yuletide | Yuletide Fandom Promo 2024!

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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 | Flat

Title: Hauntings - Vernon Lee

Media: Book

Approx length:
The nominated characters are in 2 stanalone stories:
Oke of Okehurst: 49 pages
A Wicked Voice: 28 pages

Where to find it:
Link to the book on Gutenberg Project:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9956

What is it, in summary?: They are both supernatural tales
Oke of Okehurst: The unnamed artist narrator is hired to paint a portrait for Mrs. Alice Oke, who's obsessed with her namesake ancestor. The dead Alice Oke was in a passionate love triangle and finally crossdresses as a highwayman and killed her lover. They may still haunt the mansion.

A Wicked Voice: Snotty singer-hating composer Magnus is noncon musically ravished by the dead Baroque castrato Zaffirino

What do you love about it?: I love the unreliable narrator, the exploration of loving/wanting someone so much that "you resent the power of love you feel for them and want to kill them out of love.", the atmospherir horror and the loaded sexual tension.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:
Character study for any of the nominated character, shippy stuff involving Magnus/Zaffirino, Oke of Okehurst Narrator/Current Alice, Oke of Okehurst Narrator/William, Oke of Okehurst Narrator/William/Current Alice and Past Alice/Current Alice.

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. you have to read the whole respective story.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): murder and suicide in Oke of Okehurst

Title: Wish Me Luck (TV)

Media: UK 1988-1990 TV

Approx length: 3 series (1&3 are 8x 45mins; 2 is 7 eps).

Where to find it: DVD in R1 &2; streaming on Freevee, Tubi & Prime in the US & Prime in the UK.

What is it, in summary?: late 1980s UK TV series about women in the S.O.E in WWII, starring Kate Buffery, Suzanna Hamilton, Jane Asher, Julian Glover, Michael J Jackson, Jane Snowden, Jeremy Northam, Lynn Redgrave, Trevor Peacock & Catherine Schell, with Warren Clarke, Terence Hardiman & Shirley Henderson. It's very good and very authentic - the first two series were based on the memoirs of Nancy Wake, and the show's advisor was Yvonne Cormeau. It's older TV, but not slow-paced and has plenty of location work. S1 follows new agents Liz & Matty; S2 sees Liz dealing with two new recruits. S3 is slightly different to the first two series, with some cast departures, but explores a particular operation later in the war, with an unforgettable ending. (It was dreamt up by the same person as Tenko, and it shows.)

What do you love about it?: I love how well it explores the experience of being in the SOE for women, and the s1 cast in particular. I saw it aged 10, and imprinted on it. It terrified me (I was way too young), but I also loved it, and adored Matty & getting the chance to do a proper adult watch of it has only confirmed just how good it was. It doesn't pull its punches & there are obviously various sabotage/spying operations going on in each series, but it also deals with the day-to-day issues and human relationships. If you enjoy WWII dramas, you don't want to miss this one.

My tumblr tag - I've been trying to make some gifs (although mainly Matty and Colin, but some other bits & pieces): https://thisbluespirit.tumblr.com/tagged/wish%20me%20luck

Liz & Matty:

Cad:

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: For this year, I'm probably looking for some Colin/Matty in particular & missing scenes or post-canon for them, but the whole thing is great. I'm not the only one who's seen and loved it, and I nommed Liz, Matty, Colin, & Cad (in a painful toss up between him and Faith), so there's opportunity for other requests, too.

Matty/Colin tag: https://thisbluespirit.tumblr.com/tagged/colin%20x%20matty

I mean:

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! While I recommend the whole thing, and S2 and the S3 finale would be very useful, it would be possible just to watch S1 for these nominated characters.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): It's the S.O.E in WWII - death, torture, interrogation, Nazis, mental breakdown, war, deals with sexism & anti-semitism. Nothing graphic, though, and it handles things very well generally.

Special enticement: An OG Yuletide standby canon since that is expected to be in its final year of eligibility!

Title:
The Queen's Thief - Megan Whalen Turner

Media:
Books & Literature

Approx length:
Six novels (averaging 350 pages) and a collection of short stories.

Where to find it:
Public libraries and wherever fine books are sold. :) They are currently in print from US and UK publishers, and the publishers of Bengali and Estonian translations have completed the series. These days they’re marketed as Young Adult, but because the series began before some institutions separated YA from Middle Grade, you may need to check that section as well.

What is it, in summary?:
A low fantasy series about Gen, who wants to be the greatest thief alive. When he’s plucked out of prison to seek an ancient treasure for a king, he draws the reader into a web of intrigue that we gradually see stretches between multiple countries and promises to change the course of history. But more importantly, it’s about the very personal stakes for Gen and his friends, as they see each other through heartaches, injuries, and assassination attempts with hard-earned trust and affection. The series weaves together characters’ very distinct stories—their own, along with myths, legends, and poems of their world, revealing what’s on their minds and giving us a deeper look at their Renaissance Mediterranean-inspired cultures.

What do you love about it?:
Megan Whalen Turner unfolds information slowly and slyly, so that with each reread I notice something new, and that has kept this series endlessly interesting for more than half my life.
I love that it’s full of disabled protagonists who get to do cool things, without skipping over the difficulties and complications.
I love that its characters have fascinating, messy personalities that make them fun to throw into situations. I love that it makes their relationships juicy and full of texture.
I love that it’s full of adventure, humor, beautiful phrases and imagery, surprises, and emotion!

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:
This year, I simply want fic about the most popular relationship in the fandom! But see the end for some other thoughts…

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 often tell people who aren’t crazy about road trips they can skip the first book and see whether the second grabs them, and the short stories aren’t necessary to enjoy the overall story of the series…but there is a character nominated this year who only appears in these!

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
Important scenes of violence and injuries, slavery, child abuse, and ableism. Discussion of suicide and miscarriage.

Bonus: What might be fun if you already like this series? (Contains spoilers!):
The usual suspects are all nominated—Gen, Irene, Helen, Sophos, Costis, Kamet, Pheris—which covers potential for our most popular / and & relationships! We also have Gen’s mother and children, rich with possibilities to expand on; fan favorites the Magus, Aristogiton, and Ion of Attolia; and intriguing minor characters Timris and Verix. And we have worldbuilding!

I called QT a Yuletide standby for good reason: it’s in the top 5 most-written about fandoms in Yuletide’s parent collection! QT is reliably popular in requests and offers alike, and the fandom has an active fic scene that I can report is excited to go out with a bang. You have a good chance of getting a QT gift or treat this year if you make a request, and there’s no such thing as too many writers. Play with us! It’s going to be great!

