Fandom 5k Letter
Aug. 17th, 2022 05:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
galadriel1010Dear creator,
I am incredibly excited to see what you come up with for this exchange. Please note that I am entirely up for anything that is Like This, so if you've seen an idea in one that you think sounds perfect for another canon I've requested, feel free to smash those ideas together. I love crossovers, even with canons I'm not familiar with, as long as the canonical timelines work together and the worlds make sense. Feel free to sneak some recs in there by stealth and I will add them to the pile.
Class
Fandom specific DNWS:
N/A
What I like about the fandom:
This is the Doctor Who spin-off that basically no one has heard of. It was written by Patrick Ness, and is a YA series set in Coal Hill School, now Academy, in the aftermath of the Doctor's many visits. Time has worn thin, and the school now sits on top of a rift in time and space not unlike the one in Cardiff. The difference is that instead of an armed and experienced group of disaster bisexuals, Shoreditch has five teeenagers and a pissed off alien teacher who'd rather not be there to protect it. At the heart of the story are Charlie, an alien prince, and Miss Quill, his enslaved bodyguard who led a rebellion against Charlie's mother (which might have killed his father, depending on how you read it), who are the only survivors of an attack by the Shadowkin that consumed their entire planet. The Doctor saved them and brought them to Earth for a second chance, but they are followed by the Shadowkin, who believe that Charlie can destroy them. Not only do they have to save the world, but Miss Quill has to teach Physics to a load of uninterested sixth formers, and she's not letting Charlie out of his homework just because the aliens attacked before he could get to it.
The rest of the cast are great. There's April, who's carer for her badass disabled mum, a folk singer, and also dealing with Doctor Who-style shit, Ram, who is dealing with some Doctor Who-style shit, Tanya, who is grieving her dad and struggling to fit in as a scientific prodigy doing her A levels early and as a black teenager in London, and Matteusz, Charlie's Polish boyfriend who's dealing with homophobic parents and the effects of the Brexit vote.
This show deserved more than one series, but all it got was the 8 episodes, 6 hours long, so definitely worth checking out.
Matteusz Andrzejewski/Charlie Smith (Class)
What I like about them:
They're such a wonderful, well-balanced couple, even so young. They both bend and flex with each other, accepting and supporting each other but also challenging when needed. I would love to see them outside of the madness of those few months in the show, given the chance to breathe and experience the challenges and opportunities of that cusp of adulthood.
Crossover Fandom
Fandom specific DNWS:
N/A
What I like about the fandom:
I love all kinds of crossovers and am always open to crossovers I've not prompted between fandoms I've requested. My favourite kind is those where both canons coexist in the same universe, like Vera and Lewis having to work together on a case that touches both universities or the Doctor landing on THEDAS.
Lord Peter Wimsey (Lord Peter Wimsey) & Psmith (Psmith)
What I like about them:
I have not yet read either of these, but have promised to do so my reveals. All I've been told is that I should read them because they are right up my street.
Marjory Jackson (Psmith) & Marjorie Blaize (David Blaize)
What I like about them:
I have't read Psmith yet, but have promised to do so. Marjorie Blaize is my darling, though. I want her to find happiness and joy and adventure and pople who appreciate her.
Mike Jackson/Rupert Psmith (Psmith) & Archie Curtis/Daniel da Silva (England Series)
What I like about them:
I have't read Psmith yet, but have promised to do so. Anything that involves Archie and Daniel is automatically going to be the sort of chaos I am entirely here for.
Mike Jackson/Rupert Psmith (Psmith) & Oth: Worldbuilding (Chrestomanci)
What I like about them:
I have not yet read either of these, but have promised to do so my reveals. All I've been told is that I should read them because they are right up my street.
Saul Lazenby (Green Men Series) & Frank Maddox (David Blaize)
What I like about them:
Frank needs friends. That is my only thought. Again, I have not read the Green Men series, but I have been told in very vague and excited terms that I need to get on that
David Blaize - E. F. Benson
Fandom specific DNWS:
N/A
What I like about the fandom:
David Blaize is an absolute joy. I owe whoever recommended me the series a huge amount, although I still disagree with their assessment that it has too much cricket. The characters are just lovely people who have gentle adventures and disagreements, and even when it rains it's just a reason to have a good hot bath. I have read right through to the end of David of Kings, although I've not yet read David and the Blue Door, so anything from during the canon or into their future is right up my street. Frank is wonderful and needs someone to love him, and whilst I'd rather that be David I will accept anyone who accepts and loves him
Char: Frank Maddox (David Blaize)
What I like about them:
Please give Frank all the love he needs. I love how he tries to do the right thing and be a good person and make up for his mistakes, and how he's so desperately in love with David and so worried about but resigned to losing him. He's an archaologist and cricketer, and honestly I could not have invesnted a character more perfectly targeted at my id. If you want to work cricket in there, obviously I will owe you my soul.
Char: George "Bags" Crabtree
What I like about them:
I love Bags. He's such a lovely character and so funny. Devoted to David, who often doesn't deserve it, but so cheerful and solid throughout. I love that he goes on to stand for parliament in what was a really tumultuous time in UK politics. I'd love to see something historical about his politics, with or without the ensemble cast.
Char: Margery Blaize (David Blaize)
What I like about them:
My beloved. Margery Blaize is based on Benson's sister Margaret, who died tragically young between the publication of David Blaize and David of Kings, but she was a famulous woman. A writer herself and an archaeologist, she was the first woman to get a licence from the British Government to dig in Egypt, where the whole family joined her and she met Janet, her dig assistant and romantic partner for several years. I would love to see a story written about Margorie that pays tribute to Margaret or is somehow inspired by her. I do, however, also just love her in general. She's solid and reliable and funny, and I can see her getting involved in all sorts of 1920s politics and arts movements.
