FICTION RECOMMENDATIONS

Also see the recs archive for past recommendations.

Update 16.12.06

Author:

Just, gah, I am totally in love with Kabeyk's writing, her stories are everything I love about James slash. She's definitely one of my favourite authors at the moment. She writes the Marauders exactly how I imagine them, so very teenage-boyish and cocky and with fumbling, desperate sex. She manages to capture their closeness as friends, and then that something more between James and Sirius that leads to them getting together that seems so natural and such a smooth transition, so very believable. She manages to mix gorgeous angst with lightheartedness and beautiful writing, and I love that she writes get-together fics, which are my favourite favourite fics to read.

Every story I read I just absorb and cherish like it's some wonderful rich chocolate. She writes beautifully, writes the characters perfectly, and I highly recommend you read her work if you haven't already done so.

Stories:

Nothing Happens by Kabeyk
[J/Sirius; general/ust/smut; R]

Summary: There's been too many of these moments recently, mixed in messily with the everyday things. If it was anyone else then Sirius would have given in and shagged them months ago. But this is James, and he can't, although he wants to so much more.

Thoughts: Sorry it's been so long since I read this. Need to reread and give it a proper rec...

Runaway Soldiers by Setissma
[all combinations of James/Lily/Sirius; angst; R]

Summary: In which, James is gone a lot, Sirius forgets and remembers, a porch swing is oiled, someone sleeps on a couch, and somewhere, a dog catches a stick.

Thoughts: I've said it before, but I'll say it again. I love everything Setissma writes. Runaway Soldiers is so heartbreakingly beautiful and angsty; the writing is so so beautiful and the whole situation, told from Sirius' pov, is so wrong but right and definitely angsty. Setissma writes angst so subtly but effectively, which I think is totally the best way to write it.

Favourite quotes:

"I'm right here, he says, every night before he falls asleep and every morning when he wakes up, and he buys the groceries and pays the bills and tries to sleep on the couch when James comes home, until he wakes up with James at his feet, and Lily against his chest, both of them asleep, holding hands over him. He gives up and moves back to the bed."

"She cries and he says oh god and oh Lily and oh please and wonders if, as a child, he picked up one-too-many wrong side up sickles. He puts his arms around her, and it's all right because he's never been able to say no to her, anyway. She says, I'm scared and you can't leave me alone here, you can't, you can't, you can't. He's not really sure where here is, anymore, but no, no, of course not, and it's all right, maybe, because they've always had each other's backs and each other's secrets and each other's hands in the middle of the night, and maybe having James's wife is something like that, but then again, maybe not, not even a little bit, not at all."

Something Unspeakable by Mosh
[James/Sirius; general/smut; NC-17]

Summary: "Can we not talk about that ever again? I didn't... it was just a stupid spur of the moment thing. Didn't mean anything."

Thoughts: Just gorgeous, awkward and hot and exactly how I imagine them acting. So unsure of what's happening between them, but wanting it, just not thinking about it and going for it, being very teenage-boyish. Just gah. This is Sirius and James exactly how I want to picture them. And them getting off in the library is just hot. And the art? OMG *loveslovesloves*

Favourite quote/passage:

"And when they finally, finally manage to stop - breathless, overheated, sated, thinking too much, too fast, too afraid - James's glasses are smudged and slightly steamed, Sirius's shirt is untucked from his trousers, there's come on his shoes, and there are tiny beads of sweat across his brow.

His forehead pressed lightly against James's, Sirius tries to fathom what just happened, but there's no way.

"Christ," says James.

"Yeah," agrees Sirius.

"I came here to say... you know, something else."

"I was planning on telling you to go away so I could wallow in self-pity."

"Fucked that one up royally, didn't we?"

"It's been a weird day."

"What now?"

"I haven't a clue, mate."

A pause. "I'm gonna let go of you now."

"Right. Yeah, okay."" ♥

Close to Nothing At All by mooncharm
[James/Snape; angst/romance; NC-17]

Summary/quote: This was never going to be a hasty hand job after class; he knew that from the beginning. He’s not sure Potter did.

Thoughts: This started off fairly normal and the further through I got the more totally blown away I was. The whole confusion of wanting each other but having no rational reason why, and their thought processes through the confusion, and James being a bit more unsure, yet taking what he wants regardless of the consequences (because that's just so James), and Snape being much more in tune with himself, reseigned with what is happening and wanting James.

And the James/Lily amongst the slash is a big kink for me. I love that James is bisexual, and Lily is such a wonderful obstacle to get around, and it's great exploring James' thoughts as they're split between Lily and Snape, as he's trying to understand what's going on.

Beautiful writing, beautiful imagery and wonderful, real characters ♥

Favourite quotes:

"Snape’s lips are far softer beneath his than James ever would have considered. Softer even than Lily’s. Maybe. Maybe just different. He’s having a hard time thinking. He doesn’t want to think about Lily."

"This was never going to be a hasty hand job after class; he knew that from the beginning. He’s not sure Potter did."

Apocrypha by Xylodemon
[James/Severus; angst/darkish; NC-17; chapter-length]

Summary: Two can keep a secret, when one of the two is dead.

Thoughts: Wonderfully done James/Snape, which is so very hard to do, imo, especially in anything that is chapter-length and builds on the characters and shows the evolution of their relationship. The way James and Severus get together in Apocrypha is so so believable, and their dynamic, and each of their thoughts about the situation, wonderfully done.

Favourite quote:

"And Lily could never break him apart like this, make him dizzy and mad and completely out of his mind, and he hates himself for it, hates Snape for it, and when James reaches around Snape's hip to take Snape in his hand he hears Snape's voice in his head, mocking and cold, you are aware Evans doesn't have a cock, and he comes, he fucking comes apart at the seams, and he hates himself again twice as much, and he hates Snape even more."