Fanfic Recommendation Challenge

Claim: BtVS: Xander Harris
Title: Lilac City
Author: NWHepcat
Characters: Xander/Faith, OCs
Prompt: Future Fic
Rating: NC-17
Length: Epic
Brief summary: Xander left the supernatural behind years ago and got sober. Unfortunately, the past doesn't always let you go. This is a future-Xander that I could buy. He's battered, but he's not broken, and he cares more than he lets himself think. I love all three parts (this is technically a trilogy, but it reads to me more like a chaptered story), but the end of part three kills me every time.
Link to the story: Lilac City

Claim: BtVS: Xander Harris
Title: What a Wicked Thing to Do
Author: Elena
Characters: Xander/Spike
Prompt: Dream
Rating: R
Length: Medium
Brief summary: Season Five, Spike and Xander get drunk. I love this story; it's short, sharp, and utterly perfect. ( Excerpt )
Link to the story: What a Wicked Thing to Do

Claim: BtVS: Xander Harris
Title: A Long Time
Author: The Mad Poetess
Characters: Xander/Spike
Prompt: Death
Rating: R
Length: Epic
Brief summary: Xander and Spike have Issues: some are mystical, some are just plain pigheadedness. I love this story, beginning to middle to end. I love Xander's immortality, and I love the end, and oh, Willow, how much do I love Willow in this story?
Link to the story: A Long Time

Claim: BtVS: Xander Harris
Title: Dictaphonic Rambling
Author: Littleflame
Characters: Xander/Spike
Prompt: Confession
Rating: G
Length: Long
Brief summary: Xander's time in Africa, as told to a dictaphone. Love the alt-take on Spike's resurrection, and I really love the Xander-voice here.
Link to the story: Dictaphonic Rambling

Claim: BtVS: Xander Harris
Title: The Bright Blessed Day, The Dark Sacred Night
Author: NWHepcat
Characters: Xander/Buffy
Prompt: Kiss
Rating: R
Length: Long
Brief summary: Xander and Buffy, roadtripping across America. It's a quiet story, and a lovely one. ( Excerpt )
Link to the story: The Bright Blessed Day, The Dark Sacred Night

Claim: BtVS: Xander Harris
Title: Joli Coeur
Author: Carmel Covered Carioca
Characters: Xander, John Burke
Prompt: Reccer's Choice
Rating: NC-17
Length: Epic
Brief summary: Crossover with Anita Blake. This is one of my all-time favorite crossovers; Dawn tries to do a prosperity spell and Xander ends up hijacked by the loa to solve a problem in Anita's world. There are a ton of great lines (sadly, all my favorites are spoilery), and the plot is genuinely interesting. There's a lot of slash in this one, if that matters to you.
Link to the story: Joli Coeur

Claim: BtVS: Xander Harris
Title: Zoo
Author: Te
Characters: Xander/Oz
Prompt: Make-up
Rating:
Length: Medium
Brief summary: Xander's in Oxnard. Oz shows up. Dude, I'd love this story just for stripper!Xander. Thankfully, it's Te, so there's a whole lot more to love, too.
Link to the story: Zoo

Claim: BtVS: Xander Harris
Title: Xander Wishes
Author: Kay Tee
Characters: Xander/Anya, Angel
Prompt: UST
Rating: PG-13
Length: Medium
Brief summary: I don't usually dig UST stories, but this one's gorgeous. I love the way Xander thinks in this, and I love Anya here, too. ( Excerpt )
Link to the story: Xander Wishes

Claim: BtVS: Xander Harris
Title: Keeper of the Book
Author: Nwhepcat
Characters: Xander, Wesley, Anne
Prompt: Dark
Rating: NC-17
Length: Epic
Brief summary: Xander falls in love with the wrong woman. Again. And this time, it goes bad for everyone. ( Excerpt )
Link to the story: Keeper of the Book

