minutia_r

bamboocounting asked:
could you talk a little about what you enjoy in cyteen? I started it a few months ago but wasn't in an ideal place for reading it, and I kinda want to know why so many people like it (so I'm fine with spoilers) and what I can look forward to.

Okay, so, first of all, I really like Cyteen but I would not recommend it to everyone. You have to have a certain amount of tolerance for long infodumps, and also for being thrown into the deep end of an alien society where a lot of things that are natural to the characters are never really explained. If you hate reading about rape, brainwashing, slavery, or the sex lives of young teenagers–and fair enough–you will not like Cyteen.

(The sex stuff is never explicit but it is definitely there.)

That being said, there are a number of things about Cyteen that are really great. One is how immersive it is–you see a deeply-fucked up society through the eyes of people who grew up in that society and don’t know anything else, and it’s really good at portraying on a gut-level the decisions people make and the things they accept without thinking under these circumstances.

Justin and Ari II are both really appealing characters in their own way. I have a weakness for woobies, and Justin is absolutely catnip in this regard, but his suffering is never cheap–both the lead-up to various traumatic events in his life and their aftermath are closely and realistically examined. His struggles to remain a decent human being (mostly successful) and to assert some measure of control over his own life (mostly unsuccessful) are great to watch.

And Ari II is such a well-realized portrayal of a brilliant, angry, passionate, power-loving little girl thrust into an impossible situation. You have to love her, even when you’re going “oh, Ari, baby, NO.”

And the worldbuilding is so complex and chewy, and the politics are so twisted, and the ethical choices people face are delightfully horrifying.

Grant is also swoonworthy, and Justin/Grant is great (and canon).

Also, while there is not a lot of fanfic for Cyteen, what there is is nearly all good.

So, the Rarewomen collection is open!

fawatson wrote me The Purpose of Life, which is a Vorkosigan Saga story where Lilly Durona Junior and Maree of Bharaputra's clone-creche find a sort of closure that I didn't think to ask for in my letter, but really should have. Also there are Mercenaries! With a glad cry!

Go read it.

ALSO, since Rarewomen doesn't have an anon period, I can already tell you what I wrote:

Loose Every Knot and The Things That Make Me Weak and Strange for cordialcount, a pair of Cyteen stories about young Ari Emory I and the origins of psychogenesis.

(They are theoretically part of a longer series. Theoretically. Also, heed the warnings on the second one.)

I also wrote American Poetry 1900-1950: The Drinking Game for DWEmma, a Lizzie Bennet Diaries story featuring Lydia, Mary, and pretty much what it says on the tin.

ETA: This is the final, updated version of the letter. Sorry for the inconvenience (assuming that you checked this letter before I got this version up.)

Dear Spacer,

Hi there! Thanks for offering to write me a story or make me art for one of my favorite fandoms--IN SPACE! If you are an artist who got matched to me--a) oh, yay, I’m getting art in an exchange! And however small an amount of fic these fandoms get, they have even less fanart (well, except for the Uplift series, it’s hard to do less than zero), so the possibility of there being more is exciting too. But b) I have a lot more experience in writing fic prompts than art prompts? So, sorry about that, and I hope that you find what you need here.

( Onwards and upwards! )