Fandom: THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.
Pairing: gen with Solo/Kuryakin/OC
Author on LJ: unknown
Author website: FanfictionHub

Why this must be read:
Napoleon is trying to get a promotion from Number 25 to a higher position in section Two. He's been assigned his first team of his own and it's beginning to look that by the end of the mission Napoleon will be working a courier job in Section Three, quite possibly based in Greenland. Waverly has stuck him with a Russian who is getting a reputation as deadly efficient but irritating, and with an Australian prone to wearing flamboyant Hawaiian shirts and calling Illya "Ms. Kuryakin" and other complimentary names. Poor Napoleon has to build them into a team while searching for possible spies at a missile base, assisting the FBI who definitely doesn't want the help. His two agents are going to get themselves killed if they don't start working together, always assuming Napoleon doesn't kill them both himself.

The story is filled with humor, mixed with a strong plot and glimpses into the people Napoleon and Illya will later become. According to the website, this was Vicky's first story, but you wouldn't realize it. It was originally published in "Kuryakin Files 21."

( read an excerpt )

The Early Days Affair

Fandom: THE WEST WING
Pairing: Josh/Donna
Author on LJ: Jo March
Author Website: Fanfic with Footnotes
Why this must be read:

Well, it's just not possible to recommend West Wing Fanfics without picking something from the fabulous Jo March and Ryo Sen. The problem comes, of course, with deciding which of their numerous wonderful fics to choose!

In the end I decided on this one, which is a post ep. to the Season 2 episode "Ellie", in which it's Film Night at the White House and the President and his staff gather to watch Dial M for Murder.

In the fic, Josh and Donna discuss the merits of screwball comedy - and of course don't really see the parallels that we can see! (well, Josh doesn't...)
I also chose it because it references one of my all time favourite movies - His Girl Friday - if you've never seen it, go rent the DVD immediately!

"You know what else is interesting about His Girl Friday? Every time Rosalind Russell thinks she's getting out of that office, Cary Grant comes up with some flimsy excuse to make her stay. She's a smart woman, and yet she falls for it every time."

"After the movie, we should probably come back here and work on the VAWA2 research."

"Yeah, you're right. We really should."

"Shouldn't take more than a couple of hours."

"And we can still make the six o'clock train to Albany."

"Huh?"

"Just watch His Girl Friday, Josh. It will all make sense then."

*snigger*!
Enjoy!
Introduction to Cinema

Fandom: CSI
Pairing: none, Greg/Grissom friendship
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Follow the Shoe
Why this must be read: Wintertime's been recced here before, but I have to put in my two cents on her Greg. She writes season three Greg like nobody else, and though that particular "quirky lab tech" era has passed on the show it's still fun to look back on old times. The story is told from Grissom's perspective in a dreamy style; Greg shows up at his door looking beat up and asking to stay the night. Wintertime takes this (perhaps overdone) concept and writes a wonderful, touching story. Greg is so heartbreakingly evasive here, and the relationship he has with Grissom flows so easily from their interactions on the show. If you're going to read whumped!Greg, this is the right way to do it.

I get one question a day.

We spend the rest of the afternoon watching movies, and you camp out on the sofa munching cheddar popcorn and complimenting the special effects. We keep odd hours because you still sleep like you’re going to go on the night shift, but most places in Vegas are open twenty-four hours, so we don’t have any problems.

Another day, I ask, Is it what I think it is?

It’s the most vague question ever, and you give me a skeptical look. Clearly, you agree.

Driftwood

Fandom: AFFLECTION
Pairing: Matt Damon/Ben Affleck
Author on LJ: jocondite and fran_de_sales
Author Website: jocondite's Memories; fran's Memories
Why this must be read: It begins with the lovely drabble "Telephone," and becomes a whole new world of goodness with the remix, "The Other End of the Line." God, I love this. It's a story played out over Matt's increasing frustration with telephones, which you wouldn't think would make for high drama, but it just *works*.

