Yuletide Recs: Part 1

I read very much on whim, so if I recced one story from a fandom which has two or three or six stories in it, it doesn't mean I didn't like the others, but rather that I haven't read them yet and will come back to them later.

So far, I have been delighted with the following stories:

Don't Need to Know Canon

"The Author of the Acacia Seeds," by Ursula K. Le Guin, is a wonderful story which can be read online. It's a set of academic journal articles on art and literature by animals. Mother Bonesplitter's Children is a Yuletide story about a groundbreaking presentation on Written Hyena. It starts out a bit dense, but gets more conversational quickly and ends up genuinely mind-blowing. It's a wonderful work of original fantasy.

Rest Stop. This story, a gift for me, is actually in Happy Belated Treatmas, which opened on the same day as Yuletide. It's F/F original fiction, an utterly delightful short story about an adrenaline junkie hyperspace test pilot and her beloved AI hyperspace ship. I can't tell you how much I appreciated someone picking up that weird prompt of mine and writing exactly what I wanted but couldn't write myself. The story is archive-locked, so you need to be a member of AO3 to read it.

Knowing canon is nice but not necessary

Dream Shadow. The Sandman - Neil Gaiman. Another gift for me, this delightful story combines dreamlike imagery, wish-fulfillment, and fantasy in the best possible ways. Zillah escaped an abusive marriage but is still emotionally struggling; in the realm of dreams, she has another identity with a mission. I think all you need to know to read this is that Morpheus is the lord and embodiment of dreams: literal dreams, daydreams, and imagination.

Probably Should Know Canon, but Who Knows, You Might Enjoy Anyway.

The Gift of the Healers. Clan of the Cave Bear - Jean Auel. If what you really loved was the first book's characters, cultural worldbuilding, and herb lore, HOO BOY is this story for you. The tone and content is dead-on for the book, it features all my favorite characters, it's full of cool worldbuilding, and the premise is a really clever and unexpected riff on one of my favorite elements in the book. Note: contains some graphic descriptions of injuries and Neanderthal surgery.

Wiseguy

I recently got addicted to this hugely enjoyable 80s show about Vinnie Terranova, an undercover cop with a tendency to get emotionally compromised, and his handlers with whom he has a sometimes prickly but very intense emotional bond, "Lifeguard" (Dan), who is played by an actor who is a real life double amputee, and Frank McPike, played by Jonathan Banks (Mike Ermentrout on Breaking Bad. That's really all you need to know to read these stories, and if you enjoy them, you would probably enjoy the show because the show is just like that. Except for the werewolves in the story that has werewolves.

Champagne Crazy. My wonderful, wonderful gift! Mel drags Vinnie out of the hospital for a fun day of errands, bizarre rants, and increasingly more difficult struggles to not pass out. I think all you need to know is Vinnie got shot while undercover with a manic criminal billionaire played by Kevin Spacey; if you do know the show, wow is the dialogue dead-on. This story is the most delicious blend of dark comedy and hurt-comfort.

Nobody Ever Made You a Monster. This one requires even less canon knowledge, as it's a case that didn't happen in canon. It's also got dead-on and often very funny dialogue, excellent hurt-comfort and angst, and WEREWOLVES.

Paz. So, after season three the network relaunched the show with a new lead. This is an alternate season four with the original characters, angsty and emotional and satisfying.

These Won't Make Sense Unless You Know Canon

convalescent. Benjamin January - Barbara Hambly. It was going on three in the morning when Benjamin January, heart in his throat, answered the banging on the jalousies at the front of his house on the Rue Esplanade to find a constable of the New Orleans City Guards he vaguely recognized—Boechter, he thought—as one of Shaw's men barely supporting said near-six-and-a-half feet of dripping wet, bleeding, unconscious Kaintuck scarecrow. This is everything you've ever wanted out of "Shaw is forced to recover at Ben and Rose's house," and really funny too.

When is a Train Not a Train? Dark Tower - Stephen King. Really cool, eerie, clever story about Blaine the Mono, interweaving all sorts of canon elements in startling and illuminating ways.

A Tomorrow at the End of the World. The Long Walk - Stephen King. A vivid, beautiful, heartbreaking look at Garraty and McVries and a moment of peace within the storm.

If you enjoyed these stories or other, please comment and let the author know!