DS Recs Redux

I hope everyone's limbs are nice and limber: the Massage Challenge is hereby closed. Many thanks to our rubdown reccers jesse_the_k, keerawa, mrs_laugh_track and sam80853 for pointing us to some scintillating stories.

But wait! If you missed your chance to tell us about your favourite recs, you're in luck: this week is amnesty week here at ds_recsredux! Feel free to post about your favourite story (or three) from either of the July challenges. Warm up to the I ♥ Canada challenge, or tell us about those massage fics you've been dying to point out. The Amnesty challenge will close next Monday morning, when our lovely guest reccer belmanoir takes over the asylum for a week. Yay recs!

Title: Our Fair Share of Abuse
Author:secretlybronte
Pairing: Fraser/RayK
Rating: R
Length: approx 10,500 words
Why I'm reccing this fic: It still makes me weep and sigh on the fourth reading!

It's an established-relationship plotty casefic, with a hat-tip to canon, where our boys are real adults (not teenagers with wrinkles). The massage is truly epic, and well-deserved, since the story deals with a serial rapist (but includes no details of the crimes). The sex is stimulating and realistic and thrilling.

( A brief excerpt )

Our Fair Share of Abuse

Title: Magic Words
Author: starfish
Pairing: Fraser/Kowalski
Rating: R
Length: 5,144 words
Why I'm reccing this fic:

After saving Beth Botrelle, Ray is lost in a sea of anguish and self-doubt. Fraser desperately wants to help, and offers a massage. This story is sweet and centered, as Fraser tries to help his friend without betraying the desire he feels.

( A brief excerpt )

Magic Words

Title: Come in From the Cold
Author: One of our lovely mods, ms. nos4a2no9
Pairing: Fraser/Vecchio
Rating: R
Length: 6,453 words
Why I'm reccing this fic:

Because it's awesome. There are so many moments in it that make you go RAY and FRASER and LOVE. It does a fantastic job of showing people actually talking and working out things in their relationship. Plus there are footrubs! How can you resist?

( A brief excerpt )

Come in From the Cold

Title: Good Cop
Author: belmanoir
Pairing: Ray/Ray
Rating: NC-17
Length: : 7,294 words
Why I'm reccing this fic:

Because it's awesome. Full of absolutely gorgeous character insight into both Rays, including some of my favorite Kowalski that I've ever read. Also, it's hot. Really totally screen-meltingly brain-explodingly hot.

( A brief excerpt )

Good Cop

Title: Such a Pathetic Pair
Author: spuffyduds
Pairing: Fraser/Vecchio
Rating: R for language
Length: 1700-ish words
Why I'm reccing this fic:

Because it's awesome. A tender little post-Victoria's Secret story with beautiful turn of phrase. It shows all the guilt and the hurt in their relationship at this point and how they are re-connecting. Plus backrub and movie watching. Awesome. The story is also part of a set called loose affiliation, which can be found here

( A brief excerpt )

Such a Pathetic Pair

Title: Snug As A Bug In A ...
Author: Aly Malone & Alex SisterWolf
Pairing: F/K
Rating: NC-17
Why I'm reccing this: It's Fraser trying so bad to resist but who, really, can resist Ray's hands?

Title: Changing Gears
Author: kelliem
Pairing: F/K
Rating: NC-17
Why I'm reccing this: It's kelliem! And it's Fraser barelegged and in shorts - what else do I have to say?

Okay! We've wrapped our extended look at I ♥ Canada, and many thanks to ramen_addict and belmanoir for their contributions!

ds Match is just getting warmed up right now, and so I've been spending a lot of hours at Ye Olde Laptop doing captain-like stuff. As a result my neck is a bit sore. Which is why I thought a call for massage recs would be just what the doctor ordered. So! Rec us your favourite massage fics! Ray giving Fraser a neckrub, the Boys experimenting with warming lotion and sensual massage, Ray and Ray easing each others' aches and pains...

Sorry. I got a little distracted, there. Post about your three favourite stories that feature a massage before next Monday!

Title: Ben of the Tundra
Author: Tara Keezer/elementalv
Pairing: F/K
Rating: PG-13
Length: ~6000 words
Why I'm reccing this fic: Okay, it's a crack AU loosely based on George of the Jungle. The Muldoon case, except Fraser never came to Chicago, Bob's still alive, Kowalski and Vecchio have been working together for a while, and solemnity is pretty much nonexistent. Read now for cozy ice houses, bodacious Canadian babes, and Ray Kowalski literally getting swept off his feet.

