Luzula

Er, I am boring and my Yuletide letter is basically copy-pasted from last year's, with some slight modifications. Also it just consists of my sign-up details so that they are visible to anyone else who wants to read them.

But anyway, if you are my assigned writer: welcome, and I am so happy that we share this rare fandom! There are some story ideas below, but if you have some idea already that you want to write, go for it--I hope I've given you some sense of what I would enjoy. And I hope you have fun writing!

( Mars Trilogy, Left Hand of Darkness, Always Coming Home )

Yesss, I managed to write some recs before reveals! I put everything longer than 5000 words on my ereader, so these are short. Also, I still am far from having read everything I'm interested in, so hopefully I can get one more round of recs in later.

I enjoyed a lot of the Irina/Mirnatius fics from Spinning Silver, so check them out! Of course, the book was leaving so much unwritten there that I'm not surprised people are filling it in.

Kolya's Sestina (Paksenarrion - Elizabeth Moon)
A sestina about a minor character that I like a lot.

The Inevitability of History (Voynich manuscript)
A tantalizing glimpse of another sort of science. You don't need to know canon (I didn't).

How It Was Then (Persuasion - Jane Austen)
The relationship between Frederick and his sister Sophia, and Anne/Frederick as seen through Sophia's eyes.

rosy as a flushed red apple skin (never been as sweet) (Medieval manuscript illustrations)
Probably my favorite in this fandom, though there are other good ones, too! The fake scientific article on the decline of the penis tree is hilarious. No need to know canon (although the canon is just pictures).

Sprezzatura (Much Ado About Nothing)
A bitter and passionate inner monologue from Beatrice, impressively written in blank verse.

Prickly Situation (Aubrey-Maturin)
A little Jack/Stephen vignette, of the sort where it's the prose and not really the events of the story that are what you remember.

Unexpected (Pern, Kylara/Lessa)
I have to thank isis (ETA: oops, no, it was rachelmanija) for bringing this one to my notice, since I'd missed it. I would gladly read a book's worth of sequel to this story! I imagine long-simmering UST and then finally a mating flight, and lots of interesting politics. F'lar's reaction would be hilarious.

Yay, we share a small fandom! My Yuletide letter is basically just my sign-up details so that they are visible to anyone else who wants to read them. Anyway, there are some story ideas below, but if you have some idea already that you want to write, go for it--I hope I've given you some sense of what I would enjoy. And I hope you have fun writing!

Aubrey/Maturin series - Patrick O'Brian (Diana Villiers)
I find Diana fascinating, and would love to read more about her. Some concrete ideas: Diana/Clarissa has always struck me as an interesting possibility. Clarissa canonically doesn't enjoy sex with men; could it be because she's a lesbian? I am sure Diana and Stephen could come to some sensible arrangement for the times when they are apart. I would also love further exploration of Diana's relationship with Stephen; I really ship them together, especially in the later parts of the series. I also like Diana and Sophie together, but usually not in a slashy sense. (Though feel free to go there if you really ship them--actually, it would be cool with a sedoretu-style group marriage.) You could also write Diana gen, that would also be very welcome: Diana being competent, flamboyant, independent, emotional, and occasionally selfish, but also occasionally great-hearted. Or however you see her.

Do-not-wants: Please don't have Diana die! Also, Diana and Stephen's relationship doesn't have to be front and center at all--you could write a story just about her. But please don't break up Diana and Stephen's relationship or kill off Stephen. Also, I would prefer a story where jealousy doesn't play a large role.

Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson (any characters)
I don't remember feeling fannish about these before, but on reread, I suddenly am! Ideas:
- An AU where Ann and Sax got together on Antarctica. How does this influence the terraforming debate?
- Arkady on Antarctica, pretending to be boring and hiding his revolutionary anarchist plans. His inner monologue is probably hilarious...
- Marina/Ursula/Vlad - what does that relationship look like? We don't get any of their POV:s, but it's made pretty clear that theirs is a poly relationship. Also it would be fun to see them working on their ecological economics.
- Frank/John/Maya. They are not actually my favorite characters, but Frank/John is a slash pairing that cries out for someone to write it.
- Nadia is one of my favorite characters, so maybe just tell me a story about her solving an engineering problem?
Or tell me whatever story interests you most! : ) I really like all the landscape description and technical detail in the books, so feel free to pastische that if you want, but you don't have to (I get that it could be daunting!). I also like all the people and communities and political debate in the Martian underground. I think character and setting is what I'm most interested in here.

Do-not-wants: I would prefer a story that isn't centered around someone's death. Sex is fine, but I would prefer if that wasn't the main point of the story. Also, maybe relevant is that my political opinions are to the left, so if you tell me a story dismissing everything about the Martian revolutions as wrong, I am probably not going to appreciate that. Although of course politics doesn't have to come into the story at all, if you're not interested in that.

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
I left the character field empty here, because I would love to get worldbuilding fic. That said, if you have an idea for a fic based on one or more of the nominated characters, I am also entirely happy to get that, and I know that it's entirely reasonable (rule-wise) for you to write that for me! If you want to tell the story, I am sure I'll love it too. If I have a preference among the nominated characters, it's for Therem Harth and Genly Ai. Perhaps relevant here is that I like vivid setting and nature description, and I love the whole sequence when they're up on the ice. But I'm happy to get a story about the other nominated characters as well.

Anyway: I am intrigued by Gethen's relationship to technology, where they are very slow to adopt new things and yet they have very useful stuff such as the Chabe stove (I would love to have one). How does their conservative approach work in practice? Was Chabe an inventor, and what is their story? Or maybe Chabe wasn't a person but a hearth with an engineering collective that fine-tuned the stove for long generations? Or maybe have an observer from another planet contrast Gethen's approach with their own. If you don't want to write about technology: how did people on Gethen come up with the theory of evolution? (We know from a comment in the book that they have it.) I'd be happy to read a Gethenian treatise on natural history and biology. And finally, if you're not into science, I would also love to get more Gethenian mythology and folk tales. Or politics is also interesting: how does the Karhide-Orgoreyn situation evolve? On my last reread, I thought the book had a lot of interesting things to say about nationalism. Or worldbuilding about the gender system is also welcome. I like documentation-style fic, which can lend itself well to worldbuilding, but straight-up story is great too.

Do-not-wants: I would prefer something that is reasonably in the style of canon, but canon has death, and torture in prison. So don't feel you have to avoid that kind of thing if the story calls for it. But please don't write something unrelentingly dark. I'm also not particularly interested in something that is just about sex.

Always Coming Home by Ursula K. Le Guin
I recently re-read this book with a book club, and we had lots of interesting discussion. So what I want here is worldbuilding, which maybe seems redundant because that's what the whole book is about. But whatever, basically any exploration of the world that you want to write is welcome.

Ideas (though feel free to have your own idea instead):
- I really liked the story in the "life stories" section about the guy who breeds pear trees. Doing something well and making it your life's work, I find that very moving.
- What do childrens' schooling look like?
- One person in book club speculated that Kesh culture had been intentionally created in the past, could that be so?
- I find Le Guin's various self-inserts fascinating (Pandora, Little Bear Woman, the nameless editor), especially the conflicted Pandora. Maybe you could do the same kind of meta self-insert as a fanfic author writing in Le Guin's world?
- How much does Kesh culture change over time? If you write from the POV of someone who is Kesh in 200 years, what would it look like?
- Maybe write from the POV of someone from another culture who comes to live with the Kesh? What things are similar/different?
- Several people in my book club found the culture frustrating because of its lack of critical and rational thinking, maybe you could adress this?
- Do people do Yuletide over the Exchange, and ask for filthy within-House incest porn?

Well, maybe the last one isn't entirely serious, though if you want to write it, be my guest. *g*

Do-not-wants: Not much, I guess? But would prefer something not unrelentingly dark, and reasonably in the style of canon.

