Fancake

Fandom: Ballet Shoes
Characters/Pairings: Posy Fossil
Rating: General
Length: 5203 words
Author Links:
Theme: siblings, family, female characters, gen, book fandoms, old fandoms, small fandoms, future fic

Summary: "There was a terrific row when Nana found out I'd only written one letter so she's sent me to write to you all properly, only I don't have anything left to say now and I do think it's silly to have to copy out the same letter twice." Posy Fossil's letters to her sisters from ballet school in Czechoslovakia, 1936-1938.

Reccer's Notes: Ballet Shoes is a delightful story about three sisters in 1930s Britain, their guardian, and their nanny. At the end of the story, one goes off to Hollywood under a studio contract, one goes to live by an aerodrome to learn to fly, and the youngest (Posy) goes to Czechoslovakia to be trained as a ballet dancer. Posy, the youngest, loves her sisters but is also self-centered and focused on her dancing. This is the first time she's ever been away from her sisters since she was a baby, and the letters trace that relationship even as they're hundreds and thousands of miles apart. But no matter how far apart they are, no matter how different their lives are, they still love one another. deepdarkwaters captures Posy's character, and her relationship with her sisters, perfectly.

Story Links: With Love, Posy

Fandom: Captain America
Characters/Pairings: Steve/Bucky
Rating: G
Length: 16,400 words
Creator Links: odsbodkins
Theme: Outside POV, siblings, female characters, gen, 

Summary: Becca Barnes is eight years old, and her big brother can do no wrong. The events of the two Captain America movies, from the perspective of one of the sisters Bucky leaves behind.

Reccer's Notes: This story has an excellent child's perspective, and a deep and abiding love between Becca and Bucky. It's lovely and it makes me cry.

Fanwork Links: My Brother, the Hero

Fandom: Deep Space Nine
Pairings/Characters: Kira Nerys
Rating: Gen
Length: 871 words
Creator Links: AuroraNova 
Theme: food and cooking, worldbuilding, trauma & recovery, old fandoms, gen, female characters, backstory

Summary: Starfleet personnel mistake minor inconveniences for real suffering. Kira knows the difference all too well.

Reccer's Notes: This is short, but it packs a punch and explores the differences in perspective between Kira and the rest of the command staff in a very visceral way.

Fanwork Links: Hunger Pangs

Fandom: Star Trek
Pairings/Characters: OC/OC
Rating: Mature
Length: 151k
Creator Links:
Theme: unrequited love, trauma and recovery, casefic, novel length, epic works, worldbuilding, spies and assassins, telepathy, research, psychic powers, post-canon, pining, marriage of convenience, getting back together, female characters, family, character development,

Summary: Past may be prologue, but it is not destiny.

Reccer's Notes: This is part of the previously recced Pi'maat series, but I pulled this one out to rec separately because a) it's got a different main character from the rest of the series, and the MCs from the rest of the series are bit players in this one and b) unrequited love is not the main theme, but it's a thread running through it. Though it's a bit of an odd take on it, considering that the person the MC has unrequited love for is her husband. (But they're Vulcans, so it was an arranged marriage.)

The MC has been through hell, abused from childhood (including by her husband--he's genuinely changed, and would never again hurt her, and has been telepathically examined to prove it).

This is a story about healing, about the way the past shapes the present but doesn't have to define it. There's a mystery to be solved, with spies and assassins, and a great adventure plot once the mystery is solved. And through it all, as much as Kiri is healing and getting her life together and serving as the catalyst for great, galaxy-changing events, she craves a loving relationship with her husband, which seems forever beyond her reach.

(I have labelled this as Voyager, because Tuvok is a major character in it, but it's set on Vulcan after Voyager's return, with a cast of 99% OCs + Tuvok and Tom Riker)

Content Notes: Child abuse (non-sexual), domestic abuse, violence (canon-typical), mental illness (depression), mentions of suicide (no on-screen suicidal ideation or actual suicide). Mentions of war, genocide, and other nastiness, all more or less canon-typical, and probably not nearly as grim-dark as I'm making it sound...

Fanwork Links: Dah Vohkaya
At AO3

Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Pairings/Characters: Drey'auc, Rya'c,
Rating: gen
Length: 740 words
Creator Links: Penknife 
Theme: missing scenes, family, old fandoms, outsider POV, minor characters, female characters

Summary: The ones left behind.

Reccer's Notes: Teal'c betrayed Apophis to join SG-1 in destroying the Goa'uld. We later learn that to do this he abandoned a wife and kid without any warning, and they had a pretty rough time after he left. Drey'auc only appears in three episodes over ten seasons (once as a hallucination/memory), and Ry'ac only appears in a few more than that. They're rarely even mentioned.

