Cap_Ironman Weekly News, Week Ending 27 November 2011

[valtyr]

Today I am enjoying What If The Male Avengers Posed Like The Female One? Heh.

If you'd like to be a helpful, helpful creature and beta for people, please go add yourself to the Beta List.

Hayley Atwell talks about playing Peggy, and the possibility of her appearing again.

Anne McCaffrey passed on recently. Many of us remember fondly (and with a slight tinge of WTF) her works; which of your works would you like to see as a fusion or crossover with Avengers? We've already had a Pern fusion, and I recall a very short Brainship drabble - perhaps Crystal Singers, or Tony as the Brain of a space station, or maybe something more obscure? What if the Avengers discovered Steve the alien space unicorn.

Anyway, now that your minds are blown, on to the glorious round-up.



tsukinofaerii posted Knitwear

amuly posted Ghost in the Machine

stardustcities posted this ain't no hotel room, honey

keelover posted I Block Out What Everyone Has To Say

shinysylver posted Belonging

arminaa posted Eloquent Silence

ashinan posted Metal Heart

stardustcities posted the shape of things

whizzy posted Cap and Carry

jenlynn820 posted Only Forever

elderloki posted Part 1 of The University Project

ddelline posted dreams are made in the distance

amuly posted At Least Macy's Parade Didn't Change... For the Most Part


Finally, if you're a new or recent member, hello and welcome! Our rules are here, and in the profile; this includes our warnings policy, so please read. If you're interested in the ship, you may want to read the Ship Manifesto, and consult the list of Slashy Moments. If you're planning to write for the comm, there are some tips on writing the pairing here, and the Avengers in general here; if you're having trouble finding a beta, or would like to offer your services as a beta, our beta list is here. If you're looking for the comm archive, it's Tales of Suspense, and it's automated - you can create an account and upload your fic. If you're looking for a particular story, why not try cap_im_finders? If you have any questions, you can comment here or PM a mod, that's me, muccamukk, or garrideb.

Comments

[grand-duc.livejournal.com]

How strange is it that I've only read 2 of Anne McCafrey's book but I one of them was the Alien Space Unicorn?

[truthiness-aura.livejournal.com]

Tell me more of this Alien Space Unicorn, kind soul. ::bemused::

[grand-duc.livejournal.com]

A trio of Space miner find an escape pod with a baby Alien Unicorn in it (or more like a cross between a fawn and a unicorn, heavily anthropomorphised)and end up raising her on the run because their bosses only wanted to experiment/chirurgically remove her horn/I don't remember.

I just found it funny that I know almost nothing about her work but that the obscure reference ended up being the book I had read

[truthiness-aura.livejournal.com]

Ahhhhhhhhh, I see. I would like to read McCaffery's books, but I feel like they might be best enjoyed as a teen? Like if I read them now they would be less "awesome" and more "wtf".

[ellex42.livejournal.com]

You hit the nail on the head. I also remember McCaffrey's books with great fondness, but with the realization that I've outgrown them. At this point, I think the only one I'd recommend is the little-known "Restoree", and maybe "To Ride Pegasus".
Avoid the space unicorn at all costs (look up "Acorna" on Amazon - the cover illustration gets it about right)because the basic concept is just too pre-adolescent for an adult to enjoy.
If you can get through "Dragonflight", which is excellent considering when it was published, the next two books in that trilogy (Dragonquest, The White Dragon) are pretty decent for the political/societal world-building content. Just be aware that McCaffrey really liked pairing people off, and there's no homosexuality in her world (again, consider when the books were written). Other than that, you'll probably find the books not sophisticated enough to really enjoy.

I have to admit that the excellent quality of quite a lot of fanfiction has actually spoiled me for a lot of published authors.

[ellex42.livejournal.com]

So now that I'm thinking about "what Anne McCaffrey books would I actually recommend to someone over the age of, say, 18?", has anyone else actually read "Restoree"? (yes, I've read just about everything McCaffrey wrote up until she started collaborating with her son)
How about Tony and Steve wake up on an strange planet populated by humanoids under siege by monstrous aliens after those same aliens attack Earth? ARgh, I don't know how to explain the plot of "Restoree"...

