Yuletide fic recs

[sarren]

Firstly of course, my own gift, which was freaking awesome and just what I asked for, yay!!!

The Champions (TV) - Fabrications

2309k, Gen, Summary: Tremayne just has a few more questions.

And I also got a lovely little Madness Treat, which makes me so happy!!!

Fyra år till | Four More Years (2010) En route

337k, G (David Holst/Martin Kovac) Summary: Martin wonders why exactly he is driving David to Katrineholm. It's not even as if he'll get any political benefit from it.


As I'm using my Bookmarks more in AO3 I made a point of bookmarking most of the fics that I really liked this year instead of just the top few faves, and ended up with 22 bookmarks, nice. So for a comprehensive rec list, you could just check those. I've put links to a handful of standout ones below, huh, bit surprised they're mostly movies. But there's also recs to Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Roman Holiday, From Eroica With Love, The Servant, Uprooted, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Brideshead Revisited, The Princess Bride, iZombie and Frederica.

I had the feeling that I hadn't read nearly as much this year, but when I looked at my history I've read about 80 fics. I wonder how many I usually read!



In the 'surprise favourite because I don't usually go for the dark reworked childhood fave that wins Yuletide' category'

Sesame Street (TV) - A Necessary Lesson

2,224k, Teen, Alternate Universe - Horror Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse

Summary: Sesame Street has always taught children important lessons about the world they live in, some of them tougher than others, and as the outside world changes so to must the characters.



In the 'gen fic I never knew I wanted' category

Indiana Jones Series - Willie Scott and the Accidental Child Acquisition

4,266k, Gen

Summary: Willie Scott had a plan for her life. And then Short Round walked back through her door.


Clue (1985) - Miss Scarlet Rolls the Dice First

6,174k, Gen

Summary: "The 1950s were good for business. The war in Korea had segued nicely into a cold war, which was her preferred kind." Ms. Scarlet, after.



In the 'I always wanted to know what happened next, and also I sort of ship them' category

Alien vs Predator (2004) - standing sentinel

8,889k, Gen, Alexa & Scar (note: author describes it as a ship fic, but that's wishful thinking tbh)
(Alien Cultural Differences Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence Alternate Ending)

Summary: He gestures towards himself, towards her. Fist against his heart, and a chirp. Partners.


The Fugitive (Movies) - Scenes from an Italian Restaurant

3,446k, Gen, Samuel Gerard & Richard Kimble

Summary: Sam and Richard talk fashion, and other things.



In the 'that Breakfast Club's next day at school everyone always wanted' category

The Breakfast Club (1985) - Freeze Tag

557 words, Gen, canon pairings

Summary: A single note ping-pongs its way throughout Shermer High throughout the course of a single day.



In the 'there can't be too many Yuletide OT3 fics in this super old rare fandom' category

Singin' in the Rain (1952) - He Loves and She Loves

4,618k, Teen, Cosmo Brown/Don Lockwood/Kathy Selden

Summary: Don was helping Kathy make dinner that evening when it burst out. “I’m not sure what you meant about Cosmo. We’ve never been like that, him and me.”

She looked at him for a long time. “Why not?” she asked, finally.



In the 'because I needed to know they were going to be okay' category

Black Mirror - Life in Open Air

5,756k, Gen (Mild Shania/Nanette)

Summary: “All right,” Nanette said. “We pass for your garden variety players right now—just weirdo ones who get their kicks from a serious level of realism. So that means… we need to rack up some XP. Like, now. We need experience and in-game rewards stat.”

“So that means… what, exactly?” Valdack said.

Shania drank the magenta booze directly from the bottle and then wiped her mouth on the back of her hand. “It means we’ve got to go on another fucking adventure.”



In the 'I actually prefer the awesome fic that was overshadowed by the other awesome one that went viral' category

What We Do in the Shadows (2014) - Behind the Shadows

3,461k, Gen

Summary: What's really going on in Wellington? True crime forums, bouncers, neighbors, hotel managers, and Uber drivers alike all weigh in.



In the 'I don't care how perfect and tragic the ending was, give me the fucken fixit already' category

Blackadder - Hinky Dinky Parlay Voo?

2,889k, Explicit (Edmund Blackadder/Kevin Darling)
Reference to offscreen canon Major Character Death

Summary: "You shouldn't have come all this way, Darling" Blackadder had stood up and now he took Kevin’s hand, half overbalancing him, shaking it theatrically and without gentleness. “You really, really shouldn’t have.”



In the 'hell yeah, Deadpool porn!' category

Deadpool (Movieverse) - Vanessa and Wade’s Annual Welcome Back to Life Ho-Down, ft. Cable

1,872k, Explicit (Vanessa Carlysle/Nathan Summers/Wade Wilson)

Summary: “Wade and I have a tradition whenever one of us turns out not to be dead.” She smiles at Cable politely. “Would you like to stay for dinner?”

