Shrift: Big Damn Zombies, Sir

*ahahahhaa*

Okay, yeah, everyone and their mama has recced this one, but
there's a *really* good reason for that. Namely, that it's funny,
scans like an episode, everyone's in character, and it's
*freakishly* believable.

Because... Jayne.

Braaaaains...

*

Jane St Clair: Burn

Really just fabulous, atmospheric as is Jane's wont, sexy and
strange in a way that really works for any story River's got
a hand in. Mm.

*

Molly: Logos (The Word is the Life Remix)

Can I just say how *happy* I was when I found out who was
remixing me? Because, well, I *knew* it would be good, and hot,
and real, and perfect, and it *is*. *happysigh*

Crazy beautiful spacecest, and let's all take a moment to vow
our vengeance on FOX, shall we?

This was lovely, more River than River. And... yeah.

*

Pearl-o: Simon/River snip

Another fabulous contained story-let in Pearl-o's serial. Really, it's
chilling without being explicit, angsty without a wallow. Short, sweet,
and to the point. Mm.

A couple of places Simon's voice seemed off, but I think I see what
she was going for. I'm not sure it works in a story of this type, but
YMMV.

Pearl-O: Simon/River Snippets

Oh, *yum*. Pearl-O is writing a sort of serial of snippets featuring
everyone's favorite hetcest pairing of delicious wrong. There's a link
on that page to the first.

They can be read in order or alone, and they're wonderful. This is
my Simon and my River, and they're beautiful here.

*

Bonibaru: Unchained Melody

*blink*

Isilya's Literary Challenge is an interesting one. A game of intellect and
creativity newly applied to fan-fiction. I joined out of... well, let's be honest --
I was feeling masochistic.

Especially because I wound up spending *hours* trying to come up with
a decent *question*, let alone trying to answer the question given to me.

But I came up with one (decency remains in question), and it wound up
in *good* hands. There are some pairings that really shouldn't work.

Some pairings that should only work in the broadest, most ridiculous
comedy.

This story takes one of those pairings absolutely seriously and makes it
work, crafting a story with real depth and sexiness and *drama*, and
generally blowing my mind.

Wow.
 

*

Jane St Clair: Taste of This

Oh. My. What's that? A new challenge on the horizon? Why, yes... And Jane's
kicking ass and taking names as usual, crafting four *fabulous* Simon vignettes
from whole cloth.

The beauty here is just astonishing, and lulls the reader into a false sense of
security just in time to be blown away by the... well.

I *refuse* to spoil.

and The Edges of Things

*eeek* This was originally written to cheer me up. I choose to believe that says
more about what my friends *think* of me than about *me*.

*snicker*

Dude, it's so fucking *good*.

And oh, if I have to have a het OTP, let it be just as twisted and wrong and utterly
*fucked* up as this.

The last line will freeze your heart.

*

Debchan: "Touring" (vid)

Oh, man. When Deb told me she was thinking of using this song for Firefly,
I jumped up and down and squee'ed like the pathetic fangirl I am, because...

*Dude*.

It was perfect. Just perfect.

Everything fell right into place in my head, and Deb's just taken it that one
step further, that step between "wow, cool idea," and "*WOW*, GREAT
FUCKING VID!"

You *will* pogo. You *will* marvel at the fact that Zoe, apparently, fights
in rhythm.

She does! Look again!

You will love this vid. I can't stress that enough. The timing, the clip
choices, the meta and sheer *intelligence* about the source material...

*happysigh*

Go!

*

Lemon Lashes: Powder Burns

Lemon writes, I read, I squee, I rec.

Really, this was absolutely fabulous. She calls herself a canon victim, I call her
a genius. She takes her wild and wacky-darksome take on the characters and
weaves it right back into the storyline we've been given. And it's all so *plausible*
all of a sudden.

Now *I* want to know what went on with Wash during the war, and I'm terrified
for Jayne, and I want pictures of Mal in his new duds and and and.

*gyah*

RIVER.

Jebus.

More.

Molly: (ab)normal iteration

Heh. Is it official yet? What would it take to *make* it official? Mailing lists?
An archive?

It's official in head and soul, in any event. Simon and River have... *something*
that goes just a bit beyond brother and sister in that scary bad wrong sweet
loving desperate way that trips my trigger something *fierce*.

And apparently Molly's too.

She captures all that complicated love and then some with this piece, and
leaves me... well, yes. Wanting more.

*

Lemon Lashes: Sojourn on Beaumond

This. RULED.

I can't even *begin* to describe how much this ruled.

I mean... is there really *anything* like reading fan fiction by authors who
honestly *love* most everything about the shows they watch? Where every
word might as well be tribute, no matter what the subject matter?

God, this was just so damned cool.

Every character was dead on target. There was humor, and pain, and
hotness, and fear, and eeee.

Just fucking *perfectly* done.

Wow.

And Tailor Made

See above. Jesus, Lemon Lashes is good. Another beautiful ensemble
piece, full of all the humor, heat, pain, and joy that the very best Joss shows
inspire.

*LOVE*

And Cut Away

See. Above.

My fucking GOD. Hot and wild, at turns lyrical and stark -- just when it needs
to be. Lemon Lashes has a gift for the ensemble, an ear and an eye for the
*people* who make up the Serenity's crew that make each and every story
an absolute delight to read.

