Admin Post: Starter Pack Challenge

[justbreathe80.livejournal.com]

A year and a half ago, I was a new DS fangirl, poking around and trying to find the best fic, the seminal writing in the fandom. Over the course of three (glorious, jobless) months, I read almost everything in the fandom I could get my hands on.

Now, I'm sure most newbies don't have that much time on their hands. So, give them a Starter Pack! Three fics that are MUST READS in this fandom for a newbie. What fics do you think are essential for someone to read, if they have never ever read a single DS fic before? Get them started!

Because of the nature of this challenge, it would be great if recs could be in sets of three this week. Your THREE most essential fics.

The Starter Pack challenge will be open until late Sunday, November 5.

(and remember! the recs are a GREAT way to interact with other DS fangirls, and also a good excuse to go leave some feedback!)

Hawks and Hands, Shades of Ray, You Get What You Need

[strangecobwebs.livejournal.com]

Title: Hawks and Hands
Author: Dira Sudis (dsudis)
Pairing: RayK/Fraser
Rating: NC-17
Length: superlong
Why I'm reccing this fic: Because it's amazing. It's gotta be the best fic I've ever read. Dira knows her stuff and what she doesn't know, she researches like you wouldn't believe (seriously, she's actually a little crazy that way). I love the way she weaves canon into a completely AU fic. The result is a believable and familiar, yet totally new, read.

Brief excerpt? HA! Just go read it.

Hawks and Hands


Title: Shades of Ray
Author: Miriam Heddy
Pairing: RayK/Fraser
Rating: R? NC-17? Something like that.
Length: long
Why I'm reccing this fic: Because I really, really love Ray going through the whole immigration process on his own. It's a good Ray voice and I love how he's independent, not relying on Fraser. I think he'd have to prove to himself that he can find a job and become a citizen on his own.

( A brief excerpt )

Shades of Ray


Title: You Get What You Need
Author: aerye
Pairing: Ray/Ray
Rating: PG-13, I think.
Length: medium
Why I'm reccing this fic: It's such a good introduction to Ray/Ray. Aerye really gets them and why they're good together, even if they don't really get it. But it works.

( A brief excerpt )

You Get What You Need

An Admirable Solution, A House Is Not A Home

[phineasjones.livejournal.com]

Title: An Admirable Solution
Author:cesperanza
Pairing: RayK/Fraser
Rating: NC-17, i think
Length: long
Why I'm reccing this fic: This is the kind of fic that eats you alive. It has the perfect ratio of angst to sex and also of sex to sweetness. And it's something I assume all non-newbies have already read, so this is the perfect challenge for it. Being new to this fandom myself a couple months ago, i'd have to say this was probably the fic that hooked me. Also, it's scorchingly hot.

( brief excerpt )

An Admirable Solution


Title: A House Is Not A Home
Author:justbreathe80
Pairing: RayK/Fraser
Rating: NC-17, i think
Length: longish
Why I'm reccing this fic: I don't see any reason that a starter pack has to be full of oldies but goodies only. This one's pretty spanking new but I feel like it deserves a place with the greats. Excellent characterization, fantastically hot sex, angst (yay!), and lurve. Greatness. If I had only just finished watching ds, this is the post-cotw fic I would want someone to point me to first.

( brief excerpt )

A House Is Not A Home

Gun, With Occasional Kangaroo, by Punk

[bathsweaver.livejournal.com]

Title: Gun, With Occasional Kangaroo: A Love Story
Author: Punk
Pairing: Fraser/Kowalski
Rating: PG
Length: long
Why I'm reccing this fic: This was my introduction to due South, and I can't imagine a better starter fic. First, it's a deliciously long, deliciously plotted fic, long enough to show who the characters are and how they act in a wide range of situations to people who know no more about the show than that a Mountie has--somehow--been paired with a Chicago cop. Also, the plot, the pacing, the humor is pitch-perfect due South, and all the cast gets equal play, to the point it wouldn't have been at all out of place as an episode on the show. I should actually admit that, thanks to Punk, my first dS loves were not Fraser or either of the Vecchios, but actually Dief and Dead!Bob.

