Fandom: DC COMICS
Pairing: N/A
Author on LJ: brown_betty
Author Website: Author's page at The Archive at the End of the Universe
Why this must be read:

I must admit, I'm surprised that I'm even getting to rec this story – I fully expected someone else to snap it up before I got the chance.

Top-quality genfic can be difficult to find in this fandom, but when it's good, it's damned good. This is one of my favourites, and it's about a character I don't usually have an enormous amount of interest in: Jack Drake, father of Tim, the third Robin. Jack is generally fairly hard-done-by in canon; the people making the books seem to have trouble just getting his appearance consistent, let alone his characterisation.

When Jack discovered that his son was moonlighting as Robin, and subsequently banned him from further crime-fighting, we got to see precious little of how Jack and Tim dealt with the aftermath. This story deals with these issues in a way that is emotionally satisfying, but not overly sentimental; there are no quick fixes or easy answers. The interactions here are far more real than any of the grim-and-gritty so-called 'realism' we've been getting from DC of late, and Jack gets more depth in this one story than he probably ever did in canon.

This story about fathers and sons fills in the Identity Crisis gaps beautifully. I recommend it to anyone – even if you're not overly familiar with the characters, the themes are universal.

Heart, Humble

Fandom: ANGEL
Pairing: Wesley/Cordelia
Author on LJ: versaphile
Author Website: Versaphile.com
Why this must be read:

When you think of Wesley and Cordelia, you probably think of snark, a bit of awkwardness, and lots and lots of pretty. This season 2 story set around the episode "Reprise" highlights some of the canon's tenderest moments between them, then pushes things just little bit further. I'm partial to sidekick love in general, and Wes/Cordy in particular, but anybody who loves these two characters can enjoy this story. Cordelia-POV fics are fairly rare, and versaphile's Cordelia is second-to-none. Plus, she shouts out the movie Bringing up Baby.

( Excerpt )

Encore: Part One

Part Two

Fandom: OZ
Characters: Tobias Beecher/Mondo Browne
Author on LJ: rustler
Author Website: Author's page at Unit B Archive
Why this must be read:

Dude, it's rustler. What more do you need to know?

Okay, more: Season 4. Toby and Mondo Browne. Oh, boy... so much going on *there*, and Rustler captures all of the layers of it in this terrific fic, which was written for a Hardtime 100 Flashfic challenge. Motivations and recriminations and mind games and power plays and revenge and of course, self-punishment -- how can it be all of these things at once? But it totally is.

Excerpt:

Mondo's eyes are closed, darting movement like REM-sleep flickering under his lids. Fantasizing? Maybe he really is trying to pretend he's with a woman. Which might be interesting, except that it's not. You don't care about Mondo's pathology, only your own.

Go read Abandoned.

Fandom: HOUSE
Pairing: Cameron/Cuddy
Author on LJ: ijemanja
Author Website: None
Why this must be read: Mmmm. I adore good femmeslash, but it's so damnably difficult to find. This, however, is the good stuff: all warm curves and awkwardness and surprising moments of intimacy and it's absolutely lovely.

Spiral Patterns

Fandom: STARGATE ATLANTIS
Pairing: McKay/Sheppard
Author on LJ: merryish
Author Website: Any Road
Why this must be read: I love this story so much and right now is probably a great time to rec this story ;-).

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Fandom: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA 2003
Pairing: Helo/Kara, Helo/Boomer
Author on LJ: sloanesomething
Author Website: same
Why this must be read: It's the casual intimacy between Helo and Kara, two seasoned frak-buddies, and how this contrasts against Helo's growing professional and personal relationship with rookie Boomer that makes this fic a must-read. The way that sloanesomething leads up to the events of the mini-series gives the Helo/Boomer pairing a touching connection while at the same time fleshing out the details of how the shipmates' friendships developed.

( Excerpt )

Two Cigarettes