fic: your ghosts could be angels from here [TMA]

[raven]

I can't talk about the other thing right now, not even a little bit. happydork and I are sort-of obsessed with The Magnus Archives, though, which is a super fun time! We are both at the beginning of season 3 and texting each other grisly things. I really love it: I love how imaginative and well-written it is, but also utterly familiar it all is. Like, it's all terrible creepy horrors all the time, sure, but they're my creeping horrors. Nasty deaths happen next to my house by Finsbury Park, and on Elthorne Road (I was in Elthorne Park when I got to that!) and up towards Tufnell Park and Archway. I used to live just down from Hilltop Road in Oxford back in 2010. The Magnus Institute itself is by Millbank, just along from my department, and my office looks out on the same stretch of the river. I love that it's a story about eldritch terrors but also about the London rental market and section 31 of the Freedom of Information Act and being signed off for workplace stress and going to see live music in Soho and being freaked out on the Night Tube. The writer and some of the cast were at uni with me and we're all on that terribly middle-class trajectory of Oxford-then-London, which explains why everything feels unearthly and marvellously, painfully close. It's such a gift in these times.

Anyway. Rather than do any of the other million things I should have done today, I wrote this completely conflict-free story. It's embarrassing. it's very embarrassing. I just want people to look after each other in these terrible times, ok.

(also - please do not spoil me. I'm on ep 81, "A Guest For Mr Spider".)

your ghosts could be angels from here
3000w, The Magnus Archives, Jonathan Sims/Martin Blackwood.

“Do you want tea,” Martin says, leaving off the question mark for once. Jon might still be Martin’s irritable, forceful, kind-of-a-dick boss, but even he seems softer outside the confines of the Institute. As though the sharp edges of paper and spools of magnetic tape are for him, skeletal; without them he can’t quite hold himself up.

Comments

[soupytwist]

I didn't know you lived near Hilltop Road when you were in Oxford!

(It is somehow the perfect thing and I don't know how but it is.)

[raven]

I YELPED when it first came up, and wasn't expecting it to come up so many times after that! I used to walk along there literally every day of my life, it's so delightful.

[schneefink]

I'm glad you're enjoying TMA! And I can imagine that actually knowing the places that many stories take place adds something extra.

There's a specific bit of the story I especially enjoyed, but can't point out yet because possibly spoilers ^^ (I don't remember exactly how much you know at this point)

[raven]

Hee! That is a marvellously cryptic remark, I shall treasure it. it is extremely fun, knowing the places involved! It gives me a new perspective on north London, that's for sure.

[lemon_badgeress]

i liked that a lot

[raven]

Thank you! <3

[st_aurafina]

Eeee, A Ghost for Mr Spider is an excellent episode!! I hope you enjoy it.

[raven]

I really loved it! I'm a sucker for "neutral observer is forced to face up to his own experiences" and it DELIVERS.

[rydra_wong]

*sidles in via content search for "magnus archives", hoping that's okay*

Yes, living in London means you get bonus extra value from The Magnus Archives; even more so for the Oxford-to-London trajectory.

My closest brush so far has been realizing that I am very familiar with the specific Oxfam in Ep 4.

which explains why everything feels unearthly and marvellously, painfully close. It's such a gift in these times.

It really, really is. And it's SUCH a good show.

your ghosts could be angels from here
3000w, The Magnus Archives, Jonathan Sims/Martin Blackwood.

That's wonderful! Especially Martin's still life of potential boss-drugging; that's beautifully in character, both the considering and the not actually doing it.

[raven]

So glad you liked it! Marin is such a cupcake, he'd never actually DO it, but he's only human after all.

[rydra_wong]

Also, as indicated by his corkscrew idea, he has a particular strain of ingenious practicality. Jon's lucky Martin wasn't plotting against him in S2, because he wouldn't have stood a chance.

Totally Off Topic, but....

[not_hathor]

I remembered that you had asked for "Swordheart" Yuletide fiction, and I just finished reading "Paladin's Grace" by T. Kingfisher. Zale makes their appearance about halfway through; while there is a reference to the events of "Swordheart" it is not a sequel (even though the author admits in her AFTERWORD that was her original intention). I hope that you can find a copy (I have it on KINDLE), as I think you might enjoy it!

Many hugs!

And Now ON TOPIC

[not_hathor]

Although I'm not familiar with this particular Television series, it *feels* familiar and I enjoyed it very much. I suppose it's the Anglophile in me, why I adore Fowler's 'Peculiar Crimes Unit' books and Aaronovitch's 'Rivers of London' series. I'd ask if its available on BBC America, but that wouldn't do me any good because we don't get that....

(My husband controls the television set. Normally I don't mind, because I can't hear as well as I used to, and it's not good to get distracted when knitting a complex pattern, but I DO get tired occasionally of Japanese animation. "The Magnus Archives" sounds like something we both might enjoy watching. I'll ask him to look for it on one of the subscription services)

'Twelve dead tarantulas and a kazoo' -- LOL!

Re: And Now ON TOPIC

[raven]

So I have good news for you: The Magnus Archives is a free-to-listen podcast (made by Rusty Quill - just search for it). It begins as a horror-story-of-the-week anthology type thing (with each story read by the eponymous Archivist) but it becomes much more complex than that very quickly. It's very, very good and does really creative things with the audio format.

I'm very glad you liked this story, as well - I'm pleased it made sense without the context.