Yuletide reveals, assorted recs, and year end fandom memes
Yuletide reveals!
I wrote:
Tail as Old as Time (4805 words) by hamsterwoman
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Hamster Princess Series - Ursula Vernon
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Harriet Hamsterbone, Mumfrey (Hamster Princess), Original Critter Characters
Additional Tags: Fairy Tale Retellings
Summary:
“Please don’t pick the roses!” said a gentle voice behind her. Only Harriet’s battle-honed reflexes kept her from jumping right into the rosebush thorns. Standing in front of her was an elegant golden-furred mouse with large expressive eyes and a delicate pink tail.
“They are so beautiful, aren’t they?” said the golden mouse. “If they were mine, I would happily let you have some, because the joy they bring should be shared. But you see, they belong to the Beast-”
“The Beast!” Harriet said excitedly, flexing her fingers around the hilt of her sword.
After a couple of years away with the chemistry nonsense, I matched on hamsters again (look, if I'm going to have a Yuletide brand, "hamsters and chemistry nonsense" definitely feels fitting). The recipient prompted for Harriet taking on Beauty and the Beast as the fairy tale, and I think within hours of me getting my assignment, by brainstorming against L, who is my Harriet reading-and-plotting buddy back to the very first Yuletide fic, I had figured out spoilers for the story the Beast was going to be a hedgehog (this is in large part inspired by eglantiere's rescue hedgehog stories, but also I/we wanted something prickly like the roses) and Beauty a spiny mouse, and that the Beast wasn't going to really be cursed, he was just going to be a hedgehog. I think L suggested Harrison the hedgehog's name, and I knew I wanted something other than "Belle" for the Beauty character, so we went through a baby name website until we found something else that meant "Beauty" and would not sound too out of place as the name of a fairy tale mouse.
So, I had a strong idea of what I was going to write right away, and then did nothing with it for like two months, except rereading the "Beauty and the Beast" story and some Harriet canon. I think partly it's that the chemistry nonsense stories had been so much more work -- because I had to make the characters from scratch in one case and almost from scratch in another, and the world from scratch in one case, and there was no pre-set fairy tale plot to riff on -- that it felt like I was almsot done once I was past the brainstorming stage. It actually took quite a bit longer for the story to percolate sufficiently in my brain that I could start writing, but once I'd figured out the place to start, I wrote the story in just a couple of days -- it flowed very smoothly. And my only significant edits ended up being two-fold: 1) shoring up the explanation of how Harrison wouldn't know he wasn't really cursed, which I anticipated I might have to do, I just didn't feel like trying to delve into a sad story in Harriet canon, and 2) (which came as a surprise), discovering that my betas were picking up Harrison/Jamila vibes I definitely did not intend, since I was trying to lay the groundwork for Jamila/Harriet, so I ended up having to go through and make all the Jamila and Harrison interactions more explicitly platonic (when I told L about this, she was like, "aww, mouse friend-zoned XD)
Oh, and it was getting to deadline, and I still hadn't come up with a better title than my G!docs file one of "beauty and the hamster", so I decided to use "Tale as Old as Time" as a placeholder when I posted. L said, "Hee, 'tail' as in T-A-I-L" -- which hadn't even occurred to me, and of course that instantly became the permanent title. It is not super original -- there are 24 things on AO3 with that title, including TWO unrelated Harry/Draco fics and a fanvid about cats -- but I do feel like it's the perfect fit for the story and suits the canon.
The break from Harriet-canon meant that I felt less compelled to match Vernon's prose perfectly, vs matching mood but not necessarily exact vocabulary, but nobody seems to have minded, which is good to know. This was also the least I've written in any Yuletide I actually participated in vs just treated -- the year I wrote a shorter assignment, I also wrote a long treat -- but it was kind of a fraught year, and also I did end up beta-ing a ~20k fic, so I don't feel too bad.
The fic ended the anon period with 36 hits, 11 kudos, 6 comment threads. This was about the same kudos as the last time I wrote Harriet (out of more hits), and more comments, and also more comments and less kudos than the year before that, with similar hits, which I'm not sure what that means.
But I feel like in general it was kind of a low-engagement Yuletide? I was keeping an eye on the stats of the gifts I received, and they seemed to have plateaued very early, at lower numbers than I would have expected... Or maybe I've just been out of step with Yuletide this year -- a number of highly recced, top-of-the-filters stories that I checked out were just not doing anything for me. But clearly I made the right call in the fandoms I requested, since I enjoyed all the fics I read in those fandoms. Also, I have to conclude from my "requesting Worldbuilding" experiment that I should not, in fact, request Worldbuilding -- I really enjoyed both my gift story and the other Terra Ignota worldbuilding story in the collection, BUT what I enjoyed most about them were the narrative voice and character bits. So basically I got lucky, but it would be silly and unfair to count on getting lucky again. So in future I should stick to asking for Terra Ignota in things like fandomtrees, where I can ask for weird niche things in the confidence that nobody ends up having to write for me after matching on a very broad category, and meanwhile be glad that I lucked out this year.
**
I never did get around to reading very much, and a lot of it on my phone, unlogged in, while out and about, and none of the longer fic yet, but these were the other stories I was going to post recs for before running out of anon period (and a few that I came across after):
Chronicles of Prydain: Two Beasts by (gen, Ellidyr AU fix-it fic, 2k). A very long time ago I stumbled on Lloyd Alexander's Prydain books, and unerringly fixated on Ellidyr as my favorite. I haven't thought of him in close to 30 years, but this fic instantly brought me back, reminded me how much I'd wanted him saved, and then delivered, with some beautiful, heartbreaking Ellydir POV and fun dialogue from Eilonwy)
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves: Perception Check (Roll for Romance) by , Edgin/Xenk, M, 6k, with hilarious contributions from Holga and parenting a teenage Kira. I read a bunch of D&D:HAT fics in the collection, but this was my favorite of a fun crop.
The Good Place: The Real Actual Human Life of Michael Realman by (T, 1.7k, Michael gen / F/M) -- perfectly expanding on Michael's ending in the show with just the right kind of humor.
