Reading Room XIV - Pros and the Supernatural

[anna060957.livejournal.com]

Fire by PFL

Apologies if I’ve butted in a bit by posting early. I’m now working tomorrow night, so I thought better early than late ...

I had never read this story until now although admire and enjoy PFL’s writing. This link takes you to the individual story, but the original link in the list took you to an online zine containing five stories – all of which are worth reading.



“Fire” starts with Bodie and Doyle holed up in a ruined croft (croft is a Scottish term for a small area of land which would include the crofter’s dwelling), following a car accident. Or rather Bodie driving off the road to avoid “something”. His recollection is vague. Both are injured and Doyle’s injury to his leg appears to be life-threatening. I’m not totally convinced that he would have survived the blood loss, but that’s the joy of writing fiction I guess!

There was an initial panic in my mind that Doyle was going to die and there had been no helpful warnings/spoilers so I very naughtily went to the last page (I was reading this on my Kindle). I know, it’s a very bad thing to do, but I do it. I then became very confused. The last page was, of course, not the ending to “Fire” but the ending to the final story in the zine. So I had my comeuppance! Just in case you need reassurance, Doyle doesn’t die!

In some respects this story has a very small supernatural element. The implication that “something” made them leave the road and crash is never satisfactorily explained even though there is a tale of an unexplained death in the croft and the fact that Bodie was not the only driver to leave the road at that point as explained later in Cowley's office.

Apparently, Bodie's is not the first car to go off the road just there. They're thinking about possibly putting up a guard rail of some type."

"I dare say, and they'll still be talking about it ten years from now. Any sign of why three-seven went off the road?"

"No. There were skid marks, so he did try to brake, but there was no obvious reason, other than possibly trying to take the curve too quickly."

The road is located in a remote area of Scotland with a lack of communication typical of that era and, indeed, area. There’s lightning and darkness, but I never felt a particular threat to the boys.

The background to their stranded circumstances is a hint of an operation which should have been relatively routine degenerating into a much more dangerous situation. This explains the lack of back-up and gives the writer the opportunity to have them stranded and injured for long enough to examine, discuss and finally understand their complex relationship. Finally, it’s all very simple, they are meant to be together!

PFL takes the opportunity to reveal and explore characters as well as highlight Bodie’s survival techniques and medical training. Doyle’s soul-searching and the dialogue are well written and keep the reader’s attention. I felt that the characterisation was good and although perhaps not a story I will re-read, I enjoyed it and its very satisfactory, happy ending. Apologies for being so shallow!

So, did you like it?
Did you feel a lack of any tangible (!) supernatural elements?
Do you like a happy ending?

Comments

[golden-bastet.livejournal.com]

<brief note>

Well, but how they got out of the fire is never explained, either. In everything that's revealed during the story, Bodie isn't in shape to carry Doyle outside.

I thought the supernatural was extremely subtle - which was kind of refreshing. :-)

[anna060957.livejournal.com]

I think I have to accept that I do need explanations (which anyone who I've ever beta'd for will know!), and clearly the level of subtleness here was too much for me!!

I look forarad to your not-brief note!

[firlefanzine.livejournal.com]

"PFL takes the opportunity to reveal and explore characters as well as highlight Bodie’s survival techniques and medical training. Doyle’s soul-searching and the dialogue are well written and keep the reader’s attention. I felt that the characterisation was good and although perhaps not a story I will re-read, I enjoyed it and its very satisfactory, happy ending."

Where shall I sign? :-)
A very good review. Thank you!

IMO the supernatural elements are too 'subtle' (thanks golden_bastet for that term!), IF there is a story about it, I don't need horror or something like that, just a little hint of an explanation.

And a happy ending is absolutely required! (And I read endings as well when I'm not sure...)
The story may be dark and even desperate - but in the end B+D should end alive and together and happy! :-)

[anna060957.livejournal.com]

You're welcome and thank you!

I wonder if in reccing this story, I've understood in myself why I don't normally read supernatural/paranormal, etc, fiction - I don't really get it!

Thank you for commenting.

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

I liked it. I don't mind not having everything explained. I do that myself. It's fun having something to mull over.

I didn't feel it lacked supernatural elements because I liked how we're shown Bodie taking care of Doyle.

Yes, I want a happy ending. I'm not a fan of sad or (more annoying to me) ambiguous endings. *bg* I actually don't mind an upbeat but somewhat unresolved ending, which I think is different than ambiguous.

Thanks!

[anna060957.livejournal.com]

Thank you for commenting.

