Dear Yulegoat (or other ruminant),

 Firstly as you can tell I'm an awkward person who doesn't use his lj
any more.  Feel free to look at senji.livejournal.com if you want
though :-).

 In general I'm big on interesting genfic.  Plot preferred over 'ship,
but I'm not averse to shipfic, or even a good PWP.  Het, Slash,
Femslash, Groupsex, BDSM, sex-with-aliens, sex-with-chthonic-entities,
and horrible Polytangles all fine, but not required. 


OK, requests:

Cyteen Series - C. J. Cherryh

  I was going to start this off by saying that Sam Whitely is in some
 ways the token "normal" person in Reseune, but I got barely halfway
 through that sentence before deciding that he isn't.  It's only because
 we're seeing him in a context full of Political Psych that he doesn't
 look like a genius.  He almost certainly doesn't think he is.  But
 he's the only one who can make Ari II relax, his architectural skills
 are sufficiently respectable that he managed to persuade people other
 than Ari to let him build Alpha Wing, and he appears to have an
 absolute eye for design.

  Whilst he's a minor character I think we see quite a bit of his
 personality and skills.  He's in many ways another outsider in Ari's
 coterie, and in the Reseune Lab environment.  What I'd like is something
 that either puts a spotlight on Sam, or that uses Sam to be a spotlight
 on the rest of the books.

  Sam has a canonical pairing, but there's lots of room for before,
 after, as-well, affairs, or many other kinds of things, if you want.


Alliance-Union - C. J. Cherryh

  Anything with Signy Mallory in.  We get some nice insights into her
 in Merchanter's Luck and Downbelow Station, and the odd comment here
 or there elsewhere, but I feel she's a main character who's only given
 a minor character's worth of screentime.  I don't care how and what
 you do, but remedy this injustice.


Requite Duology - Ankaret Wells

  Requite is very much a book (well two) about a geek, Tzenni Boccamera; 
 albeit a geek who isn't a stranger to direct action and weapon-play.  In
 some ways it's a coming-of-age story, although a very different one to
 the traditional farmboy-makes-good style of fantasy.  On the flip side
 of the request we have her sister, Ligeia, whom we might describe as the
 martial one (or whom Tzenni would probably call the _responsible_ one).
 They are sisters, they've grown up together, and the text actually does
 a good job of demonstrating how this has influenced the way they view
 each other (often with blinkers).  

  I think there are broadly two ways to go with this request -- before 
 and after.  After is fairly simple, the text leaves it in no uncertain
 terms that Ligeia is unhappy with Tzenni's choices, and that she's 
 unlikely to let things lie.  Before is slightly more subtle; The Maker's 
 Mask starts in-media-res and only quite oblique references are made
 to the sisters' relationships growing up.

  Oh, and don't be worried that I've left Catha out because I hate her, 
 I'm just more interested in the Tzenni/Ligeia dynamic at the moment.


The Reaches Trilogy - David Drake

  This has been sitting on my ebook reader for some years now, and I finally
 read it last summer.  It's a slightly disturbing series of
 Francis-Drake-in-space (which doesn't sound quite as successful as it really
 is).  During the trilogy the story sucks in and spits outs Stephen and Sarah
 and they become a rather psychologically-damaged couple by the end.

  What I'd like to see in fic here is something that explores further how
 Stephen and Sarah's experiences affect their relationship; whether on a
 personal, sexual, or business basis (although I think given they're people 
 those three things aren't entirely disentanglable, although for the people
 they *are* they may be more disentanglable than usual).  

  Whatever they might think, I can't see either of them being happy to settle
 down and rest on their laurels, so there's probably a lot of room for
 space-related hijinks here if that's what you feel like writing :-).


Honor Harrington Series - David Weber

  Aubrey and Ginger provide an interesting view into what it's like to be 
crew on one of Honor's ships; but they're more than that, they become very 
likable and rounded characters of their own.

 Mission of Honor leaves their fate unclear, and given where the geopolitics 
goes I can well imagine they might end up having /something/ to do with 
Shannon Foraker afterwards, I can certainly see them getting on famously.

 Alternatively wind the clock backwards; and/or drop Shannon altogether, 
I'm happy with that.


Right, so you've read all that and you don't like what I've written
for the fandom we've been matched for?

 Option 1)  Optional Details are OPTIONAL.  I'm not going to cry,
           stress, drama, or flounce if you complete ignore what I've
           written above.
 Option 2)  Pick another fandom!  Sadly they're all fairly big, the 
           shortest being the chunky Requite duology.

Finally, if you come to #yuletide IRC for a beta I'm usually online
there and I may be hippoing.  My nick will generally be some variant
on 'Senji'.

Senji.