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

The New Mutants (2020)

[royalblue31]

Title: The New Mutants (2020)

Media: Movie

Approx length: 94 mins

Where to find it: Disney+ (Streaming October 14 in the US)

What is it, in summary?: A secret, mysterious facility holds mutant teens under the guise of helping them learn to control their new mutant abilities. When latest addition Danielle "Dani" Moonstar arrives, it kickstarts a series of strange happenings. Elements of each teen's traumatic past come to life and terrorize them, and as the teens rally together to fight these monstrous foes, they soon discover that the facility they are being locked in is not at all what it seems.

What do you love about it?: Okay, let me start by saying that I love a good superhero movie. Characters throwing punches or bright lights and coming together because The World Needs Saving Yet Again. Fun, right? Fun!

But then, some time in 2016, whispers floated around about a new superhero movie, a horror-genre superhero movie about a bunch of teens dealing with the trauma and angst of discovering they're not just teens, they're mutants. It was supposed to be a grittier, self-contained, smaller story that wouldn't involve The World Needing Any Saving and instead would focus on character! personal stories! and coming of age! And I went yes, yes please, give it to me, this is what I want, nay, need.

And then a lot (and I mean a lot) happened and the movie came out in 2020 and it f l o p p e d.

I still watched it, and I mean, it was fine. It was still a smaller story, it did have a couple of scary bits, it was cheesy, and more importantly: it had so so so much potential for fic. And the characters! Illyana, Sam, Rahne, Dani and Roberto. They were so interesting. They all had these backstories that the movie dipped into but never really dug into, and they fought with each other, and they formed fire-forged friendships, and hey, by the end they were even a found family, and those parts were really good.

Superpowers meets psychological horror? What's not to love?

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Piggy-backing off my answer to the the last question, I'm leaning towards character backstories, or character-to-character relationships, interactions, dynamics. The teens didn't end up at the facility at the same time, so some of them knew each other better than others, and there's that kind of history that gets hinted at in the movie but never really explored. I'm very interested in the Illyana and Sam friendship. He's not as cautious around her as say, Rahne, and there's this warmth in the way he calls her "Illy" that caught my attention when I first heard it.

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?: The New Mutants is a self-contained story, so it's really just this one movie. There are a few deleted scenes uploaded on YouTube that didn't make it to the final cut which aren't necessary to the plot, but they do help flesh out the way the characters act towards each other. Since they're deleted scenes, I guess it's up to the author if they want to consider them canon or not?

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Racism (Illyana to Dani during the Enemies portion of their Enemies to Friends journey). Child abuse/sexual assault (implied in Illyana's backstory). And the general spooks to be expected of a PG-13 horror movie.

Dominion of the Fallen - Aliette de Bodard

[airgiodslv.livejournal.com]

Title: Dominion of the Fallen - Aliette de Bodard

Media: Books & Literature

Approx length: 3 novels + 2 novellas, but I am here to champion the standalone novellas! They're listed on their own as the "Dragons and Blades" stories.

Where to find it: (novellas)
1. Of Dragons, Feasts, and Murders - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088B3DYZG/
2. Of Charms, Ghosts, and Grievances - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09SQF3QBG/

What is it, in summary?: The original Dominion of the Fallen trilogy takes place in an alternate history turn-of-the-century Paris. There are fallen angels cast out from a war in heaven, a Vietnamese dragon kingdom that has taken root underwater, and ordinary folks just trying to survive the power struggles.

What do you love about it?: The author's website describes it as: "a tale of dragons, and Fallen angels — and also kissing, sarcasm and stabbing." It explores the relationship between Asmodeus, a sadistic fallen angel, and Thuan, a scholarly shapeshifting dragon prince. They go from enemies-to-lovers via a political arranged marriage, become desperately thirsty for each other, and fall in love. They come from very different cultures, which means they also have different magics and traditions, and have to learn to understand each other. There's so much hurt/comfort and angst and also kissing.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I would love to see more relationship exploration and worldbuilding. I just really love these characters 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?: Yes yes! I think you could just read "Of Dragons, Feasts, and Murders" (novella) to get a sense of them and their world. They travel to the dragon kingdom for the Lunar New Year and end up solving a murder mystery.

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

Phantasmagoria 2: A Puzzle of Flesh (video game)

[libraralien]

Title: Phantasmagoria 2: A Puzzle of Flesh, sometimes also referred to as Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh (which is how it is listed on AO3) or just Phantasmagoria 2.

Media: Video game

Approx length: About 6 hours

Where to find it: It is available through Steam or GOG. There are also playthroughs on Youtube, such as here.

What is it, in summary?: Phantasmagoria 2: A Puzzle of Flesh is a cheesy full-motion point-and-click horror game released by Sierra in 1996 that deals with (with varying levels of success) queerness, kink, mental health, and abuse. While the game is technically a sequel to the 1995 game Phantasmagoria, there is no character or plot overlap, and the game is a standalone.

The player plays Curtis Craig, a 26-year-old introverted office worker at a pharmaceutical company in Seattle. Curtis is experiencing gory hallucinations, causing him to worry about his sanity. At the same time, some of his coworkers are gruesomely killed, and Curtis is a suspect. He starts to look into if there is a connection between these deaths, his hallucinations, his own past, and the company he works for.

In the middle of all this is Curtis's love life! There is his girlfriend, Jocilyn, who wants more commitment than Curtis is ready to offer; Therese, who is aggressively pursuing Curtis and introduces him to the kink scene, which he is intrigued by; and Trevor, Curtis's best friend, who is gay and who Curtis admits to his therapist that he has a crush on.

This video essay has a complete (spoilery) plot summary and a deep dive into the queer stuff in the game.

The gameplay is point-and-click puzzle solving. It is mostly not very difficult, but some of the puzzles are not intuitive, especially towards the end when both the puzzles and plot get pretty bonkers. There are walkthroughs online if you get stuck.



What do you love about it?: I think that the cheesy sci-fi and horror elements, the queer main characters, the kinkiness, and the wild plot all lay a rich ground for fic possibilities! The game takes on a lot of ambitious topics and is at times clumsy, and at other times doing some pretty interesting things. I love how totally unique it is, and how it is both very of its time and also doing things that no other games were doing in 1996.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Something with Curtis and Trevor, but I am pretty wide open beyond that!

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Horror and gore, character death, abuse, mental illness.

The Hammer Dracula series

[rallamajoop]

Title:
Hammer Dracula - specifically 1958's Dracula and 1972's Dracula A.D. 1972



Media:
Film series

Approx length:
There are 8 films in the whole series, but there's no need to watch them all. My favourites are 1958's Dracula and 1972's Dracula A.D. 1972 - and they're both only about 90 minutes each.

Where to find it:
They're apparently streamable on HBO Max in the US, and may be on some streaming services in other countries. But for the rest of us, renting them off Apple TV or Google is probably the easiest option (and should be pretty cheap - about $3 USD). You can certainly also find them on dodgier streaming services, but not linking those here.

