By Slanted Light

...because Wheeeeee!, I've finally finished exam marking for the session! It has gone on forever, although that could be partly because I was also working full time at another job this year...

But at last I am finished, and having a weekend away visiting Pros fan extraordinaire f_m_parkinson, and we have watched eps (Hunter/Hunted and Backtrack, since you ask *g*) and chatted lads, and... had a bit of a hunt through what FMP calls "a box", and I call "an amazing box of wonderments and joy", because Pros pictures! Articles! Snippets! Posters! The lads! And amazingly it was only "the first box", even... *vbg*

The hunt involved a picture that ali15son recently posted, which FMP was sure she'd seen before with an associated article, and so we began, excavating lower and lower through treasures... FMP finished her side of the box first, and I took out the last handful of papers on my side... and there it was!

And to celebrate my time being my own again, and FMP's excellent memory, and for everyone else who was curious about the picture and it's background, here is FMP's copy. *g*



I will post this over to ci5hq_dnoticed, with FMP's permission, but for now - happy gazing and reading. And I fully intend to get back to posting at lj, I really do...

How're you doing? *g*

I'm too excited - I just don't know which icon to use... *vbg*

I've been meaning and wanting to post for ages, but no matter how brief this post is, I have to do it tonight. Talk about worlds colliding - did anyone else see it? You must have done! Did you squee like me? You must have done! *vbg*

Because not only was there new Detectorists, after all this time...

...but it mentioned Pros! In fact, not only did it mention our lads, but it coined them as a phrase! Okay, they're already a phrase, but... So there was a conversation between Lance and Andy, talking about a find, and Lance says:

"...right there, under the Bodie."

?? (Quizzical look from Andy)

"Under the Bodie... the Bodie and Doyle... the soil... "

Squeeeeeee!

Fandoms colliding like that makes me happy! *g*

And now I am entirely justified in talking about detecting and the lads together. *vbg*

It's not that I haven't been reading Pros fic, it's that I've not been posting about it... Ooops. There are others I have to add, but here's a couple to start with...

The Alphafic Stories
( A - At the Admiral Nelson )

B

( C - Command Performance )

D

( E - The Eyes of a Child )

F
G
H

I is for Island Innocents by Glenfiddich, and this is one of my favourite Pros stories ever. It's a novel-length case-fic set on the Isles of Scilly when the lads are in the early stages of their relationship, and it's pure sunshine and bliss. Not in the least bit soppy, but you can feel the lads' adoration on every page, which means that it feels just like an episode for me. *g* It's sadly not currently available online anywhere, and the author is no longer with us - but her other stories are archived on ProsLib, and I suspect this was only not included because it was continually in print from Gryphon Press. Now that Gryphon Press is sadly defunct, I wonder if hagsrus would be able to archive it for us? I must ask her... *vbg* *waves to hagsrus.

( J - Just a Neighbour )

K
L
M
N
O

( P - Paying Their Respects )

Q

( R - Rule Britannia )

R - Redemption - I also re-read Redemption by Kate Maclean, even though I already had an "R". I like Kate Maclean's Pros very much, and Redemption is a meat-y angsty gorgeously long Pros novel, and definitely comes under like very much. It's another of the zines printed by Gryphon Press, and I don't think it's online anywhere...

S

( T - Table Conversation )

U
V
W
X
Y
Z

Just up on AO3 today - Paying Their Respects by Felicity M. Parkinson!

This is a lovely little fic - nicely the lads as I always expect from f_m_parkinson, and oh, so poignant... *sighs*

Copied from dimity_blue, because it made me wonder and it looked like fun. And because it's been ages since I posted to my lj...

1) How many works do you have on AO3?
103, apparently. I really must get on with posting the others!

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?
562,983 words.

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?
Three fandoms with separate fics in their own right, but seven counting cross-overs.
Although I've just realised that A03 has divided my Pros fics into two - one group with the name of our fandom as it was, and the other with the name that Istia updated it to. How does that work? I assumed that if someone updated the name it would automatically update everyone's fics... if not, gargh, what a pain... And anyone doing a search by fandom would miss loads...

