Round Three Reviews - Part 24
As we draw to a close of the voting period, we present to you TWO review posts, one in the morning, and one this evening.
While we will have two posts to go, please remember to take time to vote for your favorite fics before the weekend is out. In the meantime - enjoy!
This Morning's Featured Stories Include:
*
Be All My Sins Remembered by sinecure
Category: PWP
Fandom: New Who
Characters: Ten, Rose
Rating: Adult
Details: The Doctor is undercover as a priest, Rose is undercover as an innocent parishioner, and the result is very naughty and very hot. 4300 words.
Why it Rocks:
Thanks to sinecure and momdaegmorgan, Priest!Doctor smut is becoming a very popular subgenre of Doctor/Rose fanfic, and I believe this was the first of those stories. There’s a reason that a lot of people get off on religious iconography incorporated into sexual scenarios, and the author effectively takes advantage of that taboo to make this story (apologies to Homer Simpson) sacrilicious. Nonetheless, if the combination of religious imagery and sex pushes your squick buttons, this isn't the fic for you.
The Doctor and Rose are investigating a possible alien infestation, and have gone undercover as priest and parishioner, respectively. Although I don’t personally have a priest kink, I can’t deny that the idea of David Tennant dressed as a priest is ridiculously hot. The author’s description of the Doctor all in black with a white collar ... yeah. No complaining from this reviewer about that mental image. It's also somewhat fitting for the Doctor to be disguised as a man of the cloth, and Rose can't help but point out his messianic complex. The Doctor is not amused.
He decides to prove that he's not a holy figure. Something about the way his first moves are described is very sexy, even though it starts out fairly innocent.
Tugging more firmly, he neatly knocked her off balance, forcing her forward until she had nowhere else to go but onto the huge leather chair with him.
"What are you doing?" she asked, bemusement coloring her voice. She tried to catch herself with her hands, but, since he was holding them, that didn't work out too well. Bending one knee, she settled it on the chair, and as soon as it was up there, the Doctor pulled harder, forcing her further up until she was straddling his lap. "What's got in--"
Rose is definitely the seducee in this story; since the story is from her POV we know that she definitely wants to be seduced. But it is the Doctor who takes the lead as the seducer. He is, literally and figuratively, the top in this encounter. And while they don't engage in much overt roleplaying in this fic (that comes later), they do acknowledge the taboo and the implicit power dynamic in their undercover roles.
When she was unable to come up with another protest, he chuckled, sliding his hands higher up her thighs. "You're supposed to be a..." his mouth settled on her neck, teeth and lips biting lightly at her skin, "good," he nipped at her chin, "Christian," her lower lip, "girl." Then his mouth pressed to hers and his lips devoured her, moving fast and hard, taking and taking, leaving her breathless when he pulled away. "Think the parishioners would be shocked?"
There is very little I can quote from the actual sex scene without giving this review itself an adult rating. Suffice it to say that the sex is hot and desperate and filthy in the best possible way. And although the Doctor is definitely dominant here, it isn't in a way that is abusive and Rose's consent is in no doubt, for him or for the reader. The story ends on a humorous note - an explanation of sorts for why the Doctor chose this particular moment to make his move. All in all, a very sexy read, and certainly worthy of a vote in the PWP category.
*
Just For One Night by Ninewood Link goes to Teaspoon
Category: Second Doctor, Ficlet
Fandom: Classic Who
Characters: Jamie McCrimmon, Zoe Herriot
Rating: All Ages
Details: Single-part ficlet, complete, 1126 words including author’s note
Why It Rocks:
One of the wonderful things about a series in which the main character travels in time and space is that we get to meet people from any era and from anywhere in the universe. How many other TV series, with the exception of Star Trek and its ilk, can give us characters from hundreds or even thousands of years apart? In New Who, we have companions from the twenty-first century and the fifty-first. In Classic Who, we had companions from all over the universe (Nyssa, Adric and Turlough, for example) and from vastly different eras (Leela, Jamie, Benny, among others). Now put together a TARDIS crew made up of these very different people and see what you get.
Well, in New Who it has to be admitted that most of the time there isn’t a lot of variety. One of the disappointing things about how Jack is written, for example, is that we don’t see all that much evidence that he comes from three thousand years in our future. Yes, he understands time-travel and doesn’t share our cultural references, but we rarely see evidence of his own cultural references or norms (apart from the norms governing his sexual behaviour, but how much of that is the fifty-first century and how much is Jack?). In Classic Who, however, much more was made of these cultural and historical differences: Leela’s tendency to attack first and ask questions later, for example, or Adric’s highly mathematical mind.
Jamie McCrimmon, a companion from Two’s era, is from eighteenth-century Scotland. During the Battle of Culloden in 1746, he is a piper serving under Colin McLaren, a local laird, and this is where he runs into the Doctor: the Doctor and his companions are captured by McLaren and his troops as they’re fleeing from the English army. After a number of adventures, Jamie misses his chance to escape to France and stays with the Doctor instead. Zoe Herriot, on the other hand, is from the 21st century (date unspecified), where she worked as a librarian on a space wheel (remember, these episodes are from the 1960s!). She’s a mathematician and a genius, with a level of intelligence close to the Doctor’s own.
In many ways, therefore, Zoe and Jamie couldn’t be more unlike, yet they actually have a lot in common. They’re both fishes out of water on the TARDIS: out of their own time, without much experience of life beyond their own pretty narrow horizons, and fairly limited cultural perceptions, as a result. Which brings us, at last, to Ninewood’s story.
Situations where two characters not related to each other are forced to share a bedroom and perhaps a bed are a very common trope in fanfic. Usually this premise is used as an excuse to get the characters to have sex. Not so in this story. What Just For One Night gives us, actually, is a vivid illustration of that ‘fish out of water’ thing I mentioned above: the gap of cultural mores and experience between Jamie and Zoe.
At first, Jamie doesn’t want to share the room with Zoe. He argues that it’s wrong:
“Jamie, be reasonable, it’s just for one night,” sighed Zoe.
“I am being reasonable! It isnae proper for us tae be in the same room let alone sleeping in the same bed!” said Jamie, waving his arms out to his sides.
Eighteenth-century, meet twenty-first century. What would Jamie make of mixed-gender hospital wards, or public toilets on university campuses where women students have no hesitation about using the men’s facilities if the queues for the women’s are too long? Jamie insists that he’d be perfectly comfortable sleeping outside in the rain - as an ordinary man of the tenant class and a soldier, that would be nothing new for him - or in the hallway where people could trip over him as he sleeps. Zoe, from the twenty-first century, is astonished that Jamie is troubled by the idea of sharing a room:
“Close the door,” said Zoe, making Jamie blush.
