brightknightie | Entries tagged with recommendation

fkficfest '25 has concluded! We had lovely, diverse stories, and lovely, kind interactions, all around. Forever Knight fandom has always been such a jumble of approaches, with its mishmash of genres and themes attracting wildly dissimilar approaches and interpretations. It's touching and heartening that we can play together at all, much less this successfully. Thank you.

Some years, I feel that being the game's moderator should block me from making story recommendations, and I hold my peace. This year, I feel that it's okay to go ahead and point out a few stories that happened to offer particularly distinct elements to me, personally, subjectively, as a reader and not moderator.

"A Duty to Serve" by Calliope24 (G, gen, ~2K words): Set during the tumult of "A More Permanent Hell," a uniformed Tracy tries to serve while her father orders her off the streets, and Stonetree steps in. I found the efforts of all the characters to endure and serve the common good during this civilizational collapse powerful, and Stonetree's measured optimism -- not just about the ultimate end, but faith in people -- invigorating. I also admire the imagination and depiction of this canon bubble; of course the third-season characters lived second-season, and of course Stonetree knew Commissioner Vetter.

"Unpacking" by SwitchbladeEyes (T, gen, ~11K words): Set immediately after "Sons of Belial," Nick's reaction to the demon incident brings all of Natalie's undealt-with feelings about Richard's death in "I Will Repay" roaring to the surface. I found this story's cadence, tone, and voice so resonantly third-season that it felt -- for better and for worse, for familiarity and for discomfort -- like it could indeed have been the next canonical episode after "Sons of Belial," if such continuity had been a thing in those days, and also that it could then have broken third-season's fall and climbed back up onto a more promising path by dealing with pain and not only piling it up.

"Daylight" by Nicholas_Lucien (T, gen, ~2K words): This songfic goes around and around, like the verses of a song with a refrain, in a way that made my brain react to it more like poetry than prose. It makes an interesting choice, to call Nick/Nicolas/Nicholas by those different names as it shifts through Nick's, Janette's, and Lacroix's perspectives regardless of the historical era, creating prism-like views on each situation. The reader may interpret the cyclical structure to indicate that Nick will never win. I choose to interpret it, for myself, instead to indicate that Nick will never stop striving.

Separately, the story that I contributed myself is "Reconcilable Differences" (T, gen, ~5K words). Thank you,

batdina, for beta-reading! Set early in the long hiatus between the first and second seasons, it pokes at the trope of Natalie treating a badly injured Nick by dosing him with the blood that she otherwise insists is the barrier to all his hopes. Both Nick and Natalie, of course, want Nick to both live and become human, but when something happens to make Nick believe that he can have only one or the other, he and Natalie are not necessarily in harmony on which and why and how. The story addresses the game prompt "I’m going to tell you something you don’t want to hear;" I think that it goes both ways between them. I definitely found it easier to put Nick and Natalie into this mess than to get them out again, but I like to think that I did so in the end.

I'd like to recommend another Zeldatuber:

questwithaaron (https://www.youtube.com/@QuestWithAaron).

QuestWithAaron explores where the original Japanese and the localized English differ, and the consequent implications for the lore. Usually, his videos refuse to take sides; they don't pronounce right and wrong, but academically compare and contrast, fully accepting canonical AUs. Yet, every now and again, the localization does something egregious, like saying the literal opposite of the original; the videos don't flinch from those points.

For example, his most recent video, "Zelda Begged Link Not to Die... But We Never Heard it," discusses Zelda's very different dialogue in BOTW after she manifests the sacred power, when Link is on the verge of death in her arms. And of course QuestWithAaron's first three videos were about what is Link's own first-person diary in Japanese and is just an anonymous reference tool in English.

For me, my favorites of QuestWithAaron's videos that I've watched so far tend to inform and educate me about the changes to the religions of Hyrule and the faiths of the individual characters, which the US localization has (understandably) purged and downplayed ever since the very first game. Surely this is largely to avoid upsetting US audiences -- the parents who freaked out about D&D in the '80s would not have bought word-for-word TLOZ for their kids! also, the US is much less secular than Japan and so takes these things differently -- but it's also because it's admittedly far too hard (and probably dull) to "Philosophy & Theology 101" all the Shinto and Buddhist (and Christian and...) concepts in use within the available dialogue text boxes (not many characters would stop their plot advancement to lecture on culture). A few of these videos include "What is Link? The Legend of Zelda's Eternal Hero" and "How Demise's Secret Origin Connects Skyward Sword & Breath of the Wild." (I think many of you know that character-appropriate-faith is one of my story sweet spots. This is another of the elements that has made TLOZ a story I enjoy snuggling down in.)

