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rosie_rues) wrote2008-12-27 05:26 pm
rosie_rues) wrote2008-12-27 05:26 pm
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Yuletide Recs, Part1
In reverse alphabetical order, 19 recs from fandoms Z-M.
As Long Ago As Forever, There Lived a Prince (Earthsea) - among these trees older than Erreth-Akbe, older than Maharion, dead these eight hundred years, perhaps even older than Morred, though Arren doubted any tree could still be standing that had lived during that far-ago age that seemed as long ago as forever. - Arren goes in search of Ged. Beautifully handled, with every detail perfect. Could be read as friendship or very mildly slashy, but is absolutely full of the love and respect these two have for one another.
I’ll take it, it’ll do (Arcadia) - He turns forty, and it starts to truly bother him that Thomasina is still nearly seventeen. - Septimus in his hermitage, haunted and mad, but still quick and irreverent and thoughtful. Bittersweet and perfect.
The Uninvited Guest (Discworld) - Death did not understand much at all about human beings. It was highly unlikely that he knew how potent a combination of curiosity and the possibility of having someone with his particular power beholden to her could be for any human, especially if that human happened to be a witch. - Baby Susan St Helit acquires an unexpected godmother. Awesome.
The Greatest Potter in Emelan (Tamora Pierce – Circle of Magic) - In fact, although none of these wives ever appeared to notice, a dish bought from the man known to one and all as Yorys would never break, no matter the abuse given it. - The story focuses on a craftsmage who meets the four mages at different points in their lives. The pottery metaphor is well done, and the original character is likeable and interesting. I like this fandom for the quiet, wise parts of the story, and this really invoked that mood.
Rooted Lightning (Tamora Pierce – Circle of Magic) - Briar tries for charming, is successful, but not nearly enough so to overcome Tris' learned immunity. - Briar visits Tris at Lightsbridge. Spot on characterisation for both of them.
Other Work For Us To Do (Dark is Rising) - It was in the format of a timeline, but no timeline Will had seen up to the present had featured so many literal gaps: there were holes and gashes and pockmarks across all the pages, some of them oozing simulated drops of blood and tears, and others half-stitched closed with needles and embroidery floss, as if someone had half-heartedly tried to mend the wounds inflicted upon the parchment. - Will and Bran meet again as adults. Beautiful character work, with a believable but still solitary Will. I loved this.
Zephyr (The Tempest) – She would not let him fly. She bound him then. Ariel’s history with Sycorax. Powerfully told, with beautiful emotion and imagery. And it’s in verse – how awesome is that?
Rosaline, At Rest (Romeo and Juliet) - So she had been scrubbed and dressed and painted, and they had braided her hair into an elaborate coil and caged it behind a net of silk and pearls. - A little glimpse into Rosaline’s backstory, which gives a real sense of how confining her life must have been.
Kill Claudio Part Two (Much Ado About Nothing) – a sequel to the play, wherein Benedick is accused of murdering Claudio. Written as a play in Shakespearean English, and twisting in all the game-playing, false accusations and sexual politics of the original.
Wittenberg Days (Hamlet) - HAMLET: My studies long hath kept me mewed in books
and dusty lessons. Hamlet and Horatio at Elsinore, before the start of the play. A lovely bit of slash, made even more delightful by the surprise twist halfway through.
Athanatos (RPF – Soldier Poets) - "God, no, go away," Brooke mutters tiredly to the canvas of his cot. - a delirious Rupert Brooke at Lemnos. Sad and beautiful.
The Arrow (RPF – 16th Century) - I who was born to rise but made to fall? - a sonnet on Anne Boleyn. Sharply beautiful.
Metamorphosis (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead) - Guildenstern finds the prince of Denmark a truly insufferable housemate, even when he's being grateful. - A moment out of time for them, haunting and clever and very, very Stoppardian.
Romanza (Room With a View) - Miss Lavish was inspired by the idea. "Do you think so? I have never dared go out in native dress, you know, though I do feel that the Italian spirit resides in me." Charlotte Bartlett / Eleanor Lavish, and it’s spot on in characterisation and style, with all Forster’s customary use of Italy to inspire passion and freedom.
Make Me a Gift of Your Intimacy (One Thousand and One Nights) - her stories would always be hers, because she could not disavow them to save her own life, and she was a storyteller, and a storyteller would speak through orange trees if she had no other voices. - a beautiful meditation on storytelling and freedom, showing all the negotiations and adjustments Shahrazad must constantly make to survive.
