Spring Green

Hi Yuletide writer,

I'm sorry this is up so late! Anyway, as always, optional details are optional!

( Fandoms: 7 Seeds, Angel Sanctuary, Shoujo Kakumei Utena, Bride with White Hair )

This is the year in which I defaulted on my assignment and wrote two last-minute treats.

A Prelude to the Adventures of the Boatperson of Heaven is a Chinese mythology fic based on the story of Qixi, written for lnhammer. I loved his prompt, which was to ask about the boatman who in some story variants ferries the Cowherd to see the Weaver every Qixi, and kind of took it and ran. I had a ton of fun writing this and have totally handwaved any chronology errors by hoping that time in Heaven runs a bit differently.

Dreams of Flesh and Blood is a Black Jewels fic written for Morbane, who wanted to know about landen or less powerful Blood in the universe. I love this, since that what I want to know about the world (that, and I just want more fic that toys with the rules of the world, like same-sex romances and genderqueer characters and etc.). This is just a slip of a fic, but it was nice going back to the idtastic source I loved in high school and messing with it.

( Yuletide thoughts (click away for squee harshing!) )

Hopefully this will be the first batch of recs; i.e. hopefully I will actually post more recs later.

I am really missing Dark Agenda and Chromatic Yuletide; I feel like the amount of non-Western fandoms has dropped precipitously, and I feel really bad for requesters who ask for non-Western fandoms and get defaulted on, because those requests seem to get snatched up slowest on the pinch hit list =(. This is, btw, not a complaint to the dark_agenda mods, who are terribly overworked with Kaleidoscope alone, but just a general complaint about the trend I am seeing, since it means less fic for me.

Revelation (Angel Sanctuary) - (warning for canon-level gore and imagery) FOR MEEEEE!!!! My beloved Angel Sanctuary has fic this year! And it is a rewrite of Biblical Revelations! With six-headed machines of death and over-the-top language that is just like Yuki Kaori art and the world and details about the battle between Heaven and Hell, complete with horsemen and the seven sins. The "over-the-top," by the way, is totally a plus, given that it is ANGEL SANCTUARY. I cackled with delight while reading descriptions of organs dripping blood and deadly immortal swords and jezebel eyes. *pets story and fandom*

Dreams from My Mother (Black Jewels trilogy) - (warning for canon levels of sexual violence) I always want dark fic that doesn't cross into angsty h/c land for this fandom, since it is already so idtastic in itself, and I am so happy to get a meaty story for Wilhelmina. This shows her as her own person, separate from Jaenelle, growing into her own strength, and it fleshes out her dead mother, which was something I've never thought of wondering about and am really glad someone else did.

The Rube Suit (Glitch) - Oh Glitch, I miss you! This probably hit me hardest out of all the fic this year, just because my game closed =(. I love the explanation for the Rube, along with all the details of the world that somehow fit in the bizarre Glitch recipes and resources while feeling just right, and the longing of all the Glitchen for Ur so echoes my own.

Kushiel's Fall (Kushiel's Legacy) - Great grumpy Favrielle voice, with a great romance to boot. I actually really want to read more about Favrielle and Julien now. And I really like how the fic deals with the ideas of ugliness and beauty that are never quite satisfactorily addressed in the books, and I so heart the costume choices.

Humans Can Become Anything (Monster) - Runge fic! There's a quietness to most post-Monster fic that I like, and this is no different. I particularly love how Runge's calculating mind still works the same way, but that he's also learning to apply it to things like cooking and his family, and I am so happy to see how Grimmer's influence is still being felt.

Die ente magd (Princess Tutu) - The Princess Tutu characters are now in the Goose Girl, and Rue in particular gets her due. So happy to get a Rue fic where all the characters are fighting for her, and this weaves the meta into the fairy tale in a way that feels very organic to the fic. I also have a soft spot for this, since Goose Girl was one of my favorite fairy tales growing up, and I love what the fic does with the ending.

The Yellow Rose of Mystery & Other Wonders of the World (Shoujo Kakumei Utena) - UTENA! Back in Yuletide, WHOO! This is my favorite of the batch, though just having 7 (SEVEN!) stories to choose from is BEST. I love this one for the wonderful Nanami and Anthy voices, as well as all the shoutouts to various cracktastic Nanami episodes.

