Dear Yule Goat letter
(This is for the Yuletide rare-fandom fic exchange.)
Dear Yule Goat:
I really do believe that "optional details are optional". Whatever you write, I will read gratefully.
The following little bits of info are to help, not to push.
Generally:
I like things that take canon into full account and don't sweep inconvenient aspects of characterization/plot/etc under the rug just to make a favorite pairing or orientation or plotbunny work. The more attention paid to characterization, the happier I am. On the other hand, I also have a great love of crackfic!
I like fic that focuses on relationships -- not only romantic ones, but also friendships and family dynamics.
I dislike PWP, but I don't mind NC-17 fic. That is to say: I can enjoy smut; I am just not partial to fic where the names and identities of the participants could be switched with any other random name and yield as much sense. (Unless you are T-Rex, in which case, go to town ♥ )
I have done animal rescue and I am triggered by mentions of animal cruelty. Please don't write about torturing animals. It will make me very sad and I will not be able to finish reading your fic. It's your choice whether to write it or not, yes, optional details being optional; and I will still be able to appreciate on an intellectual level the fact that you wrote something for me; but I won't enjoy it, you know? I am also not a big fan of gratuitous gore/violence/etc, but I am able to read it when it serves a purpose in the plot. (Examples: I did not find Chuck Palahniuk's story "Guts" particularly appealing, and it left me feeling a bit sick, but I was not emotionally shaken by the experience of reading it.)
My requests, w/ a little added detail:
Request 1
Tags:
* Alliance-Union - C. J. Cherryh,
* Ariane Emory II,
* Justin Warrick
Details:
Poor Ari Two, paying for Ari One's sins. I just can't help but feel for the girl. What I'd really love would be a fic where somehow, she gets her wish, and the two of them can be together romantically. Not necessarily forever or happily-ever-after, but something, and without ignoring or downplaying the various canonical Issues. Or give me something about their collaborations post-Regenesis, as colleagues? Or a missing scene? Or an AU? Five Things That Never Happened? Whatever moves you -- I'll just be happy to read fic in this universe, if you feel so moved.
Added notes: This is just an awesome series. Partly -- majorly -- because Cherryh doesn't ignore the Issues. What Ari One did to Justin is squicky and wrong and awful. The relationships between Alpha supervisors and their azi are ethically problematic (to our/my 21st-century Terran sensibilities, even if not to 25th-century Reseune sensibilities; and I'd argue that to some supervisors it does give the occasional twinge of conscience). I don't mean to say: throw Ari Two and Justin at each other, to hell with Grant and to hell with Ari One's weird-ass Intervention. I just think it'd be sweet, and nice, to see Ari Two and Justin be able to find some tenderness despite all that, and informed by that.
Or, you know, do a crossover where they work for Reynholm Industries (see below), or an AU where Reseune is Microsoft, or anything that tickles your fancy. Don't force yourself to make my improbable pairing work. *g* That way lies Yuletide unhappiness, and I don't want to inflict that!
Request 2
Tags:
* The IT Crowd,
* Douglas Reynholm
Details:
DOUGLAS. How can you go wrong with Douglas? Anything with Douglas being Douglas will be a source of merriment and delight. Extra love if it involves Space-Star Ordering.
Added notes: Okay, you don't really have to write about Douglas. *grins* I also love anything about Moss. Anything about Roy and Moss hanging out together. Anything about Roy, Moss, and Jen hanging out together. Anything about Douglas trying to work with Jen, or Jen trying to work with Douglas.
Douglas sitting in on one of Moss's tabletop-RPG sessions?
But yes, Space-Star Ordering pretty much makes my day. Just turn your back to space ...
Request 3
Tags:
* Ambergris - Jeff VanderMeer,
* Duncan Shriek
Details:
What the. Just what. What was going on with Duncan Shriek in _Finch_? (Then again, what was going on with Duncan in _Shriek_, some might ask?) Plumb the mysteries of this historian-turned-subterranean adventurer ... or just snark at his footnotes from _The Early History of Ambergris_. Any Ambergris fic, really, would be wonderful.
Added notes: If you volunteered to write for Ambergris, then I don't need to sell you on its fabulosity. If you happened on this DYW post some other way, however, allow me to introduce you to this series.