Title: Space Shuttle No. 8 - เจฟ ซาเตอร์ | Jeff Satur (Music Videos)

Media: Music Videos

Approx length: 35 mins

Where to find it:
Playlist of character-driven Space Shuttle No. 8 music videos in album order (Dum Dum, Lucid, Highway, Complicated, Ghost, Yellow Leaf, Fade, Black Tie, Dum Dum Unchained), & the Space Shuttle No. 8 Asia Tour Trailer.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLi3xxfqVRU2r6CBx2YaIFmd7sv9jV4BLI

Photos & scans from the Space Shuttle No. 8 album box, including the Journey Book, a story that ties the music videos together.
https://www.tumblr.com/vani-ash/759340283871870977/photos-from-space-shuttle-no8-album

What is it, in summary?
Jeff Satur is a singer/songwriter/actor from Thailand. He created stories, characters, and lore for his Space Shuttle No. 8 (also known as SS8) album music videos. These made reappearances in a cinematic trailer for the album tour, and continued to develop in performances and recordings on the tour. The box set for the album included a hardcover book with even more character lore and story to tie the music videos together.

What do you love about it?
I really love Jeff Satur's storytelling. He writes speculative fiction (horror, science fiction, fantasy, magical realism) with interesting puzzles and twists, and everything is beautifully filmed. I can watch his videos a dozen times and still catch new moments and imagery. He draws on inspirations from Peter Pan to Hannibal, and gives them his own spin. The MVs are all very cool on their own, but once you start connecting them, it opens up a giant sandbox to play in.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?
I'm intrigued by the life-and-death-and-rebirth immortality elements (Moonshine dropping on the bridge, Ghost being ageless, Sunshine's 'love die' journal, Lucid beneath the tree, the reincarnation in Fade) and recurring imagery. I love the dragon on Sunshine's phin, and everything on the train in the cinematic trailer, including Black's photograph on the newspaper. I love the way Sunshine's smile/reflection appears in mirrors (Black Tie, cinematic trailer). I'd love to explore the augmented humanity aspects for some of the characters (Moonshine, Ghost), possibly in conjunction with some of the cool jewelry choices (is that an earring? is it a knife? is it a key?). I really enjoy crossovers and fusions with other canons in this fandom, because there's so much you can do with it. Howl's Moving Castle, The Raven Cycle/The Dreamer Trilogy, Dollhouse...there are some amazing possibilities.

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! If you wanted to do a deep dive into the cinematic trailer alone, or the Journey Book as it relates to the MVs, that would be amazing. Black Tie, Lucid, and Dum Dum would also be fantastic choices.

Content warning: Violence

Title:
When you see a lore video for a franchise you know nothing about (Short Film - Sir Matteus)

Media:
Youtube video

Approx length:
1:37 (It's short!)

Where to find it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atv8pf0jBNE

What is it, in summary?:
It's a video summarizing a nonexistent canon in a manner very similar to, well, what it says on the tin.

What do you love about it?:
What don't I love about it? The overwrought fantasy names (Arrrerrorrer!), the map, the narration, the actual tantalizing hints of an interesting story!

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:
Worldbuilding all the way on this one. There's a surprisingly good framework here that I would love to see expanded upon and it could go SO many ways!

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 canon is one short video. No major commitment here!

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
No major warnings here. References to war and such but certainly nothing in any detail.

Edited 2024-10-06 20:37 (UTC)

Title: The Yakuza’s Guide to Babysitting
Media: Anime and Manga
Approx length: 12 episodes or 64 chapters
Where to find it: Anime : https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/G79H2300N/the-yakuzas-guide-to-babysitting
I’m not sure about the manga.
What is it, in summary?: It’s a series about a yakuza member, Kirishima Tooru, being too out of control and violent. So he is tasked by his boss to look after his seven year old daughter; to teach him responsibility and how to take care of someone.
What do you love about it?: It has a lot of heartwarming moments, but the thing I love most is the sense of found family! It’s adorable! I also really enjoy the contrast between the main character's violent side, and his caring nature when it comes to taking care of his boss’s daughter. Also…I find a lot of the character designs to be very attractive lol.
What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I’m planning to request some cute family moments between the characters, but also some smutty things for the ships I love. The series has so much fanfic/fanart potential!
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?: For my requests, I think the anime would be sufficient enough to understand and get to know the characters.
Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): It has some violence and a bit of gore(mostly blood).

Title: Okane ga Nai
Media: Anime
Approx length: 4 episodes
Where to find it: I don’t know of anywhere that is currently hosting it officially.
What is it, in summary?: It’s about a guy named Ayase being betrayed by his only relative. He’s sold into sex slavery, but is purchased by a loan shark named Kanou who has memories of meeting Ayase in the past. When Ayase doesn’t remember and asks to leave, Kanou gets angry and sexually violent with him. He then says Ayase can buy his freedom. Kanou will give him a certain amount of money each time they have sex. And then both sexy and cute things happen lol.
What do you love about it?: The size difference is MASSIVE and insanely hot. So is the lack of consent. Though I also enjoy the way Kanou tries to be gentler with Ayase and make him happy despite the circumstances.
What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I’m requesting a lot of smutty stuff for this one, but also a few cute sfw prompts as well. I also really enjoy fun AUs of this work!
Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Rape, Violence

Title: Father Knows Best

Media: TV Show

Approx length: 6 seasons, 203 half-hour episodes

Where to find it: A ton of different streaming services and cable channel Antenna TV

What is it, in summary?: A sit-com from the 50s about a typical American family where the parents, though imperfect, usually know what's best for their kids.

What do you love about it?: I watched it when I was a little kid and felt I could relate to it in many ways. My family also had two girls and one boy. I understood how Kathy felt a lot of the time, also being the youngest. The show had stories I really liked and parents who you thought would always stay together.

The show also had Betty, a young woman with actual ambition. Sure, she cared about hairstyles and fashion and school dances, but she also cared about her own future and making the world a better place. A teenage girl who is a full person is rare on TV sitcoms, especially in the 50s.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Either something similar to an actual episode or an alternate universe story. I'll explain more in my letter.

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: Any that center most around Betty. A few episodes would be good to get the gist of the show, but if you read through an episode guide and you see that an episode concerns Betty or Kathy, it's probably an episode I liked more than the others.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): None of these. Some episodes did have 50s sexist ideals that got annoying (Margaret didn't seem to do much beyond cook and clean). But I still love it.