Penknife does at least a little to fix that, with this fic, set just after the first episode.

Fanwork Links: Widow's Walk

Fandom: Endeavour
Pairings/Characters: Endeavour Morse/Joan Thursday
Rating: Mature
Length: 50k
Creator Links: lemonistas 
Theme: trauma and recovery, female characters, character development, fixit, domestic, fork in the road AU

Summary: "Maybe it’s time to stop asking for what she wants, if no one’s going to stop her from simply walking up and taking it."

After the Wessex Bank heist, Joan Thursday puts herself back together.

Reccer's Notes: In canon, Morse has an awkward flirtation with his Detective Inspector's daughter Joan, but nothing ever comes of it. Instead, Joan is traumatized when the bank she works at is robbed, and runs away. In this story, Joan makes a different choice about how to deal with her pain, and everything goes differently from there. I love the way Joan grows, and the difference that it makes for her and Morse.

Fanwork Links: Mid-Century Modern Girl

Mods, can I get a fandom tag?

Fandom: Star Wars
Pairings/Characters: Reva Sevander
Rating: teen
Length: 16k
Creator Links: Shadaras 
Theme: trauma and recovery, black characters, female characters, psychic powers, gen, characters of color

Summary: Reva heals and works towards understanding what she wants her future to be.

Reccer's Notes: Here's another story about Reva, this one set immediately after the Obi-Wan Kenobi series ends. It's about figuring out what to do next, about putting one foot ahead of another, about choosing every day to do something other than follow your instincts.

Fanwork Links: The Trail of Compassion

Fandom: Star Trek XI (Reboot)
Pairing: Spock/Uhura
Length: 27483 words
Author Links: yahtzee
Theme: Black characters, Female Characters, women being awesome, pre-canon, female friendship, competence, interspecies pairings,

Summary:  During their final semester at Starfleet Academy, two people who have no intention of ever changing transform each other.

Reccer's Notes: This is a great story of how Spock and Uhura's relationship developed, but it's also a great story about Uhura's time at the Academy, how she learns and grows and how awesome she is academically.  It fits perfectly with the movie; yahtzee made me believe that if the movie had showed the Spock/Uhura backstory, this is what we would have seen.  There's a lot of great UST, and two people being mature adults despite being in love, and a lot of linguistics and hard work.  If I only had one Spock/Uhura story to last me forever, it would probably be this one.  Both Spock and Uhura are awesome in this, but Uhura is particularly awesome.  (And Spock loves her because she's awesome.)  There's also some good Gaila and Uhura friendship in there.

Note: The links to the next section are at the TOP of each section instead of the bottom, so when you get to the end of the section you have to scroll up to the top to get to the link to the next part.

Story Link: Break

Fandom: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Pairings/Characters: Finn, Rey, Anakin Skywalker
Rating: teen
Length: 23k
Creator Links: musesfool 
Theme: Black characters, road trips, AU, mythical creatures: ghosts, female characters,

Summary: Finn and Rey's epic space road trip adventure, featuring pirates, kittens, and the Force ghost of Anakin Skywalker.

Reccer's Notes: Finn and Rey get separated from the Resistance and from Luke Skywalker, and go on an adventure of their own. It's lots of fun, and along the way they learn more about the Force and themselves.

Fanwork Links: Celestial Navigation

Fandom: A League of Their Own (TV 2022)
Pairings/Characters: Maxine "Max" Chapman & Clance Morgan
Rating: teen
Length: 1:24
Creator Links: ultraviolet_catastrophe 
Theme: black characters, female characters, female friendship, fanvid

Summary: A lighthearted vid about Clance and Max's friendship. I believe this vid does not have any physical or emotional triggers. Captions available.

Reccer's Notes: It's delightful and fun, set to a banger of a song.

Fanwork Links: Grrls

Mods, can I get a fandom tag?

Fandom: Luke Cage
Pairings/Characters: Luke Cage/Claire Temple
Rating: teen
Length: 7k
Creator Links: igrockspock 
Theme: Black characters, post-canon, female characters, competence, characters of color, women being awesome

Summary: Claire Temple is her own kind of hero: she saves lives and helps people in broad daylight, in a costume of surgical masks and scrubs.

Reccer's Notes: I love this portrayal of Claire and what she might do after the show ended. It might take her a bit to get back on her feet, but you can't keep her down for long.

Fanwork Links: The Night Nurse

Fandom: Enola Holmes
Pairings/Characters: Edith Grayston/Sherlock Holmes
Rating: teen
Length: 2k
Creator Links: hazel 
Theme: black characters, female characters, competence, courtship, characters of color, minor characters, small fandoms, women being awesome

Summary: “I’m fine,” Edith says. “I wish I’d kicked him harder.”

