[identity profile] ghost2.livejournal.com
Story: Recruitment
Author: Sphinxey
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 738
Author's Summary: Gwen is taking her new role seriously, but things rarely work out as expected. Crack. Spoilers for first episode of Children of Earth but episodes 4 and 5 never happened.
Characters/Pairings: Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Myfanwy
Warnings: none

Recced because: Time for some Torchwood crackfic! Because of my sad, sad love for the show, I still hold out hope that more TV episodes will be produced, and there's also Big Finish material to keep me going. Plus, of course, fanfic. In this story, we jump back to right after Children of Earth, part 1. With only Jack, Gwen, and Ianto around, the team has two openings. How do they plan to fill the spots? Gwen has an idea that results in chaos, basically. This fic is a quick, amusing read with my favorite part being the bit where Ianto describes why certain candidates just are not going to make the cut.
[identity profile] a-phoenixdragon.livejournal.com
First of all, apologies are in order. I was planning to be able to rec MORE the last couple of weeks, but Life has not worked out as anticipated. :D That being said, I do still have a few more days as your official reccer here, so despite time and tide, I will do my best to make sure I get a few more goodies out to you all before it is all over! Starting with this one:

Story: Waiting for Death
Author: badly_knitted
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 442
Author's Summary: In the aftermath of the bombs going off, Jack lays in the wreckage, trapped and waiting to die.
Characters/Pairings: Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness
Warnings: Angst, Drama, Introspection, Missing Scene, Standalone

Recced because: I loved Torchwood. And though this is a 'short but sweet' fiction, it captures the events, emotions and thoughts of the characters very, very well - putting you in the moment of this scene. This author's fictions (mostly in drabble-form) are well worth the time to read! I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I have enjoyed reccing it! But in case you need a touch more convincing, here is a taste of what you will be delving into:

An Excerpt )


Go - enjoy!! And be sure to take time to read more of her work, as it is excellent and always hits the mark!

PhoenixDragon
but_can_i_be_trusted: from the Wayne & Shuster 'Art Gallery' pantomime sketch (Writing)
[personal profile] but_can_i_be_trusted
Story: Small Problems
Author: badly_knitted
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 10,161
Author's Summary A routine retrieval causes some very unexpected problems for Jack and Ianto.
Characters/Pairings: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones
Warnings: None

Recced because: I just finished reading this a few minutes ago, and it is so fun! And I couldn't believe when I ran through the tags and saw that this author hasn't been recced before. Amending that now! :D

Go and read this. You're in for a lot of laughs and cuteness!
[identity profile] doctorxdonna.livejournal.com
Hello again! It's my first time reccing in a while, and I signed up specifically because I wanted to gush about this story. Without further ado...

Story: A Ghost Story
Author: Kelkat9
Rating: Adult
Word Count: 76054
Author's Summary: Stressed-out post grad maths and computer science student Rose Tyler moves into a house with a reputation for being haunted. She scoffs at the things at first as she has her own issues with her personal life and school. Soon, she can’t ignore or logically explain what’s happening. Her inner scientist is intrigued and she starts to investigate. The more she investigates, the more things happen and she becomes obsessed with solving the mystery of the house and the disappearance of one Dr. James McCrimmon who vanished mysteriously in 1968.
Characters/Pairings: Tenth Doctor, Rose Tyler, Sarah Jane Smith, Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, other DW characters
Warnings: Explicit sex, swearing

I've recced Kelkat9's stuff before, and I'll probably do it again, because I love a good Ten/Rose AU, and no one writes them finer than she. This story is exactly what it says on the tin-a ghost story/haunted house story, and it's deliciously creepy. I don't recommend reading at night, unless you want to make yourself jumpy and uneasy. This is more than just a ghost story, though, it's a mystery and a love story, too, and all the various plots weave together beautifully. Trust me, you want to find out what happened to Dr. James McCrimmon. Even though I know how it ends, I've reread this story 3 or 4 times because it's just so perfect.
nonelvis: (DW Twelve)
[personal profile] nonelvis
Hello, [livejournal.com profile] calufrax! For once I'm here in my capacity as reccer, not as the mod, so expect recs from me for the next two weeks. (Although as always, if you'd like to rec – and everyone is welcome to do so! – leave a comment in the signup post or send me an ask on Tumblr.)

Story: A Few Things and a Lizard
Author: Beer Good
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 2,820
Author's Summary: When Clara doesn't join him after the events of "Deep Breath" the Doctor picks up another companion. A big, sexy woman with legs up to here, a tail that won't quit, and big, nasty, pointy teeth. Yes, the Doctor is joined by a T Rex in the fix-it fic to end all fix-it fics.
Characters/Pairings: Adric, Clara, Danny, Harriet Jones, Ianto, Jack, Martha, Rory, Sarah Jane, Wilf, Twelfth Doctor, Simm!Master
Warnings: None

Recced because: The Doctor has had many companions over the years, but never, to the best of my knowledge, a T. rex, much less the one from "Deep Breath." And let's just say it's remarkable how differently certain situations might have played out had a gigantic carnivore been brought into the mix. (Davros never stood a chance.) Best of all – and unlike a number of companions – our dinosaur friend finally gets a happy ending, and a fate she earned far more than what really happened to her in her one onscreen episode.

Excerpt:
after the cut )
nonelvis: (DW blue TARDIS)
[personal profile] nonelvis
Your reccer for the next two weeks is Styrofoam monster on Teaspoon; I'll be posting on their behalf.

Story: Naked People
Author: Pluto
Rating: All Ages
Word count: 4,956
Characters: Tosh
Summary: Tosh finds confidence in the shape of a little rust-colored dress, and sees a side of herself that she'd like to keep. Slight AU (confident Tosh).
Warnings: none

Recced because: Tosh doesn't get enough love. The summary calls this story a slight AU, but it's that kind of AU that is so close to reality you can see it, and far enough that you feel its loss when you finish reading. Tosh is gorgeous and smart, and here she starts to realize it. The structure is excellent, composed of Tosh's interactions with not just her co-workers but also some very well-drawn OCs. Tosh's inner-doubts and struggles ring painfully true, as she explains to a girl much like herself just how she feels sitting in a bar: "You came here because it was better than going home and staring at the television and now you just wish you were home watching anything at all, because at least you wouldn't be paying seven quid a drink for the privilege."

