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ci5hqThis isn't actually a random read, but a what-I'm-in-the-middle-of-right-now read, and I apologise for not having the link handy as I'm reading it on my kindle. Oop, no, it's here http://www.thecircuitarchive.com/tca/archive/3/onguard.html
This is a favourite of mine, but it's a bit, well, different somehow - there's something quite weird and dream-like about the way GL captures Doyle's feeling of being distanced, cut off, as if everything is walled off behind glass and you can see and hear it but there's nothing quite real. Now I don't know what the author's intentions are, but for me it works brilliantly as a way of showing-not-telling that Ray is in a pretty bad way on some levels - while at the same time being strong, competent and a self-sufficient bastard. I can't stand the trope of dwelling on poor mistreated vulnerable CI5 agents magically healed and brought back to life and looked after by some other, often bigger and badder, CI5 agent who gets everything right and is sensitive and wise, and thank goodness this is very emphatically not that fic. This is the diametric opposite of that, in fact, and it may be the only fic I've read where something of that kind has happened somewhere in the background and yet is not an element that overbalances the story in all the wrong ways.
The story is beautifully paced, imo, and sort of divides naturally into sections - Ray and Bodie cross paths in Africa, neither knowing anything about the other - not even a name; they later find themselves partnered in CI5; then there's an interlude of sorts where Ray goes up north for the wedding of a niece and finds himself a bit of a fly on the wall watching a sliver of ordinary civilian life; and finally he comes back down to London. And all the while we see Bodie through Ray's eyes, with strenghths and imperfections and impenetrably opaque - to Ray - behaviour, and along the way we see Ray reluctantly - and without hope - coming to recognise that he's in love with him.
They are together in the end, imperfections and bumped shins and all, and the happiness is all the more powerful for it.
The author has a very distinctive style in this story, and I really think it's one of the outstanding ones - if by some miracle there's anyone who hasn't read it yet (or if you haven't read it for ages) I recommend remedying that as soon as possible :-)
This is a favourite of mine, but it's a bit, well, different somehow - there's something quite weird and dream-like about the way GL captures Doyle's feeling of being distanced, cut off, as if everything is walled off behind glass and you can see and hear it but there's nothing quite real. Now I don't know what the author's intentions are, but for me it works brilliantly as a way of showing-not-telling that Ray is in a pretty bad way on some levels - while at the same time being strong, competent and a self-sufficient bastard. I can't stand the trope of dwelling on poor mistreated vulnerable CI5 agents magically healed and brought back to life and looked after by some other, often bigger and badder, CI5 agent who gets everything right and is sensitive and wise, and thank goodness this is very emphatically not that fic. This is the diametric opposite of that, in fact, and it may be the only fic I've read where something of that kind has happened somewhere in the background and yet is not an element that overbalances the story in all the wrong ways.
The story is beautifully paced, imo, and sort of divides naturally into sections - Ray and Bodie cross paths in Africa, neither knowing anything about the other - not even a name; they later find themselves partnered in CI5; then there's an interlude of sorts where Ray goes up north for the wedding of a niece and finds himself a bit of a fly on the wall watching a sliver of ordinary civilian life; and finally he comes back down to London. And all the while we see Bodie through Ray's eyes, with strenghths and imperfections and impenetrably opaque - to Ray - behaviour, and along the way we see Ray reluctantly - and without hope - coming to recognise that he's in love with him.
They are together in the end, imperfections and bumped shins and all, and the happiness is all the more powerful for it.
The author has a very distinctive style in this story, and I really think it's one of the outstanding ones - if by some miracle there's anyone who hasn't read it yet (or if you haven't read it for ages) I recommend remedying that as soon as possible :-)
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Date: 2016-07-10 03:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-10 05:12 pm (UTC)I'm half-way through right now, but I'm working today so the second half will have to wait, alas! *g*
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Date: 2016-07-10 05:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-10 08:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-10 08:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-10 09:39 pm (UTC)Have you ever done/considered doing any of your amazing art linked to this story? It sort of has a bit of a cloudless_9193 feeling about it, to me ... what do you think???? :-))))))))
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Date: 2016-07-10 10:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-10 10:31 pm (UTC)I would absolutely love to see what it might inspire!
