shut up and let me see your jazz hands

Glee

Blessed Not Lucky by gloss Rec
900 words. PG. Mercedes/Quinn + Lauren. "A time to mourn/A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together"

Neat post-apocalyptic fic. I'm really curious about this world.

Son of a Preacher Man

Sweet Caroline by mjules Rec+
2600 words. G. A stomach full of fireflies, a house full of secrets.

Oh wow. *_* I would never have found this if not for going through the trans tag to find stuff for my master list, aince while I'm vaguely familiar with the song, it's not something I'd have otherwise clicked on, but I'm so glad I did because it was amazing.

Stargate: Atlantis

Dreaming I'm Alive by cesare Rec
21,000 words. When John is exposed to the Iratus retrovirus from "Conversion" again, the team bands to help. But there are some things John has to face alone.

This was written for sgareversebang and based on this really cool drawing by chkc. This is John/Rodney, but the story itself is mostly gen. I loved the alien species and the details about John's transformation.

Ugly Betty

Ugly Betty Season Five: New York, New York by yahtzee63 Rec+
Series. Takes off from canon during the show's penultimate episode, "The Past Presents The Future." Betty is about to leave New York for an exciting new life in London ... but fate has other plans. To Daniel's surprise, so does he.

This is the first "virtual season" of a show I've ever read, though I know it's a fairly common thing. Mainly I don't read gen that much, so I'm not as interested in it for other shows, but for Ugly Betty it's perfect. I had already read and loved one post-canon UB fic by this author, so when I happened across this virtual season five, I knew I had to read it. It is everything I could hope for in an Ugly Betty fic and really feels like it could actually be canon. All the wacky soap opera plot twists are here and so well done. One thing I really like about this series is that the whole season is not "will they or won't they?" Instead, once they realise they have feelings for each other, the problem is finding time to actually be together (and even that doesn't last the whole "season"). I love that Alexis is brought back, and also YOGA. My favorite minor character. And Yoga/Claire is strongly hinted at here, hopefully it will be more than hinted at by the end of the series.

Yes, that's the one drawback. This is still a WiP. There are currently twelve fics, over 150,000 words total, but it's not done (I'm guessing the author means it to be a twenty-ish episode season, as the show was). While the fics were originally being posted on an almost weekly basis, the last one was posted June 8th and the author seems to have discovered X-Men: First Class in the meantime, so I hope that doesn't mean they'll drop this. D: *crosses fingers* Anyway, I highly recommend it as-is, even if it never does get finished. But I have used the AO3 subscribe function (first time using it!), so I'll be notified when/if more is posted. (I hope eventually we'll be able to modify subscriptions so we can subscribe to just one fandom from an author, or one series/fic/tag/etc.)

So, when I asked what I should post for 3W4DW, a couple people said fic reviews, and I haven't really been reading a lot of fic lately, but there is what I have read!

Babysitters Club

Accordingly Adorned (The BFF Remix) by velvetmouse Rec+
1300 words. G. Stacey & Claudia. Good fashion sense is gender-neutral. So is friendship.

OMG this is perfect! It's a remix of a fic that was written for me for Yuletide, so it feels like an extra remix present! I'm so thrilled to see more of Claude (or any trans!Claudia).

Full House

Round the Corner Straight by busaikko Rec+
1100 words. Michelle. The first two years, Glen doesn't want to see his family at all, not even cousins or people related by marriage. Joey jokes that he called in his debts, making his voice all Godfather-y, but Glen's pretty sure he actually had to go and explain things to Dad, and that there was a whole bunch of trouble involved.

I...did not know I needed Full House fic about Michelle being trans? (I mean, it actually took me a minute to remember which one Michelle was; at first I got Michelle and Stephanie confused.) But apparently I did, because this is awesome. It makes me want to watch Full House again (I loved it when it was running, but haven't watched it in years and years), but I know that Full House wouldn't be this Full House, so I guess really I just want more of this universe? XD

Harry Potter

Freaks, Geeks and Post-War Resolutions by kaycee
3000 words. PG. Dudley feels out of place at Harry's party until a sweet girl asks him to dance.

I liked the idea of this a lot, but not so much the execution. Very tell, not show. Still, it's cute enough.

Hikaru no Go

Daylight (The Quiet Understanding Remix) by hostilecrayon
200 words. G. Touya/Hikaru. Touya doesn't know, but he understands.

This is a POV shift of my one and only Hikaru no Go drabble. It works really well as a companion piece (and also stands alone, which is always a plus in a remix, IMO).

RPF

Nothing to Say but It's Okay by cesare Rec
500 words. Teen. Jude Law/Ewan McGregor. The man who wriggles out of the linens is every bit as wrecked as the room.