[meteorfire.livejournal.com]

I will admit, I didn't get the space unicorn reference. Then I started thinking of books she'd written that I'd read, and the first one in my mind was the Acorna series. Space unicorn mystery solved. I think an encounter with the Khleevi would be interesting--or maybe something to do with the child slaves/laborers? I remember reading the first however many books, then Aari went back in time and started being a pod-Aari in present time and that's about when I got bored with the series.

Or maybe something to do with Tony and the Brain and Brawn Ship series. Maybe he's a shell-person? Wait, no. Was that already suggested?

I'd suggest something with the Pern-verse, but I know that's been done a few times. Although, maybe Steve and Tony are the dragons rather than the riders?

[valtyr]

There's homosexuality - green riders are almost entirely male, and partner primarily with brown riders. They're written as somewhat effeminate, iirc. And there's a certain amount of rapeyness even outside the dragon-matings.

[valtyr]

Apparently there were ten Acorna books, which boggles my mind.

[valtyr]

Someone (I think elspethdixon?) did a very short fic where Tony was a ship and Steve his captain, but I forget if that was actually a Brainship. Tony would make a fantastic shell-person, though!

I couldn't believe there were ten Acorna books. Wow.

[valtyr]

I have read Restoree. It was weird. Steve as a Restoree? I recall there being interesting ideas in her Talents series, and her Brainship books were quite interesting. Probably I'd rec the Brainship books as respectable space opera.

[valtyr]

The Golden Age of science fiction is twelve. ;)

Like pony books, or Mercedes Lackey, or Robert Jordan, I think they work best if you imprint on them at an impressionable age.

Although McCaffrey did have some genuinely interesting ideas - I've heard it said she was one of the first person to merge sci-fi and fantasy, and Dragonflight has some pretty ace, innovative plot twists.

Decision at Doona was quite interesting, as Earth makes first contact with its second alien race, and tries to avoid the terrible consequences that followed their first first contact.

[grand-duc.livejournal.com]

I kinda knew there was more than one but ten? O.o

[stalkerbunny.livejournal.com]

Haha, the first link kind of gave me flashbacks to... certain images of Tony and Steve (and doubtlessly they exist of other male heroes too) xD Especially Tony's certain flight/near-landing poses. And the way some of his armours are very... shapely.

(Which is not to discredit the point of the op at all, since one actually has to look for the things I mentioned and they're usually not cover images/posters, but I'm amused anyway)

[meteorfire.livejournal.com]

I will have to look that one up.

There were ten books? Really? I thought there were only five or six! That seems like a bit much to me.

[tsukinofaerii.livejournal.com]

You pry my nostalgia blinkers from me at your own peril. D:<

I just can't believe the Dragonlady is gone. Anne McCaffrey was probably the reason I started writing; I loved how she built whole worlds, and I've never stopped wanting a dragon. Writing about them is about as close as you can get to having a dragon of your own, I think. Pern is a generational thing in my house—I still have copies that originally belonged to my grandmother and got passed down. ;a; It'll always be close to my heart.

Gah, I waited to post this and I'm still getting teary. (sniff) I'll be over here clutching my copy of Dragondawn.

[salmastryon.livejournal.com]

I totally think a Brain Brawn ship story with them would be awesome! Heck and Steve might work better as the brain ship with the whole time thing. :)

[paxnirvana.livejournal.com]

The Harlequin Space Romance one? Yeah. Read it. It's not bad.

People as food is the trope, actually. And I could see lots of victim!Tony out of a fusion from that world. Lots and lots. @_@

[paxnirvana.livejournal.com]

*is quietly horrified too*

I loved the Dragonriders (and still do), but I must admit I gave up on her after the rape-short (Barevei) got made into a whole entire series all about justifying why its okay to fall in love with your rapist. @_@

[ellex42.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's why it's the only McCaffrey novel that really came to mind for a fusion with the Avengers. Tony does victim angst really, really well.

