LINKDING

summary: “Go to bed,” he says. “It’s late, and I have people I still need to speak to at the party. We’ll play more tomorrow, hm? Uncle will take you somewhere fun, out of the palace. But shh, it’s a secret. We’ll sneak out together during the morning.” That’s such an exciting promise that sleeping at all suddenly seems impossible. And Uncle always keeps his promises, too, so it’s really happening. “Okay,” he says, and makes himself climb underneath the sheets. Uncle smiles approvingly. “Good boy,” he says, smoothing the sheets for him. “Sleep tight. Tomorrow is going to be a good day.” If Uncle says it, then that must mean it’s true. / The last day of Mobei-Jun's childhood, spent with his favorite uncle. ➜ svsss fic about Mobei-Jun as a young child, and his relationship with his favourite uncle Linguang-Jun, before the betrayal ➜ wahhhhh ;_; it's so GOOD, mbj is so young and earnest and trusting, and the reader (who knows what's going to happen) can read impending tragedy into everything lgj does ➜ the way lgj's betrayal permanently altered mbj's ability to trust, to believe in someone's love and care! the loss of the person he could otherwise have grown up to be!!! ➜ 2.5k words long

summary: He recalls in one awful moment his young Huan-zhizi’s face then, contorted with pain as he fought through the night, slowly expelling the dread shadow whose claws had sunk deep and, even now, snagged in the great net of his fears. It occurs to him that a-Huan’s healing has never truly ended, that what he had learnt from the multiple mortal dangers of his youth had been caution, and a deep fear of sudden and terrible loss. No wonder the blows of his adult years had brought him so low. / A little after their return from Yunping’s Guanyin Temple, it is Lan Qiren who now needs to heal, and his nephew who must help him. ➜ post-canon mdzs fic about Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren ➜ on their relationship with each other, the ways they've tried to support each other and the ways they feel like they've failed or are failing ➜ ahhhh the vibes are so lovely, a tender fragile hope and care with a well of complexity beneath it! ➜ 2k words long

Shi Qingxuan had thought it would be easy, walking up the mountain path to bring her brother his dinner and fetch him home. She hadn't realised that the way would be so confusing, or guessed she'd meet somebody along the way. ➜ inspired by roland bloodletter's opus pantingbed, this is a tgcf fic that shows a possible different first meeting between hx and sqx ➜ both are children, sqx in her era of living as a girl while her brother cultivates, hx a child in an ordinary village who doesn't quite fit in ➜ I love the way it shows what kind of people they both are as children, both recognisable as the people they'll become, but hx still able to hope, and trust, and reach out for potential good things ➜ and then the ENDING!! ahhhh!!! ➜ peak ouchy beefleaf <3 ➜ 2k words long

If Jiang Yanli had ever met Xuanyu, he would have been healed by the touch of her eyes only. She had that way about her. Nie Huaisang did his best work under her, caring for the wounded for that washed up ashore at the fortress that was his home. ➜ Nie Huaisang pov mdzs fic ➜about nhs's interactions with Jiang Yanli during the war, and with Mo Xuanyu leading up to his sacrificial ritual ➜ gorgeous, spare little glimpse into the ways jyl has been an influence on nhs, and the purposes to which he directs the things he learned from her ➜ so good!! ➜ 1k words long

Summary: After the Immortal Alliance Conference, Shen Qingqiu eventually recovered from his grief. A reasonable man, he accepted his limitations. Of course, there were—other options. ➜ a genius svsss bingqiu canon divergence au fic ➜ sqq decides to take care of the unavoidable abyss plot-arc by body-swapping with lbh to do the abyss arc for him ➜ meanwhile the bodyswapping didn't work QUITE as intended so although sqq is indeed in lbh's body running the abyss, lbh is in lqg's body and lqg is in sqq's body ➜ cue: time for lbh and lqg to learn how to appreciate each other! ➜ anyway I loved EVERYTHING about this fic. sooooo many good things it's doing ➜ the way sqq has such a great time testing out his abyss speedrun ideas! lbh and lqg's gym bro friendship style! meng mo providing internal colour commentary the whole way through! ➜ and like holy shit, sqq’s weird as fuck identity issues wrt bodies and self and sexuality and stuff! EXQUISITE. ➜ a totally delightful fic, highly recommend ➜ 36k words in length

