Fandom: FIREFLY
Pairing: Mal/Simon
Length: 3993 words
Author on LJ: kispexi2
Author Website: her fic lj, kispexi2_2
Why this must be read: Kis is one of my favorite sources of Mal/Simon for a couple of sterling reasons. Firstly, she writes excellent voices and strong characterizations. Secondly, she writes plausible, complex relationships, in all their tangled and difficult glory. She never glosses over the rough bits, or gives the shiny happy ending that I want to believe but cannot quite manage to. When Kis does write a happy ending, she makes the characters work for it, and that makes the payoff infinitely more satisfying, in my opinion. I think Kis' gifts would be brilliantly useful in depicting any pairing in any fandom, but they're especially important in effectively writing a pairing in which both characters have a genius for screwing up their relationships and a tendency to rub each other the wrong way more often than the fun way. The way Kis takes those flaws and makes them work for her stories is a thing of wonder and beauty.

( read an excerpt )

Pray There Ain't No More Surprises

Fandom: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (NEW)
Pairing: Cally (Boomer, Chief, Starbuck)
Length: ~1550 words
Author on LJ: vegetariansushi
Author Website: fic listed here
Why this must be read:

The best word I can use to describe this is intense. It's a story about Cally right after Boomer's shooting, trying to come to grips with what she's done and how the world around her has changed. While in the brig, she has a series of visitors, some real and some not.

"You shouldn't be here, you know. The Chief will have to cover for you."

Cally doesn't know what to say, because no, she shouldn't be here, and it's not like she'd never covered for Chief, and Valerii was a Cylon -- a dead Cylon -- and why is she in the cell with Cally anyhow?

"Why are you here?" Cally asks, and she doesn't think that it's what she was trying to say.

Boomer looks at her oddly, "Is it better when I'm not?"

Better With You Here

*HR pulls the van back into the parking lot and folds the map before neatly putting it back into the glove compartment next to the keys* Soooo... last rec for Bones for the month, it's been fun, I hope that you've enjoyed it as much as I have. *grin*

Fandom: BONES
Pairing/Characters: Booth/Brennan
Length: Two chapter 5 things fic(Brennan POV and Booth POV)
Author on LJ: nudaydreamer
Author Website: myinadequacy
Why this must be read:

This one falls so perfectly into "everything happens... eventually." It has a warm, natural feel to it, and details very nicely how the "big moments" aren't really big moments at all, but all the quiet ones that just fit together.

Go. Read. Enjoy. *grin*

Link: Four Things She Can't Remember (And One She Can)

Just when I finally started to feel like I knew what I was doing, it's time to park the van in the designated space. I've pulled down the posters of Starsky and Hutch from the back door and left the key in the ignition for the next driver.

Fandom STARSKY AND HUTCH
Pairing: Starsky/Hutch
Length: 30K
Author on LJ:unknown
Author Website:Dana Austen Marsh

Why this must be read You may have noticed that I am fascinated with the way authors put words together, make them flow and blend into a wonderful story. So this fic is actually about making words--playing Scrabble. Starsky wants a quiet evening, but Hutch is disgruntled. They're not communicating well until Hutch pulls out the quintessential word play game, and suddenly the subtle meanings become a whole lot clearer--and on a triple word score square, too.


Word Game

Time for my final rec of the month. I hope you have enjoyed meandering through the Due South fandom with me. Please stay and find your own path through the wonderful fics Due South has inspired. If you are a bit more adventurous than me, there are many other pairing and a wealth of related (or 6 degrees) fandoms to discover.

Fandom: Due South
Pairing: Fraser/Kowalski
Length: ~8500 words
Author on LJ: miss_zedem
Author Website: Masterlist of Fics
Why this must be read: As I told miss_zedem, I was planning on reccing another one of her fics, but discovered it had already been recced. While browsing her masterlist, I rediscovered this story and am thrilled that I get to rec it. I have a weakness for fics that take glimpses of characters's lives and turn them into a cohesive story. This fic does an amazing job of weaving a strong and true emotional thread through fifty snippets of Ray and Fraser's life together. They don't fall in chronological order, and while each stands alone, together they form a beautiful and complete picture.

