Luck of the Draw
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| Zine | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Luck of the Draw |
| Publisher: | |
| Editor: | |
| Author(s): | Meg Lewtan |
| Cover Artist(s): | uncredited |
| Illustrator(s): | |
| Date(s): | June 1989 |
| Medium: | |
| Size: | |
| Genre: | |
| Fandom: | The Professionals |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Luck of the Draw is a circuit zine that was self-published by its author Meg Lewtan. Unlike most Professionals circuit stories, it sported a black and white illustrated cover. A few copies had a color cover.
Other Lewtan Historicals
It is one of three novels by Lewtan that are historical AU novels set in the Victorian Era:
Author's Comments
An excerpt from the author's note:
"THIS IS A HEALTH WARNING.....if you have a weak stomach and are harbouring any doubts about proceeding, don't. However, if you have an utterly twisted sense of humour, an appreciation of the totally absurd and a burning need for an hour's pure escapism, you are cordially invited to gamble your sanity on "The Luck of the Draw." If you lose, on your own head be it, for the odds of surviving the ordeal of reading this tale of conflict, persecution and mistaken identity are about a thousand to one."
The author's note has been quoted in several academic articles and books such as Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet: New Essays edited by Karen Hellekson and Kristina Busse and "The Toy Soldiers from Leeds The Slash Palimpsest" by Mafalda Stasi.
Reactions and Reviews
1990
Recently read Meg Lewtan's Luck of the Draw and -- surprise -- I liked it. That's because it was presented as a Bodice Ripper and didn't pretend to be anything else. And, as such, held up. Which also helped me decipher why I generally do not like most of Lewtan's writing; she always writes Bodice Rippers. Her great saving grace is she writes a terrific Bodie. And I enjoy what she does with Murphy, provide he's a supporting character and doesn't intrude ('cause I also read a B/D/M tale that actually managed to offend me with its animal rutting.) But "Luck of the Draw" has everyone you could wan tin a Bodice Ripper -- purple prose, overwrought writing, plot holes in which you could run Le Mans. On that level, I could actually enjoy it all. [1]
I adored Luck of the Draw. A good bodice-tipper is well worth significant suspension of disbelief. [2]
1991
I am one of the few who disliked LUCK OF THE DRAW. The story was trying to be serious and a parody at the sane tine. I know Meg Lewtan was playing on the harlequin romance attitude about the importance of virginity — so she stressed the fact that Ray kept his virginity and "virtue" even though he was found in a whorehouse. But I kept asking myself: what if Bodie had arrived an hour later. Would Doyle have thus been "spoiled goods?" And of course, here we have poor little Ray rescued by Big Butch Bodie.- I know it was sort of supposed to be a parody, but it didn't quite work for me. [3]
English aristocrat is cheated out of his inherit nce by devious, now dying uncle. He hires a male prostitute (mp) to deceive uncle in turn. Promptly falls in love with mp. Of course, mp is really a very respectable young man who only sought employment in Town to keep his mother and three sisters! This story includes everything from kidnapping and drugging to a duel, where drama peaks when one of the main characters saves the other in a 'shootout'. They promptly swoon after the event, not, I might add, in each other's arms. But all's well that ends well. [4]
References
- ^ comments by Linda Terrell in Short Circuit #2 (July 1990)
- ^ comments by Alys in Short Circuit #3 (October 1990)
- ^ comments by Susan Douglass in Short Circuit #4 (January 1991)
- ^ from Be Gentle With Us #2