Fandom: THE MAN FROM UNCLE
Pairing: no pairing, Illya and Napoleon present and accounted for
Length: a very very short sweet little general piece
Author on LJ: not that I am aware of
Author Website: you can find more of her work on File 40
Why this must be read: Read this because it's short and funny and has our boys getting the best of Angelique and her hench-THRUSH and because you need a grin or two. This will deliver. If I say any more than that I will give the game away.

Let's go to the Zoo!

And please remember, if you enjoy this story, a comment to the author is all the payment they get! Show them some love!

Fandom: BANDOM
Pairing: Bob Bryar/Patrick Stump overall, some Bob/Other as set up
Length: 12,705 words
Author on LJ: calathea
Author Website: Tagged Fic
Why this must be read:
I have another Bob/Patrick story for you because Bob/Patrick is made of win. This hilarious series is set during the period when MCR was recording The Black Parade and Patrick was actually Bob's roommate. (Patrick's messiness and multiple instruments are trufax, as is the inflatable cactus at their party.) This is one of my favorite Bandom series, and I dig the gentle humor, the lack of angst, and the way that it doesn't suffer from "everyone is gay" syndrome. Also, each story of the three stories is from a different POV (Bob, Patrick, Joe), and that's so effective in portraying character and motivation.

Hitting the Right Notes series:
When Drummers Harmonize, or How Bob Got Patrick Laid on LJ
When Drummers Harmonize, or How Bob Got Patrick Laid on AO3

Top Note of the Melody on LJ
Top Note of the Melody on AO3

Laying Down the Bass Line on LJ
Laying Down the Bass Line on AO3

Fandom: SUPERNATURAL
Pairing: gen
Length: 25,800 words
Author on LJ: whereupon
Author Website: whereupon
Why this must be read:

This is an utterly gorgeous and bleak casefile set between Nightshifter and Born Under a Bad Sign. Sam thinks they've hit bottom and is just trying to hang on, and Dean's trying to bear up under it all and keep them both afloat, but Sam can see the cracks in his facade. They have no idea what's coming, but we do, and the story uses that to create a sense of foreboding that lingers long after it's over.

Acting normal is so much damned work; it would be really nice if Dean could just take his word that things are okay, since they clearly aren't.

Dean's only had four more years than he has to master this, to get so good at it that Sam only catches the edges of his grief, and only ever when Dean's too tired or too badly hurt to care or to notice that for one awful moment, Sam understands everything he's not saying, everything he's hiding, everything he's trying to keep to himself.

That Sam forgets it during the times between is something for which he's not sure he's able to forgive himself. Not that that keeps him from doing it almost every single time.

When he was sixteen, his hands had been slippery with Dean's blood, Dean's eyes half-closed as Sam tried to keep pressure on his chest and shouted at their father to drive faster, faster, faster. At the hospital, waiting to find out whether his brother would make it through surgery, Sam had told himself that if Dean lived, Sam was going to get the hell out of this life the first chance he got. Dean could stay if he wanted, but Sam wasn't going to stick around to watch him die.

Seven years later and it's going to be Sam who gets Dean killed. Even Dean goes willingly, even if Dean goes out smiling, even if he grins as he carves out his own heart for Sam, it still counts as getting his brother killed.

It doesn't matter how many people Sam saves if he loses Dean in the process.

The sky is silver and unmappable, one great dull expanse; against it the branches of the trees are silhouettes snarled with thorns. Sam's four years and a lifetime behind and he wonders if he'll ever catch up before it's too late, if he'll get this right while there's still time enough for it to matter.

They're pulling out of the parking lot when the first drops of rain hit the windshield.

Anabiosis by whereupon

Don't forget to let the author know if you enjoy the story!

~*~

Sorry I haven't been as active as I had wanted to be, RL threw me a curve and then I got sick. But I have enjoyed driving the van for my favorite fandom and I encourage you readers to take a turn.
Fandom: THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
Pairing: Chris/Buck
Length: 2,611 words
Author on LJ:Phoenix 1972
Author Website: http://archiveofourown.org/users/Phoenix1972/pseuds/Phoenix1972
Why this must be read: A totally hot story about what happens one Friday night. Phoenix is a wonderful new writer in the fandom and I love her take on Chris and Buck and how they get together.

