February & March recs
Because of family stuff, previously mentioned, here is a combined list for the past two months. It's not a long one, but there are quite a number of longfics and series, so you should still get good reading out of it.
Rec Of The Week - The Making of Monsters by
shuofthewind
Moving to Manhattan is supposed to be a stopgap until she gets her GED. Instead, she gets a sister (well, cousin, technically, but neither of them quibble), a degree, a firm, a devil, and a whole pack of monsters.
God, she really should be getting therapy.
[Or, the one where Darcy Lewis stitches up gut wounds, runs away from home, buys a gun, becomes a lawyer, helps start a blog, saves a life, may or may not have squishy feelings, and learns how to make a mean chocolate babka. Not necessarily in that order.]
-The Making of Monsters Sidefics
Canon-divergent AUs are my catnip. Seriously, I love them so much. And Darcy's a character in Marvel who gets used a lot - often as a self-insert - to varying degrees of success on fanfic, but when people go somewhere good with her, it has the potential to be amazing, which The Price of War is. Picture a Darcy who leaves home at fifteen to escape her abusive alcoholic mother, and who winds up on her cousin, Jennifer Walters's, couch. (Yes, THAT Jennifer Walters.) Fast forward a few years, and rather than going into poli-sci, Darcy goes into law, with a focus on domestic violence, and right along side her at college are Matt Murdock and Foggy. What follows is a long, complex and detailed retelling of Daredevil season one, with some things staying the same, and others being shifted. You get a much heavier focus on the women of Daredevil - Karen, Claire, Elena, Vanessa, Madame Gao, Marci - and the women the author has chosen to add - Darcy, Jen, Kate Bishop, Tandy (Dagger, of Cloak and Dagger), and one or two fantastic OCs. It's violent, and heartbreaking at times, but no more than the canon it's drawn from, and it's a vibrant slightly-to-the-left-of-canon alternative that lovers of Daredevil and of women characters should adore. It's like they've taken the focus from Jessica Jones and applied it to the Daredevil canon and made it all the more awesome for it. And probably my favourite thing about this fic is its diversity. Darcy is biracial, as is Kate (who is also transgender). There are a bunch of languages spoken, as there are in the show, and though I only speak English, I like that this is something the author chose to do. There comprehensive translations at the end of each chapter, for those who need them. The sidefics series is comprised of missing scenes and alternate viewpoints, but my favourite post-Price of War fic is a longfic focussing on Jessica Jones (yay!). So, come for the Darcy and Daredevil, stay for the ladies and the deliciously good storytelling that doesn't shy away from delving into the darker side of human nature.
Also! For those, like me, who haven't seen Daredevil season 2 yet, stop reading the main series after AKA Clock and Dagger. The Source of Darkness is the author's new WIP that ties in to season 2.
Rec Of The Week - The Needle and the Killing Done by
spitandvinegar
The asset wears blue jeans, a t-shirt, a denim jacket. The asset wears one glove. The asset walks around the city. It feels as if it remembers something. It doesn't know what it remembers. Perhaps it remembers everything.
After two days the insects crawling over the asset's body become intolerable. The asset uses its metal arm to attempt to remove the insects from the meat arm. The results are not satisfactory.
“What the fuck are you doing, man?” says a pile of refuse.
-Ain't No Grave (Can Keep My Body Down)
It's six in the morning, and Steve is heading out on a run when he nearly trips over a bouquet of sunflowers on the front steps of his brownstone.
For a second paranoia takes over, and he kicks the flowers a little, waiting for them to explode. They don't. They also came with a card, which he picks up. The front of the card has a tasteful picture of the Brooklyn bridge at sunset. It's very nice and sedate, like the kind of card you would buy to give to your boss. On the inside someone has written a short message in big, shaky block letters.
I AM SORRY FOR SHOOTING YOU.
Steve sits down hard on the steps.
