abluestocking

The time is here!

I had a lovely Yuletide, and I hope everyone else did too. <3 I received three lovely gifts, sencha's Prince Charming Gets Married (The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom - Christopher Healy) and Untherius's In Which a Hunting Trip Becomes More and Which Tells of a Quest for Biscuits (both Howl's Moving Castle). I've said more about all three of my gifts here, but let me take this chance to again say thank you to both of my authors. <333

But Yuletide is for giving as well as receiving!

( Follow me for the reveal )

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And that, gentlefolk, was my Yuletide reveal!

This was my second Yuletide, and I had a wonderful time again. I loved how it was a completely different experience this time around, in new and interesting ways. I'm already looking forward to seeing how my third year will try to top it.

And now it's 2013! Happy New Year, one and all. <333

Hello, lovely Yuletide author-to-be! I am beyond excited that we have been matched. You are already most awesome for signing up to Yuletide and for offering at least one of my fandoms. Everything above that is gravy. I will adore you and whatever you write, don’t worry. <333

As you will have seen, I already wrote a bit about each of my requests on the signup form. I’ll include those bits in the letter again for easy reference, but this will mostly be a letter about my fandoms and my characters and why/how much I love them. :D Yuletide inspires a lot of squee in me.

Before I get to the fandoms, here are some general notes: I love all kinds of fic – gen, slash, het, femslash, three(+)somes. Whichever way your muse takes you is fine (although I'd love it if the story had some plot as well as porn, if you go in that direction). <3

Things I love: established relationships, first times, unreliable narrators, fics that don’t just pass but thoroughly pass the Bechdel test, awkwardness, characters in love who have difficulty making the first move (particularly if the one they pine for is already in love with them and having similar troubles), teasing, snark, kissing, thorough kissing, characters with plans, characters with plans that go wrong, worldbuilding, magic, working through problems, fingering, pegging, domesticity, happy endings.

Things I’d rather not see: character-bashing, scat, torture, bestiality, under-age sex, incest, non-con.

Last note: I adore each and every one of these four fandoms. I had to agonize buckets before deciding which fandoms to choose, so these are the last four standing and dearly beloved. If it seems like I squee more over one or two of them than others, this is unintentional. Pick whichever one you want and I will love you forever no matter which one it is. <333

Onwards!

( Fandoms and requests )

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~//~

final thoughts

As I said at the beginning, dear Yuletide author, I love each and every one of these fandoms to death. You cannot make me sad by choosing "the wrong one". There is no wrong one. <333

Oh, I should probably apologize at this point for writing you a freaking novel. xD Sorry about that. I am like that. I am never able to be concise. :D

If you have any questions about me/my likes/etc, ask kainosite. She'll probably know the answer. ;)

Oh, if you're the type of person to read samples of your recipient's fic (like I am), here are three of my Yuletide fics from last year (the first two are short):
A Novel Solution (Sense and Sensibility)
Springtime in Ihistan (Damar Series)
Wicked Wiles (Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms)

Thank you again so much in advance for writing for me. I will be thrilled to bits by your story, I know it. Thank you for making my Christmas a special one, and happy Yuletide! <3333333

I've done a small friends cut, mostly of dead journals or those where there's been no contact between us for some time.

If you've been cut, this won't affect your ability to read my fic (which is always public).

If you still want to be added back to read my real-life updates, let me know and I'll consider it.

Archiving another Yuletide story, this one written for loathlylady.

Fandom: Fairy Tales, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Title: Wicked Wiles
Ship(s): Snow White/Prince Charming, Grumpy/Snow White
Word Count: 6,929
Rating: G
Summary: Grumpy visits Snow White, eight years after Snow left the forest. All may not be as it seems.
Disclaimer: This is a creative work of fiction, inspired by the world of Disney's Snow White. I do not own that world, and I am making no money from this work.

( Wicked Wiles )

~//~

This entry was originally posted at http://abluestocking.dreamwidth.org/39480.html. You can comment there if you like, or here. Either is fine. :)

My Christmas and Boxing Day have been thoroughly lovely. What with the Tube strike and the chaos in Central London today, I elected to stay home and loll decadently around in my pyjamas. Last night I watched the Doctor Who and Downton Abbey Christmas specials, of course, and today I read, played the piano, ate some ice cream, texted with my sister, wrote two more Yuletide treats, and dipped my toes further into the lovely epicness that is this year's Yuletide collection.

So all in all I have had a fabulous extended Christmas weekend!

~*~

My newest Yuletide recs (again, READ MY GIFTS, which are linked in one of yesterday's posts, or under my username on AO3):

Please, please, please... (1721 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: John Lewis Christmas Adverts
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Summary: Lewis knows exactly what he wants for Christmas.

