Thanks for reading, guys. it's been fun, and hopefully I'll get to come back again in another year or so. ^_^

Fandom: TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES
Pairing: none
Length: short and sweet
Author's LJ:n/a
Author's Webpage: n/a

Why this must be read:

Most of us grew up watching the old TMNT cartoons (At least, I did - am I dating myself here?) where Shredder used robot Foot ninjas and hurled lots of empty threats. His favorite was that he was going to turn the guys into Turtle Soup. Well, in this fic, he does just that. Sort of.

It's a serious take ona silly idea, and it somehow ended up being a favorite story of mine. And hopefully, a good one to end the month on.

Turtle Soup by Goblin Cat KC

My very last rec for July and yeah! I even made the 12. I'm sorry that I had to cramp all these stories into the last few days, but real life went mad this month... I hope you understand. Anyway, I loved driving the Van. A billion thanks to everyone who read, commented here and gave feedback to the writers. And to whoever is next: The keys are next to the cookie jar. Good luck in August!

Fandom: THE SENTINEL
Pairing: preslash, UST Blair/everyone, Jim/Blair
Length: all together 136k
Author on LJ: kitipurr
Author Website: stories at 852 prospect

Why this must be read: Because it has good pre-slash and very creative use of food in the art of seduction. It's crack!fic! It's awesome!

This is a series. It's about Blair's food. It's awesome. The first five parts are crack!fic at its best.

The last part is probably the best thing ever written. EVER. EVER. EVER

Frozen   short, very very funny

The Popcorn Incident Megan's POV

Fresh Rafe's POV

Bottleneck Simon and Henri discuss Blair and the food... I literally shook with laughter

The Sandwich Joel's POV, short but oh!

The Cheesecake  Blair and Jim, the grand finale, even if you want to skip the first parts, YOU HAVE TO READ!!!

Hi there! I'm dashakay  and I'm driving the van for X-Files this month. Our fandom is having a bit of a renaissance right now, thanks to the new movie, The X-Files 2: I Want to Believe. I thought that this month I'd concentrate on some of the newer fic from the fandom. While we have eleventy billion classics in XF, there's some wonderful new fic out there.

Fandom: THE X-FILES
Pairing: Mulder/Scully
Length: One-shot
Author on LJ: innisfree
Author Website: On Gossamer
Why this must be read:

If you saw the new movie and wished it could just go on and on, at least as far as the Mulder/Scully elements go, this is the fic for you. Here, we see Mulder and Scully as adults in a mature, sexual relationship that has lasted for more than six years. These are people who have seen and done some horrible things. They're scarred but they're still whole. They have survived and they're together. As far as I'm considered, this is my personal canon for what happened to them just after the movie ended.

Please note that there are spoilers for the new movie in the story.

A Bed Made of Crop Circles

Fandom: DOCTOR WHO
Pairing: Gen - or as gen as any fic involving Jack Harkness can be
Length: 1,055 words
Author on LJ: dune_drd
Author Website: Account on A Teaspoon and an Open Mind
Why this must be read: I only wear make-up to work - never any where else in real life. I can't be bothered on days off, but I'm concerned that I would look unprofessional if I went to work without it. Which is why I probably shouldn't have read this fic during my lunch break. The author wonders just what Jack's life--and eventual death--would be like, if he does live to the end of time. By the end of it, I resembled Rose on her side of the white wall in "Doomsday."

Before I Sleep

Hey, It’s me back for another tour.  ::waves madly and grabs the keys to the van::

Fandom: THE SENTINEL 
Pairing: Jim/Blair 
Length: 27K 
Author on LJ: missmozell
Author Website: http://www.angelfire.com/grrl/scribescribbles/mainmenu.htm

Why this must be read:   Because food and sex intertwine so deliciously, and you don’t need enhanced senses to tell you that!  Aristide’s “Fruit of the Vine” was the first Sentinel story recced at Crackvan, Kass and Kitipurr write about cheesecake (see Betzz’ entry from yesterday) and Aly has just put out a cookbook zine of all the recipes she uses in her stories (and it’s great!). On top of that it’s cherry season in my neck of the woods, so this story is especially apropos.
Can He Bake a Cherry Pie, Jimmy Boy?  

Like what you see as much as I do?  Don’t forget to send feedback to the author!