The story is about self-confidence, self-doubt, and self-esteem. It's heart-warming and just a little bit tragic.

excerpt )
[identity profile] dbskyler.livejournal.com
Story: Loose Sand
Author: schildkroet
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 2687
Author's Summary: Torchwood is facing a problem and Jack doesn't want to call the Doctor for help. Martha does so anyway.
Characters/Pairings: Tenth Doctor, Jack Harkness, Martha Jones, Sarah Jane Smith, Mickey Smith, Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones
Warnings: None

Recced because: This fic is like the best of Twilight Zone in the way it quietly unfolds, starting with a mystery -- why doesn't Jack want to call on the Doctor for help? -- and then turning on a simple, horrifying reveal. The story was written back in 2008, so it's AU now, but perhaps that just means this happened in an alternate timeline (something else both Doctor Who and Twilight Zone have in common).

Try it  )
[identity profile] lyakahime.livejournal.com
Getting the last one in under the wire! I was planning to only rec crossovers this week, but then I found this fic and I couldn’t not rec it. So the last one breaks the mold. Thanks for having me, all, and to all a good night!

Story: And Indeed There Will Be Time
Author: kaydee_falls
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 42816
Author's Summary: In 1919, Harriet Derbyshire was killed while investigating the disappearance of Torchwood Four in Dublin. In 2009, UNIT pulls a dying man out of the Irish Sea with a one-word message: Torchwood. Martha joins up with Jack's team in Cardiff to track down the errant branch of the organization -- before a time-traveling race of aliens can change the course of history as we know it. (Jack/Ianto + team)
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Donna Noble, Gwen Cooper, Martha Jones, Mickey Smith, UNIT
Warnings:

Recced because: I love a good twisty time travel mystery, and this fic delivers on all counts. The Jack/Ianto pairing is so background you’ll hardly notice it, so don’t come into the fic expecting romance; this is all action adventure time travel plot mystery, all the time. Well-drawn OCs, a richly realized setting, a fantastic mystery, and insanely good writing – you’ll be up late reading it, just as I was!
kaffy_r: The TARDIS says hello (Free for Use of the Public)
[personal profile] kaffy_r
Story: Digita1 Gir1
Author: [livejournal.com profile] nancybrown
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 6,679
Author's Summary: Lisa is human. Mostly.
Characters/Pairings: Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Lisa Hallett, Suzie Costello, Ianto/Lisa, Ianto/Jack
Warnings: None
Recced because: When I realized that this has not, as far as  I can tell, been recommended, despite the author's well-deserved Calufrax ubiquity, I couldn’t help a little chortle of glee, because it falls to me to tell you how remarkable a story [livejournal.com profile] nancybrown has written in Digita1 Gir1. As does much of her fiction, this centers around Torchwood, and as much of the best Torchwood fiction does, it extracts the sublime from the ridiculous, and posits a world in which the plots of too much Torchwood, generally an unholy blend of insane and inane, are abandoned in favor of what Torchwood could actually be on rare but glorious occasions; sublime, terrifying, and heartbreaking (with a tiny flame of hope somewhere, almost guttering out, but not quite.) This is an AU which does that for one of the Torchwood episodes that most horrifyingly blends insane and inane: Cyberwoman. It finds Lisa Hallet alive, in love, battling the last ghosts of her cyber-programming, and dealing with an unexpected danger to Ianto and others she may possibly care for. [livejournal.com profile] nancybrown’s technical prowess shines through in the tiniest scenes — Lisa walking through a meadow, Lisa feeling the pull of electronic machinery and what it could mean for her, the descriptions of the antagonist’s laughter. The author’s emotionally mature vision of Lisa’s mind, and her description of Lisa’s distant, but still very human, view into the minds of others, have made this a story  I return to again and again.

A taste:
The man who does stop )
[identity profile] luckweaver.livejournal.com
Story: The Impossible Flirts
Author: LordRebeccaSama
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 4,935
Author's Summary: Captain Jack Harkness and Professor River Song: two people that should never meet, but they do...multiple times across both their timelines. "The biggest flirts in all the universe, and you let them have coffee!"
Characters/Pairings: Other Character(s), River Song, The Doctor (11th), Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato
Warnings: n/a

Recced because: The amount of relationship building that went into every side of this story is frankly astounding. As is the effort that went into characterisation, particularly at different points in each of the character's lives. Everyone is in character, the voices are crisp, and you can really picture the scene. I like how they've managed to seamlessly fill in some of the gaps in River's backstory to make it work, while still referencing little nods in episodes, like A Good Man Goes to War. The fish and chips nod is a pleasure, too! I also like the amount of work that's gone into both the pop culture references (eg. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) and into building new planets and species to play around with. Always a plus when there's some of that to add to a brilliant plot.

Another note - sorry that my reccing has been... sporadic. I underestimated the amount of real life that would happen this week and have spent half the week driving forth across the province of Nova Scotia and sewing.
[identity profile] jjpor.livejournal.com
Story: Acting
Author: manyshadesoflove
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 1,391
Author's Summary: Torchwood may like to think it's a secret organisation, but there are people out there who know what they're about. Though there's got to be a reason so few do.
Characters/Pairings: Ianto Jones/Jack Harkness, Other Character(s)
Warnings: None, although the use of Retcon in interpersonal relationships is not to be condoned.

Recced because: I really like Torchwood, you know? As I may have mentioned during previous reccing runs, there was a time when I was a little leery of identifying myself as a Torchwood fan, because...well, it was a bit dodgy, wasn't it? As the years have passed, however, I've managed to be true to myself and own up to it, even embrace it. And I'm not even talking the classy stuff like Children of Earth. I liked Miracle Day. Yeah, you read right. Especially the plane episode. And as for "classic" TW, i.e. S1-2, well, I can't hold my hands up and claim every single episode is a work of genius...or even that good, in a lot of cases, but my fondness for the thing as a whole only increases as time goes by and it recedes into history, because I think at this point I would be very, very surprised if we ever got another telly series. That's a sad thought, isn't it?

