DCStreets

Author at Starfox's Mansion http://www.wolfpanther.com/streets.html.

Agony (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 28th August 2001 (2)
Tags: Short Story
(42K)

With a title like "Agony" you can be pretty sure that this one's going to have a lot of angst in it, and it did. This is a post-TSbyBS story, and the agony is the emotional agony of Blair from all the fallout, complicated by, well, that would spoil it. But fear not, for all the angst, this does not have a downer ending, otherwise I wouldn't like it at all. Instead, well, Jim gets to be the Jim I know he really is -- a friend. Which makes it all cool.

Communion (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 28th August 2001 (6)
Tags: Novelette
(100K)

This author knows her fannish tropes -- we open with a typical hospital scene -- which then gives us a bit of a surprise. This story has some nice banter with Jim and Blair and Simon, some good angst, some good episode references, humour, angst, good partnership stuff, and a little bit that Starsky & Hutch fans will like.

"Like there's somewhere else I'd be." Simon snorted quietly. "How am I going to earn my frequent vigil points if I don't show up whenever I have the excuse?"

Drowning Sorrows (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 28th August 2001 (3)
Tags: Short Story
(39K)

This one not only is chock full of lay-down-your-life angst, but it puts it together well. The opening has Jim cataloguing his surroundings when waking from unconsciousness, and some of it is almost poetic:

Sight... partial darkness. Lush and rich as charcoal velvet, and he almost lost himself in that darkness, falling into the downy softness of it before abruptly pulling himself back and adjusting the dial accordingly.

There's also some good Jim-Blair banter:
    "Yeah. Well, following them onto the docks was perhaps not our brightest move as Cascade's hotshot detecting team. Got to remember in the future that friendly groups of bystander stevedores are not always to be trusted."
    "I'll have it tattooed on your forehead, Sandburg."

This one is post-TSbyBS with Blair-as-a-cop but one hardly notices. There was one moment that was a bit too fanony for my taste (a reference to Blair's "guide-voice") but it was only one bit. Overall it was just... good! I particularly liked the bit about Jim's "gallery of perfect memories". In someone else's hands the emotions would have been over the top, but not here. You really believe they'd lay down their lives to save the other one. Good.

Loss (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 28th August 2001 (4)
Tags: Short Story
(15K)

This story leads you in and surprises you. So I'd better not tell you what it's about! It's an intriguing idea, with good sense descriptions, good angst, good Jim and Blair.

Overheard (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 28th August 2001 (5)
Tags: Short Story
(20K)

I'm not sure if one can call this a dialogue-only piece, when some of it is thoughts, but it's a good Jim-PoV piece, with good Simon and some nice quips as well as Jim's well-known, er, patience. (grin) And some fine words from an original character or two. What's it about? Oh, what do you think? A typical Jim and Blair fan event -- multiple owies!

Rampage (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 28th August 2001 (7)
Tags: Short Story
(35K)

This story opens dramatically, and then we find ourselves plonked somewhere in the Twilight Zone. With heaps of angst, of course! This was done with good style (I particularly liked the one-sided telephone conversation that Jim had with Simon) and good dialogue. And I don't think we actually need to find out the Blair's PoV story; we know enough... That isn't to say it would be a waste of time, but we aren't left hanging for the lack of it.

Sick

(1) Sick and Tired (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 12th August 2001 (5)
Tags: Novelette
(61K)

I read this partly because someone recommended it, and then because the "Sick" series (of which this is the first story) was nominated for the Cascade Times Awards 2001. I liked this! We had an interesting senses problem -- manifesting itself by unexpected zone-outs (very plausible). Good Jim and Blair, nice first-person Jim, and some absolutely laugh-out-loud moments.

(2) Sick Of It (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 12th August 2001 (6)
Tags: Novelette
(54K)

This is the second story in the "Sick" series. This one makes a few more references to Sentinel Too so I assume it's all set very soon after that. Megan gets a good part in this, too. More interesting thoughts about Jim's senses, and about Jim's feelings... and more great lines.
    [Blair on the phone]"Look, it's a huge imposition, but would you tell Simon that we've still got a problem -- I mean, unless you can learn to ignore this for a while?"
    Remembering the 'almost-squished', I shake my head.
    "He can't hear the rattle, Ellison." Connor grins at me, and on the other side of town, Blair laughs.
    At least I'm spreading joy.

(3) Sleeping Sickness (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 22nd December 2001 (1)

This is a short addition to the "Sick" series, which opens:
    There are a million stories in the naked city.
    And I can hear every
    single
    one.

A mixture of the dark and the fluffy follows, and then some companionable smarm when Blair comes on the scene. This was just an all-round... nice, anecdoty, caring little incident.

Here's another lovely quote:
    He has a sort of Victorian-architecture approach to life: if it's bare, decorate it; if it's empty, fill it. Like a gas, he expands to fit any container: if Nature abhors a vacuum, she must adore Sandburg.