I think kestrelsan was the perfect writer for this story: the aftermath of Regulus Black's death. A Thousand Doors is achingly sad, even more so because Kest's moody, atmospheric prose still has a wise sort of restraint about it. The emotions underlying the story are dark and guilt-ridden and frightening, but their impact is due to the fact that they ( Read more... )

flambeau brings the hot and the disturbing in Not a breath of air, which I think is perhaps the entire Sirius/Harry dynamic boiled down into 9K. Well, if their dynamic had a sexual bent to it, that is. But really -- Sirius's desperation, his frustration at being kept in hiding, the twelve years he lost and can't yet go about regaining, Harry's unspoken ( Read more... )

JKR has a note somewhere on her website about how the time Sirius spent in Azkaban means he never had a real adulthood. His emotional maturity is still stuck somewhere around 22. Good Boy by memorycharm posits that it's perhaps a bit younger, and perhaps a bit more fucked up than that. This story is creepy-hot, perfectly put-together. It reads (to me) ( Read more... )

I've been meaning to recommend torch's A spirit of brotherhood for a while. While I find the dynamics of the Sirius/Remus/Severus relationship fascinating, I tend to shy away from fanfic about it. I'm not sure why -- maybe because I have particular ideas about the ways the three connected as boys and re-connected as adults. This is one of the ( Read more... )

Canis M. writes some of the best R/S fic available, meaning the prose is in keeping with J.K. Rowling's simple style, the dialogue is spot-on, and each story is full of affection and warmth for the characters. Most of them are set during the Marauder days and effortlessly capture both the boyish camaraderie and the eagerness of youth -- I ( Read more... )

In the Morning by Kest is werewolf fic. In a small space she skillfully packs in the ugliness and anxiety of transformation, the thrill and longing of the hunt, the loneliness of the woods at night, the silent companionship of friends. Loyalty and hope.