Ocean's Echo: There's a lot of cute fic in the tag, but the one that caught my attention was Guidance Lights and Caffeine Shots by (G, 4.4k, Surit/Tennal, Surit-POV coffee shop AU). Apparently I've been in the mood for coffee shop AUs of sci-fi fandoms, because this was a lot of fun!
The Waste Land: The Cruellest Month by (gen, 1.1k). The subject is March 2020, evoking the mood, so, warnings for that, but -- powerful and haunting, masterfully capturing the mood of the time and matching the feeling of the original poem.
Yes, Minister: Flaming Lies and Explosive Secrets by (gen, 1.3k, addition of fantastical elements) -- really fun, with just the right level of absurdity and masterful bureaucratese.
And I vaguely remembered that multifandomdoodle also ran over this same period, but didn't get the chance to go look until creator reveals. As ever, there's some delightful stuff there, like:
AtLA: The Pandatee gets a visitor in his pond by -- gen, original critter creations, ADORABLE
Good Omens: a gorgeous Crowley portrait by
Star Wars: the star by (gen, B&W line art, Leia as The Star Tarot card)
Original Work:: all G, all critters
- this guinea pig witch art by
- a tiny, furious flame by -- a hummingbird-esque phoenix
- Piggyback Ride by -- rodents <3
*
Snowflake Challenge has begun, and the Day 1 challenge is Update your fandom information.
It looks like the one from 2020 is still pretty valid for my long-term fannish identity, although at this point I'd have to add Taskmaster and sudoku in as well, I guess XD But that doesn't merit a whole separate post.
*
I feel almost embarrassed doing the book meme for 2023, because it was the year of the fewest books BY FAR since I started tracking, but I do like having the record, and I did read some books I liked a lot, so:
1. Vita Nostra, Marina and Sergey Dyachenko (in Russian)
2. Deadly Ever After, Ben Aaronovitch and Andrew Cartmel (RoL GN #10)
3. Some Desperate Glory, Emily Tesh
4. Steven Brust, Dragon (reread)
5. Nghi Vo, Into the Riverlands (Singing Hills #3)
6. Steven Brust, Tsalmoth
7. Naomi Novik, The Golden Enclaves (Scholomance 3)
8. Kelly Link, White Cat, Black Dog
9. Rebecca Fraimow, The Iron Children
10. Ursula Vernon, Whiskerella (Hamster Princess) -- aka Yuletide canon review, and also the first book I actually finished since the end of June...
The first book you read in 2023:
Vita Nostra
The last book you finished in 2023:
Hamsters canon review.
The first book you will finish (or did finish!) in 2023:
Beats me. Last year I hypothesized that this year it might be Beartown or or Adrian Tchaikovsky's City of Last Chances, and I have finished neither of them in the past year at all XD So, let's similarly wild guess The Power Unbound (which I just got as a holiday gift from aome or Allie Brosh's Solutions and Other Problems (which I just bought a copy of while out browsing with frausorge) but at the rate I've been going, maybe it'll actually be Lyorn in April, lol.
How many books read in 2023
10, which is half of last year's already extremely low for me total. And only four were new (non-reread) full-length novels.
Fiction/Non-Fiction ratio?
Zero non-fiction.
Male/Female authors?
6 individual female authors, 3 individual male authors (/books by female/male authors), and 1 book co-authored by a husband-and-wife duo.
5 books with female protagonists, 3 books with male protagonists, 1 book with a nb protagonist, and 1 book that's a collection of short stories with protagonists of both genders.
Most books read by one author this year?
Steven Brust was the only one I read more than one book by, and even that just because one was a reread.
Favorite books read?
This is hard to pick, because I enjoyed most of what I finished a lot. Tsalmoth was a personal favorite for sure, but I also liked The Iron Children a lot, so probably those two. (Honorable mention to Some Desperate Glory, parts of which I liked a LOT, and parts of which bugged me.)
Best books you read in 2023?
The Iron Children, which stuck the landing way better than Some Desperate Glory (which otherwise would also be in contention). Also, Into the Riverlands, maybe? I definitely thought it deserved to win a Hugo in its year.
Least favorite?
I simply did not finish books I did not like this year, so I guess Deadly Ever After? I didn't dislike it, it was just forgettable.
Most disappointing book/Book you wished you loved more than you did?
I was not disappointed by Some Desperate Glory at all -- in fact it was one of my favorite books of the year, and I cared enough about it to discuss it a lot and request it for Yuletide. But there are some flaws that are keeping it from being an AMAZING book, IMO, and I wish those flaws had gotten flagged and fixed during the editing process so I could UNEQUIVOCALLY love it.
Best series you discovered in 2023?
You wouldn't know it from my reading list, but Fonda Lee's Green Bone Saga. I'm ~66% into The Jade City and I'm very impressed, but it wasn't escapist enough for my current frame of mind, so it's gone unfinished. But I am looking forward to finishing this book and continuing with the series, especially given that cafemassolit and tabacoychanel both loved it.
Favorite new author you discovered this year?
LOL, Marina and Sergey Dyachenko were the only new authors I read this year -- so them by default, but I did actually like their writing.
Oldest book read?
Dragon is from 1998, but if rereads don't count, then Vita Nostra (2007).
Newest?
LOL, looks like The Iron Children (April 12) beats Some Desperate Glory (April 11) by one day XD
Longest book title?
White Cat, Black Dog at 4 words, which isn't very long.
Shortest title?
Dragon, followed by Tsalmoth.
How many re-reads?
Two -- Vlad and Harriet.
Any in translation?
No, but one in Russian (Vita Nostra).
How many of this year's books were from the library?
None. I still need to sort out whatever's wrong with my library card, but haven't bothered since I'm not actually reading. The rereads were books I already owned. I bought the GN, The Iron Children, Into the Riverlands, and I think The Golden Enclaves, although I read part of it in giallarhorn's borrowed copy -- so that's 4 bought. I think Some Desperate Glory and the Kelly Link were ARCs K passed down to me -- SDG definitely was. And I think Vita Nostra had come to me as an e-book of, ahem, uncertain provenance, from bearshorty's dad XD
Book that most changed my perspective:
TSALMOTH! Both for the Vlad spoiler and for the Morrolan POV. But The Golden Enclaves also did some cool stuff.
Favorite character:
Of new-to-me characters, Avicenna (Some Deseperate Glory) and Ester (The Iron Children).
