Yuletide Largesse and Once Upon a Fic
It is never too late to talk about awesome things, right? People were very generous to me this recent Yuletide and I have much to celebrate there.
I received two stories for the fairy tale The Lute Player - one an intricate, unsettling, seamless meld with Sir Orfeo, and one a more irreverent, but equally heartfelt story breathing life into the heroine especially. I love how the two stories expand the tale along such different axes. I also received:
- an incredibly indulgent threesome story for The Seer and the Sword, a slight but fun YA fantasy that has given me very shippy feelings since I read it half my life ago;
-a rich, strange, and fascinating story from Odile's perspective for the ballet Swan Lake;
-and a fun and intense worldbuilding snippet for Hive Mind, based on the very latest canon that had come out just weeks before Yuletide reveals (allowing me to devour it).
Details below the cut!
A song for three voices (2965 words) by Quillori
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Lute Player (Fairy Tale), Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Summary: He has waited a long time for ransom or rescue.
-This was structured so carefully and had a wonderful, ominous atmosphere. It finished with just the right balance between arriving at a clear stopping point, and ambiguity about what had happened and what would happen next. I loved how it both leaned into fantastical aspects and made the characters more human.
The Lute-Player's Daughter (2006 words) by avani
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Lute Player (Fairy Tale), Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: King/Queen
Additional Tags: Female Character of Color, Fairy Tale Retellings, Alternate Universe - Setting Change
Summary: The lute Ghoshavati was the stuff of legends; played in the hand of a master such as Udayana, it could tame the fiercest of beasts and bend the elements to mortal will. Udayana’s daughter, however, who found herself presented with it, was nothing of the sort.
-The heroine here was a delight - resourceful and relatable, cheeky and courageous. I loved this angle on both the protagonists - how they met as children and grew a great deal over the course of the story. And the setting change was great! The combination with the Udayana was also a seamless and fascinating blend.
Overtaken (2526 words) by ShadedTopaz
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Лебединое озеро - Чайковски | Swan Lake - Tchaikovsky
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Odette/Odile, odile/siegfried
Characters: Odette, Odile
Summary: What happens when a sorceress is caught up in a spell?
-Odile's perspective was really immersive; she felt properly non-human (in this version where she is a fairy). I loved the extra worldbuilding to make the circumstances make sense, and in some parts, make them stranger. And especially the idea that the lake was a boundary between worlds. I was also really touched to get this because it was written by an offline friend, with whom I saw a performance of Swan Lake in November.
what we lost in the ashes, we'll find in the flames (1132 words) by misura
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Healer and Seer Series - Victoria Hanley
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Vineda Archelda/Landen of Bellandra/Dahmis
Additional Tags: POV Second Person, Sexual Fantasy, No Plot/Plotless, Yuletide Treat
Summary: You want them both.
-This is a story this fandom really needed, okay. Or I needed it and can't distinguish between the two, also possible. I just wanted my mature noble king pining for his mysterious gifted adviser AND his mysterious brave outlaw, who happen to be pining for each other. And I got it! In second person!
Breakaway (1949 words) by burglebezzlement
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Hive Mind Series - Janet Edwards
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Amber (Hive Mind), Original Telepath Character
Additional Tags: Major spoilers through all of Borderline, telepaths, Telepath backchannel communication, Good Manners, canon-typical discussion of prior threatened (but not completed) imprint removal, telepath genetics and selective breeding, trauma aftermath, Hive Genex, Worldbuilding
Summary: Amber isn't the newest telepath anymore.
-You know the feeling when you finish the latest instalment of an ongoing series and you just immediately want more? This was me getting it, or that's how it felt. burglebezzlement's snippet follows directly on from the most recent Hive Mind book, creatively expanding the worldbuilding in a way that felt really plausible to me. burglebezzlement was also my main recipient for Yuletide 2019, and was just as gracious a recipient as they were an author.
I also have a second reason for mentioning fairy tales: sign-ups are open for Once Upon a Fic, the fairy tales / legends / ballads / urban legends / myths / rhymes exchange I help
benedict run. They close on the 19th. I'm extremely excited for this exchange - I tend to struggle each year with writing and then come out with something I'm really proud of. And people's interpretations are so creative!
This year I'm asking for the following stories:
-The Cat Who Became a Queen - summary: His wife? A CAT. Deceptions and shenanigans and goodheartedness.
-Childe Rowland - a classic eerie fairyland quest! I want to explore it
-Lokasenna - look I just want to roll around in angry mythology!Loki feelings and the tragedy of it all
-East of the Sun, West of the Moon - It has bears AND fantastical locations AND personified elements AND a strange courtship and redemption! what's not to love
-The Green Knight - meet-cutes and dream technology! and more goodheartedness (though some spite as well) (Danish fairy tale, not Gawain's encounter)
Come write one of those for me! :P Or come write other things for other people. I'm not picky. Just come play -
once_upon_fic. This entry is also posted at https://morbane.dreamwidth.org/45722.html. There are
comments. Please comment either here or there.
