Fandom: THE VAMPIRE DIARIES
Pairing: Caroline/Stefan
Length: 764 words
Author on LJ: crickets
Author Website: LJ Masterlist and Archive of Our Own Acct
Why this must be read:
Caroline and Stefan on the road in a post-apocalyptic type world! This haunting piece manages some great imagery and emotional impact in few words.

Swim for Your Life [Lies for Your Lover]

Fandom: THE VAMPIRE DIARIES
Pairing: Jeremy/Tyler
Length: 2046 words
Author on LJ: venacavaa
Author Website: gypsied , and Masterlist at their newer (shared) comm
Why this must be read:
Jeremy and Tyler sneaking around, quietly desperate. The fic captures a sense of teenagehood. And the ending gets me every time.

Pretending to Deceive

Fandom: LIFE ON MARS
Pairing: Sam Tyler, Gene Hunt, DCI Litton
Length: 1,700
Author on LJ: jean_geanie
Author Website: Masterlist
Why this must be read: I have a soft spot for Litton, Gene's rival DCI, and this is one of the few fics that explore him. It's a funny story about Sam, Gene and Litton in a hostage situation together, and a great read.



"Surprising as it no doubt is Inspector, I don’t follow the Hunt school of policing. I tend to place a higher value on my life than to pointlessly waste it fighting against two armed men."

"I 'spose it had nothing to do with the fact that you’re all talk and no trousers then."

This way for Litton fic.

Fandom: RPF the wb/cw
Pairing: Jensen Ackles/Jared Padalecki
Length: 46,600 words
Author on LJ: redrum669
Author Website: Redrums RPF Big Bang Stories
Why this must be read:

The subject of child abuse is a tricky one to both write and read about, but the subject can offer a complex and engrossing reading experience when handled by a mature and deft hand. That's why I liked redrum669's Monster, which well-crafted story about Jensen's efforts to escape his past, and Jared's efforts to draw the man he loves back out into society. The fic takes a bit of a right-hand turn near the end, but I think the direction change worked despite the fantastical element introduced in what was otherwise a very realistic story.

Monster reminded me a lot of Isabel Holland's novel The Man Without a Face. (Mel Gibson did a movie adaptation in 1993, although the screenplay was quite a departure from the original novel). I really liked the way redrum669 plays with her readers' expectations, assumptions and predictions as the story moves forward. This is one fic that keeps you guessing and doesn't encourage passive reading, so if you're in the mood for something serious and dramatic, this is definitely a good choice.

Monster by redrum669.

Fandom: THE X-FILES
Pairing: John Fitzgerald Byers/Suzanne Modeski
Length: 61k
Author on LJ: There's a never-used account for the name lywendre. Beyond that, I'm not aware of any.
Author Website: Gossamer page

Why this must be read: "Unusual Suspects," the early-S5 episode that provided the Lone Gunmen's origin story, is a terrific self-contained episode, albeit one that ties in to the mythology as well. Those characters were first introduced in S1 as single-appearance comic relief, but they quickly took on a (collective) life of their own. Over the years, they provided an essential mix of comedy, drama, tragedy, and plain old friendship along with all the practical assistance they gave Our Heroes; The X-Files would have been diminished without them. That was especially noteworthy because only one of the actors, only Bruce Harwood (Byers), actually was a professional actor - Tom Braidwood (Frohike) was a tech guy (edit:) director and producer, and Dean Haglund (Langley) was a stand-up comedian. Given that, it's not surprising that Byers tended to carry the most dramatic weight in canon, and that the Gunmen's formation owed to a crisis in his life - although, reality being what it is, the fact that he was conventionally the prettiest of the group couldn't have hurt.

"The Early Years" starts where "Unusual Suspects" left off, with our three coming together as a group with a mission. The premise of the fic - narrated from Frohike's POV with a perfect mixture of his geeky wit, avuncular depths, and affable lechery - is that a few months after being disappeared, Suzanne turns up on the Gunman's doorstep with wrongs to avenge, a price on her head, and a firm place in Byers' heart. The fic is compliant with The X-Files' "real-time" canon through S5, but the story is not unremittingly grim. Further props for brilliant characterization and an appropriately spare, economically realized plot.


( excerpt )


You can read the whole thing at the Gossamer archive.

Fandom: BANDOM
Pairing: Bob Bryar/Brian Schechter, mention of Z Berg/Ryan Ross but Bob/Brian is central
Length: 37,217 words
Author on LJ: torakowalski
Author Website: fic list
Why this must be read:
This Telepath AU written for bandombigbang is an awesome action story that should be made into movie--or have a few music videos made using the story 'verse. Brian the badass telepathic agent has been hiding his superpower from Bob, but events make that impossible. The Brian/Bob moments thread the story in an enjoyable way, but the action-adventure part predominates. Other bandom folks appear as supporting characters, such as Gabe, Travis, Vicky, and Ryan Ross.

There's mention of past angst and substance abuse, and some drinking, and mental torture by the baddie. It doesn't come across as dark to me, though, just intense and at times serious in the midst of the action.

(Not Your) Superman Tonight on LJ
(Not Your) Superman Tonight on AO3

Fandom: HARRY POTTER
Pairing: Severus Snape/Minerva McGonagall
Length: ~9,900
Author on LJ: kellychambliss
Author Website: Kelly's masterlist of fics
Why this must be read:
I adore character studies. Don't get me wrong, I love cleverly plotted fics, too, but a writer who can convey the texture, the taste, the habits, the quality of a character's mind, the beat of his heart, the subtext of his motives, thrills me like nothing else. In "Mutability" kellychambliss folds back the layers, stalks the shadowy truths and mental revisions, the wry, fatalistic undercurrents of Severus Snape's mind during his stint serving two masters at once. He's an isolated character, conscious of the impact of each word, each gesture, assessing the root and result of his least interaction, keeping score, forever performing his life before an audience of fools and charismatic monsters and his own uncharitable eye.

( Of Snape and McGonagall )

Mutability