Yuletide 2013 Recommendations
As usual, the talent and effort that must have gone into making this year's yuletide happen fill me with awe. So far I have only read a fraction of the Yuletide '13 fics I might potentially enjoy, based on fandom, characters and plot summary, which in turn comprise only a fraction of all the works in the collection, yet I've already found more joy and inspiration in them than I have in fanfiction in a long time. There's something about reading a long, excellently written fic based on an obscure work that doesn't even have a regular fandom to speak of, on Christmas, that makes the act considerably more satisfying than reading a long, excellently written fic in an established fandom at any other time of year.
Now that I've made my feelings on the Yuletide project clear, let me share some of the fics I've enjoyed so far today:
Delete Selected Email? | gen | mention of adult themes | "The Rage of Jonathan Franzen" (Mallory Ortberg)/literary RPF | crack | 1.5k words
This fic lampoons Jonathan Franzen's horrible pretension and utter lack of self-awareness, which alone is enough to earn my unreserved appreciation. It is based on a blog post by Daniel Ortberg in which he* makes fun of an essay by Franzen about modern technology, culture and society. Said essay contains several autobiographical anecdotes about Franzen's stint as a visiting scholar in Germany, where his hatred of old German ladies drove him to purposefully drop coins so that old German ladies might bend down to pick them up and feel physical pain, and where he experienced his only brush with self-hatred after turning down an attractive girl. (If you don't know anything about Jonathan Franzen, let me assure you he's even more insufferable than these brief glimpses into his psyche may suggest.)
Bearing that in mind, you will be delighted to learn this fic is essentially a list of pitches for films based on Franzen's life as he describes it, and it mocks both him and the American literary fiction scene mercilessly. It is great.
A brisk young sailor | gen/pre-slash | grief and some violence | The Charioteer (Mary Renault) | pre-canon | 40k words
This fic is bleak enough to rearrange your insides, but I urge you to make a note of it even if you're not looking for that kind of emotional impact today.
It tells the story of Ralph Lanyon's unrequited love for his first lieutenant aboard a conscripted trawler around 1940, but there's very little tortured romance in it (which is precisely what makes the ending so soul-crushing, but I don't want to give away too much). It's for the most part a meticulously researched account of the Royal Navy's involvement in the North Sea during WWII, or rather of the internal politics and social dynamics that shaped that organisation at the time, and in passing paints a very convincing picture of homosexuality in Britain in the first half of the 20th century.
But world-building and attention to historical detail mean little without engaging characters; fortunately, that's not an issue here. The characters, not only Ralph but also Fairchild and the supporting cast, are full-blooded and human in that tender way that makes you cry, so particular in their characterisation that you come to suspect you've served with them yourself in some other life. You get to know them, feel with them, feel for them. The writing doesn't just tell; it resonates in a painful but necessary way.
I'm not sure what else to add here except to say this is an engaging, well-written and emotionally powerful text of the sort that rarely graces fandom, and almost always thanks to Yuletide. I'm very thankful to the people who made it possible for me to read it, and expect it will stay with me for a while.
Caffeine and Unpaid Overtime | slash | adult | Frontier Wolf (Rosemary Sutcliff) | AU | 19.5k words
I love historical novels about Rome, I love modern AUs, I love hospital AUs, I love the enemies-to-lovers trope, I love it when the author clearly knows the setting like the back of her hand, and I love these things even more when they come together to produce a perfectly executed romantic longfic. The interactions between 'Alex' and 'Hilary', their personal histories and character quirks, the people they treat and work with, their stubborn, guarded dance around each other and inevitable coming together, even the way Alex's relationship with 'Connor' serves to show how much better Hilary would be for him--it's all just perfect. I could read another 20k fic about these two right now. Their antagonistic flirting in the first months of their acquaintance, the aftermath of the events of the fic, even just them cooking together and talking about work. I'd read it all.
The Field of Crows | gen/pre-slash | violence | The Dark Tower (Stephen King) | pre-/around-canon | 13k words
I have to say Roland's backstory is perhaps my favourite thing about the Dark Tower series, which is why I was so excited to see this fic before I even read it. Even so, it exceeded my high expectations by a lot.
