promiseoftin

This is not a fandom I was much obsessed with. The tv show was all right, in its early seasons at least, eminently watchable. Not something I've ever wished to revisit. However I remember enjoying some of the fic back in the day.

Only one has withstood the test of time. needs must by thatotherperv. 98K Harvey/Mike. Extremely explicit. When Grammy needs an upgrade in care, Mike knows that the usual one-off gig as a paid submissive won't be enough. He takes a job he's been refusing for a while - a long-term, full-time contract. He expects his client to be a sadistic asshole. He expects not to like it. He's wrong on both counts. It's an AU where Mike is a prostitute. Dom/sub. Now, BDSM is totally not my cup of tea, but this fic does such a great job of explaining this dynamic that I could totally see the appeal. Also, everything is perfectly in character. And there's lots of plot (the first two seasons are basically re-written, IIRC). And emotional growth. Plus, it comes in podfic form too, read by the crazily-talented dodificus. I lost count of how many times I listened to this story and every damn time it grabs me by the throat and never lets me go for the whole 11 hours of it.

I quite like Donna/Harvey as a pairing, unfortunately it was never very popular in the fandom. I remember being so happy when I found this little gem: Happy To See Me by Zinnith (I originally had bookmarked on LJ, just to give you an idea of how old some of my fic recs are; it was easy enough to track down in the Ao3 too, though). Great character voices and lovely, lyrical prose.

The Pitt

One of the aspects that made the previous Dom/sub story work for me was how explicit and detailed the kink negotiation was. That reminded me of an excellent fic that hinges on that very concept in this fandom: Red Light, Green Light by avocadomoon. Now, it's avocadomoon, the BNF author for Kingdon, so I don't think I have to say more. Her fic are consistently the ones with the highest number of hits on the Ao3 for a reason. Anyway, for my DW friends who are not into the Pitt, this story features Mel and Langdon becoming friends-with-benefits. I'm making this sound boring. It's so much fun. I always giggle when I re-read certain parts.

So, I've already told you, as far as I'm concerned, KJ Charles is the queen of queer historical romance. My second-favourite book series of hers is the Doomsday Books Series, and in particular the first instalment, * The Secret Lives of Country Gentlmen*. Set in Georgian England, in the remote area known for smuggling called Romney Marsh, it focuses on the improbable love affair between a baronet and the head of a famous local smuggling family. Except my description doesn't do it justice at all. The synopsis on GoodReads is not bad. This has a tremendous sense of place, two flawed main characters who experience actual emotional growth, real high-stakes and problems, and lots of plot. Also, as someone who loves the English language with all her heart, I found the use of the local Kent dialect so interesting (no worries, if I got it all as a non-native speaker, anyone will). The sequel, A Nobleman's Guide to Seducing A Scoundrel, set in the same place, 15 years later and is about a minor character of the first book who gets to have his own romance with an earl and solves a mystery that was left unresolved in the first book. It's a lovely book too, I just love the two MCs for the previous book more.

Hearts Alive! by SpaceJackalope. 2.3K. Gen. Set two years after the first book. Fifteen-year-old Luke Doomsday asks Joss for advice about feelings and guys, because he's fallen hopelessly, embarrassingly in love for the first time...with Gareth. This is adorable and so in character. Poor Luke. Being fifteen sucks. There's also a podfic available!

Hearts Alive by innie. I haven't accidentally copied the same link twice, it's a different story, this is just a very popular Kentish exclamation in the books. :D 1.3K. Joss/Gareth, explicit. Joss gets his hands on Gareth The language and the character voices are perfect, it totally reads as a vignette from canon.

Jonathan's Regards by L_Monster. 8K words. Luke/Lord Corvin, explicit. This could totally be a short story bridging a gap in the canon we know of (i.e. when Luke was worked as a secreterary for Lord Corvin). Terrifically in character and hot.

