(Due South, Slash)

So, I helped beta this. Sue me. I love it anyway. And I'm not supposed to, it's not even my cup of Ray. But I seriously like A Moment of Insight, which is the latest offering from Speranza. I love the action here, the way the romance mixes in with the case and the way the plots parallel and the way she brings it all together. It's warm and human and funny and it has polar bears. All good things.

The Lucifer Match - Gwyneth Rhys
Magnificent Seven (Slash)
There's precious little Magnificent Seven slash out there that's really good, and even less of it that's long enough that I can settle in for a few hours and forget about everything outside my front door.

The Lucifer Match is a Chris/Vin slash novel that's both really good and really long, and that made me very happy. The writing is excellent, the voices are the voices I hear when I watch the episodes, and the things those voices are saying are just the right things. In a lot of ways, reading The Lucifer Match is like watching the show itself. Only, with slash. It's my favorite kind of story -- one that makes me work for the payoff, one that drags me through hell and then back again on the way to the finish. There aren't enough stories in the world that leave me smiling and feeling like the world is a good place. This is one of them.

Pandora's Box - torch
Vampire Chronicles (Louis/Lestat, slash) (and other things)
Go here, and read everything you find on this page. Pandora's Box (and sequels) is lovely and long, and made me extraordinarily happy. Read all of it. Then there's And Death Shall Have No Erection, which is sweet and hilarious and sweet. And hilarious, too. Velvet Underground is a set of Daniel/Armand stories, don't miss those either. And, and, and. Ah, Roman Holiday! Cool and interesting stuff dealing with the Elder Vampires. I've spent almost every waking moment on this page for the past week.

August, sometime, 2001

Surface - Kalena
Due South (Fraser/Kowalski, Slash)
Just kind of warm and good, with just the right level of mutual desperation to hit my buttons. And the writing is just excellent. From the archive description: Fraser's got a girlfriend, and there's no more time for Ray. But there's nothing Ray can do about that--Is there?

Home is Where the Hearth Is - Seah
Due South (Fraser, Vecchio, Gen)
Just an excellent, beautifully written case story with dead-on characterization. Ray's simple wish for privacy turns into something far more complicated.

The Cost of a Used Spaceship - Marie Blackpool
Stargate SG-1 (J/D slash)
Sometimes a story makes me so jealous I want to claw the writer's eyes out. Fortunately for Marie, she's in France. This is a tag to Double Jeopardy that says everything that needed to be said.

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Pilgrim Heart - Gwyneth Rhys
Magnificent Seven (C/V slash)
Surrender Dorothy was the first story I ever read by Gwyn. I was purely a Mulder/Krycek fan up till then, but Gwyneth's view of Skinner and Mulder won me over. Read her X-Files stories, read her Pros stories, read it all. It's all good. Today, though, read her Mag 7 stories. I did, and I'm a happier person for it. There are two of them. Gwyn has a way of writing men as men, while still showing me their hearts.

Cold Enough to Snow - Gwyneth Rhys
Magnificent Seven (C/V slash)
Warm and oddly contemplative. I keep coming back to this one. Killer metaphor.

(Once a Thief, Slash) Having recently discovered Once a Thief, I feel compelled to litter this page with OaT recommendations. Anne writes Victor and Mac the way I see them, and makes me believe the action every step of the way.

Going Deep - AnneZo. The boys get sent on an assignment. All on their own, since the Director decides that Li Ann would be too conspicuous on this one. Mac takes advantage of their isolation to make Victor an offer he can't refuse. Well, he could, but does he want to?

July 4, 2000

(Once a Thief, Slash) Rather than writing today, which is what I really ought to be doing, I cruised alternate fandoms for decent slash. And I found a very cool story by Silvia that shouldn't be missed. I haven't read her other X Files fiction, but I also liked her novel, Gift of an Enemy -- contact info for that one is located on her home page.

Men at Some Time - Sylvia. "Men at some time are masters of their fates; / The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars / But in ourselves, that we are underlings." (Shakespeare, Julius Caesar)

February 10, 2000

(Homicide: Life on the Streets, Gen) In honor of the upcoming Homicide movie, I thought a few Homicide recs might be in order. This one's an excellent tag-team riff on partnership starring Meldrick, Kellerman, Bayliss, and Pembleton. These two writers have managed to totally capture the voices from the screen. I'm way impressed.

Already in Progress - Wendi Jeff and Saundra Mitchell.

And then there's Maura, who has just blown me away with the Kellerman story of my dreams. I'm kind of in Homicide heaven here. Great dialogue, great plot, great friendship-stuff. I'm in a happy little haze.

Kellerman, PI - Maura

January 14, 2000

(Angel/Doyle, Slash) Finally! Finally, someone is writing Angel/Doyle slash. I knew I couldn't be the only one who saw it. This was going to be my next major fandom if they hadn't gone and done the thing they went and did.

Destina Fortunato is busily making a mark in Phantom Menace, but she took some time off and wrote some very nifty little Angel/Doyle stories.

Irresistible Force - Angel/Doyle, NC-17. Angel is helpless to control his most primal urges.

Vulnerable - Angel/Doyle, R. Angel helps Doyle, and makes a choice about his future.

August 14, 1999 (Another rec for the Fandom that Ate Manhattan)

(Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Slash) Very intense POV piece by Hth, sweet and startlingly clear. There's a thread of bittersweet running through this first time story that made my heart hurt.

Conquest -- Hth. (Q/O, NC17)

August 13, 1999 (Recs for the Fandom that Ate Manhattan)

(Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Slash) G-rated, and one of the sweetest stories I've ever read in any fandom. I'll be haunting the archive and hoping to see Jane St. Clair post again.

Carefully Everywhere Descending -- Jane St. Clair. (Q/O, PG)

And for something a little darker, a little less kind, but no less compelling... Did you guys know that MAYGRA is writing Q/O slash? And doing it in classic style, with more angst and pain and sorrow and comfort and love than you can shake a stick at.

Faithless and its sequel, Faith -- Maygra. (Q/O)

This one isn't precisely slash, but it isn't precisely gen, either -- a funny (okay, hilarious) little AU in which Qui-gon survives, and Obi-wan sees the tables turned when he gets his own irrepressible Padawan...

Compare and Contrast -- ElaineMc. (Q/O, kinda)

And now for something completely different... a trip over to the Sith Academy will teach you much more than you ever wanted to know about how they're raising Apprentices over on the Dark Side...this is one of my favorites, by one of those aforementioned evil, sick friends. Rache is even sicker and wronger than most of them, so be careful when you read:

Requiem for Mr. Fluffy -- Rachael Sabotini.

August 12, 1999

(Good Omens, Slash) This first one is what I get for giving in to boredom -- and I have to say up front, torch is the only writer I truly believe could have done this. It's hilarious and the voices are perfect and I'm not entirely sure she isn't going to Hell for it -- but if she does, at least she'll be in fairly good company.

And When He Falls -- Torch. (C/A)

Good Omens is a novel by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman -- yet another combination that should rightly strike fear into the hearts of all fans of absurdity. The blurb on the back reads:

We hear the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just before dinner. Unfortunately, Sister Mary Loquacious of the Chattering Order has misplaced the Antichrist. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse ride motorcycles. And the representatives from Heaven and Hell have decided they actually like the human race...

In short, this is a recommendation of the book as well as the story torch has based on it. Read both. Crowley/Aziraphale slash. [grin] If that's not a sign of the End Times, I don't know what is.