Author Topic: Tales of Greenlea County - Discussion of All Stories (UPDATE)  (Read 90997 times)

Offline mariez

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Re: Tales of Greenlea County - Discussion of All Stories
« Reply #10 on: February 25, 2008, 03:08:10 pm »
no wonder I felt like I had to speed up, Marie!

Curious as this sounds, my work on "Shelter from the Storm" and "Long Way Home" is the first time in many months I have read these stories again.  And after all of the back and forth with so many readers about whether "Ennis forgot Jack" and "kicked him to the curb", I was really quite pleased that I had spent so much of "Long Way Home" dealing with his and Ellery's anguish over the future of their relationship.

Yep, I'm always right behind you, Louise!  LOL!

As for all the other absurdity   ::)  - I'll just say it is beyond me how anyone who actually read the stories could honestly make such ridiculous (not to mention contrary-to-the-actual-facts-of-the-story) statements.   "Long Way Home" is so beautifully poignant. 

Marie

The measure of a country's greatness is its ability to retain compassion in times of crisis         ~~~~~~~~~Thurgood Marshall

The worst loneliness is not to be comfortable with yourself.    ~~~~~~~~~ Mark Twain

Offline messej

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Re: Tales of Greenlea County - Discussion of All Stories
« Reply #11 on: February 25, 2008, 03:22:56 pm »
Goodness, okay. Reading Tales of Greenlea County has been an initially befuddling but always wonderful experience. I only began checking out BBM fanfiction after joining a livejournal community of Heath mourners, which soon led to my discovery of the brokebackslash and wrangler communities, which eventually led to Madlori's Human Interest stories, which then led to madlori's livejournal and a old post raving about something called the Laramie Saga, a series in which Ennis finds a new man and a happy life after Jack's death. Heh, I love the internet - it's so easy to stop and look back on the random progression of clicks that have brought you to where you are.  ;)

What happened next was about a day of utter confusion - Madlori and other discussion threads specifically talked about Ennis, and the thing was supposedly called the Laramie Saga, but when I started in on Taking Chances at louisev's livejournal, I found neither Ennis nor a Laramie setting! I knew I had the right story, because everything else Madlori had described  was there - a snarky, sexy policeman named Ellery Cantrell, a gay bar called the Red Stallion where it all starts, a whole host of amazing original characters with a relatively minor presence of "Ennis'" daughters and ex-wife back home, and a quality plot. I kept reading, thinking maybe there was some unspoken agreement between writer and readers that Colson was Ennis and Adam was Jack and so on. Then Taking Chances sort of ended, and the links I found to the rest were duds, and in a state of semi desperation I finally found a link to tcreader via wrangler. I've been devouring the series since then, and when I ran out of chapters towards the end of Shelter from the Storm I almost cried!  :P

By now, I've sorta got a handle on the convoluted history of the series, especially after jumping ahead to read through the side stories and a few enlightening posts on louisev. While reading, I kind of saw the story as a weird parallel universe of BBM, and I think Colson's grief and pain affected me so strongly because I applied to his character the powerful feelings I had about Ennis' tragic backstory. I do wonder if I would have reacted the same way to Colson if I had approached the series as an original story from the start, not to say that you don't convey Colson's loss vividly and effectively - and I think his random flashbacks to his times with Adam definitely help. My notions of parallel universes were bolstered by intermittent slips with the characters' names - I've seen Ennis written where it should be Colson, or Jack instead Adam, Curt instead of Bud, Junior instead of Katie Ann. I'm inclined to think these are typos, but they served as sort of stealthy reminders of some secret history just the same.

This is getting to be a teal deer - sorry - but I've been wanting to comment on this story for over a hundred chapters and I finally have the chance! I adore Ellery Cantrell - he reminds me more than a bit of Sirius Black and last night I had a dream about the two of them having coffee, so I've spent the day fantasizing about a Greenlea/HP crossover. Speaking of HP, I'm in the midst of attempting a post-series fic of my own, which makes me appreciate the world you've created even more, considering BBM's end was your jumping-off point.

I am in love with your police department, especially Wes, Joe Tooey and Dupree; Colson and Ellery's interactions with them range from hilarious to really touching. The dynamic between Colson and Ellery is fascinating and believable, and so very, very hot, and a few of their more intimate conversations about moved me to tears. Love em. In the Red Stallion world, I've developed a definite soft spot for Lauren and Simon - I cling to their unwavering sanity and decency in a community where everyone else seems to be slutty or dangerously psychotic.

One thing though - Colson's eyes seem to switch from blue to brown with puzzling frequency. What color are they really?  Sorry, sorry this is so long, just think of it as many chapters worth of comments.  :)

Offline louisev

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Re: Tales of Greenlea County - Discussion of All Stories
« Reply #12 on: February 25, 2008, 04:22:50 pm »
oh my!  When I had the idea this weekend of starting a new discussion thread for new readers I didn't think people would be showing up so immediately!  Welcome!

First off, please let me urge you to leave a comment on LJ if you find a discrepancy or a slip in the story because there are compelling LEGAL reasons for not having any remnants of Brokeback in the updates.  If you haven't yet, registering for LJ is free and will allow you to leave comments on TCReader.  And Colson's eyes are blue!  If it says "brown" anywhere it"s because I slipped up.  But Ellery's eyes are always grey, and we even have fan art changing our fantasy-Ellery, Hugh, so that our manip art has grey eyes!

