I'm very passionate about good books, films, comics and tv shows from my preferred genres so it's not unnatural that a well-written fanfiction featuring my favourite characters in different settings grips my attention and refuses to let go.

I love to read fanfiction from many genres of movies, tv shows, books, anime and games of any theme, be it action, supernatural, romance etc., but I avoid fics with tasteless sexual depictions and/or slash pairings like the plague.

My taste regarding the types of fics I read has changed a lot over the years but romance fics have always been my favourite. My biggest fandom since an early age has been the Buffyverse. Stating that 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' and 'Angel' have left a lasting impression on my life would be an understatement. They sparked my interest in vampires and other rather macabre supernatural mythology and provided beautiful and realistic characters who never fail to capture my imagination and emotions. For that, I'm eternally grateful to il maestro, Joss Whedon.

Other than these two shows, my favourite ones would be 'Merlin', 'Bones', 'Ringer' earlier seasons of 'Grey's Anatomy', 'Friends', 'Ugly Betty', 'Burn Notice', 'Spartacus' and occasionally 'Community' and 'The Simpsons'.

My favourite books and films are much too numerous to list off the top of my head. Some favourite genres of films include Sci-Fi/Fantasy epics, period pieces (especially ones set in Britain in olden eras), satires, black comedies, character studies and thrillers. My love of books transcends genres and I'll read anything including fiction and non-fiction -from Jane Austen, Bram Stoker and J R R Tolkien, to William Gibson, Stephen King, Anne Rice and Dan Brown- as long as it tickles my fancy.

I'm a big fan of some anime/manga which include childhood favourites like 'Cardcaptor Sakura' (I watched the watered-down Nelvana version as a child and discovered the unedited version years later) and 'Ranma ½' as well as more recent ones like 'Death Note', 'Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle', 'XXXHolic', 'Blood+', 'Trinity Blood', 'Hellsing' and 'Nana'.

Books, movies and tv shows I dislike are reality shows, 'Twilight' (the books and the movies), anything containing toilet humour, meaningless sequels and reboots of old and worn-out horror movies and asinine parodies like 'Scary Movie' and its successors.

My favourite pairings, both canon and non-canon (many of them are in the latter category) are (Warning: There may be spoilers abound below. Read at your own risk):

'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' and 'Angel': Buffy/Angel, Wesley/Fred, Willow/Oz (all three couples are, in my opinion, soul mates and destined to end up together) , Faith/Spike (they had so much chemistry in that one scene where they were alone together in 'Dirty Girls' that I can't help shipping them), Cordelia/Doyle (a tragic end to what could have been a great romance. I think this pairing had a lot of potential). Though I'm normally a hardcore Buffy/Angel, Willow/Oz and Wesley/Fred shipper I also love to read interesting fics featuring Willow/Wesley (two people disillusioned with life and having suffered the tragedy of losing loved ones seek solace in each other. This can be a brilliant plot for a great angst fic like Edgechick816's excellent 'Suffer Me') and Willow/Angel (they were both painfully shy and withdrawn at some point in their respective lives but blossomed into great, complex characters, both have struggled with power and their dark sides and have had close friends turn their backs to them. Towards the end of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' and 'Angel', Willow and Angel had a lot in common and I think they would've made an interesting pairing) as a couple, though they are hard to come by.

'Lord of the Rings': Aragorn/Éowyn (in my opinion, Tolkien should have gone with his original decision and made Aragorn and Éowyn a couple because the latter's much more interesting than Arwen).

'Little Women' series: Jo/Laurie (they could have been such a great couple and they had so much in common together. I mourn the day Louisa M. Alcott decided to pair up Jo with Friedrich Bhaer and Laurie with Amy. Bhaer is a nice character in his own right but is too old and dull for fiery, free-spirited Jo. And words can't describe how much I hate the affected, pretentious Amy).

'Pride and Prejudice': Elizabeth/Darcy (this one's a no-brainer).

'Animorphs' series: Tobias/Rachel (he is an anomaly of alien technology: a boy trapped in the body of a hawk most of the time while she's a fierce warrior with the facade of a typical beautiful, ditsy blond obsessed with shopping. It's like a match made in heaven).

