Uffish Thought

I'm still on hiatus from monthly recs, but I did a handful over on Tumblr in response to an ask game. Check them out!

If anyone here would like to play, here's the list:

1 - Recommend a fic that lives in your brain rent free.
2 - Recommend a fic that is not posted on AO3.
3 - Recommend fic that is less than 5,000 words.
4 - Recommend a fic that is over 50,000 words.
5 - Recommend a gen fic (no pairings).
6 - Recommend a fic that does something cool with format or structure (epistolary, social media, 5 things, non-linear, etc.)
7 - Recommend a fic that uses a trope you love.
8 - Recommend a fic with an interesting premise/concept.
9 - Recommend a fic from a book fandom.
10 - Recommend a fic that is more than 10 years old.
11 - Recommend a fic you think is a hidden gem/deserves more reads.
12 - Recommend a fic that formed or changed your opinion on something (characterization, backstory, relationship, etc.)
13 - Recommend a fic you've re-read multiple times.
14 - Recommend your favorite fic.
15 - Recommend any fic of your choice.

I've technically already done 1, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, and 13, but I'm happy to take repeats. Fandom requests are also welcome, if it's one I share.

Doing a quick SXSW wrapup post because I hate to leave things unfinished (ironic, given the state of my WIP folder):

The Secret of Me: excellent but enraging documentary about intersex genital reassignment surgeries. It's wisely centered on the personal story of Jim Ambrose, but does a great job exploring the history of the practice, most importantly Dr. John Money's abusive and unethical twin studies that started the whole mess. Compassionate, well-made, and timely.

Outerlands: narrative film about Cass (they/them) who's struggling to get by in SF (and also with their alcohol problem), and ends up caring for their co-worker/one-night-stand's daughter - supposedly for a weekend, but then she doesn't get back in touch.... Great performances by Asia Kate Dillon as the lead and Ridley Asha Bateman as the girl, and there's a lot of lovely character moments (the lesbian bank lady and her arc were fantastic), but the movie had that messy feel of a first time writer-director. (for example, they kept repeating these weird sequences of SF street shots with Catholic choral music playing over them that didn't fit in artistically in any way I could figure out? and I am trained in this) Solid, deeply queer, dealing with trauma and addiction in atypical ways, but not something I'd whole-heartedly recommend.

The Ballad of Wallis Island: narrative about musician exes who get conned into coming to play a gig on a remote island for a billionaire (he won the lottery twice) superfan. Sweet, but kinda meh. I did appreciate they didn't fall into the usual trap of 'bitter exes reunite' tropes, especially with the ending, and the quiet portrayal of grief was good, but it didn't really hit for me.

The last day I tried to go see 'Good Boy' - a haunted house horror movie with the twist that it's told from the POV of the family dog - but alas, so did a bunch of other people so I didn't get in. For SXSW, only getting shut out of one movie is actually unprecedented for me, so that was okay! I just left for my RenFaire camping trip earlier.

I also took some time to read The Tomb of Dragons, the newest Goblin Emperor series book about Thara.( spoilers )

Ahhh, a full day of screenings where I got into everything I wanted, and they were all great! Also, multiple Star Wars actors, which was a fun coincidence.

Forge
I adored this one! Two Chinese-American siblings in Miami get caught up in a forgery ring, as the FBI catch on and begin to close in. Fantastic script, amazing cast (including Kelly Marie Tran as the FBI art crimes agent), sleekly made and tightly paced. The ending was a bit abrupt, but it worked. I really appreciated they let all the characters be messy and human: they all had motivations and depth, for better or worse.

(spoilers)

I loved that they let Coco, the painting forger and younger sister, be ruthless at the end and attack Emily (the FBI agent) and get away. That was exactly the person she was all along, and I'm glad they didn't make the girl soft all of a sudden. Instead it was her "too nice" brother who let misplaced sentiment and trust get the better of him.

