Henry Jenkins, MIT Media Studies Director (& a very clever man) said;

"Fan fiction is the way of the culture repairing the damage done in a system where contemporary myths are owned by corporations instead of owned by the folk." 

This is all old recs. I have a LJ where I now do recommendations:

tosca_reads

Please feel free to Friend it.

the folly of starlight

"There is much you would not know of my family." Legolas surreptitiously glanced sideways at each twin in turn, then sheepishly met Elrond's intense stare. "My father does not speak kindly of Rivendell." 

"Indeed." Elrond was far from surprised. Too much blood had been shed in the Last Alliance for Thranduil's heart to not have bitterness, even if it was misplaced. "Or its Lord, I would wager." 

"You do know my father well," Legolas uneasily answered. "He has not said much, only that my grandfather, and many of our people, died fighting under the flawed guidance of Imladris." 

The ancient elf's other eyebrow arched at that interesting tidbit of revisionist history. "So he says. Perhaps you and I will speak of the truth of the battle, if it interests you." 

The eagerness of the spring breeze flooded through Legolas' face. "It does. All things do." 

Smiling slightly, Elrond nodded in pleasant surprise. <<The house of Oropher is much enriched by this one. It must be his mother's blood.>> "Then welcome to Rivendell, Legolas, son of Thranduil. All that we have is yours to enjoy, for so long as you desire our company. For the moment, my sons will see to your comfort, and that of your friends." He caught the prince's gaze, a curious mixture of the ethereal gray of the morning fog and the otherworldly sapphire of Vilya, and felt his heart stir for the first time in far too long. Alarmed by his inexplicable reaction, Elrond turned away and started back toward his private quarters, but not before he thought he detected a hint of the rosy bloom of dawn on the prince's cheeks as Legolas stuttered his words of thanks. 

The Folly of Starlight by AC; Chapter 1: Images & Words

I have fallen in love with this new fandom pairing. AC's site the folly of starlight hosts her (eventually) novel-length series, which revolves around Legolas, Prince of Mirkwood, and Elrond, Lord of Imladris (Rivendell), prior to, during and after the events in The Lord of the Rings books.

Extensively researched (this lady could write entries for the Tolkein Dictionary) with intricately woven plots, delicate and subtle use of language, and an excellent grasp of psychology, this is a real page turner that refuses to let go.

Occasionally the prose shades into lavender, but there are also phrases of rare beauty which make up for this. The characters engage your interest and sympathy, and there is more than one moral dilemna to sink your teeth into. This is a high quality series you will read again and again. And again. And again. 

This is a Slash site. 
Stories vary in content, but the majority are NC-17.

due south virtual season

Brandow shook his head. "Don't mention it. It'll probably brush out." He ran a hand over the fine hairs again. Diefenbaker moved quickly from under the table and out into the corridor to sit next to Ray at his desk.
Fraser followed and leaned over to look the wolf in the face. "What possible reason could you have for such an action?"
Growl.
"I'm sure it is possible that he smells strange but that is no reason to deliberately shed all over him."
Whine.
"No, I don't think that he would understand that it had been inadvertent. Because it wasn't, was it?"
Bark.
"I won't accept that. You know better."
Snort.
"Well. You can think what you wish, I know the truth."
Woof.
Ray motioned to the wolf behind Fraser's back with a thumb's up and mouthed a 'way to go' at him. Dief smiled back at him.

Episode 11 "Funny Money" by Ashlan

For those of us who can't get enough of Big Red and the Cute Blonde with Experimental Hair (no, not Harper!), here's a site well worth visiting - the Due South Virtual Season. For Ray Vecchio fans, he makes a comeback also, with his usual snappy wardrobe and dialogue, though the main relationship (both plot-wise and romantic) is between Benton Fraser and Ray Kowalski.

The episodes are all well written, and whilst some are naturally more interesting and have better characterisation than others, overall I was very impressed by their quality and the overall continuity of the season.