So oldschool TW fics like this one, with mentions of Ianto and Tosh and the gang (even Owen!) appeal to my sense of nostalgia for the "classic" era. And this is a very likeable fic with an excellent narrative voice describing Team Torchwood and their activities from a wry informed outsider's p.o.v. It's also got a good handle on one of the central aspects of the "classic" TW setting, one which the show itself used to poke fun at with increasing regularity as time went on, namely the absurdity of trying to keep an organisation like theirs, with the situations it dealt with and the less-than-subtle people it employed, secret in a city of 300,000-odd people. Especially when the secret organisation's name was written on the side of their SUV...

And the way this fic deals with that issue makes a lot of sense and remains true to the spirit of the series, because of course while Torchwood's half-hearted attempts at secrecy were patently absurd, and the source of some good jokes, if the organisation wasn't secret that was a big part of the setting fatally undermined. They had to keep it up somehow, and this fic suggests how. And no, it goes beyond the liberal use of memory-erasing drugs. The way this fic suggests that the team managed their business also fits Torchwood Three's ethos as an organisation; they were always too cool for school, or certainly had a good go at trying to be.

In addition, this is a very strongly-written fic. As well as the wry viewpoint and voice mentioned above, it's also witty, funny and affectionate and just a little bit saucy too. Oh, and if you can identify which New Who episode the character revealed as the narrator of this fic appeared in, and know of his meta-connection to Ianto, then you're doing well. A super-fan, probably. ;)

By the way, this isn't the last Torchwood fic I'll be reccing over these two weeks. Not by a long shot.


An Appetiser )
[identity profile] ffutures.livejournal.com
Story: Five Ways Ianto Jones Didn't Travel In Time
Author: HanuuEshe
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 4310
Author's Summary: Does just what it says on the tin.
Characters/Pairings: Captain John Hart, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Lisa Hallett, Myfanwy, Other Character(s), Other Character(s), Other Character(s), The Doctor (Author-Created), The TARDIS, The TARDIS
Warnings: Swearing

Recced because: Five Things stories are difficult to write with consistent quality, but this Torchwood story is a beauty, in which all five ficlets work really well. It's by an author who hasn't been recced here before, but has a good few stories on Teaspoon. I think we'll probably be seeing more on Calufrax.

A small sample )
merryghoul: road (mini dead ianto)
[personal profile] merryghoul
Story: Universes Apart
Author: atraphoenix
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 5324
Author's Summary: They found each other through the skin of the universe.
Characters/Pairings: Gwen Cooper/Rose Tyler, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato
Warnings: None

Recced because: Rose and Gwen seem like the least likeliest of pairings. And yet this bittersweet fic, where Rose and Gwen communicate between Pete's World and the regular Doctor Who universe, makes this pairing work without forcing it in this fic.
[identity profile] ffutures.livejournal.com
I began my recs with an angsty crossover. Let's end with something VERY silly...

Story: Torchwood Goes Watercolor
Author: Canaan
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 1207
Author's Summary: A strange being comes through the Cardiff rift. Stranger than usual, even. Torchwood/Looney Tunes crossover.
Characters/Pairings: Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Other Character(s), Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato
Warnings: None

Recced because: It's a Looney Tunes crossover and ships Jack with a toon - do you really need more justification than that?

A short extract )

I hope that you've enjoyed these recs - if so, please show your appreciation of the authors by reviewing the stories!
[identity profile] ffutures.livejournal.com
Next, another story from the Year that Wasn't, in which Gwen gets help from an unexpected source:

Story: The Sound of Running Water
Author: Firefly124
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 9950
Author's Summary: Staying behind to mind the Hub while the rest of the team went to investigate an anomaly in the Himalayas had sounded boring to Gwen, but that was before the Prime Minister announced First Contact, Jack was declared a terrorist and then killed on live television, and a mysterious stranger popped into the Hub from nowhere.
Characters/Pairings: Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Jack Harkness, Martha Jones, Martha Jones, Rhys Williams, River Song, The Master (Simm), Toshiko Sato
Warnings: Explicit Violence, Swearing

Recced because: A lovely story by an author who hasn't been recced here before, in which River Song takes a hand in the events of the Year That Wasn't.

A short extract )
[identity profile] annauq.livejournal.com
Story: Purpose
Author: Kesomon
Rating: All Ages
Author's Summary: Anyone who had chosen to stop and listen, to say a few words, to step inside his frankly magnificent time ship, had been there for a reason, even if they, or he or anyone else had yet to discover what that reason was.
Word Count: 541
Characters/Pairings: Ace McShane, Adric, Barbara Wright, Evelyn Smythe, Ian Chesterton, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Jo Grant, Katarina, Martha Jones, Mel Bush, Nyssa, Owen Harper, Peri Brown, Steven Taylor
Warnings: None

Recced Because: It is an odd little story, exploring the idea of predestination paradoxes. Usually with this kind of thing, the Doctor is the one who changes the companion. He shows them the universe, and they become a better person because of that. It is quite easy to forget that the companions change the Doctor just as much as he changes them, and that is why I love this fic. It clearly shows the delicate relationship between the two, while also paying homage to the fact that the companions are amazing and usually go on to be amazing after their time in the TARDIS. The last line is a nice touch too, with the Doctor portrayed not as the all-knowing Time Lord, but the wanderer, the traveller who marvels at the beauty and mystery of the universe.
[identity profile] jjpor.livejournal.com
Story: Making It Stranger
Author: Bad_Dickens
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 26,771
Author's Summary: The Doctor arrives in Arkham Asylum while Jack Harkness meets Batman. Cardiff must brace itself for a visit from the Clown Prince of Crime. A Batman/Nolan!verse cross over with Doctor Who and Torchwood.
Characters/Pairings: The Doctor (10th), the survivors of Torchwood S2 (Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Captain Jack Harkness), Martha Jones, Mickey Smith, plus crossover characters.
Warnings: Some violence, both physical and psychological and all of the attendant creepiness and tastelessness you'd expect from The Dark Knight version of the Joker.

Recced because: Who doesn't like a good crossover? Well, some people probably don't, but I'm not one of those people. I love a good crossover, and this is a very good crossover indeed.