Most memorable character:
Avi wins this, but Kyr was also very memorable, and a very impressive take on an unreliable narrator.
Favorite scene:
The one from Tslamoth that made it into my Yuletide request and made me liveblog "I read a Vlad/Morrolan fic like this once..." :D
Favorite quote:
Some Desperate Glory and The Iron Children both had some great quotes.
SDG: "All it would cost her was her war. All it would cost was the memory of the dead, and the service she’d been born for, and the knowledge that out in deep space, clinging to a cold rock orbiting an unfriendly star, the last soldiers of humanity were still refusing to surrender, and Kyr was not among them. [...] Her family was her station. Her family was her cause. Her family was fourteen billion dead, and her mother was a murdered world."
Iron Children: "You kidnapped me. You -- your Holiest Houses, your sisters, your gods.
And Vlad (Tsalmoth) and El (The Golden Enclaves) had some great snark, but I knew to expect that.
Most inspirational in terms of own writing?
Well, I reread Whiskerella specifically for the purposes of writing Harriet fic, so, that.
How many you'd actually read again?
Tsalmoth for sure, and I could see myself rereading Some Desperate Glory, The Iron Children, and maybe Into the Riverlands (because it does some clever things with narrative)
A book that you never want to read again:
Nothing like that this year.
Book you recommended most to others in 2023?
I definitely talked up The Iron Children and Some Desperate Glory, so probably those two.
The book series you read the most volumes of in 2023:
Vlad Taltos, one new, one reread.
The genre you read the most in 2023:
- 4 secondary world fantasy
- 4 urban fantasy
- 1 sci-fi
- 1 kidlit (secondary world fantasy, I guess)
Some other stuff I tallied up:
- 1 was a graphic novel
- 2 were novellas
Your favorite "classic" you read in 2023:
I did not read anything that could be called a classic even at a stretch.
Most surprising (in a good way) book of the year?
Maybe Vita Nostra. I always expect narrative surprises from Vlad and the Singing Hills books, so while I found the reveals of both satisfying, I wasn't surprised they were there. And there were some cool surprises in Some Desperate Glory and The Iron Children, but I've read both authors before, so again was primed for the cool things. And I had cheerfully spoiled myself for all the twists in The Golden Enclaves. But Vita Nostra ended up being in really interesting dialogue with things like Ponedelnik in a way I did not at all expect, so everything about it was surprising.
The hardest book you read in 2023 (topic or writing style):
I kept things like this year, so maybe Vita Nostra, just because I'm not as used to reading grown-up books in Russian anymore.
The funniest book you read in 2023:
Hmm, not sure. Parts of Kelly Link's short story collection were funny, so maybe that? The other books mixed funny and sad more, so it's harder to call them funny. Well, except Hamster Princess, but I actually find some of the other outings quite a bit funnier.
The saddest book you read in 2023:
Nothing was necessarily melancholy, but parts of Some Desperate Glory and The Iron Children were very sad. But maybe Vita Nostra takes it, because, like, there's less of a way out, and/or it felt sad in a particularly plausible way.
The shortest book you read in 2023:
I assume the graphic novel, Deadly Ever After.
The longest book that you read in 2023:
Vita Nostra in Russian is over 500 pages, vs 400-some for The Golden Enclaves.
Best book that was outside your comfort zone/a new genre for you?
I didn't read anything outside my comfort zone, really, so, hm. The steampunky worldbuilding of The Iron Children isn't really my normal thing, so maybe that's the closest?
Most thrilling, unputdownable book of 2023?
The one I finished in 24 hours was Tsalmoth, so.
Most beautifully written book in 2023?
Some Desperate Glory had the most prose that made me sit up and take note.
Book you most anticipated in 2023?
That would be Tsalmoth. I will also say that, having read Some Desperate Glory in ARC, and being very much in the mood to talk to people about it, I very eagerly awaited its release.
Favorite cover of a book you read in 2023?
I'm really liking the Singing Hills Cycle covers, so Into the Riverlands:
Book that had the greatest impact on you this year?
I guess Some Desperate Glory, in that I ended up requesting (and receiving <3) the canon for Yuletide, and also spent a lot of time talking about it with people, in person and online.
Book you can't believe you waited till 2023 to finally read?
The only non-new, non-reread book on the list of what I finished was Vita Nostra, so I guess that.
Book that had a scene that left you reeling and dying to talk to someone about it?
Hehe, there were several, actually. I couldn't WAIT for scytale, who was a day or two behind me, to get to Morrolan's POV in Tsalmoth. And the ending of the first part of Some Desperate Glory was also a "dying to talk about it" scene for me -- it's a hell of a scene all around.
Looking Ahead:
One book you didn't read this year that will be your #1 priority in 2024?
Freya Marske's The Power Unbound.
New book you are most anticipating for 2024?
LYORN! (I could get used to this "new Vlad every year" things :)
And here's the perennial list of shame (I kid! but these are books I've been carrying over for like 5 years or more)
- Thorn of Emberlain
- Warboy (Warchild #4)
- Doors of Stone (Kvothe #3)
- Winds of Winter
*
Fandom meme #1:
1. Your main fandom of the year?
In terms of time spent engaging with it, probably Taskmaster -- I watched the two UK series, Australia, and part of NZ and a rewatch, plus followed the podcasts and Reddit, and watched vids and read fic (yeah, I know XD), and joyfully participated in lunasariel's liveblogging.
I've also continued to spend many hours doing sudoku this year -- in terms of time, sudoku has to take the crown, and I do have sudoku fandom buddies in cyanmnemosyne and her mom :) -- we have a G!chat and everything.
In more conventional definitions of fandom, though, it was Dragaera, thanks to new canon, having some flisters to discuss it with, and my lovely giftfic.
2. Your favorite film watched this year?
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves was great fun!
3. Your favorite book read this year?
See above, but Tsalmoth.
4. Your favorite album or song to listen to this year?
Shaov's "Zero":
5. Your favorite TV show of the year?
Still very much Taskmaster. But I did also really enjoy s5 of BBC Ghosts (and rewatching the show with L) and my periodic binge of parts of Person of Interest earlier on in the year.
