Mae. Mae is one of those people you take for granted. Most everything she writes is beautiful, so she lulls you into thinking that it's easy to write and that most anyone can write fics like she can. Only they can't. She's not afraid to go there for a story, she's not afraid to hit you with a two-by-four, and most of all, she's not going to force a story. Most unfold slowly, quietly, easily, and in the end she's murdered you without you even noticing. All I can say is, simply, read everything.
Favorites: Edelweiss was the beginning of it all, so I suggest you read that universe, paying particular to Ravenous and Eros. The Freedom Series will break you like no other Arkora (Arnott/Sykora) series, but I will always be partial to Cerulean Sky which just, is, quiet and Swedish and it'll make your heart ache because it's so sweet, with such child-like simplicity at times... trust me, it's as beautiful as Sweden. (I will never feel more powerful in my life than the way I felt as a boy in Sweden during the summer.) Oubliette (a murder mystery), Supernova (religion at its best), Christmas Present (oh, CS), and Kissing Frogs (Modano/Hull) are lovely; Pleasure Fiends is something different, and Steel has great parallels (Arkora).

Robyn. She has this grasp on emotion that--she paints stillness. Quiet, and the air is heavy and thick, and descriptions just press around you, and it's a trick, really. You take that sudden breath, you gasp, and the vise tightens and she has you trapped. She writes quiet and detail; she writes deliberately. An Oilers fan, she has a penchant for tall lanky pretty fellows, Finns, and, uh, this short guy named Comrie.
Favorities: I like the way she writes scotch and cigarettes, and I love the way she writes face painting: Jupiter. More heatwave in Heat (Modano/Comrie), and Sonatina and Sunday Morning (Devereaux/Dandenault) are lovely.

Chrissy. Chrissy's a girl who a lot of ff writers credit for paving their way to fandom. Her fics inspire. Warm flannel love, coffee twitching addicts, what's not to love? There's always this sweetness to her fics. Not necessarily that her fics are always happy, just that there's always that kind of want and desire for love, affection, or intimacy, and even if that's unattainable, it's still bittersweet.
Favorites: Most well known for the Beautiful Child Universe, one of my faves in that universe is Water's Edge. Lookin' For Love In All The Wrong Places (Roenick/Amonte), River (Sergei Federov breaks me), Fish Stories (Red Wings fun!). This was such a cool idea: Hegemony. I'll always have a special place for a fic that she asked if it was okay for her to post; she's one of those people who cares more about her fandom than her fanbase: Tradition. (Yzerman/Shanahan & ice cream).

Maria. Maria's hardcore. I know for sure if I cut her, she'd bleed orange. Ew, I know. But she throws everything into hockey, and she throws everything into writing. I know she loves her guys, so she loves her characters, but she's not afraid to show them in a less than favorable light, not afraid to make them jerks. She loves them though, so you know they're never going to be flat: they're never going to be just assholes, just jerks. They're always people. One of my favorite things has been reading her fics from its Ultraviolet, Drowning Man beginnings to now, because there's such improvement, such greater understanding--more emotion, more love, more loss, more complexity. It's life, really, in pixels.
Favorites: I know I said she loves her boys, but she hates Devils: Red Balloon (Schwab/Brodeur). She still does them justice though. Funny stuff.

Flannery. It's a sister act, folks. Writing runs in the family, and older sis is one of the better known in the fandom. Long December (Tucker/Darcy)? You've probably heard of it. She wrote me an email, and I might as well throw her words right back at her: she gets it. She gets it. She's got it. She has it. A lot of people can write. A lot of people are grammatically correct and know how to spell, but that's not what makes a story good. She has that extra oomph that makes the world slow down, makes you focus, makes your mouth say "oh."
Folks, I would totally trust her to write me a refrigerator fic.
Favorites: The Painted Desert (Roenick/Williams). Give My Regards to Broadway (Stevens/Holik). High As The Moon (Cujo/McCabe): dude, if you don't see parts of yourself in Cujo, I don't want to know you.

