dear yuletide writer
Salutations, O Yuletide writer! Thank you for offering to write a story in one of my obscure-ish fandoms. Please be reassured that I will be equally happy whichever you choose to write, because I love all these worlds and these characters very, very much.
Some general stuff about my tastes: Explicit sex (slash, het, or femslash) is okay, non-explicit sex is okay, no sex is okay, but any sex should be in believable language for that era or fandom. UST, gen, whatever. It's all good. In general I don't care for PWP - I need at least a little context.
Three of my requests name only a single character, so as to give you, o writer mine, the largest possible choice of what kind of story to write and who to include in it. If you don't like my suggestions, feel free to take things in whatever direction you like and/or include characters I haven't mentioned. If you choose to write a crossover, please make sure (either through checking my fic, tags, or asking my friends) that I know the other source.
I generally prefer plot (as in, things happening; doesn't have to be elaborate or long), past tense, a clear narrative, lots of dialogue, and good spelling and grammar. But write something that hooks me hard, and all other considerations go out the window.
And now, on to the fandoms:
Classical Greece and Rome History & Literature RPF (Mithridates VI of Pontus)
I first learned of Mithridates from Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcast series "Death Throes of the Republic" (about the fall of the Republic and rise of Empire in ancient Rome), and then (on Carlin's recommendation) read Adrienne Mayor's biography of him, The Poison King. I was fascinated by what we know about him, and frustrated by what we don't know; Mayor speculated a lot, and some of those speculations would make interesting stories if they were actually written as stories rather than as pseudo-history ("We can imagine that..." "It's possible that..." etc).
So, I'd like a fictionalized version of any historical anecdote about this fascinating man, or just make something up to fill one of the many lacunae in what we know about him. Tell me about his early experiments in toxicology, or the twisty court intrigues he was part of (did his mother REALLY kill his father?), or his self-imposed exile and triumphant return. Tell me about the meteorite that fell in Phrygia on the eve of battle between Mithridates and Lucullus, right between the opposing armies. Tell me about his daring escape across the high pass in the Caucasus. Tell me about how he faked his own death (well, he could have...or so says Mayor).
Heck, if you want to spin a crossover with Harry Potter (they both had forehead scars from near-death experiences - Mithridates was hit by lightning in infancy) go wild. Or a Mithridates IN SPACE AU.
Gen, please, or non-explicit het involving any of his numerous wives, mistresses, or most especially Hypsicratea, who is a remarkable woman in her own right.
Outcast - Rosemary Sutcliff (Beric)
I would love a post-canon story about the relationship between Beric and Justinius. I ship them, but if you see their relationship in a more paternal/filial light, that's fine; what I'm really after is their emotional found-family connection, whether as lovers or not. (But if you do go the slash route, I would prefer the paternal/filial aspect de-emphasized. When I first the book I didn't actually realize that Justinius was that much older, and was totally shipping them until the bit with Justinius speculating that Beric might be his son, which took me aback. But as later he acknowledges that was only wishful thinking, I have no problem with the idea that he might eventually realize he was just trying to process his feeeeelings for Beric...)
I most definitely ship Beric/Jason, and an AU island idyll or a ghost story (I have written three Sutcliff-fandom ghost stories! I love ghost stories!) would be lovely. I have no problem with a less-than-happy story for this pairing.
Finally, the chapter where Beric goes to Isca Dumnoniorum, it's mentioned that the town is just getting back on its metaphorical feet again after having been destroyed in an uprising that happened a few years before Beric's birth - this can only be the uprising in which Marcus is injured, at the beginning of The Eagle of the Ninth, so Outcast takes place 18-20 years later! A crossover would be nifty - Beric meeting Marcus and Cottia's son or daughter, and optionally falling in love, for example, but really, anything would be great.
Points - Melissa Scott & Lisa A. Barnett (Philip Eslingen and Nicolas Rathe)
What I love about this canon is the amazing worldbuilding, the brothers-in-arms-ness of the main characters, and that it gives me non-romance stories about gay characters. That said, the absence of strong emotional (and, let's face it, physical) content between Eslingen and Rathe makes me crave it desperately.
