I'll Gladly Smut You Tuesday: Fic Recs!

[themostepotente]

Two from hp_rarities!

On Being, In the Company of Others (With Annotations and Accurate Biography as Written by S. Snape, Himself) - Snape/Regulus, Snape/Lupin [PG-13] by Mystery Author.

A gorgeous, sleek telling of Severus's schoolboy encounters with Regulus and Remus. I admire the author's experimental bravery, choosing a narrative both lyrical and smartly stream of conscious in styling. I love Severus's characterisation in this, and his voice is dead on. This concludes beautifully, too, at a critical point and time in his life.

Maelstrom - Harry/Teddy [NC-17] by Mystery Author.

I really seem to gravitate to these kinds of stories about pressuring mid-life crises and sexual discovery. This story is no exception, and the author genuinely seems to transcend that line of believability for me. This is a story about real people with real problems, and part of me is sorry the author needed Rowling's universe as a vehicle to convey what could possibly be a very compelling, original piece of fiction about personal growth and self-exploration.

In Maelstrom, the Potters, the Weasleys and Teddy Lupin take a holiday in Greece. Paradise becomes Harry's personal Hell, though, exacerbated by gloomy temperaments and gloomier weather. Honestly, I wonder if I wasn't supposed to interpret the rain as some sort of biblical omen, but then I can totally relate having been on what can only be described as a 'very wet holiday.'

Harry's troubled marriage to Ginny reaches crisis-level. They've been to see a Marriage Healer, and no amount of advice seems to be helping either party. To worsen matters, Harry's relationships with his children are tenuous at best, and Al proves to be a bit of an enigma for Harry. Al's quiet and bookish and more than a bit miserable, and Harry has yet to find a way to relate to his middle son.

Enter Teddy, equally conflicted and utterly unlikeable at this point. To further compound Harry's troubles, Harry catches Teddy in a very compromising position, and from there matters become uncomfortably complicated. And this is probably the appropriate point to mention that the sex in this fic is UNGODLY hot without being overmuch. The wank scene? Just GUH!

I went from liking to sympathising to hating Harry and Teddy so much that I gave up settling on one feeling. There is a turning point, however, when Teddy proclaims himself as 'war trash', and my heart just bleeds when Harry realises that he too, is the product of war-torn times. Kleenex, please!

In conclusion, a few other reviewers have mentioned some niggling points; minor canon errors and some exposition dump. I can't say I was too bothered by any of this, because this is really just a FUCKING AMAZING fic. I'm six paragraphs deep in this review, and I still don't feel as though I'm doing this any amount of justice. My only complaint is that I'm still a little unsure about the ending. Saturday, I walked away feeling one way, Sunday another. I will say this, though; sometimes you're with the wrong person for all the right reasons, and sometimes you're with the right person for all wrong reasons. And the beauty of this statement? It's aimed at everyone involved.

Enjoy all!

--P

Comments

[marguerite-26.livejournal.com]

*nods vehemently throughout this post*

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

♥

[gryffindorj.livejournal.com]

I went from liking to sympathising to hating Harry and Teddy so much that I gave up settling on one feeling. There is a turning point, however, when Teddy proclaims himself as 'war trash', and my heart just bleeds when Harry realises that he too, is the product of war-torn times. Kleenex, please!
YES!!! That part BROKE ME into pieces *cries again*. Then the line that follows where Harry wonders if Teddy is a boy or a man and Teddy says something like "his boy" so sad and so sexy at the same time.

I agree with the reviews about the ending and exposition dump but I would still highly rec the story it was awesome.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Nothing bothered me in this story to such an extent to not rec it. You're right, it was quite awesome. I'm very curious to know who wrote this. Most of the people I would've guessed are in this damn thread :-P

[gryffindorj.livejournal.com]

Yesterday I was looking at the fest and trying to figure out who could have written the story. It possibly could be someone newish to the pairing since there was a little sag in the writing and that's not something I usually associate with anyone I would have guessed wrote it. But I could always be surprised. Still a fantastic piece no matter what.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

I agree. The fic is still awesome sauce no matter what!

