An Overview
None of my real life friends like slash. So, inevitably, I'm asked to explain just *what* slash is quite often. I've found this great website that has several different definitions of what Slash is.
So, what kind of stuff will I (hopefully) rec?
In General:
You’ll find I love crossovers and AU’s. A lot. Probably past the point where its excusable. Anyone can say, “Hey, I’ll write a story about the Hobbits in Ancient Egypt!” or “What if Smallville took place in pre-revolutionary war France?” or “Maybe Mulder becomes Immortal and in his quest to keep his head *and* find out the truth about aliens, he meets a Mountie, a hippie anthropologist, a 70’s rock star of ambigious sexuality and a big, dykey witch?“
However, it takes someone of incredible skill and imagination to sell me on the idea and make it work, and there's a high level of admiration that factors into my enjoyment of these kinds of stories.
I had a thing for novel length “I’m not gonna read it if it’s under 100k” stories, but as I’ve matured (as both a person and a reader/writer) I’ve come to really appreciate the sheer talent and creativity it takes to write vignettes and drabbles.
I don’t mind if a story is NC-17 (or conversely, I don't mind if its G). I have issues about domestic discipline stories (X-Files, I’m talking to you) and really heavy BDSM stories. I don’t particularly like threesomes (or fourgies or more). I’m big time on the whole One True Pairing bit. Endings make or break a story for me. I’m not the biggest fan of fluff, smarm, shmoop or sap. I love humour, especially if it’s quirky. I feed on angst. Gimme darkfic, but not deathfic. I want it to make me hurt without going about it the easy way- with death. I revel in stories that don’t make you cry, but make you wish you could, that sucker punch you and leave a dull, burning ache for *days*. Oh yeah, baby.
And happy!fic isn’t that bad, either. The sun’s shining, the birds are singing, and two pretty boys (vampires/aliens/elves) are falling in love. It’s nothing like real life, but it’s nice to escape for a while.
I’m wary of song!fic and Original Characters (Mary/Marty Sue, anyone?) but I’ll give anything a try.
Once.
I hate stories that have to have a lot of exposition in the author’s notes for the story to be understood. If it starts out with, “Okay, now imagine it’s four hundred years in the future, and the earth has been taken over by a race of giant, intelligent cats. These cats fight with another alien race and the other aliens release a virus on earth that kills off 95% of the earth’s female population. The cats mandate that half of the males left have to have sex change operations in order to keep reproducing---” Right. I’ve clicked the back button long ago.
If those stringent guidelines aren’t too much for you, feel free to proceed.
The fandoms that I generally read can be broken up into:
Older Fandoms
Highlander My first Slash Fandom. I think it’s because I fell in love with Methos. Best. Character. Ever. This is the oldest fandom that I read, and I find that I read fic all across the spectrum, just because there’s so much great stuff out there. However, I don’t like Richie/Methos. I can’t stomach the thought of Duncan/Richie. He’s like a son to Duncan. That’s bad incest. (for *good* incest, go read Smallville fic. Trust me on this one) Also, I really don’t like Amanda/Duncan/Methos or any Horsemen fic *not* revolving around Methos or the Methos/Kronos relationship.
Okay, I guess I’m more picky than even I thought possible.
The X-Files is the first fandom that I started reading slash for when it was actually on the air. Krycek is my favorite character, and even though I prefer the two-armed version, I thrive on KrycekAngst. This fandom is a definate OTP for me as I won't read anything that's not Krycek/Mulder.
The Sentinel- I was seduced to this fandom by the fic. I’d never even seen an episode of the actual show, but I was rapidly consuming its slashfic. Someone said this was the slashiest show on TV (Before Smallville came out, of course. I know, I’m talking about it more than any other fandom, but be nice, it’s the new baby in my family. I have a right to dote over it a little more than the others). Okay, back to business, this is quite possibly the only fandom where I’ll stand for smarm. I tend to read more Sentinel AU’s then anything else. I’m not sure why, maybe it’s just the sense of *inevitability* of the Jim/Blair relationship- that no matter where or when they are, they’ll still find a way to get together. Or something.
I will not read anything that isn’t Jim/Blair. I won’t read the really heavy BDSM stories that seem to pop up in this fandom. I love, love, love Sentinel humor. It's probably my fandom that has the highest percentage of a happy ending.
