The Reading Room

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

 

Welcome to the all-new Pros fic club, The Reading Room. 

 

 

Thanks to everyone who made suggestions, but in a completely undemocratic manner I’ve opted for The Reading Room, but was sorely tempted by this inspired contribution, courtesy of earthdogue: 

 

'The New Tricks & Mixed Involvement after the Heat & Private Madness Cools Off from Backtracking Killers, Guns, & Spy Probes and being Hunted, Hijacked, and Discovered in a Graveyard Room.’

The idea, anyway, is that each week we’ll all read a Pros fic and discuss it here. 

 

I’ve recced one of my favourites below, to kick off. Hopefully each week someone different will suggest the fic, and post a rec about it, to start off the discussion.

 

The only condition is that the fic should be online, so everyone can get access to it. Slash (or gen) goes without saying, I hope, in this company. To suggest a rec for next week, please comment to this post, by 8 pm GMT on Tuesday. The first rec received will be the next Pros Fic club choice, which I will post next Thursday. 

 

To start off, then, I am delighted to recommend for your reading pleasure:

Title: Dance While You Can

Author: Alexandra

Links to story:
http://www.thecircuitarchive.com/tca/archive/0/dancewhile.html

 also in print at: 'Close Quarters', Deathless Pros Press (1996)

Pairing: B/D

Black ankle boots, black pants hugging thighs and crotch with little left to the imagination, black silk poloneck, and black leather jacket. Definitely Bodie's best color.  Doyle watched him make his way to the bar, admiring his elegance, his subtle grace.

 

Does any fic need more to recommend it?

 

Dance While You Can, by Alexandra

 

 

‘Black ankle boots, black pants hugging thighs and crotch with little left to the imagination, black silk poloneck, and black leather jacket. Definitely Bodie's best color.  Doyle watched him make his way to the bar, admiring his elegance, his subtle grace.’

 

Does any fic need more to recommend it than this ravishing image? And through Doyle’s admiring eyes, too, with the promise of slash to come. 

 

This is one of the first fics I read, not that long ago I have to admit, and it has yet to be displaced from top spot in my favourites. I love the joy and warmth and humour in Alexandra’s writing. The quality of the writing, the narrative, and the characterisation of Bodie, Doyle and Cowley, all goes without saying as the essentials of a memorable story. But ‘Dance While You Can’ ticks all the boxes for me in all sorts of ways.

 

The title is a bit of worry. It sounds rather ominous, as though something terrible is going to happen, but in fact there is nothing here to disturb even the most faint-hearted (that’s me).  There is a bit of a plot, narrated with a close eye on canon.  The plot is enough to place the lads convincingly in the situation they find themselves in, without diverting attention from their relationship.  An ironic misunderstanding in that area is enough to give the plot more substance.

 

Alexandra recreates the atmosphere of the eps perfectly.  Particularly vivid is Bodie and Doyle’s visit to Cowley’s office; first the mutual anxiety, then, in the blink of an eye, the lads bouncing back and treating Cowley to their two-man comedy routine, except only they are in on the joke, and there is just a hint that Cowley is not entirely convinced. It could be played out on the screen in front of you.

 

There is more than knock-about humour, and well-written porn, though. The quality of Alexandra’s writing is in imagery like this:

 

‘The room stood still, swathed in a bath of moonlight from the small, high window, such an ordinary room in an ordinary flat, with nothing of their own in it, a temporary place. Yet he felt so at home, sheltered in Bodie's arms.’

 

At the heart of it, really, is that I like my lads happy and in love, but still credibly masculine, strong and independent, and Alexandra does this so well.

 

Read to the end of this fic and your day will be brighter.

.

Also at jaycat92.livejournal.com/9922.html ...

Comments

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

Oh, well done! All we need is a cyber bottle of champagne to launch the new endeavour. And I'm so pleased you've chosen a story by Alexandra as I like her work a lot. And I'm also very pleased you've opted for online stories because that's fair and it would be frustrating to discuss something if only half the group had access to it.

Cheers!

