icmezzo_archive | Entries tagged with fic recs

Sapph and I are bringing out our multifandom holiday fic rec list once again this year.

It's a community-sourced rec list, so please, add your favorites! So many of us are reading in multiple fandoms these days, so I expect plenty of new fandoms to be added this year in addition to new stories and old favorites.

Submit your favorite holiday stories:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/10ypKuEqqpLifRHBEFNtdpPzTcQJj5RtKXLMJEfCkVWw/viewform

Find new holiday stories to read:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15AQJAbExBvre1C3lmtKh3Xe_vr7JH2QDtsImrN0zu14/edit#gid=0

(Every now and then we go in and sort it nicely by alphabet and fandom for easy use and add new fandoms as needed.)

So, help us out and drop off new favorites as you enjoy some recs from others!

Happy holidays!
sapphirescribe and icmezzo

Quick drive-by post to let you know that

sapphirescribe and I are continuing our multi-fandom holiday rec list this year. It's a community-sourced list. We created a simple form that you fill out to submit your favorite holiday stories.

Those stories are then automatically added to our rec list, viewable here.

Every now and then we go in and sort it nicely by alphabetically and by fandom for easy use. We will add new fandoms as we get additional submissions as well. But this way we cover more fandoms than we read ourselves and everyone gets great new recs.

So, help us out and drop your favorites in the list and grab some links to some new stories you might enjoy in all of your fandoms.

Now that the

hd_fan_fair's Career Fair reveals have gone up, I'll go ahead and post my story as I'm still too sick (*sniffle**cough**sniffle**whine**cough!sniffle*) to be writing at the moment. In any case, if you haven't read it already, I'd be delighted to share my work with you. I often hate my stories by the time they post--they've usually driven me mad by then--but this one is so light and fun that I couldn't be angry at it, even after the 37th hour of editing. I really did enjoy writing this one, I'm still smiling about it now, and I hope you enjoy reading it.

It's dedicated to

evening12, of course, as it was her prompt that made my imagination take flight. (If it was ever on solid ground to begin with, I'm not sure.) The ghosts were actually inspired by a discussion that was held at my house when

firethesound and

zeitgeistic visited last summer right as the prompts went up for the fest. I'm not sure they'll remember it, but I'll thank them for that regardless. The plants...well...those are dedicated to the many gardens I've had over the years, big and small, whether I've been their to harvest them in the fall or not. (I move way too often. smh.) They make me happy--no small bit of magic right there.

And, of course, I have a feast of riches when it comes to betas, Brit-pickers, and other support. Endless gratitude to the talented, amazing (underlined thrice) women who helped bring out the very best in this story. Thank you for your thoughtful editing, dearest

lettered,

arcadianmaggie,

omi_ohmy,

sapphirescribe, and

twilightmundi (it boggles my mind to even type out that list). I honestly couldn’t wish for anyone but you. [shooting star emoji]

And if you've actually read all of the above, know that the actual story isn't that much longer. Well. Sort-of. It's a quick 27k, I promise. :)

Title: Wish Upon a Star (As Dreamers Do)
Prompt Number: # 174
Rating: R
Career Choices: Harry: Hogwarts Consultant; Draco: Wishmaker
Pairing(s): Harry/Draco (secondary Neville/Hannah, Hermione/Ron)
Warnings/Content Notes: None.
Summary: There’s plant magic and celestial magic and dark magic and the normal magic that allows Harry to use a spell to clean his socks when Myrtle’s taken up in his laundry room again. Then there are wishes, and dreams, and love, and those are even more magical still.
Word Count: ~27k

Also! Also! I would be remiss not to mention the lovely works that were created based on a few prompts that I left for the fest. You should definitely take a moment to check out the amazingly gorgeous artwork/movie by

mayfly_78, who created Like Salt and Pepper (Harry: Salt Shaker; Draco: Pepper Grinder). And then dear

noeon wrote The R. Correspondence (Harry: Private Security Consultant; Draco: Manuscript Expert) for me, and well, Draco deciphers ancient manuscripts. So. Enough said right there. :D Be sure to check out others from the fest too!

As you may have read earlier, zeitgeistic and firethesound have been in town the last few days, hanging out at my place and attending the Con.txt conference here in the DC area. I think we can safely say we had a great time. :)

It was requested that we share a little bit about the conference, so we decided to debrief on the sessions we attended and what we learned and experienced over the last few days. We put our thoughts into words via gchat, and I'll pretty much post it unedited below. Hope you enjoy!

