autodach

Challenge #13

Make a rec list! Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.


I have three recs for fanfic I’ve read recently! Here we go:


The Bargeman of Dixing (being a variant account of Shen Wei at the Pillar of Heaven and what happened thereafter) by Martha
Fandom: Zhen Hun / Guardian (drama)

Ao3 Summary: Shen Wei does eventually get down from that pillar, and everything takes a hard left straight out of canon.

WIP. As the name and summary suggest, it diverges when Shen Wei is chained to the pillar.
This has been so much fun to follow along. When I get an email that Bargeman updated, I drop everything and read immediately.
It has lots of organic worldbuilding for Dixing and YOHE, a delightfully broken Ye Zun, and Weilan deserve each other in all the best ways.


The Bachelor by blue_grama
Fandom: KinnPorsche: The Series

Ao3 Summary: It’s Pete who explains, the next morning over breakfast, because of course the news has spread all over the compound. “Haven’t you ever watched a mob movie?” he asks Porsche, gesticulating with a spoon. “They have all the money they could ever need, but they can never get respectability. The old-money types look down on them. The new-money types take their bribes, but they don’t let them into the inner circle. This is public relations.”

“A kinder, gentler mob?” Porsche laughs. “Come on.”

“They’ll use it to look nonthreatening, highlight the legitimate businesses, that sort of thing,” Pete says. He lowers his voice. “Everyone knows the Theerapanyakuls are dirty, but if they’re on television, how dirty can they be, right? And… I don’t know, but Khun Korn is strange about Khun Kinn’s love life. Maybe he’s trying to keep him in line somehow.”

This fic features the characters participating in a reality show, but it’s not actually an AU – these are the actual mafia-member characters who simply decided appearing in trash TV is a good idea. It’s exactly as good an idea as you might be thinking :P
It’s funny and goofy and dramatic – just as it should be!


More than Expected by JhanaMay
Fandom: Under the Skin

Ao3 Summary: He’s not complaining. Really, he’s not. Sex with Du Cheng is amazing. It’s a connection to another person Shen Yi never knew was possible. He’s had plenty of sex in his life, but it’s never been like this. It’s never been with someone who Shen Yi is self-aware enough to know he’s fallen for. The idea is both exhilarating and terrifying.

And so, here he is, standing outside his boyfriend’s apartment with a bag of sex toys, hoping he can talk Du Cheng into using them. Into not treating him as if he’s made of glass. Yes, sex with Du Cheng is fantastic, but sometimes, Shen Yi wants to be fucked so hard he feels it the next day. Is that too much to ask?

A down-to-earth/slice-of-life mild BDSM oneshot. This fic is not only piping hot, it also captures the experience of convincing your partner to break the routine of vanilla sex really well.

Challenge #9

Rec Us Your Newest Thing. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I want to recommend the Korean drama Beyond Evil. It is indeed very new because I haven't finished watching it yet. It took me a few episodes to get into it but now I'm hooked.

I am pasting the synopsis under a cut:

Synopsis

Meet the two fearless men willing to go to extreme lengths in their pursuit of a serial killer that has shaken up their quiet city: Lee Dong Sik, a once capable detective, is now demoted to perform menial tasks at the Manyang Police Substation. Just as he is beginning to settle into a peaceful life, his new superior, Detective Han Joo Won, is transferred in. Joo Won is an elite detective whose father is the star candidate for the National Police Agency’s next chief. Despite his admirable qualities and high social standing, Joo Won harbors a long-held secret.

When a string of gruesome killings occurs, a pattern takes shape that is oddly reminiscent of some cold serial-murder cases from 20 years prior. Dong Sik and Joo Won team up, vowing to stop this vicious culprit in his tracks. As their investigation proceeds, they are forced to look far deeper than what the evidence suggests, questioning the culpability of all those surrounding the case, including their own.

The actors are doing an excellent job portraying these absolutely unhinged characters. They are the heart of the show.
(And Lieutenant Han is rather good-looking :D)

Anything I could say about the actual murder case would be a spoiler, so I will hold back deliberately. I will only note that the structure of the story is different than you might expect at first. The intelligence of the audience is respected, not everything needs to be explained five times - something I appreciate. I'm definitely excited to see where it's all going!

Challenge #6

In your own space, share a favourite piece of original canon (a show, a specific TV episode, a storyline, a book or series, a scene from a movie, etc) and explain why you love it so much. . Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.


I want to talk about The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System by MXTX, and more specifically about the main character Shen Qingqiu’s personal arc.

I believe that many a good comedy has a genuine story as its outline and adds the humour during the execution. SVSSS is such a comedy: It's ridiculous, it's hilarious, all sorts of wacky things happen - but the bones underneath are sincere.
The theme I see in this novel and want to focus on is a person's place in the world and their capacity to make a difference.

Shen Yuan is introduced to us as a person who doesn't accomplish much. He spends his time lazing about, criticizing others while producing nothing much himself (if you are familiar with Anton Ego’s speech in Ratatouille, it applies here quite well). He contributes nothing to society.

Then after his death and transmigration he gets thrown into someone else's life in a world that isn't his, and he treats it as such: He is an outsider who has no influence. And he's not wrong!
At least at first. Over time, he has increasing opportunity to both change his own fate as well as meddle in others'.
But he doesn't realize this. Shen Qingqiu is so caught up in the idea that he is part of a pre-written story that can and will not change in any fundamental way that he fails to see all the ways he has already changed the world, the impact he had and has on the people around him.

And that impact is mostly positive: His disciples have grown into competent, self-sufficient adults. Liu Qingge is alive because of him. So is Zhuzhi-lang. Luo Binghe fell in love with him.

There are things he cannot change, most importantly being forced to push Luo Binghe into the Abyss. But there are still many things he can do. And a million acts of kindness over years add up to more than one act of cruelty: Luo Binghe still loves him, and forgives him.

It takes Shen Qingqiu the whole novel to understand this. Realizing the impact he has on the people in his life is a major arc of his character and, to me, a major theme of the story.

It's a theme that suits well a transmigration story such as SVSSS and I love to find this sincerity in a goofy comedy.

Challenge #3:

Create a wish list of fandom things (podfic, graphics, playlists, canon recs translations, research help, vids, sky's the limit!) that you'd like to receive. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.


Last year I read Priest’s masterpiece novel Mo Du/Silent Reading, and I haven’t truly let go since. What a story! And Fei Du, what a character!
There are currently over 800 works on ao3, but we could always use more! So I am making Mo Du fanfic my one and only wish❤