I received two stories for the fairy tale The Lute Player - one an intricate, unsettling, seamless meld with Sir Orfeo, and one a more irreverent, but equally heartfelt story breathing life into the heroine especially. I love how the two stories expand the tale along such different axes. I also received:
- an incredibly indulgent threesome story for The Seer and the Sword, a slight but fun YA fantasy that has given me very shippy feelings since I read it half my life ago;
-a rich, strange, and fascinating story from Odile's perspective for the ballet Swan Lake;
-and a fun and intense worldbuilding snippet for Hive Mind, based on the very latest canon that had come out just weeks before Yuletide reveals (allowing me to devour it).
Details below the cut!
A song for three voices (2965 words) by Quillori
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Lute Player (Fairy Tale), Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Summary: He has waited a long time for ransom or rescue.
-This was structured so carefully and had a wonderful, ominous atmosphere. It finished with just the right balance between arriving at a clear stopping point, and ambiguity about what had happened and what would happen next. I loved how it both leaned into fantastical aspects and made the characters more human.
The Lute-Player's Daughter (2006 words) by avani
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Lute Player (Fairy Tale), Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: King/Queen
Additional Tags: Female Character of Color, Fairy Tale Retellings, Alternate Universe - Setting Change
Summary: The lute Ghoshavati was the stuff of legends; played in the hand of a master such as Udayana, it could tame the fiercest of beasts and bend the elements to mortal will. Udayana’s daughter, however, who found herself presented with it, was nothing of the sort.
-The heroine here was a delight - resourceful and relatable, cheeky and courageous. I loved this angle on both the protagonists - how they met as children and grew a great deal over the course of the story. And the setting change was great! The combination with the Udayana was also a seamless and fascinating blend.
Overtaken (2526 words) by ShadedTopaz
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Лебединое озеро - Чайковски | Swan Lake - Tchaikovsky
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Odette/Odile, odile/siegfried
Characters: Odette, Odile
Summary: What happens when a sorceress is caught up in a spell?
-Odile's perspective was really immersive; she felt properly non-human (in this version where she is a fairy). I loved the extra worldbuilding to make the circumstances make sense, and in some parts, make them stranger. And especially the idea that the lake was a boundary between worlds. I was also really touched to get this because it was written by an offline friend, with whom I saw a performance of Swan Lake in November.
what we lost in the ashes, we'll find in the flames (1132 words) by misura
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Healer and Seer Series - Victoria Hanley
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Vineda Archelda/Landen of Bellandra/Dahmis
Additional Tags: POV Second Person, Sexual Fantasy, No Plot/Plotless, Yuletide Treat
Summary: You want them both.
-This is a story this fandom really needed, okay. Or I needed it and can't distinguish between the two, also possible. I just wanted my mature noble king pining for his mysterious gifted adviser AND his mysterious brave outlaw, who happen to be pining for each other. And I got it! In second person!
Breakaway (1949 words) by burglebezzlement
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Hive Mind Series - Janet Edwards
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Amber (Hive Mind), Original Telepath Character
Additional Tags: Major spoilers through all of Borderline, telepaths, Telepath backchannel communication, Good Manners, canon-typical discussion of prior threatened (but not completed) imprint removal, telepath genetics and selective breeding, trauma aftermath, Hive Genex, Worldbuilding
Summary: Amber isn't the newest telepath anymore.
-You know the feeling when you finish the latest instalment of an ongoing series and you just immediately want more? This was me getting it, or that's how it felt. burglebezzlement's snippet follows directly on from the most recent Hive Mind book, creatively expanding the worldbuilding in a way that felt really plausible to me. burglebezzlement was also my main recipient for Yuletide 2019, and was just as gracious a recipient as they were an author.
I also have a second reason for mentioning fairy tales: sign-ups are open for Once Upon a Fic, the fairy tales / legends / ballads / urban legends / myths / rhymes exchange I help
benedict run. They close on the 19th. I'm extremely excited for this exchange - I tend to struggle each year with writing and then come out with something I'm really proud of. And people's interpretations are so creative!
This year I'm asking for the following stories:
-The Cat Who Became a Queen - summary: His wife? A CAT. Deceptions and shenanigans and goodheartedness.
-Childe Rowland - a classic eerie fairyland quest! I want to explore it
-Lokasenna - look I just want to roll around in angry mythology!Loki feelings and the tragedy of it all
-East of the Sun, West of the Moon - It has bears AND fantastical locations AND personified elements AND a strange courtship and redemption! what's not to love
-The Green Knight - meet-cutes and dream technology! and more goodheartedness (though some spite as well) (Danish fairy tale, not Gawain's encounter)
Come write one of those for me! :P Or come write other things for other people. I'm not picky. Just come play -
once_upon_fic. This entry is also posted at https://morbane.dreamwidth.org/45722.html. There are
comments. Please comment either here or there.