June 20th, 2005 
12:30 pm Lost by Sleeps With Coyotes (R)
Fandom: YAMI NO MATSUEI
Pairing: Muraki/Tsuzuki
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] ciceqi
Author Website: Blood, Love & Rhetoric
Why this must be read: Because a horror story isn't really doing its job until the reader is feeling almost as much pity for the monster as for the victim. Lost is a disturbing little creepshow that leads the Kyoto story to a tragic place, not least of all for Muraki. There are impossible choices to be made, and a sense of needless yet somehow unavoidable waste saturates the writing to stomach-churning effect. It's not a happy read by any means, but will resonate strongly with any YnM fan who has wondered what might've been.

excerpt )

Lost
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01:07 pm A Lying Sort of Summer by Marna (NC-17)
Fandom: HORATIO HORNBLOWER
Pairing: Edrington/Kitty Cobham, Edrington/Pellew (implied)
Author on LJ:[livejournal.com profile] commodorified
Author Website:The Scriptorium
Why this must be read:

Another brilliant offering from [livejournal.com profile] commodorified set in the "All the King's Men" (ATKM) universe. From Drury Lane to Vauxhall Gardens and back again, this story focuses on a relationship that winds over the course of a decade against the backdrop of the Napoleonic war. Edrington and Kitty move from young love to mature realization, dealing with the consequences of war, separation, class divide, and social constraint.

This story is saturated with historicism in layers that are deep, robust, and at the same time gracefully subtle. The emotions and events portrayed bleed through the prose to color the story with a tone purely evocative of the period. Told in a most eloquent and accessible style.

Sensual, sexual, heartbreakingly beautiful.

A Lying Sort of Summer, Part I
A Lying Sort of Summer, Part II
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03:31 pm All Is You and Here by Rana Eros (NC-17)
Fandom: YAMI NO MATSUEI
Pairing: Tatsumi/Hisoka/Tsuzuki
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] ranalore
Author Website: Into the Mystic
Why this must be read: Because Tsuzuki's physical presence is a different thing from his ghost. A sequel to the previously recommended In Your Arms, This Lonely Place, All Is You and Here closes the distance between Tsuzuki, Hisoka and Tatsumi in a natural and ultimately passionate manner. The deceptive distance of Tatsumi's POV is belied by the immediacy of the present tense narration and the rawness of his understated emotions, and the tricky steps of a threesome are well-navigated via name and gesture to achieve a gentle balance.

excerpt )


All Is You and Here
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04:32 pm All Is You and Here (Burning Bridge Remix) by Jed (NC-17)
Fandom: YAMI NO MATSUEI
Pairing: Tatsumi/Tsuzuki, Tatsumi/Hisoka, Hisoka/Tsuzuki
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] velvetglove
Author Website: Glovebox
Why this must be read: A remix of the previously recommended All Is You and Here, this story turns out to be more of a flipside than a cover. It explores the bitter place outside Tsuzuki and Hisoka's circle of love and exercises Tatsumi's shadow manipulation in an act of erotic futility. Tatsumi's loneliness is an ugly thing, more palpable than the shadows that trail him, but despite his contemptible behaviour, the reader will find much with which to empathise.

excerpt )

All Is You and Here (Burning Bridge Remix)
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05:07 pm For Death = 3 - 2, for very high values of 2 by Treneka (G)
Fandom: YAMI NO MATSUEI
Pairing: Watari, Tatsumi
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] trensaddiction
Author Website: N/A
Why this must be read: This is a quirky little piece in which a reluctant and enormously busy Watari is dragged kicking and flailing to the afterlife; Tatsumi's got his work cut out for him on this particular assignment. The story wasn't proofread (and it shows, although just a little) but it's so filled with joyousness and sparkling geekery that extra polish might've had a deleterious effect.

excerpt )

For Death = 3 - 2, for very high values of 2
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05:45 pm Chance Meeting by Nicola Mody (G)
Fandom: BLAKE'S 7
Pairing: none
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] vilakins
Author Website: http://www.farsight.net.nz/

Why this must be read:

Because it's brilliant. This is a short, gen one-shot set during the second series episode 'Gambit'. In response to a ficathon challenge from [livejournal.com profile] hawkeye7, [livejournal.com profile] vilakins skilfully ties together the answers to a number of questions, including: What would have happened if Avon and Vila had bumped into Jarriere? Does Avon like mangon ice-cream? and, most important of all, what happened to Servalan's dove? The dialogue - so vital to Blake's 7 stories - is perfect, and the characterisation is also spot on. This really could have happened. I'm not providing an excerpt because you need to go and read the whole thing. Now.

Chance Meeting
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08:06 pm Bed And Breakfast, by Therienne (PG)
Fandom: HERCULES: THE LEGENDARY JOURNEYS
Pairing: Hercules/Iolaus
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] therienne
Author Website: Therienne's Fanfiction Corner
Why this must be read:

The author's first story in this fandom is called Many Deaths, was written before 1999 and already recced here. And then, in 2004, the author resurfaced and wrote another lovely snarky, sexy fic, and there was much rejoicing.

To appreciate this story to the fullest, you should know that 'Hercules and Iolaus spend a romantic night at an inn' is something of a cliché in the fandom. In the series, what they mostly do at inns is get into brawls, but apparently no slashfic is complete without feather beds, rose petal strewn baths and a gourmet meal or two. There's an inn in this story too, but it's...different.

Also? Snark = foreplay. I'm just saying.

Excerpt )

Bed And Breakfast
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