Fandom: LIFE ON MARS
Pairing: Sam Tyler/Gene Hunt
Length: 3,688
Author on LJ: roachpatrol
Author Website: Fic Tag/External Links
Why this must be read:

The nature of this AU fic probably makes it an understandable hit-or-miss with some readers, but for me, it's an absolute joy. In it, the author asks a tantalizing and yet difficult question that many fans might have entertained: What if Gene were the one from the future and Sam from 1973?

This fic takes that concept and runs with it, turning the circumstances of LoM on their head so much that it might at first seem impossible to reconcile these strange, new versions of the characters with their canon counterparts. However, it soon becomes apparent that the author has put a great deal of thought not just into the changes but also, more importantly and far more impressively, into the constants. The true beauty of this fic is the dawning realization that the foundations of Sam and Gene’s personalities haven’t changed much at all, and after finishing, the fic leaves you with some real food for thought about these two characters who before had seemed so strictly defined by their respective backgrounds.

AUs aren’t generally my cup of tea, but there are a few for which I’ll make an exception and this is one of them. A truly unique and all-around brilliant read.

( Excerpt )

Pray Tell Me Sir, Whose Dog Are You?

Hi, all! I'm Cidi and I'll be reccing this month. When I first got into Life on Mars, I used this very comm for all my initial fic-searching, so now, I'll attempt to give back and highlight some of my very favorite fic I discovered during my lurking days, but was generally too shy to comment on. This will include the whole gamut of one-shots to longfic, from gen to het to slash. (I'll also desperately try not to repeat anything already posted!)

Fandom: LIFE ON MARS
Pairing: Gen, Sam Tyler/Annie Cartwright
Length: 6,500
Author on LJ: hmpf
Author Website: AO3 Profile
Why this must be read:

I'm so excited that I get to rec this one, guys. This is probably the newest of the fic I'll be linking this month and it's one of those that you know is going to be amazing from the first sentence alone. The author apparently spent six years on and off on writing it and the care put into it truly shows -- the attention to historical detail both real and fictional is incredible, as is the portrayal of all the characters and relationships.

There's an eerie quality to everything here that gets darker as the fic progresses and Sam's deep fears build toward some staggering consequences. And Sam himself is beautifully written, coming across as a man both entirely separate and intrinsically linked to the world around him, just like in the canon. The way that characters like Annie and Gene react to his behavior as their circumstances morph also deepens our empathy for everyone -- toward Sam because of everything he knows and toward the others because of everything they don't. The narrative takes you on an emotional journey through good and bad, better and worse, and by the end, you're left both completely satisfied and horribly gutted, with feelings that linger with you for a while even after closing the tab.

I could say more about this fic, but I think all the long, thought-out comments in response to it literally speak for themselves. It's magnificent. Read it.

( Excerpt )

The MAD Doctrine

Collision day!! (When crossovers are allowed/encouraged without counting towards the monthly total of recs.)

It was a very small collision with just a scratch and the two fandoms have politely exchanged insurance details. They also have a police incident number (Sam insisted) although nobody was hurt.


Fandoms: THE PROFESSIONALS/LIFE ON MARS
Pairings: Bodie/Sam, Bodie/Doyle, Gene/Sam
Length: 3591 words
Author on LJ draycevixen
Author website/archives Draycevixen
Why this must be read: This is a short and amusing crossover. The two shows cover a similar period, both in UK, so the idea of the guys meeting is perhaps inevitable but the startling thing here is that Sam ‘remembers’ the TV show of Pros... Everyone ends up with the right partner and even an Indian meal. There is a small prequel/sequel ficlet (294 words) called Sammy’s Crush, all written in dialogue between Sam and Gene which is worth reading after the main fic, even for Pros fans. Draycevixen tells us in the comments on the Hatstand version (Three Men Walk Into A Bar) of the longer fic that: John Simm said during an interview that he modelled Sam's look and haircut on Bodie. A collision of real and fictional worlds as well as of fandoms!



