June 28th, 2008 
12:27 am Cage Match by glossing (Adult)
Fandom: DC COMICS
Pairing: Bruce Wayne/Jason Todd
Length: 5600 words
Author on LJ: glossing
Author Website: glossings
Why this must be read:

This is should be read because it nails the dynamic between Bruce Wayne and Jason Todd in Jason's days as Robin. This Jason is angry and aggressive, as he was, but he isn't overdone. This is very clearly Robin Jason, not Red Hood Jason, and the difference is achingly clear. This makes it very obvious to anyone why Bruce and the Bat family as a whole never quite recovered from Jason's death, and it makes Red Hood all the more hurtful. This boy, despite all his anger and frustration, can still be joyful even if it's for disturbing reasons. There's also a very awareness of class issues in this fic which highlight the difference between Bruce and Jason very well.

Dick was inviolable. Dick is what Bruce hopes, but doubts, he could be. Jason, arrayed in anger and spitting a rapid Tommy-gun fire of words and moods, is what Bruce fears, knows full well, he *is*.

What, then, to make of this?

Hours later, Jason is still wakeful. He raids the pantry for yet more food, then makes his way back upstairs. He stops near Bruce's room, where the door is ajar. He pads inside and helps himself to a painkiller from the bottle on the bedside table before sitting cross-legged on the bed. He munches a peanut butter and banana sandwich greedily, his free hand in Bruce's hair. The dark hair twines around his fingers; his skin appears blue in the moonlight.

Cage Match
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12:32 am "Pearl" by TimberWolf (PG)
I know I've been missing in action a bit lately, things have been a little hectic on my end. But with the end of the month nigh there are two fics I love that I want to rec while I still have the chance. Here's the first...

Fandom: The Magnificent Seven
Pairings: Buck/Ezra, Ezra/Li Pong
Length: ~2500
Author on LJ: Unknown
Author's Website TimberWolf's Fics
Why This Must Be Read:

I adore this fic. It's funny, sweet, and sad all at the same time - a joy to read. Even the basic premise of the fic inspires a grin: Li Pong comes back to Four Corners pregnant, and naturally everyone makes certain connections. Ezra's not going to be able to talk his way out of this one.

Excerpt )

Pearl
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09:17 am VID REC: Life on Mars - There is Too Much Light in this Bar
Vidder: [livejournal.com profile] absolutedestiny
Musical artist: Wammo
Pairing: Suggestions of Sam/Gene
Vidder on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] absolutedestiny
Vidder's website: AbsoluteDestiny.org
Why this vid kicks ass: This is a clever vid that works with an amazing track. The timing is fantastic and the clips are used in a wonderful way. Really, the editing is just stunning. Life on Mars was shot brilliantly anyway, and this vid plays on that and gives it new dimensions. It's fast-paced, it's brutal, it's funny and I love it to teeny, tiny pieces. We have some really remarkable vids in Life on Mars fandom, but this is my favourite of them all.

There is Too Much Light in this Bar
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02:00 pm Going Gone by Sionnain (Adult)
Fandom: DC COMICS
Pairing: Harley Quinn/Poison Ivy
Length: one-shot
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] sionnain
Author Website: [livejournal.com profile] sionnain_fics
Why this must be read:

Stories with villains as the main characters only work if you're willing to actually explore all sides of their personalities, including the dark and the depressing. This story does that - and there are layers upon layers of various shades of grey - while still fleshing Harley and Ivy out into believable human beings.  You can't actually read this fic without wanting Harley and Ivy to make it, and if the end doesn't rip your heart out, I think there's cause to worry.

Harley doesn't look as bad as she sometimes does, but a lot of the time, the most damage is where you can't see right away. She's still wearing the skintight suit, her curves supple and strong beneath the slick material. Ivy likes the way Harley looks in that pretty little costume, she always has, but she hates that Harley is wearing it for him. Harley's not wearing that stupid cap that Ivy hates with a passion (it's juvenile and cartoonish) and her blond hair is all askew, strands in her face, and some are tinged red and sticky with what can only be blood.

"Hey, Red," she says, as if on cue, and Ivy resists the urge to mouth it along with her. "Got a place for a wanderin' gal to stay for a night or two?"

No. I don't. I'm tired of taking care of you so you can go back to that lunatic and end up right back here, beaten and bruised and looking at me like a kicked puppy. "Of course I do," she says instead, and opens the door. Just like she always does, just like she knows she always will. Part of her wonders why she does it. What is Harley, anyway, but a nuisance?

Maybe it's because you cultivate that girl like a plant, and it hurts to see her strangled by weeds.

Going Gone
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04:45 pm Now Ashes Rise in My Footprints by Katta (PG-13)

Fandom: SUPERNATURAL
Characters: John Winchester, toddler Dean Winchester, baby Sam Winchester
Length: Novela
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] kattahj
Author Website: LJ
Why this must be read:

After Mary's death, John bumbles, stumbles and backs into a career as a demon hunter. Outstanding John characterization. The most thoughtful and believable story I've read about how John gets into demon-hunting, and how he manages to do it with two small children in tow. A better prequel than the “Supernatural Origins” comics.

At first, John focuses on the little tasks: sleeping, eating, changing Sammy's diapers, talking to policemen and firemen, punching a reporter in the face....

