raven | Dear yuletide author:

A quiet moment for this, finally! Dear

yuletide author, thank you very much for writing for me. I'm delighted that you like one or more of these small fandoms as much as I do. My AO3 name is

singlecrow, just for reference.

Generally, about me: I like found families, competence, people showing their love for each other in small and unconventional ways; I like angst and woe, but not hopelessness; I also like stories that are people in the worlds they inhabit, living their lives. I like gen and queer gen a lot, though honestly you should feel free to pair whoever with whoever, that's all fine with me.

I have no triggers or squicks in particular, though I don't tend to like PWPs very much.

Here are my requests:

Imperial Radch - Ann Leckie
Character(s): Breq, Tisarwat, Mercy of Kalr, Seivarden

From the character list, you might think I liked Ancillary Sword more than Ancillary Justice, and you would be right. What I like about the second novel is that it opens up to the world beyond Breq's head, and I love the ship's crew and the family she builds: I'd love something about how they all work together now they know the truth about what Breq is. I love how the ship's crew have taken up singing Breq's songs; I love how Breq and Tisarwat interact; I love how Breq and Seivarden interact; I love Mercy of Kalr's amused, slightly wry oversight of the whole circus. And speaking of Mercy of Kalr, I find it super-interesting that its human crew behave like ancillaries. What does it think of that? Seriously: there is so much here, I would be happy with absolutely anything you chose to write. My only specified request would be you keep the pronouns of the original. :)

Frasier
Character(s): Hester Crane

This is an odd little request, I know! But I have been rewatching Frasier recently and it’s struck me how much of the show orbits around her. I mean, Hester Crane is the hook the premise hangs off. How could three people as diametrically opposed as Frasier, Niles and Martin be related? Because of her, the show asks us to believe: she was a remarkable, intelligent, down-to-earth woman that the three of them all adored. And, you know, I’m fine with that! I love how every mention of her in the show is either something about how much her family adored her, or of her intelligence and her research acumen. And her compassion, too, which arguably both Frasier and Niles have, too: one of my favourite episodes of the show is the one about Leland, her research partner (who is gay – and dared come out to her in the 1960s, because he trusted her so implicitly.)

Given how awesome a lady she seems to have been when seen only from the edges, I’d love to have a fic about her! What was her research like? What was it like being a female career researcher in the sciences in the 50s and 60s? Did she really name her children after her lab rats? I’m totally cool with when you set it, of course – maybe when Frasier is in Boston? or when her sons are young children? and, hey, an AU where she didn't die would also be great! – and please feel free to pull in whoever else in the cast you like, I love that it’s such an ensemble show.

(NB. I’m fine with death in fic, by the way – it seems crucial to mention that as an adjunct to this request. And it has always surprised me that we never know how and when she died.)

The Best of All Possible Worlds - Karen Lord
Character(s): Dllenakh, Grace Delarua

I love this quiet, wistful, gentle universe, and would be very happy with anything in it. Most of all I love the romance between these two very different people: I'd be delighted to see something of their lives together, perhaps their honeymoon, or any subsequent gigantic roadtrips they took together! am a sucker for telepathy and all associated tropes, so anything dealing with both their abilities, and the consent issues that arise because of them, would also make me very happy.

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
Character(s): John Uskglass, the Raven King

So I love this book so much, and all of its characters and worldbuilding. The reason I've picked the Raven King is because he's the one character who can transcend the setting, so to speak: I'd love anything about him; the strange childhood in the fairy lands; the army he led into northern England; or something about his reign, perhaps - his court; his dealings with the other magicians such as Catherine of Winchester - or maybe even one of the folktales told about him. (One of my favourite pieces of worldbuilding from the novel is the way he passes into common speech: something kept safe is said to be "in the Raven King's pocket", and when it rains in summer or is warm in December they say the Raven King is in love again, and neglecting his business!) But what I'd also love - and I'm super-aware right now is that optional details are optional, I'm just throwing this out there in case it appeals to you - is something about the world of this novel as it evolves into modern times. The Raven King returned after so many years away to the early nineteenth century; what would he make of the twentieth century? Of the miner's strikes (and the strikers flying the bird-and-book pennants)? Of a world of technology existing alongside magic? I'd love to see.

(Also: I am myself from the north of England, from a small seaside village on the Sefton coast. In case that sparks anything. :))

In conclusion! Thank you again for writing for me, dear author; if you enjoy writing it, I will enjoy reading it, I guarantee you.

Raven