The last of the presents have been wrapped, the house has been cleaned, and all that's left is for J to do the cooking (which is, at most, setting out meat trays and making dips). I'm waiting on my turn in the shower, so here are a few more Yuletide recs.

Fandom: Secret Garden - Burnett

Brave Blooms
Summary: Winter comes to Misselthwaite Manor and brings changes and choices with it.

This is heart stoppingly lovely, at times aching and sweet and funny. I love Dickon, so steady and solid, shown against Mary and Colin and the way their world will change.

Nest Building
Summary: The Secret Garden has been unlocked for two years. Things are changing at Misselthwaite Manor, but some things remain constant.

This is a lovely, sweet story about Mary and Dickon that made my heart squeeze.

Fandom: Anastasia (1997)

faded from the winter
Summary: There is a girl behind the curtains, sitting curled up on the windowsill, elbow pressed against the glass. Anya and Dimitri, pre-movie.

Lovely, lovely story about Anya and Dimitri meeting as children.

Fandom: Calvin & Hobbes

The Social Contract (Boys and Tigers Remix) (Yuletide Madness)
Summary: Calvin, Hobbes, and various battles lost and won.

Funny, sweet story about tigers and boys.

Fandom: Pitch Black

Hero Worship (Yuletide Madness)

A short, sharp little snapshot of Jack and her fears and the way she worships Riddick.

My first batch of Yuletide recs, now that the server seems to be broken again. I'm off soon to run errands, but I have a lot of reading to do when I get back, so I expect I'll have more to rec later.

Fandom: Baby-Sitters Club - Martin

Abby Stevenson's Theory of Winnertivity
Summary: Abby has a theory about winners--they hate other successful people. Clearly that's why she hates Stacey McGill.

This is the story written for me, and it is absolutely amazing. I love Abby's voice, the list she keeps about Stacey, and the sweetness at the end of the story, when she finally realizes the truth about why Stacey acts the way she does and why Abby herself is so upset. I love it so much and think everyone should read it.

Old Times
Summary: Ten years later, Claudia comes home one snowy Tuesday to find an invitation in the mail.

This is an adorable reunion story which made me smile.

Fandom: Pigeon series - Willems

The Pigeon Wants a Story
Summary: The pigeon is very excited about Yuletide.

This is an adorable story that captures the glee and the stress of Yuletide in a wonderful way.

Fandom: 28 Days Later

I See Us Growing Old, I Watch Us Growing Old
Summary: "There's no fucking way we're spending Christmas in here."

This is an absolutely perfect continuation of the movie, with a Selena voice in particular that is sharp and witty and ever so slightly painful in all the things she's seen in her world.

Fandom: The Girl Who Owned a City - Nelson

parthogenesis
Summary: Glenbard's doctor is learning as fast as she can.

I love this book so much, and I love this fic. The diseases! The child doctor learning how to heal people and what happens when you can't. This world! It's a lovely continuation of the story.

Fandom: Goblin Market - Rossetti

Queer Fruits
Summary: Withered daisies and checked desires.

This is a lovely bit of Lizzie fic with some delicious, twisty language.

The Illusionist
Summary: She thought of Jeanie in her grave,
Who should have been a bride;
But who for joys brides hope to have
Fell sick and died.

Jean is amazing here, determined and head-strong and beautiful, and the plays on magic and illusion and truth were beautiful. The ending just absolutely slayed me.

Fandom: Pushing Daisies

Itty Bitty and the H.O.G.
Summary: Emerson and Olive working together, with bonus Pigby!

You guys, this left me literally clapping my hands with glee at the end of it. Emerson and Olive were absolutely perfectly in character, Pigby was a star, and the story was sweet and hilarious and charming. Hidden Object Games for the win, too!

Mumbly
Summary: Olive Snook finds out. Though "finding out" implies that the finding was passive. Post-series, if we pretend the last couple episodes never happened. Which I sometimes do.

This is the sweetest, loveliest, most charming, adorable, bittersweet, perfectly in character and in tone with the show story I could have ever imagined. It's absolutely lovely and I've already reread it with stars in my eyes. Olive is absolutely, perfectly amazing.

Less Truth, More Lies and Sides of Pies
Summary: Olive Snook comes up with a carefully constructed plan. Or constructs one anyways.