“No, the door stays open!”
“Please, it’s letting in a draft.”
and refuses even to contemplate his sleeping on the floor as opposed to sharing the bed with her:
You can’t sleep on the floor! It’s filthy!” gasped Zoe.
“Hey, I used tae sleep on a dirt floor.”
"All the more reason to sleep on the bed,” said Zoe, patting the mattress.
“Look, Zoe, I’m only thinking aboot your honor as a lady.”
But the story isn’t all Caveman Jamie versus Modern-day Zoe. Because there’s a storm outside. Now, remember that Zoe comes from a space wheel, a kind of space-station. We’re given the impression that she’s had very little exposure to the world outside her wheel, and this is where Jamie, for all his lack of experience of the modern world, has the advantage over her. Now, Jamie comes from a time and a social class where he would have lived in a roughly-constructed one-room house, with draughty windows and doors and a low roof made of straw and turf - assuming, after the Clearances, that he even had a home. So a storm would, for him, have been a far more frightening event.
As Zoe quakes and shivers in his arms, he gives her the benefit of his experience:
“You know, I used tae be afraid of storm.”
“How did you stop?”
“Well, when I was about six, my nan asked me tae listen tae the storm.”
He goes on to explain how this strategy worked, enabling him to see the storm as almost soothing as opposed to frightening.
Viewed in one light, this is a very sweet story, and it certainly deserves its nomination in the Fluff category. What makes Just For One Night memorable for me, however, is its highlighting, without ever rubbing it in our faces as readers, of the cultural and social gap between two of the Doctor’s companions, something we rarely get to see in Doctor Who any more, and that I for one would like to see more of.
Even if you have no exposure to Classic Who or to these particular companions, read Just For One Night. I’ve told you all you need to know about Jamie and Zoe to understand their backgrounds, and this story stands alone without any need to be familiar with Second Doctor-era episodes. Read it and see what can be done, very simply and without a lot of set-up, to show us how time can present just as much a cultural barrier as nationality or planet of origin. This story is definitely deserving of your time and of its nominations.
*
The Reddest of Poppies by tristesses
Category: Doctor/Donna
Fandom: New Who
Characters: Donna, the Doctor (Tenth)
Rating: NC17 (for sex)
Details: One shot, 2200 words. Donna and the Doctor in a field of poppies.
Why It Rocks:
Alien sex pollen is a common trope in fanfic, especially in Doctor Who. Tristesses puts a different spin on it, and the result is a funny, sexy little story that remains true to the characters of Donna and the Doctor.
The story isn’t all sex - it starts off innocently enough, with the Doctor showing Donna the beautiful and expensive fields of poppies on an alien planet. The opening paragraph demonstrates the wonderfully descriptive use of language throughout, and the thought behind the setting.
The crop fields of the planet Alessofrass are rolling blankets of white flowers, speckled with red, similar to poppies in color and appearance but much more potent, and in turn, much more valuable. Add to this the fact that Alessofrassan poppies only grow in specific, peculiar areas around the planet’s poles, where the aurora borealis dances in flashes of vibrant color under the blue-green sky, and you’ve got yourself quite a vacation spot. If you can afford it, that is. But the lucky thing about traveling with a Time Lord is that money doesn’t matter much.
The Doctor is of the opinion that there should be more running, and what results is Donna chasing him through the poppies, trying to put flowers in his hair. It’s funny, and silly, and shows an easy relationship that could so easily tip over into something more intimate.
“I think it needs a bit of color,” she decides, and after that comes a rigorous chase through the poppies involving a lot of zigzagging, ducking, shrieking, and trampling of expensive flowers, and which culminates in a near-tackle by the Doctor that leaves them in a pile of limbs, rolling to a halt at the bottom of a softly-sloping hill, still giggling, still panting, staring up at the flickering lights in the sky.
After a further scuffle, leaving him with flowers in his hair, Donna sneezes. The Doctor makes a split-second decision, not quite believing himself that he’s doing so, and tells her the flowers’ pollen is sex pollen. Donna doesn’t need much persuading before they are tearing each other’s clothes off and gleefully shagging in the poppies.
The descriptions are funny, and real, without being explicit, and allow them to remain in character even in the heat of the moment. There are some lovely character moments throughout.
Donna’s pressing the heels of her palms against her eyes, lying limp and gorgeous in the flora. The Doctor watches her fondly; a muscle in her side twitches as the wind blows a slender green stalk against her.
Of course, it’s not long before Donna learns the Doctor’s secret - that the poppies may not actually produce sex pollen. And the lines that accompany that disclosure are some of the best in the story, and I won’t spoil them for you here.
The Reddest of Poppies has humor, outdoor sex, and the Doctor and Donna at their best. It is certainly enjoyable to read, and definitely deserves your vote.
*
Lust and Monsters by unfolded73 and fid_gin
Category: Doctor/Rose
Fandom: New Who
Characters: Tenth Doctor, Rose Tyler
Rating: Adult
Details: Three chapters, ficlet, complete; set during The Impossible Planet to Love and Monsters. Explicit sex in parts.
Why It Rocks:
It’s a commonly-heard generalisation that getting a man to talk about his feelings is about as easy as scooping water with a sieve. They’ll avoid the question, change the subject at every opportunity, and they’re continually on the lookout for a convenient distraction: Oh, look, a camelopard! When the man in question is the Doctor, who has a PhD in avoidance and finds camelopards around every turn, engineering a satisfying conversation about emotions and relationships is well-nigh impossible.
So, this is a story about sex. It’s not, however, a story about shagging, although shagging is certainly in the story. It’s a story about the aftermath of the shagging: the myriad of ways the Doctor manages to avoid acknowledging that shagging happened, and he avoids talking about the consequences of the shagging. And it’s about UST and interruptions and sheer frustration.
Unusually for a fid_gin fic, the story begins immediately after the sex, and the theme is immediately presented to us:
They hadn't spoken for several minutes, the Doctor was acutely aware. He was personally quite content to lie silently next to Rose, cataloging little things like the whisper-warm slide of her naked foot against his and how it felt better than being barefoot in grass or any other podiatric sensation he could imagine, but he was reasonably sure the human custom when one had just shagged one's closest friend was to say something. Anything.