So, you get a choice: you can write a case-fic drawing on the magical and political elements of this world, in which They Solve Crime and/or Save Each Others Life; or you can write something about their relationship - I'd love your version of their first time, or the awkward moving-in scene from somewhere early in the second book, or the awkward relationship-negotiation scene that must follow the second book, or anything domestic or romantic anywhere in the timeline. Or go whole hog, and write a romantic, magical, political, domestic case-fic!
Any rating is fine, including fade-to-black, as long as there's some clear emotional feeling between Rathe and Eslingen. (I don't mean weepy declarations of love, which would certainly be out of place between these men; I want to FEEL it, that's all.)
Tale of the Five Series - Diane Duane (Sunspark)
The thing that interests me about Sunspark is - this is a nonhuman creature, a fire elemental, that is essentially learning how to be (or how to masterfully fake being) human. I'm fascinated that it's chosen two different human forms, one male and one female. How does it feel being in one vs. the other (and/or compared to its apparent favorite, the stallion)? How does it translate its version of love and mating to the feelings it has for Herewiss - and to their 'sharing' encounters? Heck, how does Herewiss think of Sunspark in its male form vs its female? Why does it agree to marry in to the rather bizarre multi-marriage at the end of the last-for-now book? How does it feel towards Freelorn then - has Freelorn 'mastered' Sunspark enough to be its loved?
I admit to imagining that after the long wedding - 'they danced the dawn in, as tradition requires' - and after Freelorn plants his tree - Segnbora and Hasai sleep together outside somewhere, Eftgan and Wyn go back to their own room, and Sunspark, Herewiss, and Freelorn sleep together...so what happens when they wake up in the same bed?
If you want to write something porny, feel free to write Sunspark with Herewiss, Freelorn, both of them, someone else; as male or female or, you know, something else. (But maybe not the stallion. Unless he's doing another horse.) If you want to write a character study, I'd love to learn a little about Sunspark's homeworld or its travels through the various Doors.
Have fun! Write something you enjoy writing, and I will enjoy reading it!
Also posted on Dreamwidth where there are
comments.
Some general stuff about my tastes: Explicit sex (slash, het, or femslash) is okay, non-explicit sex is okay, no sex is okay, but any sex should be in believable language for that era or fandom. UST, gen, whatever. It's all good. In general I don't care for PWP - I need at least a little context.
Three of my requests name only a single character, so as to give you, o writer mine, the largest possible choice of what kind of story to write and who to include in it. If you don't like my suggestions, feel free to take things in whatever direction you like and/or include characters I haven't mentioned. If you choose to write a crossover, please make sure (either through checking my fic, tags, or asking my friends) that I know the other source.
I generally prefer plot (as in, things happening; doesn't have to be elaborate or long), past tense, a clear narrative, lots of dialogue, and good spelling and grammar. But write something that hooks me hard, and all other considerations go out the window.
And now, on to the fandoms:
Classical Greece and Rome History & Literature RPF (Mithridates VI of Pontus)
I first learned of Mithridates from Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcast series "Death Throes of the Republic" (about the fall of the Republic and rise of Empire in ancient Rome), and then (on Carlin's recommendation) read Adrienne Mayor's biography of him, The Poison King. I was fascinated by what we know about him, and frustrated by what we don't know; Mayor speculated a lot, and some of those speculations would make interesting stories if they were actually written as stories rather than as pseudo-history ("We can imagine that..." "It's possible that..." etc).
So, I'd like a fictionalized version of any historical anecdote about this fascinating man, or just make something up to fill one of the many lacunae in what we know about him. Tell me about his early experiments in toxicology, or the twisty court intrigues he was part of (did his mother REALLY kill his father?), or his self-imposed exile and triumphant return. Tell me about the meteorite that fell in Phrygia on the eve of battle between Mithridates and Lucullus, right between the opposing armies. Tell me about his daring escape across the high pass in the Caucasus. Tell me about how he faked his own death (well, he could have...or so says Mayor).
