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

The Founders Trilogy - Robert Jackson Bennett

[minebyrights]

Title: The Founders Trilogy - Robert Jackson Bennett



Media: Books

Approx length: Three books--Foundryside (2018, 500 pages), Shorefall (2020, 493 pages), and Locklands (2022, 550 pages).

Where to find it: Wherever books are rented or sold!

What is it, in summary?: This is a speculative fiction trilogy with strong heist elements essentially about the natures of humanity/technology/innovation/capitalistic systems that opens in a ruled-by-four-companies-propped-up-by-magic-that-works-like-coding vaguely Italianate city-state called Tevanne, though over the course of the trilogy you traverse about 20 years and see beyond just the one city-state. A thief called Sancia with some slightly odd sensory abilities gets drawn into a megaheist of a piece of technology? a ruin from a previous state of humanity? both at once? that sets her and her hardscrabble, enemies-to-comrades band on a road to understanding the nature of the technology-magic that runs their society and, eventually, the nature of reality itself.

First book plot hook is here on Goodreads.

What do you love about it?: Is it fantasy? Is it sci-fi? Is it both? Are powerful magic/tech users just augmented humans given potentially endless life or are they gods? What does life and existence mean? I love the blurring of tech and magic and how the magic/tech system works, and I love how the series ultimately comes to be about what it means to be an individual human but also what it means to be a member of the human race and a society. It has strong "fuck capitalism" and cyberpunk vibes in addition to the heist set-ups that recur across the trilogy and EXTREMELY strong found family vibes, though it's almost like enemies-to-found-family inasmuch as they have a rough go of things at first and start out antagonistic to one another and working together only grudgingly. (Sancia is a former slave left without blood family who finds a girlfriend/wife and their own desperate set of family-society-without-blood-or-genetics set-up that is wonderful.) Lots of "dealing with the trauma your blood relations passed on to you" as well and attempting to stop chains of intergenerational abuse. And, yes, it is very gay, and the f/f relationship is a crucial part of the worldbuilding and further anarchic innovation of the magic/tech in the 2nd and 3rd books.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I LOVE Sancia and Berenice but for 3rd book reasons I am really interested in more about Berenice in particular, including her relationship with Gregor. Also, the worldbuilding for this series is off the chain and I'd love to explore where society goes after the end and to fill in some pieces between the end of Locklands proper and the epilogue.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Hoooooo boy. Slavery/indentured servitude (mostly as backstory), sexual and psychological and physical trauma (the sexual trauma is mostly off-page but there is a lot of magic/tech manipulating people to do nonsexual things against their will on page), brutal relationships with blood family members, uses of tech that border on the cyborgian and may be body horror (especially in the 3rd book, though the focus is mostly more on the psychology and not how people look), violence. Probably more. Notably, not really any racism or queerphobia--this is a pretty grim world but most people are some shade of brown in skin color and no one makes note of m/m or f/f relationships being odd.

Re: The Founders Trilogy - Robert Jackson Bennett

[saiditallbefore]

I still need to read book 3 but aaaah these are so good! <3

Fire Island

[sophia_helix]

Title: Fire Island

Media: Movie

Approx length: 2 hours

Where to find it: Hulu

What is it, in summary?: A modern Pride and Prejudice retelling, with the Bennett sisters played by a diverse group of gay men and Margaret Cho as their lesbian den mother/Mrs Bennett, set on the gay summer vacation mecca of Fire Island.

What do you love about it?: This is honestly one of my favorite P&P retellings ever. The script was written by comedian Joel Booster Kim, who also stars as Noah, and it’s funny and FUN and well-paced while dealing with the canonical class issues as well as the complicating race ones. Noah and Howie (Bowen Yang) have a wonderfully deep and complex friendship that goes beyond Lizzie and Jane’s family one in the novel, and Will Darcy is played by Filipino hottie/Broadway star Conrad Ricamora. The setting feels like a little bit of summer escape, and I watched it 3 times this year. Overall it’s just amazing how well the story translates to the gay community, especially the divide between the have and have-nots on the island.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: First time for Will and Noah, their developing relationship, and anything about the side characters, preferably with some humor.

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: It’s a 2 hour movie

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Party drug use (no OD, but scenes with characters getting high or drunk), some implied anti-Asian racism from the Caroline Bingley character. Lots of crude sexual language and a scene with a blowjob (no body parts shown).

TLDR: GAY ASIAN PRIDE AND PREJUDICE!

Re: Fire Island

[whetherwoman]

Yesssssss I want so much more fic for this movie!!!

Better Things - FX TV Show, 2016-2022

[milficwriter]

Title: Better Things



Media: TV show, 5 seasons made up of 10x22min episodes (with 12 episodes in s3).



Approx length: 52x 22min episodes.



Where to find it:
UK - BBC iPlayer, Disney+
USA - FX



What is it, in summary?:
A single mother and working actress doing her best to get by in LA. In between juggling the pressures of both parenthood and Hollywood, Sam lets loose in brave and funny ways. Things often get the better of her and her three young daughters, but her bold, funny, and always loving approach to life is what makes Sam—and indeed the show—a true knockout.



