The Turtle Jourtle

Old and New Project: 2 by Taliesin, 2 by Slantedlight

tinturtle — Tue, 05 May 2026 06:41:44 GMT

Fandoms in this post: The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Professionals

Howdy, everyone. Here's another Old and New Project post.

The fics I had collected were:

The 'Fine and Private Place' Affair by Taliesin (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; 32,450 words; slash)
I've embarked on a reread of Taliesin's Revenant series, of which this is the first installment. This whole series is excellent. Thoughtful worldbuilding, vivid writing, true-to-character dialog. It's hard to say much else about it while remaining strictly spoiler-free. I highly recommend it, though.
Comments with (minor) spoilers:
In this series, Napoleon has died and returns as a ghost. The stories all relate Illya and Napoleon's encounters with other ghosts in the course of their work but are more humane than they are scary.

These Layers of Charnel Air by Slantedlight (byslantedlight) (The Professionals; 16,835 words; slash)
I reread this fic for the recent reading room discussion at ci5hq. Here is a version of what I wrote there, adapted for those who may not have read the story:

Probably my favorite thing about this fic is the way the story arises from canon differences between the Lads' characters. There are other attractions, too. The mystery of what is going on with Doyle is absorbing and well paced. The internal monologue of Bodie, the POV character, is compelling. The dialog is beautifully written, and the rest of the writing unusually elegant without being distracting.

Another thing I like is Slantedlight's use of setting details that I wouldn't know to include. An example I remember noting here is the specificity of the darts game that takes place in the story. The characters don't just play darts, they play Killer. During the game Bodie "[throws] deliberately for his own eighteen, landing perfectly on the treble." There is a similarly pleasing sprinkle of detail in many of Slantedlight's works.

The new fics I read were:

Finders Keepers by Taliesin (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; 22,396 words; slash)
I liked this fic fairly well. Most of the story is an entertaining adventure as Illya tries to meet up with Napoleon, who is being pursued through New York by Thrush. I found the transition to a more relationship-focused story at the end a bit abrupt, though, which somewhat detracted from the whole.

Doubt Thou by Slantedlight (The Professionals; 12,558 words; slash)
This is a good story, with a dramatic beginning and ending. There are also some well done moments between the Lads and an interesting depiction of the thoughts of someone in an altered mental state. I was slightly confused about how one scene related to the whole, but it was not a serious problem.

Also-reads: 0

This may be my last project post for a while. I'm thinking about doing a reread of the Astreiant series by Melissa Scott and Lisa A. Barnett. A new novel in that series came out last year, and I think it might be fun to revisit the others before I read it. I'd also like to do some Astreiant fan art, and I want to gather material for that. The Astreiant series is commercially published, but the main characters bear a definite resemblance to Bodie and Doyle from The Professionals—including in the old cover art, which I miss—and the series can be read as a Professionals AU by those so inclined. I think it holds a lot of appeal for non-Pros fans, too, though. The books are mystery/adventure stories set in a fantasy world with features of Europe in the late Renaissance. The society in the series is matriarchal, however, which is cool and unusual. The stories are non-explicit M/M.

Some old Astreiant cover art, click to embiggen:

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Old and New Project: 2 by Jane (of Australia)

tinturtle — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 08:45:56 GMT

Fandoms in this post: The Professionals

This post is different from others I've made recently. I'd been trying to include both Pros and MFU fics in every Old and New Project write-up, thinking that it would be more fun for readers. That approach is just not working for me, though. It leads to too much time between posts. Today's post includes only Pros fics (and only two of them). MFU fans can expect some MFU fics by Taliesin next time, though.

The fic I had collected was:

Nothing Left to Lose by Jane (of Australia) and Madelaine Ingram*, from a story by Kathy Keegan* (The Professionals; 33,648 words; slash)
(*Both Madelaine Ingram and Kathy Keegan were probably the same person as Jane.)
This is a post-apocalyptic AU in which an alternate Bodie and Doyle meet in a world struggling in the aftermath of a comet impact. I have a bit of a soft spot for post-apocalyptic stories, which is probably why I like this one. Certainly, there are some things about it that annoy me: most notably how prominently sex, much of it of some shade of nonconsensuality, figures in the worldbuilding. I'm just not sure what it's all there for. Overall, though, the worldbuilding is vivid, detailed, and hangs together, which covers a multitude of annoyances. The main story features well handled suspense and a lot of atmosphere. There is also good chemistry between our lead characters, and although they don't quite strike me as the Bodie and Doyle of canon (more on that in the spoiler section), they do resemble them, and the Waif!Doyle that I understand is common in Jane's stories is not in evidence here. On the whole, I am a fan.

Indeed, in a late-night moment of prodigality, I actually went and bought an ebook of the commercial novel based on this fic, which is available here complete with appalling CG cover art. I was curious how it would be different. If I read it, perhaps I will share my findings.

Comments with spoilers:
The other major annoyance of this story for me is that it's never made clear how the biker tribes can attack towns during storms so severe that no one else can even venture outside. There seems to be a logic issue there.

As for the characters, as the story progresses, readers learn that the Bodie and Doyle of the AU world are not meant to be our Bodie and Doyle at all but rather their descendants. It's a curious choice for what is ostensibly a B/D slash story, I think. While the Bodie and Doyle of the fic get together, the fact that they exist at all means that our Bodie and Doyle did not, instead marrying and having the children who were the parents of the characters in the fic.

Anyone planning to read the fic may want to check out this illustration by Suzan Lovett. Nothing Left to Loose was part of the zine Leather and Blue Jeans, in which every fic was inspired by that image. Much better than appalling CG.

The new fic I read was:

The Hunting, Book 1, Part 1 by Jane (The Professionals; 33,199 words; slash)
Well, this is The Hunting. The world is low tech and at least somewhat magical. Doyle is an elven warrior. Bodie is a human one. There is slash.

As a Pros fic, this story didn't work for me at all. The characters didn't strike me as identifiably Bodie and Doyle. There were also definite Waif!Doyle shenanigans happening. On the other hand, I didn't hate it. I was interested enough in the plot to finish it, and I quite liked the setting, which was vaguely pre-Medieval and reminded me of a podcast about Iron Age Britain that I had been listening to. I won't be reading any further parts, though.

Comments with spoilers:
I did find what we saw of the elven society a bit too utopian, but possibly that's complicated in later installments.

Also-reads: 0

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Old and New Project: 7 by Mab, 2 by RandomFlyer, 5 by JantoJones

tinturtle — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 07:26:51 GMT

Fandoms in this post: The Professionals, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Sentinel, Horatio Hornblower

It's been a long time since my last project post, but you see that I have not been idle. Also, I kept notes, thank goodness.

The fics I had collected were:

Cards on the Table by Mab (mab_browne) (The Sentinel; 26,762 words; slash)
This fic features Jim and Blair in Regency England. I have persistently failed to enjoy the historical AUs I've tried, but this is an exception. I believe it's the only historical AU in my collection. I'm not sure why it works for me when so many other popular fics don't. Maybe Jim and Blair seem to me to fit better into the past than Bodie and Doyle. (I think all the other historicals I've read have been in Pros fandom.) Or maybe the fact that The Sentinel is not one of my main fandoms plays a role. At any rate, I like this fic a lot. Mab clearly has some knowledge of the time period, and the story contains a satisfying amount of historical detail. Jim's sentinel abilities are also well integrated into the historical setting. I appreciate that Blair is still Jewish in this AU, as well. It adds a further dimension to the story, though it is not a major part of the plot.

(This fic has three sequels, but somehow I couldn't motivate myself to read them. Perhaps, much as I like Cards on the Table, it satisfied rather than whetted my limited appetite for historical AUs. I will keep the sequels in mind, though, and may get around to them in the future.)

Jim's Secret by RandomFlyer (The Sentinel; 63,629 words; gen)
This fic is an are-known Sentinel AU. AU dystopias in which guides are oppressed are their own substantial genre within Sentinel fanfic. This fic is in dialog with those, but here we see a society that is only beginning to tilt toward dystopia, and it is sentinels rather than guides who are being controlled. All this is very well done, especially the way the society seems to be in flux. I think that aspect would be difficult to write. (This is also a gen story, which most oppressed-guide dystopias are not.)

Scars by jantojones (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; 1,276 words; het)
I have very little het in my collection. For one thing, het sex tends to make me uncomfortable. (As opposed to slash sex, which usually—but not always—makes me bored.) I like this not-very-explicit het story, though. It's a fairly short account of a woman Illya has gone out with investigating his scars prior to going to bed with him. It's a nice snapshot of something that would be part of life for our heroes (especially Illya).

(For some reason JantoJones has never posted this story on AO3. I've always found that curious.)

Desparate Measures by JantoJones (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; 1,534 words; gen)
This fic is referenced in Scars, so I read it next. It tells the story of a mission on which Illya is partnered with a junior agent. I like this one a lot. It centers on a good character moment for Illya, and I enjoy the depictions of Napoleon and Mr. Waverly at the end, as well.

The new fics I read and enjoyed were:

I read six new fics by MabBrowne even though I had only read one from my collection. When I went hunting for new ones to accompany that, I found a lot to interest me.

*Duty First by Mab (The Professionals; 375 words; slash)
This is a delightful little slice-of-life fic that pictures Bodie and Doyle on an uncomfortable stakeout.

