Fic rec: The Apple Grove by Piscaria (and some rambling about fandoms)

[sophinisba]

It rained off and on all day yesterday and was pleasantly cool, a perfect day for sitting inside reading fic, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading piscaria's 50K Arthur/Merlin fic The Apple Grove.

I feel a little silly reccing it because I think most people who are interested in long Arthur/Merlin fics read it when it came out back in 2010. I remember seeing it and seeing recs for it at the time and thinking it looked interested, but I just wasn't reading long fics at the time. It was before e-readers came into my life, you see.

[e-book/formatting aside!: I've just acquired an iPad through work and this was the first fic I've read in the iBooks app. So pretty! The big margins are a little annoying because I would like to have more of the screen taken up by text (the Kindle lets me control that, the iPad doesn't), and at the same time that format made it look much more like an actual book. And unlike the Kindle (or at least my Kindle), iBooks is able to parse chapters from the AO3, so it gave me a table of contents and would have this info at the bottom of the screen, like, "15 pages left in this chapter", so I would know yeah, I can totally read that much before I go check my email. I think the chapters were around 5K each which is a good amount for me to read in one sitting. And flipping through the pages oh so light and easy ahhhhh gadgets I love them!!]

So, a magic reveal (CLASSIC, CAN'T GO WRONG WITH A MAGIC REVEAL) followed by Arthur and knights on a quest to get Merlin back, with Gwen! At this point I've gotten so used to Arthur's knights that it was weird to go back to a fic based on season 2 where the knights were mostly OCs. I missed Gwaine and Elyan and the boys, but this fic wouldn't really have worked with them along, because the premise was that Arthur was out to help Merlin while the other knights were following Uther's orders to capture and maybe kill him. Anyway, despite all that Piscaria made them interesting and sympathetic characters.

Besides that, although it was clear that the endgame was Arthur/Merlin, there was real friendship and affection (and a little bit of sexytimes) between Arthur and Gwen, and I really liked the part she had on the quest. I liked that she was there and holding her own but not acting like one more knight, that she was not as physically strong as the men but brought her own skills, including forethought and loyalty to Arthur and Merlin. She just felt like a regular character and not like obstacle that she sometimes becomes in Arthur/Merlin fics.

The narration is third-person omniscient, which was definitely a bit disconcerting at first, since I've gotten so used to being limited to one character's POV in fanfic, or at most switching off between chapters or sections. So here we'd go between Arthur's thoughts and Merlin's feelings and Morgause's observation, maybe within a single paragraph, and in the first chapter I was not down with that, but then once I accepted it it was cool, and in fact just added to the feeling that I was reading a novel. This reminded me a bit of LotR and, more so, the Chronicles of Narnia, including the occasional bits where the narrator would address me as the reader, and I don't know how to explain it but that just brought me back to the experience of reading fantasy and being read to as a kid and made me feel very safe and cared for.

But then also there was sex! Which, to be honest, I wasn't especially into (I think that happens with me sometimes, like I like a good PWP on its own but I don't really get into the sex scenes in a long plotty fic) but there were lots of other things I was into, including Merlin going kinda crazy and some lovely h/c (with both Arthur and Merlin being hurt at different times). In general it was really action packed and well paced. Sometimes I (try/start to) read these long fics and find that the author's taking a lot more words than they need to to tell a simple story, possibly because it's a big bang challenge and they're pushing for the wordcount and maybe don't do enough editing later. Anyway, this fic wasn't like that at all, it was just the good parts and nothing I felt like skipping over. Hooray!

In other news, I am clinging stubbornly to this fandom. Not that that's difficult to do! I mean, it's not a small fandom, and there are new fics coming out all the time, and now a variety of people podficcing a variety of pairings and genres (more on that in another post soon) and plenty of things for me to do. I just feel all the time like I'm seeing my friends lose interest and drift away, and obviously that's fine and they should do what makes them happy, but then sometimes I think, should I be doing that too? Do I need to find something new to squee about? I watch plenty of other things and I make podfic in lots of fandoms. I watch most of the BIG NEW THINGS so I will understand what my friends are talking about and on the chance that they will grab me and get me super excited about fandom again: Star Trek, Sherlock, Inception, XMFC, and most recently The Avengers. Eh.

I mean, it's not that I didn't like the movie. I mean, I didn't like it very much? But I don't have any real objections to it. I was entertained, especially by the parts with Natasha and the parts with Tony and to a lesser extent Bruce. I just don't feel fannish about it. Meanwhile I feel like my Twitter feed's become ALL AVENGERS ALL THE TIME and, you know, that's awesome for all the people who are having a good time! It's my own problem that it makes me feel like kicking things.

