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Hi, person writing me a Yuletide gift! Thank you in advance! I am already delighted. I'm going to put a little bit of additional information here in case you find that helpful, but I promise I am overall very easily pleased and every time I open a story that's for me I clap my hands together like a happy toddler. I mostly write these because I always want to know about my recipient, to be honest. Maybe you do too. Either way, I hope you have a fantastic time.
About me generally
I love enthusiasm and geeking out; the single best thing anyone can do in their story, if you ask me, is have it be about something the author knows a lot about, or set in a world the author knows a lot about. Most importantly, that the author CARES about. That can be silly and played for laughs, or it can be sad and meaningful: either is great! Both is even better. I looooooove stuff that manages to have both jokes and depth of feeling. That said, if you have a sad option or a funny option, I am likely to pick the funny option.
I love queerness and I am delighted by anything that delights in queerness. That should probably not be a surprise, given what I've requested, but seems worth saying! Bring it on with the queer themes!
I should be clear that queer themes doesn't have to mean explicit, at all, though. One of these fandoms does sort of lend itself to a specific porn response, but I am honestly more interested in most other aspects of a character's life (their feelings, the world they live in, the communities they build, the adventures they have) than what specifically gets them off. Sex in a story isn't going to bother me but I do prefer when it's there because it says something more than just about the sex.
I prefer my fiction to have some sort of hope or joy to it, rather than going down the 'grimdark' route. I think my selection of fandoms says that; these are sources where bad things do happen – sometimes very bad! - but their badness isn't the only point. There's love and hope and people trying to do better, too. That's very much where I'm at right now.
The other things I should mention are that I don't like detailed medical horror, and I would rather you not be too horrible to children or animals. (Canon events not included.) Hopefully that isn't too restrictive for you!
Requests:
Remember You Will Die - Eden Robins
This was one of the best books I read this year, and I still don't think I understand it. I would love to get more on Peregrine and/or the world this book posits. I love the epistolary style but it means we are building up our understanding of Peregrine and the world in flashes, in little bits that we have to put together ourselves. What other glimpses could we get? What happens in those cracks, or after the book ends? Or if you want to go a more pure worldbuilding route... what else is different, in this world? I would love a history class from this alternative world, or a better sense of what impact some of the changes we do know about have had on everyday life.
This is such an odd brilliant book! If you matched with this, amazing, hi, probably we read a bunch of the same SF. I found myself absolutely compelled by this book, but especially the worldbuilding and Peregrine. Peregrine and grief are both central to the story in ways that are also sort of hard to get a hold on, I thought, even as more of the overall picture came into view. I'd love to read something about Peregrine that maybe makes it clearer, or changes the focus.
I also just found myself pondering alt-history 'what if?' questions a lot. I loved the way the characters don't know they're in an alt history, there isn't a wink to the audience, it's just showing a way things could, maybe, have been different. If the Anne Frank story is different, then who else lived a different life than the one we know about, what else is changed? Maybe stuff that is so obvious to the people concerned they didn't mention it in their sources? If you have ideas about that, I want to hear them!
The Trials of Gabriel Ward - Sally Smith
I love Gabriel and his very specific world a lot! I love his slightly weird relationship with Wright, I love how he looked out for Meg in a protective paternal kind of way, I love how he got adopted by Delphinium. I would be delighted to hear more about any of them.
I am not a lawyer but I do have a nerdy appreciation for lawyers, so if we matched on this because you have Opinions about appeals processes and land registration, or whatever, I am here for it! Maybe Gabriel could solve a much lower stakes mystery using his skills? Maybe you just want to write about one of his cases that doesn't happen to link up in a very thematically and plot satisfying way with a murder?
If you are more into the relationships, then I included my favourites in the characters when I put this forward for the tag set: his cat, his sort-of daughter, and his cop buddy. I would be very happy to hear about any of them. I don't really ship Gabriel at all, and I don't think he is looking for sex? But I do sort of think that Wright is maybe the closest he's getting to a partner, and that that's actually very lovely and meaningful in Gabriel's life. If you wanted to write about that and what that looks like, I'd be delighted. I would also be very happy to know what Gabriel's world looks like for Meg or Delphinium: what do they think about Gabriel, beyond clearly being fond of him?
