End of 2006 Rec List
I said I would do a rec-list, and as I cannot frakking sleep... (I'm sorry, it's 4am here and my brain is rushing with trying to reconcile the frankly wildly varying views on the ficathon, and not even my crack-filled Owen/Ianto thoughts are making me anywhere close to calm. And it's 4am, and Lord but I just need to sleep before I waste another day half-awake and not leaving my room). So - recs from this year. As in "stories I have read this year", not necessarily things actually written this year. In a variety of fandoms, and including most of the flist, but only one apiece, cause love should be spread around. ♥
ETA: Okay, I got to the SGA fics and 5.30 a.m. before crashing happened, so I'll finish this now. My mood has not improved much, alas, but at least there's tea.
Yuletide stuff first, because it was read most recently. Also, naturally, weirder fandoms, which is nice:
Second Verse, Not Exactly The Same As The First:
Clerks fic; Dante/Randal - my little brother loves Kevin Smith (two out of the three do actually, but Matt more than Jo), so I know the Askewniverse pretty well. There are ants, and lots of swearing, and this is sweeter than it should be given all that, which is kind of something you could also say about Clerks.
Noir Enough:
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang; Perry/Harry - one of the movies I saw last year that more people should have seen. This has a lovely backtracking narrative that's very reminiscent of the film.
The Naming of Things:
1602; Hank gen - 1602 is probably my favourite comic ever (I love V for Vendetta, and I love Joss's Astonishing X-Men, but 1602 blows me away). The universe is just layered and amazing, and lends itself to more story-telling. And Hank (Beast) is always wonderful, and this story is a little snippet of his thoughts.
Thinking Clearly:
Bones; Zach/Hodgins - I wish more people would write this pairing, because it jumps out at me like a jumpy thing. I like the Zach-POV view here - he has one of those minds that won't turn off, that goes odd places when he wasn't expecting it to, and that all shines out of this.
Now, flist love. Not that I wouldn't rec these *anyway*, but for ease of my list-making:
The Last Day/The First Day by raedbard:
TWW; Toby/Ellie - I could have recced "Bright Exhalation", but a) it isn't finished and b) I thought I'd change it up a bit! I do love this one, because it's as much about Toby&Jed and Jed&Ellie as it is about Toby/Ellie. Not that the Toby/Ellie isn't nice too. And I love Em's post-S7 Toby, and it's sad and awful but sometimes that's what you need. Plus, I have just realised, I stole a line from this (well, adapted) in the thing I posted last. So, yeah, that wasn't meant to happen, but it just goes to show how good the fic is... *makes poor attempt at save*
In a foreign embrace by scrollgirl:
TWW; Sam/Toby - Again, I could have recced "Both that morning equally lay", but really there should be more Sam/Toby porn in the world, and I sure as hell can't write it. And it's not even just the sex, the characterisation feels right (in an AU no less) and it has needy, young Sam, and frustrated, dark-but-trying-not-to-be-quite-that-dark Toby. Good shivers.
5 Ways that Molly Wyatt-Ziegler is like Her Mom by amy_vic:
TWW; Molly - Anything Molly is good. This Molly is better. Exactly the kind of fierce, talented little girl you'd expect Toby and Andy to have. Though the last part of this is too sad for words.
fifteen OT4 things by 30toseoul:
SGA; John/Rodney/Teyla/Ronon - okay, perhaps odd to rec a set of 5 things responses, but I love the domestic OT4s here. The dynamic is light and loving and sexy and just *sighs*
Sunshine Mornings by celbalrai:
TWW; Sam/CJ/Toby - I just love how celbalrai writes this threesome, and there isn't much more complicated than that to say :-) It feels exactly true to all three of them, which is something impressive in a threesome. And it's loving and a little wistful - happiness caught in moments before duty intervenes again.
Stargate Atlantis, most of which anyone in the fandom will have read already, but still:
Bell Curve, or, Ladies Night at the Boom Boom Room:
Academic AU; John/Rodney - This is, in a strange kind of way, why I want to write Sam/Toby academic AU. Because the characters could still be themselves, and yet there is all the fun twisty-wrong of the inappropriateness. And it makes me laugh.
