Looking For An Old Rec?

We've made a new page at Nightlock Recs - "Past Posts"!

If you don't want to search for a fic recommendation through our handy 'most recent' lists or labels in the sidebar, you can find all of our recs listed in the Past Posts page by who they were recommended or under which segment.

Happy Reading!

Haymitch Fics

I know, I know, I have a list of Primrose fics and erotica fics to recommend you all - but over the last week I've stumbled across three awesome Haymitch centric fanfictions that I enjoyed so much! And in honour of the character posters coming out today, well, I thought I'd celebrate.

All right, I’ll make a deal with you. You don’t interfere with my drinking, and I’ll stay sober enough to help you.

- Haymitch Abernathy

Battle Scars by ladyofspring
Summary: Haymitch never doubted that Effie Trinket would find a new place in the world.
Why? The Haymitch/Effie pairing, and the way ladyofspring portrays it, is just fabulous. Angst and fluid chemistry between at its best.


Here's the Smell of Blood Still by athousandwinds
Summary: Thirteen things that Haymitch remembers, and twelve things he'd rather forget.
Why? Dark, deep and moving snapshots of Haymitch's life. The second last line of dialogue kills me every time.


Through A Mentor's Eyes by huckin-cupcakes
Summary: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins written from Haymitch Abernathy's point of view. Because I've always wanted to know what Haymitch was thinking/doing.
Why? It shows Haymitch's experience of watching Katniss and Peeta's Hunger Games. We've all wondered (so wonder no more!)


~ Little Miss Mionie

Quick Rec: Pants by Miss Scarlett 05 (Johanna/Gale/Katniss)

Ahh, I still lol at this picture.

Good morning fellow tributes! After watching whitneyleemilam's new Hunger Games parody (featuring guys from Winterspringpro and A Very Potter musical!!), I felt the need to post a humorous recommendation - a break from all the ansgt that comes with THG fics.

Title: Pants

Author: Miss Scarlett 05

Ships: Gale/Johanna, Gale/Katniss, Katniss/Johanna. It was just easier to type it shorter in the post title :)

Summary: Johanna scares the pants off Gale—but that seems to be what she's going for, given the pull on his waistband. Gale, Katniss, Johanna and a missing pair of pants. General trashiness, some stupid humor and LOTS of DIRTY thoughts. A/U

Review: Miss Scarlett 05 is one of my fave authors in the fandom (and friends!), but I have to admit that I was totally blown away that she could write a humorous plot, and great dialogue full of one-liners, given that her hugely popular Grow Together is such a heartfail fest. Miss Scarlet 05's employment of sharp, straightforward or 'simple' sentences as they're called really help communicate Gale's frustrated tone through this one-shot.I really enjoyed Gale's characterisation - gasp! He thinks like a teenage boy! - and Katniss' portrayal is surprising spot-on. Johanna has to be the highlight for me, though; with lines like, "I don't think I've had a coal miner before,", her character really builds sexual tension in this story. What's not to love about sexual frustrated!Gale, sexually naive!Katniss and screw me!Johanna? Pants is a great one-shot that's both funny and pleasurable to read.

Excerpt:

"Katniss?" he strains, not quite knowing how to handle his longtime best friend's roommate. It's not so much an invitation for a third as a plea for intervention.

Is the roommate always this friendly? She's a victor. Maybe she's about to kill him and eat him. There hasn't been much meat in the District lately. Could be a mineral deficiency. No, his media-friendly mug is too important to the rebellion for Plutarch to ever allow that to happen.

He silently pleads to the cross girl. She stands with arms folded defiantly over her chest. Her chest.His eyes linger there for a few seconds. He's always liked that area.

He wonders if she's going to do something.

"Should I leave you two alone?" He remembers to look up at her face when she says this. She appears both uncomfortable and annoyed at the same time. "I could go visit my mother."

"Oh, I think you should stay," Johanna says in a tone that makes the hair on the back of Gale's muscular neck stand up.

Johanna pins him to the wall. "You're going to be a good boy. Aren't you?"

