Five fics that made me go *gulp*

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

A Half-Formed Thing by brutti_ma_buoni (Willow/Tara)
There's probably dozens of fics on the the topic "What if character X got split in two in 'The Replacement'", but this one is excellent - picking Willow apart, the good and the bad sprinkled liberally all over, refusing to pretend that either half is expendable.

Try by snowpuppies (Willow/Kennedy)
Snowpuppies remains one of the greatest writers in fandom and this is desperately good. If you're not already a member of the People Who Don't Hate Kennedy Club, she'll make you one.

The Desert's Quiet; Cleveland's Cold by protoneoromanic (Giles)
A brilliant fusion of an all-too-believable what-if and one of the saddest songs in music history. The sort of fic that's already punched you in the gut by the time you feel it.

Make It Stop by deird1 (Dawn)
Post-s5, Dawn could say a lot. She doesn't.

Anyway, I Hate Divorces by HarveyWallbanger (Ethan/Giles, Ethan/Spike)
And speaking of fics riffing on favourite songs, this is a heartbreakingly bleak but multi-layered take on Ethan's 1970s and 80s, trying to find something he may have lost. No one could be so thoroughly against absolutely everything. Not even a teenager. There's nowhere left to go after that.

Comments

[snogged.livejournal.com]

This is a great list!

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

How is it I've been missing all of these great stories? Thanks for the recs.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[rbfvid.livejournal.com]

It's a great list, and I missed deird1's fic, how could I?!

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Deird is amazing - she even wrote fic in Latin (http://deird1.dreamwidth.org/203019.html) this year!

[protoneoromanic.livejournal.com]

Awww. thank you!

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Thank you for a great little story!

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

Great stories all!


Gabrielle

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

They are, aren't they?

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

Another great and interesting list, thanks for posting.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Thanks - once a year, we get to do what you do all year round. :)

[yourlibrarian]

Hee, love your twinned list topics :D

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[brutti-ma-buoni.livejournal.com]

Thanks for including me on both of these - I'm really flattered. And there are other new things to read, hurrah.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

You're more than welcome, on both counts - thanks for being so inclusion-worthy! :)

[double_dutchess]

Nice to get a list of stories that were all new to me! I have only had time to read the short ones so far, but those were all great, so I'll have to find the time for the longer ones too.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Most of what I've read this year has been fairly short, so if I'm including something longer, you know it's good. :)