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

[the-gentleman.livejournal.com]

So what's the strawberry cream chocolate that nobody wants to eat except the strange kid in the corner?

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Hey.

That's one of my favourites. And obviously it's Percy/Ron.

Icarus

[the-gentleman.livejournal.com]

Ha! No, you're wrong about the Percy/Ron- that's the orange cream. And then Weasleycest!bloodplay is the strawberry cream.

And that would make intellislash the rock-hard toffees that are really hard to chew, but taste great.

[bella-the-dark.livejournal.com]

I would like to rec the following for a beginner. They are some of the first thing I read not so long ago.

Quills and Ink by Cybele www.swish-n-flick.netfirms.com/toc.htm for humor and student/teacher

Walking 'Round in Women's Underwear by Diana Williams http://diana.slashcity.com/lacy.htm humor adult/adult med kink

And your own Unexpected Guest humor threesome

These are still some of my faves.

[villeinage.livejournal.com]

And astolat's latest tOlder, Wiser, Sadder. It's pre-slash if you squint hard.

And copperbadge's Stealing Harry. It's complete, it's sweet, it's a wonderful AU, there's a kid-friendly version--what more could you ask from a story?

And [Bad username or site: Tira Nog @ livejournal.com]'s A Nick In Time.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Who did A Nick In Time? I know of the story, though I'm way behind on fandom reading.

Icarus

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Cool! Thank you. I'd forgotten that dkwilliams had done that great Snape cross-dressing fic. ;) I usually think of her which I think of The Courtship of Harry Potter and that intense after-the-war, gosh, what was the name of it? All the wizards had their magic blocked by Muggles, but Harry had been hidden by the Dursleys?

Icarus

[jackoweskla.livejournal.com]

McKay's The Way of the World (http://www.skyehawke.com/archive/story.php?no=1659). SS/RL romantic comedy. Snape playing the Sims. The lack of the Wizarding World allows this story to move in fun directions.

Also, Thing (http://www.waxjism.org/cimorene/hp/thing.html) by Cimorene and Wax Jism. I know most people either love or hate this story, but I love it with a passion. The build-up of Sirius and Remus's relationship, with the roadblock of... um... Lily (yes, I found something with het for you! Slash with het!). And the breathless trainwreck ending just blows me away.

[bluemoon02.livejournal.com]

Naturally, a little self-pimpage is in order ehre, and I couldn't kick off this delightful slash-fest without reccommending my completed Trials and Tribulations (http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=878170). PG-13-ish, Snape/Harry and Snape/Lucius.

Other than that, we can't go without introducing said newby to luciusmalfoy's stuff...Not sure if she's still got a site with Veela Inc or not....Might also try trawling Switchknife's recs...

[snitchnip-chill.livejournal.com]

I have to say that when I dragged my beta into fanfiction it was with your Beg Me For It series. :)

[bluemoon02.livejournal.com]

oooh!...I second Quills and Ink!

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

No kidding? Whoa. That's an intense beginning. *Icarus attempts to not look inordinantly pleased. Fails, due to enormous (and rather surprised) grin.*

I'd better finish SNAFU today then. 36 pages written so far, out of about 45. And I'm pretty happy with the first 22 pages, the rest is a little rough.

Icarus

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I'm always a supporter of self-pimpage. *Icarus gives a thumbs up*

Trials and Tribulations, eh?

Icarus

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Quill and Ink is outstanding, and one of my all-time favourites, right up there with Just Add Water.

Icarus

[jackoweskla.livejournal.com]

Oh, and don't be afraid to have a wide variety of stuff. I remember my first slash was Sushi's In Academia (which I would not recommend to a first time slasher. I was going through a Voldemort-phase, so someone recced it to me. Although, now that I think about it, if you're looking for some hardcore angst Snarry The Last Dance might be a good thing to look at.)

[celestialseason.livejournal.com]

tiranog wrote 'A Nick in Time'

for gen, there's 'Once Upon A Time in Egypt' by josanpq (it's with Bill and Sev), also the Sev/Kingsley fic she cowrote with kai 'A Matter of Trust' is excellent - good plot, good character/relationship development

[mooders.livejournal.com]

What about my Dobby/Mandrake slash fic? I'm working on the sequal peice too!

http://www.livejournal.com/users/mooders/42503.html

(Also has a Tom Riddle/Giant Squid slash fic... House Elf/Crookshanks slash... Professor Binns/Peeves slash... Dobby/Ernie McMillan slash... Dobby/Remus slash... Tom/Harry slash... think they might want to read any of those, or would those be too squicky?)

-Oowth

[icarusinwax.livejournal.com]

I adore Quill and Ink too- I've never read Just Add Water...or perhaps I have. Do you know who wrote it/where i could find it?

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Excellent. I'll mark those. But they're going to be on the "in addition to" list (along with Just Add Water and Josan's Ron/Snape Aftermath) because I don't want to get her hooked on pairings that don't have a lot of fics. It's sort of... unfair. But I have that list definitely, and it's headed with Draco/Neville, Lust Over Pendle.

Icarus

[icarusinwax.livejournal.com]

Drat! Why no WIPs! I personally think newbies should stay as far away from Sirius/Remus fics, because .. *shudder*

I personally think WIPs should be allowed, not only because most of the best stories i know are WIPs, but it will also incite the person to want to read more and thus get even more sucked into HP slash. Imagine the joy you felt at reading A bittersweet potion, and then knowing there was yet more to come! *grovels* still no?

so much for my persuasive skills. If i had nicer thighs i'd post some scandalous pictures to convince you that my way is the best way.

( if this has worked then Maja's Underwater Light, since you mentioned Procul His already) :D

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

The Last Dance is brutal. I'd rec Civil War first.

You're right. I'm just heard from snitchnip_chill that her beta started with Beg Me For It, which I wouldn't rec for a first-timer.

So it's less about making sure you have stories that'll go down easy, and more about stories that'll hook you in.

Icarus

[thalia]

that intense after-the-war, gosh, what was the name of it? All the wizards had their magic blocked by Muggles, but Harry had been hidden by the Dursleys?

That sounds like "Clipped Wings," by Theresa Anne Wymer, I hope I spelled that right. Did Diana do something similar?

[wishwords.livejournal.com]

For Harry/Lucius I recommend Discretion Required (http://www.geocities.com/ruhgozler/dr.html) (yeah, yeah self pimpage) for an adult consensual read. Also "A World Not So Black Nor White" by amanuensis1 at Inkstain and Restricted Section for crossgen.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

*snerk* That I would say definitely goes in the "other" category.

Icarus

[snitchnip-chill.livejournal.com]

Finish SNAFU?

*dies*

:)