Compiled by the Espresso Addict

Espresso Recommendations

Innovative and stylish fanfiction, showcasing the very best across multiple sf, fantasy & literature fandoms. Good writing in all its forms can be found here, including gen, het, slash, OCs, AUs, crossovers, future fics, humour & pastiche

Contents: 1010 recs in 235 fandoms; 65 links

Blake's 7

Kerr Avon

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Awake and Find No by Ika

A portrait of Servalan at a turning point in her life. Heart-rending and beautifully written, 'Awake and Find No' should come with a warning label -- it interweaves canon and invention so cleverly, so plausibly, that it infects the original episode on rewatching! One of my very favourites among Ika's fiction

[Added 13/01/2004; Drama; 2500-6000; Blake's 7; Characters: Servalan, Kerr Avon, OCs]

Fetch by Hafren

Lovely liquid prose which resists being pinned down characterises this alternative view of season 4

[Added 16/04/2003; Drama; 2500-6000; Blake's 7; Characters: Kerr Avon, Vila Restal, Soolin, Dayna Mellanby]

Four Years after the Revolution by Ika

A bittersweet AU in which the destruction of Star One went as planned, and everyone lives happily ever after. An unusual vignette which made me think about the nature of revolution

[Added 21/12/2003; Character Piece; <1000; Blake's 7; Characters: Roj Blake, Kerr Avon]

Gemini Rising by Suzan Lovett

A young rebel clashes with the authorities. This thoughtful story is my favourite among Suzan's B7 fiction

[Added 21/12/2003; Drama; 6000-20,000; Blake's 7; Characters: Kerr Avon, Roj Blake, OC]

In My Hands by Hafren

'All I'd seen him in for ages was that funeral clobber with all the studs, and without it he looked - I was going to say, like he used to in the old days, but that's just it, he didn't.' PGP vignette imbued with the feel of a fairy tale. Bittersweet & memorable, with a perfect Vila voice

[Added 25/08/2013; Drama; 2500-6000; Blake's 7; Characters: Vila Restal, Kerr Avon, Deva, Biblical characters]

Information by Clocketpatch

'The worlds had been named after the colony ships which settled them. Freedom was the first of the three, but after the war its designation changed. Knowledge, with the creation of System, was the clear winner. History was rewritten.' A thoughtful history for the Liberator's makers, with a strong voice for Zen. There's a bonus of the best explanation for the wardrobe room I've yet encountered

[Added 07/08/2014; Character Piece; 1000-2500; Blake's 7; Characters: Zen, Kerr Avon, OCs]

The Last Days of Roj Blake by Una McCormack

The President has been deposed, the Administration lies in ruins, but the fighting isn't over yet... A chillingly plausible AU

[Added 16/04/2003; Drama; 2500-6000; Blake's 7; Characters: Roj Blake, Kerr Avon, Cally, Jenna Stannis, Vila Restal, Avalon]

The Man I Mean & Cross-Reality by Sheenagh Pugh

Two moving poems from a collection whose theme is the boundary between fiction and reality. [The poems are no longer available on line, but the full 'Fanfic' sequence is published in The Beautiful Lie (Seren)]

[Added 16/04/2003; Poetry; <1000; Blake's 7; Characters: Kerr Avon]

A Marketable Commodity by Pat Jacquerie

The story that first got me into slash. Pat has turned an off-the-peg scenario into an outstanding example of what PWP should be, but often isn't: full of snappy dialogue & beautiful details, revealing of character, and, uh, hot…

[Added 16/04/2003; Romance/Erotica; 6000-20,000; Blake's 7; Characters: Del Tarrant, Kerr Avon]

Memory is an Encumbrance by Julia Stamford

Mutoids are one of the more interesting properties of the Blake's 7 universe. Julia Stamford's moral fable runs with the titular line of dialogue from the mutoid in 'Duel', presenting thoughts on identity, personality & memory that reach well beyond the B7 setting. This was another of my very favourites from Emma Peel's stand-out zine I, Mutoid

[Added 31/10/2004; Drama; 2500-6000; Blake's 7; Characters: Kerr Avon, Roj Blake, Olag Gan, OC]

Morgan by Judith Proctor

A teleport malfunction dumps an amnesiac Avon in 20th Century Wales, where he's met by a suspiciously familiar figure. 'Morgan' blends B7 Plot Devices #5 & #7 with a crossover with a series virtually no-one's seen -- yet the result is genuinely moving, as Avon struggles to adjust to his new life, and Judith resists providing any easy fixes (Crossover with Morgan's Boy, starring Gareth Thomas. Illustrated by Val Westall)

[Added 31/10/2004; Drama; 20,000-50,000; Blake's 7; Characters: Kerr Avon, Morgan; Crossover]

Not Our Kind, Darling by Executrix

An early chapter in the Executrix Avoniad, 'Not Our Kind, Darling' abounds with luscious visual details as it explores class and religious repression in the Terran Domes. Executrix's take on Blake's 7 is by no means the standard fannish one, yet she completely draws the reader into her unique universe

[Added 16/04/2003; Drama; 2500-6000; Blake's 7; Characters: Kerr Avon, Jenna Stannis]

A Price to Pay by Julia Stamford

After the events on Gauda Prime, Servalan makes Avon an unusual offer. Well-written verbal sparring and an interesting & original premise combine to make this another of my favourites from Julia Stamford's varied portfolio

[Added 31/10/2004; Drama; 2500-6000; Blake's 7; Characters: Kerr Avon, Servalan]

Purple Haze by Executrix

Sexual politics meets revolutionary politics in this delicious series of interlinked shorts. This is one of my all-time favourites amongst Executrix's immensely varied and stylish output

[Added 16/04/2003; Drama; 2500-6000; Blake's 7; Characters: Roj Blake, Kerr Avon, Jenna Stannis, Inga, Hal Mellanby, Kasabi, OCs]

The Quibell Abduction by Lillian Shepherd (aka EPS)

Far too few B7 stories bother to take the crew off the Liberator, let alone take advantage of fanfiction's unlimited sfx budget to create a decent planet for them to land on or aliens for them to interact with -- so 'The Quibell Abduction' is a welcome break. With its excellent mix of adventure, sf & character interaction, this is a deserved fandom classic. If you like this, then I'd also recommend Lillian's The Haunting of Haderon, another much-reprinted novella that's newly available online

[Added 31/10/2004; Drama; 20,000-50,000; Blake's 7; Characters: Cally, Kerr Avon, OCs]