What is it, in summary?:
One of the MANY Dracula film adaptations - specifically one that recontextualises the story largely as Dracula vs Van Helsing. And speaking as someone for whom Dracula the novel has always been very much the Mina, Lucy and Jonathan show, it speaks volumes that I still fell so much in love with this version of the story.

There are a number of sequels - most either resurrect Dracula and set him against a new cast, or are send Van Helsing on unrelated vampire-hunting adventures - and many different opinions about which are the best, but my personal favourites are the few that reunite the leads - Dracula A.D. 1972 especially, where Cushing is now playing the original VH's grandson.


What do you love about it?:
Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing have the kind of dynamic in these films that I can really only compare to Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan's contributions to the X-Men franchise: terrific performances that lend all the campy nonsense going on around them a touch of gravitas and a lot of style - not to mention some very shippable chemistry.

Plotwise, I love that these films suggest Dracula vs the Van Helsing family into this epic, generation-spanning rivalry, where the Count has decided that the best possible revenge involves turning the latest Van Helsing descendant as his new bride (yes, technically he goes for the current VH's granddaughter, though his priorities shift pretty quickly once he discovers a virtual double of his old enemy is also around). There is a lot of OTT camp and low-brow gratuity in these films (later entries in the series particularly), but that's often half the fun. And I have written up whole posts on my love for these films, if you'd like to hear more about them.


What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:
Anything Van Helsing/Dracula, obviously (with any of the Peter Cushing members of the family). But I'd also be up for anything that deals with their history, or which spins their future incarnations/resurrections off into whole new eras.


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?:
Absolutely - either the original Hammer Dracula or Dracula A.D. 1972 can be watched and enjoyed without any of the rest of the series (and there's some real debate whether continuity even really holds up between them), and most every film in this series is only around 90 minutes long.


Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
Lots of cherry-red fake blood and some somewhat-dated treatment of female characters, but all very minor by modern standards.

[rallamajoop]

Title:
Varney the Vampire

Media:
Novel

Approx length:
Too long

Where to find it:
It's long out of copyright and can be found on the web for free - Gutenberg has the first arc available, just for one.

What is it, in summary?
Varney the Vampire is an absurdly overlong gothic vampire novel, predating Dracula by around 50 years, originally published in Penny Dreadful format - ie. serialised chapter-by-chapter, by writers who were being paid-by-the-word to churn out cheap, sensationalist dreck for a mass audience. What made it to press was unedited and shamelessly padded with filler to almost unreadable levels. Worse, no proper abridged version of Varney exists - which is a crying shame, because when Varney is good, it is amazing, and even when it's bad, it's often hilarious.

What do you like about it?
For some context, the main saga deals with the trials of Bannerworth family - some of the stupidest people you will ever meet in fiction - who must contend with not only being accosted by the unthinkably horrifying spectre of a vampire, but the equally horrifying fear that the neighbours might find out. Inevitably, paranoia spreads, and the local village forms the most comically inept vampire-hunting mob imaginable - and yet somewhere along the line, Varney even gets most of the way through a redemption arc. There's a lot of drama about real-estate, possibly-hidden-treasure, and this one damn painting they still haven't managed to get off the wall nearly a hundred chapters later. Not all the hilarity is intentional, but there's a lot of hilarity to be found.

But the real joy of Varney the Vampire is Varney himself - a horrifying monster who will climb in through windows at night and pin some maiden with his metallic gaze, only to be shot multiple times on every attack and spend a hilariously long sequence repeatedly failing to get over a wall. Varney will variously angst at length about his undead condition, snark aloud and openly troll his enemies, and generally run rings around the Bannerworths - at least up until someone reaches for a firearm. Varney's hardly clever, but with enemies like these, who needs friends anyway?

In all seriousness, the only real way to read Varney involves a horrifying amount of skimming repetitive filler to get to the next actual plot-point, everyone is stupid and nothing makes sense - and yet, there are some real diamonds to be found in all that muck. It's criminal it's not better remembered today.


What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:
Crack. Varney already reads like a parody of itself half the time, and all it needs is for someone to trim a bit of the excess and turn everything up to 11. Something in an Importance-of-being-Earnest-style comedy of manners could work so well with this canon.

I mean, I'd especially love anyone willing to write something that delves into the bizarre semi-romance of Varney with BOTH Flora Bannerworth and her fiance Charles - but this is as Yuletide-worthy as canons get, and just about anything will make me happy.


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?:
Well, the Bannerworth saga is technically only the first 100k or so... but honestly, there's no easy way to read Varney, and the best I can say is that no-one, least of all me, expects anyone to pour through this thing word by word. There are some decent chapter-breakdown summaries that'll give you a decent idea where the important stuff happens, but in the absense of a proper abridged version, it is what it is.

Fast Color (2018)

[gwyn]

Title:
Fast Color

Media:
Movie, 2018

Approx length:
1 hr 40 min.

Where to find it:
Currently on Netflix in the U.S. and for rent/buy on Amazon Prime

What is it, in summary?:
After years in hiding, in a dying world, a woman named Ruth (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) is forced to go on the run when her superhuman abilities are discovered. Years after having left her family--her mother, Bo (Lorraine Toussaint), and daughter, Lila (Saniyya Sidney)--the only place she has left to hide from the people chasing her is home. Reconnecting with her family, Ruth also tries to reconnect to her powers: for generations, their gifts have been passed down to the women in her family, all of whom except Ruth see colors when they use the powers.

What do you love about it?:
I've never figured out why fandom is still sleeping on this incredible little movie: it's a superpowers story featuring Black women who are the only ones so gifted; it has a family at the center of the story trying to reconnect almost in a found-family sort of way; it has a dying, almost dystopian world that's mysterious and somehow connected to the central character; and it asks questions about superheroes and their obligations to the rest of the world. It was directed by a woman, who also co-wrote the story with her partner, and there are only a few male characters in it, one of whom is played by fan fave David Strathairn. It looks beautiful, and is just fascinating in that it doesn't explain a lot of why the world is dying or connect all the dots about the characters' relationships, instead unfolding slowly, steadily, quietly until everything comes together.

Right now, there are only 9 works on AO3, 4 of which are vids, and only 3 of which are over 1k. So there is lots of room to play here.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:
Because they don't explain a lot of the situation with the world or Ruth's place in it, there is so much that can be done with it. You can worldbuild till the cows come home, or do quiet pieces focused on character, or just...anything. It's a superhero origin story, really, so the sky's the limit. Myself, I'm really fascinated by Bo, Ruth's mother, and her father and what will happen to them after the movie ends, how the family unit might be able to cohere when it ends. It sets up a really fascinating place to be once those credits roll. I love stories where much older people who were in love once reconnect, so that's where I'm focused, and I want to see the family together and what they'll do.

