Yuletide 2014 Recs, Part 3
I am back at my own place, but continuing in a holiday-induced fit of lethargy. Today I have succeeded in paying bills and answering two work emails. Otherwise, I'm playing silly Facebook games and reading Yuletide. whee! Here are my last bunch of recs:
The Emerald Band, A Study in Emerald. AMAZING. Meticulous worldbuilding, a well-constructed mystery, note-perfect style, and some excellent backstory into medieval history.
Exile's Rose, Fallen London. Parser IF! You're on a ship belonging to your lover, the Once-Dashing Smuggler, where you learn about him and about yourself. Beautiful, intricate, mysterious, creepy.
One Good Reason, Craft Sequence. How awesome is it that my friends' books are having fanfic written about them? This was my favorite: the opening is "Cat doesn’t know how she feels when Seril asks her to keep an eye on Tara." It's a lovely exploration of Cat and Tara circling each other in the aftermath of Three Parts Dead.
There's also The Heart Grows Fonder, which has a Choice of the Deathless crossover! Vega comes to Alt Coulomb and crosses paths and swords with Tara. (There were other Choice of the Deathless stories, but they were all sex scenes, so they were not my cup of tea.)
Sparkle Balls, Corner Gas. Davis wants sparkly things for the Dog River Days Parade, so Karen, Wanda, and Hank make sure to get them. It feels like an episode of the show, especially the Wanda bits, and there's some fun Lacey, too.
From the Mountains of Un, Phantom Tollbooth. Amazing replication of the original tone, especially the puns. The Literary Cannon is my favorite.
Lots of good Sleepy Hollow stories this year!
- First, I must re-plug the one written for me: A Mountain You Scale Without Thinking of Size, in which Jenny and Macey finally get that conversation that I'd been hoping to see at the end of Season 1.
- Second, there's Without Thought of Thorns. Abbie gets herself out of Purgatory. This one is very dark and disturbing - it shows Abbie and Jenny's abusive father, and has some pretty gruesome imagery. But I'm still recommending it, because it is beautifully written. Abbie's voice is amazing, especially at the beginning when she's in problem-solving mode, and the ending is heartbreaking and gorgeous.
- And finally, on the other end of the spectrum is A Day of Publick Thanksgiving. The gang has Thanksgiving at Frank's! Macey knits, snarks, crushes adorably on Ichabod, kicks butt, and is generally hilarious and cute and awesome. Ichabod rants about 18th-century people, and Abbie and Jenny laugh modernly at him! And there's some real depth among the humor, too.
Nights of Yes or No, Steerswoman Series. Rowan discusses history, genealogy, and stars with some of her colleagues, and discovers love with Bel. (I knew I couldn't be the only one out there who wanted Rowan and Bel to get together!)
If It's Sewing, She Sews, West Side Story. Fashion changes in the ten years after the play ends, and New York changes, and Maria sews wedding gowns, and grows and heals.
Ex Nihilo Nihil Fit, Wolf Hall. It takes a lot of courage to write a Wolf Hall story, and a lot of skill to pull off something as stylized as this. It all works, and it's brilliant.
What else have you read that you liked? I'd love to hear more recs!
The Emerald Band, A Study in Emerald. AMAZING. Meticulous worldbuilding, a well-constructed mystery, note-perfect style, and some excellent backstory into medieval history.
Exile's Rose, Fallen London. Parser IF! You're on a ship belonging to your lover, the Once-Dashing Smuggler, where you learn about him and about yourself. Beautiful, intricate, mysterious, creepy.
One Good Reason, Craft Sequence. How awesome is it that my friends' books are having fanfic written about them? This was my favorite: the opening is "Cat doesn’t know how she feels when Seril asks her to keep an eye on Tara." It's a lovely exploration of Cat and Tara circling each other in the aftermath of Three Parts Dead.
There's also The Heart Grows Fonder, which has a Choice of the Deathless crossover! Vega comes to Alt Coulomb and crosses paths and swords with Tara. (There were other Choice of the Deathless stories, but they were all sex scenes, so they were not my cup of tea.)
Sparkle Balls, Corner Gas. Davis wants sparkly things for the Dog River Days Parade, so Karen, Wanda, and Hank make sure to get them. It feels like an episode of the show, especially the Wanda bits, and there's some fun Lacey, too.
From the Mountains of Un, Phantom Tollbooth. Amazing replication of the original tone, especially the puns. The Literary Cannon is my favorite.
Lots of good Sleepy Hollow stories this year!
- First, I must re-plug the one written for me: A Mountain You Scale Without Thinking of Size, in which Jenny and Macey finally get that conversation that I'd been hoping to see at the end of Season 1.
- Second, there's Without Thought of Thorns. Abbie gets herself out of Purgatory. This one is very dark and disturbing - it shows Abbie and Jenny's abusive father, and has some pretty gruesome imagery. But I'm still recommending it, because it is beautifully written. Abbie's voice is amazing, especially at the beginning when she's in problem-solving mode, and the ending is heartbreaking and gorgeous.
- And finally, on the other end of the spectrum is A Day of Publick Thanksgiving. The gang has Thanksgiving at Frank's! Macey knits, snarks, crushes adorably on Ichabod, kicks butt, and is generally hilarious and cute and awesome. Ichabod rants about 18th-century people, and Abbie and Jenny laugh modernly at him! And there's some real depth among the humor, too.
Nights of Yes or No, Steerswoman Series. Rowan discusses history, genealogy, and stars with some of her colleagues, and discovers love with Bel. (I knew I couldn't be the only one out there who wanted Rowan and Bel to get together!)
If It's Sewing, She Sews, West Side Story. Fashion changes in the ten years after the play ends, and New York changes, and Maria sews wedding gowns, and grows and heals.
Ex Nihilo Nihil Fit, Wolf Hall. It takes a lot of courage to write a Wolf Hall story, and a lot of skill to pull off something as stylized as this. It all works, and it's brilliant.
What else have you read that you liked? I'd love to hear more recs!