Outlaws and In-Laws

Fanfiction
Title:	Outlaws and In-Laws
Author(s):	Nova
Date(s):	2002
Length:	23815 words
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	Blake's 7
Relationship(s):
External Links:	Outlaws and Inlaws at AO3
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Outlaws and In-Laws is a Blake/Avon Blake's 7 story by Nova.

It was originally printed in the zine Fire and Ice #7.

Reactions and Reviews

AU, based on the other theory of relativity relatives are OK if you keep them at a distance, preferably half a galaxy. It's about coming to terms with one's past. In the first half Blake introduces Avon to his parents, as his lover, only to find that his mum is homophobic, at least when it comes to her son and her missing grandchildren. He has to try to make her see that Avon is what he needs. Then Avon feels a need to reciprocate. The story gets far darker here, as the Family Avon is spectacularly dysfunctional and some quite upsetting things happen. Dark, strong, with a lot in it apart from the sex.

I didn't re-read this one because it's very long, so my thoughts are going to be a bit older. Meet the parents is a hilarious trope that I love - and there is a lot of good stuff in this fic. This is my first exposure to tropes about Avon's family I am assured are relatively common, but I still haven't really come across them. I think it's well done (I love Avon's mother), even if I don't really buy Avon's Traumatic Past and even if I would ideally not have these darkfic elements in my meet the parents fic (Teddy bears? Yes. Child rape? No). Also, I seem to recall this contains a major example of Avon's Incredible Beauty as Plot Point. This fic contains Jenna/Gan - a pairing I had not thought of before, and which I now think makes a lot of sense! Again, as with 'Time and Fevers', my major problem with this fic, which I genuinely like, is that Blake is far too passive. I don't understand why he isn't ripping Avon's house apart from the first scene that they're there onwards. The fact that he won't be picked up for a while and will have to keep staying with these people/doesn't want to embarrass Avon is no real excuse. It's all awful, and Blake does nothing to stop it. BLAKE does nothing to stop it. I just don't find that plausible. That is the point of him, although I admit Blake's passivity does give Avon a chance to be clever, which is nice. Maybe I am just showing my preferences... but I like to think that it's not that I like Blake best, but rather that I like both of them best.

One of my favorite Nova’s fics and so quintessentially her - very good and hot mess at the same time. It has a lot of themes which I like and most of which Nova generally does well: explorations of characters’ pasts and their sexual histories; political themes, including sexual politics; quite a lot of worldbuilding and interesting original characters. That first time is one of my favorite ones, the sex is original, hot and not unrealistic at the same time. Even the cheesier parts didn’t feel that bad (or maybe my love of the Gothic genre helped me to get through them). However, the mood of the first and the second part of the fic was just way too different, which again might have been the point, but I don’t think that it works that well there. I agree with Aralias’ review that Blake is too damn passive in the second part, and this just felt like him abandoning Avon. I think it contributes to the sudden drop of temperature in the story, figuratively speaking. I also wish we spent more time with Blake’s mom - she seemed like a fascinating character, and yet most of her arc was spent on wackiness and being an obstacle.