Fandom: LORD OF THE RINGS
Pairing: Glofindel/assorted Nolder nobles
Length: Medium
Author on LJ: elvses
Author Website: ElfFetish or Henneth-Annun or Fanfiction.net
Why this must be read:

Glorfindel - no, not from Gondolin, from across the sea - comes looking for his fair-haired father, and finds out more than he ever wanted to about Nolder habits in exile.

( Your Doom is staining the culture )

Not that I'm actually buying this point of view. But it's refreshing to take a break from mooning over Legolas' cheeks.

Winner, 2004 Galvorn Awards: 1st place for "Worst Character Assasination"!

Nominee, 2007-8 Pushuruk Awards: Most Offensive Portrayal of a Canon Character (all).

Darth Fingon - or whatever the heck she/he/it's going by these days - is an excellent writer and speaker-for-characters. Her explanation for the great Glorfindel debate is even better than Tolkien's (come on, people. He was only human). Please pass on this fic if you can't handle the pain, but don't pass by completely. Elvses has written something for everyone, so work up your courage and check out one of the archives. You won't be disappointed.

Never Speak Nor Sing

Fandom: LORD OF THE RINGS
Pairing: Gen
Length: Short
Author on LJ:
Author Website: Fanfiction.net or Tolkien Fanfiction.com or Shared Website
Why this must be read:

Large Flying Monster + Hobbits Stuck On Cliffside + Nazgul Ring-Sensing + Huge Orc Army = . . . Hobbits escaping up the cliff?

If you were even a little irritated at that particular move twist, take a deep drink of Isabeau's common sense. Or better, don't, since you'll only wind up spraying it all over the screen anyway. This fic is the perfect antidote for a little too much camera-friendly dramatics. It is, as the author describes it, the way that scene should have ended.

This Too Shall Pass

Fandom: THE X-FILES
Pairing: Scully/Other, Mulder/Scully
Length: novel
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: From the Pen of Elizabeth Rowandale, RowanD's Inner Sanctum
Why this must be read: When Mulder puts himself on the line yet again and finally gets himself killed, Scully has to cope with life without Mulder and try to move on. She restarts her relationship with Daniel Waterston and slowly begins to heal and get over her loss...but Mulder's not quite as out of the picture as she believes. Definitely an emotional roller coaster the whole way through with a twisty turny plot. A real tear jerker at some points. Great exploration and expansion of a one shot character from the show (Daniel) and addition of a new original character (Gannon Michaels) and the Lone Gunmen are awesome as usual. Don't let the Scully/Other designation scare you away if you're a shipper.

Water's Edge

Fandom: ANGEL THE SERIES
Pairing: Angel/Spike
Length: 6,914 words
Author on LJ: shapinglight
Author Website: Distorting Mirrors
Why this must be read: This story goes slightly AU at a busy time in canon for both Angel and Spike; Spike's chipped and depressed about breaking up with Buffy, and Angel's protecting baby Connor and angsting about Cordelia and Groo. The voices are just excellent, and I love the way there's so much going on for both of them here that the other is totally in the dark about. It's deliciously fun to have them conversing without either one actually understanding what they're really talking about. It makes for such satisfying layers! And the dynamic between Spike and Angel is simply perfect in every respect; they tear at each other and posture and growl, but they also matter to each other in all sorts of ways neither really wants to admit.

( read an excerpt )

Nothing Ventured

Fandom: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
Pairing: none (gen); includes Caprica Six, Helo, Hera, others
Length: just under 1200
Author on LJ: aprilleigh24
Author Website: none found
Why this must be read: Another episode insert fic, because I love them so. This fits in during the season four mutiny. I haven't seen many stories dealing with head!Baltar and Caprica; awesome brief interactions here. Hera is appropriately spooky/sweet, too.

Strength to Spare

Fandom: U2 (RPS)
Pairing: B/A
Length: One-shot
Author on LJ: amonitrate
Author Website: u2slash
Why this must be read:

Writers: do you remember your first fic? If it was anything like mine, it would have been okay, nothing special, usual fare, bit of cliche somewhere in there, plodding sex scene... Perhaps I'm doing us all injustice. Whatever. Rule is, usually the first fic isn't the one that's likely to end up as a rec in crack_van.

So it's with mostly happiness and a teeny bit of jealousy I give you a first-fic rec here: Hovering at the Gate. It's amonitrate's first and only offering to our humble community, but I am ever hopeful it won't be her last. This fic is a magnificent character study of Adam, someone I think is very hard to capture in writing. Our voice for the fic is Edge, and through him we observe Adam physically and emotionally, and are witness to the band members' love for one another. I love that she's put a spin on the story, having Edge's POV and keeping the interaction between him and Adam, and all the while intending the pairing to be somewhere else. I just love it, and her writing backs it up, with all the brilliant show-not-tell and the little details about the guys and the ZooTV tour throughout that set the scene and make the fic a joy to read. Even if you don't normally read U2, this is a great example of great writing.

