Fanfic recs: TW and DW, no CotE yet.
Jul. 20th, 2009 02:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lyornNote 1: I'm way behind on my reading (and it's getting worse). Everything I rec here has probably been rec'd all over the internet and back already. But I can live with not being avantgarde.
Note 2: If you want ratings, or warnings for spoilers or anything else, you'll find them on the fic.
Note 3: Spoilers for the stories should be masked out in pale grey. If you see this sentence, it did not work.. Highlight to read.
***
Top of the heap
Title: Potentiality
Fandom: Torchwood
Author: Jewels (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bjewelled on LJ)
Length: 45,000 words
What is it about? After "Countrycide", Jack decides that Ianto needs some training to be a field agent and sends him to UNIT. While Ianto tries to deal with very different people and expectatations, a slow-mo explosion threatens London, and Ianto has to act as the person he is in the process of becoming, like it or not.
Why read it: Drama, plot, convincingly drawn character development. The threat is well-imagined and well described.
Why not read it: Some minor editing issues. Some scenes flesh out character, but slow the plot down.
Title: What Lies Within
Fandom: Torchwood
Author: X-Tricks (xtricks on LJ)
Length: 50,000 words
What is it about? Metamorphosis, community, individuality, change, aliens, and doing what is necessary. Spoilers: During a routine mission, Ianto gets infected with an alien spore. Soon he finds himself victim of a horrible transformation, as well as an unwilling accomplice of an alien that hunts down criminals of its own kind. But while Ianto changes, so does the alien, and in the end, only one of them can go home again.
Why read it: The very idea is cool, and there is edge-of-the-seat suspense. X-Tricks does not shy away from the dark places his premise leads to and keeps the story on track and the characters IC for all of the 50K words.
Why not read it: This is heavy stuff with a possible high squick factor and drawn-out scenes of despair. OTOH, if you are looking for darkfic the happy end might seem a little pasted on. Small thing: some Americanisms.
Kinks/Squicks: Tentacles, body horror
***
Recommended
Title: I Dream of Chocolate Fish
Fandom: Torchwood
Author: Jewels (bjewelled on LJ)
Length: 3,700 words
What is it about? Myfanwy missed her evacuation, 65 million years ago when the astroid came, and fell into the rift instead. And now she's stuck with a bunch of stupid humans and cannot even communicate!
Why read it: Myfanwy's voice and her frustration with stupid humans is really fun. Also there is a lot of casual world building that ties nicely into Doctor Who canon.
Why not read it: There's a tiny plot hole or two, as in "why don't they just...".
Title: What Doesn't Kill You
Fandom: Doctor Who
Author: Joolz (joolz01 on LJ)
Length: 14,200 words
What is it about? After tying up loose ends on the Valiant, the Doctor takes Jack and himself to an uninhabited tropical island to heal. Issues are talked about, flashbacks happen, and healing!sex is had.
Why read it: It's a sweet comfort fic in a beautiful setting, the gradual healing process makes sense emotionally. Good portrayal of the Doctor and his slightly alien way of perceiving things.
Why not read it: I found Jack's voice when he was thinking about himself unconvincing -- borderline omni POV, while nominally third. Also, this is h/c, with not much of a plot.
Title: A Dirty Great Monster
Fandom:Torchwood
Author:definehome
Length: 6,000 words
What is it about? Gwen brings a stray ferret into the hub, Jack is asleep, Ianto is having dreams of a man whose name he keeps forgetting, and everyone seems to be losing their mind...
Why read it: Despite the seemingly straightforward style, this is dreamlike and strange, with things not how they should be and becoming more so for no appearant reason.
Why not read it: The story needs some patience, because it is so obvious that something is wrong and why doesn't anyone do anything about it?
Title: Trespassers Will Be Persecuted
Fandom: Torchwood/Spooks
Author:k_haldane
Length: 5,700 words
What is it about? Siviter (from "Spooks") is sent to investigate Torchwood and enters a game of manipulation, sex, blackmail and favours with Jack. May the better man win...
Why read it: Great clash of characters. Hot, if that's your kink. Unexpected in parts.
Why not read it: Not your kink.
