The Harry Potter Starter Kit

[icarus]

What would you recommend for the dewy-eyed, fresh slash reader, who has just stepped off the train into this wonderous world of Harry Potter slash? (Gen of course is acceptable, too. Het... do we even read het? *Icarus looks puzzled at the mere idea.*)

This hypothetical (actual) reader has no idea what they like or what they want. They've read all the books, and love them. They enjoy slash.

Naturally we would want to start them off with the best available, but gently. (amanuensis1's And Just Plain Wrong is probably not the first item on the list.)

Criteria:

- They would need to be completed fics. We can introduce them to the frustration and joys of the WiP later.

- We need a "sampler" cross-section of various pairings.
Student/Student mixes (Harry/Draco, Harry/Ron, Ron/Draco, Percy/Harry etc.), Student/Adult mixes (Harry/Snape, Harry/Lucius, Percy/Lucius etc.), Adult/Adult mixes (Snape/Lucius, Sirius/Remus, Sirius/Snape etc.) This like a box of chocolates, with many varieties. :D

- We need a mix from PG-13 to NC-17 PWP.

- We need to start with stories that have good solid plots.

- We want humour to start, then angst, then a PWP, etc.

- One-shots and epics welcome.

- Rare pairings are welcome, but since this is an intro, it's probably best to have more than one story in that pairing.

- We're looking for specific recs rather than rec-lists.

- We'll probably avoid the major squicks in the beginning: Incest, Non-Con, Chan, MPreg, Heavy Kink.

What would you recommend?

I'll consolidate this down to a, oh, top 20 or something later in the week, or at least put it in some semblance of an order.



In no particular order (yet) and still missing those fics that I haven't read or don't know the author, since I'll have to read those first to rec them to my friend-of-friend. Bear in mind that I threw away the "must be tame" requirement, and the "stick to popular pairings" requirement as well.

The Lodger - mad_martha, Harry/Draco
Art of War - kennahijja, Gen, Ron, Draco
The Lecture - Grindylowe, Gen, Snape
Call Of The Wild - WolfieTwins, Gen, Remus
A Bittersweet Poison - alchemia and Bugland, Harry/Snape
The Tea Series - Telanu, Harry/Snape
Sytherin Sky - kay_taylor, Snape/Lucius
In A Dream - Nope, Snape/Draco
Transfigurations - resonant8, Harry/Draco
The Familiar - resonant8, Harry/Snape
Circles of Power - mad_martha, Harry/Ron
Irresistible Poison - Rysenn, Harry/Draco
Slowly But Exceeding Fine - ellen_fremedon, Snape/Sirius
Stone Cold Sober - fabularasa, Sirus/Snape
Aftermath - josanpq, Snape/Ron
Civil War - wikdsushi, Harry/Snape
Consequences Of A Weary Mind - wikdsushi, Harry/Snape
Hallelujah series - dien, Snape/Dumbledore
Walking 'Round In Women's Underwear - dkwilliams
Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover - mad_maudlin, Ron/Draco
Beg Me For It - Icarus (cringes - two people included it - cringes some more), Ron/Draco
Minor Arcana - cursive, Harry/Draco, Remus/Draco, Harry/Snape...
Stealing Harry - copperbadge
Lust Over Pendle - ajhalluk, Draco/Neville
Double Or Nothing - ukcalico, Fred/George
The Badger Series - mistful, Draco/Zacharias
Door To the River - miraminx, Sirius/Remus
Discretion Required - ruhgozler, Harry/Lucius
The Way Of The World - scribbulus_ink, Snape/Lupin
A Nick In Time - tiranog
Just Add Water - cybelesan, Harry/Bill
Quill And Ink - cybelesan, Harry/Snape

Later in the list:
If You Are Prepared - cybelesan, Harry/Snape
A World Not So Black And White - amanuensis1

Het Fics.
Apparently The Draco Trilogy is more het than gen. Who knew? So...

The Draco Trilogy - epicyclical
Flame And Shadow - mistful, Ron/Pansy
Roman Holiday - Anna, Hermione/Draco, Hermione/Snape



ETA: I'll kick this off with Mad Martha's The Lodger Harry/Draco, which has an excellent plot, many funny moments, and a "canon" feel.

