Title: Mating for Life, and Other Cliches by Arsenic
Pairing: Mikey/Bob, implied Ron/Draco
Length: 13,950 words
Author on LJ: arsenicjade
Author Website: Most Dangerous Poison
Why this must be read:

In which Mikey and Gerard were born werewolves, Mikey's allergic to Wolfsbane, and we find out what MCR was *really* up to on their break.

Arsenic writes excellent crossovers, always managing to catch the feeling of both fandoms and fuse them into a believable story, and this one is no exception. It's quiet and a little introspective, just like her Mikey, and the way she writes the Way brothers together is wonderful. Add in nice band dynamics, fun dialogue, a great supporting cast of HP characters, and a very happy-making ending and you get a entertaining and engrossing read.

( Excerpt from the story... )

Mating for Life, and Other Cliches

Fandom: HIGHLANDER/TORCHWOOD
Pairing: Methos/Jack Harkness
Length: 3858 words
Author on LJ:dkwilliams
Author Website:Spiral into the world of Diana's Fiction
Why this must be read:Methos and Jack! We knew that they had to get together... And who better for the job than Diana?

Time and Again

Title: Proxy by brighteyed_jill
Pairing: Jim Kirk/Sylar
Author on LJ: brighteyed_jill
Author Website: Fanfic Masterlist

Why this must be read: This is great little PWP in which Kirk is on a rare shore leave on Earth, and hooks up with Sylar. I love the sheer sense of indulgence brighteyed_jill manages to convey; 'fucked out' can be a difficult trope to write but she does it excellently. I also love seeing Sylar through Kirk's eyes and how he's still perfectly in character so many years in the future.

( Excerpt )

Proxy

Fandom: SUPERNATURAL
Pairing: Dean/Castiel
Length: ~ 11,248 words
Author on LJ: uselessplayback
Author Website: unknown
Why this must be read: I found it took me a little longer than usual to get settled into this fic, but it was worth it. The author gives us Dean in a post-apocalyptic setting charged with atmosphere and alarming detail. Dean's alone, and although we get hints that something very wrong has happened, the story unfolds slowly and in pieces. Castiel is Dean's only "human" contact in this landscape, and their interaction is part of what keeps Dean going when nothing else can.

This is a Dean we don't often see: the world-weary hunter who's seen too much death and destruction, who really doesn't know if he wants to face it any more. Yet, there's a hopeful ending, and a cameo appearance by Chuck that is brilliance personified in a single line.

( He was going to die, that much was obvious. )

Read the story and feedback the author: Fragments

Fandom: MAGNIFICENT SEVEN(TV)/DUE SOUTH
Pairing: Vin Tanner/Benton Fraser
Length: 177 words
Author on LJ: sparrowwritings
Author Website: the author's livejournal
Why this must be read: For crossover day I bring you more angst. Short, bittersweet, hot angst. You will be left wanting more.

Excerpt: Please?" Benton's voice hitched slightly.


A Thousand Goodbyes

Title: Worth Fighting For by EleriMcCleod
Pairing: Jack O'Neill/Faith Lehane
Author on LJ: not on LJ to my knowledge
Author Website: other stories at the same archive
Why this must be read: I never would have imagined these characters together, but the summary, "When Faith wakes up missing three years of her life, all she seems to find are more questions. Can the answers lie with a man she only remembers meeting once before?" left me intrigued enough to click on it. To my surprise, the author managed to not only have an interesting plot and in-character characters, but also managed to make me believe that Faith and Jack could actually work well together. "Worth Fighting For" has two related stories (not exactly sequels because they tell parts of the same story from a different angle): "Every Story Has Two Sides" and "And It Begins". The interaction is at times touching and humorous, and the way Jack and Faith deal with their respective secrets is entertaining and believable for their characters.

