All Duncan/Methos. Well, almost.
Obligatory Content Warning
These stories are slash, meaning they involve homosexual relationships, and some of them are quite graphic. If you are too young to be allowed to read this or if you are likely to be offended by the subject matter, take yourself hence.
· Ladonna
King
One of my favorite authors in both
Highlander and X-Files. Her style is never less than elegant, her characterizations
are compelling, and she has a wonderful habit of writing long stories in a
short amount of time.
Still-Heart features ancient demons, Egyptian priests, well-done horror, a fascinating Methos... Lovely. My only quibble is that Ladonna goes slightly overboard on the mythical front towards the end, but I honestly think that's just me. <g>
Found and Lost and the sequel Lost are as close to being perfect Highlander slash as anything can be. Ladonna unfolds an utterly convincing alternate universe branching off from canon at the juncture of Duncan's vision in To Be/Not To Be.
For something short and dark in the best of ways, try Ladonna's For Thou Art Fair, the tale of the last temptation of Duncan MacLeod. Also, don't miss More Room, which answers the question of whether there really is more room inside the oldest surviving immortal, and Fair and Bright, in which we are given an explanation for Methos' notable absence during the Ahriman debacle. And lastly, Hush gives an interesting answer to the question where baby immies come from.
· Sylvia
Volk
(No, I am not her, but don't think
I don't bemoan the fact daily.)
Sylvia Volk writes gen, more or less
(though I don't think the heavy subtext is merely a figment of my slash-honed
imagination <g>). Her stories are wonderfully written, incredibly well
thought-out – particularly in terms of characterization – and very well-researched.
An excellent author with a clear and vivid vision of Methos.
The Good Student is my favorite story by this author. Tall Tale (Part 1, Part 2), Gogmagog (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4) and Lost Horizon (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4) come in a close second.
You should also read more about Methos Before Duncan in She, or The Slave Girl and Pen and Sword, which features the most interesting version of Fitz I have yet to encounter in fanfic as an added bonus.
· MacGeorge
"Wolf at the Door" takes up a thread
from the HL series "Raven". Amanda successfully ushered Nick Wolfe into his
immortal life... The only problem now being that Nick is angry with her for
killing him without asking first. So who will be his teacher, if not her –
Duncan, who doesn't trust himself with another student after Richie, or Methos,
who doesn't want that kind of responsibility but *does* think a new student
would be good for Duncan? - "Holy Ground" is the sequel to "Wolf at the Door".
Also very good, though I prefer the first story.
Changing Spots is technically a gen story, but then again, not really. A very interesting exploration of the needs Methos and Duncan fulfill in each other's lives and the manifold difficulties of playing and assigning roles.
· Kat
Allison
An amazing writer with superb style,
writing that rarest of creatures, a truly alien Methos. I particularly recommend
One for the Road,
September Song and Strata.
· Carson
Kearns – Lost in the Loving
A must read from a writer who seems
to know Scotland very well and who doles out romance and angst in perfect
balance. Some nice flashes of Death showing through the every-day civilized
facade Methos wears. Bloody relationship wars, hopelessly in love immortals...
What more can you ask?
· Merry
Lynne – Resolution
and Intervention
Duncan wrestles with the problem of
reconciling Methos' past with the man he is now. Methos goes Hunting. So does
Cassandra. And best of all, we are given an answer to the question what it
would take to make Methos revert to Death. Sadly, it looks as though Completion,
the third story in this series, won't ever be written, though we shouldn't
give up hope entirely. Just when things were getting *really* interesting...
· rac
– The Configurations
Series
An epic initially weighed down slightly
by a match-making Mary Sue, who can however be easily borne because the story
is so good – and one of the nice things about this story is that it keeps
getting better. Unfortunately, this is another work that has been unfinished
for so long I've all but given up hope of ever seeing it completed. Read it
anyway, the story is well worth the frustration of the missing ending.
· Maygra
de Rhema
The
Shield Brothers Arc is Maygra's Magnum Opus and a classic of HL
slash fiction. It has interesting plots, an intense, conflict-laden relationship,
and a great deal of passion; it will suck you in and make you read till the
break of dawn without ever noticing the time. I do have one quibble, though:
the dynamics of the relationship are re-interpreted constantly, meaning that
issues that tower sky-high one moment remain unresolved because they suddenly
dissolve into nothing.
In Killing the Cat, Methos and Duncan are having a difficult time of making their relationship work – and it doesn't help that Richie's also struggling with some issues. I especially enjoy seeing Methos as a teacher.
· Maygra
de Rhema and T. Botta – Gather
Thy Cares
A tale of the Gathering building on
the basic premise of Deadly
Allies and the sequel Between
the Shadows by T. Botta, though you don't have to know these stories in
order to understand this one.
· Maygra
de Rhema and Rachael Sabotini
– Blood Ties
Also based on T. Botta's stories,
Blood Ties does wonderful things with Quickenings, aggression, blood-lust,
plain old lust and immortal nature. You have to pay dearly for all this good
stuff by occasionally reading about Lestat, but no rose is without thorns.
· Maygra
de Rhema and Meghan Black – Edge
of Darkness
Re-telling of Comes a Horseman and
Revelation 6:8 featuring serious semi- and non-con sex. An interesting view
of Kronos. The story Descent
of the Muse by the same authors explores the relationship between Methos
and Byron; in terms of characterization, it's definitely an AU for me, but
I enjoyed it anyway.