The Doctor and Rose are on Krop Tor, with the TARDIS trapped below the surface of the planet, and they’re spending the night in a tiny bedroom, with an even smaller bed. Comfort and rest has turned into more, and now neither of them seems to know what to say.
“I didn't mean...” she continued. “I mean, I am sorry about the TARDIS. I meant...I know this isn't...” She glanced down at their bodies, stretched naked on top of the bedlinens, and blushed.
The timing’s not right to talk, what with awkwardness and the missing TARDIS and Rose trapped so far from home - and, of course, interruptions. The Beast, the Doctor getting trapped down the pit, Rose being taken away in the escape rocket - and then, of course, the reunion - all of these put the events of the night out of their minds somewhat. But, back on the TARDIS, safe and with quiet time for reflection, they do remember. First, the Doctor finds himself reacting rather inconveniently to Rose as they hug, and then Rose, nervous and afraid of how he’s going to react, tries to confront the issue:
"We, uh... We had sex."
He glanced at the console impatiently, then back at her. "Yes, I know. I was there." Ooh. Rude.
She doesn’t get very far. An alarm sounds on the console, and the Doctor’s attention is immediately directed towards it:
"Trouble!" he shouted back. "A great, big, stinking ball of trouble. Welllll...not a ball, more a shadow, really. Escaped from the Howling Halls, a living shadow. Fancy a quick trip back home?"
Rose sighed. "Yeah, sure," she said, turning away and beginning to leave the room. "Forget it. Go play with your shadow or whatever."
And, despite the Doctor’s promise that we will talk about this later, thus begins a pattern. Adventures, some talking about what happened, some repetition, and then more interruptions. As readers, we can feel Rose’s frustration with the Doctor’s unwillingness to talk - and later, the Doctor’s frustration with the interruptions! There’s also plenty of sexy humour along with the UST and interrupted conversations:
"Would now be a good time to talk about ... the thing?"
He raised one eyebrow. "The thing?"
"The sex thing."
"Ah ... that thing."
"I mean, I realize that I kissed you, but then you sort of ..." She waved her hand vaguely in the air.
"Escalated it?"
"Yes, exactly."
He took a step toward her. "Slid my tongue into your mouth? Undressed you?"
The story slots perfectly into canon during these three episodes of S2, knitting the scenes we see on our screens with fid_gin and unfolded73’s version of the behind-the-scenes events. Read to find out just why Rose’s hair looked so odd at the end of Love and Monsters, why they both looked so dishevelled, and why the Doctor seemed so irritated when he exited the TARDIS.
As someone who’s co-authored stories, I’m always a huge admirer of collaborators who do it well. Co-authoring isn’t easy; the two authors don’t only need a common understanding of characterisation and of where the story’s going, but also need to be able to harmonise their writing styles in such a way that differences don’t stand out too much. And, of course, to write dialogue consistently and in a way that makes sense! In many collaborative fics, it’s possible to spot different styles, but in this one I can honestly say that I couldn’t see the joins at all. I’m quite familiar with both authors’ individual work, and I can’t here work out who wrote what. From a technical standpoint, that’s a huge achievement.
Of course, if you’re just reading for the story, as opposed to admiring the writing, there’s plenty to enjoy. The humour, as I already mentioned. Lots of in-character dialogue. And, finally, the scenes that earn this story its adult rating. While I don’t tend to write detailed reviews of smut, I will say that this is a story that will please our dear wiggiemomsi very much indeed ;)
But, even more than the smut, this moment is special, particularly for a Doctor so given to avoidance, to running away rather than confronting his feelings, to holding the people he loves at a distance. Finally, he recognises that, whatever his reasons for waiting, for avoiding, they’re just not important:
He started walking towards her. There was never going to be a 'perfect moment', he'd realized with sudden clarity; in the chaos of their lives, no time, and all time, was the right time, and he had no intention of waiting any longer.
Whether or not you believe that there was shagging in the TARDIS, Lust and Monsters is a fun, entertaining and downright sexy story that definitely deserves its place in the Doctor/Rose category. It had me smiling, sighing, giggling - especially at the moment where Jackie exacts revenge for the Doctor’s behaviour towards every companion ever:
Jackie looked at him like he'd just dribbled down his shirt.
- and, of course, grinning in satisfaction by the end. If you enjoy well-written smut, if you like stories which fit perfectly into canon while filling in around the edges in an entertaining and convincing way, and if you like side-dishes of humour with your main course of UST and smut, you’ll agree that this story absolutely deserves its nomination - and, very likely, your vote.
*
Danger Shall Seem Sport by TARDIS_stowaway Link goes to Teaspoon
Category: Classic
Fandom: New Who
Characters: Alt!Nine, Rose
Rating: All Ages
Details: Part Two of the Illyria series, which was reviewed in Round One. Seven chapters, post-Doomsday, Pete's World, where Rose has run into (and run away with) an alternate Nine.
Why It Rocks:
In my previous review of Illyria, I talked a lot about how the series as a whole was about Rose finding herself, and being given a second chance at the life she'd had to leave behind. How just because she found the Doctor again - didn't mean she was automatically guaranteed a happy-ever-after.
What makes the second part of the series special is that it really marks one of the first turning points in her relationship with the alternate Doctor. While Rose is convinced that she wants to travel with him - in a way, she's hoping to that the travel will be exactly as she remembers it. The problem is that the Doctor she finds isn't the same man - and while she's beginning to understand that, she's not quite figured out how to cope with that reality.
The Doctor glanced at me, somehow managing to frown and look impressed at the same time. I hoped the frown was directed at the ruins and the impressed aspect directed at me, although with this universe’s Doctor I couldn’t quite be sure.
Previously, in her own world with her own Doctor, Rose hadn't had to work to stay with him. She was there because he'd asked - twice, as a matter of fact. Rose never doubted that the Doctor wanted her around. But here - she really is something of a stowaway on the TARDIS. The Doctor has her along, takes her places - and he won't complain, but Rose never gets the feeling that she's actually wanted. (Except, perhaps, by the TARDIS.)
I got the sense that the subject of why I should leave was not abandoned for good, but I was happy for a temporary respite from justifying my presence. For a moment I missed the camaraderie of my Torchwood coworkers. There, I was a valid part of the team.
It's when Rose and the Doctor are trapped in a cage - no chance of escape, no one to rescue them, no way to contact for help - that they're able to just talk. There's no running and no turning away from each other to hide. And for the first time, the alternate Doctor actually does listen to Rose when she talks to him about her life before - some of the things she did and saw in her other world, her family and friends.