ICMezzo: So, Zeitgeistic and FiretheSound and ICMezzo just spent three days attending Con.Txt, a fandom slash con in DC. We'd had some requests to talk about the con, so this is our attempt. La! Okay, so, how many people were there? It wasn't huge.
Zeitgeistic: 70ish
is my guess
Firethesound: definitely not huge. i'm terrible with estimates, so 60-70ish?
ICM: Not like a huge con. 3 sessions going on simultaneously.
Should we talk about some specifically?
Zeitgeistic: slashbabies
Firethesound: SLASHBABIES
that name begs for all caps
Zeitgeistic: surprisingly not mpregged
ICMezzo: Okay. Yes. Slashbabies. That was the first day.
Zeitgeistic: wishes
Firethesound: wish babies
ICMezzo: It was all about different ways (accidental and not) for our gay characters to get babies.
Zeitgeistic: weirdly no regular options were discussed until like 5 min til the end.
ICMezzo: I think there were a lot of RPF fandom folks in the panel, which maybe was part of it.
Zeitgeistic: stanley cup pregnancy featured, as i recall? or lilke, the stanley cup issues you a wish baby?
ICMezzo: They don't have potions to take and such. (Reason #436 why HP is the best.)
so they had to like. Discuss adoption and surrogacy. It got kinda heavy. I think i'd hoped for more mpreg itself.
Because Slashbabies.
Firethesound: same here. i was sort of disappointed by the lack of mpreg
Zeitgeistic: yeah. and i was also baffled that wishing for babies and them coming from storks was considered a valid option for non-magical fandoms. very gabriel garcia marquez, but without the literary value
Firethesound: magical realism ftw?
ICMezzo: Babies being left on doorsteps does have its place in our fandom...
But anyway. Less mpreg than we wanted. That's the consensus, I think. So. What else did we see that day? Slash through ages. That was ancient pairings. Think Gilgamesh/Enkidu. Some biblical pairings. Ruth/Naomi.
Zeitgeistic: there was a lot of posturing.
and irrelevant trivia
regarding roman naming systems
of which i knew from wikipedia
but didn't comment on because it wasn't the fucking topic
Firethesound: there was also a lot of knitting that happened. I'd just like to say that i was both surprised and excited by how many people were knitting during panels
Zeitgeistic: one girl was making this really elaborate blue lace
Firethesound: for once, i was not "that weird girl with the knitting"
it was strange and wonderful
ICMezzo: There was a bit of cosplay.
I don't know. The panel wasn't terribly cohesive as a panel.
Firethesound: yeah, from what the mod said she'd asked friends for help who are in relevant fandoms, and they all flaked out on her
Zeitgeistic: so we talked about les mis
surprisingly large fandom
Firethesound: which is a shame because i feel like that panel had a lot of potential for being sort of awesome
Zeitgeistic:
yeah i was really hoping for gilgamesh slash recs
ICMezzo:
yesssss..
okay. Well. We'll just have to write some.
Zeitgeistic:
curling
ICMezzo:
(We said that about 234872034875423 times this weekend.)
Firethesound:
(so many things to write!)
ICMezzo:
Oh! And Rivers of London panel!
Zeitgeistic:
which is cool but would be hard to write for, imo
ICMezzo:
Yes. Magic for adults, pretty much. Based in London, but would be very hard to write as someone not based there. And the characters don't necessarily lend themselves to slash.
(Though I've only read the first book so far.)
But that panel was pretty interesting, thinking about alternate magic systems and such.
Firethesound:
i think that was one of the more interesting panels we attended. the discussion was more meta than slash, but i really love meta so it worked for me
ICMezzo:
Yes. Agreed. It was a good discussion.
Firethesound:
Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronivitch
*Aaronovitch
ICMezzo:
Definitely worth a read. (It's a book series.)
Firethesound:
(and all of them are awesome!)
ICMezzo:
Any other first day takeaways?
Finding HP folks was tougher than I thought.
Firethesound:
yeah, i thought there would be way more than there were.
but it was a lot of hockey rpf and teen wolf and stargate sga, i think were the big ones that kept coming up
ICMezzo:
And Avengers.
Firethesound:
oh yes, avengers
Zeitgeistic:
captain america and avengers
ICMezzo:
Because Steve.
:)
Firethesound:
because bucky feels, is what i got from the captain america panel
ICMezzo:
Right. We went to Captain America panel on day 2. That was a good one, I thought.
Firethesound:
yes, definitely one of the most fun and engaging we saw, i think
ICMezzo:
Energy.
Zeitgeistic:
it made me interested in the fandom. or at least watching the movies (which i haven't done)
Firethesound:
it made me want to go read captain america/avengers fic, so i think that's a success
ICMezzo:
Yes. I know. I read a bit in the fandom, but I want to read some more now.
we may need some recs...
Zeitgeistic:
^^
Firethesound:
seconded!
ICMezzo:
So, we also went to a session on writing AU.
Zeitgeistic:
there was bingo.
which sort of showed all the different AU tropes there are
ICMezzo:
and the point of AUs... such as characterization.
Zeitgeistic:
(coffee shop AU is apparently in every fandom everywhere)
ICMezzo:
Remember Friends TV show? Makes me wonder if that Fandom has a coffee shop AU...
ANYWAY. (irrelevant)
there were some AUs that seem to be prevalent in a lot of fandoms but not so much in HP. maybe tehre are things we need to explore?
Steampunk. Space?
Firethesound:
yes, there were a lot of things that came up (in other panels as well) that i just had never encountered before, since like 90% of what i read is HP
definitely makes me want to branch out a little more
::coughAVENGERScough::
ICMezzo:
and adopt what works back into HP too.
Firethesound:
ooh, yes!
ICMezzo:
(I need more steampunk art)
Firethesound:
(everyone needs more steampunk art)
Zeitgeistic:
yes
ICMezzo:
Regency
That would also be amazing for art.
(As would space.)
Oh, it did seem that "HP" serves as an AU for almost every other fandom. I think that's cool.
Firethesound:
ha, yes! i found that amusing
ICMezzo:
Why did I put scare quotes around HP? #novice
Zeitgeistic:
lol harry potter AU was one of the bingo spots
ICMezzo:
yes. EVERYONE wants to go to Hogwarts. :D
Firethesound:
well who wouldn't?
Zeitgeistic:
or make fun of hogwarts
ICMezzo:
Pffft.
Firethesound:
they're only jealous they didn't get their hogwarts letters
ICMezzo:
Last session that day was on Harry Potter.
Harry Potter Now and Forever.
Firethesound:
the one i think we were all looking forward to most!
ICMezzo:
Something like that.
It was...odd. There was a lot of discussion about JKR and her work on characters like Neville and Draco and treatment of Slytherins.
Zeitgeistic:
and some pats on the back about JKR coming out against hermione/ron
i got the feeling that no one in the room was aware of harry potter fandom at all
ICMezzo:
a lot of strong opinions about canon though.
Firethesound:
or they'd been out of the fandom for a few years at least
Zeitgeistic:
i think