Three Men Walk Into A Bar

Sammy’s Crush

Fandom: LIFE ON MARS
Pairing: Sam Tyler/Gene Hunt
Length: 2,261 words
Author on LJ: severinne
Author Website: journal masterlist
Why this must be read: It has Gene angsting in the shower and top!Sam. There's plenty of aggression on the surface, but care underneath. It's really interesting seeing that Sam knows how to handle Gene, while also recognising his own limitations. As ever, severinne has an incredibly good grasp on their voices and minds and hearts.

He took a deep breath – shoulders set, jaw tilted forward – and strode over the raised threshold into the other room, Cuban heels clacking with a bone-breaking snap over the shower tiles. Sam’s eyes widened, nostrils flaring at the sight of Gene standing naked and impassive beneath the spray, water cascading over the broad physicality of that long-limbed body in rapid rivulets that only heightened his haunted stillness. His blond hair was darkened with damp, clinging to his neck in rough tendrils. There was nothing in the face that turned briefly towards him but a slack exhaustion, and Sam almost felt sorry for him, and then remembered that sorry had been his first response back in the gymnasium, and he had taken a kidney punch for his trouble.

Wash This Filthy Witness From Your Hand

Fandom: LIFE ON MARS
Pairing: Sam Tyler/Annie Cartwright
Length: 900 words
Author on LJ: lozenger8
Author Website: LoM Fic Index
Why this must be read: Annieeeeeee. She is hot as hell in this fic. It also presses my domesticity/established relationship buttons, since Sam and Annie are decorating their house. Fluff with snark, plus exploration of what Annie means to Sam? Couldn't ask for anything more, really.

She has a sweet chin. It gives her face this heart-shaped look that’s thoroughly appealing – adding a naivety he knows is completely synthetic. Her jaw line is curved, but prominent, belying her sweet-as-molasses appearance and supporting her tough as nails interior. Sam’s always had a thing for powerful, confident women. Ever since she punched him in the back, that first day, he’s replayed his meeting her with an almost reverent fever.

“Sam, have you been listening to a word I’ve said?”

“Yeah, you said you wanted to paint the room yellow – a nice neutral colour,” Sam replies.

“Right.” Annie tugs on his arm. “How’d you do that? You were totally off with the pixies then.”

There is a Light that Never Goes Out

Fandom: LIFE ON MARS
Pairing: Gene Hunt/Harry Woolfe, Sam Tyler/Gene Hunt
Length: 1,100 words
Author on LJ: hambelandjemima
Author Website: Fic Index
Why this must be read: Because it hits on a lot of character notes for Gene - his unconditional loyalty, even after having been betrayed, contrasting with his pride - and it's wonderfully angsty, while never straying into melodrama. There is a lot going on in this brief scene, and as is essential with Life on Mars, the things which are unspoken sound just as loudly as the dialogue.

Harry Woolfe laughed, and it turned into a cough, causing him to catch his breath. Hunt watched him for signs of distress, ready to call for a nurse, preferably the brunette with big tits and lovely bedside manner, but Harry calmed down, wheezing slightly and shaking his head slowly from side to side.

"You'll be the death of me, you will."

A raised eyebrow. "I rather think someone else got there first," was the dry response.

Doing the Right Thing

Fandom: LIFE ON MARS
Pairing: Sam Tyler/Gene Hunt
Length: 1,500 words
Author on LJ: hackthis
Author Website: the author's memories
Why this must be read: This is a hopeful, realistic look at Sam after his decision in the final episode. It will make you smile in a very quiet, understated way. It also has perfect banter and character voices.

Sam doesn't care when he puts on a few pounds and isn't always the fastest down the corridor when they're kicking the ball about. He doesn't flinch so much every time the Guv works his magic on suspects either. Some of the time Sam wishes he were the one doing the work, but everyone has their place in the food chain, and if his place is keeping Gene in line, well, it could be a lot worse.

Baby, Set My Soul on Fire

Fandom: LIFE ON MARS
Pairing: Sam Tyler/Gene Hunt
Length: 2,000 words
Author on LJ: catwalksalone
Author Website:
Why this must be read: It's so perfectly, grittily Gene Hunt. Even in his spotty, skinny youth he's so supremely himself. This is not the wish-fulfillment kind and caring Gene of many a fanfic; this is coarse and rude Gene, bursting off the page in all his manly glory.

