(no subject)

[skygiants]

Man, guys. In the proud tradition of Sungkyunkwan Scandal I keep wanting to say "the one who won Kaleidoscope . . . IS ME!" but the actual fact of the matter is the one who won Kaleidoscope is YOU and also ALL OF US, because every single thing I have seen or read this year has been AWESOME. EVERYTHING.

. . . but really the one who won Kaleidoscope is still me, because look what I got!

Every Third Year the Moon Rose

And they changed with its cycles.

I thought my wish for adorable lesbian Sungkyunkwan Scandal Cho Seun/Hyo Eun fic was doomed to go forever unfulfilled, and then I got three thousand words of slow-build romance and Hyo Eun trying to tend to Cho Seun's wounds because that's what people do in books and it's all I ever could have wanted! Author, you know who you are, I STILL LOVE YOU FOREVER.

AND

AND

I GOT

Jezebel

'She was born to be a woman we could blame / Make me a beast half as brave, I'd be the same.' A look at Cha Song Joo.

A CAPITAL SCANDAL VID YOU GUYS I GOT A VID A VID ABOUT CHA SONG JOO (super spoilery, just as a warning)

and it was beautiful and it broke my heart and it had bits about Young Ran and Na Yeo Kyeung and I'm going to watch it a million times over and it's going to break my heart EVERY TIME

. . . okay now that we've gotten the flaily capslock out of the way: a proper rec post, by fandom!



Detective Di and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame

A Branch in the Wind Cannot Find Peace

This is a gorgeous, complicated, frightening character portrait of the gorgeous, complicated and frightening Empress Wu. Also, Wu/Jing'er!

Gokusen

My Teacher is a Gangster

It's not that hard to write funny Gokusen fic, because everyone in Gokusen is very funny, but it's EXTREMELY hard to capture the exact tone of comedy that Gokusen has, and this fic does it amazingly. And also is HILARIOUS.

Capital Scandal

Nothing Like a Fairy Tale

This fic does a lot of things that are amazing, but three things that I love especially: 1. incorporates fairy tales and folklore in a poignant and relevant way; 2. shows Cha Song Joo and Na Yeo Kyeung hanging out; and 3.) has Na Yeo Kyeung announcing "UNTIL OUR COUNTRY IS LIBERATED!" Never change, Na Yeo Kyeung. NEVER CHANGE.

our dreams will carry us

Fun fact: I am in the same apartment as the recipient so I am listening to this fanmix RIGHT NOW. I suspect I will be hearing it in the background for like the next week, and it's so good that I am not going to suppress but actively encourage this!

Yeol, Han

CHA SONG JOO AND NA YEO KYEUNG FRIENDSHIP FIC YESSS. Ladymentorship of my heart!

Lizzie Bennet Diaries

Seven Wishes for Charlotte Lu

This is an absolutely incredible Charlotte character study, from tiny Charlotte with her first video camera, to teenaged Charlotte with her first two crushes, to adult Charlotte and her first fight with her best friend. Guys, I just love Charlotte Lu so much!

new revo(lu)tion

I like a lot of things about this fic about Charlotte and Maria starting out in their new life, but my favorite is that it shows us THEIR MOM whom we have never seen!

Welcome to Collins and Collins

Lizzie/Charlotte with PITCH PERFECT Maria Lu narration. I was so sad Maria Lu was introduced too late to be a nominated character for Kaleidoscope, but there is so much great Maria Lu this Yuletide that it pretty much makes up for it anyway!

Smoke Signals

Talk Don't Matter

It's been a really long time since I've seen Smoke Signals and I don't remember much about it, but this vid desperately makes me want to watch it again.

Sun Sword - Michelle West

Lessons

I was not expecting Kaleidoscope to yield even one amazing Sun Sword fic, let alone two! This one is a gorgeous character study of Teresa di'Marano in her new life, teaching students whose cultural norms are completely different from hers; honestly, I think it would work as a story even if you don't know Sun Sword, because the context is pretty clear and it's very good.

Women's Words

This is just, like, everything I love about the Sun Sword books encapsulated in one fic. The importance of female voices, and female diplomacy, and female responsibility, and women loving each other and being important to each other, and complicated negotiations of how to live and be happy with the imperfect way things are. BASICALLY IT'S GREAT.

Sungkyunkwan Scandal

The Second Time

This was an AMAZING year for lesbians Sungkyunkwan Scandal -- not one, but TWO amazing fics! This one was not written for me but it might as well have been and features ADVENTURE HIJINKS and Hyo Eun being her adorable, overimaginative, melodramatic self.

Basically EVERYTHING IS KALEIDOSCOPE AND NOTHING HURTS.

Comments

[holyschist]

I have got to watch Sungkyunkwan Scandal, one of these days when I start watching anything again.

[skygiants]

IT'S SO DELIGHTFUL. It's everything I want out of a ridiculous crossdressing high school hijinks story.

[viviolo]

Kaleidoscope was just really good this year. I mean, not that I have anything to reference it to, but IT WAS JUST GOOD ON ITS OWN MERITS, I FEEL.

[skygiants]

AGREED. I mean, last year was really good, but this year I think was even better!

Or maybe I'm just biased because of my EXCELLENT GIFTS. :D

[ambyr]

Would it be okay if I friended you? Because I feel like anyone who loves the Sun Sword series must have excellent taste over all.

[skygiants]

Oh yes, please, and I will totally friend back! I mean I feel similarly, so. :)

[ambyr]

Exxxxcellent. More people to squee over Battle with, when it comes out! Although, uh, I should probably catch up and read Skirmish first.

[skygiants]

Man, I'm so behind, I haven't even read House Name yet. But now after this Kaleidoscope I feel all motivated! Maybe I'll just power through and do an EPIC REREAD OF EVERYTHING to catch up to Skirmish and Battle.

[ambyr]

::whispers sheepishly:: Neither have I. Or City of Night. And I had to confess this to Michelle when I had her sign my books at WorldCon, which means I now have books signed, more or less, "To ambyr, Hurry up and read this!!" Which has been very inspiring, so I am now halfway through City of Night.

[skygiants]

Hee! That does sound inspiring . . .

I had a friend who was urging me to get through the series, so I zoomed through, and caught up, and now I'm ahead of her. Which is probably why I stalled for a bit, but if I wait any longer I will have like five giant tomes to catch up on, and that's a lot of tomes!

[ambyr]

For me, it was just--there is so much going on in her world, and I could not keep it all in my head, and with a year+ between books I felt like I had to reread everything each time a new one came out, and...that was a lot of rereading!

But I have just done all the rereading, so onward I go.

(Okay, and also it was that the women of Annagar are my favorite, and I was bummed that I wasn't going to get to spend time with them any more. But now that we have moved post-Sun Sword in the timeline, I have hope that Teresa at least might show up!)

[skygiants]

Yeah, I love the women of Annagar best too, and I think that the whole cultural development going on there is basically the most interesting part of the series. Though I did like The Hidden City way more than I expected, mostly because I just enjoy stories about brooding gentlemen who unexpectedly adopt wacky gangs of street urchins.

There had better be some Teresa in the post-Sun Sword bits!