Fandom: BANDOM
Pairing: No pairing listed
Length: 18,918
Author on LJ: sparrowsverse
Author Website: Sparrow's Masterlist
Warnings: minor character death, alien possession, puking, minor violence with tranquilizer guns, swearing
Why this must be read: Her Summary: It takes a fob watch and a TARDIS for Bob Bryar to put his life together. A life he had forgotten was now reclaimed. He’s taken for a wild ride with Brian at his side as he tries to save the friends he thought were lost to him. Being an alien isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Okay. I am a raging Whovian and when I saw this fic pop up during art/mix sign ups for Wave 2 of BigBang? I was flailing with JOY. Two of my favorite things! It's really a fusion of Doctor Who/Bandom then an actual crossover in my mind. Bob is brilliant and Brian is just as spunky as we like him. It's also a fix-it of what happened with Bob and My Chem, and makes us all go \o/(ish) when it comes to the Pedicone Situation, which as the author pointed out, she wrote this before the whole situation happened and well, I don't want to give anything away but it makes all the MCR fans who are a bit >:| a bit more \o/ maybe even a Mikeyway \ :| / victory arm ;D.

You don't really need to know much about Who except what a Time Lord is and what a Fob Watch is but its pretty easy to follow even if you don't.

And You Whovian's Eyeing this? Give it a whirl. It's a classic-Who style romp and its amazing.

Now ladies and gentlemen, I present When I Come Home (LJ Masterpost)

Fandom: MERLIN
Pairing: Merlin/Arthur (Merlin/Gwaine)
Length: 19,500 words
Author on LJ: The mysterious sebastiansais
Author Website: sebastiansais is a purely fic journal
Why this must be read: It's a modern AU where magic exists and is publicaly known. Arthur is a magic-politics scholar and Merlin has magic (of course). What's great about this fic is its complexity - nothing is easy or black and white, no matter how Arthur would like it to be, and there's no clear moral high-ground for anybody, despite how much Arthur wishes there was. The characters have the freedom to be confused, wrong and inarticulate... Quite a unique fic, and amazingly well-crafted.


( Spoilerly warning the author doesn't give. Not deathfic. )

Coming of Age

Fandom: THE MAN FROM UNCLE
Pairing: Napoleon/Illya
Length: 72 KB
Author on LJ: dinahmt
Author Website: a lot of her stories are archived at The Chrome and Gunmetal Madhouse
Why this must be read:  This is a classic story in our fandom. (And here's hoping that it hasn't been rec'ced before because I honestly did check!) It follows the events of "The Come With Me to the Casbah Affair" where Illya finds himself cold upon returning home after so much time spent in the Moroccan heat so he pulls out a space heater. In the night, he's awakened by a stray cat he'd befriended to find his apartment ablaze. While recuperating in the hospital, Illya asks Napoleon to collect any of his belongings that might have survived the fire, which is how Napoleon comes across a letter written in Russian by his partner. Recognizing his name and overcome with curiosity, Napoleon reads the letter and what he discovers changes everything. One of the distinguishing hallmarks of Di's stories is her ability to capture the established characters; in their actions, in their dialogue and their innermost thoughts, as well as setting a realistic pace for her tales to unfold. This is one of those fantastic stories that has it all - a little bit of angst, a little bit of guilt, a little bit of flirting, a little bit of hurt/comfort and a whole lot of hope.

( A snippet to temp you... )


The Nine Lives Affair

Okay gang, sorry for the delay. Between due South's long run on Crack Van and whatever it is that they've done to delicious, it took a while to confirm that nothing else on my list has been recced before.

Fandom: DUE SOUTH
Pairing: Benton Fraser/Ray Kowalski
Length: 28k words
Author on LJ: bethbethbeth
Author Website: Beth's master ficlist
Why this must be read: One of the most popular tropes in dS fandom is Everyone-Else-Thinks-They're-Gay, and this is one of my favorite examples of the genre. The story centers around Sara, an original character Beth wrote as Kowalski's childhood best friend, who shows up in Chicago again just after Ray starts working with Fraser. Sara is smart and funny (and, okay, maybe a little too perfect), but she obviously loves Ray Kowalski as much as we do, and she adopts Fraser as part of the group immediately because Ray already has. For me, the joy of watching Ray and Fraser figuring out their relationship is secondary to seeing Fraser blossom in the company of two people who accept him completely. Excerpts behind the cuts:

( what Sara sees )


( what Ray feels )


( what Fraser thinks )

If It Walks Like A Duck... by Beth H.

Fandom: FIREFLY
Pairing: None
Length: ~19K words
Author on LJ: edenbound
Author Website: edenbound at AO3

Why this must be read: Firefly gave us so little canon with so many possibilities. And given the specific chain of events that lead to one thing or another in the series, the possibilities for AUs are wide-ranging and full of potential. With "Brought to the Edge," edenbound fleshes out an obvious jump-off point--what if Simon couldn't rescue River?--into a tense, can't-put-it-down narrative of Simon's relationship with the resistance before and after his failed attempts. And of course, he ends up on Serenity anyway, but a different entrance with a different Simon ultimately generates different outcomes. This story is fascinating and haunting, and I'd highly recommend it.

( "I was a sniper for the resistance for two years. Draw your own conclusions." )

Brought to the Edge and Always Crossing the Lines

Fandom: NCIS
Pairing: Gibbs/Tony
Length: 13,696 words
Warning: Alcoholism (no heavy focus), angst, graphic mentions of past torture, language, mental illness, mentions of past non-con, PTSD
Author on LJ: demon_deception
Author Website: N/A
Why this must be read: This has got to be the most powerful whumped!Tony story ever written. It tears me apart every single time I read it. There are only hints at what happened to him during the torture he had to endure; the story focuses on a Tony fighting madness caused by torture. The descriptions are so vivid and colorful, you can't help but feel Gibbs' helplessness and agony at dealing with his lover who is now trapped in a living nightmare. What makes this story even more of a gut punch is that there's no happy ending. You can only hope that time will heal Tony's wounds, but chances are it won't. The end makes me cry every single time because it's the ultimate declaration of love from Gibbs to Tony. Heed the warnings, but do yourself a favor and read this story!

( Excerpt: )

(When Hollywood Runs Out of Indians)

Hi there all, I'm loopily and I'm your reccer for Harry Potter this month. Sorry for the delay in the start of posting but I'll be getting along with things now. I've been in the Harry Potter for a fair while now and I'll be trying to rec a wide variety of stories; Het, Gen, Slash, Action/Adventure, Romance, Horror, OTPs and rarepairs. I'll try and give you something different each time and hopefully you'll find something you like in all of it. So, now on with the first rec!

Subject: What She is by kethlenda (PG)

Fandom: HARRY POTTER
Pairing: Tom Riddle Sr./Merope Gaunt
Author on LJ: kethlenda
Length: ~1500 words
Why this must be read:

I'll start with a fic that showed me how even a short story can change your headcanon. It's a beautifully written story, almost melancholy until the end, and it's not at all how I thought it would turn out when I looked at the pairing. The author works with characters that, like so many in the series, barely have anything to them and realises them so well in such a small space that you can sort of see why and how things might have happened but also leaves your heart breaking for Merope - a woman who received little to no sympathy in the books. At first glance it might not seem like everybody's cup of tea but I would ask you to give it a go as it's a lovely little one-shot set in an era with characters rarely written about, let alone written about so well. Lastly, this pairing is usually accompanied by more than a few warnings but this one manages to steer clear from pretty much all of them, allowing the PG rating to stick.

What She Is