calufrax

annauq.livejournal.com

Hello everyone, I am back for my second round of reccing. I don't know if I will be able to share the new limit of ten stories with you, as I am moving to London for my freshers week this week, but I'll do my best. Let's start with a lovely story starring my favourite Doctor and (one of) his awesome companions!

Story: Dangling Conversation
Author: aces
Rating: All ages
Word count: 3963
Author's summary: It’s not so much that he doesn’t fancy girls as he loves one bloke in particular.
Characters/pairings: Fitz Kreiner/Eighth Doctor
Warnings: none (except the angst. Oh, the angst).

Recced because: I really, really like it. The fic is a beautiful, quiet moment between two of my favourite characters, seen through both their eyes. The childlike wonder of the Doctor in part one is placed in such nice contrast with the angst filled musings of Fitz in part two, and the setting (the TARDIS' ball room!) only adds to it. The two parts are slightly different, and I see them as two takes on the same situation, rather than being the same story. Still, both parts are amazing and you should definitely read them both.

I've only read a few EDAs, but this feels like it could easily be part of the range. It's shippy in exactly the right way (when is anything involving Eight and Fitz not shippy), an the characters feel true to themselves. Most of all though, it is a beautiful exploration of a complicated (friend)ship.

Go read it!

ladymercury-10.livejournal.com

And now, as promised, for something completely different!

Story: dreamings of meetings
Author: aces
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 4133
Author's Summary: Hex, in “The Settling”: I thought I saw lemon trees in the library…or maybe I dreamt them.
Characters/Pairings: Ace McShane, Hex Schofield, The Doctor (7th), The TARDIS
Warnings: None
Recced because: It's hard to describe this story without spoiling it. I suppose I can say that Hex comes aboard the TARDIS, and clever scenes of his getting to know the ship and its inhabitants are alternated with vivid depictions of the mysterious dreams he begins to have. The imagery is gorgeous, the exploration of the TARDIS is lovely, and the atmosphere is wonderfully dreamy.

( excerpt below the cut )

livii.livejournal.com

Thanks for a great week! Hope you enjoyed my tour through some of the smaller parts of Whofandom.

Story: Three Time Travellers in a Boat
Author: aces
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 2496
Author's Summary: Absolutely no boats were harmed in the making of this story.
Characters/Pairings: Anji, Fitz, Eight
Warnings: none

Recced because: This is a story where there is no danger, no fear, no stress - just a quiet boating holiday for a trio that so deserves a moment of calm. The best part is that it is beautifully written and characterized: reading it is to immerse yourself in the sensory experience of the alien planet, and you feel the calm and the friendship of the characters as if it was happening personally. Aces writes an impeccable Anji in particular, and when she finds that moment of peace and happiness it's as if all is right in the world. Of course, soon enough there's probably some sentient mold going to take over the universe, but right as this story unfolds, the world is the greenest green and most beautiful blue and life is good.

pitry.livejournal.com

Story: Almost Human"
Author: aces
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 3,016
Author's Summary: Fitz is, after all, only human.
Characters/Pairings: Fitz Kreiner, Anji Kapoor, 8th Doctor.
Warnings: None.

Recced because: I think it's mainly the bittersweet nostalgia of this one that really makes it a great read. It's not nostalgia for a better time, though. The Fitz in this story is nostalgic (or, perhaps wistful?) for a different time. At the bottom line, it's the humanity of the story, and of the characters in it. Aces masterfully using the characters, even the non-human Doctor, who is incapable of truly understanding humans - like the Doctor is, really - to make a point about people. And it's not people as great creatures, as the Doctor is prone to monologue about, not the romantic idea of the wonderful human spirit, but people as they are for all their flaws. I haven't actually read any of the published material with Fitz, but in aces' 3000 words (and a bit), he becomes a true human being.

paranoidangel

Story: The Inestimable Value of a Good Pair of Shoes
Author: aces
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 3531
Author's Summary: Harry Sullivan, a man who knows the fine art of shoe loss and replacement.
Characters/Pairings: Bernice Summerfield, Harry Sullivan, Sarah Jane Smith, The Doctor (4th), The Doctor (8th)
Warnings: None

Recced because: I might be biased, since it was written for me in a ficathon, but then it is Harry fic in characters, so what's not to like? It's a fun tale of various times when Harry lost his shoes and never puts him down. He gets to meet a couple of characters from other eras along the way, so it's interesting to see how he interacts with them. It's just wonderfully characterised and fun.

