Fandom: STAR TREK TNG
Pairing: Picard/Crusher
Author on LJ: kyrafic
Author Website: Narrow Streets
Why this must be read:

This story is a stand-out for its beautiful imagery, as well as a terrific Beverly voice. I also love the use of sound and language as a metaphor for communication between two individuals.

The Speed Of Sound

Fandom: THE SENTINEL
Pairing: Jim/Blair
Author Website: Story found at 852 Prospect
Why this must be read:

This is one of those stories that just gets you, hard. It's about all the things we're too afraid to say when we're still around to face the consequences.

"I've asked Simon to give this to you when you're ready; I hope you're not listening to this in the hospital. I hope you weren't hurt, however this came about. I just have a few things to tell you, remind you really, since I hope I didn't keep them secret when I was with you. And then we'll deal with how you're going to cope."

Tape Delay

Fandom: THE SENTINEL
Pairing: Jim/Blair
Author Website: Series found at 852 Prospect
Why this must be read:

I never understood why there are so many vampire stories for the Sentinel fandom, especially when so many of them are done badly. Mab's series is really the exception to the rule; beautifully written, drawing fully on Jim's and Blair's personalities and reactions, and adding a slight twist to the vampirism idea to make it fully her own. Go on, give it a try. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Blair sat quite still on the bed. Jim might have thought that he was meditating, except for the scent of extreme distress coming off him. Jim leaned his back against the bedroom wall, watching the still, quiet man sitting on the bed. He waited for Blair to pick his options - to believe what Jim was telling him, or to assume that he was crazy. Jim wished that he was crazy. Finally, Blair said something.

"This is pretty weird shit."

Jim couldn't help it - he laughed, a nasty, hiccupping snort of sound. "And this is new, how?"

Blair didn't smile. Instead he got off the bed, came over and took Jim's hand, and frowned. "I mean this is really weird. How can this happen?" He reached for Jim, put his arms around him and laid his head low against Jim's chest. Jim hugged him hard before he realised that Blair was seeking information as much as comfort.

"I can't hear your heart, Jim." Blair's voice trembled. "I can't hear anything." He started to cry - hard, guttural sobs, and Jim held him for a long time.

Passing It On
I Married a Vampire
Home Late
A Day Must Come

Fandom: THE SENTINEL
Pairing: Jim/Blair Jim/OMC Blair/OMC
Author on LJ: cesperanza
Author Website: Francesca's Site
Why this must be read:

If you don't know Francesca is one of the most amazing and prolific writers of Sentinel slash out there, you've been living under a rock. She's extrordinarily talented, and her men always sound and feel like men, not a woman's idea of men. So why do I feel the need to recommend Keyhole? Because it's one of my favorite stories of hers, and one I think gets completely overlooked. The sex is hot, the dialogue is dark, the whole package is completely electric.

"I love you," Jim admitted tightly. "I love you. But I also hate you. I hate you so much, Sandburg, you really have no idea."

Blair paled, and took a shaky step backwards.

"You have my life in your hands, my whole fucking life, and you are Such. A. Fucking. Flake."

Keyhole

Fandom: STARSKY & HUTCH
Pairing: Starsky/Hutch
Author on LJ: Unknown
Author Website: Unknown
Why this must be read:

Set half a year after-SR, Hutch still hasn't gotten over what happened to his partner, and it's reflecting in everything he does. When he wraps up a particular painful case, Starsky finally decides action must be taken.

Some stories are so good you don't pay attention to the words. Others are so good you can't help but notice the words, so deliberate and precise they feel. This one falls into the latter category, and has the reader swept up in the poetry of the language just as much as the story it's communicating.

( Excerpt )

Night Vision

The next two weeks are going to be all about the Clex. I'm a Clex girl - I admit it. It's why I started watching the show in the first place, and I proudly wear my "Clex Appeal" t-shirt. With S5 approaching and the days of blatant Clex virtually gone from the show, it's nice to settle in with some good fic that brings the relationship back into focus.

Fandom: SMALLVILLE
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Author on LJ: rushlight75
Author Website: The Bard's Den
Why this must be read: This is an amazing AU that spins convincingly out of canon - and out of control. Dr. Hamilton's experiments with the meteor rock have gone awry and the results are ... unexpected and devastating. Three different universes are becoming intersected - with three very different sets of Clarks and Lexes. The author manages to make the story not only believable, but she makes you feel for each set of characters and what they're facing. The story naturally gets complicated with different characters interacting in different timelines, but the author has constructed such clearly identifiable versions of the characters that there's no confusion for the reader. It's wonderfully written and expertly executed with a combination of angst and humour that will make you want to return to it again and again. I know I do.