[nolagal.livejournal.com]

I was annoyed by the canon errors at the beginning and then one in the middle only because they served no purpose and threw me out of the story a bit. But like you, when the rest of the story is that good, I can forgive a few errors. I liked the ending because of this: sometimes you're with the wrong person for all the right reasons, and sometimes you're with the right person for all wrong reasons It was rash and sudden but it made sense.

[melusinahp.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I came very close to back clicking after she said that Teddy wasn't a metamorphmagus. Obviously, I'm very glad I didn't. :) It's interesting, though. Canon accuracy is pretty much vital to my enjoyment of a fic, unless it has an AU warning. I had a conversation with spaceframents, though, where she said that those kinds of canon details aren't important to her at all.

I may do a post.

[snegurochka_lee]

*noses in*

Yeah, and I was a bit put out by the one reviewer (who I do not know) who said that those of us who picked on the canon errors missed the point of the fic and are being unfair, etc. *eyeroll* If it's not original fic, and you are playing in someone else's 'verse, then you've got to get stuff like that right, IMO.

[melusinahp.livejournal.com]

*rolls eyes* I didn't see that yet.

And, you know, I left a gushing, totally heartfelt comment and gave it a glowing rec. If someone is complaining about the one sentence in which I pointed out canon mistakes, than I think she's missing the point of my comment, heh.

And, personally, I'm grateful when people point out my mistakes, even if it's embarrassing. It means I can fix them later.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Which reviewer is this? I'm too lazy to go back and look :P

[snegurochka_lee]

No, it doesn't matter; I don't remember either, and I don't mean to pick on one person. I actually am impressed (and I hope the author is, too!) with how much discussion this story is generating -- both in people's rec posts and on the fic itself. If reviewers are reading the other comments first and discussing their points in their own comments, I actually think that's great. It was just a one line thing. That I happened to disagree with. :)

[nolagal.livejournal.com]

I know! *eyerolls with you* None of us missed the point of the fic, we've all recced it to high heaven and how is pointing out a mistake unfair? (because without context, canon errors are mistakes)

[spacefragments.livejournal.com]

it's not that they're not important *at all* but i can ignore them if the fic is otherwise good, especially in the case of characters that are little more than a name.

[melusinahp.livejournal.com]

It's pretty much an all or nothing thing for me. And personally, as a writer, keeping all the canon facts correct is part of the game. I enjoy the challenge.

[gryffindorj.livejournal.com]

I read all the comments and can't begin to tell you how excited I am to see someone who feels the same way about canon as me. Poor canon knowledge can completely ruin an otherwise ok story. I get a lot of shit from one of my friends for my over exactness when it comes to fics. But I have found my favorite writers know their verse. This fic, the Teddy/Harry one, was an exception because normally those errors would have killed it but it carried on anyway. *puts up favorite icon*

[melusinahp.livejournal.com]

*grins*

This is my reasoning: I came into HP because I wanted to read more about Harry. Thus, I want to read fics where Harry in in character. If a writer demonstrates that she's put effort into keeping canon facts straight, that shows respect for the universe, and I feel more confident that she's not going to write Harry OOC.

But this fic is a clear exception, as I think the writer wrote Harry beautifully and very much in character.

[gryffindorj.livejournal.com]

Yes exactly to everything you said!!!

Double exactly to Harry being beautifully written in this. It was perfect!! Every little detail things like Harry crying when James was born and so many other details were just perfect.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Which canon errors are you referring to? The ones about Teddy not being a Metamorphmagus amd Al's eye colour? Or did I miss one?

[nolagal.livejournal.com]

yeah, I think there was something else small but those two were the bigger, especially Teddy not being a metamorphmagus. The eye color was right at the beginning though, which makes me distrust a writer.

