original fic recs
Oct. 25th, 2006 10:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aleathielI don't know if anyone ever actually reads this journal any more since I've not exactly been updating regularly, but meh, it's my journal so I am going to still post. Drop in and say Hi if are actually vaguely still reading.
On which note, I'm going to start an LJ for my Nanowrimo as soon as I've come up with a title - yes I know I'm running close to the wire here - so leave a comment if you want to be added on that journal. I'll post again when it's up and running and you can comment there if you'd prefer.
Anyway, recently I've not been in the fandom much, but I've been reading orginial fic slash. So I'm generating a list below of recs. Please feel free to comment with recs of your own.
Manna.
The Administration
The inspiration for the Administration series of stories is a maxim of Chris Boucher, script editor of Blakes 7—There are no bad guys. There are no good guys. There are only better guys, and worse guys.
One of the worse guys is Val Toreth. In a world where torture is a legitimate part of the investigative process, he works for the Investigation and Interrogation Division.
One of the better guys is Keir Warrick, a corporate director. His small corporation, SimTech, is developing a 'sim' system which places users in a fully-immersive virtual reality.
Their world is the dark future dystopia of New London, where Europe is controlled by a totalitarian bureaucracy, which shares political power with powerful corporations. The oppressive government uses torture, violence and the various Divisions of the feared Department of Internal Security to maintain power. The corporations fight amongst themselves, using lethal force under the euphemism of 'corporate sabotage', uniting only to resist attempts by the Administration to extend its control over them.
The series follows Warrick and Toreth, and their families, friends and enemies as they struggle to survive and hope to prosper.
Why read it? I think this was possibly the first original fic slash I read. It was recced to me by someone on my flist and I was curious. Well, the cat was killed pretty damn soon. This is a wonderfully developed world populated with fascinating characters with dubious morals. For me, the power of this fic is in the characters themselves, so much more complex and fully realised than in much of what I've read. If the summary above interests you in the slightest, then I assure you the fic will more than live up to your expectations. And did I mention the sex? The series is made up of three novel length stories and a collection of novellas and short stories of varying lengths. The first section of the first novel can be read as a stand alone story if you feel like testing the water. It does contain violence, both sexual and not. I'll be the first to admit BDSM does not turn me on, but in this it's the characters that do. And the intelligence of the writing is a delight to find.
P.L.Nunn
Dynasty of Ghosts
I believe this fic is now only available via a (cheap) bought download or hard copy. I haven't read it for a long time at it was online then.
Illya has always been different - fey, quiet, and cursed with the ability to see the lingering spirits of the dead. A younger son of a younger son from a backwater mountain province, he is a nobody in the king’s army until he comes to the notice of the Prince Knight himself, the spoiled, stubborn heir to the kingdom of Aldania.
Caught up in a war that has raged for generations between Aldania and a neighboring kingdom, captured and imprisoned by a mad king, Illya and Prince Ashe discover a history of lies, betrayal and assassination, and the ghostly truth beneath it all. Opposites in every way, they forge a common bond that pain, war and betrayal will test to the very limit of their strength.
To end a dynasty of madness and suffering, Illya must embrace the ability he has always hated, and look to the dead for answers.
Why read it? Because it's entrancing. It's slow, almost infuriatingly so at times, with a grind of inevitability that keeps you scrolling down the page. It's unpleasant at times, but not as graphically as the rec above. While there is a plot about war and prisoners and ghosts that is diverting, the heart of the fic is the growing relationship between the two protagonists.
DomLuka:
The Ordinary Us
This is the story of seventeen-year-old Quinn Moore. He has a loving family, good friends and a girlfriend he's deemed as perfect. Quinn's also gay, not that he's about to admit it. He likes things just the way they are, thank you. But then he meets Jude Landon, and everything in Quinn's comfortable world is turned upside down.
The Log Way
After tragedy strikes at home and he loses a special friend, is betrayed by someone he trusts and his father discovers hes gay, Owen Dovan moves in with the brothers he hasn't seen in two years. Even in a loving environment things aren't always easy. This is a story about making friends, losing them, learning to trust again and dealing with everything in between.
Desert Dropping
Rory's mom just died and soon after the funeral his life is turned upside down when he finds out that his mom has contacted the father that he never knew. Now, he's forced to live in the desert with a family he doesn't know, a father he doesn't want to know, and to top it all off, Rory's gay and no longer has anyone to confide in. Friends will be made and the meaning of family will be found as Rory discovers that everything isn't so bad in the desert.
