Hot fic recs

I'm trying to write this before it gets too hot to breathe up here. I believe in global warming, I do! Although last weekend I spent two days in a steady rain watching my son play outdoor basketball. That was unusual - this heat is way more common.

At last! HP content! HP recs!

Well, first, here's the song I'm listening to: La La Means I Love You - Laura Nyro. If you're not familiar with this utterly unique singer-songwriter, have a listen. She probably wrote a lot of 60's hits you know but weren't aware she wrote, like Wedding Bell Blues, Eli's Coming, and Stoned Soul Picnic. This song is a cover, and one I particularly love. Oh, and here's another soul/R&B she covered: Ooh, Baby, Baby.

I've been catching up on reading your fics, and here's just a short list of those I thought were excellent. To these authors who I haven't left feedback for yet, my apologies, and consider this proof I really liked your stories! ( In no particular order, eight HP fic recs! )

Tell me what you want, what you really, really want

So I gather the topic du jour is feedback/reviews, kicked off by oulangi's honest appraisals (or harsh and hurtful snark, depending on your position) of Snape/Harry fics.

I can see the point of both pro and con camps. I think isiscolo has a valid and astute viewpoint on the topic, which explains concrit versus reviewing.

But I'm not writing to discuss the merits of that argument, but to admit to my own rather wimpy philosophy. To wit: I rec things I really like. I leave feedback when I have a spare moment (and it's not 100 effing degrees like right now - 38 C for you Celsius folk). And when I have less-than-favorable reactions, I keep my mouth shut.

Is this useful to the authors? Not at all. But then, they didn't really ask me.

However, if I'm asked to beta, that's a different story. I'll give the honest opinion, no holds barred. For some reason, folks don't use me for a beta very much. Right now, only jamoche has a WIP that I'm beta-ing.

So if you really want to know my self-taught-author reaction to your fic, you'll have to ask me specifically. Because I'm probably more focused on the person-to-person relationship we have than the out-of-the-blue critique you may quietly hope for. You can ask for a serious review here, or you can email me. Or you can ignore the whole thing and upload my songs instead.

Look -- here's one now! Tiga & Jake Shears - Hot in Herre (Nelly cover)