The Tyranny of Socks

I had an excellent yuletide -- I received a lovely story and both of the pieces I wrote were well-received. AND I finally persuaded aceofkittens to take part, so I had someone to chat about the exchange with!

My assignment was The View from the Aventine (3097 words) by Vaznetti
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Falco Series - Lindsey Davis
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Marcus Didius Falco/Helena Justina
Characters: Marcus Didius Falco, Helena Justina
Additional Tags: historical fiction - Freeform, Flavian History
Summary: From all the way up here, you might almost think you could escape Rome. Falco and Helena at two turning-points, at either end of a decade.

I was really pleased by how much feedback this received, because I honestly thought no one but me and my recipient remembered the series! I realised as I reread a lot of the books that although this series has a lot of things that drive me crazy in other historical fiction canons (misuse of "plebeian" and "patrician"! not caring about how Roman nomenclature works!), I really don't care because I'm too fond of the series and the whole setup of the hardboiled private eye who can't actually be a loner because everywhere he goes he runs into his sisters/parents/nieces and nephews/inlaws.

I also wrote a treat: The Place of Birds (2378 words) by Vaznetti
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Earthsea - Ursula K. Le Guin, Piranesi - Susanna Clarke
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Penthe (Earthsea), The House (Piranesi)
Additional Tags: also a lot of birds, Magic, Metamorphosis, Learning to Fly, Crossover, Yuletide Treat
Summary: In the wreckage of the Tombs, Penthe finds her way to the House, and to her own power.

I started about three stories about Penthe, and this was the one which developed legs, despite -- as the recipient pointed out -- the obvious fact that Penthe and The House are a really bad match for each other. And yet I'm quite pleased with how I managed my way through that problem here.

I've been away since the 30th so I still have a lot of stories in the collection to comment on, as well.

I wrote two stories this year, both for canons that are near and dear to my heart.

First was a Lymond Chronicles story set post series:

Turn of Winter (4197 words) by Vaznetti
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Lymond Chronicles - Dorothy Dunnett
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Francis Crawford, Jerott Blyth, Philippa Somerville
Summary:

After the 1565 siege of Malta, Jerott Blyth returns to Scotland.

This story was so hard to write, because I find the canon really intimidating, and the request set me pretty squarely into the middle of it. I'm not sure that I really managed to avoid "optional details are optional" here, but I did try to give a glimpse of Francis, Philippa and Jerott after the events of the series.

Also, the 1560s were not a great decade for Scotland, you know?

Then I wrote a treat for selenak. I knew as soon as I saw the prompt that I wanted to write this story, but I had to get my assignment written first, and that went slowly, so I basically wrote this in about 24 hours, and played incredibly fast and loose with the first five months of 49 BCE. Not that anyone but me cares about that, I suspect. It probably should have historical notes, but when I started to write them it became clear that they would end up longer than the story itself, so if you have any questions, just ask them.

Scenes from something which is certainly not a friendship (3192 words) by Vaznetti
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Classical Greece and Rome History & Literature RPF
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Lesbia | Clodia, Terentia Ciceronis, Livia Drusilla
Summary:

Clodia and Terentia, through the 40s.

At first I assumed that anyone who knows me would know that I'd written this, and then I realized that the only people who I talk to about this sort of thing are my students, and if any of them are doing Yuletide I really don't want to know about it.

Of course, the whole idea of a friendship between Terentia and Clodia is so unlikely -- Clodia did something to attack Terentia during Cicero's exile, and then there's the Pro Caelio, and the story in Plutarch that Terentia goaded Cicero to attack Clodius because she was jealous of Clodia (I think? It's been so long since I read the Plutarch), and Clodia's daughter with Metella had an affair with Dolabella while he was still married to Tullia... But hey, that's part of the fun of writing! I couldn't quite manage to get Julia in, although if the story had continued we would have had Terentia seeing Clodia in Julia, just as Clodia sees Terentia in Livia. Actually, the story might have expanded to include young Marcus, and the younger Clodia (Clodia's niece, the one who was briefly married to Octavian), and Scribonia. And Attica and Agrippa, and Vipsania... and if I ever do write a novel, selenak, it will be all your fault.

In the blank space between the trenches
Doctor Who
Gen, G, River Song, spoilers for 5x13

( In this life, River Song has an office. )

Guys! It's been more than two years since I wrote anything! And I should have sent this off to a beta, but I wasn't sure that I would ever get around to posting it if I took the time to do so.