Worth Fighting For

Title: Choices by Aldrian Kyrrith
Chracters: Dr. Manhattan, Death
Author on LJ: aldrian_kyrrith
Author Website: None.
Why this must be read:

"God exists and he's American."

And yet Dr. Manhattan, though he is powerful, is just as flawed as any of the other characters in the Watchmen cast. When he meets Death in this fic, she takes the opportunity to point it out. Although the fic is serious, with some philosophical discussion and a little bit of scolding, it's also just two people having a chat. The easy flow of the conversation is what really draws me. The fic itself is somewhat short at around 1600 words, so do give it a read. It's really quite charming.

Excerpt: She smiles, despite herself, “I must say, I am always a bit gratified to hear such sentiments on the matter: far too many people fear the eternal mystery. Still, there is nothing wrong with the desire to live. Survival has brought your species to the point where it can birth gods.”

“Destiny has brought humanity to that point,” he corrects her. “Everything else is an illusion.”

She pauses, but dismisses the notion immediately. “If that is so, how can you explain our meeting? If you can see everything, understand everything, why am I a stranger?”

Jon has no answer to that question.

Choices

Title: Unfinished Business by sambethe
Pairing: Remus Lupin/Sirius Black
Author on LJ: sambethe
Author Website: her fic list
Why this must be read: I'm a big fan of the rs_smallgifts challenge, because it produces some great short fics with very little pressure. And this one's a gem that a lot of people don't catch because the fandoms don't often meet.

The premise is simple: during the first war, Lily and Alice make a mistake (advantages of working in a magical universe) and accidentally pull Felix Gaeta from New Caprica to their universe. What follows is a lovely tale of friendship forming between Gaeta and Sirius Black. It's a friends pairing that works extremely well, and it's actually kind of entertaining to see Gaeta be the older, more life-experienced character for a change. It's subtle, beautiful, and uplifting, and well worth reading.

Unfinished Business

Crossover Day! Yay!

Title: Barely Breathing
Pairing: Ray Kowalski/Mike Sweeney
Length: 2,864
Author on LJ: akamine_chan
Author Website: http://akamine-chan.livejournal.com/6794.html
Why this must be read: I'm being totally selfish in telling you to read this fic. It's hot hot HOT HOT HOT, okay. I mean, seriously, so hot I almost melted into a puddle. So you don't have to worry, my selfishness comes with benefits for you! Durham County is my favorite show, for which I would love more fic, and Mike Sweeney/Ray Kowalski is the random crossover pairing of my HEART.

The other thing I love about this is that it's kink!fic, and I love well-done kink!fic. This is a great use of collars/breathplay, and includes that mental element that I love so much in kink. Even if you have no idea who Mike Sweeney is or what Durham County is (which, you should! It's awesome), I think you will appreciate the hotness of this. Enjoy!!

( Click me for excerpt! )

Barely Breathing

Title: Thru With the Two-Step by Dargelos
Pairing: Starsky/Hutch, Bodie/Doyle, Hutch/Bodie
Length: 53k
Author on LJ: dargie
Author Website: HERE
Why this must be read:

I don’t really read crossovers, but because I was supposed to drive crack van this month I thought I could make an effort and read one. So, I got some help from some lovely people here on LJ and found this really cute crossover with The Professionals. The boys are a little older in this fanfic and perhaps also a little wiser and more trusting of each other (you might understand what I mean if you read it). ;)

Excerpt: The car turned off the freeway and onto a residential street. "Almost there?" Bodie asked, not bothering to hide his boredom. Hutchinson pulled into a driveway behind a new, flashy car.

"What kind is that?" Doyle asked.

"Red. I don't know, you'll have to ask Starsky. It's new and I hate it."

As Bodie crawled out of the back of the car, the door to the house opened and a large black furry thing bounded out and knocked Hutchinson into the flowerbed.

"Chrissake, Starsky!" he yelled.

"That's Starsky?"

