Apples for the Lady

The Professionals Fanfiction
Title:	Apples for the Lady
Author(s):
Date(s):	1985, then 1991 and 1992
Length:
Genre:
Fandom:	The Professionals
External Links:
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Apples for the Lady is a Professionals story by TD Murphy and published in In the Public Interest #3.

"Apples for the Lady" is one of two responsefics to Poison Apples by Pam Rose.

Poison Apples was based on the movie, "The Wicker Man."

Another responsefic to Poison Apples is Antidote to Apples written by Kris Brown and published in Compounded Interest #1.

Summaries

In "Apples for the Lady," Bodie and Doyle are still on Summerisle, while the island people are still trying to burn Bodie as the Wicker Man. Bodie and Doyle are saved when Cowley turns out to be the high priest of the island's older pagan religion. In order to save Doyle has to sacrifice their love. His choice causes both of them to forget that they ever loved each other, leaving Doyle appearing to fall in love with a female character. The story makes no reference to "Poison Apples" or that it is a sequel.

Fan Comments

The Hatstand notes: Antidote to Apples by Kris Brown is the third in the sequence begun in "Poison Apples" by Pamela Rose (in Proslib and on the net), and is a direct sequel to "Apples for the Lady" by T.D. Murphy in In the Public Interest 3, which some people consider to be anti-slash. Kris Brown's story is said to "fix" the changes made to the original slash relationship set up in Pam Rose's story, hence the title "Antidote to Apples".

Other fans take issue with this interpretation of the origins of the responsefic "Apples for the Lady" calling it a "fandom myth."

1997

I could go on for ages (*after* my finals) about why I hated this one. Basic reason: love and justice are not mutually exclusive. Whereas Cowley's love of Annie *might* have distracted him from his job (and knowing him, I'm not so sure of that), Bodie's love for Doyle makes him *more* effective as a warrior; loving

and mourning for someone you see every day is counterproductive if not suicidal in their job. I dearly wanted a sequel in which one of them told off the goddess in this one. (Not to mention that this author's concept of the Goddess is a far cry from mine, but that's another story.) In any case, it was well-written, well-plotted, well-characterised... and I hated it. I don't like unhappy endings, though I can live with them if the story calls for them, and I don't approve of or agree with the way this one came about.

2012

So... following on from my Reading Room review of Poison Apples I went off and read the sequel this morning, which is alleged to be an anti-slash sequel, "fixing" the B/D relationship of the first story. I then found a few discussions about this over at ProsLit, and based on both those things I can say that the rumour that Apples for the Lady is anti-slash, and fixes, or counters the lads' slashed relationship is absolute rubbish! I'm very much against the idea of "fixing" a slash story (what's there to fix?), but even though I went into this fic thinking grrrr, at no point did I find the author trying to do that! The story ends with Bodie still very much in love with Doyle, and with Doyle, who was made to forget their relationship as payment to the goddess for the return of his soul, beginning to remember it after all. Apples for the Lady is not an anti-slash story!...I totally fell into the trap and avoided Apples for the Lady because it was supposed to be a) het and b) anti-slash. Thankfully I can now say for sure that it's neither...

Another claim made throughout these ProsLit discussions is that T.D. Murphy meant her story to end there, as an anti-slash story. Apart from the fact that I can't see it as anti-slash, I think words are again being put in someone's mouth - perhaps she did intend to write a sequel herself, and never got around to it? Perhaps she did, but left fandom before it was published (I don't think there's an ItPI IV). The fact that she didn't, though, is used to imply that she thought she'd "fixed" the original story - in fact I don't see any evidence of this...

Jumbled thoughts on Apples for the Lady: don't understand the whole Bodie-as-son bit, Harper-Bards or whatever the term is seems like some escaped Anne McCaffrey-ness, "Celts" is not shorthand for "pre-Roman inhabitants of Britain"... but oh, I liked the writing, and it wove itself into both the previous story and the film very well indeed. And I'd say the ending was ambiguous, yes, but only in the sense of "is the situation retrievable?", and I quite like the occasional story like that. (I like Sunshine! I like the Pillory! I like Thomas-fic!) I know there's the female character at the end, but the whole run-up is pure slash. Everything they do, they do for love or anger/revenge on behalf of a lover.

I read “Apples for the Lady” last night...I think you are absolutely right in saying it isn’t an anti-slash story in its essence or intent. The emotional intensity of what happened on the mountain is respected, the love that still exists between Bodie and Doyle, including a very physical longing, particularly on Bodie’s part, is acknowledged. But I think the author starts with an argument that she wants to make that rather overrides the slash relationship, and her failure to completely integrate both facets is what readers, particularly ‘happy endings’ readers, complain of and which causes them to dump the whole thing into the anti-slash bin.

Hypothesis: The author’s argument is primarily against the religion that is shown in the original ‘Wicker Man’ movie. It’s a hedonistic fertility cult, a relatively recent one manufactured by Lord Summerisle’s grandfather. And there's no doubt that Summerisle is the head of it, in a hierarchical and phallic sense, and the villagers are shown as his superstitious and tradition-bound followers. Pamela Rose's story works within that set-up, as we've already discussed – but 'Apples for the Lady' seeks to overturn that concept by uncovering Summerisle for a posturing fool, and by contrasting his usurped power with the more 'real' authority of the Goddess and her priestesses, the women from Cowley's family. The chief of these, Margaret or 'Maggie' Aleister(1), in fact makes a point of contrasting her religion “passing through mother and daughter, in an unbroken line,” with Summerisle’s “some jumped-up minor god, probably stolen from those thrice cursed Harper bards.”

The trouble is that there are inconsistencies in the logic throughout that fog the mind – a bit like the drugs the Lads are given.

See, to me the second story is absolutely focussed on our Bodie/Doyle pairing - when they're wrecked at the start they're both either out to find the other or are devastated thinking they're dead, and that theme runs right through it. Everything they do is focussed on each other, even to the point that they're both prepared to die, or give up their souls for each other. The twist at the end is that although they both think they have - Bodie ultimately, by letting Doyle forget rather than losing him completely - their connection is actually so strong that the Lady's "bargain" (if indeed that was what she meant, rather than it being through the mouth of Aunt Margaret) is actually falling apart - her power/potion isn't strong enough that Doyle does completely forget.

All of which is probably unfair, because you no doubt don't remember the details of the second story now!

I'd like to read the third sequel now, because I wonder if it "fixes" things that weren't necessarily broken, rather than continuing the story (if you know what I mean by the difference! *g*)...

I've read all three stories and have to admit to not caring for Apples for the Lady. It's not so much that she "fixes" the slash, but that the relationship between Bodie and Doyle is left up in the air. I've never cared for those types of stories. Much too unsatisfying. *g*

I've just realised that Apples for the Lady was written six years after the original Poison Apples... I wonder who T.D. Murphy was - I suspect it was someone else's pseudonym, because she doesn't come up as the author of any other story, as far as I know... though of course she could just have written the one...