Better Things is a semi-autobiographical story, with Pamela Adlon also having daughters of her own, so it’s no surprise that many things ring true in this big-hearted show about single motherhood.



What do you love about it?: PAMELA ADLON (she was nominated for the 2018 Emmy Award in the Lead Actress in a Comedy Series category for her role as Sam Fox.) Her portrayal of Sam is raw and endearing and funny and she's everything I would ever want in a mother. The kids are fresh and unlike most TV kids; they're as real as kids get, too. I totally understand why some people don't like this, but you'd be crazy not to give it a try!



Voted #71 in the Rolling Stone 100 best TV shows of all time



There are lots of opportunities for genderbending too - All three daughters, Max, Frankie and Duke, as well as their mother, Sam, have gender-neutral names. The grandmother Phyllis is also called Phil, and Sam's brother is named Marion. Even Duke's pet mouse is named Mandy Patinkin; though the actor Mandy Patinkin is male, the pet mouse is female.



What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Family fic, Rule 63 Genderbending, Mother-daughter relationships, single Mom dating (a couple of missed opportunities over the course of the series).



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?: s2-3 primarily.



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

Some may find some of the dialogue written for the girls to be shocking, considering their ages. Mbr>

Louis C.K. did co-produce the first two seasons, and following the confirmation that the sexual misconduct allegations against him were true, FX cancelled their overall deal with C.K. and his production company. Pamela has continued to make the finaly three seasons of the show without him.

Elfquest

[(Anonymous)]

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

Media: Comics

Approx length: Depends on how you count. The original run of comics was ~37 issues, but following that was many sequels and side series (*aprox* 200 issues).

Where to find it:
All of Elfquest comics published prior to 2014 are available to read online in browser on the official website (elfquest.com/read/digitalEQ.html).

What is it, in summary?: Elfquest is a long-spanning fantasy adventure comic about elves (specifically starting with a single small tribe, the Wolfriders).

What do you love about it?: It's very colorful, fun, dated in a very campy way-- classic 70s/80s fantasy, though with a lot more female gaze than usual (Wendy Pini, artist). I've always loved the relationships between the characters, especially when it came to romance and soulmates (which many of the stories revolve around). Some of the relationships and sexual encounters are very sensual and dreamy. As the scope of the world increases and time progresses, the setting turns from one of early man (cavemen, tribes, early conflicts revolving around natural disasters and small-scale factionalism) to an epic fantasy featuring lost castles, new tribes of elves, and the search for the ancestors of the elves. The art is incredibly detailed, from the homes of the elves to their fashion.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: [left intentionally blank]

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?:
I personally suggest publish order, starting with "the original quest" (issues 1-21) and then deciding whether to continue on with Siege of Blue Mountain, and then Kings of the Broken Wheel. However, there are many side series and those can sometimes be read as standalone or in any order (these are the comics in the section on the website "more adventures from the world of two moons"). Other people may have different opinions, which I invite!

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
Violence, murder, kidnapping, torture (generally not explicit and not frequent). Elfquest can be gorey at times during actions scenes, with blood, stabbing, choking, decapitating, and other forms of violent conflict. There is also quite a bit of near-nudity (generally censored with scenery or hair, but otherwise nudity and sex scenes are a regular occurrence). There are sometimes instances of fantastical racism (ie, racism between two fantasy groups). I'm not sure how to content warning for colorism, but I think it isn't controversial to say that sometimes Elfquest will correlate character goodness with pale/white/lightness and bad with dark coloring (specifically hair, for some reason). If that is a turn off, that's completely understandable.

Re: Elfquest

[pikkugen]

Awww, Elfquest! Every year I think I should reread them and every year I... don't. Maybe this is the year?

The Changeling Sea - Patricia McKillip

[akamarykate]

Title: The Changeling Sea

Media: Book

Approx length: 150 pages

Where to find it: Bookstores (independent bookstores or through bookshop.org) and libraries

What is it, in summary?: A short novel that reads like a fairy tale. Peri loses her fisherman father and curses the sea, meets a prince and a dragon, and learns a little about the consequences of magic.

What do you love about it?: Patrica Mckillip is one of my favorite writers; when she died a few months ago I started revisiting some of her books and landed on this one because of the light but lyrical prose, the fairy tale sensibility, the humor and power and love--of the sea, of family, of magic and healing. It's a very accessible story, and leaves enough unresolved that there's room for fic in several different directions.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Pre- or post- stories exploring the characters, their relationships, and the magic that infuses the world.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): None that I can think of. The grief of several characters drives their actions and the plot, but I find the overall tone light and hopeful.

Re: The Changeling Sea - Patricia McKillip

[magpiemountains]

Patricia McKillip is DEAD??????

well fuck. i'm always low-key looking forward to more stuff from her. awh man.

State of Terror - Hillary Clinton & Louise Penny

[callirhoe]

Title: State of Terror - Hillary Clinton & Louise Penny

Media: Novel

Approx length: One normal-length novel (about 320 pages according to google).

Where to find it: Anywhere such books can be found! My library has approximately three million e-book and audiobook copies and yours might too.

What is it, in summary?: A political thriller written in collaboration between former US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and popular mystery writer Louise Penny. It follows a brand-new and inexperienced US Secretary of State as she attempts to get to the bottom of a series of terrorist attacks that get more and more sinister the more she learns about them.

