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graycardinal ([personal profile] graycardinal) wrote2012-12-25 11:52 am
Entry tags:

Yuletide Incoming!

Written for me:

The Madame Karitska Files (5636 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 5/5
Fandom: Clairvoyant Countess Series - Dorothy Gilman, Ellery Queen (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Madame Marina Karitska, Polonius Faber-Jones, Laurie Faber-Jones, Simon Brimmer, Lieutenant Pruden
Summary: More Tales of Madame Marina Karitska

A pitch-perfect recapturing of the Karitska books' tone and structure, plus a bonus guest star crossover appearance -- also pitch-perfect -- by the inimitable (but usually wrong) Simon Brimmer from EQ.  Which is to say, two prompts elegantly filled at once, and how often does that happen?  Definitely a win for me this Yule season -- and both these being straightforward cozy-mystery fandoms, the story stands pretty well on its own, so that even the un-initiated should find the story accessible.

And a couple of quick early recs:

Velveteen Presents Victory Anna vs. Love (Which Is, After All, A Many-Splendored Thing). (5525 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Velveteen - Seanan McGuire
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Polychrome/Victory Anna
Summary:  And now for something completely different! Join one Science Heroine in her Perilous Quest to find her way to Solid Ground through the power of Science, Steam, and Epona's Own Grace.
If you've followed Seanan McGuire's Velveteen superheroine saga on LJ (especially the very newest material), this supplies a nifty chunk of back story for Victoria "Victory Anna" Cogsworth -- and whoever wrote this has got the Velveteen narrative voice down perfectly.   And strangely enough, because of the way this fits into series continuity, it's actually a decent entry point for folks who have (for some strange reason) not yet encountered the Vel-verse.  Highly, highly recommended; funny and sweet in equal measures.


Submitted For Your Approval (3849 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Muppets - All Media Types, Twilight Zone
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Gonzo the Great, Rod Serling (Twilight Zone)
Summary: A freak accident turns Gonzo’s latest stunt into a one-way ticket into the unknown.

Like my own gift story, this one accomplishes the uncommon feat of meeting two of the recipient's prompts in one swell foop.   Except when you're crossing the Muppets and the Twilight Zone, the results are both absolutely and spectacularly cracktastic and -- at the same time -- eerie and troubling and scarily plausible.  Which is to say, the author has the tone of both fandoms down flat, and that in itself makes the crossover work amazingly well.  I predict this to be one of the breakout hits of the year.