Pros Recs

[m31andy]

So one of the reasons why I've been so quiet recently is that I've been making my way through all the Bodie/Doyle fan-fic on The Circuit Archive There's quite a lot of them. But I'm down to the 20k and below fic now, (and I promised draycevixen faithfully that I would post the list this week) so I feel I can finally recommend some of the better ones I've read in the last six weeks or so.

If there's any you love, let me know in comments and I'll add them to the list and go and read them, if I've not done already.

Of course, the next job is to go through the Gen fic. I suspect it won't take as long though...

The Professionals Fan-Fic Recommendations

Waiting to Fall by Rob, non-con
Long, very long. And AU, but not too far removed from the canon universe. An alternative take on the Bodie/Doyle partnership - when Doyle is sprung from jail by Cowley and offered a job in CI5, it's a rocky road to full acceptance by the team.

Lovely characterisation of both characters and an entertaining read.

The Third Friday of October by Dana Austin Marsh
Bodie/Doyle, Doyle/OF, NC-17

A lovely, bittersweet tale about the boys, post Doyle's marriage, charting the ups and downs of life when they meet once a year on the Third Friday of October.

Brethren of the Coast by RebelCat.
Bodie/Doyle, NC-17

A cute take on pirates, family, the day job and love. Not AU, just an extended metaphor, but it has one of the most laugh-out-loud sex scenes in the history of sex scenes (well, of those that actually involve lube...)

Twist of Fate by Dee
Bodie/Doyle, NC-17, character 'death'

A death fic, but not. When the World War III finally starts and the world ends, Doyle wakes up to find himself starring in his very own AU. Where he soon realises that the only way it can be better the end of the world is if he can just find Bodie. And that summary sucks so much, but the fic is endearingly sweet, even if it does suffer from the common fandom disease of "I'm gay in this universe", "well, what do you know, so am I!"

Tomorrow's Life by JoJo.
Bodie/Doyle, PG

I apparently have a penchant for weird narrative. This is fantastic, Doyle's world is turned upside down and doesn't stop spinning in the midst of an IRA bombing campaign.

Summers End
Bodie/Doyle, NC-17

Smugglers, dead hikers and a genuine mystery. And sex. What more do you need? Bodie and Doyle go off to Cornwall to find a murderer and get up the local police's noses.

Fly on the Wall by Lezlie Conch
Bodie/Doyle, NC-17

Doyle is undercover as a prostitute, the rest of the lads providing cover as clients. Which is fine until the competitive nature of the team comes to the fore.

An absolutely hysterical fic, with some of the best turns of phrase I've ever read.

It's also the rentboy!Doyle fic I had been expecting since I started reading Professionals fan-fic. I managed to stumble across a rentboy!Bodie one first which is even more impressive!

Undercover by Elessar.
Bodie/Doyle, NC-17

An interesting take on how Bodie and Doyle met. And it explains a fair few things about the pair of them as well.

Where there's one, there's more than one - Doyle is undercover as a rentboy again...

Saints and Miracles by Jack Reuben Darcy
Bodie/Doyle, NC-17, character death

This starts off at Doyle's funeral and then charts the choices and avoidances that lead to that place. The aftermath gets a bit smaltzy, but it's worth it.

Crazy Maniac by Jackie Thomas
Bodie/Doyle, PG

It's short and unfortunately suffers from a cock-up by Amazon so any chronological purists may want to steer clear of this one. I'm not and I found this to be so Bodie and Doyle. Just the right amount of nastiness and sweetness about it.

Mouseketeers by Debra Hicks
Bodie/Doyle, PG

The first of the Dangermouse series, and yes, it is a crossover with Dangermouse. Absolutely hysterical. And it gives me all sorts of weird ideas about Cowley as a terrier...

The rest are on Debra Hicks Author Listing at The Circuit Archive, although you'll have to dig a little to find them in the right order.

Masquerade by Tarot
Bodie/Doyle, NC-17

Bodie and Doyle go undercover as lovers and musicians. Incredibly complex and a really meaty fic.

Professional Dreamer by Pamela Rose
Bodie/Doyle, R

A good AU. Bodie is actually an author, who just writes about the exploits of Bodie and Doyle. Doyle is Ray Dibble, a librarian who stumbles across some dodgy dealings, gets hit over the head and suddenly believes he's Ray Doyle. Hijinks ensue.