Kink/Squick: D/s, spanking, ruthless!Jack
Title: Looked Up in Perfect Silence at the Stars
Fandom: Doctor Who (Classic)
Author: Doyle (doyle_sb4 on LJ)
Length: 1,900 words
What is it about? During the time war, in Romana's presidency, Sarah Jane lives and works on Gallifrey. But with the war going on, time lines are unstable...
Why read it: Good characters, sense of place and timey wimey stuff.
Why not read it: There's not much of it. Other than that, no reason not to.
Title: The Great Bikini Incident (Key to Time Remix)
Fandom: Buffy/Doctor Who
Author: Doyle (doyle_sb4 on LJ)
Length: 1,600 words
What is it about? The Doctor, Rose and Jack appear in front of Dawn's door with some stupid excuse, a biodamper and a defabricator...
Why read it: Funny, fast, great dialogue and Dawn voice.
Why not read it: A little bit silly.
***
From the backlog
Title: Rock Bottom, Going Up
Fandom: Torchwood
Author:joonscribble
Length: 2,700 words
What is it about? In 1988, Jack has to hunt down and retcon or kill a fugitive Torchwood employee. Nearly 20 years later, history tries to repeat itself.
Why read it: Great drama in few pages, very well realised OCs, believable conflict.
Why not read it: Irrational dislike of OCs? Can't think of a reason, really.
Title: The Spectacular Catastrophe of Your Endless Childhood
Fandom: Torchwood
Author:kalichan & rm
Length: 12,000 words
What is it about? Ianto backstory, up to the very moment the Cybermen attack Torchwood London. This is one installment on the series "I had no idea that I had been traveling", but stands well on its own. (Had I been less lazy the last year, I'd have already recommended the whole series part by part.) Ianto is portrayed as someone who is well-liked but keeps his distance while he waits for the perfect moment of rightness when everything will slip into place and he'll know and get what he wants from life.
Why read it? It's brilliant, well-written, insightful, unsentimental, occasionally hot, mostly canon-consistent (except for Series 3 Ianto backstory) and full of quotables. Also, I like "drifting" stories. They make me feel good.
Why not read it? Not interested in backstories, strongly disagreeing with the take on the character, not in the fandom, or still busy catching up on the rest of the series. Also, the timeline seems a little wobbly to me, but that should not stop you.
ETA: LJ cuts. This has become long.
Note 2: If you want ratings, or warnings for spoilers or anything else, you'll find them on the fic.
Note 3: Spoilers for the stories should be masked out in pale grey. If you see this sentence, it did not work.. Highlight to read.
Top of the heap
Title: Potentiality
Fandom: Torchwood
Author: Jewels (
bjewelled on LJ)Length: 45,000 words
What is it about? After "Countrycide", Jack decides that Ianto needs some training to be a field agent and sends him to UNIT. While Ianto tries to deal with very different people and expectatations, a slow-mo explosion threatens London, and Ianto has to act as the person he is in the process of becoming, like it or not.
Why read it: Drama, plot, convincingly drawn character development. The threat is well-imagined and well described.
Why not read it: Some minor editing issues. Some scenes flesh out character, but slow the plot down.
Title: What Lies Within
Fandom: Torchwood
Author: X-Tricks (
xtricks on LJ)Length: 50,000 words
What is it about? Metamorphosis, community, individuality, change, aliens, and doing what is necessary. Spoilers: During a routine mission, Ianto gets infected with an alien spore. Soon he finds himself victim of a horrible transformation, as well as an unwilling accomplice of an alien that hunts down criminals of its own kind. But while Ianto changes, so does the alien, and in the end, only one of them can go home again.
Why read it: The very idea is cool, and there is edge-of-the-seat suspense. X-Tricks does not shy away from the dark places his premise leads to and keeps the story on track and the characters IC for all of the 50K words.
Why not read it: This is heavy stuff with a possible high squick factor and drawn-out scenes of despair. OTOH, if you are looking for darkfic the happy end might seem a little pasted on. Small thing: some Americanisms.
Kinks/Squicks: Tentacles, body horror
Recommended
Title: I Dream of Chocolate Fish
Fandom: Torchwood
Author: Jewels (
bjewelled on LJ)Length: 3,700 words
What is it about? Myfanwy missed her evacuation, 65 million years ago when the astroid came, and fell into the rift instead. And now she's stuck with a bunch of stupid humans and cannot even communicate!
