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Feb. 14th, 2014 07:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsThis year marks a milestone for me. In all my seven years of participating in Yuletide, NEVER ONCE have I actually made my way through everything I wanted to read in the archive before the year was at least halfway done, NOR have I actually managed to take any notes about stuff to rec ....
UNTIL NOW.
THIS YEAR, MY FRIENDS, IS THE YEAR I FINISHED YULETIDE IN FEBRUARY.
I'm pausing graciously here for admiration and applause.
(For the record, I read Yuletide -- this year at least -- alphabetically from the front and back at once, so As then Zs then Bs then Ys and so on; for the last month I have languished locked in L. BUT NOW I'M FREE.)
And, resultantly, I have some recs!
Five Times Enjolras Dropped a Barricade on Someone, Arm Joe
"I had heard about a princess in the Mushroom Kingdom who used a fan as a weapon and decided to make my own. It feels a bit wrong to imitate a monarch, but I excuse it as an exercise in widening my horizons to the worlds beyond our own."
"Not only those ruled by monarchies and dictatorships, I should hope," Enjorlas said.
"Of course not! I have the greatest admiration for the land of the Bad Dudes, and their representative democracy."
This is a perfect fic about the LES MIS FIGHTING VIDEO GAME and I don't think I need to say any more.
Downtime, Blue Beetle
“Uh, this is my mom,” Jaime says to Paco, pressing his finger to his temple. Khaji Da offers a stress analysis, which is spectacularly unhelpful as apparently his mother does not pose an unusually high level of risk to him. Jaime knows for a fact, however, that the threat Bianca Reyes poses is not one that Khaji Da can measure.
This may be the greatest Blue Beetle fic I've ever read. It's all about aftermath and bonding and family! Family including a murderous alien supersuit! It's on point, and incredibly poignant, and also hilarious. THEY BUILD IKEA FURNITURE.
Leave in Silence (Make Noise Coming In), The Brothers Bloom
"She blew up the toaster," Bloom said, and when he'll talk about this later, he won't mention the toaster. Bloom's stories don't include exploding toasters.
"Coffee machine would have been worse," Stephen said, and he will never talk about this later, because Stephen's stories don't include things that really happened.
Pitch-perfect Brothers Bloom fic, Bang Bang-centric, hitting all the right beats in the film's very conscious sense of narrative.
The Game's Afoot: Five Games Alice Introduced Turtle To, The Westing Game
When Alice shows up, ready to play, she says, “I picked up a few more cards - if you want to look through them and see if there’s anything you want to add to your deck, feel free.” Turtle likes it best when the outcome of a game is determined by her opponent’s skills rather than their equipment.
Turtle and her niece play games and it's ADORABLE.
The Theodorakis Guide to the Heirs of North America, The Westing Game
Theo would probably say that what their parents had needed was for someone to help Chris. Chris likes to think that their parents hadn’t needed help. He likes to think that bringing Chris and Theo in had helped Mr. Westing.
This fic is both incredibly charming (because Chris is incredibly charming!) and really, really smart and thoughtful about Chris' identity as a kid with cerebral palsy without making his identity in any way all about being The Heir With Cerebral Palsy.
The Old Willow Tree, The Witch's Son
I am a witch, and you will kill me. I don't care. I will come back as something else. Know this, though: your village will always be cursed until you know why I became a witch.
I betaed this story! And I loved it then and I still love it; it's basically original fiction (based on tumblr art) and totally worth it.
Wholesome, Even For the King, Wolf Hall
The king’s letters are difficult to answer. He calls himself her loyal servant. This is patently not true; she very much doubts he would thrive on the twelve shillings a quarter she pays her maid. I am stricken by the dart of love, he writes. Jane sympathises, she imagines that would be very painful. The misfortune continues: I can neither eat nor sleep. Jane stares at it for a long time, and, taking painstaking care with the scratchy nib, writes him out a recipe for a posset that her grandmother made, of great aid to the digestion.
Every time I read this fic I just have to wave my hands around and go "JAAAANE" for a while. Wolf Hall's Jane Seymour is one of my FAVORITE THINGS about Mantel's Tudors, but while this is bleakly hilarious, pitch-perfect Mantel prose, you don't have to know Mantel to appreciate it.
The Untidy Lot, Cold Comfort Farm/The World's End
“Oh Seth, do calm down and stop being such an essentialist.” Flora slipped out from under his paws and turns smartly toward the director and the wall of angry automatons. “Who’s in charge?”
YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE CROSSOVERS; this Yuletide, this was the crossover of my heart. Of COURSE Flora Poste is unfazed by an army of angry automatons! Although even without the crossover, this version of the Starkadder take on Hollywood would be glorious.
Andy and the Lost Boys (feat. Gary King), The World's End
Gary raises his eyebrows, so the whites of his eyes are visible even in the starlight. "Reaally?" he says, stretching the word across his tongue, levering up onto one elbow so he can look right at Andy. "You don't miss the sick drag of smoke curling down into your lungs? You didn't notice the way your lungs ached when you ran too fast? Never noticed the fucking--Arcadian--Circadian--the rhythms of your breath?"
"Well I never really had lungs actually," Andy reminds him. "That was the other bloke."
And this is the fic that made sense of Gary's ending in the World's End to me. I mean, not that it didn't make sense before, but now it makes emotional sense as well as narrative sense ...
The De-Evolution of a Holiday Party, WTF Evolution (Tumblr)
To: Evolution
From: Natural Selection
Subject: No. End of story.
Evolution, alcohol is not your friend. Tequila is not your friend. And Vodka should be considered public enemy number one where you are concerned.
This fic both charms me and cracks me up every time I read it. It's the photos that do it! THE HORSE THAT SPELLS HORSE.
Hello Operator, Please Give Me Number Nine, Calvin and Hobbes
"I did declare it. In keeping with the spirit of the Square of Secrets, I declared it silently. Now you have to answer any question I ask."
Death looks wary, but nods.
"How do I end this game of Calvinball without agreeing to die?"
I think it's a rule of Yuletide that every year there has to be one really amazing Calvin and Hobbes fic, which is kind of unfair because I don't even CARE that much about Calvin and Hobbes, but there it is. This is this year's fic, about Susie's game of Calvinball with Death, and it's amazing.
We'll Always Have, Casablanca
“Welcome home, kid. How was your day? Your husband asked about you earlier. I think he needs a sponge bath.”
She dumps her groceries on the table and fumbles for the light switch. By the time she has found it, her voice is steady. “Clean yourself up. You reek.” She doesn’t wait for a reply.
I never particularly thought that I wanted a Casablanca OT3 Resistance AU ... until this fic ... when it turned out I needed one desperately?
A Snowflake and a Holly Crown, Chrestomanci Chronicles/The Snow Queen
There were shards of ice gathered on the floor. Looking at them, he could see at once how they would fit together to make the word "ETERNITY". They were more enchantment than ice. It was a fascinating bit of magic, and he rather wanted to try, just to see how it would work.
This is the second really good DWJ-style Chrestomanciverse fairy tale retelling I've read; before this I wouldn't have thought that Chrestomanci lent itself to fairy tales particularly, but I'm clearly wrong, because obviously it really does.
Plus Ca Change, Chrestomanci Chronicles
James jerked guiltily and kept going. He was almost there, anyway, password after password cracking open, names and pictures and locations coming together. "Seriously, the Roger Chant made these?" he asked again, only half-believing.
"Yes, Roger Chant," Chrestomanci said, eyes narrowed. "The Roger Chant, from whom you stole two prototypes and half his stores of fiber optics cables, that Roger Chant."
I rec this for the world-building for the past and future of Chrestomanciverse, and the amazing idea of having Cat's successor be a tech wizard.
Chi's Christmas Card, Chi's Sweet Home
"I think Chi liked it," said Dad. Chi had been reduced to rolling on the floor mewling her desire for more chicken.
"We made a monster," said Mom.
Chi's Sweet Home is a manga about a kitten. This story is also, very much, a fic about a kitten. So ... if you need a fic about a kitten, here is one!
