2019 Fandom Promo!

[crantz]

Welcome to the Fandom Promo post, everyone!

Here's where you get those eyes on your fandoms for sign ups!

Share what makes your Yuletide fandoms the shiniest and why you love them. A big part of Yuletide is how small our fandoms can be, and this is a good way to make sure other people know what gems there are out there!

Suggested form to use:

<b>FANDOM NAME</b>:
<b>WHAT MAKES IT GREAT</b>:
<b>WHERE CAN I FIND IT?(optional)</b>:


For reference, last year's promo post!

This post on LJ

Comments

[the_wavesinger]

FANDOM NAME: The Shoes of the Fisherman - Morris West

WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: Religion, politics, and slashy subtext!

It's a novel about a new Pope (who is an outsider to the Vatican administration, and was only recently appointed a Cardinal in absentia) being appointed.

The writing is pretty great, and the author has done his research and knows what he's doing, so the Vatican politics are very well-written and interesting. You don't need to know very much about Vatican politics or Catholicism to get what's going on, IMO.

While the characters are surrounded by petty people and while they do not-very-nice things, they're also very idealistic people, so 'Vatican and world politics in the early 1960s' is not as depressing as it sounds, and the overall tone is very hopeful from beginning to end despite the angst and despair.

The Pope himself--Kiril--is very human, and he's been through a lot, and he's a very fun character because he's very wry and self-aware. The 'ordinary' characters are also wonderful and angst all over the place. The characters struggle with their faith a lot, and all of them (even the Pope) do or have done awful things at some point in their lives, but the narrative presents them very sympathetically, partly because the main PoV character is Kiril, and he's a very compassionate person.

There's also a lot of slashy subtext between the Pope and his former torturer, as well as the Pope and a priest who's looking to get his book approved by a Vatican review board (and the subtext becomes outright text at points), and there's a lot of iddy loyalty kink if that's your thing. Considering that it's a book about the Vatican written in the 1960s, I was surprised by how frankly and non-judgmentally homosexuality was discussed, even in the case of a married man having an affair with a politician's (IIRC) son.

(Fair warning, though: it's progressive for its time, very progressive, but some of the attitudes are still very dated, especially wrt misogny. It's also obviously very religion-heavy.)

WHERE CAN I FIND IT?(optional): Available in Kindle, paperback, or hardcover on Amazon. Also available from Barnes & Noble, probably at many other bookstores, and possibly at your library. Also available for free online at Open Library.

[eglantiere]

i just want to note that, while i'm not up to writing it, i read it last year based on your rec, and enjoyed it a great deal. i hope you get the fic of your heart this yule!

[the_wavesinger]

Aaah, thank you! And I'm glad you liked the book ♥️. It's one of my all-time favourites and even if I don't get a fic for it it makes me happy that other people have read it and enjoyed it!