Yuletide reveals

[kindkit]

I wrote one Yuletide story and one little treat this year.

Ghosts of Ettersberg (3101 words) by kindkit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch
Rating: Mature
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Thomas Nightingale, Peter Grant
Summary: There's more than one kind of ghost, and more than one kind of absence.

Anyone who likes Thomas Nightingale in RoL (does anyone not like Thomas Nightingale? what a sad thought) wonders what happened at Ettersberg. Aaronovitch has been dropping hints of something catastrophic through three novels; this is my take. Fortunately sineala liked it even though it's a bit grim as Yuletide gifts go.


Rewritten (234 words) by kindkit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: T. E. Lawrence
Summary: Lawrence creating himself.

This was written for Skazka, whom I don't know, but whose mention in their prompt of Lawrence possibly being transmasculine haunted me. This is the first time I've ever written a trans* character. I kind of stopped at the happy ending; there's another story to be written of Lawrence's later loss of confidence (tied in both to the events of Deraa--even more awful if Lawrence is a trans* man--and to the way the Arab independence movement was outmaneuvered by the colonial powers) and how he continued to try out new names without ever quite finding a self to be comfortable in.


I can also now publicly thank the amazing halotolerant, who for the second year in a row (!!!) wrote me a fantastic Yuletide story. This time it was How Many Strawberries Grow in in the Sea?, which you don't need canon knowledge to enjoy and which I hope I can eventually convince everyone to read. (ETA: Halo also beta-read "Ghosts of Ettersberg" and helped make it better than it had been.)

I'm working on a set of Yuletide recs for the first half of the alphabet, but the wheels of reccing grind slowly.

Comments

[halotolerant]

You're very welcome! *festive hugs* [btw look at me all logged in on DW and stuff! LJ's latest access-fail has left me feeling disconnected, thank goodness I got this account too...]

I'm was so glad to see 'Ghosts' got such a good reception - it is brilliant - and thanks for the beta thanks but I don't recall that I added much to the process! *g* And I must check out your Lawrence story (and *note to self* rewatch the film)

Heh, I didn't entirely mean to write you, like, kind of the same genre two years in a row, but I really did want to offer those fandoms and when your name popped up in my inbox I can't say I was sorry! *g* Re-reading the Wooden Horse books was very interesting, partly for studying the characterisation more, partly trying to figure out the timeline (1943 really does happen twice) and partly realising that, yes, they really *are* that queer! I initially intended to write about Peter in the post-war years, figuring out how to write his book, what to leave out and what to leave in, but as I said in my story comment, I realised that a 'problem' of the canon for me is the lack of characterisation he's prepared to give John beyond 'he's totally awesome and brave and pretty and I heart him', so I wanted to figure that out.

I watched the movie of 'King Rat', btw! Edward Fox was just as beautiful as his son, it turns out *g* Sean was totally edited out and Steven's sections requried a degree in subtext-reading to see (although anyone who'd read the book would get it) but actually because they left out the 'magical exotic sexy women' sections completely (good idea on so many levels) the Marlowe/King relationship became much more homoerotic (and Fox and Segal have a lot of chemistry) - I'd recommend it but not rave about it, if that makes sense.

Happy New Year! *g*

[kindkit]

Hi there! LJ has been so frustrating lately; of course it's not their fault they're getting DDOS attacks again, but still, I'm happy I can use DW and not go through all the waiting and downtime.

I didn't entirely mean to write you, like, kind of the same genre two years in a row

You say that like it's a bad thing. *laughs* It's not as though the world has a glut of POWs-fall-in-love stories, more's the pity. (If you ever wanted to, I think you could write a fantastic original novel on those themes. Which of course would be ignored/dismissed by the publishing-media conglomerates, as queer-themed books always are unless they're about AIDS or some other tragedy, but which would be a lovely book nevertheless.)

