The Cook and the Warehouseman

Zine
Title:	The Cook and the Warehouseman
Publisher:	Pear Tree Press
Editor:
Author(s):	Helen Raven
Cover Artist(s):
Illustrator(s):
Date(s):	October 1997
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	The Professionals
Language:	English
External Links:	online version
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

front cover

The Cook and the Warehouseman is a 183-page slash AU Professionals novel by Helen Raven that was inspired by Hostage to Peace.

It contains no interior illustration.

sample text

From the Introduction

Explanations and Apologies: Some of you may notice a distinct resemblance between the starting point of this novel and the starting point of Wally's Hostage to Peace. Now, don't jump to conclusions, there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for this, namely: I am a chronic and shameless plagiarist. I read Hostage to Peace some three years ago, thought, "Wow!" and then," But what if...?" and that was my free time booked for a year or so. I didn't have the courtesy to get in touch with Wally and warn her of what I was working on—largely because I had no intention of stopping this work—so I'd like to take this opportunity to offer Wally my thanks for a great read, and my hopes that the existence of my novel won't spoil her enjoyment of her own.

Summary

The Hatstand's summary:

A science fiction, alternate universe Bodie/Doyle novel in which CI5 agent Bodie's life takes an abrupt and unexpected turn when an alien spaceship appears over Earth and Prince Ray, nephew of the ruler of the alien planet, voices a desire to marry him. For the good of the alliance and--according to Cowley--the safety of Earth, Bodie agrees to accept the extraordinary offer and leaves with the aliens for their planet. The novel was inspired by the set-up in Wally's zine novel Hostage to Peace, but presents an entirely different take on the core idea of Bodie's marrying an alien Ray and living with him on Ray's world.

From A 2010 Interview with Helen Raven

"The Cook and the Warehouseman" is the story that I've re-read most often, but that's partly because it's the easiest read, i.e. the least demanding emotionally. I do find it very entertaining and satisfying and there are some lines that still make me giggle to myself over ten years later ("As my uncle says, 'There's nothing so strange it won't pay good money to try a new kind of jam.'"), but really it's a piece of fluff, and I feel I should be speaking up for something that's more...ambitious.

... "The Cook and the Warehouseman" was somewhat about the fact that humans do, on the whole, cope fairly well with the awkward combination of having children who take a very long time to mature and not being a monogamous species (and that we deserve some recognition for the realities of the trick we're pulling off here).

From 2014: The Pre-History of Slash: a talk for Slash Night 2

My last Pros story was also published in 1997, and that was another novel, called “The Cook and the Warehouseman” [bring out zine]. For this I was back with Sara in the UK, with me doing the layout and cover again.

[open to first page] Because it’s my last chance – and because this is the right story for it – I’m going to describe the story by reading the first three quarters of a page. [reads up to "and a longer one with the king" in Chapter 1]

A few paragraphs later he’s summoned to see his boss, who tells him [turning to second page and pointing to paragraph] here that the king has just told the Prime Minister that he wants Bodie to marry the soaking-wet prince. No, the king won’t let Bodie talk to the prince before he gives his answer. If Bodie says yes they’ll put the base in Britain, but the king had strongly implied that a no would be taken very badly indeed.

Again, I’d been inspired by another Pros story: a novel in an American zine that I think I read at a convention in California. I never owned a copy. The original novel was set way in the future, not on Earth, there were no masks involved, and all of the tension and uncertainty between the boys was resolved in the first third, with the rest of the novel devoted to a court intrigue plot that was tedious even by the standards of court intrigue plots. I thought, ""Wow!" As in “Wow! what a fantastic idea!" and "Wow! she really fucked that up!”

This version is certainly a piece of fluff, but I like to think it’s intelligent fluff. At the time the story was pretty comprehensively ignored by Pros fandom on both sides of the Atlantic, but since then a respectable number of people have come forward to confirm my impression that it is a damn good read.

Reviews and Reactions

1996 (pre-publication)

As for stories in which men make state marriages with each other, I know Helen Raven is working on a novel involving something like that. The plot, as I've heard it outlined, makes me shudder; but Helen is such an incredible and highly skilled writer that I don't doubt for a minute that she can pull it of. I just can't wait to see how she does it!

1997

This zine is a quandary. I absolutely adored parts of it, but was utterly dissatisfied with others. Oh, in case you missed the header, I'm talking about the Cook and the Warehouseman by Helen Raven out of Gryphon Press.