Title: MouseHunt (Video Game)

Media: Mobile Video Game

Approx length: Playing for a day will give you access to most of the current lore via the mouse descriptions and a very detailed Wiki linked below should be sufficient to write a fic. In terms of gameplay, there are special events throughout each year and optional goals to last you for years.

Where to find it: www.mousehuntgame.com or your mobile device's app store. The wiki https://mhwiki.hitgrab.com/wiki/index.php/MouseHunt_Wiki is also detailed. It contains in-universe text both past and present if you find additional information is needed from other points in the game. The official facebook page https://www.facebook.com/MouseHuntTheGame/ also has lots of art from the game if visual inspiration is helpful.

What is it, in summary?: A browser-based/app idle clicker with one click every 15 minutes. Your role is as a hunter, catching a variety of mice from common varieties to other creature hybrids and seasonal characters.

What do you love about it?: As the time between hunts is 15 minutes, the game can be played around other activities, but the dynamics of different areas means long term strategy is involved in the choices you make. There is an active community and the devs are very responsive to the players, and with every new area the mouse the lore keeps getting richer. There is a main storyline, but there are also a variety of achievements to pursue as you start to progress.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I'm not actually requesting it myself this year, but my partner and I are hoping to see it get written for Yuletide anyway. We’d also like to just invite more people to the game in hopes they may want to request or offer it next year. If you are interested in starting an account to play, feel free to friend us Hunter ID: 5830393 & Hunter ID: 8259875 and we can send you starter supplies.

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?: The game has very few characters if you don’t count the mice. Larry and the King are introduced in the game tutorial. The other characters are available for only short times through game events, but a detailed history is available on the wiki.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): There's a bit of anti-mice violence and existential horror in some of the traps descriptions and mouse descriptions. Some spookier art especially for the Halloween and radioactive mice.

Edited (formatting) 2024-10-07 07:09 (UTC)

Title: The Winslow Boy (1999)

Media: Film

Approx length: 104 mins

Where to find it: DVD, TV channels, looks like it's streaming on Apple in the UK & US & available to rent/buy via Prime, YT & other places.

What is it, in summary?: Adapation by David Mamet of Terence Rattigan's play, based on a real Edwardian case, starring Nigel Hawthorne, Rebecca Pidgeon, Jeremy Northam & Gemma Jones. Ronnie Winslow is expelled from his naval cadet school for stealing & the film follows the struggle of the Winslow family to clear his name, and the top lawyer who takes on the case. It's brilliantly done, and extremely low-key and interested in the family relationships, how they shift, their interactions and the human cost of the case rather than the trial scenes (which, as in the play itself, are excluded). The small cast is excellent throughout.

Wiki entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Winslow_Boy_(1999_film)
My tumblr tag, for giffage: https://thisbluespirit.tumblr.com/tagged/the%20winslow%20boy

What do you love about it?: I love this kind of thing, I've loved the other Rattigan play I know (The Browning Version), and I've watched this about five times since I finally got around to it last year. Watching the pressures the case put on the family, the different relationships, & especially the growth of understanding over the film between the forthright suffragist daughter, Catherine (Rebecca Pidgeon), and the conservative lawyer, Sir Robert Morton, who's not as heartless or unprincipled as she assumed, & I love the period setting which manages to feel both totally accurate and yet fresh and real.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: As I said, it's a perfect film in itself, but also leaves me needing about 6 hours more of what happens after if Sir Robert and Catherine really do pursue a romance as implied by the ending, and how they'd ever work it out, so - much as I also love all the interactions - it's got to be Catherine/Robert.

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 not a long film.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): None. Only that I'm not joking about how understated, low-key, show-not-tell this film is - it's not for anyone who prefers a bit of action!

Title: Tales of the Rays Recollection — "An RPG about knowing the power of the truth".

Official page (it looks to be heavily MTL'd, however).

(Game's Opening on YouTube)

Media: Mobile J-RPG.

Approx length: The Main Story arc of 'Recollection' takes around five hours in total, a little more if you also watch optional content like the short stories.

Where to find it: TimeFactor uploaded the whole main story to YouTube, while 'Recollection' starts here (recommended to skip the "Origin Regression" event if you're a newcomer). The official YouTube channel also has the story up, but it misses the non-main story parts (like short stories and events) and also removed audio voice, so the former is encouraged to be used instead*.

If you don't speak Japanese, this arc was also translated by FeatherSnek in her public Discord server. Here is the invite. There is no channel signaling people who enter, so feel free to just drop by and read through the translation channels (though if you do end up liking what you are reading, we would be very happy to chat about it!). The story channel is also up for questions (as well as Feather themselves, through Discord or social media like Twitter or Tumblr, if you're shy).

*The game ended its service after seven years this past summer, having finished the story, so don't worry about legality concerns with the videos being uploaded: BanNam is not making money of it anymore so they don't care.

What is it, in summary?:

If someone makes a copy of yourself, is that copy still "you"?
How would you react if you saw someone who you loved but is supposed to be dead, or if that what was meant to kill you was no longer in effect?
What if you were resurrected into the body of someone you detest, or if you were brought back but could do nothing but watch?
What if you gave your memories up and turned yourself into a martyr to keep the world alive? How much would still be yourself? Would you even be alive?

And what if the only way to stop the world's destruction was to turn to other worlds and make copies from them instead? Would a Frankenstein-like world like that even deserve to exist? Could it ever be recognized as a true world and not as a mere lie?

Tir Na Nog, the world of Tales of the Rays, is built upon copying the contents of other worlds through a process called exoflection, then processing them and adapting them through another process called encoding. This provides the Aegis barrier with the very much needed chiral particles made from anima that it needs to be repaired and prevent the world from being erased.

Under these guidelines, the hero and heroine Ix and Mileena start using their powers as mirrists to exoflect worlds and save theirs. These exoflections end up making copies of its habitants as well, granting a different life and sometimes a second chance to the nexuses: many known faces that Tales fans will recognize from other games.

(And it's a very fic-friendly story for this reason! But this post is about the original story rather than the crossover aspect. I'm also focusing on the sequel so, after this brief introduction, let's move on)

“This is a tale about weaving memories. Your Tale – proof that even if everything is lost, the memories engraved in our hearts will never disappear.”

This is the first thing the narrator of 'Recollection' says.

'Recollection' is the formal arc-sequel to Tales of the Rays. Rather than continuing where things left of, because the main conflict was already resolved, the arc is set two hundred years into the future and features a whole new cast and story.

In it, Neo-Eidyia's kingdom is all what remains of the once prosperous world of Tir Na Nog and its habitants, and the Aegis now protects its capital, Idavoll. It's all due to the attacks of mysterious entities called Wraiths that suddenly appeared two hundred years prior, destroying everything else while people could do nothing but watch.

