Itty-Bitty Meta Fest #2
Which was due in December, but oh well.
Topic:
Fics that use religion well.
My itty-bitty meta thoughts on this are: broad-minded religion (not making fun of/denigrating other religions), specificity (the little details make it feel real), and struggles within your own religion (show us that your religion isn't perfect).
But this is really a recs post, so...
PUSH (11366 words) by tree_and_leaf
Chapters: 2/2
Fandom: Harry Potter - Rowling
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Hermione Granger, Minerva McGonagall, Ginny Weasley, OCs
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Religion, Anglo-Catholicism, religious angst, evangelicals, Moral Dilemmas, culture clash
Summary:
Amy thinks magic is evil. So the Hogwarts letter is a bit of a nasty surprise... A story about faith, doubts, and growing pains.
I've recced this story before, so I'm going to cheat and just copy what I say on my bookmark text on the AO3: "A conservative, Evangelical Christian girl has Harry Potter magic. She's going to convert all of Hogwarts and have them repent of their sorcery (or possibly be stoned to death). But there are other devout religious people at Hogwarts, and they see things a bit differently...
It's funny and sympathetic, if a bit of Church of England-centric. Lovely."
Another thing I love about it is that it shows a diversity of opinions within a religion--that "Christian" or "Muslim" or "Baha'i" is not a monolith. That should probably be another thing on the list of what I look for in fics that handle religion well.
*
Double Bind (47822 words) by blue_spruce
Chapters: 2/2
Fandom: Hockey RPF
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Patrick Kane/Jonathan Toews, minor tyler seguin/jamie benn, jonathan toews/OC
Characters: Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Tyler Seguin
Additional Tags: OCs - Freeform, Religion, Christianity, Angst, Internalized Homophobia, mild/moderate depression, Closeted Character, dysfunctional family relationships, Found Families
Summary:
Sometimes Patrick is afraid that he's going to lose his faith completely. The thought makes him feel hollow inside, like he might float away with the lightest breeze; like his heart is attached to a kite and no one's holding the string.
[For the Man Advantage prompt: Pat Kane is a priest with a past he'd rather leave behind, and moves to a new parish to get a fresh start. Unfortunately, his new neighbour, Jonny Toews, isn't going to make his future any less complicated.]
One of the most bizarre compliments I can give, this fic was incredibly triggery for me. (This is the problem with having trauma responses to things you are intellectually and emotionally very interested in.) As someone who was part of a very conservative Evangelical semi-cult in college, the internalized homophobia, the incredibly misogynistic authoritarian church environment, the feeling of certainty that you know The Truth (and the feeling that you're going to die because The Truth doesn't have room for you) all felt perfectly, vividly real. I'm glad that the second part of this story is about hope, and more liberal Christianity, and how you get from spiritually abusive fucked-up place to being able to trust God, or people, or something again. But if you have spiritual abuse triggers, be very careful with Part 1--it did quite honestly give me a big meltdown, and the author herself has talked about having put herself in a very bad place trying to write about stuff she was struggling to come to terms with.
*
To the One I've Sinned Against (20802 words) by Dira Sudis
Chapters: 5/5
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America (Movies)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Characters: James "Bucky" Barnes, Steve Rogers
Additional Tags: Catholic, Priests, Confessions, Kneeling
Summary:
He knelt, touched his fingers to forehead, chest, left shoulder, right, and said more words than the soldier could ever remember speaking together.
They came in a well-worn fluent rush, easier than any post-mission report: "Bless me Father, for I have sinned. It has been a long time since my last confession."
The way this fic handles the sacrament of Reconciliation--the familiarity of ritual, the little deviations, the doing it over and over again until you've got what you need--is perfect.
*
And finally, a set of recs like this wouldn't be complete without a well-told story of the conflict with religion and one's own sense of what's right and true in the world that leads in the end to not believing.
All The Angels and The Saints (48740 words) by Speranza
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Additional Tags: Socialism, Science Fiction, Atheism, Roman Catholicism, Blasphemy, World War II, end of the line, Steve Rogers' Whole Life, St. Michael's Muscled Arms, Greenwich Village Is Full of Freaks
Summary:
In which Steve Rogers loses God and finds God and loses God, and also: Bucky.
All the things Steve Rogers trips up over in here--both in needing to believe, and needing not to believe--and the way his journey of faith (or lack thereof) and understanding of the world are quite cyclical feel very believable and messy and human and real.
