Fandom: Fairy Tales: Little Red Riding Hood
Characters: Ruby Hunter (Red), The Wolf, OCs
Length: 4371 Words
Author Website: at AO3

Why this must be read: Ruby is a smart cookie who's good friend is the latest victim of a serial killer known as "The Wolf". When the police don't move fast enough to satisfy her, Ruby starts her own investigation. Enjoy.

Ruby the Wolf Hunter

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Fandom: SUITS
Pairing: Harvey/Mike
Length: 22,187
Author on LJ: not that I know of
Author Website: AO3

Why this must be read: There aren't a lot of "fandom classics" for Suits at crack_van that haven't been already recced. "Disaster Stories," however, hasn't been recced--until now, and just in the nick of time, too. In this fic, a series of bad things happening to various people are milestones in Harvey and Mike's relationship. Alas, some of this fic has already been Jossed with current show canon.

In my opinion, this is one of the few Harvey/Mike fics for me that builds up a relationship between them while keeping the two close to who they are in canon.



It was a lot of work. Even with Mike's brain, it was a lot of work: he had no idea how the other associates could stand it. It was August and he felt like he hadn't slept more than four hours a night since he'd started at Pearson Hardman in July. It was not unreasonable to wonder sometimes whether he was losing his mind.

It was shortly after lunch and Mike was in Harvey's office taking notes. Harvey paced in his space ignoring the excellent view, hand-gestures expansive, as he listed all the angles Mike should be trying. Mike enjoyed seeing him this way: it was rare that Harvey forgot he should be cool and delved into the intricacies of legal maneuver. Mike liked him more the more he exposed his inner nerd. A half-smile was dawning on Harvey's face, totally unconscious, as he described the unintended consequences of contract clauses. And then the building got up and stretched.


That's how Mike described it later, still not quite able to put into words how the door in its frame tapped against the strike-plate, glass on steel like a dented bell. The pulls on the lamps swayed in the air between him and Harvey, all by themselves. Mike felt a surprise wave of nausea and the view outside the windows moved subtly, all of it in the same direction. His brain lurched with vertigo as he realized he was the one moving. The whole office was moving.



Disaster Stories

Fandom: Fairy Tales: Hansel and Gretel
Characters: Gretel, Hansel, Father
Length: 1012 words
Author Website: at AO3

Why this must be read: At the end of the original story, the stepmother has died and Hansel and Gretel's father welcomes them back and they all live happily using the witch's treasure to sustain them. Did you ever wonder how the children can forgive their father for abandoning them to almost certain death? Here's one explanation. Enjoy.

Gingerbread Betrayal

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Fandom: BLAKE'S 7
Pairing: Tarrant, Avon
Length: 1697 words
Author on LJ: hafren
Author Website: on AO3, Hafren's Gloomy Patch
Why this must be read: Still in 2007. This is a lovely, quiet, thought-provoking fic of the kind hafren excels at. Interestingly it spins off a completely absurd series 3 episode that begins with the crew playing space monopoly and then largely takes place in a parallel universe seemingly run by a magical ringmaster. But within that wacky parallel universe are some normal, helpful, unflashy people, living their lives as best they can - a character type that B7 excels at, even as it also excels at the flashy characters with awful personality problems.

This fic sends two of our flashiest characters, Avon and Tarrant, to see the widow of one of the extras they met in the parallel universe. In doing so, it gives us a highly sympathetic and plausible Tarrant (Tarrant is not universally beloved, but this fic showcases some of the finer points of his character - loyalty, courage, chivalry, a willingness not to give in to Avon). The fic also depicts a three-dimensional Avon, who is at turns awful and at turns surprisingly compassionate, and who learns something emotionally important from this meeting with an unremarkable dead-man's wife.

( Excerpt: )

Link: Groff's Wife

Fandom: PUSHING DAISIES
Pairing: gen (Vivian & Lily, background Vivian/Charles Charles)
Length: 852
Author on LJ: noblealice
Author Website: lilies_pad
Why this must be read:

There's not a lot of fic about the Charles sisters, but this character study of Vivian goes a ways toward filling the void. It does a great job exploring a life which has quietly imploded on itself, but also a woman with the strength necessary to keep going and, eventually, rebuild.

