The Turtle Jourtle

Old and New Project: 2 by Jane (of Australia)

2026-04-13T08:48:24Z

Fandoms in this post: The Professionals

This post is different from others I've made recently. I'd been trying to include both Pros and MFU fics in every Old and New Project write-up, thinking that it would be more fun for readers. That approach is just not working for me, though. It leads to too much time between posts. Today's post includes only Pros fics (and only two of them). MFU fans can expect some MFU fics by Taliesin next time, though.

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Old and New Project: 7 by Mab, 2 by RandomFlyer, 5 by JantoJones

2026-03-23T07:27:50Z

Fandoms in this post: The Professionals, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Sentinel, Horatio Hornblower

It's been a long time since my last project post, but you see that I have not been idle. Also, I kept notes, thank goodness.

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Old and New Project: 4.5 by Elizabeth O'Shea, 1.5 by PFL, 2 by JantoJones, 4 by Waid

2026-02-23T21:48:11Z

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.

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Old and New Project: 3 by Cassie Ingaben, 3 by JantoJones, 2 by Culumacilinte

2026-02-10T04:09:34Z

Fandoms in this post: The Professionals, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Lord of the Rings, Peter Pan

Well hello, everyone. It's been a while since I posted about fic. I've been reading but in a haphazard way, which doesn't lend itself to posts. I'm finally ready with a batch of write-ups from my Old and New Project, though. (For anyone who's forgotten, that's where I reread the fics in my Beloved Collection of favorites, accompanied by new-to-me fics by the same authors.)

For a while, I've been toying with the idea of only writing up the fics I like as part of this project. I think I'm going to do that, possibly making exceptions if a fic I didn't like still provoked interesting thoughts. I did read some fics by today's authors that I didn't care for or felt neutral toward. As I noted in the last Old and New Project post, that can happen even with authors who have also written favorites, which is a useful lesson.

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Lookback Fic Bingo: Highlights 1978-1985

2025-12-16T07:00:27Z

During my Lookback Fic Bingo game, covering years 1978 to 1985, I read 20 fics. Of those, the three I would most recommend today are:

Dead Bluff by Linda S. Maclaren (Mackie) and Gina Martin (The Professionals; 22,900 words; gen)
Tiger by the Tail by Lillian Shepherd (The Professionals; 21,111 words; gen)
A Time of Certain Solace by Eileen Roy (The Man from U.N.C.L.E. x M*A*S*H; 4,992 words; gen)

All gen! 0_0

(Above: Nena performs music for the partial decade 1978-1985.)

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Lookback Fic Bingo: 1979 and 1978

2025-12-15T05:00:34Z

I found three longish Starsky & Hutch fics, one from 1979, one from 1978, and one for a 1977 bonus round. They look like good fics, but I'm just not in the mood to read that much in a fandom I have only some knowledge of. So I’m going to pass on them for now. As a result, I've now finished both of the former years and, with them, my game. Woo! (I may come back to those S&H fics in the future, though, if the whim strikes.)

It's 1979. Pink Floyd is on the radio. Here in the USA, the year's top film is Superman. New terms coined include: biophilia, buffalo plaid, chill out, email, entheogen, first world problem, hip-hop, ollie, outsource, and space elevator.

For 1979, I read two pieces: one Starsky & Hutch fic and one Man from U.N.C.L.E. x The Prisoner crossover.

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It's 1978. The Village People are on the radio. Here in the USA, the year's top film is Grease. New terms coined include: attention deficit disorder, bodice ripper, curly endive, de-stress, emotional intelligence, pad thai, permaculture, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, Stockholm syndrome, and whataboutism.

This far back, most works available are based on either Star Trek or Starsky & Hutch. Since neither of those, on its own, appeals at the moment, I ended up reading only one fic for 1978: a Sherlock Holmes x Star Trek crossover.

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Lookback Fic Bingo: 1980

2025-12-14T07:17:53Z

Okay. The past few days have been pretty bad mentally, and I've really been struggling to do these write-ups. Giving it another try.

It's 1980. Queen is on the radio. Here in the USA, the year's top film is The Empire Strikes Back. New terms coined include: differently abled, dis, ecotourism, electronica, high five, killing field, NIMBY, Usenet, voicemail, and yuppie.

For 1980, I read three fics: one Professionals fic, one Sherlock Holmes x Star Trek crossover, and one Man from U.N.C.L.E. x M*A*S*H crossover.

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Lookback Fic Bingo: 1981

2025-12-04T05:06:15Z

It's 1981. Journey is on the radio. (In a sign of the times, their "Don't Stop Believin'" is the first song I've featured that didn't have a music video.) Here in the USA, the year's top film is Raiders of the Lost Ark. New terms coined include: boom box, canola oil, gateway drug, graphical user interface, infomercial, phone card, snowboard, spellchecker, spreadsheet, and technobabble.

