One Day In Fic

[melannen]

So, I was going to post about all the fun stuff I've done this weekend, but ... maybe tomorrow. First I wanted to close all the open Opera tabs. They were open because yesterday I decided to leave open all the fic I read in twenty-four hours, just so I could see how much there was. And ... yeah, there was a lot. And in my ongoing effort to be less lurky, I'm going to link them all here with brief review thingys.

But keep in mind that of that twenty-four hours, I spent ten hours sleeping and ten doing actual social life stuff, and read some x-files comics, and got caught up on my reading for Archeology, and played with some fanart, so it's not really *that* much fic.

Abominable: wisdomeagle : AtS/BSC, Fred/Janine, PG-13

This is a short one, okay, and I it read just for the pairing. And, really, everyone should read it just for the pairing. Except that the pairing is actually the weak point in it; that is, I didn't really see the need for it to be a romantic pairing (and it really isn't, except when it is) and I'm somewhat iffy on what exactly is happening in the plot, too, because I don't remember Wolfram and Hart being *quite* like that. But still, scary-plausible, like all good crossovers, and good Janine and I love Janine, and excellent Fred character study, if you just rewrite the slash as a meeting of minds.

I think I found this one on my friendsfriends.

In the mood to lose my way: thete1 : DC Animated, Richie Foley, Slash, PG-13

So, what to say? I've heard there are some people who don't like thete1's fic, and it is very... distinctive. I found it first when I was looking for Lone Gunmen fic, and then found it again when I was reading Smallville, and then found it again in DC comics, but third time's the charm: it was the first time I was sucked in enough to read *everything* she'd written in the fandom, and she's crazy-prolific. Also, her *constant* use of *emphasis* actually *works* in comics, which is *awesome*, because I go mad with it if I don't curb myself too, probably due to having read too many comics.

So I'd read this story before but I looked it up again, because I was telling kenosis_kalon about how I'd heard that the comic book character that Richie is loosely based on is canonically gay (which is something apparently only known to slash-addicts and people who collected Static: Googling "Rick Foley, Static" got me exactly one relevant result, off scans_daily.) And this is probably the best Static Shock slash currently out there, and it hits all the notes that the show does when it's doing things right. But the main reason it stands out for me is that, while there is some m/m kissing, it's not really about a pairing, or about sex: it's about being a gay teenager, and dealing with it, along with all the other weird stuff that's part of growing up, and I wanted to re-read from the perspective of knowing a little bit about Rick, and yes, it was even better the second time.

daegaer's Drabbles of Wrongness: Weiss Kreuz, PG-13, basically gen

The first twenty in the set are linked above, the rest are scattered through her lj-entries over the past week. And I really, really, don't know anything about this anime, except the very basic basics, and the fact that it's *crack*, but everything Daegaer writes is the best thing ever written; she's one of very few super-popular writers who is so good that my need to read everything she writes overpowered my awe enough to friend her. And these are mpreg! Really, really, wrong, sweet, mpreg about vicious telepathic assassins which follows the offspring as they grow into school age! You know you wanna! *ahem* yes. Really, any fic with little kids that does them *well* is going to win my vote, but these would have won *anyway*, because they win.

Connections : siviusx : DC comics, Tim/Cissie, NC-17

This one came up on titans_together, but I think I found it before that through reading the community's flist. (And yes, there is going to be a lot of batfic in this list. Deal. I'm sure I'll find another addiction in a few weeks.) siviusx is rapidly becoming my favorite DC writer, because she writes girls and women and het and girlslash and it's all really, really good, and full of Deep Character Thoughts and Justified Angst and, oh yeah, really well-written sex with girl parts in it. This particular one is now one of my favorite first-time stories *ever*. Because, you know, it's about two people who are trying something new and scary and get freaked out about it and falter but it's still *good*. I have a feeling the plotty bits at the beginning and end would be better if I'd actually read more comics; usually they're the only part I really read in PWPs, but this one was worth it for the sex scenes.