Ces was asking for prompts and I asked for sleepy morning-after-the-first-time sex with either Jude/Ewan, Dom/Elijah, or John/Ronon, and she chose Jude/Ewan, yay! :D It's more funny and cute than porny, which is just fine with me. ♥

Stargate: Atlantis

Ganymede's New Groove (The Erastes Expansion) by sabinetzin Rec
3900 words. Explicit. John/Rodney. It's hard to believe he's twice Rodney's age.

This is an expansion of a drabble I wrote a couple years back for the McShep Match drabble tree. I really like what the remixer did with it. I think I had a more predatory John in mind, whereas this John is just sort of sad (especially in the second and third chapters), but I like that reading a lot. It certainly works with John's character. And I like snarky, jaded teenage Rodney.

Avatar

We Need the Storm by sparkay Rec
800 words. R. Azula/Zuko. It is not light that we need, but fire; ...We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. - Fredrick Douglass

I hadn't really thought about this pairing before, but I think I will look for more. I really liked this. It's for Porn Battle, but it's not just a PWP. I like the hints it gives us about their past.

托夫 by eruthros Rec
300 words. G. The Ember Island Players did him a favor, really, when they took their show on the road.

It's ftm!Toph! I love it! (And it's written for meeee!)

Huge

All of Us Amazons by psocoptera Rec
1000 words. Teen. This is either a meditation on the social construction of the female body, or else the one where Alistair feels up Chloe's breast. (Don't worry, she isn't wearing it at the time.)

Oh, I really liked this a lot. It's future fic, in which Chloe and Alistair (now Alyssa) have a heart-to-heart after Chloe has lost both breasts to cancer. It's just such a great little slice of life fic.

Inception

Weltschmerz by cobweb_diamond
14,600 words. Mature. How to come to terms with the unsatisfactory nature of physical reality.

I'm not really that interested in Inception fic in general or Arthur/Eames in particular, but I had heard good things about this one where Arthur is trans, so I figured now that I'd seen the movie I'd check it out. Like the movie, it was enjoyable enough, but I wasn't really wowed. One thing I really liked was Arthur not being able to make himself a functioning cismale cock in dreams, because he doesn't have the first-hand knowledge of what it feels like. That would definitely trip me up. For any change, really, unless it was something I'd once experienced myself.

Stargate: Atlantis

Kid by anon Rec+
1100 words. The guy always called John kid. John remembers this really clearly. Hey, kid the guy had said. That's a great skateboard, even though it was a crappy banana board, bought used. You like skating? the guy asked, and so on until he got to Skating's expensive, isn't it? and How would you like to earn a little extra money?

Wow, this is really good. The prompt is "John/any male characters, gangbang, first time. John hopes no one ever asks him how he lost his virginity, because no one would believe him" and it's not written in a porny way, but rather John thinking about how much it fucked him up (though it is definitely explicit). I really, really liked it.

*flops* OMG I finally finished reading these fics!

The Payoff by neevebrody
6000 words. R. "Anyone worthy to follow my journey may discover these secrets. You will then see first hand how I spent my long hours here in the Valley of Rains." Minaeus made a slight bow and smiled again. "Shall I offer you more incentive?"

I enjoyed this, especially the first half or so with Rodney trying figure out Minaeus' puzzles. I also liked that it was mostly a gen story with an established relationship in the background and not yet another first time (which, don't get me wrong, I love first times, but I'm tired of the setup where some Ancient device or mission is the trigger to them finally realising/admitting their feelings and getting together, especially since those are so often Gay For You stories).

Operation Play Time for Rodney by mikes_grrl
4800 words. NC-17. John just wants to help. Really.

This is one of those fics I never would have read if not for the fest because I just would not click on something called "Operation Play Time for Rodney", and sad to say, it wasn't a hidden gem. It was pretty much what I would expect from a fic with that title, which was a story that was really, really not for me. It's not horrible, just...generic and not the sort of fic I care to read.

But I Ain't Got Wings by grammarwoman
3900 words. R. When Rodney finds some plans for a flying device in the Ancient database, John wants one... badly.

This is cute. The writing is decent, though a little more exposition-y than I care for (especially one part where John is thinking about various canon events and it felt like I was watching a clips show). I wish there had been more about the Ancient flying device, though, because it sounded neat.

Play(er) by scarlettandblue
8500 words. R. "It was every bit as awful as he imagined it would be, talking about stuff, feelings. And yet now he’d said what he needed to, strangely he did feel better. Maybe that was the good part of this new thing he was trying. The more honest with himself thing."

Enjoyable despite the info-dump-y beginning. I liked how the author portrayed John coming to terms with his sexuality. It didn't feel like the usual Gay For You story, even though Rodney was still positioned as different to those other guys John had had sex with in the past. It didn't feel like his sexuality was tied to his attraction to Rodney.

