Doctor Who fanfic...

[fajrdrako]

Long ago I promise rosiespark that I would list the Doctor Who stories I have read and enjoyed.

Since falling into Doctor Who fandom, I've been browsing for fanfic. Discovering a new fandom is always an adventure; you never know what you're going to find. My experience over the past month or two is that Doctor Who fandom excels in the matter of icons and wallpaper and music vids. Since Doomsday of course there has been a flood of post-Doomsday stories and vids that tug at the tearstrings... Some of them quite readable, actually, but the sheer number of them has made me back off, look for something different.

I don't know how much Doctor Who fic is out there in the wide world. I know I'm having a great time hunting it down. Thanks to everyone, everyone who is writing in the fandom, and what can I do to encourage you all to write more?

If any of you know of Doctor Who story archives I may not have found, or particularly good writers or communities, you'll let me know, won't you?

So here are some comments about I've been reading. I know there are a remarkable stories I wanted to make comment on that I have somehow lost, or forgotten the title, or forgot to write down the URL. Maybe I'll find them again.


Two things I have found about a lot of Doctor Who fanfic: many of the fans don't see the Doctor the way I do, and a lot of the fan writers write as if they are very young. Nothing wrong with that; but sometimes I find myself reading about this 900-year-old man who is thinking like a teenager, and since I have a kink for maturity, I find myself thinking, Huh?

Then there are stories that postulate that the Doctor is asexual, or too alien to relate sexually with humans. I ignore these stories. I have no problem with gen stories that ignore the subject of sex altogether. I do have a problem with stories that have the Doctor too shy to approach Rose, or who believes she doesn't want him - because not only is it obvious to anyone that she does, but the Doctor is both psychic and intuitive, not to mention intelligent. Nor can I buy the idea that the Doctor is a shrinking violet, too shy or indecisive to know what he wants.

I'm not making a distinction here between stories featuring Nine and stories featuring Ten. I've been reading both.


First, the slash...

Time & Again by boji
Proto-slash, actually, here. A story based on a rather clever time-paradox; Captain Jack, rescued by Jabe, finds the Doctor again by arranging to go back and meet him during the events of The End of the World rather than The Empty Child.

* * *

Two Hearts by Xanthe xanthelj
I first started reading Xanthe when she was writing BDSM stories in X-Files fandom. It was a delightful surprise to find her writing this delightful PG story which gently explores the Doctor's feelings about Gallifrey and about Captain Jack. It's moody, it's smart, it's atmospheric and it's romantic. My favourite lines:

"So, do you read minds, Doctor, or am I just easy to read?"

"I think we both know how easy you are," the Doctor replied, with a slight grin of his own.

Okay, we all know I'm a sucker for good banter. This is the best of the Doctor/Jack slash I have found so far.

* * *

A series of drabbles by bloodkisses
Confession: I don't usually read drabbles, unless they're by sparklebutch, but I read these because I was desperate for Jackfic, and I enjoyed them thoroughly, for their sexiness, their variety, their understanding of the characters. They are beautifully written mini-PWPs, and I just wish they were longer stories.

* * *

After Ever by S-Star astra_argentea
It's hard to characterize this piece, which a fairy tale and a bit of stream-of-consciousness and a prose poem and a study of Jack's thoughts, all written in the second person, which I normally hate, but this is the second bit of writing that has done it so well I can love it. (The first is the beginning of Karen Lowachee's wonderful novel, Warchild.) The situation's insoluble, the puzzle undoable, the ending inevitable...

* * *

Memories by Xanthe xanthelj
This was not as moving as Two Hearts, but it had some lovely moments. A testy Doctor, a flirtatious Jack... and a probing of their troubled minds. I like the way Xanthe interprets both characters.

* * *

Silver Rain Falls by by_starkiller
A hypnotic, lyrical story. This isn't how I would characterize the Doctor, or Jack, but it works. Everything's a lie when taken at face value.

