leavethesky | Law & Order: SVU, Alias, Star Wars?

I don't normally do this, but I just noticed that a novel-length fic I recced LOOOOOOOOOONG ago won a place in the Royal Academy of Bards Hall of Fame even though it's not a Xena fic. At. All.

And Playing the Role of Herself by dabkey is hard to define. It's sort of an RPF Olivia/Abbie, Mariska/Angie Harmon and it's definitely NC-17. This fic is LOL funny with fantastic characterization and a really interesting story centered around two actresses on a TV procedural that looks an awful lot like LAO/SVU. The most surprising thing about this fic is how knowledgeable this writer is about the actual workings of TV production. They either work in some way in the entertainment industry or did some serious research. It's not all glamour and press shots, people. It's back-to-back 18 hour days shooting in the rain. My one problem with this fic is that it suffers a little from that romance-novel-writing trap that looks a lot like lesbian DRAMA. WAY too many contrived and coincidental obstacles in the way of their relationship. But it really is worth all the melodrama for this incredibly enjoyable and well-written fic.

ETA

ralst tells me that this story is actually going to be published, which doesn't surprise me at all. It's much better than a lot of the 'romance' novels on the market.

Also, if anyone knows dabkey's LJ persona, please let me know so I can properly credit her.

And check out the other great and usually very long fics in the Royal Academy's Hall of Fame. It's a great way to get into the Xena fandom. And got to their incredibly helpful reviews. I don't agree with all of them, but they're on the money a lot of the time and it's unbelievably useful if you're trying to get started or keep up with the overwhelming amount of Xena fic out there. Make sure you keep clicking back to previous review pages for the full effect.

Also, speaking of novel-length fics,

thrace_'s PG-13 crack!fic uber Sydney/Rachel in StarWars!verse has reached it's dramatic conclusion. This is sweeping, epic space opera with a lezzie Sydney Jedi Master. It just doesn't get any better. :)
Go leave the love. For both of these great writers!!

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Oh, man, I read that entire novel of a fic in one go. I was totally in love with its melodrama. I thought it was funny that dabkey claimed on her e-scribblers page that it wasn't fic at all, but completely original fiction. If I recall correctly, she said something or other about using Angie and Marish as models for physical appearances, but that was the end of the comparisons. I thought it was pretty awesome as a satire, though, whether or not she wanted to admit that it was.

*g*
Exactly! when I need a little melodrama in my life, I go back and read parts of it. I'm sure you can guess which parts. heh. As far as original fiction...I guess she can say whatever she wants, but d00d, you can't get away with those physical descriptions (for ghod's sakes, "whiskey-soaked voice"!!!!) for actresses on a procedural without immediately evoking mariska and angie. Of course, I'm blissfully ignorant of those actresses' true personalities, so if the comparison ends there, good for dabkey.

If she's getting it published, I can see why she's so insistent on it being seen as an original work.

Exactly! Wouldn't want your fav actress suing the crap out of her for defamation or something.

As I recall, it was someone on TWOP who made the Olivia/Angie comparison, not Dabkey. She always denied that, but I think it was an ovious subconcious choice. And *sigh*, the number of times I have read and reread that fic. Definitely enjoyable melodrama. Is she really on LJ? I tried stalking her on e-scribblers, hoping she'd have some equally good follow up story.

I really enjoyed 'And Playing the Role of Herself' but I never saw the Olivia/Abbie connection - at least past the physical description (which someone else pointed out - I can be rather slow on the uptake). Maybe that's because Abbie/Angie Harmon just isn't a character/actor that I know, so she's just not part of my internal thought process. Whereas the main character always seemed too nice, naive to be Olivia/Mariska. Like you said, it's hard to define, and for those that see the connection it's there, but for those that don't it's still a great original piece.

When I spoke to dabkey last year she said it was going to be made into a book. Do you know if that ever happened?

Yeah, it's just the physical description. and it doesn't hurt that I really have no idea what the actresses are like. But you can't call the Angie character's voice "whiskey-soaked" without getting a 'come on already!' from me. Maybe I should say the characters were 'inspired' by those actresses. :)

I have no idea. Didn't you archive this piece on your site? I looked to link it, but couldn't find it. I'm probably imagining things.

Also, I enjoyed the hell out of your Murder in Suburbia pieces in this update. Crazy funny and hot. My fav combination.

So I'm guessing Angie Harmon has a distinctive voice? (I think I only ever glimpsed her in two SVU eps, so although I've seen her face on banners etc., the rest of it is a little vague.)

Nope, it's not on mine, unfortunately. And now my brain's in gear, I'm also sure I heard mention of a sequel in the works. Although whether this was true or just a manifestation of the little voice in my head, I don't know.

And cheers about the MiS. They're all rather silly but with that show it's impossible to do anything else.

Angie Harmon has one of the sexiest voices ever. She always sounds like she just got out of bed. So sexy.

You know, despite downloading the eps from you, I still haven't managed to see an ep of MiS yet. Have to get on that.

Oh, thank you for posting this! Xena fandom is so huge, I've always hung back from trying to explore because I never knew where to start.

*g* I know how you feel. If you need any more help whittling it down, let me know. Maybe I'll even turn it into a post. ;)

Woohoo! Reccage! *cookies in the mail*

*g*

It's always amazing to me how active the Xena fandom still is after all these years.
BTW, thanks to your pimpage of

theholyinnocent's Mel/Janice stories, I've started reading them and they are amazing. Being period pieces, they lend themselves really well to the literary writing style and the reverse character dynamic from the classic Xena stories is a lot of fun. Everybody should go read them now.

huh, this sounds fascinating. I'll definitely put it on my list for the next time I neeeeeeed a good lesbian romance novel.

Law & Order: SVU, Alias, Star Wars?

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