Songs for the Jingwei Bird (Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, Chinese Mythology) - A lovely set of stories about transformation and imagination that feel very much like the story about Zhuangzi dreaming about being a butterfly, and the ending was unexpected and wonderful.

2011 Yuletide:

Having the Constitution for It (Enchanted Forest Chronicles) - I think I found this via kate_nepveu. Also, yay fantasy story that relinquishes the monarchy for a republic! And I love how all the characters go about doing it, and the final results.

Also, I am a terrible person who defaulted (fandom proved too difficult for me to write, sigh) and then wrote a full-length treat and a Madness treat. Feel free to guess re: me and others. I'm not sure I've found anyone's yet...

Sigh. I wanted to get these up before the reveal went live. FWIW, these are my recs pre-reveal? And then I wanted to get it up, period. So here, have some excellent fanworks in tiny fandoms before Yuletide brings down AO3!

First, I got Many faces of Tsao Wen, an awesome, awesome icon set from sinngrace for Dòu máah dáan | 刀馬旦 | Peking Opera Blues! Thank you so much OMG! I am just so excited someone created a fan work for this movie! And not just that, but Brigitte Lin as Tsao Wen being hot like whoa! I still can't pick a favorite outfit or pose because I keep changing my mind! Oh man. I wish she were in Takarazuka, wahahaha.

dhobikikutti, Henson and Ootah's GR8 Adventurs (Arctic Expeditions RPF/Texts from Cephalopods fic) - Um. I have no words people. You may need a passing familiarity with the persons of Arctic Expeditions RPF or Texts from Cephalopods, and other than that, this is sheer crack. I just. PEOPLE. HENSON AND OOTAH ARE CEPHALOPODS.

Carmarthen, A Branch in the Wind Cannot Find Peace (Dí Rénjié | 狄仁傑之通天帝國 | Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame fic) - Whoo! Wu Zetian's POV, and she is scary and icy and touching and full of regret. I love that sense of passion and emotion under fierce restraint, the kind where every tiny gesture is laden with meaning. Spoilers for the movie.

reapingfolk, Jezebel (Gyeongseong Scandal | Capital Scandal vid) - Cha Song Joo vid!!!! Basically, Cha Song Joo is awesome. Love how the vid shows her relationship with Wan and Yeo Kyeong and Geun Deok and Young Ran as well as with Su Hyeon. Warning: SPOILERS LIKE WHOA.

Izilen, Shining Bright (Hourou Musuko | Wandering Son icon set) - Really lovely and vibrant icons from Hourou Musuko. I've only read a single volume, but I like the art style a lot.

Qem, Hourou Musuko Icons - These are hazy and watercolored, in comparison to the above icon set, and it works equally well. The feel of it reminds me a bit of the Honey and Clover anime.

Rhi, A Day (Week Month Year) in the Life (Scott Pilgrim icon set) - This is so cool! So I don't know Scott Pilgrim much at all, but I just love that it takes recontextualized scenes from outside sources and scenes from the movie and the comics to tell a story via icon set! I don't think I have ever seen that before.

DoubleCorncake, Knives Chau and the Paradise Kiss Makeover (Scott Pilgrim/Paradise Kiss art) - I am totally biased, because I had some amount of input in this, but best crossover ever! I love the colors and how recognizable all the Paradise Kiss characters are, even in Scott Pilgrim style, and I am especially happy that Knives Chau gets her own happy ending, complete with awesome clothes.

sanguinity, Talk Don't Matter (Smoke Signals vid) - I really really really need to watch the source now! I love the developing relationship between Thomas and Victor, and I really need to get a hold of the song now.

ambyr, Women's Words (Sun Sword fic) - This has everything I loved from the Annagar parts of the series. Diora is so careful, so subtle, as she always has been, and yet, there are the most minute of changes. And the Serras continue to write their letters that are beneath the notice of others and game changing all the same.

And okay, this wasn't for Kaleidoscope, but it does fit the collection criteria:

ryfkah, Five Times Kyoko Did Not Expect Fannish Shipping Explosions (Skip Beat! fic) - Kyoko stars in adaptations of various popular fanworks (Ex. Magical Boy Wizard Harry and I am not spoiling the rest for you). Kyoko is affronted by fan reactions. I nearly die laughing. I am not sure which adaptation is my favorite, because they are all so wonderfully perfect, but I think for now I'll go with #3 and #5.

