Strange Loops

Fraser/Kowalski Fanfiction
Title:	Strange Loops
Author(s):	Aukestrel
Date(s):	2001
Length:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	due South
External Links:	Strange Loops at auk | fiction Archived version
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Strange Loops is a Fraser/RayK story by AuKestrel. As of 2006, it was a WIP.

Reactions and Reviews

aukestrel has been around in this fandom for quite a while. She's authored terrific stuff (if you haven't read her Near Wild Heaven cycle, well, you haven't lived) and she consistently produces smart and complex stuff. But nothing in her other posted work prepared me for the sheer genius of "Strange Loops". It's an AU in which RayK is an eccentric microbiologist on the brink of finding a cure for Alzheimer's, Fraser is an embittered grant writer (who smokes and swears!) and other dS characters (like Victoria and Mark Smithbauer and pizza delivery man Sandor) pop up in interesting and unexpected ways. The mark of a truly great AU is to put the characters in strange situations and still make you believe they are the same characters we know and love; Auk takes things to the nth degree by setting her story in the cloistered and dangerous world of high-level scientific research. It's about as far from the cops-and-robbers (and Mounties) world of due South as you could imagine and yet, somehow, it's still a dS story.

Someone really needs to write some meta (or perhaps a graduate paper) on the myriad amount of dS AUs set in academia: Fraser and RayK have been archeologists and English professors and vulcanologists and queer theory experts in some incredibly well-written and diverse stories. I think this is the first such story I've read that really captures the cutthroat nature of university politics. I did my MA in English and Cultural Studies so I wasn't exactly in line for the tremendous amount of grant money and prestige inherent in scientific research, but Auk made the financial and political machinations of that world seem completely familiar and just as frustrating to the reader as it is for her characters. I particularly liked Auk's take on Ray as a troubled, twitchy genius who suffers from dyslexia and justifiable paranoia, and Fraser as the methodical, analytical whiz kid who helps Ray put his life in order and coaxes him out of his shell. Auk swaps character traits between Fraser and Ray with remarkable skill and ease; only in an AU this well-conceived and well-written could you get away with having Fraser teach Ray to swear and make it believable. Moreover, this story is one of the best examples of show-don't-tell storytelling you're likely to encounter in a fic of this length and scope - the relationship between Fraser and Ray evolves in Fraser's limited first-person narration (Auk gives excellent Fraser in this story) and yet you completely understand what's going through Ray's head even though we're never shown or even told what he's thinking.

Anyway, it's a long story and it has footnotes (in APA style, no less!) but it's one of the best dS AUs out there, and believe me, that is one competitive field. I can't provide an excerpt or even a direct link to the story, but get Auk's password and search out this story on her site (just look under the "Snippets and WIPs" link for "Strange Loops" and follow the links to get the .pdf file). It'll be worth it!

It's unfinished but I circle back to it every year or so because I love the characterizations of RayK and Fraser so much. (I don't think this is online anymore)