mllelaurel

Yuletide Letter 2018

2018-10-11T17:26:53Z

Dear Yuletide Author:

First of all, welcome and thank you! This is my second year doing Yuletide, and I’m very excited to read your story. I want to start by saying that you shouldn’t consider any of my specific requests binding, if that’s not what floats your boat. I just wanted to give you some ideas, to help you get started and give you a taste of the sort of things I’m into.

Let’s start with the general guidelines:

Things I Like

I love fic that captures the feel of canon, even if it’s operating in a different genre. Fic which incorporates little details of the world building. Fic which doesn’t forget the existence of characters who may not be center-stage, or their importance to the leads. I like fic where the characters sound and act the way they do in canon, without any of their edges and flaws filed off. I like complicated emotions and psychological realism, including and especially in speculative settings. I’m a multishipper, so het, slash, femslash and poly are all A++. If there’s a pairing I’m particularly fond or unfond of, I’ll mention it under that specific fandom. Otherwise, have at! Anything from gen to kinky, kinky porn is well appreciated. (And if the kink in the latter is visceral and real-world believable, even better!) I like well-earned happy endings and bittersweet ones. Happiness and tragedy are both great, but I’d prefer something other than unmitigated fluff, or ‘everything sucks, so let’s just be emo about it.’

When it comes to relationships in fic, my guideline is ‘more banter, less shmoop.’ I’m as much of a sucker for declarations of love as the next person, but put some thought into how a given character would act on those particular feelings. That, and I just plain like banter. :) Springing off from this, I have a major soft spot for unorthodox and indirect ways characters might say ‘I love you.’ The ‘as you wish,’ clause, if you will.

I love canon divergence or ‘turn left’ AUs, time loops, ‘Five Things That Never Happened to X,’ roleswaps, and other variations on a theme.

Not Inherently Positive or Negative - Just Needs More Detail

I love certain types of hurt/comfort, and dislike others. Particularly, what I like is characters going together through trauma, supporting each other, and bonding. What I dislike is h/c which infantilizes the hurt character and doesn’t acknowledge them as a person with agency and drive; ridiculous amounts of comfort for something minor like a headcold; or h/c which assumes that ‘hug and cry’ is the only possible emotional aftermath to trauma, ignoring other valid reactions, such as anger, denial, black humor, being surprisingly okay with it, etc.

Things I Dislike

There are few things I dislike more than character bashing, or characters who are sympathetic in canon being made to act like abusive assholes. If they are morally gray canonically, obviously that is fine, and not what I am talking about here. Extra special note for this, if said character happens to be a PoC, female, or queer.

I have no interest in Character/Reader, A/B/O or mundane AUs, such as high school of coffee shop. (I was going to say ‘modern AUs,’ but then I realized I’d be totally down with say a mafia AU, or something like that, which might still be set in the modern world. Basically, I want a setting which can parallel the stakes of canon in an interesting manner. Sticking with the canon is always a safe bet, though I do love me some canon divergence AUs, as mentioned above.)

Crossovers aren’t particularly my bag, especially in an exchange, where you might have no way of knowing which fandoms I am or am not familiar with.

In terms of squicks, please no MPREG, reproductive coercion, or breeding kink. Mention of a pregnancy or kid is fine, but it shouldn’t be the focus, and I ask for absolutely no scenarios where the character doesn’t want to be pregnant but has to keep it anyway.

As per what I’ve said a couple paragraphs above, absolutely no rape or abuse featuring canonically sympathetic characters as the perp (or even ones who might be ruthless on occasion, but unlikely to go *that particular route* if they’re in character.)

I dislike seme/uke essentialism, and essentialist gender roles in general. Who tops (or does the penetrating, or what have you) sexually has jack-all to do with strength of character or actual power dynamics in a relationship.