(
comments at Dreamwidth. Comment there.)
Topic:
Fics that use religion well.
My itty-bitty meta thoughts on this are: broad-minded religion (not making fun of/denigrating other religions), specificity (the little details make it feel real), and struggles within your own religion (show us that your religion isn't perfect).
But this is really a recs post, so...
PUSH (11366 words) by tree_and_leaf
Chapters: 2/2
Fandom: Harry Potter - Rowling
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Hermione Granger, Minerva McGonagall, Ginny Weasley, OCs
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Religion, Anglo-Catholicism, religious angst, evangelicals, Moral Dilemmas, culture clash
Summary:
Amy thinks magic is evil. So the Hogwarts letter is a bit of a nasty surprise... A story about faith, doubts, and growing pains.
I've recced this story before, so I'm going to cheat and just copy what I say on my bookmark text on the AO3: "A conservative, Evangelical Christian girl has Harry Potter magic. She's going to convert all of Hogwarts and have them repent of their sorcery (or possibly be stoned to death). But there are other devout religious people at Hogwarts, and they see things a bit differently...
It's funny and sympathetic, if a bit of Church of England-centric. Lovely."
Another thing I love about it is that it shows a diversity of opinions within a religion--that "Christian" or "Muslim" or "Baha'i" is not a monolith. That should probably be another thing on the list of what I look for in fics that handle religion well.
*
Double Bind (47822 words) by blue_spruce
Chapters: 2/2
Fandom: Hockey RPF
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Patrick Kane/Jonathan Toews, minor tyler seguin/jamie benn, jonathan toews/OC
Characters: Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Tyler Seguin
Additional Tags: OCs - Freeform, Religion, Christianity, Angst, Internalized Homophobia, mild/moderate depression, Closeted Character, dysfunctional family relationships, Found Families
Summary:
Sometimes Patrick is afraid that he's going to lose his faith completely. The thought makes him feel hollow inside, like he might float away with the lightest breeze; like his heart is attached to a kite and no one's holding the string.
[For the Man Advantage prompt: Pat Kane is a priest with a past he'd rather leave behind, and moves to a new parish to get a fresh start. Unfortunately, his new neighbour, Jonny Toews, isn't going to make his future any less complicated.]
One of the most bizarre compliments I can give, this fic was incredibly triggery for me. (This is the problem with having trauma responses to things you are intellectually and emotionally very interested in.) As someone who was part of a very conservative Evangelical semi-cult in college, the internalized homophobia, the incredibly misogynistic authoritarian church environment, the feeling of certainty that you know The Truth (and the feeling that you're going to die because The Truth doesn't have room for you) all felt perfectly, vividly real. I'm glad that the second part of this story is about hope, and more liberal Christianity, and how you get from spiritually abusive fucked-up place to being able to trust God, or people, or something again. But if you have spiritual abuse triggers, be very careful with Part 1--it did quite honestly give me a big meltdown, and the author herself has talked about having put herself in a very bad place trying to write about stuff she was struggling to come to terms with.
*
To the One I've Sinned Against (20802 words) by Dira Sudis
Chapters: 5/5
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America (Movies)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Characters: James "Bucky" Barnes, Steve Rogers
Additional Tags: Catholic, Priests, Confessions, Kneeling
Summary:
He knelt, touched his fingers to forehead, chest, left shoulder, right, and said more words than the soldier could ever remember speaking together.
They came in a well-worn fluent rush, easier than any post-mission report: "Bless me Father, for I have sinned. It has been a long time since my last confession."
The way this fic handles the sacrament of Reconciliation--the familiarity of ritual, the little deviations, the doing it over and over again until you've got what you need--is perfect.
*
And finally, a set of recs like this wouldn't be complete without a well-told story of the conflict with religion and one's own sense of what's right and true in the world that leads in the end to not believing.
All The Angels and The Saints (48740 words) by Speranza
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Additional Tags: Socialism, Science Fiction, Atheism, Roman Catholicism, Blasphemy, World War II, end of the line, Steve Rogers' Whole Life, St. Michael's Muscled Arms, Greenwich Village Is Full of Freaks
Summary:
In which Steve Rogers loses God and finds God and loses God, and also: Bucky.
All the things Steve Rogers trips up over in here--both in needing to believe, and needing not to believe--and the way his journey of faith (or lack thereof) and understanding of the world are quite cyclical feel very believable and messy and human and real.
(
comments at Dreamwidth. Comment there.)