Must Read! NCIS!
I’ve been reading an embarrassing amount of NCIS fic lately — keep in mind, 90 percent of it is appalling. Like, I’m not joking guys, really appalling, the type of stories where Gibbs gives Tony a collar which inspires him to cry and weep in gratitude at his Master or also the ever-popular Tony gets gaybashed and Gibbs tears everybody a new asshole after he attack’s Tony’s. And I like that shit. It’s like everybody has the right ideas and does like eight kilos of coke before attempting execution.
And then you stumble across a writer like Sequitur on — wait for it — ff.net. She/He writes astonishingly good NCIS genfic, with a strong, strong undercurrent of smart and awesome, and her balance of the relationship between Gibbs and his team and Tony and his team and Gibbs and Tony especially, are knock-you-over awesome.
• Rictus — Even if you’ve never read NCIS fic before, or know nothing about the show, I’d recommend you give at least Rictus a try — it’s gritty and doesn’t pull any punches, and it’s the story of how Baltimore PD Detective Anthony DiNozzo ended up meeting and working with Gibbs. It’s a work in progress, but with fourteen extremely meaty chapters that have already telegraphed the ending. I can’t say enough wonderful things about this story, about how it made me cry and laugh and ache for Tony, and how Gibbs’ reluctant concern for him shines through with admirable subtlety. It’s hard to write these two, to get the voices down, and it’s even harder to write crime stories, a real mystery, and to do it justice while addressing all the emotions involved. I couldn’t put it down. I know at least one of you mentioned a passing familiarity with the X-Files fandom, and if you were ever knee-deep in the casefile stories of yore, you’ll probably remember things like The Abyss Looks Back — this? Kick’s Abyss’ ass. I’m naming this the official best NCIS fic I have read to date, bar none, regardless of pairing.
• Ten Nonlinear Moves — This is a story about how Tony and his team manage after Gibbs leaves them in the third season finale, Hiatus (pt 1 and 2). Written in scenes and snapshots with just brilliant images and wonderfully vivid details, it’s the kind of story that describes the way memory comes in fits and spurts. Funny and sweet with an underlying thread of longing to it — and this story is just so fundamentally Tony: so much caring and worry and brains wrapped up in jokes about flowcharts and mass invites to go see Snakes on a Plane. Not to be missed.
All right folks, happy reading!
I feel a cry of anguish coming on. Because you’ve pulled me into At Least three fandoms of which I had no previous knowledge and have still never seen canon material and I feel it happening again. Sigh. Deep sigh of anguish. Off to read. On the flip side- good writers, yay!
Oh sure. Turn me onto Rictus when I should be sleeping. *goes off to read just one more chapter*
Shari, bethcaielle, you can totally come sit next to me. I feel like John in Hindsight, all “What a bastard, I could do better! I was heterosexual before I met him!” except it’s “I was reading actual books and leaving the house before she shimmied into my life with her SGA and her NCIS prettyboy porn!”
It’s all very irritating. And by irritating, I mean fabtastic.
Re: leupagus
The SGA fic was bad enough, the wonderfulness of her John/Rodney that was more addictive than heroin, but now she’s not only writing (gah!) but reccing NCIS fic. *pretending she’s not reading fic at work*
Hi, you don’t know me, but I discovered your SGA fic about a year ago and have been hooked ever since.
I wanted to delurk for a minute and comment on what you are saying here. I have been a huge fan of NCIS ever since it came on air, but I have never been able to get into the fandom for the exact reason you have mentioned here, the fiction I’ve run across is terrible.
So, I want to thank you for the recs. I completely trust your opinion and will be reading when I can. :)
God. Pimp the NCIS fic as much as you like. WRITE the NCIS fic as much as you like.
Ha, it’s me, the X-Files fan! *g*
hmmm, I’d probably give Rictus a try if it wasn’t hosted on FF. I *hate* that site, hate the format and everything. Whenever I try to read a fic there, my skin *crawls* and I have to leave. I know that’s totally irrational, but I can’t help myself. *sighs* Anyway, she (he?)…Sequitur has a journal and there’s at least a Rictus snapshot there, a fic that wasn’t posted on FF.net. Thought you might want to know that.
Side note: OMG you made me want to read TXF fics again. Guh, I thought I was over it! *eyes you*
You might have already read this but if not I highly recommend it. NCIS/SG-1 crossover. Awesome NCIS team fic, great characterizations and the bit of Tony/Daniel is really sweet and leads to some realizations for Tony.
Stardust by Kikkimax
http://www.fanfic.otherplaces.net/stardust.htm
Great recs, thanks.
hey, thanks for the recs. I had read 10 linear moves, but the others were new to me. I too have read an appalling amount of really really bad ncis fic. really bad.
*snerk* feel my pain. I’ve been in NCIS fandom since the beginning, and the amount of good writers to crap is abysmal. There’s a bare handful of people worth reading on a consistent basis, and most of them have drifted away to other fandoms at this point. It’s very, very sad.
I’v read insane amounts of NCIS fanfic and yes, sad but true, the number of badly written, unbeated and “this is post Twilight but Kate didn’t die / TATE of course” fanfic is overwhelming. (No offense to Kate or Tate fans, but some balance would be nice.)
Thank god for Sequitur and about 15 other authors who keep me happy on ff.net.
I missed this post when you made it because of acute internetlessness, but I know what you mean by the “quality” of NCIS fic. Esepcially the creepy creepy bdsm fic. So, thanks for the recs, I’ll check them out right now.
Since i’ve been suffering this fandom for quite a while now, I’ve collected the few good stories I’ve read at my recs lj, here:
http://oceanas-recs.livejournal.com/tag/ncis+recs
Emphasis is on Gibbs&DiNozzo and the quality is, well, it’s not as high as in other fandoms, but I tried my best with the materials I was given.
Sequitur has some additions to the Rictus verse, including the start of the sequel on LJ:
Pete-Tony friendship fics:
http://sequitur-fic.livejournal.com/tag/rictus+extra
Rictus sequel - The Third Day
http://sequitur-fic.livejournal.com/tag/the+third+day
And there’s some others there as well…