Calufrax

Story: Wait 'Til You Read Book Seven
Author: thirty2flavors
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 1489
Author's Summary: The Doctor discovers a horrifying difference between that first universe and Pete's World. /
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows?” she read aloud. She sent him a strange glance. “I thought you liked these books.”
Characters/Pairings: Handy/Rose, Tony, Jackie
Warnings: None

Recced because:... And to help you celebrate the ending of my reccing week(s), I leave you with a hilarious silly crack, in which the Doctor acts like, well, fandom. Because you just know he'll be an OTPer.

Story: Memento
Author: johne
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 1093
Author's Summary: Shou Yuing renews her acquaintance with Ace, and hears the story of one particular relic.
Characters/Pairings: Ace McShane/Shou Yuing
Warnings: None (albeit, rather creepy at times).

Recced because: I must have said it before. But I love the stories that explore the darker side of the Seventh Doctor's period. Unlike most of them, this one isn't exactly about the Seventh Doctor, or his period. This one introduced to Ace long after she's left the Doctor, and instead of exploring the implication of his actions, gives a snapshot of how they still influence his companions, long after he's left them. And it manages to do it with humour and charm, so I was completely sold.

Story: For Destruction, Ice
Author: AstroGirl
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 1010
Author's Summary: Combines two requests: "Something where the Master takes on Lucy as a companion and wife without anything so underhanded as mind control and the like" and "the Master takes Lucy to Utopia."
Characters/Pairings: The Master (Simm)/Lucy Saxon
Warnings: None.

Recced because: The author's note says it was supposed to centre on the Master, but much like in many of the good Doctor Who stories (and episodes), it's the companion that's at the centre of the piece, and in this case, this companion is Lucy Saxon. Despite being relatively short, this story does a good job of studying her without giving a too easy way out.

Story: Don't Pass The Salt
Author: awanderingminstrel
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 1053
Author's Summary: Stuck in a holding cell? Must be Tuesday.
Characters/Pairings: Ninth Doctor, Captain Jack Harkness, Rose Tyler.
Warnings: None.

Recced because: ... And to continue the week's theme of crack and threesomes, here's a fic that isn't crack and isn't a threesome, but does a good job of pretending to be both. It's a snippet of an adventure that gives up the excuse of plot (let's admit it, mostly they're flimsy, anyway), and just goes straight to the Doctor and Jack, bickering (and flirting slightly). And it's hilarious.

Story: The Doctor Still Dances
Author: teacupnosaucer
Rating: Adult
Word Count: 1203
Author's Summary: Amy and Rory play dress-up. So, coincidentally, does the Doctor.
Characters/Pairings: Amy Pond/ Rory Williams/ Eleventh Doctor
Warnings: None

Recced because: I didn't set out to make this threesome week, it just happened that way! As it is, the Doctor Still Dances manages to capture just about everything I love in the interaction between Amy, Rory and the Doctor. Amy is playful and doesn't take things too seriously; Rory is a bit reluctant but is willing to try for Amy; and the Doctor is willing to put aside his demons for a moment (but just for a moment) for his companions. And just like in the best episodes of this trio, there's also the slightly uncomfortable undercurrent, the things we, the audience know, that Amy and Rory don't - this fic manages to be touching and fun at the same time.

Story: Five Hundred and Twenty, or Thereabouts
Author: agapi42
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 2068
Author's Summary: Luke, Clyde and Rani are not a triangle, and they add up to more than a guaranteed one hundred and eighty.
Characters/Pairings: Clyde Langer/Rani Chandra/Luke Smith, Sarah Jane Smith
Warnings: None.

Recced because: It's a SJA fic, which is always a great way to start the week - and in this case, it's also incredibly sweet. What strikes me most about this fic is how intertwined the friendship and love between the main characters is. Like the triangle it describes, neither is more important than the other - they're both two sides of the same coin. Just like all three characters manage to be in character and their awesome selves.

Story: A Slight Change Of Plan
Author: rutsky
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 673
Author's Summary: He'd been promised a tabula rasa.
Characters/Pairings: The Doctor
Warnings: None

Recced because: See, even though this story has now been turned AU by canon, it's still extremely, extremely believable. The Doctor, after the Time War, after destroying Gallifrey - realising the Time Lords lied. But that's what Time Lords do, isn't it? They're quite the manipulative bastards... and rutsky captures this beautifully, together with Nine's voice and the pain of the Time War.

Story: And Straight On 'Til Morning
Author: Jayne Leitch
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 906
Author's Summary: "I came back for my mother," he explained, "to take her to the Neverland."
Characters/Pairings: Rose Tyler, the Doctor (author created)
Warnings: None

Recced because: What people miss most of all about Peter Pan is that it's downright depressing. And this story captures exactly why.
And Doctor Who is, of course, the best fandom ever to write a tribute to Peter Pan, as the Doctor is already so similar to Peter. Which makes this little ficlet not only depressing, but also very real. It's one of the best parallels to make, and Jayne Leitch captures it beautifully.

