netgirl_y2k

The femmeremix author reveals were last night, hurrah, and the remix of my fic is:

Her Father's Daughter (Visited on the Son Remix) by originally

and it's awesome to me on three levels.

1. It's a remix of Abu el Banat, which is my Oberyn character study, and, I think, one of my best fics in asoiaf fandom. And you know how sometimes you get remixes that are perfectly lovely but it's a fandom you're no longer in, or of a fic you don't necessarily want to call attention to. So it was lovely that this was the fic my remixer chose.

2. It's a really good remix, with a lot of reflections and refractions of my fic, which were delightful to me as the original author.

3. It's also a brilliant stand alone fic. Instead of Oberyn, the focus is on Sarella Sand, and if you don't think you need a character study about a woman crossdressing to become a philosopher priest in your life then I just don't know what to say to you.

Basically, it's awesome and you should all read it.

I was assigned pendrecarc to remix, and this was very exciting to me because they are the author of Code Indigo which is one of my very favourite Person of Interest fics ever, an AU where it was Shaw who Finch met first, and I wasted ages failing to remix that. It took me an embarrassingly long time to realise that the reason I wasn't getting anywhere was that I love that fic so much that I didn't want to change anything about it. So I changed tack and remixed Electric, a circa S2 character study about Root's childhood and the origins of the taser as her weapon of choice.

Like, I don't know how other people approach a remix, but my approach is to try and work out what I think the fic is about at its most basic level and then try to figure out how I would write a fic from those basic building blocks. This, by the way, was why I couldn't remix Code Indigo because if I was going to write an AU where Finch had met Shaw first I would have tried to write Code Indigo. To me, I though that at it's most basic level Electric was a fic about Root's relationship with the physical world, and post season 5 the most bittersweet thing about that is that Root no longer has a relationship to the physical world. There was a careful what you wish for thing that appealed to me.

What I ended up writing was a four things fic that spanned Root's childhood to the end of the show, and because I took the female character remix thing a bit literally I tried to hit all the important female relationships in Root's life (Hanna, her mom, Shaw, the Machine.)

Sing The Body (Electric Remix) (Person of Interest)
"What the hell kind of leet speak name is Root?"

The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins
Dark Places - Gillian Flynn
Three Weeks with Lady X - Eloisa James
Under the Banner of Heaven - Jon Krakauer
Last First Snow - Max Gladstone

The Girl on the Train is being held up by all and sundry as the next Gone Girl, and it's easy to see where the comparison comes from, with the revolving POVs and unlikable female characters. I certainly had a similar reading experience with both books, where I wolfed them down in a sitting or two without ever being sure if I was enjoying them.

The thing I thought that was really well done aboutThe Girl on the Train though, were the scenes where Rachel's drunk, which were cringey and hard to read in the exact way that remembering being that drunk is. I was less impressed with the thing that pushed her from being a drinker into a drunk (I was a bit haunted by the bit where Rachel talks about how easy it is to go from one to the other; there but for the grace of god and all that...) was her infertility. I do lack a bit of natural sympathy for that trope, nevertheless I think it is overdone in the extreme as a way of motivating female characters. (Hi, last Avengers movie!)

Dark Places was about a woman revisiting the murders of her mother and sisters by her brother during the "satanic panic" of the eighties. I may be less impressed by Gillian Flynn's writing than some, but by God, the woman knows how to write a page turner, and how to rock a plot twist.

Three Weeks with Lady X is a regency romance where the bastard son is endeavoring to woo a society lady in order to make himself respectable and instead falls in love with his interior decorator. It's elevated above the generic by the epistolary sections, which are laugh out loud funny. Will probably read more Eloisa James.

I read Under the Banner of Heaven mostly because I wanted to check out Krakauer's writing/journalism before deciding if I wanted to read his book about campus rape. Sorry, but if you're a dude writing about rape culture, I want a taste of your style and credentials on a subject that's less personally fraught. I read this history of mormon extremism cumulating in the murder of a woman and her baby in horrified fascination, and I probably will read Missoula.