“And by dinner, she means bare minimum twelve hours of the most animalistic ravaging of each others’ naughty bits that you can see outside Bangkok, big boy. Really putting the freak in fan-freaking-tastic multi-orgasmic cum-marathon.”

“So what do you say?”

Cable grinds his jaw for a second, but honestly, who would pass up these A-listers?

“Why the hell not?”

Comments

[liadt]

Coo 80! Maybe the fics are shorter this year?

[sarren]

Well some of them are Madness fics, so don't take long at all! But also I don't read Yuletide fics over 10k during my 'Yuletide reading period'. I like to read in lots of fandoms and long fics take too much time - I generally make a mental note to come back to them later (and then forget to). If I'm super keen I'll skim some to see if I want to bookmark and come back to. I actually did that with a 30k HG Wells War of the Worlds world building fic this year.

[liadt]

Ha, yes the long fics do tend to get left to last with me too.

[corvidology]

I feel like I've read less stories this year but then despite my love of small/non-existent fandoms I felt like there were less I knew than usual.

[sarren]

I can never tell in a given year if there's less I know or if it's me not feeling inspired to read in so many fandoms I don't know very well.

Also not sure if Yuletide has gradually skewed from 'super rare and sort of not super rare but only few fics', to 'super rare, some medium ones and then those ones that are only rare at that moment in time and everyone knows they're going to be huge' - like Venom. I don't read Yuletide in those fandoms at all usually, because I know if I get into the fandom I'll just be reading them all at some point anyway.

[corvidology]

I only read in fandoms where I've read the book or watched a substantial amount of the canon so that does cut some things out to start with.

I do think the nature of Yuletide has changed somewhat. There were very few things this year where I hadn't at least heard of the canon.

I only got around to seeing Venom a couple of days ago and knew it wouldn't be a fandom for me but I did try out some of the stories. I'm fannish about a lot of things but they rarely turn into active read/write fandoms for me.

[sarren]

Ha me too, which means my Yuletide reading/knowledge is skewed way more to media fandoms than when it first started, as I don't read as many books as I used to.

There was heaps I hadn't heard of. I know very few foreign language fandoms anymore too, partly because my housemate doesn't do subtitles.

I actually read a few Venom fics when the movie first came out, but am now waiting till I have seen the movie, so as to not spoil myself any further.

[corvidology]

I have friends who are into a lot of rare fandoms hence the "at least heard of the canon." :D

I enjoyed Venom and while I can definitely see what others are shipping it didn't make me want to climb aboard.

I really like Tom Hardy. The last thing I really enjoyed him in was Taboo which was tough viewing in a lot of ways but worth it I think. But then I'm a fan of Happy too which I don't think I could sell to anyone.

[sarren]

I watched Stuart A Life Backwards because he and Benedict Cumberbatch were in it. He was freaking amazing but it was very hard to watch.

I had to google Happy - the one about a blue unicorn on Netflix? I'd give it a go *g*

[corvidology]

It showed on the SyFy channel here.

Erm... do not be misled by the blue unicorn. It stars Chris Meloni and it's based on a graphic novel which is black comedy at its blackest, involving child trafficking and a lot of other stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K60kfc-k-8g

[sarren]

Thank you for the warning, I will approach with caution :)

[przed]

I've been swamped with a sick and now far-too-energetic kid and catching up on house stuff to read much, so recs from people I know and trust are invaluable. The Sesame Street and Singin' in the Rain stories were right up my street. Will graze through your bookmarks!

[sarren]

Hope things are better now, enjoy the awesome fics :)

[stripytights]

Thanks for pointing the way to some great recs, and I am dropping a note of appreciation for your category titles.

[sarren]

Ha, thanks :)

[tinny]

You got your Fyra Ar Till fic! Awesome!!!! (I think I'll give up on the bigger rewrites neery wanted me to make and just post mine soon. (And with soon I mean sometime this month.))

[sarren]

A nice little treat by the same author who wrote the one existing fic on AO3.

Are the rewrites needed though? I know the temptation to post can be pretty overwhelming but if the fic could be better? I'm happy to wait till you have the time and interest to come back to it :)

[tinny]

Well, yes and no.

I already did some rewrites, so it's not like I ignored all of her input. I'm just stuck on the biggest one.

I know the lead-in to the story is a little dry, and the only thing that would help is to come up with an actual Swedish politics joke instead of just meta-talking about it. And I am absolutely definitely too lazy for that/unable to think of one. So I am going to cut out the boring part and solve the problem that way.

I am afraid I am never going to post it if I don't make it easier on myself. I have been pushing this ahead of me for months now, and I feel that it won't get better.

[sarren]

Understood :)

[fred_mouse]

Oh, recs! Thank you. Off to do some reading :)

[sarren]

Enjoy :)