Once A Thief- Vic/Mac only please. That’s actually the only real issue I have with OAT fic. *shrugs*
New Fandoms that I Read on a Daily Basis
Smallville- What can I say? The Clex had me from Hello. Seriously, though this fandom can be so heartbreaking b/c underneath all of the fun "Clark and Lex roll around in the hay together while avoiding Jonathan Kent's shotgun" fics, there is this ever present knowledge that This. Cannot. Last. Someday they'll be enemies and the inevitability of the Rift makes even the most joyous of fics bittersweet. And anyone who can convince me that it's all going to be ok in the end has my everlasting love.
Sports Night- Dan. Casey. They're even "vagually gay" according to show cannon. Arguably one of the best shows, ever, it's not that hard to believe that this fandom produces some of the highest caliber slash ever written. Meanwhile, I'm over here in my own little world going, "Dan and Casey get married and Dan adopts Charlie and the show goes on forever and everone is happy. The end."
due South- My "still has that new fandom smell" fandom. I only recently discovered due South (having missed the show when it was actually on tv) Another example of my being converted into fandom without actually watching the show first. Yet another fandom that overall produces some amazingly well written fics. Also, I don't swing both Rays. It's RayK all the way.
Lord of the Rings FPS/RPS. Er... I have to admit, I actually don't read that much FPS. There's something really... well, ok, I just can't picture hobbits having sex. And Gimli? *puke* omg, I've always imagined him to be extra dirty/hairy/smelly. So... yes, rps. Even slashers, the acknowledged 'black sheep' of any fandom tend to shy away from RPS. I, however, believe that RPS is no more harmful than fps in that a celebrity is a public persona, much the same way a character in a movie is. It's not like I really believe that all the cast did was have sex (with each other and maybe even a stuntperson or two) but it's fun to pretend. There's a natural attraction to the Domlijah in this fandom.
The Faculty- An unintentionally funny horror movie starring Elijah Wood and Jon Stewart. It has a huge cult following and is my guilty sekrit pleasure. I'm really open to pairings in the fandom (with a slight preferance to Zeke/Casey) and am absolutely fascinated by the wonderful character study drabbles that came out of a not-so-great movie.
Fandoms that I Desperately Wish Had More Slash
Pirates of the Carribean- Right. So I don't know if it was Johnny Depp's magnetism that gave him sexual chemistry with like, everything in this movie, or if it was just Orlando Bloom's slightly effeminate and immenantly slashable nature that made this movie so slashy or what, but it definately is. Cute and quirky and funny, even without the slash, I'd want to read whatever little drabbles and various flotsom that came from this fandom. No real OTP here, but I find myself naturally gravitating towards Sparrow/Turner.
Velvet Goldmine- Ewan McGregor, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers (NOT to be confused with Jonathan Rhys-Davies *shudder shudder*), glam rock, boy-sex, Drag Queens, Eddie Izzard, a fucking amazing soundtrack, Toni Collette and Placebo star in an amalgamation of Citizen Kane and the Incredible, Amazing, sorta-true story of (Iggy Pop/Mick Jagger/Lou Reed) and David Bowie in love. Kickass movie, and even though Christian Bale now kinda gives me the heebie-jeebies, I'll read just about anything in this fandom.
The Boondock Saints- Er... Religious imagery, Willem Defoe in drag and twincest wound up in a beautiful, lyrical story...what's not to love?
Fandoms that I sort of Follow, but Don't Read that Much
Buffy the Vampire Slayer- Much of the subtext that I see in this show rises to text anyway, b/c Joss Whedon is amazing and can apparantly read my mind. ;P Actually, I'm a big believer in the fact that fanfic exists to fill some void in fandom and when a show is really, really amazing and acknowledges its own secret depths, than I don't really need to close any gaps with fanfic. Still, I'm always up for a good story and so I'll read het and gen in this fandom as well.
Queer as Folk- the problem with this show for me is that Slash is ALWAYS subtext and so shows where the hot gay sex is cannon cannot have slash. Still, as with Buffy, I won't turn down really great character studies and the like.
The X-Men movie verse, despite having a gay director and being ripe with metaphor about homosexuality, just didn't read as very slashy to me. So... this is a once in a blue moon kind of fandom for me. And I'm totally not harboring any sort of lingering resentment b/c this was my ex-girlfriends One. True. Fandom or anything. Really.
I'll read bits of anything so the occasional Star Wars, Star Trek, Harry Potter, etc... might drift across my path and if it's really great I might rec it.
