Fandom: BUFFY the Vampire Slayer
Pairing: Spike/Drusilla, Buffy/Angel
Author's website: Fanfic for the Fearless!
Author on LJ: juliefortune

Why this must be read:
All of Julie Fortune's stories are excellent - "News of my Death" shows off her skill at pacing, plotting, character voice, and most of all, building tension. Also, bonus points for giving Whistler another appearance, and expanding his role in the Buffyverse.

This piece, like the last rec, also has some great old-school Buffy vibes - plus a little "From Dusk 'Til Dawn" feel. Shortly after the events of "Becoming," Buffy finds herself stranded in a tiny desert town. Unfortunately, a couple of other familiar faces are stuck there too - and they're not the worst trouble in town.

Oh God, Giles thought. He didn’t dare think about it further. His imagination was too good, his empathy too well developed. "Where is she?"

Whistler studied him. Shook his head. "Not yet. She’s got stuff to do. Time for the Slayer to get out and see the world."

"But she’s – alive?"

Whistler checked his watch.

"Yeah," he said. "For another – two and a half hours."

News of my Death

Fandom: FARSCAPE
Pairing:
Author on LJ: lithium_doll
Author Website: http://www.alter-idem.com

Why this must be read: Lithium Doll writes some hard hitting fic and this one is no exception. As she says herself, 'two Crichtons, no convenient mid-season 3 death, dark fic'. A wonderful fic, told in parts from various POVs. You can find all the parts posted in the replies.

Excerpt: You can see it in the eyes, the moment of shattering, and understand that it’s a satisfying thing to see in an enemy; a terrible thing to see in the eyes of an ally, even one as intrinsically flawed and unwelcome as he. Or something very, very like it at least.

I can’t really blame the others for not noticing it. I intended to, and at length, but I never found a moment when I needed to hurt them so badly. I should have understood faster though, and when I did I shouldn’t have denied it, even in the state I was in. Not for his health, you understand, for mine. They are unpredictable once the n’ebrok is complete. Dangerous.

Alter-Idem

Fandom:BLAKES7
Pairing:None
Author on LJ:?
Author Website: http://www.ashtonpress.net
Why this must be read:

I can't say much about this short-short (only 4 pages) without spoiling. Bang and Blame (the PGP archive) accurately call this "a real gut-punch of a story." After Gauda Prima, the Scorpio crew is having yet another discussion of expediency and expendability. What comes next is perfectly heartbreaking, perfectly surprising, and perfectly believable.

Poetic Justice

Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Pairing: none
Author's website: spreading the Yay, one Ho at a time
pandarus

Why this must be read:
Back to the character-study stories. On Buffy, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce was primarily a comic-relief character; he executed pratfalls, screamed like a girl, and was regularly ignored or ridiculed by the main characters when he tried to assert himself. And yet when he moved over to Angel, the writers were able to convincingly develop him into a stronger, surer, more capable man, making a real Watcher out of someone the Council had discarded.

So how did he go from point A to point B? FayJay steps back to Wesley as he first comes to Sunnydale and puts us in his head as he goes through culture shock, meeting his predecessor, and his two Slayer charges. She captures him perfectly - very much the scholar, always observing and making notes, so full of optimistic pride. And this time we don't laugh at him when he falls, or scorn him when he fails, because we know this time what he's feeling, and it hurts.

Brave New World

Fandom: The Sentinel
Pairing: Jim/Blair
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: http://bifictionalbedlam.slashcity.net/guests/gritkitty.htm
Why this must be read:

This is an extrapolation from canon I can really see. The author took canon facts and details and run with it, starting with a typical canon-like situation: Blair sees a girl more or less regularly but they aren't all that serious. It develops into a competition between Blair and Jim and from there in a competition between the girlfriend and Jim with Blair as the "prize". I know, this doesn't sound as if it could happen in a "canon"-universe but Grit Kitty made me see how this could have happened and really, suddenly it isn't such a stretch anymore.

Very good how she shows Jim's feelings and perceptions after the Laura-incident made him aware of other people's pheromones. She compares this reaction to other reactions he had, regarding sensory awareness and shows beautifully how this affects Jim's thoughts and how he tries to deal with it. Grit Kitty is very good with showing us what's going on in Jim and Blair's minds, using carefully chosen words and lovely details. But she doesn't write "sweet", a big plus because it makes the story much more "real". She has a real knack for "showing" what the reader is supposed to "get" instead of plainly telling it.

