(no subject)

[brenk.livejournal.com]

Title: Bastard in the black
Author: Laura
Link to story: http://prosfanfic.batcave.net/laura/BastardintheBlack.html

Short review:

It's a footie story (I hate football but hey - topical!) But football or not and gen or not, don't run away. Really. I'd recommend this even to slashers simply because the lads are just so very much in synch. Wonderful, bouncy, fun piece that really shows the lads at play... on the pitch. And says a lot about them too and how they interact. Just... go read it.

Actually, I'd recommend any of Laura's stories. She's brilliant.

And for anybody whose football knowledge doesn't extend to what the referees wear... they wear black.

Brenda

Comments

[empty-mirrors.livejournal.com]

Oh, I have read this before but that didn't diminish the enjoyment this time round. It's a lovely rendition of the characters and relationships between them. And football, of course. :-D Thanks for the reminder of it.

[brenk.livejournal.com]

Welcome :)

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

I liked this story very much (and I've got Italy playing Ghana in the background here so the mood is perfect). And I think it's the first non-slash B & D story I've ever read so a momentous occasion. Thanks for recommending a story I would probably have never come across otherwise.

[brenk.livejournal.com]

See, gen can be so good at the bonding / interaction, when it's good. Plenty of it is - um - somewhat flat for my tastes, but then so is some slash. Thing is, there are few gen recs around despite some absolutely marvellous stories that I honestly think would appeal to slashers.

Drifting off onto a tangent, I think that if some gen stories I knew were posted to slash lists, nobody would go 'oooo gen - ugh'. Slashers would enjoy them and paste their own perceptions onto them. And by 'some' I do mean those that focus on just how close the guys are.

But that's just me.

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

Drifting off onto a tangent, I think that if some gen stories I knew were posted to slash lists, nobody would go 'oooo gen - ugh'. Slashers would enjoy them and paste their own perceptions onto them.

I agree, which I suppose is a bit like watching the episodes themselves; and you can take a story which is more subtle than others, which carries the 'hint' or question mark of something between them and it's often more satisfying than a story which leaves little to the imagination. And I would think there's a fine line between a 'gen' story which might have them in an intimate and close, but non-sexual relationship and pre-slash.

[callistosh65.livejournal.com]

Great fun. Fast moving, and very much in character. Love Doyle when he's riled - his narrative voice is spot on, and Bodie's relaxed arrogance at the beginning in the dressing room did make me smile :))

Thanks for the rec, will have to check out some more of her stories

[brenk.livejournal.com]

Do. Some gen writers get the voices and the closeness so *right*. And I like that. Often more than a good hot sex scene (although I'm not averse to those either *g*).

Laura's 'character' pieces are particularly wonderful. She gets into Bodie's head like few writers, IMHO, all genres combined.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Hee - very nice! Even if this little slashy heart did keep waiting for the moment when they... well, you know *g* And then I went and read this author's Bodie's Diary", at the same website, and laughed myself silly - it's a genius fic. Bodie writing in the style of Bridget Jones - and really really well done...

[brenk.livejournal.com]

Fun, innit? And as for the moment in question, all I can suggest is to hold the image and use your imagination - I'm a strong believer in stories that let you do that, and *whatever* the authorial intention.

I used to be a little less flexible on this, and get a little huffy / perplexed when the odd slasher said 'I like your story X because it's so slashy for a gen thing', but now - hey - I'm just glad people get *something* out of it. Having - um - strayed to the dark side at times as you know all I can say is the more fanfic I read, the more I want a story to hit me for, well, *something*, and I don't care if it's slash or gen as long as I enjoy that 'bonding' thing I waffle on about so much. Sure, there are times when I want a certain concrete outcome, if you get me, but others when I'm all too happy to let my imagination wander. I mean, if you think about it, fanfic 'fills in the gaps' from the series often enough, so I'm quite happy to 'fill in my own gaps' if a story provides those gaps for me.

Oh dear. Not at my most coherent here, but I do know what you mean by waiting for moments that don't come, too. That can be just as irritating as a lovely, bouncy story that suddenly slides into 12 pages of sex scene in purple prose, lingering lovingly into every drop of sweat and grunt.

Must not get onto 'balance', which is a whole new ball game *g*

[(Anonymous)]

Hello - many thanks for this recommendation. I came here by way of slash and had never read any gen - maybe pre-slash stories if that is a word, but still very much set in the slashy side of the universe. Read this and thought the lads voices were spot on and they were so totally in character that I raced to the rest of Laura's fanfic - wow. It's all really good - love, love, love To Derby and Bodie's Diary mentioned above. Is Laura still writing and posting her fic, anyone know? As before thanks for this rec!
Magenta x

[brenk.livejournal.com]

Welcome! Much as I like slash myself there's some gen that I think would appeal to slashers and that's case in point.

No, Laura's not writing these days, sadly. We wrote a Pros epic together years back and it was a blast.

[(Anonymous)]

Ooo your Pros epic sounds one I would like to read for sure! Is that online?

If there is gen like this out there then I totally agree, I guess its stories that manage to capture their essence and from there on in its in the eye of the beholder, just like the shows ;)

And thanks for the welcome!
Magenta x

[brenk.livejournal.com]

The epic's called Loyalties, and it's at my site: www.geocities.com/ariadneswebspace. Laura wrote the parts narrated by Bodie, which I find brilliant. The Pros aren't slashed in it, but the 'new lads' (New Pros)... are. I have to say, though, that I've always thought of it as a Pros story more than a crossover.

If I remember rightly, Laura was calling herself Naomi at the time, so don't be confused if you come across it and the name looks wrong!

[moonlightmead.livejournal.com]

Woe. By the time I came across this rec, it had long, long vanished into the ether. If anyone ever comes across this, I would love to know where I might find it....?