Fandom: STARSKY AND HUTCH
Pairing: none
Length: 1,386 words
Author on LJ: duluthgirl
Author Website: duluthgirl at the Starsky and Hutch Archive
Why this must be read:

A relative newcomer to the S&H fandom, duluthgirl has thrown herself into writing with delightful enthusiasm and a strong sense of who the boys are to her, and the results are simply wonderful. In this achingly poignant piece, Hutch tries to help an old man with a missing wife.

It's so much easier to help others than yourself, isn't it, Hutch?

He hung up the phone and walked to the door, pausing to look at Mr. Murphy. Hutch reached up to scratch his head, and rubbed his fingers down his long face. Hutch's sympathy turned to utter misery.

He will take care of this sad man in any way he can, because that is what Hutch does. When will someone take care of you, Hutch?

Not gonna lie, there is grief in these waters. If you go in for that sort of thing, hie yourself over and have a read.

The Ones Left Behind
Warning (highlight to read): Major character death

Fandom: STARSKY AND HUTCH
Pairing: none
Length: n/a
Artist on LJ: magic_moni
Artist Website: magic_moni at starskyhutch911
Why this must be viewed:

I'm one of those "don't know much about art but I know what I like" folks. I like Moni's work. She is a gifted artist and her drawings are simply beautiful: detailed, faithful to the source, and full of emotion. She also has a generous spirit, sharing her creative process with others and doing countless illustrations for various stories, in the best tradition of fandom and transformative works. The artwork I chose to focus on here is a gorgeous banner of our boys, highlighting a well-known scene from the ep Gillian. But that's just the merest tip of the iceberg. I urge you to browse her tag and soak in the pretty. :)

The Language of Friendship

Post a comment below to take a turn pimping the Teen Wolf fandom!

A week in advance of your assigned month you will be notified with a reply to your comment. During that time, you agree to post a minimum of 1 fic per week in the following format:

Subject: Title by Author (Rating)

Fandom: YOUR FANDOM
Pairing: (no abbreviations, please)
Author on LJ: (if applicable)
Author Website: (author's fics, if available)
Why this must be read:

Emphasis should be on fics that you feel are especially outstanding and accessible examples of your fandom, e.g. it plays on a repeated theme in the show, it's a fandom or a personal favourite, it was a controversial fic, it's good smut. Whatever.

Warnings are not required beyond what the author has posted on their own stories.

Thanks for playing and remember, kids! Without you, the crack_van will run out of gas!!

(snerk)

Post a comment below to take a turn pimping the One Direction fandom!

A week in advance of your assigned month you will be notified with a reply to your comment. During that time, you agree to post a minimum of 1 fic per week in the following format:

Subject: Title by Author (Rating)

Fandom: YOUR FANDOM
Pairing: (no abbreviations, please)
Author on LJ: (if applicable)
Author Website: (author's fics, if available)
Why this must be read:

Emphasis should be on fics that you feel are especially outstanding and accessible examples of your fandom, e.g. it plays on a repeated theme in the show, it's a fandom or a personal favourite, it was a controversial fic, it's good smut. Whatever.

Warnings are not required beyond what the author has posted on their own stories.

Thanks for playing and remember, kids! Without you, the crack_van will run out of gas!!

(snerk)

Fandom: Starsky and Hutch
Pairing: Starsky/Hutch
Length: 3 hours 49 min
Podficcer on LJ: soxendom
Author on LJ: flamingoslim
Podficcer Websites: soxendom at Audiofic Archive (just the one podfic posted to date)
Why this must be listened to:

Author's Summary: Their first real vacation in forever. Or at least several years. And their very first since...since... The hit in the parking lot.

Simply put, it's a wonderful reading of a wonderful fic. The story has been recced here before, and with good reason: it's a superb post-Sweet Revenge tale. However, due to the way I consume fic these days, it would probably still be collecting dust in my long list of "to-read" bookmarks... if not for Soxendom saving me by recording this podfic.

Apparently this is her first podfic, but you'd never know it, IMO. She has a lovely voice, the recording is very clear and easy to listen to, and I adore her nuanced delivery. And at just under 4 hours, it's the longest S&H podfic that I know of, perfect for those of us who love tales told with depth and detail. Just sublime. Go listen.

