Yuletide Ficcing

This year for Yuletide, I wrote four stories.

Destiny of the Miniature Giant Space Hamster; or, Demise of the Evil Space Medusa Queen for Liethe (Baldur's Gate)

When Minsc fears that his beloved miniature giant space hamster Boo has been stolen, he instead discovers Boo’s true destiny. With their witch Aerie, as well as their friends Jan Jansen the illusionist and Tiax the insane Cyricist, Minsc and Boo must save a galaxy in another time and space from evil space medusae!

I had a good deal of fun writing this, as is hopefully apparent in the summary.

Fortune and Folk Tales for Liethe (Baldur's Gate)

Tiny Minsc tells a story in return for a hamster, and a gnome fortune teller reads both his and Dynaheir’s palms.

This one told stories within stories; I read a lot of Russian folk tales to research for it.

So far, I've received one review complaining about: my use of the terminology 'sound of limb'; existence of glass mountains in fairy tale without due attention paid to process of erosion; over reliance on golden apples; existence of lady blacksmith and giant magical boarhound who both possess impressive trapeze-related abilities; and unrealistic economic exchange of olives for highly crafted magical net. Therefore, all these warnings apply. :)

Smile, Sunflower for Anthusiasm (Heathers: The Musical - Murphy & O'Keefe; Heathers (1988))

When Heather McNamara leaves boarding school and starts at Westerburg Elementary, she meets Heather Chandler.

Heathers musical backstory. Cute little kids who turn out to be somewhat sinister social engineering geniuses.

A Thousand Kisses for damzel (The Doctor's Wife - Mary Elizabeth Braddon)

Lady Gwendoline Pomphrey takes it upon herself to educate the widow Isabel Gilbert in Latin poetry. Femslash ensues. (Explicit, no plot)

As part of my research for this story, I purchased The Collector’s Edition of Victorian Lesbian Erotica by Major LaCaritilie on Kindle and did various trawlings through Project Gutenberg to read sexy Victorian writing. I love how Kindle enables one to be discreet.

Yuletide Fics

These three amazing stories were written for me at Yuletide.

Be as blest as thou can bear by harborshore (Mansfield Park)

Five times Fanny Price said no.

This fic combines Fanny Price with magic - magic that's utterly Fanny's, gentle and quiet and under-the-surface magic that's incredibly powerful when it's needed. Fanny Price shows secret heroism in the magical world. It's a beautifully written story.

The Sky Through The Secret Door by Estirose (Defender's Quest)

Everybody is in danger because of Bakal's mistake, but his heart feels heaviest when he looks at Azra Livbar.

Defender's Quest is a fabulous browser game - it's tower defence crossed with RPG and it's got a fun storyline starring a librarian.

This story takes on one of the best characters in the game (although I kind of think they're all the best) - Bakal, the old monk seeking redemption for unintentionally helping to cause the current apocalypse while he sought to win a war. Once royalty, now a humble monk researching the past and striving to make things right again while struggling with his own death wish, he mentors protagonist Azra on her journey. This fic captures Bakal and his meditations so very on-point. It's the first fic for this fandom and it's such a good one!

Unto the Restless by FireEye (Baldur's Gate)

Irenicus is dead but his evil lives on.

This is a gorgeous dark story with a great premise. The ongoing effects of Irenicus' torture on the Bhaalspawn were chilling and beautifully written here.