Fish Recs

My policy on how I do my recs (including for things like warnings and spoilers) can be found at [my post about my recs], for those interested.

When I first poked around fandom after watching the Star Trek Reboot movie, I was surprised to see fic about Gaila because she's onscreen so very little. But after reading a bit, I've found I quite like who Gaila is in fandom. So here's my Gaila character manifesto in fic rec list format.

Story: You're Gonna Make It After All
Author: igrockspock
Fandom, etc.: Star Trek Reboot, Gaila, Uhura, Kirk, Spock, R, 1 LJ post long
Author's Summary: Two indecent exposure citations, one best friend, one amazing sex partner, one unexpected mentor, and a Starfleet-funded study of intercultural sexual norms. Sounds like a normal academic year for Gaila.
My Notes: If the author's summary doesn't make you curious, I'm not sure what else I can say. This story is beautifully done. The author has great control over the different character voices and shows how four so different people can come together (not always without miscommunications and disagreements). Spock has a mentoring role to the group, which I just love. (Because you know he spent a lot of time very logically trying to figure out how to interact within a human-dominated situation.) I could quite happily have this as canon.
ETA 15 July 2011; Podfic: jaebi_lit recorded this as a podfic and I recced it over here: [Rec of podfic of 'You're Gonna Make it After All'] /ETA

Story: Lunch and Other Obscenities [on LJ]//[on AOOO]//[on author's website]
Author: rheanna27
Fandom, etc.: Star Trek Reboot. In spite of a whole lot of sex, nudity and people eating in public, this is firmly a PG-13. The main dish is Uhura & Gaila friendship, with a tasty side order of Spock/Uhura. 9,786 words
Author's Summary: Nyota liked her roommate just fine until she met her.
My Notes: This is a story about culture shock and taboos and fitting in and such. It's lovely and really well-written.

Story: The Ransom
Author: ninhursag (writing journal: vaingirlfic)
Fandom, etc.: Star Trek Reboot, Kirk/Gaila, R, 1 LJ post
Contains: Discussion of child abuse and slavery. Not explicit.
Author's Summary: Pirate!Gaila kidnaps teenage!Kirk for ransom. Hijinks ensue.
My Notes: I love Gaila and Kirk together (either shippy or BFFy), they work so well together, and ninhursag has done a wonderful job of showing us this here. In this story Gaila has very little practical knowledge of Earthling behaviour and is thus constantly being confused in the way that Kirk and how he was raised does and doesn't line up with what she read in a book. The AU is well-done and feels real.
Sequels: Can be found at the [verse tag].

Story: A Sexy Think Tank
Author: atomicskull
Fandom, etc.: Star Trek Reboot, Kirk/Gaila, R, 1 LJ post long
Author's Summary: In which sex is had, dinosaur band-aids are dispensed, Uhura's bunny slippers are used as projectiles and Bones is plotted against.
My Notes: A silly little fic that does what it says on the tin.
ETA 24 Mar 2011: As the little line through the author's LJ implies, this story is no longer available at the above link. I'm looking for a current link to the story, if anyone knows of one. /ETA

Story: Redemption Song
Author: igrockspock
Fandom, etc.: Star Trek Reboot, gen, R, 1.5 K words
Contains: rape
Author's Summary: No one is going to rescue Gaila. Except maybe herself.
My Notes: Possible Gaila backstory. Pull quote: Five years later, she is at Starfleet Academy, making good on all her promises. Every night she studies (or goes out drinking), every class she attends (or skips), every cadet she lies under (or on top of), her litany is the same: I choose. I choose.
ETA 15 July 2011; Podfic: jaebi_lit recorded this as a podfic and I recced it over here: [Rec of podfic of 'Redemption Song'] /ETA

Story: A Brief History of Lt (j.g.) Gaila Aboard the USS Enterprise (NCC 1701)
Author: ljc taraljc
Fandom, etc.: Star Trek Reboot, PG, Gaila, Gaila/Kirk, Gaila/Scotty, Gaila & Nyota, Gaila & Keenser, 1 LJ post long
Contains: death of redshirts, attempted (but shut down) unwanted sexual advances
Author's Summary: Her first month aboard Enterprise, Gaila is put on Gamma Shift in Engineering.
My Notes: This is a great fic for showing Gaila growing into her role aboard ship. I love Gaila and Keenser bonding over the trials and tribulations of minding their adopted humans (Uhura and Scotty, respectively).

