The Dear Author Discussions - ML Mead (Moonlightmead)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

The idea of the Dear Author Discussions is that they are discussions about stories that an author has specifically said they'd like to see discussion about - warts and all discussion, just as we have on Reading Room! The difference is that the authors will certainly be watching (if not immediately, then they might read the entire thread at some point in the future), and they may also decide to jump in and answer questions, or ask questions - the world is their lobster, just as it is the lobsters of the readers... *g*

We probably won't usually have so many stories up for discussion, but since this is posting at relatively short notice we thought that ML Mead's stories should all be on offer - you might have read some but not others, or be more fascinated by one rather than another - hopefully this way there's freedom for the chat to go in all directions.

And yet they're carefully organised directions colour-coded, with sticky-labels and in alphabetical order, with each story/ficlet/drabble having its own comment thread. Each one is headed with the story title, includes a link to the story, and I've been cheeky and included Mead's own comments on the story from her own lj sticky post - Mead Fic. Okay, and actually they are alphabetical (mostly...) for ease of finding specific fics (drabbles are all grouped at the end). *g* Please reply to the comment that's headed with the story you're commenting on!

There's no timeline on commenting - feel free to take some time to read stories you're not familiar with or like the sound of, or to catch up on stories other people are discussing and come back to the comments - the nature of the Dear Author Discussions mean that they should hum on in the background, with people dropping in and out. It might be a good idea to track the post in general, so that you can see when people are around, or else the individual comment threads for stories you're especially interested in.

A couple of practicalities:
- please find the comment with the story title you want to comment on, and "Reply" to that - don't just hit "Post a new comment" because your comment will end up in the wrong place! (If I could disable that I would!)

ETA - which makes it sound as if you can't just comment on something completely different - sorry, didn't mean that at all! It's just for specific story comments, please stick to commenting under the headings, but other comments/general comments etc. can obviously be left just as normal!

- you can track the comments/discussion on a particular story by clicking on the thumb tack icon of the comment with the story title/link in it.

- please don't use your own comment subject headers - they're reserved for organising the fic titles this time, and if people add their own subjects it's going to get harder to navigate... *g*

Thanks everyone for filling in the poll yesterday - most people were happy for Mead to jump in as soon as she fancied, although a few people thought it might be good to see the discussion get going before the author appeared, which makes its own sense too. Either way, moonlightmead can make an informed decision, now - and we hope to see her as soon as she wants to get here!

And finally - the whole fancy-schmancy organisation in headed comments is supposed to make everything easy to read and nagivate, and I'm desperately hoping that this turns out to be true! If not, we'll do it differently next time. *g* And moonlightmead - if there's anything you'd like me to add or change, please tell me (though I'll only be able to edit comments until someone replies to them).

Right - with all that rambling done - I give you, the Pros stories of ML Mead, who opened her lj for business in 2011, and has been full of enthusiasm and joy for Bodie, Doyle, and our gorgeous Professionals universe ever since! And a thousand thanks very much to her for being the very first Dear Author Discussed!

Comments

All Mod Cons

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

All Mod Cons (http://archiveofourown.org/works/2722187)
1400 words, finally completed for a writing prompt involving nudity, but originally started as a commentary on 1970s bathrooms.

Re: All Mod Cons

[paris7am.livejournal.com]

Somehow I missed this one before - a new MLM for me! So very enjoyable, sexy, and smart. The progression of their relationship, the characterization, the lovely committee recommendations, the understated-ness of it all, made me very very happy tonight. Thank you!

Blown

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Blown (http://archiveofourown.org/works/2722670)
1980 words. This is the story where I finally caved and started putting warnings in. Head straight to the link to avoid them; or to the trailer if you want to see who/what.

RE: Blown

[dawnebeth.livejournal.com]

This was the first story of Mead's I ever read--and of course, had to give it a second read just now, because you know, I like the rough ones. However, I do very much wish Benny were out and Bodie could have been coming on to Doyle the way Doyle was doing Benny.

