Yuletide Recs
Jan. 28th, 2013 07:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brigdhTraditionally one posts Yuletide recs before the reveal. Or at least before it's almost February. Better late than never, I guess.
First off, the stories written for me. Because these are always the best, of course:
The Long Way 'Round by pathstotread. Pitch Perfect, Beca/Chloe, PG-13. Funny and sweet and just the perfect coda to the movie.
Where We're At Is an Act by Snow. Swordspoint, Alec/OMC, PG-13. Bitter and sharp and OMG I LOVE IT.
And now for something different:
No such thing by Vnutrenni. Conan the Barbarian, gen, PG. God, this is a beautiful story. If you think of Conan the Barbarian as the canon of Arnold Schwarzenegger and women in fur bikinis, you need to read this.
Of all the places he had gone in his life, he loved the sea best. As a child of those dark evergreen forests and rolling hills in the hard north, this felt like a small betrayal of his heritage; but violence was his joy, and he shared it with the sea. When storms came, it opened its black throat with howling and threw the beasts that rode its back. Such passions and tumults were Conan's own. Currents were cunning. Waves were hungry tongues lapping the blood from pirates' swords. He could think of no creature more beautiful or ruthless in all the world.
Escapades Out on the D Train by spoilers. Babysitters Club, Claudia/Ashley, PG-13. This is hilarious and nostalgic and perfect and so, so good. There are descriptions of Claudia's outfits! There are absolutely correct NYC details! How can you not love this story?
Alan Grant and Indiana Jones Walk Into a Bar by longwhitecoats. Jurassic Park/Indiana Jones crossover, gen, G. This is so funny and so right and also is exactly like being at an archaeology conference.
Years Gone By by Themistoklis. Candle Cove, gen, R. All of the Candle Cove stories this year were creepy and perfect. But it seems redundant to rec all of them, so I'll choose this one, for being as terrifying as the original and yet taking the idea in a compelling new direction. (By the way, if you like horror at all and do not know about Candle Cove, you can read the original in its entirety here. It's only about 500 words long and yet is absolutely one of the scariest stories I know.)
Le Rouge et le Blanc et le Noir by Quillori. This is not a fairytale, but god, it feels like it should be. The language and the strangeness and amorality of it make it seem exactly like something you should find in an old copy of Grimms' stories.
Run Red by dizzy_fire. I do love fairytale retellings. Little Red Riding Hood + Baba Yaga + horror = amazingness.
Harriet the Spy Has Nothing on Me by psychomachia. Suri's Burn Book, gen, G. The narrative voice here is spot on to the original, with all its snarkiness and allusions and bizarre erudite-ness. Plus crazy plot. What more could you want?
There is a knack to looking nonchalant in New York. A tourist cranes her neck, looking to see what street she's on, a businessman walks briskly, making no eye contract whatsoever, but a person out for a lovely stroll in Manhattan must vacillate between gazing at the wondrous Christmas displays in the window in some sort of drugged awe and dodging the well-meaning passers-by who keep asking her where her mother is. Honestly, if anyone needed someone looking out for their well-being, it was Katie Holmes.
Shipmates by zlot. Hark! A Vagrant, gen, G. This is as hilarious and bizarre and, sadly, hard to explain as the original canon. Which, if you are not familiar with, you should read immediately. It's two comic strips! It won't take you long.
Five Times Tommie Lied to Margo (And One Time She Told the Truth) by oulfis. Apartment 3-G, Tommie/Lu Ann, G. I imagine the venn diagram of people who read Apartment 3-G, people who read fanfiction, and people who read The Comics Curmudgeon is a small one. But, if you find yourself in that intersection, you should not miss this story.
First off, the stories written for me. Because these are always the best, of course:
The Long Way 'Round by pathstotread. Pitch Perfect, Beca/Chloe, PG-13. Funny and sweet and just the perfect coda to the movie.
Where We're At Is an Act by Snow. Swordspoint, Alec/OMC, PG-13. Bitter and sharp and OMG I LOVE IT.
And now for something different:
No such thing by Vnutrenni. Conan the Barbarian, gen, PG. God, this is a beautiful story. If you think of Conan the Barbarian as the canon of Arnold Schwarzenegger and women in fur bikinis, you need to read this.
Of all the places he had gone in his life, he loved the sea best. As a child of those dark evergreen forests and rolling hills in the hard north, this felt like a small betrayal of his heritage; but violence was his joy, and he shared it with the sea. When storms came, it opened its black throat with howling and threw the beasts that rode its back. Such passions and tumults were Conan's own. Currents were cunning. Waves were hungry tongues lapping the blood from pirates' swords. He could think of no creature more beautiful or ruthless in all the world.
Escapades Out on the D Train by spoilers. Babysitters Club, Claudia/Ashley, PG-13. This is hilarious and nostalgic and perfect and so, so good. There are descriptions of Claudia's outfits! There are absolutely correct NYC details! How can you not love this story?
Alan Grant and Indiana Jones Walk Into a Bar by longwhitecoats. Jurassic Park/Indiana Jones crossover, gen, G. This is so funny and so right and also is exactly like being at an archaeology conference.
Years Gone By by Themistoklis. Candle Cove, gen, R. All of the Candle Cove stories this year were creepy and perfect. But it seems redundant to rec all of them, so I'll choose this one, for being as terrifying as the original and yet taking the idea in a compelling new direction. (By the way, if you like horror at all and do not know about Candle Cove, you can read the original in its entirety here. It's only about 500 words long and yet is absolutely one of the scariest stories I know.)
Le Rouge et le Blanc et le Noir by Quillori. This is not a fairytale, but god, it feels like it should be. The language and the strangeness and amorality of it make it seem exactly like something you should find in an old copy of Grimms' stories.
Run Red by dizzy_fire. I do love fairytale retellings. Little Red Riding Hood + Baba Yaga + horror = amazingness.
Harriet the Spy Has Nothing on Me by psychomachia. Suri's Burn Book, gen, G. The narrative voice here is spot on to the original, with all its snarkiness and allusions and bizarre erudite-ness. Plus crazy plot. What more could you want?
There is a knack to looking nonchalant in New York. A tourist cranes her neck, looking to see what street she's on, a businessman walks briskly, making no eye contract whatsoever, but a person out for a lovely stroll in Manhattan must vacillate between gazing at the wondrous Christmas displays in the window in some sort of drugged awe and dodging the well-meaning passers-by who keep asking her where her mother is. Honestly, if anyone needed someone looking out for their well-being, it was Katie Holmes.
Shipmates by zlot. Hark! A Vagrant, gen, G. This is as hilarious and bizarre and, sadly, hard to explain as the original canon. Which, if you are not familiar with, you should read immediately. It's two comic strips! It won't take you long.
Five Times Tommie Lied to Margo (And One Time She Told the Truth) by oulfis. Apartment 3-G, Tommie/Lu Ann, G. I imagine the venn diagram of people who read Apartment 3-G, people who read fanfiction, and people who read The Comics Curmudgeon is a small one. But, if you find yourself in that intersection, you should not miss this story.
