2022 Yuletide Promo Post

[crantz]

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!

NEW: We've made a register! There is now a searchable Google spreadsheet index of the canons promoted on this post. Go ahead and add yours or any you see that are missing! We hope this helps connect people up with canons of interest to them.

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Here are some areas you can cover:

<b>Title:</b>
Please put your fandom's title in the subject of your comment, too. This helps people find your promo again.

<b>Media:</b>

<b>Approx length:</b>

<b>Where to find it:</b>
(If giving links, please only link to legal sources. You may want to encourage people to contact you directly if they are having trouble finding a canon and you can give them tips)

<b>What is it, in summary?:</b>

<b>What do you love about it?:</b>

<b>What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:</b>

<b>Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?:</b>

<b>Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):</b>
This is at your discretion and is not expected to be comprehensive

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(Bonus options: What are you thinking of requesting for this? If you're thinking of nominating worldbuilding, what sort of worldbuilding topics might people explore?)


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


- 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.


Previous fandom promo posts can be found at this tag!

Comments

Woman, Eating - Claire Kohda

[wavytossings]

Title: Woman, Eating - Claire Kohda

Media: Book

Approx length: 240 pages

Where to find it: Wherever you normally get your books. It’s a bit new to easily find secondhand, but chains, local bookshops, and libraries are all good possibilities.

What is it, in summary?: A vampire novel with litfic sensibilities. Lyd is a mixed-race artist and vampire living on her own for the first time after sending her mother, a Malaysian-British vampire who has lost her sense of identity after losing the last of her teeth, to a care home. Woman, Eating follows Lyd as she adjusts to her new life, squatting in her studio space and interning at a gallery while struggling to source the blood she needs.

What do you love about it?: The way that it fits into and critiques the wider vampire canon in its handling of themes like illness, desire, and the other! I’m someone obsessed with the bit in Carmilla that’s all, “‘And this disease that invades the country is natural. Nature. All things proceed from Nature—don’t they? All things in the heaven, in the earth, and under the earth, act and live as Nature ordains?’”, and this book felt very much in conversation with those ideas.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I’m planning to request the main character, Lydia, and her childhood best friend Ye-Ye, whom she’s ghosted on her mother’s advice, and I’ll be into anything that further explores that relationship. Even though I really enjoyed the book overall, I have mixed feelings about the ending, so I’m especially likely to prompt for canon divergence. I’d also be really interested in Ye-Ye’s POV, since we spend so much time in Lyd’s head.

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: Not really. Though Ye-Ye is a fairly minor character, her appearances don’t easily work out of context. However, as a fairly short standalone novel, the whole canon is consumable within a few hours.

Content warnings: Colonial violence, disordered eating, racism, and sexual assault and harassment are fairly major themes. You can also expect the usual vampire stuff. Details are seldom graphic.

Phoenotopia: Awakening (Video Game)

[schneefink]

Title: Phoenotopia: Awakening

Media: computer game

Approx length: How long it takes you to finish the game really depends on how much of the world you want to explore. It took me about 55 hours to finish the game with 58% completion, but I didn't care about speed. It took me a little over 80 hours to get to 100% completion. That seems only slightly about average according to howlongtobeat.com

Where to find it: The game is currently available on Switch, Playstation 4, Xbox, Steam (Windows and Mac), GOG, and Stove.

What is it, in summary?: a beautiful exploration adventure game with puzzles, action, and platforming elements.

What do you love about it?: Trailer
I wrote a post explaining why you should play this game. In short, the game is gorgeous, the exploration is extremely rewarding, the worldbuilding is cool, and I really enjoyed the gameplay too, especially the many puzzles.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Post-canon fic with Gail, Bart, and Zero :D Something character-/relationship-focused, or another adventure, or worldbuilding...

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: No, but for people who do not like to play games there are several playthroughs on Youtube (this one for example.)

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Mentions of past genocide & human experimentation, implied torture

Neverwinter Nights (2002)

[catchafallingstar]

Title: Neverwinter Nights (2002)

Media: Video Game

Approx length: about 40 hours to complete the main game

Where to find it: Beamdog came out with an Enhanced Edition in 2018. You can buy it on Steam or Good Old Games (GOG). It's also available for Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Xbox One.

If you're looking for a free way to get to know the game, there are Let's Plays available on YouTube.

What is it, in summary?: It's a 2002 third-person role-playing video game. The mechanics are based on D&D 3rd edition rules. It's set in the Forgotten Realms, a high fantasy setting full of daring adventurers, nefarious evildoers, gods, and monsters.

What do you love about it?: I particularly love the options for character creation and customization. Story-wise, I find the plot intriguing and the characters charming, especially in the expansion packs.

The game is also known for including tools for players to create their own custom content and modules. The system is fun and easy to use. There is an entire community of content creators out there (even now, 20 years later), and there are many user-created modules that are well worth playing.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I will likely make a request about a particular questline from Chapter 2 called Charwood.

A terrible event happened in Charwood Village a long time ago, and, unable to determine the culprit, the god Lathander suspended the village in time until a neutral party could come along to judge. The player is asked to act as an investigator and judge so that the villagers' souls can finally be put to rest.

I found this plotline heartwrenching and deserving of more exploration than the game allows. I believe it is one of the more nuanced quests of the game.

On the other hand, I'll probably leave my character requests open because I'd be happy to receive any NWN fic, no matter the subject.

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: Yes. Since my request will likely focus on a single quest, anyone interested can simply check out this walkthrough page for the relevant information. I'm thinking of also recording the quest so all the details are available (let me know if this interests you).

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): fantasy gore/violence, plague, child death

Re: Neverwinter Nights (2002)

[catchafallingstar]

GOG is having a 14th anniversary sale, so NWN is 75% off! It only costs $3.92 USD for the next 48h.

