valmora: "we three" witches, meeting again (kind of pain)
[personal profile] valmora
So I get to go to whole other levels of special hell. It's pretty much guaranteed at this point, because, um:

it's every Lawrence of Arabia rec I've got.

Lawrence of Arabia and T.E. Lawrence in general could very well be my favorite fandom. The canonical material is fascinating, of interest more than fifty years after its existence, and has academic merit and controversy. The fandom itself is tiny but immensely talented and incredibly skilled with words, images, and emotional evocation. If I were to say anything bad about this fandom, it is that it shows its fans how poor most of their other fandoms are by comparison.

Note: I find it too difficult to differentiate between the various shades of movieverse, reality, books, and historical fiction written both by professional authors and the media. As such, I'm just listing it all.

Also, given the natures of the source material (SEVEN PILLARS HAS GAY SEX ON PAGE TWO NO JOKE), I feel myself perfectly justified in giving a blanket warning of homoeroticism, violence, and rampant politics.

Probably the best bit of T.E. Lawrence fic to ever have existed was created by the man himself under the guise of a memoir: Seven Pillars of Wisdom, by T.E. Lawrence. It's worth every page, and all the geography you'll have to learn to understand it.

Also probably quite entertaining is the 1962 movie, Lawrence of Arabia, starring Peter O'Toole and Sir Alec Guinness, among other notables, and directed by David Lean.

On the slightly more modern front we have some work by published authors like Mercedes Lackey's Jihad (originally published in her anthology "Fiddler Fair"). If you are particularly religious, I...would not recommend reading this.

And introducing the amateur work:

Very similar to Lackey's short story is Carmarthen's Dreamers of the Day. This is another one I wouldn't recommend reading if you are very religious.
Carmarthen is just kind of awesome in general and has a couple of other Lawrence fics.

"Dreamers of the Day" was remixed by [livejournal.com profile] derryderrydown and entitled Dreamers of the Day (Across the Sky in Stars Remix). It is just as gut-punching as the original.

[livejournal.com profile] derryderrydown is writing a WiP about the Versailles Peace Conference. It is very good. [livejournal.com profile] derryderrydown's archive of Lawrence fics is here.

Of general awesome in all things fandom is afrai, whose Lawrence fics are here.

CopperCowries' fic is here.

Of note are also:

Hungry to the Battlefield, by [livejournal.com profile] derryderrydown

And Took You Apart Into His Quietness, by [livejournal.com profile] wordslinging (PG-13)
Ali believes there was a time when he could have refused Lawrence, but he can no longer remember what that felt like. A distressingly large part of him no longer wants to.

Adding more later.

Date: 2008-01-06 08:47 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mcicioni.livejournal.com
Oh, what a mitzvah for all El Orens fans. All my delighted thanks.

Date: 2008-01-06 08:51 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] valmora.livejournal.com
I'm missing a particular one, however, which bothers me. There is an "L... of Arabia" fic that is multi-chaptered and takes place at the Treaty of Versailles conference and is absolutely amazing. As I remember, it was a WiP and I have lost everything but the vague memory that such a thing existed. If I can't find it by just butting my head against the fandom archive searches, I'll post a message up on [livejournal.com profile] lawrence_fic and hope someone knows what I'm talking about.

Date: 2008-01-06 03:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] otoselkie.livejournal.com
I was about to try and link you.

How long has it been dead for? Some terribly long period of time.

Date: 2008-01-06 09:34 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] valmora.livejournal.com
Has what been dead for? I am rather confused.

Date: 2008-01-07 04:17 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] otoselkie.livejournal.com
Last time I looked at that particular fanfiction it hadn't been updated in a very long time. But maybe that's changed?

Date: 2008-01-07 04:57 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] valmora.livejournal.com
You're probably right; I haven't really checked. But even as a WiP, it's still one of my favorites. =D

Date: 2008-01-07 10:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] duello.livejournal.com
OMFG ALI-AS-CAB-DRIVER-FIC
(I just got back from New York. Eheheheh. One cab driver was totally two inches away from running over this girl in the crosswalk...)

You are amazing for compiling this list. (and yes there is mad gay sex on page two with wonnnderful description, my god.)

Date: 2008-01-08 03:55 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] valmora.livejournal.com
WAIT WHAT? I DIDN'T READ ALL THE FICS I WAS RECCING SO WHAT? THERE IS A FIC WITH ALI-AS-CAB-DRIVER?
(Oh, NYC.)

I do try. If you ever find anything else you are supersuper fond of, post a note anywhere (or on this list; it's in my memories of course) and I'll read it! (I knoooooow. And he so clearly has such respect for Farraj and Daud; he's really charmingly open-minded except then he'll throw this random ethnic slur on the page and you'll be like "?!?!?!?!")

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