Lit recs
A predominantly female-centric batch including Sutcliff Swap 2014 & Rare Women 2014.
JRR Tolkien
As the Storm and the Lightning, by Elizabeth Culmer
'She ends the war.' A masterclass in what can be done with an age-old premise & three sentences
River-Mother and River-Daughter, by Zdenka
'For the most part, the rivers were content to sing, to reflect the world around them, and to seek the great sea in a slow winding course. But in a shadowy glade green with moss and great ferns - though there were no flowers yet - a young streamlet more curious than the others splashed out of her bed and tried to follow her.' An origin story for Goldberry. Unusual & memorable, with a perfect ending
Rosemary Sutcliff
Born in the Purple, by Bunn
'Anna's mother, the Empress Theophano, had screamed, at the end. Anna remembered it vividly. Sometimes it came back to her in dreams. Mother had screamed and ranted and sworn, like the tavern-keeper's daughter she was, at Patriarch Polyeuktos, at the Patriarchs solemn, ugly nuns, at the new Emperor, John Tzimiskes.' Rich world-building and a wonderful voice for Anna, tough, clever, yet ultimately realistic about the choices for a princess make this short story a real treat (Blood Feud)
Sons From the Sea, by Isis
'One afternoon on the beach he found a stone that was a deep and lustrous orange-red, the color of the anemones that had carpeted the hillsides near his father's house. It had been polished by the waves to a smooth round shape that fit just inside his palm, comforting in its weight.' An enjoyable happy-ending AU in which Jason survives, with a strong structure enlivened by colourful details (Outcast)
A Siren Call, by Riventhorn
'The Aquila family has a proud heritage of British and Roman blood, as many of our families do. Certainly I should like to see the fortunes of our land raised and suitable honor accorded to us-honor that cannot come when one is treated as the backwater of the empire, a dull and barbarous place that must accept the dregs of the senate chambers and barracks.' Three excellent Honoria stories were written in the 2014
sutcliff_swap. 'A Siren Call' is perhaps my favourite for its proud, brusque Honoria, its friendships between women, and its window into a part of Romano-British history that Sutcliff never gave us (The Silver Branch)
Crossposted from Dreamwidth (with
replies). Reply wherever you prefer
JRR Tolkien
As the Storm and the Lightning, by Elizabeth Culmer
'She ends the war.' A masterclass in what can be done with an age-old premise & three sentences
River-Mother and River-Daughter, by Zdenka
'For the most part, the rivers were content to sing, to reflect the world around them, and to seek the great sea in a slow winding course. But in a shadowy glade green with moss and great ferns - though there were no flowers yet - a young streamlet more curious than the others splashed out of her bed and tried to follow her.' An origin story for Goldberry. Unusual & memorable, with a perfect ending
Rosemary Sutcliff
Born in the Purple, by Bunn
'Anna's mother, the Empress Theophano, had screamed, at the end. Anna remembered it vividly. Sometimes it came back to her in dreams. Mother had screamed and ranted and sworn, like the tavern-keeper's daughter she was, at Patriarch Polyeuktos, at the Patriarchs solemn, ugly nuns, at the new Emperor, John Tzimiskes.' Rich world-building and a wonderful voice for Anna, tough, clever, yet ultimately realistic about the choices for a princess make this short story a real treat (Blood Feud)
Sons From the Sea, by Isis
'One afternoon on the beach he found a stone that was a deep and lustrous orange-red, the color of the anemones that had carpeted the hillsides near his father's house. It had been polished by the waves to a smooth round shape that fit just inside his palm, comforting in its weight.' An enjoyable happy-ending AU in which Jason survives, with a strong structure enlivened by colourful details (Outcast)
A Siren Call, by Riventhorn
'The Aquila family has a proud heritage of British and Roman blood, as many of our families do. Certainly I should like to see the fortunes of our land raised and suitable honor accorded to us-honor that cannot come when one is treated as the backwater of the empire, a dull and barbarous place that must accept the dregs of the senate chambers and barracks.' Three excellent Honoria stories were written in the 2014
sutcliff_swap. 'A Siren Call' is perhaps my favourite for its proud, brusque Honoria, its friendships between women, and its window into a part of Romano-British history that Sutcliff never gave us (The Silver Branch)
Crossposted from Dreamwidth (with
replies). Reply wherever you prefer