Cast your minds back to the distant, heady days of 2008. We'd just picked our jaws up off the floor, for a variety of reasons, after watching Journey's End. We still had the festive rollercoaster thrill-ride that was The Next Doctor to come in a few months' time. How to kill some time while we waited? Well, the announcement that David Tennant would be leaving the role of the Doctor, eventually, and the attendant media scrum did that to an extent, but before that a lot of us, in the UK at least, went to the cinema and watched... Mama Mia. Not me, though - I was in the screen next door watching The Dark Knight and loving it.

This was before it made a squillion dollars at the box office and the fan backlash set in, before last year's rather Marmite-ish conclusion to the Nolan Bat-trilogy muddied the waters still further. At the time, TDK was the hot ticket (it had Eric Roberts from the Eight TV Movie in it!) and the late Heath Ledger's nightmarish Joker was burning up the screen just like Jack Nicholson's had back in 1989 (scarily, I can remember the hype around that one when it came out too). Good stuff. Even better, though, when my enthusiasm for the film and its world was still at its height, this excellent crossover fic was posted to the Teaspoon. I remember following it avidly, checking every day for updates, and generally lapping it up.

Essentially, this story takes the Batman and his rogues' gallery from the Christopher Nolan films and, via a bit of Rift-related jiggery-pokery throws them up against the Tenth Doctor and Captain Jack's much-depleted Torchwood Three team, with Mickey and Martha thrown in for good measure. Everybody's in-character, and gets nice character moments to boot, but it's also all hung on a good, well-plotted story in which everybody gets things to do and a chance to shine. The Joker is, as you would expect, a force of nature, using the villainous plot-armour that is basically his non-super superpower to throw a spanner into our heroes' works and put them through the wringer. And, to be honest, who doesn't think the idea of the Joker versus a Dalek is a good idea? Oh, right. Well, I do.

All this and Weevils too! Seriously, even if you're not a Batman fan, or a fan of the Nolan/Bale movies, go and read this just for the Who and Torchwood characters and their reactions to the off-the-wall situation. You won't regret it. And when you're finished, please leave your words of appreciation for the author.
[identity profile] lyakahime.livejournal.com
With the new switch to biweekly reccing, nonelvis has invited me to stick around for another week. Hooray! I'm going to finish my original planned slate of recs, then go through my backups list and pick another two or three to scatter over next week. So recs today and tomorrow, then periodically.

Story: And You Will Know Her By The Smile In Her Eyes
Author: James
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 21928
Author’s Summary: Jack is gone, and Ianto has discovered something very important that he needs Jack for. Will he find Jack in time, and, more importantly, what will happen when Jack does return? Mpreg.
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto, cameos by the rest of S1 Team Torchwood
Warnings: Mpreg

Recced because: Everything James writes is amazing, but this is the amazing-est of them all. I’m a sucker for angst, tru wuv, and mpreg, so this fic is pretty much my fangirl trifecta. The writing is fantastic, and the characters are so wonderfully written you’ll forget you’re not watching canon. (Speaking of canon: the events of Children of Earth aren’t referenced, so this can’t properly be called a fix-it, but it pretty clearly operates in a world where CoE never happened/won’t happen.)

Jack actually plays a surprisingly small role for most of the fic, which gives Ianto the space he needs to step out from Jack’s shadow and demonstrate his underlying strength. It’s a story where you can love but still see clearly, be loyal without giving up your self-respect, and have faith but work hard to achieve your goals. The Doctor appears briefly to deliver a paeaen to love and devotion in the face of immortality (bring your Doctor/Whoever goggles) and the ending is eminently satisfying.
[identity profile] lyakahime.livejournal.com
Story: Finding Ianto
Author: Blackbird Song
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 14930
Author’s Summary: A long time ahead, in a space bar far, far away, Jack gets a message he didn't expect.
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto, various OCs
Warnings: None

Recced because: Let me put it this way. You know that Star Wars/Torchwood fusion you want, where Jack Harkness is Han Solo? Except how you don’t actually want that, particularly, because then you have to deal with everything that’s going on in the Star Wars universe, when all you really want is to watch Jack buckle swashes and dash handsomely about and navigate through a rich and well-realized universe, awash with alien culture and mind-boggling sights?

(Oh, and for bonus points, if it could also double as a CoE fix-it and allow Ianto some space to show off exactly how awesome he is, that would be great, am I right?)

Too much to ask from one fic? Apparently not, because Blackbird Song has written it. This is what would happen if Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina and Finding Nemo had a baby in the Whoniverse. And then that baby starred in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It’s funny, it’s sweet, it’s an adventure story, and it has heart. I can’t recommend this enough.
[identity profile] ellyfanfic.livejournal.com
Title: Public Enemy Number One
Word count: 16,676
Author: idelthoughts
Author summary: The prisoner drew himself up tall, facing Jack squarely, and Gwen was suddenly glad he was bound. “Yes, I am the Doctor.” He looked Jack up and down with a stern expression, and his voice was heavy with scorn. “And you’re Torchwood.”
Characters: Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Jack Harkness, The Doctor (10th)
Warnings: Spoilers for Torchwood through season 2.

Recced because:
This is one of my favorite Who stories. It manages to be fun and deep at the same time. It has a heavy dollop of Torchwood, and in fact is written from Gwen's POV. This makes it interesting, because it's a look at the Doctor through the eyes of someone who doesn't know him at all. The characterization for Ten is spot-on in this-- he switches from goofy to angsty in the blink of an eye, just as he does in the series. There's also a lot of nice filling-in of Ianto's story, which was never fleshed out enough in Torchwood to suit me.
[identity profile] ffutures.livejournal.com
Story: Just Because They Protect You Doesn't Mean They Like You
Author: Nancy Brown
Rating: Adult
Word Count: 14122
Characters: Amy Pond, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Owen Harper, Rory Williams, The Doctor (11th)
Author's Summary: Working for Torchwood Cardiff means dealing every day with aliens, time travellers, annoying co-workers, and worst of all, tourists. A day in the life of someone who'd rather be somewhere else.
Warnings: Swearing
Recced because: When I started reading this I was drinking coffee, and ended up with coffee over my keyboard. It's fun and extremely silly, a day in the life of Torchwood 3. Warts and all...

