Battlestar Galactica - Kate Andrews - Something Pretty - Starbuck/Apollo - Good, memorable, muscular het-smut.
"It's in my locker. And don't go in the bathroom. Captain Apollo
is whacking off."
"In general, or for the thing?"
"Naw, just in general."
From behind the door, Lee shouted, "Captain
Apollo is not whacking off."
"Of course you're not sir."
Beatles RPF - Bossymarmalade and Glockgal - run
for yer life - o.O
Casablanca -
Fairy Tales (Trad.) - Luna - Fire, Measured By What Doesn't Burn - "The Twelve Dancing Princesses", reset, now. From Yuletide 2008.
This is how it happened: after you came back from the war, everything got on your nerves, even sitting still. Your boredom had an evil edge, and the streets of your hometown were quiet and empty, riddled with a million perfect places to plant an IED. There was sand in your sheets at night, every night, needling your skin, but it didn't keep you from falling asleep and dreaming.
Fairy Tales (Trad.) - Sheldrake - In a Dark Wood - A marvelously skilled, gently philosophical retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" from Yuletide 2006.
When she finds the library, she thinks she could probably live there forever and be reasonably happy. It almost looks as though someone might have tried -- there are spaces that look like nests, and others like cabins; structures sturdy or precarious, walls and beds and roofs made entirely out of books. She runs her fingers along their spines: Aesop, she reads, Ambrose. Andrewe. Anonymous. Andrewe's book is all fish. Nereydes are monsters of the sea, it says, all rough of body, and when any of them die, then the others weep.
Farscape - Feldman - Scientist, Astronaut, and Nymphomaniac: The nine lives of John Crichton - John/Aeryn - Must-read. May I interest you in a body-swap? My friend Kyria put it, "I like stories that throw people just slightly askew and then see how they react." This is such a good episode coda that I, and probably the rest of Farscape fandom, seriously have trouble remembering exactly where canon leaves off and this begins.
"Aeryn wanted me to give it to you. She said it wasn't fair that she had a hairbrush and all you had was salad."
Farscape - Robyn Bender - The Well-Known Act - John/Aeryn - Superb character voices make this PWP stand out.
"We both know you can go all night. I can touch you, a lot,
as much as I want, and it won't end the fun. But you can't mess with me. At
least, not much. Because once we get there, I want it to last."
"Once we get 'there'?
You mean, to 'the Act'?"
"The well-known act of
sexual congress. I've had some thoughts."
"You think too much."
"But I do good work."
"Granted. All right."
Fullmetal Alchemist - Canis M - Ready Steady - Ed/Roy - Author remarks, "Am really the last person on earth qualified to perpetrate FMA fic, but writing this was fun in the way of playing a goofy non-sport one is totally klutzy at, like mini golf." Indeed, there's nothing here of substance, not even smut, just wit and great voices.
A small crowd--gang? mob?--was ringed around the front of the neighboring house: old and young, men and women, a little blonde girl in ribbons and pigtails. All of them but the tuba player were wielding dishware. As Ed gawked, the pigtailed girl hefted a saucer and heaved it at the front door. It shattered admirably, drawing a squeal from the girl and shouts from the rest. The tuba blared a raspberry.
Fullmetal Alchemist - Lazuli - Library Rules - The pleasure of recognition. See quote.
Everybody had their pet spot in the library -- sometimes two people chose the same one, which led to frosty or disappointed looks when someone else was there or an unspoken agreement about when each had occupancy. Ed's particular spot was in a little alcove with a window and a two-person table, which he never shared with anybody.
Fullmetal Alchemist - Mirabella - Five Times Riza Hawkeye Threatened to Shoot Someone and Really Meant It - The word I'm looking for is "dignity."
"Gonna say something about fraternization?" he asks quietly – a wide shot, unworthy of him. Maybe he meant to miss.
Good Omens - Vulgarweed - Compromising Positions - Aziraphale/Crowley: funny, hot, rude, literate. "Seven years after the death of Christ, our heroes are in Rome, and it’s festival time. Aziraphale is mildly enthusiastic. Crowley is blasé. The Emperor is insane."
“Ave old friend, haven’t seen you in so long, as one of your arse cheeks said to the other,” said Metellus.
The Handmaid's Tale - Sisters
of Bilhah - Dazzling.
It's hard to explain to someone who isn't familiar with the work that the polite and grateful girls are the ones who keep their heads under their veils, not the ones who scheme to escape.
His Dark Materials - kaydee falls - The Ivory Horn - Just watch the crossover unfold in this one. Wow.
Will groaned. "Always comes back to that one, doesn't it. Is
the cat alive? Dead? Really bloody annoyed at being stuck in the damned box
over and over again?" He wished Kirjava were here; she'd have been glad
to demonstrate. But Kirjava was still avoiding Dr. Baker. Sooner or later, he
resolved, he'd have to get a straight answer out of her as to why.
"All at once, plus a thousand other
possibilities we mere mortals could never even begin to conceive, you cheeky
little bugger," Dr. Baker retorted. "That's what really boggles the
mind: there's not just one simple split, two possible universes suddenly springing
into existence, but hundreds. Thousands. Billions. God only knows."
