This was my third Yuletide, and the best ever.
I got three amazing gifts for my prompts: Two full-length fics for The Sound of Music and a Yuletide Madness Calvin & Hobbes X Doctor Who crossover. I have no idea who wrote any of these and I'm a little overwhelmed by the fact that I got two treats and I just want to hug and cuddle all my stories forever. I've also gotten a lot of positive feedback for my own (still secret) story (on which
christycorr and
firstlightofeos did a fantastic last-minute beta job), which keeps making me very happy. I love fandom.
The recs:
Title:
PasturaleFandom: Sound of Music (1965)
Rating: General Audiences
Characters: Baroness Elsa Schraeder
Genre: Character study, includes Elsa/Georg von Trapp and Elsa/OMC
Summary: The Baroness is usually seen as a villain in the Sound of Music. Maybe it's time to think again.
A detailed, thoughtful story about Elsa's life, from her first marriage to the time that she lets Georg go to be happy with another woman. This has a very introspective and perceptive Elsa, who is kinder and more thoughtful than you would perhaps expect from the movie. It also does an exceptional job of reconciling the movie's historical inaccuracies with actual events. All in all, the world depicted here is perfectly reconcilable with movie canon, but the characters have a little more shades and the world they're in has a little less technicolor than the movie's. I also love the writing style; it is very much in sync with the topic of the fic.
Title:
Fourteen and ImpossibleFandom: Sound of Music (1965)
Rating: General Audiences
Characters: Baroness Elsa Schraeder, Friedrich von Trapp
Genre: Gen
Summary: "The boy is looking imploringly at her again. Elsa sighs, and holds up a hand to summon the waiter."
It's a missing scene with Friedrich von Trapp (that's the oldest of the boys) and the Baroness witnessing the Anschluss together during Maria's and the Captain's holiday! The kind of story that you wouldn't expect, but that works on every level. Elsa is pitch perfect as the movie's supercilious, shrewd socialite, and her commentary on the von Trapps is brilliant and cutting. And still, she and Friedrich manage to find and comfort each other in a bad time. The ending is a great example of show, not tell, and it makes me choke up a little every time I read it.
Title:
HolidayFandoms: Calvin & Hobbes, Doctor Who
Rating: General Audiences
Characters: Calvin, Hobbes, Melody Pond
Genre: Gen
Summary: It was just a silly old box.
A chance meeting between Calvin and Melody. It's brilliant characterisation and tongue-in-cheek jokes and canon references for both fandoms in 214 words. I absolutely adore Calvin & Hobbes crossovers, and this one demonstrates why.
All of these don't have nearly as many hits as they deserve, so check them out and leave spread the love!
I will make another rec post for Yuletide fics at a later date (I hope).