CI5 Headquarters

Welcome to ci5hq - an lj dedicated to discussion, reviews and recommendations of all things about The Professionals, and especially about the thousands of Pros fanfic stories out there. You might like to take a look at some of these posts, to help you find your way around:

The CI5hq Index
Find the post you're looking for easily! This is the tag list, organised by author, artist, vidder, story title, zine title, discussion topic, storylist subject...among other things.

List of Beta Readers
Need someone to look through your story (or vid or at your artwork) to make sure it's fit for showing to your public? This is a post of volunteers who are happy to beta read, and happy for you to get in touch and ask for help. It's also the place to go if you'd like to volunteer as a beta reader.

Frequently Asked Questions and other information about the lads
Wondering if anyone's ever looked into the lads' background? Bodie's mercenary past? The tv shows they might have watched? How pubs worked in 1970s/80s England? You'll find links to posts and websites here answering all sorts of questions...

The Reading Room
The Reading Room began way back in 2009, and despite the odd pause or two it's still running. Every Thursday we settle in for to chat about a Pros story that's been arranged in advanced, led by a volunteer making the initial post. Everyone's welcome to join in - read the story, read the review, and come and let us know what you think!

Beta Central
This is a relatively new feature, and slightly irregular depending on who is writing and looking for help. Writers who would like a story beta-d can volunteer it for the Beta Central list, will be given a Monday date, and can then post it on that day for beta comments and help checking and editing from ci5hq readers. Hopefully this will be a helpful experience for everyone - writers and betas - who'd like to see lots of good Pros fic that people will love to read. *g*

There are a few other links in the sidebar on the left, and more information on the User Info page Feel free to ask questions either here, or via the mods (email addresses on the User Info page). Everyone is welcome to post about Pros at any time, or ask questions you've always wondered, make comments you've always wanted to make, review a story or rec a drawing - this community is all about loving the lads, and spending some time sharing that love with other people. We love to hear from anyone who wants to talk about our boys, so do come and browse the most recent - and older! - posts, post and comment - and mostly, enjoy yourself!

Theme for our Reading Room is still Crossovers - Pros stories where the lads meet the character/universe of another tv series, book or film. For more information look here.

Thurs 31st May - firlefanzine- Bishonen Op by DVS / / Patalliro crossover
Thurs 7th June - nypagan- An Encounter in Cascade and An Encounter in Eastland by Meridian
Thurs 14th June - nypagan-
Thurs 21st June - anna060957- Discovered in a Congo Prison by J.J. Minerva

Patalliro! is  is a long-running manga series.
I don't know nothing about it, but I have done a short research with Google. And for me it was enough to learn a bit about the three main characters to enjoy the story immensely. :-)

•   
• 
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1G2DM5fF38

Advance apologies if the cut doesn't work - this is my first post and I'm working on Aussie time just in case it all goes pear-shaped!!

This is a crossover with the Judge John Deed series and is set in the present time. In this TV series the lead role of John Deed is played by Martin Shaw.

I adore the Judge John Deed series not only for the purposes of drooling over the main character (despite being a Bodie-girl, MS really has aged well!), but also for the depth of research, examination into and exploration of the circumstances surrounding crime and justice. This crossover is not bogged down by any of that! Don’t try to rationalise this caper, don’t try to make any interpretation of how and why – you just have to enjoy it – or not as the case may be.

Having read the first of this Crossover Reading Room “Contretemps” (and loved it), “Still Crazy After All These Years” is at the exact opposite end of the scale!

( Still Crazy After all These Years )

Theme for our Reading Room is still Crossovers - Pros stories where the lads meet the character/universe of another tv series, book or film. Look here for more information.

And finally I have done a decision for my story next week. ;-)

Thurs 24th May - anna060957- Still Crazy After All These Years by LilyK
Thurs 31st May - firlefanzine- Bishonen Op by DVS / Patalliro crossover
Thurs 7th June - nypagan- An Encounter in Cascade and An Encounter in Eastland by Meridian
Thurs 14th June - nypagan-
Thurs 21st June - anna060957- Discovered in a Congo Prison

Title: The Tangled Web
Author: Jack Reuben Darcy
Pairing: B/D
Link to story: at the Circuit Archive

The Tangled Web is a Pros/Chief crossover, written sometime before 2003. There seem to be two kinds of Pros crossovers - those that take both our lads, B/D as we adore them, and combine their universe with some other, and those that take one of our lads into another universe so that they can have a relationship with the main character from that universe. This means of course that they have to somehow get rid of the other lad, killing him, or marrying him off, or the like, and so from the very start it's rather lost me a bit. I'm interested in B/D, and that's who I want to know about.

( This story does neither... )

Theme for our Reading Room is still Crossovers - Pros stories where the lads meet the character/universe of another tv series, book or film. Look here for more information.

