Fandom: DEAD ZONE
Pairing: Johnny/Sarah/Walt
Author on LJ: dsudis
Author Website: Words Words Words
Why this must be read:

Dira does great Dead Zone. Her stories always tie together fascinating aspects of Johnny's abilities, his connections to the people in his life, and the mixture of horror and humor the show is known for. Here, tiny particles of watercolor paint assault Johnny with repeats of the same, seemingly innocuous vision, until the pieces come together to reveal the unthinkable.

Family Portrait

Fandom: DEAD ZONE
Pairing: Potential Johnny/Walt
Author on LJ: dsudis
Author Website: Words Words Words
Why this must be read:

This ficlet packs a delicious punch, as cigarettes become the metaphor for the ever-blurring line between Johnny and the people he touches.

He was a biology teacher, for God's sake, he showed that blackened lung to hundreds of kids before he became a car accident statistic--but now every time he smells a lit match, he gets the craving, remembers the way it felt, the way a cigarette fit between his fingers, between his lips, the sweet (foul) taste of smoke, the (choking) way it filled his lungs.

A Whiff of Sulpher

Fandom: DEAD ZONE
Pairing: None
Author on LJ: lomedet
Why this must be read:

I love Walt, and this piece goes a long way towards explaining why. It takes three moments in Walt's life and uses them to plumb who he is and how he understands his life.

He turned to look at himself in the mirror.

A cop stared back at him. A cop who looked competent, and calm, and kind of scary, and a half a dozen other things Walt was pretty sure he wasn't.

During the ceremony, he found himself surrounded by dozens of competent, calm, and kind of scary cops who wore the faces of the men he’d gone through the Academy with. All through the boring speeches, he tried to figure out if everyone else was faking it as much as he was, and by the time the last name was called and the last hand shaken, he’d pretty much determined that yep, the uniform made every last one of them look ten times more confident than they actually were.

He'd only been on the force a few days when he figured out that this was true for every cop he knew.

The Other Ten Thousand Things

Fandom: DEAD ZONE
Pairing: Johnny/Walt
Author on LJ: cesperanza
Author Website: Speranza's Fiction
Why this must be read:

In this AU, Sarah is the one in the coma and Johnny is the one Walt builds a new life with. What's perfect about it is that Johnny's questioning of his sexuality makes the relationship just as fragile and precarious as Walt's relationship with Sarah in the original history.

The guy looked up sharply, and my God, he had the bluest eyes Walt had ever seen. "I need ice," he said.

"O-kay," Walt cautiously agreed, raising his palms to show that he meant no harm. "We'll get you some ice." He saw now that there was a blue rubber bucket on the counter next to the piles of paper cups and plastic lids. It was already half full; the guy'd probably emptied the machine already and it hadn't yet had time to fill up. "Just, relax for a minute, all right?" Walt said. "Punching the machine's not going to make it work any faster, and you're gonna get blood in your Slurpee."

The guy frowned, eyes moving from his knuckles to the bucket and back up again. There were dark shadows under his eyes. "It's not a..." He turned back to the ice machine distractedly, and Walt decided to get a doctor; this guy had maybe wandered off a mental ward somewhere. "It's...sometimes coma patients wake up when you dump a bucket of ice on them. It's supposed to stimulate the brain."

"Oh," Walt said, surprised and uncomfortable; shit, this guy wasn't crazy, he was just tired—really tired, from the look of him.

"I try it once a week," the guy said, eyes doggedly fixed on the dented metal front plate, the plastic spout, the bright square that said, "Press here." "Hasn't worked yet, but..." He shrugged and lifted his chin, but this challenge wasn't aimed at Walt; it was more like he was swearing something to himself, digging his heels in.

"I'll hold the bucket," Walt said in a quiet voice.

What It Seems

Fandom: DEAD ZONE
Pairing: Johnny/Bruce
Author Website: The Wonderful World of Make Believe
Why this must be read:

This snippet has a darker view of Johnny/Bruce than I usually subscribe to, but it stayed with me long after I read it. How far would you go to save someone who mattered to you? What would you do to keep them from walking out that door?

