Sim Stories: Quarterly Review (Jan/Feb/March 2021)

When “oh I should do this bimonthly!” became too ambitious of a goal. Sim stories don’t stop when I do though!


The First Blossoms of Spring (New Stories)

My Life with Criminals by livinasimminlife: this is odd to feature as a new story, because it’s an old favorite being rewritten. But it does mean it’s time to share one of my favorite sim stories gone even better. It’s the story of the downfall of Rachel Colt and one of my favorite pre-made families from TS3 and the life of sin one can live.

The Branch Immortal Dynasty by Beks: a nice little challenge so far with a founder who has her head in the clouds. I always like recommending Immortal Dynasties for the selfish reason of getting people to understand me better, but I also like the sense of relaxation I get from them. You always know who will live and who will die. Beks also finished The Loveland Random Town Jump recently if you like her narrative style and occasionally bonkers gameplay.

Brightchester After Dark by BlackUndecimber: back for her second appearance on the list! If you read Winter’s Alchemy and thought “I’d like this even better with screenshots”…well it’s still nothing like that but I was floored by her screenshot game. I’m wasting time so that I don’t talk about the plot. There’s a lot of Inception-level twisted fuckery in the story of a maybe-dead celebrity that’s best left to be read fresh.


The Strange New World (Tumblr Tales)

aDOLTing by Jes2G: “aren’t you sad she isn’t on WordPress now?” Not for this post guys. aDOLTing is an ISBI that doesn’t feel like an ISBI. It has a lot of sass (from its characters) and style (from Jes <3) and the Tumblr format makes the story breeze by in a way that you almost don’t want. I honestly forget that most of the characters are not controlled because everyone has a rich inner life told through the eyes of the torch-holder. (also her founder was a fat sim in an ISBI who was not played for laughs)

Trial of Silver by Ashubii: I feel like such a proud parent. Trial of Silver follows my favorite elves from one of Ash’s other stories, Entangled Among the Branches. In a prequel sort of way, which is entirely what I wanted for characters that didn’t get enough screentime thanks to the ravages of plot (eh life happens). Ash has spent a while being criminally underappreciated for stories that are lush, stylish, and emotional. I feel like she’s finally getting some Tumblr buzz though.

Return of the Premades by ice-creamforbreakfast: A wonderful sample platter of all sorts of premades from across several sims games (but all played in TS4, the recreations are spot-on though). It’s mostly funny and a little dramatic like every good sim’s bio is. While I try to highlight lesser known-ish writers here (and fail several times on this post!), I’m pretty well aware that Alex has a large following. I’ve been following her on Tumblr for ages now so I guess I owe it to her for all the great content throughout the years (and how her TS3 CC is still in heavy rotation for me).

Unsuitable by Procrasimnation: A rare historical story rec from me! Unsuitable is set in ancient Mesopotamia and is either an intricate look at the lives of nobles and nothing else (great!), or a cascade of inside jokes from years of Procrasimnation’s blogging. This is another “omg I’ve followed them for my whole adult life” plug but even more and I recommend just following her blog in general. She’s a shockingly rare sims player who actually remembers what the community was like in the past so her commentary on current affairs in simming (and in general) is top-notch.


WordPress Stories and Old Friends

Another Legacy by CathyTea: the title doesn’t say much but Another Legacy is kind of unlike any other legacy I’ve read. It focuses on Eco Living’s content when a lot of stories seem to ignore it (including me, I still haven’t bought it), and it uses meta commentary to bring a lot of humanity to Case and his family and tie some themes back into Cathy’s life. In meatspace, Cathy’s a new retiree or coming close to it, and Another Legacy is a way to reset and give something to the people who missed out on Goofy Love during its run.

The Blackwell Chronicles by ThePlumbob: 2020’s big boy of super-hyped stories. Or so it felt like with a forum thread that was absolutely boomin’. ThePlumbob returned after a long hiatus no one thought she’d return from for a fantasy tale that is…actually worth the hype. What starts as the story of exactly one wide-eyed girl with a weird curse turns into an intricate and sometimes heartbreaking story about sages, vampires, elves, and of course, love. Also it took a lot of my time to read between work and headaches (like daily piercing headaches…) but I regretted none of it.

But the real treasure trove was going through the blogs of other Blackwell Chronicles readers and seeing what stories would tickle my fancy. Hopefully we’ll see some of you in the May/June/July/Heat Death of the Universe issue of this.

7 thoughts on “Sim Stories: Quarterly Review (Jan/Feb/March 2021)”

    1. Not to beg for followers but more followers means more reach for good stories so strangers, you know where to click! (I kid, but I have content that can get me some more of them coming up…)

  1. Thank you for including me! ❤️ Haha, I had no idea you considered BC super-hyped, but I’m glad it lived up to your expectations 😅 I agree, I have very talented readers who have brilliant stories I’d definitely recommend reading 😊

    I really like Entangled (though I’m not caught up yet), so I may need to check the spinoff out when I get more up to speed! Britechester After Dark is fabulous!

    Ooh Jes is back to writing? Oh, but on Tumblr, I don’t know how to Tumblr – I think comments aren’t a thing over there and I like to leave a lot of blurbage when I read 😭 I feel old now haha.

    Now that you mention it, I can’t think of any stories that focus on Eco Lifestyle other than Cathy’s new legacy either, huh.

    1. Tumblr ages me too but it’s been around since I was a teenager? God. I translate forum thread activity into hype but take it as a good thing!

  2. Thank you so much for featuring my (reimagining) of My Life with Criminals! I’m looking forward to writing it. You’ve been one of the story’s biggest fans. 🙂

    Great suggestions. I’ll definitely check out the other stories when I have time. Already reading CT’s story and I scratched the surface of Blackwell Chronicles by ThePlumbob.

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