Fandom: BLAKES7
Pairing: Vila/Avon
Author on LJ: Don't know
Author Website: Don't know
Why this must be read: It's another session where Vila carries out Avon's prescribed program of humiliation and pain...and then Avon outsmarts himself (or does he?) by bringing back a deluxe piece of bondage equipment from yet another revolutionary mission. Bound, gagged, and helpless, this time Avon can't prevent Vila from getting what Vila really wants....

The Vilaphiles in the audience are no doubt saying that it's about bloody time we had an A/V rec. I'd also like to steer your attention toward the Oblique archive, which reproduces Oblique's extensive library of slash paperzines (updated as recently as this April, with a Smallvile zine). Oblique concentrates on darkfic, and "Benchmark" sounds like it's going to conform, but then takes a sweet detour Curtain-wards.

In the generally hostile and distrustful world of B7, (most of the time) Avon and Vila like each other, and they have enough similarities (although Blake has a predilection for the criminal element, Avon and Vila are the only two thieves in the operation; they're also the two most self-conscious verbal artists) and enough differences that *don't* become a matter of contention (there's no argument that Avon is smarter than Vila, and Vila has nil interest in achieving a higher place in the ship's hierarchy than Avon) that they're a plausible sexual and perhaps romantic couple.

Dunno if I believe it, but "Benchmark" is an example of a common fanfic take on A/V: Vila is more emotionally intact, or at least more emotionally expressive, so that provides something that Avon can learn from him.

Benchmark

Title: Somnambulist by CL Kamnikar
Fandom: Stargate SG1
Pairing: None
Author on LJ: N/A
Author Website: N/A

Why this must be read: “This is Daniel's brain. This is Daniel's brain deprived of sleep and caffeine. Any questions?” {points/cackles hysterically} That’s all.

Fandom: Farscape
Pairing: John/Aeryn
Author on LJ: thassalia
Why this must be read: Few works of science fiction deal with the pure wonder of manned space flight. To experience that, you have to watch documentaries, or dramas based on fact like Apollo 13. But Thea here reminds us that the Earth of Farscape's universe is not so different or far off from our own; she reminds us that they, too, are less than fifty years from a world in which space flight was not possible. John Crichton long ago lost the wonder of space flight, and by necessity; but he recaptures it a little here, if only to try to make his friends understand Earth and it's inhabitants. Many stories in the Farscape fandom deal with humanity's technological deficiencies; for a group of people to whom space flight has been a part of everday life for thousands of years, landing on the moon is nothing.

It's not nothing for us, and deep down, John never forgets it.

Mare Tranquilis by Thea

Fandom: Angel: the Series.
Direct Link: Unwoven
Pairing: Gunn/Fred
Author on LJ: roseveare
Author Website: Freaky Alternate Reality
Why this must be read: Because this story really gets to the heart of a too-often-neglected character, and defines her more clearly than the show itself does.

Fred is one of those characters fandom as a whole didn't really take to, for one reason or another. Partially because even on the show she's often more of a plot device than an active protagonist. The really impressive thing about this story is that it portrays Fred's amazing dramatic potential in a way that nonetheless is perfectly consistent with her characterization on the show.

This story, like a number of others I have recced and wil rec this month, came out of the "Five Things That Didn't Happen" challenge. It's one of the most successful challenge I've ever seen, because the stories that came out of it are almost universally wonderful. Of course, it totally helps that I'm a huge AU junkie.

( And now, a breakdown of the supporting cast in this story )