The Sleeper's Den

So! I don't think that a lot of us had a great 2020, most of us for obvious pandemic reasons. Personally, I ran into my own limitations (I still have the bruises) and I learnt a lot about myself. I haven't been in a good place, and not being able to meet people who are dear to me hasn't helped. It was therefore great to see at least one familiar event return in the shape of hoggywartyxmas - a fest that has been going on for 11 years now and is as much part of my Christmas traditions as the Christmas tree and what should have been the family dinner. I think that for many of us, the fest had even more significance this year and the sense of community was even stronger. My heartfelt thanks to therealsnape and kellychambliss for giving us this ♥.

I still have some catching-up to do, but here are a set of entries I much enjoyed and recommend:

By the Fireside by cabepfir
Rating: G
Characters and/or Pairings: Minerva/Severus
Summary: A quiet afternoon together
Warnings: None
(It's difficult not to rec a cabepfir piece, because her sense of colour and atmosphere are brilliant and she is the Queen of All Watercolour. Also: her Snape. Plus cutiepie cat.)

What Minerva Did Next by hiddenhibernian
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2,100
Characters and/or Pairings: Minerva McGonagall, Augusta Longbottom
Summary: Of magic, witches and whisky, and why there are no female Dark Lords (that you know of, anyway).
Warnings: None
(This was my gift, right up my alley - I find it almost philosophical :). Minerva's understanding of magic grows, and with it her dissatisfaction with the magical community as it is. She begins to consider taking action, and talks it over with Augusta Longbottom. Don't expect flashy action, but enjoy the musings of two sharp witches.)

To All a Good Night by delphipsmith
Rating: G
Word Count: ~5500
Characters and/or Pairings: Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape, Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank, Poppy Pomfrey, Pomona Sprout, Filius Flitwick, Madam Malkin; brief appearance by Hagrid and mention of Malfoys
Summary: Just when things seem dark as a crow's wing, life takes a lucky turn.
Warnings: None
(I'm going to let you discover Delphi's puns for yourself. This story made me laugh out loud every few lines. Basically this is "magical covid takes the Wizarding World". Having lived through this non-magical covid year, I wasn't sure that I would be able to laugh at it, but - I was. I hope you are too.)

Death and Love and Other Yuletide Mysteries: A Hogwarts Castle Story by milotzi
Rating: G
Word Count: 7244
Characters and/or Pairings: Minerva McGonagall and an assorted cast of Hogwarts staff and friends
Summary: Hogwarts Castle as Blandings meets snowbound country house mystery.
Warnings: It’s a Yuletide tale, yet you may discover an easter egg or two or three if you like reading crime mysteries.
(I have a weakness for pastiche. I couldn't write one to save my life, but I so enjoy it when other people prove they can. This was a good one, and I just adore this ironic, knowing 30s style of writing.)

Within a Forest Dark by squibstress
Rating: soft R
Word Count: 9,725
Characters and/or Pairings: Severus Snape/Minerva McGonagall
Summary: Severus expects his journey at Hogwarts to be dark and lonely. He’s right. Mostly.
Warnings: None.
(Squibstress promises 'snark' and 'bitching'. What else can one want from a Severus/Minerva story? ;P An excellent tale with great characterisation and strong dialogue to entertain you even if you don't ship SnacGonagall.)

The Unofficial Minutes of the Hogwarts Knitting Society by therealsnape
Rating: G
Word Count: 14K
Characters and/or Pairings: Irma Pince with a supporting cast of Hogwarts Staff Members. Also, the owner of a knitting shop.
Summary: When Gilderoy Lockhart announces his plan for motivational lectures that will bring the fun back into teaching, his colleagues have to do something. But who would have thought it would involve needles and yarn?
Warnings: None.
(I have two words for you: WITCHES and KNITTING. Truly a magical combination?! Well, it was for me. Minerva McGonagall sets up a knitting club that must save its members from attending lectures by Gilderoy Lockhart. This leads to Ravelry Revelations. Don't be scared of the word count: this story doesn't at all *feel* like 14K, it's that good a read.)

Season’s Greetings from Hogwarts! by mywitch
Rating: PG
Characters and/or Pairings: Pomona Sprout, Filius Flitwick, Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom and Irma Pince
Summary: The Hogwarts Faculty tries to keep it together for the annual Yule card photo.
Warnings: Tiny bit of full frontal nudity ;)
(mywitch is one of these people who can't hide their identity in an anonymous fest because they just ... are who they are? She is amazingly versatile and can, I think, do just about anything. But even though she uses a variety of styles and media, you can always tell it's her because of the unique combination of technical brilliance, creativity and mischief in her entries. Treat yourself to this animated postcard. Do not consume beverages while watching.)

Here endeth the reccing!

