Novel-Length Recs

Looking for a novel to read on that long flight to Paris? Here are the first things that came to mind when the members of Zendom were polled for the long and the luscious.

Angel

Splinter by Rheanna & Yahtzee
An action-packed fic detailing what might have happened after the Angel and company left Pylea but before they made it back to LA. Nice exploration of a dark!Angel and dead-on reading of the dynamics between the AI crew.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Dancing Lessons by Redeptionistas
This is sort of a virtual season, a collaborative story. It reads very much like episodes of the actual series, and takes off mid-season 5. It includes the full cast of Buffy, with some of Angel as well. The characters are very well written and the plots are nice and meaty. There are a number of character deaths (Scoobies and villains) as it progresses. There are occasional spots where you can tell there were multiple authors, but for the most part it reads very smoothly and has excellent continuity.

Phoenix Burning by Yahtzee
PB is a must-read for many reasons; here are three of them. First of all, it's an original novel-length story -- no fanfic short cuts, just a plot that's enthralling, original and has more than a couple of well-placed twists along the way. Secondly, the original characters -- for anybody who thinks that original characters have no place in fanfiction (or that there are no fanfic authors who can create and use OCs well), PB is an object lesson in how to do it right. Thirdly -- and maybe most crucially -- the characterisation of Buffy. Buffy's voice is probably one of the most difficult to capture -- PB is told entirely from her perspective (in the third person), and the characterisation is note-perfect.

A Raising in the Sun and Necessary Evils by Barb C
This story eventually includes all the main characters from BtVS and AtS. It's a good plot-driven story, with lots of nice detail. The second part is unfinished but looks very promising.

Sands of Time by James Walkswithwind and Wolfling
These stories give a version of the Buffy universe that I like as much as the one I see in the episodes, and a wonderful portrait of Xander. The other Scoobies come through wonderfully, too.

The Heart's Filthy Lesson, Serious Moonlight, and Changes ("we owe royalties to Bowie" series) by Mustang Sally and RivkaT
The three stories are "The Heart's Filthy Lesson", "Serious Moonlight" and Changes". Although they stand on their own as self-contained action adventures, there is definitely something to be said for reading them all! I was hooked from first paragraph onwards and their style, plot and characterisation are just superb.

Crossovers

When Hellmouths Collide by Kimberley Rector and Martha Wells Wilson
Wonderful, rollicking Buffy/Hercules crossover adventure that doesn't shortchange either universe.

First Night by Melissa Flores
What happens when demons and mutants collide? It's the end of the world (again!) and the Angel Investigations crew must team up with the X-Men to stop Magneto from bringing Chaos to earth. Exciting, actiony and romantic, with lots of cool plot twists that make Misty seem almost prescient about the Angelverse (it was written prior to "Birthday" and anticipates the major plot twist at the end of that episode).

Provocateur by Alex
A lush, historically accurate crossover of the Scarlet and the Black (a TV miniseries, I'm told) and The Bounty, and a wonderfully compelling one. I devoured this part by part as it was posted to RareSlash.

Farscape

No Dominion by Maayan
An Alternate Universe take on the mythical wormhole knowledge. Maayan's writing is taut and thrilling, and her Crichton is enthralling. All her fics are worth your time.

Harry Potter

If We Survive by RJ Anderson
Third in the Darkness and Light Trilogy, after "The Potions Master's Apprentice" and "Personal Risks." She introduces an OC as a main character - and you have to admire her guts for doing that - but Maud is no Mary Sue! This was one of the first HP fics I read and one of the best, and it got me addicted to Snape.

Highlander

Lost Horizon by Sylvia Volk
I cannot recommend Sylvia Volk's work highly enough. She writes the Methos I've always imagined a 5000 year old man would be, and her historical underpinnings are lush and detailed. Sylvia's summaries don't give much away, but how can you resist a tale dedicated 'with love for foreign languages and romantic backgrounds, not to mention adventure with elephants.'

