Fanfic: recommended sites
These links contain only what I regard as the absolute best of Lord of the Rings fanfiction out there. I'd be delighted for more suggestions for what I might add to this section, though please don't be offended if I don't include everything. :D
Henneth Annun: Window on the West
Fanfic: recommended story of the week (last updated 27th November 2003)
Previous weeks' recommendations:
Once More With Lord of the Rings In
Ancient History (and others)
Nocturne
Blood and Warm Blankets
The Care and Feeding of Hobbits
A World as Clear as Water
From the Other Riverbank
12/PG-13. "To live can be the hardest thing of all." Much angst and some slash-references; also spoilers for RotK, for those who don't want them! This is a very moving, extended drabble. The plot and details are book-based, the characterisation is influenced by the movie but doesn't neglect the book either.
12a/PG-13, for slashy innuendo. Ixwin's now infamous BtVS/LotR crossover. Much-imitated but never bettered, she brings Rings-themed words to the songs from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 6 episode "Once More, With Feeling". Deliciously witty, frequently hilarious, moving at times. One of the classiest things out there.
U/G. "Ancient History" is the first in a series of beautiful stories by Snowballjane, mostly taking place in the Shire a while after Frodo has departed over the Sundering Seas. As the series itself is so beautiful, I've just linked to Snowballjane's page on Henneth Annun. Start with "Ancient History" at the bottom of the page, and work your way up! The series is very much book-based, though with a few physical features taken from the films, and it features Merry and Pippin, Faramir Took and Goldilocks Gamgee, Glorfindel and Elrond, among others. A great deal of humour, some understated angst, a little bit of action and a portrayal of Celeborn that finally made me like the guy. :) Beautifully thought-out, frequently moving, utterly delightful, and very well-written.
18/NC-17. Classic hobbit-slash by Lobelia Sackville-Baggins, and beautifully done. As with much of Lobelia's writing, the plots tend to the canonical. Physically the characters are all Peter Jackson's rather than Tolkien's, but in terms of the subtler characterisation they find a happy spot somewhere between the two. Frodo/Sam, Merry/Pippin.
12/PG-13. A gorgeous little humour piece. Trapped in a cave by the rain, Éomer and Faramir realise they are cornered by every cliché in the slash manual...
U/G. "Ruminations on the little people by Boromir, man of Gondor". This little series by Baylor has won several awards, and rightly so - it's great fun, rather cute and frequently touching. Largely movie-verse in mood, but with much book-based detail especially with regard to the characterisation of Merry.
18/NC-17. A beautifully-written, very well-characterised, intensely dark hobbit-related story by Andraste. Contains slash and much psychological nastiness. Frodo has lost the Ring to one of his closest friends...
18/NC-17. I'd normally be thoroughly repelled by the slash pairing that Dwimordene explores here. But "explores" is the right word - and the exploration is both thorough and compassionate. This is an elegant, wise, gut-wrenchingly moving story of problematic love. The characterisation is superb (book-based, which always pleases me!), and its portrayal of the politics of pre-quest Minas Tirith is well-researched and surprisingly exciting.
Back to the Forest of Doors