July 22nd, 2004 
12:52 am Queering the Text by Diana Michelle (PG-13)
Fandom: DUE SOUTH
Pairing: Benton Fraser / Ray Kowalski (pre-slash)
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] butterfly
Author Website: http://dianamichelle.5u.com/index.html
Why this must be read:

By accepting what his twenty-twenty hindsight tells him about Stella and their marriage, Ray is able to see and accept Fraser in a truer light and become fascinated.

A series of post-episode vignettes containing Ray Kowalski’s thoughts and remembrances starting after Burning Down the House. Not a WIP (although I don't know if the author plans to add more) since each ficlet can stand on its own, but also because together they form a cohesive look into Ray Kowalski. While the accepted wisdom is that Ray Kowalski took the undercover gig as a way to distance himself from his divorce, I don’t know any stories that deal with that emotional baggage as well as these do. I also don’t know many stories that so delightfully showcases the slow tug of increasing interest and attraction as Ray becomes intrigued with Fraser.

So what the hell did loving someone symbolically mean to Fraser?  )

Queering the Text
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02:00 am 17 by Nindulgence (PG)
Fandom: HORNBLOWER
Pairing: Horatio/Archie
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] nindulgence
Why this must be read: Not only do I dislike most poetry fic, but it will actually cause my eyes to retreat back into my skull cavity to get away from the punishment. "17" is an extraordinary example of what can happen when a literary-minded fan turns her pen to this (usually rightly) maligned genre and shows us all how it should be done.

This formal sonnet is part of a larger "faux-academic wankery" piece developed off of "A Brief And Completely Untrue History of His Majesty's Frigate Indefatigable," which has already been recced. In it, another scholar finds what appears to be some of the "spicy" poetry that Kennedy wrote about his shipmate Hornblower while imprisoned in Spain.

17
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08:20 am Nexus by Willow Wode (NC-17)
Fandom: Lord of the Rings
Author website: The Wode
Author on lj: [livejournal.com profile] willow_wode
Pairing: Frodo/Merry
Rating: NC-17

Why this must be read:

There are few pre-quest stories that I have enjoyed quite so much as Willow Wode's Rites of Passage but unfortunately, someone beat me to the rec. Nexus isn't really a companion piece as it's set several years in the future from the events of Rites of Passage but it does pick up on the same themes and concerns. Personally, I don't think you need to read Rites of Passage to understand what's going on in Nexus (but if you haven't, you really should. Just come back to this rec in a few hours).

Anyway. Nexus takes place before Bilbo makes the decision to leave Bag End but well after Frodo has moved there from Buckland. In his absence from Buckland, his dearest friend has grown up and come looking for him, determined that Frodo should see that Merry is no longer a child. Ah, if it were only that simple...

The great strength in Nexus is the solid and well-thought-out back story and the great care Willow Wode takes with her characters. Canonically, this follows book canon with Frodo as the eldest. The writing is both assured and sensitive and unremittingly hot.

This is well worth reading for so many reasons whether you 'ship Frodo and Merry or not or whether you've read Rites of Passage or not.

"Da said I was moping about like a tweener who’d lost his playmate, and that I wasn’t a tweener yet." Merry's words were rushed, as if bursting forth. "That he wasn’t to have this kind of pining in his Hall, never again because the once had been enough and more than enough for him with your mum and mine, and that I needed to just accept it, realize that you weren’t…" Merry shut his lips firmly over the words; once started, they had burst forth as if out of control.

Frodo stiffened. "That I wasn’t what?" he whispered.

"That you weren’t coming back," Merry finished miserably, still not looking at him, clutching his blanket so tightly to him that his knuckles showed yellow through skin...


Nexus by Willow Wode
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02:13 pm Telephones by cucumberspy (PG)
Fandom: X-FILES
Pairing: Mulder/Scully
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] flangirl
Author Website: cucumberspy
Why this must be read:

All of cucumberspy's stories are written with a lush, dramatic, character-driven style, and I love them all, but I think this one is my favorite. Today, anyway. *g*

Stories labeled character death often seem to scare people away, and even if read, the label usually gives away too much and lessens a story's ultimate emotional impact. Not so with Telephones. Tiny details bring the story to rich, full life, and it's so heartbreaking and surprising every time I read it.

(I guessed on the rating. The only header information with the story is the title, the author, and the CD warning.)

Telephones
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07:20 pm R U There? by Kit Mason (NC-17)
Fandom: THE SENTINEL
Pairing: Jim/Blair
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] twistedchick
Author Website: The stories you won't see on television
Why this must be read:

Because it has: plot; Jim is not portrayed as a big dumb technophobe but as an intelligent yet lonely man; Blair is the charismatic character I love; the secondary players are not used as window dressing but play an important role in the story.

The premise is not a new one: Jim and Blair "meet" online in adult chat rooms but it's done well and with "panache". It's a long story that's worth taking the time to savor.


R U There?

Comments always welcome.
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