Beginning immediately after John, Aeryn, D’Argo, and Rygel return to Moya after A Human Reaction, Chiana has some difficulty adjusting to being part of the crew—or even deciding if she wants to stay at all.
I have to say, it’s Chiana’s interactions with everyone on the ship, particularly Aeryn, that make this story so good.
Spike goes looking for Xander in Africa, hoping to get something he can’t get from anyone else. Xander can’t give him what he wants, but he has a counteroffer.
Aside from being a good read, this story makes some excellent points about Spike and Xander’s canon relationship.
Xander needs a date for a company party. The only one available is…Spike.
“And you care about my professional endeavors?” Xander snapped. “Please. Look, Spike, I don’t know what the scam is, but—”
“No scam.” Spike’s eyes were eerily direct as they bored into Xander’s, his hand again a vise on Xander’s arm. “Bit of free food and tormenting rich old biddies who need some young blood—”
“You’re old enough to be their grandfather! Probably their great-grandfather!”
“—young blood to spice things up. Don’t make this a big deal, Harris, and no, you aren’t getting rid of me so you might as well just deal with it.”
A crossover of Nero Wolfe and House may sound strange at first, but it works amazingly well, as this story proves.
Wilson is accused of murder, and House hires New York’s best private detective to find the truth. Hwshipper does a good job of bringing Wolfe and Archie into the 21st century while keeping the fundamentals intact.
“I’ll google Dr. House, shall I?” I asked innocently.
Wolfe glared at me. “Don’t goad me, Archie. You know perfectly well that word is not a verb in this house.”
This is a Spike/Xander story, continuing in Blue-Eyed Boy, with a Spike/Buffy epilogue, Some Scenes from the Later Life of Two Heroes (which continues in the in-progress Waiting Around.) I was just looking for some light, snarky, S/X fun when I stumbled across this, like fishing for trout and catching a shark instead.
After Not Fade Away, Spike is living with Illyria, mourning Angel and the rest of the gang, and isn’t really prepared when Xander, back from Africa and profoundly damaged, shows up in LA.
Over and above some really great writing, there are a few things I think this story does really well. Most S/X stories, profoundly as I love them, tend to gloss over Xander’s attitude toward demons in general and Spike in particular. This one doesn’t, while offering a plausible reason why Xander would get involved with him. I like that the story doesn’t take the easy way out, making Spike the answer to all of Xander’s problems. There’s also a certain amount of humour, even absurdity, which helps to lighten some of the darker moments.
The best thing about The Approved Mode of Payback and Blue-Eyed Boy is that they take a hard look at what the outcome of Chosen might have been, and sadly, their predictions seem all too plausible.
Darkfic // Future Dystopia // Het // NC-17 // Romance // Sci-fi/Fantasy // Top 100
Mal and River have a difference of opinion. Spoilers for Serenity.
“I just wish everybody didn’t think I was so broken.” This time she didn’t look at him. Her voice sounded small, like it used to.
“You’re not broken,” he said, automatically.
“Tell that to my brother.”
“That’s not why he turned you down.”
“But it’s why you will.”
Mal had no words, only gaped at her.
“Go to bed,” she said, after a long minute.
And he did.
Excellent and creepy story about Wesley and Connor. Departs from canon after Tomorrow.
Connor wandered over to the table, curiously sniffed the glass, then raised it to his lips.
“Don’t drink that.”
“Why?”
“It’s bad for you. Like poison.”
Connor gave him a long, slow look. “You drink it. You’re not dead.”
“It takes time.”
Silence for a while, then, “There are faster ways to die.”
Wesley shrugged. “It’s the journey that matters.”
This is a great crossover of Dexter and Stargate Atlantis. Creepy and funny in turns, just like the show.
My name is John. John Sheppard. I don’t know what made me the way I am, but whatever it was left a hollow place inside. People fake a lot of human interactions, but I feel like I fake them all. I fake them very well. That’s my burden I guess. I don’t blame my parents for that, Mary and Nathan Sheppard did a wonderful job raising me.
But they’re both dead now. I didn’t kill them.
Honest.
If you’ve never seen Dexter, this story won’t make any sense. If you have, you’ll recognize that Fahye has Dexter’s voice down cold, and that’s what makes this story so good.
And it’s a gift from my foster father, just like everything else that comprises the person that the world knows as Dexter Morgan; all those bits and pieces of Harry, wedged between the fragments that were once a terrified child, somehow making up an entire human being. Of sorts.
“– to dispose of the body. Creepy motherfucker. He doesn’t deserve a taxpayer-funded cremation if you ask me, Dex.”
Dangerously distracted Dexter.I blink my way back towards the light, the telephones hammering away at my sleep-deprived senses, and Angel Batista’s disgusted indignation.
“Sorry, I was spacing out there.”
Spoilers for the entire first season of Dexter. I’m serious—if you’ve never watched the show (or at least read the books), don’t read this. It will spoil one of the best shows on TV. This may well be the only television show about which I ever say this: it’s better than the books. The cast is perfect, the acting is brilliant, and the writing is sharp and funny and absolutely right. Go watch Dexter—or at least pick up a copy of Darkly Dreaming Dexter.
Slight spoilers for Mélusine and The Virtu, but more to the point, the story won’t be very interesting if you haven’t read the books. (And by the way, all of Sarah Monette’s books are excellent, and likely to appeal to anyone who enjoys slash fanfic, so pick up a copy of Mélusine, The Bone Key, or A Companion to Wolves a.s.a.p.)
I really like this story. There aren’t many plausible ways to get Felix and Mildmay together, but this one works for me. Especially Felix’s reaction; let’s face it, there are very few things Mildmay could do to hurt Felix, but this one would be humiliating as well as painful, even though Mildmay didn’t mean it that way.
Years after Chosen, Spike and Xander are both helping Buffy to train a houseful of slayers, when a somewhat traumatic event causes Xander to reevaluate his life. And Spike to come up with a cunning plan.
This story is nice and light, without too much angst. Season 2 Spike is the most fun to watch on TV, but in print, I like Spike the way he is here—snarky but mostly the fool for love.
The story continues in Parts 4-7 and Parts 8-12.
A strange but interesting story. Xander disappears, and when the gang finds him, he’s several years older and has been heavily abused. Although Spike hasn’t the slightest interest in him, he ends up being stuck looking after Xander during the day.
This is one of those stories that’s more about the journey than the destination. I wasn’t overwhelmingly impressed by any one thing, but I enjoyed it immensely from start to finish. I particularly loved Spike’s after-school snacks for Dawn.
Wow, it seems like such a long time since I’ve read any really good HP slash. And this story is awesome.
A plot by Voldemort’s forces leaves Harry without his magic, unable to defend himself from any attack. In an attempt to keep him safe, Dumbledore has him move into a London flat, with Snape as his only contact with the wizarding world.
I categorized this story as “humour”, even though it really isn’t, because I found Snape’s thoughts about Harry’s new neighbourhood hysterically funny.
Potter’s hallway resonated with the same rhythmic, primitive thumps he’d heard the week before. Perhaps it wasn’t music at all, but some sort of debased communication between the tenants. Snape stood outside the door and knocked.
There was a lengthy pause, during which he was able, to his chagrin, to make out a semblance of lyrics accompanying the din–an invitation to slump my hump, humpy hump, slump my dumpy hump, it seemed–and then, just as he was raising his hand to knock again, the door opened a crack. Potter stood behind it, eyeing him warily.
For the most part, though, the story is contemplative and a bit sad, but a wonderful read.