And two things happen while they sit in the cage, trapped. Well, one thing happens and one does not. The thing that happens is that ... well, they start to like each other. The Doctor up to now has been very take-it-or-leave-it with Rose. But now, trapped in the dark, he jokes with her. He listens to her. He offers advice. And he comforts her, by suggesting that her family might believe her disappearance is because she's gone back to her own Doctor. And in saying this, he's not just comforting her - he's showing that he absolutely understands not only what her fondest wish would be - but that her family wishes it for her, and would believe it happily.
It's what also doesn't happen:
I would like to say that the Doctor and I used the long hours in a dark, confined space for a good healing dose of what consenting adults the universe over love doing in the dark, getting to know each other in every possible sense. I would like to say that, but it would be a lie. He had never been to Bad Wolf Bay, never heard me say what I said there, never almost said what my brown-eyed Doctor almost said. We just sat there. I felt the movement of his back as he breathed. In and out, in and out, a little while longer.
Because comfort isn't just the naked physical - it's the clothed physical as well. The Doctor and Rose might not get all jiggy with it, but just the simple act of being together, of being quiet together, and comfortable being so, is comfort enough. It's not often you'll find someone you're comfortable being quiet with - and you have to be comfortable with yourself first. Perhaps these moments in the dark in the cage are the Doctor and Rose finally finding comfort in themselves for the first time in a long time - and by doing so, find that they're almost automatically comfortable with each other, too.
The other important turning point in the story is the Doctor realizing that he really does want to travel with her. Up until now, we've seen the world only from Rose's POV. Literally, actually, as the story is told in first-person. Except for one chapter, near the end of the story, when we do get to see the world from the Doctor's eyes. It's actually one of my favorite parts of the entire series, so of course I'm all sorts of cheery that I get to talk about it again. The Doctor for the most part remains a very mysterious figure in the story, partially because in telling the story in first person, Stowaway obviously can't easily get into his head.
But this also a reflection on Rose - who doesn't know exactly the Doctor she's with anyway. She doesn't know her Doctor - and therefore, neither do we.
I just met her, but I trust her. That worries me almost as much as the way she trusts me. The certainty in her voice when she said she knew I’d get us out of the basement…she doesn’t even know me! She thinks she does, but humans always have trouble with the subtle ways of parallel universes. Maybe the Doctor she knew deserved that devotion, but it doesn’t follow that I do.
The story ends, and yet it doesn't. Rose and the Doctor by the end have reached a sort of - understanding, in a way, of both each other and themselves. They know they're not quite the people they envision: Rose is not just another human, and the Doctor is not the Doctor Rose remembers from before. And yet they're perfectly comfortable with each other. They know what to expect from the other - or almost. They're okay with the differences. They'll deal. And their adventure is far from over.
In short, vote for Danger Shall Seem Sport. It's an important moment in a fantastic series; it's got legends and Indiana Jones and promises of great things to come. It has Rose standing on her own two feet, and the Doctor being mysterious and deep and fantastic, and it is entirely worthy of your vote.
*
Never Have I Ever by adjovi
Category: Ficlet
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto Jones, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato, Gwen Cooper
Rating: Author rates it R; CoT Awards rates it Teen. I’d say Teen, personally
Details: Single-part ficlet, complete. Crackfic, set during Jack’s absence between S1 and S2 of Torchwood
Why It Rocks:
It’s truth-serum fic. That should be enough, really, shouldn’t it, especially considering who we’re talking about, right? Team Torchwood, even minus Jack, who can always be counted on to say something outrageous with or without the benefit of being under the compulsion of truth. Well, I suppose I need to say a bit more than that.
The scene: Owen performed a post-mortem on a dead alien, which caused certain spores to be released into the Hub, and this resulted in lock-down and complete failure of the air-conditioning system. So we have Ianto, Tosh, Owen and Gwen locked inside, getting increasingly hotter and increasingly naked.
And I’ll just leave you to picture that for a moment, and to guess who might be wearing the shorts with the dancing chili-peppers on them, before we move on. And so Ianto’s first clue that perhaps the spores might have done a little more damage comes when Gwen responds to Tosh’s question about her date the previous evening with Rhys:
“Oh, it was quite lovely. I drank an entire bottle of wine in order to blur the edges of the panic I feel at having been appointed leader of you all, and then I let Rhys shag me blind on the settee while we watched ‘Strictly Come Dancing”.
Gwen’s totally embarrassed by this, while Ianto throws out a test question and, given Tosh’s reply, Owen puts the truth together. The differing reactions of the team are really quite in character here: Ianto proposes staying well away from each other to avoid any more humiliation, Owen professes complete disinterest and Tosh says nothing. Gwen, however, asks Ianto what sex with Jack is like and if it’s all hearts and flowers:
“No. He has terrible manners in bed. Leaves the moment it is over.”
Yes. Around about now, I’m starting to hope that I never, ever come into contact with truth serum. Or play Truth or Dare where it’s absolutely essential that I tell the truth! Especially as the revenge motive starts to hit everyone who’s had to embarrass themselves in answering a question; Ianto, still red-faced, chooses as a target someone who’s already accused him of whining:
“Owen, you ever fancy shagging Janet?”
I think that’s where I completely lost it and had to pause before reading on!
You’ll have to read for yourself to find out what Tosh really thinks of Ianto’s new shirt (carnation-coloured), and Owen’s answer to Ianto’s question about the Weevil. But one of the best features of this story isn’t the humour, although as you’ve already seen it’s hilarious. There’s lots of subtle and cleverly-observed characterisation here too. When Owen’s stung and looking for his own bit of revenge - and this is clearly S1 Owen - he isn’t just nosy, he’s mean. Gwen steps in to redirect the conversation, revealing both her dislike of seeing people hurt and a lack of tact. Ianto is silently efficient, and Toshiko very, very clever in figuring out a certain detail. adjovi gets these characters. It’s just possible that she likes Ianto rather more than the others, but who among us as authors doesn’t have our favourites?
If you’ve never read Never Have I Ever and you have ten minutes to spare, go and read it. Now. I’m not kidding. And then think about your vote in the Ficlet category very, very carefully, because this story is definitely a very strong contender for your vote.