lettered was recced in every panel we went to tho
ICMezzo:
Yes. They seemed surprise that people were still writing.
Zeitgeistic:
including this one
ICMezzo:
Yes. in many fandoms.
We exchanged recs toward the end.
People seemed surprised that things were still being written and had nooooo idea where to find anything.
I hope we helped?
Firethesound:
we pointed them at

capitu's

my_drarry_recs
which is where i get a lot of my recs from
ICMezzo:
Yes. And some people knew of fics by

saras_girl (Turn and Stanley-fic)
Oh, and A Piercing Comfort by

talithan.
We had to fill in a lot of the titles and authors, though.
Firethesound:
we impressed them with our vast knowledge of authors and titles
ICMezzo:
They thought us to be encyclopedias...for knowing TURN!
Zeitgeistic:
i also got to rec zero at the bone, so my life has meaning
ICMezzo:
Tell us more about that one?
Zeitgeistic:
lol this is like a coke can in an avengers movie
ICMezzo:
lol. Mkay. You can comment with a link or more info in the LJ post.
Someone knew about Smoochfest.
So some people are still reading current fests.
There were some other Harry/Draco shippers there.
Were there other ships? A few rarepair folks?
Didn't HP_beholder come up?
Firethesound:
yeah, along with snarry
Zeitgeistic:
someone really wanted dumbledore/snape recs
ICMezzo:
Yes. I...didn't have much to offer there.
#nojudgment
Firethesound:
it was fun to be around fellow HP fans, but it felt like most of the other people there had moved on to other fandoms in recent years
so many of the recs we got were either very popular stories we'd already read (eg: Turn) or things that have been around for years
luckily we had each other and a free evening, and now i have enough recced stories to keep me going for several weeks, at least
Zeitgeistic:
good lord yes
ICMezzo:
Yes. After the con we had a fun dinner in DC with a beautiful waiter who was clearly Harry/Draco's child.
Zeitgeistic:
and all the new fandoms we discovered too
oh god, yes. he was the product of legit mpreg
Firethesound:
oh, that waiter
Zeitgeistic:
tall, pointy, blond, with glasses
ICMezzo:
headcanon green eyes?
(he had his father's eyes)
Zeitgeistic:
yes and headcanon named kevin because draco would never let harry name their child after harry's parents and harry would never let draco name their child something like scorpius
Firethesound:
compromise!
ICMezzo:
He often paused to watch the England/Italy game...
Zeitgeistic:
(Italy won)
ICMezzo:
Quidditch not being broadcast on this side of the pond.
Zeitgeistic:
and we ate bacon wrapped dates
or firethesound: and i did
Firethesound:
good lord those things were fucking good
Zeitgeistic:
i licked that fucking kebab stick
Firethesound:
fellating?
ICMezzo:
It was a delicious evening.
We had sangria.
Zeitgeistic:
let's talk briefly about our effective margaritas
ICMezzo:
Oh. Yes. The first night.
Firethesound:
HIGHLY effective margaritas
ICMezzo:
Luckily in walking distance of my house.
Firethesound:
i had half of mine. just half
Zeitgeistic:
we didn't fall in the bay on the way home thank god
near thing.
Firethesound:
because i would probably have been unable to manage the short walk back if i'd had the whole thing
ICMezzo:
It was a close call.
Zeitgeistic:
they were so strong and so delish
like a good man
ICMezzo:
We had a pitcher. Or rather, it had us.
New pairing firethesound/zeitgeistic/icmezzo/margaritas/hotwaiter
I ship it.
Firethesound:
HIS NAME IS KEVIN
Zeitgeistic:
god OT4
and curling
Firethesound:
OT5
Zeitgeistic:
icy toe sex
Firethesound:
and coffee shop AU
Zeitgeistic:
YESSSS
with rimming
Firethesound:
it works because curling has brooms, which would somehow be involved in all this
Zeitgeistic:
(we are not drunk right now)
Firethesound:
(sadly)
ICMezzo:
(pauses to go open a bottle of wine)
Zeitgeistic:
#yolo
we now all have wine
Firethesound:
thank you, mezzo!
ICMezzo:
YAY!
Let's see. Today we went to 3 other sessions. We started with Tagging.
Zeitgeistic:
not a kink
Firethesound:
sounds like one
Zeitgeistic:
actual AO3 tagging
ICMezzo:
could be a kink
metadata is hot
So one of the AO3 tag wranglers was there.
Firethesound:
not the most exciting panel we attended, but probably one of the most informative
ICMezzo:
She was helpful, i thought.
Firethesound:
she gave us sort of "behind the scenes" info about how exactly tagging works
ICMezzo:
I wanted to download her brain about how it all works.
Zeitgeistic:
i learned why " - Freeform" shows up after some tags
ICMezzo:
and why is that?
Zeitgeistic:
but I won't tell you
Firethesound:
you're such a brat
ICMezzo:
(takes away your wine)
Zeitgeistic:
it's super difficult to explain oh my god
okay fine
Firethesound:
lol
Zeitgeistic:
because you're doing it wrong, basically
Firethesound:
so not a brat, just lazy
Zeitgeistic:
if it shows up it means that someone has already used that tag either as a canonical tag or a freeform tag and since there can't be 2 tags that are exactly the same, the system adds that fugly freeform bit to the end
so if you see it, move your tag. or don't and accept the freeform.
ICMezzo:
Or change the punctuation slightly?
add a final space or something?
I wasn't listening.
Zeitgeistic:
that is the cheap way
don't be lazy
like me
ICMezzo:
We also learned to be careful with the Penguin tag.
Zeitgeistic:
Penguins*
ICMezzo:
Because you'll end up getting a lot of hockey fic when you just want to read about Penguin!Draco.
Firethesound:
i'd love to read about penguin draco
just saying
ICMezzo:
Our fandom is awesome enough to have several.
So that's that sorted.
Firethesound:
we learned about tumblr too
for example, only the first five tags listed are searchable
i had no idea