Arrest the Midwife
A timely subject and a compelling documentary about the dire need for midwifery in the United States, focused around several New York State midwives who are being prosecuted for practicing illegally. Very strong and compassionate in its intimate portrayal of the women involved, especially impressive in the participation they got from the isolated Mennonite community, but ultimately I felt like it was hampered by its own pro bias? It seemed clear they hadn't really sought out more voices to interview - even from the NYC community who were working on changing the legislation with them, and definitely no one from a dissenting POV (except a very token interview with the prosecutor on one case).

Also, it assumed a familiarity with the issue and skimmed over giving information about the broader problem: frequently interviewees would discuss maternal mortality rates and midwifery success rates and maternal care deserts and such without the film establishing basic facts first. It made it feel like they were preaching to the choir, assuming their audience was already informed and in their side. Given the short run time, I wonder if they ran out of funding or rushed to release for some reason. Still enjoyable and informative, and very good at the character portrait aspect, but could have been stronger and more balanced.


We Bury the Dead
Atmospheric, thoughtful zombie movie starring Daisy Ridley as Ava, whose husband is in Tasmania when an experimental military bomb goes off, blowing up Hobart and emitting an EMP pulse that causes the rest of the island to go brain dead. Ava signs up for the burial crews in a desperate attempt to find her husband, because there are rumors that some of the bodies are waking up.... (You see where this is going.)

Right from the start, the film was so empathetic, really capturing Ava's grief, and her compassion and curiosity about the dead (Daisy's enormous sad brown eyes didn't hurt, that lady really knows how to use them.) Her partner Clay's completely opposite attitude made a fun contrast, played wonderfully and occasionally funny by Brenton Thwaites. And I think even though in very classic genre fashion,

(spoilers)

the movie predictably had a 'humans are the monsters' interlude, Ava's intimate, mirrored understanding of Riley's desperation and grief

kept it from being the same old story.

(spoilers)

(but also she's willing and able to kill him dead when necessary, which is important. Can't have too much empathy in a zombie movie or you get your face bitten off.)

Also it was just a damn pretty and well-made film. The moody opening, the big vistas of the roadtrip part, a memorably shot zombie chase through a wrecked bus, subtle but solid effects to portray the enormity of the disaster even while keeping it focused on the human aspect.

My one quibble is again that the ending was a bit abrupt. It should have been set up better, or let breathe a bit. But I was satisfied coming out and had a great ride.


Spreadsheet Champions
Earnest, nerdy documentary about a worldwide Excel spreadsheet competition. Exactly what I expected, nothing groundbreaking, but incredibly charming and I even learned some things about the history of spreadsheets! The 6 competitors they followed were the best part: very diverse and colorful and sympathetic. Mason, the teenaged US competitor, was especially hilarious and showed up for the Q&A, so that was a delight.

AO3 meme yoinked from celli:

1. Most Hits: Learning Curve, MCU, gen + Steve/Natasha
An Avengers h/c fic adding on to a very popular h/c fic by Arsenic, so no surprise there! And I seem to get a lot of re-reads, going by the comments, which I'm sure helps. God knows I read The Goat's Back a million times while writing this....

2. Second Most Kudos: Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fryer, MCU, gen (but pre-Clint/Coulson in my heart)
A meet-cute for Clint and Coulson that I posted right before The Avengers release, so no wonder. Also it's got a good summary!

3. Third Most Comments: Learning Curve again!

4. Fourth Most Bookmarks: Heartsease, Person of Interest, Reese/Finch
Ahhh, my self-indulgent Regency AU that grew a plot on me. I'm still so grateful to inmyriadbits for patiently letting me read it aloud to her when I was worried about getting the Regency verbal patterns right.

5. Fifth Most Words: Chase the sky into the ocean, Books of the Raksura, Jade/Moon
This one took a WIP Big Bang to finish, hence the word count when I'm historically prone to under-writing things, but I'm very fond of this AU. (So much action! It was fun but took forever, I don't know how Martha does it)

6. Fic With Second Fewest Words (That's Not a Drabble): Guidance, Alias/Austin Powers, gen
I'm still fond of this weird little crossover in which Dr. Evil counsels the evil dentist from the Alias pilot.

