Current Recs

We Two Alone by shoreleave
[Star Trek AOS]
"Academy fic. Dr. Leonard McCoy thinks he has nothing in common with command-track cadet Jim Kirk, until a series of events forces them together. When a simple training mission is derailed into a seemingly hopeless situation, both have to learn to trust one another, and they'll need all their wits and survival skills to stay alive." Epic-length adventure, perfect characterization. A Must Read.

Uncle Simon by Philomytha
[Vorkosigan Saga]
"Simon has no children of his own. But he has an honorary nephew." Simon's relationship with Miles over the years. KikiRec

Spaceman Spiff and the Alien Conspiracy by Froggimus_Rex
[Calvin & Hobbes]
Calvin + Green Lantern Ring = hilarity ensues. My only regret is that this is too short. KikiRec

As Sunshine Falls on the Wretched by KivrinEngle
[The Hobbit]
A very young Bilbo finds himself unexpectedly forced to take in a even younger Dwarf who's been separated from his family. Beautiful and heartbreaking and wonderful au. NomadRec

Robot Trip by copperbadge
[The Avengers]
"Tony is driving from Malibu to Manhattan with a robot in the back seat and Captain America riding escort at Pepper's behest. What could possibly go wrong?" I love a good roadtrip story and this one is awesome.

Proximity by therienne
[Person of Interest]
"Sometimes intuition is just a form of higher reasoning we cannot yet parse." Outstanding study of the gang, and particularly The Machine. KikiRec

The Case of the Missing Martini Olive by icepixie
[The Thin Man]
"It's entirely possible that olive just couldn't stand being parted from you while you were indisposed. And I can't say I blame it." Perfect Nick and Nora banter.

When the Sea Is by marycrawford
[Fall of Ile-Rien]
A few months after Tremaine's return, Giliead is called out to fight another wizard... Solid plot and great character voices.

Lead Me Astray by chinaink
[Bourne Legacy]
"They move like ghosts through city after city, day after day, and Marta learns to look ahead. She's made her choice, forty-two days ago when she looked into Aaron's eyes and took a burning match from his outstretched hands." Post-movie Marta POV.

Hard Rain Tesserae by framlingem
[The Avengers]
"Steve's sick of not understanding what's going on, and the team are not all that helpful, so he starts keeping an illustrated notebook for further research. With the help of wiki, Google and Logan he starts to settle in and find his place in the twenty-first century." Cool use of guest characters, especially Wolvie, and a solid depiction of Steve. KikiRec

A Place in the Mind by deskclutter
[Discworld]
Tiffany visits Ankh-Morpork and Preston.

so you were never a saint. by paperclipbitch
[Skyfall]
"Bond is still looking at him like he's trying to work out if there's something wrong with him. There isn't. He's checked. And Q is fairly sure psychiatrists aren't supposed to write things like "is probably not a sociopath" in people's files anyway." [Kiki says: Marvelously funny Q-eye view on events post-movie; great Eve voice, amusing Bond.]

How Come We Play War And Not Peace? by valtyr
[The Avengers]
Well-written and adorable beyond belief: Calvin & Hobbes style adventure with Tony as Calvin and his big blue dog, Cap.

We're All Just Stories In The End by adventurepants
[Once Upon a Time]
Lovely au where Snow goes through the wardrobe before Emma is born. KikiRec

Stealing Time by such_heights
[Doctor Who]
Probably my favorite of the post-Angels Take Manhattan fix-it fics.

Ankh-Morpork, Avenged by HonorH
[Discworld/Avengers]
Loki invades Ankh-Morpork. Big mistake. But a very, very funny one.

The Dalek Invasion of Discworld by TigerKat
[Discworld/Doctor Who]
The Daleks invade the Discworld. Also a big mistake. Also funny.

Complete Blank by rivkat
[Grosse Pointe Blank]
Pitch-perfect rendition of what Martin and Debi's wedding would absolutely be like.

One Single Yesterday by samalander
[The Avengers]
Madly adorable variation on the "Darcy teaches Steve pop culture" trope. There are Furbys and Nerf wars.

