Reading Room 5th November - Light a Fic Firework for MLM

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It's looking grey and wet and moderately miserable out there this morning - not a good day to be Bonfire Night down this way at all. Still maybe it'll clear up by tonight, and in the meantime we can have some fireworks of our own here... or at least the lads can. *g* I thought I'd start early today too, because of course it'll be fireworks-dark Down Under soon, if it isn't already...

This Reading Room is an open-rec reading room - comment below to let us know about any Bonfire Night/Guy Fawkes Pros stories out there, and to tell us what you think of them, and which ones are worth reading, and... well, anything really, vaguely connected to our lads and Guy Fawkes Night. I'll edit a list of stories into the main post as we go along, so we can see what's come up and what hasn't. It might be an idea to use the comment headers for the fic titles again, to make it nice and easy to see below too. Oh, and if you can provide a link to the story so that I don't have to go out searching, that would be fab... *g*


For inspiration, here's the banner from the third ever discoveredinalj challenge, by empty_mirrors, oh-so long ago - there are definitely bonfire night fics posted over there. I've not looked yet, but perhaps there are some tagged in A03, or in the Hatstand's fic list (I actually don't have a bonfire night story list over at Palelyloitering.com, but perhaps I can remedy that after tonight... *g*)

And finally - since moonlightmead won't be able to nip in and join us this week, let's dedicate our comments to her - Pros firework fic sparks from here to wherever she is now, out there seeing what's to be seen - because as so many people have remembered, she really enjoyed chatting about Pros and Pros stories. Do pop in and light a joyful comment-spark for her...

Pros Bonfire Night story list
Babysitting Tommy by Rebelcat
Family Ties by HG
Night of Fire, Night of Dreams by Slantedlight
Raymond's Joy by The Hag
With a Dark Lantern by Callisto
With a Slow Fuse by Izzie

ETA - Actually there's something I always wonder about around this time of year, and jessebee's rec of izzie7's With a Slow Fuse reminded me. I wonder if the lads like bonfire night... what do you think? On the one hand I can imagine them - especially Bodie for some reason - being cheerful with any excuse for a good party, on the other hand it's not untrue that they get lots of bangs and explosions and plots to blow things up all through the year - so maybe they'd just think it was more of the same... What d'you reckon - would the lads like Guy Fawkes night?

Comments

joyful comment-spark

[fiorenza-a.livejournal.com]

I love the idea of joyful comment sparks!

Head moderately better, lights arrived but seemed to have disappeared, so I'm hopeful of being well enough to join in.

I'll check out that discoveredinalj challenge - and the banner is fab too.

Lets hope it goes off with a bang (ouch!) for Moonlightmead :0)

RE: joyful comment-spark

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh good, glad to hear you're at least partly better - hope you're able to read and enjoy some fab Pros fic as well!

Babysitting Tommy by Rebelcat

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I shall jump in with a first rec too! *g*

Babysitting Tommy (http://www.thecircuitarchive.com/tca/archive/17/babysittingtommy.html) is actually not just a favourite Bonfire Night fic of mine, but a favourite Pros fic of mine - it doesn't matter how many times I read it, there are lines that make it giggle every time. myrebelcat has written a blinder of an original character in Tommy, and even though there's not a bonfire or sparkler in sight (much to Tommy's chargrin), it's such a fun spirited fic that it's like fireworks itself. I'm generally a bit dubious about fics that involve children in anything more than the relatively brief glimpses we see of them in the eps, but although we see alot of Tommy in this one, it's what he brings out in Bodie and Doyle - and even Cowley, at the end *g* - that makes him a character worth having. Definitely worth reading - and I hope you all like it too!

RE: Babysitting Tommy by Rebelcat

[myrebelcat.livejournal.com]

Hey, thanks for the rec!

You might be interested to know that Tommy was based off of notes I took on my son at approximately the same age. Just over a decade ago, we took a long road trip down to the southern US, by car, with a seven year old and a nine year old in the back seat. The nine year old was a pleasantly introverted bookworm, so we heard barely a peep from her. But the seven year old was a non-stop bundle of energy, cheerful aggression, and rather alarming opinions on everything. At some point I started journalling him. It helped keep me sane! :)

(At one point in the trip, we visited Disney World. There's an animatronic show featuring American presidents and I actually had to clap my hand over the boy's mouth when robot George W. Bush showed up - afterward he got a stern lecture about being a polite guest in a foreign country.)

