Fandom: LOTR
Pairings: Legolas/Gimli
Author on LJ: unknown
Author's Website: unknown
Why this must be read:

Utterly lovely Legolas/Gimli piece. It has a contemplative, quiet feeling to it, with some beautiful turns of phrase.

( Excerpt... )

I Will Follow

Fandom: Angel
Author lj: debchan
Author website: chalk scribblings on the sidewalk
Pairing: Wesley/Connor
Rating: R
Why this must be read:

I have a serious soft spot for Wesley-fic and indeed, anything which tackles Wesley post-Tomorrow. This is excellent because not only do we get Wesley but we also get Connor - vulnerable, unsure and grieving but never weak.

The characterisations are spot on and the tone of the piece is solomn but with a faint trace of hope.

( Extract )

Deliverance by Debchan

Fandom: STAR WARS: TPM
Pairing: glancing references to Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: I believe this is it, but it’s possible this is a different Wombat who also writes SW:TPM fic.
Why this must be read:

In keeping with the old show-biz adage “leave ’em laughing,” I’m closing my stint as a reccer with this humorous metafic, which should come with a spit-take advisory. It takes the form of a pamphlet from BactaCorp that’s both a glossary and a collection of helpful tips, and the author has a lot of fun pointing out various absurdities in both canon and fanon.

Low Self Esteem
(aka "I'm not worthy" syndrome)
The Student Counselling Service recommends that all Padawans repeat the following to themselves several times each morning. "I am an intelligent, confident, highly trained commando-diplomat with a buff, honed body and incredible mind control powers, who has been specially chosen for intensive one to one training by an experienced and powerful warrior. There is NO REASON for me to have an inferiority complex."

Midichlorians
Tiny, parasitic life forms swimming around in your blood that supposedly form your link with the living Force. Nobody knows how they work, why they picked you or how they got there. They're just there. Inside your body. Try not to think about them too much.

In closing, thank you for choosing to travel on the Coruscant Crack Van. I hope you’ve enjoyed your trip.

A Padawan’s Guide to Health, Fitness and Living with Your Master

Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: Ranma Saotome/Akane Tendo, Kodachi Kuno/Ranma Saotome, Ukyo Kuonji/Ranma Saotome, Ryoga Hibiki/Akane Tendo, Kasumi Tendo/Dr. Tofu, Nodoka Saotome/Genma Saotome, Kentaro Marumoto/Ranma Tendo, Nabiki Tendo/Tatewaki Kuno
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Sterman.org and Lara's Fanfics and Sebastian's Bast!'s Ranma 1/2 Page (I believe Webdragon's pages have moved around a lot and are now offline)
Why this must be read:

Richard Lawson writes long, beautiful stories. This lovely example is a continuation story based on a single starting point of divergence from Ranma 1/2 canon, and grew into a series of stories by Richard accompanied by side stories by Webdragon, Sebastian Weinberg, and Lara Bartram, collectively known as Richard Lawson's Thy Outward Part series. I've been meaning to recommend this series ever since I recommended Richard's other big series, Thy Inward Love. Thy Outward Part has more adult content, but it's just as expertly written, and the character interpretations, while different, are just as valid.

The divergence from canon in Thy Outward Part happens during Ranma has his encounter with the Musk Dynasty in volumes 24 and 25 of the manga. The Pail of Preservation, or Chiisuiton, is a ladle which can lock a cursed person into one or the other of their forms. The Water Pot of Liberation, or Kaisuihuu, is a kettle which reverses the effect and unlocks a Jusenkyo curse, causing the cursed person to change when splashed with hot or cold water again.

The Ranma of Thy Outward Part is forced to cope with losing the Kasuihuu under a landslide before unlocking his curse, so he's stuck in his female form, possibly forever. Akane is unable to face marrying a locked-curse Ranma, his father disowns him, and he flees Nerima to attend college and get away from anyone who knew him. In his mind, he is male, but he starts to build a life in his cursed form, because he really has no other choice but to simply end it all. Needless to say, this series is rather wrenching to read, and it becomes more so when, a few years into the story, the possibility of unearthing the kettle becomes a reality. Akane has tried to get on with her life, and Ranma has built a friendship and a love with Kentaro in the mean time, and yet Nodoka, Soun and Genma refuse to let the unification of the Saotome and Tendo families falter.

