Yuletide Recs
This year I got four stories for Yuletide, and they were all wonderful.
First, Fresne's stories, which deserve all the love:
Servants of the Morrigan (5002 words) by fresne
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Macbeth - Shakespeare, Irish Mythology
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Additional Tags: Yuletide Treat, Yuletide, Ancient Celts, battle violence
Series: Part 1 of Triptych
Summary:
Three servants of the Morrigan were called. They consecrated battles to the Morrigan. They wielded the magic of the world. They tested the hero at the ford. They served until their service was done. Until their hero came for them.
Badb often thought about her hero.
Macbeth was no hero.
In which the witches are not just witches but mortal avatars of the Irish Triple Goddess, the Morrigan. The story is told from the point of view of Badb, a fierce and courageous avatar/prophetess who wants her inevitable death at the hands of a warrior to have meaning. Macbeth is not a man but a physically ill woman who longs for life and immortality and fame. Not bad things, but not the qualities of the godslaying hero that Babh craves.
***
Anniad (3257 words) by fresne
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Macbeth - Shakespeare, Carthaginian Mythology
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Additional Tags: Yuletide Treat, Yuletide 2015, Initial possibly distrubing scene
Series: Part 2 of Triptych
Summary:
Muses, let us now sing of the tale of poor people of Carthage, driven from their home by the attack of the Romans. Let us tell the tale of Anni, the daughter of Astarte, and the mother of Quetes, as she led her people from the ashes of her city to a new land.
Let us tell the tale of Macghbethain, who chose to take a mis-translation for a prophesy.
Let us tell of the gods, who do have a sense of humor.
In which the "witch" of the tale is Anni, a refugee queen from Carthage. If you're not familiar with Carthaginian myth or Virgil, don't worry, you don't have to be. If you're familiar with either and "refugee queen from Carthage" sounds like Dido from The Aeneid, you're right on the money. Anni is Dido as she would have been if she had not been shattered to the point of suicidal grief by the desertion of the man she loved. Anni fights for the people whom she brought with her, falls in love with the son of a Aquitanni chieftain, sidesteps a massacre, and is generally awesome--all while coping with Grandmother Astarte (the Phoenician goddess of love and war), her father Eros (the Greek god of love) and her mother, who is omniscient because she's dead. It's clever and funny and I love it to bits.
***
You Get What You Pay For (1600 words) by fresne
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Macbeth - Shakespeare
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Additional Tags: Distopian Future, Yuletide Treat, Yuletide
Series: Part 3 of Triptych
Summary:
Old Hecate said, "Let me refine on that. Why have you been sayin' ta Lord Macbeth, such that he n' his wife decided it would be a foine idea ta fill tha old king full a' stab wounds and blame it on some dead men."
The witches tried to look innocent. They were not entirely successful.
This takes place in a gloriously imaginative dystopian world where science and magic blend and intertwine. Old Hecate is the witch everyone comes to in order to solve their problems, while Moira, Anat and Barbary are both her daughter-apprentices and bloodthirsty rebel teens who want to see just how much they can do on their own. It's funny (as in "I couldn't stop grinning while I read it, and sometimes I even laughed out loud"), it's cracky and it's absolutely fantastic. I could read a book set in this world.
***
And then there's another fantastic crossover, this one by Mothallah and featuring a fandom I never would have thought of crossing with Macbeth:
Mystery at Corbett Place (2907 words) by Mothallah
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Edward Gorey's PBS Mystery Intro, Macbeth - Shakespeare
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: The Bald Inspector, The Blonde Partygoer, The Wailing Woman on the Roof, The Three Police Officers, Lady Macbeth, Macbeth, Witch (Macbeth), Murderers (Macbeth)
Additional Tags: Crossovers & Fandom Fusions
Summary:
My dear Mary,
I have just received the most exciting invitation, and, were you here, I am sure you would have been invited too. Although you might not have gone, parties being such frivolous things. (I am only teasing!)
"Col. Roy and Mrs. Cochran request your presence Thursday, the fifteenth of March, at nine o’clock.
A séance has been planned."
I am sure I’ll have a lovely time. I have met Mrs. Cochran once or twice around town, and she is always so charming and beautifully dressed.
I hope I have not shocked you too awfully!
Your loving Sister,
Lyddie
If you're not familiar with the PBS Mystery Intros based on the art of Edward Gorey, then go here and take a look at the two different versions. Mothallah did a stellar job of blending a quasi-Edwardian world of mystery with the characters from Macbeth and Gorey's characters. Witty, surprising, and compelling, it constantly surprised me. I could read a book of this, too.