It's a hefty zine, two column pages, small type and about 183 pages.

This sci fi A/U heavily utilized the concept of Wally's Hostage for Peace: Aliens are upon us. They have a monarchy system. The King comes to Cowley and tells him the youngest prince wants Bodie. Subtle threats are made and Bodie agrees to sacrifice himself for peace.

That's the premise of both zines, but after that, goodbye similarities. Even the original set up is different in that CI5, Bodie et al are not sci fied. In this, the aliens come to Earth to find CI5 etc. all as we know and love them (except, Doyle is not Bodie's partner). During the trade negotiations, Prince Ray (his last name is not Doyle in this zine) falls for Bodie, and off 3.7 goes to an alien world.

HR creates a fascinating world, just that much different than our own. Over 2/3 of the novel is Bodie and Doyle falling in love and Bodie making a place for himself on this new world. I utterly adored all of this (but others might find it slow as nothing but a lot of happy families happens).

Then, as marcelle put it to me, the other shoe drops. We are now into MAJOR SPOILER TERRITORY, so if you don't want to know this thing from beginning to end, bail out now, because I can't talk about what I didn't like without spilling the entire can of beans.

Mild break in the proceedings.

Okay, for those of you still with me, it turns out that Ray's people bond for life because they become addicted to the essence of their mates. They literally cannot live without each other. When he finds out that Bodie is not addicted to him, he declares humans an animal species (his world's Satan is modeled on the notion of unaddicted love) and leaves Bodie.

Bodie ... survives. He waits patiently for Ray to realize his mistake, providing his essence to keep Ray alive and goes on with his life. It takes two or three years, but Ray does indeed come to his senses and we get a happy ending.

So what is my problem?

Bodie survives. He hurts, but he never cries, he just copes and goes on. This is undoubtedly a very accurate depiction of a man who survived the sort of background Bodie has (not fan fic, but the one in the show, which is nasty enough). Yet, even in this novel we are shown a Bodie who does not love easily, but who loves Doyle completely.

Yet the gift of his love is rejected. I had tears in my eyes at points, hurting for him, but it wasn't enough. I wanted him to start dying of a broken heart. I wanted him to be unable to eat, instead of rather practically sitting down to a late supper only the day after Ray leaves him. I wanted him to be unable to even get out of bed when faced with the prospect of Ray's rejection.

Why? Because those lousy stuck up aliens kept going on about how shallow human love was. Well, I wanted Bodie to show the bastards that we die of broken hearts without addictions, that Bodie's love was more genuine because Ray was Ray to him, not sexy heroin. I wanted Bodie to show him that human love can be beautiful and terrifying in its depths.

I suppose he did show them that by waiting years to get Ray back, but it wasn't enough. It was too subtle. And I wanted more than I got.

Anyway, I can't say, don't buy this. I loved 140 pages of it (at least). But I really, really didn't like the other 40. All I can say is, borrow

it if the above doesn't sound great, but if subtle emotions don't bother you (and stuck up aliens), buy it without reservations.

1998

I finished The Cook and the Warehouseman and am brooding on a review to include comments on recent Pros AU novels. This is a novel where I can say that the Doyle figure is really not Ray Doyle at all, not is it meant to be. Bodie just barely makes it in my view. It's really a novel about a different culture, with helpful familiar figures to give us visuals to work with. I enjoyed reading it; I don't love it.

1999

OK, I'm prejudiced here but I love COOK and HEAT and RIVER and TAILOR and everything else she's ever done. Mostly it's sick and twisted and strange and entirely unromantic. But it is fine, fine writing and storytelling and when reading her work, I'm taken places I never dreamed existed. She is an artist. Her material is NOT for everyone.

... my problem comes esp with Cook for several reasons.

First, was that even those who loved it had to admit that it was pretty far from the Bodie and esp Doyle of cannon. So to me it was a bit of false advertizing but even if they aren't the cannon characters I still may enjoy the story. I love Rhiannan's stuff and they're pretty far afield too in many cases.

