A Throw of the Dice

Zine
Title:	A Throw of the Dice
Publisher:	Nut Hatch Collective
Editor:
Author(s):	Wally
Cover Artist(s):
Illustrator(s):	JJ
Date(s):	May 1991
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	Professionals
Language:	English
External Links:
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A Throw of the Dice is a 142-page slash Professionals novel by Wally. It has art by JJ.

flyer with story summary, click to read

Regarding Trib Copies

From the very lengthy editorial (mostly about postage costs and the minutia of printing a zine):

One last note, also to subscribers, who have asked 'what gets me a contributor's copy?' Our policy is to buy poetry (serial rights: you own the poem, but we can reprint the zine as long as anyone wants to keep ordering it), we pay $2 for understanding, we pay $3 a page up to 6-7 pages, then switch to a contributor's copy for longer stories (NB: reduced-type format swallows 1000 words per page). Or, a mix of vignettes and poems would come to a tribber's copy. If you get a fee rather than a freebie, you can either have cash or a voucher, which can be part-exchanged for any zine. a voucher, which can be part-exchanged for any zine.

Summary

From the Nut Hatch flyer:

This is a tale in the grand style of Georgette Heyer. A sensitive story of two men's lives and how they are affected when they meet and fall in love. In true Romantic tradition, it has a wicked Lord, gypsies and even a half-ruined house. As historically accurate as the style allows, it deals with a man of the times struggling with his sexuality, facing not only the commendation of society, but also the thought that he commits a sin merely by being what he is.

This is a story, too, of how love and friendship can change the bleakest of lives to one of light and happiness. Ray Doyle is the son of a baronet who gambles away the life of his son. Rescued by Bodie, he starts a new life as librarian to an earl. Untroubled by who and what he is, Ray becomes one happiness in Bodie's life.

Bodie is tormented by the past and his fears, not only for his own future, but that of his brother, Philip, and his sister-in-law, the Lady Ann.

Can Ray, artist and librarian, find a way for Bodie to be happy? Can he help Bodie carry the burden of a tainted name and a taste for forbidden sex? Can Bodie help rescue Ray from the clutches of Lord Wolfden, and help the gypsies gain revenge for kidnapped and murdered children?

'Bodie had often wondered what the heroes of the old stories had done with the virgins they rescued from dragons; now it looked as if he was going to find out.'

'Half conscious, Doyle was bundled into the coach. 'Tie him and gag him.' Wolfden sat back to watch his victim's hands tied. Bleary green eyes focused on him, widening with dread as Doyle realized, what he had once feared, and forgotten, was about to happen.

Author's Afterword

The original idea for this story came from a film I saw on television, one of Barbara Cartland's romances. I started watching the film because James Fox was in it, and kept on watching because I was sure it couldn't get any worse. (It did!)

Once I started writing, the plot changed as the characters developed beyond the originals. Since Doyle's character was originally the female, I deliberately tried to make him a strong person, both in his own right and compared with Bodie. I think, in the end he became the stronger -- but that I leave up to you to decide. Although this started out as a romance, I found that historical reality kept creeping it, and I decided that I preferred it that way. The plot, though, is 'pure' fiction, especially the use by Gypsies of an Egyptian symbol. The term 'homosexual' was not used until it was introduced by Havelock Ellis in 1897. Until then, the term 'sodomite' was used. There were a number of slang words, euphemisms; the term 'gay' goes back at least as far as Elizabeth I. I have heard that Cartland is threatening to withdraw her books from any book shop that also stocks works from the Gay Men's Press (GMP). This is blackmail and bigotry, and I feel that using one of her so-called plots in this kind of story is a nice revenge. This story took me a long time to write, and I would like to thank 'Pegasus' for her support during that time. I'm sure she was relieved when it was finally one.

I hope you enjoyed my story.

Sample Interior Gallery

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  sample text

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  art by JJ

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  art by JJ

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  art by JJ

Reactions and Reviews

It seems at the beginning of this story that Doyle is very vulnerable. When his father first gambles his home away and then his son, Bodie, who sees this happen steps in and wins Doyle from Lord Wolfden, a man who only intends to use and harm Doyle.

Though in reality it is Bodie who is the vulnerable one of the two. But don't read vulnerable as weak. Because this Bodie is in NO way weak. He is steady, strong and resigned to the life that fate has consigned to him. Outwardly he is the better situated and confident, but this is a sham. It is only through the love and support of his brother that Bodie has anything at all, including position, respect, and a place to live.

After winning Doyle, Bodie offers him the job of librarian, at his brother's home -Newton Castle. A close relationship developes between them. Doyle knows he is ready to fall in love, and Bodie is almost desperate to love and be loved. Though well-hidden, he is very insecure in his personal relationsips.

A THROW OF THE DICE is a very well-written A/U. It is written in such a way that you feel involved with the characters. You hurt for Bodie and commiserate with Doyle. A romantic and satisfying read.