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.

---

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

---

(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

Teppuu

[babster]

Title: Teppuu

Media: Manga

Approx length: 33 chapters

Where to find it: Wherever unofficially translated manga can be found

What is it, in summary?: Natsuo is good at any sport she tries, and she's bored and angry about it. When she meets a girl, Mawatari, who's excited to show her the joy of MMA, Natsuo decides to get into the sport...for the sole purpose of absolutely destroying Mawatari.

What do you love about it?: It's a great girls' sports manga, and it's not all about fanservice, and all the women are messy and have interesting relationships with each other. It cuts off a little abruptly, but it's honestly one of my favorite manga of all times, and I live in hope that one day it will be officially translated.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Post-series fic, fic about Natsuo and any of her rivals/mentors/friend(s).

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?: Unfortunately not. Fortunately, it's not that long.

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

Why Didn't They Ask Evans?

[useyourtelescope]

Title: Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? (2022)

Media: TV Mini Series

Approx length: 3 episodes, each about 50 minutes

Where to find it: It was made for BritBox, though I think in some countries you can watch it via Amazon Prime as well.

What is it, in summary?:
Vicar's son Bobby Jones finds a dying man in time to hear his last words, “Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?” which gets him and an old friend, Lady Frances (Frankie) Derwent, entangled in a mystery. Based on the Agatha Christie novel of the same title.

What do you love about it?:
Investigating a murder with your childhood crush is absolutely the vibe I’m here for! Bobby and Frankie have great banter and chemistry and the whole cast is great. In general, I think the series finds a very good balance of being a fun, jaunty mystery while still hitting the serious points when needed. I don’t mind an unrelentingly dark mystery once in a way but there seems to be much more of those out there than is my taste - this series (which was adapted by Hugh Laurie) is more light-hearted and very charming. If you know the book but haven’t seen this series yet I would say it’s a relatively faithful adaptation of the book, with changes that help make it translate better to screen and/or appeal to a modern audience (rather than changes that completely change the original story, like the Miss Marple adaptation of this story in 2009).

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:
Mostly shipfic for Frankie & Bobby, more character based stuff about their lives/relationship rather than detailed casefic.

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?: As it’s just a short mini series there isn’t anywhere to cut out. I will say that you don’t need to have also read the book, the series can stand alone.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
Being a murder mystery there is death, but you don’t really see the gory details. There are a few instances of violence and I would put a suicide tw on it (both for visuals and discussion).

Re: Why Didn't They Ask Evans?

[rosehiptea]

I've been meaning to watch this and I do have Britbox. Usually I'm more into the dark mysteries but I like the dynamic you're talking about between the two main characters so I should check it out.

For a Change (Interactive Fiction)

[yhlee]

Title: For a Change

Media: Interactive Fiction - this is a parser-based text adventure game.

Approx length: A complete playthrough is around one to two hours; alternately, if you don't mind spoilers and would rather read a transcript, that's about 10,000 words.

Where to find it: The game can be found here, along with a walkthrough if you're puzzle-averse - if you're already IF-savvy, there's a z5 file that you can load into the interpreter of your choice. However, the easiest way to play is in your browser! There's a play-in-your-browser link at the top right.

What is it, in summary?: This is a surreal text adventure in which you are restoring order to a strange, topsy-turvy world described in weirdly evocative language. I think the opening text is the fastest way to get the flavor:

The sun is gone. It must be brought. You have a rock.

What do you love about it?: I love the strangeness of the world and the poetry of the language. I love that the puzzles can be figured out by adapting yourself to the quasi-magical rules of the setting.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I've nominated this with "Worldbuilding," whether that means further elaboration of the game world or a "fake transcript" sequel to the events of the game or an examination of the past via a pastiche of the language style.

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 could probably play just part of the game for the flavor if you're hard up on time.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): N/a - I can't think of anything along these lines.

Re: For a Change (Interactive Fiction)

[pure_anon]

I'm so pleased to see people nominating some Interactive Fiction games this year!

Madame Storey

[kanna_ophelia]

Title: Madame Storey - Hulbert Footner

Media: Books (available as public domain ebooks in many regions)

Approx length: 8 short novels/collections.

Where to find it: Downloadable from Faded Page here. Otherwise, I guess you'd be chancing your luck at second hand book stores.

What is it, in summary?: Canadian detective stories from the 1920s, featuring the beautiful flapper private investigator and "practical psychologist specialising in the feminine" Roskia Storey, narrated by her plain, freckled, red-headed secretary Bella Brickley.

What do you love about it?:

Well, they are 1920s detective stories with a ravishingly beautiful flapper detective with a pet monkey. Her beauty and indifference madden men, but none are capable of mastering her soul, so she is forced to remain "respectable and unmarried".* She also has a female secretary who is so plain she hates people to look at her (but her ginger hair matches the emerald drapes) but adores female beauty. Did I mention the pet monkey?

The f/f potential is right up my street.

