Old, New, Borrowed, Blue
Really, it's just the old and the new, but the rest just fell in place, didn't it?
The New: It's been a very Sparrington morning.
1. The Frontier of the Skin, a short, intense moment of post-coital redefinition of boundaries, brought taut with dissatisfaction and compromise, courtesy of _cee.
2. mimesere's latest (successful) attempt to utterly disgrace me at work by rendering me flailingly, swooningly, gigglingly incoherent with delight at the perfection of her Jack writing and her Jack simultaneously respecting and disrespecting Norrington, and her Jack pushing and prodding and Norrington swiping lazily back. It's two cats in the sunshine, claws and purr and all, and I love it. Everyone should read it.
The Old: Brenda posted that "Classic Lotrips" meme. I'm feeling nostalgic. So I go back...
The first fic I read (or, how I learned to stop worrying and love the mantouching):
The honour goes mainly to megolas, who introduced me to the fandom. But the fic-honour goes equally to Calico's Blood Oranges and Zarah's Flash series.
Both of those were in progress when I joined the fandom (what... March/April 2002? - though Blood Oranges is still in progress, making it the longest WIP ever, time-wise *G*). The need to find out what happened next was directly responsible for pulling me into the fandom. What I really like about both of them, looking back now, is that it's young Orlando. NZ Orlando, with his uncertainties and all. Also young in terms of "that was how we wrote him then".
So here we go: Dee's Classic Fics (borrowing heavily from last year's Top Ten of All Time, where appropriate)
1. Blood Oranges by Calico. Viggo/Orlando. Brilliant and classic for the original Viggorli dynamic - endlessly overdone, but still vibrantly fresh here - the amazing sensuous luscious detail, the character of it all, the touchy prickle of the story and Orlando's determination.
2. Flash by Zarah. Viggo/Orlando. Endless joy for the original larrikin fellowship fun of the boys and the quiet, grit mystique of Viggo.
3. Fucked by Buffett. Orlijah, sort of. Because this is the Lotrips angst, people. It's it. True, Dale and Wax did some specky things, but this is where it started in truth, I think. It's almost slow in pace, because it's mapping things out for starters, blazing trails that the rest of us rampaged along and extended and took for granted, but it's intense, it's beautiful, it's pure gold.
4. Masterclass by Gloria Mundi. Hugo/Orlando. I was gleefully rampaging through the lot of Gloria's fics the moment she came to my attention (I think by giving me nice feedback) and her Not A Love Song series not only firmed up the (not terribly shaky) banks of my Viggorli love, but also brought Leftfield's "Open Up" to my attention, which was good, because I'd been trying to find out the name of that song for months. However, it was "Masterclass" that made me sit up and pay attention and go, "Oh, this girl is fabulously good." Because it is. It's clever and witty and playful and snarky and beautifully characterised and deliciously hot and crafted with finesse and skill.
5. In White by Wax Jism. Orlijah. Because this was definitely one of the first stories I ever read, and though it didn't drag me into fandom on its own (it took Viggo to do that), it intrigued me. But I guess Elijah in a wedding dress will do that. (And if that doesn't, the hot boyish boy-touching will.
6. Chrome by Gabby Hope. D'Or. Way back in the first halcyon days of the Golden Boys, right? Or maybe it just feels that way, maybe I just have this association of this fic with me and Zarah waxing golden about Dom and Orlando. In any case, it's a stunningly fabulous story and I have a long-running fascination with it. Dom is such a well-drawn character, yet entirely unknown and unknowable to the gloriously twitchy and uncertain Orlando narrator. Some of the best of Gabby's writing, and she's a terribly talented girl.
7. Expensive Tastes, Far Off Thunder and Love Me, and Despair by Demelza. Dom/Viggo, Domlijah. Grit, malignant, inevitable and carved out in that faint touch of unpleasantness that I like so much in stories. Demelza had a huge influence on the style of my storytelling, and this series in particular.
8. Beer and Skittles by Doom's Eyebrow. Hugo/Orlando. The first thing I ever read of Belinda's, and it was brilliant and restless and a touch uncertain and all those other stunningly beautiful tremendous things that all her writing is, but at that time, it was wholly new and startling. (Not that Belinda's writing gets less startling with time, I think. It's part of her glory.) Transparent enough to show us the story, just enough opacity to keep everything edged with uncertainty. And deliciously real men.
9. Fate by Brenda. Karl/Orlando. It's an angsty, vague, atmospheric story of the type I like best, and I maintain this is probably one of the best things Brenda's ever written. This was my sort of story, whereas previously Brenda's huge name had been made with her "Welcome to the Playground" and "Fun and Games" epics, neither of which really floated my boat. In some way, I suspect, our close friendship as it is today stemmed from my delight over "Fate". Who knows? *G*
10. A Perfect Day by Lobelia. Dom/Orli, with lingering Dom/Billy. This, I am sure of it, started my Dom/Orli preference. Such a story, such beautiful boys, such beautiful sex, such beautiful uncertainty and rain and pain and flailing irresoluteness and then resolution. Lobelia's combination of lush and sparse caught me first and forever with this fic.