*Lights of London City by Mab (The Professional; 1,392 words; slash)
This is a coda for the episode Stake Out. It's terrific. The writing is beautiful and the emotion is pitched just right.

Hell of a Town by Mab (The Sentinel; 26,142 words; slash)
This fic takes place in an AU where magic has broken through into the mundane world. I enjoyed the fic overall. The setting had enough detail to come alive; it felt as if there were other stories taking place there in parallel to the one I was reading. I found the ways Jim and Blair fit into the setting appropriate, too, and there were some well crafted action scenes in the second half. I was dissatisfied with the ending, however.

Comments with spoilers:
To begin with, the ending was a bit dubcon-y. I don't mean Blair's unconsciousness, which I think the author addressed adequately. The whole idea that Jim and Blair have to become lovers or one of them is going die rubbed me the wrong way. Furthermore, I had been interested to know how they would work through the complications the story had set up for their relationship, and this resolution didn't really let them do that.

The Children of Cascade by Mab (The Sentinel; 50,020 words; slash)
This is an elaborate are-known sci-fi AU in which Jim and Blair are thrown together despite being from different planets. The story was engrossing, and I admired the worldbuilding very much. The two leads felt in-character, as well. If I have a complaint, it's that I wish it had been longer. I would have liked more information about what happened between the end of the main story and the epilogue. The short sequels gave some information, but I was still left wanting more. Still, there are worse things to feel about a story.

Home Truths by Mab (The Sentinel; 6,231 words; slash)
This is a short sequel to The Children of Cascade in which Blair has a visit with his mother. It was well done and interesting, giving another perspective on some of the events of the main story.

The Story of Jimi the Smith by Mab (The Sentinel; 4,043 words; slash)
This is another short sequel. This one was also interesting, giving a bit more detail about Cascade society and the characters' feelings about the events of The Children of Cascade.

A Good Man by RandomFlyer (Horatio Hornblower; 586 words; gen)
Jim's Secret is RandomFlyer's only Sentinel fic, and all of their other works are in fandoms I'm unfamiliar with, save one fairly long BBC Sherlock story. Not being a fan of BBC Sherlock, I opted to read a short Horatio Hornblower fic instead. It seemed fine, but it was very character-focused, and as I said, I am unfamiar with the fandom. (Age of Sail, British navy, Napoleonic Wars...um..)

*One Way to Make a Date by JantoJones (The Man from U.N.C.L.E; 1,097 words; het)
This is a charming sequel to Scars that tells the story of how Penny and Illya came to go out. I thought the dialog was notably good, and the story is fun.

(JantoJones hasn't put this one on AO3, either.)

Old Friends & Old Enemies by JantoJones (The Man from U.N.C.L.E; 2,598 words; gen)
This is a nice little mission fic focused on Illya and Mr. Waverly. I thought it did a good job capturing the feel of a canon adventure.

Befuddled and Bewildered by JantoJones (The Man from U.N.C.L.E; 1,486 words; gen)
This fic takes place after Napoleon has rescued a drugged Illya from Thrush. It has some nice moments between them.

And that's all. Phew.

Also reads: 1

* = newly collected

Slash Fiction Will Rot Your Brain

tinturtle — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 17:00:36 GMT

On the floor next to my desk, I have a large plastic canister decorated with a print of gingerbread houses and cookies. It was designed to hold festive food, but it lost its lid before I acquired it, and I use it as a wastebasket.

Today I was thinking about painting it to look less, well, tacky. That led me to really look at it. I don't know if I'd never looked at it closely before or if it had simply been a long time, but my first thought today was a new one: "Look, gay gingerbread men!"

Yes, my wastebasket is adorned with gay gingerbread men. Slash fiction will rot your brain, folks.

(There are plenty of other possibilities, of course. Butch-for-butch gingerbread lesbians. Gingerbread men with their gingerbread-gender nonconforming gingerbread girlfriends. Pairs of masc gingerbread enbies. Whatever. But to me, they were gay gingerbread men.)

Old and New Project: 4.5 by Elizabeth O'Shea, 1.5 by PFL, 2 by JantoJones, 4 by Waid

tinturtle — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 21:46:34 GMT

Fandoms in this post: The Professionals, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Sherlock Holmes

Howdy, fellow fans. I have a lot of write-ups to share today. I've also added quite a few of the new fics to my Beloved Collection. I've decided to introduce some notation for that, which you will see below. Sometimes I collect a fic after some reflection, though, rather than immediately, and my posts may not capture that.

The fics I had collected were:

Voice-Over by Elizabeth O'Shea (elizabethoshea) (The Professionals; 26,619 words; slash)
I'm cheating a little here. I read this story for the first time, and collected it, earlier in the month. Thus, it doesn't quite fit the role of "old" in "Old and New." It is in the Beloved Collection, though.

This fic takes the form of Doyle's monologue beside the bed of a comatose Bodie. It touches on various topics, but the bulk of it recalls a few days at the beginning of their relationship. The fic contains both a lot of strong emotion and a lot of humor, plus excellent characterizations, and it is a delight to read.

Burning Bridges by PFL (msmoat) (The Professionals; 4,626 words; slash)
I really love this one. I've read it many times. It starts with Bodie trapped by an explosion and continues from there. The first half is so beautifully written and affecting, and the second half has excellent dialog and character insight. Hooray!

Dead Man's Switch by jantojones (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; 776 words; gen)
This is a short mission snapshot. I really enjoy it. (Obviously, perhaps, since it's in my collection.) It provides a nice little taste of Illya's character, and it has a well crafted ending.

Winter in London by Waid (w_a_i_d) (Sherlock Holmes; 45,112 words; slash)
In this story, something terrible happens at the end of one of Holmes and Watson's cases, and they must navigate the fallout. This fic is just magnificent. The characters and their emotions are vivid, the dialog and first-person character voices are excellent, and the story makes good use of both its historical setting and the elements of the original stories that it incorporates. I felt transported to 1880s London, and in the latter part of the story, I kept forgetting which bits of what I was reading were canon and which weren't.

Like a Dream by Waid (Sherlock Holmes; 681 words; slash)
This story, too, is only sort-of-old. I had read it before but hadn't collected it. When I was looking through Waid's works for new reads, though, I remembered it fondly and decided that it should be in my collection after all. It's a silly little fic that finds Holmes and Watson in 1989 London. It makes me smile, and I like that which of them is enthusiastic about their new surroundings isn't the same throughout.

The new fics I read and enjoyed were:

*By Any Other Name by Elizabeth O'Shea (The Professionals; 1,177 words; slash)
This is a short fic, but it packs in a lot of good material, including some partner worry and bit of backstory for Doyle that I liked a lot.

Flowers in the Snow by Elizabeth O'Shea (The Professionals; 2,673 words; slash)
This is another short fic and also very nicely done. The interaction between Doyle and Bodie is very believable and well written.

The Wrong End of the Stick by Elizabeth O'Shea (The Professionals; 2,744 words; slash)
Elizabeth O'Shea apparently wrote this fic on the occasion of msmoat getting a black eye. It's an odd one. I found it difficult to like Bodie for most of it, but possibly that was the point. It does briefly address the Lads' (or at least Bodie's) attitude toward gender-nonconforming gay men. That isn't something one sees in very much Pros fic, possibly because it is hard to like characters expressing the attitude that's most plausible.

Divinest Sense by PFL and Elizabeth O'Shea (The Professionals; 1,681 words; slash)
The first part of this fic was written by PFL as a writing exercise, and Elizabeth O'Shea, dissatisfied with the ending, asked to continue it. I think both parts are well done, and they harmonize well. They also do a good job conveying the varying state of mind of Doyle, their point-of-view character.

*Prepared by JantoJones (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; 3,085 words; gen)
This is a short mission fic that begins with Illya in the field without Napoleon. The story has an admirable flow as we watch him adapt to changes in the situation. I thought some of the dialog was notably well done, too.

*Songs of Spring by Waid (Sherlock Holmes; 854 words; slash)
This is a delightful short piece in the form of a letter from Holmes to an absent Watson, written around the time of the canon case The Lion's Mane. The character voice is very good, and I love to have them together in retirement.

*The Old Campaigner by Waid (Sherlock Holmes; 3,075 words; gen and slash)
This is a canon-divergence AU. I won't say any more about it than that, but it's fantastic. The writing is quite perfect.

Also-reads: 0

* = newly collected

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Old and New Project: 3 by Cassie Ingaben, 3 by JantoJones, 2 by Culumacilinte

tinturtle — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 04:08:04 GMT

Fandoms in this post: The Professionals, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Lord of the Rings, Peter Pan

Well hello, everyone. It's been a while since I posted about fic. I've been reading but in a haphazard way, which doesn't lend itself to posts. I'm finally ready with a batch of write-ups from my Old and New Project, though. (For anyone who's forgotten, that's where I reread the fics in my Beloved Collection of favorites, accompanied by new-to-me fics by the same authors.)

For a while, I've been toying with the idea of only writing up the fics I like as part of this project. I think I'm going to do that, possibly making exceptions if a fic I didn't like still provoked interesting thoughts. I did read some fics by today's authors that I didn't care for or felt neutral toward. As I noted in the last Old and New Project post, that can happen even with authors who have also written favorites, which is a useful lesson.

