Journey West

Zine
Title:	Journey West
Publisher:	Oblique Publications, Joan Martin editor
Editor:
Author(s):	Maiden Wyoming
Cover Artist(s):
Illustrator(s):	no art
Date(s):	February 1997
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	Professionals
Language:	English
External Links:	online reviews of the zine
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the cover

likely the title page, or the over of a reprinted version

sample text

Journey West is a slash 191-page novel by Maiden Wyoming. It features several original characters. Format is horizontal A4/Letter, and it contains no art. This zine won a 1997 Huggy Award.

Zine Announcement

"Oblique is pleased to announce anew Professionals novel by a new-to-fandom-but-not-to-writing, Wyoming author, in which Bodie and Doyle (and Cowley!) go west. Set in the present day, this as yet untitled piece should be ready by February 97, just in time for Escapade." -- from Late for Breakfast #31

Summary

The Hatstand's notes: "Set a few years in the future, the novel has Bodie and Doyle in America on a secret operation for the President that takes them to Wyoming and brushes with white supremacists. A first-time story unfolds as the Lads encounter dangers and isolation in the remote locality."

Author's Foreword

My own journey west began in late winter of 1996. In February I was introduced to Pros slash fandom. By March I knew I had a story lurking somewhere in my mind but had nothing except an opening scene to give me any guidance.

So I wrote it. Then I wrote some more. By April I realized I had a plot, probably a theme and certainly was having more fun than I'd ever had writing a romance novel. Both lads are incredibly good characters to work with and frequently they offered suggestions when I went astray... "Bodie ought to be more of a berk, luv. He's too thick by far and you've made him rather more intelligent than he is in real life, seems to me." (This from Doyle.) "Sod off, Sunshine. I'm the star, aren't I. You're just jealous." (Bodie preens here.) (Evil chuckle from Raymond.) "Jealous? Me? In your dreams, mate!" (Bodie smiles.) "Well, speakin' of dreams..." (He reaches out and pulls Ray to him, planting a kiss on the other man's mouth.) (Ray struggles briefly, then surrenders.) And so it went. They are playful. ! As the number of pages grew, I realized I was doing a bit more than i telling a slash story. Having set the scene in Wyoming, where I live, I began to use places, people and events relevant tot his part of the world I and discovered I was actually tied into current news. Day after day reality fed my story and gave The Lads more trouble to deal with. It was terrific fun. And it was magic. The true magic of fiction happens when the world of fantasy and the experiential (real) world co-exist, journey West is such a work. When you've finished reading it, contact me. I'll point out the intersections to you. This has been the most exciting, delightful writing journey I've taken. It will not be the last.

Enjoy!

Editor's Foreword

Journey West came to me in pieces. Large pieces. First 150 pages. Then 500. Then another version of 500 plus and so on.

It came complete with wailing and gnashing of teeth. ("I've just trashed 50 pages of ending! Aarrgghh!") The voices came with it, especially if I had comments. ("Bodie's not that stupid." "No?" Doyle mutters. "Coulda fooled me.") Piece by piece it came together. Sometimes large pieces, sometimes little ones. Sometimes small changes resulting in large changes.

So here it is. We who've been involved have enjoyed it. We hope you do too.

Reactions and Reviews

Unknown Date

My copy was bought from [S B] and has a plain beige card cover with a plastic overlay, heavier black card back cover, and comb binding. It has 191 pages, all of it text. The font is moderate sized, and, while there are margins of a decent size for reading comfort, there's little overall wasted white space. Typos and grammatical boo-boos are at a minimum.

Maiden Wyoming's writing is always accomplished, and that's certainly true of this long novel. She's particularly skilled at plotting and at writing action sequences, where events occur with building intensity. This entire novel showcases her skills in those areas.