I wrote this for eid_fic, a community set up to celebrate Eid ul-Fitr, which occurs this weekend, by writing stories about Muslim characters. I am 100% behind the notion that writing is often the best response to a sense of exclusion in fandom, and the challenge gave me the opportunity to write about a character I've wanted to play with for a while. I recommend the community highly; you can find out more about it here.

Title: House of Shadows
Author: Vanzetti (vaznetti)
Fandom: Dorothy Dunnett, Lymond Chronicles
Ratings: PG, gen, c. 350 words.
Notes: The character Marthe is a European woman who converted to Islam. Spoilers for the end of Pawn in Frankincense. Many thanks to cofax7 for beta-reading. All mistakes are my own.

( Lyons. 10th day of Ramadan, 962 A.H. )

I almost forgot I had this icon.

Long long ago, hossgal asked for Bobby (SPN) and Wesley (AtS) in that great crossover meme. And I was thinking about it off and on, and finally came up with this post-AHBL snippet.

( whiff of sulfur )

I had other thoughts, but who knows what they might have been. And oh, how can summer be over already?

Title: The Face of the Crocodile
Author: Vanzetti (vaznetti)
G, SPN/Sandman crossover, Gen or Bob
Sequel to The recovery of a sick man.
Summary: Death fulfills a promise
c. 1000 words

( The rain comes down hard and it's pitch black outside. )

Did I do any of the writing I ought to be doing on stories in progress this weekend? Sadly, not so much. Instead I wrote two and a half post-eps for "Home," of which this is the first.

Title: The recovery of a sick man
by Vanzetti
G, SPN/Sandman (post-ep for Home)
Summary: Mary has no fear of death.
c. 400 words, no beta


( Mary stands still. )

Considering that this is the fourth SPN crossover with Death I've started, and the first I've finished... I don't know what that says about me, actually. And even this is more a way of playing with a few ideas than a story.

The Yuletide names are up, and it's time for the reveal. Here's mine.

Title: My hands remember hers
Author: Vanzetti
Recipient: random_flores, for Yuletide 2006
Fandom: Deadwood
Pairing: Joanie Stubbs/Calamity Jane
R for language, set post S3, but with no real spoilers
Many thanks to rez_lo for beta-reading in the face of my many insecurities. The errors of course are all mine.
Summary: Snow in Deadwood, December 23rd: a house turns inside-out, Joanie decorates and Jane goes for a walk.

( There's some kind of crud in Jane's eyes, sticking them closed... )

On a final yuletide-related note, I want everyone to know how much I love elishavah, because she is awesome beyond the telling of it.

As the yuletide author names are now up I can now claim the story that I wrote, Theseus and Ariadne Try Again, an Indiana Jones story with Nazis and snake goddesses and Marion Ravenwood. There were times, as I wrote, that I worried that the story was too much like canon, and that I was recycling story elements I'd used before here and there, but I'm cautiously pleased with the final result. It was a blast to write, too.

Some of the people who sent me feedback on it are on my friends list -- did any of you guess that it was mine? Or at least consider it a possibility? I have to admit that with so many Yuletide stories I would never be able to make any sort of guess at all.

I received just the kind of story I wanted, as well. Against the company of heaven, by lakester, may well be the only piece of fanfic out there for Julian May's Exiles Saga and Galactic Milieu novels, and it's very good indeed. And all about Marc! You know how you sometimes feel that your Yuletide author has read your mind? That's exactly how I feel about this story. There's a scene between Marc and Jon that's just perfect.

And finally, a single recommendation. The Blest Surprize, by Afrai (bravecows) is a Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell story with a crossover to the Aubrey and Maturin novels. It's a lovely look at Arabella Strange in the kingdom of Lost-hope, and the unexpected solace she finds there. Beautifully written. This is the sort of story Yuletide is all about.

ETA with a big fat "Duh!": I would also like to thank rez_lo and gryphonrhi for early hand-holding and Rhi, again, for last-minute beta reading, and monanotlisa for providing the German dialogue. All mistakes are mine; some of them might have been intentional.

Hrm. Another Alias plotbunny brought on by work. I consider this a bad sign: Greek lyric should not be reminding me of TV shows. Meanwhile, in the story I'm actually writing, I made the mistake of allowing Sark to talk. He's very amusing, but he will not shut up. Bastard.

I did manage to break away and write something for random_hundreds. An XMM/BtVS crossover, as required by this week's challenge. Set pre-series and pre-movies too, and warping canon timelines beyond repair.

( Under the Skin, PG )

That probably makes no sense unless you realize that this week's crossover characters were Wolverine and Tara.