Yuletide 2017
Oct. 8th, 2017 11:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lastwingedthingDear author, I'm so excited you're writing something for me!
I don't have any die-hard dislikes - anything fandom-specific will be mentioned there. In general, I am comfortable with just about anything - including noncon, violence, character death, etc - provided that it is warned for up front, although I would prefer no major character death or unrelenting, extreme bleakness in the Books of the Raksura or Temeraire.
I am also pretty flexible with the things I like. Explicit porn is awesome, G-rated fluff with hand-holding is awesome, gen and het and slash and femslash are all awesome, angst and bleakness are awesome (with the caveats mentioned above), happy endings are awesome, humor is awesome, domesticity is awesome! Etc.
A few of my favourite things are banter and humor, adventures, politics, stoic girls with feeeeelings, road trips (slash spaceship trips... actual ship trips... etc), female antiheroes or villains with complex motivations, enemies forced to work together by circumstance, reluctant superheroes or people coming to terms with powers or a destiny that isn't necessarily wanted, found families, unexpected/unconventional happy endings, tragedies that are more-or-less inevitable given the nature of the individuals involved, and worldbuilding, but by no means feel obligated to include any of these things!
For these fandoms, I am not very interested in the kind of AU where characters are in a completely different universe where they are pirates or cowgirls or something. AUs that explore the ramifications of a change to canon (what if character x survived/won the battle/etc instead) are always fascinating to me, however!
If you'd like some general information about me, all my fic is on AO3 here and my tumblr is here.
If you'd like more detail, I requested:
Alexander trilogy - Mary Renault
Requests: Eurydike, Roxane, Olympias
Note: this is an OR request, not an AND request - a story in which all three characters appear would be lovely, but I'd be just as happy with a story about any one or two requested characters.
I've loved the first two books in the trilogy since I first read them in my early teens, but now that I've finally read Funeral Games it turns out I'm even more interested in the complex, troubled, sometimes disturbing female characters that Mary Renault created. On one hand, she did a brilliant job of getting in people's heads and making them come alive as characters while staying true to (what we know of) what they would have thought and felt... but there are also those moments where you stare at the page and go Oh Mary Renault Why... Eurydike's downfall being explicitly due to her menstrual cycle in particular.
Regardless, all these characters are so vividly drawn and alive, and I just want more!
If you're only interested in one of the characters I requested, or can't figure out a way to bring the others in, I'd be very happy with a character study or slice of life looking at any of them, or a story about two of them that doesn't mention a third. I always find it fascinating to see characters interacting who may or may not have done so in canon, and I find it can often tell you more about each of them individually than a solo story would have done. For example - what would Eurydike and Roxane have thought of each other? Olympias and Roxane were sometimes allies - what was their relationship like? Did Olympias and Eurydike ever meet in Greece, in a time when they were less overtly hostile?
In this fandom I am very partial to what-if AUs - for example, what if Hephaistion and Alexander had lived for another ten or fifteen years? What would that have meant for his wives and family? (And his empire?) (WHAT IF HE HAD A DAUGHTER???) Or Eurydike-isn't-thwarted-by-her-menstrual-cycle AU? A different network of alliances after Alexander's death that sees Eurydike on the same side as Roxane and/or Olympias?
I am always here for queering ladies in history, if you are also into that! I would happy read any femslash pairing out of these characters that you come up with, or indeed read about any of them with any other woman. Het and gen are both also fine.
A final note: while I'm all for Ladies Being Alive, and Ruling Things, and maybe Sleeping With Each Other, I'm okay with disappointment, failure and tragedy too - in a way Funeral Games is my favourite of the trilogy, after all! I'm okay with (canonical or otherwise) tragic endings, as long as the characters are true to themselves up until that point - honestly a perfectly 100% happy ending could easily feel contrived. None of these ladies are perfect, either, and I wouldn't want to read about them if they were.
Alliance/Union universe - C J Cherryh
Requests: Ariane Emory II, Meg Kady, Sal Aboujid, Capella
This is another OR request, not an AND request! Please feel free to write a story about any number of these characters in any combination - don't feel obliged to include all of them!