Five bosoms Gene wishes he'd never got close to

Fandom: LIFE ON MARS
Pairing: Sam Tyler/Gene Hunt
Length: 34,729 words
Author on LJ: dorcas_gustine
Author Website: dorcas_gustine on AO3
Why this must be read: Because it combines the essence of both the canon and the fanon of Life on Mars. There's casefic that relates to events in the actual series. There's time travel (or is there?) and spot-on characterization, and there's the love affair that spawned a thousand fanfics, but it's handled so well, so much like these characters would handle it, that it made everything new to me again. It's amazing to me that attraction can be summed up so clearly in so few words, and that within one of the heftier fics in the fandom. Riveting all the way through.


We could steal time

Fandom: LIFE ON MARS UK
Pairing: Gen
Length: 4,304 words.
Author on LJ: lacidiana
Author Website: On AO3
Why this must be read: This is a post-apocalyptic fic from one of our newer and completely amazing writers. This is not the only Life on Mars story of LaCidiana's I recommend. Read them all! The summary for When Moving Through Kashmir is this --- "Sam's world collapses around them" --- and boy, does it. But it does it with a kind of lyrical beauty that is haunting, insightful, and raw. LaCidiana writes Sam and Gene with just the right levels of animosity and friendship and it makes for very compelling reading.

This story will leave you breathless, turn your heart inside-out. It will gut you. But it will have been well worth it.
Warning: This fic contains character death.

( Excerpt )

When Moving Through Kashmir

Fandom: LIFE ON MARS UK
Pairing: Sam/Annie & secondary Sam/Gene
Length: 3,800 words.
Author on LJ: talkingtothesky
Author Website: On AO3
Why this must be read: Everything by talkingtothesky should be read. She writes perfect character voices and dynamics in all of her fics and she also writes very lyrical, memorable and evocative descriptions. One thing that Sky excels in is saying more in 100 words than I could manage in 10,000.

This story is a crossover with Ashes to Ashes, in that it shows us Annie in Manchester after the Guv, Chris and Ray have gone to London. Annie is barely mentioned throughout A2A, and I feel her absence keenly. This story redresses the balance. I adore Annie in this story.
Warning: The premise behind this fic includes the suggestion of major character death.

( Excerpt )

Amsterdam

Hello! I am Loz. I'm here for another stint behind the Cortina Crack Van. I'm going to rec mostly gen, femslash, poly and het this month, simply because I can.

Fandom: LIFE ON MARS UK
Pairing: Gen
Length: 21,660 words.
Author on LJ: chamekke
Author Website: LJ Masterlist/On AO3
Why this must be read: Sometimes you read a story that you never want to put down. Sometimes you read one that is so touching it makes you cry. Sometimes you read one that boggles your mind with how clever it is. And sometimes, if you're very lucky, you read There's a Land of Begin Again, which does all three. Chamekke has written a rich, engaging story that is at times both gut-wrenching and comedic, beautiful and brutal, mind-bending and sense-making.

Towards the end of the second series of Life on Mars the suggestion is given that the protagonist Sam Tyler is actually Sam Williams, a man of his time who is suffering amnesia and delusion sparked by a recent car accident, triggering memories of the collision that killed his parents in 1950. In the show this storyline is ultimately a red herring, but in this story it is explored in depth. 'After the jump' Sam finds himself waking up as a twelve year old boy in hospital in 1950; not as Tyler anymore, but Williams. And who should be in the bed next to him but a teenaged Gene Hunt, a young man who has to deal with an alcoholic, physically abusive father.

The thing that impresses me so much about this fic is that the characterisation, the dynamics, and the plot are entangled in the world of Life on Mars, they absolutely inform one another, and yet the level of well-researched detail and the cleverness of the story can make this an enjoyable read even if you've never seen the show.

Every time I read this story I notice something new. Every time I am transported to another world. Every time I feel all the feelings. It's a brilliant read.

