the rambling fanatic

First, let me thank you for writing me a story in one of the fandoms we share. I'm excited about all of them. (They're listed in alphabetical order, so as not to play favourites.) I should also say up front that I'm easy on getting either a trick or a treat.


GENERAL POINTS:

• I love worldbuilding and character pieces—stories that explore more deeply—through backstory, or by elaborating the setting/history/culture or exploring people's motivations and personal interactions.


• I prefer gen; but I'm not asking you to ignore canon relationships. However, I don't care for anything more than PG-13: explicit sexual detail is definitely a DNW for me. (When I encounter it in stories, I skim over it.) When pairings are essential to the story, I feel that curtainfic > romance > smut. BUT character and plot are the best!


• I love casefic; and, more generally, I like stories that are canon-compliant. The general exception to this is ignoring canonical character death if you want. (There may be other specific exceptions.)


• I'm okay with violence if necessary to the story; but not gore for the sake of gore. On the whole, I prefer not to have characters die in the story; but references to canonical deaths are okay. (I'm fine with having original characters murdered in casefic, and that sort of thing.)


• I enjoy comedy—being able to recognize the ridiculous when it pops up; also wit and wordplay. Having said that, I totally leave it up to you whether you write a serious or comic story—or a serious story with comic interludes.


• Having recently read some fic written in the second person, I find don't care for it. First person is okay, especially for book canons that were written that way by the author.
  

REQUESTS:

Blockbuster Pet Shop Commercials (Carl | Rabbit, Ray | Guinea Pig)

Halloween at the pet shop. Feel free to use the mice, or other animals at the shop. Don't feel that you have to mention Blockbuster itself: as far as I'm concerned the actual ads aren't the point. I just think the characters are hilarious.

These commercials go back a ways, video rentals being a thing of the past nowadays. Inevitably, at the time, they were shown to death; but then a new one would come out, to be enjoyed ... for the first few times. They hold up well, all things considered.

The main characters are the rabbit and guinea pig (often misstated to be a hamster), who share a cage in the pet-shop window, which looks out on a video-rental store across the street. The specials advertised in the window may have been the point of the ad from Blockbuster's perspective; but they are of far less interest to me. I just enjoyed the edgy friendship between the two pets, and (if you want) the other animals in the shop.

This is literally a five-minute fandom; and I doubt anyone would want to come up with a Yule-length fic for it. On the other hand, it strikes me as being well suited to the bite-size of ToT.

You can find most of the commercials on Youtube.


The Charioteer - Mary Renault (any nominated characters)

I'd like a seasonal story—but not necessarily Halloween (given that the book is set in the south of England). Could be autumn; could be a spooky element, could be World War 2 references.

Halloween wasn't commonly celebrated in the south of England at the time this book is set. However, if you want to include Halloween, I'm sure you can contrive something plausible. Alternatively, you could write about Guy Fawkes Night (or the lack thereof, in war time). If you prefer not to write holiday fic, an autumn setting would be fine, especially if you work in appropriate wartime references.

Either tricks or treats could have a spooky element, such as ghosts, premonitions, bad dreams, or superstition; or, if you prefer something more realistic, there's the horror of an air raid.


DC New Earth (Crispus Allen, Daria "Dee" Hernandez, Josie MacDonald, Maggie Sawyer, Renee Montoya, Romy Chandler)

Halloween in Gotham. The GCPD copes. Casefic, team feels at the precinct, or focus on just one of the characters. If you want to use their personal lives, fine; but please bring in some of the GCPD side of things. Curtainfic > romance > smut BUT character and plot are the best! DNW the characters outside the Gotham Central timeline.

The point of view in Gotham Central was an intriguing novelty at the time it was published. Even occasional stories focusing on non-costumed supporting cast were rare; a whole series devoted to them was unheard of. Yet, in Gotham Central, the focus was always on ordinary folks' perspective on life in Gotham. For the most part, costumed characters didn't appear: at most, they might be mentioned or make cameos. Nevertheless, this is Gotham, with all that implies for crazy danger.

The fact that the protagonists are detectives at Gotham Central means that they have to deal with the fallout from supervillainy as well as regular cop-type cases. And Halloween!—not just the perfect time for villains in fancy dress; but the time for little kids out trick-or-treating, and people having themed parties. Any of which might need the intervention of the GCPD.


The Flash (TV 2014) (Barry Allen, Leonard Snart, Lisa Snart, Mick Rory, Hartley Rathaway)

I'd like a story about the Rogues at Halloween. Whichever Rogues you want. Could be a heist, get-together at Saints and Sinners, personal time, etc. If you want to include Barry, I like ColdFlash (esp. the snarky tease), but would prefer the emphasis to be on character interaction. Humour would be great.

