Enormous post of Star Trek recs, leavened with comment and bitchery

[raven]

(Occasionally, my LJ posts do exactly what they say on the tin.)

First of all, a quick statement of policy. This doesn't come up as often as it might, but well, I am about to link to stories which may or may not have porn in, and who knows, one day I may even post some, if I ever manage to type "cock" without laughing, one never knows. I am an adult in (almost) every jurisdiction you care to name, but I'm well aware that not everyone reading this is, and well... I'm not going to attempt to stop you. (O hai, I was lying my way into ficathons at fourteen, I am not inclined to be BIGGEST HYPOCRITE EVAR.) But if you're reading me and understanding me, you're smart enough to know what's okay for you personally to read, and what isn't. (Click the back button if people start saying "cock". Or don't. It's cool.) On to the good stuff.

Recs! I actually recommend you read the others first, and then come back to these first two, because while they are my undoubted favourites, they're also pretty long and take a peaceful evening to read.

Break by yahtzee63.
26,000 words. I told you it was long. It is about Uhura, and about Spock, and about both of them together, but it takes its time getting there, goes through logical, nuanced explorations of character, and theme, and builds up a whole world out of small pitch-perfect details: like Uhura's family traditions and the childhood games Spock played on Vulcan. I love the characterisation - I love driven, awesome Uhura and Spock's fundamental uncertainties, and I love how she shows them complementing and changing each other. It's just beautifully, beautifully done.

(It's a little hard to navigate at the moment, so here are parts two and three.)

Lunch and Other Obscenities by rheanna27.
Everyone should have seen this already, but in case not: Uhura and Gaila, getting to know each other. There's an amazing structure of Orion family life and taboos created for this fic, and it all fits together beautifully, and also it kind of cracks me up. Read it.

Dear Star Trek fandom: yes, yes, yes to the Kirk/McCoy. I like Kirk/Spock, but mostly for nostalgic reasons. When it comes to reading, Kirk/McCoy, though, is all fabulous and snarky and BFF and yes. I love it. Fandom, keep it up.

In A Moment Close To Now, by thistlerose.
Kirk/McCoy, and very... them. Funny, and full of those BFF vibes I was talking about, but with subtle undercurrents. I like everything of hers, actually - Access Denied, in which Scotty is awesome and Kirk is.... not, is another great piece - but this is my favourite.

Body of Evidence by the_dala.
Kirk/McCoy, ish. The crew of the Enterprise start laying bets. Sweet and very funny.

The Hard Sell by exiled_mind.
Kirk/McCoy. Jim is very persuasive. It's not quite perfect, this one - the pacing struck me as a little off - but it's gentle and wonderfully silly and has the characters down right.

In Truth, by mint_amaretto.
Kirk/McCoy - but that's not the point. This is... hard to quantify. It's an AU, it is not nice, and it does not mean to be nice. But it's well-executed and memorable. One to make your own mind up about.

While we're still on the Kirk/McCoy, by the way, whoever decided that making McCoy a girl was the best idea ever, carry on. Yep. Keep right on going.

and you take me the way I am by londondrowning.
Oh god, I love this. Jim is just so totally fail, girl!McCoy is the hottest thing ever, it's fabulous.

Four Times Jim Kirk and Lenore McCoy Didn't Fuck by telesilla
Like I said: hottest thing ever.

Aaaaand, gen.

Ten Sessions, by dsudis.
Ahahah. McCoy decides he probably needs some help, seeing as he joined Starfleet and he has a phobia of flying, and he can't be worse than the guy who needed twenty-four sessions for his rampant xenophobia. Very nice and very funny.

Four Consequences of the Unexpected and Unlikely Friendship Between James T. Kirk and Nyota Uhura by trisfic.
The author's summary is "Boys. Girls. Clothes. Pon Farr." Yeah. One of those solid gold win things.

Only the Good Die Young by _seven_crows.
Five things Chekhov doesn't like about being seventeen on the Enterprise. So cute, such a lovely Chekhov voice, it's cracky and awesome.

It Takes a Village by chaletian.
This is the first of a series the author calls Village!verse, which are all ensemble gen pieces, all hilarious, all worth reading, but my favourites are You Can Choose Your Friends, in which Scotty makes a very insightful observation indeed, and Telenovela, in which life on the Enterprise isn't exciting enough for Chekhov, who grew up on a diet of Russian-language soap opera. It all rocks.

To The Enterprise: of Warp Barriers, Captains, and Other Scary Things by karanguni.
Chekhov and Scotty could take over the universe, they really could. This is a perfect taste of that.

The Word For World Is- by laurajv.
"Vulcans did no such thing; they named the planet Vik: the well in the desert. They named the continents Ashv'cezh, Laktra, and Vrekasht: Revenge, Grief, and Outcast." This is... god, tragic, and beautiful, and really gets at what it means to have a planet, an entire world, destroyed.

There are also the wonderful drabble memes: Journey to Drabble, Drabble On The Edge of Forever and Where No Drabble Has Gone Before.

(I have not read all of these, but I liked: Gaila finding her independence, Kirk having a surprise party, McCoy and Joanna, Chekhov admitting something he probably shouldn't, Uhura playing poker, a bit on Chekhov's family, McCoy hungover, the one redeeming feature of Delta Vega, Spock and Uhura being the last word in cute, Uhura doing Chekhov a favour, and Sulu's no-good terrible day.)