Now, on to the specific fandoms and requests:

( Sagas of Sundry: Dread )

( The Good Place )

( Star Driver )

( Umineko no Naku Koro Ni )

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Fifty Years in the Virtuous City, by Leo Mandel

2018-06-09T01:34:31Z

Reviewed for FF Friday.

"Fifty Years in the Virtuous City" is a short story very loosely based on "The Sultana's Dream," which can be found here. It tells the story of two women, Amrita Karim and Suhela Mullick, who live in a world a couple of steps off from our own, in a matriarchal country which does not exist but could. It tells of their rivalry in academia, their work, their brush with the brutality of war. The relationship itself is understated, an ever-present backdrop to everything Amrita (the narrator) experiences, though not acted on till the end of the story. The worldbuilding is fantastic, the characters are three-dimensional, and Amrita's feelings are rendered vibrantly, even (or possibly especially) because they are not always easily quantifiable.

Highly recommended.

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Book Reviews: Passing Strange, by Ellen Klages

2018-06-01T16:05:40Z

Reviewed for FF Friday.

Ellen Klages' Passing Strange is a love story, a romance between Emily, a runaway daughter of a blue-blood New England family, and Haskel, a brilliant artist who makes her living drawing lurid covers for the pulps. But it is also a love song to the city of San Francisco in the 1940s, vibrant in its descriptions of lesbian bars, Chinatown cocktail lounges, and the World Fair.

Klages' writing is superb. She pulls a few tricks I normally dislike, such as mid-scene point of views switches, but the style is so well-done it does not impact my enjoyment or the three-dimensionality of the characters. The romance goes quickly (this is a novella,) but it's both affecting and believable.

There are elements of magic, well-foreshadowed, but out of focus enough I'd label this book more magical realism than fantasy, and the final use of the magical elements leads to a satisfying ending just as I was bracing myself for something a lot more depressing.

Highly recommended.

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Book Reviews: Wild Beauty, by Anna Marie McLemore

2018-05-25T13:32:05Z

Reviewed for FF Friday.

The Nomeolvides women carry the power to make plants grow - whether they like it or not - and a curse which makes those they fall in love with disappear. When the current generation of Nomeolvides girls realize they are all falling for Bay Briar, a dapper, black-sheep scion of the family that owns La Pradera, the land which they garden, they realize they have to do something before Bay disappears too. By way of answer, La Pradera gives them Fel, a boy who doesn't remember his past, and who might have disappeared generations ago.

The writing is lush, almost fairy tale-like. However, there's a tendency to belabor already touched-on emotional points, which left me frustrated and disconnected. Some of the reveals fall flat, and one of the most significant reveals makes all the characters who had not figured it out up to that point look like idiots.

As for the characters, it's been a bit since I've read this book, so my memory's faded, and I can't help comparing it to Labyrinth Lost, which also featured a sprawling extended family of Latinas. To me, at least, the family in Labyrinth Lost was much more vividly rendered and believable. The characters in Wild Beauty are still good, they're still likable. They're just not as real. Fortunately, Bay is one of the better efforts, sharp and likable as a romantic interest. She does eventually come to return one of the cousins' feelings for her, though it's not Estrella's (the POV character.) Estrella's own romance is also likable, though it's with a boy and thus outside the purview of this comm.

On a side note, I had a hunch as I read that Bay might be better described as genderqueer rather than female, and my hunch was borne out by author's notes, but she does go by she/her pronouns, and I figure more genderqueer representation can't hurt.

To sum up: this book is pretty good on both sexuality and gender representation, but occasionally frustrating when it comes to its own narrative.

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Book Reviews: Labyrinth Lost, by Zoraida Cordova

2018-05-18T13:40:26Z

Reviewed for FF Friday.

Alex Mortiz comes from a long line of brujas, but unlike her mother and sisters, she fears her powers. She's got her reasons. Even normal bruja abilities come with blowback, and Alex's powerful magic comes with danger and death, and shadowy things called maloscuros come to threaten the safety of her family. But when she tries giving back her powers, the canto goes wrong, and Alex's family is taken from her instead.