Then, A Bittersweet Poison, Harry/Snape, which has the most accurate rendering of Harry as a cat and a very convincing Snape.

I'll bend the rules (since part is complete) and recommend Telanu's Tea Series, too. It builds beautifully from being being fairly innocent to extremely steamy. I'll toss in the Coffee Series for good measure, because it's funnier than heck.

Let's see... next... mad_maudlin. Ron/Draco. Hmm... cross-dressing is kind of a mild kink, but Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover stands on the line between ruthless and fun. I'll probably put it further down the list though.

ETA2: Of course, everyone has to read epicyclical's Draco Trilogy (apologies to those who hate it, it is a must ;), and my personal favourite After The Flood.

In the Gen category, Call of the Wild by the Wolfie Twins.

Does anyone know any good Lucius slash?

ETA3: Okay, I've completely given up the ghost on keeping it tame. Some very valid points have been made about what has actually drawn people in to fandom. Most people have been drawn in by "heavy" fics.

So does anyone know any good GredNForge fics? Slash and Gen? I have Calico's incredibly hot Double Or Nothing. Anything else out there?

Comments

[goseaward.livejournal.com]

First, that's A Bittersweet Potion, not A Bittersweet Poison!

One of the first non-angst slashfics I read was Aidan Lynch's Playing With Fire (http://www.astronomytower.org/authorLinks/Aidan_Lynch/). Harry/Ron, cotton candy sweet, and too overwritten, but you know how when you're getting into fanfic and absolutely everything seems good? (I'll use that explanation for the LotR Mary Sues...*cough*) Anyway, it's a good start.

I think you ought to have Primer to the Dark Arts on there too, or Beg Me For It, or both. They're pretty popular...as I'm sure you've noticed. *g*

And what about Telanu's Tea Series? If newbies are going to be in the Harry/Snape section of fandom...well...everybody's read it. I don't know if it qualifies as a WiP since the series isn't finished but the individual stories are.

For PWPs, Seeker's Unexpected Series (which is over at WtP : http://subumbra.com/plank/ - they have a disclaimer so that's just the main page) is great Snape/Harry also.

Predatrix's Sans Merci (http://predatrix.slashcity.org/fiction/sansmerci.htm , Snape/Lucius) is a good angst piece. For humor, I love her Love Song of Bastard and Idiot (also at WtP) beyond any fic I've ever read.

And how about Sushi's The Last Dance? (http://societyhappens.com/sushi/) There's angst for you...

More Snape/Harry: Cluegirl's Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent (http://www.onondata.net/mortal1.htm) is one of my favorite fics, but I do have a penchant for perception-altering fics and deathfics.

I don't know if you have it up there because I can't remember the title, but Amanuensis wrote a sweet het fic to go along with DT that can be found on The Restricted Section. Uh...think it's called Because Of Who You Are, Harry/Hermione.

I'm going to stop before I find more fics to put on my reread list....:D

Playing With Fire... oh, it's been a long time since I read that...

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

First, that's A Bittersweet Potion, not A Bittersweet Poison!

Augh! I've been writing it wrong all night.

Under the cut-tag I have the Tea Series for sure.

Predatrix Sans Merci sounds good. And I don't have enough Snape/Lucius. Nope, appalling as it is, I haven't read it.

Seeker is the ultimate PWP writer, isn't she? :D

I think you ought to have Primer to the Dark Arts on there too, or Beg Me For It, or both. They're pretty popular...as I'm sure you've noticed. *g*

I've made a littel rule for myself, since this is going out to my friendslist, who read my stories, and my stuff's likely to come up: if it's mentioned once, it doesn't go on the list. Twice, it does.

So Beg Me For It was already on the list, and now Primer to the Dark Arts is. But I think Primer's going to get bumped anyway when I cull the list, because we've already got a lot of Harry/Snape, and the Tea Series embodies the pairing more than Primer does. So many good Harry/Snape stories are gonna have to be cut to make a list manageable size.

Icarus