“Understandable,” Sherlock Holmes says. “Can I escort you anywhere?”

Reccer's Notes: Edith didn't have a large part of either Enola Holmes movie, but she was delightful, and she and Sherlock had great chemistry, and I love the way he listened to her and got over himself. This story is delightful and gives her a chance to shine.

Fanwork Links: a cup of tea and a slice of cake

Mods, can I get an Enola Holmes Movies tag?

Fandom: MCU
Pairings/Characters: Bucky/Sarah
Rating: Mature
Length: 63k
Creator Links: napricot 
Theme: black characters, characters of color, friends to lovers, female characters, family, rare pairings, pretend couple, everyone thinks we're dating, creator rec

Summary: “Bucky’s not my—“ my anything, Sarah almost said, before she swallowed the automatic denial.

Dina was going to be here until the new year. Sarah knew from experience that her mother-in-law could fit a lot of introductions, and blind dates masquerading as friendly dinners, and just plain set-ups into those weeks. The woman was more relentless than a Match.com subscription. But here was an easy way to avoid all of that, and all it would take was one harmless little white lie.

“It’s new and we haven’t really put a label on it yet,” she said. “Just seeing how things go, taking it slow, you know?”

Bucky and Sarah have busy holiday seasons ahead of them: Bucky's reconnecting with his family, and Sarah's former mother-in-law has come to stay for her annual holiday visit. As if that wasn't enough, Sarah and Bucky both have to deal with well-meaning relatives trying to set them up with other people when that's the last thing they want or need. There's a simple solution to that problem though, in the form of one little white lie to get them through the stressful holiday season. They can claim to be dating each other.


Reccer's Notes: I'm going to be reccing several of napricot's stories this month, because they're an incredible writer and have written a lot of Black characters. Bucky and Sarah had so much chemistry in the show, which the show-runners wanted to do more with but didn't have time to do. Napricot does a beautiful job of taking the ball and running with it. It's tropey goodness you won't want to miss.

Fanwork Links: something to believe in your heart of hearts

Fandom: Captain Marvel
Pairings/Characters: Maria Rambeau, Yon-Rogg
Rating: teen
Length: 36k
Creator Links: sholio 
Theme: Black characters, characters of color, female characters, gen,

Summary: It's not the first time Maria Rambeau has had an alien in her living room, but it's definitely the most awkward. Yon-Rogg is seeking sanctuary. Maria just wants to stop having to deal with this kind of crap.

Reccer's Notes: I love the way Maria gets a chance to shine in this one, and the way it explores the loose threads at the end of Captain Marvel. Carol Danvers goes off to save the galaxy and fight the Kree, and here we see what was happening back on earth.

Fanwork Links: Balance of Trust

Fandom: Pride and Prejudice
Pairings/Characters: Darcy/Elizabeth, Charles/Jane
Rating: teen
Length: 10k
Creator Links: cedarboots 
Theme: trans characters, old fandoms, marriage, friendship, female characters,

Summary: "One day, quite unprovoked, Miss Elizabeth turned to her and said, 'What is your opinion of women?'"

Darcy had never been able to say all she meant. She found, however, that it grew harder and harder to stop herself from speaking.

Reccer's Notes: I love the way the author marries the historical attitudes toward gender with kindness and care and understanding, because the general attitudes of society are not necessarily universal. I love the thoughtful way the author adapts the characters and plot to the difference in gender and orientations here.

Fanwork Links: Return Flight

Fandom: Buffy
Pairings/Characters: OCs
Rating: Gen
Length: 1500 words
Creator Links:
Theme: indigenous characters, female characters, old fandoms, characters of color, cultural differences, gen, outsider POV, superpowers

Summary: Listen to me.

I'm using your language because you didn't learn mine. So you listen good. I worked hard at learning English.

I know that if you don't understand me, it won't be my fault. I am going to tell you about me, and you are going to listen.

Reccer's Notes: This classic was first posted in 2004, and is now only available via the Wayback Machine. Girls all over the world were turned into slayers during the show's finale. This is about one of them who chose not to join up with the Slayer army to fight the First Evil.

Fanwork Links: Just Full Of Gifts

Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairings/Characters: Fleur Delacour/Nymphadora Tonks
Rating: E
Length: 10K
Creator Links: basketofnovas 
Theme: female characters, spies, femslash, book fandoms, minor characters.

Summary: Fleur Delacour returns to Britain after the Triwizard Tournament to work for Gringotts and spy for the Order of the Phoenix. Then she falls in love with her Order contact.

Reccer's Notes: This is about Fleur and Nymphadora, but it's also about the harsh realities of being undercover in a dangerous and grim situation. Very well written.

Fanwork Links: wet gray gold-lit street