( Excerpt )

There's a Land of Begin Again

Thanks for riding with me! I've had a wonderful time re-reading favorites and exploring the archives, but it's time to pass the keys over to lozenger8
Fandom: LIFE ON MARS
Pairing: Sam/Gene
Length: 670
Author on LJ: lozenger8
Author Website: Fic index here
Why this must be read:

Sam and Gene are very, very physical with one another. I'll pause for a moment and let everyone think of their favorite "getting physical" moments. 

OK. Well, Sam starts to wonder what those moments, non-violent and violent, might mean. The build up here is fantastic, as is the joy Sam derives from being touched. Loz captures many aspects of their dynamics perfectly in such a small space and really communicates what it means for Sam to have that point of contact in Gene, that warmth that tells him he's alive. 

Tactile

Fandom:  LIFE ON MARS
Pairing: Sam/Annie
Length: 700
Author on LJ: lacidiana
Author Website: here
Why this must be read:

This is absolutely heartbreaking in so many ways and in so many different decades. In 2004, Sam encounters someone who remembers losing him in the 1980s. What's on the page is spare and beautiful and provides a wonderful glimpse at 2000s Sam, but what's not there, the way lacidiana leaves you to imagine what will happen when Sam comes to understand that encounter....absolutely chilling. 

Trauma

I can't believe my turn as driver is almost up! I might have to begin posting a few a day....
Fandom: LIFE ON MARS
Pairing: Sam/Gene
Length: 1,820 
Author on LJ: lozenger8
Author Website: Here
Why this must be read:

It's absolutely gorgeous, for one, and gives us a Gene who, while he takes pleasure from rougher sex with Sam, has mixed feelings about it and turns the tables on a pain-demanding Sam, a Sam who eventually finds himself discovering that he doesn't always need pain in order to feel, that soft touches can be pleasurable too. I love that this fic gives us a Sam who can be single-minded and selfish while at the same time showing us why Gene loves and worries about him. And it's hot and lyrical at the same time--some of the most gorgeous power play and discussion of the differences between masochism and submission that I've ever read.


( Excerpt )

Can't Keep Myself and Still Keep You Too

Fandom: LIFE ON MARS
Pairing: Sam/Gene
Length: 2,400 or so
Author on LJ: fawsley
Author Website: Fic index @ lifein1973
Why this must be read/seen:
I'm relatively new to the fandom, so one way I've been lucky enough to find outstanding fic is through fan artists who are inspired to illustrate it. That's what happened with fawsley's "Shining Tor." I saw basaltgrrl's beautiful illustration for it, which involved Sam and Gene's mirroring "cat that got the canary" grins and Sam relaxing into Gene's possessive grip, and knew I had to read it. 

And oh my, am I glad that I did. This is one of those rarer "Sam and Gene leave Manchester" fics and the way fawsley describes the setting--let alone Sam and Gene--is gorgeous. And as for Sam and Gene, Gene's acting...odd. He lets Sam drive the Cortina. There aren't any homophobic rants when they discover that their missing person is in fact living with his boyfriend. Sam wonders what's going on with Gene while readers wonder whether they'll have their first time in the back of the Cortina. This is a wonderful hesitant!Gene fic filled with banter and fog and realizations. 


( Excerpt )Shining Tor by fawsley and the gorgeous, atmospheric illo. by basaltgrrl here

Fandom: LIFE ON MARS
Pairing: Sam/Gene
Length: 2,981
Author on LJ: severinne
Author Website: Fic index
Why this must be read:
For many of the same reasons you should read everything by severinne: she has the show's combination of humor and angst and UST (which here becomes gloriously resolved) down. Her Sam and Gene banter, fight, and sleep together in a wonderful range of places, but they also express their feelings for one another in a way that's their own. Severinne's Sam and Gene aren't off doing Lady and the Tramp routines in restaurants, but neither are they running scared at the idea of using the L-word. It's just there, and it's just them. 

This fic in particular has gorgeous details, from the description of Sam wearing Gene's boots to the way Gene imagines tending to Sam's bruises after he's taken him roughly against the wall. There's amazing dirty talk, role play, understated but real emotion, and fabulous insight into how Sam and Gene work. 

