| JUMP ST: |
|
|
|
|
|
SUAINE: "Candles And
Chemistry." [No Link]
|
|
12/11/09
29kb |
Tom Hanson/Doug
Penhall.
The McQuaid brothers are sent undercover to a
school where a principal is murdering the
students.
|
|
|
"Do you kiss guys a lot, because that
was- that was-" Penhall made a gesture of
frustration. Neither of them had the words,
because this was wrong and very much the hottest
thing Hanson had done in a long time, but also
wrong.
|
|
|
Except, not as wrong as it could be.
Hanson chuckled, too much emotional stress
spilling out of him.
|
|
|
"What's so funny?" Penhall looked
almost pleading and that just set Hanson off on
another bout of giggles.
|
|
|
"Just," Hanson said, between laughs,
"I'm really kind of glad we're not actually the
McQuaid brothers."
|
|
|
Penhall looked amused, and fixed which
was far more important - he didn't seem to want
to run off at the next opportunity. "Hmm, maybe.
But you know, those McQuaid brothers really do
touch a lot." |
|
|
This story is
quite good, although I found the background plot
a little thin.
|
|
| ACTION: |
|
|
|
|
 |
VALERIA: "Fire
And Ice." |
|
16/10/04
146kb |
Peter
Dragon/Cole Riccardi.
Cole Riccardi is threatening to "come out" as
gay and interfere with Peter Dragon's profits
from their latest movie. In desperation, Peter
pretends that he, too, is gay.
|
|
|
Weird feeling, having someone you'd
seen in seventy-millimeter Sensurround closeup
nine dozen times actually there, inches away
from you, staring--at you. No screen, no
lens. Even after you'd dealt with these
guys in person for years, with their minus I.Q.s
and their killer B.O. and their tantrums and
DUIs and underage girlfriends (boyfriends?--oh,
Jesus, fourteen-year-old girls are one thing but
DragonFire can't handle a "man-boy love"
scandal, Riccardi, you stupid fuck), and their
idiot ramblings about their "art" and their
utter and complete lack of any shred of fucking
gratitude--even after that, and with no trace of
fresh-off-the-boat starfucker left in your soul,
you could still get a little lurch in the gut to
have one of them right there, face to face with
you. |
|
|
It was one of the many, many reasons he
fucking hated actors. |
|
|
The sex in this
story is HOT, as Peter falls in love with Cole
despite his best intentions. I love this story
and I think Valeria has captured Peter Dragon's
difficult characterisation perfectly: despite
how unattractively venal he can seem, she
manages to make him appear sympathetically human
as well, which is no mean feat. There is a
sequel, which is also excellent, but it's no
longer on the net and last time I checked with
the author, it was still unfinished.
|
|
|
VALERIA: "Fire
And
Ice
2: Strong Sweets."  |
|
11/05/11
289kb |
Peter
Dragon/Cole Riccardi.
Peter deals with the fall out of Cole's
announcement that they are both gay and lovers.
He's still terribly confused about his own
reactions to Cole's overpowering lovemaking.
|
|
|
"The thing is, Peter," the other man
began, his voice a sinuous ribbon, "I know you.
I wish I didn't, but I do...and one thing
I know about you is that you'd hump a syphilitic
goat in the middle of Rodeo Drive, on live
television, if you thought it'd get a picture
made. It's one of the few things I
genuinely admire about you. I also know
that whatever other native talents Cole Riccardi
may possess, finding his dick with both hands
and a flashlight isn't among them--in other
words, we both know he is too fucking stupid to
ever personally manufacture a stunt like this."
Bobby straightened up abruptly, the
fingers beneath his chin now industriously
church-and-steepling. "Given that, I think
we both know that he didn't just pull this
particular idea out of his ass...and, well,
that's where you come in."
|
|
|
He tilted his head like a bird, giving
Peter a quizzical glance. "So what exactly
happened?" |
|
|
This story has a
little light bdsm and is unfinished. Although
this story is not as good as the prequel, it is
still recommended as a well written, funny and
hot sequel.
|
|
| ADAM DALGLIESH: |
|
|
|
|
|
GLASGOW, M. FAE: "Quantum
Of Solace." |
|
01/06/04
82kb |
Adam
Dalgliesh/OMC.
Adam Dalgliesh is suffering from burn-out
and he finds a deserted bed and breakfast
in which to lick his wounds. While there
he meets a grieving man who sees right through
his walls to the loneliness and isolation at his
core.
|
|
|
He needed a holiday: at least, he hoped
a holiday was all he needed. This past
time had been a cacophonous maelstrom of murder
cases sensationalised by the hunger of the press
and an infuriating whirlwind of unwanted
publicity. There seemed to be no peace for
him either about his 'staggering success' at
solving three rather nasty crimes in a row or
about his 'hauntingly stunning' new book of
poetry. And, much to his extreme distate,
most often of all, the desire to unearth what
made a 'policeman like him' write 'poetry like
that'. An exceedingly unwelcome question
for him, especially since he had no idea what
the secret might be. |
|
|
As usual, M. Fae
Glasgow writes intelligent prose that delights
me with it's grammatical perfection
<g>. Her characterisations are
always interesting and her stories deal with the
psychological as much as the emotional - and
that's definitely my cup of tea. I love
her take on the complex Dalgliesh and also her
ability to create a three dimensional original
character who can meet the imposing Dalgliesh on
equal terms.
|
|
|
| AIR FORCE ONE: |
|
|
|
|
| |
SUE: "Unprecedented."
|
|
01/03/05
264kb |
President Jim
Marshall/Major Ryan Caldwell
After the hijack of Air Force One, an
openly gay Caldwell is hired by the President to
keep him company - and only gradually does
Caldwell reealise just exactly what that means.
|
|
|
"Ryan, let me tell you something about
our President. Something that may surprise you."
|
|
|
"No." Firmly, Caldwell put a lid down
on the conversation.
|
|
|
"What?"
|
|
|
"I know what you're going to say, and I
don't want to hear it. I was in Vietnam too and
I know how people got through out there. It was
usually booze or drugs or corruption or sex, and
the way you're talking… well, it wasn't booze or
drugs or corruption, was it?"
|
|
|
"No. It wasn't."
|
|
|
Caldwell nodded. "He must have been
very discreet; I've never heard a whisper
against him." |
|
|
This is a lovely
story about these two characters, although it's
rather more serious in tone and has more sex
than Taliesin's "Give A Mouse A Cookie". I was a
little put off by the way Ryan was set up as
virtually the President's male call-boy at one
stage but since he wasn't upset by it, I guess
that was just me!
|
|
| |
TALIESIN:
"Give A Mouse A Cookie."
|
|
01/03/05
336kb |
President Jim
Marshall/Major Ryan Caldwell
Jim moves Ryan into the White House to
recover from the injuries he sustained
protecting the President during the hijacking -
and then manages a way to keep him on as his
private bodyguard.
|
|
|
Caldwell could handle all of that. A
man of many faces, he could be all those things
to these people and more. And he could also be
Major Ryan Caldwell, the nobody Air Force
officer who'd landed in the softest featherbed
he could imagine. Who had his heart on the wrong
side, a lot of scar tissue where it was supposed
to be, and a hand that never felt the cold. Ryan
Caldwell, who was in love with President James
Marshall.
|
|
|
He could even be that last without
cracking the facade. Loving Marshall would have
been easy, if that were all it was. What he
couldn't be was the man who desired James
Marshall. That was another Ryan Caldwell, and
that face never showed. Except in his dreams. On
the bad nights, he dreamed about the plane and
was grateful for his soundproofed room. On the
worse ones, he dreamed of Marshall and was even
more thankful for the soundproofing. Most nights
were either bad or worse. Ever since their stay
in Britain, an unbroken night's sleep was an
unheard-of luxury, and Caldwell wondered how
much longer he could keep this up without
cracking. |
|
|
This is a lovely,
sweet, slow get-together story. There is a
little too much "we're all gay and everything in
the the garden is lovely" sort of fic in
places, but this is a tiny criticism of
what is, overall, an extremely well-written,
well-characterised, very sweet love story.