Homicide

Adena 1950 by Scott
This is possibly the best piece of fanfiction I've ever read. It's totally engrossing. The Adena Watson case, circa 1950, in the style of James Ellroy. Absolutely fabulous. Dead on characterizations that somehow mesh with the mores of the times - I recognize these people, even as their attitudes make me squirm.

Lord of the Rings

Lie Down in the Darkness, Rise Up From the Ash by Dwimordene
It's a fabulous story, very imaginitive, and detailed. Dwimordene changes one detail in the Lord of the Rings saga (Gollum is killed trying to escape the Mirkwood) and shows how that one note changed the Song of the world. The Song is still there, but the harmony has changed. Dwimordene has an absolutely beautiful writing style. It's music. She writes symphonies with her words.

The Maltese Falcon

The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of by Tinnean
Sam Spade ends up happy instead of mourning for that woman. I love the movie, but I love Tinnean's version of it more.

Man from UNCLE

But Not For Me by Jane Fairfax
I have incredibly mixed feelings about the characterization of Illya and Napoleon, but this story deserves to be recced because it is incredibly hot, yet so emotionally cold. I have never read a story which has affected me in this way. The guys have extended sex, but they hide their emotions. For fans of the master-slave genre. Major IK angst.

The Professionals

The Tailor-Made Sequence by Fiona Clement and Helen Raven
Vampires usually send me yibbling for the door, but I'll make an exception here. It's not exactly vampires as you know and love 'em, mind. Oh, and there is some seriously hot sex involving a motorbike.

Saints and Miracles by Jack Reuben Darcy
You want angst and h/c? We got it here, by the lorryload.

The Tangled Web by Jack Reuben Darcy
This is a Pros/The Chief crossover, but don't hold that against it. It's well-plotted and is a real page-turner.

Stargate

Andromeda by Alli Snow
Twenty-seven parts encompass this novel that is the best of SG1, bar none. Angst, Adventure, Romance. A great, intricate plot, all the characters drawn together and apart and eventually together again. The OCs work, the canon characters are believable.

Exile, Suspension, and Asylum (Exile Trilogy) by Alli Snow
This story has everything I like - a complex plot that could easily be an episode on the show, 3-dimensional supporting characters, a richly descibed culture on the planet, a nice romance subplot, and eventually a happy ending.

Star Trek: The Original Series

The Kobayashi Maru (I II III IV) by Wildcat
The "novel" is actually a suite of four stories, part of Wildcat's series about Spock and Uhura. And if you think that doesn't work, think again. Set during the TOS movie era, the story extends the theme of the no-win situation beyond "The Wrath of Khan" and gives it meaning all the way through "The Voyage Home." Wildcat adds meaning to screen events without destroying and dismissing the familiar canonical elements. As smooth and deft an interweaving of canon and original story as I've ever seen.

Les Liaisons Ridicules by Jungle Kitty
This comic novel covers Kirk's Academy years, with special emphasis on his romance with Ruth and the efforts of his friends to interfere in his lovelife. Revealed at last, the truth about Kirk and the "little lab assistant" he almost married. And why he didn't.

Simple Gifts by Claire Gabriel
Through a complex set of circumstances, Spock and Sarah, a young woman who had a brief 'fling' with Kirk, become stranded on a post-apocalyptic world for several years. Through a deft weaving of canon, including material from TAS, the author spins a highly credible tale of Spock juggling the demands of a relationship and family with his duties in Starfleet right through the span of the Trek movies. When I first began reading this novel, my immediate reaction was, "Yeah, right, another Mary Sue who sleeps with both Kirk *and* Spock," but I was quickly drawn into the powerful narrative. This is a very powerful and moving novel. Its sequel, "The Porcelain of Twilight," can be found on the author's home page.

The Uneasy Dancers by Jungle Kitty
In the author's handling of character and in her themes of longing, loss, and choice, the story is more than equivalent in its breadth and depth to a much longer work. "The Uneasy Dancers" is the most truly adult treatment of the K/S mythos that I've ever encountered. "Harrowing" doesn't seem too strong a word to describe its effect on the reader. The entire story is beautifully crafted, and deeply thought-provoking.