I can't help but wonder if maybe part of my affection for awkward-teenage-sex stories (when done with *some* measure of realism) has something in common with why some women claim they read slash: I know I'll never, ever be able to have this experience, so I can step back some and just enjoy the story.

Because of Who You Are : amanuensis1 : Harry Potter, Harry/Hermione, NC-17

I had to go look this one up because it was probably the first awkward-teenage-sex fanfic I read. In fact, it was probably the first NC-17 het fic I read, don't laugh. It was written after the first part of epicyclical's Draco Trilogy, and is no longer even canon for *that*, much less OotP, where Harry is too damaged to be quite this sweet. And Harry/Hermione is a 'ship I will never be able to truly 'ship, even moreso after OotP, because I feel like if they were going to get together, they'd have gotten together already. Much like a lot of really popular slash 'ships, and, oh, Sam/Jack on Stargate, and I'm sure there are others, but a well-written story can convince me for the duration of the story.

And this one does. Oh, how it does. Cinderella sleeping bags! Condoms are sexy! And it *quotes the Song of Solomon*, and makes it in-character, and snarky, and yay! You don't really need to know DT to read this, if you accept that there was an Adventure and Harry gained Special Powers and fell in love with Hermione and made friends with Draco Malfoy.

Without a Cape : amanuensis1 : Incredibles/24, Mirage/Jack Bauer, NC-17

This was posted last week, but I didn't read it even though I trust the author to be excellent, because I prefer to know at least one of the fandoms in a crack-crossover. So after I saw The Incredibles, I looked it up again. Yay! and also, Edna! Unfortunately a lot of it is sex, and I can't really get into the sex in this one, because the only Incredibles characters I can really see as sexy are Elastigirl, and maybe Frozone; the others are just way too deformed, and not in a good way. But still, Mirage! and Edna! And Secret Volcano Bases! And I have a feeling this story would be several times as good if I knew anything other than the minimum about 24, but it's still very yay.

I think Amanuensis has written maybe three het stories ever, and I just recced two of them. Heh. But to be honest, slashy het beats plain slash any day, in my book.

A Small Cat : sister_wolf : DC comics, Teen Titans, gen

So, there's this *thing* going around the past week or so, in the incredibly talented, incredibly prolific, incredibly *incestuous* world that is DC comics fanfiction. Wherein Robin is turned into a catboy. I think this is the first real fic that picked up on it though. So .... yeah. Robin gets turned into a catboy. It's not actually as bad as it sounds like it ought to be (but, hey, I recced mpreg up above, so ymmv). It makes sense in canon, in the wacky world of comics canon where *everything* makes sense and has probably already been done (after all, there was a Catgirl!Robin.) This could have stood to be longer and have slightly more depth (and I can't believe I just typed that with a straight face, it's Catboy fic! Deep is not required, kid! Not *everybody* prefers to plot by coming up with the silliest possible idea and then trying to take it seriously,) and the characterization was slightly different from what I'm used to, but I really like the part with Selina. And the end. Of course. And Timmy-in-a-tree.

This was another one from titans_together.

Inheritance : petronelle : DC Comics, Batman/Robin, NC-17

This one was ... really dark. Really, really dark. Even for a Batman/Robin story, which are by definition twisted, f*cked up, wrong, disturbing, and dark. (Except the Batman live-action series, where it was pure and sweet and rainbow-colored.) This one was so dark that I had to stop reading after a few paragraphs and skip to the comments before I went back and finished it. Did I mention it was disturbing? And dark? And, from what I've read online, makes way too much sense in the context of the characters and current issues of the comic? And really well-done?

All the Skin You're Missing : 3jane : DC Comics, Dick/Tim, NC-17

Mmm. Also from titans_together. And almost the last of the batfic, I *promise*. It's hurt/comfort. There's been a lot of hurt/comfort in this fandom lately, because there's been a lot of *hurt* in the canon. And usually I run screaming in the other direction from H/C. But this has two things going for it, like the Tim/Cissie up above : the hurt was already there in the character, in canon, not created solely for the purpose of being healed by sex; and the people involved are aware of just how wrong sex right now could be, yet they care deeply enough to try anyway, and one can truly believe that things will get better. Did I mention that everyone in this fandom is insanely talented? I did? Good. That's really all I need to say, then.

