Hello! I'll be bringing the Mag 7 crack for the month of November.

One of the greatest - and by greatest, I mean "most amusing" - things about Mag 7 fandom is that there are so many freaking AUs that people actually label canon-verse fics just to avoid confusion. You gotta love a fandom like that. There's the Old West, the ATF-verse, the Little Britches, Runaways, Two Blood, Family Matters, Skip Trace, Street Gang AU, the WWII AU, the Escorts AU and those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. And most of those AUS have OW and ATF versions. There's a Star Trek AU series. It's awesome.

It's a versatile fandom in other ways as well. There are seven male main characters, plus Inez, Casey and Mary, so the pairings are just as wide and varied as you could imagine.

Through November, I'll be trying to give you guys a little bit of everything the fandom has to offer, from gen, het and slash to Old West and Modern day to smarmy fluffy fic and thick, plotty fics. Hope you enjoy being a long for the ride. ^_^

Fandom: MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
Pairing: None. Gen-fic
Author on LJ: n/a
Author Website: BMP's page at Drinking 'n' Fighting
Why this fic must be read:

To start the month off, a long, plotty ATF case-fic that drags the guys through the mud. And then some. Team Seven is sent out on a case that goes very, very wrong. And that's just the beginning.

BMP combines the emotional tension of the situation with the day-to-day monotony of a federal office and the quirky, sometimes dysfunctional humor and interpersonal relationships of the guys themselves, all coming together to create a fic that will have you in tears only pages after making you laugh so hard you couldn't breathe. Whether it's Buck and Vin sitting in a cold, dark hallway because they can't find the words to let each other off the hook, or Ezra's on-going efforts to get himself fired, BMP manages to keep the guys in-character through it all.

Be warned - give yourself a couple hours before you start this one. It's very long, but totally worth it.

( In which Ezra tries to make a point )

Aftermath by BMP

Hi, I'm livii and I'll be reccing Doctor Who for you this month! I've got a mix of recs from the new and old series (with a fair bit of timestream crossing because I'm a sucker for that), with an emphasis on my favourite genres of gen, femslash, and rare het, but we'll end up seeing a little bit of everything because this fandom manages to produce fantastic work in all sorts of ways.

Fandom: DOCTOR WHO
Pairing/Characters: Harry Sullivan/author-created Doctor; Jack, Sarah Jane
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: A Teaspoon and an Open Mind profile
Why this must be read: For my first rec, I thought I'd reach into the past, present and future at the same time - we have companions from the Fourth Doctor era, Harry Sullivan and Sarah Jane Smith, a companion from the Ninth Doctor era, Jack Harkness, as well as a post-Tenth, author-created Doctor. Who's a woman. Normally not quite my thing, this Doctor is perfectly realized, a true gem and immediately, insistently still the Doctor. Correspondingly, everyone around her is beautifully characterized as well, but none so much as our lead, Harry, who is exactly who he should be, and so much more as well. This story is about Harry, and he's wonderful, clever, still slightly clueless, a fair bit of ruthless, and clinging to happilys, if willing to forsake the ever-after. An underutilized character in both canon and fanfic, Harry is one of my favourites, and I think this will make you love him too. The story is three chapters long, just the right amount of meat and full of great continuity details and joy and deep sadness and action and humour and love, and getting each bit right. Fantastic in every way.

Harry and the Tuesday Girl

Fandom: HIGHLANDER

Author on LJ: macgeorge1
Author Website: MacGeorge's Madness
Pairing: Duncan/OFCs
Why this must be read: This novel-length exploration of Duncan MacLeod's attempts to create a life for himself after his exile from his clan is a compelling read for dedicated fans or those new to the fandom.

My name is Keerawa, and I will be your Highlander crack van driver for the month of November. I thought I would start us off with the origin of the Highlander himself, Duncan MacLeod. This story skillfully weaves a rich plot in and around the few bare facts canon provides about Duncan's years as a young Immortal. MacGeorge's characterizations of Duncan and Connor MacLeod are a delight to read. Her prose is fluent and the story has gorgeous illustrations.

( A taste )

Forging the Blade is available through MacGeorge's website with pretty pictures, or through the delightful new Highlander Fiction Archive.

Fandom: U2
Pairing: Larry Mullen Jr/The Edge
Author on LJ: rummyjoe
Author Website:u2slash: and please note, to join you must be over eighteen years of age AND have your birth year on your profile page.
Why this must be read:

Larry can be a great character to write, he's dryly funny and something of a grouch and a man of few (pointed, often obscene) words. His sidelong approach toward Edge in this story is so believable, so very Larry, that this story is a standout humour fic, driven by character rather than situation. Edge, by the same token, is totally the kind of person who would do Sudoku puzzles. The really hard ones. And get them right. The interaction is wonderfully in character, if you ever look at this band together, they are very casual and comfortable with one another, long years of being together erasing any sort of personal boundaries. Spicedrum does a lovely job of conveying this easy familiarity, in the dialogue, the scenario, but also in Edge's knowing exactly when he needs to stop teasing Larry and start handling him gently. It's got the characterisation, it's got the funny and it's got that simple, casual sweetness and instinctive caring I tend to love in this fandom.

