0dense | Entries tagged with fic rec

Well, we had a strong feeling it was coming, but my campus has cancelled all in-person classes, and we’re pivoting to online lessons. Not for any direct cases, just as a precaution. I’ll need to update my tech to keep up with the simulcasts.

My office, though, is still working, but we’ll see for just how much longer. When we got in this morning, it was to a message from our supervisor that all events at our facility have been cancelled for the month, so all of today was getting the word out to our speakers and contacts. The question remains for attorney appointments. Most people have already paid ahead of time. We’re working on it. We’ll see.

It’s just -

This morning, on my way in to the city, I saw a large white ship coming in to the bay. This evening, I saw the Grand Princess in the Port of Oakland, a long grey navy ship in front of her and two helicopters overhead.

It was a beautiful sunset, with long clouds like ripples around the setting sun. But downtown SF was too quiet - yes, there were cars and buses and such, but an eerie drop in foot traffic.

And this morning, I saw someone giving purell to her friends. They stood in a little rough accidental arc around her and put their hands out, cupped like for communion.

So no, Professor, I have not finished my paper on AIDS. I am calculating six countries’ prevalences, incidences, and mortalities relative to treatment plans over three decades, and I am also a little distracted. I am working on it.

To counter all of the above, I read an excellent timely fic over the last few days: And What Happened After, by thearrogantemu. 73,740 words of follow-up to canon, as Bilbo, Frodo, and Sam find places in the Undying Lands. I'm a bit wrung to give a full glowing review it deserves, but what really stands out to me is that this is, I think, a story about mercy, as a gift. There's lots more going on, but I really enjoyed that angle. Also, the chapter footnotes are a delight, as is all the wordplay - thearrogantemu absolutely knows their Tolkien and linguistics! Solid recommendation.

Current Mood: :[

First up, I gotta put credit to the Snowflake challenge for basically teaching me how to dreamwidth, last year. I haven't been keeping up as well this time, but the regular prompts and welcoming feedback went a long way towards my initial comfort here :)

This time: Three recs from last year, because I love reccing! For extra fun, here's one medium each ;D

1) songs the equations sing, by AlchemyAlice: novel-length, novel-scale au/sequel to The Man From UNCLE.

“Watch his eyes,” Oleg had said to Illya, before Illya flew to Berlin. His cigarette had hung like a crooked fang from his mouth, the smoke of it cloying in the briefing room, making strange tremulous shadows in the light of the projector. On the screen across from them, the arresting image of a man in an immaculate double-breasted suit, half in shadow, had flickered. “It’s only hearsay at this point, but we know this much: it’ll be almost impossible to tell, but if you watch the eyes, you’ll know it isn’t a he at all.”

Illya had stored that information away, just as he was expected to.

He knows far before he ever gets a glimpse of Napoleon Solo’s eyes, however, that what he is up against—what has beaten him across the Berlin Wall with prize physicist and roboticist Udo Teller’s daughter in tow—isn’t human.

Not at all.

So I keep saying I don't mean to go into AI, but I also I am in the SF bay area and keep studying ethics and epistemology so ‾\_(ツ)_/‾ here I am lmao. And just when I got particularly bogged down last spring, here comes a monster of a story to keep me excited and interested in cognition! This is a beast and I love it. As an AU, it springboards off of canon and develops the basic themes that the movie presented into something huge. The angst is great on everyone and the responding comfort everyone gets? 💯. And the historical / political / technological footnotes? oh you know I'm about that!!! I love this one, if I had bookbinding opportunities I would want to make a hardcopy.