The Pitt

IIRC, last time I recced a Mel/Frank story where Frank had issues and didn't treat Mel well. More in that vein, is this story be a better boyfriend than you by KH_Rogers. Mel/Shen. 31 K words. That’s what they’ll say, in the end: Dr. John Shen swooped Mel up, out of Langdon’s grasp. Good for him. Good for her, finally fucking higher on the food chain. Or, John asks Mel out on a date mid-Langdon turmoil. Mel/Shen wasn't even on my radar, before this fic, but I gave the story a chance because the author is that good...and man, I'm glad I did. KH_Rogers hasa fully fleshed-out version of Shen and he is adorable. Not to mention he doesn't come with all the baggage Langdon has. So, in this story Langdon is a bit of a bastard, if this interpretation sounds like something you can't bear, steer clear, please. However, you should keep an open mind and just read this.

I've never been a huge fan of Supernatural the show, I watched the first four seasons with my husband but that was his pick. I also don't like RPF as a general rule. The less I know about the lives of the actors whose work I like, the better, as far as I'm concerned. No shade to those who enjoy RPF, it's a me thing. However, I love RPF AUS. They're basically original fiction with faces I can easily picture in my mind, you know? And a lot more tropetastic than most published romance.

That's why, over the years, I've enjoyed a few selected stories from the Supernatural RPF fandom, mostly J2 (Jensen/Jared for the uninitiated) but not only.

A Kept Boy by poisontaster. 200K words. This is a massive, massive novel; it doesn't get more AU than this. It's set in an alternate version of present day America where slavery is a thing. It's Jensen/ Jeffery Dean Morgan but the full list of characters is as long as my arm. I don't even know all of the actors, and frankly I don't care. I took them as OCs. It contains very disturbing themes, of course, consent is problematic to say the least, but the world-building and the character arcs are carefully thought out and it never delves into pain porn, imo. I must say that it contains the best depiction of therapy in fiction I've ever come across. Seriously, Jensen's therapy sessions and his emotional growth are the highlight of the story for me. Thankfully, it exists also in podfic form, by superstitiousme.

If AKB is too dark for you, let's go to the other end of the spectrum: Starstruck, by pandarus. This is a J2 movie based on Notting Hill. It's hilarious and definitely lighter but it still hits all the emotional beats to be a super-satisfying rom-com. Better than the original, imo. The excellent pandarus, who by now you should all know is an amazing performer too, recorded the podfic of her own story and it's as brilliant as you might expect it to be.

Do I Seem Bulletproof to You? by fleshflutter. 96K words. This is a classic in the J2 pairing and a great example of hooker!fic, a time-honoured trope. The author left fandom and the fic is a bit hard to find, but I linked to a place where you can download it in different formats. I've only ever listened to the wonderful podfic by cath, unsurprisingly.

Screw You, We're From Texas by makeit_takeit. 75K. This is the only story among these recs where the R in the acronym RPF plays a substantial role. Basically it's an AU of Jared and Jensen's lives if they'd never made it as actors but stayed in Texas and had 'normal' lives. To me, the great sense of place is one of the strengths of the fic. The scope of the fic and sheer amount of growth the two characters experience are astounding.

The Pitt

I'm not a big fan of AUs for this fandom because the medical setting is integral to my enjoyment of the show, but when the authors are talented and get the characters, I'll read anything...so after the best sports AU, let me give you a historical one. tightly knotted to a similar string by lirazel. 12k words. Mel/Frank. Victorian governess AU, as in Mel is Frank's children governess in England. I was sceptical going in...but lirazel totally won me over. This was lovely.

Rivers of London is an urban fantasy series written by Ben Aaronovitch (a Doctor Who writer). So far, it includes 9 books and loads of novellas. Set in almost-present-day London (IIRC the first book is set in 2011, the latest in 2018), I've heard it once described as "Harry Potter meets your standard British police procedural", and as back-cover blurb descriptions go it's not bad. It's just so much more than 'magic coppers', though.

The books are written in first-person and our POV character is Peter Grant, a mixed-race police constable and born-and-bred Londoner, with a touch of ADHD and the best British sense of humour. The books work because Peter is so damn likeable. Mind you, the books are also very British, which might be a selling point, if you're me, or put you off. The first seven books conclude a story arc, Aaronovitch knows how to play the long game, and are damn near perfect IMO.

