Arctic Light

Part One is here.

Expect several more of these posts; I've been reading a lot of Torchwood and bookmarking a bunch of it to rec, but never actually writing up any recs posts. So here's a smattering of not especially themed recs. Pretty much everything is season 1 & 2.

Torchwood fic

Snowdon by rivier
In the aftermath of season one's finale, Ianto tries to walk away, and Owen goes after him. Really lovely, detail-rich relationship-building; the fic is tagged Ianto/Owen but it's really more gen friendship with a lightly flirty vibe. I didn't realize 'til reading the author's notes that this was actually written just after season one, because the author does a fantastic job of anticipating the softer, more caring Owen from season two.

Does Africa Know A Song Of Me? by etmuse
Epistolary fic told in the form of letters exchanged between the team while Jack and Ianto are on location investigating alien shenanigans in Namibia. Set around mid-season-two but very slightly AU. Really fun banter and character interactions, with snark and friendship and a touch of h/c. Also, Martha. <3

Dancing in the Midnight Garden by Fionn_Sgeul
This is a really unusual and well-written AU of the first episode of season one, in which Gwen is actually an immortal being pretending to be human. I'm generally not fond of season rewrites that retread the plot of canon, so I loved this because it's not that; it's much more like an original episode than a do-over of 1x01, with a completely different plot, and Gwen is also a very different character, recognizably Gwen-like but also believably enigmatic and inhuman. It's full of clever and fun details, and different-from-canon interactions between the team and Gwen. This is the start of a series, and I'm looking forward to reading the rest.

Aftermath and In Between Days by Squash
These are two really lovely Owen-Ianto friendship fics, the first a series of emotionally hurt/comforty aftermath scenes from episodes from Cyberwoman through the end of season two; the second is a series of snippets after Owen's death. Both involve his canonical perma-death, so they're somewhat heartrending, but full of lovely relationship-building details as the two of them slowly evolve from prickly co-workers to close friends.

In general, I recommend checking out the rest of Squash's Torchwood fic if you like Owen-centric fic, and Owen & Ianto friendship; they really like writing both of these things. There is a caveat, however, which is that this author also doesn't shy away from dark and depressing subject matter, and some of it (though not, imho, the above-recced stories) is bleak.

Other fic of theirs I particularly liked: Hang On To The Thought Of Me (Ianto tells Maggie - the suicidal woman from "A Day in the Death" - about Owen's death post-2x13) and So We Wonder What Peace Of Mind Could Be Like (Owen & Ianto huddling for warmth). Their longest fic, In Losing What I Am, I Become Who We Are is plotty horror, very well written, with good team moments and probably THE MOST depressing ending I have ever read in any fanfic ever; "rocks fall, everyone dies" would have been positively cheery compared to what actually happens.

Beggars would ride and Mistaken for Home by Amand_r
Two gently sweet, well written, and ultimately heartbreaking team fics taking place from early season one to after the character deaths in season two, the first about a "birthday machine" that celebrates the team members' birthdays (and gets increasingly wrenching over time) and the second about an afghan that Gwen brings into the Hub when she's first hired.

I also generally recommend looking through the rest of Amand_r's Torchwood fic, though it is highly diverse in subject matter (they write a bunch of pairings and kinks), but there is a lot of it featuring a wide variety of different characters.

Vids, general

Human or Dancer by LilMissLola (Torchwood, Owen character study; link goes to Youtube)
This is from 2009 and the quality isn't that great, but it so completely hits the notes that I want from a vid study of Owen's post-undeath afterlife. I particularly love the way that his relationships with his teammates are showcased in this.

Burn Burn Burn by BeatriceEagle (A:TLA, Zuko character study; AO3 link)
A lovely Zuko character study to a really beautiful female-vocalist cover of the Johnny Cash song "Ring of Fire."

We Didn't Start the Fire by beccatoria (A:TLA & Legend of Korra, DW link)
A fun, fast-paced vid with clips from both shows.

By now I've read most of the stories in the Avatar Big Bang that looked interesting to me, so here are some recs! Well, actually a lot of recs. (Note: All links go to the googledocs pages where the stories were hosted during the Big Bang; if there are alternate links that I know about, I've included those.)

( Summaries contain series spoilers )

This entry is also posted at http://friendshipper.dreamwidth.org/283256.html with comments.

Ahahaha ... okay, thanks to a very amusing icon of Zuko with a fish on his head, and rydra_wong letting me know that it was actually from officially canonical comics, I went and found the pertinent pages from the Nickelodeon tie-in comics (on scans_daily). (Takes place between seasons two and three, contains some spoilers.) Agh, I think I'm slipping right past "Hey, I guess I'm okay with that pairing" into active shipper territory. (ETA: And no, I don't mean Zuko/fish. This fandom is not actually that cracky. Even canon isn't actually that cracky ... much.)

Also, after finding this other excerpt from the comics (scroll down past the movie-casting pictures of CAPSLOCK-INDUCING RAGE), I have got to get my hands on the rest of them. Anyone know if they can still be purchased anywhere?

This entry is also posted at http://friendshipper.dreamwidth.org/272043.html with comments.

And I've just started going through fanart, too ... wow, there is some incredible art in this fandom. *flails happily*

( A few fanfic and vid recs; cut for spoilers )

ETA: I do not know what's wrong with me today; I don't think I've ever borked HTML this badly. I must've edited this post 15 times, and every time I think I've fixed everything, I see another improperly closed tag or badly constructed journal link. AAAAGH.

The trouble with vids on Youtube is that, as well as the quality issues, they have this tendency to vanish. But I had to rec this one, because it's simply stunning:

I'm Still Here, vidded by RennyTheThunder - Zuko vid, clips from the whole series (although it's cut so quick that I'm not entirely sure if you'd be that spoiled if you haven't seen all of the show). I don't normally go for vids with a lot of editing/effects, but this one uses them beautifully; I'm just incredibly impressed by the way the cuts and f/x and song lyrics are fit together -- and on top of everything, it's a perfect Zuko song, and not one that's overplayed. This one's a keeper, and I wish the vidder had a website somewhere (at least I can't find one) because I really want a better-quality version of this!

So, er. I have plunged into Avatar fandom with gleeful abandon. I don't even want to think about how many tabs I have open right now. So far I'm discovering a regrettable shortage of long, plotty, non-romantic fic (... may have to do something about that *looks innocent*), but there's a ton of really good short fic, and I figured I'd share links to some of the stories I liked. Under the cut: spoilers for all parts of the series, lots of post-series fic recs (because that's what I'm mostly wanting right now -- though it's not all I'm reccing here), mostly genfic with a smattering of various pairings. (Note: edited just now to add a few more)

( Avatar fic recs - summaries contain spoilers )