The wide wide world of zine preferences (a kind of reccing)
Tuesday, 1 November 2005 07:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
byslantedlightSo, as a follow-up to last night's pondering on zine recs it would probably be helpful if I explained what I would like "recced". Which means explaining what I like. As the bods from ProsLit quite rightly pointed out, there really is a huge range of Pros fic out there, enough for all our tastes, but unless you know someone's tastes...
I have exceedingly broad tastes, so this probably won't narrow it down much. However:
There are moments when I am right in the mood for anything along the Oblique lines, and other times when I won't read it because it'll just depress seven hells out of me. In general though I would say that I do love M.Fae and her incarnations, O.Yardley, Sebastian, Helen Raven's "Freezing" sequel to the Siren series, and all that ilk.
Kitty Fischer. Although I don't like the really heavy BDSM that some authors write, where one of them is totally humiliated with no... restoration of equality somehow at the end of it. If that makes any sense at all. In my Prosverse, whatever their kinks, they even out somehow in the end and are equals.
On the completely opposite end of the spectrum, my all time favourite fic is still "Voice Over" by Elizabeth O'Shea, where they're sweet as all get-out. She manages to avoid making them gaggingly sugar-y, but has you rooting for them all the way. Tempers it with hilarious real-life bumps and scrapes I guess. Perhaps part of the magic is that its like a holiday - people do act differently when they're away, so although I couldn't see B or D like this in London, it totally works in France.
And in a similar way I surprised myself by really liking... oh, for the life of me I can't remember title or author, even though it was only just recced to me by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
minesapint, and I can't find the right thread... this is why I'm making the compilation! Anyway, the boys go on a coach holiday to Italy, and end up having to share a room, and of course discover that they really both want each other desperately. When I gathered the premise as I began reading my first thought was ick this is gonna be sappy but they were just enough out of place that it actually worked. And the ending (which obviously I won't tell) actually made the situation even more "real". I will remember what this was called and edit this post to add it in later... "Et In Italia Ego" is the fic, by the wonderful Sebastian!
Lets see, what else? I am adoring my "HG Collected 1" zine, and desperately want the second, but the children need shoes... well, I need food this week. Thinking about it, outside the lovely flow of writing, her B and D are kind of close to the sappy edge sometimes (I really can't see either of them buying a hideously crocheted cardigan and dozens of jars of jam just to make an old lady happy...), but she generally manages to take the edge off that, often with humour. And when she writes stuff like "Loose Change", which I think is just genius and hilarious, with hints of real life prattage (like Warren), the hard edge of being in CI5 and for me at least, was kind of poignant at the end... And the fact that she does this makes it clear that she doesn't see B and D as soft little dolls, but just occasionally takes them out to play with in a slightly different game. Which is okay by me.
There's actually a thread right now on another LJ about canon vs fanon in Pros, and now that I've read enough fic, and re-watched the eps enough times to be able to (usually) tell the difference I think this is something that either makes or breaks a fic for me. If I can fit the fic-lads into the ep-lads somehow then it works for me. If, as I said above, they're too soft to be able to do their job, or are clearly not "them" then the whole fic is ruined for me. So, put in far fewer words, good mostly canon-based characterization is important to me!! I don't mind an author like HG playing, as long as its clear that they know the boys. And I have no issue with expanding on traits we only see briefly in the eps (like Doyle cooking) as long as its a feasible trait. Bodie is not an uneducated lout, no matter how much he pretends to be, which even Cowley teases him about!
Castalia - "Never Say Goodbye". For the same reason I adore the film "Iris". As the Swedish apparently say, "sometimes its good to be sad". And although I'm less keen on her "Can't Answer That Question, Sir", because I want the boys out there doing their job, I am car-crash fascinated by the idea. Good writing.
Ultimately, and again as many people on ProsLit have said, if a fic is well-written, then I'll read it and like it. What counts as my well-written? Good characterization, as I said. They've gotta be the boys in the first place. The ability of the author to actually write "well", so that I'm not being jolted out of the story every few minutes by silly grammatical errors or issues. If I become aware that I'm reading while I'm doing it, then all is lost and I have to put it down, my eyes just won't do that to my brain any more. I bought a couple of anthology zines, and I was amazed by the number of stories that I just couldn't force myself through because of bad english. Which disappointed me dreadfully, which set me out looking for zine recs!!