Here is Bella (who confesses herself an admirer of female beauty) describing Mme Storey:

She was very tall and supremely graceful. It was impossible to think of legs in connexion with her movements. She floated into the room like a shape wafted on the breeze. She was darkly beautiful in the insolent style that causes plainer women to prim up their lips.

She wore an extraordinary gown, a taupe silk brocaded with a shadowy gold figure, made in long panels that exaggerated her height and slimness, unrelieved by any trimming whatsoever. On her head she wore an odd little hat of the same colour with an exquisite plume curled around the brim. All this was very well, but what made the women gasp was that snuggled in the hollow of her arm she carried a black monkey dressed in a coat of Paddy green, and a foolscap hung with tiny gold bells.

She looked us over with eyebrows registering delicate mockery, and glanced at the ape as if to call his attention to the spectacle. Nevertheless she was not displeased by the sensation her entrance had created. I suspected that she had lingered outside especially to create that dramatic pause.

Mme Storey, on the other hand, on Bella:

"But you, one can see, are suffering from malappreciation. Those two ugly lines between your brows were born of the belief that you were too plain and uninteresting ever to hope to win a niche of your own in the world. And so you are if you think you are. But you don't have to think so. Think that cross look away and your face will show what is rarer than beauty—character, individuality. Old Time himself cannot rob you of that."

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Pastiche, femslash, casefic

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?: One or two would be more than enough to pick up flavour and characterisation.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Best to assume period and genre-typical everything.

* I am devouring the series, but I suppose it is possible she eventually finds a man up to her standards. Obviously, I think she's in need of a sensible ginger secretary instead.

Re: Madame Storey

[(Anonymous)]

I don't know if I'll have time, but this sounds intriguing. Do you have a favourite volume in the series that you especially recommend? Should I begin with the first book, or is it okay to pick another one first?

Creature - BONES UK (Music Video)

[whimsicalmeerkat]

Title: Creature - BONES UK (Music Video)
Media: Music Video
Approx length: 3:37 minutes
Where to find it: YouTube
What is it, in summary?: Black & white music video for a rock song about individuality. Features two women driving a hearse like you would a taxi, and a whole variety of people in the back of it.
What do you love about it?: I ran across this song when I made a Spotify playlist off “Start A Riot” by Beginners x Night Panda, and it was largely responsible for my deep venture into music by angry women. There’s a strong fuck off/I don’t give a fuck vibe that I adore. There’s a celebratory air to it too.
What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Literally anything the author finds inspiring.
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, just the music video.
Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): N/A

The World Is On Fire - American Aquarium (Music Video)

[whimsicalmeerkat]

Title: The World Is On Fire - American Aquarium (Music Video)
Media: Music Video
Approx length: 5:27 minutes
Where to find it: YouTube
What is it, in summary?: Music video of people in a bunker. You don’t know why exactly they’re there, but there’s an entire narrative arc.
What do you love about it?: American Aquarium is definitely one of my favorite bands. I knew and loved this song long before I found the video. Both of them start with a story of despair and move to a place of hope. It isn’t a coincidence that this was their first album after the 2016 US presidential election.
What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Stories about the couple in the bunker, whether it be slice of life or something larger. There is a scene where they have a picnic of sorts, and I’d love to know more about that.
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, just the music video.
Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): N/A

Redesigning Women - The Highwomen (Music Video)

[whimsicalmeerkat]

Title: Redesigning Women - The Highwomen (Music Video)
Media: Music Video
Approx length: 3:02 minutes
Where to find it: YouTube
What is it, in summary?: Music video of a group of women taking a bunch of “traditional” womens’ clothing and such out to a hayfield on a fire truck. They eventually have a bonfire.
What do you love about it?: The entire Highwomen supergroup is a reference to an old men’s country supergroup called The Highwaymen. It’s unabashedly feminist and I adore it. I like that they decided to have a big party, and they’re all having fun. I really like the way the song shows that you can be both traditionally feminine and a feminist.
What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Anything, really. I’m just super interested in what someone might come up with.
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, just the music video.
Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): N/A

Grand Designs (UK TV)

[hangingfire]

Title: Grand Designs (UK TV) Media: TV

Approx length: Many many seasons; each episode is ~50min.

Where to find it: Various seasons are streaming on Amazon and Britbox. If you're in the UK, you can stream it on Channel 4's web site. Amazon also has it streaming 24/7 on one of their live channels.

What is it, in summary?: long-running British reality/documentary show in which host Kevin McCloud covers the building of a custom-built home that is unusual, ambitious, risky, expensive, or some combination of the above (usually all). It rises above the usual sort of show in this vein in that Kevin is very well-informed on matters of design and engineering and is also fond of explaining problems with mundane objects in a very funny way. (One episode involves making a trifle, complete with custard, sherry, and cake.)