I've only recently discovered Cherryh, but her work is pretty much everything I love in science fiction - incredible worldbuilding, both in the macro alt-history and the gritty micro details of life in space; powerful and fascinating characters, particularly the women; high-stakes tension; complex questions about what it means to be human; intensely satisfying iddy narratives about found families and damaged loners finding their place in the universe... I could go on.
I'm endlessly fascinated by Ari and honestly really love her, both in a happy id way (as of Regenesis she's living happily with all her friends in their nice new home with the fish wall!) and in the way that Ari is a terrifying and unreliable narrator, and her work and relationships with the azi are deeply fucked up. I'd be happy on anything from that spectrum of fluff to angst! I'm particularly interested in her relationships with Florian and Cat (and I ship the three of them together), and with Justin and Grant (I don't... not ship it? If you wanted to go there I would definitely be intrigued); I'm also interested in how the books seem to be hinting that, long term, her weakness might be trusting people she cares about too much (as Ari I's weakness was not trusting anybody else enough) - it would be interesting to see where that goes!
While I only requested Ari II, I would also be interested in an Ari I story, particularly Ari I interacting with any of the other characters I requested. I would ALSO be very much up for an Ari III, Ari IV, etc story - how many times is Ari going to keep recreating herself? Is she going to keep remaking her friends along with her? Ari II is already a very different person from Ari I in so many ways - so what would Ari III or Ari IV or Ari V look like? Ari V or VI at the very end of 40,000 in Gehenna, or in the Faded Sun era, for example, could be fascinating...
The Hellburner crew develop an incredible found family, and I love them so much, (shipwise I am equally happy with them as as four friends/two couples as per canon, or as in some kind of complex poly arrangement - honestly with what we see of Fleet dynamics from Bet Yeager that second one seems very plausible!), but since I had to choose I'm particularly interested in Meg and Sal. I really love their relationship and how they look out for each other and survive in a hostile, deeply sexist environment. I'd love backstory for either/both of them, or missing scenes from the series, or what life is like in the Fleet - seeing how the Shepherds and soldiers of Sol System become Mazianni, as depressing as that will be. Word of God says the four of them end up on the Norway, which would be very interesting, but if you wanted to do something plottier I'd be interested in any possible future for them - taking a stand against how things were heading on the Africa or Australia? Going AWOL? Captured by Union?
I'm also really, really fascinated by the Mazianni planet from Tripoint. Is that where the Hellburner crew end up? I'm really intrigued by the fact that the Fleet has split by that point - where did the faultlines happen? The idea that some of the Fleet have at least attempted to create something new, rather than just giving in to their inevitable destruction, is really fascinating to me - even though I suspect that their new society is still deeply fucked up (inevitable given the glimpses of what regular Fleet life is like from Bet Yeager in Rimrunners).
Which brings me to Capella - I don't necessarily like her that much, as a person? But she is incredibly interesting to me and I want to know so much more about her. How old is she? What kind of things has she seen? How the hell did the Fleet find out how to stay awake in jump? I do like Thomas as a character, and I'd be very happy to see him appear - will Capella teach him how to be a navigator, now that he's staying awake in jump? But Capella is the one I want to know more about.
Books of the Raksura - Martha Wells
Requests: Pearl, Malachite, Moon, River
And we are three for three so far in OR not AND requests! Please do not feel obliged to write about ALL of these characters, I would be happy with a fic about any number or group of them.
So these books are my happy place, the found family AU of my heart. There's quiet darkness lurking in the background (Moon's childhood, Indigo Cloud's slow decline, the violence of what happened to Opal Night) but that just makes the happy parts sweeter. Moon finds a family! Indigo Cloud finds a consort! Everyone's happy!
For this fandom, I'm requesting that you stay with roughly canon levels of trauma - minor/secondary character death is fine, but please don't kill off any requested or main characters - and if you wanted to explore a dark and bleak event from canon, like Saraseil or the destruction of Opal Night's old court, that's fine, but I'd prefer that you don't come up with any new events at that level of darkness. (Basically, don't destroy Indigo Cloud!) I would strongly prefer a happy or at least a mixed ending for the main characters. This fandom is my happy place, so rocks fall everyone dies (unhappy and alone) is not really gonna do it for me.