The fics I had collected were:

4 AM by Cassie Ingaben (cassieingaben) (The Professionals; 259 words; slash)

This is a very short fic containing some reflections of Doyle's on his relationship with Bodie. It's sweet, but in a way appropriate to the Lads.

Sweetbounce by Cassie Ingaben (The Professionals x The Prisoner; 663 words; slash)

This one is a crossover between Pros and The Prisoner, but it can be understood with only a rudimentary knowledge of the latter show (such as I have). The author keeps this in her "Pretentious Pros(e)" collection, and parts of it are stylized. Yet I think the style works with the content rather than distracting from it, as is sometimes an issue. It's hard to say much more without giving away things readers might prefer to get from the story.

Comments with spoilers:
The author says in her end notes that Sweetbounce was partly inspired by Helen Raven's The Same River. I've been dancing around reading that one for years, but I keep getting driven off by the author's note. It reads, in part, "If you are in the mood to be harrowed, this could be your lucky day." To that, my response is always, "Uh, maybe later." On the other hand, I like some fairly grim stuff, like Tarot's Endgame, erushi's Decrescendo, and assorted deathfic, so chances are I could cope.

A Break and What Comes This Way by jantojones (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; 100 words each; gen)

These are two related drabbles. The second one contains what the author calls "a slight breaking of the fourth wall," and I find it really funny.

The Stonework Was Admirable by culumacilinte (The Lord of the Rings; 4,239 words; NB/M)

This is an excellent fic featuring genderfluid Eowyn. (Genderfluid Eowyn!) As a queer person who never much liked the ending Eowyn got, this fic makes me happy (without actually being incompatible with canon). It does contain some fairly explicit sex, which feels weird in a fic that mostly imitates Tolkien's style, but people in Middle Earth do have sex, of course.

The new fics I read and enjoyed were:

*The All-Conquering God by Cassie Ingaben (The Professionals; 1,343 words; slash)

This fic concerns Bodie and Doyle's interactions while held captive in a dire situation. I enjoyed this a lot and may be putting it into my collection. (Read the label, though, if you do that.)

Defection by JantoJones (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; 4,184 words; gen)

Here, Illya goes undercover in Thrush. I thought this was a diverting short mission fic.

*A Dream of Wind by Culumacilinte (Peter Pan; 2,531 words; gen, per the label)

This is definitely going in the collection. It's a brilliant extension of some of the ideas from the novel, told in a convincing imitation of Berrie's style. I love the way it characterizes Mr. Darling and its nod to the way stage adaptations of the story are often presented.

Also-reads: 3

(I've got more stories in my collection by Cassie Ingaben and JantoJones, but I've decided not to try to read everything by a particular author at the same time.)

* = newly collected (ETA)

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Lookback Fic Bingo: Highlights 1978-1985

tinturtle — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 14:20:11 GMT

During my Lookback Fic Bingo game, covering years 1978 to 1985, I read 20 fics. Of those, the three I would most recommend today are:

Dead Bluff by Linda S. Maclaren (Mackie) and Gina Martin (The Professionals; 22,900 words; gen)
Tiger by the Tail by Lillian Shepherd (The Professionals; 21,111 words; gen)
A Time of Certain Solace by Eileen Roy (The Man from U.N.C.L.E. x M*A*S*H; 4,992 words; gen)

All gen! 0_0

(Above: Nena performs music for the partial decade 1978-1985.)

Lookback Fic Bingo: 1979 and 1978

tinturtle — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 04:56:18 GMT

I found three longish Starsky & Hutch fics, one from 1979, one from 1978, and one for a 1977 bonus round. They look like good fics, but I'm just not in the mood to read that much in a fandom I have only some knowledge of. So I’m going to pass on them for now. As a result, I've now finished both of the former years and, with them, my game. Woo! (I may come back to those S&H fics in the future, though, if the whim strikes.)

It's 1979. Pink Floyd is on the radio. Here in the USA, the year's top film is Superman. New terms coined include: biophilia, buffalo plaid, chill out, email, entheogen, first world problem, hip-hop, ollie, outsource, and space elevator.

For 1979, I read two pieces: one Starsky & Hutch fic and one Man from U.N.C.L.E. x The Prisoner crossover.

The Starsky & Hutch fic was Play Dead for Me by Connie Faddis (who also wrote all three of the long fics I found). In this story, Hutch is attacked and must be taken to the hospital. This fic was fine. I didn't really connect with it, which I think was just that my interest in this fandom is not high at the moment. It was partly on the strength of that, that I decided to skip the three long fics, though I did read the beginnings of two of them. 2,049 words. Gen.

I also read A Hawk from a Handsaw by Eileen Roy, a Man from U.N.C.L.E. x The Prisoner crossover. At the start of this fic, Illya finds himself in The Village and things go on from there. I didn't really connect with this one, either, probably because I know only the premise and a few details of The Prisoner and have never seen it. I think being able to summon up the atmosphere of that show is important to appreciating this story. (I do like cassieingaben's Sweetbounce, a Pros x Prisoner crossover, but I believe that requires less grounding in the latter show.) 1,606 words. Gen.

I'll go with the S&H fic as my favorite for the year.

---

It's 1978. The Village People are on the radio. Here in the USA, the year's top film is Grease. New terms coined include: attention deficit disorder, bodice ripper, curly endive, de-stress, emotional intelligence, pad thai, permaculture, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, Stockholm syndrome, and whataboutism.

This far back, most works available are based on either Star Trek or Starsky & Hutch. Since neither of those, on its own, appeals at the moment, I ended up reading only one fic for 1978: a Sherlock Holmes x Star Trek crossover.

It was Two Old Friends by Eileen Roy, in which Watson discovers a secret Holmes has been concealing. This fic was intriguing, but a little short. I would have been interested to read more of what happened before and after. By default, this was my favorite fic for the year. 1,222 words. Gen.

(As an aside, the fact that I didn't really enjoy any of these fics might be due as much to my own current mental state as to the other reasons I've given. Sigh.)

Check out my own Professionals vid We Are the Champions, which uses a song that was a hit in 1978.

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Fics so far:

1985
*Dead Bluff by Linda S. Maclaren (Mackie) and Gina Martin (The Professionals; 22,900 words; gen)
Hyperion to a Satyr by Sebastian (The Professionals; 14,716 words; slash)
Dark Side of Eden by Sharon F (The Professionals; 705 words; slash)

1984
Black Sheep by HG (The Professionals; 11,397 words; slash)
Crying for the Moon by Fanny Adams (writing as Dargelos) (The Professionals x Starsky and Hutch; 8,227 words; slash)
Call It What You Like by Meg Lewtan (in Proslib) (The Professionals; 6,318 words; slash)

1983
Ars Gratia Artis by Oriole T (The Professionals; 5,080 words; slash)
*Tiger by the Tail by Lillian Shepherd (The Professionals; 21,111 words; gen)

1982
Again Blythe Spirit, or Gay Ghost by Mosby Singleton (The Professionals; 5,744 words; gen)
Solomon's Ring by Eileen Roy (Starsky & Hutch; 11,738 words; gen)

1981
Confessions of a Shutterbug by Jane (The Professionals; 32,105 words; slash)
Circle of Fire by Eileen Roy (Star Trek; 999 words; slash)
The Clone-Master by Eileen Roy (Star Wars; 833 words; gen)
Wish You Were Here by Sue Stuart (Starsky & Hutch; 7,491 words; gen)

1980
Brass in Pocket by Lainie Stone (in Proslib) (The Professionals; 17,892 words; slash)
The Adventure of the Missing Monolith by Eileen Roy (Sherlock Holmes x Star Trek; 10,292 words; gen)
*A Time of Certain Solace by Eileen Roy (The Man from U.N.C.L.E. x M*A*S*H; 4,992 words; gen)

1979
Play Dead for Me by Connie Faddis (Starsky & Hutch; 2,049 words; gen)
A Hawk from a Handsaw by Eileen Roy (The Man from U.N.C.L.E. x The Prisoner; 1,606 words; gen)

1978
Two Old Friends by Eileen Roy (Sherlock Holmes x Star Trek; 1,222 words; gen)

* = Particularly recommended
[ ] = read but not counted toward the year's story total

Lookback Fic Bingo: 1980

tinturtle — Sun, 14 Dec 2025 07:16:29 GMT

Okay. The past few days have been pretty bad mentally, and I've really been struggling to do these write-ups. Giving it another try.

It's 1980. Queen is on the radio. Here in the USA, the year's top film is The Empire Strikes Back. New terms coined include: differently abled, dis, ecotourism, electronica, high five, killing field, NIMBY, Usenet, voicemail, and yuppie.

For 1980, I read three fics: one Professionals fic, one Sherlock Holmes x Star Trek crossover, and one Man from U.N.C.L.E. x M*A*S*H crossover.

The Professionals fic was Brass in Pocket by Lainie Stone (available in Proslib). In this story, Doyle goes undercover to investigate drugs being supplied to a group of wealthy gay men. That plot was fairly straightforward; Doyle's emotional arc and the parallel plot concerning Bodie and Doyle's relationship were at least as important. I thought all three elements worked and meshed well, and I enjoyed the fic. There was also one scene I particularly admired and think I will find memorable. I was slightly confused about how the character of Charles ended up working with CI5, but that was a minor issue. 17,892 words. Bodie/Doyle slash.