This is highly recommended.
|
|
| BACK TO THE FUTURE: |
|
|
|
|
|
DR WORM: "Cold,
Cold
Wet Day." |
|
08/02/05
12kb |
Marty/George.
George has never been able to forget
Marty Klein.
|
|
|
George, however, was surprised to find
that, over the years, he could not let Marty go.
Something little would bring the other boy back
to him, almost every day. A smile from a
stranger, blue eyes, a bottle of soda,
Lorraine’s gentle touch on his wrist. And
sensory memories would come flooding back,
memories of some sort of strange adolescent love
and lust and blind admiration. They would claw
at his consciousness, begging for attention,
which he would always give without hesitation. |
|
|
Dr Worm likes to
play with the dislocation in character and time
that Marty's time-travelling brought about and
this is a look at George's reaction to a Marty
who is becoming increasingly like his memories
of a childhood friend. This isn't her best
story but I liked the atmosphere created in the
story.
|
|
| |
DR WORM:
"Remembering Things That Never Were." |
|
08/02/05
10kb |
Marty/George.
Marty muses over issues of time and the
ghosts of a man who was, and one who was not.
|
|
|
Daddy’s wristwatch went tickticktick in
his ear as they embraced awkwardly as strangers
on the living room couch. They were alone and
yet not, because everywhere Marty went, he saw
ghosts.
There was his Daddy then, unhappy and tired,
sitting at the kitchen table, hair slicked back
and ill-fitting clothing bunching in all the
wrong places as he tried hard to ignore his
children and his wife. And Marty sighed with
uncomfortable nostalgia, because that Daddy had
been killed and buried without eulogy or
headstone.
But there was also George, young and fresh-faced
and sweetly goofy and earnest; he would spend
most of his time at the bookshelves, flipping
through novels, smiling and nodding like an
overgrown pigeon. Sometimes Marty would look up
from his homework in the evenings and see George
sitting across from him, notebook flipped open,
pen in hand, but only staring. Staring at Marty
with wide blue eyes that both beguiled and
accused. And Marty would cringe and think, No,
this isn’t right. You shouldn’t be here. I gave
you what you wanted and more! This is the way
it’s supposed to be. And George would lick his
lips like a predator and Marty would hear a
voice that sounded like George even though it
wasn’t, not really. No, you didn’t, it said,
time and time again. This isn’t what I wanted at
all. Then the image would flicker and fade like
the memory it really was, and Marty would be
left with nothing but the bitter tangles of his
own insecurities convincing him of the unreality
of dreams, hallucinations, and things that never
were. |
|
|
I like this story
the most of Dr Worm's Back to the Future tales -
it's complex and it made me think. And I
especially like the Marty's bittersweet
understanding of what exactly it is he has done
by tampering with time.
|
|
| BEND IT LIKE BECKAM: |
|
|
|
|
|
NEKO: "Far
From Home."
|
|
01/07/05
6kb |
Jules/Jess.
Jules hates it when her mother is right.
|
|
|
She hates that her mother was right.
|
|
|
Because she's never right, and of all
the things she could be right about, this is by
far the worst. Anything else Jules could
handle, but this, this just makes her life a
thousand times more difficult than it already
is. |
|
|
Neko is another
author I've just discovered who writes in a lot
of the rarer fandoms and does it very
well. I'd recommend a look at all her
fiction, especially her CSI stories. This
story is short but sweet.
|
|
| BIG WOLF ON CAMPUS: |
|
|
|
|
|
CRANE,
CAROLINE: "History
Lesson." |
|
01/07/05
6kb |
Merton/Tommy.
Merton remembers all the firsts his old
couch has seen over the years.
|
|
|
They've had a lot of firsts on this
couch – their first awkward, fumbling kiss
happened there, somewhere in the middle of an Evil
Dead marathon. One minute Merton was
mocking the bad special effects and the next he
was flat on his back with a very
confused-looking Tommy hovering over him. And
he'll never forget that moment, because their
teeth clashed when he leaned up too fast and
Tommy's elbow was digging into his ribs, but as
far as he's concerned it was the most perfect
first kiss in history. |
|
|
This is a nice,
short, basic slash story but a well done one of
its sort. Caroline Crane is one of the better
writers in some fo the rarer fandoms, of which
this is one.
|
|
| BLACKADDER: |
|
|
|
|
|
GLASGOW, M. FAE: "Yule
Log." |
|
01/06/04
50kb |
Blackadder/Baldrick.
Baldrick has a “cunning Plan” and ends up
gradually tricking Blackadder into letting him
fuck him.
|
|
|
"I have a cunning plan, Mr Blackadder,
Sir."
|
|
|
"Oh yes, and what is it this
time? We go marching up to the Palace,
bang on the door, apologise to Her Royal Fatness
Queen Victoria and offer you to that ravening
pansy prince Albert to roger and hope they give
us the 50,000 after all?" |
|
|
This is a very
funny story and I think the characterisations of
both Baldrick and Blackadder are spot-on.
|
|
| BOONDOCK
SAINTS: |
|
|
|
|
|
AZRHIAZ:
"Confiteor." [No Link]
|
|
10/06/05
14kb |
Murphy/Connor.
Connor McManus goes alone to church in
the early morning.
|
|
|
It shouldn't be this difficult, Connor
thinks. He feels deeply that this is wrong--mea
culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa--but on
the matter God is strangely silent. He'd spoken
to them clearly in the dream, and they had
obeyed. Every second of every day since then had
revolved, in one way or another, around being
His shepherds. Around culling the wicked from
the herd. And they had done it, one by one, a
great and bloody sacrificial offering.
|
|
|
But what did this make them, if not
wicked? Sure enough and Scripture was clear on
the matter. Even as Connor prayed for
forgiveness he knew he wouldn't be forgiven,
because he wasn't truly sorry. It had felt like
stepping back inside a home you'd forgotten you
owned. Murph had only spoken of it once, the
morning after. He'd sat up from beside Connor,
still languishing in the places that were half
in the kingdom of sleep, and pulled on a tshirt.
Looked at Connor and said "I'm not sorry" before
heading off to the bathroom. Connor had no
answer to that, merely twisted the cheap white
sheets between his fingers and tasted ash and
regret. |
|
|
This is an
interesting look at what Connor might think, not
only about incest with his brother, but about
their recent acts of extreme violence.
|
|
|
EROS, RANA: "The
Passion
Of
Paul Smecker." |
01/06/04
38kb |
Paul
Smecker/Murphy & Connor MacManus.
Smecker can't stop thinking about the
McManus brothers and he jerks off to images of
their violent killing sprees.
|
|
I like to fuck men, but most of the men
willing to be fucked by me are men I can't
stand. Fags. Fairies. Flamers. Men who want to
cuddle and talk about their feelings. Men who
probably pass out at the sight of their own
blood. Do you know what I want? An honest-to-god
man. A man who gets into bar fights and swears
as much as I do and talks about death without
flinching. A man who handles a gun like a pro. A
man I can like.
|
|
Don't be put off
by the description of what this story is about -
although I guess if you've seen the movie you
aren't the sort who will be put off! "The
Passion of Paul Smecker" is a very well-written
story. I love the characterisation of Smecker,
which the author has nailed completely, IMO, and
I love the intensity of the emotion she
generates in this brief glimpse of Smecker's
convoluted psyche. I read it with enjoyment even
before I saw the movie, and I like it even more
now that I have seen it.
I have to say, though, that every time I look at
the name "Paul Smecker" I get a fit of the
giggles because I always think "pecker"
<g>. "Pecker", I hasten to explain for
those not familiar with this usage, is a slang
term for penis. "Smecker" also reminds me
of the "Quarentine" episode of the British
comedy Red Dwarf:
Cat: "Don't correct me! You know how much
I hate being corrected. It really gets my
feckles up!"
Kryton: "It's 'hackles', you moron.