Hey everyone, I'm 50thousandtearz (formerly known as missmorganpryce in this fandom), and I'll be driving the Buffy/Angelverse can this month! It's so awesome to dust off these fics and rec them, makes me all nostalgic and tingly. There will be mostly Angel recs, I'm not into Buffy as much. You can expect a lot of Wesley/Lilah (BEST OTP EVER) and season 3-4ish fic, but I'll try to throw in a couple of other things as well.

Fandom: ANGEL
Pairing: Wesley/Lilah, Fred/Other
Length: 256K (both stories)
Author on LJ: jennyo
Author Website: Jennifer Oksana's: new site, old site
Why this must be read: This is one of my favorite stories, by my favorite author in the fandom. Jennifer-Oksana has got her snark on full force as usual, and she writes a smashingly awesome Lilah. It's long and interesting and plotty and filled with a large cast of characters from both Angel and Buffy.

This fic takes place post Angel S4 and Buffy S7, in a Wolfram and Hart where Lilah might be dead, but she's kicking ass and taking names as Angel's assistant. Sunnydale has fallen, and Spike has died...or so they think. But this mystery seems to be covering up an even larger one, which I don't want to give away in the summary, but just a hint: remember how Willow activated all the slayers in Chosen? Yeah. Jennyo delves fully into the slayer situation in a must-read sequel. I love how Jennyo doesn't forget the canon of the show, and even while she's busy taking us into an all out alternate reality, she continues both Buffy and Angel's show canons. Excellent Wesley/Lilah, and Jennyo can write gay!Fred for me anyday, lol.

( excerpt )

Friends and Other Disasters, and its sequel Reluctant the Vampire Slayer

Hi everyone! I'm captainlaura and I'm driving the House van this month. I first started reading House fic about 2 years ago, and haven't left since. I've got a soft spot for House/Wilson, but the stories I'm going to rec this month are a pretty wide range of pairings and gen, so there should be something for everyone.

Fandom: HOUSE
Pairing: House/Wilson
Length: 13,000 words
Author on LJ: m_butterfly
Author Website: The Butterfly Factory
Why this must be read:

This is one of the first stories I read when I got into the House fandom, by one of my favorite authors, and I still go back and read it every now and then. It's got warmth, it's got humor, and it's got style, and it focuses on all the main characters at least once.

The story is five different takes on how the Ducklings could find out about House and Wilson (even if some of them aren't surprised), and it does it so well that each could be a stand-alone and still be great.

Five Days a Week

Fandom: DUE SOUTH
Pairing: Benton Fraser/Ray Kowalski
Length:Novella
Author on LJ:marysuefanfic, a special use name for busaikko
Author Website:No website nor LJ Memories available, sorry
Why this must be read: Sometimes Post Call of the Wild hurt/comfort can also be hilarious; in this case, it certainly is.


Hi, I'm julia_here and I'll be driving the due South crack_van for August. I've been reading in the fandom since February of 2007, and have not done any formal recs in that very long time, so in addition to making formal recs here, there will be more recs and fic discussion in my personal journal to make up for lost time.

I signed up for this gig because two of my favorite stories hadn't been recommended yet, and the longer that went on the more I was filled with missionary fervor for those fics. akamine_chan recommended one of those back in June, but the one I am recommending today has strangely enough been left unmentioned. My biases are for long, plotty fic, for RayK paired with either Fraser or RayV, for a little angst, a bit of detective work, and, at long last a happy ending. I'm allergic to death fic, attempts to write Ray K's accent, and innovative color schemes for archived fic.

"Due For a Change" by marysuefanfic was written for the 2007 ds_aprilfools challenge, and the long story was written in the order of the challenge prompts; the link goes to the prompt table. It's a post Call of the Wild, and the warnings say "warning: hurt/comfort (depression, mention of suicide); warped sense of humour." It pretty much fits all my biases perfectly.

( exerpt )

Due for a Change

I am m_lasha and I will be driving the small fandom van this month, specifically the Live Free and Die Hard part of the ride. If you can't image all-American hero John McClane of the Die Hard movies being sexy with another man, well I have to agree I was in that boat too. That is until I watched Die Hard 4. Rent it, then tell me Matt and John are not the sexiest couple since Starsky & Hutch. *g* The snark, the chemistry, the heat!!

My recs will only be John/Matt. So, sit down, strap yourself in and get prepared for one hell of a ride. With McClane as one part of the pair, could it be anything else?