Lira. Look. Everybody has a favorite author. It's always difficult to put into words what it is exactly that you like about a writer, what you like about their work. I mean, if it was easy, then we'd all be best-selling authors, right?
There are things I inexplicably like--cigarettes interrupting mouths, sidewalks, the sound of high heels on wood floors, the smell of tires, yellow kitchens, the memory of blowing dust out of ninetendo games and the twang of the spring in the nintendo gun. I have a penchant for detail, the tiny things that make a story more real, make a reader go "oh." I like haze, I like focus, I like hurt, I like second person pov, present tense, love and loyalty, frigid air, the ramnifications of trades, last chances, second chances, missed chances.
I hate the Sharks. I love Lira.
Favorites: Don't Waste Wishes (Sundstrom/Harvey/Bradley). Laughing. Memories of Your Ghost. In the Desert We Get Sunburned (Vermette/Spezza)

LADY WHO WILL REMAIN NAMELESS (email me and I'll point you in the right direction. She's keeping the fic under lock and key, but trust me, it's worth the extra effort to email me to get to the fic). Dude, best voice ever. After each fic she posts I spend forever on IM talking to Mae about how much I love it. There is such control to her writing, and that may be why it's difficult for her to write and not edit or throw out, which I wish she wouldn't because um.. more awesome fic for me to read. You know how every time you read something by someone you like, and you keep waiting for them to put out some crap? You know, just so you know they're human, just so you know they write crap too, just so the crap fic has been written and you can get back to the good stuff? Yet to read a crap!NAMELESS_LADY fic. I really couldn't choose a "favorite" because I love them all, and really, you should read. them. all. She's got them all pre-sorted on her livejournal, so choose a pairing there, or email me for recs.

Frala. NEW She always manages to give me exactly what I want. Her voices are so on, so in character. Admittedly when I first began reading I had no idea who Eric Lindros was, but it didn't matter because all of her fics just exuded who he was, and I was so captivated by him (and her). Her details, her imagery, her continual mention of condoms (hell yeah safe sex!) kept me coming back for more, but it was series like Happiness Is Not A Fish You Can Catch that broke me and made me fall in love with Frala. Every Blinding Curve could have been about Trevor Linden, his first season & hey, let's throw in some gay!sex. First times are always nice, right? But it wasn't. I watched Trevor grow up. If that sounds stupid, when was the last time you saw someone's character grow? It's not about coming out, it's not about being gay, it's not about falling in love, it's about growing up and accepting yourself. Loving yourself.
Favorites: Happiness.. Is Not a Fish You Can Catch. and Troika (Kournikova, Bure, Federov) because HELLO, I love Anna. Just some quick fun. Don't forget to read the Fire On Ice series.

Individual Fics

Drug Against War by Cassidy. (Heatley/Kovalchuk) Not the usual hockey fic. AU. Summary:It's World War II, and fate and chance are the last allies you'd expect to have on the Eastern front. But for a German officer and Russian sniper, these allies will keep them alive.

Exposure by Cassidy. Original fic. Summary: What would you do to get into the NHL? How do you manage that if you live in a place where hockey has never been the number one sport?

Eyes Wide Open by Arami. Voyeurism at its best. (Brendan Shanahan/Jiri Fischer/Steve Yzerman)

Garage Days Revisted Series by Bernie. (Avery/Hull). I can't really stand Hull with anyone other than Modano. I make an exception for Avery, though. Purification and Night Lights were favorites.

The Geology of Love by Bernie. (Bure/Molgilny) Long drive home, learning, remembering geology lessons.

Half-Way Kisses by Bernie. (Dandenault/Niinimaa) There are two choices now, one is toward acceptance and commitment, towards rolling your eyes when a particularly old story is told and re-told again. Or there is a break up and the division of furniture

The Hanged Man Series by Bernie. (Federov/Kovalchuk; Kozlov/Larionov) With Bernie it's never about grammar. It's about a mood, a detail, a myth, an image. Read and just let it flow over you. This is mostly a heart breaker.

How Now Brown Shower by SDQ. Summary: Uhh, Comrie tries to uh, fix his pipes. Seriously. Funny funny stuff.

I Want To Be In Love by Bernie. (Nolan/Renberg) Dude. A birthday fic for me. ME. :) I love Cheese Sandwich.

Leanings by Cassidy. (Francis/Maurice) Summary: Post game 4 of the Montreal/Carolina series. Coach/vet stuff. Good stuff.

Night Moves by Bernie. (Stajan/Nieuwendyk) Dude. NIEUWENDYK. .. Why aren't you reading? NIEUWENDYK!!

One Hot Afternoon by Bernie. (Lindros/Clark) Dude, it's hot and it's Philly and you know something went on with Eric and Bobby. Once the golden child, next thing you know he's not playing anywhere and being called a baby.

Post-Gold Medal Game by Cassidy. (Hull/Shanahan). A rant, mostly. But rant on, Cassidy. I'm 100% American too.

A Question of Lust by Arami. Good song, better fic. Summary: Brett Hull and Mike Modano reunite at the Olympics. Salt Lake City, Utah.