The fact that it's PG helps as well; while I'm generally of "the more porn, the better" camp, it can be intimidating in a brand-spanking new fandom. Hot, smutty, explicit sex is great, but you don't necessarily want it with someone you've barely been introduced to. With this, there's no pressure. You're just meeting the characters, and if you decide want more once you've gotten to know them, well, there's nothing fangirls like better than escorting newbies to the back room.

The beginning is brilliant--you've got Frannie, the Duck boys, and Welsh setting the scene, setting up their own and Fraser's character. Frannie with her dime-store paperback and helpless crush, the Duck boys as would-be observers of human nature, and then possible the hottest entrance scene anywhere, immediately undermined by how dangerous the criminal they'd just apprehended wasn't.

( Excerpt )

Link: Gun, With Occasional Kangaroo: A Love Story

With Six You Get Eggroll, Academic Punk, The End of the Road

[soundslikej.livejournal.com]

Title: With Six You Get Eggroll
Author: cesperanza
Pairing: F/K
Rating: PG13?
Why I'm reccing this fic: Because it's likable kidfic. It's Ray and Fraser, living up in Canada with six adopted kids, and it works. (Plus if you've ever wondered why dS fandom is constantly losing their collective zebras, this will explain it to you.)

( Excerpt )

With Six You Get Eggroll

Title: Academic Punk
Author: thehoyden
Pairing: F/K
Rating: NC17
Why I'm reccing this fic: A university AU! The boys as English professors! What more do you need?

( Excerpt )

Academic Punk

Title: The End of the Road
Author: katallison
Pairing: F/K
Rating: NC17
Why I'm reccing this fic: This was the first dS fic I ever read....which, um, may explain some things. I wouldn't recommend reading it first, but it is definitely on the list of fics that every dS fan should read at some point. It is a gorgeous, heartbreaking account of what could have happened after COTW, and had me in tears on my first reading, even though I'd never even seen an episode of the show.

( Excerpt )

The End of the Road

What We Talk About When We Talk About Wolves, Heavy Bag, Leaving Normal

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Title: What We Talk About When We Talk About Wolves
Author: Penelope Whistle
Pairing Fraser/Kowalski
Rating: PG
Length medium
Why I'm reccing this fic: This story isn't especially long, or plotty, or porny, and it's the only due South story by this author. All of that makes it easy to forget about it sometimes -- but that just means you get to find it and discover it over and over and over again and be filled with joy. The dialogue here makes me absolutely melty, it's so spot-on.

( A brief excerpt )

What We Talk About When We Talk About Wolves

Title: Heavy Bag
Author: katallison
Pairing Fraser/Kowalski
Rating: NC-17
Length medium
Why I'm reccing this fic: You know that feeling you get when you're reading a really good story, that heavy ache right in the middle of your chest? This story defines that for me. It's Ray, boxing, and it's Ray's head, in all it's fucked-up jumbled wishful glory.

( A brief excerpt )

Heavy Bag

Title: Leaving Normal
Author: china_shop
Pairing Fraser/Kowalski
Rating: R
Length short
Why I'm reccing this fic: Pretty much all of china_shop's stuff is guaranteed to be well-written and satisfying, but this story is my very favorite of hers. The structure here is awesome on its own -- especially the way the reality and construction of it mirrors the progress of the story -- but really makes it special is the way it balances the two conflicting sides we get of Fraser. Is Fraser a superhero, perfect guy with a pure heart and the strength of ten men? Or is he a woobie, a lonely guy surrounded by death and loss and trying to find justice and do the right thing? How can he be both?

( A brief excerpt )

Leaving Normal

"Fall" and "that's where all of the gangsters live"

[brooklinegirl.livejournal.com]

Title: Fall
Author: Mia (kaneko)
Pairing Fraser/Kowalski
Rating: NC-17
Length medium
Why I'm reccing this fic: I recently found out that I FAILED as a pimp and that mrsronweasley has somehow never read this story, which is honestly one of my top ten fics in the whole damn fandom. Fraser loves Ray, he loves Ray, he has always loved Ray. Everything in Fraser's world leads back to Ray, and he is trying so very hard to distract himself from it, and he CAN'T.

And he gets drunk and he comes to Ray's apartment and just - god, it KILLS me, how much Fraser loves Ray in this fic. You can FEEL it in the writing. Her writing has a rhythm to it, a steady pulse that drags you in. It's fucking amazing.

