Sunday, December 28, 2008
Yuletide Recommendations!
Yuletide is a yearly fandom gift exchange specifically for rare or minor fandoms--it's grown yearly since 2003 and this year has over 2,400 stories in its database. It tends to elicit some truly wonderful stories--thoughtful and carefully-written. I've just spent three days reading through a huge variety of stories and ended up with fifteen that really struck me as particularly good. My favorites in Yuletide tend to be stories that provide "more of" (in Sheenan Pugh's phrase) canon rather than "more from"--that is, that feel like continuations or missing episodes. With small fandoms like this, there's often a yearning for a little extra that could fit with the original.
The Fionavar Tapestry:
No Man of Fionavar. A look at life in Fionavar eight years later. A wonderful exploration of the goddesses Ceinwen and Dana, who are lovers of two major characters but get very little character development within the series. Lots of other wonderful touches about all the other characters and how their lives unfold.
In the Colours of All Countries. Another story set after the series is done, this one is shorter and focuses more closely on the main characters more shortly after the series. A look at three children named Diarmuid born shortly after the series ends, and their parents and the people who care about them.
Greek Mythology
Small Step for Man. A history of Apollo and Artemis through the ages. Probably one of the darkest and most disturbing of my favorites, with incest and violence and an overall feeling of terrible pain as history progresses. Very powerful and painful.
Anne of Green Gables
Keeping Faith. Unlike most of my other favorites, this couldn't have ever been a missing chapter of the original, because it has a rather explicit sex scene--and yet the sex manages to retain some of the tenor of Montgomery's work: shy and wondering. She'd probably be horrified by it, but I liked it. This is a story set quite late in the series and about one of Anne's children--Walter, who in the original dies in WWI. In this AU he survives and returns to Canada, but striken with shell shock and terribly wounded. This story unites him with his love, Una, and shows his slow healing with her help. It's hopeful and sweet and yet true to the reality of the horrors of war, while retaining Montgomery's idiom.
The Pretender:
The Hound and the Hare. This story nicely captures the feeling of the final act of an episode of "The Pretender," with the edged-yet-hopeful banter between Jarod and Parker. Broots and Sydney make spot-on appearances. Jarod exposes a racetrack that abuses its grayhounds and introduces Parker to his own rescue dog:
"Miss Parker." His eyes and voice were hard. "Come to see my prize bitch?"
The Dark is Rising:
Sense and Notion. Every Yuletide there are a few stories that deal with the heartbreaking ending of the original series and the fact that characters we've come to love deeply lose their memories of all that's gone before. This was my favorite this year--a stubborn and baffled Bran, somehow certain that a summer that he remembers as mundane had deep meaning in it, insists on reaching out to a reluctant Will.
Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern are Dead:
Metamorphosis. Probably the second-most disturbing story of my favorites, but in a very different way. This one manages to capture fairly well the tone of the play (an amazing feat, frankly). At turns ironic, witty, savage, bleak, and desperate.
Guildenstern watches Rosencrantz standing before the mirror, modeling the doublet that Ophelia has loaned him to wear for the play; he finds the image disturbing, and for a moment, he cannot place why. Surely they have stood before mirrors before, together--although Guildenstern cannot quite remember a specific instance, now that he thinks on it--and surely it has never been disturbing before. That is the very nature of a disturbing thing, after all; it is something which isn't usual, ergo necessitating the existence of a usual.
Portal:
Pre-test Diagnostic Log #045216/F/4. Portal is a bizarre video game in which "you" are a test subject in a lab experiment gone horribly wrong, attempting to outwit the passive-aggressive and homocidal AI GLaDOS. GLaDOS has...a distinct voice and personality, to put it mildly, like a hectoring and totally insane mother. There were three Portal-based stories this year, and this one probably comes closest to replicating the tone of the game.
1983. This story is less canon-compliant, but perhaps funnier, as it features a bizarrely funny and disturbing segment where GLaDOS tries (ineptly) to seduce the test subject:
You could argue that I do not wear pants but at least I can tell you that I do not wear pants. If I tell you about the pants then you can imagine the pants. The pants are not a lie. The pants are real. The pants are as real as you imagine them to be.
