Avernus

Dear Yuletide Santa,

Ummm....well, first thing's first - as my requests may rather have given you the impression, I'm something of a slash-hound ^_^ Which is not to say that I don't love a good gen fic, or that I particularly want an explicit sex scene anywhere - indeed, I always reckon explicit sex is one of the most difficult things to write a) in character, b) well, and c) in such a way that it doesn't end up boring after a page and a half. I'm just as happy to get pre-slash, post-slash, one-sided-and-unrequited-slash, and general homosociality of the Boy's Own Paper kind. Not a big fan of het, but then in the fandoms I've requested, apart from Maria, Faustina and The Unnamed Fiancee, it'd be pretty hard to crowbar very much by way of canonical het in there.

In any case. I'm generally pretty easy to please - there's so little fic out there for any of these fandoms that pretty much anything you write is likely to send me into paroxisms of Christmas Day glee :D I'm going to throw out a list of things that I'm generally pretty fond of in fics, and a list of things that I'm generally not so fond of, but please don't think of them as any sort of binding requests - if you've got a great idea that's totally different from my likes, do it! If you've got a great idea that encompasses one of my dislikes - hey, convince me I'm wrong! Not all of them will make sense in the contexts of the fandom you're going to write for, I guess, but if so just ignore them...

Likes:
- pastiches of the style of the books, if they're well done.
- stories that are *completely different* from the style of the books, if they're well done.
- AUs, missing scenes and what ifs.
- intense friendships
- unhealthily intense friendships ^_^
- feelings of intense friendship twisted up into snarking, not talking to each other, death-glares etc.
- strong sense of place and time
- meticulous detail, but only used sparingly
- intelligent characters, especially unexpectedly intelligent ones. Though I'm not sure this extends as far as Bunny.
- unspoken loyalty
- sex: sex in unusual places, multiple partners, sex 'n' ties, fun-and-established-couple-y, angsty-and-slightly-twisted, more-than-willing or willing-to-be-persuaded.

Dislikes:
- broad humour. I love leavening the tone of a fic with a good sprinkling of wit, but I'm not a fan of comedy from beginning to end over a lengthy fic.
- mpreg, gender swap, and similar OOC shenanigans. Well, unless they're *really* well done, anyway.
- unremitting angst, gratuitous character death etc.
- character bashing.
- sex: explicit non-con, tooth-rotting schmoop.

And a few fandom specific notes - again, no strings attached, there's no need at all to follow them ^_^

RAFFLES - I'm convinced E.W. Hornung intended Raffles and Bunny to be More Than Friends, Victorian era be damned. I love Bunny's desperate hero-worship, and Raffles' desperate need for Bunny to worship him. I love examinations of why they're friends and what that means to each of them. I love wondering why Bunny's description of bound-and-tortured Raffles at the end of 'The Last Laugh' is in quite such loving detail.

BIGGLES - I love all four of the regular team, and Gimlet's team too, so feel free to put any of them in - I only put Bertie down on my character request sheet because he is unquestionably the coolest; and I mentioned von Stalhein too because - well, because von Stahlein ought to be in all Biggles stories, really, bringing a little honour and duty and Prussian buttoned-up-ness to the world. Anything's good here - there's so little fic for this fandom it's silly - but I'd particularly like something a little on the dark side. After all, Bertie *does* take an unhealthy pleasure in throwing high explosives at people.

BAROQUE CYCLE - I'll confess it, I haven't read System of the World yet, but don't worry about spoilers ^_^ I love both Daniel and Isaac far too much, and friendship / uncomfortably sublimated slash with puritan overtones would be great - especially set back in their early friendship, at Cambridge and just after.

CAMBRIDGE SPIES - Anthony. Guy. Guy. Anthony. Oh, and bung any of the other chaps in as you feel like it. Beyond that, anything's good.

So - hope some of those proved useful! If not, feel free to ignore - I'm going to be happy with whatever present I get come Christmas Day ^_^

love,
me.