Nobody's Angel, Code Name Verity
I threw matches at her, laughing as she flinched. COULDN’T SHE TELL SHE WASN’T GOING TO GO UP IN FLAMES?
This fic ... is not about a kitten ... (It's about Julie and Anna Engel, and is very much as I would have imagined it.)
Damask Roses, Code Name Verity
"I really am going to step on your toes," I said.
"Pretend I'm Jamie. No toes!"
Yes, my favorite Code Name Verity fic this year was the Anna Engel fic, but if FOR SOME STRANGE REASON you're not in the mood for complex reluctant Nazis and would rather have lesbian pilots, then you can choose instead to read what is probably the best Maddie/Julie fic I've read. I GUESS. (I mean, it's still obviously going to be heartwrenching, because Code Name Verity.)
The Birds and the Bees, Cotillion
"No doubt you are correct," Lord Legerwood acknowledged, defeated once more by his son's literal-mindedness. "But to return to the topic of the birds and the bees, there are some interesting facts about them that I believe you might find useful."
But Freddy, apparently, wasn't having any of it. "No I bally well might not," he retorted with some heat. "Can't stand either of 'em, sir, if you must know. Never cared for the way birds stare at you. Beady eyes: remind me of m'Aunt Augusta. And as for the bally bees!"
I CAN'T READ THIS FIC. WITHOUT DYING. OF LAUGHTER.
These Mortal Lullabies, Dead Poet's Society
Memory stirs, some lesson from an English class before Mr. Keating. "What, like Orpheus?"
"Very like, though were I you, I would hope for a different ending."
Okay, confession: I've never actually seen Dead Poet's Society. So I'm glad Kelsey threw this at me to beta, because this is a very good descent-into-the-Underworld fic, and otherwise I would never have read it!
The Physician of Miracles and Death, Discworld
“Bill,” she ventured, “is that short for Wilhelm?”
“No, Miss. I’m named for my godfather.” Susan could hear the clue as it whizzed over her head. She frowned sternly at it, and went on to “Vale-of-Tears, Praise-Om-in-all-Things."
Another fairy-tale retelling; this has all the pragmatism and pessimism and hope (and lack thereof) that a Susan-and-Death story should.
Historical Curiosity, A Tale of Time City
People were in the habit of asking him questions now, since they heard other visitors doing it. Many of the questions were repetitive. "How were you made?" "Do you wish you'd gone to the stars?" "Do you ever have to use the toilet?" The answer to the first was lengthy; to the second and third, it was "no" and "yes, but not often," respectively. He did not wish he had gone to the stars. He did wish, though, that he could see more of Time City.
As soon as I read this fic, I texted TL (who was the recipient) with an allcaps message saying "YOU WON YULETIDE!!" This not only sheds fantastic perspective on Elio, but also on the whole of Time City.
Fewer Than Ten Scenes from the Second Coming of Richard III, The Ten Stupidest Things I've Heard Since Richard III's Remains Were Identified (Blog post)
“No one tells me ought about any,” he said brightly. “I'm the bone expert for this situation. I'm been told to get the mad deets of this--” he waved his pink and white hand vaguely around the osteology lab, “from my gentle lady a-sissy-taunt.” He bowed deeply, the way Americans do sometimes at the staff of historical monuments. “Have you deets for me, my lady?”
All of the Ten Stupidest Things I've Heard Since Richard III's Remains Were Identified fics read like they hailed from some delightfully surreal alternate universe, but this one is my favorite. BEST GHOSTS, BEST TUDOR ARCHAEOLOGIST SPY.
The Evolution of Reptiles, Elementary
There's a pause. Watson is doodling flowers with her royal-blue crayon, each one a circle surrounded by a number of equally circle-like petals. Moriarty wants to lean across the table and shred it with her nails; she suspects Watson is doing it on purpose.
"You're good at this," Watson says eventually. "You almost made me forget that you're the one who wants me here. You want to give up this information. I'm the one doing you a favour by writing it down."
Mind games and magical realism with Moriarty and Watson! AND IT'S SO GOOD. Nobody writes mind games like Fahye.
We Must Strive For Perfection, Emperor's New Groove
Kuzco often said things like, “Wow, sorry about the awkwardness, buddy,” whenever they spoke, usually interrupting himself in the middle of a sentence to do so. Kronk wasn’t certain which awkwardness Kuzco was referring to, although Yzma, the one time he brought it up, had been pretty certain it was related to that time Kronk had been personally involved in trying to kill the emperor.
“Riiiight,” Kronk had said. His most vivid memories of that time were of the thirty glorious minutes he spent as the greatest fry cook that adorable little restaurant had ever seen, and anyway, the llama incident had been, oh, a whole year ago! Kronk thought he could be forgiven for forgetting some of the details.
ANOTHER FIC I CAN'T READ WITHOUT DYING OF LAUGHTER. Every single sentence of this fic has been adopted as my own personal post-film headcanon. EVERY ONE.
The Thousandth Fathom, Spirited Away (plus cameos)
The cracked frame contained a foxed timetable: a list of names of times and places that convinced Chihiro she wasn’t anywhere near Tokyo, let alone Japan. The peeling map below depicted foreign, serpentine railway lines that only furthered her confusion.
“The Nakamichi? Wasn’t this supposed to be the Porco Rosso Express line...?”
This lengthy and lovely iteration of the Further Adventures of Chihiro not only has all the wonder of Ghibli, but also like TWELVE delightful Easter eggs. But mostly it's just gorgeous.
Good Things Come to Those Who Wait, The Sherwood Ring
“You,” I managed, keeping my voice as level as possible, “are the first person to see through Peaceable to the woman underneath, and that alone makes you remarkable. But you should know that my resolve is unchanged. I still intend to marry you, you see. And I usually get what I want, Miss Grahame.”
True story: I saw the prompt for crossdressing lesbian Peaceable Sherwood and immediately sent it to Debi. "LOOK," I said, "you could write your lesbian Scarlet Pimpernel fic all over again!" "HA HA," she said, "AS IF." Like a week later this fic was in my inbox, and it was beautiful. >:D >:D >:D
What Help and Comfort They May, The Sherwood Ring
It was exactly like encountering a relation you’ve heard about all your life, but never actually met. On the strength of that recognition I felt no hesitation in setting the book aside and saying “oh! You were Barbara Grahame, weren’t you?”
“I still am,” she said, with just the faintest note of censure in her voice, so I took it that ghosts don’t always care to be addressed in the past tense. “And,” she added, “I want to apologise for my brother’s manner when he met you by the road. Dick can be so difficult.”
“That’s all right,” I assured her, “so can I.”
This fic is quite long, but so good! This is the one where the ghosts are helping the protagonist to learn about SIBLING FEELINGS, which you all know is one hundred percent my kryptonite.
Their Tragedy, Revolutionary Girl Utena
They experimented with performances, found the results disheartening, and pestered Akio on his car phone for clarifications.
"Only special people can see you," Akio said.
They conversed in a flowerpot and came back later with exceptions.
"Only certain special people."
SHADOW GIRLS. Shadow girls! I don't know how to describe this fic except to say that it's perfect.
To the Stars, Singin' in the Rain
The clerk sighed. "This is an excellent volume, but a trifle, advanced for a lady. Why don't you let me help you find something more suitable. If you like mysteries, Dorothy Sayers has a very exciting one that's just come out …"
"What do you think I am, dumb or something?" Lina said. "I picked this one; I want it. I'm not stupid!"
LINA LAMONT DISCOVERS PHYSICS. This is another fic I never knew I desperately needed until I got it.
Delete Selected Email, The Rage of Jonathan Franzen
This retelling of the Iliad is set in the modern day United States. As writers are engaged in a terrible, decades-long war against the philistines, Jonathan’s anger causes a splinter in the writers’ armies that ends up having tragic consequences for all involved. Jennifer Wiener’s blog will play the part of Iphigenia.
Jonathan Franzen's agent sends him proposals for movies based on his recent work, EACH MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN THE LAST.