"No, I am." Bodie looked towards the voice and saw a man lounging in the doorway of the house. He was, like Doyle, tall and economically built, with a mop of unruly black curls and a crooked grin. The eyes that met Bodie were a shock--the same sapphire blue as Bodie's. They stared at each other for a very long time. "I'm Starsky," the man repeated. "David Michael Starsky. Starsk. Which is which?" he asked, shifting his regard to Ray.

"Raymond Doyle." They shook hands and Starsky looked back to Bodie.

"Just Bodie."

Thru With the Two-Step

Title: Dead Bird Sketch
Pairing: None
Author on LJ: clarey_h
Author Website: clarey_fication
Why this must be read:  I'm not sure if this even technically qualifies as a crossover, or even as a fic, but you should go check it out anyway.  It will only take a moment, and you need a good laugh, don't you? 

(Warning: won't make any sense if you haven't seen episode 1.04.  But is particularly funny if you are American and it went "what?" the first few times you heard the CID guys refer to a female as a "bird")


Dead Bird

Title: What Happens in Vegas
Pairing: Dean Winchester/Castiel, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Length: long: Roughly 75,000 words
Author on LJ: savingfaith333
Author Website: Master List on LJ
Why this must be read:
This was a super fun crossover, with delicious John/Rodney and Dean/Castiel moments, but it's the plot and the interactions between the two groups that make this so special. Also, it's looong, and I dig that. (If you poke around the tags for this, you will also find a soundtrack.)
There's going to be a sequel to this some time, so keep an eye out for that if you liked this one.

What Happens in Vegas
PDF Download Link for the Entire Story

So very sorry about my late start--I plead an excess of work plus the fact that it took me a long time to compile my list of past SGA recs. I hope some of my September recs hit the spot for you.

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Pairing: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Length: long: 22,000 words
Author on LJ: velocitygrass
Author Website: Fic List tag on LJ
Why this must be read:
Almost 22,000 words of "marriage of convenience" romance is a wonderful thing to come across. I thought this story was adorkable in the best John/Rodney tradition.

Rules of Engagement

Fandom: POPSLASH
Pairing: Brian/Eminem
Length: very short story
Author on LJ: nopseud
Author Website: No Pseud Attached: A Popslash Fiction Archive
Why this must be read: Since today is crossover day, I think this counts as a crossover? Either way, this one is hilarious. I don't want to say too much and ruin it, but this was originally posted at fic_requests in response to a request for some Brian/Eminem. Basically, Brian Littrell starts collaborating with rapper Eminem, to the surprise of his fellow group members. Speculation ensues, but it seems Brian has a trick for all of them.

This is a well-written little piece by a great writer, and will keep you highly amused throughout. You may want to read this alone though, because you will be laughing out loud!


Brian/Eminem

Title: Well, You Walked Into the Party by usually_a_witch
Pairing: Tony Stark/Harry Lockhart
Author on LJ: usually_a_witch
Author Website: http://usually-a-witch.livejournal.com/12760.html
Why this must be read:

The voice is so spot on it makes me want to cheer with joy. Yes, this works out to be RDJ/RDJ, and yes, that's insane (but maybe not as insane as Tony/Clone Tony, YMMV), and yes, it works. My only wish is that this story was longer and had a sequel and perhaps was made into a movie. Also, it's hot.

The thing about Noir is, the hero never gets the girl. Alright, sometimes he ends up with the Gal Friday, but considering I’m basically fulfilling that function for Perry at the moment, I’d rather not think about the implications of that one. There is guy-on-guy action in this story, but it’s not me and him. Shit, I just gave away the whole thing, you’d think I’d be better at this narration stuff by now.


Well, You Walked Into the Party

Title: Comes a Slytherin by Lady Lance
Pairing: Duncan MacLeod/Methos
Author on LJ: oshunanat
Author Website: unknown
Why this must be read: I think the author's summary says it all: Harry Potter's an Immortal. Methos is Slytherin. Snape becomes a Watcher, and Duncan is very confused. It may just be my eternal love for Methos talking, but I think Methos = Salazar Slytherin is just *brilliant*, honestly. This is a nice long story (about 44K words) that just makes me happy to read.

