It's the ficciest time of the year
I've been away for the holidays, and have barely scratched the surface of Yuletide, but have a few recs in the fandoms I have read that I wanted to post before the reveal:
Sports Night
Firstly, I got two gorgeous Sports Night fics that feature Dan Rydell's pain front and centre, in Holiday Spirit (1,500 words, no warnings) and Pinch Hitter (1,300 words, no warnings). I could read about sad, broken Danny all day and all night, and these are excellent examples of their type, with supportive!Casey and a fantastic Isaac. As these were both pinch-hits, it's even more astounding that they are so very pretty.
Studio 60
After the prodigious outputs for Sports Night and The West Wing (and even The Social Network), the amount of fic suggests that this is the Aaron Sorkin show that has been least taken to fandom's heart. Best Man (~6000 words, discussion of consent issues/drug addiction) is a real gem though. The relationship between Matt Albie and Danny Tripp is one of the few things that the show does well, and this explores it beautifully, without glossing over the strain that addiction can place on a friendship. This left me nodding my head, and features a lovely Harriet Hayes.
Friday Night Lights
Considering the awesomeness of this show, and all of its characters, there is surprisingly little fic out there, so it's glorious to get so much of quality this Yuletide. My favourite is All About Me (1,500 words, no warnings), in which Jess Merriweather thinks about the fact that she wanted to be QB1 for the Dallas Cowboys, and how women fit in, or don't, to the world of Dillon football.
There is a little bit of fic out there exploring the ways that being gay might intersect with life in a socially conservative small town, and with the world of football. When the World Comes In (4,100 words, no warnings) explores a relationship between Luke Cafferty and Vince Howard, and what coming out means, and might mean, for them and the people they know. It's lovely, and hopeful, without handwaving away the attitudes of the people around them.
If Friday Night Lights has a tragic hero, then it's Tim Riggins. Visitation (2,200 words, no warnings) is a gem of a story about Coach Taylor visiting Tim in prison. I haven't seen any of season five yet, and if the show's writers found a way to make this happen, then I would be very happy.
Southland
I love the relationship between John Cooper and Ben Sherman, and although in my head-canon it doesn't ever become romantic, Section 271 (4,200 words, no warnings) does a beautiful, totally in character, job of showing how that might happen.
Ugly Betty
Marc St. James is one of my favourite characters on Ugly Betty, and the finale of the show saw him vowing to find true love, instead of an endless parade of boytoys. At the End of the Week (12,200 words, no warnings) sees him reconnect with ex-boyfriend Cliff St. Paul in a believable, sweet, and suitably sarcastic fashion. This is exactly where I wish the show would have taken Marc.
Mysterious Skin
Enjoying a fan renaissance because of the Inception steamroller, and JGL's performance as protagonist Neil McCormick, but it's lovely to see fic being written for a very dark and thematically difficult film. Life Among Aliens: Two Boys (6,100 words, references to child abuse, prostitution and rape) takes the reader beyond the end of Mysterious Skin and keeps Neil in his hometown. He and Brian form an uneasy friendship, and it's going to be a long time before life is puppies and sunshine for them, but it works. Hopeful.
Sports Night
Firstly, I got two gorgeous Sports Night fics that feature Dan Rydell's pain front and centre, in Holiday Spirit (1,500 words, no warnings) and Pinch Hitter (1,300 words, no warnings). I could read about sad, broken Danny all day and all night, and these are excellent examples of their type, with supportive!Casey and a fantastic Isaac. As these were both pinch-hits, it's even more astounding that they are so very pretty.
Studio 60
After the prodigious outputs for Sports Night and The West Wing (and even The Social Network), the amount of fic suggests that this is the Aaron Sorkin show that has been least taken to fandom's heart. Best Man (~6000 words, discussion of consent issues/drug addiction) is a real gem though. The relationship between Matt Albie and Danny Tripp is one of the few things that the show does well, and this explores it beautifully, without glossing over the strain that addiction can place on a friendship. This left me nodding my head, and features a lovely Harriet Hayes.
Friday Night Lights
Considering the awesomeness of this show, and all of its characters, there is surprisingly little fic out there, so it's glorious to get so much of quality this Yuletide. My favourite is All About Me (1,500 words, no warnings), in which Jess Merriweather thinks about the fact that she wanted to be QB1 for the Dallas Cowboys, and how women fit in, or don't, to the world of Dillon football.
There is a little bit of fic out there exploring the ways that being gay might intersect with life in a socially conservative small town, and with the world of football. When the World Comes In (4,100 words, no warnings) explores a relationship between Luke Cafferty and Vince Howard, and what coming out means, and might mean, for them and the people they know. It's lovely, and hopeful, without handwaving away the attitudes of the people around them.
If Friday Night Lights has a tragic hero, then it's Tim Riggins. Visitation (2,200 words, no warnings) is a gem of a story about Coach Taylor visiting Tim in prison. I haven't seen any of season five yet, and if the show's writers found a way to make this happen, then I would be very happy.
Southland
I love the relationship between John Cooper and Ben Sherman, and although in my head-canon it doesn't ever become romantic, Section 271 (4,200 words, no warnings) does a beautiful, totally in character, job of showing how that might happen.
Ugly Betty
Marc St. James is one of my favourite characters on Ugly Betty, and the finale of the show saw him vowing to find true love, instead of an endless parade of boytoys. At the End of the Week (12,200 words, no warnings) sees him reconnect with ex-boyfriend Cliff St. Paul in a believable, sweet, and suitably sarcastic fashion. This is exactly where I wish the show would have taken Marc.
Mysterious Skin
Enjoying a fan renaissance because of the Inception steamroller, and JGL's performance as protagonist Neil McCormick, but it's lovely to see fic being written for a very dark and thematically difficult film. Life Among Aliens: Two Boys (6,100 words, references to child abuse, prostitution and rape) takes the reader beyond the end of Mysterious Skin and keeps Neil in his hometown. He and Brian form an uneasy friendship, and it's going to be a long time before life is puppies and sunshine for them, but it works. Hopeful.