Brideshead Revisited, Charles/Sebastian, NC17. Charles gets drunk with Sebastian, and falls. Fabulously in-character and with the feel of genuine Waugh. And the fact that I am, of course, picturing the young Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews as they were in the miniseries doesn’t hurt.
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.
Big Eden vid, Henry/Dean, Henry/Pike. This vid follows Henry as he moves from his New York life, to Big Eden and his relationships there: with his grandfather, with Dean, with the people of Big Eden, and ultimately with Pike. I particularly like how each section is self-contained in the narrative but follows from the previous bit and leads into the next logically and coherently.
Hot Fuzz, Nick/Danny. A sweet and hot little story in which Nick accidentally learns something about Danny - and then learns something about himself.
Aubrey and Maturin gen, crossover-fusion with Temeraire, short story. Captain Aubrey and Dr. Maturin meet Captain Laurence and Temeraire. I love the way this is written, which seems very true to both sources, although I suppose that in a true crossed-over world, Jack and Stephen would already be somewhat familiar with dragons and their riders.
3:10 to Yuma, Charlie Prince backstory and how he met Wade. I love the narrative voice, which fits the source so well. A splendid imagining of the most intriguing minor character in the film, and a great Wade as well.
One bit pinged me oddly: the use of the phrasing, “you’re not the boss of me” which — I thought — is contemporary usage. But according to Language Log it dates back to at least 1883, so it’s not a stretch to imagine it here!
Slap Shot 2/RPF, Palmberg/Nos4a2no9 (the fanfic writer) Um. I have a real kink for crossovers between FPF and RPF. And the meta here is a lovely twist: we usually imagine ourselves meeting the characters we like, don’t we!
Anthropomorfic: Australia/various continents. I giggled hysterically. And it actually has a basis in geology. All the other continents said Antarctica was a frigid bitch, but Australia remembered the good old days. Once upon a time, there had been three of them: Australia, Antarctica and India. Antarctica had covered herself with forests and they’d huddled together for warmth, with Antarctica nestled in his Great Australian Bight (as he liked to call it). Threesome continent-fic, dudes!
Supernatural vid. This is the one in which Dean and Sam watch various incarnations of “their show” on TV, set to various TV show theme songs. If you’re in SPN, you’ve seen it already, I’m sure; if you’re like me, and don’t know which one is Dean and which one is Sam, you might enjoy it anyway if meta games appeal to you. I love the way this vid recontextualizes the show into multiple show-lets of differing genre, using both theme music and clip choice. I only recognized a few of the themes, not being a TV watcher, but I could instantly tell what type of show each was - the police drama, the soap, the sci-fi (okay, everyone ought to recognize the Twilight Zone theme!)
Hot Fuzz, Nicholas/Danny. This story walks the perfect line between tentative awkwardness and outright silliness, and it’s sweet and gentle and has awesome characterization through dialogue.
Wiseguy, Sonny/Vinnie, R. Post-apocalyptic roadtrip fic yay! I mean, really, the only way to make this relationship end well is to destroy (most of) the earth. This is an awesome SF story and only incidentally Wiseguy fanfic, which, considering I have only seen the pilot episode, is probably why I loved it so much.
Wiseguy, Sonny/Vinnie. Vinnie’s mother keeps inviting them over for Sunday dinner! AU, sexy and sweet.
Big Eden, Henry/Pike. A nice little five-things story that evokes the gentle feel of the movie; my favorite is the second section.
Big Eden, Henry/Pike. I don’t necessarily buy all of it as my backstory for Pike, but it’s a plausible backstory, the device of telling it through his interactions with the various people of Big Eden is clever and works well, and the writing is really luminous in places.
Big Eden, Henry/Pike. Henry’s POV on the penultimate scenes of the film - what happens at the store while Pike’s driving to the airport. I want to draw big sparkly hearts around this story. Yay! I love the way all the townspeople are looking out for Pike.
I KNOW. It’s been out for over a year, and I kind of hated it when I first watched it, because the music just makes me want to put my hands over my ears and scream. Not my thing. But every once in a while I seekritly rewatch it, because it’s so incredibly well done. All the matching between an actor’s gesture or motion as one character and his or her identical gesture as another - wow. So here, I’m reccing it, okay? Because it’s great. But I still hate the music.
Girls kicking ass hilariously juxtaposed with a sweetness-and-light Rogers and Hammerstein musical song. I am only familiar in passing with the fandoms (Alias, BSG, Veronica Mars, Firefly, Buffy) but that totally doesn’t matter. Funny and sexy and makes me want to pump my fist in the air and yell, “chicks ROCK!”
