Yuletide recs
Jan. 4th, 2021 09:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eccentric_hatI got two quite different gifts this Yuletide!
I appreciate how hard this leans into Starbuck's regrets, and what he stands to lose.
This has quite perfect narration and moves at the perfect pace for the show. I really cannot recommend this show highly enough, and I loved getting this little additional window into Joe's world.
(also, it's a demonstration of the do-what-feels-right nature of rating and tagging on AO3 that it's the Joe Pera hardware store fic, and not the Starbuck's-gonna-die fic, that gets a T rating and a character-death tag.)
Anglo-Finn that I am, I can't very well comment on the authenticity of the Judaism in this or the previous rec, but this feels respectful and alive and in touch with what makes Miryem tick, in the very best and most beautiful way.
I confess, I felt a little nervous approaching the fanworks for Piranesi. While the book has definite limitations to address, what I personally wished it had done was explain less, make less of an encompassing argument about how reality is structured. It seemed likely that fandom would want to go in the opposite direction and fill in the gaps instead. Maybe some people did--I haven't read all through the fandom tag--but this story does its work of expansion partially by leaning into the ambiguity in the novel's worldbuilding, darkening the shadows in its corners, as well as connecting it to a body of real-world writing that I'd like to learn more about.
I think this is the first Possession fic I've read. It packs quite a lot into a brief narrative moment: Randolph and Christabel's differences in doctrine, their relationship to each other's bodies, their shared interests and the brevity of their shared time.
On the oddity of humans; charmingly constructed, thoroughly beguiling.
Wonderful original fiction (essentially) about inter-species cooperation.
I couldn't believe how beautifully this fic captured the tone of the show: home, community, mystery, a dusting of magic, with a trademarked Chris-in-the-Morning rumination to frame it.
The narrator in this story brought a certain kind of academic so clearly to mind that I unwittingly assigned them a gender when the author never did--the voice was just so familiar!
I felt sad about the concept of this AU at first, watching Elinor and Edward interact so, so carefully in a world where they didn't end up marrying one another, and then the story opened and blossomed and grew. Just exquisitely executed all around.
Speaking of fandoms involving Alan Rickman, here's a delightful trip through various eras of fandom and how Galaxy Quest's most reluctant star gets through each one of them.
Holy cow this is weird and great. You can read it without familiarity with the podcast, though if you do know it, you'll hear Michael and Sarah's voices here.
I also betaed a couple pieces for this year's Yuletide that I really do think are marvelous:
Pitch-perfect Bertie voice, wonderful Bertie & Jeeves sweetness.
A post-canon moment with touches of scholarship, magic, and of course whimsy.
all men shall be sailors then until the sea shall free them (1601 words) by strikethesun
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Moby Dick - Herman Melville
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Starbuck/Mary Starbuck (Moby Dick), implied/past Starbuck/Ahab, background Ishmael/Queequeg
Characters: Starbuck (Moby Dick), Ishmael (Moby Dick), Mary Starbuck (Moby Dick), Starbuck's Son (Moby Dick)
Additional Tags: Dreams and Nightmares, Vignettes, thoughts of murder, Whump, nobody dies in this but like we all know what's coming up, overdependence on leonard cohen lyrics for setting the mood
Summary:forsaken, almost human, he sank beneath your wisdom like a stone.
Choice vignettes in the life of one first mate Starbuck: two meetings with Ishmael on the deck, a dream, and a nightmare.
I appreciate how hard this leans into Starbuck's regrets, and what he stands to lose.
Joe Pera Shows You How to Buy Light Bulbs (1264 words) by Merlin Missy
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Joe Pera Talks With You (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Joe Pera/Sarah Conner (Joe Pera Talks With You)
Characters: Joe Pera (Joe Pera Talks With You), Sarah Conner (Joe Pera Talks With You), Gene Gibson (Joe Pera Talks With You)
Additional Tags: Yuletide Treat, Post-Episode: s02e10 Joe Pera Helps You Write, Canonical Character Death
Summary:Joe goes to the hardware store.
This has quite perfect narration and moves at the perfect pace for the show. I really cannot recommend this show highly enough, and I loved getting this little additional window into Joe's world.
(also, it's a demonstration of the do-what-feels-right nature of rating and tagging on AO3 that it's the Joe Pera hardware store fic, and not the Starbuck's-gonna-die fic, that gets a T rating and a character-death tag.)
un mir zenen ale shvester (7836 words) by ryfkahGorgeously realized post-canon voyage for one of the younger daughters from Fiddler: language, family, politics, sisterhood, looking toward the future. This is inspired by the recent Yiddish-language production of the show, and I know I'm missing resonances by not having seen that (and tbh it took me a while to remember each of the older sisters and what happened to her) but it's a rich piece of work on its own.
