Reading 2019 - Pros fic!
Tuesday, 12 February 2019 02:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
byslantedlightI'm getting ve-ery behind on lj in February... so I'm gonna race to catch up... *g* I have of course still been reading Pros fic, because if never else it's my bedtime reading.
Gravity's Angel by Jenny Parkinson(?)
I'm pretty sure this is by Jenny Parkinson (which is a pseudonym) but the copy I picked up to read isn't one that has her name on it. As far as I know this has only ever been part of the UK Paper Circuit Library (which was active until just a few years ago before it was sadly split and I suspect has now vanished into private collections - also as far as I know) and general paper circuit of stories swapped around between people, and I picked it up at Nattercon years ago, all photocopied yellowed pages bound and given a transparent plastic cover. *g*
I've been moderately puzzled by the title for years, but having googled it today I suspect it's connected to either the 1984 song Gravity's Angel by Laurie Anderson, the 1973 Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon, or the 1991 (when did JP write this?) Michael Swanick's book of short stories. Or who knows, maybe JP just liked the words together. *g*
It's an AU, with Bodie in CI5 and Doyle a major-league photographer who had an affair with Bodie before CI5 got in the way and split them up. It's kind of interesting - if you took one of the lads (Doyle) and put him in the position of one of their CI5-spurned girlfriends, except that it's Doyle so they're meant to be together, what would happen? Well, ultimately Doyle would of course get caught up with Bodie again, and there are other issues that CI5 might cause, and... and it makes a decent read. I wasn't convinced that I was reading Doyle though - I think this was really Bodie/another-character-played-by-MS, but the story kept me (re-)reading, so win. *g*
Whisper of a Kill by Lois Welling
Another one I've not read for ages, which is a shame if for nothing else but the cover art! It's set when Bodie's joining CI5, fresh from being a mercenary (so it's AU in that we seem to have skipped straight over the army and the SAS) and of course is meeting Doyle for the first time, and is eventually - much to their mutual disgust - partnered with him. I didn't at all like the way one of the female characters was treated (by the lads and by the author) but apart from that it's a solid CI5-set story, and as far as I remember (from three weeks ago) a reasonably solid read. And cover art! Suzan Lovett, of course. *g*
Redemption by Kate Maclean
And finally it was time for another re-read of Redemption, which I adore for the depth of feeling in it - feeling without slush, which is what I want from Pros fic, and which Maclean can write in buckets. *g* If you haven't read this, then do so right away (although eep, zine-only and the publisher has sadly died, so I don't know how that's going to work...)
Anyway - the lads meet again after having been separated by life for two years. They've both changed, in ways that they expected (and we probably didn't!), and Bodie, who's pov this is written from, has no reason to want Doyle back in his life. Unfortunately for him, Cowley has other ideas... Be prepared for much angst and passion and pain - and then joy, too. Because it's our lads, and they have to be joyful when they're together really, right? *g*
Gravity's Angel by Jenny Parkinson(?)
I'm pretty sure this is by Jenny Parkinson (which is a pseudonym) but the copy I picked up to read isn't one that has her name on it. As far as I know this has only ever been part of the UK Paper Circuit Library (which was active until just a few years ago before it was sadly split and I suspect has now vanished into private collections - also as far as I know) and general paper circuit of stories swapped around between people, and I picked it up at Nattercon years ago, all photocopied yellowed pages bound and given a transparent plastic cover. *g*
I've been moderately puzzled by the title for years, but having googled it today I suspect it's connected to either the 1984 song Gravity's Angel by Laurie Anderson, the 1973 Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon, or the 1991 (when did JP write this?) Michael Swanick's book of short stories. Or who knows, maybe JP just liked the words together. *g*
It's an AU, with Bodie in CI5 and Doyle a major-league photographer who had an affair with Bodie before CI5 got in the way and split them up. It's kind of interesting - if you took one of the lads (Doyle) and put him in the position of one of their CI5-spurned girlfriends, except that it's Doyle so they're meant to be together, what would happen? Well, ultimately Doyle would of course get caught up with Bodie again, and there are other issues that CI5 might cause, and... and it makes a decent read. I wasn't convinced that I was reading Doyle though - I think this was really Bodie/another-character-played-by-MS, but the story kept me (re-)reading, so win. *g*
Whisper of a Kill by Lois Welling
Another one I've not read for ages, which is a shame if for nothing else but the cover art! It's set when Bodie's joining CI5, fresh from being a mercenary (so it's AU in that we seem to have skipped straight over the army and the SAS) and of course is meeting Doyle for the first time, and is eventually - much to their mutual disgust - partnered with him. I didn't at all like the way one of the female characters was treated (by the lads and by the author) but apart from that it's a solid CI5-set story, and as far as I remember (from three weeks ago) a reasonably solid read. And cover art! Suzan Lovett, of course. *g*
Redemption by Kate Maclean
And finally it was time for another re-read of Redemption, which I adore for the depth of feeling in it - feeling without slush, which is what I want from Pros fic, and which Maclean can write in buckets. *g* If you haven't read this, then do so right away (although eep, zine-only and the publisher has sadly died, so I don't know how that's going to work...)
Anyway - the lads meet again after having been separated by life for two years. They've both changed, in ways that they expected (and we probably didn't!), and Bodie, who's pov this is written from, has no reason to want Doyle back in his life. Unfortunately for him, Cowley has other ideas... Be prepared for much angst and passion and pain - and then joy, too. Because it's our lads, and they have to be joyful when they're together really, right? *g*