This week we have a long story! :-)

Thurs 17th May - byslantedlight- The Tangled Web by Jack Reuben Darcy
Thurs 24th May - anna060957- Still Crazy After All These Years by LilyK
Thurs 31st May - firlefanzine-
Thurs 7th June - nypagan- An Encounter in Cascade and An Encounter in Eastland by Meridian
Thurs 14th June - nypagan- In a Land of Shadow by Gil Hale

Title: Hombathlay
Author: Jane Mailander
Pairing: sort of B/D. Only, well...
Available: First published in Second Variations On The Theme of B and D. On the CD and on the online Circuit Archive

Bunnies. Bunny rabbits and Pros. If you're asked for the connection between the two, I imagine that most people would say "That bit in No Stone with the cute rabbit", and quite a lot may add "And, of course, they're at it like rabbits, too."

But never, I bet you, thinking that somewhere in the rabbit world of Watership Down, there might be a Bodie rabbit and a Doyle rabbit.

( Not until you read this, at any rate )

News  ---  News  ---  News  ---

Sorry, no further information for this week!

Thurs 10th May - moonlightmead- Hombathlay by Jane Mailander
Thurs 17th May - byslantedlight- The Tangled Web by Jack Reuben Darcy
Thurs 24th May - anna060957- Still Crazy After All These Years by LilyK
Thurs 31st May - firlefanzine-
Thurs 7th June - nypagan- An Encounter in Cascade and An Encounter in Eastland by Meridian
Thurs 14th June - nypagan- In a Land of Shadow by Gil Hale

Wandering through the list of crossover stories at The Hatstand, I came across mention of The Set-Up (not online; on the CD, disk 09, author anon). It's listed as a crossover with The Sandbaggers. It's an undercover as gay story in which they seek out the blackmailers by doing something blackmailable: no prizes for guessing what. I like this story very much.

( But where's the crossover? )

I didn't mean to, I only picked it up look for something, but I spent all day yesterday re-reading Kate Maclean's gorgeous

(published by Gryphon Press if you've not yet read it!) and fell in love with it all over again, as I have every time I've re-read it. And now I'm scouting my shelves, wondering what to re-read next... maybe some Gil Hale? Tangled Web, which I'm reviewing here in a few weeks, for Reading Room? But that's aaaages away, and there's so much I could read before then... *g* And it occured to me that we've not had a what-are-you-reading-now post for ages!

So... What are you reading right now? *g* Is it going down well? Is it gorgeous or awful? Does it make your heart beat Bodie/Doyle...?

Titles: The Waiting Room Affair, Incident In a Stairwell, People Bending Broken Rules
Author: Debra Hicks
Pairing: B/D, N/I
Links to Stories: The Waiting Room Affair
Incident In a Stairwell
People Bending Broken Rules


I put off reading these three stories for quite some time when I first got into the Pros fandom. Even though I'd watched UNCLE during its original run, or maybe because I'd watched the original run at the tender age of eleven, I couldn't bring myself to think of Napoleon and Illya that way. But to not read even one Pros stories, as I tore through the archives, gorging myself on Bodie and Doyle, was impossible, so, finally, I sat down and read these three stories.

I'm very glad that I did.


( The Trilogy )

Last week the crossover really works fine for me although I have never seen anything of the 'other TV series' JJD.
This week it's The Man From UNCLE, and I love the show! Well not as much as Pros of course! ;-)

For stimulation I can highly recommend the P.R.Zed vid Moscow Drug Club (Zed's Vids, you need a password).

Back to business.
Theme for our Reading Room is Crossovers - Pros stories where the lads meet the character/universe of another tv series, book or film. Look here for more information.

Thurs 3rd May - gilda_elise - The Waiting Room Affair, Incident in a Stairwell and People Bending Broken Rules by Debra Hicks (Pros/Man from UNCLE)
Thurs 10th May - moonlightmead
Thurs 17th May - byslantedlight - The Tangled Web by Jack Reuben Darcy
Thurs 24th May - anna060957 - Still Crazy After All These Years by LilyK
Thurs 31st May - firlefanzine
Thurs 7th June - nypagan - An Encounter in Cascade and An Encounter in Eastland by Meridian

Title: Contretemps
Author: Josey
Pairing: B/D
Link to story:  Contretemps

This is a crossover between Pros and Judge John Deed.  I like both, although I can’t connect John Deed with Ray Doyle, so I found it interesting that I enjoyed this story, as I have been struggling with fusions and crossovers.

( Spoilers... )

The next scheduled theme for our Reading Room is Crossovers - Pros stories where the lads meet the character/universe of another tv series, book or film. Look here for more information.

Thurs 26th April - murphybabe - Contretemps by Josey (Pros/Judge John Deed)
Thurs 3rd May - gilda_elise - The Waiting Room Affair, Incident in a Stairwell and People Bending Broken Rules by Debra Hicks (Pros/Man from UNCLE)
Thurs 10th May - moonlightmead
Thurs 17th May - byslantedlight - The Tangled Web by Jack Reuben Darcy
Thurs 24th May - anna060957 - Still Crazy After All These Years by LilyK
Thurs 31st May - firlefanzine

Uff! We have a lot to do in the next few weeks. :-)
*happy dancing*

Writers who would like a story beta-d can volunteer it for the Beta Central list, will be given a Monday date, and can then post it on that day for beta comments and help checking and editing from ci5hq readers. Hopefully this will be a helpful experience for everyone - writers and betas - who'd like to see lots of good Pros fic that people will love to read. *g*