Flight 505

Fandom: DEAD ZONE
Pairing: Johnny/Bruce
Author on LJ: tangeriner
Author Website: Experiment X
Why this must be read:

Bruce looked down at the broken key. "Listen, man, one of these days you're going to be wrong, and I was hoping that was it. I'm sure this alarm system of yours is enough to protect us from your admirers. And hey," Bruce held up a DVD that he had been hiding beneath his arm, "I brought an oldie but a goodie and totally new to you – Star Wars."

Johnny rolled his eyes. "I've seen Star Wars, Bruce. I was awake in 1977."

"Ah, but not 1999. Allow me to ruin all of your good memories."

Snippet #2

Fandom: DEAD ZONE
Pairing: Johnny/Bruce
Author Website: The Tenth Muse
Why this must be read:

The Tenth Muse does great Johnny/Bruce, grounding her stories in who the characters are, what draws them together and comes between them, and this series is some of her best work.

For a second, Sarah looked like she was going to protest, but then she half-smiled and sat down. After taking a sip of her coffee, and looking to make sure that J.J. wasn't around, she said, "You can't tell anyone or I am dead meat."

Frowning now, Walt put aside the paper altogether. "That means it's something to do with Johnny. What's wrong?"

"It does not automatically mean that it's about Johnny. Or that anything is wrong," Sarah exclaimed.

Walt just looked at her.

With a groan, Sarah said, "It has to do with Johnny, but it's nothing wrong I don't think."

"You don't think?"

"It's Bruce."

The Visit
Announcements
Kidnapped
Aftermath

Fandom: DEAD ZONE
Pairing: Johnny/Bruce
Author Website: Story found at The Wonderful World of Make Believe
Why this must be read:

And I wasn't in bed any more. And he wasn't there beside me. We were downstairs. We had just finished my PT for the day. His hand was on my shoulder. And he was giving me the oddest look. It took me a moment to realize what had happened.

Blink

Fandom: DEAD ZONE
Pairing: Johnny/Bruce
Author Website: Tayla's Fanfiction
Why this must be read:

"Johnny, they were going to kill you. They were going to burn you at the stake and there was nothing I could do about it. And now you're making excuses for them?"

"I'm not trying to make excuses. It's just... I don't..." I stumbled over the words, not exactly sure what I was trying to say. I tried again. "What good would it do to get pissed off now? It's over. We survived. I'd rather just leave it and move on."

He shook his head in disbelief. "You can just forgive them that easily?"

After the Fire

Man, you know you're off to a late start when your first rec of the month is the crossover, but I promise to make it up to you guys with plenty of lovely recs from here on out!

Title: Wheels Within by Legion
Pairing: Johnny/Bruce, Jim/Blair
Author Website: Legion's Hidey Hole
Why this must be read:

Johnny Smith's visions show him what he needs to understand in order to save other people. But sometimes, it's his life that needs to change.

Scrambling out of the bed, Bruce picked up a juice glass from the nightstand. "Let me answer the door, then give it a few before coming down, like the knock disturbed you."

Catching him by the wrist, John said, "Hey, what are you worried about?"

That stopped Bruce cold, and for a second his expression was almost agonized. "John...when a preacher's kid rebels, he really rebels. I've done some things that I don't want you get tarred by."

Guessing, but oddly sure of his guess, John said, "You don't have to be in the closet because of me."

Bruce studied him, expression completely neutral for the first time since John had met him. "Not because of you, John. For you."

Wheels Within

Hi! Hop on in! I’m tatkreiswok and I’ll be driving the pick-up truck for “The Sentinel” this month! We’ve got bad guys to bring to justice, Swedish sheets to get hot and sweaty in, sensual tribal rhythms to dance to, spirit animals to guide us, Tupperware to color-code, and oh, yeah, stories to rec! Our official vehicle’s in good shape – what with all of us keeping Jim away from the wheel – so, let’s get out there!

