No
Holds Barred
is a series of slash zines from Kathy Resch in America. Issues 2, 4, 6,
10, 16,
20, and 23 are all Professionals anthologies; issue 12 is a
multi-fandom zine with some Pros content:
~
indicates a story is in Proslib and/or on the net at The Circuit
Archive or The Hatstand.
No
Holds Barred 2
Publisher:
Kathy Resch
Date: May
1992
Type:
anthology, 76 pages, double column
Status:
available from Agent
with Style, Kathy Resch, and Waveney Zine Shop
Stories:
Indigo by Baravan - 9 pages
Wading Through
Years by Natasha Barry - 11 pages
Act Up by Nina
Boal - 6 pages
~ Post-Stakeout by DVS - 5 pages
Return to Skull
Mountain by Joan Enright - 11 pages
Song of a Fair
Fugitive by Joan Enright - crossover
with Ladder of Swords; pairing is Bodie/Don DeMarco - 19
pages
~ A Rainy Night in
Soho by Kitty
Fisher - 7 pages
Knee-Trembler by HG - 7 pages
Poetry:
Limericks by Emily Ross
Art:
front cover colour drawing by Caren Parnes of Bodie and Doyle
illos
by Anja Gruber, Mozart, Cat, and Marilyn Cole
Comments/Spoilers:
In
"Indigo" by Baravan, Bodie tells Doyle a little about his time in
Africa.
"Wading
Through Years" by Natasha Barry is set in the future when Cowley is
dead and Doyle is Controller. Bodie returns after some years away and
discovers he must woo Doyle if he wants to reclaim him.
"Act
Up" by Nina Boal is an AIDS story, with both Bodie and Doyle as gay.
"Return
to Skull Mountain" by Joan Enright is an alternate universe story set
in 1936, recounting Bodie and Doyle meeting again after years apart.
"Song
of a Fair Fugitive" by Joan Enright has SAS Sergeant Bodie on leave in
Wales before being seconding to a new organisation, during which he
meets Don DeMarco, the circus character MS played in the movie Ladder of Swords.
"Knee-Trembler"
by HG recounts Doyle's reaction when Bodie is nearly killed on an op.
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No
Holds Barred 4
Publisher:
Kathy Resch
Date: May 1993
Type:
anthology, 98 pages, double column
Status: available from Agent
with Style, Kathy Resch, and Waveney Zine Shop
Stories:
Flashpoint by HG - 6 pages
~ Feasting with
Panthers by Kitty
Fisher - 13 pages
Crumbs by Robbie - 1 page
What
Happened When Someone Let Murphy Be in Charge of Entertainment at
the Annual CI5 Christmas Party by Ruby - 4 pages
Blacksilver
and Copper: A Love Story by Joan Enright - 8 pages
~ The Chameleon's
Dish by Kitty
Fisher - 38 pages
~ Bodie's Letter by
Ellis Ward - 20 pages
Poetry:
If Only by Rachel Duncan
A Rose is a Rose
by Rachel Duncan
Luring a Lover by Rachel Duncan
Art:
colour cover drawing by Marilyn Cole of naked--except for a
strategically placed blue blanket--Bodie holding a white teddy bear
illos
by Baravan, Karen Eaton, and Sebastian Shaw
Comments/Spoilers:
"Flashpoint"
by HG is a first-time story set after a near-death experience on an op.
"Feating
with Panthers" by Kitty Fisher has Doyle introducing his lover Bodie to
BDSM.
"Blacksilver
and Copper: A Love Story" by Joan Enright is an alternate universe tale
in which Bodie is a wolf and Doyle is a dog.
"The
Chameleon's
Dish" by Kitty Fisher is set eight years in the future, after both
Bodie and Doyle have left CI5. Bodie returns to Doyle, who spurned his
love, the reason Bodie left CI5 years before.
"Bodie's
Letter"
by Ellis Ward is set in the future. When Cowley dies, both Bodie and
Doyle, who were separated years before, discover Cowley manipulated
their lives.
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No
Holds Barred 6
Publisher:
Kathy Resch
Date: May
1994
Type:
anthology, 160 pages, double column
Status: available
from Agent
with Style, Kathy Resch, and Waveney Zine Shop
Stories:
~ Love Is
Wealth by Gloria
Lancaster - 18 pages
~ Baiting the Trap by
DVS - 4 pages
~ The Pillory by
Kitty Fisher - 5 pages
~ Survival by Melanie Athene
- 15 pages
~ Telling Marge by Kate MacLean - 10 pages
English
Silk by Ruby - crossover
with Silk Stalkings - 11 pages
The
Wounded and the Outcast by Joan Enright - fusion with Star Trek: The Next
Generation - 19 pages
Dreams of Reality
by Too Loose - 67 pages
Poetry:
Or Maybe Blue? by Rachel Duncan
To Make It
Real by Rachel Duncan
Art:
front cover black-and-white drawing by Phoenix of
Bodie in a tux and Doyle in jeans and T-shirt, wiith a London backdrop
interior
illos by Baravan, Cat, Anja Gruber, and Sebastian Shaw
cartoons
by Karen Eaton
Comments/Spoilers:
"Telling
Marge" by Kate MacLean is a post-Backtrack
story in which Doyle's anxiety about Marge Harper's advances on him
leads to a misunderstanding with Bodie.