( Excerpt )

I may crack, but I'll never shatter

Fandoms: UNCHARTED
Characters/Pairings: Nathan Drake/Elena Fisher
Length: ~3019 words
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: unknown
Why this must be read:

In this anonymous kinkmeme story we get a reminder that Nate's actions do have consequences, ala nightmares here, and, it features good smut too, as well as a bonus bit of sweetness. Those two themes do not necessarily go together because one could trivialise or unsexy the other but here they very much do work, buffered by a relaxing massage.

I'll Be The Light In The Dark If You Lose Your Way Part 1 and Part 2

Fandoms: UNCHARTED
Characters/Pairings: Original Characters
Length: 3273 words
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: unknown
Why this must be read:

Several game levels in UC1 have an implied story about only vague characters in the 1940's that is important to the present game story but we get not much on it because exact details aren't all that relevant to the main game past the key plot points it implies. Hence I enjoyed this little action look at what might have been for the mostly last terrified moments of their lives, as well as an explanation of how past events progressed as they did to the scenes you see laid out in game.

The fic in question was a competition entry on a long page. The exact post in question is 2/3rds down posted at June 19, 2009 3:51PM and does have formatting issues but if you can get over that problem I think it's worth a read if the past plot it deals with interests you.

Untitled

Fandoms: UNCHARTED
Characters/Pairings: Nathan Drake/Elena Fisher, Jeff/Elena Fisher
Length: ~6000 words
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: on FanFiction.net
Why this must be read:

Primarily I liked this story because it gave us the POV of the not often seen Jeff. I wasn't sure if the Jeff/Elena angle was one I liked initially but given she is almost always shipped with Nate that too was interesting to read, one sided as it appears to be here. Despite that it is a Nate/Elena story but I liked getting an outsider view on both them and some of the events during UC2, as well as a peek of how life had been for Elena between games.

Just the Cameraman

Fandom: PERSON OF INTEREST
Pairing: Root/Samantha Shaw
Length: 1052
Author on LJ: livenudebigfoot
Author Website:
<ahref="http://archiveofourown.org/users/livenudebigfoot/pseuds/livenudebigfoot">AO3
Why this must be read: I think this is the very first fic to capitalize on the heat between Shaw and Root. They met for the first time in the episode “Relevance” which was the one that introduced us to Shaw. She was trying to find out information about the people she’d been working for and when she went to meet with a woman that her murdered partner had talked to from the organization, Root took the woman’s place. Shaw found out that the woman she’d been looking for was tied up in the hotel room bathroom by Root and things got interesting from there. Root got the drop on Shaw and threatened to torture her with a hot iron for information; Shaw replied that she kind of liked that sort of thing. So it was no small surprise that authors found a new female pairing to slash.

In this fic, Shaw still doesn’t know Root’s name so she thinks of her as Veronica, the woman Root had been impersonating when they met. This fic is from Shaw’s point of view and it’s a sexy, hot little piece where they’ve already done numerous things together, mostly with Root taking charge. I’ll just list the additional tags to give you the general idea: burnplay, finger fucking, bondage. How’s that?

Livenudebigfoot writes a lot of Fusco centric fic in this fandom, but she gets Root and Shaw’s voices just as perfectly as she does Fusco’s and I like that she decided to dabble in this new couple.









With One Eye Open

Fandom: ONE DIRECTION
Pairing: Liam/Zayn
Length: ~20,000 words
Author on LJ: luxover
Author on AO3: luxover
Why this must be read:

“They say I’m in a band,” Liam tells his mom. He squeezes his eyes shut, his phone pressed tight against his ear. “I don’t even remember any of it.”
Amnesia!fic isn't usually my thing, but I really love Liam in this one. Where canon!Liam had weeks to acclimate to being part of an overly touchy boypile, and even longer to achieve superstardom, this Liam wakes up to a future where he's achieved his all his wildest dreams, but not in any way he ever imagined. It takes some getting used to.

In which Liam gets temporary amnesia and forgets things even more important than the fact that he's in a band.