Iron Man by Executrix (NC-17)

[aralias.livejournal.com]

Fandom: BLAKE'S 7
Pairing: Blake/Avon (who else?), ensemble
Length: 15,300w
Author on LJ: executrix
Author Website: on Ao3, then there are various other locations around the web, including Hermit and Liberated.org
Why this must be read: And we end with a fic from 2014! The very year that I am writing to you from now. Let me get this straight before we begin: I am reccing this fic because I think it is very, very good (and indeed one of the best from the author's oeuvre), otherwise I would not rec it. However, it does also please me to have this as a final rec, because as you may or may not know, faithful reader, executrix was Blake's 7's first reccer and was certainly part of the fandom at the point where there were zines and cons and more than 30 people (we get more and more people every day, though!). So I think it's nice that people from the earlier era of fandom are still writing for us, and that what they are writing is really great.

To talk specifically about this fic - it's also interesting that people can still have (probably?) new ideas after 30 years of fandom. I've never seen any other fics about Avon becoming president in the wake of the Andromedan War. There are a few about him as president, but they're usually post series 4 (or PGP). This early splitting off from canon really affects the characters, and not in a way that you see much elsewhere. Similarly, Avon in power is usually presented as something dark and Servalan-like. Here, it is his own particular 'sentimental about money'/'the rest? have the same chance as I have' outlook on life that dominates his presidency, and makes an enemy of Blake the idealist (even though this Blake also loves him) but in a way that's ironically more difficult to fight against than flat-out evil. The political universe created by this fic is fascinating, and great fun (though not for Blake).

Executrix's prose is always dense with literary, religious and Blake's 7 references, as well as other jokes and clever asides. I get to end of her fics and think 'I've probably missed loads of that', but fortunately the internet is forever and you can re-read, and I do. I've read this one three times already and, as I stated above, it's only been published about a fortnight :)

Excerpt:

In the interests of stability (and because, Avon said, you never knew who you were going to need in the future, so there was no point in killing them), most of the lower echelons of the military and the civil service kept their jobs.

A few people in leadership positions fled once they saw that their regime was doomed. A few more committed suicide out of remorse. It might have been argued that the notes (for those who left one) had a rather small range of expression, and that the corpses of many of those who did not leave a note looked more surprised than grieved, but who was going to inquire?

Servalan, an anorexic for punishment or perhaps just an optimist, was not among them.

Link: Iron Man

Comments

[executrix.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I really appreciate the honor. And I'm already WAAAAH! about crack_van shutting down.

I'm sort of from B7: the Next Generation because, although I'm VERY old I started watching B7 in 2000, by which time the fandom was well-established. And some of the people who were in at the start are still in the fandom! Much like MUNCLE, although God knows there are about 600 times more B7 pairings than MUNCLE pairings. I arrived at the tail end of the zine era, and remember all those ML exchanges about "What is this LJ thing, and is killing it with fire enough or do we need to sow the ground with salt?"

I was going to say, I *can't* have been the first crack_van reccer, but B7 is not a very evangelical fandom, perhaps because of the difficulty of getting hold of the source, especially in R1? Which is why I ended up doing the ship manifesto despite being completely unrepresentative and perpetually Doing It Rong.

I just came up with a new costume today for my Blakefest fic, I was going to say I'd send you the sketches until I remembered they don't exist.

[aralias.livejournal.com]

you are most welcome! i'm really pleased that the timing was so perfect. YES you are the first crack_van reccer, unless the posts are not tagged properly (which is very possible). interestingly your first rec begins with something like 'ANOTHER of my first slash fics' but i sort of think that it refers to the post that is now after it... difficult to say anyway.

btw, i don't know if i ever said, but i think you made some excellent choices! i'm proud for my recs to stand beside yours.

also - i laughed out loud at the costume comment, and can't wait to see it... with my mind. come february ;) i hope the fic is going well, too. as your moderator and as a keen future reader.

[executrix.livejournal.com]

It is a smashing costume, and a new look for the wearer!

I will have to run apace on the fic, because today I got a jury duty notice for February 20. You have to check in online for two days, they tell you whether or not to report, and if you report and you get picked you're stuck for the length of the trial. So far I have succeeded in deterring anyone from seating me on a jury.

[aralias.livejournal.com]

as someone who works in the business of law don't they exclude you? you're not unbiased. you know how the tricks are done...

[executrix.livejournal.com]

They don't exclude me, and last time I had to sit around the courthouse for a couple of days* until I was voir dire'd and made myself unwelcome precisely for that reason.


*But now I have a wee baby laptop and can amuse myself!