Fandom: Live Free and Die Hard (Die Hard 4)
Pairing: John McClane/Matt Farrell
Author on LJ: petwritings
Author Website: None

Why this must be read: because when John McClane uses his head to subdue a crazy psycho-stalker! This is the McClane we know - and love - from the movies. Briefly summed up, after the Fire Sale John is settling back into his life, but when Matt frantically calls him claiming someone is stalking him, John is not convinced, but agrees to help the kid anyway. Of course, get the two together and chaos ensues...as does a change in their relationship. Great John characterization, as well as a brief but well-written Holly cameo.

If you are unsure of reading Die Hard slash, this could be the fic to drag you in!

Situation Normal

Fandom: MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
Pairing: None, gen
Length: about 3000 words
Author on LJ: not - that I know of
Author Website: None that I know of, darn it.
Why this must be read:

The really wonderful thing about getting to give recs this month is that the Mistress of Malarkey Awards for 2008 were announced last week,so I have a whole slew of new fun stuff that's actually deemed by the fandom itself to be awesome - and they are!!!  I'm starting out with the winner of the Best New Author in the gen field, and a well-deserved honor it is.  This is a lovely story told from Ezra's point of view, set around a trip that he is assigned to escort a man to San Francisco for his trial.  The focus of the story, though, is on Ezra's time in San Francisco and his comparisons of it to the dusty little town he has left.

One of the more interesting character issues in the fandom has been the question of why Ezra stayed, and at what point he himself 'took up' the mantle of peace-keeper and, more significantly, bonded with the other six men.  He's a fascinating character on-screen, giving us fanfic writers oodles of things to consider and assimilate.  Non Sequitur has started her Mag7 writing with a wonderful interpretation of one of the most complex characters on one of the most complex issues, and done an outstanding job.  I hope this is one of many more stories we see from this author!

Six Days in San Francisco

Hi, I'm your driver for the month of August. Please fasten all seatbelts and be advised that this will be the month of current team recs; in other words, if you don't like Cam Mitchell, well, this is your chance to have your mind changed :)

Fandom: STARGATE SG1
Pairing: Cameron Mitchell/Jonathan Nielson (aka JD, aka cloned!Jack)
Length: Noveletta (series of chapters ten - twenty thousand words each)
Author on LJ: synecdochic
Author Website: Venus in Furs

Why this must be read:

I'm so mystified by the idea that this hasn't been recced yet that I went back through entries before the first chapter was even posted just to double check, but it doesn't appear that my eyes are playing tricks on me, to my joy and excitement.

This is, hands-down, my favourite SG1 fic ever. It features Mitchell who's 'kind of halfway between canon-Cam and "The Road Not Taken" Cam' and Jack's clone who definitely didn't go off back to high school like a good little teenager. Instead, he shows up on Cam's doorstep, with a proposition (not that kind of... okay, yeah, that kind as well).

This is an au that makes writing computer code interesting; that makes you ache for Cam and JD and for what they've both lost; that allows for both characters to be labelled cradle snatchers, depending on how you look at it. And it has the Mitchell extended family, who are one of the most realistic groups of ocs I can remember seeing recently.

The main story currently stands at eleven chapters, three interludes and a whole bunch of very hot porn paragraphs. There's another part still to come, but what's up right now can be read as a complete story.

( Read a little bit? )

Take These Broken Wings

kelly_girl here and I'm driving this van for August. I love Tony/Gibbs, but read all kinds of stories about our favorite group of Special Agents, so hopefully there will be something recommended for everyone.

Fandom:NCIS
Pairing:Gibbs/Tony
Length: Around 1500 words
Author: entangled_now
Author Website: 'Library of sol'

Why this must be read: I could not get this story out of my head. It's Tony and Gibbs to a T.

Anyone that's watched more than a handful of episodes knows Tony has issues and Gibbs knows how to grab onto someone's issues and shake. Usually those someone's are suspects, but this time it's Tony.

"I did everything you asked me to do," Tony protests in one frustrated breath. "Everything you asked." His tone skips up and down in a way that he knows means he's not entirely sure where he went wrong.

"Did it ever occur to you that I didn't want you to do what I asked?"

"No." Tony blinks. "You were specific, usually when you want me to ignore what you've told me to do there's a tone. There was no tone."


Personal Space