(no subject)
For Yuletide this year, I was so terrifically spoiled.
I got three brilliant fics about Kyllikki in the Kalevala/Finnish Mythology fandom, each one excellent in its own way:
Roots and Branches (Gen, General Audiences) -- Kyllikki teaches herself to dance again. A brief, lyrical meditation on the metaphors of maidenhood and a dancer's strength.
All the Old Knives (F/F, Teen and Up) -- Kyllikki finds a name for herself in the water. A Kyllikki/Aino fic in which the sexy parts--which, don't mistake me, are delicious--are mostly about choosing life over death and being strong enough to bear the choice. As the fic progresses, it breaks into gorgeous imitative verse that doesn't feel the least bit strained.
Reindeer women (Gen, Not Rated) -- Lemminkäinnen stole Kyllikki from her home in Pohjola - in the north, among the Saami, the reindeer herders. How does she save herself - and who helps her? A prose narrative of how Kyllikki runs away to rejoin her people, and finds herself taken in by a different people altogether. The imagery here is just gorgeous; the writer knows how to write snow and pine and stone to make the landscape a living thing. Kyllikki, too, is beautiful in her strength and her determination to make it home--and her grace when the time comes to confront her so-called husband is incredible to read.
I also received two more, brilliant fics, one for Sengoku Basara and one for The Addams Family:
Engaged In His Employment (M/M, Teen and Up) -- Toyotomi Hideyoshi has burned all affection, all attachment, all weakness from his life. He has no friends, only allies and subordinates. He has no family. He takes no women or boys to bed. He killed his wife to prove his strength.
He has not killed Hanbei. This was honestly everything I asked for; Hanbei is despicable and loyal and longs but doesn't want, and he and Hideyoshi are obsessed with strength together and unsure of what it means where it connects with service.
Small Grey Hours (F/M, Teen and Up) -- Gomez and Morticia play Santa for their children, treasuring how lucky they are, and steal a moment for themselves on Christmas morning. This is everything I love about Gomez and Morticia: they adore each other and their children, and while their precious darlings are nearly killed by Amazonian poison-arrow frogs, they roleplay exorcisms and vampirism and hurt each other deliciously.
I wrote five fics for Yuletide this year; there are no prizes for guessing, but I'd be curious to see which ones you think I wrote! Three of them are in fandoms I've never written before, so that might make the guessing harder.
-- Gil
Side note: Love to everyone who wrote for me--I can't remember the last time I've had such a wonderful holiday, and past Yuletide seasons have been excellent.
I got three brilliant fics about Kyllikki in the Kalevala/Finnish Mythology fandom, each one excellent in its own way:
Roots and Branches (Gen, General Audiences) -- Kyllikki teaches herself to dance again. A brief, lyrical meditation on the metaphors of maidenhood and a dancer's strength.
All the Old Knives (F/F, Teen and Up) -- Kyllikki finds a name for herself in the water. A Kyllikki/Aino fic in which the sexy parts--which, don't mistake me, are delicious--are mostly about choosing life over death and being strong enough to bear the choice. As the fic progresses, it breaks into gorgeous imitative verse that doesn't feel the least bit strained.
Reindeer women (Gen, Not Rated) -- Lemminkäinnen stole Kyllikki from her home in Pohjola - in the north, among the Saami, the reindeer herders. How does she save herself - and who helps her? A prose narrative of how Kyllikki runs away to rejoin her people, and finds herself taken in by a different people altogether. The imagery here is just gorgeous; the writer knows how to write snow and pine and stone to make the landscape a living thing. Kyllikki, too, is beautiful in her strength and her determination to make it home--and her grace when the time comes to confront her so-called husband is incredible to read.
I also received two more, brilliant fics, one for Sengoku Basara and one for The Addams Family:
Engaged In His Employment (M/M, Teen and Up) -- Toyotomi Hideyoshi has burned all affection, all attachment, all weakness from his life. He has no friends, only allies and subordinates. He has no family. He takes no women or boys to bed. He killed his wife to prove his strength.
He has not killed Hanbei. This was honestly everything I asked for; Hanbei is despicable and loyal and longs but doesn't want, and he and Hideyoshi are obsessed with strength together and unsure of what it means where it connects with service.
Small Grey Hours (F/M, Teen and Up) -- Gomez and Morticia play Santa for their children, treasuring how lucky they are, and steal a moment for themselves on Christmas morning. This is everything I love about Gomez and Morticia: they adore each other and their children, and while their precious darlings are nearly killed by Amazonian poison-arrow frogs, they roleplay exorcisms and vampirism and hurt each other deliciously.
I wrote five fics for Yuletide this year; there are no prizes for guessing, but I'd be curious to see which ones you think I wrote! Three of them are in fandoms I've never written before, so that might make the guessing harder.
-- Gil
Side note: Love to everyone who wrote for me--I can't remember the last time I've had such a wonderful holiday, and past Yuletide seasons have been excellent.