( A brief excerpt )

Ben of the Tundra

Title: Floating Islands are Invariably Krakens
Author: little-b/buzzylittleb
Pairing: F/K
Rating: PG-13
Length: ~2800 words
Why I'm reccing this fic: Apparently submarines are a necessary catalyst for some of the changes in Ray and Fraser's relationship. In this fic set during the Quest, the second sub didn't quite do its job, so the universe throws a third at them--this time with bonus sea monsters!

( A brief excerpt )

Floating islands are invariably Krakens

Title: Matrimony
Author: misspamela
Pairing: F/K
Rating: Unrated sans porn
Length: ~1300 words
Why I'm reccing this fic: I have a huge weakness for the Last to Know scenario. You know what I'm talking about, those fics where one or both halves of the couple in question don't realize they're involved until other people point it out somehow. The utter innocence of the instigating gift in this case never fails to amuse me.

( A brief excerpt )

Matrimony

Title: Crossed Paths
Author: china_shop
Pairing: None (can be read as F/K/V, but it's gen)
Rating: G
Length: 1100 words
Why I'm reccing this fic: This fic gave me something I never, ever knew I needed until I read it, and then I was completely blown away--Vecchio on the quest. It's from the POV of some scientists who run into the boys while they're all looking for the hand of Franklin together! I pretty much died of love. Plus the story is super cute in pretty much every way.

Link to the story: Crossed Paths

( Brief excerpt. )

Title: Solstice
Author: troyswann
Pairing: None (again! What are the odds?)
Rating: um...PG-13 for some violence?
Length: ~6500 words.
Why I'm reccing this fic: Because it's AMAZING. Vecchio is losing it after Vegas, and when he's attacked, he runs...to Canada. There's a whole part at the end with the three of them that basically made my heart grow about four sizes. Seriously, my lungs are feeling squished, guys.

Link to the story: Solstice

( Brief excerpt. )

Title: I'm not sure this actually HAS a title, but it's labelled "Cookies," so let's go with that.
Author: brynnmck
Pairing: F/K/V
Rating: PG-13
Length: ~1750
Why I'm reccing this fic: Because it may actually be the cutest thing I have ever read. Kidfic! Fraser is decorating Halloween cookies with their daughter while Ray and Ray watch. And seriously, cutest fucking thing EVER.

Link to the story: Cookies. (Scroll down to #3.)

( Brief excerpt. )

Happy Canada Day, everyone!

We're starting a new week of recs here at ds_recsredux, and we mod-types thought it would be appropriate to shine a spotlight on due South stories set in the Great White North. So, rec us your three favourite Canada-set fics! Think Fraser and Ray (or Ray and Ray, or Fraser, Ray and Ray) hanging out on the tundra. Touring around Moosejaw. Chasing down bad guys in Toronto. Making a home together in Inuvik. There are a lot of great stories to choose from, and you can help us celebrate Canada's 141st birthday by highlighting the best of the best (or at least your favourite).

Hey, Canada is pro-slash. My nation would appreciate it. :-)

This challenge will last one week, or until Tuesday, June 8th, when we'll have a new prompt for you folks. Happy Dominion Day!

This being fandom, there are lots of other beloved canons out there, and sometimes they smish so beautifully with our show (Fraser's abilities plus The Sentinel, anyone?). Sometimes it's a little harder to smish them, but we do it anyway, because we love! Here are some fics that blend the science fiction or fantasy elements of other canons with Due South.


( Fusions )

( Crossovers )

And that wraps up my sci fi week of reccing! What are your favorite genre fusion or crossover Due South fics? Please share!

As I mentioned in Science Fiction recs 1, there are tropes that are such fanfic staples that they deserve their own rec weeks. Ditto fics based on genre topics from canon (like ghost!Bob, or a revisit to Gerome Laferette's Voudon congregation). Still, fanfic writers have gleefully stretched the boundaries of Due South into places more familiar from late night TV, or that section of the library. Herewith, recs in science fiction's close genre cousins, horror, supernatural and fantasy.


( Werewolves )

( Zombies )

( B Movie Plots )

( Ghost Tales )

( Fantasy )

As always, please feel free to share your own picks for supernatural, horror and fantasy Due South fics in the comments!

Coming up next, Crossover and Fusion Due South fics.

Happy Monday! For my recs topic this week, I chose science fiction. Most of my fandom life has been about science fiction books, movies and shows, with a smidge of fantasy thrown in. However I've also always appreciated magical realism, the absurd, and any well-done drama--and Due South delivers on all of those in spades.

The Due South canon also flirted a bit with sci fi, fantasy and horror themes: a whiff of the superhero around Fraser's abilities, Fraser and RayV's ghostly dads, the talking wolf, Fraser and RayK's run-in with Vodou, Fraser and RayV's visit to the government's UFO facility and RayK's childhood abduction by aliens. But it has been up to the fanfic writers to expand on the genre in Due South, and boy have they!