String Theory, a Concerto for Violin in D Minor:
Musician-Conductor/Composer AU; John/Rodney - Rodney's twarted musical ambitions intrigue me. And both Rodney and John are broken here, in ways different and yet completely the same as in the show. Also there's Radek. I love him so.
Dæmonology:
Cross with His Dark Materials (sort of); John/Rodney - This takes one of my favourite aspects of the Dark Materials trilogy - the daemons - and uses it as a mirror onto John and Rodney in a very real way. Plus there's some lovely theory of daemons stuff which I adore.
Four Quarters
Rock band AU; John/Rodney, but about all of them, and... it's tricky to explain - Again John and Rodney (and Teyla and Ford and Ronon) are still themselves in this very different setting (that actually isn't so very different if you think about it). And, though it's not normally my favourite thing, Rodney's achey pining after John, even when he has him, because he doesn't have him enough, is beautiful.
Scenes from a lesser war:
End of DADT; John/Rodney - Except in a serious, realistic way where it doesn't mean everyone just ends up all happy and married. Because life, sadly, isn't like that. And the flashback structure is really well done.
Trancendental:
John/Rodney - Plot! Rodney in command, which is an interesting concept anyway, and, as I may not have been clear enough, there is a whole plot here not revolving around the relationship. Everyone should read this if they have not
As the Stars Fade Out:
SG-1/SGA cross; John/Rodney - Again, plotty, and team-fic (both teams) with a lovely Rodney POV on everyone around him. I have a weakness for Stargate universe crosses anyway, but this is really well done.
Detox:
SGA; Rodney/Radek - post-siege, with a fractured writing style to match the mindset of the two scientists coming down from the stims. Affection and genuis and madness all rolled up. There should be more like this.
Other fandoms/Non-flist
Slouching towards Bethlehem:
TWW; Sam&Jed - Written for me, which is cool, because this is all things wonderful about Sam and Jed - fathers and sons, and love and what we aspire to be and how we think we fall short, and how we try to not to fail the ones we love, and how they forgive us when we do. *sighs* All good.
Those left behind:
Torchwood; post-s1; Owen/Ianto - Owen/Ianto is my newest "I needed a new pairing like a hole in the head" pairing. This is angsty and sharp and desperate and needy in all the ways that pairing would have to be, with a Jack-shaped hole in the middle of it all.
I might add more later if I think of them - I'm not great at remembering what I've read.
ETA: Okay, I got to the SGA fics and 5.30 a.m. before crashing happened, so I'll finish this now. My mood has not improved much, alas, but at least there's tea.
Yuletide stuff first, because it was read most recently. Also, naturally, weirder fandoms, which is nice:
Second Verse, Not Exactly The Same As The First:
Clerks fic; Dante/Randal - my little brother loves Kevin Smith (two out of the three do actually, but Matt more than Jo), so I know the Askewniverse pretty well. There are ants, and lots of swearing, and this is sweeter than it should be given all that, which is kind of something you could also say about Clerks.
Noir Enough:
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang; Perry/Harry - one of the movies I saw last year that more people should have seen. This has a lovely backtracking narrative that's very reminiscent of the film.
The Naming of Things:
1602; Hank gen - 1602 is probably my favourite comic ever (I love V for Vendetta, and I love Joss's Astonishing X-Men, but 1602 blows me away). The universe is just layered and amazing, and lends itself to more story-telling. And Hank (Beast) is always wonderful, and this story is a little snippet of his thoughts.
Thinking Clearly:
Bones; Zach/Hodgins - I wish more people would write this pairing, because it jumps out at me like a jumpy thing. I like the Zach-POV view here - he has one of those minds that won't turn off, that goes odd places when he wasn't expecting it to, and that all shines out of this.
