Sex, Drugs, and Alcohol

[ein_myria]

Just so you know, comments will be brief because I'm on vacation and I actually share this PC with my hosts. Delicious probably won't be updated until I get back to homebase and figure out how to hack Delicious.com for ff4 past the outdated security certificates. If someone has already figured that out, I'd appreciate it if you could drop a comment. :)
Edit (6/6/11): Delicious now updated! Kudos to greenteafarm for figuring out the AVOS beta add-on!

Reading
false_maria posted some beautiful Urd/Marller AMG yuri fanart that's worth a mention here and here (NSFW).

fem_thoughts is proving to be a fruitful ground for discussing and thinking about particular concepts with its various mini-meta about femslash. Recently snowynight kindly started off a discussion about asexuality and femslash which is quite rare but is worth thinking about.

erinptah: How to write Fic About Issues without it becoming Issuefic
Some good pointers!

Sherlock
Parallel by brbsoulnomming (John/Sherlock, OFC/OFC)
For the following prompt: "There's a case at a secondary school/University, some series of threats or string of bizarre murders that has the entire campus shaken. In the course of the investigation, Sherlock and John meet two students. One is well liked if not popular, athletic, intelligent without showing off, involved only because they were close to a victim or witnessed something important. The other is a loner with no regard for social norms, an insufferable genius, always in the chem lab, and involved because everyone, including teachers/professors, think they're behind everything."

I spotted this series floating around in Delicious. As one of the longer fics involving a femslash couple that also attempts to involve some aspects of an actual case, this wasn't bad. The translation of the John/Sherlock dynamic into a younger femslash couple might have been problematic--not that they were exact copies, but that you could still read that they were concepts rather than people, with less to ground their characters as compared to the more established characters. As a casual reader even I could tell that the backstories weren't all that filled out. The pacing was also somewhat problematic, with some scenes happening too quickly while others were stretched out when they didn't have to be. That said, the casefic climax was pretty good--I certainly didn't expect some of it at all, and the action sequences could be easily visualized; props to the writer.

Recs
Glee
and isn’t this exactly where you’d like me by thememoriesfire (Rachel/Quinn)
"Rachel ends up temporarily living in Las Vegas for a show she has to do there (let’s say 2-3 months) and drunkenly stumbles upon a stripper who plays up her innocence and asks for a private dance. Once in the back, Rachel realizes it’s Quinn Fabray and tries to leave but Quinn makes sure she gets her money’s worth."

This is not the first stripper fic in Glee that I've come across but there's actually a lot going on here that merits a good in-depth discussion--the coupling of agoraphobia with fame; the premise behind Quinn's stripping (which is both interesting and problematic)...Of course, I've also highlighted it because the interactions between the pairing are searingly hot. *fans self* I do find that staffing Rachel's management team with the old Lima High crowd to be a bit lazy (particularly since the concept's execution are cursory at best and doesn't gel with the central premise as well as it could have), but that aside, there's a lot of food for thought. thememoriesfire does well with this prompt.

Confluent Flows by sulkygeek (Quinn/Rachel)
Rachel's dads lose their jobs and Rachel becomes a teenage prostitute. When Quinn finds out, she joins because her mother has also been struggling to make ends meet.

sulkygeek seems to write some pretty outrageous premises, but seems to tackle them with concerted vigor. This could have been a lot darker but is interestingly restrained, with fade to blacks just near the bleakest parts. Just enough to connect the dots, so to speak, and leave the details largely for the audience to fill in. There ought to be some meaty discussion regarding the depiction of the clientele and the coping mechanisms.

scotch tape and paper scraps by intobrakelights (Quinn/Santana)
"Quinn Fabray never expected to be the one to pick up the pieces of Santana Lopez."

This fic showcases Quinn's insecurity and the intricacies of the unholy trinity quite well.

Summer by stopstartstall (Brittany/Santana)
"It’s the longest summer of Santana’s life, and every time she wants to kiss Brittany she hugs her instead."

The awkwardness is so precious, as is the tiptoe-ing around each other.

With Friends Like These by novel_concept26 (Quinn/Santana/Brittany)
"In the endless struggle of Lucy vs. Quinn, it seems the former will never lose ground until Quinn learns what beautiful, popular girls are really like."

I'm pretty sure this was what femslashers were thinking when Quinn said to Santana, "I'm just not that into that."

HP
femmefest's 2011 masterlist has been unveiled recently so I thought I would rec some from their collections.

Educational Decree #14 by moon_very_thin (Minerva/Wilhelmina)
"In the September of Harry's fifth year, Hogwarts gets two new teachers. One makes Minerva McGonagall's a living nightmare and the other... really, really doesn't. Twenty-five scenes from the staff room of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

A nicely timed and plotted set of vignettes against the original backdrop.

Now and Before by tray_la_la (Hermione/Lily Luna)
"Hermione wants to say no, but she can’t help but try to rewrite the past."

Like some adult/youth stories this one reads as just slightly dangerous...love the tension and the build-up.

LotS
No Constellations Here by swatkat (Cara/Kahlan) (kudos to hibernate)
"Zedd leaves camp at dawn, taking along with him, it seems, the last shreds of joy from their lives, leaving her alone with her thoughts—and Cara"

There's something about the pacing and the pauses in this one that speaks more than words ever could. swatkat does well to capture the chemistry and characterizations.