Unspoken Truth and its sequel, Any Other Lifetime by Kathleen Dailey
These novels take the Romulan Commander, a character that played a small part in "Enterprise Incident" and generates an incredibly vivid universe for her. The other Trek characters are brought to life, and their interactions with her make this story blend into canon. She could have easily become a Mary Sue, but the writer has made her into a fully-fleshed character as real as any we saw on the show.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

"Actions Speak Louder" by Lori
This novel requires some background knowledge from the earlier stories in the Captain and Counsler series, but it's well worth it to get to this jewel of a story. There is just so much going on: Section 31 machinations, the Enterprise and a few sister ships responding to a threat that isn't quite what it appears to be on the surface, incredible action sequences that will leave you breathless, and highly dramatic character moments because of course it's not just about the mission. You've never quite seen this Troi before.

Star Trek: Voyager

Ashes to Ashes by Yvonne Harrison
This is exactly the kind of story I adore - psychologically intense, dark, riveting, terrific character study, with that classic Tom Paris self-deprecating humor.

Be Careful What You Wish For by Barbara Watson
This novel is what the last half of Voyager's final season should have been. Barbara deftly manages all of the characters, explores their emotions, and ties up all of the loose ends.

Refugee Camp Voyager by Ventura33
You haven't seen the Borg until you've met this host of semi-Borg refugees catching a lift on Voyager. Janeway deals with people who want to join or leave the Collective, or just take a break from Borg monotonity for a quick roll in the hay, all the while evading the Queen's attempts to reassimilate her passengers. Once you start this novel, resistance is futile.

Revisionist History by Penny Proctor (EJ Andrews)
This is an extraordinary Voyager novel. The author summarizes her story in these words: "Fifty years after Voyager's return, Jake Sisko tries to find the truth about Janeway, Chakotay and the events surrounding their homecoming." That summary doesn't do true justice to the scope of the author's vision, her skillful interweaving of Trek canon from the first four series, or her unerring insight into the truth of the characters. If I had to pick one Voyager story out of hundreds and thousands as a must-read, it would be this one.

The Best of Both Girls by Jim Wright
A well-written, highly imaginative piece that explores Janeway as a Borg, if part two of "Scorpion" hadn't happened. The delightfully hilarious narrative keeps this from being just another bizarre experiment.

Star Wars

The Arandu Series by Martha Wells Wilson
Han Solo meets a Sith Lord and his past meets up with the important people in his future. The beautifully fleshed out story and characters make this series flow so beautifully that it's really a novel. Probably the best Han Solo ever in fic. The characters are pitch perfect, the OC is a character I would kill to have in a movie.

Meet Another by torch
This starts off running side-by-side with The Phantom Menance, carries through finding Anakin, through the pod race. And then diverges into some angsty, beautiful O/Q slash, the likes of which could only be executed by Torch. Apparently there are spoilers for the Jedi Academy books, but I haven't read them and found no need -- Torch's story stood on its own merits (and was a far better interpretation of TPM than Lucas ever could have dreamed).

West Wing

Chance to Make it Real by SN Kastle
WW does short well and occasionally does slash well -- this is slash and *long* and one of the only examples of its kind, and certainly the best one. Josh/Sam slash, narrative nonlinear history dating from when they met, through the campaign, and including spoilers up to Season 2's "Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail." Great look at the insecurities and appeals of both Josh and Sam, and an excellent Sam POV story by any standards.

X-Files

Blinded by White Light by Dasha K.
This is one of a handful of fannish novels that I've read several times over. It has everything -- post-colonization science fiction, fidelity to (and believable extrapolation of) canon, character development, outstanding craftsmanship. And when it comes to the Big Themes, all of my personal favorites are represented--memory, choice, loss, longing. A true classic in X-Files fandom.

Dance Without Sleeping by Lydia Bower
This for me was the defining MSR fic. Not only that, this is probably one of the best cancerfics out there.

