gensplosion | Entries tagged with longish

FANDOM: MCU / Thor
FIC LINK: Road to Nowhere
AUTHOR LINK:

Lise
RATING/WARNING(S): PG | spoilers for Thor: The Dark World
WIP?/WORD COUNT: Complete | 27,700
MAIN CHARACTERS: Loki, Thor, Frigga

FIC SUMMARY: When Loki turns up demanding Thor's help on a quest to retrieve the All-Mother from Valhalla, Thor isn't about to say no. But that doesn't mean he's forgotten anything, and what better time than a road trip through the backwaters of the universe for trying to talk things out?

RECCER'S NOTES: Loki and Thor are both very well written - Loki a genuinely twisty bitter bastard, albeit one who loves his mum, and Thor rather more intelligent than many people give him credit for, especially when it comes to his brother. The worlds they pass through are sometimes harmless, often horrifying, and always weird. Hopping across worlds like stepping stones on the way to Hel, and there is, as always in these stories, a catch...

longlivehumour

FANDOM: Naruto
FIC LINK: Freedom in the Eyes of Another
AUTHOR LINK:

Ouroboros69 (

ouroboros69)
RATING/WARNING(S): T | Graphic violence, some gore
WIP?/WORD COUNT: Complete | 26,300
MAIN CHARACTERS: Haruno Sakura, Hatake Kakashi, Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke

FIC SUMMARY: The Wave Mission is a failure. Team Seven is captured. Sasuke is gone. Kakashi is next.
Sakura has no choice but to be a hero.

RECCER'S NOTES: An AU adventure in which Sakura has to grow a backbone several years early and finds, perhaps to her surprise, that it was already there. Sakura's voice is my favourite part of this fic: she sounds genuinely young, scared and rather shellshocked, and so, so determined to survive. Very Nasty Things™ happen which are not dwelt on - trust me when I say this isn't a darkfic, although it has some gloriously creepy imagery. And in among all the stabbity bits is some pretty wicked humour, so all in all there's no good reason not to read this.

longlivehumour

FANDOM: Star Trek: TOS
FIC LINK: Errors on the Edge of Forever
AUTHOR LINK:

louiseb
RATING/WARNING(S): G
WIP?/WORD COUNT: Complete | 11,000
MAIN CHARACTERS: Spock, James T. Kirk, Christine Chapel, Leonard McCoy

FIC SUMMARY: "A joyless smile, a shuttered look, a turn of shoulders. Is this how friendship ends?" Set after "The City on the Edge of Forever". Spock fears the worst.

RECCER'S NOTES: Second-person narrative is a rare choice for fanfic and, for that matter, also for profic, but oh how this story makes it work. It does a great job of portraying the careful balance of reason and feeling in Spock's mind, and the disconnect between "what you think" and "what you end up saying" was painfully familiar. Also: Christine Chapel is awesome.

(There is a leeetle bit of non-gen-ness in the interaction between Spock and Chapel, but it holds close to what we see in canon.)

sixbeforelunch

FANDOM: Star Trek: TNG/Firefly
FIC LINK: Lost In The Woods
AUTHOR LINK:

Ardwolf
RATING/WARNING(S): Rated M by the author. There's very little that might be objectionable here, IMO, but it really doesn't pull punches when it comes to how creepy and dangerous the Reavers are.
WIP?/WORD COUNT: 39,901, complete
MAIN CHARACTERS: Jean Luc Picard, Mal Reynolds, Q.

FIC SUMMARY: Captain Picard’s bad day just got a lot worse, courtesy of Q. Which is nothing compared to the day Malcolm Reynolds is about to have when River starts babbling about the kindly t’ien lung and his curious bunny rabbit... ST:TNG/Firefly crossover.