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

I'll drink to that, thanks!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh yeay - and I've actually got that story in a zine, so I don't even need to print it out! In case you want to add it to your post, it's in Close Quarters (http://www.palelyloitering.com/zines/closequarters.html) from Deathless Pros Press (1996) and ohhhh - look at the cover of the zine! I've just scanned it for palelyloitering, so if you go to that link you'll see it... Just... ohhh.... *g* Actually the whole zine is full of stories that I adore, include Irene's fabulous Groundhog Doyle (http://www.palelyloitering.com/Fic/groundhogdoyle.html)... but she's not online, and I'm getting off-track. Yeay the first ever Pros Reading Room! I shall, indeed, rush off to read... *g*

Although I'm not sure I can see Bodie in ankle boots... but I like Alexandra, so maybe she'll convince me!

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for the zine reference. Have added that to the main post.

Mood: nervous.

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

But he's wearing them as a kind of disguise and they're '70s ankle boots and just right for the 'costume'.

[moorspede.livejournal.com]

It's wonderful that recommendatins will be for online stories. I joined for recs but most seem to have originated from zines. It was annoying the hell out of me.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Wow, this really interested me, because I would have sworn it was the other way around. I pulled up the CI5hq tag summary, and this is what it says:

rec - online stories - 72 uses
rec - proslib cd stories - 36 uses
rec - zine stories - 61 uses

One online story was mis-tagged, and so looked as if it was on its own, but there were still 71 other ones with the proper tag... And actually alot of the online and zine stories will be tagged with both, because alot of the zine stories have since come online... I'm trying to think how else you might have got that impression - you didn't bump into a Zine Rec Challenge, did you?!

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this! I like the idea of fic of the week. I plan on reading this week's rec tonight, and if someone recs a fic by next Tuesday, I'll have a couple of days before comments open to get my thoughts in order. Thanks!

[probodie.livejournal.com]

Nice one. I shall look forward to reading this one.

May I make a suggestion? If you are going to have gen as well as slash, can the genra be shown somewhere in either the subject or before the cut. I dont want to stray into territory gen if I can at all avoid it. Cheers!

[krisserci5.livejournal.com]

I'm with you there!!!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Yes! Be good to specify so that we don't have to go all gen-ish if we can help it... But then we should probably explain exactly what we mean by gen too, right? Cos some fandoms seem to have an odd idea of what it means, and... *g*

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

We could just not mention gen at all in future. But I'll try to remember to give a gen warning if necessary.

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

Is there a procedure for starting the discussion on the recommended story?

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I didn't want to be bossy, but may have erred on the side of vagueness.

Have now posted on this. In short, I see people either posting their own thoughts on the fic, or commenting on other people's posts (or both, of course).

[saintvic.livejournal.com]

Aha I was just about to ask something similar to sc_fossil. I was also wondering if you want review/dicussion in this introductory(and next recs) post or do you want a new discussion post?

Also can I just say thank you for this idea, I am looking forward to reading the fic, probably tomorrow, and seeing what others think. In addition thank you for making sure these are all online stories as these are accessible to everyone.

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I didn't want to be bossy, but may have erred on the side of vagueness.

Have now posted on this. In short, I see people either posting their own thoughts on the fic here at CI5hq, or commenting on other people's posts (or both, of course).

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

I think I'll start anyway *g*:

I have a great deal of fondness for 'Dance While You Can'. It was one of the first Pros stories I read, as well as the first "undercover in a gay bar" story. I still think it's utterly charming.

The story is without many narrative tricks and quirks; it reads like an earlier circuit story in that there is nothing strange about Doyle's awakening interest in Bodie in the complete absence of any hint of previous experiences or urges. Alexandra doesn't go for long explanations or back-story, she just gets on with what's happening *now*. There's no real conflict, just a gently increasing tension that lasts until they discover their mutual attraction and act on it. It appeals to the romantic, rather than the realist in me.

