Yuletide recs!
RIGHT. Putting the gifts I got first, because they're fabulous - two Homestuck fics, and a BotI fic.
Crimson; "It's hard, being a kid and growing up. Especially when someone you aren't sure you hated dies before your eyes." Homestuck fic! Karkat and John, with Karkat and Kanaya being friends. Everything about this is perfect. The second person narration, the scathing, enraged tone that never becomes off-putting, and how it hurts but it's still FUNNY. Really really really good. ♥
Good Boy; Hyakurin thoroughly schoolfeeds Magatsu. Rin cheers her on. This is exactly what would happen in canon of the three of them ever ended up in this situation (which isn't actually that farfetched). HAHAHAHHAHA.
RTFM; Homestuck haiku! Karkat and John, a bit of Karkat/John. I love that I am in a fandom where haiku is like, commonly accepted fanwork. >)
Now, onto other fics!
Pretty as a Doll; a sharp, funny twist on the Snow White fairytale, in which said princess is much more devious than she might first appear!
A Dance in Iron Shoes; a fairy tale again. Snow White saves herself and many others from the prince. Clever, written in a formal tone, very much like your classic old fairy tale only tough as hell with an excellent heroine.
Real Princesses; more funny, witty, rather modern princesses, all of them together! More twists on old fairytales, written rather tongue in cheek. ♥ It's great fun.
Come to grips with a sky that is gaping; I read the American Girls books like crazy when I was a little thing, and I barely remember them now. This is good enough to stand on its own as a story though. Includes femslash.
Friends Don't Let Friends Suffer Alone; Archie fic! And it's Betty/Veronica! And it has supportive male friends! I've wanted Betty/Veronica for ages, and this is well-written, well-characterized, and revolves around the friendships in the series too. It's a nice twist on the comic, and I'm just really pleased to see all the lady characters done so well.
Stories Thought and Sung; BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL FIC. ♥ and it's about Rin and Doa! And Doa's past! There's a bittersweetness to this prose, a sense of unsafety, a precariousness - fitting, as it's right before Doa and Rin go to storm the prison. It hurts a little, it's direct and bare, like the manga itself.
Four Seasons; OGLAF FANFIC. Hot lesbian mercenary (now named Oyun!)/Snow Queen fic! Funny and sexy and made of win.
Modern Warfare; Eyeshield 21 fic! Hiruma courts Mamori, sort of, in a roundabout way. They're quite evenly matched but Mamori wins in the end (or maybe they both do?). Perfectly IC and fun.
Make Time; Discworld fic! Sam Vimes and Vetenari and some verbal sparring. These two sharp gentlemen (sharp in quite different ways) matching wits has always been some of my favorite parts of their books, and this fic captures yet another round sharply and funnily with throwbacks to old canon that... well, it all just works very well. I grinned like a fool throughout.
Goodnight Room; BUNNIES... IN... SPACE! It's Goodnight Moon fic. Except... in space. A great example of some of the fantastically weird stuff that sometimes gets written for Yuletide, and how well it can work.
Quartet; Young Wizards fic! Four Christmases from Nita's point of view. Sad, hopeful, full of the bittersweetness of life and growing up and keeping hope alive.
Aschesis; Young Wizards fic! Centering around Ronan and Darryl, somewhat plotty; Ronan recovering after the events of Wizards at War. I especially liked the interaction of these two very different characters, Ronan's somewhat aloof character contrasted against how sincere and kind and open Darryl is. Good stuff.
This kid I once knew; Calvin&Hobbes fic! More particularly, SUSIE fic - I don't want to spoil the twist but I really enjoyed this.
Tales of the Bathhouse; Spirited Away fic! I love Lin, I love traditional stories, and this just... scratches both of those itches. There's minor character backstory, and new characters getting stories, and it's just fun! *^*
The Story of Hrayatha and the Rabbit Who Left No Tracks; Watership Down fic - a strange occurrence, and a new story for the rabbits to integrate into their lives. I always enjoyed the little brushes of gods and other beings in the original story.
Place of Bones; Watership Down fic, from the seer Fiver's point of view. Horror, and just really well-written prose. ♥ This story feels groomed and complete, there's not a wasted word, and the ending folds up neat and tight and brutal. (Still canon-complaint).
How El-Ahrairah Charmed a Man; legend fic! Funny, and clever, and at the end I lol'd. Not a long read, and very worth the time!
