Hieroglyfics Recs

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!

Heroes, Molly gen. A brilliant set of fairy-tale pastiches in a plausibly canonical frame story; beautiful and clever and kind of chilling, and kind of sad ,and kind of hopeful.

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.

(Podfic version as edited by Lim.) Every once in a while I see a mention of this story on my flist that begins, “I know I must be the last person to read this…” so I figure I’m maybe not the last. A great action/adventure/history in an engaging and clever format, read by three dozen readers and assembled with care and skill into a not-quite-seamless but nevertheless pretty darn good whole. The variations in volume and quality of the various recordings have been mostly evened out. And I realized that I really don’t mind hearing American and Canadian (and Athosian and Satedan :-) voices as rendered in an English accent; I thought it would throw me, but quickly the accent faded into the metaphorical background, and I just heard the story.

This is a faux trailer for a nonexistent movie: McKay and Sheppard do Ocean’s Eleven. Fabulous use of a wide variety of source material, and put together really well.

Scenes from Epiphany are used to imply an AU history for John and how he met Rodney and came to Atlantis, and there’s some astonishing vid-manip work.

Mostly gen with reference to Geoffrey/Ellen and Cyril/Frank. The backstory of Geoffrey’s going mad during Hamlet is such a fact of canon that it could have been a dull story, but telling it through Cyril’s eyes gives it a fresh twist. Plus, yay for a Cyril story, with hints of his own drama and life.

Anna-centric mostly gen with a bit of Anna/Nahum. This was my absolutely favorite Yuletide story this year, and is my favorite S&A story ever. Anna returns from Bolivia to the “Theotre sons Argent,” as typed with Geoffrey’s old typewriter that turns a’s into “circular blobs,” and takes charge. The dialogue is fabulous, the details wonderful, and every character voice absolutely perfect. Quirky and charming, and as those who were in S&A chat with me know, Anna/Nahum is my seekrit OTP.

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.

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.

This is a rec with a caveat, not because of the story but because of me: it’s a post-CotW F/V, which makes me oddly uncomfortable. I’m not sure why I can happily accept the unraveling of the CotW resolution for Ray/Ray, but not for F/V. It’s just me, I guess. So I liked the story in a lot of ways, but am still left with a little niggling waah at the end. Anyway, the plot made me happy, especially the way it was resolved, in which you really see how Vegas has changed Ray - and how it hasn’t. I really liked the characterization of Fraser. And Kowalski shows up at the end, which does a lot to make me feel better about things.

Gen with references to unrequited Vecchio/Fraser and Vecchio’s canon het relationships. I am a sucker for stories told from an outsider perspective, and this one, narrated by the Vecchio family priest, is wonderful. Father Behan is a fully-realized character, sensitive and perceptive, and he brings another dimension to the canon events we know, from Ray’s childhood conflicts with Frank Zuko to his acts as Armando Langoustini. I got weepy at the end.

Ray/Ray with hints of F/K/V. Vecchio’s work in Vegas must come to an abrupt end when he sprouts wings; there’s a lovely metaphor of devils and angels, there, and in fact the whole story is rich with metaphor and imagery, sensitivity and grace and poetry. There’s a bit of plot which is not really resolved - I hope this story gets expanded or the clearly needed sequel written.

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 catches a clue. I love the Kowalski voice, and the conceit about the clues. Sexy and fun.

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.

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.)

Geoffrey/Ellen, Oliver/Geoffrey. Both hysterically funny and achingly sad: Geoffrey and Ellen have a literal ghost in bed with them as they rekindle their old flame.

Sophie/Clarissa, PG. Clarissa comes calling on Sophie. The story is gorgeous, understated and gentle. The language is perfect, and the echoes of Jack off at sea in Sophie’s solitude are so nice. Maybe my favorite parts are the hints of Diana, and how the others see her. You don’t need to have read the whole series or even to have gotten to the books with Clarissa to enjoy this delicate femslash.

This casefic has Fraser and Ray going undercover at a dog show, with Dief, of course, undercover as a dog. It’s plotty and funny and well-written, and obviously involved a whole lot of research. The Dief POV sections made me grin a whole lot.

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.