Fic time!
Here's yet another list of stuff I've enjoyed reading - again, mainly (but not just) Josh and Donna fics, not meant to be a list of "the best ever" - just stories I think are good enough to be recommended to friends!
In the last post, I was recommending Pre- and 1st admin fics, and said I would come up with some more, so here they are.
Pre admin/campaign - Jo & Ryo’s Cause of Action: Sine qua non, Cause of Action:Res Ipsa Loquitur and Useful show how Leo, Josh and Donna respectively ended up on the Bartlet for America campaign.
1st admin - As You Will series by Bondi Gargoyle. As with Snowbowl this fic was written back in the halcyon days of S2, pre the MS. It’s light and fluffy - but the dialogue is very good and there’s one part in particular that gets me every time. Basically, Donna goes on a date with someone who starts getting a bit over amorous in the car park (!) cue Josh (with a baseball bat at the ready) Sam and Toby to the rescue… Sam nagging Josh to tell Donna how he feels about her, and generally putting his foot in it, resulting in Donna being pissed at Josh, and Josh going to tell Sam and CJ to butt out. I haven’t done this before, but here’s the quote I like -
"Guys, I don't need to be sleeping with Donna to be in love with her. Yes, sure I'd like it if we had a physical relationship, but realistically that might not be possible right now. It may not be something I can have. Let me tell you though: if I get sent up to the Hill, I know that she'll work in my office while I'm gone so that she can check the window to see when I'm coming back. When I buy my lunch I order double fries, cause Donna, who will not order them for herself, always eats half. Do you think, with everything else I have on my plate, that I give a damn about horseback drive-by shootings or Indonesian sorcery? But I listen 'cause I like having her tell me. I have tickets for Yo-Yo Ma at Wolf Trap six months from now. Do you know how many tickets to cello concerts I bought before this administration? None, nada, not a one. However, that woman, who makes it not only her job but her mission to look after me, has a thing for Yo-Yo Ma. So if he's playing anywhere between here and Philadelphia, I'm going to make sure that she gets to go. If I get sick, Donna nags me about eating chicken soup. If we're out in the sun I'm going to hear about how alabaster skin burns. If we're dealing with the South Pacific or Switzerland or the Caribbean or Italy, I'm going to hear about how I should be taking her there. Most importantly, if I do something really right, if I remember to stand up for the little guy, I might to get to hear that she's proud of me. These are the rituals by which I live and it might not look like much to anyone else but they're mine and I don't want them tampered with. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"
Although I doubt the Josh of 2000 would have said that, (although I bet he thought it!) I just think that it’s such a good explanation as to why neither of them ever made a move before. I know lots of fics suggest it’s because of the probable scandal, and the fact that Donna would be accused of sleeping her way into the job etc., but I’ve often thought that the whole "I don’t want to lose what I already have with Josh/Donna and if we have a relationship and break up we won’t be friends/able to work together any more" - has been a more important factor. And I just like the way this author has expressed that.
Check out these fics by Ygrawn - The Door and its sequel The Answer. And if you want a little JD fun (and smut at the end!) then there’s Better than Perfect - a "Josh tries to do something nice for Donna but things keep going wrong" type fic! Well written, funny and fluffy.
And changing tack totally, if you only read one of Ygrawn’s fics, then make it Syntax of Things Unspoken. It’s a set of four stories about Josh, Donna, CJ, Toby and Sam and is quite beautiful… I can’t really describe it here, but it’s wonderful, so just go see for yourself!
Fabric by N.Y Smith - it’s not a JD story, but it’s a lovely vignette, stretching across the years.
If you want 1st admin smutty fic (!) then there’s Separations by Jori and Mojo. The story is set early first season, and flashes back to the early days in the WH. It’s posted at SOTU, message numbers #266, #268, #297, #322, #340, #363, #377, #378. (Or uploaded here)
And here’s a bunch of other stuff that I’d just forgotten about before! Re-watching The Cold on tv last week reminded me of a lovely fic by Bex called This Kiss; and there’s a sequel - Send in the Clowns. And her Ten Men is absolutely wonderful.
Red Lights by witchofnovember - Josh at Donna’s bedside after Gaza. Yes I know there are loads of those fics, but this is one I hadn’t read in a while. Also her much longer
Photographs is definitely worth a read - set during S6 it sort of keeps pace with canon whilst diverging from it at various points. It starts out with the fact that the photographs Colin took of the explosions in Gaza have appeared in a magazine… some of it’s a bit… ‘creaky’ in places, but it’s still pretty good. Although this fic is complete, she did start a sequel, Into the Breach which picks up the story a couple of years later, and starts with Sam asking Josh to run his presidential campaign, but it’s not finished, which is a shame. If you can bear to read unfinished fics, the 7 chapters of it that are up are worth reading, but Photographs is complete on its own, so you don’t need to read Into the Breach if you don’t want to!