As for the characters I picked - I love basically every nominated character (though I feel like Moon/Chime and Moon/Chime/Jade already has very healthy representation on the archives, I'd be more interested in something a bit different?) so I just picked some favorites, more or less out of a hat. If you want some others to show up, feel free!
I like Indigo Cloud stories, I like it when the court goes travelling, I like pre and post series stories, especially bits of stories we don't see in canon - Indigo Cloud pre Moon, Opal Night at any time really, outsider perspective on one of the courts, outsider perspective in general about the Raksura, etc. I particularly liked the interactions with the Kish in the last book, I'd love to see more of that! And I also LOVED Consolation and her strange court - everything about Kethel is wonderful - so please feel free to have her show up in any capacity.
Adventures are great, slice of life is great, alternate histories are great, etc. I love the gender stuff - particularly how Moon is a delicate princess who wants to FIGHT EVERYONE, and River really wants to be a delicate princess and is super sad that he isn't :( I am that ridiculous person with a soft spot for River and Moon/River - I know, I know. Enemies-turned-reluctant-allies is one of my favourite tropes ever - I can't help but be charmed by River's intensely reluctant yet heartfelt determination not to let Moon get eaten/killed/humiliated/inhaled by a giant turtle. IDK, I also feel like there's some interesting stuff you could do with River and the wanting to be a consort thing - like, is it just the power thing? Is it some kind of gender dysphoria? What would it actually be like, to grow up thinking you're one thing but turn out to be another?
I'm also kind of fascinated by what River's relationship with Pearl would have been like - or what it's like now, now that she's in a relationship with a 'proper' consort and River's part of Jade's faction. How did it really feel for him to lose her? Does she regret it at all? Again, Raksura gender dynamics are endlessly fascinating to me and anything exploring them in more detail would be wonderful.
Malachite and Pearl's friendship in the last book really fascinated me too. I love their friendship so, so much - or is it more than just a friendship? I would definitely be down for that! I'm just generally interested in queens and how they interact with each other, and what kind of options they have for relationships outside the usual competitive and intensely hierarchical structures we usually see.
Temeraire series - Naomi Novik
Requests: Tenzing Tharkay, William Laurence, Temeraire
So I was about to say that this is also an OR not AND request, but actually, while I would be thrilled with a Tharkay story, or a Laurence + Tharkay story, or a Temeraire + Tharkay story, or a Laurence + Temeraire + Tharkay story... there is a common theme there I suspect you have noticed. Maybe because Laurence and Temeraire are already the protagonists of a nine-book series, I would strongly prefer that Tharkay is a central character regardless of who else appears.
I'm going to be honest, I love the dragons and the alternate history and Jane Roland and everything but HOLY HELLS I SHIP THARKAY AND LAURENCE SO HARD. SO hard. So much PINING and DEEPLY MEANINGFUL USE OF FIRST NAMES and basically every classic slash trope in history, no seriously, I'm pretty sure somebody had a bet with Naomi Novik about how many she could squeeze into the series. Like by the end there we'd had AMNESIA and CLOTHES SWAPPING and HUDDLING FOR WARMTH and COMPROMISING ONE'S MORALS TO SAVE A LOVED ONE and then basically a marriage proposal...? And that only covers off the last two books!
But Temeraire is ALSO my favourite - like, I love how the book series as a whole does sort of switch protagonists halfway through, and the whole thing is about Temeraire's political awakening, how he gradually wakes up to his own power and ability to effect change, and works to bring his ancestral and his adopted countries together. I love politics, and all the althistory, and I would love so, so much to read ANYTHING about The Hon Temeraire MP and how he adjusts to getting things done in Parliament! I am a gigantic politics and history nerd so no amount of politics and history would be too much, I promise. Crossovers with any other 19th century novels, or with real historical 19th century people, or with characters from novels set in the 19th century (GEORGETTE HEYER!) would also be wonderful!
