Hieroglyfics Recs

Sharpe/The Prophecy crossover, Lucifer/Sharpe. In India, Sharpe (and this is bookverse Sharpe, pre-movie-series) encounters a stranger. I have not seen The Prophecy, in which Lucifer is played by (as you might guess) Viggo Mortensen, but the Devil is recognizably enough the Devil that I didn’t need to. And I am entirely in love with this story, from the younger, more venial Sharpe (I recall reading somewhere a quote about Bean playing great villains, and that Sharpe is a villain that happens to be one of the heroes) to the casual and tiny reveals of the Devil’s identity that speak to the reader but that Sharpe doesn’t recognize. (I adore the unreliable narrator aspect of this, the complicity of the reader in the underlying truths of the story that are hidden from the narrator!) Fabulous.

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.

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.

Sharpe/Diego Alatriste, crossover-ish, NC17, short story. A wounded Sharpe takes refuge in a castle haunted by Viggo Mortensen a 17th-century Spanish captain. It’s a clever crossover idea, and hey, a little ghost rimming never goes amiss.

Sharpe/Aragorn, with a tiny bit of Aragorn/Boromir: Sharpe and Aragorn get lost in their respective forests and bump into each other. This is my favorite type of crossover, in which the actor-identity connects the characters, and it is beautifully written.

due South/Good Omens. Fraser literally has a demon on his shoulder - Crowley. Fortunately Aziraphale is there as well. The writing is right out of Good Omens, but the device of Fraser talking to a supernal being and Ray thinking he’s talking to him is right out of due South (or at least dS fanfiction). Lovely dialogue and a sweet ending.

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!

Heroes/SGA crossover, gen. When Micah grows up, he joins the SGC and is sent to Atlantis. It’s a really nifty take on the ’sentient Atlantis’ trope, and a perfect meshing of the universes. Written for the picfor1000 challenge.

Bwah-ha-ha! This is a clever little story, and it’s got dead!Bob in it, which is always a plus in my book. Crossover with a television show that I’ve only seen a few episodes of, but recognized anyway, and you probably will, too. Part of the fun (as well as the plot) is discovering exactly what it’s crossed with, so I won’t spoil it here.

Ray Kowalski/Geoffrey Tennant. This is a wonderful due South/Slings & Arrows crossover in which Ray and Geoffrey meet in an airport during a snowstorm. This is my favorite type of crossover (and actually reminds me quite a bit of my own dS/Wilby crossover Islands), in which the actor-identity aspect is exploited for the story, with the real pairing behind the scenes clearly Ray/Fraser, and the imagined intersection of the characters seems very true. Funny, sweet and sad, with a satisfying ending.

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.

Tim Bayliss/Billy Tallent. This is a rewritten version of Shell’s first fanfic, and as someone who tried but failed to read the earlier version, I can say this is a bazillion times better, with tightness and focus and pacing that was missing from the first attempt. Bayliss is undercover, posing as a member of a Utah polygamist cult that is clearly based on the Fundamentalist LDS church. This is the element that originally attracted me to this story; I saw a documentary about the FLDS, Banking on Heaven, at a film festival earlier this year, and I can say that as horrifying as the elements of this story are, they’re not very far removed from the reality.

Just before going undercover, Bayliss meets Billy Tallent, who while in Arizona to play a concert meets a young escapee from the cult, who is subsequently murdered. The two men feel an instant connection. In fact, for me, it’s a little too instant - not the immediate sex, but the closeness of their relationship afterward - and because of this, the story feels more like an established-relationship story than a first-time, to me. (By the way, if I were rating this story I’d give it NC17, because the sex scenes are explicit.)

If you, like me, don’t know anything about Homicide, skim (or ignore) the prologue, which will only baffle you. (Interestingly, I discovered after reading that Bayliss is canonically bisexual.) If you don’t know anything about HCL, don’t worry. In fact, IMHO the characterization of Billy is a long stretch from canon, even given the passage of time and the way the events of HCL (which this story does spoil) might have affected him. But actually, this Billy is a far more sympathetic and even heroic character - to the point that I felt as though some of his actions (and some aspects of their relationship) were unrealistic for anybody. But, you know what? I didn’t care. It was still a great read, and hurt/comfort fans will sigh happily.

Series. I vaguely remember when this was posted nearly a year ago, I looked at the description - alien kidfic - and ran very fast in the opposite direction. But then Giulietta listed it as one (or possibly three) of her stories she’d like people to read, so I read it (them) and was totally charmed. Fraser and Ray adopt - or perhaps are adopted by - an alien child who looks kind of like a Koosh ball. Crossover with Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but you don’t have to know anything about it to be entertained and have your heart strings tugged.

