Fandom: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
Pairing: Tara/Vamp!Willow, some Vamp!Willow/Puppy!Angel, mentions of Buffy/Faith.
Author on LJ: psimetis
Author Website: Master Willow
Why this must be read:

I started off the month with two shorter recs, one angsty and one sweet, so today I think I'll give you something different again: long, plotty, character-driven darkfic.

( Can love tame a vampire? Can a Slayer go too far? )


( An excerpt. )


Brave Eyes

Fandom: HORATIO HORNBLOWER
Pairing: Horatio/Archie
Author on LJ: misskittie79
Author Website: MissKittie's Horatio Hornblower Slash
Why this must be read:

With his Lt's exam coming up, Horatio thinks Archie out to be studying navigation. Archie prefers to brush up on boarding maneuvers. A heady mix of pure, unapologetic, scorching-hot sex and deliciously terrible naval metaphors, this is what every PWP should aspire to be.

Clear for Action

Fandom: STARSKY & HUTCH
Pairing: none
Author on LJ: No
Author Website: Me and Thee Archive
Why this must be read: I know it's January and this is a Halloween story. Indulge me. It's a great little story and one of my favourites. It's fun, it's light, and it perfectly captures the kind of banter and humour that the show did. Sometimes it's punny or even groan-worthy, but it's absolutely in character. Besides, it's got Starsky dressed as a devil and Hutch dressed as a ... well, let's just say there's a lot of room for teasing.

( Excerpt from All Hallow's Eve )

Read: All Hallow's Eve

Fandom: STARSKY & HUTCH
Pairing: Starsky/Hutch, Hutch/female, Starsky/female
Author on LJ: not that I know of
Author Website: S&H Slash Archive
Why this must be read: Flamingo is a fantastic writer, but what really intrigued me about this was the way she spans Starsky and Hutch's history from the Academy to the series by bringing in other characters from show canon. It's a five part series (and many of the parts have multiple chapters) that shows how timing is everything - wanting someone in a particular way at a particular time doesn't add up to a relationship. Nor do one or two sexual encounters based in grief or friendship. And that ever-popular distinction between loving someone and being in love with them just serves to complicate things further.

The weakest part of the series is "Helen" as it tends to revisit what's happpened in the earlier sections, but "Addiction" stands on its own as a phenomenal piece dealing with the fall-out from Hutch's brush with heroin in the episode "The Fix". There's a scene where they re-enact what happened to Hutch, but with Starsky playing the role of victim. Hutch tries to show his partner what addiction feels like and Starsky wants to understand, but they get more than they bargained for. It's sexually-charged and utterly compelling.

( Excerpt from Addiction )

The Series is:
Colby
Vanessa
Helen
Starsky
Addiction

Remember to send feedback to the author.

Fandom: OZ
Pairing:Beecher/Keller
Author on LJ: callmerizzo
Author Website:Strange bedfellows

Why this must be read: This story was written for the first round of Oz_magi, a challenge where every author wrote a story for an anonymous requester. All the stories were great but I chose this one first because it includes at least two things I love: it's a lockdown story and there's a very believable and thrilling peek at Keller's past -his childhood, and a particular time of the year; so that the story is hot, somewhat scary because we can see how Keller's mind works; and nostalgic. It's short but complete, it doesn't need more. The descriptions are particularly remarkable; this might be my favourite part:

Father Scarpello, a short, round man with deep grooves in his face, would thunder and roar from his pulpit, raving about sin and Satan and all of the other things that good Christians should fear. He would preach about the battle between God and the devil, a battle that had been going on since the beginning of time and which, apparently, still hadn’t been won. Bored and unimpressed, Chris would close his eyes and imagine the two of them, God and Satan, crossing swords like knights on a bloody battlefield -- both equally powerful, with the bodies of hundreds of their slain followers littering the field on either side.

Tenderness, anguish, guilt, love, sex... It's Oz! Go... Read... Enjoy

communion

Fandom: THE PHANTOM MENACE

Pairing: Qui-gon/Obi-wan

Author on LJ: Don’t know

Author Website: Master and Apprentice Archive


Why this must be read:
story:

V tight and heady. I felt the momemtum of the story in my bones, right along with Obi-wan. It's a tantalizing AU that plays up the D/s aspect of the Master and apprentice relationship. For those that like top!Obi or power!Obi, you prolly won't like it. It's first time with lots of Domination overtones and some chan mentioned. Once again, there's an economy of exposition that I really like. No overexplaining nor any 'writerly' writing. That is, not conciously writerly. I like that.


Padawan

Fandom: ANGEL THE SERIES
Pairing: None
Author on LJ: sadbhyl
Author Website: http://www.sadbhyl.riverworld.net/home.htm
Why this must be read: Melancholy moment in time during season 5. Nicely written and provides some closure.

Pax Cordelia

EDIT: Added lj username

Fandom: SILMARILLION
Pairing: Caranthir/Haleth
Author on LJ: ithilwen
Author Website: Ithilwen's Fanfiction
Why this must be read:

Ithilwen is among my favourite Silmficcers. She's written well-known series about Maedhros & Maeglin, but it's one of her standalone stories that I'd like to draw particular attention to now. 'Unforgettable Fire' is one of my very favourite Tolkien-based m/f romances. It features Caranthir, the often-neglected fourth son of Feanor, and Haleth, a strong female character who's the leader of one of the three Houses of Men. Ithilwen creates believable characters from the ciphers in canon, with a great take on Caranthir, who manages to be sympathetic without ever quite losing his initial snootiness.

The story takes a thoughtful look at the difficulties of relationships between different races and cultures, and the conflicts between love and duty. Perhaps because the relationship is considered transgressive, the sex scenes have a raw heat that's often reserved for slash in this fandom.

( A taster under the cut... )