Christmas Prosfic Calendar - 2nd December

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

The Pros-y Christmas fic I read today was Screwged or Nanny's Christmas Carol by M.Fae Glasgow, in the zine:. The zine was published by Oblique Publications way back in February 1992, but you can find the story at the Oblique website (enter and find it via the fandom lists - I thought you might like to take a look around too, cos it's a bit like Santa's Grotto if you've not been before... *g*), the Circuit Archive and via the original Hatstand.

The story is, of course, based on Dicken's Christmas Carol, and it's Doyle who's visited by three ghosts, as he's Christmas-ing - or rather, determinedly not Christmas-ing - alone on leave.

The ghosts are all really of Bodie, although the last one is in fact Cowley, but there's a very young Bodie, a CI5-Bodie, and then the Bodie that Cowley shows Doyle... I don't quite buy Glasgow's bah-humbug of a Doyle - he can be grumpy, but we see him being friendly to people, and oh, the way he looks at Bodie... *g* (I managed to get in a quick watch of Backtrack tonight too *g*), but I can stretch to see where she's coming from, and so it can work for me. She doesn't shy away from the harsh parts of life that we have to live too, and what I love about her is that we feel her Bodie and Doyle, exactly where it hurts - but also exactly where it's better than wonderful. Oh, and she's pretty good at the rather hot sex too... *g* Anyway - definitely worth reading this one, and if the lads don't melt your heart, then nothing will!

I completely forgot to post the calendar yesterday - and if anyone would like to play, and would like to jump in and offer a date (or just jump in without saying, and I'll add you to the calendar when you come up! *g*) then that'd be fab. I also have a list of all the fics that have been reviewed for the Christmas Reading Room, put together by milomaus, and I'm trying to work out the best way to format it so that you can see what's been reviewed/recced when - cos as a few people have said, we all love the old favourites, but it'd be nice to see some less well-known Pros Christmas stories too...

1st December - Best Seat in the House by Linda Terrell
2nd December - Screwged or Nanny's Christmas Carol by M.Fae Glasgow
3rd December -
4th December -
5th December -
6th December -
7th December - nypagan
8th December -
9th December -
10th December -
11th December -
12th December -
13th December - nypagan
14th December -
15th December - gilda_elise
16th December -
17th December -
18th December -
19th December -
20th December - gilda_elise
21st December -
22nd December -
23rd December -
24th December -

(I'll put the calendar under a cut next time, but just so that you can see how empty it looks, and how desperately it needs filling... *g*

Comments

[nypagan.livejournal.com]

I will take the 7th and the 13th. I may pop in at random if spaces remain open. : )

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Cool. I think we'll do it a bit differently this year, to accommodate people just jumping in. I'm still planning to read a Christmas-y story every day and post about it, so that I can just do that without worrying about whether I need to or not dependent on whether someone else is or might post. So I'll put you down for those dates so that people can see there's something more happening, but there'll be at least two posts on those days - and other people are more than welcome to also post on those days too. So we won't specifically have "spaces remaining open", cos they'll all be open all the time. Hope that sounds alright to you!

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

Just to give myself plenty of time, I'll take the 15th and 20th. :-)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh excellent!

Don't know if you read what I said above to nypagan, but in case not: I think we'll do it a bit differently this year, to accommodate people just jumping in. I'm still planning to read a Christmas-y story every day and post about it, so that I can just do that without worrying about whether I need to or not dependent on whether someone else is or might post. So I'll put you down for those dates so that people can see there's something more happening, but there'll be at least two posts on those days - and other people are more than welcome to also post on those days too. So we won't specifically have "spaces remaining open", cos they'll all be open all the time. Hope that sounds alright to you!

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

No, I hadn't read the post, but it'll work for me. That way, if I actually get to some stories before then, I can post on an earlier day, too.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Excellent! *g*

[franciskerst.livejournal.com]

I have mixed feelings about M Fae Glasgow: I like her very classical style with its almost Latin-shaped long sentences but as a whole, I don't enjoy reading her stories: she doesn't seem to like much her characters, seems even to despise them sometimes. Most of the time I find her Bodie and Doyle pretty unpleasant and having little to do with their characters in the show.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

She can definitely be harsh, and I don't always agree with the way that she sees the lads, but I can usually see how she's got there, and so I can stretch to believe her stories. It's when I can't see how an author has stretched to a characterisation - like making the lads more American-action-man-heroic-than-human, or so romantic that they'll hold hands over a restaurant table, or liable to burst into tears or faint at any moment, or the like - that I can't finish a story. But I do know what you mean - she doesn't shy away from describing the less-heroic aspects of their possible characters! I can see Doyle being more wrapped up in himself than Bodie, because we see Bodie following Doyle around in various episodes, but in the one where Doyle needs to follow Bodie (Wild Justice) he just isn't really there for him. On the other hand, Doyle definitely does care for Bodie, you can see it in his eyes (I know you think differently, mind! *g*)

[franciskerst.livejournal.com]

I feel a little confused: what may give you the impression I think that Doyle doesn't care for Bodie?

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Ah, my impression was that you thought Bodie cared more for Cowley and vice-versa... *g*

[franciskerst.livejournal.com]

But the two relationships are totally different! In my universe, Doyle is Bodie's best mate (and vice versa); it's a strong, almost exclusive friendship (at least of that nature). That means: perfect equality with a bit of competition, total trust (though with possible crisis), absolute respect, implying the preservation of a certain distance in their respective private lives and yet complete knowledge and understanding of each other's character and purposes. Can you imagine the same things between Bodie and Cowley? Except the distance, from Cowley, and the respect, mainly from Bodie. Love, the sexual kind of it, is more or less incompatible with friendship in my book (with the definition I give to friendship). It doesn't prevent the existence of a deep bond, but it's not the same. Anyway it's not the sexual aspect of the B/C relationship that makes its interest for me but, rather, its dramatic and emotional possibilities. In fact I like the B/C pairing for all the reasons that make most people hate it: it's absurd, pathetic, deadly dangerous, shocking, impossible and doomed.

[potztausend.livejournal.com]

I'm not very much into reading Christmas Carol stories, but I can't praise Oblique Publications too much. Their stories were my start into Pros stories some years ago (merely by accident), and I was completely hooked and fascinated. Sebastian and M.Fae Glasgow and Helen Raven and all the others wrote such intense and powerful stories!