For gragerty & veranillo: Everything Is Illuminated |
[Dec. 18th, 2009|12:39 am] |
PREFACE: veranillo, I know that when I prompted you to expand on your request, beyond just wanting Alex/Jonathan, that you suggested perhaps one planning a surprise birthday party for the other. However, I confess that I tried writing this about three times and it repeatedly turned out so dull that I trashed it each time in frustration. gragerty was the only other person to request an EII drabble, and her request was for Little Igor finding out about Alex and Jonathan. I can do much, much more in this vein, and so I hope you'll both forgive me for writing one drabble for the pair of you. I try to do this as rarely as possible; in the past, I've only done it when I realize that quantity will not be better than quality. Trust me on this one.
( 'Everything You Never Wanted to Know' - Alex/Jonathan, Igor - PG13 ) |
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| 10/10: For this thread, for now, we've reached the end of the line. |
[Apr. 26th, 2007|09:30 pm] |
Title: How It Ends, Part I Pairing: Alex/Jonathan Rating: R (possibly NC-17) Notes: Tenth and last in the sequence; follows (I. The Space Between Love and the End of the World / II. Truth, Forgiveness, Love), (III. Half a Breath, Half a Step / IV. Half-Steps Back), (V. Open Spaces), (VI. The Book of Dreams to Come), (VII. Between Time and Hope), (VIII. Neither Here Nor There), and (IX. Closed Cases). In structure and style, this one is the most similar to The Book of Dreams to Come. Future exploration of this continuum is always possible, but my mind's turning to other, stand-alone possibilities. Thank you for holding on, as I had no idea how long this would take, either. Carving this out has been rough, but rewarding. The link to Part II is at the end of this first half, so all you have to do is click (the entire piece turned out to be too long for one LJ post). Summary: What lies between the world they knew and the world that is to come.
( How It Ends, Part I ) |
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| Part 9/10: It's finally moving along without any unplanned additions. |
[Apr. 19th, 2007|06:27 pm] |
Title: Closed Cases Pairing: Alex/Jonathan Rating: PG-13 Notes: Ninth in the sequence; follows (I. The Space Between Love and the End of the World / II. Truth, Forgiveness, Love), (III. Half a Breath, Half a Step / IV. Half-Steps Back), (V. Open Spaces), (VI. The Book of Dreams to Come), (VII. Between Time and Hope), and (VIII. Neither Here Nor There). If you've been holding your breath over the arrival of letters that aren't Jonathan's, this is the part in which your questions will all be answered (and nobody's feeling more anxious than Alex). Summary: The last spaces can only be closed by luck - or time, or hope, or belief.
( Closed Cases ) |
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| Not quite a final breath before we dive; this will be in 10 parts instead of 9. |
[Apr. 15th, 2007|11:50 pm] |
Title: Neither Here Nor There Pairing: Alex/Jonathan Rating: R Notes: Eighth in the sequence; follows (I. The Space Between Love and the End of the World / II. Truth, Forgiveness, Love), (III. Half a Breath, Half a Step / IV. Half-Steps Back), (V. Open Spaces), (VI. The Book of Dreams to Come), and (VII. Between Time and Hope). This installment doesn't necessarily call for a lot of explanation, except for that it's one in which more crucial things happen - things that will determine the resolution of the last installment's quandary, things that will determine the closure of family problems, things that will cause the creation of new ones, and so forth. This is, if you like, a holiday story, even if it's horribly out of season. There's also an astonishing amount of profanity; angharadd, what tiny bit of Russian I needed, I was able to track down on my own, but if it happens to be incorrect, you as usual reserve the divine right to fix it. Summary: We are writing -
( Neither Here Nor There ) |
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| This one kind of hurts, but it won't stay that way. I promise. |
[Apr. 9th, 2007|12:33 am] |
Title: Between Time and Hope Pairing: Alex/Jonathan Rating: R Notes: Seventh in the sequence; follows (I. The Space Between Love and the End of the World / II. Truth, Forgiveness, Love), (III. Half a Breath, Half a Step / IV. Half-Steps Back), (V. Open Spaces), and (VI. The Book of Dreams to Come). After finishing the last installment, I had a much clearer impression of where this is headed. This is, I think, the next-to-the-next-to-last piece of the puzzle; most of you are already vividly conscious of the world into which time and location are rapidly taking them. My purpose in this is not one of destruction: as always, it's one of survival. However, this installment is focused upon the repercussions of certain events that occurred during Alex's visit to New York. As usual, I owe the Russian translations to angharadd. Alex simply wouldn't be Alex to me without a bit of his native language included, especially after seeing the film. I've got to give some of the English translations at the end of the piece, though, as this narrative breaks narrative form and there was no good way to weave the translations in as thought or dialogue. Summary: Trouble comes in a number of forms, but the most common is family.
