Buffy!

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Carpentry by nwhepcat
Seven drabbles about Xander and woodworking, beautifully realized.

Exploring the Universe by Dolimir
Xander! Willow! The broken yellow crayon! Woo!

Ahem.

A story that takes us from that broken yellow crayon all the way to Cleveland in a few short snapshots of Xander and Willow. Lovely (though I wish the author had remembered Jesse in the list of people they've lost).

The Only Boy in the World by Polly Burns
Willow and Vamp!Willow go on the prowl, and they decide to have Giles as a snack. This is hot and creepy and nails the characters.

A quote:
Once, he used to wish for intrigue, adventure- once, some of this would have passed for intrigue and adventure. But, really, it's sloppy and chaotic, it's not smooth and rich, not sleek with the promise of glory, like what he used to dream of, in what he calls his youth. Wesley Wyndham Pryce reminds him so much of himself that it aches. This is something else he'll never admit. Because, under the leather and the put-on of decadence, he was that bright, once, that irritatingly filled with hope.

***

Sports Night & West Wing

SportsNight
Naissance by bj
Casey's having a New York renaissance of his own during the holidays. Aching and wistful look at how the familiar can be magical when viewed from a different angle, and the language and imagery is lovely, and I'm not saying that just because I, like Danny, love my city.

(Ignore the annoying stylistic tic of non-capitalization in the parentheticals. I do.)

A quote:
he will open the door of his building and be halfway down the stairs before he sees. danny. standing at the curb. a sparkly green plastic top hat in his hands, a noisemaker sticking out of his coat pocket. confetti scattered across his shoulders. a lonely look, a strange and wrong look on his face. happy new year, danny, casey will say. in the stairwell, danny's mouth will taste like champagne and on the couch his skin will taste like time.

Ubivis by bj
Dan is not fine. But he's working on it, with Abby, with Casey. And bj gets Dan, gets right inside him and his doubt and hurt and anger, and his desire to get better, fast.

***

The West Wing
José Cuervo, or How Will Bailey Stopped Worrying and Started Dating a Republican by aerye
Utterly brilliant fic that totally captures Will, Joe and the Sorkinese with a light hand and a hilarious take on the "wake up next to someone you can't remember bringing home" cliché. This is my favorite of the yuletide stories, I think. I adore it and want to have its babies. I can completely see both Will and Joe saying this dialogue.

***

Good Omens

Good Omens
The Best Christmas Ever by Amy
Christmas in Lower Tadfield really *is* the Best Christmas Ever, every single year. Aside from the gleeful irony of the whole *idea* of the Antichrist celebrating the perfect (secular) Christmas, this story is a warm and comforting way to play catch-up with some characters I love.

Cumulative Effort by magpie
This is a lovely Crowley/Aziraphale story that charts their relationship - with desire and with each other - over a few thousand years. Lovely and in character (there are a few typos, but nothing to stop you from reading it).

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear by daegaer
Hee! Aziraphale leads the heavenly host in reporting the news of Jesus' birth, but the shepherds are having a hard time keeping their wits. Meanwhile, Crowley's got a bit of annunciating to do himself, though he'll get in trouble if Hell discovers what he's done. Funny, evocative of the book, could easily slide into canon. I loved it.

***

Harry Potter

Harry Potter
If You're Breathing by Sandy Justine
Oh. Oh. Just absolutely heartbreakingly perfect Harry/Neville post-OotP. The DA is still around, and Harry's trying to make a point. "If you're breathing, keep fighting" is Harry's rule, and Neville never gives up, even though he doubts himself. Wonderful characterization, well-written action sequence, and so sweetly achy at the end. It doesn't matter which of them has been marked by Voldemort, they're in it together now.

All Through the Night by Casira
Fun with the Hogwarts choir. Sirius hears a mysterious voice in the halls after choir practice, and investigates. Lovely sense of balance between boyishness and yearning, between childhood and the darker times that are coming soon for all of them. And great appreciation for music.

Alpha Male by Laura Smith
James and Sirius may be the ringleaders, but they know who's really in charge. James submits.

The Collar by The Fanwank Avenger
This was written for me and it is hot hot hot like a very hot thing. Remus. Sirius. A collar. A distraction. Sex. Guh.

So You Want to Transfigure Yourself a Rock Band by mousapelli
Cute, funny, sexy MWPP-era story where Sirius enlists the boys in his new rock band, with lovely Remus/Sirius UST.

Impropriety by setissima
Ginny/Remus. No, wait. Don't run away. This is beautiful and painful and hot, and Remus always loves who he can't have, but then he can and he does, and well, we know how *that* ended, right? And years pass, and he's alone, until Ginny stops by, and she knows, and she does, and they do.

Into the Light of the Dark Black Night by k
A powerful, subtle, sharp and sad exploration of Lily Evans, using her love of the Beatles as a theme and her feelings of dislocation first at Hogwarts and then at home, k manages to write a story that feels completely and utterly *right*, from Lily's first reaction to Sirius being that he's mental to the slow way she finally gives in to James's charm to her alternating annoyance and sadness at the way she and Petunia grow apart.

The Last Temptation of Remus J. Lupin by kai
Remus has to make a choice, and either way, it costs him dearly. This is a lovely bit of characterization (ignore the horrible nickname "Remy" - it's a friend from childhood, before Hogwarts, who calls him that), and Remus dealing with how the choices he makes seal his fate, to paraphrase his mother in the story. Will he choose himself or the Order? And how will he live with the choice?

