Fandom: THE O.C.
Pairing: Summer/Ryan
Author on LJ: lalejandra
Author Website: none
Why this must be read: Lalejandra writes some of the most scorching het porn I’ve found (see my first round of recs, where Anna and Ryan got together. Oh my.), and this story is no exception. It’s set just after Christmas, when Summer is at loose ends – she’s over Cohen, and new boyfriend Zach isn’t returning her calls. Ryan is just as rootless and they manage to find each other.

An excerpt:

She smokes the cigarette almost down to the filter, not looking at Ryan. That’s okay – he’s not looking at her either. What the fuck are they even doing? Well, Summer does kind of like him. He’s a good guy who didn’t deserve Coop being so annoying or Theresa getting pregnant or any of that stuff. He doesn’t deserve Seth being annoying now, and the entire Cohen family falling apart. He’s just a guy and he’s alive, right?

That’s kind of how Summer rationalizes her own situation too. She’s just a girl and she’s alive and there’s really nothing else to be said about it, right? Like, sometimes the world sucks and sometimes it doesn’t, and no matter what she tries to do about it, nothing ever changes, or works out the way she wants it to. And it’s when she thinks that shit is all going her way that it is actually really shitty.


Some Girls Wander By Mistake


I have plans for the next few days, so this will be my last recommendation for the month. I hope you've enjoyed them.

Fandom: STARGATE
Pairing: Jack/Sam
Author on LJ: elly427
Author Website: eikonoklastes
Why this must be read:

Elly's still pretty new to Stargate fandom, and we're damn lucky to have her. This story, based on spoilers for The Lost City, was only her second fanfic ever. Here she imagines what might have happened if Jack and Sam -- no experts at communicating with each other in the first place -- started sleeping together at the same time as Jack slowly lost the ability to speak English. I love it for its use of theme and for delving into something a lot of S/J fics blatantly ignore. Give it a chance even if the thought of ship smut makes you queasy. (C'mon, be brave!) It's gorgeous.

( She's in her lab, has nowhere else to go, really. )

Unspoken

Fandom: POPSLASH
Pairing: Chris/Lance, JC/Justin
Author on LJ: giogio
Author Website: giogio.org
Why this must be read:


This does actually have a real title, but it's in Greek - the title, not the story - however, it translates to "With your shield, or on it", the classic last words from a Greek mother to her sons as they left war.

Completely aside from the fact that this fic was written specifically at my request, it's NSYNC IN TOGAS! What more do you need?! OK, seriously, they're in tunics, but still.

Gio knows her Greek history, and she knows the guys, and she manages to put them together seamlessly. Chris is a helot, busy helping organize a rebellion against the Spartan overlords, and Lance is an agent of the krypteria (secret police) out spy hunting. Weaving the story around some real historical events, Gio centers the boys firmly in that culture, but still keeps their personalities distinctly them. This is the kind of story that only happens when an author knows and loves both the setting and people.

Spartan!SNYC

Fandom: ALIAS
Pairing: Sydney/Sark
Author on LJ: cognacgirl
Author Website: CG's Pub
Why this must be read: Sydney has excluded herself from the world, living in a far off place with no real contact. Suddenly her world is twisted upside down when a stranger appears – a stranger she knows quite well from years ago and she must make a decision to seek revenge or bask in her mediocre life.

On the show it has been made somewhat clear that Sark is most likely unredeemable but in fanfic there is always the hint of very realistic humanistic character traits that make him less of a killer. This is one of those stories that explored the possibility of both Sydney and Sark having their revenge and finding comfort with one another. A common bond is molded and towards the end of the story you can’t help but see the images of their affair vivid in your mind – waiting and hoping that they will have a happy ending both of them so richly deserve.

( Excerpt )

Part One
Part Two

Fandom: ALIAS
Pairing: Sydney/Sark
Author on LJ: Unknown
Author Website: Doesn't have one but other stories located here
Why this must be read: In the Alias fandom epics seem to flow quite freely but what makes an epic amazing, exceptional is the writers ability to take the characters and make them their own. As I began reading this story I knew I was starting a journey – not a momentary glimpse at characters I have become fascinated with but a piece of writing that would suck me. It is again the type of story that once you start you cannot stop.

