shake it all about!

[hafital]

I'm not dead! whee!

Like really good peanut butter, things are nutty over here. But, you know, one day at a time, and all that. My dad is hanging in there, but he's very thin. My sister blames my mother for I don't even know what, everything I guess. There's a possibility my parents may have to either buy the house they're renting or move. The timing of this could have been better... But, as stressful as its all been, as my riding instructor says, I keep my heels down and sit up. lol.

Hey! I'm going to compete in my very first jump show this weekend! Long stirrup, which is just x-rails but still. I'm excited, and hope very much that I at least don't take a tumble. hah.

~~~

Audio books I have listened to this month:

The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne (what? I never actually read it)
Tiger Eyes, Judy Blume (if I had been a little quicker on the draw, I would have nominated this for Yuletide. My favorite Blume book)
The Glass House and Half-Broke Horses, Jeannette Walls
Are You There Vodka, It's Me Chelsea, Chelsea Lately
The Great Gatsby (what? I never read this one, either.)
The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins (I don't like the reader, which is too bad)

I tried to listen to Gerald's Game by Steven King, but I couldn't finish it.

There might have been one or two others that I'm forgetting.

~~~

I signed up for hlh_shortcuts and I'm very excited about it! Of course I have no idea what I'm going to write, but why should this year be any different from any other year?? I'm trying to decide whether to sign up for Yuletide. I want to, but I feel that may be pushing it.

~~~

I recently inhaled all of Breaking Bad. It was good, and kind of horrible at the same time. What amused me the most, though, is how I can still see the dad from Malcolm in the Middle in Walter White. haha.

~~~

I haven't gotten around to watching the recent episodes of Doctor Who yet. ack! And I'm waiting patiently to have all of Downton Abbey series 3 before embarking on that. I did start watching Ugly Betty, which I never got around to when it was on the air, and it's just the right kind of fluff. I like it.