But then there was the total bias presentation of Bodie and the way Earth had evolved. Now it's a personal kink for me but I don't care for any group as being portrayed as so superior and the other inferior. One as always right the other as in this case 'subhuman'. Bodie was considered subhuman, an animal, and up to the last scenes they are apoligizing [sic] for it to someone who lives in Ray's building. Figuratively it made me sick -- it made me think of all the times gays, blacks, indians etc. had to apologize for what they were. Just because they were that there was something 'wrong' lessor about them. So that part of the novel really bugged me -- it's a personal kink but I wanted to see the otherside. I wanted Ray to go to earth and see that maybe their way wasn't so superior -- just different. I never felt that balance in this story. It was way too onesided for me.

And I'll freely admit that's a major grate on nerves factor for me.

Then there was the nature of belief and spirituality. I felt that Ray's character was very inconsistant [sic] in the story. The Ray of the first part and last part being the same man and the one in the middle someone different. In my personal experience and reading you can have some one who shrugs off the importance of their religion that when faced with a crisis realizes just how important it really is. And you can have foxhole converts that the minute the danger is over forget all their promises. But Ray finds out about Bodie and is horrified, suddenly his gods are talking to him in his sleep telling him how horrid Bodie is because he isn't addicted like they become and how horrid he, Ray, is for allowing this to happen. He feels he's engaging in beastiality [sic].

And this isn't something that goes on for days or weeks or even months but what 2, 3 years [can't remember after all this time]? And then suddenly after all this after they are sort of seeing each other because Ray needs Bodie but he refuses to make love. And Bodie decides he can't live with it anymore and trys to return to earth. THen RAy follows him angry and during the fight Bodie 'rapes' Ray [another thing I dislike excessively in most cases -- this one included is pretend rapes] and they keep calling what Bodie does rape so that Ray can accept it and then suddenly it becomes all right and the gods that have been haunting his dreams for years are suddenly going to go away because of THAT!

In truth to me it seemed a cop out ... a way to end the story quickly. What I wanted to see and think would have made a better story is for Bodie to go back to earth and Ray follow him and be forced to look at things from the other perspective and slowly over time and much thought and struggle come to realize that neither way is better just different. You would have needed probably another 30 to 50 pages to do it justice but I think that would have made a much better story.

And another minor torq is the fact that nobody really deals with the fact that Ray's been the unfaithful one in the story -- sleeping around. While Bodie is the faithful one and it's all just glossed over. There were parts of this story where I wanted to yell at Bodie to quit being a damned door mat and when he finally gets the gumption to leave he's not allowed to and he ends up back in the same rut of apologizing for his biology.

I know that I'd have enjoyed it a lot more and felt like it really delved into the issue of being a stranger in a strange land if she showed both sides. She did that in the first part with Bodie but it felt incomplete and biased to me the way it was presented and Ray's change back to accepting Bodie felt extremely false and very rushed at the end.

2002

Rich, detailed, careful writing. I don't think the story is perfect, on the contrary, I think the ending is kind of drafted more than completed. However, it is brilliantly written, complex and fascinating. Possibly Doyle is a little off character, for me, but coherent with the Doyle in the story. Still, excellent reading.

2005

Why this must be read: Deliciously long at 160,000 words, this is a wonderful AU based on the premise that Doyle is part of a visiting alien delegation to Earth. Doyle, a prince, takes a liking to Bodie, and Bodie is forced to go along with his requests, which includes a relationship/marriage with Doyle. Bodie leaves Earth and travels with Doyle, and you get to follow along as their relationship develops. This novel has everything -- alien!sex, hot sex, hurt/comfort, angst.... Even after years, it's still one of the few Professionals zines that I've kept. I'm thrilled that it's now online.

I've started this, but got bored very quickly. Is there anything happening but domestic bliss after they reach the prince's home planet? I was confused why the author had to develop this whole premise of aliens, space travel, the government hidden behind masks etc. - which is all very interesting - only to write a curtain fic???

I love this one, it's one of those AU's that you really appreciate because whilst the characters are thoughoughly recognisable throughout, it makes that AU leap and manages to make a 'human-like' species feel truly *alien* at times. Plus it's long, and keeps you glued to it all the way with a great emotional story. Excellent rec.

This is the story that got me hooked on Pros; it was recommended to me just as as a scifi story but I think the person had an alterior motive.