These stories take the best of the all-the-hurt present- and post-WS Bucky genre and beautifully combine them with humour, friendship and community. What unfolds is not exactly light, but it avoids the deepest of depths. Those who like owlet's Infinite Coffee and Protection Detail series should really enjoy this similar but very different scenario, and those who like Bucky to have some profound emotional and physical fall-out post-WS will find this a well-executed treatment. Of greatest interest to me was Bucky's neurological symptom array, at times a kind of TBI-induced Tourette's, at others, the black-outs and flashbacks of C-PTSD. Those who like an exploration of the ramifications of Hydra's need to control Bucky will find the drug dependancy story arc satisfying. It's something I've seen discussed a lot, but this is probably the story that's focussed on it most heavily that I've read. But above all, this is a story about Bucky making connections, helping people, and building bridges even as he's unsure of who he is. It's a story about that central core of compassion that Hydra failed to erase, even as they stole his life and his identity, and that's what makes these tales so important - they're about resilience and reclaiming dignity, against all odds.
Tiny Hoard by
rose-of-the-mountain
pagen-godess asked: Based on the dragon post. How about something where Tony has a tiny horde of little pet dragons. His friends are used to them. The other avengers are not.
All Roads Lead To Haven by
mad_martha (Crossover with Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series)
Peggy and Steve make plans. The gods laugh at them.
This series' first part is a Supernatural crossover but I read it anyway, despite knowing nothing of the show, and it works absolutely fine as a straight-up piece of Valdemar fic.
God Save The Queen by
copperbadge
Bucky was having a great time with Lizbet, until her dad got involved.
Colombia by
CourtneyCourtney
Edwin Jarvis learns to navigate in the wake of Steve Rogers.
The Automat 'Verse by
paperclipbitch
If she’d known there’d be surprise lovely women in her kitchen, Peggy reflects, she’d definitely have grabbed a hairbrush and some eyeliner before she entered.
-- or, The One Where Peggy Is Pretty Ambivalent About Christmas, Snow, and All Things Festive, Until A Cute Bartender Changes Her Mind.
The Quickest Way to a Heart. by
VictoryCandescence
Steve and Bucky: an edible history.
The Iron Lady by
shuofthewind
Toni Stark has a tongue ring, an attitude, and an AI, and she knows how to use them.
Three movies and an Avengers interlude.
and i’ll be singing like an angel (until i’m six feet deep) by
shuofthewind
So the reason Darcy is a late-bloomer, college wise, is a bit more complicated than her complete inability to keep her majors straight. Also, Clint Barton is a total folk music fanboy.
Jack-Booted Thug goes, “Holy shit you’re Lucy Miller.” And then he blushes. He actually goddamn blushes like a schoolboy, and holy biceps, Batman.
The Cyborg Arm Job by
copperbadge (crossover with Leverage)
The Leverage crew run into a new friend, find some buried treasure, and fight some Nazis. It's a pretty good day.
I've never seen Levergae, and I found this both accessible and delightful.
Follow by
kristophine
The complete story of Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes--not quite cradle to grave; more like Brooklyn cradle to icy grave to Russia and DC to Eastern Europe and South Korea, and back to New York again.
Rec Of The Week - Known Associates by
thingswithwings
Steve Rogers isn't a self-made man.
Or, how a tough little Brooklyn fairy got turned into Captain America, and then turned back.
You may already know thingswithwings' profound influence on fandom through their wonderful historical meta posts - for example, Mr Rogers' Gaybourhood or on gay and queer. What you might not know is that they used all that wonderful research over the last three years to write an epic, beautiful story about Steve Rogers - socialist, activist, fairy, pansy - and that last week, chapter by chapter, they posted it in full. I could go on for hours about this story, but I won't. What I've written above should be recommendation enough of just how good it's going to be, and you should set aside the next couple of days or a week or whatever to read through it, cherishing every word. Read if you like historically accurate Steve Rogers, queer history, and works like All The Angels and The Saints by
Speranza where these two things beautifully intersect.
Thawed Out by
auburnnothenna and
eretria
He's not the Asset. He's not the Winter Soldier. But neither is he Bucky Barnes. With the help of Steve, Sam and the Avengers, James takes the long, slow road to recovery. Nothing is as easy as either of them thought it would be.
Ritchie Holmes
Post-Mortem by
paperclipbitch
“I hadn’t seen an announcement of your latest wedding in a newspaper, how was I to know you were alive?”
