[Jeeves & Wooster] Fic: Sorting Out the Dance Card (Index Post)

[mercyrobot]

Well, this is it, kids. The Thing. I hesitate to call it a novella/novel; it's more like the world's longest one-shot in terms of structure.

I don't know most people's preferences about how much they want to be surprised vs. how much they want to know in advance, so you can highlight where indicated if you like.

Title: Sorting Out the Dance Card
Pairings: Bertie/Jeeves, (highlight for more if you don't like surprises) *with small sides of Bertie/Stinker, Bertie/OMC, some past Jeeves/OMC(s), and Marion Wardour/OFC.*
Rating: strongish R overall
Words: 61,000 and some change
Summary: An overheard conversation changes everything. Histories, mysteries, romance, and a dive or two into the soup.
Warnings: Nothing huge, but (highlight) *there's one bit that mentions what could be construed as dubcon, but nothing explicit.*
Disclaimer: I own nothing. You can probably play literary-reference bingo with this, but in the grand Wodehouse tradition, absolutely nothing is cited. 
Notes: Serious, serious massive beta-thanks, gold stars, kittens, and cookies to storyfan, without whom you probably wouldn't have seen this for another year. I must also thank random_nexus and chaoschick13 for staunch support and just general good-eggishness. I ♥ you guys.

Part 1: Of Harpoons and Anonymous Crumpets
Part 2: Stiff Upper Lip, Bertie
Part 3: A Little Flutter
Part 4: Playing To the Audience
Part 5: Fantasie Impromptu
Part 6: Ticking Off Stinker
Part 7: More Fuel to the Fire
Part 8: Book Marks

Or download/view the whole fic: .pdf (fancier-looking) or html (plain vanilla with formatting & images).

Comments

[blackletter]

Squee!

Well, I know what I'll be doing until bedtime, and part of tomorrow as well.

*is excited*

[thirstyrobot.livejournal.com]

Oh, I hope you enjoy! :D

[rathanylakan.livejournal.com]

I just read this and I must say that I was amazed at how well written it was. I loved it. It was wonderful.

[thirstyrobot.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much! Lovely to hear that you enjoyed it. :)

[chinpointydoom.livejournal.com]

Oh Wow. Oh Wow.

I just consumed this story whole.


I have no words for how beautiful a thing it is. You are an amazing writer.

[nzraya.livejournal.com]

Oh my god. I just read this now, because I haven't had time to sit down and read fic for months and months, and it just so happened that someone asked about in in indeedsir and I had a spare moment and clicked the link. And then read the whole thing from cover to cover and went back and read my favourite bits again, and sniffled in places and thrilled in other places. This is an absolutely perfect story. Too many favourite lines to quote. <3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3 !!

[randomslasher.livejournal.com]

New to the fandom and as such late to the game, but I had to tell you how incredible this story is. Though I'm sure you've heard it dozens upon dozens of times--and if you haven't you should--it was everything it should have been, fifty times over. I admit I'm a sucker for long, drawn-out, angsty unrequited things that then turn out happily, and this was purely perfect. Better than chocolate! Bertie's voice was perfect, and your Jeeves broke my heart. I also admit I sometimes have trouble with Jeeves post-declaration, when he drops formality and whatnot (it's uncharted territory--no matter how beautifully one writes formal Jeeves, there's no real standard or source after which to model relaxed Jeeves), but in this case it felt 100% spot-on. Which made it all the more toe-curling, I have to add.

This is definitely going to be printed and perused repeatedly, and I knew it'll quickly take its place as one of my all-time favorite fics in any fandom.

Thank you so much for writing this!

[derien.livejournal.com]

Bless you for putting this into .pdf, it saves me a few steps before putting it on my ereader. :) Looking forward to getting into this, soon!

[lamardeuse.livejournal.com]

I don't have words for how brilliant this is. Besides being a pitch-perfect rendition of Wodehouse's style and the characters he created, this stands on its own as a historical romance, with a wonderful build of anticipation and tension and a sweet, hot, satisfying resolution. Just utterly lovely, and one of those stories I will be returning to whenever I need a lift.

[secondsilk.livejournal.com]

This is awesome. Great voice for Bertie, and I loved the cross purposeness and misunderstandings, and then also the way their histories effect them, and how they negotiate their future.