The Adventure of the Missing Monolith by Eileen Roy is a Sherlock Holmes x Star Trek crossover in which Holmes investigates at the behest of Captain Kirk. I enjoyed the first part of this fic a lot. The Watsonian voice was good, there was good interplay between the characters, and the concept was interesting. The climax felt kind of hurried to me, though, so I enjoyed the latter part less. 10,292 words. Gen.

I also read A Time of Certain Solace, a Man from U.N.C.L.E. x M*A*S*H crossover also by Eileen Roy. In this fic, Illya encounters the M*A*S*H gang while on a mission to war torn Korea. The plot of this story was clever, and I thought the characterizations were good, too, though my knowledge of M*A*S*H is fairly slight and now many years old. I particularly liked the ending.

One thing that was a bit odd was a reference in Illya's thoughts to "work he'd done in World War II." David McCallum was 11 years old on VE Day, and it's usual practice in the fandom to give Illya the same birth date. When people don't do that, they almost always make Illya younger than his actor, as possibly the creators of the show intended him to be. Of course, in 1980 there may not have been such a thing as "usual practice in the fandom," but I still find the line a bit of a headscratcher. This was my favorite fic for the year anyway, though. 4,992 words. Gen. Particularly recommended.

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Fics so far:

1985
*Dead Bluff by Linda S. Maclaren (Mackie) and Gina Martin (The Professionals; 22,900 words; gen)
Hyperion to a Satyr by Sebastian (The Professionals; 14,716 words; slash)
Dark Side of Eden by Sharon F (The Professionals; 705 words; slash)

1984
Black Sheep by HG (The Professionals; 11,397 words; slash)
Crying for the Moon by Fanny Adams (writing as Dargelos) (The Professionals x Starsky and Hutch; 8,227 words; slash)
Call It What You Like by Meg Lewtan (in Proslib) (The Professionals; 6,318 words; slash)

1983
Ars Gratia Artis by Oriole T (The Professionals; 5,080 words; slash)
*Tiger by the Tail by Lillian Shepherd (The Professionals; 21,111 words; gen)

1982
Again Blythe Spirit, or Gay Ghost by Mosby Singleton (The Professionals; 5,744 words; gen)
Solomon's Ring by Eileen Roy (Starsky & Hutch; 11,738 words; gen)

1981
Confessions of a Shutterbug by Jane (The Professionals; 32,105 words; slash)
Circle of Fire by Eileen Roy (Star Trek; 999 words; slash)
The Clone-Master by Eileen Roy (Star Wars; 833 words; gen)
Wish You Were Here by Sue Stuart (Starsky & Hutch; 7,491 words; gen)

1980
Brass in Pocket by Lainie Stone (in Proslib) (The Professionals; 17,892 words; slash)
The Adventure of the Missing Monolith by Eileen Roy (Sherlock Holmes x Star Trek; 10,292 words; gen)
*A Time of Certain Solace by Eileen Roy (The Man from U.N.C.L.E. x M*A*S*H; 4,992 words; gen)

* = Particularly recommended
[ ] = read but not counted toward the year's story total

Lookback Fic Bingo: 1981

tinturtle — Thu, 04 Dec 2025 05:04:51 GMT

It's 1981. Journey is on the radio. (In a sign of the times, their "Don't Stop Believin'" is the first song I've featured that didn't have a music video.) Here in the USA, the year's top film is Raiders of the Lost Ark. New terms coined include: boom box, canola oil, gateway drug, graphical user interface, infomercial, phone card, snowboard, spellchecker, spreadsheet, and technobabble.

For 1981, I read four fics: one Professionals, one Star Trek, one Star Wars, and one Starsky & Hutch.

The Professionals fic was Confessions of a Shutterbug by Jane (of Australia). In this story, Bodie takes up photography. Yes, like that. It was a pretty fun read. I particularly liked the descriptions of the process of developing photographs. I don't know anything about that, but they seemed authentic. I suspect Jane either had expertise or did quite a bit of of research on the subject (which was not as easy in 1981). 32,105 words. Bodie/Doyle slash.

I had three other Professionals fics queued for this year. One of them I decided didn't interest me after all (due to dated rape tropes, as described on Fanlore), another I started but wasn't enjoying, and a third, Endgame by Tarot, I decided not to read because I aim to incorporate only new-to-me fics into this game, and I had read it before. (I recommend it, but check the warnings if you are into that.)

Accordingly, I went hunting for other fics from 1981 to read. AO3 has been slowly but steadily adding some older zine fics to the archive, so I found a small selection, if none in my favored fandoms. This game's rules call for me to read one to three fics from each year, but I ended up reading three zine fics on AO3, for a total of four 1981 fics. I also started and set aside several others.

The first fic I finished was Circle of Fire by Eileen Roy, a Star Trek story. This was the first K/S fic I'd ever read. I have only a shallow knowledge of this canon, and I've never even liked Kirk very much, so I was definitely not the intended audience of this story. Perhaps predictably, I didn't like it. I think that might have had more to do with the weird sex magic than anything else, though. 0_0. 999 words. Kirk/Spock slash.

Next I read the Star Wars fic The Clone-Master, also by Eileen Roy. It's told from the point of view of a clone who is part of the Empire's resource management systems. I liked this better. It was interesting and sometimes affecting. I found the writing a little arty for my taste, but there was nothing objectively wrong with it. As I write this, I think I've decided this was my favorite fic for the year. 833 words. Gen.

Finally, I read the Starsky & Hutch fic Wish You Were Here by Sue Stuart. This one follows Hutch as he investigates a series of crimes while Starsky is away on vacation. I enjoyed this fic overall, though I thought a few too many convenient leaps of logic paid off during the investigation. I did find the way the fic presented Hutch's relationship with his partner interesting. It was different from most fics I've read in this fandom. 7,491 words. Gen.

(One thing the fic had in common with some other S&H fics I've read is that it was explicitly set in Los Angeles, not the show's Bay City. It seems to be fairly common in this fandom to dispense with the pseudonym. It occurred to me that I haven't seen the same thing in the Sentinel fics I've read. That show's Cascade is a stand-in for Seattle, but Sentinel fic authors don't seem to substitute the real city for the fictional one in their work.)

If you enjoyed this post, please push the heart button!

Fics so far:

1985
*Dead Bluff by Linda S. Maclaren (Mackie) and Gina Martin (The Professionals; 22,900 words; gen)
Hyperion to a Satyr by Sebastian (The Professionals; 14,716 words; slash)
Dark Side of Eden by Sharon F (The Professionals; 705 words; slash)

1984
Black Sheep by HG (The Professionals; 11,397 words; slash)
Crying for the Moon by Fanny Adams (writing as Dargelos) (The Professionals x Starsky and Hutch; 8,227 words; slash)
Call It What You Like by Meg Lewtan (in Proslib) (The Professionals; 6,318 words; slash)

1983
Ars Gratia Artis by Oriole T (The Professionals; 5,080 words; slash)
*Tiger by the Tail by Lillian Shepherd (The Professionals; 21,111 words; gen)

1982
Again Blythe Spirit, or Gay Ghost by Mosby Singleton (The Professionals; 5,744 words; gen)
Solomon's Ring by Eileen Roy (Starsky & Hutch; 11,738 words; gen)

1981
Confessions of a Shutterbug by Jane (The Professionals; 32,105 words; slash)
Circle of Fire by Eileen Roy (Star Trek; 999 words; slash)
The Clone-Master by Eileen Roy (Star Wars; 833 words; gen)
Wish You Were Here by Sue Stuart (Starsky & Hutch; 7,491 words; gen)

* = Particularly recommended
[ ] = read but not counted toward the year's story total

Lookback Fic Bingo: 1982

tinturtle — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 11:55:55 GMT

Well, things have been seriously thingish, but here it is at last: your regularly scheduled program.

It's 1982. Survivor is on the radio. Here in the USA, the year's top film is E.T. the Extra Terrestrial. New terms coined include: AIDS, barista, breakdancing, cyberspace, gaydar, metalhead, microbrewery, rust belt, snail mail, and Valley girl.

For 1982, I read two fics: one Professionals and one Starsky & Hutch.

The Professionals fic was Again Blythe Spirit, or Gay Ghost by Mosby Singleton. Despite the possibilities of the title, this is a gen story. It's also that unusual but not unheard of thing, a silly death fic. In this case, Bodie has died and returns as a ghost. I enjoyed this story. I don't think I ever laughed out loud, but it was still amusing and fun to read. It was my favorite for the year. 5,744 words. Gen.

I also read the Starsky & Hutch fic Solomon's Ring by Eileen Roy. This story comes from a zine called Strange Justice, that was made up entirely of S&H fics with a fantasy element. Solomon's Ring isn't an AU, as several of the stories in the zine seem to have been; the fantastical thread runs alongside the sort of police business that Starsky and Hutch tackle in canon. I thought that was effective and that the fantasy was original and interesting. The structure of the story was also interesting. It doesn't focus on one case but rather follows the guys as they pursue several overlapping and unrelated cases, all of which have equal narrative weight. This is more similar to what their lives would actually be like than is the one-case story structure usual in both canon episodes and fics. It was refreshing but also a bit unsatisfying. I'm not sure whether I liked it or not. 11,738 words. Gen.

