Pros Reading - The Third Friday of October by Dana Austin Marsh

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

The Third Friday of October by Dana Austin Marsh

(Also in the Motet Opus 4 in B and D zine, from Keynote Press (2000))

In lieu of a picture for itTo go with the cover picture, have a big bold link! To celebrate the bliss of having discovered a new way to print out Pros fic for luxurious comfy bedtime reading - my printer prints booklets! - I printed* and re-read this fic, which I've always loved. It's the perfect combination of angst and hot and love-without-being-soppy, and it starts from one of my favourite premises - the lads have been separated, and then they unexpectedly meet again... *g*

I'm not sure why I want the lads to go through the heart ache of separation first, but presumably it's because it makes their re-meeting so much sweeter (a bit like make up sex *g*). We catch glimpses of their lives between meetings (every third weekend in October), but it's really about them coming together again each time - so maybe it's the repeated fix of separation and then make up sex that makes it even better! *g*

Is it just me? Anyone else find separated-then-unexpectedly-meeting-again fic almost a bullet-proof kink?


ETA - Thank you very much to cloudless_9193 for permission to use her graphic, and to repost it as part of the cover. She very cleverly noted that it could also be used as an e-book cover, and I suspect she won't mind if other people use it, so I've added a credit to her as the graphics artist.

I designed this cover in a rather quick-and-dirty way (find a fitting gorgeous pic, add title and author), but I'll make a bit more effort for future covers! (And if there are other artists out there who wouldn't mind me using their graphics in the same way, then do let me know. *g*)

*And I must admit I borrowed a cloudless_9193 graphic for it, so actually I could post a pic of the booklet cover for this post, >but I've not asked her permission to do it, so... via the Ping, would it be okay if I posted a pic of the graphic I used for this cover? (and if it is, would it be okay if I did it again in the future? *g*) (and if it's not, that's okay, I'll just use them for private happy consumption as paper covers!)

Comments

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I vaguely remember reading this story sometime back. I'll have to give it a reread to be sure, but I think I basically enjoyed it, though I've never been fond of stories where the couple is kept apart for too long. As you say, maybe because they do come together over the years it's not as bad. But so many years! To be honest, I'm not sure I would have stuck it out.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Well they're only separated for two years before they accidentally meet up again, and after that they see each other every year - and because the story focuses on when they do meet up, it's absolutely about them being together. In fact that's it's whole focus!

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

That's the part I meant, that I don't know if I could have kept a relationship going like that. With Doyle being married, it's basically a dead end for Bodie. I've known of cases where two married people have carried it off, but that's a long time for a single person to be on the back burner.

[golden-bastet.livejournal.com]

I *really* like this fic, though it's been awhile since I last read it.

Something about the idea of - not so much the separation, but the inevitable attraction, that fate has decreed they are meant to be together (which doesn't even have to mean sexually) no matter what else gets in the way, always pulls me in. Maybe that's a fate kink?

Anyway - thanks for reminding me; think I'll go renew my aquaintance. :-)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Yes! The inevitable attraction is just perfect, isn't it! I like the idea of a fate kink too... I share the fate kink... *g*

[cloudless-9193.livejournal.com]

It's okay for now and also in future. :-)
I'll be glad to use it for my ebook too. :-))))

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Excellent - thank you!

And oh, what a good idea - I shall make many more book/e-book covers for stories, in that case! *g* Hope heliophile_oxon is reading!

ETA - I've added the cover up above, and it double-clicks to a larger size. I added you a credit for the cover art, too. *g*

[cloudless-9193.livejournal.com]

It's perfect! Thank you :-)

[cloudless-9193.livejournal.com]

It's already on my iPad!
In the past I did some covers myself, just at random. Here is the link:
http://cloudless-9193.livejournal.com/photo/album/19963?page=1
Not all are Pros graphics, some pictures I took from Pinterest etc. Please help yourself if you like one or the other. :-)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Hee - you're quick!

Oh, and what great covers (which is really what I'd expect, of course... *g*)! Bats at Noon is on my re-read shortly list too, perhaps I shall have to bump it up since there's such a handy cover... *g*

You know, I'm thinking now about the covers that Heliophile and other people have made in the past too - do you think it might be fun to have a Safehouse post of covers as a kind of gallery, so that people can see them all at once? Maybe as a table, in the way we used to do PhotoShoot snap? We could add either "please use" or "please don't use", depending on how people feel about sharing etc. I love seeing people's creations all together... what d'you think? *g*

[cloudless-9193.livejournal.com]

That's a brilliant idea! :-)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

*is full of it them...*

*g*

Tonight? Strike while the iron's hot...? Is it okay if I include the ones in your scrapbook?

[cloudless-9193.livejournal.com]

Yes, of course. I'm in to mood to do two or three more and will add them to the link. :-)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Hurrah! *goes to do*

ETA - blimey, I've found loads more than I remembered - this might take a little while...!

[heliophile-oxon.livejournal.com]

I'd be more than happy to have any covers I did that anybody likes the look of to go up here, certainly. I'd be a "please use (and I'd love it if you credited somehow, like in the smallest font known or something)" *g*

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

So glad you said that - I've just finished finding all the links to the posts that you were making way back when, and am working out how best to put up thumbnails of the covers... *vbg*

[merentha13.livejournal.com]

These covers are wonderful! [ goes to get Kindle and Calibre ready for action...] *g*

[cloudless-9193.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you like them. I've uploaded some more in the meantime. :-)

[heliophile-oxon.livejournal.com]

These are fabulous! Thank you so much for the link and all the gorgeousness it contains!!!