My voice is not suited to being a boy. I can tell that you are disappointed. Now you understand how I feel. I am often disappointed. You disappoint me.
The Silmarillion:
A Spirit of Fire. A character exploration of Melkor. I don't usually enjoy character studies of villains, because they usually strike me as contrived--especially theatrical villains who seem to cherish evil for evil's sake, like Melkor. But this presents him reasonably and interestingly, without minimizing the cruelty and evil of the character.
Breath of Hope. Another character study, this one of Brandir, Turin, and Niniel. It's Turin/Niniel, but nothing explicit or disturbing. Brandir confronts Niniel about her decision to wed Turin, and Turin confronts him about the conversation later. A thoughtful look at three fascinating characters.
Bright are the Stars Upon the Margin of the World. An in-depth exploration of Beleg, one of the many interesting characters Tolkien introduces and then leaves mostly hinted-at in The Silmarillion. This is a long, leisurely look at Beleg's early days, and his first intimations of his fate. Full of resonant symbolism and a good capture of Tolkien's style of writing--no small feat at all.
He looked up into the heavens, and still the stars were shining brightly down, his keeper brightest of them all: red the shoulder of the sword-arm and brilliant the girdle, fearsome the stance of the warrior eternally suspended against the vault of the sky.
Galaxy Quest:
Never Give Up, Never Surrender...To the Power of Love? This is a parody of the bemused and confused tone of news articles about fanfiction, written within the Galaxy Quest universe (i.e., Lazarus/Taggart slash, for example). Funny at two levels--a discussion of the show and a discussion of news articles of this type.
The Show Must Go On. A wonderful, wonderful story that perfectly blends humor and deeper emotion in the same way as the original. The cast (shooting the New Adventures of Galaxy Quest) is approached by the Thermians once more, only to discover themselves facing the most cliche of cliches: the mirror universe evil doubles! The plot is engaging and fun, with a wistful, hopeful (and slashy) subplot about Alexander Dane finding love at last. I'll confess the ending choked me up.
The Chronicles of Prydain
The Kindly King of Strummings and Hummings. Another beautiful story that could be a lost chapter of canon, featuring Fflewddur Fflam and Gurgi, two of my absolute favorites, and a cameo by the always-delightful Eilonwy. Fflewddur has to deal with a dragon infestation. Charming and gentle and homely, like the original.
The Fionavar Tapestry:
No Man of Fionavar. A look at life in Fionavar eight years later. A wonderful exploration of the goddesses Ceinwen and Dana, who are lovers of two major characters but get very little character development within the series. Lots of other wonderful touches about all the other characters and how their lives unfold.
In the Colours of All Countries. Another story set after the series is done, this one is shorter and focuses more closely on the main characters more shortly after the series. A look at three children named Diarmuid born shortly after the series ends, and their parents and the people who care about them.
Greek Mythology
Small Step for Man. A history of Apollo and Artemis through the ages. Probably one of the darkest and most disturbing of my favorites, with incest and violence and an overall feeling of terrible pain as history progresses. Very powerful and painful.
Anne of Green Gables
Keeping Faith. Unlike most of my other favorites, this couldn't have ever been a missing chapter of the original, because it has a rather explicit sex scene--and yet the sex manages to retain some of the tenor of Montgomery's work: shy and wondering. She'd probably be horrified by it, but I liked it. This is a story set quite late in the series and about one of Anne's children--Walter, who in the original dies in WWI. In this AU he survives and returns to Canada, but striken with shell shock and terribly wounded. This story unites him with his love, Una, and shows his slow healing with her help. It's hopeful and sweet and yet true to the reality of the horrors of war, while retaining Montgomery's idiom.
The Pretender:
The Hound and the Hare. This story nicely captures the feeling of the final act of an episode of "The Pretender," with the edged-yet-hopeful banter between Jarod and Parker. Broots and Sydney make spot-on appearances. Jarod exposes a racetrack that abuses its grayhounds and introduces Parker to his own rescue dog:
"Miss Parker." His eyes and voice were hard. "Come to see my prize bitch?"
