escaping to other worlds, and to this one
I'm home!
By which I mean, not the place where my mom lives, but the place where I live, where my stuff and my kitchen and my books and all of my glorious mess live.
I survived the last day with Mom by becoming the Super-Volunteer. Oh, I'll go run that errand! I'll go pick up the pizza for lunch so that you can keep working on reorganizing your closet! Look how helpful I am! I'll do anything...that will get me in my car and away from the house!
Now that I am home, I have lovely long lists of things that I need to do, and I am doing them. Yesterday, I went shopping for all the things I needed but didn't get as presents. Next on the docket: get a birthday present for Aiden, who turns 3 today. Happy birthday, Aiden! [EDIT: Success! I have obtained a tyrannosaurus hand puppet. He's going to love it!]
In other escapist news, I have been enjoying reading the Yuletide Treasure stories, a collection of fanfics in various realms written as anonymous Decembertime gifts for people. I'm not a serious fanfic reader by any means (which is not to disparage those who are, just to explain that I've barely scratched the surface of what's out there), and not all fanfic is my cup of tea. But I've found a lot of stuff that I liked in this collection of stories.
In general, what I like in fanfic is a story that either feels like an addition to the canon - another episode of the TV show, another chapter of the book - or that tells me something new about the characters, or both. And that doesn't have a lot of sex in it. These are all those kinds of stories.
And so, in no particular order:
No King of England. Slings and Arrows! A college-age Geoffrey butts heads with Darren Nichols over a production of Henry V. It's got the same kind of wonderful Shakespeare-in-motion scenes that the show does, with the actors discovering the meaning as they go along, with Geoffrey discoursing on the text, and with the parallelism of the onstage and offstage plot that makes me love the show. When he goes into the St. Crispin's Day speech, you can almost hear the swirly music that on the show means: "Shakespeare magic is happening here."
His Crown of Roses. GRR Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire. This barely scratches the surface of what might be going on in Margaery Tyrell's mind, and I'm not sure I agree with the author's take on what's there. But any glimpse of her mind is good. Poor Margaery. (Rated R for brief sex, but it's pretty much canon sex)
The Taste of Honey. Sandman. Warning: breaks the fourth wall :) But that's what makes it feel right. It's very visual - the author's done a good job of translating a words-and-images medium into words alone.
Tailor Paul and Piffling Peter. Dorothy Sayers, Lord Peter Wimsey. If you've read Nine Tailors, you already know more than Harriet does about what's going on in this story. But it's lots of fun, and the banter between Peter and Harriet is very well-done.
The Hours Between Dawn and Nothing. MASH?? MASH fanfic? Who knew? This is a beautiful piece - perhaps a little too long, but amazingly insightful. If the show was really about Vietnam, so is this, and maybe also about WWI, a little. It explores the alienation that soldiers experience after they return home, and the close bonds that form between men during wartime that can't be matched by anything else. Very appropriate for the next chapter of my dissertation :)
Best Laid Plans. Coupling. I was giggling hysterically by Jeff's first long speech. This story is too boy-focused to really feel like an episode, and it has a few missteps, but wow, there are some great moments, too. The Jeff Rant [tm] and the brief glimpse inside Patrick's mind (such as it is) are wonderful.
Neutral Parties. The 4400! Mostly Diana and Maia, with a side of Nina. Again, it doesn't quite feel like an episode - it almost started to go there, with the introduction of the Rogue 4400 Of the Week, but it turned away from that to look more at the personal relationships. But that's also very much in the spirit of the show, exploring how these three women (well, two women and one girl) balance the ordinary and extraordinary things in their lives.
Not the First Date. Audrey Nifenegger, The Time Traveler's Wife. Wow, this felt like a passage from the book. The hopping back and forth, the character interactions, the Clare-ness of Clare, and the sweet sense of humor throughout.
A Maze of Twisty Passages, All Alike. Lois McMaster Bujold, the Vorkosigan books. Ivan and Gregor get into trouble, as only Ivan and Gregor can. It goes on a little long, but it's tons of fun. Also, the title makes me giggle.
Afternoon's Liberty. Naomi Novik, Temeraire. Jane and Emily Roland! Two of my favorite characters, who get disappointingly little screen time in the book, finally get their relationship front and center. Sweet, and very true to the characters.
