Do you remember the first Pros story you read?

[hagsrus]

And do you think now that it gave you a reasonably "true" picture of the Lads?

I jumped into the 1998 Circuit Archive on a friend's recommendation, all innocent and dewy-eyed and avid for MM romance. I saved a story from one of each author and the first I read was
Awakening and Reciprocity by Lily, hooked by the first line

Comments

[moonlightmead]

I don't remember the very very first, but it will undoubtedly have been one that was recommended on a recs list somewhere, because I saw my first episodes of Pros on the ITV4 repeats, my jaw dropped at the slash, I raced to Google to see if anyone else had noticed the same thing, and oh, hell, yes. So I found recs lists - http://alicambsrecs.livejournal.com/2443.html was one and there is another which has a tables layout and block quotes, and recs (and quotes from) a lot on the CD as well as online) and I found the Circuit Archive, the Hatstand and a couple of gen sites at the same time. I skimmed the gen sites for trivia about who everyone was, filming anecdotes and so on, and abandoned them. And plunged into the Circuit Archive and, shortly thereafter, the Oblique website

[franciskerst]

What kind of story is "Sunshine"? Never heard anything about this one.

[sc_fossil]

Tread carefully, my friend. :)

[franciskerst]

But still, what is it about? (author, theme, genre).

The only stories I don't read are those where Cowley has a bad part (I mean, not legitimated by his professional duty) or anything kinky (even slightly: for example I strongly object to BDSM, even perfectly consensual, innocuous or taken as a foreplay).

[sc_fossil]

BDSM and death, and I'd sy it was an unpleasant story.

[franciskerst]

I had a quick look at it, enough to confirm it's not only disgusting but totally stupid

[sc_fossil]

I didn't like it and I know you wouldn't have which is why I warned you off. :) I'm here to serve.

[moonlightmead]

What sort of a story is Sunshine? Well, I doubt it appears in many top tens. It's very grim.

It's a death fic, one of three originally published in Roses and Lavender 3 which apparently earned that zine a bit of a reputation. The aftermath of a night in which... well, it wasn't clear to me at first whether a night together had started well and gone badly wrong, or whether it went badly wrong for one of them right from the start. The structure's brilliant, flipping between morning after and what happened during that night - which probably has a lot to do with why I like it, that structure - but when you disentangle it... [plot giveaway here]Bodie awakens, hungover, blurry, in pain, desperately regretting and hating his memories of the night. Whether it began consensually or not, it ended with him handcuffed to the bed and Doyle fisting him before screwing him. Once Doyle has released him, Doyle slips peacefully off to sleep, apparently entirely securely. Which is what makes me presume this was meant to be consensual. But Bodie strangles him. And says the

[franciskerst]

I know now because I went to the Circuit Archive and just skimmed it; it was enough to stir my wrath: I told in a previous comment that, from my point of view, enjoying a description of torture or abuse is as bad as torturing and abusing a real living person in real life. Which is certainly very excessive, but I am a little psycho-rigid and rather intolerant in those matters (the BDSM scene as a whole, and any related act, even very mild and perfectly consensual). I don't mind the ordinary violence if necessary to the plot and not shown with too much complacency.

Thanks for the detailed information anyway.

[merentha13]

I not sure I would have continued reading if "Sunshine" were my introduction to Pros! *g*

[moonlightmead]

What got me was that this was a fandom that could contain this, *and* The Cartland Factor. Werewolves of London and With Age, Comes a TOG Sticker... A Summer's Outing and Fly On The Wall... And we haven't even started on the AUs (because they were not a thing I really got when I arrived here). It was the sheer scope of it, and the fact that it had both gritty and fluffy.

[hagsrus]

--another which has a tables layout and block quotes, and recs--

I don't recognize that - do you have a link? Sounds like one I should add to the little resources file for Proslib

[moonlightmead]

I can't find it at the moment, but I am sure I will stumble across it again. In which case, I'll let you know. There is definitely a lot from the CD recced on it - a Lainie Stone one (I think), undercover as gay in a drugs case, longish, forget the title atm, and Action of the Tiger (EPS). It was a major help in deciding to get the CD.