![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
2021 Yuletide Recs
Dec. 26th, 2021 06:32 pmSeven fics in eight(ish) fandoms:
The Professor of Medicine (2k words)
Fandom: Das Glasperlenspiel | The Glass Bead Game - Hermann Hesse
No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Original Female Character & Original Male Character, Joseph Knecht & Original Character(s)
Characters: Joseph Knecht, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Mentors, Father Figures, Friendship, Jewish Character, Academia, Fluff, Metafiction, Angst, Reincarnation, Classical Music
Summary: There are many apocrypha regarding Joseph Knecht's life. This one is unique among others in tying Knecht to the origins of the Game, and in presenting a wholly new theory of the Game's early development. It is therefore, we feel, worthy of the reader's attention, even if the facts cited in it appear to be largely fictional.
My notes: This was my gift, and it's absolutely magnificent – an intricate and multifaceted jewel of a fic that does more in 2k words than many fics do in 20k. I truly cannot recommend it more highly.
Masked Cities (Interactive fiction, 8k words)
Fandom: Le città invisibili | Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino
No Archive Warnings Apply
Additional Tags: Interactive Fiction, Travel, Tourism, Worldbuilding, Masks, Don't Have to Know Canon
Summary: You take a trip to the city of Agilulfa.
My notes: This is a fascinating interactive fiction/text-based game in which you explore Agilulfa, the City of Masks (masquerade masks, not medical masks), a city that doesn't appear in Calvino's Invisible Cities but which very well might have. Among other things, it's a reflection on travel, tourism, and what it means to be visibly or invisibly foreign. No knowledge of canon required.
5 Ways To Rewrite Zhuangzi (1.3k words)
Fandom: 莊子 - 莊周 | Zhuāngzǐ - Zhuāng Zhōu
No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Zhuangzi (The Zhuangzi), Huizi (The Zhuangzi), Xunzi, Ezra Pound, W. V. Quine
Additional Tags: Translation Theory, Linguistic Sacrilege, Philosophical Sacrilege, Sacrilege In General, Not Quite Crossover, random guest appearances, Yuletide Treat, Crack, But also not quite crack, 5 Things
Summary: The Way, transmitted1.
1 Sorta.
My notes: I really, really love translation theory, which made this fic an absolute delight. If you don't know at least some things about the Zhuangzi, you'll probably be fairly lost, but I last read it five years ago and have only ever read it in translation and I enjoyed the fic just fine, so detailed knowledge is not required.
from laden boughs, from hands (3k words)
Fandom: The Goblin Emperor Series - Katherine Addison
No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Maia Drazhar
Additional Tags: Worldbuilding, Infrastructure Porn, Canon Compliant, or at least I'm trying, Food
Summary: A day in the life of the Untheileneise kitchens.
My notes: A sweet-but-not-saccharine window into the lives of several people from all walks of life in Cetho.
Flotsam (3k words)
Fandoms: Piranesi - Susanna Clarke, Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Sixteen | Sarah Raphael, Piranesi | Matthew Rose Sorensen
Additional Tags: Worldbuilding, Crossover
Summary: Sarah Raphael finds an unusual object while exploring the labyrinth.
My notes: The perfect crossover! A poignant little fic (with guinea pigs). Requires knowledge of Piranesi and of The Magician's Nephew, but no other Narnia books.
Devotion and Adoration: a Queen/Knight Ship Manifesto (4k words)
Fandom: Top 5 Rat Movies I Made Up - JP Brammer: Legends of the Great Below
No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Rat Girl Hero (Top 5 Rat Movies: Legends of the Great Below)
Additional Tags: Ship Manifesto
Summary: A manifesto for the Fiona Highrafter/Queen Elisaveta pairing from JP Brammer's Great Below.
My notes: I'm now a devotee of a ship from a canon that doesn't exist. A spot-on pastiche of the very best shipping manifestos, and absolutely hilarious! Knowledge of canon not required, since canon doesn't actually, well, exist.
New perspectives on Chaucer’s Aldris: Editor’s introduction (2k words)
Fandoms: Legend of Good Women - Geoffrey Chaucer, Beowulf (Poem)
Warning for Major Character Death
Characters: Grendel's Mother (Beowulf)
Additional Tags: Pseudo-scholarship, AU: Chaucer Lives Till 1404, Heroic Grendel's Mother, Etymology, Crack Treated Seriously, Implied/Referenced Suicide
Summary: Feminist readings of Aldris are, of course, some of the most prominent. While some early voices see Aldris as simply assuming a masculine role, Carol Clover’s 1993 “Flyting as gender performance” examines Aldris’s reproach of Earl Roger and his knights...
AU: Chaucer lives four more years and writes a tale about Grendel's mother in his Legend of Good Women. Hundreds of years later, academics are still arguing over the details, because of course they are.
My notes: I'm a sucker for academic pastiche, so I was destined to love this. Requires at least a vague familiarity with Beowulf and a general understanding of who Chaucer is, and having read a lot of academic writing is ideal for full effect.
