Fanfiction Recommendations (adult content advisory)

I’ve been asked to cite some of my favorite M/M and M/F* fanfiction writers and stories.

Why do I read them? They’re brilliant. Some of the authors are moonlighting professional authors, some easily could be. They can give me grinding Plot-What-Plot erotica, deep angst, high comedy, and breathless romance – often within the same story.

I also read them because, frankly, the commercial M/M genre hasn’t evolved far enough for my SFF-warped tastes. I won’t name offending authors and publishing houses out of respect for those many erotic romance authors I do love. But some houses and authors really don’t push the envelope much, aren’t great wordsmiths to begin with, never get the editing they desperately need, and have devoted but uncritical readers who either never bitch about bad stories (or do, but keep buying the books anyway.)

*Note: I’m not just a M/M reader. I’ll happily read great stories with M/F, F/F, or even gen or asexual relationships. As long as they are damn good.

My fan list includes but is not limited to stories based upon Tolkien (Silmarillion rather than LotR), Harry Potter, Highlander, X-Files, Stargate, Sleepy Hollow (Depp movie and Fox TV show), Lois Bujold’s Vorkosigan books, Lynn Flewelling’s Nightrunners books, Melissa Scott’s ‘Point of Hopes’ fantasy novels, many books from Tanith Lee, a few delicate revisions inspired by Patricia McKillip, and manga/anime stories like From Eroica With Love (it’s crack and I know it), Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Trigun, Cowboy BeBop, and others.

Those categories contain hundreds of writers I trust based off their previous stories. Too many people to name in one post, I’m afraid. I tend to focus on moderated private sites, which already glean through some of the best of the best.

For the past couple of years, my fanfiction drug of choice has mostly been various interpretations of the Marvel Avengers universes. Probably because the people who dragged me back into fan fiction are Marvel maniacs. Forgive me for using the feminine pronoun ‘She’ for these writers; I believe most are female. Not that it matters. There might be some minor editing issues with the listed stories, but not enough to detract from the ride, in my limited opinion.

Most of these authors are extremely good at telling stories and showing character through dialog, which is so vital that it vanishes to transparency when done well. And an utterly obvious reader roadblock, if not (sadly, almost a hallmark of bad fanfiction and original writing). If you analyze these stories again after squirming through ‘the good bits’, you may discover a master class in effective dialog.

Author note 1-5-2015: It’s easier to have one list, rather than new ones every year or so. Scroll down to the newest additions.

The Picks and why I love them (all of these except Ansereg can be found on Archive of Our Own):

SleepsWithCoyotes. Anything she writes. Possibly one of the finest fanfiction writers around, in any fandom. Could easily be a professional writer. First came to my attention in the early 2000s with some stellar Eroica, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Final Fantasy riffs that went so far beyond normal fanfiction wankage…they were earth-shatteringly excellent. She’s listed in the dedication for Moro’s Price, because her stories helped teach me how to write. After a long hiatus she’s posting again (and porting older pieces to Archive of our Own.) There isn’t an emoji or GIF that can adequately express my joy.

One of her sweeter, no-sex, and fluffier efforts is Brooklyn Boys, about Bucky Barnes and a very unusual therapy dog.

If you want something with a little more bite, try ‘Crowcatcher’: zombie Barnes forges an unlikely bond with flesh-eating ghoul Natasha, as they both test their resistance to Hydra’s slavery. The setting is an Earth of dark magic, luminous sacrifice, and a religion based more on the old Norse gods than Christianity. Slow-burn M/M, since Barnes spends a lot of time forced to ‘forget’, but he’s always instinctively working his way back to Steve. This is a creepy, bloody story…also astonishingly heartwarming and beautiful (we’ve been promised ‘found family’ and a happy ending.) This work-in-progress should be complete by Halloween 2017.

Venusm, ‘Born From the Earth’. A huge, unfinished Tony Stark/Steve Rogers/Original Male Character romantic thriller so weird and good I blogged a review about it. The story can be found here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/1013991/chapters/2013424

Amberfox17, ‘Wild Ambition Fortune’s Ice Prefers’. Yet Another Thor/Loki slow-burn arranged marriage story, but it is breathtaking.  Here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/845183/chapters/1613973

The author’s tumblr blog of gorgeous behind-the-scenes images, fan art, and prose is worth the side trip. Here: http://fortunesice.tumblr.com/ Update 8-31-2014: done at approx. 192K except for an epilogue, and just as brilliant all the way through as when it started. Ending lines of last chapter: ‘Jötunheimr lives and Jötunheimr loves, her ice melting at last, all the pent-up power of the long loveless years unleashed in a thousand mighty rivers and tumbling waterfalls, and the land of sapphire and silver sparkles with the brilliance of starlight as her King and his sváss move inexorably towards the dawn.’