Postcards in Braille (webcomic)

[coprime]

Title: Postcards in Braille

Media: Webcomic

Approx length: About 150 pages or so.

Where to find it: Postcards in Braille website

What is it, in summary?: Sigma, a blind computer programmer who's just graduated college, is living alone and navigating adult life after his best friend/former roommate, Rho, has moved out. It's a light-hearted, slice of life comic focused on Sigma, Rho (Sigma's best friend), Xi (Sigma's girlfriend), Omicron (Xi's best friend), and Aleph (Rho's coworker and friend).

What do you love about it?: It's super cute! Everyone in the cast are friends, and their interactions/adventures are a delight to read.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Anything with Sigma and Xi. They are the most adorable and I want more. (The last comic linked there kicks off the final arc of the comic so it's a bit spoiler-y, but it's also one of my favorite Sigma and Xi comics.)

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfill your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: It's a closed canon and short enough that I'd personally recommend reading the whole comic if it sounds like something you're interested in.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): I don't think there are any content warnings? It's a very g-rated sort of comic.

Rec: Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came

[mme_hardy]

Title: Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came
Media: Poem
Approx length: 1700 words

Where to find it: https://www.bartleby.com/246/654.html

What is it, in summary?:A Romantic poem with a capital R. Childe Roland passes on a quest through many dreadful landscapes. At last he reaches the Dark Tower, raises his horn to his lips, and blows a challenge ... and there it ends.

What do you love about it?: This is a big overblown poem.
"Then came some palsied oak, a cleft in him
Like a distorted mouth that splits its rim
Gaping at death, and dies while it recoils."

That's Keats Browning writing about a tree. One tree.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I'd like to see some extended worldbuilding; some hints at Childe Roland's past and this quest; if the author feels daring, what happens after the horn is blown.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
"Cripple" used as an insult and a character name

Rec: Kubla Khan

[mme_hardy]

Title: Kubla Kahn; Or, a vision in a dream. A Fragment.
Media: Poem
Approx length: 349 words
Where to find it:https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43991/kubla-khan

What is it, in summary?: This is one of the great Romantic poems. Coleridge claimed that he had a magnificent dream, woke, and sat down to write a poem about it. Sadly, he was interrupted by "a person from Porlock", who kept Coleridge talking long enough to forget the rest of the story.

What do you love about it?: The poem is ridiculously vivid. It rises to what should have been the first crescendo ... and ends. The Person from Porlock, if he existed, has a lot to answer for.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I'd like something set in the milieu. A story that focuses on the worldbuilding, or lays out what Kubla Khan had in mind, or what Alph, the Sacred River was up to.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
None apply.

Re: Rec: Kubla Khan

[larryhammer]

Frankly, I don't believe there was a person from Porlock.

Rec: St. Agnes Eve

[mme_hardy]

Title: The Eve of St. Agnes
Media: Poem
Approx length: 2900 words

Where to find it: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44470/the-eve-of-st-agnes

What is it, in summary?: Madeline loves Porphyro, although her family hates him. On St. Agnes' Eve, Madeline lies down to dream of whom she will marry. Or perhaps a bit more than that:
" Young virgins might have visions of delight,
And soft adorings from their loves receive
Upon the honey'd middle of the night"
Porphyro sneaks in to see her and settles down beside her for a nap. Then he gets up and plays her lute, as one does. she wakes from her dream, sees him, and they flee the castle together.

What do you love about it?: Sweeping, over the top, and richly described.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: What happened before? What happens next? Heck, what is actually happening in the story? Is Keats hinting that they actually had sex?

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
None.

Re: Rec: St. Agnes Eve

[larryhammer]

FWIW, in the draft submitted to his publisher, they explicitly had sex (and greatly enjoyed it), but the publisher made Keats cut that out. I too want to put it back in.

Rec: Devil in Ohio (TV show, 2022)

[catlarks]

Title: Devil in Ohio

Media: TV show

Approx length: 8 episodes, of ~45 minutes each; total runtime ~6 hours

Where to find it: streaming on netflix (it's a netflix original series)

What is it, in summary?: Devil in Ohio is a suspense thriller limited series, based on a book by the same name. To quote wikipedia for a rather dry but serviceable plot summary:

"Mae, a teenager with an inverted pentagram carved into her back, shows up in an Ohio hospital. Her case sparks the interest of hospital psychiatrist Dr. Suzanne Mathis, who offers to put the girl up in her home while looking for a suitable foster family. It's soon discovered that Mae escaped a devil-worshipping cult in the rural neighboring county. Authorities have long tried to investigate the cult, but have been blocked by religious freedom issues and a fiercely protective county sheriff. It's not long before Mae's presence causes upheaval in the Mathis family."

What do you love about it?: I love Suzanne, and I love Emily Deschanel (who plays Suzanne), and I love psychological horror. I especially love TV mini-series that actually tell a complete story in a limited amount of time, so this series worked extremely well for me. I don't want to over-sell it; reviews tend to agree that it's a pretty standard plot with standard execution and that it doesn't do anything especially remarkable with any of its characters or plot elements. If this plot isn't in your strike zone, you will probably find it to be an afternoon's passable diversion and not think about it again. If the plot is squarely in your strike zone -- as it was for me -- the series may make you (by which I mean me) temporarily insane.

Again: I love Suzanne. She's this uniquely broken person who cares too much and firmly believes that she has addressed and healed from her own trauma. She has not. She's simply managed to avoid being in a situation that hits her trauma from the right angle to open it all back up again -- until she meets Mae, who she clearly sees herself in, so obviously believing that if she can help Mae, save Mae, it'll make all the difference in how no one helped her, back when she was the one in a similar position. Suzanne puts helping Mae before every other aspect of her life: her career, her family, her physical well-being, to an extent which is quite frankly completely insane and therefore fascinating.

