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Fic Rec: Nihongo series, by Vega
Jun. 15th, 2007 08:44 amVega (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
losyark) is a talented author in the Atlantis fandom. A few months ago, she took Miko (a female Japanese scientist we see only in "Letters from Pegasus") and decided to flesh her out. Thus begins Nohingo, a series of fics about Miko, about being Japanese, about being one of the few non-Western people in Atlantis. It's a perfect example of characterization through world-building; the prose is gorgeous, and you learn about Miko as you learn about the world she grew up in. It's also a perfect example of how to take a character with maybe three-minutes of screen time and turn her into a fully-fleshed person. The third story isn't about Miko, as much as it is about Ronan adapting to Atlantis; the show writers tend to forget that his basic cultural matrix isn't Western, but Vega doesn't. (And the fact that bringing Ronan in here was my idea isn't influencing this rec at all. ;) )
The Nohingo series:
Zoh-onna Omote
In Japan, it is not too much to say that everything is about appearances.
It is a habit cultivated over a life-time, and not one easy to break.
Tadaima (set after Return 1)
Returning wasn’t easy for any one. How can you go from that to this? Miko Kusanagi – though she suspected that she ought to get herself used to being Kusanagi Miko again – knew that as well as any of them.
“Tadaima,” is generally translated as ‘I’m home’, but what it really means is just a cold and clinical ‘here; now.’
Ohashi
“Here. Try these. They work great.”
Ronon stared at the flat, blunt knife, the shovel-like fork. Tools meant for fields and gardens, not for dinner tables. It struck him, suddenly, how crude these young pretenders were. These posing Ancients.
losyark) is a talented author in the Atlantis fandom. A few months ago, she took Miko (a female Japanese scientist we see only in "Letters from Pegasus") and decided to flesh her out. Thus begins Nohingo, a series of fics about Miko, about being Japanese, about being one of the few non-Western people in Atlantis. It's a perfect example of characterization through world-building; the prose is gorgeous, and you learn about Miko as you learn about the world she grew up in. It's also a perfect example of how to take a character with maybe three-minutes of screen time and turn her into a fully-fleshed person. The third story isn't about Miko, as much as it is about Ronan adapting to Atlantis; the show writers tend to forget that his basic cultural matrix isn't Western, but Vega doesn't. (And the fact that bringing Ronan in here was my idea isn't influencing this rec at all. ;) )The Nohingo series:
Zoh-onna Omote
In Japan, it is not too much to say that everything is about appearances.
It is a habit cultivated over a life-time, and not one easy to break.
Tadaima (set after Return 1)
Returning wasn’t easy for any one. How can you go from that to this? Miko Kusanagi – though she suspected that she ought to get herself used to being Kusanagi Miko again – knew that as well as any of them.
“Tadaima,” is generally translated as ‘I’m home’, but what it really means is just a cold and clinical ‘here; now.’
Ohashi
“Here. Try these. They work great.”
Ronon stared at the flat, blunt knife, the shovel-like fork. Tools meant for fields and gardens, not for dinner tables. It struck him, suddenly, how crude these young pretenders were. These posing Ancients.
