Meme and Recs and More

[donutsweeper]

A Yuletide meme I spotted over at shadaras' journal. My Five Most Popular Yuletide Fics (by kudos) and then Five Fave Yuletide Fics (by vibes).

This list is somewhat interesting because kudos were not originally introduced to AO3, not until mid December 2010, so while my 2009 yuletide fics rank much higher in hits, they are lower in kudos. Add to that the way the greater MDZS-verse (MDZS Q and the donghua) snuck into Yuletide in 2020 despite MDZS and Untamed being too big so my five most popular yuletide fics (sorted by kudos) are probably slightly skewed but anyway, here they are:

My Five Most Popular (MDZS donghua, MDZS Q, Spinning Silver, The Losers and Lethal Weapon (TV)) when sorted by kudos and a brief comparison to those when sorted by hits

Frame of Fearsome Symmetry for oneiriad. 3.7k words, MDZS donghua
Summary: When, in a combination of irony and revenge, Wei Wuxian took Wen Zhuliu's core and crushed it, he hadn't expected the result. (Canon divergent from episode 15) 495 kudos / 3,787 hits (2020 yuletide)

How to Thrive in the Cloud Recesses for ChristyCorr. 2k words, MDZS Q
Summary: Wei Wuxian had thought that every copy of 'How to Survive in the Cloud Recesses' had been destroyed. He was wrong. (referencing e4 of MDZS Q) 487 kudos / 2,086 hits (2020 yuletide)

Laden with Happiness (and Tears) for whetherwoman. 1.1k words, Spinning Silver - Naomi Novik
Summary: Miryem’s celebration of her first Shabbat in the Staryk lands after being married was a little different than her previous ones. 401 kudos / 3310 hits (2018 yuletide)

Glistering Within the Grey for ellen_fremedon. 592 words, Spinning Silver - Naomi Novik
Summary: Being one of the two servants assigned to serve the Queen was meant as a slight; it turned out to be anything but. 348 kudos / 1992 hits (2018 yuletide madness)

Threaded with Shadows and Light for Minim Calibre (minim_calibre). 1.8k words, The Losers (2010)
Summary: The fact that Jensen woke Cougar up when he returned home in the middle of the night was not a surprise. However, the fact he was carrying a baby was. 347 kudos / 2,636 hits

and if ignoring the madness one and only looking at the main collection then the 5th is:
Daedalus at Sunset for jedi_penguin. 2.4k workds, Lethal Weapon (TV)
Summary: When things go wrong at the courthouse Martin finds himself in the position to protect Trish. It's at a cost to himself, but one he doesn't mind paying. 318 kudos / 3058 hits

(sorting by hits' order is 2009's Lost and Found (White Collar, 6,560 hits but only 255 kudos, 5.2 words), 2012's Missions Of Most Importance (Covert Affairs, 5,771 hits, also 255 kudos, 1.4kwords), 2009's Pear-Shaped (White Collar, 4,313 hits, 108 kudos, 1k words), Madness 2009's The Vigil (White Collar, 3,932 hits, 96 kudos, 482 words), 2016's Bandaged Moments (The Losers (2010), 3,922 hits, 262 kudos, 2.7k wods) and then Frame of Fearsome Symmetry)

Trying to pick my favorite fics, however, was hard. According to AO3 I've 142 yuletide fics and while about 30 of those are in madness, that leaves a lot in the main collection to consider. So, I perused the pages AO3 pulled out a few out that I really liked/found interesting to write/had fun with/whatever:

(DMBJ, Tremors, Peacemakers (2003), The Shadow/Captain America, White Collar, and two cracky ones)

2021's Palmoscopy for laireshi. 1.2k words, DMBJ. Summary: It was so loud that Xiaoge found it difficult to sleep. (I liked this one because it made me really think how *would* Xiaoge refer to himself? And eventually I settled on not having it by his POV but without him naming himself in it at all)

2020's Out of the Way Assignments and Astrophysics for escritoireazul. 3.8k words, Tremors (1990). Summary: Trylos Seven was a sparsely populated, mostly ignored, and exceptionally boring part of space. When Rhonda had been assigned to monitor the observation post there she'd expected she'd spend a boring term collecting and correlating data. She was wrong. (The request was for Tremors in space and I had a lot of fun re-imagining that as the setting)

2017's The Uncertain Dawn for Settiai. 11k words, Peacemakers (2003)
Summary: Badly injured, Finch collapses outside of Katie's place, sparking the investigation into how he got there and what happened to him. (one of the longest things I've written, a full casefic for yuletide for a request that had gone unfulfilled for about a decade. Tiny, tiny fandom but it made the recip so happy. It was also to try to make it as accurate as possible for 1870/80s Old West)

2013's The Scrappy Someday for Llwyden ferch Gyfrinach (Llwyden). 1.1k, The Shadow and Captain America crossover.
Summary: Lamont came across people from all walks of life in his work as the Shadow but only a few that impressed him enough that he wanted to meet them again. (The Shadow crossing paths with tiny!Steve, fun!)

