Title: Home
Fandom: Star Trek Voyager
Pairing: Janeway/Chakotay, Belanna/Tom
Categories: angst, family, friendship, romance, post canon
Length: super epic
Warnings: issues with criminal justice system/arrest, mild depression, canon-typical themes of political upheaval

Author on LJ: n/a
Author Website: For Love of Art

Summary: The crew of Voyager is back in the Alpha Quadrant, but all is not coming up roses; Chakotay is in prison, Janeway is under review, and the entire crew is struggling with being back home.

Review:
For those of us who belong to old fandoms, you remember when reading fanfic meant trolling through pre-google days of selfhosted websites. I commend and thank every single one of the Old Guard writers who took the time to post their stories, their actions becoming the literal foundation for online fandom that we have today. We owe them a lot. Cassatt is one such writer and one of my favourites.

I've been a fan of their stories for nearly fifteen years, all of their stories are amazing and helped shaped my own fanon of STV. So I recommend you reading all of their works, but I've recommended 'Home' here because its a BEAST of a read. It's a novel really and reads like one.

It is set post finale...sortof, where Voyager is back in the Alpha Quadrant but Cassatt ignores quite a bit of the elements of seasons 6/7 (y'all know which parts I'm talking about lol). One of the most delightful elements is how Cassatt writes the rest of Janeway's family - namely her mother and sister. They've been touched on in canon, but it's really the work of fanfic writers (like Cassatt) that brought our fanonization of who these women are. There are political ramifications, complications, acts of illegality and of course, Janeway and Chakotay finally FINALLY getting their shit together and realizing they love one another.


'Home' by Cassatt

Title: Seasons
Fandom: Sanctuary
Pairing: Helen/John
Categories: angst, romance, pwp, historical
Length: Long (18k in five parts)
Warnings: canon typical violence (including themes of abuse and domestic violence), mild blood/knife play.

Author on LJ: nocleversig
Author Website: on sanctuaryfiction.net

Summary: The beginnings of Helen and John's romance, Winter through Fall, from Innocence to Darkness.

Review: nocleversig is one of the best authors in the Sanctuary fandom, I recommend reading everything they've written. I've never been disappointed. I'm reccing 'Seasons' in particular though because of how it honours the canon by showcasing the journey of Helen and John's relationship. nocleversig uses the structure of seasons to create the structure for the passing of the narrative, starting off with firsts - kisses, glances, love, etc, the wonderful feels it gives you of just how perfect they were for each other and how happy they could be. The rest of the stories (its a series btw) follows the slow progression to winter, symbolizing the painful death of their relationship. Following the degeneration of their lives, their love, but never their passion, is heart-wrenching and compelling as all heck. If you ship these two, you love their angst. The extremes they go to from light and happy to all-encompasing darkness.

Seasons

Title: Reporting for Duty Trilogy
Fandom: Star Trek Voyager
Pairing: Naomi Wildman/Icheb
Categories: romance, action
Length: epic (90k)
Warnings: mild violence

Author on LJ: n/a
Author Website: on ff.net

Summary: set post-series, Naomi and Icheb are serving on the USS Lindbergh, trying to navigate the rough world of their first assignments as Ensigns while still maintaining their friendship...and maybe something more.

Review:
When you have a small ship it always sucks because there's so little fic to read, and there's almost never anything long and plotty. I've been shipping Naomi/Icheb since Voyager first aired; I just loved both the characters so much and I felt that they would really compliment each other well. But this ship is a private ship, *cries tears of no ficness*. Until I came across this wonderful series about a year ago.

MavFan captures the voices of Naomi and Icheb perfectly and believably positions them as adults back in the Alpha Quadrant, dealing with being newly minted Starfleet officers. What I particularly love about this series is the sense of history that MavFan injects into the pair. It's set in the future, but they have known each other for *so* long that they are best friends. And watching them transition from friends to lovers feels organic and it's just downright adorable.

Plus, there's lots of wonderful cameos from all the Treks which is delightful. Ezri Dax features predominantly as the Captain.