Inevitably, the builders run into trouble—cost overruns, weather, unforeseen problems with the romantic old building they "fell in love with", choosing to project-manage their whole build when they have no experience—but it's rarely a schadenfreude show; more often than not you just really want to see these poor overwhelmed people pull it off. One of my friends nicknamed the show "Measure Once Cut Twice", which pretty much sums up the usual sorts of troubles people bring upon themselves. There are at least two or three cases of massive hubris, one of which occurs in the 2019 season in spectacular fashion, and the other involves a gentleman that I refer to as "batshit Irish castle man". If you know you know.

What do you love about it?: The way each project evolves, the ups and the downs. Kevin's distinctive style of narration. The fact that it's ultimately a pretty cosy show. The architecture porn.

For more, this Decider article does a great job of explaining the show's charms.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I'm eager to see Grand Designs crossed over into some kind of genre setting, original or otherwise—supervillain lair, superhero HQ, haunted house, portal fantasy, etc etc. Kevin has a very distinctive style of narration which is great fun to riff on—he opens each episode with a philosophical rumination that ties into the key ambitions of the project at hand and loops around back to it in the end, and then there are the hilarious explanations of building problems.

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?: After you've seen a half dozen episodes, you should have a pretty good idea of how the show works.

Content warnings: None to speak of. Occasional angst, and very occasionally a relationship crumbles, but that's the exception rather than the rule.

Re: Grand Designs (UK TV)

[brainwane]

The Irish castle man!!!

A League of Their Own

[saiditallbefore]

Title: A League of Their Own (TV 2022)

Media: TV

Approx length: 8 1 hour episodes

Where to find it: Amazon Prime

What is it, in summary?: A show about US women in the 1940s playing professional baseball, to help keep the country's morale up while most of the men are at war. Loosely based on the 90s film of the same name and on real historical events.

What do you love about it?: It's gay. So gay. No, more than you're thinking.

Our main characters are Carson Shaw (a white woman who is taking advantage of her husband being at war to run off and play baseball) and Max Campbell (a black woman who just wants someone to give her a chance to show what she can do). Their lives keep intersecting, as they both keep growing and changing as people. But it's also about Carson's romance with her teammate Greta Gill, about Max reconnecting with her trans uncle, and about all the players becoming a family, if only for one season.









What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Femslash. Future fic.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Period-typical sexism, homophobia and racism.

Takenoko (board game)

[(Anonymous)]

Title: Takenoko
Media: Board Game
Approx length: 45 minutes gameplay
Where to find it: Anywhere boardgames are sold, or the apps on the Apple or Google stores (https://studiobombyx.com/en/jeu/takenoko)
What is it, in summary?: "A long time ago at the Japanese Imperial court, the Chinese Emperor offered a giant panda bear as a symbol of peace to the Japanese Emperor. Since then, the Japanese Emperor has entrusted his court members (the players) with the difficult task of caring for the animal by tending to his bamboo garden. In Takenoko, the players will cultivate land plots, irrigate them, and grow one of the three species of bamboo (Green, Yellow, and Pink) with the help of the Imperial gardener to maintain this bamboo garden. They will have to bear with the immoderate hunger of this sacred animal for the juicy and tender bamboo. The player who manages his land plots best, growing the most bamboo while feeding the delicate appetite of the panda, will win the game."

What do you love about it?: The build quality, from the adorable cartoon character figures to the art in the pieces, cards, and supplementary materials, and especially the concept of a rivalry/competition between a bamboo-hungry panda and an emperor's gardener; it's also a fun and well-balanced strategy game that doesn't take long to learn and play.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: There's lots of potential for humourous, hungry panda hijinks, and for the gardener to find creative ways of outsmarting the panda to meet his goals, and imagining how the emperor could aggravate the gardener by asserting increasingly specific, fussy garden designs depending on his mood.

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 don't have access to the game or don't have time to play it, there are plenty of freely available Let's Play and review videos out there, especially via Board Game Geek (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/70919/takenoko)

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

Moonbase Theta Out

[muggle95]

Title: Moonbase Theta Out

Media: Podcast (transcripts available)

Approx length: Season 4 is currently being released (or available early to patreon supporters); approximately 120 standard and bonus episodes available

Where to find it: transcripts at https://monkeymanproductions.com/moonbase-theta-out/ and audio available through most standard sources of podcasts

What is it, in summary?: The last moon base is shutting down, and only a handful of people are awake and out of stasis pods to enact (and record) the process. (Season 1 is composed of the Communications Lead's official weekly reports back to base management on Earth; Season 2 revisits the same events via personal messages and personal logs of the same comms guy, his husband back on Earth, and the additional remaining crew and sometimes their loved ones on earth. Season three takes the timeline forward again, and I haven't listened to season three enough to peek at the summary for season four, in case of spoilers)