It really gets your hackles up. There's no
such word as 'feckles'!"
Cat: "Feckles, heckles, hackles,
smeckles--they're up right now and pointed right
at you!"
|
| BREAKFAST
CLUB,
THE: |
|
|
|
KANEKO:
"The Supper Club."
|
01/07/05
24kb |
Bender/Andy.
20 years after the events of the
Breakfast Club, Bender is a policeman and Andy
is a prisoner in a dead-end job where he's
belittled constantly by his father for his
druggy past. One night, while delivering a
package, he runs into Bender...
|
|
On the week of his thirty-sixth
birthday, he stopped to fill up on gas, and
maybe buy a Mars Bar or two. It was late and
Andy was tired and he'd had to wait nearly an
hour for someone to turn up at the last
delivery. He didn't even see the cop until he
backed up his car and almost ran over the guy.
|
|
"Oh fuck!" he said. And he was a
terrible person, but all he could think of was
that now he was in so much shit.
|
|
The guy was still knocked on his ass
when Andy got to him. "Fuck, man," he said. At
least there wasn't any blood gushing - not that
Andy could see, anyway. "You okay?" Andy put out
his hand to help the guy up.
|
|
"Am I okay?" The cop stared up at Andy
like he was the biggest moron on earth. "You are
so unbelievably under arrest."
|
|
"Yeah," Andy said. He rubbed a hand
over his eyes. "Yeah, I kinda thought so."
|
|
The cop snorted. "I'm kidding,
dumbass," he said. He grabbed Andy's hand and
hauled himself up.
|
|
It was Bender. |
|
This
story is a little depressing at times - Andy is
in a dark grey place where his life is going
nowhere and it takes time for this to change -
but it's still an interesting read.
And it does have a happy ending.
|
| BRIMSTONE: |
|
|
| |
THE SPIKE:
"Blasphemy." [No Link] |
01/06/04
6kb |
Zeke/Devil.
Zeke and the Devil work through some
power issues.
|
|
As I suck his cock, the wind begins to
howl. Rain beats down and something flaps once
against the window glass. He tastes like ashes
and like stone. And a faint essence of something
unearthly sweet. I guess even the flesh of
fallen angels is divine. |
|
This
is a PWP that resonates with meaning - the best
kind. It's short but it packs a powerful
punch. I was blown away by this story.
|
| CADFAEL: |
|
|
| |
TALIESIN:
"Upon The Snowy Field." |
08/02/05
48kb |
Cadfael/Hugh
Beringar.
Cadfael is lost in a snowstorm and Hugh
Beringar goes after him, only to find him
injured in the woods.
|
|
He'd seen Cadfael in all moods at one
time or another. Or so he thought. But trust as
he did in Cadfael's steel-sharp mind, his dogged
determination, even his worldly advice, so
unexpected in a monk, he'd never particularly
thought of Cadfael as deadly. He knew right well
that Cadfael had fought in the Crusades, and was
not like to forget it as some did. But there was
a long cry from a warlike past to a man holding
a knife to your throat.
|
|
This Cadfael, lost in fever, was the
young Welsh soldier. No more vigorous and alive
than the Benedictine monk, but far more
dangerous.
|
|
It would behoove Hugh to remember that,
until Cadfael came again to himself. |
|
This
story captures the flavour of the original
Cadfael novels extremely well and I love the way
the relationship betwen the two develops.
Plus I do like this sort of
hurt/comfort, where one looks after the other
who has been injured.
|
| CASABLANCA: |
|
|
| |
DORINDA:
"Nom De Coeur." |
08/02/05
75kb |
Rick/Louis
Renault
During their long, gritty escape from
Casablanca across Africa's increasingly barren
landscape, Rick begins to realise that there
might be more to Louis - and their new
"beautiful friendship" - then he has previosly
suspected.
|
|
Rick grinned up at the ceiling. "Louis,
you slay me. You're like a bachelor on the run
from a bunch of matchmakers."
|
|
"Some men are just not meant for
matrimony."
|
|
"Maybe. But I don't get it. You and
Vichy bureaucracy, it's a match made in heaven.
You can't tell me you didn't even consider it."
|
|
The silence went on this time until
Rick was sure he'd had the last word. But again
Louis proved him wrong, speaking hesitantly. "I
should have."
|
|
Rick thought about the prospect of
crossing into the Tibesti alone, really didn't
like it, squelched that train of thought, and
answered. "There's still time."
|
|
"Not 'should have taken the job,'"
Louis said, his voice sharp now. "Should have
considered the job. Should have wanted
the job. But I didn't."
|
|
Louis lied when it suited him, sure.
But Rick knew how most of his lies sounded, and
this wasn't one of them. "You didn't. Why the
hell not?"
|
|
"You don't want to know. Which, you are
thinking, is a ridiculous thing for me to say,
since the very act of saying it guarantees that
you will want to know. To which I'll say, go to
sleep."
|
|
Rick laughed quietly. "I guess that
takes care of that."
|
|
"Good night, Ricky."
|
|
"You're really not going to tell me?"
|
|
"Let's not lose all the mystery in our
relationship before the honeymoon is even over."
|
|
"Good night, Louis." And Rick turned
onto his side and stuffed one hand comfortably
under his pillow. His mind wandered vaguely
around matchmakers, bachelors, weddings, and
honeymoons before he finally fell all the way to
sleep. |
|
As usual, Dorinda
writes very subtle fiction. She does not
bludgeon you with facts or force conclusions on
the reader; rather she allows the story, and
Rick and Louis' relationship, to unfold in a
beautifully natural way that pleased me
greatly. What a pity she writes so little
fiction in any one fandom.
|
|
LYRASTAR:
"The Beautiful Dawn." |
08/02/05
39kb |
Rick/Louis
Renault.
What happens in the aftermath of Ilsa's
departure? And how far will the "beautiful
friendship" go?
|
|
He pulls a chair up with me and sits
arms and knees spread in the body language of
unfettered communication. Again I ask him the
same questions everyone wants to know. Again I
get amusing evasions in return. That's Rick: on
the surface so apparently open, but afterward
you realize he has given you nothing at all.
What he left me with was nothing, but my mind
planted the memories and those seeds have
sprouted and grown. Of course, it's still
nothing; one cannot make matter out of naught;
that is simple physics. But at night in my
dreams--and in day when my mind wanders, after
one too many brandies or one too few afternoon
delights--those derivations of memory seem so
real. |
|
Interesting
take
on
the
movie
-
I
love
what's
she's
made of the character of Louis, from whose
perspective this story is told.
|
| CHIEF, THE: |
|
|
|
ANTRIM,
BRENDA: "Full
Circle." |
01/07/05
58kb |
Alan Cade/Ray
Doyle.
Crossover with The Professionals.
Many years after Bodie's murder, Doyle still
chases vengeance. Seducing Cade as part of
a cold-blooded plan to get his quarry, Doyle
finds himself caring more than he wants to - but
is that enough to stop his plan to kill?
|
|
Now or never. Cade was as ripe for the
plucking as he was ever going to be, and if he
hesitated now, second thoughts and sobriety
would take his chance from him.
|
|
He stilled, willing the narrowed jade
eyes opposite his to look up. It took some
concentration, because Cade's attention was
focused on the hollow of his throat, seemingly
mesmerized by the pulse beating there.
Eventually, his stillness penetrated the other
man's preoccupation, and he glanced up. Doyle
allowed the heat to show in his own eyes, and
Cade stared, fascinated. Taking care not to lose
that eye contact, Doyle leaned forward slowly,
watching the other man's face flush, his eyes
widen, pupils dilating. Yeah, he hadn't lost it.
|
|
This is a well
done crossover with nice emotional intensity.
There's a little too much fanon at times -
witness the "jade eyes" in the excerpt above -
but overall this is one of my favourite Brenda
Antrim stories.
|
| DALZIEL
&
PASCOE: |
|
|
|
GLASGOW, M. FAE:"A
Public Display." |
01/06/04
58kb |
Wield/OMC.
