Gray Cardinal (Gray_Cardinal)
Fandoms
Recent works
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All in the Subtext by Gray Cardinal (Gray_Cardinal)
Fandoms: Batman: The Animated Series, Batman - All Media Types, Miraculous Ladybug
11 Sep 2025
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Summary
Ninety-five percent of the volumes on Codex Antiquaria's shelves were simply old, and little more than that, each waiting for one of the half-dozen people on Earth with a unique interest in the particular topic whose subject that work concerned.
Not surprisingly, the remaining five percent – the grimoires, the spell-books, the alchemical field guides, the encyclopediae of magical artifacts – drew most of the paying customers.
[Written for a long-overdue prompt for the Ficathon That Goes Into A Bar: Gabriel Agreste
goes into a barwalks into a bookstore and meets...Barbara Gordon!] -
Why Me? by Gray Cardinal (Gray_Cardinal)
Fandoms: Nancy Drew - Carolyn Keene, Jacqueline Kirby - Elizabeth Peters
02 Aug 2025
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Summary
Jacqueline Kirby
goes into a barvisits a jail … and meets Ned Nickerson.Series
- Part 3 of Nancy Drew: 21st Century Girl
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Where You Need to Be by Gray Cardinal (Gray_Cardinal)
Fandoms: Power Rangers Dino Thunder, Gargoyles (Cartoon)
16 Jul 2025
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Summary
Death by drowning, Tommy Oliver reflected, was totally unfair.
I'd always wondered how Tommy survived the aftermath of Dino Island blowing up (as we see in an early episode of Dino Thunder). And then the dice-rollers at the Ficathon That Goes Into A Bar handed me the answer....
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The Affair of the Statutory Duel by Gray Cardinal (Gray_Cardinal)
Fandoms: Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle, The Grand Duke - Sullivan/Gilbert
30 May 2025
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Summary
Either the following material is an out-and-out forgery...or just possibly, Gilbert and Sullivan owe the central plot device of their last operetta to none other than Sherlock Holmes.
(Which is to say, the story to which this summary is attached raises a hell of a lot more questions than it answers.)
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Written by the Winners by Gray Cardinal (Gray_Cardinal) for Audrelite
Fandoms: Power Rangers Time Force
25 Apr 2025
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Summary
If the poem had really been written to Lucas' car, then none of what had happened made any sense. Unless....
Piece by piece, Nadira unravels the tangle of mixed signals and unintended consequences.
Recent series
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Nancy Drew: 21st Century Girl by Gray Cardinal (Gray_Cardinal)
Fandom: Jacqueline Kirby - Elizabeth Peters, Murder She Wrote, Nancy Drew - Carolyn Keene
02 Aug 2025
Summary
This is (so far, at least), an open-ended grouping of mostly free-standing works rather than any sort of plot-linked series. My goal is simply to present a version of Nancy Drew that's essentially true to the classic yellow-spine books while updating the setting to the (nominal) present day.
- Words:
- 10,059
- Works:
- 3
- Bookmarks:
- 1
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Random Plot Twists (Extended Version) by Gray Cardinal (Gray_Cardinal), Gray_Cardinal
Fandom: Birds of Prey (TV), Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), Castle, Castle (TV 2009), Glee (TV 2009), Jackie Chan Adventures, Looney Tunes, Mary Poppins (Movies), Murder She Wrote, NCIS (TV 2003), Power Rangers Dino Thunder, Sabrina the Teenage Witch (TV), Scooby Doo Where Are You! (TV 1969), Sherlock Holmes - Doyle, Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010), Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Muppets - All Media Types, Valdemar Series - Mercedes Lackey, Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?, Winnie-the-Pooh - A. A. Milne
03 Mar 2012
Summary
From the farthest corners of the Buffyverse come....crossovers. Very often, really weird crossovers. Fortunately, they're short....
- Words:
- 3,034
- Works:
- 11
- Bookmarks:
- 1
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Stars In Their Courses by Gray Cardinal (Gray_Cardinal)
Fandom: Austin & Murry-O'Keefe Families - Madeleine L'Engle, The Muppets - All Media Types
07 Jul 2023
Summary
Circumstances draw two arguably lost souls into each other's orbit - and, unexpectedly, into both a uniquely complicated relationship and a situation of potentially cosmic proportions.
- Words:
- 6,615
- Works:
- 2
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Holmes & Russell in the 21st Century by Gray Cardinal (Gray_Cardinal)
Fandom: Mary Russell - Laurie R. King, Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
05 Oct 2022
- Words:
- 3,309
- Works:
- 2
- Bookmarks:
- 1
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The New Moriarty Adventures by Gray Cardinal (Gray_Cardinal)
Fandom: Professor Moriarty Series - Michael Kurland, Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms, Star Trek: Lower Decks (Cartoon), Star Trek: The Next Generation
18 Dec 2020
Summary
This series spins itself off from the Star Trek: Next Generation episodes "Elementary, Dear Data" and "Ship In a Bottle", based on the premise that the "Professor Moriarty" depicted in those episodes was directly inspired by a series of novels and shorter works by Michael Kurland beginning with The Infernal Device.
