Lifetime Fic Bingo: 1991
Click to viewIt's 1991, the last year of the Cold War. Nirvana is on the radio. Here in the USA, the year's top film is Terminator 2. New terms coined include: BDSM, carjacking, cybersex, ethnic cleansing, heteronormative, laggy, mixtape, NPC, pescetarian, and SMS. It's also the year I found out that years have numbers.
I read five fics from 1991: three Man from U.N.C.L.E., one Professionals x Star Trek, and one plain(ish) Professionals.
The first Man from U.N.C.L.E. fic was The Seventeen Days in October Affair by Terry L. Neill and J. M. D’Agostino-Toney. This fic was great! It is set during the Cuban Missile Crisis, focusing on UNCLE's role in the confrontation and on the conflicts it creates for Illya. The story is wonderfully atmospheric; the reader gets a real sense of the fear people felt during that time. I think it also presents our heroes' characters convincingly. They are not partners yet in this story, but they still interact in interesting ways. This fic was my favorite for the year. 14,854 words. Gen. Particularly recommended.
I also read The Devil's Attic Affair by C. W. Walker (st_crispins), another excellent Man from U.N.C.L.E. fic. It is the second installment in her Origins Trilogy, and thus the sequel to The Long St. Crispin's Day from 1990. This one takes place before Illya and Napoleon are partnered, as well. Here they are both assigned to a larger team that also includes some of the founding UNCLE agents introduced in The Long St. Crispin's Day. It's a well plotted mission fic with vivid original characters. The point of view is varied, and I could wish we'd spent more time in Illya or Napoleon's head. Otherwise I enjoyed it very much, however. 28,968 words. Gen. Particularly recommended.
Having enjoyed The Devil's Attic Affair so much, I tried another MFU fic by C. W. Walker next: The Lion of Ngambo Affair, in which Illya and Napoleon travel to a fictional East African country in the grip of both a drought and civil unrest. I feel ambivalent about this one. It was very well done-fine writing, complex OCs, well paced plot-but the ending felt inconclusive, which is something I dislike. On the other hand, that was probably deliberate and part of the theme of the story, so it hardly seems right to fault it for that. 23,087 words. Napoleon/OFC het.
I read Free Trader by Debra Hicks, a crossover between The Professionals and Star Trek: the Next Generation. This fic was the subject of a reading room discussion last week, and I will reproduce some of my comments from there:
I wanted to love this fic. I am partial to IN SPACE! stories, and this one had a lot going for it. I found the setting vivid and the plot included a lot of good material. For me, though, the relationship between Bodie and Doyle couldn't support the amount of time devoted to it. More than half of the story is dedicated to Bodie and Doyle getting to know each other and falling in love. Yet I didn't get much sense of them learning about each other or forming a bond. Doyle shares a bit of back story, but we never see Bodie reciprocate, and they aren't shown to share any experiences that don't revolve around mutual physical attraction. When there is a lot else going on, I tolerate simply being told by an author, "okay the characters are in love now," but Debra Hicks made a lot of space to show rather than tell, then didn't really do it. 26,454 words. Bodie/Doyle slash.
Comments with spoilers:
[Spoiler (click to open)]One moment that I found especially frustrating was when Ray said that he and Bodie could refrain from putting themselves in danger to notify Star Fleet of vital, time-sensitive information and simply pass it on when they reached the starbase. Bodie replied, effectively, "yes, but you'd never do that." How did he know? We never see him learning about Ray's character in a way that would allow him that kind of certainty.
Another, more minor, difficulty I had was with the subplot around Cory, the AI of Bodie's ship, whom Bodie had illegally augmented with a personality. Cory was jealous of Bodie and Doyle's relationship and made escalating attempts to kill Doyle. The conclusion of this plot felt a little anti-climactic after as much built-up as it had. I would have liked a bit more suspense and danger. Compare the showdown with ANN in the Professionals fic A Future to This Life.
Finally, I read the Professionals fic Legacy of Temptation by Ellis Ward. This is an AU in which Bodie is a computer technician and Doyle an independently wealthy author of gay romance novels. (They fight crimeparanormal forces!) I've said in the past that, as a rule, I do not like AUs that give the Lads' completely different jobs and backgrounds and eliminate CI5 entirely, as this one does. Still, I liked this fic enough to read all 100k words. It isn't quite a counterexample, however, because I liked it as an original novel, not as Pros fanfic. As a fanfic, I don't think it succeeds. The Bodie and Doyle characters didn't feel to me like the Lads of canon, and none of the externals of their life were present to make up for that. On the other hand, as an original novel, it was very engaging. The plot was well constructed, the romance was believable enough, and the scary bits were indeed scary. 100,794 words. Bodie/Doyle slash.
