Yuletide recs, set 1
Dec. 30th, 2012 02:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kindkitThese are for fandoms from M-Z. As always, I've read in a pretty scattered way, only dipping into the fandoms that most appeal to me.
Eight recs under the cut (Macbeth, Magic for Beginners, Measure for Measure, Pirates! In An Adventure with Scientists!, Regeneration, Twelfth Night).
Macbeth - William Shakespeare
The Frame of Things (4564 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Macbeth - Shakespeare
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Lady Macbeth, Original Female Character, Duncan (Macbeth)
Summary: Though she was the perfect distillation of the stage--all machinery and no depth--she had something like a heart, if a heart was the metaphor for a hidden spring of constancy and desire. Lady's hidden spring was always hungry.
A somewhat dystopian future, a robot Lady Macbeth, a programmer dealing with racism and economic exploitation . . . and a plan. This story is really intriguing and original, although slightly marred by screen-unfriendly formatting (which the author has said they're going to edit when they can).
Magic for Beginners (short story) - Kelly Link
Untitled Fox Meta (2424 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Magic for Beginners (short story) - Kelly Link
Rating: Not Rated
Warning: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Fox (Magic For Beginners), Fox, Ptolemy Krill, The Statue of George Washington
Summary: In one episode of The Library, Prince Wing accused Fox of plotting to murder Faithful Margaret, then cut off her ears and tail and stabbed her with a poisoned knife stolen from a Forbidden Book. The librarians did the best they could, but they couldn’t save Fox. Not without stationery magic, but no one had seen the Letter Openers since the episode when The Accidental Sword set fire to the enchanted-and-quite-flammable bridal suite on the fortieth floor.
This captures the wonder and strangeness of the original, which is no mean achievement.
in a better world than this (3190 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Magic for Beginners (short story) - Kelly Link
Rating: Not Rated
Warning: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Fox (Magic For Beginners), Jeremy (Magic For Beginners), Talis (Magic For Beginners), Elizabeth (Magic For Beginners)
Summary: Of course, more people watched the show on DVD than had ever bothered tuning in to watch it (on a Friday night, of all nights?). The fans became insufferable - unless you were one of them, and unless your friends were the right sort of fans. “You can’t stop the signal”, as another group said. But the problem with network television is that you very well can stop the signal. Except when you can't.
Another excellent "Magic for Beginners" story, this one playing with the original's complex story-within-story-within story structure and its slippage between levels of narrative.
Measure for Measure - Shakespeare
Neptune Cast in Bronze (2032 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Measure for Measure - Shakespeare
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: Major Character Death
Relationships: Duke Vincentio/Duchess Isabella, Duchess Isabella/other
Characters: Elbow, Escalus, Duke Vincentio, Isabella (Measure for Measure)
Summary: A casefile from CSI: Vienna.
Ignore the rather tongue-in-cheek summary: this is a much more literary kind of crossover, in which Measure for Measure meets Robert Browning's My Last Duchess. It's as creepy as you'd expect, and very well written in a fine, but not intrusive, pastiche of Elizabethan English prose.
Pirates! In An Adventure with Scientists!
Pirates! In an Adventure with Librarians (4925 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! (2012)
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Pirate Captain and Pirate with a Scarf
Characters: Pirate Captain, Pirate with a Scarf
Summary: "You there," the Pirate Captain said. "Librarian with a Scarf."
The first meeting of the Pirate Captain and the Pirate with a Scarf. This is a delight that seamlessly melds movieverse with the distinct voice of the books, and there's lovely characterization and bonus UST.
Regeneration - Pat Barker
Cum Mortuis in Lingua Mortua (1866 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Regeneration - Pat Barker
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Characters: Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen
Summary: After the war's end, Siegfried Sassoon seeks fellowship with the dead.
A delicate exploration of the trauma of surviving a war.
Twelfth Night - Shakespeare
Deep with the First Dead (2503 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Twelfth Night - Shakespeare
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Olivia (Twelfth Night), Orsino: Duke of Illyria, Malvolio (Twelfth Night), Viola (Cesario), Sir Toby Belch, Feste (Twelfth Night)
Summary: Before a shipwreck on the coast of Illyria, Olivia mourns the death of her brother. And then time passes.
A sparely and beautifully written look at grief and the return to life.
as we drifted towards the storm (1870 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Twelfth Night - Shakespeare
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Olivia/Viola (Cesario), Olivia/Sebastian, Orsino/Viola, Antonio/Sebastian
Characters: Orsino: Duke of Illyria, Olivia (Twelfth Night), Viola (Cesario), Sebastian (Twelfth Night), Antonio (Twelfth Night)
Summary: It’s happy, but it isn’t the ending. His sister returned to him, and yet sometimes she is a stranger at the edges, shadowed and uneasy in the half-light.
This is a sharply perceptive exploration of what's lost in the play's conventional happy ending. There's some hope in the ending--almost a shade too much hope, for my taste, as I'm not sure some of these problems are solvable, but YMMV--and the style is low-key and gentle.
Let me also reiterate my strong recommendation of How Many Strawberries Grow in the Sea? (the Wooden Horse series, rated explicit). This was written for me in a fandom so small it's hardly even a fandom, but you do NOT need to know the books to enjoy the story. It's gotten rave reviews from people who aren't me and don't know the fandom at all.