Fandom: THE SENTINEL
Pairing: Jim/Blair
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Josephine’s Place
Why this must be read:

It goes without saying that “The Sentinel” offers up endless possibilities for fic writers. The show is, after all, many things all at the same time: a cop show; a buddy show; a sci-fi show where spirit guides, hallucinations, Shamanism, and heightened senses all have their place; a show where New Age gets familiar, and conservative archetypes get less stodgy; and multi-culturalism is completely subtle and pervasive. There can be hush-hush spy-types stories because of Jim’s Special Ops past, and there can be stories that play on the social structure and dynamics found in academia because of Blair. To say nothing of the secondary characters, who are so integral to this universe that mention of them crops up in almost any story. Central, of course, to the show, and to most of the fics out there, are stories that feature Jim and Blair, Sentinel and Guide; two guys, who on the surface, seem to be complete opposites, but underneath it all, turn out to have enough similarities to find common ground together, and really need each other. It also doesn’t hurt that there’s enough UST and touching and grabbing on screen to give rise to a fandom capable of writing stories that can ignite panties across America

“Partners” by Josephine Darcy is an amazing story that manages to do the near-impossible: bring in just about every single aspect there is to “The Sentinel” – it’s a cop story; a bizarre case story; a Blair, the anthropology expert story; a 'Sentinel being possessive of his Guide' story; and a story showcasing the second bananas – and filters it all through a fine, mesh sieve of canon and fanon (i.e., Blair being a magnet for trouble in Cascade, which, as we know, is the most dangerous city in America, etc.). It’s laugh out loud funny, to boot, and contains one of the hottest and most hilarious first-time scenes out there!

( Read more... )

Partners

This is the last of the Dead Zone recs for this month. I hope everyone enjoyed them, and that they increased interest in the fandom. For more fic, check out deadzonefic, the DZ Fic & Vid Masterlist, and the Dead Zone Photo Challenge (challenge signups end today!). Thanks for reading!

Fandom: THE DEAD ZONE
Pairing: None
Author on LJ: Unknown
Author Website: Fanfiction.Net Profile
Why this must be read:

Johnny's house is serving as temporary storage for donations for the Faith Heritage Alliance, and one item in particular is having a strange effect on him. He's been having strange and haunting nightmares, and now horrific visions of betrayal and violence by his closest friends. The deeper he digs for the truth, the greater the danger becomes, but something inside him won't let go...

( Excerpt )

Dybbuk

Title: Salvation & Sticky by Houses
Pairing: Johnny Smith/Drusilla
Author on LJ: Unknown
Author Website: Unknown
Why this must be read:

One seer meets another; Drusilla pays Johnny a visit, and somehow she's just what he needs to solve all his problems. Salvation is the setup, and Sticky is the payoff.

( Excerpt )

Salvation & Sticky

Fandom: THE DEAD ZONE
Pairing: None
Author on LJ: ruralstar
Author Website: Ruralstar's Zone
Why this must be read:

There's nothing like a good serial killer fic for Halloween. Johnny and Bruce go camping to get away from it all and stumble right into the middle of a killing spree. With the killer lurking around their tent at night, and Johnny's only clues in the form of strangely distorted visions, they have to convince the local police that they're not the killer and find the real one before the next victim dies.

( Excerpt )

Not What It Seems

Fandom: THE DEAD ZONE
Pairing: None
Author on LJ: ruralstar
Author Website: Ruralstar's Zone
Why this must be read:

With all the darkness that the future can bring, it's nice to focus on the human side of things. In this fic, Johnny tries to reconnect with life and the people in Cleaves Mills by finding a lost engagement ring. But nothing is ever that simple when his visions are involved. The Ring is a quiet story with a touching message.