RE: Babysitting Tommy by Rebelcat

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

For this fic? Very much - any time! *g* And heee for your wee lad - do you still see him now he (must be!) all grown up? I wonder what he's doing... and how much he winces when you bring the journal out... *g*

With a Dark Lantern by Callisto

[fiorenza-a.livejournal.com]

With a Dark Lantern (http://archiveofourown.org/works/215591) by Callisto (http://archiveofourown.org/users/Callisto/pseuds/Callisto)

Found it! And it was on the Discoveredinalj. Nov 2006 Archive (http://discoveredinalj.livejournal.com/2006/11/05/) and there were a couple of things under Nov 2007 (http://discoveredinalj.livejournal.com/2007/11/05/) too.

So I shall be reading them at some point.

RE: With a Dark Lantern by Callisto

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I read this over breakfast this morning! Yes, this is a good one - it's hard to resist injured-Doyle and concerned-Bodie, and our lads looking after each other - and being bolshy about it, cos they're not the type of blokes who enjoy being looked after... *g*

There are lots of good fics in those two challenges - I was mean and decided to let people go and find them themselves... *g*

Re: With a Dark Lantern by Callisto

[fiorenza-a.livejournal.com]

Bad BSL!

I was going to write a little blurb to go with my rec, but I like what you said, so can I be cheeky and go with

'Who can resist an injured-Doyle, a concerned-Bodie, our lads looking after each other (and being bolshy about it, cos they're not the type of blokes who enjoy being looked after), toffee apples and a snit over a scarf that is so much more?'

[jessebee.livejournal.com]

"With A Slow Fuse" by Izzie (http://www.thecircuitarchive.com/tca/archive/17/witha2.html) I have always enjoyed this one because it explores a possible effect of Doyle's shooting that I've not seen anybody else take it on. Plus it has lads getting together, so what's not to like there? *g* Has some issues (talk-ier in spots than it needs to be) but it's a fun little story and worth the read, imho.

With a Slow Fuse by Izzie

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

This one's on my list for lunchtime reading today - and I can't remember it at all right now, so I'll be very interested to see which aspect of the shooting it's looking at... *g*

ETA - or maybe I'll read it over tea-break... *g* I remember now! Yes, it is an interesting aspect, isn't it, and makes complete sense... There were a couple of plot-points that made me wonder (no way to watch the back of a house to the extent that the IRA had free run in and out and CI5 hadn't even thought of that as a possibility? the lads diving flat down on the grass so that the suspects wouldn't see them - in a field surrounded by people going to the fireworks, who they didn't want to alarm?|!), and I know what you mean about the talkiness (at the end, for me), but I find myself hand-waving to enjoy the rest of it... *g*

RE: With a Slow Fuse by Izzie

[jessebee.livejournal.com]

Yeah, plot-points had me wondering as well, but - hey. It's a fun little story. Hand-waving for the win! *g*

With A Slow Fuse by Izzie

[fiorenza-a.livejournal.com]

That was on the challenge list 2006 too, I'd not read it, so I've pinned it to go back to, you've got me all intrigued now :0)

Night of Fire, Night of Dreams by our very own BSL

[fiorenza-a.livejournal.com]

Night of Fire, Night of Dreams (http://archiveofourown.org/works/1032997) by Slantedlight (BySlantedlight) (http://archiveofourown.org/users/BySlantedlight/pseuds/Slantedlight)

As many of you may have noticed, BSL and I see eye to eye over very little, a mini 'chalk and cheese' which has enriched and enlivened my Lj discussions ever since we first locked debating horns. This follows through to our writing styles, and indeed the way we enjoy fic, she sees things through a very different prism.

And so it is with this fic. It has a lushness of style, a sumptuous quality I'm not sure I could ever achieve. So very little happens, no 'action' as such, except in remembrance. Appropriately, it is coloured by light, the lights of explosions both gentle and maiming. And, to my leaden mind, reminiscent of Doyle's dream remembrance of meeting Bodie in DIAG.

So I recommend it for that best of all reasons, whether it lights your (Roman) candle (http://www.fireworkcorner.co.uk/romancandles) or not, you will never regret having read it.