Somewhere in Tahoe
mp3 download
m4b (audiobook) download
Text at Starsky and Hutch Archive

And that, gentles all, brings my turn at the wheel to an end. Sorry it was something of an uneven ride this month; many things, both fannish and RL, conspired to keep me from posting as often and as regularly as I would have liked. I'm sure nickygabriel, your next driver, will do a much better job. But thanks for coming with! If I've missed reccing your favorites, why not sign up and share the squee yourself? The more drivers, the merrier! Don't forget, recs are love, and feedback is coin of the realm. *waves*

Fandom: Naruto
Pairing: No pairing.
Genre: Gen. Character study.
Length: About 1500 words.
Author on LJ: tj_dragonblade
Warnings: None.
Author Websites: Author's page on AO3.
Author Summary: Sai believes in always being prepared
Why this must be read: Sai's an odd little character, by turns sad and rude and a bit unfathomable. Yet despite that, and his inauspicious beginnings, I've grown very fond of him and this little story really gets at his heart, in my opinion. The author describes it reading like 'a mission report had a threesome with a diary and the analytical portion of the mind,' which, to be fair, it probably does, but then I can quite easily imagine Sai thinking just like that. I hope you enjoy it, and remember to feed the author if you do.

Ink by TJ_Dragonblade.

Fandom: STARGATE ATLANTIS
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Length: 25,256 words
Author on LJ: whizzy
Author Website: AO3
Warnings: character death
Why this must be read:

Author's Summary: There was an entire pantheon of things Rodney was willing to concede could exist, even though he'd never personally witnessed evidence thereof. Time travel, for starters. Space aliens. The perfect man. But he absolutely, positively could not accept that he'd been dreaming of a guy he'd never seen before in his life, who turned out to be real.

"Wow" is the best descriptor I can come up with for this fic. From dark figures standing at the end of one's bed just watching to strange voices coming from the other side to eerie feelings that one is not alone, this fic just takes the brain into the best that SGA horror can give you. It's a long and meaty AU that takes us into the backwoods of British Columbia with Rodney McKay. There we experience the loneliness of a lost soul and his desperate lengths to alleviate that with our favorite physicist. Definitely make sure to grab the pillow for this fantastic horror piece; you'll need a place to silence the squeeks of fright.

( Creepy Shadow Dude )

Fade to Black

Posting the first of my last two recs for the month, because if the oncoming storm (*gratuitous Doctor Who reference*) hits as it's predicted to do, I'm not going to have any power/'net connection for the rest of October *g*

Fandom: AVENGERS
Pairing: Loki/Darcy
Length: 98,323 words
Author on LJ: startrekwriter
Author Website: Author's AO3 Page
Why this must be read:

Author's summary: Whenever Loki shows up it means Darcy's life is in flux. That doesn't mean she's unhappy to see him.

"Blue" starts shortly after the Avengers (2012) movie, with Darcy - from Thor - assigned to watch over a magically-depleted Loki under what is, in effect, house arrest. The story of their developing relationship - let’s call it friendship, at least at the start - spans decades, during which Darcy ages and Loki...doesn’t. And then the story develops a plot!

Very insightful and smart, with a Loki who's a great mixture of movie and comic canons and a really wonderful Darcy.

Blue

And with this story, I bid farewell to my reccing stint for the month. Bye all...it's been great fun!

Fandom: AVENGERS
Pairing: Pepper/Steve/Tony, Bruce/Natasha, Phil/Clint, Thor/Jane.
Length: 65,782 words
Author on LJ: N/A
Author Website: Author's AO3 Page
Why this must be read:

Author's summary: A single timeline told from three different perspectives, involving three different relationships.[with incidental zombies, friendly robots, not-so-friendly robots, video games, and a jar full of soul.]"

I've saved this for my final rec because this series gives all members of the Avengers a chance to shine - and a chance to find happiness. Lovely, smart, engaging...and believable. I'm usually wary of stories that pair everybody up so neatly, but in the hands of a writer as good as Closer - one who has such a good sense of the entire cast of characters' voices, motivations, and feelings - well, there's really nothing I'd rather read.

