The Year In Review (2009) - cruentum
Ah, so the Choose six of the things you've recced and talk about them again sparkleshow was dropped on my head last week. Imagine my wild flailing and fishmouth impressions as I stared at the meagre collection of, seven, I believe, fanworks I've recced since I joined TWH.
I have an excuse, of course. I came into TWH this year to do the interviews, and there were two of those. The reccing somewhat accidentally slipped into my lap. Speaking of interviews, I had hoped to do more, but real life intervened an awful lot (I went to see John Barrowman in way too many things, really), but if I'm there throughout the next year there will be more of them. So no worries, it won't get dropped into the nothingness of the fandom void again. Just don't expect anything until April.
Anyway, needless to say, I'm not going to choose six of the total seven fanworks for the Honourable Mentions end-of-year badges and glittershowers. The three that stand out, for various reasons though, are below, while John Barrowman is prance-dancing in the other window on my desktop.
The Possibility Of Escape by notevery.
This is the first story I recced after I'd walked around for a while and pitched it to other people to pick up, then was told to do it myself. It's, in my opinion, still one of the more creative, extravagant and original stories we've seen (out of a list of ten or so that come to mind, for me) fandom produce in the last year. The format does a beautiful job of reflecting the content, and this isn't your run of the mill story of any kind. It's not romantic while it's about love in very real and tragic ways, it's harsh without being crude, it's painful and it's beautiful in the execution of that. It's a story that hurt, and there are warnings on the story, but essentially this is the story that made me want to rec fiction to other people and show them the stories they are missing because maybe it's a pairing they don't read or an author they aren't quite aware of. I didn't really understand why people needed to rec anything until this story, until no-one else here wanted to touch it and I had to write up why this story was this amazing and this worthy of a read.
The Ianto and Jack Dress Up Game by kinky_chichi (Art)
It remains one of the cutest things fandom produced this year and something I wanted to rec for a bit of lighthearted good times amidst the darker-themed fiction I prefer a great deal of the time. I had a lot of fun with this when I first discovered it, I'm sure I still have the screenshots of that somewhere. With CoE, with heartbreak and animosity and whatnot, I appreciate the playfulness of this and well, the innocence of it. A little like a secret (or not) guilty pleasure of a quiet few hours just enjoying something fandom made. A good break, a good time, a great idea and still very well executed. Ah, I'll try not to spend more hours on it now.
We Held Gold Dust In Our Hands by amand_r
It's not been that long since misswinterhill and I recced this story together after it had caused a cascade-like reccing wave (all over my flist anyway) when it was first posted. It's a story that still makes me tear up even upon re-reads in two very specific places for, I suppose, personal reasons. I don't like to use fanfic epic or whatever the word is that people use to describe The Big Stories Of Fandom because such things only work in retrospect and with distance if even that, but what struck me about this fic was the journey of the characters from the beginning to the end, the development of people throughout life portrayed in it, the growth people experience, the, well, very human experience of choices and decisions and love and loss and love.
At his most positive, most untainted I like to see Jack Harkness as a man who loves unconditionally and unreservedly and without shame, and I love that this is the Jack we get in this. This story is about a relationship and it's about negotiating that and it's about, well, it's about life really, it's about love, like I said in my original rec, and throughout this year this is probably the story that has moved me the most, hooked its grubby little fingers into me as I read it and left me (not to be too melodramatic) changed and touched and completely taken at the end. You read the story and you fall in love with Ianto and Lisa and the others the way Jack does. He makes you cherish them and appreciate them for who they are as humans, and he makes you fall in love with him through that. I like all the dark sides of Jack in fiction, but in this, he's beautiful to me as they all are in their very humanity.
So those are the three fanworks with the Honourable Mention badges of the seven things that I recced last year. Every single story/art I recced meant something to me. That said I really enjoyed, was captivated and touched by so many other stories and works out there that were recced by others here and in some cases weren't recced at all.
It breaks my heart when I hear people say that they don't read anything outside Torchwood House, because I know how subjective and how selective my recs are even when choosing from the far bigger pool of Stories I Like A Whole Lot. Go out and read stories, read the stuff by authors you like, try new authors, read the comms and give things a chance, because Torchwood House will never cover everything that is good and even great (leaving aside even the discussion that good/great are mostly subjective).
