Hey everyone! I just want to thank all the drivers this past month. *applauds* Thanks for doing such a great job, everyone. Please make sure that you check the memories and let me know if I've missed archiving any recommendations.

To the new drivers: Welcome! I'm looking forward to all the recs this month. Please ensure that you follow the posting guidelines, which were emailed to you. That way, the recommendations are easier to follow and adding to memories becomes so much less work! Thank you. Yay December!

Hello all you crazy Farscape fans! I'm back to take another turn at the wheel and, this time, I've gone to the 'way back' machine to dig out some older favorites of mine. The majority of these take place during the LONG hiatuses that FS tended to have where fic writers wrote their own stories to try and keep their insanity at bay.

Fandom: FARSCAPE
Pairing: John/Aeryn
Author on LJ: Unknown
Author Website: Unknown

Why this must be read:

This is a good, old fashioned action/adventure. It's actually two threads of action/adventure well. This story takes place after Meltdown and is taken from a line that Aeryn actually says in Infinite Possibilities: Icarus Abides. We get a John/Aeryn thread, the Butch and Sundance that everyone became familiar with from the show's canon and the, often times, funny and antagonistic group featuring Crais, Rygel, and Stark in the other group.

I like the ease of the John/Aeryn relationship in this one. It's a tribute to the author that she can take their attitudes from canon and almost illustrate how they would be together if given more time. They're comfortable with each other, moreso than with anyone else on the crew. I liked to see that bit of canon inference, that ability to predict how these two would act if actually given this story to act out.

This story is just fun. It's fast paced and unique and OrchidCactus makes great use of all the characters. It's a very ensemble piece and no character is left out in the cold, so to speak. The situation is reminiscient of one very well known movie but Orchid makes it own, makes it adapt to the FS world. There's character development and smart dialogue and it's a lengthy story that I love reading every so often.

Orchid wrote two versions of this story. One is PG-13 and one is NC-17.

The Good Times (PG-13)
The Good Times (NC-17)

*waves* Hiya! I'm your crack dealer for the month of December. As we get to later in the month, I'll probably post some recs for Christmas fic (and possibly mourn the lack of Chanukkah fic, as as far as we know, neither of our main characters are Jewish, but don't worry, I'll whine to myself and not in this space). But for today, a rainy day here, I thought I'd rec some comfort fic.

Fandom: SMALLVILLE
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Author on LJ: seperis
Author Website: Indulgence
Why this must be read:

For starters, it's my favorite comfort fic. Often time in stories, when two people fall in love, it's with this quick BANG! Like, they meet and there's this desperate craving for one another; an instant moment of connection where they both realize they're meant to be together, and there will never, ever, be anyone else ever again.

But often in real life, love isn't like that. It's this slow creeping where you know this person, and they're at the edge of your consciousness. As time passes, they move further into your thoughts, and you're not aware of it happening. Just one day, they're in central residence of your brain, and you wonder how you never noticed how you felt before then, because you look back and realize this feeling's been there all along, you just never thought to notice it before now.

A Life More Ordinary is that story. Clark has just graduated college and he's staying with Lex as he looks for a job. They fall into the routines of housemates, and though they don't do with with any intent, there's more intimacy in every plan they make and in every conversation they have. The reader can feel the passion neither of the characters consciously feels simmering there, just below the surface.

The story is here, and be sure to leave Jenn feedback!

Hi everyone! I will be the driver for The O.C. fandom this month and I hope I provide y'all with some links to great stories that you haven't read yet.

Fandom: THE O.C.
Pairing: Ryan/Seth
Author on LJ: sdlucly
Author Website: Hidden In Plain Sight
Why this must be read: This story manages to interweave some of the works of Pablo Neruda into its story as both Seth and Ryan come to some startling revelations about the other through a paper that had to be written for English class. The Seth and Ryan voices are dead-on in this story. It encapsulates Seth’s daftness when it comes to anything involving love and Ryan’s inability to verbally articulate such matters himself - though this story proves what I've always believed...Ryan has a pretty good understanding of what's going on around him.

( an excerpt from the story... )

This story is definitely worth reading and a great way to start off the month.

Ring of Fire

Fandom: POTC
Pairing: None
Author on LJ: zarahemla
Author Website: If :: Multifandom fic
Why this must be read:

I don't want to say too much about this fic, because it would give away the plot. I will say, however, that this is an intriguing story. It's told from the perspective of an old sailor who reminisces about his time aboard the Pearl. This is beautifully written and a pleasure to read. It's so good, it manages to incorporate a song successfully (although it probably helps that it was written in 1790).

