Stories Back from the Read 2013 - The Winner Interviews | With Equestria Daily Pre-Reader, amacita

Welcome back fillies and gentlecolts! The Winner Interviews hosted by Equestria Daily's very own Amacita has been posted! Amacita and this year's winner of Stories Back from the Read sit down and talk about his inspiration for much of the story and the many months he spent planning it. Just click the link to find it on FiMFiction! That's all folks! Thank you for participating and have a fantastic Thanksgiving!

Read it on FiMFiction: click here.

Stories Back from the Read 2013 Awards Ceremony

Welcome fillies and gentlecolts! The polls closed yesterday and week-long feud is over! Four spectacular stories went head-to-head and a victor has emerged out of the ashes! Will it be the mischievous Cutie Mark Crusaders? Or maybe the clever Twilight Sparkle showing she has slain yet another beast? Or how about the witty Minty Flower and deductive Grapevine Lulamoon? Find out after the break!

Stories Back from the Read 2013 - Half Time Report

Admujica here with your last voting update before polls close this Friday. The competition has been intense and things will only get crazier before the contest closes. Dominating the competition is JawJoe's Twilight Sparkle: Night Shift, with over have the vote still in its pocket. Previously battling theswimminbrony's Your Beutifull over third place, RavenDagger's Of Steam Gears and Wings has not only beaten Your Beutifull but has also surpassed ToixStory's Freeze Frame! Freeze Frame is now holding third place but is right on Of Steam Gears and Wings' tail. Who will take second place? Will it be Minty Flower and her friends in Freeze Frame? Or will the Cutie Mark Crusaders take on the dominating Night Shift? Join us winner the winner is announce this Saturday!

Current Standings:
First Place - Twilight Sparkle: Night Shift by JawJoe
Second Place - Of Steam Gear and Wings by RavensDagger
Third Place - Freeze Frame by ToixStory
Fourth Place - Your Beutifull by theswimminbrony

Vote once every day until polls close in two days! Vote on the contest page or below the break!

Stories Back from the Read 2013 - Day One Voting Results

Admujica here with your Day One Voting Results! The polls have been open for about twenty-fours and the results are quite interesting. In a surprise twist, JawJoe's Twilight Sparkle: Night Shift has taken the lead with over half the votes! Following in a steady second place is ToixStory's Freeze Frame with about a quarter of the votes. Fighting over third and last place, theswimminbrony's Your Beutifull is slowly giving ground taken early on to RavensDagger's Of Steam Gears and Wings. Will Night Shift continue this winning streak? Or is Freeze Frame going to catch up? Will Of Steam Gear and Wings win over Your Beutifull? Stay tuned to find out!

Remember, you can vote once every day! Vote on the contest page or below the break!

Stories Back from the Read 2013 - Polls Open! Vote Now!

Welcome fillies and gentlecolts! Today four fantastic stories go head to head in a battle of epic proportions. You've read the stories, you've read the reviews, and you've met the authors! Now it's time to see who will get to take home the honorary title of "Winner of Stories Back from the Read 2013!" Polls are open from today to November 15th. You are allowed to vote once every day. The results will be posted Saturday, November 16th and will be followed by the Winner Interviews, hosted by Equestria Daily pre-reader Amacita. You can find all the nominees here. I hope you've enjoyed the reviews and are just as excited to see who the winner is as I am. That's all folks! Vote here or after the break!

Stories Back from the Read 2013 | The Contestants, the Votes, and the Interviews

Welcome fillies and gentlecolts to Stories Back from the Read 2013! We are honored to bring you this exciting contest featuring the amazing works of four spectacular authors. Before anything though, the post below contains the contestants of this year's contest, details dealing with the voting process, and last but not least, an important announcement regarding the winner. So without further ado....

FiM Fiction Review - Freeze Frame

We're finally at the end of the first season of Stories Back from the Read. It's been five weeks of trekking through the perilous wilderness that is FiMFiction, but we're finally here. Hopefully you've read some of the fantastic stories featured and going to vote when polls open November 9th. News and all that good stuff aside, when I finished reading ToixStory's Freeze Frame, I laid in bed trying to comprehend how I was even going to approach this review. ToixStory's masterpiece is a mind-blowing mix of a phenomenal cast of characters, superb dialogue and excellent story progression. It's an engrossing adventure filled with drama and suspense and I couldn't have thought of a better way to bring up the rear of this reviewing season. Fillies and gentlecolts, it's been a pleasure reviewing with you tonight.

Story & News Updates - October 2013 | Partnership with Canterlot's Finest, Vengeance of Dawn featured, Stories Back From the Read Polls Open Soon, Nightmare Nights Dallas

I've never had a character other than one of the Mane 6 get on the header. Maybe I'm running out of banner inspiration. Or Cheerilee "convinced" me with her sensuous looks. Either way, we have a Cheerilee banner! Not only that but we have some awesome updates including a poster for the Stories Back From the Read contest, a word from our new partner, Canterlot's Finest, and some panel news! Get get this stuff and more below!