or if you reblog something and add tags, your tags are not searchable
ICMezzo:
I suppose I'll be less inclined to write ridiculous tags in the future on AO3, I suppose.
Though I sort of love ridiculous tagging.
Firethesound:
i do too. i probably won't stop
Zeitgeistic:
even tho i really love long tags
ICMezzo:
But now that I know there's someone behind the scenes who has to deal with me tagging for centaur euphemisms...
Zeitgeistic:
but i think it should be differentiated...like "oh my god I can't believe I wrote this" tags are annoying, but I like "sherlock is a hot mess" tags
Firethesound:
yes, that's an important distinction to make
ICMezzo:
mmmm. hotmess!sherlock
Zeitgeistic:
it gives insight into feels
Firethesound:
really, hotmess!anyone
Zeitgeistic:
this
ICMezzo:
srsly
The second panel we did today was on bisexuality.
(non-monosexuality)
Zeitgeistic:
i liked this one a lot. it was so well prepared
ICMezzo:
The mod was fantastic.
Zeitgeistic:
the mods were really on their game. or one was at least.
Firethesound:
yes, it was really well organized and engaging
Zeitgeistic:
and good discussion
Firethesound:
and they made pins for everyone
Zeitgeistic:
good call to action
ICMezzo:
Serious at times...heartfelt...and then discussion of bi-characters.
Zeitgeistic:
loved that
ICMezzo:
in canon or plausibly canon.
Zeitgeistic:
again, made me interested in other fandoms, although now i can't remember which fandoms they were from
13 from House was mentioned.
ICMezzo:
There are a lot of bisexual vampires in various fandoms.
I remember that.
Zeitgeistic:
And Teen Wolf of course
ICMezzo:
Right. And Queer as Folk came up.
Zeitgeistic:
vampires were talked about in detail, because they're so old it's like, after so many years, gender doesn't matter to them (or this was the theory)
ICMezzo:
What were some of the others where it was plausible?
Steve Rogers was mentioned there. Stiles from Teen Wolf.
A lot from minor fandoms.
Tom Daley RPF
Zeitgeistic:
Penny Dreadful
ICMezzo:
I missed the call to action for a bathroom break. Explain?
Firethesound:
basically, WRITE BI CHARACTERS IN YOUR FIC
ICMezzo:
Accio Ginny
Zeitgeistic:
acknowledge characters who have canonical het relationships that you are now slashing instead of conveniently ignoring the fact that harry once liked cho and ginny
that was the takeaway
Firethesound:
yep
ICMezzo:
less handwaving. i could do some of that personally.
Firethesound:
same here
Zeitgeistic:
me too
and THEN.
THE PANEL OF A.
ICMezzo:
Last one we went to was an Asexuality Roundtable.
Zeitgeistic:
mezzo has opinions
so did one mom
who was using it as group therapy
ICMezzo:
There was a sharing of resources, basic ones, like AVEN, which was helpful, I think.
There is a lot that's not known about asexuality and demi and gray-A sexuality by the general population. So the sharing of resources is never a bad thing. There are a few dedicated tumblrs too.
and some of that came up in the panel. so i hope in some ways there was some education for folks.
Please, please, please. If someone tells you they are asexual, don't tell them they aren't or tell them they haven't met the right person or ought to seek medical help for hormones or whatever. That can be so, so damaging.
steps down from soapbox
Zeitgeistic:
Agreed.
I think that part stood out to all of us from this panel, but I also came away from it with some broader understanding of demi-sexuality. And of course, some asexy recs (mostly Sherlock but there was one Pacific Rim one that sounded good enough for me to toe that fandom)
Firethesound:
seconding all of that
ICMezzo:
And Lettered's Fall of the Veils of course. <3333 (Rec came from another multifandom reader, but I was pleased to learn she'd found it!)
Zeitgeistic:
Lettered's everything was recced
ICMezzo:
Haha. True.
Zeitgeistic:
we personally recced the correct spelling of her name
Firethesound:
the other message i think we all took away from the con as a whole: lettered is awesome
Zeitgeistic:
and curling
ICMezzo:
and margaritas.
and Harry Potter.
Zeitgeistic:
and we are incredibly cool people
ICMezzo:
We srsly are.
(I hope you all get to meet these two someday.)
Zeitgeistic:
and we suck at writing things while hanging out with icmezzo because we have such a good time that we can't concentrate
Firethesound:
yes, that. it'd be a problem if it wasn't so much fun
ICMezzo:
(Zeitgeistic is so full of life and firethesound has the absolute best giggle.)
Zeitgeistic:
(I'm sorry I asked for a tropes extension, Nox and Mari!)
(but thanks anyway!)
Firethesound:
(and i just learned that i giggle...)
ICMezzo:
:D
Zeitgeistic:
And CHOLERA needs a cameo
ICMezzo:
Cholera is my cat. Actually named Clara.
I think the margaritas were responsible for that as well...
Firethesound:
the margaritas were responsible for a lot of things
ICMezzo:
>.>
Any closing remarks, ladies?
Zeitgeistic:
there was a starfighter update
and also tropes
Firethesound:
not really. just that i feel like our little corner of HP is really something special. everyone i've met so far, especially these two here, have just been the nicest people <3
it's incredible to meet someone for the first time and within a few minutes we're talking like we've known each other for ages
ICMezzo:
It didn't take long.
Zeitgeistic:
i knowwww! we've had a really good time
Firethesound:
(wine makes me all lovey. blame mezzo for that. she brought it to me. because she's a wonderful hostess.)
Zeitgeistic:
yes she is
ICMezzo:
My work here is done.
Zeitgeistic:
she keeps asking if we need anything. my mom doesn't even do that
ICMezzo:
LOL
OKAY....
I think that's it.
Thanks for reading. and feel free to ask us specific questions or whatever if you have them.
BYE!

