Yuletide recs!
Dec. 30th, 2018 11:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sunlit_stoneSqueaking in just under the wire, here :P But what's the traditional Yuletide experience, if not that? :P
Arthurian Mythology
The Heart That Loveth Me (Every Joyous Word, 1.8K, Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot. Four ways it didn’t end in tragedy.
Snippets from four different lifetimes where, as it says, that trio didn't end in tragedy. (One of which is a Harry Potter crossover, and two of which are a Miss Fisher's and then later a Star Wars fusion.) Each moment is from a different point in, mmm, not so much their relationship as what you might call their narrative arc--the beginning of the fight, or the middle of it. Or the end. The last snippet is my very favourite. It's sad, but only in contrast to canon, because it could have ended this way and did not. (Inasmuch as Arhturian mythology can be said to have a canon, granted.) If you have any room in your heart for Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot, always my Arthurian OT3, definitely check it out.
Chalion Saga/World of the Five Gods
Offerings from the Oven, 1.5K. If you’ve scrolled past one too many well-meaning memes on your social network thinking “surely, empty platitudes superimposed over a photo of flowers is not really what the gods crave from me?” it might be time to think in more concrete terms.
This is one of my favourite tropes: fictional literature. It's essentially an article set modern times, if modern times involved worshipping the Five Gods, offering a leftist ideas for offerings to the gods. It captures the spirit of that kind of article very well; highly recommended if you like that sort of thing, which I do.
Death of the Necromancer
The Case of the Antique Crown, 4.4K, gen with background Madeline/Nicholas. Arisilde has a suspicious client and enlists assistance from his friends.
DotN fic! I was very excited to see this, and it was indeed delightful, involving not only Nicholas and Arisilde but Madeline, Ronsarde and Halle, and, wonderfully, the Queen! Had a very canon-esque feeling to their interactions, and I enjoyed the way it all wrapped up. Definitely worth a look if you enjoyed the book.
From Eroica With Love
From Tomorrow With Love, 2.7K, Dorian/Klaus. Klaus and Dorian in the 21st century.
I've read a deecent amount of fic in this fandom, over the years, but I think it's all been canon-era stuff; I don't remember anything that looked into the future, the real future, our future. It's fascinating to think about Klaus and Dorian beyond the confines of the cold war, given the way that they both (and especially Klaus) are so shaped by it. A telling quote: The new Chief has nothing but praise for Klaus and calls him a living legend. But he also seems to think legends belong safely tucked away on pedestals in museums. Remarkably gentle, and as sweet as these two can get while remaining in-character.
Emelan
Interwoven Lives, 1K, gen. A lifetime of Sandry's work.
The Summersea Museum of Faith and Magic is holding an exhibition in celebration for the twenty-fifth year of rule of Duchess Sandrilene's grandson, and he's generously agreed to loan them several of Sandry's works. This is a catalogue of those works, accompanied by brief explanatory notes. It's a lovely window into moments of Sandry's life, and the lives of the people she loved and who loved her in return. Very nicely done.
Macbeth
Favor for Ruin, 8K, approximately gen but also with Macbeth/Lady Macbeth. To reclaim humanity's sovereign hold on the Earth, the Three Witches enlist Macbeth to kill Duncan, the alien king of Scotland.
This is...really good. I mean really good. Not recommended if you don't enjoy tragedy, since it's definitely still a tragedy, but--wow. It's from the three witches' point of view, but although they may be trying to free humanity it's for their own purposes, and they are very much not the good guys. And don't be put off by the aliens; they're incorporated in a very mystical-feeling way, and fit perfectly. I loved the view on Macbeth and on Lady Macbeth, the inversion of the prophecies, the--look, I don't want to spoil anything for you, so I'll just leave you with a quote describing Lady Macbeth: Too proud to rise to her feet, this one; oh, they liked her! What a lovely sister she would have made if they had but claimed her sooner, eaten away the best fleshy fruit of her youth until she was down to bitter stone and pit. Even now, she would make a fine dagger; she would slip in smoothly and, if she broke, would fail only after the work was done.
If you've ever enjoyed in your life enjoyed Macbeth--check it out.
Queen's Thief
flash points, like gunpowder, 3.5K, Attolia/Eugenides. The City has no shortage of pretty little things ready to turn up prematurely deceased when and where it might cause the most bother. Stadicos, though, is neither pretty nor little nor, most disappointingly of all, dead.
What he is is Attolia’s problem.
1920's Queen's Thief, with Attolia and Sounis and Eddis as crime bosses and the Mede as the Metropolitan Department. It draws QoA but doesn't parallel it exactly, and indeed in some ways explicitly contrasts itself with it. I love the way it puts the two worlds together, and they way it works with the characters, who are purely themselves even in this other world and time. Also it's Irene/Gen getting together fic, and it has that highly prickly canon feel of their getting-together interactions.
This is not a parallel, but a reversal, 2.2K, Attolia/Eugenides. Attolia doesn't have a good track record with weddings, especially her own.
A description of Attolia and Gen's wedding day, from Attolia's point of view. Deals with the contrast in circumstances between her previous wedding and her current one, and of course the still-uncertain relationship between them. Very sweet, or as sweet as a fic about this could be--which is to say, very sweet, but also full of prickliness and uncertainty and memory, because how else could they be, at the beginning? Quite lovely; if you ship Irene and Gen, you should take a look.
Arthurian Mythology
The Heart That Loveth Me (Every Joyous Word, 1.8K, Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot. Four ways it didn’t end in tragedy.