The Singing Will Never Be Done, Regeneration
He started two letters to his mother and three to Sarah, not quite able to finish either. 'I am happy to be alive' seemed a natural starting point, but was he? It didn't seem entirely fair to make such bold claims when he hadn't really thought beyond the end of his bed since the Sambre-Oise Canal was taken. So then - 'I am lucky to be alive'. Objectively much safer grounds, but luckiness in a state of affairs still implied happiness in its outcome. 'I have nearly died' seemed too wantonly dramatic.
Unlike with some of these recs, I wouldn't say "Prior lives!" is exactly a fic I needed. But it turns out to have been one I wanted anyway.
A Woman's Touch, I, Robot
“Perhaps not,” Lanning replied. “We’re not pressing charges against the attempted thief, because it’d just be an embarrassment to the company. He’ll be resigning, with our highest recommendation.”
“I’ll note that for if I ever want to leave,” Susan said. “I wouldn’t even have to go all the way to Mars to find a boy robot.”
This fic simultaneously feels exactly like a Golden Age of Asimov's story, and serves as a vicious critique of the sexism inherent in exactly that kind of story.
To Be a Free Someone, Gravity Falls
Dipper rolls over and doesn’t answer. He’s not brave enough to think things like that. He forgot how to be brave the second he realized that the meatheads who bully him between Geometry and gym don’t walk around in giant robots or control hordes of gnomes with a single whistle.
Gnomes, he can handle. Emotionally mangling amounts of peer pressure? Different story.
Pitch-perfect Dipper voice.
Vast Obscurity, The Great Gatsby
I know they say it was the other android, my uncle’s mechanical “son,” Nick, who got it all going. I wonder what happened to him, sometimes—whether he stayed on the colony and hid himself among all the automated butlers and chauffeurs and valets, or if, perhaps, he boarded one of the ships going further out, beyond the Inhabited Planets, sailing for a distant star. He was always very sad.
SOMEONE WROTE THE RETROFUTURE ANDROID GATSBY FIC!!!! If I contribute nothing else to this world in all my life, I will rest content in the fact that once,aberration and I dreamed up the concept of retrofuture android Gatsby, and thus inspired someone to write this perfect gem.
The Lost Revolution, Gullstruck Island
Revolutions are tricky creatures, no less tricky than the Gripping Bird himself. Sometimes they seem to come about overnight; at others, everyone knows that they are years in the making. And though the history of Gullstruck afterwards recorded that Minchard Prox the Unforgiven and Hathin of the Lace led the revolution that brought down the Port Suddenwind government, the truth was much more complicated.
After the end of the book, a perfectly necessary next step.
Trickster Tales, Gunnerkrigg Court
Àjàpá the Tortoise arrived in Gillitie Wood.
Gunnerkrigg gets another Trickster. This feels like a myth, is the impressive thing.
Perchance to Stay, Gunnerkrigg Court
Renard was only a fox, Surma said, when she was feeling cruel. Anja wondered that she could believe it. At Court they were already talking about sending survey teams to Gillitie Wood come fall. If the current state of diplomatic relations could be cheaply sustained. It was June, and she and Surma had just turned seventeen: two weeks apart.
Whereas the impressive thing about this fic is SO MANY COMPLICATED CHARACTER DYNAMICS IN SO LITTLE TIME. All the fascinating hints about Gunnerkrigg's first generation get fleshed out here, except their flesh ... has very sharp edges ...? This metaphor is out of hand but the fic is REALLY GOOD, is what I'm trying to say.
Loyal Subject, Queen's Thief
Lady Heiro was laughing as the Ambassador bowed and kissed her hand. Costis quickly resolved to tell the king about it, and just as quickly retracted the resolution. What would he say? One of your friends was dancing with a diplomat. She seemed happy. The king would stare at him blankly, or mockingly. Costis needed more.
Costis attempts counterintelligence. THIS GOES ABOUT AS WELL AS YOU WOULD EXPECT.
On Hairpins, Queen's Thief
The more conservative (stuffy, as far as Gen is concerned, but whenever he's tempted to refer to them thus in public, a glance from his wife has him biting his tongue) citizens of Attolia have complained since the day their queen’s marriage was announced that the Thief of Eddis is a terrible influence on the Queen of Attolia.
This is the one in which Gen and Attolia are HUGE JERKS, and it's adorable.
An Analysis of the Implicit Rules of Expletive Infixation (Or, Where the Fuck do You Put the Fucking Fuck?), Mystery Solving Teens
“No, no, what are they even teaching you kids in school these days,” Councilman Langsdorf said. “Listen to what the boy said, the classics. That’s the death of Socrates, suicide by hemlock poisoning.”
Eric wrinkled his nose. “Seriously, you actually did the assigned reading?”
“Shut up, I had the fucking flu and there was nothing on fucking TV,” Frank said.
For a story about a bunch of terrible, foul-mouthed teenagers flailing around mostly not solving a mystery, this is really charming and compelling ...
Will as it Moves Towards Deed, The History Boys
"Do you think it was a phase, then?" Scripps asked, sprawled across Posner's bed one Sunday morning in January. He'd taken to showing up in Posner's rooms, rather than attending mass.
Posner swiveled in his desk chair, thinking. "I mean, the homosexual part hasn't changed. I just think Dakin's a bit of a prick."
So I saw The History Boys once, years ago, and I really liked it but now I have forgotten who 3/4 of the characters are. But this fic made me want to rewatch it so I can remember who Scripps is!
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Park, Parks and Recreation/Welcome to Night Vale
“I’m gonna do it,” Leslie had slurred at her last night after shotgunning three light beers and a can of whipped cream. “I’m gonna get us the Dog Park.”
“How about you do anything else?” Ann had suggested, or had intended to suggest, but Ann had about six of the extremely pink and mysterious drinks that Tom had blended up so what had actually come out of Ann’s mouth might have been something more like, “Yeah, oh my god, totally.”
I don't even Night Vale but the Parks and Rec/Night Vale crossovers were all SO GOOD!
The Greater Night Vale Medical Community, Parks and Recreation/Welcome to Night Vale
"You're new in town!" Leslie beamed, and then winced as Ann started cleaning her arm. "I hope you enjoy your time in Night Vale, the best little desert community in America. We have the highest mysterious death rate in the entire southwest, and the largest beehive in the entire world. No one knows where it came from."
SO CHARMING.
Things That Are Really There, Parks and Recreation/Welcome to Night Vale
They can't discuss it too much – when Ben tried he found his mouth full of saltwater and ashes, because ballots in Night Vale really are secret – but their wifi password has now been permanently reset to "thanky0usweetg1rl" and they always have waffles and cream in the house, whether they buy them or not.
I MEAN THEY'RE JUST ALL SUPER GREAT.
Stand In the Place Where You Live, Parks and Recreation
“Senator Knope,” says the woman in the red hat, “would you care to comment on the fact you appear to be the first presidential candidate in a hundred and fifty years to come out in opposition to childhood literacy?"
“Fuck,” April and Ben say together.
Moving away from Night Vale, this is a fic in which Leslie runs for President that has NO SUPERNATURAL WEIRDNESS WHATSOEVER. (Okay, a little bit of minor dystopia. But other than that!)
Conductors of Light, A Place of Greater Safety
"Cheer up, Max," Camille says. He's grinning, ebullient, even as his chilled fingers slip on his sodden shirt. "Perhaps if things continue as they do we won't even have a king much longer."
"Camille finds the overthrow of the natural order comforting," Freron says. "The rest of us just think it was rotten bad luck. They ought to have cast a weather-spell."
This is not as good as the Wolf Hall fic I recced above because it doesn't have Jane in it, but this Place of Greater Safety WITH MAGIC AU still does pretty excellent Mantel.
The Cat in the Castle and Other Stories, Princess Tutu
When they arrived at his house, the prince shared what meager food his parents gave to him that day-- a simple bowl of rice. The boy looked at it, frowned, and pushed it back to the prince.