'Anne of Green Gables' series: Walter/Una (my one true pairing in this series. Gorgeous and dreamy Walter is a good match for shy and withdrawn Una), Rilla/Kenneth (I love both characters and thought they should have a happy ending together since reading about toddler Rilla's crush on kind and sympathetic Kenneth), Jem/Faith (they don't have that many mentions in the books as a couple but their personalities seem similar enough to form a good match), Leslie/Owen (they came together after enduring such difficulties that they deserved to end up together. These two prove that love really does conquer all), Anne/Gilbert (I honestly find them a tad boring but since they had so many amazing children together, it's kind of a necessity to ship them).

'Harry Potter' series: Lily Evans/Sirius Black (in my opinion, teenage James was too immature, boring and childishly arrogant to have much in common with Lily. A young Sirius on the other hand was smarter, more cynical and more charming than James, making him more on par with a sarcastic and witty girl like Lily. Also, Sirius and Lily both had disapproving family members, something I don't think James could relate to), Oliver Wood/Hermione Granger (two completely different people get to know each other, discover that they have a lot more in common than they thought and find that they share a spark), Bill Weasley/Nymphadora Tonks (think how imperfectly perfect this couple would be, with a traditionally good-looking guy hiding the non-traditional [for such a cool and popular Head Boy persona] Weasley humour inside and a goofy girl who's completely bonkers getting together). I've recently also fallen in love with the Hermione/Tom Riddle Jr pairing. Before he ripped apart his soul, I honestly think Tom could've been redeemed and the only way to do that would've been for him to meet an equal in terms of intelligence and magical abilities who was compassionate and could be a worthy moral compass and romantic interest for him, all roles filled very well by Hermione.

'The Hunger Games' series: Katniss/Peeta (Contrary to some other shippers of this brilliant pairing, I don't hate Gale. In fact, he's one of my favourite characters. But like Katniss herself says, she has too much fire and passion in her already to sustain a relationship with the equally fiery Gale, and kind, solid, balanced Peeta is who she needs to pick up the broken pieces of her left after the war and make her hole again), Finnick/Annie (This paring is tragic, romantic, heartfelt and heartbreaking and they deserve each other more than anything).

'Merlin': Arthur/Guinevere (I've been a fan of this ethereal pairing since reading a cliff-notes version of the Arthurian mythos in fifth grade and this excellent show just increased my fervour for this ship), Merlin/Freya (I cried my eyes out at the end of the episode 'Lady of the Lake' when Freya died. Merlin and Freya made such an adorable and sympathetic couple), Cenred/Morgause (I love it when villains are this engaging and intense. These two were very attractive, had palpable chemistry and it was insinuated on the show that Cenred was attracted to Morgause. I like to think they had a torrid affair sometime during season 3).

'Burn Notice': Michael/Fiona (if these two are not perfect for each other then I don't know who is).

'Spartacus': Spartacus/Sura (one of the only true and genuinely loving couple on a series filled with lust and unfaithfulness. I hate that the writers killed off poor Sura).

'How I Met Your Mother': Ted/Robin (I'll always believe that they were meant to be together from the first episode).

'Ringer': Bridget/Andrew all the way!

'Bones': Booth/Brennan (they belong together. End of story), Angela/Hodgins (too cute and quirky for me not to ship).

'Friends': Richard/Monica (Monica is my least favourite character of the main six but I loved how a great guy like Richard lessened her neurotic side and made her a much more likable person. I really hated to see them break up), Chandler/Kathy (they had good chemistry and compatibility but the writers had to break them up to form the, in my opinion, beyond awful Chandler and Monica pairing), Rachel/Gavin (I liked Gavin and I think if the timing had been right, he would have made a great match for Rachel), Phoebe/Joey (they had a great bond and I would have liked to see their friendship develop into something more but I don't mind too much that they didn't end up as a couple). I'm mostly indifferent when it comes to the 'hallowed' couple of the show, Ross and Rachel, but the number of times they broke up and made up got very tiring after a while and sometimes make me dislike them as a couple and as characters.

'Grey's Anatomy': Addison/Mark (sizzling onscreen chemistry. Mark's been in love with Addison for years and I won't believe that those feelings just up and disappeared out of nowhere. She's also taken him back too many times not to care about him), Alex/Izzie (a sarcastic pessimist like Alex needs a bright, cheerful girl like Izzie in his life and Izzie needs some hard doses of reality once in a while. They complement each other well).

'Ugly Betty': Betty/Daniel (the ambiguous ending of the show concerning these two as a couple made me think that they could pair up well romantically but what convinced me that they would make a great couple were a few very well-written fics I've read about them, like the ones written by Yahtzee), Betty/Henry during the earlier seasons of the show (I loved Betty and Henry as a couple when they first started dating and before the whole Charlie-and-baby debacle. After this they became so on-again, off-again that I lost quite a bit of interest in them. However, I still occassionally find myself wishing he and Betty had remained a couple).

