I’ve been reading fanfiction since I was old enough to use the dial-up connection on my dad’s hulking old office computer.  I remember opening multiple windows of everything I’d want to read, then checking each one as they slowly loaded, the color and text slowly inching their way down, AIM a steady presence on the right hand of the screen. Now, I’m only one person with a few specific reading interests, but out of thousands of stories and authors over many, many moons, these are the ones that still exist today and really stood out as something better than just fanfiction, as something truly inspired.

I’m only including finished stories here – there are several wonderful ones that were never finished and I don’t want to tease anyone.

Even after all these years, the top to me is still Tales From The House of the Moon, by Resmiranda. So much more than an Inuyasha fanfiction, this story made me gasp, cheer, laugh, ugly-cry, and fully believe a couple that otherwise would never have worked. Even if you’ve never watched the anime, give it try – it’ll grab your hearstrings and not let go until it’s 3AM and you’re still reading.

Since we’re talking about anime, here’s two utterly amazing Sailor Moon oneshots by Dejana Talis:

Oak Evolution: Sailor Jupiter isn’t quite sure she wants to give up being Kino Makoto.

Misconception: It’s Crystal Tokyo, but Small Lady was never born. Instead, another lives in her shadow.

Moving on to Phantom of the Opera, the best of the best is Quiet2885, whose stories only get better and better. Each Erik and Christine is distinct, something that’s incredibly hard to pull off when writing variations of a well-trod story. Check out them all, but for a dystopia or supernatural/horror twist, I’d recommend Shadow Government and Accompaniment respectively.  For something gentler, try When All Is Lost and its accompanying vignettes. Just lovely.

For a serious, adult twist on a campy movie, Underground, a Labyrinth fanfiction by Team Bonet, is the way to go.

When it comes to Supernatural, I’m not usually a Dean/Cas fan, but Hatteress is so good it makes me blush. Start with Tripping and work your way thru the ‘verse.

For a crossover, Unique by claudiapriscus is a fantastic Supernatural/Dexter story. Naturally Dexter thinks Dean is a serial killer. Things don’t go well after that.

And on the subject of crossovers, Dust in the Wind is by livejournal user lyra_wing and is a Supernatural/American Gods oneshot that always stuck with me.

I know there were others throughout the years, but these are the ones I still have floating around. All are worth a read. And any recommendations are always welcome!