( A brief excerpt )

Fall



Title: that's where all of the gangsters live
Author: minervacat
Pairing Fraser/Kowalski
Rating: PG
Length longish
Why I'm reccing this fic: I cannot say enough about this fic. It is the NECESSARY Due South story, something you must read. Min understands Ray Kowalski and his history and how he wears his heart on his goddamn sleeve. She loves Chicago like Ray does, with all of her heart. She knows the city is something that makes Ray who he is. The way Ray talks about Comisky Park makes me flail with joy.

This IS Ray's history in my head. This is the Ray I am thinking about when I write him. This is about Ray, through and through, and it IS Ray/Fraser, yeah, but it's just - at its heart, it's a love song to Ray Kowalski.

And I cannot come up with a better quote from this fic than the one in its summary:

Ray loves Stella like he loves breathing, loves Fraser like he loves his tattoo, loves Chicago like he loves everything permanent in his life.

But my other favorite part, that stuck with me, is this:

( A brief excerpt )

that's where all of the gangster live

Broadway Hotel, Eight Sessions, The End of the Road

[zebra363.livejournal.com]

Title: Broadway Hotel
Author: resonant8
Pairing F/K
Rating: NC-17
Length 37K
Why I'm reccing this fic: It's one of the best slash stories I know of in any fandom.

( A brief excerpt )

Broadway Hotel

Title: Eight Sessions
Author: cesperanza
Pairing F/K
Rating: NC-17
Length 207K
Why I'm reccing this fic: The thing with the dates that initially seems to be a mistake. The Not-Fraser. The outstanding original characters (everything I know about psychiatry, I learned from this story). The incredibly memorable sex scenes packed with characterisation.

( A brief excerpt )

Eight Sessions

Title: The End of the Road
Author: katallison
Pairing F/K
Rating: NC-17
Length 650K
Why I'm reccing this fic: Possibly the ultimate post-COTW story. Also, the ultimate not-happy-ending story in the fandom. But don't let that put you off!

( A brief excerpt )

The End of the Road

These are probably my favourite three stories in due South and they're also the three that made me realise the fandom was something special. In response to my initial feedback notes, one of these authors went to the trouble of setting me up with an LJ code, back when you needed one. Another responded in detail with encouraging comments about the reasons some things in her story had particularly resonated with me. The third said, "Whatever you do, don't miss reading everything by authors 1 and 2!"

How Ray Got His Groove Back

[mrsronweasley.livejournal.com]

(I have been failing to rec on a monumental level, so I'm trying to make up for it. *grovels*)

Title: How Ray Got His Groove Back
Author: Bone and Aristide
Pairing F/K
Rating: NC-17, and I cannot stress this enough
Length Um. It's long.
Why I'm reccing this fic: This may or may not have been my first DS story. I remember it very distinctly. I was sitting at work, and reading this (yes, I read this at work the first time around) and hitting my head on my desk because I couldn't laugh out loud and I really, really wanted to. This is a hysterical look at how Ray and Fraser could have gotten together, it is hot as hell, wonderfully written, and very much in character. And there is sex galore. Oh, Christ. I can't imagine that there's anybody out there who hasn't read this, but it is always worth a reread, because... Oh, because. It's "How Ray Got His Groove Back".

( A brief excerpt )

How Ray Got His Groove Back

Like A House On Fire, Border Between Life and Death, True North

[sam80853.livejournal.com]

Title: Like A House On Fire
Author: Kellie Matthews & Beth H.
Length: 582 Kb
Pairing: F/K
Rating: NC-17
Why I'm reccing this fic: It's Kellie Matthews and you really should read all of her stories if you haven't already.
Fraser & Ray haven't seen in years (it's past CotW), and Ray is coming to Canada on the trail of a case but to see Fraser really.

( Excerpt )

Like A House on Fire

Title: Border Between Life And Death
Author: Speranza
Length: 125 Kb
Pairing: F/K
Rating: NC-17
Why I'm reccing this fic: Speranza!

