Introductory Eppescest

[pardalote.livejournal.com]

I have a friend who is tentatively willing to be tempted to the dark side (by which I mean she said "send me a few recs and I might give it a chance. No promises.")

Now, while I'm perfectly willing to go through the arduous chore of re-reading all the excellent Charlie/Don fic that's out there in the name of a good cause, I thought some of you might have some suggestions. So, what Charlie/Don would you recommend to someone who hasn't managed to get past the incest squick and into the angst?

I should note that I have no idea whether S3 has shown here or not, but if it has I don't think she's been watching all that religiously. And she's the kind of girl who's adamantly anti-spoiler, so it'd be best to stick to S1 and S2. (One hurdle at a time, right?)

Comments

[joolz01.livejournal.com]

Audra Rose has written some of my favorites. Like Absolution: http://audrarose.livejournal.com/39550.html#cutid1 and its sequels,

and The Arms of the Galaxy: http://audrarose.livejournal.com/27974.html#cutid1 which is Gen, but recommendable anyway.

[emmademarais.livejournal.com]

Can you tell us what kind of fic she likes normally? It might help narrow down the many choices. I mean, it would help to know if heavy angst or the forbidden nature are likely to entice her, since many fic eschew that approach. Some just play up the two hot guys angle and ignore the rest. Some are even romantic and barely or not angsty at all. Some are porn centric, some relationship focused, some a mix and some are even more case ficcy with a dash of cest. There's all kinds.

Many of us got sucked in by Parallel Connections - do you know that one? It's super long, super dark and super angsty and even the ending isn't all that happy, but it was the first major de rigueur cestfic and remains to this day an icon of the fandom. Not an easy read though.

Let us know a few more details of what you think might help and I'll come up with some recs.

[asioleh.livejournal.com]

I´m new at this fandom and right no´w I´m reading everything that I find, but I never read Parallel Connections, so can you send the link for it, please!


Thanks.

[emmademarais.livejournal.com]

Boa vinda!

Nice to have new people join the fandom!

The fic is so in demand they made a special post for it.
http://community.livejournal.com/numb3rsficfind/3254.html

It looks like you and I have several fandoms in common so I hope you'll come check out my fic as well.

Enjoy the fic!

[asioleh.livejournal.com]

Obrigada!
Thank you!

[pardalote.livejournal.com]

I just read Parallel Connections last night and it's most definitely on the list =) It even made me ignore the funky formatting that caused question marks to occur in place of quotation marks and apostraphes.

It needs to be fic that acknowledges and deals with the taboo and all that arises from it, I think. The two hot guys angle (while admittedly a very strong angle *g*) isn't enough on its own. The forbidden nature isn't enticing her, but ignoring it isn't going to get very far. She likes thing that are well characterised and don't ignore issues just because it's easier that way. Plot also goes down well.
Having said that, I'll probably round things out with a few short, sweet things at the end. Like I think it was one of yours where Charlie was sad because he couldn't get flowers, so Don Sent flowers? Makes me "awww" every time =)

[emmademarais.livejournal.com]

Yes! That was Honey and Roses, ostensibly my most popular fic.
Honey and Roses (http://emmademarais.livejournal.com/2005/12/05/)

I went back to 2005 when I first started reading and got sucked into cestfic and tried to recall which engaged me. Back then Eppescest was new to everyone and the shame/taboo angle was being actively explored. Now many people just assume it as part of their universe and move on.

This is hot and super angsty.
Lost Boys (http://community.livejournal.com/numb3rs_slash/5173.html)
(There's more in that verse.)

This one was popular about the same time.
The Business Card 1/3 (http://community.livejournal.com/numb3rs_slash/6638.html)
The Business Card 2/3 (http://community.livejournal.com/numb3rs_slash/6823.html)
The Business Card 3/3 (http://community.livejournal.com/numb3rs_slash/6975.html)
(There's more in that verse too, but that's enough to start.)

This is not a usual take on the topic, but I enjoyed it for that reason.
Dumbstruck (http://dira.ficlaundering.com/n/dumb.html)

These fic are by some of the best authors in the fandom and if you add in audrarose and raeyashi you've got a pretty rich back catalog of fic to explore. Comment porn was also big, so add the slashwife writing team of penguingal and schnaucl to that list.

As far as my fic goes, the ones I'd recommend are longer series since they can go deeper into the relationship and backstory and such.

Last Call Series (http://emmademarais.livejournal.com/2005/11/26/)
Starts out porny with a noncest threesome, gets angsty as D/C struggle with the idea then settles into something romantic when they give in and become a couple.

Conflict and Resolutions Series (http://emmademarais.livejournal.com/2006/02/15/)
Charlie wants it and Don's in denial so major angst and H/C until they end up together.

I hope that helps!

Let us know how it goes!