John really is a hugely idealized cipher in canon, isn't he? I love what you did with him, taking that hint of scatter-brained-ness (forgetting mealtimes!!) and running with it. A couple of my favorite moments, which I may have forgotten to mention in commenting on the story, were his adorable non-sequitur "Henry the Eighth studied to be a priest" and the bit at the end where he makes the dignified speech about wanting to be with Peter, then pauses and adds, "And I'm not young." I hear it in my head in a slightly "so there" tone which makes him sound about fourteen.

*adds King Rat film to Netfix queue*

they left out the 'magical exotic sexy women' sections completely (good idea on so many levels)

Espcially since the magical exotic sexy women in question were both about fourteen!

[halotolerant]

unless they're about AIDS or some other tragedy
Tell me about it. How come we're in the 21st century and still feel that a story about homosexuality is only valid if it ends in someone hideously dying? (yes I am thinking of a specific thing I recently read, but am not naming outright as this would be a total spoiler for the Big Plot Twist)

And oh god, yes, the 'women' in King Rat, that was really quite creepy. I read rather fast through those parts... And there was a sense of, I don't know, randomly adding it in for the male reader? Diluting the homoeroticism somehow? So yes, leaving them out of the movie was much much better.

[kindkit]

I'm finally getting around to answering comments after a week and more of being useless for anything but sleeping . . .

I want to know what the specific thing with the Big Plot Twist is! You are unlikely to ruin it for me; more likely you'll save me from reading it and being angry/disappointed.

You're right about the weirdness of those scenes in King Rat. It did feel like pure heterosexual-male fantasy added in for titillation or to undermine the homoeroticism: specifically I think it's meant to demonstrate that Peter Marlowe is heterosexual. The interesting thing though is that Marlowe isn't really given back-pats in the rest of the narrative for his heterosexuality, and his treatment of Sean in particular makes him seem like a selfish bigot, as even Peter himself realizes. That plus the fact that the Exotic Sexy Native Girl scenes don't go anywhere narratively makes them so obviously extraneous that I'm surprised they weren't edited out.

[halotolerant]

'The Absolutist' by John Boyne (author of 'Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' which I actually found very powerful although I wasn't too sure if honestly I liked the book existing at all, if that makes sense). I was angry and really quite upset by it (I don't usually ever want to write to people, but I did want to write to JB going 'What the actual fuck were you thinking? And more to the point what the actual fuck do you want other people to think about gay people?') and it certainly fell into that classic *coughs* category of 'gayness happens but there's always death soon afterwards plus they're, like, twisted'

I agree, Peter's treatment of Sean is very much criticised - perhaps in a way, he's seeing a nasty, brutish part of himself that isn't very kind either to someone over whom he has power like Sean or to the native girls he's got really pretty violent fantasies about. The problem is that Sean has depth, whereas Clavell leaves Exotic Sexy Native Girls as window-dressing with no agency apart from their apparent magnetic attraction to white men.... *sighs*

[kindkit]

Oh, that's a shame about The Absolutist--I had been thinking of reading it. Though considering it's being praised to the skies by most mainstream critics for "sensitivity" etc., I should have known better--there's nothing a mainstream critic loves better than sad queer stories that end in death and loneliness.

I was trying to google to find out if John Boyne is gay/bi, but the internet is not being forthcoming about it. Something else I don't trust is books about queer men by straight men, because again they tend to go the death and loneliness route. (Actually this is a common flaw in all mainstream or so-called "literary fiction" novels about queer men, partly because of cultural homophobia I think and partly because of the dominant aesthetic that says happy or happy-ish endings are automatically trite.)

Good point about Marlowe's unkindness towards people he's got power over--on the whole I think Marlowe generally isn't very kind anyway, although a lot of people in the book are very kind to him. It would be possible to read Marlowe as deeply afraid of any "soft" emotions, which I would tend to read as being afraid of his own suppressed homosexual attractions. He's clearly attracted to Sean--I'm struck by the fact that when talking about the "old" Sean who was his friend, he mentions how good-looking he was--and cruelly rejects Sean out of fear of that. Clavell more or less explicitly contrasts him to the King, who is attracted to Sean but unashamed of it. And of course the relationship between the King and Peter Marlowe is hugely erotically charged, right up to the ending with Marlowe crying on the King's bed. Read that way, Marlowe's fantasies about "possessing" the girls look a lot like overcompensation.

