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Roundup post of my recs for the month of December! Yuletide happened this month so there's a wide variety :D I'm not done going through the yuletide archive yet, too many other things to do in my life, so my January post will inevitably have some yuletide recs too.
defenders of the peak, by tshirt
➤ svsss post-canon bingqiu fic
➤ lbh realises that sqq needs more enrichment in his life. he needs to be able to go back to qing jing
➤ therefore lbh needs to make it possible for lbh to be allowed back at cang qiong again!
➤ he goes about this in the most luo binghe way possible
➤ as always, tshirt's sense of comic timing in this fic is PERFECT omg
➤ I love it
➤ 1k words in length
A Drop in the Drying Sea, by tuesday
➤ svsss moshang fic about the journey of developing trust that Mobei-Jun goes on
➤ I love mbj's pov in this, the way he thinks about sqh and what his priorities are!
➤ cute!!!!
➤ 3k words in length
Fight or Flight, by acernor
➤ an svsss liushen au where lqg is an injured gyrfalcon yao who sqq wants to help
➤ it's both so sweet and so fun! lqg's pov with his total mistrust of the human cultivator, slowly evolving over time to becoming willing to let sqq help, is great
➤ and how clear it is that sqq finds lqg both fascinating as a creature of the world of pidw, and very handsome as a man
➤ the parts with the wing repair were soooo good to me, I love how seriously this fic takes the bird and feather details!
➤ a delightful fic from start to finish
➤ 12k words in length
Money, Time, Patience, Love, by eggfish
➤ TGCF fic about the era after xianle falls to yong'an, when Jian Lan finds work in a brothel
➤ Jian Lan's perspective on her developing relationship with Feng Xin
➤ I love the sharpness, the awkwardness, the quiet ground-down miseries - and yet the grasping onto what hope and beauty and love that can be found in the midst of it all
➤ Jian Lan and Feng Xin are doing their best! I'm emotions
➤ and I love the gentle femdom that Jian Lan leans into when Feng Xin's women issues make it challenging for them to have sex <3
➤ 5k words in length
What Springs from Warmth and Feeding, by breathlessadoration
➤ tgcf hualian post-canon fic
➤ god this is cute, they're so CUTE!!!
➤ hua cheng and xie lian happy and comfortable together, having fun teasing and playing a drinking game
➤ the vibes are sooooo good I'm so charmed!
➤ 2k words in length
you get what you give, by verity
➤ an mdzs wangxian modern au set during the early days of the pandemic in 2020, with flashbacks to 2003
➤ this fic is everything to me. it's just. so beautiful & good? grounded and present to its settings, seeing its characters with open-eyed affection, funny and heartbreakingly painful-hopeful and so, so gentle
➤ I love how the fic is about many relationships at once - wwx & the wens, wwx & jiang cheng, wwx & whatever he had going on with nhs back in the day, and of course, of course, wangxian. and all of these are vital relationships in wwx's life; all of them make him who he is
➤ a "straight boy wei ying" type fic; I love how compassionately wwx is viewed as he goes through his years-long process of realisation. the fic is never mean-spirited about wwx's lack of self-knowledge. he had a lot going on & was doing his best!
➤ I've read this fic at least 3 times and it hits just right every time
➤ 25k words
for nought / except for love's sake only, by verity
➤ modern au f/f mdzs wangxian fic
➤ lwj and wwx are academic colleagues; lwj comes to wwx for help dealing with a minor curse
➤ I love the glimpses into their broader world, the way cultivation is a part of modern life, the dynamics lwj has with her family, etc
➤ the way lwj being a poet affects the prose of the piece, and her point of view!
➤ and the dynamics between lwj and wwx are soooo good <3
➤ 1.7k words in length
Improving Fortinbras, by a_t_rain
➤ post-canon fanfic of shakespeare's Hamlet
➤ from Horatio's pov as he considers how best to mould the new young king Fortinbras in useful directions
➤ I love the evolution of Horatio's thoughts over the course of the fic, and the brief glimpses we get of Fortinbras
➤ love the integration of various minor characters and OC's, to good effect!
➤ 9k words in length
As a stranger give him welcome, by morethanfantasy
➜ yuletide fic - for Hamlet
➜ taking an interpretation that Horatio and Hamlet barely knew each other before the start of the play, and running with it from Horatio's pov
➜ I love the way this interpretation shapes the story!