“Do not feed me this. Feed me words. Feed me stories."
This is basically a set of Drosselmeyer stories; none of them are exactly obvious, and most of them are a little disturbing, and all of them are saying something important about Princess Tutu, often in a sideways way. I really liked them! ALSO THERE ARE PICTURES.
except in my affections, The Importance of Being Earnest
"Ah!" said the other man, and lunged at him. "Calm down, my dear chap, I'm simply getting a look inside the back of your shirt. There, you see? An embroidered label; they are the fashion, you know. Ernest Moncrieff."
"I do think it quite absurd that you should remember the fashion before your own name," said the newly-dubbed Ernest.
I feel quite sure that if Oscar Wilde had ever written a Midsummer Night's Dream OT4 pastiche, it would read EXACTLY LIKE THIS.
By Any Other Name, Oxford Time Travel Universe
Alf's fingers tensed around the broken model and he tossed it back into the dirt. “So what? Eileen's leavin'. She'll go like Polly did, and we won't ever see her again.”
“Shut up,” growled Binnie viciously, and stalked back the way they'd come. The roads were too blocked for the buses, and they walked all the way home.
On the other hand, Connie Willis has kind of proved already that if she tried to write Binnie's story she wouldn't have done it ... nearly so well ... LOOK I'M SORRY but the Blackout/All Clear duology made me really angry. But this fic is very good!
Adventures in Animal Rescue, Jennifer Murdley's Toad
They didn’t really have much in common, Sharra reflected, outside of this "dealing with Weird Shit" thing that they did together. Jen wasn’t particularly interested in fashion, economics, or organized sports, and Sharra wasn’t into creative writing or computers or Science Club--not that she didn’t like science, but she was still protective enough of her image to not want to hang out in the Nerd Corner.
I mean, I would ALREADY have been excited just to find out someone else remembered Jennifer Murdley's Toad, BUT THEN THEY WROTE GROWN-UP JENNIFER AND SHARRA FIGHTING MAGICAL CRIME. "Nerd girl and mean girl form unlikely partnership, fight crime!" is one of my favorite tropes OF ALL TIME and Jennifer and Sharra after their shared toad-transformation bonding experience are clearly perfect candidates.
Magician's Misjudgment, Mairelon the Magician
“That’s it! Oh, that was a beauty! Put a facer on him!” Mairelon shouted, to her bemusement.
“’It’s land a facer,” Jem corrected gleefully.
“I stand corrected.”
Basically this whole really excellent casefic is full of Kim being amazing while Mairelon stands around looking dazzled and starry-eyed AND IT'S BEAUTIFUL TO ME.
All His Own Mischance, "The Lady of Shallott"
One of the things he liked about Art was that he knew when not to press. He didn’t ask anything else. Lance fingered the pattern, circle triangle circle triangle, blank little faces staring out at the cold dusk.
Would it have helped to go and see the singing girl? It hadn’t even felt like an option in the dream. Besides, what could you say to someone when you just didn’t care much about them—when you weren’t ever going to? What was there to say? ‘Sorry’?
Usually I skip over the Arthuriana in Yuletide because there's just so much of it, but I was intrigued by the idea of Lady of Shallott fic, and I clicked on it, and I'm SO GLAD I did -- this fic was probably the best surprise of Yuletide for me; I loved these stupid awful teenagers struggling to be a little less awful and find a thread of hope through the weight of the patterns laid over the top of them. NEW FAVORITE LANCELOT. (Okay, not that there's much competition.)
The Soldier's Not for Leaving, The Lady's Not For Burning
JENNET:
You are not the general man, Thomas, no matter how
Much you go on about his state. You’re exceedingly
Specific.
As soon as I found out that Fahye had gotten Lady's Not For Burning fic for Yuletide I got REALLY ANGRY at myself for organizing my reading such that the Ls were going to come at the very end! And then I found out that Adiva had written it and got EVEN ANGRIER. But this was totally worth the wait.
Those Sighs On Which I Fed My Heart, Leonardo
And all at once it comes to her, in one glorious flare of revelation. She gasps, and jerks away. “I’ve got it!” she exclaims, and with that she leaps back to the easel, snatches up her brush and palette, and starts painting.
“Right,” says Mac blankly after a moment. “I’ll just let myself out, shall I?”
Debi is the one who showed me Leonardo and then got me shipping Mac/Lisa in the first place, so I feel it's only fair that I claim part of her gift fic. (For those not familiar: Mac/Lisa is shorthand for Plucky Street Thief Machiavelli/Crossdressing Painter Mona Lisa. Yes. Yes it is.)
A Meeting of the Minds, Lymond Chronicles/15th Century RPF
Kit had learned that the man he sought was a younger son, who had roamed all Europe as a mercenary in his twenties, been awarded a French earldom, and then further ennobled by James's regents after that ugly business with Queen Mary, for a service no one was subsequently quite able to name. He was therefore expecting a bluff, ginger-bearded Scot with a ready sword-arm and few morals, willing to sell his own granny for a fat purse. That was the trouble with thinking like a writer of characters.
Not actually slash, although that fact comes as a surprise to Marlowe as well. I can quite easily see this happening in the world of the Dunnett books.
Underwater Archaeology of the Cornish Coast, The Dark is Rising
“Professor Drew, why did you start looking for shipwrecks?”
These hundred words capture what I feel like Jane Drew's life postcanon might look like more than any longer fic I've read.
he ain't heavy, Lizzie Bennet Diaries
"We call them brother-teacher conferences," says Gigi, and the friendly light in Fitz's face drives a confession she wouldn't normally make. "William mostly scares my teachers."
"Oh, does he?" Fitz says, grinning at her in a way that Gigi immediately loves, where she's in on the joke. "New name suggestion: brother-teacher thunderdome. Two professionals enter, only one leaves!"
I never actually .... finished the Lizzie Bennet Diaries .... but this Gigi-Fitz friendship fic is the CUTEST THING.
Steal My Breath, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
"I wish you'd choose between past and present tense," the man says. He is also shivering. They lie back down in their thin clothes, boots on, knee to knee, face to unseeable face.
An awful(ly well-done) kind of Schrodinger's Box. :(
Sesame Treats, Sesame Street and other stuff
L-M-N-tary. Thursdays, 10/9c, CBS (Character Broadcasting System)
The Sesame Street versions of three popular Yuletide fandoms! Kind of a one-joke fic (okay, a three-joke fic) but they are CHARMING jokes.
Wow, feels like it took me almost as long to write this rec post as it did to actually get through Yuletide. NO WONDER I NEVER DID THIS BEFORE. How do those of you who regularly post Yuletide recs manage to do it in so little time! I'M IN AWE.
UNTIL NOW.
THIS YEAR, MY FRIENDS, IS THE YEAR I FINISHED YULETIDE IN FEBRUARY.
I'm pausing graciously here for admiration and applause.
(For the record, I read Yuletide -- this year at least -- alphabetically from the front and back at once, so As then Zs then Bs then Ys and so on; for the last month I have languished locked in L. BUT NOW I'M FREE.)
And, resultantly, I have some recs!
Five Times Enjolras Dropped a Barricade on Someone, Arm Joe
"I had heard about a princess in the Mushroom Kingdom who used a fan as a weapon and decided to make my own. It feels a bit wrong to imitate a monarch, but I excuse it as an exercise in widening my horizons to the worlds beyond our own."
"Not only those ruled by monarchies and dictatorships, I should hope," Enjorlas said.
"Of course not! I have the greatest admiration for the land of the Bad Dudes, and their representative democracy."
This is a perfect fic about the LES MIS FIGHTING VIDEO GAME and I don't think I need to say any more.
Downtime, Blue Beetle
“Uh, this is my mom,” Jaime says to Paco, pressing his finger to his temple. Khaji Da offers a stress analysis, which is spectacularly unhelpful as apparently his mother does not pose an unusually high level of risk to him. Jaime knows for a fact, however, that the threat Bianca Reyes poses is not one that Khaji Da can measure.
