Prosfic Rec Advent Calendar, Day Twenty: Two by Elspeth Leigh

[golden-bastet.livejournal.com]

Here I am, with today's Advent offering: two - count 'em, two! - stories by Elspeth Leigh:

• Fairy Tale
• The Cow’s Christmas
  

They *are* related; The Cow’s Christmas is an alternate take on Fairy Tale, from what I can tell, written a year or few afterwards. Rather than true fairy tales, they're more a blend of a few Christmas stories.

Both start off with Bodie working on the crossword at Doyle's. They're already a couple, they're lazing through a rare-ish Christmas break – but it then veers off in another direction entirely. Almost.

The second makes the first story a bit more CI5-centric – and making it hit home that much more. I think it’s the better story, though rawer.

Even though these two stories comprise a take and a retake of a certain situation, I think they should be read together, and in that order.

Don’t want to spoil it too much; but in the end, maybe it's more about CI5 itself, as its own character.

Hope you enjoy!

ETA: As tinturtle points out below, The Cow's Christmas seems to have come first - I inadvertently switched the publish dates. A teeny tiny shame but CI5 is still the central character - and it's remit *is* beyond its members, after all!

Comments

[tinturtle]

I liked these, and reading them in parallel was interesting.

I agree that The Cow’s Christmas seems like the later story—more focused and darker. According to the notes at the bottom, though, they were published the same year, and Fairy Tale came later by about 8 months. That is intriguing to me.

[tinturtle]

It does seem possible that Elspeth Leigh revised the fic to focus more attention on the ordinary people that it is CI5’s mission to help—who are presumably Cowley’s priority—and less on the organization’s role in the lives of the main characters.

[golden-bastet.livejournal.com]

Yes - I was flipping between the bottom of windows and switched the published dates. Thanks for pointing that out.

It changes the focus a bit, but it's still about the organization - which is a change from most stories. I'm now wondering about other stories where CI% is front and center. Hmmm... :-)

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

I think Elspeth Leigh is a very fine writer and (perhaps) not mentioned enough so thank you for this post!

[golden-bastet.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :-)

I am awful with remembering story names, much less authors (I'm much more, "that's the story where they went to A and did B"). My next Pros assignment is to comb through the various sources and get a better idea of what else she's written.

[harlech1000.livejournal.com]

That sounds like me too - isn’t it frustrating (lol)

[harlech1000.livejournal.com]

We are spoilt! I agree these a cool stories - I’d forgotten about so very glad you picked them :)

[golden-bastet.livejournal.com]

Very glad you enjoyed them.
Happy holidays! :D