calufrax

Story: Found
Author: Fayza
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 4,605
Author's Summary: The Brigadier has his hands full when an alien escape pod lands.
Characters/Pairings: Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart/Liz Shaw, Captain Yates, Jo Grant, Third Doctor
Warnings: None

Recced because: UNIT is used to dealing with the strange and unusual, but not always peacefully ... which makes the arrival of an alien baby more than a little confounding, especially for the Brigadier. He might have a daughter of his own, but that doesn't necessarily make him comfortable dealing with an alien infant, and his substitute for a temporarily absent Doctor – Liz Shaw – isn't entirely happy at being drawn back into UNIT's unique brand of chaos, either. (Not in the least because it reminds her of certain inappropriate feelings she'd had for her supervisor.) But the plot isn't why you should read this story, although it's a good one; no, you should read it because it's really a sweet-natured character piece with emotional depth for both the Brig and Liz, written with such thoughtful attention to voice that I had no trouble hearing each character speak in my head.

Excerpt: ( after the cut )

jjpor.livejournal.com

Story: Every Rank Begins With N
Author: Brunhilde
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 689
Author's Summary: Another universe's Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart. Comes with severe warning for craziness!
Characters/Pairings: Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart/Dr Elizabeth Shaw ...or are they??
Warnings: None

Recced because: Well, the title and the severe warning in the author's notes really say it all more clearly than I probably can. Taking inspiration from Inferno and its eyepatch-wearing fascist Brig (and nasty fascist doppelgangers of the other S7 UNIT stalwarts), this fic explores the terrifying upside-down world that is the universe where...every rank begins with "N"!

It's one of those crack!fic premises that might seem a bit too silly (if that's even possible) at first glance, but it's not the only excellent joke and clever idea this fic has going for it (and after a couple of paragraphs you'll in any case find yourself going with the flow and chortling along anyway - or that was my experience, anyway). It's also poking affectionate fun at those much-loved (in my corner of fandom, at any rate) alternative-universe segments of Inferno and the horrible world they briefly sketched out (I don't know about you, but the allegations made about Brigade Leader Lethbridge-Stewart and Section Leader Shaw have the ring of truth about them as far as I'm concerned).

And on top of that, even, it's also subtly sending up the whole concept of mirror-universe episodes so beloved of television science fiction and the idea that in order to really mark that this isn't the world we know, you need some easily-identifiable visible gimmick. Like fascist!Brig's eyepatch. Or Spock's beard, to bring That Other Fandom into the proceedings. As well as fully revelling in that sort of thing, with characters who in our universe are heroes displaying the most black-hearted villainy (and dodgy fashion sense) you can imagine.

All that, and it's even a Brig/Liz fic of sorts, and I don't know about you but Brig/Liz is pretty much The Business from my point of view. And it also manages to bring out one of the very best aspects of the Infernoverse, eye-coverings and Evil!Sgt Benton aside - the fact that the alternative versions of our beloved UNIT characters aren't so much inversions of their normal personalities, but rather the same personalities with some of their pre-existing traits greatly amplified at the expense of the others.

Oh, and as I may have mentioned, it's dead funny too. I implore you; go and read it and leave some kind words for the author.

( The sort of thing you're letting yourself in for... ;) )

aralias.livejournal.com

Most people reading this will already have heard the sad news about Nicholas Courtney aka Brigadier Sir Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart. While he won't be on screen again as the Brigadier, we can, like the Doctor, always visit the Brig again at any point in his past - though with the written word and DVD/video-recordings, rather than a time machine.

Obviously, in light of this event I wanted to rec something with the Brig in it. What I have chosen is almost more a story about Liz, certainly a story more about their relationship than simply about the Brig, but I was planning on reccing it anyway, and it seems wrong to shy away from it just because it's relatively light-hearted and not entirely about Sir Alistair.

Story: A Turn In The Park
Author: johne
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 549
Author's Summary: Liz, the Brigadier, and a cliché.
Characters/Pairings: Liz/the Brigadier

Recced because: It's a lovely, understated story about the relationship between these two characters: Liz, stubborn but willing to change her mind if there is evidence to support such a change, and the Brigadier, a man of restrained emotional responses, but one not without great care and affection, not that at all. A thorough gentleman, despite whatever amusement he might derive from a situation. It's very short, there are relatively few events (in fact, the only event, 'Liz hurting her ankle', happens off screen), but the fic does a lot with its word count, and with what the summary describes as a cliché.

