Les Misérables

Narilsa makes me wibble with word-lust. Her Frenchboys are dark and complex, and the language is lush and sexy and okay, a little heavy on the epithets and adjectives, but hey, I never claimed not to like purple. Dissembler features doctor!Enjolras and brawler!Grantaire absolutely awash in unresolved sexual tension.

"There is bruising here," Enjolras finally said, his long-fingered hand pausing in its ministrations over Grantaire's lower ribcage. Shaking his head, Grantaire reached up, took Enjolras's slender wrist in his hand, and moved the hand to his heart. Enjolras stared.

"No. That's where it is..."

She also wrote Forty Days in answer to my plea for gratuitous Mizslash, and -- let's just say it was exactly what the doctor ordered. *eg*

The Frenchboys Mix-n-Match Challenge closed awhile back, and while only half of the stories have actually come in *cough*, what's up there is well worth checking out.

K. Telfer drew Enjolras/Combeferre, and graced us with Reinvention, in which Combeferre clings to memories. Bittersweet and beautiful.

Also They Went On Their Way, by Jenelin, who is Still The Coolest: Courfeyrac/Bossuet, which like many of the mix'n'match stories shouldn't work, but does. In a decidedly Hugonian style, no less. <3

Last but not least there is One Hundred Years, by Soujin Prouvaire, which is Enjolras gen written after an idea of petronelle's and just... indescribably gorgeous.

"The small paper dragon his father had made for him writhed against his palm, and snakelike skin brushed dry against the line that meant life. Tiny claws hooked around his fingers, and tinier teeth nibbled his wrist. He stopped, childishly enthralled."

Hornblower

Speaking of Petra, you ought to know by now that if someone comes up with an oddball pairing, she'll probably write it just to see if she can pull it off. This one was Hornblower/Foster, and St. Elmo's Fire proves emphatically that she can. It's a drabble, and it is Just Right.

Harry Potter

I am one of those people who is vaguely terrified by Potterfandom in general, but fics keep poking into my consciousness. And yes, I freely admit to being something of a Sirius fangirl. What can I say? I'm drawn to melodramatic screwups. ;)

Four Thousand Two Hundred and Sixty, by Kel. Sirius in Azkaban, evidently written pre-OotP, and fragmented and enthralling and again, Right.

Also A Dog's Life, by Victoria P., which is a very simple, ridiculously cute story about... exactly what it sounds like, really. Okay, so it's not earthshattering drama, but it's so. Cute.

Westmark

Terence, by Old Kasperl, despite the pen name is an angsty little Florian vignette. (Someday, somewhere, in the far distant future, someone will write Florian humor and what there is of the fandom will implode from the paradox.) It's a bit over the top, but I like it anyway; it feels authentic to me.

The Princess Bride

Fearing Greenland, by debchan, is. Well. Princess Bride slash. But so help me God, it works, it's dear, and it's not even Racy.

Outsiders

Okay, I will admit something. I have never read "Outsiders". Have no idea what it's about, even. Do you know how often I read fanfic about something I'm not familiar with? Never.

But I do when it's Soujin writing it, because... because, dammit. And because Quai Razio Serna is an adorable story in its own right. Two boys in a train. Night thoughts. Slash of the fluffiest, adolescentest, wibblingest, timidest, sweetest kind. Go read it. Even if you have no idea what "Outsiders" is.

First up a couple of fairly recent Les Mis things, before I forget. Quietly is that rarest of things, a good fan poem. Soujin Prouvaire (alias Kang Xiu) evokes Jean Valjean at the time of his death in an understated, touching way. The super-short lines are a tad distracting, but that's my only gripe.

I don't quite know why I like Leeches. It's all kinds of things that don't especially appeal to me: it's rambling and convoluted, very very dark, and it features blood, crawly things, and a Combeferre more warped than even my cynical brain could come up with. And yet, with all this, it's remarkably compelling, like a freaky dream that fascinates you until you wake up in a panic.

Yvi's fiction often deals with sibling antagonism, a subject she handles sensitively and realistically. Till now, I've only seen it in her Les Miz fic, but now she's written Until Then about the infamous Electra, and her less famous sister, Chrysothemis, and I am impressed. (Also to check out is Family Issues, which turns Les Miz fanon on its head.)