"English
Silk" by Ruby sees Bodie and Doyle in Florida on the trail of an IRA
bomber working with the detectives of Silk Stalkings.
"The
Wounded and the Outcast" by Joan Enright is set in the Star Trek: The Next Generation
universe, featuring Bodacet as a half-Cardassian fleeing his violent
culture who falls in love with Raye, a deviant full male from a race of
hermaphrodites.
"Dreams of Reality" by Too Loose is
a
supernatural AU in which pianist Philip Bodie is the reincarnation of
his uncle William and has dreams of William's lover Ray Doyle, only to
discover his own love in reality.
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No
Holds Barred 10
Publisher:
Kathy Resch
Date:
October 1995
Type:
anthology, 154 pages, double column
Status: available
from Agent
with Style, Kathy Resch, and Waveney Zine Shop
Stories:
~ On Guard
by Gloria Lancaster - 15 pages
Runagate by Jane
Mailander - 7 pages
~ You Dancing? You
Asking? by
Gloria Lancaster - 10 pages
Searching for a Bodie
Plot by Natasha Barry - 4 pages
~ Harlequin,
Harlequin by Kitty
Fisher - 13 pages
~ Somewhere There's
Heaven by
Gloria Lancaster - 15 pages
~ What Dreams May
Come by Airelle - 2 pages
Harlot Street by Joan
Enright - 28 pages
A Little B and D by Ruby - 6 pages
~ Torch Song by
Courtney Gray
Poetry:
none
Art:
colour cover drawing by Marilyn Cole of Bodie and
Doyle
illos by Anja Gruber
Review
by istia:
NO HOLDS BARRED 10 is a
Pros slash
anthology that was
published in 1995
by Kathleen Resch and is still in print. It has ten stories by eight
authors and 154 pp. There's a colour cover by Marilyn Cole of two men
kissing; they don't look anything like Bodie or Doyle to me, but YMMV.
Editing seems to be light and there are numerous typos and some
Americanisms.
The stories as they appear in order:
ON GUARD by Gloria
Lancaster. The two best
stories in this zine are the first and last, and in themselves make the
zine worth owning. This first one is an Origin story. Constable Ray
Doyle, on a three-month sabbatical from the Met to do charity work in
Africa, is rescued from near-death by a mercenary known to everyone
only as "Soldier". We know who he is from the first sentence: "A voice, loud and ugly with an
execrable Scouse accent",
but he remains "Soldier" to Doyle until much later in the story when
Doyle is recruited into CI5 and meets his partner for the first time.
At that point, the story becomes a charming first-time tale
set in CI5.
Bodie is a delightful character seen entirely through Doyle's eyes--a
limited viewpoint the author skilfully expands through reader-knowledge
(ie, we know it's Bodie while Doyle knows nothing about him). Bodie is
protective, mysterious, fascinating, competent and the two of them
together, in Gloria Lancaster's hands, are superb.
RUNAGATE by Jane Mailander. Set post-Runner, the
story is told through
Bodie's pov as he expects a bout of rough loving in the aftermath of
near-death when he and Doyle get home. Not only expects, but is
anticipating a good fuck to get rid of the adrenaline and clear the air
between them. Instead, Doyle is moody and silent. After a revelation or
two, a bit of a confrontation, and Doyle's having a weep, they do
finally get to the sex.
The story is engrossing in its step-by-step revelations of
what the
characters are thinking, though the depth of emotion I would
expect--and that I want--in this kind of story isn't there, and I'm
sceptical about the reasoning in Bodie's final train of musing, which
left me unconvinced.
YOU DANCING?
YOU ASKING? by Gloria
Lancaster. The
second of GL's three stories in this zine is a light delight of a
first-time story. Bodie teaches Doyle to dance so he can attend a fancy
do with a Sloane Ranger type. Disaster inevitably (though not
predictably--at least, I didn't catch on the first time I read it)
ensues, Bodie gets the fall-out, and they re-emerge in a changed
relationship. Unpretentious fun with nicely recognisable characters.
Gloria Lancaster especially excels at portraying Bodie, but her Doyle
is recognisable and appealing as well.
SEARCHING FOR A BODIE PLOT by Natasha Barry.
Irritatingly written pap.