*
Today's Reviews were written by:
unfolded73: Be All My Sins Remembered
time_converges: The Reddest of Poppies
wendymr: Lust and Monsters; Just For One Night; Never Have I Ever
azriona: Danger Shall Seem Sport
While we will have two posts to go, please remember to take time to vote for your favorite fics before the weekend is out. In the meantime - enjoy!
This Morning's Featured Stories Include:
*
Be All My Sins Remembered by sinecure
Category: PWP
Fandom: New Who
Characters: Ten, Rose
Rating: Adult
Details: The Doctor is undercover as a priest, Rose is undercover as an innocent parishioner, and the result is very naughty and very hot. 4300 words.
Why it Rocks:
Thanks to sinecure and momdaegmorgan, Priest!Doctor smut is becoming a very popular subgenre of Doctor/Rose fanfic, and I believe this was the first of those stories. There’s a reason that a lot of people get off on religious iconography incorporated into sexual scenarios, and the author effectively takes advantage of that taboo to make this story (apologies to Homer Simpson) sacrilicious. Nonetheless, if the combination of religious imagery and sex pushes your squick buttons, this isn't the fic for you.
The Doctor and Rose are investigating a possible alien infestation, and have gone undercover as priest and parishioner, respectively. Although I don’t personally have a priest kink, I can’t deny that the idea of David Tennant dressed as a priest is ridiculously hot. The author’s description of the Doctor all in black with a white collar ... yeah. No complaining from this reviewer about that mental image. It's also somewhat fitting for the Doctor to be disguised as a man of the cloth, and Rose can't help but point out his messianic complex. The Doctor is not amused.
He decides to prove that he's not a holy figure. Something about the way his first moves are described is very sexy, even though it starts out fairly innocent.
Tugging more firmly, he neatly knocked her off balance, forcing her forward until she had nowhere else to go but onto the huge leather chair with him.
"What are you doing?" she asked, bemusement coloring her voice. She tried to catch herself with her hands, but, since he was holding them, that didn't work out too well. Bending one knee, she settled it on the chair, and as soon as it was up there, the Doctor pulled harder, forcing her further up until she was straddling his lap. "What's got in--"
Rose is definitely the seducee in this story; since the story is from her POV we know that she definitely wants to be seduced. But it is the Doctor who takes the lead as the seducer. He is, literally and figuratively, the top in this encounter. And while they don't engage in much overt roleplaying in this fic (that comes later), they do acknowledge the taboo and the implicit power dynamic in their undercover roles.
When she was unable to come up with another protest, he chuckled, sliding his hands higher up her thighs. "You're supposed to be a..." his mouth settled on her neck, teeth and lips biting lightly at her skin, "good," he nipped at her chin, "Christian," her lower lip, "girl." Then his mouth pressed to hers and his lips devoured her, moving fast and hard, taking and taking, leaving her breathless when he pulled away. "Think the parishioners would be shocked?"
There is very little I can quote from the actual sex scene without giving this review itself an adult rating. Suffice it to say that the sex is hot and desperate and filthy in the best possible way. And although the Doctor is definitely dominant here, it isn't in a way that is abusive and Rose's consent is in no doubt, for him or for the reader. The story ends on a humorous note - an explanation of sorts for why the Doctor chose this particular moment to make his move. All in all, a very sexy read, and certainly worthy of a vote in the PWP category.
*
Just For One Night by Ninewood Link goes to Teaspoon
Category: Second Doctor, Ficlet
Fandom: Classic Who
Characters: Jamie McCrimmon, Zoe Herriot
Rating: All Ages
Details: Single-part ficlet, complete, 1126 words including author’s note
Why It Rocks:
One of the wonderful things about a series in which the main character travels in time and space is that we get to meet people from any era and from anywhere in the universe. How many other TV series, with the exception of Star Trek and its ilk, can give us characters from hundreds or even thousands of years apart? In New Who, we have companions from the twenty-first century and the fifty-first. In Classic Who, we had companions from all over the universe (Nyssa, Adric and Turlough, for example) and from vastly different eras (Leela, Jamie, Benny, among others). Now put together a TARDIS crew made up of these very different people and see what you get.
Well, in New Who it has to be admitted that most of the time there isn’t a lot of variety. One of the disappointing things about how Jack is written, for example, is that we don’t see all that much evidence that he comes from three thousand years in our future. Yes, he understands time-travel and doesn’t share our cultural references, but we rarely see evidence of his own cultural references or norms (apart from the norms governing his sexual behaviour, but how much of that is the fifty-first century and how much is Jack?). In Classic Who, however, much more was made of these cultural and historical differences: Leela’s tendency to attack first and ask questions later, for example, or Adric’s highly mathematical mind.
Jamie McCrimmon, a companion from Two’s era, is from eighteenth-century Scotland. During the Battle of Culloden in 1746, he is a piper serving under Colin McLaren, a local laird, and this is where he runs into the Doctor: the Doctor and his companions are captured by McLaren and his troops as they’re fleeing from the English army. After a number of adventures, Jamie misses his chance to escape to France and stays with the Doctor instead. Zoe Herriot, on the other hand, is from the 21st century (date unspecified), where she worked as a librarian on a space wheel (remember, these episodes are from the 1960s!). She’s a mathematician and a genius, with a level of intelligence close to the Doctor’s own.
In many ways, therefore, Zoe and Jamie couldn’t be more unlike, yet they actually have a lot in common. They’re both fishes out of water on the TARDIS: out of their own time, without much experience of life beyond their own pretty narrow horizons, and fairly limited cultural perceptions, as a result. Which brings us, at last, to Ninewood’s story.
Situations where two characters not related to each other are forced to share a bedroom and perhaps a bed are a very common trope in fanfic. Usually this premise is used as an excuse to get the characters to have sex. Not so in this story. What Just For One Night gives us, actually, is a vivid illustration of that ‘fish out of water’ thing I mentioned above: the gap of cultural mores and experience between Jamie and Zoe.
At first, Jamie doesn’t want to share the room with Zoe. He argues that it’s wrong:
“Jamie, be reasonable, it’s just for one night,” sighed Zoe.
“I am being reasonable! It isnae proper for us tae be in the same room let alone sleeping in the same bed!” said Jamie, waving his arms out to his sides.
Eighteenth-century, meet twenty-first century. What would Jamie make of mixed-gender hospital wards, or public toilets on university campuses where women students have no hesitation about using the men’s facilities if the queues for the women’s are too long? Jamie insists that he’d be perfectly comfortable sleeping outside in the rain - as an ordinary man of the tenant class and a soldier, that would be nothing new for him - or in the hallway where people could trip over him as he sleeps. Zoe, from the twenty-first century, is astonished that Jamie is troubled by the idea of sharing a room:
“Close the door,” said Zoe, making Jamie blush.
