Fish Recs

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

The lovely and wonderful pixiequeen10thk has made me an [SGA action figure comic]! It is quite funny and you should go read it :) (It is very image heavy, so if you are on dial-up give it a bit of time. Also, there's thought-bubble shots of action figures having sex and one thought-bubble shot of a naked tush, so probably not good for reading at work.)


[Originally posted] at fish_echo on 5 May 2009.

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

The motivation for this rec set is thusly: A few weeks ago winkingstar mentioned how it was sad that Madame Pince, Hogwarts Librarian, only ever showed up in the books when she was flying into a rage and shushing students. I pointed out [Every Librarian Has Her Day] (because fanfic always comes to the rescue). winkingstar then asked me if I had any recs of comforting/canon-repairing, non-trio-focused, non-explicit Harry Potter fics. Sadly, many of my Harry Potter bookmarks have been lots to the electrons of time (rather like the Dodo) so this list is the best stab I can make at the moment.

Story: The Last Mudblood 2.0
Author: furiosity
Fandom, etc: Gen, PG-13 to R, 10K words
Author's Summary: The war is over, and Voldemort has won. Harry Potter is dead. Neville Longbottom is a Death Eater, and together with Draco Malfoy they lead a manhunt for Hermione Granger. It's really that simple. Or is it?
Contains: Character death. Violence. Language. Allusion to rape. Dark themes.
My Notes: Even though this story is on the darker side I like it quite a bit. (Spoilerwarning--Neville isn't actually evil.) Neville is a really lovely secret agent in this. It is sad looking at how far the resistance has fallen, but Neville himself and the ending give me hope that things might be on the upswing in this universe. (N.B.: The '2.0' in the title is because this is a rewrite of one of her earliest stories to bring it in line with HBP canon.)
Why it fits: Neville is being awesome in a difficult situation.

Story: The Little Ones
Author: furiosity
Fandom, etc: PG, gen, 2K words
Characters: Ginny, Molly, Luna, Neville
Author's Summary: Not all is well at Platform Nine and Three Quarters.
My Notes: Another one I love for the realistic aspect. This is a scene I doubt JKR would have written and her stories are poorer for it.
Why it fits: Minor characters behaving courageously.

Story: Goyle's War
Author: meddow
Fandom, etc: PG, gen, 7200 words
Author's Summary: Voldemort has fallen and Hogwarts along with him and now a new wizarding world exists, one that does not seem to have a place for Gregory Goyle.
My Notes: I'm generally not a big fan of Crabbe or Goyle, but this fic made Goyle sympathetic. I loved watching Goyle figure out how he fits into this new world.
Why it fits: Minor character plus 'what happens after'.

Story: The LoP 'verse
Author: AJ Hall
Fandom, etc: Draco/Neville, R, two novels and several short stories/novellas.
Contains: Contains references to topics which some might find triggering.
My Notes: I like this series kind of an amazing amount. I love the author's characterisations of Neville and Draco and her portrayals of Narcissa and Neville's Grandmother are awesome (her Ginny, who shows up only briefly, is one of my favourite Ginnies ever). There are realistic and wonderful OCs, tricky plot-lines, and a crossover with Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan universe ('Time Shall Not Mend').
Why it fits: Lovely Neville characterisation. These stories were written before book seven, and as such, they show a different war against Voldemort. 'Ships That Pass' and 'Time Shall Not Mend' both take place during the war, and in my opinion, offer a more interesting (for the reader) war (written pre-Horcrux).

Story: Upon Reflection
Author: Nope
Fandom, etc: gen, PG (for potty-mouths), 1000 words.
Author's Summary: None given
My Summary: Sirius gets stuck in Draco's mirror after he goes through the veil.
My Notes: A funny, short piece.
Why it fits: Sirius's death made many fen angry. Not that I'm certain being stuck in Draco's mirror is a much better fate :)

Title: Switch
Author: corvidae9
Fandom, etc.: gen, G, 1900 words.
Author's Summary: The Sorting Hat has sorted thousands of students in the course of its life. If it makes a mistake or two, who's to say it's wrong? Certainly not Fred or George Weasley.
Author Notes: Written for the omniocular September challenge - The Harry Potter AU Extravaganza prompt 40 - A prank by Fred and George confuses the Sorting Hat in Harry's first year, resulting in horrible house mismatches.
My Thoughts: This is the first in a series of stories ('verse tag [here]) which retell (in short-story length, not novel-length) the HP books, but with the students in the Houses assigned to them by the drunken Sorting Hat (WIP, first two years are complete). There is a strong ensemble cast and many of the minor characters from canon have larger roles.
Why it fits: I like funny, light-hearted fics. Also, I know some fans don't like the idea of Sorting (either at such a young age or at all), so this turns that on its head.

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

[Originally posted] at fish_echo on 10 April 2009.

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

Here's a bit of meta on the topic of RPF and some fic recs.

RPF (real person fanfiction) kind of freaks me out. I know that the stories are fake, made up, pretend. That they're based off of the public persona and then filtered through the author's brain. I know all of this. It doesn't stop it from being really weird for me to read RPF-- the back of my brain is screaming the whole time: this is a real person. I suppose it's related to the part of my brain that had issues with me initially reading fanfic written in universes with actors (I've never had issues with fanfic where the canon is solely textual-- they're the canon author's mental playthings and now they're ours because we've read the books too. Regardless of if we write about them, we were going to be thinking about them anyways, so may as well put the words on the page. *derails this discussion* nb: this is not discussing the *legal* complexities of fanwork)-- because actors actually exist! And one of the things that can squick me out when reading fanfic based on live-action canon is too-true physical description (especially in a sexual context... When CharacterA is lusting after CharacterB's wrists or elbows or whatnot, there's the voice in the back of my brain going 'ummm, real person!')-- it simply feels like an invasion of privacy to me. So generally I've steered clear of RPF. But as I'm sure you know, even if you are avoiding reading something in fandom, you'll run across it eventually and then just sort of randomly read it.

