Prosfic Rec Challenge Game

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

So it's been a while since we had any sort of Rec Challenge over here - we seem to have narrowed down to mostly Reading Room posts, which is fab in it's own way, but it'd be nice to have some other posts and recs again too!

This morning I was waking up over coffee, and as I often do was randoming through Circuit Archive when I came across a fic that I adored. I recced it quickly over at my own lj and then it occurred to me that it might be fun to have a Random Button Rec/Review Challenge! So...

... your mission, should you choose to accept it on this Friday, is to:

1. Pop over to The Circuit Archive and hit the Random button (fourth along in the menu bar at the top)

2. Read whatever fic you are given (if it's a really long one, and you only have a short coffee-break in which to read and play, then go back and hit Random again until one pops up that's a decent length for you!)

3. Write a quick review of the fic in a post here at CI5hq - it doesn't have to be a recommendation, you might have hated the story, but it's always good to know about things like that too!

4. If you can manage to include this header in your post, with a link to the story, then fab, but if not then just the title and author would work, and we can all find it from there for reading and comments...

I think it'd be rather good to have a flurry of Prosfic-recs(/non-recs! *g*) in our flists again... Please come and play! I shall have a go myself, in just a moment... let me find a cuppa... *g*

Prosfic Rec Challenge - Dark Alleys and Nameless Faces and Little Black Book by Hamble

[probodie.livejournal.com]

http://www.thecircuitarchive.com/tca/archive/20/littleblack.html
and companion piece http://www.thecircuitarchive.com/tca/archive/20/darkalleys.html

I've post two links because one is a companion piece to the other. A couple of short pieces I hadnt read before, but I was glad I did, although I do find myself wishing there was a third piece *g* But they work together well.

Being only short, it is hard to talk about it without giving away any spoilers, but she has written 'my boys' as I see them. There is a bit of banter, which I love, and a touch of angst in both stories and...well, I really liked it.

Sometimes More by Deborah Hicks

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Sometimes More by Deborah Hicks

Oooh, one of my favourite kinds of fic - it pulled me immediately, I was straight away part of the rush of feeling between our lads...

...and then it got a bit... soppy? Cliched? Mills-and-Boon-ish? Outspokenly sentimental? Don't tell us - show us, just like the lads do in the eps...

And Doyle is not "the smaller half of the team" - *headdesk* I know what the author's trying to say, but... *headdesk*

But then the ending is much better, and I was all smiling again at the second part of the final sentence!

So - yeah, worth reading for those few gem-ish moments... *g*

Dance While You Can by Alexandra

[solosundance.livejournal.com]

I love it when people suggest hitting random buttons :)

Good game, byslantedlight !

Dance While You Can by Alexandra


Well this is a neat little gay undercover first time fic and I had to giggle because I'm currently finishing up one of those myself!

I'd recommend this one if you like the lads dancing, for sure.  Me, I rather like the outcome of the undercover op and the fun the lads have with Cowley over it. 

And there is one line in the fic that made me laugh out loud.  I challenge you to identify which one it is!

Blues for a Winter's Day by Ashlea

[roven75.livejournal.com]

Blues for a Winter's Day by Ashlea

Alright, this is the one came up for me - not quite in a wintry or christmassy mood yet, but ah well.^^
I thought it was very well written, and I quite liked the conversations the lads have in this - true to character imo, and I can also imagine both men behaving like they do.

Liked the writing style, too. The story isn't very long but it sucks you right in and lets you ride on the flow and the tension Bodie and Doyle are feeling. The scene with 'kissing the hurt better' is cute. :) So yeah, we give this a thumbs up and recommend it as 'another relaxed read after work' *g*

Pros Rec Challenge -- Through the Heart by Dee

[the-other-sandy.livejournal.com]

Through the Heart by Dee.

It was a pretty standard 'first time' story. It wasn't poorly written by any means, but I've seen this same plot play out thousands of times across multiple slash fandoms. How much you enjoy this fic will probably depend on how often you've encountered this same plot before.

Prosfic Rec Challenge - A Dream Is a Wish by Lily

[cloudless-9193.livejournal.com]

My random button came up with this one:

A Dream Is a Wish by Lily

If it weren't for this game I wouldn't have read more than three paragraphs, I must admit.
It's not my kind of fic, Doyle is behaving childish at the beginning and very unlikely near the end.
The dream is weird, particularly the part with the knife (won't even think about it).
The whole fic leaves me cold, it doesn't touch me at all.

Prosfic Rec Challenge - If by Ashlea

[potztausend.livejournal.com]

I found something by Ashlea: "If"

www.thecircuitarchive.com/tca/archive/1/if.html

It's about the question: "How you would spend your last four minutes if they ever declared nuclear war anywhere?"

Bodie doesn't want to answer this question, and at last, after a funny dialogue ("What was the question?" "Who was the question." "Who what?") Doyle urged him to answer it. And we all know it will be the right answer... 

So they are having it off in the wood and in the bed and if they didn't have to sleep a bit, they would go on happily ever after.

Nice to read, this story.

Pros fic challenge - A Question of Trust by Rob

[cornishcat.livejournal.com]

(Oops - I don't know how to do 'links'!)

This is one of those stories that I probably wouldn't normally read to the end but I did persevere today so that I could give it a fair chance.

In my opinion, the writing style is flat and there are far too many explanations to allow my imagination any freedom. However, the fundamental flaw for me was that I didn't like either Bodie or Doyle ... they just weren't my lads.

Sorry Rob.

Prosfic Rec Challenge - Consensus by Melanie Athene

[firlefanzine.livejournal.com]

Two minutes to go.
No need to put a link.

Consensus

by Melanie Athene

"You're not going without backup," I argue. "And backup, as you bloody well know, means me."

"What about the old man, Ray? You know what he's like with his 'read the fine print' and 'you'll do as I say'."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Fuck him."

My bond with Bodie runs deeper than ink on a page. Our pact is written in blood and sealed with love. Undercover or under the covers, we're a matched set. God help the man who tries to come between us...

"I'd much rather fuck you," Bodie says softly.

And on this point, we firmly agree.

-- THE END --

July 2008


Yeah!
I wished they would do more often that 'written in blood and sealed with love' thing in fics and would kick Cowley more often into the ass!