The part I'd most like to watch as a fly on the wall? Everything from "Bodie kissed him, long and deep and very effectively." to "Yeah. Let's go home." From a girl who likes the down & dirty, that's quite a confession *g*.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

Same here, even though I was aware as I read it that the whole subject of whether either had been with another man was missing. But somehow she makes it work, probably because she writes it more as a romance, as when Doyle realizes that he more loves Bodie than lusts for him...not that he doesn't lust for him, too.

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

Don't they end up in gay bars a lot, in fic?! How very convenient...

'complete absence of any hint of previous experiences or urges' - well, she has Doyle becoming attracted to Bodie some time (weeks?) before this op., hence he finds the op. particularly uncomfortable.

'The part I'd most like to watch as a fly on the wall.' Do you always do this with fics? It's a nice idea.

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

*squees happily*

So glad you've chosen the online default!! I've never had many zines and I'm always disappointed when stories that are recced aren't online. We're busy moving, slowly, and I'm not supposed to add to our pile of books etc. till that's over so I can't even change my habits!

Downloaded and will read over the weekend.

[heliophile-oxon.livejournal.com]

I thought I’d sort of play devil’s advocate a bit, as we are chewing freely over tales we variously like and love here :) …..

By which I mean, I thoroughly enjoy this story but there are a handful of details that niggle me – as well as some that I particularly love.

One miniscule brit-nit-pick – Bodie’s black pants, of course! – but that’s nothing really; I was a bit concerned, though, about the lads drinking that much on duty. I know they’ve got to have a drink for verisimilitude since they’re undercover in a bar/club, but I can’t see them genuinely getting drunk on an op even if they’re mainly acting as bait. So they get – apparently – pretty drunk, but then they are all-of-a-suddenly sober enough for action when they get home from the bar.

On an emotional level, I had one gripe – something of an imbalance between them, when Bodie is apparently quite manipulative in a way that borders on unpleasant when he “tests” Ray on the dance floor before admitting to his own feelings. Ray seems a bit too accepting of that “test”, imo, and makes no attempt to get his own back.

But the things I like, ah, well now! There are any number of things I like. There are lines that make me smile:

Doyle sighed, closed his eyes, and thought hard about sour gherkins.

Bodie kissed him, long and deep and very effectively.

Doyle stopped thinking anything coherent at all.

There are the lads instantly in tune with each other as they attempt to finagle extra time off out of Cowley.

And most of all there is the harmony between them when they decide to go for breakfast and a run before going home for more action – a very concise and effective way of showing-without-telling us that they are both in this for the whole bond/relationship in all it’s glory, including sex but not confined only to sex.

Looking forward to reading everyone's opinions!
And yay for the Reading Room Initiative!!!!

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

Go on, play devil's advocate. It would be too boring if everyone just thought it was a pretty story, even if it is.

'Bodie is apparently quite manipulative in a way that borders on unpleasant when he “tests” Ray on the dance floor' - I agree with you there. That is all a bit too brisk and domineering.

Re the alcohol, I'm sure this isn't the only fic that has the lads consuming prodigious quantities of scotch/beer/wine, often as the only way to lose their inhibitions, with no impairment of performance, so to speak.

In this particular plot (if one could call it that), I'm sure if Doyle was being dutiful he would drink the minimum necessary to be credible, but he is so stressed about the Bodie situation he seems to feel justified in breaking the rules.

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

So is it just me, the romance lover, who found Doyle's admission on the dance floor a bit too syrupy? (Did I really say that?) Good heavens...

It was a sweet story, but I didn't see much of my snarky lads. I think the dancing is very nice, the idea that Bodie was turned on as well is great for Doyle, and I love that they're together. But where are all the people who are always complaining about stuff being too schmoopy? This one is so sweet, one could get a cavity.

Is it that Alexandra is an accepted good writer as opposed to somebody who might not be quite as accepted yet? She gets the leeway to write pure unadulterated mush whilst somebody else is considered too romantic when they're less so than this example. At least to me.

