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thete1.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
crack_van2004-02-02 07:25 am
thete1.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2004-02-02 07:25 am
Entry tags:
Beyond the Streetlights, by River (PG-13?)
Fandom: X-MEN COMICVERSE
Pairing: Bobby/Jean
Author on LJ:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tieleen
Author Website: 'top of the world, without a ladder'
Why this must be read:
The thing, for me, about this fandom, is that it forced me to really go pretty far afield in terms of reading. I've never been an OTP kind of girl, or even a particularly rabid slasher, but... well, comics fandom just isn't broken up in the ways that I became accustomed to in other fandoms. There are the hugely popular het and slash pairings, sure, but 'shippiness in general is rather downplayed over here.
I kept wandering around looking for the big archive o' porn, and I kept not finding it. *snort*
Along the way, though, I've come across some truly lovely stories that I never would've considered, given my druthers. Like this one.
An AU piece from a very different sort of Jean Grey. And you think you know what I'm talking about, don't you? Well, no, really. When I say different, I *mean* different. Not canon, and not the typical melodramatic fanon that leads even people who *aren't* Jean fans to think seriously about blinding themselves with sporks.
No, this story poses the question: "What if things went really badly wrong... and then life had the temerity to go on?"
It's something I never would've thought of writing, and it's really quite brilliant. It sinks in under the skin and into the soul until I *felt* Jean. I felt *like* her, and I wondered what choices I'd make in her position... and which choices I would utterly fail to make.
"Beyond the Streetlights" is one of those stories I think of as "sleepers." You don't really see them coming, because they seem so *normal and quiet*. And then it's too late, and they've got you.
Whimpering on the floor.
Beyond the Streetlights
Pairing: Bobby/Jean
Author on LJ:
tieleenAuthor Website: 'top of the world, without a ladder'
Why this must be read:
The thing, for me, about this fandom, is that it forced me to really go pretty far afield in terms of reading. I've never been an OTP kind of girl, or even a particularly rabid slasher, but... well, comics fandom just isn't broken up in the ways that I became accustomed to in other fandoms. There are the hugely popular het and slash pairings, sure, but 'shippiness in general is rather downplayed over here.
I kept wandering around looking for the big archive o' porn, and I kept not finding it. *snort*
Along the way, though, I've come across some truly lovely stories that I never would've considered, given my druthers. Like this one.
An AU piece from a very different sort of Jean Grey. And you think you know what I'm talking about, don't you? Well, no, really. When I say different, I *mean* different. Not canon, and not the typical melodramatic fanon that leads even people who *aren't* Jean fans to think seriously about blinding themselves with sporks.
No, this story poses the question: "What if things went really badly wrong... and then life had the temerity to go on?"
It's something I never would've thought of writing, and it's really quite brilliant. It sinks in under the skin and into the soul until I *felt* Jean. I felt *like* her, and I wondered what choices I'd make in her position... and which choices I would utterly fail to make.
"Beyond the Streetlights" is one of those stories I think of as "sleepers." You don't really see them coming, because they seem so *normal and quiet*. And then it's too late, and they've got you.
Whimpering on the floor.
Beyond the Streetlights
no subject
But this fic has meaning. Okay, so it's not the obscure, hidden meanings you have to look up in English class. Honestly, though, this kind is better. It doesn't try to shove what happened down your throat.
Great rec.
Re:
Thank You
After six years of rather intensive plot work, I'm pleased that it is noticeable. Considering I utterly loathe fandoms that are split into pairings and preferences and the ridiculously balkianized fetishisms that are like steel walls in other places, I'm glad that the idea of the 'overall' is still apparent in comic fic.
Re: Thank You
Okay, completely not.
But still.
Re: Thank You
Re: Thank You
Dear Lord, that's terrifying.
*ruthlessly represses the 'what have I done with my liiiiiife' voice*
It's a question of having a readable alternative as well as the porn and curtain-hanging fic. I'm glad that enough of both exist that the whole fandom can't be turned into a half dozen archives of Logan/Rogue, Scott/Jean, Logan/Jean, Scott/Emma, Remy/Bobby, Remy/Rogue, etc...
Oh, I understand completely. I still wish there was *more* shippiness within the fandom, but I've always found it pleasant to know that I could always count on comics-land for good gen. (to the point where I become filled with puzzlement when you snark about the amount of 'shippiness here. Because, man, relatively... not so much.)
I wind up wondering if I should use my crack_van tenure to actually *focus* on the 'shippier fic to show solidarity for my 'roots,' and then I start dithering over whether I'll give an 'honest' view of the fandom, and then I wonder what I'm doing with my life, and then I remember that you didn't actually ask for any of this witter and go back to writing porn.
no subject
I didn't-read this story several times. I looked at your review when you first pimped the link to me, and my first reaction was, 'I don't think I want to read that.' A Marvelverse story. A Jean story (my least favourite of the X-men next to Scott, insofar as I know the characters well enough to have a preference). A het story, for crying out loud. And more than all that, a story that was that affecting? I didn't want to go there.
That was my reaction the next two times I came back to look at the rec, too.
After that, I sighed and conceded that I was going to read the story, eventually. And eventually (after coming back and looking at the link a few more times) I did. Not because of anything you said about it, per se -- all that stuff was more dissuasive than motivating, for me. Because, in the end, I trust your judgment.
If you tell me I need to read something, I go and read. Even when it's not something I'd read on my own. Oftentimes it is for the reasons you offer in support of your recommendation; but failing that, your word is enough for me.
Either way, I wind up reading. And isn't that the whole point of
Re:
*snugs*