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
Characters: Allison Reilly, Bet Yeager, Capella, Meg Kady

  Firstly I should note that I'm quite happy not to have all four of
 these redoubtable women in the same fic; it's probably not
 canonically consistent to get them all in the same place.  Any pair
 would be great, and besides which just any story about any of them
 would be good; so don't stress too much!

  All four of them are strong and interesting characters who I
 probably can't do justice to in a short letter like this but:

 Allison: a leader; she's dealt rather an odd hand by Sandor but
     cajoles and bullies him into doing the right thing, in the
     process building herself a place.
 Bet: It's hard to say what I like about Bet, but despite frequently
     dire circumstances she manages to be always moving onwards;
     overcoming the problem of the moment without worrying about the
     next one.
 Capella: Capella is a bit of a snake, but despite the fact that she
     seems to be almost entirely self-centred and a bit of a weasel
     somehow she ends up being the most sympathetic character in the
     book.  For me at least.
 Meg: Meg is somehow always in the background; but she's also a
     library of life-experiences, and cynicism, and generally being
     pretty good at whatever she sets her hand to.


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...

  I've read all four of the books, but haven't played the game, because
 I didn't know about it until like five minutes ago.


Honor Harrington Series - David Weber
Characters: Aubrey Wanderman, Ginger Lewis, Shannon Foraker

  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.


National Treasure (Movies)
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.)


Requite Universe - 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.


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 four 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.