original m/m fiction recs, a couple slash recs, and some pictures of paris
I've been reading a lot of original m/m fic online lately, or fanfic that reads like it, but damned if I don't just keep getting pickier. See, I'm not really interested in caper, and for the most part I'm not interested in slavefic or BDSM, either (freece's Captive Prince is a story I am more than willing to bend the rules for, because so far it's fantastic; I've stopped reading it as a WIP, though, and the wait for it to be finished is killer). I generally like original m/m that's set in the quote-unquote real world, that's about characters I feel like I could know, that's about the randomness of who you fall in love with (not that that's a genre per se -- it's kind of the anti-genre, for that matter). I will of course make exceptions to any and all of the above if a story is fabulous enough, but my definition of fabulous tends more toward "lots of build-up and UST" rather than "lots of boning from day one." Just, you know. In case you were wondering.
So, recs! The first couple (both by the same author) were written for Shousetsu Bang*Bang (bb_shousetsu), "a webzine for original boy's love oneshot stories" -- which, incidentally, has just about THE funniest userinfo I've ever read. (Excerpt: "A story must be at least 1500 words long and contain one sex scene (soft R or above). This is because a properly descriptive sex scene needs about 1500 words in the first place. Sex-scene-less stories that are nevertheless works of coked-out yaoi genius will be accepted at the discretion of the Editor, but let's not be wusses here, c'mon.") I love these first couple of recs for a lot of reasons, not the least of which being that the main characters are not all white dudes. Extra bonus awesome.
Heterogenesis by w2 (ladysisyphus)
original m/m | unrated (adult) | ~18,700 words
"Well," said Rishi, his eyes stung to tears by the absolute white of the hospital room, "here we are," and depressed the plunger on the syringe.
A researcher working on isolating a so-called "gay gene" falls for a subject in his clinical trial. I made the error of starting to read this story Saturday night around one-thirty a.m. after coming back from a party at a stable (don't ask, my life is weird), and was in no way capable of putting it down. (When I started to write this post, I got about a fifth of the way into reading the story again before catching myself.) Heterogenesis is really tight and well-crafted, all of the scenes propel the story forward and really count, and I really adore and empathize with all of the characters in it. Also, there's a hot cooking scene or two, and a hot man who has a crush on a "scruffy little nerd," as the main character thinks of himself, which made me grin like a fool.
Mike Dies at the End by w2 (ladysisyphus)
original m/m | unrated (adult) | ~11,700 words
Solving the following riddle will reveal the awful secret behind the universe, assuming you do not go utterly mad in the attempt. If you already happen to know the awful secret behind the universe, feel free to skip ahead.
If you liked Supernatural back in the day when there were ghosts and mysteries and shit (particularly if you enjoyed the Ghostfacers ep back in S3), I suspect you'll LOVE this story. It's a totally laugh-out-loud funny fuck-or-die fic that takes place in a haunted house. Trust me, you want to read this.
Note: I haven't yet read a story by w2 that I haven't liked. I haven't LOVED every one of them, but overall the quality of her stories is totally excellent. There are links to her master list at the bottom of the above stories.
Something about Mike Dies at the End really strongly reminded me of another excellent piece of original fic (probably just the gay boys and the haunted house, but whatever). This isn't a new story, but hollycomb just reposted the third part of it after LJ ate it, and though I'd already read it (. . . repeatedly) I went and read it again. Yup, still awesome.
To Come True a Thing Must Come Second by hollycomb
original m/m | R | longish, posted in three parts
Brandon is a nerdy high schooler who wanted to be a paranormal research scientist until he was teased enough to give up his belief in ghosts altogether. His old obsession is reborn when a classmate consults him as an "expert" on a haunting in his house.
I don't know anyone who does teenage love and longing as well as hollycomb does. When the main character in this story talks about how he's accepted he could never live without his boyfriend, you totally believe him. Also, though the twist confused me a little the first time I read this story, it worked better for me on subsequent reads. (Possibly the first time I read it I was having a dumb day.)
Speaking of hollycomb, this next story isn't actually original fiction, but it reads like it could be, particularly if you're not into the MLB RPS scene.
Conditions of Parole by hollycomb
MLB RPS | AU | Kyle Davies/Kelly Johnson | ~20,000 words
Kelly gets a part-time job working for Davies and Son Pool and Spa. He believes that dating Hiram Davies' beautiful daughter will set his life right, but her older brother has other ideas.
hollycomb writes these stories that are so thoroughly set in the real world, so full of detail, that it's pretty much impossible not to believe them. I'm always a huge fan of stories about boys falling all kinds of stupid in love with each other, and this absolutely fits the bill. This fic reads at the start like it's going toward a very cliched place (which wouldn't have been a bad thing), but then takes a slightly different turn (toward an even better thing). A commenter on it wrote that she wasn't sure where exactly the boys fall in love, and I agree that that bit is kind of obscured, but there's really not much else to fault here, due to all the awesome.
This last rec isn't even remotely original fiction, but it's a rare fandom, and trust me, it's great.
Sentimental Reasons by frostfire_17
Casablanca | Sam/Rick | teen and up | 16,570 words
"France and I have never had any major arguments that I can remember."
