Pimp, GIP and LURVE!

[tabaqui]

I have been reading a LOT of really good stuff on my flist - and linked THROUGH my flist. So, PIMP!

First, reremouse is writing all KINDS of stuff.
Check out the Newspaper!Verse wherein fun news articles inspire Spike and Xander to...naughtiness.
Then there's the Psychic!Verse wherein a phychic Xander lands a curious Wesley. Angel and Spike are there, too!
Last but not least is 28th Day Itch, Hyena!Xander, Demon!Spike, and some Oz, too. Yum.
Oh!! How could i forget her Vamp!Xander fic?? Yess!!!

theohara is writing a Spawn fic. I know, I know. BUT!! It's awesome. The characterizations are spot-on and the banter hilariously funny. Plus? Not squicky AT ALL. Go, read Two Summers and worship.
There is also Every Night I Save You, a VERY different twist on 'The Gift'. Utterly lovely.

kyrieane finished To Break,To Mend, an utterly lovely, angsty Spander piece that I highly recommend.
AND! She made me that spiffy Tootsiepop Turtle icon!! Heee!
*hugs*

paperk8 is woring on a lovely Spander called Abstract, and its quirky, slow build is a delight.

Now for something completely different: LOTRps. Or, rather, names and faces from 'Lord of the Rings' but - this is not the Elijah wood of 'The Faculty' or the Sean Astin of 'Goonies'. It's whole new, amazing worlds and characters with a nice template to envision them.

abundantlyqueer wrote Mardi Gras which... Well, which just blew my mind. Viggo the voodoo priest, Lij his acolyte, Dom the gambler... Rich, sexy, amazing. Must read.

A number of writers are combining talents to flesh out a Yuma, Arizon circa the late 1800's. Gamblers and whores, love and lust, sad tales and happy times, beauty and ugliness. An amazing read, a totally realized world.
I give you the first entry at the journal and you can make your way from there. West - A LOTRps Journal.

And now, some tag-stories that I'm following AND tagging in. The more the merrier!!
margarks That Night, a Spike/Xander AU.
secondverse sponsered Shaking Through, Where There's Smoke, and Ark's Journal, all Spander, all amazing stories with a host of talented writers contributing. Come and read and tag!

Also, glossing and kindkit are writing a Giles/Oz RPG that just...rocks. A beautiful, sexy, MATURE look at them and a relationship that might have been. go and read Like Jazz and fall in love.

Lastly, but not in the SLIGHTEST in the least, my dearest roxymissrose writes Smallville Clark/Lex, and she's started an amazing AU story that has had me in tears more than once. There are three 'parts' so far, with multiple chapters in each.
Summer Story, part one
part two
part three
You'll be glad you did!

And - oh! Can't forget. The 'newest' author I know just finished his first story - check it out! chocgood84 wrote Whipping Boy.

I know there's so much MORE out there, but i'm gonna stop now. Check my memories for more good stuff, check my website Scarecrow Horses for links, and try these authors and stories out! You won't regret it!

And many, many hugs, kisses, and thanks to the lovely and generous 'Anonymous' who gifted me with two months of paid LiveJournal!! You ROCK, you shy thing you!!
:)

Comments

[julia-here.livejournal.com]

Yup, reading most of that already.

Would like to add my voice to the rec of Like Jazz- although it does, at time, violate my squick line. Except: it does Giles's, too, and that is one of the best things about it, the level of concsiousness (and utter screwed-up-ness, at times) of this Giles and this Oz.

Julia, having slept but still stupid-ish

[gloss]

Thanks for the feedback; I'm really glad to hear the characterization is sticking with you.

Is it okay if I ask about the squickiness? Is it the age-difference, or...? *very curious, if that's cool*

[julia-here.livejournal.com]

Personal squick, personal history, yes the age difference,and you handle the issue very well by having it bother Giles at least as much as it bothers me.

But it took a lot of [b]very damned good writing[/b] to get me over being reminded of stuff I'd witnessed and experienced in childhood and teen years, plus being the mother of teenagers, and not only read and enjoy but find the work praiseworthy.

Julia, having watched a real chickenhawk in action can make it hard to suspend disbelief

[gloss]

Gotcha. And thank you *so* much for your reply. I'm coming from a fairly similar place -- not a mom, but grew up around a family with lots and lots of questionable...*things* and problems.

It's something Kit & I talk about all the time and constantly revisit, but I know I can say that Oz has been irreversibly marked/changed/affected by having had such an intense relationship so early; he wasn't lying when he told Giles he wouldn't be *himself* w/o having known Giles, and I think that's for good (love and Gilesy stuff) and bad (alcoholism, running away).

Thank you again, *so* much.

[tabaqui]

It's something Kit & I talk about all the time and constantly revisit, but I know I can say that Oz has been irreversibly marked/changed/affected by having had such an intense relationship so early...

See? More reasons to love this fic, because you're both THINKING about it, so much.
And it really shows.

[kindkit.livejournal.com]

Wow. Thank you so much. Sometimes I've worried that my Giles comes off as too damn fretful and conflicted and mopey, so it's really wonderful to hear that his emotional confusion works for you in the way I'd hoped it would.

I think that a lot of stories with a teenager/adult relationship tend to oversimplify--either they whitewash the ethical issues entirely or they present the relationship as obviously exploitive and criminal. But in the Jazz, Gloss and I have really tried to explore the complexities--both the genuine love and the potential exploitation, both the joy, pleasure, delight and the pain and, to some extent, harm.

