[REC] Original M/M
I've been spending a lot of time reading Original M/M fiction lately (pro fiction, too) and haven't been keeping up with bookmarks very well. This, combined with the general mood-from-hell, combined with a much higher than expected workload, combined with RL drama that just ceases to end... well, that's kind of what the silence is about. I really didn't mean to just go off the reservation for so long. I'm really not sure when I'll be back on a regular basis, either. If you know me IRL, the best way to keep up or get in touch with me is via Twitter. Or e-mail - that always works, only I can be really slow to reply right now.
Anyway, all that is beside the point of this here entry. I wanted to point you to a couple of incredible things I've read recently, in case you're into Original M/M. All of these come from bb_shousetsu - also known around these parts as the zine that keeps on giving. Every time I think I've run through its entire archive at least once, I discover something else I apparently never read and can't believe I missed somehow. Here's what's blown my mind lately:
I lacked the energy and time to really dig into the December 2012 issue when it first came out, but I did go back and start reading through it last week. It's an end-of-the-year theme-less big bang issue (my favorite!) and so far I've loved everything in it to pieces. I'm not done reading, but this should keep anyone busy for a few days:
The White Palace by shukyou (ladysisyphus) | 55,188 words
It's been a number of years since I've read high fantasy on its own, and I have to say, if it were all like this I might seek it out to the exclusion of all else. This right here is probably the easiest, most fascinating, least heavy piece of fantasy I've read in a great many years. Not only does it not require a special map, dictionary and glossary of terms, but it is truly the embodiment of all the reasons I read fantasy to begin with. Interesting characters, grand ideas, unique and memorable encounters... all of it like a great, beautiful, fantastical buffet.
Tantantara! Tzing! Boom! by Shikkoku no Suzu (wilfulandsneaky) | 30,166 words
The trials and tribulations of the Woodcross Gilbert and Sullivan Society and one Freddie Green, director of the WGSS, son of the late Richard Green, celebrated D'Oyly Carte tenor. Wherein Freddie must adjust for loss of funding, the re-appearance in his life of one Honourable Robin Lionel Coffrey Montgomery-Wells (former lover, largely responsible for said loss of funding) and still somehow put on this season's successful production of Iolanthe. Well, maybe Iolanthe. Or maybe something else but definitely not Pirates of Penzance. Oh my god, you guys, this was so much fun to read. The author seems to think that it's somewhat ridiculous but I didn't think so, oh no, not one bit. It was lovely. And it was thoughtful. And it was just a joy to imagine, really.
Everything living tries to get back to the soil by Domashita Romero (beeblebabe) | 16,929 words
I don't even want to begin to tell you what this one is about, it'll spoil all the fun. You don't need to know, anyway. Well, OK, just in case: it's a little scary, a lot imaginative, it's altogether just amazingly well constructed. It's the sort of story that, like it or not, whoever's sitting next to you while you read this will get a steady stream of direct quotes "shared" in their general direction. I spent a lot of time throughout it with my head spinning. (Warning for some gore, I suppose. And, y'know, non-standard ending. But there's nothing standard about this story, so I'm not actually sure what that means.) Also!! There's a coda by ladysisyphus that's listed in a comment to the first part (as a pingback). It's definitely worth going back for, once you're done :)
This latest is not the only issue I've been digging into though, so here are a couple of older stories too:
The Wilderness by Tsukizubon Saruko (drmoonpants) | 22,265 words
Horror, the way I haven't seen it done in a very long time - organic, dirty, creepy, mind-bending, hair-raising, heart-breaking horror. This took a re-read for me to fully reconcile its ending with what I thought would happen, but somehow the re-read ended up no less shocking or affecting. It's a pretty amazing portrayal of a relationship that's going through that very first transition into permanence that a lot of relationships don't actually survive. So well done.
And then because I can never get enough of this author's fiction (I've recced her original fic before in the 365 project of last year) I went back and looked up her last year's December fic (which again... somehow I missed? IDEK.) and ended up spending no less than 3 days with it because it was Just So Fucking Good. You've got to try it.
Sid Stills' Blues (Three-Quarters in the Bag in Alphabet City) by shukyou (ladysisyphus) | 87,023 words
This is something like the best rockstar!fic you'll ever read. No, actually, it probably is the best rockstar!fic you'll ever read. I don't even know where to start. I actually probably shouldn't even try. It's about music, and musicians, and getting old, and getting sick (really sick - warning for some pretty horrible aging and illness themes here) and still finding that there are such things in the world like fans, true fans, and friendship, and love, and hope, and life. Gods, I don't even. I spent a good portion of this crying my eyes out. After the few weeks I've had, it was just what was needed.
