sovay | The walls grew fatter here than any in the land

Current Music: Dave Goulder, "These Dry Stone Walls"

The walls grew fatter here than any in the land

It is not my norm that all of my completed fiction so far this year has been fanfiction, but on the other hand I could be not writing fiction at all. Most lately, for

thisbluespirit: "The Debt of Centuries."

I wanted to write them reciprocal casefic for Sapphire & Steel (1979–82), so I threw their catalogue of original and other elements into the Ersatz Genremixer to see if I got any useful prompts. Among others, I received "Arsenic / Zinc - Awkward moment & tradition & Lending a coat in the cold," which was technically no crackier than the rest except that Arsenic and Zinc are fancast with Caroline Blakiston and Alec McCowen, last seen by me in Mr. Palfrey of Westminster (1984–85). I could not resist.

The title is a mondegreen left over from hearing Dave Goulder's "These Dry Stone Walls" (since I can't find a link to his own recording, here performed by Gordon Bok) decades before I saw the official lyrics. It seemed to suit. I do not think I am one of nature's tag-users.

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I really like it! (also this reminds me I should watch more of Sapphire & Steel)

I have not read it yet, but the blurb for Our Wives Under the Sea makes me think it might be relevant to your interests.

I really like it! (also this reminds me I should watch more of Sapphire & Steel)

Thank you! I'm so glad!

(I very much recommend watching Sapphire & Steel. I never got around to writing about the entire series, but it's five-sixths brilliant and even the sixth I don't love is still pretty neat.)

I have not read it yet, but the blurb for Our Wives Under the Sea makes me think it might be relevant to your interests.

I do feel slightly attacked.

Your fears are unfounded. I don’t even go here and I followed it perfectly well and it was beautiful.

Are there books of this thing, or do I have to assimilate moving pictures?

Your fears are unfounded. I don’t even go here and I followed it perfectly well and it was beautiful.

*hugs*

Thank you!

Are there books of this thing, or do I have to assimilate moving pictures?

I am afraid it comes with actors in. All six serials are on YouTube, though. My favorites are Assignments 2, 3, and 6, although 4 is very highly regarded. 5 was the only one not written by P.J. Hammond who created the show and it's actually perceptible. I wrote about the first three serials when I saw them sometime before the last glaciation; the world of the show does become more complicated, but the essential model of time and hauntings remains the one which usually causes you to say NOPE and WHY DOES NO ONE KNOW HOW TO USE SALT ANYMORE.

I am up wrestling my body, and I started the series and a thing I feel you captured well all those years ago was “shoestring batshit we stole this prop from our key grip’s toddler and we owe you NO exposition.” I am not yet equipped to analyze further but persevere.

and I started the series and a thing I feel you captured well all those years ago was “shoestring batshit we stole this prop from our key grip’s toddler and we owe you NO exposition.”

Thank you. I really try to work with the movies and TV I watch, not the movies and TV that would be so much cooler if they existed the way I wrote them. (I dream those and complain about it.)

I am not yet equipped to analyze further but persevere.

Excelsior! I would prefer it if your body did not require so much Jacob with the angel, but in the meantime I am glad to have enabled something you can stare at while trying to dislocate, I guess your own hip in this metaphor, perhaps never mind. I note this show is now the fandom I have written the greatest number of fic for in my subatomic AO3 footprint, i.e. three.

Well, this made my morning. I love it very much, and am glad you're writing fiction of any stripe - I enjoy it all. And the song too; must investigate Dave Goulder. Mr Palfrey is something I didn't know of beyond the title; for some reason I thought it was a Trollope adaptation.

for some reason I thought it was a Trollope adaptation.

This made me laugh - it does sound like it could be, doesn't it? (It definitely isn't, though. I love it.)

Among others, I received "Arsenic / Zinc - Awkward moment & tradition & Lending a coat in the cold," which was technically no crackier than the rest except that Arsenic and Zinc are fancast with Caroline Blakiston and Alec McCowen, last seen by me in Mr. Palfrey of Westminster (1984–85). I could not resist.

