smutrecs fest day 27

[norwich36]

Penultimate day of smutrecs! And all of today's recs are from one of my favorite SV authors--though you'll have to click to find out who!



All of today's stories are by the multitalented rivkat. I had a *really* hard time selecting just one favorite story of hers to rec. In fact, I failed miserably at it--that's why she gets a whole day to herself. Disciplining myself *severely*, I managed to narrow it down to my top eight favorite stories --and just doing that was very hard.

In terms of sheer smut value, A life less invulnerable is probably the porniest of rivkat's stories. Governor Lex Luthor and Superman are secretly dating. They have a very hot tryst at a motel. Unfortunately, some perv wired this motel for sight and sound, something like ten different camera angles in each room, looking for amateur porn, and hit the biggest jackpot since the Zapruder film. Clark's reaction is classic: He was distracted by the fact that every single person on the planet now had access to naked pictures of him. Really naked, X-rated pictures. Okay, maybe there were people in Bhutan and the Kalahari who didn't, but still. But how will Lex react?

rivkat also wrote one of my favorite RedK!Clark stories, Incarnadine. Clark is exposed to RedK again, and Lex visits at precisely the wrong time. This Clark is uninhibited, passionate, and a little scary. I love the Clex in this, but it also has my favorite scenes of Martha and Lex interacting, ever.

I also really love Hideaway, which is a gorgeous and funny futurefic in which Clark really, really needs a vacation. Even Lex, his mortal enemy, can see that--and decides to help him out, for his own inexplicable reasons. The sex in this *melts my brain* every time--something about Clark getting so turned on he loses control of his strength just *does* it for me. Also, the scooby doo part is hilarious.

But the Clex story of Rivka's I probably reread most often is Skin Deep , in which Clark turns into a girl, and realizes this finally gives him the opportunity to have a relationship with Lex unhampered by secrets and lies. I *love* genderswitch stories, and I think it might have been this story that gave me that kink. This story also has excellent Clark characterization: Clark finally developing his brain along with his other powers. And I love how this story gives you all the pleasures of het romance--seeing how Lex would seduce and court a woman--while still keeping Clark and Lex together.



Today's SV mystery recs are all also rivkat's, because she's also written some amazing non-Clex smut. Tertium Quid (Lex/Lana, Clark/Lana, implied Lex/Clark) is one of the first stories I ever read that made me like Lana. Lex begins an affair with Lana, but although she wants to keep him, she knows she can't--unless she can offer him a taste of what he *really* wants: Clark. This is an *amazingly* hot story, and trust me, even if you hate Lana you'll like this version of her.

A Sort of Walking Miracle is Martha/Lex--a very rare pairing, but a very compelling one, especially as Rivka writes it. When the spaceship saved Martha from death, it made her basically immortal. Far in the future, after Clark has died, Martha is forced to turn to Lex for help. They develop a relationship, based on their shared experiences, but as always in Rivka's stories, there are complications.

Conjoined Twin (Lex/Lex) is a remix story (the original is also very good and can be found here) in which Lionel has created a clone of Lex--"Joseph." When Joseph goes looking for Lex, there is first mindbending smut, and then (as you might expect) identity confusion, a power struggle, death, and the rewriting of history.



My final rec is another remix by Rivka, this time of a Buffy/Smallville crossover , An Englishman in Smallville (Legal Alien Remix) (Xander/Lex). This is a really fun tale in which Lex encounters the Sunnydale gang, who are trying to save Xander from being permanently transformed into a demon. While Clark and Buffy are doing demon cleanup, Lex and Xander have a steamy encounter.

Comments

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

Yay Rivka! She's a real favourite of mine too.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

What's your favorite Rivka story?

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

I really like both her dark stuff (eg Ruat Caelum) and her humorous pieces (Switch and Hideaway are both favourites). But I also really like some of her smaller pieces--particularly No Angel Came. I'm just so delighted someone wrote about that scene from Spell. It really did justice to Michael's amazing acting in that scene (in an otherwise flawed episode). And her Lex is the closest I've seen in fiction to my internal vision/understanding of Lex.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, I love her dark stuff too, though I don't *reread* it as often as some of the lighter stuff. (When I'm rereading it's usually for comfort or for smut). And I agree with you about her Lex: I love how *sharp* he is, both in terms of his intelligence and in terms of his sharp edges. And she can really take him to dark places and still not alienate the reader (like in "Philadelphia").

I guess I love the fact that she's willing to write unhappy endings--or at least happy endings that are kind of scary (like "Genesis" or even "Golden Rule," to an extent)--because it gives her writing an element of risk to it that you don't find in a lot of SV fanfic.