Wield is awkwardly trying to find someone
in a gay pub when he's chatted up by a handsome
man called Kevin.
|
|
Why the hell am I doing this to myself?
Detective Sergeant Wield wondered, staring
morosely into the remains of his pint.
I've been here once already and a miserable
bloody experience it was an' all, but here I am,
setting myself up again. Funny, what loneliness
can do to a man. |
|
This is a
realistic and well written story about a
relatively minor character in a relatively minor
fandom. Detective Sergeant Wield is, in
his own words "as ugly as sin" and coming out of
the closet late in life. He's
uncomfortable with the concept of dating and
public displays of affection and this is a
wonderful look at how he comes to terms with his
new relationship with Kevin, a teacher at the
college and friend of Peter Pascoe and his wife,
Ellie.
|
| DARIA: |
|
|
|
KASS:
"A Slice Of College."
|
01/07/05
23kb |
Daria/Jane.
Daria realises she fancies Jane when Jane
tells her she's dating another girl.
|
|
They didn't have pizza the next week.
Neither one of them called to make a date. Daria
told herself midterms were the reason why. |
|
She told herself she wasn't jealous of
Rowena. |
|
She stood outside the house where the
Raft Queer Student Union met, listening to the
people laughing and talking inside, but couldn't
bring herself to go inside. |
|
She thought about going to meet with a
peer sexuality counselor during open hours, but
every time she imagined the conversation and how
it might go, she wanted to take up smoking or
heroin or something less humiliating and painful
than admitting "I have a thing for my best
friend and she's dating another girl." |
|
Femslash!
Kass is always good value and this story is tart
and terrific. I love Daria and I can hear
her voice clearly in this story.
|
| DARK IS RISING, THE: |
|
|
|
ASHURA:
"The End Of The Summer." |
16/10/04
50kb |
Gen? Het?
Bran/Will?
At the end of his life, Bran receives an
unexpected visitor from his past.
|
|
The house, it's about the way she left
it. Her pillows, that purple afghan, thrown over
the back of the couch; the flowers in the
windowboxes and the watering can beneath. The
harp in the corner, and he'd play it sometimes
if he could, but his old hands are too rough and
withered. The scattered leavings of a lifetime,
of growing up and leaving home, of coming back,
of nervous dates and laughing and newlywed
arguments and staying up all night with a baby
who won't stop crying. Of homework and first
days of school, of long nights with birthing
animals and cups of hot tea. Of growing up, and
growing old. |
|
This is a rather
mysterious little story and one of its pluses is
that the reader can read into it the genre they
prefer. It's rather melancholy in tone but I
love these sort of mood pieces if the're done
well.
|
| |
ASHURA: "Light
Breaks." |
16/10/04
68kb |
Bran/Will.
Bran and Will are 17 and Will is again
spending his summer in Wales.
|
|
Spica had just climbed above the
horizon, dangling below crimson Arcturus. The
fainter stars were becoming visible at last,
tiny pinpricks of white and gold. As recently as
half an hour ago, Will would have found them
magnificent; but now they wavered in his vision.
He was preoccupied now with those same colours
in another form; the white of Bran's hair and
skin against his own, the tawny gold of his
fluttering eyes. A slender shadow dark against
the heavens, he lay awkwardly atop Will, who
wrapped both arms around his back, frustrated by
the barrier of his thick jumper and fumbling for
the hem to hunt for more smooth skin beneath. He
heard a gasp as he found the knobby ridge of
Bran's spine and stroked lightly up the length
of it, tore his mouth free to press his hungry
kisses into the curve of that smooth white neck,
slip up to toy with the lobe of one ear. The
salty-sweet taste of his skin was stronger
there, and the muted herbal scent of shampoo.
Bran's teeth grazed his collarbone, and he
whimpered into the skin beneath his lips. For
the first time in years, he thought it might be
all right after all, that he might somehow
survive the long years ahead as watchman of the
Light, that he may not have the Pendragon next
to him but he might still yet have Bran. And
that maybe that would be enough. |
|
This is a
wonderfully sweet first time story without even
a drop of angst. The two boys get together
simply and sweetly, and I enjoyed it immensely.
|
|
ODDCELLIST:
"Half Suite." |
16/10/04
11kb |
Bran/Will.
Will is left behind at 12 by the old ones
and, bereft and hurting, he determines not to
care about anyone ever again -- until his
hormones kick in!
|
|
Once they've reached his room, Bran
pulls off his dripping shirt - which should be
ordinary enough, Will thinks, and certainly no
extraordinary action - and all Will can do is
watch, transfixed, forgetting his own dripping
clothes for the moment. Because this time, he is
the one who has forgotten - how absolutely
shocking Bran's skin can be in the half-light
that comes with a rain, how beautiful Bran
remains. And for all he's seen of how much his
absence wounded Bran, Will is enough of a man to
note that if he had known, then he wouldn't have
walked away, because he has wounded himself too,
forcing the separation from Bran. If he closes
his eyes now, and calls up the dreams that
plagued him at home, even after his trips to
London... he can admit now, in Bran's presence,
that it was always Bran he held close to him in
his dreams, always Bran he had every hope of
catching. |
|
This
story is darker than most of the other stories
I've read in this fandom but I like the writing
very much and it ends happily.
|
|
PARES: "Alignment."
|
16/10/04
62kb |
Bran/Will.
Will meets Bran accidentally at a bar in
London, in the year they both turn 21.
|
|
Will had never yet had this with
another. The people he knew were simple and
kind, and he loved them, but he knew better than
to hope for some spark of recognition, for some
connection. But the world seemed full of
sleepers who would never know him, never see the
man he was behind his own round face, and now he
realized that he had had no other because he had
been waiting for this one. |
|
I like this story
very much, especially the mystical parts that
echoe the books.
|
| DEAD POET'S SOCIETY: |
|
|
| |
AZRHIAZ: "Would
That My Tongue Could Utter." [No Link] |
01/09/04
8kb |
Todd/Neil.
Todd is out on the lake in the snow, a
week after Neil's death.
|
|
Overhead the sky is metallic, and Todd
thinks it will probably snow again today. It has
been snowing all week and his heart is broken.
The two seem somehow related, but he can't
explain, and has no one to explain it to, in any
case. Knox would listen, and Todd is fairly
certain he wouldn't laugh, but he does not think
Knox would understand. He doesn't exactly
understand himself, because this is somehow more
terrible than just losing a good friend and a
roommate. It feels like a room inside him has
been cordoned off, the clocks and mirrors
covered in the harsh black crepe of silence.
|
|
He realizes, now, that he loved Neil. |
|
The
language in this is evocative and lovely - yet
another to add to my collection of brilliant
death stories.
|
| |
GRAYCASTLE:
"To Live Deliberately." |
01/09/04
10kb |
Knox/Charlie.
Every third Saturday, Knox and Charlie
meet.
|
|
Charlie runs the First National, and
Knox just won a big case for GM. But sometimes,
even if it is only every third Saturday, they
let their lives get a little messy. Third
Saturdays bring pillow fights, or long poker
games that go well into the night, or even real
stories from Hellton, ones that don't fit the
lunchtime script and have to be mumbled into a
pillow in the dull twilight. One time, Knox
yelled "O Captain, my Captain!" while Charlie
was rimming him and they both laughed so hard
and for so long that they had to start all over
again from the beginning. But that was okay,
because third Saturdays don't have much to do
with linearity or time frames or schedules. |
|
I like this story
very much: it's deceptively simple but it has a
hidden depths.
|
| DIE HARD: |
|
|
| |
DARGELOS: "Servant
Of Two Masters." |
01/09/04
116kb
|
Pik/Fouchon;
Pik/Gruber; Gruber/Fouchon; Fouchon/Eroica.
CROSSOVER WITH EROICA.