What do you love about it?: the characters! I accidentally started at the beginning of season 2, with a pair of private messages between Roger and Alex and they immediately had so much depth and so much obviously left unspoken that I was hooked. Going back to season 1 after that, I enjoyed the premise: there's a mining (and science) base on the moon that's being shut down. There are gerbil sized tardigrades being cute. Roger has a clause in his contract allowing him 15 seconds out of every official broadcast to send sappy messages to his husband (and their dogs). Even in Season One, it's clear that Wilder (Maintenance) loves her century-old (modern, to us) memes. It's just delightful all around and even in the official reports of season one, Roger walks the line between snarky (and real) and respectful (... enough to keep his job) enough to be fascinating and very fun even before the plot twists reveal themselves (also there is racial/linguistic, (physical) ability, and orientation/gender identity diversity very strongly among the limited cast)

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): major character death (late season 1, revisited in season 2); modern frustrations (eg capitalism, politics/war, climate change, bigotry) extrapolated to the year 2098

Dark (2017)

[(Anonymous)]

Title: Dark (2017)

Media: TV show

Approx length: aprox 26 hours

Where to find it:
Netflix

What is it, in summary?:
A German science fiction / time travel / time loop show that focuses on four families, their histories and legacies, and their connections to each other and the small town they live in.

What do you love about it?: It's atmospheric and slow-paced, unwinding the mysteries an episode at a time so the viewer has time to hypothesize and synthesize. I really enjoy how the time periods are interwoven, and the casting is quite good, as each character has a different actor for each time period the show takes place in. I like the setting and the set pieces/design, and the music/soundtrack is pretty good too.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Romance/Smut, character study or introspection.

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 watching the show purely to fill a request, I think the first two seasons would work, as the third season becomes extremely complex when it comes to characterization.
For a watch-free overview of the show in its entirety, there is a site (dark.netflix.io/en) that allows people to choose what episode they've just "watched" and then click on a character or setting to get the full timeline and story beats. This site will contain full spoilers, but the operator can gauge how much they'd like spoiled/explained (example: just the first three episodes of season 1).

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
Violence, murder, adultery, homophobia, bullying, child abuse (on screen emotional, off screen physical). A few consensual sex scenes throughout the show. Incest occurs, but is very tied to spoilers, so I can only give a "it happens" warning.

Can I Get There by Candlelight? - Jean Slaughter Doty

[dizmo]

Title: Can I Get There by Candlelight? by Jean Slaughter Doty

Media: Book

Approx length: A hundred pages and a bit. (With fairly large print. It's a middle-grade novel.)

Where to find it:
It's available on Amazon and, I'm sure, other bookstores.

What is it, in summary?: It's a middle-grade novel published in 1980 about girls, friendship, horses... and time travel.

What do you love about it?: I mean, look at my summary! TIME TRAVEL AND HORSES. It was one of those books that I read as a kid and it just stuck with me afterwards. I thought about it again over the summer and ordered a copy to reread and fell in love all over again.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Probably post-canon. I want to see Gail and Hilary manage to bridge time again somehow in adulthood and see what became of them as they grew.

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 particularly, but it's also a pretty quick read.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
One of the main characters is left in a possibly serious situation late in the novel that never ends up getting resolved due to the time travel link being broken.

Labyrinth (The Questioner Trilogy)

[fishdip]

Title: Labyrinth – Dennis Schmidt

Media: Book

Approx length: 179 pages

Where to find it:
It's an out-of-print paperback, and available fairly cheaply from online booksellers (I'm finding prices from $4–$8 USD). There is an ebook version floating around on online libraries that I can link you to.

What is it, in summary?:
An excellent and thought-provoking work of xenofiction with 0 human characters and a very solidly nonbinary main character! Labyrinth takes a time-hopping approach to tell the story of Seeker, attempting to find purpose on an extremely hazardous planet known as Labyrinth. Seeker's present is interwoven with glimpses of their past, and the slowly unraveling mystery of what became of Seeker's species and their planet.

What do you love about it?:
This was the book that introduced me to scifi and I adore it. There's so much wonder and mystery in the glimpses of Seeker's past, as Seeker searches for the truth about their own origin. The overarching theme of the book is an extremely heavy one; the book focuses on the mixed blessing of sapience, the utterly devastating effects of a sentient civilization on their planet, and the unwillingness to give up a comfortable, civilized life despite the consequences of that decision.

In addition to its very distressing and familiar message, the book does some excellent xeno worldbuilding. Seeker's species has three "genders" with fluid gender identities and societal roles that evolve over their lifetimes. The book goes through these roles with Seeker during their unexpectedly long life, and watching Seeker evolve and find the answers they so desperately need is a pure treat. There are glimpses of other aliens in the book as well, some of them very nonhumanoid, including one that resembles a large crystalline structure.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:
Worldbuilding! The history of Labyrinth itself. More on the fascinating history of Seeker's homeworld. Seeker's culture! More scenes from Seeker's life as they mature and attempt to puzzle out the world around them. Seriously just about anything, honestly, I adore this book.

