Portmanteaus strike again!

[icepixie]

I stopped reading the Dresden Files pretty early on, but I admit to sometimes seeking out Harry/Murphy fic. (Working together! Buddy!ship! Insults! Snarky flirtation! You all know I can't resist that combination.) Anyway, apparently someone has come up with "HariKari" to describe it. Ow, my head.

Er, so I think I've probably read all the fic out there, but if someone has a rec I'm all ears.

*

I spent yesterday reading The Outback Stars, feeling alternately excited and disappointed. In short: awesome universe and mysterious backstory, but too much telling rather than showing where characters and their relationships were concerned. (Jodenny and Terry interact for about ten pages and suddenly are all O HAI I LOVE U? Hmmm. Also, it's horribly against the rules for an officer and an enlisted sailor to fraternize, to the point where it ruins another character's career, and yet they get married at the end on their ship and no one really cares? Um. Though to be fair, in the sequel it looks like they're going to be in for some hard times because of it. And MacDonald seems to have a better handle on writing them as an established couple than she did as falling for each other.)

Comments

[fallingtowers]

Don't have any recs for you, I'm afraid, but I'd be grateful if you could point me to a couple of good Harry/Karrin fics.

[icepixie]

Here is the Harry/Murphy category at the main archive. It's mostly bookverse, but there's some tvverse mixed in. Of the people on here, TigerKat is uniformly excellent (and prolific). I think "A Modest Proposal" is my favorite (perhaps followed by "Narrow Squeak"), but they're all great. Some are part of her AU where they get married and have some really snarky kids. Featherjean is also very good, and Terioncalling has some decent stuff too.

Wild About Harry is more UST than anything, but cute cute cute, and also hilarious.

I think most of the stuff at FFN is also archived at the first link, but you could try doing a search for "Murphy" in that category and see if anything else comes up.

[rensong.livejournal.com]

I bought the first three Dresden books, but only managed to read the first and part of the second because oh my god, the lying drove me freaking *INSANE*. I get that Harry and co are members of the Super Secret Wizarding World and that telling anyone about it would result in that person getting dead, but rather than tell Murphy that "If I tell you they will kill you! Stop asking! Please!", he kept making up bull shit excuses or just downright lying. I don't like lying. At all. I don't even let myself tell little white lies that hurt no one - it bugs me!

Okay, so that got kind of ranty. /rant

ANYWAY, what I was getting to - awhile back I read a fic with Mouse, which in turn led me to research when he showed up because he sounds like a super cool character, and bonus he's a dog, so I decided to give the Dresden books another chance. I did, of course, completely bypass the first four books and just started with the Blood Rights, which is when Mouse shows up. And also well after the whole Super Secret Wizard Stuff had been discussed and/or discovered by Murphy, so hurrah, no more lying! Or, well, a lot less lying anyway. I still find the series itself kinda blah - it's fun and all, but it doesn't suck me like all the other occult-type series I've read have. Mouse, however, is indeed as awesome as I thought he would be, and is actually the only reason I haven't given up on the series entirely. He's just that awesome.

On the fic department, you've probably already read them, but here are the few I've run across and loved (linking to the rec entries in my journal because I'm too lazy to type up another summary):

http://rensong.livejournal.com/1224895.html - Child's Play. Not so much Harry/Murphy, but still a good read

http://rensong.livejournal.com/994112.html - New World

http://rensong.livejournal.com/1077699.html - Time Bomb. Actually a Dresden/Firefly crossover, and no ship to speak of (that I recall, at least), but I figure I'd list it anyway.

And lastly, my two faaaaaaaaaaaaavoritest Dresden fics to date
Auld Lang Syne (http://www.yuletidetreasure.org/archive/44/auldlang.html) - Christmas time story that is actually based on the TV series, but still awesome and I like the TV version of Bob better anyway

That Time Rancid Squirrels Invaded My Livingroom (http://rensong.livejournal.com/887533.html) - Again, no ship to speak of, but it had me laughing like crazy the first time I read it. Also the story I referenced in that Due South fic you betaed for me last year. ;)

This long, rambly post brought to you by Sleep Deprivation. The more tired I am, the more I babble. Sorry 'bout that

[icepixie]

I honestly don't remember a whole lot about the one book I read (the first one). I remember liking Murphy, liking her relationship with Harry, and thinking that something about the writing irritated the crap out of me. I think it's that Butcher was obviously really, really enamoured of Harry, and possibly there was a really obvious level of self-insert going on, and it pissed me off. (I liked Harry as a character, just not the shadow of the author I could feel over him, if that makes sense.) I don't actually remember there being much lying going on--I was thinking Murphy had a pretty good idea of what Harry did for a living and all the perils thereof--but I read it a while ago and don't remember much of the book, so...yeah.

Anyway, thanks for the recs! "New World" was new to me, and quite nice.

[rensong.livejournal.com]

She probably had a good inclination, but every time she asked Harry about it, he didn't even bother trying to make a believable excuse, he just flat out lied about it. That drove me nuts.

And now that you mention it, the whole Mary Sue-ishness of Butcher As Dresden is something I noticed in the last few books I read, and I also found that irritating. That might be why didn't rush to the book store to get the next book in the series (Proven Guilty was the last one I read, and it took me *forever* to finish) as I usually do with series I enjoy.

Anyway, glad I was able to give you a bit of new material!

[magsyb.livejournal.com]

It's sad when I feel like I've read all the fic that there is to read that I resort to reading bad fic.. that I KNOW is bad fic.. *headdesk*

[icepixie]

Yep. I have several pairings/fandoms I do that for. Very sad.