➜ And Horatio's pov is so good. the way he feels helplessly drawn into the mess by Hamlet's charisma, never sure what he can do or what he should do, but unable to make himself step back and leave Hamlet alone
➜ because Hamlet IS so charismatic, and so visibly struggling at the same time! and there's so much depth there that Horatio simply cannot have the context to understand, but he wants to, he wants to be there for Hamlet
➜ but in the end, of course, all he can do is tell everyone what happened.
➜ I'm so emotions!!!!
➜ 9k words
1 fic rec each for:
the hero saves the beauty, by Nemainofthewater
➜ pre-canon Nirvana in Fire fanfic
➜ outside pov about Lin Chen being his bestworst self at unsuspecting people
➜ it's so funny. I love Lin Chen.
➜ 2k words in length
Beneath These Sparks and Stars, by Shadaras
➜ yuletide fic - for The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water
➜ post-canon, Lau Fung Cheung runs into Tet Sang and Guet Imm at a festival
➜ lovely voice and povs! I really enjoyed this glimpse into their lives after what happens in canon
➜ 1k words in length
"God Damned Them All"? Documenting the Loss of the Privateer Antelope, by machiavellijr
➜ yuletide fic - for the song Barrett's Privateers
➜ omg it's an outside pov of the events of the song, told through the medium of correspondence and other written records in relation to the ship the Antelope. and it's SO GOOD
➜ I love the way all these letters build up such a picture of what happened! and there are so many fun details
➜ 2k words in length
hear the wrong and see the right, by etben
➜ yuletide fic - for Mairelon the Magician
➜ set mid-canon, a conversation between Mairelon and his mother about the realities of Kim being out in society and the male attention she'll attract
➜ Mairelon's oblivious focus on Kim's magical education and inability to follow where his mother is going with this line of questioning is so fun and so him
➜ what a cute and fun fic!
➜ 1k words in length
If our two loves be one, by phoenixflight
➜ yuletide fic - for the Lord Peter Wimsey books
➜ Harriet's POV on v-shaped polyamory negotiations, Harriet/Peter and Peter/Bunter
➜ the voice is so well done, of Harriet's whole pov but also every line of Peter's dialogue is dripping with the exact right kind of piffle he likes to talk, with all the casual references and so forth
➜ and the way they work out the relationship dynamics between the three of them, what is and isn't said, and what each of them is looking for, feels so right too!
➜ 10k words in length
Processing Time, by Toft
➜ yuletide fic - for Fandom For Robots
➜ Computron and bjornruffian work on their next collab, and Computron revisits memories of his creator
➜ and hello I had SO many sad robot feels and robot friendship feels! shrieking with delight
➜ 2k words in length
The First Morning, by genarti
➜ yuletide fic, for A Little Princess
➜ Becky's pov on the day after all the climactic reveals, when she gets to leave Miss Minchin's and go join Sara next door
➜ this does such a good job of capturing the tone of the book, the magic and wonder and the depths of emotions, and the kind of relationship Sara and Becky have
➜ these two young edwardian-era girls doing their best to navigate what they can be to each other within the bounds of societal understandings of power differentials, and their own internalized senses of such things.....I'm so emotions!!
➜ 3k words in length
Jeeves and the Birdcatcher's Costume, by WyvernQuill
➜ yuletide fic, for Jeeves & Wooster
➜ in which Jeeves and Wooster separately attend a masquerade ball, each in costume
➜ hidden identity shenanigans are such fun and this one is great!
➜ I love how much Wooster loves getting to interact with Jeeves without Jeeves's feudal spirit getting in the way
➜ and the vision of Jeeves at a party flirting with a flighty young master of unknown identity.....so good
➜ 11k words in length
Katharina Stellans, by yvain
➜ a yuletide fic, for Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
➜ About the tudor-era magician Martin Pale and his relationship with his tutor, Catherine of Winchester, from the golden age of magic
➜ gosh wow I am just -- so blown away by this?! it feels like it fits so perfectly into the interstices of canon. The undeniable weight of reality that the whole piece has, even as it is shot through with shards of the numinous....the characters all being people who are difficult, and real, and not altogether pleasant, but you love them for how real they are.
➜ Pale and Catherine are so different from each other, yet so connected, and though we get to hear much of Pale's life, Catherine remains as mysterious to us as she is to Pale. And yet we know her from who she is.
➜ idk, idk, I'm not sure how to explain this better! I just....really recommend reading this fic. it is so satisfying.
➜ 16k words
3 SVSSS fic recs
defenders of the peak, by tshirt
➤ svsss post-canon bingqiu fic
➤ lbh realises that sqq needs more enrichment in his life. he needs to be able to go back to qing jing
➤ therefore lbh needs to make it possible for lbh to be allowed back at cang qiong again!