Story: The Proper Treatment of Sexorexia
Author: igrockspock
Fandom, etc.: Star Trek Reboot, gen (Gaila & Uhura), Teen, 1 LJ post long
Author's Summary: Gaila does not get her new roommate at all. They've been at school 3 whole weeks now, and she hasn't had sex with anyone. Not even once. She wonders if she should do something. Sex is as important as food, after all. If her roommate were anorexic, she should definitely try to help. Sex anorexia (sexorexia?) is probably just as bad and life-threatening. Plus, it seems to put her roommate in a really bad mood. The situation definitely calls for action. But what should she do?
My Notes: Gaila and Uhura and roommates with culture shock and learning how to fit in together. One of the things that I love about this fic is Spock giving advice on humans and social mores. In this fic Nyota and Gaila end up more in that roommate-truce sort of place than BFF, which is certainly one possibility given how different they are.


Are your favourite Gaila fics not on this list? Feel free to drop links in comments! :) (This is such a prolific fandom that I'm sure I've missed many wonderful fics.)

As usual, if I've got inaccuracies, broken links, or missing info (especially podfics, DVD commentaries, and sequels/prequels), please let me know.

For my policy on things such as spoilers, warning, and ratings, please [see my policy post].

Reposting my recs from spngenlove week 11. I actually stuck mostly to the theme this week. This rec set includes the single scariest story I have read in quite a while.

Theme: Spooks and Haints, in honour of Halloween
[First day of posting] and [spooks and haints tag]

Rec Category: on theme, fic, early seasons, casefic
Title: Grass Don't Grow. on FF.net or on LJ
Author: LithiumDoll (halcyon_shift)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 7200
Warnings/Spoilers: none
Summary: ...in Aggie's shadow
Reccer's Comments: This story reminds me of the sort of tales told around Halloween. Which I suppose makes sense, as it is based on an actual folk tale.

Rec Category: picspam/graphic story/comic, crack, humour, sort of on-theme,
Title: Puppy vs The Tall Things [remix]
Author/Artist: gigglingkat and nadiafox
Rating: same as show.
Word Count: N/A as is a graphic novel/picspam/comics type thing. Image-heavy.
Warnings/Spoilers: Season 1.
Summary: This is the saga of Puppy versus the Tall Things - in which Puppy learns that all things taller than he is are a crime against nature and should not be tolerated.
Reccer's Comments: It's on-theme because poor Sammy is being haunted by things which are taller than him! Oh noes! But utterly off-theme because this is a cracky humour piece. A fun bit of silliness.
Reccer's Caveats: Passing references to wincest in a breaking-the-fourth-wall sort of way.

Rec Category: fic, on-theme, one-shot
Title: Crooked Legs
Author: hkath
Rating: PG
Length: 1 lj post
Warnings/Spoilers: none
Summary: Sam goes through some changes.
Reccer's Comments: The requester (this was written for this year's spn_summergen) asked for "a classic horror story" and the author drew inspiration from the Twilight Zone. I found this story interesting and not too creepy (for me) and yet I could easily see the creepiness for Dean. In true TZ fashion, there isn't a tidy resolution provided by the author, but one may draw ones own conclusions if one wishes. Plotline for those who would prefer to have spoilers: Dean thinks Sam is transforming. No one else seems to ever notice anything odd about Sam. Is it all in his head or not?

Rec Category: fic, only tangentially on-theme, one-shot
Title: You Know Who You Are
Author: apocalypsos
Rating: PG13
Word Count: 1100 words
Warnings/Spoilers: Domestic abuse, 4.01
Summary: Thoughts from a meat suit.
Reccer's Comments: This fic is always slightly unsettling. It's a good reminder that even while Ruby may have been helping Sam, she still was a demon and demons aren't very nice.
Reccer's Caveats: Author says 'some Sam/Ruby'. It's there but very minor and not at all a thrust of the story.