(The classic Professionals fic Rediscovered in a Graveyard by HG and two related works were also published in 1982, but for whatever reason, I just didn't feel like reading them right now. Another time.)

Check out the Professionals vids Eye of the Tiger by Mary Van Deusen (maidavids), which uses the song of the year for 1982, and Tainted Love by jaicen5, which uses another hit song from that year.

(Also, I forgot to append two vid recs to my 1984 post. If you go there now, you will find them.)

If you enjoyed this post, please push the heart button!

Fics so far:

1985
*Dead Bluff by Linda S. Maclaren (Mackie) and Gina Martin (The Professionals; 22,900 words; gen)
Hyperion to a Satyr by Sebastian (The Professionals; 14,716 words; slash)
Dark Side of Eden by Sharon F (The Professionals; 705 words; slash)

1984
Black Sheep by HG (The Professionals; 11,397 words; slash)
Crying for the Moon by Fanny Adams (writing as Dargelos) (The Professionals x Starsky and Hutch; 8,227 words; slash)
Call It What You Like by Meg Lewtan (in Proslib) (The Professionals; 6,318 words; slash)

1983
Ars Gratia Artis by Oriole T (The Professionals; 5,080 words; slash)
*Tiger by the Tail by Lillian Shepherd (The Professionals; 21,111 words; gen)

1982
Again Blythe Spirit, or Gay Ghost by Mosby Singleton (The Professionals; 5,744 words; gen)
Solomon's Ring by Eileen Roy (Starsky & Hutch; 11,738 words; gen)

* = Particularly recommended
[ ] = read but not counted toward the year's story total

A New Art Technique

tinturtle — Tue, 04 Nov 2025 08:23:53 GMT

I'm excited about the new art technique I've come up with. I used it today to make the MFU fan art below.

For this technique, I made a rough photo manipulation, then traced it using a digital pen and tablet. Next, I deleted the manip, leaving only the tracings. Finally, I applied some virtual ink washes, also with the digital pen. (I added a couple of fictions not in the manip, too, notably Illya's right sleeve.)

This technique has two main advantages. First, it allows me to create finished images from photo manipulations without the endless color adjustment and attempts to match the noise and blur of different components. Besides being time consuming, those things tend to be hit-and-miss in their success. Second, it allows me to create something with a human touch despite my limited drawing skills. (I can draw a bit, but not well enough to create likenesses of the characters.)

It's also an interesting process. There is some artistry in choosing which lines to trace and how, what ink washes to use, etc. Not to mention the already creative process of making the kind of many-layer manips I have often produced.

I'm looking forward to exploring the applications of this technique.

Things I Like: Deteriorata

tinturtle — Thu, 30 Oct 2025 07:27:54 GMT

Poking around today, I found that quite a few more VCR-era Professionals vids are hosted on the Internet Archive now than last time I looked. One of them is Deteriorata by DJ Driscoll. This vid is set to a musical parody of the poem Desiderata. That's the one Doyle displays in his flat in the episode Discovered in a Graveyard. This vid is funny and has a great interplay between the music and the clips.

A New Idea: The Little Rewatch

tinturtle — Thu, 23 Oct 2025 05:28:43 GMT

I had a really good time writing my longish Professionals fic The Wind and the Rain. Pretty much the only parts of the process I didn't like were the parts where I wasn't feeling well enough to work on it. Now I want to write more fanfic. In particular, I'd like to write another Man from U.N.C.L.E. fic. (I posted a short one in 2021.) To do that, though, I need to refamiliarize myself with the show; it's been a long time since I watched it regularly.

That need gave me the idea to do a rewatch of the entire Man from U.N.C.L.E.. All 105 episodes feels like a lot to work through, though, if my main goal is to get to a point where I can write some fic. Also, I don't think it's controversial to say that some MFU episodes just aren't very good. Thus, I'm thinking of restricting myself to the list that I generated some time ago by asking other fans to name their favorite few episodes. (The list was part of my eventually abandoned project to run a regular social MFU watch.) I ended up with 51 episodes, which appear below in filming order.

Season One - 14 episodes
The Shark Affair
The Quadripartite Affair
The Giuoco Piano Affair
The Dove Affair
The Project Strigas Affair
The Terbuf Affair
The Fiddlesticks Affair
The Mad Mad Tea Party Affair
The Bow Wow Affair
The See Paris and Die Affair
The Hong Kong Shilling Affair
The Never Never Affair
The Girls of Nazarone Affair
The Gazebo in the Maze Affair

Season Two - 13 episodes
The Ultimate Computer Affair
The Recollectors Affair
The Foxes and Hounds Affair
The Tigers Are Coming Affair
The Arabian Affair
The Cherry Blossom Affair
The Children's Day Affair
The Adriatic Express Affair
The Deadly Goddess Affair
The Foreign Legion Affair
The King of Diamonds Affair
The Project Deephole Affair
The Bat Cave Affair

Season Three - 13 episodes
The Monks of St. Thomas Affair
The Galatea Affair
The Her Master's Voice Affair
The Pop Art Affair
The Thor Affair
The Concrete Overcoat Affair, Part I
The Concrete Overcoat Affair, Part II
The Come With Me to the Casbah Affair
The Off-Broadway Affair
The Take Me to Your Leader Affair
The Suburbia Affair
The Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum Affair
The When in Roma Affair

Season Four - 11 episodes
The Deadly Quest Affair
The Test-Tube Killers Affair
The Thrush Roulette Affair
The Master's Touch Affair
The Summit Five Affair
The Maze Affair
The Prince of Darkness Affair, Part I
The Prince of Darkness Affair, Part II
The Fiery Angel Affair
The Survival School Affair
The Gurnius Affair

(I'm a bit surprised by what a high percentage of the episodes in Season 4 ended up being mentioned, since I've heard many fans say they don't like that season.)

At this point, I started feeling sad that I would be watching so much MFU and no Professionals. The number of Pros episodes is also in the 50s, so I could have chosen a few more MFU episodes and maybe weeded out a few from Pros—*cough* Blackout *cough*—then alternated them. MFU is still the show I'm trying to bone up on, though, so I decided maybe I'd do a similar highlights tour of Pros. I was able to find a list I'd made a long time ago after asking LJ Pros fans for their favorite episodes. It contained 22 entries, and appears below, again in filming order.

Production Run 1
Killer with a Long Arm
Heroes
Everest Was Also Conquered
Stake Out

Production Run 2
Rogue
Hunter/Hunted
First Night
The Rack
Man Without a Past
In the Public Interest
Blind Run

Production Run 3
Runner
Mixed Doubles
The Purging of CI5
Fugitive
The Acorn Syndrome
Slush Fund
Involvement

Production Run 4
Kickback
Discovered in a Graveyard
The Ojuka Situation
No Stone

Then it occurred to me that if I chose one more MFU episode and three more Pros ones, I could watch two MFU followed by one Pros twenty-five times, then two more MFU at the end. Accordingly, I picked the following supplements:

MFU
Season 1 - The Secret Sceptre Affair

Pros
Production Run 2 - Backtrack
Production Run 3 - Need to Know
Production Run 4 - The Untouchables

And there you are: a detailed plan for what, if I proceed with it, I'm going to call The Little Rewatch (in contrast to a Great Rewatch). I'm not going to set any kind of timetable for this, since consistency is very much not my strong suit. (That's what happened to the social MFU watch, sadly.) As I go along, though, I will probably post some informal thoughts on what I watch. I'm not sure yet whether they should be in my journal or in the appropriate fandom comms.

Let me know what you think. I know I've got a bit of a tendency to try to organize everything, but it's been making me happy in the case of my fanfic reading games, so this seems worth a try. This post itself has cheered me up on a bad night.

Big Bang Fic Away!

tinturtle — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 19:11:12 GMT

Hello, everyone. My journal has been very quiet, hasn't it?

Over the past few months, I've been putting a lot of my fannish energy into writing The Wind and the Rain, the 13,000-word story that is my contribution to this year's Professionals Big Bang. I've been reading a little bit of fic, too, but not in the organized way that lends itself to write-ups.

Last night, I finally posted The Wind and the Rain. I'm elated. I'd been working on it since March, and it's the longest fic I've ever written by a factor of ten. Indeed, I think it's the longest piece of any kind I've ever written, including everything I wrote in college.

As I bask in the glow of my finished fic, I'm also looking forward to having more time for reading again. For the rest of the month, that time will be dedicated mostly to reading the other Pros Big Bang fics, but after that, expect a return to your regularly scheduled program. At least until I have a new idea for a story. :)

The Lads Through Time: My Bistocon Recs

tinturtle — Sun, 10 Aug 2025 23:43:01 GMT

This Friday and Saturday I attended another virtual Bistocon. There were panels, games, vid shows, and episode watches followed by discussion. A good time was had by all.

I led the rec panel this year, choosing the theme "the Lads through time" and asking participants to share recs in a number of time-related categories. When I prepared my own recs before the con, I allowed myself to choose up to five per category, so that I would have back-ups in case someone else recced one or more of the stories I had chosen. You can find my selections below. Some I brought up during the panel and others not. (All fics are slash unless otherwise noted.)