( Excerpt )

You can read it here.

Fandom: POTC
Pairing: Sparrington
Author on LJ: nemesisstrife
Author Website: Here.
Why this must be read:

This is a short little fic that questions the common pairing convention of Jack/Norrington, which this fic most emphatically is not. It is, however, Sparrington, and very sweet Sparrington at that. Curious? ( Read an excerpt )

Or why not read the fic? What's in a name?

Fandom: Pirates of the Caribbean
Pairing: Pintel/Ragetti
Author on LJ: quitesnooze
Author Website: Not that I can find
Why this must be read:

We never get to see exactly what happens to the pirates after they’re captured – their imprisonment and subsequent hanging takes place off-screen – so their reactions to their impending demise aren’t shown. Which is where the fanfic comes in...
This ficlet is a look at Pintel and Ragetti's last day. They may have been, well, evil undead mutineer pirates, but their onscreen antics were endearing. quitesnooze manages to write the two very well in their final interaction with each other, giving us a poignant look behind the glossy Disney 'And then the bad guys were defeated yay'.
This is the author’s first fic, and it does show in her author’s notes (the new writer self-esteem issue can be seen there) and in some occasional slight awkwardness in her expression, but this is worth reading because of the wonderfulness of Pintel and Ragetti’s last interaction with each other.

Shock, by Quietsnooze.

With thanks to delurker.

Hi there. I'm dody and I'll be driving the Angel crack van this December.

The guidelines said to pick fics that represented the fandom and were accessible to strangers. Angel's an angstarrific fandom. It goes with the whole eternally damned hero thing. It's big on death, blood, sex, and inappropriate wordplay. As with most fandoms, it has a massively complicated and contradictory mythology, with built in alternative universes, canon parallel dimensions, magic, demons, and confusing approaches to hair. Most of the people are, or have been, dead, and many have serious personality problems. It's marvellous.

But forget all that. What really makes Angel is the characters. I have twelve recs to make over this month so I thought I'd pick one fic for each regular character. And then I remembered about Harmony and Jasmine and Spike and then I remembered that they really did mean ensemble when they, er, said ensemble.

So I'm going to start with Angel and see how we go. Because, really, it's All About Angel. Our titular hero. Vampire with a soul. Plus, alphabetising makes me horny.

Fandom: ANGEL THE SERIES
Pairing: Angel/all his partners (Buffy, Darla, Spike, Cordelia)
Author on LJ: kita0610
Author Website: Slashing the Angel
Why this must be read: I had real trouble with this; mainly because I already recced it, so I'm all squeed out. I'm thinking the excerpt should grab you. This fic, quite apart from being gorgeously written, really focuses on Angel. It is a window into his mind: both what he thinks and how he thinks it. It is utterly, extraordinarily Angel. It pulls no punches. He's not a saint or a cardboard cut-out Hero. He's a troubled, dark person: haunted by evil, the worst of which is his own. But he tries!

Oh yeah. And it's about hands. Spoilers up until Angel season five Damage.

( excerpt )

Manus

Hello!

I will be running one of this month's Small Fandom supplements.

The fandom I will be in charge of is actually a collection of fandoms created by CLAMP.

For those not familiar with CLAMP I will give a small (ok it is long...) overview of who they are and what you can expect from their work and the work of their fans.

( Info about CLAMP )

Since many may be unfamiliar with the fandoms I will be making recommendations from I will give a short overview of a few of them. Please note I may REC from a CLAMP fandom that I was unable to provide an overview for, but most of the RECs will be from the fandoms listed bellow.

So here they are:
( Selected CLAMP fandom overviews )

And Finally...
( Links for archives and information )

Hello children! I'm Maddi, and I shall be the driver for the pretty navy boy fandom for this month of December. I got into the fandom last year, because college students like to sit around and watch boys play on ships. Naturally I dove into reading fic headfirst, and I have found many wonderful things. I'm going to say right off that I am a Horatio/Archie shipper mostly, but I am not adverse to other pairings. So I will be rec'ing Horatio Hornblower/Archie Kennedy as well as other pairings too (such as Horatio/Archie/William Bush, or any combination of the three). But for now, on to the important part - the fic:

Fandom: HORNBLOWER
Pairing: Horatio Hornblower/Archie Kennedy first time
Author on LJ: misskittie79
Author Website: Miss Kittie's HH Slash
Why this must be read:

On her own summary before the fic, misskittie says that, "Shortly after the Muzillac/Mareitte debacle, Horatio mourns his purely theoretical heterosexuality."

