Dear Yuletide Author 2024!

 Another year, another Yule! Thank you so much for writing for me, or at least taking the interest in my requests to check this letter out! This continues to be the year/exchange of asking for the obscure but incredibly dear books of my childhood! Which is to say, Author, if you know or love any of these--cheers! I applaud your taste.

Requests are all arranged alphabetically by fandom name, and all equally beloved and woefully rare in the wild. Most important of all, I hope you write something you love and enjoy creating; but if you'd like a bit more guidance, read on:

AO3 name: betony

General likes: humor/snark, plotty fic, ALL THE AUs, and women being awesome in multiple (not just Strong Female Character, to quote Kate Beaton) ways. I also adore backstory or behind-the-scenes fic, and will always, always love outsider POVs and unreliable narrators. Slow-burn relationships and wry banter. I'm a quick reader, so long fic is totally fine, should the question come up, and I have no particular preferences for POV or tense. 

Treats: Absolutely welcome!

General dislikes/DNWs (please see fandom specific clarifications in their own section): E-rated sex/violence/gore (M or milder is fine), consent issues, fics that hinge solely on angst/hopelessness.

Dragon Chronicles - Susan Fletcher
Any (Kaeldra, Jeorg, Kara, Worldbuilding)

I was lucky enough to recieve an amazing gift for this for Candy Hearts, which has also served to convince me that the world could use more fic for this series! I loved the world of this book, and Jeorg and Kaeldra both individually and as a couple ("People ought to stare at you" was one of the impossibly romantic lines my preteen self swooned over). They--understandably-- don't get much buildup, but are an impressive example of enemies-to-lovers done so well; the tension between them as well as the reasons why they can't (and then can) be together is painfully clear. We also don't get much of Jeorg's perspective, and while the book's perspective requires him to be opaque, feel free to explore what he is thinking during canon, and what pulls him towards and against Kaeldra. Or: I'd love to see something about their happily-ever-after. The glimpses we see of them make it clear that they are able to blend their cultures and backgrounds, but how was that process? How does Kaeldra adjust from being always thought of as an unwanted outsider? Or, if you like AUs, I'd be fascinated by a canon-divergence AU for these two. Maybe Jeorg lets things slip earlier? Maybe Kaeldra chooses differently? Tell me about any and all of the what-ifs that strike you about this book!

Alternatively, if you are into Kara-- I'd love something that explores the links between her and Kaeldra, aside from that tiny easter egg at the end of FotDK. Timey wimey shenanigans so that either of them end up in the other's time period? Kaeldra trying to piece together her ancestor's life from conflicting evidence? Amazing, love it. 

For any of these characters-- I love faux academia and myth/legends (especially the ways they twist from the truth), so something that explores how Kara's stories, or Jeorg and Kaeldra's, are explored by future generations would be so neat! Show me all the exasperated historians arguing over whether the dragon references are metaphor or not; or how to reconcile three different accounts of where someone was supposed to be at any given date. Any and all of that would be so fun!

Goddess of Yesterday - Caroline B. Cooney
Any (Anaxandra, Andromache, Cassandra, Helen)

This book was an utter best beloved, and one of the gateways into my abiding love of Greek mythology, and specifically the Trojan War cycle. My prompts, therefore, might be lacking, but that is just because I have a hard time articulating what I'd adore from the series, except MORE. I love Anaxandra's perspective, fresh and familiar all at once, and I love this book's original takes on such well-known mythological characters. I would adore to know what happens next--or, as a particular delight, what the rest of the Trojan war and the returns look like in this universe! (If you want to borrow characters or stories from Euripedes or Aeschylus and put them in this universe, that is absolutely fine, even if it features characters other than those in the tagset). Anaxandra's point of view would be incredible, particularly given her unique position as knowing and understanding so many of these women-- but I love the characterizations of all the other three women in the tagset, whether cheerful Andromache, or a startling sinister Helen, or darling Cassandra fighting so hard to reclaim her agency (and recovering it for a brief glorious instant at the book's end). I also love the way the prose of this book is so wonderfully lived-in, the way Anaxandra's descriptions of the world around are intriguingly slantwise-- tell me worldbuilding about the myths, and how they differ in this universe! Is the truth as Anaxandra knows it already being twisted and altered, and if so, what is her reaction to it? Alternatively, tell me more about this version of Hector and Andromache (sweet in all of their appearances, but especially as kind but naive adolescents in this version), or Helen and Paris (a dark AU of their usual depictions), or this Cassandra finding a happier ending than the one she usually gets!

Fandom specific DNW clarification: Obviously assault and unhappiness are very much a part of Greek myth, so I ask only that the story not feature any graphic, on-page assault. I also understand and am ok with a darker fic than in other fandoms for this fandom. 

The Squire's Tales
Gawain, Terence, Eileen

My beloved eternal Yuletide fandom; I love the snarkiness, I love the characters and inclusion of obscure Arthuriana, and most of all I love the way it very much buys into the idealism of the mythos while savagely picking it apart. This is another where I would really just crave one more adventure in the style of canon, perhaps adapting an Arthurian tale that isn't covered by canon. I really do adore almost all the characters, so feel free to have any cameos you enjoy! Naturally any canon-typical adventures would be lovely, but also, if you like shipfic: five times Terence and Eileen's marriage/relationship wasn't discovered and once it was? Or: a canon-divergence AU that's fascinated me has been Ganscotter's declaration that Terence would have been changed if he had been raised in knowledge of his true otherwordly/royal origins--so what if just that had happened anyway? How would Terence come to meet Gawain and Eileen in this universe, and what would his relationships with them look like?

Dear author, I hope at least some of these prompts were helpful!  I'm sure I'll love anything you produce for one of these fandoms. Thank you, once again, and I hope you have a seriously fantastic Yuletide as well!