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Yuletide recs
Dec. 30th, 2011 09:21 pmOh Yuletide! This is my first yuletide, and not coincidentally the first time I have wallowed in the awesomeness of yuletide reveal. I have recs, mostly for fics and/or fandoms that haven't gotten a huge number of hits (both because I tend to like the more obscure fandoms and because I think more people should read these fics!), but I must make an exception for my wonderful, wonderful present (which is deservedly popular):
Money often costs too much (Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold)
I asked for Illyan being awesome, because Illyan is awesome and totally my favorite character. I asked for Vorkosigan loyalty and caring enough to make Vor real -- And, yeah. Yeah! I can't even talk about this coherently. It's like my yuletide writer went into sections of my brain I didn't even know were there to craft a fic just for me. And it's about expense reports, which coming off of just having to do some of these (which the writer could not possibly have known unless there is yuletide telepathy happening) totally makes me squee with joy. And so nicely written. Thank you, O writer, for making my first yuletide such a happy one! *flails some more*
Other (gen unless otherwise stated) recs in Earthsea (mild M/M), English and Scottish Popular Ballads (mild multi-pairing), Jirel of Joiry, Le Comte de Monte-Cristo (F/F), Left Hand of Darkness (mild multi-pairing), Scarlet Pimpernel - Orczy, Macbeth, Slings and Arrows, Tillerman, and Vorkosigan:
Hoag (Earthsea - Ursula K. Le Guin)
Jasper is made a three-dimensional character here, someone with both good and bad characteristics. The entire fic, and the penultimate paragraph in particular, is heartbreaking. And yay otak!
Far Too Many Questions, With Some Quite Dubious Answers (English and Scottish Popular Ballads)
Riddles and folklore and strange stories: haunting and weird and beautifully written. It reminds me a bit of Catherynne Valente's books in the lush language and the way it puts together stories that may (or may not) be loosely related, and the way the author uses riddles and folklore (the way Valente uses fairy-tale tropes).
The Lord of Joiry (Jirel of Joiry)
You don't need to know canon to read this, but if you do it will be that much better. This is a pitch-perfect (back)story of Jirel -- it's got the beautifully horrible world that Jirel often gets flung into; the tone of the story is just right; Jirel herself is exactly the brash, impetuous, courageous, non-analytic character she is in the stories. I would have sworn it was canon if I didn't know it was yuletide, and in my head it's going to be.
A Practical Method of Italian Singing (Le Comte de Monte-Cristo)
Eugenie and Louise are just about my favorite characters from Count of Monte Cristo, and this fic, I feel, really gives them a nice ending, which Dumas did not. Louise comes across as a much stronger character than in Dumas, shrugging off the humiliation Dumas tried to inflict on them, and Eugenie's plot is hilarious.
The End and the Way (Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin)
You don't need to know canon to read this, but this might inspire you to pick up the original. This is an incredibly beautifully and intelligently written story about an original character in Le Guin's (mostly-)genderless world of Gethen, with all the thoughtfulness about gender and sex and life that is present in the original (possibly more, with the forty years that have passed since then). It is a wonderfully lovely, understated coming-of-age story that has that ring of truth to it that the best fiction has. This is possibly my favorite Yuletide story (discounting my marvelous gift, of course!), in that not only did the author write a fic I couldn't have imagined, but I would also never have thought to write the prompt.
Ten Years After (Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Orczy)
A lovely, quiet glimpse at Blakeney and Chauvelin many years afterwards. Their emnity, dimmed with time and subsequent historical events, has become something that is almost friendship. This is totally my new headcanon.
The Captain of the Caledonia (Macbeth - Shakespeare)
Okay, so, others have recced this, but really! Let me just repeat: Macbeth. In SPAAACE. What more could you want?
Don't Ask About Geoffrey Tennant (Slings and Arrows)
Anna is the heart and soul of this show, and she shines in this fic. All the characters are so in-character that I giggled my way through the entire thing. Mentions of Oliver's sheep and Richard trying to hire William Shatner for the win!
Neither Have I Wings To Fly (Tillerman Cycle - Cynthia Voigt)
I looooove the Tillerman cycle like whoa, and Voigt in general, because of its thoughtful multifaceting of characters who in any other book would be dismissed as one-dimensional stereotypes. This fic fleshes out Millie, who isn't nearly as smart as Ab but who is observant, and it is about a lifelong friendship between two women. I also requested Tillerman fic, so it was almost like another gift for me.
