Walk Softly And Carry A Big Lightsaber

Zine
Title:	Walk Softly and Carry a Big Lightsaber
Publisher:	AMC Press
Editor:
Author(s):	Mercutio
Cover Artist(s):	TACS
Illustrator(s):
Date(s):	Jan 9, 2001 (online) March 2000 (print zine)
Series?:	no
Medium:	online fiction print zine
Size:	65,500 words; 184 pages
Genre:	slash fanfiction
Fandom:	Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
Language:	English
External Links:	Walk Softly and Carry a Big Lightsaber (Mercutio's Stories) Walk Softly and Carry a Big Lightsaber (Master and Apprentice) Walk Softly and Carry a Big Lightsaber (Fanfiction.Net) Walk Softly and Carry a Big Lightsaber (The Infirmary) Walk Softly and Carry a Big Lightsaber (Drawing Off the Cream) Walk Softly and Carry a Big Lightsaber (Elim's Trip) Walk Softly And Carry A Big Lightsaber (Astarte's Secret Lair)
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Walk Softly and Carry a Big Lightsaber is a Phantom Menace slash novel by Mercutio focusing on the Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan relationship. It describes the journey from Master and Padawan to becoming two lovers. Obi-Wan knows what he wants and Qui-Gon is afraid to face his feelings.

The story was published to net in 1999, during the first months of TPM fandom when the fandom swallowed every other slash fandom out there, and in 2000 the novel was republished as a zine by AMC Press in their Best of the Net series as Volume 3. The online novel has a word count of 73,000 and the zine has 200 pages. Agented by Requiem Publications with print and PDF ezine available as of 2018.

Summary: What would a Jedi apprentice really do if he discovered he was in love with his master?

Sample Interior

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Recactions and Reviews

1999

The title doesn't suck, but it's completely misleading; the tone of Walk Softly And Carry A Big Lightsaber by Mercutio, is much more serious than she leads you to expect. One of the first good looks of what it means for Obi-wan to be so much younger than Qui-gon.

2001

I have noticed that a large portion of fanfic authors for the star wars category tend to be truly messed up sexually confused pervs. What is the deal? Are you for the most part pear shaped, efemminate, child molestors or what? Very wierd group. I think I will go to another category before I puke. To the authors who preface their doc's with "contains boy, child, gay, violence, rape, or anything else that smacks of mental derangement...You guys really need some professional help. I would help you out, but I really only have experience putting you freaks in jail, so I am not really a good person to talk to about it :( I included my email address for you freaks to spam, of course no information in the database there is actual, I do enjoy a good flame occasionally.

Wow! I mean WOW! I liked this story very much. It was sweet and angsty. There were times when I felt so bad for Obi-Wan (who is just incredibly cute)! Anyway, even though the story was pretty long (I read it through all three Star Wars Special Edition movies) I didn't mind because it was so good. The lemon was tasteful and it was nice to see a romance story that isn't centered completely on the physical aspect of a relationship, but on the emotional. The "Jedi wisdom", as displayed through the in-depth conversations between Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, hold true in our own lives, not just this fictional one. If there ever was a story that should be read by people looking to enter into a relationship, this would be it. A marvelous fanfiction, yes yes.

2004

I love this story. I do. I adore it. I remember reading it when one part was posted to the M&A list each day by the author, and eagerly awaiting each new part (this was back in 1999). The whole story is available on the M&A archive, and on the author's home page. So, when it was published by AMC Press as one of their 'Best of the Net' series, I had to have it. This story is not an adventure story, but an emotional saga that takes place mostly at the Jedi Temple during down time between missions for Qui-Gon Jinn and his twenty-two year old padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi. It explores what happens when a padawan falls in love with his master, and the master does not return those feelings. Don't worry - it has an appropriately happy ending, even one dealing with soul bonding! [...] If you love angst and hurt/comfort, and character-based fics, you'll love this.

I will admit I was dismayed when I first read the zine and found that AMC had tried to be clever. The publishers decided to use different fonts, combined with the use or disuse of italics, to indicate who was talking, and *how* they were doing it (through writing, speaking, or mind-speech). Now, that's not necessarily a bad thing. The 'Come to Your Senses' Sentinel zines have used such measures to good effect. The *problem* arose when the editors did not pay much attention to their use of fonts and italics and/or lack of italics, thereby mis-identifying speech. The result is that it is sometimes hard to determine who is speaking and *how* they are speaking (is this a private thought, something conveyed through mind-speech, something said out loud, something written down?). This type of error occurs about forty-five times in the zine. In a one hundred eighty-four page novel that averages to once every four pages.

Now, I love this story, and I've read 'Walk Softly' on the Net probably at least twenty times. I read this story often, so having it as a zine is helpful to me, even though I was at first rather upset that AMC did not give this story the treatment I feel it was due. [...] I bought this zine used, and got a bound copy of one of my favorite stories printed in readable 12 point type with a lovely cover by TACS. So, I'll just enjoy the story. Yeah, it would have been cool, when you think what a good editor could have done for this zine. And if wishes were horses beggars would ride. I've decided I'll just be grateful that I have a physical copy of the zine to read when away from the computer.