( Excerpt )

Border Between Life And Death

Title: True North
Author: Crysothemis
Length: 384 K
Pairing: F/K
Rating: NC-17
Why I'm reccing this fic: Ray learns that Fraser is in love with him, freaks out and runs back to Chicago just to realize that he may be in love with Fraser as well - a really poor discription of one of my all-time favorite stories, sorry!

( Excerpt )

True North

Family Portrait, Until It Swallows me Whole, and 10 reasons to hate Ray Kowalski, by Raymond Vecchi0

[sansets]

Title: Family Portrait
Author: Journey
Pairing: Fraser/Kowalski
Rating: NC-17
Length: 446k
Why I'm reccing this fic:

This is my ultimate comfort fic. I think that I have probably read it 10 or 15 times and it never ceases to make me happy. It is funny and sweet and an absolutly realistic picture of Ray attempting to raise his children by himself after Stella's death and dealing with his feelings about falling in love with a man. Fraser is gun-shy and scared and afraid that he will always be alone because he can't see himself as ever belonging. I just can't say enough good things about it!

( Exceprt )

Family Portrait

Title: Until It Swallows me Whole
Author: justbreathe80
Pairing: Fraser/Vecchio
Rating: NC-17
Length: 7k
Why I'm reccing this fic: I think that part of what makes it so wonderful is that it is simulatneously a first time story and a last time story. Justbreathe 80 explores Ray and Benny's last time before Ray leaves for Vegas. Through out the entire story, there is such hope building, and even if you dislike the thought of Vecchio naked, you can't help but cheer when Ray finally stops freaking out and lets himself love Benny. It is so beautiful simply as a first time story, because she exactly captures the uncertainty and wonder of starting a relationship. But then when you consider that this is also the only time that they have together, it adds a real poignancy to this story. I still am in total awe of how she manages to convey the entire story of Ray's motivation to leave for Vegas in hints and bits. (As a writer, if I could show instead of tell like that ... I'd never stop writing!) Amazingly AWESOME story, and it might just be one of my favorite Fraser/Vecchio stories ever writen.

( Exceprt )

Until It Swallows Me Whole

Title: 10 reasons to hate Ray Kowalski, by Raymond Vecchio
Author: china_shop
Pairing: Kowalski/Vecchio
Rating: NC-17
Length: 100k
Why I'm reccing this fic:

This is the first Ray/Ray story that I ever read, and it just made me fall in absolute LOVE with this pair! Snark and sex and denial and just wonderful goodness. It has the wonderful supernatural quality that Due South embodies and the dialogue is just spot on. I don't know what else to say about it without spoiling the story, so just read it, and discover the wonderfulness for yourself!

( Exceprt )

10 reasons to hate Ray Kowalski, by Raymond Vecchio

The Graph Story, The Delivery, All the Comforts of Home/Chicago Tales

[shoemaster.livejournal.com]

Title:Ray Is Not Actually Graphing The History Of His Relationship With Fraser--That Would Be Pathetic, And Ray Is Not Pathetic--But If He Was Graphing It, Even Just In His Own Stressed-Out, Messed-Up Brain, It Might Look Something Like This
Author: Sprat
Pairing Fraser/Kowalski
Rating: NC-17
Length middleish?
Why I'm reccing this fic: This is the first fic I read in the Due South fandom, so of course it's in my starter pack. I just adored this story, the sealth!Very Important Relationship Conversations and the graphs. I didn't even know which one was the Mountie when I first read this but I LOVED it.

( A brief excerpt )

Ray Is Not Actually Graphing The History Of His Relationship With Fraser--That Would Be Pathetic, And Ray Is Not Pathetic--But If He Was Graphing It, Even Just In His Own Stressed-Out, Messed-Up Brain, It Might Look Something Like This


Title: The Delivery
Author: Rustler
Pairing Fraser/Kowalski
Rating: PG
Length Short
Why I'm reccing this fic: Doesn't everyone have a discovery kink? So yeah, this is Stella accidentally Finding Out. I love the look at Ray through Stella's eyes and the way Fraser deals with it. Just guh. And Stella's pretty sympathetic here, which is always nice.