For 2010, go out and read, folks, and don't rely on one community to deliver because you are missing out on so so much. There is a lot of talent and love and passion in this fandom, even after Children of Earth, and I'd hate for you to miss out on that.
I have an excuse, of course. I came into TWH this year to do the interviews, and there were two of those. The reccing somewhat accidentally slipped into my lap. Speaking of interviews, I had hoped to do more, but real life intervened an awful lot (I went to see John Barrowman in way too many things, really), but if I'm there throughout the next year there will be more of them. So no worries, it won't get dropped into the nothingness of the fandom void again. Just don't expect anything until April.
Anyway, needless to say, I'm not going to choose six of the total seven fanworks for the Honourable Mentions end-of-year badges and glittershowers. The three that stand out, for various reasons though, are below, while John Barrowman is prance-dancing in the other window on my desktop.
The Possibility Of Escape by notevery.
This is the first story I recced after I'd walked around for a while and pitched it to other people to pick up, then was told to do it myself. It's, in my opinion, still one of the more creative, extravagant and original stories we've seen (out of a list of ten or so that come to mind, for me) fandom produce in the last year. The format does a beautiful job of reflecting the content, and this isn't your run of the mill story of any kind. It's not romantic while it's about love in very real and tragic ways, it's harsh without being crude, it's painful and it's beautiful in the execution of that. It's a story that hurt, and there are warnings on the story, but essentially this is the story that made me want to rec fiction to other people and show them the stories they are missing because maybe it's a pairing they don't read or an author they aren't quite aware of. I didn't really understand why people needed to rec anything until this story, until no-one else here wanted to touch it and I had to write up why this story was this amazing and this worthy of a read.
The Ianto and Jack Dress Up Game by kinky_chichi (Art)
It remains one of the cutest things fandom produced this year and something I wanted to rec for a bit of lighthearted good times amidst the darker-themed fiction I prefer a great deal of the time. I had a lot of fun with this when I first discovered it, I'm sure I still have the screenshots of that somewhere. With CoE, with heartbreak and animosity and whatnot, I appreciate the playfulness of this and well, the innocence of it. A little like a secret (or not) guilty pleasure of a quiet few hours just enjoying something fandom made. A good break, a good time, a great idea and still very well executed. Ah, I'll try not to spend more hours on it now.
We Held Gold Dust In Our Hands by amand_r
It's not been that long since misswinterhill and I recced this story together after it had caused a cascade-like reccing wave (all over my flist anyway) when it was first posted. It's a story that still makes me tear up even upon re-reads in two very specific places for, I suppose, personal reasons. I don't like to use fanfic epic or whatever the word is that people use to describe The Big Stories Of Fandom because such things only work in retrospect and with distance if even that, but what struck me about this fic was the journey of the characters from the beginning to the end, the development of people throughout life portrayed in it, the growth people experience, the, well, very human experience of choices and decisions and love and loss and love.
At his most positive, most untainted I like to see Jack Harkness as a man who loves unconditionally and unreservedly and without shame, and I love that this is the Jack we get in this. This story is about a relationship and it's about negotiating that and it's about, well, it's about life really, it's about love, like I said in my original rec, and throughout this year this is probably the story that has moved me the most, hooked its grubby little fingers into me as I read it and left me (not to be too melodramatic) changed and touched and completely taken at the end. You read the story and you fall in love with Ianto and Lisa and the others the way Jack does. He makes you cherish them and appreciate them for who they are as humans, and he makes you fall in love with him through that. I like all the dark sides of Jack in fiction, but in this, he's beautiful to me as they all are in their very humanity.
So those are the three fanworks with the Honourable Mention badges of the seven things that I recced last year. Every single story/art I recced meant something to me. That said I really enjoyed, was captivated and touched by so many other stories and works out there that were recced by others here and in some cases weren't recced at all.
It breaks my heart when I hear people say that they don't read anything outside Torchwood House, because I know how subjective and how selective my recs are even when choosing from the far bigger pool of Stories I Like A Whole Lot. Go out and read stories, read the stuff by authors you like, try new authors, read the comms and give things a chance, because Torchwood House will never cover everything that is good and even great (leaving aside even the discussion that good/great are mostly subjective).
For 2010, go out and read, folks, and don't rely on one community to deliver because you are missing out on so so much. There is a lot of talent and love and passion in this fandom, even after Children of Earth, and I'd hate for you to miss out on that.