carbonel

Another exceedingly belated set of recommendations. I hope to have the last one up tomorrow -- or before this year's reveal, at least.

By the way, does anyone know how to do an HTML indent that LJ will recognize without the silly blockquote quotation marks that I get, at least with my particular journal style?

Awakened: A Story of the Sleeping Beauty (4868 words) by

willowbough
Fandom: Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms
Characters: Princess (Fairy Tale)
Summary: The Sleeping Beauty always loves the prince who wakes her. Or does she?

An interesting blending of the fairy tale milieu with the 20th century. A Sleeping Beauty who, if she doesn’t kick ass, does have agency.

Goodnight Room (2825 words) by

Skogkatt
Fandom: Goodnight Moon - Margaret Wise Brown
Characters: Bunny (Goodnight Moon)
Summary: Bunnies ... in ... SPAAAAAAAACE!

I assume anyone who’s familiar with Yuletide has already heard about this one. For the readers who haven’t, this is fascinating, if somewhat bleak, meta.

Here Thy Hands Let Fall the Gather'd Flower (6883 words) by

Cinaed
Fandom: Greek and Roman Mythology
Characters: Dionysus (Greek and Roman Mythology), Hermes, Athena (Greek and Roman Mythology), Artemis (Greek and Roman Mythology), Charon
Summary: Persephone wanted to be one of Artemis’s maidens. Hades wanted to help her avoid Zeus’s unwanted attentions. Needless to say, things didn’t go according to plan.

A story of Persephone where she isn’t the victim.

Rosemary for Remembrance (11174 words) by

Gehayi
Fandom: Shakespeare - Works, Hamlet - Shakespeare
Characters: Ophelia, Hamlet, Claudius, Laertes, Polonius, Fortinbras, Rosencrantz and Guilderstern, Gertrude
Summary: Hamlet in space, starring sensible and heroic Ophelia, genderswapped Claudius, clones Rosencrantz and Guilderstern and alien Fortinbras.

Hamlet retold as a space opera murder mystery, from Ophelia’s point of view. I love this story.

Hymn (4886 words) by

TeaRoses
Fandom: Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
Characters: Serena Joy
Summary: The story of a Wife who hoped that Gilead might be a Paradise. Warning: Contains non-graphic violent death, including of children.

Serena Joy (the Wife) tells her story. Just as it could have happened.

Down the Shore Everything's All Right (3532 words) by

thehoyden
Fandom: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Characters: Steve McGarrett, Danny "Danno" Williams, Kona | Kono Kalakaua (2010), Grace Williams, Rachel Williams
Summary: There's a better than average chance that Danny is getting crazier by association -- and he wouldn't change it for the world (although he could do without the head injuries, thanks).

Enjoyable fluff with good dialog, which is pretty much was Hawaii Five-0 fandom is about.

Hoa (9004 words) by

Waldo
Fandom: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Characters: Steve McGarrett, Danny "Danno" Williams, Grace Williams
Summary: “You’d rather that, for the sake of my sixty-something-year-old parents we keep the definition of ‘my partner’ to mean ‘that guy I work with who periodically tries to kill me with his stunt driving’?” Danny wants to take Steve back to Jersey for Thanksgiving.

More fluff, not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Fish in a Barrel (8973 words) by

Gileonnen
Fandom: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Characters: Finnick Odair, Mags (Hunger Games)
Summary: You've trained your whole life for this moment: The moment when you rise into the arena and cheat the odds. The Sixty-Fifth Hunger Games are about to begin.

Finnick’s games: how it could have happened.

Achilles Heel (9469 words) by

Mithrigil
Fandom: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Characters: Finnick Odair, President Coriolanus Snow, Mags, Caesar Flickerman, Original Characters
Summary: Finnick’s Games. The ones he plays in, the ones he wins, and the ones he’s still a pawn in ever after.

And another way it could have happened, plus the grim aftermath.

Road to Kathmandu (4217 words) by

labellerose
Fandom: Indiana Jones Series
Characters: Indiana Jones - Character, Marion Ravenwood
Summary: Set during Raiders of the Lost Ark, after The Raven burns down-Indy and Marion on their way out of Nepal.
"Since you seem to be confused, Professor, let me remind you that 'partner' is not spelled 'c-o-n-c-u-b-i-n-e'

A “missing scene” that feels canonical.

