Not only vampires

If you ever had the chance to admire any beautiful medieval cathedrals, you'd have probably noticed very peculiar carved stones called Gargoyles. According to some medieval legends, they have the power to protect churches and to scare off evil spirits. How could this mythology be connected  with our beloved Twilight vampires? You'll discover it if you read the stories of a very talented author that has not only a very good knowledge of mythology, but also a bright fantasy and merges traditional legends and Twilight characters.

• Set in stone by Psyche001 and the sequel
• In Darkness or Light by Psyche001

Set in stone's summary: "From within the night's secret shadows,a beautiful winged creature falls for a human girl.She is forbidden fruit in his world but still,he crosses the line to save her life.What happens when their worlds collide & she discovers his horrible fate? AU/M/BXE". Complete.

Don't miss it because...

Psyche001 offers one of my favourite versions of Edward: her character is at the same time so sweet and so strong, so protective and so rebellious when he doesn't approve of the rules he has to respect. In this story, Alice has a very important role and is a wonderful character, even more friendly and full of love than the original one. This story will make you dream and will give you the opportunity to explore different historical periods and even different continents. If you find some difficulties to get into the story in the first chapters (it happened to me), don't give up, this story will never disappoint you.  

In Darkness or Light's summary: "Sequel to Set in Stone: She single handedly divided the Legion.Now she stands between the army which was created to destroy her & the side who will fight to save her. The battle was won when Aro decided to let Edward live, but who will win the war? BxE/AU".

Don't miss it because...

After Set in Stone, you'll be so attuned with these characters that you'll never have enough of them. Besides, Psyche001 is a very kind writer, that updates regularly, answers your messages and your reviews, and has a very good blog, full of teasers and extra stuff.

If you read these fanfics, please don't forget to tell that "Raum sent you" and say "Ciao!" to the author from me! Thanks ;-)

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Everything started with an email

Once upon a time there was a genre of fiction called "epistolary novel". The plot was developed  (snail) mail by mail, allowing the required time to send the letter and get the answer. 

Nowadays, how many snail mails does anyone write and receive and how many e-mails? 

The famous movie "You've got mail" already showed that emails and love stories could be a winning combination.

If you want to see how this idea could be explored in a fanfiction, go and read

• Dear Mr. Masen, by jendonna

Summary: ""Error 434: Reprimanding an executive." Life changing or just stupid? Dear Mr. Masen: A story of unauthorized Internet usage, culinary delights and the goings-on at Cullen, Inc. AH, ExB".

Don't miss it because...

this story is really funny. I usually look for more angst than humor in a fanfic, but sometimes everyone needs a break. With a brilliant style, this fanfic deals with office gossip, unsuccessful dates, pros and cons of living in a big city, culinary taste and much, much more. The email format, at least in the first chapters, makes it also very fast to read, although sometimes it happened to me to get a bit lost following Edward and Bella's ramblings. So far, at the end of their chapters these good writers always surprised me, making me looking forward to their next update. 

If you read this fanfic, please don't forget to tell that "Raum sent you" and say "Ciao!" to the authors from me! Thanks ;-)

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An elegant, fine grizzly

In the entire Twilight saga, New Moon is probably the story that offers more possibilities to play with its plot: Edward can come back before the Volturi scene, or only after many years, or...never. But I think that New Moon arises some questions that are not enough answered in the original novel: lying to the person you consider "your life", can be considered true love? How is it really possible the Cullens accepted to leave without any explanation to Bella? 

In the following fanfiction, the author provides an explanation about why the Cullens left that I consider much more reliable than S. Meyer's.

• Irritable Grizzly Adams by caligula42

Summary: "New Moon AU. Edward did more than just leave Bella in the woods five years ago. Time goes on as Bella struggles to make a new life without him. What happens when they are accidentally reunited? What was the real lie that Edward told? What will Bella do?".

Don't miss it because...

First of all, this story is written in an elegant and fine way. Caligula42's prose is rich, with its own musicality, with many interesting references to classical mythology, art, culture; I've read and re-read the first chapters to full appreciate them. 

The dialogues -- especially the ones between Edward and Bella -- are often long, always deep,  well detailed. The author leads the characters in a journey that bring them to know better themselves and each other, to bare their souls step by step.

In this story you'll find also an original character -- Dr. Reyerson -- that is very important for the plot and , with his strong personality, is another sign of the talent of this author.

