Fandom: CSI:LV
Pairing: Gil Grissom/Nick Stokes
Author on LJ: laytoncolt
Author Website: nixa_jane
Why this must be read: 

A first time fic that takes a fanfic cliche and has a little fun with it:  Nick drinks a little too much and does something he may (or may not) regret.

This wasn't his house. He lifted the sheet slightly, and realized that no, he really wasn't wearing any clothes. He was sure he should remember this.

He was naked in his boss's bed, how the hell could he not?

About Last Night

Fandom: STAR TREK ENTERPRISE
Pairing: Trip Tucker/Malcolm Reed
Author on LJ: carmenamatorium
Author Web site: No
Why this must be read: This is the drabble series that made me rethink my hasty prejudice against the genre. Each of these ten drabbles is an exquisitely crafted poem, with the words resonating beyond themselves, laden with meaning ("I watch as my universe folds in on itself, a ruptured life"), just waiting to be unpacked by the reader. The drabbles, told from Reed's first-person POV, tell a courtship story as the relationship moves from "Snow" to "Rain" to "Burn" to "Blaze." This series inspired glad reaction and spawned fic. Read it and see why.

Romance In A Thousand Words (NC-17)

Fandom: WBrps
Pairing: Jensen/Jared
Author on LJ: azewewish
Why this must be read: This is one of (if not the) best J/J fic written yet. It's got a PLOT, which you don't see a whole lot around here. The structure is so clever with the fake axioms, and the genius Jensen characterization owns the world. I totally plotzed when I read it. (Which you will see when you scroll down in the comments.) I'm a little critical, so trust me when I say this fic is fabulous.


Bottoms Up

Hi, I'm cat, and I've been your LotRiPS driver three times before. Sorry I'm getting off to a bit of a slow start this month, but I'm ready to get it in gear now.

Fandom: LotRiPS
Pairing: Viggo/Orlando
Author on LJ: traveller
Author Website: buddhist punk
Why this must be read:

Attention to detail is one of the most remarkable aspects of traveller's fics-- everything is vivid and immediate and real. This fic is certainly no exception. The language here is musical and the whole thing is quite lovely, beautiful and happy and understated, in a way that is quite appropriate to the relationship being depicted.

Viggo paced the bedroom, his cigarette hanging from his lip, and Orlando could hear the wind moan through the pines, Orlando could hear the windows rattle in their frames, and finally Viggo shrugged and pinched off the end of his cigarette. When he slid in beside Orlando his hands were warm and his breath was stale and Orlando spilled a little wine in his hurry to forget that he ever hurt, even for a moment.

Practical housekeeping: A careful compilation of tried and approved recipes

Hi, I'm laceymcbain! Lex let me borrow the key to the Porsche (and I pocketed the key to the Chamber Of Clark Kent, which is exactly as smutty as it sounds), so let's get going! I'll try to send a little bit of everything your way - future!fics, classics, authors you might not know - but I'll admit I'm pretty much a Clex girl, so look for lots of Clark and Lex. Oh, and there might even be a smidgeon of Bruce Wayne, seeing as how he's the most popular character never to appear in the show.

Fandom: SMALLVILLE
Pairing: Clark/Lex (pre-slash), suggestions of Lex/OMC (history)
Author on LJ: artemisraine
Author Website: Artemis's fics on the Smallville Slash Archive
Why this must be read: There's a whole sub-genre of clubbing fics in the Smallville fandom. Usually these take the form of (re)-visiting Lex's mispent youth in the wild clubs of Metropolis. This one has an adult Lex helping out a friend and inadvertently exposing Clark to that part of his past. Clark is a wide-eyed innocent in this one (just go with it), and Lex aims to keep him that way - well, at least until he thinks Clark is ready for something more. Sometimes the "Lex puts Clark on a pedestal of innocence" is a bit much, but the story has some of my all-time favourite Protective!Lex scenes so I find I can forgive some of the other things that niggle at me. I can picture the scenes, the people, the pulse and excitment of the club, so in my books, there's something here that resonates at a deeper, more emotional level. And hey, from everything we've seen of Clark's reaction to sexual situations, who's to say he wouldn't be this naive at fifteen?

( Read an excerpt )

Read the story: Paying the Piper, and let the author know you liked it!

There's also a sequel here: The Sandman Visits

Okay, that last story didn't have any sex in it at all. *pouts* I know, I know. This should make up for that.

