Over the past three years I've seen a lot of requests for fanfic, both slashy and straight. If you're wondering where to find them, look no further.
This website, maintained by JRiddler, has changed since the last time I visited. It has grown larger and broader, featuring fanfic archives for the shows Sharpe, Space Above and Beyond, and Horatio Hornblower; there's also a directory of links for cult TV (obviously this a major interest of "Jen's," going by the Ring of Jens on the index page) and several non-porn actor fan sites, for good-looking young male actors I'll add. Each site has a directory of related links, which are large, well-chosen, and extensive, with plenty leading to other slash sites. Slash, in case anyone doesn't know, is fiction written by fans of a certain TV show/movie/musical group for fans, and take as their subject matter homoerotic relationships between the main same-sex characters. The stories are rated PG, PG-13, R or NC-17 depending on their sexual content, drug use, profanity, and violence, and most of the writers of these stories are straight women. I'll leave off the implications of that for the moment. What is important for the average reader of online sex fiction to know is that these stories are very well written and highly literate, but speak mainly to fans of the TV show they're based on. One not having familiarity with the shows would be clueless as to what the relationships between the characters are and why they're behaving the way they do.
The Satyricon site holds Jen's own fanfic. That too has grown greatly, and it now includes James Bond, Due South, Hornblower, Man from UNCLE, Private Eye, Rawhide, Sentinel, Sharpe, Space Above and Beyond, UFO, Wild West, and X Files fanfic, as well as crossovers and humor. I picked out four to give my evaluation. As I'm not regular watcher of these shows, keep in mind I may be shortchanging them somewhat because I'm not their intended audience (that is, a fan.)
I noticed as I read that all these stories had certain things in common. The stories consist of short scenes like those of a TV show; important information, like a crash-landing spaceship or capture by the enemy, is omitted in favor of quick jump-cuts to the next scene. There wasn't a lot of background; dialogue and action carried the story, with strong attention paid to the characters (as the TV camera pays attention in close-ups to the show's characters.)
The sex in these stories is sensual but coy--saying "what he found there" instead of cock or even penis, and "essence" for cum or semen, for example. Though m/m, it reads more like romantic m/f. Compared to, say, "Warrior" (6/16/97 Reviews) the feel was entirely different, and I think what we have here are androgynous *relationship* sex stories rather than physical ones, and being female, I like them. I can't help myself. I like them for their emotional thrills, but they're a different animal than sex stories. The emphasis is on tactile contact, tenderness, nurturing, growing feelings of love and companionship, the disparity of age, experience, and race between partners, and the tragic romanticism of lovers who would die for each other even under torture. (Since this original review came out, Jen has added M/F sex to her repertoire.)
"Vat69" is a story set in the "Space: Above and Beyond" universe. SAaB was a well done series loosely based on Robert Heinlein's "Starship Troopers" that ran for two seasons before being canceled. It was about a group of space marines who fought to protect earth from a hostile alien race, which we ever see because they're always encased in spacesuits. Some of the marines are human, some are "tanks"--genetically engineered humans grown in vitro to be perfect soldiers. This story was about the love affair between Hawkes, a young tank, and his older commanding officer, McQueen, as they're in the midst of combat duty...and the many trials and tribulations they undergo, from initial attraction, to growing feelings of love, to conflict within the ranks about it. I felt the story was very personal. Sections begin with lyrics from popular songs of the 80s and 90s and there's also long sections quoted from the Aeniad, I think. (I'm not a classical lit scholar.) Despite the title, no one 69'ed in a vat.
"Lovers Keep Secrets" is about the love triangle between 3 male immortals in the "Highlander" TV show. The show concerns the adventures of immortal men and women who roam the world with very long, sharp swords, and for some reason they've sworn to kill off each other, lopping their rivals' heads off in the process. But friendships exist among them too, and romantic entanglements, and the tension in the show (and this story) comes from how their drive to kill their kindred fights with their need for love and companionship from their own kind. Richard Sharpe and Methos are having an affair, which MacLeod, dropping in uninvited, senses and isn't happy about because he's also been fucking Methos. There were a lot of references in this story I just didn't get, not being familiar with the show, but the feeling of loneliness mixed with lust came across very well. It's pretty clear this was written by a woman as the two men are fucking face-to-face, a rather awkward position for anal penetration unless one's body is canted up 10 degrees.
