Werewolves and I think SPN really kicked it off big-time. You don't find it much in the Marvel stuff, but it's all over the Sherlock fandom. I didn't like it at first, but somehow I became acclimated to it and now it's my guilty pleasure, like reading Laurel Hamilton.

My personal rant is the fucking Modern AU

The main issue I have with Modern AU (or High School/College AU or Coffee Shop AU) is that these stories usually end up coming across as so freakin' generic most of the time. The characters may retain their quirks somewhat, but the story has lost the specificity of what made these characters in their particular setting so great and appealing.

I admit I have enjoyed some AUs where the characters have been transplanted to a different, but *specific* setting. Like some of the Pacific Rim AU where your pairings are co-pilots in a Jaeger. And there was this fabulous (and sadly unfinished) Jaime/Brienne fic that was set in Regency Era England that I spent all night up reading a few months ago...

I think the thing that got me started on Scaramouche's fic was a fusion where she ran the SPN characters through the plot/setting of My Stepmother Is an Alien.

I love AUs, myself. As long as it's well-written and the characters are still IN character, I have no problem seeing them in a new context. I've written modern day AU's for Star Trek characters, fusions with other fandoms (Firefly and Buffy, no surprise there), magical realism, it's all fair game to me.

For fans of the Phryne Fisher mysteries, Lenore wrote a great Jack/Phryne fic for Yuletide. [link]

I LOVE Phryne Fisher, so I will check this out.

I have to figure out what Vonnie is reading lately, becuase I know I always liked the stuff she likes, way back to Dawson's Creek.

Like askye, I keep reading things for shows/movies I haven't actually watched. I was also really into bandom for awhile, but that seems to have dried up, and I have followed the good writers into Hockey rpf. But I always feel guilty about rpf- less so about hockey, since I don't really follow the sport, and hardly know what half the people even look like. It is very weird. I also read Merlin (hardly watched), Teen Wolf (hardly watched) and Steve/Bucky (I saw the Avengers and like Sebastian Stan from Gossip Girl)

I almost never read in a fandom I don't know well.

There also fandoms I know well, may even love for vids, and can't go there with fic.

I have to figure out what Vonnie is reading lately, becuase I know I always liked the stuff she likes, way back to Dawson's Creek.

Dawson's Creek! HAHAHA OH GOD.

You don't want to be reading what I'm reading right now, because I am still knee-deep in terrible Oliver/Felicity fic (Arrow). I don't know what the fuck is up with that pairing that it's got me in its grip for so long. I kinda detest the fandom (which is mostly on Tumblr) but I am still reading indiscriminately, and most stories make me weep for humanity with their suckass characterizations and ridiculous cliches. Yet still I'm there, reading. At some point, some kind of intervention might be needed. The show actually went and turned the pairing canon, so I'm hoping that'll help me wean myself off the whole thing, since I basically never read established relationship fluff (which this fandom loves, ugh. Blah blah insert the universal cry of why wouldn't people write what *I* want to read for cryin' out loud, etc.)

You might like that Jaime/Brienne Regency AU story I mentioned above. It's long and well-written (if unfinished), and you probably just need passing familiarity with Game of Thrones: [link]

In terms of fic reading preference, I am like Plei. I need to be invested in the source canon to get into fic. I sort of wish I could follow good writers into shows I'm not familiar or not fannish about, but apparently I am not made that way. More's the pity.

I think I only recall a couple of instances of reading stories from a fandom I wasn't part of, Joan of Arcadia and maybe Criminal Minds. Then it's a function of following a writer I already really like and just reading as if it were their original characters in the story.

Occasionally I've followed a few writers into unfamiliar fandoms and ended up enjoying the source material (SGA, Highlander). But more often I'll just step back and hope to find them in a future, mutual fandom.