shut up and let me see your jazz hands

Castle RPF

Work for It by helens78
1700 words. Teen. Nathan's charming act works on most people, but Tamala wants to see him work for it a little.

Wouldn't have read this if I hadn't betaed, since I only vaguely know Nathan Fillion from Dr Horrible and don't know Tamala Jones at all, but this is cute and works well despite not having any real "canon" knowledge.

Glee/High School Musical

Glad I Caught You by mercredigirl Rec
500 words. G. Kurt and Ryan meet in the queue at the or luak stall. Friends are made, all is well & all manner of thing shall be well.

I stumbled over this while looking on AO3 for new fics for the transfic master list. It turns out it's also written for the Racebending Revenge challenge, and set in Singapore (I think? Googling "or luak" tells me it's a Singaporean dish). Very cute.

Huge

And Hate the Bright Stillness of the Noon by psocoptera Rec
12,500 words. Teen. As Camp Victory faces a heat wave, Amber, George, and Dr. Rand struggle to make it through the last few weeks of camp.

I really enjoyed this a lot. It feels very much like it could be a direct continuation of the series (or rather a couple plotlines of it, as it really only focuses on the characters mentioned in the summary).

LotRiPS

Easy Now by cesare Rec+
12,300 words. NC-17. Elijah/Stuart, Elijah/Dom. Sooner or later, everyone asks how old Elijah is.

Oh wow, I loved this so, so much! I don't think I've read any lotrips since last year's slasha, but this reminded me of everything I love about these guys. I love the whole situation with Stuart, and Lij's interactions with everyone. It's just perfect.

Bouts of Attraction by eff_reality
4000 words. R. Dom and Billy are on rival roller derby teams in the UK.

This was cute. I liked the roller derby theme and Dom's relentless flirting. Also very pleased with how Ali was treated.

We Could Make Beautiful Music Together - 18 (Glenview) by iphignia939 3/5
Fall Out Boy. 8500 words. Pete answers Patrick's personal ad on Craigslist and they hook up.
( Cute. )

Stereo Field by normalhumanbein 4/5 Recommended
Fall Out Boy. 10,000 words. Cyberpunk/dystopian future AU in which Pete and Patrick meet when Patrick accidentally kills Pete's girlfriend. And then they clone her.
( Cool idea. )

That Old Song We Heard When We Were Young by jocondite 5/5 Recommended
Panic at the Disco. 8500 words. "Yeah, Ryan." Ryan's hand slipped into Spencer's; his fingers were like ice. "We're good."
( Perfect. )

Taxonomy by almostnever 4/5 Recommended
LotRiPS. 2900 words. Ian is an eagle who catches snow marten!Elijah.
( Painfully cute and hilarious. )

Wow, I feel like I haven't read LotRiPS in ages (except for a few things I beta for kissing_athelas), but then I decided I wanted to try and guess what almostnever wrote for slashababy before the reveal, so...

I did not read the entire fest. There were 42 fics and I read 25. I had a hint from Ces that her fic was not Dom/Elijah, but did have either Dom or Elijah in the pairing, so I read anything with Dom or Lij. Then later I decided to read the D/E fics as well, just because. And then I figured well, why not a few more, so I picked out a couple that looked interesting from the summaries. It ended up being 25 in all, and I actually had one review sitting around from last year's fest. *headdesk* Yeah... I meant to read the whole fest last year and just got overwhelmed by Smutmas and didn't do it, and never actually read anything but that one fic... I don't think I'm going to go back and read any of them now, so I just included the review along with this year's.

(If you're curious, I was not able to guess Ces's fic, the reason being I somehow never read it. Despite going through all the fics several times and picking out everything with Dom or Lij, I somehow missed that one, and then was driving myself crazy wondering which one she could have written, as they all seemed impossible for her (the one I thought it might be, she'd left feedback on, and another I thought well, possibly, had an author's note that seemed to rule it out). Anyway!)

Since there are so many fics, I'm not going to do individual cut tags. The breakdown is 2 1/5s, 9 2/5s, 9 3/5s, 3 4/5s, and 3 5/5s. Obviously pairings are heavy on hobbits.

And can I just say? HP fandom should take a lesson from LotRiPS. Most of these stories were around 3000 words or under, with the longest being 9200 words. Long fics are great, but holiday fests are just not the time for them.

( 26 fics )

Just a bunch of random stuff that's showed up on my flist recently. Other than that I've not really been reading outside of the McShep Match fics as they're taking up all my time.