Why read them? The part of me that was suppressed when I was a teenager, the part that was always disappointed that I was to stuck up to read regular trashy teen romances, ADORES these fics. They're boy-falls-for-boy coming out stories done in a fairly simply and wonderfully sweet and entertaining way. You can see what's coming, but they're charming and I inhaled them, and everything else on his site, and longed for more. Gorgeous.
S.A.Payne
Many fics, of which Blurring the Lines is my favourite, but I've read and also recommend the others.
Recently kicked off the police force, Mick's not sure where his life is headed but when he takes on the job of protecting Toshi Ranvier, the half blood heir to a fortune, neither of their lives are every the same again!
Why read it This summary does not do this fic justice. I didn't get what I expected when I started reading, but what I found was much better. After three chapters you need to pay a subscription to the site (again, not much). This was the fic that broke my I won't pay for fic rule. I got to the end of chapter three and had to know what was going to happen to Mick and Toshi. Okay, I'm a sucker! But on a more serious note, this is an interesting future world not so very different to our own and it touches on serious issues of racial equality and intergration.
Ann Somerville
Remastering Jerna
In a world not unlike our own, and not too far into our future, an ordinary man with an ordinary life is caught up in a brutal system, and must reach deep inside himself to survive.
Why read it? This was a fic I'd heard of and seen recced long before I read it. More fool me. The summary above is for the first of the series, the story of Jerna's time in prison and his rediscovery of himself. From here there series continues, fleshing out the characters and populating the world around them. Several are whodunnit type plotlines, entertaining in themselves, but, like I've said with other fics, it is the characters who make the story work. The relationships in this series are particularly interesting and complicated. While in places the difficulties are overcome with perhaps unrealistic ease, the end of the series particularly tries to address the tangle of lives and loves at the centre of the story.
The Darshian Tales
When the worlds of a young, idealistic healer and an embittered, duty-bound general collide, their lives are changed forever.
Why read them? Because I've just finished reading them and it is SO UNFAIR that there aren't any more! The summary says very little indeed, so I will try to elaborate: The series takes place over a number of years, starting with two youths in their early twenties who are approaching fifty by the end of the series. The later stories place more focus on other characters, while not neglecting the original protagonists, and explore more of the world the author has created. Here it is not just the characters who are fascinating, but the detail and care with which their environment has been imagined. The flora and fauna of the three countries around which the stories are woven are entirely invented and yet, by the end of the series, entirely know and recognisible to the reader. The politics in these stories is interesting too - the relationship between two, and later three, countries with different customs, culture and styles of government is explored through the relationships of the two protagonists and their families. Families too are a central part of this series, how we relate to those we love, how we cope with losing them, and how blood is not always thicker than water.
Okay, so, off the top of my head those are my recommendations. I'll add more as I remember/come across them.
On which note, I'm going to start an LJ for my Nanowrimo as soon as I've come up with a title - yes I know I'm running close to the wire here - so leave a comment if you want to be added on that journal. I'll post again when it's up and running and you can comment there if you'd prefer.
Anyway, recently I've not been in the fandom much, but I've been reading orginial fic slash. So I'm generating a list below of recs. Please feel free to comment with recs of your own.
Manna.
The Administration
The inspiration for the Administration series of stories is a maxim of Chris Boucher, script editor of Blakes 7—There are no bad guys. There are no good guys. There are only better guys, and worse guys.
One of the worse guys is Val Toreth. In a world where torture is a legitimate part of the investigative process, he works for the Investigation and Interrogation Division.
One of the better guys is Keir Warrick, a corporate director. His small corporation, SimTech, is developing a 'sim' system which places users in a fully-immersive virtual reality.
Their world is the dark future dystopia of New London, where Europe is controlled by a totalitarian bureaucracy, which shares political power with powerful corporations. The oppressive government uses torture, violence and the various Divisions of the feared Department of Internal Security to maintain power. The corporations fight amongst themselves, using lethal force under the euphemism of 'corporate sabotage', uniting only to resist attempts by the Administration to extend its control over them.
The series follows Warrick and Toreth, and their families, friends and enemies as they struggle to survive and hope to prosper.
