Unthinkable Wings

May I point out a rather enjoyable Cabin Pressure apocalypse fic: The End of the World, via Tesco or, as the summary puts it, "Douz II - this time there's zombies."

Quite a lot of gore and angst, but it does feel like what would happen if MJN Air found itself in the midst of a zombie outbreak...

So, I have some Yuletide recs! (I should perhaps explain for those who don't know - since someone asked me about it - that Yuletide is an annual exchange of fics for small fandoms, which is initially anonymous, though the authors will be revealed in, I think, about a week's time. I participated this year.*)


In no particular order, other than by fandom:

The Tough Guide to Yuletide. I wouldn't read this if you've never participated in Yuletide. If you have, though, you will probably enjoy it. You don't have to have read the source it's referencing, Diane Wynne Jones' "Tough Guide to Fantasyland", although it's very funny, so if you read fantasy at all you should read it.

How Luther Laughed at the Devil. This is Hamlet/ Faust crossover, set pre-canon for both, and very funny.

The Wine Dark Sea. Tintin - Captain Haddock just pre-canon. A dark and angsty fic dealing with alcoholism and (internalised) homophobia.

Daughters Like These. Anne of Green Gables - Una Meredith and six significant relationships with women, during and post-canon. Could be read as gen or femslashy (without contradicting canon); a lovely, delicate, sad but hopeful fic.

Bagthorpes v Zombies. Does exactly what it says on the tin. Great fun, and I would dearly like to read a sequel.

A Mouse Gnawing in her chest (The Blue Castle). Gives Cissy Gay, who we only meet in canon after her fate is pretty much sealed, a voice and a story. Not a happy fic (though not overwrought, quite the reverse), but a satisfying one.

Morning, Die Rosen. (Chalet School). Jack Maynard, before his marriage, writing to his sister - and getting distracted. Nice little vignette/ character study.

China in Your Hand (Discworld- Tiffany Aching books). What Granny Aching really thought of the shepherdess - very sweet.

The Yvain Fragments from Lost Romances. A fragment of the lost sequel to Chretien's Yvain (don't worry, it's in translation...)

Role Model. Wimseyverse, St George-centric. Three generations of the Wimsey family. This would have benefitted from better Brit-picking (though the issues are all quite minor and linguistic), and I'm not sure Jerry thinks of himself as 'St George', but it's still a very good character study. Deals with PTSD.

Oaks in the Coppice. Also Jerry-centric - in which Jerry is in love with Hilary, and she doesn't want to get married. Not quite sure about the ending here, but there's some good character stuff all the same.

The Life That Is Waiting - DS9 - Kassidy post canon, rebuilding her life. This is a great exploration of Kassidy's situation and her attitudes to the station, the Prophets, and Bajor.

Collaborators Odo-centric, but with a big role for Quark and one for Dukat. How Odo ended up acquiring a permanent job in station security.

Immortal. Jadzia's path through selection in the Initiate Programme. A lovely character study of Jadzia before Dax - and I must say, I found it had resonances with all kinds of vocational discernment....

* Two fics in the main collection, one ficlet in the Yuletide Madness collection. Again, if anyone guesses one correctly, I will write them a ficlet).

Via comments on toft's journal, I found The Blest Surprize, by afrai. A very haunting, touching story, set during Arabella's imprisonment in Faery, with a clever twist that I failed to see coming (though there was a strong indication I missed...).

Another fic rec, this time for Discworld (it's from Yuletide, but I completely missed it): a plotty novella length police procedural, in which a Black Ribboner goes rogue and goes missing, and Reg Shoe and Visit-the-Ungodly fight crime, and to cap it all, the Patrician is concerned about threats to the Undertaking. I'm picky about Discworld fic, but this really does feel like a missing Pratchett story.

The Case of the Vanishing Vampire.

I'm trying to avoid reccing ones that I've seen all over the place, so:

My favourite film this year was Winter's Bone, and And Spring is Coming Soon is a beautiful sequel: Ree/ Gail femslash, not ducking the bleakness of canon, but with some believable hope.

I've always loved Swallows and Amazons, and We Climbed the Matterhorn is a smashing look at Molly Blackett's life, before and after canon.

Yuletide always produces a sprinkling of Wimsey fic; my favourite of what I've read was the fluffy but amusing Peter and the Power of Suggestion, in which Harriet and Peter struggle with gift-buying on a budget, and there is bonus Miss Climpson.

Nor Custom Stale almost made me sorry for Olive Stirling (LM Montgomery, The Blue Castle - a very underrated work).

The Lai of Bisclavret's Wife is a marvellous take on it, with a wonderfully drawn female protagonist. Also, it has an anchoress being awesome.

I have trouble believing that 'sociology RPF' constitutes a fandom, especially when one of the protagonists is Foucault and not actually a sociologist, but I don't actually give a damn, as Many Forms of Resistance, in which a zombie apocalypse hits a critical theory conference, is hilarious.

Offerings to History (Vorkosiverse) shows Duv dealing with his own past, his choice of profession(s) and the alarming experience of getting up close and personal with recent Barrayan history. His reaction to the Vorkosigan attics is a particular highlight.

Finally, Mother Tongue adds a few glimpses of mothers in Beowulf. Fascinating stuff, and there's a very good imitation of the style of Heaney's translation.

I have had a somewhat annoying day and am feeling grouchy and fed up - but instead of me dwelling on that, have a link to a very amusing missing scene from The Lodger by calapine, which is definitely what happened.

Of course, you may well have read it already, but if not, go forth and read it.

I urge you to drop whatever you're doing, and read lareinenoire's Tenth Doctor and Martha fic, The Kynges Game; also available at AO3. In which the Doctor asks himself, why are there zombies wandering about London in 1529, and what has it got to do with the Royal Divorce? Featuring Anne Boleyn, Wolsey, and Thomas More being awesome.

Erudite and witty - highly recommended.

On another note entirely, Chaletian has written another hilarious slice-of-Enterprise-life gen fic (which is also, in its way Bechdel test meta-fic. But funny, truthful meta-fic).

Raise More Hell and Fewer Dahlias. Go forth and read!

Once again, something that you wouldn't think could work, yet does: a Discworld/ Silmarillion cross-over, in which Sam Vimes applies his brand of policing to the matter of the Silmarils.

Evidence, by Camwyn.

I know it sounds ridiculous, but it's really rather good.

I will post something that's not to do with the church, my thesis, or Star Trek.

Today is not that day, so I shall point you to chaletian's amusing series of gen vignettes of life on the Enterprise.

I particularly like the betting pool story; it's got a certain Navy Lark touch....

Oh no. Now I'm mentally trying to combine Star Trek and the Navy Lark.