yuletide | Yuletide Fandom Promo 2024!

Entry tags:

yuletide fandom promo

Yuletide Fandom Promo 2024!

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!

Cheju has started a spreadsheet for promo! Here's the link!

Here are some areas you can cover:

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

Media:

Approx length:

Where to find it:
(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)

What is it, in summary?:

What do you love about it?:

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

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

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

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Title: Psyche Corporation, or Psyche Corp

Media: music

Approx length: seven albums

Where to find it: Six of her albums are on Spotify - please note that the album Crypts and Codes is under "Psyche Corp." while the others are under "Psyche Corporation." Links to her bandcamp can be found on her official site.

What is it, in summary?: Psyche Corporation is a fairytale cyber/steampunk project fronted by Psyche Chimere, who combines dance with a powerhouse vocal range. The concept is a dream manufacture group from a future where neural implants allow people to download dreams from the Internet. Each of Psyche Corp's songs is one of these downloaded dreams. Songs deal in dystopian themes as well as more lighthearted comic works. The musical style spans genres of trip-hop, electro-rock, and world music.

What do you love about it?: I saw Psyche Corp live several years ago in a very small venue at an anime convention and she blew my mind. Her music is entrancing, and the themes are sometimes sinister, sometimes wacky, always thrilling. Her setting of Poe's Annabel Lee is my favorite rendition of that poem to date.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I hope to request character studies or worldbuilding fics, focused on just a few specific songs. Multiple requests pull from the album Crypts and Codes, which is my favorite album of hers.

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?: Songs are all standalone (with the exception of her recent concept album), so each one can serve as a separate fic inspiration. Particular songs I've requested include Jewels, Oh, and Dance for Me, but there are many others worth listening to!

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): "Oh" contains themes of rape

Title: Geist (video game)

Approx length: About four hours for the full campaign

Where to find it: You can find some physical discs for the Nintendo Gamecube on sites like Amazon, but for a much more accessible option, there are also a good handful of walkthroughs/LPs on Youtube!
Some examples to help out:
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-Wgx75ODYQ&list=PLxQCjQu50MrsgGMFBHWxHW2aZ9ErqCAhI&index=1 (1st video of a gameplay playlist)
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08VD0DaBJmM (a single, long gameplay video)
* https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/Geist (the TV Tropes page about the game, which provides some interesting extra information that might not be in a gameplay video but can help flesh out the story)

What is it, in summary?: Geist is a first-person shooter that follows John Raimi, a scientist captured by the enigmatic Volks Corporation and separated from his body as part of their Spectral Operative experiment. Now a spirit with limited influence on the world, he has to rely on his ability to possess varied hosts in order to get his body back and escape, and uncover Volks' decades-old secret in the process.

What do you love about it?: Geist first drew me in with its overarching premise--an FPS where you play a ghost wasn't something I'd ever heard of before. And it does a really fascinating job of it, relying on the use of ordinary objects laying around to spook hosts enough for you to possess them and even eventually pitting you against other spirits using your tricks against you. From a fanfic perspective, it interests me because of the underlying ideas brought up by the mechanic--what is that like, how does that effect someone in the long run? Does the ability stick around, does it go away? Once it's over, how do they process having to frighten and utilize unsuspecting people in order to escape, including in dangerous and potentially deadly situations? I also love a good nonverbal (or mostly so) protagonist where they're more than just an avatar for the player, especially in instances where canon seems to bear it out fairly consistently.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Raimi's my favorite and seeing some of his experiences post-canon would be amazing. I'd also love to see some more interaction between him and Bryson, exploring their friendship and how game events affected both of them in the long-term.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): FPS-typical violence, intervals of gore mainly during the first half of the game, some horror themes (the medical wing area in particular gets spooky in an alone-but-not-alone way.) There's also a slightly gratuitous bit in the womens' shower area (no one in-game takes particular note and it is quite short, but it does have a brief bearing on gameplay.)

Title: Marjorie Dean - Josephine Chase (under the pen-name Pauline Lester)

Media: Books

Approx length: 14 book series, broken into three sub-series of 4/4/6 books - they're pretty quick reads, Goodreads puts them at ~250 pages.

Where to find it: Project Gutenberg has all of them!

What is it, in summary?: A series of books from the 1920s following Marjorie Dean and her chums through high school, college, and post-graduate work for the college, culminating in the marriage of most of them. Throughout, they champion democratic, anti-snobbish ideals, and eventually succeed in reforming most people who oppose them.

What do you love about it?: I have possibly made them sound a bit moralizing in my summary (and they can be on occasion), but they are also really fun! Very much in the tradition of (American) Girls Own books, there are adventures, sports games, plays, sororities, picnics and expeditions, parties, mean teachers, mean girls, girls in need of help... All that good stuff.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I am especially interested in Leila Harper and Vera Mason, two of Marjorie's college pals. Leila is Irish, quick-witted and humorous and outgoing, while her best friend and roommate Vera is quieter but just as full of fun and quick retorts. They're both of somewhat unhappy family backgrounds, which I think makes them an interesting foil to the "bad (especially spoilt/snobbish) girls are motherless and motherless girls are bad" tendency of the books. I would love to see more of them (and also I ship them, lol).

