Ten recs in fandoms I don't normally read.

[jetamors]

I was fandom-monogamous for a while, but over the last year or two I've learned to dip my toes in other waters. These are some of the things I've found.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Home is... by sporkyadrasteia. I like the movies okay, but not enough to dig into the fandom. But then I saw a rec for Tia Dalma/Davy Jones, and my curiosity got the better of me :) It's a really lovely story, and while it was written before AWE, it actually works with that movie pretty well.

Fullmetal Alchemist (anime): Good Intentions by ladylisse. I remembered her from HP fandom, and I found the summary intriguing, so I figured I'd give it a try. And OMG. I had my issues with the anime series, but if it had been resolved like this, I might've liked it even more than the manga. It's the sort of story that leaves me laughing and crying at the same time, and it's the sort of story that I'm always trying to write.

Samurai Champloo: Treatise on the Price of Sugar in the Edo Period by sintari. (Mugen/Fuu, btw.) What I really love about this fic is the description, of the surroundings, and of the characters' actions, and of Mugen's inner thoughts. It all comes together really well.

Silent Hill 2: Save Point: Hell is Repetition by Patrick Phelan. You don't actually have to know anything about Silent Hill to get this fic (I certainly don't); knowing about basic game mechanics is enough. Because game mechanics are what this story is really about, and it works *so* well.

Lord of the Rings: Thirteen Gifts for Thirteen Gardeners by Tulip Proudfoot. Towards the end of RotK, as Frodo is preparing to go to the West, he mentions the children that Sam and Rosie will someday have. This fic is set after Sam leaves; the children (now grown up) find a box with a letter and gift for each child. The characterization, fleshing out what we know of each character, is absolutely lovely, and the whole thing just has a very warm feeling. (There's some minor canon het, but the main focus is gen.)

Final Fantasy VII: Need by melanthe_v. Occasionally, people writing 1sentence-type fics will try to make each sentence part of a story; this is the only one I've ever seen where it actually *works*. I'm usually not that into slash either, but I like the Reno/Rude here.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Welcome to the Slaughterhouse by beer_good_foamy. Rated NC-17 for violence; sometimes a gal's just in the mood for some over-the-top gore :) There's a bit of canon Willow/Tara too. Tara's family drags her back home; the Scoobies go after them, and, well... you can guess the rest. It's executed very well, though I think Buffy went down a little too fast for my tastes.

Beauty and the Beast (Disney): Picture This by TrudiRose. I think I kind of ship Gaston/Belle thanks to this fic; the romance is very believable, there are some awesome OCs once you get further in, and it was lots of fun spotting the places where events from the movie were mirrored. Belle's a bit offputting at the beginning, but this is addressed; the only quibble I had was that the triplets weren't rounded like the rest of the characters.

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle: Wait For Me by Victoria Hughes. I tried looking for Sakura/Syaoran after reading TRC, but this was pretty much the only readable thing I could find. While it was written before the author got very far into the series, it doesn't really contradict anything. It meanders a bit more than I'd like, but the ending is spot-on perfect.

Avatar: Editing History by v_voltaire. An incomplete selection of Avatars removed from the history books. This is why I love 100-word drabbles. Because when people get it right, they get it *really* right.