By Slanted Light

From Here to Eternity
by Ginny and Hestia.
Oh, how much do I love this story... it's supernatural in that there's definitely life after death, and not only that, but life-after-death is out to get Bodie... Also, there's a dog. *g* I don't think this is anywhere except in a zine, but if you love the lads, it's one worth getting hold of... *g*

(Darn it - nearly caught up to post the 30th on the 30th - instead I posted rather spookily at the dot of first midnight on halloween... *g*)

Tricks or Treat
by Callisto.
Another Pros story that I read today, that's being discussed over at Today's Reading Room... This one's fun and light and not at all supernatural-y based, so... *g*

Go again!

The Devil You Say by Sue-Anne Hartwick.
Okay, take a good, dark, halloween-type idea - Bodie the demon, Bodie the devil, sent to steal Doyle's soul - and then saturate almost every sentence in the five page story with mush... and you have this fic. It could have been soooo good, but I just can't see the characterisation of lads almost hysterical* in their love for each other... *sighs sadly* On the other hand, I suppose that's a kind of scary idea in itself... *g*

(There's also nothing in this story that I can hang a picture on, there's just... no setting, somehow...)

*I know there are people who don't see dramatic declarations as non-Pros, and that this is just my ever-so-humble opinion, but... it's my opinion. *g*

Horseman by PFL.
PFL apologises for this one at the start, because although it was written for the Discovered in the Fallen Leaves Bodie and Doyle meet... halloween challenge, it both is and isn't supernatural... well it is, but it's a Highlander crossover (which I only knew cos I recognised the name Methos to be honest - this reading and way back then, according to my comment! I guess I need to catch up on that tv series/rewatch the films... *g*). It's a fun crossover where the lads are so involved in their job that they barely pay attention to the oddness of two men fighting with swords. *g* It also starts with a flashback, which is a device I've just been complaining about elsewhere - but I can go with it when it's just one flashback in a short story, it's when a fic is virtually made up of flashbacks that I get frustrated... In this case it's used to add a bit of depth rather than to explain plot that can't be fitted into a short story, so that's cool too. So, yeah. Go read! *g*

(Ack, can't think of a photo to add for this, and I'm supposed to have been working for the last half-hour...)

Into the Blue by Verlaine.
A quick one, but a rather good one, I think... *g*

The Vampire by Fanny Adams.
I surprised myself for liking this story quite a bit - and I suspect I've avoided it before, because I'm not always mad keen on FA's writing. It starts off talking about Ann Holly and I thought oh, here we go, evil-woman-trying-to-trap-Doyle-is-really-a-vampire, but actually it's not that kind of story at all! I didn't even mind that the vast majority of it is Bodie and an old mate (lover, even) from his African days. Some of the vampire bits are a little really? but actually this is a bit different and a bit interesting, and it held my attention all the way through! Plus, vampires... *g*

(The pic has nothing really to do with the story, I just thought it looked vaguely more Africa-cemetery than anything else I could think of... it's really Highgate Cemetery, taken a few years ago!)

Shade by P. Willow.
I found this bare page and a quarter ficlet, on slightly yellowed paper, in the Big Pile of Fic To be Sorted Out Still, and the title made me think ooh, spooky October fic, and I read it and went huh? (it's been a long day *g*), and then I sat it down to think about, and then it clicked and I thought ahhhh and read it again and thought ahhhhh.

And then I thought - this is the same author who I've just said huh about re: Penhallwick Hall and been less impressed by, and yet I'm quite impressed by this.

I'm also sorry to think that it's very much a ghosty fic, cos I can't find it listed on ProsLib or in a zine or anywhere... so, here's an offer for you. If you'd like to read this one (cos I bet most people don't have it in a file somewhere), then let me know in the comments below, which I'll screen so that no one can see them except the ones that don't have addresses in them - and let me know where to send it, and I'll get out me wee dusty packet of envelopes and buy some new ink for my printer/copier/thingie, and then I'll put them together and see what happens.

If we clap our hands really loudly, maybe the stories won't die... Altogether now - I believe in Pros fic! *g*

Penhallwick Hall by P. Willow.
I'm amused to find that I reviewed this story on palelyloitering way back in 2008, and that my comments are exactly the same this time!

This is a supernatural story that started out alright - not sparkling for me, but okay - and then totally lost me when it brought in the supernatural element. It almost felt as though there was a piece missing, explaining how the lads became involved with the Well. And I like Pros-y spooky stories!

The characterisation was kind of off too - Doyle was weepy and scared half the time, rather than being the bolshy 4.5 that we know and love, and far too willing to bake Bodie chocolate cakes and keep an eye on how much bread was still in the house. Bodie was also a bit passive in some ways.

The funny thing (okay, another one *g*) was that I was convinced this was a supernatural story when I picked it out of my Prosfic Paper Mountain, and so I read and read in anticipation, expecting every moment at Penhallwick Hall to bring some spooky entity or occurrence, and... it just didn't, for ages. Then suddenly there was the Well, and the Guardian, except that I had no idea where that came from. The lads were very accepting of it too - not a moment spent questioning it, never mind disbelieving. Which, I grant you, is kind of spooky. *g*

I can't find any source for this story (my copy is loose paper sheets) except the zine Diamyen Too, which makes me think of all those Pros stories out there that have been written but only published in one place, their presence slowly fading from our world... ghost stories...

Okay, still two days behind... I'll just have to read another October-type story later today, won't I... *g* But this morning's story was...

House Party by Harriet Allenby.
...also known as I Live to Serve by Lizzie. *g* There are two slightly different versions in fact, which is why the link above takes you to two other links, between which you can choose - the zine version, from Unprofessional Conduct 12, and the version posted to discoveredinalj's 2010 Discovered in a Haunting challenge.

I like this story. It's clever and it's a bit creepy in a way that you don't really realise until the end and look back on everything that's been happening, and... and that strikes me as very supernatural indeed. *g* And what I really want is a sequel, cos imagine that world!

The Ghost and Raymond Doyle by Barbara Thomas.
This is one of my favourite Pros stories, I think, although oddly enough I don't often think of it. It's based, of course, on The Ghost and Mrs Muir, and although I wonder how much of our lads we see in there sometimes, actually I think we do see them - less so when Doyle's on his own at the beginnning, but then when he and Bodie are together, we can see that they're themselves, albeit very AU! Because this is set in the late 1800s, and Doyle has been married and has a daughter, and it's only when he defies his family and moves into the haunted house in Whitecliff-on-Sea (from which the estate agent firm of Macklin and Cowley tries to dissuade him *g*) that he meets Captain William Bodie... It's got the most gorgeous ending to it too, so very happy, after some heart-wrenching stuff in between... *sighs happily*

On another note, I'm rather curious about the author, Barbara Thomas - presumably this story isn't anywhere else because it's in Unprofessional Conduct 5, which is a real shame. Some of her other stories are on the ProsLib CD. The author is on A03, but only as posted by someone else (in one of those open door collections things, which seems to me alot like a way of doing what I was assured A03 would never do - posting stories without the explicit permission of the author) for a Sentinel series. I do have another name for BT in my notes, but I can't remember how or why, and carelessly I don't seem to have written down the connection... Any ideas, anyone? Does she have her own website, perhaps (or ever did have)? Are we ever likely to be able to rec this gorgeous story with a link, even if just to the ProsLib CD? (Feel free to email me rather than post here, for the sake of the author's online privacy)