norwich36

Okay, in case you missed serrico's recommendation of this amazing vid by dualbunny and sweetestdrain and greensilver, I must boost the signal. You must watch this if you've ever been a Clex fan. I can't say anything more about it except that it is a completely life-changing experience. I don't think I'll ever look at that relationship in the same way again.

You know how metafandom collects insightful and thought-provoking essays from all sorts of different fandoms? Sometimes I wish there was a companion community called "metasquee" (or maybe it should be panfandomsquee? Squeefandom?) pointing people to really fun squeeful discussions that they might enjoy even if it's not their fandom. Two examples of what I'm talking about:

pearl_o's post from a couple days ago which was the OFFICIAL POST IN WHICH TO DISCUSS HOW CKR [That's Callum Keith Rennie, aka Ray Kowalski on Due South and Leoben on Battlestar Galactica] (AND/OR CHARACTERS PLAYED BY CKR) NEED A GOOD FUCKING FROM A GIRL WITH A STRAP-ON AS OFTEN AS NECESSARY.. The post itself was made of win, but it was the discussions in the comments that reminded me exactly why I love being a fangirl.

liviapenn's post today about how Stephen King once started writing Peter Wimsey fanfic, which is fascinating in and of itself, but the discussion in the comments about how there absolutely ought to be AUs written in which Harriet is a vampire slayer has just kept me smiling all afternoon.


And in other news:
I am very excited that the voting for harlequin_sv ends tonight, because I assume that means the authors will be revealed tomorrow. Besides, I've been wanting to rec some of those stories and have been waiting for the voting to be over so as not to bias the results.

But in the meantime, just in case anyone on my f-list hasn't already seen it, mskatej has posted a new Clex story, Surveillance, which features slutty!Clark and voyeur!Lex, definitely two of my favorite versions of those characters. And it's by Kate--need I say more?

I also want to recommend a Clark/Lois story by kdsch123, But Now for Real. It's very short, but emotionally intense: Lois comes face to face with some important truths about Clark.

I had many weekend plans that were not accomplished because my time got eaten by extremely good fic. Ah, internets, you are so fickle. On the days when I am really, really bored and surfing around for any good story anywhere, I find nothing but dreck, but on the days when I think "I'll just peek at this story and see if it's any good," I look up 9 hours later without having had any consciousness of the passage of time.

The story that ate my brain this weekend was minisinoo's Finding Himself , a Harry Potter novel of epic length (320,000 words, which I believe translates into 800 pages). It's Cedric/Hermione, a pairing which honestly I didn't really expect to like, but I had heard good things about minisinoo's writing before, so I thought I'd try a chapter. Famous last words. I got completely sucked into this--it's a fantastic AU in which Cedric is not killed, but only seriously injured, at the end of Goblet of Fire , and we get to see what changes--and what doesn't change--in OOTP because he survives. OOTP has always been my least-favorite book of the HP canon--way too much capslock Harry--but I really enjoyed seeing the story retold from the perspective of a minor character. Cedric joins in the fight against Umbridge, but his methods are rather different than those of Harry &co. The best part of this story, though, is the slowly developing relationship between Cedric and Hermione, which works wonderfully and ends up being tremendously erotic. For whatever reasons, I tend to have higher standards for het smut than for slash, and I rarely like it--but this is one of the hottest het stories I have ever read. I highly recommend it the next time you have a whole weekend to while away.

Another immensely entertaining story I read this weekend was flambeau's The Quiet Padawan .
If Georgette Heyer wrote Star Wars: Phantom Menace slash, what would it look like? That's the challenge flambeau took up in writing this story, and the result is wickedly enjoyable, especially if you love both Heyer and TPM. It's kind of scary how well the conventions of the Regency romance can be applied to the world of the Jedi, and I literally squealed with glee at several points in the story. Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan, non-explicit, about 12,000 words.

I also really enjoyed kristiinthedark's You got me so I don't know what I'm doin' . Due South (Fraser/Kowlaski), a short but incredibly hot look at Fraser's kinks: Fraser says it's not a fetish. That for it to be a fetish, he'd need it to be turned on at all, or whatever. He tells Ray that he gets turned on no matter what Ray's wearing, except he says he gets "aroused." And, god knows, that's the truth. Tight jeans, loose jeans, t-shirts, sweatshirts, big huge winter parka - every day, whatever Ray's got on, he catches Fraser staring at him, doing that thing where he licks the corner of his mouth, and then Ray knows the next chance Fraser gets, he's gonna be pushed up against the wall, or the counter, or bent over the couch.

And finally, just so you don't all start worrying that I've been seduced away from the Smallville love, I have to recommend bagheera_san's latest story, "From the Ruins," Part One and Part 2. Set in early season 6. Clark and Lex switch bodies, and that changes everything. I love how nuanced her Lex characterization is in this story.