What do you love about it?: It's a fun, fast-paced, clock-racing thriller with a lot of blatant references to current-day political situations and thinly-veiled expies of IRL political figures. The characters are mostly not super deep, because the book is heavily plot-driven, but I am so intrigued and fascinated with the character of Gil Bahar, who's the Secretary of State's investigative-journalist son with a harrowing backstory that still haunts him and his family, a strained relationship with his mother, and what seems like a perpetual self-sacrificing need to dive right back into danger every time he gets rescued from it (so basically, just my type of character). He is gloriously whumpy and very shippy with his Pakistani-terrorist-fighter friend Hamza who saves his life several times, and I have a pressing need for more of that.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I only nominated the characters Gil Bahar and Hamza, so definitely that! They have such a great vibe of a friendship forged by fire and mutual need, trusting when they really shouldn't, and sticking their necks out for each other because despite all appearances they're more alike than different, and I ship it a lot (though I'd also be thrilled to get gen friendshippy 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?: Nope, it's just one novel!

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Terrorist plots, including massive civilian casualties; lots of injury and death; kidnapping; mentions of torture; heavy-handed references to real-life events and people that may still be too close for comfort for some.

Score: A Hockey Musical

[whetherwoman]

Title: Score: A Hockey Musical

Media: film

Approx length: 90 minutes

Where to find it: Available in full on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTdv4lAzvHE&ab_channel=NFIComedy

What is it, in summary?: Y'all. This is the WORST movie. It's SO BAD and I love it SO MUCH. I wrote a full promo post on tumblr, with gifs, here: https://whetherwoman.tumblr.com/post/188037972671/an-ode-to-the-best-worst-movie-score-a-hockey but uhhh to attempt to sum up... it's a musical... about hockey...?

What do you love about it?: It is just BONKERS, all the way through. It starts out bonkers and it gets MORE bonkers.
1) The rhymes. My favorite is baloney/zamboni, but brain/Herculean is way up there too.
2) The star studded cast. Olivia Newton-John plays the mom. Theo Fleury and Nelly Furtado have cameos. John McDermott sings O Canada for the opening credits.
3) The homoeroticism. You know how hockey is frequently homoerotic? This has a shower scene, and a half-naked tattoo on ice, and a song literally titled "Boyfriends".
4) The EARNESTNESS of it all. Usually I have a pretty strong embarrassment squick, but somehow this movie overcomes that just because everyone on screen is just having so much FUN, all the time.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Farley/Moose locker room shenanigans! Everybody/everybody locker room shenanigans!

Content warnings: Blink and you miss it brief throwing up on screen, a nonconsensual kiss one of the characters treats as consensual, the songs are REALLY bad.

Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots

[whetherwoman]

Title: Hench

Media: Book

Approx length:

Where to find it: your local library and/or favorite bookstore

What is it, in summary?: Hench is set in a world where superheroes and supervillains are common, and supervillains hire minions, or henches, through temp agencies. Anna Tromedlov is injured by a superhero while on a temp gig, and starts making spreadsheets about the damage superheroes do. It escalates from there.

What do you love about it?: I first picked up this book because the premise of "temp fights superheroes with spreadsheets" is like catnip to me, and it absolutely lives up to the hilarity of that premise. But it's also about the horrors of capitalism and patriarchy, and disability justice, and what you will and won't do for friendship, and what you will and won't do for what you think is right. I love the casually bi characters, and the relationships and community Anna forms through sheer willpower, and how no matter how many times I read it I can't decide whether Anna is a good guy or a bad guy.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I love the relationships between women in this book. Anna and June, Anna and Quantum Entanglement, in either & or / relationships. Or Anna and her band of data geeks and their intense loyalty to her. Or, for the monsterfuckers out there, Anna/Leviathan has a LOT of potential.

Content warnings: body horror, body modification (consensual and nonconsensual), gore, threatened harm to children

Celesbian Interviews Special RPF

[whetherwoman]

Title: Julie Goldman's Celesbian Interviews Special

Media: video

Approx length: 10 minutes

Where to find it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aMs9KqCU5g

What is it, in summary?: Julie Goldman interviews renowned porn star and sex educator Nina Hartley. Kate McKinnon chews on furniture.

What do you love about it?: Look, okay, so there's this bit about 8.5 minutes into the video where Nina Hartley demonstrates How To Pull Hair on Kate McKinnon, and it is both technically SFW and also the absolute most erotic thing I have seen in my entire life. I do recommend watching the whole video to see how Kate steadily ramps up her attempts to get Nina's attention because watching her play with the vagina puppet is hilarious. But you can also just watch the hair pulling on repeat. Not that I've done that. (I've absolutely done that.)

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Nina Hartley domming the fuck out of Kate McKinnon.

Content warnings: It's real sexy. No clothes come off. But it's real, real sexy.

Invitation to the Game, by Monica Hughes

[(Anonymous)]

Title: Invitation to the Game

Media: Book

Approx length: less than 200 pages

Where to find it:
I see it on Amazon, and also on openlibrary: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL574843W/Invitation_to_the_game

What is it, in summary?:

In a future jobless dystopia a bunch of disenfranchised post high schoolers are invited to play The Game, which is an immersive virtual reality, in which they get to essentially do open world exploration.

