tahariel: (Jim/Blair kitchen)
I must have slept on my neck weirdly last night, because it has been soooo stiff and unhappy all day. Hope it feels better tomorrow :(

Today's rec comes to you courtesy of 2006; makes me realise how long I've been maintaining a delicious account for. Now on 1974 recs in 99 fandoms.

Wow, self. You read a looooot of fanfic.






Having talked about our ancient love of The Sentinel last weekend I decided the time was ripe to revisit some of the old fic that I adored so much. Sadly a lot of it seems to be vanishing from the internet as servers go cold and hosts shut down; still, some of it remains, and it was always a fandom with an unusually high quality of fic (especially compared to the show which was, with the best will in the world, mediocre; it was the fandom that made it great.)

The Sentinel is one of those fandoms I recommend diving into even if you never get to see the show (though I may be able to, ahem, hook you up with some if you'd like.) You can pick up most of what you need to know online, and it's so rewarding fanfic-wise that it's totally worth it. Give it a go! This was one of my milestone fandoms and has shaped my fandom - and writing, and creating - experience in ways I am still discovering.

Please bear in mind that I haven't read this story in years, so I am going off my memory of loving this fic. Not only does Lemondrop have a delicate and hauntingly lyrical style, but she also writes the attachment between two people with so light and yet meaningful a hand that it lingers with you for a long time after you have finished reading. This, as I recall, is one of my favourites.


Cloud Mountain by Lemondrop. Extract: There were ten acres of apple orchards on Cloud Mountain, all dormant now after the harvest and press. They strolled through an old orchard, the trees gnarled and twisted, and then through a much younger one. Most of the leaves had fallen, and the ground was mounded with drifts of crunchy yellow leaves. Jim sorted through them until he found the perfect apple leaf and tucked it in his breast pocket, then searched until he found another for Blair, who took it solemnly.

They located the double wooden doors to the cellar and pulled them open to find half-gallon jugs of cider. Jim sniffed one cautiously; not hard, he assured Blair, and they carried two back to the house. The cider was icy cold and very sweet. Its flavor brought back memories of childhood to Jim: his mom getting apple cider for Jim and his friends while they played basketball in the driveway. An after-school drink for Stevie. Halloween. He didn't ask Blair what it reminded him of.


Tags: thesentinel, jim/blair, slash, fic, a:lemondrop



tahariel: (Jim/Blair kitchen)
I want to recommend to you a fanfic that you absolutely have to read. In fact, it's almost not a fanfic, it's such an immersive AU, so even if you don't know the fandom, you can read it and understand exactly what is going on.

The Eighth Day by Brooke Henson.

Jim Ellison is a deaf-blind man in a sighted-hearing world, trying to make sense of things and be as independent as he possibly can. But it's not easy - he's very lucky, really, all things considered. Enter Blair Sandburg, a seeing-hearing man who seems to genuinely care about Jim and wants to get to know him. The slow, gradual development of a relationship between them changes Jim's ordered, organised life in ways he would never have believed he could.

Brooke Henson's prose is lyrical and beautiful, fully immersive until I was even thinking in deaf-blind terms as I went to the kitchen for a brief break, poetic and perfect. I fell in love with this fic almost from the get-go, and I desperately want you to, too. I sat and read it for four hours until I reached the (current) end. It's not finished, and hasn't been updated in six months or so - but please, please, please don't let that stop you from reading it. It's too wonderful to miss out on.

The first paragraph:

Jim stood out of the way of people passing, with his hand on the collection of wood strips that made the doorframe. Lori was late. She often made him feel time slow down and press like a flat hand on his sternum. Impatience. Steven had explained many times that, for people with sight and hearing, there were lots of distractions, so much to look at and listen to. So many paths to walk down. Choices. This made them lose their direction and forget their promises. Jim understood distractions; often he felt his mind lift up on air-rushes full of smells or slide down into the texture of cloth or… or… or…But he fought these pushes and pulls. It was terrible to lose your direction, your knowledge of place and position. Lori, when she came, would be blithe and happy, late or not it didn‘t matter, bringing with her the smells of outside in her hair and winter-cold rising up from her coat. Her apologies always seemed like game-words to Jim. Riddle-words that did not match her posture or movement.
tahariel: (Jim/Blair - unrequited)
I hate how, sometimes, you love a book or a fanfic or a movie so much, but you can never ever read it or watch it for the first time again. You can never experience that again.