FiM Fiction Review - Twilight Sparkle: Night Shift

I would say this is a fitting piece with Halloween around the corner. Think of it like this: Abraham the Vampire Slayer has a child with Fringe and Fringe cheats on Abraham the Vampire Slayer with My Little Pony. The fetuses joined in the womb and created this story. Did I mention I'm horribly sleep deprived? JawJoe's Twilight Sparkle: Night Shift is quite the adventure filled with conspiracy involving horrific monsters and dark magic. Twilight Sparkle has to use her wits and magic to not only defeat these terrifying creatures of the night, but also track down the mare behind them. Night Shift is a decent story that does it's job well. It's episodic style is attractive and the conflict is interesting and  progresses nicely. Dialogue can get a bit rough in the slower conversations; not flowing naturally in many places. Most scenes are visualized excellently and play into the fear factor well. Although there aren't any glaring issues on the surface, Night Shift has no shortage of problems. Onward to the review!

FiM Fiction Review - Your Beutifull

Welcome back everypony! The thing with this Stories Back to the Read series is that it's sort of like going through your old record collection. The nostalgia just flows in. But I'm pretty sure most of you don't care how many clopfics I've read about my reading history so without further ado: Your Beutifull is not a story that revolutionizes the romance genre, but it does its job well and has some humorous plot elements driving the story beyond "[Pony 1] can't get themselves to tell [Pony 2] she loves him/her." I personally enjoyed some of these quirky elements and, along with great pacing and characterization, I would recommend you check this one out if you're into shipping. Onward to the review!

FiM Fiction Review - Of Steam Gears and Wings

At this point things are back to the daily grind and late nights studying with Pandora Radio as my only companion. I personally don't mind for one reason: stories like RavensDagger's Of Steam Gears and Wings. Stories like this one are a breath of fresh air even if it is far from perfection. The characterization of the Cutie Mark Crusaders is fantastic as they are plunged into an epic struggle between an ambitious rebellion and an empire's monstrous armada; all made possible with the power of breathtaking world building and exposition. Scene visuals are well baked and the overall presentation is excellent. If there was one issue with Of Steam Gears and Wings, it would be that the dialogue gets a bit rough in some places. Nevertheless, Of Steam Gears and Wings is nothing short of excellent. Onwards to the review!

Story Updates - September 2013 | Site Beta Testing, Of Age Updates, and Stories Back From the Read Schedule Update

Welcome back, Internet travelers. It's Admujica here with a hot plate of story updates. A few things before we get on to the bag of goodies: as many of you have probably noticed, Jack and I finished designing the new template and have set it up for open beta. We are hoping the new website will deliver a faster, more focused interface and get rid of those nasty glitches many of our testers reported on the old one. Of course, it is in beta so many of the pages will be under construction for the next month or two and expect many bugs, particularly in mobile devices. To wrap this part up, we need your help! If you could leave you comments and suggestions below that would be splendid! Thanks and get those updates below the break.

Of Age Chapters 11 - 14 released
Nominated Winner of the 2013 Summer Review Marathon a few weeks ago, the epic story continues with chapters 11 through 14 released on FiM Fiction. With Of Age coming to a close sometime later this month with chapter 15, it's a perfect time to read this incredible story if already haven't. Read it here.

Stories Back From the Read Schedule Change
Some important news for our newest series, Stories Back From the Read. I unfortunately couldn't premiere the series with RavensDagger's Of Steam, Gears, and Wings due to issues contacting him. You understand. So we premiered with shalrath's The End instead. As a result, we had to move somethings around. Here is the updated schedule for you guys:

Season One - Episode Two: Airing September 14 
Of Steam, Gear, and Wings by RavensDagger - Read this story here

Season One - Episode Three: Airing September 28
Your Beutifall by theswimminbrony - Read this story here

Season One - Episode Four: Airing October 12
Freeze Frame by ToixStory - Read this story here

Thanks for reading! 

FiM Fiction Review - The End [Stories Back From the Read - Season 1]

I get the feeling I'm going to get a lot of hate for this. Shalrath's The End is by far the most liked story reviewed on this blog, but I would fail as a critic if I told you I was impressed and therefore, earn your hatred. Nevertheless, a critic who doesn't expect to be hated obviously didn't read the job description thoroughly and didn't realize that hatred simply goes under “occupational hazard.” The End is at best a solid story with an excellent presentation but sub-par story elements. Even with its solid dialogue and good structure, The End is likely to disappoint those of you looking for a deeper read with lousy character development and poor story progression. For the sake of getting it over and done with, onward to the review!

News Update - August 17: 5000 Pageview Special (New series and the Summer Review Marathon Winners)

I woke up to the most pleasant thing this morning. Problematic Reviews has just hit its 5000 views milestone! We couldn't have done it without you, the readers. A huge thanks from the bottom of our hearts to all our readers, those of you with us since day one and the ones who've recently joined us. You guys are the best and to commemorate reaching this milestone, we only want to give you the best. Stay tuned after the break for our new series and the winner of the Summer Review Marathon.