Fandom: THE SENTINEL
Pairing: Blair Sandburg, Jim Ellison
Length: 589 words
Author on LJ caarianna
Author's website: Stories at AO3

Why this must be read:

Arianna (she's also known as caarianna) has a great reputation for writing long epics with excellent world building. This is not one of those epics. It's very short, but poignant, and hit one of my buttons, since it casts the events of a difficult night in Jim's and Blair's life into the fairy tale realm, where we see their personalities reflected as avatars of fantasy.

She wrote it for ts_secret_santa and you can practically feel the cold wind blowing as she casts her spell upon the reader.

( A small snippet )

Old Man Winter and Jack Frost by Arianna

Fandom: NCIS
Pairing: Gibbs/Tony
Length: 147,000 words
Author on LJ: xanthestories
Author Website: Xanthe.org, Masterlist on LJ
Warnings: non-con , dub-con , violence
Why this must be read:

Xanthe is one of those authors that, while she may take you to places darker and a bit more disturbing than you're comfortable with, she'll also provide bright illumination on her characters, their relationships, and the situations she puts them in. She'll take you for a journey that will make you both squirm and gasp in wonder at the depth of her writing and character exploration. I've seen her do this in both the Stargate Atlantis and NCIS fandoms.

With this story, Xanthe takes those storytelling skills up another notch. I read this in utter shock, seeing where Xanthe took Gibbs and Tony. The horror of their surroundings for most of the narrative and the pain of trying to re-acclimate to the real world with both of the psyches still intact, all the while building and keeping a healing relationship, kept me spell bound through all 147,000 words. Gibbs especially is taken to some dang dark places. His dark and white sides almost split down the middle and it's up to Tony to help bring them back to a gray medium. The way Xanthe can pull and twist these characters with her dark environment and situations and yet keep them totally in-character and their relationship one any slash fan of NCIS could recognize is a true measure of her writing talent. Even though you'll probably need to take a few breaks while reading this to take a deep breath from all the pain, you'll enjoy every word and be sucked in, just as I was, with the healing and beautiful Gibbs/Tony resolution.

Two Wolves

Fandom: THE MENTALIST
Pairing: Jane/Lisbon implications
Length: 619
Author on LJ: Not sure if he/she has one
Author Website: On AO3
Why this must be read:

This fic is short, lyrical, poetic, a bit dark, more than a bit sad, and very, very lovely: Patrick Jane's secret daydream juxtaposed with the violent promise of his present collision course with Red John. HIGHLY recommended.

Tequila Sunset

Fandom: HARRY POTTER
Pairing: Ron/Hermione (with some Ron/Lavender)
Length: 38,000
Author on LJ: Couldn't find one
Author's Website: FFN Profile
Why this must be read: The author takes the well-documented fanon cliche of 'Hermione disappears from the wizarding world and returns' but she takes it to a completely new level. The story begins with the Aurors discovering someone has used Obliviate on Ron. When they break it, everyone wonders, how the hell did they all forget Hermione? Ermynee creates a mystery with plenty of twists, turns and reveals. Her concept of magic is excellent and it interweaves seamlessly into the story. She is a master of suspense and cliffhangers.


Making Memories

Fandom: FC BARCELONA
Pairing: David Villa/Xavi Hernandez
Length: 10900 words
Author on LJ: brojan
Author Website: fic list
Why this must be read:

This is such a gorgeous story about the complications of falling in love with your best friend. I love David's POV, but Xavi (amateur chef, cranky in the morning, obsessed with watching the most ridiculous, obscure football at all hours of the night) is so perfect it makes me hurt inside.

yet to come

Fandom: GENERATION KILL
Pairing: Ray Person/Jason Lilley
Length: 4623, 2261
Author on LJ: kali1967Why this must be read:

We're going to look at one of the rare pairings of the fandom now - Ray/Jason. I only know of a few fics with this pairing, but they're gems (as tends to happen with rare pairs, in GK fandom at least). Just A You And A Me, and its sequel, Save a Humvee, Ride a Marine are my favourite.

This is one of those friendship-turns-to-more fics - Jason's wife has left him, and he crashes at Ray's for a while. Though it's a fanfic cliche (and particularly so for this fandom, given its material), this fic manages to make it a fresh new look at how two guys fresh back from war could bond in a different way. Both the character voices are great and feel like they're straight out of the mini. It has a gorgeous slow build of tension/realisation between Ray and Jason - and the payout is incredibly hot - descriptive and absolutely incendiary.


( Excerpt... )


Just A You And A Me / Save a Humvee, Ride a Marine

Fandom: DUE SOUTH
Pairing: Ray Kowalski/Ray Vecchio
Length: 11,000 words
Author on LJ: brigantine1
Author Website: Fic on AO3
Why this must be read:

I am a sucker for funny, angst-free Kowalski/Vecchio stories, and this is one of my favorites. Put-upon Vecchio is forced to come over to Kowalski's apartment every morning to help him put in his contact lenses (for reasons of self-preservation). As they find their footing as partners--to Welsh's delight--Vecchio finds himself taking more care of Kowalski with each passing day. Kowalski is an adorable mess who wants to save everyone, and Vecchio's developing a serious crush on him. The banter, the cases, Welsh being Welsh--make this a very due South-esque story, and one that makes me smile each time I read it.

Selecting something for the preview is easy, because there's so much worth quoting. And difficult, for the same reason. 

( A preview )

You'll find Keeping Kowalski on LJ and AO3, and please don't forget to leave feedback for the author.