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All manner of annual treats
Dec. 28th, 2024 02:45 pmThis year I wrote stories for Fandom Trumps Hate, SGA Secret Santa and of course YULETIDE MY BELOVED. Here are the ones I can post as reveals, and recs for Yuletide stories galore!
In a happy confluence of events, I got my Fandom Trumps Hate story just before Yuletide went live, which basically means I got AWESOME in STEREO:
laid my life out before you
Fandom: The Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner
Fandom: Dublin Murder Squad series by Tana French
Four couples each hold their own corner of this puzzle, and you won’t be able to make out the picture until the author sets everything in place. This Dublin Murder Squad story is paced kind of like an eye exam: you’ll squint and blink and strain to make things out and then everything will become crystal clear. This is some incredibly accomplished work - not just a clever murder mystery from the inside out, but a story built out of pivotal moments in the relationships of characters we think we already know.
laid my life out before you
Fandom: The Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner
This charming story within a story grants us a glimpse of married life for the Queen of Attolia and her new husband. Gen tells a temple story about a man whose love for his lady is not only true, but unassailable. @eponymiad wrote it for me for Fandom Trumps Hate and it is SPLENDID so if you have read any Queen’s Thief, this story is also for you!!
Fandom: Dublin Murder Squad series by Tana French
Four couples each hold their own corner of this puzzle, and you won’t be able to make out the picture until the author sets everything in place. This Dublin Murder Squad story is paced kind of like an eye exam: you’ll squint and blink and strain to make things out and then everything will become crystal clear. This is some incredibly accomplished work - not just a clever murder mystery from the inside out, but a story built out of pivotal moments in the relationships of characters we think we already know.
Yuletide - the turning of the year
Oct. 20th, 2023 01:33 pmI am blocking out world events - in this moment, I thank you kindly for coming out to see what I'd like for Yuletide, and hope you are far away from anything that might harm you.
I adore Yuletide, and I adore you and everyone who decides to weave some light into the world by sharing what they have.
NOTE: if you are not current in Return of the Thief or Minx tread lightly for spoilers in the asks.
( Occluded for Your Protection )
Feel free to tweak any ask to make it something you absolutely dig. I am sure to love anything you give me, as long as you like it yourself.
Peace and Love on Planet Earth, OK?
I adore Yuletide, and I adore you and everyone who decides to weave some light into the world by sharing what they have.
NOTE: if you are not current in Return of the Thief or Minx tread lightly for spoilers in the asks.
( Occluded for Your Protection )
Feel free to tweak any ask to make it something you absolutely dig. I am sure to love anything you give me, as long as you like it yourself.
Peace and Love on Planet Earth, OK?
Triple threats and a whole new year!
Jan. 14th, 2023 01:12 pmI hope your 2023 is already shiny!
I am grievously late to recommending the THREE!!!! extraordinary stories I got this year, presented below in alphabetical order because they are all equal in my heart and all exceptionally excellent:
In the Light of the Full Moon, Rip My Heart Out by gala_apples
THIS IS LITERAL PERFECTION
an epistolary story? In THIS economy??
Glorious and a classic Walton riot to read - you know the kind
All that and a thieving yeti. <3 <3 <3
This is adorable and perfect from Hennessy and Jordan squabbling to Declan being annoyed to Adam pretending they’re not as gross as Declan and Jordan - and Ronan being surprised that he’s enjoying himself and happy enough for Declan to admit an emotional secret!
###
Now, I wrote two things for Yuletide this year:
nihilism and you for Topaz_Eyes (Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022))
Kindness is strategic and necessary.
Joy has to deal with A Lot, but let's be fair, Jobu had to deal with EEAO, okay?
ID for ellida (Dublin Murder Squad, Tana French)
Cassie Maddox, undercover.
There's so much to do in French's books - I do hope she writes us another Squad mystery, though.
I am grievously late to recommending the THREE!!!! extraordinary stories I got this year, presented below in alphabetical order because they are all equal in my heart and all exceptionally excellent:
In the Light of the Full Moon, Rip My Heart Out by gala_apples
Heck yeah, TeenWolf fusion!
Poor Boots, scarred for life - luckily Bruno won’t have ANY scars for life now! This was flippin’ ADORABLE and so so fun - Miss Scrimmage, werewolf hunting BADASS - Diane and Cathy coming through in the clutch, Boots and his loyal pining/adoration, Bruno "frothing at the mouth, even"!
Sealed With a Kiss by scintilla10 (MacDonald Hall, Gordon Korman)
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!THIS IS LITERAL PERFECTION
an epistolary story? In THIS economy??
Glorious and a classic Walton riot to read - you know the kind
All that and a thieving yeti. <3 <3 <3
This is adorable and perfect from Hennessy and Jordan squabbling to Declan being annoyed to Adam pretending they’re not as gross as Declan and Jordan - and Ronan being surprised that he’s enjoying himself and happy enough for Declan to admit an emotional secret!
###
Now, I wrote two things for Yuletide this year:
nihilism and you for Topaz_Eyes (Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022))
Kindness is strategic and necessary.
Joy has to deal with A Lot, but let's be fair, Jobu had to deal with EEAO, okay?
ID for ellida (Dublin Murder Squad, Tana French)
Cassie Maddox, undercover.
There's so much to do in French's books - I do hope she writes us another Squad mystery, though.
2022 - The Yuletide Rises!
Oct. 19th, 2022 12:17 pmWhy hi there. Once again we're at a precipice, so let's just ignore all the Politics and Strife and End of the World stuff, and focus on the positives - fashioning things out of pure love for strangers in the void.
You are lovely, dark and deep and all that jazz - thank you kindly for coming out to see what I'd like for Yuletide!
NOTE: if you are not current in Return of the Thief, tread lightly for spoilers in the asks.
( Occluded for Your Protection )
And that is what I'd like. Something along those lines. Anyway, write what you like best and I'm sure to like it, too.
Happy Velma is Canonically a Lesbian-- I mean Yuletide!!!
You are lovely, dark and deep and all that jazz - thank you kindly for coming out to see what I'd like for Yuletide!
NOTE: if you are not current in Return of the Thief, tread lightly for spoilers in the asks.
( Occluded for Your Protection )
And that is what I'd like. Something along those lines. Anyway, write what you like best and I'm sure to like it, too.
Happy Velma is Canonically a Lesbian-- I mean Yuletide!!!
Yuletide 2021 ahoy!
Oct. 21st, 2021 05:05 pmHello, how do you do, lovely to have you here. Excellent human, I appreciate you! Look at you, taking time out of your life to think about what a stranger might like to read. That's pretty rad, all told.
( yuletide ahoy! )
Anyway, write what you like best and I'm sure to like it, too.
Happy Yuletide!!!
( yuletide ahoy! )
Anyway, write what you like best and I'm sure to like it, too.
Happy Yuletide!!!
The first, of course, will be voting that fuck out of office--and hopefully into the waiting arms of New York Attorney General Letitia James. (Draaaaaaaaag him, AG, right into state prison...)
::swaps out grim, haggard "Quarantine/the world is on fire figuratively and metaphorically " visage for cheery, hand-clapping Yuletide Enthusiasm::
First of all, you are excellent, and thank you for checking in to get a read on what I might like to read this awful year. I admire you for taking the time to think of others, and I hope you'll be able to give yourself a little headspace where the Outside World does not exist !
Some of the stuff I’d like to see:
The Queen's Thief - Megan Whalen Turner
( behind the cut as it is VERY SPOILERY for Return of the Thief )
( just it's a long letter so... )
Anyway, write what you like best and I'm sure to like it, too.
Happy Yuletide!!!
::swaps out grim, haggard "Quarantine/the world is on fire figuratively and metaphorically " visage for cheery, hand-clapping Yuletide Enthusiasm::
First of all, you are excellent, and thank you for checking in to get a read on what I might like to read this awful year. I admire you for taking the time to think of others, and I hope you'll be able to give yourself a little headspace where the Outside World does not exist !
Some of the stuff I’d like to see:
The Queen's Thief - Megan Whalen Turner
( behind the cut as it is VERY SPOILERY for Return of the Thief )
( just it's a long letter so... )
Anyway, write what you like best and I'm sure to like it, too.
Happy Yuletide!!!
The Yuletide Special!
Nov. 3rd, 2019 12:52 pmMerry Yuletide to all who celebrate sparkling pornography fanfiction!
Thanks for stopping by to get an idea of what I, a total stranger, might like for the holiday!
Some of the stuff I’d like to see:
The Queen's Thief - Megan Whalen Turner
You know, we have yet to meet any of Gen's brothers and sisters, of which he has more than one of each, as near as I can tell. His married sisters, after all, probably have children (his ‘married’ brothers, too, one assumes). Would he name one of his nieces his heir, if he and Irene are unable to conceive? I’d love to learn more about The Minister of War (who loved him enough to try his damndest to kill his son rather than see him tortured to death at her hands...) What must they think of Attolia?
Also, if you have a little Costis/Kamet in your heart, I would like to see it. Kamet is so prickly and Costis wants to give him so many hugs!
I love temple stories, so feel free to sing me a song of the gods! Attolia telling Gen a story (in bed in the afterglow), Kamet telling Costis a story (hmmm, a little Immakuk/Ennikar? They were in those mountain passes for like, 11 days. I feel like we were shorted a LOT of “huddling for warmth”, don’t you?)…that leads to bed), Phresine telling a story to someone's children... before bed. I feel sure Eddis and Sophos will have a million adorable kiddos and Attolia and Gen. Well. That child will have her ears full of tales from the very cradle, won't she?
Obviously I will read anything about Gen doing anything: practicing his pickpocketing skills at court, teasing Costis, braiding Attolia's hair. I also love Eddis and Gen being bros and just chatting and sniping back and forth. Punk made me a template of what I like and it works with every fandom! "I'm betting you probably want hugs, and maybe some good times. UST. Sweetly awkward first dates [HELEN AND SOPHOS, I'M LOOKING AT YOU]. A quest to find the perfect sweater [in Gen's case, something striking to distract an enemy, or in Attolia's to intimidate someone she needs a favor from]. Followed by a quest to defeat evil [HOW DOES ONE DEFEAT AN ENTIRE EVIL EMPIRE AND/OR A VOLCANO]. Handholding. Friendship. Make outs in the backseat of a car [maybe canoodling in a temple? SALACIOUS SCANDALOUS SACRALICIOUS but I’m pretty sure the gods would be cool with it ]. Sharing a soda in the library [GEN WILL CUT YOU IF YOU SPILL COFFEE ON HIS SCROLLS]. Rollerskating. Ice cream socials. CLAMBAKES. Finding a mysterious thing in the closet [AND STEALING THEM]. Teamwork. [TEAMWORK!] A literal roll in the hay. [YESSSSSS, ATTOLIA WILL GET STRAW IN HER HAIR AND GEN WILL LAUGH AND LAUGH]"
Dublin Murder Squad Series - Tana French
An AU here would suit me down to the ground.
Punk’s template: "I'm betting you probably want hugs, and maybe some good times [yes and YES]. UST. Sweetly awkward first dates [RICHIE AND MICK, I'M LOOKING AT YOU! Although, honestly Antoinette/Steven or Cassie/Sam… how on god’s green did Frank get Olivia to date him?]. A quest to find the perfect sweater [that matches fibers found at the crime scene, natch]. Followed by a quest to defeat evil [it’s only their MAIN JOB]. Handholding. Friendship. Make outs in the backseat of a car [Mick would surely say no to this… but could he be persuaded?]. Sharing a soda in the library. Rollerskating [Um. Not seeing this. Ice skating seems like a Cassie thing, though?]. Ice cream socials. CLAMBAKES. Finding a mysterious thing in the closet [AND REMEMBERING SOME DARK HAUNT FROM THE PAST YOU THOUGHT YOU’D SET BEHIND YOU GOOD AND ALL]. Teamwork. [TEAMWORK!] A literal roll in the hay. [Sam seems like a hayride sort, doesn’t he?]"
MacDonald Hall - Gordon Korman
Bruno and Boots are going to separate schools for undergrad for sure.
Punk’s template: "I'm betting you probably want hugs, and maybe some good times [yes and YES]. UST. Sweetly awkward first dates [I can’t even!! They’re such dorks. Bruno is so romantic, it’s going to kill Boots. I mean, Boots is going to have to talk him out of getting a tattoo for SURE.] A quest to find the perfect sweater [for Boots. To go on a date with that USURPER. Bruno is a bro, though, he will wingman the shit out of this first date. And that means that nice one Boots got from his Aunt. It’s cashmere, fancy but approachable, really brings out his eyes, shows off his shoulders. And not sneakers! Make an EFFORT.]. Followed by a quest to defeat evil [Bruno will surely have the bit in his teeth for climate change, or election security, corporate monopolies, oligarchy in general...]. Handholding. Friendship. Make outs in the backseat of a car [Bruno and Boots would either both own electric cars or not own cars at all. Which would make backseat makeouts challenging, to say the least.] Sharing a soda in the library. Rollerskating [I feel like Bruno and Boots would both definitely know how to ice skate, feel free to put them on a hockey team or a YOI AU of some kind?? and rollerskates must surely show up as a cog in a complex Bruno campaign?]. Ice cream socials. CLAMBAKES. Finding a mysterious thing in the closet [and realizing that it means BRUNO/BOOTS LOVED BOOTS/BRUNO ALL ALONG *GASP*]. Teamwork. [TEAMWORK! Cathy and Diane can help!!] A literal roll in the hay. [Bruno loves hayrides, decorative gourd season, Halloween, rescuing old farms from The Man… I mean, really, having them NOT get up to shenanigans around hay bales seems more unlikely.]"
FYI, Gordon Korman is my namesake/NEMESIS, so NO PRESSURE
Now, here are some more ideas about what I like to find under the tree/in my stocking Yuletide Morn:
What genre (sff/action/romance/procedural/character study, etc) do you like/dislike?
I like everything! I am not kidding. Every time I’m like, eh, that’s not my favorite, then someone will write something amazing and I’ll be all, hey! THAT’S PRETTY GOOD. I would say what my actual least favorite is, but I fear you’d take it as a gauntlet being thrown.
Do you have any squicks/triggers/things generally you don't want?
I don't like humiliation or hate or physical suffering (I would probably make an exception in Gen’s case, since his work is so dangerous/demanding) or misogyny, but I feel like you'd never write stuff like that anyway, Yule Santa!!
How do you feel about het/gen/slash/femslash?
Yes, please! I can be persuaded of poly (por ejemplo, Cassie/Rob/Sam... ::koff, koff::), but in general, I like to keep it to two people (who love each other!) in bed at a time.
What ratings do you prefer?
