A way so familiar by Te

I’ve recommended Te’s stuff before, and even though there are no words to express how awesome this story is, I still have to try. Because it’s just that good.

As always, Te gave me the story I would never have thought to want. I loved it madly all the way through. I was a little afraid, because I didn’t see how she would be able to deliver everything I wanted from the ending, but of course she did. In spades.

Any summary I could write would spoil the experience of figuring out what’s going on, which is part of the fun in the first few scenes.

I’ve actually read two more of Te’s stories lately that I loved as much as this one and which I’m going to recommend; I chose this one for my Top Ten pretty much by a hair, but you can consider The Young and the Battish and World Enough to be a joint entry with A way so familiar.

(And oh my god, this is just making me realize how many amazing, incredible stories Te’s written that I will never recommend because I don’t believe in recommending too many things by the same author. Like Neither stars nor gods and its sequel, As far as she desires, which are the two stories that really made me love Steph as a person and as Tim’s girlfriend.)

AU // Incest // NC-17 // Romance // Sci-fi/Fantasy // Top 100 // Top Ten

In the Company of Ghosts by KodiakkeMax

A long, sprawling AU, and definitely one of the best Farscape fics ever written. The prowler that collides with John’s module in the pilot is Aeryn Sun’s, and Tauvo Crais is the one swept along on Moya’s starburst. A Moment to Ourselves is the NC-17 coda.

KoddiakkeMax does such a clever job of re-imagining Farscape canon. All the details are perfect; everyone is so perfectly in character, because we can watch how different events change them from their canon selves. There are lots of well-drawn original characters, too, and a brilliant plot.

In the Company of Ghosts makes my top ten list, because it does what the very best fanfic always does to me: makes me wish it was canon.

AU // Action // Het // PG // Romance // Sci-fi/Fantasy // Top 100 // Top Ten

Written by the Victors by Speranza

Atlantis

I have a long queue of other stories waiting to be recommended, but sometimes a story comes along, so wonderful that it sweeps you away, and this is one of those.

A selection of passages from scholarly works treating the events following Atlantis’s break from the SGC and Earth, interspersed with the story of those same events. My mind boggles at the amount of work that must have gone into this, over and above the work of conceiving and creating such a marvellous tale.

“Yeah, I like it,” John said, sitting back.

Rodney jerked a sharp look at him. “You mean, I actually get to name something?”

“Just this one thing.”

“Oh, well, fine. So an electronic identity card that serves as a provisional IDC, situates its owner within a trust network, and can be used to effect trades in units of Mars Bars?”

“Exactly,” John said. “It beats the fuck out of Amex.”

Although there’s McShep, it’s really mostly a gen story.

Action // Gen // Historical // NC-17 // Romance // Sci-fi/Fantasy // Top 100 // Top Ten

Twilight by One Person

Good Duo backstory is hard to come by. This is the best I’ve read so far, and it’s pretty amazing. It’s not at all how I pictured it, but the story makes so much sense and has such emotional resonance that by the time finished it, I was completely convinced. And completely hooked.

This is the story of Duo, Solo, and the L2 plague, which is used so often to create Duo-angst but rarely explored in any depth. I love Duo’s narrative voice in this fic, especially the way he juxtaposes the story of his first weeks on the colony with the account of the early progress of the plague. Lovely, lovely writing.

That night is my last pure night; the first soft whisper of a greater shadow that hangs over the landscape of my life. The last time the rain really belonged to me.

I never met Mary Lenox. The history-books say she was twenty-three, that she was admitted to Wellspring Hospital on May 15, AC 186 and died two days later of respiratory complications. As I figure it, that was seven days after Solo warned me out of the rain.

Her death passed without comment; she was only the first faceless pebble in the landslide to come.

I hesitated for a long time before adding this story to my Top Ten list, not because the fic itself isn’t good enough to justify it, but because I had a sort of unofficial rule that only novel-length fiction would be added to the list. In fact, I still do, but Twilight deserves to be the exception.

Action // Character Death // Darkfic // Extreme Violence // Gen // Non-con // R // Rape // Sci-fi/Fantasy // Top 100 // Top Ten // Underage Sex

Freeport by Maldoror

Just yesterday I recommended The Arrangement, and said it was Maldoror’s best story so far. Forget that. Freeport is, beyond a doubt, the best thing she’s ever written. In fact, it’s actually one of the best sci-fi fanfics I’ve ever read.

