saiditallbefore

It's Yuletide season once again! The 2023 collection is full of gems, but the recs below are my absolute favorites.

Carmilla - Sheridan Le Fanu

if on a winter's night two travelers
Carmilla/Laura, rated G, 1.3k words

A young couple arrives at an inn on a bitterly cold night, traveling out of remote Styria. But there's something unusual about them…

A short AU where the book ends differently and Carmilla and Laura leave the country together, with a bit of outsider POV. The writer did a great job with the voice here.

Dark Matter (TV)

Room for Complications
alt!Marcus Boon/alt!Portia Lin, rated T, 2.5k words

“Do what you can to gain access to the station’s security feeds. If Wexler’s around, our worse halves aren’t bound to be far.”
With that, she skidded around the corner—and froze.
“Actually,” Portia Lin said, raising her pistol slightly, “you’ll find some of us are closer than you think.”

This feels like it could have been taken right from the middle of an episode in which the Raza crew try to get one over on their evil alternates, get the tables turned on them, and return the favor. It's an absolute delight.

Dracula - Bram Stoker

Harmless Phantoms On Their Errands Glide
Jonathan/Mina, rated G, 14.3k words

In the wake of the Count’s final defeat, it has begun to snow in earnest. Having nowhere else to go, as night falls our crew is forced to head for the castle for sanctuary from the storm. During the course of the night, they will forge a new destiny for themselves.

This fic goes AU around the time Dracula is killed in the original book. I think it captures the tone of the original really well, while also capturing how none of the characters, but especially Jonathan and Mina, have survived this encounter unchanged— and I really love the idea that they use that as motivation to help people terrorized by other such monsters.

Fear Street Movies

Rockin' Around the Bowling Lane
Sam/Deena, rated T, 1.7k words

Deena's always going to see the glass half empty, even if it's a glass of eggnog. Lucky for her, Sam is there to throw in the nutmeg that makes life a little better.

Futurefic that manages to thread the needle between angst and fluff excellently and also doesn't feel like it's just set in the 2020s. Christmas fic often gets a little too saccharine for me (especially for fandoms like this one), but in this case it was less about Christmas and more about the mundanity and annoyance of a Christmas work party (and how good it is to be alive and in love anyway).

Ice Princess

To Practice Falling
Gen/Casey, rated G, 4.3k words

Gen learns to check her email. In her defense, she only has dial-up.

This is tagged as pre-ship, but it reads as very shippy to me! There's only one bed!!! There's early 2000s emails! (The bit about how Casey usually signs off her emails absolutely took me out. Perfect characterization.)

Ocean's 8

Double Down
Debbie/Lou, rated T, 6.2k words

More than a decade before the Met Gala job, Lou Miller finds an interesting business opportunity and meets an even more interesting business partner.

Set pre-canon, all about their first meeting. And it's heist fic!!! Set on a couples' cruise, which is a classic!!!!

Poker Face

Murder-Go-Round
Charlie, rated T, 7.6k words

When a YouTuber looking to disprove the legend of a haunted carousel winds up dead mid-investigation, the carnival's owners are quick to blame the ghost. But fried-dough-stall worker Charlie Cale suspects there's a bit more to the story than meets the eye…

A pitch-perfect fic in exactly the style of canon. It gets Charlie's voice just right and sets it in just the kind of spot that I can imagine showing up in the actual show.

Ways to Disappear
Charlie/OFC, rated T, 2.2k words

Charlie finds a place to stay awhile.

A lovely little fic in which Charlie lies low, does a lot of home renovation, and accidentally falls for someone.

Scholomance - Naomi Novik

Induction
El, rated T, 4.5k words

If you're a magical kid, especially in Britain where nearly every indie kid gets a spot in the Scholomance, every single conversation you have with an adult will inevitably come back to the school.
Every single one of them will have some nugget of wisdom or another to pass on, whether you want it or not. I didn't want it, but I got it anyways.

A fantastic examination of El's feelings in the months leading up to her Induction and her first few days in the Scholomance. I really like this timeframe where the horror hasn't yet become banal to her and she doesn't yet have an arsenal of super destructive spells at her fingertips (but don't worry, she's still plenty cynical and misanthropic).

Registering Disagreement
El, rated T, 1.2k words

Halfway through her first year, El registers for second-term courses.

A nice bit of worldbuilding, with pre-canon El at her prickliest and most misanthropic.

You're on Your Own, Kid (More or Less)
Crossover with Murderbot
El & Murderbot, rated G, 2k words

El asks for help.
Someone unexpected answers.

My gift! I'm so glad my author took me up on my prompt for Murderbot and El interacting and gave me this delightful pre-canon fic about El's magic accidentally summoning Murderbot to Earth to help her when Gwen can't. It's everything I could have possibly dreamed of!!!

Any faves in the collection I missed? <3