Pik and Fouchon, long time lovers and
professional killers, are hired by Hans Gruber
to assassinate Major Klaus Heinz von dem
Eberbach. As their relationship falls
apart, so does the job.
|
|
It wasn’t about money, no matter how
many times they both tried to pretend it was. It
was about them; the way they fit together, the
way the corners were growing back on each of
them and how that made it impossible for them to
fit together in any comfortable way.
|
|
Sometimes when Pik thought of what
they’d become together he wanted to weep. But he
was not a weeper and there was no release for
this pain. So he simply grew more sharp edges,
honed on people like Gruber, and realized that
the day was coming when he and Emil would either
part or try to murder each other. He wanted to
be gone before that last step came. Get out
before the rot set in. He turned his face into
the cool, damp wind and, all unbidden, the image
of Fouchon came to him - Fouchon on a beach in
Morocco, dressed in white, laughing, limned with
sunshine.
|
|
The ache inside deepened. |
|
This is not a
story for everybody and some of the things that
happen within it will be too confronting for
some people. This is a story about three
very amoral individuals and they act accordingly
- you have been warned! Fouchon and Pik
are in love but their relationship is souring
due to Fouchon's inability to give Pik the
emotional security he needs. Pik turns
away from him and starts a relationship with
Gruber. How things go, and how the
two get back together, is an interesting story,
nearly a series of sexual encounters but the
language is brilliant and Dargelos carries
it off, keeping my interest to the end.
|
| DOGMA: |
|
|
|
ANTRIM, BRENDA: "You're
Welcome." |
01/09/04
21kb |
Loki/Bartleby.
Bartleby kills Loki - but is that the end
for both of them?
|
|
"I'm sorry." His breath was hot and
sweet on Loki's neck, his arm strong around him,
and Loki felt safe for the first time since all
the madness started. That stupid envelope. That
stupid fucking newspaper clipping. He leaned
against Bartleby and closed his eyes, dizzy for
the first time in millennia with the beer,
hanging on for dear life to his very best
friend. |
|
This is an
interesting take on Bartleby's motives when he
killed Loki and a possible future. Nicely done.
|
| EASTENDERS: |
|
|
| |
GLASGOW,
M.
FAE:
"Nor The Leopard His Spots." |
01/07/05
196kb
|
Colin/Barry;
Bodie/Doyle.
Crossover with "The Professionals".
Ray Doyle is exhausted from the demands of too
many operations and now he's required to go
undercover in London. Unfortunately
for his undercover role, almost immediately he
meets someone he once knew very well - an old
lover.
|
|
The sky was crawling over the roof-top
when he awoke, all the light leached from the
streets in that strange time between full dark
when the streetlamps shone brightly and the
greyness that swallowed all light up into a
uniformity of dullness. So he just lay on
the bed for a little while, watching the way
nothing in the room actually cast shadows in the
feeble light, watching the blackness creep up
the walls as the light from outside faded into
night-time and the glow of lamps stayed up in
the street away from his new bedsit. He
should be up and bathing, he knew, but it seemed
pointless. One more possible terrorist
supplier, or just another entrepeneur in
London's fastest expanding business.
Didn't seem to matter too much, not now.
Once, when first he'd started, he was going to
be SuperCopper, Chief Constable Raymond Aloysius
Doyle, the best and most incorruptible policeman
on the face of this God's green earth, scourge
of criminals and bent coppers alike. But
that was half a lifetime ago, and he was feeling
every single one of those years in every joint
in his body. |
|
I adore M. Fae
Glasgow's fiction. She writes extremely well:
her characterisations are always a joy and there
is a realism about her stories that I like very
much. I'm not a big fan of Eastenders but this
story is a contained universe within itself and
tells you really everything you need to know.
|
| EMPEROR,
THE |
|
|
| |
FISHER, KITTY:
"Tribute." |
01/06/04
20kb |
Pu Li (The
Emperor)/Wah Dee (The Tribute).
Wah Dee, the Emperor’s old childhood
friend and lover, is now tribute for his
country's safety.
|
|
He stood alone in the vast chamber, the
sombre darkness of his robes a contrast to the
golden opulence of his surroundings. Quite
still, breath so soft as to hardly betray the
reality of his life, he waited; poised,
balanced, energy singing in the stillness of his
bones like a flame hidden by shadow. He waited.
|
|
This is an
interesting short story and I like it very much.
|
| FAST AND THE FURIOUS,
THE: |
|
|
|
DEVIL CHILD:
"Baja." |
01/09/04
44kb |
Brian/Dominic.
After his undercover operation is over,
Brian is no longer a cop and he goes after
Dominic.
|
|
It wasn't much. Just a dusty, rutted
dirt road leading down to...a glorified shack
really...about 100 or so yards from the sea.
|
|
Brian O'Conner's motorcycle sputtered
to a stop in the dusty yard. No one came to the
door. "Hello?" he called.
|
|
Eerie silence, broken only by the
lapping waves and the sound of rustling the
beach grass. Brian paused a few moments then
swung a leg over and made his way up to the
house, the weather beaten boards of the porch
squeaking under his feet. |
|
This is an
interesting story - two previously straight guys
realising that they aren't as straight as they
thought.
|
| GALLIPOLI: |
|
|
|
LYRASTAR:
"Raised Up From The Clay."
|
01/07/05
52kb |
Frank/Archie.
Frank and Archie go gaily off to war
together - and neither knows what realities they
will have to face before they are through.
|
|
You don't have to be best mates to
decide to run off to war; to lock yourselves
together in a freight car headed to
god-knows-where in the middle of the night with
nothing to do except think and talk; or to
decide to trek across fifty miles of dry,
snake-infected lake bed with neither map nor
compass and with minimal provisions. You
don't have to be best mates to do these things,
but if you are lucky enough to make it through
them alive, you probably will be best mates in
the end. |
|
This
story deals with the awful reality of being
injured during the war - the details are very
gross, but the relationship aspects are
sweet. One of the most interesting things
to my mind about the source material is that the
makers of Gallipoli have stated that one of the
main things they were interested in doing with
the film was exploring the homoerotic elements
of close male friendships.
|
| GEORGETTE
HEYER: |
|
|
|
JAT SAPPHIRE: "The
Wages Of Vice." |
01/06/04
217kb
|
Justin, Duke of
Avon/Hugh Davenant.
Hugh is in love with Justin but how
does Justin feel about him?
|
|
"Justin," Hugh said quietly, not for
the first time.
|
|
The tall, lean figure in the opposite
armchair stirred. In the dim light of the fire
he might have been the far younger man whom Hugh
had first known: he had worn powdered wigs then,
but now his hair was white whether he powdered
it or no; the stillness that had once been
affectation now was weariness. The slender hands
that lay upon his lap were thinner, the knuckles
larger, and the skin if seen in daylight was as
translucent, as flecked with tiny dark spots,
and as full of faint wrinkles as Indian gauze
... but they had always been just as white, and
the ruby ring upon one finger burned with the
same fire as ever.
|
|
So did his Grace of Avon's eyes, when
they focussed on his friend. |
|
This is a long
story detailing the ups and downs of the
relationship between Hugh and Justin, as friends
and sometime lovers.
|
| GET REAL: |
|
|
| |
BONE: "Reunion."
|
01/06/04
97kb |
John
Dixon/Steven Carter.
Ten years after school, John Dixon is
still running from who he is – and realises he
can't survive like that anymore. He
returns for a school reunion and meets Steven
again – and tries to change.
|
|
I still run.
|
|
I've been running all my life. My
mother told me once that my first steps were
actually a halting gallop across the lawn, but
I've only run with purpose for the last, oh,
twelve years or so. Since I had a choice between
football and track and field at the start of
sixth form and decided track would be less work.
I didn't know, when I started, what it would
come to mean to me. |
|
This is a
wonderful story - it's by Bone, after all, and
that should say it all. I've never seen
the movie on which this story is based, but I'll
read anything that Bone writes and I still
enjoyed this thoroughly.
|
| HARDY BOYS: |
|
|
|
HIGGINS, ANNE: "In
All Ways." |
01/09/04
73kb |
Frank/Joe.
