Drive-by Recs: The Grab Bag Edition, Vol. 1
I am failing to do so much shit right now, it's kind of ridiculously impressive. So here's a shot at cheering myself up by saying nice things about fic. :)
Fact is, despite the bulk of my reading being mostly bandom, I'm still really very multi-fannish, and this is only getting to be more so -- in the past few months I've fallen head over heels for both Burn Notice and Bones, and I'm pretty sure Pushing Daisies'll happen soon. And I read all over the place. So, here's a little scattering of fics that have made me happy in the last few months, from many different fandoms and in no particular order:
Self-awareness is for pussies (and maybe Lloyd) by ethrosdemon. Entourage, Eric/Vince, R-ish, medium-short. So, I'm not usually an OTP sort of person. I have pairing tendencies, certainly, but generally speaking I also like it when people mix things up a bit -- rare pairings done well is a surefire way to make me happy. But well, I think that Eric/Vince might be the closest thing I have to an OTP. Others in the running are Dan/Casey from Sports Night and Danny/Rusty from Ocean's 11, but you know, I'm pretty sure Eric/Vince beats them all. This story is a great example of why -- basically, they are so, so, so, so married, only I swear they're happier together and more co-dependent than most married couples ever are. I like it when the realization that they actually really want to fuck each other fucks them up bigtime, then leads to incredible hotness and happily ever after. (astolat's The Heartbreak Kid is the classic version of this, the Platonic ideal, if you will, though I think my favorite of her Eric/Vince fics is actually Home Sweet Home. Though really, they're all fantastic, as are those by hackthis.) ethrosdemon nails their characteristic speech patterns, and I love Eric's interactions with Ari, Lloyd, and Turtle. Just wonderful.
Speaking of people who are totally married, Head Wounds Are Only Part of the Package by everysecondtues is marvelous. Psych, Shawn/Gus, Gus/ofc, PG-ish, medium-long. The Shawn voice in this is exactly right -- and that's not easy! I liked the ofc a lot, and this was, overall, completely charming and adorable. Very, very Psych.
Once Upon A Tuesday by 1407graymalkin. Friday Night Lights, Jason Street & Tim Riggins (gen), G, short. "They decide that to cover their asses, they should put the biggest kid on the line in front of Jason at all times..." Quite possibly the most adorable thing in the whole world. Jason starts Pee Wee football, from Coach Eric Taylor's pov. Just, awwwwwwwwww.
Spies > Superheroes (Or Not) by hackthis. Burn Notice/Iron Man/Alias, Michael Westen/Tony Stark/Julian Sark, R, medium. Yes, really. Finally managing to see Burn Notice meant that I got to go back and read this, and then boggle at just how perfectly hackthis hit Michael Westen's narration voice on the head (ow, mixed metaphor, sorry). I admit to never having watched Alias (though I liked the actor for Julian Sark in Heroes), but it hardly matters. This is so fucking awesome, there are just no words. If you have any interest in spies at all, read this, preferably as soon as humanly possible.
Now, I love pretty much everything hackthis writes, but I want to make special mention of her Olympics RPS series. If you've ever admired the hotness of swimmers, particularly the 2008 Olympics US men's team, definitely give these a shot. Start with The Golden Rule, move on to its sequels, The One Chair Rule of Heterosexuality and The Person's Republic of Michael Phelps, and finish up with Random Acts of Crazy Behavior. Olympics RPS, Michael Phelps/Ryan Lochte, NC-17, longish. Ridiculous and endearingly (frat)boyish and achy-sweet within all the crazy adorable. And very, very, very hot.