Before the excerpt I should mention the introduction, which adds a few more warnings including "language, character death, necrophilia, dub-con, excessive whining, incredibly offensive humour." I don't find it offensive, but tastes differ



Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom

6:13AM

***

The noise broke into the middle of Ianto's dream: a raucous buzzing and tweeting, like the repetitious caw of a thousand angry ... somethings. Birds? The dream morphed into terror -- giant, slouching, with skeletal black wings and razor-like beak -- then scattered to rags as he opened his eyes.

The noise continued.

Everything was dark. Ianto thrashed his limbs, did not encounter another body but did manage to unwind the blanket he'd wrapped around himself twice as he half-rolled, half-fell onto the floor. As he became more alert, he saw that he was nowhere near his bed but in fact had slept naked in the wardrobe.

His mobile kept ringing. He stumbled to where he'd dropped it on the night stand, flipped it open, and said in a sleep-roughened voice, "Yeah?"

"I woke you up."

Ianto rubbed a hand over his face. Events from the previous night made their presence known in his memory, pickled with a bit too much whisky and aged about three hours. "Did you catch the Weevil, then?" When the call came, Jack had kissed him stupid and told him to stay put. As Ianto had just experienced a fantastic orgasm, backed up against the wall of his wardrobe and buffered by shirts and suit coats, he hadn't been in the mood to argue.

"Yeah. Piece of cake. I didn't want to wake you, so I came back here."

"Thanks."

"I need you to get dressed and head in." Jack's tone was apologetic, but Ianto heard the distinct sound of his lover sliding back into boss mode. Jack may have sucked Ianto's brains out through points south last night, but this morning, he was all work.

[identity profile] biancaisabelle.livejournal.com
Hi all! *waves awkwardly*
So my name is Bianca, a whovian hailing from the Netherlands, and I'll be reccing for you this week (:
I understand that for a part of you it's still Sunday, but well.. let's just view this as a bonus than, shall we? ;)

Besides, if you're going to read this fic (and I think you should) you're going to need the extra time...


Story: Terminal Decay
Author: Unslinky
Rating: Adult
Word Count: 3,071,407 (yes, you read that right - this is not a typo)
Author's Summary: Set shortly after The Planet of the Dead. AU to everything Doctor Who and Torchwood after that.
Characters/Pairings: Clive Jones, Francine Jones, Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Jack Harkness, K-9, Leo Jones, Luke Smith, Martha Jones, Martha Jones, Mickey Smith, Sarah Jane Smith, Sarah Jane Smith, The Doctor (10th), The TARDIS, Tish Jones, Tom Milligan, Torchwood (I've only copied the list of characters Unslinky indicated on Teaspoon because I do not want to spoil what happens in the story! :))
Warnings: Explicit Sex, Explicit Violence, Swearing

Recced because: This fic took Unslinky nearly two years to complete and it has just over a 1,000 chapters. I came across it when the fic had been growing for some time already, but rapidly caught up and then followed it all the way to the end. I realise three million words may seem rather daunting, but trust me when I say that once you start reading this fic, it becomes part of your life shockingly easily and quickly. (I'm rereading it at the moment - worth every step of the way.)

So what makes this fic so captivating? There is more Doctor!Whump out there in which he (nearly) dies [keeping open the outcome so as not to spoil you guys], after all, and those are not as epically long as this fic. There are several reasons.
One is that Unslinky's characterisation is amazing. Unslinky knows how people work, what makes them tick, what makes them laugh, and she manages to write the dilemmas that come with being/caring for a dying alien, the last of his kind, in a way that is incredibly realistic. There are no good or bad guys in this story - everyone has two sides. There will be moments when you really hate a particular character (at least I did), but later that will always be put into perspective because the reasons for their behaviour are revealed and you suddenly understand that even though sometimes people say or do things that make you want to punch them in the face, they're not all bad. Every story has two sides and nothing is ever only black or only white.
That brings me to my second reason: realism. The Doctor is suffering from a degenerating disease, which will kill him if nothing is done, and a lot of people (see character list and then some) get involved. That means there are a lot of angles to be written, a lot of point of views, tensions, opinions - not to mention that an illness as seriously as the one from which the Doctor suffers in this story simply can't be fixed in two or three chapters. The illness is described very naturally, over a period of time, and Unslinky gives us readers wonderful medical details and descriptions without making it too brainy too understand - and then of course there is also the psychological side. The Doctor has to accept that he is ill and that he needs help, he bonds to people in entirely new ways, but the other characters are also affected - they have doubts, are hurt, hope, work, scream, cry (everything you might expect of someone with a close friend who is dying). Rather than rush through events towards a happy ending [or not!], Unslinky isn't afraid of putting the main storyline on hold to be introspective or have a flashback. This doesn't impede the story at all, however, but rather adds to it, shaping the characters and making them incredibly real.
In the end, this didn't feel like a story, but rather as a journey. It has made me look at some characters in an entirely new way and by the time I got to the end I didn't think 'oof, I've finally read it', but rather 'why is this over already?'.


Preview )
merryghoul: road (mini dead ianto)
[personal profile] merryghoul
And now, something fun to close out my run here at [livejournal.com profile] calufrax.

Story: Torchwood, the Rift and the Wardrobe
Author: laurab1
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 1982
Author's Summary: "This is us, with our underground base, our alien tech and our pet dinosaur. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if a fictional place is accessible via a wardrobe that washed through the Rift."
Characters/Pairings: Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Jack Harkness, Owen Harper, Rose Tyler, The Doctor (9th), The TARDIS, Toshiko Sato
Warnings: no standard warnings apply

Recced because: Torchwood Three, Rose and the Doctor end up in Narnia. Should I say more?
merryghoul: road (mini dead ianto)
[personal profile] merryghoul
I think it's high time I recced a Torchwood fic this week, and here's my first rec:

Story: Adjectives, or "Three Times Jack Didn't Shag a Member of His Team and the One Time He Got Played"
Author: Canaan
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 1310
Author's Summary: What it says on the tin. Four character studies from Jack's point of view. Jack/Gwen, Jack/Ianto
Characters/Pairings: Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato
Warnings: no standard warnings apply

Recced because: The title pretty much explains what this fic's about, but this fic does a great job of explaining why Jack refused to have sex with his post-Suzie Costello team. Except for Ianto, of course.