That said, her stories rarely work for me, in large measure because action and plot aren't big draws for me. I read primarily for relationships and characterisation, and, in those areas, I generally find her work unsatisfying, and that's the case with this novel. I find the characterisation in JOURNEY WEST superficial, with Bodie and Doyle, along with a spectrum of original characters, often coming across like cartoon action figures, all dramatic flourish and colourful behaviours, but not much depth, roundedness, or subtlety.

The novel is set a few years in the future, when Bodie and Doyle are in their forties. I have a major kink for older Lads stories, so that part of the novel should've been especially delightful, but even massaging that kink of mine didn't make this novel work for me.

Set in Wyoming, the novel recounts Bodie and Doyle's dangerous adventures while on a secret mission requested by the US President that leads them to violent encounters with white supremacists. On the subjective level, I'm not inherently interested, when I look at Pros fiction, in reading about American politics, internal situations, or locations. On a more objective level, I never bought the reasons given for two aging British CI5 agents being needed to handle a US homeland security issue. As I was reading, I couldn't stop feeling the set-up was a flimsy excuse for an American writer to write an American story with an American setting, but using two Brit agents as the focus simply because she liked them. It made a hybrid mix that never felt comfortable, and I never found the story itself--the plot, the action, the events--sufficiently engrossing to overcome what I perceived as weak characterisation. I particularly didn't care about any of the original characters that pepper this novel. Since Bodie and Doyle are on their own in a foreign place, the only characters familiar to us in this long text are Bodie and Doyle themselves. The original characters range from evil to rather mystically good, from white supremacists to native wise women. I never developed any caring for the positive characters and the supernatural elements surrounding some of them irritated me in a novel with an otherwise realistic grounding.

The novel is well known in the fandom for its extremely graphic violence. My unfortunate response to these scenes was to find them ludicrous rather than gripping or riveting or shocking. Inappropriate laughter doesn't lead to the mood presumably intended in passages such as:

Bodie's humanity disappeared again. Darkness filled his vision for a moment, then flashed to crimson--a bloody red which made his sight sharp and sure. A burn of hot rage beyond anything he'd ever felt before consumed him like fire. His muscles swelled with a strength driven by berserker madness. He launched and struck, rising to his feet behind Donovan, his left arm swinging up to toss aside the rifle, then jerking the shirt Donovan wore up and away from his chest. The universe halted for a moment while he glared death into his prey's terrified eyes.

Donovan had time for one shrill scream. (p. 54)

I read this novel once and have never felt any urge to return. Since I read to discover stories I want to reread, that indicates the failure JOURNEY WEST is for me. Well-done action scenes and intricate plotting couldn't compensate for what I see as superficial characterisation and over-the-top elements, along with my never feeling any particular interest in the Wyoming setting and American situations as far as getting a kick out of seeing, specifically, Bodie and Doyle in that venue. I'm well aware, however, that I'm in the minority in not enjoying this novel!

An interesting story set about a decade post-series. The boys are sent on what may be the Operation Susie to end all Operation Susies, with no backup, no way out, and a seriously nasty bunch of baddies on their tails. It's set in Wyoming, so it's sadly lacking the London setting and supporting characters that I so enjoy; and there's a touch of mysticism and the supernatural, which is never a favorite of mine, especially in this fandom. That having been said, however, the pacing is flawless and the plot, intriguing; from a technical standpoint, this novel is superbly constructed. The author is clearly a polished, seasoned pro, and I enjoyed this far more than I do most "fish out of water" tales. Plus, Oblique has done its usual spectacular publishing job, with wonderful layouts and unusual, appropriate graphics.

Let me preface by saying that if I wanted to read stories about middle-aged and elderly American females I'd be reading Golden Girls fan fiction. When I'm reading Pros fan fiction, I'm looking for stories about Doyle and Bodie--relationship stories within a framework of adventure, espionage or romance. So a fiction that veers too far for too long from Doyle and Bodie bores the hell out of me--and this is unfortunately how I felt about Journey West for the final half of the fiction: far too much interaction with characters who bored me silly.