"Once upon a time, on the banks of the River Moth, a mighty city sprang up like no other in or out of history. Founded on the blood of the original inhabitants, the stealthy and inhuman gray caps, and shaped for centuries by the aftermath of that struggle, Ambergris has long been a center of trade and the arts-and of empire." This is a start. What this doesn't explain is that the gray caps are mushroom people. Also known as mushroom dwellers! And they live underground. Except when they rise to the surface for their own inscrutable reasons.
And that Ambergris celebrates an annual Festival of the Freshwater Squid. And that squidmania in Ambergris has extended to such expressions in media as The Torture Squid Beat Up Some Priests.
And that the most celebrated bookstore in the city of Ambergris, where you can buy such books as the Torture Squid adventures, is named the Borges Bookstore.
You can preview City of Saints and Madmen (including summaries of those fictional Torture Squid books) at Google Books. You can read excerpts at SFFWorld also.
You can preview Shriek: An Afterword at Google Books.
You can read an excerpt of Finch on the dedicated website for Finch. And you can also see some other neat stuff there.
Request 4
Tags:
* Dark Shadows (1966),
* Roger Collins
Details:
Roger Collins: cranky, snobbish, liable to be up at 2 am with a glass of brandy any given night. What is with this man? Why does he keep marrying weird supernatural women? I happen to think Roger is hilarious (as is his 1790s alter ego Joshua Collins, and for some reason the most hilarious part was when Joshua got turned into a cat. POOF!) Any fic about Roger poncing about and being his insufferable self will amuse me greatly.)
Added notes: ... I have no added notes. ROGER COLLINS. YOU ARE HILARIOUS. With your portrait of Angelique and your spooky son who plays with ghosts. How could anyone not love you. "Roger enjoyed drinking brandy (4), and he occasionally wore glasses (2). In 1967, he drove a convertible car (19)."
[here is Roger Collins posing with his sister (seated) and ... his son's governess (standing beside him looking ingenue-tastic).]
Also. Roger, why do you call your hot barely-legal niece "kitten"?
For those unfamiliar with Dark Shadows: It's a daytime soap opera from the sixties. It's about the supernatural -- started out with some ghosts, got a charismatic Byronic vampire to save it from early cancellation, added a werewolf and a Frankenstein-esque monster and possibly the devil at various points, and let's not forget ~time travel via seances~ ... Yes. It is a thing of beauty and a joy forever.
Dear Yule Goat:
I really do believe that "optional details are optional". Whatever you write, I will read gratefully.
The following little bits of info are to help, not to push.
Generally:
I like things that take canon into full account and don't sweep inconvenient aspects of characterization/plot/etc under the rug just to make a favorite pairing or orientation or plotbunny work. The more attention paid to characterization, the happier I am. On the other hand, I also have a great love of crackfic!
I like fic that focuses on relationships -- not only romantic ones, but also friendships and family dynamics.
I dislike PWP, but I don't mind NC-17 fic. That is to say: I can enjoy smut; I am just not partial to fic where the names and identities of the participants could be switched with any other random name and yield as much sense. (Unless you are T-Rex, in which case, go to town ♥ )
I have done animal rescue and I am triggered by mentions of animal cruelty. Please don't write about torturing animals. It will make me very sad and I will not be able to finish reading your fic. It's your choice whether to write it or not, yes, optional details being optional; and I will still be able to appreciate on an intellectual level the fact that you wrote something for me; but I won't enjoy it, you know? I am also not a big fan of gratuitous gore/violence/etc, but I am able to read it when it serves a purpose in the plot. (Examples: I did not find Chuck Palahniuk's story "Guts" particularly appealing, and it left me feeling a bit sick, but I was not emotionally shaken by the experience of reading it.)
My requests, w/ a little added detail:
Request 1
Tags:
* Alliance-Union - C. J. Cherryh,
* Ariane Emory II,
* Justin Warrick
Details:
Poor Ari Two, paying for Ari One's sins. I just can't help but feel for the girl. What I'd really love would be a fic where somehow, she gets her wish, and the two of them can be together romantically. Not necessarily forever or happily-ever-after, but something, and without ignoring or downplaying the various canonical Issues. Or give me something about their collaborations post-Regenesis, as colleagues? Or a missing scene? Or an AU? Five Things That Never Happened? Whatever moves you -- I'll just be happy to read fic in this universe, if you feel so moved.