Addendum: (Because we forgot this one earlier)
We caught one other panel that first day, on inverted tropes.
Firethesound:
run by Beneficent
ICMezzo:
That was the bestest mod.
She had wings.
Firethesound:
like Maleficent, except the good fairy version of her
she was sparkly
Zeitgeistic:
i love her
ICMezzo:
Wings are magical.
Zeitgeistic:
i want to friend her on LJ but I don't knw her name
ICMezzo:
I want them.
Yes. I feel like she should be our BFF immediately.
So what did we talk about?
Zeitgeistic:
parent fic!
lol surprise parents on your doorstep instead of baby on the doorstep
someone write this
ICMezzo:
lol.
Firethesound:
seconded
ICMezzo:
oh, and like waking up straight instead of waking up gay.
Zeitgeistic:
pretend divorce and forced divorce. those sound awesome
so much potential for angst
Firethesound:
so many fic ideas there...
Zeitgeistic:
and there was also losing super powers instead of gaining them
Firethesound:
aliens kept them from having sex
ICMezzo:
FtS is giggling again.
Firethesound:
(it was house-elves)
(it's always house-elves)
Zeitgeistic:
(of course)
ICMezzo:
houseelves will do it every time.
but that's a different pairing...
Zeitgeistic:
(she's gigglng)
ICMezzo:
Kreacher/Dobby. Yummy.
Aaaaand the wine has kicked in.
So that was a fun panel.
Firethesound:
yes
ICMezzo:
Good for ideas.