The Rivers of London fandom used to be small but very active, but in recent years some people drifted away from it because they found it a bit uncomfortable to be fans of a series where the police is considered a force of good, I think. And I understand why. I am Italian, from Genova, I wouldn't be able to suspend my disbelief to read about Italian police being good guys (if you don't know what I'm talking about look up what happened during the 2001 G8 in my town). However, I have no problems romanticising bits of another country's police force, when they are represented by the likes of Peter Grant, Sahra Guleed and Thomas Nightingale. I'm afraid I'm not doing a good job of describing how awesome the series, is so I'll leave you with this introductory post by sixthlight, who was the BNF back then.

It's a new day [vid] by pollyrepeat. This awesome fanvid can totally work as a trailer for the series. I'm always so in awe of fans who can make vids for a canon which has no footage to offer as a starting point.

Longhouse by philomytha. This is such a great example of Peter's narration, and a casefile fic, and also a good example of the predictable main ship: Peter/Nightingale.

This(not) be the verse by leupagus. 3.8 K words. "Be honest, sir," I said, scrabbling for the left flipper, "I look like a moron."

"I’ve seen you look moronic before, Peter," Nightingale said, flicking the wheel right and sending us careening down a side street and me thudding against the left-hand door. "This does not even, as you put it, 'crack the top ten.'"

This is my fave of the most recent fics. It's got spoilers for, let's say, a development in Peter's life in the last two books? If you've read the books, you know what I'm talking about. Perfect Peter's voice and great interaction with Nightingale (totally non shippy). There are two podfic versions available! Haven't listened to either yet, but I plan on doing that asap.

I've Found a New Baby by knight-tracer and thefourthhvine. 13.6k. Peter/Nightingale. It's a sort of self-contained casefile of sorts, it can fit pretty much anywhere in canon before the last two books, I think, it's been a while since I listened to it. It's not particularly spoilery, I think. Peter finds a baby on the doorstep of the Folly. It’s an embarrassing cliché, I know, but there was an actual basket, made of what looked to be actual wicker, actually sitting there. It was oval and large and had spaces for handholds on either end; for a minute, I thought it was full of laundry, and my mind spun an image of a ghost laundress. Then the small hand emerged from the basket, waved around for a minute, and smacked down again. Brilliant Peter's voice and even better Nightingale's characterisation. The podfic is excellent!

Saving the big guns for last...As I said, sixthlight was the BNF in the fandom, for a reason. All her works are amazing. I miss her fic like crazy. Anyway, my all-time favourite is this: Wizardry by Consent. 62K words. It's an AU,a canon divergence one, and it's best enjoyed if you know canon to be able to appreciate the amazing worldbuilding and character work the author does when she takes our beloved characters on a new journey, starting from a simple change to the canon: Peter never became the Nightingale apprentice. Fifteen years after a headless body was discovered in Covent Garden, Thomas Nightingale is still the last wizard in Britain, and Peter Grant, newly appointed Commander for Community Engagement in the Metropolitan Police Service, has just learned the truth about the existence of the Folly. He has one or two questions. The podfic by lazulus is [insert superlative adjective of your choice here].

The Pitt

hard odds to beat when you're on all fours by loveism. Mel/Trinity. Femslash at its finest, perfectly in character and so well-written. I love me some Trinity Santos when people know how to write her well, and damn, Mel deserves all the good sex, so...

