Yuletide Recs S-Z
Dec. 30th, 2010 11:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rosie_ruesSo, I haven't got very far with my traditional reading from the end of the archive, probably because there's just so much good fic there. Here are a few favourites, including Yuletide Madness as well as the main archive.
The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Dress Maketh the Man - cross-dressing and genderplay, witty and clever and very hot – perfect for the characters and a sheer delight to read.
Spirited Away | Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi
Along The Way - Chihiro growing up, and how an awareness of something more to the world shapes her life. This is utterly beautiful, and it takes what the film shows us and expands out into an entire life. Also, it's written in second person done well. Gorgeous.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
The Knight of the Star - this is absolutely epic – almost 20000 words retelling the poem, focussing on the missing year Gawain spent preparing to meet the Green Knight and fleshing out Gawain and his family. There's nothing clever-clever or experimental here, just plain old-fashioned good-quality storytelling and it's superbly done.
The Sopranos – Alan Warner
Forth Let the Sopranos Roam - Sopranos fic! Kay and Fionnula as time passes. I always wanted these two to have a future and this fic gives it to them.
Spindle's End – Robin McKinley
Ply, Skein and Twist - Peony, after the book, and wonderful. It's all about her growing into the role she's been given and finding a family.
Six Swans
The Six Swans - short and powerful - Li Zongying doesn't believe her youngest brother, when he tells her that their new stepmother is a witch. She will come to regret this.
Swallows and Amazons
The Origins of the Momentous Naval Career of R. Nathaniel Turner - this left me giggling. Swallows and Amazons epistolary fic in which Nancy has a plan and everyone else panics and then jumps in to help.
Tortall
There's a lot of good Tortall fic this year and a lot of it is old-school Song of the Lioness era stuff (still, and always, closest to my heart). These were just a few I liked.
Never Too Old For Legends - cute little snippet about Alanna getting older.
Finds but riddling shrift - another snippet, this time about George and young Numair. A missing piece, and one which shows the characters at their best.
Under the Willow Tree - Moonlight and Faithful. Moonlight and Faithful talking after the scene where Faithful shows up for the first time. Pure awesome ^_^
The Tough Guide to Fantasyland – Diana Wynne Jones
Seeking Dragons - Great fun, with a proper level-headed heroine of the best sort.
Twelfth Night
Sea Change - Viola and Sebastian, wearing each other's clothes and finding their own way through the world. Not many fics get the twininess of these two right, but this had just the right combination of struggle and balance.
With a Cunning Hand - modern mafia!au and brilliant (and this is coming from someone who usually loathes mafia!au). The narrator is the joy of this one – a long-suffering bodyguard with his wits about him, reflecting on the crazy that is Twelfth Night.
Ursula Vernon – works
Okay, if you don't recognise the artist's name, I strongly recommend that you go forth and familiarise yourself with the beautiful and the bonkers that make up her oeuvre. Once you've done that, read these...
A Gift of Direction - Terradha is only the shy radish stowaway on the Golden Colander – how, even when she becomes navigator, could she hope for anything more than brotherly respect from brave Captain Sam, the Golden Samphire?
documents gathered during the canonization inquiry for St Azul - Saint Azul is the patron saint of gardeners, especially those who plant bulbs, and this is a perfectly odd collection pertaining to his acts.
The city will sleep - for this one, you probably need to have read enough to know who Eland and Heinrich are, but it's an eerie and beautiful account of how Gearworld came to be and I adore it.
Pears in Peril, Pears in Peace - A day in the life of a bighorn pear: in which Herd Leader senses a predator, Quick Leaper tells a story, and a little one learns a lesson. - seriously, I don't need to do more than quote the summary, right?
Okay, so I just recced almost every fic in this category. How could I not, when they're all so good and the canon is so damn awesome?
Valdemar – Mercedes Lackey
Okay, so there was this awesome prompt for dark!Valdemar that I almost wrote, but didn't think I could do justice to in the time. Luckily, lots of other people did tackle it. Oh, if ever there was a fandom that needed to be twisted, it was this one (possibly I'm biased here, because just as I hit the worst throes of my yuletide writing, my muse decided to shower me with Valdemar/Supernatural crossover bunnies of doom, so I was really, really ready for something evil).
Errors in Judgement - a gentle one to start. Sometimes a Companion Chooses someone who's fucked up beyond their ability to heal and someone has to deal with the mess. Great cranky Herald protagonist here.
how many will the Heralds take - very creepy, this one, with a tangible fear of these creatures who steal people away from their homes and families.
One True Way - where Companions don't just choose, they also Judge, and not all are worthy. Arrows AU.