Backstory fics
I like backstory fics, so when I went through my collection, I found quite a few. Interestingly, almost all of them provided backstory for Bodie only. I had just one that included Doyle, and it was a fic focused on both of them. I suppose Bodie's backstory is more mysterious, so it attracts more speculation.

A Mercenary's Tale by Fictionwriter
This is an excellent and very plausible fic focusing on Bodie's time in Africa.

Sighting by halotolerant
In this fic, Bodie and Doyle visit Liverpool, and Bodie remembers aspects of his life there.

The Discoverd in a Congo Prison Affair by jj_minerva
This is a crossover with The Man from U.N.C.L.E., which endears it to me, since MFU is my other main fandom. I really like the way the author has blended the shows' two universes.

Four Times Bodie Stayed in Bed and One Time He Didn't by Callisto
This is an episodic fic that is only about half backstory. I really enjoy what backstory there is, though, particularly the part concerning child Bodie.

Firsts by PR Zed (przed)
This is the fic that focuses on both Bodie and Doyle. It chronicles various firsts in their lives.

Fics set during the eps
I was surprised how few fics of this type I had in my collection. Either the vast majority of fics are not episode-related or I strongly prefer those that are not. I did find a couple, though.

Fruit of the Spirit by Cherilyn
This is a long fic that follows Bodie and Doyle's changing relationship, starting at their first meeting. It draws in events from many of the episodes.

True by JoJo
This fic takes place in the aftermath of No Stone. Bodie, Doyle, and June Cook are point-of-view characters, and I think excellent use is made of each of them.

Older Lads fics
I don't have a whole lot of Older Lads fics in my collection, so I only found four recs for this category. They are diverse in tone and subject, though.

Just When You Least Expect It (Just What You Least Expect) by Stew
This fic features only slightly older Lads. It is set around the time they leave the field. I have recced this fic before, several times. I just love it. It always makes me happy.

Ray Doyle’s Cottage Garden Diary by boothros
In this fic, a significantly older Doyle contemplates the flowers in his garden and remembers the past. It's a very fine piece of writing.

The Best by fajrdrako
In this powerful fic, an older Bodie has become controller of CI5.

The Greatest Song I've Ever Heard by jj_minerva
This is a fic in which an older Bodie must deliver some news to Doyle after they have both left CI5 and been separated for many years. I don't usually like long separations in fic, but I enjoyed this one. It has a sequel that is also good, if less memorable.

Time-travel fics
I love a good time-travel fic. I might even love a bad time-travel fic. It seems there are not a lot of fics of this type in the Pros corpus, though, since other people didn't have many recs to offer, and I only found four instances in my collection.

Groundhog Doyle by Irene (Proslib)
This is a time-loop fic in which Doyle lives the same day repeatedly. If you like that trope, you will like it.

Not Time's Fool by jat_sapphire
This fic applies another time-travel trope: characters living life out of sequence. This was my first exposure to the trope, and it is still my favorite. It's beautifully done.

Simple Twist of Fate by Sarah K (tears_of_nienna)
This is a crossover between Pros and the TV show FlashForward, in which everyone in the world has simultaneous visions of the same point in the future. This fic is a little odd in that it is set in the then-present (around 2010), so the Lads use cell phones and things. If you can get over that, though, it's really interesting to see the growth of the Lads' relationship under these unusual circumstances.

And Its Business Is Joy by Elise_Madrid (gilda_elise)
This one is a crossover between Pros and Star Trek: TOS. It's different from the other time-travel recs in that it isn't the Lads who travel in time, but rather the crew of the Enterprise. This fic as both humor and emotion and blends the two universes well.

Historical AUs
I have nothing against historical AUs, but for some reason, they just don't seem to float my boat. I keep reading them and either not liking them or, at best, feeling indifferent. I don't have any in my collection.

(Feel free to recommend me more, if you like. I think something on the adventure story end of the spectrum, rather than the historical romance end, would probably be most likely to appeal.)

Futuristic AUs
On the other hand, I have a definite thing for sci-fi AUs, including those set in the future. There are a lot of them in my collection, and it was hard to limit myself to five.

Suitable Gravity by DVS
I didn't like this fic when I first read it, soon after joining the fandom. I've decided that I was just in a bad mood during that time, though, because this is not the only fic that I didn't like then but loved on rereading. (Another was Professional Dreamer. Who doesn't like Professional Dreamer?) Anyway, this is a futuristic adventure that has the best world building I have ever encountered in a fanfic.

Of Angels and Angles by Sarah K
It's not explicit in this fic that it is set in our future, but it features FTL space travel, so I think it counts as futuristic. It's also one of relatively few AUs I like in which CI5 does not exist in some form. In this story Bodie and Doyle are just two interplanetary travelers who happen to meet.

A Future to This Life by Verlaine (loyseofverlaine)
This fic does include CI5, with "CI" in this case standing for "Cyborg Institute." Both Doyle and Bodie are cyborgs. Science fiction ensues.

Dirty Computer series by jat_sapphire
This is a series of very short futuristic fics that nevertheless packs a lot of worldbuilding punch.

Witchery by Verlaine
This is a near-future fic that finds various characters from the series living in a UK transformed by climate change. It comes closer to being a cautionary tale than any of the other future fics in my list.

Alternate History AUs
I happen to be writing an alternate history for this year's Big Bang. There aren't a lot of other fics in Pros that really fit that description, but I did think of a few.

Cowley's Irregulars by Gil Hale
This is a classic alternate history featuring a point of divergence where a well known event had one outcome instead of another. I wish there were a little more show vs. tell, but it's still a very enjoyable fic. This fic is gen.

Heat by Lainie Stone (Proslib)
This is one of my very favorite fics. I didn't initially think of it when choosing fics for the alternate history category, but I think that is the best description of what it is. Another fan brought it up during the panel as a futuristic fic, but it takes place in the same era as canon, just in a world where international events have recently taken a different turn.

Into the Light of a Dark Black Night by lomelinde
Having added Heat to my list as an alternate history, I decided to add this fic as well. It has some similarities to Heat, and while it isn't based on events we know taking a different turn, I think it is still best described as an alternate history. I really like it.

Reincarnation
I came up with this category the night before the panel as something to toss out at the end if time permitted. I only knew of one Pros fic that fit it. I don't currently remember other people coming up with any others, except for a couple where the story of Bodie and Doyle clones living in the past is juxtaposed with one that follows our Lads in the present. As in Rediscovered in a Graveyard by HG.

Time-Crossed Lovers by Jane Carnall and Ann Johnson
This is that one reincarnation fic I am aware of. It's quite short, and I think it is well done.

Old and New Project: 3 by Alex51324, 2 by mistyzeo

tinturtle — Sun, 13 Jul 2025 00:46:59 GMT

Fandoms in this post: The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Man from U.N.C.L.E. movie, Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century, His Dark Materials

Bleh. Things have been very thingish lately. I feel a bit lost trying to write up the fics I've read over the past six plus weeks. Yet I want to get it done. I've decided that I am just going to offer some brief notes so that I can move on.

The fics I had collected were:

Waging World Peace by Alex51324 (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; 32,445 words; slash)
I have read this fic multiple times. I even read it to my mother on a road trip as an example of good fan fiction. After this latest reading, it remains one of my very favorite fics in any fandom.

I Blame You by Alex51324 (The Man from U.N.C.L.E. x The Man from U.N.C.L.E. movie; 535 words; slash)
This is a short, silly fic in which the Illya and Napoleon of the MFU TV show, who in the fic are real people, exit the theater after seeing the MFU movie, a fictional story loosely based on their lives. It's very fun.

Internal System Reboot by mistyzeo (Sherlock Holmes x Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century; 6,316 words; slash)
I collected this fic in February after reading it for the 2016 round of Lifetime Fic Bingo. It is the story of Holmes's interactions with the robot facsimile of Watson that he meets when he is resurrected in the future. I found it fascinating on my first read and also on my second.

The new fics I read were:

*Ciphers by Alex51324 (The Man from U.N.C.L.E. movie; 5,770 words; gen)
This is a story of the MFU movie team getting to know each other and finding common ground. It's very well done.

The Vast Profundity Obscure by mistyzeo (Sherlock Holmes x His Dark Materials; 20,613 words; slash)
This is a Sherlock Holmes dæmon fic that makes inventive use of some of the ideas from Philip Pullman's series. I enjoyed it a lot.

During this step of the Old and New Project, I abandoned one fic by each of the authors whose work I was delving into, because I was not enjoying it. That has not happened before during this project, but it is a useful reminder not to give up on an author just because you don't like one of their fics. Alex51324 wrote both a fic I didn't want to finish reading and one of my all-time favorites.

* = newly collected (ETA)

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Lookback Fic Bingo: 1983

tinturtle — Fri, 30 May 2025 04:37:16 GMT

It's 1983. Michael Jackson is on the radio again. Here in the USA, the year's top film is Return of the Jedi. New terms coined include: 12-step, AIDS virus, beta test, breakdance, cell phone, cyberpunk, designer drug, empowered, gender nonconforming, green screen, information superhighway, liposuction, mosh, and nuclear winter.

For 1983, I read two Professionals fics. I had a couple more selected, but one of them turned out just not to be my thing, and the other persistently annoyed me until I gave up on it.

