Shane by Judith Proctor (PG)

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

Fandom: BLAKE'S 7
Pairing: Blake clone/Rashel
Author on LJ: watervole
Author Website: Judith Proctor's Blake's 7 pages
Why this must be read:

It's many years after Gauda Prime, and a familiar character using a new name finds himself drifting alone on an agricultural planet and into the lives of a man who calls himself Roj Blake, his wife Rashel, and their young son. Now, I personally don't generally much care for Westerns, and I've never even seen the movie Shane. So when I say I really like this story -- which, as I understand it, follows the plot of the movie pretty closely -- that probably tells you something about the quality of the story and how well it stands on its own, entirely separate from the source that inspired it. One thing I do like is a story that conveys deep, solid characterization in very subtle ways, a story where there are realms of significance and emotion to be found between the lines as much as in the words themselves. This piece really delivers that. It's told from the point of view of "Blake"'s son, and the boy has no understanding of the background or the significance of the events he's witnessing. But the reader does, and therein lies the power of the story. And the end is wrenching... something that I strongly suspect is true even if you see it coming.


An excerpt:

I got to know Shane better as the months passed. I watched him as he worked around the farm. He didn't have Father's strength and build, but there was a determination in him. He wasn't a man who liked to let any task defeat him. In conversation, he never talked about his own past. He had stories aplenty, of smugglers, of worlds where people lived underground, and of the strange things that you could meet in space; but whether they were places he'd been or had simply heard of, he never let on. Gradually, he was becoming a part of us, settling into the valley life as though he'd always been here. The only thing, apart from his natural reserve, that set him apart from everyone else, was the fact that he never carried a gun. That used to puzzle me, but I hadn't the nerve to ask Shane about it, so I ventured the question with Father instead.

"Why doesn't Shane carry a gun?" I asked.

"I don't know," Father replied. "Something in his past no doubt, but that's his business. All I can tell you is that if a man like Shane chooses not to carry a gun, then he has a good reason."

I let the subject drop. It didn't seem that important.

Shane