yuletide | 2021 Yuletide Promo Post

Welcome to the Fandom Promo post, everyone!

Here's where you get those eyes on your fandoms for sign ups!

Share what makes your Yuletide fandoms the shiniest and why you love them. A big part of Yuletide is how small our fandoms can be, and this is a good way to make sure other people know what gems there are out there!

Suggested form to use:

FANDOM NAME:
WHAT MAKES IT GREAT:
WHERE CAN I FIND IT (optional):

(Bonus optional: What are you thinking of requesting for this?)

EDIT:

Useful tips (Not required, but helps people if they want to engage with your fandom!):

- Mention what form of media the canon is. Is it a comic miniseries? Is it a twenty season tv show? Is it a book? Is it a twitter feed?
- Is it standalone or part of a series?
- It's best to make each fandom its own entry with its own title in the subject line! That makes it easier for people to find/see what you're promoting! Don't worry about 'spam', that is the entire point of this entry and you're using it exactly as intended.

For reference, last year's promo post!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

UTOPIA AVENUE is the most recent novel by David Mitchell, who is possibly most well known as the author of Cloud Atlas and The Bone Clocks and as a joint screenwriter for season 2 of Sense8 and the upcoming Matrix Resurrections. Genre-wise, Mitchell’s books are continuously hard to pin down. His latest subject would seem to explore a more realistic literary plot than his most famous works, but if you have taken a few trips on Mitchell's metaphysical detours you might know to kind of expect the unexpected, and I’m happy to leave it at that.

WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: The title refers to a fictional, sort of bittersweetly idealized rock band formed in the Soho music scene in 1967. The more prominent characters are “Elf” Holloway, the sensitive yet strong-willed keyboardist/guitarist formerly from a folk duo; Jasper de Zoet, the neurodivergent lead guitarist whose still waters run deep indeed; and Dean Moss, the immature bassist who occasionally proves to have a fierce heart of gold. “Griff,” the reliable drummer with a jazz background, is a little underserved (as so many drummers are?), but an affable grump worth exploring more. There’s lots to love for fans of old music and 60s culture, including some fictionalized cameos of real figures in the music scene and a believable grasp of the gigging and crashing grind of trying to make a record deal without being exploited, but I think the story is probably the most effective as a series of both mundane and life-shaking turning points in the lives of four friends who become like family to each other.

POTENTIAL REQUESTS: I will likely be requesting shippy fic for Dean/Jasper, an unlikely friendship that strengthens as they get more than used to cohabiting Jasper’s place not-so-temporarily after Dean is evicted from his apartment. There is great potential for friendship gen among all/several of the characters though, and I'm partial to the brotherly-sisterly bond between Dean and Elf. There are also a few canon queer characters/dynamics, including a f/f romance that features prominently in Elf’s arc.

2021 Yuletide Promo Post

Utopia Avenue - David Mitchell