Highlights for me were the insight into Turnbill in episode 5, Nancy's "A Very Civil Servant"; the interplay between Dief and Ray and Fraser's introspection in episode 11, Ashlan's "Funny Money"; and the handling of emotions in episodes 10, MR's "Cain & Abel" and 13, Carol Trendall's "Past Regrets & Future Fear". There are also a couple of very enjoyable crossover episodes, if you are a StarGate or Sentinel fan.

This is a Slash site. 
Episodes vary in content, but the majority are NC-17.

stargate sg-1 fanfiction awards

For Stargate SG-1 junkies, this is the ultimate link site to all the quality stories that have been put out over the last year. Although voting has ended, hours and hours can be spent browsing the nominations. These are divided into four genres; General, Shipper, Slash and Additional, with a wide variety of categories in each, ranging from humor, drama, action/adventure to comedy and stories about specific pairings or individual team members.

This is a mixed ratings links site. 
G and NC-17 sections are clearly marked and separated.

file 40

If you've run out of new stories in your favored fandom, here's a good recommendation for a new and interesting one - File 40. This is an archive (actually the archive) of Man from U.N.C.L.E.fanfiction, both general and slash.

For those too young to remember Man from U.N.C.L.E., it was a 1960's show about two secret agents - Canadian/American Napoleon Solo, and Russian Ilya Kuryakin, who worked for the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement, a sort of global troubleshooting authority. They mainly fought against the evil organisation T.H.R.U.S.H who were constantly attempting to take over the world (or at least a goodly part of it). 

Napoleon was debonairly handsome; dark-eyed, dark-haired, suave, charming, exquisitely dressed and almost always got the girl. Ilya was blonde, blue-eyed and beautiful; also reserved, sarcastic, extremely intelligent, dressed like a Beatnik and totally oblivious to most come-ons. Can we say slash just waiting to happen? Despite the different ideologies of their native countries the two had a close and witty friendship and always seem to be rescuing each other from dire situations - though Ilya tended to be the punching bag most of the time (this tends to follow through in most of the fiction).

If you haven't seen any of the series, it doesn't really matter - you'll pick up the background quickly enough. The characters involved are very distinct and appealing, and there are some great plots in the archived stories. Most of the pieces are still set in the 1960's although a few have been moved up to the 1980's or modern-day. File 40 has a wide range of material, ranging from  adequately to brilliantly written, but on the whole the standard is high. 

This is a mixed ratings site. 
G and NC-17 sections are clearly marked and separated.

delta blues

Harry Kim is pinned into his chair as Tom Paris makes yet another hairpin turn, darn near scraping the very large asteroid to port.   Tom is having the time of his life.

Harry's life is flashing before his eyes. Cute holograms, Borg hotties, babes both dead and undead, fiancés from alternate realities, and more bodacious terrorists than a James Bond film festival. And his own death... over and over and over...

Tom looks over his shoulder. "What's the matter, Harry? You look a little pale." His tone is almost scolding.

"I volunteered for a test (urp) flight, not a suicide mission," Harry groans. Where's a hurl bag when you need one?

Paris snickers. "How can we put the new Delta Flyer through her paces without taking a few risks?" To prove his point, Tom performs a maneuver so deft, Harry's spleen takes a few seconds to catch up and reenter his body.

Jim's Delta Blues Summary and Review site, is, OK, not quite a fanfiction site recommendation. Now, I have to admit I'm not a great fan of reading other people's reviews of TV series. Firstly, I have my own take on the episode and generally what other people say doesn't change my like or dislike of it. Secondly, I've seen it - why do I then want to read it?

Delta Blues changed my mind. Jim's episode summaries are highly amusing, irreverent and a damn sight better written than some fanfiction I've read. The entertainment value of Jim's summaries aside, they're also highly accurate. So if you're writing Voyager fanfiction, it's a good place to revise what happened, as well as reassess the characters, motivations and relationships aboard the starship Voyager.

Jim's reviews of the episodes are also engaging, and apart from a few freely-admitted biases, quite fair on the whole. Not only does he cover the acting, plot and dialogue, but also the themes and the deeper psychology underlying the story - what worked and what didn't. Whilst I haven't agreed with all his appraisals, on several occasions he has caused me to rethink not only my opinion of an episode, but also my own preconceptions - definitely the mark of a good writer.

