if you break down, i'll drive out and find you
So, I think that after this post I will probably be even less visible than usual. (I'm sure that you're all heartbroken.) I'm going to try taking a break from my computer/the internet for a while.
Here is a shitton of recs (what else) for the road, including lots of fic about women, organized by fandom.
Gravity's Peculiar Work, by jengrrrl. Skins RPF, Lily/Kat, unrated (pg-13?), 9500 words.
"Off to rehearsal-slash-wish fulfilment?" This is filled with well-written longing and tension, broken up by a dry kind of humour and, in the end, wonderfully sweet. I love the scene where they first kiss as Lily and Kat instead of as Naomi and Emily especially.
Flatmate Wanted, by netgirl-y2k. Merlin, Gwen/Morgana, PG, 1044 words.
In which Morgana might be a surprisingly scatterbrained evil genius and Gwen just wants a normal flatmate. Completely adorable, charming little bit of a modern AU. I love the snippet style, like an Impressionistic fic or something.
Holy Clockwork Angels, by ghostrunner7. Supernatural, Jo/Ruby, R, 16000 words.
Steampunk AU complete with airships, gaslight, Victorian costume fantasies, and clockwork… everything. Ruby and Jo have to save the world. Probably. I know next to nothing about Supernatural, but this is awesome. Jo and Ruby fly around in their airship (called the Dashforth!) on a mission, kicking demon ass, taking occasional advice from Bobby and Castiel but mostly relying on themselves, and descending into the caldera of a volcano on a dangerous fact-finding expedition. There is awesome world-building and a lack of exposition dumps, and the Jo/Ruby is just as satisfying as the action/adventure plot. Highly recommended.
Oral History, by acadine. Harry Potter, Padma gen + Cho/Padma, PG, 2000 words.
Only at Hogwarts, they joke, would history actually be taught by a dead white European man. Old fic, but new to me. Tackles the Euro/Brit-centrism of the series from Padma's point of view, as she strikes up a unique study-buddy relationship with Cho. I love everything about this -- the description of the Ravenclaw common room/collective mindset, the comments on intellectual intimacy, the fullness of Padma's perspective, the last line, seriously -- everything. (I wish there were so many more stories that took into account all the women in women's lives.)
A Lean and Hungry Look, by kerisempai. Harry Potter, Hermione/Pansy, mature, 21000 words.
Someone's out to kill Pansy Parkinson. Can her former enemies put aside their own prejudices long enough to save her life? Longer Hermione/Pansy with a nice mystery plot and lovely magic. Even with some epithets (my nemeses, truly) and some questionable grammar, this was such a treat.
Air Heart, by magnetic_pole. Harry Potter, Hooch/McGonagall, PG-13, 7800 words.
"A young Minerva McGonagall takes flight." Headmaster Dippet runs into third-year McGonagall (aka responsibility personified) at King's Cross on September 1st and tasks her with making sure two Squibs, whose parents believe Hogwarts is the safest place for them in wartime, get to Madam Pomfrey. One of those Squibs is Rolanda Hooch, and the story charts her time at Hogwarts through McGonagall's narration. The prose is wonderfully clean and sharp, and I admire so much the way magnetic_pole built all this imagination up around canon and history. It's a story thoroughly grounded in the HP world, but with its own ideas.
Fiddlesticks, by peskywhistpaw. Harry Potter, Hermione/Pansy, PG-13, 8700 words.
Getting lost in a good book is easy. It’s getting out that’s a bit more of a challenge. Just thinking of the opening of this makes me giggle -- a book literally (and I do mean literally) eats Hermione's face! Pansy inadvertently rescues her, but in doing so gets both of them sucked into the world of the book, where they have to work together to solve riddles to escape with life and limb intact. A very fun story, with pretty bonus illustrations.
The Politician's Wife, by pir8fancier. Harry Potter, Hermione/Draco, mostly R but eventually NC-17, 66000 words. warning: Hermione/Ron divorce.
Hermione and Draco, both employed at the Ministry and both competing for the position of Assistant to the Minister, form a two-person committee to oust their racist shit of a rival. Somehow, without Hermione really noticing, their two-person committee kind of turns into an emotionally adulterous relationship. This is another story I can't be entirely objective about -- I've followed it since its beginning nearly five years ago, and I kind of can't help loving it. I fucking love Hermione here, and I can say that wholeheartedly -- the narrative voice is a blast. I do feel like I also have to say, though, that I'm uncertain about parts of The Politician's Wife. It undoubtedly is brilliantly written, razor sharp in all the best ways, but I think it's weirdly sexist in another way. I don't have a problem with Hermione's career realizations, but I do have a problem with the way it seems Draco knows what Hermione will realize before she does, and the way that he seems to know her better than herself, or know what's best for her better than she does.