We've not had a Beta Central post for a while now - does anyone out there have a story they'd like betad, or to offer for constructive criticism? Or is there anything you'd like to discuss about writing Pros fic? Monday the 23rd of April is open for posting - comment below, and it's all yours! *g*

The next scheduled theme for our Reading Room is Crossovers - Pros stories where the lads meet the character/universe of another tv series, book or film. There is a list of Crossover stories at the Hatstand, and Palelyloitering has a number of separate Pros Crossover storylists. Please feel free to suggest others! And do we have volunteers to review stories for the theme? I'll list you all below... *g*

Below is the current (and past) Themed Reading Room schedule - I'd also like suggestions for more future themes (or let me know if you're tired of themes and would like to go back to randomly-volunteered Reading Room posts!)
Reading Room Schedule
Reading Room XII - Crossovers

Reading Room XIII - AU Stories that haven't been covered in more specific themes!
Reading Room IVX - Younger Lads
Reading Room ??? - Where the lads are outed
Reading Room ? - Stories of the Elements (this one may be a special Reading Room series)

( Previous Reading Room Themes )

So to sum up:

1 - who will volunteer to review stories in the Crossover theme?
2 - are you happy to continue with themed Reading Rooms, or should we go unthemed again?
3 - if you're happy with the themes - do you have more suggestions for future themes?

Thurs 26th April - murphybabe - Contretemps by Josey (Pros/Judge John Deed)
Thurs 3rd May - gilda_elise - The Waiting Room Affair, Incident in a Stairwell and People Bending Broken Rules by Debra Hicks (Pros/Man from UNCLE)
Thurs 10th May - moonlightmead - Hombothlay by Jane Mailander
Thurs 17th May - byslantedlight - The Tangled Web by Jack Reuben Darcy
Thurs 24th May - anna060957 - Still Crazy After All These Years by LilyK
Thurs 31st May - firlefanzine - The Bishonen Ope by DVS
Thurs 7th June - nypagan - An Encounter in Cascade and An Encounter in Eastland by Meridian
Thurs 14th June - nypagan -
Thurs 21st June - anna060957 - Discovered in a Congo Prison by J.J. Minerva

There were some great discussions in the last weeks! 

byslantedlight will organise the next theme soon.

Stay tuned! :-)

So... following on from my Reading Room review of Poison Apples I went off and read the sequel this morning, which is alleged to be an anti-slash sequel, "fixing" the B/D relationship of the first story. I then found a few discusions about this over at ProsLit, and based on both those things I can say that the rumour that Apples for the Lady is anti-slash, and fixes, or counters the lads' slashed relationship is absolute rubbish!

I'm very much against the idea of "fixing" a slash story (what's there to fix?), but even though I went into this fic thinking grrrr, at no point did I find the author trying to do that! The story ends with Bodie still very much in love with Doyle, and with Doyle, who was made to forget their relationship as payment to the goddess for the return of his soul, beginning to remember it after all.

Apples for the Lady is not an anti-slash story!

( Explanation under here... )

Right - that'll do for now, but who else has actually read "Apples for the Lady"? Do you read it as anti-slash, and if so how and why, and what do you make of the fact that Bodie is still in love with Doyle at the end, and that Doyle is beginning to remember their relationship and even recognises that the girl he now thinks is beautiful looks like Bodie?

I've got to say - I totally fell into the trap and avoided Apples for the Lady because it was supposed to be a) het and b) anti-slash. Thankfully I can now say for sure that it's neither...

Title: Poison Apples Author: Pamela Rose Pairing: B/D Link to story: Poison Apples Link to fusion story: The Wicker Man

I managed to watch The Wickerman film last night, and was amused to see that it was that Edward Woodward, playing what can best be described as another pesky policeman... *g*

Poison Apples is based around the Robin Hardy film The Wicker Man, though now that I've seen the film as well as read the story I wouldn't say that it was properly a fusion story at all - though it's not quite a "cross-over" either (so maybe this is a transition-review, between our last "Fusion" theme, and the next "Crossover" theme... *g*). Poison Apples is actually set some years after the original film - a young man has disappeared on Summerisle, and whilst Doyle is recovering from a burst appendix, Bodie is sent alone to investigate. The next thing Doyle knows is that Bodie has resigned, and Cowley has forbidden him to follow - he's sure that Bodie will be "back in his own sweet time... and he'll wish he'd taken the long way round." Doyle, of course, follows anyway...

( The story is rather divided into parts... )

Just a quick heads-up to let you know there'll be a slight delay in my Reading Room post this week. When I chose Poison Apples to review, I ordered a copy of The Wicker Man film, and it's already been posted and will most likely arrive tomorrow - just too late to do my review on time. So I'm hoping that it'll be here, I'll watch it tomorrow, and post a review on Friday - but if worst comes to worst it might be Saturday instead...

So maybe there's a little more time to read the story now, if you've not already done so...? *g*

Poison Apples by Pamela Rose (fusion with The Wicker Man)

I believe this Pros story was quite controversial in its time - it certainly spawned a number of sequels, which is always an interesting sign... *g*