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 skip the High School books, as Leila and Vera only show up in the College and Post-Graduate series.

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

Their angst is entertaining...

Yes, such a shame. No ill will toward Farley Granger but I find Dall a lot more convincing, at least in Rope.

Title:
Cradle Series, by Will Wight

Media:
12 book series

Approx length:
I believe all the books are between 50k and 100k words? The shortest book is marked ~280pgs on Goodreads, the longest 540pgs.
(I know, I'M SORRY. In my defense they go by very quickly. I think I read them in a month and a half, and that was while also reading other books at the same time)

Where to find it:
Kindle/Kindle Unlimited and Audible. Unfortunately amazon-locked, so you can't request them at libraries; I had to borrow my sibling's kindle to read them. They are fairly popular for the genre though, so maybe they also exist elsewhere? I haven't checked.

What is it, in summary?:
A xianxia-style progression fantasy in which a teen with no power and, according to everyone he knows, no way of ever gaining any, is shown a future in which his homeland is destroyed. He decides to leave to find someone strong enough to save it, and teams up with a powerful, angry teen girl along the way, who realizes she needs to protect this guy from literally everything because everything he's been taught up to now is wrong.

That's book one, and it's twelve books, so a lot happens. But it's a progression fantasy involving magical martial arts: the core plot line is that the characters Progress. They meet a ton of fun and awful people along the way, and in anime style realize that the Most Important Power of all is, of course, Friendship.

cradle collection volume 1 cover

(these are the covers for the omnibus editions! The characters on the first cover are Lindon and Yerin, the protagonists mentioned in the summary)

What do you love about it?:
So Much. It is a very anime coded series: The characters are dynamic and distinct, the magic system is creative and fun, and the characters really tap into my favorite dynamic of "two generations of powerful/talented individuals team up to make the messiest mentorship-group-dynamics known to man". If you like Sk8 the Infinity or Jujutsu Kaisen for that, you will probably like Cradle too!

The cast comes together over the course of the first several books, but the fan-favorite, Eithan, shows up in book 2 (Soulsmith). Some recommend skipping book 1, especially if you're not already a fan of the genre: I got through it just fine, but I will admit that things really pick up when Eithan shows up. He's just That Bitch and I love him SO MUCH. If you're a Gojo JJK or Oikawa Haikyuu enjoyer, you are almost guaranteed to love Eithan. Exact same genre of person.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:
Any sort of interactions between Eithan and Ziel (who first shows up in book 5 and then reappears properly in book 7). They foil each other so well, and even though I do crack-ship them, they're also really interesting as-is in canon. There are moments between them where they both sort of.. give up the masks they wear, but only for the briefest of conversations, and it's so! it's so,, (wordless yelling).
The power of those moments comes from the contrast with literally every other situation they're in, in which Eithan is so so annoying (his default mode) and Ziel Doesn't Care At All (his default mode). [Edit: my friend reminds me that in this way he's very Nanami-JJK-coded. Quote: "he is on the clock, he is doing his duty, he is NOT enjoying it". king. I love him]

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 and no? There's an animated trailer for the series, if you want to take a peek at the world and vibes and characters!

As mentioned, Eithan (the blond guy with the broom) shows up in book 2, but it really is a series that is worth reading in full. But that being said, the main group is solidified by book 8, and most of the dynamics can be understood even before then.
(There is a Major Reveal in book 10 though, and it's extremely worth it to actively avoid spoilers. EXTREMELY worth it. So I do recommend reading the whole series and not deep diving in fandom tags before then, even if you're normally chill about spoilers.
If you like living life close to the edge and need to check wikis for information, I highly recommend NOT using the .fandom.com wiki to double check stuff, because they spoil things right out the gate for most things. As an alternative, the wiki.abidanarchive site is purposefully tries to avoid major major spoilers, though it's still a wiki and does include a lot of things from later books.)

Content warnings:
Genre-typical violence and character death: some battles are described in pretty vivid detail, and there are sometimes fairly permanent physical and magical-physical injuries involved. Apart from that it is a surprisingly tame series!

Edited (added info about the wikis) 2024-10-18 02:52 (UTC)

Title: 长公主在上 | Zhǎng Gōng Zhǔ Zài Shàng (Web Series)
(also known as: Eldest Princess Above, Her Royal Highness, My Princess, The Dowager Princess is Above Me, Eldest Princess On Top, etc.)

Media: webseries
Approx length: 27 mini-episodes with a total runtime of just under one hour

Where to find it:
Compilation (all episodes in a single video)

What is it, in summary?: A mini-drama about a princess/bodyguard relationship in a reverse harem setting with spy shenanigans and political intrigue. Li Yunzhen, princess and regent for her little brother the Emperor, lives a sybaritic lifestyle and is rumoured to be corrupt and cruel; Gu Xuanqing is sent by the Emperor to spy on her in the role of a guard, but finds her not quite what the rumours say.