Only the Reaper Knights have the power to harm Wraiths, but they are vastly outnumbered. The situation is dire and, upon a discovery, the main party starts considering an idea. What if they used the Chronos pillar, which has the power of the spirit of time, to turn back on time and fix the problem of the Wraiths at its source? Of course, the possibility of going back in time causes them to be confronted with a question that soon divides them: changing the future means they could stop existing. Would you give up the past to save your future?

What do you love about it?:

If you have ever heard of the Tales of franchise, chances are that you did it by playing through either the classic Tales of Symphonia or Tales of Abyss. In which case, I have good news! The main scriptwriter behind those entries was also behind this game and, in my opinion, you can tell: there are a lot of similarities in themes and she has a very distinctive writing style.

'Recollection' is a very complete story. It's clear it was well planned and plotted from the start, without being cut short or dragged on for longer than it should, as it happens to many games in mobile format. Unlike the first arc of the main story of Tales of the Rays, which took its time to set up the world first, the plot in 'Recollection' is engaging from the very beginning and has a quick start--The introduction of this new cast involves them attacking the former protagonist of the game, and the scene leaves an intense impression.

Much like with the main story of Tales of the Rays, the characters in 'Recollection' are very nuanced. All of them have their personalities and motivations driving them forward, and they mash well with each other as a group, leading to a lot of different relationship dynamics. As someone who has played a lot of Tales of games, it was quite a surprise to find such quality writing in a mobile game of all places, one that had nothing to envy to many mainline entries. There are a lot of revelations and twists that you can't see coming or, if you do, the conclusion is also completely different.

Nothing in Tales of the Rays was ever what it looked like at first glance: it wasn't for what was seen during most of the first arc, and that applies to 'Recollection' as well: the Wraiths suddenly start taking the shape of people, the Death Star power that's used to combat them actually comes from the mysterious Baldr M., neither Kodama nor Elnath remember their pasts, and you soon realize there are too many missing puzzle pieces in this "Rainbow Night" when the Wraiths first appeared...

If you like fantasy worlds with elaborated worldbuilding, intriguing plots and entertaining characters, even if you are not familiar with Tales of the Rays or even Tales of yet, this might be for you!

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Genfic: character studies, canon divergences, what-ifs, post-canon continuations,... There's also a lot of ship potential too, though I am not going to ask for it myself.

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?:

'Recollection' is exactly that! Because it's set centuries into the future and the main cast is different, you can watch through 'Recollection' without being familiar with Tales of the Rays and even Tales of as a whole. It's true that the story rewards you for having read through the previous four arcs, just like those arcs also rewarded you for being familiar with the nexuses (Tales characters from other games), but it's also easy to jump in right into 'Recollection' without knowing of the main story: It’s self-contained enough and the original cast, as well as the crossover characters, don't have much of a role. There was also a dictionary in-game, and the narrator sometimes pauses to give a short explanation of story and terms.

Tales of does this sometimes: Tales of Phantasia is a distant sequel of Tales of Symphonia; Tales of Berseria is a distant prequel of Tales of Zestiria, etc. They are better experienced when you have played everything in the same universe, but it's not a requisite: even for direct sequels like Tales of Xillia and Tales of Xillia 2, the latter made the effort of giving you options in the main menu to explain the story and terms.

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

The main character suffers from discrimination due to being a Wastelander, people who have been pushed to migrate due to their countries being destroyed by Wraiths that now live in colonies near the capital. They carry the prejudice and superstitions, such as the perception that they take up on resources or the belief that their presence attracts Wraiths.

There is also violence, as the Wraiths mutilate, infect (phantom disease) and kill people, and part of the main cast also lost parts of their bodies on Wraith attacks, but neither of this is ever shown in a graphic manner on-screen.

Outside of mentioning that, I can't think of anything that merits a big warning.

Title: A New Leaf (1971)

Media: Film

Approx length: 102 minutes.

Where to find it: https://pluto.tv/us/on-demand/movies/601aefd62678b7001a85e3d2?utm_source=plutotv&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=1000201&utm_content=1000735&utm_content_description=pluto_share&referrer=copy-link

What is it, in summary?: A New Leaf is a heartwarming black rom-com about planning to marry rich so you may murder your wife. Henry Graham, an aging playboy, suddenly learns that he has absolutely exceeded his income, and he has no way to support himself in the manner to which he is accustomed. He concocts the plan to marry rich then murder. In the pursuit of this, he meets Henrietta Lowell, a clumsy botanist who is absolutely filthy stinking rich. He woos her quickly, and plans to strike. Except. In the process of caring for Henrietta, cutting tags off her clothes, sorting out her finances, supporting her work, will he begin to love her? Has he in fact become a better man because of his marriage? Find out in Elaine May's first directorial debut!

What do you love about it?: It's the most touching love story that ever began with planned murder. It's so--tender? It's terribly funny and the dialogue is marvelous.

What really heightens this film for me is the relationship between Henry and Henrietta. There's something so lovely in how Henry starts out as a playboy bum, no motivations other than wealth and driving his fast car with carbon on the valves. And yet, as he cares for Henrietta, he becomes a much better person. He finds new things in life to care about, loath as he is to admit it. And Henrietta is lovely--not a manic pixie dream girl at all, but a real person who is exceedingly clumsy and in love with her special interests. She's naive, yes, but she's not stupid. I think it's interesting how she doesn't push for Henry to change, but he changes because of her very impact. The ending of this film makes me smile every time.

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

I really want something focused around Henry and Henrietta's marriage post-canon. I want to see them working at the university together! Or just domestic life! Anything with them honestly. I adore them, and I want more! I'd also love Henrietta POV of when she realizes that Henry planned to kill her, and why she does what she does. Basically anything involving them I'd be super happy with.

I'm also super obsessed with how Henry continually caretakes her appearance, cutting off tags, brushing off lint, sorting out which way a garment is gone. I think it's both sweet and also makes me go!!! I'd love to see that explored in a smut context, especially with lingerie. I may be the first person to ever want smut for this movie, but I'm valid. XD

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: No, the whole movie must be watched.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): The subject of murder is continually brought up throughout the film, but there is no violence shown. There is a short shot in a sequence where Henry contemplates Henrietta getting killed in the woods in various ways that involves Henrietta being beset by Native Americans stereotypes.

