firecat

Yuletide is a long-running, very popular exchange for small-ish fandoms (with fewer than 1,000 works). The DW community is yuletide_admin, but that’s just a starting point. This year almost 1,800 works were posted in 1,141 fandoms.

A lot of the fun of Yuletide is the sheer number of fandoms nominated. The tag set is enormous and very likely to include an obscure favorite of yours! There’s also a great big fandom promo post every year, in case you are at a loss for entertainment to consume. (Fandom promo post for 2023: https://yuletide.dreamwidth.org/303660.html)

I had many requests to choose from but one stood out and I got it — The Maltese Falcon, 1941, starring Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre, Sidney Greenstreet.

I received a really creative origin story fic based on Only Lovers Left Alive, a luscious 2013 Jim Jarmush film starring Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton as the sort of creatures who need to consume blood to survive, but don’t use the V-word.

What I wrote:
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What I received:
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This is a dump of most of what I read this year via audiobook or ebook , with brief comments/reviews. If you consumed any of these I’d enjoy it if you told me what you thought (positive or negative). If you want me to say anything more about them let me know!

2023 Audiobooks & Ebooks

Jennifer Ackerman, The Bird Way
Published 2020. Narrated by the author. Natural history / pop science. I learned a great deal and I’m thinking of buying the ebook so I can look up more about the birds described. The narration was prosaic though.
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Recycling some of my verbiage from last year’s roundup: ficinabox is a large exchange (almost 1,000 works in 322 fandoms this year) that challenges you to write 10K words (or the equivalent in other media), but the words/other can be broken up into multiple works. Many different media types are explicitly included and can be requested via tags — for example "Reddit: In-Universe r/AmITheAsshole Post," "Knitting Chart," "Illustrated Text - Bestiary."

There's also a swap option. Once you receive your assignment, you can trade some of it in for another assignment. For example you can trade in 5K words of your assignment for 5K words of one or more other assignments.

This is my fourth year participating. The first two years, I wrote a single 10K work. Last year I swapped part of my assignment for three other assignments, for a total of four. That was a bit of a mistake. This year I ended up with three assignments. I defaulted on one but I picked up a pinch hit to replace it, so I don’t feel too bad about that.

I typically angst terribly over this exchange but end up receiving wonderful gifts and writing things I am pleased with, even if they don’t get tons of attention. That happened this year too.

I wrote about 17,500 words altogether — for the film Amadeus (Amadeus/Salieri), the novel Band Sinister by KJ Charles, and the novel series His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman.

I received four delightful gifts: Two for Ragnarok TV, one for Loki TV, all by my fanfic friend with whom I run a “more cakes” bakery shop (♥) and one original work in the supernatural noir detective genre.

What I wrote:
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What I received:
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fandom_empire is a prompt challenge community that started this year and ran three themed 12-week events. The third challenge had a Powerball theme. I posted two works for it this month.

The challenges were pretty inspiring for me. I posted twelve works overall. A lot of people were much more active than me! There are over 500 works in the Fandom Empire AO3 collection.

I was so moved by the final episode of Loki TV season 2 that I wrote a fic about it the same night I watched it (crossover with Lucifer TV):
Falling (1515 words) by firecat
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply


My final work for the community this year had Jack Harkness battling zombies:
Swift, Sudden Turn of Death (1216 words) by firecat
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Summary: To Jack Harkness, death has become temporary. But when he finds himself in the midst of a zombie outbreak at his favorite pub, he wonders if this is the moment his condition will change.

relationshipping is an exchange for works featuring incest. 2023 is the eighth year it has run. Around 135 works were posted.

I participated in 2021 but not 2022.

I wrote in the Sandman comics canon, Dream/Destruction. I received a really fun original work around the prompt “ Group of brothers/Trans brother surprised to learn bro bonding time involves sex.

What I wrote:
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What I received:
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Dear Yuletide participant: Thank you for writing something for me!

My AO3 name is firecat

My number one want: I hope you create something you enjoy, and have fun. I've included my likes and opt-ins, in case you want something to start from, but it's absolutely fine with me if you want to go in a different direction.

Contents

• Likes
  • General Likes
  • Smut Likes
  • Opt-ins
  • DNWs
  • Fandom-specific notes & prompts (optional)
    • Three Thousand Years of Longing
    • The Dispatcher series - John Scalzi
    • Lupin TV
    • Only Lovers Left Alive
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  Fandom-specific Notes & Prompts

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wingficex is a fanwork event in its third year, focused on characters with wings. 16 works were created this year.

I wrote about Mazikeen/Lucifer from the Lucifer series. I like how it came out.

I received two very cute fics from the same author, both about Hercule Poirot!

What I wrote:
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What I received:
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raremaleslashex (Rare Male Slash Exchange) is an event for less popular male ships (featured in fewer than 200 fics over 1K words on AO3). This is the seventh year it has run.

133 works posted in 112 fandoms.

I am a new-ish fan of K J Charles, who writes historical and fantasy gay romance. I like her stories because the protagonists usually have a fair amount of sense, although they have some internal and external societal prejudices to overcome. I wrote a story about the characters Guy Frisby/Philip Rookwood in Band Sinister.

I received a Marcus/Neroon Babylon 5 fic that was mysterious and romantic and epic in every sense of the word.

What I wrote:
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What I received:
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watsons_woes is a community that's been active since 2009, encouraging the creation of fanworks featuring any of the many variations of John Watson to be found in the world of fiction. The community is closing down this year (*sob*).

The first of their July Writing Prompts events happened in 2011.

I wrote 5 short fics in the 2021 and 2023 events and collected them in a series. They're all for the ACD canon. You can find them here:
Watsons_Woes July Writing Prompts