What do you love about it?: The dynamic between Li Yunzhen and Gu Xuanqing is great. She's in charge, of course, and plays the dominant seducer with gusto - and he's entirely unprepared for finding himself actually into it, and wanting to hand himself over to her for real. (So, yes, the titular princess is indeed very much on top. *g*) And even though he's been sent in as a spy, once he comes to know her beyond the facade she presents, betraying her starts weighing on him. Trust, loyalty, betrayal - all that tasty stuff! (And many of the usual tropes, including kneeling in the rain.) And the political intrigue doesn't just provide context for the relationship, but plays a major role itself. There's enough material for a full-length drama in this, compressed into one hour - distilled down to its most crucial and dramatic moments, which is fascinating as well as enjoyable.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I want more of anything and everything – the romance, the BDSM, the spy shenanigans, the loyalty kink, the political intrigue ...

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 think so, but the total runtime is less than an hour.

Content warnings: there's some ethnic stereotyping around the visit of "the Prince and Princess of the Turks" (突厥王子和郡主).

Title: L'Oréal "Time Engraver" Commercials

Media: commercials
Total runtime:: 10 minutes 8 seconds

Where to find it:
2019 Time Engraver commercial
2020 Time Engraver commercial

What is it, in summary?: Two short film-style commercials around a sort of anthropomorphic personification of time who transports people into his workshop to engrave wrinkles and lines into their skin.

What do you love about it?: Despite also being a vehicle for an "O NOES NOT THE WRINKLES" product, these commercials really are great little mini-films. There's fascinating worldbuilding/mythology to play with and expand on; there's a lot of potential for mortal/immortal interaction (the Time Engraver chats at his subjects! what if one of them wakes up?). There's stunning beauty. And I don't mean just Zhu Yilong, who plays the Time Engraver - the cinematography is genuinely gorgeous, and personally I adore the aesthetic especially of the first commercial. (It's also a great concept for optional crossovers!)

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: just anything about the Time Engraver and his world!

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: each commercial can be watched and written for on its own :p

Content warnings: n/a

Title: Modes of Thought in Anterran Literature

Media: Audio drama podcast

Approx length: 32 episodes so far, including some mini-sodes that are just a couple of minutes long. Most episodes are about 15-20 minutes.

Where to find it: All the usual podcast sources.

What is it, in summary?: Anterra is a very ancient civilization (around 75,000 years old, and no that's not a typo) whose remnants were discovered a few years ago at the bottom of the sea after a Chinese submarine accident.

Or . . . maybe not? It's awfully hard to find out any concrete information about Anterra. Many people think it isn't even real. Is Anterra a hoax? One professor's crackpot theory? Or is the real truth being covered up, and why?

The podcast takes the form of some college lectures about Anterra, plus events occurring in the lives of the professor and his teaching assistants.

What do you love about it?: Anterra itself is fascinating, kind of cool and kind of sinister, and the story is chock full of Anterran myths, history, philosophy, and architecture. So far it has scrupulously avoided Lovecraftian territory, which makes it feel fresher than the bare story elements might make it seem. And the showrunners have clearly done their research about real ancient cultures, so if you enjoy things like the Ramayana or the epic of Gilgamesh, you'll probably like how well the show integrates the historical and the fictional.

I also love the creators' narrative boldness in using college lectures to structure a drama.

The present-day parts of the story will remind you of things like the X-Files. I confess they're not as engaging to me as the Anterran stuff, but they're also a lot more action-y and tense. There's something for everyone!

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I'm most likely to request worldbuilding about Anterra, but not necessarily to the exclusion of the present-day narrative.

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: Not really. Every episode is a mix of Anterran stuff and present-day stuff and it's not readily separable.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): A brief episode of self-harm (but it's kind of complicated), involuntary commitment to a mental hospital, references to ritual mutilation, references to slavery.

Title: World Gone Wrong

Media: Audio drama podcast

Approx length: 14 episodes of about 30 minutes each (so far)

Where to find it: Wherever you get your podcasts

What is it, in summary?: Like the title says, the world has gone . . . strange, and often wrong. Werewolves and vampires are real now, there's an extra hour in the day, and the acid rain will literally melt your car.

Naturally, someone's podcasting about it. Our hosts are Jamie and Malik, late twentysomething friends who fill us in on all the latest weird events and how they're coping. Or not.

You might not believe it from this description, but the show is very funny. The humor's often pretty dark, of course. But this is a story about life going on, and sometimes being okay, even as the world falls apart.

What do you love about it?: I love Jamie and Malik and their friendship and banter. World Gone Wrong is a scripted show, but their interactions often feels spontaneous and off-the-cuff, in a good way.

