Spreading the tales of a con man

Title: Can You Handle This
Author: Pilgrimmi
Spoilers: Mild ones for 5x02
Characters: David Siegel, Neal, Peter
Pairings: none
Warning: none
Summary: The new handler has arrived. Neal Caffrey, meet David Siegel.

Why rec'd? This is a lovely little outside POV on Neal (and, to a lesser extent, the rest of Team White Collar) from Siegel's point of view.

Title: The Wind Will Ruin Everything
Author: magistrate
Rating: T
Spoilers: through 4x04
Characters: Neal, general ensemble (mainly Ellen, Kate, Mozzie, Peter)
Pairings: mainly gen w/background Neal/Kate
Warning: n/a
Summary: Neal's left home a few times, in his life. Most of the time, though, he's blinked and home's been gone.

Why rec'd?: I read this story as a WIP; now that it's complete, I highly recommend it! Excellent Neal backstory/character study covering the period from his childhood up to early season four. In certain areas it conflicts with my own established headcanon, but it's a very solid, believable look at Neal's life, his emotional issues, and his ongoing search to find a place where he belongs.

Title: Misfire (Also on DW)
Author: magistrate
Spoilers: Point Blank and a few things from Burke's Seven
Characters: Neal, Peter, Diana, Jones, Elizabeth
Pairings: only background canon ones
Warning: None
Summary: AU of Point Blank. A gun goes off, but Fowler isn't the one who catches the bullet.

Why rec'd? This fic just blew me away -- in the best possible way! I think that one of the main reasons it impressed me so much is because this scenario (Neal accidentally shoots Peter during the standoff in Point Blank) is one which could so VERY easily have been written in a way that was terribly OOC and very unfair to either Neal or Peter. And it could also have focused on these events to the extent of completely ignoring what happened to Mozzie later in the episode.

But this fic does not do that at all! Instead it's a wonderfully complex and believable alternate take on the episode's events and how this sends things spinning down a different path. The FBi reaction is plausible; Neal's reaction is plausible; everyone is fantastically in character and all the fallout feels believable and convincing. The author does not downplay or ignore either Peter or Neal's character flaws (actually I think that's one of the things I appreciated most about this fic, that it never feels like the author is taking sides or portraying either or both of the characters as paragons of virtue -- Neal's flaws are addressed, but so are the various ways in which Peter has let Neal down). And it neatly sidesteps most of the h/c cliches that one might expect to find here, which actually makes the emotions a great deal more wrenching and powerful than they might otherwise be, because the beats don't fall where you expect them to, and the characters don't do what we've been fanon-conditioned to expect them to, and it just makes your heart bleed for all of them.

This author is new to the fandom and I really hope they write more, because their take on the characters is just a little bit different without being at all OOC, and I love that!

Title: Chasing Clouds
Author: Slipstream77
Spoilers: Big ones for 3x16
Characters: Peter (with appearances by Diana, June)
Pairings: None
Warning: None
Summary: Peter knew Diana probably thought he was in shock. And maybe he was. But not for the reasons she thought. The immediate aftermath of "Judgment Day."

Why rec'd? This is a very convincing look at Peter right after the end of 3x16, trying to balance his need to do his job with his friendship for Neal, and reflecting on the tangled mess of events that have brought them here. I thought it was very fair to all the characters and the complexities of their situation.