your days are numbered
- Happy Memorial Day to other Americans on my f-list. I watched the neighbors ready their grills and listened to a long excerpt from Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried on the radio this afternoon.
I feel guilty sometimes. Forty-three years old and I'm still writing war stories. My daughter Kathleen tells me it's an obsession, that I should write about a little girl who finds a million dollars and spends it all on a Shetland pony. In a way, I guess, she's right: I should forget it. But the thing about remembering is that you don't forget. You take your material where you find it, which is in your life, at the intersection of past and present. The memory-traffic feeds into a rotary up on your head, where it goes in circles for a while, then pretty soon imagination flows in and the traffic merges and shoots off down a thousand different streets. As a writer, all you can do is pick a street and go for the ride, putting things down as they come at you. That's the real obsession. All those stories.
Not bloody stories, necessarily. Happy stories, too, and even a few peace stories.
- rawles is smart.
Fandom, jsyk, making a big deal about how awesome some lady is and/or how much better she deserves than the guys in her canon and how she should totally just ditch them and go do her own awesome thing, then using that as an excuse to subsequently write her out and spend the bulk of your time writing about those dudes' relationships with each other is not as feminist as you think it is.
- Like Ice Is Cold, by
gloss
DCU, Cassie/Tim, secondary f/f pairings, nc-17, c.10,600 words. Tim experiments, Cassie gets frustrated; or, two queer kids give heterosexuality a whirl.
SO AWESOME. What a freaking fantastic Cassie characterization. One commenter calls this "the queerest M/F story I've ever read," and it really is really queer het, in the best possible way. Plus I love stories that feel like stories, not just a connected series of scenes but something separate from/not trying to explain itself to the reader, if that makes sense -- something that makes you think. In the case of this particular story, it also leaves you: a) wondering wtaf is going on in Tim/Robin/Mr. Sarcastic's head and b) realizing that actually you probably are better off not knowing (as all properly characterized DCU stories should!)
Meant to Be (A Disaster), by everysecondtues
Psych, Gus/Shawn, pg-13, c.2,300 words. Shawn always interferes with Gus's life plans.
This was written for the lgbtfest prompt Gus has always both admired and been annoyed by Shawn's casual bisexuality, and it fills me with so much glee. I love this pairing for many reasons, but especially for the banter and for the dynamic of their relationship -- where Gus is long-suffering, neurotic, awesomely geeky, and also pretty much the only person who can tolerate Shawn for more than twenty minutes. This story portrays that Gus and that dynamic wonderfully; the slightly anxious shift from friends to more is done perfectly -- not too comic, but not so serious that either of them is taken ooc.
First Comes Crime, Then Comes Marriage, by loveyouallwrong
Greek, Casey/Katherine, pg-13, c.3,400 words. Katherine needs a new room, and Casey helps her get one, by any means possible.
Fake/forced marriage is one of my very favorite clichés, because omg awkwardness and uncertainty and pining *__* This not only has the benefit of featuring that trope; it is also so wonderfully characterized that I could hear the dialogue in the proper voices and so adorable I almost burst. ♥
The High School After High School, by
neigedens
Community, Troy/Abed + ensemble, pg-13, c.16,300 words. Troy had disappeared. He's already been gone one day, and he has nine school days left before Greendale's attendance policies (which are, as Jeff Winger has always called them, positively high schoolian) catch up with him. Abed isn't so worried about that; he's got bigger thoughts on his mind than just truancy. Abed's almost positive that Troy's been kidnapped, but the first hurdle, of course, is always convincing others to see what's right in front of their eyes.
HEARTS FOREVER, oh my god. Annie and Abed team up to investigate Troy's kidnapping, but nobody else in study group believes it happened! This is like an episode, only better; I'm seriously in awe of the author's ability to tie plot, comedy, and even some romance together in such a satisfying way.
Misdirection, by
neigedens
Community, Britta/Shirley, nc-17, c.1,900 words. Sort of a tag to 1.04, "Social Psychology."
I never knew I wanted this pairing, but oh, how lovely. It has a lot of lolzy dialogue, like the show, but it also has a lot of heart, and I just felt really warm and happy when I finished reading it.
I Forgot to Say Out Loud (How Beautiful You Are), by random_flores
Glee, Brittany/Santana, r, c.2,800 words. Even with show choir, Santana's life chessboard is still perfectly poised for a checkmate. Her only misstep is Brittany.
Aw, I love the idea of master strategist Santana, diabolically eyeing her metaphorical chessboard but not accounting for her "weakness," Brittany. Sweet, sweeter, sweetest.
Beyoncé the Vampire Slayer, by impertinence
RaPS/BtVS, Beyoncé/Jay-z, nc-17, c.38,900 words. Beyoncé and her Watcher Kanye go to Jay-z's mansion to retrieve Rihanna, who's just been called as a Slayer. It ends up being slightly more complicated than anticipated.