[ellex42.livejournal.com]

Aawww...yes, despite the fact that I really feel like I've outgrown her books, they still have a special place in my heart. My autographed copy of Moreta will certainly never be donated to the library.

[ellex42.livejournal.com]

I liked the world-building of that series, but the relationship stuff was certainly horrendous. Lust for one's rapist is one thing as a short piece of erotic fiction. Converting it into a serious and loving relationship is truly off-putting.

[ellex42.livejournal.com]

I don't remember that, but it's been a long time since I read any of the Pern novels.

[ellex42.livejournal.com]

I love Decision at Doona. I'm happy to admit I've probably read it nearly as many times as The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (which is to say, a LOT of times). I think it's one of her best - and most mature - books.

[ellex42.livejournal.com]

Ten?! Oh dear. I couldn't finish the first one.

[ellex42.livejournal.com]

Have you read "The City Who Fought"? It was a collaboration between S.M. Stirling and Anne McCaffrey, about a shell-person inhabiting a space station. I don't care for the other Brain and Brawn books, but I liked that one.

Tony as a shell-person almost seems too obvious, but I don't recall reading anything longer than a short one-shot fic along that line.

Also, I like your dancing River Song icon.

[meteorfire.livejournal.com]

No, I haven't read that one, actually. I'll have to see if I can find it.

It does, but...it works, it fits, and it's only been briefly done before, so I'd say that makes it fair game. :) I'm sure there are more obvious routes that could be taken.

:) Thanks!

[valtyr]

Seconding The City Who Fought recommendation - warning it does get a bit brutal and dark at times, much more so than the Ship books.

[valtyr]

:D yes, there are certainly times when Tony (and Steve) have shown off the good to spectacular effect! But it's quite rare they attack the enemy butt-first, lol.

[valtyr]

There's still plenty to love about her work! She did have some great world-building, and the plot of Dragonflight was really quite innovative and original.

[valtyr]

Yes - iirc, in the book series he didn't actually rape the heroine, just said he might, and then thrown together survival blah blah, but they cheerfully ignore the fact he's apparently a casual serial rapist. :|

They also 'solve' the problem of them not being able to conceive together by her getting drunk, cheating on him once with a genetically compatible dude, and her getting knocked up. Her partner is nothing but delighted when she's suddenly pregnant by someone else.

[valtyr]

I think either could work! Tony's a good match because in parts of canon he's dependent upon machinery to survive, but you could make becoming a shellperson into Steve's Super-Soldier treatment. You should write it. :)

[tsukinofaerii.livejournal.com]

I think I'll never outgrow them just because those memories are so strong, but I've developed an extremely effective WTF ANNE filter.

Moreta ohgeeze Moreta. D: It was my first deathfic and my mother didn't warn me. D: D: D: I was inconsolable.

[tsukinofaerii.livejournal.com]

Great world-building, good characters, excellent weaving of genres... I just sort of don't look at specific parts of canon, or grab one tiny inconsistency and string it out into a long, complex piece of fanon. (Rape in mating flights? Nope nope nope, they just use doubles or stand-ins, it totally says exactly that in Dragonseye, really it does la la la.)

[valtyr]

Never mind during mating flights, Lessa and Brekke were both raped by their True Loves. :|

[valtyr]

My first Pern book was Dragonsinger, so I was well warned for Moreta's death.

[stalkerbunny.livejournal.com]

Indeed. Pity, could have a pretty distracting effect, no?

[salmastryon.livejournal.com]

I've never really written any avenger fanfiction. Of course now that you mentioned it my mind is thinking out in more detail the whole scenario. >.>

[valtyr]

There is a first time for everything! And it would be a glorious thing.

[elspethdixon.livejournal.com]

IIRC, they partner with blue riders as often as brown, but I'd add the disclaimer that I read the series when I was 8-10, and that was a long time ago.