Here is what I wrote:

An Undiscovered Country (3183 words) by Luzula
Fandom: Dark Is Rising Sequence - Susan Cooper
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Bran Davies/Will Stanton
Characters: Will Stanton, Bran Davies, Ensemble
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Coming of Age
Summary: After the victory of the Light, Will returned home. He was still a boy, and like a boy he went to school, was scolded by Barbara, fed the rabbits, quarrelled with James, teased Mary. With the part of his mind that was not a boy, he began to understand why he was the one who went alone: because he was not yet truly alone in the world, in the way that Merriman was.

Yuletide feels like magic to me, because I have never in all the years I've done it struggled to come up with an idea. Some idea has always taken form in my mind almost immediately. I am very grateful for this! I reread the Dark Is Rising series this summer and determined that I would offer it for Yuletide now that it was fresh in my mind (I've always read fic for it in Yuletides past). The recipient's prompt actually worked very well with what I wanted to do anyway. I thought it was interesting to write more immediate post-canon fic--most of what's out there is about the characters years after the ending. And I am quite happy with how it ended up!

ETA: Ack, I forgot to credit my betas! I am grateful to aria for canon beta-reading, and to feroxargentea for Brit-picking.

Here is my Yuletide gift:

Paladin of Peace (3781 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: The Deed of Paksenarrion - Elizabeth Moon
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Paksenarrion, Original Characters
Summary: Paks finds herself with a paladin candidate to look after.

This is pretty much what I asked for! Thank you, unknown writer. ♥ I like the idea of a paladin focused on peaceful pursuits, rather than military ones.

I am quite happy with the story I wrote. I think it's pretty recognizable by themes and style, so nobody will be surprised at reveals, but of course it's like a needle in a haystack. I will say that it's in a fandom I've never written before. If anyone guesses I will record or write you something!

I got my Yuletide assignment, and didn't open the email for the whole evening because I was nervous I'd get that fandom I offered but was actually hoping I wouldn't get. But I have finally opened the assignment now, and I'm pretty sure I can do this. Whew.

How about you, does your assignment seem doable?

I also dropped my ereader down the stairs and it broke. /o\ I am annoyed at having to buy a new one, but I am almost as annoyed at being in the middle of a really good longfic and not being able to finish it! Arrrgh. Why was I so careless? /o\ /o\ I am however glad that I always keep a back-up folder on my computer with the contents of my ereader, so at least I didn't lose any data.

So, Yuletide. I am determined not to miss nominations this time. I have four things I know I want to nominate, but I'm pretty sure others will be nominating some of them.

Aubrey/Maturin series - Patrick O'Brian.
I want moar Diana fic, so I'm just going to recycle a request here. Anyone going to be nominating this fandom anyway who could squeeze in a nom for Diana as a character? (Also, I hope the fandom is still eligible; I haven't checked.)

Mars trilogy - Kim Stanley Robinson
Unexpectedly, I had lots of ideas for further stories I wanted to read when I reread these. Funny, I don't remember having fannish feelings for them the last time? Anyway, probably I would want to nom Sax, Ann, Nadia and Arkady.

The Dark Is Rising series - Susan Cooper
This always gets nominated, right? Anyway, I'd like to explore the Arthurian bits of it. Like, how were they different in this world, compared to the ordinary Arthurian mythos? That probably means I'd nom Merriman, Arthur and Guinevere. Also, is this still eligible? Must check.

The Paksenarrion trilogy - Elizabeth Moon
This is an old recycled nomination, but I reread the books this year and it rekindled my interest. I'd probably just nom Paks, unless someone wanted me to include more characters.

A League of Dragons by Naomi Novik (the last Temeraire book)
...I seem to have come out of this book shipping Laurence/Napoleon. Why oh why did I not finish this two days earlier? Then I could've nominated/requested that for Yuletide. Augh. As it is, Laurence is obviously nominated but not Napoleon. And I really want post-series fic about them now. *goes to check the archive to see if there already is any fic*

Er, maybe I should also write a review of the book. I enjoyed it, obviously! Enough said.

