lunabee34 | Entries tagged with recs: victorian

Earth's Children by Jean M. Auel

Ones Who Count and Ones Who Care
Jondalar/Ayla, Durc/Ura

When I was reading this series, I believed that Ayla would meet back up with her son in the last novel, but she doesn't. This fic resolves that dropped plot thread beautifully.

Hellspark by Janet Kagan

Reliability
swift-Kalat twis Jalakat/Tinling Alfvaen

Delicious world-building that reads as if Kagan wrote it.

Jane Eyre

lilacs out of the dead land
Jane/Rochester
Post-novel

Given the events of the novel, a true happily-ever-after seems impossible for these two, and this fic explores that impossibility.

Y'all, I feel a little guilty saying this, but I have thoroughly enjoyed my alone time. It has been quiet and full of purpose, and I have gotten so much done. I have done whatever I wanted when I wanted. It's been glorious. Everyone comes home tomorrow, and I am ready to see them again, but this has been rejuvenating. I give Christmas alone a five star rating.

I woke up this morning to discover a Yuletide Madness treat all for me! I have truly been blessed by the Yuletide fairy.

momentary
Locked Tomb
Camilla/Pal

This is an interlude set in the first book, and it's a very sweet moment between Cam and Pal showcasing their closeness. I love her protectiveness and his trust in her.

Now, before this Yuletide, I had no idea that I wanted to read fanfic for Dickens's A Christmas Carol. Turns out, I really, really wanted to read fanfic for A Christmas Carol.

For Blunders Made in Yesteryears
A Christmas Carol--Dickens
Gen
Jacob Marley-centric

After his sentencing, Marley becomes desperate to save Scrooge. I love the writing here; Marley's voice is wonderful. His initial bewilderment followed by growing contrition followed by righteous mission is wonderful. I never in a million years thought I'd be reading a fic and rooting for Jacob Motherfucking Marley OMG. This is fantastic.

The ever-circling years
A Christmas Carol--Dickens
Marley/Scrooge

This one made me cry.

In all the versions and adaptations of this novella, Scrooge runs through the streets on Christmas morning spreading joy and cheer (usually quite comically) and makes amends with Freddy and the Cratchits, and that's it.

So what's it like after his transformation? This fic delves a little into what it would like to change so dramatically. What it mostly focuses on, though, is Scrooge's regret for Marley--not only his regret that Marley is bound in chains for all eternity but that he never had the courage to tell Marley how he felt while Marley was alive.

So damn good.

1. I thought that as I finish reading (or re-reading in many cases) a book on my reading list, I'd post about it briefly as a way to track my progress and to invite conversation. Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon and The Victorian Temper by Jerome Buckley down. Please dear gods don't let them ask me a question about Buckley. I pretty much despise Victorian poetry anyway; I adore the novels and the drama and even the prose for the most part, but the poetry makes me want to spork myself in the eye. Couple that hatred with the fact that Buckley wrote the book in 1951 and it's all homophobic and seriously Old School Academy and he just drops names, LAST NAMES!, of people without saying who they are in the text or the footnote and sometimes they're poets and sometimes they're historical figures and sometimes they're royalty. *tears out hair* Lady Audley's Secret is awesome, though. I cry every damn time I read it, just at the part I have move Xander in Shadowlands. How's that for an endorsement? Spander loves it.

2. I am teaching in a learning community (linked class situation) in the fall and the World Civ prof I'm teaching with usually has her students read a historical fiction novel and write a book review. She's looking to change up but having trouble finding a suitable book. It can cover any period from ancient Mesopotamia to the Renaissance and pretty much any culture since it's World Civ. Restrictions: not too long (250ish pages), historically accurate in the general if not the particular, and no graphic sex. Any recommendations?

3.

lyrstzha is going to Writercon!

executrix (who should be receiving a package soon) is right: more lyr=better event.

lyrstzha, one of these days I will answer your email telling me that you're coming. Probably the same day that I finally return

crazydiamondsue's phone call.

4. Eve K. Sedgwick is dead. The world is down one more incredibly intelligent person. I think somebody needs to start a conduit fic fest in memoriam. *bats eyelashes* It could even be a drabble fest. Somebody who's BNFy and not me (so that people participate LOL), PLEASE DO THIS!!!