[cloudless-9193.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you like them! :-)

[heliophile-oxon.livejournal.com]

I am now *g*
And what a stunning cover!!! ::off to scroll down further::

[cloudless-9193.livejournal.com]

Anyone else find separated-then-unexpectedly-meeting-again fic almost a bullet-proof kink?
For me, too, those stories have a special appeal (another one would be Cards by Georgina Kirrin). It's so bittersweet and aches so much, but in the end it's very rewarding. :-)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It's so bittersweet and aches so much
That's a perfect description, and it adds to all the hope and the joy of just the right resolution... my favourite kind of fic!

Cards by Georgina Kirrin
Oh, yes! I think you might just have picked my next Pros storybooklet for me... *g*

[cloudless-9193.livejournal.com]

I'm looking forward to it! :-)

[snailbones.livejournal.com]

Oh, me too - I love the lads separated, and then dragged back together again... and thank you - I haven't read Third Friday in ages. I'll add it to my growing queue. Lush!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It is a rather lovely lush kind of story, isn't it! I love the way Cloudless describes it - bittersweet and aches so much, because it's so good when they get back together again... *g*

[merentha13.livejournal.com]

One of my favorites! I share your kink of separation and reconciliation.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Yeay! Like Cloudless says - it's bittersweet and aches so much, and then it's so good when they get back together. *sighs happily*

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

I'll be the lone descenter and say this is too much Brokeback Mountain for me and I hated Brokeback Mountain. Sorry!!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh, I wouldn't want them to be apart as I seem to remember them ending up in BBM - that was aaaages, wasn't it? And very tragic, iirc. I loved the film for it's sweeping beauty, but it was indeed a bit grim for them! I really only like the separation if it resolves into happiness with years left for them to enjoy it! *g*

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

I admit my problem with cheating. It's not romantic and reflects on the character's morals. I don't think even if the character convinces themselves that there can be a "good" reason. But that's just me.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I totally agree about cheating in general - but I will admit to a slightly different interpretation for B/D. For me, it's cheating when they're with someone else, so in most fics I want them to break up and be together - which is of course the exact opposite of what I think in RL! But then that goes for alot of things in Pros - CI5 does alot of things that I wouldn't support in a thousand years in RL. But we need things like that to be able to work out what we do believe in, I reckon, as long as we know the difference between the fantasy and actual life reality... *g*

[merentha13.livejournal.com]

I had trouble believing the cheating bit as well - it was not in character for me - BUT the angst and the hurt/comfort - so well written - I'll admit to weakness and shameful caving to baser morals. This one took me in. :-)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I quite like fics where our lads are portrayed as flawed and human, and I think being tempted to cheat counts as that (see my reply to Kat about the difference between in-fantasy and in-RL for me!) I think what made it okay for me was that I really feel Doyle cheated on Bodie by marrying Kathy in the first place (*g*), and then as he points out, he wants Bodie all the time, he wants to have a real, full-blown affair with him, but he doesn't let himself because he is loyal to Kathy. He compromises by having their three days a year, and I can imagine that if he didn't do that, his relationship with Kathy would probably be so much worse. He only gives up on her when she gives up on him and asks him for a divorce. If she'd ever found out about Bodie and the three days though it would have been a proper cheating affair somehow, and I'd've hated if the lads got together in the end because of that...

Which of course doesn't explain why I adore Elizabeth Holden's Forever True, where that's just what happens... *sighs* I think it's really the first thing I said - that when the lads aren't together, they're cheating on each other rather than the other way around!

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

He's loyal by cheating on his wife? I don't get that at all! He needs a divorce now! So he didn't have the cajones to divorce her himself but sneaked around on her, and waited until she was disgusted enough to divorce him, thereby giving him the okay. Gah. Bad bad bad... LOL!!! It gets worse not better as the discussion goes on!

Granted the lads are flawed but still, I can't get past it, not even in fic. It's like saying Wincest is okay in stories but if my kids were shagging I'd be upset! I KNOW it's fiction but words count for something!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

He's loyal by cheating on his wife?
No - cheating on his wife is cheating. But in my eyes he was cheating on Bodie by marrying her in the first place (except that he didn't know it yet). And it wasn't that he didn't have the guts to divorce her, he did love her, and complicated by the fact that the world would have tried to stop him and Bodie being together, he chose the path he thought was best for everyone.

I can't see what I assume Wincest is to be best for anyone - though presumably it's m/m which at least removes the practical problem of a child's genes being mutated as a result.

We all have our questions about the world though - I'm not okay with anyone having a gun and thinking it will solve their problems, especially when that problem happens to be another person, and I don't like it being glorified in films etc. when we now know the carnage it can cause. So I have to deal with it by focusing on other parts of the films etc. Luckily Pros has B/D. *g*

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

Thank heavens we have B/D!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

*hugs B/D*

*steps back, watches B hug D*

*g*

[cloudless-9193.livejournal.com]

I have a problem with cheating too, but more in real life, where so many people don't have a problem with it at all.
In fiction though, if it furthers the plot, I'm willing to put up with it. :-)

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

I can't do it. There are hundreds upon hundreds of other stories that work for me so why bother with one that doesn't?

[franciskerst.livejournal.com]

Read it long, long ago. Found it unbearably sad. Tragic is OK for me, even stimulating while sad: very annoying.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I thought it was sad, but ultimately happy - with real life always a part of it. I'd rather sad than tragic though - if they're doomed, I find it's harder!