( Excerpt )
One Year

Fandom:LIFE ON MARS
Pairing: Gen
Length: 10,200
Author on LJ: jean_geanie
Author Website: Fic Index
Why this must be read:
Do you love Litton? If so, the author's summary says it all: Sam and Litton held hostage together, a pair of shoes, an old book. This fic really feels like it could have been an episode of the show, as I believe several reviewers mentioned. It includes a snarky Phyllis, Chris and Ray playing pranks on Litton, some angst, lovely Sam and Gene banter and a restrained version of protective!Gene. Litton also, as a review on the fic states, actually seems like "a real person" in this and it's lovely to see.
( excerpt )

History Repeating

Fandom: LIFE ON MARS  
Pairing: Gen. Major characters Sam and Gene
Length: 1,364
Author on LJ:margo_kim
Author Website: Here
Why this must be read:
Sam explains to Gene that he needs a place to stay for a while because his bed's trying to eat him. Literally. Gene has thoughts about his DI's sanity. And his need for someone to do the dishes at his house. margo_kim's dialogue is fantastic and her characterizations of both of them--and the situation--makes it seem like she has access to a vial of Essence of Sam and Gene. 

An excerpt:

Sam scooped up the files and turned to leave. “By the way,” he said over his shoulder, “you know Jackie Queen implied you were lazy, corrupt, and fat on page seven?” 

“Fat?”

“She used ‘portly.’ Don’t worry, though, it looks good on you.” Sam kicked open the office door. “We’ll drive home ‘round seven, yeah?” And he swanned out, more swagger in his step than a man carrying four hours of paperwork should have. It was probably easy to strut about when you weren’t encumbered by things like sanity. 


Favors, Delusions, and Libel

There are actually more Life on Mars crossovers than I had anticipated. There are the crossovers with Ashes to Ashes, Doctor Who (and related fandoms) as well as other shows featuring John Simm and Philip Glenister. And then there are crossovers that don't seem nearly as intuitive, until you finish reading them just *knowing* that they actually happened. In both canons.
Title: An entrance somewhere else
Pairing: Gen  
Length: 1,400
Author on LJ:petronelle
Author Website: here
Why this must be read:
Oliver Welles finds himself transported to 1970s Manchester, where he offers helpful advice to Sam and Gene and is then forced to spend more time in CID than he may have wanted for his trouble. Petra's Oliver, Sam, and Gene are wonderful as always, and this fic combines Oliver's thinking about his past and continued attention to ways he could stage everything around him with his observations of Sam and Gene. It combines humor with moments of sadness and is an excellent character study/ casefic.
( excerpt )

An entrance somewhere else

Fandom: LIFE ON MARS
Pairing: Sam/Gene
Length: 9,000
Author on LJ:petronelle
Author Website: Petra at DW
Why this must be read:
Petra has one of the best understandings of how Sam and Gene could work that I've ever seen. Game Theory involves Sam trying to negotiate a relationship with Gene without it being designated as a negotiation as such. Sam shows Gene what he needs and wonders how much he can say without being seen as insane--or more insane than people read him as being anyway. 

Game Theory explores Sam and Gene's power dynamics via some of the hottest power play and consensual pain play (like what we see in canon, only more, and with fantastic insight into the why) I've ever seen. She also incorporates one of my favorite things, an analysis of Sam and Gene work dynamics compared to Sam and Gene bed dynamics. She also captures their humor in the face of all the more serious relationship dynamics, which I love because Gene *would* make a joke about Sam cross stitching in the middle of discovering the ins and outs of what works for them and why. 
( Excerpt )

Game Theory

Fandom: LIFE ON MARS
Pairing: Gen. Major characters are Sam Tyler and Ray Carling
Length: 20,000 words
Author on LJ:dakfinv
Author Website: Fic index here
Why this must be read:
This is epic, wonderful, Sam and Ray casefic. I wouldn't say that they've *bonded* by the end of it, but after much banter and crime solving, they're more accepting of the fact that they'll never entirely understand one another. Really fantastic look at CID team dynamics and excellent Sam, Ray, and Gene voices.



The Philanderer and the Thief  Link goes to part 11/11--earlier parts are linked from there.

