World AIDS Day by April Valentine (NC-17)
Hey, guys! I'm Katherine, and I'll be driving for The Sentinel this month! I'm super jazzed to get to tell you guys about some of my favorite stories in this fandom. I read mostly slash of the Jim/Blair variety, (surprise surprise) so that's what I'll be reccing this month. Here's to a fun ride, and let's just hope I don't crash into a telephone pole mailbox building cat tree!
Fandom: THE SENTINEL
Pairing: Jim/Blair
Length: 232K
Author on LJ:aprilvalentine
Author Website: at Artifact Storage Room 3
Why this must be read:
This is really just such an amazing story, guys, and I always knew that if I ever signed up for Crack Van, it would be the first one I recommended. It's got a little bit of everything: angst, sweetness, first times, even a bit of that good ole Sentinel magic, if you know what I mean. This is one of my favorite stories to go back and re-read, and that's saying something, since I rarely re-read even my favorites, especially if they're as long as this one.
In this story, Blair gets a devastating call from someone from his past, and finds out that he may have HIV from an encounter six years ago. And to top that off, this call comes the day after Blair and Jim first make love. April uses her experience as an HIV counselor to make this story wonderfully and frighteningly real. She portrays Blair's terror so well, and shows us how things go to hell in a handbasket almost straight away.
"I'm sorry, Blair," Ron offered, then when Blair didn't respond he concluded quickly. "Call me."
The phone went silent. Blair held onto it a moment longer, then realized he was gripping the receiver so tightly his hand was aching. Carefully, as though it was a fragile piece of sculpture, he eased the instrument back down into its cradle. He looked around his office, not really seeing the artifacts and books, the papers and masks and the computer screen. It might as well have been an empty room, an empty world. All there was space for now was terror, remorse and guilt. And self-castigation.
Oh God, Jim...
Hands shaking, Blair Sandburg buried his face in his sweaty palms and moaned.
Hope you love this story as much as I did, guys, and don't forget to feed the author!
World AIDS Day at 852 Prospect
World AIDS Day at ASR3
Fandom: THE SENTINEL
Pairing: Jim/Blair
Length: 232K
Author on LJ:aprilvalentine
Author Website: at Artifact Storage Room 3
Why this must be read:
This is really just such an amazing story, guys, and I always knew that if I ever signed up for Crack Van, it would be the first one I recommended. It's got a little bit of everything: angst, sweetness, first times, even a bit of that good ole Sentinel magic, if you know what I mean. This is one of my favorite stories to go back and re-read, and that's saying something, since I rarely re-read even my favorites, especially if they're as long as this one.
In this story, Blair gets a devastating call from someone from his past, and finds out that he may have HIV from an encounter six years ago. And to top that off, this call comes the day after Blair and Jim first make love. April uses her experience as an HIV counselor to make this story wonderfully and frighteningly real. She portrays Blair's terror so well, and shows us how things go to hell in a handbasket almost straight away.
"I'm sorry, Blair," Ron offered, then when Blair didn't respond he concluded quickly. "Call me."
The phone went silent. Blair held onto it a moment longer, then realized he was gripping the receiver so tightly his hand was aching. Carefully, as though it was a fragile piece of sculpture, he eased the instrument back down into its cradle. He looked around his office, not really seeing the artifacts and books, the papers and masks and the computer screen. It might as well have been an empty room, an empty world. All there was space for now was terror, remorse and guilt. And self-castigation.
Oh God, Jim...
Hands shaking, Blair Sandburg buried his face in his sweaty palms and moaned.
Hope you love this story as much as I did, guys, and don't forget to feed the author!
World AIDS Day at 852 Prospect
World AIDS Day at ASR3