Purimgifts 2022 - Now Complete!

[opalmatrix]

Thank you for preparing mishloach manot for me!

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
• 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":
  • springtime themes are always welcome, and Purim explicitly if it's relevant to the canon work and characters
  • hurt-comfort
  • being cozy indoors when it's rainy or snowing
  • senses of smell and touch and memories attached to them
  • an early crocus or other spring flower or item of clothing as the only bit of color in a bleak landscape
  • family-of-choice, nakama, or True Companions
  • cynics with secretly soft hearts
  • an open-air market or seaside boardwalk or other place filled with joyful bustle and the smell of good things to eat
  • In-jokes among family members or close friends
  • shopping or planning scenes, where people are working together to pick things out
  • food descriptions: "food porn"
  • shopping or low-tension planning scenes, where people are working together to pick things out
  • leaning comfortably against a friend or lover; feeling them chuckle or speak
  • unexpected gifts that turn out to be Just Right
  • 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).

Thoughts About the Fandoms

Alliance-Union - C. J. Cherryh

I'm a huge CJC fan, and Alliance-Union is my favorite of her settings. Hellburner is my very favorite book in this setting. I'm a huge fan of Meg Kady, former shuttle pilot and (to hear her tell it), smuggler, former radical who smells revolution stirring again and yet falls in with the military for her own reasons: friendship and loyalty, perhaps even love at long last.

Chanur Series - C. J. Cherryh

This is my second-favorite Cherryh series. I love Pyanfar especially, the practical merchant captain who ends up (to her horror) influencing the fate of the universe. I also love her second in command: Haral Araun is canny, wise, more than capable, but rough-hewn and will never achieve command. But that's fine with her: she knows what she's worth. It would be great to see events (canon or otherwise) from her viewpoint. Haral is far from simple in her understanding of what's going on.

Chalion Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold

For me, this series has become purely Penric and Desdemona, although I enjoyed Curse and Paladin. I'm fascinated with Desdemona, who is in many ways a multi-part all-female hivemind. What does life (such as it is) look like from her viewpoint now? What was it like when she first woke up in Penric's mind?

Chronicles of the Kencyrath - P. C. Hodgell

I love Jame's wry and dark sense of humor, and I love the prickly relationship she has with Brier. Nightshade is also very intriguing, and imagining interactions between Brier and Shade, both inclined to be intensely loyal and yet both having to question that loyalty, appeals very much.

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)

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 Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison

I really like Kiru, and something about her past would be welcome; also her feelings about her current assignment and how she is learning to work with the other nohecharei.

Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett

Do I need to explain this? :-) I am more of an Aziraphale, myself, and can definitely see why he's drawn to Crowley, We all like a bad boy. But at the end of the day, it's his love of humanity and its failings that draws both of us, ineffably.

Ballet Shoes - Noel Streatfeild

Petrova Fossil meant so much to me, growing up. The fact that she was allowed -- encouraged, even -- to pursue her decidedly non-dainty ambitions with engines, cars, and planes meant so much to me, growing up. Fan fiction tends to portray her as a lesbian -- and although I don't dislike that (you can read her that way in my story Turning Points, after all, with her mathematically inclined "roommate" Liza), it's in fact irrelevant to why the character was and still is important to me. A later in life Petrova? A Petrova who encounters a female mentor after Dr. Jones? Or even just an examination of her relationship to Dr. Jones, after the end of the original? And then there's Dr. Jones herself: another character of interest.

Tanakh

Book of Ruth, please, from the viewpoint of either Ruth (my namesake!) or Naomi (with whom I now identify more, as I've become older).