Jeeves and the Newt of the Fink-Nottles (5261 words) by

earlwyn
Fandom: Jeeves - P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves & Wooster
Characters: Bertram Wooster, Reginald Jeeves, Gussie Fink-Nottle
Summary: Or: Bertie discovers Sherlock Holmes. Featuring a burnt letter, a family secret, a missing Bassett, questionable newt research, too many telegrams, and a few misplaced references.

I’ve never read the actual Jeeves and Wooster stories, but I generally enjoy the pastiches, especially the crossovers. Which this isn’t, but it’s still fun.

Invasion and Inscrutability (1426 words) by

kerrypolka
Fandom: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke
Characters: The Raven King, The gentleman with the thistledown hair
Summary: When the Raven King was six or seven, he was left in a small dark house in Faerie for about a year.

Oh, this one is creepy. And it gives much the same feel as the book.

Light and Darkness Both Together (6437 words) by

sinuous_curve
Fandom: Kushiel's Legacy - Jacqueline Carey
Characters: Imriel de la Courcel, Mavros Shahrizai, OMC
Summary: There was little to be found in the City of Elua that could raise the collective attention of Valerian House. When Bastien heard his fellow adepts murmuring to each other in low voices, heads bowed as they walked quietly through the upper halls of the House, he knew something was happening.

A view of the Night Court from the other side of the bed.

To Choose, and Choose Again (5027 words) by

Aspen
Fandom: Kushiel's Legacy - Jacqueline Carey
Characters: Phedre no Delaunay, Joscelin Verreuil
Summary: A life of peace is not always easy, especially when there are those who would have it otherwise.

Not all the Casselines are resigned to Joscelin’s choice. Some of them wish to persuade him otherwise.

Gardens Are Not Made by Singing (3493 words) by

chaosmanor
Fandom: Law & Order: SVU
Summary: The radical nature of potatoes, compost and John Munch.

A slice of L&O:SVI from John Munch’s acerbic, not to mention cranky, point of view.

A Piece of the Continent (13980 words) by

Epigone,

alreadythere
Fandom: Hainish Cycle - Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness
Characters: Genly Ai
Summary: Where Genly Ai went, after Winter. [Major spoilers for the end of The Left Hand of Darkness.]

The highest praise I can give this is that it reads to me like something that LeGuin might have written. Fascinating worldbuilding and ethnography. Although, like much of LeGuin, I find the ending a bit mysterious. But that might be a flaw in my understanding rather than in the story.

Casualty Report (2189 words) by

Merlin Missy
Fandom: Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Characters: Ralph (Lord of the Flies - William Golding), Jack Merridew, Sam and Eric (Lord of the Flies - William Golding), Roger (Lord of the Flies - William Golding)
Summary: The war had many casualties.

I dislike Lord of the Flies intensely, but this story about PTSD almost made it worthwhile.

Third-Person Present Tense (1741 words) by

AlexElizabeth
Fandom: Lord Peter Wimsey - Dorothy L. Sayers
Characters: Winifred Wimsey, Saint-George (Lord Peter Wimsey), Helen Wimsey, Harriet Vane, Lord Peter Wimsey
Summary: Lady Winifred Wimsey has a habit of narrating her life.

A portrait of a character I’m not sure actually exists, even in fiction, but should.

Peter and the Power of Suggestion (4943 words) by

keswindhover
Fandom: Lord Peter Wimsey - Dorothy L. Sayers
Characters: Harriet Vane, Peter Wimsey, Miss Alexandra Katherine "Kitty" Climpson, Mervyn Bunter, Dowager Duchess Honoria Lucasta of Denver
Summary: For once, Lord Peter Wimsey is at a loss. What on earth can a man buy his wife for Christmas that costs under a guinea? Harriet also has a one guinea budget for Peter's present, but she has had the good sense to ask for assistance from Miss Climpson. (And sometimes the best presents are the ones you make yourself.)

A very nice Wimsey Christmas story.

Harriet and Sergeant (9831 words) by

OnYourMark
Fandom: Lord Peter Wimsey - Dorothy L. Sayers
Characters: Harriet Vane, Peter Wimsey, Mervyn Bunter
Summary: Bunter snaps a photo, Peter gets a cough, and Harriet starts a novel. Somehow, in the middle of it all, Harriet and Bunter come to an understanding.

Harriet and Bunter bond over Peter’s needs during a time when he’s more fragile than usual.

The Cuckoo in the Nest (1009 words) by

ishafel
Fandom: Lymond Chronicles - Dorothy Dunnett
Characters: Sybilla Semple, Khaireddin Crawford
Summary: All their lives, Sybilla loved one of her sons-- one of her children-- more than the other, and set the two of them at each others' throats when it suited her. And now they are grown old, and wise, and almost friends. Richard has sons, and Francis, daughters, and though she loves them all the grandchild Sybilla loves best is not hers at all.