But I have discovered that there's a few ways I can read RPF and not be squicked out by it:

1. If I have no idea who the real people are, this bothers me less-- because then (as far as my mind knows) this is simply a fictional story with fictional people set in the present-day. (But then I do the canon-osmosis thing and then it sometimes starts being weird again.)
1. The story has to stand entirely on it's own without knowing the 'canon'.
2. If the rating is somewhere around PG-13-- keep the sex off-screen and keep the laudatory physical descriptors minimal-to-nil-- because then it feels less voyeuristic.
1. If there is explicit-ness in the story, I'll likely skim over it or skip it entirely, so it cannot be crucial to plot.
3. It's a cross-over into something clearly not of the real world-- Buffy/Angel, Farscape, Stargate, etc., etc., etc., because then it's clearer to my brain that the entire thing is fiction and thus I can treat the RP as fictional people. (Oh is there an RPF/Valdemar or Pern crossover anywhere? Because the reactions of the RP could be awesome!)
4. If it uses a plot device that I love. Because I'm willing to venture into scary RPF-land for the sake of a damn good trope. (Some day I might well list the plot devices I love, but this entry is long enough already.)

Hmm, *ponders* evidently this translates roughly to 'I'm okay with RPF when I can pretend it's original fiction'.

To my surprise, I've come across RPF fics that I can read without hitting the back button. I haven't really been looking for them, so I don't know how exactly I've found these, but all's well that ends well! And if you know of other good RPF fics that you think might meet some of these criteria, then let me know :)

RPF fics I like despite being wigged out by RPF:

( SGA RPF/SGA crossover, 1 fic/podfic )

( Supernatural RPF, 1 fic )

( 6 American Idol RPF fics, including 1 podfic and 1 cross-over with Merlin )

[Originally posted] at fish_echo on 6 March 2009.

These are all wonderfully done fics. They are also all some level of sad/depressing/heartbreak (more in the lines of 'character death' than 'abuse'). Personally, right now I'm not really in the mood to read these. But kind of like poking a sore tooth to see if it's still sore, I'm contemplating reading them. Umm, yes, I make no sense.

N.B.: Unlike what I said [in my policy post], I am not cautioning for content in this particular rec set.

So, fic recs, in case you'd like something to cry about (all are SGA):

Author: vain_glorious
Story: Unmanifest Destiny
Notes: Gen, PG-13, 8200 words. This is also an entry on my 'bait and switch' rec list (which I'm still compiling) even though it might not be technically b&s. Definitely click through to the second part to get the full story of what's happening.

Author: vain_glorious
Story: Where The Ways Divide
Notes: Gen, 1000 words, (as far as rating goes, G aside from the part where it punches you in the heart). on SGA_flashfic for the role reversal challenge. I do kind of wish for more stories in this universe.
Sequels: The author has written more in the verse, which makes me incredibly happy. They are all interlinked, or you can find them at the end of [this fic masterlist]. (And now that there's sequels, I'd move the series to the second half of the list, to 'sad-but-not-too-sad', or possibly off of the 'sad' list altogether.)

Author: busaikko
Story: Building Bombs. Original post on LJ or on her website.
Podfic (read by the author): mp3 format or m4b (audiobook) format
DVD Commentary by the author: on LJ or on her website
Notes: 11400 words, R for violence and adult subject matter, McKay/Sheppard (sort of). I actually listened to the podfic first, where she does not give the warnings for fear of spoilers but directs you to the text file of the story if you wish to know. It's on this rec list, so it's not happy (well, parts are), but have that as your warning and don't read the spoiler-warning is my recommendation. I made the mistake of listening to it at work shortly after a friend of mine had died and I ended up crying for a bit. I haven't read her DVD commentary yet (I only just found out about it when looking for the story).

Author: auburnnothenna (auburn)
Story: Legion the Things I Would Give to Oblivion
Podfic (read by general_jinjur): mp3 format or m4b (audiobook) format
DVD Commentary: by lunarwolfik
Notes: Gen, Rated R, 11600 words. This is another one where I've only listed to the podfic. I listened to it a day or so after "Building Bombs" and this time managed not to cry (but I did decide that perhaps it was a good time to re-listen to all of Maya's stuff before forging blindly onward into new fics...)


Slightly happier than the above but still sad:

Author: rheanna27
Story: The Hard Prayer. On LJ in three parts or on her website (on one page)
Notes: Apocafic but with a happy ending! She said, "I never intended to write a downbeat ending; the setting of the story is grim enough without it." But happy ending! (And believably so!). This fic gives new meaning to the 'pan' part of 'pandemic'. (So apocafic=>this rec set, hopeful/happy ending=> this portion of the rec set.) PG-13, McKay/Sheppard, 30300 words.
Podfic (read by the author):[mp3] and [m4b], 3:10:44

Author: explodedpen
Series: Snapshots of survival
Stories: Not Dead Yet and Bedtime Stories
Notes: There's a note of hope to these, which is why they got put in this section, but they're still not warm and fuzzy. I actually read them out of order (because I found the second one first when I was browsing through sga_flashfic), which I think might work better. The combined word count is 2500, gen, PG or PG-13.

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

([Originally posted] at fish_echo on 28 Jan 2009)