A Million Pieces
| Zine | |
|---|---|
| Title: | A Million Pieces |
| Publisher: | AMC Press, then Requiem Publications |
| Editor: | |
| Author(s): | Candy Apple |
| Cover Artist(s): | TACS |
| Illustrator(s): | |
| Date(s): | 1997 (online), November 2000 (print) |
| Medium: | |
| Size: | |
| Genre: | |
| Fandom: | The Sentinel |
| Language: | English |
| External Links: | A Million Pieces, Part 1
also at AO3 |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
A Million Pieces is a 140-page Jim/Blair slash novel by Candy Apple. The story was first posted to the net in December 1997, then in print form 2000.
A Million Pieces is volume seven of "Best of the Net."
It was first published in 2000 by AMC Press. In 2018, it was reissued in print and PDF by Requiem Publications.
Summaries
Author's summary: "Blair is the only survivor of a violent attack on Jim’s family, and they must support each other through the physical and emotional recovery, which changes their relationship."
The summary is a clear indicator for angst and h/c. The online version as well as the print zine warns for content that might be upsetting to the readers:
This may be considered a SPOILER, but I feel it is important that anyone who might be upset or offended in any way with the content of this story, read this. The story includes the violent death of a baby, as well as the death and injury of others. Obviously, this can also serve as a general "violence" warning. I am not fond of lingering detail or gratuitous blood in my writing of scenes like these, so I will do my best to present it in as tasteful a manner as possible.
Sample Interior
Reactions and Reviews
Unknown Date
Another excellent story previously published to the 'net. While it's true you can read this beautiful, heart-wrenching story at [on the internet], as I did the first time, I believe this 'zine is an "essential" for any Sentinel lover. TACS' art work is, as expected, stunningly creative. In addition to the cover, three beautiful full-color pieces wonderfully illustrate Candy's story. Those of you familiar with TACS' work won't be disappointed and those who are not are in for a wonderful surprise! As you can read in the info from the publisher, this novel deals with the death of original characters - Jim's wife and daughter. So natch, there is J/o here, but believe me, it's painless! I remember when Candy posted this story and there came a big "discussion" on some of the lists concerning the death of the baby and wife. The gist, as I recall, was that some felt these characters were "throw always", created and killed just to get the guys together. I never understood that line of thinking. Candy treats the deaths with a great deal of tact. The killings are swift and not, in my opinion, at all graphic -- though there's somewhat more graphic detail for the scene where Jim finds his slain wife. I didn't feel at all as if the deaths were gratuitous. There would be no story without this event. The deaths themselves aren't the main focus, and the investigation is the secondary plot. Jim's angst over the birth and death of his daughter, his regrets and guilt for his short marriage and the death of his wife, and his acknowledged feelings for Blair are, obviously, primary to the story. The murders aren't graphic nor prolonged, occurring within the span of three short paragraphs on page two. This is a beautiful first-time story, dealing with Blair's and Jim's mental and physical healing after the attack on Jim's family. To me, that was the primary focus of the story, though throughout we also have the on-going murder investigation. Candy, in her usual beautiful and heart-warming style, tells the story of a fallible man who must learn to live with guilt and regrets, and in so doing finds a way to love again. A gripping story that, for the second time, I had to read through without stopping. DO NOT start this story without enough time to finish in one sitting! And have tissues handy.[1]
Candy writes excellent, compelling, lengthy stories. Set sometime in the future, Blair is the only suvivior of a murderous attack that takes the lives of Jim’s wife and baby daughter. It is a gripping, emotional journey of loss, grief and, most importantly, hope.[2]
2003
Explorations of the possible turns that Jim's and Blair's lives might take following the ending events of the series are always intriguing. In A Million Pieces, Candy offers us one possibility -- a Jim and Blair who have remained fast friends even as Jim marries and has a child -- and then shatters her carefully constructed house of cards, only to rebuild it once more. There is pain here, and anger, and sorrow that feels real in all the ways that fantastic writing can achieve, but there is also hope, and love, and an affirmation of the power of both.