I love all ratings, and dig the most modest to the most explicit; sometimes just having someone brush the backs of their fingers against the back of someone else's hand can be infinitely sigh-deeply satisfying – I might find TRIPLE X a little jarring in, say, Queen’s Thief and Mac Hall, but hey, I can be persuaded.
What kind of stories do you like/dislike, what you like about these particular fandoms/characters, fandom-specific prompts?
While I have found a cathartic cry both beautiful and satisfying, at the end of the day, I will always prefer a happy ending. I don't care for maiming injuries or major character deaths (drawing room murders and/or ghosts and *ahem* the perils of thieving don't apply to this, natch). I love any kind of close relationship, be it best friends or passionate lovers. I just want everyone to be happy, basically.
Do you have tropes/details/kinks you particularly like?
"Happy Ending" is probably my main trope. I don't think that's even a trope, really, but. I love me a good body swap, actually, and maybe above all others PRETEND BOYFRIENDS/GIRLFRIENDS. WILL THEY FALL IN LOVE???? I think that could work in just about every fandom I’ve ever been in.
Well, maybe there's no way Dublin Murder Squad could make it lighthearted. But. I believe in you! And they could pretend for work reasons! And/or do a heist! I love me a heist.
What do you like about the canon? What do you like about the characters, if you specified?
The Queen’s Thief
I love that Gen GROWS UP. He stops being a brash, willful little self-involved punk (even though his intentions were always good). He BECOMES. I love that Attolia lets herself love him and lets herself trust the world again, even though the threats against her and her nation are probably greater than ever. I love that Eddis is their friend before she’s a ruler. I love that Costis loved Gen (enough to CHANGE HIS RELIGION) ages before he knew he did, and that Gen loves him unswervingly, and maybe did (just a little) even before he chose poor Costis as his unwitting linchpin. I love that Sophos is going to blush every time he touches Eddis’ hand for, like, a solid year. And holy oh my gods, Kamet is going to be so tired of pretending to be exasperated by Costis being the best boyfriend ever. EMBRACE YOUR ADORABLE SERVICE TOP, KAMET ::grabby hands::
Dublin Murder Squad
The characters are flawed but always well-intentioned. Well. Maybe except for Rob. Fuckin' Rob, man. French's writing is vivid and alluring and visceral and hypnotically good--it's like a sensory hallucination sometimes. I love the characters with crippling self-doubt who power through, trying to fake it til they make it (Rob, Scorcher) and the sweethearts who do dumb shit trying to help someone out (Cassie, Richie, Steven), I love the cynical bastards who love fiercely (Frank, Antoinette) and I love that in a dark world, they still try to carry the light, they still search for something to right the wrongs.
MacDonald Hall
I love how much Bruno loves his school, how passionate he is about righting perceived wrongs. I love how long-suffering Boots is, even though he mostly enjoys the hijinx, and how loyal to each other they are. I like how The Fish genuinely likes them, and is sincerely interested in doing well by his students.
How do you feel about crossovers and AUs of various sorts?
I love crossovers. Fusionfic! College AUs. Coffeeshops! I dig an elegant mashup, man. And since characterization is my FAVORITE, and clever AUs can make characters pop, so bring it on! His Dark Materials (daemons for everyone!), Inception (IT IS A MIND HEIST), Brooklyn 99? GLOW? Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel (what is magic like in 2019?), Pacific Rim (the Dublin kids would be amazing here, so much DRIFT COMPATIBLE ANGST)? Holy oh my god, Bruno and Boots TEENWOLF AU?? Bake off? Bruno’s cakes would be riDONKulous and Boots would be so steady and precise… until he spins out and Bruno has to calm him down… MACDONALD HALL HOSTS THE DERRY GIRLS FOR SOME REASON AHAHAHAHA
Anyway, write what you like best and I'm sure to like it, too.
Happy Yuletide!!!
Thanks for stopping by to get an idea of what I, a total stranger, might like for the holiday!
Some of the stuff I’d like to see:
The Queen's Thief - Megan Whalen Turner
You know, we have yet to meet any of Gen's brothers and sisters, of which he has more than one of each, as near as I can tell. His married sisters, after all, probably have children (his ‘married’ brothers, too, one assumes). Would he name one of his nieces his heir, if he and Irene are unable to conceive? I’d love to learn more about The Minister of War (who loved him enough to try his damndest to kill his son rather than see him tortured to death at her hands...) What must they think of Attolia?
Also, if you have a little Costis/Kamet in your heart, I would like to see it. Kamet is so prickly and Costis wants to give him so many hugs!
I love temple stories, so feel free to sing me a song of the gods! Attolia telling Gen a story (in bed in the afterglow), Kamet telling Costis a story (hmmm, a little Immakuk/Ennikar? They were in those mountain passes for like, 11 days. I feel like we were shorted a LOT of “huddling for warmth”, don’t you?)…that leads to bed), Phresine telling a story to someone's children... before bed. I feel sure Eddis and Sophos will have a million adorable kiddos and Attolia and Gen. Well. That child will have her ears full of tales from the very cradle, won't she?
Obviously I will read anything about Gen doing anything: practicing his pickpocketing skills at court, teasing Costis, braiding Attolia's hair. I also love Eddis and Gen being bros and just chatting and sniping back and forth. Punk made me a template of what I like and it works with every fandom! "I'm betting you probably want hugs, and maybe some good times. UST. Sweetly awkward first dates [HELEN AND SOPHOS, I'M LOOKING AT YOU]. A quest to find the perfect sweater [in Gen's case, something striking to distract an enemy, or in Attolia's to intimidate someone she needs a favor from]. Followed by a quest to defeat evil [HOW DOES ONE DEFEAT AN ENTIRE EVIL EMPIRE AND/OR A VOLCANO]. Handholding. Friendship. Make outs in the backseat of a car [maybe canoodling in a temple? SALACIOUS SCANDALOUS SACRALICIOUS but I’m pretty sure the gods would be cool with it ]. Sharing a soda in the library [GEN WILL CUT YOU IF YOU SPILL COFFEE ON HIS SCROLLS]. Rollerskating. Ice cream socials. CLAMBAKES. Finding a mysterious thing in the closet [AND STEALING THEM]. Teamwork. [TEAMWORK!] A literal roll in the hay. [YESSSSSS, ATTOLIA WILL GET STRAW IN HER HAIR AND GEN WILL LAUGH AND LAUGH]"
Dublin Murder Squad Series - Tana French
An AU here would suit me down to the ground.
Punk’s template: "I'm betting you probably want hugs, and maybe some good times [yes and YES]. UST. Sweetly awkward first dates [RICHIE AND MICK, I'M LOOKING AT YOU! Although, honestly Antoinette/Steven or Cassie/Sam… how on god’s green did Frank get Olivia to date him?]. A quest to find the perfect sweater [that matches fibers found at the crime scene, natch]. Followed by a quest to defeat evil [it’s only their MAIN JOB]. Handholding. Friendship. Make outs in the backseat of a car [Mick would surely say no to this… but could he be persuaded?]. Sharing a soda in the library. Rollerskating [Um. Not seeing this. Ice skating seems like a Cassie thing, though?]. Ice cream socials. CLAMBAKES. Finding a mysterious thing in the closet [AND REMEMBERING SOME DARK HAUNT FROM THE PAST YOU THOUGHT YOU’D SET BEHIND YOU GOOD AND ALL]. Teamwork. [TEAMWORK!] A literal roll in the hay. [Sam seems like a hayride sort, doesn’t he?]"
MacDonald Hall - Gordon Korman
Bruno and Boots are going to separate schools for undergrad for sure.
Punk’s template: "I'm betting you probably want hugs, and maybe some good times [yes and YES]. UST. Sweetly awkward first dates [I can’t even!! They’re such dorks. Bruno is so romantic, it’s going to kill Boots. I mean, Boots is going to have to talk him out of getting a tattoo for SURE.] A quest to find the perfect sweater [for Boots. To go on a date with that USURPER. Bruno is a bro, though, he will wingman the shit out of this first date. And that means that nice one Boots got from his Aunt. It’s cashmere, fancy but approachable, really brings out his eyes, shows off his shoulders. And not sneakers! Make an EFFORT.]. Followed by a quest to defeat evil [Bruno will surely have the bit in his teeth for climate change, or election security, corporate monopolies, oligarchy in general...]. Handholding. Friendship. Make outs in the backseat of a car [Bruno and Boots would either both own electric cars or not own cars at all. Which would make backseat makeouts challenging, to say the least.] Sharing a soda in the library. Rollerskating [I feel like Bruno and Boots would both definitely know how to ice skate, feel free to put them on a hockey team or a YOI AU of some kind?? and rollerskates must surely show up as a cog in a complex Bruno campaign?]. Ice cream socials. CLAMBAKES. Finding a mysterious thing in the closet [and realizing that it means BRUNO/BOOTS LOVED BOOTS/BRUNO ALL ALONG *GASP*]. Teamwork. [TEAMWORK! Cathy and Diane can help!!] A literal roll in the hay. [Bruno loves hayrides, decorative gourd season, Halloween, rescuing old farms from The Man… I mean, really, having them NOT get up to shenanigans around hay bales seems more unlikely.]"
FYI, Gordon Korman is my namesake/NEMESIS, so NO PRESSURE
Now, here are some more ideas about what I like to find under the tree/in my stocking Yuletide Morn:
What genre (sff/action/romance/procedural/character study, etc) do you like/dislike?
I like everything! I am not kidding. Every time I’m like, eh, that’s not my favorite, then someone will write something amazing and I’ll be all, hey! THAT’S PRETTY GOOD. I would say what my actual least favorite is, but I fear you’d take it as a gauntlet being thrown.
Do you have any squicks/triggers/things generally you don't want?
I don't like humiliation or hate or physical suffering (I would probably make an exception in Gen’s case, since his work is so dangerous/demanding) or misogyny, but I feel like you'd never write stuff like that anyway, Yule Santa!!
How do you feel about het/gen/slash/femslash?
Yes, please! I can be persuaded of poly (por ejemplo, Cassie/Rob/Sam... ::koff, koff::), but in general, I like to keep it to two people (who love each other!) in bed at a time.
What ratings do you prefer?
I love all ratings, and dig the most modest to the most explicit; sometimes just having someone brush the backs of their fingers against the back of someone else's hand can be infinitely sigh-deeply satisfying – I might find TRIPLE X a little jarring in, say, Queen’s Thief and Mac Hall, but hey, I can be persuaded.
What kind of stories do you like/dislike, what you like about these particular fandoms/characters, fandom-specific prompts?
While I have found a cathartic cry both beautiful and satisfying, at the end of the day, I will always prefer a happy ending. I don't care for maiming injuries or major character deaths (drawing room murders and/or ghosts and *ahem* the perils of thieving don't apply to this, natch). I love any kind of close relationship, be it best friends or passionate lovers. I just want everyone to be happy, basically.
Do you have tropes/details/kinks you particularly like?
"Happy Ending" is probably my main trope. I don't think that's even a trope, really, but. I love me a good body swap, actually, and maybe above all others PRETEND BOYFRIENDS/GIRLFRIENDS. WILL THEY FALL IN LOVE???? I think that could work in just about every fandom I’ve ever been in.
Well, maybe there's no way Dublin Murder Squad could make it lighthearted. But. I believe in you! And they could pretend for work reasons! And/or do a heist! I love me a heist.
What do you like about the canon? What do you like about the characters, if you specified?
The Queen’s Thief
I love that Gen GROWS UP. He stops being a brash, willful little self-involved punk (even though his intentions were always good). He BECOMES. I love that Attolia lets herself love him and lets herself trust the world again, even though the threats against her and her nation are probably greater than ever. I love that Eddis is their friend before she’s a ruler. I love that Costis loved Gen (enough to CHANGE HIS RELIGION) ages before he knew he did, and that Gen loves him unswervingly, and maybe did (just a little) even before he chose poor Costis as his unwitting linchpin. I love that Sophos is going to blush every time he touches Eddis’ hand for, like, a solid year. And holy oh my gods, Kamet is going to be so tired of pretending to be exasperated by Costis being the best boyfriend ever. EMBRACE YOUR ADORABLE SERVICE TOP, KAMET ::grabby hands::
Dublin Murder Squad
The characters are flawed but always well-intentioned. Well. Maybe except for Rob. Fuckin' Rob, man. French's writing is vivid and alluring and visceral and hypnotically good--it's like a sensory hallucination sometimes. I love the characters with crippling self-doubt who power through, trying to fake it til they make it (Rob, Scorcher) and the sweethearts who do dumb shit trying to help someone out (Cassie, Richie, Steven), I love the cynical bastards who love fiercely (Frank, Antoinette) and I love that in a dark world, they still try to carry the light, they still search for something to right the wrongs.
MacDonald Hall
I love how much Bruno loves his school, how passionate he is about righting perceived wrongs. I love how long-suffering Boots is, even though he mostly enjoys the hijinx, and how loyal to each other they are. I like how The Fish genuinely likes them, and is sincerely interested in doing well by his students.
How do you feel about crossovers and AUs of various sorts?
I love crossovers. Fusionfic! College AUs. Coffeeshops! I dig an elegant mashup, man. And since characterization is my FAVORITE, and clever AUs can make characters pop, so bring it on! His Dark Materials (daemons for everyone!), Inception (IT IS A MIND HEIST), Brooklyn 99? GLOW? Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel (what is magic like in 2019?), Pacific Rim (the Dublin kids would be amazing here, so much DRIFT COMPATIBLE ANGST)? Holy oh my god, Bruno and Boots TEENWOLF AU?? Bake off? Bruno’s cakes would be riDONKulous and Boots would be so steady and precise… until he spins out and Bruno has to calm him down… MACDONALD HALL HOSTS THE DERRY GIRLS FOR SOME REASON AHAHAHAHA
Anyway, write what you like best and I'm sure to like it, too.
Happy Yuletide!!!
YULETIDE LETTER 2018
Oct. 20th, 2018 06:44 pmThis is really just Yuletide 2017's requests again. I have wants and needs, people, and these are they. That's a sentence, right?
Once, when I was just having a total mindblank about what I even wanted for Yuletide one year, I asked Punk what I should ask for, and she gave me these sage words:
"I'm betting you probably want hugs, and maybe some good times. UST. Sweetly awkward first dates. A quest to find the perfect sweater. Followed by a quest to defeat evil. Handholding. Friendship. Make outs in the balckseat of a car. Sharing a soda in the library. Rollerskating. Ice cream socials. CLAMBAKES. Finding a mysterious thing in the closet. Teamwork. A literal roll in the hay."
