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delphipsmithI've been madly trying to get caught up on fest reading (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
sshg_exchange, hoggywartyxmas, hp_holidaygen, mini_fest, whew!!). I'm doing fairly well, though I still have a long way to go on mini_fest, but I have also on occasion been seduced into other channels.
The most surprising and fascinating was Seven for a Secret (AO3). I have no recollection of how I found it, because I was following links upon links upon links (you know, like you do) and the trail is long gone cold, but it doesn't matter. What matters is that these are marvelous, dark reimaginings of seven fairy/Disney princess tales. Jasmine finds out the punishment for stealing in a Middle Eastern country; Belle witnesses the French Revolution; Sleeping Beauty awakes only to find everyone around her falling into a new kind of sleep, and more. They are disturbing, yes, but so creative and so beautifully, vividly told -- as good as Angela Carter's The Bloody Tower, or Tanith Lee's Red as Blood: Tales from the Sisters Grimmer. Luckily they're short-shorts (the total word count is only 6390) so you can get through them all during, oh, tea-and-a-cookie-or-two.
Speaking of cookies, I got a couple of Barnes and Noble gift cards for Xmas and promptly ran out and bought the Smitten Kitchen cookbook. IT IS FABULOUS. Tons of new recipes that aren't on the website, gorgeous photos, and it really does lie flat on the counter when it's open, just like advertised. Much cooking will ensue in the New Year!!
sshg_exchange, hoggywartyxmas, hp_holidaygen, mini_fest, whew!!). I'm doing fairly well, though I still have a long way to go on mini_fest, but I have also on occasion been seduced into other channels. The most surprising and fascinating was Seven for a Secret (AO3). I have no recollection of how I found it, because I was following links upon links upon links (you know, like you do) and the trail is long gone cold, but it doesn't matter. What matters is that these are marvelous, dark reimaginings of seven fairy/Disney princess tales. Jasmine finds out the punishment for stealing in a Middle Eastern country; Belle witnesses the French Revolution; Sleeping Beauty awakes only to find everyone around her falling into a new kind of sleep, and more. They are disturbing, yes, but so creative and so beautifully, vividly told -- as good as Angela Carter's The Bloody Tower, or Tanith Lee's Red as Blood: Tales from the Sisters Grimmer. Luckily they're short-shorts (the total word count is only 6390) so you can get through them all during, oh, tea-and-a-cookie-or-two.
Speaking of cookies, I got a couple of Barnes and Noble gift cards for Xmas and promptly ran out and bought the Smitten Kitchen cookbook. IT IS FABULOUS. Tons of new recipes that aren't on the website, gorgeous photos, and it really does lie flat on the counter when it's open, just like advertised. Much cooking will ensue in the New Year!!
