Snape/Lupin recs (SnuSa / Chocolate & Asphodel)

[bronze_ribbons]

The usual background/caveats: I haven't read everything at SnuSa yet or in C&A yet, but I've been dipping in both the fest and the zine hither and thither, and there's so much to enjoy and savor. These happen to be the pieces that have resonated the most with me so far:

From Chocolate and Asphodel

Title: The Gates of Hell (pages 74-79, 4000 words)
Author: Mnemosyne_1
Rating: NC17
Author's summary: Remus has one last dirty secret, and someone's about to discover it.
Why I'll be rereading it: The author called it "pure porn"... but it hits my hurt/comfort button as well, since its plot centers on Lupin's seeking relief before his transformations. The scene where the secret is discovered makes me both squirm and grin.

Excerpt:

It has never been like Severus to be anything less than dependable, however much he hates such a Hufflepuffian word.

So when the clock reaches 30 minutes to moonrise, Remus resigns himself to the fact that Severus will not make it in time and sets about his pre-change routine. Silencing charms up, floo blocked, wards to keep the wolf in. He used to set wards to keep others out, until Remus decided that since everyone knows, it is on their own heads if they’re foolish enough to enter his flat during a full moon.

Also, I haven't read the entire story yet, but Karasu's layout and design of Arionrhod and McKay's "Breathings of the Heart" is outstanding. Although the text is now available at McKay's archive, you really ought to read it in the zine, so that you can behold the articles/letters/notes/journal entries in their full glory and savor background details such as the listings on a Chinese takeaway menu that Lupin scribbles on - if you squint, you'll find that it includes dishes such as "Eggplant Prepared Under Mysterious Circumstances" and "Baby Corn With Adoption Papers" *goes into gleeful gigglefit*


From Snupin Santa 2007


Severance Pay (PG13, 23K)
Author's summary: Tonks and Remus split after she realizes he's not suited for her. She's been studying under Severus as a spy. Fun loving as she is, she can't help but meddle and try to become matchmaker.
Ribbons' reaction: Snape watching Lupin teach Tonks how to dance may be my favorite scene. Also, the supporting cast is wonderful, including a kind Fleur and a likable Harry.

Excerpt (Snape decides to find out why Tonks is claiming she's had "a lot on my mind"):

He did a nonverbal Legilimens and pushed, searching specifically for whatever she was talking about. He wasn't disappointed. He watched as she gave Lupin a dressing-down for being stodgy, boring, and old. As the last glass flew at Lupin, Severus pulled out of the memory, laughing almost helplessly.

He felt a Stinging Hex hit his shoulder at the same time as she exclaimed, "You're laughing at me, too! You bastards deserve each other!" Her face and hair were red with embarrassment or anger--or both, he imagined--and she actually stamped her foot.

He raised both eyebrows. He and Lupin deserved each other? Well…that was an intriguing thought. He wondered if she'd--

"Not like that," she said lamely after a minute. Then she obviously thought about that some more. Her expression turned devious.

"Don't even think it," Severus said loftily. "I could have told you, had you bothered asking, that Lupin is gayer than a maypole. My personal life, however, is entirely none of your business."

She stared at him. "What?"

He arched an eyebrow. "Hardly an eloquent question, Miss Tonks." Outwardly he was calm, albeit amused. Inwardly he had an unexplainable urge to giggle with glee.

The Mastery of Passions (NC17, 17K, set during OotP)
Author's summary: Severus thinks he might rather have died under Voldemort's wand than be sentenced to recover surrounded by Dark magic and Gryffindors.
Ribbons's reaction: Hurt/comfort (in spite of the characters involved), and the ending wrings my heart.

Excerpt:

"Far be it for anyone else to have a moment's bloody peace with you around, Severus. For your information, I'm doing this for Albus because he asked me to, not out of some misguided sense of obligation to your sorry arse. And furthermore, eat the fucking soup. NOW!"

Never More (PG, 15K)
Author's summary: Sometimes, it's harder to come home than it is to leave it.
Ribbons' reaction: Features Snape as the "Travelling Curmudgeon," Lupin as an innkeeper in Bath, and a likable supporting cast (including Harry/Ginny and Andromeda)

Excerpt:

Meeting with the publisher in London was easier than Severus had expected. He'd anticipated being back in England would be stressful and upsetting, but it felt oddly like coming home. The weather was cool, and he spent one entire day out in parks around the city, watching the people: families with small children, playing and laughing, retail workers spending their short lunch breaks eating or using their silly electronic devices, everyday people living their every day lives.

In the late afternoon, he looked up to find Harry walking towards him.

"I heard reports of a giant scary bat," Harry said, when he drew closer, "so I knew you must have come into town."