It's odd, but I saw the author mention somewhere (I can't find it now, sorry) that she didn't think the ending of the story was as happy as her readers apparently found it. Part of that I can attribute to the pain of divorce and massive life change; what Hermione has gone through isn't over, I don't think. But I wonder if it isn't also a reflection on the limitations of women in the work world, the way it's easier and more common to be a "politician's wife" than a politician, and in their personal lives.
It's also entirely possible that I'm botching the interpretation of this. (I R dumb.) Anyway, I would be interested to hear other thoughts on this, if anyone had them to share. One of the reasons I decided to recommend this was because it made me think.
Control Yourself (Take Only What You Need), by gyzym. Harry Potter, Ginny/Luna (Ginny/Pansy, one sided Ginny/Fleur and Ginny/Hermione, and background Harry/Ginny), NC-17, 2800 words.
It has been a long time since anyone asked Ginny Weasley what she wanted. I really adore this story. It's about Ginny finding out who she is and what she wants out of life, out of others, out of herself, told through the attraction she feels to various women. Beautiful and insightful.
Sing a Mad Rebellion, by femmequixotic. Harry Potter, Harry/Snape, NC-17, 56000 words.
The State Security Forces come not in the middle of a dark night as one might expect, but on a bright, sunshiny Sunday morning just after the sausages are set on the kitchen table. Parts of this were hard to read, but it's brilliant regardless of the grimness. If the pairing is what holds you back, don't let it -- this is smart, tightly-plotted future fic that's more about action and politics than snarry.
Spite Like a Spark, by snegurochka_lee. Harry Potter, Harry/Pansy ("each of whom would rather be with Draco. Sort of."), NC-17, 5500 words.
"I know I'm not your first choice" - she almost sounded sentimental about it, damn her - "but you can pull my hair, you can ride me like a broom, you can-" she paused, her lips lingering near his ear. "You can call me Malfoy if you want." Incendiary in more than one sense of the word (aren't I clever!).I don't mind the revenge fuck set-up of this, but I'd love a Harry/Pansy sequel that's not emotionally more Harry/Draco. Entitled and demanding, that's me, but I really love Pansy (and Harry), and the ending of this is so tantalizing.
No Sweeping Exits or Offstage Lines, by hateable. CWRPS, Sandy/Danneel, PG-13, 13700 words.
This is sweeter than pie. It takes one of the most familiar slash tropes -- pining and misunderstanding, oh noes! -- and applies it to femmeslash. Sandy has loved Danneel for a long time, but has kept silent about it because they're best friends & roommates and she can't imagine losing what they have. hateable actually *shows* how awesome and codependent their friendship is, and so when, through judicious application of alcohol and after plenty of ust, Sandy and Danneel finally wise up, the payoff is wonderful.
A Soft Spot for Nice Girls, by lazy_daze. Kind of CWRPS, kind of random RPS, Olivia Wilde/Adrianne Palicki, PG-13, 10300 words.
Random college AU! Yes, I know, they've never even shared a TV show or movie or even I think a network. But they are both very very pretty people who are in TV shows I watch. I wish I could remove the word "bitch" from the face of the earth. Otherwise, this is adorable overload, and I grinned most of the way through. Olivia and Adrianne make friends their first day of Intro to Stats, and they kind of date for a while without Olivia realizing it.
When Everything Will Be Just Fine, by ijemanja. House, Cameron/Thirteen, R, 6000 words.
Cameron cares. Thirteen tries not to. Hijinks ensue. Cameron finds out that Thirteen carries the gene for Huntington's and tries to stage an empathy intervention. The dialogue and pacing in this is amazing, and Cameron is so very earnest. So...Cameron.
No I in Truth or Dare, by janet_carter. Figure skating RPF, Meryl/Tanith, adult, 2200 words.
For the skategreat cliché challenge, prompt 109.Truth or Dare. Team Detroit, at Champs Camp at some mystical time when no one's in a serious relationship. Fun and hot, and not what I expected from the prompt (in a really good way, I mean).
Rituals, by neery. Figure skating rpf, Johnny/Evan, NC-17, 9500 words.