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?:
Honestly, the movie is so short (under 2 hours) that I don't know if it would help to just see part of it.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
Some scenes with blood, including one where someone is shot (not killed); one intense scene where an infant is in danger (no one dies or is permanently harmed).

Thank You for Taking Care of Our Haunted and Enchanted Castle - Emma Marris

[sapphoisburning]

Title: Thank You for Taking Care of Our Haunted and Enchanted Castle by Emma Marris

Media:

Short story

Approx length:

about 900 words

Where to find it:

Published in McSweeney's Internet Tendency, https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/thank-you-for-taking-care-of-our-haunted-and-enchanted-castle

What is it, in summary?:

A "thanks for house sitting" letter explaining how to house-sit an enchanted castle, except it takes some unexpected turns

What do you love about it?:

It was really funny and left me wanting more.

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

Prequel, sequel, a letter written back from the recipients to the writers of the original letter (or more back and forth correspondence), or otherwise more information about Alfred, the prisoner who refuses to leave the dungeon???

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?:

The whole thing is really short!

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

None

Re: Thank You for Taking Care of Our Haunted and Enchanted Castle - Emma Marris

[amphipodgirl]

That was delightful!

Remember WENN

[(Anonymous)]

FANDOM NAME: Remember WENN

MEDIA: TV show

Approximate length: 57 episodes, about 20 minutes each, over 4 seasons

WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: Did you know that AMC ran original programming before Mad Men? It did! WENN aired back in 1996-1998, with four short seasons and a cliffhanger. It's a screwball comedy/drama set in a radio station between 1939 and 1941, written by Rupert Holmes (if you like Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain, you may like his sense of humor). It's like a historical version of Slings & Arrows, in many ways.

There's the small town girl new to the big city (Pittsburgh) who is the new writer, the Broadway diva now starring in 80% of the station's shows, her flirty husband, a man of 1000 voices character actor, a showgirl organist with a heart of gold and a lot of fond sexy memories of Errol Flynn, a Foley artist who never speaks, a smooth talking con artist running the station, and so much more. Every episode took place inside the studio (lobby, Studio A, green room, writer's room) and used it to great effect.

If you’re a Broadway fan, Carolee Carmelo and Amanda Naughton star as the showgirl organist and head writer.

WHERE CAN I FIND IT?
Streaming on AMC+, via app or Amazon Prime. First 7 days free!

WHERE CAN I LEARN MORE?
Linda’s WENN site has episode summaries, song lyrics, cast and character information, photos and pretty much anything else you could want. http://www.rememberwenn.org/

NYT article from a few years ago: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/31/arts/television/remember-wenn.html

WHAT AM I LIKELY TO REQUEST?
Shenanigans! Old time radio mishaps. Life in the 40s in the Barbazon Hotel for Women. Being snowed in at the station for Christmas (an event once referred to). Scott/Hilary, Scott/Maple, maybe even some Scott/Betty. I multiship, ha. (Scott and Maple show up in season 2.)

Re: Remember WENN

[juneloveland]

THIS SHOW RULED, AND I DID NOT KNOW IT IS STREAMING NOW THANK YOU

Amazon Prime has the worst algorithm in the business, I swear. Also I toyed with throwing this or Homefront into the hat, and I'm very glad to see this here.

Anne of Green Gables

[hernameinthesky]

Title:
Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
Media:
Book series
Approx length:
8 mid length books (can all be read as standalones)
Where to find it:
You can get all but one of the audiobooks free on the librivox app (there are several versions with different narrators, my recommendation would be Karen Savage who is brilliant)
All the ebooks are free on Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45)
Otherwise I'm sure plenty of book shops have them.

What is it, in summary?:
The story of Anne Shirley, an orphan growing up in Prince Edward Island during the late nineteenth century. The books follow her from age 11 being adopted by a brother and sister, to having children of her own. The last two books (Rainbow Valley and Rilla of Ingleside) focus on her children with Anne as a periphery character.

What do you love about it?:
It's a series that feels like a cosy night in by the fire. There's a lot of beautiful description, lovable characters, fun everyday scrapes and dramas and romances.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:
Probably canon compliant fic set in the earlier books.

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 of the Anne books can be read as a standalone and the last two in particular. I'd be happy with something set in any of them, though my specific prompts will probably be focused on the first three books.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
There's nothing graphic at all, but child neglect, domestic abuse, child death including newborns, and similar things are sometimes touched on in the novels.
The only ones I'd think would need a cw would be Anne's House of Dreams for child death and domestic abuse, Rainbow Valley for child neglect, and Rilla of Ingleside for war.

The Blue Castle

[hernameinthesky]

Title:
The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery
Media:
Book
Approx length:
Not 100% sure as I have it as an ebook, but it seemed a pretty average length. Not a short book, but not super long.
Where to find it:
The ebook is free on Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/67979)
Otherwise I'm sure other book shops have it.

What is it, in summary?:
Set in the late nineteenth century, Valancy Stirling has been bullied by her family all her life, when at twenty-nine she's told she doesn't have long to live. She spends the next year rebelling against her relations, helping people they don't approve of, marrying someone they dislike, and just generally doing what she wants and finding confidence and happiness for herself. There's a lovely romance, but mostly it's the story of Valancy finding her courage. And, spoiler!, there's a happy ending.

What do you love about it?:
If you've read anything else by L. M. Montgomery you know the vibe - cosy everyday life in small towns in Prince Edward Island. Blue Castle is one of my favourites of her's, I find the main characters of Valancy and Barney more interesting than her usual heroines and heros, but it still has the Montgomery flavour.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:
Canon compliant fic set during or after the book probably. Focus on Valancy or Valancy/Barney.

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, it's just one book.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
SPOILER
For most of the book Valancy thinks she has a terminal illness

Re: The Blue Castle

[larryhammer]

I love this book. It is a comfort reread, and most of the fics for it are also comforting. More Blue Castle fic please!

Miss Marple series

[hernameinthesky]

Title:
Miss Marple Series by Agatha Christie
Media:
Book series
Approx length:
12 books + several short story collections
Where to find it:
Several of the audiobooks are free on the librivox app, otherwise the books are easy to find.

What is it, in summary?:
Is there anyone who doesn't know Miss Marple? I'm posting this to encourage anyone who's maybe thought about reading but never got round to it to do it! But for anyone who doesn't know, it's a series of murder mystery books where the detective is an elderly woman who catches murderers through her past experiences and knowledge of human nature.

What do you love about it?:
I adore Miss Marple and a lot of the mysteries are good fun. There's also a running theme throughout the series of aging in changing society which I enjoy.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:
Original flavour fic, though it doesn't have to be case fic.

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?:
Each book is standalone with an almost entirely new cast. I did enjoy reading them in chronological order though for anyone wondering where to start.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
Murder, of course. Otherwise each book is different, but other than the usual things one would expect with murder mysteries, there's nothing graphic.