Young Wizards
Wizards in Winter - highly entertaining crossover in which Kit and Nita end up in Gotham.
The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Dress Maketh the Man - cross-dressing and genderplay, witty and clever and very hot – perfect for the characters and a sheer delight to read.
Spirited Away | Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi
Along The Way - Chihiro growing up, and how an awareness of something more to the world shapes her life. This is utterly beautiful, and it takes what the film shows us and expands out into an entire life. Also, it's written in second person done well. Gorgeous.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
The Knight of the Star - this is absolutely epic – almost 20000 words retelling the poem, focussing on the missing year Gawain spent preparing to meet the Green Knight and fleshing out Gawain and his family. There's nothing clever-clever or experimental here, just plain old-fashioned good-quality storytelling and it's superbly done.
The Sopranos – Alan Warner
Forth Let the Sopranos Roam - Sopranos fic! Kay and Fionnula as time passes. I always wanted these two to have a future and this fic gives it to them.
Spindle's End – Robin McKinley
Ply, Skein and Twist - Peony, after the book, and wonderful. It's all about her growing into the role she's been given and finding a family.
Six Swans
The Six Swans - short and powerful - Li Zongying doesn't believe her youngest brother, when he tells her that their new stepmother is a witch. She will come to regret this.
Swallows and Amazons
The Origins of the Momentous Naval Career of R. Nathaniel Turner - this left me giggling. Swallows and Amazons epistolary fic in which Nancy has a plan and everyone else panics and then jumps in to help.
Tortall
There's a lot of good Tortall fic this year and a lot of it is old-school Song of the Lioness era stuff (still, and always, closest to my heart). These were just a few I liked.
Never Too Old For Legends - cute little snippet about Alanna getting older.
Finds but riddling shrift - another snippet, this time about George and young Numair. A missing piece, and one which shows the characters at their best.
Under the Willow Tree - Moonlight and Faithful. Moonlight and Faithful talking after the scene where Faithful shows up for the first time. Pure awesome ^_^
The Tough Guide to Fantasyland – Diana Wynne Jones
Seeking Dragons - Great fun, with a proper level-headed heroine of the best sort.
Twelfth Night
Sea Change - Viola and Sebastian, wearing each other's clothes and finding their own way through the world. Not many fics get the twininess of these two right, but this had just the right combination of struggle and balance.
With a Cunning Hand - modern mafia!au and brilliant (and this is coming from someone who usually loathes mafia!au). The narrator is the joy of this one – a long-suffering bodyguard with his wits about him, reflecting on the crazy that is Twelfth Night.
Ursula Vernon – works
Okay, if you don't recognise the artist's name, I strongly recommend that you go forth and familiarise yourself with the beautiful and the bonkers that make up her oeuvre. Once you've done that, read these...
A Gift of Direction - Terradha is only the shy radish stowaway on the Golden Colander – how, even when she becomes navigator, could she hope for anything more than brotherly respect from brave Captain Sam, the Golden Samphire?
documents gathered during the canonization inquiry for St Azul - Saint Azul is the patron saint of gardeners, especially those who plant bulbs, and this is a perfectly odd collection pertaining to his acts.
The city will sleep - for this one, you probably need to have read enough to know who Eland and Heinrich are, but it's an eerie and beautiful account of how Gearworld came to be and I adore it.
Pears in Peril, Pears in Peace - A day in the life of a bighorn pear: in which Herd Leader senses a predator, Quick Leaper tells a story, and a little one learns a lesson. - seriously, I don't need to do more than quote the summary, right?
Okay, so I just recced almost every fic in this category. How could I not, when they're all so good and the canon is so damn awesome?
Valdemar – Mercedes Lackey
Okay, so there was this awesome prompt for dark!Valdemar that I almost wrote, but didn't think I could do justice to in the time. Luckily, lots of other people did tackle it. Oh, if ever there was a fandom that needed to be twisted, it was this one (possibly I'm biased here, because just as I hit the worst throes of my yuletide writing, my muse decided to shower me with Valdemar/Supernatural crossover bunnies of doom, so I was really, really ready for something evil).
Errors in Judgement - a gentle one to start. Sometimes a Companion Chooses someone who's fucked up beyond their ability to heal and someone has to deal with the mess. Great cranky Herald protagonist here.
how many will the Heralds take - very creepy, this one, with a tangible fear of these creatures who steal people away from their homes and families.
One True Way - where Companions don't just choose, they also Judge, and not all are worthy. Arrows AU.
Young Wizards
Wizards in Winter - highly entertaining crossover in which Kit and Nita end up in Gotham.