The worldbuilding is really interesting too. So far (with one very notable exception) the monsters have been familiar from ancient myths or modern ones, but where the show's creativity (and its insight) shines is its focus on how these things play out in a world of podcasting and TikTok and Uber. I love its mix of the weird and the all-too-common: if that extra hour occurs during your work day, do you get overtime? What if you can't get along with the ghost in your apartment? Is it discriminatory to schedule events for the full moon? And how can you get your grant application finished with all this going on?

Also, the show has oodles of queer characters--most of them, actually.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Probably gen, with a focus on worldbuilding and/or character exploration. To me it's not a particularly shippy show, at least thus far, though there's potential between Jamie and a minor character.

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: Not really, but it's not a very long canon.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): The horror content is actually very light, and there's no gore. It's mostly scary by implication. But I would note that a lot of the show's concerns extrapolate from things that actually happened in the Covid pandemic, so if that's a triggery subject for you, you may want to avoid. Covid is mentioned by name once or twice.

Title: Thermos "Flower Series" Commercials

Media: Other Media (commercials)

Approx length: Each commercial is roughly 1-2 minutes long. There are eight commercials totaling 15:15 minutes.

Where to find it: The commercials can be found on YouTube. I have collected them here in a Thermos "Flower Series" Commercials playlist. Only the first eight videos in the playlist are the commercials. The 8th video is one starring Xiao Zhan for bubly. (I'll elaborate on why I included that in the playlist further down.)

What is it, in summary?: Eight short film-style commercials detailing the adventures of a magician-type character who wanders from location to location healing the world and helping people who need a little help... with the power of a well-placed Thermos.

What do you love about it?/What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: The Thermos people really did just look at each other and say "If we've managed to get Zhu Yilong to agree to promote our products, then damn it, we are going to make the best use of him we can!" and then gave him a bunch of mini-movies to act in. ;D

But in all seriousness, what really appeals to me about these commercials is the sheer world-building potential. I saw the Gardenia commercial first, and it had me at "here is this person who has magic portal powers and uses them to... wander the city and solve everyone's sadness by being a... Fairy... Thermos... Father...???" And then each successive commercial I saw just compounded the potential, especially if we assume that this Wanderer/Magician character is the same character in each commercial. What kind of magic does he have? How do these worlds connect to each other? Do the people of these worlds know about the magic that helps and protects them? In the snow-covered worlds that the Magician brings light to... how did they end up so dark and cold to begin with? Why did the Magician come to them? How does he know who needs help?

(And if you want some fun crossover potential, Xiao Zhan did a commercial for bubly in which he plays a... Fairy Bubly Father? I don't even know anymore. But he basically does the same thing with cans of bubly as Zhu Yilong's character does with Thermoses in the Gardenia commercial--solves everyone sadness. Do they know each other? Do they work together? I have so many questions. XD There could also be some fun crossover potential with the Time Engraver commercials, if you wanted to go there. ^_^)

Anyway, I love these commercials a truly ridiculous amount, and I hope you'll give them a shot! ^_^

If you'd like to know more specifically what I'm likely to request for it, here is the section in my Yuletide Letter from last year. I'm likely to request pretty much the same things.

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 certainly can watch individual commercials as opposed to all eight of them and focus more on one than another depending on what appeals to you? Here are brief summaries of each commercial:

Gardenia: Z1L's character helps out sad and struggling people with magical Thermoses.
Sunflower: Z1L's character finds a magical sun seed in a tomb and uses it and a Thermos to bring life back to a world of ice.
Wisteria: Z1L's character, sad and alone in a boat on an ocean, climbs a ladder to the moon to find a lush world in which can find respite. There is a cat. ^_^
Camellia: Z1L's character finds a magical cottage in a land of ice, full of lush overgrown plants, an oasis in the cold.
Unlabeled (Peony): Z1L's character wanders through a lush wilderness delighted with the flowers he smells.
Tulip: Z1L's character explores an old mansion, finds a secret room with a magical flower that turns into a Thermos.
Daisy: Z1L's character explores a gallery (looking very like the virtual gallery Thermos created for his birthday this year), becomes fascinated with a painting of a field of daisies, steps into the painting to explore, brings the magic and Thermoses back with him to the gallery when he returns.
Lily of the Valley: Z1L's character sits in a cabin in a snowy woods playing the piano. The power of his music transports him to a lush green forest with giant lilies of the valley that surround him. He enjoys them for a moment, then it transported back to his cabin with a Thermos. (The cat from the Wisteria commercial makes another appearance. ^_^)

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Nothing I can think of?

Edited 2024-09-20 02:59 (UTC)

If you go the fansub route, please let me know. Unfortunately I don't speak French at all.

I am 99% sure I've seen this commercial. And wished for happiness for Broom and Rake. I haven't thought about it in ages. Not sure I can write for it but I'm definitely going to think about it.

This sounds very cool and I have Viki. Will look into it!