Other randomness that only works if you have X number of stories and drabbles with which to filter:

7. Seventh Most Common Relationship*: Lin Shu | Mei Changsu | Su Zhe/Mu Nihuang, Nirvana in Fire, 2 works
MCS's character tag is forever a gift, that insane identity-onion man. Also I'm ostensibly a MCS/Jingyan shipper but Nihuang cannot be denied!

*Go to your works --> sort and filter --> include (or exclude) --> relationships

8. Eighth Drabble Posted: alas, I have only written one formal drabble.

9. Ninth Most Common Character*: Thor, MCU, 4 works
Unexpected! I haven't written him as the main or POV character in anything, but he's always part of the team.

*Go to your works --> sort and filter --> include (or exclude) --> characters

10. Tenth Mature and/or Explicit Fic: The Things Underneath Our Hearts, MCU, gen
I just barely have ten fics if I include both explicit and mature, and this was the first mature one! (Probably because of the torture, I don't think Clint and Steve platonically cuddling merits a ratings upgrade.)

11. Eleventh Most Recent Completed Fic When You Exclude Your Ten Most Frequent Fandoms*: branching out, Books of the Raksura, gen
A sweet little post-canon Yuletide story where Chime wakes up to some gender stuff in the colony.

*Go to your works --> sort and filter --> exclude --> fandoms

12. Twelfth Most Recent Story in Your Sixth Most Common Tag*: alas I only have 6 stories on that tag, which is First Meetings.

*Go to your works --> sort and filter --> include --> tags

13. Favorite Title That Isn't from a Poem or Song or Shakespeare or The West Wing: Find Me, Follow Me, Banlieue 13, Leito/Damien
The third and long-delayed smutty conclusion to my B13 trilogy! The whole series is titled with phone tech terms - Crosstalk, Phone Tag, Interference - and Find me/follow me was a delightfully poetic gift of a term when I went scouring through the Wikipedia category, and perfect for the story, in which Leito follows Damien out of a meeting and they finally connect.

Slipping this in before the year ticks over - Happy New Year, everyone! All Batman fics (including three crossovers with MCU Spiderman and Leverage), I had a lot of downtime to read while I was sick in November and it was time for the annual binge, so I read my way through a lot of @cacchieressa's recs (thanks for having great taste!) plus wandered into some of my own finds. More miscellaneous recs at pinboard for Spiderman, Star Wars, The Untamed, and Nine Worlds.

Gotcha, Bug by Mgootd - AU where Jason survives Ethopia, but Tim's parents start behaving strangely and Tim's investigation throws him in with the Batfamily anyway. Crazy fun ride.

Once Upon A Kidnap Dreary by PlotlessWanderer - AU in which Tim and Jason get kidnapped together for ransom - but their parents react very differently.

A Bat and a Reporter Break Into a Warehouse by @hmslusitania - delightful romp where Tim and Lois team up for an investigation.

Jason, Take the Wheel by Miss_Lazy_Tuesday - "Jason finds a new coping mechanism post-resurrection, and it changes a few things." A++ Jason using his insane level of training to be an epic troll. Incredibly funny, but also so healing.

Dead Robins Stick Together by HermesDay - "Tim finds himself trapped in a universe where the Red Hood decided to finish the job in Titans Tower." OOF. On the very opposite tonal end of Jason-returns AUs from the last one, but a really good engaging read.

Penelophon by Telperien - Selina/Bruce through the years, with a lovely Selina POV.

We'll Have to Muddle Through Somehow by @pluckyredhead - soft, thoughtful Roy/Jason where Roy is struggling with the holiday season and Jason is there for him.

Blue Jay Down by byrambles - "8 years after his parents died and he escaped Gotham's foster system, Dick is just trying to survive. When he stumbles upon an injured, blue-clad vigilante child in an alley, though, he has to make some decisions." This one hit my id so hard, I wish there were 30K more words but these were all good.

CROSSOVERS

(MCU Spider-Man/Batman) Set Naked On Your Kingdom by sassydandelion - "At the end of No Way Home, Peter chooses to sacrifice his life in New York to save the multi-verse…by letting Dr. Strange send him to a world where no one has ever heard of Spider-Man. What kind of crazy place is this Gotham City, anyway?" Fantastic AU, and Peter is just such a darling as he struggles to get by. Loved how he meets and bonds with Barbara (who is always amazing) first.