I realize all my recs have been Sydney/Sark related – mostly because I am so intrigued by the pairing. I am always interested in seeing how others view them or will write them. I was amazed to read that the pairing fell in love so gracefully, even still being associated and tied to so many lies. The love did not come quickly, it transpired over time.

Why do I say this is an epic? It’s long – but it grips at not only the relationship between Sydney and Sark but also the relationships between many of the other characters on the show with those characters. You see a softer side to Irina although never understanding her motives completely. Marshall is priceless with his nervous ramblings and desire to be as interesting as Sark.

The story adds a new flavor to the characters while drawing on the first and second season plots and turning, twisting it so furiously around that you are just overtaken.

Salvation

This is my last rec for Alias this month – I hope that I did not bore anyone with my complete obsession with Sydney and Sark. I do hope to do this again as I believe there will continue to be a large range of wonderful Alias fics out there. Thank you to those of you who have commented or read the stories I’ve recced. I hope you enjoyed them.

Fandom: Star Trek: TNG
Pairing: Picard/Q
Author on LJ: astolat
Author Website: Intimations
Why this must be read:

As a meditation on mortality, this feels all too plausible, all too real. Shalott can make a young person understand what it feels like to be old, to be desperately fighting the decay of the light.

As a P/Q fic, this is entirely smut-free and doesn't even have to be interpreted as slash, but it manages to be suffused with love and the tentative admission of trust despite the fact that neither character actually comes out and says any such thing. The characters are perfectly in character, the banter is witty, and the ending brought tears to my eyes. I also think the solution in this story is blindingly obvious and wonder why no one thought of it before in a P/Q fic.

( Excerpt: )

Past Duties

Fandom: LORD OF THE RINGS
Pairing: Aragorn/Legolas
Author on lj: penelope_z
Author website: None, but her stores at ff.net are here.
Why this must be read: Told from alternating POVs, this six-chapter fic has everything I want from an Aragorn/Legolas story-- Angst, inevitability, and a healthy respect for Arwen. The language is rich and unflinching and, while nothing "big" happens plot-wise, much is revealed about the characters in question.

Viper thoughts coil around my mind. I will betray them both one day, my Elven lovers. Betray them for the one who holds a black scythe and patiently awaits at the end of the long path. And I will go to him, holding a broken sword or the sceptre of Annúminas, it matters not. When I sleep in his comforting arms, will you remember my name? Will you remember you were mine once?

Marble Skin

Fandom: STARGATE
Pairing: Daniel/Janet
Author on LJ: suelac
Author Website: Stargate SG-1 Stories by cofax
Why this must be read:

Okay, I am not generally a fan of Dan/Jan, I admit. I am a sucker for post-apocalypse fics (who isn't, really?) This is essentially a Daniel story that finds him in a Goa'uld work camp, digging out Cheyenne Mountain. There's action-adventure, there's good characterization, there's hope and hopelessness, there's suspense, there are believable original characters, and oh, yeah, there's Dan/Jan, and it's good Dan/Jan. You know, the end-of-the-world kind.

Mmm, end of the world. Mmmm.

( Daniel had stopped dreaming of his teammates. )

Thunder Follow Me

Fandom: FARSCAPE
Pairing: John Crichton, Mele-On Grayza
Author on LJ: rubberneck
Author Website: Fanfic by Feldman
Why this must be read:

At the end of season 3 and in the very early episodes of season 4, Very Bad Things happen to John Crichton. Some he'll deal with, some he'll try to pretend never happened, and others, well... others will lead him down a twisted and torturous path toward becoming everything he hates.

Grayza is a character largely reviled by Farscape fandom for her role in the Very Bad Things that happen to John Crichton. But there's no denying she's whip-smart, ruthlessly ambitious, and as far as can be ascertained, truthful in her dealings... whether selling out an entire species in an attempt to negotiate peace, or using her unique talents to interrogate her puzzling Human prisoner.