The Dark is Rising:
Sense and Notion. Every Yuletide there are a few stories that deal with the heartbreaking ending of the original series and the fact that characters we've come to love deeply lose their memories of all that's gone before. This was my favorite this year--a stubborn and baffled Bran, somehow certain that a summer that he remembers as mundane had deep meaning in it, insists on reaching out to a reluctant Will.
Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern are Dead:
Metamorphosis. Probably the second-most disturbing story of my favorites, but in a very different way. This one manages to capture fairly well the tone of the play (an amazing feat, frankly). At turns ironic, witty, savage, bleak, and desperate.
Guildenstern watches Rosencrantz standing before the mirror, modeling the doublet that Ophelia has loaned him to wear for the play; he finds the image disturbing, and for a moment, he cannot place why. Surely they have stood before mirrors before, together--although Guildenstern cannot quite remember a specific instance, now that he thinks on it--and surely it has never been disturbing before. That is the very nature of a disturbing thing, after all; it is something which isn't usual, ergo necessitating the existence of a usual.
Portal:
Pre-test Diagnostic Log #045216/F/4. Portal is a bizarre video game in which "you" are a test subject in a lab experiment gone horribly wrong, attempting to outwit the passive-aggressive and homocidal AI GLaDOS. GLaDOS has...a distinct voice and personality, to put it mildly, like a hectoring and totally insane mother. There were three Portal-based stories this year, and this one probably comes closest to replicating the tone of the game.
1983. This story is less canon-compliant, but perhaps funnier, as it features a bizarrely funny and disturbing segment where GLaDOS tries (ineptly) to seduce the test subject:
You could argue that I do not wear pants but at least I can tell you that I do not wear pants. If I tell you about the pants then you can imagine the pants. The pants are not a lie. The pants are real. The pants are as real as you imagine them to be.
My voice is not suited to being a boy. I can tell that you are disappointed. Now you understand how I feel. I am often disappointed. You disappoint me.
The Silmarillion:
A Spirit of Fire. A character exploration of Melkor. I don't usually enjoy character studies of villains, because they usually strike me as contrived--especially theatrical villains who seem to cherish evil for evil's sake, like Melkor. But this presents him reasonably and interestingly, without minimizing the cruelty and evil of the character.
Breath of Hope. Another character study, this one of Brandir, Turin, and Niniel. It's Turin/Niniel, but nothing explicit or disturbing. Brandir confronts Niniel about her decision to wed Turin, and Turin confronts him about the conversation later. A thoughtful look at three fascinating characters.
Bright are the Stars Upon the Margin of the World. An in-depth exploration of Beleg, one of the many interesting characters Tolkien introduces and then leaves mostly hinted-at in The Silmarillion. This is a long, leisurely look at Beleg's early days, and his first intimations of his fate. Full of resonant symbolism and a good capture of Tolkien's style of writing--no small feat at all.
He looked up into the heavens, and still the stars were shining brightly down, his keeper brightest of them all: red the shoulder of the sword-arm and brilliant the girdle, fearsome the stance of the warrior eternally suspended against the vault of the sky.
Galaxy Quest:
Never Give Up, Never Surrender...To the Power of Love? This is a parody of the bemused and confused tone of news articles about fanfiction, written within the Galaxy Quest universe (i.e., Lazarus/Taggart slash, for example). Funny at two levels--a discussion of the show and a discussion of news articles of this type.
The Show Must Go On. A wonderful, wonderful story that perfectly blends humor and deeper emotion in the same way as the original. The cast (shooting the New Adventures of Galaxy Quest) is approached by the Thermians once more, only to discover themselves facing the most cliche of cliches: the mirror universe evil doubles! The plot is engaging and fun, with a wistful, hopeful (and slashy) subplot about Alexander Dane finding love at last. I'll confess the ending choked me up.
The Chronicles of Prydain
The Kindly King of Strummings and Hummings. Another beautiful story that could be a lost chapter of canon, featuring Fflewddur Fflam and Gurgi, two of my absolute favorites, and a cameo by the always-delightful Eilonwy. Fflewddur has to deal with a dragon infestation. Charming and gentle and homely, like the original.
// posted by Jennifer @ 1:53 PM 
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