kelly_chambliss (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kelly_chambliss) wrote2012-04-22 11:51 pm
kelly_chambliss) wrote2012-04-22 11:51 pm
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Beholder Rec Post #1 (With Bonus Femmefest!)
Except for the mammoth 26K story posted on Friday, I have caught up with my reading at ![[info]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/c0b679d12b01/195039-178085/www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif)
hp_beholder, which has been posting for a little over a week now.
This year marks my fourth Beholder, three as a participant and one as an enthusiastic reader. It's been fun to watch the evolution of this fest over the years, as writers come and go, and new character/stars flame and fade on the Beholder stage.
In my first year as a reader (2009), it was Minerva McGonagall who was the star of the show. I haven't gone back to check the stats, but my memory of that glorious fest is that we had a Minerva story every second or third day. I was still a newbie in HP at that time and had had a hard time finding much quality Minerva fic. Beholder came to me like an oasis to someone dying of thirst in a desert.
In 2010, if memory serves, Minerva shared the stage with Severus and Viktor Krum, while last year, like Eve Harrington in All About Eve, Dudley and Millicent began threatening to deposeMargo Channing Minerva from her starring pedestal.
This year, with 16 works posted so far, we've had mostly an ensemble cast, although both Severus Snape and Millicent Bulstrode have had three stories apiece. In the position of "featured player" (i.e., two stories apiece), we find Abraxas Malfoy and Alastor Moody. Minerva, poor dear, has dropped to near walk-on status (such is fame, fickle and fleeting) with only one starring turn and one brief cameo.
Another interesting oddity related to Beholder is the fascinating phenomenon of rare-pair synergy. Imagine a really rare rarepair, one you've never seen before. It shows up on Beholder, and you say, "ah! That's why I love this fest. Where else would you see -- for instance -- Moody/Scrimgeour"? And then lo, before the end of the fest, you've seen another couple of examples of that hitherto-unknown pair.
That's what happened in 2010 -- we got three stories featuring Moody/Scrimgeour, all written independently of one another. This year, the rarepair synergy is happening with. . .Irma Pince/Horace Slughorn! That's right, old-lady lovers: Irma's getting some. With Horace. Twice. (And with at least five other people, including Severus. And Argus. I kid you not.)
I love Irma.
Okay, enough from me. Here are the recs. Go read them. Leave comments.
A Story of Warnings and the Ignoring Thereof by Anonymous (PG-13; Irma Pince/Horace Slughorn).
Horace's voice in this story is absolutely spot-on; I've rarely read him in finer form. There's a great Filius cameo, and Irma is drop-dead sexy, the saucy girl.
As You Say by Anonymous (Severus Snape/Petunia Dursley; PG-13)
You'll see a different side of Petunia and Severus here, one that might at first seem OOC (though they retain their canonical lack of sympathy for Harry). But it's a story of subtle growth and change, so that you begin to believe that once a year, these two damaged people can find a way to flourish. The author uses an effective food motif to chart the characters' development.
Adamantine by Anonymous (Millicent Bulstrode/Rolanda Hooch; PG-13)
I'm a sucker for a good dystopia, and you'll find that here. It's not a pretty story, but there's a touch of hope and an appealing, believable Millicent.
Irma's Library by Anonymous (Irma Pince with McGonagall, Hooch, Snape, Slughorn, Filch, Rosmerta, and Flitwick. PG-13 [really])
Tight, clever, witty, sharply-characterized -- and in only 2000 well-chosen words. This is library science at its finest.
~ ~ ~
Unlike Beholder, I am not caught up at![[info]](https://stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif)
femmefest. But even though there hasn't yet been any OLSB fic, I've been enjoying some unusual pairings. My favorite of the fics I've read so far:
At the Round Earth's Imagined Corners (Emmeline Vance/Marlene McKinnon; PG-13)
A well-imagined look at these two members of the first Order of the Phoenix.
hp_beholder, which has been posting for a little over a week now.This year marks my fourth Beholder, three as a participant and one as an enthusiastic reader. It's been fun to watch the evolution of this fest over the years, as writers come and go, and new character/stars flame and fade on the Beholder stage.
In my first year as a reader (2009), it was Minerva McGonagall who was the star of the show. I haven't gone back to check the stats, but my memory of that glorious fest is that we had a Minerva story every second or third day. I was still a newbie in HP at that time and had had a hard time finding much quality Minerva fic. Beholder came to me like an oasis to someone dying of thirst in a desert.
In 2010, if memory serves, Minerva shared the stage with Severus and Viktor Krum, while last year, like Eve Harrington in All About Eve, Dudley and Millicent began threatening to depose
This year, with 16 works posted so far, we've had mostly an ensemble cast, although both Severus Snape and Millicent Bulstrode have had three stories apiece. In the position of "featured player" (i.e., two stories apiece), we find Abraxas Malfoy and Alastor Moody. Minerva, poor dear, has dropped to near walk-on status (such is fame, fickle and fleeting) with only one starring turn and one brief cameo.
Another interesting oddity related to Beholder is the fascinating phenomenon of rare-pair synergy. Imagine a really rare rarepair, one you've never seen before. It shows up on Beholder, and you say, "ah! That's why I love this fest. Where else would you see -- for instance -- Moody/Scrimgeour"? And then lo, before the end of the fest, you've seen another couple of examples of that hitherto-unknown pair.
That's what happened in 2010 -- we got three stories featuring Moody/Scrimgeour, all written independently of one another. This year, the rarepair synergy is happening with. . .Irma Pince/Horace Slughorn! That's right, old-lady lovers: Irma's getting some. With Horace. Twice. (And with at least five other people, including Severus. And Argus. I kid you not.)
I love Irma.
Okay, enough from me. Here are the recs. Go read them. Leave comments.
A Story of Warnings and the Ignoring Thereof by Anonymous (PG-13; Irma Pince/Horace Slughorn).
Horace's voice in this story is absolutely spot-on; I've rarely read him in finer form. There's a great Filius cameo, and Irma is drop-dead sexy, the saucy girl.
As You Say by Anonymous (Severus Snape/Petunia Dursley; PG-13)
You'll see a different side of Petunia and Severus here, one that might at first seem OOC (though they retain their canonical lack of sympathy for Harry). But it's a story of subtle growth and change, so that you begin to believe that once a year, these two damaged people can find a way to flourish. The author uses an effective food motif to chart the characters' development.
Adamantine by Anonymous (Millicent Bulstrode/Rolanda Hooch; PG-13)
I'm a sucker for a good dystopia, and you'll find that here. It's not a pretty story, but there's a touch of hope and an appealing, believable Millicent.
Irma's Library by Anonymous (Irma Pince with McGonagall, Hooch, Snape, Slughorn, Filch, Rosmerta, and Flitwick. PG-13 [really])
Tight, clever, witty, sharply-characterized -- and in only 2000 well-chosen words. This is library science at its finest.
~ ~ ~
Unlike Beholder, I am not caught up at
femmefest. But even though there hasn't yet been any OLSB fic, I've been enjoying some unusual pairings. My favorite of the fics I've read so far:At the Round Earth's Imagined Corners (Emmeline Vance/Marlene McKinnon; PG-13)
A well-imagined look at these two members of the first Order of the Phoenix.