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Fiddler on the Roof (2018 Folksbiene Production), Fiddler on the Roof - Bock/Harnick/Stein
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Shprintze (Fiddler on the Roof), The Fiddler (Fiddler on the Roof), Tzeitel (Fiddler on the Roof), Chava (Fiddler on the Roof), Hodel (Fiddler on the Roof), Perchik (Fiddler on the Roof)
Additional Tags: Sisters, Russian Revolution, personal relationships with language, and religion, and tradition, mild period-typical anti-Semitism
Summary: In a minute, Shprintze thinks, the fiddler will say what every other neighbor has said: oy, what a trip! Are you sure you’ll be safe? Oh, well, but you’ll see your sister, and that meshuggeneh radical of hers, and maybe if you’ve the time you could bring a letter to my cousin, who lives in the Pod'iacheskii neighborhood –
In fact what the fiddler says is: “Since you’re going, I’m thinking I might come with you.”
Learn (2768 words) by Kass
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Spinning Silver - Naomi Novik
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Miryem Mandelstam/The Staryk Lord
Characters: Miryem Mandelstam, The Staryk Lord (Spinning Silver), Rebekah bat Flek, Flek (Spinning Silver)
Additional Tags: Rebekah is Jewish, Judaism is my other fandom, canon-typical feminism, knowledge is power, Shabbat is awesome
Summary: Besides, I wanted to give Rebekah another lesson in numbers. And now that he had suggested it, I wanted to teach her alef-beit, too. Perhaps I would paint her first page of letters with honey, to teach her that learning what she does not yet know is sweet.
Anglo-Finn that I am, I can't very well comment on the authenticity of the Judaism in this or the previous rec, but this feels respectful and alive and in touch with what makes Miryem tick, in the very best and most beautiful way.
A Dreaming Art (5426 words) by Sinope
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Piranesi - Susanna Clarke
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Original Female Character(s), Angharad Scott, Piranesi | Matthew Rose Sorenson, Sixteen | Sarah Raphael
Additional Tags: Chromatic Yuletide, Epistolary, Quotations, mostly gen with just a hint of romance, counter-hegemonic historiography, Post-Canon, Correspondence, Yuletide
Summary: A collection of fragments from Angharad Scott’s research and correspondence. In which another, less familiar, world is revealed, and stories are told.
I have stood in the shadows of the lamassu. I have explored a Palace of unending rooms, utterly silent beyond the rushing of waters below and the caw of birds above. Your stories are true — and more than that, they are only a fraction of the stories that can be told.
I confess, I felt a little nervous approaching the fanworks for Piranesi. While the book has definite limitations to address, what I personally wished it had done was explain less, make less of an encompassing argument about how reality is structured. It seemed likely that fandom would want to go in the opposite direction and fill in the gaps instead. Maybe some people did--I haven't read all through the fandom tag--but this story does its work of expansion partially by leaning into the ambiguity in the novel's worldbuilding, darkening the shadows in its corners, as well as connecting it to a body of real-world writing that I'd like to learn more about.
Marra Tivvit (1331 words) by mayhap
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Possession - A. S. Byatt
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Randolph Henry Ash/Christabel LaMotte
Characters: Randolph Henry Ash, Christabel LaMotte
Additional Tags: Missing Scene, Hurt/Comfort, Sickfic, gratuitous extension of a metaphysical conceit
Summary:“Now was he hers, if she should ask of him
Body or soul, he would have offered all.
And seeing this, at last, the Fairy smiled.”
—Christabel LaMotte, The Fairy Melusine
I think this is the first Possession fic I've read. It packs quite a lot into a brief narrative moment: Randolph and Christabel's differences in doctrine, their relationship to each other's bodies, their shared interests and the brevity of their shared time.
Select GalacticHub Posts Regarding the Spacefaring Species of Sol-III (1028 words) by ivyspinners
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Humans Are Space Orcs (Meme)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Additional Tags: Science Fiction, Fluff and Crack, Alien Cultural Differences, Epistolary, Yuletide Treat, Humans are space orcs
Summary: As gathered from various interstellar exoplanet transit communications by Ger-too, in their third century of life and seventh of existence.
On the oddity of humans; charmingly constructed, thoroughly beguiling.
Close Encounters of the Human Kind (7241 words) by Blurble
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: humans are space orcs - Fandom
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Additional Tags: Female Friendship, Enemies to Friends, (not really enemies so much as "general dislike to tolerance to respect to friends"?)
Summary: A human! Oh, I was regretting not going fungal when I'd had the chance.
Wonderful original fiction (essentially) about inter-species cooperation.
Northern Soul (4001 words) by feroxargentea
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Northern Exposure
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Joel Fleischman/Maggie O'Connell
Characters: Joel Fleischman, Maggie O'Connell, Marilyn Whirlwind, Chris Stevens, Holling Vincoeur, Shelly Tambo, Ruth-Anne Miller
Summary: Everyone needs a place to call home.
I couldn't believe how beautifully this fic captured the tone of the show: home, community, mystery, a dusting of magic, with a trademarked Chris-in-the-Morning rumination to frame it.