Erm... In general I don't like either AU or crossovers. That said, I really liked the recent halloween story at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
the_safehouse that crossed Pros with BtVS! So maybe its partly that I don't know alot of the series that they're crossed with, like the Chief (but how can he be Doyle and Cade -is that right?- at the same time? Unless you kill off Doyle, but then why subsitute Cade in the first place? Compared to that, for me, vampires in London are an easy jump!) But if I see a fic is a crossover I'm unlikely even to pick it up.
AUs - haven't liked any of the historical fics I've (started to) read so far. And her sci-fi Pros fics are what made me avoid Helen Raven's "Heat Trace" for this long. The boys are the boys because they live in 70/80s London, in 70/80s England. Except that, being me, there are always exceptions to the rule. Most of them keep the AU incredibly close to our world - like the (very not-Pros) author Charles de Lint, whose magic-y supernatural realm overlaps ours, is just not seen by most people for what it is. I can suspend my disbelief and watch the boys battling with a haunted mirror, but Doyle is not an elf!
And now I really need to get to work. For anyone who has actually read to the end of this post - thank you!
I have exceedingly broad tastes, so this probably won't narrow it down much. However:
There are moments when I am right in the mood for anything along the Oblique lines, and other times when I won't read it because it'll just depress seven hells out of me. In general though I would say that I do love M.Fae and her incarnations, O.Yardley, Sebastian, Helen Raven's "Freezing" sequel to the Siren series, and all that ilk.
Kitty Fischer. Although I don't like the really heavy BDSM that some authors write, where one of them is totally humiliated with no... restoration of equality somehow at the end of it. If that makes any sense at all. In my Prosverse, whatever their kinks, they even out somehow in the end and are equals.
On the completely opposite end of the spectrum, my all time favourite fic is still "Voice Over" by Elizabeth O'Shea, where they're sweet as all get-out. She manages to avoid making them gaggingly sugar-y, but has you rooting for them all the way. Tempers it with hilarious real-life bumps and scrapes I guess. Perhaps part of the magic is that its like a holiday - people do act differently when they're away, so although I couldn't see B or D like this in London, it totally works in France.
And in a similar way I surprised myself by really liking... oh, for the life of me I can't remember title or author, even though it was only just recced to me by
minesapint, and I can't find the right thread... this is why I'm making the compilation! Anyway, the boys go on a coach holiday to Italy, and end up having to share a room, and of course discover that they really both want each other desperately. When I gathered the premise as I began reading my first thought was ick this is gonna be sappy but they were just enough out of place that it actually worked. And the ending (which obviously I won't tell) actually made the situation even more "real". I will remember what this was called and edit this post to add it in later... "Et In Italia Ego" is the fic, by the wonderful Sebastian!Lets see, what else? I am adoring my "HG Collected 1" zine, and desperately want the second, but the children need shoes... well, I need food this week. Thinking about it, outside the lovely flow of writing, her B and D are kind of close to the sappy edge sometimes (I really can't see either of them buying a hideously crocheted cardigan and dozens of jars of jam just to make an old lady happy...), but she generally manages to take the edge off that, often with humour. And when she writes stuff like "Loose Change", which I think is just genius and hilarious, with hints of real life prattage (like Warren), the hard edge of being in CI5 and for me at least, was kind of poignant at the end... And the fact that she does this makes it clear that she doesn't see B and D as soft little dolls, but just occasionally takes them out to play with in a slightly different game. Which is okay by me.
There's actually a thread right now on another LJ about canon vs fanon in Pros, and now that I've read enough fic, and re-watched the eps enough times to be able to (usually) tell the difference I think this is something that either makes or breaks a fic for me. If I can fit the fic-lads into the ep-lads somehow then it works for me. If, as I said above, they're too soft to be able to do their job, or are clearly not "them" then the whole fic is ruined for me. So, put in far fewer words, good mostly canon-based characterization is important to me!! I don't mind an author like HG playing, as long as its clear that they know the boys. And I have no issue with expanding on traits we only see briefly in the eps (like Doyle cooking) as long as its a feasible trait. Bodie is not an uneducated lout, no matter how much he pretends to be, which even Cowley teases him about!