This is a trilogy of historical m/m romances by KJ Charles, the queen of the genre. Now, anything penned by KJ Charles is a cut above anyone else's, imho,  so if you haven't read anything of hers, you totally should. Characterisation, plot, intrigue, smut, excellent writing, her books have it all. The Will Darling Adventures are set in London in the 1920s. It's a spy/action series with an amazing love story at its heart, where the conflict is absolutely real and the characters have an emotional growth arc across the three books. It's the most satisfying kind of romance. You will fall in love with the two MCs, it's impossible not to. Once you've finished the books you'll be left wanting more, so here's some fic to tide you over. These are all Kim/Will, with a touch of DS/Archie, and won't make much sense unless you've read the books, I'm afraid. Btw, the audiobook version of the books, narrated by Cornell Collins, is just sublime. 

the world is but a word. 1.6K words. Will was speaking with a customer when Sir Archibald Curtis walked into his bookshop. A lovely little vignette. Podfic availbale, though I haven't listened to it yet. 

scrape out what's left (at the end of the year). 2.2K words. The drive to Holmclere was uneventful, leisurely, and most importantly: not completely overshadowed by one or both of them being framed for murder. At least it had that going for it. Lovely epilogue for the whole seriesscrape out what's left (at the end of the year). 

one shade the more. 3.9K words.Perfect Will and Kim voice, their banter kills me. 

The Pitt

detect my sudden existence on your sonar by Lirazel . 25K words Mel/Frank. Mel thought everything would get easier when he came back. Instead, it's a new kind of torture. This fic is, to me, the definitive take on Mel's POV. I'm not on the spectrum, I've little experience with people who are, so I may as well be talking out of my arse, but reading this story is just such an immersive experience, ti does such an excellent job of sucking you in and making you feel like you're living it all as Mel would. And the pining is exquisite. So good it's almost unbearable. Gah. 

So, today was my day off and I watched the first three episodes of the Heated Rivalry tv series just because I've seen some gifs around Tumblr. I read the whole Game Changers series years ago, I'm a big m/m romance reader, unsurprisingly, and I enjoy a good sports romance tremendously. I am Italian, I know nothing about hockey and this has not prevented from enjoying the hell out of a fair bit of m/m hockey romance and fanfic. 

1. Wild Ice by makeit_takeit. 46K words. Men's Hockey RPF, Travis Konecny/Nolan Patrick. As with all hockey RPF, I have no idea what these two guys look like or even what team they played for, but it's all irrelevant. This is an AU where one of the two  is himself, I guess, retired after hockey, while the other is not a hockey player.  This is just such a gorgeous love story, with, complex layered characterisation and the natural beauty of Canadian winter landscape as its backdrop. It's a sort of grump/sunshine pairing, I guess. The tags give you a good idea of what to expect. 

2. Front Runner by   makeit_takeit. 60K words. Men's Hockey RPF, Jamie Benn/Tyler Seguin. This is another AU, a high school one, where the characters play football in Texas. Picture Friday Night lights only gayer? :D This is another great story. Again, I know nothing about American football, but I'm a sucker for coming-of-age story mixed in with romance. And this has such a strong sense of place, which makes it all the better. Not that I know the first thing about Texas high school football culture, but I am a big fan of Friday Night Lights, trust me when I say I didn't throw the comparison lightly. 

3. and i spit out the seed by linearity. Heated Rivalry AU, of the canon divergence kind. Basically Ilya and Shane get outed much earlier than in canon. Amazing characterisation and dialogue. 

The Pitt

Since we're talking sports romance, I cannot help but reccing the best sports AU in this fandom: Love Game by homespun. Mel/Frank, ofc, still a WIP but it's going to be complete soon, in, like, a 4 days? And I can already tell this is going to be an all-time favourite. Ah, it's a tennis pro AU. And it's P-E-R-F-E-C-T. 

Generation Kill

Since I mentioned it yesterday, I thought I might post about it today. Generation Kill is a 2008 HBO miniseries about the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. On paper, nothing could be farther from what I normally like. However, I fell into the fandom headlong during the pandemic, and, as I wrote at the time, somehow, watching a bunch of puerile marines fumble their way through a poorly-planned, incompetently-led, questionably-motivated military invasion helped me maintain my sanity during lockdown. Basically, I came for the trainwreck factor and stayed for the awesome fic. I think Generation Kill is the fandom with the highest quality of writing I have ever had the pleasure to read in.

As usual, let's start with some stories that could be enjoyed even if you're not familiar with canon.