A meditation on Kuzum.

Twice Burned (949 words) by

lispeth
Fandom: Lymond Chronicles
Characters: Francis, Philippa, Sybilla, Jerott, Marthe, Kuzum
Summary: A letter comes to Malta at Christmas. Post-series.

A hopeful post-canon story.

Revels (2167 words) by

Mercurie
Fandom: Lymond Chronicles - Dorothy Dunnett
Characters: Khaireddin (Lymond Chronicles), Francis Crawford, Mikál
Summary: Like father, like son.

Very creepy, and totally canon-based.

The Yellow Dress (10324 words) by

Ione
Fandom: Master and Commander - Patrick O'Brian
Characters: Diana Maturin, Sophie Aubrey, Clarissa Oakes
Summary: Diana is determined to fix Sophie's life . . . including her hatred of sex. Set in the time of The Yellow Admiral

The other side of what was going on during that time. I’m not terribly familiar with that novel, but still found it worthwhile.

Vagaries of Love (4484 words) by

aerye
Fandom: Nero Wolfe - Fandom
Characters: Nero Wolfe, Archie Goodwin
Summary: There's a case that's been troubling Archie.

The voice was right, even though I have trouble believing the premise.

All Doors Lead to Home (1409 words) by

crumblingwalls
Fandom: Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
Characters: Door, Anaesthesia
Summary: It was the first, though not the last, time that she opened a door for the rats.

After the Night’s Bridge, Anesthesia can’t go back to where she came from. But maybe she can go forward.

The Never-Green Tree (8308 words) by

Sophia_Prester
Fandom: Neverwhere – All Media Types
Characters: Door (Neverwhere), Marquis de Carabas, Richard Mayhew
Summary: Two weeks after returning to London Below, Richard Mayhew must once again cross Night's Bridge.

And another story at least partially concerned with the fate of Anesthesia. And of course London Below would have banks. And of course they wouldn’t be quite what one expects.

For Most Interesting Reasons (28210 words) by

lalaietha
Fandom: Kate and Cecelia - Caroline Stevermer & Patricia Wrede
Characters: Original Female Character, Sylvia Schofield, James Tarleton, Thomas Schofield, Kate Schofield, Cecelia Tarleton
Summary: It might have happened like that. Except that the dream of it all drove Cecelia Tarleton to wakefulness as fast as a rifle shot and none of it faded once she was there. At three o'clock in the morning, she sits up, gets up, fumbles in the darkness for a lucifer and a candle, and then returns to the bed to shake her husband awake with no gentleness at all.

I don’t buy several of the events in this story, but it’s nevertheless long and plotty and interesting.

The Parrot Dupatta (18647 words) by

the_alchemist
Fandom: Othello - Shakespeare
Characters: Othello, Desdemona, Iago, Emilia, Cassio

I love this, as much as one can love tragedy. This is a retelling of Othello set in colonial India, and I think it deserves considerably more recognition than it’s seen.

The Royal Wedding of Oz (3007 words) by

biichan
Fandom: Oz - L. Frank Baum
Characters: Dorothy Gale, Ozma, the Wizard of Oz - Character, Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, The Saw Horse, Jack Pumpkinhead, the usual Oz cast of thousands
Summary: In which Ozma celebrates her birthday, unwanted guests refuse to leave, and there is still a happily-ever-after.

People don’t necessary grow old in Oz, but they do grow up eventually.

Lefty Sings The Blues (3818 words) by

masterofmidgets
Fandom: Pancho and Lefty (Song)
Characters: Pancho, Lefty
Summary: A bank robbery, a hide-out, a betrayal. A blues song.

How it could have happened. The song is entirely fictional, says Townes Van Zandt.

Shadows of Desert Birds (4189 words) by

Gehayi
Fandom: Richard II - Shakespeare
Characters: Richard II of England, Henry IV of England, Duke of Aumerle (Richard II), Henry Percy: Earl of Northumberland
Summary: Henry sees a man who has everything he's ever coveted. Aumerle sees a man who's lost everything that matters. Richard sees an opportunity for revenge.

Another retelling of Shakespeare, this one Richard II as set in a corporate boardroom. Not my favorite of those, but there were some blockbuster ones this year.

First 2010 post, A through Fairy, made in a much more timely fashion, here.