“No, the door stays open!”
“Please, it’s letting in a draft.”
and refuses even to contemplate his sleeping on the floor as opposed to sharing the bed with her:
You can’t sleep on the floor! It’s filthy!” gasped Zoe.
“Hey, I used tae sleep on a dirt floor.”
"All the more reason to sleep on the bed,” said Zoe, patting the mattress.
“Look, Zoe, I’m only thinking aboot your honor as a lady.”
But the story isn’t all Caveman Jamie versus Modern-day Zoe. Because there’s a storm outside. Now, remember that Zoe comes from a space wheel, a kind of space-station. We’re given the impression that she’s had very little exposure to the world outside her wheel, and this is where Jamie, for all his lack of experience of the modern world, has the advantage over her. Now, Jamie comes from a time and a social class where he would have lived in a roughly-constructed one-room house, with draughty windows and doors and a low roof made of straw and turf - assuming, after the Clearances, that he even had a home. So a storm would, for him, have been a far more frightening event.
As Zoe quakes and shivers in his arms, he gives her the benefit of his experience:
“You know, I used tae be afraid of storm.”
“How did you stop?”
“Well, when I was about six, my nan asked me tae listen tae the storm.”
He goes on to explain how this strategy worked, enabling him to see the storm as almost soothing as opposed to frightening.
Viewed in one light, this is a very sweet story, and it certainly deserves its nomination in the Fluff category. What makes Just For One Night memorable for me, however, is its highlighting, without ever rubbing it in our faces as readers, of the cultural and social gap between two of the Doctor’s companions, something we rarely get to see in Doctor Who any more, and that I for one would like to see more of.
Even if you have no exposure to Classic Who or to these particular companions, read Just For One Night. I’ve told you all you need to know about Jamie and Zoe to understand their backgrounds, and this story stands alone without any need to be familiar with Second Doctor-era episodes. Read it and see what can be done, very simply and without a lot of set-up, to show us how time can present just as much a cultural barrier as nationality or planet of origin. This story is definitely deserving of your time and of its nominations.
*
The Reddest of Poppies by tristesses
Category: Doctor/Donna
Fandom: New Who
Characters: Donna, the Doctor (Tenth)
Rating: NC17 (for sex)
Details: One shot, 2200 words. Donna and the Doctor in a field of poppies.
Why It Rocks:
Alien sex pollen is a common trope in fanfic, especially in Doctor Who. Tristesses puts a different spin on it, and the result is a funny, sexy little story that remains true to the characters of Donna and the Doctor.
The story isn’t all sex - it starts off innocently enough, with the Doctor showing Donna the beautiful and expensive fields of poppies on an alien planet. The opening paragraph demonstrates the wonderfully descriptive use of language throughout, and the thought behind the setting.
The crop fields of the planet Alessofrass are rolling blankets of white flowers, speckled with red, similar to poppies in color and appearance but much more potent, and in turn, much more valuable. Add to this the fact that Alessofrassan poppies only grow in specific, peculiar areas around the planet’s poles, where the aurora borealis dances in flashes of vibrant color under the blue-green sky, and you’ve got yourself quite a vacation spot. If you can afford it, that is. But the lucky thing about traveling with a Time Lord is that money doesn’t matter much.
The Doctor is of the opinion that there should be more running, and what results is Donna chasing him through the poppies, trying to put flowers in his hair. It’s funny, and silly, and shows an easy relationship that could so easily tip over into something more intimate.
“I think it needs a bit of color,” she decides, and after that comes a rigorous chase through the poppies involving a lot of zigzagging, ducking, shrieking, and trampling of expensive flowers, and which culminates in a near-tackle by the Doctor that leaves them in a pile of limbs, rolling to a halt at the bottom of a softly-sloping hill, still giggling, still panting, staring up at the flickering lights in the sky.
After a further scuffle, leaving him with flowers in his hair, Donna sneezes. The Doctor makes a split-second decision, not quite believing himself that he’s doing so, and tells her the flowers’ pollen is sex pollen. Donna doesn’t need much persuading before they are tearing each other’s clothes off and gleefully shagging in the poppies.
The descriptions are funny, and real, without being explicit, and allow them to remain in character even in the heat of the moment. There are some lovely character moments throughout.
Donna’s pressing the heels of her palms against her eyes, lying limp and gorgeous in the flora. The Doctor watches her fondly; a muscle in her side twitches as the wind blows a slender green stalk against her.
Of course, it’s not long before Donna learns the Doctor’s secret - that the poppies may not actually produce sex pollen. And the lines that accompany that disclosure are some of the best in the story, and I won’t spoil them for you here.
The Reddest of Poppies has humor, outdoor sex, and the Doctor and Donna at their best. It is certainly enjoyable to read, and definitely deserves your vote.
*
Lust and Monsters by unfolded73 and fid_gin
Category: Doctor/Rose
Fandom: New Who
Characters: Tenth Doctor, Rose Tyler
Rating: Adult
Details: Three chapters, ficlet, complete; set during The Impossible Planet to Love and Monsters. Explicit sex in parts.
Why It Rocks:
It’s a commonly-heard generalisation that getting a man to talk about his feelings is about as easy as scooping water with a sieve. They’ll avoid the question, change the subject at every opportunity, and they’re continually on the lookout for a convenient distraction: Oh, look, a camelopard! When the man in question is the Doctor, who has a PhD in avoidance and finds camelopards around every turn, engineering a satisfying conversation about emotions and relationships is well-nigh impossible.
So, this is a story about sex. It’s not, however, a story about shagging, although shagging is certainly in the story. It’s a story about the aftermath of the shagging: the myriad of ways the Doctor manages to avoid acknowledging that shagging happened, and he avoids talking about the consequences of the shagging. And it’s about UST and interruptions and sheer frustration.
Unusually for a fid_gin fic, the story begins immediately after the sex, and the theme is immediately presented to us:
They hadn't spoken for several minutes, the Doctor was acutely aware. He was personally quite content to lie silently next to Rose, cataloging little things like the whisper-warm slide of her naked foot against his and how it felt better than being barefoot in grass or any other podiatric sensation he could imagine, but he was reasonably sure the human custom when one had just shagged one's closest friend was to say something. Anything.
