espresso_addict reporting for duty on the Crack Defiant. As you might gather, I'll be recommending Deep Space Nine for your December reading pleasure. I plan to spotlight authors who've somehow been overlooked in previous months, but I hope within this framework to find a range of characters & genres to bring to your attention.

Fandom: STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE
Pairing: Garak/Ziyal, Jadzia/Worf
Author on LJ: altariel1
Author Website: Una McCormack's Deep Space Nine pages
Why this must be read:

Una is among my very favourite DS9 writers, & I'm staggered she's not been recommended here before. I'd unreservedly recommend all her DS9 fiction, but today I'd like to draw your attention to just one. Set after Sacrifice of Angels, 'The Fabric of Our Lives' is a moving character piece in which the events of season 6 are deftly woven around a central theme to give a richly detailed story. Una's speciality is a certain Cardassian tailor-cum-spy, so it's no surprise that she creates his voice perfectly here, but Jadzia & Kira are also superbly realised.

( A taster )

The Fabric of Our Lives

Hello. I'm vivwiley and it's my pleasure to gently pilot the X-Files portion of the crack van this month. I was active in this fandom many, many moons ago, and wrote under several names mostly as MCA, Rye or Viv. I wanted to take this opportunity to highlight a handful of stories that are what brought me into this amazing world of story-telling and kept me there.

For my first series of recs I wanted to feature some amazing first stories by authors who went on to do even more amazing things. But you could see the seeds of their future brilliance from the very beginning.

So, without further ado:

Fandom: X-FILES
Pairing: Scully/Other (original male character)
Author on LJ: mustangsally78
Author Website: appears to be down
Why this must be read: mustangsally78 has been rec'd here before for one of her co-written stories. But long before she and Ms. rivkat teamed up, Mustang posted a number of solo stories and this was her first. It has a wonderfully developed original character, and her trademark pell-mell plotting and snarky humor. Scully gets caught up in a drug investigation and other entanglments.

Excerpt:
"Have we found anything out about our suspect?" she asked.
"Quien mal anda, al acaba. He who lives ill, dies ill. He left ID at the crime scene in his jacket. All criminals are stupid, quod erat demonstrandum. " Mucheski looked down at his ever present notebook. "Diego Rivera, nice Irish boy, twenty-five, cab driver for the American Cab company of Greater DC. Known drug-user and all-around party dude. No social security number on file, has a couple priors, and no green card. The INS is going to come down like the Wrath of God on the cab company when they find out that he's an alien."

Dana choked on her coffee. "What?"

"Illegal alien. Drove to support his habit. Nice kid."


Go, read and enjoy. And remember that feedback brings good karma.

Syntax and Measure

Fandom: SPORTS NIGHT
Pairing: Casey/Dan
Author on LJ:meadowlion
Author Website: kff

Sports Night fandom, at least in my mind, comes in two distinct waves: the first came in the wake of the show's original run; the second, still ongoing, from reruns, overseas screenings, the DVD release, and word of mouth. Unfortunately and rather unfairly, most of the SN rec sites and listings date from the first wave, are vastly out of date, and take no account of latter-day writers. With the Trickster archive down – and it looks as though this time it's down for good – there's really no central resource for SN fans to archive or to find newer material (although laylee's new snarchive is doing its best to rectify this situation). It's my intention this month to rec some of the lesser-sung talents of the SN world, of which there are many.

Why this must be read: I'm starting with meadowlion, a prolific and talented writer, but whose work I believe I've never seen recced anywhere. This won't go far to redress the balance, but at least it's a start. It was difficult to choose any single fic above another, but I’ve gone with this one: a sweet, straightforward, post-Quo Vadimus happy ending, of the sort the boys so richly deserve.

Take This Sabbath Day: In which Casey has an epiphany, and Dan becomes a very smart man.

Hi, I'm Karen and I'm driving the Stargate SG1 van this month. I'm primarily J/D slash, but I like a good team fic and other slash pairings. I've got a lot of favorites. I hope I introduce you to some new authors, and maybe refresh your mind about someone you haven't read in ages.

Fandom: STARGATE SG1
Pairing: None, Team Fic
Author on LJ: jmas
Author Website: http://ancientsgate.com/
Why this must be read:

I'm feeling very nostalgic today. This is a wonderful classic team adventure tale. IMO it has all the elements that made us fall in love with SG1. JMAS is the first SG1 author I read and I'm still a huge fan. This is a fairly early fic of hers, but her work was wonderful from the beginning. This is a very satisfying read.


