Rough Trade (Sentinel story)

You may be looking for the Sentinel zine by Kathleen called Rough Trade.

Sentinel Fanfiction
Title:	Rough Trade
Author(s):	Laura Jacquez Valentine
Date(s):
Length:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	The Sentinel
External Links:	AO3?
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Rough Trade is a Jim/Blair series by Laura Jacquez Valentine.

Reactions and Reviews

I'm fond of these stories because Jim has repressed his sexuality in that unique way only a macho man can, and is unwilling to admit he might actually want to get it on with a man. Laura JV gets right down to the brutal heart of the matter in Rough Trade, where Blair thinks about something that has happened between them and confronts the issue. Sort of. The other stories in the series carry through the theme -- Bad Touch, Blood Sport and Cutting Strings. Some folks won't like these versions of Jim and Blair, but to each their own. I did.

Best FF That I Really Like Even Though I End up Listening to the Bloodhound Gang Every Damn Time I So Much As Think About It. The Bad Touch Series: Rough Trade, Bad Touch, Blood Sport, and Cutting Strings, by Laura Jacquez Valentine, aka jacquez. The Sentinel, Jim Ellison/Blair Sandburg.

And because I believe that routine is the silent killer, let's head right on over to the "mildly rocky" portion of today's program. This is a fairly famous series in the fandom - you see it recommended everywhere - and that's partly because it's different. Not, you know, Blair-with-wings or Jim's-having-Blair's-baby different, just - not exactly fanon Jim and Blair, either. I don't actually see it as that far out there, but I know some people do. Not everyone loves this series, is what I'm saying. But I do. And, like most series I love, it gets better as it goes on; if you start it, you've got to make it to at least the third story (they're short, so you're not, like, getting married to it or anything, though, hey - maybe you'll want to), because that's where you get Blair reflecting on the modus operandi of the Jim-Blair relationship, and I find that fascinating (although he totally forgot a step, I'm telling you). Why is this story appropriate for this set? Well, it starts with Blair coming out to Jim, and ends with Jim coming out to himself. And it shows how ouchy that process can be. Also it shows some fairly, um, interesting (where "interesting" is a synonym for "potentially actionable, but no one is pressing charges") behavior in the first two. You're warning. Myself, I don't think it's that bad, and I think the last two explain it all perfectly, but, you know - mileage and all that.