Personally, I enjoyed the rest of the cast and found the scenes that didn't include Suzanne or Mae to be perfectly entertaining, but I do think the show shines the most when Suzanne or Mae are on-screen. Mae is the other high point. Her friendship with Suzanne's daughter, Jules, is super interesting and everything about Mae is just slightly uncanny and off-putting, in the best possible way. Her actress did a great job portraying her character and I love how you can never quite be sure whether she really is acting out of good intentions and it's simply that her upbringing has twisted her perspective on the world, or whether she does understand enough to be deliberately manipulative.

This mini-series doesn't tell a unique story, I will admit that much, but it talks about cycles of trauma and how different people deal with them in a way that works so, so well for me, and I will enthusiastically, eagerly pitch it on that count alone, to anyone who might find that a compelling draw. I think the fact that it does more than good enough, while not doing a perfect job with this theme, is actually points in favor, because it's exactly that sort of imperfection that sparks the part of my brain that wants to create and consume fanwork for a piece of media.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: The #1 thing I want above all else is post-series fic digging into the choice Suzanne makes toward the end, about Mae. Leaving that vague, because a functional spoiler tag is beyond me, but oh? My god? Oh my god???? The fic of my heart would have romanti-sexual overtones in either or both directions and I WILL expand on that in my yuletide letter but they just... Have a completely not normal or healthy level of attachment to each other and it makes me absolutely insane. Beyond that, I'm really satisfied with the series as a whole and so all I really want is Suzanne or Mae character study, of any sort, at any point in the timeline. I also like Jules and Detective Lopez a lot but I truly am putting all my eggs in the Suzanne and/or Mae basket, I will be honest.

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: Nah, it's a mini-series so, while it's definitely not a five-minute fandom, it can be knocked out in an afternoon or a weekend, if you have the ~6 hours to spare. It's the kind of show where watching any parts out of context just wouldn't land with the correct weight. The thing I want most out of my requests also reeeeally requires that you finish the series, since it's about the absolutely bonkers-to-me ending, so you've gotta watch the whole thing if you'd like to join me in this sandbox.

Content warnings: The rating is cited as being for "violence, child abuse, and self-harm" and I would personally say that the child abuse and trauma elements are what's most vividly and extensively portrayed, of the show's potentially-upsetting content. You may wish to tread carefully, spoil yourself with episode summaries, or give the show a pass, if you are especially sensitive to those themes. On the violence count, I would say that it's more controlled/pre-planned than sudden and unpredictable, if that distinction is useful to you. That said, while some actions may be controlled and planned in advance in-world and while I don't think anything hits a jumpscare note, those things can still be thrown at the viewer kind of fast.

4th Man Out (Movie)

[glitterpig]

Title: 4th Man Out

Media: Movie

Approx length: 1h26mins

Where to find it:
Now free to watch with ads on Youtube

What is it, in summary?: Adam, a small-town mechanic, decides it’s time to tell his friends and family he’s gay. Will his straight-as-an-arrow best bros have his back? A lighthearted and unexpectedly subversive comedy about coming out of the blue-collar closet.

What do you love about it?: Heartwarming, lowkey comedy. Friends being supportive of their gay bro. The movie mainly focuses on Adam, who is worried coming out will make things weird with his friends. Instead the three friends make a pact to support Adam, and hilarity ensues.

It's very heartwarming, if somewhat awkwardly written. It's not the most groundbreaking film, just really sweet.

The obvious ship is Adam and his best friend, Chris. The movie really makes a case for them being perfect for one another and absolutely feels like they are end-game, but it's almost like they changed the ending last-minute. Most of the fic in this small fandom is basically fix-it fic, and it is all amazing but we need more!

The other two friends are a great side ship as well. There is a whole subplot about a barbecue that is great.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it? The ending that should have been! The two leads getting together.

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: N/A

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Internalized homophobia, coming out

Rec: Potion Permit (Videogame)

[catlarks]

Title: Potion Permit

Media: Videogame

Approx length: howlongtobeat.com says it takes ~25 hours to complete, but the game came out one week ago and that's based on only one report; I've played ~30 hours and have not unlocked all cutscenes with all characters, so I'd say that it depends on how efficient you are in achieving goals and how much of a completionist you are re: wanting to see all of the character interaction content.

Where to find it: the game is available on PC (steam), nintendo switch, playstation, and xbox. If there are lets plays and not just review videos, I don't know about them, since the game is soooooo new, but I do feel like this is the kind of game where, if you wouldn't enjoy playing it yourself, you wouldn't enjoy watching it played.

What is it, in summary?: Potion Permit is a lifestyle simulation game where you play as a chemist from the capital, come to the island of Moonbury to help a sick girl and to mend the relationship between the medical association in the capital and the distrustful townspeople who have been burnt by chemists and modern medicine in the past.

It's in a similar style to games like Story of Seasons/Harvest Moon, Stardew Valley, and Rune Factory, in that the mechanics revolve around using tools to harvest materials to make your potions, light action combat where you incapacitate monsters for materials, a constantly-advancing in-game clock that breaks your time into hours and days and where certain game events and game locations will only happen/be available on certain dates or at certain times, and simple puzzles used for diagnosing patients and creating potions. It's a cozy, light-hearted game that I would say is more about relaxing and immersing yourself in the cheerful game world than it is about seriously challenging yourself with complicated gameplay.

What do you love about it?: I am a long-time fan of the Story of Seasons/Harvest Moon franchise, so this sort of farming-adjacent lifestyle sim game is right up my alley. Part of what I love about Potion Permit in particular is that it is measurably simpler than Story of Seasons games, while mixing in some new mechanics -- the tetris-style potion creation and the little rhythm and memory games for diagnosis, as well as the part-time job minigames -- for some new flavor.