Fandom: LIFE ON MARS
Pairing: Sam/Annie
Length: 405 words
Author on LJ:talkingtothesky
Author Website: Link goes to memories on the lifein1973 comm.
Why this must be read:
This is the fic I *needed* to read after the last episode of Life on Mars (contains spoilers for the last ep). It's got that wonderful combination of incredulity mixed with understanding, love, and daring humor that characterizes Sam and Annie's relationship and provides excellent insight into Sam's mind, showing us what he's consciously thinking about and the sights he's taking in as well as his sense-memories. It's also lyrical and understated and accomplishes so much in a short space. When you're done with this piece, I highly recommend reading her other work--she's written marvelous Sam/Gene and Sam/Gene/Annie as well.
( Excerpt with series-ending spoilers )

Pause Before You Take a Bow

Hi, I'm blueteak and I'll be driving the van this month. I'm going to rec a huge range of work, from older material to newer work, case fic to kinky fic (and maybe kinky case fic) and gen, slash, and het. Hope you enjoy the ride! 
Fandom: LIFE ON MARS
Pairing: Sam/Gene
Length: 2,262
Author on LJ: bistokids
Author Website: Fiction index on LJ
Why this must be read:
In addition to mixing humor and sexiness in just the right measure, ensuring that neither cancels out the other, bisto's given us a fic that shows Sam analyzing Gene, trying to figure out how best to deal with him. And not being sure he has the right answer. This also wins for plotting!Sam, spot-on dialogue, a surprise appearance (as bisto says in her summary, "Guten tag"), and a wonderful depiction of the atmosphere in CID. 

Brief Excerpt:
Their relationship, hardly one which could have been called auspicious from the moment when Gene had dragged Sam by the lapels into the bearpit that he laughably called an office, had recently nose-dived with startling rapidity – to the point where even Ray had stopped sniggering and started to look genuinely concerned. Sam’s one attempt to address this issue, to point out the lack of professionalism and its effect on the officers around them (and, by extension, the smooth and effective operation of the team as a whole) had been met with an exhortation to ‘cut out the poncey Hyde bollocks and piss off and bother some other poor bastard.’

Taking Chances

Fandom: LIFE ON MARS
Pairing: Sam/Mara, Sam/Gene
Length: 16 513
Author on LJ: halotolerant
Author Website: AO3

Why this must be read:

A couple month ago one of my cousins sent me an email that basically read: "OMG! OMG! TINTIN FIC KT! TINTIN FIC!!! Eeeeeeeeee!!11!!1!...... *Insert incoherent keyboard mashing here.*" In fact she sent me 14 875 words extolling the virtues of a 1 551 word long fic it was just that good.

This rec is not about the awesome Tintin fic she discovered. Instead it's about the awesome Life on Mars Fic by the same author.

Written as a 2011 Big Bang Plot Fixer, Till touchdown Brings Me Round Again, has managed to transport all the 1973 characters we know and love into 2006.  Annie's a nurse, Ray's hiding in the background, and Gene's a DS in traffic.

A DS in TRAFFIC.

It shouldn't work but oh god does it ever. 

There's even awesome art by fern_tree.

Excerpt:

"There are some questions for which there is never any bloody hope of an answer, but we ask them anyway, because believing an answer exists is maybe the closest we can get to finding it. Gene would have ample opportunity to interrogate himself afterwards, but the way things turned out, luck or fate or the god that was caffeine was with him – or maybe he really had been fine, maybe his blithe judgement of himself as fit to drive had been correct.

That day, in a few hours time, a man called DCI Sam Tyler was going to be run down by a car, left lying in the middle of the road. When Gene drove past, minutes later, he didn’t kill the man, didn’t hit his head with the nearside wheel of his Audi, didn’t end it once and for all, only almost, only nearly.

Only inches away."

Till Touchdown Brings Me Round Again by Halotolerant on AO3 or the Livejournal announcement page

Fandom: LIFE ON MARS
Pairing: Sam/Mobile Phone
Length:1 600
Author on LJ: strangeumbrella

Why this must be read:

It's Sam/Mobile. You have to read it just for that.
Somehow strangeumbrella has taken a totally cracky premise and turned it into a heartfelt love story between a young man and his mobile phone.  This fic also has one of the best written break up scenes in the whole of the LoM fandom.

