Recent Entries 
30th-Dec-2011 09:26 pm And Even the Angels Would Weep by hanarobi
Fandom: Wilby Wonderful
Pairing: Duck/Dan pre-slash
Length: 1772 words
Author on LJ: hanarobi
Author's website: AO3

Why this must be read:

This is one of the many excellent character pieces on Duck. What I like about this one is that we see Duck's mind racing, and we see a different kind of vulnerability in him here.  Hanarobi has really tapped into the everyman quality that makes Duck so easy to relate to.

And Even the Angels Would Weep
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21st-Dec-2011 05:56 pm I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) by exeterlinden
Fandom: Wilby Wonderful
Pairing: Duck/Dan
Length: 3962
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] exeterlinden
Author's website:  AO3

Why this must be read:

The character voice of Duck is brilliantly done, but what I especially love here is the way the tone of the story matches the movie.  Duck, like the rest of the movie's characters, spends his time letting life happen to him, until  he slowly realizes what it takes to find some peace and happiness.

I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)
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20th-Dec-2011 12:27 pm Test by Grey
Fandom: Wilby Wonderful
Pairing: Duck/Dan, Duck and Buddy friendship
Length: 9kb
author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] grey853
Author's website: grey.ravenshadow.net

Why this must be read:

This is one of those stories that offers very natural characterizations and relationships.  Duck's struggles with alcoholism and Buddy's concern unfold gracefully and offer a realism that is as encouraging as it is provocative.

Test
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19th-Dec-2011 02:48 pm Invisible by eledhwenlin
Fandom: Wilby Wonderful
Pairing: Duck/Dan implied (pre-movie, Duck-centric)
Length: >300 words
author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] eledhwenlin
Author website: dragonses.net and AO3

Why this must be read:

It's easy, and tempting, to idealize Duck and Dan, both together and separately.  I admire the way this author chose to explore Duck's frustrations about what he wants but can't have and his own honest criticism of both himself and Dan and their cowardice.  It offers a nice look into Duck's mind and his possible motivations for his actions  in the film.

Invisible
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18th-Dec-2011 07:17 pm Three Things by akamine_chan
Fandom: Wilby Wonderful
Pairing: past Duck/Dan
Length: 140 words
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] akamine_chan
Author website: AO3

Why this must be read:

For one, you have time, since it's only 140 words.  Also, although I feel guilty about this, I take some comfort in the fact that Duck stoically bears more than his fair share of the world's sorrows, and this snippet captures some of that.  It's also an incredibly sensual story, both visually and tactile-ly.

Three Things
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17th-Dec-2011 12:35 pm Doors by peoriapeoria
Fandom: Wilby Wonderful
Pairing: Buddy/Carol, Duck/Dan
Length: 1740 words
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] peoriapeoria
Author website: AO3

Why this must be read:

The tentative healing that we see at the end of the film, and Duck's unique role within it, are continued here.  While there are loads of excellent stories that go with the theme, the beautiful, haunting language makes this story a true standout.  (And yes, it was written specifically for me, but clearly I have impeccable taste).

Doors
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16th-Dec-2011 05:47 pm Say Anything by pir8fancier
Fandom: Wilby Wonderful
Pairing: Buddy/Sandra, Duck/Dan, past Buddy/Duck
Length: 4332 words
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] pir8fancier
Author website:AO3

Why this must be read:

A long-time favorite of mine, this story combines flashback narration with post-movie closure to create a bookend-like effect, one of the strongest types of story for this fandom, IMHO.  It's a happy piece that's firmly rooted in realism.

Say Anything
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15th-Dec-2011 06:20 pm If You Want This Part of Me by helens78
Fandom: Wilby Wonderful x Durham County
Pairing: Sadie Sweeney/Emily Anderson
Length: 992 words
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] helens78
Author website: AO3

Why this must be read:

Again I turn to [livejournal.com profile] helens78, but when a writer offers the whole package (excellent writing, great character development, erotica) what is one to do?  This is simply a fascinating pairing, but I especially love that, although Emily is playing a submissive role, she seems incredibly empowered in this gem of a story.

If You Want This Part of Me
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14th-Dec-2011 09:49 pm If You Have a Hammer by helens78
Fandom: Wilby Wonderful
Pairing: Dan/Duck
Length: 1130 words
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] helens78
Author website:AO3

Why this must be read:

Because Helen makes angst-free, non-sappy romance look easy.  Aside from admiring the author's technique (which is reason enough to read, trust me), this is one of those fics that can make you feel good at the end of a long day.  It takes an oft-repeated (for good reason) trope (Dan starting over, revamping the video store), and patterns it around two people falling comfortably and realistically in love.  There's also an understated sexiness that I love with Dan and Duck.