Snippets from four different lifetimes where, as it says, that trio didn't end in tragedy. (One of which is a Harry Potter crossover, and two of which are a Miss Fisher's and then later a Star Wars fusion.) Each moment is from a different point in, mmm, not so much their relationship as what you might call their narrative arc--the beginning of the fight, or the middle of it. Or the end. The last snippet is my very favourite. It's sad, but only in contrast to canon, because it could have ended this way and did not. (Inasmuch as Arhturian mythology can be said to have a canon, granted.) If you have any room in your heart for Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot, always my Arthurian OT3, definitely check it out.
Chalion Saga/World of the Five Gods
Offerings from the Oven, 1.5K. If you’ve scrolled past one too many well-meaning memes on your social network thinking “surely, empty platitudes superimposed over a photo of flowers is not really what the gods crave from me?” it might be time to think in more concrete terms.
This is one of my favourite tropes: fictional literature. It's essentially an article set modern times, if modern times involved worshipping the Five Gods, offering a leftist ideas for offerings to the gods. It captures the spirit of that kind of article very well; highly recommended if you like that sort of thing, which I do.
Death of the Necromancer
The Case of the Antique Crown, 4.4K, gen with background Madeline/Nicholas. Arisilde has a suspicious client and enlists assistance from his friends.
DotN fic! I was very excited to see this, and it was indeed delightful, involving not only Nicholas and Arisilde but Madeline, Ronsarde and Halle, and, wonderfully, the Queen! Had a very canon-esque feeling to their interactions, and I enjoyed the way it all wrapped up. Definitely worth a look if you enjoyed the book.
From Eroica With Love
From Tomorrow With Love, 2.7K, Dorian/Klaus. Klaus and Dorian in the 21st century.
I've read a deecent amount of fic in this fandom, over the years, but I think it's all been canon-era stuff; I don't remember anything that looked into the future, the real future, our future. It's fascinating to think about Klaus and Dorian beyond the confines of the cold war, given the way that they both (and especially Klaus) are so shaped by it. A telling quote: The new Chief has nothing but praise for Klaus and calls him a living legend. But he also seems to think legends belong safely tucked away on pedestals in museums. Remarkably gentle, and as sweet as these two can get while remaining in-character.
Emelan
Interwoven Lives, 1K, gen. A lifetime of Sandry's work.
The Summersea Museum of Faith and Magic is holding an exhibition in celebration for the twenty-fifth year of rule of Duchess Sandrilene's grandson, and he's generously agreed to loan them several of Sandry's works. This is a catalogue of those works, accompanied by brief explanatory notes. It's a lovely window into moments of Sandry's life, and the lives of the people she loved and who loved her in return. Very nicely done.
Macbeth
Favor for Ruin, 8K, approximately gen but also with Macbeth/Lady Macbeth. To reclaim humanity's sovereign hold on the Earth, the Three Witches enlist Macbeth to kill Duncan, the alien king of Scotland.
This is...really good. I mean really good. Not recommended if you don't enjoy tragedy, since it's definitely still a tragedy, but--wow. It's from the three witches' point of view, but although they may be trying to free humanity it's for their own purposes, and they are very much not the good guys. And don't be put off by the aliens; they're incorporated in a very mystical-feeling way, and fit perfectly. I loved the view on Macbeth and on Lady Macbeth, the inversion of the prophecies, the--look, I don't want to spoil anything for you, so I'll just leave you with a quote describing Lady Macbeth: Too proud to rise to her feet, this one; oh, they liked her! What a lovely sister she would have made if they had but claimed her sooner, eaten away the best fleshy fruit of her youth until she was down to bitter stone and pit. Even now, she would make a fine dagger; she would slip in smoothly and, if she broke, would fail only after the work was done.
If you've ever enjoyed in your life enjoyed Macbeth--check it out.
Queen's Thief
flash points, like gunpowder, 3.5K, Attolia/Eugenides. The City has no shortage of pretty little things ready to turn up prematurely deceased when and where it might cause the most bother. Stadicos, though, is neither pretty nor little nor, most disappointingly of all, dead.
What he is is Attolia’s problem.
1920's Queen's Thief, with Attolia and Sounis and Eddis as crime bosses and the Mede as the Metropolitan Department. It draws QoA but doesn't parallel it exactly, and indeed in some ways explicitly contrasts itself with it. I love the way it puts the two worlds together, and they way it works with the characters, who are purely themselves even in this other world and time. Also it's Irene/Gen getting together fic, and it has that highly prickly canon feel of their getting-together interactions.
This is not a parallel, but a reversal, 2.2K, Attolia/Eugenides. Attolia doesn't have a good track record with weddings, especially her own.
A description of Attolia and Gen's wedding day, from Attolia's point of view. Deals with the contrast in circumstances between her previous wedding and her current one, and of course the still-uncertain relationship between them. Very sweet, or as sweet as a fic about this could be--which is to say, very sweet, but also full of prickliness and uncertainty and memory, because how else could they be, at the beginning? Quite lovely; if you ship Irene and Gen, you should take a look.
no subject
Date: 2018-12-31 06:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-01-02 01:22 am (UTC)I have a strong attachment to, like, the idea of Arthuriana (having got into it via The Squire's Tales series when I was young), and I usually enjoy at least looking at modern takes on it, but I admit to being hit-or-miss with the older stuff. I finished making it through the first volume of Le Morte D'Arthur, like, six months ago, and I'm still only a few pages into the second. There's some good stuff but a lot of it is easy to bounce of off...
I am currently early on in Idylls of the King, though, and enjoying it, so we'll see how that goes :)
no subject
Date: 2019-01-01 09:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-01-02 12:59 am (UTC)I hope you like the Macbeth! It does a great line in creepy, I should probably mention. If you check it out, I look forward to hearing what you think of it! :)