Ahahaha! You said it had been accidentally cracky, and, lol, you're not wrong. But that's also a marvellous combination and YAAAAAAAY fic. *dances with joy*

I am sorry you haven't written other things, though. But I am glad for S&S fic because I can't help being so. <3<3<3

(Also - glances over other comments - yes, make everybody watch S&S! lol)

I'm thinking of the Pallisers, aren't I? By the way, I enjoyed your latest S&S piece too. 💜

Aw, thank you so much! <3

And, maybe, but Mr Palfrey of Westminster does absolutely sound like a lost Trollope novel. One of the short ones, probably set in Barsetshire, even if partly also in Westminster.

Btw, apropos of nothing other than I think you will like to know this exists, and courtesy of tumblr - someone just wrote Kirk/Spock in Old English on AO3 for real: https://archiveofourown.org/works/42430848/chapters/106559934

Well, this made my morning. I love it very much, and am glad you're writing fiction of any stripe - I enjoy it all.

Thank you! I am glad to be writing, too, and very glad that you love it. Your opinion of psychogeographical weirdness matters to me.

And the song too; must investigate Dave Goulder.

He's a folk singer, dry stone waller, and former railway fireman; this song comes from an album called Stone, Steam and Starlings (1974), which pretty much covers the bases. I almost used its last lines as an epigraph for this story: Just look and discover two walls that lean against each other. You'll never see them in quite the same way again. Some of his folkloric songs like "The January Man" and "Faraway Tom" have become reasonably famous in other people's voices, but I heard most of them first in his own voice and I wish it were easier to find online to share. (You may just end up getting a pile of mp3s from me.) "The Man Who Put the Engine in the Chip Shop" is one of his railway songs and a good sample of him in narrator mode.

Mr Palfrey is something I didn't know of beyond the title; for some reason I thought it was a Trollope adaptation.

Hee. I wanted to write it about this month and instead got banhammered by this cold, but it is a small, marvelous spy show which uses most of the premises and none of the tropes; it is deliberately not action-packed, or all the action happens in conversation. I have been describing it by saying that its stories have a trick of resolving quietly while still being individually momentous and there's something haunting or bittersweet in all of them. My mother has just been saying "it's thoughtful and all the people in it are people." There's not much of it, but it ranges from totally watchable to stupidly good. McCowen is just fantastic. His performance definitely animates how I thought of Zinc. You can watch the complete series on DVD in your region!

Ahahaha! You said it had been accidentally cracky, and, lol, you're not wrong. But that's also a marvellous combination and YAAAAAAAY fic.

*hugs*

Thank you! I am so very glad. You see why I couldn't leave it. Other prompts out of that round of the Genremixer included "Emerald / Palladium - ostracised from society & imprisonment," "Phosphorus - pictures & silence," "Sapphire - Family & fever," ""Silver - attacked by a creature," "Antimony - Running out of time & invisibility," and "Iron - pre-canon & scars," all of which sounded entirely plausible for Sapphire & Steel, but here we are.

I am sorry you haven't written other things, though. But I am glad for S&S fic because I can't help being so.

I wanted very much to write this piece and since most of the rest of what I have done with this week is feel awful, it feels like a victory to have done so!

(Also - glances over other comments - yes, make everybody watch S&S! lol)

I got my father into it in 2017. He was talking about it recently. (In the meantime, I believe he's taking a break between seasons of Enemy at the Door by watching Public Eye.)

Btw, apropos of nothing other than I think you will like to know this exists, and courtesy of tumblr - someone just wrote Kirk/Spock in Old English on AO3 for real

I'm delighted.

"Emerald / Palladium - ostracised from society & imprisonment," "Phosphorus - pictures & silence," "Sapphire - Family & fever," ""Silver - attacked by a creature," "Antimony - Running out of time & invisibility," and "Iron - pre-canon & scars,"

I don't know why the tropey genremixer is so amazing for S&S prompts, but it really is. <3

I wanted very much to write this piece and since most of the rest of what I have done with this week is feel awful, it feels like a victory to have done so!