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?
One Not Far Distant Day - Charm of Magpies fandom
Altogether Your World - Dark is Rising fandom
The High-Up Singing and Alive Fruit - Pros fandom!
Never the Words They Say - Pros fandom
Just Enough Rope - Pros fandom

Interesting the way it works - I've been writing Pros since 2005 (wow, sixteen years this year!), but my theoretically most popular stories were both written in the last two years for Yuletide for completely different fandoms! Which of course isn't that odd, because most of my Pros fic is re-posted from somewhere else, and is also available in our Pros-dedicated archives as well as in the original lj posts where people commented on them, whereas the other two were straight-to-A03 stories. Or of course just no one really likes my Pros fic... *g*

( 5) Do you... )

What I like best is... the way they look at each other.

I haven't done a meme for ages, and this one is all around right now, so I'm going to have a go. Plus it's cold out there, and I'm building myself up to go for a walk, and this is a nice delaying building-up strategy. *g*

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favourite opening line. Then tag 10 authors.
No tags, because there's barely that many of us on lj any more anyway, and lots of people have already done it... *g*

1. They came together that night because neither of them had any other place to go.

2. “My Will, the watchman,” Merriman had called him, and for years Will had watched in the imperfect world, growing up in it, been Old One and boy in the calm after the storm.

3. They watched Cowley stride away, ignoring the milling police, gesturing to Kate Ross, who nodded back, clearly began finishing her conversation with one of the ambulance drivers.

4. Doyle extracted himself with difficulty from Marge’s tender ministrations, catching the amused eye of Herb – or was it Alf? – in the wing mirror as he clambered out.

5. Doyle stalked straight past Bodie, standing waiting for him in the early evening light.

6. Bodie'd said it a hundred times - more, over the years, and so many more in his head.

7. London was shrouded in mist as Doyle tooled slowly through the traffic up the Fulham Road, heading for Bodie’s, riding on automatic, even as he weaved in and out between the cars to get ahead.

8. By the time Sunday came around, still raining heavily, Doyle’s flat was shining, he’d written to his mother, uncle and two of his sisters, had a go at baking bread, and was so bored he was contemplating a run even if he’d have to wear a swimsuit to do it.

9. “Northumberland.”

10. It was one of those May mornings where the sun shone, the birds sang, and because it was 6.30am on a Sunday, Doyle thought, swinging out the door to his flat, and pausing to take a breath of fresh air, you could actually hear them.

11. Doyle woke to an incessant ringing from the bedside table, dragged from deep sleep and dreams before his alarm went off.

12. Underhill had found them.

13. "Look at that." Doyle gestured out the window at their view of the snow-covered street with his cup of coffee.

14. The sun had unexpectedly come out, and the summer felt almost like summer, which wasn't what Bodie'd expected when he'd dressed for the grey sky that had lowered sullenly outside his window that morning.

15. It’s never Valentine’s day for them.

16. “I’m gonna put it in my letter, you know.

17. Something was wrong with Bodie.

18. As most right-thinking people should know, it has never been hard to tell the difference between a Scotsman with a grievance and a Ray(mond Doyle) of sunshine, but on this particular day, in this particular office on one of the more discreet streets in Whitehall, William Andrew Philip Bodie found himself having trouble.

19. Two o’clock, Bodie thought as chimes rang out in the downstairs flat, and all is well.

20. The world rushed past outside the train in blurs of green and yellow and sky blue, cut by darker lines of trees and bushes, dotted white now and then with sheep, or brown with cows.

Huh - interesting... I can't see any patterns myself! Can anyone else? I was going to say that if it's Pros I usually start with Doyle, but that's not true. All but two of them, both written for the Yuletide challenge, are Pros. *g* Quite a few are scene-setting, but definitely not all... nope, no patterns that I can see!

And pick my favourite opening line... not sure I can do that either, cos they're quite different... I like #1 because it feels melancholy to me, and #7 because I quite like imagining it, #10 because it makes me feel warm and blue-skyed (did I mention it's cold today?!) and #18 because it was fun to write...

Does anyone who's read this far have a favourite line from those above? Or maybe one you don't like?!

I am currently re-reading this...
...(This art by Minori, of course)...

... Master of the Revels by HG. I am lucky enough to have inherited an actual zine from a friend, but the writing is teeny teeny tiny... It does have some rather gorgeous artwork by Suzanne Lovett which is easier to look at - you can see some of it here.

...I started writing a Pros fic this morning - lads! *g*