Yuletide 2019 recs!
I got TWO gifts this year!
Seafoam Green, Bright Sessions. Caleb and Adam meet again after they’ve both graduated from college, and they’ve still got the same chemistry. It’s from Caleb’s POV, and it’s sweet and adorable and awkward in all of the best ways that the Caleb/Adam relationship always is, plus some lovely imagery describing Caleb’s empathy. When Adam’s emotions are green, everything is going to be okay.
Magic in the Air, Benjamin January Mysteries. It’s a Harry Potter AU! Crossovers are some of my favorite things in Yuletide, especially the ones that add magic to non-magical settings. This is exactly the kind of re-imagined setting that I love! The Januarys are hosting a Christmas party in 1967…which means that the first war with Voldemort is on the horizon, and everyone is holding on tight to the happiness that they’ve found together.
Here are my other recs:
Books
Think Naught But This and All Is Mended, Ninth House. Alex, Darlington, and Dawes go to a production of Midsummer in the park. It’s got the same wonderfully specific sense of place as the original, and it lets all of the characters have a moment of joy and wonder in seeing magic. It’s especially good to see Dawes being happy!
The Affair of the Necklace, Benjamin January Mysteries. I always love fic that focuses on the women, and this one does an absolutely beautiful job of showing the complicated tensions and affections in each relationship pair: Olympe and Rose, Olympe and Dominique, and especially Chloe and Dominique. The dynamic between them holds center stage for most of this story, and it’s wonderful.
A Further Addendum to the Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Claudia and Jamie take on another artistic mystery that only they can solve. It shows beautifully how their previous adventures have brought them closer together - their love for each other feels very authentic.
Discipulae, A Little Princess. Sara and Becky move forward in their new life, learning about themselves and each other. The way it depicts the gradual growth of trust between these two friends is lovely. I haven’t read this book since I was a kid, but this story brings it all rushing back.
The Duke’s Parlormaid, Lord Peter Wimsey. Absolutely delightful epistolary casefic, with great voices for both Peter and Harriet, as well as a cast of many others.
Turquoise Couches, A Memory Called Empire. Three Seagrass’s POV, while Mahit is in surgery. It’s a beautiful rendering of Three Seagrass’s keen observation as well as her feelings about Mahit. And there are some sweet little bits of Twelve Azalea, too, who I always love.
The Total Agony of Being In Love, Red White and Royal Blue. Henry’s POV during the Great Turkey Calamity. It is HILARIOUS, and full of canon-appropriately laugh-out-loud text chains, but also sweet in the way it shows the growing intimacy between Henry and Alex.
Like Seeds Among Green, This Is How You Lose the Time War. Blue POV, on the point of failing in love. All of the lyrical phrases and intricate images of the original.
TV Shows and Movies
Fly Me To The Moon, Captain Marvel. So many excellent Captain Marvel stories this year! This one was my favorite. It’s Maria’s POV, and I love the way it shows her joy while piloting.
(Really/Not/So) Okay, Dead to Me. Just as dark and biting as the original, but just as cathartic, too, as Judy and Jen work through their past traumas to come together in the present.
Green for Renewal, Defenders. I’m a sucker for gift-giving fics! And I love Jessica’s voice in this.
Free Netflix Subscription, The Good Place. There are a ton of great Good Place pics this year! This is one of my favorites, and not only because it’s about my favorite ship of Tahani and Eleanor as soulmates. The voices are note-perfect - Tahani’s name-dropping, Eleanor’s slightly-too-specific rants, Chidi’s reliance on Kant - and so is the way that Eleanor sees the good in Tahani along with her beauty. Welcome! Everything is gay!
A Return to Normal, One Day At A Time. Penelope and Schneider hang out together on a Friday night. It’s very true to the original in the way it shades gradually from humor into deeper emotions over the course of the story, and the friendship is beautifully rendered.