All relative, I suspect. Funny that I just reread Summer's End last week and really enjoyed it the second time.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Y'talkin' to me..? *g*

I find moments of this a bit syrupy, and the admissions on the dance floor (Bodie's too) are examples for me. There's another moment when they're finally in bed together too, where Doyle starts talking about it again, and again I find it a bit much. "There's a lot more." Doyle put his hand on Bodie's groin... "But first one thing." He drew his hand back up to Bodie's face, to cup his cheek. "This is lust, right here, right now. I want you, Bodie. I want to feel your hot mouth on my cock, want yours in mine. I want to be inside you, want you in me, I want everything we can think of and then some -"... "I said it was love, back there. You said it too. I meant that. Tell me first, Bodie - tell me that this isn't everything." For me this is a bit too much - long talk about his feelings, which just doesn't sit well with me, for the lads.

That said - I don't find the story as a whole to be syrupy. I don't come away from it thinking that they're like that all the time, because Alexandra started and ended it very differently - in Cowley's office they're back to being in tune with each other to the extent that they can play against Cowley, and it wipes out alot of that momentary syrup, for me. And actually it's not even just the start and end, apart from those two moments they remain, for me, two blokes dealing with life. I certainly wouldn't say that I see DWYC as "pure unadulterated mush" - there are a couple of mushy moments, but overall it's not mushy at all.

It's definitely not got anything to do with Alexandra being "an accepted good writer" either - for a start, while I like her fic alot, her Americans drive me insane, and completely prevented me from reading one of her fics for well over a year. For me, though she certainly has the odd syrupy moment in her fic, her overall take on the lads isn't at all syrupy, and that's the difference. I mean, who "accepts" these things? And is the idea that if someone is "accepted" we all agree and follow along? I'm afraid if I don't like, then I don't like, no matter what anyone else says.

So yeah - as you say, all subjective and relative to our own experiences/beliefs...

[siskiou.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed the story, it was very sweet and romantic, and it feels good to see them be on the same page without long drawn out misunderstandings and denials, but the realist in me thought that everything came together almost a little too easily, with both discovering they are in love and admitting to it fairly easily and instantly going on to try it all right away!
Are they both experienced with m/m relationships? If not, they are amazingly accepting and relaxed about it, after just admitting to themselves and each other they are attracted to the same sex and it's not just lust, but love. They seem to anticipate no difficulties at all in their future. (I wish I could just be romantic and not let reality come into my reading!)

I also thought, Ray came across as just a mite submissive with Bodie doing most of the initiating. He was the one being "seduced" by Bodie, and then tested ( I thought Bodie took that just a tiny bit too far, after Doyle had already admitted he didn't want just the sex), and liked to be held (sheltered) in Bodie's arms, and I just see Ray as more proactive.
I was happy when he showed more of his usual spirit after they returned from the bar
and after they finagle Cowley into giving them a couple of days off.
The bit at CI5 headquarters was my favorite, sounding most like the lads and I could really "hear" them there. Cowley, too. Just like their famous double act in canon.

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

*looks around and decides we seem to be commenting/discussing here...*

I love the tension of the story. I think the theatre of it works well. They are wearing masks imposed by others and beneath those masks they are turning into the creatures they are playing. Then at the end it turns out the masks were never necessary, except that they were, to enable them to admit their feelings. Clever and erotic writing; we are surprised by the contrasts and the twists of the story, and we feel Doyle’s anxiety and his mounting sexual tension. I like the way we are effectively left at the bedroom door, given the sex in flashbacks with the emphasis on the quiet time. This is not coyness; it leads the reader to use their imagination and to speculate about what Bodie’s imagination might have devised. It’s ‘hotter’ than explicit description might be.

A couple of criticisms. At times, the love of adjectives becomes cloying. I prefer slightly ‘sparer’ writing. And the drinks. I very much doubt if they drink whiskeys with an e - those are the Irish kind and were not popular in UK bars in the '70s. Whisky/whiskies would be more likely - and if these were doubles (they said ‘large’) I’m surprised they weren’t under the table rather than on the dance floor, given that they're drinking quite quickly. Unlike byslantedlight I recall waiters in bars/clubs in the '70s - in fact I was one myself, in Manchester.