Everything Evan did more than once before a successful competition became part of his crazy rituals for the season. He'd been collecting those for as long as Johnny had known him: lighting his special candles, chewing blue gum, applying his competition hair gel, and now, apparently, getting slapped around by Johnny. Gorgeously done painkink, working its way from hot and fumbly to something more careful and deliberate. I love and appreciate the caretaking behind it, and the way Johnny asks himself wtf he's doing -- they make it less a ~kink fic~ and more a fic in which people do stuff that other people would class as kinky.
Five cups of coffee Peter brought Olivia, by dotfic. Fringe, gen + Peter/Olivia ust, PG, 1800 words.
Peter knows Olivia doesn't need him looking after her. But he keeps doing it anyway. Incredibly, quietly lovely, with a fantastic Peter voice.
(Not Your) Superman Tonight, by torakowalski. bandom, Bob/Brian, NC-17, 37000 words.
Brian scratches his neck. "This is the NSA," he says, "The National Security Administration. They're feds."
Bob raises his eyebrows, all no, really?
Brian winces. "They employ telepaths. Like Asher and-" me. He can't say it. He folds his arms. "It's not as weird as it sounds." One of the most purely enjoyable stories I've read in a long time. It kind of swept me along with it, sucked me in completely. (Telepaths and pining and good writing, what can I say.)
The Bargain, by solvent90. AI RPS, Adam/Kris, NC-17, 2000 words.
Sweet and porny, vaguely historical arranged marriage AU based loosely on the premise of Heyer's April Lady.
Melt Into Time, by butterfly. AI RPS, Adam/Kris, NC-17, 24000 words. warnings: brief discussion of off-screen domestic violence.
When Kris finds out that Adam has gotten engaged, he makes a hasty decision and takes a step backwards. Kris finds out that Adam's engaged, and he gets the chance to travel back in time for a redo, to tell Adam how he feels before it's too late. Future fic with fantasy elements, actually really pretty. It felt more like watching a film than reading a story, in a weird but good way.
What to eat, by subterrain. Star Trek reboot, McCoy/Chekov (past McCoy/Kirk), NC-17, 21000 words.
Restaurant AU. I like this author's style, and McCoy is a compelling wreck. The McCoy-Kirk scenes are seriously fantastic; I don't think I've ever read such a convincing portrayal of a failed but unresolved, complex relationship. I would warn for alcoholism, though.
♥ you all.
Here is a shitton of recs (what else) for the road, including lots of fic about women, organized by fandom.
Gravity's Peculiar Work, by jengrrrl. Skins RPF, Lily/Kat, unrated (pg-13?), 9500 words.
"Off to rehearsal-slash-wish fulfilment?" This is filled with well-written longing and tension, broken up by a dry kind of humour and, in the end, wonderfully sweet. I love the scene where they first kiss as Lily and Kat instead of as Naomi and Emily especially.
Flatmate Wanted, by netgirl-y2k. Merlin, Gwen/Morgana, PG, 1044 words.
In which Morgana might be a surprisingly scatterbrained evil genius and Gwen just wants a normal flatmate. Completely adorable, charming little bit of a modern AU. I love the snippet style, like an Impressionistic fic or something.
Holy Clockwork Angels, by ghostrunner7. Supernatural, Jo/Ruby, R, 16000 words.
Steampunk AU complete with airships, gaslight, Victorian costume fantasies, and clockwork… everything. Ruby and Jo have to save the world. Probably. I know next to nothing about Supernatural, but this is awesome. Jo and Ruby fly around in their airship (called the Dashforth!) on a mission, kicking demon ass, taking occasional advice from Bobby and Castiel but mostly relying on themselves, and descending into the caldera of a volcano on a dangerous fact-finding expedition. There is awesome world-building and a lack of exposition dumps, and the Jo/Ruby is just as satisfying as the action/adventure plot. Highly recommended.
Oral History, by acadine. Harry Potter, Padma gen + Cho/Padma, PG, 2000 words.
Only at Hogwarts, they joke, would history actually be taught by a dead white European man. Old fic, but new to me. Tackles the Euro/Brit-centrism of the series from Padma's point of view, as she strikes up a unique study-buddy relationship with Cho. I love everything about this -- the description of the Ravenclaw common room/collective mindset, the comments on intellectual intimacy, the fullness of Padma's perspective, the last line, seriously -- everything. (I wish there were so many more stories that took into account all the women in women's lives.)
A Lean and Hungry Look, by kerisempai. Harry Potter, Hermione/Pansy, mature, 21000 words.