Raising Arizona by SDQ (Comrie/Ference) Summary: Boys, folktales, Arizona. I feel like sobbing. Well, you know me and silence, desert, want and heat. I'm sure the end will kill you too.

Stratagems by Bernie. (Spezza/Colaiacovo) A Senator and a Leaf. Stratagems: 1) a maneuver to surprise an enemy (military) 2) a clever, often underhanded, scheme. Secrets and schemes. Hotel rooms are used, not lived in. Keep that in mind.

Valentine's Day by Cassidy. (Cole/Avery) For me, Valentine's Day is a constant reminder that I am constantly alone. That's what happens when you're in the NHL. And you're gay. Because they two things are supposed to be mutually exclusive. But not always, Sean.

The Valley of the Goons by Kitkat. Female meets a bunch of goons. Very first hockey fic I ever read. Still love. NC-17

Nicole Anell. She's awesome. Tess and Kyle fan. Superb writing. Really cool website too. Check it out.
Favorites: Black (Nasedo, post mortem musings), Memorex (Kyle pov, post departure -- American Pie!), The Evil Within (Dude, do I even need to? ... Kyle pov. Enough said, really. Great style though)

Bennie. If you don't know Bennie, then you don't know Roswell. It's kinda like saying, "Elizabeth? Elizabeth who?" Seriously, Bennie made me like Liz. For real. Like during my prime M/L hatred, she made me like Liz. Yeah, she's crazy good. And really nice! I sent her an email after working up the nerve (like five years, probably, people) and she was really cool.
Favorites: 56 Days: (Leanna/Alex) Duuuude. You will like this fic. Honest. Don't skip it because of the pairings. I did, and when I finally read I kicked myself for taking so long. I'm No Buffy: Uhhh..Liz the Slayer? Fun action fic. The Madonna Pedestal: This was the beginning of the end for me and Liz hate. A nice look at Liz and why.. like, everyone loves her. Like why Max puts her on this pedestal and looks at her like she's his savior. Mind Game: I'm always a fan of uhh Antar fics? This one involves Nicholas and a prisoner. Prisoner of Destiny: I always love reccing this fic. If you love Liz, read. If you love Tess, read. If you hate Liz, read. If you hate Tess, read. Seriously. That Day: The day Liz snaps. When Destiny Falters: Sliding Doors remake. This inspired one of my CS fics. Whiteout: (Liz/Isabel) Reminds me of a Abigail Lapell song: Waking up in Boston / alseep on the floor / same clothes I wore last night / and the night before

Kate. I'm a big fan of Margaret Atwood. She writes sci-fi and it can be depressing ang gut wrenching and dark, but it's always real. So much humanity and it hurts. Kate's really killer. Some of her stories have been inspired by Atwood, and I think it's a testament to her writing that it's not just--oh, yeah, she stole some of Atwood, but rather, you can see how she's been influenced but it doesn't take over the writing, doesn't impede the story. It's Kate's story. And if you've read Atwood it's a little something extra for you to enjoy.
Favorites: Uh. Okay, you know what? Whatever your cup of tea is? Choose a fic and read it. Like Kyle/Tess? Many Sweet Companions. Like Kyle and Maria and the end of the world fics? I Don't Care Much. I enjoyed them all.

Elizabeth (& other authors) Okay, no need for the usual spiel. You either know Elizabeth by now, or you don't. It's kinda like Jesus and BC/AD. You've got pre-Elizabeth and you've got post-Elizabeth. I enjoyed Persephone's Falls because I like mythology; loved the Tess fics; she has good Kyle UC's, The Self I See, The Story are awesome. She has a lot of recs and all are good, so I won't bother you with relinking, but..
Favorites: ...some of my more-favorite authors--Danilise (You MUST read "Nasedo Hendon" and "Belief/Alchemy"), Maggie, Jess' "To Reap", Kate Andrews, Shimi's "Hard Candy"

Individual Stories

A Dream Is A Wish by Joy Elizabeth. (Alex/Maria, Michael/Isabel, M/M) A marriage spliced with the Grimms' Cinderella. Painfully honest and simple. Lovely. Because I love you. Because you love me. Because this is stupid and dumb and why the hell don't we just get in the car and leave this place.

Aftershocks by Northlight. Maria goes away and when she comes back, she's changed. And the silence was safer, so Liz let it stay. Incredible.

Before Roswell by Caty. Tess pov. Something different. Tess' life before Roswell. It's beautifully, purposely detached, just like its narrator.

