a by no means exhaustive list of favorite fic
So chaila43 suggested we should post awesome things in July, and I asked if anyone had suggestions for awesome things to post, and she came back with a request for discussion of favorite fanworks. This struck me as an excellent idea, because although I make recs from time to time, an all-time favorites list would look a bit different, I think--in part because not everything I rec would end up on that list, and in part because there are many things that I love tremendously but would not necessarily expect other people to love (and thus might not be inclined to rec them widely). Of course, this isn't really an all-time favorites list, or at least not anything close to an exhaustive one, but some of these fics have been favorites of mine for many, many years. In most cases, it's pretty evident, at least if you know me well, why they push my buttons. Mostly, it was a fun excuse to go hunt down a whole great list of beloved stories and to re-read many of them. If you want to treat it like a recs list, hopefully you'll find or be reminded of stories you'll enjoy, but mostly, it's just a list of stories that make me happy, offered without particular expectation that anyone else will feel similarly about them.
Organized by fandom, roughly chronological by my discovery of the fandom and the fic. So we begin by kicking it old-school with
The X-Files
9.8 meters per second per second [ETA: now an easier-to-read AO3 link!] probably doesn't rank, objectively, among the best of
cofax7's fic, but it really had me at "Scully runs away and becomes a climber." And the dynamic between Scully and Mulder is spot-on.
And I always had a soft spot for Doggett and Reyes, and mylittleredgirl's Tight Enough has been a favorite since about the time I stopped lurking and got up the courage to send Little Red an email saying I liked the fic, back in the days when you sent feedback via email. And considering that I've gone back to re-read this from time to time, over the course of nearly a decade, it's probably my most-read fic to date. It's possible I have bits of it pretty much memorized. :)
Stargate: SG-1
I have occasionally been asked why Janet and Daniel/Janet were the character and pairing that pinged so hard for me on SG-1. The answer, I think, has something to do with "Threshold" being the first episode I saw, because the depiction there of Janet, caught between her ethics and her orders, pinged incredibly hard for me. When I went looking for fic not long after that, I found meg_tdj's On the Threshold, which is Janet (and Daniel) in the fallout of that episode. It wasn't the only reason I became hooked on that pairing for a while, but it was a significant part of it.
Also Daniel/Janet and much-beloved is anr's Slow Burn, which fills in the blanks from the episode "2010."
The SG-1 finale, "Unending," was a controversial episode, but I'm in the camp of mostly loving it, in large part because OMG TEAL'C!!!!! In that vein, there's
minxy's Five Things Teal'c Learned in Fifty Years, but Will Never Speak Of. *wibbles*
And transitioning to the next section, Alien by annakarrennina is a crossover in which Sam Carter meets John Crichton. It makes me want to hug them both a lot.
Farscape
I have a lot of beloved Farscape fics, but I'll stick to two that really stand out. Kerlin's Threnody for Innocence is the story of Xhalax Sun and Talyn Lyczak, and it's lovely and heartbreaking, and oh, do I ever love Xhalax Sun!!!
And Thea's Blue Eyes is the only long fic on this list, because while I enjoy an epic now and then, they're not generally my favorite fic genre. This is one of those stories that I started reading and quite literally could not stop until I finished (possibly there were breaks for food and washroom, but certainly not for work or sleep). An AU spinning off from the premise that John married Princess Katralla.
Battlestar Galactica
I have a lot of trouble going back to BSG fic now. So much of what I loved now feels tainted by my lingering bitter disappointment with the way it all ended. That is especially true of fic that's at all Adama/Roslin-ish. Thus, I was pleased and surprised when I was able to re-read Truths Half Told by gabolange with affection. It characterizes what I really loved about the relationship between Roslin and Adama, before the show botched it so badly. Plus, little did I know when I commented on that fic that I was meeting my best friend!
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
You're Not From Around Here by vee_fic is a fabulous look at James Ellison as he tries to assimilate the new data of his world. With bonus Derek.
