Fandom: EVERWOOD
Pairing: Bright/Ephram
Author on LJ: misswindy
Author Website: Fan Fiction by Miss Windy

Why this must be read: In Everwood, everything almost always gets shot to hell when someone starts talking. No one tries to understand because everyone else is either wallowing in their own angst or they perceive that everyone else is on the offensive. Like with Andy and Epram, or Ephram and Amy, or Bright and Harold. In some ways, this reminds me of what Joss Whedon said about the Buffy episode "Hush" where everyone couldn't speak -- that people had a hard time understanding one another when they were talking all the time but deprived of the ability of speech and without words to muck everything up, the characters get to the heart of the matter and begin to really communicate. That mindset is kinda like this...

Because words always get in the way when it comes to Bright and Ephram. It is very characteristic of these two: how the Ephram's wit can cut, how even the directness of Bright's vocabulary can wound. Even now that they're friends, it is still present in their banter (though without the anger and volatility of their earlier relationship). Here, the fic pushes the relationship into a different direction. Something less fraternal and even more confusing. And knowing that he doesn't have the right words, Bright seems to choose the perfect solution -- He lets his actions speak for him, as he tries to kiss Ephram. A lot. Until Ephram finally gets what Bright is trying to say.

He finally just ended up with his cheek almost pressed against Bright's chest, and no, it wasn't sexy at all, really, much to Bright's dismay. He'd expected for their bodies to sort of fall into place, but instead it felt awkward, stilted and wired. They were all the wrong angles for each other, and Bright couldn't find purchase anywhere.

He thought it was perfect.

Funny, sweet and surprisingly sexy, this is a wonderful story about two boys who are so different from one another, as they try to reach an understanding.

Falling is Like This

Fandom: HOMICIDE:LIFE ON THE STREET
author's website Her stories can be found at http://secorfiles.tripod.com
Author on lj: unknown
Pairing:: Mostly none, but there is some Lewis/Stivers and implied Ballard/Falsone, but overall I'd call this story gen.
Summary: A redball affecting one of their own disrupts the squad on Thanksgiving, bringing scattered detectives together.
Why this must be read: Plenty of people have written post-"Life Everlasting" stories, but none seem to have the jump-cut immediacy of the series in the way that gator's has here. And as much as I enjoy a steamy ship-fic, as a crime-show junkie, it was the cases that hooked me initially so I have a soft spot for Homicide gen. Also, gator is one of the few to hold out the possibility of a (hard-fought) happy ending for Tim Bayliss in the wake of the Ryland shooting. My Baylust is very pleased by this, and also, sadly, that Tim spends much of this fic in a very tormented state(I promise I'll get therapy in March.)
Excerpt:; "Paul, this is Terri. We're at your ex-wife's house."
Link: Gator posted this in five seperate parts, starting with http://secorfiles.tripod.com/thanks1.htm.

Item the first: February is the month of lurve, and of chocolates and roses, and their cyber-equivalents! Let’s give our volunteer reccers a hint at our hearts’ desire.

[Poll #243696]

Item the second: You may not be aware that we limit our volunteers on the number of fic recs they can post each month. The reason for this is two-fold: to ensure the longevity of the community and to limit friends-list spammage (with 38 current fandoms, unlimited recs could quickly get out of hand). To date, on average, there are 7.4 crack_van posts per day, though some days the volume is quite a lot higher than that, and I understand there may be some frustration with lack of cut-tags here.

[Poll #243697]

And speaking of those rec limits…

[Poll #243698]

Thanks for playing! And don’t forget to read my Smallville recs this month! Participation is mandatory!!

Fandom:BLAKES7
Pairing:Blake/Avon
Author on LJ:?
Author Website:?
Why thismustbe read:

Looking over the recs by my colleague, hafren one can see that, although she has more taste and critical judgment in her little finger than I have in my whole body, nevertheless she concentrated on literature and downplayed Filth, one of the basic Fic Groups.

To complement her rec of Hades' Terminal, I'd like to propose Hera's Resolution. (Hades is the darkfic side of Hera, or vice versa). Yes, this is a PWP, but one of the sweetest, best-natured ones you'll ever find. Furthermore, in a generally Avonerastic fandom, it adopts a viewpoint (or dual viewpoint--All of Avon and a Salient Part of Avon) of drooling Blakelust.

 
Fandom: HIGHLANDER
Pairing: Duncan/Methos
Author on LJ: Not that I know of
Author Website: Lapsus Linguae: Stories by Ysanne
Why this must be read:

Highlander is a fandom that lends itself to the genre of BDSM since everyone heals, or at least their bodies do. Having said that, these aren't really BDSM stories, (and if they had been labelled as such I probably wouldn't have read them, since I'm a wimp and avoid pain even in fiction) but they are about pain and need. Although very short, the two stories - the same scene told from different perspectives - are amazingly powerful.
They take you to a dark place where MacLeod has lost too much, and Methos has hidden too well.

MacLeod watches me warily from the kitchen area, gambling that I
won't abandon him tonight. I know what he is doing in there, and I
want to leave, I really do. My heart speeds up with fight-or-flight
adrenaline, yet when he returns I'm still slouching against the
chair, arms crossed loosely before me in my usual pose of cool
control: Methos the unflappable, Methos the all-knowing.

A Troubled Spirit and its partner Contrition

Fandom: X-MEN MOVIEVERSE
Pairing: gen
Author on lj: minisinoo
Author's website: The Medicine Wheel
Why this must be read:

One loose end X1 left was the memories Marie had absorbed, not just from Logan, but from Magneto. "Letters and Papers from Prison" is a quiet and intense look at Marie trying to handle her memories of Magneto's past and figure out what they mean for her future. It's a rough story emotionally, with some unflinching looks at the horror of the Holocaust, but there's a thread of hope running through it, and it's well worth reading just for that.

