Fiction:
The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst is a very cozy romantic fantasy set in a world that, to me, felt very dreamlike because there were a number of fantastical creatures with magical origins. Some of these, like the merhorses, required magical upkeep, which made sense; however, making sense left me tugging more at the worldbuilding than I might have done if they’d just existed. This is clearly a Me problem. Anyway. Kiela is a librarian in an imperial city undergoing a violent revolution; she’s aware of it more via pamphlets than experience, because she almost never leaves her library. Her assistant is a magical, sentient spider plant named Caz, and Caz warns her when the library is invaded. They escape with a boatload of spellbooks and go to the faraway island where Kiela was born. Coziness ensues as Kiela moves into the cottage her now-dead parents abandoned, makes friends, and starts illegally using magic to do helpful things. There is external danger, but it never felt really threatening; the power of magic and small towns and friends solves issues, and a smitten caretaker of mer-horses provides romance. It was very lowkey and low-stress.
Fanfiction:
Synchronicity by ClaireGregory is a modern AU of “Our Flag Means Death” in which Ed and Stede are divers at the Paris Olympics and very swiftly fall into an intimate relationship, by which I mean there are a lot of sex scenes and it’s very sweet and everything works out beautifully except for a couple of characters who get their comeuppance in somewhat violent accidents…nothing worse than show canon. I found this story extremely soothing.
Sticking the Landing by SweetMandolins is a Sherlock AU in which Sherlock Holmes and John Watson are Olympic gymnasts, with the twist that former ballet dancer Sherlock is a rhythmic gymnast (not currently an Olympic sport, but it’s big in Japan and Spain, for example). The sports portion is combined with a mystery very very similar to the Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan case. Can you tell I was on a bit of an Olympics AU spree?
by the light of all your bridges burning by branwyn is one of those stories where a character is regressed to their childhood self; it’s the most intense story of this type I’ve read and the most thoughtful about the implications. This time, Bruce Banner is twelve and trusts no one thanks to his abusive father. I liked it because the author explored how each of the Avengers would handle this situation and the conclusions made sense to me; Tony Stark in particular misses his friend adult Bruce but desperately wants to save Bruce’s childhood self, so wrestles with a moral dilemma which was compelling. Trigger warning for a character considering suicide and discussions of same.
Five Things Darcy Loves About Working for SHIELD by teand is what it says in the title, with the addition of a lovely romance with Steve Rogers. Darcy was the Little Black Dress of early MCU Avengers fandom and I am there for it.
I Understood that Reference by RedBlazer is one of those Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes stories in which Steve is freshly unthawed and Bucky is modern, in this case a librarian who has to teach Steve how to use the internet, which is just as adorable as you would expect.
Telepathy Between Hearts by Jaelijn is a Series C Blake’s 7 story in which a booby trap experiment leaves Avon and Vila telepathic with Cally and struggling to deal with it. I love telepathy stories! That is all.
The Firebrand by babel ia a Blake’s 7 Post-Gauda Prime Story featuring Jenna Stannis with a new ship and a new crew, some of whom are familiar from playing on the other team, and a favorite of mine who is seemingly returned from the dead. I enjoyed this because Jenna and Vila both had big roles and I am hoping it will have a sequel.
The Parts of Our Sum by Annie D (scaramouche) would be an interesting science fiction story even without being a Supernatural AU. Castiel is a cyborg ex-soldier planning to go into space, Dean Winchester is not planning to go into space, but they meet and things might change. I actually wanted more of the backstory for this! In places, it reminded me a little of some of my own work.