The lovely Life on Mars/Professionals crossover trilogy by dorcas_gustine and bistokids:
One in Every Port
Meeting of Minds
Old Habits Die Hard
Sam/Bodie, Sam/Doyle, Sam/Doyle/Bodie, Sam/Gene

Sam's a tart. Everyone knows that. Especially the rather intriguing figures that turn up and turn the day upside down.

Of Tethered Goats and Tigers by Tarot
Bodie/Doyle, (Doyle/Cowley - ish), NC-17

Cowley's not above using himself or his agents to land a big fish. Doyle's just the man to fake a homosexual relationship with. But when Bodie finds out he's surprised to realise he's not just concerned - he's jealous.

Very well plotted and written. Cowley, in particular, is wonderfully Macchievalian.

Flu by Sebastian

Bodie/Doyle, NC-17

They've both got flu. And there's more than one way to raise a temperature...

Endgame by Sebastian

Bodie/Doyle, R for violence, Character Death(s)

Bodie is languishing in an Arabic gaol, mostly mad and full of regrets.

ausmac calls this the "bestest saddest fic ever" and I agree.

Heat Trace by Helen Raven

Bodie/Doyle, NC-17, themes of incest and suicide

This is another AU that works. It's a (slightly AU) sequel to "Brother's Keeper" by Anonymous (which is also featured on her website). Doyle is a copper, lost in Africa and Bodie rescues him. So far, so AU. But once they are back in England, revelations abound, causing their lives to be changed forever.

It's really good, really meaty and never fails to make me cry. It also features fainting!Bodie, the first time I've ever seen this in a fic that works!

Jigsaw Puzzle by HG

Chapters 1 - 3
Chapters 4 - 7
Chapters 8 - 10
Chapters 11 - 13
Chapters 14 - 16
Chapters 17 - 18

Bodie/Doyle, NC-17, one non-con scene.

Fantastic long fic, taking the boys through a messy transition from the streets and into admin. Cowley is beautifully Machiavellian, and makes his mistakes. Moreover, the lads don’t, necessarily, forgive him those mistakes. Which is wonderful.

When Ray finally fails his physical, he skips out, not believing he could give Bodie what he needs. A year later, he's back, but it's a long road for him to accept the changes in himself, before he can accept that others have changed.

My Pros/The Chief mentions are here, but I would like to recommend both The Tangled Web by Jack Reuben Darcy and Whatever Happened to Raymond Doyle? by Anne Higgins here as being, by far, the two best in that Universe.

Comments

[lexin.livejournal.com]

I'm thrilled to see you list "Waiting to Fall", Rob would have been so pleased.

[saintvic.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this. I am too working way my through the Circuit Archive as well. A bit sporadically at first and then I started from the first author and am now around K ish. So have read some of these. I must admit to a fondness to the Doyle as prostitute ones as well.

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

Thank you petal! ♥ ♥ ♥

Hey I read Fly On the Wall and laughed my arse off.

Some of the ones on this list didn't really connect for me, but there are also some here I haven't read yet, so yeah!

I have to admit to having a REALLY strong aversion to AU. Pretty much can't stand it, but then we all have our quirks. It's odd, because I'm all right with crossovers, but to me, really good crossovers keep the protagonists in character, so again, not AU. Please remember I'm the strange person that doesn't perceive the Hookerverse as AU.

Do you mind if I link Pros friends to this? It's perfectly all right to say no...

[m31andy.livejournal.com]

I have a strong aversion to AU where it's more "Gene and Sam are San Francisco fire-fighters" and then write an original story.

Professional Dreamer is brilliant because it's so *them*, but not them and that's where the interest lies. I confess I nearly didn't read it (being the sort of AU that I loathe), but it was recced on crack_van and therefore I had to try it at least.

The Waiting to Fall one is AU in that it contradicts canon events (Ann Holly is Ray's ex-fiancee from before he was banged up etc.), but it so sweet with it. Again the characters are the characters, and some of the situations are the same, but some are different and it makes it charming.

Er, Twist of Fate is AU in that it's literally an alternate world. But Doyle lands with the same consciousness as the original universe so it's one of those "literal AU, not practical AU"

Fi's reading Fly on the Wall at the moment. I keep getting brief emails like:

"So, Ray rhymes with 'lay' then?"

(Which would make a *spectacular* LoM prompt, funnily!!!)

(And with HV, you're with me then - there's nothing that contradicts canon. It might stretch and bend it until Sam is looking up his own arse, but it's still faithful to canon, dammit!!!)