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 could probably read only the "past" sections or only the "future" sections of the paperback, but it's a quite short book. There are a total of three books in the Questioner series, but only the first book really shows Seeker's past and their time on Labyrinth, which is what I'm interested in.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
With the caveat that it's been a long time since I've read these books, I don't believe there's anything too graphic or harsh. The main character is forced into a reproductive act unwillingly, but they're a nonhuman species and the physical act (harvesting eggs) bears little resemblance to human sexual assault. There is likely some ableism with regard to mental ability as well—a character's intellect is forcibly reduced to tame their rebellious urges. There is some death by alien planet misadventure as well, but I don't remember it being especially horrific or gruesome.

Re: Labyrinth (The Questioner Trilogy)

[(Anonymous)]

Sounds fascinating; I have purchased it on eBay!

High Noon Over Camelot - The Mechanisms (Album)

[nonesensed]

Title: High Noon Over Camelot - The Mechanisms (Album)

Media: Music album

Approx length: ~52 minutes

Where to find it: Official Youtube Playlist, Bandcamp and it's up on Spotify too.

What is it, in summary?: A queer retelling of Arthurian mythology but everyone is a cowboy and also they're in space.

What do you love about it?: Besides the catchy songs, lovely lyrics (we get lines such as "We're not pure of heart, but we're sure of aim") and fun winks at mythology (Arthur has a "Calrent 10 caliber railgun" aka X-Caliber) I adore that the band chose to make the infamous Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot love triangle a threesome, and an established-from-the-start threesome at that! Despite their story ultimately being a tragedy - as all stories told by The Mechanisms - getting to see a truly loving threeway romance is downright heartwarming. I also find the setting fascinating and the reinterpretations of the other mythology characters that show up (Gawain, Morgause, Mordred, Galahad, Merlin) interesting. Oh, and to be very clear, this story is a Tragedy with a capital T!

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I am very likely to request a story that focuses on the Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot relationship. I'd be happy with a missing scene set during canon or a full-on AU that features them.

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?: Since this is a single music album, it's hopefully easy to get through, but if you want to dip your toe in, I'd suggest listening to the song Blood and Whiskey. It's a quest and love song sung by Lancelot, Arthur and Guinevere before they set out on their search for the GRAIL. It really summarizes what I love about their dynamic. Also, I must confess I love the live performance version of the song 'Hellfire' more than the album version, just so you know there are more than one official version of the songs XD

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Character death, violence, murder, cannibalism, xenophobia, genocide, religious fanaticism.

Hermux Tantamoq Adventures

[(Anonymous)]

Title: The Hermux Tantamoq Adventures - Michael Hoeye

The individual books are: Time Stops For No Mouse, The Sands of Time, No Time Like Show Time, and Time To Smell The Roses

Media: Children's book series

Approx length: 4 books, all on the order of 250 pages or so

Where to find it: It should be reasonably easy to get hold of the first book - I think later books may be out of print and they're a bit harder to track down, though I've had good luck with finding them second-hand. Also, I think the first two have an audiobook, I'm not sure about the rest.

What is it, in summary?: Set in the rodent high society of Pinchester, Hermux Tantamoq, a watchmaker mouse turned amateur detective, finds himself solving mysteries and getting embroiled in adventures, trying to figure out how to confess his feelings for the dashing aviatrix and adventuress Linka Perflinger, and trying to navigate the world of fashion, art, and unscrupulous academia that he is surrounded in by his friends and neighbours.

What do you love about it?: I love Hermux being an everymouse in a quirky cast of weirdos - particularly his neighbour and nemesis, beauty mogul Tucka Mertslin, whose plotting and scheming and chain of spectacularly poor choices of romantic partner drive a lot of the plot. The slow-building romance between Hermux and Linka is very sweet, and based on a mutual respect and admiration. The setting is really great fun, with provocative art, outrageous fashion, and socially tense nights at the opera interspersed with jungle adventure, ancient tombs, Bond-esque villainy, and all the while Hermux just hoping for a peaceful afternoon fixing cuckoo clocks and eating doughnuts.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I'd probably be looking for case fic, worldbuilding, or some adventure with a sprinkle of romance.

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 read the first book to meet all the characters I plan to nominate and get a good feel for the world and the kind of story Hoeye tells with it.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): They're children's books, so there isn't much to warn about beyond some pointed guns and fantastical peril. Relations between different animal species does mirror some real-life race relations, with mouse supremacy and frowned-upon interspecies relationships coming up in the second book in particular.

- Triss_Hawkeye

Re: Hermux Tantamoq Adventures

[rc88]

AAAA! I know these!

The Gaea series - John Varley

[pikkugen]

Title:
The Gaea series - John Varley. Consists of three books, Titan, Wizard and Demon.

Media: Book trilogy

Approx length: ~300 pages, three books.

Where to find it:
Library, or wherever you get your old books (the first is from 1979).

What is it, in summary?:
A science fiction staple, Gaea is an artificial(?) world, and our hero with her team is going to explore it. Turns out it's not artificial as such but living, Gaea is the personification/god/consciousness of the place, and she has... interesting ways of interacting with the visitors.

