Science Made Them Do It / by auntie_climatic (R/NC-17)

Title:  Science Made Them Do It (aka. NSP-3710/B)
Author: auntie_climatic 
Fandom: Eureka
Pairing: Nathan Stark/Jack Carter
Genre: Humor
Length: Very Short (Words: ~6,000)

Author's Summary:
NSP – 3710/B referred to cases involving what Allison tactfully called Induced Misconduct and what Jo called the old Science Made Us Do It excuse.

Review:
Eureka is chock full of crazy and this is a fic that plays with that gleefully.  This fic is sure to put a smile on your face.  There's just one thing I don't like and that's that the formatting is off in this fic (extra spaces between paragraphs and some action tags paired with the wrong dialogue) and I find it just distracting enough to be frustrating.

Science Made Them Do It (on LJ) (on AO3)

National Service / by burntcopper (PG-15/R)

Title: National Service
Author: burntcopper 
Fandom: Chronicles of Narnia
Genre: Post-series, War, Dark
Length: Medium (Words: ~8k = first 5 fics which are their own story arc and stand alone, then there's another 52k fic in the series about a concurrent but independent story arc featuring Susan as Torchwood agent which is rec'd in a separate post here)
Warnings: Violence
Admin Note: rec'd on fancake, rec'd on TV Tropes

Author's Summary:
1. Soldiering is soldiering, even when you're using a gun rather than a sword. And they're underestimating you because of your age.
2. Some lads stand out when they're called up.
3. You'd think one Pevensie in the military was enough.
4. Some people really don't understand the concept of playfighting.
5. No parent wants to know this about their children.

Review:
This is a seriously dark series and that's part of the reason I love it.  Narnia canon broke me a little because of the way Aslan (aka Jesus) treated Susan at the end, so most of the Narnia fics I like tend to be quite dark.  This one is one of the darkest and it couldn't be more different from canon, yet it works.  It's a fic that reminds you in detail that the best rulers are unpleasant people.  All four Pevensies came back from Narnia as medieval warrior-monarchs - because in Narnia, that was how they did wonderful, good things - but to the rest of the mundane world who doesn't understand how it happened or what purpose it could serve, they appear to be nearly sociopathic.  The characterization is chilling, at times, but I can't help but admire how capable the Pevensies are and how they work so closely together to navigate the mundane world that doesn't understand them.

National Service (on AO3)
podfics available (on AO3) by croissantkatie 

Nimble Tongue / by laetificare (PG-15)

Title: Nimble Tongue
Author: laetificare 
Fandom: Grimm
Pairing: Nick/Juliette, Nick/Monroe
Genre: AU, Fantasy
Length: Short (Words: 17,397)
Admin Note: rec'd on fancake, rec'd on TV Tropes

Author's Summary:
Nick is cursed to lie.

Review:
The Author's Summary doesn't say a lot but basically, Detective Nick Burkhardt is working a cold case when the victim's mother realizes he's a Grimm.  She's Wesen and not interested in hearing how Nick's not like those other Grimms so she curses him so everything that comes out of his mouth is a lie.  Everything.  Now he's got a partner who thinks he's started a prank war, a girlfriend who hasn't even noticed, and a court case coming up where he really can't get on the stand under oath and say his name is Nigel Bancroft and he's not a detective.  On the up side, at least his best friend/maybe something more is really good at charades.  He has to figure out how to fix it and, of course, it could never be as simple as convincing the witch to undo the spell.
It's this character storyline that I really like.  I think it plays well with canon even now, by commenting on how things could have gone differently depending on who Nick trusted with what information about the Wesen and the Grimm thing (this fic was written mid-way through Season 1, before Adalind cursed Juliette and before the Verrat storyline became important).  I would have liked to see the case plot and its related world-building handled a little better purely because the show is a cop drama, but that isn't what this fic is and with the quality of the curse and character plot, I think the fic is still good with backgrounding the case. 

One problem I have with the fic though is that I could really have done without the brief jaunt into soulmate philosophy - particularly when he uses it against Renard, it just seemed like it came out of left-field and broke my suspension of disbelief for a bit.

Nimble Tongue (on AO3)

The Brain Thief / by hollimichele (PG)

Title: The Brain Thief
Author: hollimichele 
Fandom: Discworld
Genre: Case!fic/Mystery, Supernatural, Next-gen
Length: Medium (Words: 31,591)
Admin Note: rec'd on fancake

Author's Summary:
Young Sam grows up, meets a girl, cracks a case, and tells a lie. Not necessarily in that order.

Review:
Let's face it: no one can quite match the style of Terry Pratchett.  Fortunately, this fic is close enough you can get your Discworld fix in between new novels.  Young Sam, son of Commander Sir Samuel Vimes, Duke of Ankh etc, etc. is a new corporal in the Watch, proceeding through the streets of Morpork on his usual beat when he spots a running man and gives chase.  Things are looking up for Sam.  Soon, he meets a lovely girl and catches his first big case.  But Ankh-Morpork is in a difficult time, facing the looming uncertainty of Life After Vetinari (the patrician is old and his health is failing).  As a next-gen fic, most of the cast is original characterizations and I think the case is compelling. I did find the ending a tad predictable, but its so well-written that I whole-heartedly recommend this fic to all Discworld fans anyways.