Also, you know what I want? Scotty fic. Come on, internets. It must be there somewhere. Please tell me if you find any, I'm coming up empty-handed.

And, finally! A brief moment of bitchery. You know what is great, in fandom? New people. I don't care you've been writing Kirk/Spock for forty years, it doesn't make you a better writer than one who's been writing it for forty hours, and you don't get a free pass on crappy writing just 'cause you used to write for zines. How nice, how hardcore, shut up.

...I am done. I am going to Bristol tomorrow, so may not be around for a bit. Someone write me Scotty fic while I'm gone, I'm not at all demanding.

Comments

[antihysteric.livejournal.com]

How Scotty stayed sane on Delta Vega. (http://irisbleufic.livejournal.com/146921.html) :D

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

...NINTENDO. SRSLY.

[anotherusedpage.livejournal.com]

Ohhhhh thankyou for this.

This movie happened at the wrong time for me; I was too caught up in crap to play in the first-fandom-ness of it, which is always my favourite moment of any new fandom; and now it's huge already and hard to navigate without something like this.

[vampire-kitten.livejournal.com]

I love that Star Trek is new fandom again :)

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Oh, you're welcome, you're welcome. I figured my two days spent nothing but fandom trawling had to be good for something!

[thistlerose.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you, darling!! ♥

Funnily, I'd just gotten through reccing your last two fics when I saw this.

I'm thinking about doing a fic where Scotty proposes to Gaila and she initially refuses because she will not contract with any man, even one she loves, but he wears her down with engineering talk and by promising to wear his kilt to the ceremony.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! I was going to rec the piece which I'm sure has a title but is in my head as "Joanna <3 Spock" as well, but figured I'd keep it for the next batch. :P And thank you for your recs, as well

...omg PLEASE WRITE THIS. pleasepleaseplease. he can talk about "ample nacelles" again. Ohgod pleeeeease.

[thistlerose.livejournal.com]

"It's The Ears."

I think I might! *g* After I've finished making Kirk and McCoy jump through hoops. Gaila and Scotty's vows will read like a technical manual, of course. Keenser can be best man!

I love my shiny new fandom! And I love that so many of my favorite writers from previous fandoms are here too. It's like...I didn't want to get involved after losing interest in Harry Potter, but now that I'm involved...it's fun!

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I feel just the same! I mean, I didn't even think I was fannish about it, and here I am writing and reading and reccing and it's just... fun. Just like HP used to be, now you come to mention it. Squeee!

(Keenser in a little tux. omg. omg. )

[thistlerose.livejournal.com]

Nah, the groomsmen would be in kilts. (I don't see why anyone except Kirk, who'd officiate, would have to wear Starfleet dress clothes.) Bones, Sulu, Chekov, Spock (!), and Keenser in kilts!! (Well, I'm less fluttery about Keenser.)

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

SPOCK IN A KILT. SPOCK ACTUALLY HAS LEGS.

...I think I possibly need to go to bed before I get entirely too overexcited about this.

[thistlerose.livejournal.com]

And then Spock is all, "It is not logical for me to wear this garment." And Uhura is like, "It's totally logical" while she backs him into a corner and reaches under his kilt.

Um. Yeah. I need to get that Kirk/McCoy fic squared away.

AMPLE NACELLES

[jacinthsong.livejournal.com]

this is v short, but is Scotty fic! http://mekosuchinae.livejournal.com/95784.html I cannot think of more, though I will read the other ones people have lninked you too tomorrow. (omg Iona, what happened to the days when I could sit up til 3am reading fic. Oh wait, those are weekends and I don't get another one for five days. WOEZZZZ.)

[jacinthsong.livejournal.com]

ahhhaaha I love you. I will read the ones I haven't read over weekend. And maybe make own post, I have been bookmarking away (http://delicious.com/vermilliona/startrek+fic) but not actually TELLING anyone stuff. *hearts*

[jacinthsong.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah and where is the Sulu/Chekov. I want Sulu/Chekov.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

There is Sulu/Chekhov! my favourite so far (http://misfit-fandoms.livejournal.com/57243.html#cutid1).

[jacinthsong.livejournal.com]

PADD letter fic ftw! *settles down with cup of tea*

srsly, link me to any you come across? I have only read this (http://hollycomb.livejournal.com/99678.html) so far, which is pretty good, but it is but one.

I am now going to go and make that cup of tea and ponder how WRONG Amy is about Data/Geordi.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

and another one (http://emiime.livejournal.com/380182.html?view=3237910)!

Remind me which of you and Amy thinks what about Data/Geordi, I have forgotten.

[jacinthsong.livejournal.com]

I think their love is EPIC AND TRUE. Amy doesn't. Naturally she is the wrong one.

[jacinthsong.livejournal.com]

also *flail flail flail*

I should go to sleep. There are more important things in the world than Sulu/Chekov. ALLEGEDLY.

[jacinthsong.livejournal.com]

Do you also giggle when reading the word 'cock'? Cos I do. Especially green cocks, ahahaha.

[hawkmoth.livejournal.com]

Scotty, gen, kinda sorta crossed over with TOS?

http://hawkmoth.livejournal.com/249750.html#cutid1

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much!

Also: might I ask where you got your icon? My dearth of all things Scotty-related extends to icons too...

[hawkmoth.livejournal.com]

I've been finding my icons mostly through the new Trek comms, when people post that they've got new ones to offer. It's hard to find good Scotty ones, though.