Yuletide recs

[white_hart]

I don't know if Yuletide is smaller this year than in previous years, or if there are just fewer fandoms I know these days (and quite a few of the ones I do know are ones I tend to avoid fic for, or at least exercise extreme caution - there's quite a lot of fic for Rivers of London, for instance, but it's almost all Peter/Nightingale and that is a definite NOTP for me). I feel as though I've done more poking around and less actually reading things, and haven't found any of the joyous fics for things so tiny I never even realised that they counted as fandoms that I have loved in previous years - but again, this may be me just not knowing the source canons well enough.

Anyway, I have some recs, and am, as always, very glad that Yuletide continues to exist even if I doubt I'll ever have the time or confidence in my writing abilities to participate again.

Limelight, Candlelight, Sunlight, Shadows (2667 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Kirsten Raymonde
Additional Tags: 5 Things, Post-Canon, Theatre, Slice of Life, Acting, Technology, Character Study, Personal Growth
Summary:

Five decades, five plays: Kirsten stepping on stage in a changing world.

On Daemons in Royal Portraiture (2991 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Lyra Belacqua, Pantalaimon, a mess of portraits
Additional Tags: Daemons, minutiae - Freeform, Scary English Monarchs, Not So Scary English Monarchs, Portentous Heraldry, Portraiture, Ephemera - Freeform, Accidental Art History
Summary:

Excerpts from the catalogue for an exhibition held at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford shortly after the events of The Amber Spyglass.

Handshake Protocol (8651 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams, The Middleman (TV), Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Imperial Radch Series - Ann Leckie
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Murderbot (Murderbot Diaries), C-3PO (Star Wars), R2-D2 (Star Wars), Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ida (The Middleman), Marvin (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), Data (Star Trek), Justice of Toren One Esk Nineteen | Breq
Additional Tags: Crossover, Travel, Time Travel, 5 Things, Grumpy AIs, Elevator Music, This is not a hero's journey okay
Summary:

Murderbot doesn't want to be a hero or take part in someone's incredible journey. Why does it keep bumping into people who think it will?

A Mathematical Possibility (2827 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Murder Most Unladylike Series - Robin Stevens
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Daisy Wells, Hazel Wong
Additional Tags: Pre-Slash, Misses Clause Challenge, Post-Series
Summary:

Hazel finds a new life after Deepdean. But is there room for her in Daisy's life now? And what is a woman to do in wartime in a country that isn't quite her own?

A Mile of Marchpane (3218 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Archer's Goon - Diana Wynne Jones
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Awful Sykes, Erskine (Archer's Goon), Nan Hathaway (Archer's Goon), William Hathaway (Archer's Goon), Venturus (Archer's Goon), Shine (Archer's Goon), Hathaway (Archer's Goon)
Summary:

Hathaway's children, Will and Nan, discover the red typewriter, which has been stowed away in the 16th century for safe-keeping. When their sticky misadventures lead to Nan's disappearance, Will summons help. It arrives in the form of Time-travelling International Master Criminals Awful and Erskine, whose malefactory careers are currently being hampered by a brotherly curse which means they cannot commit any wrongdoing that leads to more harm than good ...

Ancillaries of Seville (4226 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Le nozze di Figaro | The Marriage of Figaro - Mozart/Da Ponte, Imperial Radch Series - Ann Leckie
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Conte di Almaviva | Count Almaviva (Figaro Trilogy), Rosine Contesse D'Almaviva | Rosina Contessa di Almaviva (Figaro Trilogy), Suzanne | Susanna (Figaro Trilogy), Figaro (Figaro Trilogy), Chérubin | Cherubino (Figaro Trilogy), Barberine | Barbarina (Figaro Trilogy), Bartholo | Bartolo (Figaro Trilogy), Anaander Mianaai, Naskaaia Eskur
Additional Tags: Pastiche, in-universe scholarship, in-universe opera, in-universe cultural production, In-Universe RPF, roman a clef, in-universe roman à clef, probably banned in the radch
Summary:

Excerpts from the great politico-satiric Entertainment of Mozaatr and Dapontai, translated and edited for the student of Radchaai imperial history.

Comments

[sartorias]

Yes, on the ships one doesn't want to follow.

I also love fixits for stories that were great until the end, but there seem to be fewer of those.

Then there are some works I just stick to canon for, don't want fic, for some reason.

[white_hart]

Yes, I have fandoms I just stick to canon for - sometimes it's because no-one else can quite get the voice right (I have read some good Discworld fic, but mostly backbutton after the first sentence) and sometimes it's just because the original feels so perfect and complete in itself that attempting to add anything else just seems wrong. (I think Le Guin falls into this category - I adore her books, and somehow don't even want to look at any related fic.)

[sartorias]

I haven't even tried any Discworld fic, though I have reread my books dogeared. Yeah, his voice is so difficult, and also I love where all the characters are.

[white_hart]

Thinking about it, I think that most of the Discworld fics I've liked have been crossovers, which don't necessarily rely on catching Pterry's voice (I do love a good crossover, anyway).

[white_hart]

I remember that last year there were some really lovely Lymond fics, including one brilliant fixit, whereas this year there are only four and two of those are incest ships (with a third being not far off that).

[sartorias]

Oh, I think I know the ones you mean from last year.

Yeah, I skipped right over Lymond/Richard fic. Not for me.