(Also, I tried putting the whole subtitle in the header, but it cut off the D.  Blasted LiveJournal.)
[identity profile] ffutures.livejournal.com
Story: My Immortal 2
Author: Elisi
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 37130
Author's Summary: The Immortal is Captain Jack Harkness. This is what happened next. (TW S2 -> CoE) BtVS/TW crossover.
Characters/Pairings: Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Other Character(s), Owen Harper, Rhys Williams, Toshiko Sato
Warnings: Swearing

Recced because: I'm a sucker for crossovers and a big Buffyverse fan, and this is the latest instalment of the best and most canon-compliant Who / Buffyverse series, in which Jack is secretly The Immortal, a character discussed in Angel but never actually seen on screen. It's more serious than the first story, but still has time for romance and humour. I'm hoping that there will eventually be more in this series, but for now the story is complete.

A small sample - It helps to remember that Captain John and Spike were played by the same actor )
[identity profile] lindenharp.livejournal.com
Here’s the last rec of the week. a Doctor Who/Torchwood crossover.  

Story: Pizza and Planets
Author: Eledhwen
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 7365
Author's Summary: When the Doctor arrives in Cardiff, horizons are expanded. Spoilers for DW S4 and TW S2, plus speculative casting spoilers for TW S3.
Characters/Pairings: Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Martha Jones, Mickey Smith, The Tenth Doctor
Warnings: none

Recced because: I wish we had seen more interaction between Torchwood 3 and the Doctor.  In this (mostly) lighthearted story, the Tenth Doctor drops by the Cardiff Hub after the events of “Journey’s End”.  There are moments of sadness, as when the Doctor has to explain what happened to Rose and Donna, but also of humor and affection.

A snippet... )
Read it here.
[identity profile] firefly124.livejournal.com
Story: Noodley Appendage
Author: Nancy Brown
Rating: Adult
Word Count: 2751
Author's Summary: When Captain Jack Harkness gets someone a special surprise for their birthday, it will almost certainly wind up involving sex with tentacled aliens. Because, Jack. (Part of the Rabbit Hole AU.)
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto/Lisa/OC
Warnings: Explicit Sex

Recced because: Really, the only thing better than Jack/Ianto/Lisa is Jack/Ianto/Lisa/tentacled alien. And, as well done PWP tends to do, it manages not to be strictly porn, giving some insights into how the main triad have grown together. While it is part of her Rabbit Hole AU, it reads fine alone, I think, as the dynamics of the established triad are stated or implied pretty thoroughly at the beginning.

Teaser )
[identity profile] firefly124.livejournal.com
Story: Blocking Your Own Shot
Author: Arnica
Rating: Adult
Word Count: 84,540
Author's Summary: Eighteen days into his suspension, Ianto tries to start putting things back together by tearing them all down first.
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Ianto/OC, Jack/Ianto/OC
Warnings: Explicit sex, language

Recced because: There are at least dozens if not hundreds of “What Ianto did during his post-Cyberwoman suspension” fics out there. This is one of the best I've read. It delves into just how seriously messed up Ianto is, and more than that, what it takes to piece him back together. The OC, Cheyenne, is gritty and flawed and mirrors many of Ianto's dysfunctions through a different lens in really interesting ways. It's not, however, a strictly character piece (though I would call it highly character-driven), and while parts are extremely steamy, it's not PWP. It's also got a solid action/adventure plot that sort of sneaks up on the reader, as it sneaks up on Ianto.

Teaser )
elisi: Edwin and Charles (The rest is silence by kathyh)
[personal profile] elisi
Story: Among the Dead and Dying
Author: allfireburns
Rating: All Ages.
Word Count: 100
Author's Summary: Jack goes searching through a room full of dead things. [Jack + Ianto gen]
Characters/Pairings: Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness
Warnings: None.

Recced because: When I started looking for things to rec I went through my Teaspoon favourites, and was once again struck by the stark poignancy of this drabble. (Like all good drabbles, it's so much bigger on the inside.) Imagine my surprise when I realised that it had never been recced (nor had the author), and I am very pleased to rectify this. (You don't need any knowledge of Torchwood in order to appreciate it, by the way. It stands beautifully on is own.)
elisi: Edwin and Charles (My Ianto Jones)
[personal profile] elisi
Story: Five Books Ianto Jones Likes Rereading
Author: Misato
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 503
Author's Summary: A Five Things story.
Characters/Pairings: Ianto Jones
Warnings: None

Recced because: Deceptively simple, this short fic does several things at once: It's a lovely character study, as well as perfectly capturing the craziness that passes for normality in Torchwood - and it's funny and somehow far more than the sum of its parts. In other words: This is a fic that I like rereading. :)
[identity profile] ffutures.livejournal.com
I'm [livejournal.com profile] ffutures, Marcus Rowland at Teaspoon, and I'll be reccing this week. Unfortunately the last month or so has been packed with minor disasters, and I've spent most of my time dealing with them, so haven't had as much time as I would like to delve into the archives. I hope that I've found some stories that you'll like and haven't been recced before; all are relatively short, due to time constraints.

Story: A Packet of Crisps and a Retcon Pill
Author: Jinxed_Wood
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 1297
Author's Summary: The team have sent Gwen on a mission, if only she could remember what it was. Crossover with Sherlock BBC.
Characters/Pairings: Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato
Warnings: None

Recced because: Torchwood fic tends towards the gloomy - here [livejournal.com profile] jinxed_wood shows how much fun they can be, and for a bonus gives us an excellent crossover with the BBC's Sherlock. No spoilers, just Torchwood finding out how just how tricky Sherlock can be...
merryghoul: road (mini susie)
[personal profile] merryghoul

Hello, I’m [livejournal.com profile] missvmarigold, and this week I’ll be your reccer. I’m also on Teaspoon (under the penname missvmarigold); there, I post classic and New Who and Torchwood fic there. Later this week I’ll be reccing fic from some of my favorite eras of Who, but to start off, I wanted to rec a Torchwood fic, since it was my introduction into this awesome fandom.