Defining Shifting Boundaries by mirror_mirrin
7400 words. NC-17. Rodney’s overactive imagination gets him into trouble. Again.

So, this was a sappy established relationship fic that took a turn for the angsty when they were having sex and tentacles suddenly came out of the bed and tied John up, and Rodney thought it was hot and let it go on a little too long even though he could see John wasn't enjoying it. Now after plot-device!Torren (whose lines such as "Momma was talking to Unca Wodney, and Unca Wodney said you’s angwy, so I wan away to find you. Why is you angwy at Unca Wodney, Unca John?" are a stellar example of how not to write kids) gets them to talk to each other, Rodney confesses to John "how his one and only encounter with bondage had been with a consenting past girlfriend in university, and that had led to her panicking and screaming for help halfway through. Her well-meaning housemate had used the spare key to unlock the door and she'd almost bashed Rodney's head in with a lamp before chasing him out. His girlfriend at the time, Julia, hadn't said a word to defend him, nor did she contact him after that. After a few seconds of silence, Rodney confessed that he’d thought that she was the one for him." Which pings me as both OTT and icky in that "mean bitch who is mean to ickle Rodneykins" sort of way. And then of course they go on to have ~healing~ bondage. So yeah, not for me.

Ain't That a Kick in the Head by wojelah
6800 words. PG. Sometimes the only other option is losing someone important. Someone close. And if those are the only two options, John picks the one where he takes the hit. He's never been good about giving up a hostage to Fortune when she comes to collect.

Post S5, Jennifer and Rodney have broken up, the team is on a dangerous mission and Rodney needs rescuing, which leads to him and John getting together. It's not bad (I did enjoy it) and the writing is good, but it just feels like a million other fics and there isn't anything new or different about it.

Fore(tune) Play by florahart Rec
6900 words. R. If they can't go back to Pegasus and they're going to be stuck on a nondescript base with substandard equipment and an inadequate coffee supply and idiots in charge, which is totally unacceptable, there had better be something really good waiting on the other... wait. Really? Okay, well in that case. (just don't tell Rodney this is making lemonade, because for one thing, it's really not, and for another, he probably wouldn't appreciate the metaphor).

This was fun! Great Rodney voice, and I loved the banter.

Wider Than the Sky by wintercreek Rec
4100 words. G. In which Ancient ideas for practical security are unimaginably weird, the security and structural integrity of field pack straps could probably use some more rigorous testing, and John and Rodney reach a new level of relationship security without ever really having much out-and-out discussion.

The end felt a little rushed, but overall I really liked this. Definitely one of the better fics of the fest prose-wise and I liked the teaminess of it.

The All American Road Trip Or How to Make Rodney Crazy in Two Thousand Miles by secondalto
3100 words. PG-13. John takes Rodney on vacation.

There was some good banter and I like the idea of a road trip fic, but the whole thing with Jennifer meeting an old boyfriend and getting engaged to him within a week, while still dating Rodney, and then breaking up with Rodney via email just ruined the whole fic for me. I just skimmed after that, but the rest wasn't really my thing anyway.

Absit Omen (The We Gotta Get Out of This Place Edit) by mirasol
3000 words. PG-13. "Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here" ought to be carved in letters thirty foot high on the outside of all the temples, cloisters, caves, mazes and markets that the Team visit.

This day's theme was "trick or treat", so the story has a Halloween theme. It's enjoyable, though more in a fun way than actually being creepy.

Sweet by shakespherical
4400 words. NC-17. John and Rodney baby-sit Madison.

This was too sweet for me. Way, waaaay too sweet. Totally serious talk of sex being spiritual and this being true love. Ack!

Mamihlapinatapai by clavally Rec
3000 words. NC-17. A midnight festival with boats, meteor showers and personal revelations.

Very well written. I really loved the worldbuilding in this. I love to see Pegasus festivals and stuff that's not all wacky sex rituals or whatever.

Who Could Claim the Sky by lavvyan
17,700 words. PG-13. In a world ruled by the Wraith, Rodney McKay is just trying to keep his head down. When a new group of prisoners is sent out to build a supply road, events are set into motion that throw Rodney's life out of balance – and might force him to betray his greatest secret...

I'm not sure I've ever read an AU where the Earth folks are Pegasus natives. This was an interesting idea and the prose is good and I liked the worldbuilding, but for some reason I just could not really get into it. I would read a couple paragraphs and wander off, then come back again several days later to read a few more. It finally did pick up for me towards the end, but I found the first two-thirds or more so slow...

A Question of Quantum Physics, Molecular Attraction and Timing by gottalovev
18,000 words. NC-17. Rodney tries to guess what his new neighbour does for a living. John is amused.

This was cute and I enjoyed it quite a bit, despite some of my pet peeves being present. It's nice to see a sporty!John story where Rodney doesn't instantly dismiss him as a jock and not worth his time (because of course he doesn't know until after he's already gotten to know John).

