My Top 5 2005 Fave Spike/Xander fics

[crazydiamondsue.livejournal.com]

OTP's are hard, even when you don't claim to have "one." What's the line? "I could no more choose a single star from the heavens"? A bit poetic for my taste, but yes. This was hard. This should be Top 20 faves with the option of 17 honorable mentions...


February 17, 2005
Why Spike Can Be Submissive (As Told By Buffy, Willow and Giles) by ladycat777
Rating: PG-13 to R-ish for themes
Chapters: One-shot
WHY: Indeterminate future-fic. All things considered, I'm not a big fan of meta. Nothing against the practice itself, I just tend to be so generously all-encompassing (heh) that I'm prone to nod along with disparate points of view and think, "Yes, I agree with that." However...work your meta into fic? I'll be your huckleberry. This is a bit of meta-y fic focusing on the submissiveness of Spike, as observed and discussed by Willow, Giles and Buffy in respect to a Spike/Xander relationship (er, hence the title.) Lovely characterization and dialogue and she makes her point quite well. Plus, any time the un-crowned Queen of Porn writes a multi-character, talky fic, I'm there.

April 20, 2005
Without Price by winterlive
Rating: R
Chapters: 2, COMPELETED
WHY: BtVS Season Seven fic written in the style of eliade (Anna S). There's a mood to this fic. It's hard to put a name to, actually. It is in the spirit of eliade, ("Sidelines," "Subtleties," et al) but Winter's voice comes through clearly, as well as the basic elements of Spike and Xander that make those of us who gravitate to that pairing breathe a universal, "Yes...that's it." This is everything about them that works and every reason why it shouldn't and is ultimately a 'ship that passes, collides and shatters in the night. (Oh, and I mocked poetic. Ahem.) There's nothing domestic here, and everything doesn't get tied up with a slashy bow at the end, but the ride is brilliant.

May 1, 2005 - September 14, 2005
Wilderness by reremouse
Rating: NC-17
Chapters: 10, COMPLETED
WHY: Post "Chosen" - Spike discovers that Africa played with Xander, and it played a bit too hard. Xander's made a bargain that changes everything and Spike's left to deal with the fall-out. This is a pretty angsty story, quite a bit of hurt/comfort and huge consequences, but one of the things that makes reremouse one of my favorite writers is that, much like ME, she balances the angst with the funny. She writes an incredibly complex Spike, as well - everything is there from the vampire to the bumbling hero to the tears of a clown. He's got layers, dammit - and she lays them all out for the reader.

August 10, 2005 - August 29, 2005
The Assistant by witling
Rating: witling doesn't have a rating listed, and even though the sex scenes aren't terribly explicit, I'll still list it R to NC-17 for slash and violence that scared the beejesus out of me.
Chapters: 15, COMPLETED
WHY: AtS Season 5 AU. I'd actually considered this for my favorite things of 2005 list, but my lists ran amok and I placed it here instead, even though for all intents and purposes it isn't actually a Spander fic, per se. Oh, the pairing is central to the story, but it's also a story of Wesley and an ensemble horror story - truly not your daddy's shipper fic. This fic is dark, and those who know me know I'm weenie of the highest order, but the violence definitely isn't gratuitous, and every plot turn is earned. And did I mention Angelus? Because there were Angelus moments that canon barely hinted at - I reached levels of trying to toss the laptop into the freezer in a fearful "Friends" homage.

November 16, 2005
They Tell Me It Rained by savoytruffle
Rating: NC-17
Chapters: 8, COMPLETED
WHY: Post-"Chosen", Africa-centric Xander story, set in Los Angeles. savoytruffle, it almost goes without saying, is one of my all-time favorite Spike/Xander writers. A lot of the reasoning behind that is her talent for writing both of them as "guys." They feel like the canon characters - Xander isn't too needy, Spike isn't too manipulative. Yet when she puts them together, there's a charge between the characters that makes me doubt my canon knowledge. This is a chance meeting story, the characters at different places in their lives and there's no attempt to gloss over those changes or re-write their past. The fact that they both know that they can't go back and rewrite anything or undo those changes makes the moments they have all the more rich. Oh, and I love the title beyond the telling of it.</lj-cut

Comments

[lillianmorgan.livejournal.com]

Yay! Spike/Xander ::sigh:: Those last two have made their way on to my list too *g*. Just superb fics.
The second one sounds really interesting! This is everything about them that works and every reason why it shouldn't and is ultimately a 'ship that passes, collides and shatters in the night.
Yes that's a *really* good description of how I like to read S/X ::bookmarks::

[crazydiamondsue.livejournal.com]

winterlive's story blew me away. I was going through Spander burn-out at the time, and it really reminded me what I loved about the pairing in the first place. I had a really hard time limiting this list to 5, but I managed. :)

[savoytruffle.livejournal.com]

You know, there's a sequel in the making...

Actually, there's a sequel that is in the finishing...

[crazydiamondsue.livejournal.com]

Is there sequel in the posting? :) And hi!

[savoytruffle.livejournal.com]

No posting, yet. But since you preread the last, we might be able to work something out for the first 75%.

Hi!

[lirm35m.livejournal.com]

Gah! Just when i thought I'd read all the good Spander I could stand for the year, you come up with a list of 5 that I hadn't even heard of. I'll trust your judgement, cuz I love your writing and go check them ALL out soon. Thanx for this awesome list ;-)

[crazydiamondsue.livejournal.com]

Go me! Hee. And thank you (for the writing comment.) Those 5 in my top fave S/X writers ever and I'd recommend anything they write. "Wilderness" is definitely a must read and "The Assistant" just defies description. Hope you you find something to enjoy!

[lirm35m.livejournal.com]

That's the crazy part, they're some of my favourite Spander writers too and I can't believe that I managed to miss each and every one of these stories *slaps hand on head*, which is why I'm sooo glad you came through with these recs *g* I could only love you more if you wrote more rodeo!verse *cough*hint, hint*cough*

[crazydiamondsue.livejournal.com]

Yay for new stories!!!! Um. Yeah. Me writing. That should happen. Someday. *sigh* I don't know what my deal is - I have no problem blathering in this format, but for some reason I can't get the fiction-y stuff to work lately. I have promised more Rodeo!Verse to at least 3 people and entrenous88 even handed me a plot idea the other day but...yeah. I'm kind of stalled all around. I'm hoping things will slow down for me and writing will occur. Until then...uh...look at all the cool stuff I'm reccing! Hah! And thanks. :)

[katekat]

funny you should mention wilderness, because i just read it for the first time today and send gushy praise back because it was so fun. And I haven't read any of the others so I can't wait to read!

thanks for the list!

[crazydiamondsue.livejournal.com]

Isn't it a wonderful story? I really enjoyed her Spike characterization in that one. Yay! New things to read! You're welcome. :)

[yourlibrarian]

It is really hard to do an OTP list. You've made some great choices there though. Heh to your description of the first. I hadn't seen that and will have to check it out.

[crazydiamondsue.livejournal.com]

It was hard - narrowing down the 'ship I probably (even with my expecting fandom horizons in 2005) to just five...dude. Oh, yeah, LC's fic was quite a bit of lovely meta-fic.