Fic Review - Cat Tales, by Fanny Adams
Aug. 24th, 2008 11:05 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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ci5hqTitle: Cat Tales
Author: Fanny Adams
Link to story: Start here with this note, and then work through the 13 archived stories (Link to first story at bottom of page)
Zine: Cat Tales
So... this is a story, comprised of 13 non-stand-alone short stories which have become chapters in the zine, wherein Ray Doyle turns out to have a touch of the magics about him, and regularly turns into a cat called Beelzy... I read one or two of the stories online, and found them quite amusing once I'd wiggled into my don't-take-this-too-seriously hat, but...
Someone gave me a copy of the zine itself containing all 13 stories, and various illustrations, and I began reading it prepared to be amused (if perhaps a trifle impatient) the whole way through. Every now and then for a change, and when I'm in the mood, I quite like a sort of crack-fic type story with the lads - I can do elves, I can do teddy bears, all of that, as long as it's in small doses and I know I can go back to my regularly scheduled reading of B/D fic. So I giggled at the thought of Doyle turning into a cat, and Bodie being all wtf about it. Only...
To be honest, after that first part of the first story, and the odd bit in the other stories, it all started to go a bit far for me. It turned out that Doyle was absolutely into Pagan religion, and he introduces Bodie to it, and eventually (in later stories) acquires a teacher to help him deal with being a werecat. She's a good, kind, wise black American woman, and whenever things get tough he heads off to America for her to sort it all out.
Then it turns out that Bodie has magic of his own - even more powerful than Doyle's werecat magic, as he is in fact the son of a Fairy King - and all he needs is to accept the love and understanding that is Paganism in order to be able to control it. Off we go to America again, for help with Bodie's problems this time.
All through this, Cowley is absolutely aware of the magic residing in his agents, and has used it upon occasion to help CI5. He's ever so understanding of it all, very sympathetic to the Pagan way of life, and very generous with free time for the lads to jaunt over to the States whenever they need help. In fact it turns out that there are many were-agents in CI5, and another one of them is Murphy. Poor old Murphy can't accept his "gift" any more than first Doyle, then Bodie could - but he also is taken off to America, where he learns all about himself and love and the world, and returns better able to cope.
There are original characters woven through the story, but I have to admit that I struggled with them as well. Doyle's teacher is Collette, and she works as well with various damaged "children" - Tal and Kev - and friends such as Bea and Dahout who all Learn Things Along The Way, and Dahout's lover Jeff, and her own lover Kevin who is wonderful and understanding and supportive. There's alot of talk about being family, and how grateful Bodie and Doyle are to have a family now... Alot of the learning also seems to involve various characters having sex with either Bodie and/or Doyle, and everyone being ultimately very understanding about it all. Trouble is, I felt as if the characters were ideals rather than actual people - they all learned to be a nice, clean kind of perfect - even if they were still damaged in some way, the damage made them somehow even more perfect...
The lads are rather "talky" for my tastes too - they both explain their feelings to each other, analyse them and describe out loud how lucky they are are that they've found each other, and Collette and how much they've learned to accept and so on... It's all a bit American-therapist for me - I just can't see the lads there at all, and I get bored with how good everyone is! It's almost... it's a pagan version of happy-clappy, somehow... I felt very much as if the emphasis was on Learning To Accept Yourself and Be A Good Person rather than on Bodie and Doyle, and to be honest that's not why I read slash... *g*
It was a bit of a battle for me to get to the end of this zine, and I felt a slight triumph that I had - despite everything, I read it all! I'm sure there must be alot of people who are perfectly happy with this portrayal of the lads, just... not me I'm afraid...
Anyone else read Cat Tales?
Author: Fanny Adams
Link to story: Start here with this note, and then work through the 13 archived stories (Link to first story at bottom of page)
Zine: Cat Tales
So... this is a story, comprised of 13 non-stand-alone short stories which have become chapters in the zine, wherein Ray Doyle turns out to have a touch of the magics about him, and regularly turns into a cat called Beelzy... I read one or two of the stories online, and found them quite amusing once I'd wiggled into my don't-take-this-too-seriously hat, but...
Someone gave me a copy of the zine itself containing all 13 stories, and various illustrations, and I began reading it prepared to be amused (if perhaps a trifle impatient) the whole way through. Every now and then for a change, and when I'm in the mood, I quite like a sort of crack-fic type story with the lads - I can do elves, I can do teddy bears, all of that, as long as it's in small doses and I know I can go back to my regularly scheduled reading of B/D fic. So I giggled at the thought of Doyle turning into a cat, and Bodie being all wtf about it. Only...
To be honest, after that first part of the first story, and the odd bit in the other stories, it all started to go a bit far for me. It turned out that Doyle was absolutely into Pagan religion, and he introduces Bodie to it, and eventually (in later stories) acquires a teacher to help him deal with being a werecat. She's a good, kind, wise black American woman, and whenever things get tough he heads off to America for her to sort it all out.
Then it turns out that Bodie has magic of his own - even more powerful than Doyle's werecat magic, as he is in fact the son of a Fairy King - and all he needs is to accept the love and understanding that is Paganism in order to be able to control it. Off we go to America again, for help with Bodie's problems this time.
All through this, Cowley is absolutely aware of the magic residing in his agents, and has used it upon occasion to help CI5. He's ever so understanding of it all, very sympathetic to the Pagan way of life, and very generous with free time for the lads to jaunt over to the States whenever they need help. In fact it turns out that there are many were-agents in CI5, and another one of them is Murphy. Poor old Murphy can't accept his "gift" any more than first Doyle, then Bodie could - but he also is taken off to America, where he learns all about himself and love and the world, and returns better able to cope.
There are original characters woven through the story, but I have to admit that I struggled with them as well. Doyle's teacher is Collette, and she works as well with various damaged "children" - Tal and Kev - and friends such as Bea and Dahout who all Learn Things Along The Way, and Dahout's lover Jeff, and her own lover Kevin who is wonderful and understanding and supportive. There's alot of talk about being family, and how grateful Bodie and Doyle are to have a family now... Alot of the learning also seems to involve various characters having sex with either Bodie and/or Doyle, and everyone being ultimately very understanding about it all. Trouble is, I felt as if the characters were ideals rather than actual people - they all learned to be a nice, clean kind of perfect - even if they were still damaged in some way, the damage made them somehow even more perfect...
The lads are rather "talky" for my tastes too - they both explain their feelings to each other, analyse them and describe out loud how lucky they are are that they've found each other, and Collette and how much they've learned to accept and so on... It's all a bit American-therapist for me - I just can't see the lads there at all, and I get bored with how good everyone is! It's almost... it's a pagan version of happy-clappy, somehow... I felt very much as if the emphasis was on Learning To Accept Yourself and Be A Good Person rather than on Bodie and Doyle, and to be honest that's not why I read slash... *g*
It was a bit of a battle for me to get to the end of this zine, and I felt a slight triumph that I had - despite everything, I read it all! I'm sure there must be alot of people who are perfectly happy with this portrayal of the lads, just... not me I'm afraid...
Anyone else read Cat Tales?
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