Spirit Dance

Hi, everyone! I'm your driver for due South this month and I've got some amazing fics lined up, so enjoy!

Fandom: Due South
Pairing: RayK/Fraser, past RayK/Stella, but mostly RayK/Chicago
Author on LJ: minervacat
Author Website: When The Floods Roll Back
Why this must be read:

I'm honestly not sure how this story has been overlooked for so long, because it's really one of those where you read it and end up realigning your knowledge of a canon character to include this new information. It is Kowalski speaking, and this is the story of his love affair with Chicago, the one thing that he's come to rely on in his life. This story articulates for me the reasons why I can't imagine Ray staying in Canada after his adventure with Fraser. In my head, the two of them always come back.

I'm from Chicago myself, so this story made me so happy. And now, granted, its reference to the Sox never winning a World Series is a bit dated (since, uh, they just did), but there's so much of Chicago's culture represented. The Taste, Comiskey, Old Style, Lake Shore Drive and even Giordano's Pizza. Ray's love of the Cubs and Wrigley also matches the feelings of every Cubs fan I've ever met. Every Cubs fan can remember their first time at Wrigley Field. My mom still busts out the pictures of mine taken when I was six months old, and through most of my formative years my only goal in life was to play second base like Ryne Sandberg. Callum Keith Rennie's accent is pure South Side, but he likes the Cubs in canon and not the Sox, so that discrepency is the show's fault and not minervacat's.

Ray's voice is perfect, as are his wistful, painless memories of Stella and his interactions with Fraser. Read it and enjoy.

( Excerpt )

that's where all of the gangsters live

Hello, everyone! I'm honoured to be driving the van for Battlestar Galactica fandom this month. I've assembled a list of old and new, familiar and lesser known stories and authors to showcase the variety that makes this fandom a true delight.

Fandom: BSG
Pairing: Gaius, Six, Kara/Lee
Author on LJ: voleuse
Author Website: Fanfiction by Voleuse
Why this must be read: The classical pantheon's a great way to leap into the BSG universe and voleuse transforms the cautionary tale of the hunter who saw more than he should with a SF twist. Through Gaius Baltar's past and present, the author evokes equal parts terror and desire from the competing ideologies of the Colonials and Cylons. There's sense, sensuality and a profound aura of helplessness in the plight of the unwitting observer.

Now go and tell, if you can, that you have seen Diana unapparelled.

Actaeon, Hounded

Hello! Stars here, behind the wheel of a hot-wired transport pod once again... *waves* Third time's the charm, or some such. This month I'll have recs from gen to smut--leaning more towards character pieces, but all fics to lose yourself in, even if only for a microt. :)


Fandom: FARSCAPE
Pairing: none (gen/angst)
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: The Athenaion
Why this must be read:

The author describes this as impulsive!fic, prompted by episode 4.13 Terra Firma. Sometimes a fic simply pours forth on its own, leaping from brain to page like Athena from the head of Zeus; such fics are gifts, for both the writer and reader.

Firecracker's fic is a richly detailed glimpse into the heart and mind of the most wanted man in the Uncharted Territories, a deft and delicate portrayal of a man at the mercy of the universe--and the inevitable, unshakable truth that in the end, John Crichton cares about just. one. thing.


You wanted to fly through the stars, you wanted to regain Earth. You don't know what you want now. Maybe it's better to want nothing. But you'll never, never do that, she has become part of you and all the bits of broken mirror in you reflect her, and you only want to be there.

Spiderweb

Fandom:: ANGEL
Pairing:: Wesley/Lilah, Wesley/Justine
Author on LJ: spuffyduds
Author Website: None
Why this must be read:

There are places in any canon that just cry out for a story to be told, and Wesley's complicated interaction with Lilah and Justine between seasons 3 & 4 is one of those places. "Cleaning Up" is a Wesley-POV story, as rich and dark as the canon. But it goes even deeper, digging beneath his stark facade to show us that, yes, it's still Wesley in there. spuffyduds strikes a difficult balance by showing empathy with Wesley while never trying to explain or excuse or, God forbid, woobify his actions.

spuffyduds is a new author in this fandom, and she has struck gold the first time out. She writes in spare, sharp prose, with minimal but dead-on dialogue.

Here's a sample:

( Lilah wouldn't suspect this of me, the Good Guy )

Cleaning Up