"006" is a story based in the James Bond movie world. Agent 006 is Alec Trevelyan, the sometime-lover of, you guessed it, "Shaken not stirred" Mr. James Bond himself. Anyway, 006 has been captured by an evil Russian general and is being tortured for information. The story of the affair of 006 and 007 is portrayed in short segments, like quick-cut editing, between the torture (which isn't described.) 007 eventually rescues 006, and the hideout goes up in flames. The sex between the males was restricted to kissing and other saucy teasing; no butt-fucks, no blowjobs, no jerkoffs. Of all the stories I reviewed, I could relate to this one the most because of all the Bond movies I've seen.
"Surgeon General's Warning" is based on the X-Files. Skinner, the boss of agents Mulder and Scully, has been having an affair with the cigarette-smoking Cancer Man, who ties him to the bed and licks him up and down, then makes him come by burning him with his cigarette. The story was more of a cute BDSM joke for those who follow the show rather than slash fiction. If you don't watch the show, though, you're not likely to get it.
The general picture I get from these stories is that the authors inhabit a fantasy universe where everyone fucks quite happily with everyone else, and I wish I could take a vacation there. I give all these stories an A, because of the quality of writing invested in them.
The big question that I bet you're pondering now is: Why do people devote so much time and energy to writing fiction based on a particular TV show? I can't answer this, other than most of these shows are science fiction and fantasy, and as a genre, SF has always been marginalized from mainstream literature and scorned for its pulp origins, so its fans tend to band together to lend it support. Such activities have been going on since the 1920s in the form of personal correspondence, publishing amateur magazines, and going to conventions. In recent years the net has expounded on this activity.
The second question is: Why do straight women get jollies from writing about sexual relationships between the outwardly heterosexual male characters in these TV shows? Again, a hard one to call without putting this question to the smutgrrls, as one group of writers called themselves. (I have the feeling they wouldn't respond coherently if I did.) But, it seems to me these stories are satisfying some womens' need for action-adventure combined with passionate sex. Then why don't they write about a male-female couple having adventures, you say, like Xena and Herc or Scully and Mulder? Well...female characters in commercial television (which is by nature still very stereotypical) usually don't drink to excess, engage in fisticuffs, or have the deep moral quandaries or capacity for physical punishment that the male characters do. They're too nice and pretty and vulnerable. Of course, there are exceptions (Batgirl, Lucy Lawless, some animated superheroines, maybe some others) but in general, action TV is a man's world. And when sex comes into the picture, it's very hard to show a male and female having these wild adventures as equals and then fucking like equals, because the Hollywood propensity is to show the man on the offensive and on the top...and the females writers of slash fiction may carry these stereotypes, consciously or unconsciously, within themselves. Therefore, they avoid the whole issue by using two men.
Or, there's a thrill in writing about two men having sex because the female writer can imagine herself as either he loving and emoting with the other he.
Or, using two men allows for a more aggressive, forthright sexuality to come out. Even when a female is a sexual aggressor to a male, there's always a degree of seduction/entrapment in which physical overpowerment does not come into play...in the 250 or so amateur sex stories I've read, 90 - 95% of male/female sex scenes, even those written by women, portray the man as being the predator and the woman as the passive receptacle. (Well, she might moan and twat-dribble a little.) So, it may be fun to imagine yourself switching genders and committing aggressive sexual acts on a man, an act which some women either couldn't or wouldn't feel comfortable about doing in real life.
Or, as Constance Penley suggests in her recent book "NASA/Trek," the women are really writing the great American literary tradition of two men having buddy adventures in the wilderness, but are combining it with the "domestic" or female-orienting novel by adding love and sex into the mix.
Or, fill in the blank__________________
As to whether these stories are accurate reflections of gay sex--only a gay man can tell you that. I think the stories are more sensitive, and certainly more emotionally oriented than those written by a man. It's mood, plot, and character that get the emphasis; the sex is only another element. In a strict sense these stories might not even be called sex stories. The attention paid to the subtleties of emotion--which is sorely lacking in many straight, realistic oriented sex stories--is female and may come from the many hours of watching the shows, analyzing them, and probably discussing them with one's friends or through newsgroups.
Interface-wise, this site has improved a lot. The title pages are more attractive, and there are plenty of pictures of the leading men. It is still a little confusing to navigate, especially from department to department, but there is a main gate now, which includes a quote from Yeats amid tasteful Greek statues of male nudes on a bubblegum pink background so the viewer understands what the site's basic ethos is.
In sum, I'd say this site may appeal more to fans of these shows than the average reader in search of hot sex...not that there weren't well done sex scenes in here, but the context may puzzle non-fans. But if you are a fan and like science fiction, fantasy, or gay fiction, give this site a browse.
Interface: A-
Content: A
Will I visit again: Yes