yuletide theme recs: gen (not just rated g)

[cimorene]

I am so busy reading holiday fest fics still that I haven't had time to collect a new set of plebefic headers. I'll hopefully have a reservoir again by the time I'm done posting my yuletide recs!

1. Ordinary Chocolate. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005). Charlie and Wonka. Most times, Wonka made candy for the sake of making candy. This time, he made it for Charlie. I had to list this one first, because it was for me! When I requested Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I wasn't really sure whether I preferred canon-like gen, with Charlie a child growing up in the factory, or grown-up Charlie futurefic slash with a master and apprentice vibe. I mushed both requests up together in one and got extraordinarily lucky in that two very talented people wrote me stories, and one happened to answer each request! This story is set quite soon after the canon, and the voices and visuals clearly demonstrate the influence of the Tim Burton movie. Charlie is having trouble settling into school and his life at the chocolate factory, particularly with the paparazzi. Wonka suggests that he stop going to school altogether, but that's not the situation his family prefers - so Wonka looks for a way to solve the problem... with candy! Okay, first of all, the premise is pretty brilliant. Second of all, the execution is awesome, and includes several independently great ideas - it's from Wonka's point of view, which is wacky of course, and has just the right note to the narration; and the factory is actually characterized as a real character which is pretty breathtaking. Also, it is quite focused on the magic, which is always my favorite thing.



2. A Room With A View. Temeraire - Naomi Novik. Wellington, Perscitia, and the Duchess of Wellington, post-Victory of Eagles. When I was making my Yuletide requests, I had two in mind for this fandom, one of which was for a pairing which already has a bit of a following (Laurence/Tharkay), and one of which was for gen with Wellington and Perscitia. Their meeting in canon is a bit brief, so I didn't hold out much hope that that story would be written; but it was, and not even for me! This story came into existence through some brilliant happy accident, and is so exactly the story I was longing to read after the end of the book that I was rather surprised. It's actually better than that, because it's got a strong thread of feminism woven in, and the multi-faceted friendship between Perscitia and Wellington's wife Kitty is just amazing. Almost as amazing as Perscitia living on Wellington's estate, making plans, engaging tutors, and chewing out stupid politicians. ♥!!!!!!



3. Treasures. Aladdin - Disney. Aladdin, Abu, Iago, Genie, Jasmine. This is a great piece of gen that takes the world of the movie and makes it just slightly more realistic. It also has characters of color, obviously. This little story is so cunningly-crafted, from the little references to the movie in it and the hints of the darker reality of a homeless street child to the humorous interjections of Genie and Jasmine as Aladdin is telling the story. It expands canon, correcting some of its faults, but with affection.



4. Mr Yunioshi's Photographs. Breakfast at Tiffany's. Mr Yunioshi. This little story is so well-written, so compact, so touching and bittersweet. I hope it becomes one of the most-recced stories of this year's Yuletide; it certainly deserves to be. This is exactly the kind of intelligent, sharp, reclaiming fiction for characters of color that you like to see. I know that for me and many other people, looking at Breakfast at Tiffany's through the eyes of an adult threatens to completely ruin it because of the yellowface and horribly offensive portrayal of Mr Yunioshi, the landlord. This story takes him and gently humanizes him, concentrating on his setting there in that apartment building and ranging back over his life through the collection of photos he keeps there. It's sad, but matter-of-fact, and creates an entire backstory for Mr Yunioshi through elegant, minimal sketches.



5. Four Times Hardison Told His Nana He Was Sorry, And One Time He Said He Was (But Totally Wasn't). Leverage. Alec Hardison. A funny, light-hearted and delightful little tidbit to finish with! This is the story of Hardison's life-long affair with science fiction TV, starting with old Doctor Who and going through Babylon 5, Jake 2.0 and Chuck, the awesomeness of Avery Brooks in Deep Space Nine, the brilliance of the first season of New Who and the totally infuriating racism in the Martha season... and finishing with the new Star Trek movie. XD Of course, it wouldn't be Hardison if all of this wasn't accompanied with hijinks, hacking, and conning the post office.

Comments

[quietprofanity]

This is the writer of "Treasures" stopping by to say "thank you." Heh. I actually didn't intend for the story to come off as "more realistic" or a fixit compared to canon. (When I first got the assignment I thought I was going to do a Jafar-centric thing about him traveling the Middle East and coming upon the scarab, but I actually thought over-explaining him/giving him that extensive of a backstory to that extent was way too much would destroy the canon's simplicity.) But it's interesting that you think so and I'm really happy you liked it and rec'ed it. Thanks!