I adore the way the series ends with the three of them making a life together, and I would read literally anything about their life post series in Tharkay's house, with Temeraire holding meetings and debating policy and accidentally terrorising the opposition, while Laurence and Tharkay stroll around in fabulous outfits discussing dragon rights in France (for about ten minutes, until they get bored and have an Adventure, probably). I've just talked about how much I ship Laurence/Tharkay but I also honestly just really love their friendship, too - I'd be just as thrilled with a gen story focused on the two of them (or three, with Temeraire!). And we see a little bit of Tharkay and Temeraire interacting in the series, but I'd really love to see more of them together - Tharkay is a cynic and Temeraire is an optimist, which is always interesting, but they're also both radicals and reformers in a lot of ways. And I can definitely, definitely see Temeraire getting really interested in and invested in Tharkay's estate, as well as the local district more widely. My secret headcanon is that Temeraire won't need Laurence to have a kid just so Temeraire can have him/her as his next Captain - as soon as he realises the implications of primogeniture and entailments he'll be pressuring Tharkay to get married and have a baby, immediately! Otherwise Temeraire might lose his seat if one of Tharkay's arsehole relatives inherits! I feel like there is a whole comedy of manners in there, particularly if Jane Roland gets involved.
I love Jane a lot, and I think her casual flings with Laurence are wonderful, I am 100% okay with that continuing in whatever kind of stilted Regency poly arrangement you think she and Tharkay could wrangle Laurence into, but she's been pretty consistently clear that she doesn't want to be Laurence's primary romantic partner so I'm cool with an amicable breakup if that's where you wanna go - just to clarify how I feel about things, in case you were wondering how I saw that part of canon! I'm sure that Jane's reaction upon hearing Laurence and Temeraire's future living arrangements would be GOLD, though, regardless of the state of her relationship with Laurence at the time.
As delightful as the end of the series is, I'd be just as thrilled with a story set at any other point during the series, though I'd prefer it to be set at a point after Tharkay shows up. Amnesia plotline? Boat to Australia? Awkward/tension filled hookup very early in the trip from China to Europe, at the point where Laurence still ~hates~ Tharkay?
Like the Books of the Raksura, the Temeraire series is my happy place, so I'd prefer no major character death, and I also can't handle Tharkay pining unrequitedly for Laurence (Requited pining, on the other hand, is GOLD!)
Thank you again! ♥
I don't have any die-hard dislikes - anything fandom-specific will be mentioned there. In general, I am comfortable with just about anything - including noncon, violence, character death, etc - provided that it is warned for up front, although I would prefer no major character death or unrelenting, extreme bleakness in the Books of the Raksura or Temeraire.
I am also pretty flexible with the things I like. Explicit porn is awesome, G-rated fluff with hand-holding is awesome, gen and het and slash and femslash are all awesome, angst and bleakness are awesome (with the caveats mentioned above), happy endings are awesome, humor is awesome, domesticity is awesome! Etc.
A few of my favourite things are banter and humor, adventures, politics, stoic girls with feeeeelings, road trips (slash spaceship trips... actual ship trips... etc), female antiheroes or villains with complex motivations, enemies forced to work together by circumstance, reluctant superheroes or people coming to terms with powers or a destiny that isn't necessarily wanted, found families, unexpected/unconventional happy endings, tragedies that are more-or-less inevitable given the nature of the individuals involved, and worldbuilding, but by no means feel obligated to include any of these things!
For these fandoms, I am not very interested in the kind of AU where characters are in a completely different universe where they are pirates or cowgirls or something. AUs that explore the ramifications of a change to canon (what if character x survived/won the battle/etc instead) are always fascinating to me, however!
If you'd like some general information about me, all my fic is on AO3 here and my tumblr is here.
If you'd like more detail, I requested:
Alexander trilogy - Mary Renault
Requests: Eurydike, Roxane, Olympias
Note: this is an OR request, not an AND request - a story in which all three characters appear would be lovely, but I'd be just as happy with a story about any one or two requested characters.
I've loved the first two books in the trilogy since I first read them in my early teens, but now that I've finally read Funeral Games it turns out I'm even more interested in the complex, troubled, sometimes disturbing female characters that Mary Renault created. On one hand, she did a brilliant job of getting in people's heads and making them come alive as characters while staying true to (what we know of) what they would have thought and felt... but there are also those moments where you stare at the page and go Oh Mary Renault Why... Eurydike's downfall being explicitly due to her menstrual cycle in particular.