This story is the one most in need of stringent editing, if not a
wholesale re-write. Bodie, "the
dark agent",
spends a day off looking for something to read because his secret vice
is reading. It takes a page-and-a-half to get us to the library, where
he can't find a single thing, so off he goes to a bookshop.
Where--surprise!--he stumbles on a "poofter"
sex-manual. He's been thinking a lot about his partner--the "golli", the "moppet", "moist mouth Doyle",
or the "sensuous tiger"--lately,
but certainly never like that, until now. From first thoughts, it's
only five minutes to an emergency wank in the toilet in a cafe. We get
such sentences as "He
castigated himself as he tucked himself back in, zipping the
indiscretion closed."
This PWP is, however, only four pages long.
HARLEQUIN,
HARLEQUIN by
Kitty Fisher. A dark
Zax story, moody and atmospheric. In a world where unauthorised sexual
congress between Names and Numbers is illegal, Zax has an intense but
tender affair with dark-haired, white-skinned Number M-6251. The
scene-setting is excellent, the characters beguiling, the story
compelling. This story can on one level be read as a kind of
bildungsroman for M-6251 as he learns about love and acquires a name
and independent identity.
Kitty Fisher does "dark" very well. Some of her dark is
darker than
others; this story is quite dark. I had heard that a sequel was being
written, but also that it might never appear; I'd love to see one
because I'm a wuss who pines for happier endings. :-) But even as a
standalone, this story allows for the projection of an optimistic
outcome. Or perhaps I'm twisting the ending to suit my own need for
that glimmer of hope. Either way, it's an engrossing read.
SOMEWHERE
THERE'S HEAVEN by
Gloria Lancaster.
This story details Alan Cade's bittersweet affair with a fascinating
stranger called Drew Phillips. Who is Drew Phillips? There are hints
and clues, but no solid evidence. An odd and tantalising AU story that
drew me in entirely to the atypical affair. This story cries out for a
sequel to resolve both some of the questions about Drew Phillips' past
and the present-day situation with Cade, but it stands alone well
enough and utterly intrigues me.
I've never seen an episode of The Chief, but this portrait of
Cade connected with me emotionally.
WHAT DREAMS MAY COME by Airelle. Eighty-something
Bodie visits the
grave where Doyle, his lover of fifty years, was buried three months
previously. In two pages, he recounts the salient events of five
decades before toddling off to await his own death, at peace with the
universe.
The story is slight and not terribly affecting. Bodie's
feeling of loss
comes through, but without any wrenching emotion. He communicates the
peacefulness he feels to the reader, so this is a death story without
an acute sense of loss or pain.
HARLOT STREET by Joan Enright. In 1891 London,
Raymond Arden Doyle is
an actor singled out for praise by none other than Oscar Wilde. On the
darker side, his sister is a whore who is killed by Jack the Ripper,
which brings Doyle into contact with Sergeant George Godley of Scotland
Yard (for anyone who might not be aware, Lewis Collins played this
character in the movie "Jack the Ripper"). Sergeant Godley turns out,
conveniently, to be as gay as Mr Raymond Arden Doyle himself, though
Godley is struggling to keep himself hidden in the closet.
Joan Enright writes mostly AUs, doing varying amounts of
damage to the
characters in the process. This particular story is one I reread
occasionally, but without for a moment believing in the
characterisation of Doyle. I haven't seen the movie, so I can't say how
well this portrayal of Godley matches the actual character. The action
keeps my interest--mostly--for the duration, but only if I surf over
the various anachronisms and implausibilities with a wilfully blind
eye. For some readers, it might not be worth the effort; for others,
the flaws might not be bothersome.
A LITTLE B AND D by Ruby. Six pages of humorous
fluff that actually
manages to make me laugh--a feat, as intentional humour usually misses
me by a mile (which is more my failing than humorous stories
themselves). Even with the continual use of "Com'mon" for "Come on",
and, yes, even though Murphy is referred to as "the Smurph", I chuckle
my way through this one.
Mucking about at HQ after an op, Cowley's Best manage to
handcuff
themselves together. They then have various adventures and encounters
while sneaking around on a mission to retrieve the key. Their eagerness
not to let anyone see what prats they've made of themselves adds fuel
to the, uh, rumours about them simmering in the air.
TORCH SONG
by Courtney Gray. The
longest story in
the zine at 54 pages. Undercover to investigate a nightclub owner,
Bodie is startled when the woman in question returns from a trip to
Manchester with a new blues singer for the club: a man called Ray
Doyle, who is also her new husband. Doyle was Bodie's lover on a
previous op two years before, whom Bodie abandoned when that mission
finished. As Bodie and Doyle work through their personal problems--the
mutual attraction neither can deny nor control--the present operation
takes various twists and turns around them.
