Reading Room XVI: Stories with Sequels - Firestorm by Elspeth Leigh

[tango65.livejournal.com]

Title: Firestorm
Author: Elspeth Leigh
Pairing: Bodie/Doyle
Link to story: Circuit Archive

This is the second of two in this series and as was remarked in comments on the first story, pretty much a self-contained story within the same universe as the first.

Having read the first story, we have come to know where our lads are at in the present. Firestorms again uses flashbacks to connect what is happening in their current lives, to something that happened in their past.

As both the current and the past focus specifically on our lads and their adventures, (including some lovely h/c), I admit that I enjoy this story more than the first. Maybe imagining them in full leathers has something to do with that.....

Again we have some beautiful writing in there, including:

"Bodie!" It was an expletive, a question, an exclamation of relief, an expression of concern. All of his life and hopes wrapped up in one word, one name, one man."

That's my thoughts, what are yours?

1. What did you think of Firestorms?
2. Did you enjoy the writing?
3. What did you like/dislike about our lads here?
4. Do the flashbacks help, hinder or not make a difference to the story?

Comments

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I never got the chance to respond to "Firewalls," but I very much like both stories. The answers below could pertain to both. :-)

1. What did you think of Firestorms?

It's a great story and has been a favorite for a long time.

2. Did you enjoy the writing?

Very much. Elspeth Leigh is a fantastic writer.

3. What did you like/dislike about our lads here?

I loved how natural they were with each other, their relationship not substantially changing who they are so that I can clearly see the lads from the show.

4. Do the flashbacks help, hinder or not make a difference to the story?

I think the flashbacks help a lot. They show how the lads got from there to here, and at the same time bring the past and present together. All without the story feeling as if it's been truncated by the flashbacks. Everything you need to know, you know.

[tango65.livejournal.com]

You pretty much summed up my feelings about the stories here. Thanks and glad you like them as much as I do. :)

[firlefanzine.livejournal.com]

I admit that I enjoy this story more than the first. Maybe imagining them in full leathers has something to do with that.....
I agree! And there are beautiful moments. I think you mean this one with the 'full leathers'? ;-)
"Doyle eased his Harley into the space beside the Vincent, pelvis thrust forward almost defiantly, muscled thighs spread to accommodate the seat, legs astride the bike, gripping as the motor roared, He was power on power, exuding vigour and force and masculinity so strong you could nearly smell the musk.
Rocked by the reverberation of man and machine, Bodie's intended epithet died half-spoken, tongue rounding his lips instead, tasting his first sight of Doyle on the bike, harsh and hard and sleek, encased in black leather from head to toe. Neither man had shaved that morning and the dark stubble of beard was rough and rangy on Ray's face.
Bodie caught his breath at the beauty of Doyle's austere strength, savouring, salivating, his hungry gaze frank and admiring, the hard pulsing grind of his erection catching him by surprise even as it caught in the folds of his leather pants, his desires revealed beneath the short studded jacket.
It was difficult to say which engine was running hotter, that of bike or of man."

Well.. I had to share this. :-)

1. What did you think of Firestorms?
There is the right banter and the right amount of sex and nearness. And there is h/c. The story is thrilling and interesting and above all not tooo much of a case story.

2. Did you enjoy the writing?
Yes! I did! (see above:-))

3. What did you like/dislike about our lads here?
I must say that I'm utterly proud of the boys! :-)
They are very competent as Cowley's successors but still them.

4. Do the flashbacks help, hinder or not make a difference to the story?
That's a good question! I've said it before that I like flashbacks. But this is different. Here we have two equal stories.
And I wondered all the time why I shouldn't break the rules and read one after the other...
But I think that there is a good reason for this alternation, because both parts really belong together and each one adds to the enjoyment of
the other(...if you know what I mean?).


Thank you for this rec! :-)

[tango65.livejournal.com]

And thanks for your comments, you picked out all the bits I like about it too!

[moonlightmead.livejournal.com]

(Wow, it's quiet in the reading room this week. Okay, I'll add my bits. I was hoping they'd get lost more in a heap of people who love it, to be honest, but here goes!)

First off, thanks for your rec and introduction!

I... well, I'm sorry, but this didn't really hit the mark so well for me. I wasn't terribly interested in the storyline. Bodie and Doyle as man-managers is a tough sell for me anyway, although I accepted it in the previous story. Having said that, I adored the HG one, is it Jigsaw? - where Cowley has them training new agents, and love slantedlight's Who Caught And Sang The Sun where they are in charge. But in both of those, they flounder, in one, it's 'oh god, I have to occupy the trainees for a morning, what am I going to do?', and in the other they are constantly assailed by stuff they don't really want to have to deal with. They're a bit too comfortable in this, perhaps.

And because I was less involved in the plot, little things caught at me more - Massaman Gai, for example. I know that London is very different from the rest of the country, but was there really Thai take-out in the early eighties? (More cogently, are Bodie and Doyle likely to eat it?) I think there were fewer Americanisms in this one that in the first - the first was littered with them - but they jumped out at me a lot: 'half-eaten danish', 'steno pool', 'jelly jar' (a what?) and, most unfortunately, the critical business about 'the building inspector'. This just doesn't work in Britain - we don't have people coming around to check on roofers. (I think many householders might wish we did, mind... *eyes roof ruefully*) So the whole culmination of one plot left me baffled.

I liked the lads working together, and some of the banter ("And they say you're short on brains." "Who says?") but some of the rest was too, well, loving (!) for me. And Cowley keeping an eye on whether they'd slept together 'yet'. I can't see Cowley wanting this to happen on any level, practical, political or personal. I think he'd be much more like the minister.

Speaking of which, I thought the minister was spot on, language and attitude - excellent!

I found reading the flashbacks a problem. I did what I did with the previous story, and dug out the zine - I find reading on paper clearer than reading on a screen - and even then I am afraid I ended up reading all the past bits and then all the present bits. And then I could see how they came together. I think I preferred them as two separate stories, to be honest, one as a sequel to the other. They do work very well like that - they're good stories, it's just I found the twining together a bit confusing.

Oh, must just say - I did like the happy pictures in my mind of the pair of them in biker leathers, but then I have recently seen Who Dares Wins for the first time, and LC is in biking gear for some of that, and yes, he looks very, very good indeed...

(Edited for length, sorry!)

[tango65.livejournal.com]

Isn't it funny the things that catch our eye. I never even thought about the takeaway, just assumed it was right for the times. There are things there that are non-British, but being an Aussie those things work here (eg. building inspectors), so it never crossed my mind as being out of place.

The flashbacks can be distracting, but I like how they flesh out the story, but I'll have to try your trick of reading them separately and see if they change how I read the story.

Thanks for your comments, they are much appreciated and very insightful.