Outside, It's America

Even though I've been an H/D aficionado for nigh on three years and more, I have to admit that there are older stories I haven't managed to read yet. No, I won't tell you which ones, because I intend to rectify that; I really do! I promise it's not yours. ;-)

There was one in particular that I bookmarked a long time ago because it was a WIP, and we all know my policy on starting WIPs. Then I belatedly found out it was finished and dutifully moved it to my "to read" bin, but put the actual "reading" off. Until recently.

And oh my, did I have a treat awaiting me!

The story is Very Midsummer Madness by George Pushdragon (aka fee_absinthe), and here's her summary:

I thought stealing the plot of Twelfth Night would be a good excuse for twin Harrys, shipwrecks, boys disguised as girls, Draco carrying a riding whip and Ginny flouncing around as a duchess. It was. Shakespeare's themes of the paramountcy of love and the shortness of time are still there under all the fluff and Draco does look good in doublet and breeches. Warnings: Snape wearing his yellow stockings cross-gartered and under-use of the word "buttock". Lashings of slash.( More ravings about how good this fic is )

Okay, so I've been waxing poetic on IM to several people trying to get them to read it too so we could wax together. And meaning to wax poetic here as well. And then…and then…today, something else happened.

fee_absinthe wrote another jaw-dropping story. Nocturne for Quill and Ink.

OMG, it's exactly the kind of H/D story I adore. Again, it's that awe-inspiring combination of detail with characterization: ( Amazing stuff, isn't it? )

Don't make the same mistake I did. Go read!

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! )

Listen to the above song with me: Personal Jesus (acoustic)

I've been quiet. Did you notice?

Mostly I've been either getting ready to go, gone, or recovering from being gone to Santa Fe. I trot off to a yearly workshop in water issues (or, more accurately, lack-of-water issues) in the Espanola Valley. Being there always reminds me of reading ajhalluk's The Kindly Ones, because two years ago, I held a sneak preview of that wonderful story in my hot little hands on the drive down. And reread it frequently throughout the week. Then there is the remodeling of our family room, which always takes way more time than planned.

So what do I have to tell you after more than two weeks of silence?

1) You can pass off any meal as haute cuisine if it's got a bay leaf in it. Okay, so this list isn't in order of importance.

2) yeats has written a lovely H/D fic: Late Edition. She wrote my wonderful merry_smutmas fic, and I'm in love with her style.

3) I have no fewer than four stories percolating in my brain, but I need to make myself stop faffing around on LJ and write the buggers. But then, you all are being silent, too. Who will even bother with the non-H/D ones?

I'm keeping my hand in, though, at hpshortfics:

Wild Oats - Snape and cereal was the prompt. I do the unthinkable for me.

My Favorite Things White dress shirt and a Weasley.

Untitled. Snape/Draco and corsetry. There are two parts to this one; mine starts after Goseaward's.

HP-Narnia Crossover . Snow - Draco.

4) The Brazilian singer, Maria Bethania, looks so much like Snape as to be his twin sister. But can he sing like this: Maria Bethania - Ambar?

I was asking myself what would I recommend to someone who asked what the attraction was of HP fan fiction. Which stories showcase some of the best authors around? Obviously, this is a personal selection, culled from hundreds of bookmarked stories, and it's slash-heavy. For those of you who think I'm only about Harry/Draco - hey, look! Not so much, huh? This is a first cut - there are more authors to come, but I haven't yet narrowed it down to a single story of theirs. And I might add more stories by these authors. But you can't go wrong with any of these:

Shorter stories Part 1

A.J. Hall - The Kindly Ones - Draco/Neville - drama

Aja - The Reader - gen - drama

Allecto - The Chosen - Harry/Vincent Crabbe - drama, char death

Amanuensis1 - Rituals and Traditions - Harry/Draco - humor (password for Restricted Section needed)

Helenish - Soft Spot for Lost Causes - Draco/ Ron - drama, comfort fic

Helenish - Third Time's the Charm - Snape/Lupin - drama, comfort fic

Isis - First Piece of Silver - When the Cock Crow - Peter Pettigrew/Evan Rosier - drama

Ivyblossom - Nightswimming (Ch. 1 of Origins) - gen (later H/D) - drama. (I think this first chapter can stand alone).

Julad - Night Blooming Heartsease - Neville/Snape - drama, char death

Marks - Lights Out - Harry/Draco - drama, char death

Mirabella - Kailash, When It Rises - Harry/Draco - drama

Mirabella - Desperate Measures - Harry/Harry - humor

Sam Vimes (Copperbadge) - The Children - gen - drama

Scoradh - Though the Night Yield No Glimmer - Draco/Gregory Goyle - drama, comfort fic

Zionsstarfish - Way of the World - Harry/Draco - drama, comfort fic

Catch-up time for those goodies I've been hinting at.

First up: ART! Here are the two H/D sketches I was lucky to receive at The Witching Hour, by fiendling and waccawheels. Fiendling's, although she probably didn't realize it, illustrates my post-ATBT story, Harry Potter and the Slytherin-Coloured Lamborghini. You'll recognize the back-seat smooch.

Then, rosesanguina wrote me rentboy H/D while we were both waiting in the art line. I've typed it up and posted it at pornish_pixies. Go enjoy!