I love this story, I don't know how many times I've read it. I know it's basically just a domestic drama, but Helen shows us the Bodie that is only glimpsed on the show. I think her portrayal of Doyle is very accurate too. Underneath his caring is a whole lot of arrogance and selfishness, which in this story is translated into (mental)cruelty toward Bodie. The other characters are "real" too especially Malun, who fills the authority/ father figure role that is usually Cowley's. Helen is a great writer and creates a world that is quite believable. I wish she were still writing this fandom.

2007

I adore this story. It's an alternative universe science fiction story, where Ray (not Doyle, but that's okay) is a prince on his (Earth-like) home planet. The royal family are traders, and although Ray's normal profession is the alien equivalent of being in the police, he must on occasion do his royal duty and accompany the family out of system. They visit Earth, of course, and Ray falls for Bodie, who is told that if he does not accompany the aliens back to their home planet, as Ray's husband-to-be, Earth will find itself at war. Bodie does his duty, of course, and finds himself in a strange new world... Okay, I admit, it sounds like a terrible premise (and I'm not keen on the original version, Hostage to Peace by Wally) but in Raven's hands it is a beautifully written story of angst (of course, this is Helen Raven) and love. Her Bodie and Doyle are slightly slanted from "mine", but I see their essence clearly there, they are still Bodie and Doyle and in particular they face the same kind of battle that our lads do with what is "right" and what they themselves believe in. This is gorgeous writing, real characters, and as with all Raven's writing, a melancholy, deeply-felt atmosphere that pulls you in until the end and weaves itself right through you for days afterwards.

Reactions and Reviews: The Reading Room at CI5hq (2009)

In 2009, there were 155 reviews and reactions at the Reading Room

A story about Bodie marrying an alien prince who looked like Doyle? Uh…thanks, but no thanks! Two years later The Cook and the Warehouseman has become one of my all-time favourite stories. The plot is pretty much explained as above. Aliens have landed. But they’re a civilized lot, almost indistinguishable from humans, and they’re interested in setting up some complicated intergalactic trading agreements. Bodie, a CI5 agent, is part of the UK security presence. All of Earth’s countries are jockeying for the right to host the alien trading base. Competition is fierce. The story begins when Bodie is summoned from a banquet for a secret meeting with Cowley onboard the alien space craft. Cowley breaks it to Bodie that the alien king wants Bodie to marry one of his sons, and if Bodie refuses, there’s a good chance the aliens will blow up the planet. I love Bodie in this section of the story because he is so Bodie. His responses are great -- believable and in character (at least how I see his character). Anyway, what he can he do? This is a man prepared to throw his life away in the normal course of his job, so obviously he’s not going to sacrifice the planet out of squeamishness. Bodie agrees to marry Prince Raymond -- now don’t roll your eyes because Helen Raven does a simply brilliant job with the alien rituals and cultural clash. I can’t praise her enough at this juncture of the story because she really captures Bodie’s confusion and the “alienness” of his soon-to-be in laws. The Hailin are just enough like earthlings for the differences to be unsettling. But it’s believable, grounded in a recognizable, anthropological reality.

The author added a glossary and a family tree as an appendix at the end of the novel. Click to see a larger version and to read the text

I'm a reader who enjoys AUs a lot, but I would have much preferred this as an original story. I honestly couldn't see a lot of either Bodie or Doyle in it, and I started getting fed up trying to find them *g* But, to play devil's advocate, I loved all the alien detail and the depth of the culture she created. I also found the plot device very interesting: the clash between a culture in which absolute fidelity is a matter of choice and one in which absolute fidelity is a biological imperative. In the context of that cultural clash Ray's actions make sense. For his species, marriage is physiologically like a drug addiction (when we first meet his mother, she is literally dying of withdrawal symptoms because she's lost her husband). In such a culture, to have a partner who is capable of having other sexual partners - who is even capable of thinking about it - must be like having a partner who you know can at any time, without rhyme or reason or remorse, cut off your oxygen supply. However, because of these issues, it is impossible for Prince Ray to behave like Ray Doyle. It seems to me the writer came up with a great idea, and then wrote herself into a corner, because the issue between Bodie and Doyle isn't based on psychology but physiology. The way she's chosen to fix and get the happy ending doesn't work for me, because she's kind of fudging the very physiological block she set up in the first place.

