Cloudburst

[nineveh_uk]

That's quite a storm outside. The air is white with rain and hail, and the thunder, although not loud, is continuous with the sound of someone waggling a tin tray.

I am back in Oxford, met this morning by fresh vomit, reeking of alcohol, streaming across the pavement. England won a cricket match, I am feeling rather unrested, and did not get the fanfic done that I intended. This is probably the least important thing that I didn't do whilst on holiday, but it would have been nice to get a bit of it moving.

I am reading Stephanie Meyer's latest effort in the bookshop. I normally don't worry about books "giving the wrong message" to children. Children can take anything from anything, and very often not what was intended. But oh dear me, are there no better tales of teen angst and undead love? I keep expecting to learn that Romeo and Juliet is in fact a thinly veiled True Story of vampires in Disney!Italy.

On holiday I have read Farthing, of which more on another occasion, and am now reading The Making of a Marchioness by Frances Hodgson Burnett, which I have wanted to do since listening to it as the Sunday serial on Radio 4 last year, the tale of two rather unexciting people coming to be important to one another:

"And he kissed her trembling honest mouth almost as if he had been a man - not quite, but almost."

I am now reflecting on its possibilities as re-written by James Lee Burke.

I really do need to write some fanfiction. I still owe some of the drabbles which I asked for suggestions for last month, and on the train yesterday Impey Biggs turned up in Corsica to relate a sad account of laws concerning custody of magical children born to Squibs. I have also found the absolutely perfect quotation to head the "just after the end of Gaudy Night" fic - in addition, of course, to that immortal line from Friends: "Ross's hand is on my butt!"

Comments

[bronze-ribbons.livejournal.com]

on the train yesterday Impey Biggs turned up in Corsica to relate a sad account of laws concerning custody of magical children born to Squibs

*quivers with excitement*

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

If only he would also come trailing a small detective plot in his wake it would be a great help.

[azdak.livejournal.com]

I don't think there is any such thing as a small detective plot, which is one reason why DLS's short stories tend to suck.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

This is probably true (although I have a nice little locked-room mystery that I am saving for original work one day), but happily all I want is something that can give Peter a bit of his raison d'etre as a crime buff whilst he's otherwise hanging around Corsica decimating the local wildlife and seriously regretting his night of passion with a red-haired witch.

[azdak.livejournal.com]

I greatly look forward to the original work with the locked-room mystery, and in the meantime I daresay Sir Impey will produce a crime eventually (or perhaps the landlord could enlist Peter's help in finding out who got his daughter up the duff... I like watching Peter squirm when he's caught in a conflict of interests).

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

This is the crossover Mpreg fic...

[azdak.livejournal.com]

Ah! hence the regrets about the witch!

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Hence indeed. (Although I like the general idea of Peter's being asked to investigate a crime he has himself committed.)

[azdak.livejournal.com]

The idea of Peter investigating a crime he has committed himself is a wonderful one, but in this case I was actually thinking of Bunter as the perpetrator - doesn't Peter complain about him seducing the innkeeper's (or possibly inkeepers') daughter(s) when they get back from Corsica?

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

But surely Bunter would never behave in such a way as would embarrass Peter (although there is a ref. in a DLS letter to P being involved in a "ridiculous duel in Corsica" - perhaps Bunter has been framed?).

[azdak.livejournal.com]

But surely Bunter would never behave in such a way as would embarrass Peter

I am convinced that Bunter has a private life - a rather complicated one, admittedly, given the Peter factor, but a life nonetheless - and if the young lady was charming and willing and there was a Mediterranean moon, then it would take a very stalwart chap indeed to refrain on the grounds that it might hypothetically cause embarrassment to his boss, who even at that moment was busily shagging the local witch.

And Peter fighting a duel to defend Bunter's honour! Yes!

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't think he'd refrain, simply that he'd not get caught. Just that Lord Peter is not the only one to stock up on the best Parisian condoms that money can buy.

I imagine Bunter's private life is littered with friends accustomed to rolling their eyes when he tells them that very sorry, he can't make an appointment because he and Lord Peter are dashing off to distant places at dawn tomorrow.

[mobile-alh.livejournal.com]

I have a sneaking fondness for many of FHB's more obscure romances, but it's been years since I read most of them.