Parts of the series are PG-13, but there are significant portions of adult content. These stories should be read in the following order:

Thy Outward Part
Building Bridges (by WebDragon)
The Nature of Love
Technical Virginity (by Sebastian Weinberg)
Those Tears Are Pearl
Gimme A Break (by Lara Bartram)
Serendipity
Painted Smile
A Better World Than This set well after A Painted Smile
The Risk (by Lara Bartram)

Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: Ranma Saotome/Akane Tendo, Kentaro Marumoto/Ranma Tendo, Nodoka Saotome/Genma Saotome, Nabiki Tendo/Tatewaki Kuno
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Sterman.org
Why this must be read:

Authors' interpretations of characters in the Ranmaverse really exemplify "infinite diversity in infinite combinations." In this case, Richard Lawson crosses over two very different realities, switching two very different Ranmas into each others' worlds. It started as a short challenge, but members of the FFML (an epicenter mailing list at the time for Ranma fandom) persuaded Richard to work on it further, and it turned into a marvelous full-length story which fits nicely into both series' continuities.

You'll get more out of this story if you read Thy Inward Love and Thy Outward Part immediately prior to reading Definitions of Hell. In those continuities, Definitions comes right after The Dying of the Rose (TIL) and Painted Smile (TOP), and right before A Better World Than This (TOP) and Interview (TIL).

If you don't want to read all of both series, Definitions of Hell does stand alone, but you'll get more out of it from knowing and becoming attached to the characters from both series.

In short, Ranma is a young father, happily married to Akane who is expecting their second child. Ranma is also eight months pregnant with her second child, a college graduate living most of his life as a woman, happily married to Kentaro. And with one monster's dying curse, those two realities collide.

Definitions of Hell

Fandom: The Sentinel
Title: Too Many Chiefs And Not Enough Indians
Pairing: None
Author On LJ: Not as far as I know
Author's Website: The Sibilant Storybook see also her Cascade Library Page

this month has been the net connection month from hell so I didn't get to rec as much as I normally do with the Sentinel but this one I just had to. Original characters get a bum rap in the Sentinel fandom more often than not so use of them is sparing by most authors and good story ideas are passed up because of it. Not in this case. Sealie delights in this story with poor Jim discovering that yes, Blair does have relatives, and yes, they are very much Sandburgs. As one can expect, having that many Sandburgs in that close proximity...Well, to tell you too much would be to spoil the fun but every time I read this story I never fail to end up laughing. Poor, poor Jim...

Too Many Chiefs And Not Enough Indians

Fandom: Queer as Folk USA

Pairing: Brian/Justin

Author on LJ: bea_nonymous

Author Website: unknown

Why this must be read:

I'd like to round out my month of recs with a light and frothy humor fic, perhaps to leaven some of the angst I've served up the last few weeks. My memory of first reading The Intervention is very distinct; it is the first fic in the QaF fandom that made me laugh out loud multiple times. In fact, it is a veritable gigglefest of a story as the Liberty Avenue gang decide to stage an intervention to help Brian with his...er...dancing problem. There are too many funny lines to quote; the dialog is simply hilarious. If you're looking for a quick, smile-inducing read, I cannot recommend this story strongly enough.


The Intervention

ETA: Unfortunately, soon after this recommendation was made, Aida deleted her LJ account. Therefore, the link above is dead. I'm going to leaving the entry up because this is a great story that deserved to be recommended, and also because Aida may return for the fifth season of Queer as Folk.

Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: Shampoo/Ranma Saotome, Mousse/Shampoo
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Froggy's profile at ff.net
Why this must be read:

Sometimes you just need a happy romantic fix, and this little introspection gives some insight into the strange unrequited relationship between Mousse and Shampoo from her perspective.

Not everyone believes Shampoo is a bimbo, and it's nice to get inside her head without there being an echo. I like this short little monologue.

The Game

Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: Kodachi Kuno/Ranma Saotome, Shampoo/Ranma Saotome, Akane Tendo/Ranma Saotome, Tatewaki Kuno/pig-tailed girl
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: The Girls Of Ranma
Why this must be read:

Each of the women who want to marry Ranma do have a fan-following. There aren't a whole lot of stories which are sympathetic to Kodachi, the Black Rose. This is one of them, and a tasty adult story to boot, so I wanted to mention it here. She's depicted as having a horrific childhood, explaining any lunacy she might express in canon. It's a different characterization than most viewers might expect, but I think Ridgewolfe makes it work.