This text worked almost all the way for me. :) I loved the detailed descriptions of everything. That's one thing that usuallt keeps me glued to the computer screen to read some more. I'm an information junkie~ ;P The second thing I love is that alien society and people. It sounds like such a cool place... :D But the place where I lost most of my interest was when she separated Bodie and Doyle for a veeeeeeery long time in the text. I agree that it was necessary for the story, but I've always had problems with the guys being to far appart. (Like the quote from the show: Never far appart.) The end is brilliant too (probably because you want it to end "happily" in some way... but maybe a little to quick of an end for my taste)... but the looooong text between the beginning where the lads are sepparated and the end is far to long for my taste. And sometimes I think Bodie is too far out of character... I understands that he loves Ray and all that, but I don't think he would accept the situation like he did in the text. Okay, he did do something at the end, but that still leaves most of the story. I'm sorry to say this, but if you don't like AU and don't like the lads appart. You probably shouldn't read this text. But if you like a good story about another culture with lots of facts, and can stand the idea of Bodie hurting and alone so far from home, you should probably read it. :)

It's definitely one of those classic stories everybody should try. For me, however, it didn't work at all. But still, it was definitely worth a try. I happen to love a good AU so I'm always willing to try and see what happens.

I read the first forty pages, and did like it, even though I found the Ray character quite shadowy, with very little life. Bodie was okay, the story line was interesting.

About page 50 (Pdf showed about 130 pages) I felt I'd already read what I was reading. It definitely needed about half cut out to keep up any sort of interest for me. But the Ray character got more annoying. Bodie got more pitiful to have Ray love him. Ray didn't feel the need to extend himself in the relationship. It was all his way or the highway. Bodie was expected to do everything that anybody felt was expected of him. He sort of faded into the woodwork also. There was very little "life" to either character.

I read the big blow up and thought: finally, Ray will grow cajones! He'll stick up for his one, true love. He'll tell the entire planet to burn in hell because Bodie is his! Ah, no. We got drama queen Ray instead, with Bodie pining away for his love. So I skimmed until Ray finally allowed Bodie to get near him (where was snarky, brave, feisty Ray?), it took pages and pages for this shadow Ray to even have a bit of life. And the entire part about the device to keep Ray from sex was very strange. I didn't care for that bit at all. There was always a reason Ray couldn't do this or couldn't do that.

I read the end, but I really didn't care what happened to either character by this time.

I've always said I need any AU I read to be one of two things. (1) the canon characters transported to another period, time, dimension, whatever and kept as close to canon as possible (Suitable Gravity), or (2) so well written that I can't put it down and I can read it as original (Hunted by Devils). I'm afraid neither of those things were present for me.

Hmmm .... I'm going to have to come out and confess that I'm one of the people for whom this didn't work, overall. And this even though I was absolutely gripped by the whole first part of the story - I thought the way she conveys Bodie's feelings, his fear, the close to complete, visceral blind panic at times even though he never loses control, his inconceivable isolation, his incredible courage in holding himself together, is nothing short of stunning. The complete misapprehensions. The way he never hesitates to go in the first place, and never stops trying to understand and cope with an impossible situation. The way a flavour, a scent, a sound can awaken such powerful longings for home.

Where it really falls apart for me is the prolonged period of Bodie being a doormat to Doyle's panicked revulsion. Initially, I could believe it, but the longer it went...the less believable it became. Especially once they begin to see each other again. Then I really had problems with Bodie's docile acceptance of what was absolutely illogical, injust, and impractical. Perhaps even that could have been saved for me if the tables had ever finally turned -- or if Doyle had ever actually acknowledged the obvious truth that Bodie was more faithful to their wedding vows than he was. But there's never that satisfaction. It mars what is otherwise a favorite story.

Bodie was made a little into a "wife" helplessly waiting for her "husband" to come to his senses, in the meantime living with the in-laws and proving what a "dutiful" wife s/he could be.. I think that after 6 weeks , the "real" Bodie would have had enough of feeling helpless and trapped, and gone to see his prince to kick some sense into him...

I have no problems at all with AUs -- either of the "adjust one thing in the past and see what happens" kind or the "throw our canon characters into a completely different setting" kind (and yes, I know there's an ongoing argument over exactly what to call each of those.) But this, as an AU of the second sort, really, really did not work for me, and NOT because it was AU.

