#Seivarden is going through it but Breq does not care.

[spockandawe]

Hi.....if you don't mind me asking, what are your top 10 favorite books? And why? Sorry if you've answered this question before....

This is an interesting question, and a difficult one! Which is why I let it steep for a few days while I was in a bookbinding fugue, haha XD

I’m not sure I’ll be able to answer it, because my level of fondness is highly dependent on how recently I read a book/how many times I’ve reread it, with an optional nostalgia modifier if something made a huge impression in my youth. And when I’m picking favorites, as the number of potential [thing] expands, the more I end up dithering and fretting that I’m forgetting something HUGE as I choose. So rather than a selection of top ten, I’ll just run down through some of my favorites! I’ll split it as five cnovels (recent reads, current genre hyperfixation) and five more conventional english-language novel (realistically, probably more like series, unless a standalone book occurs to me), and I’m not going to rank the conventional novels.

SO. Regular novels first. There’s a heavy recently-read/frequently-reread element going on in here. 

The Imperial Radch trilogy, by Ann Leckie. Okay, I am a sucker for a nonhuman protagonist, which is going to pop up in at least two other entries. And I’m also a sucker for themes of what can be perceived about a person externally versus their internal world, and Breq delivers like WHOA. She has SO MUCH going on in her head, and even though we’re in there with her, she still hides lots of her emotions from us. And characters like Seivarden hit me in character development buttons that I’m a sucker for, and the whole idea of consciousness being split across multiple bodies is DELICIOUS to me. Also... love me a sentient spaceship. ‘The Ship Who X’ series by Anne McCaffrey isn’t going to make this list, but I also love it a lot. (also, a universe of ‘she’s made me realized how STARVED i was for that degree of representation in certain genres that i love a lot, but don’t often see myself in as often as i might like)

The Murderbot series, by Martha Wells. Another nonhuman, sometimes-human-passing protagonist! Another one processing MASSIVE trauma of a sort that I, the human reader, have to slow down a lot and try to comprehend from an extremely different life experience! I like that a lot, it really forces me to LINGER on the nature of what a character is feeling. And oh my god, Murderbot’s voice is one of my favorite pov voices of all time. And watching it work (or go hogwild on its own asdfdgd) is absolutely delightful. I love literally everything about this series, except what happened with Miki. Other than that? Flawless.

The Books Of The Raksura, by Martha Wells. Martha Wells is a DELIGHT, y’all. Also! Another heavily-traumatized, nonhuman protagonist! And this time, like... It’s a fantasy world with huge amounts of sentient species, and the protagonist grew up away from his people, who are basically a bunch of feral homesteaders (LOVE THAT), and is trying to figure out how to reintegrate into their societal structures as an adult. That desperate desire to belong and feeling of discomfort and not-fitting-in, and the connections he makes and the way he DOES find a way to fit... like if u crey every time. Also, as far as we’re shown, it’s a cheerfully bisexual, polyamorous society, and *grabby hands*

Discworld, by Terry Pratchett. God, what do I even say about this series. It was a PARADIGM SHIFT. It’s bitingly funny, and also just plain biting, and full of huge varieties of interesting stories, set in a fascinating world, with a series of protagonists who I love too much for words. Vimes! The witches! Moist!!! They’re all so WONDERFUL. I still haven’t read the last book in the series yet, because then it will be Over Forever, and I can’t deal. This one is heavily nostalgia-tinted, but also, I stand by it.

The Belgariad/Mallorean, by David Eddings. Okay. Also very nostalgia, and the choice I can justify the least. But these books CLICKED with me. I’m afraid to reread them, because I’ve been wallowing in queer fiction for so long I’m worried about what the compulsory heterosexuality will feel like, and I know both series are very... episodic, in a way that isn’t necessarily great literature. But I dunno! Feels good, man. It’s high fantasy with a magical system I like, segmented worldbuilding of a sort that isn’t necessarily WELL-MADE, but it’s like... comfortable and easy. And something about the style and the character voices just clicks with me. I have no idea how well these hold up in the present day, but I do love them, and I’ve been planning to reread at least The Redemption Of Althalus by the same author as a standalone before I commit to a 12-book rereading of this universe, but.... I like em XD

--

Cnovels! I think I can rank these, so let’s go for it.

