minutia_r

So last night as I was going to sleep I was thinking about the similarities between Tuuri Hotakainen and Miles Vorkosigan, as one does

And I realized that if Tuuri=Miles then Ensi=Piotr

And then there was nothing for it but to work out an entire Vorkosigan Saga AU for SSSS

Ensi, of course, like Piotr, was involved in every major conflict of the previous century, terror of the Cetagandans, that’s her. Naturally she can’t have been a count, but in this AU I figure first Juha and then Onni inherited the countship pretty young. So Dowager Countess Ensi was the one in charge, everyone just accepted it, desperate times and anyway if you didn’t like it you kept quiet about it or Ensi’s Vorfemme knife would be the last thing you saw.

The only person known to defy Ensi and live is Anne-Mari, when she refused to slit Tuuri’s throat when she was born. Not sure what sort of mutation Tuuri has in this scenario.

Anyway, that’s the Vorhotakainens, but what about the rest of the main cast? I figure in this AU they should each be from a different planet in keeping with the whole international nature of canon.

So you’ve got Haut Lady Reynir, you can’t get much more sheltered than that. Plus, look at his hair. In your heart you know it to be true.

Emil should come from somewhere sophisticated, technologically advanced though maybe not quite as technologically advanced as Cetaganda, smugly convinced of their superiority to everywhere else …. so, Beta Colony. And as long as we’re introducing gender changes into this AU, I could totally get behind Honorable Herm Emil. Either way, I just want art of Emil in a sarong with Betan earrings. Breasts optional.

Now, ideally I would want to make Sigrun Barrayaran, but I can’t, because Vorhotakainens. So I was thinking, Marilcan? Escobarran? But then it occurred to me–who wouldn’t want to see Sigrun with a plasma arc in one hand, a nerve disrupter in the other, and a knife in each of the other two? So yeah. Quaddie Sigrun.

And Mikkel was such a troll that they kicked him of off Athos for the sake of peace and quiet. “Go …. find us some immigrants or something,” they said. “Don’t come back till you’ve got lots. Bye!” And then the entire planet breathed a sigh of relief.

(if you follow me on tumblr, you may have seen all this before, but I don't think there's a lot of overlap)

And everybody knows who wrote which Chocolate Box stories, or at least they could if they wanted to, because the authors have been revealed.

I got two lovely fics:

Like a Man of Mettle by Nary

Hey, look, it's Gabriel DeWit/Elijah Pinhoe (of the Chronicles of Chrestomanci) fic! The first one ever written, to the best of my knowledge, which is not surprising since they never met in canon, and also they only appear in canon as quite old men. Bask in the glory of grumpy, awkward young!Gabriel running away from his duties as Chrestomanci straight into a patch of stinging nettles, and young!Elijah helping him out with herb lore if you know what I mean.

Borrow Your Lust by PhoenixFalls

Fic about Ethan and Terrence (from the Vorkosigan Saga)! It's not quite as rare a pairing as Gabriel and Elijah, but seeing as how Ethan and Terrence are canonical life partners, I feel like there really should be more.

I love stories about people who for one reason or another don’t get how ordinary human relationships work trying to relationship, and this definitely hits those buttons. Also, it’s got an intriguing idea about one possible use of telepathy during sex, even if they end up not going there.

My assigned recipient was Miss_M, and I wrote her two Kencyrath fics:

An Economy of Blood and Bone was supposed to be about Trishien and Kirien’s relationship, and it is, but it’s more about Trishien’s backstory and the Women’s World and the Jaran and the intersection thereof. And economics.

Turn-Collar is the one where Brier and Tori discuss the fact that Brier broke her bond with Tori and got herself bound to Jame instead. It is so far the only work on AO3 tagged Loyalty Break-Up, which is a damn shame.

I also wrote a couple of treats for other people, both in the PJO/HOO fandom: Twice-Favored was for inelegantly; it’s a T-rated Annabeth/Nico/Percy interlude with capture the flag and a bit of kissing.

And finally, for dhampyresa, I wrote Delphi Falls, In which Rachel does some research with Ella and Skypes with Annabeth. And also Annabeth, Hazel, and Nico go on a quest to either prevent or start the zombie apocalypse, but that honestly happens offscreen. It’s also my 100th fic on AO3! Hooray!