5. I won an award for my Dr. Horrible fic! Yay!

6. Fur in My Cap by Rob Roy. Watch it. Very cool music video.

7. So. Dreamwidth. I am still ambivalent because I bought a permanent lj account and I'm comfortable here but everybody's getting an account over there (granted I have a really small flist so my value of everybody is quite different from other people's *g*) and I guess maybe I ought to anticipate the mass migration. Are the invite codes for free accounts? If they're for free accounts, I'll take one if anybody has a spare.

8. Off to spend the last little bit of my allotted, scheduled, *sob*, regimented Livejournal time making Rodney cry.

So, I've been through the whole of this year's archive, clicking on all that immediately interested me. I will, of course, read more once authors are revealed and you guys let me know what you've written, so there's at least one more rec post coming after this one. (Also, I bookmarked what looks like a seriously awesome Lewis and Clark RPF that is eleventy million pages long and must be read when I am not so far into my cups LOL)

The Eagle Conspiracy
Fandom: Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next Series
I somehow managed to comment a billion times on this fic without realizing it. My computer kept giving me an error every time I tried to post a comment when it was really going through each time. *sigh* I am AWESOME!! Anyway, I have Melanie to thank for my fondness for Thursday Next. She loaned me The Eyre Affair and I was immediately smitten. This fic is, as I say in my oft repeated feedback, perfectly in keeping with the original and incredibly fun and mischevious. If you don't giggle like mad while reading this, all I can say is BLESS YOUR HEART and shake my head.

Talking, All We Ever Do
Fandom: RPF--Oscar Wilde and associates
For those of you who don't know, I'm a Victorianist. I wrote my MA thesis on Ouida, one of the most influential and famous writers of the Victorian era (even though she is now largely unknown) and incidentally an acquaintance of Mr. Wilde. I am fascinated with the period and with its people and most of all with its voice. This fic is almost entirely dialogue and not a single word is dull or out of place. The conversation here is as enchanting and witty and razor sharp as anything Oscar ever put to paper. There is a deep sorrow here (as there was in the lives this piece commemorates) and a very strange sort of resigned joy. I am absolutely besotted with this piece. You all must go read it NOW!

The Strange and Not Entirely Ineffectual Courting of Jon Stewart by Stephen T. Colbert
Fandom: RPF--Punditslash
This is just silly. And funny. And, honestly, I think it actually happened. Or is going to. Or maybe I just wish it did. LOL

The Fearless Moral Inventory of Millhouse Van Houten
Fandom: The Simpsons
I hope I'm not boring you all dreadfully by waxing reminiscent about the source material for these recs; that hope, however, does not mean I'm going to stop. LOL I was not allowed to watch The Simpsons when I lived at home. My parents thought it was vulgar or perhaps commissioned by the Great Satan himself, along with sex, beer and activist judges. I didn't start watching until I was in college and I had a lot of very enjoyable catching up to do. I am clearly not the only person who thinks this fic is made of awesome since it has the highest comment count of any fic I noticed in the archive, but I will tell you that the piece lives in those wonderfully poignant moments of the show where all the funny is stripped away and if that sounds lame, then I'm not telling it right.

Pluck on Laughter
Fandom: Toy Soldiers
And this is why she came to the party, folks. This is what Lorraine was hoping for (well and Frasier/Niles slash, which alas is not to be this year). TS will always and forever be one of my favorite movies. Truthfully, it's a pretty terrible film. It's dated and watching it now, sometimes the laughs come in places I know the director did not intend. But every time I watch it, I'm 12 again and sitting in Sandy's darkened living room drinking in everything Wesley Crusher says and does and developing what will be a life long crush on Sean Astin (which if you share please to not be reading his autobiography as he comes off as a crush-crushing egomaniacal whiny baby, but I digress). This is about grownups who are kindly but unable to fix the situation; it's about hot boys sitting undie clad in a big pile on each other's dorm beds; it's about pranks and friendship; it's about THE FUCKING MACHINE GUN LOL. This fic is a missing scene from the film; it's almost entirely dialogue and it is entirely perfect.