Read this if you've seen the advert and want to spend the next five minutes grinning up a storm. If you haven't seen the advert, go watch it on Youtube and then come back and read this. A lovely little ficlet in every way. <333

Christmas in the Cupboard (3444 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: QI RPF
Rating: Mature
Warning: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Jimmy Carr/David Mitchell, Stephen Fry/Hugh Laurie
Characters: Jimmy Carr, David Mitchell, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie
Summary: David Mitchell absolutely hates Christmas parties. Will this one change his mind?

This is hilarious and awesome and smutty. If you are a fan of any of these comedians, definitely check this out. (Even if you aren't, and don't know any of them from Adam - although how could you not know Fry and Laurie?! - you won't regret giving this a try.)

The Tough Guide to Yuletide (3820 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Tough Guide to Fantasyland - Diana Wynne Jones
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Summary: What it says on the tin.

Hee. This one rings very true. It's doubly funny if you've read Tough Guide to Fantasyland, but it would still be wonderfully hilarious even if you hadn't.

Go and Catch a Falling Star (7085 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Lord Peter Wimsey - Dorothy L. Sayers, Doctor Who
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Harriet Vane/Peter Wimsey, Amy Pond/Rory Williams
Characters: Peter Wimsey, Harriet Vane, Mervyn Bunter, Amy Pond, Rory Williams, The Doctor
Summary: "No," Harriet Vane said, having given it some thought. "I don't suppose I do believe in spontaneous human combustion."

This one is AMAZING. It's Lord Peter Wimsey crossed with Doctor Who, how could it not be?! And it fully translates its epic premise into a wonderful, funny, interesting, plotty fic. Definitely well worth a read!

~*~

Finally, I wish we could have kept Yuletide Madness open longer! I was really enjoying celebrating my release from writer's block by turning out treats in new fandoms. Ah well, I suppose there's NYR. I do want to write two more fics, because that will bring me up to an even 100! I want to see those triple figures. :)

Final stats for my Yuletide output were 10 fics, 4 in the main collection and 6 in Madness. Both of my "main" fics (my assigned fic and my plotbunny-that-ate-my-brain fic) were so completely different than anything I'd written before...it's been such an amazing experience. I've enjoyed myself so completely.

And if you didn't already gather this from my previous posts, OMG MY GIFTS. Has any person ever been so blessed as I? Not one masterpiece that pulled my very dreams from my brain, but TWO.

READ THEM NOW. And leave comments that adequately express their awesomeness, because I have already ran around squeeing all over the comments sections, and I'm afraid if I do it again I may come off as slightly deranged. :)

Oh, why don't I provide the links again, just so it's easier for you to enjoy them? (I know I already linked them yesterday, shhh.)

Role Model (3104 words) by Anonymous (Lord Peter Wimsey - Dorothy Sayers)

The Rose and Crown (7331 words) by Anonymous (TTOI/Lolitics)

~*~

All right, that's enough for now! I hope everyone's Christmas and Boxing Day have been as wonderful as mine. <33

This entry was originally posted at http://abluestocking.dreamwidth.org/36065.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Oh goodness, there are no words for how amazing my two Yuletide stories are. You have no idea how widely I am grinning right now. I can't get the smile off my face, and I don't want to.

The two fics that were written for me are just so amazing, and so brilliant, and so perfect. I had told myself sternly not to raise my hopes too high, but I needn't have bothered, because these fics soar so much higher than I ever could have imagined!

That sounds over-dramatic, I know. But consider this - two of the fandoms I requested are NOTORIOUSLY difficult to write, and of course some of the characters I wanted were the trickiest ones. I know I quail at the very thought of trying to capture Lord Peter and Malcolm Tucker's voices! They are so instantly recognisable, and so iconic, and so bloody difficult to get right. But my two stories took those challenges, and they succeeded so beautifully and wonderfully.

AGH I TOLD YOU THERE WERE NO WORDS. At least no coherent ones. I think I may not be coherent until Boxing Day.

BUT READ MY STORIES. I guarantee you that you will NOT be disappointed.

Stories:
(Note: Authors, these are NOT the only comments you will get from me, do NOT worry. I am known for leaving rather ridiculously long comments, so you must give me time to compose myself and write you proper odes to your genius. But this will happen soon, I promise! In the meantime, I wanted to immediately rec these to all and sundry, because they are THAT WONDERFUL.)

~*~

Role Model (Lord Peter Wimsey - Dorothy Sayers) - "Viscount Saint-George never meant to make a role model out of his uncle, but somehow Peter wormed himself into Saint-George's conscience."

My notes: I've always loved Saint-George. Gaudy Night may just be my favourite book of all time, and Saint-George is so wonderful in that. This is the Saint-George story I have always wanted - somehow my author wrote it with absolute perfection.

