Nicola Mody

Nicola Mody or Vilakins is a prolific Blake's 7 fanwriter and artist, active since the early 2000s. She also writes occasionally in several other fandoms. She writes predominantly gen & humour, and is known for her relatively serious takes at fandom clichés. Her writing often focuses on Vila Restal, though she also writes other characters. Nico explains her entrance into fandom:
:I became a fan of Blake's 7 in 2001 when reruns were shown on a local channel six evenings a week, a very intense and addictive immersion. Fascinated by the complex characters and captivated by Vila, I was driven to write fan fiction to give them a little happiness and hope.Breaking Orbit: About Me (accessed 26 July 2013)
Her writing has been praised for its precise characterisations, strong dialogue, good ensemble writing and gentle humour. Snowgrouse calls her one of the best gen B7 ficcers out there.crack_van: Cheap At Any Price by Nicola Mody: gen (accessed 26 July 2013) Hafren writes: Nico is ... one of the best interpreters of the character of Vila...crack_van: Let There Be Light by Nicola Mody (gen) (accessed 26 July 2013) Nico uses humour not only for its own sake but to explore the characters and, sometimes, make serious points.Hermit: Tales from Space City #7: Reviewed by Hafren (accessed 26 July 2013) 
A few of her stories were first published in printzines, including The Chronicles 69, 70 and Tales from Space City 7. Much of her work is available at her personal website, Breaking Orbit, and at Archive of Our Own. Some stories are also archived at the Hermit Library. 
==Moderator==
Nico has been involved with much of the B7 fannish infrastructure since the move to LiveJournal. Aralias describes her as one of (for me) the primary figures of internet-only B7 fandom.Crack Van: Vila's Emails by Vilakins/Nicola Mody (PG?) (accessed 22 January 2014) She is the founder/maintainer of the LJ communities, b7fic, b7friday, b7recs, b7discussion, b7fanart & b7_rpg, and was one of the founders of the Blake's 7 automated archive, Hip Deep in Heroes (now closed). She compiled the newbieguide to B7 on LJ. 
==Example Fanfiction==
*Islands. Angsty three-hander with Vila, Avon & Cally, set during S3. Kathryn Andersen writes: Good characterisation, especially of Avon's combination of curiosity and pain. There's also a very alien -- but that would be telling.Katspace: Nicola Mody (accessed 26 July 2013)
*Mistaken Identities. Bodyswap. Soupytwist writes: freaking hilarious, totally believable, and comes complete with its own rather neat little twist.crack_van: Mistaken Identities, by Nicola Mody (PG) (accessed 26 July 2013)
*Pets. Humorous take on the Kidnapped by Aliens scenario featuring the S1 crew; one of her most popular stories. Paranoidangel writes: the reactions by the characters are totally within character. As are their plans to get themselves out of there.Haven Reviews: N (accessed 26 July 2013)
*Stunned by Love. Avon/Servalan PGP romance. Kathryn Andersen writes: This was written for a Mills & Boon Challenge; the amazing thing is that it works.
*Vila's Emails. Epistolary fic retelling the series in the form of e-mails between Vila and his mother. Aralias writes Firstly, it's a very funny take on the series as shown, but also - vilakins is a strong believer in the Avon-Vila (the dash implies strong platonic relationship, rather than sexual or romantic) friendship and it shines out as the primary concern of this fic. The silly, fun email format allows us to get another layer of 'what Avon is OK with saying in a public and private space' (this is - in addition to the show) and the way Vila responds to that - both to Avon and around Avon.
*Work Experience. Vila & Avon work together PWB. Alinewrites writes: I'm not a great fan of the "what happened before" (Pre Way Back) stories but this one is splendid. ...the characters are perfectly true to themselves... The voices are perfect, nothing wrong or awkward about them. ... there's a very clever plot.crack_van: Work Experience, by Nicola Mody. (Gen, rated R) (accessed 26 July 2013)
==Meta==
* Vila's Character (January 2002)
* Some Questions and Answers about Vila (January 2002)
* Who Survived Gauda Prime? (January 2002)
* Overview of Blake’s 7 (February 2002)
* The Blake's 7 Characters (February 2002)
* The Federation Grading System (March 2002)
==References==
Category:Fanartists
Category:Fanwriters
Category:Challenge Moderators