I didn't realise all the benefits of The Reading Room until now - it's shown me (and I ought to be old enough to have realised this by now!) in detail just what I need from fiction. I don't like amibiguity and I have to have a happy ending - clearly a woman of simple pleasures.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Again, I'm aware that the author is out there, active on lj and possibly reading this, so... *waves*

I find this story a little frustrating, to be honest. I like the ending, especially when Bodie and Doyle are talking to each other via the nurse! But I think it's one of those long stories that's just desperate to burst out of what it's been written as (which, to be fair, was the Discovered on All Hallow's Eve (http://discoveredinalj.livejournal.com/tag/halloween) challenge). In many ways it's really a snippet from a longer story: there's been an operation involving homegrown terrorists and bodies in a safehouse, a haunted croft with an evil reputation, and Bodie and Doyle have begun a relationship but something has gone wrong that needs resolving. The only part of this story included in Fire is the resolution of the lads' relationship, which is fine, but... I'd like the rest as well, please!

In particular I'd like more about the supernatural element, if this is to be described as a supernatural story. Of course we don't have to label everything, but I think without a bit more development it's almost as if the supernatural in the story is a convenient plot device to get the lads into an accident, and nothing more - so I don't quite believe in it. On the other hand, if it'd been a more intrinsic part of the story, with a build up and then some closure, I would have felt more... complete.

The way the operation has been crammed into the story was also a bit difficult for me to read, more as if the author felt it was imperative to include the information and adding it as exposition via Bodie's hazy memory and the Murphy/Cowley exchange was the only means available. Again - I wanted more - or perhaps less, because the operation isn't the focus of the story.

So maybe, for me, it's that the focus of this story isn't clear enough... should I be interested in the lads? Well of course - but if I'm interested in the lads, then it's actually their glitching relationship that I want to know more about, and how they felt escaping the fire, how they saved each other, and we're not told that. If I'm interested in the supernatural element, then I'm not told who or why or how it's resolved, or how much Bodie really is open to it through his grandmother, just that there is something supernatural. And if I'm interested in the operation itself, then all I've been told is what happened at the end, not anything about it. So... as you'd expect from PFL this is well-written, but I feel there's just not enough of it to satisfy me on the level of a story...

As for happy endings - I do like a happy ending! But I'm also happy to read sad endings and ambiguous endings now and then, because for me it's not knowing the ending that makes it sweeter. If I know how something's going to resolve itself, if it's a given that they'll end up happily ever after, then something's taken away from the story, for me - why am I reading it? I'd be better off reading pwp (porn without plot), or a curtain fic, or a gen operation story. There is, for instance, a zine publisher who insists on happy endings for all her zine stories, and I don't think I'v ever read one of her zines, let alone bought it, because... why? I already know what's going to happen - they're going to live happily ever after - so I'd only be getting half a story each time. Same if I'm "warned" that a story is a death story (for instance) - now I know what's going to happen, so why bother reading it...?

I'm assuming that you know there's a sequel to this story, by the way... *g*

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I'm assuming that you know there's a sequel to this story, by the way... *g*

Is there? I may even have it but I'm so behind in reading it's not funny. What's the title and where it is, please.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It's listed at the top of the Circuit Archive story - is that the link you used to read the story?

Written for the "Discovered on All Hallow's Eve" challenge on the discoveredinalj livejournal community. The sequel to this story is Blood.

And the link to the sequel is here: Blood (http://www.thecircuitarchive.com/tca/archive/17/blood.html).

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

Thanks. It turned out I had the story, just as I had already saved "Fire." Both were from the Circuit Archive, I was just too dumb to look at the top of the story. *g*

[anna060957.livejournal.com]

As usual, BSL, you've commented in depth and comprehensively - thank you. I thought I'd have a quick look this morning before going to work (having got home too late last night) and found you guys have got on very well without me! I'll spend time this evening on commenting, but for now ...

Although I realised (and mentioned although perhaps not as succinctly as your description) that this was part of a group of stories, I didn't know there was a sequel ... which I will happily read.

I'll be back!

[anna060957.livejournal.com]

Hopefully the author will wave back and maybe acknowledge all the hints about writing more!

Your analysis (as always) is in depth and thoughtful. I felt the story stands alone quite happily, but you are quite right about the potential for a much longer read. It is, as you say, part of a challenge and makes up one of a number of similarly themed stories – all of which are worth reading. The operation which went wrong and why Scotland – although there’s probably a Cowley connections there. I don’t know if PFL is British, but it may be that Scotland was her only choice for a remote area?