( Excerpt )

If you like this, don't forget to tell the author.

singeaddams.livejournal.com

Hello! I'm back and, thanks to my awkward work schedule, most of my recs will show up around midnight-ish. I do apologize. Onward!

Story: Even the Smallest Ripple
Author: aces
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 2,510
Author's Summary: "It wasn’t a fine day, but stumping was stumping, and Americans had always loved their politics."
Characters/Pairings: Eight, Sam, Fitz
Warnings: None
Recced Because: I do love a little actual history when it pops up in WHO and this features American history no less. Just a quiet story that, considering American politics as it is today, made me reflect quite a bit. And I love the humor.

The wind howled through the trees and over the grass on the campus grounds, and the crowd in front of the platform huddled together en masse against the cold. There were thousands of people there that day, and it was before such a thing as PA systems; the Doctor wondered how many people could actually hear the speakers. Fitz had taken Sam’s other arm again, though the Doctor couldn’t tell if he was being polite or just trying to find a way to warm up some small part of his body. Sam was snug as could be, the Doctor knew; she’d put jeans on under her skirt.

livii.livejournal.com

Story: Somebody Else's Conventional
Author: aces
Rating: All Ages
Author's summary: "This isn't conventional," Anji said. "This was never going to be conventional."
Characters/Pairings: Fitz/Anji, the Brig
Warnings: swearing
Word Count: ~7,800

Recced because: This is absolutely the perfect way to write Fitz/Anji, a pairing I am crazy for but know isn't popular – it's a slow build, working on their closeness, their friendship, and has just the right light touch. Both characters are written brilliantly, especially Anji which makes me extra happy as I adore her, and it's also interwoven with the most brilliant bits of continuity – Ace and Daleks, and the Brig, and Torchwood, and Nine – and little things, like open mic nights for Fitz. This is one of the best EDA-era fics I've read, and even if you're not very familiar with that part of the canon, I think this would serve as an excellent introduction!

mysticalchild_isis

Hey, I'm

isiscaughey, back for another week of mixed bag recs. To start the week off, some cracky Five humor.

Story: "Bohemian Rhapsody"
Author: aces
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 1557
Author's Summary: There's Five. And there's the Master. And there's Tegan's underwear and Turlough's blazer, but that's a slightly different plotline.
Characters/Pairings: Tegan, Turlough, Five/Ainley!Master
Warnings: Crack.

Tegan and Turlough drag the Doctor to a dance club, and while the companions cut lose, the Doctor runs into the Master. Delightfully ridiculous.

tromana.livejournal.com

Story: The Secret Architecture of Bodies
Author: aces
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 792
Author's Summary: Nyssa tended to give her movements an extra flair, expend unnecessary energy to make the attack or defense a little more elegant, a little more graceful. Ace was a minimalist, when she thought about it.
Characters/Pairings: Nyssa/Ace
Warnings: None

Recced Because: As a kickboxer and dancer, I was always going to love this fic. The scene between Nyssa and Ace is beautifully described and the characterisation of both of them is spot on.

maypanic.livejournal.com

Story: Dream into Reality
Author: aces
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 936
Author’s Summary: "Fitz Kreiner had always had a vivid imagination."
Characters/Pairing: Fitz Kreiner, The Doctor (8th)
Warnings: None

Recced because: Anyone who knows me here, knows that I have a deep and abiding love for the longest serving of the novel companions, Fitz Kreiner. What they may not know, is that I originally “met” Fitz through the medium of fanfic. Aces is one of those authors who truly understands Fitz and Eight. As such, she is partially responsible for my EDA addiction, for which I am deeply grateful (although my wallet is somewhat less grateful. )