Spoiler

The open world exploration is of an actual planet, that they are eventually transferred to without warning, and now need to not die, because it's for real.

What do you love about it?: I read this years ago but it was so formative for me! I've read other media about virtual reality open world exploration but something about the nitty gritty details of this one really stuck with me. I like the wilderness survival aspect a lot as well.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Oh, definitely worldbuilding. 100% worldbuilding. Whether more scenes of the canon characters, or getting to see other groups of players. In game or in spoiler.

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

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): It's a book for young readers, which means nothing really comes up in terms of content warnings. Don't have high expectations in terms of writing quality or depth of characterization.

Re: Invitation to the Game, by Monica Hughes

[(Anonymous)]

Argh, that spoiler code did not work :(

Infected series - Andrea Speed

[obscure_ramblings]

Title: Infected series - Andrea Speed

Media: Books

Approx length: 12 books

Where to find it: List of sellers of each title: http://andreaspeed.com/2020/updated-book-list/. Also available in libraries and second-hand bookshops.

What is it, in summary?: In a world where a werecat virus has changed society, Roan McKichan, a born infected and ex-cop, works with his partner Paris Lehane as a private detective investigating crimes against and by infecteds, all the while battling his own personal demons.

What do you love about it?: The virus is an allegory for AIDS, and the series offers both catharsis and realism in relation to that, in varying doses between each novel. Dark humour, very good characterisation of the queer experience, references to obscure bands.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Worldbuilding, explorations of Roan and Paris' dynamic as partners in both work and romantic contexts.

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, the first two books (Prey and Bloodlines) as well as a standalone novel (Paris) are the only ones that feature Paris. There are also a bunch of free short stories on the author's website that offer enough background to get a sense of the characters and setting: http://andreaspeed.com/category/read/i/

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Violence, gore, major character death, AIDS allegories, racism, homophobia

Ultramechatron Team Go!

[eccentric_hat]

Title: Ultramechatron Team Go!

Media: Streaming TV show

Approx length: 11 episodes, of which the longest is 25 minutes and the rest are under 20.

Where to find it: On Dropout.tv; a subscription is required, but it's pretty cheap. You can also subscribe to Dropout on YouTube and watch it there.

What is it, in summary?: It's a parody of kids' mech shows like Power Rangers, done with gloriously cardboard-looking practical effects and also real love and attention in the character work.

What do you love about it?: The show uses its short total runtime to go from "one of the Chosen, Destined Pilots is just a party dude who keeps smoking up in his cockpit" to "what is goodness, how do you know, and what would it mean for it to win?" while always maintaining a sure sense of its characters and rock-solid comedy. If you are a fan of any of the College Humor cast, a bunch of the all-stars are here (Mike Trapp, also writing! Brennan Lee Mulligan! Rekha Shankar! Katie Marovitch, stealthily the weirdest person from CH! Raph Chestang! Jess Ross!) and the show really plays to their strengths.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Gosh what a good question. Post-canon fic, probably!

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Cartoonish violence, almost always against prop "monsters" or "robots" that resemble living bodies only in the broadest sense.

Wire in the Blood

[othalla]

Title: Wire in the Blood (TV)

Media: TV-series

Approx length: 24 episodes, between 60-90 min long

Where to find it: amazon i think? I have a dvd box

What is it, in summary?: British crime drama television series that follows one Dr Tony Hill, clinical psychologist and serial offender profiler, who works with the police to solve crimes, usually involving serial killers.

What do you love about it?: I like Tony himself a lot, the show deals a lot with his mental health and emotions/reactions to things, as well as his relationship with people. It feels more raw than other crime dramas out there.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Tony-introspection, case-fic, 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?: I think you can get a good idea of things with only the first season watched!

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): The crime scenes can get a bit grisly, but are never gratuitous. I don't remember specific things to warn for - it's been a while, but as it is crime television dealing with serial killers expect there to be some content warnings in general.

Solo Leveling (Webtoon)

[othalla]

Title: Solo Leveling

Media: Webtoon

Approx length: 180 chapters or so

Where to find it: https://sololeveling-manga.net/

What is it, in summary?: Humans with powers vs. monsters that come through gates - a little bit pacific rim, a little bit fantasy, general "gamer" mechanics

What do you love about it?: The art is Fabulous. The story is also decent enough, with likeable characters and plot

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Jin-Woo (main character) fics, gen and slash, crossovers, just a bit of everything

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: I think only reading the first third/half would be enough to get a feel enough to write for this fandom.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Some violence, but not very graphic

Tomten är far till alla barnen | In Bed with Santa

[othalla]

Title: Tomten är far till alla barnen | In Bed with Santa

Media: Swedish Movie from 1999

Approx length: 95 min

Where to find it: uh, if you know swedish you can get it at https://www.sfanytime.com/sv/movie/tomten-ar-far-till-alla-barnen - i believe if you already have the movie yourself, there is a file with english subtitles out there. allegedly

What is it, in summary?: a chaotic christmas movie that airs every christmas in Sweden, as is tradition. Basically we have Sara, now married to Janne. She's been married several times and invites all her ex-husbands (with families) to a christmas party. Then Drama. It's a black comedy sort of deal.

