Fandom: due South
Pairing: Fraser/Vecchio (unrequited)
Author on LJ: n/a
Author Website:
Why this must be read: One thing that is always intrging about Fraser is the fact that for a smart guy he tends to be clueless about the nuanaces of human emotion. He can track a man 500 miles across sheer ice but doesn't understand the nature of love. This story really has that idea as its plot. Fraser has been through an emotional time rescuing Ray and taking him home to take care of him. There they kiss and Fraser finds himself analysing that action and how he feels, not knowing if he does love Ray, he's full of doubt. The ending is a hopeful but not upbeat conclusion.

( Excerpt )

Fandom: Narnia
Pairing: Edmund/Caspian

Why this story must be read:

I think there's a reason why so much fiction centers on Dawn Treader, on the odd relationships between Edmund, Lucy, and Caspian. For Caspian, he is seeing again the rulers out of legend; for the Pevensies, they are travelling one last time through the great land they love so dearly. Strong emotions run clear through the narrative, and it is easy to extrapolate about where these intense connections may have led.

In Wishful, Edmund remains the patient king we have found him to be; and Caspian leans some of the finer points of kingship from him. In that, they share something, and kinship is found. Kinship, and heartache.

Caspian reached as if to touch Edmund's shoulder, then withdrew. He started to turn away. Edmund's hand locked around Caspian's wrist. "No."

"...what?"

"Caspian, a King doesn't run from an enemy. Or from the truth." He stared the man down. "He may keep secrets, when needed, but lying to himself is a luxury that'll be paid for in blood sooner or later. Believe me, I know that for certain."


Wishful

Fandom: Narnia
Author on LJ: tryfanstone
Author Website: website

Why this story must be read:

And now for something different. I've been concentrating mostly on the Pevensies, because they are my favorite characters and perhaps most beloved by the fans as well. But there were others who visited Narnia too, and were changed; not the least of these were Eustace Scrubb and Jill Pole.

This story starts with them, but comes to pass in the afterlife-Narnia. It's an odd story, one that makes you think about the precise nature of the world inhabited. There are hints of greater things at work. Let us say, this story is aptly titled.

So it was that, a few days, a fortnight later - but nobody measured time in Narnia in the way we do - Jill stood above the great golden gate and watched Susan walk up the hill to the garden. From the wall, Susan looked small, although she held herself very upright and the clothes she wore were those of a Narnian Queen and not of a London stenographer, which Susan had been wearing when Aslan called her name. She had a bow on her back and a horn in her hand and her hair was long and black and loose. Before, Jill had been a little bit frightened of Susan with her painted lips and her permanent wave and her boyfriends, but here in Narnia Susan seemed nothing more than lonely. Jill leaned over the wall and shouted her name.

Susan looked up.

She had blue eyes, Susan, a blue so dark it was almost black, and skin as white as the flesh of a snowberry, and it was not for nothing that the knights of seven countries had fought for her hand. She was the most beautiful woman Jill had ever seen.


Another Country

Fandom: Narnia
Author on LJ: fanaticalone

Why this story must be read:

In The Magician's Nephew, a great many strange and terrifying things happen to the characters, changing them in profound ways. Perhaps none more so than Uncle Andrew, the mad, eccentric sorcerer whose work allows Digory and Polly to discover Narnia, thus setting in motion all the events of the series. He was not a kind man; but by the end of the book, he is changed somewhat. And even wizards can be forgiven. This is a lovely coda to The Magician's Nephew, and a very powerful sotry for the characters.

He took another deep breath. Imagine, him a dignified man, and he had even considered such a childish conceit... "Did you ever think that the lion was... well... singing?"

His nephew - a student now, well on his way to becoming a learned man, and perhaps already a wiser man than himself - did not laugh. He just looked at him very gravely. "Why, Uncle Andrew?" he said. "What did you think?"

