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larryhammerI've been spending the last couple days reading a LOT of Yuletide fic, and there is much goodness in this year's crop. A few that have stood out for me so far:
I Have to See a Man About a God - a Roaring 20s AU of Greek Mythology, is a short novel and the best story I've read this year. Upperclass twit Apollo teams up with mysterious stranger Dionysus to try and unravel a series of disconnected murders apparently aimed at The Family -- for this has Zeus as a jazz-age gangster. Delicious. There are not enough stories in the world tagged "Hera the mob wife," but this goes some measure toward rectifying this defect. Also, Muses do just wanna have fun.
"The 'Yvain Fragments'" from Lost Romances - fragments of a "lost" sequel to Chrétien de Troyes's Yvain. Needless to say, I am ALL OVER the idea of fragmentary suppliments to medieval romances with plummy mock-scholarly introductions. (I could wish for more actual text, though.)
An Uncommon Want - a Don Juan fic in which Juan, Byron, and Byron's Narrator trade barbs with each other, and the Narrator has just cause to pinch the bridge of his nose. Not (alas) in verse, but this should not be held against it.
Songs by Ono no Komachi - Heian RPF, which is to say historical fiction, in which an aging Ono no Komachi relates how she gave a very young poet named Ki no Tsurayuki some of her older poems, and a lesson on art and authenticity. Holds up to rereading. That the writer has used (and adapted) my translations of Komachi has NO INFLUENCE on how much I like this one. NONE.
At the Spring - a timeslip story that slides between 21th and 14th century Lithuania (during the Eastern Crusades of the Teutonic Knights) with the beauty and logic of a dream. I know shockingly little about the setting and historical persons involved, and I still loved this one.
Questionable N - One Thousand and One Nights fic about the nature of storytelling and retelling, taking a single scene through many hands and tellers. Nicely meta without being explicit about it.
Lugalbanda and the Anzu Bird (Shhh... it's a secret) - Ancient Near Eastern Mythology. Best. Anzu. Birds. Ever.
Frame Story - Princess Tutu fic set post-series, with Ahiru turned back into a girl by Fakir and relearning how to be a girl, threaded through with the best version of "Twelve Dancing Princesses" I've read.
Set The Wall Between Us As We Go - Garth Nix's Old Kingdom series, set after "Nicholas Sayre and the Creature in the Case." A Lirael story that starts focused on her suddenly sister Sabriel, but then shifts to Nick before ending, alas, too abruptly, but is lovely and unforced until then.
The Tough Guide to Fantasy Cities is the best of the new "updates" (there are three) to The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, this one focusing on contemporary urban fantasy and its variations.
Also, while not quite as memorable as the above, Knight's Move, in which Arthur returns as prophesied, has this absolutely lovely bit:
Also, no one has yet to accuse me of having written anything. I am hurt, deeply hurt I tell you. *cackles*
---L.
I Have to See a Man About a God - a Roaring 20s AU of Greek Mythology, is a short novel and the best story I've read this year. Upperclass twit Apollo teams up with mysterious stranger Dionysus to try and unravel a series of disconnected murders apparently aimed at The Family -- for this has Zeus as a jazz-age gangster. Delicious. There are not enough stories in the world tagged "Hera the mob wife," but this goes some measure toward rectifying this defect. Also, Muses do just wanna have fun.
"The 'Yvain Fragments'" from Lost Romances - fragments of a "lost" sequel to Chrétien de Troyes's Yvain. Needless to say, I am ALL OVER the idea of fragmentary suppliments to medieval romances with plummy mock-scholarly introductions. (I could wish for more actual text, though.)
An Uncommon Want - a Don Juan fic in which Juan, Byron, and Byron's Narrator trade barbs with each other, and the Narrator has just cause to pinch the bridge of his nose. Not (alas) in verse, but this should not be held against it.
Songs by Ono no Komachi - Heian RPF, which is to say historical fiction, in which an aging Ono no Komachi relates how she gave a very young poet named Ki no Tsurayuki some of her older poems, and a lesson on art and authenticity. Holds up to rereading. That the writer has used (and adapted) my translations of Komachi has NO INFLUENCE on how much I like this one. NONE.
At the Spring - a timeslip story that slides between 21th and 14th century Lithuania (during the Eastern Crusades of the Teutonic Knights) with the beauty and logic of a dream. I know shockingly little about the setting and historical persons involved, and I still loved this one.
Questionable N - One Thousand and One Nights fic about the nature of storytelling and retelling, taking a single scene through many hands and tellers. Nicely meta without being explicit about it.
Lugalbanda and the Anzu Bird (Shhh... it's a secret) - Ancient Near Eastern Mythology. Best. Anzu. Birds. Ever.
Frame Story - Princess Tutu fic set post-series, with Ahiru turned back into a girl by Fakir and relearning how to be a girl, threaded through with the best version of "Twelve Dancing Princesses" I've read.
Set The Wall Between Us As We Go - Garth Nix's Old Kingdom series, set after "Nicholas Sayre and the Creature in the Case." A Lirael story that starts focused on her suddenly sister Sabriel, but then shifts to Nick before ending, alas, too abruptly, but is lovely and unforced until then.
The Tough Guide to Fantasy Cities is the best of the new "updates" (there are three) to The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, this one focusing on contemporary urban fantasy and its variations.
Also, while not quite as memorable as the above, Knight's Move, in which Arthur returns as prophesied, has this absolutely lovely bit:
“Bros before hos,” says Lancelot, thoughtfully. He looks older; a reincarnate who lived a blissfully ignorant youth before the memory or delusions of Lancelot du Lac almost broke his mind. “We should’ve had a saying like that.”Yes. Yes, we did.
“We did,” says Arthur. His tone is mild. It is easy to be magnanimous when Camelot is dust. Breathe in, breathe out, perhaps the stones of Camelot are still floating in the air. “We called it chivalry.”
Also, no one has yet to accuse me of having written anything. I am hurt, deeply hurt I tell you. *cackles*
---L.
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no subject
Date: 27 December 2011 05:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 28 December 2011 03:53 am (UTC)---L.
tough guide to fantasy cities
Date: 27 December 2011 08:05 pm (UTC)Loved that!
Re: tough guide to fantasy cities
Date: 28 December 2011 03:52 am (UTC)---Ll.
no subject
Date: 29 December 2011 06:10 pm (UTC)"Goggles: They do nothing. However, they look cool."
*snerk*