I will rec Max Gladstone's Craft sequence to all and sundry - it's a magic!punk world where the Gods were beaten in a series of wars by craftspeople, who are like a cross between magicians and lawyers, and it's awesome - but Last First Snow was not my favourite installment. I think because even though it's the fourth one published it's the first chronologically, and I didn't know that before I picked it up. Also it's been two years since I read Two Serpents Rise and I'm a bit hazy on the plot details, so I spent a lot of this one going, okay, I know I think Temoc's a dick, but I can't remember why I think he's a dick. I do still recommend the series wholeheartedly, though.

I'm currently failing to be gripped by the first Benjamin January novel, which is a shame because I'm in the market for a new long series that I can dip in and out of, but I'm only about 10% in, so I guess I'll give it another fifty or so pages to grab me before dropping it.

*

I have the cast off my broken ankle, another week off work, and instructions to start trying to walk on it. The unexpected boon of not having a desk job. On the up side, I've had five weeks off work in the height of summer; on the down, it's been the wettest Scottish summer since records began, which, frankly, is saying something, and I have a sneaking suspicion that when I do get back I'm going to find myself scheduled for every awkward, antisocial shift from now until Christmas.

*

While I was laid up I binge watched Person of Interest; four seasons of more than twenty episodes apiece in a little over a month.

At first I kept hitting next episode because it wasn't like I was going anywhere, and a by the numbers procedural was just what my tea and painkiller numbed brain ordered. Around about Season Three I got really into it. I kind of admire the showrunners, who probably could have kept the show on the air for ten years as a fairly unmemorable crime of the week show, committed to the AI God War direction. Even if all it nets them is another half a season to wrap things up, I think it was a bold choice.

I was surprised by how much I came out of it shipping Root/Shaw. It was If-Then-Else that really sold me on it, up until then I'd been going: well, I get what everyone else is seeing, but this isn't the sort of show where I ship people or want to consume fanworks... Er, yeah, right.

Basically, I am having many Root/Shaw and I Love Everyone In This Bar emotions, and I would like to soothe my binge watch battered brain with fic, if anyone has any recs?

Thus far I have enjoyed this apocalypse AU and this Mrs & Mrs Smith AU.

Dead Girl Walking - Christopher Brookmyre
The Unquiet Dead - Ausma Zehanat Khan
Faithful Place - Tana French
Broken Harbor - Tana French

All thrillers this month, for a change of pace.

Dead Girl Walking I was really excited about, because the last Jack Parlabane book came out, like, five years ago, and it's one of my favourite series. It's not Brookmyre's best title; nothing will ever beat Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks in my book.

It wouldn't surprise me if this was the last Jack Parlabane book; the way a lot of characters from previous books made what seemed like a finale farewell appearance, and the way Brookmyre, who's always seemed to be a pretty socially conscious writer, seems to have accepted that in this day and age you can't have your protagonist be a journalist who uses, ahem, extra legal methods and still pretend he's the hero. I do kind of admire writers who know when to retire a series, though.

Anyway, it was good; I enjoyed the central mystery, involving an awesome lesbian rock star, her violinist sort of girfriend, and a sex trafficking ring. But it's probably not the best place to jump into the series, more a fond farewell to some long established characters.

The Unquiet Dead, on the other hand, is the first in a series; actually, I think it's the author's first book. You can sort of tell; the pacing's not great, and the conclusion is ( spoiler )

It's a Canadian set murder mystery where the victim very quickly turns out to be connected to the Bosnian war; and the narrative is split between the investigation and flashbacks to the genocide. The thing that really elevates this book and makes it worth reading is that the author is apparently an international human rights lawyer who was involved in the war crimes trials and really knows her stuff; the chapter headings are taken from the statements of survivors, which adds poignancy to the whole thing.

I'd almost given up on the Dublin Murder Squad books after The Likeness. My problem with that book was the idea of a murder victim who was so the spitting image of an undercover detective that the detective could move in with her housemates for weeks on end without raising any eyebrows completely shattered my suspension of disbelief.

Thankfully the next two books in the series hew a bit closer to reality. Faithful Place is about a twenty year old cold case and a dysfunctional family, and Broken Harbor is about a family massacre and the early days of the recession in Ireland.