Friday Night (2611 words) by Phoenix1972
Fandom: Magnificent Seven (TV)
Summary:

A night out on the town has an interesting turn of events.

FANDOM: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
PAIRING: Gen, with background Buffy/Angel
Length: 33K words
Author on LJ: (?)
Author Website: Via SunS Fanfic

Why this must be read: Xander and Angel fight very tiny but loud demon-types while the Slayer (and Willow and Giles) are out of town. Takes place sometime in Season 1 after the episode Angel. These two will never really *like* each other, but Perri Smith shows why they did both make good sidekicks for Buffy, in their own respective ways, and how they might have found some respect for each other, however reluctant. She also accounts for Angel’s growth from rat-eating sewer-dweller to active warrior in the good fight and for Xander’s everlasting Xander-ness, in all its many manifests. The characters are spot-on, the plot will keep you reading, and all in all it’s a lovely flashback to simpler times in Sunnydale.

( "Odd. What could be so disturbing about Canada, for heaven's sake?" )

Spring Break, Sidekick Style

Fandom: HARRY POTTER
Pairing: Gen
Length: ~ 6,000
Author on LJ: pasi
Author Website: None that I could find
Why this must be read:
Here's another character study, this time of Severus during that missing year, the year he was a truer headmaster than anyone other than Dumbledore knew, grimly alone and playing the all-or-nothing game with every ounce of skill at his disposal. The tantrums are gone and only sardonic purpose remains, his every step calculated, every jibe delivered with an end in mind, every cruelty weighed and accepted as a weapon in the war. He is supremely isolated and outwardly inflexible, although in the privacy of his thoughts he makes comments and passes judgments that would startle his detractors. His sense of humor still operates, much like a scalpel and generally at someone's expense. He's not unfeeling, but he is unswerving and will sacrifice whoever and whatever is necessary. He doesn't scruple to alienate his colleagues. He has no choice; the game he's playing is deadlier than they realize.

The narrative pushes him gently off this singleminded track once or twice, allowing him a fleeting chance to see the world as the innocent see it, to remember that more exists than this tightrope-walk toward obliteration. The viewpoint is clever and stringent and sharply aware, scattered with surprising small truths and shadows of regret.

Neither author nor character asks for sympathy, but my heart goes out to Snape nonetheless. Although the narrative follows canon's preordained path, it has the grace to stop short while Snape is still alive. Our own knowledge of what's to come ripples outward from the ending like rings on a moonlit lake, disappearing out of sight into darkness.

~*~
( A falling-out with Pomfrey )

Penultimate Acts

Fandom: LOST
Pairing: Jack/Juliet
Length: ~1,000 words
Author on LJ: squeakyboots
Author Website: Fic Masterlist
Why this must be read:

Of all the Jack/Juliet fic that came out of season 6's alt-universe, this one is my favorite. It's tightly-written and endearing, ends on a hopeful/thoughtful note, and actually makes mine (and a lot of others') least favorite character, Jack, intriguing and ultimately, likeable.

In Pieces

Fandom: WATCHMEN
Pairing: Laurie Juspeckyk /Jon Osterman
Length: 1255 words
Author on LJ: scarlet_carsons
Author Website: Fic list
Why this must be read:
It's a fantastic mother-daughter moment. The voices of Laurie and Sally are perfect, particularly Laurie's teenage attitude and Sally's brashness. I love the snappy dialogue between them; it feels like it could fit right into canon. Even though they're talking about Jon, I think this fic ends up being about these two and their relationship.

"Please, call me Sally." Sally Jupiter leans forward slightly to touch Jon's arm, and the flirtatious gesture makes Laurie's toes curl in horror. Jon rises from his seat on Sally's couch. He smiles at them both.

"Alright, Sally," Jon says. "Laurie, I'll see you tomorrow?"

Laurie just nods at him.

"Goodnight, then." And then Jon teleports out of the Jupiter household's living room, twisting the fabric of the universe and messing up Sally's hair.

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