Hi! I love you, you are awesome! The following details are really only if a) you enjoy reading other people's Doer of Darkness letters or b) you want inspiration of some sort. Honestly, all the fandoms in Kaleidoscope are so teeny weeny and have so few fanworks that I heart you already for just volunteering to do stuff with it.

( General likes and dislikes )

Italicized stuff from my request. (You can so tell how I am running out of time and ideas by the end...)

( Fandom specific )

Now that I have an ereader, I find I've been reading more long fic than I have since probably high school.

So, rec me stuff! And feel free to rec things from around 2000 till now. I think I read a lot of long fic in Rurouni Kenshin, GWing, and XF, but I stopped after that.

I am more interested in long, gen-type stuff, particularly exploring consequences of world building or character development. I am also feeling more like reading gen, het, or femslash and generally am not interested in most of the big pairings.

Badass female characters and/or badass characters of color double plus good.

Notable fandoms I am unfamiliar with: Star Trek, SG-1, SPN, SV (what is it with the s's?), Prince of Tennis, Due South, Highlander, HikaGo, YYH, Dr. Who, pretty much all RPF, Farscape, Hetalia, non-GWing Gundam, non-X-Men Marvelverse, non-Batman-DC-verse, Inuyasha, One Piece, Yu-Gi-Oh, DBZ, WK, and probably a lot of other stuff I forgot to mention that shows I have had my head in a ditch for the past decade.

Go forth and rec!

Hi!

Yay and thank you both for doing something for me and for participating in the challenge! I am super excited and really really hope Kaleidoscope goes on, so I have a lot of vested interest in this!

( Please to be ignoring if you want! )

I have finally seen the last movie! I have no real commentary, as I had completely forgotten everything from the books, save the endless forest scenes from the first movie. As it were, I kept leaning over and asking people, "Was that in the book too?!"

And now I want fic! I haven't read HP fic since probably around 2005 or so, so older recs are good as well.

Things I am looking for:

• Snape backstory. Snape/Lily and AUs also good.
  
• Lily getting to be an actual person instead of a love interest or a dead mother.
  
• Narcissa
  
• Luna and/or Neville, either character studies (especially with Neville's parents! Or Longbottom backstory), or ship fic. I could probably ship them with nearly anyone.
  
• Stuff complicating the Slytherins, since I don't believe the entire house could be evil. That said, I am not a Draco fan, nor am I interested in Harry/Draco.
  
• Dystopic AUs under Voldemort rule or backstory from the last time he was in power, preferably with a focus on the women instead of the Marauders.
  
• McGonagall being awesome.
  
• Stories about Hogwarts in the seventh book, particularly during the events when all we see in the book is Harry, Ron and Hermione in the forest. Students and professors rebelling, like in OotP, etc. Stories about Hogwarts right after the big climax in the end also good.
  
• Stories about the wizarding world recovering from Voldemort.
  
• Politics in the Ministry of Magic.
  
• What's going on in the rest of the world as Voldemort climbs to power again.
  
• Something really complicating the human vs. non-human dynamics in the books, especially re: the house elves.
  
• Female friendships in the books.

I am not looking for most ship stories (I make an exception for Luna and/or Neville, and also for femslash). I'm fine if there's shippy stuff happening in the fic, but I'd rather that not be the focus of the story. I am also not a fan of teacher/student fic, unless it is post-Hogwarts. I'm not particularly interested in more about Harry, Ron, Draco, Dumbledore, Remus, Sirius, or James. I do want more about Snape, but I like Snape as a complicated, petty, heroic, cruel character.

Basically, I want things that expand on the worldbuilding. I love the history in the books, the generations lost to battles with Voldemort, the politics in the Ministry, the sense of bigotry and oppression and rebellion. I like stories of ordinary people being extraordinary. I have a weird liking for Hermione and Snape, but less as a ship and more as intellectual interaction. I love the HP series, but I also want to complicate it and poke holes at it and critique and put more layers in.

Podfic from the chromatic_podfic community is now being posted! Go check it out!

I dipped my toes into the waters of podficcing and recorded a few.

I did glass_icarus' Filial Daughters, a fic for Saving Face (podfic, apologies for my terrible American-accented Mandarin), as well as my own The Journey West (podfic).

