Tis the season... for Yuletide recs!
Dec. 27th, 2023 12:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vaznettiObviously I have not read everything in the collection, but here are some things I have read and enjoyed. Below the cut are recs in: Crusader Kings 3, For All Mankind, Detectorists, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and Casablanca.
Matilda di Canossa Presents: Succession Planning for Dummies (1968 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Crusader Kings 3 (Video Game), 11th Century CE RPF
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Matilde di Canossa | Matilda of Tuscany
Additional Tags: Metafiction, In-Universe Documents, how-to guides, canon typical cannibalism, Canon typical murder, Humor
Summary: It’s always, “dear God in heaven, Matilda, how could you have eaten the pope?” and never “how was eating the pope; did the pope taste good?”
This may have been the first thing I read in the collection other than my own gift, and it remains one of the best things I've read so far. I don't know if you absolutely have to have played CK2 or CK3 to love this, but it perfectly encapsulates the canon: At least some of you are asking: Matilda, do you think you’re smarter than Alexander? To which I say yes I absolutely am; one of us tried to invade India without a secure supply chain and the other methodically slept with half the dukes in the region until they were all besotted enough to swear allegiance willingly. We are not the same.
can't wait for gravity to bring you close to me (5445 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: For All Mankind (TV 2019)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Molly Cobb/Margo Madison
Characters: Molly Cobb, Margo Madison
Additional Tags: Banter, Adventure, POV Alternating, Extreme Competence, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Summary: “I decide who goes up and when, and you, Margo Madison, are going up." Molly and Margo, on the run post-season three. In space.
Apparently the ending of Thelma and Louise reads totally differently when one of you is a rocket scientist and the other is an astronaut. I am 100% behind this ending for Margo and Molly.
And dig for us as we have done (3318 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Detectorists (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Lance Stater & Andy Stone
Characters: Andy Stone (Detectorists), Lance Stater
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Metal detecting, History, Nature, Friendship, the southern English countryside
Summary: “Imagine you did find a Saxon hoard, though,” Lance said. “Or a ship burial. Roman villa, even.” Andy snorted. “Yeah, right. A Roman villa, right here in Danebury.”
This story perfectly captures the show, and the long friendship between Lance and Andy, and the beauty of the countryside and the depth of the past. I'm in awe of it. (NB this one is archive-locked.)
A Winter Wood Warming (9272 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 4/4
Fandom: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Emma Pole/Arabella Strange
Characters: Arabella Strange, Emma Pole, John Segundus, John Childermass, Stephen Black
Additional Tags: Epistolary, You Could Read It As Platonic But Why Would You, Footnotes, (please don't be broken footnotes), fairy nonsense, magical gifts, references to real events, References To Events That Are Real To Me, Domestic Fluff
Summary: All Lady Pole and Arabella Strange want to do is forget their time in Faerie, but a message comes from a certain king... and he has gifts to offer.
This is a rich and delightful post-canon story. The narrative voice is exactly right, and the excerpts from the letters and diaries of Emma and Arabella are perfectly in character. The descriptions of everything -- from furniture to fairies -- are stunning. This reads like canon, and I can't think of higher praise than that. This one is also archive-locked.
The Sentimentalists (9558 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Casablanca (1942)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Victor Laszlo/Ilsa Lund, Rick Blaine/Ilsa Lund, Rick Blaine/Victor Laszlo/Ilsa Lund
Characters: Ilsa Lund, Rick Blaine, Victor Laszlo (Casablanca 1942)
Additional Tags: Post-Canon
Summary: Ilsa threw her arms around him. Rick tried awkwardly to simultaneously return the hug, and gently disengage from it – Laszlo was right there – as Laszlo beamed at him, apparently uncaring.Beamed.
This is a lovely OT3 coda to the film, where they meet up in Lisbon and dance around each other. This time it's Rick who is slightly off-balance the whole time.
As I keep reading, there may be another set of recs.
Matilda di Canossa Presents: Succession Planning for Dummies (1968 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Crusader Kings 3 (Video Game), 11th Century CE RPF
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Matilde di Canossa | Matilda of Tuscany
Additional Tags: Metafiction, In-Universe Documents, how-to guides, canon typical cannibalism, Canon typical murder, Humor
Summary: It’s always, “dear God in heaven, Matilda, how could you have eaten the pope?” and never “how was eating the pope; did the pope taste good?”
This may have been the first thing I read in the collection other than my own gift, and it remains one of the best things I've read so far. I don't know if you absolutely have to have played CK2 or CK3 to love this, but it perfectly encapsulates the canon: At least some of you are asking: Matilda, do you think you’re smarter than Alexander? To which I say yes I absolutely am; one of us tried to invade India without a secure supply chain and the other methodically slept with half the dukes in the region until they were all besotted enough to swear allegiance willingly. We are not the same.
can't wait for gravity to bring you close to me (5445 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: For All Mankind (TV 2019)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Molly Cobb/Margo Madison
Characters: Molly Cobb, Margo Madison
Additional Tags: Banter, Adventure, POV Alternating, Extreme Competence, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Summary: “I decide who goes up and when, and you, Margo Madison, are going up." Molly and Margo, on the run post-season three. In space.
Apparently the ending of Thelma and Louise reads totally differently when one of you is a rocket scientist and the other is an astronaut. I am 100% behind this ending for Margo and Molly.
And dig for us as we have done (3318 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Detectorists (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Lance Stater & Andy Stone
Characters: Andy Stone (Detectorists), Lance Stater
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Metal detecting, History, Nature, Friendship, the southern English countryside
Summary: “Imagine you did find a Saxon hoard, though,” Lance said. “Or a ship burial. Roman villa, even.” Andy snorted. “Yeah, right. A Roman villa, right here in Danebury.”
This story perfectly captures the show, and the long friendship between Lance and Andy, and the beauty of the countryside and the depth of the past. I'm in awe of it. (NB this one is archive-locked.)
A Winter Wood Warming (9272 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 4/4
Fandom: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Emma Pole/Arabella Strange
Characters: Arabella Strange, Emma Pole, John Segundus, John Childermass, Stephen Black
Additional Tags: Epistolary, You Could Read It As Platonic But Why Would You, Footnotes, (please don't be broken footnotes), fairy nonsense, magical gifts, references to real events, References To Events That Are Real To Me, Domestic Fluff
Summary: All Lady Pole and Arabella Strange want to do is forget their time in Faerie, but a message comes from a certain king... and he has gifts to offer.
This is a rich and delightful post-canon story. The narrative voice is exactly right, and the excerpts from the letters and diaries of Emma and Arabella are perfectly in character. The descriptions of everything -- from furniture to fairies -- are stunning. This reads like canon, and I can't think of higher praise than that. This one is also archive-locked.
The Sentimentalists (9558 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Casablanca (1942)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Victor Laszlo/Ilsa Lund, Rick Blaine/Ilsa Lund, Rick Blaine/Victor Laszlo/Ilsa Lund
Characters: Ilsa Lund, Rick Blaine, Victor Laszlo (Casablanca 1942)
Additional Tags: Post-Canon
Summary: Ilsa threw her arms around him. Rick tried awkwardly to simultaneously return the hug, and gently disengage from it – Laszlo was right there – as Laszlo beamed at him, apparently uncaring.Beamed.
This is a lovely OT3 coda to the film, where they meet up in Lisbon and dance around each other. This time it's Rick who is slightly off-balance the whole time.
As I keep reading, there may be another set of recs.
