Yuletide: Thanks & Recs

[graycardinal]

Whoof.

Over 2000 stories in the Yuletide archive, and I've had not nearly enough time to sort through.  My own two contributions have been well-enough received if not among the year's breakout works (not that I was expecting any such result), so all's well on that front.


Now to a collection of recs:

Arthurian Legend - Concerning the Wine which was Spilt....
A straightforward but extremely readable retelling of a part of the original Malory.  The virtue here is in the detail and the insight into Arthur (and Morgan).

Batman:TAS - If Wishing Made It So
This Yuletide's been something of a windfall for Batfen; my favorite, among a number of good stories in several versions of Bat-continuity, is this relatively light tale of a Bat, a Cat, and a Christmas gift.

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century - Canticle
A delicate bit of balance, gentleness and angst.  And Twiki in a Santa hat.

Commercials - What Dreams May Come
The Rozerem beaver and his friends, with some intriguing fourth-wall-breaking twists.  This one's got layers.

Diane Duane, Young Wizards - More Things in Heaven and Earth
It's also been a windfall Yuletide for fans of this series of books, with a number of excellent tales.  This one I find fascinating for being a (thematic) homage to Madeleine L'Engle as well as a look at a little-seen character in the canonical stories

Mary Poppins (movie) - Where the Air Is Clear
Clever, thoughtful extrapolation thirty years ahead, opening as Bert haunts the rooftops of London during the Blitz. 

Relic Hunter - Beloved Disciple
This is the story written especially for me -- and it's a pitch-perfect evocation of the TV series, complete with a Russian relic, a diabolical trap, and a dance way out to the edges of UST.  Better yet, just like the original show, it has the uncanny ability to recognize its own dance with convention and cliche for what it is, and to wink merrily at the audience/readers as it does.  This was a romp of the best kind, and I'm very glad to have received it.

Shakespeare, Twelfth Night - Yule Morning, or Malvolio's Revenge
[glyph of awe]  This one is flat-out amazing; it is -- believe it or not -- the manuscript of a complete play in Shakespearean blank verse (and prose, as appropriate) constituting a sequel to Twelfth Night.  And it works.  The writer here has accomplished a truly astounding feat of craft, and I can't overstate just how astonishingly well the material's rendered. 

Who Framed Roger Rabbit - The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down
This has the look of becoming 2007's signature Yuletide story, with cameos and running gags scattered all across toondom and into Hollywood proper, complete with references to Enchanted and the new Alvin & the Chipmunks movie, not to mention 2005's notorious Yuletide Care Bears fanfic.  I count it the second-niftiest crossover epic of its kind -- not quite the equal of Bugs Bunny vs. the Borg (aka Carrot Juice, Earl Grey. Hot), the now-lost collaborative epic from GEnie's SFRT, but darned close.