Blurred Edges: Lemon-version

Fandom: Farscape
Pairings: n/a
Author on LJ: kixxa
Author's Website: Unknown
Why this must be read:

Kixxa is a master of the quirky, the odd, the strangely funny, the out and out bizarre. She also creates some of the best written worlds and original characters I have ever read. She took a species that we only saw once and created an entire culture. She crafted these people and gave them each a distinct personality and motivation. She created Peacekeeper bureaucrats and Grudek blushing virgins. All of them real and three-dimensional. Well, three-dimensional in a broad stroke way, but they all want something and try their damnedest to get it.

Technically this is an AU from S4's Crichton Kicks. I say technically because the spoiler is small and doesn't come in till, really, the very end but it could just be a future fic and it would work. The real spoilers are what Grudeks and Brindz Hounds look and sound like. That visual is very important to truly appreciate one scene later in the piece that take the idea of the Farmer's Daughter to new heights.

This is one of the funniest pieces I have read in a long time. In parts, I laughed so hard I cried. It is clever and well written with tongue firmly placed in check. Besides, how can you not like something with Pebo in it.

Excerpt:( Read more... )

The Pit, The Pooch, And The Hootch

And with this recc I give the keys to simplystars. Thanks for riding in the van with me this month. It's been a blast and who knows maybe we'll meet again on some dark road when a van will pull up, the window will roll down and I'll ask you if you want to take a ride. Until then may your chakan cartridges be always full and may your plans not be John's. Later!

Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: Ranma Saotome/Kasumi Tendo, Dr. Tofu/Kasumi Tendo, Tatewaki Kuno/pig-tailed girl, Tatewaki Kuno/Shampoo, Akane Tendo/Ryouga Hibiki
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Gary Kleppe's Comics and Manga page
Why this must be read:

A divergence right at the start of Ranma canon has Ranma engaged to Kasumi rather than Akane, and then injured. A tiny pebble, dropped into the Ranmaverse pond, and Ranma could lead a quiet, peaceful life. But not as a martial artist.

Living in interesting times does have its allure, and sometimes such a curse isn't seen as a blessing until all chances of that are gone.

Could it be after all the ridiculous failed attempts at a cure, my curse was finally going away because it was bored?

A Peaceful Life

Fandom: LOTRIPS
Pairing: Dom/Elijah, various
Author on LJ: angstslashhope
Author Website: collective
Why this must be read: A violinist meets a strange creature crouching in the dark, and by the time he picks up a ring, addiction has already set in. This is an evocative au that wades effortlessly through both vampire lore and various lotrips-related lands. The atmosphere is sinister and sensual, and the narrative is at once dreamy and immediate, compelling the reader forward in the best gothic tradition. Hope's sentences have a way of bending a reader's brain, and she introduces a series of clever cameos, some fleeting, others lasting, that reward fannish attention; I particularly enjoy the spectacle of Elijah feeding on himself, over and over.

( excerpt )

bow

Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: Genma Saotome/Ranma Saotome, Ranma Saotome/Ryouga Hibiki, Ranma Saotome/Akane Tendo, Genma Saotome/Nodoka Saotome, Ryouga Hibiki/Ranma Saotome/Akane Tendo
Warnings: Child abuse and rape (Ranma is his early teens at that part of the story), nonconsensual situations (Ranma, Akane and Ryouga are in their late teens at those parts of the story), references to domestic abuse (Genma/Nodoka)
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Tzigane's Father Figure page at the Sakura Lemon Fanfic Archive
Why this must be read:

Well, I've been really nervous about recommending this story. Guess that's why I've put off rec'ing it until the last moment. But I looked through the community's memories and it's not all that different from some of the other stories listed for other fandoms which include BDSM themes, and I'm warning all over this one, and giving away more in the labels below for each part.

( More warnings and details about Father Figure )

Part 1: Father Figure (Genma/Ranma)
Part 2: Blood & Fire (Ranma/Ryouga)
Part 3: Total Eclipse of the Heart (Ranma/Akane)
Part 4: Stone & Pearl (Ryouga/girl-type Ranma)
Part 5: Parts Unknown (Ryouga/boy-type Ranma/Akane)