As much as I'm enjoying Tana French's patented blend of ambiguous endings and strangely dislikable yet compelling protagonist, I'm taking a break from the thrillers for a while, and I'm halfway through Elizabeth Bear's Karen Memory, which so far contains a steampunk version of the American goldrush, a group of friendly prostitutes, a central f/f relationship, and an evil mind control machine, and I'm absolutely freakin' loving it!

Only four books this month, but February is a short month, plus I fell into an Agent Carter fanfic shaped whole. I couldn't help it... Peggy/Angie is like the friends-to-lovers sprinkled coffee shop AU x spy AU of my heart.

Anyway, here are some recs for fics I have especially enjoyed.

Griffith House Rules by The-Stephanois Five times Angie heard noises coming from Peggy's apartment and the one time she caused them.

take a look at what i found by likebrightness Peggy knocks before she can think better of it. Hopes Angie wakes up before Miss Fry does.

After the Applause by tartanfics Angie doesn't have anyone waiting for her out in the audience. She didn't get to tell Peggy she finally got a part in a show; Peggy wasn't there to tell. She ran lines with Sarah from 4A. There's been not a word from Peggy, nothing, after Angie went to all the trouble of calling up her family and finding Peggy a way out of the city.

The Scheme of Things by QuickYoke Angie manages to cross the pond to England during the last years of the War. But she soon finds that helping with the war effort isn't all that cracked up to be.

wake up where the clouds are far behind me by ProfessorSpork Angie’s lips are half-cocked in a smirk but the eyebrows give her away, lifted in poorly-masked concern. “Still not sure what kinda errand needs doing on the Brooklyn Bridge alone at this hour. You sure you’re done, Pegs?” That’s the question, isn’t it?

Semi-related. I have a blanket permission to podfic statement tucked away somewhere on AO3, which I quite often forget all about until someone takes me up on it.

And reena_jenkins took me up on it and podifcced Living Arrangements.

Now, I don't often listen to podfic of my own stuff all the way through. Not because I don't love that people record it, because I absolutely do, but because as soon as I'm listening to it all I can hear is my weird word choices and awkward sentence structures. But this I listened to all the way through. Twice. Reena's reading is so good that she managed to make me forget I'd written it.

it's that meme where you post 10 fics that have stuck in your brain for whatever reason. So without further ado...

- Love Like a Djelibeybian by gehayi (Discworld; Ptraci/ofc)

Perfect Pratchett-y tone, delightful use of footnotes, and the best thing to come from Pyramids which is far from my favourite Discworld novel.

- Ladies Who Organise by reckonedrightly (Discworld; female!Vetinari)

Genderswap is hit and miss for me. I only like it when it swaps male characters to female (otherwise what's the point?), generally don't care for it when it's one of the juggernaut slash pairings, and am fussy as heck about what characters are swapped. But female!Vetinari's rise to power with the reluctant yet hyper competent aid of Sybil Ramkin. SIGN ME UP.

- Footsteps In The Sand by entanglednow (Doctor Who; Donna Noble, Dalek Caan)

I spent an entire summer comfort reading every variation of "Donna gets her memories back" I could find. And this one, where Donna gets her memories, the Doctor's knowledge, a sort of a TARDIS, and a companion of her own in the form of a demented Dalek, was like nothing else going.

- Before the Morning Watch: One Vision and Five Futures by deastar (Merlin; Morgana/various)

Basically, five different but brilliantly drawn AUs (I love the five things format) containing some of of my biggest squicks, including pregnancy, childbirth, kidfic, and sexual violence; but so well done that despite all these things I still think it's one of the best things I've ever read.

- Pair Dadeni by afterandalasia (Merlin; Morgana/Vivian)

You know that fic that you have in your head? Your perfect fic? Well, somebody wrote mine, and this is it. Two parts Morgana character study/redemption, to one part Morgana lifting the love spell from Vivian, something I'd been longing for for literally years. The fic of my heart.