It gets me wondering why I'm being so stubborn. I mean, I think back to when I watched the first season of Merlin in early 2009. My reaction was not "OH MY GOD I LOVE THESE CHARACTERS SO MUCH" but more like, "Okay, that was entertaining, now let me at this fandom so I can see what the big deal is." And then I jumped in and read and read and read and it was awesome! I couldn't find any Gwen fic at the time and I hadn't cared for Arthur on the show, but I read one Arthur/Merlin fic after another and I loved it! I try to remind myself that Merlin is not really that good a show, and that a lot of people felt lost and sad when all their friends were jumping into it and they just couldn't get interested. I'm sure a lot of the new Avengers fic is totally amazing, and if I started reading it maybe I'd start to care about Steve and Thor and even Loki and Clint and Coulson. But instead of giving it a try I'm just sitting in a corner glaring at it.

Oh well! It's not like I don't have plenty of stuff to read! I just downloaded another couple of epics from Paper Legends 2010, and maybe I will make some new Merlin friends at this year's summerpornathon. Or maybe tomorrow I will read a Clint/Coulson fic that will totally BLOW MY MIND and make me fall for The Avengers for reals! Fandom is big and anything could happen.

Comments

[fitz_y]

huh, it's funny because i was just thinking how merlin fandom is going so strong. did you see the summaries that went up today at paperlegends? 62 confirmed fics this year! with some awesome-sounding plots! it's huge!!!! but i guess my point of reference is inception fandom, which has shrunk to the size of a gnat. (and was recently knocked out of place #5 in movie fandoms on the AO3 by avengers. sigh.)

but i know how you feel, and the feeling of seeing fellow fans fall in love with a new fandom that you just don't want to write for or read is hard to watch. that's how i felt last year when it seemed like all of inception fandom was jumping ship for x-men. and i went and saw x-men and thought "this doesn't need slash! the gay is already in the script!! come back all of you!!" it's the summer movie thing that's hard.

the pornathon will be so squeetastic. i wish i was doing it this summer. ♥ ♥ ♥

[sophinisba]

I hadn't seen the paperlegends summaries yet, that's awesome! I know, it seems like such a silly thing to complain about people leaving Merlin fandom when it is still so big and active. I guess I am just clingy and want to be reading stories by the same people I met in 2009, which is ridiculous! Getting to know new people takes some effort but I can do it, okay, I met a couple people at last year's pornathon who have since become good friends! Ack I am already feeling so silly for making this post but I needed to get it off my chest and it would have been even more offensive for me to put this up on Twitter, which is where I normally vent.

i went and saw x-men and thought "this doesn't need slash! the gay is already in the script!!

Hee! it really was. Of all the big things that have come along in the last few years X-Men's the one that's tempted me most. I was reading a bunch of those fics for a couple weeks! But then I stopped and I haven't really missed them. I'm sorry it took away so many of your peeps!

[fitz_y]

Oh don't feel silly. It sucks seeing your peeps leave your fandom, even when it is large. I get it, that it's not just about the fic and the fandom, it's about who's in it. <333

[veleda_k]

I'm afraid to say that you're probably going to be seeing a squee filled Avengers reaction post from me sometime in the near future. (I want to see a second time before writing. Because I'm going to see it again anyway, so why not hold off on the reaction?) But I don't feel at all fannish about it. I might read some fic if it gets pointed out to me, but it's not going to be my thing.

I get fannish about very little. I don't know what magic spark has to occur to make the jump from "I loved this" to "I must write fic for this," but it's rare and special. That's probably one of the reasons I don't worry about jumping on the next big thing. If the interest isn't there, it isn't there.

And maybe another reason is the kind of fandoms I get into. Coming into Merlin was a real shock. Not only was it my first live action fandom, but I had never been in a fandom that was both so large and so current. All my fandoms up to that point were decade+ old anime/manga series, most of which were dying. So I'm used to letting the big things pass me by while sticking to my obscure little fandoms.

I'm not sure what the point of this was.

[sophinisba]

When I first got into fandom I couldn't imagine ever coming to care about other characters the way I did about hobbits. Every time I made a post about Harry Potter I would have this little disclaimer/apology to reassure my friends that I would never betray hobbit fandom the way some other people did. Things have changed though!

Idk, for a while after I'd branched out and before I got into Merlin I was so multifannish. I mean I think that was around the time we met, when I was helping out with remixthedrabble and I'd offer to write in ten different fandoms, and pretty much any time I saw a movie I'd come home and want to write a drabble about it. But I also have this thing with the big fandoms where I spend a LOT of time reading before I get the urge to write. I think I lurked in LotR for about six months before I wrote my first fic, and a few years later when I got into Merlin there was a similar timeframe, though I might have started earlier with the drabbles. When a fandom is new and hot I find it super intimidating to write in. It can be fun to dip my toes in and read for a while but these days it doesn't usually lead to more than that.

[sally_maria]

I do know how you feel, because I remember how I felt when so many of my favourite authors were moving on to Inception, which I could never get into. But I stuck around, and there were new authors whose work I also enjoyed and I hope the same will be true for you.

For me, I loved the Avengers film, and I know I've been squeeing about it, but I think Merlin is going to carry on being my main fandom for the foreseeable future. If Sherlock, that has a prolific fandom, an ongoing series and, probably most importantly for me, an OTP I've really fallen for, can't drag me away from Merlin, a one-off film certainly isn't going to, however much I love it in itself.