Yay again, then! XD

I got my father into it in 2017. He was talking about it recently. (In the meantime, I believe he's taking a break between seasons of Enemy at the Door by watching Public Eye.)

What did he decide to do after the random beginning with "Paid in Full"? Also I'm kind of impressed that he managed to stop EatD at the point other people had to binge it to get the rest of that bridging S1/2 storyline! XD (I remember it; I was NOT well enough for that but it didn't stop me, and I do recall

pedanther reporting a similar effect on them.)

... I really should get that formal letter of apology done, lol.

I do recall you saying he watched S&S and liked it! (My memory is so much better if things involve S&S and elements. /o\) My parents also enjoyed it, but since one of them had a major crush on David McCallum and the other on Joanna Lumley, I think what they saw in it was fairly explicable. (I was watching it with them and laughing: somehow these two produced me, chiefly in it for David Collings instead... After that, i asked them to mend my clock, which had stopped. Which, it turns out isn't something you should ask your parents after you just introduced them to Sapphire and Steel.)

I don't know why the tropey genremixer is so amazing for S&S prompts, but it really is.

The ones for Antimony and Iron stood out for me as particularly in character, but Silver has been canonically attacked by creatures. I went so far as to check whether Judy Geeson and Peter Cushing ever had acted together and the answer turned out to be yes, in Hammer's Fear in the Night (1972), which I guess I have an obligation to watch now.

What did he decide to do after the random beginning with "Paid in Full"?

I think he's gone back for the rest of the arc—I'm not actually sure he's watched any of the ABC episodes. Do you have opinions about any of them, beyond side-eyeing the very early one where Frank apparently wins a fight through divine intervention?

... I really should get that formal letter of apology done, lol.

Nah. It's a public service.

but since one of them had a major crush on David McCallum and the other on Joanna Lumley

That's delightful.

After that, i asked them to mend my clock, which had stopped. Which, it turns out isn't something you should ask your parents after you just introduced them to Sapphire and Steel.

Hee. I had just finished writing about the series for the first time when my watch stopped. I think it's an occuptional hazard of the fandom.

I have been told to inform you that Silver is my favorite person who has ever been in the television, as a fact you might enjoy knowing. [I am unable to consume most visual media, which makes me a hit at parties, but this has been all right, probably because it comes at one at the speed of a glacier and there are plastic murder geese.]

Palfrey and Goulder both sound great - I'll seek them out. Thanks for telling me more!

It gave me this lot, which I liked so much I still have filed away:

Bronze / Iron - Mask & Meteor shower/shooting stars
Gold / Sapphire / Iron - apocalypse & poisoning
Iron / Gold / Mercury - side effects & theft
Emerald / Iron / Sapphire - arrest & time travel gone wrong
Emerald / Iron / Steel - fever & isolation
Iron / Emerald / Silver - coma & witch hunt
Emerald / Iron - deals with demons & estrangement
Iron / Gold - on the run & phobias
Silver / Gold / Iron - isolation & telepathic trauma
Iron / Mercury / Emerald - hiding an injury & trust issues
Mercury / Iron / Emerald - fire & poisoning

(I ended up taking the Iron, Emerald and Silver combo from one with the fire & poisoning of the last prompt. The fire part got cut out as I went and all that was left was the initial gas leak comment, which got tied back into using a candle at the end instead, so there was still fire!)

I went so far as to check whether Judy Geeson and Peter Cushing ever had acted together and the answer turned out to be yes, in Hammer's Fear in the Night (1972), which I guess I have an obligation to watch now.