If you read this fanfic, please don't forget to tell that "Raum sent you" and say "Ciao!" to the author from me! Thanks ;-)

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An intriguing bookstore

Twilight readers know how much Bella enjoys reading and how much some masterpieces as "Sense and Sensibility", "Wuthering Heights" and "Romeo and Juliet" are mentioned and discussed in some key scenes of the Twilight saga. In this fanfiction, the main characters are surrounded by books: one of them works in a library, while the other works in a bookstore.

If you share Bella's love for reading, books and literature, you can't miss a fanfiction that is recently arrived in the fandom (it started last november) but in less than two months has already collected more than 1.000 reviews:

• For Whom the Bell Tolls by CyraBear

Summary: "There's a dusty old bookstore in Seattle where the proprietor keeps odd hours and knows the location of every book in his stock. What surprises hide in its stacks?".

Don't miss it because...

The bookstore and library setting made me think about Carlos Ruiz Zafon's novel "The shadow of the wind". This story has many canon twilight elements, but with some very interesting changes; the Cullen family has been striken by a tragedy that gives a sad note to the relationship between the family members. But the author can be also ironic and offers also many funny scenes.

If you read this fanfic, please don't forget to tell that "Raum sent you" and say "Ciao!" to the author from me! Thanks ;-)

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A rich and troubled man in Seattle

There are many authors that feature Edward not as a teenager vampire, but as a more mature man, very rich (usually CEO or CFO) and -- as the original character -- with a dark past and a complex and troubled personality.

The location usually changes and instead of the provincial town of Forks, the story takes place in Seattle. 

The first of this fic does not need any review, because it's probably the most reviewed fic not only of the Twilight fandom, but of the whole fanfiction world. The others instead are more recent and completely different.

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• "Master of the Universe" (I e II) by Snowqueens Icedragon

Summary: "Bella Swan is drafted in to interview the reclusive enigmatic Edward Cullen, multi-millionaire CEO of his company. It's an encounter that will change her life irrevocably. M AH"

Don't miss it because...

Bella and Edward, with all their issues, are very deep and with a rich psychological insight. 

This is not just a dominant/ submissive story, but it's a love story (and a very good one, indeed), with a dom/sub part.

Don't stop to the first impression: I read the first chapters of MoTU last summer, but I was shocked by them (and, sorry to say this, not in a pleasant way...). I could not understand why so many readers were fond of this story.
Then last november I decided to give it a second chance (err...jumping the dominant/ submissive scenes in some chapters) and I really liked it, it's been really moving!

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• "Incunabula or the Golden Legend" by suitablyironicmoniker

Summary: "A determined curator vies with a private collector when rumors of a rare book surface in central Europe. All human, canon couples...eventually".

Don't miss it because...

the author shows a deep sensitivity, for many reasons: she describes Edward's story in a very delicate way, step by step; she shows, with the changes of her characters, that true love make them better persons; she described with great accuracy Prague and Dresden, recalling also tragic events of the II World War. I spent a month in Dresden in 1998 and this story made me remind the story of that beautiful city.

The author usually sends a teaser of the following chapter to every reviewer; some weeks ago she was not able to update during the weekend and so she gave to us all two chapters instead of one! What more can you ask for?

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• "Fridays at noon" by troublefollows1017

Summary: "Edward Masen's life intersects with Bella's at the restaurant he dines at for lunch every Friday. He's handsome, arrogant, and is used to avoiding love. She isn't impressed by the things that usually have women falling at his feet. AH/AU".

Don't miss it because...

many things happen in each chapter: every update can be at the same time so funny and so meaningful (for example, I was impressed by the discussion about the nature of love -- you'll find it in one of the first chapters). Bella and Edward come from very different worlds and try to introduce each other to their way of life.

It's also fast paced, the author updates every Friday (at least!).

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If you read any of these fanfics, please don't forget to tell that "Raum sent you" and say "Ciao!" to the authors from me! Thanks ;-)

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About fanfictions

I've spent the last months reading a lot of Twilight Fanfictions; this website is actually devoted to review them.

The first fanfiction that made me fall in love with the entire genre is 

• The art of losing by sunflower-queen

Summary: "Bella is not quite as quick to accept Edward at the end of New Moon". Complete.

Don't miss it because...

This story offers a great psychological insight, a wonderful plot and an excellent switch between Edward's and Bella's points of view. I think it's really much better than the original by Stephenie Meyer or, at least, I appreciated it a lot more!

In the first post of this blog I'd like to send a very special thanks to Psyche001, that encouraged me to publish this website. She's a very talented author of very good fanfictions that I'm going to comment very soon.

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