Mike Mike Mike Mike Mike!! :D

Title: Dreamdark - Laini Taylor (I've also seen it listed as Faeries of Dreamdark, but the covers of the books just say Dreamdark)

Media: books

Approx length: 2 books: Blackbringer and Silksinger, both around 400 pages, but they're YA so larger print and hence shorter than that might sound.

Where to find it: Unfortunately, they are out of print. You might check libraries or I know you can still find copies on amazon or abebooks (and I assume similar sites).

What is it, in summary?: Long ago, the world was created from the dreams of 7 Djinn. Even after its creation, the Djinn were active, ruling from their temples and appointing champions who fought and imprisoned devils, who were believed to be created from the mistakes of the Djinn. Their prisons were sealed so that none could open them.

But one day, for unknown reasons, they destroyed their temples and disappeared. Since then, magic has slowly left the world and humans, who were not created by the Djinn, have appeared. Because they did not exist at the time the Djinn vanished, they can open these prisons and have repeatedly done so, releasing devils on a world no longer suited to fighting them.

Magpie Windwitch is an adolescent faerie with unusual talents (and who travels with a murder of crows who are also traveling actors - faeries are tiny in this world) who has dedicated herself to sealing the devils away once more. But this time, she needs help, which ends up revealing secrets about the world and beginning a new age.

What do you love about it?: I really love the setting: it manages to combine a lot of more familiar elements into something that feels new and different. It's fascinating and I love some of the details, like faerie trading caravans that use dragonflies instead of horses or camels. And the characters are great and I really came to care about them.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Unfortunately, it is really clear that the author intended there to be more than 2 books. I have no idea why the others do not exist, but I suspect it's likely a rights issue? But this means I would love more. More worldbuilding would be fantastic: what was the relationship like between the various Djinn? Why did they hide themselves away? How many faeries now have access to their old magical abilities? What are some of the other cultures in the world like? How do birds like the crows fit into faerie society? Other faeries seem to frown on Magpie's relationship with them, but they don't seem to consider it unheard of, nor to find crow actors particularly strange. Or Magpie's parents are essentially anthropologists/archaeologists - tell me about some of their digs and discoveries.

I would also enjoy missing scenes between the characters. These are long journeys they're going on, even for flying creatures. Tell me about what they do to pass the time. Or what is it like to be a Djinn's champion? I'd be especially interested in this for Hirik, who worked so hard for it and yet is brand new to the experience.

Also there are some really obvious canon ships that are mostly only hinted at; I would enjoy seeing those developed.

Lastly, I would obviously love post-canon stuff that continues the story! (But also I promise I do not expect my yuletide author to be Laini Taylor nor to write me the next 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?: there's probably enough of the first book referenced in the second to get by just reading that one if you had to.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): It's pretty violent at times

Edited 2024-09-21 02:48 (UTC)

Title: How I Survived Middle School - Nancy Krulik

Media: Books

Approx length: 13 books, each one around 100-115 pages

Where to find it: Bookstores, libraries, or the Open Library archive, which has a scan of a collection for the first three books.

What is it, in summary?: A girl named Jenny McAfee gets ditched by her best friend, Addie Wilson, who leaves her behind to join the resident clique of "popular" girls (or the "Pops") on the first day of middle school. Jenny finds a group of new friends, who stick with her through thick and thin as she navigates middle school life and deals with bullying from the Pops.

What do you love about it?: I read some of the books as a kid, and I remember enjoying them for what they were, especially because of the quizzes and activities included in them. It's overall just a fun, light read, and I appreciate that it generally promoted positive messages for young girls despite the commercialism (the books had a lot of peddling for Scholastic, which is a problematic as hell company, by having Jenny be a fan of a site for middle school crafts and activities with a real link that used to redirect to Scholastic's site).

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I'll admit the first thing I'd want would be a post-canon scenario where Jenny and Addie actually reconcile and become friends again, since I remember being pretty miffed as a kid that the series ended on a regular book with a standalone story that didn't have any resolution to Jenny and Addie's feud. That said, I'd be fine with basically anything that's similar to the books' tone—fluffy, funny, just something sweet and undemanding with Jenny and her friends (Chloe, Marc, Rachel, Felicia, Josh, etc.) hanging out and having a good time. They're all kids who range from eleven to thirteen years old, so I would prefer nothing overly shippy or romantic (two of Jenny's friends dated in the books, but it was all very innocent).

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 first book (Can You Get an F in Lunch?) focuses on Jenny and Addie's relationship the most and is only about 100 pages, so it's a quick read you can use to get familiar with most of the characters from the get-go. The fourth book, The New Girl, is the one that introduces a new member of Jenny's friend group from that point on (a British transfer student girl named Sam), but it's not a big deal if you don't include the character.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): None; the closest to one might be bullying because of the Pops, but their antics are relatively light and no one ever gets seriously hurt.

Edited 2024-09-20 06:28 (UTC)

Title:
신세계로부터 | New World (2021)

Media: "Imaginary simulation variety show" as described on Wikipedia. Standalone one season TV reality series.

Approx length: 8 episodes, roughly 9 hours total.

