April 6th, 2009 
02:30 am Home Improvement by Helga Von Nutwimple (PG-13)
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Pairing: Spike/Tara
Length: 13845 words
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] theohara
Author Website: just her LJ
Why this must be read: [livejournal.com profile] theohara has been silent a while now, and her journal is a collection of half a dozen languishing serials, all of which are simply gorgeous; I still recommend reading all of them, if you can resign yourself to the expectation that there may well never be endings for any of them. This is one of her few finished stories, and it's a fine example of why I miss her writing so much. She has an astonishing gift for taking canon and reinterpreting it in such a way that it feels utterly authentic yet still entirely different than you ever thought. This fic not only makes its otherwise improbable pairing seem perfectly natural and right, it re-writes Angel and Buffy canon for at least the last two seasons of each in a way that feels absolutely reasonable and deeply satisfying. Also, all the characters are beautifully written, and the dialogue---always one of [livejournal.com profile] theohara's greatest strengths---is gobsmackingly stunning.

Home Improvement
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07:51 am Silver Lining in the Sky by [livejournal.com profile] st_aurafina (PG)
Fandom: MARVEL COMICS
Pairing: None (Scott and Logan gen)
Length: 5,000 words
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] st_aurafina
Author Website: St_Aurafina's LJ fic tag
Why this must be read:

[livejournal.com profile] st_aurafina always produces incredible work, but this story is, in my opinion, by far her best and most original piece. It's a [livejournal.com profile] brains_in_a_jar fic, meaning that one character is an anthropomorphized ship of some sort and the other character is the pilot. You'd think that would lead to nothing but crackfic, but that's far from the case. Here, a young Scott Summers is an orphaned boy in the 1950s trying to find some small bit of happiness and excitement in his lonely life. And Logan is the gruff old WWII fighter jet he stumbles upon in a salvage yard beyond the orphanage. What follows is a boys' adventure story in the classic mold, full of adventure and character and emotion and rich, wonderful language. Despite the necessarily AU nature of the story, these characters are very much Scott and Logan; in fact, they're some of the best portrayals I've seen, and the nods to other bits of canon are an extra treat. If you're at all familiar with the characters, from the comics or from the movies, you'll love this fic.

An excerpt: below the cut )

Silver Lining in the Sky
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02:10 pm Snowballing - Periwinkle27 (G)
Fandom: NCIS
Pairing: Leroy Jethro Gibbs/Donald 'Ducky' Mallard
Length: 1,591
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] periwinkle27
Author Website: Periwinkle's Fanfiction
Why this must be read:

Periwinkle is known by many, not just in NCIS fandom but in many others, as a first-class, highly rated, much sought after beta reader. However, she's more than that - she's also a fine writer too. And this is one of her more recent stories and one of her best ones.

As well as being a Gibbs/Ducky story it is also a team story and is set around the simple idea of giving Ziva a taste of what snow is like. The characterisation is spot on, there is a lot of great banter and the camaraderie we see each week as the kids bicker with and tease one another. The idea of giving Ziva a taste of what snow is like does not come from the most expected source.

And as well as the team aspect we get the love and affection and tenderness and togetherness of Gibbs and Ducky and we see the depth of their love and friendship at work, at play and at home.

It has a lot of different emotions in it, a lot of humour, it had me chuckling aloud more than once and smiling and going 'awww'. A lovely feel good story that is really well written and works so well and brings more than one smile to the face.

Extract )



Snowballing
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