Oh, there were a lot of 'hysterical' female eps in Thriller that I didn't appreciate that that sounds like (Thriller is very much pastiche, I think; I just don't have a clue which films it's riffing on), but nevertheless, I shall no doubt have to keep an eye out for it as well! (I actually mainly know Judy not from film but from being Caroline Penvenen in the 1970s Poldark... which also starred Ralph Bates, of course, because nothing about this era of Brit TV/film is not incestuous!)

I think he's gone back for the rest of the arc—I'm not actually sure he's watched any of the ABC episodes. Do you have opinions about any of them, beyond side-eyeing the very early one where Frank apparently wins a fight through divine intervention?

I think, that if your father is making is way through the amazing thing that is S4, he might well enjoy the surviving S1-3 eps. You may tell him that, I believe, 4 out of the 5 of them are written by Roger Marshall and at least one (2??) are directed by Kim Mills. The two s2 ones I like quite a lot - "Don't Forget You're Mine" is particularly good (that's the definite Marshall/Mills combo) and contains bonus evil!Mrs Mortimer, and I really like "Works With Chess, Not With Life" as well. "The Bromsgrove Venus" - the sole surviving s3 ep is sadly not by Roger Marshall, but just tell him that Frank has to tango for information in it. XD Both of the s1 eps are v interesting in context, and you can really see that it's moved along between "Nobody Kills Santa Claus" (which, as I said, contains a bonus young Co-Ordinator) and the other one, which has Frank at the end subverting pretty much all known fictional tropes of "Female prostitute walks into PI's office." (He grumbles, gives her biscuits and tea, makes her soup out of a tin, and telephones her parents. lol).

(If he's watched S4, all of those things should make sense to him as to whether or not he wants to watch them.)

That's delightful.

Before we started, Mum was trying to explain to Dad which MUNCLE actor it was she'd had the crush on and Dad was going, "Napoleon Solo?" and I was dying of laughter on the sofa because, well, my Dad is short and blue-eyed with light brown hair and was 60s cute and, well...

Edited 2022-10-28 12:26 (UTC)

Personally, I think Silver is a good favourite even if you watch a lot of visual media, at any speed, so yay, that is a lovely thing to hear. <3

I don't know where you are, but if not at the end, I hope you continue to enjoy it. It is an amazing bit of weird, cheap and original TV SFF and it will never move faster than the speed of mud.

(There's an actual TV encyclopedia that, for its entry for S&S, legit started with something like this: "There are many ways to engage a TV audience. Total lack of explanation is not supposed to be one of them." XD)

I'm sorry about the lack of ability to handle visual stuff. <3 (I am a lot better now, but one of the reasons I ended up at S&S among many other slow moving bits of beige & B&W TV was because I was too ill to cope with the pace and visuals and wall to wall audio of so much current TV. I followed David Collings back in time instead!! This makes me so popular on tumblr with my strange old gifs, you can't imagine.)

Edited (apologies, I can't type straight and editing makes things worse. /o\) 2022-10-28 12:33 (UTC)

For me, it's an inability to cope with fake dead bodies (when in fact my professional calling exposes me to an unlikely number of real ones) -- the uncanny valley makes me panic -- and, as you mentioned, the pace, visuals, and auditory onslaught of most stuff. But I am quite enjoying Sapphire and Steel just on its own! It has such a VIBE.

It has such a VIBE.

It does have a vibe. And also Silver.

It gave me this lot, which I liked so much I still have filed away

Oh, those are good. And a candle totally counts for fire. I used dry stone walling and/or Bonfire Night for tradition.

Oh, there were a lot of 'hysterical' female eps in Thriller that I didn't appreciate that that sounds like (Thriller is very much pastiche, I think; I just don't have a clue which films it's riffing on), but nevertheless, I shall no doubt have to keep an eye out for it as well!

Right? I have no expectations, but nonetheless feel it may lurk in my future. If nothing else, I have never not enjoyed Peter Cushing in a movie regardless of the movie itself.

(I actually mainly know Judy not from film but from being Caroline Penvenen in the 1970s Poldark... which also starred Ralph Bates, of course, because nothing about this era of Brit TV/film is not incestuous!)