Now Ashes Rise in My Footprints
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04:54 pm We Were Twenty by Elohvee (NC-17)

My last rec for June 2008.

Fandom: SUPERNATURAL
Pairing: Sam Winchester/Dean Winchester
Length: Novel
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] elohvee
Author Website: Writings

Why this must be read:

Sam’s leg gets mangled in a hunt. Without any melodrama, Dean takes one step after another away from the life of a hunter to accommodate Sam’s new limitations.

The author does an excellent job of depicting how Dean slowly accepts the permanency of their situation. A particularly poignant moment is when Sam sees that Dean has registered the Impala to their new local address.

The story describes how the boys create a rewarding life for themselves in the small town where they crash-land after Sam’s injury. The author doesn’t handwave the difficulties they face, and it’s satisfying to watch the guys overcome their poverty, their lack of formal education, and their unconventional past. They become a couple. They become well-liked, respected members of a community. The “road to nowhere” has led the Winchesters to this place, and it feels good to travel along with them.

Toward the end of the novel, the monsters that live in the dark start to intrude on their lives again, and Dean is drawn back into hunting.

You’ll get emotionally involved enough to cry, so don’t read it at work.

We were twenty
for such a short time and always in
the wrong clothes, crusted with dirt
and sweat.


We Were Twenty
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07:53 pm "In Black" by NotTasha (PG-13)
And here's the second of the two fics I wanted to rec while I still had the chance:

Fandom: The Magnificent Seven
Pairings: None (I interpret it as onesided E/C...but I interpret most things that way)
Length: ~20K
Author on LJ: Unknown
Author's Website: NotTasha's Land of Mayhem and Magnificent Seven Fanfiction
Why This Must Be Read:

Saying that this fic features a depiction of Chris and Ezra which is perfectly in-character to the point of turning another writer green with envy is like calling the Sahara a little on the warm side. You could almost believe this is a missing piece of canon.

Chris and Ezra are in the town of Tierra Negra on unrelated errands when Ezra overhears some local hotheads planning to shoot Chris for the fame that killing a notorious gunslinger would bring. Rather than allow things to go that far and risk Chris getting hurt, Ezra pretends to be Chris and scares the natives off.

Unfortunately for Ezra, however, a rather more dangerous individual witnesses his little charade. Someone who doesn't think twice about gunning a man down in the street...

A wonderfully written piece, with Ezra being too clever for his own good and the rest of the Seven furious and vengeful: winner of the 2004 Gold Ezzie Award for Old West Fic (General - Medium). Read. You will not regret it.

Excerpt )

In Black
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09:57 pm David and His Jonathan by Hutchlover (NC-17)
Fandom: Starsky and Hutch
Pairing: Starsky/Hutch
Why this must be read:
This is a wonderful established-relationship story about Starsky and Hutch.
Starsky begins to have strange dreams, but what do they mean?
An intriguing and well-written story, and a fresh look at a familiar biblical tale.
Excerpt )

David and His Jonathan
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10:20 pm Datastream Apologues, by scarab_dynasty (PG)
Fandom: ACE LIGHTNING
Pairing: Occasional/some
Length: A series of short fics, 24 254 words in full
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] scarab_dynasty
Author Website: Fanfiction.net, [livejournal.com profile] dynasty_fic

Why this must be read:

As a series of unconnected shorts, I can't name a reason that applies to all of them--but some of the ones I like the best are:

Count Delusion. Introducing an OC in a short I find impressively creepy. Set amongst the evils. "The smoke was his cover. His means of escape and sometimes, his means of concealment..."

After Battle. The first one of the bunch--a cute, brief snapshot of Ace and Sparx.

Sprocket. Random Virus...and a kitten. Not much I can say 'sides that. :)

Five Things Heather Noticed About Sam. Written for a meme, this is a good character piece centered on the humans. Five snapshots running a gamut of situations.

Unreal. Kat/Sparx mildish femslash, reality and belief; an interesting situation and meditation.

The Nature of Heroism. Based on a Young Justice comic, this involves fun with binoculars as Mark and Chuck observe a rendezvous between hero and villain.

Datastream Apologues
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10:53 pm VID REC: You Know My Name, by scarab_dynasty (PG)
Vidder: ScarabD/Scarab Dynasty
Musical artist: Chris Cornell and David Arnold
Pairing: Perhaps mild canon
Vidder sites: [livejournal.com profile] scarab_dynasty, Fanfiction.net

Why this vid kicks ass:

It's a Lady Illusion vid; how could it not? More seriously, Lady Illusion to a James Bond theme is delightfully cool and ironic. Opening with some good fanart from the vidder's devart, it takes you through most of Lady Illusion's appearances, and creates an image apropos to the lyrics. Some very well-spun juxtaposing of scenes with music; though it's a flashback focusing on a single character, it's riveting, entertaining, and brings to mind the great moments of the character.

You Know My Name by Scarab Dynasty
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11:03 pm Out of Hand, by hyperpsychomaniac (PG-13)
Fandom: ACE LIGHTNING
Pairing: Gen
Length: 1953 words
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] tech_head
Author Website: Fanfiction.net, old Geocities page

Why this must be read:

The evils of the sixth dimension are about to take over the earth, and it seems the Lightning Knights are out of options.

Desperation; almost-apocalypse; and a move nobody expected would be made. It's short, but packs quite a punch.

Out of Hand
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