Freeport colony: a notorious den of pirates, smugglers and thieves. Wufei persuades one of its denizens, his one-time ally Duo, to help him catch a killer hiding there. Agent Chang thinks he knows what to expect, from this case, from Freeport and from Duo Maxwell. He couldn’t be more wrong.

Freeport is a truly fascinating place.

Action // Mystery // NC-17 // Romance // Sci-fi/Fantasy // Top 100 // Top Ten // Torture

A Deeper Season by E.E. Beck, Sahiya

Okay. Okay. I’m very excited right now, but I’m going to try to be coherent. I have just finished one of the most enjoyable stories I’ve read in a long time. And it’s something I never thought could be done well: Gregor/Miles slash. It’s takes a bit of suspension of disbelief, since LMB obviously didn’t write the books with this pairing in mind, but A Deeper Season is what the book after Memory might have looked like if she had. The story is only slightly AU, completely canon through Memory except that Laisa never happens.

I found this story accidentally; while googling ‘vashnoi’ I found a recommendation of A Deeper Season at The Bog of Lost Scholars. I heartily agree with everything Castiron says about it there. She(?) says it as well as I ever could, so if you need more convincing to read A Deeper Season, check out what she has to say about it.

I think I have to go re-read my favourite scenes now.

“We’re going to the symphony tonight,” Gregor said.

“We as in you and the Cetagandans?” Miles asked, having somewhat surreal mental images.

ETA: The sequel, What Passing Bells, is now finished! It’s really good, definitely up to the standard set by A Deeper Season.

ETA: The third (and final) planned co-written instalment in the series is Seeds, an Ivan/Ekaterin fic roughly equivalent to Winterfair Gifts.

AU // Action // Mystery // R // Romance // Sci-fi/Fantasy // Top 100 // Top Ten

The Administration by Manna

This series really ought to be published. (ETA: And now it has been–check out my post for the details.) It’s better than a lot of books I’ve read. It is dark, but not in the way I’d feared. I was expecting an outrageous dystopian future like that of Blade Runner, but it’s not like that. In The Administration, there are a lot of people fighting to maintain the status quo, and it’s easy to see why.

There is torture, rape and non-con sex, but it’s mostly incidental to the story. The BDSM is explicit, but I found it a lot of fun to read, even though I don’t usually enjoy BDSM scenes.

There are no bad guys. There are no good guys. There are only better guys, and worse guys.

One of the worse guys is Val Toreth. In a world where torture is a legitimate part of the investigative process, he works for the Investigation and Interrogation Division .

One of the better guys is Keir Warrick, a corporate director. His small corporation, SimTech, is developing a ’sim’ system which places users in a fully-immersive virtual reality.

Their world is the dark future dystopia of New London, where Europe is controlled by a totalitarian bureaucracy, which shares political power with powerful corporations. The oppressive government uses torture, violence and the various Divisions of the feared Department of Internal Security to maintain power. The corporations fight amongst themselves, using lethal force under the euphemism of ‘corporate sabotage’, uniting only to resist attempts by the Administration to extend its control over them.

The Administration is a series of three novels, three novellas and twenty-seven short stories, starting with Mind Fuck. They’re listed in reading order on the Administration page.

Also, see this follow-up recommendation.

BDSM // Darkfic // Future Dystopia // Mystery // NC-17 // Non-con // Rape // Romance // Sci-fi/Fantasy // Top 100 // Top Ten // Torture

The God Eaters by Jesse Hajicek

Gods, mortals and true love. Deftly executed and genuinely suspenseful plot. Very good characters in Kieran Trevarde and Ashleigh Trine. Slash.

23 Nov 06: Now also available in print! ISBN 1847288650; it’s carried by several online book sellers, including Amazon.

Action // Future Dystopia // NC-17 // Romance // Sci-fi/Fantasy // Top 100 // Top Ten

A Thousand Beautiful Things by Geoviki

This story is now one of my favourite Harry Potter fics, second only to Lust over Pendle. I have to admit, I can’t resist Redemption Of Draco Malfoy fics, especially when Draco is really well-written. There are one or two moments when story-Draco doesn’t match canon-Draco, but by and large his transformation into a decent human being is shown as a logical progression from the events in the plot.

There’s a short follow-up story, Harry Potter and the Slytherin-Coloured Lamborghini.

If you were interested in the friendship between Draco and Gregory in the story, there a short sidestory, Autumn Can Really Hang You Up the Most, set sometime post-war.

Update: A Thousand Beautiful Things now has a sequel. I’ve only read the first chapter of Delicate Sound of Thunder, but so far, it looks to be as good as its prequel.