( Between Time and Hope ) |
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| Is America ready for Alexander Perchov? |
[Mar. 29th, 2007|01:27 am] |
Title: The Book of Dreams to Come Pairing: Alex/Jonathan Rating: R (NC-17? I give up.) Notes: Sixth in the sequence; follows (I. The Space Between Love and the End of the World / II. Truth, Forgiveness, Love), (III. Half a Breath, Half a Step / IV. Half-Steps Back), and (V. Open Spaces). My limitless thanks to angharadd for her linguistic assistance; I didn't expect to find a new LJ friend/translator on this journey, but that's always the way of things. This installment borrows some elements (by which I primarily mean characters) from two other novels that are out there in the world; I won't tell you what the references are, as I think some of you will easily guess. If you're stumped or have no idea what I'm talking about, don't hesitate to ask. I'm assuming here that Jonathan's grandmother is still alive, as she's still alive in the book-verse, but I'm using the name they've given her in the film, because I feel it suits her well. This installment is more than twice as long as any previous, and, in addition to cameos from other storylines, it contains an original character. Summary: "Now it's September."
( The Book of Dreams to Come ) |
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| Right, I'm going to just breathe and hope, because this one panics me as much as the first did. |
[Mar. 20th, 2007|06:02 pm] |
Title: Open Spaces Pairing: Alex/Jonathan Rating: PG-13 (vaguely R) Notes: Fifth in the sequence; third as major themes and movements go. Follows (The Space Between Love and the End of the World / Truth, Forgiveness, Love) and (Half a Breath, Half a Step / Half-Steps Back). This is, as promised, a longer piece comprised entirely of email correspondence between Alex and Jonathan. In the meandering line of continuity, it picks up where the emails in Half a Breath, Half a Step leave off. Summary: Wherein the combination of Alex and the internet proves almost fatal.
( Open Spaces ) |
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| These two hide moments like most people hide valuables. |
[Mar. 15th, 2007|03:53 pm] |
Title: Half-Steps Back Pairing: Alex/Jonathan Rating: NC-17 (finally, some real smut) Notes: This is, what, number four? Right, this is a back-tracking companion piece to Half a Step, Half a Breath in the same way that Truth, Forgiveness, Love draws glossed-over moments out of The Space Between Love and the End of the World. I'm hoping that this call-and-response effect won't sustain itself in many future ventures, as the storyline could get confusing rather quickly. If I'm mixing you up, please shout and tell me. Still, the e-mail exchange in the previous piece made reference to a few situations that probably contained very important conversations, and I'm a bloody completist. Summary: The thinness of walls, the sharpness of sand, and the limitlessness of possibilities.
( Half-Steps Back ) |
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| This has become what I do when I can't sleep. |
[Mar. 9th, 2007|01:53 am] |
Title: Half a Breath, Half a Step Pairing: Alex/Jonathan Rating: R (for language and all manner of described carnal offenses) Notes: This piece picks up where the previous set (The Space Between Love and the End of the World/Truth, Forgiveness, Love) leaves off. It didn't seem right to leave them dangling in the space of a visit that is, in my mind, only a couple of weeks in duration (if that), and there are definitely a lot of future issues for them to start sorting out in that time. Also, it's happening just after New Year's, and in some of my poking about for cultural background information, I found out that it's generally more emphasized than Christmas in the Ukraine. The title is an allusion to this rough translation of a Hryhoriy Chubai poem. I couldn't find all that much translated Ukrainian poetry online, but this one really stood out. Something about the gender-neutrality of the translation is very fitting (as far as the original text, which is also on that site, I couldn't tell you if it has the same feel or not). All that aside, this piece is experimental in that I've attempted to find Jonathan's up-front, unaffected first-person voice. Or as unaffected as he can get, anyway. Summary: What to say in the days still left, concerning the days to come.
( Half a Breath, Half a Step ) |
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| Right. I left a few things out. |
[Feb. 27th, 2007|12:36 am] |
Title: Truth, Forgiveness, Love Novel: Everything Is Illuminated Pairing: Jonathan/Alex Rating: R, not just for language. Maybe NC-17. Notes: The three segments of this piece fit in between the slats of the ending events of The Space Between Love and the End of the World. That night at the hotel isn't covered, and neither is what happens immediately after Alex collects Jonathan at the station in Odessa. In the end, I'm unsatisfied with not covering these "lost" moments in the previous story, so what you end up with is an inset-fic of sorts. I feel Jonathan shouldn't get off the hook without more self-scrutiny; he hides behind his fiction. Summary: Of course I have ghosts.
( Truth, Forgiveness, Love ) |
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| Another new something. If it crashes, it crashes. |
[Feb. 25th, 2007|12:50 pm] |
Title: The Space Between Love and the End of the World Novel: Everything Is Illuminated Pairing: Jonathan/Alex, with echoes of everything. Rating: R-ish, mostly for language (and a little for something else). Notes: Preferably, you will have read the book—as knowing precisely how and where the book leaves off, I mean down to the very word, is (almost) absolutely essential. Having seen the film would likely suffice. Otherwise, to quote Prospero, my project fails. This is for you, Pai. Summary: Illumination isn't enough; the trick is to open your eyes.
( The Space Between Love and the End of the World ) |
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