Five Times John Sheppard Won at Sports - and One Time He Lost by valderys
7100 words. PG-13. There's always been times in John's life when he feels like he's losing, even when he wins. On Atlantis, it's even worse.

For the most part this was really well-written, but the section with Rod really tripped me up. Okay, it's been ages since I've seen that episode, but...he talked like Rodney, right? I know he had a different personality, but he didn't talk like this, did he? "I was clinging on to someone familiar, who isn't mine to presume upon. I must start moving on, however hard that will be." In fact, I just went on youtube and found clips of the episode and he sounded totally normal, so this was very bizarre and threw me out. Other than that, it's quite good, though.

As Sorrow by ribbon_purple and taste_is_sweet Rec+
12,900 words. R. In nature there is no evil, only an abundance of horror. —Isak Dinesen

Fuuuuuuuuck. Wow, this is really creepy and gross and awesome. I loved it. I admit, I felt a little cheated by the psych-out, but it was well done. I totally didn't expect that to be not John. When I got to the reveal, I went back and read the first part after the cave-in, up until Tanner starts to tell Rodney he's not Sheppard, and it all works really well (and switching the POV where they did was perfect, because that definitely leads the reader to believe it's John in there with Rodney). I didn't read any of the warnings, so after he shot John, I was expecting Rodney to shoot himself and was really surprised when he didn't. That would have been cool, too, but a much riskier story than this (which was already risky). Imagine Rodney shooting himself after he thinks he's killed John and then it switches back to John's POV and they come and find Rodney and Tanner.

Life in the Fast Lane by ldyanne
16,300 words. NC-17. The day John died was just the beginning of the rest of his life.

I was going to say I disliked this fic except for some neat sci-fi ideas it had, but then I remembered it's a fusion with the movie Freejack, so all the neat sci-fi stuff is from that movie. As for the fic, the prose is all right, but it was a little sappier than I like. If it had just been that, I would have said it was okay. Cool sci-fi elements (dystopia! time travel!), but the romance was meh. However, I actually had to stop reading near the end, where Sam Carter was an evil villain who wanted to steal John's body for her own, so she could have Rodney for herself. Ick. I mean, it's a neat plot idea in and of itself. Just...I don't want to read slash where women are the villains trying to break up the guys. And this was even more of an affront, because it was just Sam Carter in name only, totally OOC. I mean, in canon, Rodney is the one obsessed with Sam! Anyway. So yeah. Also, there was a bit that really threw me out, where John is thinking of this ring he bought for Rodney, because they were going to get married in Canada...in 1992!

Haven't posted any reviews in a while because mostly all I've been reading is mcshep_match and I'm not posting those reviews until after the fest is over. But I did read one SGA fic and one Sherlock, and already had another SGA review on my hard drive, so I figured I'd go back and finally review the rest of the fics I read during the Transfic Mini Fest and then I'd have enough for a post. And so I have!

Batman

Might Spit Like a Girl But I Hit Like a Guy by gloss Rec+
800 words. The best thing about being Robin is that he gets to fight (back). A bunch of thugs put their thick skulls together and decide to whale on a few of the kids working the stroll, waiting for johns? Robin can swoop down and take those motherfuckers to *school*.

I don't really know much about Batman, certainly not this incarnation or this Robin, but I really liked this a lot.

Glee

What if I'm a Mermaid? by starlurker
1400 words. Teen. Kurt is changing.

This is sweet and cute. I had misread the prompt as asking for ftm!Kurt, rather than mtf, and I actually really want to see that, but I liked this a lot, too.

Katekyou Hitman Reborn!

This Heart's Still Solid Like a Knife by eisen Rec
500 words. It is noise, but it is her name.

This was in answer to one of my prompts, "this has nothing to do with Mukuro; this is about me". I had in mind Chrome being ftm, but I really like this take on it! There is all sorts of interesting stuff that can be done with Chrome and Mukuro.

Leverage

It's Not a Question (But a Lesson Learned In Time) by pixel Rec+
800 words. PG. He's just tired of waiting to be ready to do it.

I have wanted trans!Hardison for a long time and this was just perfect. It's gen with Eliot and Parker helping Hardison find some closure. I really loved this bit especially: " He thinks for a brief moment of keeping them, something tangible, he was here. The idea dies as soon as he flips open the top folder, wrong name, wrong person, wrong life scribbled all over the neat little lines and boxes."

Pokemon

'Cause You're Always Burning Up So Bright by agent_squeaks
100 words. He wasn't born right, he realized, right after he had evolved into a pikachu.

Aww, this is cute! I never would have thought about Pokemon transfic about the actual Pokemon, but this works.

