Yuletide 2017 recs

As usual, I dumped everything into my ereader pre-reveals, so this was all read anonymously. I'm organizing things a bit differently this year, because I found myself making these connections as I was rereading and taking notes, and this might make it easier for people to find things? So it's fandoms with multiple stories first, and then single-fandoms stories organized thematically. Remember, these are all last December's stories, so for open canons that means: Rivers of London, pre-Lies Sleeping; The Good Place, the middle of S2; and Murderbot, after only the first novella.

( Aaronovitch, Rivers of London (3) )

( Fraimow, 'Suradanna and the Sea' (2) )

( Leckie, Imperial Radch & Provenance (2) )

( Lee, Machineries of Empire (5) )

( Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables (3) )

( Pierce, Emelan (2) )

( Pratchett, Monstrous Regiment (3) )

( Rayyan, 'Lady in Furs' (painting) (2) )

( Stevenson, Nimona (2) )

( Wells, Books of the Raksura (2) )

( Wells, Murderbot (5) )

( The Good Place (8) )

And now, for the solo stories!

We start with basically original works: space exploration; Japanese folklore; Tiptree transposed to historical fiction; magical realism about lemons; travelogue & food writing; cat herders!; contemporary art feuds; historical fantasy in the form of a museum catalogue; and horror in the form ditto.

( the basically original works )

And now for casefics, all of which are excellently meaty and canon-like! In the following fandoms: Sayers, Wimsey/Vane; Weir, The Martian; Wrede and Stevermer, Kate & Ceceila; Kagan, Mirabile; Padua, Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage.

( casefics )

Next, cozy and/or lovely canon-ish moments: Addison, The Goblin Emperor; Lackey, Kethry & Tarma books; McKinley, Spindle's End; Turner, The Queen's Thief; King, IT; Helprin, Winter's Tale.

( cozy stories )

Finally in this quasi-chronological tour of closely-canon-aligned stories, we have epilogues & other post-canon goodness, for: Cho, Sorceror to the Crown; Morgenstern, Princess Bride (and it's definitely the book, not the movie); Jemisin, Broken Earth; Novik, Temeraire; Novik, Uprooted; Vernon, Digger; Jupiter Ascending; Ocean's Eleven.

( epilogues etc. )

Moving further away from canon, we have stories that are extrapolating, extending, or crossing-over canon in delightfully imaginative ways: Stout, Nero Wolfe in the present day; Calvin and Hobbes, as Calvin and Hobbes; and Byatt's Possession crossed with Abbott's Flatland.

( getting further afield )

And to end, three stories that I mentally grouped as dark delights: A Dark Room (video game); King, Dark Tower series; Bronte, Jane Eyre.

( dark delights )

And that's all for 2017! If you like, please comment, or at least hit the kudos button!