Yuletide recs

[jain]

This year I'm dogsitting in an apartment with no internet access and my computer died two days before Christmas, and somehow I've created a list of Yuletide recs anyway. (Compare this to years in which I've had 24/7 internet access and never managed to rec a single story.) I'm putting this amazing feat down to the magic of the Kindle--I go home every day or two to download new fic off the AO3 and then read it at my leisure later--and to my own spirit of perversity.

I'm planning to do a second set of recs just for The Eagle (plus any additional awesome stories I might read between now and then), but for now here are a dozen recs in:



ETA 1/1/12: Author names added.

Projections by ellen_fremedon (Babel-17 -- Samuel R. Delany, Calli/Mollya/Ron) An incredible Mollya character study with elements of Calli/Mollya/Ron and Rydra-Mollya friendship. Mollya was always my favorite, and this story completely does her justice. Beyond the great characterizations and character interactions, this fic includes top-notch worldbuilding, linguistics, and an awesome window into life aboard the ship and the crewmembers’ daily interactions.

And at the Same Time Something Makes You Whole by torakowalski (Billy Elliot, Billy/Michael) Enjoyable and very satisfying story about Billy’s and Michael’s friendship turning to something more. I also really liked Billy’s relationship with his father and brother in this fic. The two of them are very different from him, but all three of them obviously love and try so hard for each other.

Michael Caffrey by Deepdarkwaters (Billy Elliot, gen) Five scenes from Billy’s and Michael’s friendship as they grow up. Sweet and lovely, with some great touches of humor and awesome character voices.

Turn a New Page, Tear the Old One Out by shrift (The Breakfast Club, Brian/Bender) On the off-chance that you were scared off by the “angst” and “death” tags, I’ll say that, unless you have triggers or a pretty massive death squick, this story isn’t likely to cause you any problems. It falls into the tradition of awesome Yuletide Breakfast Club fic, doing something new and interesting with Bender’s growth into a confident and self-assured man and depicting a slowly developing Brian/Bender relationship that feels all the more satisfying for its delayed resolution.

The End and the Way by Luzula (The Left Hand of Darkness -- Ursula K. le Guin, gen) A truly incredible fic that’s both a brilliant exploration of “perversion,” aka unisexuality, in Gethenian society as well as a highly involving coming-of-age/travel-and-adventure story centered on an interesting original female character. Beshem is intelligent, restless, determined, and uncertain about her place in the world both socially and metaphysically...altogether a wonderful narrator with which to explore a previously hidden aspect of Gethenian society. The first scene felt a little clunky to me, which I mention only because it almost made me pass this story by, and I hope no one else makes that mistake; once I got through those first three paragraphs, I found that the rest of the story was beautifully and subtly written.

Lucky Starr and the Divers of Neptune by Kahvi (Lucky Starr series -- Isaac Asimov, Lucky/Bigman) This mystery with its strongly Asimovian feel slots neatly into canon, while also providing a thought-provoking analysis of the future society in the Lucky Starr series. The fic is half rollicking good read and half...equally good read, but with a distinct lack of rollicking.

En Flambé by Vyola (My Drunk Kitchen*, gen) Hannah cooks with fire. Seriously, that’s pretty much all you need to know; this story is hilarious and has a perfect Hannah voice. The illustrations (which I also loved) have text descriptions for accessibility.

Weddings Take the Cake by azurelunatic (My Drunk Kitchen*, gen with femslashy elements) Another laugh-out-loud My Drunk Kitchen fic with an awesome Hannah voice. Hannah bakes a wedding cake for a couple of her friends.

Lost and Found by gleefilled (Nobuta wo Produce, gen with elements of Shittaka/Nobuta and Akira/Nobuta) I don’t really ship Akira/Nobuta except as part of the OT3, so I was a bit hesitant to read this fic, but it turned out to be a gorgeous little story about friendship and growing up that’s very reminiscent of the drama.

Scientific Inquiry by botherd (Rizzoli & Isles, Jane/Maura) A fun, funny, adorable fic in which Maura decides to test a hypothesis. Both she and Jane are perfectly in character; I so wish we could see this on the show!

Alles was ist, endet by myystic (Suits, Harvey/Scotty) This is the pre-series Harvey/Scotty library sex fic I never knew I needed. I thought the episode with Scotty was fun and Scotty herself a fairly interesting character, but I wasn’t upset to see her leave. (I have plenty of even more beloved characters on the show whom I want to watch.) This fic, though! The sex is sizzling, especially if you have a kink for libraries and/or (very mild) exhibitionism and/or sexy women getting off. Scotty’s characterization is a gorgeous expansion of what we saw on the show. But the real draw for me is getting to see a wholly believable glimpse of a younger Harvey Specter, on the verge of becoming a lawyer and less polished than his older self, but already brilliant and quirky and fascinating, just as he is a decade later.

In These Shoes by Siria (Suits, gen) An excellent ficlet about Jessica’s early days as managing partner, her first meeting with Harvey, and some awesome shoes. Jessica is just as smart, sexy, and in control as she is on the show, and the way she and Harvey meet in this fic is totally my personal canon now.

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* If you’ve not watched it before, here’s a link to the first episode of My Drunk Kitchen on Youtube. Episodes are only five or so minutes long, and just watching one or two should be enough to familiarize yourself with the fandom.