Frank is seriously worried by his sexual
feelings for his brother.
|
|
Never run away from a problem.
|
|
Frank Hardy had heard those words of
wisdom more than once, but the walls were
closing in and how could a man think when he was
slowly suffocating? |
|
Anne Higgins is a well-established fandom
writer and always writes good stories. If you're
not into incest, give this one a miss.
|
|
| HAVE SPACESUIT, WILL
TRAVEL: |
|
|
|
RIVKA T:
"Once More." |
01/09/04
36kb |
Het.
Peewee/OMC; Peewee/Kit implied.
Peewee and Kit grow up and find
themselves on another planet again - but this
time they are alone.
|
|
You see, I had this spaceship.
|
|
No.
|
|
That's the wrong way to start. That's a
Kip way to start, "you see," all chummy
and hail-fellow-well-met....
|
|
...I was very lucky, growing up. I had
a father who adored me, a thin intellectual skin
and a near-absolute indifference to other
children. If I hadn't ever hit puberty, I could
have been happy forever. |
|
This is quite a
dark story, dealing with the reality of
attempting to travel to different worlds, rather
than the kids adventure style of the original
Heinlein novel. It's well-written but it's not a
story likely to appeal to readers who like happy
endings.
|
HAWAII FIVE - O
(ORIGINAL):
|
|
|
|
SHEETS, DENISE: "In
Sunlight Or In Shadow." |
01/06/04
41kb |
McGarrett/Danno.
McGarret, in a moment of weakness, admits
to himself that he has feelings for Danno.
He drives Danno home and struggles against his
feelings.
|
|
"God damn," he muttered and
punched the buttons of the remote control,
trying to find something else to think about
besides behind that door. It didn't help. In
fact the frenetic flashing of images and rattle
of broken dialogue made him more tense than
ever. In the end, he left it on the delayed
broadcast of a baseball game and went for the
other beer. He paused to absorb some of the cool
air that rolled out of the open refrigerator.
Not that it helped. Going away would help, but
he had committed himself to stay at least for a
while. A part of him knew very well he should
walk out forcefully, though truthfully another
part was still in the thrall of the madness and
would not allow it. Madness. Indecency.
He chugged the beer without stopping for a
breath and was ashamed of himself for doing it.
|
|
This is the only
slash I've seen for original Hawaii Five-O and I
enjoyed the novelty of it. The idea of the
stiffly upright (you'll pardon the pun) McGarret
giving way to feelings for Danno was compelling,
which makes up for the fact that this is a very
ordinary story in a lot of ways.
[Note: I found
this story at The
Android's Dungeon a UK fandom
slash site. The following remarks appear
with the link to "In Sunlight And In Shadow":
"The only known outing of this story was in
a zine called ‘Tongue in Cheek’ printed by
Dobie Cat Press of Parkersburg, West
Virginia, in 1984. Having entirely failed to
make any contact with the copyright holder,
I have bitten the bullet and included this
story on The Android's Dungeon
simply because I feel it is too good not to
share."
I haven't found the story anywhere else
on the web.]
|
| JEREMIAH: |
|
|
|
KILLASHANDRA:
"So Tonight That I Might Sleep." |
01/03/04
60kb |
Markus/Jeremiah.
Jeremiah has some difficulty with facing
the thought of being a leader - and the reality
of what happened to his parents. Markus is
there to help him, but his motives are not
entirely altruistic <g>.
|
|
He knew, even before he saw him, though
how he knew, he'd have been hard-pressed to
explain. Something about the single-minded focus
in the speed and force of the blows, maybe --
something that was more fury than strength, more
desperation than fury. He stopped in the doorway
and leaned on the jamb, folding his arms.
Jeremiah's back was mostly to the door, and he
didn't see Markus there. Bam bam BAM! The big
bag shuddered under the impact of determined
fists. His black T-shirt was soaked through, and
from the way he was breathing, he'd been at it
for some time.
|
|
I think you killed it," Markus told
him, trying not to smile.
|
|
This is a
typically beautiful story by Killashandra and I
love it.
|
| JUGHEAD: |
|
|
|
RIORDAN, MICHAEL:
"Moments Not Allowed."
[No link] |
01/06/04
63kb |
Jughead/OMC.
Jughead grows up waiting for
"heterosexuality" to hit him over the head but
it never does.
|
|
My pivotal moments happen in
stairwells, have you noticed? I guess it's
symbolic that I am halfway up or down somewhere,
and that I'm always accompanied by one
person. I look for stairwells now but, at
seventeen, in the stairs there with Betty, I
missed the chance. I knew I could spill it
out in two words, and that she wouldn't damn me,
but I was afraid how far else it would go.
I just couldn't trust her, yet the problem
didn't lie with her. It lay with me. |
|
There is no real
resolution here but this is a lovely story.
Jughead finally realises he's gay and spends a
week in a misery of self-loathing and doubt, not
wanting to accept the truth but not willing to
live a life of denial and lies either. In my
innocent childhood I identified strongly with
Jughead, despite the fact that "gay" was pretty
much something that hadn't crossed my conscious
radar at all. Obviously my unconscious radar was
operating quite well on its own!
|
| LAWRENCE
OF
ARABIA: |
|
|
|
DERRY:
"During The Night." |
01/06/04
7kb |
Lawrence/Ali.
During their winter lay-over in some old
ruins, Lawrence thinks about the way Ali loves
him and the way he loves Ali.
|
|
He does not often laugh. I think this
may be for the best. When he laughs, my heart
laughs with him and, for that one brief moment,
I plan to abandon the Army and my duty and all
the trappings of western civilisation to live
free, as a Beduin man. |
|
Nice
little story and interesting Lawrence POV.
|
|
DERRY:
"Strange And Beautiful."
|
01/07/05
23kb |
Lawrence/Lord
Peter Wimsey.
CROSSOVER with Lord Peter Wimsey (see
below).
Peter Wimsey seduces Lawrence at college, when
they are both beautiful blond men.
|
|
"Oh, yes," Peter breathed and Lawrence
lost himself in the feel of Peter's hands on his
chest and stomach, the tension in Peter's
stomach as he reached up to touch Lawrence's
shoulders. He had expected Peter's hands to be
soft but there were callouses that caught
against him, frissons of texture that brought
more pleasure than smooth skin could have.
"You're still tanned. You didn't wear a shirt in
Syria, did you?"
|
|
Memories of the sun beating down,
beating him down, and he shook his head.
|
|
"Did you sweat?" Peter's hands traced
down from his neck, following the path the
perspiration had taken as it trickled down. "You
shone in the sun, I know. And your hair was
bleached white. White hair against brown skin."
Peter strained upwards to touch Lawrence's face,
stomach muscles quivering between Lawrence's
legs. "I wish I'd seen you." |
|
This is an
interesting story and the sex is very well
done. The characterisation is particularly
accurate to canon - at least in my opinion.
|
| LETHAL WEAPON: |
|
|
| |
FISHER, KITTY:
"New Year's Day." |
01/06/04
49kb |
Martin
Riggs/Roger Murtaugh.
Riggs is in despair, looking out over the
waves, when Roger turns up.
|
|
After a while, Riggs leant his head
back against the wall and stared. His eyes were
full of unconscious hunger; the hopeless hunger
of a starving man. The confusion in his brain
left him incapable of decision. He wanted this
with every atom in his being. Yet... When the
towel was used to dry the hollows of his throat
he moaned in denial, his mouth helplessly,
soundlessly forming one word — No.
|
|
Roger smiled to himself and
concentrated on the touch of his fingers on
drying skin.
|
|
Partners. Friends. Lovers.
|
|
Was that a mathematical progression? |
|
Excellently
written,
evocative
piece
with
a
melancholy
edge.
|
| LORD PETER WIMSEY: |
|
|
|
DERRY:
"Strange And Beautiful."
|
01/07/05
23kb |
Lawrence/Lord
Peter Wimsey.
CROSSOVER with Lawrence of Arabia (see
above).
