I can't believe this one has never been recced. I've loved it since I first found it, ages ago.

Fandom: THE SENTINEL
Pairing: Jim/Blair
Length: 50100 words
Author on LJ: Not known
Author Website: http://www.852prospect.org
Why this must be read: -

This story follows Sentinel Too. In it, Jim wasn't the first sentinel Blair had met; part of his childhood had been spent with a sentinel-guide pair who were pretty well his foster parents, and his first sentinel was their twin son and daughter, Artie and Teddie, who between them had all five senses. They had been a threesome, and Teddie had given Blair a son, Gus-Gus; but all three are now dead.

When Blair is released from hospital he goes to his foster parents (Jim having thrown him out of the loft); his foster mother (the sentinel of the pair) takes him to a cabin they own in Canada. But then Jim, missing his guide, begins to have problems...

One warning - the story does involve the death of a recurring character, though it happens 'off-screen' as it were.

Otter has built a convincing world here, where sentinels and guides are, if not actually common (though the general public don't know about them) at least not as rare as in canon, even though the story doesn't expand on how many there might be; it's implied, not stated. This is a story about love and learning to trust and it always leaves me feeling good.

Previous Loves

Fandom: DUE SOUTH
Pairing: Jack Huey/Ray Kowalski
Length: 13,141 words
Author on LJ: china_shop
Author Website: AO3 index
Why this must be read:

I've been hanging around the due South fandom for a long time, and have therefore had time to move from being a rabid OTPer, to a rabid OT3er, to a "will pair anyone given justification" sort of person. And this is the fandom that built an entire OTP out of five minutes of screen time and a thwarted fist-fight, so the "justification" doesn't have to come from canon!

In this story, china_shop throws together a newly-returned-from-Canada Ray Kowalski with an older-but-wiser Jack Huey. It works, because she grounds it in realism, the realism of trying to find where you fit in, finding how you work with other people. She doesn't force it, just lets it grow naturally out of their partnership. And it's lovely.

( Excerpt )

In a vast open territory with no distinguishing landmarks

Fandom: HIPSTER RPF
Pairing/Characters: Mila Kunis/Andrew Garfield, Mila Kunis/Max Irons, Natalie Portman, Emma Stone and in brutalsong's own words "just the right amount of James Franco."
Length: 6000 words
Author on LJ: brutalsong
Author Website: masterlist on lj
Why this must be read:This is something special. Despite the presence of Andrew Garfield (and thus making this a fic that technical skirts the edges of the somewhat established Social Network rpf fandom), this never really received the attention it deserved when it was initially posted which is a shame because it is brilliant. In it, Mila, Andrew and Max are cast in a film where they play a love triangle. Almost immediately life begins to mirror art.

There is something very measured about brutalsong's Mila. There are parallels between her and the character she is playing, but her voice remains strong throughout the piece. Because of this the ending is both difficult to guess and in a way, makes perfect sense when you consider the story as a whole. (If after reading all of that you're still on the fence, read it for James France. He is pure dirty hipster gold in this.)



There's a film and then there's real life. Sometimes they create parallels and other times shit just happens.


Like shattered glass (we never stood a chance)