Feldman's fic is set during episode 4.02, What Was Lost: Sacrifice and sheds all-too-painful insight into the tumultuous psyche of John Crichton (complete with his neural clone sidekick, Harvey) during his time in Grayza's thrall.

( Excerpt )


Amok Time

Fandom: Star Trek: TNG/DS9
Pairing: none
Author on LJ: don't think she has one
Author website: don't think she has one

Why this must be read:

There is a magic trick some authors can pull off in which they take various pieces of things that weren't supposed to go together, and make them fit beautifully. In this fanfic, the war in the Continuum is connected to the battle between the Prophets and the Pagh-wraiths, and we discover that we may have rooted for the wrong side. Q sends Picard, Data, and Kira on a quest to Cardassia to uncover an ancient artifact, in order to prevent Sisko's rise to Prophethood from causing disaster throughout the galaxy. Plotty, with a good bit of the philosophy that is the author's forte, and with a firm grasp of the characters, this is a story many DS9 fans, as well as fans of Picard, Data and/or Q, should enjoy.

( Excerpt )

The story is normally found at Beyond Gloomy Chaos at Vash's Q Fanfiction Library, but for some reason that site appears to be down, so I wayback machined the link and got this for you.

Fandom: FARSCAPE
Pairing: Aeryn Sun/John Crichton
Author on LJ: kernezelda
Author Website: n/a
Why this must be read:

During four seasons and the Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars miniseries, John Crichton is forced to continually rethink everything he'd held as truth, including his vision of himself as a decent Human being. The power of wormholes, and what he's done to prevent that knowledge from being exploited as the ultimate weapon of mass destruction, haunts his every waking moment--tagging along at his heels like a cocker spaniel, underfoot.

Crichton's solace and justification for his actions lie in his love for Aeryn Sun, and hers for him; but even despite this obsession, he's only ever one small step away from madness. Kernezelda's fic explores what happens when Crichton reaches his breaking point, when redemption is denied and what's held him together--the promise of a future and family with Aeryn--abruptly shatters.


( Excerpt )


Going Fishing

Vidder: Laura Shapiro
Musical artist: The Beach Boys
Pairing: lots and lots
Vidder on LJ: laurashapiro
Vidders' website: email Laura (see link below) for info

Why this vid kicks ass:

It's a delightful potted history of slash, with snippets ranging from the 1960s (Original Star Trek, Man From U.N.C.L.E., I Spy), 1970s (Professionals), 1980s (Next Generation Star Trek, Wiseguy), 1990s (Sentinel, Due South, Highlander, Xena, X Files), all the way to early 2000s (Buffy, West Wing, Oz) and many more I can't quite identify.

The wistful longing of the lyrics gives the clips added humour and nicely emphasises the slashy subtext.

A great song, wonderful clips - I adore this vid.

The link below takes you to information on obtaining the password.

Edited to add: replaced website URL with email addy at vidder's request. Please email her for more information.

email address

Fandom: HIGHLANDER
Pairing: Methos/Duncan, mentioning of Methos/others
Author on LJ: carenejeans
Author Website:The Garret
Why this must be read:

Jealousy.

It makes the world go 'round. Immortals are not immune from it, either. And they live a long, long time--allowing for the building up of a whole mess o' jealousy.

This darling little story treads that fine, faint line between serious angst and comedic audience winking, dancing along the edge of envy. It is set after The Modern Prometheus, and offers up unexpected insight into the Duncan-Methos dynamic, one small emotion at a time. Serious at moments, and at others, downright silly, it shows that human emotions are sometimes the things that make us tick.

Beautiful, beautiful brown eyes; I'll never love green eyes again. Indeed.

( 'Ol' Green Eyes is Back' Sampler )



Ol' Green Eyes is Back

My last rec. *sniff* The end of January so soon? I've had a ball driving the van for the month. Thank you all for letting me navigate. :)