Dear Purimgifter (Now Complete!)

[opalmatrix]

Thank you so much for writing treats for me! Here are thoughts and ideas about characters and fandoms plus some general preferences of mine. (I didn't quite make my self-imposed deadline, but almost ... .)

The Fandoms and Characters

Gentlemen of the Road - Michael Chabon

I love Amram and Zelikman so much. Earlier or further adventures? Passover with the Radanites? Coming back to Filaq to celebrate another of the holidays? Something with a touch of actual magic would be fun too. Perhaps they encounter (crossover!) characters from some other swords-and-sorcery tale?

Saiyuki

This is mainly about the Kou-tachi, since they are the ones suffering under and evil vizier (vizierin?). Two of them are also the only female characters who get much screen time. So, something light but perhaps poignant about Yaone and/or Lirin, or Lirin or Kougaiji, and so on. I do ship Kou/Dokugakuji, or even Kou/Doku/Yaone. Another choice might be something about Kanan, but please, make it about her life before Hyakugan Maoh got involved. Finally, we do have a couple of other female characters in canon now, so perhaps a side story or origin about Sharak Sanzo, or even Taruchie

Alliance-Union - C. J. Cherryh

I'll be extremely shocked if I get anything for this fandom from this exchange ... so surprise me! Some of my favorite female characters are Meg Kady (I love how she's an older woman) and Sal Aboujib (and I love them as a duo), Signy Mallory, Allison and Deidra Reilly (let's have them doing things together!), Caitlin AC II (child soldier trope and her constant confusion about CITs), and Amy Carnath. For the "under persecution," we can definitely have Justin and Grant Warrick (whom I love as a couple: "word of God" says that Grant considers them two halves of the same organism). In all these stories, there are little twists of humor and humane moments, some of it sharp and dark, some of it just sweet. Find some bits that might have happened just off screen and tell me about them.

Machineries of Empire Series - Yoon Ha Lee

This would probably be mostly about Cheris (my favorite character), although I would argue that the servitors operate as though they were under persecution. I fact, I'd really love some more vignettes (Lee gives us a few) about Cheris, 1491625, and Hemiola on the very long trip in the very smol ship. Or Cheris adjusting to being a math teacher, and 1491625 and Hemiola existing happily ever after doing ... what?

The People - Zenna Henderson

An old favorite of mine, loaded with great women and girls. I'd eat up "what ever happened to ..." about any of them, including those who are children during the series. Or even some new characters: how are the People faring with keeping their differences secret in these days of international databases, the WWW, satellite surveillance, and so on?

The Golem and the Jinni - Helene Wecker

Now that I know there's going to be a sequel, I feel a little weird asking for "what happens next?" So maybe some side stories, and/or stories about minor characters.

Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett

These two are pure fun. Crowley gets his way too often: I'd enjoy having Aziraphale win a round or two. Maybe get their view of various Tanakh-era events, or more recent history? How about today's world, the WWW and so on?

Imperial Radch Series - Ann Leckie

Right now, I'm still very into Provenance. One of the thing I loved about Ingray was that she was like many of us fangirls: a plump, non-adventurous person with Mommy issues. I love that she gets frightened, she cries, and yet she perseveres. Taucris is one of my regular character likes: the good cop/soldier who is getting pulled out of her groove by circumstances and learns to adapt. A small side adventure, or a holiday celebration of some sort would be fun.

I still love Breq (who doesn't?) and I think of Athoek Station and Mercy of Kalr as female too. They are very maternal (parental?). The penis celebration was hysterical (... a singularly inappropriate choice of words, there). Maybe Breq and the AIs could trade experiences about human festivals.

October Daye Series - Seanan McGuir

We know a lot about what Toby thinks about everything ... but what about some of the other women? Like, for example, May and Jazz? Or even the Luidaeg? Please show me some lighthearted little slices of their lives: something about the found family of Toby's household (I love slightly twisted domesticity), something about the weirdness of being Fae in modern San Francisco, or the Luidaeg's view of earlier times in the city.