That said, there are things I like a lot about Journey West. I like the whole older lads thing--and I thought Ms. Wyoming touched on some interesting topics: aging action heroes, for one. How do Doyle and Bodie compensate for bodies that no longer react as swiftly and strongly as they once did? Do they use their experience and wisdom and canniness to fill in the gaps? There is a very brave moment when we believe Ray has suffered a heart attack (and I think the aftereffect of Ray's shooting is something that many fans have considered--and the occasional writer brushes on), but Wyoming retreats hastily from this.

And yet...she doesn't retreat from things like Bodie ripping a guy's heart out with his bare hand...so go figure.

I liked also the idea of Bodie and Doyle, those quintessential English blokes, dealing with America and Americans--the modern Wild West--but we get such a dreadful caricature of people and places. What could have been amusing merely becomes painful by the end.

I know a number of fans adore this story--it came highly recommended to me by many people--and for imagination and invention--yes, I give it high marks. The strong action sequences were also a pleasure, and I didn't mind the exaggerated violence except when it became cartoony. In fact, the first half of the story worked well for me (a few jaw-dropping moments aside). I really liked the potential complexity here of plot and theme--I love longer stories like this. However, I didn't feel that potential was fully explored; instead we get way too much of the Dances With Wackos shamanism stuff. A little would have gone a very long way, and even then I just can't see Doyle and Bodie buying in.

There's quite a bit of hurt/comfort, but as much as I like these elements, I found Bodie's prolonged poisoning tedious. And while Doyle and Bodie are together through most of the story, there's surprisingly little sex or meaningful dialog. Most of their interaction seemed to me to take place on a superficial--and occasionally astral--plane--and this, in particular, is what I found disappointing in the second half of the story.

All that said, in many ways Journey West is a kind of Pros classic, and probably should be read for that reason alone.

I received this zine a couple of days ago and jumped in feet first to savour Bodie and Doyle older, perhaps wiser, still active and dangerous and - considering how well MS (and I have no doubt LC I've just never seen him) has aged - still bloody gorgeous men in their mid forties. I wasn't disappointed. I did tell the author that I'm still reeling a little from the body count, this is NOT a sweet little story, rather a violent look at the underbelly of the reactionary, rifle waving culture in the USA. Hurt and, fortunately, comfort are provided in bucket loads, and a certain amount of angst is present, especially on Bodie's part.

Bodie and Doyle get hung out to dry in the company of men and women who kill first and think to ask later. They survive because they are good, damn good, but they are caught in a web of intrigue that at first engulfs them and then slowly unravels as they make unexpected allies. Even Bodie's regression to primitive savage at one point (something that comes back to haunt him) was acceptable in the context of the company they were in, what was happening to both of them and what had just happened (and been further threatened) to Doyle.

The OC's in this book are well written. I really liked the neighbours and the DA and his lawyer wife. I hated the villains, but they weren't cardboard cut out villains, they had flesh, blood and meaning behind their evils. I liked the use of American Indian mythology. It wasn't overused and it didn't become a 'magic' crutch for Bodie and Doyle. While it supported them, Bodie and Doyle still had to do it all on their own planning, plotting and action.

And, to my delight, alongside this well plotted, exciting and violent voyage, Bodie and Doyle find each other. They have remained in CI5, they remain friends, but Bodie reflects on how they have become a little distant to each other due to the pressure of work as non combat operatives. The trip alters all that, and Bodie realizes that he loves Doyle far more than just as a good friend. Doyle is not far behind, although he has a tough battle to get Bodie to see that, and in the middle of the hatred, carnage and violence, you get a wonderful 'romance' in as much as the lads would ever romance another guy! I also killed myself laughing at their attempt at a 'camp' coupledom as they tried to allay the suspicion of the Secret Agents sniffing around them.