Eight recs under the cut (Macbeth, Magic for Beginners, Measure for Measure, Pirates! In An Adventure with Scientists!, Regeneration, Twelfth Night).
Macbeth - William Shakespeare
The Frame of Things (4564 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Macbeth - Shakespeare
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Lady Macbeth, Original Female Character, Duncan (Macbeth)
Summary: Though she was the perfect distillation of the stage--all machinery and no depth--she had something like a heart, if a heart was the metaphor for a hidden spring of constancy and desire. Lady's hidden spring was always hungry.
A somewhat dystopian future, a robot Lady Macbeth, a programmer dealing with racism and economic exploitation . . . and a plan. This story is really intriguing and original, although slightly marred by screen-unfriendly formatting (which the author has said they're going to edit when they can).
Magic for Beginners (short story) - Kelly Link
Untitled Fox Meta (2424 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Magic for Beginners (short story) - Kelly Link
Rating: Not Rated
Warning: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Fox (Magic For Beginners), Fox, Ptolemy Krill, The Statue of George Washington
Summary: In one episode of The Library, Prince Wing accused Fox of plotting to murder Faithful Margaret, then cut off her ears and tail and stabbed her with a poisoned knife stolen from a Forbidden Book. The librarians did the best they could, but they couldn’t save Fox. Not without stationery magic, but no one had seen the Letter Openers since the episode when The Accidental Sword set fire to the enchanted-and-quite-flammable bridal suite on the fortieth floor.
This captures the wonder and strangeness of the original, which is no mean achievement.
in a better world than this (3190 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Magic for Beginners (short story) - Kelly Link
Rating: Not Rated
Warning: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Fox (Magic For Beginners), Jeremy (Magic For Beginners), Talis (Magic For Beginners), Elizabeth (Magic For Beginners)
Summary: Of course, more people watched the show on DVD than had ever bothered tuning in to watch it (on a Friday night, of all nights?). The fans became insufferable - unless you were one of them, and unless your friends were the right sort of fans. “You can’t stop the signal”, as another group said. But the problem with network television is that you very well can stop the signal. Except when you can't.
Another excellent "Magic for Beginners" story, this one playing with the original's complex story-within-story-within story structure and its slippage between levels of narrative.
Measure for Measure - Shakespeare
Neptune Cast in Bronze (2032 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Measure for Measure - Shakespeare
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: Major Character Death
Relationships: Duke Vincentio/Duchess Isabella, Duchess Isabella/other
Characters: Elbow, Escalus, Duke Vincentio, Isabella (Measure for Measure)
Summary: A casefile from CSI: Vienna.
Ignore the rather tongue-in-cheek summary: this is a much more literary kind of crossover, in which Measure for Measure meets Robert Browning's My Last Duchess. It's as creepy as you'd expect, and very well written in a fine, but not intrusive, pastiche of Elizabethan English prose.
Pirates! In An Adventure with Scientists!
Pirates! In an Adventure with Librarians (4925 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! (2012)
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Pirate Captain and Pirate with a Scarf
Characters: Pirate Captain, Pirate with a Scarf
Summary: "You there," the Pirate Captain said. "Librarian with a Scarf."
The first meeting of the Pirate Captain and the Pirate with a Scarf. This is a delight that seamlessly melds movieverse with the distinct voice of the books, and there's lovely characterization and bonus UST.
Regeneration - Pat Barker
Cum Mortuis in Lingua Mortua (1866 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Regeneration - Pat Barker
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Characters: Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen
Summary: After the war's end, Siegfried Sassoon seeks fellowship with the dead.
A delicate exploration of the trauma of surviving a war.
Twelfth Night - Shakespeare
Deep with the First Dead (2503 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Twelfth Night - Shakespeare
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Olivia (Twelfth Night), Orsino: Duke of Illyria, Malvolio (Twelfth Night), Viola (Cesario), Sir Toby Belch, Feste (Twelfth Night)
Summary: Before a shipwreck on the coast of Illyria, Olivia mourns the death of her brother. And then time passes.
A sparely and beautifully written look at grief and the return to life.
as we drifted towards the storm (1870 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Twelfth Night - Shakespeare
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Olivia/Viola (Cesario), Olivia/Sebastian, Orsino/Viola, Antonio/Sebastian
Characters: Orsino: Duke of Illyria, Olivia (Twelfth Night), Viola (Cesario), Sebastian (Twelfth Night), Antonio (Twelfth Night)
Summary: It’s happy, but it isn’t the ending. His sister returned to him, and yet sometimes she is a stranger at the edges, shadowed and uneasy in the half-light.
This is a sharply perceptive exploration of what's lost in the play's conventional happy ending. There's some hope in the ending--almost a shade too much hope, for my taste, as I'm not sure some of these problems are solvable, but YMMV--and the style is low-key and gentle.
Let me also reiterate my strong recommendation of How Many Strawberries Grow in the Sea? (the Wooden Horse series, rated explicit). This was written for me in a fandom so small it's hardly even a fandom, but you do NOT need to know the books to enjoy the story. It's gotten rave reviews from people who aren't me and don't know the fandom at all.
