The Tradëscan Codex

( Cut for image )

Well, at least until Yuletide Madness, at least. *goes to work on Catchallathon fic*

Anyone up for beta-ing my yuletide fic?

(N.B.: Portions of this letter have been lifted from last year's letter.)

Thank you for signing up to write a story for me! You're one of 7 people (one of whom was me) who offered to write for Tom Sawyer, one of 9 people (one of whom was me) who offered to write for The Secret Garden musicalverse, one of 9 people (one of whom was me) who offered to write for Heinlein's multiverse, and/or one of 9 people (one of whom was me) who offered to write for Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?, and I love you for that alone.

If you check out my userinfo, you'll find a 'thon policy which implores that you be true first and foremost to the prompt and your muse, and to consider whether I'd like a story as, at most, a secondary concern. I stand by that, but I also recognize there is a sense that a yuletide story is explicitly a gift in a way which most 'thon fics aren't, so feel free to surf through this journal to get a feel for me, and here's a little bit more, if you are interested, to help you understand how I relate to the specific texts and characters in the fandoms I've requested and what I might like.

I'm drawn to what I call will-to-poweriness, the adolescent fantasy, the desire to exceed oneself that also draws me to things like superhero comics (one of my fandoms is, indeed, X-Men) and fantasy shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which is my main fandom). My especial kink is children and teenagers who prove themselves to be the equals (or betters) to adults because they are just that awesome. All of this comes through in my requests, I think, although not quite so much as in years past. There is a clear will-to-poweriness in Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?, most of all in Carmen herself, of course, beyond good and evil, doing whatever she wants whenever she wants because she can, stealing things for no good reason except as an expression of her superiority, the former ACME agent engaged in a perpetual game of cat and mouse. But also, on one level, in Zach and Ivy, the young (!!) ACME agents who pursue her, and on another level, in Player, just as much a teenager, radically empowered within the world of the game she plays and manipulates, Carmen's eternal antagonist.

Likewise, Laz and Lor always get the better of their elders. Mary Lennox is one of my paradigm cases of a radically autonomous female child. And what is the appeal of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn if not as part of just this type of fantasy?

This, actually, is where my interest in incest comes from: with these radically autonomized figures no real problematization of consent is possible, an argument I make more fully in this post from 2006. But don't feel like you have to write incest if you've matched up with me on Heinlein or Twain; I'd much prefer experiencing the characters as you see them behaving in-character as you see them than twisted out of shape to force them into bed with each other. The most important thing is to preserve the canon dynamics--I have my trusty 'cest goggles for everything else. Although if you throw me a bone in making it subtexty, that's wonderful too.

Although, really, Laz/Lor is pretty much canon, no? But there is a way in (my corners of, I don't know whence you hail) fandom that we use sex as a metaphor for emotional intimacy, so that twincest becomes the deepest, strongest type of interpersonal communion imaginable--and this is the dynamic I'm looking for with Tom/Mary and Laz/Lor and even Mary/Neville, the way their strongest bond is to each other, and if you feel most comfortable providing that bond in a non-sexual way that's still absolutely wonderful.

( more on where on earth is carmen sandiego )

( more on tom sawyer )

( more on secret garden musicalverse )

( very little about r.a.h. )

Thank you again for writing a story for me. Be true to your own muse, and I'm sure I'll love the result!

Yours in La Mancha,

Episkopos Reverend Alixtii O'Krul V, TRL
Church of St. Jesu the Heretic, Discordian

Title: The Hurricane
Fandom: The 4400
Characters/Pairings: Maia, Kevin/Tess
Rating: PG
Summary: The war for the future will be fought in the past, but there is one thing the future failed to take into account--and the thing about one thing is, it usually leads to another.
A/N: Thanks to globalfruitbat for the beta. Written for the 2007 yuletide; the original version, with the corresponding comments, can be found here.

( The Hurricane )

Natural Theology, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. "X doesn't believe in Fred, but Henrietta's not given up hope. [. . .] there is a Fred. There must be. [. . .] there's a Fred because there's love. and that's the surest sign." Meta and moving at the same time.

Sea Legs, Narnia. Just a moment, really, but it captures part of what I love about Narnia, the way the kids take on such wisdom and responsibility. Will-to-powery.

Q & A, Batman Begins. Fairly intricately rendered fic which brings in various comicsverse minor characters.

3_ships is written, which means all fest fics for this holiday season are finished. *collapses*

Reveals are Tuesday for prettylightsfic and yuletide. I already have saved Semajic files all ready for posting. So go and guess which fic I wrote while the opportunity's still there--I am offering fic, of course!

Since nobody has guessed yet (correctly or incorrectly; no guesses were made), I'm especially excited about the chance of posting it in my journal and going, "How did you not recognize that I wrote this?" Which, okay, there's probably only about a half-dozen people who I'd actually expect to be able to recognize my writing, but I plan on mocking them mercilessly. Except it just occurred to me that some of them don't read RPF.

Anyway, since especially for Yuletide I'm assuming that the relevant half-dozen people simply didn't read my fic, I look forward to giving them a chance to do so. Also to finding out what you guys wrote.

As for other stuff, erm. I gave blood today?

Temptations and Sins, Big Love. Nikki/Sarah. So hot.

The Teenage Queen, the Loaded Gun, Runaways. I was never a huge fan of Chase or Chase/Gert (except insofar as I like Gert and want her to be happy) in canon, but this is just heartbreaking.

Document 32 from the Russel Collection, on loan from the Franklin Institute, Have Spacesuit--Will Travel. An older, professional Peewee writes a letter to Kip. Awesome and sad at the same time, but a great extrapolation from canon.

He did what?, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Some of RAH's attempts at worldbuilding are better than others; Mistress is clearly one of the better ones, and the story builds with that well here, extrapolating and expanding the universe in a fragmented attempt on the part of Mannie and the Loonies to reconstruct Prof's life story.

Some Origins of the Fire, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Wyoh's story--and a perspective on Heinlein's universe RAH would never have been able to provide.

Where the Air is Clear, Mary Poppins. Sweet and sad and with a sense of wonder, drawing on canon but giving it a twist.

This is the post where you get to guess which yuletide, prettylightsfic, or 3_ships stories I wrote (or, in the case of the last one, will write, God willing). I will post links back to this post when each of those archives goes live.

Comments are screened; people who guess correctly will get fic of some sort, its length possibly decided by how difficult I think it is to identify what I wrote (some of them will be more obvious than others) but more likely calibrated to the awesomeness of the prompt.