Fandom: Yuletide Fandom Recommendations

[escritoireazul]

Femslash12 is gearing up, and you can nominate fandoms to go on the poll that will make up the main list of fandoms.

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As I was just saying in my last post, I am super excited about Yuletide. wakeupnew and I started discussing the fandoms we might nominate, and then she went off on a delightful set of recommendations for me.

That inspired this! Though it is still summer, I would love it if you recced fandoms you might nominate for Yuletide. This gives us plenty of time to start taking in source material before it is time to nominate and sign up and write, and I am just giddy and excited over having new fandoms for Yuletide. (My goal is always to write two or three new fandoms in each Yuletide.)

So, what are you thinking about for Yuletide?

Comments

[aphrodite_mine]

I guess I'm still on the fence (yet again) about Yuletide. It seems like such an essential part of the season, but I haven't been having a great time with it recently.

I am, however, considering:
- Girls
- Bunheads
- Bachelorette
- The Adoration of Jenna Fox
- Celeste & Jesse Forever (haven't seen it yet, but I assume I'll need fic)

[escritoireazul]

I'll admit, the last few years, Yuletide has had some hugely unpleasant parts to it, too. (Goddamn, people, can't we all just do what we do and enjoy it, instead of judging the shit out of how we Yuletide?) But I'm hoping it will still bring me fannish joy, because I still feel like it is my favorite fannish time of the year. (Please. I miss being fannishly happy.)

I like Bunheads so much, even as it pisses me off so much at the same time. (SO. WHITE. Insidious little fat hate comments.) Love the various relationships between the women and the girls, though, and want so much more of that.

[lilacsigil]

This is exactly my relationship with Bunheads! I keep getting right to the edge of not watching it...then there'll be some wonderful female character interaction and I'm right back into it again.

[escritoireazul]

Exactly! It has so much potential, I want it to be better, and yet I can't quit, because sometimes it gives me delightful moments.

Basically, it is the new Glee season two in my tv watching. Ugh. And yay. I don't even know.

[snowynight]

Ultimates (comics): It's a comics that Carol Danvers is the Secretary of Defence. I also want Jan/Wanda femslash, both highly intelligent women. And Kitty Pryde, who'll play an important role in the coming events.

Tang Dynasty Women Poem (music video): It's a video about women in historical China and I think it give chances to write stories about these interesting women interacting.
video and lyrics

[senmut]

Seriously considering five minute fandoms. Mostly the older songs that tell stories. Like "Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" or "Highwayman".

[escritoireazul]

This is a fantastic idea, and a great way to get in new fandoms and pinch hits and treats at the last minute!

[pleonasm]

I've been doing a ton of reading this year, so most of the nominations on the list I've been keeping since last December are books.

Beggars in Spain - Nancy Kress
Velveteen vs. - Seanan McGuire - These are short stories available free on her her LJ
Felix Castor series by Mike Carey - Not going to end up nominating this because I'm only halfway through the series.
The Anvil of the World - Kage Baker
We Owned the Night - Lady Antebellum - song
Fillmore! - cartoon
The Company - Kage Baker - Didn't get through enough of this series either.
Midnighters - Scott Westerfield
The Long Earth - Terry Pratchett & Scott Baxter

[escritoireazul]

I haven't read Midnighters, but I really enjoyed his Uglies series, so I should probably pick it up.

[pleonasm]

I think you'd really enjoy it! There aren't as many women as there are in Uglies, but the plot is really fascinating.

[gloss]

Bob's Burgers, weird little cartoon of my heart
Adventure Time, if it's still small enough for YT
Murdoch Mysteries, dumb and charming little Canadian "historical" series
Code Name: Verity, Elizabeth Wein, a book which totally destroyed me and was SO GOOD OMG (and nearly 100% female characters!)
The Rescuers maybe?
The Bob Newhart Show (the 1970s one)

I just want sweet, well-characterized stories about things I love. Is that so much to ask??

[aphrodite_mine]

Oh, I forgot Bob's! Yes yes!

& I need to get/read Verity.

[gloss]

And we both forgot Suburgatory!

Check your email. <3

[escritoireazul]

Suburgatory! I can definitely get behind reading and writing girl slash for that!

[gloss]

I really need to get off my ass and write some. The hatesex is practically *canon*.

[escritoireazul]

Oooh, I've just bumped Code Name: Verity to the top of my To Read list. That sounds awesome!

I just want sweet, well-characterized stories about things I love. Is that so much to ask??