I don’t particularly choose to read or watch anything with a supernatural element. I felt that even Bodie’s childhood recollections were just that, childhood stories told to susceptible children to make sure they ate their greens or went to bed nicely. This, along with the unexpected development of the “routine” operation, the remote croft, etc, are all plot devices to get the boys in a position to then explore their relationship. I’m not a writer, but I would guess that is exactly how a story is planned.

I didn’t realise there was a sequel, so will be getting a look at that as soon as possible.

I’ll have to disagree about knowing the ending. That doesn’t spoil the story for me at all. I even read the last page of “My Sister’s Keeper” having been expressly told not to by my sister! It’s a bit like watching all the “extras” on the DVD – I really do want to know how they made Avatar, how did James Bond’s car roll seven times, was Harry Potter really underwater all that time ...?!

Thanks for commenting.

[heliophile-oxon.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I actually find this one of the few supernatural stories that really sets my hair on end. Maybe it's the Blair Witch-style understatement. I don't often go for supernatural in Pros (or at all, come to that) but I find the supernatural element in this one genuinely creepy. (disclosure: I haven't re-read it just now and am writing from memory)

[anna060957.livejournal.com]

That's really interesting although I would never have linked it to the Blair Witch Project - which incidently made me feel sicksea!

Thank you for commenting.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I really liked this. And what I really liked is the way the supernatural element was used. Was there something going on, or was it just Bodie's concussion, mixed with tales and warning from his youth? Like "The Haunting of Hill House," you never really know if it's tricks of the spirits or tricks of the mind.

[anna060957.livejournal.com]

Yes, you are quite right ... there is an element of is it real or imaginary. I'm always a little skeptical about head injuries especially as this turned out to be a fractured skull! It must have been a very small fracture!

Thank you for commenting.

[murphybabe]

I love this story, but it doesn't quite hold up as a supernatural story for me. There's not enough, and there weren't enough hooks for me to hang detail on all by myself. I can gloss over Bodie seeing something with an evil face, and someone else dying in the cottage. Bodie was tired and stressed, and people die all over the place. Meh.

I love the writing, and I really like the insight it gives to their characters and their relationship. In fact, although I have read this several times, I have pretty much ignored the supernatural element and so was surprised when it turned up in this reading room. I'm always happy to re-read it, though *g*

And yes, I do prefer happy endings. I try quite hard not to read death fic, and ther are a couple of authors I shy away from because I know that a happy ending is unlikely. If there aren't warnings, and I'm unsure, I will often skip to the end just to check. That's not to say that everything has to go smoothly throughout the story, but I do like it to end well. I think this is because I read for relaxation and because there's usually enough stress or difficulty happening elsewhere in my life for me to read stuff that will probably depress me. I know, I know - Mills and Boon all the way *g*

[anna060957.livejournal.com]

I think the supernatural element (and BSL made the comment about the dangers of grouping stories on a theme) is almost unnecessary. The croft, the remoteness of the area, the thunder and lightning etc, could all have happened anyway. The story was part of a Hallowe'en challenge so would have had to have had that element to "qualify". The one unexplained element is Bodie driving off the road. As ci5mates notes, it's unlikely that Bodie would have a road accident given his (and Doyle's) driving skills.

I'm glad you liked it and I too tend to lean towards specific authors whose work I know and enjoy. Pros is total escapism!

Thank you for commenting.

[ci5mates.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed the story, I loved the h/c but then I am a real sucker for it and the hint of mystery added a nice twist.

I didn't feel I needed more of the supernatural element, it was subtle enough for me not to be put off (not a fan of supernatural stories generally) but I still considered it a valuable thread throughout, creating mystery and interest in the why's and wherefores. For one thing it satisfied was my need to know why Bodie went off the road! I mean he is an experienced driver and I don't like to think he couldn't control the car at speed, it wouldn't seem right for him to crash because he was driving past his capability.

Personally I don't always want to have the answers given to me on a plate, I like the challenge of working it out in my own head. This story made me ponder the answers to the unanswered questions and I like that in a story, were they destined to survive, did they only survive because of the fire, did Bodie's gran have some insight?