2009's Lost and Found for featherjean (joyfulfeather). 5.2k words, White Collar
Summary: Peter and Neal are asked to look into a unusual case at the Frick museum, only to learn that things are not what they seem. (I haven't been back to NYC for decades, but the Frick was my favorite museum and I loved setting a case there)

Also going to throw in two utter cracktastical fun fics because why not:
2019's That Thing You Didn't Manage to Write for merriman. 1.3k words, multifandom: Dash Sword Slash and the Defenders of Everything (YouTube), Yuletide (Anthropomorphic), AO3 Tags, Fanfic Exchanges
Summary: There was a fanfic exchange coming up and if it went like it usually did that meant people would be writing porn for it. Jace Cockblock and the Creep Crew planned to put a stop to that. (short youtube crack!vid led to crackier fic, playing with an exchange's tagcloud is always fun)

and 2017's 01000010 01101001 01101110 01100001 01110010 01111001 00100000 01000110 01101001 01100011 for Sealgirl. 6738 or 1016 words, depending how you look at it. Numbers (Anthropomorphic) fandom.
This fic's first chapter is the binary version of the second chapter. It was the first (and only) time I wrote a fic before the exchange even open. It's utter crack and best explained by my author's note: Written for Yuletide for Sealgirl who requested the fandom of Numbers (anthropomorphic) and the characters 0 and 1 and asked "I'm not sure what to say about this fandom, except good luck! If you can, please try to stick to just these numbers. Not sure if that is a bit unrealistic." Complete and utter crack.

We had snow on halloween here, unpleasant, but not as bad as the infamous halloween snowstorm that dumped nearly 3' of snow a bunch of years back. It didn't stick, but it's cold and raw here now :( but it's November so I guess that tracks. The weather did mean I didn't get a chance to try to find any discounted halloween chocolates so I couldn't celebrate my favorite holiday, half-price candy day.

Daylight Saving's Time ends tomorrow here in the US, so it's time to set clocks back an hour. I hate time changes generally and this year's especially (gestures vaguely at the US's political everything happening right now) is going to suck. Sigh.

Have two weeks of recthething recs (MDZS/Untamed fics and tumblr art from DMBJ, Guardian, LOTR, MCU, MDZS, Merlin, Sherlock Holmes and X-Files)

herald of spring by soleiloquies (28k)
Summary: After an unfortunate run-in with Wen Chao, Wei Wuxian finds himself trapped in the infamous Burial Mounds, where he stumbles upon a mystery that weaves his and a dragon’s fates together irrevocably. (really enjoyed this interesting canon-era sentient(ish) burial mounds AU)

All That Glitters by Witch_Nova221 (25k)
Summary: When Lan Wangji discovers he could shapeshift into a dragon, in a world where shapeshifters are feared and hunted, he has to leave his home and his family for their safety and his own. With the world at war though, he cannot just hide away and do nothing so instead dedicates himself to stealing the bribe money sent by those who would force their way into power.

His treasure soon attracts the attention of a small black crow who steals some of the vast fortune he has stolen but, as he realises that the crow is more than it seems, he finds himself not only reacquainted with an old friend but also drawn back into the world he has tried to leave behind. (interesting shapeshifting AU)

tumblr art recs:
DMBJ/The Lost Tomb
- Hei Xiazi and Xiao Hua (Gorgeous watercolor painting of the scene in Mystery of the Abyss when XH is unconscious in HXZ's arms)

Guardian
- Void Cat Da Qing (gorgeous)

Lord of the Rings
- World's most tense egg and spoon race (hilarious comic)

MCU
- Ability to stab - (2024) (gorgeous and raw Bucky art)

MDZS/The Untamed
- NMJ braiding little NHS’s hair (so cute)
- Emotional Support Zidian (Jiang Cheng and fuzzy worm snake zidian- adorable)

Merlin
- sometimes he forgets the power behind his magic and goes a bit overboard (hilarious Merlin comic)

Sherlock Holmes
- Brett always did a wonderful job at showing just how much Holmes hated the outdoors (this is hilarious and made me laugh)

X-Files
- I want to believe (Mulder and Scully exploring the woods and finding... things)

Comments

[profiterole_reads]

Thanks for the art recs, especially the first two! <3 (And the Bucky one, but I had already seen it.)

[donutsweeper]

That Bucky one was so good!!! Void!cat Da Qing was my favorite though. Gotta love a good kitty and Da Qing is the best kitty :)

[trobadora]

I'm really enjoying this meme!

And thanks as always for the recs!

[donutsweeper]

It's such a fun meme! :)