The "Taking Action" series

Fandom: DC Comics (Batman 1960)
Characters: The Riddler
Length:  ~3000 words
Author on LJ:  seiberwing
Author Website: N/A
Why this must be read:   Not many people tackle writing fic for the campy 1960s Batman tv show, and the few that do usually adopt the ironic sensibility of the original. Seiberwing does something very different: treating the characters with respect, giving them an honest and non-winking voice for all of their glorious day-glo insanity. The Riddler in Seiberwing's stories is Gorshin and no one else: all of his dramatic and terrifying mannerisms, his creepy delicacy and manic glee, come through with a nearly visual impact. If you've ever seen the show, you will see Gorshin in your mind's eye. If you haven't, what?  Go watch it!  you'll still be able to enjoy this psychological exploration.  Seiberwing has written a variety of stories in the 1960s universe, all of them very good, but this is one of my favorites for its fascinating portrait of Riddler's beautiful mind.

Excerpt:
Riddler stripped off his prison uniform and tossed it away with disgust. Careful, almost ritualistic attention was given to every verdant piece of clothing as he pulled it on, fastening the buttons with utmost care. It was like washing off the last vestiges of the Gotham State Penitentiary in a warm rose-petal bath. He slipped his arms around himself and ran a hand down his shoulder, savoring the sensation of the fabric against his prickling skin. A laugh bubbled up in his throat, rising to outright shrieks of glee. The Riddler was back, let the dull cow-eyed agents of order and justice tremble. Once again the world was beautiful.

Puzzles and Masks

Fandom: MAN FROM UNCLE
Pairing: none
Length: 3018 words
Author on LJ: azdak
Author Website: Azdak on AO3
Why this must be read:

I was going to use this rec on Halloween, but since I might not have electricity at that point and forewarned being forearmed, etc. you're getting it today ;)

I may have mentioned once or thrice how much I love stories that dig into the unexplored corners of canon and let us know who the characters are, in a way that what happens on the screen doesn't. And let's face it, Season 4 is fertile ground for such explorations: so much darkness, so little clarity.

After Thrush Roulette Illya is adamant that the Thrush brainwashing he was subjected to, the brainwashing that would have used his deepest fear against him, was never completed. And when Napoleon presses him as they walk down the New York sidewalks at Halloween, surrounded by kids dressed as vampires, zombies and ghosts, Illya starts to tell his partner a strange little story...

Monsters is a fascinating, layered exploration of Illya's fears of having the essence of himself that he's always guarded so carefully violated, and of the larger question of Illya as a Russian; the tensions between his loyalty to ideals and his loyalty to a state. And finally, of his need for Napoleon, who knows how to hope.

"Is that your worst fear, then?" prompted Napoleon, when the silence showed no signs of ending. "Death by torture?"

Illya shrugged. "Perhaps," he said, at last. "It would depend who was doing the torturing. There are worse things than dying."

"There are?" said Napoleon. "Name one."

"Living," said Illya. "When you should be dead." He looked at Napoleon's puzzled face and bit his lip in frustration. "Let me tell you a story," he said. "A Halloween story. But one without candy at the end."

Monsters

Fandom: STARGATE ATLANTIS
Pairing: none
Length: ~2,200 words
Author on LJ: tresmechantefic
Author Website: above LJ
Why this must be read:

Author's Summary: Given enough pressure, even strong minds can break.

After finishing this, a delicious shiver crept down my spine at the vision it raised in my head of the ultimate fate of the now "lost" city of Atlantis' residents and how illusionary life really is. It was an ending I didn't see coming and a very nice complement of the prompts for this piece (mad scientist and Strange magazine). The foreshadowing was also extremely well done. With little hints like characters just appearing in a room, disturbing nightmares of a dying city, and "energy requirements", Tres kept me guessing to a jaw-dropping ending.

( Creepy Science )

A Practical Solution

Fandom: BANDOM
Pairing: Brendon/Spencer
Length: 20K
Author on LJ: ruintooeasy
Author Website: On AO3
Why this must be read:

This actually a sequal but it is not necessary to read the first story to be able to understand and enjoy this one even though it is a very good read as well. You also don't need any real knowledge about baseball either, trust me.
This is an AU where Spencer is a rookie pitcher playing the game of his life and Brendon is a singer and a "good friend". The setting might be on a baseball field but this story is all about feelings and the sacrifices made to fulfill a lifelong dream. It shows that doing something you love might not be all that you've imagined it would be especially when you can't be honest about who you are and who you love. 


Wherever It Goes