I've read The Flash since Carmine Infantino days, which was a decade or two ago, to say the least. So, yes, there are obvious differences between the comics then and now; and The Flash TV series is its own thing. Still, each iteration can be enjoyed for itself; and I loved Season One enormously. Since then ... well, there's been a measure of drift, to put it mildly. Perhaps my biggest regret has been the diminished significance of Flash's Rogues Gallery. They've always been a distinctive crew; and I'd love to see any or all of them, with or without Flash himself.

I think the sign-up basically says it. However, if you don't want to work Halloween into the story, that's okay.


Forever Knight (any nominated characters)

With vampires in the cast, this show is made for Halloween stories. However, you have centuries of history to play with, depending on the character(s) you write about, as well as Nick's current role as a detective on the Toronto force. If you want to play with treats rather than tricks, then there's Halloween in the squad room or at the Raven; or maybe something about Schanke and his young daughter.

If you've never heard of Forever Knight, it's a '90s TV series whose hero is a homicide detective on the Toronto police force who was turned into a vampire in 1228.

I love the cop aspect of the series, both the interplay back at the station, and also the detective story plots. I like both Tracy and Schanke as Nick's partner, as well as Natalie's role as pathologist. You might, on the other hand, prefer to write something with an historical focus. This could be about Nick's centuries' long history, on his own or with LaCroix and Janette. Alternatively, you could write about the vampires introduced in Season Three, Vachon and his crew, about whose past we know very little. Then again, of course, there's the vampire scene in Toronto. Basically, I'm pretty easy on what you write, though my preference is for gen. Any other characters you want to include would be fine. Do feel free to ignore "Last Knight" if you want.

Availability: Most of the series is available on DVD, and some episodes are on YouTube. There's a Forever Knight wiki, if you just want to check details.


Puck of Pook's Hill - Rudyard Kipling (Puck)

I'd like a seasonal story. Perhaps local harvest customs; or an autumn event in history that Puck brings someone to tell the children about. Or Guy Fawkes' Day: by the time Kipling wrote Puck of Pook's Hill, the south of England had pretty well abandoned Halloween for Guy Fawkes' Day. What's Puck's reaction to changing customs? Feel free to use other characters from the book(s).

What it says on the tin.

Seriously, I am interested in this request; I just can't think of much more to say. Autumn rituals past and present, basically; but how you tackle it is up to you.

Available from Project Gutenberg.


Sime~Gen - Jacqueline Lichtenberg & Jean Lorrah (no characters were nominated)

Given the usual relationship between Simes and Gens (not to mention the tentacles that Simes have), there is an obvious horror element here that you might play with.

No characters were nominated: I'd like worldbuilding here, whether you write a trick or a treat. Any period in Sime~Gen history would be fine, from just after the time of the Ancients through to the Tecton; but I'd prefer that you not go into the space era.

In the Sime~Gen Universe (created by Jacqueline Lichtenberg and added to by Jean Lorrah), a mutation—natural or artificially induced—has created a split in humanity that is as fundamental as gender. Superficially, Gens look like modern-day humans; but they produce a life energy called "selyn". Simes must take selyn from Gens in order to survive; this is done through tentacles that they have on their forearms. For centuries, this is fatal to the Gen from whom the selyn is stripped. However, a new mutation among Simes produces "channels" who can take selyn safely from Gens, store it, and then pass it to regular-stype Simes. Eventually, there is a major cultural shift; but it takes literally centuries.

Despite events in many stories, the authors have a basically romantic (if not absurdly optimistic) view of all this. I tend to see the series through less rosy spectacles.

Sign-ups for this year's Trick or Treat Exchange are about to open.

Trick or Treat is a Halloween event (though stories do not have to be about the holiday). You can offer/request either a story or art, with the minimum word count being 300 words. A tasty little treat, in other words. Of course, you're free to write something longer if you want. A lot of people also write additional gifts, whether for their assigned recipient or other participants.

Forever Knight has been nominated, with the following characters: Nick Knight, Lucien LaCroix, Natalie Lambert, Janette DuCharme, Don Schanke, Tracy Vetter, Javier Vachon, and Screed.

If you want to see what other fandoms have been nominated, take a look at the tagset. You have to request at least three different fandoms and offer at least four. Requests will be visible; so, if you want to write additional stories, you'll be able to see what people are asking for.