#cicfics

This is not mine; I am just a rabid fan.  This is the work of the genius, @cicfics.  GFFA meets the Old West, Whiskey Knot is my very favorite AU ever, any fandom, any genre.

If you haven’t read it, READ IT!!!!  If you’ve already read it, read it again (I’ve literally lost track of the numbers of times I’ve re-read this story), then read the new chapter.

In honor of Fanfic Author Appreciation Day (August 21), I thought I’d share a few fics and authors whom I’ve especially enjoyed recently and/or whose work has really stuck with me, in a good way. This is only a sampling of the many, many talented authors in our fandom and the many fics I would personally recommend from these and other authors. And if you read them, make sure to express your appreciation; even the shortest comment is like gold.

Author: @madame-alexandra (on AO3 and on FF) Don’t Miss Fics: Identity (Han/Leia, multichapter AU in which Bail Organa survives the destruction of Alderaan, rated T) and all the stories in that ‘verse; Instruction (Han/Leia, one shot, rated E) and her other lovely smut; and Interlude (Han/Leia, pre-ESB AU, rated M).

Author: @chancecraz (on AO3) Don’t Miss Fics: Of Queens, Knights, and Pawns (WIP, Han/Leia, multichapter time travel AU with TFA Leia waking up in the body of 19-year-old Death Star prisoner Leia, rated T); Shifting Sands (WIP, multichapter time travel AU with older Leia waking up on Tatooine near the home of 8-year-old Anakin Skywalker, no rating).

Author: @drinkupthesunrise aka yunmin (on AO3) Don’t Miss Fics: Any Distance Greater (Luke/Wedge, multichapter post-ROTJ fic in which Luke takes Wedge to Naboo to recover from a crash that almost killed him, rated M); With Some Help from a Friend (or Two) (Luke/Wedge, oneshot, Han and Leia help the flyboys in love get their act together, rated G); Faith and Fidelity (Wedge and Leia, post-ESB oneshot, rated M).

Author: @amilynh (on AO3 and on FF) Don’t Miss Fics: Stop-Motion (Han/Leia, multichapter post-ROTJ hurt-comfort, rated T); Peace on the Other Side of Conflict (Han/Leia, drabble/ficlet, rated T); War Orphans (Leia and Hera, oneshot, rated G).

Author: @cicfics aka cicatrick (on FF) Don’t Miss Fics: New Hope, Indiana (Han/Leia, multichapter 1950s Earth AU, rated M); Run the Jewels (Han/Leia, multichapter GFFA adventures, rated T); Whiskey Knot (WIP, Han/Leia, multichapter Old West AU, rated M).

Author: @knightedrogue (on AO3 and FF) Don’t Miss Fics: Clay and Pearl (Han/Leia, multichapter pre-ESB, rated M); Gestures (Han/Leia, multichapter post-ROTJ, rated M); Mighty Things (Han/Leia, multichapter post-ROTJ spies AU, rated M).

Author: @otterandterrier (on AO3 and FF) Don’t Miss Fics: Leather and lace (Han/Leia, oneshot delicious smut, rated E); Jooni and Doré (Han/Leia, oneshot, rated T); Anchor up to me, love (Han/Leia, oneshot, rated G).

LOL that's Dr. von Fuckingly thanks

If anyone’s still reading Whiskey Knot, here’s a bit from “Wood.” Thanks for your patience. It’s been a ride, this year.

XXXXXXXXX

Could she find it again, Leia wondered, after. If she had to. No earthly reason she would have to, but pray tell that to one's ruminations. To that seeking part of the self at work, conscious or not, on solving all hurts.

They climbed a wooded slope, Leia remembered that. Han on foot, leading Fix; her green-check skirt hiked to her knees, freeing her to ride man-style, relaxed. Han wasn't wearing his hat. Without its shielding brim, Leia was free to study him and so, as the angle steepened, she did. His left hand sat warm on her stockinged calf. His right struck boughs and branches with gentle, deliberate slaps: birch, pine, blue spruce, copper beech, a sequence to unlock some private path.

Blue cotton darkened between Han's suspenders and Leia liked that sweat. Liked his flex, his shortening breath. Liked the broad country of Han's back, how it narrowed into his homespun waistband. Liked all of him very much, in fact, in the unmaidenly fashion of her midnight imagination. Like Han was himself a path to that place she couldn't quite reach, herself.

X marks the—

Angled grove broke into plateau, a leveling so sudden it swept Leia from reverie. Shattered light turned Han from himself to silhouette. The clearing was small, walled with trees and thatched with branches. It sat on the banks of the river, lazy with summer but swollen, still, by distant snow. The water calm, shining like pink silk in the dawn.

Under a spruce Fix stopped, out of obvious habit, and looked at Han as though expecting payment. But Han was staring up at Leia. One hand still on her leg, the other shading his gold eyes. Proud and shy, as though this place was his. Like he'd built it himself, a shelter he'd hewn and sawed and fit together, not grown wild and natural along the slow, pretty river. A little house, Leia fancied, all to themselves. Today, Han was bringing her home to live.

Ah! You’re bringing me back, and honestly this is one of my favorite ideas I’ve come up with for part of a fic, ever. And it definitely started with an image, the picture in my head being super-pregnant Leia lumbering around the rebel base late at night (because that woman may be fierce but she is TINY in stature, so you know that in the later stages of pregnancy she is just all baby) and then the game sort of bringing back a bit of that spark that Han always nurtured in her, like it’s helping her remember the ferocity that is one of the reasons Han loves her, too. And the idea of her embracing that spark in that period after Bespin when things look kind of grim and she’s not really sure what the future holds just yet. And yeah, I think you’re right, I think it’s partially about keeping a bit of Han around, too. (Plus I see the card game as sort of breaking down some of the separation between her and some of the pilots – like, her time with Han has broken down some of that tendency to keep people at arm’s length, so the minute they see her in all her sabacc-playing, smartassing glory they basically sort of claim her as one of their own.)

Thank you so much!

Ah ha ha ha. A snippet:

“This is a really terrible idea,” said [REDACTED] between kisses, as Leia dragged him into her and Han’s bedroom, Han close behind.

“The worst,” agreed Leia, moaning as he moved his mouth to her neck.

(Note: I will tell you that [REDACTED] is not Luke, in case you were wondering. Sorry OT3 shippers.)