What do you love about it?: It's the sort of movie that grows on you if you're forced by swedish television to watch it once a year. It's chaotic as heck.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Hmm, I'd probably request some more with the same vibe as the movie - like, the next christmas party the year after. Or looking at how Marika (a younger guest) explains this experience to her friends later. Or! Crossovers!

Helix (TV)

[othalla]

Title: Helix

Media: TV-series that aired on SyFY

Approx length: 2 seasons, total of 26 episodes of around 40 min each

Where to find it: hulu and other streaming sites I believe

What is it, in summary?: a BAD science fiction horror drama that uses upbeat music when zombie-esque creatures are murdering folks in a remote research base off in antartica. There are intrigues a plenty, secret families, secret histories, secret cult, secret babies, etc etc etc.

What do you love about it?: Well, Dr Hiroshi Hatake (the bad-seeming leader of the base) is portrayed by Hiroyuki Sanada, so that's a big plus bc our man is H O T. It's also generally just bad, but a FUN sort of bad, that's very predictable and stupid but a little charming at the same time (or maybe that's just my nostalgia speaking lmao).

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Hiroshi /& Sarah fics (someone please save sarah from her overdone crush on the Main Character Man, please), pre and post canon (not season 2 compliant), crossovers, crack, AU etc 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?: You do well enough with season 1. Season 2 is, like, a different vibe that is a lot more Culty and just leaves you with more questions than answers. Plus, Hiroyuki Sanada is not in it as much ;-;

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Uh, gore? There is a lot of black bodily fluid going around, some medical (mal)practice

여주인공의 오빠를 지키는 방법 - 킨 | The Way to Protect the Female Lead's Older Brothe

[othalla]

Title: 여주인공의 오빠를 지키는 방법 - 킨 | The Way to Protect the Female Lead's Older Brother

Media: manwha

Approx length: 43 chapters

Where to find it: use the power of google

What is it, in summary?: MC is reincarnated into a novel, into a family that is... a bit unhinged - a lot of murder, weird experimentation, political intrigue, romance ??? (depending on your pov lmao), Hot Characters, sibling love/hate etc etc etc

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Roxana centric, Roxana/Cassis (a guy she takes prisoner/saves the life of), roxana takes over the family plot fics, general mayhem, political intrigue, crossovers etc etc 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?: Only reading the first half should get you a good sense of it

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Uh, gore/violence, incest and rape vibes (if nothing else - it's been a while since i ready it last)

Snow Queen (2002)

[pure_anon]

Title: Snow Queen (2002)
Please put your fandom's title in the subject of your comment, too. This helps people find your promo again.

Media: TV miniseries

Approx length: 3 hours

Where to find it:
https://therokuchannel.roku.com/details/9ed21a859eaa5c1ea4632edde593c408/snow-queen
https://tubitv.com/series/2390/snow-queen

And here is a fan-made trailer, and some gifsets I made for it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko-fQV07JLU

https://pureanonofficial.tumblr.com/post/677393548678692864/snow-queen-2002-dir-david-wu

https://pureanonofficial.tumblr.com/post/677758100418314240/snow-queen-2002-1x1-dir-david-wu

What is it, in summary?:

Snow Queen (2002) is a TV miniseries retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen. It centers around a young couple, Kai and Gerda, who form a sweet attachment to each other when Kai begins to work at Gerda's father's hotel. They seem all set to have a sweet, ordinary romance -- until the Snow Queen shows up and Kai's eye starts to itch, as if a piece of glass was stuck in it, and the dark parts of his heart start to take over him. He is spirited away to the Snow Queen's domain, and Gerda must traverse a difficult journey to find him, and Kai must keep his strength up even as the Snow Queen tries to break him.

What do you love about it?:

What don't I love about it? This show made me feel emotions I didn't know were real. I haven't encountered anything like it before. It's so...it's so very.

It's everything I want from a fairy tale retelling. It is not bound to the original story, but everything about it pays homage to the original, and aspects of it show up in startling ways. It reminds me a great deal of Labyrinth and Voyage of the Unicorn. I have not seen The 10th Kingdom, but it has creators in common, so if you like that, I think you might like this.

I love how the Snow Queen is hard and cruel, but only in the way winter is. That she is cruel in the exact way all the other seasons in this show are. I love how much time we get to spend on Kai and Gerda's relationship before any magic happens, so by the time they are separated (and they are separated for most of the story) there isn't a single moment we aren't rooting for them to reunite. I love how smart and determined Kai is--I love how Gerda never stops fighting for him.
I love all the side characters--the Robber Girl is the baby wlw rep we deserve, Chen is my king, the Polar Bear is ICONIC and also made by Jim Henson's Creature Shop. The setting and costumes are all gorgeous--I want to drink in this world forever.

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

I want to explore how Kai is changed by his experiences. Gerda stays much the same--only a little more vibrant and more herself than before--but Kai had a very different experience than her. I want to see how he adjusts to normal life again, to a world that is ordinary and small, once he has tasted what the Snow Queen could have offered him. He's such a lovely character, and I just want to see how he could deal with 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?:

No, I think this is a work that needs to be watched in full.