From the Outbox of T. R. Matthews, Ph.D. (2096 words) by Miss_M
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: FAQ: The "Snake Fight" Portion Of Your Thesis Defense (McSweeney's Post) - Luke Burns
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Original Characters
Additional Tags: Crack Treated Seriously, Academia, POV First Person, E-mail, Snakes, Snark, Passive-aggression, Implied/Referenced Character Death, mention of harm to animals, Yuletide Treat, Epistolary, Worldbuilding
Summary: Please do not assume that selecting an ambitious, snake-related thesis topic would exempt you from the snake-fight portion of the thesis defense, nor would it influence the choice of snake.
The narrator in this story brought a certain kind of academic so clearly to mind that I unwittingly assigned them a gender when the author never did--the voice was just so familiar!
The More Loving One (5014 words) by DaisyNinjaGirl
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen, AUSTEN Jane - Works
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Relationships: Colonel Brandon/Elinor Dashwood, Colonel Brandon/Elinor Dashwood/Edward Ferrars, Edward Ferrars/Lucy Steele
Characters: Elinor Dashwood, Colonel Brandon (Sense and Sensibility), Edward Ferrars, Lucy Steele (Sense and Sensibility), Original Child Character(s)
Additional Tags: Polyamory Negotiations, Blended family, Friends to Lovers, AU: Canon divergence
Summary: If summer comes, can autumn be far behind?
Years into Elinor's marriage to Colonel Brandon, friendships grow closer, and uncomfortable conversations are had.
I felt sad about the concept of this AU at first, watching Elinor and Edward interact so, so carefully in a world where they didn't end up marrying one another, and then the story opened and blossomed and grew. Just exquisitely executed all around.
Alexander Versus Fandom (9700 words) by galaxysoup
Chapters: 2/2
Fandom: Galaxy Quest (1999)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Alexander Dane, Gwen DeMarco, Jason Nesmith, Fred Kwan, Tommy Webber
Additional Tags: Fandom history
Summary: Five fan interactions that flopped and one that got a curtain call.
Speaking of fandoms involving Alan Rickman, here's a delightful trip through various eras of fandom and how Galaxy Quest's most reluctant star gets through each one of them.
You're Wrong About Misericorde (8101 words) by Edonohana
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: You're Wrong About Podcast RPF
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Sarah Marshall (You're Wrong About Podcast RPF), Michael Hobbes (You're Wrong About Podcast RPF), Peter Cushing, Olivia de Havilland, June Crowley, Harry Dean Stanton, Ron Schneider, Helen Burson, Ethan Hawke, Polly Platt, Peter Bogdanovitch, Stephanie Rothman, Julia Weinstock, Christopher Lee, Charles Lyman, Cybill Shepherd, Elspeth Drinkwater
Additional Tags: Urban Legends, Don't Have to Know Canon, Alternate History, Movies & Moviemaking, Metafiction, 1970s, Period-Typical Sexism, Scary Movies, Conspiracy Theories
Summary: Sarah tells Mike about the lost horror movie that became an urban legend. Digressions include the chemical formula for mescaline, Sarah imitating Ethan Hawke imitating a Yorkshire prop witch, and where the fat goes after it gets vibrated out of your body by a $19.99 girdle sold on late-night TV.
Holy cow this is weird and great. You can read it without familiarity with the podcast, though if you do know it, you'll hear Michael and Sarah's voices here.
I also betaed a couple pieces for this year's Yuletide that I really do think are marvelous:
All's Right with the World (2291 words) by innie
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Jeeves & Wooster, Jeeves - P. G. Wodehouse, WODEHOUSE P. G. - Works
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Reginald Jeeves & Bertram "Bertie" Wooster
Characters: Bertram "Bertie" Wooster, Reginald Jeeves, Madeline Bassett, Roderick Spode, Original Male Character(s), Original Female Character(s)
Summary: "Good morning, sir," he said, not a note of reproach in his voice at the late hour; his un-auntliness was one of his most estimable qualities. "I trust you had a pleasant evening?"
"Whooping it up with Bickie, who's binding himself in the chains of matrimony. Willingly," I added, to allay his admirable tendency to snap into service for any of the young master's hapless friends.
Pitch-perfect Bertie voice, wonderful Bertie & Jeeves sweetness.
The Two Magicians's Severance (1381 words) by Lanna Michaels
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: John Childermass & Jonathan Strange
Characters: John Childermass, Jonathan Strange
Additional Tags: Yuletide 2020, Post-Canon, Omniscient Narrator, Magic, Magical Libraries
Summary: In which John Childermass and Jonathan Strange borrow a book from Gilbert Norrell.
A post-canon moment with touches of scholarship, magic, and of course whimsy.
no subject
Date: 2021-02-01 08:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-02-01 06:26 pm (UTC)Yes, that was me! It's always a pleasure when someone really nails the voice in that fandom.