Dear Purimgifter 2024 / 5784

[opalmatrix]

Thank you for writing me mishloach manot for Purim!

Have some optional details about what I like and don't like in a story, as well as details about what I like about the individual fandoms and characters.

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":
  • hurt-comfort
  • being cozy indoors when it's rainy or snowing
  • warm and oversized bathrobes/dressing gowns or sweaters/jerseys
  • impulsive acts of valor (especially on behalf of the weak or an underdog)
  • the little spots of light that sift through a thick canopy of trees onto the ground beneath
  • water running over pebbles or stones
  • old-fashioned sections of town with narrow streets and alleyways and odd shops
  • family-of-choice, nakama, or True Companions
  • cynics with secretly soft hearts
  • impulsive acts of valor (especially on behalf of the weak or an underdog)
  • In-jokes among family members or close friends
  • shopping or planning scenes, where people are working together to pick things out
  • food porn
  • leaning comfortably against a friend or lover; feeling them chuckle or speak
  • snark, whether on the part of the narrator or from a character (this should not be *mean*, just apt and funny)
  • romantic partners who are both competent
  • unexpected gifts that turn out to be Just Right
  • a study or library as a refuge against the outside world
  • places where arts or martial arts are studied or where master crafters are at work
  • water sounds: rain, a brook, waves
  • finding in a fight that one's ally feels like a protective wall
  • the moon seen through wind-blown branches
  • 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).

Fandoms and Prompts

Chanur Series - C. J. Cherryh

This is my second-favorite Cherryh series (after Alliance-Union). 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

Cyteen Series - C. J. Cherryh

Thanks to the presence of Ariane I in the first section of the novel, and then the presence of Reseune Administration (and the person behind it), everyone mentioned here is Oppressed by an Evil Vizier.

I love Florian and Catlin II and their relationship with each other and their citizen. Florian is actually my favorite out of the three of them, for his emotional intelligence, but I also have a soft spot for Catlin, the good soldier, so often out of her depth with flux states. You could go slightly AU with a disaster scene that never happened during the canon time period while they're still kids, or carry things forward a little from Regenesis.

I love the way Grant and Justin are two halves of a whole. It would be easy to create a side scene in canon for them, or you could carry the storyline forward a bit, in their new home. The two of them are always a choice target for anyone hoping to get at Ari II.

Some edge/problem/challenge before the resolution to a happy or at least contented ending is welcome, and if you have your own ideas, please go for them, but keep it "light-ish."

Chalion Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold

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? Nikys is also great, and it must be tough for her to stay home with the kids while Pen goes off risking his life again. Finally, there's Ista: show me life on her mission with Ilvin, either "slice of life" or a specific plotty incident: more demon-foiling and -devouring, corruption in the clergy of other gods, something poignant with some Roknari near the border where both sides learn something, etc.

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.

The Angel of the Crows - Katherine Addison

Our narrator: stories from the past, post-canon events, encounters with cryptids we didn't see in canon.

The Saint of Steel - T. Kingfisher

Bishop Beartongue is an amazing character, and I would love to get inside her head. The women paladins, Wren and Judith, need more love in stories.

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. I'm also becoming very fond of Nebeno Pel-Thenhior, Iäna's mother and owner of the Torivontaram teahouse: something of the events of the novels from her viewpoint, or of her youth.

Imperial Radch Series - Ann Leckie

Thanks to the existence and power of Anaander Mianaai, Lord of the Radch, everyone mentioned here is Oppressed by an Evil Vizier.

Seivarden is such a mess, isn't she? I'd enjoy some further character development with her. I also enjoyed the Penis Festival, and I love the station AIs. It seems to me that the stations probably enjoy it when their residents have a festival and most of them are happy. Finally, perhaps everyone on Mercy (and the Mercy itself, another AI that I love) decides (on the pretext of some event, anniversary, or holiday) that they want to do something for their captain, and Kalr Five thinks up just the thing.

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.

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 I love Angua to pieces. Finally, most of the cast of Monstrous Regiment is pure love. Preferences: Polly and Maladict, Tonker and Lofty.

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 about their descendants in our present day. How are they eluding internet stalkers and doxxing?

The Saint of Steel - T. Kingfisher

Bishop Beartongue is an amazing character, and I would love to get inside her head. The women paladins, Wren and Judith, need more love in stories.