She is not wrong. Any or all of these things would be stellar additions to any or all of the fandoms listed below:
The Queen's Thief - Megan Whalen Turner
You know, we have yet to meet any of Gen's brothers and sisters, of which he has more than one of each, as near as I can tell. A little family life? His father? (who loved him enough to try his damndest to kill his son rather than see him tortured to death at her hands...) What must they think of Attolia?
Again, I love any eye on Gen, especially Attolia, Eddis or Phresine, and I am eager to see him loafing around or plotting against other kingdoms.
Also, if you have a little Costis/Aris lying around somewhere, I would like to see it. Those cuties. EXCEPT THAT SINCE THICK AS THIEVES I AM 100% ON BOARD WITH COSTIS/KAMET PLEASE AND THANK YOU.
I love temple stories, so feel free to sing me a song of the gods! Attolia telling Gen a story (in bed in the afterglow), Aris telling Costis a story (that leads to bed), Phresine telling a story to someone's children... before bed. I feel sure Eddis and Sophos will have a million adorable kiddos and Attolia and Gen. Well. That child will have her ears full of tales from the very cradle, won't she?
Dublin Murder Squad Series - Tana French
Scorcher is so very lonely, and he was clearly genuinely fond of Richie, and Richie was fucking ADORABLE and A+ about being a good mate and second. So. If he and Richie could somehow... have ALL THE HUGS, jesus, Scorcher needs so many hugs. Please write a nice little unlikely fix it for our Scorcher?
Or how about something narrated by Sam? I feel, like, 90% sure that all that late night whiskey and hanging out together with Cassie and Rob ended in at LEAST one inappropriate kiss for/from at LEAST two people.
Lord Peter Wimsey - Dorothy L. Sayers
I would like a post-Busman's Honeymoon or post-Gaudy Night dinners and banter and sweet make outs. Bonus for mysteries! Or espionage~ Perhaps they lay one of the Wimsey ghosts to rest?
OH MAN OR: a crossover with Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries? Harriet and Phryne would get along like a house on fire: Phryne could flirt with Peter [OBVIOUSLY SHE IS AN OLD GIRLFRIEND FROM PARIS WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT] and share smart clothes with Harriet and Phryne would be adrift without Jack of course, but perhaps... Bunter might cheer her nights?
Secret History - Donna Tartt
More background info on anyone, pre- or during the events of the book - anyone except RICHARD. Ugh. Richard. That fuckin' guy. Henry is a great favorite, but Francis would have so many tales, and there’s something darkly funny about poor Charles being driven to drink as “the normal one”; he must have been beside himself trying to be cool while Henry chose which books to carry to make a good impression on the cops. Charles has for sure been on the wrong side of the law-probably for underage drinking, I would think. Or petty theft. He strikes me as a kid who took what he wanted, shortage of pocket money or no. And Camilla, being his look out or his lawyer or his designated liar, promising to keep an eye on him, to keep him out of trouble, when he’s stolen the gum for her, the charm bracelet, the pregnancy test.
Mad Men
Joan and Peggy and Sally and Dawn in 1982. They're all successful, natch, but what are they doing? PLEASE TO DESCRIBE and if you have Peggy and Stan still together I will hug your face and if they're not together and she's not with Joyce (at least as friends drinking and talking shit about people at expensive bars) I will weep many sad tears.
Princess Bride (1987)
Mix it up! Post-movie, Inigo and Fezzik are owners of a ship. I assume they don't feel super piratey, and then ferry a lot of guest stars around. Who finds themselves on the Slaked Vengeance? (It was the Revenge, but it's time for a fresh start, don't you think?)
*
Now, here are some ideas about what I like to find under the tree/in my stocking Yuletide Morn:
How do you feel about crossovers and AUs of various sorts?
I love crossovers. Fusionfic! College AUs. ADORE them! I tend to love them best if I know both fandoms, so there's that, but mostly: <3. I dig an elegant mashup, man. And since characterization is my FAVORITE, and clever AUs can make characters pop, so bring it on! (You may have noticed that I have been plainly angling for a Wimsey/Fisher mystery!)
Do you have tropes/details/kinks you like particularly?
"Happy Ending" is probably my main trope. I don't think that's even a trope, really, but. I love me a good body swap, actually, and maybe above all others PRETEND BOYFRIENDS/GIRLFRIENDS. WILL THEY FALL IN LOVE???? I think that could work in just about every fandom I’ve ever been in.
Well, maybe there's no way Dublin Murder Squad could make it lighthearted. But.
Just think of Frank romancing Scorcher for... important undercover reasons. Say... as dates at a wedding just after marriage equality passes. Bringing him drinks and asking him to dance. SCORCHER WOULD BLUSH FOR SURE. Now make it Richie and they would totally sweetly kiss at the doorstep when Richie dropped Mick off...::props chin on hands and moons about how that would be soooooooooooo cuuuuuuuute::
What do you like about the canon? What do you like about the characters, if you specified?
Lord Peter Whimsey Mysteries
I love how self-aware Peter is, and how invested he is, and how much compassion he has for the murderers. I love how short-tempered Harriet can be, and how she suffers no fools, and how she fights being in love with Peter for ages (for what, isn't it like SEVEN YEARS?), right until she can't anymore and then goes all in. I have always, I should admit, been a little disappointed in her for not solving Gaudy Night before Peter, but then she was handicapped by a threat to her sanity and her ideals and the place she held as a sanctuary and everybody was freaking out, so. I forgive. I do love when Harriet finally admits she loves Peter (and I love how Peter finally REALLY understands why his constant/playful/earnest proposals were maybe kind of inappropriate and even, dare I say it, bullying.) Bunter always felt perhaps a little underdeveloped, his noble devotion to Peter aside, so if you wanted to write something from his POV, I would dig it!
Mad Men
I love it best when the ladies OWN IT. When Joan lets someone know that she’s got their number, when Peggy kills it at a presentation, or loses her shit and lets people HAVE IT when someone’s mean to her. Dawn, quiet but wise to timing, and carving a place for herself with both confidence and competence. I love it when they’re on top of their game, and taking the time to enjoy the moment – like when Sally decided to kiss the scientist kid who had a sense of wonder instead of the sneering hot guy during the moon walk. In that instant, we knew Sally would definitely not grow up to her mother. She would choose for herself.
The Queen’s Thief
I love that Gen GROWS UP. He stops being a brash, willful little self-involved punk (even though his intentions were always good). He BECOMES. I love that Attolia lets herself love him and lets herself trust the world again, even though the threats against her and her nation are probably greater than ever. I love that Eddis is their friend before she’s a ruler. I love that Costis loved Gen ages before he knew he did, and that Gen loves him unswervingly (enough to CHANGE HIS RELIGION), and maybe did (just a little) even before he chose poor Costis as his unwitting linchpin. I love that Sophos is going to blush every time he touches Eddis’ hand for, like, a solid year. And holy oh my gods, KAMET/COSTIS yes please ::grabby hands::
Dublin Murder Squad
The characters are flawed but always well-intentioned. Well. Maybe except for Rob. Fuckin' Rob, man. French's writing is vivid and alluring and visceral and hypnotically good--it's like a sensory hallucination sometimes. I love the characters with crippling self-doubt who power through, trying to fake it til they make it (Rob, Scorcher) and the sweethearts who do dumb shit trying to help someone out (Cassie, Richie), I love the cynical bastards who love fiercely (Frank) and I love that in a dark world, they still try to carry the light, they still search for something to right the wrongs.
What kind of stories do you like/dislike, what you like about these particular fandoms/characters, fandom-specific prompts?
While I have found a cathartic cry both beautiful and satisfying, at the end of the day, I will always prefer a happy ending. I don't care for maiming injuries or major character deaths (drawing room murders and/or ghosts and *ahem* the perils of thieving don't apply to this, natch). I love any kind of close relationship, be it best friends or passionate lovers. I just want everyone to be happy, basically.
What genre (sff/action/romance/procedural/character study, etc) do you like/dislike?
I like everything! I am not kidding. Every time I’m like, eh, that’s not my favorite, then someone will write something amazing and I’ll be all, hey! THAT’S PRETTY GOOD. I would say what my actual least favorite is, but I fear you’d take it as a gauntlet being thrown.
Do you have any squicks/triggers/things generally you don't want?
I don't like humiliation or hate or physical suffering (I would probably make an exception in Gen’s case, since his work is so dangerous/demanding) or misogyny, but I feel like you'd never write stuff like that anyway, Yule Santa!!
How do you feel about het/gen/slash/femslash?
Yes, please! I can be persuaded of poly (por ejemplo, Cassie/Rob/Sam... ::koff, koff::), but in general, I like to keep it to two people (who love each other!) in bed at a time.
OMG, though now I kind of want Peter/Harriet/Phryne... a really lot?
What ratings do you prefer?
I love all ratings, and dig the most modest to the most explicit; sometimes just having someone brush the backs of their fingers against the back of someone else's hand can be infinitely sigh-deeply satisfying – I might find TRIPLE X a little jarring in a Wimsey story or Queen’s Thief, but hey.
*
Godspeed, my beauties. May a blue wave wash every bastard right into jail in the coming year.
xoxo
Once, when I was just having a total mindblank about what I even wanted for Yuletide one year, I asked Punk what I should ask for, and she gave me these sage words:
"I'm betting you probably want hugs, and maybe some good times. UST. Sweetly awkward first dates. A quest to find the perfect sweater. Followed by a quest to defeat evil. Handholding. Friendship. Make outs in the balckseat of a car. Sharing a soda in the library. Rollerskating. Ice cream socials. CLAMBAKES. Finding a mysterious thing in the closet. Teamwork. A literal roll in the hay."
She is not wrong. Any or all of these things would be stellar additions to any or all of the fandoms listed below:
The Queen's Thief - Megan Whalen Turner
You know, we have yet to meet any of Gen's brothers and sisters, of which he has more than one of each, as near as I can tell. A little family life? His father? (who loved him enough to try his damndest to kill his son rather than see him tortured to death at her hands...) What must they think of Attolia?
Again, I love any eye on Gen, especially Attolia, Eddis or Phresine, and I am eager to see him loafing around or plotting against other kingdoms.
Also, if you have a little Costis/Aris lying around somewhere, I would like to see it. Those cuties. EXCEPT THAT SINCE THICK AS THIEVES I AM 100% ON BOARD WITH COSTIS/KAMET PLEASE AND THANK YOU.
I love temple stories, so feel free to sing me a song of the gods! Attolia telling Gen a story (in bed in the afterglow), Aris telling Costis a story (that leads to bed), Phresine telling a story to someone's children... before bed. I feel sure Eddis and Sophos will have a million adorable kiddos and Attolia and Gen. Well. That child will have her ears full of tales from the very cradle, won't she?
Dublin Murder Squad Series - Tana French
Scorcher is so very lonely, and he was clearly genuinely fond of Richie, and Richie was fucking ADORABLE and A+ about being a good mate and second. So. If he and Richie could somehow... have ALL THE HUGS, jesus, Scorcher needs so many hugs. Please write a nice little unlikely fix it for our Scorcher?
Or how about something narrated by Sam? I feel, like, 90% sure that all that late night whiskey and hanging out together with Cassie and Rob ended in at LEAST one inappropriate kiss for/from at LEAST two people.
Lord Peter Wimsey - Dorothy L. Sayers
I would like a post-Busman's Honeymoon or post-Gaudy Night dinners and banter and sweet make outs. Bonus for mysteries! Or espionage~ Perhaps they lay one of the Wimsey ghosts to rest?
OH MAN OR: a crossover with Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries? Harriet and Phryne would get along like a house on fire: Phryne could flirt with Peter [OBVIOUSLY SHE IS AN OLD GIRLFRIEND FROM PARIS WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT] and share smart clothes with Harriet and Phryne would be adrift without Jack of course, but perhaps... Bunter might cheer her nights?
Secret History - Donna Tartt
More background info on anyone, pre- or during the events of the book - anyone except RICHARD. Ugh. Richard. That fuckin' guy. Henry is a great favorite, but Francis would have so many tales, and there’s something darkly funny about poor Charles being driven to drink as “the normal one”; he must have been beside himself trying to be cool while Henry chose which books to carry to make a good impression on the cops. Charles has for sure been on the wrong side of the law-probably for underage drinking, I would think. Or petty theft. He strikes me as a kid who took what he wanted, shortage of pocket money or no. And Camilla, being his look out or his lawyer or his designated liar, promising to keep an eye on him, to keep him out of trouble, when he’s stolen the gum for her, the charm bracelet, the pregnancy test.
Mad Men
Joan and Peggy and Sally and Dawn in 1982. They're all successful, natch, but what are they doing? PLEASE TO DESCRIBE and if you have Peggy and Stan still together I will hug your face and if they're not together and she's not with Joyce (at least as friends drinking and talking shit about people at expensive bars) I will weep many sad tears.
Princess Bride (1987)
Mix it up! Post-movie, Inigo and Fezzik are owners of a ship. I assume they don't feel super piratey, and then ferry a lot of guest stars around. Who finds themselves on the Slaked Vengeance? (It was the Revenge, but it's time for a fresh start, don't you think?)
*
Now, here are some ideas about what I like to find under the tree/in my stocking Yuletide Morn:
How do you feel about crossovers and AUs of various sorts?
I love crossovers. Fusionfic! College AUs. ADORE them! I tend to love them best if I know both fandoms, so there's that, but mostly: <3. I dig an elegant mashup, man. And since characterization is my FAVORITE, and clever AUs can make characters pop, so bring it on! (You may have noticed that I have been plainly angling for a Wimsey/Fisher mystery!)
Do you have tropes/details/kinks you like particularly?
"Happy Ending" is probably my main trope. I don't think that's even a trope, really, but. I love me a good body swap, actually, and maybe above all others PRETEND BOYFRIENDS/GIRLFRIENDS. WILL THEY FALL IN LOVE???? I think that could work in just about every fandom I’ve ever been in.
Well, maybe there's no way Dublin Murder Squad could make it lighthearted. But.
Just think of Frank romancing Scorcher for... important undercover reasons. Say... as dates at a wedding just after marriage equality passes. Bringing him drinks and asking him to dance. SCORCHER WOULD BLUSH FOR SURE. Now make it Richie and they would totally sweetly kiss at the doorstep when Richie dropped Mick off...::props chin on hands and moons about how that would be soooooooooooo cuuuuuuuute::
What do you like about the canon? What do you like about the characters, if you specified?
