starfishstar

Y'all, I am managing to post this in February, not May, and that is already a massive improvement over last year ;-)

( Books in 2024! )

 

Hello, you all. My friends in the fandom world. :-)

I know I've been extremely absent here. On top of all the other hard and life-consuming stuff going on in my personal/family life, I also got an EXTREMELY demanding and hectic yet wonderful job - basically my dream job, as the librarian at the beloved, wacky, alternative high school I went to back in the day. It's only a one-year, long-term sub position (technically; although nobody treats me as though I'm temporary and I think most of the staff have *forgotten* that I'm temporary) so I try not to get too excited about any long-term prospects. But I love it.

Anyway, so that's me (the short version).

I did participate in Yuletide this year, so I'll post those fics here...eventually. I wrote my assigned work, of course, plus several drabbles and ficlets I dashed off at the very last minute (once I was on school break and had my brain back in my own possession). It felt so good to quickly, easily, copiously come up lots of ficlets to lots of exciting prompts, the way I used to! So good! (I did try to participate in Holmestice too, as a pinch hitter again, but the timing didn't work out. This job, y'all.)

Also coming up...maybe soon: the books I read this year. Although far fewer than usual! Because job!

I hope you're all doing okay. I miss fandom community! But I'm actually really happy and doing well, despite the absurd amount I work.

<3

Summary: Elio and Oliver have found their way back to each other, and everything is old and new again.

Characters: Elio/Oliver

Words: 900

Notes: This ficlet is inspired by a line from “once bitten and twice shy” by elospock, written for me this past Yuletide.

This could be read, if you choose, as following very soon after another fic of mine, “Storm Hits the City and the Lights Go Out” – or it stands equally on its own.


Read this fic on AO3, or here below:


( Tremble Before My Name )

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Fandom: We Are a Picturesque Small Town and We Refuse to Be the Setting for Your Romantic Comedy – Rachel Mans McKenny (McSweeney's)

Summary:

Hi friends! So, I know I mentioned to some of you that I'm going to be housesitting for my friend Natalie for a couple weeks. She and her husband live in this cute town called Spirit Falls and they needed someone to look after their cat while they're in France visiting her husband's family.

I'm headed there tomorrow—stay tuned!

Characters: OCs (and characters/entities mentioned in "We Are a Picturesque Small Town...")

Words: 4,465

Notes: Happy Yuletide, beautifulduckweed! How delighted was I to get assigned to write for you in this wonderful, silly, brand-new-shiny fandom? Very delighted, that's how. Thank you for your prompts, which gave me so many intriguing ideas to work with. Hope you enjoy!

Betaed by my friend A.

Additional notes as I'm posting this on Dreamwidth: This is the first time I wrote a fic in one of those super silly, super delightful "five-minute fandoms" (as in, a fandom in which you can familiarize yourself with the "canon," such as it is, in about five minutes) that get nominated for Yuletide, capture a lot of people's imaginations in that particular year and generate a lot of delight. Offering a fandom like this in my Yuletide sign-up was a bit of a stretch for me, since it's such an unknown, but it paid off handsomely because I indeed got matched on this fandom, with a recipient who offered a wealth of intriguing prompts, and it was such fun to play in fandom in such a new and unexpected way!


Read the fic on AO3, or here below:


( This Is a Cheerful Blog About a Small Town... )

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a podfic of The Stress of Her Regard by vulgarweed

Fandoms: The Affair of the Mysterious Letter – Alexis Hall, BBC Sherlock

Summary: Due to an interdimensional traffic accident (or at least I shall make that the official account), two strange travellers find themselves temporarily stranded in early 21st century London, as the locals reckon place and time. At least one makes herself right at home.

Characters: John Wyndham, Shaharazad Haas, Sherlock Holmes, John Watson

Length: 11 minutes

Notes: Written as a gift for Iwantthatcoat, for the winter 2020 Holmestice exchange. Read as a gift for Vulgarweed, for the winter 2022 Holmestice exchange. Betaed by A.

Music credits:
Ne Nehledej - Iva Bittová
So What - P!nk

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Hello, dear yule goat!

