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loathlylady2012-10-20 12:39 am
msmcknittington) wrote in loathlylady2012-10-20 12:39 am
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Dear Yuletide Author 2012
Dear Yuletide author,
Thank you so much for signing up for Yuletide this year! It's a big commitment during the holiday season, especially if you're in school as the semester ends. So thank you for making the time and brain commitment to bring small fandom joy to someone you don't even know.
And now for the longest Yuletide letter in the history of Yuletide letters.
Just a quick note on my dislikes before I dive into what I love about my fandoms: I really dislike rape/dub con/non con and incest in the things I read. I know that these are important issues that people can deal with respectfully and meaningfully in their fiction, but I have difficulty approaching these in fictional works in a way that doesn't leave me upset, so I would appreciate it if what you wrote didn't include these topics.
I'd also appreciate it if what you wrote wasn't smut. I feel weird asking a stranger to write porn for me -- like I've let someone borrow my underwear after telling them exactly why I have bought those particular panties. It's just too personal. Mature issues and language are fine, just not explicit sex scenes. And non-explicit sex scenes are probably OK, as long as there's story surrounding it. No porn without plot, OK?
I also really prefer gen fic and non-explicit het fic for the most part (let's give it a PG-13 rating or so). I do have very few slash 'ships I like, but they aren't in any of the fandoms I nominated. As a straight woman, I generally feel uncomfortably appropriative about consuming romance and erotic stories about same-sex couples, and I am so damned picky about the slash I like that I totally do not expect anyone to cater to my selective tastes in this respect. That said, last year someone wrote me an AMAZING story of unrequited love between Snow White and a gender ambiguous, a la Discworld dwarves, Grumpy that absolutely knocked my socks off, so if you get an idea that you think I might like, feel free to send a query to me via the mods.
Basically what I am saying is that I dislike poorly done slash, and have such highly selective slash goggles that I don't want to set you up with an impossible task. That would be cruel to you.
If you want to see thing that I've written, then my AO3 profile is here. There's so little that I don't think it will help, but you're welcome to take a look.
Discworld
Characters: Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, Moist Von Lipwig, Adora Belle Dearheart aka Spike
My prompt:
I love Discworld mostly because it is professionally published crackfic, which is also occasionally very smart social commentary and/or satire. This is a difficult balance to accomplish, but Pratchett does it brilliantly. Also, they are damned funny, and I deeply appreciate anything that makes me laugh.
I especially love the Witches and the Watch, but coming up on a close third are the Wizards. My favorite character, above all others, is probably Nanny Ogg. I aspire to be Nanny Ogg some day, but so far am falling behind on all fronts and have yet to acquire an army of daughter-in-laws to cater to my every whim. But, you know, I pretty much love everybody. Hence requesting Moist and Spike.
My ideal Discworld fic would be funny and slightly odd, with limited or no footnotes, and where the characters experience peril, but not too perilous peril. Excitement, rather than certain doom. Unless it was hilarious certain doom, in which case I'd deal.
Fairy Tales
Here is what I wrote in my prompt:
I request something like this every year, and it never ceases to please me. As far as I can tell, fairy tale meta-fic offers almost limitless possibilities. Possibly limitless, since there's magic, which means you can defy physics. Why hold yourself back when you can defy physics?
That limitless possibilities thing is one of my very favorite aspects of fairy tales. Weird stuff happens! Geese lay golden eggs! Girls go on quests to save their true loves, empowered by their ingenuity! (Sometimes, at least.) It's kind of like that joke about the talking muffins: Two muffins are in an oven. The first muffin turns to the second muffin and says, "It's hot in here!" The second muffin says, "Holy shit! A talking muffin!"
In fairy tales, people never react like the second muffin. If a muffin spoke to them, they'd be like, "Yeah, it is hot in here. Did you piss the witch off, too?" And then they'd escape valiantly together, and perhaps the muffin would not be devoured at the end of the story. Or maybe the muffin would turn into a prince. Anything can happen!