The list below includes my very favorite HP fics, all spectacular reads. Some are sweet fluff, some are pure angst, and others are epically hilarious. You'll find Veela, animagus, mpreg, flashfic, and PWP. Most, but not all, are H/D. (There are a few Snarry and Snaco thrown in...) Some are classics, others perhaps a bit off the beaten track. It's all slash.

ETA: It's not all slash. There is one exception. :)

I'll update this list as I continue to encounter more amazing stories. I hope you enjoy.

( Read more... )

I have been grinning for the past six hours. My face might actually fall off from all the smiling. My lips are probably all red and swollen like fic!Draco's after a great snog.

hd_remix is to blame. And, more specifically, the mystery author who remixed my cracky comedy "Love Lies Bleating." (Oh, yes, dear Remix Author, you've made me giggle and grin stupidly and continually. Thank you. So, so, SO much.)

So, friends, you must go read. It is such a delightful treat. Truly. She's given Draco a voice and it's quite perfect. And there are more goaty shenanigans, of course. And how can you go wrong with that? Trust me. This one will make you smile. Hard. Possibly for six straight hours. :D

And can we talk about her title? Hee! Well played! <3

Remix for ICMEZZO
Author: anonymous
Title: Two Hearts That Bleat As One
Pairing(s): Harry/Draco, Narcissa
Rating: G
Warnings/Content: (Highlight to view) *Silly goats doing goat things*
Summary: After the war, Draco was prepared to spend the rest of his days alone and miserable. Then that damned goat showed up. This is a remix of

icmezzo’s brilliant Love Lies Bleating
Word Count: 5,300
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of this work. The characters belong to JK Rowling and the plot as mentioned before, is

icmezzo’s. This fic is a remix of an original fanwork and was made for fun only.
Author’s notes:

icmezzo, your original work was hilarious, entertaining and wonderfully written. I couldn’t bring myself to change much about it at all. Regardless, I hope you enjoy this attempt to look at the story from another point of view- Draco’s specifically.

digthewriter, thank you for being the best beta ever and a wonderful cheerleader. All remaining mistakes are mine.

Oh! Here. I'll post this again, too, just because I can. It seems appropriate. :)

Art by

dustmouth

There are a number of holiday fests coming up and the fic promises to be plentiful. I've decided to start up a Twitter reccing account for HPDM fic readers over on Twitter. (I know there are many reccers here on LJ, and I know they're all over Tumblr as well, but for those of us Twitter addicts, there seems to be a bit of a void.) In any case, I'm hopeful this will be a great resource for Twitter users looking for suggestions and for recs from the upcoming fests. Come and play along!

https://twitter.com/HPDMRecs will take you to the profile, or simply follow @HPDMRecs

If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to tweet or DM either me (@icmezzo) or the @HPDMrecs account.

