Yuletide recs I -- All in the mind?
I've finally finished my Yuletide 2012 recs set -- if I get a move on, I might just manage to squeeze in posting them before sign-ups open for 2013! This narrowly beats last year to the largest-set-ever title, and I've decided to post them in themes again.
The first theme, 'All in the mind?', deals with mental disturbances & madness, and the edge between manifestations of the supernatural & mental disturbance.
Aubrey-Maturin series
On Solitude by Toft
'It was undoubtedly the fish that caused the thing, an ill-looking, mumchance creature served to them at a roadside tavern on the way to Portsmouth.' I don't often recommend accidental telepathic bond fic, but in Toft's capable hands the story deftly skirts cliché, always remains true to character & period, and slips effortlessly between comedy & profundity. Simply wonderful!
Dracula
The Last Days of Dr Seward by Hedge Witch
'...I walk distractedly from the Prinsengracht to Dam square shuddering every time I catch sight of my reflection, twisted and elongated by the canals. What seeps through into them from the surrounding mud? All that lies in the earth is fixed, but if it reaches the water, might it not bob up?' Hedge Witch builds a powerful sense of dread in this dark, ambiguous coda to the novel
Regeneration trilogy
Cum Mortuis in Lingua Mortua by Gileonnen
'The taper smacked of pretence, either the high-church ceremonial sort or the pentagram tomfoolery of a Bennett or a Crowley. / These things had a form to them, though, and a military man knew that forms had to be followed.' Precisely observed details anchor this quiet tale of the supernatural and add to its power. Bittersweet & beautifully written
Scarlet Pimpernel
All the Worlds by RecessiveJean
'The wondrous thing boasted carvings of an extraordinary nature all around its basin, figures of mighty lions and sly, wicked gods and many manners of like wonder, all of which travelled the circumference of the great pool in postures of play and war.' I don't know Scarlet Pimpernel well, but this dark tale of dissolution into madness works perfectly as a crossover, warning of the dangers of setting foot in other worlds (Scarlet Pimpernel/The Magician's Nephew)
The Stand
My Soul to Keep by Maidenjedi
'Everyone is a little bit corrupt, he's found, a little bit naughty inside. And secrets lie behind doors of all kinds, mahogany or framed screen doors, whitewashed doors and barely-hanging-on-the-hinges doors.' Randall Flagg makes a suitably disturbing narrator in this brief prequel to The Stand
Crossposted from Dreamwidth (with
replies). Reply wherever you prefer
The first theme, 'All in the mind?', deals with mental disturbances & madness, and the edge between manifestations of the supernatural & mental disturbance.
Aubrey-Maturin series
On Solitude by Toft
'It was undoubtedly the fish that caused the thing, an ill-looking, mumchance creature served to them at a roadside tavern on the way to Portsmouth.' I don't often recommend accidental telepathic bond fic, but in Toft's capable hands the story deftly skirts cliché, always remains true to character & period, and slips effortlessly between comedy & profundity. Simply wonderful!
Dracula
The Last Days of Dr Seward by Hedge Witch
'...I walk distractedly from the Prinsengracht to Dam square shuddering every time I catch sight of my reflection, twisted and elongated by the canals. What seeps through into them from the surrounding mud? All that lies in the earth is fixed, but if it reaches the water, might it not bob up?' Hedge Witch builds a powerful sense of dread in this dark, ambiguous coda to the novel
Regeneration trilogy
Cum Mortuis in Lingua Mortua by Gileonnen
'The taper smacked of pretence, either the high-church ceremonial sort or the pentagram tomfoolery of a Bennett or a Crowley. / These things had a form to them, though, and a military man knew that forms had to be followed.' Precisely observed details anchor this quiet tale of the supernatural and add to its power. Bittersweet & beautifully written
Scarlet Pimpernel
All the Worlds by RecessiveJean
'The wondrous thing boasted carvings of an extraordinary nature all around its basin, figures of mighty lions and sly, wicked gods and many manners of like wonder, all of which travelled the circumference of the great pool in postures of play and war.' I don't know Scarlet Pimpernel well, but this dark tale of dissolution into madness works perfectly as a crossover, warning of the dangers of setting foot in other worlds (Scarlet Pimpernel/The Magician's Nephew)
The Stand
My Soul to Keep by Maidenjedi
'Everyone is a little bit corrupt, he's found, a little bit naughty inside. And secrets lie behind doors of all kinds, mahogany or framed screen doors, whitewashed doors and barely-hanging-on-the-hinges doors.' Randall Flagg makes a suitably disturbing narrator in this brief prequel to The Stand
Crossposted from Dreamwidth (with
replies). Reply wherever you prefer