And I just love that there are SO MANY female characters. Even if they are not exactly feminist paragons every time, so many of them use their cleverness and wits to get themselves out of tight spots, and they do it by relying on other women (such as witches or fairy godmothers) for advice or useful objects. There is so much scope for strong female characters to be active and courageous, and I think it is especially important that, given that many modern authors have taken "strong woman" to mean "murderous ass kicker", exploring fairy tales allows for female characters who are more "everywoman" characters, rather than trained assassins. (Though, who am I kidding, I love fairy tales so much that if a fairy tale princess got turned into a trained assassin, I would read it. Seriously, self, don't act like you wouldn't.) It's possible for a cottager's daughter to become queen, and it's not necessarily because she's incredibly beautiful -- sometimes it's just because she's impressed the king so much with her bravery and cleverness and resourcefulness. And I LOVE that.
As for the Russian fairy tales I mentioned in my prompt, here are some links to read if you're interested:
Russian Fairy Tales on Wikipedia
Russian folk tales
I especially like the stories of Stupid Ivan, Vasilissa the Beautiful, Brother and Sister, and The Frog Princess.
I think I'm mostly curious about the tsarevna in Stupid Ivan -- why would she marry any dude who could just jump through 32 hoops? What kind of qualification for husbandhood is that? Is there someone out there with a profile on OKCupid which says, "I can jump really, really far! Russian princesses, I am for you!"? (Um, please add that to my prompt list: fairy tale courtships conducted through OKCupid.) What kind of husband is Ivan? They say he's good-hearted, but then he goes and cuts his brothers' toes, fingers and ears off. That seems like a contradiction to me!
For The Frog Princess, it would be really very exciting to me if someone wrote a bit of a crossover with the Chaucer story my AO3 screenname (loathly lady) is from, The Wife of Bath's Tale. Maybe not a crossover so much as mushing the two together. They do have lots of similarities, except the knight in The Wife of Bath's Tales actually has to work a bit to figure things out, whereas the prince basically just lucked into finding a super clever frog princess to marry and then he messes it up. If you do go this route, please hold the rape that features in the Wife of Bath's Tale!
Emperor's Edge -- Lindsay Buroker
Characters: Any, but the only four nominated are Amaranthe, Sicarius, Books, and Maldynado
I think that just might about sum it up? Since I am so very long-winded?
I suppose I love the Emperor's Edge because in the first book, when Amaranthe is faced with the dilemma of how to topple the group that is trying to do away with the emperor, instead of deciding to kill everybody, she figures the way to do it is to invent inflation and destabilize the empire's currency by counterfeiting lots of money. Her solution is to threaten to trigger worldwide economic collapse. Let me say that again: SHE INVENTS INFLATION. It's just . . . who does that? Who goes, "The emperor is in danger! Let's destroy the economy! We're going to need a printing press."? Amaranthe does that.
I love it. It's creative and unexpected and so delightful. And then she assembles this crew by palavering and makes them work together through zany adventures. They're all such strong characters and the books have so much adventure and mayhem and explosions and that drawn out, reluctant love affair and . . . oh, I melt when I read them, on so many levels.
Queen's Thief -- Megan Whalen Turner
Characters: Any
I love this series because it is amazing, which I realize doesn't really answer the question. The writing is beautiful -- unadorned, clear, clever, witty, lush, masterful. The entire series is just so masterful and laden with meaning without trying to hard. It's like eating high quality chocolate. A little bit goes a long way, but it is no less satisfying than a lot of not-so-great chocolate. But I also love what happens in the books, all the political intrigue and complicated personal relationships and the forgiveness granted and the rules broken and the way it's all one big puzzle that can be solved if you just look close enough.
It's just lush. Everything is so rich, but not too rich. I love that. It really is like good chocolate.
And then there's stuff like a thief who can steal anything, and so he steals a queen, along with her heart. <3! And there's Helen/Eddis who is beloved by everyone, because she's so warm and level-headed and good-humored, but she still has this crooked nose, which leads to exchanges like this with Attolia:
Aaah! So brilliant! They're such opposites in the way they rule and in their personalities and even looks, but they've both managed to become queens and rule in their own right. And yet they both feel the deficit of not living up to their names. Such real characters! I love them.
Here's the quote I mention in reference to Costis and Ileia:
She's just so casual and a little undone, with the hair curling at her neck, and she catches Costis by surprise. And Costis needs to be caught by surprise, because he is like Teleus in that he's a bit staid and traditional, and like Sophos in that he doesn't think much of himself. But he should! He's patronoi, but landless because his father will not inherit, but with land, he would be quite the catch -- confidant of the king, devoted to the king and the king knows it, war hero. Then he's very solid and dependable and I have this suspicion has this slow, shy smile. Aaaand I assume he's pretty good looking, since he's a highly trained soldier and all. Muscles!
