Yuletide Recs
Shit, sorry, I just noticed this went up without a cut tag.
Yuletide Rec: Lay Your Sleeping Head Human on My Faithless Shoulder
Fandom: Mary Renault's The Charioteer
Pairing: Ralph/Alec
Wonderful use of language distinguishes this story, which details a rather brief and bittersweet encounter between Ralph and Alec after their relationship had ended. I liked the WWII-era setting very much, and the sense of quiet desperation that has settled over both characters. I know that Ralph's story, at least, has a happy ending, but this story had a very sad and sentimental quality that I adore.
Yuletide Rec: Revolver
Fandom: Hard Core Logo (because it's also CKR/HD RPS, it would also slot in with the RPS fandoms)
Pairing: CKR/HD
Great look at Callum and Hugh's relationship before, during and after the HCL experience. Cycles of addiction, of realization and of backing away. Lovely story, and really well-written.
Yuletide Rec: Slow Leave
Fandom: Shakespeare's Hamlet
Pairing: Hamlet/Horatio
This story is astonishing. It's written in iambic pentameter, in verse-form, and details an alternative ending to the story of the tragic Danish prince. Horatio successfully convinces Hamlet to leave Elisnor rather than carry through his revenge in the final act, and the result is a wonderful mediation on fate and circumstance, complete with declarations of love and a promise of redemption. Shakespeare himself would be proud of this piece.
Yuletide Rec: The Thin Man Takes a Husband
Fandom: The Donald Strachey Mysteries
Pairing: Donald/Timothy
Influenced by the same mid-century detective films that inform the TV movies, this story was a rollicking casefic that shows us how Donald and Timothy met, pretended to be married, and then fell in love. I loved the author's take on Timothy: he's just as adorably fussy and befuddled as he is in the TV movies, but he's fun, frisky and game for Donald's wild schemes, and the two characters share a wonderful chemistry that really sold the casefic aspects. I felt very much as if I were reading or watching one of the Thin Man mysteries, and Donald and Timothy really do make for a terrific modern-day Nick and Nora Charles.
Yuletide Rec: Sometimes On The Rarest Nights
Fandom: Gosford Park
Characters: Ivor Novello, Mabel Nesbitt
A stunning story that details the decades-long friendship between actor/playwrite/composer Ivor Novello (Jeremy Northam) and Mabel Nesbitt. I can't quite articulate how sophisticated and detailed this story is, and how much effort the author put into crafting a clear historical context for her characters. Written in the epistolary style, the story unfolds in the form of a collection of letters put up for auction in the 21st century. The correspondence between Novello (a real life actor/singer/songwriter) and Mabel crackles with wit, humour, contemporaneous observations of life in pre-war and wartime England, and contains a lot of sophisticated biographical work detailing Novello's life and decades-long relationship with his lover, Bobbie Andrews.
I hadn't expected anything like this from a Gosford Park fanfic, but references to the (fictional) characters from the film, as well as the very sweet and satisfying look at what became of shy but decent Mary Nesbitt offered a tremendously satisfying glimpse at the intersection between the fictional world of Robert Altman's film, and its real-life social and historical context. I'm really eager to see who the author of this story was, so I can fangirl them in more detail come the reveal. It's an amazing bit of writing, and even if you have no clue who or what the fandom is, I suggest you check it out.
Yuletide Rec: Rebuilding
Fandom: Wilby Wonderful
Pairing: Duck/Dan
A very sweet and gentle Wilby story, in which we come to understand what, exactly, Dan means to Duck, and what Dan has to offer Wilby's resident guardian angel. I really loved that Duck and Dan move into the old French house, too, and open up an informal bed-and-breakfast. This story was understated, tender and peaceful. Exactly what a good Wilby story should be, in other words.
One-Night Fandoms: A Tribute to Yuletide (vid by eruthros and thingswithwings)
While technically not part of the regular yuletide festivities, this vid is a an amazingly well-edited retrospective on over 191 different Yuletide fandoms, organized by theme. Plus? The Hard Core Logo clip is immediately followed by a clip from Jem and the Holograms. How awesome is that? Pretty damn awesome.