Castalia - "Never Say Goodbye". For the same reason I adore the film "Iris". As the Swedish apparently say, "sometimes its good to be sad". And although I'm less keen on her "Can't Answer That Question, Sir", because I want the boys out there doing their job, I am car-crash fascinated by the idea. Good writing.
Ultimately, and again as many people on ProsLit have said, if a fic is well-written, then I'll read it and like it. What counts as my well-written? Good characterization, as I said. They've gotta be the boys in the first place. The ability of the author to actually write "well", so that I'm not being jolted out of the story every few minutes by silly grammatical errors or issues. If I become aware that I'm reading while I'm doing it, then all is lost and I have to put it down, my eyes just won't do that to my brain any more. I bought a couple of anthology zines, and I was amazed by the number of stories that I just couldn't force myself through because of bad english. Which disappointed me dreadfully, which set me out looking for zine recs!!
Erm... In general I don't like either AU or crossovers. That said, I really liked the recent halloween story at
the_safehouse that crossed Pros with BtVS! So maybe its partly that I don't know alot of the series that they're crossed with, like the Chief (but how can he be Doyle and Cade -is that right?- at the same time? Unless you kill off Doyle, but then why subsitute Cade in the first place? Compared to that, for me, vampires in London are an easy jump!) But if I see a fic is a crossover I'm unlikely even to pick it up.AUs - haven't liked any of the historical fics I've (started to) read so far. And her sci-fi Pros fics are what made me avoid Helen Raven's "Heat Trace" for this long. The boys are the boys because they live in 70/80s London, in 70/80s England. Except that, being me, there are always exceptions to the rule. Most of them keep the AU incredibly close to our world - like the (very not-Pros) author Charles de Lint, whose magic-y supernatural realm overlaps ours, is just not seen by most people for what it is. I can suspend my disbelief and watch the boys battling with a haunted mirror, but Doyle is not an elf!
And now I really need to get to work. For anyone who has actually read to the end of this post - thank you!
no subject
Date: Wednesday, 2 November 2005 02:07 am (UTC)thoughtssquee-ing about it can be found here.I started off reading Pros by going straight through Oblique - heaven. After that, I've been working my way through the Circuit, Hatstand and the CD. I only just bought my first zines - Roses and Lavender 1 - and enjoyed it thoroughly even though I'd read some of it already. It was well worth it.
Have you read Chances by Angelfish Archivist? http://www.thecircuitarchive.net/tca/archive/13/chances.html
Off the very top of my head, it comes to mind as magnificent.
I think we have very very similar taste in stories - I'm going to pay close attention to what you recommend :)
no subject
Date: Wednesday, 2 November 2005 02:34 am (UTC)Yes! Thank you!
My personal thoughts squee-ing about it
Oh excellent! What a great review - have you done any others? I'd love to see more like that...
Have you read Chances by Angelfish Archivist
I have, and I do like it - against all odds, what with that climber-bloke having stolen Doyle away! I like Angelfish's writing very much too.
I think we have very very similar taste in stories
I think you could be right - please do drop by with recs whenever you feel a squee coming on! *g*
no subject
Date: Thursday, 3 November 2005 03:16 am (UTC)Looking forward to your zine recs information and good god! sending *warm* HOT vibes your way!
no subject
Date: Thursday, 3 November 2005 04:28 am (UTC)Sounds like what I do with alot of the stories I read! Maybe I should vent into LJ instead...
I gather I'm pretty lucky that my heart belongs to the lads (well, vice versa I suppose), I read somewhere recently that Pros fandom is renowned for its excellent writing - and also for its harsh critique of writers *gulps* I can't say I've seen much truly bad writing (well, actually that's not strictly true) but
good god! sending *warm* HOT vibes your way!
lol - thanks! I forgot to take a scarf with me this morning, and my 10 minute walk home made my face ache!!