This is one of the sweetest first time fics of this fandom that I have ever read. It is incredibly in character, and the two of them venture into the relationship we as readers all want them to have with such realistic hesitation and naivete that raw emotion of it comes through so well. But what truly holds the story together and makes it what it is, is the horseback riding metaphor for the two of them and for the experience itself which weaves its way in and out throughout the whole thing.

Close to Flying

Hi, I'm Brigid and I'll be your Alias driver for the month. I have been watching Alias since the beginning and I've been reading fic since the beginning. I'm not a shipper but I do read ship fic if that makes any sense so be prepared for a mixed bag as far as that goes. I like all kinds of fic, from the angsty to the hilariously funny. Hopefully I'll get to show you all the sides of Alias fandom.

Fandom: ALIAS 

Pairing: Sydney/Will and past Sydney/Vaughn
Author on LJ: aliasrlm
Author Website:Here
Why this must be read: Rach describes it as: Sydney and Will -- a 'what if' piece filled with angst, romance and a bit of mystery. It's a mini-love story, Georgia style. Written after Page 47 this takes us back to the first season of Alias. It's lovely really and it's happy even while being angsty. It reads beautifully, I'm a sucker for good prose. And the language fits the story so well.

Rach may be best known for her Sark but this she writes all the rest of the characters so wonderfully too. I've always been partial to her Will and this fic contains a great Will. Her Sydney is also wonderful and I love Sydney here, carrying her past but not being ruled by it.

( A Little Taste )

Jekyll Island

Fandom: HIGHLANDER
Pairing: Duncan/Methos
Author on LJ: carenejeans
Author Website: The Garret
Why this must be read: This is a beautifully written, thoroughly true story about what it costs to love when life has no limits and you realise that nothing is forever, not even for Immortals. Carene has written near-perfect characterisations of all the canon characters and set them in a story that's both bittersweet and satisfying. The harshness of the physical setting is a very fitting backdrop to the story. The sex is hot and real and truly in-character for both men, as is all the dialogue.

( Have a little taste... )

Speed to the Sound of Loneliness

Hello, I'm Anna, and I am the Buffy the Vampire Slayer driver for this month. I have been watching Buffy since late season 2, which is a while back now, and reading fic for the past three or four years. At first I was into the Fanged Four, but times have changed and now I'm pretty much exclusively Trio and what has come to be known as Alternative Trio. The Trio you all know as Warren Mears, Andrew Wells and Jonathan Levinson, Buffy's archnemeses of Season 6. The Alternative Trio is Tucker Wells, Katrina Silber and Amy Madison. To remind you who these characters are, I've decided to write short character blurbs. Though, as far as I have planned, Amy will not appear in any fics I actually rec and Tucker in only one (he seems to be in an inordinate number of WiPs), I've included all six, as the links I give will hopefully lead you to other fics with these characters in them.

( The Trio & Alternative Trio - Cast List )

Now, to the fic. :)

Fandom: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
Pairing: Warren/Andrew
Author on LJ: emony
Author Website: Emony's Fanfiction
Why this must be read: This was the first Warren/Andrew I read where I truly fell in love with the alternate universe and what Emony did with the characters in it. It breaks away just before the armoured car heist at the amusement park in Seeing Red and gives us an alternative future for Warren and Andrew. It's set in glorious St. Tropez, where two of the Trio have decided to stay, living off their ill-gotten gains on a sun-drenched Mediterranean beach. While the story is ultimately sweet, Warren is still dark and Andrew is still naive enough to love him for it. This story does have subsequent parts and, as a series, is unfinished, but this first part was originally written as a one-off and stands perfectly well alone.

( A short excerpt )

From Here To St. Tropez

Hi, I'm Mecca, I'm your driver for Star Wars Crack Van this month. Oh yeah. I'll be reccing. Erm. Both Trilogy and TPM.

First up!


Fandom: STAR WARS: TPM
Pairing: Obi-wan/Qui-Gon Pre-slash.
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: unknown
Why this must be read: It's a fabulous picture of Obi-wan and Qui-Gon as establishing their relationship (in the nonshippy way) and how they function within the Council.