Of Nightingales and Other Things (One Thousand and One Nights) - In a golden cage by the stucco window, shattered of tile poetry, a nightingale sang as if its heart were pierced with a black thorn - another stunningly beautiful Scherazhade story.
One Thousand and One and Counting (One Thousand and One Nights) - She can see her words acting like water on dust, dampening the soldier's nervous skittering, making his grip on the gun more porous. - The best thing I’ve read yet this Yuletide. A modern take on Scherazhade, showing modern Arab women using their voices and words.
Elephants (Neverwhere) - There were more children than Richard had ever seen before in London Below. Richard and Door visit Oxford Circus. A lovely little glimpse of a happy moment in London Below. There are some paragraphing issues, but the content is good.
The Return, or Quid Pro Quo (Neverwhere) - By the fifth time the 18th century had paraded by him in a froth of pannier skirts and scattered pamphlets, Richard Mayhew had reached the conclusion that hiding in a drainage pipe waiting for just the right pocket of time to cycle open in the space beyond said pipe would have been greatly improved by three circumstances. - Richard Mayhew repays a favour. Very much in the tone of the book.
As Long Ago As Forever, There Lived a Prince (Earthsea) - among these trees older than Erreth-Akbe, older than Maharion, dead these eight hundred years, perhaps even older than Morred, though Arren doubted any tree could still be standing that had lived during that far-ago age that seemed as long ago as forever. - Arren goes in search of Ged. Beautifully handled, with every detail perfect. Could be read as friendship or very mildly slashy, but is absolutely full of the love and respect these two have for one another.
I’ll take it, it’ll do (Arcadia) - He turns forty, and it starts to truly bother him that Thomasina is still nearly seventeen. - Septimus in his hermitage, haunted and mad, but still quick and irreverent and thoughtful. Bittersweet and perfect.
The Uninvited Guest (Discworld) - Death did not understand much at all about human beings. It was highly unlikely that he knew how potent a combination of curiosity and the possibility of having someone with his particular power beholden to her could be for any human, especially if that human happened to be a witch. - Baby Susan St Helit acquires an unexpected godmother. Awesome.
The Greatest Potter in Emelan (Tamora Pierce – Circle of Magic) - In fact, although none of these wives ever appeared to notice, a dish bought from the man known to one and all as Yorys would never break, no matter the abuse given it. - The story focuses on a craftsmage who meets the four mages at different points in their lives. The pottery metaphor is well done, and the original character is likeable and interesting. I like this fandom for the quiet, wise parts of the story, and this really invoked that mood.
Rooted Lightning (Tamora Pierce – Circle of Magic) - Briar tries for charming, is successful, but not nearly enough so to overcome Tris' learned immunity. - Briar visits Tris at Lightsbridge. Spot on characterisation for both of them.
Other Work For Us To Do (Dark is Rising) - It was in the format of a timeline, but no timeline Will had seen up to the present had featured so many literal gaps: there were holes and gashes and pockmarks across all the pages, some of them oozing simulated drops of blood and tears, and others half-stitched closed with needles and embroidery floss, as if someone had half-heartedly tried to mend the wounds inflicted upon the parchment. - Will and Bran meet again as adults. Beautiful character work, with a believable but still solitary Will. I loved this.
Zephyr (The Tempest) – She would not let him fly. She bound him then. Ariel’s history with Sycorax. Powerfully told, with beautiful emotion and imagery. And it’s in verse – how awesome is that?
Rosaline, At Rest (Romeo and Juliet) - So she had been scrubbed and dressed and painted, and they had braided her hair into an elaborate coil and caged it behind a net of silk and pearls. - A little glimpse into Rosaline’s backstory, which gives a real sense of how confining her life must have been.
Kill Claudio Part Two (Much Ado About Nothing) – a sequel to the play, wherein Benedick is accused of murdering Claudio. Written as a play in Shakespearean English, and twisting in all the game-playing, false accusations and sexual politics of the original.
Wittenberg Days (Hamlet) - HAMLET: My studies long hath kept me mewed in books
and dusty lessons. Hamlet and Horatio at Elsinore, before the start of the play. A lovely bit of slash, made even more delightful by the surprise twist halfway through.
Athanatos (RPF – Soldier Poets) - "God, no, go away," Brooke mutters tiredly to the canvas of his cot. - a delirious Rupert Brooke at Lemnos. Sad and beautiful.
The Arrow (RPF – 16th Century) - I who was born to rise but made to fall? - a sonnet on Anne Boleyn. Sharply beautiful.
Metamorphosis (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead) - Guildenstern finds the prince of Denmark a truly insufferable housemate, even when he's being grateful. - A moment out of time for them, haunting and clever and very, very Stoppardian.
