Book Meme, Day 14

14. An old favorite.

Child of the Morning by Pauline Gedge. This was the novel which introduced me to Hatshepsut, female Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty. The internet tells me it was originally published ca. 40 years ago (gulp! Because while it took probably some years to get translated into German, I did read the hardcover German edition), and it's been a while since my last reread, but this was and remains one of my favourite historical novels.

Hatshepsut is an engaging heroine, unapologetically brilliant but not above compromise if she has to. Rare for a historical novel featuring a queen, her main love interest, the architect Senmut - who builds the famous temple of Deir-el-Bahri for her and also becomes her high steward , is not given modern issues re: their power differential. Gedge also manages to make it believable she can't bring herself to kill her stepson/nephew, even though she's aware he'll eventually destroy her. The last part of the novel always managed to reduce me to tears whenever I read it, and I don't cry easily.

Subsequently, I read a lot of Pauline Gedge's other novels - she returned to ancient Egypt frequently in her fiction - and wihle I like a lot of them, this one remains my firm favourite. What's true for all of them, though, is that she manages to conjure up an Egypt which feels (to this interested laywoman who has read a lot but has not studied the subject) genuine and plausible, not a contemporary story in nice costumes. (For example, no one blinks at the incestous marriages which are the norm for Egyptian royalty. There is no "as you know, Bob" scene explaining this; it's part of their world.) I also read other fictional takes on Hatshepsut, by good authors, by mediocre authors, but again: this remains my favorite.


( The other days )

Her name is Carter, Peggy Carter

The ssrconfidential stories are no longer anonymous. Thus, here are the two I wrote this year.

For Their Eyes Only (11281 words) by Selena
Chapters: 10/10
Fandom: Agent Carter (TV), James Bond - Ian Fleming, James Bond (Movies)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Peggy Carter & Howard Stark, Peggy Carter & James Bond, Howard Stark & James Bond
Characters: Peggy Carter, Howard Stark, James Bond, Edwin Jarvis, Male M (James Bond), Moneypenny (James Bond), Whitney Frost, Bernard Stark, Bill Tanner
Additional Tags: Crossover, Peggy's Spy Kit, Howard's Lab, Challenge Response, Historical References, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Post-Canon, Post-Season/Series 02, 1950s
Summary:

Whitney Frost is at large again, and Peggy and Howard are determined to stop her. They didn't count on a certain British agent's interference...

Or:

Vulgar millionaires, mad scientists, lethally dangerous women - it's just another day in the life of James Bond, until he realises that this time, the roles keep switching...

This was my official assignment. One of my recipient's prompts asked for Peggy, Howard and shenanigans. Now I had a Peggy character study on my brain which I'd been meaning to write for a while, but that one was going to be dark in tone, whereas this request sounded like the recipient wanted something lighthearted, so it would have bean a jerk move to ignore that. No problem, thought I, a fun adventure for Peggy and Howard sounds like my kind of thing, too, I adore both characters. What kind of adventure could it be? Something like a Bond movie, perhaps. And then it hit me: the originall, very first version of James Bond, the one from the Fleming novels, would actually have been their contemporary.

This proved to be all the incentive I needed. I had a blast plotting a Carter/Bond crossover. Using as many Bond tropes (from books and movies alike) as I could, with a Carter twist. It also gave me the opportunity to give Whitney Frost another outing, and the banter between the three main characters just came naturally. Oh, and since my beta asked: no, I didn't have a particular Bond actor in mind. Insert your Bond of choice to be this adventure's morally ambiguous Carter boy.)


Five Times Peggy Carter Compromised (4063 words) by Selena
Chapters: 5/5
Fandom: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Peggy Carter & Howard Stark, Peggy Carter & J. Edgar Hoover, Peggy Carter & Tony Stark, Peggy Carter & Howard Stark & Tony Stark, Peggy Carter & Armin Zola, Howard Stark & Tony Stark
Characters: Peggy Carter, Howard Stark, Chester Phillips, J. Edgar Hoover, Tony Stark, Arnim Zola
Additional Tags: Moral Ambiguity, Moral Dilemmas, Treat, Historical References, Backstory, World War II, Character Study, Historical, Post-Canon, Post-Season/Series 02, Challenge Response, 1940s, 1950s, 1990s, 1960s
Summary:

Before Nick Fury, Peggy Carter was the spy, and even her secrets had secrets. Five times Peggy made moral compromises, and the reasons why.

This was the story I wrote as a treat, which has been haunting me for years. (Ever since the Captain America: Winter Soldier reveal about Zola having worked for SHIELD, to be precise.) If the assignment was a lighthearted Peggy-as-Bond (only not) romp, this was my John Le Carré outing for her. Basically Peggy Carter as George Smiley, with all the shadiness in addition to the good intentions that implies. The case for morally ambigious Peggy Carter, let me make it. (Also, it's another of those partly meta stories of mine where I argue with a lot of fanon.)