Letters and Papers from Prison

Fandom: FIREFLY
Pairing: Inara/Kaylee
Author on LJ: sweetvalleyslut
Author Website: cynic sunset

Why this must be read:

As the saying goes, this one's short but sweet. Kaylee's fascination with Inara is well-established on the show, as is the fact that Inara gets things from Kaylee she can't from the other members of the crew: total acceptance and support. This fic reads like a natural outgrowth of all the little moments between Inara and Kaylee in canon. Finally, there's a lovely cadence to the Inara POV that fits the character very well.

Bed and Breakfast

Fandom: X-MEN COMICSVERSE
Pairing: None.
Author on LJ: nute
Author Website: The Finish Line

Why this must be read:

One of the things I've always loved about fanfic is the potential for filling in the blanks. Not so much a matter of 'missing scenes' -- I often find those problematic -- as a matter of missing *lives*. The minor characters that show up within a given show/movie/book/whatever solely to advance the plot or give the *real* heroes (or villains) a straight line to work with.

Granted, when you've got a fandom like X-Men, there tends to be *tons* of canon available about the most random of characters, but there remains something to be said for a good fannish author picking up the scattered pieces and making a story out of it. And that's just what nute does with the Juggernaut. This is a gritty, intensely *believable* piece about a man who willingly gave up his humanity... and is just starting to figure out what that means.

I've been sitting here thinking for a while about why I love this piece so much. I mean, I would've made a few different choices if I'd written it (though not many), and it's a brief thing, even a little... sentimental. A little. Kind of. Really, you should probably take *that* with a grain of salt, considering that it's *me* saying it, but hey... I tend to think that there's a *reason* why each of us only gets a month to pimp our fandoms. This month, you're getting the way *I* look at the Marvel universe.

Which brings us right back to "Unstoppable," because, in the end, the biggest reason why this story works *so* freaking well for me is because I have a massive kink for People. For stories that take these (often quite literally) larger than life characters and show the reader how they might come to exist in a world like our own. Or, even better, how to look at the characters' glossy, improbable world and see a place where *we* might exist.

I never cared about the Juggernaut. He didn't *annoy* me, but he always seemed kind of pointless. And gratuitous. I mean, come on, name the Bad Brother *Cain*? Sometimes, reading comic books can feel like a trip to the Acme Anvil Company, man. *This* story changed that for me. Suddenly, I could *feel* this man, and care about his existence, and be *interested* in his hopes, fears, and beliefs.

Any story that increases my love for a given universe, that broadens and *deepens* that love? Is, in my opinion, a story worth reading.

And a story worth pimping. ;-)

Consider this a not-gentle-in-the-slightest introduction to the world of Marvel, with my compliments.

Unstoppable

Fandom: dueSouth
Pairing: Fraser/Kowalski
Author on LJ: shrift
Author's Website: http://bifictionalbedlam.slashcity.net/shrift

Why this must be read: There are certain stories that make you realize you have a certain ... oh, what's the word ... kink. This was one of mine. I'm pretty vanilla most of the time, so don't let that scare you off. A brief excerpt:

Fraser had only left Chicago for a brief RCMP conference on the implementation of a new, computer-driven form-filing system to replace the 10989B report in the coming 21st century. After four days spent in the bowels of a Sheraton in downtown Toronto confined to a meeting room just off Queen Street, Fraser was feeling a nagging sense of disquiet as he walked to the police station. After all, his last period of absence had resulted in the loss of a partner and dear friend to an undercover federal operation in Las Vegas. Therefore Fraser felt he had ample reason to be nervous.

The sense of creeping unease did not lessen when he arrived at his destination. He had gained a new best friend and partner in that last exchange, true, but Fraser had no desire to repeat the experience. Ray Kowalski was a fine undercover police officer and detective, and if he disappeared overnight with nary a phone call, Fraser would hunt him down to the ends of the earth...and patiently explain why that wouldn't do.

He wouldn't allow bureaucracy to misplace another of his partners. Especially not this one.

There is no sex in this story, which surprises me every time I read it. I love it to pieces, though, for the Fraser-POV and the image of Ray in ... no, I won't spoil it for you. Read.


Refraction

Sorry. I had to repost. For some reason when I updated the last entry, it errored and turned into a gobby gook mess of bad code.

Anyway...

Hey all! Here's the primer for QaF. Thanks to miss_lurker  for all of your help. I couldn't have done it without you!! <3<3<3

Our Primer is spoilery Up Through Season 3. So, if you don't want to know, then DON'T read

( QaF Primer )

Fandom: HARD CORE LOGO
Pairing: Joe/Billy
Genre: Slash
Author on LJ: wax_jism
Author website: http://www.parnet.fi/~waxjism/

Why this must be read:

One of the genre of HCL stories set before the movie, in the early days of the band, this is another piece that pulls no punches. This is a first time story, but it's not exactly hearts and flowers--we're talking Joe and Billy here, after all. And Wax Jism gets them, gets their dynamic, so that you can see them, years before the reunion tour, before things went so wrong--and yet everything that's going to go wrong is already there, waiting.

Billy has to wonder about himself: wonder why he hasn't left - why he's still spending his nights in these rat circus motels, drinking piss like this, taking Joe's bullshit. Jesus, who's he trying to convince? Himself? He knows, of course he knows. When things are shitty, they're pretty fucking shitty, but when it's good, when Joe relaxes his asshole side, let's things slide for once - magic. The music's magic. Magic makes a lot of shit worth it in the end.

Bruise Pristine