This entry was originally posted at http://iamshadow.dreamwidth.org/427913.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Rec Of The Week - The Making of Monsters by
shuofthewind
Moving to Manhattan is supposed to be a stopgap until she gets her GED. Instead, she gets a sister (well, cousin, technically, but neither of them quibble), a degree, a firm, a devil, and a whole pack of monsters.
God, she really should be getting therapy.
[Or, the one where Darcy Lewis stitches up gut wounds, runs away from home, buys a gun, becomes a lawyer, helps start a blog, saves a life, may or may not have squishy feelings, and learns how to make a mean chocolate babka. Not necessarily in that order.]
-The Making of Monsters Sidefics
Canon-divergent AUs are my catnip. Seriously, I love them so much. And Darcy's a character in Marvel who gets used a lot - often as a self-insert - to varying degrees of success on fanfic, but when people go somewhere good with her, it has the potential to be amazing, which The Price of War is. Picture a Darcy who leaves home at fifteen to escape her abusive alcoholic mother, and who winds up on her cousin, Jennifer Walters's, couch. (Yes, THAT Jennifer Walters.) Fast forward a few years, and rather than going into poli-sci, Darcy goes into law, with a focus on domestic violence, and right along side her at college are Matt Murdock and Foggy. What follows is a long, complex and detailed retelling of Daredevil season one, with some things staying the same, and others being shifted. You get a much heavier focus on the women of Daredevil - Karen, Claire, Elena, Vanessa, Madame Gao, Marci - and the women the author has chosen to add - Darcy, Jen, Kate Bishop, Tandy (Dagger, of Cloak and Dagger), and one or two fantastic OCs. It's violent, and heartbreaking at times, but no more than the canon it's drawn from, and it's a vibrant slightly-to-the-left-of-canon alternative that lovers of Daredevil and of women characters should adore. It's like they've taken the focus from Jessica Jones and applied it to the Daredevil canon and made it all the more awesome for it. And probably my favourite thing about this fic is its diversity. Darcy is biracial, as is Kate (who is also transgender). There are a bunch of languages spoken, as there are in the show, and though I only speak English, I like that this is something the author chose to do. There comprehensive translations at the end of each chapter, for those who need them. The sidefics series is comprised of missing scenes and alternate viewpoints, but my favourite post-Price of War fic is a longfic focussing on Jessica Jones (yay!). So, come for the Darcy and Daredevil, stay for the ladies and the deliciously good storytelling that doesn't shy away from delving into the darker side of human nature.
Also! For those, like me, who haven't seen Daredevil season 2 yet, stop reading the main series after AKA Clock and Dagger. The Source of Darkness is the author's new WIP that ties in to season 2.
Rec Of The Week - The Needle and the Killing Done by
spitandvinegar
The asset wears blue jeans, a t-shirt, a denim jacket. The asset wears one glove. The asset walks around the city. It feels as if it remembers something. It doesn't know what it remembers. Perhaps it remembers everything.
After two days the insects crawling over the asset's body become intolerable. The asset uses its metal arm to attempt to remove the insects from the meat arm. The results are not satisfactory.
“What the fuck are you doing, man?” says a pile of refuse.
-Ain't No Grave (Can Keep My Body Down)
It's six in the morning, and Steve is heading out on a run when he nearly trips over a bouquet of sunflowers on the front steps of his brownstone.
For a second paranoia takes over, and he kicks the flowers a little, waiting for them to explode. They don't. They also came with a card, which he picks up. The front of the card has a tasteful picture of the Brooklyn bridge at sunset. It's very nice and sedate, like the kind of card you would buy to give to your boss. On the inside someone has written a short message in big, shaky block letters.
I AM SORRY FOR SHOOTING YOU.
Steve sits down hard on the steps.