These types of games tend to have fairly simple, archetypal characters and when you first meet the Potion Permit cast, it'll really seem that way -- there's a literal pirate girl! A Mayor named Myer! A young blacksmith who is, you guessed it, a hothead! -- but I was especially charmed by how much care was clearly put into their friendship scenes. Even in the limited space each character is afforded, their personalities shine through, giving you just enough to ponder about their hopes, dreams, and individual histories, which is exactly the kind of approach that draws me into fandom. You're given just enough to spark your imagination, not enough to fully satisfy, and there's lots of space to explore further in transformative work. I also think this game spends a greater than usual amount of time than (for example) the SoS games on interweaving the character relationships. It really feels like everyone knows everyone and like this is a cosy, close-knit town, which I found to be a plus.

Overall, I really just want to rec this game as a game more than I want to rec it as a potential yuletide fandom. I nominated it and I will request from it, but it's a newly-launched little indie game and it really won me over, so I will be delighted simply if other people see the same charm that I did and decide to pick it up, whether or not anyone else is inspired to write fic or create art or anything.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I nominated Xiao, Collin, Moira, and Helene for my character slots but I'm specifically planning to request Xiao, Collin, and Moira. What I want more than anything is OT3 fic, because the way Collin teases Moira and especially Xiao is incredibly my brand, and the way Collin and Moira each have a scene alone with the chemist where they talk about the other, really unlocked something in my OT3-loving brain. I'd also just love anything that plays with Collin and Moira more as characters, since we learn a lot over the course of the game story about how the chemists from the capital meddled in Moonbury but not very much about what the medical association does outside ill-fated experiments, so I think that would be a fun area to expand upon. This game really does give you only just enough building-blocks with characters to point you in a direction and set your imagination going, so what I want is to see them fleshed out and embraced.

Also, Helene as a concept is just SO fucking hot, I maybe will have to request her as well after all. She works at the arcade center and is into tarot cards and rare gems and really makes herself sound like a fucking jewel thief. She's beautiful and smart and not the least bit shy about embracing it, and definitely weaponizes it to make other characters do what she wants. I'm so amazingly sad she isn't a romance option. Helene is perfect.



Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: I'd say that it's hard to consume the game in any other way than playing through it at whatever pace works for you, but two of the characters I'm most interested in, Moira and Collin, don't live in town and only show up in main story cutscenes. So if you were specifically interested in fulfilling my requests, you'd probably want to focus on completing the main story ASAP and leaving the relationship-building and side-stories by the wayside until later. That said... Unless rushing through the main story is the way you prefer to play games like this, I really wouldn't recommend it. This is a cozy, unwind-and-relax kind of game (for me, anyway), so I'd recommend playing it in whatever way will actually be fun for you!

Content warnings: Overall, this is a cute and cozy game and doesn't get into anything really graphic or triggering. The content it does touch on is also covered only in brief, because each individual character story consists of just a few cutscenes. That said, there is a character plotline addressing a character (Cassandra)'s anxiety and resulting (mild) marriage troubles, a plotline addressing a character's weight and over-eating (the chemist makes him an appetite suppressant and it's not... super explicitly about weight loss or body shaming but was certainly not my favorite plotline), and similar "mild" societal and interpersonal issues. It felt clear to me that the creators are trying to create a diverse cast with realistic problems and that those problems are handled as tastefully as the writers can, but I figured I would mention the anxiety, food issues, and the disabled character who uses a wheelchair, since it can be helpful to know those elements are included even when they aren't handled offensively, especially when you're consuming something billed as "soft."

The Fantasticks - Schmidt/Jones

[pure_anon]

Title: The Fantasticks - Schmidt/Jones

Media: Off-Broadway musical

Approx length: One hour and forty-five minutes.

Where to find it:
There are tons of copies online! I recommend reading a script first and listening to a cast recording first though, as I haven't found a recording online that gets the poetry right.
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL4465489W/Fantasticks?edition=ia%3Afantasticksceleb00schm
Here is a pretty good college recording too! The music is spot on, and the cast is pretty decent, but the script is an older one, so there's some outdated aspects to it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJjQpC_pzWo

This is the Hallmark Hall of Fame version from 1964! It is very abridged, but a good taste of the show, and has the best cast out of the available options!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvsK_m7nSkI

Here is the original cast recording on youtube! I highly reccomend giving it as listen, as it is one of my favorite cast recordings of all time because the cast is SO good.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVvnj7NnfA_pkbWT-J8DluBiu7l0oWO38

What is it, in summary?:

The Fantasticks is a musical based on the 1894 play, The Romancers by the same author who wrote Cyrano de Bergerac. It is the longest-running musical ever, running for 42 years Off-Broadway. You have probably heard its most well-known song, Try To Remember. It's a very simple, yet very theatrical show -- the characters often address themselves to the audience, and it takes inspiration from commedia dell'arte.

It is about a boy, a girl, their fathers, and a wall. Matt and Luisa, the Boy and Girl, are in love, but their fathers disapprove of their love, and have put up a wall to prevent their love...or so they think. Their fathers are actually secretly encouraging their romance, as they want them to get married, but know they would never agree to an arranged marriage. In order to end their fake feud, they hire a bandit, the famous El Gallo, and his trope of actors to stage an abduction for Matt to rescue Luisa from. All goes smoothly, and they seem to be all set for a happy ending...right?

EL GALLO:
Their moon was cardboard, fragile.
It was very apt to fray,
And what was last night scenic
May seem cynic by today.
The play’s not done.
Oh, no – not quite,
For life never ends in the moonlit night;
And despite what pretty poets say,
The night is only half the day.

So we would like to truly finish
What was foolishly begun.
For the story is not ended
And the play is never done
Until we’ve all of us been burned a bit
And burnished by – the sun!



What do you love about it?:
The Fantasticks is a hard show to describe. There's a melancholic, moonlit quality about it. It's humorous, and sweet, and charming, and also sticks with you long after the show is done. It's about love and growing up--perhaps not very unique topics, but the way this show is done--!