I mentioned reading a short story by Neil Gaiman that's a bit of fanfic: it's about Susan and Narnia, The Problem of Susan. Because it's a bit hard to get hold of (it's part of a compilation of short stories, Flights: Extreme Visions of Fantasy edited by Al Sarrantonio), I scanned it and zipped it using Windows (if this doesn't work for you, let me know). It's 8 pages of jpg scans.

zionsstarfish wrote the best Draco/Neville while I was gone, and I nearly missed it. Here 'tis: Indelible Ink. painless_j - it's one for your "unusual occupations" list. Speaking of ZS, I wrote three biographies of some of my favorite H/D writers for hd_directory: zionsstarfish, pandarus, and abbycadabra. The community is compiling a master biography for past and present H/D writers - go volunteer to contribute if you too have favorites.

Hey, lookit all this html - all hand-entered, I'll have you know. Fear my mad shift-key skilz.

Today is isiscolo's mmmphhh birthday. My dear Isis and I have so many differences: she loves Harry/Snape and I love Harry/Draco; she loves to run and has competed in marathons and I'll only run if someone's after me with a knife; her water flows to the Pacific and mine to the Atlantic; she's gorgeous, clever, bubbly, and witty, and I'm ...well, you get the drift.

And yet she adopted me, mentored me, edited my stories, and encouraged me in HP fandom. She got me my LiveJournal code and brought me into SkyeHawke. My whole experience wouldn't be the same without her guiding me, poking me, and challenging me. Now we know that this newfangled SGA fandom is sinking its claws into her...but I think we can hang on to her here, too. Help me, 'k? Because we're rooming together at The Witching Hour (at the Salem Waterfront), so we can get her all het up again. She's too good a writer to lose.

Have you seen the enormous variety in her stories? Drabbles, longer chaptered fics, funny, dramatic, sad, intriguing... And the pairings touch nearly every HP character. Go! Go read!

Some of my favorites are:

In Want of a Wife - SS/?? - Snape hires a courtesan to masquerade as his wife at a family gathering.

Shelter from the Storm - SS/DM - Draco thought Snape had died in the battle in which Voldemort won -- until he encounters him, one stormy night.

Letters With Lockhart - SS/GL - Correspondence between the Potions master and the internationally famous yet naturally blond author, during the summer before Chamber of Secrets.

Beautiful Things - Narcissa/Fleur - Circumstances force Narcissa to sell her jewellery.

The First Piece of Silver and the sequel Before the Cock Crow - Peter Pettigrew/Evan Rosier - Before betrayal comes temptation; Peter feels lonely and depressed at James and Lily's wedding. Peter meets Regulus Black at a party, Voldemort courts Dark creatures, and wheels are set in motion. Peter thinks he's doing the right thing. He's wrong.

Hope your day was great, Isis!

Deja vu post! (except this one has a downloadable song: Queen - Hammer to Fall)

isiscolo again has pointed me to another wonderful story based on another '80's Brat Pack movie, in this case The Breakfast Club. This one's by resonant8, titled Higher Education. Like the story I recced by Fabularasa in my last post, it's a post-movie slash story by a HP writer of great skill. This takes place after the movie, can be read as original if you've never seen the movie, and is just terrific. The level of detail in the backstory is just amazing. These characters really come alive. Oh, and what they get up to! Hot.

( sample the wares )

My friendslist is at about skip=10. You all have disappeared. Just the time for me to post. Er.

My newest trend is to upload my current song so you too can listen to what I'm listening to. Afro Celt Sound System is one of those artists I revisit frequently. You probably have heard Peter Gabriel singing their "When I'm Falling". Why is it that the vocalist gets all the credit? (see the movie Standing in the Shadows of Motown). Anyway, Rise Above It. A mix of African rhythms and Celtic sensibilities.

I've been teasing a few of you about the British boys I'm keeping in my basement. Actually, that is true, bar explanations, which I'll now go into. A group of Brits has come to Colorado to teach soccer skillz to our children, and we're hosting two of them. Andy is 20, from London, cute as can be. Chris is 19, from Newcastle, blond and curious and cute, too. They're ever so sociable and interested. They got off the plane a week ago; we're their first host family, and this is their first time in America. They've got other coaches who are staying nearby; we had them all to dinner and introduced them to Mexican food last night. Three of the others are from London, the last, a girl, is from Scotland. They're all delightful.

I think I shall invite them to the Harry Potter party at the bookstore tonight. One word from their lips, and they'll be corralled into reading from the book.

I never pimped my very first H/D fic that's being read aloud! Oh, I feel very JKR, let me tell you. tarotemp is reading my Waters of March aloud and turning it into MP3's here: fellytone_fic. I'm so flattered.

Also, I've been seduced into a new fandom by shezan: It's Mary Renault. I've mentioned The Persian Boy; now I'm all over The Charioteer as are a lot of you. There's even a community maryrenaultfics to discuss it chapter by chapter. Although isiscolo has posed the question, "Is it slash if the fic depicts gay relationships as canon?" This one does, in spades. Carefully crafted, intriguing, and so so good! I really rec that my fellow slashers read it; it seems to be the Rosetta Stone of slash fics.

Not to mention that A.J. Hall has written a story for it! A brilliant Renault crossover: Out of Battle. No surprise that it's wonderful, right?

There's probably lots more I'm behind on, like the release of the final chapter of Underwater Light, which hit me as suddenly as HBP, since it marked one of my first stories in fandom. But no ones's reading this, I have to go pick up the soccer crowd, and I'm off to the party tonight. See you on the flip side, chillun.