These are recommendations made by tropers for Web Original stories using our Fanfic Recs format and for FanFics based on them outside of any 'official' shared universe, all of which have been signed. After a few samples, you will be able to judge whether you might be interested in the story, based on who recommended it. No-name recommendations will be zapped. Nobody would back up the rec. Discussion of the recommendation is welcome on the discussion page. As such discussion is important, do remember to add the discussion page to the watchlist, if need be.
Do warn when a fanfic may head into non-canon territory. Pairings or changes of a character's sexual orientation are also to be noted, since Shipping is Serious Business.
Authors and Websites
- Recommended by Gamma Wolf
- This is an original web fiction review site. Links of stories can be submitted. A review staff and members can review and rate stories.
- Recommended by Bedelato
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: It's a parody of various fantasy elements set in modern times, complete with airplanes. The plot follows Eric and Ian Feytid being summoned by Destiny Academy for a quest to stop the evil (or not) Death Lord Tenebras of Yval from taking over the world.
- Comments: Hilarious, well-written parody.
- Recommended by Duras 1989
- Status: Complete
- Tagline: When the universe is at war, which side are you on?
- Synopsis: Inspired by Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Discworld', Flashman and with a bit of Neil Gaiman this series chronicles an interstellar war fought by fleets numbering tens of thousands in a galaxy where magic instead of technology is what was used to tame the stars and colonize space. The war rages across a billion stars all the while ancient beings watch the chaos bellow, at least for now.
- Comments: A mish-mash of sci-fi/fantasy and dark humour that's a great read. Though be warned that English is a bit off since it's the author's second language.
- Recommended by intuitiveArtificer
- Status: On Hiatus
- Synopsis: An Arkn: Legacy series. Franz Irinith-Faust is a half-angel boy who has been stranded on Earth with his human mother. Above all things, he thirsts for knowledge, and he will do anything to acquire it. Including make a deal with a powerful demon, which falls through, as such deals are wont to do. Staff of the Scholar follows Franz Faust as he attempts to recover from the repercussions of said deal, comes into his own power, and journeys to his home realm to claim his crown and title.
- Comments: I. LOVE. THIS SERIES. It's a coming-of-age sci-fi/fantasy epic that deals with topics such as PTSD, abuse recovery, family legacies, and self-actualization in incredibly interesting ways. It establishes unique and memorable dynamics between its characters, many of whom are LGBTQ+, and it has some of the best damn villain writing I've ever seen. It's told primarily through an in-character blog that welcomes reader interaction, which may be confusing for those who are new to Alternate Reality Games and unfiction projects, but it's a great story whether you choose to interact with the blog in-character or just follow along and archive binge.
- Recommended by FLCNPNCH
- Status: Dead
- Synopsis: Celeste is a quick-tempered tomboy who detests girliness. Seth is a quiet, angsty boy with trust issues that just wants to be left alone. What happens when they meet? What happens when Celeste's meddling twin sister gets involved? And why does Celeste hate her father so very very much?
- Comments: Brilliantly written. Read it. Now.
- Recommended by FLCNPNCH
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: Tales of the Sun Sin is about one Orenda Winchesteer, one of the snarkiest, self-obsessed mages I've ever seen, and the organization he works for: The Sun Sin, which is essentially what would arise if every Dungeons & Dragons PC got together and formed a law-enforcement group.
- Comments: An utterly hilarious ride, brilliantly genre-savvy and complete with an appendix at the end of (almost) every chapter that elaborates on some of the more exotic elements of the universe in the snarkiest manner possible.
- Recommended by FLCNPNCH
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: Nocte Yin is the middle child of the Yin family, one of the most eminent Evil families in the world. Her father is a mad scientist, her mother is a malevolent sorceress, her older brother is a fearsome warlord, her elder sister the wicked witch of the south east, her little sister a sadistic psychic and finally her (7-year old) kid brother an evil genius tyrant. Nocte on the other hand is just...well, Nocte.