I loved the story and didn't mention the canon errors in my review (mainly because I hate to point out something that a writer can't fix at the time, if they wanted to) but it's one of my pet peeves (and something the beta should've caught too) unless there is a reason. Like a cool story where Teddy doesn't have the morphing ability and so he becomes a spy and good at disguises as a weird way to connect with his mum.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I think I feel a discussion brewing on the importance/non-importance of canon. *G*

[painless-j.livejournal.com]

This? An exemplary rec, as for me :) A rec that a) makes one want to read, b) is intelligent, c) is written like a good story itself. *rec envy* :)

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Aww, Peej, that's really nice of you to say. Thank you, sweetie! I do try my best to write recs that people will find appealing enough to read the fic(s) - or even chance if the pairing/kinks in question are not to someone's liking.

[brknhalo241.livejournal.com]

Add my voice to those that loved Maelstrom. It was wonderful and I loved that there was no such thing here as the 'perfect victim'; everyone had faults and looked good and bad depending on the moment. Definitely worth checking out!

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed it immensely, and I'm glad to see that so many others did, too ♥

[snegurochka_lee]

It's interesting to me to see readers' critiques of this one as well as squee. I for one found the opening segment rough and off-putting; I see from her review that Beth found part 2 the bit that nearly threw her out; and here you have questions about the ending, which I didn't. :) I think part of the reason it's so good is that it's not formulaic or "perfect" in a fanfic sense; there are flaws but also areas that will appeal to different readers in different ways. And because the story is focused to such a large extent on emotional journeys for the characters, I think it's perfectly reasonable that readers will react to different aspects of that journey in different ways, probably informed by the own experiences.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Now see, I agree with bethbethbeth. It was actually the last part for me that I had some concerns about. I absolutely LOVED the first two parts and was not at all fussed by the eye colour or the fact that Teddy was not a Metamorphmagus. The latter may be because I just wrote Teddy as a werewolf, and I think I prefer him taking after Remus and not Tonks. Yeah, that's probably bad of me, I know :P

Mel and I were just discussing some trigger words (I should really do a discussion post about this), and I know that no matter how fucking good a fic is, 'cum' will pull me out every time. I am adamant about that. No exceptions.

[vwl.livejournal.com]

Man, I don't even like future fics, but how could I not click that link after what you wrote? And I'm so glad I did. That's the beauty of fanfiction--exploring the ways other people love things and appreciating that. Thanks for the link. :3

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

I am so so happy to hear that my review was inspiring enough for you to check out the fic. I, too, have been taking more chances than I would have even a year ago, and I'm discovering I like a whole lot more than what I thought I did. Glad you enjoyed the fic, hon ♥

[vwl.livejournal.com]

You know, one of my favorite authors once wrote a fic that I was determined to hate. She used every single pairing in the fandom that I loathed and rolled them together into one fic...and it was the best fic I've ever read in my entire life. No lie.

Ever since I finished that fic, I decided I ought to be a lot more open with what I read. I don't actively search out fic with pairings I don't like, but when someone recs me something I wouldn't normally read, I go for it. What's the worst that could happen--I get bored and stop reading? That's a terrible fate. XD

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Which author was this and what pairings did she write? You have me very curious now :-)

[vwl.livejournal.com]

twigcollins' "A Long, Hard Road." It was FF7, post game, with Sephiroth/Cloud, Zack/Tifa, Cid/Shera, Vincent/Yuffie, Reno/Elena/Rude, and like seven thousand more. If you like FF7 at all, I HIGHLY recommend it. <3

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

I do like FF7! I don't suppose you have a link handy?

[vwl.livejournal.com]

Took me ages to find it because Twig apparently doesn't have a working link to it on her site anymore... :[

But it seems to be archived elsewhere, thank goodness! This (http://www.noiresensus.com/authors/a_twig.html) seems to be a complete version. Enjoy!