- all we have of wings by honey_wheeler (A Song of Ice and Fire; Sansa Stark)

Probably the only wing!fic in anywhere in fandom that's ever worked for me. Possibly because there's so many bird metaphors in Sansa's story, or possibly because the idea of Sansa Stark growing wings and just flying away is so appealing.

- Crossing the River by smirnoffmule (A Song of Ice and Fire; Catelyn Stark/Walder Frey)

A fic I almost didn't read because the pairing is just a world of no. But it's not really about that, it's a brilliant Cat fic and a study in what you can do with a well worked canon divergence AU; in this case, what if Walder Frey asked a different price for letting the Starks cross the river.

- Wicked Blood by xylodemon (A Song of Ice and Fire; Rickon Stark)

150 years post canon a Stark tells a story of the villain Rickon Bloodhands. Stories within stories, man, I eat those up with a spoon. Heroes inadvertently becoming villains can so easily veer into character bashing, but when they're done right, I love 'em too.

- Sixteen by quigonejinn (Temeraire; oc)

There's a throwaway line in one of the books, about how the first longwing was harnessed by one of Elizabeth I's handmaidens, and I thought, somebody should write a fic about that, and behold, someone did!

- Second Son by jmtorres (Vorkosigan Saga; Kareen Vorbarra)

This answered a plot hole I hadn't even noticed when I was reading the books; to whit, if all first sons on Barrayar are named after their father's father, why is Gregor called Gregor and not Ezar? I love Kareen here; I love stories about the powerless taking power in whatever small ways they can.

I always seem to do well out of got_exchange and this last round was no exception.

Between the dragon and her wrath by lareinenoire (Rhaella Targaryen, 7700 words)

This was my gift and made me do something undignified, and best described as flappy hands of incoherent glee. It's an AU where Rhaella Targaryen (best known as the unfortunate wife of the Mad King, and the woman who died giving birth to Dany) survives her daughter's birth, and seeks a safe place for her children, and maybe someday revenge.

It contains all the things I like: queens, giving a depth and a character to women who were little more than a name and a footnote in canon, female friendships, fascinating family dynamics, and queens. Yes, I know I said queens twice there; I just really like queens, is all.

If you also like any of these things then I can't recommend it highly enough.

I also recommend:

Rumour Has It by mautadite (Sansa/Margaery; 7600 words)

This a Game of Thrones Hogwarts AU, with femslash! If you don't want to read it after that then I don't know what to say to you, except this: Sam finally gets to be a wizard!

Of Women Flower Of All by rachel2205 (Sansa/Margaery; 3700 words)

This is a historical AU that seamlessly transplants the characters and politics of Westeros into the 15th century. I love it when smart people fandom.

Those of you who are not GoT/ASOIAF people probably stopped reading me long ago might enjoy this fucking amazing Discworld fic where Vetinari is a woman, and also rises to power with the aid of Sybil Ramkin.

Ladies Who Organise by reckonedrightly (female!Havelock Vetinari; 6600 words)

So the femslashex stories went live.

I wrote:

Don't Ask Questions, Don't Ask Directions
Game of Thrones; Shae/Sansa Stark; PG-13; 2187 words

You could take Lady Sansa with you. You could take her away from this terrible place. Somebody should.

I genuinely think the changes to Shae's character, and especially her friendship with Sansa, are the best adaptation the show has made from the books; and this is The One Where Shae Accepts Varys's Bribe, Takes Sansa, and they Both Get the Hell Out of King's Landing. likeadeuce very kindly helped me with the wobbly bits, and any residual wobbliness is entirely down to me.

I received:

Bell, Book and Candle by killalla (Felix Castor; Juliet/Susan)

And not only am I delighted, but I no longer slightly regret not signing up for yuletide, because this is the tiny, in fact non-existent fandom and pairing of my heart. And this is one of those small but perfectly formed fics, with pitch perfect voices.

Other fics I have especially enjoyed:

Stone and Snow by justwolf (A Song of Ice and Fire; Arya/Daenerys)

This is the story of future assassin!Arya being sent to kill Dany and, um, very much not not killing her. But it's also everything I could want Arya and Dany's arcs to be. It's so compelling about the sort of queen Dany might be, with the people of King's Landing resenting her and her dragons, and Arya's journey from being no-one back to being Arya Stark, and how they might come together.