A Christmas Thirty Years Ago

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

A Christmas Thirty Years Ago (http://archiveofourown.org/works/3976636)
525 words. Written for a card exchange, prompt was to include Bodie and Cowley. Not B/C, I note.

Re: A Christmas Thirty Years Ago

[unbelievable2.livejournal.com]

I'd like to put here what I put on AO3.

I am such a bad fan - I read so little of all the wonderful stuff that's out there. So the Reading Room on LJ and now Dear Author is a godsend for me, as it points me at wonderful stuff. And this, one snippet out of all your wonderful stuff, is just such a fic. Beautifully structured, completely true in its conception, it also leaves one feeling immensely satisfied about the characters' interaction, which is the hallmark of a superb bit of writing.

Doyle, Dancing

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Doyle, Dancing (http://archiveofourown.org/works/679988)
725 words, written for the 20-min fic game. Totally utterly non-canon dancing Doyle: I don't believe a word of it myself - but I did see someone dance like this, to a rather better song, and (to my shame) I did think "Wow, if that was Doyle..." Closest I shall ever get to gen, and that's only because I didn't have time for what (really) happened next on the dancefloor.

RE: Doyle, Dancing

[heliophile-oxon.livejournal.com]

It's very nicely told, this one - and definitely reads very clearly, and very nicely shown-not-told, as slash: pre, yes - but the dawning realisation is all there on both sides. What I love is how this is captured very economically in just a handful of words - the exchange of glances at the end speak volumes in a few seconds.

Extra-Curricular Activity

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Extra-Curricular Activity (http://archiveofourown.org/works/1900515)
2650 words, behind the curtains of a school stage. PWP but I hope in character. Follows on from Fight or Flight (see below).

Fight or Flight

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Fight or Flight (http://archiveofourown.org/works/679995)
360 words, written for... yes, the 20-min fic game.
[Sequel = "Extracurricular Activity", above]

Re: Fight or Flight

[loxleyprince.livejournal.com]

I love Doyle's thought processes in this one and Moonlightmead's choice of words when describing them:-

Is Bodie trying to wind Doyle up? Trying to put him down?

and later

Only one way to find out whether this is a wind-up or a come-on.

It's all so very economical but SO very effective.

Flash in the Dark

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Flash in the Dark (http://archiveofourown.org/works/679978)
400 words, written for the 20-min fic game. It's amazing how many of my stories take place in the dark.

Four Times Bodie Bet on a Dead Cert, and One Time he To

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Four Times Bodie Bet on a Dead Cert, and One Time he Took Long Odds (http://archiveofourown.org/works/1119432)
500 words, written for the +1 challenge.

Knife Edge

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Knife Edge (http://archiveofourown.org/works/441616/chapters/753504)
4000 words. Not sure whether we should have posted this as two chapters or story and follow-up, but one part of this is mine, the other maddalia's. It doesn't need any of the warnings the main Pros comms ask for, but I can't help feeling that it probably needs something. So we put "No warnings given". I know it did squick one friend thoroughly.

The Lie Detector

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

The Lie Detector (http://archiveofourown.org/works/2043027)
6000 words, dialogue fic. My first effort that I shared at large, and definitely there are problems with it, but I still like it. Summary: "Doyle, do you honestly know what you're doing?" "Course I do. I am going to ask you questions, and you are going to prove to me that you really can fake a lie detector test." (Substantially - very substantially - edited AO3 version here) [nb - main link here is to A03 version]

RE: The Lie Detector

[heliophile-oxon.livejournal.com]

Hmm, well I remembered being rather impressed by this one and nipped back for a quick re-read ... it's quite the tour de force on two levels; one in that it's ridiculously hot, but secondly as a purely technical feat. Most of us struggle with dialogue (some of us more than others! *g*) and in this enterprise MM succeeds in telling a medium-length complete story with absolutely nothing but. There's almost not a single line where you don't know who's talking - maybe just a moment or two near the beginning where you might want to double-check, but it quickly becomes and then stays crystal-clear, which I think is remarkable in itself.

