Great White Nothing by ignazwisdom (NC-17)
Fandom: DUE SOUTH
Pairing: Fraser/Kowalski
Author's Website: That Boy Needs Therapy
Author on LJ: ignazwisdom

Why this must be read:

Because it’s great. And it’s heartbreaking. And it’s pretty much the only post-COTW story since Kat Allison’s End of the Road that manages to equal what Kat did when she broke our boys up. Ignaz packs a lot of punch into this relatively short fic, and I think it's because of her careful use of foreshadowing and the way she builds up to the relationship between Ray and Fraser. Love is something that the guys earn in this story, not something that just happens along with the sex. And when their bond isn’t strong enough to overcome geography and Ray realizes that he just can’t hack it north of the 62 parallel, it comes as a body blow that feels every bit as final as the ultimate parting in Road.

The contrast between Fraser and Ray’s growing intimacy throughout the story and the last, desperate fuck they share in a hotel room before Ray leaves the Arctic makes this story a worthy addition to the list of fics that are famous in the fandom for breaking our hearts. It shows us a side of Ray and Fraser where need and want isn’t enough. Compromise is the key, and Ignaz’s take on Fraser makes us understand why compromise is impossible for him. When I first read this story (and, in the interest of full disclosure, beta’d it for Ignaz) I couldn’t help but think of something Paul Haggis said about the differences between early dS episodes and the later second series. When the show transitioned from S1/S2 cop-buddy drama into the surrealist comedy of the RayK years, Haggis noted that Fraser became a much less tragic figure. That sense of the conflict and inevitable, tragic alone-ness of Fraser is fully illuminated in this story, because here he is seen as a part of the Great White Nothing that characterizes the land of his birth. There’s no place for RayK in all that white space, and this story is an exploration of that final irony.

Yeah, so, I liked it. You will too. And ( here’s an excerpt )

Go forth and read!

Great White Nothing

And remember to tell ignazwisdom that you liked it too!

Fandom: THE A-TEAM
Pairing: none
Author on LJ: partly
Author Website: Stories on A-Team Fan Fiction Archive
Why this must be read: "I die before I fly" is one of the most common things out of B.A.'s mouth. But why? Nowhere in A-Team canon is there a real explanation for why the team has to drug B.A. into submission to get him on a plane or helicopter. Of course, the way Murdock flies, who can blame B.A. for not wanting to fly, but it's more than that. It's the one thing that seems to really terrify a man who isn't afraid of anything. partly has offered a story that addresses that question. Starting in the present, the story finds its roots in Vietnam and a trauma that both B.A. and Murdock have tried hard to forget. B.A.'s pushed the memory so far back the only thing that exists any more is the knowledge that bad things can happen when you fly. So what happened to kickstart his fear of flying? Read the story and find out Partly's answer to that question.

( 'I die before I fly, fool,' BA muttered softly. )

Read the story: Fear of Flying

Let the author know if you enjoyed it.

Fandom: SPORTS NIGHT
Pairing: Casey/Dan (A/U)
Author on LJ: out_there
Author Website: Amazed by the Mathematics

Why this must be read: Sports Night writers tend to be a short-lived and transient group; new writers come along all the time, but few of them stick around for long. Of the ones who were writing when I first got into the fandom, back in the halcyon days of 2003 – and that's a long time ago in fan years, which are like dog years in many ways – there are only a couple left. One of those is out_there who, back in those days, used to produce new fic on a regular basis, sometimes several times a week. Other fandoms have beckoned since then, and real life has intruded, but she still revisits the boys from time to time – and every time she does, she produces another gem.

This short piece is A/U: Casey and Dan are secret agents – or, er, something, it doesn't really matter. They wear long, leather coats and have guns, that's really the whole point of the exercise. Fandom has been crying out for spy-Danny-with-a-gun ever since we saw Josh Charles's publicity shots for SWAT, and, well – here he is!

As a bonus, there's a link in the author's comments to an earlier (PG-13ish) piece set in the same A/U.

To Accept the Bullet

Fandom: THE A-TEAM
Pairing: Face/Murdock
Author on LJ: jdsampson
Author Website: Fannish Dreams
Why this must be read: You've probably already figured out that I'm a fan of Vietnam-related fics. This one isn't set there, but it does deal with the fall-out from it. Having just pulled off their first "job", Face is high on adrenaline and reckless as only Face can be, and Murdock does what he always does when Face is in trouble - scares everyone around him. They end up at a motel to sober Face up, but when the alcohol starts to fade, the nightmares set in and all Face wants to do is forget any way he can. Murdock here is as stable as Murdock gets, loyal and honest and wanting to forget just as much, but not willing to indulge Face's desire to blot it all out with meaningless sex--well, only until his own demons start to take hold. Plus the dialogue is wonderful. It's got the best "romantic" description of Face ever: "You're like one of those creepy hairless cats. A truly manly man, has thick, dark chest hair, like me."

