Saturday Night Recs

[doranwen]

(I'm still awake so it's still Saturday night, right?)

All of these are fics I read in the past week and added to my fanfic database, and which I flagged for either being a favorite fic, or one I thought was exceptionally well-written. (For all fics I added this week, leave a comment and I can make a special post for you, or you can browse the regular posts linked in my master recs post.)

This week I was concentrating on fics from the Australian YA book series beginning with Tomorrow, When the War Began, as well as fics for the 2010 film by the same name. If you've never heard of either, I highly recommend them.

Guide to icons used:
Fics I tagged as favorites:
Fics I thought were exceptionally well-written:
Dead link (see note on fic)):
(Icons come from the Icon pack by Icons8.)

As always with my db-generated lists, ratings are all converted to a single system for convenience:
Fanfiction.net - G through R
AO3 - PG through X (though the occasional child-friendly fic I mark G)
anything without a rating (AO3 or other site) - Unrated


I listed any ships I thought were major below each fic. If there are any minor/background ships you want to avoid, please leave a comment and ask for a list to be made for you. Note that ships may refer to one-sided or unrequited ones as well as to requited/mutual.


My database stores information on themes, which cover everything from grammatical things like tense & person (I mark for present tense, first person, second person, and direct address), to format (poetry, songfic, 5+1, etc.), trope (fake couple, stranded together, etc.), relationship type (beginning, established, etc.), general feel (angst, fluff, etc.), fic ending (positive, sad/unhappy, mixed/ambivalent, etc.), and warnings (major character death, non-con, violence/wounds, etc.). These have been included below the major ships. Note that this may spoil you.

If you would rather just have the list below with certain themes excluded, please comment to let me know which one(s) and I can reply to your comment with the non-spoilery recs. You can find the full list of themes here.



Below are the recs:

Tomorrow When the War Began

Technomad - Through the Wreaths of Mist, 1495 words, PG-13
The war may be over, but the losses linger on...
no major ships
Angst, First Person, Grief / Mourning, Present Tense, Sad / Unhappy Ending, War

shelter - Lazarus, 1994 words, PG-13
One-shot. As the battles rage around her, Robyn Mathers fights, saves, cries and leads - right up to the end. And knowing she's done everything, she looks forward to going home. Contains spoilers for Book Two and Three. Bookverse.
no major ships
Angst, Christianity, Major Character Death, Mixed / Ambivalent Ending, Present Tense, War

sharikqah - Long Exposure, 2126 words, PG-13
One-shot. On the seventh anniversary of the war's end, a photographer documents how lives have moved on. Or not.
no major ships
Positive Ending, Present Tense, Second Person, War
Note: When I flagged this fic "Dead", I meant, "I have no idea where I saved this from. It's an epub file on my hard drive that I must have created at some point, but I have no memory of doing so and apparently didn't put a link in there. All my attempts at searching have turned up nothing about this fic. Yet it is utterly fantastic and I have to tell people about it." PM me or comment on my Dead Fics post if you'd like to read.

shelter - DSLR, 4066 words, PG-13
One-shot. Somewhat AU. What if there was no hope of rescue, no convenient bombardment of Stratton Prison, no escape? In the shadow of execution: 12 moments from Ellie's last week on death row.
no major ships
Canon Divergence, Major Character Death, Present Tense, Sad / Unhappy Ending, War

Richard Simpson - Eight Very Ordinary Heroes, 7152 words, Unrated
Ellie's diary entry for an Awards Ceremony - follows "The Other Side of Dawn" Finley is always talking about "proper recognition" and that got me wondering what "proper recognition" would be. From my reading on the subject, it is very clear that support, approval, acceptance and a ready ear to listen are vitally important to the recovery and health of people in the position of Ellie and her friends. At the same time societies need their heroes and honouring such people publicly is one way a society can help draw itself together and inspire its members to keep up the struggle. This is one stab at what putting together those two needs could involve. For those overseas, the "Governor General" is the nominal "head of state" of Australia. This is largely a ceremonial position. The "Governor General" is not a politician, but is generally one of the most respected people in Australia. There have been exceptions to this, but for the purposes of the story I am assuming this GG is one of the good ones. In this story, the Governor General speaks for me.
no major ships
First Person, Mixed / Ambivalent Ending, Post-Traumatic Stress / Trauma Recovery, War


If any of the non-dead links above no longer work, please let me know so I can flag them as "Dead" in my database, thanks!

Enjoy! :)