So, as we've had the reveal last Saturday, I can quite openly claim authorship of The Gift, a very silly 5-page comic:

The Gift
Rating: Ummm... PG for a word you don't want your child to repeat?
Word Count: 168
Characters and/or Pairings: Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall, Albus Dumbledore
Summary: The year is 1993, and the presence of one Mr Remus Lupin at Hogwarts means that this isn't the Potions Master's favourite Christmas ever. Maybe, just maybe, Minerva McGonagall can lift his gloom.
Warnings: Rude language

I want to share some behind-the-scenes information about this little comic because it's special for me. If you're interested, I'd advise you to read the story first and then come back for the making-of, which I'll put in a separate entry.

Here's a happy birthday to the Man Who Undoubtedly Lived!

Let's celebrate with some recs from hoggywartyxmas - starting with my fabulous gift! It was written, compiled and provided with selected illustrations by shiv5468 who, let's be honest, spoiled me rotten. Therefore -

Get thee to Hoggywarty to read The Sweet Smell of Success (G, 2500 words), a tale of perfume, poetry and plenty of Aubrey Beardsley.

Shiv did not only gift me with a story; she also included the entire, illustrated catalogue to which the story makes reference. I don't know what I did to deserve that XD. It's such a fabulous mix of the Hogwarts Ladies; an absent but perfect Snape; one of my very favourite artists; and a number of my favourite poets. Just- just SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE is what I say.

Now, despite the utter perfection of my gift, I didn't close my eyes to other goings-on at The Hoggywarty, and I'd like to share a few more titles I have enjoyed very much:

cabepfir's Big Great Hogwarts Quiz (G, art and, well, a quiz of course): go and have a look to see how well you do ;).

I have limitless admiration for people with a capacity to write comical verse. I miss _vocalion_'s and _grainne_'s jocular virtuosity, and was delighted when I came across atdelphi's A Midwinter Night's Revel (Teen, 500 words). It's just ... ahahahahahaaaa!

therealsnape's Case of the Cat Show Corruption (PG-13, 9700 words, no warnings), in which Spinster Detective Minerva McGonagall cracks a case for Mr Filch. I am a sucker for Hogwarts detective stories - I have always dreamed of writing one, but I couldn't write a mystery to save my life - and there are so few of them around. This one is, in one word, excellent. It is so completely in character that I suspect TRS found McGonagall's diary and passed it off as her own ;-).

I usually steer clear of anything rated over PG-13 and carrying warnings like "voyeurism", but this time round I gave in to my own inner voyeur (ahem) and went to read kellychambliss's Look Not at the Things (R, 10,600 words, voyeurism). It's a sharp and unvarnished look at Snape as a recent ex-Death Eater - an astute portrait of a disillusioned, desperately lonely and cynical young man who finds himself quite lost in an environment with, well, rather more emotionally balanced people. This story really packs a punch. It hurts. But in the end there is hope.

My gift for albalark is this picture to accompany her Snape birthday story, Saturday's Child, so I think I can safely post it here in celebration of the one and only Potions Master (sorry, Professor Slughorn).





It's Reeves acrylic paint on cardboard, because yes, I'm going to art school now ;-)! cabepfir kindly lent me a hand and beta'ed the painting. The flaws are now beginning to jump out at me, but I'm still kind of proud of it as one of my first steps in a new medium and an approach that is, quite frankly, the complete opposite of everything I have been doing in art (such as it is) so far.

...I have such a back log of gift art that it's not funny :p. That's what I get for being bad at gift-giving: I offer pictures instead of purchases, but I have to get them all done! And I'm not always equally inspired, so sometimes it really takes time to create something I can offer without blushing.

In any case, here is one friend 'taken care of': bettyboop_comic. He introduced me to the manga Lone Wolf and Cub (well, to all manga really - and I distinctly remember him glowering at me when, being asked what sort of manga I wanted, I replied "one in which the characters have those large eyes!". He grudgingly steered me towards La Rose de Versailles and then nearly forced me to read Lone Wolf to make up for my faux-pas...). Here is my take on the Cub from the title: Daigoro. I just love Daigoro. Being a little boy, he is so much more human than his father! At the same time, he is a Baby Bushi. Poor thing.





Meanwhile, there is some great ficcing going on at hoggywartyxmas! I haven't read fic in a loooong time, but Hoggywarty is traditionally less ship-oriented than your average fest, which is always attractive for me. This year seems to be a particularly good one :). My personal faves so far:

The Incomplete Art of Cartography (G) by Anonymous - a wonderful, poetic, thoughtful story about three places that aren't on the Marauders' Map. Featuring Minerva McGonagall, Horace Slughorn and Remus Lupin - gen.