(Leverage/Batman) sparring match by Ffwydriad - in which Eliot runs into Cassandra on a team job, and they have a past. Thoughtful look at their difficult histories, but still very gentle and kind.

(Leverage/Batman) The Cross Purposes Job by solomonara - "A con on the verge of success gets sniped by an unknown third party. The Leverage crew traces the interference back to Gotham. Now the con has a new target: shady billionaire Bruce Wayne and the highly suspicious Wayne Enterprises." COMPLETELY DELIGHTFUL, such good team presence and misunderstandings on both sides, and the resolution is so satisfying.

All Nine Worlds fic this month, mostly canon-divergence AUs, presented in alphabetical order because why not:

Backslide by Owlwinter

After eight hundred glorious years of working together, his Radiancy is rather distressed at the news of his secretary’s probable death.

Or: in which a certain landslide happens far earlier than in canon.

In which the Emperor has a very badass planetary mage reaction to Kip being presumed dead.

dancing like we did last night by Ariaste

“I love you, and I’m forming a committee about it.”
Fitzroy spluttered on a laugh. “A committee? And what is the purpose of this committee, my Lord Mdang? I believe it has to be, what, two sentences or less?”
“The purpose is to love you.”
“Ah, truly poetic simplicity,”

-

Cliopher gets his shit together, weaponizes parliamentary procedure in his own brain, and finally does some self-examination and clear communication. Fitzroy is just happy to be here.

This one's been recced all over for good reason! Adorable premise, fantastic execution, wonderfully romantic and thoughtful look at the ins and out of being a sex-positive asexual in a relationship.

diving for a flame pearl by ariex09

It took me an appalling three hours and thirteen minutes to even realize that Kip was gone.

Ah, but that was too charitable. Once we had a timeline together, we discovered that Franzel had seen Kip last, turning in for bed at twelve minutes before midnight, and it was not until Shoänie went to wake him at dawn that anyone knew he was anything but asleep in bed. This meant that by the time the knock on my study door came, shortly past the third hour of the morning, Kip could already have been missing for more than nine hours.

In which Cliopher goes missing midway through The Hands of the Emperor. Fortunately, he has friends and family willing to do whatever it takes to bring him home.

So many fanoa feelings, a marvelous adventure, and an always-excellent Ludvic.

Friday Keeps Coming Next by rattyjol

Cliopher's first morning with the Sun-on-Earth was everything he could have dreamed of, until it wasn’t.

or: Cliopher and his Radiancy break time. Again.

Delightful and epic time loop fic kicking off after their first meeting.

Saving Fitzroy by kerithwyn

Sardeet gets arrested.

AU where Sardeet actually makes it to the Emperor, and handles things in her inimitable Sardeet way. My heart grew three sizes, I swear.

We’ll Make It Right For You by Owlwinter

You turn to look at Cliopher in absolute, utter betrayal. Cliopher discovered that you have daughters - daughters! – and brought them to the Palace!? Here, the name Damara would smother any child of yours with taboo and tradition, any ounce of freedom stripped painfully away-

“While away, I encountered these two girls, named Circe and Aurelia,” Cliopher tells you, steady as the rock on which the world has always turned. “With your permission, my lord, I will adopt them myself, and raise them as my daughters here in the Palace of Stars.”

Or: in which rumors reach the Lord Chancellor of two teenage girls with golden lion eyes.

Never thought I'd want kidfic in this fandom, but it's immensely charming, and I loved seeing the ways their relationship did and did not change with the added co-parenting. (why are they LIKE this?!)

Finally sat down and did this fun little trope-sorting game that has been floating around!

Going out of town soon, so here's just a short list of my top three reads from last month:

cookin' up a storm, piece of cake (The Untamed) - charming modern cooking blog AU, told in epistolary style as Lan Wangji grinds his teeth into dust over his idiotic commenters (and one in particular who you can guess, hah).

