding stories with multilayered characters who have multilayered interactions.
Eight of them. And they all have complicated relationships with each other, and none of them are sleeping together, which is a big selling point for me if for no one else. (Some of them have significant others outside the unit, though.)
It takes a couple of episodes to get all the characters sorted out. Don't worry about it; just keep reading. There's a list of characters (with descriptions) if you get too confused, but it really is better to just keep going, because sometime around episode two or three it will all click and then you will be ensnared by the awesomeness that is Shadow Unit.
Surprisingly, there's not much fanfic yet. Probably because writing fanfic about a source material where the authors are so extraordinarily online means that they could potentially read it (I expect there are copyright reasons why they wouldn't/shouldn't, but authors are not quite superhuman and might give in to morbid curiosity) and the fic would be nowhere near as good as the original and that would be so embarrassing.
Or maybe that's just why I'm not writing any Shadow Unit fic.
Also, the season finale is quite possibly one of the most brilliant things I've ever read. It's just INTENSE.
I hope I've convinced someone to give Shadow Unit a try; it really is very, very awesome.
