Beyond Selidor

Thank you for writing for me!

I'm pretty easygoing about what type of fic you want to write for me. I read fic of any rating, and would be equally happy with plotty genfic or something very shippy. I read gen, femslash, het and slash, although I have a slight preference towards femslash, het, and gen that focuses on female characters. I mainly read fic to find out what happens to characters after the final page has turned or the credits have rolled, so I would particularly love to have futurefic of some kind. Don't feel you have to limit yourself to the characters I specifically mention — I'm happy with others being included if they fit with the story you want to tell.

Feel free to have a look around my Ao3 profile, as it should give you a good idea of the types of things I like to read. You can also look at my Yuletide tag, which includes past letters, and recs posts of my previous gifts and other fic I've enjoyed in previous Yuletide colletions.

( General likes )

( DNWs )

Fandom-specific prompts:



( The Bone Season — Samantha Shannon )

( The Lions of Al-Rassan - Guy Gavriel Kay )

( The Pagan Chronicles - Catherine Jinks )

Don't feel you have to stick rigidly within the bounds of my prompts. As long as your fic is focused on the characters I requested, I will be thrilled to receive anything you write for me, as these really are some of my most beloved fandoms of the heart, and the existence of any fic for them will make me extremely happy.

I have written a ficlet in response to the second prompt of the sunshine_challenge, which is the word 'orange'.

The fic is in the Lions of Al-Rassan fandom, and you can find it on Ao3.

Gather Your Memories Against the Dark (788 words) by Dolorosa
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Lions of Al-Rassan - Guy Gavriel Kay
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Rodrigo Belmonte/Jehane bet Ishak/Ammar ibn Khairan, future Rodrigo Belmonte/Jehane bet Ishak/Ammar ibn Khairan/Miranda Belmonte
Characters: Jehane bet Ishak, Ammar ibn Khairan, Rodrigo Belmonte
Summary:

Late at night in the winter darkness, Ammar, Jehane, and Rodrigo carve out a memory for themselves.

This fic was written for the 2020 Sunshine Challenge, to the prompt of 'orange'.

As soon as I saw the prompt, I knew I wanted to write something for this fandom, and I have spent much of the past two days rereading this gorgeous, tragic, beautiful book, which is among my favourite things I've ever read. Much of the weight of its story is the terrible knowing grief that suffuses it — of a beautiful world and culture dancing towards its own destruction, and of three wonderful, brave, clever people who love this world with all their being, but whose own bravery and cleverness are in part what brings about its inevitable destruction. I don't have it in me to rewrite that ending, but I thought at least I could give the three of them a brief moment of light and happiness.

The title of this post refers not to the relationship I have with any particular person, but rather the relationship I have, at present, with my PhD.* I got a lot more work done this week, but I am still finding the whole business rather frustrating. It's easier in the early years of research, when you can measure progress by word count. Editing produces a much more ambiguous sense of achievement.

This week, Matthias' sister and her friend D visited us. They were here from Tuesday evening until early Saturday morning. Apart from Thursday, when they spent the day in London, I was in full hostess mode, showing them around Cambridge and helping them with their Christmas shopping. In the evenings, we hung out in various pubs. I like them, and I like having guests in general, but I do always breathe a sigh of relief when they're out the door, as I find the whole thing exhausting.

Other than that, I've had quite a quiet week, which has suited me fine. Term ended a week ago, and the town is cold and empty now all the undergrads have gone home. I like it better this way - more space in the library, room to move in the city centre, longer times for borrowing books and so on. We spent Saturday watching TV and reading, and this morning had a leisurely breakfast while reading the newspaper, which is one of my favourite ways to spend the time.

I'm mostly caught up with TV. Scandal ended, and while I feel mostly positive about the show, it engaged in a particular trope of which I'm not fond.

( Scandal spoilers )

I'm almost finished with Marina Warner, which is good, as I'm flying to Australia on Friday and have a couple of books lined up for the flight, The Seven Wonders by Steven Saylor, which is a prequel to his Roma Sub Rosa series of detective novels, and Sarah Rees Brennan's latest, Unspoken. I can't wait!

You should all read Foz Meadows' post on default narrative settings and the futility of arguing 'historical accuracy' in the face of accusations of the absence of narrative diversity. Her post also doubles as an excellent resource, with links that can be pulled out every time someone says that it's 'historically inaccurate' to have a fantasy novel about, say, a black, female pirate captain.

[W]hat on Earth makes you think that the classic SWM default is apolitical? If it can reasonably argued that a character’s gender, race and sexual orientation have political implications, then why should that verdict only apply to characters who differ from both yourself and your expectations? Isn’t the assertion that straight white men are narratively neutral itself a political statement, one which seeks to marginalise as exceptional or abnormal the experiences of every other possible type of person on the planet despite the fact that straight white men are themselves a global minority? And even if a particular character was deliberately written to make a political point, why should that threaten you? Why should it matter that people with different beliefs and backgrounds are using fiction to write inspirational wish-fulfillment characters for themselves, but from whose struggle and empowerment you feel personally estranged? That’s not bad writing, and as we’ve established by now, it’s certainly not bad history – and particularly not when you remember (as so many people seem to forget) that fictional cultures are under no obligation whatsoever to conform to historical mores. It just means that someone has managed to write a successful story that doesn’t consider you to be its primary audience – and if the prospect of not being wholly, overwhelmingly catered to is something you find disturbing, threatening, wrong? Then yeah: I’m going to call you a bigot, and I probably won’t be wrong.

I feel inadequate following up this link with one to my own blog, but in any case, I read The Lions of Al-Rassan. It broke my heart. And then I reviewed it.

The theme of this week is resistance. Not just the classic 'to the barricades!' active, violent resistance, but all the tiny, powerful ways people confront the things that dispossess them. The resistance that is knowing when something is deeply wrong, and articulating why that is, even if you're unable to change your circumstances. And with that in mind, the song of this week is 'All of This' by The Naked and Famous.



_________________
*I'll leave you to work out for yourselves which one of us is the passive partner.