I think I read that fanfic too, Labby! Ages ago. I don't suppose you have a link . . . ?

And I absolutely agree about the dash. It's bad enough that em-dashes are relatively difficult to insert (outside of Word, at least). But if you're going to use one (or two) hyphens instead of the em-dash (which I do as well), at least put spaces around 'em!

"Language was hard. Bending space-time was not."
-Mary Robinette Kowal