This may be the greatest Blue Beetle fic I've ever read. It's all about aftermath and bonding and family! Family including a murderous alien supersuit! It's on point, and incredibly poignant, and also hilarious. THEY BUILD IKEA FURNITURE.
Leave in Silence (Make Noise Coming In), The Brothers Bloom
"She blew up the toaster," Bloom said, and when he'll talk about this later, he won't mention the toaster. Bloom's stories don't include exploding toasters.
"Coffee machine would have been worse," Stephen said, and he will never talk about this later, because Stephen's stories don't include things that really happened.
Pitch-perfect Brothers Bloom fic, Bang Bang-centric, hitting all the right beats in the film's very conscious sense of narrative.
The Game's Afoot: Five Games Alice Introduced Turtle To, The Westing Game
When Alice shows up, ready to play, she says, “I picked up a few more cards - if you want to look through them and see if there’s anything you want to add to your deck, feel free.” Turtle likes it best when the outcome of a game is determined by her opponent’s skills rather than their equipment.
Turtle and her niece play games and it's ADORABLE.
The Theodorakis Guide to the Heirs of North America, The Westing Game
Theo would probably say that what their parents had needed was for someone to help Chris. Chris likes to think that their parents hadn’t needed help. He likes to think that bringing Chris and Theo in had helped Mr. Westing.
This fic is both incredibly charming (because Chris is incredibly charming!) and really, really smart and thoughtful about Chris' identity as a kid with cerebral palsy without making his identity in any way all about being The Heir With Cerebral Palsy.
The Old Willow Tree, The Witch's Son
I am a witch, and you will kill me. I don't care. I will come back as something else. Know this, though: your village will always be cursed until you know why I became a witch.
I betaed this story! And I loved it then and I still love it; it's basically original fiction (based on tumblr art) and totally worth it.
Wholesome, Even For the King, Wolf Hall
The king’s letters are difficult to answer. He calls himself her loyal servant. This is patently not true; she very much doubts he would thrive on the twelve shillings a quarter she pays her maid. I am stricken by the dart of love, he writes. Jane sympathises, she imagines that would be very painful. The misfortune continues: I can neither eat nor sleep. Jane stares at it for a long time, and, taking painstaking care with the scratchy nib, writes him out a recipe for a posset that her grandmother made, of great aid to the digestion.
Every time I read this fic I just have to wave my hands around and go "JAAAANE" for a while. Wolf Hall's Jane Seymour is one of my FAVORITE THINGS about Mantel's Tudors, but while this is bleakly hilarious, pitch-perfect Mantel prose, you don't have to know Mantel to appreciate it.
The Untidy Lot, Cold Comfort Farm/The World's End
“Oh Seth, do calm down and stop being such an essentialist.” Flora slipped out from under his paws and turns smartly toward the director and the wall of angry automatons. “Who’s in charge?”
YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE CROSSOVERS; this Yuletide, this was the crossover of my heart. Of COURSE Flora Poste is unfazed by an army of angry automatons! Although even without the crossover, this version of the Starkadder take on Hollywood would be glorious.
Andy and the Lost Boys (feat. Gary King), The World's End
Gary raises his eyebrows, so the whites of his eyes are visible even in the starlight. "Reaally?" he says, stretching the word across his tongue, levering up onto one elbow so he can look right at Andy. "You don't miss the sick drag of smoke curling down into your lungs? You didn't notice the way your lungs ached when you ran too fast? Never noticed the fucking--Arcadian--Circadian--the rhythms of your breath?"
"Well I never really had lungs actually," Andy reminds him. "That was the other bloke."
And this is the fic that made sense of Gary's ending in the World's End to me. I mean, not that it didn't make sense before, but now it makes emotional sense as well as narrative sense ...
The De-Evolution of a Holiday Party, WTF Evolution (Tumblr)
To: Evolution
From: Natural Selection
Subject: No. End of story.
Evolution, alcohol is not your friend. Tequila is not your friend. And Vodka should be considered public enemy number one where you are concerned.
This fic both charms me and cracks me up every time I read it. It's the photos that do it! THE HORSE THAT SPELLS HORSE.
Hello Operator, Please Give Me Number Nine, Calvin and Hobbes
"I did declare it. In keeping with the spirit of the Square of Secrets, I declared it silently. Now you have to answer any question I ask."
Death looks wary, but nods.
"How do I end this game of Calvinball without agreeing to die?"
I think it's a rule of Yuletide that every year there has to be one really amazing Calvin and Hobbes fic, which is kind of unfair because I don't even CARE that much about Calvin and Hobbes, but there it is. This is this year's fic, about Susie's game of Calvinball with Death, and it's amazing.
We'll Always Have, Casablanca
“Welcome home, kid. How was your day? Your husband asked about you earlier. I think he needs a sponge bath.”
She dumps her groceries on the table and fumbles for the light switch. By the time she has found it, her voice is steady. “Clean yourself up. You reek.” She doesn’t wait for a reply.
I never particularly thought that I wanted a Casablanca OT3 Resistance AU ... until this fic ... when it turned out I needed one desperately?
A Snowflake and a Holly Crown, Chrestomanci Chronicles/The Snow Queen
There were shards of ice gathered on the floor. Looking at them, he could see at once how they would fit together to make the word "ETERNITY". They were more enchantment than ice. It was a fascinating bit of magic, and he rather wanted to try, just to see how it would work.
This is the second really good DWJ-style Chrestomanciverse fairy tale retelling I've read; before this I wouldn't have thought that Chrestomanci lent itself to fairy tales particularly, but I'm clearly wrong, because obviously it really does.
Plus Ca Change, Chrestomanci Chronicles
James jerked guiltily and kept going. He was almost there, anyway, password after password cracking open, names and pictures and locations coming together. "Seriously, the Roger Chant made these?" he asked again, only half-believing.
"Yes, Roger Chant," Chrestomanci said, eyes narrowed. "The Roger Chant, from whom you stole two prototypes and half his stores of fiber optics cables, that Roger Chant."
I rec this for the world-building for the past and future of Chrestomanciverse, and the amazing idea of having Cat's successor be a tech wizard.
Chi's Christmas Card, Chi's Sweet Home
"I think Chi liked it," said Dad. Chi had been reduced to rolling on the floor mewling her desire for more chicken.
"We made a monster," said Mom.
Chi's Sweet Home is a manga about a kitten. This story is also, very much, a fic about a kitten. So ... if you need a fic about a kitten, here is one!
Nobody's Angel, Code Name Verity
I threw matches at her, laughing as she flinched. COULDN’T SHE TELL SHE WASN’T GOING TO GO UP IN FLAMES?
This fic ... is not about a kitten ... (It's about Julie and Anna Engel, and is very much as I would have imagined it.)
Damask Roses, Code Name Verity
"I really am going to step on your toes," I said.
"Pretend I'm Jamie. No toes!"
Yes, my favorite Code Name Verity fic this year was the Anna Engel fic, but if FOR SOME STRANGE REASON you're not in the mood for complex reluctant Nazis and would rather have lesbian pilots, then you can choose instead to read what is probably the best Maddie/Julie fic I've read. I GUESS. (I mean, it's still obviously going to be heartwrenching, because Code Name Verity.)
The Birds and the Bees, Cotillion
"No doubt you are correct," Lord Legerwood acknowledged, defeated once more by his son's literal-mindedness. "But to return to the topic of the birds and the bees, there are some interesting facts about them that I believe you might find useful."
But Freddy, apparently, wasn't having any of it. "No I bally well might not," he retorted with some heat. "Can't stand either of 'em, sir, if you must know. Never cared for the way birds stare at you. Beady eyes: remind me of m'Aunt Augusta. And as for the bally bees!"
I CAN'T READ THIS FIC. WITHOUT DYING. OF LAUGHTER.
These Mortal Lullabies, Dead Poet's Society
Memory stirs, some lesson from an English class before Mr. Keating. "What, like Orpheus?"
"Very like, though were I you, I would hope for a different ending."
