we're all stories in the end

+ Thank you very much to everyone for your lovely comments at ephemere's love meme, which looks to still be going strong! <333

+ There are now six trope fest fills - a Luther/Torchwood crossover, two Homestuck fics, and one each in Avengers, Misfits and Harry Potter.

+ I haven't had a much of a chance to dive into the rarewomen stories yet, but I love the story I received! Oh, Sarah Connor, my heart beats for you.

Stories We Tell Ourselves (3084 words) by Beatrice_Otter
Fandom: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Sarah Connor, Catherine Weaver, John Henry
Summary: Weaver returns post-born to run, with an offer for Sarah.

I also really enjoyed this story recently (set in the DW 6x13 'verse):

Between Two Points (3910 words) by xenoamorist
Fandom: Doctor Who (2005)
Rating: Explicit
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Amy Pond/Rory Williams
Characters: Amy Pond, Rory Williams
Summary: She’s always been particularly fond of Captain Williams, although she can never articulate why. She just knows that he feels familiar and right.

multi-fandom vids

Space Girl by charmax

Looks like half of fandom has already seen this, but just in case! So, so lovely, a fantastic look at the history of women in sci-fi.

Hands Away by chaila and beccatoria (Fringe/Sarah Connor Chronicles, Olivia/Sarah)

The Olivia/Sarah fever dream vid of my heart! I got to see a draft of this at Vidukon and it blew me away then - it's even more awesome now. Beautifully edited, full of visual parallels and really clever cutting and really brilliant all round.

The Price by thingswithwings

This is a biting satire about manpain. It's kind of amazing. People's reactions seem to vary from rage to facepalming to lulz - it's very funny in places, especially the end. Mostly, it makes me feel really sad. I wish this wasn't such an all-encompassing phenomenon in my shows. The accompanying meta is also an excellent read.

fic

Hidden in Plain Sight by liseuse (Harry Potter, Pansy/Hermione)

For queer_fest, this is a gorgeous look at the difficulties and secret thrills of a covert relationship, as well as having a lovely grounding in the lives of these two young women and their friends, all being awesome post-Hogwarts. I enjoyed it a lot!

Grey. Red. Green. by calvinahobbes (Doctor Who, Vastra/Jenny)

a;ljsda. An awesome kink_bingo story that derives its hotness entirely from Jenny's mental state and a sense of tension that permeates the whole story as Jenny investigates Vastra's swords.

coffeesuperhero and leiascully are both writing loads of wonderful Eleven/River stories at the moment. I recommend them all! Particular favourites of mine include coffeesuperhero's let's live in the moment just this time, could we? and leiascully's double your pleasure, double your fun.

Roles by pocketmouse (Doctor Who, Amy/Rory)

I was excited as soon as I heard this was a story about teenage Rory crossdressing, and it did not disappoint. So completely adorable and written with a lovely, light touch.

Team Bonding by pocky_slash (Doctor Who/White Collar, Canton/OC, Diana/Christie)

Oh look, it's my two favourite queer FBI agents hanging out with each other! :DD Kait wrote this for me for my birthday and I love it ENTIRELY.

Here are recs for vids that premiered in various shows at Vidukon. There was so many great ones, but these were my very favourites:

Inadvisable Interpersonal Relationship by thingswithwings (Sarah Jane Adventures, K-9/Mr Smith)

I was so excited when t'wings emailed me about submitting this for my robots show, and it's just as hilarious and adorable and awesome as the initial premise promised. :D

Small Blue Thing by beccatoria (Fringe, Olivia)

OH, OLIVIA. HONEY. ;_; This is gorgeous - the song is perfect and haunting, there's some really great, subtle colour work here that adds a lot to the character study, and it's overall just a perfect and totally heartbreaking look at Olivia.

Angie by chaila (T:TSCC/BSG, Jesse/Riley, Caprica/Boomer)

eeee, two of my favourite doomed femslash ships vidded in parallel by one of my favourite vidders, this was a fantastic surprise in the Femslash show on Sunday morning. Sad and wonderfully editing and completely great. <3

Fascination by charmax (Billy Elliot)

This is PERFECT. Fantastic blending of song choice, editing, and source, this is just the most joyous, life-affirming thing. A great shot of happiness after the angst of the last two! It is also possible that I just took a break from writing this post so I could dance along to it for a while in my chair. >.>

When I Fall Asleep by buffyann (Doctor Who)

I was looking forward to this vid for the whole con, and it did not disappoint! It's beautiful the way all of the vidder's work is, and also captures the essence of Doctor Who in the most perfect way. Her use of movement and external footage is just sublime. Also, this gave me ALL THE FEELINGS. ALL OF THEM. I cannot. *flaps hands* <33333

Dreaming by calapine (Doctor Who, Tegan/Nyssa)

AWW. AWWWW. Another premiere for the Femslash show, this was totally delightful.

You should also watch bop_radar's Hug My Soul when she posts it, it's the most adorable thing in the world and I really want to check out the source for it now.

eta: And here is the playlist from my robots vidshow.

Day 1 - A vid that made you start watching a brand new show
Day 2 - A male character study vid you love
Day 3 - A female character study vid you love
Day 4 - An ensemble vid you love
Day 5 - A vid everyone should see at least once

Day 6 - A vid you've watched at least ten times

DLZ by bop_radar (Sarah Connor Chronicles)

I miss this show so much, and this is an incredible vid that really captures the essence of it for me. It's also really complex and intelligent and rewards multiple viewings. I've lost count of how many times I've seen it.

