dustyryder's recs

Original Fiction

Fandom:  Original Fiction
Series: The Administration Series 
Author: Manna  (ms_manna)
Genre:  SciFi, Mostly Slash, Some Het, Angst, Action/Adventure, Hurt/Comfort, First Time
Pairing: Val Toreth/Keir Warrick
Rating: G through NC17
Warnings: BDSM, Non-Con, "Issues of Consent", Violence, Torture, mention of Child Abuse

Notes:  This is a large series, with 3 novels, 3 novelas and 27 short stories. If that seems a bit daunting, I don't blame you.  Do what I did and take the author's advice:  The first six chapters of the first  novel (Mind Fuck), make a great short story called Virtual.  It introduces you to the characters, gives you some time with them, and if you aren't into them enough to keep reading, you can stop there.  If you are, there's a link to Chapter Seven at the end of Virtual.  You don't have to miss a beat, just keep reading. 

The world Manna has created is dark and disturbing, but at the same time, fascinating.  The characters are intriguing, and a complex mix of good and bad.  You love Val Toreth, even though sometimes you just want to smack him  a good one upside the head, and you root for Keir, even while you know he's going to make the wrong move, fall in love with the wrong guy...  As crazy as it is, you want those two to be together.  The plots are complicated and fascinating, the short pieces great glimpses into their lives, and the lives of their friends and families.  I avoided this series for a long time, thinking it was too big a project to take on - but believe me, once you've started, you'll want to read more.


Excerpt:  (From Mind Fuck)

(  Now... he said, pulling the pause out -  )


I rate this Series: Pretty Damn Good

Fandom:  X-Files
Title: Out of the Dark                
Author: Kassandra
Genre: Slash, Some Het, Case File, Novel-length, First Time, Action/Adventure, Angst
Pairing/Characters: Skinner/Mulder, Mulder/OC, Mulder/Others, Mulder/Scully Friendship
Rating: NC17
Warnings: BDSM, Dom/sub, Bondage, Violence, Fisting, Kink, Non-Con, Questionable Consent
Spoilers: None?

Notes: Mulder is going over the deep end.  Trouble at work, trouble with his partner who seems to be slipping away from him more every day.  He needs a break - a way to escape the inside of his own head for a while.  When Frohike sets him up for the vacation of his life at a sexual Fantasy Island, he thinks he may have just found the way to make it work.  But instead he finds himself getting sucked further and further into a lifestyle he can't keep up with and still maintain his sanity.   When things take a turn into danger, he ends up relying on Skinner, of all people, to help him sort out the mess his life has become, and find a way to separate himself from the obsessions that attract him, and could lead to his death.

This is a novel length fic, and I got so absorbed into it, that I finished it, and immediately turned around and read it again.  The characters were believeable, and well written - especially the original characters, even the villians, and I'll be damned if there isn't one hell of a lot of very erotic sex in this fic, too.  But be aware, most of the sex has some elements of D/s, bondage or other BDSM practices, although most of it goes no further than tethers and blindfolds.  However there is enough that goes past that to warn you about it.  And there's a fair amount of questional consent issues, as well. 

So you know...this is the fic that got me going in the X-Files Fandom.  I'd watched the show off and on, nothing much, but the fic I'd read all featured Krycek, and although I liked him, I didn't really get the Mulder/Krycek vibe.  Well, I found the vibe that does work...Skinner/Mulder and throwing in some Dom/sub issues will cinch the deal for me pretty much every time.   And it's all Kassandra's fault. 


Excerpt:

( Caitlin, this is Fox, our newest guest. )



I rate this fic:  Pretty Damn Good