Further Update: I just finished Delicate Sound of Thunder, and it really was just as good as A Thousand Beautiful Things. I think my favourite part was Hermione and Snape working together against A.W.L. The scene with Daniel in Draco’s apartment at the end was awfully funny, too. And the revelation of what Draco’s secret DE past was really suprised and horrified me, but in a good way. And Daniel’s such a sweetie…you know, let’s just say that I liked everything about this story. Because I really did.

There’s also a very short epilogue to Delicate Sound of Thunder (ETA: Site seems to be down, so this epilogue is unavailable at the moment.)

Action // Coming of Age // Mystery // R // Romance // Sci-fi/Fantasy // Top 100 // Top Ten

Talking Stick/Circle by Macedon, Peg

Eight stories by two different authors, forming a braided novel of epic proportions.

1. Talking Stick by Macedon
2. Circle by Peg
3. A Cherished Alienation by Macedon
4. The Red Queen’s Repose by Peg
5. Walking Across Egypt by Macedon
6. Raisins and Almonds by Peg
7. Otterskin by Macedon and Peg
8. The Rose and the Yew Tree by Macedon and Peg

If I had to pick my three favourite fics from any fandom, this one would be on the list. I’m not sure it wouldn’t be at the top. It’s very, very long: set aside days, or even weeks, to read it, especially The Rose and the Yew Tree, which I believe is far and away the best of the series. Don’t you to miss this series if you haven’t read it yet!

Too sprawling (in the grand sense) in scale and reach to reduce to a mere synopsis; let us just say that this is Voyager unfettered and red in tooth and claw, such as Paramount with its nice tidy pander-to-the-demographics mentality could only dream of producing.

Hear, hear.

AU // Action // Character Death // Het // PG // Sci-fi/Fantasy // Top 100 // Top Ten

Lust over Pendle by A.J. Hall

The best thing about this novel-length story, “a comedy of manners set in the Golden Age detective thriller genre,” is that it’s only the first a whole universe of stories by A.J. Hall.

What can I say about A.J. Hall’s writing? It’s fabulous. Everyone and their dog has already recommended this story, but I figured there might be someone out there who hasn’t heard about it yet. I get something new out of this series every time I read it. I am beginning to believe that I love Lust over Pendle better than J.K. Rowling’s own works. Heresy, I know – but A.J. Hall has taken Rowling’s universe and remade it for adults.

I would suggest the following reading order, which is a bit different from the one at the Lust over Pendle site:

1. Lust over Pendle (novel): after the war, Draco and Neville are outed to the wizarding world and caught up in a complex plot against them.
2. Ships That Pass (short story): chronologically, this takes place before Lust over Pendle, but I think it’s better if you already know LoP Draco before you read it.
3. Not a Whisper (short story): Draco/Neville backstory: the first night.
4. Time Shall Not Mend (novella): crossover with Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan series. It’s perfectly enjoyable even if you haven’t read the books, but you’ll get more out of the story if you have, and it’s a great series. The first chapter actually takes place before Not A Whisper, but the last three take place a few weeks after.
5. Dissipation and Despair (novel): Draco and Neville are back, and trouble is once again stirring in Malfoy Intrinsica: foot-and-mouth disease is rampant, necromantic rites are being performed, Black Masses are being held, and a group of creative writers is gathering for a conference. Most of the supporting cast from Lust over Pendle are back to help Draco and Neville combat vampires, plague, and a New-Age empowerment movement.
6. The Perilous Point (novella): Guests, both wizard and Muggle, are gathering for a wedding in Malfoy Intrinsica on Midsummer’s Eve. Meanwhile, a theatre group is putting on a performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream for their corporate sponsor, Nelcorp.
7. Queer As Scent (novelette): a side-story focussing on Narcissa while she was pregnant with Draco.
8. The Mark of the Beast (novelette): a side-story set in 1982, focussing on Remus Lupin.
9. The Kindly Ones (novella): chronologically, the last in the series. Draco and Neville take a private cruise around the Greek islands, and meet up with someone they would never have expected. Remus Lupin makes an appearance, as well.

Check out Geoviki’s guide for extra LoP tidbits from A.J. Hall’s LiveJournal that you might not otherwise have seen (deleted scenes, short stories, etc.)

Action // Crossover // Historical // Humour // Mystery // Non-con // R // Romance // Sci-fi/Fantasy // Top 100 // Top Ten // Torture