Cyclist Friend Explains Necessity Of $35 Socks - The Onion
I found this absolutely hilarious! I want these people to be happy! I want to know what on earth possessed the journalist to respond to this situation by writing an article about it – I would 100% be into a story about how this article even got published in the world where the Onion is not a satire, or what the newsroom made of it afterwards, although I was originally thinking about a story explaining how these absolute numpties make it work in the end and I would love that too. My specific DNW here is I'd rather the story not be JUST a sex scene. I do assume there'll be some sex content (given the source, I'd be weird if I didn't), but just PWP tends to bore me.
So this is a deeply brilliant Onion article, hahaha. If you didn't match on this but want another quick option, you can read it in just few minutes here. It's worth reading to the end.
...you see? Genius. I just laughed and laughed, but I also thought, there's a story here! How did they end up at that hotel, exactly? Just how long has this been going on that writing that story is a reasonable thing to do? Do they end up as a happy trio? (Please tell me they do!) How does that go down with the newsroom? I want to know!
All of Us Murderers - K.J. Charles
Okay, so this was my favourite KJC in a while, and I want to know about JESSAMINE. What was going on for her, really? What did she think was going to happen? We get a pretty clear idea of what happened to her on one level, but on another it leaves open a whole load more questions I want the answer to! Did she, in fact, burn the house down? (I think she almost certainly did, but the acetylene blowing up could have happened to anyone, I'm sure.) Where does she end up? Does she get any sort of comeuppance, or was the stuff that already happened Punishment Enough?
So Jessamine is absolutely not a good person, but she's kind of... interesting, right? There's an argument she was in a bad position? Which okay, does not actually make her actions okay, but if she DID, say, blow up the house, I am not necessarily against it. I happen to work in fire safety in my day job, so I am here for arguing that keeping a whole load of acetylene around is asking for trouble. She doesn't seem to have personal animus against the people she does bad things to. That said, I am also here for just enjoying someone being a fairly badass villain who fully blows everything up and escapes with a load of cash and doesn't look back, tbh. She was stuck in a house with a horrible dude who deserved everything he got in the best Gothic fashion! How do you see her?
We also know from the epilogue about what happens over quite a long period of time to everyone else... except Jessamine. I would love to know where she ends up. Does she maybe read some of Zeb's books, one day? What does she actually want for herself, and what does she do once she's actually in a position to get it? What do the next forty years look like for her?
About me generally
I love enthusiasm and geeking out; the single best thing anyone can do in their story, if you ask me, is have it be about something the author knows a lot about, or set in a world the author knows a lot about. Most importantly, that the author CARES about. That can be silly and played for laughs, or it can be sad and meaningful: either is great! Both is even better. I looooooove stuff that manages to have both jokes and depth of feeling. That said, if you have a sad option or a funny option, I am likely to pick the funny option.
I love queerness and I am delighted by anything that delights in queerness. That should probably not be a surprise, given what I've requested, but seems worth saying! Bring it on with the queer themes!
I should be clear that queer themes doesn't have to mean explicit, at all, though. One of these fandoms does sort of lend itself to a specific porn response, but I am honestly more interested in most other aspects of a character's life (their feelings, the world they live in, the communities they build, the adventures they have) than what specifically gets them off. Sex in a story isn't going to bother me but I do prefer when it's there because it says something more than just about the sex.
I prefer my fiction to have some sort of hope or joy to it, rather than going down the 'grimdark' route. I think my selection of fandoms says that; these are sources where bad things do happen – sometimes very bad! - but their badness isn't the only point. There's love and hope and people trying to do better, too. That's very much where I'm at right now.
The other things I should mention are that I don't like detailed medical horror, and I would rather you not be too horrible to children or animals. (Canon events not included.) Hopefully that isn't too restrictive for you!
Requests:
Remember You Will Die - Eden Robins
This was one of the best books I read this year, and I still don't think I understand it. I would love to get more on Peregrine and/or the world this book posits. I love the epistolary style but it means we are building up our understanding of Peregrine and the world in flashes, in little bits that we have to put together ourselves. What other glimpses could we get? What happens in those cracks, or after the book ends? Or if you want to go a more pure worldbuilding route... what else is different, in this world? I would love a history class from this alternative world, or a better sense of what impact some of the changes we do know about have had on everyday life.
