I am posting this commentary to critics and readers, both here and on davecullen.com in response to this weekend's discussion.
A few comments that were made about "the Laramie Saga" which may not be clear to those who haven't read it yet, is comprised of three novel length books, "Taking Chances", "Looking for Answers" and "A Second Chance" and will be extending to a fourth volume as soon as I finish "A Second Chance," which will be called "Shelter from the Storm", I would just like to clarify, for those who may be interested.
1) It is not a fic about Ennis picking up an open gay man in a leather bar. It is about Ennis getting involved with a high ranking Sheriff's deputy who owns a bar. They meet during the course of investigating a disturbance at the bar that Ennis accidentally gets sucked into.
2) Ellery (the O.C. love interest) is not an "openly gay law enforcement official living in Rural Wyoming." The back story in "Taking Chances" reveals that Ellery's boss and the D.A., as well as selected veterans in the Sheriff's department, learned of his homosexuality when he was forcibly outed by his lover, who caused a disturbance in his office. Due to the recent repeal of the Wyoming Sodomy law (1977) (the fic takes place in 1984) his status as a homosexual living with another man was found to be legal, and attempts to oust him from his job (he was a 12 year veteran by now) were unsuccessful, leading to the firing of those colleagues who refused to work with a "queer." His status in "Taking Chances" is not "openly gay." In addition, Ennis does not live openly with him when they move in together, but they use a "don't ask don't tell" policy with those around them, particularly on the job. Ellery's way of answering people regarding questions of his homosexuality are that due to the sensitivity of his job it is a question he does not answer.
3) Laramie is not "rural Wyoming." I picked Laramie in a very deliberate way, because at least as of 1998 (when Matthew Shepard was picked up and assaulted after meeting some men there), there was a gay bar in that city. It is considered one of if not the most progressive spot in Wyoming (see the City of Laramie website) due to the liberalizing influence of the University of Wyoming. The gay bar I created for this story is along the pattern of a liberal oasis in a liberal city, all loosely based on the actual facts of Laramie as this progressive oasis. It is also not too terribly long a drive from Riverton, where Ennis had been living during his mourning period.
4) It has been said repeatedly that Ennis (and I summarize) picked up some guy at a gay bar and hopped into bed with him. That is not what happened in this story. He spent nearly two full years in the grip of a black depression, which was ended when he received a gift from Jack's mother - a journal of brief entries and a letter addressed to Ennis, from Jack. Reading some of the entries compelled him to begin research on homosexuality, and led him to find out that there was a "men's club" in Laramie, and he extended his research there. At that point he was caught up in an investigation of an assault of a young queer living in secret with a man who beat him, and in the process of helping Ellery find out more about it, becomes involved sexually with him.
5) The references to their "hot gay duty-free sex", in my opinion, is not a fair or accurate summary of "Taking Chances." The first 36,000 words of the book (more than a quarter of the text) take place before the relationship with Ellery actually begins.
6) In terms of readership, I cannot say how many people are reading it, and how many no longer read who lost interest in it. If Livejournal had a hit count I might know that. I can tell you that I wouldn't be writing a 4th book in the series if there wasn't very high interest, however. I wouldn't bother.
7) I also want to mention that slash fiction IS about sex fantasy. If there were no sex or fantasy in it, it wouldn't be slash fiction. To this end, there is humor and an entertainment element as well as mystery, drama, and angst. I don't feel that this is outside the pale of slash fiction, nor do I owe any apologies for that. Some themes, like the processing of grief over a secret lover, are too painful to not have some relief, and that is also part of my purpose. I don't want to make readers cry unrelentingly or make the wounds left by BBM any deeper, and have tried to make reading these fics entertaining as well as comforting. I would also like to say that those who have read and enjoyed the "Laramie" stories have found Ennis to be accurate, his growth to be believable and credible, and the story to be a fair assessment of conditions in that time and place. Everyone is welcome to their own opinion, but some of what has been stated here, such as the comment "an overwhelming majority of fans find it unbelievable" are not speaking for the people who read and enjoy it. I say, let be, let be.
Topic: Taking Chances, by E. L. Van Hine and L.H. Nicoll (Read 3109145 times)