The Professor of Medicine (2k words)
Fandom: Das Glasperlenspiel | The Glass Bead Game - Hermann Hesse
No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Original Female Character & Original Male Character, Joseph Knecht & Original Character(s)
Characters: Joseph Knecht, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Mentors, Father Figures, Friendship, Jewish Character, Academia, Fluff, Metafiction, Angst, Reincarnation, Classical Music
Summary: There are many apocrypha regarding Joseph Knecht's life. This one is unique among others in tying Knecht to the origins of the Game, and in presenting a wholly new theory of the Game's early development. It is therefore, we feel, worthy of the reader's attention, even if the facts cited in it appear to be largely fictional.
My notes: This was my gift, and it's absolutely magnificent – an intricate and multifaceted jewel of a fic that does more in 2k words than many fics do in 20k. I truly cannot recommend it more highly.
Masked Cities (Interactive fiction, 8k words)
Fandom: Le città invisibili | Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino
No Archive Warnings Apply
Additional Tags: Interactive Fiction, Travel, Tourism, Worldbuilding, Masks, Don't Have to Know Canon
Summary: You take a trip to the city of Agilulfa.
My notes: This is a fascinating interactive fiction/text-based game in which you explore Agilulfa, the City of Masks (masquerade masks, not medical masks), a city that doesn't appear in Calvino's Invisible Cities but which very well might have. Among other things, it's a reflection on travel, tourism, and what it means to be visibly or invisibly foreign. No knowledge of canon required.
5 Ways To Rewrite Zhuangzi (1.3k words)
Fandom: 莊子 - 莊周 | Zhuāngzǐ - Zhuāng Zhōu
No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Zhuangzi (The Zhuangzi), Huizi (The Zhuangzi), Xunzi, Ezra Pound, W. V. Quine
Additional Tags: Translation Theory, Linguistic Sacrilege, Philosophical Sacrilege, Sacrilege In General, Not Quite Crossover, random guest appearances, Yuletide Treat, Crack, But also not quite crack, 5 Things
Summary: The Way, transmitted1.
1 Sorta.
My notes: I really, really love translation theory, which made this fic an absolute delight. If you don't know at least some things about the Zhuangzi, you'll probably be fairly lost, but I last read it five years ago and have only ever read it in translation and I enjoyed the fic just fine, so detailed knowledge is not required.
from laden boughs, from hands (3k words)
Fandom: The Goblin Emperor Series - Katherine Addison
No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Maia Drazhar
Additional Tags: Worldbuilding, Infrastructure Porn, Canon Compliant, or at least I'm trying, Food
Summary: A day in the life of the Untheileneise kitchens.
My notes: A sweet-but-not-saccharine window into the lives of several people from all walks of life in Cetho.
Flotsam (3k words)
Fandoms: Piranesi - Susanna Clarke, Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Sixteen | Sarah Raphael, Piranesi | Matthew Rose Sorensen
Additional Tags: Worldbuilding, Crossover
Summary: Sarah Raphael finds an unusual object while exploring the labyrinth.
My notes: The perfect crossover! A poignant little fic (with guinea pigs). Requires knowledge of Piranesi and of The Magician's Nephew, but no other Narnia books.
Devotion and Adoration: a Queen/Knight Ship Manifesto (4k words)
Fandom: Top 5 Rat Movies I Made Up - JP Brammer: Legends of the Great Below
No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Rat Girl Hero (Top 5 Rat Movies: Legends of the Great Below)
Additional Tags: Ship Manifesto
Summary: A manifesto for the Fiona Highrafter/Queen Elisaveta pairing from JP Brammer's Great Below.
My notes: I'm now a devotee of a ship from a canon that doesn't exist. A spot-on pastiche of the very best shipping manifestos, and absolutely hilarious! Knowledge of canon not required, since canon doesn't actually, well, exist.
New perspectives on Chaucer’s Aldris: Editor’s introduction (2k words)
Fandoms: Legend of Good Women - Geoffrey Chaucer, Beowulf (Poem)
Warning for Major Character Death
Characters: Grendel's Mother (Beowulf)
Additional Tags: Pseudo-scholarship, AU: Chaucer Lives Till 1404, Heroic Grendel's Mother, Etymology, Crack Treated Seriously, Implied/Referenced Suicide
Summary: Feminist readings of Aldris are, of course, some of the most prominent. While some early voices see Aldris as simply assuming a masculine role, Carol Clover’s 1993 “Flyting as gender performance” examines Aldris’s reproach of Earl Roger and his knights...
AU: Chaucer lives four more years and writes a tale about Grendel's mother in his Legend of Good Women. Hundreds of years later, academics are still arguing over the details, because of course they are.
My notes: I'm a sucker for academic pastiche, so I was destined to love this. Requires at least a vague familiarity with Beowulf and a general understanding of who Chaucer is, and having read a lot of academic writing is ideal for full effect.