With the help of her best friend Rishi, and a mysterious boy named Nova, Alex descends to Los Lagos, where souls of the dead go between lives, to get her family back. But the world of Los Lagos itself is in crisis, held hostage and sucked nearly dry by the Devourer, an old and powerful being who might just have her sights set on Earth next, and who is none too happy about Alex standing in her way.

What I liked best about this book was its world. I loved the details of bruja culture and everyday living, from the items which fill Alex's home, to the specificity of the cantos brujas cast (not spells, spells are for witches; cantos are for brujas.) Although the magic and faith practiced by Alex and her family isn't exactly Santeria, or another real-world pagan analogue, you can tell Cordova's done her research even before you get to the author's note. It shows in the vivid verisimilitude of her setting. I loved the eerie, dangerous beauty of Los Lagos, the way its denizens popped off the page, and the way the challenges ahead of Alex felt, well, challenging. I've always been a sucker for descent to the underworld stories; stories of people who'd go to literal or figurative hell for those they love, so the concept was a real easy sell.

As for the characters, I didn't always like Alex, who starts out sullen and wishing to be normal. (Those familiar with my tastes know how little I sympathize with normalcy-seeking characters.) On the other hand, I found her very believable as a person and character right from the get-go, and watching her grow and develop throughout the story was a joy. By the end of the story, I loved her. I found Nova interesting, entertaining, and even sympathetic throughout, for all that his glib inscrutability would have likely driven me nuts in real life. Cordova also does a great job with a lot of her secondary characters, who are memorable despite their relatively-limited page count, especially Alex's older sister, Lula, and the Adas, Rodriga and Agosto. The Devourer is a credible threat, with an interesting background.

And then, there's Rishi, easily the weakest part of the book. Which is a shame, as she's inexorably entwined with the very reason I picked this book up to begin with. Alex is bisexual (which is awesome!) and finds herself attracted to both Nova and Rishi in the course of the story. It's not that I think Alex makes the wrong decision, when she ultimately chooses Rishi, but a) traditional love triangles are stupid anyway, and b) having finished the book, I still have no idea who Rishi is, aside from her being quirky, Guyanese, and into Alex. She falls flat, and with her the love plot. I want to cheer for the same-sex love interest winning the day, but. Eh.

Some of the problem is she has no magic and is a fish out of water in Los Lagos. But Ordinary People (™) can shine in extraordinary settings by being clever and determined. I… guess Rishi is determined, and her faith in Alex is unflagging, but she doesn't contribute a hell of a lot. Even at the point in the plot where Alex and Rishi are on their own, and I think 'hey, now's Rishi's chance to shine…' she still does nothing. She's a love interest, and that's all she is. I'm not sure why there's such a disappointing contrast to the other characters. My only guess is, Cordova was really invested in providing Good Queer Representation (™), didn't want to fuck it up, and overshot in the bland direction.

But on the scale of the book as a whole, that's a nitpick. I really enjoyed Labyrinth Lost and would absolutely recommend it on the strength of its story, world, and cast. I'm really looking forward to the sequel with Lula as the protagonist. The love plot? Eh. But so goes it.

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FF Fridays: Fanfic Rec - The Art of the (Im)Possible, by mswyrr

2018-05-11T18:37:37Z

You can read more about FF Fridays here. In the organizer's own words, "If you want to join in, just review something FF on a Friday."

Since the whole venture only started yesterday, I haven't had the chance to pick up a new book, so I will be recommending a fanfic instead.

The Art of the (Im)Possible is a fic based on the San Junipero episode of Black Mirror, written by mswyrr. The fic is short but evocative, following Kelly and Yorkie after the end of the episode. The relationship is both heartwarming and three-dimensional, and I really like how the fic touches on Black Mirror's prevalent themes of technology and personhood, and the ways in which they intersect.

