yuletide theme recs: folklore!

[cimorene]

Well, I'm done with the Yuletide archive, though I still have some other holiday fests to read through of course, so I figured I'd go ahead and start posting recs. I know that some people don't like to comb through the whole thing one fandom (and then one story if they know the fandom) at a time, for reasons of time constraints if nothing else.

I like to post these things in batches of five, so my definition of folklore has expanded to include canons that make a lot of use of folklore.

• The Huli Jing. The Adventures of Master Li and Number Ten Ox - Barry Hughart. Gen casefic: an old friend of Master Li's invites them to a wedding which may or may not involve a fox spirit. I adore Hughart's books, and this story perfectly captures the blend of humor, adventure, folklore, and little plot twists from canon. Leaves you wanting more, as usual!



• Recoil and Grace. The Sandman - Neil Gaiman. Following on the heels of the end of Sandman canon, this story takes a few little details, turns them into an awesome premise, and opens the door to a whole other imaginary novel about Lucifer and Morpheus. The story is more of a prequel to that novel than a sequel in itself, but just tying a collection of loose ends from canon up so neatly into this pairing was no mean feat. Also, the Lucifer point of view and the role played by Delirium are both quite striking.



• The Boy in the Tower. Fairytales: Rapunzel. This is a somewhat wacky original fairytale/sequel. It's based on Rapunzel, but cleverly subverts without contradicting the tale in any way... and works in a touch of humor, a post-modern sensibility, and of course, a gay romance for Rapunzel's son along the way. The protagonists are wonderfully engaging, but the witch is actually quite a surprise too!



• Tea for Two. Eight Days of Luke - Diana Wynne Jones. This is one of my faaaaaavorite books, and this story isn't about David or Luke at all: it's about Astrid having the goddess Sigyn to tea. ♥_♥ I fell a little bit in love with Sigyn during the course of this brief vignette.



• Love-Mocked. Greek and Roman mythology. Eros comes to see his father, Ares, for a bit of advice. This story is only indirectly about one of my favorite folktales, Cupid & Psyche. It's all Ares' point of view, which is a somewhat surprising choice that really works. It also sneak-attacks with a surprisingly poignant reference to the romance of Aphrodite and Ares.

Comments

[copracat]

Love your recs - very, very thrilled to see a Hughart story!

The last rec seems to finish mid-sentence or has a word at the end that is out of place.