[elspethdixon.livejournal.com]

I wanted to be Lessa when I was nine. I think a small part of me is still sad that I don't have long, black hair and grey eyes and the ability to telepathically speak to all dragons.

[elspethdixon.livejournal.com]

I remember the F'lar/Lessa stuff (where the sex apparently happens several more times post-mating flight despite Lessa's mentioned-in-text lack of enthusiasm), but where does F'nor rape Brekke? Her dragon's mating flight is never completed because tragic plot stuff involving the eeeevh0l hold with the evil greedy ruler happens.

I'm sure it happened somewhere in Dragonquest, but it probably went right over my 9/10-year-old head.

[elspethdixon.livejournal.com]

There were ten? I only remember three. Where on earth did she find enough plto for seven more, unless she switched to writing about Acorna's Mary Sue children with the other space unicorn (there was a boy one, too, eventually, right?).

The McCaffery-style brainship fic is this one (http://elspethdixon.livejournal.com/171080.html) where Steve is the captain, Hank, Jan, and Thor are crew,and Tony's the ship. There's actually a whole plotbunny that goes with it where Steve and Bucky were the cryogenically frozen only survivors of a space ship destroyed in a Great Big War fifty years ago, and Bucky was so badly mangled in the process that he's made into a brainship (the Winter Soldier, Nastasha's the captain and sole crew and they do covert ops and spying/smuggling for Space Commander Fury) so Steve put in for captaincy of a brainship - the brawn position, essentially - in hopes of rejoining him, but got assigned to Tony instead. And then finds out once they're in space for their first mission that Tony deliberately cycled his supposed-to-have-tragically-committed-suicide previous captain Bruce Banner out the airlock when he went crazy in deep space and tried to kill the rest of the crew. Which is an automatic death sentence for a brainship (The brain of the Pride of Latveria tried to do it to Captain Richards and the other three members of his crew, who survived but were exposed to cosmic radiation and mutated by it in the process, and the Dayspring's supposedly been hijacked by a mercenary but is known by space navy command to have actually gone rogue, and everyone knows the Battleship X has been a little crazy since his first captain deserted and became a terrorist space pirate, so command is a little paranoid about it's ship-people now). And it's obvious the whole rest of the crew knew about it and covered it up to protect each other, which is basically mutiny, and also Steve's fallen in love with Tony, so oh noes, what does he do?

[valtyr]

Yeah, it went right over my head as a kid. When F'nor realises she's not sleeping with... T'bor? Anyway, he has sex with her, and she's described as fighting him frantically, but he's firm with her, and then she surrenders passionately. So yeah.

[valtyr]

:D this sounds amazing.

[elspethdixon.livejournal.com]

she's described as fighting him frantically, but he's firm with her, and then she surrenders passionately.

That scenario seems like it was A Thing in 70s romance novels. The Wolf and the Dove, (which was good, at least when I was 13, probably because there's a h/c scene with cauterization) and The Flame the Flower (which sucked) both had it.

There's a definite upper-age-limit to being able to really get into the early Pern novels. When I was 10/11/12, Dragonflight was one of my favorite books in the world. Seanchai didn't read it until high school, and was so horrified by the part where F'lar grabs Lessa and shakes her that ten years later, it's the only part of the whole book she remembers (possibly because she stopped reading at that point).

[salmastryon.livejournal.com]

So, I'm leaning towards doing this. need to finish rereading the various ship books. I'm still a little intimidated because my familiarity with the avengers comes from the movies, Earth's greats heroes and a few comics here and there I read from a friend back when I was a kid. So I'm worried about characterizations. :/

Also need to come up with a villain... *sighs*

[valtyr]

Hey, that's fine - just make it either movieverse or Earth's Mightiest Heroes continuity! You don't need to have read any comics for that. :)

You don't necessarily need a villain, either! Think Star Trek plots - diplomacy, exploration, scientific expeditions! It doesn't have to be a shoot em up. :)