Snowflake Meme, Day #2

[nonisland]

This is several days late because reccing fics is something that makes me irrationally anxious ("what if people judge my taste?") and I consume very few other fanworks. That said, here's Day 2 of the Snowflake Challenge: post a rec to at least three fanworks (I, uh, got a bit lot carried away) that I didn't create, with special focus on fanworks less likely to be praised. There are a lot more things I could rec, but the reason this took so long was I kept dithering and adding things and then subtracting them and then adding more things...


     all fandoms:
betaplease is a community which matches people who want beta-readers with people who want to beta-read! I've only just discovered it, but it's a pretty awesome concept and I think it deserves to be better-known. :D


As far as the fics go, I have not provided warnings on any of the recs because some authors don't warn and others do and I didn't want to lose track and miss anything, and also because I recced a couple of comms and one many-part series and warnings there are obviously complicated. If there's a fic you want to read but you need (or would prefer) to avoid certain things, I'd be happy to inform you whether or not the fic contains said things.

Where possible, I have linked to fics on the Archive of Our Own. If you're the author of one of these fics and you'd prefer I link to it elsewhere and/or credit you by a different name, please let me know and I'll correct the link.


     Marvel [main comicsverse | Earth-616]:
          Daredevil:
fic || et in pulverem reverteris by elspethdixon || Matt Murdock, others; gen | G | 1100 words
 + This is a fic more or less built around religious (Catholic) imagery, but it works for the viewpoint character and for the tone of the canon itself. I'm just--putting that out there right away in case that isn't your thing. This is a fic which is likely fairly inaccessible if you don't know canon, but if you do it's painful and beautiful and just generally exquisite in multiple senses of the word. (Because things that give me lots of feelings often also induce tears, it still--on what must be my fifth or sixth reread in the past month or two--makes me do a fair bit of rapid blinking.)
[This fic is also available on the Archive of Our Own; I would have linked directly there, but not all of the author's fics which are on LJ are on the AO3.]

fic || Never Rained like It Has Tonight by tartanshell || Matt Murdock &/ Foggy Nelson | PG-13 | 3500 words
 + This, unlike the previous rec, needs much less canon to understand; I'm reccing it partly because of that and partly because it's excellent, building up a picture of a long and deep friendship in twenty mostly-separate snippets. It's lovely and rich, just sparse enough to be intriguing.

          Young Avengers:
fic || Fletching by inlovewithnight || Kate Bishop, others; gen | not rated | 4700 words
 + This is a staggeringly gorgeous piece about Kate, and all her edges and her dreams and the way she doesn't quite know what to do with her life but she'll damn well do the best she can until she figures it out, and "the best she can" is superb. I love her interactions with the other characters. I love the writing. I love everything about this fic.


     Marvel [Avengers filmverse | Earth-199999]:
fic || A Week Next Saturday by ashen_key || Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers | G | 400 words
 + This is Peggy, a week after the main story of Captain America ends. I read the summary and I thought, "this is going to be sad, but it's not that long, and if I'd written it I'd want people to read it." So I clicked. A few seconds later I had my hand pressed to my mouth and was trying not to cry. I cry more easily than many people, I should note, but I'm pretty sure this fic still has a hell of a punch for something so tiny.


     Merlin:
vid || Antebellum by such_heights || Gwen/Morgana | not rated | 4:23
 + [There is a link to a version with subtitles available at the page; lyrics are also available below the vid.] This is a vid about how Gwen and Morgana were torn apart by the plot, but it manages to make it make sense, so it becomes heartbreaking (and potentially tear-inducing) instead of ridiculous.

vid || Harbor by kaydeefalls || Gwen/everyone | not rated | 4:23 [no, seriously]
 + [There doesn't seem to be a subtitled version available, but lyrics are available below the vid.] kaydeefalls has done three Merlin character-study vids that I'm aware of--this one, and then one for Morgana and one for Merlin--and while all three of them are excellent and the Morgana one is also very dear to my heart, this vid is a thing of bubbly joy, about how Gwen is lovely and loving and lovable, and I wanted to rec this after the soulcrushing angstfest that was my other vid rec.