( Excerpt from Convergence )

Read the story and don't forget to feedback the author: Convergence

Fandom: THE SENTINEL
Pairing: Jim/Blair
Author on LJ: carodee
Author Website: Caro Dee's Insatiable Site
Why this must be read:

Now this was another tough one, because pretty much all of Caro's stories are toe-curling good, and if you haven't heard of her Insatiable series then, my, you have been living under a rock! Which is exactly why I decided to pimp one of her lesser-known stories that never fails to pique my interest: Insatiable is fantastic, but Caro has more than one fantastic story to her credit.

Jim Sings The Candy Cane Hallelujah Chorus

Fandom: STARGATE ATLANTIS
Pairing: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard
Author on LJ: regann
Author Website: Italicized
Why this must be read:

I love this story so much. It's about love that has very little to do with sex -- in and of itself, unusual -- and it pinpoints exactly what I see on McKay's face when the realisation hits that Sheppard is on a suicide run with a bomb he built [Siege, Part II]. I think the power of this comes from the fact that it's from Weir's POV and -- just like the viewer -- she's seeing the pain and the anguish there and it changes her perception of the two men she knows and her understanding of things forever.

Like thousands of other words she knew, Elizabeth was sure of what the word "widow" meant. She knew it precisely and instantly and -- if she wanted to brag or be exact -- she knew it in several languages as well.

Defining Dissolution

Fandom: BUFFY
Pairing: to tell would spoil the story
Author on LJ: none
Author Website: none
Why this must be read:

The origins of Drusilla have always intrigued me: before the Angel episodes aired, it was one plot line that never failed to draw me in. This story just has one of the most gut-wrenching endings I have ever read, and it takes Angelus’ fame as a cold hearted SOB and expands it times ten. You want to hate him, you really do, as you read what he does to poor, innocent women, but you can’t help but read anyway.

( Read more... )

A Truth Worse Than Lies

Fandom: HIGHLANDER
Pairing: Evil!Duncan/Methos
Author on LJ: astolat
Author Website: Intimations
Why this must be read:

A missing scene from ‘Deliverance’. Didn’t anybody else wonder just how Evil!Duncan was in bed?

Friend of the Devil

Fandom: POP SLASH
Pairing: JC/Justin, Justin/Justin
Author on LJ: zarah5
Author Website: What it Is
Why this must be read:

zarah5 is one of my favorite authors ever. She's written in a variety of fandoms and her talent with characterization and knack for writing truly interesting and unique stories is so rare. This particular story is so much fun. The concept is a fandom classic cliché: the doppelganger fic.

Justin woke up alone.

Almost.

Not really.

Maybe the best way to put it is that he woke up alone with himself.

One

FANDOM: MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.
Pairing: Napoleon/Illya eventually
Author on LJ: not known
Author Website: Rari's List

Why this must be read:

A chance discovery in a too-secure locked drawer puts U.N.C.L.E. onto the trail of THRUSH's latest plan - to unleash a plague of locusts on America's farmlands. But these are not ordinary locusts, and Napoleon has something else on his mind as well...

RAC spins a terrific yarn, with a THRUSH plot that is utterly ludicrous and at the same time completely believable. The interaction between Napoleon and Illya is superb, and Napoleon's frantic attempts to bust up what he believes to be a burgeoning relationship between Illya and a male colleague border at times on farce. This is five chapters of pure genius, told from Napoleon's point of view. Go and read it now.

( Excerpt )

The Locust Affair

Fandom: PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL
Pairing: Jack/AnaMaria
Author on LJ: Unknown
Author Website: fanfiction.net profile
Why this must be read:

This story hooked me with the angst in the early setup. The Black Pearl rescues hundreds of survivors in the sea after Port Royal suffers a devastating earthquake, but Norrington misinterprets Jack's attempts to return them. The Turners nurse an injured Sparrow, and then later AnaMaria nurses an injured Sparrow. L'Morgan tells a sweeping tale of misunderstandings and loyalty to friends that is often laugh out loud funny. For instance:

( Jack and Ana come upon the funeral for the notorious Jack Sparrow, believed dead, where Norrington is giving a moving eulogy. )

Aftermath