reveilles

Pretty much anything by Rap541 rocks, although it's often darker than canon. She has a wonderful wit, great insights into the characters and the situations, and an excellent instinct for compelling storylines.

You might want to keep an eye on Rap541's Reversal of Fortune. It might turn into an interesting Sybil/Matthew fic. It starts out with a really intriguing twist. Rap541 is a consistently good author.

I agree there was potential for them. :) I haven't read any of those stories, but if you're looking for Sybil/Matthew, check out this page on fanfiction.net. I just went to the Downton Abbey fanfiction section, created a filter with just "Matthew C." and "Sybil C." (i.e., also filtering out stories that included "Mary C." and "T. Branson"), and sorted by Favorites. Warning: I included "M"-rated stories in the filter, although there don't seem to be any of those in the results. Note: there might be good Matthew/Sybil stories that also have Mary and Tom in them. I don't know. You can play with the filters. If you find some good Sybil/Matthew fics, please feel free to recommend them here!

Oh, and I forgot to mention eitoph's excellent Not For Turning. Of the modern Mary/Matthew AU novels, Not For Turning stands out from the crowd as a great adaptation of the period situation.

Yes, I like The Yankee Countess's writing, too. She's one of the best Tom/Sybil writers out there, and certainly one of the most prolific. Trust and Providence (T&P) starts out primarily as Mary/Matthew, but by early Part II, Tom/Sybil start to pick up speed until they dominate the first half of Part III. M/M are in it, still going strong, but they're not driving the family drama at that point, Tom and Sybil are. T/S head off in a direction that most canon-compatible period fics haven't seemed to explore, namely, a plausible scenario for Tom working with Matthew after the war, while Sybil is trying to get into medical school (there's a mountain for her to climb!) So there's all the expected drama individually, with the secret-engagement tension layered on top... :) The Tom/Sybil shippers have mostly seemed to be ignoring T&P (completely understandable) up until recently, but now that T/S have ramped up and are doing something different than the usual, those folks have started reading. It's been fun to see comments like Lady Rosie's, "Haven't read this until last weekend as I thought it was all about Mary and Matthew - both of whom I don't particularly care for - but a friend says you focus on all the characters and there is a lot about Sybil and Tom - both of whom I do like! So here I am a new reader! ...I quite like M&M in your version..." Basically, I loved Downton Abbey in its first series, but was disappointed by the shallow predictability of the second. The third had some stronger elements, but also some really weak ones. I went off to find a fanfic that told the story that I'd been hoping for after the first series, but after reading 30-40 of the most-favorited M/M AU novels, I still hadn't managed to find a single one that scratched the itch (although many of them were quite good). So T&P aims to stay true to canon, with in-character portrayals and historical accuracy, while also exploring the Pamuk situation, WWI (both the Western Front and the Home Front), marriage in that era, paraplegia, and the post-war recovery period in a lot more depth, all while tightening up the plotting so that although many of the key elements remain, it feels a lot less contrived and rushed. And of course, not killing Sybil or Matthew off quite so soon... :)

And a plug for my own story, Trust and Providence: Fandom: Downton Abbey Rating: M Pairing: Mary/Matthew, Sybil/Tom, Edith/Anthony, Anna/Bates, Cora/Robert Genre: Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Drama Summary: What if Mary had trusted Matthew with her secret and immediately accepted his first proposal? An alternate universe starting from Series 1 Episode 6. Includes graphic depictions of intimacy, frank discussions of faith and philosophy, strong language, disturbing wartime imagery, racial slurs, and character death (but Mary/Matthew and Sybil/Tom end happily!)

Hi all... Just wanted to open a discussion about DA fanfic that people have strong feelings about, good or ill. Feel free to post recs or rants. :) I'm currently enjoying lilyrowan1's The Center of My Heart, because it's a Mary / Matthew story where Matthew stays a paraplegic for a while longer than in canon, and yet it's still a love story. Not enough people write compelling romances that involve folks with disabilities. It's lovely and well-written, and it doesn't shy away from the depiction of paraplegia. I've also really been enjoying Apollo888's An Exceptional Love, which is a reimagining of series 4 with Matthew hanging around as a ghost that only Mary can see. Apollo888 is also co-writing a story with Willa Dedalus called The Open Secret, which is a nonlinear AU where Mary and Matthew met in Manchester long before Matthew is brought to Downton as the new heir. It's fun and intriguing. La Donna Igenua's Grace is long, but it's well worth the read. It goes AU in the series 2 Christmas Special and it's different from the rest of the DA fics in that Mary and Matthew are living in America for most of it. Although ending is a bit melodramatic, with a mustache-twirling-villian version of Sir Richard Carlisle, the rest of the story is maturely written. The way the author explores the psychology of marriage and parenthood, and the moral complexities of forgiveness and revenge, is excellent. And of course, who can forget OrangeShipper's All That Is Left? It's a classic AU of series 2: Mary and Matthew get married, have lots of babies, and live through WWI. Much more satisfying than series 2 in canon. :) For an excellent story that goes in a completely different and much darker direction than the vast majority of the DA fanfic, check out Rap541's The Fox Hunt. Beware: this story is not rated M for fluffy reasons. It's the most plausible post-series-3 Matthew resurrection scenario that I've read, and it's tightly paced, with good characterizations. Very well written. Likewise, Rap541's Doctor Who / Downton Abbey crossover fic, Second Chances, is very good. It's another Matthew resurrection scenario and it ties the two fandoms together via Penelope Wilton (Harriet Jones, MP / Isobel Crawley) and has a really compelling plot. If you know both shows, you'll admire how well the author writes the characters from both worlds! So... what are people reading?

Amen to that, 100%! In series 1, the show started out revolving around his arrival at Downton and the way he challenged the status quo. He was absolutely core to the entire plot. In series 2, the family agonized over him making it through the war and was shipping him and Mary (except for Cora, who seemed indifferent to them), and Mary softened because of her love for him. And in series 3, he was the lynchpin to the family's main plot (keeping the estate afloat) and he totally called Mary on her shit, but he did it with humor and grace, once again helping her to become a more beautiful person. I didn't think he was pussywhipped at all. I thought the series 3 dynamic between them was fascinating, both of them pulling in their own ways, in different directions, maintaining a tension but still in love. They both gave ground...eventually. He had a way of correcting Robert with grace and humor, too, and Robert softened a little, for example with respect to Edith's professional ambitions. Matthew might have seemed boring because he was a goody-two-shoes, but I found him fascinating: his inner life was probably the richest of all the characters on the show, but unfortunately that doesn't come across well on screen. I will agree that his character at least being bisexual is entirely plausible to me. :)

I just wanted to clarify: William seems to have died from a pulmonary contusion, not mustard gas. It does make sense, because William threw himself between Matthew and the shell blast, and thus took most of the impact, sparing Matthew. The symptoms are consistent with that diagnosis, and it was actually a common (and fatal) injury in WWI. Fellowes actually got the medicine right on this one, as unbelievable as it may seem. :)