Dear Yuletide Writer

[extrapenguin]

Dear Yuletide Author,

To start with: thank you! I am ridiculously easy to please; feel free to ignore anything I've written and write something, if it would please you. Here is a list shamelessly pilfered from other peoples' ones:

Things I like: Plot! Characters! Comedy! Tragedy! Exchange of ideas! Stuff that makes me think! Literary refernces! – Pretty much everything, actually. I'm easy to please.

Things I don't like: Character bashing. Non-fork-in-the-road AUs. Rape/sexual coercion. If there is going to be sex, please no rimming/scat. Please, no violence to eyes or fingers.

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

(Amount of blather reflects my ability to blather on said fandom, nothing else.)


 

Honor Harrington series – David Weber (Thomas Theisman, Warner Caslet)

(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 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 Caslet, just one is sufficient! Or, just any Havenite character. I love them all.

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?

For Warner Caslet: Migrant angst! What problems did he face, moving into Grayson service? Perhaps Alfredo Yu briefing a newly defected Caslet on “this is what's great; this is what will suck but will get better; this is what will suck and stay sucky until the last syllable of recorded time”?

Both: Theisman meeting Caslet after the end of the second war and getting all chatty. Theisman & Caslet, during the time Cordelia Ransom's at Barnett.


 

Old Man's War series – John Scalzi (any)

(An even more obscure written Military SF series, this time of only five books. I adore Scalzi's prose and sense of humor, and he, too, writes a mean battle scene.)

Futurefic would be very much appreciated here! How is humanity going to move forwards? What's the Colonial Administration going to do? Politics! Or, if you want to tackle something less mind-blowing, Zoë's reactions to her new baby sister. Alternatively, some mean battle scenes set during Old Man's War. Or, something involving exobiology.

 

 

Robot series – Isaac Asimov (any)

(Again book-format science fiction, type: less obscure. My first exposure to SF. I rather like Asimov's sparse prose and exchanges of ideas between the characters.)

Anything goes, from Susan Calvin solving everyone's problems to Elijah Baley and Daneel Olivaw investigating some crime. (Bonus points if you include Giskard Reventlov.)
Highly appreciated: Three Laws of Robotics rules lawyering, discussions of ethics, what makes a human human, etc


 

Hamlet – Shakespeare (Laertes, Ophelia)

(Some of the reasons I like this play are rather identity-giving, so I shall not discuss them further. I like the language, and I have, at times, felt like Hamlet during his ‘to be or not to be’ monologue. The characters are interesting. Also, Hamlet's wit is superb. “But, indeed, if you find him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up the stairs into the lobby.”)

The siblings' relationship with each other: what did Laertes think of Ophelia and her association with Hamlet? What did Ophelia think of Laertes? What were their relationships with their mother?

Alternatively, write me a partial or complete genderswap of the play – exploration of gendered assumptions FTW!

 

If you come up with a better idea, surprise me! I like surprises. Thanks for writing me fic and participating in Yuletide!

 

Thanks,

ExtraPenguin