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Dear Yuletide Writer

2016-10-01T17:06:48Z

Dear Yuletide Author:

First of all, welcome and thank you! This is my first year doing Yuletide, and I’m very excited to read your story. I want to start by saying that you shouldn’t consider any of my specific requests binding, if that’s not what floats your boat. I just wanted to give you some ideas, to help you get started and give you a taste of the sort of things I’m into.

Let’s start with the general guidelines:

Things I Like

I love fic that captures the feel of canon, even if it’s operating in a different genre. Fic which incorporates little details of the world building. Fic which doesn’t forget the existence of characters who may not be center-stage, or their importance to the leads. I like fic where the characters sound and act the way they do in canon, without any of their edges and flaws filed off. I like complicated emotions and psychological realism, including and especially in speculative settings. I’m a multishipper, so het, slash, femslash and poly are all A++. If there’s a pairing I’m particularly fond or unfond of, I’ll mention it under that specific fandom. Otherwise, have at! Anything from gen to kinky, kinky porn is well appreciated. (And if the kink in the latter is visceral and real-world believable, even better!) I like well-earned happy endings and bittersweet ones. Happiness and tragedy are both great, but I’d prefer something other than unmitigated fluff, or ‘everything sucks, so let’s just be emo about it.’

When it comes to relationships in fic, my guideline is ‘more banter, less shmoop.’ I’m as much of a sucker for declarations of love as the next person, but put some thought into how a given character would act on those particular feelings. That, and I just plain like banter. :) Springing off from this, I have a major soft spot for unorthodox and indirect ways characters might say ‘I love you.’ The ‘as you wish,’ clause, if you will.

Not Inherently Positive or Negative - Just Needs More Detail

I love certain types of hurt/comfort, and dislike others. Particularly, what I like is characters going together through trauma, supporting each other, and bonding. What I dislike is h/c which infantilizes the hurt character and doesn’t acknowledge them as a person with agency and drive, or h/c which assumes that ‘hug and cry’ is all there is to it, ignoring other valid reactions, such as anger, denial, black humor, being surprisingly okay with it, etc.

Things I Dislike

There are few things I dislike more than character bashing, or characters who are sympathetic in canon being made to act like abusive assholes. If they are morally gray canonically, obviously that is fine, and not what I am talking about here. Extra special note for this, if said character happens to be a PoC, female, or queer.

I have no interest in Character/Reader, A/B/O or mundane AUs, such as high school of coffee shop. (I was going to say ‘modern AUs,’ but then I realized I’d be totally down with say a mafia AU, or something like that, which might still be set in the modern world. Basically, I don’t want a setting which obliterates the stakes and issues of the canon.) I have a love-hate relationship with soulmate AUs. For me, someone finding their soulmate is not a satisfying and cathartic endgame in and of itself, if it comes at the expense of good old fashioned relationship building. On the other hand, it could be interesting to explore the worldbuilding implications of a world where soulmates are a fact of life. In general, sticking with the canon setting, or canon divergence AUs are your best bet.

Crossovers aren’t particularly my bag, especially in an exchange, where you might have no way of knowing which fandoms I am or am not familiar with.

In terms of squicks, please no MPREG or reproductive coercion. Mention of a pregnancy or kid is fine, but it shouldn’t be the focus, and I ask for absolutely no scenarios where the character doesn’t want to be pregnant but has to keep it anyway. As per what I’ve said a couple paragraphs above, absolutely no rape or abuse featuring canonically sympathetic characters as the perp (or even ones who might be ruthless on occasion, but unlikely to go *that particular route* if they’re in character.)

I dislike seme/uke essentialism, and essentialist gender roles in general. Who tops (or does the penetrating, or what have you) sexually has jack-all to do with strength of character or actual power dynamics in a relationship.

