Bookworm's Musings

I recently discovered The Sentinel fandom and started reading, reading, reading. I have a particular love for Alternate Universe fiction in this fandom, mostly because the only thing I know about canon is: Jim - Sentinel, Cop; Blair - Guide, Anthropologist. So I really don't have much of a "canon radar" for this fandom. One of my favorite stories is:

Conjugations by Legion
NC17; Jim/Blair; Violence, End of the World, mentions of child abuse & rape, m/m sex;

This is a post-cataclysm survival fic about how Jim and Blair lead a group of teenagers out of the city during the Chaos to form Tribes and start a new way of life. It's told in snippets that are woven together to create a compelling story. Survival!fic is one of my favorite genres, and this story is the best survival!fic I've seen in any Fandom. This fic really stands above any fandom, and you will enjoy it even if you've never heard of  "The Sentinel" before. There is some pretty hot sex in here, but this story definitely has a plot. I really can't speak highly enough about this fic. It's Hot, it's got Plot.... what more can you want? Read it!

 Bookworm

Control Issues by litgal (whole story in one file here.)
NC17; Jim/Blair; AU, Rape/Non-con*, Explicit Violence, Adult Themes;
In the words of litgal herself:
The United States is fair to its Sentinels, but given the history of abuse they've suffered, the state has a right to take some steps to protect them... even if that curtails a few rights. At least, that's the belief most people have. A chance encounter between a Runner named Jim Ellison who refuses to accept the party line and a hippy in an airport might just change the world.

This is an absolutely awesome story. It's well thought-out, realistic, and beautifully written. litgal deals tastefully and realistically with a common fannon cliche: Either Guides or Sentinels are enslaved or have fewer/no rights under the law. Most stories using this cliche are sensationalist, overly dramatic, and essentially implausible. Not so with Control Issues. litgal has done a wonderful job of making this cliche so realistic that the Readers can imagine that such situations could take place in their Real Lives. This is a thought-provoking look at things like privacy, the government, institutions, bureaucracy, and inequality in our daily lives. Of course, the story is so wonderful that you probably won't even notice the fact that you're being prompted to think about these weighty issues until after the fact!

Definitely a must read - especially for Sentinel fans!
Just scroll down to the bottom of the tags page that the story link leads to in order to find the first chapter.

*Rape of characters is mentioned/described in reasonably explicit detail. However, at no point do Jim & Blair rape each other or anyone else.