RECCER'S NOTES: This is an amazing story. I'm a pretty hard sell when it comes to crossovers between two space-based fandoms, but this works astonishingly well. It's a brilliant exploration of the Reavers, the Firefly universe, the Prime Directive (and the limits thereof), Q, and moral dilemmas. I loved every bit of it. It's mostly a Mal and Picard story (with bonus Q), but nearly all of the characters from both 'verses get a good showing in.

thady

FANDOM: Marvel Cinematic Universe
FIC LINK: Closing the Circuit.
AUTHOR LINK:

AlchemyAlice
RATING/WARNING(S): PG-13
WIP?/WORD COUNT: novelette | ~ 14,500 words
MAIN CHARACTERS: team, ensemble

FIC SUMMARY: SHIELD's down, Captain America's AWOL, and on the whole, things are kind of FUBAR. On the other hand, Tony might have some semblance of a plan.

RECCER'S NOTES:

This was a great and believable story, about team-building and beginning friendships. The characterization was spot-on for me, and the interactions between the characters build from this.

The plot is paced well, and I like how all the strands come together.

sixbeforelunch

FANDOM: Star Trek: The Next Generation
FIC LINK: All My Children
AUTHOR LINK: Tribal Graces
RATING/WARNING(S): T, no common content warnings apply
WIP?/WORD COUNT: 16,051, complete
MAIN CHARACTERS: Clare Raymond, Deanna Troi, OCs

FIC SUMMARY: Awake after nearly four centuries in cryogenic storage, Clare Raymond wants to find whoever is left of her own family. But this is the 24th century. How will she find them all? And what if they're not quite what she expects? Takes place after "The Neutral Zone" (season 1) and overlaps "Family" (season 4). Human, Andorian, & Vulcan OCs. About 95% canon friendly.

RECCER'S NOTES: This is my favorite type of ST fic: the one with original characters that takes place mostly outside of the classic episodic mold. The one that looks at how the ST universe would really work. The one that weaves together canon into something both familiar and original.

All My Children is a story about losing and finding family, about moving on and staying connected to the past. I've read it three times all the way through and I could read it three more times. And, bonus, I really don't think you need to be familiar with the source material to enjoy it. It's a perfectly little self-contained story all on its own.

ozqueen

FANDOM: MCU | The Avengers
FIC LINK: Love is for Children and Other Lies
AUTHOR LINK:

fahye
RATING/WARNING(S):
WIP?/WORD COUNT: Complete | 30,095
MAIN CHARACTERS: Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton, Maria Hill

FIC SUMMARY: War is the child's emptiness, the surrender of identity, the transformation into a simple system: purpose goes in, action comes out. (Natalia Alianovna Romanova, and everything that she became.)

RECCER'S NOTES:

Oh how I love an excellent back story ♥ I love the patchwork history given to Natasha here, and the way she comes to each decision that brings her to SHIELD's door. There are some fleeting pairings, but Natasha and her journey is right at the heart of this story, and it's so, so well done.

dirty_diana

FANDOM: Marvel Cinematic Universe / Avengers, fusion with His Dark Materials
FIC LINK: Lacuna
AUTHOR LINK:

morpholomeg
RATING/WARNING(S): Teen / as in notes
WIP?/WORD COUNT: complete / 29 000 words
MAIN CHARACTERS: Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton, Phil Coulson, Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Melinda May

FIC SUMMARY:

There were many rumours about the Black Widow, some of which might even have been true. The most reliable of these were presented to Clint in maybe the sketchiest mission briefing he'd ever received, full of words like 'allegedly' and 'probably' and 'although it seems unlikely' which seemed out of place in a SHIELD file. There was only one piece of information that truly surprised him.

"We seriously don't know what her dæmon is, sir?" he asked Coulson.

RECCER'S NOTES: This is definitely my favourite His Dark Materials AU, for how perfectly the daemons are integrated in both characterisation and plot. The author takes advantage of Pullman's worldbuilding to create a believable allegory of normality and disability - but underneath all that is a lovely tale of Natasha, Clint, and how they became friends.

dirty_diana

FANDOM: Marvel Cinematic Universe/Avengers
FIC LINK: Parting Shot
AUTHOR LINK:

ratherastory

ratherastory
RATING/WARNING(S): G / canon-typical violence
WIP?/WORD COUNT: complete / 20 700 words
MAIN CHARACTERS: Clint Barton, OCs

FIC SUMMARY: Two years after the events of New York, Clint Barton is deep undercover in Bulgaria. When the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier reveal his identity to the organised crime syndicate he's infiltrated, he finds himself stranded in Varna with no allies and no resources. Moreover, the local mafia are about to enact a plan that could put the entire region at risk. With Hydra hot on his heels, Clint must rely on his wits and a few local friends to put an end to the plot and get out alive.

