Not What You Expect

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Zine
Title: Not What You Expect
Publisher: Giltline Press
Editor(s):
Date(s): January 1998
Series?:
Medium: print
Size:
Genre:
Fandom: multimedia & Professionals
Language: English
External Links:
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Notwhatyouexpect.jpg

Not What You Expect is a slash multimedia fiction anthology with 192 pages. The subtitle on the front is: "A Professionals (more or less) Slash (sort of) zine."

An age statement was required to purchase.

About

From an ad in DIAL #5:

Editor's note: That's all the specific information I have about this zine but it sounded interesting (and it has some cracking authors) so I thought I'd pass it on for you to make your own enquiries. I did also receive this snippet from one of the contributors who has read some of the zines contents : ' . . . It's sort of slash because some of the stories aren't, though most are. It's sort of Pros because some of the stories aren't, though most are. There are three stories by real men. . . It's going to be good, gang. Believe me! And it'll be cheap. Ill let you know how much as soon as I know...

Contents

Pros Stories:

Reactions and Reviews

See reactions and reviews for Golden Idol.

[In the Widening Gyre]: Why this must be read:

This is quite a recent story, posted to Proslib for Halloween. I very seldom read short stories and I tried this one simply because it began with the words "George Cowley did not consider himself as an unduly fastidious man (...) You know my foible, and there are so few Cowley-centered fics; I couldn't miss this one, though I usually avoid the supernatural. But as soon as I started reading I was enthralled by the sheer evocative power of the writing, its way of stirring raw fear, anguish and wonder in the reader's mind, thrown in a gloomy world of turmoil and confusion, where lights are more threatening than darkness.

[...]

I don't think I can add anything without spoiling the thrill. Like the previous story I recced here, it's all about moral dilemmas, the choices we make and their consequences, power, guilt and responsibility. [1]

[Silent Night]: This extremely short story is my favourite in this zine and the only one I took a copy of before I sold the zine. I love this story. It's as simple as it is short, and that's the beauty of it. What stands out is Cowley's limited understanding of what occurs in front of him in his role as narrator and third-party observer. The reader, however, understands everything Cowley misses in his brief exchange with Doyle on Christmas Eve and in an even briefer scene with Bodie earlier on which Cowley reflects. A wealth of emotion and off-screen story is communicated with economical finesse. [2]

[zine]: This large fanzine contains thirteen stories, eight of which are Pros. The writing quality is of a high standard with appearances by some well-known authors. The Teddy Basil' by Nina Basmati and Hannah Arborio is a sort of Vampire Teddies Are Us'. Basil and Clive are planning to take over the world ... with a little help from CI5. Maiden Wyoming contributes two companion stories to this fanzine. Both deal with the theme of changing sex. In A Rose In Any Other Shape Doyle is the one who becomes female; it's Bodie's rum in Sauce For The Gander. Each story takes a slightly different point of view on the subject When Doyle wakes up to find he has turned into a woman, for instance, in his distress he phones Bodie to get help. In Sauce For The Gander, however, Bodie (in the same situation) hides in a closet which Doyle has to drag him out of. This nicely sums up their reactions to their changes in both stories. Happy endings all round, though, and love brings them both back to their right senses. Maiden Wyoming does draw out the character differences between Bodie and Doyle. Where, in Sauce For The Gander, Doyle believes straight away that Bodie has turned into a female, in A Rose In Any Other Shape Bodie needs to be convinced that this woman in Doyle's flat is in fact his partner, who needs his help. The two stories are different enough not to be duplicates of each other, with different sub-plots; though both end with the possibility of the patter of tiny feet . . . Good reading. Soldier In The Rain by C. A. Rien is a short death/revenge story featuring the Bodie/Cowley pairing. It's a story about keeping promises and misreading situations. Silent Night by Patricia James is another quite short story. It's Christmas Eve and Doyle gets a visit from Cowley, bearing a gift from Bodie, who is working. This is a compact story, told from Cowley's point of view. Erica St Jeanne's story December is a deep character study of Bodie and Doyle, and a heavy read. It examines character traits such as Bodies being the 'emotional rescuer where women are concerned; and shows Doyle letting his honesty be his shield, forgetting that it hurts when you hit someone with a shield. I'm afraid I'm not keen on the Doyle in this story, and this Bodie could get on my nerves. Widening Gyre by Eros is very A/U. It's the fantasy of Excalibur, a child, and clouds that bring death, destruction and sometimes, a place of safety and green lushness. The last Professionals story is just one page long: Request Stop by Lainie Stone features the death of Doyle. Bodies reaction to it is unfeeling, to say the least. The other five stories are a real mixture, based around films, TV series and literature. There is a long Star Wars based one - Long, Long Ago by Erica St Jeanne - which I can't comment on as I've never seen any of the films and only vaguely know of the characters. And there is one story of whose source I have no idea: The Hunt by John P. White. The main characters are called Wolf and Bear and they are hunting deer. Helen Raven's story Good Opinion is based in the Pride and Prejudice universe. It's about Daley's time at Cambridge and his relationship with a Mr Erling Taylor, which George Wickham sets out to destroy. It is Erling Taylor who introduces Darcy to Mr Bingley. I would love to see a sequel to this story, charting the relationship between Darcy and Bingley. Golden Idol by Henry Jenkins is another story based on a book, this time Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. It would never have occurred to me to do a Scrooge/Marley story! Don Clayton's 312 Scenarios is from another series I'm not familiar with, ST:TNG and features Data. In all Not What You Expect is a fanzine which lives up to its title - plenty of good reading from various sources. [3]

References

  1. ^ comment at Crack Van (November 28, 2010)
  2. ^ 2010 comments by istia, prosrecs, Archived version
  3. ^ From Discovered In A Letterbox, Issue #7
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