Fifth favorite: The Disabled Tyrant’s Pet Palm Fish :B Look, it’s ridiculous. It’s a transmigration story where the lead enters this fictional universe in the body of a fish, where he is adopted by a prince who eventually falls in love with him, and YES IT IS TAGGED MPREG, BUT HOLD ON A MOMENT-- I don’t know! I came here to point and laugh, but I’m honestly having such a good time right now. It’s really cute! And sweet! The main character is delightful, and the love interest is that particular flavor of semi-socialized upper-class young man, where like, can he do court politics? yes. can he politely express his affections for the main character? uh....... less so. It’s a really fun read, and I felt very sincere emotions about this prince who is passionately, deeply in love with his pet fish!

Fourth favorite: Mmmmmm, Mo Dao Zu Shi, I think. I struggle here, because it is NOT an easy book to read or show to watch, but having consumed the story, I love it to PIECES. I know a big draw for me is the protagonist, specifically, and his relationships to the people around him. And the more I cared about him, the more I wound up caring about the people around him, who I’d kind of neglected before, if that makes sense? It’s a story that really rewards some good old pondering. I didn’t care that much about Lan Xichen, but then I started thinking about how Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji relate to Lan Xichen, and then oh no, I care SO MUCH about his emotions, and now I’m thinking more deeply about how Lan Xichen relates to Jin Guangyao and Nie Mingjue-- It does lose points in this ranking because it IS hard to get into, and I would struggle to keep everyone straight even more if I didn’t have the show visuals to lean on, but it is still story I enjoyed VERY much.

Third favorite: Erha, but I feel REALLY, REALLY BAD that I can’t fit Yuwu on this list too, and I just want to loop them together. It’s time travel fixit fic, but it’s the book! Yes????? I love this. I love the striking character growth we get to see, and the changing perception of the world as the main character relives through events he already experienced and sees things in a new light, and I adore how Mo Ran’s growing guilt goes hand in hand with his growing love. And Meatbun in general... like, my god. I haven’t read another author who’s able to yank me through emotional whiplash so hard and fast. She makes me hoot with laughter one moment and then burst into tears the next. It’s absolutely wild. I love mxtx, and I think svsss/tgcf are gentler entry points into the genre and deal with lighter themes, but meatbun is seriously an UNBELIEVABLE writer if you can deal with the darker topics she covers.

Second favorite: The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System :V Look, I love it. I just love it. I love, again, characters dealing with the aftereffects of old trauma, plus I do also love seeing NEW trauma piled on top of it. I love having a main character with emotional dysregulation issues who doesn’t necessarily make good decisions, but doesn’t just leave me thinking ‘jfc what an asshole’, and I think that’s a really hard balance for an author to strike, especially without us getting direct pov. I love themes of being wanted and insecurity about being wanted, which is Luo Binghe’s major, major damage. And this is my first transmigration story I ever read, and the contrast between a main character who read the novel telling us about what’s totally going to happen versus the ground shifting under his feet is INCREDIBLY delightful to me. I’ve read other transmigration stories I enjoyed, but none that got my attention quite as much as this one.

First favorite: Tian Guan Ci Fu ;u; It’s so good. It’s so well-made! It’s so LONG, and it meanders, but also, I would scream if anyone tried to trim anything out of it. I am here a lot for the ship, honestly, but I also find the plot themes VERY interesting. I am very much here for reading about characters trying to process old trauma that’s been dredged up by new events, and also very here for the themes about how characters either pass their traumas along to the next generation, or try to shield the next generation from taking the same kind of damage (see: mdzs). And I’m also very much into tempering stories about pain with like... memories of kindness, and small acts of kindness repaid with an outpouring of devotion (see: svsss). But the craftsmanship in this book is just... DIVINE. I’m always reluctant to start rereading this one, because I have a terrible time stopping. There’s nothing about this book that I don’t like.

[prinzenhasserin]

Dear Femslasher!

This letter is just in case you might want to poke at some more of my prompts/likes. Generally, I’m open to a lot, and I will be delighted with any rating from gen to explicit. My AO3 account is here.

My prompts are pretty ridiculous in places. That’s just how my mind works! Feel free to play them entirely straight, or subvert them to your hearts desire.

Feel also free to include other characters or OCs as side-characters, if they are necessary because of plot reasons.

(If this letter cribs a lot from my other letters, it’s because I’m lazy, and my likes don’t change around that much :D You can find some of my other letters under the exchange letter tag. I hope you have fun creating!)

