Remix Reveal!

[selenak]

Or, Return of the Redheads. Because by sheer coincidence, both the remix I first wrote and my pinch hit feature a ginger woman as the central character, which didn't occur to me until recently.

Redhead the first was Atia of the Julii, from the tv show Rome. I've never written in Rome fandom before and probably won't again because while I enjoyed the show very much as a watcher, as a writer my inner historian would probably get in the way too much, and that's just awkward. However, when I saw I got the fabulous kangeiko as an assignment, my mind at once went to her Rome story from Yuletide, Luxury, which featured Octavia and Atia during Octavia's wedding night and managed to draw a great portrait of the two at that point with a few lines, from Octavia's pov. Since the way this mother-daughter relationship changed over the course of the show - the way they relate in the s2 finale is so very different from the s1 premiere, and yet there is one constant - was one of my favourite elements, and since there is all too few fanfic about the relationship between two women anyway, I decided to go for an overall portrait, from Octavia's birth onward, from Atia's pov, using the scene from Luxury as one of the stages they go through. This resulted in:


Survival (The Amy Tan Remix)


As Rome isn't exactly a big fandom, and what fandom there is tends to focus on Pullo and Vorenus, I was very pleasantly surprised by the amount of feedback. My Atia muse tells me this is because not many can deny the Julii, compelling dysfunctional family that they are.

Redhead the second was Lyta Alexander, of Babylon 5. I had volunteered to pinch hit, and B5 is one of my oldest and dearest fandoms, so when I got leyenn - who coincidentally wrote last year's remix of one of my B5 stories - I more or less was sure I'd go for one of her B5 stories. (Though we share other fandoms, too; Star Trek: TNG, for example.) Which one to choose was a somewhat trickier question, since most of them revolve around her OTP, Susan Ivanova and Talia Winters. I like both characters (and prefer Susan/Talia infinitely to Susan/Marcus, if you've got to know), but very few of my stories have a romantic relationship as their primary focus. It's just not the way my writerly instinct works. On the other hand, one of the beauties of the remix is that finding other aspects to focus on is one of the primary challenges. Then I discovered one of leyenn's stories pairs Ivanova not with Talia but with Lyta Alexander, in a one night stand at some point post Objects at Rest. It's a great Ivanova portrait in her Russian cynicism and buried wistfulness, and Lyta is enigmatic, with a few interesting hints as to what her motives might be. Now, though as far as B5 is concerned I'm very much Centauri-centric in my fannish attentions (insert Selena's usual "Londo Mollari is my favourite tv character of all time, Vir is the most adorable one ever, I love Centauri Prime almost as much as Londo does and the Londo/G'Kar arc is the best of the show" rave here), but my secondary interest was probably held by the telepaths. (Well. Most of them.) Which has resulted in some stories about Bester in the past, and one about post-Divided Loyalties-Talia, but until now not about Lyta. I did have, however, a couple of meta ideas about her that somehow never made it into a cohesive fictional whole, and I always wanted to write that story. The situation leyenn had set up reminded me that I had always wondered what it had been like for Lyta to basically kill Talia through sending that command, and this in turn reminded me of some of my old ideas. So the remix became a Lyta portrait, in which poor Susan was relegated to a cameo and didn't even get as many lines as G'Kar while Bester and Talia became the primary prisms through which to regard Lyta:

I Have Become (Death) (The J. Robert Oppenheimer Remix)

So... was either of these two "fingerprinted", oh flist? *is curious*

Comments

[kangeiko]

I am made of fail, for I have been away from lj and did not realise that the remix stories were out. *sigh* Mea culpa. I have now read your amazing take on Atia, which made me warm & glowy and then proceeded to break my heart into a million billion pieces. You need to write more of Atia, my dear, you capture her so unbelievably well. Thank you so much for writing such an amazing story.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Well, Atia is sort irresistable, so who knows.*g* And ego te absolvo. I'm just glad you liked the story!

[kangeiko]

Well, Atia is sort irresistable, so who knows.*g* And ego te absolvo. I'm just glad you liked the story!

No, no, loved, loved the story.

And I've just realised that I still have 3/4 of I,Claudius still to watch - work exploded when I'd just started in on it seriously - so, hmmm, I have a day off coming up soon, and what better way to fill it that with Rome and I, Claudius??

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

This would be a perfect use for my Talia Winters "What am I, a mind reader?" icon, if I still had it loaded.

Anyway, I must say I probably would have finger printed the B5 story if I had not been privileged to read it beforehand (though that's easy to say, of course, as I haven't read all that much B5 fic, so Bester sets off my 'Selena' alarm. Which is the good kind of alarm, of course!)

In any case, I was glad to see this fic recced all over the place, because Lyta really does deserve this kind of exploration, and it's a great 'backstage' take on the original. Plus, you do a great job with Susan, even when shes' not the focus of the story.

And speaking of connections between stories, I ended up writing two remixes about Magneto's daughters -- however did that happen?

And you remind me that I've meant to watch Rome! Are both seasons worth it? I've heard good things!

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Rome: Yes, both seasons are worth it. I've got nitpicks with both, and the first two episodes are slow going, but I can definitely recommend the show.

Thank you again for beta'ing on such short notice and so quickly. And you know, I kind of guessed you were behind 1602! House of M; 'twas a wonderful thing, my dear.

though that's easy to say, of course, as I haven't read all that much B5 fic, so Bester sets off my 'Selena' alarm. Which is the good kind of alarm, of course!

*g* Good to know. andrastewhite wrote a great story about an s1 Bester and G'Kar encounter, btw, which you should read...

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

And you know, I kind of guessed you were behind 1602!

A lot of folks seem to have clued in to that :). I've now written two 1602 fics, both as hasty pinchhits, and now I'm thinking of poking around and seeing if we can get the ficathon going again. Something about this franchise seems to produce really outstanding stories (as I went and looked at a bunch of them before writing the pinch hit, it jogged my memory!)

[nolivingman.livejournal.com]

I haven't read the Rome one yet, but if I had read the B5 without knowing it was yours, I probably would have guessed. All that excellent Bester and Lyta. The only thing that would have made me puzzle over it was the fact that Lyta and Susan hooked up - like you said, you don't write romance much in fic.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Well, the Lyta and Susan one night stand was the premise of the original story.*g* And I'm very gratified "excellent Bester and Lyta" translates into me for you!