I'm still rolling around in Star Trek: Voyager love. It makes me stupid happy. I love even the crappy episodes! I'm almost done, though. Sad.

~~~

Um, so does anyone have really good Avengers recommendations?? I'm curious.... What are the popular pairings?

Comments

[laurashapiro]

Good to see you! Was just thinking about you the other day, and the DW vid we never made. Glad you're doing okay.

The hot Avengers pairing seems to be Steve/Tony (and Clint-Natasha for het fans), but as you might imagine, everyone gets paired with everyone.

[hafital]

Oh, I think of that vid all the time. sigh. Things got so out of control over here. Thanks, hon.

Hm, Tony seems to be one of those that you could pair up with anyone. *g*

[laurashapiro]

Whenever the song comes up on my playlist, I think of Ten, and then I think of you. (: Maybe someday!

Tony seems to be one of those that you could pair up with anyone. *g*

Indeed, my favorite story in the fandom (not that I've read widely) is a Tony-gets-gangbanged fic. (:

[ariestess]

Glad to see you! Hope things get better for your dad.

[hafital]

Thanks, hon. :)

[basingstoke]

Clint/Coulson is also big and really quite endearing.

As far as recs, the Toasterverse has both Tony/Steve and Coulson/Clint and is excellent and long:
http://archiveofourown.org/series/18228
and the companion series
http://archiveofourown.org/series/18869

[hafital]

Yay, thanks!

[giglet]

Good to see you!

Re Avengers fandom:

scifigrl47 has a hilarious and very popular intertwined series of Avengers stories. Snappy dialog.

It Starts Out Like an A-Word (As Anyone Can See) by Amy. (Avengers/Sesame Street crossover)

I only recommend The Last Love Song of Anthony E. Stark by jibrailis if 1)you want to read about someone having a worse time than you are, and 2)nobody in your family has dementia or Alzheimer's. It's well-written, but it gutted me. In a cathartic way.

Gift of Asylum by Carleton and Sister Wolf is pretty hilarious and Darcy-centric.

Enjoy!

[hafital]

Oh, thanks so much. It's nice to have pointers as to wear to start in such a large fandom.

[dragonfly]

Hi!

Oh, Avengers! It's like a smorgasbord of pairings. Tony/anyone seems the most numerous, but you can find anything.

If I knew what you'd like, I could easily find examples of it *g*, but since I don't really know, I'll link you to some I like.


Semaphore by devildoll.
NC-17 slash, Tony Stark/Steve Rogers
Words: 40,000
Yes, I know this has probably been recced everywhere by now, but I want to go on record as adoring it. The little details in it like Cupcake Avalanche, and the ballerina with Hulk hands, and Captain America owning a radio but no TV (and what that does to Tony's brain). Thor makes me literally LOL whenever he gets mentioned. This is just superlative.



In Great Transition by vain_glorious.
Gen
Words: 3800
At a tenth the length of Semaphore, I found this one as satisfying in terms of characters and dialogue. It's also about the Avengers moving in to Stark Tower. I loved how Clint does it. *g*



Without the Usual Cost of Labor by vain_glorious.
Gen
Words:
Summary: She did it again! Hilarious and in-character and I don't know what to tell you without spoiling. Here's her own teaser:

"Someone just reported to SHIELD that whatever was stolen produced “viable offspring,” and we’re hoping that doesn’t mean what we think it does,” Bruce says, evidently deciding to take over for Tony after only one masturbation joke.



Culture and Other Balls of Twine by lithiumdoll.
Gen
Words: 17,000
Summary: The Avengers go on a road trip.

This has Tasha dressed, as Darcy puts it, less as a tourist and more to mock them. It has amateur robbers who picked the wrong diner. It has Fury being dry and crafty, and all the rest of them being so themselves. Oh, and lumberjacks who are okay.

Clever banter, road trip, huge ball of twine.



The Amazing Naked Avengers by vain_glorious.
Gen *snerk*
2500 words
Summary: There were Avenger-sized mouse traps all over the damn bunker. All about as effective. Meaning no one got killed, but everyone is naked and bleeding a little. This one is hilarious!


Stark, A.E., and Banner, R. Bruce. (2013). "Biodosimetric Tools for Measuring Induced Isomeric Transition in Inverted Paired States." International Journal of Radiation Biology 89.9, 43-85 by thingswithwings.

(Not only is it a great story, it has the bestest title)

The only problem with the title, as lunaris1013 said, is when you want to tell someone about it. Then you have to fall back on "The story where Bruce and Tony have sex FOR SCIENCE."

Which, I KNOW, while it's a popular pairing, you have to admit it's unlikely. Particularly when I tell you Tony also has sex with The Hulk. But it's FOR SCIENCE, srsly, she makes it believable. I highly recommend.

Totally not Gen or SFW.



Title: How to Tame A God
Author: theorytale
Rating: Gen, so far
Warnings: WIP
Summary: The Avengers are startled when Tony insults Loki during a fight and succeeds in devastating him. A whole new area of approach for dealing with Loki turns up.