I love this fic so much. But it doesn't work the same when you read it again. And that makes me really sad. Because it is so. Beautiful. And you don't have to be a fan of The Sentinel to read this, really, just read it because it's perfect. Seriously. This is one of my top recs for the history of ever.

An Empty Sky by [livejournal.com profile] mz_bstone.

Even if you never read anything I rec ever again.
tahariel: (Jim/Blair kitchen)
Hey, just found this link - some people are trying to get together a small campaign to get the rest of The Sentinel released on DVD, and need people to fill in a little form on the company's website to ask them to make the DVDs. It takes about two minutes, so if you're a fan, please go here and follow the instructions.

So, Lighthouse is over for another year. I've been helping since I was thirteen, so that's seven years now. And I still don't believe in God. Guess they need to work harder, huh? We had EIGHTEEN children this year, which was manic but actually manageable, surprisingly. The biggest problem was that we had quite a few troublesome kids, so as soon as you got one quietened down, another one started acting up. Which is why this was my most stressful Lighthouse ever, even though I also had the most competent helpers I have ever had.

What's weird is how, when they said up on main stage 'only people who believe in Jesus can go to Heaven', it really bothered me, despite the fact that I don't believe in it. I guess I don't like the idea that I could be left out, or have whatever happens to non-believers happen to me if they're right. And Mum was a Christian, so presumably she's gone to Heaven by their philosophy, which means I'd never see her again. Nasty. Of course, everyone says something different about who gets to go to Heaven or not, so I'll try not to take it to heart!

I managed almost 500 words of writing last night, so here's to hoping that forcing myself into it will work the business. I just need to get back into the swing of it, I think. Sticky scene or something.
tahariel: (Default)
Since the Slash Study Day I've really been into fandom again, really feeling how much I love it, because going there was so much fun. I've downloaded loads of music videos off the net, which is great - remind me to show you all when I see you next :)

More importantly I've been reading loads of Stargate Atlantis fic because everyone said it was great and it really is, but now I have this huge and unending desire to watch the show and I can't just buy it now because I have no money and the Starbucks manager lady still hasn't got back to me about when to start (argh.) So I'll just have to hanker after John and Rodney from afar (boohoo!) Hopefully will be getting the boxset for my birthday, preferably the American one, simply because from UK Amazon it's £41 but from the USA it's £26 INCLUDING SHIPPING! Like, what the hell? That's amazingly fantastically cheap! Is it just the good exchange rate, or has the world gone mad? And how long is it until I can get my grubby paws on it? (Hopefully just 18 days...)

I joined The Sentinel mailing lists meaning to become more involved in the fandom, but I've found that I'm actually sort of a fic-reading loner fan who likes to meet people in person but is very bad at forums and stuff. The only one I've kept up for any length of time is the Britpicking forum over at FictionAlley, because I like everyone there so much andtopic ranges wildly and crazily all over the place. So maybe I should just shut up and get on with being a fan. But maybe you should all come do it with me, huh? (My Dad did suggest that we take my possible laptop and set it up so we're playing two things at once at my party, to which I said no, but if we did it would be called AmyCon and rock so much greatness etc.)
tahariel: (Default)
Yesterday was brilliant. Everyone at the slash fiction study day was lovely, and talking to them was so fun, because everyone knew exactly what you were talking about, and we were all into the same fandoms. I was surprised by how many older women were there, actually, because I hadn't really thought of fandom as being something older people were into (like in their 40s or something.) They were all lovely, anyway, and I suspect more young people didn't come because it was a weekday, so that may explain it.

Anyone who wants to can read the abstracts of the talks when they see me next, or I'll talk to you about it, but typing it all would be hard so I'm not going to. It's more of a thing you can talk about conversationally, anyway.

But some lovely Sentinel fans gave me the links to the mailing lists, the ones everyone talks about but never directs you to! So I'm going to go over and join up.

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