Even if she *isn't* writing anything like the pairings *I* happen to see when I
watch the show.

Rock. On.

*

Molly: Untitled

Eeeee. Molly wants to claim that she didn't do this, but oh, she did,
she really DID, and it's amazing.

Dark and sweet and painful and dirty in the best way. That helpless way.

Like the most inevitable addictions, where you know the next drink/smoke/
shot/whatever could very well kill you, but you have to take it anyway.

Because it's what you are.

*

Northlight: charmed life

Mmmm. I've been *waiting* for someone to write good, deep Inara fic
and Northlight delivers.

A lovely braided series of tales about... well, about the tales we tell, or
could tell, and how the truth gets slippery sometimes. charmed life is a
marvelously subtle look at just how a Companion might approach the
problem of how to talk about his or her history... depending on who
asks.

Wonderfully done, even if my first response was none of the above.

Perhaps *because* my first response was none of the above.

Debchan: Tetchy

I can see the future. And it involves... me making a page for Firefly recs very
soon. *snerk*

God, this was perfect.

Hilarious and in-character and hot and even *more* hilarious. *Exactly* what
I've been picturing when it comes to Simon and Jayne. Because... well,
they really just *would*, you know?

*snicker*

Have a quote:

Jayne smirked at Simon all through lunch and asked pointed questions about
how he found his chair. Not too hard, was it, and did he need a cushion, and
hey, was that epoxy he smelled?

He stopped smiling about four bites into his stew. He was mid fifth bite when
his eyes rolled up in his head and he pitched face first into his plate.

Everyone at the table paused and stared, first at Jayne, then at Simon, who
carefully set his fork down and dabbed at his mouth with his napkin. "Oh dear,"
he said casually. "Stew must be off."

Once Jayne regained consciousness, Simon anxiously waited for the other
shoe to drop. But when nothing unusual happened for a few days, and he began
to allow himself to relax. This, he realized, was a tactical error, when he found
the door to the head in his berth had been welded shut while he'd been bathing.

"You shouldn't have drugged him," Kaylee told him through her welder's mask
two hours later.

Barely covered by a towel and shivering, Simon brushed past her and grabbed
a robe from his bed.

"No? Really?"

She must have missed the sarcasm, or else his teeth were chattering too much
to make it comprehensible, because she nodded and added, "Too nice. Guys
like Jayne need something a little stronger. You know, to make a point."

"Like a spanner to forehead?"

She tilted her head, then said, "That might do it."

~

*snerrrrrk* Just read. Right now.

*

Lemon Lashes: And the Stars They go Round and Round

Well, this was just fucking beautiful.

Wash, musing on the life and life-cycles of pilots, on love and death and
madness and hurt.

There's so much good woven expertly through this that it's hard to pick out
individual pieces for comment. Wash's memories of learning to fear,
the fabulousness of the pure sci-fi moments, the fact that Lemon Lashes
refuses to let Wash off the hook for what he's doing, even though there
are so many ways she could...

Dude, read it.

And: Of Drugs And Juggled Goslings

Lemon Lashes gets deep into Simon's head for this one, a hot and
gorgeous study on desire, impatience, and the games we play to get
what we want.

What we need.

Wonderfully done, and so hot I was reading slack-jawed and glaze-eyed.

Lysimache: Gnomic

Oh, so those of you familiar with my blog know that the Firefly pilot kicked
my ass. Those of you who aren't familiar? It kicked my ass. The atmosphere
was incredible, the banter was Jossily perfect, sure, but what really got me
was the way that the characters just came *through*.

Even though we were robbed of the true, character-developing pilot through
network executive idiocy, the mix of a good script and stellar acting meant
that I, at least, had no doubts whatsoever about who these people were.

And I fell in love with all of them.

It was like... god. I'd say my best days in Due South, but that wasn't really an
ensemble show. More like my best days in the Buffy and Angel fandoms,
where every new scene was a marvel, as opposed to something to grit my
teeth through while I waited for my favorites.

Still, I did *have* favorites, and one of them was Kaylee. Her scene with
Inara just did me in in terms of emotional warmth and visceral heat and I've
been waiting for some good, meaty slash.

This story is it.

I never would've thought to tell it in second person omniscient, but after a
moment or two to adjust, it felt just right. I was there and not there, observer
and observed, and the style served to bring all the feeling right to the
surface with nothing rushed, nothing overblown.

I look forward to more from this writer.

*

Lemon Lashes: The Filament

Should we love or fear those who fill fantasies we didn't even know
we had?

I'm going to go with love.

Take a whalloping dose of truly original science fiction, mix it with the
ultimate in hurt/comfort, cannily tease out the darkest possible answers to
the plotholes that annoy you, and add just a *pinch* of slash and you get
"The Filament."

I read this one with my jaw slack, people, and I think you will, too. Lemon
Lashes uses every last bit of *everything* we were given in the pilot episode
to create one of the most *memorable* pieces I've ever come across. I'm
starry-eyed with amazement.

I'm envious, too.

It could read a little smoother in the beginning, I think, but Lemon Lashes
quickly hits his/her stride.

Again, I'm looking forward to more.