Where to find it: Available to watch in original Korean and with English CC on Netflix!

What is it, in summary?: Six Korean celebrities, ranging from K-pop idols to comedians to actors, spend 6 days on a fictional utopian island where they stay in dream homes to compete for cash prizes. What starts as a straightforward reality competition becomes a fictional fantasy world as they compete in games that add fantastical story elements to the island and its history which the players are now a part of.

What do you love about it?: Everyone is outrageously funny and leans into the traits that show up for their characters. The editing is super fun without being distracting, the storylines are engaging, and the competitions provide so many great chances for fun.
It was wild to see the famous celebrities I knew who they got to appear, but I was hooked in by the particular dynamics of the contestants this show outside of their reputations in real life. The initial episodes feels more like Big Brother contestants all meeting than people who've been in the same or adjacent entertainment industry & this helps set it apart as an offshoot of the real world instead of RPF. They play along in the space as things get more fantastical (the meteorite, werewolf storyline, real estate sabotage and Shadow Store items, Mermaid Day, etc.) and it starts to feel more like they wrote celebrities into an isekai story.

I adore Park Na-rae and Jo Boah who I hadn't heard of before & thus captivated me with their dynamic as the two main women who are also conniving & dramatic & funny. A golf cart becomes a central player in the storylines... truly no show could replicate this.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Island worldbuilding! Femslash! Island mishaps and downtime as the underlying isekai becomes clearer to the contestants! And of course, what happens afterwards...... I'm nominating this show as fiction rather than RPF - I love Kai from Exo but I only care about the Kai who is genuinely experiencing the events in this island, not the singer-dancer as he's acting.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): None applicable, aside from a minor storyline in episode 6 about nonconsensual medical experiments done to a character we meet that episode.

Title: Maiden Crown - Meghan Collins

Media: Book

Approx length: 229 pages

Where to find it: Libraries and the Open Library archive; the full scan is available here.

What is it, in summary?: Princess Sophie (the historical Queen Sophia of Minsk) leaves her Russian homeland for Denmark to marry King Valdemar I, whom she was betrothed to because of his alliance with her half-brother, Knud. Scandal arises because of her initial feelings for Stig Halvarsen, the court messenger who represented Valdemar in the betrothal negotiations and escorts her to her wedding, and because of Valdemar's mistress, a peasant woman named Tove who has given birth to his son. The book is based on the medieval ballad of Valdemar and Tove, which was about Valdemar I's affair with (the likely fictional) Tove and how Sophia jealously killed her. The original ballad can be read here.

What do you love about it?: It's a very well-written and well-researched historical fiction novel, and all of the major characters are fleshed out and have some complexity to them. I also can appreciate that it's a perspective flip story for an established old tale, making Sophie the kind and heroic protagonist without demonizing anyone else. Tove is the closest thing to a main villain, but she's sympathetic because her motivation for causing problems for Sophie (gossiping to spread rumors about her having an affair) is made understandable by her desire to escape her miserable station in life and her backstory. Overall, it's just a really good character drama (with some insight into how medieval politics worked at the time) and an interesting, much more human take on the medieval ballad that it was based on.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: The main thing I'd request for it would be something post-canon that explores Sophie and Valdemar's reconciliation and healing with each other, as the book ends when they begin that process. It could be just some romantic fluff where they reconnect, something family-focused that shows them with a few of the children they had historically, or maybe something more introspective where they talk/think about what happened with Tove and Stig. I'd be good with all of 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?: The entire book is up as a scan on the Open Library, so you can look at specific sections if you don't want to read the whole thing (but I do recommend reading it). The beginning two chapters (pages 1 to 29) focus on Sophie's childhood and set up her engagement to Valdemar, chapter four (pages 41 to 55) introduces Valdemar and his life, and chapters eight and nine (pages 101 to 115, and pages 116 to 143) are where Sophie meets and marries Valdemar, and receives an important prophecy from a wizard that comes true at the story's end. Chapters fourteen to fifteen (pages 194 to 212, and pages 213 to 229) form the climax of the book, as well as Valdemar and Sophie's falling-out and eventual reconciliation. It's also not required reading, but if you want to know more about Tove, chapter five (pages 56 to 73) introduces her and shows her childhood.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): There's some violence because of the battles that occur, though a lot of it is only mentioned, and Tove dies in the end like she did in the original medieval ballad (being steamed alive in a bathhouse). The chapter about Tove's childhood also includes a part where she's nearly molested when she's eleven by a family servant (nothing actually happens, but it's obviously creepy). Stig's hand also gets severely burned near the end when he's trialed on the false charge of adultery with the queen.

Edited 2024-09-20 07:16 (UTC)

Title: Her Voice Was A Backwards Record

Media: ebook

Approx length: 70 pages

Where to find it: On Amazon. It is also available at some libraries through Hoopla.

What is it, in summary?:

If all physically possible universes exist, so do all physically possible girlfriends… including the one you’re imagining who’s imagining you.