( A brief excerpt )

The Delivery


Title: All the Comforts of Home/Chicago Tales
Author: Denise Raymond
Pairing Fraser/Kowalski, Vecchio/Stella
Rating: NC-17
Length LONG
Why I'm reccing this fic: I just reread it last weekend, and oh the love. This also deals with the discovery of Ray and Fraser's relationship, but to a much greater extent and with Ray Vecchio. I love the life she has set up for Fraser and RayK in the small Canadian town, and the friendship between Fraser and RayV and the Ray and Ray conversations. Chicago Tales is all action adventurey, lots of great Ray Vecchio moments plus RayK and Fraser come out to EVERYONE. One of my favorite things in slash ever is seeing how people react and there's plenty of that.

( A brief excerpt )

All the Comforts of Home/Chicago Tales

A Fine Romance, Perils of the Bride-asaurus, Graph

[missapocalyptic.livejournal.com]

Title: A Fine Romance
Author: Sihaya Black and Chickwriter
Pairing: Fraser/Kowalski
Rating: NC-17
Length: Medium
Why I'm reccing this fic: Communication problems, angst, heartbreak - and in the end a fine romance, indeed. This pretty much sums up due South for me. Fraser having the best intentions, but acting adoringly helpless when it comes to delivering the message, Ray drawing drawable, but wrong, conclusions. This fic makes you shout "Nonono!" for the longest time and then "Yesyesyes!" in the end - perfect.

( A brief excerpt )

A Fine Romance


Title: Perils of the Bride-asaurus
Author: Mazeppa
Pairing Fraser/Kowalski
Rating: NC-17
Length Long (164k)
Why I'm reccing this fic: This is part of Mazeppa's "Perils"-series (all of which are definitely worth reading), but this one stands out because it is a marriage fic. Come on, we all want to read this, don't we? It is incredibly romantic, but never even approaching the border to fluffiness, because it's completely believable and in-character. This story features a great Ray voice, a wonderful sense of humour (Fraser as Bride-asaurus is hilarious) and great Welsh moments (so many stars for that!) Stella, Turnbull, Francesca - it's an ensemble fic, on that really spreads the love. It's the perfect feel good story for a cold autumn evening, leaving the reader with a warm and fuzzy feeling and a huge smile on her face. Definitely a fic that can et you hooked to the fandom!

( A brief excerpt )

Perils of the Bride-asaurus


Title: Ray Is Not Actually Graphing The History Of His Relationship With Fraser--That Would Be Pathetic, And Ray Is Not Pathetic--But If He Was Graphing It, Even Just In His Own Stressed-Out, Messed-Up Brain, It Might Look Something Like This
Author: sprat
Pairing Fraser/Kowalski
Rating: "explicit" (Author's Rating)
Length medium
Why I'm reccing this fic: Great title, great story. It shows the ups and downs in the F/K-relationship in an incredibly witty and funny way. The writing is hot and generally flail-worthy. And somehow I see this as a story that not only gives a good impression of the characters, but also of the fandom, because it shows how many possibilities there are to approach a fic and it is a standout example for the awesomeness and originality and (in the most positive possible way) freakiness of many authors writing in it. That's why it's got to be in my starter pack.

( A brief excerpt )

Ray Is Not Actually Graphing...

Beyond Embarrassment, About a Dog, Interrogation

[custardpringle.livejournal.com]

My introduction to dS fic was, pretty much, that kalpurna sat me down at a computer and said "Okay, start with Speranza's stories." So I sat down, and started on Speranza's fic, and at some point discovered that the sun had come back up and I needed to go to class.

In any case: my starter pack is, therefore, three by Speranza.

Title: Beyond Embarrassment
Pairing: F/K
Rating: NC-17
Length: 65K
Why I'm reccing this fic: Absolute first dS fic I ever read, and I just keep rereading it obsessively. It's Ray's POV, but what gets me and scares me, every time is the way this fic's Fraser seems to want to be dead-- how firmly he's convinced himself that he can't live his life and have what he wants (that is, Ray).

( A brief excerpt )

Beyond Embarrassment

Title: About a Dog
Pairing: F/K
Rating: NC-17
Length: 120 KB
Why I'm reccing this fic: This is one of those premises that ought to be a comedy, and just funny all the way through, and then turns out to be a seriously good drama instead. There's comedy in it, of course, because it's dS casefic and Dief-centric and how can it not. But what I really love is the way Diefenbaker describes the relationship between Fraser and Ray in terms of how wolves would relate to each other, and how that's what finally gets Fraser to buy a clue. That bit of dialogue is, honestly one of my favorites ever for accurately describing the Fraser/Kowalski pairing.

