New Mag 7 fic

[gwyn]

The Silver Moon is here. It's about 5,500 words, Chris and Vin (duh), Old West. Thanks to feochadn for the looksee. To those of you who got excited about a new Mag 7 story, really, really don't. This thing is so slight and wispy that it would blow away in a light breeze. It's kind of a what-if AU, similar to Cold Enough to Snow, in that it's set outside the actual series timeline (just before).

The funny thing is that I hate AUs. Just hate the damn things, especially in Magnificent 7, because the modern ATF-type AUs predominate throughout the fandom. As far as I'm concerned, the instant you take these iconically Western men out of the Old West, you've surgically removed their characters, and I have absolutely zero interest in that. Plus, most people do the AUs because they hate icky Old West stuff and god forbid they might have to do research. Which makes my blood boil.

But for some reason, I don't mind what-if scenarios, where you make a slight tweak on the original stories and look at something along the lines of "what if he'd gone downstairs instead of up?" It never has to be more complicated than that, and I have always enjoyed it -- and I don't really think of it as AU any more than any other fanfic (especially slash) is, but everyone tells me it is. So, that is that.

Comments

[aukestrel.livejournal.com]

I'm only partway through and completely enamoured. I love love love this: "Odds hardly seemed fair."

This almost makes up for the stupid crazy boss being back!

::runs back to reading:: (Hey! I'm on lunch. Sort of. Technically...)

[batdina.livejournal.com]

ooh. goody. new gwyn-fic. off to use the printer.

[maygra.livejournal.com]

Oh, Gwyn, I love this. Really. It does have that same lyrical, easy-amble-to-the-heart-of-the-story feel that Cold Enough to Snow has. I know them, and I recognize them -- they are only one half step back from the men we meet and yet still very much the same. It's a great "what if" they'd met six months or a year earlier.

This is really, really lovely.

[dine.livejournal.com]

oh, I loved this! it's so very *them*

the unfolding of their story through Chris' recovery and their gradually developing closeness was beautiful. as Maygra said, lyrical!

[mlyn.livejournal.com]

Y'know how much I wanted to read this? When my first bus blew away from the stop ahead of schedule, I used my extra time to fire up my laptop on a picnic table and finish reading it. I'm usually not so attached to things that I pull out my laptop at a bus stop.

It may be a little thing, but sometimes little things are worth a lot. Think of how much people spend on a caret of diamond. This absolutely meets your normal standard of writing, imo -- it's a jewel that has quickly joined the library of work by you that I've treasured every time I go back.

This line is sublime: Goodbyes are not easy; the last look back is the thing that stays with you the most, eats away at your mind, taking over your memories so you can only remember that face as it sends you on your way. It makes my heart ache.

Perfect Chris and Vin, as usual. I love how careful they are with each other, how polite and humble, how natural their speech and thoughts are to the period. Would you mind doing nothing in any other fandom for the rest of your life? Just writing Chris and VIn? *Blinky eyes*

[falzalot.livejournal.com]

oh wow, this was just lovely.

[true-enough.livejournal.com]

What I love best about this is the dialogue. Blunt and slightly formal and with a great sense of taciturn men finding their voice. And while the pilot episode left me with a feeling that they're connection was immediate I love a story that lets them find love slowly, even awkwardly: ...some thread of fascination pulled from somewhere down inside him, tugging feelings out he has ignored. When a simple smile or a touch leaves him a bit shakey, a little blind.

Just lovely. Really. Thank you.

[fiercy.livejournal.com]

I have to echo this. That was the very passage I was going to point out! It takes a real craftsperson to take men in the old west and make them real, strong and beautiful all at once. But them I've always loved the poetry of good men being good men with no apology.

Thank you for sharing this. I don't read much fanfic these days. I'm glad I read this.

[ms-artisan.livejournal.com]

Loved the story, gwyn, and it didn't feel wispy at all. Just the opposite actually, solid and real and well worth getting excited over. Loved your dialogue and imagery and the pace it unfolded -- in fact you're making me love the cowboys more than ever!

[movies-michelle.livejournal.com]

That was so lovely--as usual. I love the cold and quiet imagery you have going, from the blood blooming in the snow to Chris's fever-image of being sheltered on the moon. And there's this feeling of comfort and... I want to say melancholy, but that seems too sad. Because the quiet acceptance of them both that they will meet again, and since we know that they do, makes it a lot less sad. And somehow, I can't help thinking this would change Chris slightly, this connection with Vin even stronger when they do meet up at the beginning of the series.

In other words, I loved it. *g*

[rhiannon-jehane.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow. This is just beautiful.

Maygra said it better than I can: they are only one half step back from the men we meet and yet still very much the same. I've been reading it on the sly this morning at work -- thank you for making an ordinary day very lovely and warm.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Hope you enjoyed the rest!

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you enjoyed it. I felt like it was more of a slow amble to nothingness, so I'm glad that people feel like it wasn't. Maybe I've just been so embroiled in plot-heavy fic for Buffy and F&F that it was hard to see anything in something that short and quiet.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I miss my cowboys so much, but I'm thrilled that the DVDs of first season will be coming soon. Maybe it will inspire more fic!

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Well, considering how little I want to write fanfic in anything these days, that may not be a problem once the DVDs come out! Also, with Brokeback Mountain opening mid-December here, I have a feeling I will be in a cowboy state of mind for a long time.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Thank you!!!

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

It is definitely a challenge to write dialog for these guys -- how to get enough information into something while still sounding as terse and close to the vest as they are? Always a struggle. So I'm glad to know that it works.

There's something about that first look in the pilot that has always made me wonder, what if they had met before? That look has so many meanings in it that I never stopped wondering.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Thank *you*! Glad it was worth delving into. I know what you mean about not reading much these days... heck, I'm not writing much, either!

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Thanks! And I'm glad it didn't feel too light or empty. I think I've been investing a lot of energy into plot-heavy fic lately that it's hard to step back sometimes.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Gracias -- and thanks for the pimpage. I swear, you can announce till the cows come home, but one mention on someone else's LJ will still generate more looks than anything else.

I need a Rawhide icon. He so pretty.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

You're welcome, and thank you for letting me know!