Everybody Needs Somebody to Love by makesmewannadie 3/5
2000 words. The Blues Brothers. Elwood thinks about what makes life worth living.
( Well-written and enjoyable. )

The Pitter Patter of Large Furry Feet by telesilla 4/5 Recommended
300 words. John/Rodney. This isn't what Rodney had in mind when he brought up getting a cat.
( Cute. I really like this AU. )

There's a Thin Line by telesilla 3/5
800 words. John/Rodney. Sequel to the above. Rodney's fascinated with John's tan line.
( Love the details. )

Untitled Architect AU by telesilla 3/5
600 words. Bill Fichtner/Sean Bean. Bill gives Sean what he needs after a bad day at work.
( Fairly PWP, but I liked it. )

Am Not by helens78 3/5
100 words. Rodney likes rubbing his face on John's hairy belly.
( Cute! )

Six Degrees of Separation by kissing_athelas 5/5 Recommended
3900 words. LotRiPS. A series of random encounters between Fellowship cast members.
( LOVE! )

How Much Trouble? by helens78 3/5
Jude/Ewan. 500 words. ( Cute. )

Lie Down with Dogs by helens78 4/5 Recommended
Jude/Ewan. 1800 words. ( Funny and very believable. )

Claims Possession by helens78 3/5
Liam/Jason. 300 words. ( Love with Teeth universe. Not really much to say about this on its own, but I enjoy the series. )

Mismatch by almostnever 4/5 Recommended
Dom/Lij. 1200 words. ( Hilarious badsex. )

Another batch from del.icio.us. Same deal as before.

Paid in Full by airgiodslv 4/5 Recommended
( Dom/Lij & Dom/Billy. Really unique premise. )

Futures Possible by airgiodslv 5/5 Recommended
( RoboLij! )

Simple, Straight-Up, Disco-House Sugar by jocondite 5/5 Recommended
( Elijah/Orli. The perfect mix of awkwardness, humour, and hotness. )

Corners and Rhythms by jocondite 5/5 Recommended
( Realistic Dom/Orli/Elijah triangle. )

Priceless by almostnever 5/5 Recommended
( Not your average Dom/Billy rentboy AU. )

Curious About Leather by helens78 5/5 Recommended
( 70s Viggo/Bean AU. )

st_catherines by jubilancy and oneangrykate 5/5 Recommended
( Gritty rentboy AU with the whole cast. )

Five People Who Accidentally Slept with Envy by sutlers 4/5 Recommended
Fullmetal Alchemist. 700 words. What the title says.
( Nice and twisty-chesty. Loved it. )

Five Times Riza Hawkeye Threatened to Shoot Someone, and Meant It by mirabellawotr 3/5
Fullmetal Alchemist. 2700 words. What the title says.
( Liked it, but some parts were anime-only, thus confusing. )

Point, Game and Match by airgiodslv 3/5
Harry Potter. 700 words. Draco tears a ligament playing tennis and Harry offers him some ointment.
( Very funny Draco. Liked it. )

Do You Remember the First Time by princess_cushla 5/5 Recommended
LotRiPS. Short story. Lij and Dom try to have sex, but things keep going wrong.
( Hilarious. Awkward sex. Loved it. )

Okay, I read all of these before the authors were revealed, but didn't post the reviews until after because it would obviously reveal which one I wrote. Reviews are listed in the order I read them. Some reviews are unfavorable. I think there were five or six fics I really, really liked, a few more I liked okay, and the rest were either completely not my taste (you will notice all my raves are angsty) or I just didn't think were well-written.

Observations by airgiodslv 5/5 Recommended
3800 words. Elijah likes to think of himself as an observer.
( Fits right in with the world Ruth created. )

Too Busy Being Blue (The Pantone 300 Remix) by telesilla 4/5 Recommended
300 words. Unnoticed, Viggo watches Dom paint.
( The last paragraph really makes it. )

Have You Heard? by v_angelique 2/5
2500 words. Someone a bit odd moves into Dom''s building. Dom is frightened. And then, Dom is intrigued.
( Disappointing compared to the original. )

The 'How Not To' Guide to the Non-Traditional Mid-Life Crisis by jocondite 4/5 Recommended
5900 words. Viggo's never been someone's mid-life crisis before.
( Good use of a remix to provide backstory for the original. )

Finding the Truth (The 'There's No Such Thing as Too Much Cheese' Remix) by saklani2 2/5
2800 words. Where in Queenstown might one expect to find fondue? Fondue made with cheese?
( Not very well-written. )

Qui Ne Change Rien, Qui Change Tout by kiltsandlollies 4/5 Recommended
3600 words. All actors have something they do for luck.
( Feels really real. )

Waiting for Viggo by trianne 3/5
900 words. Orlando is Viggo's pet panther. Maybe.
( Surreal. )

Happiness by the Way Of by spillingvelvet 2/5
1000 words. What was Billy up to whilst Dom was waiting by the phone?
( Cute. )