Heck, if you want to spin a crossover with Harry Potter (they both had forehead scars from near-death experiences - Mithridates was hit by lightning in infancy) go wild. Or a Mithridates IN SPACE AU.
Gen, please, or non-explicit het involving any of his numerous wives, mistresses, or most especially Hypsicratea, who is a remarkable woman in her own right.
Outcast - Rosemary Sutcliff (Beric)
I would love a post-canon story about the relationship between Beric and Justinius. I ship them, but if you see their relationship in a more paternal/filial light, that's fine; what I'm really after is their emotional found-family connection, whether as lovers or not. (But if you do go the slash route, I would prefer the paternal/filial aspect de-emphasized. When I first the book I didn't actually realize that Justinius was that much older, and was totally shipping them until the bit with Justinius speculating that Beric might be his son, which took me aback. But as later he acknowledges that was only wishful thinking, I have no problem with the idea that he might eventually realize he was just trying to process his feeeeelings for Beric...)
I most definitely ship Beric/Jason, and an AU island idyll or a ghost story (I have written three Sutcliff-fandom ghost stories! I love ghost stories!) would be lovely. I have no problem with a less-than-happy story for this pairing.
Finally, the chapter where Beric goes to Isca Dumnoniorum, it's mentioned that the town is just getting back on its metaphorical feet again after having been destroyed in an uprising that happened a few years before Beric's birth - this can only be the uprising in which Marcus is injured, at the beginning of The Eagle of the Ninth, so Outcast takes place 18-20 years later! A crossover would be nifty - Beric meeting Marcus and Cottia's son or daughter, and optionally falling in love, for example, but really, anything would be great.
Points - Melissa Scott & Lisa A. Barnett (Philip Eslingen and Nicolas Rathe)
What I love about this canon is the amazing worldbuilding, the brothers-in-arms-ness of the main characters, and that it gives me non-romance stories about gay characters. That said, the absence of strong emotional (and, let's face it, physical) content between Eslingen and Rathe makes me crave it desperately.
So, you get a choice: you can write a case-fic drawing on the magical and political elements of this world, in which They Solve Crime and/or Save Each Others Life; or you can write something about their relationship - I'd love your version of their first time, or the awkward moving-in scene from somewhere early in the second book, or the awkward relationship-negotiation scene that must follow the second book, or anything domestic or romantic anywhere in the timeline. Or go whole hog, and write a romantic, magical, political, domestic case-fic!
Any rating is fine, including fade-to-black, as long as there's some clear emotional feeling between Rathe and Eslingen. (I don't mean weepy declarations of love, which would certainly be out of place between these men; I want to FEEL it, that's all.)
Tale of the Five Series - Diane Duane (Sunspark)
The thing that interests me about Sunspark is - this is a nonhuman creature, a fire elemental, that is essentially learning how to be (or how to masterfully fake being) human. I'm fascinated that it's chosen two different human forms, one male and one female. How does it feel being in one vs. the other (and/or compared to its apparent favorite, the stallion)? How does it translate its version of love and mating to the feelings it has for Herewiss - and to their 'sharing' encounters? Heck, how does Herewiss think of Sunspark in its male form vs its female? Why does it agree to marry in to the rather bizarre multi-marriage at the end of the last-for-now book? How does it feel towards Freelorn then - has Freelorn 'mastered' Sunspark enough to be its loved?
I admit to imagining that after the long wedding - 'they danced the dawn in, as tradition requires' - and after Freelorn plants his tree - Segnbora and Hasai sleep together outside somewhere, Eftgan and Wyn go back to their own room, and Sunspark, Herewiss, and Freelorn sleep together...so what happens when they wake up in the same bed?
If you want to write something porny, feel free to write Sunspark with Herewiss, Freelorn, both of them, someone else; as male or female or, you know, something else. (But maybe not the stallion. Unless he's doing another horse.) If you want to write a character study, I'd love to learn a little about Sunspark's homeworld or its travels through the various Doors.
Have fun! Write something you enjoy writing, and I will enjoy reading it!
Also posted on Dreamwidth where there are
comments.