Hi! I'm spoonyriffic, and I'll be your NCIS driver for the month of March. Yay! This is my first time driving the van, and I can only hope that I don't break something. *bg*

My favorite pairing in this fandom is Gibbs/DiNozzo, so you'll see a definite G/D slant to these recs. However, you'll probably see the occasional gen story, or a rarepairing from me. I like AUs, slice-of-life fics, kink, smut, first time, casefics, and pretty much anything and everything under the sun. So hopefully, you'll see a wide variety of genres from me. But, enough of my babbling. On with the first rec!

Fandom: NCIS
Pairing: Gibbs/DiNozzo
Length: One-Shot
Author on LJ: justhuman
Author Website: Primalglyph
Why this must be read:

This is a fic that has been stuck in my head since the first time I read it, over a year ago. This is rare for me - I have favorite stories, and I have stories that I'll rec to anyone in a heartbeat, but this is one of the few that immediately springs to mind whenever I think of the fandom. It takes place after Season 5, but takes place before Agent Afloat.

justhuman is one of my favorite authors in the fandom - her Gibbs and DiNozzo are always in character, and they've got this easy banter going on in this fic that I just adore. Tony has a few days leave from the Reagan, and all he wants is a quiet time at his apartment with a good, home-cooked Italian meal. Circumstances force him and Gibbs to the rooftop to cook the meal Marine-style. You really get the sense that Gibbs and Tony get each other in this fic, which is essential, since it seems that the two of them are connected via brain waves on the show. There's also this underlying angst regarding Tony being separated from the team, and Gibbs wanting him back, but it still manages to not be heavy-handed, while still being deliciously hot and funny. I urge you to read it!

( Short snippet. )

273 Days

Hi: I`m Nancys_soul and I will be driving the van this month.
Fandom: STARSKY AND HUTCH
Pairing: Starsky/Hutch
Length:65k
Author on LJ:smudley.
Author Website:http://meandthee.shahrazad.net/author.php?authorid=55

WHY THIS MUST BE READ:
This must be read because KAM wrote it! I could just say that and be finished, but I will say that this is such a fun story, the boys get to play dress up and do naughty things to each other. They are not cops anymore they are on their second profession as rock stars. Don`t worry they might be doing something else beside fighting crime, but they are still the Starsky and Hutch we know and love and they do such a nice humanitarian thing for someone in this story. Now get to reading and enjoy!





Maskerade

Hi, I'm munditia, and I will be delivering the recs for new BSG this month. I have got a soft spot for Kara/Lee as a pairing, and I'm also very fond of gen fic highlighting the many awesome female characters on the show, so my recommendations will probably reflect these preferences. Anyway, we start off with a terrific portrait of everyone's favourite space dictator president, Laura Roslin.

Fandom: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (NEW)
Characters: Roslin
Length: one-shot
Author on LJ: aloysiavirgata
Author Website: Under the Rug
Why this must be read:

In the form of the popular "five things" format (in this case, "five times Laura Roslin said no when she really meant yes"), the author provides us with an all-encompassing, unflinching, and compassionate window into Laura's mind and soul. Roslin's grief, resiliency, weakness, pragmatism, manipulativeness and, above all, courage really shine in this poetic, poignant and haunting insight into a complex and magnificent character.

The scene shifts, and Laura's in dark water with her sisters. They're only girls, white and innocent as a trio of nymphs as they splash and giggle. She remembers this night, sneaking out to the lake behind the summer house to go skinny-dipping, having hinted to the Murphy boys down the road that they might be doing so. Elizabeth's got hips now - and the beginning of breasts - but Caroline is still flat-chested and skinny. The moon beams down at them with a friendly face, and Laura laughs and ducks under the surface.

The Lake Isle of Innisfree

Hello there! I'm anactoria, and I'll be driving the van for Watchmen this month. There's been a lot of great fic since the movie, and I'm looking forward to being able to rec a little of it. :) Most of my recs will probably be Adrian-centric, as he's my favourite character, but having said that, I'm a multi-shipper and will read pretty much anything once, so I hope this month won't be entirely devoid of variety. To begin with... here's some (very clever, beautifully-written) porn.

Fandom: WATCHMEN
Pairing: Jon/Adrian
Length: ~4000
Author on LJ: uke_nagashi
Author Website: Author's fic on LJ
Why this must be read: Jon's character voice is a difficult thing to get right. Not only does this story do that, but it sustains it for nearly 4000 words. His perception of time is woven in seamlessly, and his observations about Adrian (as well as the little things that give away bits of his own character) come across that much more viscerally for being narrated in such dispassionate style. Sure, the violence is startling and the sex is hot, but it's the mind-games and the sense of inevitability that make this so intense and so mesmerising.

( Excerpt )

The Rope Breaks

I'll be reccing Wilby Wonderful this month! There's a fandom overview here, so I'll just jump right in. It's a small fandom, but there are still many good stories which haven't been recced here, especially since it's been some time since the fandom was last on crack_van.

Fandom: WILBY WONDERFUL
Pairing: Dan Jarvis/Val Jarvis, Duck MacDonald/Dan Jarvis, Duck MacDonald/OMC, Dan Jarvis/OMC
Length: 8000 words
Author on LJ: sageness (or sage)
Author Website: Fiction by Sage
Why this must be read: I thought I'd start with this story, since it's the first piece of Wilby Wonderful fan fiction I read after watching the movie. It felt so natural that it felt like it slid right into canon for me. It's a story about Dan and his backstory: how he ended up in Wilby, his marriage to Val, and how he came to know Duck and the other men at the Watch. The tone of the story is quiet, and at times Dan almost comes across as passive, as if life is something that is happening to him, which is interesting, and I think it fits well with what we see in the movie. For example, there's a line that really stuck with me, where he wonders how many people commit adultery by accident.

Vinculum

(Also available as podfic.)

4 guys - 5 nights - 3000 miles - 764 gallons of gas - 987 bottles of beer - 3457 cigarettes - 1 last shot

Hard Core Logo hasn't been recced here on crack_van since October 2006 and in the more than three years since then, the fandom has undergone change, as fandoms tend to do. Some of the writers from back then have moved on to other fandoms, new writers have appeared and I'm going to try to highlight some of the excellent stories and amazing authors that have accompanied the passage of time.

If you're new to the fandom, consider watching the movie before reading any fic. Most of the stories written are spoilerish for the ending. For futher info, check out the fandom overview or the write up at the_ckr_files. The main communities for new fic are groupsession, ds_snippets, and c6d_universe.

Fandom: HARD CORE LOGO
Pairing: implied Billy/Joe
Length: 4k words plus pictures
Author on LJ: exeterlinden
Author Website: Exeterlinden on AO3
Why this must be read: this was exeterlinden's entry into last summer's midsummer2009 c6d fic exchange and it is brilliant. Written and illustrated as a nine page Rolling Stone article, it coolly and dispassionately analyzes the events leading up to the movie and after, deconstructing the band, the music, and the intense dynamic between Billy and Joe, all laid out neatly in the pages of a slick magazine.

It's the fame that Billy had always sought.

Rock 'n' Roll Suicide

Hi everyone, I'm [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] your Doctor Who driver and over the next month I hope to share with you guys some of my favorite stories in the fandom. And we're off!

Fandom: DOCTOR WHO
Pairing: Doctor/Rose
Length: ~87,600
Author on LJ: [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com]
Author Website: A Chaosverse Chronology
Why this must be read:

Baby!fic is one of those things that pretty much every reader in fandom has their mind made up about; love it, or hate it, there's usually no middle ground for many people when it comes to adding children to the mix. I'll admit that the genre has its fair share of Mary Sues, Gary Stus, and OOC-ness, but this is not one of those fics. [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com]'s original characters will steal your heart with their personalities, and all around antics, but, don't fret this author doesn't make the mistake of short-changing the canon characters so she can put the spotlight on her creations. The Doctor, Rose, and Jackie all shine in this story, their voices and interactions with one another are pitch perfect; furthermore I promise there's no baby induced OOC-ness, this author knows her characters and all actions taken by them fits with the people we have watched and over-analyzed on the tv show.

This piece of fan fiction has been previously described as 'the ultimate Doctor/Rose baby!fic', and you're a fan of this pairing this story is a must-read. But even if Doctor/Rose is not normally your cup of tea, take my advice and give this one a try. I promise you will not regret it.

( Excerpt )

Chaos Theory in Vortex Orbits in Relative Dimensions in Time and Space

*whistling sound* Open Channel D.

Hi, I'm atheneparthenos, and I've been given the keys to the MfU Crack Van for the month! I hope that you enjoy these recs.

Well, without further ado, here's the first...

Fandom: THE MAN FROM UNCLE
Pairing: Napoleon/Illya
Length: One-shot
Author on LJ: xparrot
Author Website: http://www.xmagicalx.net/
Why this must be read:

This fun, lighthearted piece of fluff is a joy to read, and the final twist at the end always leaves me with a big smile on my face. One of UNCLE's policies has been changed, and Illya intends to make the most of it. Napoleon is caught completely by surprise! The author describes this fic as being: "Short and quite silly; sweet if I'm lucky and maybe a little hot (if I'm really lucky)". It's all this and more: Xparrot has a wonderful sense of humour and the whole piece is full of lines such as this:

'"Napoleon," Illya said from outside the tub, "you are my partner, and I trust you with my gun. I trust you with my life. I would trust you with my daughter, had I one, for at least twenty-four hours. My career, however, I could not entrust to your discretion."'

Do go and read it for yourself - I'm sure you'll agree with me that this author has been very lucky and skilled to have written a one-shot so perfectly-formed as this.



Discretionary Powers