a blast from the past

[xparrot]

Folks on Fanlore have been posting info about various print zines, reminding me that I actually had a couple to my own name, way back when, one of which I never got around to posting online. So, just in time for its tenth anniversary (holy guacamole), I've put up Brothers in Limbo and its sequel. It's gen h/c smarm (we're talking hardcore old-school smarm, manly hugging and crying, the whole subtextually teasing kit and caboodle, entirely innocent as this was a good couple years before I got into slash) and the only Sentinel/Real Ghostbusters/Quantum Leap crossover fics online, that I know of.

I wrote this back in March, 1999, and have posted the document as-is, because I can't actually bring myself to read it; the quirks of my earlier writing tweak me out, but I feel vaguely guilty about editing stories from this long ago, like I'm censoring my older self.

Comments

[alessandriana.livejournal.com]

...I'm actually really looking forward to reading this when I get the time. ♥ I used to love RGB, read just about every fic on Sheila Paulson's RGB Fanpage. Should be an interesting trip down nostalgia lane.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I thought it had vanished with AOL, but I just found it here:
http://venkmeister.topcities.com/rgb.htm

[alessandriana.livejournal.com]

Yay, awesome. I was just about to go fishing for it on archive.org...

[naye]

Eeeeee~! ♥

Oh, this story.

Just thinking about it makes me all warm and fuzzy. You've developed into an even better writer these past ten years, but you were already quite brilliant back then, and there are few who could beat you at h/c smarm!

I have fuzzy memories of reading this the first time and being floored - and I've re-read it since. Because there isn't enough of that lovely gen-angst-hugs-fluff-presumed-dead out there! (Not that there ever could be, but even so. Your stuff is special. ♥)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

<333

And no, there can never be too much fluffy angsty presumed-dead smarmy goodness ^^

[wneleh.livejournal.com]

Oh, yay! This goes to the top of the fic reading list, because I've been craving old-school smarm.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Hee - nothing quite hits the spot like a good bit of smarm!

[captainsblog.livejournal.com]

Wow. Is it possible I read this when you wrote it? Cause it's reading way familiar.

You've come so far, yet there's nothing wrong with where you came from:)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

You very well might have read it - I posted it online when I first wrote it, though I took it down when it got zine published. But being a QL story I probably linked it from the ng...honestly can't recall for sure, though, it's been a while! ^^;

[horridporrid.livejournal.com]

Hee! I haven't time to read it at the moment, and I think I'm only familiar with one of the fandoms (were there fake Ghostbusters?), but I have to say this whole bit here:

(we're talking hardcore old-school smarm, manly hugging and crying, the whole subtextually teasing kit and caboodle, entirely innocent as this was a good couple years before I got into slash) and the only Sentinel/Real Ghostbusters/Quantum Leap crossover fics online, that I know of.

Is made of fandom win! \o/ Crossovers are the best internet invention, ever. :D

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Hee, actually, yeah, there were fake Ghostbusters - the reason the cartoon is called "real" is because there was a little-known cartoon in the '70s called The Ghost Busters. So the rename was for trademark reasons - RGB is based on the Ghostbusters movie (...yes, I wrote dramatic angst for the Ghostbusters. A lot of it, actually ^^;)

Crossovers indeed are awesome (if dangerous - I got into several fandoms because of crossovers!)

[ezazahaz.livejournal.com]

I still have this zine on my bookshelf. :) Haven't read it in a while, though... Maybe I should go back and re-read; I remember really enjoying it. Hmm, now I want to go back and read RGB fic again. You were the one who (with BiL) first got me into that fandom!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Heee! In terms of getting fans into new series, I think BiL is my biggest "win" ^^ And yeah, it was an awesome fandom...

[michelel72.livejournal.com]

Wow. I don't know anything about Sentinel and never dreamed of Real Ghostbusters fanfic, but this is seriously amazing. I seem to be a sucker for "hardcore old-school smarm, manly hugging and crying", because I had a blast reading it. I'm glad you posted this -- it's a lot of fun! (And poor Blair, ping-ponging back and forth!)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you! ^^

Ahahah, yeah, no one dreams of RGB fanfic, I was astonished the first time I came across it - it's terribly fun. If you like smarm, check out Sheila's page, and also try the Bustin' zines - which are about the most hardcore smarm I have ever read, especially "Highway to Hell," what got me into RGB - it's gloriously over-the-top angst. And I do have more RGB fic myself (BiL was my first, definitely not my last...they're all from a decade ago, as is the page itself, so please excuse the retro HTML! ^^;)

[nightwalker.livejournal.com]

Brothers in Limbo was the first fanzine I ever bought. Seriously. I was working as a nanny for a ridiculously wealthy family in upstate New York, miles from anyone and anything. No stores, no libraries, and no people my age except for a very long story involving the gardener. I played "Pokemon Farmer" and read Harry Potter out loud and I was bored out of my skull. I didn't want to read fanfic on their computer because sometimes you stumble across stuff even when you're being 'good' and I didn't want to get fired for corrupting the kids. So I blew sixty bucks on two fanzines. Brothers in Limbo was one. I think the other one was Ecto-4. Anyway, the story saved my sanity. I think I read it about twenty times that summer.

/rambly flashback

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Aww, wow, that's kind of awesome...I'm glad I could help save your sanity, and I gotta say it's touching to know it's such a vivid memory for you. Writing a memorable story - there's nothing more a writer can ask for, really!

[stitcher2ficcer.livejournal.com]

I'll thank you (NOT!) for distracting me from the final finish-work on Meme's teddy bear by posting this yesterday. I was just going to take a peak--been meaning for ages to go back and read some of your RGB fic; a hundred-plus pages and many hours later.... story read; teddy still unfinished! You always have had a gift for creatively torturing your OTPs, whether they're smarm or slash pairings (though how we didn't see the slash in Sentinel, I'll never know!). The crossover element here made this tremendous fun! And I loved the scene Sam jumped into when he finally jumped out of limbo.

As noted above, you've come a long way in your writing, and yet the place you've come from is not so bad. There is one wee editorial error you may want to go back and search & replace even if you change nothing else, because it occurs several times--a typo you inadvertently make and overlook occasionally even now: "lead" instead "led". Yes, *head/desk*. I'm afraid I saw it at least four or five times.

I enjoyed! Now off to finally finish the teddy bear and--hopefully--get it in today's mail for Valentine's Day arrival.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Hee, all my apologies about the distraction! XP (and yeah, I don't know how we missed the Sentinel slash, really...)

Lead/led!! Stupid English! *headdeskheaddeskheaddesk* They should all be fixed now. Don't believe I've been making that one for so long...

Have a good trip!

[(Anonymous)]

Yes...I love this fic, and it's sequel. I have recently gotten into the Real Ghostbusters, and these fics were part of the reason why.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you - so happy to know folks are still enjoying my stories, all this time later! ^_^

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, this inspired me to write my own weird crossover. Now just got to actually finish the first part.