Any grumbles, well a few Americanisms, of which the author is well aware. B and D use the dreaded word 'gotten' aahhh! I still don't think they would ever use it even if it is becoming more common over here now with young people. Otherwise I was drawn in and thought Bodie and Doyle's characterisation was spot on!

Maiden introduced a plethora of original characters. From a feminist point of view, this novel did wonderful things with a broad range of women characters without making any of them marysues *or* gratuitous. (I'm often amused by noticing, 'gee, that's a lot of female characters' then counting and realizing that the ratio is still no more than 1:3; this was the case here, as well.) There were six women who played important roles, not all of them nice, and all were characterized well and handled well.

1997

... on looking at the first page or so, looked as if it was going to be a bit on the weird side; the first scene, to me, came across like the Witches' scene from Macbeth. But oh. what a mistake I had made. This turned out to be a well written, interesting story... If this is the first story from the author she has come up with a winner and I want to read more! It is set in 1995 when Cowley has left CI5 and B&D spend more of their time behind desks than as partners in the field. Their new female boss sends them to Wyoming on an unspecified mission and they find themselves involved with right-wing white supremacists. Not knowing what is going on, they go along with the charade as mercenaries and train the troops, being told this is just an interim until their mission is set up. Despite the fact they have never considered the other as anything but a friend, the situation and the demands put upon them eventually make them realise that there is more than friendship between them. They move on to their mission and become involved with a Native American woman and her family and two friends (which explains the witches scene). The story has a bit of everything with plenty of hurt/comfort and adventure but still plenty of tenderness and love between them. I hope I don't spoil it all for you by saying that no matter how black it starts to look, it has a happy ending.

Physically, this is an impressive zine. Caroline Carbis of Oblique did the book design, although she had no other creative input, and her skill shows here as it does in the Oblique layouts. JOURNEY WEST is cleanly and clearly printed in a space-efficient format, although I could have wished for a serif typeface. It is unusual in being printed in a landscape orientation, rather than the normal portrait one, and it is virtually typo-free, which is, perhaps, also unusual. Although there is no actual artwork, the lettering of chapter headings, running titles, and page numbers is stylish, and the clip-art images at the chapter heads match the mood of each chapter nicely.

Reading this novel set me thinking about what a crossover is, because although this story is not a crossover, in some significant ways it reads like one. In 1995, many years after Bodie and Doyle have settled down to comfortable desk jobs within CI5, they are sent into the field again on a mysterious loan to an unnamed U.S. organization, told only that they will be briefed on site. But the promised briefing never arrives, and on landing they find that they have apparently been cut loose, branded criminal renegades in Britain. Meanwhile their contacts in the American Midwest turn out to be neo-Nazi militia, bent on training guerrilla troops and with evidence to show that they have hired our heroes as instructors. Except that Bodie and Doyle never advertised themselves on the market where Colonel Grant claims to have found them, let alone set up the Swiss account into which he paid their hefty fee. Cut off from all contact with friends at home, alternately bribed and threatened into playing along with the schemes of their employers/captors, the two possibly-ex-CI5 agents find themselves drawn into a tangle of deception and violent death.

Sent to Jackson, Wyoming as deep-cover moles -- but for whom? -- they encounter three unusual women. Belinda Stone is a doctor and Margaret Nicks is a lawyer, two sets of skills which the men desperately need as the body count climbs ever higher around them. And Amanda Four Horses is a visionary, a Native American healer, whose medicines and trances fascinate Doyle almost as much as they frighten Bodie, despite -- or because of -- the fact that she saved his life with them. (I kept trying to make the women fit into the Maiden/Mother/Crone triumvirate, but it doesn't work; Amanda is both Crone and Mother, and Belinda, though the only candidate for Maiden, doesn't really fit.Still, I kept feeling as though there were an archetype hovering just out of reach.) (And don't let me mislead you; our heroes don't sleep with any of them.)