And it's funny, too - with Anson's filched lie-detector biting the dust in a good cause (" it didn't arrive in that many bits, and it definitely didn't arrive on the floor"), and acknowledges their intimacy in a way I like very much - Doyle pretending that Bodie can't beat the lie-detector when actually he can; it's Doyle he can't fool. And of course I always like my hot B/D served with a generous helping of intimacy *g*

Longest Night

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Longest Night (http://archiveofourown.org/works/1119518)
2125 words. I have perpetrated Christmas fic. Well, midwinter fic. Doyle realises what all that touching is about. Expansion of a drabble - Late in Time - linked below.

Re: Longest Night

[loxleyprince.livejournal.com]

Much as I adore Bodie's stoic adherence to the 'hands off' rule (despite extreme provocation,) it's the dialogue that does it for me in this one, like

Doyle glowered. "Shut up. You wanted me to talk."
"I'm not sure I did," Bodie observed darkly. "I just expected you to."

Lovely!

Nightclub Encounter

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Nightclub Encounter (http://archiveofourown.org/works/4000669)
3131 words: I think it's Bodie/Doyle, even if I actually wrote Bodie/OMC and Doyle/OMC. So there.

RE: Nightclub Encounter

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

In the spirit of hopefully showing how the comments work, I'm going to jump right in... *g*

This is the sort of fic that I might avoid if I saw it described in AO3, what with the whole OMC malarky, but I gave it a go cos the author said it was Bodie/Doyle really, and it totally is! Sometimes things that shouldn't work, work very well indeed... *g*

I'm trying to work out how it works - cos our lads don't even touch each other, but because Doyle is thinking so very intensely of Bodie when he has sex with another bloke... well, I'm right there with him in his fantasy, I think he's having sex with Bodie too... and the way Bodie's described as watching Doyle, and focussing on Doyle, has exactly the same effect...

Actually, if I wanted to refer back to last week's Reading Room question (), which was about different fic styles, "showing" or "telling", a story, I'd say this was a brilliant example of a showing fic - there's not a single explanation of what Doyle's thinking, no "he wished he was there with Bodie instead", but you can see that and feel it in what the author shows us is happening...

So yeah, I like this one - not just for gorgeous lads and hot sex (and it is *g*), but because it's something different and yet believably our lads, which I think is quite hard to do in Pros fic after thirty plus years... *g*

On the occasion of moving in with an unfinished kitchen

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

On the occasion of moving in with an unfinished kitchen... (http://archiveofourown.org/works/1119549)
725 words, written for murphybabe, who nearly did!

On Track

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

On Track (http://archiveofourown.org/works/679904)
3600 words, fluff. A day out playing with trains.

RE: On Track

[jessebee.livejournal.com]

Okay, confession time: I have a terrible soft spot for this fic. Trains are a thing in my family, both my father and father in law were and are involved with them, and putting the lads in an old loco is a stroke of genius, far as I'm concerned. It runs with canon quite nicely, we know Doyle is a tinkerer and Bodie knows his way about an engine; to have Bodie involved with trains is a quite reasonable leap.

What I particularly enjoy is how the author uses the functions of running the engine to highlight the lads' budding sexual relationship and their hyper-awareness of each other. I also like the economy of the writing; little more is said than what needs to be there to give us a very complete picture of Bodie's and Doyle's feelings: their newness of intimacy and the uncertainty that goes with it, as well as the fullness of their working relationship translated over into these new areas of love and trains.

While I have some niggles here and there about phrasing and choice of words (saying that somebody “could do” or “could feel” when it should just be “does” or “felt” are peeves of mine), the writing overall is just lovely. I enjoy most of MLM's work, but for me this one really stands out.

One Thing Leads to Another

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

One Thing Leads to Another (http://archiveofourown.org/works/680011)
650 words, written for... yes...

RE: One Thing Leads to Another

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I'm not purposefully choosing the ones with hot sex to start with - that's purely a coincidence... *g*

This is another one that I like - it's clever and funny and the sort of thing that you can imagine happening in the real world so that you can feel the stillness of the moment when the lads hear the lift doors open... *g* And I do like the last couple of lines, making it just so much more than a snapshot of time.