2) Painfully gratefully ourselves, a Terror fanvid by zhestern

Watch on YouTube

In a year where I watched The Terror, Nirvana in Fire, and Chernobyl HBO, I actually think that The Terror might just take the cake for single saddest show. I've compared NiF and Chernobyl before, and I think what sets them as unified vs Terror is that they end with a whisper of hope. Not for their heroes, maybe, but with the idea that, when people come together, they might have a way to make things better. There's a chance that we have that power.
Not in Terror. Even before they knew it, there was no way for them to be rescued, to go home, to survive. That's the excitement and curse of history; the first episode opens with the title card informing us that they will all be lost. We just get to watch how.
And the amazing thing is that the show is still something compelling and even beautiful. Even when they're dying of cold and lead and scurvy and monster and each other, there's still so much of a point made of the kindness everyone shows each other. And it's all worth it. Yes, it says, tomorrow we may die, but today, we will be gentle. First, they live to the best of their abilities, and futility doesn't erase that. Nothing about death makes life less meaningful.
Which leads us to this vid. It would be easy to say that these scenes of camraderie and joy are taken out of context, and so they're less than relevant. Instead, I think they're exactly where they should be allowed to be: each moment holding weight on its own. You can absolutely see the toll that it's taking on them, but even only with a tent over their heads, the officers can celebrate Jopson's promotion. Fitzjames has only just woken up from a swoon, but he can still smile when Crozier comes to him. Crozier can trust Goodsir just as well with a broken nose as ever. And Blanky will never walk again, never tell anyone, but he can still exeult at finding the passage. They have a right to that, I think. And this vid celebrates that resilience, the refusal to let a harsh world reduce them to harsh people. All men must die, but first, they'll live. I love it.

3) Little Rover, a song for Opportunity by The Stupendium

Watch on YouTube

Under the law of filk, I think this counts as a fanwork!
The thing about Oppy is that, to be honest, and I expect like many people, I had ended up taking it for granted. I saw it go up, and then ...for the next 15 years, it just kept beeping back to us. It felt like it would always be there, and I'd find another tweet from Mars and smile because somewhere out there a robot was sharing rocks with us.
Like yeah, I'm not a scientist, I'm not anything to NASA. But Oppy was someone to us, and finding out how many other people were also affected by its end was really something to experience. We don't grieve well, in this day and age. Or even if I'm just speaking to Americans, we're collectively too interested in being tough and moving on and 'getting over it' to pause and spend a sincere moment mourning as a society. We don't usually know how to express that emotion, and it stunts us. So when one of our greatest modern myths closes a chapter, I was so glad we got to catharsize that, and in such a lovely way!

only started to leave the office at 6 today, with an hour and a half commute home before I can write my draft on transphobic epistemic injustice in ostensibly feminist literature for peer review and also study for a final exam tomorrow. And it's Guadalupe mass tomorrow, so maybe I'll be able to reschedule a meeting for next week. We'll be politicking after the holidays one way or another, best to have something to come back to than start from scratch in January.

I won't make it to cantor for mass. But I got a pastry on my way to the bus, so at least there's that.

Here's something to feel good about, though -

Watch on YouTube

And here's some baller fic that've been keeping my spirits up for the killer commute

Single Use Weapon by Fahye. I don't know Kings. I don't go here. That doesn't matter at all. The king is dead, long live the king - but how to make that so?? With: Politics! Fealty! Faith! Plots! Impeccable payoff, very satisfying.
The Dragon-King's Temple by Kryal. So I've mentioned a few times that I love that sg1/star wars crossover. Well there's one for SG1 and ATLA, too! Apparently Kryal hasn't watched stargate firsthand, but you'd never know it. I'm always psyched for exploring the technological and cultural sides of an au, and does it deliver. Or, tl;dr: Toph's Life-Changing Roadtrip With Zuko! (And Aliens??)
If They Haven't Learned Your Name by silentwalrus. So these days, I've got a moratorium on marvel, for whatever reasons. But then once in a blue moon, something'll slip by, and am I glad this one did, because it is hilarious. Another post-WS fic, but a blast. You know What Jasper Sitwell Did Last Summer? It's not as weird as that, but in between the plot and trauma, there's a solid dose of being bonkers fucking Yonkers. To crib from the tags: Llamas, Bucky Barnes Has A Complicated Relationship With UFOs, Thirty Korean Grandmothers, Steve And Sam Vs. Canoe, Natasha Is Taking It Personally.

Current Location: home after what ended up being two hours of commute but with good dinner
Current Music: objects in the rearview mirror may appear closer than they are

In honor of archive being down for a hot sec this week, here's a handful of recs!

