Fandom: ROSWELL
Pairing: Max/Michael
Author on LJ: N/A
Author Website:N/A
Warnings: This story has overtones of incest, so beware.

Why this must be read:
Few Max/Michael stories actually delve into the fraternal side of the relationship, even though, canonically, Max and Michael often read as boys suffering from a serious case of sibling rivalry. *g* That's one of the reasons why I find this story so compelling. It doesn't shy away from the fact that Max and Michael probably thought of each other as siblings for most of their lives. It actually makes that connection the focus of Michael's thoughts about his relationship with Max.

Aside from the slash, there is also some lovely character analysis in this story, in the way that Michael provides what he knows Max needs while knowing that it is near impossible for Max to admit that he needs anything at all.

So he waits for Max to get over the guilt and the shame after each of their encounters, because he knows Max will always come back.

Brother

Fandom: EVERWOOD
Pairing: Bright/Ephram
Author on LJ: davidduch_ess
Author Website: None
Why this must be read: Bright and Ephram discuss homosexuality, anime, and homosexuality in anime, then get to the "dibble-dabble."

This is just a perfect example how boys and sex work. It doesn't matter how the sex happens, just so long as it does!

The Effects of Homosexual Subtext in Anime on Teenage Boys

Fandom: EVERWOOD
Pairing: Bright/Ephram
Author on LJ: misswindy
Author Website: http://www.panfandom.com/nuke/
Why this must be read: Ephram has inspired Bright to become a very, very patient man.

This is in Bright's POV and is very very Bright. I think Miss Windy is my favorite Everwood author. She really understands where the chacters are coming from and where they should be going.



Strange Currencies

Fandom: X-Men Movieverse
Pairing: Xavier/Magneto
Author on LJ: Artaxastra
Why this must be read:

Don't be fooled by the Xavier/Magneto label. Yes, that is one of the relationships in the story seen through a young Jean Grey's eyes. But the central character here is Jean Grey at 11 years old. The story really is about learning and relationships. I particularly like how Artaxastra develops the bond that grows between Charles, Erik, and Jean and how Xavier's School for the Gifted comes to be as it is. And it's all done within the backdrop of Star Wars and The Last of the Jedi

The Last of the Jedi

Fandom: X-Men Movieverse
Pairing: Rogue/Magneto
Author on LJ: tylergrrls
Author Website: http://www.wolverineandrogue.com/fic/dbauthor.php?author_id=48
Why this must be read:

Yes you read that right Rogue/Magneto. This story is set after X1. Rogue develops an infatuation with a man long gone and Rogue is tired. This story is painful in that creeping slow aching way. After the first film alot of stories were written with Rogue dealing with having Erik in her head. This story just made me ache for Rogue, for Logan, for Erik.

An Excerpt
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Splinter Me Filter

Fandom: THE PROFESSIONALS
Pairing: Bodie/Doyle
Author on LJ: no
Author Website: no

Why this must be read:

The Hag is well known in the fandom for her witty, lighter stories. She has a rare talent for word play and a feeling for language that makes her comic forays sheer delights, and I enjoy every one of them.

Even more, though, I love her serious stories. Her rhythmic, nuanced prose conveys a wealth of emotion along with insights into the characters and what's happening between them. Moving on from the Christmas Day rec last time, we arrive at Boxing Day, celebrated throughout the UK (and in Ireland as St Stephen's Day) on 26 December. This brief but rich story makes lovely use of this particular holiday to chart a new step in Bodie's and Doyle's relationship:

Doyle was wanting to know things. Perilous stuff, information. It gave people an edge on you. There were things Cowley knew, things old acquaintances knew, and things only he knew. There was the thing Doyle had whispered last night when he had hovered on the very brink of sleep, his head pillowed on Doyle's wide shoulder, feeling oddly safe in that bony embrace. Doyle had brought a deadly weapon into play, and he had to answer the challenge before he lost his nerve.

