opalmatrix | Dear Trick or Treat Author 2025

I'm so grateful that you're writing me a Treat (or event a Trick)! Here's a bagof optional details about what I like and don't like in a story, plus some prompts for the fandoms.

I'm not in the mood for an all-out tragedy or sour/miserable ending this year. Melancholy with hearts intact but bruised is fine.

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
- being cozy indoors when it's rainy or snowing
- senses of smell and touch and memories attached to them
- warm and oversized bathrobes/dressing gowns or sweaters/jerseys
- impulsive acts of valor (especially on behalf of the weak or an underdog)
- leaning comfortably against a friend or lover; feeling them chuckle or speak
- water running over pebbles or stones
- old-fashioned sections of town with narrow streets and alleyways and odd shops
- the sound of music from a distance, including music the amplifies the emotional mood of the scene (note that I am Old and don't always know current popular music)
- an autumn leaf or item of clothing as the only bit of color in a bleak landscape
- whispered admissions of love or forgiveness
- finding in a fight that one's ally feels like a protective wall
- family-of-choice, nakama, or True Companions
- cynics with secretly soft hearts
- food porn
- 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)
- 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

Nine Worlds Series - Victoria Goddard

Greenwing & Dart

I love all of Victoria Goddard's books, but this request is about the Greenwing & Dart subseries.

Goddard has created such a rich multi-layered world (well, actually, nine of them!). The actual series mostly bypasses Samhain/Halloween, but I find it hard to believe that Alinor and its kingdoms and so on don't have some equally rich mythology about this time. Give me an encounter for this time of year, either with boys Jemis and his father Jack, with optional Perry Dart and/or Roald Ragnor (Olive may certainly make an appearance, although I did not request her). Alternatively, Jemis, Hal, and Violet have a seasonal spooky and optionally funny encounter while at Morrowlea. If the latter, please push the whole Lark situation far into the background, or ignore it entirely.

Alternately, Roald Ragnor, "the Honorable Rag," may have an encounter that warns him that other powers are taking his alter ego quite, quite seriously.

If none of these suit, pick a couple or three of my "Cool Bits" above, and go to town.

Tuyo Series - Rachel Neumeier

I have two main ideas. One, Ryo and his family (or mainly Ryo and tiny!Etta) have a spooky or mystical encounter in the autumn, as the Sun becomes less and less of a visitor. Two, Esau and Keraunani (children optional) are sent on a mission by Aras, and it turns out to be spooky and wierd.

If neither of these suit, pick a couple or three of my "Cool Bits" above, and go to town.

Chalion Saga

Penric & Desdemona

Penric has so much more to encounter between "Penric and the Shaman" and "Penric's Mission"! Ghosts, possession, sorcerers who shouldn't be, and more: pick anything of that sort, mix it up with a couple or three of my "Cool Bits," above, and go to town. (Also, you might want to read my story from last year, The Haunting of Aquilegia College, about Penric's first year at Rosehall, so you know where my mind is going with this canon.)

Main Series: Ista

At the end of Paladin of Souls, it's pretty explicitly stated that Ista and Illvin will be roaming the peninsula doing the Bastard's work. Maybe they can solve a problem for Cazaril at the same time. Otherwise, give me something spooky for the two of them (aided by their faithful Foix and Liss) to solve, incorporating a trope or three from my "Cool Bits," above.

The Goblin Emperor Series - Katherine Addison

I love how this series remains cozy even in the face of assassination and ghouls. I'm a sucker for details of custom, food, and clothing.

The Alcethmeret and its various underpinnings are very spooky to me. Perhaps Maia, his newly-wed spouse, and his faithful staff can become involved with something uncanny that has been bothering people. The dragon's skull may not be the only cursed item in the vaults!

I am NOT reconciled to Thara's new romantic interest, nor his fate. Fix-it fix would make me happy. Maybe Maia and the Archprelate get him to take a position in the Alcethmeret, after a scare involving the mining company's assassins. Perhaps after he arrives there, the corporate goons take Pel-Thenhior hostage, and spooky things happen with the undead forces who know that Thara kept his promise.

(Whatever you do, please ignore poor old Olgarezh. He never existed. He didn't go through fire and water with Thara, and his good looks and general kindness should not be enough.)

Or, if all of these ideas leave you cold, take my preferences regarding the characters, and a few of my "Cool Bits," above, and go to town with your own inspirations.

Saiyuki (Anime & Manga)

Hakkai and Gojyo are my bulletproof OTP. I love putting them through the wringer and ending up contentedly in each others' arms again at the end. I also love the Sanzo ikkou as a found family.

That said, Saiyuki will always mean the manga to me. I have only watched a couple of episodes of the anime, and I was not impressed.

With all of Chinese mythology to choose from, as well as several dozen manga volumes, there's plenty of inspiration. Go nuts with something spooky and seasonal. Include a few of my "Cool Bits," above, if you can. Oh, and I like well-thought-out AUs.

Some ideas and prompts:

Modern day AU where Hakkai drags them into some sort of school Halloween festival?
Before the Journey West, Goku wants to participate in some sort of autumn traditional festival?
A haunting by Gojyo's stepmom.
Theme: No one knows you so well: All the ghosts that still haunt you / Or the secrets you won't tell.
Theme: Don't mind if I fall apart / There's more room in a broken hear

Alliance/Union - C.J. Cherryh

Hellburner is my favorite C.J. Cherryh book, and that's saying a lot, because I love most of her books. The foursome of Dek, Ben, Meg, and Sal push all my found-family buttons, with the added spice of the physical relationships. They all have death behind them: most obviously, Cory for Dek and Bird for all of them.

Downbelow Station is a sprawling mess of a book, but I love the jumpcarrier Norway, her captain SIgny Mallory, and her two closest companions, her No. 2 Jurgen Graff and Marine command Di Janz. Later on, we also have the former Union spy Josh Talley, with whom Signy has a fraught past. We actually get to know Graff most in Hellburner, where he's the personnel officer of the Hellburner project.

Random ideas:

Meg has recurring nightmares about someone from her past (Bird or some OC), and Dek has to be the strong one for once.
Ben is trapped in a ship accident of some sort and finds himself becoming unhinged: "Is this how Dekker lost his grip?"
The Hellburner graduating class gives Graff a surprise party. Halloween gets mixed in somehow.
In the calm of the near-peace after the last of the Mazianni are gone (they think), Signy becomes obsessed with the troops she ordered killed by their comrades at one point ("Norway has its standards"), and Graff and Di (and perhaps Talley) have to bring her back.

The Murderbot Diaries

I've watched the series, but the book is by far my preference, at least for now.

Halloween may be a kind of tough push for Murderbot as a fandom, but hear me out: something down-planet, either on Preservation with a harvest festival (because that's kind of baked-in for human cultures) or on another planet full of creepy ruins. This could be something of a romp (especially the Preservation setting) or downright spooky, with human crew members experiencing uncanny things and linking them to barely-remembered legends. And Murderbot has to fix the stupid humans. Because of course it does. Possibly with ART's help.

If neither of these suit, pick a couple or three of my "Cool Bits" above, and go to town.

The Saint of Steel - T. Kingfisher

Kingfisher has a spooky mind, as might be expected from someone whose bibliography is well-salted with horror stories. And I love Bishop Beartongue. Perhaps the good bishop has a problem, sends Zale to solve out, and baaaad things happen. So the paladins (and their SOs) have to solve it. You need not use every single character, but please have Zale be OK (more or less) at the end.

If that doesn't suit, pick a couple or three of my "Cool Bits" above, and go to town.