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert
What a wonderful surprise! Someone gave me this for Christmas, probably on the basis of it having mosses on the cover, and it felt vaguely like a chore to start it since I knew nothing at all about it. And then it was actually really good! Definitely going on my top ten of the year. It's about a 19th century woman who is a naturalist specializing in mosses, and it's just very engaging and well written. I want to talk about the ending, but I also don't want to spoil it.

Ack, it's that time of year already. Last year I resolved to make a clean slate for this year's Yuletide, and only request things I'd never requested before. Well, maybe I'll recycle one request that I made for the first time last year.

So I looked through my reading list for the last year, and came up with these ideas for nominations:

Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. Character: Diana Maturin
This is the one from last year that I want to recycle. But surely someone else will nominate it? Must check this.

Hwarhath Stories: Transgressive Tales by Aliens by Elizabeth Arnason. Characters: none/worldbuilding
Would gladly read more in this world. Not sure how to nominate it, though--there's another book, the novel Ring of Swords, in the same world, and I guess I'd want both books to be nominated as one canon. If I have to choose I'd choose the short story collection, though.

Hmm, what else? I love the Steerswoman books, but I don't know that I'm especially longing for fic from them. I see that I wanted Philylla/Erif fic when I read Naomi Mitchison's The Corn King and the Spring Queen, but now it's been months since I read the book and I don't have it clearly in my mind anymore. Then there are the classics that I always check out in Yuletide: the Earthsea books, the Hainish books (but I've requested those before), Watership Down, etc. Hmmm. And I do actually still want that Paksenarrion request that I've made every year, but I've given up on ever getting it.

Remind me of something I should nominate, O internet? I don't seem to be passionately longing for anything.

I am determined to post Yuletide recs before reveals this year. So here goes, even if I haven't gone through the whole of it yet (I have all of D-R left to look through, and have saved up anything longer than 5000 words for later).

First, let me just mention again my wonderful gift First Train into Brotherhood, which you should read if you are at all into The Dispossessed (or conlangs, or anarchism, or terraforming). If in doubt, request Le Guin fic for Yuletide: the results are pretty much always great.

Burned Letters (Diana Villiers, Aubrey/Maturin series)
This is one of my favorites so far, and it's a story that could as well have been written for me--I requested Diana fic, too! It is Diana, alone and pregnant and writing letters she doesn't send. I got tears in my eyes reading this. There are lots of ways in which I am not like Diana (probably more than the ways in which I am like her), but I feel so much for her here! Wonderful canon-like writing, too. (feroxargentea, did you write this?)

We can all be on our way (Orpheus and Hermes, Hadestown)
A really good Madness drabble. It captures the atmosphere of canon in one perfect snapshot. And I never really thought about what happened to Orpheus afterwards, but of course it must've been like this.

Going Dark (Maria and Anna, Richard/Darren, Slings & Arrows)
This is very possibly the most hilarious S&A fic ever. Which is saying a lot, because there's some great humor written for that show. Richard and Darren's patriotic musical, Maria's increasingly horrified stage notes, etc. It is glorious.

The Game in the Choosing (Halla, Travel Light by Naomi Mitchison)
I know this is a super-rare fandom, and you pretty much have to have read the canon to appreciate it. But this lone fic is worthy--it feels like a plausible continuation for Halla, continuing to make her own way through the world. (oneiriad, I suppose I am now revealing that I did not write it for you. : P)

Three Jeweled Branches, and a Golden Cup Too (The Twelve Dancing Princesses)
A choose-your-own-adventure set after the end of the fairy tale, with some nicely twisty alternatives.

Far Far Away (Silverweed and General Woundwort, Watership Down)
Ack, no, Silverweed! That is not a good life choice (not that your previous circumstances were all that great, either, but...). I would never have thought of these two meeting, but now I can't help wondering how Woundwort could use Silverweed's gift. And he just yields himself up.