Oh my god, I love this more than LIFE. Everyone in it is awesome, the sex is hot, the action is engrossing, and the romance is delicious. I thought I would read half and then nap before heading out, but I ended up getting so involved I forgot to watch the scrollbar and read it all in one go. I could and would read a million more words of Beyoncé and Rihanna kicking ass and Kanye cheerleading B & hero-worshiping Jay. <333
shameless kink meme porn, by
shiegra/
this_heroine
The Vampire Diaries, Damon/Elena/Stefan, nc-17, c.2,200 words.
Double penetration porn, jesus god. Need I say more?
BTW, by impertinence
The Vampire Diaries, Damon/Elena/Stefan, pg-13, c.2,000 words. Damon listens and plots. BRILLIANTLY.
Sheer hilarity! I love the ot3 so much, you guys, I don't know how everyone isn't shipping it. (I mean, I ship Elena/me and Bonnie/me almost as much, but somehow I doubt there's much of a market for those.)
A Corner of Your Heart, by tigs
The Vampire Diaries, Damon/Elena, pg, c.11,000 words. "So obviously what I need to do," Damon says, "is make it my new mission in life to see that you actually get out of the house and have fun."
This is an AU-ish future-fic that does kind of handwave Elena/Stefan away (which makes me sadface), as well as romanticize Damon (which makes me giggle), but otherwise it's indulgent fun -- really sweet friendship-to-romance set while Elena & co. are in college.
Ode to Broken Things, by femmequixotic
Harry Potter, Millicent/Viktor, nc-17, c.14,200 words. "Krum's in town," Harry says finally. "I just thought you should know."
More lovely romance, really mature and poignant. The side glimpses of Harry/Draco threw me off a little (their relationship has to be hard-earned, I think, so I struggle with established relationship), but Millicent here is such a wonderfully, fully realized character. I love that femmequixotic addresses her self-esteem and body image issues without taking away from her strength and self-sufficiency.
Three Hundred and Sixty-Four, by sardonicsmiley
SGA, Ronon/Rodney, r, c.25,600 words. This is not the solution that Ronon would have chosen for dealing with the IOA.
I mentioned my thing for fake/forced marriages, so it should surprise no one that I love this story. It's told from Ronon's pov, as he tries to work out what life with McKay should maybe be like (he consults Sheppard, which is perhaps not the brightest idea). Ronon's gradual, growing feeeeelings and Rodney's subtle background longing are so well-written -- you know stories where your chest kind of aches a little? This is one of those.
- I am thinking of making a female-centric fic rec list, hmm. I would waste a lot of time doing it, especially because I would get so overinvested in it and go so overboard, and yet it would be so fun! QUANDARY.
I feel guilty sometimes. Forty-three years old and I'm still writing war stories. My daughter Kathleen tells me it's an obsession, that I should write about a little girl who finds a million dollars and spends it all on a Shetland pony. In a way, I guess, she's right: I should forget it. But the thing about remembering is that you don't forget. You take your material where you find it, which is in your life, at the intersection of past and present. The memory-traffic feeds into a rotary up on your head, where it goes in circles for a while, then pretty soon imagination flows in and the traffic merges and shoots off down a thousand different streets. As a writer, all you can do is pick a street and go for the ride, putting things down as they come at you. That's the real obsession. All those stories.
Not bloody stories, necessarily. Happy stories, too, and even a few peace stories.
- rawles is smart.
Fandom, jsyk, making a big deal about how awesome some lady is and/or how much better she deserves than the guys in her canon and how she should totally just ditch them and go do her own awesome thing, then using that as an excuse to subsequently write her out and spend the bulk of your time writing about those dudes' relationships with each other is not as feminist as you think it is.
- Like Ice Is Cold, by
gloss
DCU, Cassie/Tim, secondary f/f pairings, nc-17, c.10,600 words. Tim experiments, Cassie gets frustrated; or, two queer kids give heterosexuality a whirl.
SO AWESOME. What a freaking fantastic Cassie characterization. One commenter calls this "the queerest M/F story I've ever read," and it really is really queer het, in the best possible way. Plus I love stories that feel like stories, not just a connected series of scenes but something separate from/not trying to explain itself to the reader, if that makes sense -- something that makes you think. In the case of this particular story, it also leaves you: a) wondering wtaf is going on in Tim/Robin/Mr. Sarcastic's head and b) realizing that actually you probably are better off not knowing (as all properly characterized DCU stories should!)
Meant to Be (A Disaster), by everysecondtues
Psych, Gus/Shawn, pg-13, c.2,300 words. Shawn always interferes with Gus's life plans.
This was written for the lgbtfest prompt Gus has always both admired and been annoyed by Shawn's casual bisexuality, and it fills me with so much glee. I love this pairing for many reasons, but especially for the banter and for the dynamic of their relationship -- where Gus is long-suffering, neurotic, awesomely geeky, and also pretty much the only person who can tolerate Shawn for more than twenty minutes. This story portrays that Gus and that dynamic wonderfully; the slightly anxious shift from friends to more is done perfectly -- not too comic, but not so serious that either of them is taken ooc.