Claim: BtVS: Xander Harris
Title: Eclipse
Author: Livia and Julad
Characters: Xander/Larry
Prompt: Fight
Rating: R
Length: Medium
Brief summary: Xander, forty-five minutes before the apocalypse, sending his schoomates off to die and then having sex in a broom closet. It's just a tiny little interlude, but it's awesome, start to finish. ( Excerpt )
Link to the story: Eclipse

Claim: BtVS: Xander Harris
Title: It Started
Author: Kate Bolin
Characters: Xander/Jesse/Willow
Prompt: Seduction
Rating: PG-13
Length: Medium
Brief summary: A gorgeous little AU that leaves you wanting more. ( Excerpt )
Link to the story: It Started

Claim: BtVS: Xander Harris
Title: Nexus
Author: Raksha
Characters: Xander/Angel(us)
Prompt: Secrets
Rating: NC-17
Length: Epic
Brief summary: Xander's kidnapping by Angelus, told in flashbacks. This story's like a romance novel, but more with the violence and BDSM and noncon. But there's True Love, like in a romance novel, and it requires that same suspension of disbelief to sell its premise; only instead of asking to believe that no, really, handsome Greek billionaires fall in love with secretaries all the time, this story asks you to believe that Angelus isn't completely lost to human emotions like love. I'm kind of a ridiculous sucker for this story, though, especially Chapter 15.
Link to the story: Nexus

Claim: BtVS: Xander Harris
Title: Warmth
Author: Te
Characters: Xander/Willow
Prompt: Loss
Rating: R
Length: Medium
Brief summary: This is an uncomfortable story. Just post-Grave, Xander tries to comfort Willow. It's good, and well-characterized, and you just keep thinking "nothing good can come from this".
Link to the story: Warmth

Claim: BtVS: Xander Harris
Title: Lilah and Xander v. the Zombie Gods of Redding
Author: Jennifer-Oksana
Characters: Xander/Lilah
Prompt: Teamwork
Rating: PG-13
Length: Medium
Brief summary: Lilah and Xander team up to retrieve a Slayer. Of course things go wrong. But they've got a Plan.( Excerpt )
Link to the story: Lilah and Xander v. the Zombie Gods of Redding

Claim: BtVS: Xander Harris
Title: A Free Man in Rome
Author: Tesla
Characters: Xander
Prompt: Character Study
Rating: PG
Length: Short
Brief summary: Xander, waiting at a coffee shop in Rome for an unspecified lady-love, sits and ponders. It's just a brief little introspection, but it rings true.
Link to the story: A Free Man in Rome

Claim: BtVS: Xander Harris
Title: The History of Humor in the 20th Century
Author: Liz Marcs
Characters: Xander, Faith
Prompt: Humor
Rating: PG-13
Length: Medium
Brief summary: Part of a series, but stands alone. A Faith POV story in which she and Xander bond over TV Land, post-Chosen. The voices are right and the whole thing's just...endearing.
Link to the story: The History of Humor in the 20th Century

Claim: BtVS: Xander Harris
Title: Facing the Heart in Darkness (WiP)
Author: Liz Marcs
Characters: Xander, OCs
Prompt: Original Character
Rating: PG-13
Length: Epic
Brief summary: My love for this story cannot be textually rendered. Even though, on the surface, it looks like it should be horrible. It's narrated by an original female character, who's a coward, hates Xander, and (as the author's said) suffers from the delusion that she's in an Bronte novel. And yet, awesome. Part of it's the fact that the story's written as if it's Eva's memoirs, so we get to see that she won't always be insufferable. But a lot of it's the universe the story takes place in, where a post-Chosen Xander is in Africa, training Slayers, and smack in the middle of a schism in the Council. It also has the most horrifyingly logical explanation for the Cruciamentum I've ever heard. And there's nifty Slayer lore and smart villains and the whole thing leaves me torn between: 1) smacking Eva in the face, bunches, 'til she shapes up, 2) squealing incoherently of my chest-bursting love for Xander, all grown-up and loyal and clever and flawed and still awesome beyond the telling of it, and 3) shouting "Viva la revolution!", because Roger Wyndham-Pryce and his nasty little cabal are getting put down and hard and I can't freaking wait.
Link to the story: Facing the Heart in Darkness