Why read it: Myfanwy's voice and her frustration with stupid humans is really fun. Also there is a lot of casual world building that ties nicely into Doctor Who canon.
Why not read it: There's a tiny plot hole or two, as in "why don't they just...".
Title: What Doesn't Kill You
Fandom: Doctor Who
Author: Joolz (
joolz01 on LJ)Length: 14,200 words
What is it about? After tying up loose ends on the Valiant, the Doctor takes Jack and himself to an uninhabited tropical island to heal. Issues are talked about, flashbacks happen, and healing!sex is had.
Why read it: It's a sweet comfort fic in a beautiful setting, the gradual healing process makes sense emotionally. Good portrayal of the Doctor and his slightly alien way of perceiving things.
Why not read it: I found Jack's voice when he was thinking about himself unconvincing -- borderline omni POV, while nominally third. Also, this is h/c, with not much of a plot.
Title: A Dirty Great Monster
Fandom:Torchwood
Author:
definehomeLength: 6,000 words
What is it about? Gwen brings a stray ferret into the hub, Jack is asleep, Ianto is having dreams of a man whose name he keeps forgetting, and everyone seems to be losing their mind...
Why read it: Despite the seemingly straightforward style, this is dreamlike and strange, with things not how they should be and becoming more so for no appearant reason.
Why not read it: The story needs some patience, because it is so obvious that something is wrong and why doesn't anyone do anything about it?
Title: Trespassers Will Be Persecuted
Fandom: Torchwood/Spooks
Author:
k_haldaneLength: 5,700 words
What is it about? Siviter (from "Spooks") is sent to investigate Torchwood and enters a game of manipulation, sex, blackmail and favours with Jack. May the better man win...
Why read it: Great clash of characters. Hot, if that's your kink. Unexpected in parts.
Why not read it: Not your kink.
Kink/Squick: D/s, spanking, ruthless!Jack
Title: Looked Up in Perfect Silence at the Stars
Fandom: Doctor Who (Classic)
Author: Doyle (
doyle_sb4 on LJ)Length: 1,900 words
What is it about? During the time war, in Romana's presidency, Sarah Jane lives and works on Gallifrey. But with the war going on, time lines are unstable...
Why read it: Good characters, sense of place and timey wimey stuff.
Why not read it: There's not much of it. Other than that, no reason not to.
Title: The Great Bikini Incident (Key to Time Remix)
Fandom: Buffy/Doctor Who
Author: Doyle (
doyle_sb4 on LJ)Length: 1,600 words
What is it about? The Doctor, Rose and Jack appear in front of Dawn's door with some stupid excuse, a biodamper and a defabricator...
Why read it: Funny, fast, great dialogue and Dawn voice.
Why not read it: A little bit silly.
From the backlog
Title: Rock Bottom, Going Up
Fandom: Torchwood
Author:
joonscribbleLength: 2,700 words
What is it about? In 1988, Jack has to hunt down and retcon or kill a fugitive Torchwood employee. Nearly 20 years later, history tries to repeat itself.
Why read it: Great drama in few pages, very well realised OCs, believable conflict.
Why not read it: Irrational dislike of OCs? Can't think of a reason, really.
Title: The Spectacular Catastrophe of Your Endless Childhood
Fandom: Torchwood
Author:
kalichan & rmLength: 12,000 words
What is it about? Ianto backstory, up to the very moment the Cybermen attack Torchwood London. This is one installment on the series "I had no idea that I had been traveling", but stands well on its own. (Had I been less lazy the last year, I'd have already recommended the whole series part by part.) Ianto is portrayed as someone who is well-liked but keeps his distance while he waits for the perfect moment of rightness when everything will slip into place and he'll know and get what he wants from life.
Why read it? It's brilliant, well-written, insightful, unsentimental, occasionally hot, mostly canon-consistent (except for Series 3 Ianto backstory) and full of quotables. Also, I like "drifting" stories. They make me feel good.
Why not read it? Not interested in backstories, strongly disagreeing with the take on the character, not in the fandom, or still busy catching up on the rest of the series. Also, the timeline seems a little wobbly to me, but that should not stop you.
ETA: LJ cuts. This has become long.