Fandom: SMALLVILLE
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Author on LJ: wearemany
Author Website: wearemany.net
Why this must be read:

Sometimes a story is beautifully written with phrases that make you go "wow, I wish I'd said that":

Clark kisses Lex wet and fierce, balancing staggered thrusts of his tongue with one hand on Lex's thigh. He is as cocky as he is desperate, someone who has never had what he's demanding. His fingers close tightly around the back of Lex's neck, mouth hot and hungry. He's trying to swallow Lex whole and Lex can't quite bring himself to care how much Clark doesn't know about what he's doing.

Sometimes it nails the characters in ways that make you go "yes, that's exactly who they are":

Chloe looks down at the camera in her lap, nodding.
"Congratulations on your first big scoop. You must be..." She raises her head, eyes wide and not nearly as frightened as Lex would like. "So excited you could scream," he finishes.

Sometimes it gets the details absurdly perfect:

Lex can see the hundred ways they'll do this overlapped like centuries of frescoes painted on the same wall.

And very, very rarely, it does all of those. Like this one. Wow.

Read the Story: The Telling of All This, and let the author know.

Fandom: FARSCAPE
Pairing: None
Author on LJ: alara_r
Author Website: Alara's Happy-Happy Text-Only Site
Why this must be read:

The "We're So Screwed" trilogy is an entertaining bit of canon, but it also drives me absolutely crazy, because so much of it fails to make a great deal of sense. There are too many random plot twists, too many revelations that come completely out of nowhere, too many bits of backstory that don't actually seem to tie into the things we'd already learned about the characters in the previous four years. Fortunately we have this fic, which takes several of those things and explains them in a way that makes perfect, crystal-clear sense. It'd be worth reading for that alone, but as an added bonus we also get some interesting exploration of certain aspects of Scarran culture and biology, some insightful thoughts about Scorpius' childhood, and a look at Scorpius' psychology and motivations that is both entirely plausible and somewhat moving.

( an excerpt )

Breaking Point

Hi, I'm penknife, and I'll be driving the DC Comics van for the month. I've got some gen, het, and slash recs for you, starting with this one:

Fandom: DC COMICS
Pairing: gen
Author on LJ: derryderrydown
Author Website: Gildy Clobber
Why this must be read:

Before Mia, there was another girl archer, although canon doesn't seem to remember that very often. This story is a great character study of Cissie King-Jones, the former Arrowette, as she tries to decide what she thinks of Mia. In the process, she deals with the choices she's made and with the knowledge that the Teen Titans are moving on without her.

Right on Target

Hey there, I'm victoria p. and I'll be driving (flying?) the van for Firefly this month. Most of my recs with be Mal and/or River-centric, with a focus on Mal/Kaylee, Mal/River and Mal & Zoe, probably with some Zoe/Wash, some Crazy Space Incest, some girlslash, and some gen thrown in. Movie spoilers abound.

Now that that's out of the way, my first rec this month:

Fandom: FIREFLY
Pairing: Mal/Kaylee
Author on LJ: _astralis
Author Website: fic tag on her LJ
Why this must be read:

After the events of the movie, the crew of Serenity tries to pick up the pieces and keep flying, and nobody works harder at that than Kaylee, trying to keep body and soul together, literally and metaphorically.

The Kaylee voice in this story is spot on, and the way Astralis takes us through the changes in the relationships - how Kaylee breaks up with Simon, why Mal and Inara can't work themselves out - is well done. The story isn't incredibly long (it's about 8K words) but it's got a nice leisurely pace and it takes its time to get to where it's going, unfolding naturally and with an unforced charm that makes it all the more believable. The characterization and relationship dynamics ring true, and it's both wistful and sweet (without being cloying) in tone, just like Kaylee herself.

( An excerpt: )

You Will Know When You Get There by _astralis

***

please leave the author some feedback if you like the story.

I'm brigid31 and I'll be reccing Veronica Mars this month. Don't be fooled by my icon I do read things that aren't Veronica/Logan.

Fandom: Veronica Mars
Pairing: Veronica/Logan, Veronica/Duncan but they aren't important
Author on LJ: addictedtojoy
Author's Website: none
Why this mustbe read: In my opinion this story is a perfect look at Season 2 Veronica. It's short but manages to capture Veronica in it's few lines.

Five Things are For Certain