( Excerpt )

The Ring

Vidder: Speranza and shalott
Musical artist: The Beatles
Pairing: None
Vidder on LJ: cesperanza and astolat
Vidder's website: http://trickster.org/speranza and http://www.intimations.org/

Why this vid kicks ass:

A Day In The Life is the kind of song that most people would consider unviddable. No obvious narrative thread to follow, abrupt changes in tone, and lyrics that make visual matching difficult. Yet one look at this vid and it would be hard to imagine a more perfect match for this show.

It's a story in three parts, each corresponding with a major thematic arc on the show. The vid starts out in time with Johnny's life: a sad story about a lucky man who makes the grade--his life ends just as Johnny's old life ended in the car accident. This is followed by the "crowd of people" who he must deal with, seeking him out because of his new powers.

I'd love to turn you on...

This section ends with a long crescendo (the first of two) which is used to great advantage in simulating the intensity of vision-build up. We are then dropped suddenly into Johnny's dream life with Sarah, the lost life he can't quite let go of, and this idyll matches the jaunty lightness of the lyrics and music. My favorite bit is the hamster clip, which was very amusing paired with the panting sounds in the song. But just as the dream life is interrupted by horror on the show, so the vid transitions to Johnny's vision of the apocalyptic future. The vid ends with the final crescendo, matched perfectly with the most striking sequence in the series: the destruction of Washington DC.

A Day In The Life

Fandom: THE DEAD ZONE
Pairing: Johnny Smith/Walt Bannerman/Christopher Wey
Author on LJ: astolat
Author Website: Intimations
Why this must be read:

A silver cane-head connects Christopher Wey's bleak future existence with Johnny's relatively idyllic present. When they touch the object, present and future come together--and Johnny can't seem to bring himself to break the connection, trapping both men in shared half-lives. It's only when Walt is a little too observant that a little warmth is found.

( Excerpt )

In The Bleak Midwinter

Fandom: THE DEAD ZONE
Pairing: Johnny Smith/Rebecca Carlson (referenced--mainly gen)
Author on LJ: rivkat
Author Website: http://www.rivkat.com/
Why this must be read:

In the present, the future comes to Johnny in short, puzzling fragments. In the future, the only thing Christopher Wey wants is another piece of the past. Afraid of Americans is told in sharp flashes, moving back and forth in time the same way both vision-bound men do. The future can change, but at what cost?

( Excerpt )

Afraid of Americans

Fandom: THE DEAD ZONE
Pairing: None
Author on LJ: dsudis
Author Website: Words Words Words
Why this must be read:

When you're trying to save the world, you have to be careful you don't end up being the cause of its destruction. In the episode "Finding Rachel," Johnny shares with Bruce his fear that he may be instrumental in the very apocalypse he's trying to avert. But that kind of knowledge weighs heavy on Bruce, and in this story he shares it with the only person he can: Walt. Because Bruce isn't sure that he can do what Johnny needs him to do...

( Excerpt )

Do What You Have to Do

Fandom: THE DEAD ZONE
Pairing: None
Author on LJ: sageness
Author Website: Nearly Home
Why this must be read:

A chilling portrait of a worst-case scenario: the end comes, and all Johnny and Bruce can do is keep walking and stay alive. Even in the bleakest future, there's hope at the end of the longest of roads.

( Excerpt )

Long Lay The World

Fandom: THE DEAD ZONE
Pairing: None
Author on LJ: ladyvyola
Author Website: Petals & Pixels
Why this must be read:

Johnny lost six years to his coma, but with each vision he gains the borrowed experiences of months, years, lifetimes. Yet, lying in wait for him is one vision that only takes. Tick is about the moment of revelation--the change that comes upon you when you realize the end of the world is coming, and soon.

( Excerpt )

Tick

Fandom: THE DEAD ZONE
Pairing: Johnny/Sarah
Author on LJ: Unknown
Author Website: Badger's Den
Why this must be read:

We know that Johnny and Sarah had a long friendship which grew into a deep love, but we rarely get more than a glimpse of what their life together was like before the accident, before Sarah moved on to marry Walt. This story touches on three moments of that time: their first meeting as children, the idyllic period of their engagement, and the moment when Sarah finally let him go.