The Virtue of Being True (Nine Worlds) - in which a spell backfires off Kip's magical protections and makes everyone AROUND him tell the truth. Hilarious, chaotic, fun inversion of the premise, and very soft in the end.

Lord of Misrule (Lord Peter) - in which Peter takes care of Bunter for once, after he's hurt helping a friend. Peter/Bunter is a hard ship to get right for me, to walk the line of their dynamic, but this one is so so good at it.

So May turned into my biennial swing through Naruto fandom (have I ever seen a single episode? nope), during which I managed to fall down the Madara/Tobirama rabbit hole - which is a very fun time if you enjoy extreme competency and enemies-to-lovers! Also I've got some Kakashi/Iruka fic, and a couple of Guardian fics for Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan. More recs at Pinboard as well!

NARUTO - FOUNDERS ERA

As Is the Sea Marvelous by blackkat

Tobirama is willing to give absolutely anything for Hashirama and his dream.

AKA the fic that started me down this rabbit hole. Blackkat is so dangerous with the gateway drug fics like that - this is a great canon AU aimed directly at my id where Tobirama surrenders to the Uchiha in hopes of stopping an escalation of the war after he wounds Izuna.

and all the fire's at your fingertips by pandaflower

Tobirama is elbow deep in a stealth mission in Wind Country when he runs into a shinobi squad toting a stolen Uchiha child. Tobirama disapproves.

Charming gen competence porn/kidfic adventure.

With Enemies Like These by sarkasticfics

After a serious and devastating attack, the Uchiha are in desperate need of a sealmaster. Unfortunately for them, the best candidate happens to be from the Senju clan. Fortunately for them, he doesn't seem all that inclined to act like an enemy.

Which is lucky because, as it turns out, there are plenty of other adversaries making moves in Fire Country - both the clans will need to make new friends to survive.

Madara would have been content if his new husband tolerated him and helped his clan stay safe. He doesn't quite know what to do with the fact that his husband doesn't stop there.

Jam-packed with competence and tropes, just the way I like it - and there's some incredibly lovely moments as they reconcile with their clans' bloody pasts.

Count Your Blessings by madmothmadame

The war is over. Tobirama ended it when he put his sword through Izuna's center mass. But where war had united the Senju behind their leader, peace threatened to tear them apart. And who better for the warmongers to look to as a leader than the greatest killer of Uchiha they had ever seen?

There were only two problems with that plan. One, Tobirama would never, ever, betray his elder brother.

Two, he may or may not have a surprisingly not dead Uchiha Izuna in a coma in his guest room, hiding the secret of resurrection that Tobirama needs with everything he is.

Now if only he would wake.

Deliciously epic. The inciting incident is very hand-wavey (having been inspired by another fic), but the follow-through in worldbuilding around Konoha's founding, the metric truckload of feels, and the twisty political intrigue makes for a great read. Be warned, there's like 250K of hurt before it gets to any sort of comfort, so maybe save it for a long rainy day if you don't want to suffer (like me). Also, the ship is pretty background, so don't expect much romance - but the gen relationships are fantastic and crunchy.

NARUTO - CANON ERA

for the record by ohwickedsoul

Asuma looks from Anko, who is laser-focused in a way rarely seen outside missions, and Iruka’s bewildered face.

“Holy shit,” he says. “You’ve seen Kakashi’s face.”

The ending is TRUE ROMANCE, OKAY. And hilarious!

It's Amazing Who You Stumble Into (along the road of life) by vulcanhighblood

Hatake Kakashi and Umino Iruka have been part of each other's lives for a long time. A lot longer than Iruka realizes, anyway. Kakashi recognizes this is something of a problem, but only once it's too late to do anything about it.

OR How To Make Your Secret Identity Friend Your Real-Life Boyfriend: A Shinobi's Guide To How Not To Romance

In which they keep running into each other over the years, complicated by Kakashi being ANBU for the first half of it. I loved the varied assortment of meetings, and the way they kept trading off on helping each other (physically, medically, emotionally).

GUARDIAN

Breaking Point by musicalluna & nightwalker

Zhao Yunlan is having a really terrible week, and it just gets worse when he starts to think Shen Wei has gotten tired of his bullshit.