Title: Call of Cthulhu: The Dreamlands Express (Roleplaying Game)

Media: Book/roleplaying game module

Approx length: 50 pages

Where to find it: This is an optional, self-contained module within the larger Horror on the Orient Express campaign; it is contained within Book II: Through The Alps, starting on pp 131. You don't have to know anything about the larger campaign to read it. You don't have to have greater Cthulhu Mythos knowledge, either, though it is a paean to the Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath and would work excellently with any of the Dream sequence stories in Lovecraft (and company)'s canon.

What is it, in summary?: Where to start! The module is self-contained within the larger (much larger) Horror on the Orient Express, and involves investigators/players riding on a dream version of the Orient Express through Lovecraft's Dreamlands as imagined in stories like the Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. It's a locked-room murder (of course it is), but more importantly it's ripe for worldbuilding, sucking in all the canon from Dream-Quest and sprinkling it with lots of flavour, including (of course) the Cats of Ulthar. The Dreamlands Express is the product of its dreamer, once-Orient Express conducteur Henri Peeters who died in a fire on the train in real life. Anyone who rides on the Orient Express in real life can dream their way onto the Dreamlands Express. This opens up so many crossover opportunities, all of which I'd be excited for. The Dreamlands Express was imagined up to allow passengers to "discard disabling fears and hopeless dreams," eventually terminating at the Gulf of Nodens, where passengers can throw their emotions into the gulf as a sacrifice to Nodens.

What do you love about it?/What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Gosh. There's so much here: the Orient/Dreamlands Express crossover is great, for one thing, with so much History (TM) as well as geography both real and psychological to build on. There's oodles of worldbuilding/character exploration to be done with the idea that Henri envisioned riding on the Dreamlands Express as a way of discarding things that hold them back - both fears and dreams/ambitions.

It's alluded to that Henri had to do many deals with many Dreamlands entities to build the Express: how!!! What deals!!! With whom?! I love the idea of a man loving something so much he dreams it into a reality, and bargains for its existence with eldritch things. TELL ME MORE!!!

Or crossovers such as... what if Agatha Christie dreamt herself onto the Dreamlands Express, and Murder on the Orient Express is really a re-telling of her meeting a dream-Poirot, or some other investigator she later turns into Poirot? Or maybe the King in Yellow from Robert Chambers comes on for a mind-bending visit.

Or, within the universe itself, what if Randolph Carter got onto the train? Where would he go? Was a kick-ass train scene involving Nyalarthotep part of that story???

Title: Bionicle

Media: Multimedia

In order of "amount of story conveyed": Books, comics, movies, Flash animations, Flash games.

While it was a toyline, the toys... did not really contain the story.

Approximate Length: Oh, god, how do I count this?

- 29 Scholastic chapter books
- 4 Young Readers books
- 17 online serials
- 8 online short stories
- 49 comics, approx. 15 pages each
- 4 animated movies, approx. 60 minutes each (72 with credits); come with novelizations, although those do differ in slight details
- 22 Flash animations, 2-5? minutes each, have been converted to videos
- 2 relevant Flash games, [wobbly hand gesture] each, come with novelizations/walkthroughs

Where to (Legally) Find It:

Almost everything can be found on https://wallofhistory.com/ or https://biomediaproject.com/bmp/, and there's a fan wiki at https://biosector01.com/wiki/Main_Page. The things that weren't first posted online for free are out of print and have been for at least 12 years, so I'm assuming these are legal sources because Lego hasn't taken them down and Lego has explictly approved a free fan game that will be available on Steam. The Legend Reborn, the fourth movie, can be bought on Youtube.

~~Brief~~ Description:

In the time before time, the Great Spirit descended from the heavens, carrying we, the ones called the Matoran, to this paradise. We were separate, and without purpose, so the Great Spirit illuminated us with the Three Virtues: Unity, Duty, and Destiny. We embraced these gifts, and in gratitude, we named our island home Mata Nui, after the Great Spirit himself.

But our happiness was not to last. For Mata Nui's brother, the Makuta, was jealous of these honors and betrayed him, casting a spell over Mata Nui, who fell into a deep slumber. The Makuta was free to unleash his shadows... and unleash them, he did...

Magic robots, the hobbit-sized Matoran and their wise elders the Turaga, live on an island terrorized by a shadowy evil, the Makuta. The Toa, prophesized heroes with elemental powers, appear to defeat the evil and awaken the Matoran's god, Mata Nui or the Great Spirit. This seemingly simple task becomes much more complicated, and a world that began as "magic robots on an island in the middle of the ocean" unfolds into a world of massive underground domes, Matoran asked to become Toa, Matoran setting out to become heroes even without being Toa, and the eventual discovery that their world, and their god, are not as they thought they were.

What do you love about it?:

The characters, the broad strokes of the story and most of the details, and the worldbuilding, although often more its potential than its execution. Also, I was introduced to Bionicle when I was 7, and it had a formative and lasting impact on me.

I love how the characters we're supposed to root for are good, and yes it was a kid's toyline so it's not exactly going to have grey-and-grey or grey-and-black morality, but it does address nuanced and dark topics sometimes. Cowardice and courage and heroism and trying your best to be what's needed to save the world even when you don't think you're worthy, and failing and trying again and succeeding. Bionicle doesn't shy away from death, either; it's not gruesomely detailed, but people die, and people sacrifice themselves, and it's tragic and heroic or sometimes just tragic.

Is Bionicle ""good"" ""writing""? Not on an overall level, no. One could argue that it mostly had early installment weirdness, but I love the early installments so I don't know, really. Most individual segments are good, even great, and there are powerful scenes. Some of the worldbuilding makes me scream (if you know astrophysics, you might want to tear your hair out), but really, isn't "I can fix this" the perfect breeding ground for fanfic?

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

Gen friendship and/or worldbuilding, most likely! I love almost everybody in this bar and it's so hard to have to pick just a few characters to nominate. But it's a very complicated moon-sized bar, so I will eventually narrow things down.

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?:

Haha oh god. Honestly, if you read the 2001-2003 arcs, and brush up on the wiki for relevant background information that is revealed later in publication order but are true for the '01-'03 arcs, that's enough. I love these magic robots on their island paradise. Hell, if you consume '01-'03 and don't brush up on the wiki, I don't mind if you write something contradicted by later canon.

Content warnings:

Major character death. Also a really annoying 5:1 male:female ratio in the characters, if "token girl is practically a codified feature of teams" is a hard nope for you.

(My “what are you likely to request?” section contains minor spoilers.)