The only thing that I desperately, desperately wish had been edited out, is the saliva dripping from [Bodie's] mouth, which just seems wrong to me - too much saliva if it's actually dripping, and I imagine some great dog there...

But that aside - oh yes... *g*

Paper Chase

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Paper Chase (http://archiveofourown.org/works/1012664)
25,000 words, and my first long fic, written for the Pros Big Bang of 2013. The lads are hunting the location of a book containing blackmail secrets. Before the newspapers publish it. Before the Russians acquire it. And before anyone can realise that they are in it too...

RE: Paper Chase

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I hadn't read this before, and enjoyed it. There's a lovely episode-like feel to it, and the name fits perfectly. I wasn't entirely convinced by the coincidence of the airport at the end, but that was okay, cos the rest of it kept me believing. Definitely worth a read, if you've not already!

Pieces of Paperwork

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Pieces of Paperwork (http://discoveredinalj.livejournal.com/213639.html)
word count's a bit pointless, because this is a 'continue the story in comments' game over in Discovered in a LiveJournal. Bits of it are mine. We need more additions. Go and add!

Raid

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Raid (http://archiveofourown.org/works/679958)
5000 words, written for a prompt involving taking drugs undercover and getting "uncharacteristically handsy". Obviously the way to achieve this involves public indecency in a dark park, and damn the risks.

Whistle Blower

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Whistle Blower (http://archiveofourown.org/works/2523197)
24,280 words. Pros Big Bang of 2014. The lads are protecting a witness. Then, boom.

RE: Whistle Blower

[dollidaydream.livejournal.com]

What an awesome piece this is. I read this in a cafe over a couple of mornings before work. I was going through a pretty c*appy time and used to escape to the cafe to get away from it all. I can still remember being rivetted to my Hudl reading this, stunned at the ending and admiring that you took it down to the wire and didn't back off. The thing I love and admire most about this story is Cowley. His dialogue, his attitude, his demeanour are spot on. It's as if I'm reading (in the nicest possible way!) a transcript from an episode. I can see Gordon Jackson in that final scene. I love this story so much.

Well, this hasn't really been much of "asking" anything. But I just wanted to comment again! :)

(Hope I've commented in the *right* place....)

Will You Let Your Cities Crumble

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Will You Let Your Cities Crumble (http://archiveofourown.org/works/3595980)
16,200 words. Undercover in CND! Zine fic! Finally, I did it, and got into a zine, with an unabashed revel in the 1980s I inhabited, full of marches, leaflets, banners, and badges.

RE: Will You Let Your Cities Crumble

[miwahni.livejournal.com]

What I loved best about this fic was the backstory for Doyle. It was fresh and new and totally believeable. I did enjoy the premise of the fic, too; lads go undercover as gay partners. We get to see glimpses of them through others' eyes, which is something I always like too.
I actually thought that this was the first MLM fic I ever read, but scrolling through this list I can see others that are familiar and I think predate this particular one.

Wire

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Wire (http://archiveofourown.org/works/1470946)
623 words, written a while ago, posted to cheer up sunray45

With Added Dinosaur

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

With Added Dinosaur (http://archiveofourown.org/works/1060696)
1500 words, older lads and a crossover with Primeval. All you need to know about Primeval is that there are dinosaurs escaping into our time and the Primeval team's job is to put them back where they belong.

Re: With Added Dinosaur

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

I'll be first on this one to say how much I loved it. I enjoyed Primeval a lot until *mumblemumble* was killed off. I could imagine Bodie bringing home the pornographic pet and then both the lads looking up things on wikipedia to figure out what it was. The little tale was delightful, the banter sweet and amusing. It's a winner in my book.

Drabble - Bruises

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Drabble - Bruises (http://moonlightmead.livejournal.com/43853.html)

Drabble - Breaking the Cycle

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Drabble - Breaking the Cycle (http://teaandswissroll.livejournal.com/539091.html)

Drabbles - Dawn I and II

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Drabble - Dawn I and Dawn II (http://moonlightmead.livejournal.com/45035.html)

Again for minori_k, who read the first one, made artwork, and then than inspired the second one. Symmetry...