The Brain Thief (on AO3)
Podfic for The Brain Thief (on AO3)

I made a cover for this fic:

The Least of All Possible Mistakes / by rageprufrock (R)

Title: The Least of All Possible Mistakes
Author: rageprufrock 
Fandom: BBC Sherlock
Pairings: female!Lestrade/OMC, female!Lestrade/Mycroft, female!Lestrade/John Watson
Genre: Friendship, Romance
Length: Long (Words:104,683)
Note:  rec'd on fancake

Author's Summary:
If ever a people deserved tasering, it’s Holmeses.

Review:
The characters in this fic are really wonderful.  Lestrade is clever and funny, the friendship between female!Lestrade and Sherlock in this fic is delightful, and the slow-growing relationship between Lestrade and Mycroft is very well-written (it's not just a falling in love story, but a relationship story with disagreements and at least one fight that probably qualifies as epic).  It has its funny moments (esp. when Sherlock is continually deleting knowledge of Lestrade/Mycroft) and it has times where its sadder (like when the various relationships are strained).

The Least of All Possible Mistakes (on AO3)

You Say You Want A Revolution / by Malteaser (PG)

Title: You Say You Want A Revolution
Author: Malteaser 
Fandom: Doctor Who
Pairings: Canton Everett Delaware III/OMC
Genre: Angst, Outsider POV
Length: Very Short (Words: 2,958)
Admin Note: rec'd on fancake

Author's Summary:
Canton is no stranger to living a double life- that's what most of his adulthood has been, if he's being honest. But at least then he'd known what he was doing. Takes place around The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon, told in Canton's POV.

Review:
Canton is a Badass Normal and has a wicked sense of humor in canon, but this fic is more angsty.  Canton crosses paths with the Doctor for a brief period in the Nixon Era and ends up having to save the world, mostly alone, without much guidance when he can't even trust his own memories.  This fic handles that well and shows a different perspective on the events of episodes 6.01 and 6.02.  It's short, but a good read.

You Say You Want A Revolution (on AO3)

Speak its Name / by Macadamanaity (PG-15)

Title: Speak its Name
Author: Macadamanaity 
Fandom: M*A*S*H
Pairings: BJ Hunnicutt/Hawkeye Pierce,BJ Hunnicutt/Sidney Freedman
Genre: Postwar, Angst
Length: Very Short (Words: 5,265)

Author's Summary:
"He was seated at the table and used no amplification for his voice, but BJ would know it anywhere, anytime, with any number of bombs dropping around them."

Review:
Sidney Freedman, psychiatrist, is spending the postwar years advocating for the removal of homosexuality from the DSM (de-medicalizing it, stopping it from being considered a disease you can be diagnosed and treated for).  That's the subject he's speaking about at a medical convention BJ attends and they get to talking.  This isn't a romance fic and the pairings aren't really important --- it's more about identity, activism, and life after war.  I really like the glimpse into this era in LGBT history that this fic gives and I like the characterizations and the ambiguity of their own identities. 

Some people might have a problem with so many of the characters being some shade of queer identity (Hawkeye and BJ are represented as bi, Sidney and his son are identified as gay, and Klinger is still crossdressing but straight).  To my mind, it's only a short fic and the point is sexual identity issues so I don't think it becomes an Everyone Is Gay problem, but YMMV.

Speak its Name (on AO3)

Triggers and Ties / by kuriadalmatia (NC-17)

Title: Triggers and Ties
Author: kuriadalmatia 
Fandom:Criminal Minds
Pairings: Aaron Hotchner/Spencer Reid
Genre: Romance, Drama
Length: Long (Words:83,648)

Author's Summary:
It isn't fair to compare Spencer to Haley—something Aaron tells himself every time he and Spencer are together—but he finds himself unable to stop. Aaron and Spencer work through the highs and the lows that real life brings, including the devastating attack by Foyet and Haley’s murder.

Review:
I'd give this fic 8/10 stars, I think.  It's well-written --- good spelling and grammar and the author knows how to craft a fic.  Mostly, though, I like how this fic deals with Spencer's N.A. involvement and I like that Hotch is strong despite having issues of his own (with an emotionally abusive relationship behind him).  I also like it because I think the characters' voices are captured well in this fic.  It's a relationship fic more than a romance fic, starting off with a tenuously established relationship which I think works if you want the pairing to work since this is a canon that doesn't really talk about relationships.  The main criticism I have of this fic is just that it's the ratio of smut to plot is a little high, especially considering that canon is a crime drama but this is just personal preference and plenty of fans might say there's no such thing as too much smut so YMMV.

Triggers and Ties (on AO3)