Masked Revels by Sam Vimes
Mythology. Hogwarts. The Green Man. Dude, how can I not love this? Beautiful masks arrive for MWPP (and others), with notes attached asking them to keep it all a secret. Much mythologically inspired smut ensues in celebration of Beltane.

The Most Ridiculous First Name I've Ever Heard by mousapelli
Short, powerful, ungodly creepy. The story takes the premise of lycanthropy as STD to its most logical, and scary, conclusion.

No One Said It Would Be Easy by lise
Companion piece to No One Ever Said It Would Be This Hard (previously recced)
Remus comes back to teach DADA in Harry's sixth year, and Harry learns more than just hexes and counterspells. The lingering grief and pain both Harry and Remus feel in the aftermath of Sirius's death is palpable in this story - I read the whole thing through blurry eyes and with a lump in my throat.

A quote:
"I want you to tell me why. Why." Harry took a breath, fighting the anger in him. He stared at the piece of paper. "Look at it," he told Remus, quieter. "What have I really learned? All those things, and it all boils down to the fact that I'm alive, and other people aren't. That, means something, right." He gulped. "Just, what does it mean?"

The suitcase dropped, banged painfully against Remus's shins. He took the paper, and scanned it carefully. For a moment, all Remus did was stand there, staring at the parchment, and then he finally murmured, "Some people trust you, some don't. That's just the way it is."

This story breaks my heart with its painful rightness.

****

Master & Commander

Master and Commander (movieverse)
Like Distance, Like Time by Nifra Idril
Hollom finds his courage.

I love how each line is heavy with the weight Hollom is carrying - the weight that he's too old to be where he still is, that Warley died when it should have been him, that he's coming to believe the men's superstitions, and that he finally finds the strength to act and it buoys him up against the load he carries, even as it sinks him down into the sea.

Lovely.

Sounding by hossgal
All beta bias aside, this is a wonderful bit of character exploration that feels as if it could be slotted right into the movie. Aubrey's dreams take him somewhere he'd never go in daylight, and hossgal gets his character *down*. The use of language is lovely and sensual; we drown with Jack as he sinks beneath the surface.

Three Ways to End an Acquaintance by Shalott
Lovely fic, examining three possible outcomes of a duel between Aubrey and Maturin.

*

Smallville, Wicked

Smallville
Something Ritual by Slodwick
Oh wow.

Heartrending. Vivid, suffocating, evocative, stunning... I'm running out of adjectives. There are a couple of tense changes in odd places, but even that doesn't detract. Just an amazing bit of writing - I could see everything so clearly. The prose was spare and sharp, the emotions real and palpable. Absolutely amazing work.

*

Wicked
Like Magic by Amy
Wicked Fic! Woo! Amy takes the delicate yet enduring and complicated relationship between Galinda and Elphaba and makes it tangible; you'll ache for them both while reading this set of linked drabbles, because the language is both precise and elliptical, and wonderfully evocative in the bargain.

*

XMM & Ultimate X-Men

Ultimate X-Men
Antiochus Wept by Azurine
I don't read much X-fic anymore, and I don't even read the Ultimate books, but every once in a while, I drop by Az's LJ to see if she's got anything new, and hot damn. Charles/Erik at Hanukkah sometime in their past, I guess, and Erik's megalomania is on full display, and Charles is swept up in his madness. The religious imagery is what makes it so chilling, I think. You know I'm a sucker for that. And even though it's Ultimate, it's amazing and shivery to imagine Stewart and McKellen speaking this dialogue.

***

X-Men Movieverse
In Alaska by Katherine
Rogue goes away to prove she can make it on her own. She and Logan both learn to that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Subtle, in character, and well-done.

The "Say it with Fic" Holiday Update

Edited to add yuletide author names

I’m separating out the yuletide recs because they don't have authors' names attached at the moment, but once I add them to the Unfit Recs pages, they’ll just be listed with the rest of the fandom recs, and I'll add the authors' names when they're revealed.

also, how are Jack/Will or Xander/Willow rare pairings? But what the hell do I know?

Yuletide recs, by fandom:

Bend It Like Beckham
Friendship and Love by Claire
Bend It Like Beckham should inspire fic, because who *didn't* think Jules was in love with Jess? Well, Jules isn't sure, herself, and there's that whole Joe thing in the way, but she's working through it, and this fic follows her thoughts

Homicide: Life on the Street
All Is Calm and All Is Bright by Seana Renay
Frank visits Tim in prison at Christmas time. Oh, the guilt, the conversation, the perfect Frankentim-ness of it all will break your heart.

Northern Exposure
Oy Magic by Smara
Northern Exposure fic! Whee! Joel and Chris and blowjobs around a fire at the full moon. Guh. And a really good Joel-voice, I thought, which was necessary to make me believe this, because me? I adored Fleischman/O'Connell in all its irritating push-me/pull-you glory. But Chris... mmm...

Pirates of the Caribbean
Out of His Depth by Gloria Mundi
Oddly, I haven't recced any PotC fic, mainly because I haven't read much of it, though I have a list of links. But I really enjoyed this, with Will getting the tour of Tortuga, and discovering that Jack's beautifully tanned skin lingers in his mind's eye. They go for an unexpected moonlight swim, and Will realizes what he wants. Lovely.

Sandman
Alike in Ignorance by Eleanor K.
Desire intrudes on Dream's meeting with Hob Gadling. Amazingly lovely, in character (and Dream/Desire is a hard sell), and hot, with lush prose and an aching sense of need and confusion. *g* Brilliant.


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Go. Read. Enjoy. Send feedback.

Also, lemme know if any links don't work, if you liked, you didn't like, you find the recs helpful or not...

Happy Holidays!