Torchwood: Jack and Another Life...

[fajrdrako]

A few days ago I wrote a Torchwood drabble called "Possessions", on the theme that Jack has very few of them.

I am now reading the Torchwood novel Another Life by Peter Anghelides and was delighted to find this sentence on page 16, from Gwen's point of view: "Apart from what he wore, and a few minor and rather odd artifacts back at the Hub, Jack didn't seem to own anything."

Looks like Anghelides is on my wavelength. Or I'm on his.

Actually, I'm loving this book thoroughly - though I'm not far into it yet. I just got to the end of chapter three on the bus. It's beautifully written. It is reviving my love of Gwen, and Captain Jack is perfectly as he should be.

Comments

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

Great!
I'll be posting the magazine with the badges in the next day or 2.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I am a happy fan for a number of reasons. Thank you again!

[crystalshard.livejournal.com]

Another Life was my favourite of the Torchwood books. Admittedly, I haven't read Border Princes, so my opinion is a little limited.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm enjoying it very much - though I don't have much time to read. (have to choose between reading and writing. Writing wins.) I'm delighted by the high quality of the writing.

[luinecu.livejournal.com]

I did love that drabble of yours n___n

Another Life is fantastic. I'm onto reading Border Princes now which is also fab.

I've been pleasantly supprised by the writing quality too, I wasn't expecting all that much from them.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I did love that drabble of yours n___n

Good! And thank you.

I'm onto reading Border Princes now which is also fab.

Wonderful. I'm reading slowly, partly because I have no time to read right now, and partly because I'm enjoying it too much, don't want it to be over too soon. I expected the writing quality to be average, but it's way better than that - the author really knows the material, and knows what he's doing. It's excellent!

Better written so far, actually, than some of the episodes.

[firko.livejournal.com]

Good to hear, especially after my not-so-edifying-experience with Border Princes! I love those spooky coincidences when the way you have written someone/thing comes true. I started a Torchwood fic which had Ianto straightening things up in Jack's office, and in End of Days there was a scene when the same thing happened!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

love those spooky coincidences when the way you have written someone/thing comes true.

So do I. I've had it happen in history - where something I'd guessed about historical characters turned out to be true. So gratifying.


I started a Torchwood fic which had Ianto straightening things up in Jack's office, and in End of Days there was a scene when the same thing happened!

I love that. So - did you finish the fic? Did you post it?

[firko.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, I didn't finish it - events sort of overtook me and what actually happened in End of Days threw me off my stride (as it was planned as a DW/Torchwood crossover).

I'll be going back to it, although now it will probably be an A/U fic or I need to rethink the whole thing.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I had a similar problem with a story I plan to finish and post soon that I wrote last August or September. It was practically ready to go in a finished draft when Torchwood started and we learned Jack was Immortal and that completely screwed up several of my scenes. So... rethinking. It'll be easy to fix (I think) but it necessitated a change in attitude that threw me off my stride.

I find that the end of "End of Days" makes it difficult to speculate and write stories following that - any I've seen online don't sit well with me and I have no ideas about what would go in there, so I'm sticking to stories of the past! Or... indeterminate.

Until and unless I change my mind. I just wrote a mid-"End of Days" fic and I didn't think I'd be doing that, either.

Torchwood has such rich ground for fanfic.

[firko.livejournal.com]

The finale of 'End of Days' left me desperate to know what happens next, but I don't feel qualified to speculate on the goings on in the Who-niverse (and the lack of fic leads me to think there are lots of other people with the same opinion). Most of the post series 1 fic has Jack snogging Ianto to within an inch of his life wandering back into the hub with no explanation, which I don't think he would get away with in the series.

I think I'm more confident writing in the Torchwood universe - I've written more fic for it than any of the other fandoms I've been in, although I put that down to frustration with the patchy quality of the writing on the series! Or maybe because they are newer characters, we feel we can take more liberties with them!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I don't feel qualified to speculate on the goings on in the Who-niverse

Well, it could be anything! It's a quiry show that you can't predict, which is one of the reasons it's so wonderful. But it hampers fanfic.

