quick recs for the masses

peeps should be reading these stories because they are so, so good:

Three Parties by nam_jai:
from the thinking_hand ficfest, which didn't quite get off the ground but is such an awesome idea that it should be resurrected. as the summary says, "Before a mad scientist goes mad, there's probably a time when he's only partially mad. And this is the time when he's going to throw his best parties." funny and rather heart-breaking. also: alt!sarah jane hurrah!

"Don't mind him -- he fancies himself a great observer of human nature," Rose said.

"I am a great observer of human nature. Spent a lot of time around humans. I am human. And you don't spend years working as a temp without learning something about people. You just have to be observant." He seemed to consider this, then added, "Well, you learn to be observant after your fiancé tries to feed you to a giant spider. You remember to pay attention then."

"I can imagine," Sarah said.


Fake Palindrome by nonelvis:
you might think i am biased because i betaed this but actually i am biased because it is AWESOME. guys it is handy/alt!ace. HANDY/ACE. it's a bit perfect.

She's so like his Ace, and yet so different. Same hair pulled back in a ponytail, same self-confident flippancy, same button nose he yearns to press, though this Ace would probably break his finger if he tried that. She won't tell him how she acquired the crosshatched scars on her left hand, but Rose told him rumour has it Ace survived a trip into a cyberconversion booth thanks to malfunctioning earpods and a length of iron piping.

Whenever he sees her, he recalls a past that was his, yet wasn't, and was never hers. Nostalgia aches where a second heart once beat. He can, and does, share stories with Rose, but Rose knows what it's like to travel with him; Ace doesn't, and never will.


Let's Forget We're Running (Out of Time) by zoicite:
the summary says, "A gay man who lies about his name and his job asks her out in Trafalgar Square and she says yes. Yes. It sounds like the start of a joke and here she is waiting for the punch line." donnafic, guys, and it's lovely, sad and hopeful all around.

They start getting together whenever he’s ‘in town’. She wonders if ‘in town’ isn’t just some sort of code that means when he’s not busy stalking someone else. There’s always something he wants to do; coffee, a play, a concert event. His suggestions always bring them to very public locations and she wonders if it’s on purpose, if he’s trying to ease her apprehensions about their first meeting. It’s a strange friendship. She can’t believe half of what he says, never knows when he’ll turn up, and she can’t contact him, yet she’s always happy to see him when he appears. And somehow he still always knows where to find her.

“Because he’s a stalker,” Veena says. “That’s what stalker’s do. That’s why when you have a stalker you call the police.”

“He’s harmless,” Donna insists. Most of the time she’s still sure that’s true.