Lord Peter Whimsey Mysteries
I love how self-aware Peter is, and how invested he is, and how much compassion he has for the murderers. I love how short-tempered Harriet can be, and how she suffers no fools, and how she fights being in love with Peter for ages (for what, isn't it like SEVEN YEARS?), right until she can't anymore and then goes all in. I have always, I should admit, been a little disappointed in her for not solving Gaudy Night before Peter, but then she was handicapped by a threat to her sanity and her ideals and the place she held as a sanctuary and everybody was freaking out, so. I forgive. I do love when Harriet finally admits she loves Peter (and I love how Peter finally REALLY understands why his constant/playful/earnest proposals were maybe kind of inappropriate and even, dare I say it, bullying.) Bunter always felt perhaps a little underdeveloped, his noble devotion to Peter aside, so if you wanted to write something from his POV, I would dig it!
Mad Men
I love it best when the ladies OWN IT. When Joan lets someone know that she’s got their number, when Peggy kills it at a presentation, or loses her shit and lets people HAVE IT when someone’s mean to her. Dawn, quiet but wise to timing, and carving a place for herself with both confidence and competence. I love it when they’re on top of their game, and taking the time to enjoy the moment – like when Sally decided to kiss the scientist kid who had a sense of wonder instead of the sneering hot guy during the moon walk. In that instant, we knew Sally would definitely not grow up to her mother. She would choose for herself.
The Queen’s Thief
I love that Gen GROWS UP. He stops being a brash, willful little self-involved punk (even though his intentions were always good). He BECOMES. I love that Attolia lets herself love him and lets herself trust the world again, even though the threats against her and her nation are probably greater than ever. I love that Eddis is their friend before she’s a ruler. I love that Costis loved Gen ages before he knew he did, and that Gen loves him unswervingly (enough to CHANGE HIS RELIGION), and maybe did (just a little) even before he chose poor Costis as his unwitting linchpin. I love that Sophos is going to blush every time he touches Eddis’ hand for, like, a solid year. And holy oh my gods, KAMET/COSTIS yes please ::grabby hands::
Dublin Murder Squad
The characters are flawed but always well-intentioned. Well. Maybe except for Rob. Fuckin' Rob, man. French's writing is vivid and alluring and visceral and hypnotically good--it's like a sensory hallucination sometimes. I love the characters with crippling self-doubt who power through, trying to fake it til they make it (Rob, Scorcher) and the sweethearts who do dumb shit trying to help someone out (Cassie, Richie), I love the cynical bastards who love fiercely (Frank) and I love that in a dark world, they still try to carry the light, they still search for something to right the wrongs.
What kind of stories do you like/dislike, what you like about these particular fandoms/characters, fandom-specific prompts?
While I have found a cathartic cry both beautiful and satisfying, at the end of the day, I will always prefer a happy ending. I don't care for maiming injuries or major character deaths (drawing room murders and/or ghosts and *ahem* the perils of thieving don't apply to this, natch). I love any kind of close relationship, be it best friends or passionate lovers. I just want everyone to be happy, basically.
What genre (sff/action/romance/procedural/character study, etc) do you like/dislike?
I like everything! I am not kidding. Every time I’m like, eh, that’s not my favorite, then someone will write something amazing and I’ll be all, hey! THAT’S PRETTY GOOD. I would say what my actual least favorite is, but I fear you’d take it as a gauntlet being thrown.
Do you have any squicks/triggers/things generally you don't want?
I don't like humiliation or hate or physical suffering (I would probably make an exception in Gen’s case, since his work is so dangerous/demanding) or misogyny, but I feel like you'd never write stuff like that anyway, Yule Santa!!
How do you feel about het/gen/slash/femslash?
Yes, please! I can be persuaded of poly (por ejemplo, Cassie/Rob/Sam... ::koff, koff::), but in general, I like to keep it to two people (who love each other!) in bed at a time.
OMG, though now I kind of want Peter/Harriet/Phryne... a really lot?
What ratings do you prefer?
I love all ratings, and dig the most modest to the most explicit; sometimes just having someone brush the backs of their fingers against the back of someone else's hand can be infinitely sigh-deeply satisfying – I might find TRIPLE X a little jarring in a Wimsey story or Queen’s Thief, but hey.
*
Godspeed, my beauties. May a blue wave wash every bastard right into jail in the coming year.
xoxo
2017: the year of finishing what I started
Jan. 1st, 2018 01:35 pmHello folks. I turned 44 in June and so I thought I'd finish some stories I had lurking in my folders:
Absinthe I read a great deal of exceedingly fine Inception fic (oh, please do read this marvel by eleveninches: The Material Life of the Californian Suburb), but I only tried my hand at writing it once. In 2012. About two days after I read that particular story, in fact. Anyway, I like it. I think Arthur owning a shiny blue funnycar with red dice emblazoned on the side is probably my favorite headcannon in some time.
everything unknown appears magnificent I was in pretty deep in Sherlock fandom - but again, I only tried to write one story, in January of 2012. Which again, I didn't finish until November 2017. I wrote it for Mel. (My favorites in Sherlock fandom are wildly different: Pru's The Least of All Possible Mistakes (and the excellent Lazulus podfic which I've basically used to commit LOAPM to memory) and merripestin's Safe Distance.)
I wrote three Yuletide fics this year!
If you saw Moon, you might like Vintage. Sam Bell and... all the other Sam Bells, and a team of Old Pros. Technically, I started writing THIS one in... um. I think, like, 2009? 2010 maybe? It was originally for Slodwick's Picture is Worth 1000 Words challenge, in which I received a picture of a bottle of wine. It was, to date, the only challenge story I didn't complete by the deadline. I don't have any idea why. Anyway, I took my old notes and started it over, this time in first person. I do hope syllogismos liked it, especially since I'd been chewing on it for such a very long time.
Every Yuletide story I wrote this year happened to be in first person.
Since the other two were Tana French Dublin Murder Squad fics, that kind of comes with the territory.
a forger gives you the goods Moran and Conway are lured into Frank Mackey's new line of work. For arbitrarily.
the share Set in the same universe as 'forger', a meditation on Richie Curran's hidden talents. For brighty.
Let's see what 2018 brings us. Peace and justice to you in the coming year.
Please rec your fave Yuletide stories (or ANY stories!) from this year in comments!
Absinthe I read a great deal of exceedingly fine Inception fic (oh, please do read this marvel by eleveninches: The Material Life of the Californian Suburb), but I only tried my hand at writing it once. In 2012. About two days after I read that particular story, in fact. Anyway, I like it. I think Arthur owning a shiny blue funnycar with red dice emblazoned on the side is probably my favorite headcannon in some time.
everything unknown appears magnificent I was in pretty deep in Sherlock fandom - but again, I only tried to write one story, in January of 2012. Which again, I didn't finish until November 2017. I wrote it for Mel. (My favorites in Sherlock fandom are wildly different: Pru's The Least of All Possible Mistakes (and the excellent Lazulus podfic which I've basically used to commit LOAPM to memory) and merripestin's Safe Distance.)
I wrote three Yuletide fics this year!
If you saw Moon, you might like Vintage. Sam Bell and... all the other Sam Bells, and a team of Old Pros. Technically, I started writing THIS one in... um. I think, like, 2009? 2010 maybe? It was originally for Slodwick's Picture is Worth 1000 Words challenge, in which I received a picture of a bottle of wine. It was, to date, the only challenge story I didn't complete by the deadline. I don't have any idea why. Anyway, I took my old notes and started it over, this time in first person. I do hope syllogismos liked it, especially since I'd been chewing on it for such a very long time.
Every Yuletide story I wrote this year happened to be in first person.
Since the other two were Tana French Dublin Murder Squad fics, that kind of comes with the territory.
a forger gives you the goods Moran and Conway are lured into Frank Mackey's new line of work. For arbitrarily.
the share Set in the same universe as 'forger', a meditation on Richie Curran's hidden talents. For brighty.
Let's see what 2018 brings us. Peace and justice to you in the coming year.
Please rec your fave Yuletide stories (or ANY stories!) from this year in comments!
(no subject)
Dec. 25th, 2017 10:55 pmLord Peter Wimsey & Miss Phryne Fisher used to date. Harriet Vane is not best pleased. Initially, anyway. Who can resist Phryne’s charms?
SO I GOT A ‘PETER HAS TO STAND THERE WHILE PHRYNE FISHER AND HARRIET PREPARE TO VISIT TOGETHER OUT OF EARSHOT’ STORY FOR YULETIDE. Only read if you love rad ladies about to compare notes on a shared lover, while looking smashing and getting smashed.
http://archiveofourown.org/works/13012365
O SANTA, MY SANTA: YULETIDE COMES AT LAST
Oct. 7th, 2017 10:33 pmHello, kids. How's every little thing? All cool with you? I hope so.
Sure has been A Quiet Year, huh? Well, whether or not the Frost Shepherds come, I'm here now and I'm full of sparkling glittery lovehearts for each one of you.
Now, let's get to the good stuff: YUUUUUUUUUUUULETIDE. It is a balm for the soul, whether reading treasures plucked from casks of gold or writing a story with your nose to the page, trying to make it JUST SO.
What would I like this year? I'll tell you true, I would like anything that catches your eye - did you see something glow, a flicker, a sheen? Half-remembered, an imperfect impression, a ghost that sighs in your ear in a language you can't name? Let it be the dream that wakes you and has you scrambling to write it down, symbols that transmute into motive and character and a thread of plot. THAT is what I want.
She is not wrong. Any or all of these things would be stellar additions to any or all of the fandoms listed below:
The Queen's Thief - Megan Whalen Turner
You know, we have yet to meet any of Gen's brothers and sisters, of which he has more than one of each, as near as I can tell. A little family life? His father? (who loved him enough to try his damndest to kill his son rather than see him tortured to death at her hands...) What must they think of Attolia?
Dublin Murder Squad Series - Tana French
Lord Peter Wimsey - Dorothy L. Sayers
I would like a post-Busman's Honeymoon or post-Gaudy Night dinners and banter and sweet make outs. Bonus for mysteries! Or espionage~ Perhaps they lay one of the Wimsey ghosts to rest?
Secret History - Donna Tartt
Mad Men
Princess Bride (1987)
Dublin Murder Squad
May hurricanes sputter and fade long before they pass over any lands, may the earth be still and firm beneath your feet, may roaring flames and cracked, gasping Earth alike be sated by cool, gentle rains, may the entire nation stare into each other's eyes for a long unbroken moment and find the spark of humanity that we all long to recognize, to cherish and nurture and embrace. I want you and me and we and us and also "them" to all sleep easy and dream deeply and wake refreshed. I want a future for you--every mishap sidestepped, every injustice brought to light and balanced, where the broken and the desperate who long to lash out and broadcast their pain across the land stay at home instead and call a friend, a sister, a doctor before... Before.
And if. And if.
According to every zealot patiently handing out flyers I've met, my soul shall not re-coalesce on the side of the angels, where YOU, my darlings, will surely be (one day, sure, but at least 150 years from the moment you read this, and ANY moment you read this), ensconced in fashionable raiment and sipping all manner of delights while astride a magnificent unicorn and petting a quokka. Or maybe astride a princely, pony-sized capybara and petting a magnificent quokka-sized unicorn.
Either way, I'll love you still in hell.
Sure has been A Quiet Year, huh? Well, whether or not the Frost Shepherds come, I'm here now and I'm full of sparkling glittery lovehearts for each one of you.
Now, let's get to the good stuff: YUUUUUUUUUUUULETIDE. It is a balm for the soul, whether reading treasures plucked from casks of gold or writing a story with your nose to the page, trying to make it JUST SO.
What would I like this year? I'll tell you true, I would like anything that catches your eye - did you see something glow, a flicker, a sheen? Half-remembered, an imperfect impression, a ghost that sighs in your ear in a language you can't name? Let it be the dream that wakes you and has you scrambling to write it down, symbols that transmute into motive and character and a thread of plot. THAT is what I want.
Once, when I was just having a total mindblank about what I even wanted for Yuletide one year, I asked Punk what I should ask for, and she gave me these sage words:
"I'm betting you probably want hugs, and maybe some good times. UST. Sweetly awkward first dates. A quest to find the perfect sweater. Followed by a quest to defeat evil. Handholding. Friendship. Make outs in the balckseat of a car. Sharing a soda in the library. Rollerskating. Ice cream socials. CLAMBAKES. Finding a mysterious thing in the closet. Teamwork. A literal roll in the hay."
The Queen's Thief - Megan Whalen Turner
You know, we have yet to meet any of Gen's brothers and sisters, of which he has more than one of each, as near as I can tell. A little family life? His father? (who loved him enough to try his damndest to kill his son rather than see him tortured to death at her hands...) What must they think of Attolia?
Again, I love any eye on Gen, especially Attolia, Eddis or Phresine, and I am eager to see him loafing around or plotting against other kingdoms.
Also, if you have a little Costis/Aris lying around somewhere, I would like to see it. Those cuties. EXCEPT THAT SINCE THICK AS THIEVES I AM 100% ON BOARD WITH COSTIS/KAMET PLEASE AND THANK YOU.
I love temple stories, so feel free to sing me a song of the gods! Attolia telling Gen a story (in bed in the afterglow), Aris telling Costis a story (that leads to bed), Phresine telling a story to someone's children... before bed. I feel sure Eddis and Sophos will have a million adorable kiddos and Attolia and Gen. Well. That child will have her ears full of tales from the very cradle, won't she?
Dublin Murder Squad Series - Tana French
Scorcher is so very lonely, and he was clearly genuinely fond of Richie, and Richie was fucking ADORABLE and A+ about being a good mate and second. So. If he and Richie could somehow... have ALL THE HUGS, jesus, Scorcher needs so many hugs. Please write a nice little unlikely fix it for our Scorcher?
Or how about something narrated by Sam? I feel, like, 90% sure that all that late night whiskey and hanging out together with Cassie and Rob ended in at LEAST one inappropriate kiss for/from at LEAST two people.
Lord Peter Wimsey - Dorothy L. Sayers
I would like a post-Busman's Honeymoon or post-Gaudy Night dinners and banter and sweet make outs. Bonus for mysteries! Or espionage~ Perhaps they lay one of the Wimsey ghosts to rest?
OH MAN OR: a crossover with Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries? Harriet and Phryne would get along like a house on fire: Phryne could flirt with Peter [OBVIOUSLY SHE IS AN OLD GIRLFRIEND FROM PARIS WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT] and share smart clothes with Harriet and Phryne would be adrift without Jack of course, but perhaps... Bunter might cheer her nights?
Secret History - Donna Tartt
More background info on anyone, pre- or during the events of the book - anyone except RICHARD. Ugh. Richard. That fuckin' guy. Henry is a great favorite, but Francis would have so many tales, and there’s something darkly funny about poor Charles being driven to drink as “the normal one”; he must have been beside himself trying to be cool while Henry chose which books to carry to make a good impression on the cops. Charles has for sure been on the wrong side of the law-probably for underage drinking, I would think. Or petty theft. He strikes me as a kid who took what he wanted, shortage of pocket money or no. And Camilla, being his look out or his lawyer or his designated liar, promising to keep an eye on him, to keep him out of trouble, when he’s stolen the gum for her, the charm bracelet, the pregnancy test.