People who are also endearing: Sam Winchester. Proof: Five Times Sam Winchester Was Unaware of His Own Hotness by dotfic. Supernatural, gen, PG. 500 words of pure, concentrated Sam at his most unknowingly adorable. Fabulous.
interruptus by winterlive. DC universe (Teen Titans), Tim/Kon, R, short-ish. What can I say? I'm also a sucker for Tim/Kon (and Bart! ♥), and for Batman being all parentally intimidating. It just makes me happy, okay.
dry your hollow eyes by sister_wolf. Runaways, Chase/Gert, teen, 3600 words. This is maybe cheating 'cause I betaed this, but hell, I betaed it in part because I knew I'd love it. Teenage superheroes are some of my favorite things, so it's probably not surprising that I love love love Runaways. It's funny, at first Chase starts out all shallow and obnoxious and fratboy-esque (and not in the endearing Olympic swimmer way, either). But over the course of the series he's gained a lot of depth and complexity. Thinking about him and Gert (who is awesome) makes my heart clench up in my chest, and this fic says so much about why. (Spoilers for the series, or at least one major one.) I really adore this.
I adore the other fic on this list that I betaed, too, The Trick Is to Keep Breathing by musesfool/Victoria P. Dark Angel, Max/Alec, adult, 3065 words. Max/Alec makes sense to me, but I also think it can be really hard to make it happen naturally. musesfool manages it well, and everyone's actions and reactions here are in character and convincing. Angsty in that in-denial-yet-thinky Max way, and hopeful in the end. Lovely.
Victoria also does gorgeous, heartbreaking pure angst, especially in the shape of Remus/Sirius. Thieves Like Us by musesfool/Victoria P. Harry Potter, Remus/Sirius, NC-17, short. Intense and deeply, painfully beautiful.
After that's broken you, perhaps some brilliant, funny, female friendship fic is in order. What's that you say, there's not a lot of that out there? True. But there is at least one. Chloe Likes Olivia by marinarusalka. Iron Man, Pepper Potts & Christine Everhart, PG, medium. Read it, you will not be sorry. So awesome!
Lastly, three fics in the Stargate world. I had a soft spot for John/Rodney since long before seeing even one episode of SGA -- somehow, they make good comfort fic. Healing Station Argh by toft_froggy is a truly exemplary version, especially because it's not just John/Rodney, but John/Rodney that's mostly actually John/Rodney/Ronon/Teyla. With pegging. And a Pegasus Galaxy soap opera. SGA, NC-17, 13k+. Utterly hot and incredibly sweet, and full of hilarious, charming, ridiculous, wonderful, plausible detail.
Healing Station Argh was one of thefourthvine's "safety tab" fics, for very good reason. In fact, you may wish to wait to read it until after you've read the next fic I'm going to rec, which was from the previous set of thefourthvine's recs. (thefourthvine does great recs, incidentally.)
At The Hour When We Are Trembling by frostfire_17. SGA/SG-1, John Sheppard/Daniel Jackson, NC-17, 36k. Post-apocalyptic (post SGA S2 and SG-1 S9). Gritty and hopeful and really very hot, desperate and sweet. Spot-on characterizations and deep, complicated interactions. Lots of plot and action, but character-driven, too. Seriously fucking brilliant, and a fantastic read.
And not actually as depressing as all that, considering. So perhaps this next romp of a fic would be sufficient for recovery. The Only Winning Move by synecdochic. SG-1, gen, PGish, medium. Just really, really fun. It never occurred to me before reading this how very much like LARPs training exercises could be. Hee!
Fandoms I wish were on this list, among others: Bones (because I love everyone on that show), House (especially something duckling-centric!), Veronica Mars (though I did re-read the ones I recced here recently, so that sort of counts), Diana Wynna Jones, Heroes (I miss the delicious fic of Season 1), Smallville (it's been forever since I read any Clark/Lex, and I miss Lex so much now that he's not the star of our weekly "last 5 minutes of Smallville" before Supernatural), Pushing Daisies (maybe reading fic would spur me towards actually watching the dvds that are sitting on the shelf downstairs), and, of course, everything yuletide-y. If I survive the next week, I'll definitely be looking forward to yuletide, oh yes.
Oh! And a PSA. If you have ever or would ever like to read any of mistful's amazing Harry Potter fic, you should go here and download the pdf before November 6th. I've not read all of her stuff, but what I have read tends to be awesome, smart, perceptive, fast-moving, and almost impossibly hilarious. Maybe a little cracky at times, but in the brilliant way.