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.

Story: Children, Go Where I Send Thee
Author: Poetry
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 1,089
Author's Summary: There are children on Earth stranded far from their families. Friends of the Doctor help them find their way home.
Characters/Pairings: Donna Noble, Jack Harkness, Amy Pond, Rory Williams
Warnings: None.

Recced because: The Doctor doesn't just save the world, he also changes the people around him and teaches them to save the world. This is a very sweet story on how the Doctor can make the world just a little bit better - without even being in the story, at all.

Happy 2011, folks!

Story: Chase Your Demons Away
Author:
 Thirty2Flavors
Rating:
 All Ages
Word Count:
 3,652
Author's Summary:
 Three weeks after Norway, the Doctor bonds with Tony Tyler over a shared affliction -- bad dreams. Tony accepts the man in the hallway as the same flesh-and-blood action hero from all Rose’s stories, full stop. Tony doesn’t find the human warmth of the Doctor’s skin strange or send him pointed looks if he says something more Donna than Doctor. Tony probably doesn’t dream about beaches and pinstripes, either.
Characters/Pairings: 10.5/Rose, Tony Tyler
Warnings: None.

Recced because: It's a bit of a problem, to get Handy quite right - the enough amount of human and Donna while still maintaining a person who's essentially the Doctor is a difficult task. thirty2flavors does a wonderful job of it here, telling what is essentially a human story, but still makes a perfect fit for the Doctor.

Hello, and welcome to Calufrax Pitry's 2010 reccing comm! I'm Pitry, and I'll be your reccer for this year week. I bring you a variety of recs to enjoy the end of 2009 2010 and the beginning of 2010 2011. And now I shall spare you any more failed attempts at humour and go to my first story:

Story: All These Things That We've Done (The Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow Remix)
Author: atraphoenix
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 3,516
Author's Summary: “Another world, Doctor! You've brought Miss Shaw and myself to another world without even asking for our consent!”
Characters/Pairings: Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart/Liz Shaw, The Third Doctor.
Warnings: None

Recced because: This is a very sweet and funny what-if story, that gives two wonderful companions the chance to see what's out there. It was always quite a shame they didn't get it in the show itself, especially Liz, and I'm all for fixing that unfortunate situation. Atraphoenix doesn't just fix it, but fixes it with a lot of honesty for the characters (and some romance to boot), a good story and the right amount of humour to make a story truly joyful to read.

Story: On The Benefits of Having An Attic
Author: dbskyler
Word count: 897
Rating: All ages
Author's Summary: The Doctor sent K-9 to Sarah as a gift. Now what's she supposed to do with all the other stuff?
Characters/ pairings: Sarah Jane Smith, K-9

Recced because: You know those awkward bits when your exes give you back all the stuff you left in their house over the years? When the ex is the Doctor and the house is the Tardis.... well, it can get a bit uncomfortable, too. And messy. And hilarious, especially if the fic is in diary form and you just can't wait to see what's the next thing Sarah Jane has to deal with!

Story: Last Train from Iskenderun
Author: JJPOR
Word count: 9213
Rating: Teen
Author's summary: Bea remembers. She remembers fighting monsters, righting wrongs, defying death. And running. An awful lot of running.
Characters/pairings: Bea & Edgar Nelson-Stanely
Warnings: none.

Recced because: The who_like_giants ficathon has yielded a lot of wonderful stories, but if I have to pick up one, this is it. Taking mysterious Bea from the SJA episode "Eye of the Gorgon", it shows us not how she learned of Sontarans (exactly) or fighting aliens (exactly), but rather a charming tale about a woman meeting a man and the two falling in love... amidst Indiana Jones-esque running and archeology, and still makes complete sense Whoniverse-wise. In short, this one's complete joy from start to finish.

Story: It Will Come For Your Children
Author: Primsong (and others)
Rating: All ages
Word count: ~2000 words
Author's summary: A combined effort collection of drabbles and ficlets to see how many ways the Doctor can scrounge for new companions from the progeny of the old.
Characters/ Pairings: Tenth Doctor, various companions from throughout the years.
Warnings: None.

recced because: A good crackfic, as I point out time and again, is good for the soul. This is a bunch of drabbles and ficlets that will do wonders to whoever reads them! The Tenth Doctor, as we all know, has companion... issues. It's only logical he'll go scavenge his ex-companions' children as his companions, when you think about it! Needless to say, their parents are less than impressed. Each and every drabble/ficlet in this series is the definition of hilarious.

story: All The King's Horses
Author: RobinC
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 26,612
Author's summary: A star empire is menaced by deadly creatures from the time of Rassilon. Will one lone Time Lord and a human companion be enough to defeat them?
Characters/Pairings: Tenth Doctor, Donna Noble
Warnings: none.