Powerpuff Girls

From the Desk of Bubbles: Things I Will Keep on Doing as a Boy by dagas_isa Rec
500 words. General Audiences. Bubbles is a boy now, but he's still going to be himself.

I had asked for fic about Bubbles being ftm, but still being sparkly as a boy and this is just exactly what I wanted. I would love to see more of this Bubbles!

Sherlock

A Facade Faded by starjenni Rec
2200 words. T. Alternate Ending. You know that person who we thought for a split second might be Moriarty? Well, he is.

Ooh! I really liked this. ( spoilers for the show )

But I really like the idea! And I think this did a really good job with it.

Stargate: Atlantis

A Mark in Time by busaikko Rec
2700 words. PG-13. It turns Rodney on; John gets something else out of it.

This is a very sweet and adorable fic about Rodney being a plushophile and owning a Hello Kitty costume. XD

Backdoor Baby by anonymous Rec+
12,300 words. "I'm sorry," she says again. "I'm afraid I have to tell you, um..." She pauses, her eyes on his. "You're pregnant."

Wow, I really don't know what to say. This is 12K of Jennifer/John mpreg crack and I started reading it for the lulz, fully expecting it to be badfic, but it's actually really good! Like, in every way. The writing is great. The characterisation is spot-on. It's hot. It's funny. It explains how the pregnancy works in a way that satisfies me (it's an Ancient machine, natch, but even then, a lot of stories don't bother trying to explain the mechanics and it frustrates me to have it be so handwavey). I was unable to see this pairing at all before, but it totally made me buy it (they weren't together at first). I am really kind of floored at how much I enjoyed it. XD

Battlestar Galactica

A Difference of Two by helens78 Rec
3300 words. Mature. When one of the Leobens challenges Anders to a one-on-one game of Pyramid, Anders takes him up on it. But Pyramid's a contact sport, and bruises aren't the only marks Leoben's leaving.

I'm not really familiar with BSG and only read this because I was betaing it, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. Someday I should watch BSG.

due South

You Don't Hate It (Then You Don't Hate It) by helens78 Rec
6500 words. Explicit. When Fraser and Ray need information about a missing musician, Ray sneaks them into a party where some old friends of Ray's are hanging out. It turns out one of them might have some information, but Lew Ashby isn't the kind of guy to let information slip without getting something of his own, and Ashby doesn't want money. Problem is, Ray doesn't trust Ashby completely, so he asks Fraser to step into the room with them and watch his back. And Ashby says Fraser can watch anything he wants...

This is a crossover with Californication, which I am also unfamiliar with, but you really don't need to know any canon there, except that Ashby is played by the same actor who plays Ray. Anyway, this is a sort of "undercover gay" scenario, which is not usually a cliche I like (both because it often goes hand in hand with Gay For You, but also because like Aliens Made Them Do It, it's them being forced together by circumstances, which is not my preferred way of getting characters together), but while the undercover sexing is what gets Ray and Fraser together, they are both already queer, so perhaps that's why I enjoyed this more. Also I was surprised by how much I liked Fraser here. It's in his POV and he's actually really funny.

Sherlock Holmes

Ablutions by damned_colonial Rec
950 words. PG. Holmes hasn't been home for two days. When Watson finds him, he's a mess, and Watson won't be seen in public with him unless he cleans himself up.

Yet another installment in the asexual!dom!Holmes series, though this one focuses more on Watson's desire to serve Holmes rather than Holmes actually being dommy.

Stargate: Atlantis

Constructing Wings to Fly by reddwarfer Rec
1400 words. PG. John never expected a disastrous job interview to be one of the best things to happen to him.

Cute high school/college AU where John and Rodney are both trans guys. :D

Want You (To Find Me) by busaikko Rec
1800 words. NC-17. The beer and the game and this conversation are exactly the terrible kind of seduction he would have expected from John.

Oooooh, non-AU fic where Ronon is ftm. I enjoyed this story a lot, but it also made me really want to know more about Satedan culture in this regard. So someone should write that. :D

Culture Thing by sabinetzin Rec
800 words. NC-17. Dating an alien: it's harder- and easier- than it looks.

Another John/Ronon fic. I liked this a lot. I love stories where people aren't perfectly in sync, but they make it work anyway.

Sarah Connor Chronicles

Out on the Wire by lithiumdoll Rec
60,600 words. Teen. Post-Born to Run, it's a long walk home.

This is a really amazing (and really long) fic that essentially functions as a third season. I enjoyed it a lot and found it fairly plausible, but as it neared the end I was feeling more and more dissatisfied. I am still reccing it because I think it's very much worth reading, but I feel like the ending was kind of a let-down.

( Spoilery stuff I liked and disliked. )

Hmm. I don't know. I did like it, but I think I went into it hoping it would be The Fic, the one that wrapped everything up for me and felt enough like canon that I could be satisfied, but instead it was just a fic. A well-written one, and an interesting one, but not something that had me going "omg this is my canon now!"