- Comments: One of the most fantastic works of fiction I've ever read. It has spawned four sequels - Nocte Yin: How To Be Evil 101
, Nocte Yin: Confessions of a Villain in the Making, Nocte Yin: A Hero Wannabe, and most recently, Nocte Yin: Anti-Villain, Anti-Hero and Anti-Everything Else. Read them all.- Seconded by Amethystasheryn. The first installments may not have quite the flare that the later ones do, but that's no bother. The writing only improves over the course of the series (and continues to do so), and successfully makes Nocte simultaneously a developing badass and yet insanely human. Nocte's constant snarkery only makes it better.
- Thirded by Schattenmalerin. This series has it all: A great concept, a rich world, brilliant characters you can’t help but love and wonderful writing that somehow continues to improve! Now has its own page.
- Recommended by FLCNPNCH
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: "Arts Magika University: sorcery classes, elven professors, dwarven fraternities, interspecies dating, and magikal duels. It's odd, it's mildly bizarre, and it's a wonder the students get any studying done. It's college the way it should have been."
- Comments: Magicademy would have to be one of my favourite works of webfiction ever. The only problem is that it's over now, and there probably won't be any more =(. Has two sequels, Summer Break, a 'side story' of sorts set just after the last chapter and Senior Year, which skips ahead several years to show Jacob's last year of college before graduation. Sheer literary brilliance, people.
- Seconded like whoa by Amethystasheryn. The above recommender has pretty much summed it up; literary brilliance and a shame it hasn't been professionally published. It is brilliantly hilarious, while still managing to squeeze in the occasional heartwarmer or—heck—even a tearjerker or two, courtesy of the great characters he fleshes out for us. It's definitely worth a read.
- Recommended by FLCNPNCH
- Status: Dead
- Synopsis: Ghost Girl tells the story of a cybernetically enhanced teenager as she tries to escape her past as an assassin and live a normal life, something she has never had in her life.
- Comments: Probably the grittiest work of fiction on the internet. It's like the best action movie you've ever read!
- Quite long and a good read, but it seems to have died.
Advocate and The Last Judgement
- Recommended by FLCNPNCH
- Status:
- Advocate: Complete
- The Last Judgment: Dead
- Synopsis: Advocate and its sequel, The Last Judgement, are among the longest (and highest quality) fantasy works on Fictionpress.com. The Last Judgement has over 70 decently long chapters and over 500,000 words. Collectively, a true epic.
- Comments:
- Shay Guy: Not the longest, at least not alone. Queen of Glass is 678,579 words (and over 6,000 reviews).
- Shay Guy: Not the longest, at least not alone. Queen of Glass
Twin Gear: The Ruiner of a Thousand Years
- Recommended by FLCNPNCH
- Status: Dead
- Synopsis: Wow, I've put up a lot of stuff here...Anyway, Twin Gear: The Ruiner of a Thousand Years follows a standard plot found in modern fiction. Demon girl with a hidden agenda finds amnesiac boy with big sword chained to his wrist in an underground cavern then tries to use him for her own purposes while a sinister secret organization trying to steal the mystic necklace of said amnesiac boy, who may or may not be the unstoppable fiend that wiped out almost all life on the planet several ages ago.
- Comments: Probably a dead fic, which is unfortunate given the very high quality of the writing and plot. =(
- Recommended by FLCNPNCH
- Status: Dead
- Synopsis: Langley and Sabreur Stormrider are twin swashbuckling mages on a quest - for adventure!
- Comments: It's like One Piece mixed with Pirates of the Caribbean and Dungeons & Dragons! Really, really worth reading. Trust me.
- Recommended by FLCNPNCH
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: The Liam Smith Show is all about Liam Smith, who is...well, a loser. It's moderately funny, but the main reason you'd want to read it is to get to the sequel.
- Comments:
- Recommended by FLCNPNCH
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: Sequel to The Liam Smith Show, and a BRILLIANT BRILLIANT BRILLIANT parody of superhero comics.
