Recs Ahoy!
Not that I have an overabundance of lj friends, but here's a random list of recs. Yuletide has truly been a banquet and it's a pleasure to read so many fics from fandoms I love and from fandoms I never imagined even would have fic.
There were so many excellent Kushiel's Legacy fics this year and several featuring fiction's most amazing villainess, Melisande Sharizhai. In addition to my own a-mazing gift fic- here are some others:
A Pain That I'm Used To- An unsent letter from Melisande to Joscelin that is just so so perfectly Melisande. Merveilleux.
The Goddess Rendered Mortal - Mavros, Melisande and Leander Maignard on the island of Cythera post- Kushiel's Mercy.
Reparations- An episode from Joscelin's harsh childhood within the Cassiline Brotherhood. With unexpected Anafiel Delaunay! This fic really captured my imagination and I say that as someone who is not a big Joscelin person.
There were also two a-mazing Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego fics written this year, both tackling what I have always found to be a thorny part of the series for a writer, namely the issue of the Player, and the world within a world the series seems to create. There can ever be enough good Carmen fic, IMO, and both of these are excellent.
Player Status: Offline- A look into the lives of the characters when the game is not in motion. I really loved the series of vignettes. And all of the characters, especially Carmen, were at their mischievous best.
Lead Me On A Merry Chase- This fic is epic in a good way. The author has really done something brilliant here- a fully fleshed out backstory for the Player and a truly ingenious take on the series. Amy/The Player is so very well-rendered and real and one of the best original characters I've ever read. In many ways, this is sort of an "inside-out" version of the Carmenverse, as it takes place more in our world than in Carmen's. But that is precisely what makes it unique and worth reading.
Deadwood
The Outward Gift A post series Joane/Jane story, Recc'd because of the author's ability to capture Jane's use of fucking as noun adjective and adverb.
Downton Abbey
Snowfall- A lovely Cora/O'Brien story post-series 2, in which O'Brien displays that tenderness and vulnerability that is always hiding beneath her harsh exterior.
Like Clockwork- Thomas' life before Downton, in which little Thomas is sympathetic and yet still Thomas.
Mary Poppins (1964)
Five Tuesdays in the Life - I'm a sucker for a good "five things" fic and this is an excellent one. Five times Bert met Mary Poppins from his childhood up through the beginning of the movie. The author has taken so many of the little details we see of Bert's life and really fleshed them out into a full life story,
The Eight
touch and move- The Eight is one of my fave books of all time and yet doesn't seem to be very well known. I always describe it as Da Vinci Code with dual female protagonists. Half the story takes place in revolutionary France, the other in 1970s Algeria. This fic follows the France timeline and it's beautiful. Recc'd to anyone who loves femslash, chess, nuns or the French Revolution.
There were so many excellent Kushiel's Legacy fics this year and several featuring fiction's most amazing villainess, Melisande Sharizhai. In addition to my own a-mazing gift fic- here are some others:
A Pain That I'm Used To- An unsent letter from Melisande to Joscelin that is just so so perfectly Melisande. Merveilleux.
The Goddess Rendered Mortal - Mavros, Melisande and Leander Maignard on the island of Cythera post- Kushiel's Mercy.
Reparations- An episode from Joscelin's harsh childhood within the Cassiline Brotherhood. With unexpected Anafiel Delaunay! This fic really captured my imagination and I say that as someone who is not a big Joscelin person.
There were also two a-mazing Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego fics written this year, both tackling what I have always found to be a thorny part of the series for a writer, namely the issue of the Player, and the world within a world the series seems to create. There can ever be enough good Carmen fic, IMO, and both of these are excellent.
Player Status: Offline- A look into the lives of the characters when the game is not in motion. I really loved the series of vignettes. And all of the characters, especially Carmen, were at their mischievous best.
Lead Me On A Merry Chase- This fic is epic in a good way. The author has really done something brilliant here- a fully fleshed out backstory for the Player and a truly ingenious take on the series. Amy/The Player is so very well-rendered and real and one of the best original characters I've ever read. In many ways, this is sort of an "inside-out" version of the Carmenverse, as it takes place more in our world than in Carmen's. But that is precisely what makes it unique and worth reading.
Deadwood
The Outward Gift A post series Joane/Jane story, Recc'd because of the author's ability to capture Jane's use of fucking as noun adjective and adverb.
Downton Abbey
Snowfall- A lovely Cora/O'Brien story post-series 2, in which O'Brien displays that tenderness and vulnerability that is always hiding beneath her harsh exterior.
Like Clockwork- Thomas' life before Downton, in which little Thomas is sympathetic and yet still Thomas.
Mary Poppins (1964)
Five Tuesdays in the Life - I'm a sucker for a good "five things" fic and this is an excellent one. Five times Bert met Mary Poppins from his childhood up through the beginning of the movie. The author has taken so many of the little details we see of Bert's life and really fleshed them out into a full life story,
The Eight
touch and move- The Eight is one of my fave books of all time and yet doesn't seem to be very well known. I always describe it as Da Vinci Code with dual female protagonists. Half the story takes place in revolutionary France, the other in 1970s Algeria. This fic follows the France timeline and it's beautiful. Recc'd to anyone who loves femslash, chess, nuns or the French Revolution.