The Simpsons

What Remains by geonncannon Rec+
600 words. She closes her eyes and imagines she was sitting on the stairs again, watching her father sit with Mr. Flanders in the living room. She remembers her father's anger. "What happened to Marge, the thing that killed her! You won't find that in some book!"

Yes, it's a Supernatural fusion and it is so awesome. Very Simpsons. I love the little meta bits.

Trying to add in a handful of Transfic Mini Fest fics whenever I do a review post... XD

Iron Man

D-Seventeen-D-Zero by helens78 Rec+
1600 words. Explicit. Tony's testing out some new armor, but he's late getting home -- which means Pepper has every reason to experiment with some of his armor's more interesting systems.

Tony installs a dildo in the suit. Pepper finds out about it. Hijinks ensue. XD This is hilarious and hot.

Stargate: Atlantis

To Be True by helens78 Rec
2000 words. Explicit. Rodney and John have always made things work, even though John wanted kink and Rodney was only doing it to make John happy. But what if it isn't just to make John happy after all this time? That's a good thing, right?

This is a sequel to telesilla's Too Good (The YKIOK, IJNMK Remix), which is itself a remix of crysothemis's Too Good. I love that while Rodney's views are changing, things aren't just magically okay.

The Things You Can't Touch by reddwarfer Rec+
700 words. G. She hates being bitter, but can't seem to stop.

This was for my Rodney/Jennifer prompt of "missed opportunities/jealousy at a partner's early transition" and it's just the sort of thing I was hoping for. I especially love this bit:

"You could just use your--" Jennifer begins, but Rodney cuts her off by storming out of the infirmary. As much as she hates being called Rodney, she hates Meredith even more. Her sister's called her this for years, despite painfully worded admissions and outright begging. Meredith is the cruelest of jokes. It's a reminder of every painful moment of her childhood. Of people teasing her for her name as she desperately hated what she wasn't.

Midnight Heart by cesare Rec+
800 words. Unrated. Jennifer hangs in there after Rodney encounters an Ancient device that transitions Rodney from him to her. Jennifer supports her as she comes to terms with the sudden change, and reveals that she's always wanted to be Meredith, says to Jennifer, to her family, her friends, her colleagues, "This is me. I don't want to go back."

This was for the same prompt as the one above, only it put a completely different spin on it. I love how jealous Jennifer is of Meredith's magical transformation and I love Meredith's thoughtlessness.

Over, Begun by cesare Rec
800 words. Unrated. The love didn't surprise her; the pain did. Once she'd wanted to spend her life with Rodney. She was glad to know the truth about what happened between them, and she wanted to be a good friend to Meredith, but for now it still felt bittersweet.

This was for a different Rodney/Jennifer prompt on the fest, "it's not a bad break-up, but it's still a break-up". I love this look at Meredith and Jennifer after it's over.

Supernatural

Deep Breaths by trollprincess Rec
21,800 words. Mature. Azazel offered Mary a choice, and she did what she had to do. She looked him in the eyes when he offered to bring her dead boyfriend back to life, and she told him no. Fifteen years later, she's divorced, a single mom, and living in the sort of quaint small town she used to dream about raising her family in. Enter a strange woman with a mute little girl, a woman who cracks through Mary's barely stable facade of a normal life. Featuring five tequila shots, four threatening angels, three fatherless children (maybe), two kickass women, and a platter of peanut butter brownies.

Wow, wow, wow. This is really amazing. I love the way things unfold and how things I thought were odd at first turn out to be odd for a reason. It's really well written and really well thought out. ( Spoileryish )

Supernatural RPF

I Wrote This Novel Just for You by secretlytodream
19,000 words. NC-17. Funny, they could be a perfect couple if one of them wasn’t a psycho serial killer and the other his biggest fan.

Wow, this was bad. I'm not bothering with spoiler cuts, because this is not a fic I would recommend to anyone and so I really don't care if I spoil it for you.

I thought, from the summary, that it would be a good kind of creepy, but instead it was a badly-written misogynistic mess. D: The author is clearly not a native speaker of English and I wish she'd had a better beta. The prose is clunky and just off in places. But the story itself is just not that great, either. This is the story of a guy who falls for a serial killer, yet we're never shown why. We're told that he does, and we're shown what happens when he does, but it relies on shippyness to explain why Jensen should fall for Jared. He does because they're meant to be, duh. And while I might be willing to accept that in a non-serial-killer AU, I really need a little something more here. Also the whole thing with Jensen's book was so vague it felt like the author had no idea what was going on. You don't need to know everything about your story, but make the audience believe you do.

