lunabee34

A trifecta of my favorite holiday reading, all BtVS:

In the Bleak Midwinter by Annakovsky

The Weary World Rejoicing by Annokovsky

A Gift of Ordinary Magic by Liz_Marcs

Bittersweet and hurty all--the long dark night and the promise of sunrise.

( spoilers for the finale )


A Desperate Situation, Indeed by Jedi Buttercup
BtVS/Mansfield Park XOVER
What an ingenious idea about that Halloween episode where everyone's costumes change them into the characters they're playing.

Good Girl (the People are Talking Remix); BtVS; always bet on a Slayer; Slayers throughout the ages; cool format

To See the End Days Coming (The Waiting with the Dead Remix); Chronicles of Narnia; The Problem of Susan; *sniffle*

It's Hard Out There for a Princess (The Princess Peony Pavane); Chronicles of Narnia; Outsider POV; I love fic where the heroes are revealed to be not quite as perfect as believed

Not Yet Known (The Inconvenient Soulmates Remix; New Girl; Cece and Schmidt are soul mates; surprisingly angsty

Howl When We're Apart (This One's for the Girls Remix); GoT; Arya and Sansa reunited

Live for Just These Twenty Years (the wolves in sheep's clothing remix); GoT; what if Bran went to foster with the Greyjoys or Cersei with the Starks? Lovely, lovely AUs for multiple characters; this is beautifully done

George Town, Grand Cayman by lyrstzha
World War Z gen
I love the way Lyr's entry for Yuletide this past year perfectly mimics the narrative structure of the source text as well as the moral ambiguity of some of its characters. This is a chilling and compelling read.

Don't Hide Your Light by laisserais
SPN RPF; J2
I really liked this fic. It features an unapologetically flaming Jared and a Jensen who is deeply closeted. It's been awhile since I read it, but I'm pretty sure it made me cry quite happily.

Hearthstone by molly
SPN RPF; J2
Jensen is a reclusive bookshop owner, and when Jared shows up in town, the two of them gradually become more than friends. Nice build.

Fire in Her Fists by escritoireazul
BtVS/Glee fusion; canon pairings; Lauren-centric
Read the prequel linked in the notes first. What happens when Lima goes all Sunnyhell? Also, LAUREN IS SO AWESOME OMG. AND TINA!

I'm Your Villain by fleshflutter; SPN; Dean/Crowley; Adult; short
This is exquisite--Dean's slow slide down the slippery slope, how necessity transforms into familiarity and even a strange and terrible kind of comfort. This is hot and more than a little disturbing and I love every word of it.

Blessed Not Lucky by glossing; Glee; Mercedes/Quinn; PG; short
Mercedes, Quinn, and Lauren are all alone in a post-apocalyptic world. How the world ended is ambiguous, but their deep friendship and the way they rely on each other is not. *loves*

Verse War Z: Buffyverse by lyrstzha; PG-13; Gen; short
Wow. This is brilliantly done. I don't want to give too much away, but what a very plausible way for zombies to overtake the world. This is truly chilling, and it will break your heart.

New York by drsquidlove; Buffyverse; Xander/Giles; Adult; long
The premise of this story is that shortly after Giles leaves in season six, he gets sucked into an alternate dimension for years. Like sixteen of them. And the Scoobs just thinked he walked away. He finds his way back to Earth and a Xander who has left the game and Sunnydale far behind, so far behind that he has kids and an ex-wife and he hasn't staked a damn thing since he left Cali. This story is very emotionally satisfying with excellent character work and original characters that are compelling and interesting. Every Xander/Giles fan should read this story.

True Blood Season One Recap, True Blood Season Two Recap, True Blood Season Three Recap, True Blood Season Four Episode One Recap, True Blood Season Four Episode Two Recap by crazydiamondsue
As these are written by our own indomitable Sue, they are naturally funny and witty and creative. In addition, Sue gets the South; she comes from Southern stock, and Oklahoma isn't that different in most of the ways that count from LA and MS and GA and the Southern places I've called home. If you love the show, you'll love these reviews. She'll review each episode after it airs, so bookmark the site.

Big Name Death Eater by Shiv; HP; Snape/Hermione; PG-13; long
I know, I know. I'm always posting that I just read my favorite HP story ever, but this time I mean it. LOL This story is hilarious, genuinely laugh out loud funny. I love the plot, I love the dialogue, I love every nuance of every paragraph. This writer has a gift for comedy and turns of phrase. Don't let the ship put you off if you are not inclined to read Hermione/Snape. This is not what I'd call a ship fic. It is, however, what I'd call a Snape fic, and I think there are plenty of you who wouldn't mind reading that. The general premise here is Snape and a group of his Death Eater cronies aren't so big on the raping and pillaging as Voldemort thinks and tend to spend most of their time downing pints in a seedy bar. LOL Brilliantly done.

