LINKDING

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

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: 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: 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

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: 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>Eveline yellow-dressed golden-hair. Eveline. She came to me four years ago. I think it was four years. Maybe five. No, no. Seven. Time passes so strangely now, after so long, the world drip-dropped now like honey, sticky and swimming. I was a different woman once. So bright and sharp. Now I have the dreaming sickness, a cruel twist of modern medicine, time coming unglued, the price we pay for longevity. If you can pay for all the treatment, you all end up like me in the end. Not the old kind of dementia, where you abandon pieces of yourself to time, no, we’ve cured that—this kind is new, I abandon nothing, all of it just as sharp and kept as ever within the cage of my mind. The dreaming sickness takes away its relevance, its place. I am, as Vonnegut said, unstuck in time.</blockquote> ➤ A sci-fi short story about an elderly woman hundreds of years old, making use of every life extending treatment she can, but her grasp on time and on memory is no longer good ➤ Focuses on her relationship with her family, with her home aide, with her fear of death, with her experience of the confusion of past and present ➤ Evocative melancholy wistful tone, really effective! ➤ At the end of the story I'm left with many questions, but in a good way ➤ 4k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>A facet of reality where Quan Yizhen has something Hua Cheng wants, for a change.</blockquote> ➤ tgcf canon divergence au where quan yizhen finds the coffin containing the guoshi fangxin ➤ a fun look at a different way for xie lian and hua cheng to meet again, and for quan yizhen and yin yu to meet again! ➤ 9k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>Jiang Cheng realises that his own nephew has never tried his mother's signature dish, and takes it upon himself to rectify this. [Recipe at the end]</blockquote> ➤ post-canon, jiang cheng realises jin ling has never tasted his mother's soup ➤ cue the epic quest to learn how to recreate it, and the things he learns along the way ➤ lovely fic about family and about food ➤ 4k words in length ➤ thanks to stultiloquentia for the rec!

Summary: <blockquote>Ojoa and I had to keep Dr. Brinsen happy, because he was going to save the world. Under his leadership, Matora Facility had been tasked with ending the deadly outbreak that had earned our planet the designation of failed colony in the Interstellar feeds. Immunodeficiency was common on terraformed worlds, but novel pathogens rarely survived the medical regimens that kept colonists safe. Our virus, the exception, had killed thousands and put an end to off-world transit. Compared with the work of developing a cure, Ojoa’s projects were fanciful distractions. I was a distraction.</blockquote> ➤ an original story about AI personhood, and about the bond between one AI who is different from the others, and their bond with a human who is different from other humans ➤ it's also about the difficulties of caregiving during a pandemic, and the toll it takes ➤ a beautiful, quiet, tender story about finding where you belong, no matter what others think ➤ and ultimately, in my read, about a neurodivergent robot and a queerplatonic relationship, which like. AS ALWAYS, TAKE ME TO THERE. I'm here for it. ➤ 6k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>Maribel heard but did not see when the new pig-boy was named. She never went down into the village of San Rafael if she could help it. But she couldn’t miss the wailing lament of the village mothers echoing from the church courtyard, a wrenching sound, though traditional and expected. It made Maribel shiver despite the heat. It had only been a month, Only a month without a pig-boy. But she should have known that the new one would have to be named soon. The sun was retreating, the nights getting longer, and that meant the high season for pilgrims was coming.</blockquote> ➤ in a village where people possessed by demons are turned into javelinas, cared for by a pig-boy for the rest of their lives, what happens when the new pig-boy has a little too much empathy for his charges? ➤ excellent use of fantasy alternate world to engage with questions of the failures of the justice system and the penal system, and the ways people become complicit with the system ➤ really well done pov character ➤ 5k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>The far stall in the ladies room in the Land of the Dead was backed up again. The day had already started terribly, with an email that hit my phone as I walked the 387 steps from my staff cabin to the front desk, an email from Lana saying Vera, I wanted you to find out directly from me that I’ve started seeing somebody. Call if you want to talk.</blockquote> ➤ about queer intergenerational friendship and mentorship, about being a young adult trying to find your place, about death and what it means to you, about living through the death of all your peers and coming out the other side, about hope and love and making connections. ➤ holy shit this gave me so many emotions. READ IT READ IT READ IT. ➤ also I adore the title. pinsker writes great titles. ➤ 6k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>The truth was they had been friends. Three months is a long time to spend with someone, day after day, sharing meals and weary hours. At the time, Jiang Cheng really didn’t have anyone else and neither did Lan Wangji. It wasn’t only the search that bound them, but the desperation as well: that there might be some mercy in the world left for the two of them. That out of everyone else they’d lost, Wei Wuxian at least should live.</blockquote> ➤ exploring the relationship between Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji; the three months of almost-friendship when they were searching for Wei Wuxian together, and then the many years of hatred that followed ➤ and yet lwj saves jc's life when he's injured in a night hunt. but they still hate each other. ➤ the deep well of bitterness on both sides, as both feel fully justified in their hate! god it's so good. the vibes in this fic are impeccable. ➤ 2k words in length ➤ thanks by-lookitmychicken for the rec!

