Top 5 Epic Fics

[avidrosette.livejournal.com]

Fics of unusual scope and originality. These authors thought big and outside the box to produce some extraordinary reading.


Title: The Furnitureverse
Author: deborahmm
Pairing, Characters: Spike/Angel, Spike/Wesley, Cordelia
Rating: Mature (for very adult readers only!)
Warnings: strong and often disturbing sexual content, m/m slash, BDSM
Description: Wesley watches Angel dominate Spike with a mixture of repulsion and titillation that perfectly mirrors the reader's own. Angel's sanity is dubious; Spike's ability to consent is, too. Wes is so powerfully drawn to Spike that his ability to draw objective conclusions is compromised. Are there any reliable narrators? A graphic, disturbing, dryly humorous, and deeply literary fic that affected me profoundly. Fiercely original, it's suffused with intense, thwarted longing, the like of which I haven't seen outside a Charlotte Bronte novel.

Title: Travelling Blind
Author: sangpassionne and evilmaniclaugh
Pairing, Characters: James Marsters/Adam Baldwin (somewhere between RPS and human AU)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: m/m slash, sexual content
Description: A chance encounter with a former acquaintance sucks James into a tightening web of nebulous loyalties and international intrigue. An awesome spy novel with spectacular plotting and gripping characterization, spanning settings that range from New York to London to Chechnya, this extraordinary fic is not to be missed.

Title: Fragments series:
Not the End
Late Night Porn Store Blues
How the Light Gets In
Human Frailty
Before the Time of Dawn
Author: shadowscast
Pairing, Characters: Spike/Xander, Illyria
Rating: Mature
Warnings: m/m slash
Description: Xander discovers a down and out Spike living in obscurity in LA in this sensitively imagined post-NFA shanshu series. Subtle characterizations and a relationship that unfolds at a believable pace make these fics stand out from others with a similar theme.

Title: Babylon
Author: tabaqui
Pairing, Characters: Spike/Xander
Rating: Mature
Warnings: m/m slash
Description: Spike and Xander struggle to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. Remarkably rich world-building and mind-bending dimensional stuff take center stage here; the romance is secondary in this gripping fic.

Title: the Blood series:
Old Blood
Blood Kin
The Blood Is the Life
Blood Rites
Blood Price (WIP)
Author: nandibble
Pairing, Characters: Spike/Buffy, Spike and Dawn
Rating: Mature
Description: What if the vampires Spike sired during his possession by the First were a bit cannier than your average vamp because of their distinguished parentage? So begins this excellent series of novels that go on to explore the nature of fraternal bonds among vampires and among humans. Outstanding command of the novel form makes this series unusually intelligent and involving.

Comments

[lillianmorgan.livejournal.com]

What a diverse list! I must admit to being very intrigued by what you're listing here, and you answered my call today of Spike/Wesley :)
I'm very glad to see The Furnitureverse get a mention.
And I'm always so incredibly impressed by authors who can keep such a long and complicated 'verse in their heads. Thanks for celebrating that!

[shapinglight]

Thanks for the rec, luv. I've read all but one of those but I must give that last one a try soon. I love epic fics, though finding the time to read them can be hard.

[sueworld2003.livejournal.com]

Well I've read 2 out of the three listed here, and so I'll have to pop off and have a 'look see' at the others.

I adore deb's furnitureverse! I love how all the characters are the same as their 'cannon' counterparts, but with a dark twist. In this verse everything is just slightly 'off kilter' somehow and yet everything just seems so 'right'.

The writing is just superb.

[yourlibrarian]

Go figure -- I've actually read 4 out of the 5 but I don't think I'm current with the last one. I agree, I thought the scope of the idea for Travelling Blind was great and at the beginning you'd really no idea where it was going to go. I've got tabaqui and shadowscast on some of my lists too. Nice variety of genre here.

[avidrosette.livejournal.com]

I must admit to being very intrigued by what you're listing here

Oh, good! I'm glad there are a few here that you haven't read that look appealing.

I'm always so incredibly impressed by authors who can keep such a long and complicated 'verse in their heads.

Yes, I really admire that, too. It must be extremely difficult.

This list stuff is fun, and quite a bit harder than it seemed from the outside. Thanks for all your work on this community!

[avidrosette.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome, sweetie; you know I love that story.

I love epic fics, though finding the time to read them can be hard.

Yes, it really can. It reminds me of my early days in fandom (before I knew I had joined "fandom") when all I did was read, read, read. It gets harder to find the time for that when you want to participate in other ways as well.

[avidrosette.livejournal.com]

Well I've read 2 out of the three listed here, and so I'll have to pop off and have a 'look see' at the others.

I hope you enjoy them! I'd be curious to hear what you think if you end up reading them.

I adore deb's furnitureverse! I love how all the characters are the same as their 'cannon' counterparts, but with a dark twist. In this verse everything is just slightly 'off kilter' somehow and yet everything just seems so 'right'.

Yes, great description. She's offered each character a slight "what if" shift from canon, given them a push, and let them go to their logical extremes. It really works, and it's incredibly compelling.

[avidrosette.livejournal.com]

Go figure -- I've actually read 4 out of the 5 but I don't think I'm current with the last one.

Well, that's nifty - maybe we share similar tastes in reading. I hope you enjoy Nan Dibble's stories, if you decide to read. The craft of the first one is awesome, and the angst of the second is intense.

I've got tabaqui and shadowscast on some of my lists too.

I'll watch for your lists!

Nice variety of genre here.

Thank you, and thank you, too, for the work you've put into this wonderful community. You and lillianmorgan have created an excellent resource for a long time to come.

[yourlibrarian]

I'm glad you had fun putting together your lists. I've enjoyed it myself -- kind of like rediscovering all the things I liked!

[lillianmorgan.livejournal.com]

No problem. I guess we just hope people will find stuff that they like and that the makers will get some nice feedback! :)Thanks for your list and for commenting too. Much appreciated.

[shapinglight]

Yes, that's how it worked for me too, and since I started writing myself, the amount I read has gone down and down.