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:

( Babel-17, Billy Elliot, The Breakfast Club, The Left Hand of Darkness, Lucky Starr series, My Drunk Kitchen, Nobuta wo Produce, Rizzoli & Isles, Suits )

Claim: Stargate Atlantis: Ronon Dex
Title: Still
Author: Prufrock (rageprufrock)
Characters: Ronon, John, Teyla, Rodney
Prompt: 7 - Love
Rating: G
Length: medium
Brief summary: This story puts me in mind of Arthurian romances: it's all about loving honorably and finding something--someone--that's really worth the effort. It's also a brilliant view of Ronon and of Satedan society, as well as reflecting interestingly upon the strange conglomeration of cultures and backgrounds that represent the citizens of Atlantis.

Link to the story: Still

Claim: Stargate Atlantis: Ronon Dex
Title: Walls
Author: Bone (thisisbone)
Characters: Ronon, John, Atlantis
Prompt: 11 - Character study
Rating: G
Length: short
Brief summary: Atlantis as sentient city is one of my least favorite tropes within SG:A fic, but here, from the POV of Ronon-the-outsider, it works amazingly well. This story is beautifully written: short yet evocative. It also provides a perspective of Ronon that's only hinted at in canon, of a man whose stoicism and impressive combat skills developed as a result of necessity, and don't define his entire personality.

Link to the story: Walls

Thanks to everyone who recommended stories here. I've included all of the recs except for the self-pimped stories, in which case I included the ones that I've seen recced elsewhere. I also made the somewhat arbitrary decision to set a limit of no more than four stories by any one author, to keep the list from becoming unwieldy. Authors who've written additional stories for one or more of these pairings have links to their websites.

I made an effort to warn for very sensitive topics, but I might have missed a few stories. Corrections, comments, and suggestions are all welcome.

( Remus/Harry )

( Sirius/Harry )

( Sirius/Remus/Harry )

All Harry Potter, and only drawn from maybe a third of the stories--I started reading from the top down, and then from the bottom up, and I still haven't managed to meet in the middle--because there are so many of them.

Alone, based on Alone by Bounce. The original is a bleak yet moving scene between Sirius and Remus while Sirius is still hiding in the cave. In the remix, a flashback to their days at Hogwarts brilliantly interleaves the scene's action, while a switch to Remus's point of view offers a new perspective on Sirius, post- and pre-Azkaban, and on their relationship. Painfully beautiful, and vice versa.

Ennui, based on Ennui by Halrloprillalar. The fun, sexy, bisexual expansion of the (fun, sexy, and more slash-focused) original story. Various permutations of James, Sirius, Remus, and Lily, managing to be both in character and almost entirely angst-free.

Lightning Has Just Struck My Brain, based on Lightning Has Just Struck My Brain by Mousapelli. As chilling as the original, with a greater emphasis upon the Harry/Neville relationship.

Three Days, based on Three Days by Kest. One of the more derivative of the remixes, yet also one of my absolute favorites; it's amazing how different a story can become in its tone and import with a change in POV and the addition of a few scenes. Three days at Grimmauld Place, this time from Sirius's perspective.

Bittersweet Triumph, based on Triumph of the Last Marauder by Mousapelli. The history of Sirius's motorcycle. Poignant and very believable.

Evening the Score by Mousapelli (no pairing) Remus impresses upon Sirius the gravity of the prank he played on Snape. Clever and thoughtful, with some disturbing scenes depicting Sirius's childhood and a truly hilarious bit involving James. Remus is wickedly self-possessed in this.

Inadequate, Immobile by Natt (Sirius/Remus) Sirius and Remus at Grimmauld Place. A wonderfully messy, imperfect relationship, complete with bickering and messy, imperfect sex and a great deal of love.

Responsible by Sophie Richard (Remus/Harry) Remus is many kinds of bastard, but mostly he wants to take care of Harry. Harsh and sad, especially in the way the two of them are incapable of connecting with each other. Warning: chan

Unspoken by Casira (Sirius/Remus) Sirius can't trust Remus. The depiction of their mutual fear and frustration and despair is heartbreaking, and their half-obscured love for each other only twists the knife deeper.

12.17 by Glockgal (Sirius/Harry) A beautiful melding of words and art. Sirius is lost in the snow, and he's slowly getting colder.

In Rats' Alley by Sullen Siren (gen) Remus watches rats. Much, much more than your typical post-OotP angstfest; this is gorgeous and chilling, and the characterization of Remus is half-sympathetic, half-horrifying.

Real life has been...a bit problematic, lately. The most pertinent problem being that it won't be possible for me to go to school in Milwaukee this coming year; instead I'll be stuck in Madison, working as a grocery store cashier and hopefully taking some classes at the Technical College. At least I like the city well enough, so it shouldn't be an unbearable delay.

In happier news, my sister requested--completely out of the blue, since I had no idea she was interested in slash beyond reading the occasional story of mine--some recommendations for Harry Potter stories to read while she's home for Spring Break. She was rather demanding about it, too; specifically: no incest, no Snape, no cross-generational pairings except for Sirius/Harry (to which I can only say WTF? this is the one cross-gen pairing that doesn't give her the heebie-jeebies, Harry and his godfather?), and preferably a lot of Harry/Draco, Sirius/Remus, and Sirius/anyone-who-isn't-Snape-or-a-kid-besides-Harry.

So I gave her the link to my ETA: now defunct recs page and threw together a much longer list of ( stories fitting her criteria (now organized by pairing) )

There ended up being a disproportionate number of Sirius/Remus stories; apparently my obsession with the pairing has driven the memory of the numerous Harry/Draco stories I've read out of my head. Also, James/Sirius and Sirius/Harry stories are entirely too difficult to find. I doubt my sister will want any additional recs, but anyone who wanted to share links to stories for either of those pairings (or James/Remus or Remus/Harry; they're good, too) would make me very happy.

For this year's DWNOGA, amuse wrote Windmills for me, which is a breathtakingly lovely Chris/Justin story about friendship and love and reaching for the stars. Chris's voice is just perfect--and it's written in second person singular, too, so that's doubly impressive--as witness in just a few of my many favorite lines:

"How the hell do you keep finding me?" you snarl, only slightly good-naturedly. "I'm a moving target for fuck's sake."

and

"That might be the stupidest thing you've ever said. Seriously, if you're trying to tell me that I'm not truly living because I won't jump off a bridge, I'm gonna kick your ass."

and

And it's not something you're bitter about. You're not angry. Mostly, it's just a wistful sort of pride that your boy done growed up and left the flock.

Then you beat yourself over the head with a Corona bottle for being a sentimental idiot.

Justin's nicely characterized, as well: a wonderful blend of ambitious and caring.

More recently, cjmarlowe wrote me a ficlet, Brian and Bono and fatherhood, set at the What's Going On video shoot, and it's just touchingly sweet.

Finally, my own DWNOGA contribution: Inside Out (Kevin/Nick) for _bettina_ Kevin is not having a midlife crisis.

So, I finally watched X-Men--after being inspired to do so by Pablo's lovely new story, Acquiesce. For the most part, I thought the movie really quite good. It was much funnier than I'd been expecting, for one; that was a nice surprise.

( More babble about the movie )

So...does anyone have slash recs to volunteer? I recently reread Coming Home by Saraid, a nice Xavier/Logan story, but it and the aforementioned Pablo story are the extent of my foray into the movieverse fandom. (Logan/Cyclops, Logan/Bobby, and Jean/Storm recs would be especially wonderful.)