Looking Glass World

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Bodie/Doyle Fanfiction
Title: Looking Glass World
Author(s): Felicity M. Parkinson
Date(s): 1982
Length:
Genre: slash
Fandom: The Professionals
External Links: Looking Glass World at the Circuit Archive

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Looking Glass World is a Bodie/Doyle story by Felicity M. Parkinson.

It is a story on The 1985 Hatstand Express Top Ten Lists.

It is a circuit story, and part of Looking Glass Universe.

Looking Glass Universe

Possible Sequel, and Other Fans' Versions

I was fascinated to read that a Looking Glass World novella has been written. That's the second Looking Glass World story I've come across from the U.S. in the past few months. As the author of the original story I'm intrigued to see that after many years (the story was written circa 1982) there's suddenly been an upsurge of interest in the idea. I've also had various people suggesting I write a sequel, perhaps I'll do that yet. [1]

Summary

In 2000, two fans Cassie Ingaben and Dagger compiled an index of many of the circuit stories. They also wrote brief summaries:

Cassie: Like in Star Trek, B&D are mysteriously plunged into a mirror universe where they meet a loutish and gay B (in CI5) and where there is a delinquent and gay D. The non-mirror D is mistaken for this one, and his protector abducts him. When they realize the mistake they drug him and brainwash him into thinking he is a whore. The mirror B helps B to find D, but when he does he profits from the situation and spends the weekend having sex with D. As they escape more baddies D loses the memory of his whore interlude and they are happily returned to their universe, where they can acknowledge their growing love and get together. The mirror B is also rewarded, in a fashion, as he finally finds the missing mirror D, and can plan a seduction.

Reactions and Reviews

1985

One of my favorites simply because it IS so different—I've never really read anything like this before in B/D fandom (or in any other fandom, for that matter). It has B&D plunged—quite unwittingly—into a crazy, unpredictable, 'science fiction'-type plot, and discovering their love for each other along the way. I really can't describe it beyond that—you'd have to read it for yourself."[2]

1994

Interestingly, in Professionals fanfic there is a takeoff on the Mirror, Mirror idea in K/S, a story called ``Looking Glass World," by Ellis Ward. Amusingly, in this story Doyle recognizes that their excursion into the parallel world is like an episode of Star Trek! Rather than making the Mirror universe simply nastier than the source universe, Ward presents a set of characters with a slightly harder edge, reminiscent of their characterization in other Professionals fanfic. In the Mirror world, Bodie and Doyle are gay, while in the real world they are not. Furthermore, the Mirror Bodie explains that he sleeps with Cowley to keep Cowley on his good side; this is a reference to other fan literature that pairs Bodie with their supervisor. In the course of the story, the Mirror Bodie takes sexual advantage of the real Doyle who has been kidnapped and brainwashed into becoming a hustler (Doyle as prostitute is another fannish cliche). The Mirror Bodie ultimately redeems himself by helping the real Bodie recover Doyle and escape from the Mirror universe. The function of the interaction with the Mirror universe characters again seems to be to make the characters in the real (i.e., source) universe recognize their attraction and the possibility of a relationship between them. [3]

2010

It's an interesting story, but its main interest for me is that it was the story that prompted Ellis Ward to write two fascinating sequels And Memories Die I and II. [4]

References

  1. ^ comments by Parkinson in Short Circuit #3 (October 1990)
  2. ^ review from a fan's list of favorite Pros stories published The Hatstand Express #6 (July 1985).
  3. ^ post by Lynn C. to the Virgule-L mailing list on June 7, 1994, quoted with permission.
  4. ^ alicambs Professional Recs, Archived version, dated March 19, 2010.