Rec the Thing

I haven't read widely in the Summer of Horror collection yet, but here are some things I've enjoyed so far!

Nor Any Drop (Biggles books (WE Johns), gen, 12K)
Blowing up the reservoir has more consequences than Biggles expected. AU of Biggles Flies East.

This is possibly one of the tensest fanfic reading experiences I have EVER had, due in part to having absolutely no idea who (if anyone) was going to survive and how (if so) they possibly could survive. The horror element is absolutely horrific but in a low-key way that's more psychologically horrifying than splattery/gory. If you don't know the canon, I think you could probably read this as original fiction and pretend they're OC WWI spies on opposite sides. If this was an original horror story, it would be a very good one IMHO.

On and On and On (Archie comics, gen, 1400 wds)
It's another sunny day in Riverdale, and Archie is heading into the woods with his friends. Surely the witch he's heard so much about doesn't really live there too...

This one has a really excellent, chilling twist that works wonderfully with the canon and I absolutely did not see coming.

Sokovia, still (Falcon & the Winter Soldier, gen, 1200 wds)
Although it had fallen, Sokovia refused to go quietly.

I think it's the matter-of-factness that makes this one so chilling: yes, Sokovia is full of ghosts; no, there's nothing to be done about it, any more than the tragedy that created them can be fixed. You just have to deal with it and move on. I love the sense of ... I don't even really know what to call it, jaded despair that permeates this story.

The Three-Eyed Shadow (Yu Yu Hakusho, Hiei & Yukina gen, 2800 wds)
Yukina is kidnapped in Makai before she manages to reach the human world. Things go... a little differently.

A little detour into one of my very old fandoms! Yukina's story is tragic enough in canon (she's an ice maiden whose tears are jewels, who is kidnapped and tortured to make her cry to cause her captors to become rich; all of that is actual canon) and this is a turn-left-at-canon AU take on that. The descriptions of her situation are very vivid and chilling, and this variation on her rescue takes things in a very different direction than canon.

And I was completely thrilled with my gifts! Both are for the Biggles book series.

Red as Blood (Biggles books, Biggles/von Stalhein, 3000 wds)
A deliciously dark, atmospheric and vivid Beauty and the Beast tale with really nice character/relationship arcs and a powerful ending.

Still and White (Biggles/von Stalhein, 4200 wds)
Snowbound in a castle with a ghost! Eerie, haunting (literally and figuratively) and sometimes charmingly funny, with a wonderful and chilling coda.