Summary: Martin Pale learns from Catherine of Winchester, several centuries too late. ➜ a yuletide fic, for Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell ➜ About the tudor-era magician Martin Pale and his relationship with his tutor, Catherine of Winchester, from the golden age of magic ➜ gosh wow I am just -- so blown away by this?! it feels like it fits so perfectly into the interstices of canon. The undeniable weight of reality that the whole piece has, even as it is shot through with shards of the numinous....the characters all being people who are difficult, and real, and not altogether pleasant, but you love them for how real they are. ➜ Pale and Catherine are so different from each other, yet so connected, and though we get to hear much of Pale's life, Catherine remains as mysterious to us as she is to Pale. And yet we know her from who she is. ➜ idk, idk, I'm not sure how to explain this better! I just....really recommend reading this fic. it is so satisfying. ➜ 16k words

Summary: The day after Sara's visit to the Carrisford house, Becky leaves Miss Minchin's for her own happily ever after. ➜ yuletide fic, for A Little Princess ➜ Becky's pov on the day after all the climactic reveals, when she gets to leave Miss Minchin's and go join Sara next door ➜ this does such a good job of capturing the tone of the book, the magic and wonder and the depths of emotions, and the kind of relationship Sara and Becky have ➜ these two young edwardian-era girls doing their best to navigate what they can be to each other within the bounds of societal understandings of power differentials, and their own internalized senses of such things.....I'm so emotions!! ➜ 3k words in length

Summary: [bjornruffian] ohhhh like a friend for him???? YES omg I LOVE THIS. Wait it’s going to end badly for this robot right? OH NO IM ALREADY HEARTBROKEN HOW CAN I BE SO INVESTED ALREADY ➜ yuletide fic - for Fandom For Robots ➜ Computron and bjornruffian work on their next collab, and Computron revisits memories of his creator ➜ and hello I had SO many sad robot feels and robot friendship feels! shrieking with delight ➜ 2k words in length

Summary: Guet Imm and Tet Sang reunite with Lau Fung Cheung by happenstance at a festival celebrating the Protectorate's victory over the Yamatese. ➜ yuletide fic - for The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water ➜ post-canon, Lau Fung Cheung runs into Tet Sang and Guet Imm at a festival ➜ lovely voice and povs! I really enjoyed this glimpse into their lives after what happens in canon ➜ 1k words in length

excerpt: Sandrine dropped into the chair beside me and stretched her back dramatically. I took the opportunity to admire the view, as I was sure she intended. “Ugh!” She wiggled her fingers high overhead. “Never be a compositor, Mylène my beauty. You’ll have to typeset a scholar’s list of sources in eight point, half of them in Greek.” “I don’t speak a word of Greek,” I pointed out, though it didn’t need saying. When would a girl from a little Normandy village have learned such a thing as Greek? Sandrine was the one who had grown up in this printshop two streets from the Quartier Latin, not me. I had the impression that she didn’t read it terribly well herself, come to that; the king’s censors had been striking out texts so eagerly recently that the shop had been taking on jobs we might ordinarily have farmed out. ➤ as one would expect from the venue, this short story is about historical lesbians! ➤ specifically, historical lesbians working in a parisian printshop in 1830 (2 years before Les Mis is set, if that's relevant for you) ➤ ahhhh I love all the different women in this story, their relationships with each other and their work and their beliefs ➤ and the main character a provincial girl who's finding a place for herself and coming to understand the world of revolutionary paris she's found herself in! ➤ I also love how real and grounded the printshop work is that they all do ➤ it was great from start to finish <3 ➤ and yes the author is a friend but I'm not biased at all!! ➤ 5k words in length ➤ available as written text and as podcast; I have been told that the podcast version is excellent too.

summary: In the present, Wei Ying finds himself separated from his family and friends when he travels to help Lan Zhan move into a new home. In the past, Nie Huaisang brings a new friend back from summer orchestra camp. ➤ an #mdzs #wangxian modern au set during the early days of the pandemic in 2020, with flashbacks to 2003 ➤ this fic is everything to me. it's just. so beautiful & good? grounded and present to its settings, seeing its characters with open-eyed affection, funny and heartbreakingly painful-hopeful and so, so gentle ➤ I love how the fic is about many relationships at once - wwx & the wens, wwx & jiang cheng, wwx & whatever he had going on with nhs back in the day, and of course, of course, wangxian. and all of these are vital relationships in wwx's life; all of them make him who he is ➤ a "straight boy wei ying" type fic; I love how compassionately wwx is viewed as he goes through his years-long process of realisation. the fic is never mean-spirited about wwx's lack of self-knowledge. he had a lot going on & was doing his best! ➤ I've read this fic at least 3 times and it hits just right every time ➤ 25k words

summary: Life is better with the other around. ➤ ahh what a lovely sweet little ficlet about Jingrui and Yujin's friendship!! I love them ➤ 400 words exactly, two double drabbles

summary: Quan Yizhen would like a little extra time with his shixiong this morning, though he couldn’t say why. ➤ sweet fic about yin yu doing preteen quan yizhen's hair ➤ qyz full of many emotions but not good at figuring out what they are ➤ or at figuring out what yy might be thinking ➤ <1k words

excerpt: If you were to drive to my sister Violet’s house today, you would find yourself at a very different place from the one I encountered on my first trip. The road up the mountain has been paved, for one thing, to make it more accessible to the tourists who now support it. Back then if you were behind the wheel of anything other than a farm truck, you were as likely to wreck an axle or lose a tire to the ruts; not knowing, I’d driven the Jag that day. ➤ fantasy novelette about family, and two sisters trying to reconnect after many years of estrangement ➤ a quiet and contemplative sort of vibe ➤ the slow reveals were effective ➤ I'm not quite sure about the pacing/vibe of the ending, but overall still a thoroughly interesting and enjoyable story ➤ 12k words in length

Summary: Ling Wen wakes up in Hua Cheng's bed. ➤ omg I am LIVING, someone wrote me so many words of ling wen fic wherein post-canon ling wen bodyswaps with xie lian ➤ the ling wen pov in this fic is sooooo good, her pragmatic approach to dealing with whatever happens in her life, her disinterest in attending to her emotions, her independence and unwillingness to rely on anyone who isn't her ➤ and seeing xie lian and hua cheng through ling wen's eyes is so good too!! ➤ there are so many fun character relationship dynamics, connected with a really fun premise, and I loved it all ➤ 8k words in length

summary: or: A piece of Ancient technology requires some honesty to grant access to its workings; Rodney and Jeannie find themselves telling each other a few unspoken truths. ➤ sga gen fic about Rodney and Jeannie's sibling relationship ➤ in order to access the Ancients' science thingy they need to tell each other truths....enough to make the door-opening device accept them ➤ some petty things get said but also, in the end, some pretty major acknowledgements ➤ I love this sibling pair and it's always a delight to see a fic focusing on their relationship with each other! ➤ the balance of their conversation and truth-telling and how it shifts over time is so well done ➤ 4k words in length

quote: The sand underfoot was still fresh with ripples where it had been raked to hide the blood. The sea rushed in over Leris’s feet, the wave in the water meeting the waves in the sand and smoothing out, inch by inch, the remaining evidence of the first bout. “Ready?” It was the first word Gerthe had spoken all day. The sun was just shy of its peak, bearing down on the spectators and the competitors in equal measure. It would have been different, in a proper amphitheatre: the two pairs of combatants would have regarded each other from the shaded safety of the tunnels, sizing the others up and taking the time to discuss strategy. But this was the archipelago, and one of the rimward isles besides, and the closest amphitheatre was a week’s sail away on Leshin. Here there was nothing but a patch of sand, bounded on one side by temporary wooden stands and on the other by the ocean. ➤ a full novella published online for free the same way a short story would be! ➤ secondary world fantasy about two women from the outskirts of empire, who don't fit the identities their cultures expect of them but are also out of place within the empire ➤ they're gladiators in a partnership where one in a pair of gladiators takes a "swordform" and the other wields them ➤ great characters and great worldbuilding and great reflections on identity in this context! ➤ I loved Leris and Gerthe, and Ulmo too ➤ and the Empress herself and her story is fascinating, and I can see how in a different narrative her backstory would be the focus of a heroic narrative, and I love that that's not the story we get, this isn't a "monarchy is good with the right person in charge" kind of story like so much fantasy is ➤ the narrative perspective on religion is really cool too ➤ 36k words in length

Summary: When Xiao Xuan tells her of the Chiyan rebellion and that her beloved grandson Prince Qi is to die, the Grand Empress Dowager takes drastic action. ➤ omg it's NiF genfic focusing on Tai-nainai and Gao-gonggong ➤ canon divergence AU where Tai-nainai hears about the Chiyan rebellion and decides to take her own action ➤ I love how well Tai-nainai and Gao-gonggong understand each other! ➤ thanks to @aegtx@wandering.shop for the rec! ➤ 1.3k words in length

quote: There are seven hundred aliens hidden in Miko’s backpack, and the Galactic Security Agent currently studying her passport (hopefully) has no clue. The agent is an alien themselves, some tentacular species with assistive devices hooked into its uniform to mist its soft skin every few seconds. A puff of evaporated solution exits from one of the devices by its neck as it draws her passport closer to its pitted eyes. ➤ a scifi short story set in space, about a smuggler who left her sister behind when she left the shitty planet she grew up on ➤ but her latest mission has her returning to that planet to deliver the goods ➤ (the goods are hundreds of teeny tiny sentient bioluminescent jellyfish fleeing civil war) ➤ I enjoyed the worldbuilding, and the difficult emotions about family, and how the things that felt world-endingly true at 17 don't need to be true forever ➤ 7k words in length

A woman visiting Las Vegas for a fun weekend encounters her ne’er-do-well ex-husband, who begs her for a favor that gambles with life and death… ➤ fantasy novelette about a jewish grandmother, after the death of her daughter, facing and dealing with the ways her troubled first marriage affected her life and her daughter ➤ Schanoes is so good at character and setting and emotion! ➤ and it's always great to have a story where the hero is an older woman ➤ 12k words in length

quote: Andrew was convinced the writer had been trans. By this point his friends were tired of hearing about it, but he had no one else to tell besides the internet, and he was too smart for that. That would be asking for it. ➤ short story about a trans man who's obsessed with the m/m novels of a dead historical novelist who he's convinced was trans ➤ and about the dreams he has where he meets her and talks with her ➤ it's a story that feels unsatisfying but like, in a satisfying way? ➤ idk how to explain! it makes me want to reread it 3 more times and think about the way one's relationship with oneself is mediated through the stories one reads and loves ➤ it's really good ➤ 6k words in length

Quote: Outside the viewport, light and shadow stitched a tapestry across the surface of Himalia. The shuttle ticked the countdown, thrusters firing to control descent to the docking cradle at Base Camp. I videoed everything, but the footage looked like a million other landings on a million other rocky airless surfaces. What made this different? Well, it was me, and this was home. ➤ Scifi novelette about growing up somewhere you always know you're going to have to leave eventually, because it was never intended to be permanent ➤ and leaving your best friend behind, who wants to never leave, because it's home ➤ it's really good!! I had a lot of feelings about the characters, and the way Niri is drawn in Jenny's life through her absence in this day of her return ➤ also it's set in space, on one of the satellites of Jupiter! ➤ wistful vibes ➤ 8k words in length

quote: Dad says Auntie was beautiful when she was young, with a bright-eyed gaze, pure yet alluring, and a slender, curving waist. When happy, her face was like springtime. When sorrowful, she was like a thin willow bending in the wind. Sometimes I try to imagine my aunt’s youthful beauty, and I end up thinking of those fox demon women in Zhiyi novels, eyes flickering like stars. With a slight twist of the demon’s waist, your soul is hers. But Auntie was the type who’s a thousand miles removed—aloof, full of rebuffs. Every boy who saw her back then suffered pangs of desire, yet they shunned her. Before Deng Baolin met her husband, she scratched the faces of thirteen boys. She was a prickly beauty, a thorny rose. In short, she was completely unlike the person before my eyes. ➤ scifi short story translated from chinese; originally published in 2021 ➤ it's a fascinating outside-outside pov, a nephew telling the story of his aunt, whose story is that of her famous physicist-astronaut husband ➤ the multiple layers of abstraction work well for this story -- and the narrative loops around itself in how it's told too, wandering forwards and backwards in time to circle around the heart of things ➤ which is really a story about family and about place and about how you decide what to prioritise in your life ➤ it's lovely and thoughtful and wistful. I really liked it! ➤ 7k words in length

Summary: Laurence says, “It is wholly natural, anyway, with no women around.” ➤ delightful post-canon queer gen temeraire fic ➤ ft. Laurence & Tharkay friendship, and Laurence realising some things about himself ➤ I love how much fun Tharkay can have teasing Laurence, and how Laurence despite his excess englishness is still willing to engage with the conversation! ➤ 800 words in length

Summary: “You honestly don’t mind?” Shen Qingqiu’s long fingers hover over Zhuzhi-Lang’s forearm, just shy of brushing against a patch of dark green scales. They shimmer beneath unforgiving sunlight. A sharp contrast to the wan skin that cuts through in uneven splotches. “How could this humble one mind?” Zhuzhi-Lang ducks his head, smiling. “If Immortal Master Shen wishes to further his education on the snake race, it is my honor to be of assistance.” ➤ an svsss fic wherein zhuzhi-lang lets sqq examine him to make notes about snake demons. they're both into it. ➤ it's so cute!! and funny. and very them! ➤ slash-flavoured gen ➤ 2k words in length

Summary: Prompt: Oblivious aro ace SQQ who somehow matchmakes everyone around him into perfectly happy relationships by giving wrong context but applicable advice. ➤ svsss fic wherein sqq is an oblivious aroace who just wants to be left alone to enjoy his disciple's company in peace (binghe even does the voices when he reads aloud!) but other people in his sect keep bothering him by needing things ➤ sqq has no idea that his efforts to get people's problems dealt with results in impressively effective matchmaking ➤ cute and fun! ➤ 6k words in length

Summary: “How could you let him?” she asked abruptly. It came out—menacing. Her own voice hadn’t been capable of conveying anger like that. If she’d tried very hard to rage, it would have been shrill and unimpressive, and if she’d spoken the way she’d tried to just now, it might have chilled the right room but it would still have sounded gentle. A-Cheng’s voice had no softness in it, and both boys went very still. ➤ mdzs/cql canon divergence au, where instead of mxy sacrificing himself to resurrect wwx, jc sacrifices himself to resurrect jyl ➤ jyl and wn and mxy eat soup together about it ➤ and jyl grapples with how she feels about everything that happened. and what she's going to do next ➤ and like. DANG I love it!!! ➤ 5k words in length

summary: <blockquote>“If you died,” Huaisang started, not knowing quite where he was going with this. “I mean, you did die, da-ge, but if someone had killed you… what would you want to happen next?” / In the wake of Nie Mingjue’s death, Nie Huaisang realises how much he’s been left in ignorance. How could the artsy little brother be left to run their ancestral asteroid-mining clan? What other secrets are hidden in his san-ge’s past? And how should he get revenge? Maybe having da-ge’s personality backed up on a server was supposed to help with all this. Maybe.</blockquote> ➤ mdzs space au about nie huaisang and his years-long project in avenging his da-ge ➤ a repeated theme throughout the fic is nhs visiting and talking to back-ups that had been taken of nmj's personality before death, and the way that this makes literal how HAUNTED nhs is by his brother's absence is just sooooooo good ➤ the worldbuilding is great, the things that are changed from canon due to this different context are great, the anguish and monofocus of nhs are great ➤ I AM ALL EMOTIONS ;_; ➤ 8k words in length

summary: <blockquote>When news reaches Qing Jing Peak of Luo Binghe’s ascension as the undisputed sect leader of Huan Hua Palace, Ming Fan seethes and Ning Yingying mourns.</blockquote> ➤ svsss gen fic about ning yingying and ming fan, reacting to the news about luo binghe becoming the sect leader of huan hua ➤ nyy and mf only know what they've seen, and their shizun is dead and luo binghe is behaving as if he has no love or loyalty left in him ➤ oof this is so GOOD, I had emotions at the end!!! ➤ 2k words in length

summary: <blockquote>Wen Qing’s world was small these days, but she was alive.</blockquote> ➤ this is a remix but you don't need to read the original to follow this one, as it follows a character who gets less focus in the original ➤ about wen qing and her interactions over the years with jin guangyao, in an au where she's imprisoned by him and helping him, after surviving leaving the burial mounds ➤ a great look at wen qing and her choices, and what she is and isn't able to do to affect things, and what she's willing to help with ➤ 2k words in length