- Words:
- 8,925
- Works:
- 3
- Bookmarks:
- 3
Recent bookmarks
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The Cross Purposes Job by solomonara
Fandoms: Leverage, Leverage: Redemption, Batman - All Media Types
30 Oct 2023
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Summary
A con on the verge of success gets sniped by an unknown third party. The Leverage crew traces the interference back to Gotham. Now the con has a new target: shady billionaire Bruce Wayne and the highly suspicious Wayne Enterprises.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 31,976
- Chapters:
- 7/7
- Comments:
- 558
- Kudos:
- 1,064
- Bookmarks:
- 325
- Hits:
- 10,146
Bookmarked by Gray Cardinal (Gray_Cardinal)
02 Jan 2025
Bookmarker's Notes
Pitch-perfect (Redemption-era) Leverage caper dropped very neatly into the Batverse when both the Leverage team and the extended Bat-family find themselves trying to keep a particularly nasty software breakthrough from being co-opted by various unsavory interests. Very well-characterized on both sides of the crossfire and remarkably accessible even if the reader is only middling familiar with the nuances of extended Bat-familial comics continuity.
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Tags
Summary
Given Captain America's shield is made of either Vibranium or a Vibranium-Steel Alloy: Vibranium must be a transition metal. Because it doesn't rust - even when lost in the Potomic - it should join silver, gold and platinum as a noble metal.
Ditto for Adamantium.
This is the periodic table that fucks with quantum mechanics to put the marvel elements where they belong. It should work for Marvel-616, the cinematic universe (Marvel-199999) and even the tie-in video games.
Or: the headcannon where the author always was fascinated by Technecium, and knows just enough quantum mechanics to be dangerous.
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Marmalade, Xianese, and Fondue by Jenett for Gray Cardinal (Gray_Cardinal)
Fandoms: Stealing the Elf-King's Roses - Diane Duane
16 Dec 2023
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Summary
A glimpse at how Lee and Gelert might have become partners.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 2,991
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 9
- Kudos:
- 17
- Bookmarks:
- 3
- Hits:
- 76
Bookmarked by Gray Cardinal (Gray_Cardinal)
27 Dec 2023
Bookmarker's Tags:
Bookmarker's Notes
This was the story written for me this year, in the world of what I consider one of Duane's very best novels, where forensic sorcery is as scientifically rigorous as conventional CSI techniques are in our world. For myself, I'm delighted; the author's tone perfectly captures the nuanced, deeply philosophical quality of Duane's worldbuilding - both like and unlike her better-known "Young Wizards* books - and the pre-canon glimpse we're given of how the novel's protagonists might have met is thoughtfully developed. The story may be a little densely written to draw in newcomers, so it's as well that Duane's preferred edition is available from her online ebook storefront.
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The U.S.S. Cerritos, Sonnet 1 by spiritinthespacebar for Rachael Sabotini (wickedwords)
Fandoms: Star Trek: Lower Decks (Cartoon)
17 Dec 2023
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Summary
T'Lyn is interested in poetry, and Tendi is desperate to impress her. Will this book of alien poems get T'Lyn's attention, or will it just turn life on the Cerritos upside-down?
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 2,140
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 7
- Kudos:
- 34
- Bookmarks:
- 1
- Hits:
- 188
Bookmarked by Gray Cardinal (Gray_Cardinal)
26 Dec 2023
Bookmarker's Tags:
Bookmarker's Notes
The answer to the above is "Heck yes," since it involves the entire crew being unexpectedly afflicted with the inability to talk except in iambic pentameter - and mostly rhyming iambic pentameter at that. Fortunately, the author's ear for scansion is up to the challenge, so that the results are both highly amusing and technically sound. Moreover, the linguistic trickery that allows our heroes to resolve the problem is executed with proper poetic precision. (And the author demonstrates that one can, in fact, write funny sonnets, which is a rare treat for those of us who are poetically inclined.)
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The Elusive Peaceable by ryfkah for Ione
Fandoms: The Sherwood Ring - Elizabeth Marie Pope
18 Dec 2023
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Summary
Dick's face was white. “Good God – don't you know how the Revolutionary Government feels about Englishmen in disguise these days?”
I tried for a smile. “He speaks French very convincingly.”
Dick groaned and put his head in his hands.
Barbara navigates her way through secrets, spies, smugglers, and several surprising encounters with her own relatives as she seeks her missing husband throughout Revolutionary France.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 9,602
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 7
- Kudos:
- 23
- Bookmarks:
- 5
- Hits:
- 226
Bookmarked by Gray Cardinal (Gray_Cardinal)
26 Dec 2023
Bookmarker's Tags:
Bookmarker's Notes
Just as in the original novel, here we have women who outplan and out-intrigue their romantic partners on a regular basis - although the men are getting better at following their wives' leads. In this story, we've moved from the American Revolution to the French, so it's no surprise to find our colonial protagonists crossing paths with those of Orczy and Heyer, and the pace never lags on the way to a suitably successful climax.