It was difficult to pick just one of her stories to rec, until I remembered this one. Following the path of Fitz pre-Doctor, growing up in post-WWII Britain with a German father, taking refuge in his dreamworld. It's a fitting introduction for any other future Fitz fans out there.

amaresu

Story: Smoking and Foxholes Can Be Dangerous to Your Health
Author: aces
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 2666
Author's Summary: “Why does the Doctor always have to land us in these sorts of situations anyway?”
Characters/Pairings: Hex, Fitz, The Eighth Doctor and a side of The Seventh Doctor and Ace.
Warnings: Fitz ends up in hospital?

Recced because: Companions meeting each other is always fun. Companions meeting each other in foxholes is even better. Also Hex gets to be Nurse Hex and is utterly fabulous at it. The dynamics between Hex and Fitz are fun. They banter, call each other names, and even have a wee slashy undertone.

( excerpt )

elyssadc.livejournal.com

Story: The Not So Unlikely Saga of Fitz Kreiner
Author: aces
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 1159
Author's Summary: 5 companions Fitz almost married.
Characters/Pairings: Ace, Bernice Summerfield, Donna, Fitz, Hex, Jack Harkness, Susan.
Warnings: None.

Recced because: Everyone needs a little hilarity on a Monday, and this piece fits the bill. There aren't nearly enough stories written for book and audio companions, and this one has both which makes it even more delightful. Originally written for

churchontime, it's precisely as stated in the summary and every bit as ridiculous as you'd think it would be.

( a small taste... )

livii.livejournal.com

Story: Fire Answers Fire
Author: aces
Rating: All Ages
Author's summary: “A bike,” Martha said, looking it over as best she could in the dark. “You travel through time on a bike.” She looked up at Dorothy again. “How safe is that again?”
Characters/Pairings: Ace/Martha
Warnings: none
Word Count: 1923 words

Recced because: This story makes great use of the Year That Never Was setting: it provides the characters with motivation but is carefully placed as a backdrop to let Ace and Martha shine through. Ace (or Dorothy, as she's now calling herself), is older and wiser, and together they examine themselves and the role the Doctor plays in his companions' lives. It's quiet and fierce at the same time, and gentle without being at all sentimental. Really terrific.

pimpmytardis.livejournal.com

Story: World Enough, And Time
Author: Aces
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 1739
Author's Summary: She would have always wanted *more*.
Characters/Pairings: Grace, Eight, Jack
Warnings: None given

Recced because: This is a wonderful character study of Grace, one of the most underrated companions. Jack's brief appearance is a lovely foil to Grace, and Aces writes all three characters skillfully and tenderly. I can't read it without getting a lump in my throat by the end.

livii.livejournal.com

Story: Overthrown
Author: aces
Rating: All Ages
Author's summary: Hex + nursing = Ace in big trouble.
Characters/Pairings: Hex, Ace
Warnings: none
Word Count: ~2,600 words

Recced because: Absolutely adorable audio!fic; this is set just after Live 34, but it stands alone very well, in case you haven't heard it. Ace and Hex are both perfectly in character, with wonderfully crackling dialogue. Hex nurses Ace, and for better or worse she lets him; the story has just a hint of shippiness lurking underneath, but really is about friendship and love, in all its forms. With some great lines, such as Ace snarking about Hex's propensity to take pulses with "Are you sure it's not just because you always had a secret desire to prop young women up with pillows and feel up their wrists?", discussions about responsibility, getting to see Hex perform and be utterly excellent at his job, and Ace's repeated desire to throw an alarm clock at Hex's head, the characters are lovingly rendered and this is just a complete joy to read.

( A sample: )

kseda.livejournal.com

Hello all, I'm reccing this week! Except much in the way of slash, Fivey, and nattering about some guy named Fitz. Speaking of...