The first of th Professionals fics I did finish was Ars Gratia Artis by Oriole T. This fic is one of a type: a fairly short piece that puts the Lads in a novel situation in order to set up a sex scene. It was fine. The situation was amusing, and while the sex didn't interest me particularly, regular readers will know that that probably wasn't the fault of the writing. 5,080 words. Bodie/Doyle slash.

The second Professionals fic I finished, Tiger by the Tail by Lillian Shepherd, was more up my alley. It was a well constructed gen casefic with a lot of suspense and a vivid setting. It also had some good moments between the Lads toward the end. Their bond came through. On the downside, there were two OC children who figured prominently in the story. I didn't find them that annoying as characters, but I did get tired of their phonetically rendered dialect, which didn't play nicely with my TTS. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this fic very much. It was my favorite for the year. 21,111 words. Gen. Particularly recommended.

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Fics so far:

1985
*Dead Bluff by Linda S. Maclaren (Mackie) and Gina Martin (The Professionals; 22,900 words; gen)
Hyperion to a Satyr by Sebastian (The Professionals; 14,716 words; slash)
Dark Side of Eden by Sharon F (The Professionals; 705 words; slash)

1984
Black Sheep by HG (The Professionals; 11,397 words; slash)
Crying for the Moon by Fanny Adams (writing as Dargelos) (The Professionals x Starsky and Hutch; 8,227 words; slash)
Call It What You Like by Meg Lewtan (in Proslib) (The Professionals; 6,318 words; slash)

1983
Ars Gratia Artis by Oriole T (The Professionals; 5,080 words; slash)
*Tiger by the Tail by Lillian Shepherd (The Professionals; 21,111 words; gen)

* = Particularly recommended
[ ] = read but not counted toward the year's story total

Old and New Project: 3 by Kaneko

tinturtle — Tue, 13 May 2025 04:23:20 GMT

Fandoms in this post: The Breakfast Club

After rereading what_alchemy's Breakfast Club fic during the previous step of my project, I had a hankering to read The Supper Club by Kaneko, the other Breakfast Club story in my Beloved Collection. Later, I found that The Breakfast Club is the only fandom Kaneko has written for that I have much knowledge of, so I ended up reading two more of their Breakfast Club works, as well.

In order not to bore my readers, I had intended to make sure that each of my future Old and New Project posts had at least a couple Professionals or Man from U.N.C.L.E. fics. I have not been feeling well, though, and I lack the concentration for much reading. So that I don't forget the details of these fics before I can read any to accompany them, I'm writing these up now on their own. Sorry if it's not interesting, Pros and MFU fans.

The fic I had collected was:

The Supper Club (The Breakfast Club; 3,837 words; slash)
This is a Bender/Andy fic. Although the pairing is different from that of Inked by what_alchemy, the story is similar in other ways. Bender and Andy meet again as adults, as did Bender and Brian in Inked, and like Brian in Inked, in this story, Andy has failed to live up to the expectations placed on him as a teenager. Probably that is what spoke to me about it originally. I also think the characterizations are good, especially Bender's. He has matured but not unrecognizably. I continued to enjoy this fic a lot.

The new fics I read were:

*Most Likely To (The Breakfast Club; 8,076 words; slash)
This is another Bender/Brian story and another one in which the characters meet again as adults. In this case, Brian must move back to their hometown of Shermer after some professional setbacks. It's charming, with less sadness woven into it than Inked or The Supper Club. I enjoyed it a lot. I may even collect it, which will mean I'll have to make a dedicated Breakfast Club folder in my collection. I'm not sure I can handle that.

*Fifteen Detentions (The Breakfast Club; 8,587 words; slash)
This is a Bender/Brian story, as well, but different than the other three Breakfast Club fics I have written about in that it takes place while the characters are still in high school. It is also told from Bender's point of view, where the other three were all from the point of view of Brian or Andy. I wasn't quite sure about the pairing here, and I think the fic would have been at least as good as gen. The glimpse into Bender's mind was impressively well done, however; the fic is worth reading just for that. The premise is interesting, too.

* = newly collected (ETA)

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Lookback Fic Bingo: 1984

tinturtle — Thu, 01 May 2025 04:30:37 GMT

It's 1984. Michael Jackson is on the radio. Here in the USA, the year's top film is Beverly Hills Cop. New terms coined include: bi-curious, death metal, desktop publishing, genetically modified organism, glass ceiling, moonwalk, plug and play, power walk, spin doctor, and wack.

For 1984, I read two Professionals fics and one Professionals x Starsky and Hutch crossover.

First was the Pros fic Black Sheep by HG. This fic is set after the episode It's Only a Beautiful Picture, beginning just after Bodie has been taken away in handcuffs. It's an odd fic, with a structure not really typical of either an episode tag or a stand-alone story. It grew on me, though, and ended up being enjoyable and rather sweet. It was my favorite fic for the year. 11,397 words. Bodie/Doyle slash.

Next I read Crying for the Moon by Fanny Adams (writing as Dargelos). This is a crossover in which Bodie and Doyle travel to America in pursuit of a British criminal and work with a post-canon Starsky and Hutch. This fic was okay. Its basic concept of comparing the two relationships was interesting. The fic itself was very talky, though, consisting mostly of conversations between various pairings of the characters, interspersed with internal monologues. I thought the result dragged a bit. 8,227 words. Bodie/Doyle and Starsky/Hutch slash.

Finally, I read Call It What You Like by Meg Lewtan, a Professionals fic that can be found in Proslib. This is a Bodie/Doyle and Bodie/Murphy fic in which Bodie tries to make Doyle appreciate him by spending time with Murphy. This goes about as well as you might expect. A number of people quoted on Fanlore enjoyed this story, but I did not like it at all. I felt that every one of the characters was behaving badly, but in a way that was more irritating than interesting. I also thought some of the dialog was highly questionable. (Murphy, totally unironically, calls Bodie a "poor little sod." Um...) There was a long and talky sex scene. And, finally, I was annoyed by the ending. 6,318 words. Bodie/Doyle and Bodie/Murphy slash.
Comments with spoilers:
The ending has Bodie choosing between his relationship with Doyle and his relationship with Murphy, but leaves which he chooses to the reader's imagination. I have very limited patience with ambiguous endings. I can't say I never like them, but I dislike them more often than not, and I disliked this one.

Also, I think Murphy is meant to be sympathetic in this story, but I found him off-puttingly underhanded. The way he got Bodie to spend time with him and then have sex with him by misrepresenting both his feelings toward Bodie and his sexual history was difficult to see past.

Check out the Professionals vids The Warrior by AncastaR and Cover Me by Tin Turtle (me!), both of which use hit songs from 1984.

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Fics so far:

1985
*Dead Bluff by Linda S. Maclaren (Mackie) and Gina Martin (The Professionals; 22,900 words; gen)
Hyperion to a Satyr by Sebastian (The Professionals; 14,716 words; slash)
Dark Side of Eden by Sharon F (The Professionals; 705 words; slash)

1984
Black Sheep by HG (The Professionals; 11,397 words; slash)
Crying for the Moon by Fanny Adams (writing as Dargelos) (The Professionals x Starsky and Hutch; 8,227 words; slash)
Call It What You Like by Meg Lewtan (in Proslib) (The Professionals; 6,318 words; slash)

* = Particularly recommended
[ ] = read but not counted toward the year's story total

Old and New Project: 6 by what_alchemy

tinturtle — Sun, 27 Apr 2025 04:10:37 GMT

Fandoms in this post: Sherlock Holmes, Harry Potter, Captain America (movies), Velvet Goldmine, The Breakfast Club

For this step of my project, I read the two fics by what_alchemy that I had previously collected into my Beloved Collection, followed by four of the author's other works.

The fics I had collected were:

Blame the Trees (Sherlock Holmes; 8,287 words; slash)
Sherlock Holmes was the first fandom in which I read a significant amount of fanfic, and this story was one of my earliest favorites. It is also one of several fics that helped me reevaluate the conflict between my sexuality and my religion. I'm not sure what I find so moving about it. The outline of the story is not an unusual one, and while the dialog is excellent, that is hardly unique. Whatever it is, though, it still has it. I enjoyed it very much.

Inked (The Breakfast Club; 4,561 words; slash)
I have no particular attachment to The Breakfast Club. I probably read this originally simply because what_alchemy wrote it. I might also have been intrigued by the pairing, John Bender/Brian Johnson. It doesn't sound as if it would work, but it does in this fic. I think what particularly speaks to me about this story is its depiction of Brian as an overachiever who fails to live up to expectations. That's an experience I am familiar with, though my reasons were different than his.

The new fics I read were:

Cameo (Sherlock Holmes; 8,323 words; slash)
This fic isn't quite new to me, as I think I did read it years ago. It was fun to revisit, though. It's a soulmate marks AU. I know some people think that trope is hopelessly adolescent, but I have enjoyed quite a few fics that use it. This one is an interesting casefic set in a world with soulmate identifying marks. It doesn't have any Holmesian deductions, but did have some interesting world building that examined how Victorian attitudes might interact with the existence of such marks.

*Negative Space (Harry Potter; 1,685 words; other)
In this fic, Petunia Dursley and Severus Snape (who is alive for reasons not explained) meet after the Second War Against Voldemort. They discuss the past, especially Petunia's relationship to Lily. It is an odd and inconclusive fic, but very well written.