* * *

Bath Tangle by boji
First of all, I'm a sucker for Regency Romance. Second, I love reading about Lord Byron and his circle. Third, the idea of slashing Captain Jack with Beau Brummell tickles me. The premise here: Captain Jack, having lost the Doctor in Parting of the Ways, ends up in Bath as the lover of Beau Brummell and Lord Byron. There's nice use of culture-contrasts here, and I love the way Jack (without the Tardis to help him linguistically) has to keep struggling to talk in early 19th century idiom. Should've studied your Jane Austen more closely, Jack. Probably too busy reading Fanny Hill.

Don't let my description here fool you, this story does slash Jack with the Doctor, which is only right.

And I love it that boji used a Georgette Heyer title.

* * *

Patience by sosoru
"Pure PWP" is how the author describes this, and so it is. Is it in character? is it convincing? I'm not even sure. I don't even care. It's hot.

* * *

Wasps in Spring by evil_demandred
This is not Doctor/Jack slash. evil_demandred slashes a young Jack, still a Time Agent, with the even-younger Tommy from The Idiot's Lantern, a little while after that episode takes place. Part of my pleasure in this story was in contemplating how differently I would have written it: I'd have made it a celebration of the joy of sex, lingering over Tommy's initiation to the world of sensuality, a story in which Jack would give Tommy hope for a future where, within his lifetime, gay rights will blossom and he can feel confident in his own sexual identity. Instead, evil_demandred takes another twist, a curve ball at the end that was oddly prudish and yet chillingly fitting with Jack's story.

I even considered writing my own Jack/Tommy story, but I didn't want to feel as if I was stealing story ideas from evil_demandred.

* * *

And now, the other stories...

Fifty-first Century Boys by brancher
Brancher is one of my favourite writers in any fandom. I first discovered her with her wonderful Lord of the Rings story, They Say of the Elves. Then her wonderful Smallville stories. And then I was thrilled to find her Doctor Who stories. This one is just a quick vignette, a moment in time where Jack and Rose are flirting, and talking about the Doctor, and nobody's having sex with anybody and yet it still manages to be a very sexy story. Brancher can do that.

The Beginning by brancher
More beautiful Brancher prose, and brilliant use of time travel. This story captures the sense of wonder, and joy in humanity, that I love so much about the show - but it isn't cloying, it's just the right touch, both light and deep.

Antecedents by brancher
Rose wonders why someone else's knickers are in her room in the Tardis, which leads her to question the Doctor's motivation in taking Companions on board. Light, smart, insightful. (How does Brancher do that, and why isn't it contagious?)

No, Seriously by skyglass_
Cute. Almost too cute, but just restrained enough to get away with it. Doctor/Rose.

Moments of Revelation by handful_of_sky
A Doctor Who/Firefly crossover. Brilliantly done, capturing River Tam perfectly, and fitting her into the mindset of the Doctor at a point of crisis. This is the Doctor in mutliple modes, at a place in his life we have never actually seen in the show, but which we can imagine. River doesn't like doctors (except, of course, for Simon). The doctors that she's known offered only pain, but this man is The Doctor and the distinction seems to be important to him.

A Sort of Man by Kate Andrews svilleficrecs
A story about the Regeneration. The moments when the Tenth Doctor is brand new, and contemplating what has changed, and thinking about Rose. What an interesting moment to choose to write about. Somehow Kate Andrews just manages to capture the Doctor's quirky, quicksilver mind.

Petals by Kate Andrews svilleficrecs
Another story where I enjoyed the sex, het this time. Kate Andrews tapped delightfully into a few of my kinks, including one I didn't know I have - Rose stoned. And it's witty.

She wiped her mouth and stole a piece of toast from his plate. "Were you a pervert?"

"I've had my moments.... Come to think of it, I've had my incarnations."

One comment only about the post-Doomsday stories: I like the ones that postulate that at the end of the episode, Rose is pregnant, either instead of or as well as Jackie, and she lied to the Doctor. This strikes me as dramatically interesting as well as plausible, and in character.