The Curious Afterlife of John Sheppard by enigmaticblue; SGA/SG-1; John/Vala; Adult; medium
This story had me at Vala, and then it kept me with Vegas!John slowly learning how to be a part of this team, how to let these people in. I want to smish them all and hug them and watch their six after reading this story.

It All Goes Away When the Sun Comes Up by somehowunbroken; SGA/SG-1; Sheppard/Mitchell; Adult; medium
This fic is a massive dose of h/c and Atlantis!whumping. A disease has taken hold of Atlantis and more than decimated its inhabitants; those who are left are just holding on by a thread. Just what I need when I want to cry and then be comforted.

Hell is Empty/Turn the World on with Your Smile by busaikko; SGA; Sheppard, Mitchell; Adult; warnings for non-con; short
Aliens make them do it, and it screws up Sheppard and Mitchell beyond the telling. Please heed the warnings. This is a very angsty read as the two men come to terms with what they've been forced to do.

Games People Play in the Pegasus Galaxy by busaikko; SGA; Gen; PG; short
Five vignettes centered around actual games (like chess) that really about team and yay and family. *loves*

Chances Are by Allyndra; SGA/BtVS XOVER; Xander/Rodney; Rish (maybe?); short
Rodney wakes up next to Xander Harris. And mass hilarity ensues. Or at least, I was amused. Don't miss the sequel linked at the bottom. (I wish these were longer; I could get used to a Xander on Atlantis).

Landslide by libby_drew; HP; Harry/Draco; Adult; long
In this fic, Draco has become the groundskeeper of Hogwarts. Watching Draco fill that role is really interesting in unexpected ways, and I very much like the part that Hogwarts itself plays in the story. Draco finds himself inexplicably helping Harry, who is hiding (and trying to heal) an ill Teddy Lupin. The stakes are very high in this story, and the emotional tension is very satisfying.

If You Can Reach Me by SpuffyPr0ductions; BtVS; Buffy/Angel; Buffy/Spike
This is totally a shipper vid about how Spuffy is better than Bangel, but it's also really well made and fun to watch. I love how the footage seems to breathe to the piano melody. It's really cool visually and uses voice over from the series really effectively. And the argument that vid makes is really interesting to me--that trust and dependability (Spike) are ultimately more valuable than the overwhelming and self-obliterating passion of Love (Angel). Obviously, in this kind of vid there's a lot of judicious editing of all Spike's jackassery and a foregrounding of Angel as a dick, but I find that central premise really intriguing.

Howl by ShoopDancer2504; BtVS; Angel/Darla
It's like Florence and the Machine wrote the lyrics of this song while watching every episode of BtVS and Ats with Darla in it. Lyrically perfect and visually stunning--capturing the full range of Darla's characterization. Really nice look at the elder half of the Fanged Four.

The Fiddle and the Drum by gwendolynflight; Ats; Wesley-centric
This song is so amazing. I get chillbumps every single time I listen. I know that it's every vidder's dream to encounter a rec of hir work that mostly consists of incoherent flailing regarding the song choice, but the song works so well as a narrative for Wesley's journey. I'll watch this again and again.

I can't give it up by Ms3PFan2; BtVS; ensemble
This vidder is a genius. I don't even know the names for what's going on here, but it looks really damn cool. Fast cuts, cool effects and superimposed graphics and color work--Wow. The vid consists of scenes of all kinds of things the characters can't give up, but the ultimate take away message is that we fans are the ones who just can't give up our show.

Still Alive by Anon; Heathers
When I saw this vid on the Festivids Master List, I was instantly wary. My initial thought was how do you vid this song again when counteragent did such a masterful and iconic job with hir SPN vid set to the same song? I had the feeling it would be hard to use that song without the SPN vid intruding as it were. Boy was I wonderfully, delightfully, whole-hoggedly wrong. This is funny as hell, and not once did I think of SPN while watching it.

November Rain by Anon; Blade Runner
OMG, how have I never seen this movie? This vid makes me feel that lack keenly and powerfully. It even gets the Josh stamp of approval (and he has little patience for fanvids, mostly because he is unable to get beyond the song choice to examine anything else the vidder is doing) which is high praise indeed. This is so well edited--every action (both major and minor) from the flickering of a light to hands on a piano to the firing of a gun occuring in time with the music. This is exquisite.