( Excerpt )

50 Things About Benton Fraser and Ray Kowlaski

Fandom: FOREVER KNIGHT
Pairing: gen
Length: 7226 words
Author on LJ: n/a
Author Website: Lurker Site
Why this must be read: Straight out comedic Forever Knight fics are a rare bird. What's so fantastic and entertaining about this fic is how regular show conventions are twisted to create a wacky 'Weekly News of the Warped' feature story by a pair of boozing tabloid journalists on a sugar high. Empty wine bottles in Nick's garbage? He must be a vampire! Natalie eats in the morgue? How gross! She must be an alien! The original characters of reporters Kennedy and Chandler are a real treat and their back story and shenanigans are as enjoyable as their increasingly convoluted attempts to draft a story worthy of the tabloid name. Writing duo The Lurkers even use their story to offer a clever reasoning for the cast change leading into season three. This story is not to be missed.

Gay Vampire Toronto Cop Fathers Alien Love Child by The Lurkers (Maddog and Rastro)




( Excerpt )

Well, time to set the old Oxford key to the magic blue box away for the next driver, take the umbrella out of the Zeppelin hanger and refill the fridge with plenty of chips and jelly babies for February. Here's my last rec for the month; it's been a blast, y'all!

Fandom: DOCTOR WHO
Pairing: Two/Jamie
Length: 590
Author on LJ: bibliophile1887
Author Website: temporalfic
Why this must be read:

Set after the timey-wimey-may-be-canon season 6B, the Time Lords return Jamie back to the Doctor, sans memory. It's a sad but sweet look at the rebuilding of a relationship and Jamie's desire to remember his travels with the Doctor. The ending always makes me smile and tear up a bit. It's one of the best looks on the Two/Jamie pairing post-6B out there.

Yes, Jamie

If you enjoy the story, please don't forget to leave a comment and tell the author how you liked it! ♥

This will be my last rec of the month, the van is going back in the garage to be vacuumed and washed (hey, that scratch was there when I started) for the next driver. I had a lot of fun, and hope everyone enjoyed the ride.


Fandom: MAN FROM UNCLE
Pairing: Napoleon Solo/Illya Kuryakin
Length: 9,000 words
Author on LJ: jessebee
Author Website: jesse on C&GM
Why this must be read:

It's been really, really cold where I am, so I thought I'd add some heat with my last rec of the month. jessebee tells us in her notes to this story that it was inspired by a prompt from a kinkmeme, but then developed angst and plot. So now we have a Thrush experimental gas with unexpected side effects; unexplained events that threaten to tear apart the Solo/Kuryakin partnership, emotional turmoil, guilt, a desperate search, absolution--and scorching hot sex. Insidiuous heat that floods your senses. There's nothing mechanical here, it's all smell, taste, touch, feeling--pure sensation.

Umm, I was going to put a quote here but on reading it over, I decided discretion is the better part of valor. Just go read :)


Irresistible

Fandom: BANDOM (Panic! at the Disco)
Pairing: Ryan Ross/Brendon Urie, Jon Walker/William Beckett
Length: 15, 000 words approx
Author on LJ: acroamatica
Author Website: None.
Why this must be read:

Because it's fun. Also, everyone loves a Cinderella story, right? And that's what this is. The bandom people fit perfectly into the roles they're given in the Cinderella tale. It's also the hottest PG story I've ever read. It's also well written and all that.

Silver Roses

Fandom: FOREVER KNIGHT
Pairing: gen, Nick/Natalie
Length: 50,000+ words
Author on LJ: n/a
Author Website: archived here and here
Why this must be read: This is an exhilarating post-series finale story. It's got it all: Internal Affairs and the Dawkins shooting, the Enforcers, Commissioner Vetter wanting justice for Tracy, Captain Reese being crafty, and that's not including the situation with Nick, LaCroix, and Natalie. It takes the world of Forever Knight and the concepts it created and expands them. It's a fascinating read all around. The vampiric repercussions from Nick and Natalie's actions at the end of "Last Knight" raises the stakes for everybody and takes them into brand new terroritory. The story was to be the first in a trilogy. Sadly the other two parts were to my knowledge never posted but it's nevertheless a satisfying read.

