Story: Adversaries
Author: eve11
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 1662
Author's Summary: Instead of Configurable Analog Transmitter Stack, box contained vermin. Would not buy again.
Characters/Pairings: the Doctor (11th)
Warnings: none

Recced because: To finish up the week, how about some sweet, sweet crossover nerdcrack?

This is a charming, funny short story, told in an amusing style that strikes me as vaguely Pratchett-y.  It's somewhat cracky, yes, but the eleventh Doctor is pretty much his usual daft self—and besides, crack isn't always a bad thing.  This story is, in some ways, feels as if it was designed to be the perfect nerd drug.  As a nerd, I don't mind in the slightest.

Also, it involves kittens.  Excessive amounts of kittens.  Excessive amounts of kittens which foil evil.  There are few things in the world that cannot be improved by this.

Story: Aftermath
Author: Kathryne
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 1998
Author's Summary: The Stormcage guards know by now that they have as much chance of keeping Doctor Song locked up as they do of waking up to blue skies over the prison. That doesn't mean they don't try, but they've developed a coping mechanism, too.
Characters/Pairings: River Song, other characters
Warnings: none

Recced because: Original characters are cool.  I realize that they've been done badly, often, in every fandom there is, but when done well they make the story so much richer.  And personally, I happen to love explorations of what happens to ordinary people as a result of the things the heroes do.  So I wanted to rec at least one story that was mostly about background characters, and this is a good one, well-written and amusing.  Not chock full of jokes, you understand, but a sort of humor that is almost part of the background setup.  I don't know if this will make sense, but I think of it as Get Smart humor: the funny that comes from people trying to cope sensibly with a situation that is, frankly, just a tad shy of sanity.

Story: Search and Rescue
Author: yamx
Rating: teen
Word Count: 2608
Author's Summary: Worried about the comatose Doctor, Jack makes a dangerous choice.
Characters/Pairings: Jack Harkness/Rose Tyler/the Doctor (ninth)
Warnings: none

Recced because: There are some authors, and some stories, I just keep coming back to.

I think I discovered yamx while looking for stories about what happened between "The Doctor Dances" and "Boom Town," which is a rich, rich vein of fic that has been mined by excellent authors such as DameRuth, wmr, HonorH, RobinC—the list goes on and on.  yamx is one of many people who have started with "The Doctor Dances" and gone on to tell a rich, compelling, three-cornered love story, full of misunderstandings and cultural clashes and prickliness and, of course, kissing and making up.

For me personally, fics that involve telepathy are—is it possible to have nonsexual kinks?  Because if it is, telepathy is one of mine.  So are stories that acknowledge that the Doctor is different.  "Search and Rescue" does both, but despite the Doctor's acknowledged alienness, it's still very much a love story.  Love, as another fine author wrote on this site, crosses all sorts of boundaries.

Story: Mockingbird
Author: icebluenothing
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 14754
Author's Summary: Rose was convinced -- even though he looked nothing like the man she'd met, this new man was still the Doctor. Unless it was all a lie.
Characters/Pairings: Mickey Smith, Rose Tyler, the Doctor (ninth and tenth)
Warnings: none

Recced because: This is a plotty, suspenseful adventure.  That's one reason to read it.  It's also a story that deals with the utter weirdness of regeneration.  One thing that always rang a little false to me, in the classic series, is how well human beings adjusted to the fact that a very good friend had just turned into someone else—not just in face and body, but in all his personal quirks as well.  Rose's freakout on the subject seemed quite reasonable to me.  Regeneration isn't something that human beings are particularly prepared to cope with.

This story explores what would happen if Rose learned that everything that happened for the past few months of her life was a lie.  Or maybe that's the lie—she has no way to tell.  Her confusion and her fear are utterly believable, and quite compelling.  It's well-written, complex, and ends with a beautiful, poignant touch.  Seriously, it's good.  Go read it.