Shooting Stars Down : minervasolo :

This one's ... interesting; I include it out of a spirit of completeness. I think I found it on some fflist, somewhere, and read it out of curiousity because the cut-tag was uninformative and it was short. And... I still have no idea what fandom it is, if it's even from a fandom, but it's got some evocative imagery there and I wish I knew more.

More Than Memory : harriet_spy : AtS, gen

Hmm. Either I missed something in the last season of Angel, or ... since when do Spike and Angel not have souls? But this is a really happy-sad story, an after-the-end story of the kind that can always get to me and half of the unwritten fics on my hard drive are trying to become, where the story is over, but there's still stuff to do, and our characters keep doing it, but they finally have time to be *happy*. And. Yeah. Cycles. And smiles. And thingy. And I want to watch some more early-season Angel again.

I think this one was found while stalking the titans_together flist too.

Five Deaths : guede_mazaka : PotC, PG-13, Will

I have about half-a-dozen fic communities friended over on necreavit for fandoms which are small or quiet enough that most of the fic can go through one community, but lately I've been skipping most of the posts on them so I can get to the comics faster. Mostly because the few times I've gone ahead and clicked lately, they've been either badly-written, part of a long WIP that I don't want to get entangled in right now, or taking part in a fanon that I'm not a part of and really don't agree with a-t-m. Plus, comics to read. But every so often I'll go ahead and try one that looks short and good, which is what this was.

PotC really needs more backstory fic, because there's so much hinted at in the movie, and it's so rich. This fills in some of Will's, and does it well, and it's really very evocative and the language is *beautiful* like guede_mazaka's always is. But, I kinda felt like the language took over the story in several places, which was a shame, because I really *wanted* to love this.

Toronto and sequels : Tangerine : X-Men comics, Angel/Northstar, NC-17

This one came through on the crack_van, I think, so it's the only one not natively on lj. I read x-fic off-and-on, and have since before I got onto my current DC kick. There's a bunch of really good (and really bad) stuff out there, and I have fallen completely in love with anyone who writes the original team well, and with hijinks over angst. And this set gives excellent Warren, and in the later parts, Bobby and Hank and a little of Jean and Scott. And excellent hijinks.

It was also interesting because it's one of very few slashfics I've read involving a canonically gay character, and I got very involved in thinking about the way that changed the story and the focus of the story; the fact that the character's personality and history had been shaped by his orientation in a very public and open way, and that the story was as much about being gay, and the effects of being gay, and even in the Marvel universe that can be a more important difference than pointy ears or blue skin, the moreso because you show it by choice.

And, although I really liked the story, the love story didn't really convince me: it was just, one week of dating, one night of flying together, we're in love, yay let's get married. But maybe that was the point: this story wasn't really a romance, it was a story about being in an open homosexual relationship in the real world and making it work and dealing with the way that other people just completely fail to deal with that, even the nice ones. And. Yeah. I liked that. Also, Warren, Jean-Paul, snark, and hijinks. And flying! sex. I think the fact that the first ship I ever, truly, fangirlishly 'shipped was Arthur/Fenchurch has given me a fatal weakness for flying sex.

The Way I Wield You : __marcelo : DC comics, Barbara/Tim, NC-17 (but really closer to pale R)

Okay, okay, last batfic of the day, I promise. Yay! Babs-Tim! I don't know what to say about this story, except, yes. Because it's good and it's very good and it's also short, and there's the premise that's so often badly done except with Tim it works, and Babs is watching... It's another first-time fic for Tim, but it's about as far from the first two as possible.. And any fic with a dominant older woman is worth reading always. In my book.

