all their h/c stories are interesting this way, and i like several of them very much, even though i don't enjoy reading about abuse. it's perplexing to me
Oh, yes, I like their two long CSI AUs, too, and those are definitely hurt/comfort, too. Like you, I don't like watching Clark and Lex get hurt--and least, not in the ways that they are tortured in "Ad Astra Per Aspera"--but I think it's the comfort part of this story that draws me in, like you said. Smallville fans know Lionel has done horrible things to Lex and other people, and want to see him get his, so that's one of the draws of the story. The other, I think, is that Clark and Lex's love will triumph over any situation, even the most extreme.
I was thinking, in response to your question about the psychology of h/c, that it's interesting that these two authors are some of the few in SV writing classic hurt/comfort. But then I realized that in most of the fandoms I've read in the past five years or so, h/c is no longer really a very prominent genre. I know that in the past h/c was once one of the most common types of fanfic stories--this was certainly true of Trek and X-files and Highlander, anyway, back in the 90s when I was reading in those fandoms.
Maybe that's has changed because of the shifting patterns in fanwriting? I know that a lot of the h/c I read in those fandoms was gen rather than explicitly slash. And for me, one the pleasures of h/c when it is done well is that it puts the characters in an emotionally vulnerable place, which I think is uncommon for male characters in action/sci-fi stories. And before slash became as popular as it now is in fandom, I think h/c stories were a space where authors could explore some of the popular themes in slash (like men's feelings about each other) without specifically putting them into a sexual relationship.
These days, though, I think more authors put their energy into figuring out how to hook the two guys up rather than putting them in a dangerous situation in which one gets to take care of the other. (Though sometimes h/c scenarios still get used in first-time stories)
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Oh, yes, I like their two long CSI AUs, too, and those are definitely hurt/comfort, too. Like you, I don't like watching Clark and Lex get hurt--and least, not in the ways that they are tortured in "Ad Astra Per Aspera"--but I think it's the comfort part of this story that draws me in, like you said. Smallville fans know Lionel has done horrible things to Lex and other people, and want to see him get his, so that's one of the draws of the story. The other, I think, is that Clark and Lex's love will triumph over any situation, even the most extreme.
I was thinking, in response to your question about the psychology of h/c, that it's interesting that these two authors are some of the few in SV writing classic hurt/comfort. But then I realized that in most of the fandoms I've read in the past five years or so, h/c is no longer really a very prominent genre. I know that in the past h/c was once one of the most common types of fanfic stories--this was certainly true of Trek and X-files and Highlander, anyway, back in the 90s when I was reading in those fandoms.
Maybe that's has changed because of the shifting patterns in fanwriting? I know that a lot of the h/c I read in those fandoms was gen rather than explicitly slash. And for me, one the pleasures of h/c when it is done well is that it puts the characters in an emotionally vulnerable place, which I think is uncommon for male characters in action/sci-fi stories. And before slash became as popular as it now is in fandom, I think h/c stories were a space where authors could explore some of the popular themes in slash (like men's feelings about each other) without specifically putting them into a sexual relationship.
These days, though, I think more authors put their energy into figuring out how to hook the two guys up rather than putting them in a dangerous situation in which one gets to take care of the other. (Though sometimes h/c scenarios still get used in first-time stories)