I hope not, because I want that to happen for you!

[aphrodite_mine]

Code Name: Verity is ruining my life in the best way possible. And, um, Maggie/Queenie? Also I am picturing Queenie as Keira Knightley because of reasons.

[d_generate_girl]

I'll probably nominate my go-to tinyfandom, Profit, because it nearly always ends up getting an excellent story for my favorite character (every year, without fail, we get an awesome Gail story!). I'm also kind of dying for some Boardwalk fic not-written by the same five people (of which I am absolutely one). As for the rest of my noms, not sure.

[escritoireazul]

Interesting! I'm not familiar with either of those fandoms, but the fact that Profit gives an awesome Gail story every year, and that Gail is your favorite character, is really intriguing. What would be your advice for someone new to the source material? Is there a good place to start other than the beginning, or just dive right?

[d_generate_girl]

Ahahaha, let me talk at you about Profit. Just to warn you, it's dark and I don't mean the color palette. It is not a fluffy or fun show, and it's pitch-black enough to freak out HBO. Also to warn you, I adore this show. It's probably one of the best-produced/written/acted series I've ever seen.

Take yourself back to 1996 - before Deadwood, before the Sopranos, before Dexter, before Rome, before HBO was a glimmer in Chris Albrecht's eye - before we'd ever SEEN a villain protagonist on a major network television show. Take one sociopathic businessman, abused as a child and forced to live in a cardboard box. Give him a literal Oedipus complex - inappropriate feelings for his stepmother and murderous hatred for his father. Let him rise to a prominent position in Gracen & Gracen, the company he thinks of as his real family. And then watch the backstabbing, bribery, and murder start to pile up.

Jim Profit is probably #3 on my list of favorite villains, and he really carries the show. Don't get me wrong, there are other brilliant actors (Keith Szarabajika, Jack Gwaltney, Sherman Augustus), there is exceptional writing, and a ton of women with complex motivations and agency in their lives. It's just that the premise lives and dies with Adrian Pasdar's performance as Profit, and it's fucking brilliant.

I know you'll probably be sold on the strength of the ladies, and while it's Pasdar's show, the women have far more impact on events than anyone else. It's the women who make it possible or impossible for Profit to carry out his objectives - there's Bobbi, his "step-monster", a woman-child who thinks getting people hooked on drugs is a fun time. There's Nora, wife of the junior Gracen, who thinks Profit is her knight in shining armor and gets a hell of a reality check that forces her to grow. There's Joanne, Profit's foil, the woman with a past as dark as his who grew up to fight the monsters, and she's planning on taking Profit down. There's Connie, wife of the senior Gracen, who is sensitive and artistic and has no idea she's swimming with sharks. And then there's my Gail, a mousy little secretary whose one minor sin snowballs her into becoming Profit's protege.

It's a single season, eight one-hour episodes found on DVD (or possibly I could assist in "acquiring" them, I own the DVDs). Start with the pilot, consume at will. My favorite episode is "Chinese Box", for reasons that will become apparent if you see it, and I am very fond of the finale, "Forgiveness".

However, if you are still not sold, I would invite you to watch the thing that sold me on the show in the first place - serrico's vid:

Conspicuous Consumption Can't Give You Love (Janis Joplin's "Mercedes Benz" mashed up with Beck's "Go It Alone")

Because Bobbi wants a Benz and Jim really should have gone it alone.

[wakeupnew]

I am listing mine again in the hopes of SUCKING PEOPLE IN convincing people to watch/read/etc!

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (HBO series, six episodes, excellent ladies running a detective agency in Botswana)
Capital Scandal (kdrama, 15 episodes, freedom fighters in Korea during the Japanese occupation; here is a slightly spoilery fanvid that's a pretty accurate summation of the show)
Static Shock (WB Kids cartoon series based on DC/Milestone Comic characters, 52 episodes, superhero Static deals with fighting supervillains and making it through high school)
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries (YouTube vlog series/multimedia project, 37 regular episodes so far [plus eight episodes of Lydia Bennet!!! and countless tweets/Tumblr posts/etc. etc.], modern-day adaptation of Pride and Prejudice where Lizzie is a broke grad student living at home)
Young Avengers (Marvel comic, one 12-issue run plus several miniseries and appearances in other titles, a group of delightfully snarky teenagers in New York take up the superhero mantle while the Avengers are down for the count)

(edit: whoops now posted in the actual proper place)

[escritoireazul]

Yay, I'm glad you mentioned it again here. Your recs are awesome.