Title: Scavengers Reign (Cartoon)

Media: Adult animated TV series

Approx length: One season, of twelve 25-minute episodes

Where to find it: Netflix (in the US, UK, Ireland, and New Zealand)

What is it, in summary?: Sci-fi with horror elements. The crew of the damaged interstellar freighter Demeter-227 find themselves stranded on a beautiful yet unforgiving alien planet, and have to learn to adapt to its bizarre ecosystem in order to survive. Saw someone on Tumblr call it “Annihilation meets The Terror, in space.”

What do you love about it?: Scavengers Reign is, IMO, the most underrated show I've watched in the past several years. Planet Vesta and its ecosystem, and the fascinating speculative biology of the flora and fauna that populate it, are beautiful, terrifying, bewildering, and utterly ingenious at turns. (Emphasis on beautiful — the show’s gorgeous Ghibli-esque animation alone is reason enough to give it a watch. Check out this short video, which you may have to manually copy the link to because Dreamwidth is borking the URL, to see more of what I mean.) I love all of the show's main cast and their interwoven arcs — aside from the characters I mention below, my faves are probably Azi, a brilliant butch lesbian mechanic, and her companion Levi, a robot slowly fusing with the planet’s natural world. I love its themes of transformation, and finding meaning amidst horror, and the sheer awe that nature inspires, and how your physical environment shapes your character and values — and how your own character and values shape it in turn.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Based on the number of other nominators and who they’ve nominated, it seems that there will be other requests featuring the series’ main cast, but I’m personally requesting two minor female characters:
— Fiona, a roboticist who’s the ex-wife of one of the protagonists. We only ever get to see her through the warped memories of others, which paint several conflicting pictures of her — I want to know who she actually was, and perhaps how she might have fared on Vesta.
— Kris, the hyper-pragmatic, control-freak leader of a scrappy mining crew who offers to help out the Demeter… for a price. I want to know more about the colony she comes from and why she’s Like That, and about something that happens to her in the show’s final scene. Also I ship her with Azi (toxic butch4butch psychological mind games!)

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Graphic gore and body horror, animated in lovingly hyperspecific detail. Parasites. Mind control/altered mental states. A brief scene of self-harm.

Edited 2024-10-23 14:45 (UTC)

Title: Turning a Sphere Outside In

Media: Youtube video

Approx length: 24 minutes

Where to find it: Right here at the link!

What is it, in summary?:

Thirteen years ago, the educational video 'Outside In' was uploaded to Youtube. Made in 1994, its intent was to teach viewers about the famously counter-intuitive and complicated mathematical subject of topology, through the means of a female narrator explaining this 'new discovery' about spheres to a male narrator. The video's surreal visuals and overall dreamy vibe turned it into to a cult-classic internet hit, with as of typing 8.1 million views.

Enter Huggbees, a Youtuber known for his gag dubs. Using the visuals of the original video, he crafted his own script in which he and a female narrator take the place of the original man and woman, following closely to the original... at first. And then things go wildly, dramatically off the rails.

Naturally, this sort of thing is best experienced blind, so please go take a look if the above interests you at all! However, the video's big trigger warnings and this fandom's greatest appeal are both major spoilers, so read on if you just have to know! The male and female narrators are slowly revealed to have shared multiple nights of passion in the past, and an attraction still lingers. They are then revealed to also be brother and sister. And to boot, at the end it's implied that their parents were also related! Also, the woman is married and has a kid, so there is infidelity, though apparently her husband is 'not that great of a guy' and was probably 'seeing women on the side.'.

What do you love about it?:

Oh god, the fanfic possibilities are just countless, from pre-canon fics filling in those spicy details referred to in the video, to post-canon stuff exploring how the characters move forward after the events at the end of the video - and what about the parents?! Plus, due to the nature of the subject, there's sooo much potential for rampant maths nerdery in fic, but also an equal potential to completely ignore all that if that's not your deal! :D

And yet, despite the potential, there is not even one single fic for this video on Ao3. It's wild!!! The thing has a goddamn TV Tropes page but no fanfiction?! This cannot stand. I plan on writing a piece for it at some point regardless, but in the meantime, Yuletide offers the perfect opportunity to christen that shiny new fandom tag. :)

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Any and all of the above! (I'd especially love anything leaning on all the mathsy stuff, but I'm not picky~)

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 just watch the whole thing on Youtube at any time! :)

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): See above spoiler tag for more details. In short: Brother/sister incest; possibly multiple generations of it. Infidelity. Explicit language.

Edited (formatting) 2024-10-10 08:38 (UTC)

Title:
"Cuckoo" - and other lesbian paintings by Gerda Wegener (1925)

Media:
Art.

Approx length:
Up to 8 drawings.

Where to find it: You can find them all in my Yuletide letter. (https://katekane.livejournal.com/5499.html)
I nominated the drawing named "Cuckoo", but only because I couldn't figure out how to nominate more than one drawing. I'd be happy with a story based on any/all of Wegener's sapphic illustrations.

What is it, in summary?:
A collection of gorgeous lesbian watercolor illustrations published in 1925 in the title "Le Delassements d'Eros" by painter Gerda Wegener (wife of famous transwoman Lili Elbe).

What do you love about it?:
I love the playfulness and subtle humor in Wegener's drawings. Their style feels a bit naïve or even innocent, but the content is quite explicit, and I love that contrast. Also the scenes take place in a universe that has hints of luscious castle gardens, naughty carnivals, intimate bedrooms as well as a fairytale-vibe. They peak my curiosity!

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:
I'm up for porn, but with a plot. Most of all I want worldbuilding. Let me know more about the characters, their relationships and universe.

Content warnings: Explicit lesbian shennanigans.

Title: Kyle Murchison Booth stories by Sarah Monette

Media: Prose fiction

Approx length: Around two dozen short stories and a novella

Where to find it: The main canon are the 2007 collection The Bone Key: The Necromantic Mysteries of Kyle Murchison Booth, the 2023 novella A Theory of Haunting, and a few other short stories available online that are linked from Monette's wikipedia page (starting with "The Yellow Dressing Gown"). There are a couple of other stories only available via other collections, but those are not crucial, IMO.

What is it, in summary?: A series of stories about a melancholy, painfully shy, gay museum archivist in the early 20th century somewhere on the Eastern seaboard who keeps finding himself solving mysteries involving ghosts, demons, and other malevolent supernatural forces. The tone tends to be gentle horror. Booth manages to make a friend now and then despite himself, and those are the strongest stories IMO.