Discworld - Terry Pratchett

I don't like the Industrial Revolution books, or the Wizards books (although the vast majority of the characters in those don't qualify for other reasons, so). And I'm leery of all the later Pratchett books: I could tell something was off even before we found out about the cruel disease that eventually took him. (Like, the Patrician was getting too mushy.)

So that leaves us: the Witches, the Watch, early Tiffany Aching, and Monstrous Regiment. Something light but sharp or poignant (which is related to "sharp," linguistically ... ). I'm very fond of Tiffany and of Sybil, surprisingly fond of Magrat (and how about her infacnt daughter, as she starts to become a person?), and of Polly and Mal, and I love Angua to pieces. There isn't enough romantical stuff written about her and Carrot, IMO, and I sometimes wonder whether she misses the forest of Uberwald. Something about how's she's coming to terms with the city, even becoming protective of it, would probably suit very well.

Curtain Up | Theater Shoes - Noel Streatfeild

I loved the character of Uncle Mose Cohen, who is clearly Jewish (not just his name, but also his "vell, vell, vell!" shtick and how he wanted the kids to buy books with the money he gives them at the holidays) and Miriam was great too, in her older-than-her-age views and sheer intensity. I'm interested in Mose and Lindsay Warren's relationship. How did they meet? Or, how did her family react when they heard she was marrying a Jewish music hall comic? Has Mose been practicing his religion at all since his marriage? Or has he talked to his daughter about it? Tell me about these or any related topics (or honestly, something you come up with yourself is great too)

Preferences

I Don't Like:

• Sickly-sweet, coy, cutesy romantic stuff (anything in the "tee-hee-hee, is he looking at me?" category is definitely out)
• Extensive use of epithets, or epithets that don't match the character POV (no one should think of his or her long-time lover as "the green-eyed man," for example): these will throw me right out of a story (for more about epithets, see this)
• Characters acting out of character, especially if the purpose is to force them into a relationship (doubly bad if that relationship is romantic or sexual)
• By-the-numbers, every-action-described sex (a/k/a Ikea Erotica - link goes to TVTropes). Note that actual sex is fine (I love me some sexy stories) — just don't like it when the descriptions turn into a set of exact stage directions.
• Mpreg, rape, forced sex (including sex pollen and fuck-or-die), hatesex. Dubcon is OK, especially the sort when the reluctant partner really wants the other person but is just not quite feeling ready yet or doesn't think se wants it in this particular way but gets off on it anyway.
• Humiliation or betrayal (without a damn good plot reason) of a character by a friend or lover
• A/B/O and related kinks/tropes, incest (unless canon), scat/watersports/emetophilia, tentacles, non-human genitalia.

I Like:

• Strong characterization (including character-appropriate dialog: no earthy, uneducated characters using $100 words)
• Positive emotional payoffs that are well-earned
• Passions that are strong without being mushy/fluffy
• Moments of realization — satori
• Friendships - although I am a romantic person, not every relationship must be romantic (I do like the trope of friends becoming lovers, however)
• Wry and even dark humor in the course of a more serious story
• And I like any of the following "cool bits":
  • hurt-comfort
  • family-of-choice, nakama, or True Companions
  • being cozy indoors when it's rainy or snowing
  • an autumn leaf or item of clothing as the only bit of color in a bleak landscape
  • leaning comfortably against a friend or lover; feeling them chuckle or speak
  • a study or library as a refuge against the outside world
  • food porn
  • romantic partners who are both competent
  • water sounds: rain, a brook, waves
  • the little spots of light that sift through a canopy of trees onto the ground beneath
  • cynics with secretly soft hearts
  • in-jokes among family members or close friends
  • snark, whether on the part of the narrator or from a character (this should not be *mean*, just apt and funny)
  • unexpected gifts that turn out to be Just Right
  • shopping or low-tension planning scenes, where people are working together to pick things out
  • caper-type operations: crazy elaborate plans that work out well in the end, especially if parts of them are silly/funny

I'm quite content with both straight and gay relationships. I do tend to ship the canon relationships, unless it's a character who has had no clear relationships shown in the story. I'm not comfortable with sexual relationships shown in children under the age of, say, 14 or so, and even then it's better in context (teens with other teens or in a societal setting where girls expect to marry by 16-18 anyway).