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[personal profile] wiseheart
Behind the tag, because this is a long and rant-y entry.

As you probably know, I've been labelled by the homophobic prudes of various fandoms (including the Tolkien and the Star Trek ones) as Teh Evil Slasher (TM). For a very long time, I've rejected that title, because I write a great deal of stuff that is not slash, which doesn't even have any sexual content, but it didn't help. Once you are labelled suchly, you can never wash it off.

Today, I admit it freely and am content with it.

Also, having spent almost seven years in the gutter that is the smut fiction of my various fandoms, my squick factor is fairly high. I've come to believe that - by carefully avoiding such genres as RPS, rapefic and kiddie pr0n - within my own parameters nothing can really upset me anymore.

Boy, was I wrong!

I lived happily and safely within said parameters where reading is considered. But then I found Brother Cadfael slash, while googling for some Cadfael fanfic.

Two pieces of fanfic, to be accurate. The first one was actually a beautiful vignette, set shortly after "The Pilgrim of Hate" and describing the hidden attraction between Hugh Beringar and Olivier de Bretagne, of which neither of them speaks and upon which neither of them acts. I was quite pleased with that one, to be honest. It was in-character and it matched the original settings beautifully.

Then I risked a glimpse into the other one. Man, have I regretted it!

It was a poorly written Cadfael/Hugh Beringar piece, I didn't even managed to read it to the end. One of those 'find a nonexistent reason to make two characters who'd never do it have gratuitous, graphic sex. I left the crime scene before they'd actually come to the thrust-and-grunt part.

Now, my true problem isn't even that someone tried their hand on an unlikely pairing again. My problem was that the author, and I'm using the word very loosely, apparently didn't understand a word about what the whole situation in the Cadfael chronicles is about.

There is a man, well over sixty at that time, mind you, who's chosen the cloistered life after forty frigging years in the world, after fifteen years in the Crusade and after at least five women in his life. This man should be so horny, after two decades in the cloister, that he'd need to boink his best friend, just because his superiors were "mean" to him?

Oh, please. If anything at all has been adamantly clear in those twenty-some novels, it is Cadfael's vocation. He's seen everything. He's tried almost everything. He's not easily shaken, and when he is shaken, it isn't because of the acts of his prior against him. That much we could see in "Monk's Hood".

And here we come to the other misinterpretation of the "author" of this story. Prior Robert and Brother Jerome aren't "evil". Sure, they are ambitious, sometimes brick-headed people, but they don't pass their time with trying to destroy their brethren. Sure, Prior Robert wants to become abbot very badly, and they are both concerned about the good reputation of their abbey, and for that, they may be a bit overzealous in pursuing real or imaginary sins, but they aren't mean and aren't evil. And Cadfael knows that and accept them as the fallible men they are. Besides, he has Abbot Radulfus' trust, who wouldn't send him into exile just like that. We were shown Abbot Radulfus as a very shrewd but very just man, whose stern hand actually serves the good of the abbey but who's never cruel.

And now to Hugh Beringar. He's a good friend of Cadfael, and they are close, that's true. And let's just leave out of the equation the fact that Cadfael has practically helped Hugh to marry Aline and that he's the godfather of their son. What they have is mutual respect and appreciation for each other's integrity - but Cadfael is twice Hugh's age, which would count even in our present times, but it certainly counted a great deal more in the 12th century. In their friendship, there is an undertone of a father/son relationship, too, and IMO that alone would keep them to have TEH HOTT BUTTSEX with each other, although the most important factors are Cadfael's vocation and Hugh's love for his wife.

In "An Excellent Mystery" Ellis Peters fleetingly touches the topic of same-gender relationship within the cloister. She shows us one of the brothers, a poor, tormenting man who's taken the vows for the wrong reason, lusting after a young brother. Luckily for them both, it never gets any further, but that's not the point. The point is, that for someone to have such urges - and even act upon them - in the given context (we're in a time when faith was a relatively simple thing and the big heresies haven't reared their head yet) must have been something wrong with the vocation of the monk in question.

Yet Peters never gives us any reason to doubt the firmness of Cadfael's vocation. He hasn't chosen the cloister as his second-best... the choice came to him naturally, after a life lived in full outside of its walls.

Okay, it seems I still can be grossed out by fanfic. Even if it isn't a genre that I won't read on principle.

Oh dear...

Date: 2006-06-12 10:57 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lhun-dweller.livejournal.com
I guess you haven't heard of Healing Monastic Sex(tm), eh? It's akin to Healing Elven Sex(tm), minus the pointy ears and pretty hair. [evil grin]

Seriously: some people simply have no clue. Go wash your eyes out, right after noting the author's name so you'll never again risk your precious eyes on such crap again. And have some chocolate... always works for me!

(no subject)

Date: 2006-06-13 07:59 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rcfinch.livejournal.com
*sigh* Badfic is everywhere, but in some fandoms it's more jarring than in others. (Re)read something good; for me that's always the easiest way to forget it.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-06-13 08:53 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wiseheart.livejournal.com
You should see the glowing reviews it got. With praise about how both Hugh and Cadfael were soooo in-character and how the story just sounded like a chapter of an Ellis Peters book.

I can't remember any of the books where Cadfael would be shagging Hugh...

(no subject)

Date: 2006-06-13 12:43 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gone2thedogs.livejournal.com
Sounds like you could use some brain bleach, lol, it's always nasty to run into badfic. Like rcfinch says, read something good to cleanse your mind.

I'm sorry to put this here, but I'm not sure if you're getting my email since yahell is slower than dirt and failing half the time when I try to log in, and you said you were having trouble with hotmail and geo as well. I'll pick up chapters 3 and 4 of Shoemakers daughter this week and do the check over. I also wanted to know if someone spammed us over at Edhellonds new site. My problems with yahoo have prevented me from getting into the groups site for the last two days, but my email account when I could finally access it had over four hundred messages, most went to the bulk crap file, but a couple got through to the regular file and it's vile stuff. The one that worried me was from Danny McCumber, who I think goes by the name "The Ghost Twins" isn't he a member of our group? It was difinately a spammers email.

I'll check for your answer here today and then delete this post, sorry again for doing it this way.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-06-13 07:11 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wiseheart.livejournal.com
Yep, I got your mail. Sorry I haven't answered earlier. School was being... tiring lately. I sent you a private mail.

As for Danny, according to [livejournal.com profile] larian's recent post, the sender isn't to blame for the spammer e-mail. Some new sort of virus seems to be going around on Yahell, perhaps that was the reason of it being so slow lately. In any case, I made a complete virus check on my machine, and it seems to be clean.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-06-13 07:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gone2thedogs.livejournal.com
Thanks Soledad, I'm glad to hear it's a virus and not one of our members being a jerk. I haven't gotten your private email yet, but then eveything is still slow, I've run a V scan on my computer and it's ok, so it must be with Yahoo. Don't worry about not answering my email, I understand perfectly about work, just one more week to go right? or is this the last week? I just wanted to make sure you got mine, don't want you to worry about your story while on vacation ;-).

(no subject)

Date: 2006-06-13 08:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wiseheart.livejournal.com
This is the last week indeed. Next week we're going to England (and probably dying on the plane from a heart attack, but that's another matter entirely).

Perhaps all the recent problems on Yahoo came from this frigging virus, eh?

(no subject)

Date: 2006-06-14 02:02 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gone2thedogs.livejournal.com
Perhaps all the recent problems on Yahoo came from this frigging virus, eh?

Yes, I think you're right, and I don't think Yahoo has everything straightened out yet as it's still running very slowly for me, it's like I'm back on dial-up when I try to access the mail and the groups.
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