Crossposts: http://minutia-r.livejournal.com/53634.html

MY RARELYWRITTEN GIFT IS BETTER THAN YOURS SO THERE

I’ve got a few recurring requests that I make in various fic exchanges, and sometimes I say to myself, Minutia, you should come up with new requests because it’s become clear that nobody is going to write those old ones. WELL, NOT TODAY, BITCHES! Somebody wrote me Elene/Damon/Josh from Downbelow Station and it is fucking glorious. It is everything I wanted from an Elene/Damon/Josh fic. (Well, except for actual threeway sex. That would be nice too. But if I had to choose I would pick what I got.)

Cherryh fandom has the best writers, I swear, I have never read a Cherryh fic that was not at least OK, and a lot of them are really, really good. This is one of the really, really good ones.

Also, since rarelywritten has no anon period, I can already tell you what I wrote, which is a story of Drou Koudelka, Cordelia and Gregor, as well as tea parties, political violence, child rearing, and social engineering.

And also also, the reveals for Space Swap Two happened. The story I wrote was for Calvin and Hobbes, and featured Calvin and Susie going on a space adventure together. For certain values of space adventure, and also together.

And I think I haven't mentioned on this journal yet, I got an absolutely gorgeous watercolor painting of the magical heart surgery scene from the Darkangel Trilogy.

And now I am seriously not signing up for any more exchanges, bangs, fests, or anything of that ilk until I finish the assignments that I've got.

Crossposts: http://minutia-r.livejournal.com/51577.html

So I finished that fic that I posted part of yesterday, where Gregor and Mark talk about sexual trauma? And here it is. And there is discussion of sexual trauma in it, so be aware of that.

The Family Expert

Crossposts: http://minutia-r.livejournal.com/50517.html

So . . . have approximately 800 words of Gregor and Mark talking about sexual trauma?

Sorry, this is very incomplete and I'm not even sure where it's going from here but sometimes you write because you need to get the words out of your brain and these are the words that wanted to come out today.

( you've been warned )

Crossposts: http://minutia-r.livejournal.com/50235.html

So in Shards of Honor there’s this part where Aral has this fantasy of running away to Beta Colony and becoming a judo instructor. There’s been at least one AU fic written with this premise.

But I don’t think anyone’s even gone all-out Karate Kid with it and written the story about a lonely young Betan whose exoctically wise judo instructor teaches him/her/it how to deal with bullies and the true meaning of honor.

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.

Crossposts: http://minutia-r.livejournal.com/44670.html

Dear rarewomen author,

Hello and thank you for offering to write a story about one or more of my beloved fictional ladies! You may have noticed that I take the “rare” part of rare women quite seriously--none of these characters have more than a handful of stories written about them, if that. What this means is that I can pretty much guarantee I’ll be thrilled with whatever you write. It’s not like I’m going to be able to compare it unfavorably to the dozens of other stories about these characters, right?

But, seeing as how “anything” is a terrible prompt, have some optional details. Also, have a brief description of the canons I’m requesting, in case you don’t want to write for the fandom we matched on, or I’ve made it to the pinch hit list, or you’re idly curious, or you want to write me a treat. Or just on the off-chance that anyone reading this letter wants to consume some excellent (but obscure) media.

( Attack of the 50-ft woman )

(If you are reading this because you read my journal/tumblr, and were not previously aware of rarewomen--you guys, do this fic exchange with me! It has all these excellent ladies and more available to write and request! I have gotten truly awesome stories for it in the past! You can find the details here. And if you have not done a yuletide-style fic exchange before, don’t be fooled--writing a letter to your assigned author is completely optional, and writing a letter more than twice the required length of the story is . . . well, let’s go with optional again. Optional is a polite word.)

Crossposts: http://minutia-r.livejournal.com/43819.html

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! )

Crossposts: http://minutia-r.livejournal.com/43431.html

So in Shards of Honor there’s this part where Aral has this fantasy of running away to Beta Colony and becoming a judo instructor. There’s been at least one AU fic written with this premise.

But I don’t think anyone’s even gone all-out Karate Kid with it and written the story about a lonely young Betan whose exoctically wise judo instructor teaches him/her/it how to deal with bullies and the true meaning of honor.