The Kusheline Reel by kmo (Kushiel's Legacy; Melisande/Ysandre)

A missing scene from the first Kushiel book where Melisande dances with Ysandre at her coming-of-age ball. This not only makes a slightly unusual pairing seem self-evident, and makes me fascinated with a version of events where Melisande's schemes involved Ysandre more directly, but it's perfectly in character and hits the tone of the Kushiel books spot-on.

Blessings Brighten by Thursday_Next (Downton Abbey; Sybil/Gwen)

In which Gwen and Sybil run away together at the end of the first series. I always have time for fics about female characters running away from narratives which will only end up treating them poorly, and this was lovely and sweet and gave me so many flashbacks to happier days.

-From time to time I regret my inability to get together with tumblr as a fannish platform, none more so than today for reblogging purposes, because someone made the most fabulous graphic of my Sansa/Myrcella fic.

And not so long ago someone drew fanart of one of my Sansa/Margaery fics, look at them snuggle!

Because I am awkward and crap at talking to people, I often forget how interactive fandom can be, and how cool that is.

-Today I have been thoroughly delighted by this O'Brien/Bashir vid and have been overcome with the desire to re-watch all of DS9, at once.

-I find the A03 statistics page compelling and distressing in equal measure, but it has given rise to a whole host of new memes ( that AO3 stats meme that's been doing the rounds )

Firstly, a fic rec: The Assembly of Ladies; or why there was no masque at the Tournament of Harrenhal by lareinenoire (ASOIAF) A clever, coherent version of the events at Harrenhal told through the eyes of the women who were there.

Seriously, guys, fics like are why I'm glad I'm in this fandom.

Secondly, it's that time of of year when all the shows I usually watch are off the air and I start casting about for other things to occupy me. Oh, and giving the towering piles of unread books in my house serious side-eye. Of the things I have heard good things about I dismissed Hannibal out of hand as being too much for my delicate sensibilities, and I think I'm going to wait until Defiance has a full first series under it's belt and then give it a go. There's also the latest half-series of Warehouse 13, but my irrational dislike of James Marsters meant that I turned off half-way through the first episode, and then I heard that later episodes got kind of, uh, intense, so that's on the back burner while I watch Orphan Black.

I'm only on episode five. Luckily, while I picked up a sense of great good will from fandom, I managed to avoid any actual spoilers, which is turning out to the good. But I can already join all right thinking people in declaring myself in love with/awe of Tatiana Maslany. Which, yes, I know is annoying if you haven't seen Orphan Black and have no idea what I'm talking about. Although you should, for it is excellent.

Thirdly, I am very bad at these fannish bingos, I rarely ever get so far as posting my square here, let along trying for some fills. But I was properly tempted by ladiesbingo, lots of the possible squares looked cool, and it's not like I wouldn't be writing fills about women anyway. I am trying, and failing, largely, not to look at this as a giant list of things to write that are not the last wee bit of This is What You Will Wear to the End of the World.

( My square, plus some plot bunny wrangling )

Anyone got any suggestions for the other squares or ideas as to where I should start?

You know how I said I was done being angry about Merlin's treatment of its female characters? Well, that was a lie; three things I will always be angry about: the poll tax, Thatcher's government abolishing free school milk, and the criminal misuse of the Merlin ladies.

On that note, a vid rec:

Red Football by sophinisba (Merlin ladies) Clever, and meta-ish, and angry-making in the best possible way, with the best of all possible song choices.

It is now possible to magic a fic into existence by just really, really wanting it. I know this because of:

Pair Dadeni by afterandalasia (Merlin; Morgana/Vivian; 41k)

It's that fic, which I've been wanting since forever, where Morgana is ultimately the one to break the love spell on Vivian. It's also that fic, which I've also been wanting since forever, where Morgana spends some time in a different kingdom and learns something of the art of self-reflection, where she changes and grows without repenting or seeming out of character.

It's basically the two fics I've most wanted smooshed into one totally awesome fic. Must be my fandom birthday.