If You Have a Hammer
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13th-Dec-2011 09:15 pm Ten Things About Duck MacDonald by Isis
Fandom: Wilby Wonderful
Pairing: Duck/OMC, Duck/Dan
Length: 2300 words
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] isiscolo
Author Website: hieroglyfics.net

Why this must be read:

This is a lovely character study about Duck MacDonald.  It's one of the first Wilby fics I ever read, and even now, three years later, I'm stunned at how perfectly the author has managed to capture Duck and his inner voice.

Ten Things About Duck MacDonald
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11th-Dec-2011 08:01 pm Reboot by thursdaynext_27
Fandom: Wilby Wonderful
Pairing: none, Carol-centric
Length: 300 words
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] thursdaynext_27
Author website: AO3

Why this must be read:

Carol can be one of the more difficult characters to write in the fandom, as she's less accessible in the movie.  Here the author gives her a fresh start, giving her a sympathetic flavor that is as refreshing as it is intriguing.

Reboot
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10th-Dec-2011 08:48 am With a Name Like Duck by hanarobi
Fandom: Wilby Wonderful
Pairing: Duck/Dan
Length: 2040 words
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] hanarobi
Author website:AO3

Why this must be read:

Hanarobi takes the comfortable, satisfying staples of the fandom (character study, some hopefulness and romance) and adds just enough difficulty to leave a taste that lingers for a very long time.  I especially love the insights into Duck's mind.

With a Name Like Duck
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9th-Dec-2011 06:33 pm Four Times Duck MacDonald Noticed Dan Jarvis and Once He Was Distracted by Andeincascade
Fandom: Wilby Wonderful
Pairing: Duck/Dan
Length: ~2700 words
Author on LJ:
Author's website: LJ, and AO3

Why this must be read:

Ande captures Duck MacDonald (McDonald?) and what makes him our gateway into Wilby: his sensitivity, his courage, his cautious hope and his honest desires.  It also has a killer last line.

Four Times Duck McDonald Noticed Dan Jarvis...
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8th-Dec-2011 08:46 pm There's a Warm Town in the Shadow of You by spuffyduds
Fandom: Wilby Wonderful
Pairing: Duck/Dan
Length: ~2300 words
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] spuffyduds
Author website:AO3

Why this must be read:

There will never be too many stories featuring Dan trying to find his footing post-movie.  Spuffy couples that idea with a lovely character study of Duck and his gentle, protective nature.

There's a Warm Town in the Center of You
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7th-Dec-2011 08:20 pm Looking Without Looking by helens78
Fandom: Wilby Wonderful
Pairing: Duck/Buddy (pre-movie)
Length: 1275 words
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] helens78
Author website:AO3

Why this must be read:

It's about eight degrees Fahrenheit here in Wyoming, and this story warms me from the inside out, both because of the searing descriptions of a hot summery Wilby day, and because of the scorching erotica.  There's also a certain satisfaction in seeing Duck completely undone, like whumpage with intense sexual gratification instead of actual whumpage.

Looking Without Looking
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6th-Dec-2011 07:00 am Silence That Echoes by akamine_chan
Fandom: Wilby Wonderful
Pairing: none
Length: 260 words
Author on LJ:DW
Author website: AO3

Why this must be read:

Because sometimes the art of writing involves the understated, and fear and despair should creep upon one slowly.

Silence That Echoes
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4th-Dec-2011 11:09 am The Cinema Show by exeterlinden
Fandom: Wilby Wonderful
Pairing: Carol/Buddy, mentions of Duck/Buddy, pre-Duck/Dan
Length: 5500 words
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] exeterlinden
Author website: on LJ and AO3

Why this must be read:

The Cinema Show is a historical, documentary-style AU set during August of 1923, on the day that Wilby gets its first movie theater.  The narrative voice, using flashbacks heavily, is gorgeous and artfully captures the problems and the hopefulness of the film.  There's an ease to reading this piece and picturing the events unfold as if one really is watching a documentary .

The Cinema Show
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3rd-Dec-2011 10:07 pm Points in Common by kuonji14
Fandom: Wilby Wonderful
Pairing: Duck/Dan, Buddy/Carol, Dan/Val, Duck/OMC mentioned
Length: ~28,460
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] kuonji14
Author website: LJ

Why this must be read:

This is the main story in a delightful series that largely focuses on Duck and Buddy's friendship.  The series nicely bookends the movie with rich character developments, and romances/relationships that are happy without being maudlin.  There is also some angst and difficult subject matter handled with sensitivity.