Legend of Yun Qian (2020)

[ginkgofan]

Title: Legend of Yun Qian

Media: Live Action TV Miniseries

Approx length: 15 episodes of a few minutes each; the whole series is about 53 minutes long.

Where to find it: on youtube with English subs (Links here: https://legendofyunze.carrd.co/#legendofyunqian)

What is it, in summary?: A Chinese lesbian romance involving time travel between a historical fantasy setting and the modern world. It's mostly cute and lighthearted, but the plot does get very dramatic before the ending.

Mu Yun is a strict and reserved disciple of the dwindling Lingchuan Sect. It is her duty to guard the Fans of Heaven and Earth. Hua Yue, the only other disciple, isn't interested in studying and just wants to have a good time. She uses one of the fans to travel through time to the future (the modern world) and meets Xiao Qian, a girl who looks exactly like her. Xiao Qian travels back in time using the fan and meets the "icy beauty" Mu Yun. Romance, adventure, and domestic fluff ensue.

What do you love about it?: It's f/f xianxia with added time travel! The dynamic between the stoic but protective Mu Yun and the flirtatious and friendly Xiao Qian is very enjoyable. There's a good mix of dramatic plot and lighthearted humor (Mu Yun's contest of wills with Xiao Qian's cat is hilarious.) The antagonist, Hong Yan, is a very interesting character with a tragic backstory involving a lesbian romance of her own.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Post-canon stuff! There is lots of room for either plot-focused further adventures or just pure domestic fluff and romance, and either would be lovely. I also included Hua Yue in my nominated characters because she basically disappears from the story early on and I would love something about what happens to her parallel to the main story.

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, but it's a short canon.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Some violence, blood, and death, nothing atypical for the genre

Sand Whale and Me

[violet_pencil]

Title: Sand Whale and Me (TV)

Media: TV "hybrid micro-series" (five episodes that are five minutes each)

Approx length: 25 minutes

Where to find it: All episodes are free to watch on adultswim.com's website. If you have Roku you can add Adult Swim as a channel and watch it there too.

What is it, in summary?: In 2017, for Toonami's 20th anniversary, director/writer Mamoru Oshii (Patlabor, Ghost in the Shell, Assault Girls) was commissioned to make this... a CG/live-action "hybrid micro-series" called Sand Whale and Me. The official summary says it's about "a female paratrooper in the distant future who is stranded in a vast desert." In order to survive she must catch and eat a Sand Whale. However, it soon becomes clear that we're viewing some kind of constructed reality, with a video-game-like third-person POV and status bars on the screen showing the main character's health & experience levels.

What do you love about it?: It's typical Mamoru Oshii-- thought-provoking, minimalist but expansive worldbuilding, sometimes silly or surreal, sometimes brutal and dark, and generally just weird. There are so many questions that could be asked. Has the main character KFC been uploaded to a virtual world? Is she a video game avatar who has escaped the from the actual game she was supposed to be in? Who named her "KFC"?

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: A typical day for KFC? A more interior POV exploring the things she's thinking and experiencing? Exploring the world she came from, where she was apparently some kind of mecha pilot? Will she ever escape the planet she crash landed on? Is she an isekai heroine who's landed inside a video game? Etc.

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 25 minutes long.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Some uncanny valley-ish facial animations, violence against sand whales, video-game type violence and physical distress that kind of hits different when it's happening to a live-action actor

Ravneringene | The Raven Rings - Siri Pettersen

[(Anonymous)]

Title: Ravneringene | The Raven Rings - Siri Pettersen

Media: book series

Approx length: About 1872 pages in total. It's a trilogy, consisting of "Odin's child | Odinsbarn", "The Rot | Råta" and "The Might | Evna".

Where to find it: Book stores and libraries, everywhere you can get books.

What is it, in summary?: The official blurb reads "An epic fantasy trilogy from Norway about thousand-year-old secrets, forbidden romance, and what happens to those who make a deal with the devil." It probably falls in the YA category, but I first read it as an adult and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's somewhat inspired by Nordic mythology and the romance part is less important than the blurb makes it sound.

What do you love about it?: It's one of very few fantasy stories where I actually liked the romance part, probably because it is neither the point of conflict nor feels unnecessary for the plot. I like the flow of Siri Pettersons writing, the whole series and its themes feel very contemporary without feeling forced or preachy about it. But mainly it's a thrilling, gripping and enjoyable read.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Post canon hurt/comfort, Hirka/Rime stuff, Rime & Svarteld, Rime & Kolkagga members (the names in the English translation may be different).

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, but I would be very happy to receive anything in the fandom, including fic that's only based on book 1.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Attempted male on female rape, references to rape in the backstory of a side character (including a child resulting from this), racism (mainly fantasy counterparts, but also mentions of real world racism in book 2), self mutilation for external (non psychological) reasons, genre typical violence and death

The Serpent Queen (TV, 2022)

[selenak]

Title: The Serpent Queen (2022)

Media: TV Series

Approx length: New series, as of today (October 3rd) four broadcast episodes

Where to find it: Starzplay (now called Lionsgate+ in some countries), one of the Amazon Prime channels

What is it, in summary?: tv series about Renaissaunce Queen Catherine de' Medici

What do you love about it?: It shapes up to be a really good ensemble series. Both Samantha Morton and Liv Hill (as teenage Catherine) in the title role are fabulous, but the show doesn't make the mistake of letting Catherine be the only interesting woman around. We get the pov of servants as well as of nobles, and said servants have their own lives and opinions. Antagonists of our (anti)heroine get fleshed out and we're given their povs as well. Lots of complex relationships between women, grudging alliances with rivals, mind games, fantastic location shooting (those Loire chateaus are swoonworthy) and great costumes. As or our main character: so far, this is the Catherine de' Medici I always hoped to see, neither over the top evil nor innocent of all wrong doings (well, other than as a child, and even then she's trying to outplan an environment eager to destroy her), but the product of her era with all its vices and virtues. And, in both her incarnations, a glare that sees entirely through you.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Characters teaming up, missing scenes, possibly crossovers.

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 a vey new canon (see above re: the episode number broadcast).

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): To date there's been one gorey execution scene and a deeply traumatic childbirth scene. No explicit sex scenes so far. Historical sexism. There may be incest in the future, depending on the show's take on a few Valois siibling relationships, but that's not a given, as the biography it's based on doesn't interpret the relationships in question this way.

Additional: Here is the show's trailer; and this is a scene whish fleshes out Diane, Catherine's arch nemesis, who is actually helpful to her here (for her own reasons).

The Warrior's Guild - Scarlett Gale

[stifledlaughter]

Title:
The Warrior's Guild - Scarlett Gale (2 books, completed series)

Media:
Books

Approx length:
I only have the eBooks which are 437 "pages" each. I'd say they're about the size of your average romance novel each.