Finally, Happy Thanksgiving! *rubs full belly*

I'm not a terribly frequent reccer. Or, at least, I don't post recs frequently on LJ. I do have my masterlist of favorite HP slash fics, and then for a few fests each year I compile spreadsheets of recs with links on google docs. Unfortunately, that seems to be the most I manage to fit in. And, really, I'm just not a natural flailer. But I can try! I wanted to support Rectober because I do think reccing is important and I'm so grateful for those who are constantly supporting the fandom in this way. A good reccer is, I think, a gift to the community.

I know that there are a few big fests going on right now, so I assume the recs from those are being taken care of. I decided instead to compile a rec list of few fics that are very important to me as a reader, writer, and human being. Many of them are older, so I suppose odds are good that you've already read some or most of these. But if you haven't, I hope you enjoy them.

The fic that made me want to write in the HP fandom.
Title:A Consummation Devoutly To Be Wished
Author/Artist: Mirabella
Pairing(s): Harry/Draco
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 6719
Summary: Um... dracoisaveelaandHarryishismate. Shut up.
Why: I think of myself as a comedy writer first and foremost, and while I read a lot of the classics first when I started reading in HP, this was the first true comedy I picked up. And was it a good one! I giggled like mad reading through it and came out the other end thinking, Wow. If I ever write HP fic, that's how I'd like my comedy to be. (Debatable whether I've actually achieved this...) For the first time it made me think that there might be a place for me as a writer in the fandom. I joined late after many authors and many, many stories and artists had built this corner of the fandom, and I wasn't sure that I had anything unique to add to the existing library. There were, after all, more stories than I could ever, ever read already posted. But this fic let me know that there was a place here for humor with a side of crazy. And while it was one of the earlier stories I read, it remains a favorite because it inspired me to move from being a reader to a writer in this overwhelming and intimidating new fandom. That and it's fucking hilarious. :)

Note: It seems that my existing links for this story have just become inactive and word is that mirabella is in the process of moving her fic to dreamwidth after the original posting site was sunsetted earlier this year. There are PDFs of this story available on the great wide internet and it seems Wayback Machine should be doing its thing soon. So it is possible to get to this story, but I'm not sure the best place to link you to. Clicking Mirabella's name above will take you to her fanfiction. I recommend checking there first for the story. I have located this backup version but clearly it is not the best version and it lacks appropriate attribution, etc.

The fic I wish I'd come up with.
Title: The Holy Tree is Growing There
Author/Artist:

lotus_lizzy
Pairing(s): Harry/Draco
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: ~18,000
Warnings: Main Character Death(s) (highlight to read), angst, sex
Summary:
The winsome, winsome elder tree
Beneath whose shade I sit reclin'd;-
It holds a witch within its bark,
A lovely witch who haunts the dark,
And fills with love my mind.
~George Burrow
Why: It is pretty much my goal in the HP fandom to come up with a plot this perfectly lovely, this absolutely gorgeous, this sweetly melancholy. This storyline makes me want to weep in awe of the beauty in this world while crying tears from its tragedy. If you are a warnings sort of person, do read them. There is a reason this story inspires tears. But it also reminds me of the best that is in us. It is unforgettable.

The fic that made me weep like no other.
Title: Kiss me with Fire
Author/Artist:

lucilla_darkate
Pairing(s): Harry/Draco
Rating: R
Word Count: ~4k
Warnings: Angst and everything that goes with it.
Summary: They know each other, heart and soul, but still it changes nothing.
Why: I am not a crier. Really, it has happened with like approximately six fics ever. This is the one that made me snotsob. (Attractive, no?) The warnings may be inadequate for some of you; there's a reason it made me weep. But as someone who hates being spoiled, I'll just advise caution. This story is short but it packs a punch. It's warfic, and it is absolutely devastating. However, I also find it beautiful. The characters are true and unapologetic. The setting is unforgiving. And this story, too, is one I will never forget.

The fic that made me want to be a better writer.
Title: The Eight Tale (Or, perhaps, The Eighth Tale?)
Author/Artist:

lettered
Pairing(s): Harry/Draco
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: ~10k
Warnings: meta, sex, and sad (don’t say I didn’t warn you)
Summary: Draco Malfoy tries to fix the past, but instead mucks it up some more. For Harry, it all becomes quite clear.
Why: I read this story about three times in a row to ensure I'd placed all the pieces together just as they should be. And then I read it again because I was so damn amazed by it all. This fic is meta and sad and maddeningly brilliant. I love just how much of my brain was engaged while reading it. And I was left rather in awe of how it had all been assembled but in such a smooth poetic sort of way. There are snarls and questions and paradoxes. And I hope one day I can write a story so engaging and so clever. It's something to aim for, no?