Regardless, all these characters are so vividly drawn and alive, and I just want more!
If you're only interested in one of the characters I requested, or can't figure out a way to bring the others in, I'd be very happy with a character study or slice of life looking at any of them, or a story about two of them that doesn't mention a third. I always find it fascinating to see characters interacting who may or may not have done so in canon, and I find it can often tell you more about each of them individually than a solo story would have done. For example - what would Eurydike and Roxane have thought of each other? Olympias and Roxane were sometimes allies - what was their relationship like? Did Olympias and Eurydike ever meet in Greece, in a time when they were less overtly hostile?
In this fandom I am very partial to what-if AUs - for example, what if Hephaistion and Alexander had lived for another ten or fifteen years? What would that have meant for his wives and family? (And his empire?) (WHAT IF HE HAD A DAUGHTER???) Or Eurydike-isn't-thwarted-by-her-menstrual-cycle AU? A different network of alliances after Alexander's death that sees Eurydike on the same side as Roxane and/or Olympias?
I am always here for queering ladies in history, if you are also into that! I would happy read any femslash pairing out of these characters that you come up with, or indeed read about any of them with any other woman. Het and gen are both also fine.
A final note: while I'm all for Ladies Being Alive, and Ruling Things, and maybe Sleeping With Each Other, I'm okay with disappointment, failure and tragedy too - in a way Funeral Games is my favourite of the trilogy, after all! I'm okay with (canonical or otherwise) tragic endings, as long as the characters are true to themselves up until that point - honestly a perfectly 100% happy ending could easily feel contrived. None of these ladies are perfect, either, and I wouldn't want to read about them if they were.
Alliance/Union universe - C J Cherryh
Requests: Ariane Emory II, Meg Kady, Sal Aboujid, Capella
This is another OR request, not an AND request! Please feel free to write a story about any number of these characters in any combination - don't feel obliged to include all of them!
I've only recently discovered Cherryh, but her work is pretty much everything I love in science fiction - incredible worldbuilding, both in the macro alt-history and the gritty micro details of life in space; powerful and fascinating characters, particularly the women; high-stakes tension; complex questions about what it means to be human; intensely satisfying iddy narratives about found families and damaged loners finding their place in the universe... I could go on.
I'm endlessly fascinated by Ari and honestly really love her, both in a happy id way (as of Regenesis she's living happily with all her friends in their nice new home with the fish wall!) and in the way that Ari is a terrifying and unreliable narrator, and her work and relationships with the azi are deeply fucked up. I'd be happy on anything from that spectrum of fluff to angst! I'm particularly interested in her relationships with Florian and Cat (and I ship the three of them together), and with Justin and Grant (I don't... not ship it? If you wanted to go there I would definitely be intrigued); I'm also interested in how the books seem to be hinting that, long term, her weakness might be trusting people she cares about too much (as Ari I's weakness was not trusting anybody else enough) - it would be interesting to see where that goes!
While I only requested Ari II, I would also be interested in an Ari I story, particularly Ari I interacting with any of the other characters I requested. I would ALSO be very much up for an Ari III, Ari IV, etc story - how many times is Ari going to keep recreating herself? Is she going to keep remaking her friends along with her? Ari II is already a very different person from Ari I in so many ways - so what would Ari III or Ari IV or Ari V look like? Ari V or VI at the very end of 40,000 in Gehenna, or in the Faded Sun era, for example, could be fascinating...
The Hellburner crew develop an incredible found family, and I love them so much, (shipwise I am equally happy with them as as four friends/two couples as per canon, or as in some kind of complex poly arrangement - honestly with what we see of Fleet dynamics from Bet Yeager that second one seems very plausible!), but since I had to choose I'm particularly interested in Meg and Sal. I really love their relationship and how they look out for each other and survive in a hostile, deeply sexist environment. I'd love backstory for either/both of them, or missing scenes from the series, or what life is like in the Fleet - seeing how the Shepherds and soldiers of Sol System become Mazianni, as depressing as that will be. Word of God says the four of them end up on the Norway, which would be very interesting, but if you wanted to do something plottier I'd be interested in any possible future for them - taking a stand against how things were heading on the Africa or Australia? Going AWOL? Captured by Union?