RECCER'S NOTES: Wondering what Clint was up to during Captain America: The Winter Soldier? This story shows us a plausible, action-packed explanation. Thematically inspired by the Fraction/Aja comic in an interesting way, as the daunting situations of the MCU meet an extremely human Clint. Contains one of my favourite MCU specific tropes, Deaf/Hard of Hearing Clint. Who we should get more of in canon, anyway.

dirty_diana

FANDOM: Captain America / Marvel Cinematic Universe
FIC LINK: Lucky
AUTHOR LINK:

TamrynEradani
RATING/WARNING(S): Teen / as stated in author's notes
WIP?/WORD COUNT: complete / 14 700 words
MAIN CHARACTERS: Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson, Bruce Banner, Tony Stark, Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton

FIC SUMMARY: In 1941, Steve Rogers is willing to die for his country. Now in 2014, he has to learn how to live for it.

RECCER'S NOTES: A minor AU taking place after The First Avenger and Avengers, in which Steve struugles with the 21st century, but not for the reasons people expect. Thoughtful exploration of Steve's wartime traumas and how he might fit, or not, with the rest of his motley team. And a great incorporation of Sam as he tries to be a friend for another lost soldier who's come home.

He understands the importance of symbols, understands the importance of Captain America, but he hadn’t thought he’d have to be Captain America to SHIELD or to his teammates. It’s exhausting to have to be on all the time, and he’s not sure how long he can keep it up for.

dirty_diana

FANDOM: Star Trek TOS
FIC LINK: Expanding the Oecumene
AUTHOR LINK:

AAmuse
RATING/WARNING(S): none / K+
WIP?/WORD COUNT: complete / 48 500 words
MAIN CHARACTERS: Spock, Pike, Number One, OCs

FIC SUMMARY: The events taking place during Spock’s final year at Starfleet Academy continue to shape him into the person and officer he will become. A tale about friendship and adventure.

RECCER'S NOTES: A tale of Spock's first, dangerous trip on the Enterprise with mentor-to-be Captain Pike. Plotty character explorations are always great. However it is easy for an author who loves a character (as we all do) to fall into the trap of only exploring the positives, or of doing a little fannish revisionist history. This story of what Spock's Academy days might have looked like never loses sight of the fact that Spock of Vulcan, later saviour of the known world, could also be a bit of a rebellious brat.

dirty_diana

FANDOM: Marvel Cinematic Universe/Captain America/Avengers
FIC LINK: Some Guardian Angels Have Missing Parts
AUTHOR LINK:

hufflepirate
RATING/WARNING(S): Teen / none
WIP?/WORD COUNT: complete / 38 000 words
MAIN CHARACTERS: Bucky Barnes, Sam Wilson, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanov, Bruce Banner, Thor

FIC SUMMARY: Bucky Barnes has been tailing the Avengers ever since Steve got dragged back in to help them instead of continuing his search for Bucky. That makes him the first on the scene when the Avengers are hit by a spell that leaves them deaged into 6-year-olds. He knows how to finish the fight and rescue them, but gaining their trust, looking after them, and getting them back to their old selves isn't so easy. Luckily, he has watched Steve long enough to know he can trust Sam Wilson, and that just might be enough to get them by...

RECCER'S NOTES: Lots of de-aged cuteness, which I can never turn down. But more than that, it is a lovely story about Bucky Barnes being slowly dragged back into the land of the living by six tiny superheroes. The image of a young and faithful Steve treating the tramautised Winter Soldier as if they're both still six years old is utterly priceless.