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

So true! Yes, I don't reread the dark stuff often. Except in the occasional mood when I feel the need to torture my heart! ;-) That's also when I watch 'Running up that hill'--that's still my alltime favourite SV vid. The song will never be the same for me. It came on the radio one day when I was driving and I had to pull over to stop crying! It doesn't matter how many times I see it... it just gets me every time. And yes, using shots from Shattered and Asylum is very cliche in vidding about Lex now, but it hasn't made the slightest difference to how I view that vid--it's like a punch to the gut every time. And I really admire that capacity for, as you say, risk-taking, in a fandom that is mostly known for desperately constructed happy endings!

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Well, to be honest, mostly I *want* happy endings, because if I want tragedy, I'll watch the show. (Or read non-fannish literature). From fan fiction, I generally want stories that *fix* the unhappy endings from canon.

Maybe that is cheating--I remember seeing a PBS production of Nicholas Nickelby--I think?--in the 1980s where, as part of the storyline they did a version of Romeo and Juliet as it would have been performed in the 1840s where they "fixed" the ending so Romeo and Juliet turned out not to be dead after all. That struck me as a heinous crime, back when I was 17, but now I *so* understand the impulse.

Heck, the whole fandom of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was all about figuring out ways Qui-Gon didn't die. And with SV it's all about either making Lex not go evil, or showing that true love conquers all--and that's *mostly* what I want out of fanfic, I must confess.

But some writers have such a good grasp of character that I want to see where they take Lex and Clark, even if its to a dark and scary place.

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

I have great fondness for dark and scary places... but I do like happy endings too, and where better than fandom to find escapism. But I generally like things to get as bad as they can possibly get before the happy ending. Or I like my happy endings tinged with genuine tragedy and loss, or insight. In SV, it's true, I will read more light fluff than in any other fandom ever. Because it is definitely soothing. And humour--I'm a sucker for humour. But that aside, the pieces of fanfic I think of as really really good are the pieces that manage to deeply move me or show me some real character insight--and most of those (rare) pieces are dark or tragic. I'm such a sucker for tragedy. I seem to be magnetically drawn to it even when I'm looking for 'escapism'.

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

PS. I am slowly coming alive again after the Deluge. Hopefully will get essay-time this week.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to hear that!

[myownghost.livejournal.com]

another vote for rivka! her writing is so good. i'll happily read and/or reread all these.

penultimate. oh, boo hoo. one of the reasons i've enjoyed february at all -- i have a fractured 5th metatarsal in my left foot and have been essentially housebound for over a month -- is these daily doses of good fiction, thanks to you. :)

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm glad you've enjoyed the recs. If it makes you feel better, I'll be reccing a few more stories than normal tomorrow to celebrate the end of the month.

[myownghost.livejournal.com]

whoosh, i just read Tertium Quid. that's amazing. the psychological insights are stunning. thanks for the rec!

i'll look forward to tomorrow. :)

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Tertium Quid is the way I wish canon had gone with Lexana. (And boy, that version of Lana is so much more likeable than canon Lana).

[myownghost.livejournal.com]

it makes so much sense! lex banging her for an hour in front of that huge photo of clark! i mean, really.

i got started very late with SV, last spring, watching dvds from the pilot up to halfway through season three. lana has irritated me from the beginning. i can't blame that pretty girl (KK) so much as the producers for pretending that such a personality-free character would be universally craved and adored. she's so boring! oh well. yes, this story's lana was smart and learned lessons and grew up. i liked her.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

You still haven't seen season 5, right? (Or am I confusing you with someone else?) Because season 5 Lana is pretty tolerable--I would go so far as to say likeable in some episodes. And I was hoping that now that I sort of liked her I would tolerate her better in earlier episodes--but they were rerunning "Exodus" on my local WB station this weekend, and I *still* couldn't stand to watch her scenes, alas.

[myownghost.livejournal.com]

yes, that's me. i've seen a few episodes from season 5 (none from season 4) and thought KK was either acting better or given better lines. the early seasons are pretty bad, for her.

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! It means an awful lot to me to know that you come back to the stories. The good news is that I have three stories at various stages of completion; the bad news is that I am so busy I may never post them! But this lovely set of recommendations is a good reason for me to get off my butt and work.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Oh, I reread your stories a lot! And probably owe you detailed LOCs for several of these. I hope you have a chance to work on those stories some point in the future, because I'd definitely love to read them.

Your icon is hilarious, btw.

[myownghost.livejournal.com]

(i hope it's ok with norwich36 that i use this space for a note to rivkat)

i thought i had read all your stories, rivka, but Tertium Quid and A Sort of Walking Miracle turned out to be new to me. they're both stunningly effective. i like the way you deal with serious ideas and psychological truths in your stories, and these two are full of both. wow!

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

Hey, thanks!

Sometimes, since I write het (albeit slashy het), people who mostly use SSA or something like that miss my forays into het. It's a curse, I know.