A Quintet of Multi-Fannish Loves
Some lovelies recently advised me to go all writerly-indulgent on squeetastic things, so here I am, polishing up the shiny best in my fannish universe.
A Quintet of Multi-Fannish Loves
1. Clark/Lex always, but while every scene with them, canonical or fictional, is apples and oranges, there's a lush Botticelli glow to some of that fruity goodness, like when Clark tip-toes around Lex, sniffing out Lex's hurt and lust but unsure how to deal, while Lex is all standoffish, scared if he makes a move it'll lead to Vesuviusian chaos. Then Clark just touches him, one big puppy-paw, and there's this long vibrating-crystal moment just before Lex shatters. What follows isn't a readerly anti-climactic climax, more the thrill of watching them synchronize fantasy and reality, those tiny refractions of hope and fear, so that every kiss, every thrust, is written with their history.
2. Severus Snape. I'd planned to pair him with someone else, but Snape is diamonds in a black-dressed world, perfectly suited to everyone. He's been formed somewhere dark, and the shadowy layers have cohered into this hard shining unreadable stone. I love the circuitous psycho-etymological route of diamond, too, how it's tied to adamant, which is rooted in to tame, so you end up with Snape in this gorgeous paradoxical place: hardest substance in nature that simultaneously craves taming. He's need wrapped in denial. If you haven't yet read nimori's Prince of Dogs and Fools, a tasty slice of NC-17 smut with Snape, Sirius, and Draco in various combinations, take a look for unnecessary but delicious proof that Snape fits well with anyone.
3. You know the old Platonic myth about the origin of gender, so wonderfully illustrated in Hedwig and the Angry Inch? There's the idea of the combined perfect being, the androgyne, before Zeus went pissy and split this man-woman in two. The men of SGA, especially (to me) the primary quartet of Sheppard, McKay, Ronon, and Beckett, reminds me of this myth, that together they once formed the perfect man, and while divided now are magnetically lured back each to the other. Sheppard's the rake without intention, the surface sincerity and charm running deep, not a cover for a violent underside, the extraordinary ordinary guy, the perpetual boy next door. McKay's all uber-neurotic brain, the blind scientific ego eternally crashing into social norms, others' feelings half-remembered after the fact, the empiricist in the china shop, exteriority subsuming interiority. (This is the guy, after all, who best talks to himself by literally externalizing his psyche--and as a woman, no less, so he won't take himself too personally.) Ronon's the interior guy, the one who buries it all in the dark, the god of war if Ares had a soul, the watcher in the corner with the knife and the most beautiful eyes in the world. Beckett's the caretaker, always giving in Scottish-speak, the softer side of science, generosity with really great arms, the kind meant for protecting you againt all types of plague.
The problem for me is that I can't choose a pairing in this fandom; what I need is a story where they're coupling in twos...
4. Supernatural's boogieman-hunting brothers, Sam and Dean. I could talk about how Sam radiates hurt, but I must admit JP's face equally fascinates me, how it changes radically depending on the light and the camera angle. Just when I decide he's a cutish nothing-special guy, he shifts, and I'm suddenly on all fours, panting and ready for action. Dean's personality's like that, just regular Joe guy, flashy bravado, white-lying to hook with a chick, and suddenly there's a shift, maybe Sam in need, maybe some ir/rational fear bubbling up, and Dean transforms, shows his fragile side. Woof! To top it off, these two babes are queer-vibing it all over the place, the other's one-and-only in a world full of monsters: Mom'll leave you (mostly), Dad'll take off for parts unknown, girlfriends'll bite it after baking cookies, but brothers...Baby, they're together forever.
5. NC-17 Slash. You know how some people skip the sex for the "story"? I'm not one of those people. Hell, I'll skip the story for the sex if the sex is sufficiently narrative. Okay, yes, and even when it's not, because two hot guys banging each other? Tastier than chocolate.