6. Your favorite LJ(/DW) community of the year?
Sticking to LJ/DW, it would have to be snowflake_challenge, but I also have not hung out in any year-round comms.
7. Your best new fandom discovery of the year?
If Yuletide-sized fandoms count, then Some Desperate Glory. Oh, and I guess D&D:HAT, since I did read a bunch of fic even outside of Yuletide.
8. Your biggest fandom disappointment of the year?
I haven't experienced this disappointment for myself, but I've heard more bad things than good about Babylon 5 The Road Home, and I was so hoping it would be amazing. As it is, I haven't gone to the effort of figuring out how to watch it myself, because it'll probably end up disappointing me.
9. Your fandom boyfriend of the year?
Morrolan even more than usual :)
It is very weird to think of actual real people in this category, and certainly this part is not romantic at all, but I think I would genuinely enjoy hanging out with Ivo Graham and Kiell Smith-Bynoe.
And I definitely do not want Avicenna from Some Desperate Glory as my boyfriend, or even my friend, but he would be entertaining to know.
10. Your fandom girlfriend of the year?
Cleo from Some Desperate Glory, Shaw from Person of Interest (I finally got to Shaw properly this year), and Liesel from the Scholomance books.
And, see above about real people, but Sue Perkins was a delight, and I think I'd be genuinely good buds with Danielle Walker of Taskmaster Australia.
11. Your biggest squee moment of the year?
Tsalmoth! followed by the unexpected early Yuletide gift of Dragaera fic.
12. The most missed of your old fandoms?
I missed Taskmaster a lot Ridiculously, Taskmaster once I'd caught up on the backlog and there wasn't a new series airing, so between series 13 and 14 and then once 14 ended XD Except it's not an old fandom, so, hm, I guess World of Five Gods/Penric & Desdemona once I read [personal profile] sholio's write-up of the later books and the comments, and realized that the time had come for me to dive back in and catch up (what an excellent decision that was!).
13. The fandom you haven't tried yet, but want to?
I'm curious to see what, if any, fandom there is for the Green Bone Saga once I actually finish the books, at some point.
14. Your biggest fan anticipations for the New Year?
Lyorn! But also looking forward to the return of Taskmaster UK.
**
Fannish End-of-year Meme #2:
Favorite main character of 2023: You know, this wasn't a year of liking main characters, so much, at least in books. I mean, I liked the returning ones (Vlad Taltos and Harriet Hamsterbone) just fine, but not really the other protagonists. Going beyond books, I guess Edgin in D&D:HAT? He's definitely cheating by being played by Chris Pine, though :P
Favorite villain of 2023: Hm! The things I consumed this year either didn't have villains as such or had less-than-memorable ones. I guess one could make the argument that a deeply morally gray character like Avicenna (Some Desperate Glory) or Orion's mother (The Golden Enclaves) is a villain, but that's reductive. I'm not even sure one could claim that Leru in Some Desperate Glory is a villain, but I do think he's close enough to count, and let's go with him.
Favorite M/F couples of 2023: I was unexpectedly charmed by Vlad/Cawti in Tsalmoth to a degree I definitely wasn't expecting.
My favorite mixed gender relationship of the year was definitely a platonic one: Edgin and Holga in D&D: HAT. I also enjoyed Reese and Shaw being bros in Person of Interest.
Favorite F/F couples of 2023: El/Liesel! I was shipping it before it ended up becoming canon, and the canon didn't ruin it, so, yay, basically. And I am... intrigued by Root/Shaw on POI, but I wouldn't say I ship it -- I like both of the characters individually more than I like them as a couple, basically.
Favorite M/M couples of 2023: Very weirdly, I consumed very little canonical m/m this year. There was Avi/Mags in Some Desperate Glory which was not a ship I could root for, a short story in Kelly Link's book, and besides that, the bit of the Captain backstory in s5 Ghosts, and the teen protagonist's canonical crush in Strange World, none of which really sparked for me. So I'm having to go with the non-canonical answer of Ed/Xenk from D&D:HAT, which turned into the fandom juggernaut for very understandable reasons.
Favorite Crossover couples of 2023: I don't mean this in a shippy way at all, but I would enjoy the opportunity for Avi (Some Desperate Glory) and Ester (The Iron Children) to commiserate on drawing shitty hands in life and what choices that leads to, that kind of thing.
(But Miles Vorkosigan/River Tam forever, still.).
Favorite Polyships of 2023: The canonical El/Liesel/Alfie in The Golden Enclaves was great! (I mean, Orion/El and El/Liesel/Alfie coexisting is fine, too, but I care a lot less about Orion than about all the rest of these).
Favorite Crossover Polyships of 2023: OK, so, not shippy at all, because at least 2/3 of these characters have no interest in shippiness, I'm pretty sure, but when writing my Yuletide letter I was thinking of set-sets from Terra Ignota and of the Dedicates from The Iron Children, and how it would be interesting for them to have a conversation about humanity and whether being something other than human is necessarily a bad thing. Thinking about it some more, I definitely feel like the Dedicates and Murderbot would have some things to discuss -- there's an even better match in terms of having to thwart the system to win one's autonomy. So, Ester and Murderbot and Eureka Weeksbooth, once they figure out some way to talk to each other, having a conversation about that, or just enjoying some of Muderbot's favorite shows companiably.
NOTPs of 2023: I'm interpreting this as canonical pairings that didn't work for me, and I guess that would be the endgame pairing in Free Guy. Meh. Also, did I dream this, or did Reese and Carter actually kiss in one of their final episodes together? because what the hell was that XD
Fandom that you never expected to get into: Still Taskmaster tbqh. But for something new this year, I guess I'm surprised I enjoyed D&D:HAT as much as I did, and felt fannishly about it, because I've never played D&D and that was definitely not the case with the previous D&D movie.
Fandom that made an unexpected comeback: Person of Interest, I guess? I had last engaged with it in early 2020, and then got into it again almost exactly 3 years later, binged a season and change over the course of the month, then fell out of it again.
Last fandom of 2023: I don't know... There hasn't really been a new fandom for me since some time mid-year (D&D:HAT), unless you count that I've started watching the new Percy Jackson adaptation (and have already fallen behind). I guess maybe that? Since I will eventually check out the fandom, if only in the hopes of neat art, given how different a lot of the characters look in this version than either the movies or the books describe.
