Fandom: NARUTO
Pairing: None
Author on LJ: None Found
Length: 80,000 words
Author website: daznconfusd730
Why this should be read:

Most future/au Naruto fanfics I read, our hero has become Hokage and/or involved with Sakura ... or Hinata ... or Sasuke, if I'm lucky. Usually if he's not Hokage, he's being groomed. Orochimaru is dead and Sasuke was either retrieved before going to the 'dark side' or recovered after killing his brother. As I'm sure you've been able to tell from my recs, I really enjoy happy endings .. ahem, with hot, steamy romance thrown in for good measure.

But sometimes, a great story comes along with a totally different slant on the future. Set when Team 7 would be 25, Walking Corpse is thought-provoking and haunting, a trip to where Masashi Kishimoto, the author and originator of Naruto, won't ever take us but could have so easily gone - if this wasn't just a kid's show. This story is Naruto-centric and could probably be considered lightly lemon/yaoi if you look at it sideways. But it's mostly about who Naruto could be, perhaps should be, and may one day develop into if Masashi Kishimoto decides to end the series for good. After reading it, I know it changed how I saw the orange-suited wonder. So take a couple hours and try an oldie but goodie that's still in my favorites folder .. even though it makes me cry. ;-)

Warning: Death of Characters, Death of Major Characters, & 3 hankie alert.


Ten years ago Naruto died in the fight against Orochimaru. At least...that's what everyone was told.

Fandom: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA 2003
Pairing: Adama/Roslin
Author on LJ: mondavis
Author's website: Author's LJ
Why this must be read: In my opinion, some of the best crack!fic out there is fic that not only plays around with the hiding-in-plain sight themes of the show, but also manages to play cleverly with the very idea of fic, fic writing and fannishness.

This gem from 2006 does all this, with a hilarious and affectionate sendup of Adama/Roslin shipping, long before it was all the rage. In this fic, it turns out practically everyone on Galactica is shipping A/R, especially after a continuing porny series of anonymously-written fics about them starts appearing everywhere. Everyone around them is secretly discussing the fics - from CIC personnel, to the deck crew, to people in Colonial One. When Roslin discovers a copy of an installment distractedly left behind by one of her aides, she and Bill begin secretly reading too, and eventually they both discover that they are shipping themselves.

This fic got me laughing out loud in practically every scene, especially towards the end, when Laura and Bill decide that revenge is a dish best served with hot innuendoes in the CIC, in front of their sexually frustrated Fleet kids.

“You know, I don’t know how you guys can read that junk,” Lowjack said shaking his head. “They’re … old.”

He was hit in the face with a pair of dirty skivvies.

“It’s the president and the old man,” HotDog told him. “She’s just plain gorgeous and he’s THE MAN. I’ll bet he really could give it to her good like that.”

“Besides, who the frak else are we gonna speculate about?” Kat asked settling into her rack. “Starbuck and Apollo?”

“Way too obvious,” Racetrack put in.

“Hell yeah.”

Lowjack just rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”


Stranger Than Fiction

Fandom: HIGHLANDER
Pairing: Duncan & Methos (Gen)
Length: +2560 words
Author on LJ: jam_wired
Author Website: jam-wired @ The Archive at the End of the Universe | jamwired @ HL Archive

Why this must be read:

Yes, I'm recommending another of jam_wired's stories, because I can. This is a great example of one of my favorite type of story: the gen friendship story. It's charming, gentle, and resonates quietly. Duncan and Methos banter a little back and forth, they share some pain and sadness, but at the end of the day, they make each other smile. It's lovely. And it has one of the most charming titles for a story. :D

( An excerpt. )


A loaf-a-bread, a container-a-milk, a stick-a-butta | @ HL Archive

Fandom: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA 2003
Pairing: Cally/Chief Tyrol
Author on LJ: prolix_allie
Author's website: Author's LJ
Why this must be read: After the Kobol Arc in Season 2, I was never as much of a fan of Cally. In my eyes, she had stopped being a spunky firecracker and more of a ticking time-bomb of fury that I would not trust with my teeth, dental school or no. :) Really, after she shot Boomer, I felt she was written as more slavishly tied to the Chief and full of anger I found hard to digest, much less sympathize with. This fic, written just about a year ago for bsg_hiatusthon, made me take a second look at Cally.