For 1981, I read four fics: one Professionals, one Star Trek, one Star Wars, and one Starsky & Hutch.

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Old and New Project: 3 by Alex51324, 2 by mistyzeo

2025-07-13T00:47:44Z

Fandoms in this post: The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Man from U.N.C.L.E. movie, Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century, His Dark Materials

Bleh. Things have been very thingish lately. I feel a bit lost trying to write up the fics I've read over the past six plus weeks. Yet I want to get it done. I've decided that I am just going to offer some brief notes so that I can move on.

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Lookback Fic Bingo: 1983

2025-05-30T04:38:08Z

It's 1983. Michael Jackson is on the radio again. Here in the USA, the year's top film is Return of the Jedi. New terms coined include: 12-step, AIDS virus, beta test, breakdance, cell phone, cyberpunk, designer drug, empowered, gender nonconforming, green screen, information superhighway, liposuction, mosh, and nuclear winter.

For 1983, I read two Professionals fics. I had a couple more selected, but one of them turned out just not to be my thing, and the other persistently annoyed me until I gave up on it.

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Old and New Project: 3 by Kaneko

2025-05-13T04:24:10Z

Fandoms in this post: The Breakfast Club

After rereading what_alchemy's Breakfast Club fic during the previous step of my project, I had a hankering to read The Supper Club by Kaneko, the other Breakfast Club story in my Beloved Collection. Later, I found that The Breakfast Club is the only fandom Kaneko has written for that I have much knowledge of, so I ended up reading two more of their Breakfast Club works, as well.

In order not to bore my readers, I had intended to make sure that each of my future Old and New Project posts had at least a couple Professionals or Man from U.N.C.L.E. fics. I have not been feeling well, though, and I lack the concentration for much reading. So that I don't forget the details of these fics before I can read any to accompany them, I'm writing these up now on their own. Sorry if it's not interesting, Pros and MFU fans who are subscribed to my journal.

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Lookback Fic Bingo: 1984

2025-05-01T04:33:56Z

It's 1984. Michael Jackson is on the radio. Here in the USA, the year's top film is Beverly Hills Cop. New terms coined include: bi-curious, death metal, desktop publishing, genetically modified organism, glass ceiling, moonwalk, plug and play, power walk, spin doctor, and wack.

For 1984, I read two Professionals fics and one Professionals x Starsky and Hutch crossover.

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Old and New Project: 6 by what_alchemy

2025-04-27T04:14:13Z

Fandoms in this post: Sherlock Holmes, Harry Potter, Captain America (movies), Velvet Goldmine, The Breakfast Club

For this step of my project, I read the two fics by what_alchemy that I had previously collected into my Beloved Collection, followed by four of the author's other works.

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Lookback Fic Bingo: 1985

2025-04-22T08:22:24Z

I enjoyed the first step of my Old and New Project, but I couldn't resist another year-by-year game. So here is the first post of Lookback Fic Bingo. I may end up alternating the two.

It's 1985. Katrina and the Waves are on the radio. Here in the USA, the year's top film is Back to the Future. New terms coined include: attachment parenting, AZT, beatboxing, biodiversity, intifada, IP address, latte, mixtape, n-word, and trendoid.

For 1985, I read three Professionals fics.

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Old and New Project: 6 by Rebelcat

2025-04-16T05:22:41Z

Fandoms in this post: The Professionals, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Starsky and Hutch

Hello, and welcome to the first post of my Old and New Project. As I explained previously, for this project I will be reading each fic in my Beloved Collection of favorites, followed by at least one new (to me) fic by the same author.

To start this step of the project, I read the two fics by Rebelcat (myrebelcat) that I had collected in the past. (I'm not sure if I'm always going to read all the fics I have by a particular author at the same time, but I did in this case.)

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Lifetime Fic Bingo: Highlights 2016-2024

2025-04-04T21:49:26Z

During the final 9 rounds of my Lifetime Fic Bingo game, 2016 to 2024, I read 46 fics. Of those, the five that I would most recommend today are:

The Craven Hive by OldShrewsburyian (Sherlock Holmes; 35,627 words; gen)
The Moon and Planets by LaurytheLatrator (Sherlock Holmes; 33,924 words; femslash)
True by JoJo (The Professionals; 13,366 words; slash)
Out of Reach by cornishcat (The Professionals; 23,187 words; slash)
High Water by unbelievable2 (The Sentinel; 9,633 words; slash)

(Above: Lil Baby performs music for the partial decade 2016-2024.)

All recommended fics:

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Lifetime Fic Bingo: 2024 Bonus Round

2025-04-04T21:19:31Z

Ring the bells and toot the horns, it's finally time for the last round of Lifetime Fic Bingo! Between some very bad mental health, some medical distractions, and becoming caught up in the fic I am writing, this round was a bit discombobulated. Unfortunately, that means that we are going out with more of a whimper than a bang, because my memories of some of the fics I read are now rather vague. Still, finishing this nearly two-year project is very exciting.