- Comments: This ran regularly for a whole FIVE YEARS, with over 200 individual episodes and several extra-long 'movie' specials. It's 100% complete now, so read at your own leisure. Sure, it's in script format, but it wouldn't be the same any other way...
- Recommended by FLCNPNCH
- Status: Dead
- Synopsis: The Wizards Daughter is about a normal girl who suddenly wakes up to find herself in another world...and another body. And according to the locals, she's been in a coma almost all her life...
- Comments:
- Recommended by Nolrai Hikari
- Status: Dead
- Synopsis: Join the crew of the 505 on their goodwill mission across the galaxy: a princess, a nun, a catgirl, a chibi... and a boy they found in the sewage system.
- Comments: A Portrait From Space is the best comedy I have ever read.
- Recommended by Shay Guy
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: After entering his second year in High School, Atsuko Daisuke encounters a girl that reveals herself as a psychic. Aliens roam the Earth in secret. What is a boy to do? Why, help save the planet, of course...
- Comments: As annoyed as I am by the way it was promoted on this wiki, I did find it an enjoyable read. The plotting does leave something to be desired — the ending in particular is unsatisfying — but in all other respects, it was quite satisfactory.
Sailor Nothing by Stefan "Twoflower" Gagne
- Recommended by Shay Guy, Guessmyname, Looney Toons
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: To quote its very own TV Tropes page: "Take a basic Magical Girl template, influenced most of all by Sailor Moon (note the title). Infuse some Neon Genesis Evangelion, mix in the tone and atmosphere of Animorphs, and add some of the self-awareness of Scream on top. What do you get? The scariest mahou shoujo story this side of Elfen Lied. A Web Original written by Twoflower."
- Comments: I shouldn't have to explain a recommendation for Sailor Nothing. Just don't read it at night.
- Guessmyname: Seconded. If you want an example of a Deconstruction done well, look no further than Sailor Nothing. Twoflower also makes impressive use of the web-format to pull some interesting tricks in the story too. It just works. Really, really well.
- So-so. It is well written but seems to suffer from a lot of Diabolus ex Machina and the whole Deconstruction thing... it is not. Its dark, its gritty, its hardcore but not, in fact, a Deconstruction of the Genre since it not play things painful straight, it just make them painful and sad. It has to do with Magical Girl Genre as much as Warhammer 40,000 has to do with Military/Politic Fiction. It is there if you just look hard enough. Is still recommended and a good way to pass the hours but be warned, it can suffer a lot of Hype Backlash
- Recommended by Shay Guy, Gamma Wolf
- Status: Dormant
- Synopsis: Soul is an unusual take on the Magical Girl genre, starring a main character who the author has described as "the lovechild of Ami Mizuno and Alex Williams." She has a near-death experience, but instead of going toward the light, she stops to perform experiments, and thereby develops a very intriguing set of magical powers.
- Comments: Intriguingly designed universe mechanics, interesting characters, and lots of Genre Savvy.
- Recommended by Jinx
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: A reporter goes to interview a supervillainess.
- Comments:
- Joysweeper: Seconded the rec! This is a big time eater, and it's very good. Contains countless send-ups to superhero tropes while still loving the medium.
- Recommended by Jinx, Andy Waltfeld, Looney Toons
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: The gates of Heaven are shut, and all mankind has been turned over to the forces of Hell. Humanity does not take this lightly, and all Earth breaks loose on Hell as Stardestroyer.net forum members Fan Wank over the weapons and physics involved.
- Comments:
- Andy Waltfeld: Seconding the rec for anybody with a penchant for Blackadder references, Knowing That Gun, dancing on the diamond edge of the Mohs Scale of Science Fiction Hardness (obvious theological implications aside), pumping a few Bunker Busters into Satan, or otherwise proving that Humans Are Special when prompted to take a stand against divine authority. And stay tuned for the sequels.
- Addendum to the above: It has a page now. Props to Thirty Ninth Step.
