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Oh hey so I guess I should do my Kaleidoscope reveal! Not that my identity was ever really all that secret, given that there were two people who requested and offered Twelve Kingdoms fic in Kaleidoscope, and I was one of them and writing fic for the other one.
But still, for completionism's sake: I wrote Era of Red Happiness for![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
izilen, a Twelve Kingdoms fic about Youko and Rakushun going on a diplomatic mission to the kingdom of Sou. It is also sort of an unofficial sequel to my last Twelve Kingdoms fic, all things grow, and ridiculous in many of the same ways, so, you know, fair warning.
Relatedly, researching this fic also pushed me into finally reading the Twelve Kingdoms short story collection, Dreaming of Paradise. I couldn't talk about it before now, because if I did, Izzy would have been ONE HUNDRED PERCENT sure that I was writing her fic for Kaleidoscope, as opposed to only ninety-seven percent sure. But now I can!
There are five stories in Dreaming of Paradise, so I'm just gonna take it story by story.
Winter Splendor: This is a story about baby Taiki going on vacation. I, uh, think baby Taiki is not all that interesting. But it's reasonably cute, if you like baby Taiki.
Jougetsu: This is the story about what happened in Hou after Shoukei ran away, and about how the dude who led the revolution in Hou was like "well, my work here is done! I have no wish to rule, so I shall retire to the countryside!" and then Fuyumi Ono appeared in a puff of jdgmental authorial smoke and went "NOT SO FAST, BUDDY." Overthrowing tyranny is not enough; you have to be prepared to actually lead a country afterwards, which is a lot harder. This sort of story is the reason I love the Twelve Kingdoms. I also love Shoukei, who doesn't actually appear in it, but is a formidable distant presence. A+!
Pen-pals: This is the one about how Youko and Rakushun write each other supportive letters! So basically Fuyumi Ono was like "let's write Becca some fluffy fanfic." OKAY, FUYUMI ONO, I ACCEPT.
Dreaming of Paradise: This is the one that -- okay, guys, I love Fuyumi Ono. I have said it at least three times in this entry alone. But this story cracks me up, because it so should not have been written by Fuyumi Ono. It's about a tight-knit idealistic revolutionary new government, most of the members of which are related to each other or married to each other, and how it all goes horribly wrong ten years down the line in a series of intensely painful personal and political betrayals -- and because it's Fuyumi Ono, none of the emotional or interpersonal stuff is ever actually drawn out, and the protagonist continues to wander gravely around and think sad philosophical thoughts even when 'political betrayal' scales up to 'bloody murder and bodies hidden in the draperies.' Normally I'm okay with toning down the angsty psychodrama, but if there ever was a story that demanded bucketloads of angsty psychodrama, this is it. Paging Hilary Mantel!
Kizan: This is the one that has the royal family of Sou, which is what I was actually reading the book of short stories for! And they are pretty adorable, and there's some good stuff in there about the balance of good government and a stable kingdom, so I am well satisfied.
And now the only official Twelve Kingdoms book I have left to read is the one that is only available in Japanese, Chinese and French . . .
. . . maybe when I'm done with grad school.
But still, for completionism's sake: I wrote Era of Red Happiness for
izilen, a Twelve Kingdoms fic about Youko and Rakushun going on a diplomatic mission to the kingdom of Sou. It is also sort of an unofficial sequel to my last Twelve Kingdoms fic, all things grow, and ridiculous in many of the same ways, so, you know, fair warning.Relatedly, researching this fic also pushed me into finally reading the Twelve Kingdoms short story collection, Dreaming of Paradise. I couldn't talk about it before now, because if I did, Izzy would have been ONE HUNDRED PERCENT sure that I was writing her fic for Kaleidoscope, as opposed to only ninety-seven percent sure. But now I can!
There are five stories in Dreaming of Paradise, so I'm just gonna take it story by story.
Winter Splendor: This is a story about baby Taiki going on vacation. I, uh, think baby Taiki is not all that interesting. But it's reasonably cute, if you like baby Taiki.
Jougetsu: This is the story about what happened in Hou after Shoukei ran away, and about how the dude who led the revolution in Hou was like "well, my work here is done! I have no wish to rule, so I shall retire to the countryside!" and then Fuyumi Ono appeared in a puff of jdgmental authorial smoke and went "NOT SO FAST, BUDDY." Overthrowing tyranny is not enough; you have to be prepared to actually lead a country afterwards, which is a lot harder. This sort of story is the reason I love the Twelve Kingdoms. I also love Shoukei, who doesn't actually appear in it, but is a formidable distant presence. A+!
Pen-pals: This is the one about how Youko and Rakushun write each other supportive letters! So basically Fuyumi Ono was like "let's write Becca some fluffy fanfic." OKAY, FUYUMI ONO, I ACCEPT.
Dreaming of Paradise: This is the one that -- okay, guys, I love Fuyumi Ono. I have said it at least three times in this entry alone. But this story cracks me up, because it so should not have been written by Fuyumi Ono. It's about a tight-knit idealistic revolutionary new government, most of the members of which are related to each other or married to each other, and how it all goes horribly wrong ten years down the line in a series of intensely painful personal and political betrayals -- and because it's Fuyumi Ono, none of the emotional or interpersonal stuff is ever actually drawn out, and the protagonist continues to wander gravely around and think sad philosophical thoughts even when 'political betrayal' scales up to 'bloody murder and bodies hidden in the draperies.' Normally I'm okay with toning down the angsty psychodrama, but if there ever was a story that demanded bucketloads of angsty psychodrama, this is it. Paging Hilary Mantel!
Kizan: This is the one that has the royal family of Sou, which is what I was actually reading the book of short stories for! And they are pretty adorable, and there's some good stuff in there about the balance of good government and a stable kingdom, so I am well satisfied.
And now the only official Twelve Kingdoms book I have left to read is the one that is only available in Japanese, Chinese and French . . .
. . . maybe when I'm done with grad school.
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...or is the first volume somewhere in our house? It's somewhere in our house, isn't it? I swear you forced this on Gen and I fairly recently.
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Also I know Gen has all the books as Kindle files if that is something you would prefer. :D
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I thought I gave you the fourth book back, but I'll check and see if I'm misremembering.
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