Hovering at the Gate

Fandom: HIGHLANDER
Pairing: Duncan/Methos
Length: about 2,200 words
Author on LJ: maygra
Author Website: Maygra's Musings. Many of Maygra's Highlander can also be found on HL Archive.

Why this must be read: For my final fanfiction recommendation for this month, I offer one of my all time favorite stories. If I had to choose one story of Maygra's to keep forever, it would be this one. It's a quieter piece, in comparison to her longer stories that are sometimes epic in their scope, but there is still blood and death and love and hope, all mixed in together. I love this story for its ending, and for the depth of friendship between my two favorite Immortals.

( An excerpt. )

Forms of Friendship

Fandom: DOCTOR WHO
Pairing: Doctor/Master
Length: novel-length
Author on LJ: amyross 
Author's website: profile at Teaspoon
Why this must be read: The premise of this story is very familiar - some time after The Last of the Time Lords, Lucy Saxon approaches the Doctor with the Master's ring. The Doctor helps to bring him back to life and they try to co-exist in the TARDIS together. Things happen. When this premise is done well, it can be a very satisfying read, and this story is a good example. It has great banter, wonderful, if not always consistent, character voices, an interesting take on the drums and how to get rid of them, and, most importantly, this Road leads to a happy ending, which is so rare for this pairing.

For about a week — who knows, in the Void? — they barely speak to each other. The Doctor spends much of his time at the console, staring at a screen, smiling from time to time.

For the most part, the Master avoids the console room. For a day or two it is interesting to simply explore the TARDIS. Last time he was here, his mind was on other things. In the end, boredom drives him back. Perhaps he can fill in some hours tormenting the Doctor. It is such fun. The trouble is, the Doctor’s been very patient, so far. Irritating, superciliously, infuriatingly patient and forgiving.

Still, the Master enjoys a challenge.


The Road To...

Fandom: THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
Pairing: Chris/Ezra
Length: 18,200
Author on LJ: http://ms-artisan.livejournal.com/
Author Website: http://dnf.slashcity.org/viewuser.php?uid=70
Why this must be read:
Okay, this is my last rec for the month and I'm very excited to be able to rec it, All that Remains isn't an Old West story, instead it is in a brand new AU with a Sci-Fi twist, Drifter, and I adore it. Some of you may have read the first story in the AU Drifter which I believe was previously rec'd here, but even if you haven't this is a really good C/E story. Ms. Artisan is as good a writer as I've ever read anywhere and this story is exceptionally good - for me to rec something that doesn't even have Buck in it - trust me it has to be good!
The story is in 6 parts this is the link to part 1 and there are links at the end of each part to the next.

All That Remains

I've enjoyed being your driver this month even with all the RL problems with internet I've had, hopefully next time I get to drive we won't be in the middle of the thunderstorm season. Bye til next time.

EJ

Fandom: Firefly
Pairing: Simon/Jayne
Length: 619
Author on LJ: itinerant_vae
Author's website: vae_fic

Why this must be read: Stories which play upon events that take place during the series are a favourite of mine, and this one fits the bill perfectly. The story begins shortly after the end of Safe when Simon discovers someone has been writing in his diary and so begins a short dialogue with the phantom writer. The author provides us with a short, sharp and character full ficlet; the snark is there and so is the wit and I love how Jayne finally gets Simon to stop thinking.

Literary criticism

Fandom: DUE SOUTH
Pairing: Stella/Kowalski, Kowalski/OMCs, Fraser/Kowalski
Length: 2,200 words
Author on LJ: spuffyduds
Author Website: DS fic list; check links column on right side of page for other fandoms
Why this must be read:

( Five first kisses, and what they're worth )

Kisses in the Marketplace, Kisses Given Free

Fandom: DUE SOUTH
Pairing: Fraser/Kowalski
Length: Around 70,000 words
Author on LJ: buzzylittleb
Author Website: The Leisure Hive
Why this must be read:

Ray wakes up.

It's a long, delirious yarn that combines casefic, meta, the paranormal, and romance in a way I've never seen before. Um, outside of canon, anyway.

( Film students, dead gangsters, becoming Ray Vecchio, Old Chicago, and familiar faces. )

Episodic Romance

Fandom: DUE SOUTH
Pairing: Genish, with a little Fraser/Kowalski
Length: 2,700 words
Author on LJ: simplystars
Author Website: stars_fic
Why this must be read:

Because it's lovely and funny and adorable. Because it's just a wonderful example of writing from an animal's perspective without being twee or sounding like a Nova special on lupine behavior.

( Because in the final analysis, this show is really all about the lip-reading, junk food-stealing, blonde-transfixed, snarky half-deaf half-wolf, Fraser's first partner and best friend. )

The Strength of the Pack is the Wolf