skazka | Yuletide Recs, Round One (Reply)

First off, my Yuletide treat: Tishina, a Ballets Russes RPF fic. I was open to pretty much any period in Nijinsky's life for a setting; my author picked during the beginning of his proper career as a dancer, when his fellow members of the ballet corps still eyed him with some suspicion. They do an amazing job clearing away the patina of sentimentality that tends to accompany depictions of Vaslav while still capturing that as a dancer, he was something exceptional. It's very physical and very grounded.

A Little Goddess is as you'd guess from the title, a Frances Hodgson Burnett fic, but with an awesome resetting -- it takes place in Hellenic Egypt, giving plenty of fuel for the class conflict present in the original work as well as for the heroine's imagination.

Dear Aristotle is the mentioned
Classical Greece and Rome History & Literature RPF fic -- damn that's a long official name -- but basically: ALEXANDER THE GREAT. And Bill and Ted. I am a huge huge sucker for fics showing Hephaestion's POV, and for time travel fics with the people receiving said visitors puzzling over their strange language and garb, and this fic delivers both wonderfully. This was the first fic I read this Yuletide, and it was a wonderful start.

There are two awesome responses to the same Fantastic Four fic requester, Statistical Anomalies and Still We're Not Robots. They're both wonderful. (The first seems to be more from Reed's point of view, the latter from Victor's; they both deal with their brief encounters in their college years at ESU, and both are slashy, which I seriously appreciated. It's really well-handled, realistically awkward in a way that seriously amps up the tragedy of what does and must happen. Both have managed to characterize Reed Richards in a way that doesn't make me completely hate his ass, while still preserving the conflict of personalities.

We Two Boys Together Clinging is a rare gem, and pleases me immensely -- Great Expectations slash, and it's perfect. The author does a fine job of pastiching and carrying the flavor of Dickens' style, even when talking about queer matters (which is a feat) , but keeps it light and tender, without lapsing into stiffness trying to imitate some Period Style. This has been one of my #1 Ships for ages, and I love how affectionate and tender this fic is. (Also yay for historical accuracy re. sex!)

Then this, which I can already tell is going to be a Big Yuletide Thing, and for good reason, it's damned hilarious and amazing: The Big Gay Episode, a Horrible Histories fic in the style of an actual episode dealing with several prominent GLB people from history. It does an amazing job of sticking to the style of the HH series/show, even when the content's a bit risque, and there are actual songs. Not only have they written songs but they've recorded them and have them linked to the fic, and they are marvelous. (My favorite's D'you Know Something, Goethe?)

And the last one for this round is Wrapt In A Woman's Hide, an amazing Richard III fic examining the character of Richard were they a woman. I love the attention to how her disabilities (and given that this is Shakespeare's Richard, they are deformities) would change her prospects and her perception of herself, and how this changes her family interactions.