Okay, confession: I've never actually seen Dead Poet's Society. So I'm glad Kelsey threw this at me to beta, because this is a very good descent-into-the-Underworld fic, and otherwise I would never have read it!
The Physician of Miracles and Death, Discworld
“Bill,” she ventured, “is that short for Wilhelm?”
“No, Miss. I’m named for my godfather.” Susan could hear the clue as it whizzed over her head. She frowned sternly at it, and went on to “Vale-of-Tears, Praise-Om-in-all-Things."
Another fairy-tale retelling; this has all the pragmatism and pessimism and hope (and lack thereof) that a Susan-and-Death story should.
Historical Curiosity, A Tale of Time City
People were in the habit of asking him questions now, since they heard other visitors doing it. Many of the questions were repetitive. "How were you made?" "Do you wish you'd gone to the stars?" "Do you ever have to use the toilet?" The answer to the first was lengthy; to the second and third, it was "no" and "yes, but not often," respectively. He did not wish he had gone to the stars. He did wish, though, that he could see more of Time City.
As soon as I read this fic, I texted TL (who was the recipient) with an allcaps message saying "YOU WON YULETIDE!!" This not only sheds fantastic perspective on Elio, but also on the whole of Time City.
Fewer Than Ten Scenes from the Second Coming of Richard III, The Ten Stupidest Things I've Heard Since Richard III's Remains Were Identified (Blog post)
“No one tells me ought about any,” he said brightly. “I'm the bone expert for this situation. I'm been told to get the mad deets of this--” he waved his pink and white hand vaguely around the osteology lab, “from my gentle lady a-sissy-taunt.” He bowed deeply, the way Americans do sometimes at the staff of historical monuments. “Have you deets for me, my lady?”
All of the Ten Stupidest Things I've Heard Since Richard III's Remains Were Identified fics read like they hailed from some delightfully surreal alternate universe, but this one is my favorite. BEST GHOSTS, BEST TUDOR ARCHAEOLOGIST SPY.
The Evolution of Reptiles, Elementary
There's a pause. Watson is doodling flowers with her royal-blue crayon, each one a circle surrounded by a number of equally circle-like petals. Moriarty wants to lean across the table and shred it with her nails; she suspects Watson is doing it on purpose.
"You're good at this," Watson says eventually. "You almost made me forget that you're the one who wants me here. You want to give up this information. I'm the one doing you a favour by writing it down."
Mind games and magical realism with Moriarty and Watson! AND IT'S SO GOOD. Nobody writes mind games like Fahye.
We Must Strive For Perfection, Emperor's New Groove
Kuzco often said things like, “Wow, sorry about the awkwardness, buddy,” whenever they spoke, usually interrupting himself in the middle of a sentence to do so. Kronk wasn’t certain which awkwardness Kuzco was referring to, although Yzma, the one time he brought it up, had been pretty certain it was related to that time Kronk had been personally involved in trying to kill the emperor.
“Riiiight,” Kronk had said. His most vivid memories of that time were of the thirty glorious minutes he spent as the greatest fry cook that adorable little restaurant had ever seen, and anyway, the llama incident had been, oh, a whole year ago! Kronk thought he could be forgiven for forgetting some of the details.
ANOTHER FIC I CAN'T READ WITHOUT DYING OF LAUGHTER. Every single sentence of this fic has been adopted as my own personal post-film headcanon. EVERY ONE.
The Thousandth Fathom, Spirited Away (plus cameos)
The cracked frame contained a foxed timetable: a list of names of times and places that convinced Chihiro she wasn’t anywhere near Tokyo, let alone Japan. The peeling map below depicted foreign, serpentine railway lines that only furthered her confusion.
“The Nakamichi? Wasn’t this supposed to be the Porco Rosso Express line...?”
This lengthy and lovely iteration of the Further Adventures of Chihiro not only has all the wonder of Ghibli, but also like TWELVE delightful Easter eggs. But mostly it's just gorgeous.
Good Things Come to Those Who Wait, The Sherwood Ring
“You,” I managed, keeping my voice as level as possible, “are the first person to see through Peaceable to the woman underneath, and that alone makes you remarkable. But you should know that my resolve is unchanged. I still intend to marry you, you see. And I usually get what I want, Miss Grahame.”
True story: I saw the prompt for crossdressing lesbian Peaceable Sherwood and immediately sent it to Debi. "LOOK," I said, "you could write your lesbian Scarlet Pimpernel fic all over again!" "HA HA," she said, "AS IF." Like a week later this fic was in my inbox, and it was beautiful. >:D >:D >:D
What Help and Comfort They May, The Sherwood Ring
It was exactly like encountering a relation you’ve heard about all your life, but never actually met. On the strength of that recognition I felt no hesitation in setting the book aside and saying “oh! You were Barbara Grahame, weren’t you?”
“I still am,” she said, with just the faintest note of censure in her voice, so I took it that ghosts don’t always care to be addressed in the past tense. “And,” she added, “I want to apologise for my brother’s manner when he met you by the road. Dick can be so difficult.”
“That’s all right,” I assured her, “so can I.”
This fic is quite long, but so good! This is the one where the ghosts are helping the protagonist to learn about SIBLING FEELINGS, which you all know is one hundred percent my kryptonite.
Their Tragedy, Revolutionary Girl Utena
They experimented with performances, found the results disheartening, and pestered Akio on his car phone for clarifications.
"Only special people can see you," Akio said.
They conversed in a flowerpot and came back later with exceptions.
"Only certain special people."
SHADOW GIRLS. Shadow girls! I don't know how to describe this fic except to say that it's perfect.
To the Stars, Singin' in the Rain
The clerk sighed. "This is an excellent volume, but a trifle, advanced for a lady. Why don't you let me help you find something more suitable. If you like mysteries, Dorothy Sayers has a very exciting one that's just come out …"
"What do you think I am, dumb or something?" Lina said. "I picked this one; I want it. I'm not stupid!"
LINA LAMONT DISCOVERS PHYSICS. This is another fic I never knew I desperately needed until I got it.
Delete Selected Email, The Rage of Jonathan Franzen
This retelling of the Iliad is set in the modern day United States. As writers are engaged in a terrible, decades-long war against the philistines, Jonathan’s anger causes a splinter in the writers’ armies that ends up having tragic consequences for all involved. Jennifer Wiener’s blog will play the part of Iphigenia.
Jonathan Franzen's agent sends him proposals for movies based on his recent work, EACH MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN THE LAST.
The Singing Will Never Be Done, Regeneration
He started two letters to his mother and three to Sarah, not quite able to finish either. 'I am happy to be alive' seemed a natural starting point, but was he? It didn't seem entirely fair to make such bold claims when he hadn't really thought beyond the end of his bed since the Sambre-Oise Canal was taken. So then - 'I am lucky to be alive'. Objectively much safer grounds, but luckiness in a state of affairs still implied happiness in its outcome. 'I have nearly died' seemed too wantonly dramatic.
Unlike with some of these recs, I wouldn't say "Prior lives!" is exactly a fic I needed. But it turns out to have been one I wanted anyway.
A Woman's Touch, I, Robot
“Perhaps not,” Lanning replied. “We’re not pressing charges against the attempted thief, because it’d just be an embarrassment to the company. He’ll be resigning, with our highest recommendation.”
“I’ll note that for if I ever want to leave,” Susan said. “I wouldn’t even have to go all the way to Mars to find a boy robot.”
This fic simultaneously feels exactly like a Golden Age of Asimov's story, and serves as a vicious critique of the sexism inherent in exactly that kind of story.
To Be a Free Someone, Gravity Falls
Dipper rolls over and doesn’t answer. He’s not brave enough to think things like that. He forgot how to be brave the second he realized that the meatheads who bully him between Geometry and gym don’t walk around in giant robots or control hordes of gnomes with a single whistle.
Gnomes, he can handle. Emotionally mangling amounts of peer pressure? Different story.
Pitch-perfect Dipper voice.