And the reason for all of this changeover is mostly due to the Cease and Desist letter I got from the lawyers that represent Annie Proulx.  I am trying as hard as I can to get it all sufficiently originalized that it still remains an interesting story for readers in the fandom, while at the same time making sure I am observing the copyright issue.

It is great to have new readers after two years!  We have a modest sized but fiercely enthusiastic crew of  readers who are rereading the stories for the second, eighth or umpteenth time who are just as excited to discuss it all, so don't worry about writing too much!
“Mr. Coyote always gets me good, boy,”  Ellery said, winking.  “Almost forgot what life was like before I got me my own personal coyote.”


Offline belbbmfan

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Re: Tales of Greenlea County - Discussion of All Stories
« Reply #13 on: February 25, 2008, 04:36:49 pm »

I am in love with your police department, especially Wes, Joe Tooey and Dupree; Colson and Ellery's interactions with them range from hilarious to really touching. The dynamic between Colson and Ellery is fascinating and believable, and so very, very hot, and a few of their more intimate conversations about moved me to tears. Love em. In the Red Stallion world, I've developed a definite soft spot for Lauren and Simon - I cling to their unwavering sanity and decency in a community where everyone else seems to be slutty or dangerously psychotic.




I know! Aren't we all?  :)


Hey messej! Welcome to the club! I'm one of the rereaders Louise was talking about. I discovered Louise's stories because Leslie (Mainwriter) recommended them here on bettermost. Louise was already into the second book by the time I started so I was marathon reading from the get go and loved every second of it.

This has been so much fun!
'We're supposed to guard the sheep, not eat 'em'

Offline louisev

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Re: Tales of Greenlea County - Discussion of All Stories
« Reply #14 on: February 25, 2008, 04:56:39 pm »
the ones with the most luck are the readers who discovered the story now when there are over a million words to read!  I guess those of you who joined early on really had to suffer the impatience, didn't you Fabienne?
“Mr. Coyote always gets me good, boy,”  Ellery said, winking.  “Almost forgot what life was like before I got me my own personal coyote.”


Offline messej

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Re: Tales of Greenlea County - Discussion of All Stories
« Reply #15 on: February 25, 2008, 04:58:27 pm »
Thanks for the welcome(s)! I will definitely let you know when I notice slips from now on - I have an LJ account, but do I need to friend tcreader to leave comments? I would've friended before now but I was a bit self-conscious friending a journal where no one would know who the hell I was...

I sorta gleaned the legal issues from louisev, and I find it a bit shocking - I've only ever heard of this happening with Anne Rice, I think. Have other BBM writers had the same troubles?

At first I sorta wished I'd been around to read when it was Ennis and Ellery, but to tell you the truth I have a weird, inexplicable thing about couples where their names start with the same letter - it's really the only instance where I don't appreciate alliteration. Totally random and weird, but there you are. Plus, I just love the name Colson. :)

Offline louisev

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Re: Tales of Greenlea County - Discussion of All Stories
« Reply #16 on: February 25, 2008, 05:01:11 pm »
TCReader is not a community, so no you do not have to join.  But you may wish to friend the TCReader account so that the updates will pop up in your friendslist.

I am looking forward to some feedback from people who are seeing the story for the first time!  I also wanted to say, my partner in crime and editor extraordinaire, Leslie (MaineWriter) came up with the name Colson.
“Mr. Coyote always gets me good, boy,”  Ellery said, winking.  “Almost forgot what life was like before I got me my own personal coyote.”


Offline belbbmfan

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Re: Tales of Greenlea County - Discussion of All Stories
« Reply #17 on: February 25, 2008, 05:04:42 pm »
the ones with the most luck are the readers who discovered the story now when there are over a million words to read!  I guess those of you who joined early on really had to suffer the impatience, didn't you Fabienne?

Suffer the impatience? No, no, no Louise...

I think i could count the days you didn't give us a chapter on one hand...

Wait, that might have been the weekend you were visiting! Ha!

What can I say? When's the next update?  ;D  ::)

'We're supposed to guard the sheep, not eat 'em'

Offline mariez

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Re: Tales of Greenlea County - Discussion of All Stories
« Reply #18 on: February 25, 2008, 05:13:47 pm »
Great to meet you, messej - Welcome!   :)

I'm one of those "umpteenth" time re-readers who is still as excited about discussing the stories as I was when I first discovered them.  Louise is right - you never have to worry about writing posts that are too long - no such thing!

Talk to you soon, I'm sure.

Marie

The measure of a country's greatness is its ability to retain compassion in times of crisis         ~~~~~~~~~Thurgood Marshall

The worst loneliness is not to be comfortable with yourself.    ~~~~~~~~~ Mark Twain

Offline louisev

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Re: Tales of Greenlea County - Discussion of All Stories
« Reply #19 on: February 25, 2008, 05:14:44 pm »
tonight, tonight, which means tomorrow morning for you, Fabienne.  I'll be sure to write something so you don't get deprived!!! hahah.
“Mr. Coyote always gets me good, boy,”  Ellery said, winking.  “Almost forgot what life was like before I got me my own personal coyote.”