Fic Recs #1

[ungefug]

Not to be the person who tells you their life story before the chocolate cookie recipe but I've been thinking for a while, a really long while, about the way there is no, or simply not enough, public discussion and recommendation of fanfic (and fanart in general) anymore. Where are the rec lists outside of  yuletide? Where are the beginners guide to ships? Where is the horror fic of the month?

Well, that's not quite true. I know some people do their part. Sometimes, when I get an influx of kudos on a fic, I search my name on tumblr and it actually spits out some fandom themed rec post. I've come across twitter posts that screenshot my fic headers to laugh at the absurdity of the ship or tags, and those often to bring in readers. I know people recommend and swoon over fic in discords and private messages. I'm also led to believe that the young people on tikok make videos about fic they love and everyone chats about the fic in the comments, but lately the internet, which supposedly never forgets, has morphed into this frighteningly ephemeral state. Conversations take place in closed discords not public forums, twitter posts go viral only to be impossible to find again a month later, and so on. I think you all know what I'm talking about. People don't seek out content anymore, they get it delivered by an algorithm, and with a swipe or the closing of an app it's all gone again. Well, and there's also the fact that I become more aware of the fact that I keep forgetting things, and ao3 bookmarks are simply not enough.

Naturally, when I saw the creation of  recthething I felt instantly inspired to start writing reviews for fics I enjoyed. Which I then instantly did not do, because I wasn't reading enough fic, or not enough fic that wasn't gifted to me in exchanges, or, well, because I forgot about my noble goals.

So here we are now, my first attempt at a fic recs, for which I will probably scour through my bookmarks and gifts. I hope to make this a monthly kind of thing, and to be talking more about what I read recently.



Behind the Lines by redgear
M, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, M/M
Original Work, Prince/Common Soldier Who Saved Him In Battle

Written for the goreswap  exchange 2025, about a soldier finding his prince injured and in need of medical attention, this fic does one thing I like – whether it’s in smut, hurt and comfort, gore or just romantic hand holding – really well, which is to zoom in on the minute by the second details from the feeling of someone’s hand on your hip to their breath on your lips that’s almost a kiss. I don’t know if the fic is part of the author’s greater worldbuilding but we get a whiff of a neat setting, in which there are breastplates, arquebuses and princes, so perhaps something a little late medieval, renaissance even, but I personally thought of the early days of the Great War.


I'll eat you up I love you so by hiljainen
E, Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, F/F
Original Work, Adoring Squire/Scarred and War-Weary Knight

Although this fic was not written for my request (consent_issues_exchange), I have to confess I minted this particular ship tag, because I dearly enjoy a ship where someone who is young and of lower standing adores, desires, creeps on, and possibly tops an older person. “I'm just a pole, sir,” is just one of those lines I won't ever forget. Add knights and we have a winner. This fic just does all of that right for me, I especially enjoy how hot the knight is when seen through her good squire’s lens, and how heavily it leans into the kink of class and their roles by referring to them only as squire and knight.


The Borrowed City; The City in Motion; The City of Daggers and Light by ivoryandhorn
G, No Archive Warnings Apply, Gen
I saw three cities - Kay Sage (Painting)

I always like seeing paintings in the yuletide tagset and checking out what people do with them, especially the more abstract ones, and this is a great example of just such a work. Surrealist writing for surrealist paintings, a travel guide for desert cities that never were. Really loved both the language, the meditative repetition of words, the win, and the images conjured up. As I said in my comment, it reminded me a lot of Kafka meeting Chronopolis meeting Moebius, but the list doesn’t quite capture my feelings about it: longing.


Sidelong Seduction by Devil Drabbles (ShootToWin)
E, No Archive Warnings Apply, M/M
Teen Wolf (TV), Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski

Disclaimer: I read this totally fandom-blind. But I imagine Teen Wolf isn’t really like that, at all.

Maybe I should have some filth of the month category? And by filth I don’t just mean smut, I mean dirt. If I do keep this rec thing up, you might hear me saying this more than once, but I love when I can’t just see but also feel and smell smut.This fic paints a lovely scene of an utterly filthy cruising spot and its dude-typically (read this in the same voice as one would read the tag period-typical homophobia) filthy visitors, and despite, or because of all that filth, it shows a rather sweet, intimate connection between these two men who engage in some wet and sloppy frottage, which reads much like scissoring actually. Special shoutout to the small dicks!

Comments

[snickfic]

Yay for recs!! I really hear you about the ephemeral nature of the internet. Plus I do genuinely find a lot to read by looking at people's recs lists, so. <3

[ungefug]

It's so scary when you can't find anything anymore, isn't it?

[dr_zook]

I hear you about your noble goals and I salute to you that you eventually shared some recs! :)

The soldier/prince one is marvellous, exactly my cup of tea on this dreary commute. :3 Thank you very much!!

[ungefug]

Hah, thanks! 🫡

[adastreia]

Thanks for the recs! Totally hear and agree with everything else you said, too. Can't wait to check these out :)

[ungefug]

Hope you like some to them!

[scintilla10]

Here via recthething -- thanks for sharing! I'm bookmarking the OW fics :D I always appreciate seeing more recs in DW for just the reasons you mention! <3

[ungefug]

Hope you like them!