It's an emotional rollercoaster of darkness and humour, friendship and sex, and it feels real. Honest. Reading this, you truly understand how these men kept each other alive in Vietnam.

( 'Cally Jo Hillsborough! I warned you woman, if I ever caught you with another man…' Face managed to emit a small squeak, but nothing more as the ape took a handful of shirt and lifted him from the floor. 'First I'm going to pound you into dog food, then I'm going make this bitch of mine, clean up the mess.' )

Read the story: Backwoods Breakdown, and let the author know you enjoyed it.

There's also a sequel: Breakdown Turnaround, although the first story stands alone, and is definitely my favourite of the two.

Fandom: DOCTOR WHO
Pairing: gen; Zoe Heriot, the Tenth Doctor
Author on LJ: doyle_sb4
Author Website: LJ memories, all fandoms
Why this must be read: This fantastic story came from the recent (and wonderful) Second Doctor Ficathon. Zoe is one of my favourite characters, and while there's quite a bit of post-War Games Jamie fic, Zoe's life upon being memory-wiped by the Time Lords is rarely examined. This makes up the gap gorgeously, being extremely sharp and feeling just right in terms of canon-compliance and characterization for everyone involved. It's beautiful and hard and rough and sad, and not just for Zoe, but for the Tenth Doctor, who shows up but can't save the day, because it doesn't work that way, anymore. This fic was a punch in the gut, and at the same time works to remind me why I love fanfic so much, sometimes.

She Dreams the Butterfly

I'm dirty diana, and this is my second time driving the SG-1 van, and I'm totally late gettig started, so I'm very sorry. The last time I think I declared it Daniel Jackson month, but currently I'm full of season ten love, so I think it's time to spread some Cam Mitchell joy. November is all about the sexy, deep-fried, Southern goodness. Hope that's okay.

Fandom: STARGATE: SG-1
Pairing: Cam Mitchell gen
Author on LJ: minervacat
Author Website: when the floods roll back
Why this must be read:

Five places Cameron Mitchell has been strongly encouraged not to return to. That's the summary, and it's five very different places, and every single one is endearing and adorable and funny and slightly angsty, much like Cam himself. The voices are on, and it's crammed full of believable Cam-like (American) details, basketball and bar fights and Waffle Houses. And the entire team is here, and giving poor Cam a hard time. Bless them.

The first time Cameron had suggested a trip to the Waffle House, stretching his arms at the briefing table post-debrief, Carter and Jackson had blinked at him strangely, exchanged a look between them that Cam couldn't read,and then Jackson had said, "Sure, Mitchell, I could eat.

Carter declined, and Teal'c was sleeping off a head wound in the infirmary, soit was just him and Jackson, and there was something about how Jackson had looked when he'd agreed that made Cameron kind of afraid that he was about to end up eating alone in a Waffle House in Colorado. Cam kept checking his rear view mirror, looking for Jackson's Jeep behind him.

My Pappy Was A Pistol, I'm A Son Of A Gun

Fandom: STARGATE: SG-1
Pairing: Cam/Teal'c
Author on LJ: _minxy_
Author Website: a listing of Stargate fic
Why this must be read:

Teal'c/Cameron is the big pairing that popped up after Mitchell's arrival, which I admit to not completely understanding. But in this story, even I can see the appeal. Teal'c and Cam make ice cream floats, which is entirely as cute as it sounds. Minx straddles, excellently, that fine line of keeping the Teal'c-voice believable without it being robotic and unreadable. Cam won't stop talking, the ice cream is sweet, and Teal'c can't help being interested. Who could? It's all very subtextual, and still very much a date.

"We require spoons to drink a beverage?" he enquired, mildly perplexed as straws joined the spoons in each glass. "Does the ice cream not melt upon addition of liquid, Colonel Mitchell?"

"Not entirely, there’s this sort of crunchy outside around a hunk of frozen goodness," Mitchell said, abstractly gesturing with one hand as he picked up a larger spoon from the table with the other, "although it does really help to have a hot day behind you to appreciate it, preferably with a good vantage point at a little league game, and I do not answer to Colonel Mitchell on my days off."

Stadium Seating