Fic Report: Sci-fi, Fall Girl, and More

[tinturtle]

Hello, all. It's fic report time again. I would have posted a couple of days ago, but I've been a little distracted. You may be able to guess what by. At any rate, here are some of the things I've read lately:

Where the Jungle Begins by Verlaine (30949 words, slash)
This long fic features vivid emotions, an engaging plot, and interesting OCs. It is very polished and does a good job managing its non-linear storytelling and shifting points of view. I liked the backstory it provided for Bodie very much.

Silence = Death by M. Fae Glasgow (~2000 words, slash)
Warning: This is a death fic.
This is a grim fic, and it does not pull its punches. It is flawless, but its author resisted any temptation to make it beautiful. If you are up for that, I recommend it highly.

The Bronze Metal Lover by Stew (15264 words, slash)
This is a very enjoyable science fiction AU. Particularly effective was the depiction of the robot character's thoughts and motivations, and how they were different than a human's. (As well as how they changed over time.)

Right Here, Right Now by Stew (5388 words, slash)
I loved this, though I can't pinpoint all the reasons why. It is another sci-fi AU, which takes its setting from the movie Blade Runner. I thought it did interesting things with its borrowed world, as well as porting the Pros characters into it convincingly.

A Hill of Beans by fiorenza_a (4239 words, het)
This fic is a prequel to Fall Girl. It provides a believable glimpse of Bodie's prior relationship with Marikka and how it influenced him. I particularly liked the frequent use of allusions in Bodie's inner monologue; it seemed a convincing depiction of how Bodie might think. The dialogue was graceful, as well, and I admired the fic generally.

All the Toy Soldiers by byslantedlight (423 words, slash)
This fic, in turn, is a short coda to Fall Girl. It gives some context for the events of the episode and ties up emotional loose ends. It is a nice fic.

I only have things I liked to report today. I guess I've been doing a good job choosing reading material.

Comments

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I'm enjoying your fic reports very much! *g*

And hee for All the Toy Soldiers - glad you liked it. It was actually one of the first Pros fics I ever wrote... such a long time ago now!

[fiorenza-a.livejournal.com]

I remember first running across 'Silence=Death', it's a hard read - but no grimmer than the reality being faced by many couples at the time. I've haven't been back to it for a long time, it comes from an unforgiving era of callous moral judgements, which I hope we have moved some distance from.

I did wonder about mentioning 'A Hill of Beans' when you found my vid 'Fall Girl' - but you seemed to be having such fun finding things for yourself, and exploring things by themes, that I figured you'd get there if you wanted to :0)

I've not read some of the others, but I don't have much spare time, and even less where my concentration is up to reading, and I really want to catch up with as much of this year's BB as possible, so I'm focussing on that. But I'm enjoying reading your reports.

[tinturtle]

I’m not sure if you are saying that Silence=Death contains moral judgements. If so, I wonder if you are remembering another fic, because I didn’t perceive it that way at all. There’s a breath of outrage that those in power waited so long to act, but that’s it.

I must have been unsatisfied with Fall Girl after I first watched it, because I went and collected a whole folder full of Fall Girl fics. I still haven't read everything in the folder, but I dip into it when the mood strikes.

I’m glad you have been enjoying the reports. They are likely to become less frequent, because I've started to be busier with other things, but I hope to continue writing them.

[fiorenza-a.livejournal.com]

Silence=Death doesn't present any explicit moral judgements, but (without going into spoilers), my point is, the times it depicts did. The story comes from a time when it was not only perfectly acceptable to 'victim blame', but it was a national pass time. Even the heavily regulated broadcast media used the language of 'innocent victims', to distinguish them from other, less worthy, human souls. It bled into the social and health care systems, causing immeasurable unnecessary suffering. It's the same mindset that stigmatised the health care of unmarried mothers, still evident at the time the lads aired, and has caused the recent apology over the contemporary language used in the police investigation of the Ripper killings, implying some victims were disposable, whilst the death of others was an outrage.

The only moral judgement I see in Silence=Death is the implied judgement against the blinkered and compassionless society in which the story is set. You have to remember, grim as it is, at the time of its writing, this story was drawing on actual lived realities. That's what was in my thoughts.