Someone's out to kill Pansy Parkinson. Can her former enemies put aside their own prejudices long enough to save her life? Longer Hermione/Pansy with a nice mystery plot and lovely magic. Even with some epithets (my nemeses, truly) and some questionable grammar, this was such a treat.
Air Heart, by magnetic_pole. Harry Potter, Hooch/McGonagall, PG-13, 7800 words.
"A young Minerva McGonagall takes flight." Headmaster Dippet runs into third-year McGonagall (aka responsibility personified) at King's Cross on September 1st and tasks her with making sure two Squibs, whose parents believe Hogwarts is the safest place for them in wartime, get to Madam Pomfrey. One of those Squibs is Rolanda Hooch, and the story charts her time at Hogwarts through McGonagall's narration. The prose is wonderfully clean and sharp, and I admire so much the way magnetic_pole built all this imagination up around canon and history. It's a story thoroughly grounded in the HP world, but with its own ideas.
Fiddlesticks, by peskywhistpaw. Harry Potter, Hermione/Pansy, PG-13, 8700 words.
Getting lost in a good book is easy. It’s getting out that’s a bit more of a challenge. Just thinking of the opening of this makes me giggle -- a book literally (and I do mean literally) eats Hermione's face! Pansy inadvertently rescues her, but in doing so gets both of them sucked into the world of the book, where they have to work together to solve riddles to escape with life and limb intact. A very fun story, with pretty bonus illustrations.
The Politician's Wife, by pir8fancier. Harry Potter, Hermione/Draco, mostly R but eventually NC-17, 66000 words. warning: Hermione/Ron divorce.
Hermione and Draco, both employed at the Ministry and both competing for the position of Assistant to the Minister, form a two-person committee to oust their racist shit of a rival. Somehow, without Hermione really noticing, their two-person committee kind of turns into an emotionally adulterous relationship. This is another story I can't be entirely objective about -- I've followed it since its beginning nearly five years ago, and I kind of can't help loving it. I fucking love Hermione here, and I can say that wholeheartedly -- the narrative voice is a blast. I do feel like I also have to say, though, that I'm uncertain about parts of The Politician's Wife. It undoubtedly is brilliantly written, razor sharp in all the best ways, but I think it's weirdly sexist in another way. I don't have a problem with Hermione's career realizations, but I do have a problem with the way it seems Draco knows what Hermione will realize before she does, and the way that he seems to know her better than herself, or know what's best for her better than she does.
It's odd, but I saw the author mention somewhere (I can't find it now, sorry) that she didn't think the ending of the story was as happy as her readers apparently found it. Part of that I can attribute to the pain of divorce and massive life change; what Hermione has gone through isn't over, I don't think. But I wonder if it isn't also a reflection on the limitations of women in the work world, the way it's easier and more common to be a "politician's wife" than a politician, and in their personal lives.
It's also entirely possible that I'm botching the interpretation of this. (I R dumb.) Anyway, I would be interested to hear other thoughts on this, if anyone had them to share. One of the reasons I decided to recommend this was because it made me think.
Control Yourself (Take Only What You Need), by gyzym. Harry Potter, Ginny/Luna (Ginny/Pansy, one sided Ginny/Fleur and Ginny/Hermione, and background Harry/Ginny), NC-17, 2800 words.
It has been a long time since anyone asked Ginny Weasley what she wanted. I really adore this story. It's about Ginny finding out who she is and what she wants out of life, out of others, out of herself, told through the attraction she feels to various women. Beautiful and insightful.
Sing a Mad Rebellion, by femmequixotic. Harry Potter, Harry/Snape, NC-17, 56000 words.
The State Security Forces come not in the middle of a dark night as one might expect, but on a bright, sunshiny Sunday morning just after the sausages are set on the kitchen table. Parts of this were hard to read, but it's brilliant regardless of the grimness. If the pairing is what holds you back, don't let it -- this is smart, tightly-plotted future fic that's more about action and politics than snarry.
Spite Like a Spark, by snegurochka_lee. Harry Potter, Harry/Pansy ("each of whom would rather be with Draco. Sort of."), NC-17, 5500 words.
"I know I'm not your first choice" - she almost sounded sentimental about it, damn her - "but you can pull my hair, you can ride me like a broom, you can-" she paused, her lips lingering near his ear. "You can call me Malfoy if you want." Incendiary in more than one sense of the word (aren't I clever!).I don't mind the revenge fuck set-up of this, but I'd love a Harry/Pansy sequel that's not emotionally more Harry/Draco. Entitled and demanding, that's me, but I really love Pansy (and Harry), and the ending of this is so tantalizing.
