Fandom: DUE SOUTH
Pairing: Fraser/Ray K.
Author on LJ: kelliem
Author Website: Kellie Matthews

Why this must be read: Kellie is one of my other favorite authors in this fandom. She hits each character's voice just right. Some authors get only Fraser right or get only Ray right, usually not both. Kellie flawlessly does both of them with ease.

So, it is certain you will be seeing more of her stories rec'd here by me.

Without A Net always puts a smile on my face. Ray and Fraser go undercover and as usual things don't go as planned.

They wind up taking a nose dive off a balcony using only bed sheets as rope to escape the bad guys. (That scene reminds me of the Star Wars scene between Princess Leia and Luke as they fly across that pit when the Stormtroopers are trying to break through the door. Leia gives Luke a kiss for "luck" and they swing to freedom). In Kellie's story, think swinging Ray and Fraser, a kiss (no incest implied) and the boys breaking through a glass window into a sweet old lady's apartment.

And the story is just getting started there! So, enough of my babbling...go and read!


Without A Net

Hello, I'm Grey Bard, and I'll be your guide to the animated Justice League, predecessor of the new series Justice League Unlimited, and one of this month's small fandoms.

This month, I promise a tasty mix of slash, gen, and het, because this team? Is fun any way you slice it.

Here's an overview of ( Justice League )

Fandom: STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE
Pairing: Garak/Bashir
Author on LJ: mevennen
Author Website: Arcady
Why this must be read:

Garak as Holmes and Bashir as Watson in a beautifully judged retelling of The Hound of the Baskervilles. Cardassian landscapes, perceptive characterization, and elegant prose. What's not to love?

The Riding-Hound of the House of Tain

Although I could happily spend the rest of this month plugging Arcady's stories, I'm going to stop after this one. But I highly recommend all the fiction on her site: evocative mood pieces, more Holmes pastiches, and two linked novellas about Garak and Bashir which also explore Cardassian culture and history.

Fandom: POPSLASH
Pairing: Chris/Eminem
Author on LJ: xoverau
Author Website: None

Why this must be read:

This is one of the few stories with an unhappy ending that I ever reread. Despite the fact that it makes me cry every time. It's brutal and painful and perfect. And the hopefulness makes it even more painful. Just. Read it. Please.

He didn't mean for it to happen. It kept happening anyway. They started finishing their drinks afterward. They started talking before. Once they forgot to do it at all because they were arguing about Ludakris.

Octobers: One, Two, Three, Four and Five

Hi I'm autobadgirl and I'll be your Alias Crack Van driver for this month. I'm absolutely open to any and all pairings so expect a mixed bag of het/slash and gen and smut fic.

Fandom: ALIAS
Pairing: Sark/Sydney (implied)
Author on LJ: nightfawkes
Author Website: none
Why this must be read:

nightfawkes is an author in search of an audience. She's incredibly talented and was nominated at this years Alias FOF for her other work "Untitled" which I plan to rec later. But I think she hasn't gotten the recognition she so rightly deserves as an author because she's not that well known on Livejournal.

That being said I'm here to do my part to introduce you to her fic. Revelations is a short fic that could be expanded but is well worth a read on its own. She creates an intriguing alternate universe where rabid left-wing elements in the USA dismantle secret government organizations like the CIA. Sark is on the run and winds up in a bar. Beautiful writing happens.

Reccing this fic now is rather ironic in light of the recent election, I like that Fawkes reminds us that any extremist element in politics can be dangerous--Left or Right.

Revelations

Fandom: Lotrips
Pairing: Viggo/Dom
Author on LJ: rosemending
Author Website: The Wood in Bloom
Why this must be read:

Because it's rare to find a story which captures the patterns and flowing cadence of Dom Monaghan's speech so clearly. Because his syntax and fluidity of language are so scarcely represented quite so well as in this simple passage*:

I [Viggo] was excited to discover that the gym did nonetheless have a belly dancing class on when we arrived.

I explained to Dom that graceful sways, sinuous movements and an appreciation of effeminate energy would serve him well in relating to women and his inner ying.

Dom said, and I quote "This is awful, I'm moving my bum like a man whore."

Because it's even more rare to find a story wherein the true soul of a tangled, twisted, complex performer like Viggo Mortensen is so obviously laid bare before us, stripped of all pretenses, allowing us to marvel at it's essential vitality and grace. Because rosemending captures the stark poetry that *is* Viggo, describing his thoughts in a mock diary:

I ingested a substantial quantity of legumes today.

There was a chick pea salad for lunch. And lentil soup for dinner.

I am expecting a substantial improvement in the texture of my excreta tomorrow morning.

Because this is a story that manages to be sweet even while it's satirizing and that manages to be just hysterically funny even while it's pitch perfect and well-written throughout.

Go, enjoy!

--

Hi, I'm zaneetas. In what feels like a previous lifetime (way back in October of 2003), I wrote the overview and recced for popslash in this community. I've spent the intervening year and one month trying to convince myself that I have other, more important things to do than shill stories out on the internet, but that's clearly a lie and so here I am again.

*And I mean that seriously.

Fandom: FARSCAPE
Pairing: Rygel
Author on LJ: leadensky
Author Website:
Why this must be read:

There has recently been a 'Rygelthon' on LJ that generated some much-needed high-quality fic for this crustily loveable old Hynerian. But way before this, Hossgal wrote the quite marvellous 'King of Infinite Space' - five separate and enthralling stories about Rygel in the 'five things that never happened to' vein.

Hossgal writes beautiful prose - full-stop, and end of story. She's an author with a definable style. Added to this, each small ficlet is taut and engrossing in the telling, and Hossgal doesn't short-change either Rygel's multi-faceted character or his keen intelligence.

King of Infinite Space

( excerpt )

Fandom: CSI
Pairing: Grissom/Nick
Author on LJ: Haven't a clue
Author Website: http://www.angelfire.com/nb/annehiggins/

Why this must be read: This is one of the CSI stories on my short list of "frequently re-read" fics.

I almost didn't read it because of some red flags when I read the summary and author's notes. First of all, I wasn't entirely sold on the pairing at the time (oh boy, has that changed). Secondly, the author flat out stated that she was changing a couple of plot points from the first season to make them more slash-friendly. Normally, I'm canon's bitch, so this bothered me. Thirdly, the entire plot hinges on Convenient Amnesia. Oh, as they say, dear.

That said, I am very glad I did read this story. Anne Higgins makes Nick and Grissom a believable couple--not just on their own, but within the context of the CSI group as a whole. Plus, the Convenient Amnesia isn't used as an easy way to get characters to do things that would otherwise be completely out of character, i.e. tripping each other into bed. Instead, the CA erases the knowledge of an already existing relationship that has gone beyond established to on the skids. What makes this story so wonderful is that the amnesia gives Grissom the distance and objectivity he needs to apply his skills as a scientist and investigator to a failing relationship and figure out just why it is failing. Treating a relationship as a crime scene is such a Grissom thing to do, and it's a joy to watch. The two minor adjustments made to canon are easily forgiven since the author pulls in so many other pivotal moments from Season One and actually uses them to great effect in the story as we find out that head injuries aren't the only thing that can cause us to forget things that are important.


Silk, Silk, Silk?