I'm also really, really fascinated by the Mazianni planet from Tripoint. Is that where the Hellburner crew end up? I'm really intrigued by the fact that the Fleet has split by that point - where did the faultlines happen? The idea that some of the Fleet have at least attempted to create something new, rather than just giving in to their inevitable destruction, is really fascinating to me - even though I suspect that their new society is still deeply fucked up (inevitable given the glimpses of what regular Fleet life is like from Bet Yeager in Rimrunners).
Which brings me to Capella - I don't necessarily like her that much, as a person? But she is incredibly interesting to me and I want to know so much more about her. How old is she? What kind of things has she seen? How the hell did the Fleet find out how to stay awake in jump? I do like Thomas as a character, and I'd be very happy to see him appear - will Capella teach him how to be a navigator, now that he's staying awake in jump? But Capella is the one I want to know more about.
Books of the Raksura - Martha Wells
Requests: Pearl, Malachite, Moon, River
And we are three for three so far in OR not AND requests! Please do not feel obliged to write about ALL of these characters, I would be happy with a fic about any number or group of them.
So these books are my happy place, the found family AU of my heart. There's quiet darkness lurking in the background (Moon's childhood, Indigo Cloud's slow decline, the violence of what happened to Opal Night) but that just makes the happy parts sweeter. Moon finds a family! Indigo Cloud finds a consort! Everyone's happy!
For this fandom, I'm requesting that you stay with roughly canon levels of trauma - minor/secondary character death is fine, but please don't kill off any requested or main characters - and if you wanted to explore a dark and bleak event from canon, like Saraseil or the destruction of Opal Night's old court, that's fine, but I'd prefer that you don't come up with any new events at that level of darkness. (Basically, don't destroy Indigo Cloud!) I would strongly prefer a happy or at least a mixed ending for the main characters. This fandom is my happy place, so rocks fall everyone dies (unhappy and alone) is not really gonna do it for me.
As for the characters I picked - I love basically every nominated character (though I feel like Moon/Chime and Moon/Chime/Jade already has very healthy representation on the archives, I'd be more interested in something a bit different?) so I just picked some favorites, more or less out of a hat. If you want some others to show up, feel free!
I like Indigo Cloud stories, I like it when the court goes travelling, I like pre and post series stories, especially bits of stories we don't see in canon - Indigo Cloud pre Moon, Opal Night at any time really, outsider perspective on one of the courts, outsider perspective in general about the Raksura, etc. I particularly liked the interactions with the Kish in the last book, I'd love to see more of that! And I also LOVED Consolation and her strange court - everything about Kethel is wonderful - so please feel free to have her show up in any capacity.
Adventures are great, slice of life is great, alternate histories are great, etc. I love the gender stuff - particularly how Moon is a delicate princess who wants to FIGHT EVERYONE, and River really wants to be a delicate princess and is super sad that he isn't :( I am that ridiculous person with a soft spot for River and Moon/River - I know, I know. Enemies-turned-reluctant-allies is one of my favourite tropes ever - I can't help but be charmed by River's intensely reluctant yet heartfelt determination not to let Moon get eaten/killed/humiliated/inhaled by a giant turtle. IDK, I also feel like there's some interesting stuff you could do with River and the wanting to be a consort thing - like, is it just the power thing? Is it some kind of gender dysphoria? What would it actually be like, to grow up thinking you're one thing but turn out to be another?
I'm also kind of fascinated by what River's relationship with Pearl would have been like - or what it's like now, now that she's in a relationship with a 'proper' consort and River's part of Jade's faction. How did it really feel for him to lose her? Does she regret it at all? Again, Raksura gender dynamics are endlessly fascinating to me and anything exploring them in more detail would be wonderful.
Malachite and Pearl's friendship in the last book really fascinated me too. I love their friendship so, so much - or is it more than just a friendship? I would definitely be down for that! I'm just generally interested in queens and how they interact with each other, and what kind of options they have for relationships outside the usual competitive and intensely hierarchical structures we usually see.
