Hieroglyfics Recs

HP/Sherlock Holmes, gen. Hogwarts Headmaster Phineas Nigellus Black sends for Sherlock Holmes to solve the mystery of the disappearance of an important artifact. This story is told in the style of Arthur Conan Doyle, through the narration of Watson, and it’s done very well here, perfectly canonical-feeling. The merging of the worlds was very well done; I particularly liked Holmes’s distrust of the wizarding world, the reason for which is slowly revealed through a clever backstory. I think perhaps it’s because in HP canon we see the world of magic through the eyes of a child who is discovering its wonders, and of course, it’s magic, yay! to most of us, so the jaundiced eye is a fresh perspective.

HP/Hamlet crossover, gen. When Severus Snape finishes at Hogwarts, Dumbledore sends him to do a research fellowship with one Doctor Faustus, who is perfecting the Plothole-Plugging Potion. Severus drinks a test version and is sent whirling into the 16th century, where he lands on Rosencrantz just as he and Guildenstern are about to go to Elsinore. He puts on Rosencrantz’s doublet and hose, travels to Denmark, and the rest is history Hamlet. Or rather, Hamlet as it would have happened had an irascible young wizard with a talent for potions stepped in. Which is awesome.

Kowalski comes back from Canada and gets partnered with Vecchio; then Fraser returns to Chicago. I liked the narrative voice, and the use of metaphor, and the understated bits where you just see their understanding of each other. I love OT3 but have a hard time buying it; this, I buy.

Sean/Viggo, serial novella. [The link goes to her fic list in lj memories] I guess this is a slow WIP, but I would consider it complete at part 11, with everything after that lagniappe or sequel - at least, in its current form. During the filming, the whole cast is touchy-feely except for Sean, who here is borderline homophobic and uncomfortable with the flying innuendo; gradually he realizes that Viggo is coming on to him, and even more gradually he realizes that he’s wanted that all along. I am a big fan of the slow build of sexual tension, and this story delivers. Sean’s slow transformation from denial to open desire is delicious and very, very sexy. A few missteps grated on me, but they were overwhelmed by the consistent, entertaining ensemble characterization (I love Ian in particular), the men that never failed to be manly (except for Orlando, who makes an adorable 14-year-old girl), and the exceptional HOT.

Ray Vecchio visits Fraser and Ray Kowalski in Canada, and slowly realizes they want him to stay. I liked the slow but steady pace, nothing left out in establishing how and why, but no dwelling on artificially angsty obstacles. It all seemed very genuine. I loved the various original characters, who each seemed individual and real. The dialogue made me giggle sometimes.

I particularly like stories that do the background work to show why the CotW resolution doesn’t work out - why Vecchio doesn’t make it with Stella in Florida and why Kowalski doesn’t make it with Fraser in Canada. Fraser is a constant presence, the bright red elephant in the room that they do not talk about. And all this against a plotty casefic background makes me deliriously happy, particularly since the romance plot and the case plot and the what-about-Fraser plot all intertwine in a thoughtful way.

RPF - American Frontier, Lewis/Clark, Lewis/Mahlon Dickerson. This well-researched and well-written story reminded me very strongly of Gore Vidal’s American history novels - if Vidal had included explicit sex. The sex does not feel jarringly modern in the least, but is written with the same careful language as the rest of the story; it’s not gratuitous, but is an important part of Lewis’s character and part of the seeds of his discontent and discomfort that eventually lead to his suicide. (Um, is that a spoiler? This is history, folks.)

This is a remix of a story I haven’t read. It’s the kind of AU I like best (which is alas rare in SGA) - set in a world that is close to, but not quite, canon, in which familar canonical events (or their analogues) occur. Rodney’s still an SGC scientist, but John is a robot - except that he is not, as he claims to be, an AI sex toy, but a highly advanced and highly secret experimental model. The plot includes both standard Harlequin tropes and startlingly clever twists and revelations. There’s a bit of handwavium tossed around, but no more than in the show. A good read.

Post CotW, Ray and Fraser stop to visit Maggie near Inuvik, get involved in an investigation, and figure out their relationship. This kind of reminds me of The End of the Road - no, wait, this is a happy story, but there’s something similar in the tone and style that I can’t quite identify. The writing is lovely, the plot involves things happenening - real, external things, that the characters respond to in convincingly in-character ways - and the sex is an integral part of the story, that somehow manages to be more breathtakingly erotic the less explicit it is. (In fact, the part I like least is the most explicit sex scene near the end, which seems tacked-on and gratuitous to me.)

I recced a shorter version - what became the first chapter - before. But yay, Salieri continued and expanded this dystopian cyberpunky idea to a novella, and, wow. Fraser’s a bot looking for the killers of the AI that created him, and Ray’s a cop looking for answers. It’s got great nods to canon, a cleverly imagined plot, and an ending that knocked my socks off.