I think I'm more confident writing in the Torchwood universe -

There's so much scope there. And characters to work with. And a tighter focus and theme. Not that Doctor Who doesn't have strong themes, but they're more subtle and harder to pin down. Torchwood is easy. They even have a mission statement.

Another Life and Border Princes

[mickeyk.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link to the cover - I'd thought that the covers featured Jack (1), Gwen (1) and Owen (1) but I see Jack had two covers.

If I'd seen that one ("Another Life") when I grabbed "Border Princes", I probably would have gotten both. I saw it when I was downtown on Queen Street West. I might have to see if a couple of local bookstores (Coles in the mall, Chapters-Indigo near the grocery story and highway) carry the TW books.

I wouldn't be surprised if Jack had few possessions since he didn't expect to stay (didn't he say something about it'd be a hell of a commute from home [by which I think he meant the TARDIS at that point]) and that he'd be gone as soon as he caught up with the right Doctor.

I wonder if that's going to change (Jack getting more possessions, making more of a home for himself) with S2?

Another thing I liked about "Border Princes" was that at least they seemed to come across as a team, and to like each other, unlike on screen S1.

Re: Another Life and Border Princes

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I see Jack had two covers

And deserved them, too.

I haven't actually seen these books in any local bookstore - you probably have more scope than I do. I ordered them from Amazon.

I suspect Jack has few possessions because he wants to be able to pack up and go on a second's notice - as he did in "End of Days". I also suspect he isn't very materialistic. I like that in a character.

I wonder if that's going to change (Jack getting more possessions, making more of a home for himself) with S2?

I hope not!

they seemed to come across as a team, and to like each other, unlike on screen S1.

Yes, I liked that, too. And less working at cross-purposes.

Re: Another Life and Border Princes

[mickeyk.livejournal.com]

I see Jack had two covers

And deserved them, too.

Yes, he does. How dare that Gwen Bloody Cooper take a cover away from Jack! (yes, tongue firmly in cheek)

I haven't actually seen these books in any local bookstore - you probably have more scope than I do. I ordered them from Amazon.

I haven't either. The one I did see was at The Silver Snail, a comic book shop and has some DW stuff and TW.

Heh, my friend was wondering what to get me for my birthday and gave me an amazon link with John Barrowman for the search criteria, now a friend's called her so I'll be waiting to discuss the matter. I did put in a link for "Putting It Together" (which didn't come up in the search) and the other two TW books.

I suspect Jack has few possessions because he wants to be able to pack up and go on a second's notice - as he did in "End of Days". I also suspect he isn't very materialistic. I like that in a character.

Yes, I agree it's because he wants to be able to split at a moment's notice... like EoD.

The reason I wouldn't mind Jack getting a few more possessions and obviously settling in for a while, is to show that he now feels like 21st century Cardiff, the Rift, TW is "home"/where he wants to be the most (although if Jack would be treated well in DW, I'd have him back there in a shot, and in a season or two or three or four worth of stories, because I freaking adore him in it).

they seemed to come across as a team, and to like each other, unlike on screen S1.

Yes, I liked that, too. And less working at cross-purposes.

Yep. We need that for S2. Is that sense of being more of a team, liking each other, etc. in the other two books?

Re: Another Life and Border Princes

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

The one I did see was at The Silver Snail, a comic book shop and has some DW stuff and TW.

Eee! I am jealous. The Ottawa Silver Snail (which I visit every week) is seldom as well-stocked as the Toronto one, and usually doesn't have Doctor Who material - I've never seen any of the books, and though they were getting the magazines for a while, I think it's only because I was ordering them. They do sometimes have the action figures. I don't want a $60 Dalek or a Lazarus Monster, but the whole Torchwood team would be good - ! Especially Jack in his greatcoat. I live in hope.¹

Is that sense of being more of a team, liking each other, etc. in the other two books?

Hmm. A little bit. There's more sense of getting to know them, and getting the point of view of each for the others. There are some good bits with Owen playing video-games at work (with some connivance by Tosh) that were really fun, and we get a lot of Gwen's point of view of Jack, which I particularly liked. Ianto is barely in any of the books - mentioned, a few lines of dialogue, and that's it.

~ ~ ~

¹ Actually the Rose-and-K9 set is tempting.