What I Did on My Summer Vacation (oh, and some recs, too :-) )
Well, my daughter has gone back to school, which means (no matter what the calendar says about the timing of the autumnal equinox) that summer is officially over. And what a grand summer it was!
I did two things I've always wanted to do . . . it seems sort of ridiculous, now that I write them down, but I have always wanted to go caving and to learn how to *really* use a chef's knife. So I spent a week with a chiropterologist friend of mine rappelling into dark holes, squeezing through 9" wide gaps in limestone passages, wading through underground streams and helping her gather data on the white mold that is infecting and killing off a number of our native bats. My science is done exclusively at a lab bench, rather than in the field, so it was an exhilarating change. My husband (who is somewhat claustrophobic) thinks I'm barking, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat! He was much more enthusiastic about my second desire, which had me trekking no further than our local culinary school to take a class in knife handling. You aren't going to be seeing me on Iron Chef anytime soon, but I am no longer a danger to myself and others when chopping onions :-). I also spent a lot of time playing with my girl, getting my lab (and my mind) re-organized, working with my voice teacher and reading, reading, reading - both for work and for pleasure. I even did a bit of fic writing, which served only to convince me that I'm better off just reading :-P.
Right now, I am staring out my office window, and, instead of working on the fall seminar schedule or going over the proofs for our EMBO Reports paper (which need to go back to Germany by tomorrow), I am thinking about writing up some more recs for Know-It-Alls. I guess I'm not any more eager than my daughter to put my nose back to the grindstone. ::sigh::
I have been keeping my eye on quite a few sites and fic fests, and there have been some outstanding submissions. I've spent the last several evenings writing up reviews and posting them to KIA. There you will find the direct links to the fics I'm about to post in this space, as well as my rather long-winded recs. Here are the teasers - I hope there will be a few which interest you!
The best of the fests, BFS-Severus Shorts and HP_Beholder, were both truly embarrassments of riches. I feel so privileged to be the one who, I hope, will bring these stories the wider attention they deserve - they truly represent some of the best fan fiction I have ever read.
There were 5 from HP_Beholder, three of which were humor and two of which were dramas. In truth, a great majority of the stories posted to this fest were worth reading, but these (in the order in which I posted them) are the ones no one should miss (in my view):
1) The Problem with Memories by purplefluffycat . I will confess here that the primary pairing is one that is pretty much the opposite of 'appealling' for me. I have a rather intense dislike of Albus Dumbledore and Horace Slughorn isn't at all someone with whom I wished I could spend more time. It was only the Severus/Minerva background romance that lead me to read it, and I'm really glad I did, however embarrassing it was to acknowledge that my own pre-conceptions would have otherwise caused me to miss a really wonderful fic. The issues it tackles - body image, relationships in which one party feels inferior to the other in some way, the secrets we hide from those we care about - are insightfully and movingly written and well worth the time to read.
2) Witness by kellychambliss . This is an amazing piece of storytelling - one that leaves you thinking and marveling long after you've finished. I can't think of the last time I was so profoundly moved by an original character as I was by the protagonist of this tale. It's ingeniously told and, in spite of its open ending (or perhaps because of it), has a very satisfying finish.
3) The Conjugal State by atdelphi . I sometimes think that humor gets short shrift in the fan fic world. It can be just as hard to write something that moves the reader to genuine laughter as it is to write something which truly pulls at the heart with sorrow or anguish. I laughed my way through this inspired tale, in spite of a partner for Severus I would otherwise never have considered credible.
4) Haud Mais December by nimrod_9 . A very short (it *just* missed the word count cut off to be designated a ficlet rather than a short story), but perfectly characterized missing moment from The Half Blood Prince which gives us a glimpse into an established Severus/Minerva relationship, with dialog that's as witty and unsentimental (yet affectionate) as its protagonists.
5) A Small Touch of Luck byr_grayjoy . I found myself quite moved by another unlikely pairing for Severus in this lovely story. I mean, Flitwick? Come on! And yet, it works amazingly well in r_grayjoy's hands. She's created a Filius Flitwick who is in character yet delightfully so much more *real* than we ever get the chance to know in Canon. He's a perfect balance for Severus in this witty, unexpected romance.
The other fest in which nearly every entry was worth reading, BFS-Severus Shorts, is dedicated to celebrating our favorite potions master's birthday at different stages of his life. This fest produced 4 (four!!!!) truly masterful works of fiction, when one is lucky to find even one at most at your typical such gathering. I'm pleased to be able to rec 3 of these (the 4th, perverse_idyll 's No Room for the Weak, was posted by Kelly Chambliss soon after it appeared). All of these are now in my 'permanent keeper' file, about the highest honor I could bestow.
1) The Janus Rose by dickgloucester . I absolutely *loved* this story!!! It has a beautiful concept, beautifully written and beautifully characterized, and my admittedly soft heart had me weeping through most of it. Oh, and did I mention that it's beautiful?? And that I loved it?? And that it's obvious that I'm flailing because I can't come up with any better way to describe this?? Just read it and keep your tissues handy.
2) Masters and Friends by verus_janus . This is one of those fics that just strikes to the core. In a tour de force of economical prose, it reveals so much about Severus's relationship with Dumbledore *and* reasons which pulled him to join the Death Eaters in so few perfectly chosen words, that it just left me gasping with awe, the way one does at truth revealed.
3) A Rowan in Winter by duniazade . 'Every once in awhile there comes along a piece of fan fiction so transformative that you never look at the original in the same way again. This is one such for me.' This is how I started my review at KIA, and I still can't think of a better way to say it. In fact, while reviewing this, I felt very much in need of a thesaurus. I ran out of superlatives and found I was repeating myself, and *still* didn't feel as if I'd done it anything near justice. If you haven't read it, go do so. If you have, go read it again - it's the sort of fic you catch something new and breath-stealing from no matter how many times you read it.
Well, that's it for now. I still have about half a dozen others on my short list to rec, but it may be a week or two before I can get them up. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy these!