I have never seen such poetry in a musical before. The "There is a Curious Paradox ," speech is so--

EL GALLO:
There is a curious paradox
That no one can explain.
Who understands the secret
Of the reaping of the grain?

Who understands why Spring is born
Out of Winter’s laboring pain?
Or why we all must die a bit
Before we grow again.

I do not know the answer.
I merely know it’s true.
I hurt them for that reason;
And myself a little bit, too.

(He steps back into the shadows.)

This show is hard to pin down, hard to analyze what is so lovable about it--but if you love it, you will always love it, and if you do not love it, you will never love it! This show--Luisa's hopes and dreams, Matt's desperation, the parents' longing to do right by their children, the very concept of the wall and how it calls back to Pyramus and Thisbe, El Gallo's dual nature as narrator and villain, the way it talks about the nature of stories, and stories within stories, the way it is scored so simply, mostly just a piano, the way it makes me dream. It is a gorgeous show, and though I cannot describe it accurately, it is just--please give it a shot.



What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:

What I find most fascinating about the show is Luisa and El Gallo's relationship. El Gallo is both the narrator and the villain -- Luisa is young and "incurably insane," in the way young people are, and is fascinated by bandits and the romance that they present. And El Gallo's job is to be the villain that hurts her, and forces her to grow up -- only, only that becomes increasingly distasteful to him as he knows her. She breaks through the mask of the villain to what he is underneath. He is not bad, merely playing a role -- but that role begins to hurt him as well as her. And he kisses her upon the eyes, and tells her he will return, and the story must be played out, and the girl must be left, and the villain must hurt her, but that does not mean it does not hurt him too.

L GALLO:
(Taking the mask from her.)
Now hurry. You must back so that we may run away.

LUISA:
Kiss me first.

EL GALLO:
All right.

LUISA:
Ahh.

EL GALLO:
What is it?

LUISA:
At last! I have been kissed upon the eyes. No matter what happens, I’ll never forget that kiss. I’ll go now.

EL GALLO:
One word, Luisa, listen:
I want to tell you this –
I promise to remember, too
That one particular kiss.

And now hurry; we have a lifetime for kisses!

LUISA:
True. You’ll wait here?

EL GALLO:
I promise.




Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: I would mostly recommend just reading a script and going by that!

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):

A lot of The Fantasticks is very timeless, but there are two parts of it that aged badly, and I feel they warrant some detailed explanation.

The song "It Depends On What You Pay," in the original version uses the word "rape," in its original context to mean "abduction," as a form of wordplay, and as a reference to the original 1894 play. It is not used in a way to make fun of rape, but it could still perhaps be triggering, so please take care. This aspect of the song has gradually been phased out throughout the years, and modern versions rarely use it, but if you are looking into the show, you will likely come across it.

Another aspect that has aged badly is Mortimer. Mortimer is one of the actors hired by El Gallo to play one of his villains in the abduction. In the original production, Mortimer was dressed in a stereotypical Native American costume. The joke of his character was that he did not speak for a very long time, and when he did, he had a Cockney accent, which was unexpected due to his appearance. The butt of the joke was not intended to be Native Americans, but it was still uncomfortable and never a good joke. This was also phased out of the show, but again, as this is a very long-running show, you may come across versions of it.

For me, it is important to note that both of these aspects were phased out by the original author who at this point is in his 90s, and is still reworking the show to make little changes like this. I think the willingness to address these uncomfortable, dated parts of the show is admirable considering when it was written, and who wrote it, and for me that means a lot. However, ymmv, and if that does not work for you, I completely understand that and respect it!

La Fille du Diable | Devil's Daughter (1946)

[ageorwizardry]

Title: La Fille du Diable | Devil's Daughter (1946)

Media: Movie

Approx length: 1 hour 38 minutes

Where to find it:
I was lucky enough to watch it as part of a noir series in a theater, but failing that, this seems to be the only place it's possible to buy it on DVD with English subtitles (I ordered from here, and it worked): https://www.moviedetective.net/product_p/lfdd.htm

I found it streaming on archive.org but only in the original French, without English subtitles.

What is it, in summary?:
Saget, a gangster/bank robber, hides out in a small town by pretending to be someone who used to live there and is returning after many years away. The town doctor finds him out and blackmails him into using his stolen wealth for the benefit of the community. And Isabelle is the local outcast; the whole town has decided that this young woman with a series of tragedies in her past is an acceptable target for anything, which she meets with well-deserved fury. These three figures orbit each other with increasingly destructive force throughout the movie.

It turns out that Isabelle idolizes Saget and sees in him all the freedom and power and defiance she can't have in the terrible town she's trapped in—and she is devastated when she learns he's now trapped in it too.

What do you love about it?:
Isabelle is so angry and has so much right to be. She saves newspaper clippings about Saget and passionately expresses what he means to her: he's strong! he's brave! "For ten years all the police in Europe have been after him, he doesn't care! Nothing can stop him, nothing can touch him! He can't be caught!" It reminds me a lot of fandom and the ways people can engage with stories—how she sees what she needs in the story of him, whether or not it's really there in the man himself.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:
Well, you can see the letters for my previous requests :-)

The description I read before seeing the movie for the first time described Isabelle as "a young girl masterminding a gang of provincial thugs," which gave me expectations that turned out to be incorrect—she's less powerful than that. I'd still love to see that! Isabelle power fantasy for the win!

It would be lovely to see her escaping her tiny town, becoming more powerful as a criminal mastermind, perhaps replacing/becoming Saget or even working with him as her "inside man" in respectable society? I'm not sure how to give her happiness, but I'd love to see her unleashed.

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?:
Nope

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
It's noir! There's explicit violence, a ton of gunfire in the opening scene, major character death including suicide, implied sexual violence...