Part 1: Reporting for Duty
Part 2: Collective Freedom
Part 3: Frozen Fiasco

Title: california girls (we're unforgettable)
Fandom: Teen Wolf/Veronica Mars/Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Pairing: gen (references to canon pairings)
Categories: angst, crossover, family, friendship
Length: short
Warnings: afterlife, canon character deaths

Author on LJ: n/a
Author Website: on ao3

Summary: Allison never really believed in an afterlife. But then, she didn't believe in werewolves either until she met one.

Review: I still really haven't accepted Allison's death, but this fic makes it okay. It's a gorgeous little fic about Allison's journey into the afterlife and all the remarkable women she meets there. The tri-crossover works *really* well here, grangerbutstranger captures all the characters beautifully and makes you wish that they had the chance to meet during life (someone ought to write that). It's the best of female friendship and bonding, and the strength forged from fighting for something you believe in.

california girls (we're unforgettable)

Title: Summer in Neptune
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Veronica Mars
Pairing: Buffy/Veronica
Categories: crossover, romance, angst
Length: Long
Warnings: canon typical violence

Author on LJ: n/a
Author Website: on ao3

Summary: Instead of running away to LA at the end of season 2, Buffy runs back to her old high school, showing up on the doorstep of her best friend Veronica.

Review: 'Summer in Neptune' is the first story in an on going series that blends these two fandoms together in a wonderfully believable way. As fandoms, Buffy and Veronica are largely considered sister shows (helped along by a delightful cameo by Joss in VM) so the blending of them feels righ - like in the way you've always believed they belonged together. There's some understandable stumbling blocks (as any meshing of a supernatural fandom and a reality based one is). But the real delight of this series is the interactions between Veronica and Buffy. The two queens of sass and badassery kicking ass and taking names.

Sister fandoms they may be, but the author writes Buffy and Veronica as lovers and believe you me, you'll ship it. Watching them move from friends to lovers is wonderful and age appropriate (the story takes place while they are both in high school).

Summer in Neptune

Title: Melange
Fandom: Sanctuary
Pairing: Helen/John/James
Categories: angst, pwp
Length: short (40 words)
Warnings: none

Author on LJ: geonncanon
Author's Website: on ao3

Summary: "perhaps it's all in his head"

Review It's a testament to an author's skill to be able to fully capture characters and their complicated relationships in so few words. But that's what geonncanon does, in 40 words the broken beauty of this trio is captured in perfection. It's a raw, sexual mess that's both hot and unsettling, but that's what we love about these three. In these forty words, the entire canon relationship between them is expertly summarized, it *is* them.

'Melange'

Title: The Long Way Home
Fandom: Veronica Mars
Pairing: Veronica/Logan
Categories: romance, drama, post canon
Length: Long
Warnings: graphic consensual sex, dark violent themes in line with canon

Author on LJ: n/a
Author Website: on ao3

Summary: post movie&book, Veronica and Logan try to figure out what it means to be together as adults in the new world Neptune is turning into.

Review: I have a sneaking suspicion that absolutelyiris is in fact a nomdeplume for either Rob Thomas or Jennifer Graham (Thomas' cowriter for the VM novels), that's how fucking good this story is. It's so good I have to swear.

This story takes place right after the events of 'The Thousand Dollar Tan Line' which you don't *have* to have read to read this, but you should because it's friggen fantastic. Iris manages to so perfectly capture the essence and voice of these characters in a way that is so rarely seen in fic. You've read good fic before, there's oodles of good even great VM fic out there, but I've never read anything that nails the characters and noir-tone with such perfection as this story did.

The story itself is a gorgeous character study-esque exploration of who Veronica and Logan are and where they are going. At the end of the movie we see them "back together" but he's been redeployed back with the Navy. In the novel, they are "together" but they haven't had more than a few days together before he's back on duty. So this story takes that, their together-but-not-ness and puts it under the microscope, exploring their love for each other and how they are going to make this work this time. There's a maturity to them both in how they approach their new lives together, but it's still Veronica and Logan after all.

Just go read it.

I totally think the author is Jennifer Graham.


The Long Way Home

Title: Lines in the Sand
Fandom: Sanctuary
Pairing: Helen/James/John (referenced James/Declan and whispered Helen/Nikola)
Categories: angst, historical, poly
Length: Medium (6k)
Warnings: drug use, canon character death (James)

Author on LJ: grav_ity
Author Website: on ao3

Review:
This may be my first Sanctuary rec here, but it will not be my last for this pairing. Helen/John/James is my OT3 of All Time and this fic is just gorgeous. It's heartbreaking, it's not a happy story, but it's not a sad story either.