Oh, dear. I think I have a literary crush on Costis that I was not aware of before this moment.
But mostly I want Gen and Sophos advising Costis in his love life, because that would be amusing to no end. Gen would give all sorts of bad, impracticable advice and tease Costis mercilessly, and then Sophos would follow up with kindness and useful advice. And Costis would be sitting there through all of it, terribly embarrassed and wanting the floor to open up beneath him to swallow him, and irritated because these boys are telling him how to get his groove on.
Well, there it all is. I wish I could apologize for being long-winded, but at this point it is an irretrievable character flaw on my part.
Thank you so much for signing up for Yuletide this year! It's a big commitment during the holiday season, especially if you're in school as the semester ends. So thank you for making the time and brain commitment to bring small fandom joy to someone you don't even know.
And now for the longest Yuletide letter in the history of Yuletide letters.
Just a quick note on my dislikes before I dive into what I love about my fandoms: I really dislike rape/dub con/non con and incest in the things I read. I know that these are important issues that people can deal with respectfully and meaningfully in their fiction, but I have difficulty approaching these in fictional works in a way that doesn't leave me upset, so I would appreciate it if what you wrote didn't include these topics.
I'd also appreciate it if what you wrote wasn't smut. I feel weird asking a stranger to write porn for me -- like I've let someone borrow my underwear after telling them exactly why I have bought those particular panties. It's just too personal. Mature issues and language are fine, just not explicit sex scenes. And non-explicit sex scenes are probably OK, as long as there's story surrounding it. No porn without plot, OK?
I also really prefer gen fic and non-explicit het fic for the most part (let's give it a PG-13 rating or so). I do have very few slash 'ships I like, but they aren't in any of the fandoms I nominated. As a straight woman, I generally feel uncomfortably appropriative about consuming romance and erotic stories about same-sex couples, and I am so damned picky about the slash I like that I totally do not expect anyone to cater to my selective tastes in this respect. That said, last year someone wrote me an AMAZING story of unrequited love between Snow White and a gender ambiguous, a la Discworld dwarves, Grumpy that absolutely knocked my socks off, so if you get an idea that you think I might like, feel free to send a query to me via the mods.
Basically what I am saying is that I dislike poorly done slash, and have such highly selective slash goggles that I don't want to set you up with an impossible task. That would be cruel to you.
If you want to see thing that I've written, then my AO3 profile is here. There's so little that I don't think it will help, but you're welcome to take a look.
Discworld
Characters: Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, Moist Von Lipwig, Adora Belle Dearheart aka Spike
My prompt:
Please see my Dear Yule Goat letter for my (dis)likes, why I love this fandom, etc.
What I would really like for Yuletide in this fandom is a Nanny-centric Witches story, at any point in the trio's history. So, the third witch could be Magrat or Agnes or possibly even Tiffany. Something where Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax compete to teach Tiffany to be a witch would be amazing! Or where there is danger in Lancre and everyone must band together to fight crime! Even if that danger is only a very severe and highly contagious cold! Or, infinitely welcome would be a story about Nanny and Granny as young witches. Though possibly that should be more Granny-centric?
As for Moist and Adora Belle, can I just have them sort of soppy in love with each other? I mean, that special regard they hold for each other which is in no way soppy but yet still adorable? They could have a date scheduled, which one (or both!) of them can't keep because of a series of emergencies. Or something like "The Gift of the Magi", where they buy each other presents that are perfect but they are prevented from using because of third-party reasons would be FANTASTIC. Especially for Yuletide.
Or, or, or! If you really want to draw this all together, if Moist and Spike had a child, whom Nanny, Granny and a third witch serve as fairy godmothers for . . . um, witness my endless joy. I can see Spike and Granny getting along quite well, actually, and Nanny and Moist would undoubtedly find ground so common the Watch would have to intercede. It would, I assume, be like the immovable object meeting the irresistible force -- explosive.