Jam and Ketchup by canciona 2/5
900 words. All Ian wanted was breakfast.
( Would have packed a much better punch if it hadn't had the pairing labels. )

Still Rumpled Skin by unstealthy 2/5
800 words. Dom is honest with himself. Eventually.
( Too much fluffy cuteness for my tastes. )

Going Crazier by tuuli1109 2/5
1300 words. Margaret receives a phone call from Billy.
( Too sappily romantic for my tastes. )

You Can Leave Your Hat On by chaosmanor 2/5
1100 words. Who wouldn't want to fuck Sean Bean?
( Crackfic gone bad. )

Less Is More, Except When It Isn't by shanalle 2/5
1900 words. Elijah, he was an actor if nothing else. A loud, sexually boisterous actor who would never, ever get laid again.
( Clunky. )

Too Much by yueni 5/5 Recommended
800 words. Elijah had always known that Viggo would always be there for him, no matter what.
( Really loved this. )

Running While You Sleep by azrhiaz 2/5
1400 words. A moment can change everything -- sometimes.
( Too confusing to really enjoy. )

Like Chocolate by feelforfaith 3/5
4700 words. Billy/Elijah. "You guys always fuck with me."
( Liked the idea. )

Not Fun by fallingfortruth 2/5
200 words. Lots of things aren't fun. Thankfully, some of them have unexpected benefits.
( Makes no sense. )

Five Ways Orlando Got Dom and One Way He Didn't by almostnever 5/5 Recommended
5300 words. What the title says.
( Absolutely brilliant. )

Reminders by apple_pi 3/5
1400 words. Dom/Billy. There are a thousand ways to remember just what happened. This is one of the more satisfying methods.
( So many realistic little details. )

The Unlocked Door by eyebrowofdoom 2/5
1400 words. Viggo left his door unlocked to let things come as they would.
( Too confusing for me. )

Hey, Jealousy by the_larch 4/5 Recommended
900 words. Orlando can't decide who his enemies are.
( I loved this! )

These were ported in from del.icio.us, so I don't have full reviews for them, just short rec blurbs.

Romeo in Black Jeans by musesfool 4/5 Recommended
Harry Potter. 4200 words. Sirius has an epiphany. Remus needs convincing.
( Selfish, arrogant Sirius FTW. )

Useless by undecipherable 4/5 Recommended
Naruto. 700 words. You wonder why something so useless cost so much.
( Great use of 2nd person. )

What Happens in a Meadow at Dusk by cimorene111 5/5 Recommended
I ♥ Huckabees. 2100 words. Albert had always said that everything happened in a meadow at dusk.
( Perfectly in character. )

Parallel by airgiodslv 5/5 Recommended
LotRiPS. 3500 words. Lij finds himself in an alternate Wellington where he's not Frodo - Tobey Maguire is.
( Very cool. )

The Thing from Under the Sofa by telesilla 4/5 Recommended
LotRiPS. 1100 words. Orlando, Viggo and Sean hit the pipe and then get creative with dust bunnies.
( There should just be more fic like this. )

Title: Valentine's Day
Author: almostnever and anatsuno
Fandom: LotRiPS
Pairing: Dom/Lij
Rating: PG-13
Comments: This can be read as either Establishment!Dom/Lij or as a D/E AU. It was written as Est!D/E doing a Valentine's Day first meeting sort of roleplay, but there are no out of role thoughts or anything, so it can also be read completely as a stand-alone AU, which is why I'm reccing it (all the Est!D/E stuff is brill, but it's two years' worth of fic, so rather a bit committment). Anyway, Dom and Lij are both actors in this AU, but Lij didn't do LotR, so they're meeting for the first time at a party where they're both DJing. They hit it off and there's lots of geeky flirting and it's just so realistic and gah! I can't say enough. So good!

Title: Conversion
Author: anatsuno
Fandom: LotRiPS
Pairing: Dom/Lij
Rating: NC-17
Comments: This is a remix of sophrosyne's C-files (which was good, too). I don't really like overly poetic fic, but this is just the perfect amount of poeticness (is that a word?). ana did an amazing job with the imagery, and especially with keeping the theme throughout and really tying it together. Dom and Lij move from fuckbuddies to something more, and Elijah is transformed.

Title: Falling Up
Author: almostnever
Fandom: LotRiPS
Pairing: Dom/Lij
Rating: NC-17
Comments: This is a remix of azhriaz's Before the Weight Can Leave the Air. It is seriously one of the best fics I've ever read in any fandom. It made me tear up in so many places and I don't cry easily. Everything about it is so amazingly perfect, I don't even know where to begin. Dom dies an old man and his spirit lives his life backwards.