It's difficult to label it as pre-canon or a canon AU since time and reality work differently in the DT verse, and the story doesn't lend itself to easy categorisation anyway. I think it would be most accurate to say it is about Cuthbert Allgood and leave it at that.
Indeed, I don't know how to even summarise it or offer any substantial commentary; much like the books, it is chaotic, heavily stylised, cryptic and trippy to the point of being undecipherable. The chronology is paradoxical, and the events go unexplained. Dream bleeds into reality, people dead and alive dream together and become the same person, evil strikes for the thousandth time and for the first. Cuthbert loves Roland and laughs.
Instead of trying to follow the plot or figure out how it slots into canon, I simply let myself enjoy the beautiful writing and world-building and the perfectly recreated atmosphere of the DT books, felt bone-deep chills of terror as appropriate, and had a gleeful fit at Eddie's cameo and his interactions with Cuthbert. And most of all I felt for Cuthbert, who is so brave and so endlessly loyal to a man he can never have in the way he wants, much like I felt for him when I was reading the books.
I urge every DT fan to read this fic, not just because it is good but because it is breathtakingly true to the source material, and to then reread the series at their earliest convenience. I know I will!
Lines on Palms | slash | adult | Captive Prince (S. U. Pacat/freece) | canon AU | 13.5k words
This fic explores a happy impossibility Laurent contemplates in passing in freece's original fic: a hypothetical meeting between him and Damen on friendly, equal terms. In this universe Auguste is alive, Damen is Damianos, and the Regent is not the Regent. (Laurent is still Laurent, despite everything.) These circumstances allow Laurent and Damianos to fall into a casual friendship-cum-relationship, Damianos charmed by Laurent's ruthlessness and Laurent too busy scheming to catch himself having fun. Feelings happen and so does sex.
In other words, this fic is all I've ever needed in life/a sign from the heavens that I might survive until the publishing date of freece's book.
(There are a couple of other long Captive Prince fanfics in the collection and although I haven't read them yet, I'm ready to bet they'll also be amazing.)
Okay. I'm tired of writing recommendations now and want to go back to reading, but I'm sure I'll have more to add to this post later. This list certainly does not cover all the great stories I've read so far!
Happy reading!
*I edited this post to include Daniel Ortberg's correct gender and name in 2018.
Now that I've made my feelings on the Yuletide project clear, let me share some of the fics I've enjoyed so far today:
Delete Selected Email? | gen | mention of adult themes | "The Rage of Jonathan Franzen" (Mallory Ortberg)/literary RPF | crack | 1.5k words
This fic lampoons Jonathan Franzen's horrible pretension and utter lack of self-awareness, which alone is enough to earn my unreserved appreciation. It is based on a blog post by Daniel Ortberg in which he* makes fun of an essay by Franzen about modern technology, culture and society. Said essay contains several autobiographical anecdotes about Franzen's stint as a visiting scholar in Germany, where his hatred of old German ladies drove him to purposefully drop coins so that old German ladies might bend down to pick them up and feel physical pain, and where he experienced his only brush with self-hatred after turning down an attractive girl. (If you don't know anything about Jonathan Franzen, let me assure you he's even more insufferable than these brief glimpses into his psyche may suggest.)
Bearing that in mind, you will be delighted to learn this fic is essentially a list of pitches for films based on Franzen's life as he describes it, and it mocks both him and the American literary fiction scene mercilessly. It is great.
A brisk young sailor | gen/pre-slash | grief and some violence | The Charioteer (Mary Renault) | pre-canon | 40k words
This fic is bleak enough to rearrange your insides, but I urge you to make a note of it even if you're not looking for that kind of emotional impact today.
It tells the story of Ralph Lanyon's unrequited love for his first lieutenant aboard a conscripted trawler around 1940, but there's very little tortured romance in it (which is precisely what makes the ending so soul-crushing, but I don't want to give away too much). It's for the most part a meticulously researched account of the Royal Navy's involvement in the North Sea during WWII, or rather of the internal politics and social dynamics that shaped that organisation at the time, and in passing paints a very convincing picture of homosexuality in Britain in the first half of the 20th century.