Crimson; "It's hard, being a kid and growing up. Especially when someone you aren't sure you hated dies before your eyes." Homestuck fic! Karkat and John, with Karkat and Kanaya being friends. Everything about this is perfect. The second person narration, the scathing, enraged tone that never becomes off-putting, and how it hurts but it's still FUNNY. Really really really good. ♥
Good Boy; Hyakurin thoroughly schoolfeeds Magatsu. Rin cheers her on. This is exactly what would happen in canon of the three of them ever ended up in this situation (which isn't actually that farfetched). HAHAHAHHAHA.
RTFM; Homestuck haiku! Karkat and John, a bit of Karkat/John. I love that I am in a fandom where haiku is like, commonly accepted fanwork. >)
Now, onto other fics!
Pretty as a Doll; a sharp, funny twist on the Snow White fairytale, in which said princess is much more devious than she might first appear!
A Dance in Iron Shoes; a fairy tale again. Snow White saves herself and many others from the prince. Clever, written in a formal tone, very much like your classic old fairy tale only tough as hell with an excellent heroine.
Real Princesses; more funny, witty, rather modern princesses, all of them together! More twists on old fairytales, written rather tongue in cheek. ♥ It's great fun.
Come to grips with a sky that is gaping; I read the American Girls books like crazy when I was a little thing, and I barely remember them now. This is good enough to stand on its own as a story though. Includes femslash.
Friends Don't Let Friends Suffer Alone; Archie fic! And it's Betty/Veronica! And it has supportive male friends! I've wanted Betty/Veronica for ages, and this is well-written, well-characterized, and revolves around the friendships in the series too. It's a nice twist on the comic, and I'm just really pleased to see all the lady characters done so well.
Stories Thought and Sung; BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL FIC. ♥ and it's about Rin and Doa! And Doa's past! There's a bittersweetness to this prose, a sense of unsafety, a precariousness - fitting, as it's right before Doa and Rin go to storm the prison. It hurts a little, it's direct and bare, like the manga itself.
Four Seasons; OGLAF FANFIC. Hot lesbian mercenary (now named Oyun!)/Snow Queen fic! Funny and sexy and made of win.
Modern Warfare; Eyeshield 21 fic! Hiruma courts Mamori, sort of, in a roundabout way. They're quite evenly matched but Mamori wins in the end (or maybe they both do?). Perfectly IC and fun.
Make Time; Discworld fic! Sam Vimes and Vetenari and some verbal sparring. These two sharp gentlemen (sharp in quite different ways) matching wits has always been some of my favorite parts of their books, and this fic captures yet another round sharply and funnily with throwbacks to old canon that... well, it all just works very well. I grinned like a fool throughout.
Goodnight Room; BUNNIES... IN... SPACE! It's Goodnight Moon fic. Except... in space. A great example of some of the fantastically weird stuff that sometimes gets written for Yuletide, and how well it can work.
Quartet; Young Wizards fic! Four Christmases from Nita's point of view. Sad, hopeful, full of the bittersweetness of life and growing up and keeping hope alive.
Aschesis; Young Wizards fic! Centering around Ronan and Darryl, somewhat plotty; Ronan recovering after the events of Wizards at War. I especially liked the interaction of these two very different characters, Ronan's somewhat aloof character contrasted against how sincere and kind and open Darryl is. Good stuff.
This kid I once knew; Calvin&Hobbes fic! More particularly, SUSIE fic - I don't want to spoil the twist but I really enjoyed this.
Tales of the Bathhouse; Spirited Away fic! I love Lin, I love traditional stories, and this just... scratches both of those itches. There's minor character backstory, and new characters getting stories, and it's just fun! *^*
The Story of Hrayatha and the Rabbit Who Left No Tracks; Watership Down fic - a strange occurrence, and a new story for the rabbits to integrate into their lives. I always enjoyed the little brushes of gods and other beings in the original story.
Place of Bones; Watership Down fic, from the seer Fiver's point of view. Horror, and just really well-written prose. ♥ This story feels groomed and complete, there's not a wasted word, and the ending folds up neat and tight and brutal. (Still canon-complaint).
How El-Ahrairah Charmed a Man; legend fic! Funny, and clever, and at the end I lol'd. Not a long read, and very worth the time!