___
Next time, "Byzantine Eunuchs and the Women Who Love Them." For serious! I was reading this article, and, yeah. *g*
A Quintet of Multi-Fannish Loves
1. Clark/Lex always, but while every scene with them, canonical or fictional, is apples and oranges, there's a lush Botticelli glow to some of that fruity goodness, like when Clark tip-toes around Lex, sniffing out Lex's hurt and lust but unsure how to deal, while Lex is all standoffish, scared if he makes a move it'll lead to Vesuviusian chaos. Then Clark just touches him, one big puppy-paw, and there's this long vibrating-crystal moment just before Lex shatters. What follows isn't a readerly anti-climactic climax, more the thrill of watching them synchronize fantasy and reality, those tiny refractions of hope and fear, so that every kiss, every thrust, is written with their history.
2. Severus Snape. I'd planned to pair him with someone else, but Snape is diamonds in a black-dressed world, perfectly suited to everyone. He's been formed somewhere dark, and the shadowy layers have cohered into this hard shining unreadable stone. I love the circuitous psycho-etymological route of diamond, too, how it's tied to adamant, which is rooted in to tame, so you end up with Snape in this gorgeous paradoxical place: hardest substance in nature that simultaneously craves taming. He's need wrapped in denial. If you haven't yet read nimori's Prince of Dogs and Fools, a tasty slice of NC-17 smut with Snape, Sirius, and Draco in various combinations, take a look for unnecessary but delicious proof that Snape fits well with anyone.
3. You know the old Platonic myth about the origin of gender, so wonderfully illustrated in Hedwig and the Angry Inch? There's the idea of the combined perfect being, the androgyne, before Zeus went pissy and split this man-woman in two. The men of SGA, especially (to me) the primary quartet of Sheppard, McKay, Ronon, and Beckett, reminds me of this myth, that together they once formed the perfect man, and while divided now are magnetically lured back each to the other. Sheppard's the rake without intention, the surface sincerity and charm running deep, not a cover for a violent underside, the extraordinary ordinary guy, the perpetual boy next door. McKay's all uber-neurotic brain, the blind scientific ego eternally crashing into social norms, others' feelings half-remembered after the fact, the empiricist in the china shop, exteriority subsuming interiority. (This is the guy, after all, who best talks to himself by literally externalizing his psyche--and as a woman, no less, so he won't take himself too personally.) Ronon's the interior guy, the one who buries it all in the dark, the god of war if Ares had a soul, the watcher in the corner with the knife and the most beautiful eyes in the world. Beckett's the caretaker, always giving in Scottish-speak, the softer side of science, generosity with really great arms, the kind meant for protecting you againt all types of plague.
The problem for me is that I can't choose a pairing in this fandom; what I need is a story where they're coupling in twos...
4. Supernatural's boogieman-hunting brothers, Sam and Dean. I could talk about how Sam radiates hurt, but I must admit JP's face equally fascinates me, how it changes radically depending on the light and the camera angle. Just when I decide he's a cutish nothing-special guy, he shifts, and I'm suddenly on all fours, panting and ready for action. Dean's personality's like that, just regular Joe guy, flashy bravado, white-lying to hook with a chick, and suddenly there's a shift, maybe Sam in need, maybe some ir/rational fear bubbling up, and Dean transforms, shows his fragile side. Woof! To top it off, these two babes are queer-vibing it all over the place, the other's one-and-only in a world full of monsters: Mom'll leave you (mostly), Dad'll take off for parts unknown, girlfriends'll bite it after baking cookies, but brothers...Baby, they're together forever.
5. NC-17 Slash. You know how some people skip the sex for the "story"? I'm not one of those people. Hell, I'll skip the story for the sex if the sex is sufficiently narrative. Okay, yes, and even when it's not, because two hot guys banging each other? Tastier than chocolate.
___
Next time, "Byzantine Eunuchs and the Women Who Love Them." For serious! I was reading this article, and, yeah. *g*