"Oh, add God into the equation,
do." Will stretched, his back cracking noisily. It was astonishing, really,
how quickly he'd fallen into such easy familiarity with the shrewd, frumpy professor.
Possibly because it was much like talking with an older, more crotchety version
of Mary Malone.
"God's a difficult one to ignore,"
Dr. Baker said dryly. "Trust me on this."
Horatio Hornblower - Atropos Lee - Beating to Windward - A/H - The texture in "Beating to Windward" is glorious, if you can get over the revelation that the everybody in the whole damn navy is a poof. Though some of the subject matter in the other pieces isn't to my taste, Atropos is always a hell of a stylist.
If the advice of a very old man has any weight with you still it would be this; Fuck the Admiralty, fuck service, position and honour, fuck wherever you find friendship and compassion and liking. Seize happiness where and when you can. Keep a dog. Keep a whore, and wear warm clothing. Live well even if you cannot live long.
Horatio Hornblower - Calypso - Ransom - A/H - "WARNING: No Breasts. 2 bare chests. Puzzled First Lieutenant. Seriously Pissed-Off Pellew. Archie Angst. Horatio Angst. Consensual sex. Non-consensual sex. No Sex. Solitary Confinement. Rock-Hard Biscuits. Nasty threats and Grievous Bodily Harm. Surreptitious Snogging. Dead Supernumeraries. Cannon fire. Skinny-Dipping. Nightmares. Porthole Fu. Sword Fu. Hero Fu. Partly Cloudy & Cold, Chance of Rain. Uncertainty, Concussion, Dead Pirate, Threat of Horseback Riding. Midshipman Joe-Bob says check it out!" Okay, so possibly I like the summary better than the story.
"Horatio, what else can we do -- or say? Whom would we tell? Do you want to go to the Captain and say, 'Excuse me, sir, Mr. Kennedy mistook me for a mermaid the other night, but it's all right, we shook hands and agreed to be gentlemen about it?'"
Iron Man - M. - "The Kids Aren't All Right" by Christine Everhart (vanityfair.com) - A pitch-perfect, mock Vanity Fair article complete with graphics, jammed with social commentary, character study, and some spookily subtle world-building.
I asked Stark what he intended to do with Iron Man for the foreseeable future—"Keep mopping up after Stane...License myself to Burger King?”—but I’ve never asked what his hopes were. Perhaps because, after a year spent in his back-pocket, I don’t think he has a clue. Or because, deep down, I’m no different from everyone else, and I need him to work it out so I don't have to. Or because I can’t help but feel a pinch when I imagine what a Tony Stark who never inherited Stark Industries might have given the world; what he might still give us if he doesn't hurtle over a cliff; if he stops enabling us and we stop enabling him; if he puts away the suit.
Iron Man/Spider-Man - Basingstoke - Paparazzo - Iron Man/Spider-Man - Oh, yum, hot. The dialogue in this (and it's mostly dialogue) is a thing of beauty and a joy eternal.
Stark was eying his wrists. "What's that made of? Who's your supplier? It's not bad."
"It's—" Peter blushed, thanking God the mask was opaque. "Biological."
Stark raised his eyebrows, then raised them more. "Gross."
"Yeah, and it happens when I sneeze, too." WHY
DID HE SAY THAT. WHY. Peter blushed harder.
James Bond - Shalott - Queen of Spades - M/Bond - Read the quote. I mean, Good Lord. WHERE do you find fiction that has lines like that in it, and means them? Fan fiction, that's where.
"I will admit that it's something of an unfair advantage, being post-menopausal," she said, pressing her hair neat in the mirror.
Jane Austen - Bill - A Worthy Opponent - E/D - P&P with chess! Act two goes, well, a little bonkers, and there's goopy poetry, but the chess scenes are all kinds of fantastic.
That Elizabeth was able to hold her own for so long a time against
the champion impressed the other ladies in attendance. Darcy too could not refrain
from expressing his amazement. "You have played the opening well, Miss
Bennet. I find it remarkable that you have attained such mastery over the intricacies
of this defense. Have you had the benefit of chess studies?"
Lizzy smiled as
she recaptured a pawn with her bishop and simply answered, "Yes."
Jane Austen - JaneGS - The Last Baby - Canon Couples - Brief, but brilliant, Austen stories that go beyond the mere rehashing of romance.
My mother said we didn’t suit. He was too clever, she said, and I was too young. He danced three sets with me the night we met. Yes, he did. I told you he was mad for me. Oh, but we made the people talk that night. I, in my white muslin with blue trim that made my eyes bluer than ever and my lace tucked so that it just peeped out, enticing every man under ninety. He, so fine a gentlemen, you’d have thought he was a pink of the ton, so turned out was he.
Jane Austen - Mags - The Firstborn - Canon Couples Plus Kids - Warm and lively continuations of Persuasion and Northanger Abbey, plus one ingenious P&P/NA crossover.
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a married man in possession of an estate that is under entailment must have a son to inherit it.
Jane Austen - Michele V - Treasures Lost Then Found Again - E/D - I am excessively fond of a cottage!
