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The Reading Room - Floral Arrangement by M Fae Glasgow
Title: Floral Arrangement
Author: M Fae Glasgow
Pairing: B/D, D/M
Further story information found at prosficspoilers
Links: Proslib long stories .pdf
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proslib/files/Long%20Stories/PDF/
Zine: "What If?" by Manacles Press (1992)
My rec of this story was spurred by last month’s Reading Room discussion of From Here To Eternity.
… some were speculating about how the lads would act if the situation was reversed, i.e. if it was Bodie who was dead and haunting Doyle. I had just read Floral Arrangement, so I thought it would be a good story to rec in its own right as an example of that scenario.
The title is cleverly based on the fact that the story is, as the author states, “happily plagiarized from the Brazilian film Doña Flor and Her Two Husbands.”
I don’t call this type of story a death fic because no character dies during the story. I call it a “post-death” fic. Bodie is dead from the start, and we soon find this out. It’s 5 years after Bodie died and only now is Doyle ready to take the final step to move on completely, giving himself a distinct moment to mark as the time when he finally relinquished Bodie to the past.
I’m only a couple of pages in, but I’m not liking this. The description of D at B’s funeral, having to hide the fact that they were lovers, feeling like a liar and a cheat and a betrayer, holding all the feelings inside… is so sad. I’m tearing up. So I skip to the end to see if this story is worth reading. I’m glad I do because --
-- it’s just about now that B shows up. And it’s our Bodie - charming, funny, loving, irreverent, playful - and naked. Only he’s a ghost! Poor D doesn’t know what to think! Did Murphy spike his drink with a drug? Is he going insane? I love how D tries to keep it together while B explains how it is that he’s come back, albeit a bit late.
B’s idea of heaven is to be with D wherever he is - awwwwww. So sweet! He is so earnest and loving. He is “immolated” by D’s momentary rejection. Though who can blame D for being skittish? It’s just overwhelming for him. Plus, he’s creeped out by the idea of having sex with a spirit. To give him credit, he doesn’t want to hurt B either. He still loves B.
Enter Murphy into the picture; we find out that D and M have been lovers for a while. We come to the crux of the problem - D’s dilemma. It’s been 5 years since B died. D has moved on and made a new life for himself. He loves M, who has been nothing short of wonderful to D. He owes M so much, including his life. But B wants to resume their former affair. What should he do?
Now, here’s the thing. I am definitely a B/D OTP kind of gal. Normally I won’t touch any other pairing with a barge pole. I can’t stand the thought of either of our lads with someone else. I didn’t say I like this story. But I find it memorable for many reasons.
D must make a decision, which in the end is to “have my cake and eat it too.” I’m immediately reminded of another story with a similar theme, and in which the exact same words are spoken - Forever True by Elizabeth Holden. I have nothing but contempt for the D of that story. Not so here. I understand that he is indeed, as he states, “between a rock and a hard place.” I feel very sorry for him.
B’s predicament is quite sad, but it’s of his own doing because of his impatience. He could have waited about 50 years until D joined him in the afterlife, but he didn’t want to wait. In the previous discussion about From Here To Eternity it was D who was impatient, and someone even speculated that if the tables were turned B would have waited for D. In this story he doesn’t. B knows the only way he can have D is to share him. He knows that D needs a living person in his life to lean on, someone who could lend a hand with all the day-to-day difficulties of living. It’s proof of B’s love for D that he agrees to share.
And how about poor M, an innocent in all of this, and, in fact, a very admirable character? He doesn’t believe that B has come back as a ghost, but he’s willing to go along with whatever D chooses to believe because he loves D. I think before long he will have to face up to the fact that B is really there, though. Just think about the logistics of having a threesome every time they go to bed, not to mention the little things B does to make his presence known (causing objects to move, for example)!
I have sympathy for all 3 characters. Will they be able to live out their lives in a happy ménage-a-trois? B’s predilection for comparing his abilities as a lover with M’s are a somewhat disturbing portent to me. I fear for D’s sanity in trying to keep two lovers satisfied.
Finally, I must mention the scene of the meeting in C’s office. I don’t think I’ll soon forget the mental image of a gleeful, naked, naughty B plastered against the window and D’s horrified attempts to ignore him! C’s fleeting glimpse of something, proving that Scots are indeed fey, is a nice comic touch.
I don’t always like where M Fae takes our lads, but I think she’s a wonderful writer. I love her use of the language in making a scene come alive
Doyle noted that Bodie was blurring round the edges, the sunlight no longer gleaming on his hair, his extremities dissolving into pallid smoke.),
her playfulness
Doyle took a gulp of whisky, closing his eyes as the spirit went down-and almost choking on his own hysteria. Now was not the time to be thinking of spirits doing anything at all, let alone going down, which had been one of Bodie’s special talents.,
her hot sex scenes. I still won’t be going out of my way to read anything other than B/D stories, but I don’t think my psyche will be harmed by an occasional one that provokes thought like this one does.