Immutability by templemarker gives us Sarah and Ellison in the immediate aftermath of the finale. Wonderful characterization, and if Sarah is a little softer than I think she might necessarily be in this situation (but neither would she necessarily not behave like this, I think), it still hits a lot of my buttons pretty hard. And, well, it basically had me at Sarah/Ellison. :)
Carve me in marble, cast me in gold by chaila43 is a stunning study of Terissa Dyson and her relationship with Sarah Connor. It's one of those fics where I have the urge to quote the entire thing, because *flappy hands*
Judging Amy
Okay, there's practically no such thing as a Judging Amy fandom, and this is really the only fic for that show I've ever liked. But I like it a LOT. Amy, post-series, and everything I loved about Amy and her relationship to ambition, and the difficult realization that just because you could do something doesn't mean it would make you happy. Also just a touch of Amy/Bruce, which makes me happy. Useful Things by fairy_tale_echo
Doctor Who
There are a number of really excellent fics about River Song (which is kind of all I care about in this canon), but the one that really sticks with me in terms of occupying that "I really wanted a fic about this, and here it is!!!" place is Disintegration (The Next Chapter Remix) by
such_heights. This is the fic for all of us who were dissatisfied with River left in the library. Well, of course she didn't stay there.
Alias
Despite the fact that Irina's life as Laura Bristow is one of the least intriguing parts of her character to me, two of the fics that I keep coming back to in this fandom feature that time heavily. I guess it's the good Irina characterization that gets me. And I think of them a little bit as a pair, because in the first fic Irina is perhaps a little softer than I see her, and in the second she's perhaps a little more brittle. Both characterizations are true, I think, because the beauty of Irina is that she's everything and never too much of any one thing.
No for Yes by Yahtzee is on one hand the story of how Sydney came to be born and on the other hand the story of her parents grieving her, during the missing years when they thought she was dead. I'm not sure I've yet read a story where both Irina and Jack receive really spot-on (at least as I see them) sustained characterization, but this one perhaps comes closest.
But as I said, pair it with Losing Laura Bristow by ygrawn, which has less Jack and more of Irina's balancing act and well-deserved stress and bitterness in the final days of her time as Laura.
The Queen's Thief Series
my secrets are doors by Fahye examines the fierce and terrible way the Queen of Attolia loves. This is exactly why this character pushes my buttons so hard.
And I could probably go on and on, but no doubt that's enough for now. Enjoy!
Crossposted from DW, where there are
comments. Comment here or there.
Organized by fandom, roughly chronological by my discovery of the fandom and the fic. So we begin by kicking it old-school with
The X-Files
9.8 meters per second per second [ETA: now an easier-to-read AO3 link!] probably doesn't rank, objectively, among the best of
cofax7's fic, but it really had me at "Scully runs away and becomes a climber." And the dynamic between Scully and Mulder is spot-on.
And I always had a soft spot for Doggett and Reyes, and mylittleredgirl's Tight Enough has been a favorite since about the time I stopped lurking and got up the courage to send Little Red an email saying I liked the fic, back in the days when you sent feedback via email. And considering that I've gone back to re-read this from time to time, over the course of nearly a decade, it's probably my most-read fic to date. It's possible I have bits of it pretty much memorized. :)
Stargate: SG-1
I have occasionally been asked why Janet and Daniel/Janet were the character and pairing that pinged so hard for me on SG-1. The answer, I think, has something to do with "Threshold" being the first episode I saw, because the depiction there of Janet, caught between her ethics and her orders, pinged incredibly hard for me. When I went looking for fic not long after that, I found meg_tdj's On the Threshold, which is Janet (and Daniel) in the fallout of that episode. It wasn't the only reason I became hooked on that pairing for a while, but it was a significant part of it.
Also Daniel/Janet and much-beloved is anr's Slow Burn, which fills in the blanks from the episode "2010."
