Lord of the Rings: The Strange Case of the House at Hollinport, by Russ

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FANDOM: The Lord of the Rings
FIC LINK: The Strange Case of the House at Hollinport (rtf download)
AUTHOR LINK: The Burping Troll
RATING/WARNING(S): Unrated | None
WIP?/WORD COUNT: Complete | ~13,500 words
MAIN CHARACTERS: Original characters, [mystery]

FIC SUMMARY: From his hospital bed, a man recalls inheriting his uncle's house in the town of Hollinport. Taking up residence was only the first step of a dark and terrifying journey. A Gothic encounter with Shadow that is not, after all, quite vanquished from the world ... A classic horror must-read!

RECCER'S NOTES: Set in the Fourth Age, the story kicks off from the quotation 'There are older and fouler things than orcs in the deep places of the world.' It's written in a very convincing pastiche of a Poe or Lovecraft short story, yet eventually comes to mesh perfectly with Tolkien's canon. Russ has a gift for atmosphere, and there's great slow-building tension as the mystery unfolds. I wrote back in 2004 that this is 'one of the most unusual LotR-inspired fiction I've ever encountered,' and it stands up very well to rereading a decade later.

Harry Potter: Reclamation, by Copperbadge

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FANDOM: Harry Potter
FIC LINK: Reclamation
AUTHOR LINK: copperbadge
RATING/WARNING(S): Teen | Character death, discussion of suicide, homophobia
WIP?/WORD COUNT: Complete | ~5800 words
MAIN CHARACTERS: Tom Riddle, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black

FIC SUMMARY: In an alternate universe, one man still struggles with a moral decision made many years before.

RECCER'S NOTES: Apologies for double posting today; I'm unlikely to find time to rec again until the end of next week.

This medium-length AU takes as its premise the idea that Tom Riddle never kills his father. Instead, he ends up as the Defence professor at Hogwarts, where he eventually teaches the Marauders. The consequences of the change to canon are of course far reaching, but always feel carefully worked out & plausible. The extent to which the change affects Tom's character as an adult is central to the story, and the question is skillfully & subtly handled, with Tom on the surface completely changed from Lord Voldemort, yet surprisingly recognisable. As the story is told entirely from his perspective, there's an interesting potential for ambiguity around how reliable he is as a narrator. One of the most interesting AUs I've ever read in the Potterverse.