Abruptly, the adrenaline from the fight drained out of him, leaving him feeling hollow and useless. He'd spent a lot of time feeling hollow and useless since he'd left HYDRA to become a person instead of a weapon. It was harder than it sounded. But he couldn't afford to think like that right now, because the kids didn't need a weapon. They needed a person. He needed to push through the empty feeling and be a person for them.

dirty_diana

FANDOM: Star Trek AOS
FIC LINK: Under the Shadow of This Red Rock
AUTHOR LINK: fictional-clue
RATING/WARNING(S): Teen/none
WIP?/WORD COUNT: complete/29 000 words
MAIN CHARACTERS: James T. Kirk, Spock, background Spock/Uhura

FIC SUMMARY: Only a few days have passed since Nero destroyed Vulcan and attacked Earth, but the world around Jen and Spock is already changing along strange new lines—and they are caught right in the middle. Neither of them really has their shit together, but between the two of them they’re making it work. The ship’s still running. They haven’t tried to kill each other again. It’s a start.

RECCER'S NOTES:

I'm going to try not start too many posts with epic definitions of gen? But since the author has tagged this one "pre-slash", I should probably mention that I am one of those pedants who doesn't believe there to be any such thing. (Especially in the historical context of Kirk&Spock fandom.) But ymmv. What this fic is, imo, is a great fill-in-the-blanks fic for the Enterprise's trip home at the end of Star Trek XI, as Jen Kirk and Spock struggle with a broken ship, traumatised Vulcans, and other challenges.

It is also a great genderswap fic, and as such salacious gossip blog rumours become one of the plot points. But no one finds that more ridiculous than Jen and Spock, quite frankly. Their reactions are hilarious, and the banter is lots of fun.

“Acting Captain Kirk has been performing her duties in a laudable manner,” Spock says, with no inflection whatsoever.

“No, I mean, how do you and Captain Kirk get along?” the guy pushes.

“Our interactions are satisfactory,” Spock replies, and his voice says whereas your question is stupid.

Jen affixes a smile to her face.

thady

FANDOM: Harry Potter
FIC LINK: Dudley Dursley and the New Normal (fanfiction.net) | Dudley Dursley and the New Normal (dreamwidth)
AUTHOR LINK:

alikat522 |

straydog733
RATING/WARNING(S): PG-13/R ( warnings under this cut )
WIP?/WORD COUNT: novel | ~ 53,200 words
MAIN CHARACTERS: Dudley Dursley; canon character, OCs

FIC SUMMARY: Bad things happen. Life gets strange. Dudley tries to carve out a little bit of normality in a world that has gone mad around him.

RECCER'S NOTES:

This is a wonderful character and plot driven story. Both character development and plot and finely balanced and complement each other. Love all the supporting characters too.

thady

FANDOM: Stargate: Atlantis
FIC LINK: Empty Vessels (or on their website)
AUTHOR LINK:

rhymer23
RATING/WARNING(S): PG
WORD COUNT: 32,400
MAIN CHARACTERS: team; Ronon Dex, Teyla Emmagan, Rodney McKay, John Sheppard

FIC SUMMARY: Four people awake separately in the darkness with no memory of who they are, and there is something in the darkness, and it wants them.

RECCER'S NOTES: How much of our personality is learned, how much is innate? It's not easy to write amnesiac people. rhymer23 manages to balance this. It's an intriguing view on people we know, or we think we know. The voices of each of the team members is very distinctive, so the reader knows who each person is even though they don't know themselves. I love the insight we gather.

Beside this, the story is very well plotted, very engaging. I couldn't stop reading even though it was way past my bed time.

sixbeforelunch

FANDOM: Star Trek: Deep Space 9
FIC LINK: A Space for Faith
AUTHOR LINK:

beatrice_otter,

Beatrice_Otter
RATING/WARNING(S): General Audiences, no specific warnings
WIP?/WORD COUNT: 22,757 words, complete
MAIN CHARACTERS: Original characters, canon characters mentioned in passing.

FIC SUMMARY: Tora Manar grew up in the camps, during the Cardassian Occupation of Bajor. She loves Bajor, but she's ready to see the galaxy. Now Bajoran separatists threaten to end her Starfleet career before it can really get started.

RECCER'S NOTES: Unlike all of the other Treks, and most other TV shows, DS9 made religious faith a central part of its story, and treated the subject with respect. A Space for Faith continues in this vein, and does a wonderful job of representing the Bajorian and other religions, and how they fit into the largely secular landscape of the Federation.

