starsandatoms | Reading

The Boston Ballet production of Maillot's Romeo et Juliette has turned out to be not only my favorite Boston Ballet production that I've seen so far but also tbh one of my favorite Romeo and Juliets full stop. It is Taking Swings and Making Choices and some of them are very weird but all of them are interesting.

( we're just gonna go ahead and cut for length )

mific posting in

fancake

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Rating: Explicit
Length: 14,383
Content Notes: mild, essentially harmless exploitation of a baby by Rodney (the baby's well cared for)
Creator Links: Helenish on AO3, dodificus on AO3, dodificus on the Audiofic Archive
Themes: Angst with a happy ending, Kidfic (has a child), Pining, First time, Friends to lovers, AU: fork in the road

Summary: It was easy to imagine fucking Rodney, the way he'd groan and clutch at John's arms and be too bossy about the whole thing; it was easy to imagine the problems it could cause.

Reccer's Notes: This is a cut off from Earth AU with the focus on John Sheppard's angst, pining and denial, but the ending, contrary to the title, is not unhappy. We follow John who's unwillingly and increasingly attracted to Rodney (but initially there's no way he'd ever let Rodney know). John tries to pretend he doesn't have feelings for Rodney while being tormented by jealousy, especially when Rodney temporarily cares for a refugee baby, partly as a "chick magnet". Helenish writes pining, self-deluding John brilliantly and this is another tour de force, packed with plot, UST, frustration, humor, and finally, finally, a happy ending, even though they're squabbling and miscommunicating throughout.

Fanwork Links: Your Inevitable Unhappy Ending on AO3
And the podfic read by dodificus is here

skygiants

I've had great luck in the past with the sort of kdrama in which an angry immortal supernatural woman has to hang out in contemporary Seoul with a nice mortal boy. We were hoping The Judge From Hell would be that sort of kdrama, and, technically, it is; I think in its heart it would love to be Hotel del Luna. Unfortunately, it has also decided that what it wants to be is a violent revenge fantasy with incoherent and punitive ethics. Interspersed with wacky shenanigans! and a healthy dose of Catholicism?

Okay, so the premise: our heroine is Justitia, the DEMON JUDGE of the UNDERWORLD, THIRD IN LINE to the THRONE OF HELL, whose job is to sentence unrepentant murderers to unending torments. However, when a nice young judge gets murdered and accidentally ends up in her domain instead of the lesser hell where she belongs, Justitia refuses to listen to her pleas of innocence, gets ready to sentence her anyway, and promptly gets her wrist slapped by her superiors: she's gotten complacent! Time to go to Earth, wearing the body of the dead judge, and learn! about JUSTICE!!!

Given that Justitia's initial mistake involved accidentally sentencing an innocent person, you might be forgiven for thinking that Justitia's job on Earth might involve perhaps getting justice for the wrongly accused, or learning to temper justice with mercy and a little bit of nuance, or even uncovering faults and corruption within the justice system as it exists. haha! no. Justitia's job is to hit a quota of Unrepentent, Unforgiven Murderers On Earth and sentence them to unending torment, just like in her day job. She does this by chasing them around a sequence of nightmare scenarios that mimic the things they have done to their victims and beating them up, then stamping them on the forehead with a little stamp that says GEHENNA while then the doors of hell open and an ominous voice roars GEHENNA!!!! and they get sucked into hell. We did not enjoy the excruciating sequences of murderers being chased around a sequence of nightmare scenarios that mimicked the things they had done to their victims, which the show obviously wants us to find cathartic and satisfying. We did enjoy the ominous voice that roared GEHENNA!!!! It made us laugh every time.

( this got long but tbh not as long as it could have been. this show was so incoherent )

mific posting in

fancake

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, Jeannie Miller, Kaleb Miller, Madison Miller
Rating: Teen
Length: 5753
Content Notes: no AO3 warnings apply
Creator Links: sardonicsmiley on AO3
Themes: Angst with a happy ending, Family, Established relationship

Summary: Sooner or later, Rodney just gets under your skin.

Reccer's Notes:
The angst in this one isn't romantic, as John and Rodney's relationship (shown indirectly) is solid. No, this is about the fraught relationship Rodney has with his sister, Jeannie, who often gives him a hard time in canon and teases or belittles him. In this story we see a series of visits back to Earth where John and Rodney stay at Jeannie's, with John increasingly fed up with how Jeannie treats Rodney and finally letting her know. There's some very nice steely-eyed John here, and Rodney is both a BAMF and absolutely there for his family. The ending is happy, with Jeannie finally fully supportive in return. A great read.

Fanwork Links: How the Millers Relaxed and Learned to Love Rodney (With A Little Help from John Sheppard)

mific posting in

fancake

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: Genfic, John Sheppard & Rodney McKay, Original female character
Rating: G
Length: 8103
Content Notes: no AO3 warnings apply
Creator Links: Sholio on AO3, Sholio's own site City on the Ocean's Edge
Themes: Angst with a happy ending, Friendship, Families of choice

Summary: The old guy in Room 30B was about the most disagreeable human being that the nurses had ever met. But he did get visitors, including a retired Air Force Colonel.