The fic that awed me.
Title: Lamp in the Cooling Room
Author/Artist:

libby_drew
Pairing(s): Harry/Draco
Rating: R
Word Count: ~9k
Warnings: none
Summary: Draco and Harry become snared in a trap, but they're not alone. Love guides our path for reasons we can't always understand. The Lovers: A card of crossroads, tension, and a decision. Duty or your heart's desire? A test that affects the rest of your life.
Why: I'm not a fan of kidfic, but this one is told from the point of view of a little Muggle girl who has been caught with Harry and Draco. This fic was beautifully told, and it reads almost like a fairytale, slightly detached, slightly poetic, and slightly challenging to the reader. It left me questioning myself as well as what I know of canon Harry and canon Draco.

My favorite HP fic. (I admit it; I have one. Don't you?)
Title: The Pure and Simple Truth
Author/Artist:

lettered
Pairing(s): Harry/Draco
Rating: PG
Word Count: 70k (It happened by accident)
Warnings: No porn. No plot. No, really!
Summary: Harry, Draco, and Hermione go to a pub. Harry, Draco, and Pansy go to a pub. Harry, Draco, Pansy, and Hermione go to a pub. Harry, Draco, Hermione and Ron go to a pub. Harry, Draco, Hermione, Ron, and Pansy―you guessed it―go to a pub. I could go on. In fact, I did. Harry, Draco, Hermione, Pansy, Ron, Blaise, Luna, Goyle, Neville, and Theodore Nott go to a pub. In various combinations.
Why: There is always one, isn't there? One fic that stands out in your mind as perfection in fanfic form. For me, that story is The Pure and Simple Truth. I'll tell everyone and anyone to read it. Twice. It just makes me...happy. The writing is brilliant. Writers who struggle with dialogue should read this as a tutorial. It is so damn snappy. It inspires me to do better. Oh and the characterizations? Outstanding. Phenomenal. It is a cast of seemingly dozens but each person is vibrant, unique, loveable--and as flawed as any other person in the world. Maybe it's because I love redemption. Maybe it's because I love snark and naivete and forgiveness and truth all sitting around a table sharing pints. And maybe it's because the Pure and Simple Truth is perfection in its simplicity. (Bonus: A scene with wizarding ballroom dancing is absolutely delightful.)

My favorite non-HP fic.
Title: When Morning Comes
Author/Artist: Starlingthefool
Pairing(s): Merlin/Arthur
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: ~9k
Warnings: Violence
Summary: If life were fair, anyone who managed to survive the apocalypse would be given a fuzzy blanket, some tea, and a nice bed to hide under and weep. Life is not fair, obviously, and there's no actual end to the end of the world. Instead, there's grief and pain and mud and death, there are minor miracles, and there's the love that gets you out of bed in the morning, despite everything. Life goes on.
Why: I don't read much outside of HP fic these days, but every now and then I need a breath of fresh air. I read this Merlin fic after reading ~90 HD fic in a row for the last hols fest. The writing is super smart and snappy, the content original. It's a bit bitter, it's sprinkled with dark humor, and it is heavy on the angst. It was, however, written for a HEA fest. So you can hang onto that when things look bleak. For those of you who've never watched or read Merlin before, it matters not. It's AU where the apocalypse has come and gone...and that's the problem, isn't it? This is good for anyone who likes an excellent story. Which fandom it is, is pretty much irrelevant.

I'm late to the party; don't make me stand here alone!

My response.

Join in the fun!

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capitu

A/N: I can get on board with this after getting super cranky myself about those After Elton poll results. I've already submit my two "hottest" fics...Time for you to share yours! Let's make sure we get all of our fav fandoms represented on magnolia822's list!

Originally posted by

magnolia822 at REC ME ALL OF THE HOT FICS IN ALL THE FANDOMS

There has been a lot of fandom angst lately, especially with this After Elton poll from hell, designed to tear fandoms apart. LET'S ALL COME TOGETHER NOW AND LOVE OUR SLASH PAIRINGS, WHATEVER THEY MAY BE.

So I'm asking you, dearest flist, to send me your top two HOTTEST fics in any fandom, so that I may compile a list this weekend and share the pr0n with everyone!

( I'M TIRED OF BEING ANGSTY OVER MY OTP AND ALL I WANT IS ALL OF THE GOOD SLASH AND THE PRETTY BOYS 'MKAY? )