By which I mean, not the place where my mom lives, but the place where I live, where my stuff and my kitchen and my books and all of my glorious mess live.
I survived the last day with Mom by becoming the Super-Volunteer. Oh, I'll go run that errand! I'll go pick up the pizza for lunch so that you can keep working on reorganizing your closet! Look how helpful I am! I'll do anything...that will get me in my car and away from the house!
Now that I am home, I have lovely long lists of things that I need to do, and I am doing them. Yesterday, I went shopping for all the things I needed but didn't get as presents. Next on the docket: get a birthday present for Aiden, who turns 3 today. Happy birthday, Aiden! [EDIT: Success! I have obtained a tyrannosaurus hand puppet. He's going to love it!]
In other escapist news, I have been enjoying reading the Yuletide Treasure stories, a collection of fanfics in various realms written as anonymous Decembertime gifts for people. I'm not a serious fanfic reader by any means (which is not to disparage those who are, just to explain that I've barely scratched the surface of what's out there), and not all fanfic is my cup of tea. But I've found a lot of stuff that I liked in this collection of stories.
In general, what I like in fanfic is a story that either feels like an addition to the canon - another episode of the TV show, another chapter of the book - or that tells me something new about the characters, or both. And that doesn't have a lot of sex in it. These are all those kinds of stories.
And so, in no particular order:
No King of England. Slings and Arrows! A college-age Geoffrey butts heads with Darren Nichols over a production of Henry V. It's got the same kind of wonderful Shakespeare-in-motion scenes that the show does, with the actors discovering the meaning as they go along, with Geoffrey discoursing on the text, and with the parallelism of the onstage and offstage plot that makes me love the show. When he goes into the St. Crispin's Day speech, you can almost hear the swirly music that on the show means: "Shakespeare magic is happening here."
His Crown of Roses. GRR Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire. This barely scratches the surface of what might be going on in Margaery Tyrell's mind, and I'm not sure I agree with the author's take on what's there. But any glimpse of her mind is good. Poor Margaery. (Rated R for brief sex, but it's pretty much canon sex)
The Taste of Honey. Sandman. Warning: breaks the fourth wall :) But that's what makes it feel right. It's very visual - the author's done a good job of translating a words-and-images medium into words alone.
Tailor Paul and Piffling Peter. Dorothy Sayers, Lord Peter Wimsey. If you've read Nine Tailors, you already know more than Harriet does about what's going on in this story. But it's lots of fun, and the banter between Peter and Harriet is very well-done.
The Hours Between Dawn and Nothing. MASH?? MASH fanfic? Who knew? This is a beautiful piece - perhaps a little too long, but amazingly insightful. If the show was really about Vietnam, so is this, and maybe also about WWI, a little. It explores the alienation that soldiers experience after they return home, and the close bonds that form between men during wartime that can't be matched by anything else. Very appropriate for the next chapter of my dissertation :)
Best Laid Plans. Coupling. I was giggling hysterically by Jeff's first long speech. This story is too boy-focused to really feel like an episode, and it has a few missteps, but wow, there are some great moments, too. The Jeff Rant [tm] and the brief glimpse inside Patrick's mind (such as it is) are wonderful.
Neutral Parties. The 4400! Mostly Diana and Maia, with a side of Nina. Again, it doesn't quite feel like an episode - it almost started to go there, with the introduction of the Rogue 4400 Of the Week, but it turned away from that to look more at the personal relationships. But that's also very much in the spirit of the show, exploring how these three women (well, two women and one girl) balance the ordinary and extraordinary things in their lives.
Not the First Date. Audrey Nifenegger, The Time Traveler's Wife. Wow, this felt like a passage from the book. The hopping back and forth, the character interactions, the Clare-ness of Clare, and the sweet sense of humor throughout.
A Maze of Twisty Passages, All Alike. Lois McMaster Bujold, the Vorkosigan books. Ivan and Gregor get into trouble, as only Ivan and Gregor can. It goes on a little long, but it's tons of fun. Also, the title makes me giggle.
Afternoon's Liberty. Naomi Novik, Temeraire. Jane and Emily Roland! Two of my favorite characters, who get disappointingly little screen time in the book, finally get their relationship front and center. Sweet, and very true to the characters.