I wrote:
Tail as Old as Time (4805 words) by hamsterwoman
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Hamster Princess Series - Ursula Vernon
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Harriet Hamsterbone, Mumfrey (Hamster Princess), Original Critter Characters
Additional Tags: Fairy Tale Retellings
Summary:
“Please don’t pick the roses!” said a gentle voice behind her. Only Harriet’s battle-honed reflexes kept her from jumping right into the rosebush thorns. Standing in front of her was an elegant golden-furred mouse with large expressive eyes and a delicate pink tail.
“They are so beautiful, aren’t they?” said the golden mouse. “If they were mine, I would happily let you have some, because the joy they bring should be shared. But you see, they belong to the Beast-”
“The Beast!” Harriet said excitedly, flexing her fingers around the hilt of her sword.
After a couple of years away with the chemistry nonsense, I matched on hamsters again (look, if I'm going to have a Yuletide brand, "hamsters and chemistry nonsense" definitely feels fitting). The recipient prompted for Harriet taking on Beauty and the Beast as the fairy tale, and I think within hours of me getting my assignment, by brainstorming against L, who is my Harriet reading-and-plotting buddy back to the very first Yuletide fic, I had figured out spoilers for the story the Beast was going to be a hedgehog (this is in large part inspired by eglantiere's rescue hedgehog stories, but also I/we wanted something prickly like the roses) and Beauty a spiny mouse, and that the Beast wasn't going to really be cursed, he was just going to be a hedgehog. I think L suggested Harrison the hedgehog's name, and I knew I wanted something other than "Belle" for the Beauty character, so we went through a baby name website until we found something else that meant "Beauty" and would not sound too out of place as the name of a fairy tale mouse.
So, I had a strong idea of what I was going to write right away, and then did nothing with it for like two months, except rereading the "Beauty and the Beast" story and some Harriet canon. I think partly it's that the chemistry nonsense stories had been so much more work -- because I had to make the characters from scratch in one case and almost from scratch in another, and the world from scratch in one case, and there was no pre-set fairy tale plot to riff on -- that it felt like I was almsot done once I was past the brainstorming stage. It actually took quite a bit longer for the story to percolate sufficiently in my brain that I could start writing, but once I'd figured out the place to start, I wrote the story in just a couple of days -- it flowed very smoothly. And my only significant edits ended up being two-fold: 1) shoring up the explanation of how Harrison wouldn't know he wasn't really cursed, which I anticipated I might have to do, I just didn't feel like trying to delve into a sad story in Harriet canon, and 2) (which came as a surprise), discovering that my betas were picking up Harrison/Jamila vibes I definitely did not intend, since I was trying to lay the groundwork for Jamila/Harriet, so I ended up having to go through and make all the Jamila and Harrison interactions more explicitly platonic (when I told L about this, she was like, "aww, mouse friend-zoned XD)
Oh, and it was getting to deadline, and I still hadn't come up with a better title than my G!docs file one of "beauty and the hamster", so I decided to use "Tale as Old as Time" as a placeholder when I posted. L said, "Hee, 'tail' as in T-A-I-L" -- which hadn't even occurred to me, and of course that instantly became the permanent title. It is not super original -- there are 24 things on AO3 with that title, including TWO unrelated Harry/Draco fics and a fanvid about cats -- but I do feel like it's the perfect fit for the story and suits the canon.
The break from Harriet-canon meant that I felt less compelled to match Vernon's prose perfectly, vs matching mood but not necessarily exact vocabulary, but nobody seems to have minded, which is good to know. This was also the least I've written in any Yuletide I actually participated in vs just treated -- the year I wrote a shorter assignment, I also wrote a long treat -- but it was kind of a fraught year, and also I did end up beta-ing a ~20k fic, so I don't feel too bad.
The fic ended the anon period with 36 hits, 11 kudos, 6 comment threads. This was about the same kudos as the last time I wrote Harriet (out of more hits), and more comments, and also more comments and less kudos than the year before that, with similar hits, which I'm not sure what that means.
But I feel like in general it was kind of a low-engagement Yuletide? I was keeping an eye on the stats of the gifts I received, and they seemed to have plateaued very early, at lower numbers than I would have expected... Or maybe I've just been out of step with Yuletide this year -- a number of highly recced, top-of-the-filters stories that I checked out were just not doing anything for me. But clearly I made the right call in the fandoms I requested, since I enjoyed all the fics I read in those fandoms. Also, I have to conclude from my "requesting Worldbuilding" experiment that I should not, in fact, request Worldbuilding -- I really enjoyed both my gift story and the other Terra Ignota worldbuilding story in the collection, BUT what I enjoyed most about them were the narrative voice and character bits. So basically I got lucky, but it would be silly and unfair to count on getting lucky again. So in future I should stick to asking for Terra Ignota in things like fandomtrees, where I can ask for weird niche things in the confidence that nobody ends up having to write for me after matching on a very broad category, and meanwhile be glad that I lucked out this year.
**
I never did get around to reading very much, and a lot of it on my phone, unlogged in, while out and about, and none of the longer fic yet, but these were the other stories I was going to post recs for before running out of anon period (and a few that I came across after):
Chronicles of Prydain: Two Beasts by (gen, Ellidyr AU fix-it fic, 2k). A very long time ago I stumbled on Lloyd Alexander's Prydain books, and unerringly fixated on Ellidyr as my favorite. I haven't thought of him in close to 30 years, but this fic instantly brought me back, reminded me how much I'd wanted him saved, and then delivered, with some beautiful, heartbreaking Ellydir POV and fun dialogue from Eilonwy)
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves: Perception Check (Roll for Romance) by , Edgin/Xenk, M, 6k, with hilarious contributions from Holga and parenting a teenage Kira. I read a bunch of D&D:HAT fics in the collection, but this was my favorite of a fun crop.
The Good Place: The Real Actual Human Life of Michael Realman by (T, 1.7k, Michael gen / F/M) -- perfectly expanding on Michael's ending in the show with just the right kind of humor.
Ocean's Echo: There's a lot of cute fic in the tag, but the one that caught my attention was Guidance Lights and Caffeine Shots by (G, 4.4k, Surit/Tennal, Surit-POV coffee shop AU). Apparently I've been in the mood for coffee shop AUs of sci-fi fandoms, because this was a lot of fun!