Mad Men
Joan and Peggy and Sally and Dawn in 1982. They're all successful, natch, but what are they doing? PLEASE TO DESCRIBE and if you have Peggy and Stan still together I will hug your face and if they're not together and she's not with Joyce (at least as friends drinking and talking shit about people at expensive bars) I will weep many sad tears.
Princess Bride (1987)
Mix it up! Post-movie, Inigo and Fezzik are owners of a ship. I assume they don't feel super piratey, and then ferry a lot of guest stars around. Who finds themselves on the Slaked Vengeance? (It was the Revenge, but it's time for a fresh start, don't you think?)
*
Now, here are some ideas about what I like to find under the tree/in my stocking Yuletide Morn:
How do you feel about crossovers and AUs of various sorts?
I love crossovers. Fusionfic! College AUs. ADORE them! I tend to love them best if I know both fandoms, so there's that, but mostly: <3. I dig an elegant mashup, man. And since characterization is my FAVORITE, and clever AUs can make characters pop, so bring it on! (You may have noticed that I have been plainly angling for a Wimsey/Fisher mystery!)
Do you have tropes/details/kinks you like particularly?
"Happy Ending" is probably my main trope. I don't think that's even a trope, really, but. I love me a good body swap, actually, and maybe above all others PRETEND BOYFRIENDS/GIRLFRIENDS. WILL THEY FALL IN LOVE???? I think that could work in just about every fandom I’ve ever been in.
Well, maybe there's no way Dublin Murder Squad could make it lighthearted. But.
Just think of Frank romancing Scorcher for... important undercover reasons. Say... as dates at a wedding just after marriage equality passes. Bringing him drinks and asking him to dance. SCORCHER WOULD BLUSH FOR SURE. Now make it Richie and they would totally sweetly kiss at the doorstep when Richie dropped Mick off...::props chin on hands and moons about how that would be soooooooooooo cuuuuuuuute::
What do you like about the canon? What do you like about the characters, if you specified?
Lord Peter Whimsey Mysteries
I love how self-aware Peter is, and how invested he is, and how much compassion he has for the murderers. I love how short-tempered Harriet can be, and how she suffers no fools, and how she fights being in love with Peter for ages (for what, isn't it like SEVEN YEARS?), right until she can't anymore and then goes all in. I have always, I should admit, been a little disappointed in her for not solving Gaudy Night before Peter, but then she was handicapped by a threat to her sanity and her ideals and the place she held as a sanctuary and everybody was freaking out, so. I forgive. I do love when Harriet finally admits she loves Peter (and I love how Peter finally REALLY understands why his constant/playful/earnest proposals were maybe kind of inappropriate and even, dare I say it, bullying.) Bunter always felt perhaps a little underdeveloped, his noble devotion to Peter aside, so if you wanted to write something from his POV, I would dig it!
Mad Men
I love it best when the ladies OWN IT. When Joan lets someone know that she’s got their number, when Peggy kills it at a presentation, or loses her shit and lets people HAVE IT when someone’s mean to her. Dawn, quiet but wise to timing, and carving a place for herself with both confidence and competence. I love it when they’re on top of their game, and taking the time to enjoy the moment – like when Sally decided to kiss the scientist kid who had a sense of wonder instead of the sneering hot guy during the moon walk. In that instant, we knew Sally would definitely not grow up to her mother. She would choose for herself.
The Queen’s Thief
I love that Gen GROWS UP. He stops being a brash, willful little self-involved punk (even though his intentions were always good). He BECOMES. I love that Attolia lets herself love him and lets herself trust the world again, even though the threats against her and her nation are probably greater than ever. I love that Eddis is their friend before she’s a ruler. I love that Costis loved Gen ages before he knew he did, and that Gen loves him unswervingly (enough to CHANGE HIS RELIGION), and maybe did (just a little) even before he chose poor Costis as his unwitting linchpin. I love that Sophos is going to blush every time he touches Eddis’ hand for, like, a solid year. And holy oh my gods, KAMET/COSTIS yes please ::grabby hands::
Dublin Murder Squad
The characters are flawed but always well-intentioned. Well. Maybe except for Rob. Fuckin' Rob, man. French's writing is vivid and alluring and visceral and hypnotically good--it's like a sensory hallucination sometimes. I love the characters with crippling self-doubt who power through, trying to fake it til they make it (Rob, Scorcher) and the sweethearts who do dumb shit trying to help someone out (Cassie, Richie), I love the cynical bastards who love fiercely (Frank) and I love that in a dark world, they still try to carry the light, they still search for something to right the wrongs.
What kind of stories do you like/dislike, what you like about these particular fandoms/characters, fandom-specific prompts?
While I have found a cathartic cry both beautiful and satisfying, at the end of the day, I will always prefer a happy ending. I don't care for maiming injuries or major character deaths (drawing room murders and/or ghosts and *ahem* the perils of thieving don't apply to this, natch). I love any kind of close relationship, be it best friends or passionate lovers. I just want everyone to be happy, basically.
What genre (sff/action/romance/procedural/character study, etc) do you like/dislike?
I like everything! I am not kidding. Every time I’m like, eh, that’s not my favorite, then someone will write something amazing and I’ll be all, hey! THAT’S PRETTY GOOD. I would say what my actual least favorite is, but I fear you’d take it as a gauntlet being thrown.
Do you have any squicks/triggers/things generally you don't want?
I don't like humiliation or hate or physical suffering (I would probably make an exception in Gen’s case, since his work is so dangerous/demanding) or misogyny, but I feel like you'd never write stuff like that anyway, Yule Santa!!
How do you feel about het/gen/slash/femslash?
Yes, please! I can be persuaded of poly (por ejemplo, Cassie/Rob/Sam... ::koff, koff::), but in general, I like to keep it to two people (who love each other!) in bed at a time.
OMG, though now I kind of want Peter/Harriet/Phryne... a really lot?
What ratings do you prefer?
I love all ratings, and dig the most modest to the most explicit; sometimes just having someone brush the backs of their fingers against the back of someone else's hand can be infinitely sigh-deeply satisfying – I might find TRIPLE X a little jarring in a Wimsey story or Queen’s Thief, but hey.
*
And if. And if.
According to every zealot patiently handing out flyers I've met, my soul shall not re-coalesce on the side of the angels, where YOU, my darlings, will surely be (one day, sure, but at least 150 years from the moment you read this, and ANY moment you read this), ensconced in fashionable raiment and sipping all manner of delights while astride a magnificent unicorn and petting a quokka. Or maybe astride a princely, pony-sized capybara and petting a magnificent quokka-sized unicorn.
Either way, I'll love you still in hell.
Firstly, I deleted my LJ account (goodnight old kid, you were every good thing for a very long time) and secondly happy 2017 (may it not scald us all alive).
My Yuletide story this year was called: Costis Ormentiedes and the Thief of Eddis. It's a Gen story. (Ha. Very ha, I know.) It's a fusion AU! It is not a dessert topping.
Summary:
My Yuletide story this year was called: Costis Ormentiedes and the Thief of Eddis. It's a Gen story. (Ha. Very ha, I know.) It's a fusion AU! It is not a dessert topping.
Summary:
“He looks too young to be taking his own class,” Costis continued. “He’s the worst Defense Against the Dark Arts professor we’ve ever had. And that's saying something.”
“You’re mad for him, aren’t you,” Aris teased. “It’s ‘Queen’ Attolia all over again... calf-eyes and mooning and swearing fealty...”
Costis felt his ears go scarlet.
“I do not have a crush on the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher,” Costis insisted.
“Happy to hear it,” Professor Saccularius sang out. “As I understand it, those can be very awkward, for both parties. I’ll expect those scrolls on my desk first thing on Wednesday!” And he breezed past them as if he couldn’t tell that Costis was choking on his own tongue.
*
Or: the one where Costis is exceedingly suspicious of the new DADA professor.
Dear Yuletide Santa,
This year, I went... obscure. Even for Yuletide. Which is saying something. This year, maybe I'll get a story based on a music video and/or a 90s style (but not a 90s ERA) point-and-click supernatural murder mystery game! Looking through the fandoms this year, I know there's going to be a bumper crop of cool jazz to read, and I look forward to your story, made from artisanal organic homespun quips and sentences and paper bullets of your own pure brain!
First, the REQUESTS:
Genghis Khan (Miike Snow)
I feel some earlier glimpses at Villain and Agent's earlier interactions would be... illuminating. Especially if there weren't any henchmen around. Sure, it all ends in sexy romance-dance fighting and domestic turtlenecks, but Villain... Let's call him Karel Szabó, because why not (um... it allegedly means Manly Tailor)? and... Devon, that guy looks like a Devon, Devon Nils. There is backstory galore there, and at least one back alley hookup, amirite? Flashbacks, please!
Dublin Murder Squad (Tana French)
Scorcher is so very lonely, and he was clearly genuinely fond of Richie, and Richie was fucking ADORABLE and A+ about being a good mate and second. So. If he and Richie could somehow... have ALL THE HUGS, jesus, Scorcher needs so many hugs. Please write a nice little unlikely fix it for our Scorcher?
Or how about something narrated by Sam? I feel, like, 90% sure that all that late night whiskey and hanging out together with Cassie and Rob ended in at LEAST one inappropriate kiss for/from at LEAST two people.
Blackwell Series (Video Games)
I shipped Lauren and Joey. Banter? Check. Dangerous situations? Check. UST? CHECK.
I feel like Lauren spent a lot of time smoking/soaking in the bathtub that year, frustrated and angry, and just trying to... relax.
Joey maybe could have... helped... with that. I mean, sure, he's intangible except for his necktie... but he's intangible except for a necktie... that *tingles*. ::koff, koff::
Queen’s Thief (Megan Whalen Turner)
You know, we have yet to meet any of Gen's brothers and sisters, of which he has more than one of each, as near as I can tell. A little family life? His father? (who loved him enough to try his damndest to kill his son rather than see him tortured to death at her hands...) What must they think of Attolia?
Again, I love any eye on Gen, especially Attolia, Eddis or Phresine, and I am eager to see him loafing around or plotting against other kingdoms.
Also, if you have a little Costis/Aris lying around somewhere, I would like to see it. Those cuties.
I love temple stories, so feel free to sing me a song of the gods! Attolia telling Gen a story (in bed in the afterglow), Aris telling Costis a story (that leads to bed), Phresine telling a story to someone's children... before bed. I feel sure Eddis and Sophos will have a million adorable kiddos and Attolia and Gen will fret about heirs initially and then have one golden egg...
Ghostbusters (2016)
I ship them, okay? They have CHEMISTRY. And I think Patty might be reluctant, because maybe she's never been with a woman, and maybe she's feeling a little technophobic on top of that, okay? She knows she's got a Brain, she has one of those Iron Man Holographic Maps of the ENTIRE city behind her eyes, okay, all glowing and shit, but these ladies are NEXT LEVEL...
And maybe Holtzmann keeps showing off for her in the lab, and maybe she woos her with SCIENCE... with actual, literal chemistry lessons?
Sweet makeouts are encouraged, but feel free to pan that camera away, Patty will NOT live in a surveillance state, all right?
MacDonald Hall - Gordon Korman
The guys end up at different colleges. At different grad schools. In different countries. But they do keep in touch. AND THEY FALL IN LOVE AND GET MARRIED after, I am sure, countless ridiculous hijinx. OMG if you get all epistolary on me I may have to COVER YOU IN GOLD STARS AND FESTOON YOU WITH CANDY HEARTS <3<3<3
DOUBLE SECRET BONUS POINTS if you have Boots work with Justin Trudeau and either/both of them having a crush on JT, which makes the other one WILDLY JEALOUS.
FYI, Gordon Korman is my namesake/NEMESIS, so NO PRESSURE
Now, here are some ideas about what I like to find under the tree/in my stocking Yuletide Morn:
What do you like about the canon? What do you like about the characters, if you specified?
Genghis Khan
I love that they're conflicted, and that they have no illusions - they know they're playing roles, and that they're defined and ruled by them, and then they say FUCK IT and reject those constraints, and declare their love. They both know their hearts aren't in world domination/spying against an allegedly evil guy who's clearly not gotten around to successfully holding the world hostage in the ten years they've known each other. So they only maintain the fiction in hopes of catching the other's attention... Oh, sorry, I can't see what crimes Szabó is committing because of the HEARTS IN MY EYES
The Queen’s Thief
I love that Gen GROWS UP. He stops being a brash, willful little self-involved punk (even though his intentions were always good). He BECOMES. I love that Attolia lets herself love him and lets herself trust the world again, even though the threats against her and her nation are probably greater than ever. I love that Eddis is their friend before she’s a ruler. I love that Costis loved Gen ages before he knew he did, and that Gen loves him unswervingly (enough to CHANGE HIS RELIGION), and maybe did (just a little) even before he chose poor Costis as his unwitting linchpin. I love that Sophos is going to blush every time he touches Eddis’ hand for, like, a solid year.
MacDonald Hall
Gordon Korman must have loved his school. Bruno’s schemes are fundamentally big-hearted, if often misguided (at least back when he was 12). Bruno’s irrepressible spirit, his can-do attitude and his grand plans are the reason MacDonald Hall is so delightful – but Bruno would be half the man he is without his friend Boots. That constant, solid, if sometimes sighing, eye-rolling and reluctant, support made Bruno great. Bruno believes in himself, yes, but without Boots to believe in him, too, he would probably just be... delusional. And maybe even imaginary altogether. BRUNO/BOOTS 5EVA!!!eleventy!!111!!
The Blackwell Series
I love how loyal Joey is. Sure, he's desperate and compelled and stuck in a shitty job that entails goading very reluctant people to do ridiculously hard jobs by resorting to LITERALLY HAUNTING THEM...but he does what he can to make the best of a bad situation - and you know, it's pretty fucking bad, actually. While Lauren and Rosa are doing good work (protecting living people and granting restless spirits peace), there is a very real toll on their own quality of life - one that doesn't really come with a lot of balancing perks. Sure, banter is fun and all... but banter with an invisible presence can make the rest of your life suuuuuper awkward. While it's nice that Lauren, and later Rosa, always have Joey to count on, they also kind of ONLY have Joey to count on, and this is absolutely the case for poor Joey. So it's heartbreaking, but I like to think that they at least have the option to choose to really *be* there for each other.
