Yuletide-recs 2016
My new neighbours are doing some major re-decorating with drilling and everything. Thus, no peace and quiet for writing. So to spend the time wisely (hah), I've gone through the new Yuletide stories, and thought I'd give you some recommendations, in case you have a few minutes to spare and/or are in need of distractions.
No need to know the books/movies etc
From fluff to horror:
- Neko Astume: Haiku
Summary: Performance haiku based entirely on which of my Neko Atsume cats decided to show up today.
- Jean-Léon Gérôme - Duel after a Masquerade Ball: L'Abécédaire d'un duel
Summary: Critic Edmond About suggested, "At forty years old, before one steps on the dueling ground, one might forget to make his will, to write to his wife, or to provide for his son's future, but one doesn't forget to put on real pants." But About forgets the history that takes an affair from a general insult to blighted honour. Each participant, from beginning to end, lends his past to the careering force of history.
- Changeling: The Lost: The wilderness (horror)
Summary: It starts with a dead deer, like my work usually does.
- Sarah Monette - The Kyle Murchison Booth stories: The book of the duplicitous dead (horror)
Summary: In which Booth finds out what's haunting the stacks of the Samuel Mather Parrington Museum after dark, and is tempted by what it has to offer.
For these, you (probably) need to have some basic idea about the books/movies etc:
- Kate Beaton - Hark! A vagrant / Barratt's privateers crossover
Flintlock through the heart, and you're to blame (romance)
- Barbara Hambly - The Benjamin January mysteries: And still of a winter's night (case-fic)
Summary: When a young woman turns up dead during Carnival, Shaw needs Ben's help with the investigation -- or, rather, Dominique's.
The Bletchley Circle: Statistical methods in risk assessment
Summary: Jean McBrien was not entirely clear on her opinion of SOE sending women to spy behind the lines - but then, in wartime, one did not have opinions. One did one's duty.
- Sydney Padua - The thrilling adventures of Lovelace and Babbage
Beatrice, or, The mechanical yule goat
Summary: Charles Babbage constructs a Terrifying Literary Engine, driven by Steam and Diverse Mechanical Linkages, in order to complete his Yuletide assignment. Said automaton proceeds both to irritate the Countess of Lovelace and to destroy much of London. Hijinks ensue.
- TLF travel alerts:
The tram trials of life (best read in a David Attenborough voice)
Three (!) Good Omens and The devil went down to Georgia crossovers
Crowley and the golden fiddle
The devil and Johnny Webster
The devil sauntered vaguely down to Georgia
Need to know the books/movies etc:
- Amy Griswold and Melissa Scott - The Lynes and Mathey series: The heart remembers (case-fic)
Summary: When Mr Mathey appears to have forgotten some details of a case - along with a few other important things - Miss Frost must come to the rescue.
- Amy Griswold and Melissa Scott - The Lynes and Mathey series: A Christmas cable (case-fic)
Summary: Lynes and Mathey negotiate the perils of the season.
- Dorothy L. Sayers - The Lord Peter Wimsey series: A brief history of the patronage of Beatie Wilson
Summary: Peter vows not to make the same mistake Miss De Vine made. (spoilers for Gaudy Night)
- Kate Griffin - The Matthew Swift series: Taking care of business
Summary: Kelly Shiring believed in to-do lists like other people believed in gods, or even elemental constructs. A really good to-do list could get you through anything...
- Ann Leckie - The Imperial Radch series: Fact-finding (humour)
Summary: Translator Zeiat is determined to find out how humans reproduce. Sphene doesn't really help.
- Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette - The Iskryne series: Snow songs
Summary: Skjaldwulf takes to forging songs. (slight spoilers for A Tempering of Men)
- Jaqueline Carey - Kushiel's legacy: Lovely in her fall
Summary: A life told in visits to the Houses of the Night Court.
- Helene Wecker - The golem and the jinni: The greatest city in the world
Summary: The golem and the jinni, over the years
- Ben Aaronovitch - Rivers of London-series: Catch you when you drop
Summary: Beverly's first day in the countryside as a hostage (set immediately after Rivers of London)
- Ben Aaronovitch - Rivers of London-series: The ghosts in the abbey (case-fic)
Summary: Peter and Thomas hunt ghosts in a hotel/ex-abbey
- Ben Aaronovitch - Rivers of London-series: Routine
Summary: How to deal with magical crime when the wizards are away
And if these aren't enough, check out the collections at Ao3:
http://archiveofourown.org/collections/yuletide2016/fandoms
http://archiveofourown.org/collections/yuletidemadness2016/fandoms
No need to know the books/movies etc
From fluff to horror:
- Neko Astume: Haiku
Summary: Performance haiku based entirely on which of my Neko Atsume cats decided to show up today.