fic || here is my song for the asking by kaydeefalls || Gwen/Morgana, Lancelot/Morgana (+ Gwen/Lancelot) | PG-13 | 4000 words
 + Huh, I didn't even realize this was by the same person as the last thing I recced. Anyway! When there's someone I ship enthusiastically with two different people, I'm always interested in fanworks which explore the ships as a triad or which explore the relationship (friendship or romance) between the two people I don't actively ship with each other. This is really interesting Lancelot/Morgana, because it's Morgana, because it's about things she wants and things she wants to change and things she wishes could be.

fic || Thorns by glim || Morgana/Nimueh | R | 700 words
 + I like fics where Morgana gets a chance to explore her magic in a way that doesn't involve things going horribly wrong before. This is exquisitely written, soft and dreamlike, with a repetitive rhythm like poetry or music.

fic || A World of Make Believe by lady_ragnell || Freya/Gwaine, (+ Arthur/Merlin, ensemble) | R | 7400 words
 + Full disclosure: lady_ragnell is a close friend of mine, and this is a rarepair dear to her heart. That said, this is still an awesome fic. It's about art student Freya and her frustrations with trying to draw Gwaine for a project (you know how the story goes), but it's also a thoughtful character piece and the supporting cast is excellent. It's a companion piece to an Arthur/Merlin fic, but it does stand alone and without explanations necessary.


     Star Trek:
fic/meta || [untitled: an open letter to Winona Kirk] by latropita || Winona Kirk; gen | not rated | 300 words
 + This is a letter written "to" Winona Kirk regarding Star Trek (the 2009 film). It's also an exploration and a condemnation of how women's stories are so rarely told, and even then mostly in relation to men's stories. Whether or not you know the movie I think it's worth a read, if only because the emotional core of the piece applies to so many women in so many fandoms, even if the specific details vary.

community || where_no_woman/where_no_woman, which was inspired by the aforementioned open letter. It's for celebrating the women of the various Star Trek media properties (the shows, the films, the novels...) through all kinds of fannish creation.

          Star Trek: Deep Space Nine:
vid || I Wish I Was James Bond by kuwdora || Julian Bashir, ensemble | not rated | 3:07
 + [Subtitles don't seem to be available, but lyrics are provided below the vid.] This vid is ridiculously charming and catchy, but it also has a surprisingly present emotional core--because it's Julian, who wants his life to be a fabulous adventure and can be such a kid sometimes, but at the same time sometimes his life really sucks and the juxtaposition of some serious clips with the music is startling. Flawless music choice, lovely editing, general awesomeness, always makes me want to rewatch the series.

fic || Talking With You is Like Dancing Underwater by Snow || Julian Bashir/Elim Garak, Jadzia Dax | PG-13 | 900 words
 + I debated for a while on whether to rec this or thehoyden's "Letters from the Northern Continent" or one of sophiegrace's many excellent lady-centric DS9 fics, and I finally settled on this because--I have this bad habit of reading fic and then seeing the show, which I did with DS9--I cannot remember any other time a short fic focusing on an m/m pairing made me so thoroughly delighted with a female character before I had any idea who she was. In my brain this is forever going to be "that fic where Julian and Jadzia argue about definitions of sexuality in a post–discovering-other-sentient-species era" even though that is not actually the point of the fic. But it's totally awesome anyway, and then Garak's...essential Garakness...is also totally awesome, and basically this fic is a clever delight.

(...Why yes, I did just sneak seven extra recs into that paragraph while talking about how I wasn't reccing them. Ssh. I have a DS9 problem.)