Like Minds (NC17, 9K)
From the author's summary: ...non-magical AU. Remus and Severus are rival mafia bosses.
Ribbons's reaction: The fic opens with Remus sitting in a Catholic church; the first words out of Snape's mouth are "Why we can't meet somewhere with padded seats... C of E, perhaps?" And the way the supporting characters map over (especially Harry) also delights me.

Excerpt:

"Dora says thank you for the cruet set, by the way."

Remus'd not been sure what to make of the pair of rotund, dopey, daisy-chewing cow-shaped salt and pepper shakers. They'd stood out like dog's balls amongst the more traditional – and classier – wedding gifts of crystal and silver. Was Snape trying to tell him something? He'd decided at last he was being paranoid, that it was just his… associate's warped sense of humour. Besides, Dora had laughed when she saw them, declaring them the most original of their presents. The cows now had pride of place on the kitchen window sill.

Comments

[snegurochka_lee.insanejournal.com]

Well, then. So much for my author guess on 'Severance Pay'... ;)

[bronze_ribbons.insanejournal.com]

*beams* Considering how much you enjoyed "Severance Pay," that is wicked flattering! :-D

[snegurochka_lee.insanejournal.com]

Oh yes! I mean it as flattering! I should stop making public guesses, though: last year someone was highly offended that I guessed them as the author of a story they thought was shit. Heh. (Not at SnuSa, no worries).

[bronze_ribbons.insanejournal.com]

*speechless*

I figure if someone even remembers me enough to put me forward as a guess, I ought to be flattered. And when someone thinks I've written a story they like - woot! (Last year, I took a great deal of pleasure out of at least two people admitting they thought I'd written pixychelle's "What We're Fighting For.")

[mnemosyne_1.insanejournal.com]

Thank you for the rec! :D Despite my usual angsting about hating to write porn, that one nearly wrote itself for some reason - possibly because it was less about the sex than it was less about the sex than about the comfort and emotions involved...

[dichroic.livejournal.com (from insanejournal.com)]

Peg - If you haven't already (you probably have) I *strongly* suggest you read this (http://community.livejournal.com/readers_list/116078.html) on the worth of fanwork. I think you'll find it fascinating.

[bronze_ribbons.insanejournal.com]

I've been avoiding OTW (and related) discussions for the time being (it'll all still be there after the holidays, the next raft of deadlines, etc...) but I did go see the post you linked to, and it is indeed thought-provoking. It reminds me a bit of the article in last month's Wired (http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/15-11/ff_manga) on the economics of manga/doujinshi.

My own attitude towards intellectual property and profit is definitely colored by my years in publishing and retail: seeing first-hand both how poorly most books and magazines sell and how quickly they vanish from the landscape pretty much solidified my resistance to becoming a writer for the sake of Being a Writer. Don't get me wrong -- I'll be entering a book competition or three in a decade or so, once I produce enough poems for a solid manuscript, and I'm ambitious enough that "Norton Anthology" still shows up in my daydreams. But it's all still a gigantic game of roulette, in the end (there was a recent review in the New York Times Book Review that talked about it - actually, I think I'll quote it in the other journal in a minute...) ... so I've concluded that when anyone reads me -- and, even better, rereads me, and prints out my work and/or forward/shares it (as long as I'm credited!), that's already a blessing beyond measure, considering all the other things that people could be doing or reading, regardless of whether I got a check out of it or not.

(Mind, I also believe in helping publishers earn back what they can on their investments/gambles, asking permission beyond fair use, etc. But what really warms me and keeps me writing is knowing I've managed to create some things that resonated enough with other people to keep and treasure beyond their first glance at it - and if I manage to create characters or scenes so real (and/or engaging) that people are desperate to know more about them or feel compelled to extend/expand their lives beyond what I've written, go me!)

[Didn't mean to respond at length, but I've been slogging through what Le Pretre Noir calls "Oh Lord, My Give A Shit's Broke" lately, so this is as much a pep talk to myself as an off-the-cuff polemic. And I will almost certainly feel better once I get myself to clear the current flock of albatrosses off my deck...]

[snegurochka_lee.insanejournal.com]

Oh, hey, regarding 'zine: Did you ever re-post D'Accord D'Accord anywhere online? I wanted to rec it, but am waiting for re-posts because have had some complaints that the 'zine is not downloadable for everyone on public computers and such. :)

[bronze_ribbons.insanejournal.com]

*speechless*

*SQUEE*

It's been on the to-do list. *sigh* Give me a couple days more to get to it, yeah? I really ought to finish New Year's cards before I go hunt down the file and html it... :-/

[bronze_ribbons.insanejournal.com]

Not yet done with cards, but I needed a break from them. Alors:
http://bronze-ribbons.insanejournal.com/115004.html

Merci beaucoup! :-)

[snegurochka_lee.insanejournal.com]

Hurrah! Just waiting for one more, and I'll do up a post. I really liked that story! It's one that's stuck with me since I first read it back in the spring. :)