What's shakin', bacon.

( let's get rocking! )

Fandom: HARRY POTTER
Pairing: Snape/Hermione
Author Website: La Societe des Femmes Dangereuses
Why this must be read:

A potions accident leads to a bodyswap, and Snape and Hermione have to keep anyone from noticing the change, lest word get back to Voldemort. What follows is an absolutely brilliant test of character in the most literal sense of the word as Snape and Hermione each realize what is inherent in them and what is simply perception. If you enjoy Laurie R. King's Holmes/Russell books, you'll love the repartee, and Snape trying to fend off Lavender Brown's beautifying schemes (think leg wax) is hysterical.

The Fire and the Rose
The Fire and the Rose 2

Fandom: HARRY POTTER
Pairing: Snape/Neville
Author Website: Darkly Bright
Why this must be read:

There's something about Neville that brings out the kink in writers. Maybe it's the fact that when everything terrifies you, taboo things don't scare you any more than normal things do. Maybe it's the way he surprises people in the eleventh hour, suggesting there's more to him than what you see on the surface. Here, Neville has a foot fetish, and working at Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions allows him to surreptitiously indulge his kinks, at least until Snape finds him out. This story will have you waiting with bated breath for things to go horribly, explosively wrong...

Professor Snape hates shopping, especially for clothes. I took a guess that he wouldn't want to come back again tomorrow - even if it meant putting up with me today. I was right.

'I require a new pair of boots,' he said at last. 'The black ones in the window will suffice.'

He wanted a pair of boots. Oh thank you god.

'Yes, sir. Size 9 1/2 is it?' I asked.

For a second he looked a little bit startled, and then that indifferent look came back again, almost straightaway.

'Correct, Longbottom. How unfamiliar that particular combination of words is to me.'

A Personal Service

And two delectable sequels, if that's your fancy:
Protect Me From What I Want
That Which Does Not Kill Me

Agent Molo reporting for special duty, operation:Crack Van.

Fandom: STARSKY AND HUTCH
Pairing: Starsky/Hutch
Author on LJ: Unknown
Author Website: Verlaine on Me&Thee Archive
Why this must be read:

Being a cop means having a dark side, and Starsky is pure, dark animal in this story. Fortunately, Hutch knows how to tame him.

Verlaine has a talent for drawing the guys as true men, and the issues they deal with in this story are fascinating. This is a missing scene from the Specialist, after the tag in which Officer Sally gets the best of both men. If you like your fiction heated, edgy, conflicted and passionate with a dash of odd tenderness, then read:

A Remedy for Darkness

Fandom: STARGATE SG-1
Pairing: None
Author on LJ: Unknown
Author Website: The Viking Chick's Reading Room
Why this must be read: An alternate ending to the Season 5 episode "Desperate Measures," this story examines what could have happened if Sam had escaped on her own, without her team finding her. Sam is an amnesiac with brain injury. Her recovery is slow, taking almost a year and it honestly *hurts* a little to read it but it's so good you can't stop. The Sam point of view is spot on and it nails her friendship with Janet and the rest of the team better than most fics. Definitely worth the read.


The Knife's Edge of Madness

Fandom: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Pairing: Nick/Greg
Author on LJ: kissingchaos9
Author Website: Memories.
Why this must be read:

Yeah, I like this author. The writing's real and intense and just lovely. We've got a whole bunch of post-Grave Danger fics for this pairing, but not so many post-Gum Drops ones. That's a pity, because that episode is full of Nick-angst, and actually deals with his post-burial emotions and how's he's changed. This has elements from both, taking Nick's reaction in the interrogation and his not knowing (or atleast in this one) of the team watching him from the camera Walter Gordon put in the box. Oops.

Nick's shocked, and accidentally takes it out on Greg, who has no hard feelings about. Just amazing in general, this fic is, and you should read her other stuff.

There are pages and pages of paperwork, statements and reports and accounts. There are pictures from the explosion, tiny pieces of Walter Gordon scattered far and wide, and Nick thinks of Kelly.

There are diagrams of the box, Hodges’s messy handwriting scrawled in the margins, and Nick’s breathing hitches slightly. He stands up, pacing the same circle, confirming in his mind that he’s not back down there. Tears well behind his eyes, stinging, and he tries to blink them away.

There are pictures from the hospital. Nick barely recognizes himself, pale and dehydrated, covered in angry red welts. He hadn’t seen the full effect of the bites, he wasn't even able to look in a mirror till he went home and by that time, they were mostly healed. He winces, his left hand moving to trace a small scar on the side of his neck. His skin is crawling and he quickly flips past the rest of the post-rescue pictures, taking measured breaths.

