Fandom: STAR WARS OT
Pairing: Luke Skywalker/Han Solo, Han Solo/Leia Organa
Author on LJ: morgan_d
Author Website: Solitude of a Falling Star
Why this must be read:

The Chrysopaz & Brandy series were written for a number of fan fiction challenges issued by the Han and Luke mailing list. Each story is a response to a separate challenge, and therefore can be read individually, but as they're part of the same timeline and plot arc, it's better to read them as a series.

The stories vary in length and mood, from funny and lightweight to bleak and wistful, with a lot of room for speculation over what happens between one story and the other. The storyline follows the relationship between Luke and Han, starting from Luke's wide-eyed boyish wonder at the worldly and adult Han in New Hope, and through a series of changes, it finally reaches the post-RotJ EU. Apart from Han and Luke's complicated relationship, affected both by the ideology clash between them and the role of Leia in their lives, the background is also interesting, the everyday hardships in the Rebel Alliance, or the politics of the new Republic.

Chrysopaz & Brandy

Fandom: HORATIO HORNBLOWER
Pairing: William Bush/Original Character
Author on LJ:juxiantang
Author Website:NA
Why this must be read:

juxiantang has the ability to lead a reader down a dark hallway and make them look, and in "Cutting Edge" she does just that in a very literal sense. This story is not just about Bush's feelings for Hornblower. It is more correctly about Bush's feelings for himself and his sexual nature and his inability to come to terms with the fact he is a sodomite. And to that end "Cutting Edge" speaks with a rawness of purpose. It is a powerful theme and one that is rarely explored in Hornblower fandom.

Horatio, his beautiful Captain. His wounding blade. His poison.

Cutting Edge

Note: because of the way the fic is archived you need to scroll about half-way down the page to find it.

Fandom: THE SENTINEL
Pairing: Jim/Blair
Author on LJ: msgordo
Author Website: stories can be found at 852 Prospect
Why this must be read: I love stories that feature an outsider's point of view when it's done well. This one features the police psychologist and his concerns that the members of the Major Crimes division are just a little too close for comfort. The officers are grumbling--naturally--and the psychologist is trying to do his job ... when one Blair Sandburg enters the picture and the real fun begins. It's psychology versus anthropology and Blair just steamrolling over the other man's concerns in his typically "I hear you, man" fashion. The rest of Major Crimes sits back and watches the show--more or less. It's fast-paced and funny, and Karen's Blair is breathless, brilliant, and perfectly in character.

( Read an excerpt )

Read the story: So What Are You Saying?, and remember to let the author know you enjoyed it.

Fandom: DC COMICS
Pairing: none
Author on LJ: kerithwyn
Author Website: Offpanel.net
Why this must be read: Arkham Asylum. Home to the worst of Gotham's criminally insane, and you're the newest security guard. The story's told from the second-person POV - hard to pull off, but it works here, and the repeated "you" seems to accentuate that growing feeling of "oh my God, this is going to end badly." You can feel the character's growing sympathy towards his charges--one in particular--and you know, you know better than to trust the prisoners (patients), but it all seems so reasonable. Beautifully done, disturbing, and absolutely believable.

( Read an excerpt )

Read the story: No Good Deed, and let the author know you enjoyed it.

Fandom: VERONICA MARS
Pairing: Beaver-centric, with shades of Beaver/Logan, Beaver/Mac and Logan/Veronica
Author on LJ: buffyx
Author Website: N/A
Why this must be read: I've been quite gratified to see Beaver (Cassidy) getting some depth in S2, and Buffyx does an excellent job fleshing out the character more in this story. The Beaver-voice feels fresh and right, conveying his confusion, longing and a bit of self-indulgent pity as well. I particularly love the detail given to his relationship with his mother, even though we got a slightly different version of the ex Mrs. Casablancas later on in the show.

( Except )

The World Isn't Waiting

Fandom: HIGHLANDER
Pairing: (revealing it takes away some pleasure - so I won't say)
Author on LJ: unovis_lj
Author Website: Unovis' Site
Why this must be read:

This story was my introduction to Unovis' writing. I had just discovered her site and had no clue what to read first - I ended up choosing this story because I really liked the title. Unovis' stories are very curvy, it's fun leaning into the curves, taking the curves, and sometimes I go too fast and I land on my ass, because those turns are complex. But I always get up again and read on, because I am having too much fun. And she makes me fall for and appreciate things that would have never occurred to me.

So, it was a dark and rainy night long, long ago in Lille...


One Night In Lille

Fandom: MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.
Pairing: Napoleon/Illya; Illya/Other man/Other woman
Author on LJ: meris
Author Website: Archived in The Chrome and Gun Metal Madhouse

Why this must be read:

I hesitated to present it until now because this outstanding story, written for last year's "Down the Chimney" challenge, was the gift I got from Meris who, needlessly, mentioned my name as the provider of the "plot bunnies" she used to built the narrative's frame (actually the three wishes asked from the beneficiairy). But after all, isn't it for me a still better reason to recommend a work which exploited so cleverly my own fantasies?

The three wishes were: Illya coming back to Paris; Napoleon surprising Illya with a man who strongly resembles him, and the third... well, I totally forgot the third! Some misunderstandings, probably (unless it was a wet dream?).

From this rather sketchy scenario, the author managed to draw a tense and complex story line, with lively original characters and insightful incursions into the main characters' inner depths . Through the events both of them are going to learn something vital about themselves: For Illya that memories rightly belong to the past while hope is the privilege of the present; for Napoleon, that he has to confront his repressed emotions and feelings, in order to reach the essential, for the two of them, that they share something more precious than any daydream.

The threesome may bother some readers but it is an old moon when the story begins; a fond memory of the student life in Paris (not that it used to be so common there, I must reassure you) and mainly stand for a symbolic figure of intimacy and unconditional affection. By the way, the author obviously knows the town thoroughly and is able to give a vivid and recognizable picture of its popular streets and ordinary life.

If I add the style is elegant, smooth and subtle, I am sure you will like seeing it by yourself; "En route" for a love journey to Paris.

Refractory Period

Fandom: SPORTS NIGHT
Pairing: Dan/Casey friendship, Casey/Lisa
Author on LJ: merryish
Author Website: Any Road
Why this must be read:

We never really found out how Dan and Casey met. Was while they were in college? After they graduated? Or did they meet through work in that misty time before Lone Star Sports? Popular fanon is that they met while Dan is interning at a TV station where Casey is a cadet reporter, or some such. It a plausible explanation, and one that doesn't stretch the bounds of reality too much. But maybe they met a lot earlier than we think.

In this sweet, melancholy story, a young Dan Rydell, still smarting over the death of his brother and wanting to be left alone, escapes to college in Texas. Unable to face livening in a dorm where people will expect him to be social or something, he rents a room from a tall, dorky grad student called Casey. Friendship ensures, whether Dan wants it or not, and eventually he realises that letting people in isn't as scary as he thinks it is.

Kickoff