Ana’s parents, who hadn’t heard that it wasn’t game-theoretically optimal to punish her for dropping LSD, packed her away to a troubled teen camp. During the day, Ana faces the harsh Utah desert, near-starvation, and torture in the name of “therapy.” At night, she seeks desperate comfort in the arms of her alternate-universe girlfriend, Yuya, one of three hundred wives in the harem of the Emperor of Every World. But as their respective prisons wear away at their very selves, both girls face a choice: to become the monsters those in authority want them to be, or to die trying to escape.

What do you love about it?: It's a really good exploration of the ways being in awful situations can make you a worse person, and also how you can help lift others out of it even if the other people are arguably 'only in your head.' It also contained a wrenching dialogue about multiversarial philosophy that made me cry.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I'm going to request post canon fic about Ana and Yuya, and alternate universe fic about what they would be like in different settings (eg what if Yuya was at a troubled team camp and Ana was in a space harem, or what if Yuya was in a different kind of sci fi setting.)

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.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence) Institutional abuse including forced exercise torture, abusive therapy, moral injury, attempted child murder, consensual underage sex.

Edited 2024-09-20 09:14 (UTC)

Title: What Happens Next

Media: Webcomic

Approx length: 1000 panels

Where to find it: Link to the first comic

What is it, in summary?: What Happens Next is a psychological thriller/horror comic with an ensemble cast of characters, most of whom are simultaneously awful and sympathetic.

8 years ago, teenager Haylie Gorski was murdered by two of her friends. Milo Holliday was charged as an accomplice to her murder and has recently been let go on parole. He also came out as trans in the interim, which the internet was extremely normal about, which is a problem for him, because he spends a lot of his time on tumblr.

The comic follows it's cast of characters as they make their way through the aftermath of that death, nearly a decade later. The question that drives the comic is also it's title: what happens next?

What do you love about it?: I love all the character work in this. Most of the characters these characters suck as people, in one way or another, but the narrative really digs down into why they are like that and you often can't help but sympathise even as they are ruining their own lives and also other people's.

Also, there is nothing else I've seen that has quite the atmosphere of building dread the What Happens Next has. It is amazing horror, where the true terror is trying to work out what awful decision the characters make next and how deep down is rock bottom going to be.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: My favourite characters are Audrey and Vikki and I will likely be requesting them.

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?: This comic does work best if you have the whole context of what's going on, but you could probably follow Audrey's story through the Victim Impact Statement arc.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): There are content warnings on the first panel of each arc, but collecting them all together for convenience:
violence and gore, child death, transphobia, misgendering, ableism, self harm, suicide, abuse, sexual assault, substance abuse,

Edited 2024-09-20 09:25 (UTC)

Title: Final Girl

Media: Manga

Approx length: 40-page oneshot

Where to find it: wherever you usually get your mangas.

What is it, in summary?: guy transmigrates into classic slasher film as the (slutty) girl who dies first.

What do you love about it?: the alliance between the slutty and the final girl! That very quickly looks like it's turning into something more... I also love the ending, which I'm not going to spoil, but it leaves many things open for exploring.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Post-Canon! Transmigration into other genre films. F/F shippy stuff between the main two characters. Dark!AU, canon divergence AU. Feelings about transmigrating into a body of a different gender.

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: No, but it's a really short canon so no real need.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): general warnings you'd expect from a slasher film, although it's not really gory. Some characters being very misogynistic until the main character ditches them.

I have nominated this series in the past so I'm gonna yoink that post about it. I really love this series and it's a lot of fun

Title: The Luminaries
Media: Book
Approx length: 294 pages, for the Hardcover edition
Where to find it:
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-luminaries-susan-dennard/1140922048?ean=9781250896155
Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09RHZD6FD/ref=x_gr_bb_kindle?caller=Goodreads&tag=x_gr_bb_kindle-20
What is it, in summary?: Okay I'm gonna steal and shorten the Book's overview summary from B&N and post the book's goodreads page here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60188249-the-luminaries?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=wKvXy80uXi&rank=2
shortened Overview from B&N:
A lush forest full of deadly supernatural monsters serves as the backdrop for The Luminaries, the first book in a new contemporary fantasy series. Set in the small town of Hemlock Falls, the novel follows Winnie, an exile from an ancient society that protects humanity from monsters and nightmares. Winnie is determined to restore her family's good name by taking the deadly hunter trials on her sixteenth birthday.

What do you love about it?: So I love the voice of this book and how it can go from very serious subject matter to having typical teen moments which is what I want more of in my YA books. The mystery surrounding this small town and their society is honestly fascinating and I really love the main character! Is she perfect? No! But she's not supposed to be! Without getting insanely spoilery, Winnie's growth is evident as the plot moves forward. I'm already so excited for book 2 and it kills me that it is currently Fic-less. As in doesn't even have a canonical tag on Ao3 :,D

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I want to see the lost years between Winnie and her friend Jay in particular, what if universes, possible post book events, tbh anything. I will accept scraps.