There is Bajorian politics, music, and culture in abundance. There is also unflinching discussion of the destruction wrought by the Occupation. The story deals with the ways in which the Federation is helpful with recovery, and the ways in which they can't see past their privilege.

Despite the name, however, the faith of the protagonist is not the central driving force of the plot, though it does feature heavily. I think of this primarily as a story about friendship. The two main characters, a Bajorian recently folded into Starfleet following the formal joining of Bajor to the Federation, and a Vulcan who joined Starfleet to support the war effort, form an unlikely but respectful friendship. It dovetails nicely into the overarching themes of the story.

Don't be put off by the lack of canon characters. All of the OCs are well drawn, easy to like, and nicely developed. Personally, I found that being given new characters through which to experience the setting made the story feel very fresh.

A relatively short read, I highly recommend this one for someone who wants a smart, interesting story that does a great job of coloring in the edges of the existing universe.

sixbeforelunch

FANDOM: NCIS, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG1
FIC LINK: Prodigal by Domenika Marzione
AUTHOR LINK: AO3, website
RATING/WARNING(S): Not rated. There's violence, but I'd call it canon-typical for both shows.
WIP?/WORD COUNT: Complete. 44,763 words.
MAIN CHARACTERS: Colonel Mann, Evan Lorne, most of the cast of NCIS and a good chunk of the Stagate cast

FIC SUMMARY: Hollis Mann comes to NCIS for help with a case that quickly spirals from well-planned break-in to serial murder. When their chief suspect ends up being an Air Force officer with a shady job history, Hollis and Team Gibbs have their hands full trying to figure out what's happening before the body count gets any higher.

RECCER'S NOTES:

The other day, I opened up Prodigal by Domenika Marzione. I saved it to my Nook months ago, on the theory that it was almost certain to be good, and because I knew that I would eventually get around to wanting to read Stargate again. And, yes, it was as good as I was anticipating.

It's a NCUS/Stargate crossover, told entirely from the POV of Colonel Mann, which means that it's basically a double whammy of outsider POV, although obviously Mann is much less of an outsider when it comes to the NCIS team than the Stargate team. I love outsider POV. There are great observations about the Stargate characters, made all the more interesting for the way that they come in only quick glimpses, and through the eyes of someone who doesn't know the history of these people.

The great thing about this story is the way that she captures the world that the characters live in. The military lingo, the rivalries between the Marines and the Army and the Air Force. The story feels very grounded in reality for all that it's got space aliens and science fiction weapons. The author is also amazing at world building, and has a host of original characters that really flesh out the universe.

A note, I've watched more than a few episodes of NCIS, have a working knowledge of Atlantis, and have seen every single episode of SG1 at least once. I suspect that this story will work for someone that doesn't know NCIS at all, but if you don't have at least a sketchy knowledge of the Stargate universe, you will probably be pretty lost.

The Espresso Addict

Diary & multifandom recs

gensplosion!

Entries tagged with longish

MCU / Thor: Road to Nowhere, by Lise

Naruto: Freedom in the Eyes of Another, by Ouroboros69

ST:TOS: Errors on the Edge of Forever, by louiseb

firefly/tng: Lost In The Woods

MCU: Closing the Circuit, by AlchemyAlice.

Star Trek: TNG: All My Children by Tribal Graces

marvel: love is for children and other lies, by fahye

MCU/Avengers/His Dark Materials: Lacuna by morpholomeg

MCU/Avengers: Parting Shot by ratherastory

Captain America/MCU: Lucky by TamrynEradani

Star Trek TOS: Expanding the Oecumene, by AAmuse

MCU: Some Guardian Angels Have Missing Parts, by hufflepirate

Star Trek AOS: Under the Shadow of this Red Rock, by fictional-clue

HP: Dudley Dursley and the New Normal , by alikat522.

SGA: Empty Vessels, by Eildon Rhymer.

Star Trek: Deep Space 9: A Space for Faith by Beatrice_Otter

NCIS/Stargate: Prodigal by Domenika Marzione

The Espresso Addict