Multifandom paean to the costume drama - its costumes and its drama and its sheer (and sequinned, and lacy) sexiness. I’m stunned by the number of sources, some which seem unlikely but work so well in the vid. My favorite part is the twirling sequence that begins about a third of the way through. And the kissing. Don’t forget the kissing!
Multifandom boykissing and girlkissing! That is, boys kissing boys and girls kissing girls. It gives me a nice happy gooshy feeling, and I love the way the clips are matched to the lyrics. Also, it’s hot.
Wiseguy, Vinnie/Sonny, AU assuming Sonny escapes from the Rialto - and brings Vinnie with him. It’s a fabulous road-trip story, a perfect set-up and a satisfying ending.
Keen Eddie vid. I know almost nothing about this show, which didn’t stop me from loving this fabulous vid. Two desperately dissimilar guys, clearly thrown together by circumstances beyond their control, having a bang-up time.
Firefly/Jane Eyre fusion-pastiche-parody, Jayne/Rochester (and really, Jayne/lots of other characters). The great novel Jayne Eyre comes to life before your gorram eyes. A fourth-wall-optional story in which Jayne from Firefly grumpily assumes the title role. Jayne is spot-on perfect, the Bronte characters adapt well, and the narrator is perhaps my favorite character of all.
Don’t be dismayed by the seven chapters - they’re all very short. Read the first two, at least, and I promise you’ll be hooked. Not to mention laughing out loud. You probably do need to have at least a passing acquaintance with both Firefly (or Serenity) and Jane Eyre (book or movie) to fully enjoy the story.
Oh, fine, have an excerpt:
“I have decided to send you away,” Aunt Reed said imperiously. “You are going to school.”
“School?” Jayne replied as though someone had trodden upon his toes. “What you tryin’ to do? Kill me?”
“Yes, actually,” Aunt Reed muttered under her breath. “You shall repair at once to Lowood, from whence I hope I shall never have the undesirious result of seeing you more, young Jayne Eyre.”
“You people sure do like speechifying with the big words,” Jayne said, stomping up the stairs to pack his simple bag of effects, including his dresses, his pantalettes, and his doll.
“I ain’t got no doll!”
It says you do in the book.
“Hell with the book!”
Fine. No doll. The next morning, his cheek unkissed and his kinspeople still happily asleep in their finely draped beds, Jayne boarded a carriage to be transported away to Lowood school, a place renowned for its rampaging bouts of typhus, consumption, and chillblains.
“Does my coach get robbed by a gang of desperate outlaws?”
It’s not that sort of coach.
“Well, it woulda been more interestin’ if it were.”
Sorry, dearheart. Jayne’s coach sped through the misty countryside of England, off to unknown places, where he should be faced with new trials and tribulations to make him prove the goodness within his heart was paramount to all obstacles.
“Narrator, I think you’re gonna be right unhappy with the outcome of that sentence.”
Pirates of the Caribbean, Tia Dalma. It’s a sonnet. It’s gorgeous and evocative.
Being Human: George/Mitchell. And after my complaints about understanding the actors’ accents, you can laugh at me, but what I like best about this story is how utterly British it reads. When I was in HP fandom, you could tell the Americans who were really trying from the Americans who didn’t give a damn, but then something like A.J. Hall’s stories stood out as something entirely different. The deadpan humo(u)r is very much like the show’s, and the story continues the theme of monsters and humanity, of what it is that separates Mitchell in particular from his fellows.
This is a set of vids in various fandoms to the old Schoolhouse Rock songs. My favorites are the Supernatural “Noun” vid and the Heroes “Interjection” vid. These vids are not so much for fans of the source fandoms as they are for fans of Schoolhouse Rock.
Temeraire, Laurence/Temeraire. During the voyage to China in Throne of Jade, Laurence and Temeraire discuss a Chinese story, about a man who swallowed a magical pearl and became a dragon - and a dragon that swallowed one and became a man. And that night, they dream…. It’s an utterly fantastic (in all senses of the word!) story; Temeraire’s voice throughout Laurence’s dream was perfect, a wonderful combination of naivete and charm. Then comes Temeraire’s dream, and it’s got to be read to be believed. Funny and sweet and adorable, and hot like, um, fire-breathing. Yay!
Bon Cop, Bad Cop, gen. Another wacky Canadian casefic, in which Martin and David are assigned to investigate bootlegged Mountie dolls. Hee!
Bon Cop, Bad Cop, Martin/David (with implied Martin/Suzie). Martin and David investigate an art vandal. This was written for ME for Yuletide, so naturally I adore it! Crazy bilingual casefic chock full of Canadiana.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit, gen (Roger/Jessica, references to various het and slash relationships). Someone’s killing CGI toons, and Roger and Jessica must find the killer. This is brilliantly conceived: the plot is clever and relevant in a very meta way, and the various supporting characters are fabulous. Tons of in-jokes and sly references, and great use of the literal punnishness of the original movie.