Humbug (PG-13) by Anonymous - Snape, hardly an expert gift-giver, has finally found the perfect gift for McGonagall. But somehow he has trouble getting it delivered. Includes Snape's close-reading of Dickens's Christmas Carol :D. Truly excellent, with a perfect Snape and delightful humour - gen.


My gift isn't up yet, but someone who wishes to stay Anonymous (though I'd recognise her art anywhere :D) has posted a lovely illustration to my (equally lovely) gift fic of last year, Reflections in Liquid by purplefluffycat. So I feel like I have been doubly 'gifted' :D.

Ack! I've been so busy doing stuff for school that I haven't been very active here - and so I have failed, so far, to rec my wonderful springtime_gen gift fic. And I'm kind of ashamed because of my lateness, because I really enjoyed the fic a lot. It is a very quiet, reflective story. After the Battle of Hogwarts, McGonagall is beset by doubts about the way she has dealt with Snape, and she talks this over with Flitwick. It's the sort of thing I really wanted to see in canon, but which of course never materialised. *hugs mystery author*

Title: Vigil
Author: ???
Recipient: sigune
Character(s): Minerva McGonagall, Filius Flitwick
Rating: G
Wordcount: 1098
Warnings: None
Summary: It's been two days since Severus's death, and Minerva McGonagall can't sleep.

~*~*~

In other fannish news, Bloomsbury wants to know who your favourite character in the Potter books is. J.K. Rowling has said that she'd love to have dinner with Dumbledore and listen to his sage counsel. You know you want to have dinner with Snape, right? Go vote for the Potions Master here and make your voice heard!

During the holidays, I joined hoggywartyxmas. I joined rather late and was the only artist at the fest, so I didn't expect to get a gift. But therealsnape, rather un-snapishly, thought I should have one, and so she contacted purplefluffycat, who wrote Reflections in Liquid in response. She nailed my tastes exactly with four subtle and sensitive vignettes featuring Minerva McGonagall, Albus Dumbledore, Horace Slughorn and Severus Snape. Christmastide may be over, but the story is still a real treat :). Go read!

Title: Reflections in Liquid
Author: purplefluffycat
Rating: (mild) PG-13
Word Count: About 1050
Characters and/or Pairings: Gen, characters: Severus, Minerva, Albus, Horace.
Summary: A quiet moment at Hogwarts' staff Christmas drinks, Albus' last Christmas as Headmaster. What could be more evocative than a favourite Christmas tipple?

- I haven't been keeping up with comments very well lately, because - well, because the holidays are over and work is back. I'll catch up as soon as I can...

I'm going to rec a fan comic today, from a fandom I don't belong to - that of the animated series Avatar: the Last Airbender. I haven't seen a single episode, but I started reading the comic because I think the artist is great. She's Johane Matte, a. k. a. rufftoon. And guess what? I discovered that you really don't need any prior knowledge of the Avatar series to enjoy Johane's comic. It's so well told that you get sucked into the story immediately. It's completely engrossing, and as a consequence, Johane is solely responsible for the fact that I haven't had nearly enough sleep last night and the night before.

-Yes, I know, maybe some more discipline on my part would have helped too, but we're not counting that, okay?

Anyway: Water Tribe. 447 (!!) pages of pure delight.

What's it about?
The story's main character, Zhao, used to be an admiral of the Fire Nation. I gather he was written out of the animated series after losing a great battle or something. Now, rufftoon tells the story of what happened after this battle. Zhao is presumed dead, but in fact he has lost his memory and firebending powers and has been (very grudgingly) adopted by the Water Tribe - the polar opposite of the Fire Nation. As Zhao's memory - and with it his rather fierce temper - comes back to him, he has to deal with ghosts from his past.

Why should you read it?
Because it's great? :D
Johane certainly knows how to tell a good story. It has action, and humour, and strong characterisations. And boy, can she draw! She's a professional animator and currently works for Dreamworks, which I think can count as a reference *g*. She draws comics in her spare time and, as she says herself, she clearly has no life :P. Her art is wonderfully dynamic, expressive and simply beautiful. I have no idea which characters are original and which belong to the series. All I know is that I find them all very enjoyable.

Who the heck is Zhao?
Apparently Zhao is a minor character in the animated series. He's violent, greedy, insensitive and tyrannical. In one word: he's GREAT. As you can guess, living with the peaceful Water Tribe will confront him with himself, and he will change a little - but not very much, heh.

Go read! You can find the story at rufftoon's LJ (follow the tags) or at deviantART in a community aptly called NoSelfControl :P :

Water Tribe

To be honest, when bettyboop_comic first gave me a synopsis of A Distant Soil I was quite sure I wasn't going to like it, even if he claimed the opposite thing. He lent me his copy of the first trade paperback, "The Gathering", despite my warning him that there was no way I was going to buy my own. But I took the book home and started to read, and read on and on and on and then I reached the back cover and e-mailed bettyboop_comic to ask how many of those books had come out and could I please buy them all at once and did he have loose issues too so I didn't have to wait for the next trade?

