Fandom: due South
Pairing: Fraser/RayK
Author on LJ: kindkit
Author's Website: elysium

Why this must be read: This is a post-CotW story set in Inuvik. Yeah, yeah. That's a tried and true theme in due South fic. But it's a tried and true theme for a good reason. And this little gem of a story by Kindkit is no exception. It was written for the ds_flashfiction Sweat challenge and it does feature Ray sweating. But what it's really about is how Ray is trying to find his place in Inuvik. This is a fantastic look at life in Inuvik for Ray and Fraser and a great example of what a little research can do for a story. The Inuvik Kindkit features is based on the real Inuvik (yes, I did send away for the Inuvik tourist guides *g*) and it shows.

It's not a nice, easy, simple life for Ray up in Inuvik and this is about how he is trying to fit in and how he's worried about whether he's the wife and whether he's going to be able to work and that morning's fight over Canadian employment law. And Ray gardens and sweats and fits in how he can.

( Exerpt from the story )

So check out Perfection in the Work. You'll be glad you did.

Fandom: DC COMICS
Pairing: Bruce Wayne/Terry McGinnis
Author on LJ: thete1
Author Website: Teland
Why this must be read:

This one's written for the Batman Beyond animated series, in which Terry has taken over the mantle of the Bat from an elderly Bruce Wayne who guides him from behind the scenes. I love this story for two reasons: first, it hints at the possibility of an actual functional relationship between Bruce and one of his protegees, which is rare. And second, it makes old age sexy.

Grace, force, fascination

Fandom: MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.
Pairing: Napoleon Solo/Illya Kuryakin
Author on LJ: tgabrielle
Author Website: Lyrebird Mound, and also at Chrome and Gunmetal Madhouse
Why this must be read:

Beautifully framed by the device that Illya gets stuck writing all of their mission reports, T. Gabrielle goes it one step further by proposing that Napoleon can’t be bothered to read them. This, of course, has consequences when both are captured by a low-to-mid level THRUSH baddie who is not interested in torturing them for information, but in destroying their partnership. The THRUSH agent who holds them has already successfully caused the dissolution of another U.N.C.L.E. team...which Napoleon would know about if he'd read Illya's report.

What, you ask, could so effectively estrange partners? Well, that’s what Napoleon wants to know, too.
( Read more... )

Read this, but definitely read other stories by T. Gabrielle, as well. She has a deft hand with the complexities and layers that make up Napoleon and Illya’s relationship, and an incomparable ability to set a time period; you read one of her stories and absolutely nothing jars you out of feeling that it's the 1960s.

The Unexpected Talents Affair

Fandom: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
Pairing: Buffy/Spike
Author on LJ: None
Author Website: the fanfiction of Annie Sewell-Jennings, Story Listing on allaboutspike
Why this must be read: This story created quite a stir in the Buffy fandom when it was posted because, as you'd expect from a story inspired by Nevil Shute's "On the Beach," it's premise is one of nuclear apocalypse. It's dark, tragic, and wonderful.

The Last Summer

Fandom: FIREFLY
Pairing: River/Mal
Author on LJ: mollita
Author Website: voyeuse.net
Why this must be read:

This story is about River, before the Academy, and then after, and how she's trying to heal, to be a girl again. How Serenity helps her. How she tries to help Mal fill the empty spaces. This story is lyrical, delicate, and heartbreaking, with a pitch-perfect River, ragged and jagged and wanting to be useful, wanting to be loved. Amazing.

( excerpt )

About a Girl by Molly

***

Please let the author know if you enjoy the story.

***

Fandom: LotRiPS
Pairing: Viggo/Sean B.
Author on LJ: childeproof
Author Website: Unknown
Why this must be read:

Because the Hobbits crack me up. Because it's so difficult to find fic in which Sean Bean isn't portrayed as evil, a womanizer, or both. Because the writing style is out of this world, startling and real. Because there's a slow burn here that is delightful to watch and that pays out in a surprising way.

Sean puts tea by Viggo's elbow.

"Fuck." Sean scalds his mouth on his own mug and sets it down on the table. "I feel like a pig shat in my head," he offers.

"Teach you to drink hobbit-brew in future," Viggo says.

Sean lets the corners of his mouth lift. There's an established joke that the hobbits couldn't tell a bottle of Chateau Sacré Bleu 1902 from Heineken in a boot.

Boiling Point

Fandom: HARRY POTTER
Pairing: Gen
Length: 5,500 words
Author on LJ: zoepaleologa
Author Website: June Diamanti aka Azazello

Why this must be read:

This short story is an absolute must-read for all Harry Potter fans. Whether or not you believe Snape is ever so evil or ever so good, this story offers a compelling case for the latter that cannot be entirely set aside. The story begins by giving us the entire Forbidden Forest conversation between Dumbledore and Snape, of which Hagrid overheard only tantalizing bits, from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It then shows Dumbledore's death as well as the aftermath from Snape's point of view. The reader is never disabused of the notion that Snape is a "deeply horrible person" (as Rowling puts it), but the story realistically shows that he is also a man in search of redemption and ultimate peace.

In the author notes following the story, Azazello admits that she does not know whether or not Snape is on the side of the good guys. She says she used this story to explain to herself how it is possible to fit together the bits of canon we do have so that Snape is good. She also takes the canon-compliant position that Dumbledore is not a "Machiavellian arch-schemer," as she says.

Whatever you believe with regards to Snape, this story is excellent and its characterization of both Snape and Dumbledore is spot on. Highly recommended.

* * *

( Excerpt )

An Unbreakable Promise

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