Jim also reviews the latest Star Trek series "Enterprise" in the unsurprisingly titled Delta Blues Enterprise section.

This is a PG site.

flashpoint

Yvonne McCool's flashpointfiction offers a wide mixture of fantasy, modern-reality and sci-fi fan and original fiction, ranging from mild G het to raunchy NC-17 slash. Fans of Blair and Jim from The Sentinel will especially love the fanfic. Her futuristic G-rated Sentinels series Upgrade is an enjoyable series with involved plots, multiple realistic original characters and intelligent history and social comment. She also knows how to be serious whilst still having fun - Scientific Investigation is a great little must-read for any slash writer. And how can you go past a woman who knows how to rate things? i.e.

Yvonne is also highly prolific as well as an excellent writer. Unlike the rest of us, she's very kind to her public and posts release schedules for her work. Not only that - she keeps to them. This will eventually either get her canonized or lynched by the Guild of Slash Writers. ;-)

This is a mixed ratings site. 
G and NC-17 sections are clearly marked and separated.

fugue

Fugue. A state of lost time; moments that have slipped away, never to be regained.
What happens between the conscious vignettes stored in our memories?
Join me. Step down the corridors of the unseen, the forgotten.

So runs the intro to Fugue, repository of Candace's excellent Xenaverse stories and series, most (but not all) of which center around Deimos, God of Terror (aka that blond Strife look-alike). 
Normally I don't care for this particular god - he is seldom portrayed as a particularly sympathetic character and is most often used as a cardboard cutout 'loony/deviant/evil war-god' plot device. However, through the dint of good story telling, Candace has converted me. She makes him both likeable and understandable, without losing any of his, er, scary and psychotic qualities. 

Cupid [God of War] scowled at Deimos appraisingly, then flung the bowl at his head without warning. Deimos parried the object easily with the guard of the sword, fixing his eyes on Cupid rather than the bowl that was rocking and settling itself rather loudly upon the cobblestones at his feet.
"He'd never have done that," Cupid said, grinning.
"Really?" Deimos asked sarcastically. "He liked getting beaned in the head by dinnerware?"
Cupid laughed, his teeth white and perfect against his tear and dirt stained face. "That's the Bowl of Comfort!"
Assuming there was some sort of ploy afoot to make him look down, Deimos continued to stare hard at Cupid. 
"Oh, I guess I didn't recognize it without the Cup of Forgiveness and the Fork of Serenity."  
from 'Dis-comfort'

Some of the stories are intensely funny and I particularly love her Terror series [WIP]. Her characterization of Cupid, God of War in it really inspired me - as you can see in screw the roses - give me the thorns above. Another favorite is Bad Boy, a twisted little modern-day Deimos/Strife Halloween tale that is very hot in an "ooooh man, I so don't believe he did that" kinda way. In fact, overall her writing has a wealth of sly originality and a cool delivery I very much admire. And add to that some very steamy love/sex scenes...

This is an NC-17 slash site.

ecolea

Feel like settling down to a well written, carefully researched and intricately plotted story? 
Ecolea's Eclectic Reading Room is the place to go. 
My favorites are her two brilliant crossovers - Future Winnings (Mulder goes Voyagering) and Changing of the Guard (Methos through the Stargate). The latter is especially impressive in its accurate characterization, psychology and ambience. 

Methos laughed softly. "I know I'm not Daniel, but if you like, I can accidentally drop a few of your favorite, most breakable possessions on occasion," he offered helpfully. 
O'Neill looked thoughtful for a moment then shook his head sadly as the elevator opened at their floor. 
"Nah. It's no fun if it isn't spontaneous. But thanks anyway." 
from 'Changing of the Guard 1'

And if you only ever read one piece of fiction about Sept.11th, her story "Break the Day" should be the one. Deeply moving, with an underlying message of hope.
All stories are General Fiction and carry ratings of PG to a mild R for violence or death. 

This is a PG site.
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index