I haven't watched Casablanca in a number of years, and I had no idea that I needed this story. Oh, but I did, and so do you. I read on the author's LJ that she thought it could have used an extra 5-10K, and I don't disagree, but that doesn't prevent it from being one of the better pieces of fanfic I've read in a while. It's excellent, thematically, and the dialogue is ridiculously spot-on and awesome.
On a totally unrelated note, I went to Paris recently and it wasn't half bad.
So, recs! The first couple (both by the same author) were written for Shousetsu Bang*Bang (bb_shousetsu), "a webzine for original boy's love oneshot stories" -- which, incidentally, has just about THE funniest userinfo I've ever read. (Excerpt: "A story must be at least 1500 words long and contain one sex scene (soft R or above). This is because a properly descriptive sex scene needs about 1500 words in the first place. Sex-scene-less stories that are nevertheless works of coked-out yaoi genius will be accepted at the discretion of the Editor, but let's not be wusses here, c'mon.") I love these first couple of recs for a lot of reasons, not the least of which being that the main characters are not all white dudes. Extra bonus awesome.
Heterogenesis by w2 (ladysisyphus)
original m/m | unrated (adult) | ~18,700 words
"Well," said Rishi, his eyes stung to tears by the absolute white of the hospital room, "here we are," and depressed the plunger on the syringe.
A researcher working on isolating a so-called "gay gene" falls for a subject in his clinical trial. I made the error of starting to read this story Saturday night around one-thirty a.m. after coming back from a party at a stable (don't ask, my life is weird), and was in no way capable of putting it down. (When I started to write this post, I got about a fifth of the way into reading the story again before catching myself.) Heterogenesis is really tight and well-crafted, all of the scenes propel the story forward and really count, and I really adore and empathize with all of the characters in it. Also, there's a hot cooking scene or two, and a hot man who has a crush on a "scruffy little nerd," as the main character thinks of himself, which made me grin like a fool.
Mike Dies at the End by w2 (ladysisyphus)
original m/m | unrated (adult) | ~11,700 words
Solving the following riddle will reveal the awful secret behind the universe, assuming you do not go utterly mad in the attempt. If you already happen to know the awful secret behind the universe, feel free to skip ahead.
If you liked Supernatural back in the day when there were ghosts and mysteries and shit (particularly if you enjoyed the Ghostfacers ep back in S3), I suspect you'll LOVE this story. It's a totally laugh-out-loud funny fuck-or-die fic that takes place in a haunted house. Trust me, you want to read this.
Note: I haven't yet read a story by w2 that I haven't liked. I haven't LOVED every one of them, but overall the quality of her stories is totally excellent. There are links to her master list at the bottom of the above stories.
Something about Mike Dies at the End really strongly reminded me of another excellent piece of original fic (probably just the gay boys and the haunted house, but whatever). This isn't a new story, but hollycomb just reposted the third part of it after LJ ate it, and though I'd already read it (. . . repeatedly) I went and read it again. Yup, still awesome.
To Come True a Thing Must Come Second by hollycomb
original m/m | R | longish, posted in three parts
Brandon is a nerdy high schooler who wanted to be a paranormal research scientist until he was teased enough to give up his belief in ghosts altogether. His old obsession is reborn when a classmate consults him as an "expert" on a haunting in his house.
I don't know anyone who does teenage love and longing as well as hollycomb does. When the main character in this story talks about how he's accepted he could never live without his boyfriend, you totally believe him. Also, though the twist confused me a little the first time I read this story, it worked better for me on subsequent reads. (Possibly the first time I read it I was having a dumb day.)
Speaking of hollycomb, this next story isn't actually original fiction, but it reads like it could be, particularly if you're not into the MLB RPS scene.
Conditions of Parole by hollycomb
MLB RPS | AU | Kyle Davies/Kelly Johnson | ~20,000 words
Kelly gets a part-time job working for Davies and Son Pool and Spa. He believes that dating Hiram Davies' beautiful daughter will set his life right, but her older brother has other ideas.
hollycomb writes these stories that are so thoroughly set in the real world, so full of detail, that it's pretty much impossible not to believe them. I'm always a huge fan of stories about boys falling all kinds of stupid in love with each other, and this absolutely fits the bill. This fic reads at the start like it's going toward a very cliched place (which wouldn't have been a bad thing), but then takes a slightly different turn (toward an even better thing). A commenter on it wrote that she wasn't sure where exactly the boys fall in love, and I agree that that bit is kind of obscured, but there's really not much else to fault here, due to all the awesome.
This last rec isn't even remotely original fiction, but it's a rare fandom, and trust me, it's great.
Sentimental Reasons by frostfire_17
Casablanca | Sam/Rick | teen and up | 16,570 words
"France and I have never had any major arguments that I can remember."
I haven't watched Casablanca in a number of years, and I had no idea that I needed this story. Oh, but I did, and so do you. I read on the author's LJ that she thought it could have used an extra 5-10K, and I don't disagree, but that doesn't prevent it from being one of the better pieces of fanfic I've read in a while. It's excellent, thematically, and the dialogue is ridiculously spot-on and awesome.
On a totally unrelated note, I went to Paris recently and it wasn't half bad.