RE: Night of Fire, Night of Dreams by our very own BSL

[snailbones.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this one - I'd totally forgotten it takes place on Bonfire Night, and I haven't read it in ages.

I love it for all the reasons you mention - the lushness, the gentleness - even of the violence, and the dreaminess that runs all the way through. Really, a gorgeous read.

RE: Night of Fire, Night of Dreams by our very own BSL

[heliophile-oxon.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, it is indeed lush and gorgeous! Bsl has great range, I think, and while some of her fics are very plot-driven indeed some, like this one, are all atmosphere - and the feeling of dream, of the fleeting glow of distant fireworks, is absolutely captivating imo.

RE: Night of Fire, Night of Dreams by our very own BSL

[jessebee.livejournal.com]

I shall throw in a new wrinkle here, or one I have not seen before much, anyway, off of a subject that is starting to get more play here in the US in the summer: PTSD. As y'all probably know, our big fireworks celebration is the Fourth of July, where about every town in the nation comes out with all guns blazing, as it were. And this can be and is problematic for some of our armed services folks in particular. Veterans who have been under fire frequently don't enjoy, to say the least, when the kids in the neighborhood start lighting fireworks off at odd and unpredictable intervals.

I would think that there'd be decent odds that this would bother the lads as well, Bodie and Doyle both, for different reasons, but aside from BSL's fic and Izzie's, I don't know that I've ever really seen it looked at. Are these fics out there and I've just not seen them?

Family Ties by hgdoghouse

[milomaus.livejournal.com]

(Oh my goodness, I'm sooo late.
We have school holidays and all the days get mixed up in my head....)

Alright, this one is sooo funny, the banter is fantastic, the fireworks are gorgeous, there is even a plot, and the love, oh the love!!!
It shines through everything!

Family Ties by hgdoghouse (http://archiveofourown.org/works/275717?view_adult=true)

"Do you even understand the concept of shame?" hissed Bodie, fastening the bottom button of his thigh lenght jacket.

Totally shown, nothing told, but you just get the meaning....

And then there are bits of their pasts, they talk about the Bonfire nights when they were kids.
I love this story!

RE: Family Ties by hgdoghouse

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh, but it's nice that you're here! And thank you - I don't remember that story at all, so I'm going to print it out to read over breakfast tomorrow morning! I do like having fic to look forward to... *g* Thank you!

RE: Family Ties by hgdoghouse

[murphybabe]

This was fantastic! Thank you very much for recommending it. I didn't know this story, and now I'm very glad I do. It will become one of my favourites :)

RE: Family Ties by hgdoghouse

[heliophile-oxon.livejournal.com]

Oh thank you for spurring me to go and re-read this one - it's even better than I remembered! Yes indeed, the love shines through wonderfully in every little thing they say and do - in a properly understated lads-like way, of course! *g*

RE: Family Ties by hgdoghouse

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It was lunch - late lunch - before I read it, and - yeay! That is a nice one...

And it's the lads with kids again, how funny... but our lads so cosy together, especially with the shopping, and Bodie being the one who does as he's told and wait... *g* And yet still our lads off on ops, and liable to be on duty at any moment... yeay! Thanks for this one!

Raymond's Joy by The Hag

[paris7am.livejournal.com]

Granny kindle makes posting so difficult - cannot add the link at AO3. Feel free to edit!
Although only one vignette is on Bonfire Night, I love this one and wanted to make sure it is in this Reading Room. It is so deftly done - hot and sexy, funny but will make you ache - I love this particular rendition of our lads and their dance towards each other. MLM, some extra sparks and star showers heading your way!

RE: Raymond's Joy by The Hag

[jessebee.livejournal.com]

YES YES YES to this! Thank you, I had forgotten this little gem and it so deserves to be reread! That whole sequence is just wonderful *bg*

RE: Raymond's Joy by The Hag

[milomaus.livejournal.com]

Oh Yes, one of the bestest fics out there! It was so much fun to reread it!

RE: Raymond's Joy by The Hag

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh yes! I've added a link to the A03 version - thanks for the reminder! If I remember rightly, Raymond's Joy was made up of various other stories by The Hag, one of which was presumably the Bonfire Night part... I shall have to go and look! It's been ages since I read this too, so I shall also have to go and do that... *g*