Recdump!
Sooo, my A03 bookmarks page is now up to a total of twenty-nine.
I don't think I properly rec'd the fics I received this year, so here they are, and they are both fabulous:
The gaps between the stories, by Wil, and For I know not what I do, by wizefics. Both of them are first-person character studies of Serena Joy, from The Handmaid's Tale. Personally, I thought this was the harshest prompt I gave: I asked for a story about Serena Joy that takes her faith seriously, because it grates on me that Atwood doesn't. But both Wil and wizefics do, and the results are gorgeous.
Wil's fic is, basically, the fic I would've liked to write myself (but my Religious Angst (TM) gets in the way): Serena Joy's faith failing her, while she has no option but to continue with it. The story is told in fragments, giving us both insight and a sense of disorder. Then, oh joy of joys, Wil put it in a GORGEOUS academic framework, ending with the assignment of a young postdoc in the Department of Gileadian Studies to study faith in the Republic of Gilead. My academic soul rejoices. <3
Wizefic's piece, For I Know Not What I Do, is *not* one I would've written myself. I wouldn't have even thought it could be done respectably, but it's excellent! It's a first-person narrative in the form of a prayer of supplication. Firstly, wizefics constructs Serena Joy's elaborate, fatuous prayers (I confess my own vanity. I used make up. I had a hairdresser.) with convincing sincerity. That's an achievement in itself - I have great trouble taking that sort of prayer seriously (uh... possibly any prayer. Nevermind). Secondly, while keeping Serena Joy's voice absolutely sincere and never giving the impression that she doubts her faith, wizefics shows up all the cracks in it, all the logic holes and disappointments, and the sheer desperation holding it all together.
I am incredibly grateful to both my writers this yuletide, and feel that I can now put aside my grudge against Margaret Atwood and move on ;).
Now, on to other recs!
Queer as the Fork when the Knife ran away with the Spoon, by Fresne: Beauty and the Beast retold. In which Beauty is a young, black, gay boy with a leather fetish and a knack for rose gardening. I... this is one of the most beautiful things I've read for a very long time. It lacks the self-conscious showiness of many modernisations of fairytales: the story is told absolutely naturally; Fresne has woven a believable coming-out tale over the marriage-by-capture plot (which she has also subverted by emphasising that, while the Beast needs Beauty to promise marriage in order to free him, said marriage is not legal and therefore impossible). Oh... I could go on about it for hours. Just go READ it!
Speaking of fresne, s/he might just be my new favourite person, because there's also Garwaf, a Bisclavret fic and a fable about courtly and unmannerly werewolves WRITTEN IN ENGLISH WITH ANGLO-NORMAN GRAMMAR AND NARRATIVE CONVENTIONS. It reads as if it were a direct translation from a medieval lai! There are case markings on words like lais. It's all very wonderful.
Armiger, by Becca, is a series of snippets from the lives of Jon, Alanna and their friends: it's a bittersweet tale about growing up and change, and it draws some fascinating parallels between Alanna and Alex.
Five Stories The Reader Never Began, by Nextian. I've never read the canon (Calvino's If on a winter's night a traveller), I'm afraid I didn't understand the fic at all, but it was *fascinating*. It's a meta-tale about someone reading a yuletide fic that disappears, and, uh, there's lots of things about identity and fannish accountability in it.
DIY for Beginners, by lamardeuse: Hot Fuzz, Danny/Nicholas. In which Danny hatches a cunning plan to become gay and keep Nicholas in Sanford. It's adorable.
While we're here, Home for the holidays, by irisbleufic, is another Danny/Nicholas story, and it is excellent (naturally. It's Iris' work). It has an Aziraphale cameo! And Nicholas being emotionally repressed!
Finally, I beta-read for Trojie this year, and the fic in question was Lamplight, a Black Books fic in which Bernard is introduced to Twilight and Manny learns what a relationship is really about. It is MOST HUMOROUS.
~
While we're here, this wasn't a yuletide fic but I found it on the A03: Dwarfs are from Mars, Women are from Venus, Carrot/Angua. In which Angua discovers she's missing certain dwarfish charms.