Points in Common
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2nd-Dec-2011 07:58 pm Always Just Duck by magelight5
Fandom: Wilby Wonderful
Pairings:  Duck/OCs, Duck/Dan pre-slash
Length: 1196 words
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] magelight5
Website: on dreamwidth as marianas

Why this must be read:

Always Just Duck is one of the well-crafted character studies of Duck MacDonald.  This one captures the honesty and realism of the character.  Reading it, one gets the impression of sitting down with Duck himself.

Always Just Duck
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1st-Dec-2011 08:18 pm Water Tower by akite
Hello, I'm [livejournal.com profile] exbexand I'll be driving the van for Wilby Wonderful this month.  If you need a little refresher course, I encourage you to check out [livejournal.com profile] sperrywink's excellent overview.  My first rec this month comes from the illustrious [livejournal.com profile] akite

Fandom: Wilby Wonderful
Pairing: Buddy/Carol (Buddy-centric), Duck/Dan implied
Length: short
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] akite
Author website:  Tales of A.Kite

Why this must be read:


In just a few paragraphs, akite captures the essence of Buddy: a good man who has lost his way, but who ultimately always does what's right.  She cleverly places him in a very fitting place on the island he loves.

Water Tower
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15th-Jul-2010 06:55 pm Triplicomedy (PG) by shayheyred
Fandom: DUE SOUTH/WILBY WONDERFUL/BSG (and more)
Pairing: Fraser/Kowalski and?
Length: guesstimate of around 3k
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] shayheyred
Author Website: more fic here
Why this must be read:

Soooooooo… there were a lot of fics that called out to me for crossover day, but this one was the hands-down winner. It was written for the 2nd Intentional Badfic Challenge at [livejournal.com profile] ds_flashfiction but truly, this isn’t badfic – it’s crackfic of the highest order.

The basic premise is that a nuclear accident has created multiple versions of characters CKR and PG have played, and they all converge on Wilby. Written as a script, it’s outrageously funny, and everyone is perfectly in character.

And if that’s not enough - it has not one, but two theme songs rewritten just for it – how can it be anything but freaking (I mean, frakking) awesome?

Triplicomedy
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29th-Mar-2010 10:03 am Double-double by Pearl-o (Rating)
This is my last rec, and I hope you've enjoyed the Wilby Wonderful recs! If you're hankering for more, [livejournal.com profile] isiscolo keeps a complete index of all Wilby Wonderful stories. And I'll be back next month, reccing due South.

Fandom: WILBY WONDERFUL
Characters: Duck MacDonald, Emily Anderson
Length: 416 words
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] pearl_o
Author Website: Pearl-o at the Archive of Our Own
Why this must be read: This is a sweet little snippet about Duck coming into the diner, and Emily being all awkward about it because of how he helped her with Taylor. Duck is awkward, too, but for quite a different reason.

Double-double
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26th-Mar-2010 05:36 pm Vid Rec: WILBY WONDERFUL - Boys Will Be Boys
Vidder: Heuradys
Musical artist: The Gear Daddies
Characters: Sandra and Emily Anderson
Vidder on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] heuradys
Author Website: Heuradys collected
Why this must be seen: This vid is about Sandra and Emily and their relationships with men, and with each other. We see Sandra with Buddy, and Emily with Taylor, with rather apt lyrics, because neither of those relationships are exactly successful (arrgh, I kind of want to strangle Taylor). But I love the way it ends on a hopeful note, with Sandra and Emily together.

Boys Will Be Boys (right click and download)
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24th-Mar-2010 10:34 am There's a Leak in Every Boat by Exeterlinden (R)
Fandom: WILBY WONDERFUL
Pairing: Joe Dick/Duck MacDonald
Length: 2800 words
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] exeterlinden
Author Website: The author's works at the AO3
Why this must be read: This is not your usual Wilby Wonderful fic, but a crossover with Hard Core Logo that takes both Joe and Duck outside their usual environments. They're both just out of their teens, and working on a fishing boat together. Both of them have emotional baggage, and they're the new guys, thrown together in the room nobody else wants. The atmosphere of the fic is gritty, and I'm especially impressed by how the few things Duck and Joe carry with them say so much about their history.