Some Small Town, One Different Summer
Fandom: Toy Soldiers
*Goes all flaily* Oh, man. I don't even know what to say about this except that it is AWESOME. TOTALLY AWESOME. It is long which is yay. It is excellently characterized which is yay. It is very, very hot. Also yay. It has perfect voices and an excellent dissection of the dynamics between all the guys. A must read.

And I'm saving the Live Free or Die Hard recs for another day as I'm all eye swimmy.

Guess who's been dipping her toes in the Yuletide Archives?

The Listening Game by Adrienne
Fandom: Toy Soldiers
Pairing and Rating: Billy/Joey; Adult
This was my first rebellious movie, the first movie I watched despite being forbidden to do so. We watched Toy Soldiers at Sandy's thirteenth birthday party, five or so girls huddled around a tiny TV and eating popcorn while braiding each other's hair. This movie further cemented my infatuation with Wesley "I got a fucking machine gun" Crusher and began my lifelong love of the boy who would grow up to be Middle Earth's ~~gayest~~ most loyal hobbit. Toy Soldiers resonated so strongly with me as a teenager; the adults can't fix the situation, but a group of kids can outwit a terrorist strike group. I've also always been a major fan of angst and so I found Joey's death incredibly compelling. I rewatched this movie a year or so ago and was floored by all the slashy subtext I'd missed the on the first viewing. From that moment on, I've wanted TS fanfic like breathing but unfortunately could never find any until now. This fic strips away all the cheesiness of the movie and leaves behind its emotional intensity, the rawness that sometimes takes you by surprise. If there's gotta be only one TS fic, I'm really glad it's this one.

I Would Not be You For a Kingdom by Jane Carnall
Fandom: Charlotte Bronte's Villette
Rating and Pairing: Lucy/Ginevra; PG
I am very fond of Villette. I taught it several years back and while most of the students hated the novel, several really got what what Bronte was trying to do and made the teaching experience a true joy. Ginevra is such a fascinating character and what this fic does is offer us a femslashy and completely believeable explanation for her strange repulsion/attraction to Lucy. This fic very much inhabits the spirit of the novel and is a wonderful read.

Puerio Solivagi by Dira Sudis
Fandom: Dead Poet's Society
Rating and Pairing: Charlie/Todd, Neil/Todd; PG
I hate to reduce this to a pairing because there really isn't one even though there's a snog or two. This is about the hole that Neil leaves behind and what the others do to fill it. *cries* I was once obsessed with this movie and although I no longer remember every single line of dialogue verbatim, I do still remember the way this film made me feel. This fic takes me back to that place.

The Childing Autumn by Elizabeth de Epee et du Mot de Eau
Fandom: Dead Poet's Society
Pairing and Rating: Todd/Neil; PG
This fic is structured around the idea of firsts and it's seriously gorgeous--beautiful language that makes my heart ache in the most pleasant of ways. It's set in that magical time before everything falls apart, but we know what is to come and that knowledge hurts. The third paragraph from the end through the fic's conclusion is pretty much as close to perfect as anything I'd ever care to read.

In Truth No Beauty by Epigone
Fandom: M*A*S*H TV series
Pairing and Rating: Winchester/Klinger; Adult
This should not work. It should not work at all. It should not be beautiful and inevitable and right. It should not sting so much at its end. But oh, oh, it does.

the hours between dawn and nothing by anotherjuxtaposition
Fandom: M*A*S*H TV series
Pairing and Rating: Hawkeye/BJ; PG-13
This is one of those marvelous stories that skirts the line between friendship and romance. The author never truly makes clear whether Beej and Hawk ever laid hands on each other, but what she does make clear is that sex or no, their relationship is the most important one that each of them has ever had. I didn't rate this PG-13 for sexual situations because there aren't any. Instead I based the rating on a fairly graphic and incredibly well done description of PTSD. In this fic, BJ flounders after the war is over. He's uncomfortable in his old skin and his old life and the one person he truly needs has made himself unavailable. To paraphrase another commenter, I knew when I was dreading the end of the war that this fic had gotten to me. LOL You wanna see what the gold standard looks like, my friends? Read this. You will not be disappointed.