Re: La Fille du Diable | Devil's Daughter (1946)

[evewithanapple]

Oh this sounds SO good. I might need to order the DVD.

Super Mario RPG

[sarajayechan]

Title: Super Mario RPG

Media: Video game

Approx length: Probably takes 120 hours to play?

Where to find it: Wii virtual console. There are also some good LPs out there:
LPArchive 1
ChuggaConroy

Sadly, the only way to easily get the game outside virtual console is via emulation, unless you have the SNES version or can find it cheaply. And still have your SNES. D: Square is mean and won't release it as part of the Switch online library.

What is it, in summary?: Mario's world is being overtaken by sentient weapons, leading him on a quest with a walking cloud, a wooden doll housing the spirit of a star, Bowser, and Princess Peach. It's the first RPG made for the Mario series.

What do you love about it?: The atmosphere, how it seamlessly blends the feel of a classic RPG with the Marioverse. I love the original characters introduced for it (Geno, Mallow, Johnny), and the soundtrack.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: G-rated gen or shippy fluff

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: It's best to read or watch the LPs in full to get the true experience.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): None!

Re: Super Mario RPG

[shinon]

Although emulation remains the easiest bet, this game is also loaded on the SNES Classic, for anyone able to get their hands on one of those. Granted, most of the other titles on the SNES Classic are also available via the Switch online library (plus a bunch more)... But, however uneconomical, the option exists!

Azumanga Daioh

[sarajayechan]

Title: Azumanga Daioh

Media: Anime/manga

Approx length: 26 episodes, 4 volumes+supplementary volumes

Where to find it:
The whole series in Japanese with English subtitles
7 episodes of the excellent English dub

The manga can be found online at various sources via doing a google search. You can also buy the Omnibus at RightStuf, or the Omnibus or individual volumes at Amazon.

What is it, in summary?: Six girls go through high school together, one of them is a ten year old prodigy, and there are cats.

What do you love about it?: The cast, the slice of life aspect, the surreal humor combined with relatable high school scenarios, the music, the English dub.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: G-rated gen, shippy fluff or smut, humor

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: Pretty much, it's not an arc-driven story.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Yukari's crazy driving and Kimura's ebephilia, but even those scenes can easily be skipped.

Rune Factory 3

[sarajayechan]

Title: Rune Factory 3: A Fantasy Harvest Moon

Media: Video game

Approx length: Days' worth of gameplay.

Where to find it:
This user has videos of all the bachelorettes' requests and marriage events
An LP of the full game

What is it, in summary?: A dating sim about a man named Micah who finds himself in a town called Sharance, where he becomes a farmer and learns the complicated history of Sharance and the Univir, a monster settlement.

What do you love about it?: The extremely colorful cast of characters, the slice of life farming aspect, the heartwarming romances and friendships

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Shippy fluff, possibly smut, hurt/comfort

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: You can view the requests for each bacherlorette separately, and the final boss battle.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Fantastic racism between humans and monsters, and if you pursue Sofia she has a possible sexual assailant come after her and needs Micah to drive him off

Rec: Operation Hyacinth (2021)

[evewithanapple]

Title: Operation Hyacinth

Media: Movie

Approx length: 1 hour, 53 minutes

Where to find it:: It's on Netflix!

What is it, in summary?: In 1980s Poland, a young police officer is assigned to investigate the murder of a gay man. His superiors - including his father, a high-up member of the militsiya - shut the investigation down after the prime suspect dies in custody, but Robert (main character) is convinced there's something bigger going on. His investigation leads him into the heart of Poland's underground gay community, including a man, Arek, who makes him re-consider everything he thought he knew about himself.

What do you love about it?: Well, I love film noir, which this very much is. I also love stories about the struggle between existing as a marginalized person in a corrupt system and choosing to walk away from what you know is wrong. The romance is genuinely super compelling (and HOT, my goodness) and I love the characters. I want to see more of them.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Robert/Arek fic, absolutely. "What happens next" stories. Without spoilers, the ending is fairly open, so you could take it in any number of different directions.

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: I'd say you really need to watch the whole thing. Fortunately, it's not that long.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Homophobia, suicide, police brutality.

Sapphire & Steel

[flibbertygigget]

Title: Sapphire and Steel

Media: TV

Approx length: 6 serials, 34 episodes total, approximately 17 hours total

Where to find it: legally available on Tubi and Shout! TV

What is it, in summary?: "All irregularities will be handled by the forces controlling each dimension. Transuranic heavy elements may not be used where there is life. Medium atomic weights are available: Gold, Lead, Copper, Jet, Diamond, Radium, Sapphire, Silver and Steel. Sapphire and Steel have been assigned." The weirdest little sci-fi horror show to come out of the UK in the late '70s. Sapphire and Steel are elements (yes, I know neither are actual elements) who are assigned to places where time goes wonky. Sapphire can turn back short periods of time and do a "spot analysis" to discover the age and history of things. Steel can get really cold and gets beat up a lot. They're both telepathic. Together they fight time!

What do you love about it?: Man, where to start. It's weird, it's creepy, it's unapologetic low-budget cheese. They start you off with this very simple paradigm of "Sapphire's the nice one, Steel's the mean one," but about halfway through Assignment 3 you realize that Steel's about three seconds from a panic attack at any time and Sapphire will steal your credit card information and sell your soul for a dollar. They've got the weirdest co-dependent dynamic going on - they're work partners, they're best friends, they flirt, what the heck would a romantic relationship between two aliens(?) who are so completely up in each other's business even look like? It's a vibe, man.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Case fic. Fic where Sapphire, Silver, and Steel are romantic but in a distinctly non-human way. Worldbuilding about what the actual fuck is going on with these guys. Angsty H/C.