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Date: 2016-07-12 09:38 pm (UTC)Klick on them to get to the original pictures.
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Date: 2016-07-13 06:21 pm (UTC)Your images are always striking, and I love the way you have made this work - it's perfect as a cover, dramatic and intriguing and just beautiful in texture and feel, and it really makes you want to reach out and pick up that book!
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Date: 2016-07-13 07:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-17 05:39 pm (UTC)Very nice :0)
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Date: 2016-07-17 06:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-10 11:41 pm (UTC)I haven't read it, I don't think, so I won't read the other comments - just in case of spoilers - and will download it to read when I get a quiet moment.
I do love a rec - I wonder if I'll like it as much? That's half the fun of a rec - seeing what grabs other people :0)
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Date: 2016-07-11 09:15 am (UTC)Nipping back as ordered :0)
Date: 2016-07-17 05:35 pm (UTC)Not bad – can't say I'm absolutely in love with it – but then I tend to be a bit of a case fic fiend – so anything which isn't that has an extra hoop to jump through.
But then, I do have favs which aren't at all case ficcy. So, no consistency there, then!
It did have a nice start in Africa – I like stories where Bodie's African adventures are a bit more plausible (which, given the actual canon, isn't always easy!). I ignored the money in 'Liechtenstein', I'm not convinced by Bodie's imagined mercenary wealth, but it's just a throwaway line here, and might be facetious anyway. To date, my fav Bodie in Africa story is probably A Mercenary's Tale (http://archiveofourown.org/works/541908) by Fictionwriter.
But this wasn't a porn-fest of Congo gaols and The Game initiations – so points for that. I detracted some for Doyle's Catholicism – seriously, where does that come from? I may be popping over later to the Safehouse to ask. (I think I get particularly peeved with this because [some] writers seem to imply that devotion has to be Catholic – presumably, all other personal [Christian] faiths are just a polite exercise in formation tea drinking. Have these people never heard of the Protestant Martyrs?) Still that's hardly this story's fault, so really, that was okay too.
I added some for Doyle's perfectly awful, perfectly ordinary family. And the revelation that he was lonely coming at a wedding. It's a cliché, but it's true.
It did veer a bit on the Big Butch Bodie (he's not that Big, and giggles far too often to be that Butch!) and Delicate Doyle side for me, but I think it steered away from being annoyingly that. There's a reason for Doyle's supposed Delicacy and the story makes clear that in all other respects Doyle is his usual awkward squad self. And doggedly determined to keep up with Bodie on the trek to the railway, writers often concentrate on Doyle's introspection and tendency to self-castigation and forget about his pig-headed determination. So that was nice to see.
You don't get anything directly from Bodie's POV, so it's harder to judge characterisation. But I liked the Bodie here. To me it seemed a convincing take, Bodie just turning up and doing stuff rather than being all hearts and flowers. Aloof enough to give Doyle pause, but not so aloof that he doesn't realise Bodie loves him – as a brother, if nothing else.
And I liked the ending particularly. Bodie just kissing Doyle because he needed it and then popping off to make tea and await the fall out. It all seemed very Bodie.
I'm not sure why Bodie has 'hard hands'. I run across this in MFU fic a lot too. There seems to be an assumption that anyone who habitually uses a gun has 'hard hands'. I wouldn't expect him to have the hands of a surgeon, and his grip is probably firm if he chooses, but why his hands should be noticeably 'hard' compared to that of a labourer, for instance, enough that you might comment on it, is a bit of a mystery to me. After all, Doyle does the same job, and we don't hear about his 'hard hands'.
But I liked Doyle's having a no-name for Bodie like 'Soldier'. And the fact that they both seem caught by the other long before they meet officially in CI5, it gives the whole thing a pleasing inevitability.
And it got me thinking, it gave me an idea for a fic myself. Which is always the best kind of story. I think I'll be turning over bits of this story in my mind for quite some time. It has some lovely images and a novel and pleasing take on the lads relationship.
RE: Nipping back as ordered :0)
Date: 2016-07-17 06:32 pm (UTC)Yes, none of that silly "Game" nonsense (which I frankly find annoyingly daft, the way it's sometimes presented) - I'm very much not an expert, but this depiction rang true because it was down-to-earth in a way that made sense.