Reccer's Notes: This is told through the outsider POV of a young volunteer nurse at a retirement home, writing out what happened - for herself, but she tells it as though talking to her mother, who died some time before. Because of that, it's not at first as angsty as it might be, as she doesn't initially like or care about the cantankerous old guy in room 30B. That changes a little as the story progresses, and of course, we feel the angst even if she doesn't, knowing this is Rodney who's old, increasingly frail, and basically dying, while John, not quite as aged and infirm, watches helplessly. Despite herself, the young volunteer gets invested in Rodney, partly as she has enough spirit to stand up to him, which he likes. Also, before he gets really ill he tutors her in his abrasive way as she's had a difficult life and is studying for her high school diploma hoping to eventually go to med school - but until Rodney helps, she's not doing too well. Eventually there's a happy ending, but not before those closest to Rodney like John, Sam, and Elizabeth have grieved for him and come close to despair. Luckily, Teyla and Ronon are on the case, back in Pegasus. The ending is very satisfying, where we see what becomes of Annie, the volunteer nurse who cared for Rodney and put up with him at his worst.

Fanwork Links: Old Soldiers Die Hard

lotesse

</3

kingstoken posting in

fancake

Fandom: Sherlock Holmes (tagged as both books and Granada)
Pairings/Characters: Holmes/Watson
Rating: E
Length: 13,317 words
Creator Links: rudbeckia
Theme: Angst with a Happy Ending, courting

Summary: Watson, finally pushed away by Holmes’s lack of regard for his feelings, has left 221B Baker Street and moved into his practice. Holmes is confused—he did nothing wrong! But when Holmes realises (because everyone who gives him advice tells him so) that he is to blame, he knows he has to do something meaningful to win Watson back.

Reccer's Notes: Watson gets tried of Holmes' mistreatment and decides to leave Baker St. Much angst in the beginning, but also a Holmes determined to get his Watson back, cue the wooing! I enjoyed the inclusion of side characters like Mrs Hudson, Mycroft and Lestrade, and there was also an original character, a woman doctor who works with Watson, that I greatly enjoyed. It is tagged as both books and Granada, but I pictured the Granada lads when reading it.

Fanwork Links: AO3

garryowen posting in

fancake

Fandom: Star Trek AOS
Pairings/Characters: Kirk/Spock
Rating: Teen +
Length: 11,213
Creator Links: BC_Brynn at AO3
Theme: Angst with a happy ending.

Summary: My name is S’chn T’gai Spock, and I am six years old. At the age of twenty-nine, I have been involved in an accident that has reduced my physical age and erased my memories accordingly.

Reccer's Notes: Usually, in stories about aging, one partner/beloved grows old, but in this one, Spock finds himself a child again. Despite losing many memories, he knows and remembers Jim, and he is absolutely determined to get back to him. But he has to grow up first. There are a lot of challenges along the way.

What I admire about this story is that both the author and the narrator (Spock) have such singular focus and total commitment to the project. One of the issues the story takes on--and what sets it apart, IMO--is the way that a slightly different upbringing and life path create a different person. It also addresses the sacrifices one must make to achieve a goal. It's absolutely heartbreaking. But, as this theme specifies, there is a happy ending. Also, of course, it's got big meant-to-be energy!

Fanwork Links: A Guiding Star

runpunkrun posting in

fancake

mific posting in

fancake

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Rating: Teen
Length: 617
Content Notes: no AO3-type warnings apply
Creator Links: Auburn on AO3, Auburn's old eternalvox website on Wayback
Themes: Angst with a happy ending, Established relationship

Summary: John might walk into the water and disappear like a changeling from some bastard fairy tale; everything rich and strange he’d given Rodney fading like magic without him, lost.

Reccer's Notes: Angst with a happy ending can be compact as well. We start the story with hints of John having been through something traumatic, but we never know what (and given Pegasus, take your pick). Or maybe they've lost Atlantis. It's from Rodney's point of view, his angst, and I love the unknowns here, the lyricism and pain, finally resolved in a storm's wild beauty.

Fanwork Links: Not Near the Sea

runpunkrun posting in

fancake

Poll #33132 round 175 theme poll

This poll is closed.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: Just the Poll Creator, participants: 108

Pick the next theme of fancake:

Female Relationships
56 (51.9%)

Just Like Canon
23 (21.3%)

Sunshine & Grumpy
29 (26.9%)

spherical cows

of negligible mass

(no subject)

SGA: Your Inevitable Unhappy Ending by Helenish

(no subject)

SGA: How the Millers Relaxed and Learned to Love Rodney by sardonicsmiley

SGA: Old Soldiers Die Hard by Sholio

(no subject)

Sherlock Holmes: Come If Convenient by rudbeckia

Star Trek AOS: A Guiding Star by BC_Brynn

Theme Reminder: Angst (With a Happy Ending)

SGA: Not Near the Sea by Auburn

Round 175 Theme Poll

Profile

October 2013

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags