Fandom : BLAKE'S 7
Pairing : Blake/Avon
Author on LJ: blakefancier
Author Website: none
Why this must be read:

Because it's for those of you who like long, ensemble pieces with fiery, angsty and passionate B/A. I can't praise Zenia enough for getting the characters *just* right. Trying not to spoil too much--it is a PGP, and in a flavour typical of the series, everyone has conflicting interests, desires and ideas of where they should go from there. It's a story told through the characters' emotional journeys, and in a true Zenia style, the main journey is Blake and Avon's. *squees happily*

This is something you'll want to print out, lie back in your favourite chair and enjoy. It was originally meant to go into a zine. Instead it spent two years in zine limbo and when the zine folded, Zenia finally got to weblish it this week. Yay!

Revolution.

And that's it for my pimpin' ride in the B7 van *steps out of the van, twirls cane*, hands keys over to the *wonderful* vilakins. Have a good time, hon!

And OI! Admins! My Jenna/Cally fic ended up in the Pros recs. Getting it back to B7 would be very much appreciated!:).

Hi there. I'm going to be doing the recs for Star Trek for the month of January. Since I'm a big fan of Q, he's going to show up in a disproportionate number of my recs. I'm also going to try to emphasize TNG, because it's the least recced so far of the five series.

Fandom : Star Trek: The Next Generation
Pairing : P/Q
Author on LJ: telesilla (none for Varoneeka)
Author Website: Ruth Gifford on SlashFanfiction.com, Varoneeka's Slash, Mush and More
Why this must be read:

There are remarkably few P/Q fics out there that I actually find believable. Although I'm a fan of the pairing, I'm rather astonished by the amount of outright bad characterization out there in the fic. Part of the problem is that Q, as one person put it, would rather die than admit to any weakness, including being in love with a mere human, and Picard keeps his defenses up on full around Q. This story manages to neatly solve both problems by giving Q amnesia and dumping the two of them in a deserted oasis Q created (it's not a spoiler to say this is a machination of the Continuum's, as it's pretty obvious from the start.)

Without aeons of memory of being a defensive, arrogant, prickly asshole, Q has a completely different personality (it's never made explicit, but I imagine the authors are speculating that this was what Q was like when he first came into existence, when he still had a sense of wonder about the universe and a desire to learn, and before he and his people became completely jaded.) Picard finds it hard to believe this isn't all an elaborate prank of Q's, but the slow growth of his belief that it's not, and his realization of his feelings for Q, is drawn out over enough time that it is believable.

( Excerpt )

Love Reign O'Er Me

Fandom: STARGATE
Pairing: none
Author on LJ: josephides
Author Website: randomleaves.com
Why this must be read:

Jojo uses spare language, sharp dialogue, and brief insights, yet her very short story accomplishes more than many five times its length. It's a tag to the episode Abyss, and it's the best one I've ever read. The emotions, while always understated, are achingly real. So are the characters, especially Jack and Janet.

( 'It was four o'clock in the morning, his digital clock told him.' )

Control

Hi, I'm nanda, and I'll be dishing out the Stargate crack this month. I read a little bit of everything, but since my favorite slash and gen stories have already been recced, my theme will be: Het that will not make slashers and genners hurl; or, Yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as good Stargate het though it is often misplaced in a great big pile of sludge. There'll be a lot of angst and humor, and little to no mush.

Now get in the damn van, or I will confiscate your crack and you will be very very sad.

Hi! I'm tommygirl and I'll be driving the Sports Night fandom for the month. I love several different pairings within this fandom as long as it brings the banter, but I'm definitely a fan of the Dan/Casey element. So hang on for January!

Fandom: SPORTS NIGHT
Pairing: none, Dan and Casey
Author on LJ: freedomfry
Author Website: ???
Why this must be read:

This story is spot on with the Sorkin-esque banter as Dan and Casey watch the 2004 Gymnastics All-Round. Much like the show, there isn't so much plot movement at times, but you get a really wonderful look at the dynamic between the characters through the dialogue. It's fun and light, the sort of thing we all need sometimes.

( An excerpt from the story... )

So go ahead and read it: The Olympic Spirit

Hi, I'm Tobias Charity, and I'll be driving the Law & Order crack van this month. (Yes, Law & Order has a fandom.) I'm gonna work backwards and kick it off with Law & Order: Criminal Intent and cover that for a week or so, and then move into the other spinoff, Special Victims Unit, and finish up the month with the original recipe. Posting three summaries at once would... possibly be *slightly* overwhelming. What you can expect from my by way of recs: I love slash, but this fandom is tiny, so there's not a ton of slash. The strengths of the writers lie in blending gen and het so that you don't even know you're reading het. Rather like the show, in fact. Except far better. So expect a little sprinkling of everything.

Guest summary by daygloparker, who wins on levels of obsessiveness I didn't know *existed*.