"Well... when we first arrived... I do think he was singing, now that I try to remember it," he said quickly. It was a difficult admission for him; grown-ups have a certain kind of silliness in them as well as children, and Uncle Andrew's silliness had a great deal to do with pride and dignity and other things that were, he'd started to realize, not important in the slightest. "I didn't believe it, and for a very long time I thought that I'd heard things, that he was just growling. I thought he really was roaring after a while... but now I wonder if perhaps he wasn't singing all along."


Faith

Fandom: Narnia
Author on LJ: oxoniensis
Author Website: website

Why this story must be read:

Lucy finds this new Narnia a queer place indeed. But things, as good and right and wonderful as they are, are not fully into place. This story perfectly addresses the Susan Question.

There's no more greyness in her life, no more forgotten dreams, no more uncomfortable uniforms and miserable lessons that don't teach the important things in life. No more rules that don't make sense, because here the rule is love and be loved, and that covers everything.


And Indeed There Will Be Time

Fandom: LOTRIPS
Pairing: Billy/Dom, Sean A./Elijah
Author on LJ: blackbird_song
Author Website: blackbird_song
Why this must be read: Written in response to the waymeet's 'Twelve Days of Christmas' challenge, this series of 12 ficlets (+ one follow-up) is sweet, funny and at times very sexy. A lovely warm fuzzies-inducing story, bound to brighten any day.

( Excerpt from 'Two Pissy Doves' )

Twelve Days of Christmas Series and After the Partridge Incident (follow-up to 'A Partridge in a Beech Tree')

Fandom: THE X-FILES
Pairing: Gen
Author on LJ: sgcbearcub
Author Website: Wintersong's website
Why this must be read: Because it's a fascinating read. It's about Mulder and Scully as partners, participating in a kind of training exercise that showcases that partnership, the skills they've picked up over seven years on the X-Files, and their devotion to each other. There's no romance--we don't know if Mulder and Scully are sleeping with each other or not, but this fic underlines that it doesn't really matter, because it doesn't change the absolute love, trust, and loyalty they feel for each other. As well as what they will do because of that love, trust, and loyalty--this fic also shows the darker edge of their personalities.

Most of it is told from an outsider's point of view, someone set to evaluate their performance in this exercise. This person has heard about what they do on the X-Files, as well as all the rumors surrounding them, and doesn't have much of an opinion until she sees them in action--when they turn the entire game upside down and inside out, and everyone learns that underestimating them can be a Bad Thing.

Wintersong has one of the most intensely fascinating views of Mulder and Scully, and the world of the X-Files, that I have ever read. The stories she writes are very different from most of the other X-Files fic I've read, but I can still see where her characterization is coming from, and the situations she puts them in let shine facets of their characters that most of the series' episodes aren't designed to show. Everything Wintersong writes is among the most uniquely interesting stories I've ever read, and though I'm only pointing to "The Games We Play" as an example of her work, I sincerely think that everyone who cares about Mulder and Scully should check out the rest of her fic.

( Excerpt )

The Games We Play

Fandom: FARSCAPE
Pairing: John/Aeryn
Author on LJ: bilpingal
Author Website: http://www.freewebs.com/carly_gal/
Why this must be read:

There haven't been a lot of new authors lately in the Farscape fandom (an inevitable result of the show no longer being on the air, and having a mostly complete canon to boot), and I've watched with pleasure as this author worked to find her voice. She continues to grow and expand her scope and her handle on storytelling in this verse.

This particular fic goes AU from Dog With Two Bones, bringing in some important elements of season 2 and that happens to hit many of my favorite fic kinks.

I won't say that the story is entirely unproblematic - there's some obscurity to some of the phrases and storytelling, and some of it feels a bit too easy (particularly John and Aeryn's reconcilliation), but I like the heart of it, the story it tells, and am really pleased with how much this author has grown as a writer and the work she's put into telling this story. The language is universally lovely and confident, and the it addresses many of the complexities of the seperations at the end of Season 3. The storytelling is rich, and I look forward to more work as this writer continues to grow. (I'd definitely recommend her crossovers with Farscape and SG-1. They're dark and sexy and spare and I wish I'd had it together enough to rec one for crossover day).

( Excerpt )

Riddles

Don't forget to feed the author.