Transfiguration

See also: Transfigurations (disambiguation).

Zine
Title:	Transfiguration
Publisher:	Duet Press, then Agent With Style
Editor:
Author(s):	Stormy Stormheller
Cover Artist(s):
Illustrator(s):
Date(s):	May 2005
Series?:	no
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	The Sentinel
External Links:	zine at the Duet Press page
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Transfiguration is a slash Sentinel fanzine. It is an AU 180-page novel written by Stormy Stormheller, and won the 2005 Huggy Award for Best Sentinel zine.

It has four color plates and over two dozen black and white screencaps.

Summary

From the zine's introduction "In the jungles of Peru, anthropology grad student Blair Sandburg is seized by evil drug lords and forced to work in a cocaine lab under life-threatening conditions. When an opportunity to escape presents itself, Blair doesn't hesitate. Using courage and cunning and a little help from an unforeseen ally, he escapes his evil captors only to find himself partnered with... a giant, man-killing jaguar on a mission. Together Blair and his furry companion travel an unpaved road through Peruvian rainforests and the dreamscape of the spirit lands, encountering myth, magic, truth and love."

Sample Gallery

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Excerpt

"Even pain and fear and hunger get old after a while, and Blair grew bored waiting for the next day to arrive. His clothing and hair had dried stiff and starchy with dirt. To pass time in the last of the light, he tried to work some of the snarls from his hair, which had grown long during his time in Peru. He unwound a bit of thread from a tear in his T-shirt and, ascertaining first that he couldn't eat it, used it to tie back his filthy tangles.

Blair was no longer tired, but hungry and sore and restless. It was too dark to explore, so he passed the time in painful yoga stretches and uncomfortable meditations. He was just thinking he might jerk off when cat's eyes appeared in the darkness, coming closer. Closer.

Something plopped in his lap. He jumped away, shrieking in surprise. Snatching up the lamp, he ordered quaking fingers find the flint lighter in his pocket and strike the lantern to life. The sparks spat in all directions as he swiped the flint across the magnesium bar repeatedly until the lantern thankfully, dutifully, provided a modicum of light. His eyes adjusted and he saw… a bunch of bananas? No. Not possible. He was already into the second one while his mind raced to deny what he'd read in the pictographs. No. No. You can't change a man into a…

The jaguar padded off again.

Reactions and Reviews

When a hunting party discovers the decaying ruins of an old manor, complete with a skeleton hidden under leaves and grass at its rusty gate, a certain Cascade Detective is summoned to help despite his cold and headache. Dosed up with natural remedies Ellison makes it to "Howland's Odyssey", Sandburg by his side, to join Cpt. Banks in the investigation. The rotting house, once the pride of a rich contractor, now refuses to give away its secrets, though. Only an old nickelodeon, when urged, plays Claire de Lune.

And then one of the beams of the building crashes down and buries Ellison, the screeching sounds of the dying nickelodeon the last thing he hears for a long time.

The Detective wakes up to discover he is the guest in a rich man's house, a beautiful woman inviting him to dinner even though he had been injured when falling off a shying horse and there are 18th century's clothes in the bedroom's drawers. When he runs into Sandburg, a weight is lifted from his heart: The young man was obviously not injured when the house collapsed. But Sandburg does not remember him - he has never met the Detective before, but is all eager to talk to him: Sandburg is an author, writing crime-stories.

The mystery unravels as the time passes, jealous, hatefilled siblings arguing over their heritage as well as loving, trying to make a run from "Howland's Odyssey" and Sandburg slowly falling in love with the man who has literally fallen into his life. A magical night in front of the nickelodeon, kissing and loving to the music of Claire de Lune makes Ellison realize that his dreams have come true. But schemes and greed lead to a terrible climax...

Again Ellison wakes, devastated, terrified, thinking there is still his lover's blood on his hands. But Sandburg is kneeling next to him, worried about him being unconscious for such a long time.

Together they watch the manor crumble into a heap of stones and tiles, after having exposed its secrets one last time. The biggest secret, though, is still waiting for Jim at home (where some surprises lurk, too: To discover how much of his dream has been an illusion, how much is going to be fulfilled...)

TM Alexander is able to create two different worlds in one novella. The pace of her story as well as the tone of her writing changes, as Ellison struggles to solve a mystery in Victorian times, his sometimes deliberately out-of-place phrasing a reminder that he does not belong into this era, even though his spirit guide insists he should stay.

Her beautiful conclusion: Jim and Blair are two souls that belong together no matter where or when in time they meet, no matter how long it takes them to face that truth together. This novella always warms my heart - a captivating story, terrific illos and wonderful writing, it is an all-time-fav of mine, full of heart-wrenching grief and very hot sex! If you like AU's, you'll love that one. (me, now going to reread that 'zine!)