Recced because: The Time War. Personally it's definitely one of my favourite things about the new series, especially because of the growth it forces into the Doctor's character. In this is one of the reasons I love RobinC's story so much. In many ways, it captures perfectly the spirit of the series - an outwards story of an exciting adventure in which - surprise, surprise - the Doctor saves the world/universe, but the heart of the story is the Doctor dealing with his own actions and his own role in the Time War. This story is funny at times, melancholic at others, and can be very sad and touching... but also manages to keep the spirit of the show in the great sense of hope it has. Brilliant characterisations of both the Doctor and Donna, brilliant plotting and beautiful execution make this a very satisfying read all around.

Story: How The West Was Lost
Author: vvj5
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 24,486
Author's summary: What the good citizens of Stodge City want is a US Peace Marshal to run the Rumpo Kid out of town. What they get is a confused sanitation engineer, demure Miss Oakley with a rifle in her trunk, an elegant Time Lord who’s the living spit of the dead sheriff and a sceptical Brigadier who might just be the only man in the town who can shoot straight. The Old West was never like this…
Characters/Pairings: Third Doctor, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Warnings: none.

Recced because: So, to end the year 2009 on a high note, I hereby rec another humorous crossover - in many ways, the humorous crossover. Worry not - if you've never heard of Carry On Cowboy, this is still not an excuse not to read this wonderful story. I haven't til I read it, and I laughed my head off anyway. Building on the wonderful meta notion that actors actually go and have more than one job on television - and apparently a surprising number of them found work on both Doctor Who and the Carry On movies - vvj5 gives us a unique crossover full of hilarious misunderstandings and reminiscent of the time "sitcom" was not an ugly word. Also, it's Three and the Brig. These two are enough to make any story worthwhile, and their onscreen chemistry is translated beautifully into this story.

Story: The Wish Machine
Author: Spastic_visions
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 2229
Author's summary: The dangers of dreaming too hard. [2.13 spoilers]
Characters/Pairings: Captain Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, Toshiko Sato
Warnings: none.

Recced because: Well, there is a warning to this one: it'll break your heart. Torchwood find mcguffins all the time, and in this little gem it's "a wish machine" - like Harry Potter's Mirror of Erised, it allows people to see their heart's desire. Coupled with Owen and Tosh's death in Exit Wounds - and Tosh has always been one of my favourite Torchwood characters - the result is more bitter than sweet. But it's also bittersweet because it does a brilliant job at capturing who Tosh really is - she often gets sidelined, in the show as well as in fanfic, but The Wish Machine does her absolute justice.

So! It's been a week since I started reccing and this is my chance to say goodbye, hope people have enjoyed the stories I recced! For my last rec, I shall leave you with an especially sweet fanfic. Eeeew.

Story: Job Hunting, Back Soon
Author: csg1
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 3528
Author's Summary: Being stuck in the past once again is taking its toll on Martha, and the Doctor's not helping. Blink!Fic.
Characters/Pairings: Tenth Doctor, Martha Jones
Warnings: None

Recced because: Living with the Doctor must be a terrible experience. After all, despite his best (?) efforts, he's not human and he doesn't really understand the finer points of humanity. Running away from dangers with him looks fun, but when our heroes are stuck in one place - say, 1969 - it's a disaster waiting to happen. Job Hunting, Back Soon is an extremely realistic approach to those months the Doctor and Martha spent stuck in 1969, and captures beautifully all those annoying little habits of flatmates, all those things the Doctor just can't understand, and the sort-of friendship between the Doctor and Martha. there's been a bunch of these - and quite some good ones, too - but this is definitely my favourite of all the stories of the genre I've read. It's not an excuse to ship Martha and the Doctor (canon! canon!), it doesn't try and make the Doctor a better person than he is in the show, or Martha... it's a brilliant piece and I really see it happening on screen, if Blink wouldn't've been slotted as the Doctor-light of series 3.

Story: Deep Focus
Author: Pete Galey
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 62,564
Author's Summary: Benny, Chris and Roz help the Doctor decide what to do when a priceless work of art falls into his hands. While they're distracted, something very important is stolen: themselves.
Characters/Pairings: Seventh Doctor, Bernice Summerfield, Christopher Cwej, Ros Forrester
Warnings: Swearing

Recced because: This is a long fic. A very long fic. And I'm starting with this "warning" because I usually feel exasperation at seeing such high word count and don't read the story. And yet, I've read this story at one sitting. The author's comment says this was an attempt at writing an original New Adventure. Well, it was, to my opinion, a complete success. This story starts as a series of small hints and pieces being thrown at the reader, but in a very well-thought way: the plot isn't at all obvious and yet not far-fetched, and the moment the penny dropped my response was "OH!" and it still felt completely satisfying (and really, I'm not just squeeing over the plot because my plotting tends to be fuzzy round the edges at the best of times...:)). Not to give too much away about the plot, our four heroes find themselves in a middle of nowhere without the Tardis, and have to understand what's going on around them - and survive it. The mystery is excellent, the character voices are spot on, and the feel is that of an authentic NA: it doesn't try to be an episode, but instead plays on the strength of a written story. Oh, and the prologue/ epilogue are properly haunting and touching, too. A must read for NA fans - and actually,not just NA fans.