Author: M Fae Glasgow
Pairing: B/D, D/M
Further story information found at prosficspoilers
Links: Proslib long stories .pdf
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proslib/files/Long%20Stories/PDF/
Zine: "What If?" by Manacles Press (1992)
My rec of this story was spurred by last month’s Reading Room discussion of From Here To Eternity.
… some were speculating about how the lads would act if the situation was reversed, i.e. if it was Bodie who was dead and haunting Doyle. I had just read Floral Arrangement, so I thought it would be a good story to rec in its own right as an example of that scenario.
The title is cleverly based on the fact that the story is, as the author states, “happily plagiarized from the Brazilian film Doña Flor and Her Two Husbands.”
I don’t call this type of story a death fic because no character dies during the story. I call it a “post-death” fic. Bodie is dead from the start, and we soon find this out. It’s 5 years after Bodie died and only now is Doyle ready to take the final step to move on completely, giving himself a distinct moment to mark as the time when he finally relinquished Bodie to the past.
I’m only a couple of pages in, but I’m not liking this. The description of D at B’s funeral, having to hide the fact that they were lovers, feeling like a liar and a cheat and a betrayer, holding all the feelings inside… is so sad. I’m tearing up. So I skip to the end to see if this story is worth reading. I’m glad I do because --
-- it’s just about now that B shows up. And it’s our Bodie - charming, funny, loving, irreverent, playful - and naked. Only he’s a ghost! Poor D doesn’t know what to think! Did Murphy spike his drink with a drug? Is he going insane? I love how D tries to keep it together while B explains how it is that he’s come back, albeit a bit late.
B’s idea of heaven is to be with D wherever he is - awwwwww. So sweet! He is so earnest and loving. He is “immolated” by D’s momentary rejection. Though who can blame D for being skittish? It’s just overwhelming for him. Plus, he’s creeped out by the idea of having sex with a spirit. To give him credit, he doesn’t want to hurt B either. He still loves B.
Enter Murphy into the picture; we find out that D and M have been lovers for a while. We come to the crux of the problem - D’s dilemma. It’s been 5 years since B died. D has moved on and made a new life for himself. He loves M, who has been nothing short of wonderful to D. He owes M so much, including his life. But B wants to resume their former affair. What should he do?
Now, here’s the thing. I am definitely a B/D OTP kind of gal. Normally I won’t touch any other pairing with a barge pole. I can’t stand the thought of either of our lads with someone else. I didn’t say I like this story. But I find it memorable for many reasons.
D must make a decision, which in the end is to “have my cake and eat it too.” I’m immediately reminded of another story with a similar theme, and in which the exact same words are spoken - Forever True by Elizabeth Holden. I have nothing but contempt for the D of that story. Not so here. I understand that he is indeed, as he states, “between a rock and a hard place.” I feel very sorry for him.
B’s predicament is quite sad, but it’s of his own doing because of his impatience. He could have waited about 50 years until D joined him in the afterlife, but he didn’t want to wait. In the previous discussion about From Here To Eternity it was D who was impatient, and someone even speculated that if the tables were turned B would have waited for D. In this story he doesn’t. B knows the only way he can have D is to share him. He knows that D needs a living person in his life to lean on, someone who could lend a hand with all the day-to-day difficulties of living. It’s proof of B’s love for D that he agrees to share.
And how about poor M, an innocent in all of this, and, in fact, a very admirable character? He doesn’t believe that B has come back as a ghost, but he’s willing to go along with whatever D chooses to believe because he loves D. I think before long he will have to face up to the fact that B is really there, though. Just think about the logistics of having a threesome every time they go to bed, not to mention the little things B does to make his presence known (causing objects to move, for example)!
I have sympathy for all 3 characters. Will they be able to live out their lives in a happy ménage-a-trois? B’s predilection for comparing his abilities as a lover with M’s are a somewhat disturbing portent to me. I fear for D’s sanity in trying to keep two lovers satisfied.
Finally, I must mention the scene of the meeting in C’s office. I don’t think I’ll soon forget the mental image of a gleeful, naked, naughty B plastered against the window and D’s horrified attempts to ignore him! C’s fleeting glimpse of something, proving that Scots are indeed fey, is a nice comic touch.
I don’t always like where M Fae takes our lads, but I think she’s a wonderful writer. I love her use of the language in making a scene come alive
Doyle noted that Bodie was blurring round the edges, the sunlight no longer gleaming on his hair, his extremities dissolving into pallid smoke.),
her playfulness
Doyle took a gulp of whisky, closing his eyes as the spirit went down-and almost choking on his own hysteria. Now was not the time to be thinking of spirits doing anything at all, let alone going down, which had been one of Bodie’s special talents.,
her hot sex scenes. I still won’t be going out of my way to read anything other than B/D stories, but I don’t think my psyche will be harmed by an occasional one that provokes thought like this one does.