Telephone and The Other End of the Line

Fandom: LOTRIPS
Pairing: gen
Author on LJ: kaydeefalls
Author Website: lasciatemi cantare
Why this must be read:

One movie and the nine actors who were almost-but-not-quite cast in it. That's Kaydee's summary, and the whole story, a set of ten AU drabbles, is eerily, chillingly plausible. Read it, and take just a second, just a bare second, an instant of your life, to be glad we got the movie and the Fellowship that we did. [Note: I never, and I mean never, read AUs. I'm reccing this. It's that good.]

Alternate

Fandom: FARSCAPE
Pairing: John/Aeryn, Stark/Zhaan, John/DK friendship, John/Jack
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: unknown but archived on Fanfiction.net
Why this must be read:
 
This is an AU that posits that there was only one John and he left with Aeryn and Crais on Talyn. The story is almost a dream, a wish to live “Happily Ever After.” But who ini the Farscape universe ever actually gets what they want? I love this epic almost novella length story for the love the is embedded on almost every page. There is much angst, hurt/comfort, but John gets to bring Aeryn home and resolve many things with his family. The story was finished in early 2002 and so has some inconsistencies with “cannon.” Even so, it is well worth the read.
 
Happily Ever After 

Fandom: FARSCAPE
Pairing: John/Aeryn, John/Scorpius, Aeryn/Scorpius
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: unknown but archived on Fanfiction.net
Why this must be read:
 
This is a dark AU story that breaks off at Dog With Two Bones and posits that Aeryn never wanted to return but Scorpius dragged her back for his own reasons. The story is violent, shocking, scary in its almost real emotions. It left me sweating but nodding because somehow this could have happened. The language is raw and gorgeous. There is character death.
 
Small Favors 

Fandom: SUPERNATURAL
Pairing: Sam/Dean
Author on LJ: stone_princess
Author Website: Stone Princess's Stories
Why this must be read: This isn't a fandom that's likely to inspire a lot of comedy, so this piece really stands out. It was written for the Worst Case Scenario challenge, and it stars Sam and Dean locked in the trunk of the Impala. Bad for them, good for us! It gets smutty, but at the same time, also explores their relationship as brothers, hints at their history together, and makes the comfort sex seem inevitable and necessary. I love Dean's voice in this. He's just so...well, Dean. *g*


Go read and give the author some love:
Down From Here

Umm, hello again? Sorry for the delay people, will try more. Promise.

And now for seer, undiluted fun:

Fandom: Lord of the Rings
Pairing: Erestor/Lindir
Author on LJ: fimbrethiel
Author Website: http://www.fimbrethiel.com/
Why this must be read: See above mentioned fun :) Stories like these, exist to give pleasure to that gray matter (hopefully) on difficult days or weeks. Unless of course you don't like highly explicit slash with the help of toys, at which point I apologise. Will try something with more plot next time *g*

Warnings: **explicit** depictions of homoerotic acts between consenting males, light bondage, some kink, toys, language
Summary: Erestor prepares a surprise for his lover. Erestor’s POV.

Artistry of Pleasure by Fimbrethiel

Fandom: Lord of the Rings
Pairing: Elladan/Glorfindel, Elrohir, Elrond, Elros
Author on LJ: ilye_elf
Author Website: Tales from the Vale
Why this must be read: It is probably one of the most emotionally heart-wrenching evocative fics I've read out there. Ilye has quite a few of them, but this particular one has you trying to make a choice by the end of the fic and no matter how much you try and which one you chose it cannot leave you satisfied.
Also one way or the other this fic deals at some point with incest (or should I say twincest), I do believe it's best to give very clear warnings to people. It's not explicit and if you wonder what does qualify as explicit twincest, ask me, I've got quite a few on hand. It's barely there, so please do not let it distract you from the angst.

For reasons known only to himself and the Valar, Elros has been remade and returned to Imladris. Elrond,understandably, is overjoyed, both at being reunited with his long-deadtwin and at having the chance to solve old, unresolved issues. Soon,though, tragedy strikes, and as the reasons for Elros' return become apparent Elrond will have to make a decision a father and brother should never be forced to make.