As this year's

halfamoon comes to a close,

lightbird did me the honor of remembering and recommending one of my old -- 2001! -- Forever Knight stories for the theme "One-hit Wonders." Read her kind rec.

"Kindred Spirits" (T, gen, ~13K words) is from Nick's perspective, but features Urs and Jacqueline (Ellen-Monika-Jacqueline of "Hearts of Darkness," the theme's "One-hit Wonder"), with cameos by Natalie and Lacroix, and "off-screen" actions by others.

This is one of my personal favorites of my own FK fanfic (it's even tagged "author's favorite" from back when that was a thing). I love these characters and the questions I think they raise. I hadn't re-read it in so long that I had literally forgotten just how it ends, and I made myself cry, if that's not too silly to admit. I now feel that (a) I should be daring like that more often in the present, so yay! '01 me and the beta-readers who helped me, and (b) wow, did I ever use oodles of unnecessary words and overlong sentences, so hey! '25 me take warning and never backslide. ;-) I was also surprised that the story was this long; in my memory, it was much shorter... because, in proportion to the norm then, it was indeed shorter.

Thank you,

lightbird! You absolutely made my day.

(

halfamoon has many assorted recs across fandom. If you haven't, consider taking a look?)

I checked every recs comm I know, including

fancake, and found just 7 total fanfic recommendations for The Legend of Zelda in all its forms, going back to 2014. Of those, only 2 are gen. (I love gen!) And, curiously, none -- zero -- are canon 'ships. (I like canon ships!)

Now, there is a generous plenty of ~4K TLOZ stories on the AO3 that the filters say are gen, even excluding the "Linked Universe" stuff, so I don't mean to complain. I can and will continue skimming through those, sorted by most kudos, or most bookmarks, or most comment threads, or whatever filterable statistic seems promising.

But. Thoughtful recommendations would be sweet, if folks happen to know where I can find them. Thanks!

Yesterday evening, YouTube recommended an excellent The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom hand-drawn animatic fanvid that hit me from three separate directions. First, here's the vid:

Watch on YouTube

"Would You fall in love with me again - Zelink Animatic" by

IcySoups (53 seconds)

Drawings. On level one, we have a hand-drawn animatic that flashes through many Zeldas and many Links -- maybe all of them? I didn't count -- a drawing effort allowed to blip by in less than a blink, to achieve its effect subconsciously rather than consciously. How amazing of the artist, to employ that timing, to let all that work rush past the viewer as it rushes on the characters. Of course what it's doing is implying the whole descent of the characters -- via heritage or reincarnation or time travel or fresh start -- through ten thousand years to each other again. Hylia and her chosen in every age; yet unique and independent and new. Nice work, creator. (But, again, even knowing folks can choose to watch at .25 speed... that speed feels bold.)

Song. On level two, what's that song? I didn't know, but I looked it up, and now I'm acquainted with Epic: The Musical, a concept album adaptation of The Odyssey that's been releasing one act at a time (Wikipedia page). Epic dropped its final act, "The Ithaca Saga," late last month. This song, "Would You Fall In Love With Me Again," is Penelope to Odysseus, on his return home after twenty years. Now that I know about Epic, I'll be listening to it. I have thoughts about how to apply these lyrics between Penelope and Odysseus, who after all represent the values of an entirely different historical culture -- and also, over and over, the values of every era that re-translates the epic, which gives this song a meta level that I love. Regardless, the lyrics are spot on for Zelink interpretations in TotK. Good choice. (Also: Fast turnaround! And this is not the only fanvid to this song up on YouTube already, which of course I know because it is now recommending them to me willy-nilly, regardless of fandom, because: algorithm.)

Book. On level three, I coincidentally happen to have just recently started rereading The Odyssey for the first time since college. I've been meaning to reread it for a while, and finally got in gear when (a) my best friend gave me the hardback of Emily Wilson's translation for Christmas, and (b) I heard about Christopher Nolan's upcoming '26 The Odyssey movie, which reportedly adapts only the second half of the epic... the half on Ithaca. ("The Ithaca Saga," if you will.) And -- here's the kicker -- literally just a couple of hours before I saw that video recommendation, I had been reflecting on a comparison/contrast of Link and Odysseus. (Of course Odysseus's biggest traits are being formidably clever and silver-tongued, neither of which come within a country mile of Link! And Link is an uncomplicated hero as we, today, see heroism, while canon Odysseus is so not. Nevertheless, there are story elements... TLOZ is frequently a stew of global folktale, fairy tale, myth, and literature.)

We had 20 new Highlander stories in

hlh_shortcuts this year. Find them all on the AO3.

