Warped at the Leipzig Book Fair, and fanfic recs
I'm at the Leipzig Book Fair (not as big and international as the Frankfurt one, but with a charm all of its own, and lots more readings), which will make for little online time for the rest of the week. Evidence #24644 how fandom has warped your mind sneaks up everywhere you don't expect it to: in a book presentation, Steffen Marthus, apropos his biography of the Brothers Grimm, is asked, after having talked a lot about the the fairy tales, the scientific accomplishments, the political activities etc: "In conclusion, Dr. M., what I didn't expect or had forgotten until reading your biography was that they (i.e. the brothers, Jakob and Wilhelm) were so clingy. I mean, they live together, then one of them gets married and they live as three, but still, that kind of clinginess through decades is a bit extreme, wouldn't you say?"
...I was expecting Steffen M. to reply "they're Italian", I swear. Which of course they weren't, and he didn't. Instead, he extemporized on Lebensentwürfe and the symbiosis of opposites and what not. Then he was asked which fairy tales he liked best and said Das Lumpengesindel, because the bad guys win, and Der böse Wolf und die sieben Geißlein, because the little goats turn the table on the big bad wolf and find a very inventive method of killing him. "Because the Grimm tales are brutal, and I love that about them."
(My mind supplied: "I'm totally into darkfic, me." Ah, fandom.)
Two fanfic recs, neither of which is darkfic:
Doctor Who/Sense and Sensibility:
Relatives and Relativity: in which the Ninth Doctor, just after his regeneration from the Eigth and directly after the Time War, encounters the Dashwoood sisters, and Yahtzee, after her triumph with the Ten & Martha meet Scarlett O'Hara tale, brings on another awesome encounter between literary heroines and the Whoverse. Loved it.
Battlestar Galactica:
Raptor Rides: in which Tom Zarek gets stuck with babysitting Hera Agathon. Well, everyone else in the fleet seemed to have had a turn! It's funny and marvelous and both the Zarek and the Hera voice are great. ("What did you do?" "I raised the voices of the people. I challenged the government and the status quo. I was a revolutionary, and I served those who had no voice, and called for their protection." Hera blinked. "But what did you do?" she asked. "I blew up a building." "Oh. That's not good." "Apparently not.")
...I was expecting Steffen M. to reply "they're Italian", I swear. Which of course they weren't, and he didn't. Instead, he extemporized on Lebensentwürfe and the symbiosis of opposites and what not. Then he was asked which fairy tales he liked best and said Das Lumpengesindel, because the bad guys win, and Der böse Wolf und die sieben Geißlein, because the little goats turn the table on the big bad wolf and find a very inventive method of killing him. "Because the Grimm tales are brutal, and I love that about them."
(My mind supplied: "I'm totally into darkfic, me." Ah, fandom.)
Two fanfic recs, neither of which is darkfic:
Doctor Who/Sense and Sensibility:
Relatives and Relativity: in which the Ninth Doctor, just after his regeneration from the Eigth and directly after the Time War, encounters the Dashwoood sisters, and Yahtzee, after her triumph with the Ten & Martha meet Scarlett O'Hara tale, brings on another awesome encounter between literary heroines and the Whoverse. Loved it.
Battlestar Galactica:
Raptor Rides: in which Tom Zarek gets stuck with babysitting Hera Agathon. Well, everyone else in the fleet seemed to have had a turn! It's funny and marvelous and both the Zarek and the Hera voice are great. ("What did you do?" "I raised the voices of the people. I challenged the government and the status quo. I was a revolutionary, and I served those who had no voice, and called for their protection." Hera blinked. "But what did you do?" she asked. "I blew up a building." "Oh. That's not good." "Apparently not.")