Yuletide recs

[marycrawford]

I haven't made my way through the Yuletide Archive yet. Hah. As if. I haven't even made my way yet through the fandoms which I love, let alone the ones I know or have heard of. But of the stories I've read, these stood out to me:

The Hidden Spring (Fall of Île-Rien series, rated PG-13) - by voleuse, for falzalot
marthawells' new fantasy series was one of my own requested fandoms, too, and I was overjoyed just to know that someone had written a story for it; and then I read it, and it blew me away. In seven connected vignettes, voleuse tells the story of Gil and Ilias, culminating in the most horrifying experience of their lives - an event hinted at in the Fall of Île-Rien series itself, and one which I was (and am) desperate to read more about. Beautiful, spare use of language, and the angst just builds and builds. I know this is one story I'll be reading over and over, and it will help tide me over until The Gate of Gods comes out.

Early Light (Fire From Heaven, rated PG ) - by louiselux, for Cori Lannam
I love Mary Renault's Alexander trilogy, but what I've read of the fanfic generally didn't work for me for one reason or another. This one did. For me, this story of a young Alexander and Hephaistion hits exactly the right note, and sounds uncannily like Renault, to boot. So subtle, so emotionally charged; I adored it.

Livin' In America (Bainbridge Avenue 2:00am) (Hellblazer, rated R) - by ladysisyphus, for Angie
This is John Constantine at his snarky best, riffing on It's A Wonderful Life, America, and all things sentimental: "Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings, huh? They don't tell you that removing them takes a chainsaw." Love him. Fear him. Accept no substitutes.

Haloa Gifts (Hercules: the Legendary Journeys, rated R) - by ltlj, for therienne
Wherein Hercules and Iolaus have another rough day. Loved this story to bits, and yes, I bet my socks it was by ltlj after reading this exchange:

Hercules lifted his brows. He said pointedly, "The griffin ate people."

"So? We won't eat the stomach."

"Iolaus, it's not just the stomach, it's all through its--" He gestured helplessly. "If you don't get that, I can't explain it to you."

"Oh, come on," Iolaus said persuasively. His stomach was growling and at this point he didn't care how foul the thing tasted. "We eat other animals that eat people."

"Name one."

I knew he was going to say that. Iolaus didn't hesitate. "Lions."

Civilization (Miles Vorkosigan, rated G) by rhyo, for insptr_penguin
Set during Barrayar: Aral Vorkosigan muses on his prisoner-of-war. This reads like a missing page from the book. And how lovely to get Aral's perspective on Cordelia - why yes, I do have a crush on Aral. *g*

Comments

[ltlj.livejournal.com]

Hey, thanks for the rec!

And I'll have to check out that other Vorkosigan one. Both the ones about Bel Thorne were very good, and there was another with Aral and Simon Ilyan that I really liked.

I should really do some recs, too.

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Recs are fun. And I haven't even read all the Vorkosigan stories yet! Just the one I was gifted with and the one above. But I bask in the knowledge that they're there.

[voleuse.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm thrilled that people have liked the story so much.

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! I did, and I hope that you'll return to this fandom again. :-)

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Wow - I'm glad you enjoyed it! Your rec made me very happy.

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Aw! Your Hephaistion made me happy, so there. *g*