Fandom: STAR WARS
Pairing: Anakin/Padmé mentioned
Length: ~1,300 words
Author on LJ: penknife
Author Website: Pen(knife) to Paper
Why this must be read:

This is a lovely, succinct little fic that maps out the evolution of Anakin Skywalker from slave boy to nascent Sith Lord. The prose is economical but evocative; the author has a solid grasp on Anakin’s innermost motivations, both the selfless and the selfish. A short story that tells so much in so few words.

Circle

Fandom: STAR WARS
Pairing: Han/Leia
Length: 840 words
Author on LJ: niicoly
Author Website: n/a
Why this must be read:

This is an absolutely beautiful and sad AU in which our favorite scoundrel ponders (as the title would indicate) both the selfless and selfish aspects of his wife’s actions and her very being. I don’t want to spoil this little ficlet by giving away any specifics about the plot, but suffice it to say: the characterizations are right on the money, it’s a completely plausible turn of events, and it made me cry. An excellent and rewarding story, so take a few minutes to read – I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Selfless/Selfish

Fandom: LIFE ON MARS - UK
Pairing: Sam/Gene
Length: short
Author on LJ: argyleheir
Author Website: none I can find
Why this must be read:

Clearly, I just say I'm here for the epic slashy porn. This is yet again another short story driven more by character and dialogue than heavy breathing, yet I can't NOT recommend this story. It is set at the end of the first season, and is a wonderful and uplifting coda to it. A little bit slashy, a lot insightful, and well worth the read. Argyle has a beautiful way with words, and captures Sam and Gene's voices note-perfect.

STORY: As It Is When It Was


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Attn. Drivers: Tomorrow is the last Friday of the month, which means it's time for Friday Night Drive-In, a.k.a. Fan Vid Recs! Reccers may post 1 vid rec for their fandom, formatted as follows:

Subject Line: VID REC: Fandom - Song Title

Vidder:
Musical artist:
Pairing:
Vidder on LJ:
Vidder's website:
Why this vid kicks ass:


Because the vidder community has some unique ownership issues, it’s important that reccers be extra careful when making vid recs. Depending on the vidder’s preferences regarding public access to their work, please link your rec in the appropriate manner:

1. If the video is publicly accessible, direct link to the web page the vid is linked on, or if it’s the vidder’s request, to the HTML splash page of their site.

or…

2. Link to the site with instructions on acquiring the password, if the site is protected – do not reveal the password yourselves.

or…

3. Provide contact info for the vidder if their vids are only available privately (tapes, dvd-R’s, collections, etc.).


Do not:
Hotlink, i.e. link directly to the video file rather than the webpage.
Re-upload videos that a vidder has removed from the web.
Delay in removing a vid rec if requested to do so by the vidder.

Thank you!

Fandom: HARRY POTTER
Pairing: Eileen Prince Snape/Severus Snape
Length: 5800
Author on LJ: vissy
Author Website: Verism (This is a link to the HP part of her oeuvre, which isn't entirely up to date)
Why this must be read:
In the last six months, there are two fics that have enthralled me to the point of goosebumps. I love them beyond reason and am flabbergasted by the authors' respective talents, so I've saved them to rec together as June nears its end.

"Playing for Keeps" is the darker fic, and I'm putting it first so that my month of recs can finish on a more optimistic note. Really, though, it's hard for me to be coherent about this fic. After reading it, I babbled at the author like a crazy person, and it's become firmly established as part of my personal Snape canon, gut-wrenching though it is. The fic's misleading at first, a somewhat harsh but entirely believable glimpse of Severus' home life during his last year at Hogwarts. It uses his mother Eileen's POV, her idiomatic speech and her immersion in the minutiae of lower-class Muggle existence, to build a careful portrait of the suffocating dreariness of Severus' childhood. It's not that affection's lacking, but that there's a dreadful secret at the heart of Eileen's renunciation of magic; and Severus, by attempting to jolly his mum during their rare time together, inadvertently triggers a re-enactment of it. Magic and its consequences take their revenge. It's pitiful but also horrifying, and it explains so much about how Snape came to be the person we meet in canon. I can only imagine him fleeing the scene with the smoking, gaping hole of his innocence still smoldering inside him, condemned by his mum's original sin to loathe himself for the rest of his life.

One of the immense pleasures of this fic is the tart, almost crunchy language of it. Spinner's End is full of things, and vissy knows exactly what those things are. Her command of texture, detail, brusqueness, colorful turns of phrase, her gift for physical immediacy, for blending pinches of humor and poetry into the narrative, for turning domestic squalor and penny-pinching thrift into a mesmerizing tale of tragic proportions, is pure delight. I know that sounds contradictory, but trust me. It's also unexpectedly pleasing to see Snape presented as an ordinary teenager. And the portrait of Eileen is nothing short of breathtaking. Something muted and guilty lurks behind her dour surface, her plodding resignation, her denial of her own magic. Her voice is perfect. She's a sympathetic monster who never meant it to be this way. But it is this way, and Severus would not exist if she hadn't been so criminally selfish.

There are so many sly hints and subtleties and connections that I realized only in retrospect were weaving this narrative fabric together that - *flaps hands excitedly* In sum: I was blown the fuck away. The fic's heartbreaking, and I love it as I love few others. And I should shut up now and just point you in its direction, because I could probably write a treatise on its artistry and traumatize the author into never writing another word because of the scary fangirl.

( Mother and son in the kitchen )

Don't forget to leave the author some love if you enjoy it!

Playing for Keeps