Romanza (Room With a View) - Miss Lavish was inspired by the idea. "Do you think so? I have never dared go out in native dress, you know, though I do feel that the Italian spirit resides in me." Charlotte Bartlett / Eleanor Lavish, and it’s spot on in characterisation and style, with all Forster’s customary use of Italy to inspire passion and freedom.
Make Me a Gift of Your Intimacy (One Thousand and One Nights) - her stories would always be hers, because she could not disavow them to save her own life, and she was a storyteller, and a storyteller would speak through orange trees if she had no other voices. - a beautiful meditation on storytelling and freedom, showing all the negotiations and adjustments Shahrazad must constantly make to survive.
Of Nightingales and Other Things (One Thousand and One Nights) - In a golden cage by the stucco window, shattered of tile poetry, a nightingale sang as if its heart were pierced with a black thorn - another stunningly beautiful Scherazhade story.
One Thousand and One and Counting (One Thousand and One Nights) - She can see her words acting like water on dust, dampening the soldier's nervous skittering, making his grip on the gun more porous. - The best thing I’ve read yet this Yuletide. A modern take on Scherazhade, showing modern Arab women using their voices and words.
Elephants (Neverwhere) - There were more children than Richard had ever seen before in London Below. Richard and Door visit Oxford Circus. A lovely little glimpse of a happy moment in London Below. There are some paragraphing issues, but the content is good.
The Return, or Quid Pro Quo (Neverwhere) - By the fifth time the 18th century had paraded by him in a froth of pannier skirts and scattered pamphlets, Richard Mayhew had reached the conclusion that hiding in a drainage pipe waiting for just the right pocket of time to cycle open in the space beyond said pipe would have been greatly improved by three circumstances. - Richard Mayhew repays a favour. Very much in the tone of the book.
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GUIL: Absentminded.
ROS: We'd lose our heads if they weren't attached.
Oh, that is rich!
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re: Wittenberg Days
Re: Wittenberg Days
What doth thou here, Laertes? --> What dost thou here, Laertes?
Then thou mays't study --> Then thou mayst [no apostrophe]
It may be deliberate, but Hamlet starts using 'you' with Horatio after the R&G interlude, switches back to 'thou'-based pronouns with Resign thyself, dear Horatio, and returns to 'you' after R&G leave. Shakespeare does the same thing occasionally (like at I.ii.177 and III.ii.90), but it's usually when there's a major shift in the dynamic between the two characters. You have Horatio switching Hamlet's pronouns rather frequently, which again might be on purpose, but in canon he always addresses Hamlet as 'you'. I'd just advise you to go through and make sure all your pronouns are as you want them. :)
Re: Wittenberg Days
Am I right, that "my studies"/"hath" is also incorrect? It's ALL starting to look incorrect to me now. I must confess to having no structured understanding of Elizabethan grammar, so I was doing it by feel. Clearly, not such a good feel for it, either! Thank you for the corrections, and I'd be more than happy to hear any other suggestions you have - I asked my betas to rip it apart, but only one had the time to really dig into it at all. I'm in this to get better, so I appreciate any advice you have.
And YES, I specifically asked them about the you/thee thing, because I had a feeling there was probably a canonical pattern to how Shakespeare did that, and THANK YOU for the information about that. I will definitely clean that up (along with re-formatting the section that isn't in iambic pentameter but is formatted as though it is, shame) when I archive it.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Re: Wittenberg Days
Verse: intense emotion, elevated thought, fancy, imagination, formality, calculation, precision
Prose: reason, practicality, wit, vulgarity, informality, rambling thought
However, there are many exceptions, and it's often best to trust your intuition. I've read that Hamlet tends to use verse when he's meditative or alone, and prose when he's performing his madness for others. This sounds right, but I haven't gone through the play to check it.
Again, I think you've done a fine job with the language. I've never really sat down with a guide to Elizabethan grammar (I started reading Shakespeare at a very young age, so I have a natural inclination towards his language), but a quick Google search turned up this article (http://members.cox.net/hapnueby/language.html#grammar), which gives a good overview. Its intended audience is the historical reenactment set, so some its aim is showmanship as much as education - for example, it's not necessary to conjugate "run" as "runneth" for the 3rd person singular; "he runs" is perfectly all right. Still, it covers the basics in digestible bites.
My apologies for the rambling. I hope you can find something of use in it. :) Good luck with your revision!
Re: Wittenberg Days
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I always tend to think of Yuletide recs as an extra treat for the authors as well as a guide for others (because taste in fic is such an individual thing), but it's nice to know people are using them for their original purpose too.
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