Fugue (Blake's 7 story)

Fanfiction
Title:	Fugue
Author(s):	Jane Baron
Date(s):	1990
Length:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	Blake's 7
External Links:	part one and two, part three
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Fugue is a Blake's 7 Blake/Avon story in three parts by Jane Baron.

It was published in Pæan to Priapus #1 and #2 and is online.

Reactions and Reviews

In the realm of smut, I'm partial to a set of three slash stories, "Fugue" by Jane Baron (in Paean to Priapus I and II), which I think have a particularly good Blake.

Jane Baron, "Fugue," in three parts in Paean to Priapus #s 1 & 2. Probably my top favorite at the moment [well, as of a year or two ago— I'd have to think about it now]. The suppressed parts of Avon's personality are accidentally released, with remarkable results.

A not unqualified rec, since most of the B/A takes place while Avon is in his dream state i.e. not himself, which is something of a shame (although waking Avon is on good form), but the fic is undoubtedly compelling. And if you like your sex well described and in large supply, there's plenty of it here, though it is almost all some variety of dubcon/noncon.

So much of Blakes7 is about identity: just who Blake still is after two mind-wipes; who is an ally or an enemy, a human or an android. In Fugue (a three-part novelette; it's on the Oblique site in two large pdfs), Avon becomes addicted to a sleeping drug called Lethe. Under the influence, Avon's body--and, crucially, Avon's id--sleepwalk into Blake's bed. At first, Blake just provides h/c for his colleague's nightmares, but the "Kerr" persona becomes not merely responsive but demanding, so what's a burly rebel to do?

The development of Blake's feelings--protective and otherwise--for the sweetly responsive, nonverbal "Kerr" is both genuinely touching and kind of creepy. To an extent, Blake acquires a lover, a pet, an adopted child, and an incubus all at the same time, and he still has to cope with Avon during their waking hours. And, for a while, Avon unconsciously is his own rival for Blake's affections.

Sooner or later, of course, Avon finds out what's been happening, and is not immediately quite as understanding about the complexities of the situation as Blake would like. The situation escalates to a fistfight, and as usual in B7 slash they have too much of the Wrong Kind of Fun.

This is an Oblaque story, which means that the direction the story will go in (curtains or Curtains, you might say) is very much in doubt until the end.

This is a lovely, long, beautifully-crafted and romantic (in a good way) novella that I regularly keep coming back to. When I discovered B7 slash by sitting on a friend's sofa and working absorbedly through a whole pile of 'zines, this was my absolute favourite B7 slash story ever (it still is, it's just got company).

A lot of people don't like the premise of the story (Avon takes sleeping-drug which relaxes his inhibitions and he goes into a fugue-state where he sleepwalks to Blake's room and demands a cuddle) because he wants affection and his conscious mind won't admit to it. Caveat lector, if this would bother you. I think it works, but then I like the idea that Avon is drawn to Blake's warmth without wanting to admit it.

Anyway, the descriptions (both of sex and of everything else) are lush and lovely, Jane Baron doesn't shirk describing Avon's outward personality as well as the fugue-state version, and the emotions are very well-handled.

If you can stand the consent/control issues of the basic premise (and I know some people can't), read it, you'll like it.

MUSE OF FIRE RESPONSIBLE: Jane Baron

HAS POOR VILA BEEN DRAGOONED INTO THIS SHITSHOW? —

WHY ARE BLAKE AND AVON DOOMED THIS WEEK? ultimately they can and should be together and understanding that they need one another’s full personality and intelligence as well as just comfort/someone to love/each other for sex is the whole point of the fic. I KNOW. IN OBLIQUE!!

EDITOR’S NOTE: almost just–informational??

PROSE: I’m fine with it.

OVERALL: fuck it I think Fugue’s great I’m sorry

STORY: Fugue, Part 3

MUSE OF FIRE RESPONSIBLE: Jane Baron

HAS POOR VILA BEEN DRAGOONED INTO THIS SHITSHOW? —

WHY ARE BLAKE AND AVON DOOMED THIS WEEK? ditto

EDITOR’S NOTE: fruity as fuck, back on form

PROSE: I’m fine with it.

OVERALL: I’m really sorry

(I’m not talking about this in DETAIL because I’d need a whole post that’s just—what I think Fugue is doing and why it’s working when it could SO not)

Ahahahaha, Fugue really pissed me off. Unlike most of its type it's not just "wouldn't it be sexy if B raped A", it tries to have, God help us all, a justification.