Fic Rec - Heat, by Lainie Stone

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Title: Heat
Author: Lainie Stone
Link to story: Not online - but on ProsLib CD
Zine: Mobile Ghetto

Read this for the first time tonight, as recced by jagr1968, msmoat and metabolick, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It hits one of my kinks, of course - post-apocalypse fic (I blame growing up in the '80s, myself *g*) - which doesn't hurt, but there was something just good about it, apart from that. I love fic that can make you feel for the characters, real, proper feeling, and this one definitely got me!

Doyle is still working for CI5, but a very different CI5, one that is coping with the disaster that has overcome the UK, now an isolated island struggling with disease and an energy crisis. Bodie has been gone for some time - presumed dead in the catastrophe - and we follow Doyle in his determination not to give in.

I thought the background to it all was nicely, lightly drawn, and the couple of original characters equally well done. The lads are the lads, Cowley is there, and I do like to see them being them and doing what they do best - coping with the world gone mad, in their own inimitable style... *g*

Also - yeay, there is still wonderful old Prosfic yet to be discovered!

EDITED To Ask - Does anyone know if there's a sequel?!

Comments

[madmogs.livejournal.com]

Oh, agreed! That was such a good fic---one of those you read and go 'must have sequel' to immediately and insistently.

I don't suppose there WAS a sequel?

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Ooh, don't know, good question - and that was my first thought when I got to the end too! *runs to edit post to ask Those Who Might Know*

[squeeful.livejournal.com]

Post-apocalyptic Pros...nnnnn... Yeah, p-a themes are a thing of mine too. This has just jumped the line of Must Read.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oooh - d'you have any p-a recs? The only other stories I can think of right this second are Nothing Left to Lose (http://www.thecircuitarchive.com/tca/archive/4/nothingleft.html) and (sort of) Time Out, Past Tense (http://www.thecircuitarchive.com/tca/archive/7/timeout.html)...

Also - excellent icon... *g*

[londonronnie.livejournal.com]

I read this quite recently too - it was in one of my Circuit Library batches - and I liked it a lot. I do like stories that create new (but believable) worlds and scenarios, and yet still depict the B&D that we know and love. I'm always full of admiration for authors who have the ability to do this.

No idea if there was a sequel, but if there was then I'd certainly like to read it.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It's a fabulous talent, isn't it...

If no one here knows about a sequel, perhaps I'll pop over to ProsLit and ask there... *g*

[callistosh65.livejournal.com]

I shall hunt out my CD and check this out. Premise sounds intriguing and as long as they're both firmly in character - which seems so judging from the comments - I'm up for yet another AU to prove me wrong about not liking AUs.*g*,

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Hee - I can't believe those days of not liking AUs, what was I thinking?! *g* Hope you like this one - let me know!

[msmoat.livejournal.com]

Ah, I'm glad you enjoyed it! (One never knows with recs. *g*) I love the feel of it--the despair and the weariness that slowly, just as England, begins to get better once Bodie is back. It's lovely, isn't it? Bittersweet hope.

There's no sequel that I know of.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh it's wonderful - the atmosphere is just so well done, and yes, having Bodie back, and the promise of his world recovering, being worthwhile again... *sighs happily* (*also sighs for a sequel*)

[jagr1968.livejournal.com]

Despite many pleas, Lainie never got around to writing a sequel.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Ah - thank you, although also - such a shame... And thank you so much for the rec in the first place! I shall be hunting through my current stack-o'-zines to see if I can find the others you mentioned!

[jagr1968.livejournal.com]

I should qualify my reply about no sequel to "Heat" by adding that she did start writing one, titled "Summer", but never got around to finishing it before leaving the fandom. You can find her story, "Brown Study", on the Pros CD. It's one of her earlier stories and lacks the sophistication of her later efforts but I've always liked it. The very simplicity of her prose carries an emotional power that makes the story memorable. Even after all these years, I still remember it fondly.

You can find "Comfort and Joy 1 & 2" in Second Variation on the Theme of B and D. "Return to Skull Mountain" is in No Holds Barred 2. Joan Enright wrote several excellent stories for the NHB zines. As for "Without Prejudice", I don't think it's on-line or in a zine. A friend sent me a paper copy from England back when the circuit was the only way to share stories. If you find it, you should definitely give it a read. It's a powerful, emotional story with a riveting plot. In brief, Bodie's temper and speeding causes a car accident in which Doyle's leg is so badly damaged he can no longer continue as a field agent in CI5. The two were lovers at the time but afterwards, Doyle blames Bodie for what happened and wants nothing more to do with him or CI5.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh, I already like the promise of the title of the not-sequel! I do wish there was some way of getting all those unfinished sequels out into the open!

I did read "Brown Study" after reading "Heat" actually. It was definitely read-able, albeit with a few of the terms that tend to irritate me ("love me" for "have sex with me", and Bodie carrying Doyle around). I liked it anyway, although not to the same level as "Heat"!

"Comfort and Joy" I've read before too - there are a few Meridean stories up at Circuit. Took me a while to get around to that one, because I hadn't seen "The Chief", and then the Americanisms threw me, but again, it's nice!

"Without Prejudice" I've read - I've just found the Jenny Parkinson stories, in fact. I like her work alot.

And Joan Enright... I've started a few of hers, got stuck on something (can't remember what) and not gone back - I shall put that on my list of things to do!

Thanks again for all the recs - and I'm very open to more, any time you have a moment to make them! Unfortunately my zines/fic etc are currently piled up into the space-that-they-fit-in, which doesn't make it easy to find specific stories, even when I know they're there! I love that I'm still discovering new writers though, even after a couple of years of fairly voracious reading in Pros! You sound like you've been in fandom for quite some time yourself?

[jagr1968.livejournal.com]

I've been in Pros fandom since the early 1980's. Pam Rose sent me video copies of the series and I was hooked. I adored the series and the actors. I went to England and NYC to see Martin Shaw on stage. I even went to Chicago because Lewis Collins was making an appearance at Scorpio Con. I've got lovely autographed photographs of both actors. I've collected books, magazines, photographs, posters, records, even puzzles of the actors or series. Above all, I've amassed a huge collection of stories and zines from America, England, Canada, and Australia. I'm tickled pink that the Internet has introduced the Pros to a new generation of fans and fine writers, such as yourself.