And Pay the Debt I Never Promised, Slings and Arrows. “I played Hal, and Hamlet, and eventually I suppose I would have played Julius Caesar and Lear. All of Shakespeare’s princes and kings, laid out in a line in front of me. For a little while it felt like destiny.” Geoffrey directs the Henriad, and we see his past and present laid out in a line. There's a speech by Geoffrey where the offstage and onstage stories come together, and you can feel the Shakespeare magic start to happen.
Crossovers and AUs
By the Wrath of God. Lion in Winter prequel/His Dark Materials AU. It promises banter, and delivers magnificently, with some excellently sharp Henry/Eleanor sniping and wordplay. They’re always on the edge between love and hate, able to hurt each other profoundly not in spite of, but because of the intimacy they’ve shared. The daemons are woven beautifully into the world, too, shown in countless tiny details of the daemons mirroring their humans’ emotions.
Meanwhile, in the other Derry... Derry Girls/Stephen King’s IT. Somebody had to to do it :) Sister Michael’s voice is especially good, and it’s all hilarious.
To Do In Tent. Great British Bake Off/Horrible Goose Game. "It is a lovely morning in the Bake-Off Tent, and you know exactly what this fic is about." I cannot possibly express how perfect all of the Bake Off in-jokes are (Inspiringly Youngest Contestant! Sue’s puns!) or how utterly hilarious everything is.
History (Professor), Huh? Red White and Royal Blue, Hogwarts AU. This has absolutely everything I want from this combination of universes: Alex’s takedown of British wizarding elitism, lots of nicknames for Henry, a fabulous cameo of Nora being brash, bonding over Quidditch and academics, and an adorable dog. (There are a ton of great Red White and Royal Blue fics this year! All of them make me just as happy as the original book did.)
Spider She Wrote. Spider-Man Into the Spiderverse/Murder She Wrote. Aunt May takes Miles to meet her old friend Jessica Fletcher.
The Ineffable Spirit of Yuletide
Every Yuletide, there are a few pieces that are so weird and sublime that they seem impossible, and that couldn't exist anywhere except in Yuletide. This year, it's the collection of fics based on John Cage's 4'33", an entirely silent piece. How can you write fic about that?
Like this: 273 Moments of Silence, a beautiful and moving poem.
Seafoam Green, Bright Sessions. Caleb and Adam meet again after they’ve both graduated from college, and they’ve still got the same chemistry. It’s from Caleb’s POV, and it’s sweet and adorable and awkward in all of the best ways that the Caleb/Adam relationship always is, plus some lovely imagery describing Caleb’s empathy. When Adam’s emotions are green, everything is going to be okay.
Magic in the Air, Benjamin January Mysteries. It’s a Harry Potter AU! Crossovers are some of my favorite things in Yuletide, especially the ones that add magic to non-magical settings. This is exactly the kind of re-imagined setting that I love! The Januarys are hosting a Christmas party in 1967…which means that the first war with Voldemort is on the horizon, and everyone is holding on tight to the happiness that they’ve found together.
Here are my other recs:
Books
Think Naught But This and All Is Mended, Ninth House. Alex, Darlington, and Dawes go to a production of Midsummer in the park. It’s got the same wonderfully specific sense of place as the original, and it lets all of the characters have a moment of joy and wonder in seeing magic. It’s especially good to see Dawes being happy!
The Affair of the Necklace, Benjamin January Mysteries. I always love fic that focuses on the women, and this one does an absolutely beautiful job of showing the complicated tensions and affections in each relationship pair: Olympe and Rose, Olympe and Dominique, and especially Chloe and Dominique. The dynamic between them holds center stage for most of this story, and it’s wonderful.
A Further Addendum to the Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Claudia and Jamie take on another artistic mystery that only they can solve. It shows beautifully how their previous adventures have brought them closer together - their love for each other feels very authentic.
Discipulae, A Little Princess. Sara and Becky move forward in their new life, learning about themselves and each other. The way it depicts the gradual growth of trust between these two friends is lovely. I haven’t read this book since I was a kid, but this story brings it all rushing back.
The Duke’s Parlormaid, Lord Peter Wimsey. Absolutely delightful epistolary casefic, with great voices for both Peter and Harriet, as well as a cast of many others.