➤ he goes about this in the most luo binghe way possible
➤ as always, tshirt's sense of comic timing in this fic is PERFECT omg
➤ I love it
➤ 1k words in length
A Drop in the Drying Sea, by tuesday
➤ svsss moshang fic about the journey of developing trust that Mobei-Jun goes on
➤ I love mbj's pov in this, the way he thinks about sqh and what his priorities are!
➤ cute!!!!
➤ 3k words in length
Fight or Flight, by acernor
➤ an svsss liushen au where lqg is an injured gyrfalcon yao who sqq wants to help
➤ it's both so sweet and so fun! lqg's pov with his total mistrust of the human cultivator, slowly evolving over time to becoming willing to let sqq help, is great
➤ and how clear it is that sqq finds lqg both fascinating as a creature of the world of pidw, and very handsome as a man
➤ the parts with the wing repair were soooo good to me, I love how seriously this fic takes the bird and feather details!
➤ a delightful fic from start to finish
➤ 12k words in length
2 TGCF fic recs
Money, Time, Patience, Love, by eggfish
➤ TGCF fic about the era after xianle falls to yong'an, when Jian Lan finds work in a brothel
➤ Jian Lan's perspective on her developing relationship with Feng Xin
➤ I love the sharpness, the awkwardness, the quiet ground-down miseries - and yet the grasping onto what hope and beauty and love that can be found in the midst of it all
➤ Jian Lan and Feng Xin are doing their best! I'm emotions
➤ and I love the gentle femdom that Jian Lan leans into when Feng Xin's women issues make it challenging for them to have sex <3
➤ 5k words in length
What Springs from Warmth and Feeding, by breathlessadoration
➤ tgcf hualian post-canon fic
➤ god this is cute, they're so CUTE!!!
➤ hua cheng and xie lian happy and comfortable together, having fun teasing and playing a drinking game
➤ the vibes are sooooo good I'm so charmed!
➤ 2k words in length
2 MDZS fic recs
you get what you give, by verity
➤ an mdzs wangxian modern au set during the early days of the pandemic in 2020, with flashbacks to 2003
➤ this fic is everything to me. it's just. so beautiful & good? grounded and present to its settings, seeing its characters with open-eyed affection, funny and heartbreakingly painful-hopeful and so, so gentle
➤ I love how the fic is about many relationships at once - wwx & the wens, wwx & jiang cheng, wwx & whatever he had going on with nhs back in the day, and of course, of course, wangxian. and all of these are vital relationships in wwx's life; all of them make him who he is
➤ a "straight boy wei ying" type fic; I love how compassionately wwx is viewed as he goes through his years-long process of realisation. the fic is never mean-spirited about wwx's lack of self-knowledge. he had a lot going on & was doing his best!
➤ I've read this fic at least 3 times and it hits just right every time
➤ 25k words
for nought / except for love's sake only, by verity
➤ modern au f/f mdzs wangxian fic
➤ lwj and wwx are academic colleagues; lwj comes to wwx for help dealing with a minor curse
➤ I love the glimpses into their broader world, the way cultivation is a part of modern life, the dynamics lwj has with her family, etc
➤ the way lwj being a poet affects the prose of the piece, and her point of view!
➤ and the dynamics between lwj and wwx are soooo good <3
➤ 1.7k words in length
2 Hamlet fic recs
Improving Fortinbras, by a_t_rain
➤ post-canon fanfic of shakespeare's Hamlet
➤ from Horatio's pov as he considers how best to mould the new young king Fortinbras in useful directions
➤ I love the evolution of Horatio's thoughts over the course of the fic, and the brief glimpses we get of Fortinbras
➤ love the integration of various minor characters and OC's, to good effect!
➤ 9k words in length
As a stranger give him welcome, by morethanfantasy
➜ yuletide fic - for Hamlet
➜ taking an interpretation that Horatio and Hamlet barely knew each other before the start of the play, and running with it from Horatio's pov
➜ I love the way this interpretation shapes the story!
➜ And Horatio's pov is so good. the way he feels helplessly drawn into the mess by Hamlet's charisma, never sure what he can do or what he should do, but unable to make himself step back and leave Hamlet alone
➜ because Hamlet IS so charismatic, and so visibly struggling at the same time! and there's so much depth there that Horatio simply cannot have the context to understand, but he wants to, he wants to be there for Hamlet
➜ but in the end, of course, all he can do is tell everyone what happened.