But really, what pushed this from eh to ew is the misogyny. I didn't think, when I clicked, that serial killer!Jared would be one of those serial killers. You know, the kind who only kill (thin, pretty, white, blonde, able-bodied, young) women. Right away that puts a whole icky spin on this. And Daneel is a character in this (for those not in the know, this is Jensen's RL girlfriend/wife (I don't know if she was his wife at the time, but I believe they are married now)). Oh, I had a bad feeling. She's not Jensen's girlfriend in the fic, just a friend, but I still had a bad feeling. And sure enough, I was right to. In fact, it was even worse that I thought. I thought Jared would kill her. Instead, he kidnaps her and tells Jensen that Jensen has to choose: him or Daneel. And he can't just say he chooses Jared. No, he has to kill Daneel for him. And yeah, he's torn up about it. And at the end of the story he decides he can't stay with Jared after all. But that doesn't actually do anything to lessen the sliminess I feel for having read that.

I love dark fic. I love creepiness. This was the wrong kind of creepy.

Other RPF (Jude Law/Ewan McGregor)

No Faint-Hearted Damsel by helens78 Rec+
1100 words. Explicit. Head-to-foot, Jude is Ewan's girl. An evening that starts with a corset and ends in pleasant, sweaty fun for both of them.

It's Jude/Ewan! Transfic! With bonus D/s!

Iron Man

Reconciliation by thelma_lou Rec
7700 words. This is not the end-of-the-line scenario she’d always envisioned. This is not a drunken mistake or desperation or declining years or no one else left to fight.

Ahhh, this is perfect. I love how it really deals with their working relationship and doesn't just gloss over it.

People Who Know My Sins by atrata Rec+
2000 words. Dancing is not in her job description, but neither is mopping up blood at 4 in the morning. She does it anyway.

I always say I am not a fan of H/C, but I...I guess I am? If it's low-key and all OTT emotional and whumpy. (Totally a cromulant word there.) Just most of it that is labelled H/C tends to be way over the line for me into embarrassingly emotional, so. But this! This was so good! And the image of Pepper sitting on Tony's lap and patching him up when he's broken and it's all UST-y just makes me all sparkly-eyed. *_*

Turning Your Orbit Around by atrata Rec+
800 words. Five terribly inappropriate gifts Tony Stark has given.

Ahahahaha! This is perfect. I especially love Pepper and Jarvis's gifts (Jarvis's is really the very best).

Jupiter Crash by atrata Rec
1600 words. There's a bruise across his ribcage, a mottled purple mess, yellow-green around the edges.

HOSHIT this is hot.

She leans back to get a better view of his face, then lays her hand over his ribcage and glances down. One slight adjustment, and she's right: The heel of her hand does cover the worst of the bruise. She presses on it and Tony inhales sharply, his jaw clenching. He leans into it, though, bends his arms like he's doing a push-up against the glass, and Pepper keeps pushing. She doesn't jab or poke or thrust, just a steady unrelenting pressure until -- there. Until the pain on his face morphs into pleasure, until those harsh lines etched into his skin relax and his eyes fall shut and his mouth falls open, and then she leans in and kisses him, and kisses him, and kisses him.

Also there's pegging.

Stargate: Atlantis

Strong Enough To Be My Man by telesilla Rec
12,500 words. John can't really imagine safewording over anything that could happen in a spa, but then again, he has no idea what Rodney's planned for him.

I enjoyed this, but it's a little set-up heavy for me. Not in an exposition sense, but in terms of setting up for the scene. Fully half the fic is spent detailing how John gets ready for his scene with Rodney. It's not uninteresting or out of place, and it's well-written, but I'm more of a "cut to the chase" person. ^_^;; Still, very hot, especially towards the end when they're back in their room. And the whole thing gave me a sort of n'awww of nostalgia, because it all was very reminiscent of The Establishment (unsurprisingly).

Sherlock Holmes

Untitled by damned_colonial Rec+
800 words. "An interesting case. Are you aroused by anyone telling you what to do, or is it only me?"

For the obedience square on kink_bingo. This is pretty much perfect.

Harry Potter

Five Times Hermione Granger Punched Draco Malfoy by thelastgoodname Rec+
800 words. "That felt good."

Oh man, I really love this. Punching Draco gets Hermione hot and she goes off and has sex with Ron. I love how aware yet unaware she is of her kink and how Draco seems to know the game and keeps coming back for more.

Five Times Draco Malfoy Took it in the Face From One H. Granger by lunabee34 Rec+
800 words. Draco watches as Granger gets a glazed look in her eyes and drags the Most Irritating Weasley off into the storeroom for what Draco can only assume is a session of connubial bliss. In Draco’s rather limited experience, it’s considered polite to ask the third party if he’s interested in joining one’s marital bed, but perhaps indiscriminate and sexualized violence is normal for mudbloods.

