Fandom: STARGATE SG-1
Pairing: Sam/Jack
Length: 4 x about 13,000 words
Author on LJ: [Bad username or site: miss parker @ livejournal.com]
Author Website: Plan C
Why this must be read:
A series of four stories in which Sam and Jack must negotiate their way to a relationship and manage to blow it fairly spectacularly. Unlike a lot of Sam/Jack stories, this one doesn't underplay their differences, sanctify Sam, undersell the importance of Teal'c and Daniel or make Jack one whit less cranky than he should be. I am not particularly sold on Sam/Jack but I like this set of stories because of its extremely team-heavy context. It's funny, delightfully quirky -- particularly in its portrayal of the friendship between Jack and Daniel, who are pretty much heterosexual life partners -- and sometimes it kicks you in the teeth. (Lovingly)

Start here: A Whole Alphabet of Plans

Fandom: LIFE ON MARS (UK)
Pairing: Sam/Gene
Length: 360 words
Warning: Implied character death
Author on LJ: http://dorsetgirl.livejournal.com/
Author Website: http://dorsetgirl.livejournal.com/80214.html
Why this must be read:

This fic is so beautiful and so sad... I remember I cried when I first read it, and then later on re-reading. It still makes me swallow and wipe my eyes... It's a little minimalistic (in a good sense!), not too many words or descriptions, but it works so well without, it doesn't need any more.

Also, DorsetGirl is one of my favourite writers in this comm, so take a look at her other work as well if you haven't already!

No Regrets

Fandom: Star Trek (2009)
Characters: Janice Rand, assorted others
Author on LJ: ever_obsessed
Author Website: Masterlist of Fic
Why this must be read: Ever wondered how an AOS Janice Rand would differ from the original? This story lets you know that and adds in some interesting twists. The original!Janice was somewhat strong, yes (fought off eviltwin!Kirk after all), but the reboot version that ever_obsessed creates is both kickass and intriguing with a shared history with Jim Kirk that drives her in different ways that her original universe counterpart.

(really I just love these compare and contrast sort of stories...hope you do too!)

Run Into the Bright Lights

Fandom: INCEPTION
Pairing: Arthur/Eames
Length: 52k
Author on LJ: http://halflinen.livejournal.com/
Author Website: none found
Why this must be read:

The Eames of this story is an unprincipled criminal (though to be fair Cobb puts all of them in danger of insanity, Yusuf drugs everyone for money, Saito is sabotaging his competition in a really nasty way and Ariadne invades Cobb's mind and privacy so this is no group of angels).  What Eames attempts to do to Arthur at the beginning of this fic is awful (and please be sure you check the warnings).  The reason I still like this story is that it slowly explores how his developing friendships and deepening understanding of Arthur changes and humanizes him.  This has fantastic group dynamics between the original crew (minus Cobb) and is one of my favorite Saito characterizations in all the fandom (and I have a massive Dirty Daddy crush on Ken Watanabe, so I am particular about Saito).  It also has one of the most horrifying (and I mean horrifying psychologically, not horrifying gory) depictions of Limbo that has been stuck in my imagination ever since.  It may not be for everyone, but I think this has more bite than your typical fanfic and it is a long and satisfying read.

Metaphors as mixed as you can make them

(story is in six parts with links to the next part at the bottom of each page - and that is my last use of parantheses in this post)

Fandom: BABYLON 5
Pairing: Delenn/John Sheridan (non-con/dub-con)
Length: 18,000 words
Author on LJ: kungfuwaynewho
Author Website: more fic at journal: this machine will not communicate

Why this must be read:

The most obvious AU for Babylon 5 is, of course, the universe where the Minbari won the Earth/Minbari War. The author here portrays a dark, bleak world where the question before the Grey Council is whether to complete the genocide of humans or whether to leave a few alive for study. Delenn has a personal stake in this, because she has a very specific human she’s studying, very closely and intimately.

"Really fucked up, but good," sums this up pretty well. The original one-shot depicts a Sheridan with a bit of Stockholm syndrome, and a Delenn who knows on some level that what she’s doing is deeply disturbing, yet on another level has a strange affection for the human she keeps in captivity. The later story (collected with the first part in one document at AO3) goes back and shows how they got there.

Disturbing as hell (unicorn chaser here), but a convincing portrait of the way things could have been.

Excerpt:

( She remembered the day the Humans had sent out a line of ships, a last sad defense of their planet )

Conquest on Fanfiction.net (the original one-shot)
Cells on Fanfiction.net (two prequel chapters; WIP)
Conquest at An Archive of Our Own (contains FF.net Conquest + Cells)

Fandom: INCEPTION
Pairing: Arthur/Eames
Length: 7k
Author on LJ: no LJ found
Author on AO3: http://archiveofourown.org/users/M_Leigh/pseuds/M_Leigh
Why this must be read:

A Shakespeare AU matches surprisingly well with the Inception characters.  For example, I totally buy Dom as the temperamental Shakespeare.  Or maybe I just love the idea of Eames as an Elizabethan actor and all around hedonist (there may be a lot of neck ruffs in my imaginings).  Arthur is the new addition to the troupe playing Juliet to Eames's Romeo.  Definitely in the top five AUs for me (sadly there is no podfic yet, but I live in hope).

For all the world's a stage

Fandom: BABYLON 5
Pairing: Delenn/John Sheridan
Length: 750 words
Author on LJ: openended
Author Website: openended at An Archive Of Our Own

Why this must be read:

Delenn adjusts to one more strange facet of being part-human. Really quite adorable. I offer this as a unicorn chaser to the dark!AU also posted today.

Excerpt:

( half-Human/half-Minbari, currently making slight odd noise on occasion )

from the opposite side of the glass