Rec Category: fic, future-fic, AU, on-theme, longish
Title: Disinterment
Author: gekizetsu
Rating: R for language, violence and gore.
Length/Word Count: 22K words
Warnings/Spoilers: None given by the author, see reccer's comments.
Summary: Dean's current and former lives collide a little too hard and jeopardize everything - his career, his family, and his life.
Reccer's Comments: The genre the author lists for this story is 'horror, drama', which is entirely accurate. It is a very well-told tale but it creeped me out so very, very much that I spent the next two hours with the fluffiest things (both blankets and stories) that I could find. This is possibly somewhat of a personal thing, so you might not find the monster as creepy as I do but I found it utterly frightening. Details of the monster: The monster kills a person and then takes over their flesh, leaving behind only the skeleton. The monster has to move on to new victims periodically as the flesh-suits decay. OMFG, CREEPY!
Reccer's Caveats: Future-fic, both boys have children and have a wife/girlfriend/ex-wife sort of person. But as far as I remember, the focus of the story is not romantic in nature and thus qualifies as gen. (NB: I did not reread this story before making this rec.)
Series: This is part of [Salvation] future-fic AU, but it can be read without knowledge of the verse. The masterverse page has a number of codas for this particular story. The verse itself is great (and has a truly epic number of stories in it), with well-fleshed out OCs and a comparatively happy post-hunting (well, mostly post-hunting) life for Sam and Dean. Stories are marked with pairings as needed.


As usual, if I've got inaccuracies, broken links, or missing info (especially podfics, DVD commentaries, and sequels/prequels), please let me know.

As part of [the 2009 Fandom Free For All], jadesfire2808 recorded 'Mount Badon' by brown_betty. *GLEEE* I love jadesfire2808's readings in general, so I was thrilled when she picked this off of my wish list. And happily, the actual reading did not disappoint.

The story opens with a short passage in Latin, which I had forgotten about, so it was quite a pleasant surprise to hear it in her reading. Listening to it reminded me of two things: (1) I do love listening to Latin, and (2) my Latin is shamefully rusty. I love how, when I listen to her reading, I felt the uncertainty and danger of the war more and also found the humour of the second half more funny. I chuckled out loud and flat-out grinned several times. She does very well with showing the distinct personalities of each of the characters. A++ will listen to again :)

Pesky links and stats and things: [mp3] and [audiobook], 23:45

C&P of previously posted rec of the story:
Story: Mount Badon [on AOOO]//[on LJ]//[on DW]
Written by: Betty//brown_betty//brownbetty
Etc: Merlin (BBC), as gen as the show, rated teen for battle descriptions, 3400 words
Contains: Whacked the canon with the history stick, injuring both in the process. Also, I [the author] suffer from the bizarre conviction that sheep are intrinsically hilarious.
Author Summary: "Yes, I do it to aggravate you," says Arthur.
DVD Commentary: by the author: [on DW]//[on LJ]
My Notes: This story blends mythology/history with the BBC canon to make something that feels different than much of the Merlin (BBC) fanfic (It's set in some future when Arthur is king). I love the original characters. I also like watching their reactions to Arthur and Merlin (who have matured and grown but are still recognisable to the BBC versions).

My policy on how I do my recs (including for things like warnings and spoilers) can be found at [my policy post], for those interested.

Reposting my recs from spngenlove.

Week 5 theme: John. [Day 1 of posting.]

Most of these are off-theme. Since I didn't have very many John-centric recs I finished a number of half-finished recs I had lying about from previous weeks.

( Three fics, all SPN. )


Week 9 theme: Hunting Community. [Day 1 of posting.]

Most of these are probably off-theme by a strict definition, but my brain kept trying to define 'community' to include them. So I threw up my hands and recced regardless.

( 5 fics, 1 podfic. One crossover with iCarly. )

As always, if you spot any inaccuracies/dead links/missing info/additional transformative works (e.g., podfics, commentaries), please let me know.

For my policy on things such as spoilers, warning, and ratings, please see [my policy post].


WHEEE! PODFIC OF MY FIC!!!! IT IS AWESOME!!!

( squee goes here. And also thoughts of hearing recipes verbally )

FYI, the non-tl;dr version is: Yay for juniperphoenix's [recording] of [Bread Mountain Dreams] and [Harvest Bread Recipe] from [De Re Coquinaria Pegasi]!!! (14 min, 13 MB, 1400 words)


[Originally posted] at fish_echo on 6 October 2009.

(NB: If you want to see this post with all the cut tags in place, go to [the 'journal policies' tag] and scroll to the bottom.)

