moâ

First chapter here, follow the links or the tag for all 15 chapters.

Warnings: it's still a WIP

It's hard to describe why I love it so much. The writing's good, the setting is excellent, and the execution is just masterful. In an alternative universe, the heir to one kingdom becomes the slave to the heir of their sworn enemies. There is a lot of court politics, of underlying tension, of deceit and manipulation. No slash so far, but I think it's better this way - these characters behave like real people, they have many other priorities than sex. And it's the best rendering of two different cultures in fic I have ever read.

Go, read, review.

I've read two lovely fics recently:-

The Asp at Hogwarts, next gen, gen, novel-length. Albus Severus Potter's first year at Hogwarts. Great world-building, great OCs, great plot.

The Minister's Wife Rita Skeeter/Rufus Scrimgeour, one-shot. Plotiness, and a very enjoyable take at Rita's motives.

Today was Brother #3's birthday and he got (among other things) a bagful of Carambar. They're chewy toffee-like pieces of candy wrapped in little papers on which there are the silliest jokes in the entire universe. Which brings me to reproducing this one especially for apisa_b:

"What sounds like 'Zzzzb Zzzzb Zzzb'?



















Answer: a bee moving backwards"

Last but not least, go read the drabble Septentrion wrote for me! (en français, dans l'univers de Maigret :)

Over here it's more about lovers but I mean this in the broadest, platonical, friendly sense. I hope you've having / have had a great day.

On other news, a multi-chaptered gift fic has been posted over at the Sshg_exchange for me, with my name on it and everything. I pinch-hitted but I don't remember leaving any prompts, so I assume this fic's been reassigned. More fool the original giftee! says I, as now it's all mine!

You should go read it too. It's not my usual cup of tea as it has pretty dark themes, but if one is to be taken away from one's comfort zone this is definitely the fic to do it with. It's magistrally written; the narrative is clear and compelling and the storytelling is one of the best I've encountered in fandom. As a matter of fact, quite a few original writers could learn from it: it is concise and manages to present the reader with all the elements we need to see the global picture. It forces us, the readers, to give it thought and attention - the mark of a great story.

A summary? Well, the prompt went "Hermione brings Snape back from the dead for impersonal reasons. But Snape is not quite right. This is not a Buffy thing", but it's much more than that. It is a dystopia, so scary that we never learn everything about it. It is a nightmare, that comes to haunt us from the beginning and that blends into reality at the end. It tells us all about Hermione without ever entering her mind, and nothing about Severus despite devoting several chapters to his thoughts. And yes, there's smut.

I don't want to say any more. Go and read it for yourselves, and don't forget to review.

Here, on skyhawke

Ginny/Pansy, short, NC-17, romance.

Extract:

This was the furthest from that she could imagine. It was a Gryffindor. It was a girl. Even worse, it was a Weasley. If this didn't do it, she didn't want to know what would.

Besides... it would be fun, Pansy thought philosophically. And it wasn't even illegal.

I promised Padmoony a couple of links and thought I might as well do so publicly.

Novel-length: can't be read all at once, is long enough for several comfy evenings
Novella: anything longer than a single LJ entry, that can be read in one sitting
Short fic: one LJ entry

Comedy: you'll spew tea on the keyboard
Funny: you'll laugh aloud
Dramatic: lots of action
Dark: no fluffly bunnies in sight
Angsty: someone dies

WARNING: I'm telling you whether there's a happy ending or not, don't read further if you don't want to be spoiled that way


( Without further ado, in no particular order )

This seems rather fitting as a first proper entry :)

I'm currently reading Lightingthewaves' Sacrifice series. It's fantastic, the best fic I've read in a long time and almost as good as the books - and definitely as long if not more. There are seven of them: Start with "Saving Connor" at the very bottom, then work your way upwards. Here's the link. You can't read online, you have to download either the .doc or .pdf file, but in the long run it's the kind of story I'm very happy to have on my hard drive. Slytherin!Harry has a twin, Connor Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived. Gen to R, ultimately HP/DM, superpower!Harry, complete.

Another long, compelling Gay!, Slytherin!, Superpower!Harry is Mad Martha's Two Households. The R parts are now f-locked, but a) the author friends everyone who asks provided they're of age and b) there are PG-13 versions of the R chapters so you can read the stories just as well if you're underaged. Link to chapter one here, use the tags to navigate. Complete.

Last but not least, there's a WIP I've been wanting to rec for a long time: Family Values by Ishtar. It's an Addams family/Harry Potter crossover. They're a bit American and very much Gary Stuish, but in a slightly demented, trademark Addams Family kind of way. Hilarious. Here's the link!

Happy reading!