Extract: "I suppose you think I should have stayed put and screamed?" she said.

"At least one patrol would have been in earshot the whole time. We are investigating two disappearances, after all, and I'd rather that the third one wasn't you."

pitry.livejournal.com

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.

ionlylurkhere.livejournal.com

I thought I'd do a couple of slightly longer recs to finish off, for leisurely weekend reading. Here's the first:

Story: Five Times Liz Shaw and the Brigadier Saved the World
Author: vvj5/

lost_spook
Rating: All Ages
Word count: 5592
Author's summary: Season 7 without the Doctor. Surprisingly, the world doesn't end.
Characters/Pairings: Liz/Brig
Warnings: None

Recced because: This is a glorious AU, little snapshots of what might have happened if the Doctor hadn't turned up in Spearhead. Things don't change that much, but everything's that little bit more difficult and hard-won without him around (well, except in the case of Inferno, which becomes somewhat simpler!), but in the process Liz and the Brigadier become closer than they did in canon. The characterisation's done with a wonderful light touch even amongst the occasional grimness; take this exchange, for instance:

"If you need help, you may have as many of my men as you need -."

"I don’t need anyone to clutter up the room and break things, but when I do, I shall be sure to take you up on the offer."

What I find particularly interesting is the way

lost_spook deals with the fall out of not having the Doctor present (you can see some of it in the quote, with Liz's attitude to the idea of helpers rather similar to the Doctor's initial attitude to her, but the most interesting one to me is the discussion at the end of the second chapter, which acts as a distorted mirror of the Doctor and Brig's falling out in the Silurians, but surprisingly it's the Brig whose arguments are closest to the Doctor's in the original version, because of the different experiences he has; it's a great bit of characterisation that undercuts a lot of fannish clichés).

akashasheiress.livejournal.com

Story: Moving Forward
Author:

settiai
Rating: Teen, I suppose.
Word Count: 5043
Author's Summary: Sometimes all a person can do is move forward and hope for the best.
Characters/Pairings: Liz Shaw/The Brigadier, Third Doctor, Sergeant Benton.
Warnings: Um, heartbreak?

Recced because: I really enjoy Liz/Brig, even though we know that they don't end up together.

settiai beautifully brings to life a brief, passionate affair between two people who don't quite know how to deal with their emotions, as well as the friction between the Brig's old-fashioned chivalry and Liz' independence.

atraphoenix.livejournal.com

Story: An Unexpected Education
Author: Sleepy Sheep683
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 11930
Author's Summary: Over the course of a year, a scientific adviser falls in love for possibly the first time. It's most inconvenient.
Characters/Pairings: Liz/Brig, Mike Yates, Sergeant Benton, The Third Doctor
Warnings: None

Recced because: This story, along with it's companion piece No More Than A Feeling, is an excellent look at Liz Shaw's all too brief time at UNIT. It tallies perfectly with canon, and fleshes out what we saw onscreen in a beautifully believable way. I struggled to choose between the two, but, in the end, my love for all things Liz won out. (The other story - which views events from the Brig's perspective - is well worth a look as well, of course.)

wiccagirl24.livejournal.com

Story: The Slow Path
Author: atraphoenix
Rating: All ages
Author's Summary: Susan Foreman takes the slow path.
Characters/Pairings: Susan Foreman, Liz Shaw, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Donna Noble, Harry Sullivan, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Jo Grant, John Benton, Martha Jones, Sarah Jane Smith, the Tenth Doctor (Liz/Brig, mentions of Susan/David)
Warnings: None
Word Count: 3,306

Recced because: The story of Susan, living her life on 'the slow path' is elegantly woven into the Doctor's history. It's brilliant seeing how she interacts with many of the same people her grandfather did, just a step out of time with him.

( A little hint of what is to come. )

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 pairing:brigadier/liz

Rec: Found

Rec: Every Rank Begins With N by Brunhilde

rec: A Turn In The Park

rec: All These Things That We've Done by atraphoenix

five times liz shaw and the brigadier saved the world by vvj5

rec: moving forward

Rec: An Unexpected Education

Rec: The Slow Path

reccity-rec-rec

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April 2018

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