The Doctor and Rose are on Krop Tor, with the TARDIS trapped below the surface of the planet, and they’re spending the night in a tiny bedroom, with an even smaller bed. Comfort and rest has turned into more, and now neither of them seems to know what to say.
“I didn't mean...” she continued. “I mean, I am sorry about the TARDIS. I meant...I know this isn't...” She glanced down at their bodies, stretched naked on top of the bedlinens, and blushed.
The timing’s not right to talk, what with awkwardness and the missing TARDIS and Rose trapped so far from home - and, of course, interruptions. The Beast, the Doctor getting trapped down the pit, Rose being taken away in the escape rocket - and then, of course, the reunion - all of these put the events of the night out of their minds somewhat. But, back on the TARDIS, safe and with quiet time for reflection, they do remember. First, the Doctor finds himself reacting rather inconveniently to Rose as they hug, and then Rose, nervous and afraid of how he’s going to react, tries to confront the issue:
"We, uh... We had sex."
He glanced at the console impatiently, then back at her. "Yes, I know. I was there." Ooh. Rude.
She doesn’t get very far. An alarm sounds on the console, and the Doctor’s attention is immediately directed towards it:
"Trouble!" he shouted back. "A great, big, stinking ball of trouble. Welllll...not a ball, more a shadow, really. Escaped from the Howling Halls, a living shadow. Fancy a quick trip back home?"
Rose sighed. "Yeah, sure," she said, turning away and beginning to leave the room. "Forget it. Go play with your shadow or whatever."
And, despite the Doctor’s promise that we will talk about this later, thus begins a pattern. Adventures, some talking about what happened, some repetition, and then more interruptions. As readers, we can feel Rose’s frustration with the Doctor’s unwillingness to talk - and later, the Doctor’s frustration with the interruptions! There’s also plenty of sexy humour along with the UST and interrupted conversations:
"Would now be a good time to talk about ... the thing?"
He raised one eyebrow. "The thing?"
"The sex thing."
"Ah ... that thing."
"I mean, I realize that I kissed you, but then you sort of ..." She waved her hand vaguely in the air.
"Escalated it?"
"Yes, exactly."
He took a step toward her. "Slid my tongue into your mouth? Undressed you?"
The story slots perfectly into canon during these three episodes of S2, knitting the scenes we see on our screens with fid_gin and unfolded73’s version of the behind-the-scenes events. Read to find out just why Rose’s hair looked so odd at the end of Love and Monsters, why they both looked so dishevelled, and why the Doctor seemed so irritated when he exited the TARDIS.
As someone who’s co-authored stories, I’m always a huge admirer of collaborators who do it well. Co-authoring isn’t easy; the two authors don’t only need a common understanding of characterisation and of where the story’s going, but also need to be able to harmonise their writing styles in such a way that differences don’t stand out too much. And, of course, to write dialogue consistently and in a way that makes sense! In many collaborative fics, it’s possible to spot different styles, but in this one I can honestly say that I couldn’t see the joins at all. I’m quite familiar with both authors’ individual work, and I can’t here work out who wrote what. From a technical standpoint, that’s a huge achievement.
Of course, if you’re just reading for the story, as opposed to admiring the writing, there’s plenty to enjoy. The humour, as I already mentioned. Lots of in-character dialogue. And, finally, the scenes that earn this story its adult rating. While I don’t tend to write detailed reviews of smut, I will say that this is a story that will please our dear wiggiemomsi very much indeed ;)
But, even more than the smut, this moment is special, particularly for a Doctor so given to avoidance, to running away rather than confronting his feelings, to holding the people he loves at a distance. Finally, he recognises that, whatever his reasons for waiting, for avoiding, they’re just not important:
He started walking towards her. There was never going to be a 'perfect moment', he'd realized with sudden clarity; in the chaos of their lives, no time, and all time, was the right time, and he had no intention of waiting any longer.
Whether or not you believe that there was shagging in the TARDIS, Lust and Monsters is a fun, entertaining and downright sexy story that definitely deserves its place in the Doctor/Rose category. It had me smiling, sighing, giggling - especially at the moment where Jackie exacts revenge for the Doctor’s behaviour towards every companion ever:
Jackie looked at him like he'd just dribbled down his shirt.
- and, of course, grinning in satisfaction by the end. If you enjoy well-written smut, if you like stories which fit perfectly into canon while filling in around the edges in an entertaining and convincing way, and if you like side-dishes of humour with your main course of UST and smut, you’ll agree that this story absolutely deserves its nomination - and, very likely, your vote.
*
Danger Shall Seem Sport by TARDIS_stowaway Link goes to Teaspoon
Category: Classic
Fandom: New Who
Characters: Alt!Nine, Rose
Rating: All Ages
Details: Part Two of the Illyria series, which was reviewed in Round One. Seven chapters, post-Doomsday, Pete's World, where Rose has run into (and run away with) an alternate Nine.
Why It Rocks:
In my previous review of Illyria, I talked a lot about how the series as a whole was about Rose finding herself, and being given a second chance at the life she'd had to leave behind. How just because she found the Doctor again - didn't mean she was automatically guaranteed a happy-ever-after.
What makes the second part of the series special is that it really marks one of the first turning points in her relationship with the alternate Doctor. While Rose is convinced that she wants to travel with him - in a way, she's hoping to that the travel will be exactly as she remembers it. The problem is that the Doctor she finds isn't the same man - and while she's beginning to understand that, she's not quite figured out how to cope with that reality.
The Doctor glanced at me, somehow managing to frown and look impressed at the same time. I hoped the frown was directed at the ruins and the impressed aspect directed at me, although with this universe’s Doctor I couldn’t quite be sure.
Previously, in her own world with her own Doctor, Rose hadn't had to work to stay with him. She was there because he'd asked - twice, as a matter of fact. Rose never doubted that the Doctor wanted her around. But here - she really is something of a stowaway on the TARDIS. The Doctor has her along, takes her places - and he won't complain, but Rose never gets the feeling that she's actually wanted. (Except, perhaps, by the TARDIS.)
I got the sense that the subject of why I should leave was not abandoned for good, but I was happy for a temporary respite from justifying my presence. For a moment I missed the camaraderie of my Torchwood coworkers. There, I was a valid part of the team.
It's when Rose and the Doctor are trapped in a cage - no chance of escape, no one to rescue them, no way to contact for help - that they're able to just talk. There's no running and no turning away from each other to hide. And for the first time, the alternate Doctor actually does listen to Rose when she talks to him about her life before - some of the things she did and saw in her other world, her family and friends.
