Chivalry by Rozarka
Victor Krum asks Professor McGonagall for permission to take Hermione to the Yule Ball. After reading this, my love for Krum knows no bounds.
There are several stories in the same universe:
Chivalry, Eloquent and Practical Magic are my favourites, but they’re all really good.
Coming of Age // Het // PG // Romance // Top 100 // Underage Sex
Our Quiet Confines by Castiron
AU fanfiction of AU fanfiction. Set fifteen years after A Deeper Season (see my recommendation) and apparently about to be contradicted by the sequel to ADS, What Passing Bells.
Just a quiet evening at home with Miles and Gregor.
AU // PG // Romance
This whole experiment of green by Sarah T.
As he approaches the entrance to their temporary base, the ground under Batman’s boots is softer than it was a month ago. Scanning the area for predators, he can see patches where the frozen soil has relaxed into mud. The chill in the wind is slightly less unyielding than it has been; the sun’s weak light lingers a little more stubbornly at the end of the day. Signs of spring, of promise.
Batman isn’t fooled. He’s never been a farmer–though he’s observed Alfred planting the manor’s herb garden for years-but he knows that early spring is starvation time.
Batman and Robin in No Man’s Land, and the promise of spring.
NC-17
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
Hypothermia by Tosca
Harper comes to realize there’s more than one form of cold.
NC-17 // Romance
Darkness and Light by R.J. Anderson
Snape/ofc.
Link is to the author’s page at FictionAlley, including the Darkness and Light trilogy, as well as several side-stories in the same universe.
A young blind woman comes to Hogwarts on a secret mission, only to find herself allied with the one man she has been warned not to trust — Severus Snape.
Fans of Laurie R. King’s Mary Russell will particularly appreciate these stories.
Action // Het // PG // Romance
Yaoi/BL and the Administration series by Sabina
An interesting comparison that I’d never considered making, since I don’t read much yaoi.
Then there’s a lot of little things. Details of aesthetics or character tropes. The near-futuristic setting, say; the fascist-fashion uniforms; the… the fact that you have one dark and one blond. *grins* (In manga it’s almost always thus, because it’s more interesting to draw.)
See my recommendation of The Administration.
Non-fiction // PG
Marks and Scars by E.H. Smith
Crossover between Harry Potter and Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan books. Won’t make much sense if you don’t know a little about both sources.
In which two of the most intriguing characters from the works of J.K. Rowling and Lois McMaster Bujold meet for tea and, eventually, sympathy.
Without Enchantment is the sequel to Marks and Scars. No Great Magic finishes off the trilogy. There’s another related story, Denizen of the Deep, which should be read before No Great Magic.
I didn’t enjoy the stories as much as a lot of other people seem to have, but they were pretty good.
ETA: I guess I should mention that No Great Magic and Denizen of the Deep contain tie-ins to R.J. Anderson’s Darkness and Light trilogy. And also that the series inspired A.J. Hall’s Time Shall Not Mend, which is set in the same universe.
Action // Crossover // Gen // PG
RGB Fanfic Primer by Johanna Swift
A little too accurate, but very funny.
In order for your reader to follow your narrative, it is important to refer to the characters by their names.
Failing that, you should always refer to them by their profession, by their hair color, or by their eye color. Combinations of the three are highly encouraged, e.g., Peter is the brown-haired psychologist, Egon is the blue-eyed physicist, Ray is the brown-eyed engineer or hazel-eyed occultist, and Winston is the black man.
G // Humour // Non-fiction
The Councils of Despair by Parhelion
Set near the end of Shards of Honor. While Cordelia is suffering under psychiatric treatment on Beta, Aral is being watched over by Simon Illyan.
NC-17
Survival Instincts by Savoy Truffle
Seven years after Sunnydale, Xander runs into Spike. Kind of a Season 7 AU.
AU // NC-17 // Romance