What do you love about it?: The stories are great for this time of year, a kind of cozy melancholy I enjoy a lot that sometimes is genuinely very creepy, and Booth himself is really lovely in ways he doesn't recognize. He has a lot of kindness and courage. Despite his horror of interacting with people, he keeps inserting himself into situations to save them from the supernatural, and I love that about him.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I am requesting Booth shipfic with archeologist and former schoolmate John Pelham Ratcliffe, whom he solves a mystery with in "Drowning Palmer," or Booth shipfic or gen with Alexis Rigby, a young but powerful medium that Booth encounters and ends up allying with in the novella "A Theory of Haunting." I would love fic about the development of either of those relationships, and casefic is very welcome too.

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 main collection The Bone Key is plenty to get Booth's general vibe and meet Ratcliffe (who only appears in the one story), or The Bone Key plus A Theory of Haunting to write Booth and Alexis.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): In "Elegy for a Demon Lover," Booth is mindcontrolled into a relationship and sex by an incubus. Otherwise, general bad ends for a lot of secondary characters via ghosts or black magic. Written in first person POV.

Edited 2024-10-10 19:01 (UTC)

Title: Countless - Cai Guoqing & Chen Chusheng & Zhang Yuan & Yu Haoming (Call Me By Fire 2023 Performance)

Media: Video

Approx length: 6.5 minutes

Where to find it:
The performance with my own English subtitles added
Original with only Chinese subs
The whole episode of the show it's from

What is it, in summary?: A vocal performance on Chinese variety show Call Me By Fire, where the song is presented as a conversation between a psychiatrist and patient, with three singers representing three aspects of the patient's psyche.

What do you love about it?: The original song is one of my favorites, by one of my favorite singers, so when I saw they were doing it I was like oh, no way their version can hold a candle to Joker's. But turning it from just a simple song performance into practically a six-minute play was totally unexpected, and it blew me away!

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I feel like there are tons of opportunities here for dark shippy stuff - whether dark, unhealthy doctor/patient, or self-cest between the different aspects of the patient's psyche. Or just something exploring the patient's experiences - this doesn't exactly seem like a nice psychiatric hospital, and there is a distinct contrast between the clean, stylish clothes of the psychiatrist and the dingy surroundings, so how did the patient wind up here, what has happened to him since he got here (I get possible unethical-experimentation vibes from the setup?), why is he losing his grip on reality? Is the psychiatrist actually looking out for his best interest and he just can't see it? Is "let me give you the world" sincere, or patronizing? I feel like there is just so much meaty and potentially disturbing possibility in this one little performance!

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 only 6.5 minutes, so it can't get much shorter than that!

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): It's set in what appears to be a grungy psychiatric hospital and the lyrics of the song imply the patient is losing his grip on reality. But for as much as I see a lot of disturbing fic possibility, the actual performance is not particularly disturbing.

Edited 2024-10-17 01:56 (UTC)

Title Trolley Problem (thought experiment)
What is it, in summary?: see Wikipedia for the long version, but the usual formulation is something like "a runaway tram is on course to kill five people down the track, but a bystander can pull a lever to divert it to a different track where it will kill one person. Should they pull it?"
What do you love about it?: this came up in a Worldcon panel on philosophy and SF, and one of the panellists suggested fiction from the point of view of one of the participants in the trolley problem (sketched widely, not just the version above). I think that's a really cool idea, so here it is in Yuletide :)

Title: Profiler (TV 1996)

Media: TV show

Approx length: 4 seasons, 83 eps in all

Where to find it: DVDs are available on Amazon. Contact me directly if you'd like.

What is it, in summary?: Samantha "Sam" Waters (played by Ally Walker) is the best profiler in the world, but has been hiding out on her friend's farm with her daughter Chloe after the death of her husband at the hands of the serial killer Jack of All Trades. But when her former mentor and good friend Bailey Malone (played by Robert Davi) needs her help on a tough case, it pulls her back into the FBI—and the sights of Jack. (Basically a serial killer-focused FBI show that was the groundbreaker for shows like CSI and Without a Trace.)

What do you love about it?: Sam and Bailey's deep friendship (which is actually love on his side - even the actor said so! - but she doesn't realize it). They care so much for each other (and touch each other a lot, lol). I also adore Sam's competence and intelligence - her femininity is part of what makes her so competent, and you don't always see a character that combines all of that.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Shippy fic! Or friendship fic! (I like both the canon dynamic and fics where she realizes she loves him too.) Really, anything that involves them being who they are, doing things together.

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?: Absolutely! S1/S2 are all I really care about - that's 42 eps max. And if that's too many, there aren't any major details introduced after S1 that would need to be incorporated, so you could watch just the first season (22 eps) and be able to write something set during that time without being worried about major issues (and I adore canon divergence anyway). S3 changed showrunners and introduced some major continuity errors, and one of the requested characters wasn't even on the show for most of S4. You could happily enjoy S1/S2 and never watch the rest of the show.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): It's a show about murder, so there's a fair bit of that, but it's not graphic.

Title:
Голубой щенок | Blue Puppy (1976)

Media:
Cartoon

Approx length:
19 min

Where to find it:
Available on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlE4veRNJ6s) with English subtitles

What is it, in summary?:
A blue puppy is bullied by the other dogs for being blue and therefore different, then he is kidnapped by a pirate, shenanigans ensue.

What do you love about it?:
The animation style is beautiful and unique, all the songs are bangers and it's just a very touching little story.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
It's a children's cartoon so there isn't anything too dark.

Title: 鹿鼎記 | The Duke of Mount Deer

What is it?: A historical/wuxia comedy-drama series, made in Hong Kong in 1983, and starring a very young Tony Leung and Andy Lau.

Approx length: 40 episodes, ~28 hours

Where to find it?: For an English-subbed version, message me or check the past letters in my journal. :) There are also box sets on eBay, and if you don't need English, it's free to watch in Cantonese on TVB Anywhere or YouTube.

Summary: In brief, the premise is that two boys meet one day on the grounds of the palace court at Beijing, circa 1650 or so, and become wrestling buddies. Both of them are hiding their real identities. One is actually the young emperor of China, while the other is a mischievous trickster kid who grew up in a brothel and is now being used as a spy... by rebels who want to overthrow the empire.

The series is an adaptation of Jin Yong's final novel, which is a wuxia anti-epic that subverts a lot of the traditional tropes of the genre. The show is irreverent and comical and chaotic, but along the way it also explores some serious themes, building out from a sort of prince-and-the-pauper setup where a kid from the lowest level of society gets thrown straight into the highest possible social sphere.