Please do not feel that you NEED to include all these characters in a single story. One or two is enough, and you can introduce whatever other characters you please, though I have a low tolerance for Rincewind. So, please do not sweat it. Most of all, have fun, get creative, and have fun. I mention that twice, because I really want you to have fun writing. Discworld fic should be fun!
I love Discworld mostly because it is professionally published crackfic, which is also occasionally very smart social commentary and/or satire. This is a difficult balance to accomplish, but Pratchett does it brilliantly. Also, they are damned funny, and I deeply appreciate anything that makes me laugh.
I especially love the Witches and the Watch, but coming up on a close third are the Wizards. My favorite character, above all others, is probably Nanny Ogg. I aspire to be Nanny Ogg some day, but so far am falling behind on all fronts and have yet to acquire an army of daughter-in-laws to cater to my every whim. But, you know, I pretty much love everybody. Hence requesting Moist and Spike.
My ideal Discworld fic would be funny and slightly odd, with limited or no footnotes, and where the characters experience peril, but not too perilous peril. Excitement, rather than certain doom. Unless it was hilarious certain doom, in which case I'd deal.
Fairy Tales
Here is what I wrote in my prompt:
I am open to any and all fairy tales being used here! I'm most familiar with the standard Western fairy tale canon, but if you think I might not be familiar with the story you want to use, please feel free to link to the story in your author's note or to get a message to me with a link to the story before Yuletide goes live. Yes, dear author, I am willing to do research to make your story work! I have been dipping into Russian and Ukrainian fairy tales lately, and I think there's a lot of room for some really exciting stories to come out of there.
As for what kind of stories I prefer, I really love meta-fic. If you want to mix up a bunch of fairy tales, where the characters from various stories are all present in the same "universe" that would be great. I guess I mean something like Shrek or the Thursday Next books by Jasper Fforde, but not fic for those things. Like maybe there's an evil witches convention where they get together to share trade secrets or something, or Snow White's step-mom and the Big Bad Wolf hang out and throw darts at a picture of the woodsman, or Baba Yaga ends up being Sleeping Beauty's good fairy godmother.
If you'd rather not write something meta-y like that, then I'd love to have a story about a female fairy tale character finding freedom and empowerment and not just being a "princess". You can write about smart women in a fairy tale setting, you can make a female villain sympathetic, you can write a modern story using the narrative structure from a fairy tale -- I am so flexible on this topic. Snow White can decide to be in charge of a mining company, if you want!
Speaking of Snow White being in charge of a mining company, if you wanted to write a story based on those Harlequin romances with titles like "The Greek Tycoon's Virgin Secretary", with Snow White (or Beauty from Beauty and the Beast or Thumbelina or Red Riding Hood or whoever) as the Greek tycoon and the prince/woodsman/whoever as the secretary, that would be amazing. I would be beyond delighted if someone took a fairy tale and flipped it all to hell and back under the guise of a Harlequin novel. For the lulz and possibilities for social commentary, you see.
Use your imagination, have fun, and I will be happy.
I request something like this every year, and it never ceases to please me. As far as I can tell, fairy tale meta-fic offers almost limitless possibilities. Possibly limitless, since there's magic, which means you can defy physics. Why hold yourself back when you can defy physics?
That limitless possibilities thing is one of my very favorite aspects of fairy tales. Weird stuff happens! Geese lay golden eggs! Girls go on quests to save their true loves, empowered by their ingenuity! (Sometimes, at least.) It's kind of like that joke about the talking muffins: Two muffins are in an oven. The first muffin turns to the second muffin and says, "It's hot in here!" The second muffin says, "Holy shit! A talking muffin!"
In fairy tales, people never react like the second muffin. If a muffin spoke to them, they'd be like, "Yeah, it is hot in here. Did you piss the witch off, too?" And then they'd escape valiantly together, and perhaps the muffin would not be devoured at the end of the story. Or maybe the muffin would turn into a prince. Anything can happen!
And I just love that there are SO MANY female characters. Even if they are not exactly feminist paragons every time, so many of them use their cleverness and wits to get themselves out of tight spots, and they do it by relying on other women (such as witches or fairy godmothers) for advice or useful objects. There is so much scope for strong female characters to be active and courageous, and I think it is especially important that, given that many modern authors have taken "strong woman" to mean "murderous ass kicker", exploring fairy tales allows for female characters who are more "everywoman" characters, rather than trained assassins. (Though, who am I kidding, I love fairy tales so much that if a fairy tale princess got turned into a trained assassin, I would read it. Seriously, self, don't act like you wouldn't.) It's possible for a cottager's daughter to become queen, and it's not necessarily because she's incredibly beautiful -- sometimes it's just because she's impressed the king so much with her bravery and cleverness and resourcefulness. And I LOVE that.