I got her from Danger UXB (1979), which also gave me technically the entire cast, since I was in high school at the time, but primarily Anthony Andrews, Iain Cuthbertson, and Tim Piggott-Smith. I hadn't realized until I looked her up recently that she was in Lords of Salem (2012), which I have been meaning to see for an actual decade now.

(If he's watched S4, all of those things should make sense to him as to whether or not he wants to watch them.)

I shall convey this information. Thank you!

and Dad was going, "Napoleon Solo?" and I was dying of laughter on the sofa because, well, my Dad is short and blue-eyed with light brown hair and was 60s cute and, well...

Aw.

(My mother is also fond of David McCallum. I may have told the story of how she wanted to name my brother Ilya, until my father insisted that it would leave their children sounding like a Russian vaudeville act. He is supposed to have counter-suggested Igor and my brother ended up named after one of my mother's favorite literary characters instead.)

Edited 2022-10-29 08:08 (UTC)

... I really should get that formal letter of apology done, lol.

I forgot tonight's important update: I had only to mention The Forsyte Saga to discover that my mother has been meaning to watch it for lo these more than fifty years. I have requisitioned the DVDs from our local library system. So that's my life now.

I had only to mention The Forsyte Saga to discover that my mother has been meaning to watch it for lo these more than fifty years. I have requisitioned the DVDs from our local library system. So that's my life now.

Lol! Is it you to whom I should in fact be drafting the formal letter of apology now? ;-)

(Oh, and I'm sure you've already done this, but, just in case, do double check the library discs are the 1960s BBC and not the 2002(?) ITV adaptation. I mean, it's probably all right, I'm sure, but it's not the one you're looking for and it doesn't have Eric Porter and Susan Hampshire, and what's the use of that? XD)

The deep irony of all this is that I'm sure it began with me trying to get you to watch Blake's 7 again...

ETA: OMG, is there anything MORE B7-ish in the world than that? What else did I expect??

Edited 2022-10-29 09:44 (UTC)

That does sound like a lot to cope with!

Do audio things give you the same problem? (Sorry, between formerly being a librarian and having my own weird things that stop me watching/listening/reading to things, I'm interested. Also S&S have audios that were done about 15-20 years ago as well and I know where to find them if that's a workable medium, or just the Silver ones even. <3)

Anyway, it has a VIBE indeed. I hope you enjoy all the rest. <3

Edited 2022-10-29 09:40 (UTC)

I got her from Danger UXB (1979), which also gave me technically the entire cast, since I was in high school at the time, but primarily Anthony Andrews, Iain Cuthbertson, and Tim Piggott-Smith.

Oh, one of those things I should get to sometime, I think. But, you know, does it have James Maxwell or Suzanne Neve or David Collings in it? No, it does not. Or Martin Jarvis, sadly. Sometimes I watch all sorts, sometimes I'm very tunnel-visioned onto favourites. (I'm still glaring at MJ's imbd in my head ok. I feel he could have made more of an effort to be findable in the 70s.) XD

I may have told the story of how she wanted to name my brother Ilya, until my father insisted that it would leave their children sounding like a Russian vaudeville act. He is supposed to have counter-suggested Igor

lol! That is a story worth telling. XD

Lol! Is it you to whom I should in fact be drafting the formal letter of apology now?

I don't see why; I'm making out like a bandit here.

(Oh, and I'm sure you've already done this, but, just in case, do double check the library discs are the 1960s BBC and not the 2002(?) ITV adaptation. I mean, it's probably all right, I'm sure, but it's not the one you're looking for and it doesn't have Eric Porter and Susan Hampshire, and what's the use of that? XD)

I made sure! Damian Lewis wasn't even alive in 1967! The later series was indeed 2002 and has a fabulous cast, but I am not planning to start with it.

ETA: OMG, is there anything MORE B7-ish in the world than that? What else did I expect??

Well, so long as it's thematically consistent, then.