– Raonaid's Zine Recommendations

2008

This story is a bomb of sex. Why haven't you spaced it out properly and entered it in actual chapter intervals? This sory just intimadates the average reader and they flee scared of the crampedness of it all. You'd get a ton more reviews! Just like a work such as this deserves. I'd be willing to do it for you, if you want, but you have to do it!. I loved it! It was amazing.

2009

Recently, Mercutio wrote a long Star Wars slash story called "Walk Softly and Carry a Big Lightsaber". The UST in that tale was...incredible. The sexual resolution was drawn out over several chapters. And I was never bored. Not once. I loved every word of it--because the sex was there for a reason, and it was necessary. It wasn't an interruption at all, it was simply part of the story. That kind of NC-17 I like--and I wish I had the skill to write it.

2010

Holy shiezen man. I don't even have the words to describe this epic. Awesome is too weak. This took me two days and a half days to chew through around doubleshifts, but I couldn't (figuratively) put it down.

Marry me.

2011

I finally finished reading this and it was worth it. You have done a great job! This is maybe the longest fic I have read in English, so it took few days to finish this.

I like the way you write about the feelings and emotions. I like also the way you describe Obi-Wan. Etil is a great personality, too. :)

I hope that you'd write more fics about Star Wars.

The thing I really like about this story is the title. How can anything with a title that good be bad? Fortunately, the story lives up to it. By it's very nature it has a fairly familiar plot but it's the way that Mercutio has handled it that makes it stand out. You can't help but get caught up in the characters as they try to do what is best, and it's only when the story changes POV that you realise why the characters are making seemingly bad choices. The Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan in this story are flawed, yet are still good Jedi. There's also an OC in this who is great - she does get to tell Qui-Gon off a lot, which is always good for a laugh, which is a nice counterpoint to the angst. The sex in it is R-rated, so it's not too graphic but it is definitely essential to the story - if you skipped it you would miss something. Which is all too rare in fan fiction.

2012

This was absolutely incredible. I'm not the most knowledgeable about Star Wars, all I know is what I've seen in the movies, but I could tell that this story kept the characters, well, in character, or so I'd like to think. This story is just absolutely wonderful, all the emotions, the struggles, and the ending. It was brilliant and I am in awe.

Well. How can I even begin to express how beautiful this story was? I'm so glad I stumbled on it accidentally - I don't often read Star Wars fan-fiction, let alone Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon, a pairing which I've never even really given much thought to before. When I first clicked on your story, I assumed that I'd just skim it briefly to see what happened, because it was so long - and all in one chapter, too! (I agree with Llamachick that republishing this in chapter intervals would go a long way toward getting the story more of the appreciation it deserves - I think a majority of people feel a bit overwhelmed at finding themselves reading a 65k word chapter!). Anyway, that plan turned out not to work quite the way I'd hoped, though.. I seem to have spent the last six hours reading every word.. I just realized that I may have missed dinner, actually. Oops.

I am in love with your writing. I haven't read very much other work on the same subject matter, but I know that this sort of story can very easily turn into a unrealistic angst-fest - you seem to have avoided this admirably, while at the same time in no way neglecting the emotional side of the story.. on the contrary, I kept tearing up, and having to go off and eat snacks and have conversations with myself about how amazingly you've captured this relationship. Thank you for writing this story! I intend to highly recommend it to my friends.

2013

Oh my goodness! I'm so overfilled with emotions. This story is just perfect - tender, sweet and incredibly well written! I've never read anything like that before - you've managed to capture both Obi-Wan's and Qui-Gon's deepest emotions so skillfully. You're such a shrewd psychologist:) Not to mention that your writing is so beautiful. While I was reading it, I was feeling Obi-Wan's pain and fears like they were my own ones, and by the end of your story I couldn't hold the tears of happiness. Everything that happened to them was so believable and right, it was such a complicated transformation from the feelings between Master and his padawan to the feelings between the two lovers. I admire how greatly you've made it and I'm absolutely in love with your story! Thank you a lot for such a beautiful thing, I'm so grateful to you - you've just written the best story ever about my beloved pairing. I'm so glad that I found this story and I just can't help admiring it and your wonderful gift to write! Thanks again for such a great pleasure:)

2014

Absolutely amazing. The intricacy and the realism in your character perception of both Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon are breathtaking. The emotional turmoil is captivating and wonderful to read. Thank you for such an amazing story and beautiful venture into their world as created by your mind. It was wonderful. :)

2015

Walk Softly and Carry a Big Lightsaber -- Mercutio -- Is a little more serious than the title would suggest.

This is a brilliantly thought out story. I loved the slow build and how the two men thought about everything very carefully. Nobody made stupid mistakes, they were just adorably unaware. Thank you so much for writing this!

2016

Why on earth did you put all this into one chapter? It's long enough for at least an even dozen. That said, my favorite parts of the story were the poems and when Qui-Gon announced to the whole room that he was bonding with Obi-Wan and left him absolutely gobsmacked.

Wow this was a story i really enjoyed reading, i read for 5 hours straight. Wonderful. How everything grew and evolved. Well, the end was a bit too cheesy and fluffy, but overall wonderfully written. Funny this slightly different Jedi order. ;) keep up the good work!

2017

Squee! This was so beautiful! In every way! Beautifully written, beautifully thought out, beautifully beautiful! Thank you so much for writing this! I feel like it's Canon. Yep. This story is now Canon. Screw the movies. This happened.