Why read it? I think this was possibly the first original fic slash I read. It was recced to me by someone on my flist and I was curious. Well, the cat was killed pretty damn soon. This is a wonderfully developed world populated with fascinating characters with dubious morals. For me, the power of this fic is in the characters themselves, so much more complex and fully realised than in much of what I've read. If the summary above interests you in the slightest, then I assure you the fic will more than live up to your expectations. And did I mention the sex? The series is made up of three novel length stories and a collection of novellas and short stories of varying lengths. The first section of the first novel can be read as a stand alone story if you feel like testing the water. It does contain violence, both sexual and not. I'll be the first to admit BDSM does not turn me on, but in this it's the characters that do. And the intelligence of the writing is a delight to find.
P.L.Nunn
Dynasty of Ghosts
I believe this fic is now only available via a (cheap) bought download or hard copy. I haven't read it for a long time at it was online then.
Illya has always been different - fey, quiet, and cursed with the ability to see the lingering spirits of the dead. A younger son of a younger son from a backwater mountain province, he is a nobody in the king’s army until he comes to the notice of the Prince Knight himself, the spoiled, stubborn heir to the kingdom of Aldania.
Caught up in a war that has raged for generations between Aldania and a neighboring kingdom, captured and imprisoned by a mad king, Illya and Prince Ashe discover a history of lies, betrayal and assassination, and the ghostly truth beneath it all. Opposites in every way, they forge a common bond that pain, war and betrayal will test to the very limit of their strength.
To end a dynasty of madness and suffering, Illya must embrace the ability he has always hated, and look to the dead for answers.
Why read it? Because it's entrancing. It's slow, almost infuriatingly so at times, with a grind of inevitability that keeps you scrolling down the page. It's unpleasant at times, but not as graphically as the rec above. While there is a plot about war and prisoners and ghosts that is diverting, the heart of the fic is the growing relationship between the two protagonists.
DomLuka:
The Ordinary Us
This is the story of seventeen-year-old Quinn Moore. He has a loving family, good friends and a girlfriend he's deemed as perfect. Quinn's also gay, not that he's about to admit it. He likes things just the way they are, thank you. But then he meets Jude Landon, and everything in Quinn's comfortable world is turned upside down.
The Log Way
After tragedy strikes at home and he loses a special friend, is betrayed by someone he trusts and his father discovers hes gay, Owen Dovan moves in with the brothers he hasn't seen in two years. Even in a loving environment things aren't always easy. This is a story about making friends, losing them, learning to trust again and dealing with everything in between.
Desert Dropping
Rory's mom just died and soon after the funeral his life is turned upside down when he finds out that his mom has contacted the father that he never knew. Now, he's forced to live in the desert with a family he doesn't know, a father he doesn't want to know, and to top it all off, Rory's gay and no longer has anyone to confide in. Friends will be made and the meaning of family will be found as Rory discovers that everything isn't so bad in the desert.
Why read them? The part of me that was suppressed when I was a teenager, the part that was always disappointed that I was to stuck up to read regular trashy teen romances, ADORES these fics. They're boy-falls-for-boy coming out stories done in a fairly simply and wonderfully sweet and entertaining way. You can see what's coming, but they're charming and I inhaled them, and everything else on his site, and longed for more. Gorgeous.
S.A.Payne
Many fics, of which Blurring the Lines is my favourite, but I've read and also recommend the others.
Recently kicked off the police force, Mick's not sure where his life is headed but when he takes on the job of protecting Toshi Ranvier, the half blood heir to a fortune, neither of their lives are every the same again!
Why read it This summary does not do this fic justice. I didn't get what I expected when I started reading, but what I found was much better. After three chapters you need to pay a subscription to the site (again, not much). This was the fic that broke my I won't pay for fic rule. I got to the end of chapter three and had to know what was going to happen to Mick and Toshi. Okay, I'm a sucker! But on a more serious note, this is an interesting future world not so very different to our own and it touches on serious issues of racial equality and intergration.
Ann Somerville
Remastering Jerna
In a world not unlike our own, and not too far into our future, an ordinary man with an ordinary life is caught up in a brutal system, and must reach deep inside himself to survive.
