One more post before I go to bed

[conuly]

I find myself in need of things-to-read recs.

I cannot pay money for anything so they either need to be free on the internet or else available as ebooks from the NYPL or the Brooklyn Public Library.

Fanfics also okay. Looking at another long day tomorrow, and I can never have enough things to read.

Comments

Try this ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

My serial poetry page:
http://penultimateproductions.weebly.com/serial-poetry.html

My shared worlds:
http://penultimateproductions.weebly.com/shared-worlds.html


"Scents and Sensibility: The Working Assassin's Guide to Supersoldier Seduction" by galwednesday, silentwalrus, skellerbvvt
Steve/Bucky Alpha/Beta/Omega fanfic in which they circle around each other briefly and then get high as a kite on each other's phermones. Adorkable hilarity ensues.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/14772824

"Raptors in the Rainforest" series
Owen Grady discovers that the velociraptors are sapient, and he helps them escape from captivity.
https://archiveofourown.org/series/371546

"a sequence that you never learned" by annataylor
Jim Kirk and Spock adopt a Vulcan boy, Sorek.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/1077361

[alexseanchai]

not an immediately useful rec unless you're cool with audiobook, as Brooklyn Overdrive says the first volume is waitlisted in ebook and NYPL Overdrive doesn't have either published-so-far volume at all, but M. A. Carrick's Rook and Rose trilogy? I am in love with the worldbuilding. a prequel short story if you want to get the flavor of it before checking out the novels.

[cimorene]

I'm afraid I don't know you well enough to make specific recs based on the stuff you like, but I often go back to reread things from my own bookmarks. Too bad that the bookmark filtration doesn't work better though; there's a lot more than 10 fandoms, but you have to type the names in to filter by the less common ones.

In the last few years I've been making an effort to read the lesser-known (today) writers of golden age between-wars murder mysteries, and I made some posts recommending two series that are now in the public domain and readable at Project Gutenberg Australia: On R Austin Freeman's Dr John Evelyn Thorndyke mysteries and Rosika Storey: a clever and stylish learnéd lady psychologist sleuth from 1920s NYC.

[elainegrey]

User Sonia has some lovely speculative fiction short stories recommended in her dw journal with the tag "story!" iirc.

[nancylebov]

I'm not sure of your taste, but I was very impressed by _Amends, Or Truth and Reconciliation_.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5537755/1/Amends-or-Truth-and-Reconciliation

It's Hermione's first year after canon ends, and I think it's the best portrayal I've read of a very intelligent person. It also has one of the finest "Oh, shit" moments in fiction.

And it's got notes about the other fanfic whose ideas were included.

Unfortunately, it will almost certainly never be finished, but it's still worth reading.

The Worm Ouroboros, the whole thing, complete at the site, and much else as well.

https://www.sacred-texts.com/ring/two/index.htm

The language is rich, it's a superiority fantasy and does not meet modern standards for inclusion. The politics are fun. I'm not sure what to say, but I'm very fond of it. The magic and the monsters are very fine, and so are the clothing and the interior decoration. Early example of the kickass princess, but not fully developed.

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/61128/61128-h/61128-h.htm

"The Seven-Day Terror" by R. A. Lafferty

A little girl (one of those scary Lafferty children) can make things disappear for a week. This is a funny story.

If you want more Lafferty for free, there's plenty at archive.org-- back issues of If and Galaxy.

[nancylebov]

I'm not sure of your taste, but I was very impressed by _Amends, Or Truth and Reconciliation_.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5537755/1/Amends-or-Truth-and-Reconciliation

It's Hermione's first year after canon ends, and I think it's the best portrayal I've read of a very intelligent person. It also has one of the finest "Oh, shit" moments in fiction.

It's novel-length, possibly long novel-length.

And it's got notes about the other fanfic whose ideas were included.

Unfortunately, it will almost certainly never be finished, but it's still worth reading.

The Worm Ouroboros, the whole thing, complete at the site, and much else as well.

https://www.sacred-texts.com/ring/two/index.htm

The language is rich, it's a superiority fantasy and does not meet modern standards for inclusion. The politics are fun. I'm not sure what to say, but I'm very fond of it. The magic and the monsters are very fine, and so are the clothing and the interior decoration. Early example of the kickass princess, but not fully developed.

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/61128/61128-h/61128-h.htm

"The Seven-Day Terror" by R. A. Lafferty

A little girl (one of those scary Lafferty children) can make things disappear for a week. This is a funny story.

If you want more Lafferty for free, there's plenty at archive.org-- back issues of If and Galaxy.