'Cardcaptor Sakura', 'Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle' and 'XXXHolic': Sakura/Syaoran (it was great to see how innocent and eternally optimistic Sakura turned around Syaoran's initially haughty demeanour and how they fell in love in 'Cardcaptor Sakura'. In 'Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle', Syaoran's selfless sacrifice and endless quest to retrieve Sakura's memories was very emotional and made me like them as a couple even more), Toya/Tomoyo (her bubbly personality and his stoic mysteriousness just fit together. Let me clarify by saying I'll never read or write any fic featuring a child Tomoyo and an adolescent/adult Toya in a relationship [creepy on so many levels]. Tomoyo has to be at least 16 and preferably over 18. I only allow myself to read the fics where a 16-17 year old Tomoyo and a 23-24 year old Toya get together because of the precedent set by Fujitaka and Nadeshiko, whom I adore as a couple), Fujitaka/Nadeshiko (a cute, air-headed and kind-hearted klutz and a handsome, serene professor fall in love. What's not to like?), Clow/Yuko (they're somewhat of a canonial couple or used to be, they're both extremely powerful and flawed characters and most importantly, Clow just couldn't let Yuko die. They make a spiritual, dark and almost omnipotent couple, which really appeals to the grim part of my personality), Watanuki/Himawari (they both love each other but can't express their feelings. Very adorable and just up my alley, romance-wise). Also, aside from when she displayed disturbing feelings towards Eriol's pre-pubescent form, Kaho was one of my favourite characters in this multi-verse. Eriol is another. So, after CCS's conclusion if Eriol did change into an adult form (as some of us readers/watchers speculate he did) and he was already an adult mentally, a pairing of Kaho and him would actually be pretty great in my opinion as I really do love the characters and have nothing against the pairing other than the vast physical age difference between the two. So chalk me up as a shipper of Kaho/adult Eriol.

'Blood+': Haji/Saya (reminiscent of Buffy/Angel. The soul mate theory at work again), Kai/Mao (Mao can be irritating and Kai almost never gives her the time of the day in canon but she loved him enough to follow him across three continents and respected him enough to back-down upon learning of his mission and love for his foster sister of all people and I don't think Kai ever appreciated her or gave her the credit she deserved. I would've liked to see this couple grow as something more than a merely casual high-school fling). In an alternate universe where Haji doesn't exist, Solomon/Saya would've been my preferred pairing of this show since Solomon is both my favourite character and the most likable villain (anti-hero towards the end) who sacrificed his life for his love and alienated his own Queen and brother Chevaliers without gaining anything in the end. His tragic demise made my heart ache and I wish the creators had given him a better sending off. While I'm not completely opposed to Diva/Solomon, something about them as a couple strikes me as wrong. Actually, as captivating and horrific a villain as Diva makes, with her stunted emotional growth and tragic past, the thought of her with anyone in a romantic sense makes my skin crawl because she is at the end of the day doomed to think like a child for eternity. But I will read fics about Diva and Solomon together if it's not a central plot as he's the only one I can read about as a suitor for Diva without shuddering.

'Nana': Nana Osaki/Ren (Sid and Nancy reincarnated without the monumental emotional baggage? I'm sold! Poor Ren of course had to die a tragic death in order to be as close an imitation to his inspiration as possible but that doesn't mean I'm happy about it. Hope Ms Ai Yazawa gets well soon and finishes the manga so we finally get to see the closure that an amazing character like Nana deserves), Nobuo/Hachi (I don't really care for Hachi too much. She has grown quite a lot as a character throughout the whole series and I still can't like her but I've started to appreciate her as a well-rounded, three-dimensional protagonist, so hats off to Ms Yazawa for managing that. On the other hand, I love Nobuo and the reason I like these two together is because of how much he loves Hachi even though she's so indecisive when it comes to matters of love and because I think he makes her a much better person).

'Trinity Blood': Abel Nightrod/Esther Blanchett (first of all, they would have the ultimate forbidden romance of all time, him being a priest and her being a nun. On top of that, Abel pretends to be a clumsy and gluttonous twenty-something when he is actually an immensely powerful, thousands of years old vampire who saves the world by devouring lesser, evil vampires. Timid, introverted Esther and this amazingly powerful being with a completely normal facade would have made a great pairing, firmly establishing that opposites can attract).