And threaded through all of this, of course, is the slash. This is a first-time relationship, of what I might facetiously call Type 2-B; their feelings are mutual and they discover them reasonably quickly, but one of them -- in this case, Bodie -- is consumed by guilt and self-loathing and convinced that the other would be better off without him. The relationship is not itself the plot, as it is in much slash, but its vicissitudes parallel the plot, as in the rest.

So why did this keep feeling to me like a cross-over? One of the reasons for crossovers is to put familiar characters into unfamiliar situations: Kirk finds himself on the Tardis; Vinnie Terranova awakens in the Tunnels. (In this way, they're like a/us.) Another is to get some characters together whom we already know and like, but who could never meet in the normal course of events, just to watch what happens: Napoleon Solo and Fox Mulder trying to work together; Sonny Steelgrave and Kerr Avon trying to cheat each other. Both of these are going on in JOURNEY WEST, with the slight detail that the non-Pros characters and situations are original. But Amanda, Margaret, and Belinda are as fully realized as any characters I've seen in fanfic, and our lads are in as unfamiliar territory running a book- and flower-shop in Jackson, let alone in Amanda's spirit world, as they would ever be in the Doctor's multiverse.

Given this, it's not at all clear to me why the author chose to set this story in 1995. Bodie and Doyle do not sound or act as though they have been out of the field for upwards of a decade. They have supposedly been occupied in "accessing international terrorist files, compiling databases for the government prognisticators and adding a bit o' prediction of [their] own" [p. 11]. Yet, finding themselves in the middle of what they have presumably been analyzing, they don't mention or use any of what they ought to know from their jobs. No time seems to have passed for them since the show went off the air; the experiences they remind each other of are all from episodes, and they rapidly -- instantly -- regain the fitness levels of active agents, despite being much older as well as long out of practice. They act like the canonical characters dropped into the middle of the 90s, not like the characters grown older through the intervening years. (Setting the story in the 90s does allow a quick explanation of why Cowley isn't around, and makes the militia issue seem more timely. But both of these could have been done in the show's timeframe with a little more work.) If I'm going to read about the 1970s-80s characters, I'd rather that's when the story were set.

The slash is actually a fairly small part of this novel. The sex scenes are tastefully and briefly described; readers explicitly looking for erotica -- looking for explicit erotica? -- are not likely to find it here. (Note: I am not saying that "not brief" = "not tasteful." Anyone who has read my own lengthy sex scenes will know that!) Bodie's angst is somewhat pathological; it's clearly not rooted in a realistic self-assessment, but in his guilty horror at what he has done, unknown to Doyle, to secure their cover. Still, it rings somewhat false: overdone. This is the kind of story in which Doyle can tell Bodie outright that he loves him, wants him, feels the same way Bodie does, and Bodie answers flatly, "You're saying all this stuff to make it easier on me. Don't think I don't appreciate it, mate, but I'm not buying" [p. 54]. I kept wanting to slap him. Oh, get over yourself! Some angst fans might get some wallow pleasure out of JOURNEY WEST, but I didn't.

Brutality fans, however, will be in for a larger treat. Fans who were at the Escapade bedtime story reading may remember a scene read there from this novel, in which a naked, unarmed Bodie kills an enemy by stabbing his hand upward through the other's belly, behind the ribs, and quite literally ripping his heart out. And yes, Bodie makes him eat it, too. The level of brutality was another thing that made it impossible to see them as ten years older and in desk jobs.

Overall, in fact, the characterizations of Bodie and Doyle never quite came together for me. They're long out of the field but rapidly become better than they ever were. They're in love and know it, but keep letting themselves be jerked apart. And an idiot-plot bit early on kept grating on me (an idiot plot is when the characters behave like idiots because it's the only way to keep the plot going): Bodie is cut with a knife. The cut, though minor, won't stop bleeding when it should. He shortly becomes dizzy and nauseated, and nearly faints. Dr. Grant, wife of the nefarious Colonel Grant, gives him an unspecified injection which revives him immediately. This goes on regularly, the sick spells, shots, and instant recovery, for weeks. And through it all Doyle wonders vaguely what the problem could be, but sees "no reason to make a nuisance out of himself over the issue" [p. 34]. This from the ex-Drugs Squad member!