It's a study on Cally and Galen's marriage, but really mostly about Cally, with some very believable created backstory about her lost family on Aerelon (which we know nothing about) that explains a lot about her perspective and personality. Here, Cally's pugnacious attitude makes sense when you cast her as the youngest child (and only girl) in a tight-knit, working-class family of eight children. As someone who has had to tussle for every scrap divided amongst her and her seven brothers, who learned fighting as a technique for drawing boundaries around her own self-identity, fighting has become an irrevocable part of Cally's landscape and in her mind, doesn't affect the basic stability of trusted relationships. This fic quietly posits that part of Galen and Cally's marriage troubles probably originates from this essential difference in how they view familial conflict.

What sucked me into this fic was how it made Cally's fiercer qualities seem more understandable and even at times admirable. Still, it doesn't pull punches about Cally's priorities, about her black-and-white thinking, or the choices she's made since the Apocalypse. Also, hanging over this fic is the elephant in the room that Cally doesn't yet know about: Her husband is a Cylon. This gives the fic an extra cringing irony and pathos, as Cally reflects on the troubled satisfaction she gets from the little family she's carved out with Tyrol, not knowing it will be soon ripped away from her.

The universe might be a hard place, but she'd never face it alone. And then the Cylons had done in a few hours what fate and nature on their own could never have managed, and Cally thought she'd never have that feeling of being on the inside again. The deck crew was a kind of family. Hell, the human race was a kind of family now. But it wasn't the same. And then she had stared at the Chief through a haze of pain and drugs and heard him say that what he'd done was unforgivable, and had the wind knocked out of her again when she realized that he was right, and she forgave him anyway, and realized that she had found it again.

So first there was her family, her husband and son, against everyone else.

Against All Others

Fandom: POPSLASH
Pairing: JC/Justin
Length: 12,000 words
Author on LJ: snarkyllama_fic
Author Website: none
Why this must be read:
This is like new oldskool! Fun and funny, life on the threemanbus, Justin growing up with some help from his friends. Interesting religious themes, the best ending to a story ever.

( Excerpt )


Do Not Arouse or Awaken Love (Until It So Desires)

Fandom: HARRY POTTER
Pairing: Gen
Length: ~ 1,900 words
Author on LJ: nineveh_uk
Author Website:

Why this must be read:

This is a very chilling piece of fictional non-fiction. This catches the mindset of pureblooded supremacist society brilliantly. It's been almost 2 years since I've read the story, and it stayed with me.

Please head the warnings, though, since it is a rather dark story despite the low rating.


An extract from The Witch’s Guide to Pregnancy, Birth, and Baby Care, by Alarica Rosier. Chapter Nine: What if my Baby is a Squib?.

Fandom: HARRY POTTER
Pairing: Harry/Teddy
Length: 18,755 words
Author on LJ: hollycomb
Author Website:

Why this must be read:

I was a bit leary at first because of the pairing, but then I gave it a try and I’m glad I did. What I loved most about it was the bleakness and melancholy that permeated a large part of the story. Not everything is well after the war, and Harry has suffered. He’s largely absent from Teddy’s life, from everybody’s life actually. Teddy doesn’t mind, until…

Brilliant characterization, great plot and hot sex packed in delicious language. Bitter-sweet and hopeful.

Until We Meet Again.

Wow, the month has gone so fast. I have only a couple more days to post here and then I have to turn the wheel over to someone else. Hope I get asked again so I can dig up some more stories.

Fandom: THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.
Pairing: Napoleon Solo/Illya Kuryakin
Length: Short but not a drabble
Author on LJ: Unknown
Author Website: http://www.ravenslair.net/foyer.htm
Why this must be read: Short and sweet. A look inside Napoleon's mind about Illya.

http://file40.net/file40s/in_shad.html