Ghostbusters
I love the friendship they have, all four of them. It felt very real and super fun and I would be happy to read a story where they bust a ghost or just break for donuts. It was a human, humane, ridiculous movie, and I believed they were friends who immediately moved in and adopted a golden retriever together.
Dublin Murder Squad
The characters are flawed but always well-intentioned. Well. Maybe except for Rob. Fuckin' Rob, man. French's writing is vivid and alluring and visceral and hypnotically good--it's like a sensory hallucination sometimes. I love the characters with crippling self-doubt who power through, trying to fake it til they make it (Rob, Scorcher) and the sweethearts who do dumb shit trying to help someone out (Cassie, Richie), I love the cynical bastards who love fiercely (Frank) and I love that in a dark world, they still try to carry the light, they still search for something to right the wrongs.
What kind of stories do you like/dislike?
While I have found a cathartic cry both beautiful and satisfying, at the end of the day, I will always prefer a happy ending. I don't care for maiming injuries or major character deaths (murder mysteries and/or ghosts don't apply to this, natch). I love any kind of close relationship, be it best friends or passionate lovers. I just want everyone to be happy, basically.
How do you feel about crossovers and AUs of various sorts?
I love crossovers. ADORE them! I tend to love them best if I know both fandoms, so there's that, but mostly: <3. I dig an elegant mashup, man. And since characterization is my FAVORITE, and clever AUs can make characters pop, bring it on!
What genre (sff/action/romance/procedural/character study, etc) do you like/dislike?
I like everything! I am not kidding. Every time I’m like, eh, that’s not my favorite, then someone will write something amazing and I’ll be all, hey! THAT’S PRETTY GOOD. I would say what my actual least favorite is, but I fear you’d take it as a gauntlet being thrown.
Do you have any squicks/triggers/things generally you don't want?
I don't like humiliation or hate or physical suffering (I would probably make an exception in Gen’s case, since his work is so dangerous/demanding) or misogyny, but I feel like you'd never write stuff like that anyway, Yule Santa!!
How do you feel about het/gen/slash/femslash?
Yes, please! I can be persuaded of poly (por ejemplo, Cassie/Rob/Sam... ::koff, koff::), but in general, I like to keep it to two people (who love each other!) in bed at a time.
What ratings do you prefer?
I love all ratings, and dig the most modest to the most explicit; sometimes just having someone brush the backs of their fingers against the back of someone else's hand can be infinitely sigh-deeply satisfying – I might find TRIPLE X a little jarring in Queen's Thief, MacDonald Hall or Ghostbusters, but I'm usually amenable.
Do you have tropes/details/kinks you like particularly?
"Happy Ending" is probably my main trope. I don't think that's even a trope, really, but. I love me a good body swap, actually, and maybe above all others PRETEND BOYFRIENDS/GIRLFRIENDS. WILL THEY FALL IN LOVE???? (man, I think a Holtzmann/Patty bodyswap would be RAD AS HELL, and I already actually wrote a Bruno/Boots where they pretend to be boyfriends, but I could easily read approximately 3000 more). I think that could work in just about every fandom I’ve ever been in.
Well, maybe there's no way Dublin Murder Squad could make it lighthearted. But.
Just think of Frank romancing Scorcher for... important undercover reasons. Say... as dates at a wedding just after marriage equality passes. Bringing him drinks and asking him to dance. SCORCHER WOULD BLUSH FOR SURE. Now make it Richie and they would totally sweetly kiss at the doorstep when Richie dropped Mick off...::props chin on hands and moons about how that would be soooooooooooo cuuuuuuuute::
2015 Yuletide REVEAL
Jan. 4th, 2016 08:21 amHello new year babies, I wrote some fic for yuletide and this was it:
Operation Luxembourg - Bruno inadvertently insults the dukes of the Luxembourg music scene, Cathy is a menace, and Boots blames Beyoncé.
Bruno and Boots from MacDonald Hall are invited to Diane's wedding. NATURALLY, they must attend as PRETEND BOYFRIENDS. For reasons.
bluebells and a hawthorn tree - We were hardly soulmates, Frank and I, but I did (and still do) feel a tie to him that I can’t ignore. That tie placed me in Whitethorn House, as much as Lexie’s echoing call.
Cassie (and Lexie) and Frank and Daniel, before and during The Likeness (His Dark Materials fusion).
You are all splendid. May 2016 shine on you kindly!
Operation Luxembourg - Bruno inadvertently insults the dukes of the Luxembourg music scene, Cathy is a menace, and Boots blames Beyoncé.
Bruno and Boots from MacDonald Hall are invited to Diane's wedding. NATURALLY, they must attend as PRETEND BOYFRIENDS. For reasons.
bluebells and a hawthorn tree - We were hardly soulmates, Frank and I, but I did (and still do) feel a tie to him that I can’t ignore.
Cassie (and Lexie) and Frank and Daniel, before and during The Likeness (His Dark Materials fusion).
You are all splendid. May 2016 shine on you kindly!
YULETIDE HAPPENED WOOOOOOO
Dec. 26th, 2015 10:37 pmOnce again, I won Yuletide. EVERY YEAR the kids come through and knock me out with their gifty brilliance. This time, I got two exquisite stories.
I wasn't sure that Macdonald Hall and The Raven Cycle could work as a fusion - but the parallels are there, and this was charming through and through.
There's a built-in deficit of kissing in The Raven Cycle. This story does its level best to address that issue.
Seriously, these gems are both worth your time. Skedaddle on over and heap them with praise!
and the forest will give us the answer
I wasn't sure that Macdonald Hall and The Raven Cycle could work as a fusion - but the parallels are there, and this was charming through and through.
if you won't say it first
There's a built-in deficit of kissing in The Raven Cycle. This story does its level best to address that issue.
Seriously, these gems are both worth your time. Skedaddle on over and heap them with praise!
YULETIDE 2015 SOME MORE!
Oct. 27th, 2015 02:20 pmHello Yule Santa,
I already love your story, because it's hand crafted especially for me.
Here is some. Additional info? Just in case. I didn't. um. ramble on excitedly for days the other day ha. yes. (Again, spoilers galore for Raven Cycle, so tread lightly if you haven't read them.)
What do you like about the canon? What do you like about the characters, if you specified?
The Raven Cycle
I love how much Gansey loves EVERYONE. I love his focus and his drive and how he wants to be something GREAT, not out of misplaced ambition, but because he feels his life isn’t his own, and that he owes it to the world (and maybe Noah in particular, now that he knows Noah’s dead) to make something good happen. I love Blue’s cluttered little crowded house, and the Pig, as much a character as Noah, really. I love Blue being practical even when she really wishes she wasn’t, or at least didn’t have to be. I love Adam trying to trust the world he has now, letting himself drift closer to the heart of it, no longer on the fringes and feeling unworthy. I love Ronon for the way he loves things: he loves Chainsaw plainly and purely, he loves Cabeswater elementally, he loves his friends the only way he can: truly but through a bitter filter, and he loves his family – probably even Declan. (What would have happened, I wonder, if Ronon had, say, answered Declan’s phone call and come upon The Gray Man meticulously beating his brother half to death? Things, I think, would have turned out very differently. Man, what the hell was the Ronon Gansey knew before Niall’s death even like? Did he already hate Declan? Gansey likely met Niall—what did they think of each other?)
The Queen’s Thief
I love that Gen GROWS UP. He stops being a brash, willful little self-involved punk (even though his intentions were always good). He BECOMES. I love that Attolia lets herself love him and lets herself trust the world again, even though the threats against her and her nation are probably greater than ever. I love that Eddis is their friend before she’s a ruler. I love that Costis loved Gen ages before he knew he did, and that Gen loves him unswervingly, and maybe did (just a little) even before he chose poor Costis as his unwitting linchpin. I love that Sophos is going to blush every time he touches Eddis’ hand for, like, a solid year.
Lord Peter Whimsey Mysteries
I love how self-aware Peter is, and how invested he is, and how much compassion he has for the murderers. I love how short-tempered Harriet can be, and how she suffers no fools, and how she fights being in love with Peter for ages (for what, isn't it like SEVEN YEARS?), right until she can't anymore and then goes all in. I have always, I should admit, been a little disappointed in her for not solving Gaudy Night before Peter, but then she was handicapped by a threat to her sanity and her ideals and the place she held as a sanctuary and everybody was freaking out, so. I forgive. I do love when Harriet finally admits she loves Peter (and I love how Peter finally REALLY understands why his constant/playful/earnest proposals were maybe kind of inappropriate and even, dare I say it, bullying.) Bunter always felt perhaps a little underdeveloped, his noble devotion to Peter aside, so if you wanted to write something from his POV, I would dig it!
Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries
Phryne is witty and elegant, but kind and thoughtful. She feels for the people she’s dealing with, and that’s why she’s always adopting the neediest kids. I love her tasteful chapeaus but I love the way she really looks at people, and so humanely, best. I do adore the way she loves Jack, it just glows out of her, and he's so entranced and fighting it so hard, poor fellow. YEARNING!
Mad Men
I love it best when the ladies OWN IT. When Joan lets someone know that she’s got their number, when Peggy kills it at a presentation, or loses her shit and lets people HAVE IT when someone’s mean to her. Dawn, quiet but wise to timing, and carving a place for herself with both confidence and competence. I love it when they’re on top of their game, and taking the time to enjoy the moment – like when Sally decided to kiss the scientist kid who had a sense of wonder instead of the sneering hot guy during the moon walk. In that instant, we knew Sally would definitely not grow up to her mother.
MacDonald Hall
Gordon Korman must have loved his school. Bruno’s schemes are fundamentally big-hearted, if often misguided (at least back when he was 12). Bruno’s irrepressible spirit, his can-do attitude and his grand plans are the reason MacDonald Hall is so delightful – but Bruno would be half the man he is without his friend Boots. That constant, solid, if sometimes sighing, eye-rolling and reluctant, support made Bruno great. Bruno believes in himself, yes, but without Boots to believe in him, too, he would probably just be... delusional. And maybe even imaginary altogether. BRUNO/BOOTS 5EVA!!!eleventy!!111!!
What kind of stories do you like/dislike, what you like about these particular fandoms/characters, fandom-specific prompts?
While I have found a cathartic cry both beautiful and satisfying, at the end of the day, I will always prefer a happy ending. I don't care for maiming injuries or major character deaths (drawing room murders and/or ghosts don't apply to this, natch). I love any kind of close relationship, be it best friends or passionate lovers. I just want everyone to be happy, basically.
How do you feel about crossovers and AUs of various sorts?
I love crossovers. ADORE them! (You may have noticed that I have been plainly angling for a Wimsey/Fisher mystery!) I tend to love them best if I know both fandoms, so there's that, but mostly: <3. I dig an elegant mashup, man. And since characterization is my FAVORITE, and clever AUs can make characters pop, bring it on!
What genre (sff/action/romance/procedural/character study, etc) do you like/dislike?
I like everything! I am not kidding. Every time I’m like, eh, that’s not my favorite, then someone will write something amazing and I’ll be all, hey! THAT’S PRETTY GOOD. I would say what my actual least favorite is, but I fear you’d take it as a gauntlet being thrown.
Do you have any squicks/triggers/things generally you don't want?
I don't like humiliation or hate or physical suffering (I would probably make an exception in Gen’s case, since his work is so dangerous/demanding) or misogyny, but I feel like you'd never write stuff like that anyway, Yule Santa!!
How do you feel about het/gen/slash/femslash?
Yes, please! I can be persuaded of poly (RAVEN BOYS YESSSSSS), but in general, I like to keep it to two people (who love each other!) in bed at a time.
OMG, though now I kind of want Peter/Harriet/Phryne... a really lot?
Do you have tropes/details/kinks you like particularly?
"Happy Ending" is probably my main trope. I don't think that's even a trope, really, but. I love me a good body swap, actually, and maybe above all others PRETEND BOYFRIENDS/GIRLFRIENDS. WILL THEY FALL IN LOVE???? (por ejemplo: Phryne/Harriet posing to infiltrate a society of wealthy lesbians, to learn who REALLY killed Lady Ladidahblahblahblah! Orla/Adam, or Helen/Adam for realsies pretending as bros to fuck with someone, but RONON/ADAM until oops! they FALL IN LOVE.) I think that could work in just about every fandom I’ve ever been in.
What ratings do you prefer?
I love all ratings, and dig the most modest to the most explicit; sometimes just having someone brush the backs of their fingers against the back of someone else's hand can be infinitely sigh-deeply satisfying – I might find TRIPLE X a little jarring in a Wimsey story or Queen’s Thief, but those modern kids in Henrietta can be all they can be.
YULETIDE 2015 BITCHEZ!!!!1111!!!
Oct. 20th, 2015 09:42 amHello, hello, I had a baby about eight months ago and he has six teeth. He's very nice, if you like babies. He loves peek-a-boo the way I love Yuletide, so I hope he grows up to be an enthusiastic person who loves stuff and also things passionately but in a fun, harmless way fueled by peppy excitability and bouncy hand-holding hugjumps.
Even though I have a baby and work a full time job, I took three hours out of my day to sign up for Yuletide and think about what I'd like and daydream about friendhugs and I don't care, I'm probably going to write at least two default stories, too, who needs sleep when I have LOVE?
WHAT SHALL YULETIDE SANTA BRING US THIS YEAR??
I am betting all kinds of cool shit. This is what I'm especially hoping for (um, may be spoilery for Raven Boys if you haven't read it):
THE RAVEN CYCLE by Maggie Stiefvater
RONON: tell me about his tattoo. Did he dream it? Did he pay someone? Did he draw it himself and hand some pencil-smeared crumpled sheet to some bored woman with a bar in her tongue and smudged eyeliner? Who was Ronon's first kiss? RONON + KAVINSKY= ???
Ronon and Adam: give me every fight off camera, every time they made up, every time they hung out without Gansey and got scabbed up with skateboards and parkour and other things Gansey was too single-minded to squander his time doing. Every look Ronon gives Adam, every time Adam notices. Orla and Adam making out at a party for... reasons.
Also: Ronon and Noah being bros! Let's all recall the beautiful time Ronon threw Noah OUT A WINDOW FOR FUN! Granted, after he was dead, but Noah's rep as a scaredy cat HAS to come from Ronon daring him to do stupid shit he was not into.
Noah almost certainly met Gansey before he met Ronon, but did Ronon meet Gansey before Noah? Whatever happened to Noah's cheating girlfriend? Was Noah just some awful tagalong dudebro before he was murdered? A kid who would drink his mother's birthday schnapps, but always regret it? Can Ronan dream him alive again? Can Ronon/Adam dream him alive again? Maybe there could be. Ghost Sex/Threesomes? Foursomes. Fivesomes, because why leave anyone out? With Blue for battery charge and kissing Noah so no one dies who isn't already dead. And Gansey needs a kiss proxy. Um. yes. Adam's 18 and technically, Noah's in his mid-twenties! Blue apparently turned 18 right before school starts in Blue Lily (even though she was only 16 when she meets the boys in April but HANDWAVE HANDWAVE HANDWAVE!) and Ronon's as old as he wants to be, since he is basically a GOD. He can dream himself up a nice birth certificate.