Sailor's Delight by general_jinjur; Dawn Summers and Jeannie McKay-centric gen; Big Bang length; major character death

This story haunts me. I read it a few days ago, and I can't stop thinking about it. It's grabbed me on multiple levels and refuses to let go.

First and foremost, this story is an excellent example of good writing--the language is beautiful and evocative, the plot interesting and well-paced, the ending neither forced nor rushed. It's by turns tense and suspenseful, terribly sad, and nearly unbearably hopeful without pathos and without being maudlin. And the title is so wonderfully clever. I'm so bad at them, I always admire a good title.

Second, you all know I am a sucker for a good apocafic. I have ana_grrl to thank for that; she turned me on to the wide, wide world of zombies and apocalyptic rain. This is a damn good apocafic. It's full of that unremitting and overwhemlming sense of loss that is, for me, the hallmark of this genre. Dawn and Jeannie are essentially the last two people on Earth, and their grief at what has been taken threatens to subsume them. This reminds me very much of that SPN fic (I can't remember the title; it must be three, four, maybe even five years old now) where everybody on Earth but Sam and Dean die---it's a hopeful fic, but it's an active exercise for the reader to come to terms with what losing everyone on the planet means enough to enjoy the future that Sam and Dean carve out for themselves. "Sailor's Delight" is similar in that a reader has to work through the same numbness and disbelief and grief as the characters as the story progresses.

I think that the end of the world is a kind of crucible that does one of two things to a person--it either makes her uber herself (reinforces her personality, strengthens the core of who she is), or it strips away everything extraneous until what is left is the stark bones of what's needed to survive. I've read a lot of fics where the latter happens but not too many with the former. In this fic, Jeannie and Dawn aren't distilled into their basic elements; they are Dawn and Jeannie who have been called on to be more than Dawn and Jeannie. The fic is written from Dawn's POV, and rather than retreat or ruthlessly crush within herself anything that interferes with survival, Dawn is saturated with Dawnness--from her internal monologue, to her ultimate affection for Jeannie, to the small vulnerabilities that so endearingly shine through from time to time.

This is the best Dawn I've ever read. She is strong and capable, practical and pragmatic, brave and strong and utterly beautiful. She is afraid and defiant anyway and still very much Buffy's little sister even if Buffy's gone.

The absolutely only thing that bothered me about this story is that it ended. LOL

Even if you think gen is not your Thing, I urge you to read this story. I don't think you'll be disappointed in the least.

The Gorgoneion (The Epyllionic Remix)
Medusa/Athene; Medusa/Poseidon (non-graphic non-con)
OMG, somebody freaking wrote epic poetry for Remix. Way to pull out all the stops, Anon..

Turnings (The Simple Gifts Remix)
Dark is Rising; Ellen-centric gen
This fic takes a peripheral character and turns her into something real and beautiful and complex, something more vital than Cooper's narrative could perhaps contain.

Through the Wardrobe (The Three Worlds Remix)
This is all kinds of fantastic. Of course, the Jossverse, Narnia and Dr. Who have to intersect on a ley line somewhere, right? *loves*

The Effects of Proximity: The Sleight of Hand Remix
Holmes/Watson
I know very little about asexuality, only what the denotation of the word itself implies, and so, for me, this is an astonishing and beautiful love story. Gorgeous prose. Wonderful read.

Best-Laid Plans
SG-1; Sam-centric gen
Anon Remixer makes me cry tears of Teamy Goodness and Love. These are the holidays, the way SG-1 spends them.

Fair Play
SG-1; Vala and Teal'c-centric gen
Lord do I have me an unholy love for Vala Mal Doran. [Vala] watches for a while longer. "Or he could seduce Luke Skywalker, they could run away together, and they could leave saving the galaxy to people who are actually good at it." "That opinion is not unrepresented on the Internet," Teal'c says, but he doesn't sound like it's one that he shares.

Face on a Milk Carton (the rules of the universe remix)
Farscape/Torchwood XOVER; gen
I don't watch Torchwood and even I know how awesome this is. Snappy and fun.

Dance in the Snow (The Chiana Was Here Remix)
Farscape; Gen
I love John and Chiana's relationship in canon, how she'd clearly like to be more than friends (or at least get a leg over) and he's never going to see her as anything other than a little girl he loves. Such a good Chiana character study.

Everyone in Their Places (Jumping to Conclusions Disco Hustle)
Farscape; Chiana-centric gen
What does Chiana think of Moya's crew when she first meets them? Fascinating stuff, super sharp character insights.