Story: Not Another Suzie
Author: mattmetzger
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 596
Author's Summary: In the morning, Jack will try to put things right, try to fix everything that has gone wrong. He doesn't want another Suzie on his hands. Ficlet, post-Cyberwoman.
Characters/Pairings: Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Suzie Costello
Warnings: no standard warnings apply; per author’s notes, “Spoilers for 1x01 'Everything Changes' and 1x04 'Cyberwoman'”
Recced because: Jack’s always felt guilt about losing anyone under his leadership of Torchwood. Although Suzie would be driven mad by her usage of the resurrection gauntlet, a glove that brings people to life for short periods of time, Jack still feels guilty about Suzie’s suicide. In this fic, Jack sees the same problems he saw in Suzie showing up in Ianto’s behavior to save Lisa Hallett (Ianto’s girlfriend from Torchwood One, who was partially converted into a Cyber[wo]man during the Battle of Canary Wharf). Even though this fic is short, it does a great job of delving into Jack’s mind as he figures out how he can save Ianto.


Also, Suzie is my favorite Torchwood character, so there's that. And Ianto's my favorite regular Torchwood character, so there's also that.
[identity profile] derekmetaltron.livejournal.com
Hello and welcome once more to another week of fan fiction picking here on Calufrax! I am James or ‘Derek Metaltron’, your guide for the next few days. It really doesn’t seem that long since the last time I took this awesome responsibility back in early September when Doctor Who and Torchwood were both rounding off and I was a lot freer than I am now, as since then I’ve started my rather extensive postgraduate degree. Still, can’t be so difficult to find some quality fics from all eras of Who, right?

Now to begin we’ll start with some episode tweaking within the still much loved Tenth Doctor era…

###

Story:
A Complicated Event In Time And Space
Author: Aldanon
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 53,493 Words
Author's Summary: It took almost twenty hours to tow the Earth back home after saving all of reality from the Daleks. Set during Journey's End, this story is a compilation of events that took place in the TARDIS and on the Earth in those hours.
Characters/Pairings: Ten II/Rose, Martha/Mickey, Tenth Doctor,  Donna Noble, Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Jackie Tyler, Rhys Williams, Sarah Jane Smith
Warnings:  A fair potion of Angst and Hurt/Comfort for certain characters and a mild case of Whump.

Recced because: As a fan boy and someone who came into Who in the days before the New Series and the suggestion of certain pairings and the like, I tend to view certain kinds of fan fiction warily. However, whilst I’ve always loved the idea of Martha and Mickey getting together I came to love Aldanon’s protrayal of setting up Rose with the duplicate Ten – here, she’s elected to suggest that rather than mere minutes it took many hours for the Earth to be dragged back to its rightful position, leading to the possibility of talks and interactions which Russell denied us. While Ten II/Rose and Mickey/Martha are the main focuses here all the TARDIS crew get a piece of the action. Better yet, this lengthy fic expands into two sequel works which focus on the lives of these two pairings afterwards. In short this is a big read but well worth it!
[identity profile] gibbous.livejournal.com
Hi, I'm gibbous, leamichelle on Teaspoon, and something far less polite practically everywhere else. My attention span currently holds the Guinness World Record for the 100m Sprint, so you can deduce that my recommendations are either going to totally rock or just be really pretty, so there's nothing lost either way. Enjoy!

Story: One Eighty One
Author: silvercocoa
Rating: Teen/PG-13
Word Count: 6,220
Author's Summary: There were three hundred sixty-six days that were never meant to happen. Toshiko Sato remembers up until the day she died.
Characters/Pairings: Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper, Rhys Williams, The Master (Simm)
Warnings: Salty language, violence.

Recced because: The Year That Never Was has always intrigued me, simply because of what it is: a bunch of stuff happened, except for the persistent fact that nothing happened at all. I just figured that since we were cool with being utterly screwed by Time Herself (that's what you get for messing with her boytoy), it would be okay to, you know, take soul abuse. After all, WWJDD? This lovely, incredibly story catalogues - weeks, days at a time - what Team Torchwood went through during the year of oppression and instigated terror by the hand of the Master. I don't usually do whump!fic in such epic proportions, but this was so believable and everyone was so in character that it completely overshadowed every reservation I had.
[identity profile] derekmetaltron.livejournal.com
We’re onto day four of the Metaltron Marathon of Whofic picking. The penultimate episode of Torchwood: Miracle Day is on today for those in Blighty (whilst you lucky Americans get to see the final one tomorrow) so I figured I should pick something today of a Torchwood number. And what’s better than a nice dose of AU harking back from the very first series?

Story: Live In Infamy
Author: livii
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 1425
Author's Summary: Things did get worse after Pearl Harbour. AU for 1x12, Captain Jack Harkness.
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Tosh, Owen, Gwen, Ianto.
Warnings: Some Angst and eventual Character Death.

Recced because: This is actually an AU I considered writing myself once but never got round to, but in all honesty I’d say livii had done as great and sombre a take on this logical AU – what if Jack and Tosh had to remain in 1941 after all – and sees these two characters go through the slow path together, tearful and happy moments both. It’s a dark story but it also has one of my favourite rare pairings – Jack/Tosh. This very episode this story branches out of gave them some nice chemistry together and it forever made me wonder afterwards what this would have been like as a pairing, much as I adore Owen/Tosh and Jack/Ianto.
[identity profile] pitry.livejournal.com
Hello! No, you're not wrong. I am Pitry and this is not December. But I'm going to help you pretend it is winter now (or summer, depends on where you are in the world) by reccing this week!
And we shall the week start with something funny.

Story: A Few Quiet Drinks
Author: jadesfire
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 5,057
Author's Summary: This is a Torchwood/Discworld crossover.
Characters/Pairings: Ianto Jones, Toshiko Sato, Suzie Costello, Gwen Cooper, Owen Harper, Captain Jack Harkness, various citizens, denizens and other zens of Ankh Morpork.
Warnings: None.