Thanks to coffeeplease who reminded me of this fic (I read it a while back and had forgotten the title!) - Dream of a Common Language, in which Donna talks to someone about her relationship with Josh. I guess it’s sort of AU in that we find out that Josh and Donna have slept together occasionally over the years. Whilst I was re-reading that, I read the other two of her fics that are at the National Library - and they’re set in the same universe as this first one - both worth a read - Losing a Glove and other consequences of the cold (which is nothing to do with the episode, The Cold, in case you were wondering!) and Decisions which is a post ep for No Exit.
Jo and Ryo’s Colors of an Eternal Cycle takes place in S4 a little while after Holy Night, and Cardinal Points is a post ep for SGTE, SGTJ, and is CJ’s thoughts on Total Crackpot Day, maps and Josh and Donna (among other things) whilst getting slightly drunk.
Here’s one I forgot when I was recommending future fics - First 100 Days by kHo, and another of hers, Drunk and Tired is a post ep for A Change is Gonna Come. (One of the best "ILYs" from Josh in a fic!)
If you’re in the mood for a laugh, then try Character Assasination a wonderfully silly fic by lordess renegade.
On the subject of the wonderful and silly, if you haven’t read Donna the Vampire Slayer by Nomad then do. It’s one of the best crossover fics out there, its funny, well written and (you might not believe this) in character. There are two sequels as well, Samwolf and The Agricultural Secretary’s Revenge. There’s a lot of pop-under advertising at Nomad’s site, so if that bugs you, the story’s also up at fanfiction.net.
And I did pimp this fic at my journal a while back, but in case any of you missed it, Republicans End the World - Accidentally is fabulous - republican zombies on the rampage, CJ with a hockey stick and Toby with a machete! (yes, you did read that right!)
I’ve stayed more or less away from recommending fic that’s been posted very recently, because I figure that if it’s been posted on LJ, you’ve probably seen it, but I have to rec the latest fic by Chai which she’s just finished posting over at the Yahoo! JD list. It’s called Patriot Acts - and be warned - it’s dark and angsty, and although it has a JD romance at the centre, it’s a political story too - "what if Santos hadn’t won the nomination and Russell had won the election" . All those details are in her extensive author’s notes at the beginning. If you don’t like fic that has storylines which parallel real-life events, then don’t read it, but I thought it was fantastic. If you’re not a member at the Yahoo list and you want to read it, let me know, and I’ll ask her if I can send it to you.
The link is to the first chapter - the others are:
#21984, #21991, #21992, #22002, #22003, #22005, 22014, #22016, #22017, #22023, #22023, #22025, #22034, #22036, #22039, #22041, #22044, #22045.
ETA - Patriot Acts is now up at TNL, here
That's it for now - I'm sure I'll find some more sooner or later. Again, I'd be interested to know if you've found something new, or rediscovered something you'd forgotten... or it you did/or didn't like something!
I think all the links work - let me know if they don't!
In the last post, I was recommending Pre- and 1st admin fics, and said I would come up with some more, so here they are.
Pre admin/campaign - Jo & Ryo’s Cause of Action: Sine qua non, Cause of Action:Res Ipsa Loquitur and Useful show how Leo, Josh and Donna respectively ended up on the Bartlet for America campaign.
1st admin - As You Will series by Bondi Gargoyle. As with Snowbowl this fic was written back in the halcyon days of S2, pre the MS. It’s light and fluffy - but the dialogue is very good and there’s one part in particular that gets me every time. Basically, Donna goes on a date with someone who starts getting a bit over amorous in the car park (!) cue Josh (with a baseball bat at the ready) Sam and Toby to the rescue… Sam nagging Josh to tell Donna how he feels about her, and generally putting his foot in it, resulting in Donna being pissed at Josh, and Josh going to tell Sam and CJ to butt out. I haven’t done this before, but here’s the quote I like -
"Guys, I don't need to be sleeping with Donna to be in love with her. Yes, sure I'd like it if we had a physical relationship, but realistically that might not be possible right now. It may not be something I can have. Let me tell you though: if I get sent up to the Hill, I know that she'll work in my office while I'm gone so that she can check the window to see when I'm coming back. When I buy my lunch I order double fries, cause Donna, who will not order them for herself, always eats half. Do you think, with everything else I have on my plate, that I give a damn about horseback drive-by shootings or Indonesian sorcery? But I listen 'cause I like having her tell me. I have tickets for Yo-Yo Ma at Wolf Trap six months from now. Do you know how many tickets to cello concerts I bought before this administration? None, nada, not a one. However, that woman, who makes it not only her job but her mission to look after me, has a thing for Yo-Yo Ma. So if he's playing anywhere between here and Philadelphia, I'm going to make sure that she gets to go. If I get sick, Donna nags me about eating chicken soup. If we're out in the sun I'm going to hear about how alabaster skin burns. If we're dealing with the South Pacific or Switzerland or the Caribbean or Italy, I'm going to hear about how I should be taking her there. Most importantly, if I do something really right, if I remember to stand up for the little guy, I might to get to hear that she's proud of me. These are the rituals by which I live and it might not look like much to anyone else but they're mine and I don't want them tampered with. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"
Although I doubt the Josh of 2000 would have said that, (although I bet he thought it!) I just think that it’s such a good explanation as to why neither of them ever made a move before. I know lots of fics suggest it’s because of the probable scandal, and the fact that Donna would be accused of sleeping her way into the job etc., but I’ve often thought that the whole "I don’t want to lose what I already have with Josh/Donna and if we have a relationship and break up we won’t be friends/able to work together any more" - has been a more important factor. And I just like the way this author has expressed that.