Beloved by Northlight. I love Tess/Antar fics. I love Northlight's descriptions; the ceremonies are similar to the ones I read in another book I loved--Mists Of Avalon.

Circling by Northlight. Tess/Isabel. Nother Antar fic. Again, awesome. I loved the description of the skirts, and loved the focus on how Tess was from a different family, a different people, and taught to do/value different things. Things that could have ultimately saved her.

Confessions of a Silent Victim by Sara. (Liz/Tess) Death fics make me weepy. I'm not entirely facetious. Some can be cheesy, overly dramatic, over the top... this isn't. It's honest, and quiet. It's September 26th. I'm Liz Parker, and I don't want to die.

Dead Moon Rising by Aelita. M/M Aelita is absolutely awesome. She nails things so well, and love is just palpable in her fics. When I was 14 her fics seemed just, very grown up, and even now I still find them to be. They're adult and harsh sometimes, and true to the characters. They're complex and she goes there--yes *there* and hurts our favorite, and her favorite, candy couple in believable ways. I'd rec her completely, but it's been so very long since I've read all her fic that I wanna reread before I do.

Doll Parts by Lunakid. Uh, kinda song fic. Tess pov. Cynical, evil, dark. Good short read.

Dry Denial by Shana. Dude, everybody recs this Diane Evans pov fic because it is so incredibly awesome. Like, you never think--and then it hits you and just. Mother fics are an easy way to stick a knife in your gut because a mother's love for her children is so unconditional and no one ever questions how deep it is.

Elegy by Cat Death fic. Max POV. Cat is so intune with Max, and his inability to let things go. He couldn't let go of Liz on the show. Is it really that hard to translate that here in this fic?

Goodnight Moon by Jez. This was one of my favorite books as a kid, and Jez weaves it in so well the four's mythology. Man, Antar fics always turn out so good. Probably because only the best seem to try and tackle them. Summary: The Daughter of King Zan contemplates the fall of the Royal Four.

Initiation by Shadowgrl and Watcher Tara's Two Down, Two to Go aren't the greatest fics in the world, but they'll suck you in. Basically PornWithPlot. If a member of the podsquad wants to "be" with a human, the other members have to "initiate" that human first. Whole lotta sex. Good times.
Saving the Best for Last by Watcher Tara (Sequel to TDTTG)
Plotless Nookie by Watcher Tara (A bunch of "deleted scenes" from Tara's universe)
Family Values by Watcher Tara (The Final Part in the Trilogy)

Milk and Honey by Nehal. Roswell. The bible. Uhh.. cool, eh?

One More Time by DMartinez NEW M/L/T (NC-17). Twisted Destiny. Loved because Tess is not a villain, L&T become friends, and the scene where they scan the book? That would be so awesome. The M/L fantasy thing was cool too because Max is all roses and poetry and Liz is like.. NO, SEX!!

Pink by Whiteotter. (Liz/Tess) Remember when Destiny was huge? Remember how we spent the entire summer wondering what happened next? Remember the lack of really great Catfighter fics?

Remember or Believe by DarkChilde. Seriously awesome fic. Summary: Is it better to believe the lie or to remember the truth? One woman remembers the truth of her planets fated saviors, and wonders.

Scheherazade by hah. (Liz) A kind of Arabian Nights.

Thirteen Years Ago by Reese. (Isabel pov) Summary: What happens if the Royal Four left during Departure? What will they find upon their return? This is one of those feel good fics. Read for a pick me up.

Too Well by Livia. (Alex/Kyle) Valenti pov. If this fic doesn't affect you, you have no soul. Great authors make the simplest observations about life that hit you in the gut. I mean that's it-- if you burned those two pieces of paper you'd never know, nobody would ever know.

What I Do by Synchronik. Justin/JC. "But," Justin says, and stops. But JC is so easy, he thinks. JC is so willing. He can't figure out a way to say it, though, that doesn't involve him basically calling JC a slut.

Everwood

Honey and the Moon by lifeinwords. Ephram/Colin. I always loved on the show how realistic the pressure was for Colin's memories to return, and how Colin turned to Ephram because Ephram, who’s simple and new, with no back-story that Colin’s missing, who looks at Colin with nothing in his eyes but hello. A lovely piece about stories--the stories everybody wants Colin to remember, the ones he can't, and the ones he wants to see, to be: She thought he was remembering; that he had name-tags in his brain for every stupid song or face that floated between the empty spaces. All he had were pieces that didn’t fit.

Over by Synchronik Ephram/Colin. Sleepover. Ephram wondered if Colin drooled, and then wondered if he was being a crappy friend by thinking that.

