Aelfgyfu

Sherlock recs

Oh, boy! Between astrogirl2 asking for Sherlock fics and discovering that I had a hard time finding again those fics that I'd liked in that fandom, I began keeping track of some that I really enjoyed. I have been saving these up for a while, dumping them in an entry for my eyes only until I had a chance to clean up and better annotate them. Now I have made an attempt organize them. I haven't reread them all to make this post public, your mileage may vary, and other standard warnings apply (including: “she" is my default pronoun in fandom; please correct me if I’m wrong about anyone!)

A few are on the Kink Meme. I find a surprising number of fills there don't fit what I think of as "kink" (which is kind of how I got there in the first place, because I read very little of what I do think of as "kink"!). Warning, especially to my gen friends: if you go from these and read around in the Kink Meme, as I have done, you should make sure you have already invested in brain bleach. There's some good stuff there. There's also some where my eyeballs started bleeding just from reading the prompts.

I'm following caffeinekitty in separating fics into Gen, Squint, Pre-Slash, and Slash. My eye might be a little inaccurate, so you've been warning. "Squint" is where I think you can take a story as gen, pre-slash, or even slash. (If I say "squint," I'm taking it as gen but aware that I'm ignoring or giving some elements a twist.) I've also categorized by something approaching genre.

You might also visit caffeinekitty's rec entries—especially if you're more interested in slash. I haven't even read some that she has recommended in that category because I'm just not that into slash, but judging from her recs in Gen and Squint, I bet they're good.

ardenteurophile has a huge list of recs here; I found it a bit of a mixed bag, but it has several good ones.

( Humor )

( Ficlets and Fluff )

( Slices of Life or Drama (but not mystery) )

( Missing scenes & Epilogues )

( Mysteries! )

( Random related items )

From stasha2g: "It's the Muppet Doctor Who Special, With Our Very Special Guest Star, Matt Smith!" by Anonymous. Spoilers for darned near everything, but it's so confusing that I doubt it can actually spoil anything you don't already know!

Unbelievable how well this crossover works.

I recently started watching Castle—while I'm still in withdrawal from White Collar (how long until Jan. 18?).

Celli's "Five Ways Crime Does Pay" made me so happy I had to drag Brilliant Husband over to read it right away. It's a crossover of the two shows, and it's totally how those characters would interact. Read. Enjoy!

You know how I posted my two little homonym fics? Well, I told Brilliant Husband about another homonym that has been causing trouble. Indeed, I gently (I hope) corrected someone on one of the words today; there are three in this set that cause confusion.

BH then announced I had to write a ficlet for it. I said no, because a) I didn't have one and b) it seemed tacky to do it right after correcting a specific author. He, however, did not read that story nor correct anyone. So when he came up with the punchline and said I should write it, I told him to write it instead.

Read it here. Leave comments for him! He hardly ever posts and needs encouragement.

What's really disgusting is that my shortest fic is now 199 words, and it's a cracky homonym fic. His first fic is 79 words. This post is twice that long. (Why yes, I counted!)

I only have a moment, but I just finished reading "I Was Only Borrowing Time (I Was Going To Put It Back)" by Sam Storyteller (author of the glorious Torchwood "Trying to Communicate").

"I Was Only Borrowing Time (I Was Going To Put It Back)" is a cross-over. Sam's summary: "They haven't exactly met in linear order, Neal and the Doctor, but sometimes that makes for the best kind of friendship."

I love this story.

I don't generally recommend SG-1 and SGA fic because I know I'm missing loads of good fic. This evening, though, just when I needed a pick-me-up, I saw this recommended on stargategenrec, and it was just what I needed.


"In Short" by penknife gives concise summaries of half a dozen episodes each of SG-1 and SGA. They're fabulous. Spoilers for all seasons. If you've seen all seasons, go read this now.

Run, do not walk, to rhymer23's Typo Fic Part 2. It is exactly what I needed after this long, long day; I bet some of you need it, too.

If, like me, you didn't like the last couple of days of "Children of Earth," read ninjasnano's "Season of Mists". Do heed the warnings, but I think I'm among the more sensitive in this crowd, and I found nothing gratuitous in this tightly woven novella. Excellent original characters and very deft characterization of our old friends—including dear old Andy, whom I was pleased to see here. The well-crafted plot contrasts with the mini-series, which I really felt began unraveling, but CoE isn't denied or undone. I'm not sure I'm going to watch s4 of Torchwood. Even though this sequel to CoE isn't all hearts and flowers by any means (and all the more fitting for that), it hit home for me in a way I really doubt the official s4 will.

You might like "Season of Mists" even if you did like all of CoE.

palmface has started posting her new story! From her header:
Title: Recruitment Policy
Author: palmface
Rating: Teen
Warnings: Exit Wounds Spoilers

Story Summary: Torchwood try to move on after the events of Exit Wounds, but will they live long enough to pick new recruits?

Chapter Summary: UNIT employee Robert Carmichael feels underused and underestimated. Until he gets a mysterious letter. Will the enigmatic Mr Jones prove to be his salvation?


Go! Read it! It's very nearly done (I've seen the final chapters already!), and TW fans should enjoy it. She has Chapter 2 up as well (I'm a bit behind). I'm often very ambivalent about original characters; some authors do them well, some badly. We've got a really good OC here: I became quite fond of Robert very early. Palmface gives us a post-"Exit Wounds" fic that's not maudlin but doesn't deny the traumas and the lingering pain and fear either. We get an outsider's view of the madness that is Torchwood 3, but other chapters give us team viewpoints. We see Ianto mouthing off (never to be missed) and some great scenes with Jack (being very Jack, in both good and bad ways), plus some other character moments--you'll see. Go read.

(I was beta-reader for this, but that is certainly not the only reason I'm recommending it.)

The world needs more Torchwood team fic and more Owen-Ianto friendship.

Fortunately, palmface has given us "Bar Fight", a lovely mix of humor with touches of angst and drama!
From her header:
Rating: Teen
Warnings: Lots of swearing, lots of it, and mentions of m/m sex
Pairing: slight Tosh/Owen
Summary: Jack has been gone for a month; in his absence the rest of Torchwood go out to the pub, Owen causes trouble, Ianto lends a hand and they all blow off a little steam.

Full disclosure: I acted as beta reader for this fic.