The Reading Room

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

"Brass Tacks" by Gloria Lancaster

http://hatstand.slashcity.net/gloria/brass.html
http://www.thecircuitarchive.com/tca/archive/3/brasstacks.html

I am very grateful to a good friend of the Reading Room for this week's rec:

This is one of the older stories on the Hatstand, and has a hard-edged feel to it which I like. It is written first from Bodie’s POV, then Doyle’s, which also shows how each of them can get things wrong about the other, and the ending is satisfying although possibly a little too sugary-sweet. Not enough to ruin the rest of the fic though!

Comments

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh, I just read this over lunch, thinking that I'd probably forget the things I thought of by the time the post came up! *g*

It does have rather a hard edge to it, which I like in theory, but I'm not quite sure of the execution here... I think I ended up feeling that the hard edge came at the expense of Doyle's character to some extent - Bodie believes, and Doyle seems to think his own actions back it up, that Doyle doesn't really care about Bodie, and although I know this is proved wrong (to both Bodie and Doyle) we're never really given an idea of why Doyle might feel like that. Okay, he's very defensive about the idea of being called "gay" - but why? Without any hints, the only thing I can presume is that he grew up with that intolerance in him, and never managed to leave it behind. Trouble is, this isn't the Doyle that I see in the eps - I don't get the impression that he's prejudiced like that against any group. He tells Bodie off for racism, and he doesn't hesitate to defend Whatshisname and the Gay Youth Organisation in In the Public Interest - in fact it's Bodie who makes a slightly off comment about that - "My reputation remains intact" (actually to me he's being ironic there, so... *g*) Doyle even feels for Mickey Hamilton, who's murdered how many people - he seems to have quite a compassionate nature, so I just can't see him being so strongly anti-gay without any explanation for it... So I don't quite see Doyle as Doyle in this.

Oh - and he's red faced and panting from trying to lift Bodie out of the chair? What?! I get a touch of the frail-Doyle's here - I can't quite see the Doyle who shoves and fights his way through dozens of thick-set bad guys on Pros as being unable to shift Bodie - Bodie might be solid, but he's not that much bigger than Doyle, and even if he was - a fit CI5 agent at the top of his game unable to shift one man from a chair?!

Bodie... I like Bodie's matter of fact attitude to sex, and the slightly sad but practical way he deals with his idea that he'll never get Doyle to come round. I can't quite hear him seriously describing something as "smashing" - that's a bit jolly-hockey-sticks for our lad from Birkenhead, I'd've thought... Not that he wouldn't use the word, but there's something about his tone through this that sounds posher than I think he is, somehow - or at least portrays himself in the eps... *g* More proper in some ways...

I like that they mirror each other's way of thinking about the recuperation centre, and about each other - "smug, arrogant, just how he liked his..." (sorry - paraphrase that, can't get to story again right now!)

Looking forward to seeing what other people think of this one!

[firlefanzine.livejournal.com]

Other people think that this story is 'different'!

They are not yet sure if it's OOC, but nonetheless they think that it's absolutely fabulous.

- but they are not sober enough to explain it properly at the very moment...

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

LOL!!

I just replied to you about "Snowman in a Dark Coat" in an earlier post. Better wait till you've sobered up to read that too.

[firlefanzine.livejournal.com]

All clear this morning! ;-)

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

he's red faced and panting from trying to lift Bodie out of the chair...I get a touch of the frail-Doyle's here There is a bit, but I read this as Doyle (when we see his pov) being conscious that Bodie is nearly naked and he doesn't want to manhandle him too much, in case Bodie gets the wrong idea, so he tries to shove him. But how did he think he was going to transport him to the bedroom without him waking up? It's an odd scene, but to me it conveyed rather well the awkwardness of their relationship.

About Doyle's anti-gay attitude, again I read that as Doyle not wanting to be gay himself, rather than homophobia. He's continued to work with Bodie and been quite sympathetic to Bodie's predicament.

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

Off-topic PS

that's a bit jolly-hockey-sticks for our lad from Birkenhead

Bosscat is going to Birkenhead for work on Saturday, which gives me the perverse idea he'll bump into LC's friends and relations. Since he told me where he's going, I have resisted the urge to squee, "That's where Lewis Collins comes from!".

[angel-ci5.livejournal.com]

he's very defensive about the idea of being called "gay" - but why?

I see it more as he genuinely thinks it doesn't apply to him... it’s something he's never considered before, simply because he's always been straight and never fancied a bloke before. It takes a little time for him to adjust to it all, I think.

I don't get the impression that he's prejudiced like that against any group. He tells Bodie off for racism,

And yet in FF it's Doyle who stereotypes a black man in a flash car (and Bodie doesn't), and in BR he calls the Arabic guy "Sinbad"... sorry, I'm veering OT!

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

Irresistible to compare with "What Friends are For" by Georgina Kirrin a couple of weeks ago. I like this better for the timing - we have both povs of exactly the same events. Only disadvantage is that the ending is spoiled from half-way through.

Like that fic too, Bodie comes over a bit more sophisticated and articulate than Doyle, who has more 'rough-edges' somehow - apart from that odd lapse into being a connoisseur of regional cheeses near the end.

I had prob's with characterisation too. Bodie and Doyle could be like that, it's just that - they're not.

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the rec. I hadn't read this one before.

Well, I really enjoyed the first part, but... I didn't feel the need to reread the same story from a different POV. I'd have preferred a give and take or a switching of sections, which I was actually expecting, rather than a rehash of the same story from another POV. It's not a favourite style of mine in general, having nothing to do with this particular story. But once I'd read Bodie's story, I felt no desire to read further.

