Femgen Fic Recs
Stories written for femgenficathon are, as a rule, of very high quality. I say that even though I am the mod. That said, this year a couple of the stories are so outstanding that I absolutely have to recommend them.
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
lls_mutant wrote Broken Skies, Broken Sunsets. Growing up, Dee loved romance novels. As she got older, she noticed that something was really off about them. (Dee [Anastasia Dualla], PG-13)
This is a story about stories--about the impact that they can have on us (even the books that are dismissed as "ONLY this or that genre"), what they tell us about the world, and how they shape our attitudes about other people and about ourselves. And it's also a story about othering, which this bit describes perfectly:
And that was what bothered her, she realized. So often in the novels, Sagittaron women were characteristics instead of characters, and then pushed to the side. It was indicative of how people really viewed Sagittarons, and the sort of shit that she'd come across in basic. No, not just in basic, she realized as she remembered how everyone at school at treated her for joining the military. Hate was hate, and it wasn't what Dee wanted to be reading.
I've never seen BSG, but I have to say that this is utterly fantastic. And Dee is a wonderful character that I'd never met before--strong, independent, determined, curious, bright and loyal.
Go read this. You need to.
HARRY POTTER
tetleythesecond wrote Witch Night, or How the Word 'Snitch' Entered Muggle German, Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. In a women's hotel somewhere in Berlin, two Muggles stumble across traces of a long-lost aunt. (Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank, Rolanda Hooch, PG-13)
This is a story that doesn't focus on Harry Potter, anyone from his generation, or anyone from the Marauders' generation. Instead, we're treated to the stories of two couples--Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank and Rolanda Hooch in Berlin in 1936, and Wilhelmina's Muggle grand-niece Vic and her lover Thea, both racketing about Germany in 1999. Yet the story isn't about romances or dates--it's about trying to find a place where and a person with whom you can truly be yourself, even in the most terrible of times. And it's also a voyage of discovery...because when Vic catches a glimpse of Wilhelmina--the great-aunt that she was always told was dead--in an old photo, she's immediately determined to find out as much as she can about the woman their family preferred to think of as dead. (She and Thea do a good job, too!)
Historically, it's brilliant--detailed without being didactic or dreary, and shot full of wicked humor. I'd never even thought of Grubbly-Plank as a character before, but she and Hooch are beyond compare.
My only regret is that I had to finish the story eventually. It's THAT good.
Go read it. And go read the other stories over at Femgen. Maybe you'll find a favorite that I haven't yet.
***
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
lls_mutant wrote Broken Skies, Broken Sunsets. Growing up, Dee loved romance novels. As she got older, she noticed that something was really off about them. (Dee [Anastasia Dualla], PG-13)
This is a story about stories--about the impact that they can have on us (even the books that are dismissed as "ONLY this or that genre"), what they tell us about the world, and how they shape our attitudes about other people and about ourselves. And it's also a story about othering, which this bit describes perfectly:
And that was what bothered her, she realized. So often in the novels, Sagittaron women were characteristics instead of characters, and then pushed to the side. It was indicative of how people really viewed Sagittarons, and the sort of shit that she'd come across in basic. No, not just in basic, she realized as she remembered how everyone at school at treated her for joining the military. Hate was hate, and it wasn't what Dee wanted to be reading.
I've never seen BSG, but I have to say that this is utterly fantastic. And Dee is a wonderful character that I'd never met before--strong, independent, determined, curious, bright and loyal.
Go read this. You need to.
HARRY POTTER
tetleythesecond wrote Witch Night, or How the Word 'Snitch' Entered Muggle German, Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. In a women's hotel somewhere in Berlin, two Muggles stumble across traces of a long-lost aunt. (Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank, Rolanda Hooch, PG-13)
This is a story that doesn't focus on Harry Potter, anyone from his generation, or anyone from the Marauders' generation. Instead, we're treated to the stories of two couples--Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank and Rolanda Hooch in Berlin in 1936, and Wilhelmina's Muggle grand-niece Vic and her lover Thea, both racketing about Germany in 1999. Yet the story isn't about romances or dates--it's about trying to find a place where and a person with whom you can truly be yourself, even in the most terrible of times. And it's also a voyage of discovery...because when Vic catches a glimpse of Wilhelmina--the great-aunt that she was always told was dead--in an old photo, she's immediately determined to find out as much as she can about the woman their family preferred to think of as dead. (She and Thea do a good job, too!)
Historically, it's brilliant--detailed without being didactic or dreary, and shot full of wicked humor. I'd never even thought of Grubbly-Plank as a character before, but she and Hooch are beyond compare.
My only regret is that I had to finish the story eventually. It's THAT good.
Go read it. And go read the other stories over at Femgen. Maybe you'll find a favorite that I haven't yet.
***