First, Fresne's stories, which deserve all the love:
Servants of the Morrigan (5002 words) by fresne
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Macbeth - Shakespeare, Irish Mythology
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Additional Tags: Yuletide Treat, Yuletide, Ancient Celts, battle violence
Series: Part 1 of Triptych
Summary:
Three servants of the Morrigan were called. They consecrated battles to the Morrigan. They wielded the magic of the world. They tested the hero at the ford. They served until their service was done. Until their hero came for them.
Badb often thought about her hero.
Macbeth was no hero.
In which the witches are not just witches but mortal avatars of the Irish Triple Goddess, the Morrigan. The story is told from the point of view of Badb, a fierce and courageous avatar/prophetess who wants her inevitable death at the hands of a warrior to have meaning. Macbeth is not a man but a physically ill woman who longs for life and immortality and fame. Not bad things, but not the qualities of the godslaying hero that Babh craves.
***
Anniad (3257 words) by fresne
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Macbeth - Shakespeare, Carthaginian Mythology
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Additional Tags: Yuletide Treat, Yuletide 2015, Initial possibly distrubing scene
Series: Part 2 of Triptych
Summary:
Muses, let us now sing of the tale of poor people of Carthage, driven from their home by the attack of the Romans. Let us tell the tale of Anni, the daughter of Astarte, and the mother of Quetes, as she led her people from the ashes of her city to a new land.
Let us tell the tale of Macghbethain, who chose to take a mis-translation for a prophesy.
Let us tell of the gods, who do have a sense of humor.
In which the "witch" of the tale is Anni, a refugee queen from Carthage. If you're not familiar with Carthaginian myth or Virgil, don't worry, you don't have to be. If you're familiar with either and "refugee queen from Carthage" sounds like Dido from The Aeneid, you're right on the money. Anni is Dido as she would have been if she had not been shattered to the point of suicidal grief by the desertion of the man she loved. Anni fights for the people whom she brought with her, falls in love with the son of a Aquitanni chieftain, sidesteps a massacre, and is generally awesome--all while coping with Grandmother Astarte (the Phoenician goddess of love and war), her father Eros (the Greek god of love) and her mother, who is omniscient because she's dead. It's clever and funny and I love it to bits.
***
You Get What You Pay For (1600 words) by fresne
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Macbeth - Shakespeare
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Additional Tags: Distopian Future, Yuletide Treat, Yuletide
Series: Part 3 of Triptych
Summary:
Old Hecate said, "Let me refine on that. Why have you been sayin' ta Lord Macbeth, such that he n' his wife decided it would be a foine idea ta fill tha old king full a' stab wounds and blame it on some dead men."
The witches tried to look innocent. They were not entirely successful.
This takes place in a gloriously imaginative dystopian world where science and magic blend and intertwine. Old Hecate is the witch everyone comes to in order to solve their problems, while Moira, Anat and Barbary are both her daughter-apprentices and bloodthirsty rebel teens who want to see just how much they can do on their own. It's funny (as in "I couldn't stop grinning while I read it, and sometimes I even laughed out loud"), it's cracky and it's absolutely fantastic. I could read a book set in this world.
***
And then there's another fantastic crossover, this one by Mothallah and featuring a fandom I never would have thought of crossing with Macbeth:
Mystery at Corbett Place (2907 words) by Mothallah
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Edward Gorey's PBS Mystery Intro, Macbeth - Shakespeare
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: The Bald Inspector, The Blonde Partygoer, The Wailing Woman on the Roof, The Three Police Officers, Lady Macbeth, Macbeth, Witch (Macbeth), Murderers (Macbeth)
Additional Tags: Crossovers & Fandom Fusions
Summary:
My dear Mary,
I have just received the most exciting invitation, and, were you here, I am sure you would have been invited too. Although you might not have gone, parties being such frivolous things. (I am only teasing!)
"Col. Roy and Mrs. Cochran request your presence Thursday, the fifteenth of March, at nine o’clock.
A séance has been planned."
I am sure I’ll have a lovely time. I have met Mrs. Cochran once or twice around town, and she is always so charming and beautifully dressed.
I hope I have not shocked you too awfully!
Your loving Sister,
Lyddie
If you're not familiar with the PBS Mystery Intros based on the art of Edward Gorey, then go here and take a look at the two different versions. Mothallah did a stellar job of blending a quasi-Edwardian world of mystery with the characters from Macbeth and Gorey's characters. Witty, surprising, and compelling, it constantly surprised me. I could read a book of this, too.