Vast Obscurity, The Great Gatsby
I know they say it was the other android, my uncle’s mechanical “son,” Nick, who got it all going. I wonder what happened to him, sometimes—whether he stayed on the colony and hid himself among all the automated butlers and chauffeurs and valets, or if, perhaps, he boarded one of the ships going further out, beyond the Inhabited Planets, sailing for a distant star. He was always very sad.
SOMEONE WROTE THE RETROFUTURE ANDROID GATSBY FIC!!!! If I contribute nothing else to this world in all my life, I will rest content in the fact that once,
aberration and I dreamed up the concept of retrofuture android Gatsby, and thus inspired someone to write this perfect gem.The Lost Revolution, Gullstruck Island
Revolutions are tricky creatures, no less tricky than the Gripping Bird himself. Sometimes they seem to come about overnight; at others, everyone knows that they are years in the making. And though the history of Gullstruck afterwards recorded that Minchard Prox the Unforgiven and Hathin of the Lace led the revolution that brought down the Port Suddenwind government, the truth was much more complicated.
After the end of the book, a perfectly necessary next step.
Trickster Tales, Gunnerkrigg Court
Àjàpá the Tortoise arrived in Gillitie Wood.
Gunnerkrigg gets another Trickster. This feels like a myth, is the impressive thing.
Perchance to Stay, Gunnerkrigg Court
Renard was only a fox, Surma said, when she was feeling cruel. Anja wondered that she could believe it. At Court they were already talking about sending survey teams to Gillitie Wood come fall. If the current state of diplomatic relations could be cheaply sustained. It was June, and she and Surma had just turned seventeen: two weeks apart.
Whereas the impressive thing about this fic is SO MANY COMPLICATED CHARACTER DYNAMICS IN SO LITTLE TIME. All the fascinating hints about Gunnerkrigg's first generation get fleshed out here, except their flesh ... has very sharp edges ...? This metaphor is out of hand but the fic is REALLY GOOD, is what I'm trying to say.
Loyal Subject, Queen's Thief
Lady Heiro was laughing as the Ambassador bowed and kissed her hand. Costis quickly resolved to tell the king about it, and just as quickly retracted the resolution. What would he say? One of your friends was dancing with a diplomat. She seemed happy. The king would stare at him blankly, or mockingly. Costis needed more.
Costis attempts counterintelligence. THIS GOES ABOUT AS WELL AS YOU WOULD EXPECT.
On Hairpins, Queen's Thief
The more conservative (stuffy, as far as Gen is concerned, but whenever he's tempted to refer to them thus in public, a glance from his wife has him biting his tongue) citizens of Attolia have complained since the day their queen’s marriage was announced that the Thief of Eddis is a terrible influence on the Queen of Attolia.
This is the one in which Gen and Attolia are HUGE JERKS, and it's adorable.
An Analysis of the Implicit Rules of Expletive Infixation (Or, Where the Fuck do You Put the Fucking Fuck?), Mystery Solving Teens
“No, no, what are they even teaching you kids in school these days,” Councilman Langsdorf said. “Listen to what the boy said, the classics. That’s the death of Socrates, suicide by hemlock poisoning.”
Eric wrinkled his nose. “Seriously, you actually did the assigned reading?”
“Shut up, I had the fucking flu and there was nothing on fucking TV,” Frank said.
For a story about a bunch of terrible, foul-mouthed teenagers flailing around mostly not solving a mystery, this is really charming and compelling ...
Will as it Moves Towards Deed, The History Boys
"Do you think it was a phase, then?" Scripps asked, sprawled across Posner's bed one Sunday morning in January. He'd taken to showing up in Posner's rooms, rather than attending mass.
Posner swiveled in his desk chair, thinking. "I mean, the homosexual part hasn't changed. I just think Dakin's a bit of a prick."
So I saw The History Boys once, years ago, and I really liked it but now I have forgotten who 3/4 of the characters are. But this fic made me want to rewatch it so I can remember who Scripps is!
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Park, Parks and Recreation/Welcome to Night Vale
“I’m gonna do it,” Leslie had slurred at her last night after shotgunning three light beers and a can of whipped cream. “I’m gonna get us the Dog Park.”
“How about you do anything else?” Ann had suggested, or had intended to suggest, but Ann had about six of the extremely pink and mysterious drinks that Tom had blended up so what had actually come out of Ann’s mouth might have been something more like, “Yeah, oh my god, totally.”
I don't even Night Vale but the Parks and Rec/Night Vale crossovers were all SO GOOD!
The Greater Night Vale Medical Community, Parks and Recreation/Welcome to Night Vale
"You're new in town!" Leslie beamed, and then winced as Ann started cleaning her arm. "I hope you enjoy your time in Night Vale, the best little desert community in America. We have the highest mysterious death rate in the entire southwest, and the largest beehive in the entire world. No one knows where it came from."
SO CHARMING.
Things That Are Really There, Parks and Recreation/Welcome to Night Vale
They can't discuss it too much – when Ben tried he found his mouth full of saltwater and ashes, because ballots in Night Vale really are secret – but their wifi password has now been permanently reset to "thanky0usweetg1rl" and they always have waffles and cream in the house, whether they buy them or not.
I MEAN THEY'RE JUST ALL SUPER GREAT.
Stand In the Place Where You Live, Parks and Recreation
“Senator Knope,” says the woman in the red hat, “would you care to comment on the fact you appear to be the first presidential candidate in a hundred and fifty years to come out in opposition to childhood literacy?"
“Fuck,” April and Ben say together.
Moving away from Night Vale, this is a fic in which Leslie runs for President that has NO SUPERNATURAL WEIRDNESS WHATSOEVER. (Okay, a little bit of minor dystopia. But other than that!)
Conductors of Light, A Place of Greater Safety
"Cheer up, Max," Camille says. He's grinning, ebullient, even as his chilled fingers slip on his sodden shirt. "Perhaps if things continue as they do we won't even have a king much longer."
"Camille finds the overthrow of the natural order comforting," Freron says. "The rest of us just think it was rotten bad luck. They ought to have cast a weather-spell."
This is not as good as the Wolf Hall fic I recced above because it doesn't have Jane in it, but this Place of Greater Safety WITH MAGIC AU still does pretty excellent Mantel.
The Cat in the Castle and Other Stories, Princess Tutu
When they arrived at his house, the prince shared what meager food his parents gave to him that day-- a simple bowl of rice. The boy looked at it, frowned, and pushed it back to the prince.
“Do not feed me this. Feed me words. Feed me stories."
This is basically a set of Drosselmeyer stories; none of them are exactly obvious, and most of them are a little disturbing, and all of them are saying something important about Princess Tutu, often in a sideways way. I really liked them! ALSO THERE ARE PICTURES.
except in my affections, The Importance of Being Earnest
"Ah!" said the other man, and lunged at him. "Calm down, my dear chap, I'm simply getting a look inside the back of your shirt. There, you see? An embroidered label; they are the fashion, you know. Ernest Moncrieff."
"I do think it quite absurd that you should remember the fashion before your own name," said the newly-dubbed Ernest.
I feel quite sure that if Oscar Wilde had ever written a Midsummer Night's Dream OT4 pastiche, it would read EXACTLY LIKE THIS.
By Any Other Name, Oxford Time Travel Universe
Alf's fingers tensed around the broken model and he tossed it back into the dirt. “So what? Eileen's leavin'. She'll go like Polly did, and we won't ever see her again.”
“Shut up,” growled Binnie viciously, and stalked back the way they'd come. The roads were too blocked for the buses, and they walked all the way home.
On the other hand, Connie Willis has kind of proved already that if she tried to write Binnie's story she wouldn't have done it ... nearly so well ... LOOK I'M SORRY but the Blackout/All Clear duology made me really angry. But this fic is very good!
Adventures in Animal Rescue, Jennifer Murdley's Toad
They didn’t really have much in common, Sharra reflected, outside of this "dealing with Weird Shit" thing that they did together. Jen wasn’t particularly interested in fashion, economics, or organized sports, and Sharra wasn’t into creative writing or computers or Science Club--not that she didn’t like science, but she was still protective enough of her image to not want to hang out in the Nerd Corner.
