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Friday, June 7th, 2002
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1:16a - Coming up for air
Lordy, lordy, lordy. Here I'd just finished writing-writing-writing on Ghost (got a lot free-form written to the tune of Xena's main theme, set to repeat with the volume up-up-up; it's not ready to show anyone, and I'm going to let it sit for a little while before I edit, but I'm delighted), and had gone hunting for the URL to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) nmalfoy's Someone to Know Me Too Well so that I could point out that her fourth chapter is available for your readering pleasure! and then get back to beta'ing...
...And then I was waiting for the Schnoogle fic list to finish loading and happened to find A.J. Hall's Lust Over Pendle's summary interesting... and, unusually for me, I clicked.
Why has nobody told me about this fic before? dancingrain, you aren't the Erica who betas for him/her, are you? It's a Draco/Neville fic that, more importantly, bills itself as, "A comedy of manners, in the Golden Age detective thriller genre, set in the year immediately after Voldemort's fall [...]" It's a WIP, but it seems to be regularly and recently updated, with the latest installment having been June 5th. The writing style is clear and easy to read, with a decided sense of humor; Hall is a CC fan, according to the FA profile, and I can see the connection. The British atmosphere seems great to this over-the-pond reader. If you're only looking for smut, though, don't read this; the D/N relationship underlies what's going on but doesn't get screen time as much as I'd like, smut or non-smut. That said, the characters seem very real, and there are strong female characters! I'm fond of Neville and delighted by Draco. And more-than-marble Narcissa is just amazing. And as for Neville's grandmother, that old bat, I definitely want her on my side! Definitely the catch of the day.
Some quotes I particularly liked...
(in no particular order, and mostly funny ones to boot,
in order to minimize spoilers)
[Neville] “Masochistic? You think I'm going out with Draco because I'm a masochist? You must be completely off your trolley. No masochist would get anything out of a relationship with Draco. I mean, you'd ask him to beat you and he'd just say: “shan't”.”
"What do you call those?" Draco asked in an awful voice.
Hermione flushed.
"They're dogs." Her voice was definitely defensive. The liver and white springer spaniels lolled their tongues and grinned up impartially at them.
"Well, I didn't expect you to claim they were a brace of Animagi you were having a free and open relationship with. What I mean is, what are you proposing to do with them here?"
"They're part of your cover story."
Draco put his head on one side, and assumed an attitude of deep cogitation. On the very outer edge of his hearing – where sense meets thought – he knew he could detect Neville saying: “Draco! No!” But there was a roar of sheer adrenaline like the pounding sea in his ears and the mot juste had him in its embrace, and was carrying him helplessly onwards towards the shore.
( Some more quotes, because I just can't stop myself... )
current mood: Happy. Tired.
current music: Echoing quietness after Xena (2 herrings | leave a red herring)
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