I didn't actually think Doyle was religious at all in this, or no more than in the sort of lip-service-and-cultural-assumptions way that was (and to a lesser extent still is) quite common in the UK; he went looking for somewhere to volunteer, and found himself in a religion-based setting ... perhaps because that was the easiest to find and contact from the UK, I suppose? He's certainly got family who bother with church for a wedding, but that's not a very strong marker in itself. I've always assumed some writers give him a catholic background just because Doyle's an Irish surname (I have no idea if some surnames skew more south/catholic vs north/protestant, though I suppose that's likely ..????).
I agree it almost veers towards falling into the dreadful BBB vs DD - just a bit - but I think it successfully escapes it; Doyle is not in a good way, but he's tough and self-reliant and competent, and - as you say - a right stubborn bastard, just as we see him in the series *g*
Oh, but best of all, how wonderful to hear that it might be sparking off something you'd like to write! That is the best news!!!!!
RE: Nipping back as ordered :0)
Date: 2016-07-17 06:59 pm (UTC)Yes, I agree - it's more Doyle happens to be Catholic in this story, it's just a strange (in my view) assumption to make without anything - as far as I'm aware - in canon to prompt it.
But yes, I'm thinking it's a Doyle=Irish=Catholic thing. But Bodie is just as likely to be (at least culturally) Catholic on that basis - and it gets nary a mention...
Well, not nearly as often, anyway :0)
RE: Nipping back as ordered :0)
Date: 2016-07-17 07:36 pm (UTC)You're right, it's not logical on the face of it to give Doyle that background more often than Bodie. Maybe because he Visibly Wrestles with Issues more, or famously Has a Conscience, and some people (wrongly/groundlessly, I would argue) consciously or unconsciously associate that with religion???? I have no idea! It's an interesting question, and one I'd never thought of before!
Re: Nipping back as ordered :0)
Date: 2016-07-18 08:45 am (UTC)Ah, poor Doyle - will he never be free of Father Jacob?
Actually, I've never seen Apparitions, which is odd because I'd have watched something with Neil Pearson in it - at least given it a go.
But, from what I've read it was shown in 2008/09? - and I was really quite poorly then - so I missed quite a bit. It's one of the few things I've been tempted to buy on spec - and I might yet :0)
RE: Re: Nipping back as ordered :0)
Date: 2016-07-18 09:11 am (UTC)Although of course it could only have subconsciously influenced fics written in the last few years, so my hypothesis has its limitations ;-D
A proper comparative study is called for. Every Pros fic ever written, by date ...
I wonder if I could get a grant. Somehow I'm not too hopeful :-(
RE: Re: Nipping back as ordered :0)
Date: 2016-07-18 09:29 am (UTC)Paid to read Pros fic....
Ahhh :0)
RE: Re: Nipping back as ordered :0)
Date: 2016-07-18 09:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-11 12:54 pm (UTC)Like you I enjoyed the dream-like style, which works for a memory and dreams story. And it enables Doyle to be quite detached in his pov on Bodie, which, whichever way round it's done, is a device I appreciate ! Could have done with more Bodie pov on Doyle actually, but by the same token the strong focus on Doyle's burgeoning feelings is one of the best things about it. The fact that the voices are not spot on for the show doesn't bother me so much, precisely because of the AU feel that the style brings.
The only thing I didn't care for so much was the little sequence where Ray's fantasizing about Bodie and imagines being someone small and needing protecting and how nice that would be. Hmmmph, I thought *g*
All in all though, this time I'm bookmarking it - so thanks for the reminder :D
Good challenge!
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Date: 2016-07-11 03:41 pm (UTC)I'd forgotten about that line - I haven't got to it yet on this re-read! Oddly - and utterly unlike me, I normally run a mile from that stuff - in this fic I can just about get past it because it's so very clearly Ray's fantasy and quite unrelated to reality. I see it as just him having a very OTT moment of musing about what it might take to get Bodie to want a relationship with him. You're certainly right that that definitely isn't Ray - but it just might squeak through as Ray's meandering through notions of what Bodie might want, perhaps?
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Date: 2016-07-11 04:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-20 02:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-21 10:25 am (UTC)You know it's funny, I usually tend to notice things like horrible punctuation but I don't remember noticing at all with this one - I shall remember to look more carefully next time I read it!