Yuletide Recs, Part I
The collection is full of wonderful things. Note that "Undisclosed Fandom" is a catch-all tag for fandoms that are appearing for the first time this Yuletide and have not yet been given their own categories. It's definitely worth a browse there.
Here are the stories I've loved so far:
Don't need to know canon:
Le città invisibili | Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino.
Masked Cities. Interactive text game.
You take a trip to the city of Agilulfa.
This intricate, clever, atmospheric text game is set in a city where everyone goes masked in public. (The masks are carnival-style masks, not medical masks.) I'm not even into games, and I played it through twice and plan to play it again.
Shadows of the Apt - Adrian Tchaikovsky.
Dreaming in Silver and Void.
She was found in the Lowlands, but she was from so much further away.
My wonderful gift! All you need to know is that kinden are people who have bug-related abilities and characteristics, so Wasps can fly and shoot electric shock "stings" from their hands, and so forth.
This story is a gorgeous, moving, sense-of-wonder take on the meeting of two people from extremely different worlds, who nonetheless have a meeting of minds. It's technically fantasy but it reads more like original science fiction. And if you like it, you will probably like the books.
"Top 5 Rat Movies I Made Up" - JP Brammer: Legends of the Great Below
Devotion and Adoration: a Queen/Knight Ship Manifesto
A manifesto for the Fiona Highrafter/Queen Elisaveta pairing from JP Brammer's Great Below.
A quintessential "only in Yuletide" story, this is a ship manifesto for two rats in a non-existent canon from an article about non-existent rat movies. It's charming and funny and now I ship them too.
Canon knowledge preferable but not necessary:
The Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison.
from laden boughs, from hands. 3100 words.
A day in the life of the Untheileneise kitchens.
Exactly what it says on the tin: a day in the life in a fantasy world, cleverly structured and sweet in more ways than one.
Psmith - P. G. Wodehouse.
isle of joy. 3000 words.
Finding out that Psmith almost died in his New York adventure wakes Mike up to his real feelings.
A delightful Psmith/Mike story with a great Wodehousian voice and turns of phrase, like It was a thoroughly foreign state of being for Mike, who usually slept like a well-polished cricket bat.
St. Clare's - Enid Blyton.
Sixth Form at St. Clare's. 7088 words.
It's everyone's final year at St. Clare's, and two (foreign and somewhat mysterious) new girls have joined the form. Mysteries will be unraveled and secrets revealed -- hopefully in time for a midnight feast.
A wonderful treat for me! The story itself is set just before WWII, but includes excerpts from a memoir written by Anne-Marie after the war. The story is a more serious/realistic version of canon, with two immigrant girls joining the school, that still has all the delightful and funny canon elements like pranks, midnight feasts, etc. The excerpts are in a completely different style, a pitch-perfect postwar British memoir, and are also great. It works really well as a whole and has marvelous character bits - I particularly loved what Claudine does in the war.
Content note: Nobody meets a bad fate, but it is a pre-war/post-war story. There is a note mentioning that a character lived a long life and something happened after her death.
Need to know canon:
Amadeus - Movie.
What started as an attempt to welcome young Mozart to Vienna became something much, much more.
V'amo di core teneramente (I love you from the heart tenderly). 1985 words.
This story about a threesome between Mozart, Constanze, and Salieri is written in a pitch-perfect Salieri monologue, literate and sly and very hot despite not being at all explicit. It beautifully captures his sensuality and dubious reliability.
The Princess Bride - William Goldman. 3244 words.
vehigadta (and you shall tell)
Assorted items from the writings and correspondences of S. Morgenstern, and how I came to find them.
A very funny, very meta, very Jewish story about the Yuletide writer falling into a rabbit hole of S. Morgenstern research.
Content note: The story takes place in the present day, and mentions travel difficulties caused by the pandemic. That's it for pandemic references, and nobody gets covid.
If you enjoy something, please comment and let the author know!
What have you enjoyed so far this Yuletide?
comments
Here are the stories I've loved so far:
Don't need to know canon:
Le città invisibili | Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino.
Masked Cities. Interactive text game.
You take a trip to the city of Agilulfa.
This intricate, clever, atmospheric text game is set in a city where everyone goes masked in public. (The masks are carnival-style masks, not medical masks.) I'm not even into games, and I played it through twice and plan to play it again.
Shadows of the Apt - Adrian Tchaikovsky.
Dreaming in Silver and Void.
She was found in the Lowlands, but she was from so much further away.
My wonderful gift! All you need to know is that kinden are people who have bug-related abilities and characteristics, so Wasps can fly and shoot electric shock "stings" from their hands, and so forth.
This story is a gorgeous, moving, sense-of-wonder take on the meeting of two people from extremely different worlds, who nonetheless have a meeting of minds. It's technically fantasy but it reads more like original science fiction. And if you like it, you will probably like the books.
"Top 5 Rat Movies I Made Up" - JP Brammer: Legends of the Great Below
Devotion and Adoration: a Queen/Knight Ship Manifesto
A manifesto for the Fiona Highrafter/Queen Elisaveta pairing from JP Brammer's Great Below.
A quintessential "only in Yuletide" story, this is a ship manifesto for two rats in a non-existent canon from an article about non-existent rat movies. It's charming and funny and now I ship them too.
Canon knowledge preferable but not necessary:
The Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison.
from laden boughs, from hands. 3100 words.
A day in the life of the Untheileneise kitchens.
Exactly what it says on the tin: a day in the life in a fantasy world, cleverly structured and sweet in more ways than one.
Psmith - P. G. Wodehouse.
isle of joy. 3000 words.
Finding out that Psmith almost died in his New York adventure wakes Mike up to his real feelings.
A delightful Psmith/Mike story with a great Wodehousian voice and turns of phrase, like It was a thoroughly foreign state of being for Mike, who usually slept like a well-polished cricket bat.
St. Clare's - Enid Blyton.
Sixth Form at St. Clare's. 7088 words.
It's everyone's final year at St. Clare's, and two (foreign and somewhat mysterious) new girls have joined the form. Mysteries will be unraveled and secrets revealed -- hopefully in time for a midnight feast.
A wonderful treat for me! The story itself is set just before WWII, but includes excerpts from a memoir written by Anne-Marie after the war. The story is a more serious/realistic version of canon, with two immigrant girls joining the school, that still has all the delightful and funny canon elements like pranks, midnight feasts, etc. The excerpts are in a completely different style, a pitch-perfect postwar British memoir, and are also great. It works really well as a whole and has marvelous character bits - I particularly loved what Claudine does in the war.
Content note: Nobody meets a bad fate, but it is a pre-war/post-war story. There is a note mentioning that a character lived a long life and something happened after her death.
Need to know canon:
Amadeus - Movie.
What started as an attempt to welcome young Mozart to Vienna became something much, much more.
V'amo di core teneramente (I love you from the heart tenderly). 1985 words.
This story about a threesome between Mozart, Constanze, and Salieri is written in a pitch-perfect Salieri monologue, literate and sly and very hot despite not being at all explicit. It beautifully captures his sensuality and dubious reliability.
The Princess Bride - William Goldman. 3244 words.
vehigadta (and you shall tell)
Assorted items from the writings and correspondences of S. Morgenstern, and how I came to find them.
A very funny, very meta, very Jewish story about the Yuletide writer falling into a rabbit hole of S. Morgenstern research.
Content note: The story takes place in the present day, and mentions travel difficulties caused by the pandemic. That's it for pandemic references, and nobody gets covid.
If you enjoy something, please comment and let the author know!
What have you enjoyed so far this Yuletide?
comments
No comments have been added yet.