Now, flist love. Not that I wouldn't rec these *anyway*, but for ease of my list-making:
The Last Day/The First Day by raedbard:
TWW; Toby/Ellie - I could have recced "Bright Exhalation", but a) it isn't finished and b) I thought I'd change it up a bit! I do love this one, because it's as much about Toby&Jed and Jed&Ellie as it is about Toby/Ellie. Not that the Toby/Ellie isn't nice too. And I love Em's post-S7 Toby, and it's sad and awful but sometimes that's what you need. Plus, I have just realised, I stole a line from this (well, adapted) in the thing I posted last. So, yeah, that wasn't meant to happen, but it just goes to show how good the fic is... *makes poor attempt at save*
In a foreign embrace by scrollgirl:
TWW; Sam/Toby - Again, I could have recced "Both that morning equally lay", but really there should be more Sam/Toby porn in the world, and I sure as hell can't write it. And it's not even just the sex, the characterisation feels right (in an AU no less) and it has needy, young Sam, and frustrated, dark-but-trying-not-to-be-quite-that-dark Toby. Good shivers.
5 Ways that Molly Wyatt-Ziegler is like Her Mom by amy_vic:
TWW; Molly - Anything Molly is good. This Molly is better. Exactly the kind of fierce, talented little girl you'd expect Toby and Andy to have. Though the last part of this is too sad for words.
fifteen OT4 things by 30toseoul:
SGA; John/Rodney/Teyla/Ronon - okay, perhaps odd to rec a set of 5 things responses, but I love the domestic OT4s here. The dynamic is light and loving and sexy and just *sighs*
Sunshine Mornings by celbalrai:
TWW; Sam/CJ/Toby - I just love how celbalrai writes this threesome, and there isn't much more complicated than that to say :-) It feels exactly true to all three of them, which is something impressive in a threesome. And it's loving and a little wistful - happiness caught in moments before duty intervenes again.
Stargate Atlantis, most of which anyone in the fandom will have read already, but still:
Bell Curve, or, Ladies Night at the Boom Boom Room:
Academic AU; John/Rodney - This is, in a strange kind of way, why I want to write Sam/Toby academic AU. Because the characters could still be themselves, and yet there is all the fun twisty-wrong of the inappropriateness. And it makes me laugh.
String Theory, a Concerto for Violin in D Minor:
Musician-Conductor/Composer AU; John/Rodney - Rodney's twarted musical ambitions intrigue me. And both Rodney and John are broken here, in ways different and yet completely the same as in the show. Also there's Radek. I love him so.
Dæmonology:
Cross with His Dark Materials (sort of); John/Rodney - This takes one of my favourite aspects of the Dark Materials trilogy - the daemons - and uses it as a mirror onto John and Rodney in a very real way. Plus there's some lovely theory of daemons stuff which I adore.
Four Quarters
Rock band AU; John/Rodney, but about all of them, and... it's tricky to explain - Again John and Rodney (and Teyla and Ford and Ronon) are still themselves in this very different setting (that actually isn't so very different if you think about it). And, though it's not normally my favourite thing, Rodney's achey pining after John, even when he has him, because he doesn't have him enough, is beautiful.
Scenes from a lesser war:
End of DADT; John/Rodney - Except in a serious, realistic way where it doesn't mean everyone just ends up all happy and married. Because life, sadly, isn't like that. And the flashback structure is really well done.
Trancendental:
John/Rodney - Plot! Rodney in command, which is an interesting concept anyway, and, as I may not have been clear enough, there is a whole plot here not revolving around the relationship. Everyone should read this if they have not
As the Stars Fade Out:
SG-1/SGA cross; John/Rodney - Again, plotty, and team-fic (both teams) with a lovely Rodney POV on everyone around him. I have a weakness for Stargate universe crosses anyway, but this is really well done.
Detox:
SGA; Rodney/Radek - post-siege, with a fractured writing style to match the mindset of the two scientists coming down from the stims. Affection and genuis and madness all rolled up. There should be more like this.
Other fandoms/Non-flist
Slouching towards Bethlehem:
TWW; Sam&Jed - Written for me, which is cool, because this is all things wonderful about Sam and Jed - fathers and sons, and love and what we aspire to be and how we think we fall short, and how we try to not to fail the ones we love, and how they forgive us when we do. *sighs* All good.
Those left behind:
Torchwood; post-s1; Owen/Ianto - Owen/Ianto is my newest "I needed a new pairing like a hole in the head" pairing. This is angsty and sharp and desperate and needy in all the ways that pairing would have to be, with a Jack-shaped hole in the middle of it all.
I might add more later if I think of them - I'm not great at remembering what I've read.