Snakeling’s Recs

[Torchwood]

Title: The Long Game
Author: Adina adina-atl
Summary: Ianto had known Torchwood’s retirement policy since the first day he started in London: twenty years and a gold watch, or…less…and a little white pill. And he wanted out. A first season AU.
Characters: Ianto, Jack, team
Rating: PG
Warning: AU

Why?

Too many people seem to forget that Ianto is a master manipulator, as good as playing people as Jack, though they use different techniques. Adina not only doesn’t, she plays it up, to great effect.

[Torchwood]

Title: King and Country
Author: aeshna-uk
Summary: “I should have the sorry lot of you thrown in the Tower!”
Characters: Jack Harkness, King Edward VIII, OCs
Rating: PG

Why?

A brilliant interweaving of history and fiction. Jack is quite creepy, there, taking pleasure in being a mysterious, threatening presence.

[Harry Potter]

Title: Commonplace Magic
Author: ac1d6urn and sinick
Summary: No doom of the wizarding world hanging in the balance, no tragic premature deaths. Just Harry getting inside a solitary man's defences, by not really trying.
Pairing: Harry Potter/Severus Snape
Rating: NC-17
Warning: AR/non-magic

Why?

May Acid and Sinick go on writing such excellent fics forever. It's AU non-magic, a genre I normally hate, and yet I loved it to pieces.

Snape is suitably ugly and grumpy, and Harry is suitably thick. The writing is slow and beautiful, and London is as much a character as Harry and Snape.

[Merlin]

Title: Drastically Redefining Protocol
Author: rageprufrock
Summary: In which Prince Arthur meets Merlin and all hell breaks lose.
Pairing: Arthur/Merlin
Rating: NC-17
Warning: AR

Why?

So everyone and their dog has recced this fic, by now, and there's a reason for that: it's absolutely wonderful. Funny, and sexy, and as near to perfection as can be. The dynamics between Arthur and Merlin in particular are pretty faithful to the show, for all that it's a modern AR. A must-read, even if you haven't seen the show.

[Harry Potter]

Title: A Little Touch Of Harry In the Night
Author: amanuensis
Summary: A Potterverse take on Shakespeare's Henry V with an AU Harry who's not really as nice as we remember him. Bit of a bastard, actually. That's okay; I got to write more sex that way. Shakespeare purists will just freak.
Pairing: Harry Potter/Ron Weasley/Hermione Granger, Harry Potter/Colin Creevey, Harry Potter/Severus Snape, Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy (plus a bit of Slytherin debauchery)
Rating: NC-17
Warning: AU, implied rape, dub-con

Why?

A deliciously dark and chilling Harry. While the setting is unmistakably the Wizarding World, the plot follows Henry V closely, without ever seeming forced. It does help that it's one of my favourite plays, and that the fic includes one of my favourite scenes from it (II.ii, for the record). You don't need to know the play to read the story, but it definitely makes it more interesting.

[Harry Potter]

Title: Good Life Becoming
Author: Sansa sansa1970
Summary: What does it take to turn animosity into something else? Harry, Severus and Draco form a binding friendship that evolves into much more. The events that bring them together also threaten to tear them apart.
Pairing: Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy/Severus Snape
Rating: NC-17
Warning: threesome

Why?

A tale of friendship that turns to love, one of my favourite topics. It's quite bittersweet, in the end, but the way the three men find themselves and each other is lovely.

[Torchwood/Doctor Who]

Title: Pocket Watch Boy
Author: Mhalachai mhalachaiswords
Summary: Ianto Jones is a very different sort of boy. (wee!Time Lord!Ianto)
Characters/Pairing: Ianto Jones/Jack Harkness, team Torchwood, the Doctor, Donna Noble
Rating: PG-13

Why?

A really good take on the Time Lord!Ianto cliché, especially the difference in point of view between Ianto and the Doctor, regarding Jack. Very good use of the Team, especially Gwen, as well as the Doctor. Donna feels a little off, but it was written before Season 4 aired.

Caveat Lector

There are a few too many references to pop culture, that don't always quite sit with British characters.

[Torchwood]

Title: Make a Beginning
Author: dsudis
Summary: Post-"Exit Wounds". Gwen couldn't go on like that much longer. Neither could Torchwood.
Characters: Gwen Cooper, Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones
Rating: PG-13

Why?

I want to see this in canon. I really, really want to see this in canon. This is Gwen Cooper as the show meant to show us, and never quite managed to.

[Torchwood]

Title: Soldier Boy
Author: ceefax-the-sane
Summary: The boys play with uniforms. There's mention of that thing that Jack asked Martha for in Reset.
Pairing: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones
Rating: NC-17
Warning: spanking, roleplay

Why?