Wow, I'd forgotten how long putting together rec sets takes. But it was fun. Thank you, and goodnight.
Fact is, despite the bulk of my reading being mostly bandom, I'm still really very multi-fannish, and this is only getting to be more so -- in the past few months I've fallen head over heels for both Burn Notice and Bones, and I'm pretty sure Pushing Daisies'll happen soon. And I read all over the place. So, here's a little scattering of fics that have made me happy in the last few months, from many different fandoms and in no particular order:
Self-awareness is for pussies (and maybe Lloyd) by ethrosdemon. Entourage, Eric/Vince, R-ish, medium-short. So, I'm not usually an OTP sort of person. I have pairing tendencies, certainly, but generally speaking I also like it when people mix things up a bit -- rare pairings done well is a surefire way to make me happy. But well, I think that Eric/Vince might be the closest thing I have to an OTP. Others in the running are Dan/Casey from Sports Night and Danny/Rusty from Ocean's 11, but you know, I'm pretty sure Eric/Vince beats them all. This story is a great example of why -- basically, they are so, so, so, so married, only I swear they're happier together and more co-dependent than most married couples ever are. I like it when the realization that they actually really want to fuck each other fucks them up bigtime, then leads to incredible hotness and happily ever after. (astolat's The Heartbreak Kid is the classic version of this, the Platonic ideal, if you will, though I think my favorite of her Eric/Vince fics is actually Home Sweet Home. Though really, they're all fantastic, as are those by hackthis.) ethrosdemon nails their characteristic speech patterns, and I love Eric's interactions with Ari, Lloyd, and Turtle. Just wonderful.
Speaking of people who are totally married, Head Wounds Are Only Part of the Package by everysecondtues is marvelous. Psych, Shawn/Gus, Gus/ofc, PG-ish, medium-long. The Shawn voice in this is exactly right -- and that's not easy! I liked the ofc a lot, and this was, overall, completely charming and adorable. Very, very Psych.
Once Upon A Tuesday by 1407graymalkin. Friday Night Lights, Jason Street & Tim Riggins (gen), G, short. "They decide that to cover their asses, they should put the biggest kid on the line in front of Jason at all times..." Quite possibly the most adorable thing in the whole world. Jason starts Pee Wee football, from Coach Eric Taylor's pov. Just, awwwwwwwwww.
Spies > Superheroes (Or Not) by hackthis. Burn Notice/Iron Man/Alias, Michael Westen/Tony Stark/Julian Sark, R, medium. Yes, really. Finally managing to see Burn Notice meant that I got to go back and read this, and then boggle at just how perfectly hackthis hit Michael Westen's narration voice on the head (ow, mixed metaphor, sorry). I admit to never having watched Alias (though I liked the actor for Julian Sark in Heroes), but it hardly matters. This is so fucking awesome, there are just no words. If you have any interest in spies at all, read this, preferably as soon as humanly possible.
Now, I love pretty much everything hackthis writes, but I want to make special mention of her Olympics RPS series. If you've ever admired the hotness of swimmers, particularly the 2008 Olympics US men's team, definitely give these a shot. Start with The Golden Rule, move on to its sequels, The One Chair Rule of Heterosexuality and The Person's Republic of Michael Phelps, and finish up with Random Acts of Crazy Behavior. Olympics RPS, Michael Phelps/Ryan Lochte, NC-17, longish. Ridiculous and endearingly (frat)boyish and achy-sweet within all the crazy adorable. And very, very, very hot.
People who are also endearing: Sam Winchester. Proof: Five Times Sam Winchester Was Unaware of His Own Hotness by dotfic. Supernatural, gen, PG. 500 words of pure, concentrated Sam at his most unknowingly adorable. Fabulous.
interruptus by winterlive. DC universe (Teen Titans), Tim/Kon, R, short-ish. What can I say? I'm also a sucker for Tim/Kon (and Bart! ♥), and for Batman being all parentally intimidating. It just makes me happy, okay.
dry your hollow eyes by sister_wolf. Runaways, Chase/Gert, teen, 3600 words. This is maybe cheating 'cause I betaed this, but hell, I betaed it in part because I knew I'd love it. Teenage superheroes are some of my favorite things, so it's probably not surprising that I love love love Runaways. It's funny, at first Chase starts out all shallow and obnoxious and fratboy-esque (and not in the endearing Olympic swimmer way, either). But over the course of the series he's gained a lot of depth and complexity. Thinking about him and Gert (who is awesome) makes my heart clench up in my chest, and this fic says so much about why. (Spoilers for the series, or at least one major one.) I really adore this.
