Dear Yulegoat (or other ruminant),

 I don't use my LJ any more, but feel free to look at 
senji.livejournal.com if you want :-).  I now have a new blog at 
circle.thy.me.uk , but as yet there are only 8 posts there and none 
of them are fandom related...

 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. 

 Likewise I'm not adverse to something that's not a traditional story
-- if your fannish inclinations lead you to Interactive Fiction or a
CYOA story, or whatever, then feel free!

OK, requests:

Alliance-Union - C. J. Cherryh
Character: Sam Whitely

  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.


Requite Duology - Ankaret Wells
Characters: Tzenni, Ligeia

  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.


Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Character: Ekaterin

  Ekaterin!

  Ekaterin is intelligent, adaptable, quick, and insightful; and she
 walks into the series married to one of the biggest bores in known
 space.  If Miles *had* to fall in love with another man's wife (and
 that is, to be fair, very Miles) then at least he picked one who was
 in some sense worthy of him (whether he's worthy of her, that's
 something he keeps asking himself, even after _A_Civil_Campaign_ I
 think).  Fortunately it all works out for the best in the end...

  Despite all this she's (almost) always a background character.  It's
 almost as if she does it deliberately; possibly because she's also
 quite a private person.  So, as a suggestion, play with this trope --
 either force Ekaterin into centre stage, or have her pulling the
 puppet strings from afar...


Craft Sequence - Max Gladstone
Characters: Any/Worldbuilding

  "Whenever I create a new character I ask myself 'Does this character
 have to be white?  Do they have to be male?  Do they have to be
 straight?'" -- Max Gladstone

  Max's "Path least assumed" approach has, so far, produced three; 
 very different; books in a world both surprisingly similar and
 surprisingly different to ours.

  I don't really have any suggestions here; one of the things I like
 about Max's work is that there's always a surprise around the corner,
 and they don't go where you expect.

  Another thing I like about them is that they have some of the feel
 of a John Grisham novel or a Police Procedural; both of which are
 quite odd things in the fantasy genre.

  Finally, he actually manages to pull off making his very odd and
 unusual characters actually seem sympathetic and human; even when
 they're wanting to sacrifice one of the protagonists...


National Treasure Series
Character: Ben Gates

  The thing I really, really, like about these films is Ben Gates'
 approach to solving problems.  Not only does he never give up, but
 he comes up with straight line solutions that are so off the wall
 that they look insane or impossible on first sight; as if he's been
 privileged with a view on the universe without the curves and
 obstacles of commonly accepted "reality".

  So, take Ben, and his straight lines, and play :-).  Either dive in
 at the deep end with an actual historical/archaeological story in that
 mixture of truth and conspiracy that the films use as a setting, or
 expose him to a real world problem (car out of gas, locked out of the
 house, forgot Abigail's birthday...).  Or, on the gripping hand, pull
 something totally out of a different genre (Zombies!  Cthulhu!
 Daleks!  The possibilities are endless.)


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!  National Treasure is two films, and
           might appeal to people who like insane conspiracy-theory
           action movies.  The Craft Sequence is three books so far
           but they're only loosely linked and any one would be
           sufficient.  The others might be a bit big to dip into new
           for Yuletide.

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.