When you're between a terrifying temptress and a wall, what choice do you have? Gale closes his eyes. Hopefully he'll figure out what to do when he reopens them.

Happy reading!

~ Little Miss Mionie

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Tips of Brushes, Blades of Arrows (Katniss/Peeta)

Hey y'all. The wonderful KaKaVegeGurl asked me to review her Katniss/Peeta fic "Tips of Brushes, Blades of Arrows", so here's my review and recommendation of it!

Summary: Peeta's POV, follow this choose your own adventure story of love, loss, and determination. Be in Peeta's mind through the games.

Tips of Brushes, Blades of Arrow's first chapter is a series of snapshots into Peeta's life - many of which we learn about in the books. I think it's a great, rapid-fire way to start off this different look into the Games. Basically, the plot is one that a number have authors are attempting at the moment: a Peeta's POV of his Hunger Games kinda thing. But KaKaVegeGurl sets her plot apart, I think, because she doesn't just twist the POV on all of the first novel's iconic scenes. This author goes in darker and deeper, which I really enjoyed reading. But more importantly - she goes AU and changes what happens. It's kind of like picking your own adventure - you pick to read Option A for the canonesque POV, or Option B for, quote, an "epic twist"!

I think what I like most about Tips of Brushes..., discounting the cool plot, is Peeta's characterisation. The characterisation is quite close to canon. I enjoyed the realistic tidbits that add to the realism of Peeta being a teenage male, and not some kid who waxes poetical over Katniss!The author's use of simple, compounded sentences perfectly conveys Peeta's quiet, sure characterisation, even if the story ends up being mostly focused on plot rather than character building. It makes the tone of the piece quite evocative in its beautiful descriptions.

Here's a great excerpt from Option B chapter 11, "Wrong", which showcases this author's writing style and portrayal of Peeta excellently.

Katniss turns to a bush that's nestled between two large trees nearby and picks up some of the berries from it's leafs. With them in her palm, she walks back and looks at me.

"What's that?" I ask her, concern dawning on me, my heart is speeding up in anticipation.

"Nightlock," she says softly in awe, looking down at them, because they just look like blueberries to me. "It's... Well, it's poisonous."

I run to her immediately, try to grab her fists and stop her, but she holds a hand out to me before I get them from her. I misunderstood her intentions.

"Together?" I ask and she nods. So I take the berries from her, holding them gently like a beggar would gold, "I love you, Katniss," I say, touching her cheek with my free hand.

She smiles sadly at me, her beautiful gray eyes melt into mine, and then she says: "I love you too, Peeta."

I stare at her for a long minute and I know she's not lying. She means it.

We count out loud together before raising the berries to our lips, my heart is beating so hard that I think it'll burst out from me, break every bone on the way out. I feel like it's trying to get out as many beats as it can, before it reaches its last.

Life flashes before my eyes.

The bread I gave her is burnt on the top and warm against my smaller fingers, I stare at her in the hallway between classes as my friends laugh obnoxiously about stupid sports or something closely related, I relieve my frustrations in the darkness of the night with the sometimes gentle (some times not) tugs under the sheets, my teeth biting together to stay as silent as possible.

I draw her lips with the cheap mechanical pencil I carry in my pocket every where I go.

I draw the bangs, the earlobes, the hands that are rougher then most girls, on the paper full of doodles, the simple paper meant mostly for print. Paper not meant for drawing or sketching. But the only paper I have.

I kiss her brow, she's a flame in the wind; blowing kisses to the crowd, she paints my face with pink. She tells me her fears on the roof, she seeks my comfort in the night, and I lay in bed with her.

I let her rub the medicine over my pecks, let her put her legs around me, let her press her breasts to my hard, sticky chest, let her kiss my lips. I kiss her's.

Could things have been different? If I'd told her before, would things end up this way still?

Of course they would've.

The berries are at my mouth, which is open, as I stare into Katniss's gray eyes.