*Raised by Wolves (Velvet Goldmine; 9,686 words; slash)
I actually went and rewatched Velvet Goldmine, which I had seen twice before, in preparation for reading this fic. I found the movie as mesmerizing as in the past. I loved the music. This fic takes place after the end of the movie's 1980s timeline. Arthur and Curt Wild have become a couple and are living together in New York. I liked this story a lot. The relationship between the two was very sweet, but there were enough of Curt's struggles woven in to keep the fic from being pure fluff. As in Inked, what_alchemy writes very compellingly about addiction.

It's an Adequate Life, Bucky Barnes (Captain America (movies); 10,260 words; slash)
I grew bored of the MCU quite a number of years ago, but I did enjoy Captain America: The First Avenger and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, so I read the odd fic based on those. This one is an It's a Wonderful Life rewrite featuring Bucky Barnes. It was good, and had a somewhat unusual twist on the concept.
Comments with spoilers:
In particular, the angel of the fic basically told Bucky that because he had suffered, other people were spared greater suffering. I suppose almost any application of this trope could be interpreted that way, but I have never before encountered one that articulated that message.

Another Captain America fic by what_alchemy, which I did not read, but which looks very cool, is Steve Rogers Might Wear Tights, but He's Not Your Pin-Up Girl. It is presented as a collection of realistic looking in-universe documents.

* = newly collected (ETA)

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Lookback Fic Bingo: 1985

tinturtle — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 08:15:58 GMT

I enjoyed the first step of my Old and New Project, but I couldn't resist another year-by-year game. So here is the first post of Lookback Fic Bingo. I may end up alternating the two.

It's 1985. Katrina and the Waves are on the radio. Here in the USA, the year's top film is Back to the Future. New terms coined include: attachment parenting, AZT, beatboxing, biodiversity, intifada, IP address, latte, mixtape, n-word, and trendoid.

For 1985, I read three Professionals fics.

First was Dead Bluff by Linda S. Maclaren (Mackie) and Gina Martin. This is a gen case story in which Bodie and Doyle must track down an unknown villain with a grudge against them. I liked this fic quite a bit. It had good pacing and created suspense successfully. It also depicted a strong bond between the Lads, especially near the end, which is important in any Pros fic. Another thing it did was explain briefly some things that any Pros fan would know, such as who Bodie, Doyle, and Cowley are and what CI5 is. I assume this is because it was published in a multimedia zine (Media Rare #1). It's something I've noticed some other fics from this era do, as well, presumably with the same reason. These days the whole Internet is one big multimedia zine, but I guess the assumption is that anyone seeking out Pros fic is familiar with the show or can at least Google it. This was my favorite fic for the year. Particularly recommended. 22,900 words. Gen.

Next I read Hyperion to a Satyr by Sebastian, a slash fic that chronicles Bodie and Doyle's sexual and emotional relationship over a period of years. I liked this, too. The relationship was engaging, and I thought the Lads' characterizations were believable overall (though there was one point I was a bit unsure about). The fic also had modest levels of angst for a fic by Sebastian, which is what I was in the mood for. She can deliver industrial quantities when she chooses.

Ann Holly appears in the story, and I did have hesitations about her characterization. She's unsympathetic, and while that is standard in Pros fic, I've never been sure it is justified by canon—I found her a bit blank, but not really unlikable.

I also found the third-person omniscient point of view in this fic a little disorienting. That is probably just because third-person limited is so much more common in fanfic, however. 14,716 words. Bodie/Doyle slash.
Comments with spoilers:
The part I was unsure about was Doyle falling in love with Bodie after six weeks' working partnership and one night of good sex. Seems a little precipitous, but I suppose he's also shown falling quickly for Ann in canon.

I also read Dark Side of Eden by Sharon F (identified as Anonymous 1 on the Circuit Archive). This is a short fic relating some of Doyle's thoughts about his relationship with Bodie. It's okay. Like Madrigal, who is quoted on the fic's Fanlore page, I found all the ellipses a bit much. There are also some touches that feel a bit off tonally. On the other hand, there are many emotional beats that do land. 705 words. Bodie/Doyle slash.

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Fics so far:

1985
*Dead Bluff by Linda S. Maclaren (Mackie) and Gina Martin (The Professionals; 22,900 words; gen)
Hyperion to a Satyr by Sebastian (The Professionals; 14,716 words; slash)
Dark Side of Eden by Sharon F (The Professionals; 705 words; slash)

* = Particularly recommended
[ ] = read but not counted toward the year's story total

Old and New Project: 6 by Rebelcat

tinturtle — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 05:18:47 GMT

Fandoms in this post: The Professionals, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Starsky and Hutch

Hello, and welcome to the first post of my Old and New Project. As I explained previously, for this project I will be reading each fic in my Beloved Collection of favorites, followed by at least one new (to me) fic by the same author.

To start this step of the project, I read the two fics by Rebelcat (myrebelcat) that I had collected in the past. (I'm not sure if I'm always going to read all the fics I have by a particular author at the same time, but I did in this case.)

The fics I had collected were:

Mere Anarchy (The Professionals; 14,347 words; slash)

Denial is Not Just a River in Egypt (Starsky and Hutch; 2,868 words; slash)

I would still highly recommend both of these. (Sometimes I do reread things I've collected and find them less compelling than I did originally.) Mere Anarchy is a recovery fic with impeccable characterizations and dialog. Denial is Not Just a River in Egypt is a ruefully humorous response to the WNGWJLEO trope that used to be common in slash fiction.

The new fics I read were:

*A Widening Gyre (The Professionals; 5,192 words; slash)
The title of this fic happens to come from the same stanza of the same poem as that of Mere Anarchy. It is a curious fic that starts when a baddie drugs Bodie's drink. I would recommend it, and I think it may be destined for collection itself.

This fic was written for the Discovered in The Anarchist Cookbook challenge. The next one was written for the Discovered on a Gangplank challenge to celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day. The Pros fans of 20 years ago had some good times, it seems.

Brethren of the Coast (The Professionals; 7,290 words; slash)
This fic has both some seriousness and quite a bit of silliness. I thought it was a lot of fun, including the sexy bits at the end, which I found more engaging that usual.

The Flashpoint of Ice (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; 2,392 words; gen)
This was a somewhat goofy fic, but the dialog between Napoleon and Illya was good.

*No Such Thing (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; 877 words; gen)
This one was also kind of goofy, but I liked it a lot. B-movie UNCLE adventures!

Anyone else have a favorite fic by Rebelcat?

* = newly collected (ETA)

Lifetime Fic Bingo: Highlights 2016-2024

tinturtle — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 21:45:43 GMT

During the final 9 rounds of my Lifetime Fic Bingo game, 2016 to 2024, I read 46 fics. Of those, the five that I would most recommend today are:

The Craven Hive by OldShrewsburyian (Sherlock Holmes; 35,627 words; gen)
The Moon and Planets by LaurytheLatrator (Sherlock Holmes; 33,924 words; femslash)
True by JoJo (The Professionals; 13,366 words; slash)
Out of Reach by cornishcat (The Professionals; 23,187 words; slash)
High Water by unbelievable2 (The Sentinel; 9,633 words; slash)

(Above: Lil Baby performs music for the partial decade 2016-2024.)

All recommended fics:

2016
Storm of the Century by Avery11 (The Man from U.N.C.L.E; 5,401 words; gen)
Internal System Reboot by mistyzeo (Sherlock Holmes x Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century; 6,316 words; slash)

2017
Hutch Versus the Rat King by garrideb (Starsky and Hutch; 5,315 words; slash)
One of These Times by Tallihensia (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; 7,017 words; gen)
The Adventure of the Devil's Snare by methylviolet10b (Sherlock Holmes; 7,623 words; gen)

2018
The Craven Hive by OldShrewsburyian (Sherlock Holmes; 35,627 words; gen)

2019
The Moon and Planets by LaurytheLatrator (Sherlock Holmes; 33,924 words; femslash)
Out of Reach by cornishcat (The Professionals; 23,187 words; slash)

2020
To Cast Light on Each by rachelindeed (Sherlock Holmes; 4,915 words; slash)
Picking up the punchlines by belmanoir (The Professionals; 3,471 words; slash)

2021
The Eyes of Horus by LilyK (The Professionals; 11,763 words; slash)
The Return of the Pharaoh by Nicholas Meyer (Sherlock Holmes; 272 pages; het)
To Steal a Dream by HereToWrite (The A-Team; 45,909 words; gen)

2022
The Turnabout Affair by Kate_Wisdom (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; 31,811 words; slash)
As You Mean to Go On by Timemidae (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; 5,243 words; gen)
True by JoJo (The Professionals; 13,366 words; slash)
Time Enough for All Things by teaspoonnebula (Sherlock Holmes; 7,872 words; slash with het)
The Stanhope Orphan by idanon (Sherlock Holmes; 10,227 words; gen)

2023
Sense of Direction by LilyK (The Professionals; 14,562 words; slash)
Every Bodie's a Critic by belmanoir (The Professionals; 7,629 words; slash)
High Water by unbelievable2 (The Sentinel; 9,633 words; slash)

2024
The Highest Tribute by Runner35 (The Professionals; 40,265 words; gen)
Signs and Portents by unbelievable2 (The Sentinel; 9,793 words; slash)