Summary: <blockquote>One of Kazul's grandchildren is shoved not-so-gently out of the nest.</blockquote> ➤ an Enchanted Forest Chronicles fic that takes place post-canon, about one of Kazul's grandchildren ➤ featuring a dragon who doesn't want to have to choose a gender in order to be considered an adult, and a princess who's also a prince ➤ the next generation finding their own ways to be "improper" and shock the the older generation! gender experiences outside the binary! a very fun dragon-and-princess relationship! I loved it all ➤ 8k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>It's been more than a week since Artemisia last got a letter from Marguerite.</blockquote> ➤ Artemisia/Marguerite fic for the book Vespertine, a post-canon adventure ➤ look I have a terrible memory and don't remember most of what happened in Vespertine but I DO remember I loved the book, and this felt like a great addition to it ➤ Artemisia stops getting letters from Marguerite and immediately knows it means something is wrong and goes after her ➤ investigating a creepy group of people with the help of her revenant! ➤ Marguerite isn't just a damsel waiting for rescue! ➤ I really enjoyed it ➤ 8k words in length

no summary ➤ fic for The Left Hand of Darkness, set generations after canon! ➤ a young person of Gethen dreams of journeying out to join the rest of the Ekumen; their parent tells them the story of the Envoy and of Estraven ➤ I love this outside perspective on the characters we know and love from canon, and what must have/might have happened to them, and the stories they've become in the generations since! ➤ the original characters are wonderful also, bringing a great dynamic to the discussion of what it means to be a Gethenian vs an Outsider, and to the consideration of what a story means and what it means to tell that story ➤ yuletide always brings fabulous left hand of darkness fics and this one is no exception! ➤ 2k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>After the end of everything, Hark returns to his old, familiar job at Sanctuary. Life, however, does not return to normal. It begins with small things—things far too small to notice. Open windows that ought to be closed, doors that slam themselves shut, objects in the wrong places. Coincidences. It becomes something far worse.</blockquote> ➤ fic for the Frances Hardinge book "Deeplight" ➤ focusing on the friendship between Hark and Jelt ➤ absolutely perfect creepy vibes, and capturing what's compelling to Hark about his friendship with Jelt despite everything ➤ also perfect bits about Quest as mentor-figure! ➤ 4k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>"Twins are the same" is a cliché. Or, Dorachar- Clifford, the early years. char-and Jean</blockquote> ➤ Fic for the two-person roleplay game Debrief (I LOVE DEBRIEF!!!!) ➤ featuring Dora and Jean, the wives of the player characters in the game, and I love how it makes them real people with their own complex relationship with each other! ➤ I also love what it does with footnotes, it is a GENIUS way of doing pov things for this particular canon ➤ ahhhh there are so many great details in the fic too! ➤ 3k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>In which Vucub-Kamé is worried, Hun-Kamé is in denial and Casiopea Tun is perfectly happy. (post-canon)</blockquote> ➤ fic for Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Gods of Jade and Shadow ➤ such a fun pov choice to have it from Vucub-Kame's perspective! ➤ I loved the arguments between Vucub-Kame and Hun-Kame, and between Hun-Kame and Casiopeia! ➤ 2k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>When Mu Qing glanced over at Xie Lian beside him, he was startled to find him already watching him. A small smile played on his lips. “You know, Mu Qing,” he started—and if Mu Qing didn’t know any better he would say he sounded almost shy— “no one else that I fight with feels like a challenge. You’re the best of them all.” Mu Qing’s throat was tight and his face was hot, like he was going to cry. His eyes were quite dry, though. “You’re the best. You always will be.” / Mu Qing can't seem to reconcile the simple facts of his relationship to the crown prince with his more complicated feelings for Xie Lian.</blockquote> ➤ mu qing pov from the xianle trio era ➤ ft. class issues and teen relationship drama ➤ xie lian is an enormous martial arts nerd and a naive but shining prince; mu qing is pining but hyper-aware of class boundaries and how everyone sees him; feng xin is ready to judge ➤ it's so great and succeeds so well at what it's doing, I love it ➤ I love the last scene, which it ends on, about xie lian's appearance after he ascends. perfect ending to the fic ➤ 7k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>The reality of things happening in order, one after another after another, is not at all like the Doctor imagined it would be.</blockquote> ➤ I left the doctor who era of my life behind in 2012 but when one of my beloved doctor who friends posted a new fic today inspired by the newest doctor who happenings, I had to read it ➤ and guess what I had SO many feelings! the doctor! and donna! and finding ways to rest and live a linear life on earth with people he cares about and learning how to find the mundane things worth paying attention to! ➤ 3k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>In the wake of Shen Qingqiu's death, the Old Palace Master decides to take what he thinks is an opportunity. Luo Binghe makes him regret it.</blockquote> ➤ lbh is having a totally chill time of it having a breakdown after his shizun dies ➤ the old palace master of huan hua is ALSO having a totally separate chill breakdown about once again having a disciple under his control (....he thinks) who looks like su xiyan ➤ when their breakdowns intersect, no prizes for guessing who wins lol ➤ It's Time For Binghe Angst ➤ such a good view into what might have happened at the very beginning of the 5 year period where sqq is dead! ➤ 5k words in length