Prairiecrow  http://archiveofourown.org/users/prairiecrow/pseuds/prairiecrow  My god, just anything she writes. Pick the most recent, whatever it is, and hang on.

GhostoftheMotif  http://archiveofourown.org/users/GhostoftheMotif/profile  ‘Will-O-The-Wisp’ crosses Loki/Tony Stark with Hetalia: Axis Powers characters in a creepy, delicious slow-build romance/horror/thriller.

Nonymos  http://archiveofourown.org/users/Nonymos/profile  Her fiction list contains many great stories. She has a Clint Barton/Loki arc that starts out with ‘Strangers to Ourselves’ (I think), that is spot-on for character and worldbuilding, and remains one of the most dark and beautiful hardcore fantasy M/M BDSM explorations I have ever read. It’s really not for the faint of heart (it can rank with Flesh Cartel), and it shows Fifty Shades as a poseur attempt by a lifestyle outsider. Warning: serious, dark adult content on this one.

Everythingispoetry  http://archiveofourown.org/users/everythingispoetry/pseuds/everythingispoetry Known for a number of fan writings, but I’m currently most hooked on ‘If die, only in Manhattan’, which runs with the premise that Tony Stark’s stunt with a dimensional portal and a nuclear weapon left him with terminal cancer. It’s slow, gorgeous, and sad/triumphant, and hits all the tragic buttons in me that The Fault In Our Stars totally missed. Not much sex, mostly emotional roller coasters.

‘Bluescreen’ story arc, by MountainRose and Szzzt  http://archiveofourown.org/works/1013706/chapters/2012828  Pure, sizzling M/M erotic romance with great worldbuilding, characters, and convincing depiction of info-sys engineering. Jarvis/Tony Stark/Steve Rogers, with Rogers and Stark playing sub to Jarvis-as-Dom. If there are errors, I was too busy squirming to notice them.

Note 2-1-2015: the Bluescreen arc is now set up to be a series, yay. And the main story ‘Bluescreen’ is complete at 8 chapters. If you loved Neuromancer and Snow Crash, Chapter 8 of this fic is delicious. As I said in the story comments, THIS and ‘Born From the Earth’ show how to combine pro-level science-fiction with incandescent erotic romance. Why do I have to be reading this kind of stuff in fanfiction? Where is it in commercial original erotic romance? Instead, the e-rom pubs seem to be all tangled up in cookie-cutter carbon-copy werewolves. I have nothing against well-written shapeshifter stories. But many commercial variants aren’t that good, and I refuse to believe that’s all their other readers want. 

‘All The Leaves Are Brown(And The Sky Is Gray)’ by AvocadoLove http://archiveofourown.org/works/1609838/chapters/3427676
The Winter Soldier kills Howard and Maria Stark, and then takes off with their four-year-old son instead of fulfilling his mission. Not creepy; the Soldier breaks his programming to become James Barnes again, and raises Tony as his own, while they are on the run from Hydra. Minor editing issues, but great writing.

Icarus_chained for so many reasons across many fandoms. She first came to my attention with this unfinished series of nongraphic but dizzying Tony Stark/Loki/Pepper Potts sort of darkfic:  http://archiveofourown.org/series/18482  A bit much reliance upon ellipses for emphasis, but great writing as Stark makes a fearless choice. The sentence ‘I wanted to give him more options…’ still rings in my brain.

‘Tales of the Bots’ from Scifigrl47, among hundreds of other stories. This one has mild M/M erotic romance, since it is mostly the committed relationship between Tony Stark and Steve Rogers, experienced through the perceptions of their adopted son DJ. Who is really the AI robot Dummy, given shapeshifting human form by one of Tony’s adversaries. This links into a much larger, more explicit story arc, the Toasterverse. But the ‘Bots’ series is a brilliant, schmoopy kidfic following a unique adolescent finding his place in a very strange world. Like all of scifigrl47’s stories, it’s also funny as hell.   http://archiveofourown.org/series/18990

‘1976 Broadway’ by authors Rainproof and Teaberryblue Here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/972937/chapters/1912625 Primarily Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, this mostly nonexplicit epic of epistolary fiction (told through letters and other message forms) is hilarious, angsty, frustrating, and full of plot twists. It’s huge, but it’s wrapping up in September 2014, so you won’t be stranded with an unfinished epic. It’s also spawned a number of related works by Teaberryblue and Rainproof, as well as other authors. Because it was plotted (mostly) before writing, the prose is damn near flawless.