And two things happen while they sit in the cage, trapped. Well, one thing happens and one does not. The thing that happens is that ... well, they start to like each other. The Doctor up to now has been very take-it-or-leave-it with Rose. But now, trapped in the dark, he jokes with her. He listens to her. He offers advice. And he comforts her, by suggesting that her family might believe her disappearance is because she's gone back to her own Doctor. And in saying this, he's not just comforting her - he's showing that he absolutely understands not only what her fondest wish would be - but that her family wishes it for her, and would believe it happily.
It's what also doesn't happen:
I would like to say that the Doctor and I used the long hours in a dark, confined space for a good healing dose of what consenting adults the universe over love doing in the dark, getting to know each other in every possible sense. I would like to say that, but it would be a lie. He had never been to Bad Wolf Bay, never heard me say what I said there, never almost said what my brown-eyed Doctor almost said. We just sat there. I felt the movement of his back as he breathed. In and out, in and out, a little while longer.
Because comfort isn't just the naked physical - it's the clothed physical as well. The Doctor and Rose might not get all jiggy with it, but just the simple act of being together, of being quiet together, and comfortable being so, is comfort enough. It's not often you'll find someone you're comfortable being quiet with - and you have to be comfortable with yourself first. Perhaps these moments in the dark in the cage are the Doctor and Rose finally finding comfort in themselves for the first time in a long time - and by doing so, find that they're almost automatically comfortable with each other, too.
The other important turning point in the story is the Doctor realizing that he really does want to travel with her. Up until now, we've seen the world only from Rose's POV. Literally, actually, as the story is told in first-person. Except for one chapter, near the end of the story, when we do get to see the world from the Doctor's eyes. It's actually one of my favorite parts of the entire series, so of course I'm all sorts of cheery that I get to talk about it again. The Doctor for the most part remains a very mysterious figure in the story, partially because in telling the story in first person, Stowaway obviously can't easily get into his head.
But this also a reflection on Rose - who doesn't know exactly the Doctor she's with anyway. She doesn't know her Doctor - and therefore, neither do we.
I just met her, but I trust her. That worries me almost as much as the way she trusts me. The certainty in her voice when she said she knew I’d get us out of the basement…she doesn’t even know me! She thinks she does, but humans always have trouble with the subtle ways of parallel universes. Maybe the Doctor she knew deserved that devotion, but it doesn’t follow that I do.
The story ends, and yet it doesn't. Rose and the Doctor by the end have reached a sort of - understanding, in a way, of both each other and themselves. They know they're not quite the people they envision: Rose is not just another human, and the Doctor is not the Doctor Rose remembers from before. And yet they're perfectly comfortable with each other. They know what to expect from the other - or almost. They're okay with the differences. They'll deal. And their adventure is far from over.
In short, vote for Danger Shall Seem Sport. It's an important moment in a fantastic series; it's got legends and Indiana Jones and promises of great things to come. It has Rose standing on her own two feet, and the Doctor being mysterious and deep and fantastic, and it is entirely worthy of your vote.
*
Never Have I Ever by adjovi
Category: Ficlet
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto Jones, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato, Gwen Cooper
Rating: Author rates it R; CoT Awards rates it Teen. I’d say Teen, personally
Details: Single-part ficlet, complete. Crackfic, set during Jack’s absence between S1 and S2 of Torchwood
Why It Rocks:
It’s truth-serum fic. That should be enough, really, shouldn’t it, especially considering who we’re talking about, right? Team Torchwood, even minus Jack, who can always be counted on to say something outrageous with or without the benefit of being under the compulsion of truth. Well, I suppose I need to say a bit more than that.
The scene: Owen performed a post-mortem on a dead alien, which caused certain spores to be released into the Hub, and this resulted in lock-down and complete failure of the air-conditioning system. So we have Ianto, Tosh, Owen and Gwen locked inside, getting increasingly hotter and increasingly naked.
And I’ll just leave you to picture that for a moment, and to guess who might be wearing the shorts with the dancing chili-peppers on them, before we move on. And so Ianto’s first clue that perhaps the spores might have done a little more damage comes when Gwen responds to Tosh’s question about her date the previous evening with Rhys:
“Oh, it was quite lovely. I drank an entire bottle of wine in order to blur the edges of the panic I feel at having been appointed leader of you all, and then I let Rhys shag me blind on the settee while we watched ‘Strictly Come Dancing”.
Gwen’s totally embarrassed by this, while Ianto throws out a test question and, given Tosh’s reply, Owen puts the truth together. The differing reactions of the team are really quite in character here: Ianto proposes staying well away from each other to avoid any more humiliation, Owen professes complete disinterest and Tosh says nothing. Gwen, however, asks Ianto what sex with Jack is like and if it’s all hearts and flowers:
“No. He has terrible manners in bed. Leaves the moment it is over.”
Yes. Around about now, I’m starting to hope that I never, ever come into contact with truth serum. Or play Truth or Dare where it’s absolutely essential that I tell the truth! Especially as the revenge motive starts to hit everyone who’s had to embarrass themselves in answering a question; Ianto, still red-faced, chooses as a target someone who’s already accused him of whining:
“Owen, you ever fancy shagging Janet?”
I think that’s where I completely lost it and had to pause before reading on!
You’ll have to read for yourself to find out what Tosh really thinks of Ianto’s new shirt (carnation-coloured), and Owen’s answer to Ianto’s question about the Weevil. But one of the best features of this story isn’t the humour, although as you’ve already seen it’s hilarious. There’s lots of subtle and cleverly-observed characterisation here too. When Owen’s stung and looking for his own bit of revenge - and this is clearly S1 Owen - he isn’t just nosy, he’s mean. Gwen steps in to redirect the conversation, revealing both her dislike of seeing people hurt and a lack of tact. Ianto is silently efficient, and Toshiko very, very clever in figuring out a certain detail. adjovi gets these characters. It’s just possible that she likes Ianto rather more than the others, but who among us as authors doesn’t have our favourites?
If you’ve never read Never Have I Ever and you have ten minutes to spare, go and read it. Now. I’m not kidding. And then think about your vote in the Ficlet category very, very carefully, because this story is definitely a very strong contender for your vote.
*
Today's Reviews were written by:
unfolded73: Be All My Sins Remembered
time_converges: The Reddest of Poppies
wendymr: Lust and Monsters; Just For One Night; Never Have I Ever
azriona: Danger Shall Seem Sport