leavethesky

So this isn't technically femslash since it's original fiction published on Strange Horizons and it doesn't belong to any fandom. Alice Kim's We Love Deena, is strange and wonderful and very, very odd in the very best way. Also, very, very gay in the girl way.

edited to delete the link to Alice's pic because that suddenly seems pretty stalkery or at least kinda wrong.

via ein_myria:

For those of you who haven't yet checked, Campus has finally updated and concluded. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, Campus, by Anik La Chev is sort of an uber Janeway/Seven, Voyager, but more of an original piece of fiction with characters who strongly resemble (physically and personality-wise) the two Voyager characters. It's NC-17 and it's very, very long and absolutely addictive. Campus is the story of Joanna, who flies in to take a job as assistant to the formidable Professor Eliane Darhayne. Sparks fly immediately as the two fight their way to a sort of detente. Although this is certainly a romance set in the cutthroat world of academics, Campus really takes its time lovingly detailing all of the characters and the world of the institute in Leipzig in which it is set. In fact, two secondary characters who begin as supporting cast really become a parallel storyline by the end and I found myself as enthralled with their story as the primary relationship of Joanna/Eliane. Campus is one of those fics that completely draws you in and you find yourself personally and intimately engaged with these people who feel real. I'm so glad La Chev found the time to bring it to a conclusion. I was up all night reading the final chapters.

ein_myria offers a critical review and discussionhere and she makes some excellent points (especially about the hurried feel of the end), but makes sure to let us know that it was definitely worth the wait. And it was. Every excruciating page check of it. Of course I wanted more, but it had to end sometime and somewhere. *g*

eta
I'm not sure I'm communicating how big a deal this fic is, so I'll repost partly_bouncy's insightful comment:
"For Campus, I don't think any ending would have been satisfying. :( )I stayed up to around midnight to read, then woke up around 6am and continued to read.) Seriously, it was like a lovely soap opera set in an academic setting with the essence of characters I loved, handling them in a way that the universe they were originally from could not.

It was one of those stories where, even near the end, I didn't want it to end because there are places it could have gone on, where it felt like the characters could have developed. Some authors have a tendency to, especially after the number of pages written and the length of time having passed, get to a point where things are tedious and need to wrap up. It didn't feel that way here. I kind of wanted to know that these characters were safe, happy and that they'd be together. The conclusion left it open that Darhayne is capable of change but that she might not. (I suppose in a way that is fitting in that Voyager seemed to end the same way.)

I liked how it actually actively dealt with queer identity and relationships. A lot of that doesn't seem to get dealt with in corners I read in, nor in my fiction that I buy. If it does get dealt with, there are no real consequences beyond the personal ones of dating. That adds a huge level of realism and the critique you linked to picked up on that. Happy.

And I still feel guilty for the happy happy joy joy. This was more exciting to read and I anticipated more than the last Harry Potter book due out soon."

eta oops, spelled Leizig wrong.