Hope that gave anyone who might read this an example of kind of what to expect. And I'm planning on the next post actually containing some recs.
So, what kind of stuff will I (hopefully) rec?
In General:
You’ll find I love crossovers and AU’s. A lot. Probably past the point where its excusable. Anyone can say, “Hey, I’ll write a story about the Hobbits in Ancient Egypt!” or “What if Smallville took place in pre-revolutionary war France?” or “Maybe Mulder becomes Immortal and in his quest to keep his head *and* find out the truth about aliens, he meets a Mountie, a hippie anthropologist, a 70’s rock star of ambigious sexuality and a big, dykey witch?“
However, it takes someone of incredible skill and imagination to sell me on the idea and make it work, and there's a high level of admiration that factors into my enjoyment of these kinds of stories.
I had a thing for novel length “I’m not gonna read it if it’s under 100k” stories, but as I’ve matured (as both a person and a reader/writer) I’ve come to really appreciate the sheer talent and creativity it takes to write vignettes and drabbles.
I don’t mind if a story is NC-17 (or conversely, I don't mind if its G). I have issues about domestic discipline stories (X-Files, I’m talking to you) and really heavy BDSM stories. I don’t particularly like threesomes (or fourgies or more). I’m big time on the whole One True Pairing bit. Endings make or break a story for me. I’m not the biggest fan of fluff, smarm, shmoop or sap. I love humour, especially if it’s quirky. I feed on angst. Gimme darkfic, but not deathfic. I want it to make me hurt without going about it the easy way- with death. I revel in stories that don’t make you cry, but make you wish you could, that sucker punch you and leave a dull, burning ache for *days*. Oh yeah, baby.
And happy!fic isn’t that bad, either. The sun’s shining, the birds are singing, and two pretty boys (vampires/aliens/elves) are falling in love. It’s nothing like real life, but it’s nice to escape for a while.
I’m wary of song!fic and Original Characters (Mary/Marty Sue, anyone?) but I’ll give anything a try.
Once.
I hate stories that have to have a lot of exposition in the author’s notes for the story to be understood. If it starts out with, “Okay, now imagine it’s four hundred years in the future, and the earth has been taken over by a race of giant, intelligent cats. These cats fight with another alien race and the other aliens release a virus on earth that kills off 95% of the earth’s female population. The cats mandate that half of the males left have to have sex change operations in order to keep reproducing---” Right. I’ve clicked the back button long ago.
If those stringent guidelines aren’t too much for you, feel free to proceed.
The fandoms that I generally read can be broken up into:
Older Fandoms
Highlander My first Slash Fandom. I think it’s because I fell in love with Methos. Best. Character. Ever. This is the oldest fandom that I read, and I find that I read fic all across the spectrum, just because there’s so much great stuff out there. However, I don’t like Richie/Methos. I can’t stomach the thought of Duncan/Richie. He’s like a son to Duncan. That’s bad incest. (for *good* incest, go read Smallville fic. Trust me on this one) Also, I really don’t like Amanda/Duncan/Methos or any Horsemen fic *not* revolving around Methos or the Methos/Kronos relationship.
Okay, I guess I’m more picky than even I thought possible.
The X-Files is the first fandom that I started reading slash for when it was actually on the air. Krycek is my favorite character, and even though I prefer the two-armed version, I thrive on KrycekAngst. This fandom is a definate OTP for me as I won't read anything that's not Krycek/Mulder.
The Sentinel- I was seduced to this fandom by the fic. I’d never even seen an episode of the actual show, but I was rapidly consuming its slashfic. Someone said this was the slashiest show on TV (Before Smallville came out, of course. I know, I’m talking about it more than any other fandom, but be nice, it’s the new baby in my family. I have a right to dote over it a little more than the others). Okay, back to business, this is quite possibly the only fandom where I’ll stand for smarm. I tend to read more Sentinel AU’s then anything else. I’m not sure why, maybe it’s just the sense of *inevitability* of the Jim/Blair relationship- that no matter where or when they are, they’ll still find a way to get together. Or something.
I will not read anything that isn’t Jim/Blair. I won’t read the really heavy BDSM stories that seem to pop up in this fandom. I love, love, love Sentinel humor. It's probably my fandom that has the highest percentage of a happy ending.