Peter Wimsey seduces Lawrence at college, when
they are both beautiful blond men.
|
|
"Oh, yes," Peter breathed and Lawrence
lost himself in the feel of Peter's hands on his
chest and stomach, the tension in Peter's
stomach as he reached up to touch Lawrence's
shoulders. He had expected Peter's hands to be
soft but there were callouses that caught
against him, frissons of texture that brought
more pleasure than smooth skin could have.
"You're still tanned. You didn't wear a shirt in
Syria, did you?"
|
|
Memories of the sun beating down,
beating him down, and he shook his head.
|
|
"Did you sweat?" Peter's hands traced
down from his neck, following the path the
perspiration had taken as it trickled down. "You
shone in the sun, I know. And your hair was
bleached white. White hair against brown skin."
Peter strained upwards to touch Lawrence's face,
stomach muscles quivering between Lawrence's
legs. "I wish I'd seen you." |
|
This is an
interesting story and the sex is very well
done. The characterisation is particularly
accurate to canon - at least in my opinion.
|
| |
GLASGOW, M. FAE: "A
Gentleman's Gentleman." |
01/06/04
53kb |
Lord Peter
Wimsey/Bunter.
Peter Wimsey has a nightmare; Bunter
helps him through it.
|
|
Bunter came to him, of course, perching
himself on the edge of the bed and holding the
beloved hand while the very last of the man who
called himself 'Peter', and who loved him, was
subsumed by sleep and lost to him, if not
forever, then until the next bout of nervous
agony. Though it grieved him dreadfully to
watch Peter fade away and leave him yet again,
Bunter could not wish for his return, for such a
return meant untold horrors for Lord Peter, whom
Bunter loved as much, though more discreetly, as
he did Peter. |
|
This may seem to
be a hoary old fannish chestnut of a plot but it
really is a unique twist on this formula.
The story is wonderfully well written and the
tone is delightfully melancholic.
|
|
KESWINDHOVER:
"Ring Out, Wild Bells, To The Wild Sky."
|
01/07/05
53kb |
Gen; Lord Peter
Wimsey/Harriet (implied).
Harriet visits St George in hospital in
1942. He's been injured and sidelined for
good from the airforce, his eye and half his
face burned badly.
|
|
"I didn't think so," said Saint-George,
"Thought it was a damn shame Uncle Peter had
already snapped you up. I rather fancied someone
sensible - and deuced attractive of course," he
added quickly, "Someone to keep me on the
rails." He paused, looking away from Harriet
into space for a moment, "I was rather hoping
that this War might finally be the making of me.
And now here I am. I've made some widows and
orphans, my eye's gone and half my bally face is
burned off, and I expect I'll get a shiny medal,
but it doesn't make one feel a jot more manly, I
assure you."
|
|
"Well, if you've learned that, then
you're a wiser man than you give yourself credit
for, Gerry," said Harriet softly. |
|
A rather nice
sweet story in which nothing major happens but
its still interesting to read, if a touch
melancholy.
|
| LOST: |
|
NEKO: "The
Passing of Summer Places."
[No Link]
|
01/07/05
17kb |
Sayid/Charlie.
Sayid and Charlie become close on the
island.
|
|
The scent of jet fuel still hangs in
the air.
|
|
It covers everything, clinging to him
like a second skin. He can feel it in his
hair, in his lungs, and he's fairly certain it's
probably made its way into his
bloodstream. It leaves him feeling dirty,
suffocated. |
|
Nice
story that follows the whole island experience
until they're rescued and beyond.
|
| LOST BOYS, THE: |
|
|
| |
LEMON, AUDREY:
"Young Love." |
01/06/04
20kb |
Sammy/Michael.
Michael and Sammy are in love but their
obsession with each other is dark and dangerous
– it's so intense and the incest taboo hovers
over everything they do.
|
|
But what kind of normal could his life
go back to now? A community college program
somewhere, a tiny basement apartment where he
could start over, without Sammy? But he couldn't
really imagine it, could no longer imagine a
future without Sammy. He wondered what the world
could possibly hold for him now, never able to
have what he wanted, or to even speak of it, his
secret making him as monstrous in others' eyes
as if David's blood still ran in him. And for a
moment he hated Sammy as much as he loved him,
hated him for how necessary he had become. |
|
Wow - a
wonderfully dark story about the nature of
obsession.
|
MILLENIUM:
|
|
|
|
|
ALLISON, KAT: "Revenant."
|
01/07/05
51kb |
Mulder/Frank
Black.
CROSSOVER WITH THE X-FILES.
Frank and Mulder assuage their mutual loneliness
after meeting on a case. |
|
I've never liked having other people
around me when I'm working. In my days with the
FBI, such intrusions were inescapable, a
downside of the job. Since I've been on my own,
though, I avoid them when I can. There are a few
exceptions: Catherine was always welcome to be
with me, back in the days when that was
something she wanted; Jordan, as much of a
distraction as a child her age can be, keeps the
work in some kind of perspective, which I value.
But as for others--even Peter's restrained
presence rasps on me, watching, demanding; even
Bletch used to get on my nerves at times, though
I'd give anything to have that irritation back
now. |
|
Alternating
Mulder
and
Frank
POV
slows
the
pace
down
a
little - as each narrator goes over the same
actions - but Kat Allison pulls it off.
|
| NARNIA: |
|
|
| |
CULLINAN, KYRA: "Girls
Grow Up Quicker Than Books." |
01/06/04
22kb |
Gen.
Lucy is too old to return to Narnia ever
again.
|
|
Years later, the smell of mothballs
will make her feel like crying. A hot and
prickly sensation blooming suddenly behind her
eyes and aching in her chest, not exactly like
sadness but subtle enough that even if she were
to try, she couldn't name all the emotions
tangled up inside her. |
|
This is a very
poignant look at the loss of childhood joys.
|
NOW AND AGAIN:
|
|
|
|
DEBBIE K:
"All The King's Men."
|
01/07/05
9kb |
Gen?
Michael Wiseman' body has been crushed
completely in a massive explosion and even his
superhuman body may never recover.
|
|
We knew this could happen. We had a
contingency plan for it in the event that it
did: |
|
'Should the experiment become no
longer viable, terminate it.' |
|
We made you as strong and as resilient
and as fast as we possibly could. We made you
immune or resistant to every known pathogen, and
we gave you a fighting force of antibodies that
rivals the armies of Alexander. |
|
But no living organism, no matter how
"perfectly engineered" is a match for a kilo of
semtex and the consequent entombment beneath the
rubble of a ten-story building. |
|
This is a nice
angsty short story with an ambiguous ending.
|
OCEAN'S ELEVEN:
|
|
|
|
|
DORINDA:
"Confidence Men."
|
01/07/05
39kb |
Danny
Ocean/Rusty Ryan.
Danny's just out of gaol and he goes
straight to Rusty, who makes him feel like
himself again.
|
|
On a chill and waning afternoon, they
paroled Daniel Ocean for the first time. Daniel
was a good guy, a regular guy, with a flat, calm
manner and a heavy, almost lumbering walk. He
didn't smile much. He wasn't a victim, but he
wasn't a bully, either. He kind of hovered in
the upper-middle of the pecking order, for no
discernable reason. He helped guys with their
appeals, he did the jobs he was assigned, he
shot bull about who was gonna win the Super Bowl
and the Final Four. He won at cards, but not
enough to piss people off. He was never short of
cigarettes and chocolate for trading. And when
there was trouble, he always seemed to be
somewhere else. |
|
God, Danny was going to be glad to get
out of this guy's skin. |
|
I love Dorinda's
writing and this story is no exception. I
love the way it delves into the guys' history
together. I like the way they finally get
together almost casually and the way the
characterisation is handled throughout the
story. Lovely.
|
|
KIRRIN,
KEIKO: "And Then You Take The House."
[No
Link]
|
01/07/05
76kb |
Danny
Ocean/Rusty Ryan.