1) The pacing in this fic is... not well done. There's chapter after chapter of author-indulgent "this is my world, see how detailed I've made it? I've thought of everything!" where not FA happens plot-wise. Then, when we get to pivotal plot points where we could really dig in deeply to how the Lads think, feel, and react, and the consequences of the differences in their cultures and their reactions thereto, the action goes boom-boom-boom, and it's all over and done with. It got to the point where I was skipping large portions of chapters -- barely skimming paragraphs for keywords to see if something was actually happening -- because I was bored stiff with somebody visiting the grocery store again or going to work one more freakin' day.

2) Bodie is more-or-less Bodie (albeit a great deal more tolerant than I think of him, but that's simply MHO, YMMV) but Ray could be anybody at all except that we're told his name is Ray and he looks like our Ray. Yes, I KNOW he's an alien, but still the point of this sort of AU (yes, IMO) is to throw our recognisable characters into a completely different situation and see how they react. The character named Ray in this fic does not behave at all in the way I'd expect the Ray Doyle of canon and fanon to behave (and we never get to know how he thinks, except as other characters interpret him for Bodie.) This story is barely an AU and more an original fic, with a watered-down version of Bodie in it.

3) The ending was rushed and contrived. All these chapters full of all this wangst, and all of a sudden Bodie tells Ray "tell yourself 'tough, it's gonna happen, deal with it', and oh BTW, lose the chastity device," and everything's hunky? Um,... No. This says to me that the author thought, "I'm so tired of writing this fic -- look how long it is -- time to wrap it up."

This story is based on a great premise, but it failed to deliver on several counts. I was not happy to have spent the time it took to deal with it.

The ending is my big peeve with the fic. It does feel rushed and there is no emotional payoff. The prince never does admit (or even seem to see) that he was in the wrong -- or at least behaving irresponsibly and illogically (even while at one point in the story he insists he isn't going to apologize for being alien!). It is a disappointing ending. This is where an editor is worth her weight in gold -- assuming you've got a writer who can accept being edited.

I love world building and I love science fiction and I love AUs in fanfic, but this story always read to me as world building at the cost of characters. As someone else above me put it better, I don't need or want to read about how they go to the grocery store several times. The pace gets bogged down with the details of the culture to where it loses the reader. Sometimes I had to page back after all the description because I had forgotten what was happening before it! It's a good idea in need of a good editing job.

Bodie becomes so passive I scarcely recognize him and Ray lacks the compassion that defines him.

I'd read this before and it took me two tries to get beyond the first couple chapters. I want to like it as it has all the potential elements I love, but I'm more likely to go back and read parts of it than I am to tackle the entire novel again.

I think the story would have been much better if it had been -- say -- 50 pager shorter or so. Because you get fed up with the long bit where Bodie's suffering and Ray acting like an ***. High principles or not... For me Ray is a kind of person that has his standards, and follow them to deal with life. But he's also adaptable and can fit into almost any situation he gets thrown into. And this Ray apparently can't do that. Sure, he's an alien, but in that case she could have made Ray just any other character and not the Ray Doyle I love from the Pros.

I've never liked fairytales.. so that may be another reason why I just can't stand that passive and "love will never die" attitude.

And the attraction bit between them.. with the shirts and stuff. It's kinda nice, but I'd rather have them human than anything else. I like to read about human errors and how they deal with it. :) <3 ... and all these Alien prejudice and stuff... well, it may be taken from around the world, but it just kinda got on my nerves. *sigh*

I don't think I'll ever read this text again. She's not that good and author for me to read again, or attempt on of her other stories.

I don't love or hate it; it's just sort of there. If anything, it kept me looking to see how much was left so I could make bets with myself as to when they'd make up, which annoyed more than anything else. And I kept thinking of why a physical addiction like that was biologically impractical. :-P Maybe someday I'll give it another full reread and see if I like it better then.

One of the silliest, ridiculously long (my god I thought it would NEVER end) stories in Pros fandom. I hated that I wasted the time to read it. I don't think I like anything Helen Raven writes, actually. The worst of the worst was that offensive story she wrote about Bodie being a psychopathic rapist, who MURDERS Murphy because he suspected that Bodie and Doyle were lovers (and supported them!) All ripped off from an anonymous story that was quite good. Raven totally ruined it.

This is my favorite of her work. It was inspired by Wally's Hostage to Peace. But if you've read Hostage to Peace...I think it's pretty impressive the way she built on it (HTP is pretty bad).