The Waste Land: The Cruellest Month by (gen, 1.1k). The subject is March 2020, evoking the mood, so, warnings for that, but -- powerful and haunting, masterfully capturing the mood of the time and matching the feeling of the original poem.
Yes, Minister: Flaming Lies and Explosive Secrets by (gen, 1.3k, addition of fantastical elements) -- really fun, with just the right level of absurdity and masterful bureaucratese.
And I vaguely remembered that multifandomdoodle also ran over this same period, but didn't get the chance to go look until creator reveals. As ever, there's some delightful stuff there, like:
AtLA: The Pandatee gets a visitor in his pond by -- gen, original critter creations, ADORABLE
Good Omens: a gorgeous Crowley portrait by
Star Wars: the star by (gen, B&W line art, Leia as The Star Tarot card)
Original Work:: all G, all critters
- this guinea pig witch art by
- a tiny, furious flame by -- a hummingbird-esque phoenix
- Piggyback Ride by -- rodents <3
*
Snowflake Challenge has begun, and the Day 1 challenge is Update your fandom information.
It looks like the one from 2020 is still pretty valid for my long-term fannish identity, although at this point I'd have to add Taskmaster and sudoku in as well, I guess XD But that doesn't merit a whole separate post.
*
I feel almost embarrassed doing the book meme for 2023, because it was the year of the fewest books BY FAR since I started tracking, but I do like having the record, and I did read some books I liked a lot, so:
1. Vita Nostra, Marina and Sergey Dyachenko (in Russian)
2. Deadly Ever After, Ben Aaronovitch and Andrew Cartmel (RoL GN #10)
3. Some Desperate Glory, Emily Tesh
4. Steven Brust, Dragon (reread)
5. Nghi Vo, Into the Riverlands (Singing Hills #3)
6. Steven Brust, Tsalmoth
7. Naomi Novik, The Golden Enclaves (Scholomance 3)
8. Kelly Link, White Cat, Black Dog
9. Rebecca Fraimow, The Iron Children
10. Ursula Vernon, Whiskerella (Hamster Princess) -- aka Yuletide canon review, and also the first book I actually finished since the end of June...
The first book you read in 2023:
Vita Nostra
The last book you finished in 2023:
Hamsters canon review.
The first book you will finish (or did finish!) in 2023:
Beats me. Last year I hypothesized that this year it might be Beartown or or Adrian Tchaikovsky's City of Last Chances, and I have finished neither of them in the past year at all XD So, let's similarly wild guess The Power Unbound (which I just got as a holiday gift from aome or Allie Brosh's Solutions and Other Problems (which I just bought a copy of while out browsing with frausorge) but at the rate I've been going, maybe it'll actually be Lyorn in April, lol.
How many books read in 2023
10, which is half of last year's already extremely low for me total. And only four were new (non-reread) full-length novels.
Fiction/Non-Fiction ratio?
Zero non-fiction.
Male/Female authors?
6 individual female authors, 3 individual male authors (/books by female/male authors), and 1 book co-authored by a husband-and-wife duo.
5 books with female protagonists, 3 books with male protagonists, 1 book with a nb protagonist, and 1 book that's a collection of short stories with protagonists of both genders.
Most books read by one author this year?
Steven Brust was the only one I read more than one book by, and even that just because one was a reread.
Favorite books read?
This is hard to pick, because I enjoyed most of what I finished a lot. Tsalmoth was a personal favorite for sure, but I also liked The Iron Children a lot, so probably those two. (Honorable mention to Some Desperate Glory, parts of which I liked a LOT, and parts of which bugged me.)
Best books you read in 2023?
The Iron Children, which stuck the landing way better than Some Desperate Glory (which otherwise would also be in contention). Also, Into the Riverlands, maybe? I definitely thought it deserved to win a Hugo in its year.
Least favorite?
I simply did not finish books I did not like this year, so I guess Deadly Ever After? I didn't dislike it, it was just forgettable.
Most disappointing book/Book you wished you loved more than you did?
I was not disappointed by Some Desperate Glory at all -- in fact it was one of my favorite books of the year, and I cared enough about it to discuss it a lot and request it for Yuletide. But there are some flaws that are keeping it from being an AMAZING book, IMO, and I wish those flaws had gotten flagged and fixed during the editing process so I could UNEQUIVOCALLY love it.
Best series you discovered in 2023?
You wouldn't know it from my reading list, but Fonda Lee's Green Bone Saga. I'm ~66% into The Jade City and I'm very impressed, but it wasn't escapist enough for my current frame of mind, so it's gone unfinished. But I am looking forward to finishing this book and continuing with the series, especially given that cafemassolit and tabacoychanel both loved it.
Favorite new author you discovered this year?
LOL, Marina and Sergey Dyachenko were the only new authors I read this year -- so them by default, but I did actually like their writing.
Oldest book read?
Dragon is from 1998, but if rereads don't count, then Vita Nostra (2007).
Newest?
LOL, looks like The Iron Children (April 12) beats Some Desperate Glory (April 11) by one day XD
Longest book title?
White Cat, Black Dog at 4 words, which isn't very long.
Shortest title?
Dragon, followed by Tsalmoth.
How many re-reads?
Two -- Vlad and Harriet.
Any in translation?
No, but one in Russian (Vita Nostra).
How many of this year's books were from the library?
None. I still need to sort out whatever's wrong with my library card, but haven't bothered since I'm not actually reading. The rereads were books I already owned. I bought the GN, The Iron Children, Into the Riverlands, and I think The Golden Enclaves, although I read part of it in giallarhorn's borrowed copy -- so that's 4 bought. I think Some Desperate Glory and the Kelly Link were ARCs K passed down to me -- SDG definitely was. And I think Vita Nostra had come to me as an e-book of, ahem, uncertain provenance, from bearshorty's dad XD
Book that most changed my perspective:
TSALMOTH! Both for the Vlad spoiler and for the Morrolan POV. But The Golden Enclaves also did some cool stuff.
Favorite character:
Of new-to-me characters, Avicenna (Some Deseperate Glory) and Ester (The Iron Children).