Once A Thief- Vic/Mac only please. That’s actually the only real issue I have with OAT fic. *shrugs*
New Fandoms that I Read on a Daily Basis
Smallville- What can I say? The Clex had me from Hello. Seriously, though this fandom can be so heartbreaking b/c underneath all of the fun "Clark and Lex roll around in the hay together while avoiding Jonathan Kent's shotgun" fics, there is this ever present knowledge that This. Cannot. Last. Someday they'll be enemies and the inevitability of the Rift makes even the most joyous of fics bittersweet. And anyone who can convince me that it's all going to be ok in the end has my everlasting love.
Sports Night- Dan. Casey. They're even "vagually gay" according to show cannon. Arguably one of the best shows, ever, it's not that hard to believe that this fandom produces some of the highest caliber slash ever written. Meanwhile, I'm over here in my own little world going, "Dan and Casey get married and Dan adopts Charlie and the show goes on forever and everone is happy. The end."
due South- My "still has that new fandom smell" fandom. I only recently discovered due South (having missed the show when it was actually on tv) Another example of my being converted into fandom without actually watching the show first. Yet another fandom that overall produces some amazingly well written fics. Also, I don't swing both Rays. It's RayK all the way.
Lord of the Rings FPS/RPS. Er... I have to admit, I actually don't read that much FPS. There's something really... well, ok, I just can't picture hobbits having sex. And Gimli? *puke* omg, I've always imagined him to be extra dirty/hairy/smelly. So... yes, rps. Even slashers, the acknowledged 'black sheep' of any fandom tend to shy away from RPS. I, however, believe that RPS is no more harmful than fps in that a celebrity is a public persona, much the same way a character in a movie is. It's not like I really believe that all the cast did was have sex (with each other and maybe even a stuntperson or two) but it's fun to pretend. There's a natural attraction to the Domlijah in this fandom.
The Faculty- An unintentionally funny horror movie starring Elijah Wood and Jon Stewart. It has a huge cult following and is my guilty sekrit pleasure. I'm really open to pairings in the fandom (with a slight preferance to Zeke/Casey) and am absolutely fascinated by the wonderful character study drabbles that came out of a not-so-great movie.
Fandoms that I Desperately Wish Had More Slash
Pirates of the Carribean- Right. So I don't know if it was Johnny Depp's magnetism that gave him sexual chemistry with like, everything in this movie, or if it was just Orlando Bloom's slightly effeminate and immenantly slashable nature that made this movie so slashy or what, but it definately is. Cute and quirky and funny, even without the slash, I'd want to read whatever little drabbles and various flotsom that came from this fandom. No real OTP here, but I find myself naturally gravitating towards Sparrow/Turner.
Velvet Goldmine- Ewan McGregor, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers (NOT to be confused with Jonathan Rhys-Davies *shudder shudder*), glam rock, boy-sex, Drag Queens, Eddie Izzard, a fucking amazing soundtrack, Toni Collette and Placebo star in an amalgamation of Citizen Kane and the Incredible, Amazing, sorta-true story of (Iggy Pop/Mick Jagger/Lou Reed) and David Bowie in love. Kickass movie, and even though Christian Bale now kinda gives me the heebie-jeebies, I'll read just about anything in this fandom.
The Boondock Saints- Er... Religious imagery, Willem Defoe in drag and twincest wound up in a beautiful, lyrical story...what's not to love?
Fandoms that I sort of Follow, but Don't Read that Much
Buffy the Vampire Slayer- Much of the subtext that I see in this show rises to text anyway, b/c Joss Whedon is amazing and can apparantly read my mind. ;P Actually, I'm a big believer in the fact that fanfic exists to fill some void in fandom and when a show is really, really amazing and acknowledges its own secret depths, than I don't really need to close any gaps with fanfic. Still, I'm always up for a good story and so I'll read het and gen in this fandom as well.
Queer as Folk- the problem with this show for me is that Slash is ALWAYS subtext and so shows where the hot gay sex is cannon cannot have slash. Still, as with Buffy, I won't turn down really great character studies and the like.
The X-Men movie verse, despite having a gay director and being ripe with metaphor about homosexuality, just didn't read as very slashy to me. So... this is a once in a blue moon kind of fandom for me. And I'm totally not harboring any sort of lingering resentment b/c this was my ex-girlfriends One. True. Fandom or anything. Really.
I'll read bits of anything so the occasional Star Wars, Star Trek, Harry Potter, etc... might drift across my path and if it's really great I might rec it.
Hope that gave anyone who might read this an example of kind of what to expect. And I'm planning on the next post actually containing some recs.