5x00 Blind Heat by jane0904
[Castle]
"A week after the end of Season 4, Kate and Rick talk about what happens next, and Martha becomes embroiled in a mystery of her own, finding she needs help from a certain ex-cop and her writer son." Strong post-season 5 (au) case file, with bonus (realistic) Castle/Beckett.

the joy of cooking by ijemanja
[Leverage]
"Eliot's making us his suspiciously authentic Thai food." Great team bonding.

Quake by accident
[NCIS]
Lovely and slow Tony/Ziva, beautifully written season 9 or 10 fic.

The Green Blade by verityburns
[Sherlock (BBC)]
Really solid case-fic, with lots of Sherlock and John working out their relationship, such as it is. Author classifies it as a bromance, which is about right. Very serious emotional stuff being discussed between two guys, and yet, it's not slash. Always trust Nomad when she recs something.

Courier by Sholio
[White Collar]
"10-year-old Grace is being used as a courier to smuggle a priceless diamond necklace through airport security. When everything goes sideways, Grace has to trust an injured FBI agent and a bad guy who's not as bad as he appears." Lovely outsider POV (if not quite young enough, IMO), and Neal is especially awesome.

Fix It, or McClane Scale of Annoyance by Cala
[Die Hard]
"It was possible that Matt had an entirely separate scale on which he rated McClane's annoyance, ranging from "it's Monday" to "Lucy decided to date again" to "I'm going to kill you with my pinkie". Not that he would admit to it, mind you, he had far better survival instincts than that." Yeah, this is pretty close to what Matt and John would be like as friends.

Companionship by akamarykate
[Doctor Who/Early Edition]
Set during the Year That Wasn't. Lovely focus on one area of the world, and Gary and the newspaper (and Cat!) are worked in very well.

Persistent Illusions by jedibuttercup
[Castle/Sorceror's Apprentice]
Because you know if Beckett and Castle investigated the dead bodies in Drake's apartment, they would SO not let it all go.

Resolution by fringedweller
[Primeval]
Becker/Jess course-of-the-series fic, and how fun it is.

Long-term Memory Loss by Omorka
[Ghostbusters]
After the second movie, the Ghostbusters attempt to answer the question that you just have to figure Dana was asking herself: "Why does this keep happening to me?" Great story with great voice that makes Peter Peter, without him being Bill Murray. [NOTE: the ending was abrupt enough to feel like crashing into a wall. YMMV.]

Major Pieces by Lindentreeisle (Captainblue)
[Sherlock (BBC)]
Brilliant Sherlock fic (I didn't even hate Sherlock!) in which a serial killer case takes a most unpleasant twist. Excellent John POV, with a reasonably sympathetic Sherlock, and pitch-perfect LeStrade.

Definitions

AU -- alternate universe. Stories which diverge from the show's canon in one way or another (a character doesn't die, a character does die, the setting is different, etc).

Babyfic -- A main character is either pregnant, had a baby, or found one on their doorstep. I have a sneaking fondness for many of these, but I'll warn you first.

BDM -- Firefly fandom shorthand for the Big Damn Movie (ie, Serenity). Not the other thing you were thinking; get your mind out of the gutter!

Canon -- facts, settings and relationships verified by what has actually aired on the series in question. Jack O'Neill was a POW, Chris Larabee's wife and son were murdered, Max, Michael and Isabel are aliens, Josh Lyman and Sam Seaborn met long before the campaign -- that's all canon. Anything that fans have inferred without direct evidence or have completely made up is non-canon (and often AU).

Crackfic -- a story with a premise so out there, that it's obvious the author must have been smoking some serious monkeycrack. Crackfics tend to be crossovers or AUs; they will be either brilliant or appallingly bad.

Crossover -- a story based on the characters or universes of two separate fandoms; i.e., The X-Files/Due South, The West Wing/Stargate SG-1, Angel/The Dead Zone, Hercules/Buffy (I'm not making any of these up; in fact, I wrote one of them).

Episode Continuation -- just what it sounds like. A story that fills in a missing scene or continues on from the end of an aired episode. Also known as a tag.

