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20th-Jul-2010 04:34 pm Displays by wordsofastory (R)
Fandom: SWORDSPOINT
Pairing: Alec/Richard
Length: ~2500
Author on LJ:[livejournal.com profile] wordsofastory
Author Website: http://archiveofourown.org/users/Brigdh
Why this must be read: Because, quite simply, there are moments in this story that are so seamlessly woven into the source material that I can't quite believe it isn't exactly what the author intended. Moments like this:

"You'll never guess what's happened," Alec said, as if he'd just thought of it.

Richard thought of unusual things that might please Alec, and lunged toward the wall, chipping off a flake of plaster. "The Hill is burning?"

"No," Alec said, then paused and laughed, as the idea struck him more fully. "Though some might say it will end the same as if it were. My grandmother's died."



Displays
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13th-Jul-2010 03:37 pm als Selbstzweck by Todesengel (not rated, possibly R?)
Fandom: SWORDSPOINT
Pairing: Alec/Richard, Alec/Harry
Length: oneshot
Author on LJ: I can't find--something's up with the yuletide archive as of now. If anybody knows, I'll edit this.
Author Website:theoretically, http://yuletidetreasure.org
Why this must be read: One thing that's really remarkable about this fic is the way the author really brings Harry's character into being out of nothing. We, the reader, get one or two passing refferences to him in the text, and here he's as real as any character Kushner fleshed out. In addition, it deals with a period of time shortly before the action of the story which is both rather shadowy and unformed and vitally important to the plot.

excerpt )

als Selbstzweck
crack_van: (Default)
3rd-Jul-2010 12:11 pm Home Improvement (T)
Fandom: SWORDSPOINT
Pairing: Alec/Richard (implied), Marie
Length: Oneshot (785 words)
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] heartofoshun
Author Website: Silmarillion Writers Guild
Why this must be read: Hi there, y'all--I'll be reccing for Swordspoint this month. Swordspoint and Ellen Kushner's related novels are a fandom very near and dear to my heart (the fact that there was an lj fan following for them was what drove me to get a livejournal to begin with) and I'm hoping to do it justice this month by showing off the range this relatively pretty tiny fandom is capable of. With that in mind, I'd like to start off with something short and fun.

There is a fair amount of angst regarding this general area of time in the canon, between Swordspoint and Privilege Of The Sword, in which time Alec inherits the dukedom, causing a rift between Alec and Richard and contributing to the fact that when we see Alec again in Privilege, he is a very unhappy man. This piece does hint at that, but for all that it's a step in the progression, the Alec we see is still the young man we remember from the first book.

Excerpt )

Home Improvement
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30th-Nov-2008 04:42 pm Correspondence by Ankharet (PG)
Fandom: SWORDSPOINT
Pairing: implied only.
Length: circa 9K
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] rose_and_lizard  (fic)
Author Website: on LJ: a wonderful fic listing here.
Why this must be read:

Written for [livejournal.com profile] the_antichris  in Yuletide 2007, Ankharet’s Correspondence is set after The Privilege of the Sword, and is one of the very few stories in the fandom to discuss Katherine of Privilege at some length. It is a fully realised future history – a Riverside with juddering motor cars and fur coats, poised on the edges of modernity - in which Rose and Lizard’s teenage Charis and Samantha Campion read their way through the Duchess Katherine’s epistolary adventures, a history echoed and counter-pointed by their own. Correspondence is a joy to read, not just for the addition to canon, but for the author’s ability to conjure relationships and places both recognisable and seen anew.

It’s a lovely ending to a month of recs that have been a joy to rediscover.
Riverside looked like three cities at once ... )

Correspondence

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27th-Nov-2008 06:11 pm Compass and Knife by Brigdh (PG)
Fandom: SWORDSPOINT
Pairing: Alec/Richard
Length: circa 1K
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] wordsofastory 
Author Website: on LJ: fiction tags here.
Why this must be read:

Brigdh’s Compass and Knife was written as a stocking filler in Yuletide 2007, and fits neatly after the end of Privilege of the Sword. It’s a piece which draws heavily, Bridgh says in her introduction, on her memories of Cyprus, and the smell and taste of the island are detailed with sun drenched clarity, but I like the avoidance of sentimentality in this relationship which could never be other than difficult. Kushner does not entertain conventional happy endings.

'"Does it always take blood for you?" Richard asks.'