Law & Order: Criminal Intent

( In the criminal justice system... )

Hi, my name is Talitha, and I'll be your Smallville reccer for January. I'm a die-hard Clark/Lex shipper, and I'll take my Clex any way I can get it, but I tend to gravitate toward long fic, first and foremost, and also schmoop, angst, and *gasp* m-preg. Obviously, my recs for the month will reflect my reading tastes. You have been warned. ;)

Fandom: SMALLVILLE
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Author on LJ: rhiannonhero
Author Website: http://www.rhiannonhero.net/
Why this must be read:

I checked and re-checked the memories section of the SV recs because I had a hard time believing this series had not been recommended yet. Well! I must rectify this oversight immediately...

( read more )

Orbiting Series by Rhiannonhero
The link above leads to the first in the series, all of which can be found on the SSA or Rhiannon's own site.

Fandom: SMALLVILLE
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Author on LJ: ddayspring
Author Website: http://www.skeeter63.org/~dayspring/
Why this must be read:

Here is my first rec in the much-maligned genre of m-preg (male pregnancy). IMHO, it actually works in Smallville, because Hello! Alien in the mix! Anyway, I love the stuff, and here's one of my absolute favorite SV fics ever, m-preg or not.

( read more )

Time and Chance

Fandom: SMALLVILLE
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Author on LJ: paperbkryter
Author Website: http://www.teresakay.us/

Why this must be read:

( fun, fun, fun story here )

Playing Banjo in Sgt. Zygote’s Ragtime Band

Hi! I'm queenzulu and I'm a fandom whore. (Crowd: "Hi, queenzulu!") I'll be putting the pedal to the metal in the Buffy crack van this month. Most of my recs will probably be femslash of various flavours, but just to get the ball rolling I thought I'd start with some of that ol' het spirit.

Fandom: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
Pairing: Buffy/Giles
Author on LJ: katemonkey, I think.
Author Website: The Pearl
Why this must be read:

When I think of the one story, out of all the tens or hundreds or, dare I say it, thousands of fics I've read, there's one--just one--that still makes me shiver, and that's Kate Bolin's "Electra". It comes at you slowly, but then, at the end, it hits you like a runaway train heading into downtown Chicago with a load of nuclear explosives. (Sorry, wrong fandom). It's short, but Kate knows how to use words to their best effect, and at the end you just stare at the screen and wonder how she managed to sneak up on you like that. Then you walk away and a month later you look up from your work with an icky chill running up your spine and you realize that Kate Bolin has eaten your brain.

Possibly literally.


Electra

Happy New Year Greetings. I'm elistaire and I'll be your chemist at the wheel of the crack-van for this month. I'm an eclectic reader and lover of the Highlander fandom and Methos in particular. My story favorites range wide and far, but overall I'd say I tend to the strange and unusual. And that's about anything that makes sense.

Fandom: HIGHLANDER
Pairing: Duncan MacLeod/Methos
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website:Fan Fiction by Illuferret
Why this must be read:

Because something like this should never have worked, and yet it does, and the reader is drawn along into the insanity of it all until the very end, when the mistaken identity becomes clear and things get worked out all for the very, very best. This story satisfies all the base needs of a reader: quirky humor, romance (only slightly sappy, but in the best way), illusions, disillusions, and an over-all elbow-nudge at the fandom itself. The author's summary says it best: "Just a sweet transvestite and lots of blindness."

( Sticks and Stones )

Sticks and Stones

Well, Happy National Hangover Day, also known as January 1st. I'm Minotaur, and I'll be your driver for popslash this month. I've chosen to focus on AU's for my recs. I came to popslash a few years ago, and while NSYNC and Trickyfish is my main pairing in RPS, in AU's my tastes are much more catholic.

So why AU's? Lots of other people have said it better, or at more length, but for me a good AU only broadens my understanding of the characters. Pulling the guys out of their "reality" and plopping them down in some new place doesn't always work, but when it's done right it boils them down to their essence and brings them back in some subtle variation of themselves, some new detail of life that brings them into closer focus.

There's a vast selection of AU's out there, in as many variations as there are imaginations to create them. I'm going to be writing about some of the recurring themes in AU's, and reccing stories that I think best illustrate those themes. With a limit of only 12 recs in the whole month, I've had to be ruthless - my first cut of fics I wanted to rec was almost 100 - so I'm also going to be continuing the recs in my own journal.

We're going to start off with one of the most common themes - the High School AU. These put our boys together as teens, in some combination or another. Public schools or boarding schools; NSYNC, Backstreet, other pop singers; big cities or small towns. I think so many writers play with theme because the guys didn't have a "normal" teen experience.


Fandom: POPSLASH
Pairing: Chris/Joey, Lance/JC
Author on LJ: arsenicjade
Author Website: Every Rose Has A Thorn
Why this must be read:


I've chosen Textbook Case as a prime example of this theme and to start off my month because of the breadth of the story.

( Spoilers and an excerpt )

So go, read.

Textbook Case