Where to find it:
The author's website lists the best places to get them, both physical and ebook: https://scarlettgaleauthor.com/books

What is it, in summary?:
Shy and soft monk mage Lucían has to quest with Tall Beautiful Amazing Warrior Woman, they fall in love, it's wonderful. The books are more "adventure with lots of romance" than a "romance" series, but still very romantic.

What do you love about it?:
The worldbuilding is fantastic (lots of Tortall vibes with how the magic is done) and the characters are delightful diverse and queer. The author writes fic as well and you can tell they can from how they hit some of the beats and the sense of humor - it's very fun to read!

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:
Post-canon "day in the life of" fics of Lucían and Glory being happy and awesome.

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 you really do need to read both books.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Fantasy-typical violence, religious abuse (but not anti-religion as the character finds happier paths for faith), references to sexism/transphobia against characters

A Witch's Printing Office (Manga)

[stifledlaughter]

Title:
A Witch's Printing Office

Media: Manga

Approx length: 7 volumes total

Where to find it: Anywhere manga is sold (also digital versions, which is what I read)

What is it, in summary?: A woman who helps organize a fanmade manga / doujinshi festival in Japan (based on the real Comiket) gets transported to a fantasy land where she must use her skills in organizing a magical version of the convention to find the spell to send her back home. 

What do you love about it?: If you like reading about the manga/publishing/convention industry it's absolutely delightful. There are many scenarios that feel extremely real to anyone who has been in any sort of context related to conventions or publishing. The fantasy setting makes the commentary fresh and fun vs what's been done before (re: commenting on the publishing industry.)

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Just 'more adventures in the day in the life of Mika'! 

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?: Yeah you only really need to read one manga volume to get it, although all of them are great and the main character does have a narrative arc. 

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Fantasy-typical violence but it's not very common, she just has to run for her life sometimes but it's all very lighthearted. 

Hunger Pangs: True Love Bites by Joy Demorra

[stifledlaughter]

Title:
Hunger Pangs: True Love Bites by Joy Demorra

Media: Book

Approx length: 518 pages

Where to find it:
Author gives a TON of links to options on her website https://joydemorra.com/hunger-pangs-true-love-bites-flirting-with-fangs/ 

What is it, in summary?: A vampire and a werewolf in a "fantasy Victorian-ish" era meet in a series of circumstances and uncover a political plot that is further delved into when a mysterious woman who shows up and definitely knows more than she's saying. This is book one of what I believe will be a trilogy so it is not yet over, and only book 1 is out so far. 

What do you love about it?: The characters are very well developed, each of them with their own arcs, needs, and strong personalities. Joy Demorra writes with incredible humor, very Prachett-esque. Also the author has been clear (outside of the text) that it is intended to be polyamorous in future books, and that's hinted at in canon near the end. She's also written fanfic about her work where they do get together, although it is not (yet!) part of canon. 

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Anything where the three of them are happy together (which would be currently diverging from canon as the books aren't over yet but we can mentally skip ahead to when they are xD ) 

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 need to really read the whole book. 

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
Contains references to alcoholism and medical issues. 

The Girls I've Been - Tess Sharpe

[reflectedeve]

Title: The Girls I’ve Been - Tess Sharpe

Media: A stand-alone novel. Available in print, ebook, and audiobook formats.

Approx length: 300 - 360 pages, depending on edition. The audio version (which is what I have) is 9 hours and 48 minutes (including the afterword, which is mostly composed of resources for victims of abuse).

Where to find it: Bookstores, libraries, libro.fm, audible, etc

Summary: Nora O’Malley is, to all appearances, a relatively normal teenage girl. She lives in a small California town with her much older sister Lee Ann, has recently started dating a cute girl named Iris who loves vintage fashion and true crime, and is struggling with some friction with her best friend and ex-boyfriend, Wes, who wishes she wouldn’t keep things from him. However. When the three of them get caught up in a bank robbery/hostage situation gone wrong … let’s just say that things might have gone a bit differently for a normal teenage girl.

Nora O’Malley has only existed, technically, for about five years. Before that … there was a grifter and her daughter, the perfect accessory who changed identities to suit each con they pulled on the criminal men her mother targeted. That is, until she fell for one of them.

Fortunately, her older sister, a private eye and prior survivor of her mother’s lifestyle, had been working for years to get her out - and once she succeeded, with a little help from (and manipulation of) the FBI, the pair went into hiding and became Nora and Lee Ann O’Malley. It might be a little late to be quite normal, but they could at least be family in a way they’d never been with their mom. (And if Lee Ann had to use, betray, and abandon Marjorie North, the FBI agent she fell in love with mid-con, well, it was a price she’d been willing to pay.)

Now, Nora just has to get herself, her girlfriend, and her best friend out of a volatile situation alive … fortunately, she has a few unusual tricks up her sleeve.

It’s a tense, enjoyable YA thriller themes around identity, relative morality, surviving abuse, and found family/building a life for yourself out of the ashes of the one you've left. And of course, canon wlw.

What do you love about it?: So many things? I'm a sucker for caper stories, for parallel/back-and-forth narratives (this one alternates between Nora's past and the present events of the bank robbery/hostage situation), for chosen family (Lee is Nora's biological half-sister, but they aren't raised together and very much choose each other; Nora also has a deep, familial bond with her best friend, Wes), explorations of identity in fiction ... it's just chock-full of so many favorite things. And it's both a tight enough narrative to satisfy me, and one that hints tantalizingly at things I'd love to see further explored (like the relationship between Lee and Marjorie).

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I'm currently planning to repeat my request from last year - the characters of Nora, Lee, and Agent North, with prompts re: the tragic love story of Amelia Lee and Marjorie, and/or an expansion on the intense, complicated bond between the sisters and the way they make a life together (and actually get to know each other) after their respective traumatic histories. I'm very excited about both possibilities!

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?: You definitely need to read the whole book to write any kind of fic for it. But it's just the one book, and it's a pretty fast-paced read!

Content warnings: Child abuse, gaslighting, and grooming - including mentions of CSA - and physical violence (a couple of shootings and stabbings, manhandling and beating, and gore is alluded to but not described in explicit detail).

Undead Unluck

[penguinzero]

Title:
Undead Unluck

Media:
Manga

Approx length:
Currently at 128 chapters, with 8 volumes released physically.

Where to find it:
Shonen Jump has the first three and most recent three chapters available for free, and the rest with a subscription. The volumes are also for sale at most book/comic shops, and ebook versions online, though they don't have the full story yet.

What is it, in summary?:
Fuuko's just an ordinary girl with a tragic curse. Anyone who touches her suffers a bout of bad luck, depending on how much she likes them. At the low end, they might trip over something or have something fall on their head. At the high end... well, her curse first manifested when she hugged her parents goodbye at the airport. Their plane exploded before takeoff, leaving no survivors.