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfill your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: Assignment 1 (6 episodes, ~2.5 hours) will give you a good idea of their whole deal and their dynamic. The last episode of Assignment 3 (5 episodes total, ~2.5 hours total) will give you a good angst basis and also some of their more complicated elements. Assignment 6 (4 episodes, ~1.5 hours) gives a lot of worldbuilding hints and also the infamous finale of the show.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Since everything's very low-budget, a lot of the darker elements are kept to non-graphic depictions, hints, and insinuations. Assignment 2 is probably the heaviest, since it deals with war and a very eh student/teacher age gap relationship. Assignment 3 has some animal death and Assignment 4 has a person trapped in a picture being burned alive? This is very hard to warn for lmao

Cabaret

[flibbertygigget]

Title: Cabaret - Kander/Ebb

Media: Theatre

Approx length: ranges from 1.75 to 2.5 hours depending on the production

Where to find it: Both the Original Broadway Cast Recording and the Broadway Revival Cast Recording are easily available on streaming. Contact me if you need help finding footage of the actual show.

What is it, in summary?: Set in Berlin as the Wiemar Republic is coming to an end and the Nazis are ascending to power. The people in and around the Kit Kat Klub, a seedy cabaret, deal with personal drama as the political situation becomes more and more fraught. Everyone's favorite character, the Emcee, may or may not be a metaphor for the rise of Nazism.

What do you love about it?: It's an entire musical about how political apathy leads to fascism being allowed to flourish. Every character is so deeply flawed but so completely understandable. The songs "What Would You Do?", "I Don't Care Much", and "Cabaret" are a massive 1-2-3 punch at the end of Act 2 and one of my favorite sequences of songs in musical theatre history. The Emcee is FASCINATING as a character.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Post-canon about where the characters end up after the show ends. Cliff/Sally or Emcee/Bobby if you really want to do romance.

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfill your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: Uhh, you CAN probably get away with just listening to the album but there's some pretty important stuff in the book scenes.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Oh, boy. Nazism, antisemitism (for obvious reasons), one hate crime, one very poorly considered abortion (this isn't a warning for abortion, just for the circumstances surrounding it which are rather heavy)

Kid Icarus: Uprising

[brushapocalypse]

Title: Kid Icarus: Uprising

Media: Video Game

Approx length: Something like 6-10 hours.

Where to find it: If you have a 3DS you can get it on the Nintendo Eshop, or you can watch any number of Let's Plays or No-Commentary Playthroughs on Youtube!

What is it, in summary?: A silly little game very loosely inspired by Greek Mythology. The evil Goddess of Darkness, Medusa, has risen and is looking for revenge on the Goddess of Light, Palutena, and her loyal angel Pit. This seemingly simple tale gets increasingly complicated as more gods get involved in the conflict, turning a straightforward fight between good and evil into a messy free-for-all with the fate of humanity at the center.

What do you love about it?: The depth of the writing in this little game is astounding, with the tone near-effortlessly balancing between light-hearted fourth-wall breaking and genuinely gut-wrenching moments. Nearly every character is memorable, even the ones that only star in a single chapter apiece, and even more the core cast. Pit and Palutena have a dynamic that easily carries their many, many conversations throughout the game, and Pit's 'evil' clone Dark Pit is an excellent foil that manages to deepen Pit's character by the simple act of existing and being himself.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: My darling boy Dark Pit, the light of my life. His rebellious spirit is everything to me, and I'm especially interested in further explorations of how he feels about being a clone— what he thinks of Pit, Palutena, how much of his identity is Pit.

Badlands 2005

[(Anonymous)]

Title: Badlands 2005

Media: unsold TV pilot

Approx length: 49 minutes

Where to find it:
The whole thing is free on Youtube. (https://youtu.be/ndGkKlBa3bw)

What is it, in summary?: It's the futuristic year 2005, and humans are beginning to come back to the drought-ravaged badlands. Water tankers are being pursued by Mad Max-style raiders, and the only ones who can help are the US marshals--in this case, Garson McBeth and his cyborg partner RX-107, whom he dubs "Rex." The two are tasked with transporting two mail-order brides to a distant water camp and run into trouble when one of the brides isn't quite who she claims to be.

What do you love about it?: I love the setting--very western, but very Mad Max, too. Most of all I love the banter between Garson and Rex. They're a little bit stock (Garson is every hot shot buddy cop ever, and Rex is his more straight-laced, acerbic partner) but there's enough there with the setting and the fact that Rex is a cyborg that you can latch on easy enough.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: non-slash-y Garson & Rex stuff. I love their relationship, especially regarding Rex's nature as a cyborg essentially created to reflect Garson's interests back at him and keep him from burning out.

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: It's just the one episode.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): violence. People can also be kind of dehumanizing toward Rex, so if that's something that bothers you, this canon probably isn't your jam.

Mr. Lucky

[(Anonymous)]

Title: Mr. Lucky

Media: TV series

Approx length: ~12 episodes

Where to find it: It's available on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJwIFLur634xl4hdx8nKO437xBIkTJUgI)

What is it, in summary?: A gambler named Lucky and his friend Andamo run a floating casino in international waters. They're constantly being pulled (or pulling each other) into shenanigans.

What do you love about it?: I love how playful it is. It's a Blake Edwards (of Pink Panther fame) show, has music by Hank Mancini, and features a young Ross Martin. What's not to love?

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: relationship (/ or &) between Andamo and Lucky and, optionally, Lucky's sometimes existent, sometimes not girlfriend Maggie.

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: Yup! My favorite episodes are "That Stands for Pool" and "The Gordon Caper," and there's a fun Yvonne Craig guest appearance in "Miss Wow."

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): It was made in the early 50s, so it's a product of the times. Also it was canceled in part because the fact that the main characters run a casino made the sponsors clutch their pearls and run shrieking for the hills. So there's that.

