Rec at least three fanworks that you didn’t create. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
Let's see...
By His Dirty Hands We Know Him by
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anarfea (BBC Sherlock, M/M, Mature, Graphic Description of Violence, Completed)
Mycroft and Greg are getting serious, and Greg is starting to ask serious questions about the difficult and sometimes unethical decisions Mycroft has made. Mycroft breaks things off before Greg can find out the darkest secret in his past--which is about to catch up to him.
This is a really good, believable backstory for Mycroft and about what he did before he became the enigmatic character we see on the show. Anarfea has done a great job tying this to real events happening during The Troubles and show the... darker grey areas of what a someone in Mycroft's position would most likely have to deal with. I love the research she's done for this fic and I'll admit she had me hooked on the Author's Note alone, but even if you're not (like me) a sucker for fics with proper ties to real life events, this is an amazing fic. Her Lady Smallwood is fantastic and the ending is rare for fanfics, but it's executed so well. Then, if you after reading the fic is interested in the actual event, she provides links to the research material in the end! (Seriously, what more can you want?)
The Ink On Our Skin Stains Us Black by
insanereddragon (Kingsman, M/M/M, Mature, No Warning Apply, WIP)
Eggsy tapped his pencil a couple of times on the sketchbook, eyes unfocused as he thought. Looking up, he caught and held Harry's eyes. “Do you trust me?”
Harry looked back at Eggsy and a snap of electricity seemed to spark between them. “Yes,” he replied without hesitation.
From his chair next to Harry, Merlin raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Harry didn’t trust people. Life as a spy had ingrained in him a general distrust of most things. When someone did gain his trust, it was never fast, never with so much genuine emotion bleeding through. There was more lingering there under the surface, more than just Harry trusting Eggsy to come up with the right design. At the thought, Merlin felt a warmth in his chest he had not been expecting.
-–
The tattoo!au where Merlin and Harry are a couple, Eggsy becomes Merlin’s new tattoo artist, and the boys all refuse to talk to each other about the attraction that grows between them.
I like this fic so much that I can't properly tell you how much I do. I might also have a problem understanding exactly why this went straight to my heart the way it did, but it did and now it's there and it will never leave me. (When rereading this before posting I realise that I probably should point out that all of this is a good thing!) It ticks a lot of my boxes, though! Tattoo!AU, check. Polyship, check. Established relationship, check. Slowburn, check. It's a WIP, but is a ride worth being on! It's not a complete civilian AU, Merlin and Harry are both still in Kingsman in the roles they hold in the movies. (Or movie, the fic started when there was no TGC so the second movie is irrelevant.) Red does a wonderful with the world building and pulling you in by photos, maps and additional info in the notes at the end of almost every chapter. Also: concealer. If you read it, you'll understand!
[Fandom stats] Gender representation in movies vs. movie fanworks by
destinationtoast There are a lot of discussions in fandom about gender representation in fanworks, and whether fandom is shortchanging female characters. Over the last several years, I’ve seen various debates and wondered about the underlying numbers. So I went and found some… and then got slightly obsessed analyzing them.
These analyses is not going to be able to address some kinds of questions, many of which can’t be answered with numbers. But I hope to answer some questions, and add more data and new nuances to discussions.
Ending a bit different, but Toast so much work into what she does and deserves all the cred! (Also, since this is a multi-fandom event I thought everyone could find this interesting.) The name of the work and Toast's own summary explains pretty well what this is, this is an attempt to look at and answer the question about gender representation in movies vs. fanworks of those movies. It's about 80 slides + explanatory text about statistics divided into 7 chapters on AO3 but please, please, pleeeeease don't let that scare you. This is so good and well presented. And as I said, the
work put into this is mind blowing. If you want to start with something smaller or you get interested and want to read more, Toast has made almost 90 of these! (And I know that some of these analysis are linked from Wikipedia. Just saying.) Go! Read! Marvel in what you can show with numbers!
Bonus:
The Silmarillion Rewrite by
j_quadrifrons
The Silmarillion
Translated from the Elvish by Professor J.R.R. Tolkien
Translated from Professor Tolkien's Handwriting by Christopher Tolkien
Translated Lovingly from the Tokienish by jenavira
Again, exactly what it says it is: a rewrite of The Silmarillion for all of us who don't really feel up to rereading (or reading for the first time) Tolkien's English translation. I'm half-way through and forever grateful.
Also, because can't make a rec list without mentioning:
Bandit Queen by
lbmisscharlie (BBC Sherlock, F/M, Teen, Choose Not To Use Warnings)
She works for them – with them – both, and they each offer her countless opportunities. For Jim, she’s a gunhand and something like a friend, for Mycroft, she’s a brain, a processor, and occasionally a useful pretty face. This arrangement works fine until Jim has to go and do something stupid.
I'm going to rec this fic until I'm absolute sure everyone in the Sherlock fandom (+ some more people) have read this. It's post series 1, it's Anthea (or you know, not!Anthea) and the last line of this fic is the best last line I've seen. Ever. It's... perfect. Read it.
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