And! The most fun part was teaming up with thistleingrey and troisroyaumes to do my 21st Century Girls (podfic), in which we got to sing to cheesy girl band music, pretend to be characters pretending to be Sailor Senshi Zodiac Senshi, and act out dramatic meetings under floating sakura petals! Tari also has a making of post. Ahaha, I hope it is even a percentage as fun listening to as it was to record!

I didn't really realize before recording this that people generally prefer a single reader and sometimes music and sometimes not, ditto with authors recording their own works. Ah well? On the other hand, I think doing my first podfic with friends made me less embarrassed to emote and act out stuff and be completely dorky, which hopefully helped in the other two I did afterward. Also, I talk really really fast!

And if anyone has feedback re: the audio quality for the Saving Face and American Gods podfic, it would be highly appreciated! This podfic thing is very fun to do, and now I have several more lined up that I think would be incredibly fun, but I wanted to see if the audio quality of my current microphone is okay, or if I should wait to get a nicer microphone before recording more.

Spoilers: Spoilers through vol. 16 or so.
Summary: Because girl groups, childhood games, henshin pens, secret passwords, and shoujo manga can save the world.
Notes: Written for ambientlight for Yuletide 2010.

Thanks so much to etothey for beta-ing despite not knowing the source; to busaikko for answering completely random questions about growing up in Japan in the 1990s and 2000s (all cultural mistakes are my fault, not hirs!); and to edonohana for basically coming up with my plot, beta-ing and pointing out that things were entirely too confusing, and mutual moaning and whining as we procrastinated.

Read 21st Century Girls

Source information

２０世紀少年/20th Century Boys is a 24-volume seinen manga series by Urasawa Naoki (the final two volumes are published as ２１世紀少年/21st Century Boys) about a group of boys growing up in the 1960s and 1970s. They have a secret base where they read shounen manga and the occasional porn magazine spirited away from their dads, and while there, they invent a complicated scenario in which they defeat a supervillain trying to take over the world via an ebola-esque virus, giant robots, possible psychic powers, and laser guns. Fast forward to the 1990s, and Kenji is your average convenience store owner who has put aside childhood dreams of rock and roll and is currently raising his sister Kiriko's infant Kanna. A cult leader called Friend has grown in popularity, and suddenly, things that are eerily like Kenji's boyhood games are happening around the world. The series goes through several timeskips and numerous flashbacks, and I think I spent the first three weeks just re-reading and trying to piece together the timeline.

I love everything of Urasawa's that I've read, and although I don't think 20thCB is his best series, it's my favorite. (The ending is kind of incoherent, even on a reread. Or should I say, especially on a reread when one is attempting to map out when and where everything happens and getting extremely frustrated by the lack of months.) I love it because as with all Urasawa series I've read, it has awesome side characters and kitchen-sink plotting and plot twists like whoa and ordinary people being heroes, but I love it best because you can tell Urasawa crammed it full of all his own id buttons—secret forts and shounen manga and rock and roll and pulp sf, that he loves all the boys in the gang, that even though the specific scenarios are made up, he's drawing from his own boyhood memories.

I actually have no idea how necessary previous knowledge of the source is. The fic spoils a few plot points around volume 16 or so, but mostly in the background as worldbuilding. I think it's confusing if you don't even know the premise of the series, but several people have commented saying that they've only read one volume, or a few volumes, and it was fine. YMMV?

Everything after this has spoilers for the story itself (I can't believe I actually wrote a story that can be spoiled). I'll warn for additional spoilers for 20thCB and other manga as it comes up.

Embarrassingly, this may be longer than the fic itself. It should not be necessary for reading the fic, which hopefully stands by itself without explanations! It's just here for anyone who was curious about details, references, etc.

( Process notes )

( Language notes )

( References (spoilers for 20CB through vol. 14 or so and for Sailor Moon through Death Busters) )

( Final notes (vague spoilers for vol. 18 or so of 20thCB) )

Re: guessing, I suspect the question isn't so much "what gave me away?" so much as "what didn't?"

Also, I had figured a grand total of two people would read this, especially compared to the Nikita story, since this one is a) 9000+ words long, b) with almost all original characters, c) and series spoilers, d) for a 24-volume long series, e) that hasn't finished coming out in the US, and f) is from a non-Western fandom. YAY YULETIDE for proving me wrong!