Check out these fics by Ygrawn - The Door and its sequel The Answer. And if you want a little JD fun (and smut at the end!) then there’s Better than Perfect - a "Josh tries to do something nice for Donna but things keep going wrong" type fic! Well written, funny and fluffy.
And changing tack totally, if you only read one of Ygrawn’s fics, then make it Syntax of Things Unspoken. It’s a set of four stories about Josh, Donna, CJ, Toby and Sam and is quite beautiful… I can’t really describe it here, but it’s wonderful, so just go see for yourself!
Fabric by N.Y Smith - it’s not a JD story, but it’s a lovely vignette, stretching across the years.
If you want 1st admin smutty fic (!) then there’s Separations by Jori and Mojo. The story is set early first season, and flashes back to the early days in the WH. It’s posted at SOTU, message numbers #266, #268, #297, #322, #340, #363, #377, #378. (Or uploaded here)
And here’s a bunch of other stuff that I’d just forgotten about before! Re-watching The Cold on tv last week reminded me of a lovely fic by Bex called This Kiss; and there’s a sequel - Send in the Clowns. And her Ten Men is absolutely wonderful.
Red Lights by witchofnovember - Josh at Donna’s bedside after Gaza. Yes I know there are loads of those fics, but this is one I hadn’t read in a while. Also her much longer
Photographs is definitely worth a read - set during S6 it sort of keeps pace with canon whilst diverging from it at various points. It starts out with the fact that the photographs Colin took of the explosions in Gaza have appeared in a magazine… some of it’s a bit… ‘creaky’ in places, but it’s still pretty good. Although this fic is complete, she did start a sequel, Into the Breach which picks up the story a couple of years later, and starts with Sam asking Josh to run his presidential campaign, but it’s not finished, which is a shame. If you can bear to read unfinished fics, the 7 chapters of it that are up are worth reading, but Photographs is complete on its own, so you don’t need to read Into the Breach if you don’t want to!
Thanks to coffeeplease who reminded me of this fic (I read it a while back and had forgotten the title!) - Dream of a Common Language, in which Donna talks to someone about her relationship with Josh. I guess it’s sort of AU in that we find out that Josh and Donna have slept together occasionally over the years. Whilst I was re-reading that, I read the other two of her fics that are at the National Library - and they’re set in the same universe as this first one - both worth a read - Losing a Glove and other consequences of the cold (which is nothing to do with the episode, The Cold, in case you were wondering!) and Decisions which is a post ep for No Exit.
Jo and Ryo’s Colors of an Eternal Cycle takes place in S4 a little while after Holy Night, and Cardinal Points is a post ep for SGTE, SGTJ, and is CJ’s thoughts on Total Crackpot Day, maps and Josh and Donna (among other things) whilst getting slightly drunk.
Here’s one I forgot when I was recommending future fics - First 100 Days by kHo, and another of hers, Drunk and Tired is a post ep for A Change is Gonna Come. (One of the best "ILYs" from Josh in a fic!)
If you’re in the mood for a laugh, then try Character Assasination a wonderfully silly fic by lordess renegade.
On the subject of the wonderful and silly, if you haven’t read Donna the Vampire Slayer by Nomad then do. It’s one of the best crossover fics out there, its funny, well written and (you might not believe this) in character. There are two sequels as well, Samwolf and The Agricultural Secretary’s Revenge. There’s a lot of pop-under advertising at Nomad’s site, so if that bugs you, the story’s also up at fanfiction.net.
And I did pimp this fic at my journal a while back, but in case any of you missed it, Republicans End the World - Accidentally is fabulous - republican zombies on the rampage, CJ with a hockey stick and Toby with a machete! (yes, you did read that right!)
I’ve stayed more or less away from recommending fic that’s been posted very recently, because I figure that if it’s been posted on LJ, you’ve probably seen it, but I have to rec the latest fic by Chai which she’s just finished posting over at the Yahoo! JD list. It’s called Patriot Acts - and be warned - it’s dark and angsty, and although it has a JD romance at the centre, it’s a political story too - "what if Santos hadn’t won the nomination and Russell had won the election" . All those details are in her extensive author’s notes at the beginning. If you don’t like fic that has storylines which parallel real-life events, then don’t read it, but I thought it was fantastic. If you’re not a member at the Yahoo list and you want to read it, let me know, and I’ll ask her if I can send it to you.
The link is to the first chapter - the others are:
#21984, #21991, #21992, #22002, #22003, #22005, 22014, #22016, #22017, #22023, #22023, #22025, #22034, #22036, #22039, #22041, #22044, #22045.
ETA - Patriot Acts is now up at TNL, here
That's it for now - I'm sure I'll find some more sooner or later. Again, I'd be interested to know if you've found something new, or rediscovered something you'd forgotten... or it you did/or didn't like something!
I think all the links work - let me know if they don't!