As for the Russian fairy tales I mentioned in my prompt, here are some links to read if you're interested:
Russian Fairy Tales on Wikipedia
Russian folk tales
I especially like the stories of Stupid Ivan, Vasilissa the Beautiful, Brother and Sister, and The Frog Princess.
I think I'm mostly curious about the tsarevna in Stupid Ivan -- why would she marry any dude who could just jump through 32 hoops? What kind of qualification for husbandhood is that? Is there someone out there with a profile on OKCupid which says, "I can jump really, really far! Russian princesses, I am for you!"? (Um, please add that to my prompt list: fairy tale courtships conducted through OKCupid.) What kind of husband is Ivan? They say he's good-hearted, but then he goes and cuts his brothers' toes, fingers and ears off. That seems like a contradiction to me!
For The Frog Princess, it would be really very exciting to me if someone wrote a bit of a crossover with the Chaucer story my AO3 screenname (loathly lady) is from, The Wife of Bath's Tale. Maybe not a crossover so much as mushing the two together. They do have lots of similarities, except the knight in The Wife of Bath's Tales actually has to work a bit to figure things out, whereas the prince basically just lucked into finding a super clever frog princess to marry and then he messes it up. If you do go this route, please hold the rape that features in the Wife of Bath's Tale!
Emperor's Edge -- Lindsay Buroker
Characters: Any, but the only four nominated are Amaranthe, Sicarius, Books, and Maldynado
Please see my Dear Yule Goat letter for my (dis)likes, why I love this fandom, etc.
Since I am the one who nominated this fandom, heh heh heh, I would be pleased to get a story about any of the characters.
I am mostly an unrepentant Amaranthe/Sicarius fangirl, and I really want them to be happy. I want them to be happy together. Like, super squishy, lovey dovey, in character fic would be cool. (Which I guess would make "squishy" and "lovey dovey" relative terms!) Sicarius cuddling Amaranthe on a cold night, because while he doesn't have a physiological need to cuddle, she does? OH YES. Falling asleep in each other's arms? OH YES. Amaranthe palavering and Sicarius teasing her? OH YES. Sicarius saving Amaranthe from herself? OH YES. Beach vacation? OH YES.
Pure fluff. In character fluff. So, like, basically Sicarius and Amaranthe being themselves at each other and no murders. Make me squeal and wave my little hands in the air like the fangirl that I am. Maldynado having an attack of disbelief at the sight of Amaranthe and Sicarius being openly affectionate toward each other is also totally welcome.
If you don't do fluff, then I would enjoy a scene where Amaranthe wakes up from a nightmare caused by the ordeal she goes through in Blood and Betrayal and Sicarius comforts her. Especially if the whole camp is shocked! by this revelation. Or if Books is the one who gets there first and kind of reluctantly hands her off to Sicarius, because he's not sure if Sicarius is the best choice for her, even if he is the choice she's made. My heart just kind of goes squish at that fatherly relationship she has with Books.
As for Books, I would love a little character study of him, at any point of his life. Vignettes from his life before the team would be great. I wanted more of him after his book, because I really appreciate that more contemplative, mature narrative. He's in his forties, he's at least ten years older than everybody, and he's able to pick up on things that the other team members miss. (Well, that Akstyr and Mal miss. Basilard is pretty savvy, too.) If you read the EE forums, then you know that idea of him falling in love with a Kyattese professor is a popular one, and I also support this. Happy!Books future!fic? Yes, please. I also really adore that bickering, brotherly relationship that he has with Maldynado, so something featuring that would be cool, too. Like, I can see Books giving Mal advice about romancing Yara, because while Mal has the Casanova thing down, he is sadly lacking in the long-term relationship department, and I assume that Books has learned from his own errors there. Or can at least channel Amaranthe for half an hour on this topic! :P
In the Maldynado department, I would like . . . anything. Mal finally getting his statue, past!fic with his horrible family, Mal reading a Lady Dourcrest novel (or writing one!), his decision to pick up with the escort service, a humorous montage of past bad decisions, pursuing Yara -- whatever. I would prefer not having to read about his sister Tia's drowning, because that depresses me a lot. Like, a story about the aftermath would be OK, but not one about her drowning.