Why read it? This was a fic I'd heard of and seen recced long before I read it. More fool me. The summary above is for the first of the series, the story of Jerna's time in prison and his rediscovery of himself. From here there series continues, fleshing out the characters and populating the world around them. Several are whodunnit type plotlines, entertaining in themselves, but, like I've said with other fics, it is the characters who make the story work. The relationships in this series are particularly interesting and complicated. While in places the difficulties are overcome with perhaps unrealistic ease, the end of the series particularly tries to address the tangle of lives and loves at the centre of the story.
The Darshian Tales
When the worlds of a young, idealistic healer and an embittered, duty-bound general collide, their lives are changed forever.
Why read them? Because I've just finished reading them and it is SO UNFAIR that there aren't any more! The summary says very little indeed, so I will try to elaborate: The series takes place over a number of years, starting with two youths in their early twenties who are approaching fifty by the end of the series. The later stories place more focus on other characters, while not neglecting the original protagonists, and explore more of the world the author has created. Here it is not just the characters who are fascinating, but the detail and care with which their environment has been imagined. The flora and fauna of the three countries around which the stories are woven are entirely invented and yet, by the end of the series, entirely know and recognisible to the reader. The politics in these stories is interesting too - the relationship between two, and later three, countries with different customs, culture and styles of government is explored through the relationships of the two protagonists and their families. Families too are a central part of this series, how we relate to those we love, how we cope with losing them, and how blood is not always thicker than water.
Okay, so, off the top of my head those are my recommendations. I'll add more as I remember/come across them.
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no subject
Date: 2006-10-25 10:48 pm (UTC)I remember Dynasty of Ghosts, really enjoyed that - back in the day when it was on the website ;p
no subject
Date: 2006-10-25 10:50 pm (UTC)HIYA! I have been so truly rubbish and disorganised. I'm determined to be better at staying around and not losing track of my friends from now on.
I enjoyed it too obviously. I was going to re-read it recently and it was gone. Tragic.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-25 10:55 pm (UTC)I know, it was a nasty surprise that it wasn't there anymore. Woe :(
no subject
Date: 2006-10-25 10:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-25 11:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-26 01:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-26 01:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-26 02:34 am (UTC)The recs are also appreciated. I know you are highly literate, so I can trust something you have recommended will be well written.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-26 06:04 am (UTC)thanks for the recs! i could use some new reading material.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-26 07:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-26 07:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-26 07:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-26 07:43 am (UTC)I hope you enjoy the recs. They are all pretty different to one another, but they were all things I enjoyed. I'm flattered you think I'm highly literate :P and certainly there was nothing in any of these recs that was so jarring that it left me frustrated.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-26 07:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-26 09:21 am (UTC)I wrote original fiction long before I got into fanfic and I've been sort of thinking about leaning back in that direction once more, so recs are cool. :)
I'm doing NaNo too this year, for the first time [flail], and if all you need is a title you're up on me -- I'm still trying to figure out which of a few possible plotlines to flesh out into a sorta-outline so I have something to, like, write on November first. [headdesk] I'll probably just do a journal called AngieNaNo or something, 'cause titles don't generally come to me until I'm a ways into a project. Least of my worries, ya know? [wry smile]
Good luck with yours -- I'll come wandering over and read it in December. :D
Angie
no subject
Date: 2006-10-26 09:57 am (UTC)Good luck with yours too! It'll be nice to think that there are people I know slaving away with the same frustrations! I'll come rad yours in December too. :)
no subject
Date: 2006-10-26 11:00 am (UTC)it is SO UNFAIR that there aren't
There will be :) And the Pindone Files arc is in a direct line of inheritance from the characters in Darshian Tales - reincarnation is a fact on this world :)
I hope to return to Darsian next year, once real life stops being so annoying.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-26 11:33 am (UTC)It's great to hear there will be more. I've been completely addicted for the last few weeks. Your characters are so appealing and yet manage to all be individuals however many branches of the story you have running at once. I'll check out the Pindone Files too. Thanks so much for commenting.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-26 11:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-26 11:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-26 12:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-26 12:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-26 04:07 pm (UTC)its good to hear from you too.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-28 10:03 pm (UTC)And please do add me to your NaNo writing list...and feel free to give me nudges if I miss too many posts. :) I'm willing to give nudges so to be fair I am willing to receive them...hee!
Good luck!
no subject
Date: 2006-10-29 10:28 am (UTC)And I will add you, as soon as I've made the LJ!