The Three of Swords Sequence by Dorian Gray (R)
Fandom: YAMI NO MATSUEI
Pairing: Hisoka/Tsuzuki, Hisoka/Muraki, Muraki/Tsuzuki
Length: about 3700 words, in 11 related pieces
Author on LJ: b_hallward
Author Website: ghost_of_banquo
Why this must be read:
If you've ever encountered any of Dorian's work, you'll already know that she is one of the best writers to grace any fandom that's lucky enough to attract her notice. Which is a good thing for me, since it makes this, my final rec of the month, merely difficult to write up, rather than impossible.
Dorian says of this piece -- and it is a single piece, just as an atom is a single bit of matter for all the subatomic particles that comprise it -- I have managed to destroy Tsuzuki, storm the heavens and burn Meifu to the ground in just under 3700 words. As that implies, this is an epic and a tragedy; it is much bigger on the inside than on the outside. The structure of the piece cuts away everything that is nonessential, and holds everything that is essential bound together in perfect, terrifying balance.
I have an (amateur, wholly untested) hypothesis that one of the things we're beginning to see in fanfic is the emergence of a genuine new literary form, one that uses a reader's familiarity with a given canon to achieve effects not possible with the novel, the conventional short story, or the formally-accepted structures of poetry. If that has any validity, then "The Three of Swords Variations" is the most perfect example of the new form that I know: astonishing in the amount of sheer storytelling packed into these 3700 words, in the virtuosity with which the author has used the tools the form puts at her disposal, and in the understated austere beauty of every line.
This isn't exactly what I think most people have in mind when they talk about comfort reading. Its effects rely on its audience being willing to read every word, and to pay attention to all the references, and perhaps even to google things you think might be references. (Dorian is a writer who'll reference Propertius and let you figure it out for yourself.) And it will be worth it, every moment of it; those references aren't mere gilding, the writer flashing peacock feathers at you. Every one of them is structural, adding to the weave of meaning.
There's a reason I've saved this one for last. This is art; it doesn't get any better.
And that makes a neat segue into the necessary disclaimer, which is that "The Three of Swords Variations" can be thought of as a remix of pieces of my own. All I can say -- and I have said it often enough elsewhere, and meant it -- is that to the extent that is true, I think that having in any way contributed to the writing of this story is more than I could ever have hoped to accomplish by my presence in fandom. If YnM were a full-time crack_van fandom I'd leave this to the next reccer for appearance's sake. But it isn't, and it would make a mockery of the whole concept of this community to leave this piece unrecced.
The Three of Swords Variations (index, with links and useful author's notes)
Individual links:
Useless as Next Morning's Sun
for lo, the rebel spheres spin round
with venomed tooth
A Deep So Profound
A Pit With Heaven Over It
Round Earth's Imagined Corners
Oubliette
Osiris (All in Pieces)
Yet Still 'Tis Just
Apotheosis
Of Angels Watching Round
And one bonus, from a universe next door to this one:
Aftermath
Pairing: Hisoka/Tsuzuki, Hisoka/Muraki, Muraki/Tsuzuki
Length: about 3700 words, in 11 related pieces
Author on LJ: b_hallward
Author Website: ghost_of_banquo
Why this must be read:
If you've ever encountered any of Dorian's work, you'll already know that she is one of the best writers to grace any fandom that's lucky enough to attract her notice. Which is a good thing for me, since it makes this, my final rec of the month, merely difficult to write up, rather than impossible.
Dorian says of this piece -- and it is a single piece, just as an atom is a single bit of matter for all the subatomic particles that comprise it -- I have managed to destroy Tsuzuki, storm the heavens and burn Meifu to the ground in just under 3700 words. As that implies, this is an epic and a tragedy; it is much bigger on the inside than on the outside. The structure of the piece cuts away everything that is nonessential, and holds everything that is essential bound together in perfect, terrifying balance.
I have an (amateur, wholly untested) hypothesis that one of the things we're beginning to see in fanfic is the emergence of a genuine new literary form, one that uses a reader's familiarity with a given canon to achieve effects not possible with the novel, the conventional short story, or the formally-accepted structures of poetry. If that has any validity, then "The Three of Swords Variations" is the most perfect example of the new form that I know: astonishing in the amount of sheer storytelling packed into these 3700 words, in the virtuosity with which the author has used the tools the form puts at her disposal, and in the understated austere beauty of every line.
This isn't exactly what I think most people have in mind when they talk about comfort reading. Its effects rely on its audience being willing to read every word, and to pay attention to all the references, and perhaps even to google things you think might be references. (Dorian is a writer who'll reference Propertius and let you figure it out for yourself.) And it will be worth it, every moment of it; those references aren't mere gilding, the writer flashing peacock feathers at you. Every one of them is structural, adding to the weave of meaning.
There's a reason I've saved this one for last. This is art; it doesn't get any better.
And that makes a neat segue into the necessary disclaimer, which is that "The Three of Swords Variations" can be thought of as a remix of pieces of my own. All I can say -- and I have said it often enough elsewhere, and meant it -- is that to the extent that is true, I think that having in any way contributed to the writing of this story is more than I could ever have hoped to accomplish by my presence in fandom. If YnM were a full-time crack_van fandom I'd leave this to the next reccer for appearance's sake. But it isn't, and it would make a mockery of the whole concept of this community to leave this piece unrecced.
The Three of Swords Variations (index, with links and useful author's notes)
Individual links:
Useless as Next Morning's Sun
for lo, the rebel spheres spin round
with venomed tooth
A Deep So Profound
A Pit With Heaven Over It
Round Earth's Imagined Corners
Oubliette
Osiris (All in Pieces)
Yet Still 'Tis Just
Apotheosis
Of Angels Watching Round
And one bonus, from a universe next door to this one:
Aftermath