I adore the other fic on this list that I betaed, too, The Trick Is to Keep Breathing by musesfool/Victoria P. Dark Angel, Max/Alec, adult, 3065 words. Max/Alec makes sense to me, but I also think it can be really hard to make it happen naturally. musesfool manages it well, and everyone's actions and reactions here are in character and convincing. Angsty in that in-denial-yet-thinky Max way, and hopeful in the end. Lovely.
Victoria also does gorgeous, heartbreaking pure angst, especially in the shape of Remus/Sirius. Thieves Like Us by musesfool/Victoria P. Harry Potter, Remus/Sirius, NC-17, short. Intense and deeply, painfully beautiful.
After that's broken you, perhaps some brilliant, funny, female friendship fic is in order. What's that you say, there's not a lot of that out there? True. But there is at least one. Chloe Likes Olivia by marinarusalka. Iron Man, Pepper Potts & Christine Everhart, PG, medium. Read it, you will not be sorry. So awesome!
Lastly, three fics in the Stargate world. I had a soft spot for John/Rodney since long before seeing even one episode of SGA -- somehow, they make good comfort fic. Healing Station Argh by toft_froggy is a truly exemplary version, especially because it's not just John/Rodney, but John/Rodney that's mostly actually John/Rodney/Ronon/Teyla. With pegging. And a Pegasus Galaxy soap opera. SGA, NC-17, 13k+. Utterly hot and incredibly sweet, and full of hilarious, charming, ridiculous, wonderful, plausible detail.
Healing Station Argh was one of thefourthvine's "safety tab" fics, for very good reason. In fact, you may wish to wait to read it until after you've read the next fic I'm going to rec, which was from the previous set of thefourthvine's recs. (thefourthvine does great recs, incidentally.)
At The Hour When We Are Trembling by frostfire_17. SGA/SG-1, John Sheppard/Daniel Jackson, NC-17, 36k. Post-apocalyptic (post SGA S2 and SG-1 S9). Gritty and hopeful and really very hot, desperate and sweet. Spot-on characterizations and deep, complicated interactions. Lots of plot and action, but character-driven, too. Seriously fucking brilliant, and a fantastic read.
And not actually as depressing as all that, considering. So perhaps this next romp of a fic would be sufficient for recovery. The Only Winning Move by synecdochic. SG-1, gen, PGish, medium. Just really, really fun. It never occurred to me before reading this how very much like LARPs training exercises could be. Hee!
Fandoms I wish were on this list, among others: Bones (because I love everyone on that show), House (especially something duckling-centric!), Veronica Mars (though I did re-read the ones I recced here recently, so that sort of counts), Diana Wynna Jones, Heroes (I miss the delicious fic of Season 1), Smallville (it's been forever since I read any Clark/Lex, and I miss Lex so much now that he's not the star of our weekly "last 5 minutes of Smallville" before Supernatural), Pushing Daisies (maybe reading fic would spur me towards actually watching the dvds that are sitting on the shelf downstairs), and, of course, everything yuletide-y. If I survive the next week, I'll definitely be looking forward to yuletide, oh yes.
Oh! And a PSA. If you have ever or would ever like to read any of mistful's amazing Harry Potter fic, you should go here and download the pdf before November 6th. I've not read all of her stuff, but what I have read tends to be awesome, smart, perceptive, fast-moving, and almost impossibly hilarious. Maybe a little cracky at times, but in the brilliant way.
Wow, I'd forgotten how long putting together rec sets takes. But it was fun. Thank you, and goodnight.