Added notes: This is just an awesome series. Partly -- majorly -- because Cherryh doesn't ignore the Issues. What Ari One did to Justin is squicky and wrong and awful. The relationships between Alpha supervisors and their azi are ethically problematic (to our/my 21st-century Terran sensibilities, even if not to 25th-century Reseune sensibilities; and I'd argue that to some supervisors it does give the occasional twinge of conscience). I don't mean to say: throw Ari Two and Justin at each other, to hell with Grant and to hell with Ari One's weird-ass Intervention. I just think it'd be sweet, and nice, to see Ari Two and Justin be able to find some tenderness despite all that, and informed by that.
Or, you know, do a crossover where they work for Reynholm Industries (see below), or an AU where Reseune is Microsoft, or anything that tickles your fancy. Don't force yourself to make my improbable pairing work. *g* That way lies Yuletide unhappiness, and I don't want to inflict that!
Request 2
Tags:
* The IT Crowd,
* Douglas Reynholm
Details:
DOUGLAS. How can you go wrong with Douglas? Anything with Douglas being Douglas will be a source of merriment and delight. Extra love if it involves Space-Star Ordering.
Added notes: Okay, you don't really have to write about Douglas. *grins* I also love anything about Moss. Anything about Roy and Moss hanging out together. Anything about Roy, Moss, and Jen hanging out together. Anything about Douglas trying to work with Jen, or Jen trying to work with Douglas.
Douglas sitting in on one of Moss's tabletop-RPG sessions?
But yes, Space-Star Ordering pretty much makes my day. Just turn your back to space ...
Request 3
Tags:
* Ambergris - Jeff VanderMeer,
* Duncan Shriek
Details:
What the. Just what. What was going on with Duncan Shriek in _Finch_? (Then again, what was going on with Duncan in _Shriek_, some might ask?) Plumb the mysteries of this historian-turned-subterranean adventurer ... or just snark at his footnotes from _The Early History of Ambergris_. Any Ambergris fic, really, would be wonderful.
Added notes: If you volunteered to write for Ambergris, then I don't need to sell you on its fabulosity. If you happened on this DYW post some other way, however, allow me to introduce you to this series.
"Once upon a time, on the banks of the River Moth, a mighty city sprang up like no other in or out of history. Founded on the blood of the original inhabitants, the stealthy and inhuman gray caps, and shaped for centuries by the aftermath of that struggle, Ambergris has long been a center of trade and the arts-and of empire." This is a start. What this doesn't explain is that the gray caps are mushroom people. Also known as mushroom dwellers! And they live underground. Except when they rise to the surface for their own inscrutable reasons.
And that Ambergris celebrates an annual Festival of the Freshwater Squid. And that squidmania in Ambergris has extended to such expressions in media as The Torture Squid Beat Up Some Priests.
And that the most celebrated bookstore in the city of Ambergris, where you can buy such books as the Torture Squid adventures, is named the Borges Bookstore.
You can preview City of Saints and Madmen (including summaries of those fictional Torture Squid books) at Google Books. You can read excerpts at SFFWorld also.
You can preview Shriek: An Afterword at Google Books.
You can read an excerpt of Finch on the dedicated website for Finch. And you can also see some other neat stuff there.
Request 4
Tags:
* Dark Shadows (1966),
* Roger Collins
Details:
Roger Collins: cranky, snobbish, liable to be up at 2 am with a glass of brandy any given night. What is with this man? Why does he keep marrying weird supernatural women? I happen to think Roger is hilarious (as is his 1790s alter ego Joshua Collins, and for some reason the most hilarious part was when Joshua got turned into a cat. POOF!) Any fic about Roger poncing about and being his insufferable self will amuse me greatly.)
Added notes: ... I have no added notes. ROGER COLLINS. YOU ARE HILARIOUS. With your portrait of Angelique and your spooky son who plays with ghosts. How could anyone not love you. "Roger enjoyed drinking brandy (4), and he occasionally wore glasses (2). In 1967, he drove a convertible car (19)."
[here is Roger Collins posing with his sister (seated) and ... his son's governess (standing beside him looking ingenue-tastic).]
Also. Roger, why do you call your hot barely-legal niece "kitten"?
For those unfamiliar with Dark Shadows: It's a daytime soap opera from the sixties. It's about the supernatural -- started out with some ghosts, got a charismatic Byronic vampire to save it from early cancellation, added a werewolf and a Frankenstein-esque monster and possibly the devil at various points, and let's not forget ~time travel via seances~ ... Yes. It is a thing of beauty and a joy forever.