First Comes Crime, Then Comes Marriage, by loveyouallwrong
Greek, Casey/Katherine, pg-13, c.3,400 words. Katherine needs a new room, and Casey helps her get one, by any means possible.
Fake/forced marriage is one of my very favorite clichés, because omg awkwardness and uncertainty and pining *__* This not only has the benefit of featuring that trope; it is also so wonderfully characterized that I could hear the dialogue in the proper voices and so adorable I almost burst. ♥
The High School After High School, by
neigedens
Community, Troy/Abed + ensemble, pg-13, c.16,300 words. Troy had disappeared. He's already been gone one day, and he has nine school days left before Greendale's attendance policies (which are, as Jeff Winger has always called them, positively high schoolian) catch up with him. Abed isn't so worried about that; he's got bigger thoughts on his mind than just truancy. Abed's almost positive that Troy's been kidnapped, but the first hurdle, of course, is always convincing others to see what's right in front of their eyes.
HEARTS FOREVER, oh my god. Annie and Abed team up to investigate Troy's kidnapping, but nobody else in study group believes it happened! This is like an episode, only better; I'm seriously in awe of the author's ability to tie plot, comedy, and even some romance together in such a satisfying way.
Misdirection, by
neigedens
Community, Britta/Shirley, nc-17, c.1,900 words. Sort of a tag to 1.04, "Social Psychology."
I never knew I wanted this pairing, but oh, how lovely. It has a lot of lolzy dialogue, like the show, but it also has a lot of heart, and I just felt really warm and happy when I finished reading it.
I Forgot to Say Out Loud (How Beautiful You Are), by random_flores
Glee, Brittany/Santana, r, c.2,800 words. Even with show choir, Santana's life chessboard is still perfectly poised for a checkmate. Her only misstep is Brittany.
Aw, I love the idea of master strategist Santana, diabolically eyeing her metaphorical chessboard but not accounting for her "weakness," Brittany. Sweet, sweeter, sweetest.
Beyoncé the Vampire Slayer, by impertinence
RaPS/BtVS, Beyoncé/Jay-z, nc-17, c.38,900 words. Beyoncé and her Watcher Kanye go to Jay-z's mansion to retrieve Rihanna, who's just been called as a Slayer. It ends up being slightly more complicated than anticipated.
Oh my god, I love this more than LIFE. Everyone in it is awesome, the sex is hot, the action is engrossing, and the romance is delicious. I thought I would read half and then nap before heading out, but I ended up getting so involved I forgot to watch the scrollbar and read it all in one go. I could and would read a million more words of Beyoncé and Rihanna kicking ass and Kanye cheerleading B & hero-worshiping Jay. <333
shameless kink meme porn, by
shiegra/
this_heroine
The Vampire Diaries, Damon/Elena/Stefan, nc-17, c.2,200 words.
Double penetration porn, jesus god. Need I say more?
BTW, by impertinence
The Vampire Diaries, Damon/Elena/Stefan, pg-13, c.2,000 words. Damon listens and plots. BRILLIANTLY.
Sheer hilarity! I love the ot3 so much, you guys, I don't know how everyone isn't shipping it. (I mean, I ship Elena/me and Bonnie/me almost as much, but somehow I doubt there's much of a market for those.)
A Corner of Your Heart, by tigs
The Vampire Diaries, Damon/Elena, pg, c.11,000 words. "So obviously what I need to do," Damon says, "is make it my new mission in life to see that you actually get out of the house and have fun."
This is an AU-ish future-fic that does kind of handwave Elena/Stefan away (which makes me sadface), as well as romanticize Damon (which makes me giggle), but otherwise it's indulgent fun -- really sweet friendship-to-romance set while Elena & co. are in college.
Ode to Broken Things, by femmequixotic
Harry Potter, Millicent/Viktor, nc-17, c.14,200 words. "Krum's in town," Harry says finally. "I just thought you should know."
More lovely romance, really mature and poignant. The side glimpses of Harry/Draco threw me off a little (their relationship has to be hard-earned, I think, so I struggle with established relationship), but Millicent here is such a wonderfully, fully realized character. I love that femmequixotic addresses her self-esteem and body image issues without taking away from her strength and self-sufficiency.
Three Hundred and Sixty-Four, by sardonicsmiley
SGA, Ronon/Rodney, r, c.25,600 words. This is not the solution that Ronon would have chosen for dealing with the IOA.
I mentioned my thing for fake/forced marriages, so it should surprise no one that I love this story. It's told from Ronon's pov, as he tries to work out what life with McKay should maybe be like (he consults Sheppard, which is perhaps not the brightest idea). Ronon's gradual, growing feeeeelings and Rodney's subtle background longing are so well-written -- you know stories where your chest kind of aches a little? This is one of those.
- I am thinking of making a female-centric fic rec list, hmm. I would waste a lot of time doing it, especially because I would get so overinvested in it and go so overboard, and yet it would be so fun! QUANDARY.