Crossposts: http://minutia-r.livejournal.com/42356.html

One of these weeks I will post on time. This is from the story I wrote for reverse remix:

“I didn’t get much, not from a first meeting,” Kareen was saying. She turned her arm, flashing the pink marks of a hypospray on the inside of her elbow. “But I did get this.”

“Is that--” Mark cut himself off. Rejuvenation would definitely trip the security flags.

“Either that or a slow-acting poison."

It's a short story, but somehow it was harder than usual to pick a six-sentence-long excerpt?

I am working on yours, Dove! (I hope you don't mind Mako POV)

Crossposts: http://minutia-r.livejournal.com/38899.html

osprey_archer just starting posting a fic of The Lost Prince by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I had never heard of the book, but I am a fan of osprey_archer, so I read the first chapter. It seemed relevant to my interests, and I've enjoyed books by Frances Hodgson Burnett before. Plus, public domain, free and easy to read, I thought I might as well check it out.

It's justifiably not one of her better-known books; it's not by any reasonable measure good. (Also, given how FHB is best known as an author for and about girls, it's interesting to note that when the first female character showed up, more than a third of the way through, my reaction was, "Wait, there are women in this universe?" followed almost immediately by, "Oh, I see, she's an evil spy.")

But I do have to wonder if Lois McMaster Bujold ever read The Lost Prince and if the Rat is a literary ancestor of Miles Vorkosigan. Not only does he have a hunchback and not the full use of his legs, yet is obsessed with all things military and is a precociously brilliant strategist, not only does he have enough force of personality to have gathered a gang of older and more physically fit street kids who regard him as their leader, but check out his physical description when he's first introduced:

He was a strange little creature with a big forehead, and deep eyes which were curiously sharp. But this was not all. He had a hunch back, his legs seemed small
and crooked. He sat with them crossed before him on a rough wooden platform set on low wheels, on which he evidently pushed himself about. Near him were a number of sticks stacked together as if they were rifles. One of the first things that Marco noticed was that he had a savage little face marked with lines as if he had been angry all his life.

Miles' face is described as being lined with pain, not anger, but you know, close enough. I read this passage and went, "Oh, hi, Miles!"

The nail-biting habit went to Elli Quinn, though.

Crossposts: http://minutia-r.livejournal.com/38223.html

As mentioned previously, I got not one but two stories for rarewomen this year, and they are both so excellent I don't know what to do with myself.

Betony wrote me from the private correspondence of miranda argent chant.

As you may have guessed from the title, this is Miranda epistolary fic. That alone would have me fistpumping the air with glee, but! This fic! It absolutely nails the scheming, self-absorbed Miranda of my heart, and it is funny as hell.

And also! Ollipop wrote me Kindred Instruments.

Yesssss, this is what I wanted in Lotus Durona fic--multifaceted and sparkling, cold-blooded and matter-of-fact, with currents of strong passions running beneath the surface. And I love the way Lotus and Vasa Luigi flirt: "How are your surgical skills?” “If you give me a knife, I’ll demonstrate.” INDEED.

Go read them; you won't regret it!

Crossposts: http://minutia-r.livejournal.com/37105.html

Each Sunday, post six sentences from a writing project -- published, submitted, in progress, for your cat -- whatever.

This is the one where Mystery Solving Teen Nick Vorsoisson solves mysteries at his elite boarding school. You will notice I have not yet come up with a name for said boarding school.

Though he hadn't raised more than a token protest about Nick going to school on Beta Colony last year—and Nick still wasn't sure how his mother had managed that—he was clearly happier about this year's educational choices. He went on about what a venerable institution Fancy Pants McSchool was, and how Nick should make the most of the unique opportunities there, but not to let his social life get in the way of his studies, etcetera. It was all very boring, which Nick found an agreeable change from, A standard bubble shelter has about nine hours of air in it. Well, nine for me, maybe eight for you.

As an uncle and a legal guardian, Vassily also had this advantage: He had been completely intimidated by Nick ever since Nick had sicced the Emperor on him five years ago. When Uncle Vassily began to criticize Nick's mother's parenting, and shake his head and imply that if only Nick's father were still alive things wouldn't have come to this sad pass, all Nick had to do was look meaningfully at a public comconsole in order to shut him up.