All in all, Tips of Brushes, Blades of Arrows is a well-written story with a very intriguing premise. The relationship between Katniss and Peeta blooms wonderfully in both story lines, which is a credit to the author. (The "epic twist" storyline makes things a little more heated!) It's complete - a status which I know a lot of fanfiction readers look out for in a story. And the sequel, "Painted Words, Piercing Paragraphs" is possibly even more addictive than the original. (I'm an Option B girl - what one did you follow?!) And lastly, I must mention that the sequel has its OWN sequel too. This girl really knows how to keep a plot running, hehe!

So, if you want to get sucked into a series....KaKaVegeGurl's stories are for you. 

Happy reading!

/ (...Yay! Slash Fanfic Recs.)

I thought I'd post some Hunger Games slash recs; it seemed topical since in my film class we started talking about the oddity that is slash fan fiction (the oddity being that it's generally written by girls. Fangirls.) So, yes, Yaoi goodness in the form of Hunger Games characters. Like femmeslash, it's not too big in THG compared to het pairings, but considering fanfiction's track record with fandoms like Harry Potter, I expect as the fandom grows slash will have more of a readership (and writer-ship?). I have to say, I was really was actually surprised how hard it was to find good slash fics; you can't just google "hunger games slash" or even stuff like "Haymitch/Chaff" and expect heaps of results to come up.

Here's a few that I liked not only for these author's takes on these pairings, but for the fact that they are well written.

Blinding Desire by Sunset Songbird

Ship: Gale/Peeta

Summary: Peeta never expected to see Gale on the Victory Tour. He especially didn't plan on sharing a room with him. The real quesion is, can they get along, or will they end up killing each other?

Obsession by Princess Alyra

Ship: Peeta/Cinna

Summary: He still loves her, but he loves Cinna more. And that isn't going to change.

*I've recc'd this previously, but I think it deserves to be in this post too.

15 Pairings (Drabbles 007 and 011.) by aimmyarrowshigh

Ships: Haymitch/Brutus and Haymitch/Chaff

Summary: None given.

you let your grace enrapture by eudaimon

Ship: Cinna/Finnick

Summary: Before he was a stylist, Cinna met a victor at a party. The rest isn't quite history.

Two Shots Too Many by Mithrigil

Ship: Haymitch/Chaff

Summary: “Tell you what,” Haymitch groans, more because it’s annoying than because Chaff is taking too damn long to get Haymitch’s pants open with one hand. “Next one to mention the Games doesn’t get off.”

I'm probably missing some major everyone-reads-this-fic because I don't read any slash (I'm more of a femmeslash reader), so if you're like o_O why haven't you listed such-and-such?! leave the fic's name and/or link in a comment :)

~ Little Miss Mionie

PS. The next few recommendation posts I will be making in the coming weeks are:

Tips of Brushes, Blades of Arrows by KaKaVegeGurl - A Prim-Centric Post - Erotica/PWP/Smut Recs

Cato/Clove Recs

The lovely duo Kira and Matt that make up the Nightlock Podcast (not related to us!) asked me to recommend some Cato/Clove fanfics for their upcoming podcast, which required me to branch out from the ships and types of fics I usually read. I'd never really thought much of Cato or Clove (or any sexual tension/romance they may have had), but I'm not surprised that quite a few authors out there had. That's what I love about fanfiction. People take phrases, characterisations and symbols and really run with them.

A common theme of the Cato/Clove fanfictions I found was that they were quite sexually explicit, violent and bloodlusty...so be warned. It's not canon fluff, that's for sure! So yes, I'm really excited to present you with what I think are some of the best Cato/Clove fics around (my alternative is to do assignments, so yes, this is very exciting.)

i will posses by clotpoles
cato wants to play her like a fiddle but he’ll break all the strings.
Verdict: Poetic little one-shot.

for the sake of convenience  by paper_pinwheels
she's not sure how much is fear and how much is actual want.
Verdict: A well done exploration of Clove's feelings during her Games.

oh, fury loves company by prettyworthless
"He can see himself breaking her bones and stroking the rushes of her blood as they dissipate and it consumes him, the all-encompassing desire of having her on his hands. Finally, finally, this is our moment of glory."
Verdict: Uhm. Primal. Violent. Sexual. Yet you can't turn away.