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.)
Donald E Westlake - The Dortmunder Series, gen, PG, short story. Westlake has long been one of my favorite writers, and this pitch-perfect Christmas caper story is an absolute gem that makes me wonder if he’s writing his own fanfiction. If you’re familiar with the series, you’ve probably already clicked; if you’re not, let me try to convince you, because this story stands alone and makes a great short introduction to the books. The Dortmunder stories are about a hapless gang of New York criminals who somehow always seem to kidnap the wrong victim, steal the wrong loot, or stumble into something that turns their planned crime on its head. The humor is rich and full without being overdone. The novels are fabulous, and this fic is fabulous, too.
RPF, Hugh Dillon/Callum Keith Rennie, set during the period before Hard Core Logo filming. Hugh struts around and acts like a jerk until he realizes that the reason Callum won’t have casual sex with him is that Callum’s not casual about Hugh. The sex is nngh hot, and the emotion is just as raw and urgent.
Northern Exposure, various characters and pairings both het and slash. Fifty teeny snippets (written for a series of challenge prompts) which add up to a picture of life in Cicely.
Pan’s Labyrinth, Ofelia and her brother, gen. A beautiful double-drabble with tone and language that evokes the movie perfectly.
Multifandom slashy vid. Everybody’s doing it, doing it, doing it, and what’s really fun is how they’re doing the same things in the same ways in all our fandoms! Awesome clips, perfect timing.
Pirates of Penzance, Pirate King/Frederic/Samuel, R. The Pirate King and Samuel instruct the eager Frederic in, er, additional duties. This is fabulous and hilarious and absolutely glorious. The style is a perfect pastiche of Gilbert and Sullivan, and the combination of innuendo and innocence just - wow. I am floored. Yay!
Northern Exposure, Chris/Joel, NC17. Joel reacts to Chris’s pheromones. The voices were spot-on perfect - I could hear them in my head, even hear Chris’s measured tones narrating it for me. It’s told as a series of possible events, and oddly the what-if-ness made the alternate possibilities each seem more plausible and real.
Zenna Henderson - The People series, gen, G. This story was written for ME! Yay! But even if it wasn’t, it deserves a rec because it is just that fantastic. The gentle story of a young woman who comes to college and discovers that her assigned roommate is just a little bit…different. It will make you smile if you know the series, and it will make you want to read the series if you haven’t yet.
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Arthur/Ford-ish. Hee! I’m not entirely convinced MMWD didn’t just scan a chapter I’d forgotten about. Or maybe someone discovered the Lost Works of Douglas Adams in a lost-luggage repository. This is pitch-perfect and a heck of a lot of fun.
Men With Brooms, Amy/Cutter. Amy wakes up on the morning after; I really love Amy’s POV, that she’s messed up and she knows it but is still helpless in the grip of it, the way she feels and analyzes her own feelings. The other characters seem totally true to their movie selves, especially Eddie, dear God, who cracked me up. I especially like the way the characterization is built through incidental detail and through dialogue.
Battlestar Galactica, various pairings, R. This one totally wowed me even though I’ve only seen a single episode of the show and only vaguely recognized most of the characters (and didn’t recognize most of the clips). I thought the frantic pace and the choice of clips went really well with the song (which I didn’t really like, but…I have to say, it’s effective). It’s an incredible visual tour of a gritty world.
Historical RPF: William Shakespeare/Christopher Marlowe. Apparently it’s a pastiche of Fight Club, which I am entirely unfamiliar with, but I don’t care, because this story rocks. It’s written in Shakespeare-play format, with sections in iambic pentameter. And it rocks. Did I say that already? I loved it so much I wrote a feedback sonnet, which you can see in the comments.
Spider Robinson’s Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon series: gen, metafic. Mary Sue stumbles into Callahan’s. Light (heh) and sweet, in perfectly canonical style, complete with excrable puns.
Isaac Asimov’s Robot series: Elijah Baley/R. Daneel Olivaw. This is a nice plotty mystery that could be part of canon - other than the sex, of course, which fits perfectly well with the plot. If you’re at all familiar with these books, read this story.
(The Charioteer, Laurie/Ralph)
It’s a lovely missing-scene story (there are so many potential missing scenes in the book! Renault says as much with what she doesn’t say as with what she does, but there is such a strong impulse to fill those lacunae - even though they’re effective as they are!) and stylistically it meshes beautifully with the original.