Rec time! Part 1

And now it's my turn to rec like the Spanish Armada! Small caveat to say that I have read about one eighth of the hd_holidays fics that have come into my To Be Read folder through the fest season. And I am going to start with some I feel missed out on a bit of love for one reason or another and get to the universally adored ones at the end.

Powerful Men is only under-commented on because it was posted so late in the piece. Set post-Voldemort's victory, in a world where Muggle-borns and half bloods are pushed into an Unspeakable caste, it is told in the voice of a recovering addict who watched for years as Harry, favourite rent boy of the Minister, waged his quiet and ultimately victorious war. I loved this for several reasons: partly because of the unreliable narrator who conflates sex and politics so readily; partly because of the snippets of Harry's war that we are able to glimpse, and largely for the over-arching sense of *cost* that the author conveys, how much they are willing to pay to win. (Everything. They're willing to pay everything. And do.)

This story spoke to every dark place in me, the places that spent the 80s planning for inevitable holocaust, where we planned for what to do if the bomb dropped, and had actual lists of where to meet up if the Tube station was blown up by the more local threats. Even if Thatcherism never happened to you, the scream of a society turned on its axis rings through so much of this story. As you can guess, I loved it.


On Mid-Winters Day starts with Harry breaking the news of Ginny's betrayal to her startled but supportive mother. Needing a break, he follows some good advice and goes to work at Hogwarts on Sabbatical. There he is chagrined to discover the identity of the other new teacher, but is determined to put their past enmity behind them. The writer weaves a strong and well-paced school fic for the first part where old friendships are resumed and new ones begin to be built, before a shift in pace as news of a developing environmental disaster reaches Hogwarts. Two teachers are selected to perform the rites that will restore balance, and a no-longer young H&D set about understanding the parts they will play in a more ancient ritual than their own traditional bickering.  It's a gentle, leisurely fic for much of its 14,000-odd words, but one that exists in a real world of connecting humanity, with lives and jobs and responsibilities. The author's assuredness with all of the side characters was one of the great joys for me, including her original next-gennage (Byronic Hugo is a great joy!), but the focus always comes back to Harry and Draco and the conclusion is just fabulous

I do know who wrote OMWD, but I forget that  each time I start to read it; like a Russell Hoban novel the characters just take over and make the reader walk with them for a little while, without beating you over the head with any sort of conceit, just gentle humour and authentic characterisation. Go take the walk! This is a fic of solace and happiness and hope.

Kings Among Runaways begins days after the Battle of Hogwarts with Draco and Narcissa burning the defiled contents of their home. A sequence of moments then tracks the trio and young Master Malfoy through their first, sometimes tentative, steps on the way to moving on with their lives. The structure of this fic means that it is open and dream-like in many ways, but for me it was akin to looking back to those very hard periods in life and seeing clearly in retrospect the steps that defined you through and after them.

This was more difficult for me to reach into from a reader's perspective than the previous two, and yet it offers so many readings that once I was there, I found myself finding more and more within it. The trio touches were my favourite parts, but Draco is lovely here.



Others I loved (and so did everyone else, apparently):
101 Ways to Heal Your Wizarding Woes (Or, an Unfortunate Incident with a Traffic Cone and a Policeman’s Helmet), a smart, laugh-out-loud funny fic, generous to all its characters and inventive with a well-worn scenario. Draco turns to a self-help book to overcome the war, one thing leads to another, and a lot of alcohol, and soon their friends are 'helping'.

Unrequited, this is art to rend the heart.

Ferrets in Pipe Dreams is the mini graphic novel of my dreams, part Miyazaki, part Alison Bechdel, script with influences from Martin Millar. NB, I have no idea if the artist knows or likes any of the above (well, presumably Miyazaki ...), but they'd like this artist! Harry and Draco are caught while Auroring about. Only one way out, cf the title ...

These Nineteen Years: a short sequence of panels with a few slight words evokes a life of passion, betrayal, desire and love, however turned from the easy openness promised in the first images.

The Price we Pay for Wings has been recced by everyone. That's because it is amazing. This writer really loves her characters. It shows. "And, of course, as if Albus’s eyes could ever let him forget, there had been that graceful quiet gentle boy." destroyed me. I don't think
 I have loved any art so painfully since Wings of Desire, which this reminded me so strongly of.


More later, but first to catch up on the reading!! And to see darling K before she flees to San Francisco for years!