➜ I'm so emotions!!!!
➜ 9k words
1 fic rec each for:
Nirvana in Fire
The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water (Zen Cho)
Barrett's Privateers (Stan Rogers)
Mairelon the Magician (Patricia C Wrede)
Lord Peter Wimsey series (Dorothy L Sayers)
Fandom for Robots (Vina Jie-Min Prasad)
A Little Princess (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
Jeeves & Wooster (PG Wodehouse)
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (Susanna Clarke)
the hero saves the beauty, by Nemainofthewater
➜ pre-canon Nirvana in Fire fanfic
➜ outside pov about Lin Chen being his bestworst self at unsuspecting people
➜ it's so funny. I love Lin Chen.
➜ 2k words in length
Beneath These Sparks and Stars, by Shadaras
➜ yuletide fic - for The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water
➜ post-canon, Lau Fung Cheung runs into Tet Sang and Guet Imm at a festival
➜ lovely voice and povs! I really enjoyed this glimpse into their lives after what happens in canon
➜ 1k words in length
"God Damned Them All"? Documenting the Loss of the Privateer Antelope, by machiavellijr
➜ yuletide fic - for the song Barrett's Privateers
➜ omg it's an outside pov of the events of the song, told through the medium of correspondence and other written records in relation to the ship the Antelope. and it's SO GOOD
➜ I love the way all these letters build up such a picture of what happened! and there are so many fun details
➜ 2k words in length
hear the wrong and see the right, by etben
➜ yuletide fic - for Mairelon the Magician
➜ set mid-canon, a conversation between Mairelon and his mother about the realities of Kim being out in society and the male attention she'll attract
➜ Mairelon's oblivious focus on Kim's magical education and inability to follow where his mother is going with this line of questioning is so fun and so him
➜ what a cute and fun fic!
➜ 1k words in length
If our two loves be one, by phoenixflight
➜ yuletide fic - for the Lord Peter Wimsey books
➜ Harriet's POV on v-shaped polyamory negotiations, Harriet/Peter and Peter/Bunter
➜ the voice is so well done, of Harriet's whole pov but also every line of Peter's dialogue is dripping with the exact right kind of piffle he likes to talk, with all the casual references and so forth
➜ and the way they work out the relationship dynamics between the three of them, what is and isn't said, and what each of them is looking for, feels so right too!
➜ 10k words in length
Processing Time, by Toft
➜ yuletide fic - for Fandom For Robots
➜ Computron and bjornruffian work on their next collab, and Computron revisits memories of his creator
➜ and hello I had SO many sad robot feels and robot friendship feels! shrieking with delight
➜ 2k words in length
The First Morning, by genarti
➜ yuletide fic, for A Little Princess
➜ Becky's pov on the day after all the climactic reveals, when she gets to leave Miss Minchin's and go join Sara next door
➜ this does such a good job of capturing the tone of the book, the magic and wonder and the depths of emotions, and the kind of relationship Sara and Becky have
➜ these two young edwardian-era girls doing their best to navigate what they can be to each other within the bounds of societal understandings of power differentials, and their own internalized senses of such things.....I'm so emotions!!
➜ 3k words in length
Jeeves and the Birdcatcher's Costume, by WyvernQuill
➜ yuletide fic, for Jeeves & Wooster
➜ in which Jeeves and Wooster separately attend a masquerade ball, each in costume
➜ hidden identity shenanigans are such fun and this one is great!
➜ I love how much Wooster loves getting to interact with Jeeves without Jeeves's feudal spirit getting in the way
➜ and the vision of Jeeves at a party flirting with a flighty young master of unknown identity.....so good
➜ 11k words in length
Katharina Stellans, by yvain
➜ a yuletide fic, for Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
➜ About the tudor-era magician Martin Pale and his relationship with his tutor, Catherine of Winchester, from the golden age of magic
➜ gosh wow I am just -- so blown away by this?! it feels like it fits so perfectly into the interstices of canon. The undeniable weight of reality that the whole piece has, even as it is shot through with shards of the numinous....the characters all being people who are difficult, and real, and not altogether pleasant, but you love them for how real they are.
➜ Pale and Catherine are so different from each other, yet so connected, and though we get to hear much of Pale's life, Catherine remains as mysterious to us as she is to Pale. And yet we know her from who she is.
➜ idk, idk, I'm not sure how to explain this better! I just....really recommend reading this fic. it is so satisfying.
➜ 16k words
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