This is a lovely, charming story about Olive coming up with a plan to make the aunts happy. It left me with a smile after I read it.

Fandom: Blood and Chocolate - Klause

Skin
Summary: The line between human and monster is thin and easily crossed.

I am mostly reduced to single words of joy here: Werewolves! Hunters! Bad-ass female hunters! (Okay, that last one obviously isn't a single word, but whatever.) There's a bit of the old werewolf sexism in it, which, though it's been awhile, I also remember from the source material, so that makes sense. (One of the reasons I write werewolf stories is because I hate the sexism so many authors think is inherent in werewolf packs, but that's neither here nor there for this rec.) The original character here is AMAZING and I love Vivian so much, confident and capable. It makes me want to reread the source material and then read this again and again.

Fandom: Princess Bride

A Duplicity of Pirates
Summary: Adventures in piracy, post-movie: The last thing Westley had said to me before he left was, "Fare well, Captain, and remember which side is starboard, and I hope we never see each other again."

Inigo's voice is perfect and I love the fun and adventure of this story.

Fandom: Alien vs. Predator

On the Way Down
Summary: "When I lead my team, I don't ever leave my team."

This story left me breathless and slightly broken. I loved AvP in a way I never expected, and it was all because of Alexa. This story captures that, her strength and the depth of her personality and the way she's changed after facing unspeakable horror and the way she hasn't. It has Mt. Rainier, too, and though I am not a mountain climber, I have been to Rainier and it was -- it was much like this story, dangerous and sharply beautiful and it left me shaken and without breath, watching the full moon rise on it.

Fandom: The Hardy Boys - Nixon

Our Red Sea
Summary: Your father's gone. Don't lose your brother too.

Oh, god, this story. It was lovely, slightly painful and sad, Joe in the aftermath of his father's death, and then the final paragraph broke me open and I almost cried, it was so perfect and the brotherly love so incredible.

I finally cracked the top 25 in commenting with 85 comments. I can't believe I've read that many stories already.

October Road has EVERYTHING. Including Meat Loaf karaoke. How the hell didn't I know about this before? I mean, besides the part where I didn't listen to sister K when she told me about it. I've been watching it with J and we're already almost done, because we can't stop watching it. Well, he's seen it before, but I can't stop watching it.

( Yuletide recs )

No one's guessed the stories I've written for Yuletide, so here are a couple of clues, if you want to guess (or to try again): I wrote five stories, three of them are over 1000 words, two are shorter treats; three are in fandoms I've written before, two are in new fandoms; three are pairing-focused and all three are slash, while one is more about family, and one is about self.

So. Guesses?

( Yuletide Recs )

Fandoms: Cursed, Dead Like Me, Dog Soldiers, Fairy Tales, The Secret Garden, Fray, and Ice Princess.

This round could almost be called The One With All The Humans Who Become Beasts. (Or, you know, yay, werewolves!)

( recs )

The first round of Yuletide recs can be found here.

Fandoms include: Runaways (comic), Robin McKinley - Sunshine, The Princess Bride (movie), The Prestige (movie), Murphy Brown, The Mighty Boosh, and Meg Cabot - The Princess Diaries.

( recommendations below )

I've started with the story written from me, and that fandom, and then moved from the top of the list down. I think I am perhaps making this more work than I need to do, from reading other comments left on the stories; I'm writing far too much on each comment and I'm not reccing them until I've left feedback, but I'm having a great time, it's just very slow going and now I must take a break for awhile and do other things like grocery shop and prepare for work tomorrow. Damn it.

Fandoms recced: Tamora Pierce - Tortall universe (book), 10 Things I Hate About You (movie), 28 Days Later (movie), Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series (book), The Breakfast Club (movie), and Classical Mythology.

Tamora Pierce - Tortall universe

Old Bones and Memories is a story about Raoul of Goldenlake and his memories. It is the story written for me, so of course I knew I'd like it, but this is amazing in ways I can't actually believe. It is perfect, and captures all the things I like best about the books and about Raoul himself: the superstition, the magic, the attention to details, the loyalty to his friends, the dice games, and the character voice. It's really, truly perfect, exactly what I wanted in a Raoul story, and I can't believe it was written for me.

( more recommendations below )