On the other hand, if "Maiden Wyoming" failed to fully achieve her goals, it's partly because her sights were set higher than those of most writers. Although new to fandom, she is an experienced professional writer, and her plot is more complex and sophisticated than that of most fan novels, and her original characters ditto.

Or perhaps her sights were not set higher, but merely elsewhere. Although I appreciated the skill and technique that went into the plot, and I liked Amanda, Margaret, and Belinda (as well as Chuck and other more minor characters) and enjoyed getting to know them, what I want when I pick up a slash novel is a novel that focuses on slash. And, as I said before, the slash was only a subplot here, and moreover it was one that never quite pulled me in because of the way Bodie's angst was depicted. The brutality also put me off. This is a novel that achieves most of what it sets out to do, but I wanted it to be doing something else.

I wanted to review it here because I haven't heard any fannish discussion of it, but I thought it was an interestingly different type of slash novel and hope to get some discussion going. I'd especially like to hear from someone who loved it. What did you love about it?"

Macbeth's witches, and all we needed was a blasted heath. However, I read on. It's a rollicking yarn, completely over-top in places but well told and the writing is good enough to make the unlikely seem possible (as long as you don't stop to think about it). The story is extremely gory in places, though one scene struck me as so ludicrous that I laughed. I do have niggles about the plot: the reasons behind sending Bodie and Doyle to the States in the first place do not make sense and I was brought up short by suddenly finding that in a story set in 1995, the President of the USA is not Bill Clinton. Where the story falls down for me is in the characterisation of Bodie and Doyle. This is not so much in what they do, though I did get very tired of SuperBodie throughout the action, and I blinked a bit at Doyle's use of meat-skewers. However; a lot of what happens can be justified by what is going on in the story. No, it is the way the characters talk and think that seems wrong. Some of the ideas and concepts they come out with must be American because British people don't think about such matters in that way (the equivalent of motherhood apple pie and God Save America). The other big problem I had with the story is that despite the occasional mention of greying (sorry, silvering) hair, I had the impression that these were men in their mid-to-late forties, Doyle still wean his tight jeans, has curly auburn hair and poses shamelessly. Bodie dashes around like a man half his age, and is told by Doyle at one point that he can't go on dressing the way he did in 1980. And that's where I felt the story was stuck, despite the date in the chapter headings of 1995. These men were thirty-something and in the prime of life, not men who had some fifteen further years of age and experience to affect them. So, a ripping yarn (literally!) and worth reading as such.

When I read Maiden Wyoming's Pros novel the first time, I was most impressed by the length (over 500 pages) and the fact that it had a plot, that it was about Bodie and Doyle (usually a good start to satisfying my reading appetite), and that they, yes, had sex. Being a beta reader, I pointed out this and that, and sent it back. What I got as the second draft absolutely blew me away. I was so impressed that I was practically openjawed through the entire second reading.

The plot is straightforward, Bodie and Doyle go undercover to uncover a plot to kill an important political figure. What makes it interesting is the fact that it takes place in the '90's, that B and D are in America (Wyoming), and that they are perfectly themselves, as we see them in the show, but only older, in age and maturity. That does not, however, make them staid, dull individuals. In the opening scene, where the lads show up, Doyle is about to throw up into an airbag, while at the same time giving Bodie "his beloved window seat." This caught me. I'm forever getting angry at writers who have Doyle constantly treat Bodie like shit...not that he doesn't take his caustic temper out on Bodie from time to time, however, for me there is a limit. Then, in a following scene, Bodie and Doyle are being driven in a truck to a camp location out in the wilderness, and Doyle falls comfortably asleep against Bodie.

