Recommended stories -- mostly due South

Gearbox
Last updated 26Apr2002

New recs
including one or two mentions each of Magnificent Seven, Lord of the Rings, Highlander, Sentinel, Good Omens, X-Men the Movie, Lawrence of Arabia, Hard Core Logo, and Tales of the City, plus some more due South recs.
due South, Fraser/RayK Stories
due South, Everything but the boys
(aka: due South but not Fraser/RayK)

Assume that all stories listed below are NC-17, for male/male sex, unless otherwise rated.
Tell me about your favorite story -- in whatever fandom. I also read Stargate SG-1, HP, Andromeda, Buckaroo Banzai, Man From Uncle, and any number of other odd fandoms.
Drop me a line: gearbox@popullus.net.


New: Hobbits

26Apr02
LotR, of course

I said I didn't want to see explicit sex in Middle Earth. And I meant it. But sweet jesus, Cara Loup breaks down my boundaries with achingly beautiful, heart-breaking, ethereal stories about Frodo and Sam, Sam and Frodo. Not perfect, but closer than any stories I've read in a long long time, either. Go read the Elements stories on her page.


Alternative Universes

15Mar02

Pas de Deux due South
Men, dancing with grace and control and power, are one of my hot-buttons. Love 'em. Lust after them. I dance with them when I can, and watch them, rapt, when I can't. And, it turns out, I get off on reading about them, too. Sihaya Black pushed my buttons for dancing men in this AU in a big way. And when you've finished this -- and gotten over your craving for kielbasa and polkas -- check out her other AU, a remarkably odd but endearing Two Men in a Boat, or Adventures on the African Queen.

Maygra's Magnificent Seven stories grabbed me by the short hairs and dragged me into the fandom. And it took me weeks to discover that she was writing in an M7 AU, rather than in the canon universe. As I write, she's got seven stories done, and a whopper in progress. I'm jonesing for more. I honestly couldn't tell you which is my favorite.


Slash without "his throbbing Elfhood"

I love The Lord of the Rings but I don't want to read stories set in Middle Earth that contain explicit sex. These two are delightful:
They Say of the Elves by Brancher. Beautiful."You know what they say of the Elves, that they'll tumble you soon as look at you; seducers, coquettes, you'll wake with only a handful of leaves and a sweet taste in your mouth. "
Burrow by Jane St Clair. "There are hobbit songs for all bright, clean things. "

I'd love to find some good stories for Arwen and Aragorn. I've been thinking about Arwen, and how her Dad is likely to feel about her affection for Aragorn. She's not doing a Juliet: "If I can't have him I'll kill myself" act. Instead, she's saying, "I'm going kill myself in order to marry outside my Race. I intend to spend the last short years of my life with this shabby Man who's currently king of a wasteland and is entirely likely to get himself killed in the next year or two."


Unguarded Protectorate

11Apr01
In due South stories, I have a distinct preference for Fraser and Ray (okay, both Rays) to be fairly competent and fairly stable. Strange and damaged by their pasts, undoubtedly, but still sane and functioning. So it's a measure of Mairead Triste and Bone's writing abilities that I love this story: not only is RayK remarkably messed up, but we get to go along on the ride to see exactly how dealing with Fraser leads him slip-sliding down the slope of denial. Unguarded Protectorate was first published in Serge Protector and I'm delighted that it's now available on the Web.

If you haven't met these authors, you are in for a wild ride. Once you finish Unguarded Protectorate (and have sent the authors a short thank-you note), go read everything by Bone, and everything by Mairead, and then try reading everything by Mairead's lighter side (and a dearly beloved favorite of mine) Aristide.


Speranza

25Mar01
Speranza's writing is good. Really good. due South
Enduring Distance is one of my favorites. Speranza called this a tease because Fraser and RayK have lots of opportunities where they *could* start necking but don't. I call that wonderful, because it shows the friendship that really doesn't have much to do with sex. Like a really good smarm story. And then you get the sex, too!


Invasion of the Gen Writers

27Feb01
I can believe that I have a favorites page but have not included these two writers until now. They're amazing. They remind me again why I read fanfiction -- for fantastic stories about my favorite characters. These stories are sometimes violent and terrifying -- but they don't include sex between men.

Sylvia Volk has written a number of gen Highlander stories, but one of them is, well, damn-near perfect. Check out "The Good Student". It illuminates Mac and Methos' characters, the universe of HL (with immortals covertly chopping each other's heads off), and Paris. I can't express my admiration strongly enough.

Martha Taylor writes gen Sentinel, of a subgenre known as smarm (which in this case is not an insult). Although she recently wrote a slash story. . . I like her gen better. Some of it is merely dark, but other stories qualify -- in my mind -- as really well-executed horror. After reading her stories I have trouble sleeping. And clutch my sweetie tightly, for hours. And leave the light on all night. Yes, I'm a wimp, but I keep coming back and reading the next story, because it's *good*. My favorite remains, Plank.