Fantastic post-canon piece where the boys really need to communicate, and the universe/work is not helping. Excellent characterization and some brutally good relationship fights - but they figure it out in the end.

However deep the Lake by elenothar

Zhao Yunlan finds out a lot earlier that the Envoy isn't as invulnerable as he seems.

Classic h/c story where they're taken captive together in Episode 4.

I didn't read a ton in March -- between my birthday, attending SXSW Film (16 movies in one week!), and then getting over the cold I caught at SXSW -- and what I did read was mostly… Harry Potter fic? Yeah, I was surprised too. I've bookmarked only one fic in the last few years since JKR went off the transphobia cliff, so it was a bit strange, but I was pleased to see fandom is persisting in being aggressively queer and/or 'fuck canon' about it.

So I've got 1 Murderbot fic, 1 The Fugitive fic, and 5 Harry Potter fics, plus a handful more at Pinboard.

reasoning made lucid and cool by The_Onion (Murderbot, gen)

Iris is guest-teaching a PUMNT course, so it makes sense for Murderbot to go as her security. Yes, ART is doing most of the job, and yes, they are making Murderbot take a class, but it's still only there for work. It thinks? What do you mean it has to do a group project.

"Really, the longer I stayed here, the more it seemed like this was all a ploy to force me into an education module."

A++ Murderbot-ART dynamic, plus Murderbot blowing its cover to save lives, as per usual.

Wikipedia: List of notable manhunts by rastaban (The Fugitive, Sam/Richard)

Categories: Manhunts | US Marshal's Office | Overturned convictions in the United States | Withdrawn drugs | Gay & lesbian figures in the 1990s

Charmingly meta fic from the POV of someone editing the articles about Richard's story. I love the details filling in the case details, and every quote from Sam sounds just like him.

 

HARRY POTTER

Heal Thyself by astolat (Harry/Draco)

"Are you going for the course?" Lovegood asked. "You have the NEWTs.”

“What course?” Draco said, then, “No, don’t be ridiculous,” when he realized she meant the notice pinned up on the board he’d been staring at: Applicants To The Introductory Mediwizard Course For The Coming Term Shall Present Themselves In The Chief Mediwizard’s Office By August 24th.

“Oh, I thought you might,” she said. “Well, goodbye.” And off she wandered again in her addled way.

Great redemption arc for Draco with fascinating worldbuilding about magical healing. And competence porn, of course - astolat always excels at that!

the dogfather by hollimichele (gen, Remus/Sirius)

“I’m not a reverse werewolf either,” says the man. “I’m your godfather.”

Wonderful AU where Harry gets adopted by Muggles and Sirius escapes early that I started reading on Tumblr ages ago and finally got around to finishing on AO3 years later.

All Our Secrets Laid Bare by firethesound (Harry/Draco)

Over the six years Draco Malfoy has been an Auror, four of his partners have turned up dead. Harry Potter is assigned as his newest partner to investigate just what is going on.

Creative and engaging plot (mystery with intermittent work disasters), and VERY hot.

that’s the art of getting by by sarewolf (Remus/Sirius)

“What do you want me to do?” Remus says, tiredly. All he wants is to curl up on his bed. Smoke a pack of cigarettes. Get drunk. He can’t stop looking at Harry.

“Remus…” Dumbledore is gentle. Remus hates when he has that tone. Hates that he knows it will hurt. “There is no one else left.”

A bitter laugh escapes him. “So you’ll curse the poor thing with a werewolf for a guardian?”

Wrenching, gorgeously written AU that digs into Remus and Sirius's trauma, then patiently untangles their grief and betrayal and love so they can start to heal.

Lost and Found by rosie-writes (Remus/Sirius)

Imagine a universe in which Remus never went to Hogwarts. The Marauders never became Animagi, and so Peter had nowhere to run when Sirius cornered him after the Potters' deaths. Peter was the one who ended up in Azkaban, whilst Sirius was granted custody of Harry. Fast-forward six years or so, to a sunny day in April 1988….

Wistful but startlingly sweet AU.