hmpf

I'm in a place with very weird "internet access" atm, where only a small handful of sites work at all, really randomly, and AO3 isn't one of them but for some unfathomable reason, dreamwidth is. Thankfully I posted my LoM story to AO3 just before I left to come here. (I'll be back home, with normal net access, in 2-3 days.)

So, anyway. Here's the story on AO3:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/14119347

I'll only be able to reply to comments on AO3 on Tuesday. Not that there are many atm, lol. Writing this fic took me so long the fandom basically died in the meantime. The sad thing is I still have two very longterm, ongoing writing projects in this fandom. :D

I have such strong cravings for specific fic scenarios. There's oodles of DW fic, of course, but what I want is so specific I haven't been able to find anything like it among that cornucopia yet... I also still absolutely crave Laundry fic (a mini fandom with a total of 15 stories on AO3, on last count *sigh*)... And I still kind of want a sequel to my favourite LoM fic from back in the day.

This is all very frustrating.

here's In Which We Burn, by halotolerant, which does everything right (for me):

- It doesn't focus on sex. At all. :D
- It features ISSUES. (Issues are my porn.)
- It puts the relationship in its context.
- It shows the relationship happening in a suitably repressed and hidden way - which is the only way I can see it happening at all, in 1973, between two police officers.

I'm actually really interested in that whole social context thing. That's why I love Mikey's Undercover series. (Loz, I'm sure I'll love yours, too. :D)

More recs here soon. Not much slash, though. Hey, this is me reccing. You're mostly gonna get gen from me.

It just occurred to me that I've never focused on relationships as much, in any of my fandoms, as in Life on Mars. Even though most of my fic here still isn't properly shippy as such, Sam's relationships are an important element in nearly all of my stories, published and in progress. In earlier fandoms, I focused much more on "solo angst" and solo character studies and so on.

It's very difficult to write Sam without giving him someone to interact with (which mostly means, someone to hurt, though usually inadvertently).

Actually, this may be due to the way the last episode changed my view of him, though. Before that (and, to some degree, after) I enjoyed Sam-focused angst (based on the coma/time travel/insanity aspect) perfectly well. I can't seem to write it, though - not without adding the mess of his relationships. It seems, I dunno, indulgent? Not true to his character?

Oh look, I meta'd. (A tiny little bit.)

Title: The MAD Doctrine
Author: Hmpf MacSlow
Rating: General audiences or teen and up
Word Count: ca. 6,500 words
Notes: Stellar beta, as usual, by the very awesome beccatoria. Much useful discussion, throughout the years of this fic's gestation, was had with space_oddity_75. Official Bowie consultant: jazzymegster. Other musical advice: lozenger8. Footnote formatting advice: mikes_grrl. Also, thanks to anyone else who endured my ramblings about this story in the past five years.
Soundtrack and lyrics: Here. (Link fixed.)
Summary: Back to the future. . . the long way 'round.

This will be posted to lifein1973 as well, in a moment.

( The MAD Doctrine )

Still just under 5,300, because of course I had to go and cut a lot today before I went and added something new.

Seeing now that a lot of what I wrote so quickly in the last few days still needs a whole lot of work. Not sure of my characterisation in a few places; that Sam's been weird ever since the War doesn't help. It's difficult to gauge how weird, and in which specific ways, he would be in any given situation...

I thought I'd killed younger!Sam, the day before yesterday, but now I think he's actually still alive. That's good - even though the news of his death didn't seem to faze older!Sam much at all (though maybe it partly inspired his casual cruelty against the creepy crawlies in his garden - I dunno). Still, there's really been enough death in this story.

I think I found the ending today. Haven't written it yet, but I really know what's going to happen. I think.

I also think I wrote the first of two missing transitions today, though that may not be quite done yet.

***

And now, a note on another fic - one I wrote years ago and am about to revise a bit before I post it on AO3. That fic's set on another planet, whose surface I described, at the time, thus: ... there is no horizon, the emptiness of the ground melting into the emptiness of the sky. I'd never actually seen anything like that, but a few days ago I found this photo from Antarctica:

http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/infocus/antarctica0304/s_a31_HITEBLUE.jpg

Yep, that's sky meeting ground there, although you can't see any horizon. It looks almost like I imagined it, except in my story the sky and the ground were much closer in colour, so the effect would be even more confusing.

***

And, courtesy of Improv Everywhere, via boingboing, here's what would happen if an Immortal went to an art gallery and stood in front of his own portrait:

http://improveverywhere.com/2011/03/06/king-philip-iv/

Take-home message: immortals really need to stop worrying about being recognised. The public doesn't give a shit. :D

***

Going flat hunting tomorrow.

editing the beginning of The Man Who Fell to Earth, aka "the 2.08 survival fic", down to four pages. I think what I have left now is fairly solid, aside from the obvious problems I have with keeping dialogue in character, especially for the 1970s crowd. The main problem, though, the problem that has kept me from continuing this project since 2008, is that this *needs* some 1970s plot (as well as convincing character interaction in those parts of the story) to really work, and I can't for the life of me come up with one.

I need help. I think I need someone to read what I have - someone with a solid handle on the 1970s characters and the police setting and so on - and then I need that person to have a chat with me. At the very least. Possibly more than a chat. (Sometimes I think I need a co-author.)

There's some stuff in the newest bits I love; some I'm indifferent about. Maybe that will change (either the indifference, or the text itself).

Spoilerphobes beware, here comes a preview. At the moment I mostly like this:

( Read more... )

You know, I think this is the third preview from this story I've posted here, over the years. (I have no self-control.) Before, you had a breakfast scene with radishes; and, years ago, a bit from the war...

Especially the current story, as that's, in a way, all about some psychological subtexts of the 1970s/1980s. I've just done a leeetle bit of listening on youtube and reading around on Wikipedia and, as a couple times before, am struck again by the resonances between not just LoM-the-show and Bowie, but, more particularly, Sam and Bowie - even Sam-in-my-fic, who isn't really the Sam of the show, and Bowie.

Maybe I should put a couple of Bowie albums on my Chrismas wish list. Though I was kinda hoping I'd be able to finish this fic before Christmas. ETA: <-- This is not a promise.

I want to share it so badly.