BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER & ANGEL
Slayers in love
Cicatrix by Debchan, the Spike, and Te – the "Iolokus" of Buffy fic. An AU spun around the question "What if Xander hadn’t managed to revive Buffy in ‘Prophecy Girl’?" I can’t even begin to describe how incredible this novel is (and it is a novel—it’s long), but let me put it this way: it’s a Buffy the Vampire Slayer story in which Buffy herself doesn’t appear, and yet you don’t care because it’s that good. (That’s assuming you like the character of Buffy, which I do--if not, you’re in for even more of a treat). Not only do we actually get to see Kendra play a significant role for once, there’s tons of Giles, Xander, Ethan, Willow, Oz, Dru, Spike, Cordelia, and even a couple of appearances by Faith and Angel. And did I mention Ethan? This is one of my favorite Ethan/Giles treatments anywhere (although I kind of expect any Ethan or Drusilla fic Te has a hand in to be fabulous).
Phoenix Burning by Yahtzee -- The ultimate Buffy fan fiction novel, this was one of those stories that made me remember why I fell in love with the show in the first place. It's another long AU which starts with the Slayer's death, but otherwise has nothing else in common with "Cicatrix" except for how happy they both made me--it has no slash, no series characters other than Buffy and Angel, and something of a happy ending, and even if none of that appeals to you, you should still read it because it just works in that "Joss could have written this" way.
Feeling It by Te – Faith acting out her various addictions. Not only one of the best of the countless Faith-behaving-badly stories that never seem to stop coming, but one of the best Faith stories I’ve seen, period.
96 Days (especially Day 5) by Dreamsmith -- This was the first of Alan's stories I discovered, and still one of my favorites. The guy really gets Faith. His two novels, A Thing of Terrible Beauty and Virtue of a Warrior, are superior to the vast majority of the official tie-ins published thus far.
The Scorched Earth cycle (The Best Revenge, Saving Grace, Turnabout, and Caged Creatures) by Insomnitic and My Little Glass Shoe by Insomnitic & Mark – I’m lumping these all together because they all deal with a specific theme--the Buffy/Faith body-switch and relationship--and for my money, more-or-less definitively. The two Faith POV stories are good, but the Buffy and Riley ones ("Caged Creatures" and "Turnabout") are the real standouts. Riley generally kicks ass in this series, which is a nice change from him being depicted (as he unfortunately so often is) as nothing more than a roadblock in the way of Buffy’s finding true love with Faith (Spike, Angel, Willow, etc.). I especially loved the use of the song lyrics in "Turnabout"; unlike so much songfic, the lyrics actually seemed necessary to the rest of the story. And as for "My Little Glass Shoe":
"There's a moment, just before the brand hits your skin, that's every time you've ever touched me. It sinks in and I feel like it's moving right through us, eating a path into your body. You couldn't do it yourself, grip the edge of a tattered chair, pants half-undone, catch your tongue between your teeth, beg some oily no-name with a ragged bandana to hold it there longer, fight the smell, push it beyond the limits of human tolerance, to make sure it works. This will never fade."
Also don't miss Ins' Winners or Fault, 'cause sometimes what makes a story great is all in how it ends.
The Road To Hell by Lauren -- A short piece with a pretty good Faith voice.
Touch Me Fall by Jennifer-Oksana – My other favorite story set during "Who Are You?". 'Cause come on, what did you really think would be the first thing Faith would do upon finding herself in Buffy’s body? Yeah, me too. This story is so in character it should just be considered canon as far as I’m concerned. Not to mention hot.
Bubble Gum Girl by Kat -- This and her other Buffy/Faith piece, Higher... [add rec]
I first came across Nocturne by Spyke Raven a couple of years ago when I was looking for good Darla stories and (with the exception of this one) couldn't find any because pretty much no one was writing Darla back then. Containing both excellent characterization and beautiful writing, this is still a very plausible take on the events in question, and despite the fact that it was eventually Jossed, I like to believe that this still could have happened before or after [finish]
Bed of Bones by Roz Kaveney--A beautifully-written tale of the First Slayer that does exactly what all great fan fiction is supposed to do: adds a perspective which makes you realize that although you might never have known it, the story as we heard it before was incomplete until now.
There are also a few story cycles I want to recommend in their entirety--
Bathroom Rituals by Puca Dentata is . [add rec] Also check out photo essay The Water Closet, which may or may not have been intended as as a companion piece to Puca's series but illustrates it wonderfully anyway.
Sense Memory by Jessica Walker -- "Five senses, five character p.o.v.'s, five fics, and more couple pairings than you can shake a stick at". These were written during season four, and I especially like "Sound" and "Touch", the Willow and Xander entries.
On Impermanence by Dale Edmonds -- "If we lived forever, if the dews of Adashino never vanished, if the crematory smoke on Toribeyama never faded, men would hardly feel the pity of things. The beauty of life is in its impermanence. Man lives the longest of all living things... and even one year lived peacefully seems very long. Yet for such as love the world, a thousand years would fade like the dream of one night." -- Kenko Yoshida, Essays in Idleness (1330-1332)... This series can be found archived at UCSL under the author's name.
Closed Circuit by Laura Shapiro -- Another one of those stories that made me believe it was actually an outtake which Joss just hasn't gotten around to sharing with us. Set after "Restless", "Closed Circuit" explores the connection between Buffy and Tara as well as the shifting dynamics in Buffy's relationship with Willow as Tara's presence adds a new dimension to their friendship.
Property by shalott -- The author's first story in this fandom is also the first to even remotely hint at Buffy/Giles that has ever really worked for me (well, not counting the AU Alternative Lifestyle). A darkly plausible look at Watchers, Slayers, and the resurrected Buffy.
Beats a Cruel December by Brighid -- Remember how I said the Buffy and Giles pairing had never worked for me? Here's one of the other pairings I used to think that about, courtesy of the YMMV recs page.
The Twelfth Sister and The Twelfth Sister Revisited by Rowan -- One of the things I really love about Rowan's writing is--and this is a whole essay, damn it--that it is literary fiction, or maybe I should say genre fiction, but it's kind of both--... [add rec]
The Self-Same Lore by Cynthia Liskow -- I'd never read anything by this author before--although I've been meaning to read her Riley story--but, wow, I can't imagine a better introduction to a writer than this, which is the best Dawn coming-of-age story I've seen yet... Not only does it manage to handle the teenage girls and sex thing really well, it made me feel like I was living through sixth season in a way I never did when I was actually watching it.
Looking for the Spike recs?
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