March 7th, 2005 
07:02 am Privilege by Susan Cutter (NC-17: violence and non-con)
Fandom: Blakes 7
Pairing: Tarrant/OMC
Author on LJ: not that I know
Author Website: ditto
Why this must be read:

This is the least gratuitous violence ever. It includes a violent rape but it isn't about that; it's about what the title says. Basically it's a political fic about what an unjust, class-dominated society does to people. The rape happens because two members of the underclass feel screwed by the system and want to take it out on someone they see as more privileged. That's the first half of the story. The second half explores the same theme in a different but even more thought-provoking way, by showing us a character who feels much the same as the two rapists but has reacted to his feelings of resentment differently. So far… In this story he displays a considerable remnant of decency, which is the sadder because we know how he will end up. This story is the B7 equivalent of Euripides' Hekabe, a sombre analysis of what being a victim of cruelty and injustice does to the nicer side of people. It's one of my three all-time favourite B7 stories. It was first published in the zine ttba , edited by Tavia, most of which is now online here

Privilege
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12:27 pm Very Good, Boyd by app1e_pi (rating varies from G - NC-17)
Apologies for not getting this out sooner. No internet sucks. :(

Fandom: LOTRIPS
Pairing: Monaboyd
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] app1e_pi
Author Website: pi [dot] monaboyd [dot] net
Why this must be read:

Crack!fic. Total, undulterated crack!fic. This story is an AU based on the works of P.G. Wodehouse. Dom is a proper English Gentlemen, who just happens to have an unproper affection for his butler, Boyd. Hilarity ensues when Orli, Liv, Miranda, and other LOTR characters join in the mix. Very hilarious and an excellent read.

Excerpt. )

Very Good, Boyd
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12:37 pm 31 Days by Trajictale (NC-17)
Fandom: Lost
Pairing: Various, mostly slash and some het
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] trajictale
Author Website: N/A

Why this must be read:

When I read this story when it was first posted, I immediately knew which story I would rec first if Lost ever came to [livejournal.com profile] crack_van. It's lovely and sad and strange and funny. It's glimpses of 31 days on the island from the perspective of various characters. There isn't anything necessarily remarkable about what the characters do to fill up their days. They think about home, they think about food, they goof off, and they have lots and lots of sex, but somewhere underneath even the silliest of their activities you get a sense of both their darkness and the quiet dignity of people trying to their best to survivor in terrible circumstances. And when I was done giggling at the awesome brilliance of day 31, it was Locke's simple and haunting letters home that have stuck with me.

31 Days
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05:27 pm I Like It Like That by Mallory Klohn (NC-17)
Fandom: QUEER AS FOLK: UK
Pairing: Stuart/Vince
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] inapickle
Author Website: Seriously Bent and A Little Mallory Klohn

Why this must be read:
This story by Mallory Klohn is my all-time favorite in this fandom. I love the Vince voice, and it always has me laughing from start to finish. I can see every scene in my mind's eye, and hear each line of dialogue in the character's voices. I can't tell you how glad I am that it's available again on the Net. If there is one story I could make everyone read, it would be this one.

I Like It Like That
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05:53 pm Career Advice, by Green Eyed Lady (G)
Fandom: HARRY POTTER
Pairing: Gen
Author on LJ: Unknown
Author’s Website: Fanfiction.net Profile
Why this must be read:

Every now and then, I stumble across an enjoyable story at ff.net that I would not otherwise have found. This is one of those stories. Green Eyed Lady put real thought into the characters she deals with in this story, and in the world in which they live. Minerva McGonagall provides career counseling for her seventh year Gryffindors, among them James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Lily. Considering what we know of their futures, this is a bittersweet look at their dreams and ambitions.

    Minerva had been doing this for the tenth year now, and knew there was usually quite an element of awkwardness in these meetings.

    The majority of students that came in were nervous, if for no other reason than having to share their ambitions (or lack thereof) with a teacher renown for giving out many detentions within her office. They didn't quite meet her eye; they sat in very uncomfortable positions; occasionally, they stuttered, but more often they either spoke much more softly or loudly than was their wont, and the most intelligent of them sometimes wound up saying stupid things that they were obviously embarrassed about and would wither in shame hours later over.

    She liked to see those sort, actually. The ones who weren't nervous were often the hardest to deal with. They either really didn't care, which made Minerva's job quite difficult, or were so confident that they were often arrogant. A very few of the calm ones truly had anything to be calm about.

    None of them seemed to realise that Minerva was often feeling as discomfited as they were. There were always a few students who had ambitions that she had to break them gently of. She couldn't imagine seeing much of it this year - they had a very outstanding group of Gryffindors, including three of the most brilliant students in anyone's recent memory, who would be able to garner all the requirements needed for whatever they chose.


Career Advice
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06:21 pm requited, and companion piece, by FayJay (PG13)
Fandom: HARRY POTTER
Pairing: Lily/Snape
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] pandarus
Author’s Website: Spreading the Yay, one Ho at a time
Why this must be read:

Most of what we know about Harry’s parent’s generation focuses around James Potter: the Marauders were his friends, Snape was his rival, Harry looks like James, and has James’ knack for Quidditch. I have a real fondness for stories that take on Lily Evans, without needing James’ or Harry’s presence to help define her.

I enjoyed how FayJay handled both Snape and Lily: they are both complex, layered characters. She doesn’t whitewash Snape, and makes Lily human, without pushing too far into “edgy” characterization.

    It is a vulgar truism that history is written by the victors, and by adoring friends and offspring who are armed with distorting and rose-tinted lenses. James Potter won Lily Evans, and as a result she is remembered as nothing but an adjunct of her son's story. But Lily was never the milk-and-water paragon of blandness the textbooks describe. She was not nice. Good, perhaps, whatever that may mean, but Lily Evans was far too vivid and passionate and fascinating a girl to be constrained by any adjective so repellently bland as 'nice'.


requited
Lily/Snape Redux
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08:13 pm World's Biggest World I & II by Mallory Klohn (NC-17)
Fandom: QUEER AS FOLK: UK
Pairing: Stuart/Vince
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] inapickle
Author Website: Seriously Bent and A Little Mallory Klohn

Why this must be read:
I think we're all curious about the Great Adventure that Stuart and Vince had after the events of series 2, so this wacky road trip story is fun to read. But even best friends get on each other's last nerve when there's no escape, so there is Stuart/Vince snark to enjoy, too.

He knew nearly everything about Vince: his life story, his fantasies, his disappointments, everything he was and everything he wished he was, how he felt, how he thought, the things he loved and the things he feared. It was a terrible thing, it was like an atomic bomb; in the wrong hands, it could mean the end of the world. But Vince had the same power over him, and somehow, in spite of everything, they'd always managed to keep the peace.

World's Biggest World I: Two Sleepy People
World's Biggest World II: I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper
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10:44 pm New Amsterdam by Trismegistus (PG)
Fandom: X-MEN: MOVIEVERSE
Pairing: gen; John
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] vagabond_sal
Author's Website: word smith y

Why this must be read:

Another age-old question: What happened to John, after he took off? Quick and thickly lyrical.

The days go by like faces on the subway. They run together like ink, seeping through paper--one day, a week, and suddenly it's been half a year living in a loft that might generously be qualified as a cell.

New Amsterdam
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