Now, on to the specific fandoms and requests:

( Below the cut )

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[Fic] Ace Attorney: Way Stations of the Heart - Chapter 7

2014-12-07T20:53:07Z

Fandom: Ace Attorney
Title: Way Stations of the Heart
Characters: Apollo Justice, Klavier Gavin, Kristoph Gavin, Phoenix Wright, ensemble.
Pairings: Klavier/Apollo, Phoenix/Edgeworth, past Phoenix/Kristoph and Klavier/Daryan
Rating: M
Warnings: Sexual references, and some violence (I can't tell where the graphic vs. non-graphic violence line lies, unless, like, people's guts are falling out.) Prevalent themes of emotional abuse, gaslighting and general creepiness. Major character death, right at the start.
Summary: Klavier thought he’d grown used to dealing with the deaths of people he loved, even Kristoph’s execution, but nothing could have prepared him for his brother’s voice inside his mind, or the inexorable loss of control over his own life.

In which there is possession, journeys to the center of the mind, too many close calls, and a love confession or two.

( Chapter 7 )

( Author's Note )

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[Fic] Ace Attorney: Way Stations of the Heart - Chapter 6

2014-10-26T20:31:47Z

[Fic] Ace Attorney: Way Stations of the Heart - Chapter 5

2014-10-24T16:21:20Z

[Fic] Ace Attorney: Way Stations of the Heart - Chapter 4

2014-10-23T19:45:02Z

[Fic] Ace Attorney: Way Stations of the Heart - Chapter 3

2014-10-23T14:55:42Z

[Fic] Ace Attorney: Way Stations of the Heart - Chapter 2

2014-10-22T17:06:01Z

[Fic] Ace Attorney: Way Stations of the Heart - Chapter 1

2014-10-19T19:06:30Z

Fandom: Ace Attorney
Title: Way Stations of the Heart
Characters: Apollo Justice, Klavier Gavin, Kristoph Gavin, Phoenix Wright, ensemble.
Pairings: Klavier/Apollo, Phoenix/Edgeworth, past Phoenix/Kristoph and Klavier/Daryan
Rating: M
Warnings: Non-graphic sexual references, and some violence (I can't tell where the graphic vs. non-graphic violence line lies, unless, like, people's guts are falling out.) Prevalent themes of emotional abuse, gaslighting and general creepiness. Major character death, right at the start.
Summary: Klavier thought he’d grown used to dealing with the deaths of people he loved, even Kristoph’s execution, but nothing could have prepared him for his brother’s voice inside his mind, or the inexorable loss of control over his own life.

In which there is possession, journeys to the center of the mind, too many close calls, and a love confession or two.

I thought I would actually get around to reposting this behemoth to Dreamwidth, now that it's complete.

( Chapter 1 )

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[Fic] Ace Attorney: As The Body Tells It

2014-08-07T18:34:06Z

Fandom: Ace Attorney
Title: As The Body Tells It
Characters: Apollo Justice, Klavier Gavin
Pairings: Klavier/Apollo
Rating: E/NC-17
Warnings: None
Summary: Apollo's Perceive can't help but sense arousal, along with the normal lies and nervousness tells. (Written for the Phoenix Wright Kink Meme)

( Full Prompt )

( As The Body Tells It )

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[Fic] Ace Attorney: The Past Is Another Land

2014-08-06T22:34:34Z

Fandom: Ace Attorney
Title: The Past Is Another Land
Characters: Klavier Gavin, Kristoph Gavin, Apollo Justice
Pairings: Klavier/Apollo, Kristoph/Apollo
Rating: M/R
Warnings: Some explicit sexual language, though no onscreen sex.
Summary: Kristoph's not above using his past relationship with Apollo, in order to mess with Klavier. (Written for the Phoenix Wright Kink Meme.)

( Full Kink Meme Prompt )

( The Past Is Another Land )

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[Fic] Ace Attorney: Afterburn

2014-07-23T20:01:30Z

Fandom: Ace Attorney
Title: Afterburn
Characters: Apollo Justice, Miles Edgeworth, Phoenix Wright
Pairings: Background Apollo/Klavier and Edgeworth/Phoenix
Rating: T/PG-13
Warnings: Some mentions of past abuse, but nothing graphic
Summary: Apollo and Edgeworth find some common ground.