Excerpt:
"Sam." She's half-laughing. "Sam, you can't have a phone that's not attached to a cord. It wouldn't work. What would – what would your voice being going through?"

"The air!" Sam's arms flail slightly, as if this might help her grasp the concept of where, exactly, the air is.



Absence Makes The Handset Grow Fonder by Strangeumbrella .

Hi my name is Kt and I'm your driver for Life on Mars! How fun. Lets get this show on the road then.

Fandom: LIFE ON MARS
Pairings: Sam/Maya
Length: 6441
Author on LJ: loneraven
Author Website: AO3

Why this must be read:
Strangely enough loneraven seems to be in almost every fandom I've ever even heard of. Seriously. Go check out her AO3 page. You'll be surprised at how many are listed there. For you that are too lazy to look it up, she written in 43 different fandoms. Most predominantly in Dr Who. Loneraven is one of those forgotten fic writers. One fic in each fandom, each fic a little gem that has been unfortunately buried in the mountains of other little gems.

In this fic loneraven covers what would of happened if Sam had woken up and 1973 had been real. She has skillfully mixed 2006 and 1973 together creating one reality.  It's pretty darn good. Go check it out.

Excerpt:
It happened without preamble.

Above the low-level sound, Sam heard it. The slow, mournful bleeps of a hospital monitor, firstly as a counterpoint to the background noise, then above it, obliterating it, filling his ears and his head, not coma-thick edge-of-perception echoes but real and sharp and accompanied with a dozen other sounds, heartbeats, voices.

“Sam!”

Run From Themselves by Loneraven also on AO3

Fandom: LIFE ON MARS
Pairing: Gene Hunt/The Missus
Length: 5925
Author on LJ: fightingthecage
Author Website writing journal dream_made_real
Why this must be read: This is a fascinating look into Gene's head, life, work and family. fightingthecagedelves into Gene's backstory with neither sugar-coating nor excessive angst. The quality of the writing speaks for itself. An absolute treat for Gene fans.

Neither of them had ever, ever, talked about fighting back before, not beyond the boyish cries of, ‘I’m gonna kill him!’ after a particularly painful dose of Albert Hunt’s fists. This was different, this was change. This was a concerted, planned, organised effort to make a difference to their lives, and all that day, he’d lived with mounting excitement in his belly – next time, next time. Next time, it’d be the last time. Stu would teach him a lesson. It would be over.

Fighters

Fandom: LIFE ON MARS
Pairing: Sam Tyler/Annie Cartwright
Length: 4520
Author on LJ: basaltgrrl
Author Website lifein1973 memories
Why this must be read: I've never seen Annie portrayed quite like this before. All the sweetness and caring from canon is there in abundance, coupled with confidence and sensuality. basaltgrrlhas a wonderful gift for transporting readers into the story, so that at times one feels almost like a voyeur on this rather kinky yet absolutely loving scene. Slightly vulnerable Sam is also a treat while still retaining his core strength and pride.


He knew that Annie was strong, strong enough to make her place in an office full of savages, but this was something he had never imagined. A different kind of strength. He could admit to himself if not to her that these horses were scaring the crap out of him. The fact that she sat on the beast’s back laughing and looking like she didn’t have a care in the world… that took his breath away.


Riding Lessons

Fandom: LIFE ON MARS
Pairing: Sam/Gene
Length: Like it says, twenty drabbles
Author on LJ: talkingtothesky
Author Website: Sky's lj, with much fic
Why this must be read:

talkingtothesky is an absolute drabble queen, the master of the short form, and I worship at her feet every time she posts one of these. Fortunately for me and for all fans of Life on Mars, she participated in several drabble challenges this year which resulted in an absolute abundance of short-form goodness. Sky always, always says so very much with those few words; loads of plot and loads of feeling and loads of heart. I could easily have recced other pieces by her, but I did want to pay homage to the glorious drabble in the hands of an expert.

Twenty Drabbles