But world-building and attention to historical detail mean little without engaging characters; fortunately, that's not an issue here. The characters, not only Ralph but also Fairchild and the supporting cast, are full-blooded and human in that tender way that makes you cry, so particular in their characterisation that you come to suspect you've served with them yourself in some other life. You get to know them, feel with them, feel for them. The writing doesn't just tell; it resonates in a painful but necessary way.
I'm not sure what else to add here except to say this is an engaging, well-written and emotionally powerful text of the sort that rarely graces fandom, and almost always thanks to Yuletide. I'm very thankful to the people who made it possible for me to read it, and expect it will stay with me for a while.
Caffeine and Unpaid Overtime | slash | adult | Frontier Wolf (Rosemary Sutcliff) | AU | 19.5k words
I love historical novels about Rome, I love modern AUs, I love hospital AUs, I love the enemies-to-lovers trope, I love it when the author clearly knows the setting like the back of her hand, and I love these things even more when they come together to produce a perfectly executed romantic longfic. The interactions between 'Alex' and 'Hilary', their personal histories and character quirks, the people they treat and work with, their stubborn, guarded dance around each other and inevitable coming together, even the way Alex's relationship with 'Connor' serves to show how much better Hilary would be for him--it's all just perfect. I could read another 20k fic about these two right now. Their antagonistic flirting in the first months of their acquaintance, the aftermath of the events of the fic, even just them cooking together and talking about work. I'd read it all.
The Field of Crows | gen/pre-slash | violence | The Dark Tower (Stephen King) | pre-/around-canon | 13k words
I have to say Roland's backstory is perhaps my favourite thing about the Dark Tower series, which is why I was so excited to see this fic before I even read it. Even so, it exceeded my high expectations by a lot.
It's difficult to label it as pre-canon or a canon AU since time and reality work differently in the DT verse, and the story doesn't lend itself to easy categorisation anyway. I think it would be most accurate to say it is about Cuthbert Allgood and leave it at that.
Indeed, I don't know how to even summarise it or offer any substantial commentary; much like the books, it is chaotic, heavily stylised, cryptic and trippy to the point of being undecipherable. The chronology is paradoxical, and the events go unexplained. Dream bleeds into reality, people dead and alive dream together and become the same person, evil strikes for the thousandth time and for the first. Cuthbert loves Roland and laughs.
Instead of trying to follow the plot or figure out how it slots into canon, I simply let myself enjoy the beautiful writing and world-building and the perfectly recreated atmosphere of the DT books, felt bone-deep chills of terror as appropriate, and had a gleeful fit at Eddie's cameo and his interactions with Cuthbert. And most of all I felt for Cuthbert, who is so brave and so endlessly loyal to a man he can never have in the way he wants, much like I felt for him when I was reading the books.
I urge every DT fan to read this fic, not just because it is good but because it is breathtakingly true to the source material, and to then reread the series at their earliest convenience. I know I will!
Lines on Palms | slash | adult | Captive Prince (S. U. Pacat/freece) | canon AU | 13.5k words
This fic explores a happy impossibility Laurent contemplates in passing in freece's original fic: a hypothetical meeting between him and Damen on friendly, equal terms. In this universe Auguste is alive, Damen is Damianos, and the Regent is not the Regent. (Laurent is still Laurent, despite everything.) These circumstances allow Laurent and Damianos to fall into a casual friendship-cum-relationship, Damianos charmed by Laurent's ruthlessness and Laurent too busy scheming to catch himself having fun. Feelings happen and so does sex.
In other words, this fic is all I've ever needed in life/a sign from the heavens that I might survive until the publishing date of freece's book.
(There are a couple of other long Captive Prince fanfics in the collection and although I haven't read them yet, I'm ready to bet they'll also be amazing.)
Okay. I'm tired of writing recommendations now and want to go back to reading, but I'm sure I'll have more to add to this post later. This list certainly does not cover all the great stories I've read so far!
Happy reading!
*I edited this post to include Daniel Ortberg's correct gender and name in 2018.