Told from James' point of view, 'Lines in the Sand' is a collection of vignettes-pseudo-episode-tags that give us glimpses into the lives of The Five throughout their long history. If you're a fan of this 'pairing', you love the confusion and the angst that plague their lives and how truly dysfunctional they are; and that is full on display here. It beautifully showcases the way James and Helen find each other as a result of the betrayal of John to them both; both of them are so broken and damaged, it will take a century to heal and they find a way to heal together. It's not about love really, but about the consequences of choices and being immortal. Plus it's all poly-queer awesome.

The best part of this fic might be how it's really just a taste of the larger picture. You know how in canon it was frustrating because we only got tidbits of their story and their poly romance...well this story is very much the same, but instead of being frustrating it teases you and leaves you wanting more, but also feeling incredibly satisfied because its *so* on point.

Lines in the Sand

Title: For Henry
Fandom: Once Upon a Time
Pairing: Emma Swan/Regina Mills
Categories: drama, family, romance
Length: Super Epic (130K)
Warnings: addiction, discussions of past noncon/abuse

Author on LJ: n/a
Author's Website: on ao3

Summary: Tired of fighting with Regina over Henry, Emma decides to make peace and help her come to terms with her past. And along the way they find out there may be more between them than just anger.

Review: Oh this story. It's beautiful and heartbreaking and everything you want to read for these two. It's a two-part series, but the two parts bleed seemlessy into one another that it's really one read.

Hawthorne writes these two women so wonderfully in character, and watching them slowly and painfully stumble through their anger is a simply glorious reading experience. It's a story of friendship and family, and how both can ancor you to the world and help you heal.

What I especially love about this story is how it focuses on both Regina and Emma as individuals and the trauma they've both experienced, and how they both have to work on themselves before they can move forward. It's a complex and nuanced exploration of the characters that is sometimes uncomfortable to read - because life is uncomfortable. Their slow burn romance is beautiful, passionate and feels very honest. The story moves between character study movements and action-packed plot that is very much what OUAT.


For Henry

First a big hello, I'm a brand new reccer here at epic-recs and I'm super excited to be here. I hope you'll find something new and awesome to read in the recs I give. ~rak

Title: Learning the Language
Fandom: Star Trek Deep Space Nine
Pairing: Garak/Bashir
Categories: romance, humour, post canon
Length: Medium (13.5K)
Warnings: brief descriptions of medical trauma (he *is* a Doctor in a warzone)

Author on LJ: n/a
Author Website: at ao3

Author's Summary: Julian Bashir joins the post-war effort on Cardassia Prime because it seems like the most obvious thing to do: No planet is worse off after the war, he's a doctor, and they don't have enough of those. He's learning the language, because that's what you do when you're living somewhere for an indefinite amount of time. But he soon realizes that language isn't just about vocabulary and grammar, and learns a few things about his own past along the way.

Review: My absolute favourite setting for G/B fics is stories set post-series with Bashir finding himself drawn to Cardassia. And 'Learning the Language' is without a doubt, the best this scenario has ever produced.

Told from Bashir's POV it has him in that adorably-unawares state we love him in. He loves living on Cardassia and is planning on staying indefinitely, but he's avoiding thinking about the real reason he's there: Garak obviously. Garak for his part shines as the current leader of Cardassia, finally able to help his people in the way he's always wanted. They are both disgustingly in character (no small feat with these two men) and their interactions spark with unspoken love and lust, every touch and gaze written to perfection through Allemande's gorgeous writing. Cardassia itself comes to life, with Allemande describing enough details to paint a picture, but there's so much space between her words, letting your mind fill it in and it really helps make Cardassia feel like a real place in your mind.

Plus, it has the most beautiful 'getting together-we-realize-we-love-each-other' moment I've ever read in GB fanfic (if not one of all fanfic I've read).

The story does have two followup sequels; the second, Facing the Past, is adorable and definitely worth a read. The third is enjoyable, but lacks the depth and beauty of 'Learning the Language'. But go read this one, it's so fabulous; I've reread it several times and each time it's delightful.


Learning the Language