Oh, and link away - not only is it likely to get other folk reading some of the good stuff, it's likely they'll tell me of ones I've missed. And that can *never* be a bad thing!

[m31andy.livejournal.com]

It's a fascinating take on the established canon. And, on its own, is a wonderfully complex story (and journey).

[m31andy.livejournal.com]

*g*

As a long standing fan of "boy meets boy, boy falls in love, but hides it, boy decides its too much and runs away, other boy was sekkritly in love, so goes after him, love confessions are made and they all live happily ever after" first time epic angst, I listed all the B/D in descending order of size and worked my way down. (Hence the comment of just hitting the <20k fic now!!!)

Bodie as a high class call boy was an exceptionally amusing one as well, even if I can't see Doyle being *that* virginal!

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

Linkage has been committed, thank you! *g*

[londonronnie.livejournal.com]

Hope you don't mind me butting in here - the one and only time that I met Rob I'd been handed 'Waiting To Fall' literally hours earlier, and hadn't had a chance to even glance at it.

I always lived in hope of seeing her again so that I could tell her how much I loved the story, but alas it wasn't to be...

[londonronnie.livejournal.com]

Butting in again, sorry! *g*

really good crossovers keep the protagonists in character, so again, not AU.

Just wanted to say that I've read a lot of AUs where B&D are totally in character. A good author can transport the lads to any situation, IMHO, and still lose nothing of what makes them 'our lads'.

Please don't write off all AUs just because they're not in a CI5 setting. You'll be depriving yourself of some wonderful fic!

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

Well I wouldn't call it butting in seeing as how I invited you lot over here with Andy's permission! *g*

I will bear your words of wisdom in mind -- I really was thinking more of stories like Andy's example of where it's more "Gene and Sam are San Francisco fire-fighters" and then write an original story. We're Life on Mars fen if it makes that example easier to comprehend. *g*

[londonronnie.livejournal.com]

We're Life on Mars fen if it makes that example easier to comprehend. *g*

Yes, mate - I did sort of realise that... *raises eyebrows*

*g*

[m31andy.livejournal.com]

Dammit. My secret is out at last.

...

*g*

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

*g* *blushes* We're a small fandom and I'm used to people going "huh?" when I just say "Sam and Gene."

I've also met a lot of Pros fans who are monofandom, so pardon my assumptions. *waggles eyebrows*

[ausmac.livejournal.com]

"Masquerade", one of my alltime favorites, along with "Tethered Goats and Tigers", also by Tarot I think. I still have my original copy from when the Circuit was distributed as paper copies. *age showing*

[m31andy.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I'd forgotten about "Tethered Goats and Tigers" - that's a fantastic fic. I'll have to put up a rec for that as well!

I'm still very much a newbie in the fandom, so any other recs would be awesome!

Thanks!

[ausmac.livejournal.com]

OK, a couple of other favs for you:

Endgame (bestest saddest fic ever)
Flu (just loved the whole feel of the story)

Thank you

[saintvic.livejournal.com]

Actually just wanted to say I have spent the last day and a half reading Waiting to Fall and loved it. It did kinda take over my life, that is one long fic, but it was so involving that I just kept on reading. I liked the characters were recognisable as themselves as well as being influenced by the different situation. And it was fascinating reading. So thanks for the rec - I'll work my way through the others as well.

Bodie as a high class call boy was an exceptionally amusing one as well - oh and I enjoyed that one as well *grins* you have been a bad influence with the hookerverse I think.

Re: Thank you

[m31andy.livejournal.com]

*g*

I whacked it on to my long-suffering PDA (It's currently got the US Life on Mars pilot on it and it's not *happy...) to read on the tube. It took me several days to get through it (and a couple of 3am 'Crikey, am I still up?'s!)

Aha. Yeah. I must admit that I hadn't realised 'let's turn the boys into prostitutes was that much of a fandom cliche - I'd only seen it in Stargate SG-1 up to now. For some reason it's not so popular in either Jeeves and Wooster fandom or Sherlock Holmes for that matter.

Though I'm now pretty desperate to see whether it's been done with Captain Jack Harkness!!!

*tries to feel guilty for being a bad influence*

*fails*

[mr2544.livejournal.com]

Bodie as a high class call boy? Mmmmm...sounds like my kind of story. Can you point the way to that one?

[m31andy.livejournal.com]

It's Night Moves by Courtney Gray. Very good, though a little hard to swallow!!!

(Damn, I still need to get myself a decent Pros icon!)

[mr2544.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm looking forward to reading this one. :)