Survivor's Guilt

Fandom: STARGATE: ATLANTIS
Pairing: McKay/Sheppard, McKay/Sheppard/Atlantis, McKay/Weir/Sheppard, Sheppard/Atlantis
Author on LJ: auburnnothenna and eretria (found together at allusory_tea)
Author Website: Allusions and Midnight Tea
Why this must be read: Three Fates is a fantastic example of some one finally giving good Weir. She's a tough beast to tackle (Lord knows the shows writers rarely even try) and the depiction of one that is not only interesting, but also sympathetic is a major accomplishment. Eretria and Auburn also give life to an AI in Atlantis and the result is just the perfect kind of creepy scifi geeks like myself expect artificial intelligence to be.

The premise itself is fascinating, Rodney destroys the universe and he, Elizabeth and Sheppard are the only survivors. They're plunged deep into the past of another alternate Universe and must try to adapt and move on.

Three Fates

Edited 8/3

Fandom: SCHOOL OF ROCK
Pairing: Freddy/Summer
Author on LJ: so_kiss_me
Author Website: FF.net account

Why this must be read:

Before I read this, I thought the fandom had nothing good to offer of the het variety. Emily changed my mind, because this? Cute and sexy and very teenager. Which is pretty much what School of Rock should be.



Complex Numbers in Starbucks

Hey all! My name's Elyssa. I'll be your bsg driver this month. I have a sad addiction to Kara/Lee and angsty things, but I'll try to find some other things. Branch out, if you will. I've never driven before, so let's see how this goes.





Fandom: Battlestar Galactica 2003
Pairing: Kara/Lee
Author on LJ: monkeyfromhell
Author Website: None, as far as I could see, but you can find them in her memories
Why this must be read:

She hasn’t seen Lee Adama in three years, two days, and fifteen hours.

When I first read this, it gave me shivers. After years of seperation (three), Kara and Lee are reunited. But things aren't exactly hearts and flowers, happily ever after. The characterization is spot on, and the emotions are real, tangible. You can really visualize the scenes. And the ending is just... painful. A beautiful story, and a must-read.

Dirt Smeared

Fandom: SUPERNATURAL
Pairing: None
Author on LJ: clex_monkie89
Author Website: Links to fics
Why this must be read: This story does a fabulous job of showing the Winchester family dynamic in terms of how it must have been during those many, many car rides throughout the years. Even with the hunting and the injuries and the supernatural thread behind it, the times that John, Dean, and Sam have spent together feel painfully familiar for anyone who's ever spent a long car trip with their family. This is one of the best portraits of John Winchester in the fandom for a reason -- he's not the best father in the world, but he's trying. Oh, is he trying.

Twelve Times Dad Threatened to Turn The Car Around (And Three Times Dean Almost Rode In The Trunk)

New to the fandom?  Check out  Meet the Magnificent Seven at Blackraptor and the overview on crack_van.  This fandom has something for everyone.  Like long, plotty, character driven fic?  Got it.  How about slash?  With seven extremely hot men we have a variety of pairings to chose from.  Prefer gen?  The authors in this fandom are amazing - as a rule I don't like gen but I read it here and love it.  Not a fan of the Old West (OW)?  Not a problem.  This fandom has created an AU set in the ATF universe that is practically canon; the seven are working for the present day Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF).  I plan on reccing a little of everything so hopefully you find something you like!

Fandom: The Magnificent Seven
Pairing: Chris/Ezra, Vin
Author on LJ: zekiel
Author Website: Zeke Black's Slash Page
Why this must be read: 
 
Here Zeke crafts a well written story that not only keeps the men in character, but also deals with the harsh realities Chris and Ezra face living in the Old West.  The prequel, Snags, sets the stage for this fic set a decade or so after the series ended.  In this tale Vin must come to terms with the relationship between Chris and Ezra - a relationship he had hoped ended during the three years he was gone.  Meanwhile Ezra is forced to confront his own insecurities about the state of his relationship with Chris, a relationship he believes he has only by default.

He had no idea whether Casey or Rain or Louisa knew or not. They gave no sign if they did. And when any of their friends visited overnight, with or without their wives, he and Chris slept separately. It was...the decent thing to do, not to force friends to confront what might make them uncomfortable.

No sanctity was available for such a relationship as theirs and safety lay only in the silence of caring friends.

Of Lakes and Rivers, then check out the sequel, Home and Away. 

As always if you liked the story, please let the author know!