Chalk And Cheese 10

Editor: Mystery Frank Zine Type: Anthology Genre: Slash Publisher: Whatever You Do Don't Press Year: 1992 Distributor: Agent With Style Other Source: See below for individual sources.

Other Information:

Summary

Review
This was published in May 1992, and contains 174 pages of fic, artwork and snippets.
As a whole, I found C&C10 disappointing. Nothing quite dragged it out of its doldrums and made it worth the money spent - well, maybe "Bodie's Book of Words" by Khrystina, which were snippets interspersed among the fics, poems and artwork. For example (and you just may have seen this before) - "It's not what you know, it's what you can think of in time." Sometimes this was partly a sequel problem - there are 4 sequels to something else in this zine, 76/137 of the fic pages. Ouch. Over half, although Bodiana Jones makes up 34 of these. Also - were we really this soppy in 1992?

"Modus Vivendi" by HG
The boys are teamed by Cowley, and have to cope.
Much as I love HG - and I do - this isn't one of her best. Not sure if it's because I've got used to their domestic bliss in HG Collected 1, or if she was just having a bad day here. The writing's just enough off in places - ".Doyle's expression smoothed into an expressionless mask." - to jerk you out of the story, which is disastrous for me. Despite this HG's off-days are worth a week of many other writers, and I did find myself smirking in places, which is usually a good sign.

"Out of the Rain" by Liane Beck
Post- Fall Girl - Bodie deals with what happened.
The first part is really nicely done, and I had a true sense of "Park Life" in Bodie's encounter with the pigeon guy. As soon as Bodie shouts "How could you do this to me, Ray?" it all falls a bit apart for me - I prefer things slightly more subtle.

"Too Much of a Good Thing" by Caroline Quinn
Doyle is not that stupid. Well, I'm sorry, but he isn't.

"Tea and Sympathy" by Terence (story 10 in the Building to Last Universe)
The "Building to Last" Universe is on The Circuit Archive. This particular one seems to be from Murphy's point of view, but they're not all. The parts that I've tried to read don't strike me as our boys. The writing is okay, but the characterization is a bit off, which just throws me out of the story and I can't do it.

"House of the Rising Sunshine" by Michelle Christian
This is gigglish - as long as you don't take your Boys too seriously. Or mind that America exists. Doyle slouches proudly.

"A Friend in Need" by Caroline Quinn
A Sequel to "Eyewitness" in "Chalk and Cheese 9", which is irritating cos its not online, so unless you own C&C9 . Not read for that reason.

"Is Trust Enough" by K. Ann Yost
IMHO a hugely simplistic attempt to describe - not even explain - Doyle's less-than-sympathetic behaviour in "Wild Justice". Obvious with it.

"Dream Lover" by Vicki Martin
Warning for character death. H/C and angst galore. Compelling, it kept me reading despite some overt soppiness, which again is an achievement. Often I'll just vomit and put the fic down, but this kept me interested.

"Helping Hands" by Daria Littlejohn
Its not that hard to take a shirt off when your arm's in a cast. I know this for a fact. And Bodie would pull a Doyle with a broken arm off the bed on purpose cos it was funny? And.

"Playing Cowboy" by Michelle Christian
Post "No Stone". Build up to first time. Hmmn. I want to say quite good but actually I'm gonna say not bad instead. No particular reason why, when I read this over again, it just doesn't quite catch me.

"In Our Dark Souls" by Linda Terrell
Story 5 in the "Four Feet" Universe. The others don't seem to be on Circuit. Established relationship, at least in this part of the story. Bodie seems to own a racehorse. The occasional Americanism to jolt the story (for non-Americans!). Also, it's a Doyle-weeps story. Grrr. Oh. And it appears that the boys actually turn into horses. Some kind of witchcraft. And Cowley's involved and says "Verra well." Just to warn you.

"Never a Dull Moment" by Caroline Quinn
Gen. And can you have a PWP without sex, or am I just really tired?

"Bodiana Jones and the Eye of Argon" by Jane Mailander.
Story 2 in the "Quanta Leap" Universe. The others don't seem to be online. But this is apparently okay, because on the first page, as Bodie lies abed with Doyle, we are told "A series of inexplicable travels from historical to literary places and times had baffled both men for quite some time." B and D keep getting caught up in - presumably - "Quanta Leaps", and this time Bodie is Indie. Which makes Ray the screaming sidekick. And at one point they nearly run over Gandhi. This may be your sort of thing, but I couldn't get very far with it.

"The Last Tango in London" by Gena Fisher
Doyle wants to seduce Bodie, but is required to teach Bodie to tango in preparation for an op. Characterisation is way off, for me - Bodie is a clumping Neanderthal who practically weeps about that fact. Yurch.

"Bodie's Book of Words" by Khrystina. (snippets). Well, they make me giggle. Except - I don't understand the butterflies one.

(SlantedLight November 2005)