Unsent Letters 2024
This year's Unsent Letters ficathon has gone live. I couldn't participate, but I've been enjoying reading through the collection. Here are some favourites, and you'll notice it was a year of crossovers:
Buffy/Highlander: Watchers : in ye olde days of my early fandoms, decades ago, I remember there were quite a few crossovers between Highlander: The Series and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and not just because of the fact both shows feature a secret organisation called "The Watchers" monitoring the supernatural folk of which the titular hero(ine) is a part, so finding this made me feel all nostalgic. It's a good take on the trope in its own right, with perfect Giles and Joe Dawson voices. Very enjoyable.
Elementary/Doctor Strange (MCU): A Strange Correspondence . In which it turns out Joan Watson and Stephen Strange spent a few years in med school together, and they're living in the same city, so when he needs a good detective, he knows whom to ask. It wasn't until I actually finished the story that I recalled the "Cumberbatch and Miller both played Sherlock Holmes in a modern adaptation at the same time" factor, and it's because this story isn't about that, there's no winking at the audience because of the casting. Instead, we get what feels to me a very ic series of exchanges in various media between Strange and Joan, and Strange and Sherlock, and I smiled and wonder whether I will ever have the time for an Elementary rewatch because it was a show with such lovely character work, and I'm still deeply fond of it. Darth Real Life being hot on my heels, it might be a good long while, but in the meantime, there's good fanfic like this.
Doctor Who: Until I see you again: in which Jo Grant, living her best life, writes to the Doctor, every now and then, through the decades, and the author captures her voice both from her original appearances and that of older Jo as seen in The Sarah Jane Adventures perfectly. I also loved the choice of Doctor who finally gets the letters and writes back.
Jane Eyre: Letters and Articles: which to me felt like a Wilkie Collins take on a Charlotte Bronte novel - the story does a great job both with the letters Jane writers to her former teacher Miss Temple, and with the various articles and their officious Victorian tone. I felt charmed, and also now curious about Miss Temple's post Lowood life in a way I never was before.
Buffy/Highlander: Watchers : in ye olde days of my early fandoms, decades ago, I remember there were quite a few crossovers between Highlander: The Series and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and not just because of the fact both shows feature a secret organisation called "The Watchers" monitoring the supernatural folk of which the titular hero(ine) is a part, so finding this made me feel all nostalgic. It's a good take on the trope in its own right, with perfect Giles and Joe Dawson voices. Very enjoyable.
Elementary/Doctor Strange (MCU): A Strange Correspondence . In which it turns out Joan Watson and Stephen Strange spent a few years in med school together, and they're living in the same city, so when he needs a good detective, he knows whom to ask. It wasn't until I actually finished the story that I recalled the "Cumberbatch and Miller both played Sherlock Holmes in a modern adaptation at the same time" factor, and it's because this story isn't about that, there's no winking at the audience because of the casting. Instead, we get what feels to me a very ic series of exchanges in various media between Strange and Joan, and Strange and Sherlock, and I smiled and wonder whether I will ever have the time for an Elementary rewatch because it was a show with such lovely character work, and I'm still deeply fond of it. Darth Real Life being hot on my heels, it might be a good long while, but in the meantime, there's good fanfic like this.
Doctor Who: Until I see you again: in which Jo Grant, living her best life, writes to the Doctor, every now and then, through the decades, and the author captures her voice both from her original appearances and that of older Jo as seen in The Sarah Jane Adventures perfectly. I also loved the choice of Doctor who finally gets the letters and writes back.
Jane Eyre: Letters and Articles: which to me felt like a Wilkie Collins take on a Charlotte Bronte novel - the story does a great job both with the letters Jane writers to her former teacher Miss Temple, and with the various articles and their officious Victorian tone. I felt charmed, and also now curious about Miss Temple's post Lowood life in a way I never was before.