Definitely a story I would recommend to people, and will re-read. I like any kind of under-cover op and this was great!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that's what we need, someone who was there and actually remembers doing things! Thank you! *vbg* Cos I wasn't there quite then - not until a few years later, and that's a long time for things to change really. Plus maybe I wasn't going to the right kind of clubs when I finally did go... *vbg*

So was it really common that waiters came around and served drinks to tables in clubs back then? Was it all clubs, or particular kinds? And when d'you think it stopped being so common? (Cos really, I've never come across it, and I did actually go to... quite a few clubs back in the day (in Manchester, too *g*), so from... 1985 it at least can't have been standard?)

[saintvic.livejournal.com]

So a few insomnia related thoughts (yes it is about 4am, bugger) and I'll be astonished if they are comprehensible to anyone else. Apologies if I am repeating anyone else I’ll catch up with all the other comments later today.

Well let me start by saying this story uses a regularly used scenario/set up that I generally enjoy. The idea of the characters in an undercover operation, the accidental revelation of non-platonic feelings, and those feelings being requited *grin*, is something that has a lot of dramatic and emotional potential.

I always think in stories that use this scenario the reader is very aware of what the progression is going to be (worry, fear, revelation from one character, revelation from the other, feelings being returned, consummation etc) which means we know we are not going to be surprised. Some people like this and see it as comforting and others find it too predictable, I fall firmly in the middle here, what is important to me is how that journey is described and, of course, the characterisation. Unfortunately the characterisation is where this story falters for me.

There are glimpses of the Bodie and Doyle we see in the show most notably near the end. I do like them working together to get some time off from Cowley, I think that shows them in a familiar light. Although I don’t believe anyone can really manipulate Cowley into giving something he wasn’t already prepared to give but that is a character note not a story one so I'll leave it there. But this shows me the author can capture the essence of the characters but does not in the main part of the story. Essentially I think the portrayal of the lads is off, and that statement is allowing for emotional revelations/development influencing them, and them needing alter their actions because they are operating in an undercover environment.

An example of this issue is shown in the exchange running from: "Jesus--" Doyle gripped Bodie's shoulders, tried to shove him back. "I can't--please, don't do this--" to He couldn't take this anymore. "Bodie, what the hell are we doin' here?" . Doyle is simply too passive here: I would see Doyle swearing at Bodie as well as himself, I would see him pushing back at the teasing/testing especially after Bodie’s physical attraction has been revealed. It then goes onto him asking: "I said it was love, back there. You said it, too. I meant that. Tell me first, Bodie--tell me that this isn't everything.". and then the more submissive Doyle being “sheltered in Bodie’s arms”. It does not match the view I have of Doyle from the show.

This means that I tend to end up viewing the story almost as one with two original characters that just happen to have familiar names. That sentence is taking it a little far but hopefully shows what I mean i.e. the story is fine in and of itself but doesn‘t match my perceptions of Bodie and Doyle. Viewing it like that I can say it had good elements to it: there is a good bit of emotional turmoil, some appealing images (Bodie all in black *happy sigh*), and we are left with a sense that they are committed to one another and are all set up for a happy ending. So it works alright from that standpoint even if it isn‘t the type of story I prefer, it’s just that it isn’t the Bodie and Doyle that I see in the show.

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

(circling around lj as an aperitif to Proswatch...)

One reason for The Reading Room, for me, is to find out lots more about Pros fic and writers through the discipline of having a set text each week. An unexpected benefit from comments like yours is finding out how people read the fic, things to look for, like characterisation and whether it is consistent (you can see my background is not in Eng Lit).

Several people, as you will have noted by now, have been critical of Doyle's passivity. Linking in with the idea about characterics of 'early' fic, I wonder if this represents an example of Doyle being feminised as one half of a gay couple that has to be equated to a het couple (not that 1996 is that early in Pros fic, or in gay rights for that matter). Such a tendency in writing Doyle (or Bodie!) should be resisted at all costs, imo.