Wanting Later by LovesTheBoyWithTheBread
Clove's POV, of her and Cato's few moments before the feast, before she goes to her death. The kiss that they never had.
Verdict: Love the title. A melancholy little ficlet.


The Unknown Lovers of District 2 by BlackRoseOpal
We've all heard of Katniss and Peeta and their undying love for each other, overpowering all the other tributes. But there is another story hidden in the arena and behind the cameras. A doomed love from District 2, Cato and Clove.
Verdict: Wow, Cato and Clove are totally fleshed out characters in this. A great fic for those who want more than a snapshot of this pairing.


Be sure to catch the upcoming episode of Nightlock Podcast to hear what those folks have to say about these fics! Also, if you are ever looking for a well-written story about a minor ship or character, it's best to go to livejournal or A03. Fanfiction.net and the THG-specific sites tend to be a little more mainstream or canonish. And livejournal fics, with their lowercase titles (haha!), just seem so much more artsy.

~ Little Miss Mionie

Weekly Fan's Fic Rec: Three Times Gale Defended Katniss Everdeen (Katniss/Gale)

Holy tracker jackers, it's time for another Weekly Fan's Fic Rec!
The ever elusive 'Anonymous' sent this one in.

Title: Three Times Gale Defended Katniss Everdeen
Author: audreyii-fic
Summary: ... and three times he couldn't. Gale always looks out for Katniss, even when she doesn't know it. Pre-Hunger Games through the beginning of Catching Fire. Canon-compliant.
Why Anonymous loved this fic: "I love Gale's voice in this fic; it's so perfectly IC. It's easy to see why he's protective of Katniss and why he loves her. I really enjoyed Gale's view of their District and the Seam - it seems very realistic and paints a little bit of a different picture to how Katniss describes it in the books. It's a much darker view of their society. I especially loved the parts where Gale describes other guys noticing Katniss, and when he goes off with a girl to forget her. Uh, to sum it up, this fic is totally sweet, melancholy and dark. The ending is brilliant. Go read it!"


Want to share your fic love? Fill in the Weekly Fan's Fic Rec form!

~ Little Miss Mionie
*I understand that this is not quite weekly, but rather 'whenever-someone-fills-in-the-form fan's rec' at the moment, hehe.

October's Author of the Month: Penelope Wendy Bing

Our October Author of the Month is none other than the marvelous Penelope Wendy Bing!

You might recognize Pen from the site's first "Weekly Fan's Fic Rec," where I (this was before I joined Nightlock) recommended her poem "Brokens". Well, not only does she write magnificent poetry, she does an amazing job with prose. Her characterizations are great and she writes in a way that is not only elegant, but accessible. You can really connect to her stories, which is just as vital in the THG fandom as it is anywhere else. To prove my point, here is an excerpt from Funny Little Fruit, a hilarious little story with a refreshing twist:


The Yellow Top set the little bag down. Strange animals. They walked on only two legs and seemed determined to kill each other. If the apple had a head, it would have shaken it.
The Black Top made some strange noise at the Yellow Top. Maybe they were some strange sort of carrot. Carrots had fluffy tops too. But carrots didn't walk around or kill other carrots.
Black Top disappeared. Yellow Top stood for a moment before moving to pick berries from a bush.
"Yoohoo! Apple!"
Ugh. That terrible cheese again. Thought it was so cool.
"Just wait until you start to stink." Apple sniffed, but the cheese just laughed.
"You're looking a little pulpy today, apple. And is that a bruise? Tsk tsk, you've really let yourself go." The cheese cackled.
The apple scrutinized the cheese. How it did this without eyes was a mystery even to the apple. But that didn't matter. Oh, how it hated that cheese. If only Yellow and Black would take just one more lunch break.
Yellow deposited a layer of berries around the apple.
Inspiration struck. A food's destiny was to be eaten. Who was to say that an apple couldn't help that along?