Recced because: For a change, the summary doesn't say it all. Well, there's only a limit to how serious things can get when your crossover is Torchwood and Discworld, but still, what the summary doesn't tell is the mutual life of exasperation and eternal confusion the agents of Torchwood share with the various people of Ankh Morpork. But it's not just the comedy. You'd think it's impossible to write this crossover and yet keep both sets of characters in character, but whether it's Death picking up Suzie, Ianto and Igor sharing a grumble together, or Jack talking to Grannie Weatherwax, it's in character, it's funny, and it makes you wish Sir PTerry would write a Torchwood episode.
ext_3965: (10 M J TLotTL)
[identity profile] persiflage-1.livejournal.com
Here's the first of this week's several multi-era stories:

Story: Evolution
Author: Concordiaadieu/[livejournal.com profile] catholicphoton
Rating: Adult
Word Count: 30094
Author's Summary: Set Post-JE. Martha goes missing, and panic ensues.
Characters/Pairings: Francine Jones, Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Jack Harkness, Martha Jones, Mickey Smith, The Doctor (10th), Torchwood, UNIT

Recced because: It's a rolicking good adventure romp with a creative use of Martha's backstory and a Classic Who enemy who not many fic authors have bothered to bring into New Who stories.

“Doctor, what is that? Can it find Martha?”

“It detects disturbances to the fabric of space-time, so hopefully yes.”

Jack cleared his throat. “I’ve got one of those too, only mine’s sleek and sexy.”

“Jack, stop it. Now assuming that the disturbance you detected earlier with your sleek, sexy and, by the way vastly inferior, detector thingy is connected to Martha’s disappearance, and in all honestly signs point to yes, then with this massively superior detector thingy not only can I detect it, but I may be able to trace where it came from and where it went. The when may be a little trickier.”

Jack shrugged and grabbed Gwen’s hand as the Doctor took off at a run toward the disturbance. Jack snorted. “He could have just asked where we got the reading, but no, he likes run.“

Gwen grinned at him. “You’re one to talk.”
elisi: Edwin and Charles (Pimpin' by hauntes)
[personal profile] elisi
Torchwood will soon return to our screens, so here's a story to remember what was.

Story: Nemo Me Impune Lacessit
Author: derryderrydown
Rating: Adult
Word Count: 6601
Author's Summary: "You let Ianto fall into the Rift," Jack said, with a level of strained calm that had Owen edging towards the door. "Alright." He took a deep breath. "But you should know that nobody sleeps until we find him. And I'm probably going to fire you all."
Characters/Pairings: Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness
Warnings: Explicit Sex
Recced because: I have read a lot of Jack/Ianto fics. No really, a lot. And most of them were pretty good, because I’m quite a cautious reader. But this one is one of those that stuck in my mind, and that I still come back to. I don’t want to give too much away, but it is in many ways a very unusual story, which tries to cast light on who the characters are, even when they’re not quite themselves, focussing on what’s fundamental to them and their relationship. It also delves into Jack’s past in rather brilliant way, beautifully highlighting how he’s changed over the years, and why. Plus, it’s just a really good, well-written story. Oh and hot too! :)
[identity profile] ffutures.livejournal.com
Story: Once There Was A Girl Named Emily
Author: Idontlikegravy
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 1190
Author's Summary: Torchwood Three receive a very strange inheritance. Crossover with Bagpuss.
Characters/Pairings: Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Other Character(s)
Warnings: None
Recced because: I like crossovers, and this has to be one of the most unlikely Torchwood crossovers I've ever seen. Bagpuss was a children's TV show from 1974, which came from the same studio as The Master's favourite show, The Clangers. This story captures its gentle mood perfectly. And watch out for the killer last line!
[identity profile] wendymr.livejournal.com
This is my final rec for the week. Thank you for your lovely comments on the stories I've recced, both here and on the stories themselves! And many thanks to [livejournal.com profile] nonelvis for giving me the opportunity to rec again. Between the mix of New with a bit of Classic, long stories and short ones, hurt/comfort and crack, I hope you've all found at least one story to enjoy.

Story: The Adventures of Ten, Rose and Jack (a series of - so far - three multi-chapter stories)
Author: Sanguine Ink
Rating: Up to Teen
Word Count: Story 1: 30291 words in 13 chapters; Story 2: 38913 words in 15 chapters; Story 3: 24705 words in 9 chapters
Author's Summary: For the series: Starts with an AU of Army of Ghosts/Doomsday and follows the Tenth Doctor, Rose, and Jack as they travel through time and space.
Individual story summaries:
Two Months "Woke up one morning and there they all were," said Jackie. "Ghosts, everywhere! We all ran around screamin' and that. Whole planet was panicking. No sign of you." But what if there was? A story in which the Doctor and Rose show up at Jackie's flat two months earlier, completely changing the events of Army of Ghosts and Doomsday.
The Planted Past Ten, Rose, and Jack intend to visit a nice festival. Instead, they end up with mortal danger, time-y wime-y enemies, and a whole lot of running.
Loop "He was the champion – no, the lord – of foolhardy plans, whipped together at the last second with barely a prayer of working. But this…this took the cake. It was all up to Jack now."
Characters/Pairings: Tenth Doctor, Rose Tyler, Jack Harkness, a whole host of guest characters including Jackie Tyler, Yvonne Hartmann, Ianto Jones, General Staal, a sentient plant and Captain Jack Harkness (no, that's not a mistake!).

Recced because: Sanguine Ink writes rollicking good adventures. From the first story, in which she creates an AU of her own stemming from an alternate ending to Doomsday, she takes her characters on a rollercoaster ride with lots of action and danger, solidly-constructed plot and plenty of humour, some of it laugh-out-loud. Her Jack has me nodding throughout, and she just gets the Doctor: the combination of extreme intelligence and manic hyperactivity, his ability to distract and feint, and even turning completely bizarre actions into the perfect plan. Rose is quick-thinking and determined, and Jackie is brilliant also in the first story. Even minor characters are drawn deftly and vividly in character; nobody is wasted in this story.

The series is Ten/Rose, but the focus isn't on the romance at all; it's there clearly enough for those who want it, but it never gets in the way of the story. A few Americanisms and occasional typos appear, but in stories as enjoyable as these they didn’t bother me at all.

A very short extract, showcasing the humour with no spoilers, is:below the cut )

If you like plotty stories full of adventure, a great cast of well-written characters, lots of twists and turns, and humour around every corner, give this series a try. And if you enjoy it, please tell the author!

reccity-rec-rec

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

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