( A brief excerpt )

About a Dog

Title: Interrogation
Pairing: F/K
Rating: PG-13
Length: 40K
Why I'm reccing this fic: Another story where you get to sit there and glare at the screen and go FRASER. BUY A DAMN CLUE ALREADY. And then he does, and it just whaps him upside the head, and it is so very satisfying. Plus, the number of people who apparently want to kill Fraser for being a good citizen is truly staggering-- and yet, somehow, not surprising at all.

( A brief excerpt )

Interrogation

Juggling Act, by... you guessed it... Speranza

[maryavatar.livejournal.com]

I know everyone is picking out Speranza stories as their newbie recs, but I just had to add Juggling Act. I'd read a few dS stories before I got to this one, but they hadn't really... stuck. And then I was flicking through a huge multi-fandom rec page, and read the line, "So this whole mess begins with Frannie and her goddamned masturbating parrot." Who could resist clicking on that? That was the moment I went from just another casual reader to a completely obsessed fanpoodle. Without ever having watched a single episode.

Title: Juggling Act
Author: cesperanza
Pairing: F/K
Rating: R? NC17?

Juggling Act

Pas de Deux, Kowalski is Bleeding, The Teeth of the Hydra

[eledhwenlin]

Title: Pas de Deux
Author: Sihaya Black
Pairing Fraser/Kowalski
Rating: NC-17
Length long
Why I'm reccing this fic:
I love AUs. This one is exceptionally well-done, has wonderful in-character voices and Ray is a DANCE INSTRUCTOR. Ray Kowalski, champion of the dancefloor.

( A brief excerpt )

Pas de Deux

Title: Kowalski is Bleeding
Author: cesperanza
Pairing Fraser/Kowalski
Rating: NC-17
Length long
Why I'm reccing this fic:
KiB was the first cesperanza story I read and it was my downfall. After this, there was no easy detachment possible because that story reels you in and doesn't let you leave again.

I don't have to state (again) that cesperanza is one damn fine writer. A beautiful characterisation and the plot strays just far enough from canon to make my AU-loving heart giddy with excitement.

( A brief excerpt )

Kowalski is Bleeding

Title:The Teeth of the Hydra
Author:resonant8
Pairing Fraser/Kowalski
Rating: NC-17
Length long
Why I'm reccing this fic:
Because it's one of the best things I've ever read in my whole life. resonant writes just as awesomely well as cesperanza does and nothing I could say about this story in my own words would be able to do it justice.

( A brief excerpt )

The Teeth of the Hydra

Busted, Sixteenth of June, A Dare's a Dare

[riverlight.livejournal.com]

Title: Busted
Author: anonymous co.
Pairing Fraser/Kowalski
Rating: R?
Length If you're going to start it, you'd better have a solid few hours to finish!
Why I'm reccing this fic: This is one of those delicious, long, involved post-COTW epics where Ray goes up to Canada to meet Fraser, uncertain of what to expect; Fraser, of course, welcomes him warmly, and one thing leads to another, and... well, you know how it ends (and if you don't, let me tell you: happily! it ends happily! That's my story and I'm sticking to it). It's a love story, of course (and wonderfully done), but it's also a mystery, in that Ray's been wounded in the line of duty and it turns out there's more to the story than that. And the Ray voice is spot-on. I just love this fic—it's one of my ultimate dS comfort fics.

Busted

Title: Sixteenth of June
Author: resonant8
Pairing Fraser/Kowalski
Rating: NC-17
Length 65k, i.e. a nicely long story
Why I'm reccing this fic: This was the absolute first fic I read in this fandom, and I admit at the time I didn't quite understand what was going on; I think I was confused by the whole "two Rays" idea. Now that I've gotten that straight, though, I can say that this story still is one of my favorites, after many rereadings. It's the story of Fraser and Ray's partnership, as marked by various anniversaries, and it's lovely—you get a real sense of how their relationship develops. Res absolutely gets Fraser and Ray; they're completely themselves here: two complex men who somehow work better together than they do apart.