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?: So if you go onto Susan Dennard's twitter (the author) she did this cute little "choose your own adventure" twitter poll story with the characters—now while the story on there is almost a fic of the book (who cares if the book was written after the twitter event lol) there are some plot points that translate but the book itself is very different. HOWEVER, the characters are pretty much the same.

Also you can have a reading sample on amazon and an audible sample too??
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09RHZD6FD/ref=x_gr_bb_kindle?caller=Goodreads&tag=x_gr_bb_kindle-20

Content warnings: Everything right now is of the PG-13 variety of CWs but violence and Gore, near death experiences are definitely things to look out for.

Title: Changeling Charade

Media: Interactive Fiction

Approx length: 450k words, but you won't see nearly all of it in a single playthrough

Where to find it: On Steam or Choice of Games. It's $8 in the US, so pretty inexpensive.

What is it, in summary?: Basically this is a playable historical fantasy romance novel set in an alternate Victorian England (though a lot of it feels so much like a Regency romance that I kept forgetting it was Victorian until some detail of the fashion reminded me) where magic and supernatural creatures like fairies, werewolves, and mermaids are known to exist. The Queen has made magic illegal and also forbidden magical creatures from working in most human professions, leading to dire poverty and desperation. The player character is a fairy who has resorted to being a changeling, taking on the guises of various humans for pay in order to survive and, more importantly, support her little sisters. (This is also very illegal.) This has worn away her magic, so she has to find an assignment for life and the one she takes is taking the place of the daughter of a Earl who is about to undertake her first Season and choose a suitor, while the real Lady Constance has moved to Australia and married her commoner lover.

Imagine something like a blend of Charles Dickens with Bridgerton and the Parasol Protectorate and you'll have the general idea.

The protagonist has to be a woman and one of the possible love interests is a cis man, but you can choose whether the others are men, women, or nonbinary (an individual choice for each). There's at least one polyamorous ending possible.

What do you love about it?: While there's definitely a lot of Dickensian themes of poverty and exploitation, it still manages to be very trope-y and fun. I also seriously love the characters and have a great deal of curiosity about them.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I'd love to read background fic on basically any of the love interests. How did Rowan Forester become a revolutionary? What was their childhood like? How did Valentine met Rowan and become involved with the movement? How did Valentine become the society-defying person they are? How did Farrington and Valentine meet and become friends? How and when did they become more than friends? How did Farrington and Valentine become suitors of Lady Constance (this is already established when the game starts). Where did Larkin learn their artistic skills?

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: not really

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): there's a lot of racism against supernatural beings.

Edited 2024-09-21 09:31 (UTC)

Nobodies

Media:Video Game (on mobile & PC)

Approx length: There are three games, and they stand on their own pretty much, though follow the same protagonist. Each individually would take around 6ish hours of playthrough I'd say.

Where to find it: Available on Steam, Google Play Store (for free - though in-app purchases do exist - for achievements and stuff)

What is it, in summary?: Its a point and click game, where you play the role of Asset 1080 a "cleaner" who cleans up murders for The Agency. Basically, a murder is committed and its your job, to utilize the things around you and clean it up, and make it so that you aren't caught, and everything is in place as it was, and the body is disposed of with no traces left.

What do you love about it?: Figuring out how to do the thing, and the snarky mental comments of the protagonist, and wondering what the bystanders think of it all. The puzzle and aha of it, and the ingenious solutions.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Gen, Worldbuilding, shippy

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?: Kind of? Most of the cases have a similiar structure, but 'The Dead Drop' of the second game, Nobodies: After Death is when we are we find Jeremy - alternately, you could watch a walkthrough for that - the case is titled 'The Dead Drop'

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Violence, Murder, morbid thoughts courtesy of the protagonist, blood.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 13 of 19

Yuletide Fandom Promo 2024!

Psyche Corporation (various songs)

Geist (video game)

Marjorie Dean - Josephine Chase

Re: Clone High

Re: Rope (1948)

Cradle Series - Will Wight

长公主在上 | Zhǎng Gōng Zhǔ Zài Shàng (Web Series) - aka Eldest Princess On Top

L'Oréal "Time Engraver" Commercials

Modes of Thought in Anterran Literature (Podcast)

World Gone Wrong (Podcast)

Thermos "Flower Series" Commercials

Re: Brocéliande (TV show)

Re: Swiffer Sweeper - "Garage (Who's That Lady)" Commercial

Re: 僕らのミクロな終末 | Bokura no Micro na Shuumatsu | The End of The World With You (TV)

Re: Geico "Happier than a Camel on Wednesday" Commercial

Dreamdark - Laini Taylor

How I Survived Middle School - Nancy Krulik

신세계로부터 | New World (2021)

Maiden Crown - Meghan Collins

Her Voice Was A Backwards Record - Ozy Brennan

What Happens Next

Final Girl

The Luminaries

Changeling Charade

Nobodies (Video Game(s))