This is such an odd brilliant book! If you matched with this, amazing, hi, probably we read a bunch of the same SF. I found myself absolutely compelled by this book, but especially the worldbuilding and Peregrine. Peregrine and grief are both central to the story in ways that are also sort of hard to get a hold on, I thought, even as more of the overall picture came into view. I'd love to read something about Peregrine that maybe makes it clearer, or changes the focus.
I also just found myself pondering alt-history 'what if?' questions a lot. I loved the way the characters don't know they're in an alt history, there isn't a wink to the audience, it's just showing a way things could, maybe, have been different. If the Anne Frank story is different, then who else lived a different life than the one we know about, what else is changed? Maybe stuff that is so obvious to the people concerned they didn't mention it in their sources? If you have ideas about that, I want to hear them!
The Trials of Gabriel Ward - Sally Smith
I love Gabriel and his very specific world a lot! I love his slightly weird relationship with Wright, I love how he looked out for Meg in a protective paternal kind of way, I love how he got adopted by Delphinium. I would be delighted to hear more about any of them.
I am not a lawyer but I do have a nerdy appreciation for lawyers, so if we matched on this because you have Opinions about appeals processes and land registration, or whatever, I am here for it! Maybe Gabriel could solve a much lower stakes mystery using his skills? Maybe you just want to write about one of his cases that doesn't happen to link up in a very thematically and plot satisfying way with a murder?
If you are more into the relationships, then I included my favourites in the characters when I put this forward for the tag set: his cat, his sort-of daughter, and his cop buddy. I would be very happy to hear about any of them. I don't really ship Gabriel at all, and I don't think he is looking for sex? But I do sort of think that Wright is maybe the closest he's getting to a partner, and that that's actually very lovely and meaningful in Gabriel's life. If you wanted to write about that and what that looks like, I'd be delighted. I would also be very happy to know what Gabriel's world looks like for Meg or Delphinium: what do they think about Gabriel, beyond clearly being fond of him?
Cyclist Friend Explains Necessity Of $35 Socks - The Onion
I found this absolutely hilarious! I want these people to be happy! I want to know what on earth possessed the journalist to respond to this situation by writing an article about it – I would 100% be into a story about how this article even got published in the world where the Onion is not a satire, or what the newsroom made of it afterwards, although I was originally thinking about a story explaining how these absolute numpties make it work in the end and I would love that too. My specific DNW here is I'd rather the story not be JUST a sex scene. I do assume there'll be some sex content (given the source, I'd be weird if I didn't), but just PWP tends to bore me.
So this is a deeply brilliant Onion article, hahaha. If you didn't match on this but want another quick option, you can read it in just few minutes here. It's worth reading to the end.
...you see? Genius. I just laughed and laughed, but I also thought, there's a story here! How did they end up at that hotel, exactly? Just how long has this been going on that writing that story is a reasonable thing to do? Do they end up as a happy trio? (Please tell me they do!) How does that go down with the newsroom? I want to know!
All of Us Murderers - K.J. Charles
Okay, so this was my favourite KJC in a while, and I want to know about JESSAMINE. What was going on for her, really? What did she think was going to happen? We get a pretty clear idea of what happened to her on one level, but on another it leaves open a whole load more questions I want the answer to! Did she, in fact, burn the house down? (I think she almost certainly did, but the acetylene blowing up could have happened to anyone, I'm sure.) Where does she end up? Does she get any sort of comeuppance, or was the stuff that already happened Punishment Enough?
So Jessamine is absolutely not a good person, but she's kind of... interesting, right? There's an argument she was in a bad position? Which okay, does not actually make her actions okay, but if she DID, say, blow up the house, I am not necessarily against it. I happen to work in fire safety in my day job, so I am here for arguing that keeping a whole load of acetylene around is asking for trouble. She doesn't seem to have personal animus against the people she does bad things to. That said, I am also here for just enjoying someone being a fairly badass villain who fully blows everything up and escapes with a load of cash and doesn't look back, tbh. She was stuck in a house with a horrible dude who deserved everything he got in the best Gothic fashion! How do you see her?
We also know from the epilogue about what happens over quite a long period of time to everyone else... except Jessamine. I would love to know where she ends up. Does she maybe read some of Zeb's books, one day? What does she actually want for herself, and what does she do once she's actually in a position to get it? What do the next forty years look like for her?
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