imagine mr. spock going "fascinating"

[labellementeuse]

I hate to be all looking-at-fandom-like-it's-a-zoo-exhibit but here are some things I learned tonight:

1. There are people out there writing 450,000-word The Faculty fic - which is a sequel to a 250,000-word fic.

2. People still write 200,000-word Harry Potter fic. Also, Queer as Folk and LOTRPS are both still things. (Seriously?!) (Although I have to say that I saw this youtube clip the other day and I was a solid foil tinhat for a good sixty seconds.)

3. There are just shedloads of fandoms out there that not only do I not know about, I haven't even heard of their source (I think they're all computer games and anime, like Kingdom Hearts and Vampire Knight. OK I've heard of Kingdom Hearts but not really. Stuff I recognise but never knew there was a fandom for: Dragon Age, Final Fantasy (many numbers), JAG (?!!!)).

3.1 Someone needs to clean up AO3 fandoms - there's a Weiss Kreuz and a Weiß Kreuz.

4. As far as I can see there isn't a way to browse the AO3 by wordcount. You can search all stories and view by wc but as far as I can tell that only gets you the most recent 1000 fics, sorted by wc - and it turns out there are a lot of Russian-novel-length fics for fandoms I've never heard of.

5. This is annoying when you're in the mood I am, viz: "I want to read something between 30,000 and 100,000 words and slashy and I don't really care what fandom as long as I vaguely recognise people but also, the writing has to be good." Any recs along these lines gratefully appreciated, and if they happen to be in fandoms with which I'm familiar, bonus! (This is a massively weird mood. I sort of feel like I could go for some Ron/Draco. um? Please send other pairings?)

6. Relatedly, does anyone have any recs for books with gay protagonists? I just really am in the mood to read about people who aren't heterosexual for a change. Warning, I don't usually read commercial romance novels. I could probably go chicklit if it was, you know, lesbian chick lit. Also nothing too depressing please. *bats eyelashes* ty.

7. Speaking of, a few weeks ago I read Mission Child and then China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F McHugh - shoelessgirl lent me the former and then I hustled off and bought the latter from Arty Bees. I liked them both ENORMOUSLY and I can't recommend them enough - terrific, terrific science fiction, controlled, character-focused writing and plots, truly compelling characterisation and situations. Highly recommended. I believe there may still be a copy of one or the other at Arty Bees, although I can't recommend her third book, Half the Day is Night, because I got a third of the way in and stalled unhappily. (Not enough sex, probably.)

Comments

[paxpinnae]

I don't think the "I want longfic, and I don't care about the fandom" mood is that strange, because I've had it a few times and I have tags on my Delicious for just this occasion. I'd particularly recommend:

The Student Prince by FayJay. A long, long, long Merlin/Arthur AU set at St. Andrew's University in Scotland. It's plotty and hilarious and features enough strange British traditions to make me want to have gone to a university that's been around for longer than mine, which is extremely difficult to do in America.

Close to Home by iesika. A cool little story where a kid at Smallville High School gets killed, and Kon has to investigate - with some help from Tim Drake, of course. It does a good job of keeping the tension high, and is a really satisfying mystery.

I don't know if you've seen/read Generation Kill, but that's okay, because you don't need to know anything about it whatsoever to read Sixteen Days in September by tevere. And you should, because - well, the summary is this: When Peace Corps assigns Nate to East Timor, a tiny half-island in eastern Indonesia, he figures he'll have a lot of time to catch up on his reading. But the year is 1999, and the shock fall of military dictator Suharto is still reverberating throughout the country, triggering changes nobody ever thought possible. As East Timor moves inexorably towards freedom – or war – Nate is drawn into events that will define the future of the province forever. And normally, political fic is a disaster, but this really works, largely because the author lived through the time in question and treats it with the utmost respect.

Also, if you want book recommendations, the Havemercy series by Danielle Bennett and Jaida Jones features fabulous gay wizards and jackasses riding metal dragons while having enough sexual tension to cut with a knife. The writing's sometimes a bit leaden, but overall it works as a frothy confection of dragons and magic.

[labellementeuse]

Heh - well, it's not so much that I think it's uncommon, it's more that Ron/Draco is generally everything I dislike, haha.

These recs are AMAZING! Thank you so much!

[katarik]

If you can put up with Final Fantasy VII, here is a nice long meaty AU of it by synecdochic. (Very, very, *very* AU. Sufficiently AU that knowledge of the original game is really not required, though it does of course help.)

[labellementeuse]

Thank you! I shall give it a go! Although my only exposure to any Final Fantasy is v vague memories of the movie wayyyy back in the day, but hey, adventure is fun :)

[katarik]

*hee* I got dragged into this thing knowing less, so you should be fine!

Oh, hey, gay protags: have you tried Malinda Lo's Ash or Sarah Deimer's The Dark Wife? The first is a lesbian retelling of Cinderella and the latter a lesbian (consensual) Hades/Persephone.

[mermaid]

Some long!fic stories I've enjoyed in various fandoms, mostly slashy:

http://www.delicious.com/mermaidnz/epic+awesome

Or I guess you could try the werewolf!AU Hawaii Five-0 slash story (Steve/Danny, NC-17, 50,000 words) I recently finished writing.

I promise that my writing has improved considerably since that early Leverage / White Collar effort you read! I've taken many of your suggestions into account and made huge changes, by the way, and will finally be posting that story soon. So thanks again for your help :)

[labellementeuse]

Heh. Thank you for the tags! I shall have a solid poke around.

I'm not reading H50 on principle at the moment, but! If I ever do, I will start with you.

[caramarie]

This is only just over 20,000 words, and I don't know how well you will actually recognise the characters, but being as you did mention Dragon Age there, have a Dragon Age II Batman AU. I thought of you while I read it :p

Obviously we need to talk about fandom more! I've written Dragon Age fic! I used to read Final Fantasy fic as a teenager! I have a Vampire Knight poster on my wall! I am not cool enough to keep up with anime fandom any more though.

[labellementeuse]

bahaha - well, I shall be adventurous!

Hee. I don't think anyone over the age of 16 is cool enough to keep up with anime fandom now tbh.