Told in alternating sections of Dan talking with Abby in therapy and the events he tells her about, the narration in this story is amazingly tight. Unreliable narrators, when done right, are such an effective trick; they’re fallible, we only know what they know when they know it (but sometimes we can guess at more) and the building of plots is even more intense. And Annie is fantastic at all of this in Like Sailing and Home Runs. Her Dan is charming and fallible, sympathetic and stubborn.

Like Sailing and Home Runs

This is like, an entire afternoon read, but it goes by so quickly. Some authors fall into pacing traps and narrative potholes and diversions when writing stories this length but Annie is not one of them. Epic and at turns frustrating (because boys are just so dense you know?) and romantic but never, ever sappy. And the fantastic thing about Annie’s stories? Is that they always satisfy. She is the queen of telling not showing and she’s a true Sports Night writer, this isn’t just a story about two guys getting together, it’s a story about best friends and sportswriters and tv shows and so, so much more. Every cast member is fleshed out and full of life, and every pice of action is lived by you and the characters. This is how all fanfiction should be written.

Not Homophobic

Rivka is one of my favorite writers because she usually writes amazingly incredible futurefic. She has this unique ability to create worlds that are so intricately detailed you can smell them. This stroy is dark and gorgeous with fascinating characterizations. Bruce Wayne is a wonderful character and Rivka writes him well.

No Darker Than Yours

This is one my favorite stories in the fandom. Oh god, I just love it to death, it’s a college cliché fic that just works, absolutely. Seriously. everyone just go read it now.

Card One: The Fool – One Man’s Journey

Every hero, self-styled or otherwise, must undertake a quest, and Harry Potter’s quest has already been set for him by those older and wiser than he. Where there is prophecy, there is also destiny, but there are forks in the dark path that Harry and his friends now walk. There are allies they know not, and enemies they’d know but for their smiles. There are lessons in the past that Harry would do well to learn, and guidance in the present from unexpected sources.

Written for the second wave of the Big Bang H/D challenge this is a novel length story with a kick. Long and plotty, a great take on what a post-Half Blood Prince world would be like.

Abide the Sleeper

Non-magic AU. One small town, two murders and countless suspects. Police Chief, Severus Snape, and his reluctant side-kick Draco Malfoy must discover the truth behind the crimes before anyone else loses their life. Circumstances become even more complicated when new kid in town, Harry Potter, turns out to be the biggest mystery of all.

This is a really good read, long, around 86,000 words, and filled with intrigue.

Paying the Piper

In the summer before Harry Potter’s sixth year, he confronts a frightfully suspicious wizarding world, where friends are strangers, mirrors hide secrets, and enemies become lovers.

Hmmm, I’m, you know, I’m sort of ambivalent about this one. It’s a good story. Some of the plot ideas, and the buildup are dead creepy, but I don’t feel like the scenario is all that realistic. I guess I’ll just leave it at that. It’s definitely worth reading.

Hall of Mirrors

In the summer before Harry Potter’s sixth year at Hogwarts, something relatively inconsequential causes him to wonder if he’d been barking up the wrong tree the whole time, as far as girls went. As the year progresses – amongst activities geared towards house unity, nefarious Slytherin plots, and dealing with the loss of loved ones – Harry begins to wonder if perhaps giving people a chance isn’t so scary, after all. What does all that have to do with Draco Malfoy? Why, everything, of course.

This is a good story. I have a few issues with it, but over all, the writing is solid, it covers the entirety of their 6th year, and I really like the author’s ideas for implementing the sorting hat’s plea for inter-house unity.

Beyond Wild Moor and Fen

Harry’s characterization is vastly different in this story than your average fandom incarnation. But I’m having trouble deciding whether that’s a good or a bad thing. Part of what I love about rps is the fact that characters can vary wildly from story to story but if the writing is good, all incarnations are equally believable and real. That’s not really the case with fiction-based fandoms and I’m not sure these writers have sold me. This is a really cool story though, the side characters are all really well fleshed out.

Queen of Hearts

I resisted this one at first – it’s set in the US and there seemed to be an awful lot of bad clichés, but it ends up all coming together pretty well. It’s got the added bonus of being extremely long with some pretty hot sex.

Left My Heart

Oh man, this story is both long and wonderful. Seriously, it’s great, plot-rich with really cool magical theory and curses.

A Choriambic Progression

Fucking awesome story. It’s long and such a lovely take on Harry and magic and occlumency clichés. Wonderful details, the author has a great feel for the magical world.

Penance is the Play

The dynamic in this story is amazing. Harry’s grown up enough to not twinge my slightly tempermental squick-meter out and Snape is perfectly Snape, just a little more human. The story is long, intense, detailed and best of all, plotted, complete with new magic. [note: you may need a password to access these stories, just go here and follow the directions.]

Scratch The Holly and the Ivy

The writing style fits well with the time period and O’Brian’s own style. Plotwise, it’s good, but either in the pacing or the plot itself, something still feels like it’s missing. Over all though, a good read.

Prizes Over Discovery

This is probably my favorite story in the fandom because it’s just, brilliantly written and so fucking awesome, and LONG. I love long stories and this one is just perfect. It’s a series of nine, increasingly long stories that follow Connor and Murphy from the ages of 10 to 18. Stewardess did her research for this, she put in obvious amounts of time into writing a thoroughly believable backstory for the twins. And her voices for them are practically flawless. There’s angst and happiness and she writes about their relationship, how it’s evolved and is evolving, which is one of my favorite aspects of fic in this fandom. The twins have this incredible, intense relationship. They’re this indestructable, unbreakable, insulated unit. They are, in every sense of the word, a pair. And that intensity, that starkly obvious lovedesperationneed for each other is an awesome jumping off point for writers because it’s interesting.

note: this fic is posted friendslocked to a livejournal community. You’ll a) need an lj account and b) have to friend the community to read it. It’s a pain but the story is definitely worth it.

Already Crazy