(I won't be including stories leaning more towards magical realism than sci fi, e.g., most genderswitch, bodyswap, transformation or wing!fic. Since they are such popular fanfic tropes, I'll leave the pleasure for another reccer--or another of my own reccing opportunities. ;-)

So, without further ado, here are some recs for fics in major science fiction themes:

( Aliens )

( Time Travel )

( Powers and Superpowers )

Please feel free to share your own recs for sci fi Due South fics in the comments! (Especially other than Fraser/RayK. :-)

Coming up next post: Supernatural, Horror and Fantasy Due South fics.

Title: Steam
Author: arrow00
Pairing: Fraser/RayK
Rating: NC17
Length: 5,920
Why I'm reccing this fic: because it's got the Mario Brothers. Heh. And because I love seeing Fraser forced to give up control. And even more, I love watching Ray make Fraser give up that iron control, watching him push Fraser into places he's never been before.. That turns my crank, and arrow00 does it really, really well.

( A brief excerpt )

Steam by arrow00

Title: Dark Stranger
Author: Rushlight
Pairing: Fraser/RayK
Rating: NC17
Length: 5,997
Why I'm reccing this fic: Because control pushes my buttons and this one has Fraser taking control away from Ray and giving him the ride of his life. A little bit of domination, a little bit of bondage, a little bit of role-playing and I'm gonna be in my bunk for a long while. This is one of the first fics I'd run across in the fandom and still one of my favorites.

( A brief excerpt )

Dark Stranger by Rushlight

Title: Comfort Zone
Author: octette formerly lalejandra
Pairing: Fraser/RayK
Rating: NC17
Length: 17K+
Why I'm reccing this fic: because this is the most realistic take on the Fraser/RayK fetish dynamic that I've ever seen. Here is Fraser trying to explore his sexual boundaries while Ray watches over him, supporting him in the only way he knows how. And finding himself lost at the thought of Fraser with someone else. Perfectly balanced between the two possibilities and really, really hot, this is one of my desert-island fics.

( A brief excerpt )

Comfort Zone by octette

This is almost my first time reccing, and go figure, all these recs are Fraser-related (or Fraser-family-related).

Title: A Quiet Morning at Home
Author: dsudis
Pairing: Bob/Caroline, Buck
Rating: G
Length: 787 words
Why I'm reccing this fic: This story shows Bob on the morning before his wedding, with Buck helping him prepare himself. It's a very thoughtful little story about the similarities and differences between partnership and marriage.

A Quiet Morning at Home

Title: Missing Pieces
Author: aukestrel
Pairing: Fraser/Smithbauer
Rating: NC-17
Length: 25 pages in pdf format
Why I'm reccing this fic: This is backstory for the (completely and totally awesome) AU "Strange Loops", but it can be read separately, too. I don't know why this pushes my buttons so hard--it's not the hockey thing, because despite being Swedish, I have never watched a hockey game in my life (although between this and Hawks and Hands, my mind firmly associates hockey with gay sex). I think it's that this relationship shows Fraser in a different light compared to his relationship with the Rays. It's not true love so much as buddy-sex, but there's still a trust between them, because they were childhood friends and know each other so well. And my GOD, the sex is hot.

Link to website. You need to ask for a password to get in, then click on due South stories.

Title: Come With Me
Author: zabira
Pairing: Fraser/Victoria
Rating: PG-13
Length: about 10.000 words
Why I'm reccing this fic: This is a new story, so you've probably seen it announced, but it affected me so much that I just want to make sure as many people as possible read it. zabira shows Victoria to be a complex and human character, with a backstory that explains so much about her. It doesn't redeem her completely--she still does what she does--but it makes me heart ache not just for Fraser, but for her too. They are both so young when they first meet, and seen through Victoria's eyes, Fraser just kind of--shines through. He's straight and true and tries so hard, and sees and respects her a way that noone else has before, and he does what he has to do, but he just doesn't see what his actions are doing to her. It made me cry.

Come With Me

Title: Passion
Author: cesperanza
Pairing: Fraser/Kowalski
Rating: NC-17
Length: 188K
Why I'm reccing this fic: This is Fraser's history, and Fraser's romantic history. It's complex and confused, bare and yet strangely rich, sad. Even the other players, Fraser's father and grandparents, Quin, Eric, others, are both surprisingly complex and incredibly removed. If it weren't for the fact that we know Ray Kowalski is waiting there in Fraser's future this would be a bleak read indeed. And yet Speranza fills the emptiness with incredibly rich detail that we're sure Fraser has etched into his memory. There are warnings for character death and for hurt/comfort, although Speranza assures us of a 'very happy, romantic ending."