     Stargate SG-1:
fic || Safe as Houses by paian || Jack O'Neill/Sara O'Neill | NC-17 | 13,000 words
 + I very strongly doubt this fic has gotten the recognition it deserves, because it's a rare pairing (involving a character in high demand elsewhere) and it's not a short fic. This is a real shame because this fic is amazing. It takes a character we barely saw in canon and deepens her into an actual, live, breathing human being, with strength and courage and compassion. I love the Sara O'Neill we meet in this fic. I would have loved to see this Sara O'Neill on the show; she's awesome. If you read it for nothing else, read it for Sara. (But you should totally read it for Jack and the rest of the team, too.)


     Stargate Atlantis:
fic || Abstain by resonant || Rodney McKay/John Sheppard | NC-17 | 6000 words
 + This is, obviously, not a fic which is likely to slip under the radar in any meaningful sense of "slipping under the radar" (it's by a popular author, featuring a popular pairing in a well-known show). I am reccing it because it is a fic in which aliens make Our Heroes not have sex. I've mentioned before that I love fics that explore clichés, and this is probably the fic that started that love. (Not only does it play with the trope, there's also psychology! It's pretty excellent. :D)

fic || There was still smoke in the sky. by lilyfarfalla || Elizabeth Weir (+ others, with background Rodney McKay/John Sheppard) | not rated | 500 words
 + I found this while going through people's Day One self-recs (which I am still in the process of doing) and I am so intensely glad I did. This is a beautifully-written fic that, to slightly paraphrase the comment I left at the time, shows Elizabeth's resolve and her passion and her strength, and how dangerous those things allow her to be. If you like Elizabeth, you should be reading this right now. If you don't, I strongly encourage you to give it a try anyway.

vid || Welcome Home by permetaform || Elizabeth Weir; gen | not rated | 43.9MB
 + [This is, unfortunately, download-only and not available for streaming. There are no subtitles, but there are also no lyrics, so.] This is a stunningly gorgeous study of Elizabeth and Atlantis--it's like a love song to one from the other's perspective, but I'm not quite sure which. This is the Elizabeth we should have had, who the writers sometimes managed to give us but often fumbled.

fic || Where They Rejoice to Take You In by facetofcathy || Aiden Ford, team; gen | G | 400 words
 + Ford comes home after the end of the series and everything is all right. If that isn't enough of an enticement for you on its own, the writing is lovely.


     Supernatural:
meta/crit || fuckyeahspnhearourvoice is a Tumblr which collects both meta and criticism of Supernatural and the media in general with regard to depiction of women, characters of color, queer characters, faiths other than Christianity, etc. etc.; and fanworks which in some way challenge the show's marginalization of characters or groups. Full disclosure: the person who started it is a friend of mine and I was cheering the project on before it had even gotten started.

fic || Take Me For What I Am series by EllieMurasaki || cast of hundreds; gen, het, & femslash | various ratings | 10,000 words
 + This is a collection of ficlets which create a scene for each episode in which two or more female characters talk about something that isn't a man. A lot of them have original characters created to allow this to happen. These are snippets of the lives of Supernatural's women--as students, as mothers and daughters, as friends, as sisters, as lovers, as people. It's freakin' awesome, and it's also tragic. But mostly, awesome.

fic || your love is a song (your love is strong) by electrumqueen || Anna, Castiel, Gabriel | G | 800 words
 + I have lots of feelings about the angels, especially the rebel angels, the nonconformists; especially Anna and Gabriel, who left, and Castiel, who followed, differently, much later. This fic is soft and beautiful and piercing, about people who love when they aren't supposed to and what happens when that isn't enough (is too much).


If any of my links don't work/go to the wrong place/etc., I am profoundly sorry and will fix it as soon as possible.

We're also supposed to drop a link to the authors informing them they've been recced, but I'm getting more than a little anxious just thinking about that, so I'm going to skip that step for now.

Also: if you enjoyed any of these fanworks and would like similar recs and/or more information about the canon, I'd be delighted to provide. (Well, in the case of the recs, I'd be delighted to provide if I can; some of them are going to be difficult or impossible to find similar ones.)