Customs by Stranger (PG/PG-13)
Hi. I'm aralias and I'll be driving the Blake's 7 crack van for this, the comm's final flight.
Some quick context about B7 and what I'm likely to rec before I get down to the business of actually reccing some fics: B7 is a bit like what you would get if you cross Classic Who with New Who, A Brave New World, Star Trek: TOS, and Firefly. It's a bit like that (the first, third and fourth influenced B7; B7 almost certainly influenced the second and fifth). executrix has already written a fandom summary (N.B. MANY spoilers), linking to astrogirl2's more objective fandom summary. I would also recommend the Fanlore page (again - spoilers), or lost_spook's non-spoilery guide (written this year) of many pictures and quotes.
Blake was a megafandom for decades and was still active in the early days of LJ - to the extent that it had a regular driver 2006-07. It is still active today, but on a small scale. If you wanted to, you could hang out on such comms as b7friday, b7_kinkmeme or
blakefest. Because the fandom is old, I offer you some key advice at this point: do not believe that anything is truly gone. Always ask the Wayback Machine (coincidentally, the first episode of B7 is also called 'The Way Back'). Many of the links on this comm are dead... or so they seem (coincidentally - SPOILERS).
Because this is the one and only time I'll get to rec Blake to a wide audience, I'm planning to rec quite a few fics. I will do this... in chronological order, starting with a three fics written in 1988 (7 years after the show ended) and going up to three written in 2013 (or even, who knows, 2014). I will warn you now that quite a few of my recs are Blake/Avon (which we newbies sometimes call Blavon), and quite a few of the ones that aren't B/A... are intense character-based gen about Blake and/or Avon. But, to be fair, B/A is arguably the most popular pairing in the fandom, Avon is inarguably the most popular character (and at least half of all the most popular ships), and Blake and Avon are the main characters.
There will be spoilers for the show in almost all of the fics, but I will try and keep them out of the recs unless it's absolutely necessary, in which case I will mark them.
Fandom: BLAKE'S 7
Pairing: Predominantly gen, with Jenna/Cally and Avon
Length: 2599
Author on LJ:
Author Website: Stranger on AO3
Why this must be read: This fic was written in 1988 for a zine by one of the people who contributed most heavily and (I think) insightfully to the famous 1998 essay, 'Normal Female Interest in Men Bonking'. If you like femslash - well, actually, don't get excited about this fandom. This is my first rec, my first femslash rec - and my last femslash rec (but not my last rec). But I am very excited to have this one to rec first (even though, it was in a way, a quirk of its date) because while in one way it's unusual (sorry femslash), in another it demonstrates a lot of the stuff that's most exciting about B7 fic - great snarky dialogue between the ensemble, strong characterisation for all (even women!), unlikely friendship with people who go out of their way to look like jerks, and convincing world building. There's some femslash at the end and it's good and interesting femslash, but mostly this fic is a gen fic about the way the Federation looks to those inside and outside it.
Thanks go to wellharkather for showing me this fic after I'd already drawn up a shortlist of what I wanted to rec.
Excerpt:
Cally sipped again at the wine (or brandy) consideringly. "Do humans really like this?"
"Frequently," Avon assured her, flicking a significant look at Vila.
Vila did not perceive the shade of significance Avon had intended. "S'great," he affirmed, happily. "Makes everything look better." He grinned.
"Except you," said Avon.
"Ah, but I don't have to look at me."
"If only the rest of us were so lucky," said Jenna.
Link: Customs
Some quick context about B7 and what I'm likely to rec before I get down to the business of actually reccing some fics: B7 is a bit like what you would get if you cross Classic Who with New Who, A Brave New World, Star Trek: TOS, and Firefly. It's a bit like that (the first, third and fourth influenced B7; B7 almost certainly influenced the second and fifth). executrix has already written a fandom summary (N.B. MANY spoilers), linking to astrogirl2's more objective fandom summary. I would also recommend the Fanlore page (again - spoilers), or lost_spook's non-spoilery guide (written this year) of many pictures and quotes.
Blake was a megafandom for decades and was still active in the early days of LJ - to the extent that it had a regular driver 2006-07. It is still active today, but on a small scale. If you wanted to, you could hang out on such comms as b7friday, b7_kinkmeme or
blakefest. Because the fandom is old, I offer you some key advice at this point: do not believe that anything is truly gone. Always ask the Wayback Machine (coincidentally, the first episode of B7 is also called 'The Way Back'). Many of the links on this comm are dead... or so they seem (coincidentally - SPOILERS).
Because this is the one and only time I'll get to rec Blake to a wide audience, I'm planning to rec quite a few fics. I will do this... in chronological order, starting with a three fics written in 1988 (7 years after the show ended) and going up to three written in 2013 (or even, who knows, 2014). I will warn you now that quite a few of my recs are Blake/Avon (which we newbies sometimes call Blavon), and quite a few of the ones that aren't B/A... are intense character-based gen about Blake and/or Avon. But, to be fair, B/A is arguably the most popular pairing in the fandom, Avon is inarguably the most popular character (and at least half of all the most popular ships), and Blake and Avon are the main characters.
There will be spoilers for the show in almost all of the fics, but I will try and keep them out of the recs unless it's absolutely necessary, in which case I will mark them.
Fandom: BLAKE'S 7
Pairing: Predominantly gen, with Jenna/Cally and Avon
Length: 2599
Author on LJ:
Author Website: Stranger on AO3
Why this must be read: This fic was written in 1988 for a zine by one of the people who contributed most heavily and (I think) insightfully to the famous 1998 essay, 'Normal Female Interest in Men Bonking'. If you like femslash - well, actually, don't get excited about this fandom. This is my first rec, my first femslash rec - and my last femslash rec (but not my last rec). But I am very excited to have this one to rec first (even though, it was in a way, a quirk of its date) because while in one way it's unusual (sorry femslash), in another it demonstrates a lot of the stuff that's most exciting about B7 fic - great snarky dialogue between the ensemble, strong characterisation for all (even women!), unlikely friendship with people who go out of their way to look like jerks, and convincing world building. There's some femslash at the end and it's good and interesting femslash, but mostly this fic is a gen fic about the way the Federation looks to those inside and outside it.
Thanks go to wellharkather for showing me this fic after I'd already drawn up a shortlist of what I wanted to rec.
Excerpt:
Cally sipped again at the wine (or brandy) consideringly. "Do humans really like this?"
"Frequently," Avon assured her, flicking a significant look at Vila.
Vila did not perceive the shade of significance Avon had intended. "S'great," he affirmed, happily. "Makes everything look better." He grinned.
"Except you," said Avon.
"Ah, but I don't have to look at me."
"If only the rest of us were so lucky," said Jenna.
Link: Customs