For All the Gods Departed

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Zine
Title: For All the Gods Departed
Publisher:
Editor:
Author(s): Pamela Rose & Nancy Arena
Cover Artist(s):
Illustrator(s):
Date(s): early 1980s
Medium: print
Genre: slash
Fandom: Tris & Alex
Language: English
External Links: Read on AO3
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

For All the Gods Departed is a Tris/Alex novel by Pamela Rose and Nancy Arena.

photo of the story in a 3 ring binder

This novel is based on Nancy Arena's storytelling with Pamela as the principal writer.

FATGD Side Stories

This series gives the original, often more explicit, versions of some of the Tris/Alex stories that Nancy Arena and Pamela Rose rewrote into For All the Gods Departed. These were circulated during the late 1980s as paper manuscripts, among fans of Nancy and Pam's work who enjoyed their take on Led Zeppelin as a bad called Paradox.

The Tris/Alex stories may have been written at first as stand-alones, but it was evident early in the series that they were segments of a larger narrative. FATGD includes much of this material as background within its extension of Paradox's storyline that starts after the events covered by the story series.[1]

Related Works

See other Tris/Alex stories.

Reactions and Reviews

page 1 of the timeline created for "For All The Gods Departed"
page 2 of the timeline created for "For All The Gods Departed"

1993

Although I *really* enjoyed the short stories by Nancy Arena and Pam Rose (covering the 1968-1974 period), I didn't care for the novel *For All The Gods Departed*. My main objection was the major plot distraction (or at least the distraction from the plot *I wanted*) which came in the form of Sarah (and her marriage to Tris). The celtic destiny motivation didn't work for me at all (and I am interested in tarot/astrology/paganism, etc.). Although Sarah was written as a sympathetic character, I disliked her *more* because I knew I was supposed to like her. (I was majorly disappointed when she didn't die in childbirth.)

What was the point of the Sarah and Tris het coupling? I know that the authors had to create an obstacle to the slash couple, but this wasn't a minor subplot -- it took over the novel. (And IMHO ruined it.) Were they trying to mainstream the novel for a commercial market? Is this why they took most of the slash sex out of the flashbacks (taken from the earlier stories)?

A slightly relevant post-whine admission: I liked Alex more than Tris (probably because of an already established real world preference for Robert Plant:). I'm not entirely sure that this hasn't affected my view of the novel (which was more from Tris' viewpoint than the short stories were). Since I viewed Sarah as an obstacle to Alex's happiness, I was predisposed to dislike her. (But I disliked her far more than Jackie who was a bitch and also an obstacle to Alex's happiness.)

Are there stories which ignore the *For All The Gods Departed* timeline? (I guess I'm really asking, are there stories/au's which use a timeline which deletes Sarah?) [2]

This is mainly directed to [L], who was disappointed in the predominance of the Tris/Sarah relationship in _For All the Gods Departed_, but seemed general enough to post to the entire list.

This novel needs to carry a warning label that it's not standard slash. It's not meant to be. This is a novel looking for a professional publishing house to take it on, whose roots are based in fan writing.

I happen to love Sarah as a character, and the idea that Alex is not capable of giving Tris all he needs to heal and survive. (I know this may be heresy in fandom--the partner must be the all-encompassing relationship!) I loved that Alex and Sarah had a great relationship, and that that only made things harder for Alex, not easier.