Ronon and Blue being bros! More than anyone else, even her cousin Orla, Blue has a Bitchface for Ronon that translates as annoyed sibling affection, and when he hugs her in the cave to keep her from falling into the void lake and hooks his chin over her shoulder: they should dance together at someone's wedding and get drunk and watch cartoons and make fun of each other, is what I'm saying. This could be the same party Adam and Orla make out at, that would be OK by me.
Gansey/Ronon and Gansey/Adam and Gansey/Blue yes yes yes to any and all above. Gansey with his clear brow and his far-seeing eyes and his ugly glasses and his tiny cardboard town.
Tell me about Calla. Who did she meet first, Persephone or Maura? Who is on the deed for the house at Fox Way?
Jimi is Maura's sister, but basically all we know about Jimi is just that. That and she's psychic and has a daughter. Orla at least has personality to spare.
How is Neeve a half-aunt? Do all the sisters share a mother? What is Neeve's dealio, anyway? How did she get so creepy? I assume she was ALWAYS creepy--but that bird mask is above and beyond - where did she get it? Is she just Evil because there are opportunities for advancement, or does she truly have a dark heart?
Declan. When the Grey Man was beating the shit out of him, I just felt... so bad for him. He's so alone, right? He's got money, but interchangeable girlfriends. Ronon hates him for... reasons that are never really explained. Declan seems to want what's best for Ronon, even though he's no one's favorite. How old was he when Matthew was "born"? How "old" was Matthew when he came to be? Did Declan have to learn to lie because he knew his father's secrets all along? Much longer than Ronon, Niall's "true" heir? Ugh, Niall is the worst. What is up with Ashley? Is she a plant, and if so, who's paying her [IS IT GANSEY II?????]; if not, does she find Declan interesting, or Declan's *family* interesting?
Does Matthew know he's a dream? Ronon didn't know it, and Declan did - but for how long?
I had this as a description of what I like in Sports Night stories, but it translates surprisingly well to the Raven Cycle: My friend Punk says, "I'm betting you probably want hugs, and maybe some good times. UST. Sweetly awkward first dates. A quest to find the perfect sweater [in Blue's case, MAKE THE PERFECT SWEATER OUT OF POMPOMs and/or FUZZY GLOVES]. Followed by a quest to defeat evil [GIVEN]. Handholding. Friendship. Make outs in the backseat of a car [IS NIALL'S DREAM BMW MAGIC IF NOT WHY NOT] [THE PIG, OBVS, NO MATTER WHO IS IN THE BACK SEAT]. Sharing a soda in the library. Rollerskating. Ice cream socials. CLAMBAKES. [***OBVIOUSLY*** THE GANSEYS HAVE A CLAMBAKE FUNDRAISER/SOCIETY WEDDING where Ronon and Blue can dance and Orla and Adam can make out] Finding a mysterious thing in the closet [CANDY FROM A BABY RE: NIALL'S CLOSETS AT THE BARNS]. Teamwork. [TEAMWORK!] A literal roll in the hay. [YES, THIS, THE BARNS, YESSSSSS]"
Hopefully I've given you a place to start.
THE QUEEN'S THIEF - Megan Whalen Turner
Obviously I will read anything about Gen doing anything: practicing his pickpocketing skills at court, teasing Costis, braiding Attolia's hair. I also love Eddis and Gen being bros and just chatting and sniping back and forth. As above, Punk's description of what I like translates nicely: "I'm betting you probably want hugs, and maybe some good times. UST. Sweetly awkward first dates [HELEN AND SOPHOS, I'M LOOKING AT YOU]. A quest to find the perfect sweater [in Gen's case, something striking to distract an enemy, or in Attolia's to intimidate someone she needs a favor from]. Followed by a quest to defeat evil [HOW DOES ONE DEFEAT AN ENTIRE EVIL EMPIRE AND/OR VOLCANO]. Handholding. Friendship. Make outs in the backseat of a car [maybe canoodling in a cart?]. Sharing a soda in the library [GEN WILL CUT YOU IF YOU SPILL COFFEE ON HIS SCROLLS]. Rollerskating. Ice cream socials. CLAMBAKES. Finding a mysterious thing in the closet [AND STEALING THEM]. Teamwork. [TEAMWORK!] A literal roll in the hay. [YESSSSSS, ATTOLIA WILL GET STRAW IN HER HAIR AND GEN WILL LAUGH AND LAUGH]"
LORD PETER WIMSEY - Dorothy L. Sayers
I would like a post-Busman's Honeymoon or post-Gaudy Night dinners and banter and sweet make outs. Bonus for mysteries! Or espionage~ Perhaps they lay one of the Wimsey ghosts to rest?
OH MAN OR: a crossover with Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries? Harriet and Phryne would get along like a house on fire: Phryne could flirt with Peter [OBVIOUSLY SHE IS AN OLD GIRLFRIEND FROM PARIS WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT] and share smart clothes with Harriet and Phryne would be adrift without Jack of course, but perhaps... Bunter might cheer her nights?
**NATURALLY THIS LEADS TO**
MISS FISHER'S MURDER MYSTERIES
OH MAN How about a crossover with Sayers's Peter Whimsy novels? Harriet and Phryne would get along like a house on fire: Phryne could flirt with Peter [OBVIOUSLY HE IS AN OLD BOYFRIEND FROM HER DAYS IN PARIS OR A NURSE ON THE BATTLEFIELD TREATING HIS SHELLSHOCK YESSSSSSSSS] and share smart clothes with Harriet and Phryne would be adrift without Jack of course [if she's in England and the Wimsey's aren't visiting HER], but perhaps... Bunter might cheer her nights? Or perhaps Bunter's noble brow might give Dot a little crush she's dreadfully ashamed of and makes poor Hugh sigh and despair.
Sumptuous dinners and cocktail banter and sweet make outs. Bonus for mysteries! Or espionage...
MAD MEN
Joan and Peggy and Sally and Dawn in 1982. They're all successful, natch, but what are they doing? PLEASE TO DESCRIBE and if you have Peggy and Stan still together I will hug your face and if they're not together and she's not with Joyce (at least as friends drinking and talking shit about people at expensive bars) I will weep many sad tears.
THE LADIES!
MACDONALD HALL - Gordon Korman
The guys end up at different colleges. At different grad schools. In different countries. But they do keep in touch. AND THEY FALL IN LOVE AND GET MARRIED after, I am sure, countless ridiculous hijinx. OMG if you get all epistolary on me I may have to COVER YOU IN GOLD STARS AND FESTOON YOU WITH CANDY HEARTS!!!
AS YOU SEE I am a little excited about YULETIDE YULETIDE YULETIDE yesssssssssssssssss
Even though I have a baby and work a full time job, I took three hours out of my day to sign up for Yuletide and think about what I'd like and daydream about friendhugs and I don't care, I'm probably going to write at least two default stories, too, who needs sleep when I have LOVE?
WHAT SHALL YULETIDE SANTA BRING US THIS YEAR??
I am betting all kinds of cool shit. This is what I'm especially hoping for (um, may be spoilery for Raven Boys if you haven't read it):
THE RAVEN CYCLE by Maggie Stiefvater
RONON: tell me about his tattoo. Did he dream it? Did he pay someone? Did he draw it himself and hand some pencil-smeared crumpled sheet to some bored woman with a bar in her tongue and smudged eyeliner? Who was Ronon's first kiss? RONON + KAVINSKY= ???
Ronon and Adam: give me every fight off camera, every time they made up, every time they hung out without Gansey and got scabbed up with skateboards and parkour and other things Gansey was too single-minded to squander his time doing. Every look Ronon gives Adam, every time Adam notices. Orla and Adam making out at a party for... reasons.
Also: Ronon and Noah being bros! Let's all recall the beautiful time Ronon threw Noah OUT A WINDOW FOR FUN! Granted, after he was dead, but Noah's rep as a scaredy cat HAS to come from Ronon daring him to do stupid shit he was not into.
Noah almost certainly met Gansey before he met Ronon, but did Ronon meet Gansey before Noah? Whatever happened to Noah's cheating girlfriend? Was Noah just some awful tagalong dudebro before he was murdered? A kid who would drink his mother's birthday schnapps, but always regret it? Can Ronan dream him alive again? Can Ronon/Adam dream him alive again? Maybe there could be. Ghost Sex/Threesomes? Foursomes. Fivesomes, because why leave anyone out? With Blue for battery charge and kissing Noah so no one dies who isn't already dead. And Gansey needs a kiss proxy. Um. yes. Adam's 18 and technically, Noah's in his mid-twenties! Blue apparently turned 18 right before school starts in Blue Lily (even though she was only 16 when she meets the boys in April but HANDWAVE HANDWAVE HANDWAVE!) and Ronon's as old as he wants to be, since he is basically a GOD. He can dream himself up a nice birth certificate.
Ronon and Blue being bros! More than anyone else, even her cousin Orla, Blue has a Bitchface for Ronon that translates as annoyed sibling affection, and when he hugs her in the cave to keep her from falling into the void lake and hooks his chin over her shoulder: they should dance together at someone's wedding and get drunk and watch cartoons and make fun of each other, is what I'm saying. This could be the same party Adam and Orla make out at, that would be OK by me.
Gansey/Ronon and Gansey/Adam and Gansey/Blue yes yes yes to any and all above. Gansey with his clear brow and his far-seeing eyes and his ugly glasses and his tiny cardboard town.
Tell me about Calla. Who did she meet first, Persephone or Maura? Who is on the deed for the house at Fox Way?
Jimi is Maura's sister, but basically all we know about Jimi is just that. That and she's psychic and has a daughter. Orla at least has personality to spare.
How is Neeve a half-aunt? Do all the sisters share a mother? What is Neeve's dealio, anyway? How did she get so creepy? I assume she was ALWAYS creepy--but that bird mask is above and beyond - where did she get it? Is she just Evil because there are opportunities for advancement, or does she truly have a dark heart?
Declan. When the Grey Man was beating the shit out of him, I just felt... so bad for him. He's so alone, right? He's got money, but interchangeable girlfriends. Ronon hates him for... reasons that are never really explained. Declan seems to want what's best for Ronon, even though he's no one's favorite. How old was he when Matthew was "born"? How "old" was Matthew when he came to be? Did Declan have to learn to lie because he knew his father's secrets all along? Much longer than Ronon, Niall's "true" heir? Ugh, Niall is the worst. What is up with Ashley? Is she a plant, and if so, who's paying her [IS IT GANSEY II?????]; if not, does she find Declan interesting, or Declan's *family* interesting?
Does Matthew know he's a dream? Ronon didn't know it, and Declan did - but for how long?
I had this as a description of what I like in Sports Night stories, but it translates surprisingly well to the Raven Cycle: My friend Punk says, "I'm betting you probably want hugs, and maybe some good times. UST. Sweetly awkward first dates. A quest to find the perfect sweater [in Blue's case, MAKE THE PERFECT SWEATER OUT OF POMPOMs and/or FUZZY GLOVES]. Followed by a quest to defeat evil [GIVEN]. Handholding. Friendship. Make outs in the backseat of a car [IS NIALL'S DREAM BMW MAGIC IF NOT WHY NOT] [THE PIG, OBVS, NO MATTER WHO IS IN THE BACK SEAT]. Sharing a soda in the library. Rollerskating. Ice cream socials. CLAMBAKES. [***OBVIOUSLY*** THE GANSEYS HAVE A CLAMBAKE FUNDRAISER/SOCIETY WEDDING where Ronon and Blue can dance and Orla and Adam can make out] Finding a mysterious thing in the closet [CANDY FROM A BABY RE: NIALL'S CLOSETS AT THE BARNS]. Teamwork. [TEAMWORK!] A literal roll in the hay. [YES, THIS, THE BARNS, YESSSSSS]"
Hopefully I've given you a place to start.
THE QUEEN'S THIEF - Megan Whalen Turner
Obviously I will read anything about Gen doing anything: practicing his pickpocketing skills at court, teasing Costis, braiding Attolia's hair. I also love Eddis and Gen being bros and just chatting and sniping back and forth. As above, Punk's description of what I like translates nicely: "I'm betting you probably want hugs, and maybe some good times. UST. Sweetly awkward first dates [HELEN AND SOPHOS, I'M LOOKING AT YOU]. A quest to find the perfect sweater [in Gen's case, something striking to distract an enemy, or in Attolia's to intimidate someone she needs a favor from]. Followed by a quest to defeat evil [HOW DOES ONE DEFEAT AN ENTIRE EVIL EMPIRE AND/OR VOLCANO]. Handholding. Friendship. Make outs in the backseat of a car [maybe canoodling in a cart?]. Sharing a soda in the library [GEN WILL CUT YOU IF YOU SPILL COFFEE ON HIS SCROLLS]. Rollerskating. Ice cream socials. CLAMBAKES. Finding a mysterious thing in the closet [AND STEALING THEM]. Teamwork. [TEAMWORK!] A literal roll in the hay. [YESSSSSS, ATTOLIA WILL GET STRAW IN HER HAIR AND GEN WILL LAUGH AND LAUGH]"
LORD PETER WIMSEY - Dorothy L. Sayers
I would like a post-Busman's Honeymoon or post-Gaudy Night dinners and banter and sweet make outs. Bonus for mysteries! Or espionage~ Perhaps they lay one of the Wimsey ghosts to rest?
OH MAN OR: a crossover with Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries? Harriet and Phryne would get along like a house on fire: Phryne could flirt with Peter [OBVIOUSLY SHE IS AN OLD GIRLFRIEND FROM PARIS WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT] and share smart clothes with Harriet and Phryne would be adrift without Jack of course, but perhaps... Bunter might cheer her nights?
**NATURALLY THIS LEADS TO**
MISS FISHER'S MURDER MYSTERIES
OH MAN How about a crossover with Sayers's Peter Whimsy novels? Harriet and Phryne would get along like a house on fire: Phryne could flirt with Peter [OBVIOUSLY HE IS AN OLD BOYFRIEND FROM HER DAYS IN PARIS OR A NURSE ON THE BATTLEFIELD TREATING HIS SHELLSHOCK YESSSSSSSSS] and share smart clothes with Harriet and Phryne would be adrift without Jack of course [if she's in England and the Wimsey's aren't visiting HER], but perhaps... Bunter might cheer her nights? Or perhaps Bunter's noble brow might give Dot a little crush she's dreadfully ashamed of and makes poor Hugh sigh and despair.
