Heh. The degenerate Marquis is a pretty casual cultural shorthand these days, and I usually don't think twice about it. I just had a close encounter with 120 Days of Sodom at an impressionable age, so it tends to have a chilling effect on anything I find erotic.
Alan's voice is such a thing of beauty that it ought to be designated a national treasure. I have 14 CDs of him reading an entire Thomas Hardy novel, and I'm not even a Hardy fan. There's an early chapter devoted to describing the dreariest and most inhospitable stretch of barren heath imaginable, and Alan navigates a whole raft of polysyllabic and obsolete words and gives me goosebumps in the process. I suspect he had a fine time wrapping his tongue around those overblown, gnarly sentences - he knows exactly what his voice is capable of.
Er. *contemplates Alan's tongue*
I haven't read your fic yet, either! The sad fact is, I've read a total of four Games fics so far, and one of those I beta'd. It's frustrating, because the calibre and quantity of Snarry this fest provides is one of my favorite reading experiences, ever. Life has just been too feckin' demanding lately. And my brain's been having a hard time getting its - um, cells together. So I've been more of a face-on-keyboard than fingers-on-keyboard person, and that won't do. There shall be comments!
On the up side, I anticipate months of pleasure. *glee*
I've sort of made peace with myself about the length of my fic, but I still feel apologetic. I didn't set out to write such a monster. Also (welcome to my neurosis) the praise has been a little unnerving, in a weird, gratitude-inspiring way. I didn't expect such a positive response, because I have high standards for my writing and this fic . . ummm, doesn't meet them. Except in spots.
I agree about the intimacy and rightness of holding paper in one's hands and reading from the page versus staring at a monitor. I've been a book person all my life, and I'm old enough that I expect I'll be gone before publishing goes totally electronic. There's a sensual aspect and a private rapport with a book that I don't experience with the computer. Also (another psychological quirk) I've noticed that I tend to gobble fics on a screen, whereas I linger over them more on the page. And re-read passages just for the sheer aesthetic delight.
Hi hi! It's morning! I'm chatty! And pretending I don't have to be at work in half an hour! *g*