Comments | go_exchange: Happy Holidays, Hoshi

goe_mod in go_exchange

Happy Holidays, Hoshi_Ryo!

Jan 09, 2014 21:27

The Corsair of Carcosa
For: hoshi_ryo
From: vulgarweed
Rating: PG
Characters: Crowley, Aziraphale, Hastur, The Them, Randolph Carter, Dream, Cassilda the Cat
Fandoms: Good Omens/The King in Yellow/The Cthulhu Mythos/Sandman

Summary: Forbidden literature is forbidden because stories can change the world. For good and for ill.
Prompt: “Aziraphale gets his hands on a ( Read more... )

crossover:cthulhu mythos, rating:pg, fic, crossover:sandman, 2013 exchange, crossover:king in yellow, the them, 2013 gifts, aziraphale and crowley

Comments 7

hoshi_ryo January 10 2014, 06:40:59 UTC

Initial reaction was a very happy "!!!"

Somewhat more at length:

This holds up quite well as a story, at least on first reading. (Definitely worth the wait, and the literary mashup is quite in the spirit of the Mythos as Lovecraft saw it--and the Dreaming fits quite well here.)

Of course Aziraphale would have copies of books not supposed to be around. (Aziraphale and the Librarian probably either have tea or the occasional dispute over book ownership. Possibly both.) I had definitely been hoping to see this particular one filled of the three I gave, since really, Aziraphale with one of the (fictional) books of the toxic-to-readers sort needed to happen. I went with KIY because I wanted something classic yet not too famous.

The role the cats played is particularly awesome to me, as I'm very much a fan of felines. So are the various references and nods, as they fit wonderfully in here. Duke Hastur comes off as pretty threatening, and the mood is quite good.

I do wonder, though, how Aziraphale was caught...

vulgarweed January 13 2014, 20:58:18 UTC

Thank you so very much! I'm so glad you liked it! The elements started coming together as I re-read a lot of old favorites, so I'm glad I had the little push and nudge to do that. Your prompt grabbed me right from the start, I immediately started seeing a lot of different directions I could go with it.

I'm not sure how Aziraphale was caught either - I can only surmise that his own madness led him to be kind of distracted and vulnerable and not very aware of what was really going on around him.

clodia_metelli January 10 2014, 10:15:28 UTC

That was wonderful! Really inventive, some wonderful dark nasty bits, lovely stuff. Now I'm going to go read the Chambers short stories. Thank you!

vulgarweed January 13 2014, 20:58:53 UTC

Thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Those stories are so creepy, it's easy to see how they endured so long and got into Lovecraft's head.

clodia_metelli January 13 2014, 21:06:08 UTC

Aha. I thought this was probably you. I really enjoyed those short stories, by the way, so thank you for that!

hsavinien January 12 2014, 01:44:01 UTC

Okay, I was worried there for a bit! Yay for Adam and yay for Crowley being kind to cats -> help from the Dreaming. I spy an angel Islington reference!

Very well-written. I haven't any really familiarity with the Lovecraft mythos beyond general impressions, but had no trouble following.

vulgarweed January 13 2014, 21:02:14 UTC

Thank you so much! And I'm glad you were worried - I meant it to be scary. :) The thing about kindness to cats, and the secret meetings cats have, that's straight from both Gaiman and Lovecraft, and I'm pretty sure Gaiman had "The Cats of Ulthar" and "The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath" in mind when he wrote "Dream of a Thousand Cats" in Sandman. "Dream Quest" is just about my favorite Lovecraft, and it's unusual because while it certainly has horrifying scenes and fits in with the Cthulhu Mythos, it's more fantasy than horror, and the hero neither dies nor goes nuts. :)