I don't think I properly rec'd the fics I received this year, so here they are, and they are both fabulous:
The gaps between the stories, by Wil, and For I know not what I do, by wizefics. Both of them are first-person character studies of Serena Joy, from The Handmaid's Tale. Personally, I thought this was the harshest prompt I gave: I asked for a story about Serena Joy that takes her faith seriously, because it grates on me that Atwood doesn't. But both Wil and wizefics do, and the results are gorgeous.
Wil's fic is, basically, the fic I would've liked to write myself (but my Religious Angst (TM) gets in the way): Serena Joy's faith failing her, while she has no option but to continue with it. The story is told in fragments, giving us both insight and a sense of disorder. Then, oh joy of joys, Wil put it in a GORGEOUS academic framework, ending with the assignment of a young postdoc in the Department of Gileadian Studies to study faith in the Republic of Gilead. My academic soul rejoices. <3
Wizefic's piece, For I Know Not What I Do, is *not* one I would've written myself. I wouldn't have even thought it could be done respectably, but it's excellent! It's a first-person narrative in the form of a prayer of supplication. Firstly, wizefics constructs Serena Joy's elaborate, fatuous prayers (I confess my own vanity. I used make up. I had a hairdresser.) with convincing sincerity. That's an achievement in itself - I have great trouble taking that sort of prayer seriously (uh... possibly any prayer. Nevermind). Secondly, while keeping Serena Joy's voice absolutely sincere and never giving the impression that she doubts her faith, wizefics shows up all the cracks in it, all the logic holes and disappointments, and the sheer desperation holding it all together.
I am incredibly grateful to both my writers this yuletide, and feel that I can now put aside my grudge against Margaret Atwood and move on ;).
Now, on to other recs!
Queer as the Fork when the Knife ran away with the Spoon, by Fresne: Beauty and the Beast retold. In which Beauty is a young, black, gay boy with a leather fetish and a knack for rose gardening. I... this is one of the most beautiful things I've read for a very long time. It lacks the self-conscious showiness of many modernisations of fairytales: the story is told absolutely naturally; Fresne has woven a believable coming-out tale over the marriage-by-capture plot (which she has also subverted by emphasising that, while the Beast needs Beauty to promise marriage in order to free him, said marriage is not legal and therefore impossible). Oh... I could go on about it for hours. Just go READ it!
Speaking of fresne, s/he might just be my new favourite person, because there's also Garwaf, a Bisclavret fic and a fable about courtly and unmannerly werewolves WRITTEN IN ENGLISH WITH ANGLO-NORMAN GRAMMAR AND NARRATIVE CONVENTIONS. It reads as if it were a direct translation from a medieval lai! There are case markings on words like lais. It's all very wonderful.
Armiger, by Becca, is a series of snippets from the lives of Jon, Alanna and their friends: it's a bittersweet tale about growing up and change, and it draws some fascinating parallels between Alanna and Alex.
Five Stories The Reader Never Began, by Nextian. I've never read the canon (Calvino's If on a winter's night a traveller), I'm afraid I didn't understand the fic at all, but it was *fascinating*. It's a meta-tale about someone reading a yuletide fic that disappears, and, uh, there's lots of things about identity and fannish accountability in it.
DIY for Beginners, by lamardeuse: Hot Fuzz, Danny/Nicholas. In which Danny hatches a cunning plan to become gay and keep Nicholas in Sanford. It's adorable.
While we're here, Home for the holidays, by irisbleufic, is another Danny/Nicholas story, and it is excellent (naturally. It's Iris' work). It has an Aziraphale cameo! And Nicholas being emotionally repressed!
Finally, I beta-read for Trojie this year, and the fic in question was Lamplight, a Black Books fic in which Bernard is introduced to Twilight and Manny learns what a relationship is really about. It is MOST HUMOROUS.
~
While we're here, this wasn't a yuletide fic but I found it on the A03: Dwarfs are from Mars, Women are from Venus, Carrot/Angua. In which Angua discovers she's missing certain dwarfish charms.