What do you love about it?:
The worldbuilding is Something Else. I love the idea of everything organic - nothing mechanic, the variety of life-forms and evolution within Gaea and the ways our human crew deal - or don't deal - with it all. The literal parts of the Gaea are intriguing by themselves (if you know the books, I Maded A Pun) and all the alien life forms are endlessly fascinating.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:
Adventures of Cirocco and Gaby, maybe one of those alluded in the books? Or just a slice-of-life in the life of a Titanide? Idk, the world is a treasure-trove for worldbuilding and adventure.

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?:
Ehhh. The first book gives you a pretty good idea of the world and the characters, but the whole thing is a fast read and I'm confident you'll want to read the whole thing. (No cliffhangers as such... but the world is pretty capturing.)

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
There is a rape, but you can see it coming and it's not very graphic. There are mentions of an incestuous relationship in the first part, but it's not the main characters and it's mostly just mentions. Violence happens, but in a weird sci-fi way when it's not about humans. (The humans part does get a bit gory at times.) Otherwise, some weird alien sex and mentions of weird sexual organs, if that's not your thing. (If it is, there's not very much of it, which may be disappointing.) Also Varley seems to have A Type when it comes to humans of the future, and sometimes it includes very young people. And a thing I apparently forgot: forced pregnancy and improvised abortion, neither very traumatic but if you're sensitive to it, well, you're warned.

Rook & Rose - M. A. Carrick

[nonesensed]

Title: Rook & Rose - M. A. Carrick

Media: Book trilogy (though only 2 of 3 books are out yet, book 3 is planned for August 2023)

Approx length: Book 1 The Mask of Mirrors is 630 pages and book 2 The Liar's Knot is "only" 629 pages.

Where to find it: Here's a GoodReads link so you'll know what to browse for in your bookstore or online for ebooks.

What is it, in summary?: A second world fantasy story about a former street urchin turned con artist who just wants to live a comfortable, safe life; a noble family down on their luck struggling to hold together; a city guard who's struggling against a corrupt system; a crime lord aiming for respect and recognition by the town's elite. They all tangle together in a story of political and magical intrigues.

What do you love about it?: Argh, it's so hard to explain exactly why I love this series without spoiling far too many plot twists, so I'll have to resort to being enthusiastic but vague. I love well-planned second world fantasy settings and I adore so many tropes that show up in this story! We've got Found Family, Secret Identities, Identity Confusion, Competence Porn, Hidden Motives, Political Conspiracies, and on the list goes! I think what I love the most, though, is how you gradually get to know the characters across the story. It's not that all the characters are pretending to be something they're not - it's more that this book series has very human, complex characters that you need several chapters to truly get under the skin of. The foreshadowing in the series is also great! There are several things that happened in book 1 than I now look back on and go "Oooooh! So that's what that was/meant!" Also, there's a local hero who fights the nobles' corruption, "The Rook" (think Zorro but with magic), and guessing at which character hides behind the Rook's hood is a delightful side-mystery that runs parallel with the main plots of the story.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Derossi Vargo has thus far ended up being my favorite character, so I'll likely request a story with him as the focus.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): The setting is a second world fantasy city that's got very strict hierarchies and plenty of colonialism soaking through its laws and attitudes, so basically all negative things such things lead to are addressed in the story (for example: corruption, police brutality, abuse that ranges from sexual to mental to physical, racism, poverty). There are some semi-graphic scenes of violence and torture and implied sexual abuse, plus explicit mind control, and plenty of murder. Also, sleep-deprivation and nightmares are a big theme across the books.

Re: Rook & Rose - M. A. Carrick

[saiditallbefore]

Oooh, you've reminded me that I need to read book 2! I really enjoyed book 1!

Teixcalaan Series - Arkady Martine

[nonesensed]

Title: Teixcalaan Series - Arkady Martine

Media: Book duology

Approx length: Book 1 A Memory Called Empire is 462 pages and book 2 A Desolation Called Peace is 496 pages.

Where to find it: Here's a GoodReads link so you'll know what to browse for in your bookstore or online for ebooks.

What is it, in summary?: A political space opera that explores language, colonialism and what it means to be a person.

What do you love about it?: While I adore the characters as characters, what I've fallen in love with most in this series is the worldbuilding and the language. There are so many gorgeous sentences in these books! So many! The exploration of personhood and what it's like to exist as a semi-person in the eyes of the dominant law and culture of your world is also heart-wrenching in the best of ways. The added science fiction element of literally inheriting the previous generations' memories, as the main character Mahit's people do via memory chips installed into their brains, adds a nice twist to the whole "what is a person"-question. Oh, and I fell hard for the aliens. Especially one alien species that shows up later in the story.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Something set post-canon. I'd love to see where the story goes from the end of book 2, either with focus on one or more of the characters' lives or from a more "bird's eye view" of the setting. What changes? What stays the same? What new discoveries are there to be found?

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): There's plenty of violence and murder in this book, and there's some semi-detailed descriptions of both injuries and medical procedures. Consent is explored in detail so romantic and sexual relationships with huge power imbalances do show up. Identity and loss of identity, both via colonialism and mind-sharing, are a prominent theme.

