Spontaneous Musings

Heh, yeah, I went back and edited my post after that because I assumed I hadn't been clear about what I was asking. My first response was "...okay...". ;>

As for my favorite essayists (and oh, you are so right that people rarely talk about this--well, outside the Ford, anyway), it's hard to say, but here goes:

1. You. ;>
2. Manwitch. Oh, how I loved his series on Buffy's Spiritual Journey, and was sorry when he stopped doing it.
3. The epic episode analyses of atpotch.
4. Caroline/habiti--I used to scour the board avidly for her posts.
5. aycheb, now happily at the Ford as well, has written some amazing analyses of various aspects of the series.
6. alcibiades (aka abrakadabrah) did that fantastic essay on Escher.
7. Sylvia Volk has written some terrific stuff about narrative structure, which is also in the Vault at the Ford.
8. I always enjoy molly_may's episode analyses, even when I don't agree with her. Which isn't all that often, actually.
9. revdorothy writes about family and religion in the Jossverse, and is doing her dissertation on Buffy.
10. macha3, or just plain macha, is probably the most erudite person writing essays in fandom. Her work is just amazing. If she weren't so darned cuted she'd intimidate the hell out of me. ;>

Huh. You know, I could keep going, but I'll stop there. It's reassuring to see I can name so many off the top of my head.