Thank you for writing a gift for me! I am excitable, enthusiastic and eager (also easygoing, and probably lots of other words that start with "e"...), so you can know I will enjoy whatever you choose to create, because you'll have created it out of love for one of these fandoms we share, to which I say: yay!

General notes: I’m starfishstar on AO3 and DW if you want to have a look through anything of mine or...anything?

Likes: A focus on character interactions, be that friendship or romance or family. Found family dynamics. Humor and banter. UST (all the UST) as long as it resolves by the end. Happy or hopeful endings (angst and complexity are fine – I like stories that are realistic! – but I do need at least a degree of hope). I'm generally not looking for PWP, but I'm not going to make that a hard DNW this year, just a preference (as in, I'd prefer things other than pure smut). :-) I love what I'll term "crack treated seriously" – a premise that sounds so ridiculous, but then is treated with such earnestness and emotional depth that it somehow really works.

DNW: I think just the big ones: please no major character death, non-con/dub-con, or graphic violence. This year especially I'd like to avoid anything about death, cancer, loss of a loved one, since I've had to face that myself this year. 

Treats: Yes, please! I have the option for receiving treats enabled on AO3.


FANDOMS:
(listed alphabetically, because how could I choose favorites??)


Call Me By Your Name (2017) – any (Elio, Oliver, Annella, Samuel, or any others as well)



Darius the Great Series - Adib Khorram – any (Darius, Sohrab, Laleh, Stephen, or any others as well)

( Darius the Great details )


Graceling Realm Series - Kristin Cashore – any (Katsa, Po, Bitterblue, Giddon, Fire, Brigan, Hanna, Nash, any subset/in any combination) 

( Graceling Realm details )


John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme – any

( JFSP details )


London Calling Series - Alexis Hall – any (Luc, Oliver, Odile, Alex, or any others, in any combination)

( London Calling (aka Boyfriend Material) details )


Seraphina Series - Rachel Hartman – any (i.e., Seraphina, Tess, Orma, Spira, or any others, in any combination)




mini-challenges: Challenges I plan to opt into if they're happening again this year (...will try to remember to update here once it's clear which challenges are in fact happening this year...)
Jewltide
MultiLingYule
and of course: Yuletide Madness Drabble Invitational!

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Fandom: The Scholomance series by Naomi Novik

Summary: The gradual, unlikely, inevitable and very necessary coming together of El, Aadhya, Liu and Chloe — as observed by the one most invested in their success.

Characters: El Higgins, Aadhya, Yi Liu, Chloe Rasmussen, the Scholomance

Words: 400

Notes: For Aishuu, for chocolateboxcomm 2022.


Read on AO3, or here below:

 

( Four, Not One )

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Fandom: Graceling Realm series by Kristin Cashore

Summary: Bitterblue and Giddon return home from Winterkeep a little different from how they left—and there's no keeping secrets from Po. ;-)

Characters: Giddon, Bitterblue, Po

Words: 100

Notes: A small Yuletide treat for owlbeer, because the Yuletide Madness Drabble Invitational is such a delightful idea!


Read on AO3, or here below:

Po was at the docks, already smirking, when at last they disembarked in Monport.

“Oh, shut up,” Giddon told him, but it was hard to keep from grinning. He was fairly sure he’d been grinning since the moment he’d woken from his faint and found Bitterblue still alive.

Po embraced Bitterblue, then Giddon. Arm still slung around Giddon, he tousled Bitterblue’s wind-tossed hair, making her yelp. “You two finally figured it out, then?” Po asked, as Bitterblue shoved him away, then pulled him back to hug again.

“Yes,” Bitterblue said. “Now, you hush.”

Po only beamed at both of them.


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Fandom: Graceling Realm series by Kristin Cashore

Summary: Giddon and Po: a friendship told in eight years, two or three Council meetings, countless secret missions, two true confessions, and one punch in the nose.

Characters: Giddon, Po, Katsa, Bitterblue

Words: 4,400

Notes: Yuletide gift for owlbeer. And thank you to my fantastic friend A. for beta reading.


Read on AO3, or here below:


( BROTHERS IN ARMS )

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