Late Wednesday reading meme

[dhampyresa]

Internet fixed, hopefully.

What did you finish reading

Fever Season, by Barbara Hambly: It was amazing and the climax gave me chills down my spine. (Knowing it was based on historical events made it all the worse.) Rose is the greatest and I really love her drive to LEARN ALL THE THINGS! And I can totally see Ben/Hannibal/Rose devellop into an OT3. Also, and idk maybe this is just that I was reading this while talking about Augustus Mayerling with wordsofastory but there's a bit in one of the chapters where Hannibal is described as doing or being 'like a woman' and I think I accidentally convinced myself that Augustus isn't the only crossdresser Ben knows. Sorry not sorry.

Theoreme Vivant, by Cédric Villani: I haven't finished this, but I won't be reading it for the next four months, so. I did figure out why I was thinking of superheroes, though. I was confusing Villani with Lavillenie.


What are you reading

Graveyard Dust, by Barbara Hambly: My reaction so far is split pretty evenly between "oh no, Olympe!" and "yay, Rose and Augustus!". Also, I hope Ben moves out of Livia's house soon, because she's really not helping.


What are you reading next

More Benjamin January, most likely. I've also picked up Steering the Craft by Ursula Le Guin and Hannibal's Odyssey: The Environmental Background to the Alpine Invasion of Italia by William Mahaney from the library, so those two as well.

Comments

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Fever Season is so good! Also I love the characterization of Delphine Lalaurie, and it very much spoiled me for the current season of American Horror Story (where she is also a character, but about 1000x less interesting, in my opinion). I love the scene near the end, where Ben and Rose and Hannibal are eating mangoes at Rose's new home; there's something so sweet and comfortable about them together.

Hannibal is totally Ben's damsel-in-distress.

Yeah, Livia is kind of a terrible mother.

[dhampyresa.livejournal.com]

Delphine Lalaurie is so fucking scary, I swear. That scene got me shipping Ben/Hannibal/Rose even more than I already was, ngl.

Hannibal should totally be Rose's damsel-in-distress too.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Rose is a little hampered physically (she can't just punch a bad guy out and then throw Hannibal over her shoulder the way Ben can), but Hannibal is also totally her damsel-in-distress.

[dhampyresa.livejournal.com]

You know, I think I'd lay even odds on Rose being able to carry Hannibal. She strikes me as stronger than she looks and it's not like he isn't dreadfully thin. Either way, she could still save him with knowledge. (...I think I just figured out a plot point for a fic. Brb.)

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

(FIC YES GOOD)

I agree with you that she could totally save him with knowledge. Or, you know, a rifle. I also agree that she's probably stronger than she looks, but I really enjoy picturing them as very similar in size (enough so as to share clothes), and it takes a lot of strength to pick up someone your own size. But I still would totally love to read that fic.

[dhampyresa.livejournal.com]

(It looks like it's happening, but I'd like to be a bit more familiar with the canon, especially Hannibal (Sefton)'s backstory, before I really start writing. Also, to figure out the big plot point.)

I love love love the idea of Hannibal and Rose being able to share clothes!

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

(It does take quite a while to reveal his backstory, and even then it's sort of... more an outline than specifics. I can tell you which book it's in if you want spoilers.)

(Also, plot points, psssh. That's always the part I have trouble with too!)

[dhampyresa.livejournal.com]

I'd like to know the books, but no spoilers, please.

This plot point is the lynchpin of the whole fic, so if you've any idea where Hannibal (and Ben?) can have disappeared without Rose having the faintest idea where they are/why they're gone, that would be awesome.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Hannibal's backstory in mostly in 'Dead and Buried', the 9th book. There's a few very subtle hints here and there in earlier books, but not enough to really put it together before that.

Hmmm.... is it important that she doesn't know? In 'Wet Grave' (book 6) Hannibal is canonically out of town- though she and Ben get letters from him- and in 'The Shirt on His Back' (book 10), both Ben and Hannibal leave while she's still in New Orleans, and they're out of range of letters/word.

[dhampyresa.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Unfortunately, yes. The fact that she doesn't know where Hannibal is very important to the plot I have in mind, crack-y though it may be.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Does it matter if he's away for a 'good' thing or a 'bad' thing? In terms of good things, perhaps something as simple as Hannibal following after a woman- perhaps a married one, to explain why he's keeping it secret/not sending word. Or one with enough money to provide alcohol/drugs and he's been distracted.

In terms of bad things, maybe he owes someone money (or, alternatively, won too much money from someone gambling) and is in hiding from them? He could also have gotten sick (/injured/on a days-long bender) somewhere away from his normal places and is having trouble getting back.

[dhampyresa.livejournal.com]

It doesn't matter, she just has to have no idea where he is and slightly desperate that something's happened to him. I like the idea that he's in a drunken/drugged stupor somewhere, because I can use that to tie it in to something else in the plot.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Certainly Hannibal doesn't seem to have the self-preservation instinct that normally would prevent one from going off with strangers offering to buy the drinks. (Though it's hard to think of malicious reasons someone would have for luring him away; it's not like he owns anything worth stealing. Revenge for flirting with someone inappropriate? Some sort of class/religious/racial tension? Did someone tell him something he shouldn't know and they're trying to keep him from spreading the word? Or just mistaken identity?)