I misunderstood the point of this ride

( Belated 2021 round-up )

In more current news, I'm reccing X-Men comics fanart over on fanart_recs this month! You should totally check it out, although I'll probably also do a roundup post of my recs once I'm done. (Done with this month, anyway. I've been collecting amazing fanart, on deviantArt and tumblr for so long ... I'm feeling the urge to share the love.)

One final thought, if anyone else who enjoys The Locked Tomb happens to be around: have you seen the summary for Nona the Ninth yet??? (Not sure when the update actually happened, but I only saw it the other day.) I'm going to die of suspense, JFC.

My ex asked me this weekend whether I'd finished my Yuletide story. No indeed, but it's moving along. (Though I will say - knowing that there's a relatively concrete neuropsychological reason why I struggle so much with time management does not magically solve the problem!)

This fall has been a lot. The hibernation urge is strong as we move into winter. That said, I haven't been entirely unproductive! femslashex reveals went up yesterday:


( Vulcan kisses and Fairy Tale AUs )

It was a fun exercise in drawing for fandoms I've been meaning to for ages, and never gotten around to. I should really do more TOS art (how were these my first??); the retro sci-fi costuming is so much fun! Also I've been loving all the canon Harley/Ivy comics I keep catching glimpses of on tumblr ... every once in awhile I feel so genuinely grateful for the way some segments of culture really have changed (or started to) from the norms of even a decade ago.

My own gift was this lovely little Sailor Moon S interlude, A Little More Time, by SugarFey - a depiction of Haruka and Michiru (with a little Setsuna) in between the two major arcs of that season. I've been having a lot of resurgent Sailor Moon feelings this year, and I was so delighted to get this gift. It's just the right mix of sweetness, hotness and angst!

It's very strange how thoroughly out of the habit of reading fanfic I am lately, even though I've participated in so many exchanges this year. I'm always excited to read my gifts, when I get fic, and writing now and then is a delightful and tantalizing challenge, but ... IDK. I do think Yuletide will be different (even though I never manage to read more than a fraction of the archive), because it's very much its own thing. So much variety! Such novelty! And reading the archive is just a favorite holiday tradition, of course.

The malaise is probably a combination of the fact that I don't have a "main" fandom, that the ones I'm most interested in lately are fairly rare, and that I mostly want to listen to audiobooks while I draw (or ride my bike, or do almost anything else). I should find myself some podfic. I'm sure there must be some for The Locked Tomb, at least?

I'm especially excited for multifandomdoodle. I would love to have more all-art exchanges; I crave ALL THE FANART even more than I used to. I go looking for some after almost every book I read lately (the genre ones, in any case). If I didn't hate running things like this, I would totally start a book fandoms fanart exchange.

Hello! Thank you so much for being my writer this year. I always look forward to Yuletide, but this year is ... something else. Getting to participate in a big, creative gift exchange with a huge pile of other fans is exactly what I need right now, and I very much hope it's a fun and fulfilling experience for you, too. Seriously: if you have fun writing a story for one of these fandoms, you'll have given me what I want by definition.

I'm one of those people who gives you a giant pile of words about each fandom, which you're welcome to use if you want but are absolutely not expected to do. Optional Details Are Optional, and letters doubly so. You clearly have great taste (given that you picked one of these books) - write what you want to write! I can't wait to read it.

A note for intrepid letter-browsers: all of my fandoms this year are SFF books/series which were at least partially released in the last decade, and can be found in print, ebook and audiobook formats (availability from specific sources may vary).

General Likes | DNWs | Gamechanger | The Left-Handed Booksellers of London
The Locked Tomb | The Queen's Thief | Wayfarers

( Giant Pile of Words herein. )

Hey there! So first of all, thank you so much in advance for making something for me. I’m so glad to be starting one of my favorite fandom exchanges … it feels like an oasis in this awful year we’ve all been living through. I’m super excited to see what you come up with!

I am a wordy letter-writer who tries to provide lots of info/prompts because I find that sort of thing helpful and fun as a creator, but I definitely don’t want you to feel fenced in by it all! I hope you’ll have fun making whatever you make, and run with your own ideas if you have some that grab you.

( likes, DNWs, fandoms & pairings )

Oof, okay, putting my teal deer back in their pen. Thanks so much, and happy fanworking! Yay.

Life has been a LOT lately (impressively understaffed at work, my metamour just had major abdominal surgery, my second niece was born a couple weeks ago), so I completely missed posting about chocolateboxcomm reveals!

First of all, I got two lovely gifts - fic and art, the best possible outcome! :D

borrowedphrases wrote me a lovely little OT3 hurt/comfort coda to Leverage S5E9, "The Rundown Job:" Nearly a Near-Death Experience (Hardison/Parker/Eliot, T)

And I received this gorgeous Labyrinth fanart from Syksy, Ascension of the Goblin Queen, featuring an appropriately 80s-glam Queen Sarah and a kneeling Jareth (unf).

Also, I drew five things - a new personal best! I am definitely going to have to make a point of more art treating for future exchanges where possible, because this was really satisfying.


( Art for: Runaways, Excalibur, Gideon the Ninth, She-Ra and Wayfarers! )

I must admit, I really love that Wayfarers is my top fandom on the AO3 now (with three whole fanworks). Gosh, that was fun.

And now, back to my job+, sigh.