Story: Simple Progressions
Author: aces
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 5,094
Author's Summary: AU Doctor-Fitz reunion after the Earth Arc. "Maybe he’d gotten the TARDIS working and had already left the planet. Maybe he had no intention of keeping the meeting. Maybe he was angry at Fitz, because Fitz knew what he had done and he didn’t want anyone to remember."
Characters/Pairings: Fitz Kreiner, Eighth Doctor
Warnings: none

Recced because: Sometimes canon FAILS. There was a time during the EDAs when the Doctor spent over a century on Earth with nothing but a weird blue box and a mysterious note which read Meet me in St. Louis. 8 February 2001. Fitz. When we finally get to the reunion, the longed-for moment, the culmination of six novels, it is glossed over in two paragraphs and then buried in plot. aces, bless her, said "no," and gave us this beautiful alternative filled with all the joy, sorrow, awkwardness, and hope that the real thing should have had. "Simple Progressions" gives that closure EDA fans were cheated of while also pointing the way forward.

Current Mood: chipper

usuallyhats

Story: Face Another Day
Author: aces
Rating: None given (teen?)
Word Count: 8526
Author's Summary: "How did you get to twenty-first century Cardiff, Fitzgerald Kreiner?" Jack asked.
Characters/Pairings: Fitz Kreiner, Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Owen Harper, Tenth Doctor, Toshiko Sato
Warnings: None

Recced because: It feels real. Fitz starts off in a bad way, and although he ends up at peace, it's not an easy or straightforward progression. Fitz brings himself to Torchwood and tells them he wants to help; this is true, but although he'll help, he won't be co-operative. He doesn't want to talk to them about himself or how he knows what he knows, because then he'll have to face what's happened to him and he's not ready to do that at first. And Team Torchwood, in their turn, don't immediately take him into their respective hearts and set about trying to help him. Their interactions with him feel more authentic because they're not smooth. (Sidenote: aces also does a great job with Torchwood themselves; though none of them except Jack play a particularly large role, they all have some nice character moments and there's a nice group scene that makes me believe that they do all actually like each other, something the show itself was having trouble with for a while.) Fitz's gradual recovery is portrayed very well and the hopefulness of the final scene makes a lovely ending. I could go on at much greater length listing all the things I love about this fic, but I'll spare you my gushing and instead give you a quote:

( an extract )

(This fic is a sequel to And I Will No Other To Follow Me Where I'm Going, recced here.)

livii.livejournal.com

Story: Everybody Wants You
Author: aces
Rating: Teen
Author's summary: Jack Harkness. He's quite shaggable, really.
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Fitz, Jack/Ace, Jack/Peri, Jack/Nyssa, Jack/Harry, Jack/Jo/Yates/Benton/Brigadier (really!), Jack/Polly, Jack/Ian
Warnings: none
Word Count: ~2,900 words

Recced because: Captain Jack. Meeting (and sometimes shagging) his way through the DW canon. A tremendous amount of fun, and even if you don't know each character involved (I still haven't read any non-fanfic Fitz, myself) there's bound to be some you know and love. Some gorgeous characterizations - "It’s not as if I expected to walk into your—invisible spaceship, now, is it?” Harry retorted, nettled. “Now, look here, old chap, you can’t just leave things like this lying about where anyone could trip over them." - a mix of funny, insightful, and hot scenes, and a moment in UNIT's history that will keep me amused for the rest my life just picturing it all add up to an incredibly enjoyable fic.

kerravonsen

Story: [the other side of the sky]
Author: Aces
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 2464
Author's Summary: Jack was bewildered and dead. Or maybe just dreaming.
Characters/Pairings: Jack Harkness
Warnings: None

Recced because: It is a waking dream that never happened, in places that don't exist, with people who are not as they seem, and probably not even people. My favourite bit is Jack's encounter with Desire, but every bit of it is good. Quintessential Sandman, it captivates, teases, hints; full of myth and atmosphere.

pontisbright.livejournal.com

Looks like the calufrax slash representation is going to be up after this week then... :D

Story: Summer in the City
Author: aces
Rating: Adult
Word Count: 1578
Author's Summary: Traveling with the Doctor was a little more complicated than Rose had expected.
Characters/Pairings: Rose/Polly
Warnings: femslash, but nothing explicit

Recced because: 'Any time you want a little brightness in your life, come to Pol.' Polly is tragically underepresented in fic, and the portrayal of her in this little gem is so beguiling that it might just result in more. It's a simple vignette: Rose wakes up in 1966 after an atypical (but not at all regretted) one night stand with someone the Doctor would recognise - if he wasn't off trawling record shops. But there are no tricksy games with crossed timelines and mentions of TARDISes here. This is all about two women in the moment: Polly, the blithely confident, effortlessly charming party girl, singing in the shower; Rose, blearily remembering the evening's events and moving from hungover to something rather better.