[halotolerant]

In the Absolutist it's not so much 'ends unhappily' as (SPOILERS)
(SPOILERS)
'queer protagonist murders his lover as his lover wants to end affair'....

...yes. I would capslock all my feelings about that but you can probably imagine.

*takes deep calming breath*

Have you seen the 'King Rat' movie? Talk about sexual charge... the actors play one scene in particular to the point where if they actually kissed you wouldn't blink, and the ending feels like the end of 'Gone with the Wind' or something

[kindkit]

Oh. My. God. Yes, capslock feels appropriate. What kind of idiotic person (and I include both the writer and the critics who've praised the book) think that sort of thing is okay to include in a story about queer men? That's the plot of a queer-exploitation novel from 1955, not a supposedly sensitive and true and literary novel from 2012. How disgustingly stereotyped. I am honestly taken aback that something like that could be published now, especially to critical acclaim.

The King Rat film, on the other hand, I must add to my Netflix queue immediately.

*chuckles*

[halotolerant]

OK, now I have read my email with the LJ comments! (so it's working for you then? It seems to be working for a few people but not for me and clearly many others as it's listed as having issues on the status page)

I couldn't resist adding Harry - maybe it was too much of a giveaway but I thought you'd probably guess anyway given the miniscule nature of the Wooden Horse slash fandom!

I like your improved explanations for Sean, and I think interaction between him and Steven would be fascinating - not least for the very interesting element where they are very, very different but treated by those around them as basically the same thing ('queer' men rather than one homosexual man and one trans* woman)

Going to the quote, it looks intriguingly like Sean and Steven are both 'real':

'Of all the female impersonators, two names still have the ability to produce an affectionate smile from all Far Eastern POWs. When...Arthur Butler of the Royal Artillery transformed himself into Gloria D'earle she [Gillie's italics] became 'exquisite'. She moved and spoke just like a woman. Butler was a professional female impersonator. [...] Anckorn remembers Bobby Spong as the best female impersonator he'd ever seen. 'He was a very, very nice chap who worked hard the hospitals, always on the go but at night there he was. He really was absolutely just like a woman. He was I suppose what you'd call gay now'

These are both men who were in Changi. It seems that Spong is the one who is remembered for always wearing women's clothing, underwear, padding etc, so possibly he 'is' Sean and Steven is another person not talked about because he was more directly homosexual rather than an impersonator?

Re: *chuckles*

[kindkit]

Well, I was morally certain you'd written the story long before I got to the mention of Harry. I'd been debating whether to make some kind of "yes, mystery author, I recognize you!" comment, and had decided against it on the off chance I was wrong and it hurt the feelings of whoever the writer actually was. And then there was headcanon!Harry and I knew it couldn't have been anyone else.

Thanks for the excerpts about Spong and Butler. I don't think I've read the book you're quoting from, yet.

Re: *chuckles*

[halotolerant]

It's the 'Barbed Wire University' book, which I think I told you I wasn't massively excited by because it didn't add much new and there was the old 'men were too hungry to have to sex except some did but that was different and anyway it wasn't anyone who'll admit to it' line... But then it did have this bit so, I dunno, maybe worth a look?

Re: *chuckles*

[kindkit]

Spong is briefly mentioned in Surviving the Sword, too, along with the sad information that he was killed during the war. He was being transported to a POW camp in Japan and his ship was torpedoed.

Re: *chuckles*

[halotolerant]

Ah yes, that's in 'Barbed Wire' too but I didn't want to think about it because I'm such a wimp... (I know, a lot of people died in the war, but when you think of a specific person with a personality that you can really imagine, it's more upsetting)