Are you the Arthur to my Lancelot?

[strangetomato]

Following a little discussion on ménage à trois/threesomes in books and movies on simsecret, which mentioned The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, I finally picked up a copy to read. I'm enjoying the book as a whole, but I'll admit I'm mostly in it for the ménage (and I'll also admit to skipping ahead to find details on the threesome scene - after doing so, it was easier to just relax and enjoy the book without wondering about it). It has a very similar structure to the relationship between JRO, with one official couple and then the lover who is granted permission to love his dear friend's wife. There's a lot of protocol around Arthur being King and the customs of the times are quite different, but it's quite a similar setup in a number of ways (maybe even some I can't talk about just yet). It'll be very interesting to read all the ins and outs of it and the consequences and such.

But who's Arthur and who's Lancelot? ;) Well, it's not at all a perfect parallel, but one of them is the King and the other adores him beyond what's reasonable, and maybe even beyond what he feels for the lady they share. I can't help but make some comparisons.

Also, the height difference in this pic is something like I imagine their actual height difference to be, ignoring the fact that Ripp's hunched over. I place Ripp somewhere around the 5'10-11" range, while Johnny is somewhere around 6'2". Ophelia is probably a whole foot shorter than Johnny.

In story update news, I'm not going to be around at all this week, because I'll be out of town. That's going to delay my progress on the next update (I was out of town for the Victoria Day weekend too), but I'm anxious to get back into it. I'm hoping to find some time to work on it this upcoming weekend.

Comments

Re: Since we're talking about Mists of Avalon... SPOILERS TO THOSE WHO HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Heheh. Like I said, it's not a perfect comparison (though with the alien breeding plans, and the way Strangetown family trees are so messed up, that doesn't even seem to so unlikely - I'm sure someone has done that in Strangetown at least once).

I can definitely see the erotica connection, even though everything tends to "fade to black" in the story. It's still pretty hot. She really does have a way with words in that sense.

I am really enjoying it so far. The woman who checked out my book at the bookstore was all excited when I brought it to the counter, but said that the book really made her hate Guinevere. I'm willing to bet that I won't feel the same way. I seem to have more sympathy for female characters than most, and from what I've gathered, she just seems to be a product of her situation and the time they lived in (with Christianity becoming the dominant religion).