( Quote-age )

The Petition

I'm also reccing X-men for the month. By the end of December you're all going to hate me. I'm deeply sorry for that.
My love for X-men is deep and slightly crazy.


Fandom: X-MEN: COMICVERSE
Pairing: Bobby Drake/ Warren Worthington III (Iceman/Angel)
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: unknown
Why this must be read: Because it's hysterical. It is. I crack up when I read it. It's early Bobby done well. And well.

( For this among many, many other things )

And Many More

Hullo, I'm Sab. I'll be driving the multi-Trek recs van this month, with a bias toward DS9 fic as that's where my primary Trekkish passion lies. In DS9, you'll see a lot of Kira/Dukat, with a smattering of Garak/Bashir and quite possibly some cross-Cardassian slashification. In VOY, I'll probably toss a Janeway/7 or two at you, as well as at least one Janeway/Janeway you will all enjoy lustily. Maybe some Paris/Kim, maybe not, and maybe, just maybe a good old-fashioned TNG Picard/Crusher or some good old-fashioned Picard/Q if I'm feeling sentimental.

Now!

Fandom: Star Trek: DS9
Pairing: Kira/Dukat
Author on LJ: ariana_paris
Author website: Cardassian Romances

Why this must be read:

I read this story back in 1997, when the Internet was all text-y and boxy and fandom was young and no one had ever heard of Ashlee Simpson or Ashton Kutcher. Now, two-thirds of a decade later, I still maintain that Ariana is the best of all the Trek authors, and that "Halfway" is the best Kira/Dukat story on the whole wide 'net.

Picture it. "Return to Grace," returning home from rescuing Ziyal from the Breen prison, Kira and Dukat, for the first time, discovering that they can work together, that they work well together, that Dukat can make Kira smile and Kira can make Dukat purr with bliss. And that's canon.

Ariana picks up where the episode leaves off, on the stolen Klingon ship on the way home, two lost soldiers who are never happier than when they're fighting battles, bouncing off the walls and bouncing off each other during one long night of spaceflight.

Brilliant, sexy, clever, funny, and written with Ariana's patented multi-lingual lyricism -- Kira and Dukat struggle to communicate in both Bajoran and Cardassian, even a little Klingon, and learn more about one another in fewer words than you'd expect, considering the players involved.

This is long, ambling, enthralling and very, very satisfying. Here, share:

( listen to that 'yes' )

Halfway

Hiya'll. Blood Dragon here, and this is my first real foray into the world of reccing. I've only really been reading Starsky and Hutch fanfiction for the few months since the new film came out, but it's the originals that have stolen a large portion of my heart. :) I don't write Starsky and Hutch fiction myself (yet, perhaps), but I really am enjoying reading all the fabulous fics out there. I just hope I can bring some new and interesting recs to you and ... not screw up at all, to be honest. ;)

Enjoy!


Fandom: STARSKY AND HUTCH
Pairing: Starsky/Hutch
Author on LJ: morganlogan
Author Website: Morgan Logan's S&H Fanfiction
Why this must be read: If you love a story with a common theme twisting its way cleverly into each scene, then I highly recommend Many Moons. Morgan Logan manages to capture so many emotions and thoughts which often plague people when uncertainties throw them off balance, and the way she painted Starsky and Hutch's thoughts made my insides twist at times.

There's a good balance of angst, hurt/comfort, humour and love in Many Moons, which, to me, makes it feel more real, more like the Starsky and Hutch we love. They both make mistakes and misunderstand each other, and I feel this shows that they have a special bond, as they did in the show, but that it’s not that scary "read-each-other's-mind" sort of bond.

It's beautiful, and real.


( Excerpt )


Links:
Many Moons (Part 1)
Many Moons (Part 2)

I'm Katie, West Winging it again this month. It's nice to be back.

Fandom: WEST WING
Pairing: Josh/Sam
Author on LJ: not as far as I can tell
Author Website: http://www.angelfire.com/nb/annehiggins/
Why this must be read:

In this story, Sam first meets Josh while on spring break, and a very cute, smutty story ensues. There's not really much else to say about this, actually, other than that it makes a great argument for why people like cute and funny in the first place; it's just about the Plato's form of cute and funny, and I adore it. I'd be very, very surprised if you managed to read to the end without laughing out loud. It's also rather aww-worthy: a little too much so for my taste usually, but if you're after something happy and escapist, this is right up there.

Spring Break