I’d never heard of it and it’s gone straight to somewhere near the top of my ‘favourites’ list from any fandom (and I’m multi-fandom...). Wonderful writing. Satisfying length with brilliant plotting/structure. Amazing how she kept the basic characterisation going in such an ‘alien’ A.U. I adore sci-fi, so it was always going to please me on that score. It did what all the best sci-fi does, and made the reader contemplate our own society and culture without the author ever getting on a soap box.

The characterisation was very much ‘our lads’, their likes and dislikes, their moods and their reaction speeds, both in everyday interactions and in the sex and fight scenes. At least, I thought so, and reading the comments I realised I was in a minority here - but Ray was mercurial, passionate, moody, intelligent, etc. and if you graft an ‘earth’ character onto an alien physiology/upbringing you have to accept some differences - this is what Ray would have been if he’d been born there... The minor or supporting cast was well developed, too, right down to Plassen and some of Bodie’s colleagues, and the receptionist in the space station. Ray’s family were a tour de force!

The cultural clash (a subject that interests me deeply and was part of my training and career) was brilliantly portrayed and had fascinating echoes of sexism, racism and homophobia from various human cultures, not just the ‘west’. (Chinese and Japanese attitudes to foreigners were referenced and so were other religious doctrines and practices). The details and description were so good, whether she was writing about the whole planet/system, the islands/towns or the various flats and rooms. The same careful attention was shown to the religion and language, and we were never given an information dump - everything emerged naturally through actions and natural-sounding conversations.I loved all the detail because it enabled me to explore the culture.

The sex was really hot; fresh and different each time, with no descent into clinical ‘tab A into slot B’ anonymity. The explanation of the addiction was there all along and gradually became clearer and more of a recipe for disaster as the story went on. And of course, with their characters, it was bound to go pear-shaped!! The major trauma came just as I was biting my nails wondering what it would be (the point in any novel where you need a problem for the protagonists to overcome) and after that I could hardly sleep for worrying about them!! So I was totally immersed in the story!! The psychology of Ray’s ‘brainwashing’ was very believable, and likewise Bodie’s depression. I think Bodie’s depression explains adequately why he allowed Ray’s rejection to go on so long - that and ‘folorn hope’, and love, which meant he wanted to help Ray and not leave him like his mother.

The only query I had was about the original ‘threat’ that got Bodie ‘trapped’. The misunderstanding was never explained and I felt I wanted to hear from Cowley again - though his role was ably taken over by Malun. And maybe a second visit to Earth would have brought Ray to realise just how far Bodie was alien rather than animal and that perhaps some humans might regard sex based on addiction as somehow animal. Still, that would have made an even longer book. Not that I’m complaining because I love long stories!!

I love the idea of our heroes addicted to each other - earth-psychological-style and alien-physical-style, and the gradual blending of their needs till Bodie needs Ray and Ray loves Bodie.

That's exactly how I feel about all HR's writing....I really, really love it, yet I'm not sure why and I'm not articulate enough to analyse the 'why' properly (I've tried, many times)....her writing is very different, almost breathless with each sentence ending on a cliffhanger, making me want to rush onto the next bit - like a drug - but I don't know why....I love her characters and yet I can't see them, so it's all a bit weird. Years ago the person I bought the story from advised me that it was very different from Heat-Trace and yes it was in obvious ways, but for me it had lots of similarities...the almost air of depression or doom hanging over both characters and over the whole story, the psychology going on between B and D, the long separation between them in the middle of the story, and the thing with the shirt-smelling - I'm sure that happens in Heat-Trace. But why am I telling you this? I don't know, probably because I've got to confess that I didn't have time to re-read Cook and I'm mentioning the things I *can* remember....but yes, you're right, it *is* flawed and yet I feel it's a powerful story in part simply because of her writing skills and her ability to create a unique atmosphere - in fact with HR it's almost always the atmosphere and style of her stories which grip me rather than the plot. But I *can't* analyse what it is or how she achieves it and I want to!

