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

Once again, we've got the boys returning to work post-SR, and Hutch isn't coping too well. His fear for Starsky is a near-tangible creature that he wrestles to control, over and over again, and though he devises a "system" to reign it in (there are flowcharts and everything!), you wonder if he ever truly gets the clampdown on it, despite his own thoughts on the matter. In the midst of all this agonizing, the Blintz has fallen in love with Starsk, but hides the fact behind his other secrets. Just as the two of them start down the path to exploring new aspects of their relationship, a tense work-related situation comes up that throws Starsky right back into danger, and Hutch back into the arms of his fear. Will they ever get a chance to figure things out?

A good, long fic that's got bits and pieces of many of the aspects that can make great S/H: caring, love, humor, action, drama, sex, plot, and some delicate pieces of writing, too. Though the author occasionally slips in a Brit-ism that might give the reader pause, this story shouldn't be dismissed for such temporary lapses. I'd recommend this piece solely for the exploration of Hutch and the intriguing insights into his development she gives us, but the rest ain't half bad, either ;)

( Excerpt )


Fractured Discipline

Fandom: HORNBLOWER
Pairing: Well, that's just the problem, isn't it?
Author on LJ: nindulgence
Author Website: none
Why this must be read:

Fictional Hornblower Scholarship is a fine old tradition (sort of like rum, sodomy and the lash), stretching back at least to C. Northcote Parkinson's The Life And Times Of Horatio Hornblower, published in 1970, and the fandom carries on the tradition with almost as much enthusiasm as we show for rum and sodomy, happily discovering letters, locating diaries, uncovering lost sketches, and haggling over half-obliterated pronouns on musty papers (it's the forgery that takes the time, really; those salt stains are hell to reproduce).

nindulgence's particular contributions to this genre are generally combinations of eloquent verse and impish theorizing calculated to keep us all happily speculating for weeks (see 17), and

One Morning on the CHAOS Discussion List...,

and the verse embedded within it, are no exception.

Fandom: THE OC
Pairing: Ryan/Seth
Author on LJ: aflowerinrain
Why this must be read:

I seem to be focusing on the slash here in the OC fandom. Partially, I think, because although there are as many good het writers as there are slash writers, there's a lot more bad het writers, so there's more to dig through to find the gems.

But back to Cam's great story. It's set after the S2 finale. Trey, Ryan's brother, is dead from Marissa's gun shot, and Ryan is reeling. Cam portrays a vulnerable Ryan, one trying to find his footing again, and a Seth who trys to be the best friend he can be. I like this story because it portrays how difficult it can be to be a friend to someone who is grieving, how hard it is to do the right thing. The author goes for the quiet moments, the spaces in between big emotions, to show the negotiation of long term relationships.

The conceit of the story, that Seth buys "The complete book of questions" and uses it to talk to Ryan because he can't figure out how to talk to his friend anymore, works well. Cam shapes the story so that the questions seem random and not jerry-rigged by the writer to bring about any a-ha moments. The structure of the story is subtle and the pace works with the plot.

So, enjoy, feed the author!

( Excerpt: )

The Complete Books of Questions.

Fandom: BLAKES 7
Pairing: none.
Author on LJ: hafren
Author Website: Hafren's gloomy patch of the forest

Why this must be read:

Tricky question. Besides the obvious -the awesome writing, the characters' voices that are so perfectly true, there is something in this story that I didn't find anywhere else. Emotion? Emotion + Avon? Avon dying? Avon dying and relying on Vila to make everything fine? Vila's quest to fulfill Avon's desperate wish? And the beautiful, wonderful ending? The warm fuzzy feeling I get when reading this fic?

All of this. Let's say it, it's my favorite Hafren's story, I can't understand why no one recced it before (but it makes me very happy because I can do it now!)

( An exerpt? )

Now. go. read!

In my hands

Fandom: POP SLASH
Pairing: JC/David Bowie, JC/Joey
Author on LJ: visionshadows
Author Website: Last Night
Why this must be read:

Take a good look at that pairing. Now ignore every negative thought you might possibly have. I read this story years ago. It was fantastic then and it's fantastic now. I've actually kept thinking about it ever since I first gave it a chance. It's heartbreaking and fascinating and just wonderfully detailed. Rachel clearly has a whole lot of love for David Bowie, and he's really one of the main characters in the story. I think the weirdest thing about this series is the fact that it's one of the only first person stories I've ever enjoyed. Rachel, basically, manages to take all of this shit I could never imagine liking and makes me fall in love. Really, give this one a chance, it's worth it.