Courtney Gray's writing probably needs no introduction. I
like
virtually every story she's written, and this is one I reread whenever
I fancy an AU in which Doyle is an arty sort, and I enjoy it every
time. One stand-out quality is the depiction of the woman, who is
invested with her own history and complexity.
This story provides a fine wrap-up to a solid zine with
several stories that appeal to me very much.
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No Holds Barred 12
Publisher: Kathy Resch
Date: 1996
Type:
multi-fandom, 134 pages
Status: available from Agent
with Style, Kathy Resch, and Waveney Zine Shop
Pros Stories:
~ Rebels
and Mercs by Catherine - crossover
with Blake's 7 - 10 pages
Echoes of Remembrances by D. Ramsey - crossover with Blake's 7 (only Bodie) - 4 pages
Pros Poetry:
unknown
Pros
Art:
black-and-white illo by Suzan Lovett of Blake embracing Bodie
Other
Fandoms:
Babylon 5 (3
stories)
Blake's 7 (2 stories plus the Pros crossover)
Forever
Knight (2 stories)
Robin of Sherwood (3 possible poems)
Star
Trek: Deep Space Nine - Garak/Bashir (5 stories)
Star Trek:
The Original Series - Spock/McCoy (1 story)
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No
Holds Barred 16
Publisher:
Kathy Resch
Date: 1997
Type:
anthology, 180 pages
Status: available
from Agent
with Style, Kathy Resch, and Waveney Zine Shop
Stories:
Next Time by Irish - 8 pages
Love of Art
by Meridian - 27 pages
Hunter's Moon by Rosamund
Clifford - 6 pages
Forever Since Now by Joana Dey -
32 pages
~ Watching His Mouth
by Georgina
Kirrin - 3 pages
~ On Stand-By by
Georgina Kirrin - 4 pages
At the End, There Is Only
Us by Ruby - 21 pages
~ Alone in the
Wilderness by
Elessar - crossover
with The Chief - 13 pages
~ Twist of Fate by Dee - 49 pages
Poetry:
Reflective Response by Jude
Song of the
Wild by James
This Isn't Africa by Joana Dey
Fly
Away Bird by Joana Dey
Checkmate by Joana Dey
Easy
Out by Joana Dey
I'm Still Talking by Joana Dey
Drums
by James
True Path by James
Lost
Idealism by Joana Dey
The Cynical Heart by Jude
Oblivion
by Jude
Jungles by Jude
Art:
unknown
Comments/Spoilers:
"Next
Time" by Irish is an alternate universe story in which Bodie, while
undercover, meets Doyle, who is in the Met.
"Love of
Art" by Meridian is an alternate universe story in which Doyle is the
younger brother of Lord Doyle and an artist who meets CI5 agent Bodie.
"At
the End, There is Only Us" by Ruby centres on Bodie's estranged sister
told in alternating Bodie and Doyle first-person pov sections.
"Alone
in the Wilderness" by Elessar is set ten years after the show ends and
charts the reunion of Bodie and Doyle, in his new identity.
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No
Holds Barred 20
Publisher:
Kathy Resch
Date: 2000
Type:
anthology, 102 pages
Status: available
from Agent
with Style, Kathy Resch, and Waveney Zine Shop
Stories:
You Needed Me by Cassidy Collins - 3 pages
Same
Time Next Month by Elessar - 19 pages
My Kingdom for
a ? by Ginny - 1 page
A Child's Game by Joana Dey -
23 pages
Bath Water by Meridian - 8 pages
Something
About Trust by Meridian - 13 pages
Getting It by
Maiden Wyoming - 6 pages
Who Dares Win by Tavaran -
7 pages
~ No Such Thing as an Easy Op by Anne Higgins
Poetry:
Both Ways by Lizzie
Before I Forget by Jude
Monitor
by Jude
Adoration by Jude
Midnight
Plea by Jude
Diplomatic Immunity by Lizzie
Art:
unknown
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No
Holds Barred 23
Publisher:
Kathy Resch
Date: 2001
Type:
anthology, 108 pages
Status: available
from Agent
with Style, Kathy Resch, and Waveney Zine Shop
Stories:
~ The Sting by Elspeth Leigh - 10 pages
Brotherly
Love by Tavaran - 7 pages
~ Demons of the Past
by Shorts - 17 pages
~ Safety by The Hag - 5 pages
Wild
Oats by Lois Welling
Poetry:
Operation Tired by Joanna Dey
Wild Justice
by Joanna Dey
Art:
unknown
Comments/Spoilers:
"The
Sting" by Elspeth Leigh is an alternate universe story in which Doyle is
a photographer while Bodie is in the SAS. Wild Oats by Lois Welling is
novella length and spans several decades. Brotherly Love by Tavaran is
an alternate universe story set in a Mediaeval monastery.
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