Comments with spoilers:
[Spoiler (click to open)]This isn't really a spoiler, but it is a specific. I did find Bodie and Doyle's disapproval of the behavior of other gay men a little uncomfortable in this story, especially given that the author is not a gay man. It wasn't "we're not gay" but perhaps it could be called "not like other gays," with all the unacknowledged bias that implies. That said, I think that element was probably there to provide a reason that our heroes could have unprotected sex more than as any sort of intentional moral statement.
Check out the Starksy and Hutch vid Something to Talk About by rainbow68, which uses a hit song from 1991.
Fics so far:
1986
Double Vision by Pamela Rose (The Professionals x Who Dares Wins; 47,962 words; slash)
Begin Again by Lois Welling (Ann Barrister) (The Professionals; 1,318 words; gen)
*Night Before the World Ends by Lezlie Conch (Lezlie Shell) (The Professionals; 4,355 words; slash)
The Crab Apple Cove Affair by Charlie Kirby (The Man from U.N.C.L.E. x M*A*S*H; 2,301 words; gen)
*In the Belly of Leviathan by Pythia (original series Battlestar Galactica; 13,062 words; gen)
1987
The Never Too Late Affair by Debra Hicks (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; 1,441 words; slash)
*The Traitor Within the Gates Affair by D. H. Bryn (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; ~34,000 words; het)
Whisper of a Kill by Lois Welling (Ann Barrister) (The Professionals; 53,978 words; slash)
The Adventure of the Traitorous Lieutenant by Eileen Roy (Sherlock Holmes; 1,827 words; gen)
*Brothers in Arms by Anais (original series Battlestar Galactica; 4,099 words; gen)
1988
Night Moves by Courtney Gray (The Professionals; 35,344 words; slash)
Rainbow Chasers by HG (The Professionals; 134,373 words; slash)
Patterns in Walls by Debra Hicks (The Professionals x Sable; 6,003 words; gen)
Family Traits by Jatona Walker (The Professionals; 1,443 words; slash)
Slippery Situation by Debra Hicks (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; 1,634 words; slash)
1989
In From the Cold by cybel (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; 9,454 words; slash)
Nothing in Common by cybel (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; 3,033 words; slash)
The Zippity Do-Dah Affair by Alys (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; 934 words; slash)
*[From 1982: Looking Glass World by Felicity M. Parkinson (The Professionals; 22,758 words; slash)]
...And Memories Die, Part I by Ellis Ward (The Professionals; 26,340 words; slash)
*[Hell Hath No Fury by Jane Carnall and Ann Johnson (The Professionals; 2,958 words; gen)]
The Price of a Soul a Professionals fic by Jane Carnall and Ann Johnson (The Professionals; 2,194 words; slash)
[From 1986: Two Up by Jane of Australia (The Professionals; 8,013 words; slash)]
[Two Up Truly Queered by Jane Carnall (The Professionals; 2,360 words; slash)]
1990
*The Long St. Crispin's Day by C. W. Walker (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; 19,765 words; gen)
*One Small Step by Lori Beatty (The A-Team; 5,713 words; gen)
Nor the Leopard His Spots by M. Fae Glasgow (The Professionals x EastEnders; ~15,000 words; slash)
*...And Memories Die, Part II by Ellis Ward (The Professionals; 46,161 words; slash)
*Absent Friends by Jane Carnall and Ann Johnson (The Professionals; 692 words; slash)
1991
*The Seventeen Days in October Affair by Terry L Neill and J. M. D’Agostino-Toney (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; 14,854 words; gen)
*The Devil's Attic Affair by C. W. Walker (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; 28,968 words; gen)
The Lion of Ngambo Affair by C. W. Walker (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; 23,087 words; het)
Free Trader by Debra Hicks (The Professionals x Star Trek TNG; 26,454 words; slash)
Legacy of Temptation by Ellis Ward (The Professionals; 100,794 words; slash)
* = Particularly recommended
[ ] = read but not counted toward the year's story total