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.

[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: 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.

[Torchwood]

Title: Kingdom of Air
Author: Karen lookninjas
Summary: The Torchwood Team is sent to the Himalayas by Harold Saxon.
Characters: Ianto Jones, Gwen Cooper, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato
Rating: R

Why?

Absolutely gorgeous, amazing story! It's very difficult to write a team fic, where all the roles are balanced out and nobody's neglected, but Karen pulls it off masterly.

As much as it is a team fic, it's also a Ianto fic: Ianto is thrust into the role of leader, by virtue of being the only one with climbing experience, and he has to cope through horrific situations. The dichotomy between his private emotions and what he lets show is written very well, as unsettling for the reader as it is for Ianto.

Probably one of the best Torchwood fics, highly recommended.

[Torchwood]

Title: Trying to Communicate
Author: Sam Starbuck sams_cafe
Summary: There's an alien in the Hub, and it's trying to communicate.
Characters: Team, with hints of Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones
Rating: PG

Why?

Complete and utter crack, but the excellent kind. It will leave you in tears of laughter. You'll need to be familiar with the concept of LOLcats.

Caveat Lector

Spoilers for Dead Man Walking (2x07).

[Torchwood]

Title: Everything Changes but Paperwork
Author: basingstoke
Summary: Orientation will be provided by the administrative staff.
Characters: Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness
Rating: PG

Why?

A quiet little story about Gwen signing her Torchwood contract. Fun and somewhat bittersweet.

[Torchwood]

Title: Marking Time
Author: The Atropos atropos-too
Summary: In which Ianto is introduced to some of many things to be done with a stopwatch.
Characters: Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones
Rating: PG-13

Why?

This is first a wonderfully detailed exploration of what it means to be a Time Agent. Jack shows to Ianto how to use his "Temporal Hyper-acuity". Even though the story is set at some point between Cyberwoman and Countrycide, and features a Ianto that still hates Jack and resents him, Ianto is able to ignore his feelings to be fascinated by the new world Jack is helping him discover.

I like detailed descriptions of original concepts (magic in HP, and science in DW/TW) and this story certainly delivers.

[Torchwood/Doctor Who]

Title: Stuck in Traffic at the Magic Roundabout
Author: xwingace
Summary: The importance of not running into oneself had been drummed into Jack Harkness from the first day in the academy.
Character: Jack Harkness
Rating: PG-13

Why?

This is what time-travel is all about: paradoxes, people running into themselves, and major fuck-ups. Fascinating and convoluted, and the end will blow you away!

[Torchwood/Doctor Who]

Title: Left Unsaid
Author: Dune seti_drd
Summary: The stories Martha Jones never told the Torchwood team
Characters: Martha Jones, Jack Harkness, the Torchwood Team
Rating: PG

Why?

Powerful stuff. Both Jack and Martha are still suffering from PTSD after the events of Last of the Timelords, and it shows in their interactions. The external POV is very interesting, too.

[Torchwood]

Title: Six Uses For a Stopwatch That Have Nothing To Do With Sex (And One That Does)
Author: Shaggy shaggydogstail
Summary: There's a lot you can do with a stopwatch.
Characters/Pairing: Mostly gen, with a bit of Jack/Ianto
Rating: PG

Why?

Shaggy writes humour very well, and this one's no exception. Some of the ficlets are hysterical, and the Jack/Ianto part is endearingly cute.