Fanon -- any 'facts' about a character or series that are not supported by the series canon, but have been floating around for so long, or have been used in so much fic, that the majority of the fandom accepts them as truth. Examples: Daniel Jackson's coffee addiction; Duncan MacLeod living in Seacouver.

Gen -- used here to designate a story in which romantic relationships play a minimal to nonexistant role in the plot. Everything I rec may usually be assumed to meet this definition of gen unless otherwise stated.

H/C -- hurt/comfort. Beat your characters up emotionally or physically, then let them make each other all better. See Whumping.

Het -- used here to indicate a story's focus on a romantic relationship between two people of opposite genders (ie, non-slash). Anything with a ship that I rec may be presumed to be het unless otherwise stated.

Id-fic -- possibly not the greatest fic ever written, but systematically pushes every single one of the emotional buttons of the reader. I try to be self-aware enough to warn for these.

Jossed -- a story (or writer) has been jossed when it has been made AU by events in canon after it was written. Named for Joss Whedon, who made a habit of declaring earthquake in Buffy canon so often that writing fanfic within that canon was an exercise in willpower and frustration.

Kidfic -- 1) One or more main characters are reduced to physical childhood (mental/emotional is frequent, but optional). 2) One or more main characters find themselves with custody of one or more small children, ala "Three Men and a Baby". 3) The story centers around the children of one or more main characters (parentage often depends on whom the author ships). Any of these can be fun/WAFFy/cool if done correctly (your odds drop sharply with 3, but I've seen it pulled off). They can also be appallingly bad; approach with extreme caution.

KikiRec -- don't just take my word for it; my sometime partner-in-crime recommended these fics, too.

Mary Sue -- the most hated woman in fanfic. Essentially an original character who is the personification of the author -- only more perfect, beautiful and lovable than the author could ever hope to be. (The male version is thankfully more rare, and known as Gary/Marty Stu.) It can be done well, but 98% of the time, it's not. Also known as a self-insertion character. Note: Original character does not necessarily equal Mary Sue; it depends on the author and the story.

Original Character -- a non-canon character created by, and belonging to, the author.

Pre-slash -- In many slash-heavy fandoms, this categorization is often sooper sekrit code for 'gen'. Anything with this heading may be worth a shot if you're a non-slasher.

POV -- point of view; the character(s) through whose eyes we see the story.

Schmoopy -- containing emotions bordering on the treacly; perhaps a tad overly sweet for the educated palate. But WAFFy as all hell, nonetheless.

'Shipper -- a person or fic dedicated to a particular romantic relationship; i.e., Sam/Jack, Josh/Donna, John/Aeryn.

Slash -- used here to indicate a story's emphasis on a non-canon romantic relationship between two characters of the same gender. Usually labeled m/m or f/f.

Smarm/Swarm -- emphasis on friendship between two or more guys (hugging, h/c, moral support, etc.) without implications of slash.

Smut -- used very affectionately to refer to stories containing NC-17/explicit sex.

UC -- unconventional couple; a romantic pairing not explicitly supported by show canon, or not usually accepted by the majority of the fandom; i.e., Tara/Spike, Carson/Teyla, Chloe/Lex.

WAFF -- warm and fuzzy feeling. That glow of happiness/idiotic grin carried around after reading a particularly sweet/touching scene.

Whumping -- gratuitous physical or mental abuse of a character for the sole (or nearly sole) purpose of setting up H/C (i.e., so everyone else can angst interminably about it). Go read Sarah B's hilarious poem Gunga Dunne to get the real meaning of Whumping.

Willow Sue -- a particularly virulent form of the Mary Sue, in which a canon character is warped beyond all recognition to fulfill the needs/desires of the author, who is severely overidentifying. Named for the most prevalent iteration, but present in most fandoms. (Male form usually known as the Xander or Harry Stu, or a similar variation.)

WIP -- work in progress.

YMMV -- your mileage may vary, which is pretty much the motto of this page. Opinions presented by the reccer don't necessarily reflect yours, and I'm okay with that.