Ghosts by torch
The quintessential X-Files story - everything good about the X-Files and queerer. A wonderful paranormal plot wrapped about with sexual tension like silk and violins strings. This story makes me happy even though it's sad.

In A Dark Time by A Leigh-Anne Childe
Excellent retelling of essential X-Files episodes laced with steamy, bone-melting sex.

Parabiosis by Penumbra
Penumbra's astonishing ability to combine a skill with words that makes every paragraph something to savour and an emotional arc spanning the seventh series (and beautifully filling in the gaps between what we were shown onscreen) make this a story I treasure and, like a lot of people, like to open and read bits from at random every so often, for the sheer joy of the language. Penumbra demonstrates that it *is* still possible to breathe new life into the MSR genre. Just don't blame me when the ending delights you at the same time as it breaks your heart.

The Valmont Universe by Jennifer Oksana.
JennyO has such a talent for telling a tale, and she seems to have this knack for portraying these inredibly visual scenes that are so vivid you could swear you saw it somewhere. This story is a roller coaster ride. Everything you ever wanted the X-Files to be.

X-Men

Broken by Alicia McKenzie
Alicia is the Cable writer in X-Men. She's almost single-handedly responsible for generating an whole subgenre of Cable fic, and she writes well. This is Nate Summers versus Apocalypse -- a hair-raising trip through Nate's brain and a very dark tale. Its sequel is "Crusade" (still in progress).

Climb the Wind by Minisinoo
An amazing novel about Scott's descent into hell and how he survives. A powerful and visceral evocation of the bonds formed between comrades during times of extreme adversity.

Future Pluperfect Domenika Marzione
Domenika is one of the comicverse authors capable of thinking in epic plotarcs, and this story (still unfinished at twenty-seven chapters) definitely qualifies as "epic." It is complex, and does require some familiarity with the X-Men Universe, but it's worth the investment of time, particularly to anyone who likes the Summers family.

Heyoka by Minisinoo
An epic tale spanning two novel length fics featuring one of the best original characters I've ever read.

Jus Ad Bellum by Jenn
Every once in a while, there's a magnificent, shocking vision that gets translated into a story. Jenn did that here. This is an unusual twist on the subgenre of "post-mutant-registration" stories that exist in movieverse. Mutant registration went forward in only one timeline, with shocking results reminiscent of the Holocaust. The X-Men who survived are changed. Into this comes Rogue (the protag) from a "kinder, gentler" reality in which mutant registration was avoided. In this nearly-finished novel, Jenn explores how she would adjust to people she knows and loves who are -- and are not -- the people she knows and loves.

The Sum of Zero by Dex
A story that pairs Scott Summers (Cyclops) with Emma Frost (the White Queen) posing as FBI agents who work with the local NYC police homicide department to profile a serial killer whose target is the mutant population. Definitely adult and not for the kiddies, but Dex (as usual) did his homework, and this story has the added plus of a good original character in the homicide detective. It's notable as it's something that isn't seen much in X-Men: a murder mystery.

X-Manson by Dr. Benway
Quite possible the most *twisted* dark what-if in the entire X-Men comicverse. Benway consistently offers up stories (of any length) that make one think. Here, he asks the critical question: what if Charles Xavier's little X-Men project wasn't about heros out to "save a world the fears and hates them" ... but was a cult, ala Jim Jones? Furthermore, the format of this story is unique, involving interviews and flashbacks and real-time narrative. Bizarre. And brilliant. Not to be read lightly.

Ultimate series by Paxnirvana
Ultimate X-Men. Scott (Cyclops) has to deal with two new recruits, Psylocke and Angel -- and one of them brings up very bad memories from his past. Slash, and it deals with heavy subject matter, including rape and sexual extortion, but Pax deals with it maturely. (And "The Place Beneath" has one of the most interesting treatments of Warren's wings that I've seen in fanfic.)

Links compiled by Seema from the recommendations of fellow zendom members. Markup by Jemima.