These stories take the best of the all-the-hurt present- and post-WS Bucky genre and beautifully combine them with humour, friendship and community. What unfolds is not exactly light, but it avoids the deepest of depths. Those who like owlet's Infinite Coffee and Protection Detail series should really enjoy this similar but very different scenario, and those who like Bucky to have some profound emotional and physical fall-out post-WS will find this a well-executed treatment. Of greatest interest to me was Bucky's neurological symptom array, at times a kind of TBI-induced Tourette's, at others, the black-outs and flashbacks of C-PTSD. Those who like an exploration of the ramifications of Hydra's need to control Bucky will find the drug dependancy story arc satisfying. It's something I've seen discussed a lot, but this is probably the story that's focussed on it most heavily that I've read. But above all, this is a story about Bucky making connections, helping people, and building bridges even as he's unsure of who he is. It's a story about that central core of compassion that Hydra failed to erase, even as they stole his life and his identity, and that's what makes these tales so important - they're about resilience and reclaiming dignity, against all odds.
Tiny Hoard by
rose-of-the-mountain
pagen-godess asked: Based on the dragon post. How about something where Tony has a tiny horde of little pet dragons. His friends are used to them. The other avengers are not.
All Roads Lead To Haven by
mad_martha (Crossover with Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series)
Peggy and Steve make plans. The gods laugh at them.
This series' first part is a Supernatural crossover but I read it anyway, despite knowing nothing of the show, and it works absolutely fine as a straight-up piece of Valdemar fic.
God Save The Queen by
copperbadge
Bucky was having a great time with Lizbet, until her dad got involved.
Colombia by
CourtneyCourtney
Edwin Jarvis learns to navigate in the wake of Steve Rogers.
The Automat 'Verse by
paperclipbitch
If she’d known there’d be surprise lovely women in her kitchen, Peggy reflects, she’d definitely have grabbed a hairbrush and some eyeliner before she entered.
-- or, The One Where Peggy Is Pretty Ambivalent About Christmas, Snow, and All Things Festive, Until A Cute Bartender Changes Her Mind.
The Quickest Way to a Heart. by
VictoryCandescence
Steve and Bucky: an edible history.
The Iron Lady by
shuofthewind
Toni Stark has a tongue ring, an attitude, and an AI, and she knows how to use them.
Three movies and an Avengers interlude.
and i’ll be singing like an angel (until i’m six feet deep) by
shuofthewind
So the reason Darcy is a late-bloomer, college wise, is a bit more complicated than her complete inability to keep her majors straight. Also, Clint Barton is a total folk music fanboy.
Jack-Booted Thug goes, “Holy shit you’re Lucy Miller.” And then he blushes. He actually goddamn blushes like a schoolboy, and holy biceps, Batman.
The Cyborg Arm Job by
copperbadge (crossover with Leverage)
The Leverage crew run into a new friend, find some buried treasure, and fight some Nazis. It's a pretty good day.
I've never seen Levergae, and I found this both accessible and delightful.
Follow by
kristophine
The complete story of Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes--not quite cradle to grave; more like Brooklyn cradle to icy grave to Russia and DC to Eastern Europe and South Korea, and back to New York again.
Rec Of The Week - Known Associates by
thingswithwings
Steve Rogers isn't a self-made man.
Or, how a tough little Brooklyn fairy got turned into Captain America, and then turned back.
You may already know thingswithwings' profound influence on fandom through their wonderful historical meta posts - for example, Mr Rogers' Gaybourhood or on gay and queer. What you might not know is that they used all that wonderful research over the last three years to write an epic, beautiful story about Steve Rogers - socialist, activist, fairy, pansy - and that last week, chapter by chapter, they posted it in full. I could go on for hours about this story, but I won't. What I've written above should be recommendation enough of just how good it's going to be, and you should set aside the next couple of days or a week or whatever to read through it, cherishing every word. Read if you like historically accurate Steve Rogers, queer history, and works like All The Angels and The Saints by
Speranza where these two things beautifully intersect.
Thawed Out by
auburnnothenna and
eretria
He's not the Asset. He's not the Winter Soldier. But neither is he Bucky Barnes. With the help of Steve, Sam and the Avengers, James takes the long, slow road to recovery. Nothing is as easy as either of them thought it would be.
Ritchie Holmes
Post-Mortem by
paperclipbitch
“I hadn’t seen an announcement of your latest wedding in a newspaper, how was I to know you were alive?”
This entry was originally posted at http://iamshadow.dreamwidth.org/427913.html. Please comment there using OpenID.