- Andy Waltfeld: Seconding the rec for anybody with a penchant for Blackadder references, Knowing That Gun, dancing on the diamond edge of the Mohs Scale of Science Fiction Hardness (obvious theological implications aside), pumping a few Bunker Busters into Satan, or otherwise proving that Humans Are Special when prompted to take a stand against divine authority. And stay tuned for the sequels.
- Recommended by Textual Predator
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: Science fiction Ontological Mystery. The source code to the universe. Superpowers. Teleportation. All over the world, scientists start to discover that the laws of physics are...different from how they imagined them, but it seems like the universe itself is shutting down attempts to take advantage of the new rules.
- Comments: This story takes a realistic scientific, political and sociological approach to ideas that by rights sound like they should be rather more 'soft'. Characterisation is unfortunately not really a focus here, but there's a lot of fun in seeing the large amount of disparate plot threads start to slowly come together. Also, the first chapter is simply a fantastic, if initially rather baffling, piece of writing.
- Recommended by Target Practice
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: "An aging, world-weary Cold Warrior gets another lease on life; whether he wants one or not." -author
- Comments: All chapters after the first are very mature, and the action can get violent. It can be almost Mary-Sueish at points, but that's subjective.
Learning To Live With Orcs by Richard Bartle
- Recommended by Valentine and Jen Burdoo.
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: Learning to Live with Orcs is a Science Fiction/Fantasy novel, concerning the author's 6-month stay on the planet Virginia studying a tribe of its orcs.
- Comments: Classic British understated/snarky humor and a well-designed orc society. Our Orcs Are Different, indeed.
No more ramen by Drew Hayes
- Recommended by Gamma Wolf
- Status: Complete.
- Synopsis: Student wins a bunch. Wants to keep it secret. Thinks up a contest to hide the knowledge for a while.
Castle Terribel by John Ball
- Recommended by Snoof
- Status: Ongoing
- Synopsis: A story about a girl coming to terms with the fact that her mother has remarried, and the man in question isn't actually all that bad. Even if he is the Dark Lord Mansemat Cthonique, ruler of the Plains of Dread and holder of the Castle Terribel.
- Comments: A mixture of comedy and drama, set in a fantasy world. Currently being updated three times per week.
It's All Been Done (original link) and (continuation) by Three Score And Ten and Vis Verbi
- Recommended by Exploding Frogs
- Status: Dead; last updated May 2016
- Synopsis: Our protagonist, who has yet to reveal any name of his own, has been sentenced by various divinities to endlessly reincarnate with full awareness of all of his previous lives. Not normal reincarnation, mind you; when someone dies or suffers a near-death experience as a result of their life Not Going Right, he (or she, as the case may be) gets shunted into their body to fix the problem. Normally, he manages this in a few days, and then everyone's souls go back where they're supposed to be. Not this time, though. This time, things are getting interesting...
- Comments: Probably the best thing about this one is the awesome narration of the protagonist. Note that at least two characters are homosexual, though this is not as yet central to the story.
- Note: The original author - Three Score and Ten - discontinued the story due to a lack of interest, but another author, Vis Verbi, has picked it back up. Hence the two links.
Dark Heart High by multiple authors.
- Recommended by Volouscheur
- Status: Dead
- Synopsis: Yuri Mikagami should be impossible. Daughter of Troi "Hellstorm" Mikagami, an evil general who has helped conquer several worlds, she should be bursting with evil powers and living up to her father's reputation. So why doesn't she seem to have any powers at all? Why does it seem like she's...good? Yuri must find out the answer to these questions, and others, while fighting for her survival when her father sends her to his old high school: Dark Heart High.
- Comments: Done in a shojo manga style. Started by Madsman, and has accumulated 69 entries. Unfortunately it appears to have died. Also, the Round Robin means that the writing style can change rather abruptly, although it looks like effort was made to keep the characters consistent. It also has its own page here: Dark Heart High
Serebii vs. Marriland by TBFBri1000.
- Recommended by NotJMKeynes
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: A fictional battle between the admins of Serebii and Marriland Pokémon sites.