·
Andie P. – Rite
of Fire
A great Weird Quickening, wonderful
Methos quips, a lovely Duncan-Methos relationship, and Methos manipulating
his little heart out. Sadly, the story isn't finished and likely never will
be, but what there is of it is excellent.
· Rachael
Sabotini – Winds
of Circumstance and Gulf
of Desire
A wonderful re-telling of the episode
"Methos" and what happens afterwards.
· Rachael
Sabotini and MacGeorge – Revenant
A long-forgotten sin from Duncan's
past rears its ugly head. Literally. Slightly predictable, but *very* good,
a horror-touched story of love, death and revenge with an interesting non-Mary-Sue
character and many other things to speak for it. Don't miss it.
· Mairead
Triste – Shades
of Grey, Eclipse
and Coming Back to
Life
Very unusual characterization, heed-the-warnings
dark, intense, haunting... I loved it, and if you enjoy the dark side of the
slash spectrum, chances are that you will, too.
· Aristide
– Consent of Twain
A classic Matchmaking Amanda story
from Mairead Triste's alter ego.
· Beck
McLaughlin – Ragnarok
Unusual epic tale unfolding a vast,
mythic alternate vista on Immortality and the rules of the Game. Very different
(hardly has the "feel" of a HL story), very well written and well worth a
look.
· Dominique
Modiano – Che
Uomo
Methos and Duncan trying to manipulate
and/or understand each other with mixed and sporadic success. Much wrangling
for advantage and mini-intrigues galore.
· Bone
– The Interlunation Series
Interlunation,
Those Who Trespass,
and An Uncommon Want
are lovely, subtle, romantic and not to be missed – particularly the last
one.
· Rimau
In The
Matchmaker, Connor MacLeod gives his perspective on this Adam Pierson
person as they both try to save Duncan from yet another fine fix he's gotten
himself into. I loved watching Connor piece together elements of Methos' personality
from what slips out behind Adam's mask. The
Hunt tells the same story from Methos' perspective.
Dos Toros switches point of view constantly and gives us many different perspectives on Duncan and Methos as they dance a traditional Spanish dance for Amanda's birthday. It's basically a very well-done PWP (almost) without sex.
· Tessa
Rae – The What If Series
What if Duncan had *not* instinctively
realized that Methos wasn't Adam Pierson, wet-behind-the-ears immie with overdeveloped
attitude? Some very nice bits, such as the longer life of the Pierson identity
and the inevitable problems of a relationship between a Watcher and an extremely
high-profile immortal, and some silly bits that I wish she'd left out but
that don't lessen my overall enjoyment of the series. Very nice work with
Quickenings, the immortal pheromone substitute.
· Alexandra
– Parallel World Series (Part
1, Part
2, Part
3, Part
4, Part
5)
An AU. Before the episode "Methos",
Joe Dawson discovers that the Watchers may have been infiltrated by an immortal
who's using Watcher data to hunt. He asks Duncan for help.
· Moonpuppy
– To Survive
That unlikeliest of things, a Virgin!Methos
story. I don't quite buy it, but Moonpuppy comes amazingly close to actually
pulling it off and weaves a very enjoyable tale of the oldest living virgin
in history.
· Monica
Anthony – The
Domesticity Series
Well-written angst and romance. Also
have a look at the Tribal
Rituals Series, which starts out as a series of PWPs, but turns into a
not flawless but rather interesting plotted story. The angsty vignettes in
the Dilation
Series are nice, as well.
Miscellaneous
· The D/M slash zines Futures Without End 2 and Futures Without End 3 are available online in their entirety, beautiful artwork and all.
· Swords
at Sunset (Schmarlequin Contest #1)
A contest in which the participating
authors had to place a D/M slash story in a stereotypical Harlequin romance
setting. The results were very mixed IMO. My favorites are Entry
#2 by pander blue, a funny pirate story, and Entry
#7 by JiM and Piper, a not particularly funny pirate story featuring pre-reformation
Methos.
· The
Tempering Forge (Schmarlequin Contest #2)
The second Schmarlequin contest had
a number of set plot elements and also produced some nice results, along with
some not so nice ones. I especially like Entry
#6 by Laura Mason – a variation on "Jane Eyre", as unlikely as it sounds
– and Entry #10
by MacGeorge.
On a lighter note...
· Diana
DeShaun – Double
Date
Unabashed silliness leaning towards
the slapstick end of the humor spectrum. I think the first of the sequels,
Boytoys (though not
the others) is even funnier, but then I'm weird. <g> Just a little something
as a break from all the angst and seriousness.
· The
Krell – The
Seduction of the Desert Prince
It's the obligatory AU soap opera
involving slavery, horses, mysterious desert princes, spirited young highland
warriors, long-haired men with gleaming muscles and long, err, swords – love,
sex and betrayal in a romantic desert setting. A work in progress, very well-written
by a collective of some of the best HL writers.
· Suze
– Fly on the Wall
Funny, very short vignette.
· Zanz
– The Prize
Methos wins a prize. Gen – maybe.
Definitely hilarious.
And now for something completely different!
· Jane
Mortimer – A Winter's
Tale
Yes, I admit it, I have actually read
one story that flirts with the Methos/Joe premise... Okay, so I've read several,
but this is the one I really like.