Burn the Topless Towers (Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold)
My heart just about stopped, reading this. Dark, dark look at Aral's first wife; the fic makes her three-dimensional, sympathetic, and what's more, Vor, and adds backstory plot while it's at it. This is a perfect little black gem. One of my favorites in this Yuletide season.
Money often costs too much (Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold)
I asked for Illyan being awesome, because Illyan is awesome and totally my favorite character. I asked for Vorkosigan loyalty and caring enough to make Vor real -- And, yeah. Yeah! I can't even talk about this coherently. It's like my yuletide writer went into sections of my brain I didn't even know were there to craft a fic just for me. And it's about expense reports, which coming off of just having to do some of these (which the writer could not possibly have known unless there is yuletide telepathy happening) totally makes me squee with joy. And so nicely written. Thank you, O writer, for making my first yuletide such a happy one! *flails some more*
Other (gen unless otherwise stated) recs in Earthsea (mild M/M), English and Scottish Popular Ballads (mild multi-pairing), Jirel of Joiry, Le Comte de Monte-Cristo (F/F), Left Hand of Darkness (mild multi-pairing), Scarlet Pimpernel - Orczy, Macbeth, Slings and Arrows, Tillerman, and Vorkosigan:
Hoag (Earthsea - Ursula K. Le Guin)
Jasper is made a three-dimensional character here, someone with both good and bad characteristics. The entire fic, and the penultimate paragraph in particular, is heartbreaking. And yay otak!
Far Too Many Questions, With Some Quite Dubious Answers (English and Scottish Popular Ballads)
Riddles and folklore and strange stories: haunting and weird and beautifully written. It reminds me a bit of Catherynne Valente's books in the lush language and the way it puts together stories that may (or may not) be loosely related, and the way the author uses riddles and folklore (the way Valente uses fairy-tale tropes).
The Lord of Joiry (Jirel of Joiry)
You don't need to know canon to read this, but if you do it will be that much better. This is a pitch-perfect (back)story of Jirel -- it's got the beautifully horrible world that Jirel often gets flung into; the tone of the story is just right; Jirel herself is exactly the brash, impetuous, courageous, non-analytic character she is in the stories. I would have sworn it was canon if I didn't know it was yuletide, and in my head it's going to be.
A Practical Method of Italian Singing (Le Comte de Monte-Cristo)
Eugenie and Louise are just about my favorite characters from Count of Monte Cristo, and this fic, I feel, really gives them a nice ending, which Dumas did not. Louise comes across as a much stronger character than in Dumas, shrugging off the humiliation Dumas tried to inflict on them, and Eugenie's plot is hilarious.
The End and the Way (Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin)
You don't need to know canon to read this, but this might inspire you to pick up the original. This is an incredibly beautifully and intelligently written story about an original character in Le Guin's (mostly-)genderless world of Gethen, with all the thoughtfulness about gender and sex and life that is present in the original (possibly more, with the forty years that have passed since then). It is a wonderfully lovely, understated coming-of-age story that has that ring of truth to it that the best fiction has. This is possibly my favorite Yuletide story (discounting my marvelous gift, of course!), in that not only did the author write a fic I couldn't have imagined, but I would also never have thought to write the prompt.
Ten Years After (Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Orczy)
A lovely, quiet glimpse at Blakeney and Chauvelin many years afterwards. Their emnity, dimmed with time and subsequent historical events, has become something that is almost friendship. This is totally my new headcanon.
The Captain of the Caledonia (Macbeth - Shakespeare)
Okay, so, others have recced this, but really! Let me just repeat: Macbeth. In SPAAACE. What more could you want?
Don't Ask About Geoffrey Tennant (Slings and Arrows)
Anna is the heart and soul of this show, and she shines in this fic. All the characters are so in-character that I giggled my way through the entire thing. Mentions of Oliver's sheep and Richard trying to hire William Shatner for the win!
Neither Have I Wings To Fly (Tillerman Cycle - Cynthia Voigt)
I looooove the Tillerman cycle like whoa, and Voigt in general, because of its thoughtful multifaceting of characters who in any other book would be dismissed as one-dimensional stereotypes. This fic fleshes out Millie, who isn't nearly as smart as Ab but who is observant, and it is about a lifelong friendship between two women. I also requested Tillerman fic, so it was almost like another gift for me.
Burn the Topless Towers (Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold)
My heart just about stopped, reading this. Dark, dark look at Aral's first wife; the fic makes her three-dimensional, sympathetic, and what's more, Vor, and adds backstory plot while it's at it. This is a perfect little black gem. One of my favorites in this Yuletide season.
