Story: After
Author: Dshael
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 1,638
Author's Summary: The Doctor is asexual. No, really. It makes being in love with him difficult sometimes.
Characters/Pairings: Ten, Jack
Warnings: None

Recced because: This fic is not about asexuality--it's about relationships. It shows that any kind of relationship is great as long as it works for the people in it, no matter how "odd" it may look from the outside.

It shows the dark and lonely side of being an immortal (or a Time Lord), and hints at the depth of pain and despair that entails. The ending is warm and fuzzy, but the fic shows that it takes work to get there.

And yes, this story shows how relatioships between sexuals and asexuals can work, and that makes me happy on a personal note. :)

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It has been great fun being your reccer this week. Farewell, gentle readers!

Yamx

Story: Purr
Author: DameRuth
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 1582
Author's Summary: It's cold outside, but it's warm in the TARDIS – and sometimes a lonely traveler finds a safe place to stay.
Characters/Pairings: A cat, the TARDIS, Nine, Rose, Jack
Warnings: None

Recced because: As I've mentioned several times now, I love outsider views on the Doctor, and also fics that treat the TARDIS as a character in her own right. This is an especially unusual one.

A cat, lost and alone in the cold, finds a friendly blue box who invites her inside and offers her a comfy napping spot. There are also some humans, one of which is really grouchy, but no one takes them too seriously. Oh, look--food!

This story is cute and funny, obviously, but it also presents an interesting view of our heroes, and especially of the TARDIS herself. DameRuth's prose is beautiful, as always. This story never fails to cheer me up.

Story: To Please
Author: Canaan
Rating: Adult
Author's Summary:"I'm going out on a limb, here--is it a sex club?"
Characters/Pairings: Nine/Jack/Rose
Warnings: Explicit sex, BDSM

Recced because: This is the story that made dozens of people say, "I'm usually really not into BDSM, but I absolutely loved this story." (Seriously. If you read it on LJ rather than Teaspoon, you could see it in the comments. Over and over again.)

That's because it's not a story about BDSM. Oh, it contains plenty of BDSM, and if you are into that, you'll love it for that reason alone. But it's so much more.

As an asexual, I'm not only not into BDSM, I'm not into sex, period. I don't mind it, but it usually bores me. In most stories, I skim over the sex scenes. In this one, I didn't. This is the story that made me understand why sex in fiction can be important. It can be used simply as titillation for the reader, sure, and that's a perfectly valid use of it--which just happens to fall perfectly flat with me. But it can also be used as a tool to explore the characters in new ways--show them open and vulnerable and let the reader experience important moments of growth in their relationships. And that is what Canaan does in To Please.

This was the story that made me realize that if I wanted to truly be able to explore all facets of my characters' lives, I had to learn to write sex. I'd never written a single sex scene, nor felt any need to, before I read this story. It wasn't prudishness, I just literally didn't care. This story showed me why I should. If you've ever read anything remotely smutty by me and enjoyed it, you have this story to thank for it.

Hi, I'm yamx, and I'll be your reccer this week.

Story: The Red Maw and the Blue Box
Author: RobinC
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 1989
Author's Summary: Shall I tell you a tale? Once a monster from another world came to our planet.
Characters/Pairings: Tenth Doctor
Warnings: None

Recced because: I love stories that present an outsider view of the Doctor, and I love stories that deal with the Doctor-as-legend, and I love stories that take a closer look at the Time Lord Victorious, and this story does all three. It's a bedtime story told by an unknown narrator, about the time the Doctor saved their planet. It was spawned by the off-hand comment the Doctor makes at the beginning of End of Time about "saving a planet from the red carnivorous Maw." It does a great job of bringing the Doctor's Otherness into focus, and shines a light on the messes he likes to leave for others to deal with after he's done with the heroic bit.

It's a very different view on the Doctor from what you find in most fics, and it's worth reading for that alone. But it's the beautiful prose and strong narrative voice that make it really memorable.