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

A rather dub-con power play relationship between Kai and the Snow Queen--she's manipulating him from the start, and dub-con kisses him several times. There's a couple of moments of violence iirc, but nothing more graphic than a scrape of blood.

Re: Snow Queen (2002)

[(Anonymous)]

I love this! Never thought of it as a Yuletide fandom before. What a good idea!

Redwall!

[rc88]

Title: Redwall series.

Media: Books.

Approx length: 22 novels.

Where to find it: All good book retailers.

What is it, in summary?: A long series of furry adventure books.

What do you love about it?: Cute and gore, put together. Lovely descriptive passages and poetry. Audiobooks narrated by a full cast!

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Don't know, just thinking. I love gore and fluff equally.

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, each book can stand alone fine.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Somewhat graphic violence, war, death, child death, cute animal death, sort-of cannibalism, slightly rapey scenes, black-and-white morality based on folkloric portrayals of animal species.

棋魂 | Hikaru no Go (Live Action)

[reshiel]

Title: 棋魂 | Hikaru no Go (Live Action)
Despite the English name, this is a c-drama (36 eps), and it is also known as 棋魂 Qihun.

Media: Web drama
Approx length: 36 eps * ~45 min (episode lengths vary) = 27 hours

(please note translucent Chu Ying in centre!)

Where to find it: Full series on YouTube!

What is it, in summary?:
A c-drama adaptation of the classic shounen (mind)sports anime/manga, Hikaru no Go. (For the unfamiliar, Hikaru no Go follows a boy who learns to play Go, his mentor (the spirit of an ancient Go player), his rival, and the friends he makes and the opponents he meets on the long road to becoming a professional player.)

Qihun is a live-action adaptation of that story, localised to China circa the same time period, and is sometimes described as 'Hikaru no Go with a lot more feeling'. It similarly follows a boy and his mentor on the long road to professional weiqi, but also considers other matters close to all our hearts: career crossroads and choices, adolescence's growing pains, family conflict, friendgroup tension, school, life, eternal rivalry, [hover for spoiler]. It is an incredibly warm, uplifting, and optimistic story: here is a community of people who love a game, and strive every day to improve and be recognised for their skills; they learn from each other, support each other, weather setbacks, and move forward together.

(For Hikago fans (I'm one too): The characters, setting, and tone are all very different from the anime/manga. I like Qihun a lot, but YMMV of course.)

Also featuring:

• Ji Li (The Untamed's Nie Huaisang), again as a smart guy with a knack for obfuscating deception
  
• This adorable baby chick, acquired by Shi Guang and dormmates to fight a toilet ghost

Content notes:
- Some pro-China messaging on the subject of Hong Kong in the first couple of eps. It doesn't come up again after that.

Obsidian and Blood - Aliette de Bodard

[nsmorig]

Title: ‘Obsidian and Blood’ by Aliette de Bodard

Media: Books

Approx length: three books, plus three free short stories (the stories are on de Bodard’s website)

What is it, in summary?: Aztec-historical noir murder mystery, with cosmic horror. All whodunnits with the same protagonist, my main man Acatl, High Priest of the Dead, who solves fantastical murders with the help of his semi-protégé Teomitl, some monsters, and some sick goth magic powers. This is a gods-are-real-and-they’re-assholes setting.

What do you love about it?: I love how these books convince you to think like the characters without imposing modern morality on them—at one point I got mad on behalf of a planned victim of a sacrifice when it looked like he wasn’t going to get the noble death with guaranteed heaven that he’d been promised. I also absolutely love the funky monsters + awesome magic and the way that de Bodard manages to blend noir vibes with the historical setting.

I also think these books are ABSOLUTELY DRIPPING in homoerotic subtext. Acatl has a complex relationship with his protégé, Teomitl, a young warrior, who, in noir style, generally ends up filling the femme fatale role by accident. Acatl’s relationships with Teomitl and with his (Acatl’s) siblings Mihmatini and Neutemoc are the core of the story. I’m going to be honest, I just deeply want Acatl and Teomitl to snog.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: See above. I’m also very interested in the world building of the setting + magic systems, and I’m fascinated by Mihmatini as a character and will probably put in a request for some gen-fic re: her individual story and her relationships with her family and Teomitl.

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: I think you can get the general vibes of the setting and the solid core of the characters from book one (Servant of the Underworld) which could definitely stand alone as a mystery.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Oh, man. This is a series where the heroes regularly engage in blood sacrifice of people and animals. There is a lot of violence, blood, and death. Book one has some child death and I would recommend looking up triggers before you start.

Re: Obsidian and Blood - Aliette de Bodard

[lurking_latinist]

I don't know if I'll get through it by Yuletide, but this definitely sounds intriguing and I will check it out!

The Prisoner (1967)

[lurking_latinist]

I will not make any deals with you. I've resigned. I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered! My life is my own.

