Dear Yuletide Writer

[extrapenguin]

To start with: thank you! I am easy to please; here are some prompts on what I'd like, but if you get a genius idea, feel free to write it. This should be a nice place to start.

Things I like: Plot! Characters! Comedy! Tragedy! Infodumps! Exchange of ideas! Stuff that makes me think! Literary references! – Pretty much everything, actually. I'm easy to please. (For reference, I really like Big Ideas Sci-Fi.)

Things I don't like: Character bashing. Explicit religiousness from main characters. Rape/sexual coercion. If there is going to be sex, please no rimming/scat. Please, no violence to eyes or fingers. Please check your grammar and spelling, it's one of the few things that can ruin a fic for me.

Sex is fine (though plot would be appreciated), angst is fine, hurt/comfort is fine, and sad stuff is fine, though I'd rather not blub my eyes out at Christmas. Happy/neutral endings preferred.
 

Honor Harrington series – David Weber (Thomas Theisman, Mercedes Brigham)

(An obscure written sci-fi series of fourteen books and counting, plus a large quantity of anthologies and some sub-series. Military SF centered on Honor Harrington, the closest thing to a female power fantasy I've found in SF. Weber isn't the strongest of authors, but he creates compelling characters and writes a mean battle scene and his exposition is excellent, and at least I am going to read through to the very end, so obviously he's doing something right.)

You are by no means required to use both Theisman and Brigham, just one is sufficient! (And please, no great focus on the Honor/White Haven/Emily ship, I dislike the whole intersection of ableism and creepiness.)

For Thomas Theisman: His meditations on politics, domestic or foreign. Thomas Theisman/Denis LePic slash/falling in love/drama/whatever. What Theisman really thought about shooting Saint-Just. Earlier in the timeline, how about his relationship with Alfredo Yu? What did he think of his mentor defecting? How did the reunion go, later? (Or the reunion with Warner Caslet?)

For Mercedes Brigham: Her perspective on Honor, on the Graysons, on Alfredo Yu (and maybe Warner Caslet, later). Her POV of things around Flag in Exile. Recovery fic post-Honor of the Queen. (For reasons that are completely opaque even to me, I ship Mercedes Brigham/Alfredo Yu. If you think you can write that, feel free to include it, but don't feel pressured.)

Alternatively, anvil fic about Grayson's homegrown feminist movement. See this for details.

Europa Report (2013) (any)

(Obscure sci-fi film about a manned mission to Europa. Well-made, though with some science goofs.)

For this one, I want astrobiology speculations and lots of infodumps! Exposition! ALL of the science! (Preferrably by someone with either the relevant science background or access to the relevant data.) Alternatively, the Everyone Lives AU where people Science and problem-solve their way out of all problems.


Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch (Peter Grant)

(Five-book urban fantasy series about a biracial cop who meets magic. I like Peter's narrative voice and nerd culture references, as well as the progressive attitude towards pretty much everything.)

CASEFIC. Peter/Nightingale is okay, as is Peter/Beverley if you're setting it relatively late in canon (I don't really like teens dating mid-twenties folk). I'd prefer if the shipping were not the main point, though. Sahra Guleed is awesome and it'd be nice if she got a mention, if the plot permits. International comparative thaumatology would be nice, too!


The Long Earth Series - Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter (Maggie Kauffman)

(A sci-fi series, currently at three books, where there are lots of parallel Earths, unclaimed by humanity. My favorite parts are the alt-biologies. I intensely dislike all of the Next and the associated plotlines.)

I want detailed exobiology! Exposition! More about the sentient crabs! Maggie Kauffman captains an expedition to West Twenty Squintizillion! EEEE. (Expeditions on the Long Mars are also very much acceptable, though then I'd like Alexei the Russian to tag along.) (Like Europa Report, this is a request where I'd like for you to either have a science background or do lots of research.)
Or: Maggie breaking in her crew for such a long survey mission, with as much detailed accounts as you please! Mysterious people stowed away? Dangerous politics? All The Plot!


Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold (Alys Vorpatril, Simon Illyan, Miles Vorkosigan, Ekaterin Vorkosigan)

(A space opera sci-fi series of 10+ books mostly set on a planet that has been isolated from the rest of the galaxy and fell down to feudalism and patriarchy.)

Alys Vorpatril & Simon Illyan: Alys and Simon are bored. Either they stumble upon a Plot, or encourage something similarly to what happened in CVA. The end result: the Simon & Alys Show, with two very competent retirees wreaking havoc upon an unsuspecting populace. Terrified Gregor and snarky letters from ghem-General Benin optional.

Miles Vorkosigan: The glorious exploits of Admiral Naismith and his Dendarii Mercenaries, complete with fey herms and flummoxed Cetagandans, Escobarans, Jacksonians, and, well everything.

Ekaterin Vorwayne Vorsoisson Vorkosigan: Ekaterin getting her moment to shine: The resolution of Diplomatic Immunity. Ekaterin saving the day without Miles. AUs where she got her chance to do stuff as a widow instead of immediately getting married to Miles. AUs where she could be an equal to Miles, the true immovable object to his unstoppable force.

Alternatively, the anvil fic about Barrayar's feminist movement, with bonus pro-prole sentiment.


Imperial Radch series - Ann Leckie (Justice of Toren One Esk Nineteen | Breq, Seivarden Vendaai, Sphene, Zeiat)

(A space opera-ish sci-fi trilogy set in a colonial empire, though seems to be a partial deconstruction of the associated tropes. Belongs in the Asimovean tradition of What Is An AI Really. Goddamn hilarious.)

(Please use the pronoun "she" for all of the characters. Thank you.)

Breq & Seivarden: Figuring out the extremely complicated relationship between them, with Ship, Ekalu, and the rest of the crew also involved.

Breq, Sphene & Zeiat: The antics of Translator Zeiat, perhaps when she returns with the council of Significance, with Sphene and Breq watching on. Sphene and Breq ribbing each other.

Breq & the rest of the AIs: The establishment of the Provisional Republic of Two Systems, with all the hilarity that should ensue. Bonus points if they end up with something completely ridiculous.

Comments

[abluestocking]

Yay Mercedes! I hope someone writes her for you. :) She's fabulous, and I'd love to read All the Fic about her. And I totally agree with you on the Honor/White Haven/Emily ship - I have never liked it. (My own shipping leanings are Honor/Michelle Henke.)

One little note - having checked out your letter for the HH series (and for Imperial Radch, although I'm only through the first book), Europa League and the Long Earth series are not my fandoms and I don't know much of anything about them, but if one of them was and I was offering it, I'd be really dismayed to be assigned to you and feel like you'd want me to default because I don't have a science background. I'm sure you didn't want those prompts to sound that way, so I figured I'd give you a heads-up that they do. (I know I'd want someone to nudge me in a similar situation.)

[extrapenguin]

Oh, thanks for the poke!

Thing is, with both of them, I'd really like for astrobiology feels! Now, I understand that not everyone can write it, so I included an alternative prompt (which... I totally failed to write for TLE. drat), but I'll go re-word them. Thanks for the catch.

[abluestocking]

<3

Best of luck this year! :)