Yuletide Rec: Lay Your Sleeping Head Human on My Faithless Shoulder
Fandom: Mary Renault's The Charioteer
Pairing: Ralph/Alec
Wonderful use of language distinguishes this story, which details a rather brief and bittersweet encounter between Ralph and Alec after their relationship had ended. I liked the WWII-era setting very much, and the sense of quiet desperation that has settled over both characters. I know that Ralph's story, at least, has a happy ending, but this story had a very sad and sentimental quality that I adore.
Yuletide Rec: Revolver
Fandom: Hard Core Logo (because it's also CKR/HD RPS, it would also slot in with the RPS fandoms)
Pairing: CKR/HD
Great look at Callum and Hugh's relationship before, during and after the HCL experience. Cycles of addiction, of realization and of backing away. Lovely story, and really well-written.
Yuletide Rec: Slow Leave
Fandom: Shakespeare's Hamlet
Pairing: Hamlet/Horatio
This story is astonishing. It's written in iambic pentameter, in verse-form, and details an alternative ending to the story of the tragic Danish prince. Horatio successfully convinces Hamlet to leave Elisnor rather than carry through his revenge in the final act, and the result is a wonderful mediation on fate and circumstance, complete with declarations of love and a promise of redemption. Shakespeare himself would be proud of this piece.
Yuletide Rec: The Thin Man Takes a Husband
Fandom: The Donald Strachey Mysteries
Pairing: Donald/Timothy
Influenced by the same mid-century detective films that inform the TV movies, this story was a rollicking casefic that shows us how Donald and Timothy met, pretended to be married, and then fell in love. I loved the author's take on Timothy: he's just as adorably fussy and befuddled as he is in the TV movies, but he's fun, frisky and game for Donald's wild schemes, and the two characters share a wonderful chemistry that really sold the casefic aspects. I felt very much as if I were reading or watching one of the Thin Man mysteries, and Donald and Timothy really do make for a terrific modern-day Nick and Nora Charles.
Yuletide Rec: Sometimes On The Rarest Nights
Fandom: Gosford Park
Characters: Ivor Novello, Mabel Nesbitt
A stunning story that details the decades-long friendship between actor/playwrite/composer Ivor Novello (Jeremy Northam) and Mabel Nesbitt. I can't quite articulate how sophisticated and detailed this story is, and how much effort the author put into crafting a clear historical context for her characters. Written in the epistolary style, the story unfolds in the form of a collection of letters put up for auction in the 21st century. The correspondence between Novello (a real life actor/singer/songwriter) and Mabel crackles with wit, humour, contemporaneous observations of life in pre-war and wartime England, and contains a lot of sophisticated biographical work detailing Novello's life and decades-long relationship with his lover, Bobbie Andrews.
I hadn't expected anything like this from a Gosford Park fanfic, but references to the (fictional) characters from the film, as well as the very sweet and satisfying look at what became of shy but decent Mary Nesbitt offered a tremendously satisfying glimpse at the intersection between the fictional world of Robert Altman's film, and its real-life social and historical context. I'm really eager to see who the author of this story was, so I can fangirl them in more detail come the reveal. It's an amazing bit of writing, and even if you have no clue who or what the fandom is, I suggest you check it out.
Yuletide Rec: Rebuilding
Fandom: Wilby Wonderful
Pairing: Duck/Dan
A very sweet and gentle Wilby story, in which we come to understand what, exactly, Dan means to Duck, and what Dan has to offer Wilby's resident guardian angel. I really loved that Duck and Dan move into the old French house, too, and open up an informal bed-and-breakfast. This story was understated, tender and peaceful. Exactly what a good Wilby story should be, in other words.
One-Night Fandoms: A Tribute to Yuletide (vid by eruthros and thingswithwings)
While technically not part of the regular yuletide festivities, this vid is a an amazingly well-edited retrospective on over 191 different Yuletide fandoms, organized by theme. Plus? The Hard Core Logo clip is immediately followed by a clip from Jem and the Holograms. How awesome is that? Pretty damn awesome.