Thief

[(Anonymous)]

Title: Thief (Gold/The Dark Project, The Metal Age, and Deadly Shadows)

Media: video games

Approx length: varies depending on how you want to play, but I think Gold/TDP took me about 8 hours. If, unlike me, you don't examine every nook and cranny, you can probably get one game done in less than that.

Where to find it: All three games are available on Steam for fairly cheap ($7-9 each).

What is it, in summary?: It's an atmospheric video game about a master thief stealing everything that's not nailed down and being inadvertently dragged into history-defining intrigue. It's spooky at times and silly at times, and generally a lot of fun.

What do you love about it?: I love the atmosphere--very steampunk without being obnoxiously so. I love the protagonist, Garrett, who is a wiseass struggling not to be roped into saving the world and failing miserably. I love that exploration is highly rewarded--maybe you'll find some wedding rings for your friends hidden in somebody's parlor, or maybe you'll find a pile of bodies hidden under a workshop. I especially love that there's literally no fighting required--you can fight if you choose to do so, but I suck at it and made it through three games without having to stab a single person.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Garrett whump! I'm especially fond of bad ends for poor Garrett, and I like the main villains as well.

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: Any one of the games should stand on their own (I played The Metal Age long before Gold, which is chronologically the first game in the series, and understood most of it).

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Non-graphic violence, but that's easily avoided and also very low-fi, given the games' resolution. There's also horror elements that are less easily avoided, particularly in Gold. Those haunts give me the heebie-jeebies.

The Poppy War

[(Anonymous)]

Title: The Poppy War book series by R.F. Kuang

Media: Book series

Approx length: ~1800 pages (about 600 pages per book) or ~65 hours (about 21 hours per audiobook)

Where to find it:
Bookstores and libraries everywhere.

What is it, in summary?: A fantasy novel set in a semi-historical, semi-alternate universe of mid-20th century China. The story is largely about Rin, an orphan with an unknown origin who passes the entrance exams and enters the military academy Singegard, setting her on a path of political intrigue and war.

What do you love about it?: I love the characters and the audiobook narration. I like the mix of history and fantasy, trying to determine who each character is based on. And I like the way religion and shamanism is handled in the book, it makes for something fun and different without relying on an explicitly "hard magic" system. I also adore the bittersweet ending and the focus on nature of trauma.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Anything related to Rin and Kitay's [redacted for third book spoilers].

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: Not that I'm aware.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
The poppy war series is a very grim fantasy which has a lot of descriptions of drug use, bullying, self harm, violence, torture, and sexual assault. This is not a complete list.

There is also a lot of fantastical racism, but since all of the countries are obvious stand-ins for China, Japan, imperialist western nations (mainly Britain but not exclusively), and a few more vague steppe (and/or maybe just northern Chinese) peoples, it may be difficult to read the racism/prejudice that is discussed and repeated.

Corey’s Coming by Harry Chapin (Song)

[toosmalllily]

Title:
Corey’s Coming by Harry Chapin 1976

Media:
Song

Approx length:

About 5 and ½ mins

Where to find it:

Available to stream/buy wherever you’d get your music. I listen to Harry Chapin on Spotify but it looks like his discography is available on the other major music streamers. (Also, youtube)

What is it, in summary?:

The song is about the narrator and his friendship with a man named John Joseph who works alone in a train yard. John Joseph tells the narrator incredible stories about places he’s visited and about a woman named Corey. The people in town say that that John Joseph has never traveled and that “no one named Corey’s ever lived in this town” but John Joseph insists that Corey’s coming.

What do you love about it?:

A quick note on Harry Chapin, he was a folk musician most active in the 70’s known for his political activism and long character driven story songs. If you’re not familiar you still may have heard his most famous song Cat’s in the Cradle. He was a staple of the long road trips of my childhood.

The reason I’m interested in this song is because Corey’s Coming is the only song of Harry’s that has, what I would describe as, a supernatural element. Who (or what) Corey is, is never explained in the song and Harry Chapin never said (though he does call John Joseph an ‘old man with a dream’ in the live version of the song). So, is Corey real or not? The townspeople don’t believe she’s real but the narrator meets her at the end of the song. But, when he meets her, she’s described as a young woman not someone the same age as John Joseph even though the song implies he knew her in his past. So, yeah, weird. I definitely think the song can have an eerie vibe despite the cheerful tone considering the narrator, after meeting Corey, decides to move out to the train yard himself and wait for her to return.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:

Personally, I love horror so I’ll be requesting a story that leans into a supernatural reading of the song. I think there's a lot of fun mystery to explore in this song.

Deerskin

[(Anonymous)]

Title: Deerskin by Robin McKinley
Media: Book

Approx length: 300 pages

Where to find it: Bookstores, libraries, friends who were reading fantasy in the 90s.

What is it, in summary?: Deerskin starts off like a fairy tale and then quickly goes way off the rails. When Lissla Lissar's beautiful mother dies Lissar's father becomes obsessed with his daughter and decides to marry her. When she refuses violently rapes her. What follows is an amazing journey as Lissar (now known as Deerskin) tries to reclaim her sense of self and finds purpose.

What do you love about it?: It feels strange to love a book that centers a rape, but as someone who has survived trauma, so much of this story rang true to me and was also inspiring. I love the way Deerskin heals first by herself (and with Ash, her faithful dog) and then with love and friendship. She grows through work and then good works.
There's also a romance between Deerskin and a prince who doesn't know who she is. They fall in love while taking care of sick, orphan puppies.
I also love the relationship between Deerskin and her dog. In truth, that's the real love story of this book.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I'd love something with Deerskin and her friend Lilac just being friends, or Prince Ossin and Deerskin after the events of the book are over.

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: Not really. It's just this one book.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): As I mentioned there's a rape/incest. Dogs play a very big role in this book and sometimes they are in danger (though, spoiler, the dogs all live).