Words: 19,000 so far
Pairing: Well, it might eventually be Loki/Tony. Or not. Tony might just end up dead.

I should add that this is the first story chapter of a series (five parts so far) called Saga of Hug Fortress, which sounds fluffy, but it is not, though it is occasionally funny. This is my favorite Avengers story so far and it's not even finished. I live for updates to this. Srsly. And as much as I crave more, rereading also fills me with glee.



Title: Shatter
Author: aria
Fandom: Thor(2011)
Words: 32,209
Rating: NC-17, M/M slash Thor/Loki
Info: AU where Odin banishes Loki instead of Thor. This is an intense Loki-centric story which parallels the movie plot, except Loki gets banished to Midgard instead of Thor, and it is Loki who meets Jane, Darcy and Selvig. Many Loki POV stories make Thor oafish, but this one doesn't, quite. Thor is his earnest self, trying to love a broken ("shattered"), angry, hurt and malicious Loki. Loki's thoughts, meanwhile, are some of the best character introspection for Loki I've read, and the thing I loved most about this story is that by the end I actually understood how Midgardian physics and Asgardian magic could be the same. She does a FANTASTIC job with that.

[hafital]

If I knew what you'd like, I could easily find examples of it *g*, but since I don't really know, I'll link you to some I like.

:D I don't really know what I like. LOL. Thanks! This is great.

[killabeez.livejournal.com]

Be careful! No falling! {{{{wraps you in padding}}}} <-both figurative and literal

If you're listening to audio books, do not miss Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman. ♥ I also recommend Hot Gate by John Ringo, but mostly for the writing, which is pretty awesome.

I have no idea what I'm writing for the HL exchange. Yikes. Nor any idea when I'm going to have time to write it.

Avengers! There's so much! I don't actually read any of it. But I'm intrigued by Thor/Loki (astolat's pairing!) and anything to do with Bruce Banner. I've read only a very tiny handful of stories, though:

http://thingswithwings.dreamwidth.org/180224.html
http://thingswithwings.dreamwidth.org/180112.html

(thingswithwings writes pretty amazing fic in general)

http://archiveofourown.org/works/405828

The first two are Bruce/Tony, Bruce/everybody, and the last one is Clint/Natasha.

[hafital.livejournal.com]

OH! I LOVED Ananzi Boys! I listened to that one a while back. And that reminds me I forgot to mention The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, read by Neil Gaimon, which I HIGHLY recommend. Damn, I knew I forgot one that was important. LOL.

But I'm intrigued by Thor/Loki

Oh, right, Thor/Loki. I guess that would be a popular pairing. I wasn't thinking Loki so much as the Avengers themselves. I like Loki, but I'm usually not much into enemy slash. It's not the "enemy" part that bothers me but the irredeemably evil part. :)

I was a little hot/cold on the film, but I did enjoy the dynamic of the group and I like all the little relationships and stuff. I thought it might be fun to read.

[killabeez.livejournal.com]

Definitely try that first story I linked. It's very team-y. :) In the extreme. :D

[hafital.livejournal.com]

Btw! I meant to say I'm on, like, a 14 hand pony for the jump show. So, you know, he's little (but sturdy), it's not like a big jumper or anything. LOL. I actually normally ride this other more regular size horse for jump class but they assigned me this little guy, who I LOVE, so I'm happy. And he's way easier.

[slb44.livejournal.com]

Had a nice long comment here and LJ lost it! Arrrr!

So yeah, hope things get better on the parent front. I've been there so if you need to vent, just get in touch. I'm always happy to listen.

I've been doing the audio book thing too. Just finished The Nazi Hunter by Alan Elsner. I'm on a bit of an espionage kick at the moment. So I can rec lots of other things in that area of you're interested.

As for Avengers fic, I read Steve/Tony. Tony/Loki and Clint/Phil are also very popular pairings. Though this is such a big fandom just about anything goes. If it strikes your fancy I'm sure you'll be able to find it.

One of my fav authors in the fandom is

http://archiveofourown.org/users/scifigrl47/pseuds/scifigrl47

for both Steve/Tony and Phil/Clint.

The In Which Tony Stark... series is really fun.

Valtyr is another really good writer in the fandom, leans toward Steve/Tony but covers others as well,

http://archiveofourown.org/users/valtyr/pseuds/valtyr

I've got a huge recs list in this fandom but it's on my other laptop which I can't access at the moment. If you like I can pick out the best of them and link you to them this evening.

[hafital.livejournal.com]

Wow, thanks for the recs! In both audio books and fic. :) whee. And thanks for the sympathy.

More Avenger Recs

[slb44.livejournal.com]

As promised.

http://archiveofourown.org/series/22273

A highly recommended series of fics.

As is this one,

http://archiveofourown.org/series/15246

Both long and well, I hope you enjoy them.