I thought that "Sarah as soulmate" was carried a little too far, since she's basically everyone's soulmate (watches bad movies with Alex, looks at Camy's pictures, drinks with Duff, and, of course, transces [?] with Tris.) But the idea of removing her doesn't work for me at all. [3]

Tris and Alex are variations on two real-life rock musicians named Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. From 1969-1980 they were well known as the lead guitarist and the singer of Led Zeppelin. Those of you who (like me a year ago) have never heard of Zeppelin, only need to know that they were a British rock band, hugely popular in the US, without much support from the press, and that you probably know their songs even if you don't remember he band's name. The most well known song is Stairway to Heaven; also big are Whole Lotta Love, and Black Dog (starts Hey hey momma, say the way you move, gonna make you sweat, gonna make you grove). Anyway, that's who the guys really are. In the fan writings, hey turn into Tristram Lindsay and Alexander Logan. The history of Paradox (the name of the band in the fan stories) follows the history of Zeppelin fairly closely, except that Tris and Alex are lovers from the very beginning. Basically, Alex plays the ingenue, Tris is the manipulator, their relationship is stormy at times, and lasts through 9 years depicted in a bunch of short stories and a very long novel called "For All The Gods Departed." Looks: Alex is 6'3", has long, blond curly hair, blue eyes (green in the novel, in a lame attempt to disguise his likeness to RP), and is often described as looking like a Viking. Tris is around 6', very thin, with long dark brown (almost black) hair, which is curly in the stories and straight in the novel. His skin is very pale and he has a very fine bone structure. The fandom is written almost exclusively by Nancy Arena and Pamela Rose. (There are a few alternate stories by other authors.) Nancy and Pam are searching for a publisher for the novel, which they hope to sell professionally. Basically, the stories tell the history of the band, from the time they meet, up until they have a serious crisis in 1975 or so. The stories vary from the whimsical, through sex vignettes to hurt comfort, angst, and heartbreak. The novel picks up in 1976, as the band tries to recover their music and their relationships, throws in an occult subplot, outside romantic interests, and more. These guys are much nicer than any fandom I've read except Starsky and Hutch and I really love them. In fact, they're probably nicer and cleaner than any real rock stars could ever be, but somehow, that doesn't bother me. In some ways, they get to maintain their youth, because they pay people to handle their mundane details for them (managers, roadies, etc.). [4]

I recommend whole-heartedly,(and not just because Jenn is rubbing my shoulders even as I type) is For All the Gods Departed, *the* Tris/Alex novel. 250,000+ words, and what a wonderful read—love, angst(I've read Tris's wedding night *many* times...) everything I read slash for. Joe Bob says, check it out. [5]

1994

Speaking of music, or rather of Tris/Alex/etc., it occurred to me in one particularly inspired (or is that "slutty") moment that there was no need to panic when Coverdale became Jimmy's main man singer; as a paradigm for Robert Plant, he was every bit as qualified to be Alex as Alex himself is. If Alex and Tris go on the road again, newly invigorated and better-dressed than ever, where is the problem? Isn't this what they did in the follow-up to the novel? [6]

1996

The novel seems to have a harder edge to it than some of the stories which are rather soft for describing the life & loves & travels of a Brit rock band in the 70s.[7]

1997

A couple of years ago, another good friend reviewed *the* novel in Tris/Alex fandom (For All the Gods Departed), saying, 'it's wonderfully, written, and the guys suffer wonderfully, but I couldn't stand the way that the woman is just blithefully written out of the story as soon as the guys need her to be gone." I'm sure there are other examples, too, but, here's my confession: these stories don't bother me. I dislike it when all the women are written as total bitches; but I'm rarely bothered at all when women are killed off, or sent out of the picture so that our boys (TM) can live happily ever after. And I call myself a feminist... [8]

References

  1. ^ from the series description of FATGD Side Stories at AO3
  2. ^ comments by [L] at Virgule-L, quoted anonymously (August 13, 1993)
  3. ^ Megan Kent, August 13, 1993, comments at Virgule-L, quoted with permission
  4. ^ from a fan in Strange Bedfellows #1 (May 1993)
  5. ^ Sandy Herrold in Strange Bedfellows #2 (August 1993)
  6. ^ from Barbara T in Strange Bedfellows (APA) #6
  7. ^ from Strange Bedfellows (APA) #14 (August 1996)
  8. ^ from 1997, by Sandy Herrold to the Virgule-L mailing list. Quoted here, as with everything by Sandy, with permission.
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