Probably won't do much for those not familiar with Highlander (and if you're not, why not?), but to sum up briefly: Methos is 5,000 years old. He is an Immortal, a human-like being who can only be killed if you cut off his head; otherwise, he just comes back to life. Immortals constantly face one another in combat to the death, where the winner takes his enemy's head (and with it his power, in a big lightning display called a Quickening), because they believe (mostly) that in the end, there can be only one. A whole lot of people think that One is going to be Duncan MacLeod of the clan MacLeod (born 400 years ago in the highlands of Scotland). Duncan + Methos = OTP! :)

Comes a Slytherin

Title: The Sentinel of Peru by Elaine
Pairing: Jim/Blair
Author on LJ: cross_stitchery
Author Website: Elaine's stories on Artifact Storage Room 3
Why this must be read:

First things first - this is probably barely a crossover, more like a drive-by insertion, blink-and-you'll-miss-it nod to the characters of The Pretender fandom. But The Pretender universe forms a major and important part of the backstory of this AU, and for that reason (and also because it's so hard to find crossovers for TS that aren't SG-1 or Mag7) I'm reccing it for Crossover Day.

Elaine writes some of the best AUs I've ever read, and this is no exception. Blair Sandburg, doctor of anthropology, goes to Peru and, through a series of unfortunate events, finds himself a Sentinel, one who has been with the Chopec since he was a young child. Blair can hardly wait to tell the world about his discovery - because, surely, nothing could go wrong with that plan. Right?

I love this story for a lot of reasons, but first among them is that Elaine does a fabulous job writing a Jim Ellison who has a VERY different history than in the series, and yet her Jim is utterly recognizable as the Jim Ellison we know and love. She manages to find the essential aspects of Jim's character and bring them out, and at the same time recast them in a different light.

The Sentinel of Peru

Title: A Doctor Who Murder Mystery
Pairing: none
Length: ~1000 words
Author on LJ: unknown
Author's website: Phlogist's page on TTH
Why this must be read:

With 10, soon to be 11, different regenerations traveling around through space, there are many potential situations that could be funny. This isn't a full crossover per say, but it does take place in Sunnydale..with the wonderfully intelligent Sunnydale police force.  Its a fun little read, with one line that says it all:

Because, really, he sincerely doubted that anyone else had ever been arrested for their own murder.

A Doctor Who Murder Mystery

More Terminator. Anyone else ever wondered about the relationship between John Connor and Kyle Reese, before Kyle went back in time?

Fandom: MICHAEL BIEHN CHARACTERS - Kyle Reese from The Terminator
Pairing: none
Length: six very short fics
Author on LJ: I have no idea, or maybe it's this (although the same name does't have to mean a thing of course): gatekeeper
Author's website: Gatekeeper's stories can be found on the fanfiction net

Why this must be read:
I've always wondered what it must have been like for John Connor to meet his father - younger than him and completely in the dark about their relationship. How to deal with that? And how to be his commander, having to make decisions that send people into danger on a daily basis, but with the knowledge that this particular man shouldn't die? Yet? But also knowing he can't let Reese suspect something is going on? Would he build a relationship with his father, or not? And then comes the day he has to send him to his death....

Gatekeeper tells most of these delightful stories from John's pov, but at one point she also turns to Reese's. She shows their growing relationship in short, but very telling snapshots taken from their life. And what makes it all even more wonderful, she manages to put in some very down to earth thoughts from them, especially from John, right smack in the middle of that bleak and bloody future. She couples this with a very subtle humor. Both of which help make the two men become very real.



( Excerpt )

Full circle

Father/Son quality time

Parental instinct

Fate

Repair work

Words unspoken