Rusty and Danny nearly have sex several
times - and finally do just before Las
Vegas.
|
|
Danny hadn't felt this calm and
confident -- himself again, his old self --
since before prison. Being with Rusty, all that
old rhythm had come back. And that list he'd
made? Reasons why they wouldn't have sex? Dumb
list. Dumb reasons. It was great sex, but great
in ways he hadn't expected and couldn't have
anticipated.
|
|
This is nicely
done, especially the background of the many
times they nearly had sex but somehow
didn't. Despite the gentle delightful sex
scene, the rather ambiguous ending is still
dictated by Danny's canon relationship with his
ex-wife.
|
| OZ: |
|
|
| |
DARGELOS: "Big
Yellow Taxi." |
01/09/04
131kb
|
Beecher/Keller.
Beeecher is back as a laywer in Austin,
Texas, ten years after his release from Oz. And
one day he runs into Keller - but is it really
his old cell-mate?
|
|
"Keller’s gone. He’s been transferred."
|
|
"Where? Why?"
|
|
"I don’t know."
|
|
"What d’you mean, you don’t know? You
have to know!"
|
|
"Beecher, I don’t know where he’s been
taken and I don’t know why. I released him into
custody, and that’s the end of it as far as I’m
concerned."
|
|
"Will he be back?"
|
|
"No."
|
|
And just like that, Tobias Beecher’s
world changed. What had been a life lived in
vivid colors became gray again. He tried to be
angry and he tried to feel betrayed, but all he
really felt was lonely. As long as Chris had
been there in Em City, even if they were
enemies, Tobias knew there was one person in the
whole lousy place that knew who he was.
Belatedly he realized that Chris had been the
one person on earth who knew who he really was
and loved him anyway.
|
|
Maybe the hardest part was not knowing
why Chris was gone. |
|
This is one of my
favourite scenario kinks: is it Keller or
isn't it? This story has lots of emotional
intensity and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
|
| RED DWARF: |
|
|
| |
CULLINAN, KYRA: "Couplets
Out Of Rhyme." |
01/01/05
7kb |
Het.
Kochanski can't stop thinking about
Lister - and comparing him to her Dave,
who's lost to her in another universe, along
with every other thing she valued.
|
|
When he plays, sometimes, she sits in
the hallway outside his door and listens, eyes
closed and head resting on the wall and
pretends. Pretends that when the music stops
she'll walk in and it'll be her Dave, who'll
smile at her and ask what she wants for dinner
and all of this will be a bad dream. The rusty,
tiny ship and bizarre crew and all the other
horrid differences.
|
|
And it's so strange, because she
remembers him like this, if dimly. Remembers
those first long nights (and days) of cheerful,
exuberant sex, a Lister who might not have taken
his socks off in bed, but could kiss her
senseless and make her actually like chutney.
She hasn't thought of him in years, takes for
granted the gradually genteeled, improved
hologram version of himself he's become. Holly
tried to explain to them once how it had all
happened, but he got muddled partway through and
for once in her life, who was she to question?
She does wonder now, though, when Lister pauses
in the doorway as if to speak to her before
losing his nerve. Did his years as a softlight
hologram add something ineffable and gentle to
her Dave or did it strip away some of the
rawness, make him the sum of his possibilities?
Is her lover trapped somewhere inside the man
who drinks cold curry sauce for breakfast or has
he yet to be realized in this universe's Dave
Lister? |
|
You gotta love
Kyra Cullinan: I wasn't very impressed with
Season 7 Red Dwarf and Kochanski left me cold -
but this story makes me care about both! I
love the emotional intensity she brings to her
writing and the poignancy that very much hits my
bittersweet kink.
|
| SPLASH: |
|
|
|
KAI: "Fathoms
Deep." [No link]
|
01/07/05
35kb |
Madison/Allen.
Madison and Allen have made it down to
the depths - but what happens now?
|
|
She always knew he’d choose her. It was
never in question, pretty tears and goodbyes
aside she always knew in her fathoms deep
mermaid’s heart that he would follow her to the
sea. They always did, the men the mermaids
brought Below to give them their swift viciously
bright children with their sharp teeth and
treacherous smiles.
|
|
Madison's
POV - she has lured her prey down to the depths
and now all secrets are revealed. A
creepy, sinister look at mermaids and their real
motives. Very well done.
|
| THE WALTONS: |
|
|
|
RIORDEN, MICHAEL:
"Sforzando." [No link] |
15/05/04
202kb
|
Johnboy/Rev.
Matthew Fordwick.
At 17 Johnboy is having a crisis of faith
and conscience - and then Matthew Fordwick
arrives.
|
|
"There is so little hope but you're one
of the ones who can try."
|
|
"I'm not strong enough."
|
|
"I'm not, but I think you are," Matthew
said. "I also found that paper with the
single word sforzando written on it."
|
|
"What paper?"
|
|
"On your dresser."
|
|
Johnboy frowned, then said, "There's
nothing to that. It's the only word I
missed on a spelling test. I didn't want
to miss it twice."
|
|
"You know what it means, don't you?"
|
|
"In music, the part with sudden
emphasis."
|
|
"In the entire song, it's that one,
single note that's meant to be louder and
clearer than all the rest. Of all the
people around here, you are the only one I ever
see. I have no hope for myself, John, but
if I had even an iota, you and I would get on a
bus and just leave." |
|
This
story starts out very slowly but if you stick
with it there are some very nice parts to it,
not least of which is what happens after
Matthew's introduction to the Miss Baldwins'
"recipe". The grammatical errors are
annoying at times but, I mean, "The
Waltons" slash - ya gotta include that if
only for the sheer improbablility factor, right?
<g>
|
| WARSHIP: |
|
|
|
SUE: "Out
Of
The Blue."
|
08/02/05
155kb
|
Commander Mark
Nialls/Lieutenant-Commander Derek Beaumont.
On leave from their ship, Derek sets sail
to pick up some researchers from an isolated
island for his father - and he's horrified when
his commanding officer offers to come along.
|
|
"Poor Mark," he said instinctively,
without thinking how odd it might sound. "I
fought all these battles years ago; you've still
got them to come. All the uncertainty and the
abject terror of saying and doing the wrong
thing. Everything's always been so simple for
you and now you're ... " inspiration struck
suddenly, " ... casting around in the fog. I
wish I could help you."
|
|
"You can. Hold my hand." He'd meant it
figuratively at first, but then impulsively
stuck out a hand and waited a thousand or more
years until Derek's fingers slowly wrapped
around it. |
|
"All right. But no promises. I want to
take this very slowly." |
|
"Best way in fog," Nialls agreed with a
grin, squeezing the hand that held his and which
squeezed back with deep and genuine affection. |
|
A typically
restrained British slash story - who would have
thunk it? I enjoyed it all the more for being so
faithful to the time, place and occupation of
these two seafaring gentlemen. Unfortunately, no
sex at all in this one. I wish there was a
sequel that went into their first time and how
they coped with their new relationship but I
love the way this one doesn't duck the
difficulties inherent in such a relationship but
has two intelligent men explore them sensibly
before starting something that could lose either
one of them their job and reputation if
discovered. This is a very nice, sweet read of
its type and I enjoyed it, even though I'd never
actually seen the show.
|
WIZARD OF OZ, THE:
|
|
|
|
SHAYE: "Rum
Punch Is A Colour Of The Rainbow."
|
01/07/05
6kb |
Gen.
Dorothy has moved from Kansas to New york
after they released her from the madhouse.
And now she's drinking rum punch at a
speakeasy.
|
|
Dorothy has heard of Harlem speakeasies
filled with poets and painters and people who
just might believe her story. This, she realizes
dimly, is not one of those places. The wrong
part of town, she thinks, and sighs |
|
Her silver shoes won't save her this
time. |
|
(Did they ever, now? Be honest with
yourself.) |
|
Interesting
surreal
look
at
what
the
aftermath
of
Oz
has
done to the innocent Dorothy of the beginning of
the movie. This story is not for the
fainthearted or those who only want to read
happy endings.
|
