Fandom: THE SENTINEL
Pairing: preslash Jim/Blair
Length: 151K
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: unknown
Why this must be read:  

Strategic Depth 

feed the need -- don't forget feedback to the author!

Fandom: THE X-FILES
Pairing: Mulder/Scully
Length: 1500 words
Author on LJ: threeguesses
Author Website:  X-Files tag
Why this must be read:

I wanted to make another post-movie rec because this one is completely different than my last recommendation. threeguesses says in her intro to the fic, "The X-Files to me = magical realism." Now, this conceit could have been done with a heavy hand and become overwrought, but in the author's skilled hands, this little tale of what happens to Mulder and Scully after the movie is light and dark at the same time, and very true to the characters, despite taking them out of their usual settings. Her use of sensory imagery is especially impressive, as can be seen in the opening lines:

( Cut in case you haven't seen IWTB yet. )

Gardening in Tropical Climates 

Hi guys! I'll be reccing fics in the anime/manga fandom of Hikaru no Go (the crack_van overview is here) this month! I'm going to try to rec some more recent fics, in case there're lurkers who used to be in this fandom but have now lost touch with it, as well as some less-known, but not less brilliant, fics.

Fandom: HIKARU NO GO
Pairing: Shindou/Touya
Length: 10k
Author on LJ: arboretum
Author Website: here
Why this must be read:

I'm reccing this one first because currently, it's my favourite Hikago fic! It was written for blind_go challenge this May. When I see this fic bookmarked by 50 people on del.icio.us, I can't believe my eyes - because I can't believe there are that many people in the relatively small Hikago fandom even using del.ici.ous. For me, this is a fic with everything I could ever hope for in a Shindou/Touya fic (there's go, there's my OTP, there's fun to be had). It's too amazing for me to have words to describe it. I have read it three times now, and it continues to fill me with joy that fics like this exist. Even if you don't read any of the other fics I'm going to rec this month? You should totally give this a shot!

( excerpt that I spent way too long trying to pick )

There's also a short sequel here.

A Resolution of Territory

Fandom:NCIS
Pairing: None
Length:Less than a 1000 words
Author on LJ: crimsonquills
Author Website: Crimsonquills.com

Why this must be read:

Crimson can pin down Gibbs so well and put a reader right in his head. It's Gibbs using the skills that make him a good investigator while he and his team take in a seminar.





Positive Space

Hello all, I'm phaballa, and I will be your popslash driver for August. This month, I am going to attempt to rec authors who have never been rec'd at crack_van before. These are people and fics that are mostly new to popslash and have some really interesting points of view in fic writing that maybe the classic popslash fic doesn't really portray. Like Momma fic. And Lamp. Because if there's one thing I know, it's that popslash's crackfic brings all the llamas to the yard.

Fandom: POPSLASH
Pairing: Britney/Justin, Chris/Lynn, JC/Lynn, JC/Joey, Justin/Chris
Length: 8,772
Author on LJ: kira_j
Author Website: Memories
Why this must be read:

This fic is utterly amazing for many reasons, but first and foremost because she took some crazy pairings and made them utterly believable and right and THIS IS HOW IT HAPPENED. When you can make me cheer for Chris/Lynn, that's when you know you've written something brilliant. And the writing is brilliant. There are passages of description that are so sparse and yet gorgeous, and I can picture these things happening so perfectly and clearly in my head. And the third thing about this fic that's just amazing is the characterizations. She gets everyone down so amazingly, and yet manages to write these people in a way I've never read before, from Justin, who's the more typical Justin and yet more vulnerable and messed up than average, to Diane freaking Bass, who's thoughts about Lynn are so right on the money. The most fascinating characterization for me in this is definitely JC, who's sort of predatory and sexy and awful at the same time.

( A quote, because yes. )

link: Deja Voodoo

Fandom: DUE SOUTH
Pairing: Kowalski/Fraser, Kowalski/Vecchio
Length:5200 words
Author on LJ: aerye
Author Website:http://www.aerye.clubfen.com/
Why this must be read: Because life is hard, boys are slow on the uptake, moving to the arctic is trickier than it sounds, and it's possible to make the same mistake multiple times. And because Aerye writes such vivid descriptions of every-day reality that this fic reads like a National Geographic photo-essay of a small-town Greyhound station.

Additional recs from last year's DS Match challenge Team Angst and other related material will be at my live journal, where August is a due South love-fest.


( It starts to fill up about eight. There's supposed to be a nine-thirty bus to Yellowknife but it's running late and everyone's getting grumpy. )


"9:30 to Yellowknife"

Fandom: ANGEL
Pairing: Wesley/Lilah, Wesley/Faith friendship
Length: 30,000 words
Author on LJ: eloise_bright
Author Website: Eloise Bright at The Gray Zone, Fics on lj
Why this must be read: Wesley's father and the influence he had on Wesley was always something that lurked in the background of the show, until they brought him out in Lineage and proved once and for all that he was a miserable bastard. However, before that episode, we had to make do with our own ideas about the two of them, and Eloise does an excellent job creating Wesley's father. But theirs is not the only relationship she deals with. In this fic that vears into AU post S3, she creates deep and believable emotional connections between Wesley and his two greatest failures, Faith and Connor. This is a story about people who have failed and betrayed the ones they need the most, and how they try to fix what they've done.

Unless you're Wesley's dad or Lilah, because then you just screw around with Wes/abuse him some more, which is always awesome.

( excerpt )

The formatting may be wonky on both these links, but just ignore it. The story is worth it.

Soul Cages , and an alternate link if the ads piss you off.

Fandom: STARGATE SG1
Pairing: Cam Mitchell (Cam Mitchell/Martouf)
Length: ~2900
Author on LJ: ana_grrl
Author Website: anafic

Why this must be read:

Continuing the theme of rare pairings, and a Cam Mitchell who's not quite like the one in canon, and yet not that removed either... This is a spin off from her 5 Earths Cam might have known fic (linked in the story) in which Cam's miraculous recovery is due to being blended with a Tok'ra named Tekesh (the only smart ass Tok'ra in the galaxy, at least according to Cam) in a universe where this is a bit more common than it is in ours.

And as if that explanation didn't give it away, I know nothing about the Tok'ra, but I still loved this, so give it a try even if you have no clue who they are.

The author summarises it as 'learning to live with (as) a Tok'ra', and it's about that, but it's about so much else as well: being different, but not that different, and the same, but not quite, and remembering when it wasn't like this. And it's about bonding in ways you never expected (Cam and Tekesh, Cam and Martouf) and realising that maybe the thing you were fighting for isn't quite as good as you thought it was. And then it's about the moment when you have to make a decision, even though there's no good decision and they all involve sacrifices, and you don't want to make any of them.

Also, Tekesh is great, and Cam is really kind of sweet, and Martouf is lovely, and the Cam/Martouf relationship really, unexpectedly, works.

( Read a little bit? )

Integration

Fandom: HOUSE
Pairing: None
Length: 1800 words
Author on LJ: goddess_of_7s
Author Website: Butterfly Wings
Why this must be read:

This is an intriguing look at what the series could have been like with one difference to one character. What if, when we meet House and his fellows, Chase is deaf? It takes that premise and re-introduces the characters, and everything unfolds differently. This first story in the series shows the meeting of Cameron, Foreman, and Chase, and really exists to introduce you to an imaginative AU.

ETA new link: Ears and Eyes