Compiled by the Espresso Addict

Espresso Recommendations

Innovative and stylish fanfiction, showcasing the very best across multiple sf, fantasy & literature fandoms. Good writing in all its forms can be found here, including gen, het, slash, OCs, AUs, crossovers, future fics, humour & pastiche

Contents: 1010 recs in 235 fandoms; 65 links

The Tempest

After She Wakes by Fresne

'...It wasn't that she wasn't allowed to run. It was that she couldn't. The weight of her clothes were too heavy.' A little different from the run of Tempest stories, 'After She Wakes' focuses on a Miranda trying to make the best of her happily ever after. It's a bit of an issuefic but I adore Fresne's solution to Milan's rigid gender roles

[Added 11/08/2015; Character Piece; 1000-2500; The Tempest]

And His Innocent Child by Fadeaccompli

'...Ariel sees Miranda as a double-image: infant and adult, and all the stages of childhood between. Her father is a single fixed point. There is no change to Prospero, whatever he says, that reaches to his core; he is a man of magic and books, even when the books are gone.' Unusual portrait of Ariel that catches its nature, alien & out of time

[Added 15/10/2015; Character Piece; 1000-2500; The Tempest]

Anemophilia by Anonymous

'They had a half-starved bull on one of the crafts and they led it out and it watched with its chin in its palm as the poor bony thing stumbled in the sand. It huffed and snorted and yes, led them up the beach, onto the plain, where there was the stream, cool and free from brine.' A fascinating, original take on Ariel's history through the ages. In need of a thorough edit but worth a try nonetheless

[Added 04/10/2013; Character Piece; 1000-2500; The Tempest]

The Blue-Eyed Witch by Selden

'The queen leans forwards with a creak of stays, watching her son as he nods and turns, and tosses back a jest to his half-seen companions. He moves within the glass like a small flickering fish caught in a child's cupped hands, unknowing as the water drains away.' Rich writing in this tale of two witches

[Added 19/10/2017; Drama; 1000-2500; The Tempest]

Whom Stripes May Move, Not Kindness by Airgiodslv

'He charmed Caliban with his own magic, with books and pictures, tricks of physics, and he forgot longing for women.' A dark prequel to the play, packed with rich details

[Added 07/12/2011; Drama; <1000; The Tempest]