Here are some that I, personally, subjectively, enjoyed most:

"Moondance or A Series of Extraordinary Events" by

hafital
G, gen; ~19K words
Joyful. This story wraps a final sci-fi Gathering apocalypse -- starring Richie and Methos -- around many independent but threaded shorter missing-scene stories from throughout canon and beyond -- starring Richie and Angie, Richie and Tessa, Richie and May-Ling, Richie and etc. -- and not only delivers a happy ending at the last, but is again and again joyful and uplifting throughout. Each of the embedded stories would be lovely on its own. Yet they're strung like pearls on a necklace, progressing in a line, in a circle, in an orbit. It's more than its parts.

"Duo" by

jasmasson
G, m/m; ~3K words
Amusing. A sensible outsider perspective delivers grins as it clashes with not-at-all sensible run-a-day HL canon in the persons of Duncan, Methos, and a hunter. The narrative packs satisfying, appropriately worded, canon references that fly over the head of the perspective character straight to the audience.

"Guests for the Weekend" by

Annavere
G, gen; ~8K words
Unexpected. I was taken by surprise by how well this combination of characters -- Amanda, Anne, Richie -- came together in this off-to-the-side whodunnit romp of a mini-vacation for Anne, where the stakes are set by thieves so incompetent and security precautions so lacking that Amanda feels embarrassed and Richie plays the bait.

"Holy Ground" by

merriman
G, gen; ~2K words
Historical. Have a Darius-lives scenario, with Methos and early Icelandic history. You're welcome. Bonus: Rumination on how the "Light Quickening" did and didn't do the work of reforming Darius, which he must have thought on often, and which I have opinions about.

Richie & Connor:

"In Good Company" by

Teratornis
G, gen; ~6K words
Cathartic. Structured mostly as an action scene, a dojo workout, this piece has Richie process some of his many emotions in the wake of Tessa's death, his own immortality, and his encounter with Annie Devlin.

"Cousin's Retreat" by

Sharpest_Asp
G, gen; ~1K words
Companionable. Richie gets to train with Connor for a while, as the audience gets to enjoy comparisons and contrasts between our two MacLeods, and the conviction that Richie is an adopted son of this clan.

Randi:

"The Pitch" by

havocthecat
G, gen; ~2K words
Constructive. This piece worldbuilds around Randi across a decade, keeping her consistently canonical as it kneads and stretches her more realistic first-season world until it merges seamlessly with the more fantastic late-season canon, landing her as if fated in Joe's lap as he works to reform the Watchers.

"Behind the Story" by

coralysendria
Unrated, gen, ~2K words
Transporting. Step into the heart of second season with the groundedness of first season. Tessa's murder is news; it's part of Randi's job. Tessa is also someone she knew; it's emotionally jarring, and emotion is not something Randi is particularly good at, so she gropes through the culturally prescribed motions until she finds her way to Richie, grieving, stunned, alone. We see Tessa through both of their eyes, Richie in that moment through Randi's eyes, and the world that was canon in those days as it must have been.

hlh_shortcuts has now released 18 of its 20 total 2024 stories. See the list. I expect that tomorrow, Monday, will bring the final releases, to be followed by the event’s traditional author-guessing game.

To my surprise, I’ve received a second story for my fest request this year: “The Pitch” (G, gen, ~2K words). (For a completely spoiler-free reading experience, follow the link now and come back later for the rest of this post.) It stars Randi, supported by Joe, with cameos by Duncan and Methos.

Riding the wave of Randi’s conviction that Duncan could be the biggest story of her career, this piece sweeps from Randi spotting Joe near MacLeod & Noel Antiques, through a decade of dogging the literal and paperwork footsteps of Duncan and his friends, to Joe offering her the biggest story of her life... with one little catch.

This Randi is properly tenacious and perceptive. The story compellingly suggests how very much her interests, talents, and drive converge with the commitments and needs of the Watchers, to the point that it set me ruminating on the meta level where Randi and her local TV station may well have been a certain kind of unwitting structural first draft for Joe and the Watcher organization. (But why not both? ~grin~)

More comments on the story itself, of course! Take a look? Or, if this is not your personal HL flavor, try one of the others!

hlh_shortcuts began releasing on the Winter Solstice, Duncan's Birthday, as is traditional, and will continue releasing a few stories per day until they're all shared. Many thanks to our new moderator team for all their efforts! Thanks to them, and to everyone who wrote and beta'd! Time to read:

Check out all the 2024 stories.
Revisit out all the stories from all the AO3 years (probably not the LJ years)

The story written for my '24 fest match released on Sunday: "Behind the Story" (~2K words, gen). The anonymous creator chose not to use archive warnings and not to supply a rating; with no disrespect to those choices, I'd rate it "G" and No Archive Warnings Apply. If you're an HL fan, you're unlikely to find anything triggering here; this is what the show is about, I've always thought.