Title: The Prisoner (1967)

Media: TV

Approx length: 17 hour-long episodes

Where to find it: Currently free with ads on US Amazon; available on DVD and possibly elsewhere

What is it, in summary?: Wonderfully bizarre twist on mid-century spy-fi: our nameless hero resigns from his top secret job, then wakes up in the colorful yet sinister Village, where everyone goes by numbers (he's Number Six) and no one can leave. The Village's ruler, Number Two, wants to know: why did Number Six resign? Number Six, for his part, wants to know: who is Number One?

What do you love about it?: How unabashedly surrealist and strange it is! I'm also obsessed with Number Six as a character--the Village puts him deliberately through situations that push him to his limit in every direction, which is kind of what we like to do to characters as fanfic writers, isn't it? There's tons of meta stuff to play with about media and surveillance and TV as a medium, and lots of unanswered questions. And the visual look of it is so distinctive--any font that looks remotely like the Village's signature font gives me the creepy-crawlies now!

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Casefic and character study of Number Six. There's plenty of opportunity for hurt/comfort as well.

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: It's not that long, as TV series go! There probably are some 'highlight' episodes, and each story stands more or less alone except the beginning and end, but to be honest I think you would miss what the series is doing if you don't watch at least most of it. (Do note that there is great controversy over the correct viewing order, though--I personally don't think it matters as much as some fans do!) I'm not sure whether I'll make requests related to specific episodes or more general requests.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): On one level the entire show is about Number Six being slowly tortured for information, so while it's mostly quite subtle and psychological, there are a few scenes of more directly disturbing stuff--more along the lines of psychological control and coercion than anything gory or sexual. Some 1960s attitudes, especially to women.

Professional Valorant (Video Game) RPF

[llitchi]

Title: Professional Valorant (Video Game) RPF

Media: RPF

Approx length: The video interview I linked below is approx. 3 hours long.

Where to find it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8Dj12swWYE

What is it, in summary?/What do you love about it?: I don't care so much about the whole of Valorant esports but I care about one thirty-two-year-old guy, called steel. What he has that none of his competitors does is not some divine gift for aiming or even personal strength of character--in short, what steel has is pathos. This will be the focus of the interview I linked. The crux of the matter is that steel started his career in CS:GO where he experienced a lot of financial hardship--even ending up stranded in the UK because his team refused to pay him. Do you see where this is going? I see where this is going. At one point in steel's career, he and his teammates were convinced to throw a game in exchange for CG:GO skins (which can be sold for money).

If you believe steel he only did it once and never again, in a game that didn't even matter, in an environment where other people did it more often. Nevertheless, this became the biggest matchfixing scandal of esports. steel and most of his teammates were banned from competing indefinitely. The very journalist who broke open this scandal interviews him here, years after the fact.

It's hard even years after for steel to talk about it. The thing that steel talks around the most is not the moment of matchfixing itself, but the aftermaths. That is the rawest part. I remember him saying that there were intermittently moments where he was so angry he blacked out and then his fist was already through the wall. Richard Lewis, the journalist, even asked if steel ever thought about ending his life. Never, he said.

Despite that steel kept grinding lower tier CS:GO tournaments where he was not banned. He streamed. He made tutorials. He was an In-game leader, somebody who shot-calls for his teammates, so he brought Tier 2 teams up right to the very edge of Tier 1 when he had to leave because his team needed to compete in events where he was banned. Finally he moved to Valorant, hoping for a fresh start.

Do you see the pathos now?

What struck me most about this interview, however, is that in the middle of steel's esports career, he had a year long stint working IT in the UK. This esports guy who had been in esports before esports was even a thing--this guy spent a year in the middle of his esports career working a day job. And then steel said that that period was one of the happiest of his life.

Why not? With the IT job steel had a stable income, which he’d never had before. He had a routine, which saved him from anything self-destructive he might have done at his very lowest. He had coworkers whom he got along with. And then he came back to esports anyway.

I think steel's pathos comes from this: the fact that steel’s love for esports is the single biggest tragedy of his life. steel might have been happy. He might have stayed on at that IT job and then been promoted and become some regional manager, or something like that. Once in a while he might look back at his early life with a certain fondness, with a vague bittersweet feeling, like a distant dream. But steel came back to esports to more suffering, to more failure, to more people questioning if he should be where he got himself. He came back to accusations of cheating and toxicity. He now plays ranked Valorant which is his own personal hell. All because he can’t leave esports. He loves esports, hates it, cares too much about it to treat it as just a job, and if I actually read Moby Dick I might even call it his white whale.

steel likes to quote Buddha's "life is suffering" and mean it. Case in point.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: In my deranged mind I actually ship steel with Sykkuno, someone he had never interacted with before. By all accounts steel should absolutely detest Sykkuno, because what steel hates more than anything else is people in high ranked Valorant games who throw by either not communicating, not knowing what to do, dying needlessly while hunting for kills, baiting others to entry first so they get the kill instead, generally being incompetent even though they are at the highest rank in the game. Sykkuno is guilty of most of this, except that he is at the lowest or near lowest rank in the game. If steel has to play with Sykkuno he will actually explode and take out the Western United States.

But Sykkuno has a unique gift in that he makes unlikely friends with people who seemingly would otherwise hate him. He's kind to people who show him open hostility. He challenges them in unexpected ways. He's not young--he's 31--and even then he's wise beyond his years. This is a guy who once said to his friend: Why make fun of the way someone laughs? Then they'll just never want to be happy around you.

