The Last Measure of Devotion

Zine
Title:	The Last Measure of Devotion
Publisher:	Quantum Fire Press
Editor:
Author(s):	Sue Walker
Cover Artist(s):	R. Neville
Illustrator(s):
Date(s):	January 1996
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	Quantum Leap
Language:	English
External Links:	online version
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

The Last Measure of Devotion is a slash 140-page Quantum Leap novel by Sue Walker and edited by Leah S.

The zine won a 1996 Stiffie Award for Best Quantum Leap novel.

From Media Monitor: Al would do anything for Sam... and when Ziggy is dying, he risks everything in a crazy, last ditch attempt to bring his friend home safely. His desperate move might work-- or it might destroy their friendship forever."

Note About Content

From The Handlink #3:

(Note: none of the Quantum Fire Press zines glorify physical or sexual violence. This does not necessarily mean there will never be any graphic situations, merely that they’ll be handled in as mature and responsible manner as possible. I'm against censorship, but I believe in letting people know what they're getting into. "Last Measure of Devotion" contains one brief scene that some have classified as rape — while others see as consensual.)

Reactions and Reviews

I freely admit that I'm biased towards length, and interesting plots, and maybe, fandoms I haven't read recently. Last Measure of Devotion by Sue Walker (author of Faith and Hope in Sentinel fandom) isn't perfect, but it's a rich, emotional and cleverly-plotted novel that made me wish there was more good Quantum Leap on the net.

I decided to inaugurate this feature with one of the classics of QL slash. I remember a discussion on the Stallion's Gate mailing list some time ago; someone had asked what people's favorite stories were. Almost all of the respondants picked "Last Measure of Devotion." It's that good. Sue is an excellent writer, a quality I greatly appreciate in a fanfic writer -- no glaring grammatical errors or strangely contorted sentences here! And it has a long, satisfying, compelling plot, filled to brim with everything you could possibly want in a Quantum Leap story. We have the complicated mechanics of time travel and all the changes Sam makes as he leaps; we have Al fighting all the people who want to shut PQL down, an Al who is pushed to extremes to bring Sam home; we also have Al struggling to deal with his love for Sam as it conflicts with his own internalized homophobia as well as the Navy's external homophobia. This is an Al who would sacrifice anything for Sam -- and does. In this story, we also have a very nice resolution to horrible ending "Mirror Image" left us with -- plus one of my all-time favorite Sam/Al reunion scenes at the end.

But I think this story's greatest strength is the characterization. I love Sue's Al; she captures his fierce, total, all-encompasing love for Sam so clearly that it makes parts of LMOD uncomfortable to read -- I almost felt like a voyeur, peeping inside Al's head like that. She also shows his less attractive qualities; this is the whole man, good an bad alike. Sam is also vivid and real. This is a post-"Mirror Image" Sam. He's been leaping a long time and he's tired. He's starting to disconnect himself from the "real world" at PQL. (Until, of course, Al manages to find a way to reconnect with him.) This Sam isn't static; he changes throughout the course of the story as his memory returns. He struggles with his love for Al and his relationship with Donna -- but also with the path his life has taken, the changes in the world his leaping has wrought. We get to see the scientist Sam is at heart, but never fully got to be during the show because of the circumstances inherent in the show's premise (his leaping, his swiss-cheesed memory, etc). He wrestles with the moral issues that present themselves when you have a discovery that literally has the power to change the world.

The secondary characters (like Verbena) and the original characters are also fully-developed, three-dimensional people. Nary a Mary-Sue in sight!

I seem to have finally run out of things to say. This is an excellent story. Don't be put off by its length. It needed every bit of it to tell this story as fully as it needed to be told. It's worth the effort to read it.