(no subject)

Short words are best and the old words when short are best of all.
- Winston Churchill, 1874 - 1965

Thinking about Caesar...

I have recently finished the last (so far) of the Steven Saylor mystery novels about late Republican Rome, The Judgment of Caesar. I loved it for various reasons - including its depiction of Julius Caesar, who is a major character in the book. In fact, Saylor manages to have his viewpoint character and protagonist, Gordianus, present at all the historically significant monent of Caesar's time in Egypt. How delightful. Caesar just happens to be one of my favourite historical figures.

Saylor has a twist on the history that I hadn't thought of before. ( Cut in case of spoilers, but most of this is just historical nattering. )

One of my favourite lines about Caesar (of many) is the assertion that he was called omnium virorum mulier, omnium mulierum virum, which I have always translated as "the wife of every man and the husband of every woman". Oddly, Saylor renders it as "the husband of every woman and the husband of every man", which makes less than sense to me. Unless he is trying to avoid the implication that Caesar, lord of Rome, might be a bottom? On the other hand, this man uses the word "alright", so however profound my respect for his history, my respect for his English usage is not so great.

Horizontal Merger

I wrote this story during season 3 Smallville, when Lana was living with the Sullivans and Gabe lost his job. I wrote it, my friends betaed it , for which I thank acampbell, lmondegreen and blackbyrde. Then I didn't post it.

Time went by. I found excuses not to post it.

Was I... could I be... embarrassed to have written hetfic? Maybe. I never write het stories. (Yeah, I know, never say "never".)

Maybe it was that when I mentioned the pairing to friends who knew anything about Smallville they tended to say "eeeyeuw". And quite rightly, too. I'd have said the same if anyone told me they were writing a Lana/Lionel story.

But I did it and I'm not sorry, so there.

And it's time to post it. More than time.

Title: Horizontal Merger
Fandom: Smallville
Pairing: Lana Lang/Lionel Luthor
Rating: R

Horizontal Merger

At the sound of the intercom buzzer on Lex's desk, Lionel snapped "Yes?", displeased to be interrupted in his enjoyment of the exquisite recording of Mendelssohn which flavored the air. In Lex's absence, he sat at Lex's desk, enjoying the music. Lex would not have been playing Mendelssohn on his expensive, unparalleled sound system. Lex's taste in music, as far as Lionel could tell, currently ran to whatever was popular with Kansas farm boys.

"Lana Lang," said Jonah's voice on the intercom."She's here to see Mr. Lex Luthor." ( 'Send her up.' )

Another Fannish Five...

Still hopelessly behind, I'll answer the Fannish Five questions from Oct. 1:

Which five characters would you most like to have dinner with?

From books: Francis Crawford of Lymond from the Dorothy Dunnett novels
From movies: Rick from Casablanca
From TV shows: (1) Lex Luthor (2) Methos
From history: Julius Caesar (I might give another answer at another time, but right now I'm in Caesar-loving mode...)

And... can I have another crack of it, to answer with all-female characters? Of course I can!

From books: Kate Somerville from the Dorothy Dunnett novels
From movies: Hana from The English Patient
From TV shows: (1) Inara from Firefly (2) Zoe from Firefly
From history: Saint Bathildis