Oranges and Vanilla

Fandom: STARGATE SG-1
Pairing: Sam/Jack
Author on LJ: splash_the_cat
Author Website: Infanity
Why this must be read:

It's funny. It's cute. It's bizarrely plausible, despite the rather strange premise, and it's got Elvis impersonators. Need I say more?

( excerpt )

Chapel of Love

Fandom: HIGHLANDER
Pairing: Duncan/Tessa, Duncan/Methos
Author on LJ: macgeorge1
Author Website: MacGeorge’s Madness
Why this must be read:

What if Duncan and Methos met earlier in their lives? And posing as naked live models for one of Tessa’s art classes, no less… MacGeorge writes beautiful, beautiful prose as a wary, suspicious Duncan meets Adam Pierson for the first time… without wearing any clothes!

Life Drawing

Fandom: BUFFY
Pairing: Xander/Faith
Author on LJ:booster17
Author Website: none
Why this must be read:

I’ve never particularly liked Xander. So when I read (and recommend) a story that has him as the lead character, well, people stand up and pay attention.

Have you ever read one of those stories where the more you read, that sinking, empty feeling in your stomach keeps getting bigger and bigger? And then you finish the story, and you just sit there in twisted awe, wondering at the impossible horror you’ve just read?

Yeah, that’s this story all right.

( Read more... )

Sleeper

Fandom: Farscape
Pairing: N/A
Summary: John is falling over the rainbow.
Email: windysearose@hotmail.com
Author's Website: http://livejournal.com/users/searose
Livejournal: searose
Posted: November 2004 originally

All AUs are URs now, right? This is one of the best explorations of what's going on in John's head and out of it in Season Four.

Hook, Line and Sinker

Fandom: LotRiPS
Pairing: Dom/Billy/Elijah
Author on lj: oneangrykate and gabbyhope
Author website: None
Why this must be read:

There's a lot of potential angst in the Dom/Billy/Elijah relationship, but there's also quite a lot of HOT. The perfect combination of both of those elements often results in spontaneous fic combustion, which is what this piece is. Dom, Billy and Elijah sneak away from the New York premiere of The Two Towers to have a little library sex. Mmmm, library threesome. I really love the characterization in this fic-- It's always good to see Billy take a more dominant role, while Elijah is inexperienced but wonderfully eager to learn, and Dom is, at turns, both eager and patient.

Billy is all over Dom like a second skin, nipping at his neck, growling (his Billy! Growling! Because of him, because of him, yes.) and muttering that same, "My night, mine, my night, mine," into Dom's sweaty neck and holding him so firmly that when the lift starts up, Dom's knees don't give like they seem to want to. They seem bent on just dropping and depositing Dom on the ground at Elijah and Billy's feet. Which wouldn't be bad. Not bad at all. He'd like to see that vantage point; looking up at Billy and Elijah from his knees. Them looking down at him. And it's sort of how Dom sees them, now, he thinks. Larger than life. Like gods. Like fucking sex gods, and they did have sex gods in Rome and Greece, didn't they?

Open, Tug, Push

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

There's so much potential in the interaction between McKay and Sheppard -- their bickering and banter and dismissal of personal space -- it's no wonder they are SGA's major pairing. But for all the stories that have them sliding into a relationship through various ways and means, it's not offen that you get one where they make the decision not to -- even though that potential is as clear to them as the reader.

There's no happy ending in this fic. It's poignant and painful because you can so easily see what the two of them are giving up, the sacrifice they're making. But, please, don't let that stop you from reading. Kagey has such a way with words that makes it hurt so good and her Sheppard and McKay are so incredibly well drawn that it would be a shame to miss them.

Opposition of Stars

Fandom: HARRY POTTER
Pairing: Harry Potter/Severus Snape
Author on LJ: wossname
Author Website: chalk scribblings on the sidewalk
Why this must be read:

Debchan begins "What He Wants" with the following quotation, "Whenever we confront an unbridled desire we are surely in the presence of a tragedy-in-the-making." Suggesting that student-teacher relationships are rife with possibilities for tragedy and exploitation is hardly a radical proposition, but in this Harry/Snape story, it's not Harry who needs protection - Harry knows exactly what he wants. Post OotP, the prose here is thick with desperation, which leads both characters down paths perhaps better left untraveled. Sharp, surprising, and edgy.


What He Wants