Boxing Day

Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Pairing: Spike/Buffy, Buffy/Angel

Authors' webpage: Ficbitch.com
Authors on LJ: kita0610 and jess79

Why this must be read:
Kita and Jess take on season 6 - Spike/Buffy, returning from Heaven, depression, alienation, fucked-up despairing sex, and oh, all the angry, hurting emotional trauma all around. Distill out the wacky hijinks of the geek triumvirate and the bad "magiks = drugs" metaphors, and you've got what was best about the season - the shock of a heroine profoundly broken, boatloads of moral greyness, hard questions and no easy answers, with the raw factor kicked up a couple of notches. Spike dealing (or not) with the grieving. The funeral. The resurrected Buffy and Angel conversation we never saw. Spike trying to be alive and Buffy trying to be dead, and all the messy, selfish, painful reasons why.

There's too many reasons to love this story (in a painful, digging under your skin kind of way), but this line is one of them:
( Snapshot )

Six Foot Deep

Fandom: The Sentinel
Pairing: Jim/Blair
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: none
Why this must be read

I still have a big pile of stories, written by well-known writers, that I could recommend. Classics that everybody knows who is longer than four weeks in fandom and knows how to do a google search. But it's probably a little boring to rec the same writers over and over and aside from that, I'm sure the recommendations in the upcoming month will cover that.

So I'll spend my last two recs on two relatively new writers, well, new to the TS fandom as far as I can see.

With Caro Dee, I'm a torn soul because I know she *can* write but her characterization doesn't always work for me. *coughcough* In fact, the very first story I read by her didn't work for me at all. Don't worry, she knows that. *g*

I find it amazing that she's the author of one of my most disliked stories as well as of one of my most liked ones.

I would like to rec two stories by her, but since it's one rec per mail I decided on "Hermit Crab". I'll talk about the other in my own LJ here.
This little ficlet, "Hermit Crab" just *does* it for me because it describes in very few words how I believe Blair felt in the days after he caught the detective's badge at the end of TSbyBS.

It's a refreshing change from the "Blair is mourning the loss of his academic career" plot and therefore a personal favorite of mine.

Hermit Crab

Fandom: THE O.C.
Pairing: none
Author on LJ: none known
Author Website: none known
Why this must be read: This is crack!fic of the purest kind. It's also what I offer up as my last rec of the month. It's a parody of Chris Rock's song "No Sex in the Champagne Room", only it's no sex in the poolhouse. It makes me giggle and hopefully, it'll make you giggle as well.

Go, read and enjoy.

No Sex in Ryan's Poolhouse

Fandom:ALIAS
Pairing: Sydney / Sark UST
Author on LJ: aliasrlm
Author Website: n/a
Why this must be read:

The imagery! This fic is so vivid you can taste it. And the sparring between Sydney and Sark is dripping with cold and calculated tension. Sarkney at its best!

( excerpt )

Pomegranate

Fandom: DUE SOUTH
Pairing: Fraser/Kowalski
Author on LJ: latxcvi
Author Website: LaT's Room
Why this must be read:

Originally printed in the Serge Protector zine, this story is a fill in the blanks for the episode Asylum, which is a personal favorite. I love how LaT builds on what we see on screen and make it fit effortlessly. It's emotional and hot. I want this kind of treatment for every episode.

( Excerpt )

Blowback

Fandom: HIGHLANDER
Pairing: Duncan/Methos
Author on LJ: julad
Author Website: http://yearningvoid.net/julad/

Why this must be read: Duncan and Methos go shopping for groceries. Is that a plot or what? It's 2018: Methos, after a long absence, is back in Seacouver, running the bar Joe has left him. He's got a new, youthful persona as the lead guitarist in the house band at Joe's; Duncan is, well, Duncan. As they shop for dinner, sparring and bickering, running into old lovers and enemies who touch them briefly and are gone, Duncan comes to a realization about Methos and himself.

Apparently this is the only story Julad has written in Highlander fandom; a pity.

( Excerpt )

The Freshest and The Best