medie: queen elsa's grand entrance (jim - wistful fever)
medie ([personal profile] medie) wrote in [community profile] crack_van2004-04-04 10:41 pm
Entry tags:

Shades of Black by D.L Witherspoon (TV-M (R) )

Hullo! Me back again. This time I'm reccing an old love of mine. The Sentinel. Looking back at the memories of what has been recced for TS, the slash aspect of TS has been quite wonderfully covered so, hope you don't mind, but I'm going to lean toward the middle of the road this month and go for the more...not quite gen but not quite het either. Hopefully it's a mix you'll enjoy. :-)

Title: Shades of Black
Fandom: THE SENTINEL
Pairing: None
Author on LJ: None as far as I know
Author Website: TVLit 101
Why this must be read: D.L Witherspoon is, without a doubt, one of the best writers the Sentinel fandom has ever produced. She writes with a flare and a skill that is hard pressed to beat, be it slash or het. The characterization in the fics she's produced is always spot on. No matter what situation she puts them in, be it show canon or an alternate universe, you will *always* recognize Jim and Blair. Be it involvement in some secretive scientific organization or a world where Jim is a convict and Blair a lawyer...they still retain within them, the characteristics and idealistics that make them the Jim and Blair we loved and adored on the show.

Shades of Black is just such a story.

It is the staging story of a very unique alternate universe in which D.L. shows her flare for taking the world we see on the show and giving it just a little twist to launch us off in a surreal reality that is both Jim and Blair's world and yet...not. In this particular case, Jim and Blair come home to find a man waiting in the loft. The mysterious Adam and Blair discovers that the Jim Ellison he knows, is but a very small part of the man. Jim, as it turns out, is involved with something known as 'The Family'. Blair's first thought, one shared by the reader, is the mafia. He's not exactly wrong either...

The Family, as it turns out are...not the mob. But...not what you'd expect either.

The story does reference other AUs of D.L's but nothing more than in passing. Shades of Black launches an alternate universe that is absolutely engrossing and plays hell with your perceptions in a wonderful way that leaves you waiting impatiently for the next story. Which is, afterall, the trademark of a good story and Shades of Black is that in spades)

D.L. rates this story as TV-M for language. I'd put it at a strong R.


Shades of Black