Oh, one of those things I should get to sometime, I think. But, you know, does it have James Maxwell or Suzanne Neve or David Collings in it? No, it does not. Or Martin Jarvis, sadly.

I like it very much, which I am sure you have heard from other people: I watched it again this spring for the first time since high school and it held up (and I recognized far more of the supporting and guest cast than the first time around). I may orient more toward the technical storylines than necessarily all of the interpersonal plots, but I believe that to be a factor of my priorities as a viewer, not the quality of the writing. This latest viewing also got me to care about Kenneth Cranham.

Now I'm trying to figure out the kind of character that Martin Jarvis would have been in an episode of Danger UXB. David Collings would probably have been blown up.

(I'm still glaring at MJ's imbd in my head ok. I feel he could have made more of an effort to be findable in the 70s.)

I assume you saw this interview in which an action sequence from Breakaway featured as his choice of worst job he's ever done?

Now I'm trying to figure out the kind of character that Martin Jarvis would have been in an episode of Danger UXB. David Collings would probably have been blown up.

I don't know what Danger UXB is like enough to say, but clearly this may be the approach to take! I can watch it and tell you what JM and Martin Jarvis would have been in it. XD I know enough about David Collings to agree that he would unquestionably have died and exploding is a fairly safe bet for him - probably in the process of trying to blow up other people as well, because he's just like that.

I assume you saw this interview in which an action sequence from Breakaway featured as his choice of worst job he's ever done?

The only person I really look hard for interviews with is JM, so no, I hadn't, and thanks! I really did laugh aloud reading that bit because the first thing I thought when I saw that sequence was that the actor was NOT enjoying himself at all and clearly I was not wrong.

I'm very glad he didn't get poisoned by his gas fire before making it in the 60s, though. (I wouldn't have made gas leak comments in my fic if I'd read that!!)

To the Old Vic in the 1950s to work with Gielgud, Olivier, Richardson and the great director Tyrone Guthrie.

But also: he would like to swap places with James Maxwell for a bit. XD

I don't know what Danger UXB is like enough to say, but clearly this may be the approach to take! I can watch it and tell you what JM and Martin Jarvis would have been in it.

I mean, I think that would be delightful. And it does have Judy Geeson.

I know enough about David Collings to agree that he would unquestionably have died and exploding is a fairly safe bet for him - probably in the process of trying to blow up other people as well, because he's just like that.

He could always have been traumatized and frozen up while defusing a bomb and gone that way!

The only person I really look hard for interviews with is JM, so no, I hadn't, and thanks!

Of course! It turned up looking for information about The Forsyte Saga. "And I do love them both."

I really did laugh aloud reading that bit because the first thing I thought when I saw that sequence was that the actor was NOT enjoying himself at all and clearly I was not wrong.

The behind-the-scenes for Breakaway so far are really something so far.

I'm very glad he didn't get poisoned by his gas fire before making it in the 60s, though. (I wouldn't have made gas leak comments in my fic if I'd read that!!)

That's like everyone's clocks stopping when they watch Sapphire & Steel.

But also: he would like to swap places with James Maxwell for a bit.

An understandable ambition.

He could always have been traumatized and frozen up while defusing a bomb and gone that way!

He's very murdery as well, though. (He started out as Raskolnikov. He murders and breaks down; it's what he does! XD)

Of course! It turned up looking for information about The Forsyte Saga. "And I do love them both."

Aw, yes. And it was very nice, too! (And also I do look for other people; it's just only been JM lately because he is interesting and tantalisingly elusive but not so elusive as to make a person give up.)

Martin Jarvis has a whole autobiography, so by my standards that's just cheating and too much information! XD

Edited 2022-10-30 13:55 (UTC)

He started out as Raskolnikov. He murders and breaks down; it's what he does!

Clearly I just haven't seen him in enough murdery parts, beyond that one terrorist who got a bucket of water thrown over him.

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The walls grew fatter here than any in the land

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