Rec time! Part 1

And now it's my turn to rec like the Spanish Armada! Small caveat to say that I have read about one eighth of the hd_holidays fics that have come into my To Be Read folder through the fest season. And I am going to start with some I feel missed out on a bit of love for one reason or another and get to the universally adored ones at the end.

Powerful Men is only under-commented on because it was posted so late in the piece. Set post-Voldemort's victory, in a world where Muggle-borns and half bloods are pushed into an Unspeakable caste, it is told in the voice of a recovering addict who watched for years as Harry, favourite rent boy of the Minister, waged his quiet and ultimately victorious war. I loved this for several reasons: partly because of the unreliable narrator who conflates sex and politics so readily; partly because of the snippets of Harry's war that we are able to glimpse, and largely for the over-arching sense of *cost* that the author conveys, how much they are willing to pay to win. (Everything. They're willing to pay everything. And do.)

This story spoke to every dark place in me, the places that spent the 80s planning for inevitable holocaust, where we planned for what to do if the bomb dropped, and had actual lists of where to meet up if the Tube station was blown up by the more local threats. Even if Thatcherism never happened to you, the scream of a society turned on its axis rings through so much of this story. As you can guess, I loved it.


On Mid-Winters Day starts with Harry breaking the news of Ginny's betrayal to her startled but supportive mother. Needing a break, he follows some good advice and goes to work at Hogwarts on Sabbatical. There he is chagrined to discover the identity of the other new teacher, but is determined to put their past enmity behind them. The writer weaves a strong and well-paced school fic for the first part where old friendships are resumed and new ones begin to be built, before a shift in pace as news of a developing environmental disaster reaches Hogwarts. Two teachers are selected to perform the rites that will restore balance, and a no-longer young H&D set about understanding the parts they will play in a more ancient ritual than their own traditional bickering.  It's a gentle, leisurely fic for much of its 14,000-odd words, but one that exists in a real world of connecting humanity, with lives and jobs and responsibilities. The author's assuredness with all of the side characters was one of the great joys for me, including her original next-gennage (Byronic Hugo is a great joy!), but the focus always comes back to Harry and Draco and the conclusion is just fabulous

I do know who wrote OMWD, but I forget that  each time I start to read it; like a Russell Hoban novel the characters just take over and make the reader walk with them for a little while, without beating you over the head with any sort of conceit, just gentle humour and authentic characterisation. Go take the walk! This is a fic of solace and happiness and hope.

Kings Among Runaways begins days after the Battle of Hogwarts with Draco and Narcissa burning the defiled contents of their home. A sequence of moments then tracks the trio and young Master Malfoy through their first, sometimes tentative, steps on the way to moving on with their lives. The structure of this fic means that it is open and dream-like in many ways, but for me it was akin to looking back to those very hard periods in life and seeing clearly in retrospect the steps that defined you through and after them.

This was more difficult for me to reach into from a reader's perspective than the previous two, and yet it offers so many readings that once I was there, I found myself finding more and more within it. The trio touches were my favourite parts, but Draco is lovely here.



Others I loved (and so did everyone else, apparently):
101 Ways to Heal Your Wizarding Woes (Or, an Unfortunate Incident with a Traffic Cone and a Policeman’s Helmet), a smart, laugh-out-loud funny fic, generous to all its characters and inventive with a well-worn scenario. Draco turns to a self-help book to overcome the war, one thing leads to another, and a lot of alcohol, and soon their friends are 'helping'.

Unrequited, this is art to rend the heart.

Ferrets in Pipe Dreams is the mini graphic novel of my dreams, part Miyazaki, part Alison Bechdel, script with influences from Martin Millar. NB, I have no idea if the artist knows or likes any of the above (well, presumably Miyazaki ...), but they'd like this artist! Harry and Draco are caught while Auroring about. Only one way out, cf the title ...

These Nineteen Years: a short sequence of panels with a few slight words evokes a life of passion, betrayal, desire and love, however turned from the easy openness promised in the first images.

The Price we Pay for Wings has been recced by everyone. That's because it is amazing. This writer really loves her characters. It shows. "And, of course, as if Albus’s eyes could ever let him forget, there had been that graceful quiet gentle boy." destroyed me. I don't think
 I have loved any art so painfully since Wings of Desire, which this reminded me so strongly of.


More later, but first to catch up on the reading!! And to see darling K before she flees to San Francisco for years!