Likes:

fake/pretend relationships

arranged marriages turning into supportive partners

loyalty

odd couples

found family, dysfunctional families that nevertheless love each other

historical stories for same-sex pairings that aren't unhappy but that fit with the society of the time (so like, spinster ladies living together; bachelors-for-life)

cultural differences, age differences, height differences

heists, rescue missions

dragons, fairy tales, magical realism, urban fantasy

competent characters

people not realising they’re the most competent at their job/hobby

people failing their way to success

happy endings, earning your happy ending, open yet hopeful endings

cynical humour

mutual pining

suits, corsetry, fancy dresses

Identity shenanigans (secret identities, mistaken identities)

Blatant Lies

Enemies becoming friends and/or lovers

outsider POV

epistolary

orange/blue morality (that is, not entirely human morality); grey/grey morality

people not usually found in law enforcement solving crimes

non-verbal expressions of affection

Kinks:

wall sex

shifting power dynamics

semi-public sex

lots of foreplay, drawn out orgasms, edging

desperate sex, drunk sex, we-just-can’t-help-it!sex, sex for life-affirming

sex toys

sex toys in public (though I get embarrassed if someone else notices)

DNWs:

mentions of suicide

major character death

rape (dubcon is fine though; I’m mainly DNW’ing feelings of utter revulsion on part of the POV character)

infidelity

Crossovers

Susan Pevensie (Narnia)/Minerva McGonagall (Harry Potter)

Tbh, I'm mad about Susan Pevensie being written out of the Narnia storyline, and I'm mad about Minerva having some sort of tragic love affair; and I'd much rather have them be beautiful and slightly strange but very proper together. 

They could have met when they were young, being roughly the same age, or later. Would Susan Pevensie be a muggle? Would she be the first muggle to visit Hogwarts?

Or maybe they meet during Minerva’s years at the Ministry of Magic, because Susan can’t really be made to forget about magic? Maybe Susan discovers Diagon Alley by accident, and is very comfortable with a magical enclave in the middle of London. People might suspect her of being an oblivated Squib? but no, she’s just Susan.

Or maybe Minerva meets her out in Muggle London somewhere, and Susan points out that her outfit just does not conform to muggle standards, and things develop from there.

I’d be interested in how they meet, or how they would live together, or if anyone would even notice that they are in a relationship. Would also love PWP!

Varvara Sidorovna Tamonina (Rivers of London)/Natasha Romanoff (MCU) 

Both of these Russian women were the result of the military experimenting. Is the Red Room a continuation of the programme that produced Varvara?

Is the Black Widow searching out other surviving defectors/traitors, and stumbles upon Varvara, who, like her, doesn’t seem to age? Or maybe Natasha has to track her down and kill her as a mission for the Red Room, and it eventually leads to the Black Widows own defection?

Would love if they each tried to seduce each other for their own purposes, and if the sex they had with each other was a power play.

Jane Marple (Miss Marple)/Minerva McGonagall (Harry Potter) 

I would be happy with anything really. Minerva is Jane’s childhood friend? Jane is actually a Squib or a witch, and the “cipher devision” is code for the Department of Mysteries?

Minerva visits St. Mary Mead because a relative lives there, and is a key witness of a murder, but the police is very suspicious of her conduct?

Lilia Baranovskaya (Yuri on Ice)/Natasha Romanov (MCU) 

Both these women were Russian ballerinas. Could they also both have been members of the Red Room? Is Lilia Baranovskaya secretly a Russian assassin?

Or maybe Lilia was a normal ballerina, who knew that the girls with the strongest bodies were part of the KGB, and was always terrified of being imprisoned. Or she overheard a secret, and Natasha was blackmailing her to keep it quiet. Or maybe they quietly comforted each other during bad times, and snuggled up to each other in winter?

Would also love if Lilia was the only normal ballerina to keep up with the super-soldiered assassins, and Natasha was always in awe of her performances.

Jane Marple (Miss Marple)/Susan Pevensie (Narnia) 

Anything really. Susan and Jane meet during the War, maybe both of them are assigned to the cipher department -- or Susan is there for diplomatic training. Or maybe they meet at the girls school?

Elle Woods (Legally Blonde)/Cher Horowitz (Clueless)

Do they meet in law school? Or before, or after? I want them to be competent, and brilliant, and dazzle each other with their excellent taste in clothes. I want them to be besieged by terrible human beings, and persevere. I want them to cuddle on a sofa, and inspire so many girls to do great things. I want them to grow as human beings, and be kind and positive, and succeed. (And I want one of them to be President.)