( A brief excerpt )

Passion

Hmm. Apparently fetish stories go for the single-word titles. ;-)


Title: Sole
Author: Anagi
Pairing: Fraser/Kowalski
Rating: NC-17
Length: ~1,800 words
Why I'm reccing this fic: This is the first fic I think of when the word "fetish" is mentioned, a classic leather boot kink. The taste of the polish, the smell of Fraser inside--it all drives us Ray completely around the bend, and Fraser ends up taking full advantage. Guh!

( A brief excerpt )

Sole


Title: Handcuffs
Author: Aerye (aerye)
Pairing: Fraser/Kowalski
Rating: NC-17
Length: 635 words
Why I'm reccing this fic: Short and hot like burning. This fic takes place in the single moment when Fraser puts the cuffs on Ray in Asylum, though there's an intriguing use of future tense in the story structure. Handcuffs as a fetish object have been done a million times, but rarely so viscerally and so well.

( A brief excerpt )

Handcuffs


Title: Freaks
Author: Arrow (arrow00)
Pairing: Fraser/Kowalski
Rating: R
Length: 3,039 words
Why I'm reccing this fic: The previous two (and many) fetish stories are mainly PWPs. (And I do love a good PWP!) This story is different in that it's more of a character study. The "perfect" Mountie knows himself to be a freak, more so than anyone realizes. But Ray's acceptance of his own freakishness, and unmistakable appreciation of Fraser's, gives Fraser the kind of freedom and belonging he's never known. Not to say that there isn't some scorching Ray-loves-the-crossdressing sex, because there's that here, too.

( A brief excerpt )

Freaks

It's Amnesty Week ... which means you have seven days in which to post your recs for the Back in the Day Challenge and last week's Fetish Challenge (please see here for more info!). Next Monday we'll feature a themed set from a new guest reccer, but until then, the floor is yours!

This post wraps up the Back in the Day Challenge, at least for now, and kicks off ... the Fetish Challenge! Bring us your favorite fetish fic. You've got one week until Amnesty. Happy reccing!

Title: The Small Indian Mongoose Is Not Immune to the Cobra's Venom
Author: Brigantine (brigantine1)
Pairing: Kowalski/OC, Fraser/Kowalski
Rating: NC-17
Length: ~5,400 words
Why I'm reccing this fic: Beautiful Ray backstory. Woven in between clips of another run-in between our guys and Warfield are snippets of Ray's past, as he transformed himself from a skinny, pants-wetting, geeky Polish kid to someone who knew how to take a punch, then someone who knew how to throw a punch--all in the service of standing up for himself and other people who didn't deserve to get bullied. It's all the bits that went between the bank robbery and Ray's decision to become a cop. And it makes me flail with love for him. (As I do.) Rikki-tikki-tavi, indeed.

( A brief excerpt )

The Small Indian Mongoose Is Not Immune to the Cobra's Venom


Title: Home Schooling
Author: Luzula (luzula)
Pairing: Gen
Rating: G
Length: ~1,200 words
Why I'm reccing this fic: And now Fraser's childhood--a scene of one afternoon in Ben's boyhood. In a few short paragraphs, Luzula clearly outlines the influences that made Fraser the adult that he was: his grandmother's emotional reserve, intellectual interest and snippiness; his grandfather's discomfort with conflict; his father's inability to connect, or even see him; and his absent mother's assertiveness, coming to the fore in his personality. A truly outstanding character sketch.

( A brief excerpt )

Home Schooling


Title: The Border Between Life and Death
Author: Speranza (cesperanza)
Pairing: Fraser/Kowalski, Kowalski/Stella, Kowalski/OC, Fraser/OC
Rating: NC-17
Length: ~21,750 words
Why I'm reccing this fic: And what would a recs list be without Speranza? Here is her tour de force backstory piece. Ray, distraught over Stella dating other men, looks back on their history, from childhood friendship through the divorce. Once he pulls his head out of his own grief, he realizes he knows nothing about Fraser's history, and applies his detective skills to discovering things about his partner he had no idea about (including an even angstier piece of personal history than we've ever seen). Only after they share their pains can they move on from the past.

( A brief excerpt )

The Border Between Life and Death

We're looking for a few good fen to serve as volunteer guest reccers for November, December, and beyond.

Guest reccers will get a week (the last of each month) to make recommendations on a theme of his/her choice, which can include anything connected with Due South: fiction on a theme, episodes, meta posts, art, vids--if you can name it, it's probably fair game.

If you think you might like to take a shot at it, just leave a comment below (and specify when you'd like to do it, if that applies to you). You don't have to have a theme in mind yet--just a willingness to play!