A few Classic Who fic recs

[ghost2]

A while back, I said I'd post recs of some of the better stories I've seen while working the Teaspoon queue. My intentions were good; my record-keeping, not so much. Still, I have come up with a handful of recs tonight. A couple of these stories passed through the queue while I was in it, and I caught the others while browsing for anything I missed. BTW, I count the Eighth Doctor era as part of Classic Who. Close enough!



Daemonology, by Airie (6200 words, All Ages)
Summary: Originally intended for the churchontime ficathon based on doyle_sb4's prompt "Five and Nyssa: the good old 'marry or die' cliche." The Doctor and Nyssa arrive in 1980s Melrose, a bastion of punk and new wave, just in time for a teenage fad to take a dangerous turn.

I saw the prompt for this story at churchontime and really hoped someone would fill it. For a while, I thought Five/Nyssa was becoming more popular but this is the only recent story I've found with that pairing. Well, if there's going to be only one, it's fortunate that it's a good one. This fic is an entertaining mix of many elements, including action/adventure, humor, and drama.


Postcards From Wales, by vvj5 (4700 words, All Ages)
Summary: The TARDIS breaks down a mile and three weeks away from the Shangri-La Holiday Club. Mel & the Doctor take the time to catch up in their own ways. (A Delta and the Bannermen epilogue)

Tough sell time! Here's a story that's post-Delta and the Bannermen, one of the less popular serials, featuring one of the less popular companions and two of the less popular Doctors (Six and Seven). It's exactly why fanfic needs to exist. The Mel characterization is particularly good, BTW.


What Was Lost in the Eye of the Storm, by moonmama (10,500 words so far, Teen)
Summary: Singapore, 1941. A most unusual patient turns up at a British military hospital, with no memory of how he got there. Two planets, two wars, and countless timelines converge on one tiny pocket of reality where two lovers struggle to find their past, knowing they have no future.

Possibly another tough sell with this rec, because the story is a WIP. I like following WIPs, though, and the Eighth Doctor and Charley have really interesting roles.


Plum Pudding, by moonmama (2800 words, All Ages)
Summary: Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without it. Immediately after the events of The Chimes of Midnight, the Doctor tries cooking. Charley tries to understand the nature of love.

The Chimes of Midnight just happens to be my favorite Eighth Doctor audio. This fic is a terrific follow-up: very sweet, and it addresses some issues raised in the audio.


The Deathless, by stellar_dust (3400 words, Teen)
Summary: It's 1895, and Jack meets someone who just might have the answers he's been seeking.

I'm cheating a little bit here, because this story is Jack-centric. OTOH, it features my beloved Fifth Doctor and the Master, making for a Classic connection. ("Hey, nice beard," Jack said, mentally vowing never to grow one like it for as long as he lived, no matter how long that turned out to be.) Jack has an interesting job suited to his unique talents. In the course of this job, he meets a curious stranger who wants answers to some questions. I don't want to ruin the story so that's all I'll say about it, except that it's creepy and different and deserves a look.

Comments

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

I shall have to skip a couple of those until I've seen/heard the stories they're epilogues to, but I'll go and read "Plum Pudding" - thanks for the rec. (Have read the first one already.)

[ghost2.livejournal.com]

Eight and Charley are adorable together in Plum Pudding. :) And I can't believe I don't have an icon of either of them. Must rectify this oversight!

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

I has my Eight one, but I haven't got one for Charley (Evelyn's the only audio companion for whom I've got an icon...)

[bewarethespork.livejournal.com]

I think I read Daemonology on LJ and absolutely loved it. Five and Nyssa were so in-character, and it made for some brilliant, snappy dialogue and wonderfully dry humour. I might have to go and re-read it. And The Deathless sounds interesting; I might give it a try.

Thanks for the recs!

[ghost2.livejournal.com]

Whenever I find a new Five & Nyssa story, my first hope is that the author didn't screw it up. With so little fic for them, I want it all to be good. So Daemonology was a nice find. :)

[livii.livejournal.com]

The Seven and Mel's not a hard sell for me! It seems to be strangely formatted - not sure why all the little chapters, and I never make time for chaptered stuff any more, but with your rec, I'll try to make a point of reading it. :)

[ghost2.livejournal.com]

I do have reservations about chaptered stories in general. Most of the stuff coming through the queue is chaptered, sometimes into the dozens of pieces, and IMHO typically would benefit from being a fair bit more compact. But I thought the format worked well enough for this story and it had some nice character work going on. BTW, I love your Seven/Mel icon!

[thisbluespirit]

Thank you so much for the great rec. Made my day! (Postcards is my story). What can I say? I love all Who and Seven is 'my' Doctor. I have a soft spot for the much-maligned Mel and for Delta (although it should have better music).

I should say that I wouldn't normally put something that short in chapters, but I always saw it as a series of vignettes / scenes rather than a straight story. I hoped the title might imply as much. (In fact, when I thought of it, I was going to do all double drabbles.) I will confess though that it was never going to run to 10 sections - I thought 3-5. So maybe I should do something, but it strikes me the alternative is playing around with a lot of spaces and asterixes. ;-)

[thisbluespirit]

Am all embarrassed. I meant asterisks. Although Asterixs would funnier... :-/

[ghost2.livejournal.com]

The formatting didn't bother me. IMO, with this sort of story, posting it as a single chapter with scene breaks would have a jarring impact. Short chapters do kind of annoy me if there seems to be no point to their length, like the author's posting something just to post rather than because that particular length suits the writing.

Seven is one of my three favorite Doctors (the order changes all the time) and mostly because of the audios, I like Mel a lot.

[thisbluespirit]

Thanks. I'm just thrilled to get a nice rec.

It did seem to want to live in little separate scenes, so I let it, but I can see it might look a little odd.

I'll have to try out some of the others - I see there's a sequel to Chimes of Midnight...

thank you

[(Anonymous)]

thank you, man

Brilliant page!

[(Anonymous)]

i am gonna show this to my friend, bro

thanks much

[(Anonymous)]

thats for sure, bro