‘Those Sinned Against’ by Arkada  Here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/1398931/chapters/2932537

Arkada’s summary: “When Asgard invades Earth – led by a huge blond man in a red cape and wielding a massive warhammer – it takes six months for Tony Stark to come up with a plan to turn things around: let himself be taken prisoner, and bring the Asgardians down from the inside. But it takes less than an hour for the plan to get away from him, thanks to the black-haired Asgardian prince who takes personal – very personal – charge of him.”

My commentary: This work in progress is probably one of the best Warprize!Tony stories I’ve seen, with angst, humor, plot twists, rage, tenderness, romance, and some extremely hot M/M sex scenes. Warning for apparent dubious consent: really, both men are playing a deep game, and it’s not long before most readers clue in to the fact that this gambit is in lieu of – or preparation for – Tony Stark’s well-planned and suicidal revenge against the people he really hates. It’s good that Loki’s there to rescue him.

Note 3-9-2015: ‘Those Sinned Against’ is complete for now. Um. Wow. Some completely in-character plot twists await you, if you jump into this story. It lives up to early potential.

‘Happy Lights’ and ‘Strange Turns’ by Ladyshadowdrake                                              Here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/2640152/chapters/5894039

Ladyshadowdrake’s summary: “There are…” There was no easy way to say this. “Tentacles. In Central Park.”

Well, sometimes a smutwriter just wants some pointless happy hentai tentacle porn, eh? Only along the way, this polyamory series pulls in most of the Avengers into an alien encounter that is beautiful, seriously sexy, deeply emotional, and adorable. Yes. I just used ‘adorable’ to describe tentacle porn. I’ll tell you something else – I will never listen to South Korean pop music quite the same way, either. Bring on the soft, warm fuzzies!

The author assures us there are more stories in this series. Added: there are, and they are still charming, but they suffer from lack of editing.

‘The Infinite Coffee And Protection Detail’ series from Owlet. Link: http://archiveofourown.org/series/195689

Get inside an extremely snarky Bucky Barnes’ head the moment he stops being just the Winter Soldier, and becomes modern coffee aficionado, experimental baker, and Captain America’s invisible bodyguard. There are cookies and hilarious old people, weird internal conversations, unexpected allies (Building Jarvis, we love you!) and a cat who is an extremely good judge of character.

Added October 2015: While newer chapters of this saga rewards readers’ patience for the slowly-dawning slow-burn romance between Cap and this new version of Bucky…there are also realistic portrayals of PTSD and its emotional setbacks & physical aftermath. It’s all perfectly in character, and manages to be heartwarming and funny, too.

The ‘Insurance-Bucky’ series from Parsnips (trifles). Link: http://archiveofourown.org/series/219824

The Winter Soldier thinks about the world he was born into, the world he survived, and the world he’s in now, and finds some deadly-serious causes to champion. Insurance: when it doesn’t make you cry, it makes you laugh.

Added November 2015: Read Sevenfoxes’ ‘Patron Saint of Shiners and Showgirls’. Take a trip back to an Alternate-Universe version of WWII, where the USO showgirls were Steven Rogers’ Howling Commandos, and Bucky thinks they’ve all died and gone to heaven…

Not only is this one sassy, funny, and worthy of its happy ending…it does what a lot of fiction cannot do: it shows women, real women, being supportive of other women. It shows a refreshingly practical side to human sexuality and romance, through the mirror of a very sweet and positive story. M/F pairings, for those of you who care (with a faint hint that Steve and Bucky might be an item someday, too. Maybe.)

‘The Murder Ballads’, by WeAreWolves. Added 1-27-2016 while it’s still three or so chapters from completion, this big thriller/psychodrama/romance kindles the slow-burn love affair between Steve Rogers (naive idiot who maybe is way kinkier than he knew) and James Buchanan Barnes (who is broken, but badass, and very much alive…and always has been all three) at just the wrong time. Yes, there is M/M sex in here. But also the blackest of magics, silly nicknames, Avengers team-family feels, art, rescued strays two and four-legged, competence kinks, Steve being ridiculous, and Bucky leaping at armored semi-trucks while moving at a combined 200mph (the truck loses.) This along with the ‘Infinite Coffee And Protection Detail’ arc, have created MY headcanon Bucky.

