Fandom: HOUSE
Pairing: House/Wilson
Author on LJ: elicia8
Author Website: memories
Why this must be read:

I'm a fan of stories that take difficult premises and make them not only believable, but kind of wonderful, and that's what elicia8 did with this. The summary -- "House and Wilson go strawberry picking" -- might seem like cause for suspicion, and first-person POV is rarely an easy sell, but elicia8 has such a magnificent understanding of these characters that I believed every word of it. The story is funny, sexy, and completely in-character. Definitely another writer (and artist!) to keep an eye on :)

Strawberries

Fandom: THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.
Pairing: Napoleon/Illya
Author on LJ: not as far as I know
Author Website: http://www.chromeandgunmetal.com

I'm very aware that, from my recs so far, one might glean the impression that the glorious tradition of UNCLE fanfic is exclusively gen in nature. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth – there is plenty of sex in MfU, it's just that I tend to skip sex scenes, which makes me a poor judge of good porn. But every so often a writer comes along whose work is so amazing that it transcends the limits of mere personal taste. One such author is Cord Smithee, who writes utterly fabulous explicit slash. His use of language is intoxicating, and his characters have a gritty three-dimensionality that is merely hinted at in the original show. Sexual desire in Cord's world is an elemental power, forcing his characters along a tightrope between ecstasy and despair, and the negotiation of power and need, submission and dominance is brilliantly rendered. What I particularly love about his style – apart from, well, everything about it – is the way he doesn't so much describe the characters' emotions as let us see what triggers those emotions. Oh, and the way he lets us see it – the language! Did I mention the language?! Here's a tiny taste:

...startlingly unready for how the sight of Illya's wide eyes and bitten lip would flicker up his nerves like bridging electricity, fat blue sparks powerful enough that the contact should have locked his fingers around Illya's wrist. Almost did; it hurt to uncurl his fingers and let go.

Cord calls “Pussycat” a PWP, but it's also a gorgeous and very funny riff on the episode “See Paris and Die”. Napoleon, playing a French flic, has hustled Illya, in the role of a hired thug, out of van Schreeten's apartment with the words Allons! Maybe we go sweat you a little bit, eh, pussycat? Subsequent events take him completely by surprise...

Oh, and just to show I'm more well-read than Thrush, Inspector Javert is from Hugo's Les Misérables.

Pussycat

Fandom: FARSCAPE
Pairing: none/gen
Author on LJ: sabaceanbabe
Author Website: none; other fic here
Why this must be read:

Good episode filler can be hard to find, sometimes. But what SB has done with this fic [set during and with spoilers through 4.14 Twice Shy] is essentially written the deleted scenes we didn't get to see: the what-happened-next? that wraps up the tale in true Farscape fashion, where nothing is *ever* as simple or easy as it should be.

Good ensemble fic can also be a challenge to write, with so many and so varied a group of characters to manage in the Farscape universe. SB has pegged their voices and turned each character's stereotypes to fine advantage in this cliche-busting story.


Has Anybody Seen My Mojo?

This month, I feel like reccing a lot of Richie-centric fic of all kinds, with a few other stories thrown in for variety. So to start us off...

Fandom: HIGHLANDER
Pairing: Duncan/Tessa, Richie/OFC
Author Website: Dawn's Highlander Fanfiction Page
Why this must be read:

Dawn Cunningham is one of the fandom's classic angst authors, and she has a real knack for making Richie's pain tear at your heartstrings. Here, one inexplicable event after another seem to suggest that Richie is going crazy, suffering from a split personality. And then people start getting hurt...

"I didn't send it either," Duncan said as he glanced at the letter again. "Tessa is right, there are things listed here that I didn't know either."

Richie looked back and forth between them. "Then who did this?"

"It could be anybody," Duncan theorized. "It wouldn't be that difficult for someone to take a blank sheet of our stationary from the office. Do you have any friends that might be mad enough at you to do this?"

Richie shook his head no.

"Okay, I have an idea. Come with me." Duncan led them into the office where he turned on the computer. A few minutes later, he looked at Richie. "This was definitely printed from this computer. I found the file it was printed from. The time stamp on it is from this morning ...when you were here alone, Rich."

Richie went pale as Duncan showed him the file. "Oh, no," he muttered before fleeing to his room.

Before the Darkness

Fandom: HIGHLANDER
Pairing: Duncan/Tessa
Author Website: Highlander Fanfiction by Kat Parsons
Why this must be read:

Normally I'm pretty leery of kidfic, as it's too easy for it to turn treacle-sweet, but this story stops just shy of that. In this AU, Duncan and Tessa meet Richie years earlier as a small child, and have a chance to give him a better life.

Duncan sighed, counted to ten, and spoke more softly. "Are you lost? I got lost once when I was a boy, not too much older than you. I was scared, but my father and the other...and our neighbors found me. He was angry at me for going off alone, but only because he loved me and wanted me safe. Your parents must be worried about you--it's past ten o'clock, now, and when parents don't know where their children are, it frightens them."

Might Have Been

Fandom: Smallville
Pairing: Chloe/Clark
Author on LJ alexajones22
Author Website: Alexa Jones Fan Fiction
Why this must be read: This is classic in the Chlark ship. One of the firsts I believe. Written non-linear its a tad difficult to follow sometimes, but its still a good read, if for nothing more than the conversation below (hidden under cut).

Author's Synopsis - Clark and Chloe become more than just friends, finally becoming intimate as Clark learns to deal with his superpowers and sexuality.

( Excerpt )

Just Friends Huh

Fandom: X-FILES
Pairing: None (Mulder/Scully UST)
Author on LJ: Not that I know of
Author Website: nevdull's stories
Why this must be read: What do surrealist painting, cognitive neuroscience, and stereograms (you know, those blurry 3D pictures that are supposed to look like dinosaurs if you stare at them long enough) have in common?  The answer is that they're all woven together to form this intricate and absolutely unique case-file based story.  At just over 18,000 words, this story is not exceptionally long, but the sheer inventiveness of the concept, coupled with nevdull’s gift for spare yet striking prose, allows it to transcend the trappings of your average case-file fic.

It’s not a romance, but the interaction between the partners reads like one of the better episodes from the series—you can actually imagine them participating in the exchanges that nevdull sprinkles throughout the fabric of this tale. The ending is both brilliant and haunting, moving the story from the realm of cleverly constructed case-file to subtly powerful character study.

Gazzaniga

Fandom: Pirates of the Caribbean
Title: Work of Art
Pairing: Jack Sparrow/Will Turner
Author on LJ: tessabeth
Author Website: LJ Profile
Why this must be read: tessabeth is an amazing writer in so many ways, not least of which is her ability to enthrall and completely convince me that Jack/Will works like a house a-fire. Plot, humor, historical detail, hotness: it's all here. Jack's piratical talents are on display, leading his crew in plundering a ship, officiating at the party ashore later, and are supplemented with some surprising hidden talents. The characterization is utterly endearing -- a pirate through and through, but the man we love is there, under the sun-baked facade. Will is drawn equally well, naive but beautiful and capable, and fascinated by Jack, as we all are. The two are suffering from a lack of communication and the journey to true understanding is enormously sexy fun. Enjoy!

( Excerpt )

Work of Art