The air turned unnaturally still, the winds came and then the sky went black. There would be no out running this storm. A person inclined toward the philosophical will approach every situation with the ability to bear it, if not with grace, at least with good humor. With only a hat, a bonnet and a small parasol to protect them, it seemed philosophy was in order. In the tradition of the lone foot soldier rushing to meet the oncoming cavalry, Lizzy, in the face of what promised to be a downpour, calmly opened her parasol. They burst out laughing and ran back towards the Palace.
Jane Austen - Mosylu - Longbourn Academy - E/D - Life at the Longbourn Academy of Fine and Performing Arts. It's a hoot, I swear. A gleeful AU that's unforced and snappy enough to work.
"Decent!" Liz whooped. "So I'm
decent, am I?"
"Look, he—"
"Almost as good as tolerable! Or
adequate!"
Char's lips were starting to quirk. "Gee,
babe, you need to quit being so sensitive."
Jane Austen - SwordSwallower17
- Miss
de Bourgh in Bath - This is the story about Anne I've been waiting
for for years. It's very Austenish in its humour and restraint: no wild Radcliffian
shenanigans, just a simple, well-wrought coming-of-age romance.
Miss Anne realized her mistake almost immediately. It was one thing to have only one's paid companion for company at the Pump Room; it was quite another thing, quite a worse thing, to have no one at all. There are few situations more awkward than that of being completely alone in a room full of people who are together, and Miss Anne was exceedingly conscious of every body else's happy conversation and laughter. The empty seats around her seemed quite vast, and she was certain that everyone else must realize how very alone she was. Face flushed with embarrassment, she nonetheless held her head high and stared around the room, avoiding other glances (some of them, she fancied, quite pitying). She imagined her mother would have been completely unbowed by the circumstances; but then, her mother was likely acquainted with all of the most eminent persons currently in the room, and therefore should never have been alone in the first place. Perhaps it was better, she reflected—perhaps it was most fitting that Miss de Bourgh of Rosings Park should appear most exclusive in her acquaintances. Yet no one else seemed to think her so much exclusive as lonely, and Anne felt very horribly self-conscious; she began to wish, indeed, that she were back in Kent, seated in one of Rosings' fine gardens, where no body would notice if she was alone.
Merlin - FayJay
- The Student
Prince - A modern AU set at the University of St Andrews. Adorably
British and riddled with hilarifying quotables, it starts out like delicously
sweet-and-salty comfort food, then pitches its wrapper, dusts its hands, hikes
up its socks and charges whoopingly forward to an eye-popping, glorious, exhilarating
finale. Yes!
"I cannot believe that you agreed to this," Merlin said to Arthur, watching Lance tying a disconcertingly efficient-looking knot in the silk scarf they'd borrowed from Morgana, like an overgrown boy scout earnestly trying to earn his BDSM badge.
P.G. Wodehouse - Shalott - Jeeves and the Blessed Indiscretion - Wodehouse slash!
Having spent a sleepless night in contemplations, rendered more sleepless by the necessity of getting back out the window sans alerting Jeeves and in again by the front door, I was left with all the difficulties of tracking down a fellow without knowing his direction, his profession, or what he looked like. Asking Jeeves was right-out for the obvious.
Shakespeare - Marna and Lea - With No Less Terror Than the Elements: notes toward uncovering Act IV, Scene ii of Richard II - The footnotes, dear god in heaven. I love this story; it's ingenious; but it's also the only story out there whose accompanying DVD commentary I love even more.
"Oh, cousin. No, cousin, no; a king has no man at his side;
nor at his back neither, not if he is wise. Keep your subjects on their knees,
the more so when they draw near; if you would keep the crown, you must keep
it well above their reach." This time he was quicker; he was down before
Henry could move to prevent, catching up Henry's hand to examine it closely
before finding and setting his lips to the tiny smear of blood on the knuckle.
Quote from DVD commentary: This is the world's most overdetermined
blowjob.
Supernatural - Bella Temple - Dimensions and Verticals - Stick figure!Dean multimedia crackfic! Gen, aside from all the foul language, nudity and gore. Bwaha. Fabulous.
I think I'm naked!
Yeah. That was definitely Dean, alright.
Supernatural - Stephanometra - Square in a Round - Sam/Jess, past Sam/Dean implied - I recced this to someone recently as a brilliant example of 'third wave' het porn that assumes neither heterosexuality nor heternormativity on the part of either character. Gorgeous raunch.
"Seriously,
what is this thing?"
"What's what?" She bounces over to the dresser, nimbly avoiding the
detritus on the floor. "Oh. That's Ivan."
Veronica Mars - Theohara - Virtual Season Two - Don't be put off by the script format. The dialogue is uproarious.
Veronica: So, I should get Trina's clothes back to you. And really,
it would be a lot more efficient if I came back with my laptop...
Logan: Keep 'em. Despite what Weevil claims, I'm actually not that into cross-dressing.
Veronica: Um...
Logan: Don't look at me, he's the one obsessed with putting naked men on the
(air-quotes) "flagpole".
Updated August 1, 2009
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