*g*

My explanation for my instinctive dislike and how easily (and thoroughly) it was overcome is that for me the strength of A Distant Soil lies in Colleen Doran's unique treatment of her story, not in the tale itself. In someone else's hands, the premises of the plot might have resulted in horrible cliché and annoying melodrama - two things to which I am very (according to bettyboop_comic overly) sensitive and that put me off a story, book or film immediately.

Warning: this rec is a bit longish. That sometimes happens when I start to talk about books that I love to bits... *blushes*

( Read more... )

J'ai craqué.

*sigh*

Blame it on bettyboop_comic, who first alerted me to its existence: I have bought (and watched) my first DVD of the French television series Kaamelott (the second is on its way to me at this very moment *g*). The setting is King Arthur's court, and the three-minute (!) episodes are all ... completely crazy.

Although the series is to all intents and purposes set in fifth-century Britain (Rome hasn't fallen yet, Christianity is just gaining a foothold, Merlin is a druid...), it is full of anachronisms in costume and such, but most notably in its ideas. Arthur is quite the enlightened ruler; he objects to torture, he wants to abolish the death sentence - things that don't sit too well with his entourage, though they do admit that 'c'est moderne'. The comedy derives mostly from the utter ineptitude of Arthur's friends and subjects. The people he needs to accomplish his lofty goals are so incredibly stupid that they never manage to carry out his orders properly. Perceval gets his own name wrong and doesn't know the meaning of such words as 'left' and 'right' (try involving him in a campaign!); Karadoc's only concerns are food and drink; Bohort is an incredible coward; Gauvain and Yvain (see icon) are absolutely puerile; and when in battle, Arthur's soldiers do exactly as they please. Oh - and Merlin's greatest accomplishments seem to be that he vanquished the Weasel of Winchester and wrote a treatise called, "Druidism Explained to Old People". It is a small miracle that Camelot is still standing! And this motley crew is supposed to find the Grail?!

The series' creators make interesting choices when it comes to Arthurian lore; for example, they choose to highlight Arthur's infidelities. Everybody knows of the romance between Guinevere and Lancelot, but it is often forgotten that in the old texts, Arthur is not a loyal husband. In the series he has plenty of mistresses, with whom the completely innocent Guinevere is actually on good terms - so far. Also interesting is Kaamelott's exploration of the character of Léodagan (Leodegrance), Arthur's father-in-law. Tradition has it that he is a knight of the Round Table too (in fact, some sources say that the table itself was his wedding gift to his daughter Guinevere, though this is not the case in the series); in Kaamelott, Léodagan lives in Arthur's castle with his wife Séli, and he is his son-in-law's counsellor as well as his greatest critic.

The episodes do not always go somewhere definite, and I don't think the humour is everybody's cup of tea. Much of my own pleasure derives from the clash between the 'Matter of Britain' and a heap of anachronisms and French silliness; more often than not, I grin or giggle rather than to laugh out loud. It's the unusual take on characters with whom I am familiar that endears the whole thing to me. If I had any talent for absurd comedy, I'd probably be writing Kaamelott fanfic already XD.

Meanwhile I am brushing up my French. My knowledge of French insults is increasing rapidly!

...

I wish my second DVD would arrive... ;P


ETA: Have a taste...

While catching up with my flist (which is, on account of my location on the globe, always very active while I am asleep), I got the most wonderful surprise an ardent lover of black-and-white comics, witches and warlocks can get: tednaifeh has posted an update! Better still, in it he announces the fourth adventure of Courtney Crumrin, to start in August of this year!

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

*ahem*

Should Snape die in Deathly Hallows, Aloysius Crumrin will be there to console me ;).

I suppose that it may sound like sacrilege to many of my flisties, but actually - actually - I think that Naifeh's Courtney Crumrin series is superior to Harry Potter. Because it is a comic and published in black and white, it doesn't have quite the same universal appeal that Potter does - but it is more daring, more subtle, and it makes you think rather more. Plus, it has marvellous style. The graphics are brilliant and the dialogues sharp; the characters are wonderfully ambiguous and grey. And I mustn't forget to mention Naifeh's sense of humour :). They are among my few favourites.

For those of you who don't know the series: ( Introduction... )

While I'm hanging around, I must take the opportunity to pimp two gen rec lists:

ani_bester is setting up a Gen Art masterlist

and

chthonya is setting up a Gen Fic masterlist.

Please, dear flistees, help Gen survive in this harsh world of fandom, where the poor phenomenon is threatened by strangulation with smut, kinky hanky-panky and other porn. Please recommend any Gen gems you may have encountered during your roamings on the web, and vote for those you like that are already on the list, so that we may all share in them!