The Hands of Time by Stephen Lansing


( Excerpt )

Fandom: THE MIGHTY BOOSH
Pairings: Howard/Vince
Length: 16 chapters/11 LJ posts/339K
Warnings: Angst, fluff, swearing, shagging.
Author on LJ: violetisblue
Author Website: Sax and Violets
Why this must be read:

I volunteered to steer the Crack Van through the wild and woolly world of Boosh because of this story. Ironically, this has been the hardest fic to rec, because I despair of doing justice to this magnificent piece of writing. So, I’ll open with the author’s synopsis:

My own personal Howard/Vince origin story, starting well before season 1, continuing well past season 3 and concerning the true origins of crimping, the demise of the Zooniverse, the worst day of Howard’s life, estrangement, jealousy, passion, familial angst, jazz fusion, illegal shaman tricks, musical mind-melds, performance art and the perfect Booshian cup of tea. Amongst other subjects.

What the summary omits is the spot-on dialogue, witty crossover cameos and references (drawn from Nathan Barley, Hot Fuzz, Spaced, and others), playful meta elements (I am especially fond of the girls who become regulars at the Nabootique after they catch our heroes making out), and gorgeous descriptive passages. Above all, I am blown away by how violetisblue has extrapolated from and expanded on canon to create a true transformative work: Howard and Vince are still the Jazz Giraffe and the Confuser that we know and love, inhabiting the same maddening, magical world, but with greater depth and heft. At one point, the author encapsulated the fic with the phrase “Mighty Boosh as directed by Mike Leigh,” and that, unlikely as that sounds, is totally accurate. Take this scene, in which Vince and Howard’s relationship wobbles into new territory:

( You like jazz. Your favorite color is *brown*. You watch ten-hour black-and-white films about Lutheran manatees with wooden flippers committing suicide, for fun. You spend days at a time arranging paper clips and collecting horrible vinyl by manky old geezers and you couldn't sell Bill Burroughs a rent boy and you dance *between* the beat and you wear socks with sandals and I think you still don't know who Vivienne Westwood is, I mean, Howard, what in the name of Christ am I doing here? )

But what I love most about this story can be found in this passage from the final chapter, which makes me simultaneously tear up and grin like a fiend:

The moon speaks. Animals talk. Carpets fly. Magic is real. There are untold hidden treasures in the Arctic tundra, the far Eastern deserts, every neighboring galaxy, the next street down in Hoxton. There are amazing beings you never imagined could exist in the air, undersea (all right, let’s not dwell on those in particular, but still), in the forests, in the far reaches of space. There are monsters, and demons, and opportunity, around every corner. There is music in all that exists.

Whether you’re a longtime fan of the Mighty Boosh, or just venturing into the fandom, this is a must-read.

A Life Less Ordinary, on Livejournal and the author’s website.

---

That’s me done for the month. Thank you, mods, for letting me take the flying carpet out for a spin (er, just ignore the stains), and as for anyone who has been following my recs, I hope you’ve enjoyed the show.

Fandom: FOREVER KNIGHT
Pairing: gen
Length: 1842 words
Author on LJ: lizbetann 
Author Website: archived here and here
Why this must be read: Exploring the Nick and LaCroix dynamic never gets old. Over the course of 800 year those two have had a volatile relationship. Violence was not an uncommon occurrence. On the flip side, it was LaCroix who expanded Nick's world by encouraging the younger man's artistic pursuits. Their relationship was one of contradictions and in this story, two pivotal events in the show's history, one at the beginning and one at the end, force the characters to reflect on the loss of the other.

Why Should I Cry For You by lizbetann



( Excerpt )

Fandom: FOREVER KNIGHT
Pairing: gen
Length: 905 words
Author on LJ: kirbyfest 
Author Website: website, fic journal and archived
Why this must be read: Nowadays everyone knows USA Network as the home to quirky, character driven dramedies, "Characters Welcome!" their motto cheerfully proclaims. Yeah, not so much in the mid 1990s. Fans saved Forever Knight from cancellation but in return they had to contend with a few "changes" mandated from the high up highs. In turn fans redirected their frustration about new character and content into fiction. In this example of Forever Knight breaks the fourth wall, a pragmatic Jim Parriott, the show's creator, has a one on one conversation with Nick about the new changes in store for the show.

Farewell, Old Friends by Jill Kirby



( Excerpt )

Fandom: FOREVER KNIGHT
Pairing: Nick/Nat
Length:  15,957 words each
Author on LJ: n/a
Author Website: Ophelia5's Forever Knight story page
Why this must be read: This is an interesting one. It certainly involves odd subject matter (bondage=Nick/Nat intimacy) but it works really well and its a fantastic and sexy read. At the heart of the lack of intimate relations between Nick and Natalie is the simple fact that the vampire in Nick could choose that vulnerable moment to feed and kill Natalie. With Natalie being a resourceful woman, she introduces the idea of using bondage chains to help control Nick's feeding instinct, so that the two of them can introduce physical intimacy into their relationship. This is the first in a series of six stories dealing with the repercussions of their acts, especially once LaCroix becomes privy to their activities.

Physical Therapy by Ophelia Paradise


( Excerpt )

It's time to pull Nick's Caddy back into the garage. The sun's coming up.

Sorry for the last minute deluge of fic recs. The frequent stops to stuff several vampires into the Caddy's trunk was not pleasant for anybody involved. Plus, Schanke kept insisting on regular souvlaki stops, Janette was annoyed with our mode of transportation, Nick turned interesting shades of green from Natalie's veggie shakes, Tracy was annoyed at the month long Nightcrawler monologues from LaCroix, and Vachon bailed on us a while back because in his opinion that we never went anywhere interesting. Everyone's a critic.


Fandom: FOREVER KNIGHT
Pairing: gen
Length:  ~95,000 words each
Author on LJ: susanmgarrett 
Author Website: SMG--Forever Knight Fan Fiction
Why this must be read: A collection of Forever Knight fanfic recommendations would not be complete without what is perhaps the best received series in the fandom. Their author is the Queen of Forever Knight fanfiction with good reason. Her writings are the best if you want entrance into the world of Forever Knight. When Dorian, the vampire archivist, comes to Toronto looking to interview Nick, every character involved is affected. Janette remembers the traumatizing brutality of Dorian's attempted interview of LaCroix and her own, Natalie finds herself caught in the middle of Nick and Dorian's power struggle, and Nick finds himself at odds with the vampire law Dorian represents and his own transgressions.  This series is not to be missed.

False Heart

Kind Soul

Dorian's Archives, including the unfinished 3rd in the series, Noble Mind



( Excerpt )

Well this is the last rec I have for you guys this month. I've really enjoyed my turn at the wheel and I hope you've enjoyed at least some of the fics I've recced here.

Fandom: DCU- Superman Returns
Pairing: gen
Length: 3,895
Author on LJ: Unknown
Author Website: FFN Profile
Why this must be read:

I'm a huge fan of stories that take extraordinary events, in this case, Superman's hospitalization at the end of SR and look at them through the eyes of the average person. The feelings and thoughts of the two people presented in this amazing fic are so real and honest that it literally feels like you're in their heads as they try and deal with what's going on. When I read this fic the first thing I did was make it an eBook and put it on my iPhone so I could read it any time I need a pick-me-up. It's that good.

Not Human

So, I wanted to get in one last rec for the road before I turn y'all over to your February driver. I hope you fine folks have enjoyed the ride as much as I have. Until next time, Browncoats!

Fandom: FIREFLY
Pairing: Gen
Length: 2400 words
Author on LJ: ana_grrl
Author Website: just her lj
Why this must be read: Ana is one of the brightest lights in the Firefly fandom, and her stories are always a special treat. This particular piece is one of her rare Inara POV fics, and also one of her not-rare-at-all dramatic stories. The tension here is wonderfully paced, the emotions are compelling, all the characters are wonderfully well-drawn, and the bonds that hold the crew together are elegantly complex and powerful. I love the thoughtful and moving way Ana explores Inara's place on the crew in this story, especially with regards to her sometimes difficult but always deeply affecting relationship with Mal.

( read an excerpt )

Miles from Where You Are