I bitch a lot about humor fics. This is because the vast, vast majority of them are so unfunny it makes my teeth hurt. But, just when I'm about to write off the entire genre, along comes A Valjean Family Reunion by Jacqueline French and sends me into stitches. It's silly. It's implausible. It is also witty and delightfully cute. Go thou and read; it will do you good.

And speaking of humor done well: Just a Thought, by afrai. It's LotR, and evilly brilliant, and I really need to read some LotRfic that isn't Elrond, don't I? In this one we discover just how he keeps a room full of unruly beings in order...

If you'd told me six months ago that I'd read Narnia femslash and like it, I'd have backed away slowly without making eye contact, but... these things happen. Oh, those decadent Calormenes! The only name I can discern for kay_taylor's story is Aravis in Tashbaan, but who cares about titles? It's beautifully written, with the attention to descriptive detail that makes good children's lit so engaging, and utterly believable. Go read it; I promise it won't burn your eyes.

And finally, two more Hornblower drabbles -- I can only take this stuff in small doses, you know, so far. petronelle wrote Bestias Ingleses, which is rather weird and rather sexy, and then she made me read Speculation, by one Calypso, which is -- madly cute.

Hello. I have never done this before, but it seemed like a moderately good idea. Bear with me, won't you?

So I'm going to begin in the middle, and make this as diverse an entry as possible in an effort to ensnare as many people as I can. ;) Now, ordinarily I am fannishly monogamous, but of late so many lovely fics in so many unlikely fandoms have surfaced that my resolve is weakening.

First, while dallying, as it were, with a former love, I ran across Bearer of Bad Tidings, by LOTR_lover. Now, left to myself, I wouldn't really give a hoot about Elrond, who was too remote in the books to spark even my eccentric interest. But this story, capturing him as he faces the loss of his daughter and a reunion with his spouse, is lovely, and makes him much more real and sympathetic (one hesitates to say human). Not only that, but the author has Galadriel's voice dead-on.

Now I'm going to be shamelessly partisan and suggest that you go read Petronelle Lemaitre's two Hornblower slash drabbles, here and here. Petronelle is dragging me kicking and screaming into this fandom, mind you, but if it's going to inspire her to write little gems like these, I may yet resign myself. ;)

I already recced Caught In Between, by Mori, in my regular journal, but it deserves to be recced again. Mori has posted a handful of Les Miz fics so far, several of which I enjoyed, and this is the best of those: Combeferre, on the barricades, meditates on his friendship with Enjolras and where it's led him. It's an emotional story, but never descends into saccharine angst, and leaves me feeling heartachey and tremulous.

And then there's Denouement, by K. Telfer. There is a sore, sore lack of good Cosette fic; the character mostly gets either demonized (???) or ignored. But Telfer has written an honest, moving portrait of Cosette and Marius just after the close of Les Miserables, that shows clearly what it's easy to forget: Cosette has suffered before, and she will again, and she's never been weak in the face of suffering. It hurts, but in the good way.

LotR again: In Bliss by Jenelin is not new. Neither is Amy's A Gardener's Toil. But you should read them, if you haven't already. The first is short and spare, the second sprawling and verbose, but Jen's Éowyn and Amy's Sam have two things in common: they are doing their best with Happily Ever Afters that turned out to be Life Goes Ons, and they are exactly, completely recognizable as themselves.

And then there's The Men of Renown, by Daegaer, which is as much Biblefic as Good Omens fic, and is strange and wonderful for all that it is, in spots, amusing. I want Daegaer to come to my fandoms, man.

I'm not really into Harry Potter fic yet, mainly because I've only read the one volume. That said, The Frenzy of Agauë, also by Amy, tackles the childhood of Remus Lupin and makes my chest hurt even though I don't know the character from Adam. That's Amy for you. It's a bit rambly and digressive, and if you're not weird like me you may object to the random classical reference (I found it delightful), but it's still achily wonderful.

And lastly, while I'm here, I ran across Flower Children by Essy, neatly summarized as "Petunia Dursley as a young girl". I am eternally a sucker for fic that humanizes your average cardboard villain, and this does it so well.