The Descent into Madness
| Zine | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The Descent Into Madness |
| Publisher: | Only DuncanMethos Press |
| Editor: | |
| Author(s): | Tessa Rae and Sharon Cross |
| Cover Artist(s): | The Theban Band |
| Illustrator(s): | |
| Date(s): | 2002 |
| Medium: | |
| Size: | |
| Genre: | |
| Fandom: | Highlander |
| Language: | English |
| External Links: | The Descent Into Madness @Highlander Fiction (offline, not archived); some chapters are here |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Descent Into Madness is a 400+ page (~240,000 words) Duncan/Methos slash novel by Tessa Rae and Sharon Cross. The story originally started out as a round-robin and took the authors 6 months to complete. Artwork by:
- Cover Theban Band
- Title Alice
- Pages: 33, 61, 216 Ysanne
- Pages: 55, 105, 127 Clivia
- Pages: 250 Jubie
- Page: JamWired
- Page: Deejay
- Color Insert: "The Fallacy of One" by: Suzan Lovett (Not available in E-zine format)
The zine won the 2003 FanQ award for best Highlander slash zine. 2003 Screwz Award for Best HL Novel and Best Artwork awarded to Theban Band for 'Holding' which appears at the end of the story.
The Descent Into Madness is set during the episode The Darkness, then deviates into an AU.
The cost of the fanzine, excluding postage was $34.00 U.S. $7.00 was charged for U.S. for Priority Mail and $18.00 for Global Priority (included Canada.) The e-zine was offered as an RTF file on CD-ROM for $15.00, plus postage, but the publisher noted that it "is missing some illustrations, which makes the price cheaper."
On the printed fanzine version the editor wrote: "All proceeds -- after publishing costs -- will be donated to: PWFC -- Project Edan."
Summary
Author's summary: "Duncan starts seeing Watchers everywhere and seeks out Joe Dawson to complain - and meets Adam Pierson; Watcher and grad student. Then Immortals go missing and beheaded bodies turn up; making Duncan the prime suspect in an FBI investigation."
Reactions and Reviews
This is an epic AU novel that retells the series in a very different way. The technical aspects are very well done, the layout is beautiful, the plot keeps you on the edge of your seat and the characterizations are wonderful. You'll need to put aside an entire day to read this (400+ pages), but it's well worth it. [1]
AU. To be honest I have some problems with the beginning of the story. For me it just feels a bit too fast how Duncan and Methos go from mourning their dead lovers to pining after each other. That the story still makes it on my top three list should say enough about the quality of the rest, shouldn't it?! ;) Intensive, with a lot of tensions, assumptions and accusations between Duncan and Methos. This time Don Salzer gets to be the fatherly friend, which leads to one of my favourite scenes: when Joe and Don surprise Duncan and Methos in bed. *g* [2]
References
- ^ Confessions of a Former Zine Slut; archive link
- ^ lorien_79 (June 5, 2010)