Why you should watch this show, in a nutshell: This show, on its best days, is like Buffy's smarter, more stylish and complicated older sister. The dialogue is funny and clever, the characters constantly evolving, the moral issues more complex, and the acting nearly always pitch-perfect. And even on its bad days, it will still have a lot of entertainment value as a Big Gay Soap Opera. And also? Many, many pretty people.

I must say I'm afraid I've gotten pretty...wordy, with this thing. It's a spin-off, and also a very arc-heavy show, so there's a lot of history to the characters. Sorry?

( The characters )

( The plot )

( Sites of interest )

Fandom: Everwood
Pairing: Colin/Ephram
Author on LJ: synchronik
Author Website: http://www.puppyshelter.org/joeseats/index.html (All *Nsync, besides this story)
Why this must be read: Over is the first Everwood story I can clearly remember reading; it's the one that got me interested and started the great pull the show has on me, and it's the story I've been most successful in using to convert my friends.

The story's a little dated now, as it's easy to pinpoint when it would have been written, back in the Colin/Ephram heydey (after the consciousness and before the craziness). The plot isn't complicated -- the summary is "Colin sleeps over at Ephram's house", and once you add in the sex, that's basically it -- but it's full of lovely lovely character stuff about Colin and Ephram and everything about their relationship, all in witty, easy language.

Let's face it - for all there is that is sigh-inducing and awe-inducing in LotR, there is also a fair amount that is giggle-inducing. Particularly if you have a good pervy sense of humor. To that end, I introduce the grandmommy of all LotR humor fic:

The Very Secret Diaries, by Cassandra Claire. (PG-13 for heavy innuendo. lots of it.)
Fandom: Lord of the Rings
Pairing: everyone/everyone else Slashiness abounds.
Author on LJ: epicyclical Technically, that LJ is for her HP fandom and cassieclaire is for her LotR fandom, but the latter hasn't been touched since March - likely if she does write more VSD after RotK, she will mention it on epicyclical.
Why this must be read:
You may perhaps be familiar with the wise saying "You wouldn't get very far in life not saying 'is.'"* Well, you can't get very far in LotR fandom without reading these diaries. Not because there's any particularly deep character insight in them, but you'll be far less confused when someone drops a "still the prettiest!" or "palantir better than cable" into the conversation.

Written "Bridget Jones' Diary"-style, the diaries take place during Fellowship of the Ring (FotR). Each member of the Fellowship has their own diary, plus Elrond, Sauron, Saruman, Gollum, Ringwraith #5, and Arwen. They are highly irrevrent, highly slashy, and very, very hysterical. I'm talking laugh-out-loud, covering-your-mouth-with-your-hands-so-your-coworkers-won't-hear-you funny. You won't watch the movies again without one of Cassie's lines (or your own variation thereof) popping into your head.

Cassie also wrote some follow-up diaries, set during The Two Towers,:
Legolas, Part II
Theoden
and Aragorn, Part II

*tm The Knights Who Say 'Ni!' - Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Previously on Popslash: "Motherfucking Chris."

Today on Popslash: West Virginia (NC 17)

Fandom: Popslash
Pairing: Justin/Lance (Lambs)
Author on LJ: callmesandy and circusgirl
Author Website: Suitable for Framing
Why this must be read:

West Virginia is high energy, witty popslash that plays out like a Sunday afternoon movie. And not one of those dreary four-hour Sunday afternoon Lifetime flicks wherein an older, relationship-wary woman finds love with a stubborn lumberjack or whatever, either. This, my friends, is a seriously great, fun romp. Snarky Justin and Lance! On the run! From mysterious criminals! With mysterious motives! Armed with guns! And pot! And turning the subtle "What do you mean? Of course they're not gay!" subtext of most buddy movies into something a little more phsycial and a little hotter than just subtext!

circusgirl and callmesandy unfailingly make their stories quick-paced and interesting -- and Justin/Lance is a pairing where they really shine. A perfect introductory story for this pairing, with it's only downfall being that once you've read it, you'll have trouble finding another Justin/Lance story that you enjoy as much. Go! Read!

( Again, no supporting cast to mention. Instead, lambs! )

ETA: Oops, I lied. Supporting cast: Johnny is *Nsync's post-Pearlman lawsuit manager. Brian Littrell is a Backstreet Boy.

Friday on Popslash: Something other than what I had planned, as that fic has apparently disappeared into the annals of pop fandom history.

Fandom: Blakes7
Pairings: Blake/Avon/Vila, Blake/Avon
URL: (It's part of the Oblique Publications archive):

http://www.oblique-publications.net/archives/oblaqueiv/1_OblaqueIVbitter.pdf

Why This Must be Read:

"Here's much to do with hate, but more with love
Why then, o brawling love, o loving hate!" (Romeo & Juliet)

For a lot of people, it just wouldn't be B7 without the angst. Sebastian (who many of you know from other fandoms) launches a novelette that starts with Vila having the bad judgment to initiate a drunken Alpha sandwich and ends with a really bad breakup between Blake and Avon (with intimations of worse to come). There are lots of stories in which Vila hankers after Avon (it seldom does him much good--it's a very common story pairing, but Avon is usually a complete cad in this incarnation). Not all that many straight-out Blake/Vilas, although a triangular relationship is not that uncommon.

Hey, the *manifest* content of B7 is endless struggles between Blake and Avon. A lot of the fics treat the sparring as a disguise against the depth of their real feelings, and everything is OK once they resign themselves to being soinlove. But here, Sebastian writes about a relationship where the sexual obsession continues to escalate but the level of horrible behavior never gets any lower.

There's also a standalone zine of the novelette "One Night Stand," which was started by Sebastian and completed by Nova. It's available (US price is $15) from http://www.hermit.org/Blakes7/Fanzines/Judiths/ONS.html

Oblique Publications published paperzines in many fandoms (including, recently, Smallville) and has generously made its archives available on the Web. Of course there's always a catch--the files are posted as two-column PDFs, which looks pretty nifty if you print them out but is a right bastard to read on screen. (Bittersweet is 46 pages long, so either you use a lot of paper and toner or squint a lot.) There's a whole series of "Oblaque" single-fandom zines, and there are B7 stories in other Oblique publications as well. Many of them are darkfics, and overall the tone is so relentlessly "Can this marriage be saved?" that at the very first hint of Spuffy I was reminded of Oblaque--where "Well, I do beat him up a lot. For Avon, that's like third base" would fit in perfectly.

Fandom: S.W.A.T.
Title & URL: "Grinded Concrete"
Pairings: Street/Gamble, Street/Lara, Street/Deke Hayes
Author on LJ: kissmeagain
Author Website:N/A

Why this must be read: Because it once again proves my theory that Jim Street is a ho! Actually, no. But it does do three very convincing relationships, two of them are slash. In the first scene, she gets the Street/Gamble relationship and the character's voices down so well it's breathtaking. Deke and Street in a food fight with little kids? So cute. And, I can see the two of them doing that, starting the fight and running off to hide. I bet they didn't even help clean up. And Just…She writes Jim so well, with a hint of angst but not totally taken over by it. Words can not express how much I loved this when I first read it, and reading it over now, I'm still in love with every second of it. It's a short read, and I recommend it to anyone who's seen the movie.