Later, when Doyle is threatened by gunfire, Bodie lights out after them, and they are soon history, Bodie style. Scenes like these, threaded throughout the story, remind me again and again, of how they care for each other. I love that. I -need- that in a Pros story. It's exactly the thing I come to fandom for.

Is this a slap on a condom, jab it in any-old-time, cause we feel like it kinda story? Nooooooo way. Exactly the opposite. But there is sex aplenty. MW builds up the passionate, sexual part of their relationship, builds it up like a slow coal fire, so that by the time one of them grabs for the lubricant, I'm on fire myself. There is a hot tub scene that positively sizzles all the water away. Yet, at the same time, there is another hot tub scene wherein Bodie tends to Ray, bathing him, comforting him. There is no sex, but there is passion, and love, and caring.

In addition to the all important plot, and the sex (whew, is it hot in here, or is it just me?), there is another facet to this story: the story of Bodie and his journey into and out of the darkness that is within him. He is a killer, yes, but is that all he is? Where is the humanity, and do I have any? he asks himself? When Bodie looks at Ray he does not see the killer, only the avenging angel, can he ever be like that?. And to help him in this journey, even though he doesn't understand all that Bodie is going through, is Ray. Ray is ever at his side, ever his companion, ever his friend.

And at the end...in the end, all you can do is turn the last page, knowing that all stories have to end sometime, maybe wishing that this one didn't have to, and maybe you'll do what I did: put your head in your arms and cry for the beauty of it.

Get your copies while they're hot, ladies.

Can you tell that I had extremely mixed feelings about this work? Nothing really wrong with Maiden Wyoming as a writer. Her love for the Lads shines through and she did everything she could to do justice to the boys given the setting and the story she wanted to tell. Given that, I don't think anyone could do a better job with these elements. It is strictly my problem that my interest in a) an American western setting, b) a late-90s timeframe, c) older men, and d) visions in campfires is strictly limited.

*But.* Bodie is a demi-god in this, and in order to rationalize the 198 pages it takes for him to subdue his enemies, he has to be given a handicap I find terribly difficult to accept with a straight face. Doyle is quite resilient, for a young geezer, and both lads are allowed to suffer physically in considerable medical detail.

Let me give anyone who is interested in reading this a word of advice. *Don't* read Jane Mailander's Northern Exposure story (in PtP) just before you begin "Journey West" or every reference to the American Indian culture involved will take on a certain dead-pan hysteria, and the whole thing starts looking like the X-Files episode "Shapes" without the werewolf to liven things up. Nor should you allow yourself to pause portentously and mutter "bump bump *bum!!*" before every use of the phrase "President Of The United States."

I wish I could have resisted the temptation. But I couldn't.

I had the misfortune to read a little over a hundred pages of before mentally barfing. Since I've discussed my distaste for this item previously, I shall refrain from further maligning it, though the urge is strong.

1999

[Regarding the Native American and mysticism parts]: I HATED this part. It's a major anti-kink for me to stick mysticism and such in like this. I didn't mind Falconhurst nor the Jane dreaming stuff but this had no relation to the story -- nor to B and D. I didn't think it was needed and being originally from the Appalachians every now and then you get someone throwing in the noble hillbillies with their hill magic and potions that are better than medicine etc and it's a major grate on my nerves.

[snipped]

To me the three women about the fire was too Mary Sueish. I just don't like the wise person who forsees "two strangers coming to help" etc. Unless you've got a psychic and it's a major part of the plot this kind of side plot is definitely an antikink. Again it's one of my quirks so someone else might like it.

[Regarding Bodie's violence]: Probably unrealistic but I liked this bit. It wasn't hugely graphic and was over with fast -- and the guy was trying to kill Doyle and Bodie. I'm not a fan of violence and don't see the point of long descriptions of torture but I don't mind if it's fast and minimal description. Definitely not a wallow.

