darththalia (darththalia) wrote in tpm_flashback, @ 2004-09-26 12:07:00 |
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Original poster: gloriana
Why do I feel like saying, "I'm ba-ack" in a spooky accent?
One of the early MA authors was, apparently, quite miffed not to have been recced more widely in the first round of TPM Flashbacks. I did want to giggle at her: besides taking offence where none was meant, she was also rather ignoring the fact that it is impossible to rec all you want to in just eight weeks. Why, I already had my list for my second 8 almost complete when the first lot were done, without even serious contemplation required. So I'd like to thank Thalia (and Elayna) for organising me the chance to post them.
Let's begin with one which had a slight bit of controversy when it was first published, in a single-author TPM zine called Nanshoku:
Title: On Day's End and Dinner
Author: M. Fae Glasgow
Rating: not given
Pairing: Q/O
Warnings: Neither zine nor pdf web version include warnings other than for slash. I would add, a warning for reported character rape, no detailed descriptions given.
Author's e-mail, and/or website: M. Fae has an lj, mfaeglasgow, but it has no public entries. I don't have an email for her, but she can probably be reached via the press who publish her zines: email Oblique Publications. Their website is http://www.oblique-publications.net/.
Link to story: http://www.oblique-publications.net/arch
Reasons for recommending: I love virtually everything M. Fae has written in TPM, even though I violently disagree with the premises behind some of it - and if that isn't the sign of a good writer, I don't know what is :) She's sexy, angsty, contemplative, and enamoured of the tragedy of Q/O. In a zine with two other stories that rank in my regular re-reads list, this very short piece stands out for the economy and ease with which it paints a picture of what it might actually mean to be somewhat more than human - a Jedi.
Quote from story:
Qui-Gon responded to Obi-Wan's wry smile, and allowed himself: "Are you all right?"
"I will be," Obi-Wan said, slowly shedding the brown pack and the grey cloak that covered his borrowed, ill-fitting clothes. "I'm not seriously injured, just sore."
The urge to coddle was stronger, watching Obi-Wan's wince as he flopped down into a chair. "If you're hungry, there's soup in the kitchen."
A slow smile, tinged with sweetness. "Oh, go on," Obi-Wan said, "I know you're dying to fuss."
Extra comments:
Oh, give over - you want to know about the controversy, right? M. Fae herself has ruffled the feathers of various MA-ers with her strong anti-chan views (which give an extra layer of depth to the first, titular, story in the zine). Aside from that, though, this story came in for an especially strong dose of disapproval from raonaid, who had issues with the zine as a whole, many of which I echo. But I disagreed strongly with her when she said:
Most disturbing of all to me was one of her short stories ('On Day's End and Dinner'), where Obi-Wan, sent out on a mission alone where it was all but assured he would get raped, and he did, returns home to Qui-Gon all calm and composed about his experience, but decides he's entitled to violently fuck Qui-Gon to get over it. The cold calculation in his words... I've seen Vader and Xanatos depicted more warmly. {shudder} And you can tell from the writing that M. Fae isn't writing this as a
'dark fic' -it's status quo to her. {another shudder}
Now, I loved this story. I think it was a much needed antidote to the endless round of wailing, raped Obi-Wans who collapse in little heaps, unable to function again after their violations. It showed the strength of the man - of both men - and the strength of the system which has trained them to face horrors much worse than rape. M. Fae makes a very deliberate contrast between the reactions to this crime of ordinary people (the men who rape Obi-Wan; the doctors who attend to him afterwards) and the Jedi (Qui-Gon; and Obi-Wan himself). I do like stories which remind me that the Jedi are not ordinary, are that little bit closer to Supermen, no matter how much I enjoy watching them in their weaker moments.
And I also thought the warmth and affection between Qui and Obi was wonderfully brought across, given how short the story actually is - I don't see any way of reading this Obi-Wan as coldly calculating. (Nor do I think violently fucking Qui-Gon is necessarily a bad thing [veg]). I'd love to hear how other people react to it, though. And, to be fair to M. Fae, you should probably read a couple of the other Scottish Trifles, at least, to see how this story fits into her general view of the Jedi.