It's 2024. Shaboozey is on the radio. Here in the USA, the year's top film is Inside Out 2. The American Dialect Society's Word of the Year is rawdog.

For this bonus round, I read five fics: one Professionals, two Man from U.N.C.L.E., one Sentinel, and one Harry Potter.

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Lifetime Fic Bingo: 2023

2025-03-05T02:32:44Z

It's 2023. Taylor Swift is on the radio. Here in the USA, the year's top film is Barbie. The American Dialect Society's Word of the Year (coined in 2022) is enshittification.

For 2023, I read five fics: two Professionals, one Sentinel, and two Man from U.N.C.L.E..

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Lookback More!

2025-03-04T02:47:40Z

Here's an addendum to my previous post. Today I found some fics from 1978, 1979, and 1980 that were uploaded as part of AO3's zine digitization project. They are from Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Sherlock Holmes fandoms. Thus, when I get to Lookback Fic Bingo, I will be able to go a bit further back than I thought and not all of the fics will be based on The Professionals. Woohoo!

(If I wanted to read Star Trek fic, I could almost certainly go even further back, but that doesn't really appeal to me. There is some possibility I will add a bonus round to read the influential Starsky and Hutch fic Mojave Crossing, which from 1977 and is also on AO3.)

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After Lifetime Fic Bingo

2025-03-01T05:57:46Z

I was going to wait to discuss new endeavors until after I had finished my Lifetime Fic Bingo game. I'm feeling really rotten tonight, though, and I thought doing it now might cheer me up.

First, let me introduce the Old and New Project. For each step of this project, I will reread one of the fics in my Beloved Collection, then check out one or more new (to me) fics by the same author. I will probably do write-ups of at least some of what I read as part of this project, but I may restrict myself to the fics I recommend.

This project will be more informal than the reading games I've played over the past several years. I will read fics not related to the project whenever I have a notion and only work on the project when I am at a loose end. My Beloved Collection is large, so the project will probably take years to finish. I may also play some other reading games while keeping the project on the back burner.

That brings me to my other planned endeavor, Lookback Fic Bingo. This game is an extension of Lifetime Fic Bingo. For Lookback Fic Bingo, I will read fics by year, but counting backward from the year of my birth instead of forward. With the help of Fanlore, I've found a handful of available fics from each year stretching back to 1980, so that's where I've decided to stop my game. All the fics are from Professionals fandom, so I am dropping the requirement of at least two fandoms per year that was part of Lifetime Fic Bingo. I've also decided to set the number of fics for each year at between one and three, rather than between three and five.

I'm not sure when I will start Lookback Fic Bingo. It probably won't be immediately after I finish my current game. I'll wait and see when I feel like it.

I hope those of you who have enjoyed Lifetime Fic Bingo will enjoy these new endeavors as well.

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Lifetime Fic Bingo: 2022

2025-02-27T22:47:24Z

It's 2022. Harry Styles is on the radio. Here in the USA, the year's top film is Top Gun: Maverick. New terms coined include: mpox and quiet quit.

For 2022, I read five fics: two Man from U.N.C.L.E., one Professionals, and two Sherlock Holmes. In a first for this game, I particularly recommend all five of them.

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Lifetime Fic Bingo: 2021

2025-02-23T01:26:24Z

It's 2021. Olivia Rodrigo is on the radio. Here in the USA, the year's top film is Spiderman: No Way Home. New terms coined include: rizz.

For 2021, I read five works: one Man from U.N.C.L.E. fic, one Professionals fic, two published Sherlock Holmes pastiches, and one A-Team x Inception crossover.

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Lifetime Fic Bingo: 2020

2025-02-15T05:12:37Z

It's the plague year 2020. The Weekend is on the radio. Here in the USA, the year's top film is Bad Boys for Life. (Does anyone else have no memory of such a movie?) New terms coined include: COVID-19, doomscroll, long COVID, physically distance, unidentified anomalous phenomenon, and wandering dude.

For 2020, I read five fics: two Sherlock Holmes, one Raffles, one Professionals, and one Man from U.N.C.L.E.. For some reason, all of the fics I picked out for this year were fairly short, even though I generally try to read at least a couple of long ones each round. That's okay, though. I have mostly long fics queued for 2021.

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Lifetime Fic Bingo: 2019

2025-02-13T08:10:20Z

I've been done with this year for a while, but I wasn't able to do the write-up because my laptop was out of commission. Happily, it's back now.

It's 2019. Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus are on the radio. Here in the USA, the year's top film is Avengers: Endgame. New terms coined include: large language model and review bombing.

For 2019 I read five fics: one Man from U.N.C.L.E., two Sherlock Holmes, and two Professionals.

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Lifetime Fic Bingo: 2018

2025-01-31T20:37:26Z

It's 2018. Drake is on the radio. Here in the USA, the year's top film is Black Panther. New terms coined include: deepfake.

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