'Hellsing': Alucard/Integra (while my exposure to the 'Hellsing' universe is all from the allegedly poorer anime adaptation of the original manga and the more canonial OVAs, as far as I'm concerned, Integra and Alucard as a non-canon pairing make more sense than any other. Integra is the only character Alucard shows any respect toward and a heartless monster like Alucard needs an iron maiden like Integra to reign him in. They've been shown to have palpable chemistry on more than one occasion and the episode with Integra recovering from severe injuries is the closest I've seen Alucard show anything other than amused arrogance and express actual concern and emotion for another person), Seras/Pip Bernadotte (how anyone can NOT ship these two after watching the 7th OVA is beyond me. The way Seras went berserk after Pip's death has to be the most raw emotion I've seen an anime character display and their last kiss is heart-breaking).

'Justice League': Batman/Wonder Woman (they're canon in this adaption of the DC comics universe, however subtly, and that's good enough for me).

'X-Men': Rogue/Gambit (they can't touch each other without Gambit dying. How tragic is that? Yet they make a witty, brilliant couple with little to no signs of becoming a doomed, Shakespearean-esque romance, which I find extremely refreshing), Shadowcat/Colossus (the age difference was a bit of a hindrance for them at the beginning but other than that, they always seemed perfect as a couple to me). As for the 'X-Men: Evolution' version of this universe, I ship Shadowcat/Avalanche and that's it. Two of the main X-Men characters, Cyclops and Jean Grey have always seemed dull to me, both as individuals and as a couple in every version of X-Men I've read/watched, and I have never been able to muster up anything more than apathy for them.

Pairings I don't like at all that are often canon and/or fan-favourites include Buffy/Spike and Connor/Cordelia (she was his mother figure. I'll never understand how the writers could make them have a relationship, however brief. That fact that Cordelia was possessed by Jasmine doesn't make this couple any less disturbing) from the Buffyverse, Barney/Robin from 'How I Met Your Mother', George/Izzie and Lexie/Mark (I consider these two couples boring and agree with Katherine Heigl in them being 'Nothing more than a ratings ploy.') from 'Grey's Anatomy', Chandler/Monica (I hated how bossy and overly controlling Monica became after they started dating and how Chandler, my once favourite character, became much less funny and almost subservient to Monica) from 'Friends', Bill/Fleur (she's too obnoxious for a great guy like Bill), Lily Evans/James Potter and Ron/Hermione (out of the two main couples in this series, I kind of like Harry and Ginny together though I don't ship them. However, I think Ron and Hermione don't gel well together. They have practically nothing in common and had terrible arguments throughout most of the books. Why or how they would develop feelings for each other is beyond me) from the 'Harry Potter' series, Arthur/Morgana (they're half-siblings! It's sick to think of them in any romantic proximity whatsoever. Even in the legends, it was originally Morgause with whom Arthur fathered Mordred and not Morgana, which as far as I know is a rather recent invention and a part of the stories I'm more than happy to ignore) from 'Merlin', Syaoran/Meiling (they're first cousins for heaven's sake!) and Rika/Terada and Kaho/child Eriol (with these canon pairings, CLAMP went too far. They hurled weird couples and crushes at the readers left and right, from illogical slash to Meiling's feelings for Syaoran but pairing up adults with pre-teens is beyond disgusting. I don't care that Eriol is mentally an adult, he has a child's body and no matter how you look at it, Terada and Kaho are being portrayed as legitimate pedophiles, even though the writers claim their love is nothing but 'pure') from 'Cardcaptor Sakura', Alucard/Seras (at best Seras is Alucard's pupil and at worst his submissive, docile pet. A pairing with partners on such unequal footing never works out and the only way I've seen Alucard treat Seras is like his daughter at most) from 'Hellsing', Kai/Saya (how Kai developed romantic feelings for his foster sister all of a sudden after treating her exactly like his little brother Riku for the majority of the show I'll never know. His completely out of character crush on Saya has to be one of the only flaws of this otherwise excellent anime) from 'Blood+', Hachi/Takumi (literally the ONLY couple from this series I cannot stand. Takumi has to be one of the most selfish fictional, non-villain characters I've ever encountered and who doesn't show the slightest inkling of redeeming himself at any stage. Why anyone would be attracted to that cad is beyond me) from 'Nana' and Booth/Camille from 'Bones'.