Pohadka has a fun, sweet, and violent series about the modern reunion of Stephen Grant Rogers and James Buchanan Barnes…if Barnes ran into Parker from ‘Leverage’ first. There is healing, guns, good food, a cat, genetic family, found family, noble scams galore, more than one rescued and repurposed Hydra weapon, and sooo many feels. Start out with this one and run with it when you have time.

Gear up for a deep third POV from Tony Stark as he realizes how far he needs to go to keep up with (and stay alive for) Steve and Bucky, his Capsicle and Klondike Bar. Hitlikehammers’ series ‘Portrait of the Genius as a Young Lover’ is a work in progress at present. It’s notable for being steamier than it should be for the ostensible heat level, and its incredibly sensitive portrayal of emotions. This here, folks…this is shipping at its finest. And after you’ve read that one, take a look at her series ‘Ongoing Saga of the Belarusian Bros’. But only if you’ve got all night, and you like Phil/Clint as much as you like Bucky/Steve.

Outside the Avengers and the Marvel universes, let’s take a trip to the late, great Tanith Lee’s far-future world of Don’t Bite the Sun and Drinking Sapphire Wine. Fan author Tori_Siikanen has undertaken the monumental task of continuing the story in ‘A Real Sky’. If you have not read either of those two books, you’ll be confused by the world and the slang. So go do your homework, buy copies of both, and read some of the most spectacular SF of the 1970s. ‘A Real Sky’ will more richly reward you, if you do. It’s a work in progress, so if you love it, please let Tori know in the comments.

The deeply-talented Patricia McKillip writes intricate, poetic jewel-like fantasy that may not be to everyone’s taste. But if you like her work, particularly her ‘Riddlemaster’ series and her fairytale standalones, there’s fan-fiction available. Try this search result for AO3 (some stories are brilliant, some mediocre, but you can tell rather quickly which is which.)

Lynn Flewelling’s fantasy books debuted in the mid-nineties, with Luck in the Shadows, an engaging tale of a thief, his woodsman lover, and the powerfully-drawn world where their actions shake empires. As per the unwritten 90s guidelines for gay fantasy, the relationship is slow-burn and when it happens, very discreet and fade-to-black. Enter fanwriters on AO3 and Flewelling herself, who released Glimpses, a volume of related works including some santioned fanfiction.

Added 4-10-2016: the wise N. K. Jemisin reminded me via Twitter of two authors whom I really should list.

Feynites, if not least for the best mic-drop on the classic fairytale ‘princess in the tower trope’ http://feynites.tumblr.com/post/142050081469/libations-of-honey-and-milk-in-fairy-tales-and

Jenavira, who has the best and funniest explanation/translation of Tolkien’s Silmarillion I have ever seen. http://archiveofourown.org/works/127644/chapters/6176117

Going deep into ‘The Silmarillion’,  here is the website called Ansereg, which takes a dark and gorgeous look at the Silmarillion and the Noldorean elves. 

Coming back to ‘The Lord of the Rings’, Determamfidd offers ‘Sansukh’, a massive (550K) epic + art + appendix set during the aftermath of ‘The Hobbit’ all the way through LotR.

The dwarf hero Thorin Oakenshield is a ghost given a gift by his Maker: Thorin can interact with some of his still-living relatives, most clearly with his kinsman Gimli. Thorin is also wrestling with having found and never told his One Love, the Hobbit Bilbo Baggins. Thorin takes it upon himself to guard and guide Gimli’s dangerous journey from beyond life…all by himself, until the rest of his dead relatives jump aboard to help.

Okay, that could have been utterly awful, but Determamfidd spins it into text like gold and silk. It’s lovely, heartwarming, a celebration of found and genetic families, and a perfect companion to either the books or the Jackson movies. M/M, Mv/F, F/FF but not explicit. It does get padded out with a *lot* of fan service additions and social commentary, but it’s not badly done.

Also in The Silmarillion and LotR universes, SpaceWall has ‘Marred But Remade’, a truly lovely (and big) WIP fixit fiction that again features A Figure From The Past helping out the Fellowship…and causing major variations in the timeline. If you’re a Tolkien geek, it’s worth your time.

There are so many more stories, across so many fandoms.

But right now, I have to get back to writing original stories.