[redbird]

Some of what I've been enjoying in the last year or so, which might be available as ebooks from one of those libraries:

* Louise Penny's series of mystery novels starring Inspector Gamache of the Quebec Surete: there are some plot threads between books, but I read the 14th, I think it was (All the Devils Are Here) first, and then went back to the beginning of the series. (Content warning: the most recent, The Madness of Crowds, is partly the author grappling with the pandemic, very well but in ways that might be stressful (in part because of some differences in how things played out in 2021 and 2922).

* Celia Lake's romance novels set in a slightly alternate UK, with magic (with a more plausible approach to how a magical community might exist in a mostly non-magical world than Harry Potter). Some of those are available as ebooks from the Boston Public Library, but it may be relevant that the author lives in the Boston area).

* I've been rereading Patricia Wrede's Enchanted Forest books

* Terry Pratchett's The Wee Free Men and A Hat Full of Sky (the first two Tiffany Aching novels)

[ironymaiden]

If you like the Star Wars, check out The Desert Storm: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1311746

I love this thing in spite of my dislike of time travel fix-it. It's actively updated and a joy to read.

[adrian_turtle]

I was also impressed with "Amends," though it's not to everyone's taste, and the fact that it's unfinished is a deal-breaker for a lot of readers. If you're up for fanfiction that takes post-war PTSD with due seriousness (not everyone is. Nowhere near everyone is) you might also appreciate Demonology and the Tri-Phasic Model of Trauma: and Integrative Approach.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/20177950/chapters/47807593

And if you haven't read Lust Over Pendle, by AJ Hall (of blessed memory), you really should. Queer representation is oddly dated, but not offensive. I can't find it on AO3 anymore, so here it is.
https://www.fictionalley-archive.org/authors/a_j_hall/LOP.html

Lust Over Pendle and Cold Comfort Farm are making fun of the same genre of book, only CCF is doing it from much closer range (and without magic, and with more expectation that everyone in the audience has read lots of the genre.) It's VERY funny.

[readerjane]

If you like Connie Willis' time-travel series, "The Season of Grace" by Dira Sudis
https://archiveofourown.org/works/32102

Whether or not you've already Megan Whalen Turner's Queen's Thief series, "A Temporary Inability To Go Either Up or Down", by LightGetsIn. This is the fic that got me started reading the canon.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/140983

Good Omens fic, centered around therapist Aubrey Thyme: "Demonology and the Tri-Phasic Model of Trauma: An Integrative Approach", by Nnm
https://archiveofourown.org/works/20177950

If you like Lois Bujold's Vorkosigan stories and can tolerate crossovers, "Barrayarans and Time Travelers", also by Dira Sudis
https://archiveofourown.org/series/10935

Firefly fic, also a crossover, "The Man With No Name", by Frostfyre7
https://archiveofourown.org/works/4948216

Beowulf fic, "Gamol-Léac" by Castiron
https://archiveofourown.org/works/143758

[bitterlawngnome]

My fave source of free reads is the Internet Arrchive
https://archive.org

Usually I'm searching for design/art stuff but TIL that you can search on "fanfic" and there it is.

[brokenallbroken]

If you like Desert Storm, try Don't Look Back. Leia instead of Ben, but just as well written, with just as thorough politics and interpersonal stuff. Also currently updating.

[fred_mouse]

Somewhat out of left field possibility - Gutenberg Australia has Australia's Greatest Books (https://gutenberg.net.au/austgreatest.html), some of which have linked ebooks. Sadly, the kids books of my childhood do not have links, but if you can find anything of Patricia Wrightson's, then worth having a look (ah, I cannot promise that the suck fairy has not visited).

If you are interested in historical writings, there are a lot of exploration diaries and writings for Aust. at https://gutenberg.net.au/pgaus.html

[adrian_turtle]

I had thought "Gamol-Leac" was a work of singular magnificence. I had not seen the sequels. Part 3 is splendid.

[readerjane]

Oh my goodness, I hadn’t realized there were sequels! Thank you! *runs very fast *

[ancarett]

I assume you've read the Murderbot series starting with "All Systems Red". I see the ebooks at NYPL. My comfort re-read in pandemic times.

Re: Try this ...

[applenym]

I love the "Scents and Sensibility" story. One of my favorites.

[duskpeterson]

Speaking of all things Australian, I stumbled across Joan Phipson recently. My favorite so far is The Family Conspiracy.

(I'd love to hear about more Australian kids' books. They never made it into my public library when I was growing up. All I've read so far is Wrightson.)

[fred_mouse]

I will attempt to remember to make a post at some point. But going to have to filter out quite a lot of non-Australians (was the NZ author Margaret Mahy?)

[duskpeterson]

She was indeed. :)