Sunshine Challenge: Prompt #3

Prompt 3: Canon Recommendations

The Blake & Avery Series – M.J. Carter

Do you like casefic? Bromance? Historically accurate settings? Characters chaffing against social mores? Then this is the series for you. The Blake and Avery series composes three novels, set first in 1830’s India, and then 1840’s London. Regarding its two main characters, allow me to introduce:

• Jeremiah Blake, a thirtysomething former transportee from the London slums, world weary linguistic savant, possible atheist, and student of human nature; and
• William Avery, a mid-twenties, (secretly impoverished) member of the gentry, closet bookworm, and officer in the East India company with deadly aim and family issues.

They have diametrically opposed backgrounds! They have age and experience gaps! They have clashing worldviews! They have an inexplicable bond with one another despite the previous factors! And they have three novels' worth of adventures together!

Carter authored several well-regarded nonfiction volumes before switching to historical fiction, and the Blake and Avery series reflects this for good (general time period accuracy) and ill (some passages read like excerpts from a history textbook). But there’s something in these books for everyone, be it action, found families, humor, political intrigue, mystery, murder, and mayhem; snappy dialogue, social commentary, or Victoriana. Plus, it’s a fandom growth opportunity—only two people are writing in this fandom (and one of them is me). But we are enthusiastic and friendly and eager to squee over these novels with others.

Injection – Warren Ellis & Declan Shalvey
Do you like British folk magic? British ritual magic? Casefic? Dystopia? Sci-fi? Spy thrillers? Canon that mixes all these things together in one humorous, nail-bitingly tense, insanely good story? Then you, my friend, need to read Injection. Brought to you by the man behind Castlevania, Transmetropolitan, and other classics of their genres, Injection is the story of five geniuses assembled by the British government to pioneer humanity’s path into the future. What they do instead is create a digital AI so virulent it may spell humanity’s doom. Please allow me to introduce:

• Vivik Headland: Think Sherlock Holmes not with a twist, but with kinks, and an assistant who, if he is who I think he is, is one of the best comic book Easter Eggs ever.
• Maria Kilbride: Archaeologist, sandwich aficianado, and all around badass.
• Robin Morel: A British cunningman.
• Brigid Roth: Irish hacker, and more than she appears. Her buddy cop arc with another female character (I’ll say no more here) is one of my favorite things about this series.
• Simeon Winters: Think James Bond + Jason Bourne + everyone Vin Diesel’s ever played all rolled into one.

If you aren’t sold yet, perhaps an example of ( Shalvey’s art will help convince you. )

Now, I’d be remiss in not warning you that you might be in for heartbreak: Ellis hasn’t published a new issue in close to two years, meaning Injection is likely to join Fell and Trees in the graveyard of his tragically abandoned projects. But that is why this series needs fans! Somewhere, someone out there is ready to write a fanfic conclusion to this series in case Ellis never gets around to it. And even if he does (and I hope he does) this past January, Injection was optioned for a television adaptation, which means this is another chance for you to get your foot in the fandom door before it swings wide open.


The Watchmaker of Filigree Street – Natasha Pulley

This book is wonderful in about all the ways a book can be. It’s the story of Thaniel Steepleton, a former pianist who supports his sister and nephews as a telegraphist in 1880’s London. I could say more, but this is the sort of book you really want to go into without knowing very much about the plot beforehand, just to experience the sheer joy of the ride as it unfolds.

Pulley’s writing is absolutely gorgeous: richly descriptive without a word out of place. She’s ace at showing, has an ear for dialogue, humor, and what makes people tick, and a deep love for all her characters—warts and all—that shines through in the story. Watchmaker is a fairy tale at heart, but it’s also wonderfully complex and so tightly plotted I’m both in awe and envious of Pulley’s skill. This novel is well worth blazing through to find out what is going to happen (you’ll do this the first time you pick it up) and savoring (you’ll do this on subsequent reads). And with only 34 fics on AO3 (many of them derivative works) there’s also plenty of room for more fandom love here too.

Should anyone need more convincing, here’s a longer, more spoilerific rec post I wrote a few years back.

これで以上です。