Yuleletter, 2014 edition
General
As ever, I am entirely consistent in general tastes and previous letters are under the yuletide tags and I've stolen shamelessly from them, everything said then applies now. I'll be in #yuletide all the time as stars/hippostars (or stars of any flavour really), so feel free to come and stalk.
I am amazingly easy to please with fic, I read anything and everything from AU in space to five times and mpreg and everything in between and if you want to do that to any of the below, go for it! I read gen and slash and het (less keen on femmeslash with these particular fandoms), so if you're happier writing any of the characters I've suggested in ships or just as friends then feel free. I love angst and fluff and PWPs and cliche-fic, dark humour and silly humour and banter, kill everyone off and let the zombies decide. Focus on plot or focus on character, whatever makes you happiest to write!
I seem to have acquired a theme this year that is generally pretty bleak and end of the world so feel free to use that and go as dark as you like in any of the fandoms - but please don't feel tied to dark and twisty and if you want to fluff it all up and happily-ever-after then I would love that too. This year there's also a mix of new and previously requested and while some details are longer than others i love all of my requests equally
I don't really have any major squicks, or general fic no-nos, so go where the winds take you and don't worry about anything in that regard. If there is anything fandom specific then it's all noted down.
Lastly, OPTIONAL DETAILS ARE OPTIONAL. I'll love a story you loved writing way more than one you shoehorned into fitting my details.
The Last Ship - Tom Chandler, Mike Slattery. I picked the captain and his first officer because I want to know more about the relationship between these two, whether it's past, present or future. They've worked together for years and clearly have absolute trust and faith in each other (subject to the occasional wobble) what were they like coming up through the ranks? Have they always been friends (or something more?) or did it take time to get there? How are they coping with so many deaths? What's going to happen next? Is the vaccine and cure permanent or is the virus going to win? How does the world recover - or not? Feel free to bring in any other characters, but I'd appreciate it if the main focus was on these two. I am also fully aware just how utterly impossible most of the science is so unless you have a burning desire to make it accurate (which would be seriously awesome) then I'm more than happy if you just go with the reality of the show where a lone person can create a combo vaccine and cure for a previously unknown virus that is highly mutable on a ship lab in a matter of hours while saying primordial as much as possible.
Tigerman - Nick Harkaway -Any -This ended the way i feared it would and wished it wouldn't, despite the inevitability that suffused the whole thing. I love Nick Harkaway's writing and how he can combine the real with the surreal so well and adored the references that dotted the book despite a large portion of them going over my head. Although the minute he said leaf on the wind I started wincing and waiting for it... I nominated the three characters that I find most fascinating, but if you want to bring others in or just go for world building then that's great. Lester is broken and in trying to pick up the pieces the boy just shatters him more. Kaiko is just kick-ass and science and the boy - there's just so much there. With a world this rich there's so many directions to go in from more about the island and what it can do, the fleet and more detail of what's happening there. What does Kaiko think of it all? What's a day in the life for the boy? What happens next for Lester and how does Kaiko fit in? Is he truly gone? What happens to Bad Jack? One specific do-not-want here - please please please do not make Lester's feelings towards the boy anything other than fatherly and platonic.
Muse - Resistance -Any Apart from the fact that the music is brilliant, i just loved the (post)apocalyptic theme running through the album. Tell me all the stories about how this came about, what got the government to this point, who are the people hiding? Aliens? just your bog standard revolution? Should I be hiding in a basement? Paranoia is in bloom indeed.
Long Earth Series - Baxter/Pratchett- Any- I absolutely love the possibilities of this universe and yuletide is fabulous for getting to request things when the authors start veering off into different areas and this is one case where I don't think they're taking advantage of the universe and its wonders enough. For me the joy here is in the sense of discovery of every new world be it terrible or marvellous and I just want to press pause and stop everywhere along the way rather than flicking through the worlds in an instant. Because of that, this is a true any request. I would really enjoy reading about any and all details of the worlds you care to mention - pick one world, or show me around the high meggers, tell me about the trolls and things from their point of view. Or go for any of the characters nominated in whatever situation you care to place them. How is Sister Agnes kicking asses and taking names? What else is out there on the Long Mars and how did Sally change things? What is Roberta's future like? Have we heard the last from the Next? Is there an end to the Long Earths and does Maggie find it?
Teng Vienna - Works - Whatever you Want - When I first heard this song I didn't properly listen to the lyrics, it was just a pretty and catchy melody. Then I actually paid attention to what was being said and fell in love even more. There are possibilities and interpretations here that I would love, dear writer, for you to explore. Is this the story of the rotten CEO, his ignored wife and accountant running off together and telling the press about the CEO's misdeeds? Or is it a co-incidence that the wife and the accountant leave at the same time? What exactly is going on in the files? What new and amazing life does the wife have?