Double Rec: 'Grow Together' and 'Letters From The Sky' (Katniss/Peeta)

Post-Mockingjay fanfiction is a pretty big trend that is sweeping the Hunger Games fanfiction world, with all types of authors having a crack at picturing the canon future for our beloved Panem residents (myself included!) Although there are a lot of the standard "Real or not real?" one-shots, thg authors are also branching out and writing really believable and unique takes on life after Mockingjay. Most of these fics follow the time gap between the last chapter and the beautiful epilogue, but there are also a few wonderful exceptions to this too! I had originally planned this to be only a double recommendation, recc'ing my two current favourite Post-MJ fics, but I got caught up in a vortex of reading ridiculously excellent fan fiction the other night, so I've decided to list all my other favourites here too with pros and cons for each.


Grow Together
Author: Miss Scarlett 05
Summary: Pre-epilogue Mockingjay. How Katniss and Peeta slowly pick up the pieces and begin again. 
Review: "Tdhbcidpqoda,sdnqwod." Seriously. That's what my brain does when I see that Scarlett has updated this amazing fic! Grow Together is currently my favourite piece of fanfiction, for several reasons. I like this author keeps Katniss in character, and how she brings the two star-crossed lovers together. They hurt, they heal, and they learn to ask for help from one another. There are many brilliant scenes where you can just feel dread creeping up on you because you know something's wrong with Katniss or Peeta, and they're going to freak out. That's what I love most about this fic - it makes you feel.  The pacing of Grow Together is nice and slow, currently charting their progress through months after the war as they recover. I think Miss Scarlett 05 also does something a lot of other authors forget (or decide not) to do - she has Katniss and Peeta constantly harassed by the media, Capitol audiences eager to see them in love and recovering so quickly, something which is not realistic (Oh, bless the ignorant Capitol citizens!) I enjoy that in this fic there are a wide cast of characters and plot points. It's one of the few fics that you can currently follow and become obsessed with. I'm so excited to see where the story will take us!
Excerpt: I catch my first glimpse of made-over Peeta when he comes in the front door to collect me. He must have been swayed by the team's opinion as he's dressed in a soft-looking white long sleeve shirt. Like me, he's practically been dipped in skin gunk. Before I realize it, I'm grinning at him. Seeing Peeta without his scars makes him look put back together. He looks more like the boy who introduced me to dipping pieces of bread in hot chocolate. He looks like he did before, without the constant reminders of pain and war. I have enough reminders. I really don't need anymore.

The in-demand makeup team has an afternoon appointment, so they depart in a flurry of hugs, sobs and warnings to use conditioner.

Peeta and I walk to town, where the crew has selected an appropriate background for the shot. Black X's are marked on the spots we're to stand on and crew members are directing townspeople away from our location. We're to stand in front of where the old justice building used to stand. The rubble has been cleared away, a foundation poured and the first skeleton of a wall has gone up.

Peeta runs through his lines one more time and put his note cards in his pocket. The red light on the camera blinks on. Cressida starts the countdown just in time for Peeta to have a seizure on live TV.

EDIT: Letters from the Sky, as well as the rest of hgfan1111's lovely fics, have sadly been pulled. We're leaving the review up - trust us, it was a wonderful story!

Letters From The Sky
Author: hgfan1111
Summary: One of these days they'll know they are truly free. Until then, the battle continues. Post-Mockingjay, disregards Epilogue. 
Review: Letters From The Sky is a complete multiple-chapter fic that encompasses the breadth of Katniss and Peeta's lives immediately after the last chapter, and after the time seen in the epilogue, too. It has a lovely pace for a fic that goes over quite a large timescale. There's a very sad chapter with Haymitch that made me really realise how much I loved this story - I don't want to say much and be spoilery, but I'll say that this fic is very touching. This excerpt is from a crazily intense chapter that will floor you.
Excerpt: "Don't look, Katniss. Please don't look. You don't need to see this."

