By strange coincidence, ten months to the day since crack_van hit the road in search of wayward scantily clad fangirls, we’ve reached a landmark 1,000 watchers! (Er...riders? Oy, the metaphor, it is never-ending.)

If this milestone doesn’t call for shwag, then I don’t want to live in such a cold, cruel world another day. Hearing this and in an act of selfless charity, velvetglove reprised her role as the crack_van resident artist, and the Crack Van Café Press Store is now open for business!*

For the record, the dials have also turned over on:

2,363 journal entries

2,286 saved memories

57 fandom overviews

5,902 posted comments

695 community members

0 inter-fandom flame wars *g*

Big thanks to everyone who’s volunteered and contributed, pimped us to their friends list, offered their skills, or just cheered the van along, especially my tireless co-mod stopawhile. Crack Van Phil is not to be trifled with, yo!


* crack_van and its mods are a non-profit enterprise. We're just here for the wholesale shwag, baby!

Fandom: Angel
Pairing: Lindsey/Connor
Author's Web Site: Glossings
Author on LJ: glossing

Why this story must be read:

This story is twisted, brilliant, haunting, beautiful, and in my opinion one of the best interpretations of Lindsey out there. Though the twist in this story is proven to be impossible by what ends of happening in Season 5 of Angel, it still is a wonderful, disturbing look at the way things could have been. I love the way Lindsey is portrayed in the story. Every detail, every revelation just made so much sense to me. The prose is lovely and I would be here all day if I pulled out quotes because there are so many absolutely astounding lines. Stories like this are why I read fanfic. And it doesn't hurt that I adore the Lindsey/Connor pairing for all its fucked up glory. Go read and discover a very twisted, but very plausible interpretation of how things could have been.

No Such Boy

Fandom: HARRY POTTER
Pairing: Harry/Ron, Harry/Draco (I know!)
Author on LJ: penelope_z
Author Website:I think she used to have a website, I don’t know what happened to it, so here’s her ff.net profile
Why this must be read:

I know at the beginning of the month I promised no H/D (sorry!). But if you’re not an H/D fan, I assure you that H/D is not the focus of this fic- it’s there, but it’s not the point. His Belongings is really a Ron-centric Harry/Ron fic.

From a strictly canon perspective, Ron is my favorite character in HP. In the books he’s funny, insecure and, I always felt, far more flawed and human (up until OoTP, that is) than our dear Harry. I love the way JKR writes him. Fanonwise, though, he’s actually more difficult to capture than you might think. Even in the best fics, Ron’s character rarely comes off as perfectly crystal clear as it does in the books. And while this fic is not what you would call light and amusing- we’re talking about angsty!Ron here- I think Penelope Z has just about nailed Ron’s character. Who he is, his place in the world, his relationship with Harry, they all ring very true to me. Besides that, the imagery in it is wonderful, and the last line…guh. So if you are a Ron fan (and even if you’re not) I urge you to read this. Now.

His Belongings

And, because I can never just rec one thing per post, I should tell you that there’s a wonderful companion piece to this, set in the middle of His Belongings, Corridors and Stairs. It has some Draco/Ron in there, just to let you know.

Fandom: YAMI NO MATSUEI
Pairing: Implied Muraki/Oriya
Author on LJ: bwinter
Author Website: Beth's Miscellany
Why this must be read:

This is a short piece, but it packs a powerful punch. Oriya is an underexplored character in the canon, and his mysterious relationship with the enigmatic Muraki is a source of much slashiness. This fic does an excellent job of delving into Oriya's character - his breeding, his history, snapshots of his deeper personality, the quiet ritualization and cleaning up activities in which he seems to take comfort. Muraki's presence is pervasive in the other man's life, and like the good doctor himself, this fic unexpectedly twists a knife in your gut just when you've drifted into soft complacency.

The Bitter Taste of Tea

Fandom: Smallville
Title: Scooped
Pairing: Chloe/Whitney
Author on LJ: kelex
Author Website: The Center Doesn't Hold
Why this must be read:

When I joined the Chloe ficathon in the chloesullivan ficathon, one of the pairings I requested was Chloe/Whitney. It's a personal guilty pleasure that, every now and then, I delight in reading. What I got back from kelex in Scooped hit *all* my SV personal kinks and guilty pleasures. For starters? Future fic. Has *great* Chloe characterizations, a *great* Whitney, the Daily Planet - and Perry! - at it's finest and a flying farmboy flitting about. It's a great peek into Chloe's life, has some friendly family rivalries with a certain famous cousin, and the sex isn't bad either. *grins*

Scooped

Fandom: ALIAS
Pairing: Primarily gen; background Allison/Will, Allison/Sark
Author on LJ: mandysbitch
Author’s Website: Fanfiction by Christine
Why this must be read:

I find that there are many interesting aspects to be explored in Allison/Francie’s storyline, and cgb tackles many of those very issues here: memory, and identity, and what, if anything, of Francie seeped into Allison.

Allison, season three, on who she was and who she is now.

She measures time in cigarettes. Days and hours slip away from her but she counts the number of cigarettes it takes to get from her hotel to the airport and from LA to Wisconsin (one packet and three) and she understands that time makes its mark even when you no longer measure it in seconds and hours.

Four cigarettes later and Will Tippin appears at the front of his apartment block. He holding the security gate open, waiting until he's joined by a Eurasian girl with hair in a long ponytail and jeans with patches. They talk on the pavement for a while, Tippin with his hands stuffed in his pockets and the girl fingering the shoulder strap of her satchel. It's a familiar dance, albeit one she remembers from more innocent times, college days of caffeine and cheap beer and boys who told her she had a beautiful smile.

Was that her or did she see that in a movie somewhere? The memory is grainy and tinted with sepia. Maybe that happened to Francie? She spent so much time becoming Francie she forgot to leave a space where she ended and Francie began.

Alison Was Here

Fandom: ALIAS
Pairing: Sydney Bristow/Eric Weiss
Author on LJ: celli
Author’s Website: Fanfic 101
Why this must be read:

Why read this fic? Because I say so (yes, I’ve hit my fourth month driving the crack_van and I’ve gone mad with the power!)

That is, you should read this fic because it’s funny. Really, very funny. After the non-stop angst that was season three, celli’s Sydney is a delightful change. Her Weiss is adorable, too (the Weiss fans among you may be interested in checking out the Weiss Ficathon, for which this storywas written).

"Why won't you want to have sex with me?"

"Because we're friends."

There was a long pause, and Weiss felt guilty for hoping she'd passed out in the sink.

"You don't have sex with your friends?"

Weiss rested his forehead on a bag of frozen peas and screamed.

"What was that?" Sydney asked.

"Nothing."

"So anyway--"

"No, Sydney. No. No. A thousand times no. And the thousand and first time? Hell no!"

The Thousand and Second Time