The SG-1 finale, "Unending," was a controversial episode, but I'm in the camp of mostly loving it, in large part because OMG TEAL'C!!!!! In that vein, there's
minxy's Five Things Teal'c Learned in Fifty Years, but Will Never Speak Of. *wibbles*
And transitioning to the next section, Alien by annakarrennina is a crossover in which Sam Carter meets John Crichton. It makes me want to hug them both a lot.
Farscape
I have a lot of beloved Farscape fics, but I'll stick to two that really stand out. Kerlin's Threnody for Innocence is the story of Xhalax Sun and Talyn Lyczak, and it's lovely and heartbreaking, and oh, do I ever love Xhalax Sun!!!
And Thea's Blue Eyes is the only long fic on this list, because while I enjoy an epic now and then, they're not generally my favorite fic genre. This is one of those stories that I started reading and quite literally could not stop until I finished (possibly there were breaks for food and washroom, but certainly not for work or sleep). An AU spinning off from the premise that John married Princess Katralla.
Battlestar Galactica
I have a lot of trouble going back to BSG fic now. So much of what I loved now feels tainted by my lingering bitter disappointment with the way it all ended. That is especially true of fic that's at all Adama/Roslin-ish. Thus, I was pleased and surprised when I was able to re-read Truths Half Told by gabolange with affection. It characterizes what I really loved about the relationship between Roslin and Adama, before the show botched it so badly. Plus, little did I know when I commented on that fic that I was meeting my best friend!
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
You're Not From Around Here by vee_fic is a fabulous look at James Ellison as he tries to assimilate the new data of his world. With bonus Derek.
Immutability by templemarker gives us Sarah and Ellison in the immediate aftermath of the finale. Wonderful characterization, and if Sarah is a little softer than I think she might necessarily be in this situation (but neither would she necessarily not behave like this, I think), it still hits a lot of my buttons pretty hard. And, well, it basically had me at Sarah/Ellison. :)
Carve me in marble, cast me in gold by chaila43 is a stunning study of Terissa Dyson and her relationship with Sarah Connor. It's one of those fics where I have the urge to quote the entire thing, because *flappy hands*
Judging Amy
Okay, there's practically no such thing as a Judging Amy fandom, and this is really the only fic for that show I've ever liked. But I like it a LOT. Amy, post-series, and everything I loved about Amy and her relationship to ambition, and the difficult realization that just because you could do something doesn't mean it would make you happy. Also just a touch of Amy/Bruce, which makes me happy. Useful Things by fairy_tale_echo
Doctor Who
There are a number of really excellent fics about River Song (which is kind of all I care about in this canon), but the one that really sticks with me in terms of occupying that "I really wanted a fic about this, and here it is!!!" place is Disintegration (The Next Chapter Remix) by
such_heights. This is the fic for all of us who were dissatisfied with River left in the library. Well, of course she didn't stay there.
Alias
Despite the fact that Irina's life as Laura Bristow is one of the least intriguing parts of her character to me, two of the fics that I keep coming back to in this fandom feature that time heavily. I guess it's the good Irina characterization that gets me. And I think of them a little bit as a pair, because in the first fic Irina is perhaps a little softer than I see her, and in the second she's perhaps a little more brittle. Both characterizations are true, I think, because the beauty of Irina is that she's everything and never too much of any one thing.
No for Yes by Yahtzee is on one hand the story of how Sydney came to be born and on the other hand the story of her parents grieving her, during the missing years when they thought she was dead. I'm not sure I've yet read a story where both Irina and Jack receive really spot-on (at least as I see them) sustained characterization, but this one perhaps comes closest.
But as I said, pair it with Losing Laura Bristow by ygrawn, which has less Jack and more of Irina's balancing act and well-deserved stress and bitterness in the final days of her time as Laura.
The Queen's Thief Series
my secrets are doors by Fahye examines the fierce and terrible way the Queen of Attolia loves. This is exactly why this character pushes my buttons so hard.
And I could probably go on and on, but no doubt that's enough for now. Enjoy!
Crossposted from DW, where there are
comments. Comment here or there.