Re: Teixcalaan Series - Arkady Martine

[minebyrights]

Just finished Teixcalaan earlier today! Absolutely adored these. I nommed Twenty Cicada, Yskandr, Nineteen Adze, and Six Direction for a combination of preseries and postseries stuff (I might switch out 19A and 6D, but god I love Yskandr and 20C), but I do hope other people get in on the nominations game because I'd love to see some fic!

Rivers of Light (Disney Parks Attraction)

[sunrisemagpie]

Title: Rivers of Light (Disney Parks Attraction)

Media: Originally, performances at Disney's Animal Kingdom from 2017-2018. Now, recorded performances viewable on YouTube. (Do be aware that they retooled the show at one point to take out the human performers, which made it more lame, and then made it even lamer by adding Disney IP stuff. This is about the superior original version.)

Approx length: 15 minute "preshow" (very boring to watch, unless the video manages to interact with the performers as they enter the amphitheater and light the lanterns) and 15 minute show itself.

Where to find it: Video of part of the preshow and the whole show, as viewed from audience right, high up. (Start at 9m44s if you want to just watch the show itself.)
Video of a sliver of the preshow and the whole show, as viewed from audience right, up front.
(There are also oodles of other videos, but some are of nights when not all of the effects worked, or the music cuts out, or the videography is terrible.)

What is it, in summary?: A sadly now-discontinued "evening spectacular" at Disney World's Animal Kingdom that never quite lived up to the high-tech pitch.

What do you love about it?: The original concept, that the park visitors are attending a lantern festival and hearing a story told by the local storytellers, is SUCH a good one. On nights when all of the effects worked correctly, it was MAGICAL to see images appear to leap from waterscreen to boat and back again. The lasers, especially when the smaller lotuses are shooting up irregular streams, looked so freaking cool and really did look like the Aurora. Plus the music makes me FEEL EMOTIONS.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:Man, I would love to know what exactly the story being told is. I'd love to know why the shamans/acolytes ended up in charge of this storytelling. What do they do the rest of the day? Is this festival a once a year event? Do the storytellers live on their boats? Honestly, I just want to know more about the whole thing.

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 of canon is fairly short, but there are also some additional materials from Disney that help enhance the story. (And have close up photos of the INCREDIBLY DETAILED costumes.) Costumes post is here. Behind the scenes sneak peak is here.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
Intense clip in the middle section of a lion chasing a mama cheetah (from the Disneynature big cats film) but mama cheetah reunites with her babies unharmed.

Thieves and TARDISes (Doctor Who-inspired actual play podcast)

[lurking_latinist]

Title: Thieves and TARDISes

Media: actual play podcast (transcripts also available)

Approx length: 26 episodes so far; each episode is something like an hour and a half, but to be honest I prefer to read the transcripts for audio processing reasons, so your mileage may vary anyway!

Where to find it: Official masterpost: https://docs.google.com/document/u/1/d/1Ig-GtArgjdN8oZi02xjEDglWWzAEO5wvZ8dk67b_j7s

What is it, in summary?: A podcast using the Doctor Who RPG system, made by people who love the fandom and love telling their own stories using its box of toys!

What do you love about it?: It has some of the most creative plots, the perfect mixture of fun and serious character stuff, and amazing characters that work so well together as a cast. Player characters include a hospitality robot gone rogue who wants to become top of the Most Wanted list (yes, this is one of the good guys and I love them), a psychic spider alien (yes, also one of the good guys), and a 19th century mill girl who, in her second story, rescues an enslaved TARDIS from a cultist Time Lord, and now she has a TARDIS. There's also Leela (recurring character from Classic Who and Gallifrey, but she's sufficiently explained for the story to stand on its own -- but if you know her, you know I don't need to explain how awesome she is) and an original regeneration of the Doctor, who has the most ridiculously unbalanced stats ever, and who must be loved and protected always. (Villains disagree.) And then there's Brax (original regeneration of a recurring character from the Extended Universe), the glamorous and mysterious NPC who ran off with all the fanart....

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Character studies and alternate POVs on canon events. Given that it's still ongoing and that the creators are fannish people (and I know at least one of them is a Yuletideish person), I'm trying to avoid requests that might tread on the toes of the stories they might still be planning to tell. (I did ask the creators and they confirmed they welcome fanworks based on their work -- I'll be linking to that in my evidence post!) I'll also be making exclusively gen requests.

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 definitely doesn't require knowledge of all of Doctor Who, although some of my requests may allow for references to parts of the Extended Universe. I think you'd know all the characters pretty well with just the first three storylines ("Depths," "Woven Ghost," and "Family Matters").

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): There's sci-fi violence and some body horror. More jokes about stabbing than actual stabbing, though. (The robot has knives.)