[sarren.livejournal.com]

WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!

[foxcake.livejournal.com]

I hope my comment is not too late - I merely wish to join the hailing choir. This is the very best J/W fanfic I've ever read. It manages to be sensible and romantic at the same time, with a complex and elaborated plot, which stands on its own. I loved how you built the tension slowly, and the sweet and lovely payoff afterwards. The writing is erudite and very funny, and Bertie's (Wodehouse's) voice is excellently done. Hats off to you.

[mary-flanner.livejournal.com]

Impressively, I manage to be a latecomer to a fandom that's been around for nearly 100 years. Good show, MF.

Chances are, you've moved on and won't see this. But my cold, cold, non-commenting heart wouldn't let me go on without telling you how unbelievably impressed I am with this.

Now, I've read a lot. Like, a lot a lot. Like, I'm an English teacher a lot. This is:
a) The is possibly best fanfic I've ever read. Period.
b) One of the best paced fictions I've read, fan or otherwise.
c) With zero qualifiers whatsoever, the hottest thing I've read or seen in my life. My god.

You pacing is beyond reproach. The slow, slow build and nearly just as slow resolution, amazingly, follow the sort of leitmotif you bring up of the Chopin piece. You're a genius. Further, happily ever after =/= falling into bed. That's just kind of the start. I love how you capture the feeling of otherness and being part of a different world that both falling in love and being on vacation bring.

You characterization of Bertie has so much depth, insight, and development that it's absolutely, positively no stretch to reconcile happy, ditzy public Bertie with your thoughtful, romantic private Bertie. You strike that amazingly fine balance needed to where he is sexually aware enough to keep from being virginal to the point of being unbelievable and dismissing his innocence all together.

Instead of treating Jeeves as an emotional tabula rasa, you make the aloofness not just part of him, but integral to who he is. Your flair for subtlety make the quiet slowness of them coming together utterly believable and so much better for the wait. Even the contrivances (such as the dance bet) are believable as completely probably contrivances and so, so very what happens in a J&W novel, except with this twist of having higher stakes and more emotional weight.

In short (ha ha) I hope I've not completely freaked you out with my gushing. This was a rare and wonderful surprise, and I only wish I knew other J&W fans so that I could make them read it. In fact, I may recommend it to some non-fans, because I feel it is strong enough to stand as its own novella.

All the best,
MF

[thirstyrobot.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty much out of J&W fandom these days but email notifications are forever and this comment meant so much to me that even way way late in terms of when it's proper to reply (I got married and moved cross country, by way of an excuse lest you think me ungrateful!), I had to. I've actually toyed with the idea of trying to publish this properly-- changing the names, etc-- but I feel it would lose a lot without the Wodehousian language, so it'll probably just hang about as-is until all the copyrights expire! In any case, I'm so happy you enjoyed this, and I thank you so very much for taking the time to comment. If you've found this, you've probably already found everything else I'd be inclined to recommend, but if you'd like any recs as a newcomer I'd be happy to list some of my favorites. :)

[militantgeek.livejournal.com]

Hi, *waves.* Long time lurker, first time commenter. So, I absolutely adore your Jeeves and Wooster fic, all of them, but especially this one. I first read it in...2010...I think. I was just talking to a friend about how great this story is a few days ago and I realized that I absolutely HAVE to reread it because I hardly remember it now, just that it was one of the best fanfics I'd ever read.

I'm going to reread it, and some of your others, and hopefully leave proper comments afterwards because I'm less of a bashful lurker these days. I was just wondering, you have a few fics up on A03 but this one isn't on there. Is there any chance you'd go through the trouble of posting it? Everyone in the Jeeves and Wooster fandom should know about this, and LJ has been so dead for so long. Plus, then I could have it on my kindle to cherish forever :) Hopefully I can figure out how to transfer it to my kindle anyway (there must be a free PDF converter out there)...

Anyway, sorry for the rambly comment that's really more a comment promising to comment later, after I've reread it.

[mistyzeo.livejournal.com]

I know it's been ages but thank you for the PDF! I am just now falling into the J&W fandom and life is good, and I can't wait to settle in to read this.