There, that's... busy-making, right? Right :) :)
(cross-posted from http://mementis.dreamwidth.org/127849.html -
comments @ DW - reply@DW)
Anyway, all that is beside the point of this here entry. I wanted to point you to a couple of incredible things I've read recently, in case you're into Original M/M. All of these come from bb_shousetsu - also known around these parts as the zine that keeps on giving. Every time I think I've run through its entire archive at least once, I discover something else I apparently never read and can't believe I missed somehow. Here's what's blown my mind lately:
I lacked the energy and time to really dig into the December 2012 issue when it first came out, but I did go back and start reading through it last week. It's an end-of-the-year theme-less big bang issue (my favorite!) and so far I've loved everything in it to pieces. I'm not done reading, but this should keep anyone busy for a few days:
The White Palace by shukyou (ladysisyphus) | 55,188 words
It's been a number of years since I've read high fantasy on its own, and I have to say, if it were all like this I might seek it out to the exclusion of all else. This right here is probably the easiest, most fascinating, least heavy piece of fantasy I've read in a great many years. Not only does it not require a special map, dictionary and glossary of terms, but it is truly the embodiment of all the reasons I read fantasy to begin with. Interesting characters, grand ideas, unique and memorable encounters... all of it like a great, beautiful, fantastical buffet.
Tantantara! Tzing! Boom! by Shikkoku no Suzu (wilfulandsneaky) | 30,166 words
The trials and tribulations of the Woodcross Gilbert and Sullivan Society and one Freddie Green, director of the WGSS, son of the late Richard Green, celebrated D'Oyly Carte tenor. Wherein Freddie must adjust for loss of funding, the re-appearance in his life of one Honourable Robin Lionel Coffrey Montgomery-Wells (former lover, largely responsible for said loss of funding) and still somehow put on this season's successful production of Iolanthe. Well, maybe Iolanthe. Or maybe something else but definitely not Pirates of Penzance. Oh my god, you guys, this was so much fun to read. The author seems to think that it's somewhat ridiculous but I didn't think so, oh no, not one bit. It was lovely. And it was thoughtful. And it was just a joy to imagine, really.
Everything living tries to get back to the soil by Domashita Romero (beeblebabe) | 16,929 words
I don't even want to begin to tell you what this one is about, it'll spoil all the fun. You don't need to know, anyway. Well, OK, just in case: it's a little scary, a lot imaginative, it's altogether just amazingly well constructed. It's the sort of story that, like it or not, whoever's sitting next to you while you read this will get a steady stream of direct quotes "shared" in their general direction. I spent a lot of time throughout it with my head spinning. (Warning for some gore, I suppose. And, y'know, non-standard ending. But there's nothing standard about this story, so I'm not actually sure what that means.) Also!! There's a coda by ladysisyphus that's listed in a comment to the first part (as a pingback). It's definitely worth going back for, once you're done :)
This latest is not the only issue I've been digging into though, so here are a couple of older stories too:
The Wilderness by Tsukizubon Saruko (drmoonpants) | 22,265 words
Horror, the way I haven't seen it done in a very long time - organic, dirty, creepy, mind-bending, hair-raising, heart-breaking horror. This took a re-read for me to fully reconcile its ending with what I thought would happen, but somehow the re-read ended up no less shocking or affecting. It's a pretty amazing portrayal of a relationship that's going through that very first transition into permanence that a lot of relationships don't actually survive. So well done.
And then because I can never get enough of this author's fiction (I've recced her original fic before in the 365 project of last year) I went back and looked up her last year's December fic (which again... somehow I missed? IDEK.) and ended up spending no less than 3 days with it because it was Just So Fucking Good. You've got to try it.
Sid Stills' Blues (Three-Quarters in the Bag in Alphabet City) by shukyou (ladysisyphus) | 87,023 words
This is something like the best rockstar!fic you'll ever read. No, actually, it probably is the best rockstar!fic you'll ever read. I don't even know where to start. I actually probably shouldn't even try. It's about music, and musicians, and getting old, and getting sick (really sick - warning for some pretty horrible aging and illness themes here) and still finding that there are such things in the world like fans, true fans, and friendship, and love, and hope, and life. Gods, I don't even. I spent a good portion of this crying my eyes out. After the few weeks I've had, it was just what was needed.
There, that's... busy-making, right? Right :) :)
(cross-posted from http://mementis.dreamwidth.org/127849.html -
comments @ DW - reply@DW)