Templum Bellonae

A short original science fiction story, which I enjoyed for its dreamy atmosphere rather than for its plot.

I cannot move for itching and dare not try to use my arms. But I can smell the greenness, the succulent wet of unfolding leaves. Isn’t that what I came here for?

In the Rainy Season by Hanne Blank

Borders of Infinity [story] is a short story that was originally published (along with two other short stories: The Labyrinth and The Mountains of Mourning) in Borders of Infinity [novel], which is part of the Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold. I’m not sure how much sense this will make out of sequence, but it will still be excellent. Since Borders of Infinity [novel] is now out of print, at least in North America, it’s nice that it’s becoming available online.

“Thanks,” croaked Miles. A week ago, or in a previous lifetime, depending on how you counted time, Miles had dawdled over a selection of wines, dissatisfied with this or that nuance of flavor. His lips cracked as he grinned in memory. He drank. It was perfectly ordinary water, lukewarm, faintly redolent of chlorine and sulfur. A refined body, but the bouquet is a bit presumptuous….

Borders of Infinity by Lois McMaster Bujold

The Mountains of Mourning is a short story that was originally published (along with two other short stories) in Borders of Infinity, which is part of the Miles Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold. It’s a really fantastic series; I recommend every book in the series highly. This story makes most sense if you read it as part of the series, but I think it stands very well on its own, too.

Miles grinned wolfishly. “Oh, Karal, I’m a one-man band, I am. I’m a parade.”

“As you say, just so. Ordinary people need extraordinary examples. So they can say to themselves, well, if he can do that, I can surely do this. No excuses.”

“No quarter, yes, I know that game. Been playing it all my life.”

“I think,” said Karal, “Barrayar needs you. To go on being just what you are.”

“Barrayar will eat me, if it can.”

“Yes,” said Karal, his eyes on the horizon, “so it will.” His gaze fell to the graves at his feet. “But it swallows us all in the end, doesn’t it?”

The Mountains of Mourning by Lois McMaster Bujold

BDSM warning for bondage, mostly.

Can a leatherman find happiness in the suburbs? This series follows the adventures of a suburbanite with leather boots and a hidden hanky.

You know, one of the things I love about this author is how well she writes in the first person. Her character in this story has an incredidbly unobtrusive narrative voice. Only two stories so far; Clothesline is very good but Spontaneous is much better.

Leather in Lawnville by Dusk Peterson

Written in the form of a news article. A reporter is invited to witness a decidedly amateur attempt at mediation between a 15-year-old rapist and his 13-year-old victim. I can easily belive this as a real newspaper piece, and I don’t think the story would have worked as well in any other form.

Puppets by Dusk Peterson

To Huard, priest of the tribe of the Feasters, under the care of the City Priest, under the care of the High Priest of the Northern Peninsula:

This letter is borne to you by Prosper, who until a few hours ago held the honored position of City Priest, but who has been stripped by the High Priest of his title and of his priesthood, and who has been placed under the God’s curse. The sentence given to him was exile from the Capital Territory and from the God’s presence for one year’s time.

I can’t think of anything to say to explain this story, so I’ll just say that it’s very, very good.

Mystery by Dusk Peterson

The only quarrel I have with this story is the narrator is called Bert, a name I don’t particularly care for. Parhelion makes up for this with some of the best writing around.

Partisan Politics by Parhelion

When his mother dies, 16-year-old Rory Norick is forced to live with the father he has never known or wanted to know. He leaved his home in Nevada behind and moves to the Arizona desert. The fact that Rory is gay doesn’t make him any happier about going to live with strangers.

Like all DomLuka’s stories, it’s the characters that make Desert Dropping so appealing.

Desert Dropping by DomLuka

My favourite of the three stories I’ve read by DomLuka.

This is the story of seventeen-year-old Quinn Moore. He has a loving family, good friends and a girlfriend he’s deemed as perfect. Quinn’s also gay, not that he’s about to admit it. He likes things just the way they are, thank you. But then he meets Jude Landon, and everything in Quinn’s comfortable world is turned upside down.

Quinn is a really great character. I think I like him so much because he’s very human; he’s always panicking and doing silly things, and making his life a lot more complicated than it needs to be.

The Ordinary Us by DomLuka

Follow-up to my recommendation of The Administration.

The following is part of another Administration novel, Good Citizens. This is set in the Administration, but has an entirely new cast of characters, taking the spotlight away from the corporate world, and the offices and I&I, and turning it onto citizens at the other end of the Administration’s social scale. There is no guarantee it will be finished, and may be revised or removed at any time—read at your own risk. At the moment I’m not working on any Administration stories, so Good Citizens is unlikely to be finished in the forseeable future.

