yuletide yuletide yuletide yay!

[rushthatspeaks]

Firstly, I have to say that the story I got this year is just made of absolute awesome from beginning to end, especially since it turned out to be for the request I was pretty sure I wasn't going to get.

It's The Lady of Ishnain Nemartra, for E.R. Eddison's The Worm Ouroboros.

Somebody wrote me an Ouroboros fic which does not use modern language and dialect! But does use modern spelling! This is pretty much the best of both worlds as far as I am concerned.

And if you care about The Worm Ouroboros, run, do not walk. Mevrian! The impossibility of dealing with change in that universe! It made me cry!

If you haven't read The Worm Ouroboros, you really should; but I think you'd still be able to read this, as the language is slightly less impenetrable than Eddison and the story would I think make Arthurian and fairytale fans happy as well.

I don't know whether this was written by someone I know or not, and the odds are heavy on not, but if it was someone I know, p_zeitgeist, I'm looking at you.

In conclusion, EEEEEE!

Other recs from my first brief pass through:

Black Moon in the Afternoon Sky-- Afterschool Nightmare. Perfect tone. Perfect imagery. Perfect Ichijo, and perfect everybody else. Also, this is pretty much how I secretly hope it will turn out, although I don't know how many other fans of this series feel the same way.

Tea and Biscuits-- Swallows and Amazons. Long, carefully plotted and grounded in history, achingly sad but also very sweet. I didn't know I'd been wanting this story.

Clambering Uphill-- The Lady's Not For Burning. IN. BLANK. VERSE. Which scans. And Jennet tells Thomas he was an insufferable young man. Which he was. I have scansion envy, here.

Land of One Hundred Stories-- Okami. "Trees," Waka said to Amaterasu after relaying the prophecy. "It always seems to be trees which lift the curses throughout Nippon, doesn't it? Personally, I blame you, baby." Amaterasu made a mildly amused noise.

That Which Creates-- P.C. Hodgell's Chronicles of the Kencyrath. Various viewpoints on the rise to power of Torisen Black Lord. It's nice to see more of Tori than the books have so far given, and this is entirely believable, deadly political tangles and all.

Comments

[sovay]

The Lady's Not For Burning. IN. BLANK. VERSE.

YAY.

So am I allowed to ask where yours is?

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

Sure, but I will email, as it is not supposed to be public knowledge till New Year's Day.

There is a vague tradition of people trying to guess which ones were written by people they know, but there are two thousand stories and mine is not in a fandom I recall ever speaking of online and also not in my usual style, so I'd be more than beyond shocked if anyone called it.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

My god, I am dead just seeing the descriptions. I go read now.

[faithhopetricks.livejournal.com]

EDDISON FIC?

//zoooooooooooooooooooooms

[zdenka]

Ourobouros fic? Oooh. Must read. (Must also give you back your copy at some point. Er. *looks guilty*)

[papersky.livejournal.com]

Has Hodgell given permission for fanfic in her universe?

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

I think it has literally never ever come up before; as in, I haven't really looked or anything, because it never occurred to me, but I suspect this of being the only fanfic on her work ever. Unfortunately, I have no idea how one would get in touch with her to ask.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

Upon more thorough checking, I still can't tell. The website that usually lists how writers feel about fanfic doesn't have her listed (probably never has come up), and she doesn't seem to have an internet presence that is detectable through Google, so no personal homepage for reference.

[snarp]

Her email address appears to be on this page. There's also some other fanfic there.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

I can find the address of the guy who runs that site, but not hers.

[snarp]

Ohhh - I thought that robotech@eyrie.org address was hers, but I just googled around a little, and it looks like that's someone who knows her who's forwarding stuff from her to the webmaster. Sorry about that.

[seishonagon.livejournal.com]

Oh wow. I just read the Eddison one. Oh, wow. That's beautiful. Hell of a Christmas gift... wow.

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

They probably heard me squeeing in Denmark when I saw that Eddison fic.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. I cried at the end. Well, actually most of the second half.

[larryhammer]

I don't suppose anyone fic'd A Fish Dinner in Memison this year?

---L.