The room is torn apart, just like the kitchen was. The lamp is on its side, but the shade has been knocked away, leaving just the bare bulb. It rocks back and forth on the wooden floor, casting strange, long shadows on the walls. Peeta is crouched in the corner of the room, watching me intently. He's clasping his hands tightly in his lap and I'm reminded sharply of the handcuffs that he forced me to leave on him in the Capitol.

"Don't look," he pleads again and bows his head.

But I can't stop myself from staring. Peeta's nightmares—or what I assume plays through his mind in the bad moments—are vividly recreated on the walls, painted right over anything that might have been there. Paint is splashed about, on the floor, on the ceiling, and all over Peeta. The colors are bold—reds, blacks, blues, and bright oranges. They smash and swirl together in a way that makes my head spin. The faces in the portraits are distorted versions of people I recognize. Finnick, Gale, Haymitch, Snow, and even Prim.

It's the last one—fresh paint still drips down toward the floor—that I find myself unable to look away from. My sister's face is perfect. Every feature is represented just as I remember her, but twisted in pain and anguish as flames consume her.

Now, a list of Post-Mockingjay/Post-Canon fanfictions that I am honoured to recommend because they're just so darn good! Each author puts their own spin onto what might have happened to a bunch of our favourite characters.NB#1: I've recc'd infamous ones like Recovery and Relapse before on Nightlock - I tried to find unknown or unappreciated fics for this post. NB#2: If you know any Post-MJ fics that I haven't mentioned, let me know and I will add them/stalk the crap out of them.


Out of the Night: An Interview with a Mockingjay by athousandwinds
Why You'd Love It: Come on, who hasn't imagined Katniss doing a tell-all interview years later? athousandwinds took the plotline straight out my musings and did something splendid with it.
Why You Might Not: Forty-year-old Katniss and Peeta. Some people have trouble reading aged characters (although you'd hardly call that ageing, but whatevs...)


Backscatter by sprat
Why You'd Love It: You get to see Katniss' kid being smart. Features a cool Haymitch. Finishes on an intriguing idea that I have been pondering for some time about the version of the world Panem is situated in.
Why You Might Not: Not for Haymitch haters (...are there any?) or people who don't like seeing Peeta going into hijacked-mode.


Ashes and Flame (Every You and Every Me) by freneticfloetry
Why You'd Love It: A lovely, sweet set of short scenes of life after the war from Peeta's point of view. There's emotive descriptions of Katniss in regards to painting and colours. Very prettily and poetically written. I *love* their daughter's name in this fic.
Why You Might Not: It leaps forward in time. Uhm...you might get iffy aout Annie and Finnick's son's name? Idk. Not much to complain about with this one.


i'll set you up against the stars by oh_la_fraise
Why You'd Love It: You get to see Katniss as a mother interacting with her daughter, from her daughter's point of view! I find her point of view really refreshing, and it's so so so different to everything out their. I like how oh_la_fraise portrayed them acting as parents. 
Why You Might Not: Katniss and Peeta not telling their children much about their part in war. The daughter's name is Prim. (Although I like this fic enough not to really complain about it.)


Happy Reading!
~Little Miss Mionie

Self-Promotion Sundays #3

Hey, everybody, Amata's back with another round of fabulous self-promotions. This week, we've got two great stories by two great authors, StolenSouls and thewindwarns!


The Third Wizarding War
by StolenSouls
Post-mockingjay/pre-epilogue. Katniss discovers there is more to her world than she actually knows. Meanwhile Peeta is struggling between his true self and hijacked form. Gale's attitude toward the Capitol hasn't changed. At the same time, Snow is growing stronger than Katniss can ever imagine....

Forced to go on the run, Katniss must follow someone she does not even trust to save Panem from the hands of a tyrant. (Crossover with Harry Potter)
Status: in progress


you have burst at the seams
by thewindwarns
Each year on the anniversary of the end of the war, they air a patriotic program throughout all of Panem. A look at what goes unsaid about the life of Johanna Mason. Spoilers for the series.
Status: complete