Also excellent would be: Elle does criminal law, Cher is in charity work, and they need to solve this embezzlement case.

But I’m also here for the porn, because that would also be amazing. Or like, buying a house together. Getting married. Deciding to adopt a puppy together.

Grace and Frankie

(Pairing: Grace/Frankie)

I’m not going to lie: I’d love an episode where they go to Vegas together, and then end up married. 

But I’m also open to anything else, especially if it preserves their character dynamics from the show. I love to see them old and cranky! (I would also be super into a glimpse into an AU where instead of their husbands, they married each other, or like, were “roommates”. Did they still have children? Did they adopt them?)

That is not to say I don’t love the husbands, and if they have supporting roles, I am on board!

Also into: Forehead kisses, UST, resolved sexual tension, experiments with sex toys, awkward sex, accidents with lube, accidents with the postal service, and one of these things is not like the other

Miss Marple

(Pairing: Jane Marple/Other Female Character)

I love old ladies quietly spending the rest of their live together, but I also wouldn't be opposed if this was set during any other period of Miss Marple's lifetime. How do they meet? During a case? Is the OFC a suspect for the police? The victim of a blackmail affair? Someone Jane met at school, or a city person, who has to stay in the countryside for some reason? Another woman from the cipher division?

RED

(Pairing: Sarah Ross/Victoria)

I’m into the age difference, and I am into the awe Sarah Ross has for how Victoria handles her weapons (heh.) Would be into PWP. Would be into bedsharing because of reasons that evolves into not-so-platonic bedsharing.

Would also be into it if Victoria would finance Sarah’s every whim in return for sexual favours. Or if Sarah would hang on her arm like arm candy. Or like a sugar!mommy situation.

Please no Mommy!kink, though if you want to play with the age difference, I am game.

Imperial Radch Series

(Pairing: Breq/Seivarden)

I love how begrudgingly Breq saves Seivarden. And I don’t care if it’s because it’s written into her code, or because she is desperately clinging to her sense of self because she died once already. I like their relationship because it isn’t easy, because they remember each other but not really, through a filter of nostalgia and memory distortion, but they are familiar to each other, too.

And that sense of familiarity, that sense of loyalty (and how fucked up they both are) that’s why I ship them.

Canon divergence would be great! as would canon compliance! Or anything about the canon, really :D

Or maybe Seivarden accidentally takes a sex pollen!drug, and Breq has to deal with that the traditional way (whatever way that looks like.)

Or some political manoeuvring after Ancillary Mercy? Or contrasting how Seivarden thought her courtship was going to be, and how it actually went? First kisses?

So...if you want to write me explicit sex, I really don’t care what kind of genitals they do or do not have. (Alien genitalia! tentacle breeding arms? Human-like workings! whatever floats your fancy)

Original Works

40s Private Eye/Glamorous Wartime Singer

I would be stoked by a noir feeling, or a trope-tastic comedy of errors. I’m never so much a fan of unending tragedy, but if it’s set during the 1940′s it’s okay. Would also enjoy the 1840′s! Or far in the future! 

Is it common knowledge that these two are together? Did they have a long courtship under the eyes of many, or was it a quick fumble in a back alley that may have turned into more?

Famous Actress/Rival Famous Actress

I very much enjoy people being politely scathing against each other, and I love the rivals to lovers trope. Did they have to pretend to be a couple for the camera because their chemistry was truly magical, and it evolved into more?

Did they have a fight on set, that continued into the trailer they were sharing because of reasons, and then they banged?

Are they perhaps a long-time couple that the media turns into rivals because of some unfortunate photos and because they get cast in similar roles? Or are their PR-personas total opposites?

Regency Lady/Crossdressing Regency Lady

Why is there crossdressing? Is it something mundane, like it being easier to ride in mens clothing (people sell you rooms/horses/land with less of a fuss), or is there some dramatic reason, like inheriting an estate or an earldom? Maybe it’s easier to pretend to be a man than an unmarried woman? Highway robbery! Studying at university! Working in the lawyer’s office of their father because he’s sick, and the bills need to be paid, and there is no work for a female lawyer…

Okay. I think that’s it. Please do not feel obligated to use my prompts, and if you have any questions, or if my prompts are really shitty for art or otherwise, feel free to contact me via mod. My anon is probably also open. Hope you have a fun exchange!