Oh, those beautiful days. Lotrips, I have loved you long time. *hugs the whole fandom*
The New: It's been a very Sparrington morning.
1. The Frontier of the Skin, a short, intense moment of post-coital redefinition of boundaries, brought taut with dissatisfaction and compromise, courtesy of _cee.
2. mimesere's latest (successful) attempt to utterly disgrace me at work by rendering me flailingly, swooningly, gigglingly incoherent with delight at the perfection of her Jack writing and her Jack simultaneously respecting and disrespecting Norrington, and her Jack pushing and prodding and Norrington swiping lazily back. It's two cats in the sunshine, claws and purr and all, and I love it. Everyone should read it.
The Old: Brenda posted that "Classic Lotrips" meme. I'm feeling nostalgic. So I go back...
The first fic I read (or, how I learned to stop worrying and love the mantouching):
The honour goes mainly to megolas, who introduced me to the fandom. But the fic-honour goes equally to Calico's Blood Oranges and Zarah's Flash series.
Both of those were in progress when I joined the fandom (what... March/April 2002? - though Blood Oranges is still in progress, making it the longest WIP ever, time-wise *G*). The need to find out what happened next was directly responsible for pulling me into the fandom. What I really like about both of them, looking back now, is that it's young Orlando. NZ Orlando, with his uncertainties and all. Also young in terms of "that was how we wrote him then".
So here we go: Dee's Classic Fics (borrowing heavily from last year's Top Ten of All Time, where appropriate)
1. Blood Oranges by Calico. Viggo/Orlando. Brilliant and classic for the original Viggorli dynamic - endlessly overdone, but still vibrantly fresh here - the amazing sensuous luscious detail, the character of it all, the touchy prickle of the story and Orlando's determination.
2. Flash by Zarah. Viggo/Orlando. Endless joy for the original larrikin fellowship fun of the boys and the quiet, grit mystique of Viggo.
3. Fucked by Buffett. Orlijah, sort of. Because this is the Lotrips angst, people. It's it. True, Dale and Wax did some specky things, but this is where it started in truth, I think. It's almost slow in pace, because it's mapping things out for starters, blazing trails that the rest of us rampaged along and extended and took for granted, but it's intense, it's beautiful, it's pure gold.
4. Masterclass by Gloria Mundi. Hugo/Orlando. I was gleefully rampaging through the lot of Gloria's fics the moment she came to my attention (I think by giving me nice feedback) and her Not A Love Song series not only firmed up the (not terribly shaky) banks of my Viggorli love, but also brought Leftfield's "Open Up" to my attention, which was good, because I'd been trying to find out the name of that song for months. However, it was "Masterclass" that made me sit up and pay attention and go, "Oh, this girl is fabulously good." Because it is. It's clever and witty and playful and snarky and beautifully characterised and deliciously hot and crafted with finesse and skill.
5. In White by Wax Jism. Orlijah. Because this was definitely one of the first stories I ever read, and though it didn't drag me into fandom on its own (it took Viggo to do that), it intrigued me. But I guess Elijah in a wedding dress will do that. (And if that doesn't, the hot boyish boy-touching will.
6. Chrome by Gabby Hope. D'Or. Way back in the first halcyon days of the Golden Boys, right? Or maybe it just feels that way, maybe I just have this association of this fic with me and Zarah waxing golden about Dom and Orlando. In any case, it's a stunningly fabulous story and I have a long-running fascination with it. Dom is such a well-drawn character, yet entirely unknown and unknowable to the gloriously twitchy and uncertain Orlando narrator. Some of the best of Gabby's writing, and she's a terribly talented girl.
7. Expensive Tastes, Far Off Thunder and Love Me, and Despair by Demelza. Dom/Viggo, Domlijah. Grit, malignant, inevitable and carved out in that faint touch of unpleasantness that I like so much in stories. Demelza had a huge influence on the style of my storytelling, and this series in particular.
8. Beer and Skittles by Doom's Eyebrow. Hugo/Orlando. The first thing I ever read of Belinda's, and it was brilliant and restless and a touch uncertain and all those other stunningly beautiful tremendous things that all her writing is, but at that time, it was wholly new and startling. (Not that Belinda's writing gets less startling with time, I think. It's part of her glory.) Transparent enough to show us the story, just enough opacity to keep everything edged with uncertainty. And deliciously real men.
9. Fate by Brenda. Karl/Orlando. It's an angsty, vague, atmospheric story of the type I like best, and I maintain this is probably one of the best things Brenda's ever written. This was my sort of story, whereas previously Brenda's huge name had been made with her "Welcome to the Playground" and "Fun and Games" epics, neither of which really floated my boat. In some way, I suspect, our close friendship as it is today stemmed from my delight over "Fate". Who knows? *G*
10. A Perfect Day by Lobelia. Dom/Orli, with lingering Dom/Billy. This, I am sure of it, started my Dom/Orli preference. Such a story, such beautiful boys, such beautiful sex, such beautiful uncertainty and rain and pain and flailing irresoluteness and then resolution. Lobelia's combination of lush and sparse caught me first and forever with this fic.
Oh, those beautiful days. Lotrips, I have loved you long time. *hugs the whole fandom*