This is the same fic as above but from Draco's POV and it is exactly what I wanted when I finished reading the first one.

Here's a handful of remixes + an lgbtfest that I have been eagerly awaiting. And a couple more Iron Man fics just because.

Stargate: Atlantis

Imaginary Boys by busaikko Rec+
27,500 words. Mitchell and Sheppard get together during The Return, and if it wasn't impossible it'd be perfect.

Once again busaikko blows me away with another long, plotty transfic. The action plot is very cool and I really love both Cam and Shannon here. I love that Cam is not perfect, but he's also not a total asshole. He just has his own issues. The prompt she used was "What is it like to transition in a small closed community where everyone knows you?" and she just really ran with it. It didn't sound like that interesting a prompt to me when I saw it on the list, but wow. She made it interesting.

Mission Control (The Professor Angell Remix) by elementalv
1300 words. Rodney is hanging on by a thread.

First off, people. You do not need to use capslock every time a character yells. For serious. Just by writing "Rodney yelled", we know that he yelled. Now stop trying to be JKR.

Other than that, this was a pretty cool fic. I like creepy fic and there is not enough of it in fandom. This is made even better by being a creepy remix of what was originally a run-of-the-mill fluffy mpreg fic.

On the less cool side, I find the total erasure of Ronon and Teyla, who featured fairly prominently in the original, to be really unsettling. It's not like it's pared down to just John and Rodney, either. There are mentions of Kavanaugh and Elizabeth and Carson and Katie Brown and Cadman. Just no Ronon and Teyla. Which gives me a creepy feeling I don't think the author meant to.

Don't Call Him Alien Spawn! by chaletian
1600 words. So, they hadn’t meant to make a baby.

This is kind of cute, but it felt like it was trying too hard to be wacky and just fell flat (the overuse of capslock didn't help).

Of All the Gin Joints in All the World (Rubato Encore Remix) by melayneseahawk
1100 words. The last thing John expects to see is Rodney--the one night stand he couldn't forget.

This is cute. The original was one of my favorite SGA fics by helens78 and I really liked the ambiguous ending of it. As much as I sometimes like the whole "finding each other again" trope, sometimes I just like a one-night stand to be a one-night stand and not lead to soulmates forever, and this takes the ambiguity of the original and puts it firmly in the soulmates forever category.

Sherlock Holmes

The Effects of Proximity: The Sleight of Hand Remix by blue_soaring Rec
1400 words. His permission to take such liberties has been granted a hundred thousand times over, what Watson believes his body is saying should not contradict it.

Very interesting take on an asexual Holmes who enjoys sex with Watson for the closeness, but doesn't actually like sex or want to have an orgasm. I really liked the prose.

I didn't read the original on this one and I don't plan to as I noticed it was by an author who had a horribly misogynistic Holmes/Watson/Mary love-triangle one and I just don't want to go near their Holmesfic again.

Games of Chance (Remix) by lace_fic
2200 words. "You seem remarkably adept at removing gentlemen's clothing."

I didn't realise at first that I had read the original already because I didn't recognise the author name on the archive, but it's blue_soaring, whose Holmes fics I like very much, especially Games of Chance! Unfortunately while the remix was enjoyable, it was enjoyable pretty much entirely because of the original. It was the exact same story (dialogue and all; and it was some great dialogue, to be sure) but from Holmes' POV. And the POV change added no new information to the original at all. Despite Watson's drunken POV in the original, it was clear that Holmes wanted him and Watson just wasn't getting it. So here we get...Holmes wanting Watson and Watson being too drunk to get it. :-/ I like my remixes a little more adventurous, or if they are to stick this close to the original, at least to have some surprising revelation.

Iron Man

One Night Stand by svilleficrecs
1000 words. No Jarvis then. No famous Pepper Potts. Just Virginia, hard-partying UCLA freshman and, at the time, blonde.

Nice bit of backstory. I could totally believe this.

Irreparable by svilleficrecs Rec
32,000 words. He can do this. He can fix this. He can make this work.

I didn't like this one quite as much as the foot fetish one, but I did like it a lot. I thought I caught hints of D/s in the foot fetish one and I see I wasn't wrong. XD (This fic and that one are unrelated, but are by the same author.) Though I am definitely jonesing for a less hesitant dom!Pepper. Tony is the pushiest sub ever (obvs) and needs a firmer hand. (I will also accept Rhodey domming Tony, if that's how you roll. *cough*helens78*cough* Just someone needs to do it. XD)

( Spoilery )

Still! There was a lot I enjoyed about this. Even though some things that I disliked were very heteronormative, I loved how non-heteronormative the sex was in many ways. (I think this may be the first time I've read a scene with a woman fisting a man?)

Oh, also it has lots of awesome, awesome Tony & Rhodey BFFness.