Fics rec - Masterplan, and To Derby, by Laura

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Title: "Masterplan" and "To Derby"
Author: Laura
Link to story: ProsLib and also Masterplan and To Derby
Zine: None that I'm aware of

I've just read two excellent stories from the ProsLib CD, and I don't think I would have found them except by stumbling across them, so I thought I'd share my discovery. *g*

Couple of warnings first:

1) If someone described them to me, I probably would have said Ew, no thanks. They're both a bit left-of-centre, in that the main characters, through whom we see Bodie and Doyle, aren't anything to do with CI5. In fact they're family members - Bodie's son, in Masterplan, and Bodie's father and Doyle's mother in To Derby. Bear it in mind, and read out of the corner of your eye if you have to, but I really think they're worth reading. Ever so nicely done, both of them.

2) They're gen, despite being on ProsLib, which I thought was all slash for no apparent reason. And even though there is more by this author, it's on the gen site Prosfanfic. In a bizarre turn of events, she also turns out to be the author who wrote Bodie's Diary, which I've also recced here at at CI5hq. So - she's pretty good, even if she probably won't let them sleep together... *sighs*

Masterplan
by Laura
This story is told from the point of view of the son Bodie never knew he had. I'm not spoilering anything by saying that we meet him only because Bodie is dead - we're told so in the very first line of the fic. The year is 1995, the place is Camden Town, and "Matt" is so real it's heartbreaking. It is a story about him, but we see Doyle through his eyes, a glimpse of Cowley, and Bodie through all of them. I love the characterisation Laura's given to each of them - dead true, they seem, you can see our lads shining out.

To Derby
by Laura
Another see-the-lads-through-others'-eyes fic, and although I wasn't drawn in as far to the main narrators (Bodie's dad first, and then Doyle's mum) it was fascinating to see the teenage boys through the concerns of their parents. Again, Laura managed to pull their essences through time - backwards in this one - so that you could see where our Bodie and Doyle might have come from. Fascinating...

I have to confess that before I realised they were gen stories, I was looking out for glimpses of their relationship, and possibly reading a bit more in Doyle's sorrow than the author meant there to be (*g*) but even though I wouldn't want to go to the non-slash place over and over again, they were good reads for now and then, and recommended in that vein!

Comments

[moorspede.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! I was desperate for some recs, jumped here and here they were. Much appreciated!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh I'm glad! I was thinking it had been a bit quiet around here, recs wise!

[brenk.livejournal.com]

Well... having done a rec for Laura's footie story a while back (Bastard in the Black), you know I'd read her grocery lists.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I absolutely remembered that too, when I realised it was that Laura - I just didn't make any connection at first, cos I know your Laura is gen, and I found this on ProsLib which I thought was specifically slash...

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

Oh, thanks for these recommendations. I'm sure I read somewhere else years ago, that Masterplan was the favourite story of the person who'd recc'd it, so it *does* sound good. And, purely in the interests of a Pros History, I think the author also goes by the name of Dinah (I think), just to complicate matters.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Always liking the Pros History - thanks for that! I do seem to have vaguely heard those two names together actually, though I wouldn't have remembered until you said so... *g*

[paris7am.livejournal.com]

BSL, (sorry about that slip...)

I probably shouldn't be writing just now - is there some applicable phrase, similar to don't drink and phone? for don't stay up all night reading an amazing story and then write about it immediately?

I read To Derby last night, and enjoyed it - a good story. Then tonight, I started Masterplan, just the normal read a few pages while I can keep my eyes open sort of thing. But, now it's 2:30 in the morning, I finished it, and I can't keep it in...whatever *it* is. Do I dance around laughing or give in and weep and pound the ground with my fists?

This is an amazing story. I've been swept away. It's just that inspires so many contradictory emotions, you know? The thrill of reading words which present a most beloved topic in a new way, a quirky thrilling pinpointed way which is brilliant and makes you laugh and see the beauty in the details. The tightrope balance of this plot and the adeptness with which it's handled. The intellectually pleasing way in which details from different genres all get tied in together in unexpected places. The sadness of feeling that perhaps this scenario is actually quite a plausible one, and the path that leads you down. The sadness of knowing the story ends, has to end, should end, but like Matt you want more - why now when he's gone? we *want* him. Anyway, anyhow, even through others, even when he's gone. Her depiction of Doyle is so perfect, so poignant... I'm going to cry just thinking about it.

Thank you so much for pointing this author and story out. Many many thanks.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

*g* No worries!

Isn't it a wonderful story? It really does pull many different emotions from you... and especially the one where you want him to come back! And the layer of sadness that lies all around Doyle, in contrast to the layer of wonder and exploring-his-world that lies around Matt... *sighs*