Dawn Summers, Jeannie Miller gen, SGA/Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossover. This is billed as a crossover with Night of the Comet (which I haven’t seen), but it’s really more of a fusion or even a pastiche, based on the movie summary. The passage of a comet reduces everybody on Earth to a pile of dust, except for Dawn, Jeannie, and Jeannie’s daughter and nephew. Post-apocalyptic roadtrip fic ahoy! I persevered through the confusing-to-non-BtvS-people beginning and was rewarded with good stuff later on, as Dawn travels through the eerie wasteland of empty Midwest strip malls and convenience shops, and meets up with soccer-mom-on-a-mission Jeannie. Oh, and McKay’s cat. Really well written.

John and Teyla centric gen, alternate history AU.

This story, a pastiche of Lawrence of Arabia, is set in an AU Atlantis in which Sheppard came to Atlantis as a captain (and thus with less military authority); because he doesn’t go on the initial expedition to Athos, Teyla’s necklace isn’t activated, the Wraith don’t come to Athos, Sumner lives and the Wraith don’t awaken. Sumner runs his missions with the arrogance of a technologically and morally superior race, alienating the Pegasus people; Sheppard (the Lawrence character) is relegated to being “Captain LightSwitch,” using his gene to turn things on, until he gets itchy feet, wangles a mission to Athos, finds a kindred spirit in Teyla (who is a combination of Feisal and Ali), and “goes native.”

The brilliance of this story lies in the way that canon events (e.g. the meeting of the Genii, the discovery of the wrecked Wraith ship) are retold as they would have happened in this version of Atlantis. There are some very clever subtleties, such as the puddlejumpers being “gateships” (but of course!) and Sheppard’s thoughts on the “alternate alternate” history from the events of “Before I Sleep.” Sheppard is the perfect tragic Lawrencian hero, charismatic and sympathetic, disillusioned about the military yet a strong leader, ultimately a pawn in a terrible war.

You do not need to know the movie (or Lawrence’s autobiographical writings, which this draws from) to enjoy this fabulous story.

After reading lots of ficlets which were high on smut but low on plot, I craved something meatier and went looking in Beth H’s recs for something older I missed. This is a nicely satisfying story about Ray trying to figure out what, exactly, he wants. Nothing too flashy, just a good dose of romance and emotion.

Rodney/Ronon. I’m not a fan of forced marriage slash stories, which usually strike me as just plain weird, but this one is plausible and cleverly done. Part of its appeal to me, I think, is that it’s not a first-time (even though I love first-time) - Rodney and Ronon already are in a relationship (I believe that Hth’s Thirteen O’Clock, which is I also rec, is a prequel to this) and getting married both forces them to confront their relationship, and forces the others in Atlantis - particularly John - to confront it as well. The story is told through Rodney’s and John’s POVs, and it’s both sweet and sad, as one realizes the depth of his affection for his partner and teammate, and the other feels cut off and abandoned when his teammates pair off together. Although there’s a bit of plot involving aliens and secret technology, it’s really a McGuffin - the relationships make up the story.

This is an AU in several senses; Ray and Fraser have chosen different careers, but for reasons traceable to changes in canon events. It was Fraser’s father, rather than his mother, who died when he was young, so although he becomes a Mountie, he never went to Chicago; and Ray quits the police force and becomes a pilot after the Beth Botrelle case. They meet in Fort Howell, when Ray gets a job with a Canadian puddlejumper air service. The plot wanders a bit at first, then turns into a thoughtfully reworked version of Victoria’s Secret.

Bodyswap! It’s the Frasers who switch places - Benton and (the late) Bob, and Ray has to figure things out. And of course that’s not all he figures out.

Yeah, everyone’s read it, but I have to mention it, because it’s a perfect example of taking things just one surreal step beyond reality, as Bob communicates with Ray via Scrabble tiles.

One of the things that appeals to me about slash is the gradual negotiation and deepening of the relationship, the misunderstandings and self-examination and eventual coming to terms. Damaged Goods has it in spades - Ray and Fraser have sex, and then they have to deal with the consequences. Um, and then they have sex some more. Lots of it. Mmm.

I have a weakness for stories which show a relationship from a third person’s viewpoint. This one is told from three viewpoints - Ray’s, Fraser’s, and Ray’s childhood friend Sara’s - and each person mistakenly believes the other two are a couple! This is alternately amusing and angstful, but of course results in Fraser and Ray realizing that they want to be a couple. Yay!

Well, everyone probably knows about this by now - the Pizza AU. Well-written and scorchingly hot, with an entertaining plot (that demonizes Ray V a little, be warned). The best part for me was the emotional climax that is a very clear nod (heck, verbatim dialogue!) to Mountie on the Bounty, which I had just seen the night before I read the story.

Rodney is called away from his teaching job for his father’s funeral, where he meets Captain John Sheppard of the Air Force and learns his family may have some hidden secrets. Entertaining but not exceptional until the second half, when some of those secrets turn out to involve alien devices and Area 51, and the story begins to converge with canon. I particularly like Rodney’s characterization and the jealousy he can’t hide that John got to spend his childhood with the very scientists Rodney idolizes. Note that one aspect of the AU (which might be guessable from this summary) may be squicky for some (and push kink buttons for others).