I have no problem whatsoever seeing Jack as a sub, but there's no doubt he'd make any Dom work for it. Thankfully, Ianto is more than up for the challenge. Very funny, and amazingly hot; Ianto is not the only one to understand the power of anticipation. ;)

[Torchwood]

Title: The End of a Circle
Author: k_haldane
Summary: Jack was in Cardiff because the Rift was here.
Character: Jack Harkness
Rating: PG-13

Why?

People who have been following this rec journal know how much I love complicated, Moebius-strip time-travel stories. This one is a glowing example of what I mean by that.

It's also a very realistic and very interesting look at what happened to Jack during Exit Wounds, and develops some interesting theories about the Rift.

[Harry Potter]

Title: The Misadventures of Draco Malfoy, Ferret
Author: Saber ShadowKitten sabershadowkat
Summary: Snape turns Draco into a ferret for his own protection. He would've been safer with the Dark Lord.
Pairing: Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy
Rating: R
Warning: bestiality, mpreg

Why?

The premise is complete and utter crack. But the execution, while still hilariously funny, manages to pull it off without ever falling into ooc-ness. Draco's inner voice, in particular, is to die for.

[Torchwood]

Title: Transitional Spaces
Author: nightanddaze
Summary: They're changing, both of them, together.
Pairing: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones, Ianto Jones/OFC
Rating: NC-17

Why?

The relationship between Jack and Ianto is dark and complex, and the author captures it perfectly, showing it in all its fucked-up glory. She even manages to sell me jealous!Jack, which is no mean feat.

[Torchwood]

Title: Shall I Compare Thee To A Tentacled Alien Corpse?
Author: marginaliana
Summary: Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Jack and Ianto's naughty limerick war.
Pairing: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones
Rating: PG-13

Why?

Absolutely hilarious, and very, very in character for all of them. The perfect little interlude.

[Harry Potter]

Title: The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Author: jacquez
Summary: Harry becomes Snape's apprentice. Snark ensues.
Characters: Harry Potter, Severus Snape
Rating: PG

Why?

A thorough description of new branches of magic, which is one of my literary kinks. The relationship between Snape and Harry is never sugar-coated, and very complex.

Unfortunately discontinued, but the first part is complete.

[Torchwood]

Title: Graphophilia
Author: apiphile
Summary: Jack knows the power of anticipation.
Pairing: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones
Rating: NC-17

Why?

Because it's blindingly hot! And proof positive that you don't need sophisticated sex-toys for kinky sex; a simple biro will suffice.

[Torchwood]

Title: Proof of your Existence
Author: OneSarcasticChick sarcastic_jo
Summary: "Can you offer me proof of your existence? How can you? When neither modern science nor philosophy can explain what life is."
Pairing: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones, team
Rating: NC-17

Why?

Very clever and original concept that I can't explain as it would spoil the story. You'll need to read it twice to realise how many clues to the plot twist there are, too.

It has the feel of an episode, with excellent plot and pacing, and while it's a Ianto-centric story, none of the cast is forgotten or shoe-horned into a tokenish role. Excellent sci-fi with philosophical undertones, exploring what it means to be alive, and human.

[Torchwood]

Title: Paradox
Author: snowwhiteliar
Summary: When Torchwood were sent to the Himalayas, Ianto chose to stay behind and look after the Hub. He didn't think it would be quite this much trouble.
Pairing: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones, Ianto Jones/Ianto Jones
Rating: R
Warning: character death

Why?

A look at what might have happened if Ianto had stayed at the Hub instead of going to the Himalayas with the team. Loneliness and paranoia do not make a good combination, and it's never quite clear how much of the events are real, or due to Ianto's mind snapping, as the author very cleverly drops clues pointing to both explanations.

Very dark and creepy, this is a story that will stay with you long after you've closed the page.

[Torchwood]

Title: Love the Coat
Author: sanginmychains
Summary: This slowly-growing series covers Jack and Ianto's relationship from just after the pterodactyl scene in "Fragments" until, well, it remains to be seen.
Pairing: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones
Rating: NC-17

Why?

Pre-Cyberwoman Jack/Ianto has potential for really complicated sex and mind-fuckery of the first order. This certainly delivers, with characterisations of Jack and Ianto that could have been taken straight off my mind. Delicious

[Torchwood]

Title: Something Like Hope
Author: Kate amazonqueenkate
Summary: In Torchwood, everything's possible.
Pairing: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones
Rating: R
Warning: mpreg

Why?

I usually approach mpreg with a great deal of wariness, because most of it is dire, but the author pulls off a serious mpreg without once writing the characters OOC.

The pregnancy itself is written realistically, never for comic effect, and the explanation is never handwoven, and is in fact an integral part of the plot.

[Torchwood]

Title: Getting to Yes
Author: technosage
Summary: Now that they've settled into this pattern, how is he to tell Jack that, in all fairness, he thinks Jack ought to let him have a go?
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Jack Harkness
Rating: NC-17

Why?

Slow, vivid build-up leading to scorching sex! And the author has an excellent grip on both Jack and Ianto. Excellent.