A gen Firefly/Slings & Arrows crossover that fills me with glee! My knowledge of Firefly is basically from seeing Serenity, and I understood the story just fine. (If you don’t know S&A, you won’t get the full depth of the story, but you’ll still get it okay.)

due South/Tru Calling, Harrison/RayK, RayK/Fraser, Harrison/RayK/Fraser, NC17, series of novel-length stories: Undone, Unfinished, and The Ending Hour [not yet read by me].

I started reading this knowing nothing about Tru Calling other than that Joe Flanigan was in one episode. I realized quickly that I needed a little background, so I read its IMDB entry, which told me that Tru Davies has the ability to make days repeat themselves in order to save people from being killed - and that was all I needed to make sense of this entertaining, plotty series. Harrison reads as an original character and is interesting enough, although he seemed quite a bit like Ray to me. The writing has a nice punchy feel to it, with each section ending with a good zinger that pulled me on to the next bit. The first story reminded me more than a little of my own Across the Great Divide. Needless to say, it hit both my crossover kink and my time-travel kink.

I preferred the first story, which seems a little cleaner and more put-together than the second; I have not yet read the third.

dS/BtVS: Fraser/Spike, implied Fraser/RayK, NC17, short story. Spike gets arrested in Canada, and intrigued by the Mountie doing the arresting. Underneath the Fraser/Spike interaction is a current of tension about the relationship between Fraser and Ray (who has returned to Chicago after the Quest), which is what really makes this story. Consensual bondage, and hot as a hot thing. I know nothing about BtVS but still enjoyed the story.

Joe/Billy, crossover with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (although you don’t need to know that movie to understand this story). Billy gets his memories of Joe erased. Nifty reverse-chronological structure, cool and creepy.

Ensemble, due South crossover with Men With Brooms, humor. Curling! Beavers! CANADA! This is great, and the editorial comments are priceless.

Ensemble, crossover with SG1. This one is cool because it uses clips from behind-the-scene specials - it’s kind of a meta-vid about the creation of the shows we watch.

Ensemble gen, crossover with Xanadu, humor. Totally cool and totally wacko. I especially liked the segue into Elizabeth’s appearance in Before I Sleep - that’s the point at which I mentally went, “oh YEAH!” Like Olivia’s passing the torch of Atlantis to Elizabeth, to entirely mangle a metaphor.

Crossover with Harry Potter. Ray and Fraser go to Animal Control to retrieve Dief, who’s been swept up as part of a rabies investigation, along with another…wolf? Sort of subtexty gen.

Crossover with (the original) Star Trek. “And see, Vulcans’ve got this thing with logic, or somethin’ — they’re all level-headed and — Canadian, that’s it. They’re all Canadian and Mountie-like all the time, see?” From the cracktastic side of the crossover force.

Fraser/RayK, Fraser/RayK/Oz, NC17, short story. Crossover with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Outside their cabin in the far north, Ray and Fraser catch a werewolf in their trap line. An atmospheric story about belonging and family and wolf packs.

Tim Bayliss/Mark Smithbauer, Fraser/RayK, R, novelette. Crossover with Homicide: Life on the Street. This is kind of two stories smushed together - a bit of action, as Tim meets Fraser and Ray, who are on vacation (post-CotW) in Toronto, and then a bit of romance, when through them he meets Smithbauer. I particularly like Frannie’s cameo in this one.

Fraser/RayV/Amanda, NC17, novel. Crossover with Highlander: The Series. A plotty adventure with lots of sex! The first sequel, The Catch, by Kellie, is Fraser/RayK/Amanda and novelette length; there are more sequels, comprising “The Fishing Series,” but the rest are all solely due South.

Fraser/Dale Cooper, Fraser/RayV. Crossover with Twin Peaks. An FBI agent who comes to work with Ray on a case turns out to know Fraser from the past. Although the story takes place during a case, it’s really a lovely angsty romance.

SGA/HP, Ronon/Rodney, John/Sirius. This isn’t really a story so much as it is a vignette, a set-up that doesn’t really go anywhere, but it’s awfully cute, the characterizations are good, and it pays homage to my own SGA/HP crossover, so, yay!

AU, crossover, romance, humor. I have no idea how to characterize this fic. John is a figure skater and Rodney’s on a curling team with Carson Beckett, Neil Bucyk (from Men With Brooms!), and Callum Keith Rennie. My brain hurts from all my fandoms crazily slamming into each other on the ice. Mostly what appeals to me is the wacko premise, but there is cute banter, and a few clever canon references.

Crossover with Good Omens, RayK/Crowley. A crackfic riff on the replacement of Ray V by Ray K. And I guess you could consider this wingfic, too!

HP/Discworld. Gen, Susan Sto Helit-centric. This is a fantastic crossover and a brilliant idea, and well in keeping with both worlds: Professor McGonagall has a request for Susan.