Turquoise Couches, A Memory Called Empire. Three Seagrass’s POV, while Mahit is in surgery. It’s a beautiful rendering of Three Seagrass’s keen observation as well as her feelings about Mahit. And there are some sweet little bits of Twelve Azalea, too, who I always love.
The Total Agony of Being In Love, Red White and Royal Blue. Henry’s POV during the Great Turkey Calamity. It is HILARIOUS, and full of canon-appropriately laugh-out-loud text chains, but also sweet in the way it shows the growing intimacy between Henry and Alex.
Like Seeds Among Green, This Is How You Lose the Time War. Blue POV, on the point of failing in love. All of the lyrical phrases and intricate images of the original.
TV Shows and Movies
Fly Me To The Moon, Captain Marvel. So many excellent Captain Marvel stories this year! This one was my favorite. It’s Maria’s POV, and I love the way it shows her joy while piloting.
(Really/Not/So) Okay, Dead to Me. Just as dark and biting as the original, but just as cathartic, too, as Judy and Jen work through their past traumas to come together in the present.
Green for Renewal, Defenders. I’m a sucker for gift-giving fics! And I love Jessica’s voice in this.
Free Netflix Subscription, The Good Place. There are a ton of great Good Place pics this year! This is one of my favorites, and not only because it’s about my favorite ship of Tahani and Eleanor as soulmates. The voices are note-perfect - Tahani’s name-dropping, Eleanor’s slightly-too-specific rants, Chidi’s reliance on Kant - and so is the way that Eleanor sees the good in Tahani along with her beauty. Welcome! Everything is gay!
A Return to Normal, One Day At A Time. Penelope and Schneider hang out together on a Friday night. It’s very true to the original in the way it shades gradually from humor into deeper emotions over the course of the story, and the friendship is beautifully rendered.
And Pay the Debt I Never Promised, Slings and Arrows. “I played Hal, and Hamlet, and eventually I suppose I would have played Julius Caesar and Lear. All of Shakespeare’s princes and kings, laid out in a line in front of me. For a little while it felt like destiny.” Geoffrey directs the Henriad, and we see his past and present laid out in a line. There's a speech by Geoffrey where the offstage and onstage stories come together, and you can feel the Shakespeare magic start to happen.
Crossovers and AUs
By the Wrath of God. Lion in Winter prequel/His Dark Materials AU. It promises banter, and delivers magnificently, with some excellently sharp Henry/Eleanor sniping and wordplay. They’re always on the edge between love and hate, able to hurt each other profoundly not in spite of, but because of the intimacy they’ve shared. The daemons are woven beautifully into the world, too, shown in countless tiny details of the daemons mirroring their humans’ emotions.
Meanwhile, in the other Derry... Derry Girls/Stephen King’s IT. Somebody had to to do it :) Sister Michael’s voice is especially good, and it’s all hilarious.
To Do In Tent. Great British Bake Off/Horrible Goose Game. "It is a lovely morning in the Bake-Off Tent, and you know exactly what this fic is about." I cannot possibly express how perfect all of the Bake Off in-jokes are (Inspiringly Youngest Contestant! Sue’s puns!) or how utterly hilarious everything is.
History (Professor), Huh? Red White and Royal Blue, Hogwarts AU. This has absolutely everything I want from this combination of universes: Alex’s takedown of British wizarding elitism, lots of nicknames for Henry, a fabulous cameo of Nora being brash, bonding over Quidditch and academics, and an adorable dog. (There are a ton of great Red White and Royal Blue fics this year! All of them make me just as happy as the original book did.)
Spider She Wrote. Spider-Man Into the Spiderverse/Murder She Wrote. Aunt May takes Miles to meet her old friend Jessica Fletcher.
The Ineffable Spirit of Yuletide
Every Yuletide, there are a few pieces that are so weird and sublime that they seem impossible, and that couldn't exist anywhere except in Yuletide. This year, it's the collection of fics based on John Cage's 4'33", an entirely silent piece. How can you write fic about that?
Like this: 273 Moments of Silence, a beautiful and moving poem.