Yuletide
I am reunited with an internet connection and with Yuletide, belatedly. I was very lucky this year, and received four fantastic stories, 3 for Temeraire and 1 for Tamora Pierce's Tortall Universe.
Gifts:
Sweet William by
quasar, Temeraire
The Spanish Armada is about to descend upon England, and her greatest hope is a captainless dragon hatchling.
Temeraire is one of those premises that I want to see mixed into everything, not just specific fandoms, but classic story arcs, famous historical events... and here we have Temeraire dragons and the Spanish Armada! This is a very sweet story with a POV character with whom you immediately sympathize and an appealing plot -- longwings! refusing handlers! the Spanish Armada! A little romance!
Lieutenant Bennet's Visit by
beatrice_otter, Temeraire, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice
Elizabeth’s reality is far different from her sisters’.
Beatrice Otter pulls off the Temeraire/Austen fusion spectacularly -- this is everything I wanted in a crossover. The tone is perfect -- Elizabeth slides so naturally in the role of aviator, and you are so glad to see her using all that wit and intelligence. At the same time, Beatrice Otter stays true to the culture of the time, so effectively using the other P&P characters to really highlight the very different worlds of canon Elizabeth and Temeraire Elizabeth. I HAVE WANTED SOMEONE TO WRITE THIS FOR SO LONG, GUYS.
Iskierka and the Crimean War by
jenn_calaelen, Temeraire
About Iskierka and her crew, set at the start of the Crimean War.
I do like Iskierka, but I wonder what she'd be like with more life experience. Jenn Calaelen gives a little glimpse into the future with Iskierka captained by another Granby. Liz Granby's a bit accidental, with grand ambitions but inexperienced, waiting for her chance to prove herself. And poor Izkierka does not enjoy peacetime. I especially liked the aviators speculating on what other Kaziliks would be like, having only Izkierka as an example.
Finds But Riddling Shrift by
lotesse, Tamora Pierce's Tortall universe
George finds Arram Draper juggling in the snow.
I really, really love the prose at the beginning of this. Such great visual descriptions of George and Arram/Numair and fantastic dialogue in George's brief exchanges with Alanna, as well as including George's less-than-noble background. I wish it had not been a yuletide madness story, because George's discovery of Numair could so clearly be spread over a much longer, delicious plot arc.
I wrote:
Toward a Golden Age by pentapus for
lazulia
BPRD, Panya, Langdon Everett Caul (a.k.a. Abe Sapien), the Heliopic Brotherhood of Ra,
As always, Panya professed an unfortunate amnesia.
Lazulia asked for Panya and Abe Sapien. Panya! I love Panya -- she's an Egyptian mummy who wakes up after she's unwrapped at a party for wealthy Egypt enthusiasts in Victorian England. She immediately takes to being a minor Victorian celebrity, picking up the language, the fashion, and overall deciding she likes London better than Thebes, especially the mad science experiments of the secret society that shelters her. She has her own interests and self-interest, and just generally feels like your sweet grandmother who is definitely smirking as she slaughters everyone at bridge.
The request opened up a whole host of possibilities, especially concerning Abe Sapien's previous identity as Langdon Everett Caul aka the wealthy Antebellum Virginian and member of a rival creepy, paternalistic secrety society. I had envisioned a whole story of lost continents (Kergeulen Plateau Lemuria) and Abe! on boats! It turned into a meeting-that-might-have-been between two characters who canonically moved in the same circles at similar times, which was also fun.
In other words, despite being very, very absent for most of it, Yuletide this year went very well. Hope you all had a good time and are having a great new year. :D :D
Gifts:
Sweet William by
quasar, Temeraire
The Spanish Armada is about to descend upon England, and her greatest hope is a captainless dragon hatchling.
Temeraire is one of those premises that I want to see mixed into everything, not just specific fandoms, but classic story arcs, famous historical events... and here we have Temeraire dragons and the Spanish Armada! This is a very sweet story with a POV character with whom you immediately sympathize and an appealing plot -- longwings! refusing handlers! the Spanish Armada! A little romance!
Lieutenant Bennet's Visit by
beatrice_otter, Temeraire, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice
Elizabeth’s reality is far different from her sisters’.
Beatrice Otter pulls off the Temeraire/Austen fusion spectacularly -- this is everything I wanted in a crossover. The tone is perfect -- Elizabeth slides so naturally in the role of aviator, and you are so glad to see her using all that wit and intelligence. At the same time, Beatrice Otter stays true to the culture of the time, so effectively using the other P&P characters to really highlight the very different worlds of canon Elizabeth and Temeraire Elizabeth. I HAVE WANTED SOMEONE TO WRITE THIS FOR SO LONG, GUYS.
Iskierka and the Crimean War by
jenn_calaelen, Temeraire
About Iskierka and her crew, set at the start of the Crimean War.
I do like Iskierka, but I wonder what she'd be like with more life experience. Jenn Calaelen gives a little glimpse into the future with Iskierka captained by another Granby. Liz Granby's a bit accidental, with grand ambitions but inexperienced, waiting for her chance to prove herself. And poor Izkierka does not enjoy peacetime. I especially liked the aviators speculating on what other Kaziliks would be like, having only Izkierka as an example.
Finds But Riddling Shrift by
lotesse, Tamora Pierce's Tortall universe
George finds Arram Draper juggling in the snow.
I really, really love the prose at the beginning of this. Such great visual descriptions of George and Arram/Numair and fantastic dialogue in George's brief exchanges with Alanna, as well as including George's less-than-noble background. I wish it had not been a yuletide madness story, because George's discovery of Numair could so clearly be spread over a much longer, delicious plot arc.
I wrote:
Toward a Golden Age by pentapus for
lazulia
BPRD, Panya, Langdon Everett Caul (a.k.a. Abe Sapien), the Heliopic Brotherhood of Ra,
As always, Panya professed an unfortunate amnesia.
Lazulia asked for Panya and Abe Sapien. Panya! I love Panya -- she's an Egyptian mummy who wakes up after she's unwrapped at a party for wealthy Egypt enthusiasts in Victorian England. She immediately takes to being a minor Victorian celebrity, picking up the language, the fashion, and overall deciding she likes London better than Thebes, especially the mad science experiments of the secret society that shelters her. She has her own interests and self-interest, and just generally feels like your sweet grandmother who is definitely smirking as she slaughters everyone at bridge.
The request opened up a whole host of possibilities, especially concerning Abe Sapien's previous identity as Langdon Everett Caul aka the wealthy Antebellum Virginian and member of a rival creepy, paternalistic secrety society. I had envisioned a whole story of lost continents (Kergeulen Plateau Lemuria) and Abe! on boats! It turned into a meeting-that-might-have-been between two characters who canonically moved in the same circles at similar times, which was also fun.
In other words, despite being very, very absent for most of it, Yuletide this year went very well. Hope you all had a good time and are having a great new year. :D :D