And my author captures their voices so well! Saint-George's narrative voice, Lord Peter, Harriet - I swear I could believe it was Sayers. I don't know how my author did it, I just don't - I bow in admiration.

And oh, it's beautiful, and it's funny, and it's deep, and I've read it three times already and loved it more each time, even though I wasn't sure that'd be possible. This is my head-canon now, in an immediate and unshakeable way. Do read this. You won't regret it, I swear.

~*~

The Rose And Crown (crossover between The Thick of It and UK Political RPF) - "Every year on December 9th, Malcolm Tucker goes for a drink with his alternate universe counterparts."

My notes: In my request, I mentioned that it might be interesting to see Malcolm Tucker interact with Alastair Campbell and Peter Mandelson. My author ran with that and gave me over seven thousand words of TTOI/Lolitics RPF. Over seven thousand words of Malcolm Tucker POV, all perfectly pitched and perfectly Malcolm, to the point where I was laughing with joy the entire first time I read it, because I could hear his voice in my head and it was just perfect, so so perfect.

And beyond the joy that is a well-written Malcolm - and I seriously cannot even begin to comprehend the amount of work this tour de force must have taken - this fic is perhaps the best crossover I've ever read. It combines a deep and thoughtful understanding of both fandoms with an unerring accuracy of characterisation and tone, and delivers a beautiful analysis of political life in both fandoms, as seen through the gaze of the characters involved.

I couldn't even have begun to imagine this much awesomeness from that one little seed of an idea in my request. It's simply beyond words. If you love either TTOI or UK politics, you have to read it, no excuses. I've read it three times and I want to read it again now.

~*~

This was my first Christmas away from home - on an entirely different continent, no less - and oh, Yuletide authors, you have made it such a lovely one. I was feeling lonely this morning, but you have cheered me up and brightened my Christmas to such an extent that I can't even explain. Thank you so, so, so much for all your hard work and for your wonderful fic and for writing for me. I am honoured and blown away and completely incoherent at this point. You have my everlasting love and gratitude. <3

*goes off to read her stories again*

~*~

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!

Hello all!

Livejournal's latest cock-up has meant that I'm going to make my Dreamwidth account more than a place-holder. I'll still keep my Livejournal account, and I have cross-posting set up, but depending on how things go, Dreamwidth may become my new hub.

I'm NOT going to post all of my old fic in back-dated entries, as the amount of work that would take seems truly staggering (ETA: Thanks to kainosite, I have discovered the importer tool, so my LJ entries should be imported soon.) But all of my fic can be found at my AO3 account.

If we're friends on LJ and you'd like to be friends on Dreamwidth as well, comment and let me know! I look forward to rebuilding a community on here, if that's what has to be done.

Oh, LJ, why so stupid...

This entry was originally posted at http://abluestocking.dreamwidth.org/388.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

My weekend looks like it will be mostly spent with my nose in the various volumes of Terry Pratchett's Watch series. I'm on the second one and there are (counts) five more to go.

So this is my weekend:



I blame kainosite for this. kainosite recommended the Watch series, and I - who had previously read only three Pratchett books and kept putting off diving into the entire oeuvre - foolishly and wisely followed kainosite's advice. All hail kainosite.

Back to the Watch's attempts to figure out the Gonne.

Fandom: UK Politics
Title: Liminality
Ship(s): Tony Blair/Alastair Campbell
Word Count: 3,184
Rating: PG
Summary: In the wake of the 1994 Labour leadership election, Alastair Campbell is faced with a choice. For my 50-fic party at the meme.
Note: The timing and sequence of the events in this fic - and many of the details - are drawn from Alastair Campbell's The Blair Years. I therefore acknowledge its influence, but also declare that this story is fictional and makes no claim to truth.
Disclaimer: This is a creative work of fiction, composed of fictional characters inspired by the public personas of living people. No injury or disrespect is intended to the persons named. If you've found this by googling yourself or someone you know, stop playing on the Internet and go run the country.

( Liminality )

~//~

Title: At the End of All Our Exploring
Characters: River Song, the Eleventh Doctor
Ship(s): River/Eleven
Word Count: 2,807
Rating: R, for sexual themes and situations
Summary: The Ponds weren't the first to meet the Doctor at that desert rendezvous. A bright red TARDIS, and a missing bowtie; swirls and caresses and the laying of claims; bittersweet and sensual, under wide open vistas.
Disclaimer: Doctor Who belongs to its creators, not to me. I merely play in their worlds. No profit is being made here, and no infringement is intended.

SPOILERS: Through A Good Man Goes to War.

( At the End of All Our Exploring )