Most memorable character:
Avi wins this, but Kyr was also very memorable, and a very impressive take on an unreliable narrator.
Favorite scene:
The one from Tslamoth that made it into my Yuletide request and made me liveblog "I read a Vlad/Morrolan fic like this once..." :D
Favorite quote:
Some Desperate Glory and The Iron Children both had some great quotes.
SDG: "All it would cost her was her war. All it would cost was the memory of the dead, and the service she’d been born for, and the knowledge that out in deep space, clinging to a cold rock orbiting an unfriendly star, the last soldiers of humanity were still refusing to surrender, and Kyr was not among them. [...] Her family was her station. Her family was her cause. Her family was fourteen billion dead, and her mother was a murdered world."
Iron Children: "You kidnapped me. You -- your Holiest Houses, your sisters, your gods.
And Vlad (Tsalmoth) and El (The Golden Enclaves) had some great snark, but I knew to expect that.
Most inspirational in terms of own writing?
Well, I reread Whiskerella specifically for the purposes of writing Harriet fic, so, that.
How many you'd actually read again?
Tsalmoth for sure, and I could see myself rereading Some Desperate Glory, The Iron Children, and maybe Into the Riverlands (because it does some clever things with narrative)
A book that you never want to read again:
Nothing like that this year.
Book you recommended most to others in 2023?
I definitely talked up The Iron Children and Some Desperate Glory, so probably those two.
The book series you read the most volumes of in 2023:
Vlad Taltos, one new, one reread.
The genre you read the most in 2023:
- 4 secondary world fantasy
- 4 urban fantasy
- 1 sci-fi
- 1 kidlit (secondary world fantasy, I guess)
Some other stuff I tallied up:
- 1 was a graphic novel
- 2 were novellas
Your favorite "classic" you read in 2023:
I did not read anything that could be called a classic even at a stretch.
Most surprising (in a good way) book of the year?
Maybe Vita Nostra. I always expect narrative surprises from Vlad and the Singing Hills books, so while I found the reveals of both satisfying, I wasn't surprised they were there. And there were some cool surprises in Some Desperate Glory and The Iron Children, but I've read both authors before, so again was primed for the cool things. And I had cheerfully spoiled myself for all the twists in The Golden Enclaves. But Vita Nostra ended up being in really interesting dialogue with things like Ponedelnik in a way I did not at all expect, so everything about it was surprising.
The hardest book you read in 2023 (topic or writing style):
I kept things like this year, so maybe Vita Nostra, just because I'm not as used to reading grown-up books in Russian anymore.
The funniest book you read in 2023:
Hmm, not sure. Parts of Kelly Link's short story collection were funny, so maybe that? The other books mixed funny and sad more, so it's harder to call them funny. Well, except Hamster Princess, but I actually find some of the other outings quite a bit funnier.
The saddest book you read in 2023:
Nothing was necessarily melancholy, but parts of Some Desperate Glory and The Iron Children were very sad. But maybe Vita Nostra takes it, because, like, there's less of a way out, and/or it felt sad in a particularly plausible way.
The shortest book you read in 2023:
I assume the graphic novel, Deadly Ever After.
The longest book that you read in 2023:
Vita Nostra in Russian is over 500 pages, vs 400-some for The Golden Enclaves.
Best book that was outside your comfort zone/a new genre for you?
I didn't read anything outside my comfort zone, really, so, hm. The steampunky worldbuilding of The Iron Children isn't really my normal thing, so maybe that's the closest?
Most thrilling, unputdownable book of 2023?
The one I finished in 24 hours was Tsalmoth, so.
Most beautifully written book in 2023?
Some Desperate Glory had the most prose that made me sit up and take note.
Book you most anticipated in 2023?
That would be Tsalmoth. I will also say that, having read Some Desperate Glory in ARC, and being very much in the mood to talk to people about it, I very eagerly awaited its release.
Favorite cover of a book you read in 2023?
I'm really liking the Singing Hills Cycle covers, so Into the Riverlands:
Book that had the greatest impact on you this year?
I guess Some Desperate Glory, in that I ended up requesting (and receiving <3) the canon for Yuletide, and also spent a lot of time talking about it with people, in person and online.
Book you can't believe you waited till 2023 to finally read?
The only non-new, non-reread book on the list of what I finished was Vita Nostra, so I guess that.
Book that had a scene that left you reeling and dying to talk to someone about it?
Hehe, there were several, actually. I couldn't WAIT for scytale, who was a day or two behind me, to get to Morrolan's POV in Tsalmoth. And the ending of the first part of Some Desperate Glory was also a "dying to talk about it" scene for me -- it's a hell of a scene all around.
Looking Ahead:
One book you didn't read this year that will be your #1 priority in 2024?
Freya Marske's The Power Unbound.
New book you are most anticipating for 2024?
LYORN! (I could get used to this "new Vlad every year" things :)
And here's the perennial list of shame (I kid! but these are books I've been carrying over for like 5 years or more)
- Thorn of Emberlain
- Warboy (Warchild #4)
- Doors of Stone (Kvothe #3)
- Winds of Winter
*
Fandom meme #1:
1. Your main fandom of the year?
In terms of time spent engaging with it, probably Taskmaster -- I watched the two UK series, Australia, and part of NZ and a rewatch, plus followed the podcasts and Reddit, and watched vids and read fic (yeah, I know XD), and joyfully participated in lunasariel's liveblogging.
I've also continued to spend many hours doing sudoku this year -- in terms of time, sudoku has to take the crown, and I do have sudoku fandom buddies in cyanmnemosyne and her mom :) -- we have a G!chat and everything.
In more conventional definitions of fandom, though, it was Dragaera, thanks to new canon, having some flisters to discuss it with, and my lovely giftfic.
2. Your favorite film watched this year?
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves was great fun!
3. Your favorite book read this year?
See above, but Tsalmoth.
4. Your favorite album or song to listen to this year?
Shaov's "Zero":
Click to view5. Your favorite TV show of the year?
Still very much Taskmaster. But I did also really enjoy s5 of BBC Ghosts (and rewatching the show with L) and my periodic binge of parts of Person of Interest earlier on in the year.
6. Your favorite LJ(/DW) community of the year?
Sticking to LJ/DW, it would have to be snowflake_challenge, but I also have not hung out in any year-round comms.