Hating the prospect of life without being able to touch anyone, she finally decides to end it all -- but before she can, a mysterious man intervenes, really interested in the idea that her ability could kill him. He's got a curse of his own, you see -- he can't die. The idea of an unlucky break actually getting past that and killing him -- that's wicked sick. So now he's just going to have to get her to like him enough to give him a stroke of unluck greater than anyone's ever had!

As time goes on, we learn more about the nature of their 'curses.' The world is defined by rules, and there are people called Negators who have the ability to break one of those rules. Fuuko has the power of Unluck, and the mysterious man, Andy, has the power of Undead. There are other Negators out there, including a group called the Union that would be very interested in acquiring their powers. There are mysterious beings called UMAs who embody the rules themselves, and use them to torment humanity -- for instance, Spoil, the rule that all things decay, turns the people of a town into rotting zombies. And there's a strange book giving out quests that can change the rules entirely. As Fuuko and Andy learn more about the truth of the world, it starts to look like the only way to make things better might be to find the 'god' that created the world -- and kill him.

What do you love about it?:
I've always loved worlds that work on principles very unlike the real world, and Undead Unluck provides that in spades. The fundamental building blocks of the world are the Rules, and over the course of the manga we see the Rules change several times. Defeating the UMA Language unifies all the languages of the world. Creating the UMA Galaxy retroactively adds the concept of stars and planets to a world that never had them. At one point, it's made explicit that things like gender, disease, and even movement were added to a world that never had them at some point. Seeing a world in flux like that is fascinating to me.

The story is also much better about its portrayal of women than many shonen manga have been. There's some unfortunate sexualization sometimes, but it's in my eyes outweighed by the sheer gutsiness of every female member of the cast. Fuuko is the main hero of the story, though with Andy as a close second, and she grows from being a depressed shut-in with no particular skills to being an active heroine who takes active part in the battles and weaponizes her Unluck to take down the strongest of foes -- while also showing compassion and understanding in how they got there. There are numerous other women in both heroic and villainous roles, and they're some of the strongest members of the cast.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:
I've nominated a few characters I'm fondest of -- Fuuko, Andy, Juiz, and Anno Un -- but more than anything else, I'm interested in the world, and how they get along in it. I'd love to see the world with different sets of Rules -- what was it like before gender, or before spoilage, or before death? What happens when several UMAs get killed in a recent arc -- we don't get much of a look at what changes that causes, but there's a lot of potential there. Anno Un and Juiz both have parts of their personal story that would make them excellent viewpoints for watching the world change. But I'd also like characterization pieces for either of them, or Fuuko and Andy 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?:
It's hard to narrow things down -- the story builds on itself. But Volume 1 sets up Fuuko and Andy pretty well, and Volume 2 introduces the concept of the Rules and the quests. The UMA Autumn arc (chapters 37-52) introduces Anno Un and also gives a solid look at the other characters and the nature of UMAs.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
Shonen-typical battles and violence, with a bit of extra caution recommended: Andy's Undead powers mean he can weaponize damage to himself, and so he will intentionally cut off limbs or use jets of blood in combat. He also sometimes appears as a severed head, a skinless body, or otherwise maimed. Also, the early chapters especially have 'comedic' sexual harassment -- Fuuko's Unluck is stronger the more skin contact she has, so Andy will often grope her to activate it. This thankfully tapers off as the series progresses. There's some non-explicit nudity -- Andy's Undead powers don't heal his clothes (and there's a running gag about showing off his censor bar), and a later character is Untouchable and can't wear clothes, though she's usually shown in a big mech suit.

LitenVerse - Nino Cipri

[reflectedeve]

Title: LitenVerse - Nino Cipri



Media: Two novellas: Finna and Defekt. Both available in print, ebook, and audio formats.

Approx length: Finna is 90-145 pages (depending on the edition), or 3 hours & 5 minutes in audio format. Defekt is 176 pages, or 4 hours & 29 minutes.

Where to find it: Bookstores, libraries, libro.fm, audible, etc.

Summary: Some very strange things can happen at LitenVärld, an IKEA-analogue Scandinavian big box home furnishings chain store … but that doesn’t save its minimum-wage employees from the banality, drudgery, and corporate bullshit that accompanies a customer service job. Unpredictable wormholes opening into alternate realities and unexpectedly mutating, sentient furniture are each just another iteration of “cleanup on aisle seven,” as far as the company is concerned. They used to have specialist divisions for things like that, but well, budget cuts. These are your other duties as assigned; no overtime pay unless you work upwards of 80 hours during a single pay period.

A few employees at a particular LitenVärld location, however, are able to turn these unexpected additions to their duties into opportunities to change their lives.

In Finna, Ava is forced to cover for a coworker, putting her on a shift with her ex, Jules, who she’s been trying to avoid. Even worse, a customer wanders into a wormhole that has unexpectedly opened in one of the showroom, and as the two employees with lowest seniority, Ava and Jules are volunteered to search for her. Guided only by the Finna, a proprietary tracking device, they wander through a series of increasingly bizarre and dangerous LitenVärld analogues (where the toilet on display might just eat you, or you might be expected to pay for your Swedish Meatballs in blood), trying to sort out some of their mutual baggage and maybe rethink the whole concept of a dead-end job.

In Defekt, we meet Derek: the perfect employee (after all, he was made to be). His job is his entire life; he even lives in a storage container behind the store, and he’s never so much as taken a sick day … until now. Suddenly, Derek’s handbook-regulated world is spinning out of control; he’s put on a special overnight inventory shift, tasked with locating and clearing away some uniquely “defective” merchandise. And then he meets the team he’ll be working with: Dirk, Darkness, Delilah and Dex, each of them genetically identical to Derek himself, but each intriguingly different. As he learns about them (and himself), and discovers the truth about the products they’re, well, hunting, the question becomes inescapable: just what makes something, or someone, “defective”? And what, exactly, do you do when you find yourself in that category?

What do you love about it?: Clever, funny, upsettingly familiar and poignant, these novellas are packed with satire, imaginative worldbuilding, relatable characters and commentary on neurodiversity, gender, identity, employment, autonomy … you name it. They’re extremely queer, anticapitalist, fun and also sometimes quite heartwrenching. And there’s so much to explore.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I’m undecided! I might ask for a direct continuation of either novella, or something that brings characters from both together … backstory on some of the Dereks or the program that created them … a deeper exploration of Ava and Jules’s relationship (and whether or not it has a future) … probably I’ll prompt for a variety of possible directions.

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?: Both novellas stand alone, so depending on the request, it’s not necessary to read both. Of course, I definitely recommend both; they’re so good!

Content warnings: violence, implied (minor) character death, misgendering, transphobia, ableism, corporate bullshit, lack of personal/bodily autonomy, dehumanization.