No Sweeping Exits or Offstage Lines, by hateable. CWRPS, Sandy/Danneel, PG-13, 13700 words.
This is sweeter than pie. It takes one of the most familiar slash tropes -- pining and misunderstanding, oh noes! -- and applies it to femmeslash. Sandy has loved Danneel for a long time, but has kept silent about it because they're best friends & roommates and she can't imagine losing what they have. hateable actually *shows* how awesome and codependent their friendship is, and so when, through judicious application of alcohol and after plenty of ust, Sandy and Danneel finally wise up, the payoff is wonderful.
A Soft Spot for Nice Girls, by lazy_daze. Kind of CWRPS, kind of random RPS, Olivia Wilde/Adrianne Palicki, PG-13, 10300 words.
Random college AU! Yes, I know, they've never even shared a TV show or movie or even I think a network. But they are both very very pretty people who are in TV shows I watch. I wish I could remove the word "bitch" from the face of the earth. Otherwise, this is adorable overload, and I grinned most of the way through. Olivia and Adrianne make friends their first day of Intro to Stats, and they kind of date for a while without Olivia realizing it.
When Everything Will Be Just Fine, by ijemanja. House, Cameron/Thirteen, R, 6000 words.
Cameron cares. Thirteen tries not to. Hijinks ensue. Cameron finds out that Thirteen carries the gene for Huntington's and tries to stage an empathy intervention. The dialogue and pacing in this is amazing, and Cameron is so very earnest. So...Cameron.
No I in Truth or Dare, by janet_carter. Figure skating RPF, Meryl/Tanith, adult, 2200 words.
For the skategreat cliché challenge, prompt 109.Truth or Dare. Team Detroit, at Champs Camp at some mystical time when no one's in a serious relationship. Fun and hot, and not what I expected from the prompt (in a really good way, I mean).
Rituals, by neery. Figure skating rpf, Johnny/Evan, NC-17, 9500 words.
Everything Evan did more than once before a successful competition became part of his crazy rituals for the season. He'd been collecting those for as long as Johnny had known him: lighting his special candles, chewing blue gum, applying his competition hair gel, and now, apparently, getting slapped around by Johnny. Gorgeously done painkink, working its way from hot and fumbly to something more careful and deliberate. I love and appreciate the caretaking behind it, and the way Johnny asks himself wtf he's doing -- they make it less a ~kink fic~ and more a fic in which people do stuff that other people would class as kinky.
Five cups of coffee Peter brought Olivia, by dotfic. Fringe, gen + Peter/Olivia ust, PG, 1800 words.
Peter knows Olivia doesn't need him looking after her. But he keeps doing it anyway. Incredibly, quietly lovely, with a fantastic Peter voice.
(Not Your) Superman Tonight, by torakowalski. bandom, Bob/Brian, NC-17, 37000 words.
Brian scratches his neck. "This is the NSA," he says, "The National Security Administration. They're feds."
Bob raises his eyebrows, all no, really?
Brian winces. "They employ telepaths. Like Asher and-" me. He can't say it. He folds his arms. "It's not as weird as it sounds." One of the most purely enjoyable stories I've read in a long time. It kind of swept me along with it, sucked me in completely. (Telepaths and pining and good writing, what can I say.)
The Bargain, by solvent90. AI RPS, Adam/Kris, NC-17, 2000 words.
Sweet and porny, vaguely historical arranged marriage AU based loosely on the premise of Heyer's April Lady.
Melt Into Time, by butterfly. AI RPS, Adam/Kris, NC-17, 24000 words. warnings: brief discussion of off-screen domestic violence.
When Kris finds out that Adam has gotten engaged, he makes a hasty decision and takes a step backwards. Kris finds out that Adam's engaged, and he gets the chance to travel back in time for a redo, to tell Adam how he feels before it's too late. Future fic with fantasy elements, actually really pretty. It felt more like watching a film than reading a story, in a weird but good way.
What to eat, by subterrain. Star Trek reboot, McCoy/Chekov (past McCoy/Kirk), NC-17, 21000 words.
Restaurant AU. I like this author's style, and McCoy is a compelling wreck. The McCoy-Kirk scenes are seriously fantastic; I don't think I've ever read such a convincing portrayal of a failed but unresolved, complex relationship. I would warn for alcoholism, though.
♥ you all.