tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-04-21:107412these far and starlit shores(adventures in abstraction and distraction)elsane2011-12-30T09:36:37Ztag:dreamwidth.org,2009-04-21:107412:4593Yuletide recs (the short and crazed edition)2011-12-30T09:32:58Z2011-12-30T09:36:37Zpublic0Hi flist!<br /><br />Am not dead! <smalll>(only insanely head-twistingly busy offline, I'm sure you all know the drill)<br /><br />Anyway I have been drifting in and out of Yuletide, and I have found three beautiful things:<br /><br /><a href="http://archiveofourown.org/collections/yuletide2011/works/299157">A clear glass window, at a sea dawn</a>, for Bujold's Chalion universe. This is about Umegat, and about history still trying to go right, and it is beautiful and surehanded; I cannot recommend it enough. This is a story about being middle-aged, gay, and Roknari, in a court dominated by young, straight Chalionese, and at the same time it isn't anywhere near that simple; it is about doing what is right, and it is about joy, and about faith in people as well as gods. The writing is beautiful and the characterization fantastic. Strongly recommended.<br /><br /><a href="http://archiveofourown.org/collections/yuletide2011/works/300142">Reemergence</a>, about Mary Innes (of <i>Miss Pym Disposes</i>, by Josephine Tey), dealing with her career, her knowledge, and her second-hand guilt, afterward. It's complex and painful and many-layered, and the author's portrait of both Innes and Nash is surehanded and subtle.<br /><br /><a href="http://archiveofourown.org/collections/yuletidemadness2011/works/302499">Five Nail Polishes</a>. The fandom is: nail polishes. No, I don't know either, but it's well worth the click to read this set of drabbles. There's one apiece for five different colors of nail polish, and they are sharp-edged, dense, and sparkling, like tiny gems.</smalll><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=elsane&ditemid=4593" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments