Cotton handspun single from combed top, a "completed" bobbin. I'm spinning threadweight so I don't...feel the need to "fill" the bobbin even halfway (for a planned 2-ply).

I do think I'd probably have a more pleasant time spinning cotton and silk if I had a dedicated treadle wheel for them, someday; but the wheel I own works. :3

(The background art on the wall is a poster of Wonder Woman artwork by Nen Chang.)

morbane posting in

yuletide

It's letters time! If you're writing a letter along with your Yuletide sign-up, you can comment here with a link to your letter and also enter the details in the 2025 tagset app. For browsing convenience, the app also generates a google spreadsheet you can access directly. (Bookmarking will be available in the app once tag set corrections are complete.)

What's the deal with letters?
Letters are an optional tradition of Yuletide. When you sign up to the event, there's a space in the form for linking to somewhere in your own space (journal, public document, etc) where you can go into detail about what you like in fic and fandom. This post collects these links. The prompts on AO3 are hidden through sign-ups, but letters are visible as soon as you want them to be.

Letters are an optional extra in Yuletide. If you only post a letter here, you haven't signed up. To get an assignment and a gift, you need to sign up at the collection - open Oct 14-24. If you're using this post before sign-ups are open, please check back on AO3 to sign up there!

What makes a good letter?
Mileage varies. We encourage you, at minimum, to include your AO3 name, the fandoms and characters you're requesting, your Do-Not-Wants (DNWs), and whether or not you can receive treats. [This is a feature you can set in your AO3 preference settings. New accounts have permission to receive treats turned off by default, but participants with older accounts should check if they have not checked this in a while]. There are additional posts here and here discussing how to use DNWs.

How to post your letter

Finish your letter and make sure it's publicly visible. Here's the tagset to check what you can request

Enter it in the app*! You can edit your letter after submitting it - save the key, or ask the mods for the key if you lose it

Comment below! Include:
- Your AO3 name
- A link to your letter
- The fandoms you are requesting (3-8)
- The characters you are requesting in your fandoms (1-4, or Any)
If you post to the app first, it will spit out a handy chunk of text with all these details for you to use when commenting.

*Please reach out here if you're having trouble with the app! Characters can be selected by clicking on them.

!!! We ask you to add your letter both places to make sure it gets to people who are excited to read it. If for whatever reason you can only comment on a post, then please include the following line in your comment:

Mods, please add my letter to the app.

We will sweep the post occasionally and add letters to the app.

Warning: Locked or placeholder letters will be removed. You can add your letter when it's done.

If you have a question, contact a mod on Discord or comment here

Mini-challenges
As mini-challenges are posted, they will be added below.
( See links to this year's mini-challenges under the cut. )

The opening (and closing) of sign-ups will be announced at the admin comm.

Enjoy! And thank you to karanguni for the app!

selenak

Dear Yuletide Writer,

we share at least one fandom, which is great, and I'm really grateful you take the time and trouble to write a story for me. All the prompts are just suggestions; if you have very different ideas featuring the same central characters, go for them. Also, I enjoy a broad range from fluff to angst, so whatever suits you best works fine with me.

DNW:

- bashing of canon pairings or characters in general. By which I don't mean the characters have to like each and everyone - a great number of those I've nominated can be described as prickly jerks, among other things, and it would be entirely ic for them to say something negative about people they canonically can't stand - but there's a difference between that and the narrative giving me the impression to go along with said opinions.

- Alpha/Beta/Omega scenarios, watersports, infantilisation. Really not my thing, sorry.

Likes:

- competence, competent people appreciating each other

- deep loyalty and not blindly accepting orders

- flirting/seduction via wordplay and banter (if it works for you with the characters in question)

- for the darker push/pull dynamics: moments of tenderness and understanding in between the fighting/one upman shipping (without abandoning the anger)

- for the relationships, both non-romantic and if you like romantic, that are gentler and harmonious by nature: making it clear each has their own life and agenda as well

- some humor amidst the angst (especially if the character in question displays it in canon)

The question of AUs: depends. "What if this key canon event did not happen?" can lead to great character and dynamics exploration, some of which made it into my specific prompts, but I do want to recognize the characters. Half of those I nominated are from historical canons, and the history is part of the fascination the canon has for me. ) However, if you feel inspired to, say, write Cecily Neville, space captain, and manage to do it in a way that gives me gripping analogues to the historical situations: be my guest!

How much or how little sex: I'm cool with anything you feel comfortable with, from detailed sex to the proverbial fade out after a kiss. Or no sex at all (given that most of my prompts are non-romantic in nature), as long as the story explores the emotional dynamics in an intense way.

( Cecily Duology - Annie Garthwaite )

( Foundation (TV) )

( Alien: Earth )

Current Mood: bouncy
Current Location: Munich

yuletidemods posting in

yuletide_admin

Tag set housekeeping

We've removed Mouthwashing (Video Game) as that was approved in error. Sorry for getting your hopes up, nominator!

烏は主を選ばない | Karasu wa Aruji wo Erabanai | Yatagarasu: The Raven Does Not Choose Its Master (Anime): It’s come to our attention that Nazukihiko and Wakamiya are the same person, so we’re merging those characters.

Nominator of Luca (The History of Sound) - it looks like the Wikipedia page for this movie incorrectly listed Luca as the name of Lionel's lover in Rome; according to IMDB and the original stories this movie is based on, it's Vincent (who was also nominated), so we're deleting Luca.

Thank you for all the tag set issues you’ve let us know about so far! Please continue to check the tag set and let us know of further corrections we should make. Please tell us about these corrections before 9am UTC, Monday 13 October, so we can fix them before sign-ups.

Limited Do-Not-Match option

Most of the time, the person assigned to create for you in an AO3-based gift exchange, and the person assigned to receive a gift from you, are determined by the tags you select in the sign-up form.

Some exchange moderators also offer participants the option to say "Please do not match me up with [ExampleUserName] or [ExampleUserName2]. I don't want to receive a gift from them or create for them." This feature makes it easier, for example, to offer a fandom requested by six different people including someone you'd prefer to avoid, and have peace of mind that you can still avoid that person.

A Do-Not-Match option is difficult to offer flexibly in Yuletide because of the large number of participants and the large number of people who have only one possible creator or recipient. However, we see a Do-Not-Match option as a valuable tool to reduce friction and make everyone happier, so we intend to offer a limited version of this feature in Yuletide, on a trial basis. Please note that this is not an absolute guarantee you won’t receive a story from one of the people you list.

How it will work

When you sign up on AO3, the sign-up form will also link out to a Google form where you can list the AO3 names of up to 3 people you do not want to match to and can tell us if you want to avoid writing for a person, receiving an assigned gift from a person, or both. We will also ask for those people's AO3 ID numbers, which you can find on their AO3 profiles, and for the email associated with your AO3 name. We will not ask for the reason you wish to avoid a person.

After we run the matching process, we will check all matches against our master Do-Not-Match list. We will take the following actions:

If your assigned recipient or creator is someone you asked to avoid, we will attempt to match you to someone else.

If your only possible recipient is someone you asked to avoid, we will email you to recommend you expand your offers. However, we will leave the match in place if you do not respond in the first 24 hours following the close of sign-ups.

If your only possible creator is someone you asked to avoid, we will send out your requests with initial pinch hits.

If you are the only possible recipient for a creator you asked to avoid, we will leave the match in place, but will prioritize your requests for double-assignment to two creators. [Because of how matching works, there will always be Yuletide participants who start out with two assigned creators; generally we try to choose them at random.]

We will not take the following actions:

We will not ask a creator to drop out or expand their offers if their only possible recipient is someone who would prefer to avoid them.

We will not inform a participant that someone else has asked not to match to them. [This information will be restricted only to the core Yuletide mods, Isis, Morbane, and pendrecarc, and will not be shared with the larger pool of Yuletide assistants.]

We will not review treats for unwanted matches. Putting someone on your Do-Not-Match list will not prevent them from creating a treat for you (but please see FAQs below for other tools to achieve this).

We will not prevent someone on your Do-Not-Match list from claiming you as a pinch hit. We will check our master Do-Not-Match list when assigning pinch hits, so if the first person to claim you is a person you prefer to avoid, we will leave a short amount of time to see if another claim comes in. But we will not hold your pinch hit indefinitely or tell the first creator they aren't allowed to claim you.

We will not ask you why you wish to avoid a particular match.

FAQs (foreseeable/anticipated questions)

Who am I allowed to put on my Do-Not-Match list?
Any three AO3 accounts you would prefer to avoid matching to. This can be for any reason, serious or unserious. Do not tell us the reason, please. If the reason is harassment or similar, we recommend reaching out to the Policy & Abuse team separately. You may only give specific names, rather than a description like "anyone who mostly wants porn".

Can't I just block people I don't want to match to?
No. Adding other users to your block list stops them from giving you a treat (see item AO3-6502 on this news post). It also stops them from being able to comment on your work. However, it does not affect challenge matching. A person you have blocked can be assigned to create for you, and you can be assigned to create for them.

Wait, am I allowed to block people in Yuletide?
Yes. Feel free to use the blocking feature to improve your AO3 experience. However, blocking someone and also matching to them could lead to unhappiness for both of you - so please consider using all the tools at your disposal to avoid matching to people you have blocked. This could mean choosing not to offer a fandom if you suspect it has been requested by a person you wish to avoid, or it could mean using the Do-Not-Match option for people you have blocked.

What other AO3 tools exist to manage my gift experience?
If you wish, you can choose to receive gifts only from assigned writers in a gift exchange or people who have claimed your prompts in a prompt meme. This is sometimes described as turning treats on and off. If you created your account after February 2022, please review this setting in your AO3 account preferences. If you select the setting "Allow anyone to gift me works", you can receive treats. If you do not select this setting, only an assigned author can give you a gift in Yuletide.

Will this be a feature of Yuletide going forward?
Maybe, maybe not. It will depend on how well it works out this year!

Schedule, Rules, & Collection | Contact Mods | Tag Set | Community DW | Community LJ | Discord | Pinch hits on Dreamwidth

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isabrella posting in

yuletide

A mini-challenge for anyone who would love to see more femslash in the world and especially in this year's Yuletide!

Femslash Festivus is a collection post for femslash requests that you are making for Yuletide. Posting here doesn't obligate you to do anything, but it helps other femslashers find you and treat you.

Posting guidelines:

Your request must center around a femslash pairing or poly arrangement involving at least two women.
The femslash should be front and center of your requests in this post.
You can include any characters you want - if you're requesting gender-bending, please do note that clearly in your post.
Use your good judgement about ships with non-binary, gender fluid, genderqueer etc. characters; I'm thinking along the lines of the Femslash Ex rules, where you can include them if you'd be comfortable tagging any works about them as femslash.
If you are asking for femslash in a fandom where you requested Worldbuilding, no characters, or just one character, this is perfectly fine! Just talk up the kind of pairings you'd want to receive in your comment.
Another idea is to note whether you're interested in porn or prefer more G/T-rated content.

In your comment, please include:

AO3 Username:

Fandom:

Requested Characters/Ships (if applicable):

More suggestions:

One sentence pitch for your ship:

Letter Link:

Prompts:

Any Other Details:

Please do use the tag 'Femslash Festivus' for works inspired by this challenge!

Edited based on the 2020 post and inspired by other mini-challenges from 2024.

yuletidemods posting in

yuletide_admin

The 2025 tag set is available here! Please browse and enjoy!

Fixes and Polishing

We're ready to work on corrections. Please tell us what we need to fix! We may make posts with further queries, depending on the issues you raise. Please keep an eye out for those! Sign-ups are projected to start October 14. If nothing's wrong in your fandoms - or if you can multitask - take part in activity at

yuletide!

If your fandom is the wrong category. (such as Books when it should be Celebrities & RPF - etc.)...

first, please check if it is also in the right category. If it is also in the right category, we can't help.

If it's only in the wrong category, please tell us what it is and what category it should be in.

(Please note that if it's a canonical fandom on AO3, we can't change it in the Yuletide tagset - however, we can notify the wranglers of the issue.)

Tell us about…

if you nominated something, but you can't find it at all

if you nominated characters in a particular fandom, but you can't find them there

if the fandom or characters you nominated were changed to something incorrect

if you see the exact same character tag (including disambiguation) in multiple fandoms

if a character or fandom name is mis-spelled (we don't care as much about disambiguations, so if the words in brackets entered after your fandom name are wrong (mis-spelled, misleading), feel free to tell us, but this may not be corrected.)

if you see something that doesn't belong

if you see two fandoms that are duplicates of each other

if you see the same character twice under one fandom

if your new fandom has been categorized in the wrong media category (and it isn't in any other category).

For missing nominations and corrections to your nominations, please provide your nominations link.

DO NOT tell us:

if your fandom is in the wrong media category (a book under movies, etc), unless that is the only category that it is in. Please check ALL the categories before you report a problem.

if your fandom is in Uncategorized Fandoms. This is a work in progress, please be patient as we work through these fandoms.

if the characters in your fandom all belong, but the disambiguation tags entered in brackets after their names aren't all the same. Sometimes we have to enter really long strings after a character name to keep the character where they're supposed to be. We only care if the information in brackets is wrong.

Suggested template for corrections requests:
Fandom tag (current):
Problem:
If correcting a tag or tags:
The current tag(s):
The correct tag(s):

Some Stats

This year, we approved 16,466 characters across 4,278 fandoms!

The most nominated fandom this year was Murderbot (TV), with 15 nominators. Close behind it was Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Video Game), with 13 nominators.

Nine Worlds Series - Victoria Goddard is far in the lead by approved characters for a second year in a row, with 39 to select from. Lymond Chronicles - Dorothy Dunnett has 30, and The Goblin Emperor Series - Katherine Addison is in third with 27.

At the other end of the spectrum, 82 fandoms were nominated without characters.

Worldbuilding was nominated 356 times this year! John edged out Jack for the most common first name. Our review suggests the most ubiquitous characters of 2025 are, once again, Dracula and Sherlock Holmes.

Schedule, Rules, & Collection | Contact Mods | Tag Set | Community DW | Community LJ | Discord | Pinch hits on Dreamwidth

Please either sign in to comment, or include a name with your anonymous comments, including replies to others' comments. Unsigned comments will stay screened.

trobadora

I just discovered that you can make the perfect peppermint hot chocolate with Ritter Sport Peppermint. (I expect After Eight mints or similar would work too.) It turned out super delicious, so I need to share the joy!

Proportions: 250ml milk / 25g Ritter Sport Peppermint.

Just put the chocolate into the milk and heat in the microwave in short bursts, stirring thorougly in between, until it's entirely melted. (It pays to use a glass and not a porcelain mug, so you can see whether it's fully incorporated. *g*) Add a little sweetener to taste. YUM. :D

trobadora

Woohoo,

guardian_wishlist revealed this morning with over 60 new Guardian & related works!

There is so much fantastic new stuff, and I haven't had time to properly look at much yet, but I need to share the three fantastic gifts I got:

from awanderingcoyote, lovely Guardian/Stargate Atlantis crossover art with a bunch of inspired concept notes for a crossover that's also a fix-it/sequel to the Guardian ending

from facethestrange, gorgeous Guardian RPF art that brilliantly combines the implications of the infamous weight-lifting BTS video with an interview question that, as the artist says, totally could be real

and from nnozomi, an absolutely delightful ficlet about Jiajia and Professor Zhou (and Shen Wei, of course, in absentia), combining them in ways I'd never considered before

So so many thanks to all of you, and everyone else who is part of this fest! You are all amazing! ♥ ♥ ♥

yhlee

I'm now aware that Imgur images are broken for people with UK IP addresses; will repair those image links eventually by hosting own my own space but I have a bunch of work/school to deal with so it'll be slow.

yuletidemods posting in

yuletide_admin

We are 214.5 hours into tag approving! We began with 6078 individual fandom nominations to sort (where if two people submitted the same fandom, that would count twice towards the total). We have 28 fandom nominations still to sort. (AO3-savvy users will note that that means we're no longer seeing a random display - instead we can view all remaining unapproved fandoms.)

Please continue to review the questions below to help us sort them quickly and correctly! The sooner we sort out these issues, the sooner we can release the tag set.

Please link your nominations page if telling us what to do about your nomination - thank you! Please either sign in to comment, or include a name with your anonymous comments, including replies to others' comments. Unsigned comments will stay screened. (You can find your own nominations at this link; keep in mind this gives you an 'Edit' screen where you can't actually submit any edits, but if you delete /edit, that's the page we're looking for.)

If we've processed any of your nominations and something doesn't look right, please comment (with your nominations page) to tell us about the problem and how you think it should be corrected. Questions are welcome.

The Baileys (Chuck Schumer's RPF) - We plan to approve this as something other than RPF, with Chuck Schumer as the creator of fictional material, since the characters involved aren’t real people. Additionally, we’re wondering about Eileen Bailey vs Eileen O’Reilly and Joe Bailey vs Joe O’Reilly. Nominator, do you see these as separate people, or should they be piped characters? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Dark Star Trilogy - Marlon James - Nominator, we couldn’t find a character named Panther. Did you mean Leopard? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Debí Tirar Más Fotos - Bad Bunny (Album) - Nominator, did you intend the visual album or the short film? The nomination of Señor suggests the latter, but Bad Bunny doesn’t appear as a character. We can combine them as (Album-related Videos) if you mean both. Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Golden Hour pt 2 - ATEEZ (Album) and Golden Hour pt 3 : In Your Fantasy - ATEEZ (Album) - Both of these are nominated and so are the music videos for Ice On Your Teeth, Lemon Drop, and In Your Fantasy, which are songs on these albums. We're willing to approve music videos that can stand alone with clear and coherent fictional elements to build on, but it's not clear how the albums are distinct from ineligible lore or how they stand on their own, especially if the music videos also stand on their own. We're willing to hear arguments against, but otherwise will approve the music videos only. Nominators, if making a case, please link your nominations page when you reply.

Marvel 1602 (Comics) - Nominator, from your character choices it's not clear you were interested in the original Marvel 1602 - could we approve as Marvel 1602: Fantastick Four (Comics), or have we misunderstood? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

The Racing Track (GrabFood Webseries) - Nominator, it looks like you’ve selected the actor names instead of character names for this fandom. Can we confirm you’re interested in RPF? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

She-Hulk (Marvel Comics) - Nominator, are you interested in multiple runs at once, or primarily in the 2023-2024 Sensational She-Hulk run? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

自転車屋さんの高橋くん | Takahashi from the Bike Shop - Nominator, did you want the manga or the 2022 drama adaptation? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Twin Peaks (TV 1990) - Nominator of Chantal Hutchens and Gary Hutchens, these characters are only in the 2017 sequel. We realize that tag is a synonym of the 1990 tag; still, would you prefer to split these out into a separate series? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

The Years of Apocalypse - A Time Loop Progression Fantasy - Uranium Phoenix - We could use some help identifying some of these characters. We can only find “Ceiba Yan” in the context of the Ceiba Yan Tree, and we can’t find Xecatl at all. Nominator, can you help us out? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Earlier queries…

Batman: Arkham Shadow (Video Game) - we received evidence for this but would like more information, please. Could the nominator, or anyone else who knows this family of games, please help us understand how it is distinct? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Ghost in the Shell (Anime & Manga) - this is nominated with Kusanagi Motoko, Batou, Kogusa, and Saito; meanwhile, we also have a nomination for Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex (Anime) with Batou, Hideo Kuze, Motoko Kusanagi, and Togusa. We would prefer to combine these under Stand Alone Complex but are open to hearing otherwise. Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Hear Me Cry (1984) (CBS Schoolbreak Special) Craig and David’s parents are distinct characters and so we are not willing to approve each set of parents as a single unit. Nominator, would you like to pick two of the four parents? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

History Boys - All Media Types - Nominator, we won’t approve this nomination as All Media Types. Would you prefer the movie or the play? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Riddick (2013) - Could we please get some information about how this stands alone from the rest of the Chronicles of Riddick saga? If you nominated this, please link your nominations page when you reply.

Trash Taste (Podcast) - This podcast is nominated without characters, but it's difficult to see what you're looking for aside from RPF of the hosts, as this doesn't seem to contain a fictional narrative. Nominator, please clarify what you were hoping for? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Tron - All Media Types - We won't approve this nomination as All Media Types. Nominator, please pick a canon. Please link your nominations page when you reply.

West Coast Avengers (Marvel Comics) - Nominator, did you mean the 2018-19 reboot series? Your character nominations seem to relate to that run, so we'd like to approve as West Coast Avengers (Comics 2018-19), assuming that matches your intention. Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Schedule, Rules, & Collection | Contact Mods | Tag Set | Community DW | Community LJ | Discord | Pinch hits on Dreamwidth

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yhlee

This fiber colorway is from a monthly subscription (Feral Scene in Texas, so semi-local to me) - usually wool-based blends to push me out of my comfort zone. (I find wool to be the second-most difficult fiber to spin. First is cotton, which is more "normal" for a beginning spinner.)

I think of this as Pumpkin Spice yarn! It'll be going to

ursula.

The current emotional support spinning WIP is cotton, widely regarded as hard mode for treadle wheel spinning. It only took six months of dedicated practice to skill up...

Shout-out to Mohairandmore [Etsy], which sells superlatively prepared fiber; the combed top for ramie and cotton are exquisite. They're also in Texas, so also semi-local to me, although I think most of their non-mohair fiber (they raise angora goats) is from other suppliers. I've got to budget for some of their merino blends at some point because I bet they're amazing to spin.

I wanted to learn to spin cotton because

(a) It's less wildly expensive than mulberry, eri, muga silk (my faves). You can get 4 oz. cotton fiber for ~$6 USD (not including shipping or tax). Silk fiber (unless it's "sari silk" loom waste) usually costs three times as much if not more.

(b) I'm in the US South. This is about as local as you get for fiber production! There's a little silk fiber production in the USA but not a lot of it, and again, whatever the source of the fiber, it's an inherently spendier fiber.

I went all-in on spinning because

(a) It's weirdly difficult to doomscroll on the internet while spinning. :p It's much better for my mental health; that alone would make it worthwhile.

(b) For my own use, I'm personally most interested in thread for needle lace, embroidery, cross stitch, hand-sewing, weaving. But I don't do any of those things very fast so I don't need very much for myself, and I'm narrowly interested in cotton or ramie or silk. I don't knit or crochet, but I have friends who do, and who can make use of yarns spun from Those Other Fibers! (I have functionally zero use for wool ever.) So anything I spin for my own learning/pleasure can go to a good home.

(c) I have wrecked ankle tendons (medical), and treadling on a spinning wheel is surprisingly good sneak physical therapy.

(d) I have neuropathy in my hands and feet, prognosis unknown. I don't want to wait five or ten years to pursue physical crafts further. My favorite thing is working with my hands (obviously, this isn't especially visible online). I regret I was never able to take a shop class because my high school didn't offer one. I don't know that I'm going to have sufficient use of my hands/feet in five to ten years (assuming the world hasn't imploded, a big assumption). So I might as well get some enjoyment out of hand/physical crafts now.

for_sorrow posting in

yuletide

(Thank you everyone who has made these posts in my absence. May you always find something bright and shiny!)

Not every story is pleasant. Not every story has a happy ending, and not all happy endings come without a dark and painful journey. And sometimes, those are the kinds of stories that we really, really want to read.

If you're one of the many people interested in either writing or receiving darkfic or horror, then Crueltide is here ~~to devour your soul~~ for you!

The short version
Read the comments to find people to treat with darkfic.
Tag your yuletide darkfic with 'crueltide'

The long version is beneath the cut
( Read more... )

Current Mood: scared

yhlee

Gilt edges not pictured, largely because I couldn't wrangle a photo setup for them.

yhlee

Two-ply ramie handspun. I still have to BOIL it with soda ash to set the twist, but this will be going to

ilyena_sylph. ♥

yuletidemods posting in

yuletide_admin

We are 168 hours into tag approving! We began with 6078 individual fandom nominations to sort (where if two people submitted the same fandom, that would count twice towards the total). We have 210 fandom nominations still to sort. Please review the questions below to help us sort them quickly and correctly!

Please link your nominations page if telling us what to do about your nomination - thank you! Please either sign in to comment, or include a name with your anonymous comments, including replies to others' comments. Unsigned comments will stay screened. (You can find your own nominations at this link; keep in mind this gives you an 'Edit' screen where you can't actually submit any edits, but if you delete /edit, that's the page we're looking for.)

If we've processed any of your nominations and something doesn't look right, please comment (with your nominations page) to tell us about the problem and how you think it should be corrected. Questions are welcome.

Dragon's Dogma - Nominator, we won’t approve the group tag Pawn(s) (Dragon’s Dogma) as there is at least one specific Pawn. We can replace it with Arisen's Companion Pawn (Dragon's Dogma), which we approved last year, or remove this character, as you prefer. Please link your nominations page when you reply.

The Fox and the Hound (Disney Movies) - Nominator, we can't find characters who could be Tod And Vixie's Kits - could you clarify what you were thinking there please? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Ghost in the Shell (Anime & Manga) - this is nominated with Kusanagi Motoko, Batou, Kogusa, and Saito; meanwhile, we also have a nomination for Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex (Anime) with Batou, Hideo Kuze, Motoko Kusanagi, and Togusa. We would prefer to combine these under Stand Alone Complex but are open to hearing otherwise. Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Hell's Belles - Jaysea Lynn and Hell's Belles Series - Jaysea Lynn - Nominators, is For Whom the Belle Tolls the first in a series, or are these nominations a reference to the TikTok series related to the book? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Inner Gold - Lindsey Stirling feat. Royal & the Serpent (Music Video) - We’re wondering about “Lindsey Stirling's Character | Golden Dancer” specifically. Is that the violinist in the gold mesh played by Lindsey Stirling, or the character in red who becomes covered in gold also played by Lindsey Stirling, or are these the same character? Would you be open to us approving the video without characters, to more easily leave these interpretations up to a creator? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

LEGO Castle - This seems to combine more than one playset. Nominator, could you clarify what you are hoping for please? Also, which wizard? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Nestle's Alpine White "Sweet Dreams" Commercials - We'd appreciate some help with the character nominations. Characters nominated are:

Dancing Girl with sparkler #1 (Nestle)

Man in Farmyard (Nestle)

Man in Sweater (Nestle Ad)

White Wolf (Nestle Ad)

Woman in Coat (Nestle Ad)

Woman in White Hood (Nestle)

Woman on Beach (Nestle)

Woman on Swing (Nestle Ad)

Could we please check if the Man in Sweater is the same as the Man in Turtleneck approved last year? We'd like to approve Dancing Girls with Sparklers as a single unit, as it's not clear which one is #1 or what distinguishes her from the others. Lastly, we think that might be a fox rather than a wolf? For anyone curious, though please note the video does contain strobing lights… If you nominated this, please link your nominations page when you reply.

Overcooked (Video Games) - Nominator, we’re not sure how “Customers (Overcooked - Video Games)” and “Passers-by (Overcooked - Video Games)” are two separate groups of characters that also cannot be distinguished from each other within the group. Can you help us understand what you were going for? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Phasmophobia (Video Game) - Nominator, could you please clarify the nomination of Ghost(s)? There seem to be several classes of ghost NPCs - we'd be willing to approve one of the other specific types, or potentially two, since you only used up three character slots. It also looks like 'Shade' is a subset of 'Ghosts' - please clarify? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Relic Master Series - Catherine Fisher - There is a group nomination for The Makers, but it appears to us that some of the makers are named and given individual characteristics. Nominator, could you choose a maker? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Riddick (2013) - Could we please get some information about how this stands alone from the rest of the Chronicles of Riddick saga? If you nominated this, please link your nominations page when you reply.

The Secret Garden - Simon/Norman - We're a little unsure if the character nomination of "the Dreamers" works, since it includes at least two named characters. Nominate, could you expand on your thinking or pick a specific character please? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Soulmate Goose of Enforcement Fandom Trope (Anthropomorphic) - This is causing us some difficulty! We feel this isn’t an anthropomophic fandom, as the goose is already a character, who isn’t in need of anthropomorphising. We don’t generally approve tropes as fandoms; nominator, would it work to nominate under the original tumblr post instead? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Trash Taste (Podcast) - This podcast is nominated without characters, but it's difficult to see what you're looking for aside from RPF of the hosts, as this doesn't seem to contain a fictional narrative. Nominator, please clarify what you were hoping for? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

We Are คือเรารักกัน | We Are (Thailand TV 2024) RPF, เขาจ้างให้ผมจีบนักฆ่า | The Heart Killers (Thailand TV) RPF, รักไม่ระบุสถานะ | Dark Blue Kiss (TV) RPF, เลือดนายลมหายใจฉัน | My Golden Blood (Thailand TV 2024) RPF - Many of these characters were also nominated under GMMTV Actor RPF, so we plan to combine all of these nominations into GMMTV Actor RPF. If you're making a case for an alternate arrangement, please link your nominations page when you reply.

West Coast Avengers (Marvel Comics) - Nominator, did you mean the 2018-19 reboot series? Your character nominations seem to relate to that run, so we'd like to approve as West Coast Avengers (Comics 2018-19), assuming that matches your intention. Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Zoo (TV 2015) - We can’t find the character “Alyssa Diaz”, but that seems to be one of the actresses. Did you mean the character “Dariela Marzan”? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Previous queries

13th Century CE Plantagenet Dynasty RPF - this category contains Edward II and Piers Gaveston, who are also both nominated in 14th Century CE RPF. We intend to approve these under the former category; let us know if you have concerns. Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Aliens (1986) - Nominator, these characters are also nominated under the broader fandom Alien (Original Movies 1979-1997), so we would like to merge your nominations in with the rest of the original movies. Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Batman: Arkham Shadow (Video Game) - we received evidence for this but would like more information, please. Could the nominator, or anyone else who knows this family of games, please help us understand how it is distinct? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

The Breakfast Club (1985) - Brian Johnson’s parents are distinct characters and so we are not willing to approve them as a unit. Nominator, would you like to pick a parent? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Chalion Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold and World of the Five Gods - Lois McMaster Bujold - given that the characters nominated under the canonical tag include some from Hallowed Hunt & the Penric and Desdemona stories, we would like to approve all of these together under World of the Five Gods. Any objections? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Corbenic (Catherine Fisher) - We won’t approve Arthur's Company Ensemble (Corbenic) as this is a group with named members. Nominator, would you like to pick one or two (since you’ve only nominated two other characters)? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Dream Cycle - H. P. Lovecraft - All characters nominated for this fandom (other than Worldbuilding) were approved last year in the fandom Cthulhu Mythos - H. P. Lovecraft; as we have overlapping nominations, we’d like to combine again the same way. We've heard from one nominator but would like to hear from the other. Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Enchanted Forest Chronicles - Patricia Wrede - We won’t approve the character nomination Morwen's Cats (Enchanted Forest) as they are all individually named. Nominators, could you please each choose a cat? (Scorn has already been nominated, and another nominator is fine with either Trouble or Fiddlesticks.) Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Hear Me Cry (1984) (CBS Schoolbreak Special) Craig and David’s parents are distinct characters and so we are not willing to approve each set of parents as a single unit. Nominator, would you like to pick two of the four parents? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

History Boys - All Media Types - Nominator, we won’t approve this nomination as All Media Types. Would you prefer the movie or the play? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

MAIJO Otaro - Works - We don’t approve fandoms consisting of all of a creator’s works, and the nominated characters appear to come from at least 2 novels. Nominator, could you pick one of Maijō’s works to nominate, along with the associated characters? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Midsomer Murders - All Media Types - Nominator, we won't approve this nomination as All Media Types. Would you prefer TV or books? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

夢中さきみに。| Muchuu sa Kimi ni (Manga) - We also have a nomination for the Anime; the nominator of that fandom says they have not read the manga but believes these could be combined if needed. We've heard from two Manga nominators who are OK with combining under Anime & Manga; could we hear from the third please? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Oxford Time Travel Universe - Connie Willis and To Say Nothing of the Dog: or How We Found the Bishop's Bird Stump at Last - Connie Willis - To Say Nothing nominator, do you have any concerns about combining your nominations with the larger universe? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Palais de Reine (Visual Novel) - We can’t find the character “Astrud”. Nominator, is this “Astrad”, or is it just a different localization? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Terminator (Movies) and Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) - Nominators, please make your cases for splitting or combining these. May we combine them into (Movies 1984 1991 2019), since Dark Fate follows Terminator 2? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Tron - All Media Types - We won't approve this nomination as All Media Types. Nominator, please pick a canon. Please link your nominations page when you reply.

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selenak

This is the third novel of R. F. Kuang I've read (after being impressed by the The Poppy Wars, first volume, but also emotionally so exhausted I didn't read the rest of the trilogy, amused and captivated in an emotionally distant way by Yellowface, and turned so much by Babel that I only read the first twenty pages or so and then gave up), and I think my favourite so far. There is academic satire but also genuine emotion throughout, there is great ambition epically realised (i.e. writing a trip to the underworld in the grand tradition of all the obvious suspects, but specifically one that reflects the present), and the horror parts hit home in a way that feels not derivative but specific for this particular version. (The novel is set in a universe where magic is real, but isn't concerned with how this altered history or not, just what it means you can study it at university.) Our main character, Alice Law, is the kind of messy, complicated and morally ambiguous (and not in a "nice" way) woman the author specializes in, though for me personally preferable because I had the sense of the narrative being on board with what it was saying about Alice's strengths and weaknesses through her initially very skewered perspective. Also she had a genuine learning process through that trip through the Underworld, and... but that would be spoilery.

( Spoilers realize the Underworld is modelled on a British University )

Also improving my week: This trailer for Guillermo del Toro's adaptation of Frankenstein:

Watch on YouTube

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Location: Bamberg

marthawells

I don't think I posted about this yet: https://us.macmillan.com/tours/martha-wells-queen-demon/

There's more info at that link, but here's a brief list of the tour stops and dates:

- Mon. Oct. 6 at 7:30pm: Brookline Booksmith with Holly Black, offsite at Arts at the Armory (Brookline, MA)

- Tues. Oct. 7 at 7pm: Politics & Prose (Union Market location) moderated by Leigha McReynolds (Washington DC)

- Wed. Oct. 8 at 7pm: The Strand, with Meg Elison (NYC, NY)

- Fri. Oct. 10 at 6pm: Let’s Play Books, with Chuck Wendig, offsite at Muhlenberg College (Allentown, PA)

- Tues. Oct. 14 at 7pm, Third Place Books (Seattle, WA)

- Wed. Oct. 15 at 7pm, Iron Dog Books, with Nalo Hopkinson offsite at Waterfront Theatre on Granville Island (Vancouver, BC, Canada)

- Thurs. Oct. 16 at 7pm, Powell's (Cedar Hill location) with Jenn Reese (Beaverton, OR)

- Mon. Oct. 20 at 7pm: Bookpeople, with Ehigbor Okosun (Austin, TX)

- Tue. Oct. 21 at 6:30pm: Murder by the Book (Houston, TX)

- Thurs. Oct. 23 at 6pm: Nowhere Bookshop (San Antonio, TX)

- Saturday Nov. 8-9 Texas Book Festival, Austin TX

- Sat. Nov. 15 at 2pm: Hyperbole Bookstore, offsite at Ringer Library (College Station, TX)

yhlee

Genre Grapevine: Book Club Scams Are a Warning of Emerging AI Super-Scams [Jason Sanford - nota bene, I've been the target of such scams but have not fact-checked Sanford's specific details]

I'm sad that people are stuck in positions so desperate that they fall for this. I hope people get warned about this. I've gotten a couple of these and gotten asked about one that involved a scammer that cited that I was working with them (I was not, lol).

That said, I'm almost positive I've seen accounts of similarly structured scams from a time before modern mass telecommunications, when now you can fake up a bunch of "people" to convince greedy/hopeful/desperate marks that they've stumbled on some Good Thing and the marks can't (easily) verify those "people." You can do this in print with ~testimonials, but not at scale and not in realtime in this manner.

I'm not saying AI isn't a problem; I'm saying that if people weren't forced to desperation (or straight-up greedy), the incentive structure that enables the AI deployment to be profitable (so to speak) with this target ~audience would not be as successful. Which is perhaps splitting hairs and is the point at which I expect to be flamed off my own DW.

Very simplified but: Anytime you create an incentive A, you create a secondary incentive A' for bad actors to exploit the system to access A.

Hilarious terribad example of this: I was contacted for a blurb/etc for what sounded like an extremely unoriginal sexploitation "trans woman" sci-fi book (you know, sexbot cyberpunk sleazy noir but with a trans angle). That's not all that surprising and it's theoretically possible the book exists and was written by some human, or it exists but was written by some LLM, whatever. That's not the incentive. (For that matter, I'm not in a position to criticize a sci-fi book artistically on sleaziness grounds, please! I have published books full of genocide, rape, incest and other objectionable material. I'm a trash panda aesthetically.)

No: what was interesting from a scammer vs. mark arms race evolution perspective was that this author claimed to be (approximately, I'm writing this from memory) a trans woman in ~South Asia who was inspired by having done ~sex work. This is a clever way to appeal both to "woke" crowds and A Certain Sleazy Crowd! For ~privacy/safety reasons she could not accept interview/live call requests. This was accompanied by a SUPER fake-looking (likely AI-generated or badly Photoshopped, take your pick) Hot Asian Chick headshot.

So yes, absolutely as a trans person I know that safety/privacy are hideously important. But once incentive A exists, someone has incentive A' to piggyback on A, which is what looked like was happening here. I just blocked the email address and moved on. At this point, I've set up my email to auto-delete any email that mentions "Goodreads" or "Amazon", unless they're on a SMALL whitelist, among other countermeasures. Life is too short and I have ramie to spin!

I said cynically to

telophase that I suspected that the "actual" "author" was some middle-aged white dude scammer sitting in North Dakota or, more tragically and pessimistically, some human trafficking scam farm outside the US.

I assume this is also where the fake-looking-ness is partly to screen out people who are moderately suspicious/vigilant/smart enough to avoid weird, scammy emails and/or ask around for more information, and to screen for people who are sufficiently desperate, greedy, or naive (cf. shitty obvious "tells" in phishing scams). But I'm out of field so I could be wrong.

Regardless: it's not that legislative or technological protections aren't important or necessary or desirable, it's that the underlying human problem of the incentives vs. secondary incentives is inherently intractable. :(

NOTE: I'm screening comments from non-[access] and may be scarce/slow because I'm recovering from a health thing. Thanks.

marthawells

I did a playlist for Witch King (https://marthawells.dreamwidth.org/627157.html) when it first came out in 2023, and now here's one for Queen Demon:

Seven Devils - Florence + Machine

Burning - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Bando - ANNA with MadMan and Gemitaiz

Bringing Murder to the Land - Anton Newcombe and Dot Allison

Bulletproof vs. Release Me - The Outfit

I Owe You Nothing - Seinabo Sey

W.I.T.C.H. - Devon Cole

Egun (theme from Manhunt) - Danielle Ponder

Warm - SG Lewis

Disease - Lady Gaga

Which Witch (Demo) - Florence + Machine

you should see me in a crown - Billie Eilish

Bakunawa - Rudy Ibarra, with June Millington, Han Han, and Ouida.

yhlee

There are parts of this comic theme I find wildly confusing, but after accidentally destroying my WordPress install ~a year ago, Ninefox Gambit comic is back online! Includes both the Cheris reboot prelude/origin story and Candle Arc comics.

ink and wash portrait of Kel Cheris

(The companion site Candle Arc is more specifically focused on the 2D animated short in preproduction.)

...still buried under orchestration homework, see y'all later?!

Beth Winter

emotional support spinning: cotton

Dear Yuletide Writer Letters 2025

Yuletide Letter

Do-Not-Match Option - LIMITED Yuletide edition

Limited Do-Not-Match option

How it will work

FAQs (foreseeable/anticipated questions)

Femslash Festivus 2025

Yuletide 2025 Tag Set Open!

Fixes and Polishing

Some Stats

I'm definitely making this again. and again. and again!

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! Happy Guardian Wishlist Day!

PSA

Nominations Queries Post 4

Earlier queries…

emotional support spinning

Crueltide 2025

Rook & Rose Pattern Deck has landed!

latest spinning

Nominations Queries Post 3

Previous queries

R. F. .Kuang: Katabasis

Book Tour Starting Next Week

on "book club" scams targeting authors and f*cked incentives

Queen Demon Playlist

Ninefox Gambit comic

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