Temeraire series - Naomi Novik
Requests: Tenzing Tharkay, William Laurence, Temeraire
So I was about to say that this is also an OR not AND request, but actually, while I would be thrilled with a Tharkay story, or a Laurence + Tharkay story, or a Temeraire + Tharkay story, or a Laurence + Temeraire + Tharkay story... there is a common theme there I suspect you have noticed. Maybe because Laurence and Temeraire are already the protagonists of a nine-book series, I would strongly prefer that Tharkay is a central character regardless of who else appears.
I'm going to be honest, I love the dragons and the alternate history and Jane Roland and everything but HOLY HELLS I SHIP THARKAY AND LAURENCE SO HARD. SO hard. So much PINING and DEEPLY MEANINGFUL USE OF FIRST NAMES and basically every classic slash trope in history, no seriously, I'm pretty sure somebody had a bet with Naomi Novik about how many she could squeeze into the series. Like by the end there we'd had AMNESIA and CLOTHES SWAPPING and HUDDLING FOR WARMTH and COMPROMISING ONE'S MORALS TO SAVE A LOVED ONE and then basically a marriage proposal...? And that only covers off the last two books!
But Temeraire is ALSO my favourite - like, I love how the book series as a whole does sort of switch protagonists halfway through, and the whole thing is about Temeraire's political awakening, how he gradually wakes up to his own power and ability to effect change, and works to bring his ancestral and his adopted countries together. I love politics, and all the althistory, and I would love so, so much to read ANYTHING about The Hon Temeraire MP and how he adjusts to getting things done in Parliament! I am a gigantic politics and history nerd so no amount of politics and history would be too much, I promise. Crossovers with any other 19th century novels, or with real historical 19th century people, or with characters from novels set in the 19th century (GEORGETTE HEYER!) would also be wonderful!
I adore the way the series ends with the three of them making a life together, and I would read literally anything about their life post series in Tharkay's house, with Temeraire holding meetings and debating policy and accidentally terrorising the opposition, while Laurence and Tharkay stroll around in fabulous outfits discussing dragon rights in France (for about ten minutes, until they get bored and have an Adventure, probably). I've just talked about how much I ship Laurence/Tharkay but I also honestly just really love their friendship, too - I'd be just as thrilled with a gen story focused on the two of them (or three, with Temeraire!). And we see a little bit of Tharkay and Temeraire interacting in the series, but I'd really love to see more of them together - Tharkay is a cynic and Temeraire is an optimist, which is always interesting, but they're also both radicals and reformers in a lot of ways. And I can definitely, definitely see Temeraire getting really interested in and invested in Tharkay's estate, as well as the local district more widely. My secret headcanon is that Temeraire won't need Laurence to have a kid just so Temeraire can have him/her as his next Captain - as soon as he realises the implications of primogeniture and entailments he'll be pressuring Tharkay to get married and have a baby, immediately! Otherwise Temeraire might lose his seat if one of Tharkay's arsehole relatives inherits! I feel like there is a whole comedy of manners in there, particularly if Jane Roland gets involved.
I love Jane a lot, and I think her casual flings with Laurence are wonderful, I am 100% okay with that continuing in whatever kind of stilted Regency poly arrangement you think she and Tharkay could wrangle Laurence into, but she's been pretty consistently clear that she doesn't want to be Laurence's primary romantic partner so I'm cool with an amicable breakup if that's where you wanna go - just to clarify how I feel about things, in case you were wondering how I saw that part of canon! I'm sure that Jane's reaction upon hearing Laurence and Temeraire's future living arrangements would be GOLD, though, regardless of the state of her relationship with Laurence at the time.
As delightful as the end of the series is, I'd be just as thrilled with a story set at any other point during the series, though I'd prefer it to be set at a point after Tharkay shows up. Amnesia plotline? Boat to Australia? Awkward/tension filled hookup very early in the trip from China to Europe, at the point where Laurence still ~hates~ Tharkay?
Like the Books of the Raksura, the Temeraire series is my happy place, so I'd prefer no major character death, and I also can't handle Tharkay pining unrequitedly for Laurence (Requited pining, on the other hand, is GOLD!)
Thank you again! ♥