( excerpt )

9 12 15 22 5 25 15 21

*HR gives the shifty eyes* Sooo... I snurched, umm... borrowed the keys to the van and I will be careening... driving ever so carefully, to bring all of you Firefly recs for the month of November. *grin* Up first:

Fandom: Firefly
Pairing: N/A; Essentially a Jayne Fic
Author on LJ: agilebrit
Author Website: Author's Stories on FF.net
Why this must be read: Do you remember those old Warner Brother's cartoons, the ones with Brutus the bulldog, and Cleo the little black and white kitten? Agilebrit writes one of those, Firefly style. *grin* This is an amusing, short fic that captures the series' wacky sense of humor and humanity in what can sometimes be a cold little universe.

( Excerpt )

Partners in Crime

Fandom: SPORTS NIGHT
Pairing: Casey/Dan UST
Author on LJ: catwalksalone
Author Website: First We Show Up – Then We See What Happens

Sports Night is back on the crack_van itinerary this month, after a brief, enforced pitstop caused more by voter apathy than by lack of material to be recced. New SN fic is still being posted on a regular basis – much of it by equally new, or new to the fandom, authors – and, with that in mind, that's what I'll be bringing to you: the best of Sports Night fic from 2006.

I'm beginning with one of the loveliest Sports Night fics I've ever read, written by one of our newest and, I'm happy to say, most prolific authors, catwalksalone.

Why this must be read: Because it's Dan, young and eager and elusive as the wind; it's Casey, yearning and clumsy, forever two steps behind. It's lyrical and tender, it's brimming with unspoken passion, and it's beautiful. I wish I had written it. But, since I didn't, I'm glad that catwalksalone did.

Up Where the Air is Clear

Fandom:STAR WARS

Pairing: None

Author on LJ: Beats me. Anyone know?

Author Website: No clue

Why this must be read: There aren't enough Lando fics, and I haven't read too many that are as good as this one. The writing and tone is excellent in this fic. It has one of the best Lando characterizations that I've read.

In the carbonite freezing chamber, Lando Calrissian makes the decision to do the right thing.

I've got the keys to B.A.'s van and we're doing a drive-by rec'cing for the month of November, as a featured small fandom. I love it when a plan comes together!

"In 1972, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade into the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them ... maybe you can hire, The A-Team."

Thus begins one of the most recognizable openings in television history. For five seasons, 1983-1987, The A-Team stormed into living rooms, featuring four Vietnam veterans driving around the United States in a recognizable black/red van that seemed to be the equivalent of Snoopy's dog house (they even had a printing press in the back one time). The team defended ordinary citizens against evil, corruption, and not-very-nice people.

The show was formulaic and there were occasionally plot holes big enough to drive the van through, but the characters and their interaction were enough to keep fans entertained and to leave curious fan girls and boys wondering: what do four guys living in a van get up to when they're not on a mission?

( I pity the fool who doesn't read the Overview! )

Anyone with links, suggestions, corrections, etc., feel free to comment. Thanks! If there are 8-10 people who want to volunteer for regular rec'cing duties in this fandom, it could become a fulltime fandom.

Hey there - I'm nos4a2no9 and I'll be your friendly neighbourhood due South rec'er for November. I tend to like epics - the longer and angstier the better. (Is angstier a word? Should it be?) So while my rec's for the fandom will be mainly longer pieces that feature Fraser/Kowalski, I'll try to shake things up and offer humor fic, shorter flashfic pieces and *gasp* maybe even some het or gen. Let's get the show on the road!

Surviving by Lalejandra (NC-17)
Fandom: DUE SOUTH
Pairing: Fraser/Kowalski
Author's Website: Apostatize
Author on LJ: lalejandra

Why this must be read:

Okay, we’ve all read those post-CotW stories where RayK and Fraser break up and they’re both miserable and living thousands of miles apart and it’s really all the result of some terrible misunderstanding and if they would just talk to each other everything would be fine. But because they’re boys, they never say the magic words that would fix everything, and that leads to more heartbreak and anguish. Silly boys.

So this is one of those kind of stories. And it isn’t. It’s set four years after a Tragic Event splits the guys up; Ray has been living in Chicago and generally watching his life disintegrate. He’s getting older, he’s drinking and smoking too much, and he’s lonely and horny and heartbroken. The murder of a young gay man and a puzzling mob-related case starts bringing up old history, and Ray is forced to ask Fraser to return to American and help with the case. The story is much more complex and dark and, dare I say it, noirish than I’m making it sound here. Lalejandra has a fantastic gift for dialogue and for getting RayK’s voice to sound pitch-perfect on the page (or screen) and the embedded flashbacks to happier times for Ray and Fraser are scorchingly hot and sad all at once. I also appreciated her original characters: they seem like fully-fleshed human beings rather than the deus ex machinas OCs sometimes become. So: dialogue, great characterization and well-handled OCs; what more do you want?

( How about teh sex? )

Surviving

Remember to feed the author: tell lalejandrathat you liked her fic!