sailing the fingers of the dragon

Perhaps the Heart is Constant After All (3120 words) by kathryne
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Dublin Murder Squad Series - Tana French
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Antoinette Conway/Sophie Miller, Antoinette Conway & Stephen Moran
Characters: Antoinette Conway, Sophie Miller (Dublin Murder Squad), Stephen Moran
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Character Study, The Lurking Spectre of Frank Mackey
Summary: In the months after McCann, Antoinette's happy - as happy as she gets. But on a rare night out at the pub, two futures unfold themselves in front of her.

*

I do know it's the 6th, but I've been travelling! Anyway, my yuletide assignment, which delightfully was for a tumblr friend and which I was delighted to receive. Beta'd ably by gabolange and Dublin-picked by another member of our Wheel of Time discord, also delightfully (oh, fandom). I'd actually requested Antoinette fic many a Yuletide ago, but I'd never thought to ship her with Sophie until the recip of this fic posted her last year's fic. Hee.

to let the next life off the hook (2793 words) by kathryne
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Barbie (Movie 2023)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Margot Robbie's Barbie/Gloria (Barbie 2023)
Characters: Margot Robbie's Barbie (Barbie 2023), Gloria (Barbie 2023)
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Canonical Birkenstocks, Canonical Indigo Girls, Everyone In Barbieland Has To Be A Little Bit Queer Right?, Internalized Homophobia, Bisexual Gloria (Barbie 2023)
Summary: Barbie’s not the only one who has a past life. When Gloria faces hers, everything changes - for both of them.

*

So for yuletide this year I got a completely empty letter with only two characters chosen, for a completely empty AO3 profile, who didn't even bother to comment (I guess they could've kudos'd, as I don't look terribly closely at those), for a fandom I offered because I was really hoping to get a wild prompt I could run with. So that was a little bit less fun than usual. I ended up cribbing from other letters in the fandom but the story just never ended up as enjoyable as I wanted it to (though it's certainly not bad - thanks, gabolange, for a very helpful beta). Alas.

Thankfully, I got a fab gift: captured by the game (Wheel of Time, Moiraine/Lanfear, Moiraine/Siuan, Teen), which you should check out if you're in the fandom and which made my Yuletide very merry.

I'M HOME, HAVE A YULETIDE REVEAL

there's no place like home (1425 words) by kathryne
Fandom: A League of Their Own (TV 2022)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Lupe García, Jess McCready
Additional Tags: Missing Scene, Gay Bar
Summary: It’s not like Moose Jaw, she thinks, looking around. / Jess starts to find her place in Rockford.

*

...look, when ELSE am I going to get the chance to reference Moose Jaw in a fic, okay. :P Nothing else I wrote this year could be at all Canadian so I had to get all the Canadian out in this one! And it was fun. It was exactly what I was hoping I'd be able to do for Yuletide after having a long and challenging Femslash Exchange fic - short and solid and self-contained and a lot of fun to write. And I got more comments than expected and even a couple of recs!

gabolange guessed this was me, and I usually offer to at least attempt a 500-word ficlet to people who manage to do so, so if you want to prompt me with something...!!

*

My two weeks of holiday travel ended this morning, so there may be a bunch of catching up today, or I may mostly nap. Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion to this mystery.

Dear Yuletide writer,
Thanks so much for writing a story for me! I am very excited to see what you come up with.  I have given you some ideas about what I like in each canon, but if you already have an idea, then as long as it doesn't hit up against my DNWs I look forward to it!  Write something you will have fun with.

If you're here browsing letters, I'm kathryne at AO3 and my account is set to allow gift works/treats.

( do not want )

( do want )

( Wheel of Time )

( Star Trek: Strange New Worlds )

( Secret Six )

And that's that! I hope you have fun writing whatever you choose to write and have a very happy Yuletide. Thank you again!

Yay, Yuletide! As always, I am requesting stories about a bunch of women, and I am excited that you're going to write me one! I can't wait to see what you come up with.

If you have a story in mind already, then please run with it, but if you want some ideas, I have many behind these wonderful cuts. ;)

I am kathryne at AO3.

( do not want )

( do want )

( The Old Guard (comics) )

( Wonder Woman (comics) )

( Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn )

I don't know if this matters to you, but a couple of these requests are repeated from the Femslash Exchange. I have repeated them because I don't know if I'm getting them and, even if I do, I would love to read more takes on them. But if you would like to know whether someone has already written a take on one of these, check back on my DW or AO3 after 14 November, when the FSEx fics are revealed. But that's totally optional and only if you want to - even if I get the exact same thing both times I will be thrilled both times. Two cakes!

There is a possibility that I will be out of internet range over the early part of reveals. If that happens, I will update this letter as well as my journal to say so, and I'll comment as soon as I get back!

I can't wait to read whatever you'll write. Thank you so much!

I flew out west for Christmas on Friday night and promptly lost my voice on Saturday, which has at least meant less pressure for holiday conversations. :P

Dropping by to say I'm looking forward to jumping into the Yuletide archive! I received a very cute little fic:

Never Out of Style (1188 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Ocean's 8 (2018)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Lou Miller/Debbie Ocean
Summary:

“You have shit taste in men.”

I also, of course, wrote a fic in the archive. I think it is 100% obviously me from the title on down, but it's in a new fandom, so who knows if anyone will guess.

As mentioned in my last post, I am gonna try the January talking meme. So if you want me to talk about some things!

Hello, Yuletide writer! I am excited that you are excited about one of my tiny fandoms. I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

I hope what's here gives you some ideas. Don't feel you have to stick to them too closely, though; if you have a story in mind that doesn’t fit my prompts exactly, hey, go for it. Have fun, and thanks in advance for the fic.

I haven't written in any of these fandoms, but if you want to see what my stuff looks like, I'm on AO3 under kathryne.

( do not want )

( do want! )

( 9 to 5 - Judy, Violet )

( Atomic Blonde - Lorraine, Delphine )

( October Daye series - Amandine, The Luidaeg, Quentin )

Thanks a lot, and happy Yuletide-ing!

slow and steady (2427 words) by kathryne
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Scott & Bailey
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Julie Dodson/Gill Murray
Characters: Julie Dodson, Gill Murray
Additional Tags: Post-4x08, Friends to Lovers
Summary: After Gill's retirement, she and Julie must negotiate the balance between Julie's continuing career and their relationship.

That brings this year's word count up to a paltry 4927. Ouch. Here's to more words in 2016, or at least no fewer.

Okay, I am having a really difficult time getting my brain to engage enough to read Yuletide, much less comment, but: the fic I got is in a suuuuper tiny fandom and it absolutely deserves more readers. It's a five-minute fandom - Killers Kill; Dead Men Die is a Vanity Fair photoshoot from a few years back. You can flip through the backstory in literally the advertised five minutes and be prepped to read the fic right away.

And it's absolutely, fantastically worth reading; one of my Yuletide letter comments was that I loved how in control the women of the fandom were, and this takes that and runs with it. It's great at using and commenting on the elements that make a noir story, and the twists at the end made me grin like a dork and make re-reading it fabulously fun.

If you like strong female characters (the good kind), noir, metafiction, or identity games, you should totally read this.

And please, if you read, comment! I try to comment regularly, but I really kick it up at Yuletide because, well, authors deserve it.

Read the fic here: Uncommon Inquiries

A brief addendum to my Dear Yuletide Writer letter, which is spoilery for the s4 finale of Scott & Bailey, ( under the cut )