rants and ramblings of utter randomness

In your own space, post a rec for at least three fanworks that you did not create. Drop a link to your post in the comments. See if you can rec fanworks that are less likely to be praised: tiny fandoms, rare pairings, fanworks other than stories, lesser known kinks or tropes. Find fanworks that have few to no comments, or creators new to a particular fandom and maybe aren't well known or appreciated. Appreciate them.

1. Rage and Weakness by tanyareed. due South, Fraser/Thatcher, PG-13.

Yes, these are two stories, but they read more like two parts of a whole, so I'm listing them under one selection. Written when the few Fraser/Thatcher fics out there sounded like they were written by 12-year-old teenyboppers, Rage is a breath of fresh air--a thoughtful, well-laid-out portrait of Thatcher, presenting her as someone in fearful control of her emotions and personal life. When she is assaulted (physically, not sexually--this is not rapefic), she must begin to trust someone other than her own tightly-controlled self.

The second piece, Weakness, is a look at how Fraser and Meg (and also Elaine, who is significant in this story--always a good thing!) deal with their own self-identified weaknesses in relation to the events of Rage as well as in relation to themselves and how they perceive others (and each other). The author shows each character as very human with flaws and hangups as well as the intelligence and wisdom to begin to overcome them. This was one of the very first Fraser/Thatcher fics I read, and it's still one of my very favourites.

Here are the links for Rage chapters 2,3,4, and 5.

Links for Weakness can be found here (easy to locate amongst other stories that you might want to read, too--if anyone would rather have links to individual chapters let me know in the comments and I'll link them).

2. Oklahoma by Amperage and Livengoo. X-Files, Mulder gen. Rated NC-17 for violence.

Summary: "It's 1987 and the Oklahoma cops have an unsolvable case. Fox Mulder, golden boy of the VCU, is called in to stop the murders of children across the state. What he finds takes him places he never wanted to go and forces him to make the pivotal choice of his life."

This is a really old story; I found it last year during a minor resurgence of my (also really old) X-Files obsession. This is X-Files pre-series gen; it reads like a psychological horror novel, with a really fucked-up Mulder investigating a child serial killer who finds a way--real or imagined, we don't know at the start--to get inside Mulder's head and mess with it even further. T.S. Eliot's poetry plays a central role in a wonderfully creepy way. This is Muldertorture (a subgenre I usually run screaming from) at its most Muldertorturous, and definitely NOT for the squeamish. It's also really, really good. I would love to comment on this story at the source, but it was written back when emails were the only way to comment, and I'm not sure the authors would appreciate kudos 16 years out.

3. If You Can See Where You're Going by isiscolo. due South/Wilby Wonderful crossover. Frannie/Buddy, PG.

This fic isn't really unknown, but I haven't seen it recced in a while, so maybe some newcomers haven't read it yet. Isis calls it "probably the most all-out romantic story I've ever written", and it's definitely that, in a really good way. What it is not is a "Frannie-meets-someone-who-looks-like-Fraser-and-they-live-happily-ever-after" story. On the contrary, this story is about Frannie dealing with just that subject--the evolution of her relationship with Buddy goes from a crush on a Fraser clone to a real look at her feelings about lots of things--including Fraser, and including Buddy as a separate person. Buddy's line to Carol "What do you see when you look at me"? is dealt with here, and his line "if you know where you come from, you can remember what you wanted" is turned on its ear. And the framing POV is perfect. So, yeah, it's a romance--intelligent, fun, and damn good. You don't have to have seen Wilby Wonderful to enjoy this fic, but if you haven't, I'll bet you'll want to afterwards. :)

This is one of my comfort stories. I bet it'll be one of yours, too. You can give Isis love here, at her LJ.

( Another weird dream, wtf? )

And then to top everything off, my morning netsurf came up with this, which is also weird as heck but also all cracked-out satirical and made my entire day (the reasons for which probably don't need exploring at this juncture because it'd be way too scary):

True Patriot Love by glossing

Past Shawinigan, the Trans-Canada Highway is deserted. Beneath the bloody sky - and that's not really metaphorical, as the sky had been dripping A+, half-coagulated, for a week now - a massive van, crazy-quilted with rust and the remains of various paintjobs, clatters and huffs its way east. It has the lane to itself as it rat-a-tats across the cracked asphalt, swerves to avoid remnants of the undead hordes, and guzzles gas like nobody's business.

This van is the last, shaky vessel of Can-Con. And it's running as fast as it can.

No, really, it's a whole new genre: pseudo-RPF political/satirical crackfic. I was hooked at the first line of the disclaimer: "Dude, *of course* this is made up. I swear on Stephen Harper's Evil Hidden Agenda".

All right, all right, it's been a weird morning, okay? Hmmph.

Now I need coffee and food. I have to drive to New Hampshire this evening. Ellen is feeling fine and dandy, thank you, and even goes up hills without complaining. Yay for the car doctor!

In completely other (non)news, Jimmy Rankin's voice breaks me. Guh.

Oh, here, see for yourself: Jimmy Rankin - Colorado

I'm about a third of the way through geoviki's epic sequel Delicate Sound of Thunder. I am already torn apart, flayed, enchanted, encouraged, and left with some modicum of hope for these misguided, damaged, incredible, beautiful characters.

Besides, she's playing all my favourite songs.