( Excerpt )

To Follow The Sun

Fandom: THE DEAD ZONE
Pairing: Johnny Smith/Roger Chatsworth
Author on LJ: drworm
Author Website: They Call Me DrWorm...
Why this must be read:

This fic is actually based on the novel, but the season 1 episode "Destiny" involves the Chatsworth family and the fire at Cathy's as well. It's a tender piece, dealing with the aftermath of an only partially-averted disaster. The grim inevitability of what could not be saved, and the sweetness of what was saved.

( Excerpt )

Can't Buy Off the Lightning

Fandom: THE DEAD ZONE
Pairing: None
Author on LJ: thucyken
Author Website: Unknown
Why this must be read:

You have to love a story that starts with the spontaneous rescue of an animal rights activist from death by chicken poop. Life's just one big adventure for Johnny Smith, and his friend Bruce tags along as the visions pinball him from one incident to the next. And it's entirely possible that there's an ulterior motive involved...

( Excerpt )

Better You Than Me

Fandom: THE DEAD ZONE
Pairing: Johnny Smith/Dana Bright
Author on LJ: ruralstar
Author Website: Ruralstar's Zone
Why this must be read:

It's difficult dating a psychic, especially one like Johnny Smith, and Dana Bright has learned that the hard way. After "Ascent," Johnny is even more closed-off than usual. Their relationship on the series has always been rather precarious, and more off than on, but if there's anyone who can reach him, it's Dana. And she wants to know what he's hiding...

( Excerpt )

Going Under

Fandom: THE DEAD ZONE
Pairing: Johnny Smith/Walt Bannerman/Sarah Bannerman
Author on LJ: cesperanza
Author Website: Speranza's Fiction
Why this must be read:

Is there anything quite as awkward as your ex-fiancee's husband finding out that you and said ex-fiancee slept together? Well, how about having very vivid visions of you and said husband sleeping together? In Dirigo, Johnny, Walt, and Sarah keep trying to stay away from each other, but events draw them together. And all the while, impending armageddon inches closer and closer, while Johnny stands in the sidelines of the present. Unless they can find a way to save themselves, they all stand to lose everything they hold dear.

( Excerpt )

Dirigo

Fandom: THE DEAD ZONE
Pairing: None
Author on LJ: Unknown
Author Website: http://www.sivib.com/
Why this must be read:

While the series did eventually deal with JJ being told the truth about his parentage, Higher Math is a different take on the revelation, one that gives JJ the chance to find out for himself. The result is a touching piece, with JJ giving something back to the father that lost so much of his son.

( Excerpt )

Higher Math

Fandom: THE DEAD ZONE
Pairing: None
Author on LJ: Unknown
Author Website: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/387836/
Why this must be read:

Reverend Purdy drags Johnny off to a therapeutic retreat, but the effects aren't quite what he intended. What starts out as genial humor turns into an insight into Johnny's mind, both conscious and subconscious.

( Excerpt )

The Cassandra Complex

Fandom: THE DEAD ZONE
Pairing: Johnny/Bruce
Author on LJ: astolat
Author Website: http://www.intimations.org/
Why this must be read:

For a show with so many themes about touch, there aren't too many PWPs in this fandom. Touch is, for both the reader and Johnny, a bit of hurt/comfort that slides into sweetness.

( Excerpt )

Touch

Fandom: THE DEAD ZONE
Pairing: Johnny Smith/Bruce Lewis
Author on LJ: tangeriner
Author Website: Experiment X
Why this must be read:

Johnny can try to use the visions to change the future--to find the just the right amount of time to microwave his popcorn, for example--but all too often it's the visions that change him, carrying him helplessly towards his destination no matter how much he fights it. Sometimes, though, that destination isn't so bad. Sometimes it's just what he needs, as long as he's got a friend to help him get there.

( Excerpt )

Moving Pictures