Watersnakes (Graphic Novel)

[idan]

Title: Watersnakes

Media: Graphic Novel

Approx length: 1 book, 144 pages

What is it, in summary?:
A graphic novel about two girls who meet during the summer, feel an instant attraction to each other, commit minor crimes, and have wild, surreal adventures while solving a supernatural issue pertaining to one of them. It's a queer, dreamlike, gorgeously drawn ghost story that's heavy with symbolism, but also quirky and fun. Don't come here for the plot, which is pretty vague—perhaps even contrived. Come for the atmosphere, the visual feast, and the delightful character dynamic.

What do you love about it?:
The horroresque art style full of flowy lines, dramatic lighting, beautiful value contrasts, muted palettes and a rendering of forms that looks like every object can morph into another one at a moment's notice. I first picked up the book because I love the artist, and then I got hit by the F/F vibe in the relationship between the two protagonists. I find the way it's depicted through the visual language of attraction really effective, so in this way the art complements the character dynamic well.

I love both Mila and Agnes. They're little weirdos who spend their time exploring the countryside, stealing people's picnic food, telling each other creepy stories, reading books about dead gods and performing pagan-like rituals. Agnes is the crazier one, and she has a good reason to be so. Mila is more pragmatic and skeptical, but she's happy to be swept away by Agnes's antics.

I'm not usually one for fictional dream sequences, but this canon is all about the dream sequences and they work so well. The transitions between reality and fantasy are ubiquitous, but never confusing, because both are two sides of the same story.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:
What I want most from this fandom is a fix-it of the way the relationship between the girls is handled. They hug; they share a very weird, but also very sensual kiss; they tease each other about liking girls, but it's all brushed off at the end in an extremely frustrating way. Yes, the author is (as far as I know) a cishet man, and it shows.

The story ends well, even if I didn't much care for how it got there, and it opens up possibilities for a post-canon fic too if people would rather write that than a retelling/remix.

And there's a lot of fun to be had with the symbolic layer of the narrative. Most recurring symbols are left up for interpretation, and I think it'd be fun to see what others make of them, since there's so much space for a new writer to step in.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
The body horror, gore and violence can get heavy—it's very stylised, but it's also very present. Emetophobia and mouth/teeth trauma warning.

Hitherby Dragons

[penguinzero]

Title:
Hitherby Dragons

Media:
Web Serial

Approx length:
Several hundred pages of text.

Where to find it:
The entirety of the canon is available for free at hitherby-dragons.wikidot.com. Several stories have been compiled and revised in ebooks, but they're not necessary to understand the canon; if you want to buy them, though, they can be found on Amazon, Smashwords, or Drive Thru RPG, under the name Jenna Katerin Moran.

What is it, in summary?:

In the old days, they didn't know very much about the world. But they made maps anyway. If they had to map something they couldn't, they just drew whatever they felt like and wrote, "Here there be dragons."
We still don't know very much about the world; and there are things to map of it besides its surface.
Can broken things be remade?
Can destinies change?
Is it worth the risk of hope?
Important questions, but one can only shrug, you see:
Here, there be dragons.

Hitherby Dragons is a web serial by Jenna Moran (mostly famous for her work in the field of tabletop RPGs, including Nobilis and Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine), written primarily between 2003 and 2011, with a few entries since. It's sadly incomplete, as Jenna's life pulled her away from the stories, but there are complete sub-stories in there, and tantalizing threads of what could come in the future if she gets back to it.

It's about... well, it's about a girl named Jane and her brother Martin, who escaped a monster and came to a tower in the ocean off Santa Ynez, where they joined with a mysterious theater troupe to put on surreal, humorous plays.

It's about those plays, which depict strange and wondrous events that explore the problems Jane and Martin and their friends are struggling with, and allegorically try to figure out how to fix them.

It's about the legend of a girl who found a tower supposedly rising to Hell in her closet, and how she set out to find it, because she's an explorer who can't let a place go unmapped, and because she wanted to find a reason for her existence.

It's about a line of people who can create gods out of the hollow spaces inside them, and about a line of people who were sworn to protect them, and who guard, and control, and abuse, and resent, and love them, and who eventually hollow them out entirely to make more gods.

It's about the people who previously claimed the throne of the world to implement a solution to the suffering of the world, and how those solutions worked for a time until the cracks began to show, and their answer turned into its own form of tyranny.

And it's about taking the things that shaped us, whether as grim as an abusive childhood or as silly as the Smurfs and Scooby-Doo, and making something wild and beautiful and meaningful out of them.

What do you love about it?:
There are so many things I love about Hitherby Dragons, but the core of it absolutely has to be Jenna Moran's writing. She's got a whimsical, thoroughly imaginative style and a knack for extremely evocative wording, covering up a deep commitment to meaningful exploration of thought-provoking themes.

She's created creatures and concepts that have been a meaningful part of my mental landscape ever since I first read of them, both for creating fantasy and sometimes for analyzing the real world -- woglies, isn'ts, the Place Without Recourse, Ink Catherly's definition of Hell (a condition where you're experiencing something you can never accept, but are powerless to change).

The subtitle of the story is 'An Answer to Suffering,' and that's the main thread running through all of the stories, both the canonical ones and the legends the theater troupe puts on. The world is a place where people suffer, and it doesn't look like that's ever going to change -- so what can you do about it? How can you minimize that suffering, or make it into something meaningful? The characters explore the question from many angles, and while there's never a single definitive answer, there are some concepts that start seeming to bring them all together. ('Make your scars into a map.')

And then there are some stories that are just strange and ridiculous and wonderful, from the Dynamite Trilogy (in which a perfect rock-paper-scissors robot and a group of players of Konami Thunder Dance, which can change reality by dancing, must face the evil prophet of space!) to a story about a girl trying to reach an arena to see if her cornbread can count the real numbers.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:
My primary interest is in Ink Catherly, the explorer who seeks Hell, who's got one of the most interesting storylines in the whole canon. I'm also going to suggest exploring her ambiguous connection with Mei Ming, the shadow girl. And I'd also be fine with stories about Jane and Martin, and how they're dealing with the monster and the hero and their own personal path to learning how to deal with suffering, whether in their off-stage actions or in the plays and legends they're performing.

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?:
Ink Catherly's stories are all collected on one index page. Just reading all of those would get you enough of a grounding to write about her. Mei Ming appears in only a few stories, though she's referenced in a few others; check out The Castle (III/IV), Mei Ming (I/I), and Reinterpreting Bad Milk (I/I). Jane and Martin are harder to absorb in just a few stories, since they're in many ways the main characters, but the Jane and Martin at Play category has many of their more lighthearted stories.

For a grab-bag of some of the best short bits, you could take a look at the category Jenna's Personal Favorites.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
Child abuse, both allegorical and literal, plays a part in many of the stories, and lurks in the background of many more. It's generally not sexual, but still pretty rough. Jane was abused by the monster, and a major core of the story is her learning how to cope with that fact and still have a life of her own.

The Brittas Empire

[holomew]

Title:
The Brittas Empire

Media:
TV Show

Approx length:
7 series, with each series consisting of 6-8 episodes in length each, plus 2 Christmas Specials.

