Boxcar Sandburg
| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Boxcar Sandburg |
| Author(s): | Alexis Gunn |
| Date(s): | 2004? |
| Length: | ~25k words |
| Genre(s): | slash |
| Fandom(s): | The Sentinel |
| Relationship(s): | Jim/Blair |
| External Links: | via Wayback Machine |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Boxcar Sandburg is a Sentinel story by Alexis Gunn.
Reactions and Reviews
Drama. Jim and Blair go undercover to solve a series of murders on the rails. Blair becomes somewhat affected by it all and ends up getting weird. (164k) [1]
I originally discovered fanfiction for The Sentinel back in early 2002. Most of the stories I read back then I found by simply googling 'Sentinel' and 'fanfiction' or variations thereof. I started doing it again recently, just to see what stories came up, and rediscovered an author I first read way back then: Alexis Gunn.I've been reading through her stories again the past few days and wow, I really love them. She has a wonderful way with angst, and the ensuing relationship (when the boys finally work out all their problems) is so special and tender. The stories are beautifully written and packed with emotion, and Jim and Blair are beautifully drawn. I just finished reading Hippie Boy again, and it really made me feel incredibly emotional (as have most of her other stories). Other favourites are: The Thing (funny, tender and hot all at the same time), Boxcar Sandburg, and Gossip. But really, I like them all.
I've noticed, in reading through them (I still have one or two to go), that she has a tendency to switch character point of view mid-scene, which is why I made my earlier post about omniscient narration. On occasion I've read stories with shifting POV and found it distracting, but I've found in this writer's case that it doesn't detract from the story at all for me - in fact, I'd go as far as to say it enhances my experience as a reader. It makes the emotion between the characters that bit more tangible. There's no second-guessing - is Jim on board with this? Is Blair feeling what Jim thinks he's feeling? It makes the whole experience of those scenes much more vivid and satisfying.
Alexis Gunn's stories underline, for me, exactly what I am looking for when I read fanfiction, as opposed to published fiction. What I truly want out of it - and what I can't find anywhere else to the same degree - is the emotional experience stories like these give me. The characters are so alive and so real, their emotions leaping off the page and grabbing the reader by the throat. There is miscommunication and vulnerability, and over it all a hugely tender depiction of two people coming together through adversity to recognise their profound connection to each other. You get drawn right inside their heads and find out what makes them tick. Good slash (like these stories) does that for me; good hurt/comfort and smarm does it too.[2]
References
- ^ "A Good Read.... Rebel Dante's Recommended Slash Fiction from The Sentinel ..." Archived from the original on 2012-04-05.
- ^ "Slash author rec - Alexis Gunn". Archived from the original on 2014-04-17. Posted 16 January 2008.