Sykkuno is cursed--at all times--with understanding how people think and how people feel. He always sides with the person shunned by others, the one on the outs, because he understands how incredibly shitty social ostracism can be. And I have a feeling that Sykkuno would have a lot of sympathy for steel.

I understand how deranged this is tho so I'd settle for a character piece about steel lol. He doesn't even have an AO3 tag yet, because even I haven't written anything for him, because who would read it other than myself? Who else has a Thing for thirty-something men with pathos? Maybe a piece about steel's year in IT? Maybe something that chronicles steel's intermittent black-out anger issues? Maybe a fic that just has steel winning next year's Champion trophy by beating those snake BASTARDS who muscled him out of his first Valorant team, 100 Thieves?

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 watch 100 Thieves' (steel's old team) run to win the first Valorant tournament, or catch steel malding at https://www.twitch.tv/steel_tv

Re: Professional Valorant (Video Game) RPF

[(Anonymous)]

Look, I couldn't write any of this for you, but this is such an amazing promo post. I only know Sykkuno a little bit and I've never heard of steel but wow, this was a good read.

DYING WITH HER CHEER PANTS ON - SEANAN MCGUIRE

[hiddencait]

ACK I can't believe I almost forgot to promo this anthology!!

Title:
DYING WITH HER CHEER PANTS ON - SEANAN MCGUIRE

Media:
Anthology of short stories

Approx length:
299 pages

Where to find it:
Anywhere ebooks are sold, but I got my copy via Amazon. The physical copy was a limited edition Subterranean Press release, however.

What is it, in summary?:
An anthology of linked short stories centered around members of the Flying Pumpkins cheerleading squad in the odd little town of Jordan's Crossing. Sounds fairly normal right? Only this squad is uh.. a little different. Picture what Sunnydale's cheer squad may have been if Buffy made the team, and formed her Scoobies around the other girls on the team instead. Basically the cheerleaders at this high school protect the school itself and the surrounding community from monsters and apocalypses and even aliens. Seriously. I LOVE IT SO MUCH.

What do you love about it?:
Seriously everything. I'm a fan of linked universe type anthologies - it puts me in mind the monster of the week vibe from some of my favorite shows. It has a distinctly Buffy vibe that way. Also, the characters are delightfully diverse (often in supernatural ways as well - the Captain is a vampire, and included on the squad are a hive mind, a zombie, a harvest goddess, and more!). It's just overall a really fun concept and my only complaint is that we didn't get a full novel series like McGuire's October Daye or Incryptid series. I'd love to see Netflix pick this up for a miniseries!!

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:
Just more stories for this squad and the world. I've specifically requested a few of my fave characters, but also worldbuilding. The anthology itself gives us a glimpse at 3 different squads (the very first squad in the first story in the book - all of whom die saving the world; Jude and her squad who are in most of the stories; and the squad captained by Jude's mother set roughly in the 50s/60s) and I'd totally be game for fic with glimpses of other squads from the past or future with the way this concept plays out. Honestly just anything would make me grin!

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?:
I don't know that it's easy to find the individual stories where they were originally posted and several were written new for the anthology. Of the anthology though and for my request, you could probably get away with just reading "Try Outs" to get the concept/most of the characters and "Turn the Year Around" which was my absolute fave of the anthology and is the only story that features Steph who I've requested. But really all of the stories are a lot of fun!

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
Lots of gore and members of the squad do die with regularity. Basically urban fantasy/semi-horror warnings. Note, one specifically: there is a wendigo stereotype story - Seanan actually includes an author's note as she wrote that story early on in her career before she was aware of the issues with that plotline. Story title is "Fiber" and can be skipped.

Re: DYING WITH HER CHEER PANTS ON - SEANAN MCGUIRE

[kitsunerei88]

Time to go find a copy :D

Sailor’s Delight by Rose Lerner

[nsmorig]

Title:
Sailor’s Delight by Rose Lerner

Media: Book

Approx length: 200 pages in paperback

Where to find it:
It only came out September 16th. There’s a full list of retailers on Lerner’s website, and if you’re luckier than me your library might have it.

What is it, in summary?:
A queer historical romance set over Rosh Hashanah, between a dashing sailor and his accountant. (Well, navy officer, which is a job I didn’t know existed, but which is mostly accountancy.)

What do you love about it?:
Lerner has a genius for setting and immersive detail, and the romance is just wonderful. The pining is perfect. The Rosh Hashanah structure/theme was extremely effective in terms of emotional oomph. It’s a short book that I valiantly managed to put down at the halfway mark to go to bed and then laid in bed for half an hour thinking about before I got up again.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:
I’m going to be honest. This one is a fade-to-black, and that made me sad. I think Augie and Elie deserve some smut. My intentions are plain and forthright. I love the characters and would love anything with them in… but that disappointing fade-to-black is what made me think ‘wait, when do Yuletide noms open this year?’

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Some historical antisemitism. Mention of past threats of antisemitic violence.

Re: Sailor’s Delight by Rose Lerner

[amphipodgirl]

Okay, I just ordered this from my local indie bookstore. Here's hoping your Yuletide will be serving you some sexy sailor smut!