I mean, I would ALREADY have been excited just to find out someone else remembered Jennifer Murdley's Toad, BUT THEN THEY WROTE GROWN-UP JENNIFER AND SHARRA FIGHTING MAGICAL CRIME. "Nerd girl and mean girl form unlikely partnership, fight crime!" is one of my favorite tropes OF ALL TIME and Jennifer and Sharra after their shared toad-transformation bonding experience are clearly perfect candidates.
Magician's Misjudgment, Mairelon the Magician
“That’s it! Oh, that was a beauty! Put a facer on him!” Mairelon shouted, to her bemusement.
“’It’s land a facer,” Jem corrected gleefully.
“I stand corrected.”
Basically this whole really excellent casefic is full of Kim being amazing while Mairelon stands around looking dazzled and starry-eyed AND IT'S BEAUTIFUL TO ME.
All His Own Mischance, "The Lady of Shallott"
One of the things he liked about Art was that he knew when not to press. He didn’t ask anything else. Lance fingered the pattern, circle triangle circle triangle, blank little faces staring out at the cold dusk.
Would it have helped to go and see the singing girl? It hadn’t even felt like an option in the dream. Besides, what could you say to someone when you just didn’t care much about them—when you weren’t ever going to? What was there to say? ‘Sorry’?
Usually I skip over the Arthuriana in Yuletide because there's just so much of it, but I was intrigued by the idea of Lady of Shallott fic, and I clicked on it, and I'm SO GLAD I did -- this fic was probably the best surprise of Yuletide for me; I loved these stupid awful teenagers struggling to be a little less awful and find a thread of hope through the weight of the patterns laid over the top of them. NEW FAVORITE LANCELOT. (Okay, not that there's much competition.)
The Soldier's Not for Leaving, The Lady's Not For Burning
JENNET:
You are not the general man, Thomas, no matter how
Much you go on about his state. You’re exceedingly
Specific.
As soon as I found out that Fahye had gotten Lady's Not For Burning fic for Yuletide I got REALLY ANGRY at myself for organizing my reading such that the Ls were going to come at the very end! And then I found out that Adiva had written it and got EVEN ANGRIER. But this was totally worth the wait.
Those Sighs On Which I Fed My Heart, Leonardo
And all at once it comes to her, in one glorious flare of revelation. She gasps, and jerks away. “I’ve got it!” she exclaims, and with that she leaps back to the easel, snatches up her brush and palette, and starts painting.
“Right,” says Mac blankly after a moment. “I’ll just let myself out, shall I?”
Debi is the one who showed me Leonardo and then got me shipping Mac/Lisa in the first place, so I feel it's only fair that I claim part of her gift fic. (For those not familiar: Mac/Lisa is shorthand for Plucky Street Thief Machiavelli/Crossdressing Painter Mona Lisa. Yes. Yes it is.)
A Meeting of the Minds, Lymond Chronicles/15th Century RPF
Kit had learned that the man he sought was a younger son, who had roamed all Europe as a mercenary in his twenties, been awarded a French earldom, and then further ennobled by James's regents after that ugly business with Queen Mary, for a service no one was subsequently quite able to name. He was therefore expecting a bluff, ginger-bearded Scot with a ready sword-arm and few morals, willing to sell his own granny for a fat purse. That was the trouble with thinking like a writer of characters.
Not actually slash, although that fact comes as a surprise to Marlowe as well. I can quite easily see this happening in the world of the Dunnett books.
Underwater Archaeology of the Cornish Coast, The Dark is Rising
“Professor Drew, why did you start looking for shipwrecks?”
These hundred words capture what I feel like Jane Drew's life postcanon might look like more than any longer fic I've read.
he ain't heavy, Lizzie Bennet Diaries
"We call them brother-teacher conferences," says Gigi, and the friendly light in Fitz's face drives a confession she wouldn't normally make. "William mostly scares my teachers."
"Oh, does he?" Fitz says, grinning at her in a way that Gigi immediately loves, where she's in on the joke. "New name suggestion: brother-teacher thunderdome. Two professionals enter, only one leaves!"
I never actually .... finished the Lizzie Bennet Diaries .... but this Gigi-Fitz friendship fic is the CUTEST THING.
Steal My Breath, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
"I wish you'd choose between past and present tense," the man says. He is also shivering. They lie back down in their thin clothes, boots on, knee to knee, face to unseeable face.
An awful(ly well-done) kind of Schrodinger's Box. :(
Sesame Treats, Sesame Street and other stuff
L-M-N-tary. Thursdays, 10/9c, CBS (Character Broadcasting System)
The Sesame Street versions of three popular Yuletide fandoms! Kind of a one-joke fic (okay, a three-joke fic) but they are CHARMING jokes.
Wow, feels like it took me almost as long to write this rec post as it did to actually get through Yuletide. NO WONDER I NEVER DID THIS BEFORE. How do those of you who regularly post Yuletide recs manage to do it in so little time! I'M IN AWE.
no subject
Date: 2014-02-15 12:37 am (UTC)DAZZLED MAIRELON
LESBIAN PEACEABLE SHERWOOD
GO HOME EVOLUTION YOU ARE DRUNK
I CAN'T CLICK HARD ENOUGH
(also I just read Mrs. Pollifax because you recommended it and now I really want Farrell to start telling all his buddies in the international spying scene how in love with her he is and--okay, long story short, I really want a story where James Bond not-entirely-facetiously proposes marriage to Mrs. Pollifax. Really bad.)
no subject
Date: 2014-02-15 05:18 pm (UTC)(HAHAHAHAHA RIGHT? Oh, man, Mrs. Pollifax. SO DELIGHTFUL. So much ... a better spy .... than James Bond ....)
no subject
Date: 2014-02-15 07:21 pm (UTC)(I KNOW she's just so perfect. I just feel like literally everyone in the international spying scene would be in love with her. Witness grumpy Russian spy whose name I can't remember.)
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Date: 2014-02-15 08:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-15 09:41 am (UTC)Lisa/Painting OTP!
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Date: 2014-02-15 05:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-15 10:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-15 05:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-15 08:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-15 08:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-15 11:05 pm (UTC)After the initial burst of excitement, I shove Yuletide stuff in getpocket.com, mostly, and then I find it two years later. I'm still around L going in the straight A-Z direction otherwise. :/
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Date: 2014-02-16 05:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-16 02:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-16 05:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-16 10:23 am (UTC)Also, there’s a lot of good stuff rec’d here I seem to have missed! IT’S TIME TO STORM THE ARCHIVE AGAIN. Thanks again for taking the time to write these.
no subject
Date: 2014-02-16 02:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-16 04:37 pm (UTC)Future boy Conan!
Date: 2014-02-16 04:01 pm (UTC)Re: Future boy Conan!
Date: 2014-02-16 04:47 pm (UTC)Re: Future boy Conan?
Date: 2014-02-16 06:41 pm (UTC)Your honor, I plead guilty of a horrendous head-cold and wish to be sentenced to another 24 hours in bed with a pot of hot tea.
no subject
Date: 2014-02-16 03:59 pm (UTC)Excellent recs for "Hello Operator" and "Explicative Infixation" -- I should have met those but hadn't. Thanks!
---L.
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Date: 2014-02-16 04:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-16 06:32 pm (UTC)And, um, thank-you-you-bastard for even more yuletide stories to read. I thought I was done! (And was contemplating starting to write up my own recs list. So at least I've got an excuse not to do that?)
no subject
Date: 2014-02-16 11:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-17 11:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-16 10:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-16 11:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-17 12:08 am (UTC)And now I know! :D Thank you, dear, that was kind of you!
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Date: 2014-02-17 12:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-17 07:34 am (UTC)Also I have never managed to get through the Yuletide archive even once and usually just read things based on other people's recs and... random fandom selection... so your dedication is super impressive.
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Date: 2014-02-24 03:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-17 06:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-24 03:12 am (UTC)