( A brief excerpt )

Sixteenth of June

Title: A Dare's a Dare
Author: cesperanza
Pairing Fraser/Kowalski
Rating: NC-17
Length long, as well
Why I'm reccing this fic: Well, we had the episode where Fraser cross-dresses; now we get the fic where we get to see it. This is a gem of a story. If I were going be shallow, I'd talk about how it's Fraser! in a dress! And then there's sex! (And it's all perfectly in-character, too, which, considering what I just said, is a feat). It's about more than that, though—it's about Fraser, and Ray, and their partnership, and trust. And you've got to love a story that can work on both levels like that; it's some pretty fine writing.

( A brief excerpt )

A Dare's a Dare

Exposures, Sibylla ti theleis, The Fan

[nos4a2no9.livejournal.com]

Title: Sibylla ti theleis
Author: Hth
Pairing Vecchio/Stella, Fraser/Kowalski
Rating: R
Length Short-Medium
Why I'm reccing this fic:

I think this has to be one of the very finest Ray Vecchio fics out there, bar none. Ray is older in this fic and a little wiser: we see a lot of his marriage to Stella, his life in Florida (Hth puts a clever twist on his bizarre decision to open a bowling alley) and his relationship with both Ray and Fraser. All of it adds up to a complete portrait of a man who has been unhappy in his life, who has struggled to compensate with low self-esteem and anxieties about his place in the world, and who is finally able to come to terms with it all. This isn't an easy story to read, particularly when it comes to the ultimate fate of Our Favorite Mountie, but any reader new to the fandom will likely appreciate such a compelling, nuanced and complex look at Vecchio. It made me want to attempt to read TS Eliot, so that's something right there.

( A brief excerpt )

Sibylla ti theleis


Title: Exposures
Author: Dira Sudis
Pairing Fraser/Kowalski
Rating: R
Length Short
Why I'm reccing this fic:

So we can all agree that Dira's favorite thing in the world is to rip out our hearts and stomp all over them, right? I mean, "Hawks and Hands" is pretty much 100,000+ words of that, plus hot sex. But I think she outdid herself with this short tale of death during a certain arctic adventure. It begins with a bush pilot's rather grisly discovery (this story ain't for the squeamish young newbie) and ends with one of the most bittersweet images I've encountered in written literature. I can't quite articulate how this story makes you feel: it breaks you down and makes you despair and yet still manages to convey the love Ray and Fraser share even in death. The images in this fic are, of course, striking: the whole story is told through descriptions of photographs salvaged from Ray and Fraser's expedition after they mysteriously disappear. The events of the Quest are pieced together from these fragmented images, and we bear witness to the discovery of a new love and the freedom that comes with it. The final tragic sequence (God, those words spelled out in instant coffee powder in the snow!) will stick with you for a long time, and the final paragraph is sublime.

Now, if we can just convince Dira to stop killing dogs, all will be right with the world :-)

Exposures

Title: The Fan
Author: Manna LaDroit
Pairing Fraser/Vecchio
Rating: NC-17
Length Long
Why I'm reccing this fic:

This was my first introduction to dS, read lo these many months ago. I remember mainlining the story and thinking at the time, "Geeze, what'll I do when I read through Manna's whole archive? How can there be anything in this fandom better than this?" How little I understood! But despite having read what must be hundreds of other stories, I think this old-school tale of Ray and Fraser getting stalked and kidnapped and having a bunch of other improbable things happen to them will appeal to a new fan. It does lack some of the humor and sophistication found in later dS stories, perhaps because when Manna was writing and posting regularly the fandom was in its infancy. I think she was badly burned in the Ray wars (she writes on her website that the show ended for her after Season 2, which, well, yikes!) but "The Fan" (as well as the rest of her oeuvre, like "The Cabin" and "Siren's Song") are definitely required reading. She made me an early Fraser/Vecchio shipper well before I discovered any RayK fic, and I still like her take on RayV and how he (slowly) comes to love and care for Fraser under fairly extreme conditions. I won't post an excerpt because I think the story is better read as a whole, but give it a whirl and show some love for the way things were before that scruffy Polish detective showed up.

The Fan