Compass and Knife


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26th-Nov-2008 08:42 pm Unveiled by Elysian Stars (PG)
Fandom: SWORDSPOINT
Pairing: Alec/Richard
Length: circa 1K
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] elysian_stars 
Author Website: Mostly on LJ, but her fanfiction.net profile is here.
Why this must be read:

Spoilers for Privilege of the Sword )

Unveiled

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23rd-Nov-2008 04:10 pm Retreat by MC (PG)
Fandom: SWORDSPOINT
Pairing: Alec/Richard
Length: circa 2K
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] threewalls 
Author Website: Master Story Index here
Why this must be read:

Given the interval between Ellen Kushner’s Swordspoint and The Privilege of the Sword, during which it is clear that the lovers Alec and Richard have separated, it’s no surprise that writers have sought to fill in the blanks. MC’s Retreat provides an elegant and unsentimental coda to Swordspoint that alludes without overt spoilers to the events of Privilege.

Read more... )

Retreat

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19th-Nov-2008 06:16 pm The Seven Deadly Virtues by Angharad (PG-13)
Fandom: SWORDSPOINT
Pairing: Alec/Richard
Length: circa 1K
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] athousandwinds 
Author Website: LJ fic tags here.
Why this must be read:

One of the many pleasures of reading the Swordspoint series are Ellen Kushner’s polished and distinct minor characters.  Their voices, and the episodic nature of Kushner’s canon, are captured to perfection in Angharad’s lovely series of vignettes, encompassing humility, fortitude, charity, chastity, temperance, zeal and generosity. Not virtues which immediately spring to mind when considering the inhabitants of Kushner’s baroque creation.

Read more... )

The Seven Deadly Virtues

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15th-Nov-2008 06:28 pm Settlement of Debt by Cija (PG)
Fandom: SWORDSPOINT
Pairing: Alec/Richard
Length: circa 4K
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] cija 
Author Website: Unknown
Why this must be read:

Ellen Kushner’s writing of Swordspoint encompasses a continuous but open plot line, along which the novels and short stories of canon form fully realised episodes. Within that time frame, there is space for any number of adventures and stories, a challenge that has been taken up by some excellent authors. This example, [livejournal.com profile] cija ’s Settlement of Debt (written for [livejournal.com profile] das_kabinett  in Yuletide 2007 and set pre-Swordspoint) draws on the supernatural elements of the series, showcasing Alec’s brittle, insane wit and Richard’s courage, whilst alluding to one of the more unpalatable elements of Richard’s past.

It’s a haunting piece, and not just for the ghost.
Read more... )

Settlement of Debt

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11th-Nov-2008 02:18 pm If Man Were the Sky and Could See the Earth Clearly by Corbeaun (PG
Fandom: SWORDSPOINT
Pairing: Alec/Richard
Length: circa 4K
Author on LJ: [livejournal.com profile] corbeaun 
Author Website: Master Story Index here.
Why this must be read:

If Man Were the Sky and Could See the Earth Clearly (written for [livejournal.com profile] wordsofastory  in Yuletide 2007) precedes the original Swordspoint novel, but takes as a starting point one of the (many, intriguing) moments left unwritten by author Ellen Kushner. It is clear from Kushner’s novel that Alec has been thrown out of the university for his dangerous ideas, a decision not unconnected with the entangled family politics of Riverside which inform all the novels, and Corbeaun’s embroidery on the prompt is an utterly satisfying addition to canon.



If Man Were the Sky and Could See the Earth Clearly

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9th-Nov-2008 04:14 pm Cheating Death by Harukami (PG)
Fandom: SWORDSPOINT
Pairing: Richard/Alec
Length: one-shot, 1200 words
Author on LJ: http://Harukami.livejournal.com/
Author Website: http://harukami.hanashika.com/
Why this must be read:

To begin at the beginning, a moment Ellen Kushner has not written.

The Swordspoint reader comes to Alec and Richard at the start of the series, as established lovers. In Cheating Death, set before the series opens, Harukami describes this first meeting in words that capture Kushner’s sense of violence and beauty intertwined, and at the same time position the story within a landscape accessible to readers both familiar and unfamiliar with the city of Riverside.



Cheating Death
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9th-Nov-2008 03:56 pm Swordspoint Fandom: an Overview
Coming late, but with recs.

Let the fairy tale begin on a winter’s morning, then, with one drop of blood new-fallen on the ivory snow: a drop as bright as a clear-cut ruby, red as the single spot of claret on the lace cuff.”


Swordspoint.
Ellen Kushner’s mad, bad boys; Alec in his black scholar’s robes with the Tremontine ruby marking his fingers blood-red; Richard with his swordsman’s grace, dancing death on a stage that encompasses all of Riverside and beyond; whore, Duchess, merchant, lord, beggar – myriad, distinct characters sprung to life in vivid strokes of the pen.
Read more ... Swordspoint Overview )

In making recs this month, I’ll try cover the time frame of all the novels, but as always, the stories rec’d are a purely personal choice.

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