Fandom: SMALLVILLE
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Author on LJ: runpunkrun
Author Website: The Underground Punk Maneuverability

Why this must be read: Admittedly, it's a rather small category, so perhaps it's faint praise to call this my favorite "human Clark" story. Clark does a bunch of Super things over the course of the story, as per usual, but he's losing his powers and has no idea why. Loss and change are the order of the day and the whole thing is bittersweet and funny and sexy. There are some great original characters without a trace of Punky Sue. I especially like this Lois: even though it's not a very flattering portrait, it is a sympathetic one. Punk's Metropolis is a place I want to visit. The very brief sushi outtakes on her site (Leftovers) should be read, also.

Fine. I'll admit it. I think you should read everything Punk has written, even the non-SV stuff.

Read, enjoy, and then tell her how much you loved it.

Interstitial

Direct Link: The Road Not Taken by Joyfulgirl41
Fandom: Smallville
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Rating: NC-17
Author on LJ: joyfulgirl41
Author Website: Our Love is So Right

Why this must be read: What if Lex was raised by lesbians in Montana? No, really! What if Lois was the best hag ever? What if Clark were...well, not a virgin. He's actually pretty much Clark otherwise ;) The dialogue is fabulous and natural and clever, and there's a real sense of friendship amongst the characters. Nature vs. nurture is never really in question (and with a sweetie-pie author named Joyful, is that really a surprise?), but the exploration of the concept is well-thought-out. TRNT is about 7000 pages long, but it's so well-paced that it doesn't feel like it's taking you hours to read--but it is. Set aside a nice big block of self-indulgent time for this one.

Read, enjoy, and then tell her how much you loved it.

Yeah, Week 3. Shut up. I'll have Week 4 in by the end of the week and be out of the way of November's Special Guest Host in plenty of time, I promise.

~~~

With SV, it's often difficult to tell whether a story is merely futurefic or full-blown AU. Because the audience is (painfully!) aware of how things are supposed to end up--and TPTB have made it very clear they have no intention of flouting that particular piece of Superman mythology--any story about the future where Clark and Lex don't end up enemies is, technically, an AU even though we're nowhere near the end of the friendship in the series. If we didn't have that foreknowledge, a couple of these wouldn't be AU yet ;)

I love reading versions of characters who are tethered to canon, but by a really long leash. If Clark and Lex behave as I imagine they would if things (sometimes everything) were different, then I consider it a successful AU. There is a lot of SV futurefic that is very action-packed, but since I usually drift off or become confused in heavy action sequences (there are too many guns to keep track of!), my preference is for character-focused stories that are definitely still about Superman (or a Clark who'll become Super).

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Gotham Underground - Shaggirl

Switch: A Comedy of Terrors - Rivka T

Blue Series - Rhiannonhero

Interstitial - Punk

The Road Not Taken - Joyfulgirl

Fandom: CSI
Pairing: Catherine/Sara
Author on LJ: cappuccinogirl
Author's website: Cappuccino Girl Online
Why this must be read: The beauty of CSI is the wealth of pairings, including a viable (and hot) built-in femmeslash pairing in Sara/Catherine. This piece in particular is nice because it really showcases Sara's insecurities, her ignorance of her own beauty and the insecurity that drives her to bury herself in work. It's clear in this story how close Catherine and Sara have become over the course of the series, and how Catherine would be the first to notice if something wasn't right with Sara. And did I mention that they're really hot together?

She maps your body with her hands, all delicate and china fingers on your limbs.

Fandom: THE X-FILES
Pairing: Fox Mulder/Alex Krycek
Author website: I seem to recall that Sebastian had a website, but now I can't find it. If anyone knows where it went, please let me know.
Why this must be read:

Like so many other stories, Another Me starts with Krycek indulging in his favourite hobby - Mulder-watching. But what he discovers here is something neither he nor the reader could ever imagine, and suddenly he finds himself involved in a relationship with the man of his dreams that is far more complicated and twisted than perhaps even he can handle. In the end, how much is he willing to do in the name of love?

This is without a doubt both one of the most original and one of the most extreme takes on Mulder and Krycek out there, a 'what if?' scenario that takes huge liberties with Mulder's character and yet stays glued to canon. If non-con, bdsm and general fucked-upness isn't your cup of tea, you shouldn't go there. If that's what you like, though... Let's just say that Sebastian delivers, and with style.

The basic premise of the story is hardly consistent with DSM IV, but Sebastian sells it easily, and once you've bought it, the characterizations and plot developments are superb. Krycek's first person narrative is wonderfully written, the twists and turns of the storyline always interesting, always surprising, and the sex as hot as you could possibly hope for. This is a fic guaranteed to keep you riveted through its 29 chapters and 700K, and when you're out on the other side, I doubt you'll ever forget it. There are few pieces of fanfic that I can recommend as highly as this one. Really, it's an experience you shouldn't miss out on.

Another Me

Author: Ins
Fandom: BTVS
Pairing: Anya/Xander
Author on LJ: LJ says it's deleted.
Author Website: Also seems to be gone.
Why this must be read:

From what I've seen of reccs lists and award sites, most of the fic that gets lauded the loudest in most fandoms is long and involved, brain candy that last a long time and brings porn. What I really loved about reading BTVS/ATS fic as the series developed was that authors often slipped right into the heads of the characters and wrote these tiny stories where they drew back the mental shutters and showed a fragment of what the characters were thinking. More often than not, these were episode-based, and pretty rapidly what they were showing us got Jossed or lost in the shuffle. This is a fic like that. This is a possible Anya that never really came to pass, but she was dead on at the time.

Gentle Cycle

Fandom: Farscape
Pairing: None
Author on LJ: melymbrosia
Author's Website: Inauthentic Prototype
Why this must be read: It is a sharp, clear insight into the Aeryn of Season One. This story makes you feel exactly how difficult it was for Aeryn to lose the life she had as a Peacekeeper, and why she regretted the loss so keenly. There is also the slightest glimmer of the growth Aeryn's character would show later in the season. This is the best pre-Premiere Aeryn I've read, and it made me hurt for her situation in ways I'd never thought of before.

Outcast by Melymbrosia


The next few days, it's going to be all Aeryn, all the time here in my recs. It's nearly the end of October, and I realize that I haven't recommended nearly as many as I could have. I'm still searching for that Braca/Scorpy that shaggirl requested. ;}