Chernobyl:
- Vienna Calling, by Jennytheshipper: AU and fixit: I'm always a sucker for spy stories, so this crossover with Le Carré's works is right up my alley. Also, I know I've pitched myself into a number of awfully sad fandoms, but this gets a happy ending that follows perfectly from the new setup!
The Terror:
- You Are Who You Say You Are, by scioscribe: AU and mild fixit?: Alright, I read this first before watching the series. Is that silly? Ah well! That time, I thought it was good that apparently this character got a chance to be his best self. Hickey, that's an alright guy, then. Buddy, was I wrong in canon! The contrast between this slightly shifty but improving guy and canon cannibal Cornelius is wild. It also well-inclined me towards Goodsir though, and that certainly held. Looking into such diametrically opposed points of view is a blast.
- viaticum, by Askance: heartwrenchingly canon: boi this devastated me. Harry's passing, through Jopson, Little, and Crozier's eyes. Bridgens is the constant at his side, of course. With restraint to more melodrama, I just gotta say that the last ounces of dignity and mercy they all show each other here are agonizingly beautiful.
- Working to Windward, by Gigi_Sinclair: canon compliant alibet with the addition of Little/Jopson: Gibson's take on what he sees fomenting. This poor sad little guy, just what goes on in his head. Principles of class solidarity, apparently, and how on earth to ever look out for each other even when everything else is going out the window. I suppose he's something of a cynic here, but more sad than anything else.
- let the river rush in, not wash away, by Kt_fairy: longer; Fitzier AU/postcanon fixit because we need some happiness here gosh darn: time for a (physically and emotionally) healthy and communicative relationship! Jimmy Fitz gets to address gender norms a bit! A fair dose of period-typical anxiety about it all, but we're in happy endings territory for once.
Lawrence of Arabia:
- After the Storm, by anon: postcanon, finally getting together: Yeah I know who the movie's named after, but Ali is absolutely the one who's grabbed me (I'm about three and a half hours in, it's just so hard to drag myself through all the emotions I know are right around the corner). I just need him to be happy again somehow! and lo!
For old time's sake!
- A Star to Steer By, by Dogmatix and Nocrumi: crossover/blending/AU: yall I've been reading this for about three years and it completed! Star Wars and Stargate isn't the most common crossover, but they've put so much worldbuilding (there's a whole side series) that everything flows together so satisfyingly. I want to go back and tell elementary school me that my two favorite sci fi stories get to share a story like this. For being so long, it's so easy to re- and reread :D
- Men of Legend, by hells_half_acre: crossover of Merlin and Supernatural: I heard hha is updating with a third installment of this series, and came back, and you know what, this holds up. I haven't been in either fandom for aaages, but it's good stuff! I probably even like a few characters more here than in canon; folks show up in good faith and it's so easy to engage with sincerity like that. Part 2 is particularly adorable, and part 3 is still coming out and I'm loving the unselfconscious affection everyone gets to toss back and forth. I think we could all do with more interactions written that way! (hha also did the Demented'verse, and I think I'll probably find myself there again soon)

In far other news, this week I found Hansel and Gretel in the friends of the library bookstore for $1 and it's one of those beautiful ancient Schirmer scores; there's no year on the title page but it has $2.50 on the cover and the copyright dates back to 1895 according to the bottom of the prelude, so I'm ballparking this side of but close to the turn of the 1900s?? The cover is coming off but in one whole unit and the pages are all still bound together, and the only markings are red pencil under Hansel's part, so all considered I think it's in great shape! I'll find some time to sit down and read it properly and find some short pieces to work on, and I have my pick of either Hansel or the Witch :D (I know we live in the internet era and IMSLP is a blessing, but I absolutely couldn't pass it up!)

Current Music: quartet at the ballet - anastasia obc

bursts in did someone say to rec some fanworks oH BOY

Classic Lit (foundational fanworks)

Steve Rogers at 100: Celebrating Captain America on Film: meta-fic by eleveninches febricant, hellotailor, M_Leigh, neenya, tigrrmilk
Freedom's Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Lose: SGA post-canon by synecdochic
Written By The Victors: SGA meta-au by Cesperanza
Ouroboros: SW au series by bedlamsbard
Re-Entry: SW au series by flamethrower

Faves (my preferences)

Cor et Cerebrum: Batfam series by Audreycritter
A Star to Steer By: SWxSG1 crossover by dogmatix, norcumi
the last sentence: Discworld horror by oneinspats
The Hero's Journey; or: What Jasper Sitwell Did Last Summer: Epic Nonsense by pagination
Earth or Bust: The Martian continuation by sirtalen
Eschaton: FFXV fix-it by nirejseki
Four (Or Five) Reasons for Kidnapping Tony Stark by scifigirl47

New Contenders (awesome things I've found most recently)