I'd Tap That

[merrily]

I've been munching on potstickers and chocolate all evening, which is a beyond weird combination but has left me feeling happy and more tolerant of Christmukah than I usually am.

(And those two things go together because without Christmukah parties I would have neither potstickers nor mounds and mounds of chocolate. There are truffles and two different flavours of Nanaimo bars in the fridge, and my desk has a box of Snoballs, most of a chocolate 'R' and a six-pack of Guiness-flavoured bars from County Cork. I am going to be So. Fat.)

I've been mostly coasting the chocolate buzz and catching up on the flist (because I cannot check lj when at home with my parents and five nosy siblings), but I feel the need to make Fandom Contributions. I'm without story, but I do have lists.

My revised bulletproof!kink/I-will-totally-read-that list, as discovered over the last year in fandom-related activities:

(in order of how I thought of them, not of which is best)

1. First-time stories. Particularly of the "two friends, in huge UST, freaking out" variety. I'll tolerate "established relationship" fics only if they're in a series that started with a first-time story; otherwise I generally have no patience. I want the build-up, dammit!

2. Aliens made them do it. If the fandom is without aliens, substitutions of "The Dark Lord," "A Badly Brewed Potion," "The Alliance," "Hill-Folk" or "Prison-guards" (and variants thereof) are all quite acceptable.

2a. Aliens made them do it... in restraints. (Oooo, those aliens.)

3. Snark. I'm a big fat fool for snark, so much so that even if I haven't been following the fandom, you can probably lure me in with the promise of moderate amounts.

4. Banter (see snark explanation).

5. Crossoverfic. Remus/Giles? (BtVS/HP, NC-17) Veronica Mars meets James Bond on a dangerous day (NC-17)? Srsly, people. (Also, Snape+muppets=love.)

6. Raisingkids!fic, as long as mpreg has nothing to do with it. Examples: A Farm In Iowa (SGA, Series, McShep, see warnings as per individual stories), Stealing Harry (HP, novel-length, NC-17). I can't explain why I love the premise so much. I just do.

7. AU. Not half-assed AU, where something small has altered but the characters are all still basically in the same world (i.e. what if the leader was actually a huge tyrant and the 'verse became a dictatorship?), but really really committed AU where the writer has asked the important questions--like, what if Rodney was a conductor and John was a bad-boy violinist? (That was String Theory, btw, by toft_froggy, which is just mind-blowingly awesome.) Yes, the premise of such AUs is generally silly (johnisapirateandrodneyisanaturalist), but after Farm in Iowa and that one where John owns a supermarket, I'm addicted.

Oh, and outside of SGA, there's also the one (HP) where starving!muggle!urchin!Remus almost steals rich!muggle!Sirius' watch (here), and that other one (Firefly) where Simon is a Companion.

8. Really, really competent people. (In real life too). This is why Giles rocks. And Rodney. And Hermione, even. And Willow. And that girl who Riley marries. And River. (Notice they are also all slightly insane.) I'd call it the "Ayn Rand" effect, but then I'd also make myself barf.

9. Gender!fucking-about. Or gender-role!fucking-about. I find this more and more fascinating, both in lit, in fanfic and in real life. (Today, for example, I had a protracted discussion with a customer at my bookstore about how awesome it is that The Princess Primer -- which I am not responsible for stocking, btw -- didn't sell.) Gender-discussions are a cornerstone of fanfic, of course, and I'm more and more grateful for that.


Um. That's it for my discoveries of fandom!kink/would-totally-read-that for this year. I think. Barring a totally inventive story cropping up in the next three days (which is entirely possible).

Comments

Yes! 'Tis!

[merrilily.livejournal.com]

That was absolutely it. Thanks.

(and there is no end to the Iowa love, darlin')