Where to find it:
In the US, the entire series is on BritBox. As for the UK, only Series 1-5 is on Britbox, but the entire series is on DVD. Additionally, the entire series can be purchased on DVD on Australia as well.

What is it, in summary?:
It is a slightly surreal look at a British Leisure Centre called Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre and the eccentric staff that work there. The star of the show is Gordon Brittas (played by Red Dwarf's Chris Barrie) who is probably the boss from Hell, but usually has good intentions behind his actions.

Also of the cast is Brittas' neurotic philandering wife Helen, down on her luck receptionist Carole, only sane employee Laura Lancing, loyal but somewhat incompetent and walking health hazard Colin Weatherby, gay couple Tim and Gavin, sassy receptionist Julie, and the perky and willing to shoot Linda.

What do you love about it?:
I think it's the fact that for a British pre-watershed Sitcom from the 1990s, it is such a shockingly dark show - some of the themes touched on in the show include mental illness, homelessness, and murder. Plus, it is quite absurd - one of the things that happen is Brittas dying and then being resurrected because he was too annoying for Heaven to handle.

Plus, it's a show with a surprising level of progressiveness for its time - two of its characters are a gay couple which doesn't fall under "LOL Gay" humour, and there is a gender-equal ensemble nature to it.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:
I'm okay with whatever. I do have a bit of a preference for Brittas/Laura, mainly because it's rarer than the top pairing of Tim/Gavin, but if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen.

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?:
If you're doing a fic involving Laura, keep in mind that she's written out of the show after Series 5.

Brittas is more difficult since he's the main star. That said, his characterization doesn't click fully until after Series 2, so if you want to skip the first two, be my guest. Series 6 and 7 is considered the weakest parts of the show and he becomes somewhat two-dimensional there, so if you want to avoid those, that's fine as well.

Tim/Gavin's relationship isn't touched too deeply, but there are several episodes which focus on them. The ones to check in particular are "Playing With Fire" (Series 4) and "Gavin Featherly R.I.P." (Series 7 - ironic, considering what I had just said earlier).

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
Themes such as death, suicide, and blood are featured in the show. It's in a more family-friendly matter, but be warned.

Galatea (Interactive Fiction)

[pure_anon]

Title:
Galatea (Interaction Fiction)

Media:
Interactive Fiction

Approx length:
Probably about 1-2 hours to read all the content.

Where to find it:
https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=urxrv27t7qtu52lb

https://iplayif.com/?story=http://mirror.ifarchive.org/if-archive/games/zcode/Galatea.zblorb

Cheats and Walkthrough page.

https://web.archive.org/web/20180929015031/http://emshort.home.mindspring.com/cheats.htm

What is it, in summary?:

Galatea is a character-focused interactive fiction game by Emily Short. You play as the Art Critic, someone assigned to critique "Galatea," a sculpture or "animate," that appears to be sentient. Depending on how you interact with her, Galatea grows and shifts -- and depending on how you interact, the Art Critic shifts too.

Emily Short's description:

A conversation with a work of art. "47. Galatea. White Thasos marble. Non-commissioned work by the late Pygmalion of Cyprus. (The artist has since committed suicide.) Originally not an animate. The waking of this piece from its natural state remains unexplained."

Galatea is my first released foray into interactive fiction. It is a single conversation with a single character, which can end any of a number of ways depending on the player's decisions. Despite its age, I continue to get strong reactions to it in my email inbox on a fairly regular basis. Some people love it; some people find it annoying or distressing.

Galatea has what I call a multilinear plot: unlike traditional IF, it has no single path to victory. Instead there are a large number of endings, some more satisfactory than others, of which many could be considered "win" states. It takes only a few minutes of play to arrive at an ending, but considerably longer to find all of them.

The game also takes an ambitious approach to NPC (non-player character) conversation, both in terms of volume (Galatea has many hundreds of things to say) and complexity (she keeps track of the state of conversation and reacts differently according to what has already been said and done).

What do you love about it?:

You come around a corner, away from the noise of the opening.

There is only one exhibit. She stands in the spotlight, with her back to you: a sweep of pale hair on paler skin, a column of emerald silk that ends in a pool at her feet. She might be the model in a perfume ad; the trophy wife at a formal gathering; one of the guests at this very opening, standing on an empty pedestal in some ironic act of artistic deconstruction --

You hesitate, about to turn away. Her hand balls into a fist.

"They told me you were coming."

The strength of the prose and character-writing in this game is like nothing else. Emily Short is one of the most underrated authors right now, and I think if she chose to write novels, her work would be highly celebrated. Galatea is just -- where does one begin?

I adore the options Interactive Fiction gives you for character writing, and Galatea is one of the best. Both the Art Critic and Galatea are so fully fleshed out and realized -- I love how they grow and change, I love the tension between them, I love how you can either end up kissing or killing each other. I love how the Art Critic is a character in his own right, with his own backstory and motivations. I love Galatea's fierce and wild grief. I love her strangness, her uncanniness. I love how there are no easy answers.

You put a hand on her back, between the shoulderblades, to feel her breath rising and falling, and the faint motion of implied muscle.

When you take the hand away, however, she shivers.

All you can think is: animates don't do that. There's a conventional limit to their interactivity. They're meant to be touched -- but not to react--

You run a finger along her spine, from the nape of her neck to the place where her dress begins, noting with approval the distinct vertebrae under the skin.

But when you draw your hand away she shivers.

"Yes," you say softly. "That's what I thought." Whatever she is, she's no animate.

She says nothing, but you suspect that she heard you clearly enough.

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

I want to see the aftermath of certain endings. I need to replay again to get a full list, but certain ones I want to see right now are -- Exchange of Glances, Kiss, Stilton, and Hug. You can find ways to see these endings on Emily Short's Cheats and Walkthroughs page. I want to see the relationship between Galatea and the Art Critic and the forms it can take -- it's so fascinating and interesting and SO well-written. Galatea especially is just one of the strongest and most interesting characters I have ever read. I adore her

It's a bit awkward at this angle -- the best you can manage is to put your arm around her at the waist. With a sigh, she steps off the pedestal entirely and into your arms.

No one has ever hugged her before. The certainty makes you want to weep for her. You hold her longer than you should; longer than is honest, considering the ambivalence of your feelings toward her.

"Come on." You disengage at last, but only enough to lead her. She comes with you, still leaning on your shoulder.

You may not be able to mend the world for her -- in fact, you may end by hurting her quite desperately, by failing to be what she needs. But you also can't leave her standing there forever.

Her gown hushes on the pale floor as you turn the corner, back to the main gallery. Sometimes there's no right way to do what needs to be done

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 do not have to play through all the endings to enjoy the story, but I do recommend it as there are bits of character information and backstory that are not revealed in all routes. I plan to make a guide to that at some point, and I will link it in my author's letter if I do.

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

You can either kill or be killed by Galatea depending on the routes you take.