There's a Leak in Every Boat

ETA: Ahaha. Apparently I didn't think to check [livejournal.com profile] akamine_chan's recent Hard Core Logo recs, because she just recced it, too. Well, it seems to be a popular story. *g*
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22nd-Mar-2010 01:38 pm Possible by Slidellra (R)
Fandom: WILBY WONDERFUL
Pairing: Duck MacDonald/Dan Jarvis
Length: 1000 words
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] slidellra
Author Website: Fic Index on LJ
Why this must be read: This story gives a slightly different perspective on Duck. It's hard to put my finger on how it's different, exactly, but the story feels fresh and new. It shows us a Duck who is damaged, but capable of healing. We also see his slightly stalkerish side, as he watches Dan, and rents video tapes without having a VCR, just for the excuse to go into the video store.

Possible
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19th-Mar-2010 11:38 pm The Lights by Speranza (NC-17)
Fandom: WILBY WONDERFUL
Pairing: Duck MacDonald/Dan Jarvis, Duck MacDonald/OMCs
Length: 5600 words
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] cesperanza
Author Website: Speranza's Fiction
Why this must be read: This is a story about the events leading up to the movie, and how the arrests at the Watch came about. It's structured around Duck's memories of all his times at the Watch and all the times they didn't get caught, until the one time they do. I won't reveal how that last time comes about, but it's really worth reading. On a more shallow note, there's a really hot scene where Duck has sex with another guy with everyone watching.

The Lights

Also available as podfic.
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17th-Mar-2010 12:04 pm Quiet In Drowning and Unsent by Nos4a2no9 (NC-17)
Fandom: WILBY WONDERFUL
Pairing: Duck MacDonald/OMC, Duck MacDonald/Buddy French, Duck MacDonald/Dan Jarvis
Length: 8,500 and 33,700 words
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] nos4a2n09
Author Website:
Why this must be read: This series is probably the longest story we have in the fandom, and it's so good. Quiet In Drowning is a traumatic backstory for Duck. Heed the warnings on this one--Wilby Wonderful is a sweet movie, but it also has rather dark undercurrents, and Nos explores them here. Unsent is a post-movie exploration of Dan and Duck's relationship. It's slow and sweet, but doesn't shy from serious issues, like Dan's depression and Duck's past. I love the descriptions of Wilby Island and the sense of place I get from the writing. You can read the second story independently if you don't feel up to the angst in the first one.

Quiet In Drowning and Unsent
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15th-Mar-2010 08:29 pm Hard Core Logo/Wilby Wonderful (PG13)
Title: There's a Leak in Every Boat, by Exeterlinden
Pairing: Joe/Duck
Length: ~2,700 words
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] exeterlinden
Author Website: Linden at AO3
Why this must be read: because the idea should be wildly improbably, but isn't. Linden does an excellent job of creating a close, claustrophobic atmosphere between Joe and Duck, with both of them running from their lives, their hopes and their dreams.

This is a raw, painful story, so true to both of their characters. Both Joe and Duck are young and hurting, on their own and lost. For one brief moment, they manage to find a rough kind of solace in each other before going their separate ways.

brief excerpt )

There's a Leak in Every Boat.
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15th-Mar-2010 02:23 pm A Natural History of the Watch by Glossings (R)
So, crossover day! Naturally, there are many crossovers between Wilby Wonderful and the other Canadian six degrees fandoms, and I'll probably rec some of those this month. But today, I'm reccing a crossover with Buffy (no knowledge of Buffy needed, though--I don't have any and it worked for me).

Fandom: WILBY WONDERFUL/BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
Pairing: Duck MacDonald/various
Length: 2800 words
Author on LJ: [personal profile] gloss
Author Website: fanfic by glossolalia
Why this must be read: This is an amazing story, and I really can't recommend it enough. If you read one story out of all the ones I recommend this month, I'd prefer it to be this one. It takes something that could so easily be just dry theory and turns it into something concrete and full of physical and sensory detail. I suppose one could say that it's about the relationship between normal and queer, between human and beast, and between civilization and nature. But it's also about Duck, and about Wilby.

A Natural History of the Watch
Also available as a wonderful podfic by [livejournal.com profile] malnpudl.
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14th-Mar-2010 10:19 am There is No Language in Our Lungs by spuffyduds (R)
Fandom: WILBY WONDERFUL
Pairing: Duck MacDonald/Dan Jarvis
Length: 285 words
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] spuffyduds
Author Website: Spuffy's stories on the AO3
Why this must be read: This is a short little snippet, and I can't say much about it without spoiling it for you. It's set soon after the end of the movie, and there are vandals who can't spell, and Duck trying to fix things. I love Spuffy's writing--she always manages to find the details that make a story zing.

There is No Language in Our Lungs
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