I thought the scene in the croft was brilliant. It was chilling, emotional and tender without being soppy. I thought it was realistic how Bodie gradually remembered what had happened before and how his fear grew as he remembered Doyle had been shot. I don't necessarily want a happy ending but I want a satisfying one. Happy or not, it needs to be realistic and believable. I definitely wouldn't read the ending of a story...ever and I would prefer not to know if it is a death fic prior to reading although if I do know at least I'm ready for it.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Personally I don't always want to have the answers given to me on a plate, I like the challenge of working it out in my own head. This story made me ponder the answers to the unanswered questions
I absolutely agree - I don't want every single detail in a story spelled out for me, or to be told what's happened down to the last breath of air taken, but on the other hand I need something to hang my working out on, and I want to be able to understand the point of being told something. I'd be uncomfortable if someone just walked up to me in the street and said "They put rubber bands on envelopes, you know." I couldn't just forget about it and go home, I'd want to know who the person was, why they said that, and why they said it to me... In that case, my assumption would have to be that they were somewhat disturbed, I'd probably also pick that up from their demeanour and so on. But I felt a bit like this from the story, as if I'd just been given various pieces of information and left with no context in which to use them - and there wasn't enough "demeanour" in the story for me to work enough out for myself. Okay, I could imagine a supernatural story, or I could imaginean op, but I can do that for myself whenever I want, so without just a bit more information to make it relevant to the story it felt a bit odd having been told the rest...

But maybe that's also partly because I like supernatural stories, so labelling this "supernatural" for the reading room gives me higher expectations... if you don't like supernatural stories to start with, you wouldn't feel as if you were missing out!

[anna060957.livejournal.com]

There does seem to be a number of Reading Room members who would not normally read supernatural stories, but have enjoyed this one where that element is very much secondary to the main plot/storyline.

Thank you for your wonderful for instance!

[anna060957.livejournal.com]

Thank you for taking the time to comment so fully. I'm glad you enjoyed the story - I think we may have very similar tastes and requirements from fiction.

Personally I don't always want to have the answers given to me on a plate,
Neither do I, but equally, I do want the answers at some point. I do not like to be left hanging, so to speak. And as you say, the ending has to be believable.

Thank you.

[ci5mates.livejournal.com]

I think we may have very similar tastes and requirements from fiction.

It seems that way :) any well written story with lashings of h/c does it for me

[anna060957.livejournal.com]

Me, too!

[jessebee.livejournal.com]

I love this story, as I love most things by this author. As a hurt/comfort and a psychological drama, it totally works for me. As a supernatural thing, not so much. For me, here, the supernatural element(s) are so utterly secondary as to be almost throw-aways - plot device and nothing more.

But I love the story. :-D

[anna060957.livejournal.com]

Thank you for commenting. I think there is a consensus that the supernatural element is not the main focus, but that it does add an interesting addition to what could have been a one dimensional story.

I'm so glad you enjoyed it.

[msmoat.livejournal.com]

Hey there. Thank you for all the interesting comments! I was hesitant about commenting myself, as I think knowing the author is present might inhibit discussion and I don't want to do that. Whatever a reader takes away from a story (or doesn't!) is true and right and theirs, and doesn't have much to do with the author or the author's intent, usually. So, I just wanted to be respectful of that.

But, I did find the discussion fascinating! One thing I will say, I was rather surprised to see this story listed as a "supernatural" story, when I saw the list. *g* Well, I suppose it is, but it isn't in the same category as the other stories that are being discussed! This was, as has been pointed out, written for a Halloween challenge, and was done rather quickly, to boot. I consider it a minor story, truth be told. Having said that, I did quite deliberately make the supernatural elements ones that the reader could choose to believe or not believe. I mean, it is up to the reader to interpret what, exactly, was going on. Some people will choose to see it as entirely mundane, others will choose to see "something else". As far as I'm concerned, both interpretations are legitimate. (So, yeah, I'm not very helpful, am I? *g*) I did draw a little upon Scottish folklore, as I remember, but very deliberately made those elements subtle, in order to allow that freedom of interpretation for the reader. (I know that drives some people crazy, but that's the story it is. *g*)

[anna060957.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for joining in. I hope that the comments were helpful and glad that you enjoyed the discussion. Apart from BSL's desire for more, more, more (which I think a number of others would endorse!), everyone enjoyed the story for what it is. You are quite right that we all read a story and take from it (or not) what we need.

I agree about the listing. I offered to rec this story without having read it and that was one of my main comments that there was a lack of supernatural element. Having said that, it was just right for me as I don't particularly go for supernatural.

I've already said that I'm very needy in that I like to know what is going on - although I don't need every breathe narrated - and don't like to have too much left to my own interpretation. It would be difficult to avoid several options of interpretation in a supernatural story, I would suggest.

Thank you so much for adding your comment and I hope you will think about writing the story again, with all the gaps filled in!