7. Your best new fandom discovery of the year?
If Yuletide-sized fandoms count, then Some Desperate Glory. Oh, and I guess D&D:HAT, since I did read a bunch of fic even outside of Yuletide.
8. Your biggest fandom disappointment of the year?
I haven't experienced this disappointment for myself, but I've heard more bad things than good about Babylon 5 The Road Home, and I was so hoping it would be amazing. As it is, I haven't gone to the effort of figuring out how to watch it myself, because it'll probably end up disappointing me.
9. Your fandom boyfriend of the year?
Morrolan even more than usual :)
It is very weird to think of actual real people in this category, and certainly this part is not romantic at all, but I think I would genuinely enjoy hanging out with Ivo Graham and Kiell Smith-Bynoe.
And I definitely do not want Avicenna from Some Desperate Glory as my boyfriend, or even my friend, but he would be entertaining to know.
10. Your fandom girlfriend of the year?
Cleo from Some Desperate Glory, Shaw from Person of Interest (I finally got to Shaw properly this year), and Liesel from the Scholomance books.
And, see above about real people, but Sue Perkins was a delight, and I think I'd be genuinely good buds with Danielle Walker of Taskmaster Australia.
11. Your biggest squee moment of the year?
Tsalmoth! followed by the unexpected early Yuletide gift of Dragaera fic.
12. The most missed of your old fandoms?
I missed Taskmaster a lot Ridiculously, Taskmaster once I'd caught up on the backlog and there wasn't a new series airing, so between series 13 and 14 and then once 14 ended XD Except it's not an old fandom, so, hm, I guess World of Five Gods/Penric & Desdemona once I read [personal profile] sholio's write-up of the later books and the comments, and realized that the time had come for me to dive back in and catch up (what an excellent decision that was!).
13. The fandom you haven't tried yet, but want to?
I'm curious to see what, if any, fandom there is for the Green Bone Saga once I actually finish the books, at some point.
14. Your biggest fan anticipations for the New Year?
Lyorn! But also looking forward to the return of Taskmaster UK.
**
Fannish End-of-year Meme #2:
Favorite main character of 2023: You know, this wasn't a year of liking main characters, so much, at least in books. I mean, I liked the returning ones (Vlad Taltos and Harriet Hamsterbone) just fine, but not really the other protagonists. Going beyond books, I guess Edgin in D&D:HAT? He's definitely cheating by being played by Chris Pine, though :P
Favorite villain of 2023: Hm! The things I consumed this year either didn't have villains as such or had less-than-memorable ones. I guess one could make the argument that a deeply morally gray character like Avicenna (Some Desperate Glory) or Orion's mother (The Golden Enclaves) is a villain, but that's reductive. I'm not even sure one could claim that Leru in Some Desperate Glory is a villain, but I do think he's close enough to count, and let's go with him.
Favorite M/F couples of 2023: I was unexpectedly charmed by Vlad/Cawti in Tsalmoth to a degree I definitely wasn't expecting.
My favorite mixed gender relationship of the year was definitely a platonic one: Edgin and Holga in D&D: HAT. I also enjoyed Reese and Shaw being bros in Person of Interest.
Favorite F/F couples of 2023: El/Liesel! I was shipping it before it ended up becoming canon, and the canon didn't ruin it, so, yay, basically. And I am... intrigued by Root/Shaw on POI, but I wouldn't say I ship it -- I like both of the characters individually more than I like them as a couple, basically.
Favorite M/M couples of 2023: Very weirdly, I consumed very little canonical m/m this year. There was Avi/Mags in Some Desperate Glory which was not a ship I could root for, a short story in Kelly Link's book, and besides that, the bit of the Captain backstory in s5 Ghosts, and the teen protagonist's canonical crush in Strange World, none of which really sparked for me. So I'm having to go with the non-canonical answer of Ed/Xenk from D&D:HAT, which turned into the fandom juggernaut for very understandable reasons.
Favorite Crossover couples of 2023: I don't mean this in a shippy way at all, but I would enjoy the opportunity for Avi (Some Desperate Glory) and Ester (The Iron Children) to commiserate on drawing shitty hands in life and what choices that leads to, that kind of thing.
(But Miles Vorkosigan/River Tam forever, still.).
Favorite Polyships of 2023: The canonical El/Liesel/Alfie in The Golden Enclaves was great! (I mean, Orion/El and El/Liesel/Alfie coexisting is fine, too, but I care a lot less about Orion than about all the rest of these).
Favorite Crossover Polyships of 2023: OK, so, not shippy at all, because at least 2/3 of these characters have no interest in shippiness, I'm pretty sure, but when writing my Yuletide letter I was thinking of set-sets from Terra Ignota and of the Dedicates from The Iron Children, and how it would be interesting for them to have a conversation about humanity and whether being something other than human is necessarily a bad thing. Thinking about it some more, I definitely feel like the Dedicates and Murderbot would have some things to discuss -- there's an even better match in terms of having to thwart the system to win one's autonomy. So, Ester and Murderbot and Eureka Weeksbooth, once they figure out some way to talk to each other, having a conversation about that, or just enjoying some of Muderbot's favorite shows companiably.
NOTPs of 2023: I'm interpreting this as canonical pairings that didn't work for me, and I guess that would be the endgame pairing in Free Guy. Meh. Also, did I dream this, or did Reese and Carter actually kiss in one of their final episodes together? because what the hell was that XD
Fandom that you never expected to get into: Still Taskmaster tbqh. But for something new this year, I guess I'm surprised I enjoyed D&D:HAT as much as I did, and felt fannishly about it, because I've never played D&D and that was definitely not the case with the previous D&D movie.
Fandom that made an unexpected comeback: Person of Interest, I guess? I had last engaged with it in early 2020, and then got into it again almost exactly 3 years later, binged a season and change over the course of the month, then fell out of it again.
Last fandom of 2023: I don't know... There hasn't really been a new fandom for me since some time mid-year (D&D:HAT), unless you count that I've started watching the new Percy Jackson adaptation (and have already fallen behind). I guess maybe that? Since I will eventually check out the fandom, if only in the hopes of neat art, given how different a lot of the characters look in this version than either the movies or the books describe.