Yuletide reveals

[raven]

I wrote four yuletide stories this year! One Imperial Radch, one Pushing Daisies, and two Mathey & Lynes. Undoubtedly, the hard part was writing two stories, more or less at the same time, with two different magic-using detectives named Ned. (I did two yuletides with a time-travelling detective named Ned! Apparently it's a thing.) Here's my assignment:

A stillness full of lights (1722 words) by Raven
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Imperial Radch Series - Ann Leckie
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Awn Elming, Justice of Toren One Esk Nineteen | Breq, Mercy of Kalr, Seivarden Vendaai, Daos Ceit
Summary:

A gift from Mercy of Kalr; or, a brief history of becoming.

This one was hard, you guys. I find Leckie's worldbuilding very complete in itself, which makes writing fanfic hard. I'm not sure how it came out - I wrote it all at once, pretty close to the deadline, with some cheerleading from silly_cleo and cosmic_llin - but people seemed to like it.

And the treats:

In Praise of Half-Eaten Things (2734 words) by Raven
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Pushing Daisies
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Relationships: Charlotte Charles/Ned
Characters: Ned (Pushing Daisies), Charlotte Charles, Emerson Cod, Olive Snook
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Yuletide Treat
Summary:

Some ways Ned and Chuck could have touched, and one way they definitely didn't.

1919 (2046 words) by Raven
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Lynes and Mathey Series - Amy Griswold & Melissa Scott
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Julian Lynes/Ned Mathey
Characters: Cordelia Frost, Ned Mathey, Julian Lynes
Additional Tags: Future Fic, Yuletide Treat, Misses Clause Challenge
Summary:

Metaphysicians from the Commons had thought only of the defence of the realm, and not of the young girls hiding from the Zeppelins and teaching one another the grammar.

Feel The Earth Move When You Speak (9630 words) by Raven
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Lynes and Mathey Series - Amy Griswold & Melissa Scott
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Julian Lynes/Ned Mathey
Characters: Julian Lynes, Ned Mathey
Additional Tags: Case Fic, Victoriana, Magic, Ghosts, Oxford
Summary:

"Lynes. Do you believe in ghosts?"

(He doesn't. But Ned might be losing any choice in the matter.)

I wrote this one as a treat for st_aurafina, then trashed it from the collection in a panic because I suddenly thought, what if her original author defaults and she gets nearly 10,000 words of Iona-patented gloom as her only gift? On Christmas Day?

...yeah. And then I re-read the Pushing Daisies story, looked at my life and choices, and pressed "delete".

But that aside, I'm mostly pleased with them (I restored them both a couple of hours before the deadline when it was safe). In the case of Mathey and Lynes, I completely adore them and the universe they live in, and have been making everyone I know read the books, so I'm pretty sure it wasn't very ambiguous who wrote my two stories. (Also, Oxford! The pretty attic in the eaves I gave Ned as a first-year room was my first-year room, too.) Writing is hard, as I believe I've mentioned, but it got easier when I realised it really was two stories I was trying to write, not one. They're in the same universe, though, and both owe a lot to the authors' explanation of how metaphysics works.

Anyway! That was my yuletide. And I'm very grateful to soupytwist for her eagle-eyed beta skills.

Comments

[purplefringe]

I was right about your Pushing Daisies story! \o/ I mean, I'm not surprised because it was perfect and beautiful and had "THIS IS WRITTEN BY IONA" stamped all over it. <3 please write all the stories about magical detectives called Ned, you're so good at it. (Looking forward to reading your others when I've read the books!)

[raven]

Hee! All my stories lately seem to have my name on them in enormous letters, I'm getting predictable in my old age. Thank you, lovely you! <33

[st_aurafina]

OMG, thank you for restoring the fic! I loved it! And would have loved it, had it been the only thing under my tree! (I loved both of your Lynes and Mathey fics, actually. So good! And so nice to know some behind the scenes details, too.

I was so sure it was someone from my flist! But I didn't know you were a fan, so the reveals were still a surprise for me.

[raven]

Aww, I'm really happy you liked it so much! I've learned to be a little bit careful about gift exchanges, it seems so many people don't like my particular brand of unhappy endings. I was delighted by how sure you were it was someone from your flist, though - how did I give myself away?

[st_aurafina]

To be honest, it was because of the kitties! I thought, someone knows me well enough to save the kitties! But maybe that's just the decency level of my flist? I don't know.

But thank you again for a lovely story. It really made Yuletide special for me.

[mirabile-dictu.livejournal.com]

I did wonder about the Mathey & Lynes! For which I owe you great thanks again, since you also recommended Ancillary Justice and of course the wonderful Rivers of London. You are a good influence! Also a wonderful writer.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I am delighted to be predictable, and thank you. :) And you're welcome! I'm so pleased you liked all those books! I must confess, I was a little disappointed by Foxglove Summer, but it did make me want to read all the fic and apparently now there's LOADS, so silver lining! :)