1. Don't You Shake Alone by dsudis. This is PTSD-flavoured baby fic. Yeah... It sounds weird and possibly boring. Yet it isn't. It's romance too (M/M, Brad/Nate for those who know the characters). An excellent depiction of PTSD, new parenthood and two people deciding to commit to each other, all rolled into one. Luckily for me, it also exists in podfic: here by chemm80, who is another pdoficcer who should be doing this for a living, she's so good.

2. Rock Happy. This is a Stargate Atlantis crossover. Now, I've only watched SG film 20 years ago and possibily caught only a coupe of eps of SGA (dubbed in Italian, lol) in the paleolithic so I wasn't familiar with either canon. It has a bunch of OCs, I think. This was super interesting. Plotty and gen! And so absorbing.

3. Born Ready by makeit_takeit. 98K of the best kind of M/M romance.20 years worth of The Making of Brad and Nate. Best enjoyed if you know the canon, but since this follows our main characters from when they were teenagers and long after canon has ended, you can totally just be swept along in this epic, amazing romance. I'd buy this as a book if I could. And if I could just pay someone to record a podfic version, I would. It's been at the top of my fannish wishlist since reading this masterpiece.

4. To Shame The Devil by Kalliste. This is a future!fic AU, with supernatural elements and genderswap. I think it works pretty well for those unfamiliar with canon, honestly.The podfic by Chemm80 is another of my all-time favourites.

5. I could rec another 10 fics easily, but since it's the lead-up to Christmas I'll leave you with this little festive gem Managing Expectations by alethia. Podfic version: here by chemm80

The Pitt

So, one of the two hot ER cowboys I mentioned yesterday, Dr Jack Abbot, is a marine veteran himself. The crossover with Generation Kill was just begging to be written and the excellent astronomical_light rose admirably to the challenge and delivered: the path we took to get here. Brad/Nate and Robby/Abbot. “Well, I’ll be damned,” Jack says, resting his hands on his hips and tilting his head in assessment. Santos was right—Brad is a little impaled. It’s been something like twenty years since the last time Jack saw him, yet he looks infuriatingly unchanged. His hair’s a little darker, less sun-bleached blond, but for all that he’s still golden California tan he’s got far fewer lines around his eyes than Jack can say about himself.

Merlin

This BBC show for children is a prime example of one of those fandoms where, for me, fanon clearly surpassed and trascended canon. I don't think I ever finished watching the show back when it was airing, but man, the Merlin/Arthur fic I have saved I have gone back to hundreds of times in the intervening years, especially as podfic. I don't know why precisely the idea of a relationship between a stuckup but brave prince and its bumbling but loyal manservant was right up my alley but it just was.

The Student Prince by fayjay. This is a modern day AU where Arthur is the heir to the British throne and he meets Merlin at university in Saint Andrews, in circa 2010. This is basically the one of the best YA romances I've ever read, better than most traditionally published stuff and it can totally be read with little to no knowledge of the tv show. I re-listen to the podfic version (read by the author herself, who is actually better than most pro audiobook readers) at least once a year.

fayjay has podficced many of my favourite canon era stories, like In Time of Trial by shinetheway; The Beltane Cycle by astolat/ Naomi Novik (here is the podfic); The Crown of the Summer Court by astolat/ Naomi Novik (here is the podfic).

The Pitt

I've fallen down the rabbit hole of Mel/Frank shipping and I regret nothing, the quality of the writing for this pairing is stellar. I have 80+ bookmarks for it on the Ao3. However, I do have a soft spot for another pairing, and that is Robby/Abbot. The two ER cowboys, chief attending of the day and night shift respectively. Old man yaoi at its finest. My interest in the pairing is completely alethia's fault. I've been a fan of her work since Generation Kill and she is just such a talented author I literally cannot choose which one of the 30+ Robby/Abbot fic she's written so far is my favourite. I love them all. Go on, pick one at random and read it, you will be blown away. alethia gets these two characters in a way the writers of The Pitt can only dream of. If you're a podfic nut like me, you could start by listening to Safe Haven by andrasteemraldpetal .