( Squee, likes and DNWs. )

And on to the fandom-specific stuff:

( His Dark Materials (TV) )

( Labyrinth (1986) )

( Leverage )

( Lucifer (TV) )

( Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch )

( Wayfarers - Becky Chambers )

Okay, I'm stopping. ;) Whatever you wind up making, I hope you have fun, and I can't wait to see/read!

After such a long, intense holiday season, it’s been extremely lovely to relax and spend time reading this year’s Yuletide crop! I have so many more I want to read, but since I’ve already been more thorough than I manage most years, I thought I’d put together some pre-reveal recs for a change!

First things first: I received two gifts this year, one in the main collection and one Madness treat. They’re both really fantastic - I am the luckiest to have stories for two of my obscure fandoms, written by such talented writers. <3

The Enchanted April - Elizabeth von Arnim
Do You See Me?
Lotty Wilkins/Caroline Dester, G, 5447K
This lovely fic is everything I could have asked for - it effortlessly takes up the dreamy, atmospheric quality of the source’s prose, puts plenty of delightful bite into Lady Caroline’s POV, and fixes the major painful problem I had with canon, beautifully. The sweetness of Lotty and Scrap’s dynamic is complimented by the cathartic reworking of Scrap’s reaction to Mr. Briggs. So good!

Chronin
Travelers
Mirai Yoshida/Hatsu, G, 1093K
Aaah! I’m so beyond pleased to get fic for this! It’s a delightful little post-canon conversation between Mirai and Hatsu that showcases everything I love about their dynamic (the way Hatsu challenges Mirai and all her expectations at every turn) and pokes at the whole topic of time travel a bit more. Deftly written and full of possibility. <3


I’ve been reading all over the archive in whatever order fancy takes me, and trying to really mix things up, so I haven’t read every story in nearly any fandom that has more than one. Here are some entirely random favorites( in 14th Century RPF, Captain Marvel, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Gideon the Ninth, The Good Place, Oxford Time Travel, Slings and Arrows, Victor/Victoria and Wayfarers. )

I’m looking forward to sharing a bit about my own story after reveals. After all these years, Yuletide continues to be one of my favorite fannish holiday traditions, period. And I really needed it this year!

( Yay!! General stuff. )

Specific preferences/prompts/etc by fandom, in alphabetical order (there is definitely no order of preference):

( A Song For A New Day - Sarah Pinsker )

( Chronin - Ali Wilgus )

( The Enchanted April - Elizabeth von Arnim )

( The Future of Another Timeline - Annalee Newitz )

( The Witch Family - Eleanor Estes )

( Wayfarers - Becky Chambers )

… and that is quite enough from me! Happy writing, and I hope you have a fun and un-stressful Yuletide! Thank you again!!

( Yay, I'm excited! )

Fandom-specific prompts, in no particular order:

( Marvel 616: Kitty Pryde/Rachel Summers )

( Steven Universe: Mystery Girl/Pearl )

( Lucifer: Linda Martin/Mazikeen )

( Stranger Things: Eleven/Max )

( This Is How You Lose The Time War: Red/Blue )

Good luck, and I hope you have fun! Thank you again so very much. <3

I've generally felt that I'm pretty lucky among trans and nonbinary folks, in that I haven't needed or wanted to change my (real) name, or at least not the version of it I already use with everyone I care about, and have for my entire life. It's relatively neutral, and I like it. Maybe people would have an easier time adjusting to new pronouns if they came with a new name, but ah well.

But my fandom names, the ones that have stuck for a good 15 years now, are Lilith and reflectedeve (occasionally Eve), and it's only striking me in the last year or so how confusing that is. Two very specific and powerful cultural symbols of womanhood! Good job, college me. But really, when I think about it, those choices largely came from an attraction to the idea of challenging norms and institutions, specifically around literature/religion (my academic subjects of choice), gender, and sexuality. So honestly, they still feel right, especially Lilith? (And also there's, you know, continuity and that. I've been Lilith since the very first year of Yuletide, jeez.) Ah well.

In other news, I am very upset that just as I've made a decision to back off fannish commitments again for a bit, I find out about this very intriguing xeno exchange for which nominations open tomorrow: close_encounters. It's so ME. :( Just look at that tentacle icon! Maybe I can grab a pinch-hit or make a treat ... anyway, if you're less overcommitted, check it out!

Also, and most excitingly, the chocolateboxcomm archive opened today! I have barely been able to look yet, BUT. I got two fabulous fanart gifts and I am so thoroughly pleased! <3

A Lesson In The Folly Library (Rivers of London, gen; Abigail, Varvara Sidorovna, Toby)
I have been wanting more fanart for these books so badly and this is a gorgeous mid-story sort of image with lovely background details and characterization. Fabulous and inspiring. Makes me want to go out and draw some in this fandom immediately, myself.

Austria, 1912 (X-Men, Mystique/Destiny)
SUPER cute shippy pin-up image of the two of them in the early days of their relationship, complete with lovingly-rendered period-appropriate outfits! Eeee so adorable!

Have I mentioned how happy I am that multi-media fan exchanges are becoming more common, even if they are still overwhelmingly fic-based? (I mean, I love fic, obviously. But I love ALL THE THINGS.) I am totally going to have to work on those guidelines/suggestions for prompting for fanart. At some point. Soon.