Roman women, polls and female superspies
The remix assignment has arrived. Hmmmm, I have no idea yet what I'll do, but this author is a good one, and we match in more than one fandom. Very promising.
Links:
Merlin: following some fun debates between us, zahrawithaz has put up a great post post collecting various theories on Morgause-Morgana-Arthur relations (in the bloodline sense), complete with poll. Go vote!
Shakespeare and Roman history:
The ides_of_april ficathon - stories set in the worlds of Shakespeare's Roman and Greek plays - has had some fine results. My favourite is the story Aspects of the Goddess, which takes the two women who have only a few lines in Julius Caesar, Portia and Calpurnia, uses their actual backstory from Roman history and comes up with a fantastic, intense story that among other things has the best explanation ever for how Antony got his "...honourable men" phrase for the funeral oration and has an incredible punchline.
James Bond:
It's my not so secret belief that the best thing about Bond movies for more than a decade is Judi Dench's M. Not just because a female M in charge of the secret service adds so much to what started as the ultimate masculine Cold War spy fantasy in the 50s, or because Judi Dench is awesome and has sizzling chemistry with Daniel Craig (Brosnan was, well, Brosnan - not a fan, sorry -, but she did her best there, too), or because ambiguous steely female characters over 50, let alone 60, are still frustratingly rare - all of which is true - but because this M, with a powerful presence and so many things hinted about her, is such a gift for fanfic exploration. And thankfully, now and then fandom complies. Here are some M stories I hadn't read yet the last time I went in search for M fanfic:
One more syllable: M creating herself. Covers decades in terse, elegant prose.
Biological Arithmetic: the one in which M actually is Bond's mother, literally, not metaphorically, a concept which is pulled off without any fluffyness and quite believably.
A view from the sidelines: the one about M's husband (of whom we catch a brief glimpse in Casino Royale), contemplating her and offering tea to Bond (who is most definitely not M's son in this version). I dig the reversed gender dynamic.
Never Left: crossover time! The one in which M is actually Merlin. Reincarnation fanfics are a popular genre in Merlin fandom. I wouldn't have thought Merlin/James Bond would work, but it does here, in, err, more than one sense. And a messed up way, because guess who's Arthur?
Links:
Merlin: following some fun debates between us, zahrawithaz has put up a great post post collecting various theories on Morgause-Morgana-Arthur relations (in the bloodline sense), complete with poll. Go vote!
Shakespeare and Roman history:
The ides_of_april ficathon - stories set in the worlds of Shakespeare's Roman and Greek plays - has had some fine results. My favourite is the story Aspects of the Goddess, which takes the two women who have only a few lines in Julius Caesar, Portia and Calpurnia, uses their actual backstory from Roman history and comes up with a fantastic, intense story that among other things has the best explanation ever for how Antony got his "...honourable men" phrase for the funeral oration and has an incredible punchline.
James Bond:
It's my not so secret belief that the best thing about Bond movies for more than a decade is Judi Dench's M. Not just because a female M in charge of the secret service adds so much to what started as the ultimate masculine Cold War spy fantasy in the 50s, or because Judi Dench is awesome and has sizzling chemistry with Daniel Craig (Brosnan was, well, Brosnan - not a fan, sorry -, but she did her best there, too), or because ambiguous steely female characters over 50, let alone 60, are still frustratingly rare - all of which is true - but because this M, with a powerful presence and so many things hinted about her, is such a gift for fanfic exploration. And thankfully, now and then fandom complies. Here are some M stories I hadn't read yet the last time I went in search for M fanfic:
One more syllable: M creating herself. Covers decades in terse, elegant prose.
Biological Arithmetic: the one in which M actually is Bond's mother, literally, not metaphorically, a concept which is pulled off without any fluffyness and quite believably.
A view from the sidelines: the one about M's husband (of whom we catch a brief glimpse in Casino Royale), contemplating her and offering tea to Bond (who is most definitely not M's son in this version). I dig the reversed gender dynamic.
Never Left: crossover time! The one in which M is actually Merlin. Reincarnation fanfics are a popular genre in Merlin fandom. I wouldn't have thought Merlin/James Bond would work, but it does here, in, err, more than one sense. And a messed up way, because guess who's Arthur?