One of Us by Ilye

Sorry to be so late for my second contribution this month. Real life is unforgiving sometimes. And being suddenly deprived of Internet at work doesn't help. I'll try to make up for lost time before the end of my assignment, and to write shorter texts.

Fandom: THE PROFESSIONALS
Pairing: Cowley/Murphy
Author on LJ: Unknown
Author Website: Unknown

Why this must be read

Being sadly bereaved of my beloved pair Bodie/Cowley, and having been confirmed by several experiments that the Doyle /Cowley pairing didn't work for me, I tried to find at least a passable substitute, still Cowley centered but with a reasonably apt equivalent for Bodie. It appeared that only Murphy could play the part; though, to my taste, as a rather dull stand in.

Don't take it as a criticism of the story or the author's talent. Quite the opposite; she manages to get the best from a character which has not very definite features in the show and so, may be turned into whatever pleases or serves the writer. Here he has inherited of all the boyish charm, the mischievousness and the sex appeal of Bodie (but without the darker and more complex elements of the older man's personality). As he is, however, he has not much difficulty to drag a bemused and clearly smitten Cowley in a plot of his invention that involves the set up of a sex scene in a gay bar!

It's a testimony of the author's writing skills and cleverness that she succeeds in making this comedy believable. The picture of Cowley and Murphy tightly embraced on the dance floor is priceless. Though a little too mellow and tractable, the Controller (who doesn't control many things this time), remains more or less in character. He is not belittled in his misadventures (well, not too much) and, like in the other stories of the sort I presented, his weaknesses look more endearing than ridiculous.

As a matter of fact, there is, really, something pathetic in this character (his loneliness, his emotional and sexual self repression, something probably tragic we suspect in his past) that a few authors have sensed and hinted, if not developed. I picked a touching passage about that aspect in Elspeth Leigh's story:

Murphy smoothed his lips across the old battle scar on Cowley's thigh, offering a tenderness that surprised and moved Cowley. In a way, Cowley himself was a scar, damaged and improperly healed. Murphy's gentleness to the wound was a balm to both man and skin.

Yet strange, almost awkward, the expression sounds right, in tune with the sadness and melancholy that envelop the outcome of the adventure, in Cowley's mind:

He wondered how he could be having such mixed feelings, why he simply could not appreciate the experience. And he knew at the same time he mourned that this would not, could not, happen again, not with this man, nor given Cowley's position, likely with any other. It was a beginning and end, a fait accompli. Still, he should be grateful, not grieving.

The "fantasy" is realistic, after all: no romance, no sentimental delusion, just the severe lucidity of a man of power and duty.

And did I precise it's very neatly and elegantly written?

Fantasy in C Major

Fandom: VERONICA MARS
Pairing: Dick/Logan, Dick/Lilly, Dick/Lynn, Dick/Kendall, Dick/Beaver
Author on LJ: rachel_shanz
Author Website: None I can see.
Why this must be read:

It's so great to see Dick getting love in this fandom, and Rachel writes him so perfectly, all the time. She gets all facets of him, from the total jackass to the.. less-total jackass. Plus, sometimes you just need well-written smut, you know? The Dick/Logan is my personal favourite.

“Am I missing something here, Dick? Is there a reason you feel the need to show these to my girlfriend?”

“What can I say? I was bored,” Dick shrugged, striving for casual.

“You were bored? Isn’t that why you keep Madison’s number on speed dial?”

“Dude, do you not recognize blackmail when you see it?”

Five Asses Dick Never Tapped

Fandom: HARRY POTTER
Pairing: Draco Malfoy/Hermione Granger
Author on LJ: _fullofgrace
Author Website: museinmotion
Why this must be read: When I first read this story, it blew me away. It's such an amazingly well done story that you can't help but feel something for it, even if there's only 1165 words. It shows Draco and Hermione being Draco and Hermione, not a made up version of them, not completely different characters that we've never met except they have the same name. Both characters are right on target – and it's believable. Well worth the short amount of time it takes to read it. And it won't leave you alone, once you have.

Dead Girls Don't Matter