Moldy Warts : obsessed1 : BtvS/HP, Dawn, Giles

Wow. One that actually came from my flist. *Bounce*. Yay! (And I know there were a couple others posted on my flist in this period which I didn't read, an' I'm sorry, but we've all undergone fandom drift, and if I don't know any of the characters it takes something really special to get me to read. Gah. I probably shouldn't feel as guilty as I do.)

So, anyway. Dawn and Giles go to St. Mungos. And it's really near-impossible to do a good BtvS/HP mesh, but this manages it simply by ignoring all the bits that couldn't possibly work. Also, Slayers, and wizards, and the Ministry! Whee! I want to see Faith get partnered with Hermione. And Kennedy with Ron. And Buffy with Harry. Whee! This was pure fun, like any good crossover should be. More! More!

The Arrangement : tea_and_snark : Hornblower / Po'B / Good Omens

And this one came up on one of the communities-- lower_tadfield-- which I do read more often than not, because general quality is fairly high there too and there is no dominant fanon really. And it's book-Hornblowor, heavy on Bush, which is a rare and valuable thing, so it's really too bad I had minor problems with her Bush. This is probably because in my book Bush can do no wrong, and also, trying to blend C. S. Forester's style with Terry Pratchett's is something I would never, ever be brave enough to even attempt, so I give her mad props for that even though it had a few rough spots. I also thought the Maturin/Hornblower musings were laid on a bit thick, although the idea that he'd correspond with Mr. Fell is beautiful. And the Crowley and Aziraphale part was good, of course. Well, of course it was. And I want to know more about angels in the tops, beyond what's in Midshipman.

And that's it for the ones I finished. Two longer ones-- La Cancion de Las Pistoleras, OUaTiM, Sands/El, and Psychedelic Butterfly, BtVS, Spike/Dru-- are still sitting open on my browser. The Sands one is okay, but not quite as sharp and bleeding as I really like my Sands, but it's got very good pointy bits, too. The Buffy one is starting slow, but I think I'll stick it out for the promise of Ripper and Ethan meeting Spike/Dru.

So, what have we learned? I read a lot of fic. In a lot of fandoms (but mostly Batman). With a lot of sex. But it's not my fault that people write mostly sex in the places I go looking! Also, this took me *way* too long to write up, longer than I want to admit, longer than it took me to read all the fics put together, so I now have *quantitative* data to support why I almost never get around to giving feedback...

Comments

[stellar-dust.livejournal.com]

Ok, so I just read all the ones from fandoms I know stuff about, except the Spike/Dru because it's long and didn't grab me *and* I just started an incredibly long MSR tonight. d-: And! I can actually answer one of your questions, from my early-Angel-s5 knowledge. Spike and Angel are DAMNED. So they don't get to go to nice happy helping-helpless land, they get to go BURN IN FIREY HELL DIMENSIONS FOR ETERNITY. (So fic-Cordy was speaking metaphorically. I suppose. Or fic-Cordy-writer was mistaken. Either way, no vamps in happy-land. Eh. I should be asleep.)

At least, much was made of that in some of the eps this week. It could very well change over the rest of the season. d-:

[melannen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I could see them not being in the same place (although I don't believe they're DAMNED. No matter what the Powers say) but implying they don't get anything? No.

"All the ones from fandoms I know stuff about"? That would be... all the BtVS/AtS ones, yes?

[stellar-dust.livejournal.com]

I didn't get the impression from that fic that they were *nowhere*. Just not that particular where. But then, it was late at night. d-:

And BSC, PotC, and HP, ta ever so!

I wanted to see The Incredibles. It looked spiffy.

[zodiaccat.livejournal.com]

Also, this took me *way* too long to write up, longer than I want to admit, longer than it took me to read all the fics put together, so I now have *quantitative* data to support why I almost never get around to giving feedback...

So I read this post last night, and this line didn't make sense to me *at all*. I didn't see how just listing the fics would have taken so long... until I realized there were lj-cuts, and much more text involved. Now, after reading write-ups, I'm compelled to read several fics.

(flat tone) Oh the horror. The horror! *g*

[melannen.livejournal.com]

flee, flee!