In addition to a wonderful "relationship" story, Pieces is a richly layered emotional journey that deals with love in all its incarnations, arriving at resolution that resonates with heartfelt *rightness* long after the last word is read. There are some odd moments here and there, some turns-of-phrase that may not, perhaps, ring entirely true, but the deft blend of emotions make those few and far between glitches easy to overlook.
It's a long story, but well worth your time: dig in, pull up a chair, and lose yourself in this wonderful story.[3]
A Million Pieces (Sen/) Wonderful, heartwrenching Candy Apple "best of the net" novel. The artwork is incredible, and the story made me cry. Not a lot of fanfic does that. I really like Candy's stuff - she always gets the characters. She nailed them with this. [4]
2008
This is one of those stories that I always remember fondly and it's been on my mind ever since I started epic_recs. In fact, until I started re-reading it to write my review, I never considered that I *wouldn't* rec it.
The premise: Jim, having realized that his feelings for Blair weren't nearly as platonic as he'd like, goes off and gets married. The story starts about a year later, as Blair comes over to visit Jim's wife and play babysitter for a few hours while Jim's at work and the wife takes a nap. He's still there when a gunman comes to the house, kills Jim's wife and baby, and puts three bullets into Blair. The rest of the story is spent on Jim and Blair's grieving, the growing intimacy of their relationship, and the mystery of who the gunman is and why he was targeting the occupants of Jim's house.
There's all sorts of things to like about this story: good writing, an unforgettable beginning (you wouldn't believe how many times I've seen folks asking for 'that story where Jim's baby is killed'), all kinds of angst and hurt/comfort. So why am I not reccing it? Well, for one thing it's such an enormous *downer*. I'd forgotten that aspect of the story and even stepped back from it for a day during the re-read, thinking that maybe I just wasn't in the right mood for enjoying fic. But, no, it really is that depressing. I like angst as much as the next person, but after 200 KB of Jim crying, then Blair crying, then Jim crying again (wash and repeat several times), without an iota of humor or even unalloyed happiness to break the pall, it got to be too much for me. There were a few other aspects of the story that didn't appeal to me (the overuse of (annoying, to me, anyway) endearments and the character's tendency to break into really long monologues, be they external or internal, to name a couple), but in the end I'm not reccing the story because I just couldn't slog through the bleakness of it.
(Note: I do recall that there is a happy ending, but I only made it three-quarters of the way through the re-read, so no promises.) [5]
I don't think I could get over the "wife AND baby killed" part, even if it's used to get Jim and Blair together. :( [6]
I'm fairly cold-blooded when it comes to fictional children (probably because I'm not a big fan of kids in real life), so I'm okay with a baby getting killed. On the other hand, the story would have been a lot less depressing if Jim and Blair were focused on raising a child together.[5]
Usually I find men crying to be out of character, since most men on US shows are super-tough, supermen, and don't drop a tear for the entire run of the series. The crying in this story is actually very believable just...depressing.[5]
Personally, I disliked it because even though their deaths (wife and child) were driving the plot, it felt like they were really an afterthought. I don't mind Jim's non-connection to his wife that much, since I understood right from the beginning that she was a token OFC, but the death of a child...it should have impacted him and Blair far more deeply. I felt that the whole situation was dealt with in a very shallow way and out-of-character way. Jim tends to be fiercely protective of those he cares about, and yet the death of his daughter has very little impact on him? It just felt off, and not in a plausible way.[7]
References
- ^ "Destinies Entwined". Archived from the original on 2020-09-24.
- ^ "J.R.'s Parlor". Archived from the original on 2013-04-01.
- ^ from a 2003 comment at Crack Van
- ^ from a mailing list, quoted anonymously (June 2003)
- ^ a b c "Epic Rants".
- ^ "Epic Rants".
- ^ "Epic Rants".