[snipped]

[Regarding the overly-convenient plot point for the men Bodie had to kill to turn out to be bad guys and for Doyle to have such a good opportunity to show that he could be as ruthless as Bodie]:

I thought it was a HUGE plot hole --- it's okay that Bodie killed the agents because in the end they turned out to be 'bad guys' rather than just agents doing their job. I kept thinking what if they hadn't been bad guys he'd have tortured agents just like he and Doyle who were just doing their job. I could see Bodie killing them if he knew that there was no way that they could get away and if he refused then he and Doyle would be killed as well. But torturing them -- no way. That's not a Bodie I believe in nor one I want to read about.

I also thought the bit with Doyle showing how ruthless he could be was too convenient as well.

I had other problems with the story too. I hated the Natzi virus plot. HATED HATED HATED! For me it ruined the whole story -- I can skim over the violence and do in stories I like otherwise but that was so pervasive in the plot that I threw in the towel and went to skim mode for all those bits. Again it may be a kink of mine but I hate that sort of thing. It hits my 'oh come on button.' Not to mention that the minute the girl cut Bodie I thought Hamlet and Oh please.

For me I would have liked the story without the virus poison Bodie bit, and the indian ghosts and mysticism. Thinking about it I probably could have handled the mysticism since it wasn't very pervasive and I could ignore those parts but the virus and the Bodie angst about his violent nature was too much of the story for me to be able to ignore it.

2004

I read fan fiction about The Professionals before I ever watched and came to love the series. Journey West was not the first story I encountered from the CI5 universe by a long shot, but it has left such an impact on me that I now cannot think of the series without also thinking of this tale. Recently rereading this work, which is set in 1995, impressed upon me how timely and current its plot remains: an older Bodie and Doyle, brought to the United States, are abandoned to the machinations of domestic terrorists who plan to use the two operatives to strike against the nation by kidnapping the children of the President and thus controlling the Commander-in-Chief. Bodie and Doyle must walk a dangerous line between resisting the terrorists' plans and appeasing them long enough both to remain alive and to form alliances in the most unlikely of places. The resulting tale is dark, gritty, starkly violent, and often surprisingly poignant.

Maiden Wyoming manages to accomplish a number of delicate tasks in this remarkable work. First, she ages the characters in a meaningful and believable way, giving them credit for years of experience and training while also allowing them to recognize that they are no longer young. In fact, as the story progresses, they find they are quite vulnerable indeed, and the grim realities of this lead to some of the most moving passages in the novel. (A favorite line involves two youths identifying Bodie and Doyle from decade-old photographs: "But...they're supposed to be such hot shit. The big guy looks like he's about to fall over. The little guy's limping like my grandpa." Of course, both prove to be "hot shit," despite their wear and tear, almost immediately, but they also come face to face with their limitations and mortality in the process.)

Second, she revisits some classic themes from the series and brings them into even sharper, more dramatic focus: CI5's apparent abandonment of the "expendable" partners once they have served their purpose, Bodie's concerns over what he perceives as his own amoral nature as opposed to Doyle's inherent morality, the ongoing conflict between personal loyalty and professional duty. Maiden Wyoming captures the characters of Bodie and Doyle, their voices and thoughts, beautifully, highlighting their tragic flaws as well as their determined courage.

Third, she introduces new elements to the universe, including the backdrop of U.S. politics and Wyoming society (with a healthy dose of Native American culture), compelling but not distracting original characters, and a sexual element that develops with the story from a first-time slash scenario to a more mature gay relationship. These elements are secondary to the novel's basic sense of primal urgency as we wrestle with the kind of animals we are or can become when everything we know has been stripped away and all that remains is a no-win situation. The author's answers are drawn on a grand scale with unapologetically bold and bloody symbols. With its attention to the psychological, the spiritual, and even the supernatural aspects of the partners' peril, Journey West is a book not only about Bodie and Doyle's post-series future, but also about transcendent issues of life, death, and love. The West serves as a powerful metaphor for the unexplored frontier Bodie and Doyle face in their proverbial dark night of the soul.