The title of this post makes it seem much more, I don't know, authoritative and official than it actually is. I have spent a while thinking about recs and how I rec things and what I want to be doing with my recs-- I just haven't come to lots of final conclusions. But since you may care, I'll share what my current thoughts are. These may change, and if they do I'll update this. If you have feedback you'd like to give me, I'd be more than happy to hear it!

Warnings, Spoilers, Contains
( I had a lot to say on this topic )


Ratings
( This got really long. Amazingly long, in fact. )


Genre
( This one is so short it doesn't really need a tag but it looked lonely without one. )


'Ships, pairings, the definition of gen
( Yay for nested bulleted lists taking up space )


Misc (Specifically: the sorts of things I rec, where I rec, cut tag policy, frequency of posts)
( Ahahahahaa, a cut tag that contains info about cut tags! I crack myself up sometimes. )


Tags
( At this point I'm just cut-tagging left and right. )


Accessibility
( cut tag left. )


Your opinions and feedback
( cut tag right )



Most recent update: 26 July 2010
changes: Fixed a rogue 'small' tag. Added podficpool as a crossposting comm. Put the 'journal policies tag' statement at the top. Futzed with the wording of the Accessibility section. Did some stuff in the 'tags' section [clarified the difference between 'type:' and 'type[assoc]:' tags; hyperlinked tags given in the 'tag' section; very minor edits in the 'wip' tagging section; clarified LJ's 'searching by multiple tags' thing; made tags with action I need to take prefaced by 'fish' for easy searching]. (Oy, now I remember that this is why I haven't done a change log before-- because I always end up futzing with way more stuff than I initially intended to and then the log gets ridiculous-looking).

Previous updates:
( a small, informal change-log, why I'm maintaining this, I don't even know.... )

For my policy on things such as spoilers, warning, and ratings, please [see my policy post].


Podfic is, at a fundamental level, different from fic. It is out loud, sounds and hearing, instead of sight, characters on a screen or page. Sometimes this difference can be minimized, but sometimes it is accentuated. These recs all, to one extent or another, exploit some aspect of the podfic format in order to better tell the story.

( Written specifically to be read as podfic (2 SGA podfics.) )

( Ones which work ever so well as oral tales-- originally written down as fic, but reading aloud adds so much to the story. And also, the fun of having multiple readers on a series. (One Star Trek Reboot RPF and a trilogy of Merlin podfics.) )

( When multiple readings exist for the same story. (2 stories * 2 readings each = 4 podfics total. All SGA.) )

( One which isn't a podfic but that I think would do quite well. Merlin fandom. )

[Originally posted] at fish-echo on 28 August 2009

For my policy on things such as spoilers, warning, and ratings, please [see my policy post].

Short podfics are easy to overlook but often can be great. If you line up several of them, they're an excellent way to pass a short trip without worrying that you'll only be half-way through by the time you arrive. But I think listeners are sometimes wary of downloading the very short podfics, because the effort to length ratio is too large. So! Here's some great short podfics!

( 5 podfics, all under ten minutes, in SGA, Bones, Doctor Who, Discworld, Torchwood, Harry Potter, and Supernatural (yay for cross-overs!) )


[Originally posted] at fish-echo on 23 August 2009

For my policy on things such as spoilers, warning, and ratings, please [see my policy post].

Reposting my recs from this week's spngenlove.

Week 3 theme: Delight in Dean
[Link to first day of recs] and to [the 'delighting in Dean' tag]

( 4 fics, all SPN, one podfic )


[Originally posted] at fish-echo on 17 August 2009

For my policy on things such as spoilers, warning, and ratings, please [see my policy post].

I've got modly permission from spngenlove to post this, so yay.

There's a new comm spngenlove specifically for gen fanwork in Supernatural. This is yay for me because the main pairing in the fandom is sibling incest (Sam/Dean) and that kind of weirds me out. The comm does weekly rec sets which makes me happy, because I like recs and reccing. These are a little more 'off the top of my head' than my rec lists generally are and they're differently formatted than my standard because I'm c&p'ing what I submit to the comm. I might slightly elaborate on what I submit to the comm or I might not, depending on how talkative I feel when I make the post.

So here's my recs from [week 1]. Theme: no theme.

( 8 fics under the cut. )


[Originally posted] at fish-echo on August 2009