Sumptuous dinners and cocktail banter and sweet make outs. Bonus for mysteries! Or espionage...
MAD MEN
Joan and Peggy and Sally and Dawn in 1982. They're all successful, natch, but what are they doing? PLEASE TO DESCRIBE and if you have Peggy and Stan still together I will hug your face and if they're not together and she's not with Joyce (at least as friends drinking and talking shit about people at expensive bars) I will weep many sad tears.
THE LADIES!
MACDONALD HALL - Gordon Korman
The guys end up at different colleges. At different grad schools. In different countries. But they do keep in touch. AND THEY FALL IN LOVE AND GET MARRIED after, I am sure, countless ridiculous hijinx. OMG if you get all epistolary on me I may have to COVER YOU IN GOLD STARS AND FESTOON YOU WITH CANDY HEARTS!!!
AS YOU SEE I am a little excited about YULETIDE YULETIDE YULETIDE yesssssssssssssssss
YULETIDE YULETIDE YULETIDE
Dec. 26th, 2014 09:11 amOh, hello. I'm just here to wish you a gorgeous and exquisitely pleasant 2015 and to BRAG ABOUT THE YULETIDE STORIES I GOT BECAUSE THEY ARE THE BEST ONES.
What, a Sports Night story that features my personal kryptonite DAN IN SWEATERS? Yes. Yes, indeed. Also grammar fun and cuteness and Casey being a sweetheart/dork.
80% Wool.
Oh, and hey, I got a lovely treat for picking up a pinch hit - and they made miracles happen for our Scorcher from Tana French's Broken Harbour. You may recall that I asked my Yule Santa for ALL THE HUGS for Scorcher, and look, look, he gets them!
Good Tidings
I haven't had much time to dive into the archive yet, but I know there will be SO MUCH to swim around in, oh, Yuletide, you are the champion of everything.
FYI, every Queen's Thief Story I've read so far (and I've barely read a fraction from just this year, because I haven't had any time) has been fucking SUPERB.
I look forward to all the stuff I hope to find in Mindy Project, Brooklyn 99, Miss Fisher Mysteries, Raven Cycle, EVERYTHING EVERYTHING EVERYTHING!!!!!
WOOOOOO! Yuletide.
What, a Sports Night story that features my personal kryptonite DAN IN SWEATERS? Yes. Yes, indeed. Also grammar fun and cuteness and Casey being a sweetheart/dork.
80% Wool.
Oh, and hey, I got a lovely treat for picking up a pinch hit - and they made miracles happen for our Scorcher from Tana French's Broken Harbour. You may recall that I asked my Yule Santa for ALL THE HUGS for Scorcher, and look, look, he gets them!
Good Tidings
I haven't had much time to dive into the archive yet, but I know there will be SO MUCH to swim around in, oh, Yuletide, you are the champion of everything.
FYI, every Queen's Thief Story I've read so far (and I've barely read a fraction from just this year, because I haven't had any time) has been fucking SUPERB.
I look forward to all the stuff I hope to find in Mindy Project, Brooklyn 99, Miss Fisher Mysteries, Raven Cycle, EVERYTHING EVERYTHING EVERYTHING!!!!!
WOOOOOO! Yuletide.
I'm swimming at a gym. I'm not drinking ALL THE POP. I'm cooking foods FROM INGREDIENTS. I'm even reading QUALITY LITERACHUH (when I'm not reading adorable porny Teen Wolf AUs. Ah ha ha hahah: this just in, I find I have a canon issue, because Teen Wolf is pretty, but it doesn't make a lot of sense, and I have read so much AU fiction that as I was watching Season 1 and 2 [I watched part 2 of Season 3 first], I was constantly BAFFLED by how MEAN Derek is. I UNDERSTAND why he's mean: he's flailing and terrible at his job and scared out of his mind and alone alone alone the way a wolf never should be, but he's SO mean that it's totally cognitive dissonance every time I see him. Where are the hugs? Why aren't they in college or part owners of a tech startup? Why isn't Derek softly kissing the back of Stiles' neck??) ANYHOO, so much self-improving, you guys, Anne of Green Gables and Marilla would both be proud of me.
Since I somehow spend all fall waiting for Yuletide signups and then always manage to ALMOST miss them, I'm only SORT of sure I actually signed up this year, and also I was just having a total mindblank about what I even wanted for Yuletide this year, and I consulted Punk, who gave us these sage words:
"I'm betting you probably want hugs, and maybe some good times. UST. Sweetly awkward first dates. A quest to find the perfect sweater. Followed by a quest to defeat evil. Handholding. Friendship. Make outs in the backseat of a car. Sharing a soda in the library. Rollerskating. Ice cream socials. CLAMBAKES. Finding a mysterious thing in the closet. Teamwork. A literal roll in the hay."
She is not wrong. Any or all of these things would be stellar additions to almost any of the fandoms listed below.
Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
My yuletide leanings tend to be gen, but this year I’ve got a yen for some slashy Raven Boys. Suggestive rather than explicit would be preferred, but go with your gut. And if you ARE feeling gen-y, backstory on the half-aunts ahoy!
Book Two opened the doors WIDE. Also, Kavinsky has Ronan's number. Also, 'Just the way you like it, fast and anonymous.' I mean. Dang.
Also Noah? Can Ronan dream him alive again? Can Ronon/Adam (Ronan/Adam/Blue is also a thing that could maybe happen???) dream him alive again? Maybe there could be. Ghost Sex/Threesomes? Um. yes. Adam's 18 and technically, Noah's in his mid-twenties!
Ronan/Adam: both with ridiculous power, both angry and so broken, always fighting and making up off camera. After Kavinsky, and Adam and Blue are no longer a possibility, who moves first?
Alternately: ANYTHING about any/all the half-aunts! How they met, roomed together, flashbacks to Puppy and/or all the women of the house and their pasts, romantic and otherwise.
PLUS: I somehow only just found out there's a new book, and I promise I will have read it by Yuletide, so feel free to draw from any new canon as well!!
The Queen's Thief - Megan Whalen Turner
I would love to see more from Eddis' point of view on anything/everything that happens in the books. I love the fact that she and Gen are FRIENDS, they are such bros, her baby bro who gives her guff but respects her so much. Obviously I will read anything about Gen doing anything: practicing his pickpocketing skills at court, hanging out with his brothers and sisters, maybe something from his grandfather's POV? I feel like Gen is the baby of the family, and an autumn crocus, too. Anything from the Magus' POV would also be rad. BECAUSE THEY ARE ALL RAD OK?
Dublin Murder Squad Series - Tana French
I just re-read Broken Harbour recently, before The Secret Place came out. I was too freaked out and paralyzed by creepiness of BH the first time to really understand just how desperately lonely Scorcher is, and how very genuinely fond he was of Richie, and how Richie was fucking ADORABLE and A+ about being a good mate and second. So. If he and Richie could somehow... have ALL THE HUGS, jesus, Scorcher needs so many hugs. Please write a nice little unlikely fix it for our Scorcher?
That said, I would like to see more of anyone from the French books, in any setting you would like. I'm intrigued by the idea of Cassie haunting 'Lexie's' life - visiting her other hides and being mistaken for Lexie again and again by the people she knew. Maybe telling them Lexie was dead, penance for her ghost, maybe just... slipping back into one of Lexie's other lives and starting fresh.
How about something narrated by Sam? I feel, like, 90% sure that all that late night whiskey and hanging out together with Cassie and Rob ended in at LEAST one inappropriate kiss for/from at LEAST two people.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Terry is my absolute favorite, and I love what a good mom he is to Holt's Captain Dad. If you could give me some ridiculousness involving Terry trying to shepherd his motley crew to behave properly at some glitzy event (all the kids in such fancy clothes!) where there's a ton of media to dodge/placate/stay silent in the face of, that would be super fun.
In other news, I totally ship Amy with either Jake or Rosa (but PROBABLY more with Rosa, because, YES) so any goofy romantic hijinx you care to shoehorn anywhere at all would be superb. BONUS POINTS for casefic!! WOO SOLVIN' CRIMES! Bonus points for flashbacks/re-enactments!! [SIDEBAR: Boyle is fine and all, but if he ends up getting Rosa as his actual girlfriend (I am cautiously optimistic about this NOT happening in canon) I will fling myself from a mountaintop. Just: no. The Earnest Little Guy should not win "the girl" just because he wants her. ::breathes deeply::]
Sports Night
I love Danny. And Danny loves Casey. And let's face it, Casey is an *asshole*. He doesn't deserve Danny. (I am willing to entertain the idea that Danny isn't all sunshine and roses, but still. He's not an asshole as much as he is just sad, and also in love with someone who's bad for him.)
But Danny loves him, and Casey isn't irredeemable, and he loves Danny, too. If you write something happy, where Casey goes out of his way to deserve Danny? I will love you as much as Danny loves Casey. THAT IS SO MUCH, YOU GUYS. (I also love Natalie/Jeremy beyond reason, so any glimpse of them would also be especially nice. Natalie and Dana being rad pals is also gravy! How about a little gratuitous Kim, while you're at it?)
The Golem and the Jinni - Helene Wecker
As they are both basically immortal, I would like a series of vignettes, maybe every ten years, as these two meet again here and there over the years, and witness the world as she turns and changes. If a little romance was to sneak in, I would not be averse.
Thanks, Yule Santa! See you in the new year!
xoxoxoxox
Since I somehow spend all fall waiting for Yuletide signups and then always manage to ALMOST miss them, I'm only SORT of sure I actually signed up this year, and also I was just having a total mindblank about what I even wanted for Yuletide this year, and I consulted Punk, who gave us these sage words:
"I'm betting you probably want hugs, and maybe some good times. UST. Sweetly awkward first dates. A quest to find the perfect sweater. Followed by a quest to defeat evil. Handholding. Friendship. Make outs in the backseat of a car. Sharing a soda in the library. Rollerskating. Ice cream socials. CLAMBAKES. Finding a mysterious thing in the closet. Teamwork. A literal roll in the hay."
She is not wrong. Any or all of these things would be stellar additions to almost any of the fandoms listed below.
Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
My yuletide leanings tend to be gen, but this year I’ve got a yen for some slashy Raven Boys. Suggestive rather than explicit would be preferred, but go with your gut. And if you ARE feeling gen-y, backstory on the half-aunts ahoy!
Book Two opened the doors WIDE. Also, Kavinsky has Ronan's number. Also, 'Just the way you like it, fast and anonymous.' I mean. Dang.
Also Noah? Can Ronan dream him alive again? Can Ronon/Adam (Ronan/Adam/Blue is also a thing that could maybe happen???) dream him alive again? Maybe there could be. Ghost Sex/Threesomes? Um. yes. Adam's 18 and technically, Noah's in his mid-twenties!
Ronan/Adam: both with ridiculous power, both angry and so broken, always fighting and making up off camera. After Kavinsky, and Adam and Blue are no longer a possibility, who moves first?
Alternately: ANYTHING about any/all the half-aunts! How they met, roomed together, flashbacks to Puppy and/or all the women of the house and their pasts, romantic and otherwise.
PLUS: I somehow only just found out there's a new book, and I promise I will have read it by Yuletide, so feel free to draw from any new canon as well!!
The Queen's Thief - Megan Whalen Turner
I would love to see more from Eddis' point of view on anything/everything that happens in the books. I love the fact that she and Gen are FRIENDS, they are such bros, her baby bro who gives her guff but respects her so much. Obviously I will read anything about Gen doing anything: practicing his pickpocketing skills at court, hanging out with his brothers and sisters, maybe something from his grandfather's POV? I feel like Gen is the baby of the family, and an autumn crocus, too. Anything from the Magus' POV would also be rad. BECAUSE THEY ARE ALL RAD OK?
Dublin Murder Squad Series - Tana French
I just re-read Broken Harbour recently, before The Secret Place came out. I was too freaked out and paralyzed by creepiness of BH the first time to really understand just how desperately lonely Scorcher is, and how very genuinely fond he was of Richie, and how Richie was fucking ADORABLE and A+ about being a good mate and second. So. If he and Richie could somehow... have ALL THE HUGS, jesus, Scorcher needs so many hugs. Please write a nice little unlikely fix it for our Scorcher?
That said, I would like to see more of anyone from the French books, in any setting you would like. I'm intrigued by the idea of Cassie haunting 'Lexie's' life - visiting her other hides and being mistaken for Lexie again and again by the people she knew. Maybe telling them Lexie was dead, penance for her ghost, maybe just... slipping back into one of Lexie's other lives and starting fresh.
How about something narrated by Sam? I feel, like, 90% sure that all that late night whiskey and hanging out together with Cassie and Rob ended in at LEAST one inappropriate kiss for/from at LEAST two people.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Terry is my absolute favorite, and I love what a good mom he is to Holt's Captain Dad. If you could give me some ridiculousness involving Terry trying to shepherd his motley crew to behave properly at some glitzy event (all the kids in such fancy clothes!) where there's a ton of media to dodge/placate/stay silent in the face of, that would be super fun.
In other news, I totally ship Amy with either Jake or Rosa (but PROBABLY more with Rosa, because, YES) so any goofy romantic hijinx you care to shoehorn anywhere at all would be superb. BONUS POINTS for casefic!! WOO SOLVIN' CRIMES! Bonus points for flashbacks/re-enactments!! [SIDEBAR: Boyle is fine and all, but if he ends up getting Rosa as his actual girlfriend (I am cautiously optimistic about this NOT happening in canon) I will fling myself from a mountaintop. Just: no. The Earnest Little Guy should not win "the girl" just because he wants her. ::breathes deeply::]
Sports Night
I love Danny. And Danny loves Casey. And let's face it, Casey is an *asshole*. He doesn't deserve Danny. (I am willing to entertain the idea that Danny isn't all sunshine and roses, but still. He's not an asshole as much as he is just sad, and also in love with someone who's bad for him.)
But Danny loves him, and Casey isn't irredeemable, and he loves Danny, too. If you write something happy, where Casey goes out of his way to deserve Danny? I will love you as much as Danny loves Casey. THAT IS SO MUCH, YOU GUYS. (I also love Natalie/Jeremy beyond reason, so any glimpse of them would also be especially nice. Natalie and Dana being rad pals is also gravy! How about a little gratuitous Kim, while you're at it?)
The Golem and the Jinni - Helene Wecker
As they are both basically immortal, I would like a series of vignettes, maybe every ten years, as these two meet again here and there over the years, and witness the world as she turns and changes. If a little romance was to sneak in, I would not be averse.
Thanks, Yule Santa! See you in the new year!
xoxoxoxox