Today's Clexrec author is justforspite. I was a little torn on what to rec for her, since I really, really wanted to recommend The Vultures of Death Valley, which charts Clark's course into the dangerous waters of Lex's social circle and the conniving and backstabbing socialites of polite society, but it is still a WIP. I waited until the end of the month just in case, but since I don't want to just rec a WIP for folks who don't read WIPs, let me instead recommend a shorter piece she wrote, Looking In: Eukanuba . This story is a hot little PWP, set in season 1. Clark overhears Lex watching porn at the mansion, and then gets a chance to watch some on his own, which inevitably leads to the two of them exploring some of the things Clark has seen. This has an interesting twist at the end, too.

Since I am off to Escapade today, and don't think I'll have net access until Sunday night, I'm going to do the recs for days 22-25 all at once. It's your own responsibility to ration them out over the weekend, if you feel the need to do so.

Today's Clexrec author is chimosa. It was hard to pick just one of chimosa's stories, though after much reflection, I couldn't resist overprotective hooker Lex bossing around hooker Clark in her wonderful short piece, What Happens in Vegas . Still, if you haven't read A Slow Inevitability , I highly recommend it. Post-Reckoning, Clark and Lex take a bittersweet roadtrip. Lex wants to help Clark, but neither of them really know how.

Tomorrow's rec is roxymissrose The Dog . Since Roxy is the mistress of tormenting the boys, I'll confess had to work up the nerve to read this, since the premise scared me: Lionel captures Clark at a young age, cages him, and teaches him to be his dog. It's true that there's quite a lot of Clark torture in this story, and a fair bit of Lex torture, too, but when they finally find each other they teach each other how to be human again. There are some fabulous original characters like Ray and Rob, and this is long, dense, and gripping tale, though parts of it will break your heart.

Saturday's rec is scribblinlenore, A Clarkmas Carol. Clark inadvertantly enacts a Dickensian tale as he tries to make up with Lex. He's a little off-script, but fortunately he has Lex there to prompt him.

And finally, Sunday's rec is averaird, Injustice , futurefic in which Lex realizes he doesn't hate Clark nearly as much as he thought he did. Or at all. A long, slow, sweet reconciliation tale.

Today's Clexrec is kristiinthedark, Not Yet .

"Lex, please. I want to tell you."

Lex keeps facing towards the window, not wanting to look at Clark at all. "Clark, don't. If you do... I won't know who you are anymore. I won't know who I am anymore. I don't know what will happen if you tell me."

A lovely, lyrical look at Clark and Lex's relationship, and how much of it is bound up in what they don't tell each other. Will the truth set them free, or will it destroy them?

For those of you who may have been waiting to read bagheera_san's Devil's Deal until it was completely finished, you should go read it right now, because she just posted the last part. Smallville, Clark/Lex, with a bit of DCU canon thrown in: Lex sells his soul to bring Kon back to life; can Clark get it back for him? And does Lex even want him to? I love this story *so* much, especially Bagheera's characterization of Clark and Lex. She never plays down the fact that they are actually enemies, and there are lots of obstacles in the path to any relationship they might have. I also love the way she plays with mythology in this story.

Edited to add: You can read it in one piece on the SSA here.

Today's Clexrec is _sail_'s Life on Earth. A wonderful, long, plotty AU in which the meteor shower happens only after Lex arrives to take over the Smallville fertilizer factory, and Lex ends up with an adolescent alien to care for.

Today's Clexrec is coloredink's Esse . A slow, lovely futurefic. Clark has always lied to Lex, but Superman tells him the truth.


And here's a bonus rec for today: not Smallville--not actually any real TV show. Have you seen that ad with the Mac guy and the PC guy? (I swear I saw the PC guy on the Jon Stewart show last night). One of the commericials from the ad campaign is here , if you have no idea what I'm talking about--basically a series of ads for Macs in which Mac guy is a cool dude, and PC guy is a neurotic, problem-prone individual. There's now a new ad in the series where PC has a bodyguard, Windows Vista security, who is pretty damn attractive.

svilleficrecs has written an amazingly hot story where the Mac guy hooks up with PC guy's new security guard, which sounds like the ultimate in crack fic, but is actually amazingly funny, hot, and in character. It is here, if you haven't already read it.


Many thanks to everyone who said lovely things about me in svmadelyn's Valentine game --and many thanks to Madelyn herself for devoting so much time and effort into making our Valentine's day a little brighter.

Today's Clex rec is tasabian, Candy Cane Hearts . Tasabian (aka Vivian Darkbloom on SSA) is another relatively new SV writer who is carving out a name for herself as someone who writes sweet old-school romantic Clex. This is my current favorite of her stories: Clark is acting pretty strangely, kidnapping Lex and playing tourist. Is it redK? Some other mysterious substance? Or is it just love?