Aimee's Gen Recommendations

THE NEW RECOMMENDATIONS

I want to start out today with a Sentinel story that's perfect for Halloween -- Martha's Snake Oil. Although I read ghost stories, I'm not usually scared by them. "Snake Oil," while not precisely a ghost story, scared the beejesus out of me. Extremely well-written with perfect characterizations, this story is tense, absorbing, and suspensful. Truely, it's one of the best things I've read. It's also extremely long, so make sure you have plenty of time to spare when you start reading it -- because once you pick it up, you won't want to stop until you've finished it.

Here's another "appropriate for Halloween" story: Vanessa's B is for Babysitter, a Pretender story. I don't want to give anything away, so this is all I'll say: it's good! Melancholy, poignant, beautiful, and sad.

Also by Vanessa is Solitaire. Miss Parker is my favorite Pretender character, and she is well-drawn and vividly realized in this story -- complex and real, not just a one-dimentional bitch.

First up, we have Dean Warner's wonderful Deprived. In this angsty and suspensful story, Jim's military past catches up with him; he is kidnapped by a rogue CIA scientist and subjected to various tests and experiments. NOTE: This is the first story of a series; however, it's the only gen installment. The rest of the series is slash.

For some serious angst, check out Susan William's story The Devil You Know and its sequel, "Masks." It's really, really good. It's quite original, too, a interestingly different take on the old "Blair gets raped" scenario. Go read this; you won't regret it!

Finally, I want to recommend Yvonne's Upgrade series. These are a series of A/U science-fiction stories set in the future. Jim is a Retrieval Officer, the futuristic equivalent of a police officer. All Retrieval Officers are artifical Sentinels; their senses are enhanced by implanted computer chips. When Jim's naturally enhanced senses start to come on-line, they interfere with the chip, and the only person who can save him is Dr. Blair Sandburg. It's by Yvonne, so you know it's good.

STAR TREK: VOYAGER RECOMMENDATIONS

The Talking Stick-Circle stories by Little Otter and Peg Robinson, for the J/C'ers out there. A long and wonderful saga, this collection of stories alternates between the pov of Chakotay and Captain Janeway. I can't do them justice in a brief synopsis. See for yourself!

Numb by envoy. All I can say about this story is: wow! It's utterly amazing! It's not slash, per se -- there's not really any romantic relationship at all. What it is, is a glimpse into Harry's character that I won't soon forget. This is not the happy, naive Ensign; this Harry is much darker. Go. Read. Now!

Okay, that's all for now! More to come soon, so check back!