A couple of years ago I wrote up a fandom promo for this series (on

c_ent), so check there for more babbling, gifs, etc. :D

What I love about it: I love the continual back-and-forth pull of affection and conflict between the trickster kid (Wai Siu-Bou) and the Emperor, and how they both keep trying to sustain the fiction of an equal friendship despite the massive power imbalance between them. I love the moments of trust and distrust, loyalty and betrayal, the identity porn, and the (both physical and metaphorical) sparring. Their whole relationship arc is just beautifully fraught. If you can suspend your disbelief a bit and ignore the low-budget sets and bad wigs ~~and sexism~~, it's a great show, and an absolute disaster OTP that has delightful subtext and deserves so much more of a fandom. <3

What I'll be requesting: I'll be requesting the two main characters (Wai Siu-Bou and the Emperor), and would seriously love to read just about anything about them, separately or together, ranging from lighthearted slice-of-life about their friendship to darkfic that leans heavily into themes of power imbalance and manipulation.

Are there sections of canon that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: I'd be perfectly happy with stories focused on just the earlier episodes, if you'd like to check out the series but won't have time to watch all of it for Yuletide.

Or if you just want to skim to see what the characters are like, or you've seen the show before and just want to canon review, check the section of my letter labelled "Episodes to Watch" for a list of scenes with both characters in them. (Wai Siu-Bou is onscreen pretty much all the time for the whole series, but the Emperor usually only shows up for a few minutes per episode.)

Content warnings: Sexism, forced relationships/marriages (the protagonist collects a harem), strongly-implied rape. Some fantasy violence and death (nothing graphic).

Edited (fixed link) 2024-10-17 14:08 (UTC)

Title: 老洞 | The Old Miao Myth

What is it?: A supernatural mystery/horror/suspense series set in 1930s Shanghai, made in Hong Kong in 1984 and starring Andy Lau, Ray Lui, and Patricia Chong.

Approx length: 20 episodes, ~14 hours

Where to find it: For an English-subbed version, message me or check the past letters in my journal. :) If you don't need English subs, I believe you can watch it in Cantonese on TVB Anywhere or YouTube.

Summary: The plot of the series centers around a mysterious statuette, 老洞 ("Old Cave"), which is said to bring wealth and protection to whoever guards it. When the story starts, the Tse family has had the statue for nearly 20 years and is the richest and most powerful family dynasty in Shanghai, but many other people know where the statue is and are scheming to get hold of it. Meanwhile, there’s also a perpetually-shifting love triangle going on between the youngest son of the Tse family (Tse Seung-Cho, who's been entrusted with protecting the statue), his mysterious new best friend (Jin Bong, who is secretly scheming to steal the statue), and their mutual love-interest Yan Sou-Sam. All of them get caught up in a lot of tragedy and are never really sure who they can trust.

What I love about it: I love the horror vibes and all the trauma the characters go through, as well as all the romantic drama and conflict among the main three characters — particularly the two guys, whose rather ill-advised friendship begins right after deaths occur in each of their families, each caused by someone in the opposite family, initiating a sort of blood-debt situation that makes their relationship strange and difficult right from the start. We get some triad-brotherhood vibes, shifting power dynamics, drunken confessions, trust and betrayal. There’s continual angst, and everyone living in fear for their lives all the damn time. The show admittedly has problems; it's very dated and low-budget and full of ethnic stereotyping, and parts of the plot make no sense at all. But I like three main characters a lot. <3

What I'll be requesting: I'll be requesting Tse Seung-Cho and Jin Bong, and would love to read just about anything about them, alone together or interacting with pretty much anyone else from the series. I'd be especially into hurt/comfort, heavy angst, or outright darkfic for this fandom. You can find some prompts in my letter.

Are there sections of canon that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: I'd be delighted with a story focused on any part of the series, so feel free to write something based on just the first few episodes if you don’t have time to watch the whole series for Yuletide.

Content warnings: The plot hinges significantly on the stereotype of non-Han peoples having supernatural (and potentially evil) powers, e.g. the use of "gu" poison. The series also features LOTS of death (including murder, child death, and suicide), though nothing graphic.

Edited (fixed link) 2024-10-17 14:08 (UTC)

Title: Doctrine of Labyrinths - Sarah Monette

Media: Books

Approx length: 4 novels - Mélusine, The Virtu, The Mirador, and Corambis.

Where to find it: Amazon/booksellers/libraries but most conveniently, I imagine, Kindle. An important note; when written, the author wrote them as Sarah Monette, but she now writes under the pen name Katherine Addison and newer editions - and the Kindle versions - are found under that name.

What is it, in summary?: An epic story about Felix Harrowgate, a wizard, and his brother Mildmay, a thief and ex-assassin. Set in a secondary, medieval-type, world, with magic, intrigue and mystery. Felix was previously a whore, raised up to high class society, and the story begins with his previous life exposed and his lover, Lord Shannon, deserting him and him having to return to his previous ‘benefactor’ (master/abuser) and things all going rather horribly wrong from there…

What do you love about it?: Felix. I love Felix. He’s arrogant, superior and selfish, while simultaneously has cripplingly low self-esteem issues and immense bravery. I love his complex relationship with his brother Mildmay (for whom Felix has unrequited incestuous desires) and how they love and protect each other, rather despite everything!

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Anything that focuses on the brothers’ relationship.

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, all four books are one story.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Incestuous inclinations, homophobia, snobbery, violence, abuse, servitude, mental illness (magically invoked) and rape.

Edited 2024-10-20 06:10 (UTC)

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Yuletide Fandom Promo 2024!

Hauntings - Vernon Lee

Wish Me Luck

The Queen's Thief - Megan Whalen Turner

no subject

Space Shuttle No. 8 - เจฟ ซาเตอร์ | Jeff Satur (Music Videos)

When you see a lore video for a franchise you know nothing about (Short Film - Sir Matteus)

The Yakuza's Guide to Babysitting

Okane ga Nai

Father Knows Best (TV)

MouseHunt (Video Game)

The Winslow Boy (1999)

Tales of the Rays Recollection

A New Leaf (1971)

Re: A New Leaf (1971)

Call of Cthulhu: The Dreamlands Express (Roleplaying Game)

Bionicle (Generation 1)

Scavengers Reign (Cartoon)

Turning a Sphere Outside In (Huggbees)

"Cuckoo" - and other lesbian paintings by Gerda Wegener (1925)

Kyle Murchison Booth stories, by Sarah Monette

Countless - Cai Guoqing & Chen Chusheng & Zhang Yuan & Yu Haoming (Call Me By Fire 2023 Performance)

Trolley Problem (thought experiment)

Profiler (TV 1996)

Голубой щенок | Blue Puppy (1976)

鹿鼎記 | The Duke of Mount Deer

老洞 | The Old Miao Myth

Doctrine of Labyrinths - Sarah Monette