[sophinisba]

I was almost surprised at myself that I didn't get into Inception! I tend to love movie fandoms (so quick and contained! that's most of what I've written for Yuletide) and I'd been a Joseph Gordon-Levitt fan for years, tried to get people to write me fic for Mysterious Skin and The Lookout and everything. The Arthur/Eames pairing didn't do it for me though and, tbh, I think the fact that so many people were leaving Merlin for Inception caused me to get resentful and not want to follow them, a little like what's happening now with Avengers.

I have a lot of Community squee these days also, and I'm sure I'll keep dipping my toes in other things (I love doing that with podfic, and have even made a few Inception podfics despite not having Inception FEELINGS), but I think I will also be sticking with Merlin for a while.

[netgirl_y2k]

I will join you in the Avengers non-squee. I thought that it was a cool summer blockbuster and I enjoyed watching it, but I could also cheerfully never give it another thought.

I remember the year between falling out of Merlin and pitching headfirst into Game of Thrones, trying to force myself to like what my friends liked or be fannish about things I only liked non-fannishly, it was horrid! Nothing is surer to kill enthusiasm for me than trying to force it. I guess my point is that something will grab you naturally, or it won't, and in the meantime as long as Merlin still makes you happy...

[sophinisba]

Yeah, I was multifannish for a while after I'd gotten less excited about LotR (never had a real break with it the way you did with Merlin) and before I got into Merlin. It was sort of fun in its own way and had its phases of finding a new fandom and reading a lot of stuff, but it's so hard to predict when a fandom will really grab you. And yes, there is a lot of stuff still going on in Merlin fandom to make me happy, though I miss a lot of the Gwen and Morgana squee we had in the early days.

[aron_kristina]

Well, as long as you like Black Widow it's ok! I'm not a very demanding person (but if someone claimed not to like her I'd probably be a bit sad).

[sophinisba]

She was fantastic! I kinda wished I hadn't seen her first scene on Tumblr before the movie came out but I guess that's what happens with Tumblr. It was still great anyway!

[isis]

If you are looking for a new fandom I would love you to get into my tiny book-based fandoms!

[sophinisba]

Book fandoms I've gotten into in the past were ones where I saw the movies first, so I've just added The Eagle to my Netflix queue. Thanks for the reminder!

[isis]

Yay!

[vanessarama]

Yes, I'll join you in Avengers non-squee too. I am possibly the only person on my friendslist who hasn't seen it yet, and while I have no objection to seeing it at some point I'm not going to go out of my way. And I can't get fannish about something that's only a couple of hours long. I feel like there's no time to get to know the characters enough to want to see them outside the movie. Movies are like little self-contained worlds to me; I don't have enough to grasp in order to make them something I love.

I've been rereading all the Merlin fic I have. That keeps me busy and I have rediscovered some old favourites :)

So glad you are still in Merlin fandom <3

[sophinisba]

I always feel like there's way more Merlin fic than I could ever have time to read, and for a long time I didn't have much patience for reading them either. I've been having a lot of fun lately getting into long ones that I'd passed on earlier. :)

[croissantkatie]

Ok, so somehow The Apple Grove managed to pass me by. I am not quite sure how that happened. So I will be putting that on my kindle asap. :D

[sophinisba]

Thank you for letting me know that the main part of this post was not useless! :D :D

[meri]

Okay, 1. There is amazing Natasha & Bruce fics out there so if you liked them, then there is fic to tempt you to the fandom. But, more importantly, 2. you don't have to worry about everyone being sucked away. Merlin is still a love of mine, but Marvel comics is an even older love of mine and these movies have been doing a long slow build of fannishness for me through these last 4 years. So, while I'm sucked down the Avengers glee right now, I will be back with Merlin, and Doctor Who. And I still need to get into Avatar and Korra because tumblr leads me to believe these shows are amazing.

[cantarina]

True story: Avatar is fantastic. I just got my younger brother hooked and there much crossover in terms of our tastes. (So far, I feel that Korra is a teasing tease who teases, even if it is very good.) I hope that you enjoy it!

[sophinisba]

I've been seeing recs all over the place and have clicked on a few of the Natasha ones, but eh. I'm enjoying Avengers stuff on Tumblr and I think maybe I'll listen to some podfics and maybe even see it again soon, but I haven't felt any need to read fics. :)

I don't suppose you're planning on doing summerpornathon?

[cantarina]

First off, please and thank you for the rec! That is so tabbed.

Also: you know this part, but if you're having fun, you're really not doing fandom wrong. Even if it is sad to see people jump ship. I'm actually really surprised I'm so into The Avengers. Twitter pulled me in, I think, because I haven't really ever done a movie fandom before (opposite of you, I find them too self-contained, because I want to linger!)

Also, I am secretly not at all into Steve/Tony and kind of resent it for being so popular, but I'm still a thirteen year old who can't stand Devon Sawa and Jonathan Taylor Thomas just because they're popular, so. Anyway, I hope that you make some new Merlin friends over the summer! I expect my fannish enthusiasm will rev back up again once the new series starts in the fall.