Cascade (Law & Order story)

Fanfiction
Title:	Cascade
Author(s):	Dorothy Marley
Date(s):	spring 1999
Length:
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	Law & Order
Relationship(s):
External Links:	apocrypha: Cascade, Archived version, AO3 link
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Cascade is a Law & Order slash story by Dorothy Marley focused on the character of Mike Logan. It was originally published in the seventh issue of the ezine apocrypha and later published to Archive of Our Own by the author. At one point there was a podfic of the story available, but since the upload was on Megaupload, it has been lost to time.

Author's Words

One of the few early examples of slash in the Law&Order fandom, Cascade is an episode tag for the season 5 episode "Bad Faith" focused on Mike Logan's involvement in the story of that episode and his backstory. When the story was originally posted to apocrypha, it had the following preface:

Whenever the episode "Indifference" is shown on A&E it sparks discussion about Mike Logan's childhood. In this story, Dorothy Marley gives us a glimpse at both the relationship between Mike and his dad and the events of Mike's childhood that shaped the man.

However, the version posted to AO3 says it takes place during the episode "Bad Faith" rather than "Indifference." The content of both episodes is similar, with both hinting at Mike Logan's backstory, but Cascade's story more reflects the episode "Bad Faith" where Mike is more directly involved in the case and his backstory is more directly referenced. Reflecting the fact that it was written in a time where slash was less accepted by fandom, the slash content in the fic is very mild and more innuendo rather than more current examples of the slash genre. It's also quite angsty, which is one of the only tags on the AO3 version of the story.

Dorothy Marley recalls:

I was always sad that there wasn't more slash in apocrphya [sic], but the truth of the matter is that at the time there was very little Law & Order slash, period. I can only recall a few names of other slash writers from the late 90s: myself, Jenny Lyon, Trig, Keiko Kirin, D. W. Wilson and a handful of others.

"Cascade" was fairly well-received by the apocrypha readership--something I was by no means sure of when I submitted the story. There's really very little slash content in the story, to be honest; it's mostly about Mike Logan very obliquely not revealing to his father that he's a deeply closted [sic] gay (or possibly bisexual) man. There were several very positive comments and only two even mildly negative ones. But, both those readers disagreed with the portrayal of Mike Logan as anything-but-straight, which was essentially saying they didn't like what little slash there was in the story. They didn't flame, however, and made a point of praising the writing, however succinctly. This is summed up by my all-time favorite piece of feedback, received from an apocrypha reader about "Cascade": "Writing good. Innuendo bad." Still, I can understand how slash writers might feel from those comments that it wasn't a friendly place for their stories.

The most negative response to the story actually occurred outside the apocrphya [sic] venue, when another author complained on another mailing list about the number of comments "Cascade" had received in comparison to the ones their story had received. There were other stories that had gotten as many comments as "Cascade" in that issue, as well as stories from previous issues that were still getting comments, but I recall (nearly fifteen years later, so please sprinkle liberally with salt) that part of the complaint specifically mentioned that "Cascade" was a slash story, with the unwritten implication that it wasn't, perhaps, as deserving of comments because of that. But that response was definitely an outlier.

Reactions and Reviews

I love everything D. Marley has written in the Law and Order universe. And after spending two frustrating days of trying to get into the Spring 99 apocrypha I was delighted to discover her story at the top of the list. And even though I have lesson plans to wrote for tomorrow I took time for a fast read. And I cried. For Mike. His lost childhood. His anguish. His dad. The guilt a parent feels when they can't protect their children.

Thank you for a wonderful story. I can hardly wait to have time to reread and savor Marley's insight into what makes Mike the man we love.

Later,

Lorelei Hawkins

Hated it. Writing good. innuendo bad... The innuendo that Mike could be gay. NO WAY.... I just can't go that Mike is gay. That he was molested and that by being promiscuous it would diminish the incident I can believe.

I just read "Cascade" and found it almost haunting. I've had these thoughts in my head since watching "Indifference" and "Bad Faith." The story was so well written, and so thoughtful. My compliments to the authoress.

To the writer: Silence to be followed by applause

hmmm. Although I think that the article was written very well and Mike Logan's character seemed to keep its integrity, I'm a little confused about the ending.

Am I to understand that the author thinks he's gay? I'm sorry, but that doesn't seem to fit with the character. I really enjoyed the story until right at the end.

Otherwise, I thought it was good.

Your touching, beautifully rendered story has reduced me to tears. The dialogue between Mike Logan and his Dad was so realistic I could almost hear the glass crunching on that kitchen floor! I hope that you continue to write like this because I am looking forward to reading more from you.

I read Dorothy Marley's story, "Cascade", from your spring 1999 issue and I can't even begin to tell you how the story moved me.

In her one story, she managed to bring out the true heart and soul of Mike(y) Logan. I've been trying that, through my own fanfiction, for about three years, and I'm still nowhere near it.

And if anything, this story made me ache for Mike. I know it's one thing to see Logan on the screen and look at the deep pain mirrored in his eyes but it's quite another to watch it catapult off of the page and right into your heart. This story did that to the point where I almost cried.

Thank you, Dorothy, for writing this incredibly evocative and compelling story. And thank you, Kitt and Kor for putting it online.