The Turtle Jourtle

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.)

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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Hello, everyone. My journal has been very quiet, hasn't it?

Over the past few months, I've been putting a lot of my fannish energy into writing The Wind and the Rain, the 13,000-word story that is my contribution to this year's Professionals Big Bang. I've been reading a little bit of fic, too, but not in the organized way that lends itself to write-ups.

Last night, I finally posted The Wind and the Rain. I'm elated. I'd been working on it since March, and it's the longest fic I've ever written by a factor of ten. Indeed, I think it's the longest piece of any kind I've ever written, including everything I wrote in college.


As I bask in the glow of my finished fic, I'm also looking forward to having more time for reading again. For the rest of the month, that time will be dedicated mostly to reading the other Pros Big Bang fics, but after that, expect a return to your regularly scheduled program. At least until I have a new idea for a story. :)

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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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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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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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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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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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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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.