Yuletide mullings

[kindkit]

These are things I'm thinking of nominating/requesting. Posted mainly for my own benefit, but anyone with thoughts is welcome to chime in.



20th Century CE RPF: Kaiser Wilhelm II, George V, Czar Nicholas II (or as I have jokingly called this idea since last year, "cousincest threesome averts WWI!")

17th Century CE RPF: Charles I, George Villiers Duke of Buckingham (because being in love with daddy's boyfriend is even more awkward when daddy is the king)

Laundry series - Charles Stross: James Angleton, Bob Howard (I just want something from Angleton's POV)

The Full Monty: Nathan (Gaz's son--I rewatched this recently and was surprised at how involved Nath is in the whole process, and I'd love a story of him looking back on it all as an adult, preferably in relation to how he first realized he was gay)

The Charioteer: Reg fic (Reg renewing his friendship with Laurie post-book, or Reg's later memories of the friendship, or him befriending another gay man--because Reg tried so hard to be supportive and deserved better than what the book gave him)

Wexford series - Ruth Rendell: Reg Wexford, Mike Burden (speaking of people named Reg . . . do I dare ask someone to try and slash Wexford and Burden for me?)

Death by Silver - Melissa Scott and Amy Griswolf: Ned Mathey, Julian Lynes (because canonical queer couples need fanfic too!)

John le Carré . . . something. I want someone to untragic one of Le Carré's tragic gay men. The Secret Pilgrim might work well for that, since the Tragic Gay Man pretty much disappears after the opening section. Alternatively, I could ask for Smiley and Dieter backstory from Call For the Dead, or an exploration of the MASSIVE UST between Avery and Leiser in The Looking Glass War. Or I'm kind of tempted to ask for Major Corkoran from The Night Manager, because he may be a criminal and a sadist but I still like him better than the ostensible heroes.

There was a song fandom I was thinking of, and now I can't remember what it was. (ETA: It was Thomas Dolby, either "One of Our Submarines" or "Cloudburst at Shingle Street."

And I guess I should also think about nominating Ted and Ralph . . . )

Comments

[st_aurafina]

Death By Silver! I want to nominate it too! (Even though I don't really get how the magic system works. All those tables make me flashback to logarithm books, ugh.)

[kindkit]

Do you think you're definitely going to nominate it? Because then I might use one of my nominations on something else. I definitely want to request it but I think we only get three nominations this year.

[st_aurafina]

I don't have a nominations list (well, I do, but there's nothing on it that I actually want to write now), so I will happily nominate it for you. Save you a slot!

[moetushie]

(Hi! I'm just randomly surfing by from a friend's list and couldn't resist the combination of Yuletide and The Charioteer.)

I would love to read some fic about Reg! Actually, I was just rereading The Charioteer and I came away with a desperate need for fic about how Reg and Laurie met, their training, in France and back again. I'm also very curious about what happens to him -- because you're right, Reg definitely deserves more than what he gets.

[kindkit]

It's interesting that Reg and Laurie ever become friends. For one thing, I don't think Laurie's very good at making friends. And I'm sure that Laurie's obvious middle-class origins were a barrier between him and most of the other men he served with.

Reg works so hard to be understanding (I keep remembering the bit where he's pleased to learn that Laurie is keeping his independence and not letting his "officer friend" spend money on him!) and the more I think about Laurie dropping him, the more irritated at Laurie I get.

[moetushie]

I think their friendship was a result of proximity and circumstance rather than personalities meshing well together. And it was probably fairly intense, though clearly it faded more quickly for Laurie than it did for Reg.

Actually, I can see Reg taking Laurie under his wing, actually, and trying to get him to fit in a little more...

[(Anonymous)]

Glad I'm not the only one who always secretly saw some potential in Wexford/Burden! I'm not even sure I like them very much as characters. Burden's character development has a nasty habit of reverting to square one every three books or so, which eventually gets a bit daft (and is one reason I prefer Reginald Hill, because when his characters develop, it tends to stick). As for Wexford, I'm not sure I ever got a very clear and consistent idea of his character, apart from the weird obsessing over how he loves his pretty daughter more than his feminist daughter because she's pretty. Admittedly, it's a long time since I read the books, so maybe I need to go back to them. Either way, I think I'd certainly like Wexford and Burden much more together than individually!

[kindkit]

You're definitely not the only one--I can think of another person. The difficulty is getting them together, because Burden is so ferociously moralistic and Wexford would be reluctant to hurt his wife. I see it most plausibly happening during the time after Burden's first wife dies, when Burden's certainties are shaken and his behavior erratic even in canon. It would be hard not to make the whole story an angstfest, though.

I think you're right that Rendell doesn't develop Wexford and Burden the way Reginal Hill does his characters. When there are changes (Wexford becomes a much more loving husband as the series goes on, for example) it doesn't so much seem to be a matter of the characters changing as just that Rendell has started writing them differently, if you see what I mean. There's no visible internal reason for the changes.

BTW, in case you're interested I have some other posts about Rendell's books here, here, and here, the latter being more focused on Wexford and Burden's relationship.

[naraht]

With regard to Reg fic, if you haven't seen this already, you might enjoy it:

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1590443

[kindkit]

Oh, thank you! I hadn't seen that. And since it's pretty much the story I would have requested for Yuletide, I guess I'll have to think of another idea . . .

[naraht]

You're welcome! I did worry slightly about pre-empting your Yuletide request but I thought you'd rather know about it than not, given how good it is.

There were a lot of good stories written for the Renault Exchange in May, if you haven't had a chance to browse that collection.

[kindkit]

I've been leery of reading Renault fic lately because I've come to realize just how irrational I am about certain aspects of the novel. And the best writers, because they're the most likely to try unconventional things, are the most likely to get into territory that upsets me (like Laurie and Ralph breaking up, or "Laurie is only with Ralph out of pity," or "Laurie is unfaithful to Ralph with Andrew," or "actually Andrew was straight all along!" or "Ralph becomes a hopeless alcoholic" or whatever). That's why I was thinking of requesting Reg, because while I like him, I don't feel as protective of him as I do of Laurie, Ralph, Alec, and to some extent Andrew.

Anyway, yes, I'm glad you mentioned the fic to me. I can only admire lilliburlero's forbearance, when she saw my comment about Reg fic, in not saying "oi, I wrote that already!"

[naraht]

Well, from a Yuletide point of view, I think requesting Ralph and Laurie and saying "would like a Ralph/Laurie happy ending plz" would be a perfectly reasonable and common thing to do. But I suppose I can see the difficulty.