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crack_van2004-11-25 10:31 pm
justacat.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2004-11-25 10:31 pm
Entry tags:
The Joy of Camping, by Miriam (NC-17)
Fandom: THE PROFESSIONALS
Pairing: Bodie/Doyle
Author's Website: http://fangirlz.net/miriam.heddy/
Author on LJ:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
miriam_heddy
Why this must be read:
Miriam is another author whom I dearly wish would write more Pros. She writes beautifully, with a characteristic understated, precise style that's deceptively subtle - it's not flashy at all, but it gets under your skin without you even realizing; you find yourself caught up in the flow, so the end is almost jarring. She tends to focus on the characters' inner journeys, and her stories often have a lot of ambiguity - they're not unhappy, but they don't have the fairy-tale type of happily-ever-after endings either (in that she's a lot like I described M. Fae Glasgow in my last rec - in fact, though her style is very different, in many ways she reminds me of M. Fae). She writes the older lads very well, and her Bisto Kids stories in particular are wonderful, incredibly well crafted.
Joy of Camping isn't an older lads story, and it's not Miriam's most complex or layered or meaningful Pros story, but it is my favorite of hers. It's a humorous but touching glimpse into Doyle's mind as Bodie makes a drunken revelation to him on the first night of a weekend camping trip and then struggles to come to terms with what that means for him and them (and like Jingle Balls, it features drunk Ray - I must have a kink for that *g*). It also gives us, through Ray, great insight into Bodie.
Miriam's Bodie and Doyle voices feel very authentic to me, and I love her characterizations, in general and in this story in particular. She makes Bodie in particular so appealingly human, right down to his soft white belly - she captures his expansiveness, and the softness-over-hardness element that makes him so irresistable and so dangerous, and his "it is what it is" attitude that contrasts so markedly with Ray's more ruminative tendencies. And she does "guys only better" really well - her guys are guys, no doubt about it, but she lets us see the feeling between them, their affection and tenderness for each other.
This is a comfort story for me. It's light but skillfully crafted and well written, it has humor and hot sex and love and a satisfying amount of tension, so it never feels sappy. I find it enjoyable on every level, and it's one of those stories that I come back to time and again.
The Joy of Camping
(Originally published in the zine Motet Opus 3 in B and D, Keynote Press, October 1999)
Pairing: Bodie/Doyle
Author's Website: http://fangirlz.net/miriam.heddy/
Author on LJ:
miriam_heddyWhy this must be read:
Miriam is another author whom I dearly wish would write more Pros. She writes beautifully, with a characteristic understated, precise style that's deceptively subtle - it's not flashy at all, but it gets under your skin without you even realizing; you find yourself caught up in the flow, so the end is almost jarring. She tends to focus on the characters' inner journeys, and her stories often have a lot of ambiguity - they're not unhappy, but they don't have the fairy-tale type of happily-ever-after endings either (in that she's a lot like I described M. Fae Glasgow in my last rec - in fact, though her style is very different, in many ways she reminds me of M. Fae). She writes the older lads very well, and her Bisto Kids stories in particular are wonderful, incredibly well crafted.
Joy of Camping isn't an older lads story, and it's not Miriam's most complex or layered or meaningful Pros story, but it is my favorite of hers. It's a humorous but touching glimpse into Doyle's mind as Bodie makes a drunken revelation to him on the first night of a weekend camping trip and then struggles to come to terms with what that means for him and them (and like Jingle Balls, it features drunk Ray - I must have a kink for that *g*). It also gives us, through Ray, great insight into Bodie.
Miriam's Bodie and Doyle voices feel very authentic to me, and I love her characterizations, in general and in this story in particular. She makes Bodie in particular so appealingly human, right down to his soft white belly - she captures his expansiveness, and the softness-over-hardness element that makes him so irresistable and so dangerous, and his "it is what it is" attitude that contrasts so markedly with Ray's more ruminative tendencies. And she does "guys only better" really well - her guys are guys, no doubt about it, but she lets us see the feeling between them, their affection and tenderness for each other.
This is a comfort story for me. It's light but skillfully crafted and well written, it has humor and hot sex and love and a satisfying amount of tension, so it never feels sappy. I find it enjoyable on every level, and it's one of those stories that I come back to time and again.
The Joy of Camping
(Originally published in the zine Motet Opus 3 in B and D, Keynote Press, October 1999)
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I was so totally not disappointed. Ray Doyle's inner journey is fascinating, believable and excellently paced. The total lack of tortured moaning and handwringing (oh my god, I'm GAY!) was a relief, even if the drunkeness and "stuck somewhere with nowhere to go" -ness caused some initial eye-rolling.
And toe-curlingly hot! Oh My God! I just loved the way Ray tops from the bottom. *g* It's definitely a love-thing, and a guy-love-thing, and a Bodie-and-Doyle-love-thing, as you said.
I'm not ready to make a commitment, but I'm enjoying my fling! Thanks, J.
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Rec next month as well? *tempts*
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*hugs you*
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I too love the lack of hand-wringing - and another thing I love, though I didn't mention it in the review, is how Ray so scornfully dismisses the whole "I'm not gay I just love you" concept. He totally rejects the idea that having sex with Bodie is a "sacrifice born of love" - that he's "bisexual because he loves Bodie" - "he hadn't waited thirty-five years to want one man and not others." He's not going to do anything about it, because he loves Bodie, after all, but he's turning on to Bodie because he's gay (or bi or whatever *g*). I hate the whole WNGWJLEO trope, so I love that about Miriam's Pros fic in general, this one in particular (and you should give her other ones a try, definitely, though I think this is probably the most accessible).
There are a few other recs I've made recently that you might like - particulary Handy Pandy, Out Goes the Rat by Rimy - give that one a try and see what you think. And also the one I'm about to rec today - Voice-over. Actually, you might as well read all of them - if you're gonna bother to have a fling, I suppose, might as well do it all! *g*
And I can't tell you how glad I am you're enjoying it :-)
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I loved her 'Fancy That' and 'Fire Held High and Away' so much when they were archived on The Hatstand.
Now I've found much more her stories at newly-born Circuit Archive. Hurrah!
Thanks so much your efforts for reccing and keeping Circuit Archive alive. (^_^)
I will spend next week happily reading her stories includes The Joy of Camping...
Thanks again!
Kyo
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Thanks for the rec.
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