It was written nicely, but I wasn't crazy about Doyle in this story. Bodie seem to come across as arrogant. I believe Bodie has his moments, but it was just a touch off to me. I did enjoy the first half from Bodie's POV. I admit I started Doyle's POV but didn't finish.

[firlefanzine.livejournal.com]

"...rather than a rehash of the same story from another POV. It's not a favourite style of mine in general..."
Really?
I love to read the same event from different POVs!
I wouldn't mind to be told from a third involved person, or maybe from the narrator!
Because each time you get new informations, well you literally get the 'new point of view', and that often makes a whole new story of it.
The result is that I reread the whole story, that I think about it.
Yes! I work with the story a little bit longer than usual!

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

Oh, sure. It's just me. In fact, I've written a few stories with this style in another fandom back in the day. It's nothing against the story at all. I think this author writes well and I enjoyed it. I'm sure it was just me being tired. I wouldn't write it myself this way now, but there's nothing wrong that's for sure. I think the bottom line is by the time I got to the end of Bodie's part, I was satisfied with the outcome. I'll give it another try one of these days because the same story can feel differently on reread.

[greengerbil.livejournal.com]

Y'know, that's really interesting, because the first time I read this story, in a British multi-fandom zine ('Uncharted Waters... erm... can't remember which issue!) there was only Bodie's POV! I was quite surprised to find it online years later with a whole extra bit. Delighted, mind you - but surprised.

I wonder if originally there was only ever supposed to be Bodie's POV, and then the writer added Doyle's POV later?

[firlefanzine.livejournal.com]

"I wonder if originally there was only ever supposed to be Bodie's POV, and then the writer added Doyle's POV later?"
But the name of the stories is 'Brass' and 'Tacks' - don't they belong together then?

(Maybe it was a funny kind of cliffhanger... :-))

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

I didn't feel the need to reread the same story from a different POV. I'd have preferred a give and take or a switching of sections

I didn't have a problem with the same scenes, but I would have liked there to be more surprises when we see Doyle's pov. It seems that Bodie has read him quite well, so when we see Doyle's pov, it just confirms what we already know from Bodie. I was hoping there would be something completely unexpected in Doyle's motivations that Bodie hadn't known about.

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

Just dropping in (I'll be away and offline again next week and probably till Christmas) - I quite enjoyed this but like some of the other commenters I didn't feel it was quite Ray Doyle! There was a sense of frailness - not just physical (the chair incident) but mental - a sense that he won't confront things, which is not something I have ever thought about him. Also, although I don't mind having more than one version of the same story and can even enjoy the differing p.o.v. I'd prefer the ending to appear only once - at the end.

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

I'd prefer the ending to appear only once - at the end. Agreed. It would be nice to have one extra scene in the second part that that we didn't already know about fromt he first part.

You'll be missed, of course! but I hope you're doing something fun while offline. *g*

[firlefanzine.livejournal.com]

Not just a bit OOC, I'm afraid. Something like that sounds not Bodie and Doyle like:
”For someone who cares so little about me, he hates it when there's any reference to those times. One day I asked him about it and he told me it was because he would feel the same for anyone. I didn't react to that until I got home and threw a milk bottle at the kitchen wall.”
Bodie’s often repeated statements that "Ray cares so little about him" and later his incapability to fight for his own life when he was shot, seem a bit too exaggerated for me.

But strangely I enjoyed the story immensely! :-)

It’s very intense and it’s very different...

Bodie is so in desperation, and Doyle is so incapable to show that he really cares for Bodie’s sake,
- but nonetheless I felt an unholy pleasure when Bodie says:
“Look, I'm too tired to play the sweet seduction of a virgin scene, so just strip off and let's get this over and done with then I can go back to sleep.”

And I cried for Bodie when he was lying in that ditch, without any hope: ”nothing to stay awake for is there?”

The story provokes compassion, laughter and grief.

I could imagine the author loved to have her own ‘wicked way’ with our heroes but also with her readers! :-)

Cheers! ;-)

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

Bodie is so in desperation, and Doyle is so incapable to show that he really cares
Quite. You wonder how they manage to work together at all with this atmosphere between them.

Sounds like you liked it as a fic with original characters. *g*

[firlefanzine.livejournal.com]

"Sounds like you liked it as a fic with original characters. *g*
Must be! ;-)
And that doesn't work with many fics - maybe also with Redemption by Kate MacLean.

[magenta-blue.livejournal.com]

I had to abandon this fic halfway through... it didn't seem like Doyle (as mentioned the puffing to lift Bodie out of a chair) and it didn't sound like Bodie. The 'sacrificial virgin' scenario never works for me either. Of course, it could have got better as it went along, but I stopped reading. Too many fics, so little time. Next! :)

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

Well done to get that far. Know what you mean about so many fics, so little time.

But the device here made me at least start on Doyle's part because I wanted to see how he was portrayed, and as I mentioned above, to see if there was a surprise lurking in his motivations.

Hope you like the next fic you read better!

[smirra.livejournal.com]

With the writers ability this could have been material for a longer piece.
What is difficult for me to like this one as much as other fics from the author (On guard by example) is that the two povs are in their cynical view of life too similar, I can hardly see a difference between Bodie and Doyle here. I also can't see Doyle as vulnerable and weepy as he is here.
Maybe it's one of the author's early writings.