There is literally no character on the team that I would dislike getting a story about, so if you want to write a little ensemble adventure (with explosions!), I am perfectly fine with that. It also wouldn't bother me to get a fic focusing on just one character, either. I really wanted to nominate Basilard, because I love his sneaky humor and soulful personality, but I didn't have enough spaces in the nomination form, sob sob, so if you wanted to include him in a story, go ahead. And I also love Evrial Yara. And Akstyr. Even Roskar Rockjaw, bless his diabolical, murderous heart.
I love everybody. It will basically be impossible to do wrong here, so long as you don't kill anybody in the team off. That would aggrieve me. They all must live!
I think that just might about sum it up? Since I am so very long-winded?
I suppose I love the Emperor's Edge because in the first book, when Amaranthe is faced with the dilemma of how to topple the group that is trying to do away with the emperor, instead of deciding to kill everybody, she figures the way to do it is to invent inflation and destabilize the empire's currency by counterfeiting lots of money. Her solution is to threaten to trigger worldwide economic collapse. Let me say that again: SHE INVENTS INFLATION. It's just . . . who does that? Who goes, "The emperor is in danger! Let's destroy the economy! We're going to need a printing press."? Amaranthe does that.
I love it. It's creative and unexpected and so delightful. And then she assembles this crew by palavering and makes them work together through zany adventures. They're all such strong characters and the books have so much adventure and mayhem and explosions and that drawn out, reluctant love affair and . . . oh, I melt when I read them, on so many levels.
Queen's Thief -- Megan Whalen Turner
Characters: Any
Please see my Dear Yule Goat letter for my (dis)likes, why I love this fandom, etc.
Yet another fandom where I like all the characters, villains inclusive. I was hard pressed to select four characters here, so I didn't. I love the canon for this series so much, though, that I would prefer not seeing anything too AU. Like, nobody going to high school or Regency England, for the love of God. Future!fic is more than welcome, though!
To start with a totally random thing, I kind of ship Costis and Attolia's attendant Ileia. There's this little tiny scene in King of Attolia (which is quoted in my Dear Goat letter), where Costis tells Gen to go back to sleep and Ileia is watching, and some little voice in my head said, "What if Costis gets his land for service to the throne and marries Ileia?" Only Ileia is pretty much a blank slate, so that would involve a lot of making stuff up. But awkward, earnest courtship by Costis would be adorable, with Gen in the background giving hilarrible advice. Or maybe Gen AND Sophos giving advice? I would possibly hyperventilate from snickering if that happened.
I think I would also enjoy seeing Gen teaching Sophos and Helen's children to misbehave. You know, being the bad uncle who teaches you how to get the cookies off the top of the fridge and plague your parents?
I also adore Sophos and Helen together, and would love to see them adjusting to each other as Sophos adjusts to being Sounis and this new path he has chosen for himself after Conspiracy of Kings. Sophos 2.0, if you will, the Sophos who shoots ambassadors. How will Helen remain queen of a country that nobody lives in? What will she and Sophos argue about? I just can't imagine that the transition will be all sunshine and lollipops -- she loses her temper with him in CoK, even. How do they learn to live and govern together? Does Helen ever stick her foot in it or is Sophos the only awkward one? How do they negotiate the relationship with Attolis?
Other ideas: What's the story behind Gen stealing all Ornon's sheep? What are Moira and Hephestia feeling/thinking about this whole situation? What does Hephestia think of Attolia/Irene, given that Irene has emulated her in the past by dressing like her? What about a fic about Costis returning home to visit his father and sister? How did the Minister of War let his son go to the woman who chopped off his hand -- how does a parent make that decision? How do the Minister of War and Attolia get along? Not well? Was there ever a turning point or is he forevermore suspicious of her? What does the Minister of War think of his other children?
I also like the idea of a fic about the Magus and Phresine. Not necessarily together romantically, but they've both been around royal courts for a long time and they've seen a lot. How do they react to each other? I can't imagine that the Magus is stupid enough to dismiss Phresine just because she's "only" an attendant. I mean, she's Attolia's oldest attendant, and he's savvy as all hell, so he must see her as a source of information. Does he ever try to press her for information or does he recognize an immutable column of discretion when he sees one?