This story worked big time for me—maybe because at the time (about five years ago,) I didn't know Bodie and Doyle from Adam and Eve. I knew who Martin Shaw was; I'd seen him in the Hallmark adaption of Hamlet in 1970, and then later reruns of Doctor In the House were shown in my area but I hadn't seen or heard of him in all the intervening years. And Lewis who? I read the story because it had been recced by a friend from another fandom. She knew I was into slash and scifi and thought I'd enjoy it..at least, that's her story. *g* Anyway, I loved it. Okay, so I was seeing Jim Kirk in the Bodie role (luckily, the story pretty much centers on him,) but I couldn't put it down. That led me to Helen's other stories and then into the Pros fandom. About six months ago I decided to reread the story, wondering if it would still work for me. It did. No, it's not the Bodie and Doyle I've come to know but it's so well written I can easily overlook that. And, yes, there is the question as to why the aliens didn't know about Human mating habits but it's one I can easily overlook. It's not much different from the classic Twilight Zone episode where Earth doesn't realize what the aliens who have landed at their door want until it's too late and they finally know that "To Serve Mankind" is a cookbook. Sometimes, we only see the surface and believe what we want to believe. I don't see why the aliens couldn't be the same way.

I do find it flawed, but it doesn't diminish my love of it. I adore it despite some (IMO) missteps with pacing, plotting, conflict and resolution. Where it is beautiful, it is a jewel. And where it goes off...it's off. I have complaints about Larton but those are purely subjective. Technically, it's about as polished a work as I've seen in fandom. TCATWM is technically flawed (again, IMO).

Well, it's fanfic, really, in its widest sense! *g* Taking something already written/filmed and writing in the gaps/extrapolating/asking 'what if?'The newly formed OTW would call it a 'transformative work' and publishers of original fiction would be leery. It's clever and exciting when it works.

One of OTW's writers/reviewers gave a fascinating talk about how before widespread modern print many stories were palimpsests and fanfic at its best follows in this tradition. (She's also a Pros fan but I can't remember if she has an LJ name).

There are also debates about how far fanfic writers can resent people transforming their work when they themselves are transforming 'original' stuff, which in turn might be transformative (e.g. West Side Story/Romeo and Juliet).

I have, however, seen flame wars in one or two fandoms resulting from transformations which have not been appreciated.

Just wanted to stand up an be counted for the "really enjoyed it" party..

I'm relatively a newbie, and I usually try to steer clear of AU's . So imagine my surprise when I really enjoyed this one… I do agree that "Bodie" and "Doyle" are NOTHING like their canon selves. But as original fiction , it really captured my imagination. It was all said, better than me, by the people posting above, so I won't repeat it all. I'll go have fun commenting instead..

(and maybe I'll even try another AU one day… *** shudders uncontrollably****)

Well for the first time in ages I have read the story. In fact I read this story quite a while ago (nearly a year ago I reckon) as it was recommended in numerous places when I first joined the fandom. So I wanted to add a couple of comments from my rather distant memories of it.

To start with it was, for me, a complete disappointment. Other people have expressed some of the problems with this story in far more clarity that me but here are my main problems.

For an AU to work for me as an AU and not original fiction I first and foremost have to recognise the characters. And as I read through the whole story I could not see Bodie and Doyle in the characters portrayed.

I remember catching glimpses of recognisable traits but the complete, complex, characters that we know do not show through in the depiction given here. They were, for me, original characters and as I wanted to read B and D that was a complete letdown.

What struck me looking at some of the comments is how even some of the people who liked the story did not see canon Bodie and Doyle, they were appreciating it as original fiction. And that is great, there is nothing better than being able to find a fic and a world to immerse yourself in, but how can it be classed as a Pros AU if you can’t see the characters distinctly?

The other main problem I had was with the pacing. There was not enough momentum to keep the story moving and to pull my interest along with it. I did read it all, although about half way through I wondered why I was bothering. I kept hoping it would get better (especially as I am a huge sci fi fan) but there was no moment that captured my attention back after it had been lost.

It's funny, I really love HR's writing and would count all her stories as among my favourites but for some inexplicable reason I can really understand why you make the points you have made about Cook. (Didn't someone recently say that about Marmite? That you either love it or hate it? Maybe it's the same for HR's writing...) Her writing style is so definite and powerful that I suppose it's going to provoke a definite reaction from the reader. I don't even like sci-fi stories, generally, and would never seek them out, yet because I love her style of writing and the atmosphere which she seems to create in all her stories, I can happily read a story in this kind of genre. And something else, like you, there are some stories I don't like because I can't see my bodie and doyle in them at all, and yet there are others where I still can't see them but I can like the story, despite that, so....what's the moral of it all I ask myself? Dunno, but it's fun trying to work it out!