Here is a reclist of the year, of sorts. Below are a selection of fanworks that made me laugh, cry, flail, think, ache, rejoice and love over the course of the year. Below are romances, character studies, sweeping epics, AUs, meta, dance numbers, transitions, friendships, monsters, politics, zombies, and of course, robots. (There are always robots.)

Some of them are very famous, some only have a handful of comments. I love them all, because they all define what the past year in fandom was for me. There are a dozen fandoms represented here, and hopefully there's something for everyone. It's also worth noting that this list is defined by what's not included almost as much as what is - there were so many things I couldn't fit in! A lot of the time, I just couldn't pick only one story by a favourite author to include. (In one case, a certain author's best story is still sitting on my hard drive waiting for me to finish my beta.) My point is, this is in no way definitive, or even really a 'best of'. Just, here are some stories and some vids that I liked. Enjoy!

( 20 stories! )

( 13 vids! )

Thank you to all the authors, vidders, beta readers and cheerleaders that made the above possible, and here's to the stories to come in 2010. ♥

+ touchyerwood (*snicker* ... *is twelve*), a new Torchwood anon kink meme, is open for business.

+ A new anthology, Headcase, is accepting submissions for non-fiction pieces by LGBTQ writers & artists about mental illness.

+ I still have not watched Merlin. I may not do so before tomorrow evening. Woe!

+ People. I see this all the time and it pains me in my soul just a little. 'Discrete' and 'discreet' are two different words with two very different meanings. Discrete means 'separate and distinct'. Thus, even if Arthur and Merlin (hypothetical example!) are keeping their relationship on the down low, I rather doubt that they'd feel particularly discrete about it.

/end friendly PSA!

+ Lastly, ( some vid & fic recs! )

(part one, part two)

No Heaven by millylicious [Supernatural]

I really love the music choice here. There's some great editing, great movement, and the visual parallels make this really great viewing. John and Mary and Sam and Dean, round and round they go.

American Tune by greensilver [The West Wing]

Fair warning: tissues probably required. *sniffs* Oh, this show! This vid is made of love and heartbreak and hope and it is so, so gorgeous. ♥

Dancing Queen by greensilver [Merlin]

This, on the other hand, is hilarious! Also, adorable. How so cute, cast of Merlin? :D :D :D

I Want What I Want by dualbunny [Bionic Woman]

I know basically nothing about the show, but as the vidder herself says, "Amnesia!Nimueh and Cylon!Starbuck fight and look hot." My love for this vid is totally shallow, and I am okay with that!

Learn To Crawl by jarrow [BSG]

Starbuck/Kat! *glee* This is epic and brilliantly edited and fabulous. It's full of really classic slasher-vid cuts with eye sex and parallels and I enjoy it very much.

Land by sweetestdrain [Terminator 'verse]

Holy crap. This is amazing - it is long but totally worth it, I promise you. Terminator does such interesting things with timelines and fate and free will, and with all of the different films and the TV show it's just crying out for a vid like this - all the possibilities, all these people trying to fight the future.

Some vids I've been enjoying recently:

Starlight by buffyann [dance movies]
Dancing is all they want.

An older vid I've stumbled on, it's probably some of the best straight-up kinetic editing I've seen to date.

DLZ by bop_radar [Sarah Connor Chronicles]
We are the Resistance.

This is dense and smart and I love it a whole lot, just like the show.

When I Ruled The World by di_br [Doctor Who]
I really wanted to make a vid comparing and contrasting both Doctors, showing just how much he's changed and yet how much of him still stayed intact. This is Ten looking back on his time as the Ninth Doctor, realizing how much he's changed since then and wondering if it was all for the better.

I like vids that remind me that I kind of like that Tenth Doctor guy really. Also, Nine!

Steady As She Goes by jesuit24 [Star Trek TOS]
Look out for dramatic!Kirk, Spock keeping his pimping hand strong, Bones drinking as well as some hideous alien villains.

*hearts* Rewatch people, we've got some treats in store! :D

... on the dance floor by sloanesomething
NOT ENOUGH LADIES, TOO MANY MANS.

OMG. Hilarious, but also depressingly bang on. Too many misters, not enough sisters!

In honour of that last one, some Star Trek recs about chicks:

Oh Two Hundred by mekosuchinae [Uhura with a side of Spock/Uhura, teen]
"I'm working on it," she said, already thinking of how to explain transporter technology to someone who might not know what it was in a language she had thought dead not two hours ago.

[People with kinks for competency/languages/Uhura being awesome, you'll LOVE this.]

Whore by igrockspock [Gaila, teen]
Gaila hates the word 'whore.' Luckily, so does someone else.

A Brief History of Lt (j.g.) Gaila Aboard the USS Enterprise (NCC 1701) by taraljc [Gaila, ensemble, PG]
Her first month aboard Enterprise, Gaila is put on Gamma Shift in Engineering.

The First Time by bravecows [OFCs, G]
"It's hard to believe we're in the same Starfleet, yeah."

Meta: Dear Winona Kirk by latropita

Art: Apple by irrel, a fantastic illustration for rheanna27's Lunch and Other Obscenities that I recced the other day. She also drew Stars, which is little!Spock and little!Uhura and SO CUTE OMG. <333