Smallville

Delilah by Sarah T. She captures Lionel's so well, and just, I can see Martha, mouth open to form an "oh," when she realizes Lionel's attracted to her. The scissors, man!

Everything's Eventual (Try to Act Surprised) by Lint. Chloe!fic. She visits her dying father in the hospital, and realizes how she's gotten to this point. Hard pill to swallow and it hurts because you, perhaps, sympathized with her when she broke things off with Clark after the formal. It was understandable, really--she didn't want to get hurt. But now, later.. older, she's made so many choices thinking that she'd lose if she tried--so she didn't, and because of that, maybe her life is worse, maybe, she realizes, she wouldn't have lost at all.

fate by debchan. Future!fic. Summary: Clark tries to do a do-over. The ending just gets me because it's like a boy too big, with hands too clumsy trying to piece back together something delicate. That frustration combined with longing and despair. Awesome.

Five Imaginary Incidents from Lives of Unimportant People by pearl-o. Summary: Things that didn't happen to Nell, Pamela, Ryan, Julian and Desiree.

A Good Year For Corn by Beth. Oh man. Jonathan Ken would do anything to protect his family. LOVE this.

Such A Pretty Face by Abi. Alien!Clark genre. Summary: Lex and Lois are driving Clark insane. Okay, seriously, the dialogue is so awesome and the ending is gonna hit you like a ton of bricks and like.. wow. Het/Slash/Threesome. Yeah, I KNOW.

Baseball

Candle Beck: (More visa vie: candle's livejournal, Sports Slash's LJ, Sports Slash's yahoo group) Candle and W.P. Kinsella made me fall in love with baseball again. There's magic and there's hope and there's tragedy, and god dammit there's baseball. Baseball is synonymous with love, right? Candle writes her boys well (the A's) but more importantly she writes California well. I was bursting with California pride after reading her fics. Man, I love this state.
With sports slash there's the tendency to forget that these are athletes that are shaped by the game. We like our boys to leave the game behind. Sure, there are always fics out there that are written in response to something seen on the ice, but too often we find ourselves away from the game. It's summer, it's vacation, it's Australia, whatever. Baseball is everything in these fics. It's the main character and Candle never lets you forget that.
Favorites: Okay, so I was a crazed maniac who read all of her fics in like a.. manic, sleep deprived week? I'ma have to reread, but until then, explore on your own. Dude, the way she writes Zito's curve? Makes me want to cry. So beautiful. NEW Kay just recently read Artists and Pitchers and she twists Mulder and Zito around and just.. ow, I think that was my heart. BRILLIANT.

J.M. Barrie's Peter and Wendy

A Hundred Years Ago by trifles. Okay, voice? Awesome. Captured Barrie so well. This fic? So heart achingly beautiful. As someone else put it, it's a glimpse into Hook and the sorrowful lives of the pirates who are just forever stuck in Neverland, the heart breaking idea that these memories could bring Peter down, could make him age, and shows the reader that Neverland isn't an amusement park ride.

Joan of Arcadia

Goodnight Moon by Yahtzee. End of the world ficcage (from the Day After Tomorrow Challenge). This fic is powerful. The three dreams, and their meanings, will punch you in the stomach, that tiny little boy at the Locke Station and Joan's outrage, and the idea of sacrifice will kill you. Oh, I sobbed mo fos. Read now or you will have missed one of the best fics out there. For real.

Mother by Nichole. Adam backstory. I've read only two fics in this fandom (because I've never watched the show, and have only read via recs) so I don't know if these are the exceptions or the rules, but I've noticed how eloquent everyone is. Very awesome. Adam's mom's advice is just really--I wanna say nice, but nice is not the word. I'm a fan of minimalism, so I like small, tight, concise things. His mom's advice was just that, and not over the top, perfect saintly things to say. Even if that's how we mostly remember the dead--at the most flawlessness. Seriously awesome lines: Now he thought it meant, let’s see if you can do this thing I love and maybe I’ll love you. and “Be grateful,” she told him, “that all you know of heartache are pointless, silly things.” Harsh, and beautiful like this fic. This fic is overwhelming and so are the emotions; the feeling of suffocation is so harsh and palpable. It hurts. Read.

Daria

Hard to Heart by DMartinez NEW Daria/Trent. Kay, sex scene? Awesome. Voices? Awesome. Reference to "experiencing Daria"? Oh yeah. Tragedy befalls the Morgendorffers and Daria has trouble dealing. Realistic except for the over-the-top psycho-babble at some points.