( Afterburn )

( Notes )

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[Fic] Ace Attorney: A Warm Sort of Place - Chapter 2 (of 2)

2014-07-06T02:00:09Z

Fandom: Ace Attorney
Title: A Warm Sort of Place
Characters: Dick Gumshoe, Maggey Byrde, Klavier Gavin, Simon Blackquill
Pairings: Background Gumshoe/Maggey
Rating: G! (I know, right...)
Warnings: None
Summary: Gumshoe and Maggey are comforting to traumatized prosecutors. (Based on a PW Kink Meme prompt)

( Chapter 2 )

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[Fic] Ace Attorney: A Warm Sort of Place - Chapter 1 (of 2)

2014-07-04T17:09:21Z

[Fic] Ace Attorney: Close The Wall Up With Our Dead

2014-07-04T01:14:02Z

Fandom: Ace Attorney
Title: Close The Wall Up With Our Dead
Characters: Mia Fey, ensemble
Pairings: Background Mia/Diego and Aura/Metis
Rating: M/R
Warnings: Violence and major character death
Summary: Marshal Mia Fey knows the costs of trying to save the world. (Pacific Rim fusion)

( Close The Wall Up With Our Dead )

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[Fic] Ace Attorney: Monochrome Cities - Chapter 8

2014-07-03T02:56:27Z

Fandom: Ace Attorney
Title: Monochrome Cities
Characters: Klavier Gavin, Ema Skye, Daryan Crescend, Damon Gant, Jake Marshall
Pairings: Klavier/Daryan, Klavier/Ema, background Jake Marshall/Angel Starr
Rating: M/R
Warnings: Non-consensual drug consumption, dysfunctional relationships
Summary: As the date of Lana Skye’s execution nears, her sister finds herself desperate enough to accept the help of a fop of a prosecutor and a shark of a detective. Together, Klavier, Ema and Daryan race against time to finger the real culprit behind the murders of Bruce Goodman and Neil Marshall, over a decade after the fact, with the trail gone cold. But everyone's got their own agenda, and the web they find themselves caught up in may be more tangled - and more of their own making - than any of them have anticipated, when even betrayal is far less simple than it first appears.

( Chapter 8 )

( End Notes )

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[Fic] Ace Attorney: Complicated

2014-06-26T22:04:54Z

Fandom: Ace Attorney
Title: Complicated
Characters: Apollo Justice, Klavier Gavin
Pairings: Apollo/Klavier
Rating: T/PG-13
Warnings: None
Summary: Klavier's hesitant to get involved with Apollo, after seeing him unconsciously imitating Kristoph in court. Apollo takes measures to convince him. (Written for the Phoenix Wright Kink Meme.)

( Complicated )

( Notes )

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[Fic] Ace Attorney: Monochrome Cities - Chapter 7

2014-06-25T13:09:21Z

[Fic] Ace Attorney: Halfway to Sunlight - Chapter 15

2014-06-24T23:11:25Z

Fandom: Ace Attorney
Title: Halfway to Sunlight
Characters: Ensemble, with focus on Apollo and Klavier
Pairings: Apollo/Klavier, some Wocky Kitaki/Vera Misham
Rating: M/R
Warnings: Some fairly pervasive emotional abuse themes. Some discussion of sexual abuse, late on, though nothing graphic/on-screen.
Summary: As if trying to emotionally disentangle himself from his former mentor after the Misham trial wasn’t enough, Apollo winds up with a copycat case falling into his lap, and said mentor’s younger brother a growing presence in his life. But neither of the tasks facing him will be easy, and everyone's got secrets they may or may not want to reveal.

( Chapter 15 )

( End Notes )

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[Fic] Ace Attorney: Monochrome Cities - Chapter 6

2014-06-23T19:54:26Z