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tinturtle
Fandoms in this post: The Professionals, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Sherlock Holmes
Howdy, fellow fans. I have a lot of write-ups to share today. I've also added quite a few of the new fics to my Beloved Collection. I've decided to introduce some notation for that, which you will see below. Sometimes I collect a fic after some reflection, though, rather than immediately, and my posts may not capture that.
The fics I had collected were:
Voice-Over by Elizabeth O'Shea (
elizabethoshea) (The Professionals; 26,619 words; slash)I'm cheating a little here. I read this story for the first time, and collected it, earlier in the month. Thus, it doesn't quite fit the role of "old" in "Old and New." It is in the Beloved Collection, though.
This fic takes the form of Doyle's monologue beside the bed of a comatose Bodie. It touches on various topics, but the bulk of it recalls a few days at the beginning of their relationship. The fic contains both a lot of strong emotion and a lot of humor, plus excellent characterizations, and it is a delight to read.
Burning Bridges by PFL (
msmoat) (The Professionals; 4,626 words; slash)I really love this one. I've read it many times. It starts with Bodie trapped by an explosion and continues from there. The first half is so beautifully written and affecting, and the second half has excellent dialog and character insight. Hooray!
Dead Man's Switch by
jantojones (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; 776 words; gen)This is a short mission snapshot. I really enjoy it. (Obviously, perhaps, since it's in my collection.) It provides a nice little taste of Illya's character, and it has a well crafted ending.
Winter in London by
waid (Sherlock Holmes; 45,112 words; slash)In this story, something terrible happens at the end of one of Holmes and Watson's cases, and they must navigate the fallout. This fic is just magnificent. The characters and their emotions are vivid, the dialog and first-person character voices are excellent, and the story makes good use of both its historical setting and the elements of the original stories that it incorporates. I felt transported to 1880s London, and in the latter part of the story, I kept forgetting which bits of what I was reading were canon and which weren't.
Like a Dream by Waid (Sherlock Holmes; 681 words; slash)
This story, too, is only sort-of-old. I had read it before but hadn't collected it. When I was looking through Waid's works for new reads, though, I remembered it fondly and decided that it should be in my collection after all. It's a silly little fic that finds Holmes and Watson in 1989 London. It makes me smile, and I like that which of them is enthusiastic about their new surroundings isn't the same throughout.
The new fics I read and enjoyed were:
*By Any Other Name by Elizabeth O'Shea (The Professionals; 1,177 words; slash)
This is a short fic, but it packs in a lot of good material, including some partner worry and bit of backstory for Doyle that I liked a lot.
Flowers in the Snow by Elizabeth O'Shea (The Professionals; 2,673 words; slash)
This is another short fic and also very nicely done. The interaction between Doyle and Bodie is very believable and well written.
The Wrong End of the Stick by Elizabeth O'Shea (The Professionals; 2,744 words; slash)
Elizabeth O'Shea apparently wrote this fic on the occasion of msmoat getting a black eye. It's an odd one. I found it difficult to like Bodie for most of it, but possibly that was the point. It does briefly address the Lads' (or at least Bodie's) attitude toward gender-nonconforming gay men. That isn't something one sees in very much Pros fic, possibly because it is hard to like characters expressing the attitude that's most plausible.
Divinest Sense by PFL and Elizabeth O'Shea (The Professionals; 1,681 words; slash)
The first part of this fic was written by PFL as a writing exercise, and Elizabeth O'Shea, dissatisfied with the ending, asked to continue it. I think both parts are well done, and they harmonize well. They also do a good job conveying the varying state of mind of Doyle, their point-of-view character.
*Prepared by JantoJones (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; 3,085 words; gen)
This is a short mission fic that begins with Illya in the field without Napoleon. The story has an admirable flow as we watch him adapt to changes in the situation. I thought some of the dialog was notably well done, too.
*Songs of Spring by Waid (Sherlock Holmes; 854 words; slash)
This is a delightful short piece in the form of a letter from Holmes to an absent Watson, written around the time of the canon case The Lion's Mane. The character voice is very good, and I love to have them together in retirement.
*The Old Campaigner by Waid (Sherlock Holmes; 3,075 words; gen and slash)
This is a canon-divergence AU. I won't say any more about it than that, but it's fantastic. The writing is quite perfect.
Also-reads: 0
* = newly collected