- Jean-Léon Gérôme - Duel after a Masquerade Ball: L'Abécédaire d'un duel
Summary: Critic Edmond About suggested, "At forty years old, before one steps on the dueling ground, one might forget to make his will, to write to his wife, or to provide for his son's future, but one doesn't forget to put on real pants." But About forgets the history that takes an affair from a general insult to blighted honour. Each participant, from beginning to end, lends his past to the careering force of history.
- Changeling: The Lost: The wilderness (horror)
Summary: It starts with a dead deer, like my work usually does.
- Sarah Monette - The Kyle Murchison Booth stories: The book of the duplicitous dead (horror)
Summary: In which Booth finds out what's haunting the stacks of the Samuel Mather Parrington Museum after dark, and is tempted by what it has to offer.
For these, you (probably) need to have some basic idea about the books/movies etc:
- Kate Beaton - Hark! A vagrant / Barratt's privateers crossover
Flintlock through the heart, and you're to blame (romance)
- Barbara Hambly - The Benjamin January mysteries: And still of a winter's night (case-fic)
Summary: When a young woman turns up dead during Carnival, Shaw needs Ben's help with the investigation -- or, rather, Dominique's.
The Bletchley Circle: Statistical methods in risk assessment
Summary: Jean McBrien was not entirely clear on her opinion of SOE sending women to spy behind the lines - but then, in wartime, one did not have opinions. One did one's duty.
- Sydney Padua - The thrilling adventures of Lovelace and Babbage
Beatrice, or, The mechanical yule goat
Summary: Charles Babbage constructs a Terrifying Literary Engine, driven by Steam and Diverse Mechanical Linkages, in order to complete his Yuletide assignment. Said automaton proceeds both to irritate the Countess of Lovelace and to destroy much of London. Hijinks ensue.
- TLF travel alerts:
The tram trials of life (best read in a David Attenborough voice)
Three (!) Good Omens and The devil went down to Georgia crossovers
Crowley and the golden fiddle
The devil and Johnny Webster
The devil sauntered vaguely down to Georgia
Need to know the books/movies etc:
- Amy Griswold and Melissa Scott - The Lynes and Mathey series: The heart remembers (case-fic)
Summary: When Mr Mathey appears to have forgotten some details of a case - along with a few other important things - Miss Frost must come to the rescue.
- Amy Griswold and Melissa Scott - The Lynes and Mathey series: A Christmas cable (case-fic)
Summary: Lynes and Mathey negotiate the perils of the season.
- Dorothy L. Sayers - The Lord Peter Wimsey series: A brief history of the patronage of Beatie Wilson
Summary: Peter vows not to make the same mistake Miss De Vine made. (spoilers for Gaudy Night)
- Kate Griffin - The Matthew Swift series: Taking care of business
Summary: Kelly Shiring believed in to-do lists like other people believed in gods, or even elemental constructs. A really good to-do list could get you through anything...
- Ann Leckie - The Imperial Radch series: Fact-finding (humour)
Summary: Translator Zeiat is determined to find out how humans reproduce. Sphene doesn't really help.
- Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette - The Iskryne series: Snow songs
Summary: Skjaldwulf takes to forging songs. (slight spoilers for A Tempering of Men)
- Jaqueline Carey - Kushiel's legacy: Lovely in her fall
Summary: A life told in visits to the Houses of the Night Court.
- Helene Wecker - The golem and the jinni: The greatest city in the world
Summary: The golem and the jinni, over the years
- Ben Aaronovitch - Rivers of London-series: Catch you when you drop
Summary: Beverly's first day in the countryside as a hostage (set immediately after Rivers of London)
- Ben Aaronovitch - Rivers of London-series: The ghosts in the abbey (case-fic)
Summary: Peter and Thomas hunt ghosts in a hotel/ex-abbey
- Ben Aaronovitch - Rivers of London-series: Routine
Summary: How to deal with magical crime when the wizards are away
And if these aren't enough, check out the collections at Ao3:
http://archiveofourown.org/collections/yuletide2016/fandoms
http://archiveofourown.org/collections/yuletidemadness2016/fandoms