Oops, here comes the slash! Kassandra (aka: kassxf) wrote a delightful due South Fraser/RayK story, called Busted. I liked it a lot when I first read it, but over time, I've come to believe it's a classic. Look for it (by title) in the due South archives.


torch

24Oct2000
And When He Falls by torch, Good Omens
How could I forget torch's Good Omens slash? The book by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman is delightful, and the drinking scene is one of my favorites (along with the gunpowder-in-the-petticoats scene). torch's And When He Falls catches the flavor and the whimsy of the original. And she managed to slash creatures that usually are portrayed as having no genitals, which is pretty impressive, I'd say.
But really, go to torch's site and read just about everything.


A hodgepodge of fandoms

22Oct00.
This listing has some things in common: they're all written by Jane St Clair or Kellie Matthews.

Fragile Bodies of Touch and Taste by Jane St Clair. X-Men the Movie
To paraphrase Jane, if the makers didn't want us to slash Xavier and Magneto, they shouldn't have cast Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. By far the best thing I've read in the movie fandom.

Tides of Men by Jane St Clair. Lawrence of Arabia
Lawrence/Feisel isn't my usual thing, but I'm a sucker for stories by and about Lawrence (perhaps because I read "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" when I was much much too young for it). Slash about Lawrence-the-fictional-character is mind-twisting, but in this case, very very good. And let's just not get into whether putting him to bed with a man is slash or canon or historical. Much too confusing, and unrespectful to the memory of the extraordinary real man.

Shadows Fade by Kellie Matthews & AuKestrel. Hard Core Logoand Tales of the City
Okay, this one is a bizarre crossover and long delicious ride. Really long, something on the order of 700 kb. Guitarist Billy Tallent (soon after the end of the Hard Core Logo the movie) meets lawyer Brian Hawkins (long after the end of Tales of the City the TV miniseries). They smolder at each other, and I came to care for both of the characters very quickly. A remarkable tale. And if, like me, you end up asking for more when you come to the end of this novella, go read the dS prequel Northern Comfort.

Somewhere Else to Be by Kellie Matthews. due South
This one is a due South alternative universe Fraser/RayK story. Kellie's Ray is funny and smart and sexy and tough. Fraser ain't bad either, but read this one for Ray.

Kellie Matthews crept up on me. I didn't realize how much I like so much of her writing until I started recommending stories. So to heck with it. I'm recommending the entire site.


A whole lot of due South

Due South stories without links are probably available at Ex-wood or due Slash.

Fraser/RayK

Roots Rain -- Kat Allison. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! Images you won't soon forget, and she writes like an angel.

Close Your Eyes Tight -- Livia. 100 words of angst.

Catch and Release (and Moose and the Caribou) --Viridian. Probably the most-often reread stories on my hard-drive.

True North -- Crysothemis .
The Holy Book.
No really. If the universe were a righteous place, this would be canon. Crysothemis doesn't write anything badly, but when she's good, she's divine.

The big Fraser/RayK list

In alphabetical order, for no very good reason.
Alone -- Te
Bad For The Soul -- Maxine Mayer
Batting 1000 -- Jaime Arundel
Belong -- Aukestrel
Benny! -- Maxine Mayer
Blue Date -- Maxine Mayer
Both of Us -- Surfgirl
The Catch (and the rest of the Fishing series) -- Kellie Matthews
Close -- Necessary Angel
Coming to Terms -- Aukestrel
Duet -Hth
In the Ballpark -- Jaime Arundel
Latest Party -- torch (tiny and perfect)
Layers -- Bone
Little Voodoo -- Maxine Mayer
Mr Kowalski's Feeling For Snow -- Jane Symons
Northwest Passage -- Crysothemis
Okay All Right -- Verushka
Prelude to Winter -- Livia
Road Trip series -- Maxine Mayer
Score -- Te
Sleepless on the Gravel -- Jack
Snoop (and Yes) -- Kellie Matthews
Sole -- Anagi
Tongue Tied -- Sammy (with a helluva kicker)
Unlikely Odds -- Crysothemis
Voluble -- Sandy Steiner
Wet - Te
What Happened Was -- Cate North

The short non-Fraser/RayK list

Acharnement -- A. C. Chapin. a Fraser/RayV story. Not a happy one.
After the Ball is Over-- Diane Trap (gen! How did a gen story get in here?)
Beautiful Oblivion (the first few parts)-- Hamlette
Better Than Ice Cream -- Hth (Ladyslash)
Kahlua -- Te
Make Believe -- Jaime Arundel
Out Of The Depths -- Gloria Lancaster