Off the cuff fic rec...

[hmpf]

before I disappear for the weekend. Also, to make up for the excessive amount of enviro talk of the last few days.

(I'm sorry, Mikey, I meant to do this in a more organised and more... detailed way, but there just isn't a lot of time, and I'd rather get it out now than wait another week or Ceiling Cat knows how long before I have more time again.)

Hmpf Recommends, Unlikely Edition: LoM Slash I Like!

Yes, folks, read it and marvel: there actually exists such a thing. Usually, I am the most reluctant of slash readers in Life on Mars fandom. There are just so many factors, psychological and societal, that make the main pairing so massively unlikely, that it becomes very difficult indeed for me to suspend disbelief enough to really enjoy a story. Can I believe the attraction? Sure. But, in most cases, I can't believe that it would ever turn into anything worth being called a relationship. Certainly not one of the type that slash likes to describes.

So. If you want to make me believe in Sam/Gene, what do you do? mikes_grrl knows. Take all those issues, and confront them head on.

The "Undercover" universe's version of Sam/Gene is... difficult, because Sam/Gene could not be anything *but* difficult. And some of the difficulty is in the characters; and some's due to society not being ready to accept a homosexual relationship as normal yet, with all that entails for the characters in question.

The "Undercover" universe version of Gene is gay - consciously gay, and always has been, and he's deep, deep, deep in the closet. Now, that setup removes one of my main problems with LoM slash right away: I can't easily believe raging homophobe Gene Hunt as casually gay/bisexual. A thoroughly gay, thoroughly closeted Gene, however, makes eminent sense to me.

mikes_grrl also steers clear of another pitfall of LoM slash: her Sam is not submissive. The relationship between Gene and Sam that we see on screen is shaped largely by the ingrained desire of both men to be the 'alpha male' (although they both secretly enjoy the more or less equal partnership they factually have), and mikes_grrl carries that dynamic over into her fic marvellously.

And lastly, mikes_grrl is very conscious of the social background of the era, the pervasive prejudice against homosexuality as well as the beginning moves towards political activism in the gay scene. "Appearances", the story she is currently posting in installments, gets Sam involved in that a bit, and I'm on the edge of my seat. It's deeply fascinating.

There's more to say about the series - for example, I should mention that it frequently makes me laugh out loud, despite the high degree of angstiness (and that's just perfect, because the way to my heart leads along the unlikely border path between the territories of Humour and Angst) - but I really have to run now. People are waiting for me.

Go and enjoy the "Undercover" series here:

Undercover
Exposed
Smirk (a PWP)
Appearances (ongoing)
ETA: Appearances, now complete, here

Comments

[mikes-grrl.livejournal.com]

Wow. No apology necessary for THAT rec, no how no way! Thank you so much for the deep insight into what makes the whole series interesting to ME too; the cultural issues surrounding a Gene/Sam pairing are fascinating, historically and culturally, and I'm really enjoying mining that.

Thank you again! Makes all the hand-wringing worthwhile. :)

Yay!

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

See, this is why I usually tell people when I've recced them: to spread a bit of joy. :-) Sorry I'm replying late - whenever I go through a period of relatively high fandom activity, I tend to lose track of conversations I have going on in various places.

Got an ETA for the next part already? Because I'm kinda sitting here every night, frantically refreshing lifein1973, in the vain hope that something will show up before I have to go to bed (and, as a result, going to bed far too late, most nights *g*). Now that dakfinv got me hooked on her latest ongoing story, it's even worse, as now there are *two* stories that have me gnawing my fingernails with anticipation. Arrgh.

(Well, at least the frustrated anticipation made me work a bit on my bloody impossible Maya fic yesterday - the one I've been working on for something like two years and a bit, and which still refuses to submit to my will. Maya's not very cooperative - and that despite the fact that I basically had to make her up from scratch. Her thought processes are still largely a mystery to me.)