I was going to post a post waffling about signing up for
fandom_stocking (signups close tomorrow), but then I realized that Guardian is maybe technically eligible for Space Swap (last year I let in The Witcher, so this should be at at least a similar level of space...), and that Modao Zushi, despite the huge influx of fic not to my tastes, still has under 500 Yuletide-counted fics posted*, and some of those are actually in Chinese, so I will be able to request them both in addition to my more regular stable of SF books no-one will ever write fic for unless I'm requesting them. So, there will be no more urge to sign up for f_s, which I wouldn't have the time to properly do, focusing on Yuletide. The biggest loss are my crossover prompts, but those I can use later, or just randomly post for people's inspiration. (EDIT:
trobadora convinced me to sign up after all. Comment here; shall link to stocking once it goes up.)
* Guardian has roughly the same amount, except more of them are mistagged Chinese fic. Nirvana in Fire has under 400.
I also found my last year's stocking! I really should catch up with Machineries of Empire; I was super busy this year and had no time to get Revenant Gun. And damn is Sinusoidal Elegy still excellent. I even noticed new things about the rhyme scheme! ("What notion fuels / A brick / To rise / Against its wall?" still does it for me, always.) Come to think of it, I've had excellent luck with fannish poetry; * shallow cluster * deep dive * Streaker find * is also amazing. I should perhaps add poetry to the likes list I'm revamping for next year. (They're all valid, this year's Yuletide author! I have merely figured out better ways to phrase some, in addition to new ones to add.)
As for reading outside of exchanges, I know that's possible with a bunch of fandoms, but my tastes tend to be hilariously non-mainstream (example: I have acquired a Thing for tentacled eldritch abominations bottoming), so stuff that's to my tastes is produced either by me or for me, and even if not, doesn't have a convenient tag to search for, like some more straightforwardly tropey things do. Or, even if they did have a tag (Sewage Infrastructure Management!), it mightn't be canonized, and I certainly wouldn't think to check it.
* Guardian has roughly the same amount, except more of them are mistagged Chinese fic. Nirvana in Fire has under 400.
I also found my last year's stocking! I really should catch up with Machineries of Empire; I was super busy this year and had no time to get Revenant Gun. And damn is Sinusoidal Elegy still excellent. I even noticed new things about the rhyme scheme! ("What notion fuels / A brick / To rise / Against its wall?" still does it for me, always.) Come to think of it, I've had excellent luck with fannish poetry; * shallow cluster * deep dive * Streaker find * is also amazing. I should perhaps add poetry to the likes list I'm revamping for next year. (They're all valid, this year's Yuletide author! I have merely figured out better ways to phrase some, in addition to new ones to add.)
As for reading outside of exchanges, I know that's possible with a bunch of fandoms, but my tastes tend to be hilariously non-mainstream (example: I have acquired a Thing for tentacled eldritch abominations bottoming), so stuff that's to my tastes is produced either by me or for me, and even if not, doesn't have a convenient tag to search for, like some more straightforwardly tropey things do. Or, even if they did have a tag (Sewage Infrastructure Management!), it mightn't be canonized, and I certainly wouldn't think to check it.