And yes, this is Nick Vorsoisson and not Nick Mallory. My Nick Vorsoisson seems to be coming out a bit like Nick Mallory?

Anyway, I may be away from keyboard for a bit after this; Pesach is coming, as I believe the Stark family motto goes. Have a happy one if you celebrate!

These were all for

cordialcount:

A Great Deal of Courage, and Anger: Vorkosigan Saga, Donna Vorrutyer/Olivia Koudelka. I couldn't keep this under a thousand words, so I split it into two parts, but now that reveals have happened it's posted as one story.

Escobar, the First Year: Vorkosigan Saga, a cycle of poems about the Durona Group's first year on Escobar. Also includes pretty pictures of flowers.

On One Foot: Cyteen; Yanni, Justin and Grant.

cordialcount requested Yanni being Jewish in space; this . . . sort of qualifies?

Today is

avanti_90's birthday!

avanti_90, for those of you who don't know, is an excellent writer, an excellent beta, and an all-round mad scientist. I wrote her a short piece of Alys/Padma fluff, which you can read here:

The Spare
(Alys/Padma, general audiences, about 500 words)

Happy birthday,

avanti_90! I hope you have a wonderful day and a wonderful year.

And here's my contribution to the

rarewomen exchange, posted here for your convenience. (Your convenience, my attention-seeking; six of one, half-a-dozen of the other . . .)

Five Strays Elizabeth Naismith took in (and One That Got Away)

Fandom: The Vorkosigan Saga

Characters and Relationships: Elizabeth Naismith, Miles Naismith Vorkosigan, Elli Quinn, Ethan Urquhart, Kareen Koudelka, Ekaterin Vorsoisson Vorkosigan, Elizabeth Naismith & Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan

Rating: G

Word count: 2,600

Summary: Dear Cordelia,

I'm sure I don't need to tell you that Miles is a charming and intelligent young man; I've been enjoying his company immensely. He's made plenty of friends, and taken to the social opportunities at school with a great deal of verve. (For more details, please see the attached disciplinary reports from Principal Hatter.)

This one's for:

joking

Warning: Canonical character death

( Read more... )

From now on, all Vorkosigan fic will be written in sonnet form: so moved.

The Olivia/Dono romance in A Civil Campaign has always seemed somewhat rushed. Of course, neither of them are viewpoint characters, so we don't know what was going on with them behind the scenes. What if Olivia and Donna had been lovers before Donna ever went to Beta Colony?

I asked for Olivia/Donna for Winterfair, and gramina wrote me the following poem:

Changes

Go read it; it's lovely.

Cordelia's Reply to Ezar

Fandom: The Vorkosigan Saga

Characters: Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan, Ezar Vorbarra

Rating: G

Word count: 130

Summary: My Bible says the meek are blessed
Your planet kills and eats the flawed—
But he who laughs the last laughs best

Cordelia replies to Ezar's Reply to the Passionate Shepherd.

Note: I thought since Cordelia isn't Barrayaran, she should use a different poetic form.

This one's for:

bracketyjack

( Read more... )

So yesterday I wrote, as Aral Vorkosigan, a sonnet about the need for revolution on Barrayar. And

bracketyjack responded, as Ezar Vorbarra:

Ezar's Reply to the Passionate Shepherd

Best. Comment. Ever.

Oh and while I'm at it!

iHeartNarlgles drew me Mordecai and Rosalie!

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Entries tagged with vorkosigans

Tumblr backup: Stand Still Stay Silent Vorkosigan Saga fusion

Everybody’s talking to their pockets; everybody wants a box of chocolates and a long-stemmed rose

RARELYWRITTEN! and Space Swap, too.

Vorkosigan fic: The Family Expert

The internet informs me it's Valentine's Day

Tumblr backup: Vorkosigan Saga Karate Kid AU

Rarewomen!

Dear Rarewomen Author 2014

Dear Spacer

Free to a good home

Sunday-ish Six

The Lost Prince, the Rat, and Miles Vorkosigan

Rarewomen I: Daughter of the Squee Strikes Back

Sunday six

What I wrote for purimgifts

Happy birthday, avanti_90!

Five Strays Elizabeth Naismith took in (and One That Got Away)

The squee doesn't stop for Winterfair

Cordelia's Reply to Ezar

The squee never stops: Two Brides for Two Squees