If you know Polly, you'll delight in aces' perfect characterisation. If you don't, it's a lovely introduction: read this, leave a review, and then dig out a copy of The War Machines so you can be seduced by her too.

kindkit.livejournal.com

Story: And I Will No Other to Follow Me Where I'm Going
Author: Aces (

wishfulaces)
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 4225
Author's Summary: "Hang about," Fitz had asked once, very early on when this whole thing started. "Didn't you already destroy your planet, once?"
Characters/Pairings: Eighth Doctor, Fitz Kreiner (with some Eight/Fitz), Romana
Warnings: None.

Recced because: The Eighth Doctor was rather screentime-deprived, with just the TV movie, but he did feature in a fascinating series of novels called the Eighth Doctor Adventures. This story is set between the end of EDA canon and the beginning of the new series--which is to say, during the time war that leads to the destruction of Gallifrey. Unsurprisingly, it's a story about things falling apart, and particularly about the Doctor falling apart as he gradually realizes that there's no solution except the worst possible one. Meanwhile, Fitz, the Doctor's companion through fifty EDA novels, tries to hold things together. And dreams.

Aces beautifully captures the feeling of a universe that's collapsing as time turns angry, and she portrays the characters and their emotions with subtlety and depth. The characterization is so good that I think this story will work even for people who haven't read any of the EDAs. And for EDA fans (not to mention Fitz fans) this story provides an ending that feels right, whereas the EDAs themselves just . . . stop.

( snippet )

livii.livejournal.com

Story: "Bacchus, Ever Fair and Young"
Author: aces
Rating: Adult
Author's summary: "Nothing like a little chemical high to take your mind off being stuck on a damned backwater for crimes you didn’t (really) commit."
Characters/Pairings: Turlough/Fifth Doctor, Turlough/Tenth Doctor
Warnings: none

Recced because: Turlough might be exiled on Earth, stuck in the 1980s at uni, but there's good drugs and sex, and he's cool with that. An AU Turlough who didn't end up at Brendan, this one likes them dark, or blond, and always pretty. Ten's willing enough, Five less so, but Turlough manages to get his way, in loud clubs and public spaces. The ending nicely wraps things up, more neatly than you could have imagined from the set-up, and throughout the writing of Turlough's character – in this incarnation – is terrific. It's hot and twisty and I'm really, really cool with that.

reccity-rec-rec

calufrax is sleeping in your mind. One day, it may be brought back in front of your eyes.

April 2018

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A rec comm for A Teaspoon And An Open Mind

Entries tagged with author: aces

Dangling Conversation by Aces

rec: dreamings of meetings by aces

Rec: Three Time Travellers in a Boat by aces

rec: Almost Human by aces

Rec: The Inestimable Value of a Good Pair of Shoes

Even the Smallest Ripple...

Rec: Somebody Else's Conventional by aces

Rec: Bohemian Rhapsody

rec: the secret architecture of bodies, by aces

rec: dream into reality, by aces

Rec: Smoking and Foxholes Can Be Dangerous to Your Health

rec: the not so unlikely saga of fitz kreiner

Rec: Fire Answers Fire by aces

Rec: World Enough, and Time

Rec: Overthrown by aces

Rec: Simple Progressions

rec: face another day by aces

Rec: Everybody Wants You by aces

Rec: [the other side of the sky]

Fic: Summer in the City by aces

rec: and i will no other to follow me where i'm going

Rec: "Bacchus, Ever Fair and Young"

reccity-rec-rec

Links

April 2018

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