The first three paragraphs are my dearest wishes, I think, but nearly anything would be wonderful. Knock yourself out, author!
I love this series because it is amazing, which I realize doesn't really answer the question. The writing is beautiful -- unadorned, clear, clever, witty, lush, masterful. The entire series is just so masterful and laden with meaning without trying to hard. It's like eating high quality chocolate. A little bit goes a long way, but it is no less satisfying than a lot of not-so-great chocolate. But I also love what happens in the books, all the political intrigue and complicated personal relationships and the forgiveness granted and the rules broken and the way it's all one big puzzle that can be solved if you just look close enough.
It's just lush. Everything is so rich, but not too rich. I love that. It really is like good chocolate.
And then there's stuff like a thief who can steal anything, and so he steals a queen, along with her heart. <3! And there's Helen/Eddis who is beloved by everyone, because she's so warm and level-headed and good-humored, but she still has this crooked nose, which leads to exchanges like this with Attolia:
"Irene--"
"Don't call me that."
"You were the princess Irene the first time we met."
"It means 'peace,'" Attolia said. "What name could be more inappropriate?"
"That I be named Helen?" Eddis suggested.
The hard lines in Attolia's face eased, and she smiled. Eddis was a far cry from the woman whose beauty had started a war. (Queen of Attolia, Chapter 20)
Aaah! So brilliant! They're such opposites in the way they rule and in their personalities and even looks, but they've both managed to become queens and rule in their own right. And yet they both feel the deficit of not living up to their names. Such real characters! I love them.
Here's the quote I mention in reference to Costis and Ileia:
Once Eugenides’s head turned on the pillow and he opened his eyes. He looked around the room, puzzled but unconcerned. His gaze settled on Costis. Costis leaned forward in his chair and said, “Go back to sleep.”
Eugenides obediently closed his eyes.
Costis smiled. Behind him someone chuckled and he started. It was Ileia, one of the younger of the queen’s attendants, with her dark hair escaping from its silver net and curling against her neck. She was leaning against the door frame with her arms crossed. “I didn’t think he ever did as he was told,” she said, smiling.
“I only told him what he was going to do anyway,” said Costis.
“That would be the trick,” Ileia agreed. (King of Attolia, Chapter 10)
She's just so casual and a little undone, with the hair curling at her neck, and she catches Costis by surprise. And Costis needs to be caught by surprise, because he is like Teleus in that he's a bit staid and traditional, and like Sophos in that he doesn't think much of himself. But he should! He's patronoi, but landless because his father will not inherit, but with land, he would be quite the catch -- confidant of the king, devoted to the king and the king knows it, war hero. Then he's very solid and dependable and I have this suspicion has this slow, shy smile. Aaaand I assume he's pretty good looking, since he's a highly trained soldier and all. Muscles!
Oh, dear. I think I have a literary crush on Costis that I was not aware of before this moment.
But mostly I want Gen and Sophos advising Costis in his love life, because that would be amusing to no end. Gen would give all sorts of bad, impracticable advice and tease Costis mercilessly, and then Sophos would follow up with kindness and useful advice. And Costis would be sitting there through all of it, terribly embarrassed and wanting the floor to open up beneath him to swallow him, and irritated because these boys are telling him how to get his groove on.
Well, there it all is. I wish I could apologize for being long-winded, but at this point it is an irretrievable character flaw on my part.
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hi! i was just stalking letters and i have to comment on your fairy tale thoughts to ask if you've ever seen or listened to the cast recording for the musical Into the Woods? It's a recurring popular Yuletide fandom; it's the partial inspiration for Shrek, Tangled, and god knows how many other similar stories; it's rumored to finally be greenlighted for a film after 2 decades; and it's Stephen Sondheim's most popular musical after Sweeney Todd.
It's absolutely brilliant, and it's exactly what you want in a meta-fairy tale. It's my favorite musical of all time, and I just had to stop and say OMG INTO THE WOODS!!!!1! at you. :)
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For fairy tale musical adaptations, I actually prefer Once Upon a Mattress, but that's slightly misogynist with the treatment of the queen.