Shadow of the Templar
| Original Slash | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Shadow of the Templar, SOTT |
| Author(s): | M. Chandler |
| Date(s): | 2005 - |
| Length: | |
| Genre: | Original Slash |
| External Links: | Online, On Lulu, SOTT FAQ. |
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Shadow of the Templar, also known as SOTT, is an Original Slash series of four novels and various short stories published by M. Chandler. The author's summary reads:
Simon Drake is an up-and-coming young FBI hotshot, an agent with a personal track record so outstanding that it borders on unbelievable. Not yet thirty, he's already the leader of his own special ops team; a ragtag bunch of talented but nigh-uncontrollable lunatics, it's true, but under Simon's inspired leadership they're a force to be reckoned with, a team with an unparalleled success rate, a team with an almost unblemished record--until now.
Jeremy Archer is the brilliant and unpredictable scion of a long line of international art thieves, simultaneously a phenomenally wealthy English socialite and one of the most infamous criminals in the world. At twenty-seven years old he's already wanted on nearly every continent for thefts totalling more than ninety-one million dollars, and yet no one has ever come close to catching him--until now.
Now?
May the best man win.[1]
The novels and various short stories tell the story, set over a period of years, and chronicles the growing professional and personal relationship between Simon and Jeremy, set against Simon's work with his FBI team of oddballs. The Simon/Jeremy relationship is at first closeted and neither of them are willing to openly discuss it, even with each other.
The story is presented in a straight text format, but there are various multimedia extras available such as the Character Bios and Fanart and Icons made by both the author and other fans. There is also a Livejournal community for fans of the novels, Team Templar, and as of September 2011, there is a podfic in the works.[2]
There is also an annotated edition of the novels with notes from the author about the inspiration for various scenes as well as discussion of the writing process.
The author has revealed the origins of the story, one not uncommon for many a work of fanfiction:
All we wanted was to make up silly slashy stories over AIM. We made up a couple of really fun characters and started playing with them, and somehow our characters got surrounded with a bunch of other characters, and eventually we'd fangirled up the vague plots of four novels and a bunch of random short stories. Lyn, smart girl, was able to make herself stop there.[1]
Shadow of the Templar is likely one of the most popular and well-known original slash stories; it even has its own TV Tropes page.[3] It bears more than a passing similarity to White Collar, which it predates, and draws inspiration from or contains shoutouts to many fan-familiar sources such as Mission Impossible, James Bond and The Thomas Crown Affair.[4] The story is at once a classic caper tale, told in a series of case stories, but it also has all the markers of slash fic as well.
Reviews
- Reviews of all four novels at Goodreads
- Review at Outlaw Reviews
- Review at Epic Recs
References
- ^ a b FAQ on mooncalf.org, accessed September 25, 2011
- ^ A new way to experience the series., accessed September 25, 2011
- ^ Shadow of the Templar on TV Tropes, accessed September 25, 2011
- ^ Annotated Edition of Codenames, accessed September 25, 2011