Even though it isn’t and may never be finished, Good Citizens is an incredible read. When I read The Administration, I had a hard time really feeling the resister point of view. I understood it intellectually, but not viscerally.

But now I get it.

I fervently wish to see this story finished, although I’m afraid it probably won’t be. It hasn’t been updated since late 2003, anyway, so don’t look forward to new material anytime soon.

ETA: Seems to have been removed from Manna’s site, although I couldn’t find anything there saying why.

Good Citizens by Manna

Jeff and Rusty had once been best friends. Of course, Jeff was human then.

Everything Parhelion writes is wonderful, and this is no exception. And no one has a better grasp of period dialect and how to make it work.

Masks by Parhelion

I laughed my ass off at this story, although it might not have been quite so funny if I hadn’t been so tired at 2 a.m. this morning.

This is one of those stories that I’m tempted to mark PWP even though it contains little actual sex; it’s pure romantic gratification with a side of humour.

Camville by Matthew Haldeman-Time

Short and fluffy. Bonus: some weird, funny things you didn’t know.

Silvia Matos left New York City without a trace shortly before officials cracked down on her for 2,800 unpaid parking tickets - over a 38-month period, an average of 2.5 per day - totalling $171,000 in fines. She had registered her car at 19 addresses with 36 different license plates.

Ten Weird Things by Matthew Haldeman-Time

Funny, and cute in a kinky way.

Customer Service by Matthew Haldeman-Time

This story also has a sequel (or maybe a spinoff?), The Way You Say My Name. Both stories are pretty good, although more mystery than romance. Even though the writing isn’t the absolute best, it’s good, and she did some things with the plot that surprised me. She created two genuinely interesting and difficult mysteries; the plots hung together and the solutions made sense.

The Magic in Your Touch by Sara Bell

This isn’t one of my favourite original fics, but it’s still pretty good. The writing isn’t as skillful as one sees in some other stories, but the story is fairly light and fluffy anyway, so it didn’t bother me too much. This is the first story I’ve ever read that was set in Australia, and it seems to have been written by someone who lives there, which is always a bonus.

When eighteen-year-old Greg Rider agreed to go on a ski trip with his older sister, her boyfriend and two of his friends, he didn’t realize that he would end up spending the weekend with two gay guys. He’s still in the closet, and is terrified that they’ll sniff him out–gay guys can sense when other guys are gay, or so he’s heard.

This is a fun story to read on a lazy afternoon, especially if you like downhill skiing. I read it sitting in my room in the 35°C Toronto heat and I was jealous Greg for getting to be cold…sometimes I really wish Canada lived up to its reputation for year-round winter.

Falls Creek Lessons by Graeme

Despite the many, many obstacles facing them, Brian Kellam and Pete Jameson are determined to be together. I don’t know what else I can say without giving the plot away. There’s a lot of angst. I recommend starting this story when you have a few hours to spare - you probably won’t want to stop in the middle.

There are several other stories following For the Love of Pete:

• Brian’s Destruction is the expanded tale of what happend to Brian after Pete leaves, from the scene in the driveway to the court trial.
• Brian and Pete directly follows For the Love of Pete.
• The Power Within follows Brian and Pete, and is a WIP. So far chapters 1-22 are up.

For the Love of Pete by Dewey

Good vs Evil. Boy meets vampire. Good triumphs. Your standard fare, with a few plot twisties for giggles.

I found the story interesting but a bit confusing, so be attentive or you’ll miss things. It was the two main characters and figuring out who and what they were which made the story worthwhile for me, rather than the plot.

Fallen by .M. Riley

A coming-of-age story set in the late 60’s; the music of the era is frequently mentioned in the story and helps to set the scene. I’m not crazy about the writing, although it’s far superior to most of the things I’ve read at the Nifty Archive, but the plot is interesting and a lot more complex than it seems in the beginning.

Groovy Kind of Love by Pecman

This isn’t so much a love story so much as it is a coming-of-age story. I’m terribly fond of Brad, the story’s protagonist, because he’s so good. He’s an ideal man in an old-fashioned way; honest and upright and all about standing up for the weak and abused. A Pure and Honest Heart definitely celebrates the triumph of morality, something one sees rarely in modern fiction and almost never in fanfic.

A Pure and Honest Heart by Zambezi