Yes, there's a threesome scene in it and so far the only one in TS-fandom that ever worked for me, because, in the end, Blair's girlfriend is the catalyst that makes it possible for Jim and Blair to get together. It wasn't exactly her intention but that's the outcome of her actions.

Words spoken in winter

Since our Friday is 3/4 over in my time zone and we haven't had a single vid rec (*sobs*) I'm kicking things off with my all-time favorite vid. The assigned Smallville reccer may post her own rec as well, and if she does then double the Clex is a v. good thing. *g*


Song Title/Artist: Lonely Soul by unkle
Pairing: Lex-centric
Vidder: Kaliroi
Vidder on LJ: dreamaperture
Vidder's website: Slashland
Warnings: Some violent images
Why this vid kicks ass:

It just does. The song and images are perfectly suited for each other, it's edited beautifully, it's emotionally very powerful.

Lonely Soul

Song Title/Artist: Believe it or Not by Joey Scarbury
Pairing: Han/Leia/Luke (implied)
Vidder: Mudd
Vidder on LJ: no
Vidder's website: Succubus Productions
Warnings: Vaugely slashy, OT3 implied
Why this vid kicks ass:

Not only is Mudd my darling husband, he shows a flair for cutting on the beat, a deep understanding of Han Solo and a wicked sense of humor.

And the meta just flows from the song choice. (the theme is from the TV show "Greatest American hero" Harrison Ford used Star Wars as a springboard to become one of America's most popular movie heroes ever.)


Right click and save as. This vid premiered at last year's Eclecticon.

Fandom: Star Wars
Pairing: none specified
Author's website: Luminous beings
Author on LJ: irene_heron

Why this must be read:

One of the things that really bothered me about SW in my teens was when the bad guys blew up a planet, they were evil. When the good guys did the same, they were liberating the galaxy, and had no more remorse than the bad guys.

Fanfiction is marvelous in that it gives us a chance to explore and rectify this. The remorse is there, now that there's peace, and time for grief.

In "Her Son's Legacy," Luke Skywalker comes face to face with a woman whose life he has literally destroyed with that one proton torpedo. Together, they confront the realities of war, and the depth of forgiveness.

This story chokes me up every time.


Well, here I am. Site of my greatest triumph, some say. An obscure and remote planetary system, forgotten and unvisited except by tourists and the occasional scholar. Unremarkable in many ways, except for this ragged cloud of debris and the ruins on the fourth moon.

Debris, hell, who am I kidding? They deserve better than to be called debris. All one million one hundred nine thousand and seventeen of them. Yeah, Luke, you really deserve a pat on the back for murdering over a million souls. And the funny thing is, I used to think I did a good thing here.

He was alone in the observation lounge, standing in front of the great crystalplex window which framed a view of the Yavin gas giant and the green moon beyond. The holographic re-enactment of the battle was over, the spectators dispersed. Somewhere beneath him, in the belly of the cruise liner, passengers boarded landing shuttles that would take them to the moon, an optional excursion to visit the rebel base in its crumbling temple.



Her Son's Legacy

Fandom: Simon & Simon
Pairing: None
Author on LJ: blakefancier
Author Website: Zenia's lair of Fiction
Why this must be read:

This is a dark, yet realistic story. It's not slash.
I quote the header:


Warnings: This story deals with the issue of child molestation. So please if the idea of this deeply disturbs you, don't read it. I'm serious, just use the old delete button.

Notes: ::sigh:: I wish I could do this subject justice. This story is dedicated to those out there with secrets. Sometimes, unfortunately, they have no one to help them carry their burden.


The abuse is not glorified. It is buried, leaking out like toxic waste--the barrel punctured by the arrival of a cousin--poisoning a family get-together, corroding Rick & AJ's childhood memories, and causing more trauma to our already-traumatized detectives.

Painful, and intense, this is the single most realistic piece about the aftermath of abuse that i've ever seen.

I held thee softly

Well, I've been pretty plain in my recs so far. Nothing fancy, little verbage. This week, though, I'm going to do something a little different.

Earlier today, I was struggling trying to decide what I wanted to rec for this week. There were several things that were troubling me about making some of the recs I wanted to make. Then I read these posts by rubywisp and thebratqueen about why people write in fandom, but they are also about why people read in fandom. These posts changed my mind about what I planned to rec today.