Edited to add: strange-destinations, who plays the Doctor, just made a fantastic post about the character relationships in the game that highlights exactly why I love this team so much. Check it out: https://at.tumblr.com/strange-destinations/what-does-tt-doctor-honestly-think-of-her/p1rsq7o3r1ms

Akira (Anime 1988)

[(Anonymous)]

Title: Akira

Media: Anime/Film

Approx length: 2h 4m, including credits

Where to find it: I recommend watching the sub, which is available via Hulu US and the Blu-Ray editions. Otherwise, you can find dubs on most anime streaming services.

What is it, in summary?: A cyberpunk anime film set in the futuristic Neo-Tokyo, after a black domed explosion thirty years prior destroys Neo-Tokyo and sets off World War III. Friends Kaneda and Tetsuo are a pair of biker gang members living in Neo-Tokyo. During a gang confrontation one evening, a government escapee with psychic powers interrupts the fight and comes into contact with Tetsuo. The military soon arrives to reclaim the escapee, but takes Tetsuo along with them and subjects him to the Akira Project, granting him powerful psychic abilities. However, these powers combined with a severe inferiority complex harbored since childhood waste no time in sending Tetsuo flying off the deep end. He escapes and begins to rampage across Neo-Tokyo, with Kaneda trying to stop him.

What do you love about it?: The film is gorgeous and sounds amazing: there is a reason it's a defining film for the cyberpunk genre. There is a lot to chew on when it comes to characters and themes. I love the world presented in it as well, and there are a lot of angles to explore for worldbuilding.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Worldbuilding, alternate points of view, body horror, during canon, crossovers, fusions

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?: Canon itself is short; there is a reason I didn't nominate the manga, ha.

Content warnings: Gore, violence, body horror

A Certain Hunger - Chelsea G. Summers

[shinsengumi]

Title: A Certain Hunger - Chelsea G. Summers

Media: Novel

Approx length: 240 pages

Where to find it: Your local library or retail bookstore. In 2020 it was very hard to get a hold of but it's had a broader reprint since then.

What is it, in summary?: This novella is written from the perspective of Dorothy Daniels: food critic, convicted serial killer, cannibal. She's writing the story of what she did and why she did it from prison; she is not telling the whole truth, but she's definitely telling a lot of it, and what she is telling is pretty sensational.

What do you love about it?: Dorothy's unreliability as a narrator, the visceral and opulent approach to food and murder and sex, honestly almost everything. I feel like this book was made for me. It's dark humour with a feminist perspective, it's a highly capable protagonist with a blind spot the size of the moon, it's one iddy, indulgent bite that I could happily read in a single long afternoon.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Femslash (Dorothy/Emma). Emma is by far Dorothy's most important person and I'd love to see that demonstrated in fic.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Per above, serial killing/gore (usually rather detailed in their description), graphic sex, cannibalism.

떳다 그녀!! | There She Is!!

[reshiel]

Title: 떳다 그녀!! | There She Is!!
Media: Animated series, consisting of short videos set to music
Approx length: 25 min (5 songs)

Where to find it: here (Eng-subbed)

What is it, in summary?: The love story of a cat and a rabbit, in a world where society disapproves of relationships between the two species. (It is mostly adorable and uplifting, but please note content notes below.)

What do you love about it?:
- upbeat and energetic music, cute art style and animation
- very sincere and heartfelt; they just like each other so much!!
- my favourite is Part 2, which is about Nabi crossing hell and high water to bring Doki a birthday cake.
- a happy ending!

Content warnings:
- Part 4: (fictional) prejudice, implied mob violence

Re: 떳다 그녀!! | There She Is!!

[rosehiptea]

I was literally just thinking about these videos yesterday. I only saw the first one but now I want to watch the rest. Thanks!

The Book Eaters - Sunyi Dean

[shinsengumi]

Title: The Book Eaters - Sunyi Dean

Media: Novel

Approx length: 298 pages

Where to find it: Your local library or retail bookstore.

What is it, in summary?: "Devon is part of The Family, an old and reclusive clan of book eaters. Her brothers grow up feasting on stories of valor and adventure, and Devon—like all other book eater women—is raised on a carefully curated diet of fairytales and cautionary stories. But real life doesn't always come with happy endings."

The novel follows Devon as she works to escape from the confines of her culture, protect what matters most to her and hold her head up against adversity.

What do you love about it?: The underlying themes of fairy tales, motherhood and failing to fit in. Devon is valuable because Book Eater women are rare, but 'value' translates into an image and set of behaviours that don't suit her. Book Eaters are also not humans but Devon deals with some very human experiences and emotions; this is something I love to see books explore.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I loved Devon's story, and don't need any more of it. I'm very interested in worldbuilding for this novel—I want more Book Eaters and Mind Eaters from other cultures, more people who don't fit into where they come from, more people who subsist on words they can't write. The novel's full of fun ideas to extrapolate.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Marital rape (note: the victim of said marital rape is homosexual, however within the context of the rape that fact is incidental), murder, body horror (brains are sometimes consumed via the ear with a long proboscis-like tongue), some gore.