- Comments: A very funny Take That! on the Pokémon
Fan Dumb. Basically, the two sites are rivals and why don't make them fight against each other? Almost everything Marriland talks is a Funny Moment, and Serebii is a Deadpan Snarker, so Hilarity Ensues. It also has two sequels.
Mother of Learning by nobody103
- Recommended by Dermonster. Ack Sed
- Status: Ongoing
- Synopsis: Zorian, a mage in training, only wanted to finish his education in peace. Now he struggles to find answers as he finds himself repeatedly reliving the same month. 'Groundhog's day' style setup in a fantasy world.
- Comments A monthly time loop done the way it should be. Funny at times and awesome, I highly recommend it.
Live and Accept by Alieu Moonlight
- Recommended by beeruckzII
- Status: On indefinite hiatus.
- Synopsis: Umut is an abused, secluded and lonely cub with no friends or family... This is her life... WARNINGS: Some blood, abuse and violence!
- Comments: Absolutely BRILLANT!!! Really sad and depressing... But it's quite enjoyable! Each chapter is kind of short though.
Four Kingdoms and it's continuation sequel Four Kingdoms, Continued by Wanda Walker
- Recommended by beeruckzII
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: Four kingdoms exist- The Colubri: the snakes , The Scrofa: the boars , the Aves: the birds and the Equus: the horses . Four characters from each kingdom lead separate lives, but all come together to protect all that they love.
- Comments: It's high time someone put this story on here! I haven't read too much of it but what I have read of it is brilliant! Read it! NOW!
- Notes: Sexual references, swearing and some mature scenes. There's even a rape scene in chapter 12 of Four Kingdoms Continued! This story is rated T for a reason!
Swan Diamond by Laura Schiller
- Recommended by fruitstripegum
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: A lonely girl with an interest in gemstones learns lessons of friendship, love and confidence in the fight against a ruthless sorcerer...inspired by the Magical Girl anime genre.
A Little Greed, A Little Murder, A Little Jazz by Odysseus 611
- Recommended by fruitstripegum
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: The year is 1927, and Nathan is lured from his quiet Maine life to New York, where he meets and falls in love with Victoria, the dazzling jazz goddess. But she is loved by 3 other men, all of whom will do anything to win her heart.
- Recommended by: Bolt_DMC
- Status: All single- and multi-chapter stories are complete, with more added occasionally.
- Synopsis: Stories featuring a snow leopard morph named Plonq and his friends.
- Comments: A works page for the collected Christmas stories Plonqmas here.
1 ReviewRomance Stories
Stories focused on the romantic relationships between the cast.- Recommended by FLCNPNCH
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: Densuke is secretly a demon hunter, protecting normal people from an invisible menace. But his unusual behaviour leads his father to believe that he's gay... so in order to "straighten him out," Densuke is sent to an all-girls school. The result is Love Hina crossed with Bleach.
- Comments: Kind of badly written with cliches galore, but bearable. Good if you want to just switch off and read something. Completed!
- Recommended by FLCNPNCH
- Status: Dead
- Synopsis: Project Goddess reads just like a well-written comedy shoujo manga.
- Comments: While it's unfortunately dead, what's already there is definitely worth reading.
- Recommended by Xemylixa
- Status: On Hiatus
- Synopsis: An epic queer romance series, unified by a shared Troperiffic low-fantasy setting.
- Comments: Hardcore, insides-twisting, heart-rending porn-with-plot against a vivid fantasy backdrop. The first story, Bright Flame, is practically Brokeback Mountain meets Wooden Ships and Iron Men; it is followed by the equal parts refined and savage love story of Depravity, the exquisite enslavement fantasy of His Tribute, and a love triangle in the middle of an international political intrigue in Jewel of the Harem. A definite highlight is the worldbuilding, which manages to avoid info dumps and reveals the setting and character motivations as we go. The writing itself could use an editor and/or proofreader, but when you get as caught up in the "but what happens next??" as this troper did, it's really not an issue.
- Warning: Explicit, contains a lot of dark and disturbing themes mostly to do with sexual violence. Make extra sure to read the tags!