Specifically these quotes (cut to spare those who just don't care):

( From thebratqueen.... )

( From rubywisp.... )

So, with that in mind, I've decided to rec several fics that were designed to meet various needs for both reader and author. And, to think that just earlier today I was complaining to shaggirl about people making multiiple rec posts on the same day. Well, I've never said I wasn't a hypocrite and contradictory. [Insert appropriate Whitman quote here. *smile*]

I started thinking about my favorite Smallville fanfic stories, the ones I come back to time and again, and they aren't all Shakespeare, man. But I'm pretty sure that they weren't all intended to be deep, meaning and profound.

For example, my first rec, Stapling Clark by stone_princess, is a great little piece of humorous porn. It is hot and yet entirely hysterical and...well, silly. I think that Jacyn would have no problem with that description. It fit a need for both the readers and the writers and, even though it won't make you cry buckets or contemplate the meaning of the universe and the definition of reality, it will amuse and hopefully get your heart racing a little.

Fandom: SMALLVILLE
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Author on LJ: stone_princess
Author Website: Starcat's Room With A View
Why this must be read: See above. But to summarize...hot, sexy, fun, porny, silly. An important part of any fandom is fun--and this is fun, dammit! Or, as Jaycn's summary reads: Lex staples Clark. Yes, really.

STAPLING CLARK

(two more recs to follow)

Song Title/Artist: Little by Little by Oasis
Pairing: none, though a focus on Bodie and Doyle
Vidder: Lithium Doll
Vidder on LJ: lithium_doll
Vidder's website: http://www.alter-idem.com/
Warnings: violence

Why this vid kicks ass:

There are few Pros vids online--all of nine, I believe. Since several of these have appeared recently, though, we can hope it's a sign of a mini-Renaissance of interest in vidding in this fandom, and the quality of the vids we have so far makes this a particularly exciting prospect. It also made choosing only one extremely difficult. But I love the look at the gritty world of CI5 that "Little by Little" gives us. Framed with Cowley's setting the scene, it moves on to examine what the agents do to get the job done and what the job does to them. As the music swells in tempo, the speed and presentation of the images match it, driving home the theme.

Little by Little

Well, I've been pretty plain in my recs so far. Nothing fancy, little verbage. This week, though, I'm going to do something a little different.

( Why I'm Rec'ing These Stories )

Then again, some of them are pretty profound.

For example, my second rec, White Bees And Sunflowers by velvetglove, is a really layered piece. It takes the reader to a possible universe post Shattered and Asylum where love is obsession, and devotion is deadly. But not in the way one might think given canon. It has one of the single best dream sequences I've ever read in my life and that I still think about sometimes late at night. This is a piece that you don't necessarily read for fun, but you read because it is beautiful and it speaks to a deeper part of you than you realized when you started it.

Fandom: SMALLVILLE
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Author on LJ: velvetglove
Author Website: Glovebox
Why this must be read: See above. But to summarize...dreamy, beautiful, intense, believable and smart.

WHITE BEES AND SUNFLOWERS

Well, I've been pretty plain in my recs so far. Nothing fancy, little verbage. This week, though, I'm going to do something a little different.

( Why I'm Rec'ing These Stories )

And some are meant to entertain, to tell a fun story, to show us something that would never happen in canon and, maybe it isn't Shakespeare, but there is something fun and comforting to the whole thing. Grammar issues or any other clumsiness be damned, it's a comforting, fun, happy-making read.

For example, my third rec, ALexander The Great by Marag and Terpsichore, is one of my favorite comfort fics. I'm not going to deny that there are some things about the story that require the reader to just hum and dismiss; it has some moments of clumsiness. Even so, there probably isn't a story that I am more apt to read when I'm sad, sick, or feeling low than this one. This story wasn't written to be deep or a masterpiece. It was written to entertain, to provide escape and it does that plenty. Not every story has to be Godly to make some mark on fandom or on the reader. So, here's the deal, I love this story.

Fandom: SMALLVILLE
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Author on LJ: ?
Author Website: ?
Why this must be read: See above. But to summarize...romantic, comforting, requires suspension of disbelief--oh and Lex has an LJ. Yes, really.

ALexander The Great

Fandom: QUEER AS FOLK USA
Pairing: Justin, Michael
Author on LJ: seperis
Author Website: Indulgence

Why this must be read: jenn says "Conversation in early morning, well before coffee." This is one of the first fics jenn wrote after being seduced into this fandom. The atmosphere, quality and attention to detail are hallmarks of her work. So is the sideways look at characters we thought we knew well, and then find that she knows them so much better.

...Michael knows that Justin's just a kid, and that he's not, really. Justin knows Michael loves Brian...


( EXCERPT: )

Once and Again