All You Need is Love
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| Bodie/Doyle Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | All You Need is Love |
| Author(s): | M. Fae Glasgow |
| Date(s): | 1995 |
| Length: | 59 pages |
| Genre: | slash |
| Fandom: | The Professionals |
| External Links: | online here |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
All You Need is Love is a Professionals slash Bodie/Doyle story by M. Fae Glasgow.
It has two endings, one happy, one not.
It was published in Bene Dictum #3 in 1995 and archived online in 2004.
Reactions and Reviews
1995
Mfae's "All You Need Is Love" was, in a way, the most unique (as befits her inimitable style). Looking back on it, I'd say that the title veritably oozes with irony. Here's a story where the characters love each other deeply, tell each other so, are very happy being with each other, have passionate sex, and yet I was left with a clear sense that their relationship was definitely, ultimately doomed. That's really quite a writing feat. Mind you, I read the more "upbeat" ending! [1]
1996
The "what if Ray Doyle were truly straight" piece by M. Fae. This was also an interesting piece. However, the emotional pacing was a bit "off" because sometime near the middle, Ray and Bodie are happy in their relationship, and Ray seems to have gotten over his hang-up on whether the fact that he is sleeping with another man makes him "gay" or not. It seems that Doyle has decided that he's still straight after all, but it really doesn't matter. And the two are blissfully content. But then later on, it starts to matter, and he finally breaks it of. It would seem to me that if being "straight" or not were that important to Doyle, then he wouldn't ever get to the point of being blissfully content in Bodies arms. He could certainly be in Bodies arms, but he'd never get to the point of being happily there. I don't know if I'm making myself dear. [2]
This is another one of her "two paths diverge" way of story telling. You have a 'happy' ending and an 'unhappy' one, based on what someone does or does not do at a certain point in the story. And somehow, she manages to make the 'happy' ending far more depressing than the 'unhappy' one, at least to me! Bodie is in love with Ray. Ray likes Bodie, but... This is actually interesting on a certain level since I have seen similar basic premises played out in different stories in different fandoms which were turned in to 'on their way to buying the curtains to hang' stories.[3]
2004
It's a story with two endings. Thanks go to the saint that protects readers :) It's a beautifully written story, as all M. Fae Glasgow's stories are, there's not one paragraph that isn't a pleasure to read, that doesn't convey emotions, that doesn't move the plot forward. It's a very hard story, as well. Hard to read becasue it touches on one of the worst fears: what if you love but don't love enough? That question that can haunt you at the beginning of a relationship, when all your feelings are new...and there is a good dose of reality, in this story, too, which I always appreciate in relation to the Pros fanfiction.[4]
(the reviewer is compares the story to Forever True): "Doyle has to choose between a respectable and quiet life with wife, 2.1 kids + picket fences on one side, and Bodie on the other. Well, the story has two endings, one per choice, and both are not an unqualified happy success. To me this is the essence of life -- you make choices and no choices are perfect, and no matter what, there are things you have to leave behind and regret later on. Wanting it all is childish greed, and not sustainable."[5]
2020
Straight Doyle discovers he's fallen in love with Bodie, who loves him and is gay. In this long story, Doyle tries desperately to convince both of them he'll get used to--and even learn to like--the sex. The title is ironic in the way MFae excels at doing. This story's notable for giving us two alternate endings: the reader can choose which one pleases her most. I find the supposedly "happy ending" by far the less satisfying, even while the one I prefer is bittersweet. There's really no clear-cut, pleasant resolution of the difficult situation Bodie and Doyle find themselves in. In less competent hands, this set-up could be frustrating and annoying, but MFae serves up a thought-provoking and emotional world that works for me.[6]
References
- ^ comment at Virgule-L, quoted anonymously (Oct 29, 1995)
- ^ from Strange Bedfellows (APA) #12 (Feb 1996)
- ^ In 1996 Michelle Christian posted this review to the Virgule-L mailing list. It is reposted here with permission.
- ^ from a 2004 comment at Crack Van
- ^ MS' comment about the story on the Pros-Lit mailing list dated Feb 29, 2004, posted with permission.
- ^ 2010 comments by istia, prosrecs, Archived version