And Giles, not being a stupid man, is aware of all those complexities and worries over them. I don't know that I'd call him a "chickenhawk," exactly (he's mostly had sex with adult men, and I think both his sexuality and his emotions are extremely complicated), but he's certainly got desires in that direction. And he's spent a long, long, long time trying to figure out what that means and what he can/should do about it.

Anyway, I'll stop yammering now. Thank you, again, for your very thoughtful comments.

[julia-here.livejournal.com]

First, it's probably your willingness to address the ethical and emotional complications of this situation which I find most attractive- as "romantic" as it's traditional to find amatory obsession, in real life it does take a toll on people.

And I was actually using the term "chickenhawk" in contrast, not as descriptive of Giles. In "Like Jazz" he is attracted to Oz as an individual, not to teenage boys in general, and the relationship doesn't look like the real-life ones I'm thinking of, especially in terms of inequalities of power and control. Neither of them are shining models of mental health, but they are not trying to enhance themselves by lessening each other- quite the opposite, I think, what you show of their inner lives seem prone to self-diminishment.

Julia, if any of that makes a bit of sense?

[tabaqui]

What do you find squicky? I wanna know, too.
:)

But oh, they are SO lovely. :)

[darkhavens.livejournal.com]

You got Anonymous'd too! bloodclaim got 6 months of paid time. Isn't it exciting?

And wow! That's a lot of recs. I'm reading every one of the Spanders, of course. *g*

[tabaqui]

Ooh! Spiff!!
You know, i keep meaning to make 'Bloodclaim' icons - i'm gonna do it!

Heh, yeah. Kinda preachin' to the choir, but...
*slightly guilty for all the people she DIDN'T rec...ack!*

[darkhavens.livejournal.com]

You know, i keep meaning to make 'Bloodclaim' icons - i'm gonna do it!

Yay! I'm also accepting link buttons for people to put on their websites/user info pages. Any goodies you can come up with will be gratefully accepted. If you could email them to me when you're done, I'd appreciate it. I want to do a graphics post (or two, depending on the numbers I finally get) on the anniversary itself. :o) But there's still a month to go, so no hurry. ;o)

[tabaqui]

Okay, buttons, icons - everything!
Hee.
*bounce*
I like to Photosheep sometimes when writing is just not happening.

I'll keep the date in mind but i want to get them done before i forget!

[darkhavens.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'll be posting a couple more reminders in Bloodclaim before the big day, asking for graphics and also to make sure everyone remembers the fic prompt. ('Anniversary'. *g*)

[tabaqui]

Oh, good!
Reminders are good.
:)

[paperk8.livejournal.com]

Oh what a list. *takes notes*
*glomps you*
I'm there? Holy hell.
*smooches*
And I feel guilty, because I'm waiting for my second (and hopefully more coherent) read of Changes to fb you. It looked great the first time through, though I want to give it a proper reading.
*hugs*

[tabaqui]

Yes yes, notes!
COURSE you're there! Silly.

Oh. Ummm...
Go! Read!!
*not anxious for k8 fb, no, not at all*
!!!!!!!!

[gloss]

*glows like something incandescent*
Dude! Thank you *so* much! We're nearing our first anniversary of this story, too, and I just love writing it more and more. *So* glad you're enjoying it, and thanks for the rec!

[julia-here.livejournal.com]

From the point of view of writing as an art form, Like Jazz is not only the best tag fic/RP I'm following, but some of the best Jossverse fic in any form. Great stuff, thanks for the obvious-because-invisible care y'all put into it.

Julia, yup, love it

[gloss]

Dude. Wow, and whoa.

*is incoherent with gratitude* Thank you!

[tabaqui]

Hee!
You're welcome!
It's too good not to pimp, dude.
:)

[ponders-life.livejournal.com]

Hey, thanks for rec'ing theohara's Spawn fic. I haven't read a lot of Spawn (I like pairing Spike and Dawn, but I have limited time to read, and I prefer Spander). I just finished the first part of "Two Summers" and will definitely read more...

Are you planning to tag that_night_tag again? margarks's last tag brought Spike and Xander face to face in the bar three weeks ago, and they've been staring at each other, mute and unmoving, ever since!

[tabaqui]

Ooh, yes, isn't 'Two Summers' just lovely?
I generally don't like Spawn, but that's just delightful.

Ummmmmmmm...yes!
Tag soon. I keep hoping we'll get more players, but i guess not!!

[riani1.livejournal.com]

mmm, stories ...

[tabaqui]

DAMN!!!
I meant to pimp you!!
My offhand - see links! is not enough!!!
Grrrrrrrrr....
I'm putting up some more 'Little Runaway' soon, i will pimp you then!
*hugs*
go, read!

[roxymissrose.livejournal.com]

You really are the coolest friend ever! Thank you darlin'. *kiss, hug, schnuggle*

[tabaqui]

Hee.
*snogs you mercilessly*

*squee*

[chocgood84.livejournal.com]

You pimped me! You pimped me! *squee*

*bounces*

Thanks, darlin! You know I wuuuuv you babeee! *hugs*

Best friend ever! :D

Re: *squee*

[tabaqui]

Heheheehe!
:)
*bounces with you*
'course i did!

Re: *squee*

[chocgood84.livejournal.com]

Hee! I may just have a lil inspiration for that halloween fic now :)

Re: *squee*

[tabaqui]

Whooot!
That rocks, dude!
:)

[kindkit.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the rec!!!

glossing and I both love the Jazz enormously, and it's really, really great when other people love it too.