"Behind the Story" follows Randi McFarland in the days after Tessa's murder, how and where it touches her work and her conscience and her heart, culminating in a Randi & Richie scene I never knew I needed. There is so much Tessa here, through their eyes, and I love it. The story briskly opened long-shuttered second-season rooms in my imagination, and, in passing, dropped at least two bonus story ideas on the side.

I shared a longer comment on the story itself. You can read that for more on what in it caught my attention. Or ask! And of course there are many other stories to choose from, if this isn't your personal flavor of HL.

My favorite ZeldaTubers are lore/theory specialists, folks who take continuity questions seriously and grapple with canon, themes, metaphors, and all that stuff I love. This is the home territory of Zeltik, Bandit Games, Nintendo Black Crisis, etc. But of course story comes before theory, and a lot of the games are essentially inaccessible to ordinary folks like me; unlike the manga, we can't just check them out from the library and enjoy them freely (even if your library has games, and old games, what about the systems to run them on?).

So speaking as a complete from-the-sidelines newbie amateur, I've observed that there seem to be two very broad genres of video-game recapitulation videos on YouTube: the "let's play" (aka playthrough, playalong), which involve watching the YouTuber play the game in that YouTuber's chosen style, and what I think of as the "retelling," which involve the YouTuber editing personal gameplay footage, including cut-scenes, into that YouTuber's vision of telling the game's story as if it were a movie, TV show, or campfire tale.

For retellings, my personal current top recommendations are Zeltik himself (his "Story Explained" playlists) and The Lady of Lore (one Zelda playlist), both of whom take the "Let me tell you the story" approach and narrate their retellings, plus Zelda Universe (many Zelda playlists), which takes the "What if the game were a TV series or movie" approach and dubs in voice-acting by fans (except Link, as far as I've seen).

For let's plays, my latest delight is QuinBoBin (all playlists), who takes a joyful, cheeky, fun, positive approach. I was all in for The Bread Pirate when I discovered his EoW playthrough (first hour of play), hugely appreciating his investigative bent and in-character choices, but he very unfortunately did only three hours before abandoning the project. Zelda Master (all playlists) is a marathoner, pleasant, positive, and dependable to follow, but he's more my fallback than my favorite (the poor guy struggles to read the game text as clearly and accurately as I want). And I will watch/listen to Red of Overly Sarcastic Productions do pretty much anything she wants to share (BoTW & TotK playlist, Link's Awakening marathon part one).

There are of course many, many others! I've sampled only a very few. And while it's not on YouTube, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention my favorite TLOZ podcast, Sacred Realms, which has a unique mix of these genres, playing through a game one slice at a time and breaking down each chapter in an examination and discussion that includes a retelling (in a style roughly in the same genre as The Lady of Lore's approach, but always referring to the player character as we/us).

What are your recommendations...?

My favorite Christmas podcast, Hark! The Stories Behind Our Favorite Christmas Carols, is back for a new season. Check out their official website or find them wherever you get your podcasts. I recommend them highly.

Hark! is about "the meaning and the making of our most beloved Christmas carols and their time-honored traditions." It researches the history, lyrics, music, theology, and more of each piece. As their site puts it: "Where do these beloved yuletide songs come from? What inspired the people who composed them? How did they become popular and even mainstream? And what impact do their ancient Christian messages have on an increasingly post-Christian culture?"

So far this year, they've done "We Three Kings" and "The Little Drummer Boy." Past years have included "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel," "Silent Night," "Carol of the Bells," "Good King Wenceslas," "The Huron Carol," "Joy to the World," "In the Bleak Midwinter," "O Holy Night," "Go Tell it on the Mountain," and more.

(My second-favorite Christmas podcast, Christmas Past, is also back. It's a more generalist Christmas podcast -- "equal parts nerdy deep dive and warmhearted celebration... inspired by public radio" -- and it puts out many more episodes per season. Here's their official website.)

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Entries tagged with recommendation

My FKFicFest '25 recommendations + what I wrote

I recommend Zeldatuber QuestWithAaron

I was recommended in Halfamoon! (FK "Kindred Spirits")

Got any TLOZ fanfic recs...?

TLOZ:TotK Zelda/Link animatic music fanvid recommendation

HLH_Shortcuts '24 Recommendations

A second HLH_Shortcuts '24 story for me!

HLH_Shortcuts is releasing! And the story for me is already available!

Before lore theory, there is lore story, and I can recommend these ZeldaTubers

My favorite Christmas podcast is back

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