David Blaize/Frank Maddox
What I like about them:
David is just sunshine personified, and Frank needs that. The relationship between them in the books is wonderful, I love the hero worship morphing into real and lasting friendship, and the genuine love between them. I'm so here for David getting a clue, however long that takes, and for them to find happiness together
Hughes/Frank Maddox
What I like about them:
Ugh. My poor boys. These two deserve to find happiness and live their truth, and I would love to see them live it together. Even if Hughes isn't much of a cricketer. They both have a lot of baggage to work out. It'd be interesting to see how they framed their experiences within the contemporary theories of Uranian love and the burgeoning understanding of queer sexualities. Not really interested in modern AUs for this, but I could probably be persuaded.
Discworld - Terry Pratchett
Fandom specific DNWS:
N/A
What I like about the fandom:
These books are just such absolute comfort reads from start to finish, but my favourite section is the Industrial Revolution stories (The Truth, Going Postal and Making Money particularly, plus Night Watch) that deal with urban development and social revolution and all of that juicy mess in a city that is at the same time wonderfully real and absolute nonsense. It's a delightful opportunity to dig into some really nerdy interests and understand it through a different lens, whilst also making some very silly jokes.
Char: Moist von Lipwig (Discworld)
What I like about them:
I love him. He's such an idiot. That combination of adrenaline junkie and practical, ridiculous administrator plus the absolute competence? Catnip, honestly.
Char: Original Entrepreneur Character (Discworld)
What I like about them:
The Discworld is such a good opportunity to take your niche interest and make it weird. Please, infodump at me. Write the truly nerdy, over-researched story of your heart and I will join you in it. I already loved stamps before I read going Postal, but I had no idea how much more I could love them and I definitely knew nothing about banking. I will follow wherever you lead
Oth: Worldbuilding (Discworld)
What I like about them:
The Discworld is such a good opportunity to take your niche interest and make it weird. Please, infodump at me. Write the truly nerdy, over-researched story of your heart and I will join you in it. I already loved stamps before I read going Postal, but I had no idea how much more I could love them and I definitely knew nothing about banking. I will follow wherever you lead
King of Avalon: Frost and Flame
Fandom specific DNWS:
N/A
What I like about the fandom:
It makes no sense, but it compels me. It’s a bog standard fantasy world with refugees to rescue, treasure to find, frost basilisks, orks, centaurs and orthoses and now Unmelted to fight. Also, for some weird reason it has Mulan and Santa as unlockable characters. There’s also a plotline about Mordred trying to claim the throne of King Arthur and a war among the Knights of the Round Table, I’m not sure how that’s supposed to relate to the Sir Orlando storyline because, quite honestly, it’s kicking my ass and I can’t get through it. It’s a very silly mobile game and the reason I’ve done barely any reading or writing for weeks.
Lord Blacksmith/Orlando the Nightshard (King of Avalon)
What I like about them:
It's a bit of a chosen one narrative, a bit of a 'us together against the world', a bit of a second chance. You play as a blacksmith whose town is attacked by the Unfrozen. Just when all hope seems lost, a knight and his men arrive with a dragon egg, help you to defend the city, and then guard your retreat as you flee to Dragonshield with the egg. You become the lord of Dragonshield and a dragon rider, but you can't stop thinking about the knight who saved you. Then, of course, he turns up and everything is complicated because he's now cursed. This game has no plot or worldbuilding, you never even get to fly your dragon, but it has such a glorious opportunity for pining and grief and angst. Rip my heart out and feed it to my dragon, honestly. Make me cry. Make me curse your name. And then make it better.
Magic in Manhattan - Allie Therin
Fandom specific DNWS:
N/A
What I like about the fandom:
I just have so many feelings about this series. It's got everything. Historical detail, interesting characters, well-plotted adventures, angst, romance, hurt-comfort. The New York setting is one I'm not that familiar with, and I love that she gets out of the usual corners to explore the local area.
Rory Brodigan/Arthur Kenzie (Magic in Manhattan)
What I like about them:
I can't decide whether my pull quote for these two is "Tell him to stop. I'm angry with him and he's breaking my heart" or "I'm not over-protective." "You won't let me walk on the outside of the pavement." "There are some really bad drivers around here." I love this series in general, the worldbuilding and the historical details, the diverse and believable cast with strengths and weaknesses that are the flip side of the same coin, but Rory and Arthur have rapidly wormed their way into my heart as my favourite couple. Arthur's protectiveness, Rory's abandonment issues, the class divide, the height difference and size kink, it's all absolute catnip. They work really well together and I love seeing that side of them as much as the adorable fluff and found family vibes. Historical detail always gleefully appreciated, but not necessary.
Original Work
Fandom specific DNWS:
N/A
What I like about the fandom:
Chances are that if I'm requesting original work it's because I saw the tag and had no ideas for it but wanted to read it immediately. In general I love excessive worldbuilding, complex relationships between characters, expansive and diverse casts, and lush descriptions I want to roll around in. Heavily geeky background knowledge is my catnip, and I love in-universe documents and different narrative styles. Basically, my fandom likes are similar to my OW likes
M!Edwardian Cricketer/M!Journalist (OW)
What I like about them:
So the thing you need to understand about cricket, even now, is that they're away for a really, really long time. The tour of 1928 left London on the 15th September and returned on the 20th April. That's 7 months away from home. They didn't reach Australia until the 16th October - a month at sea. They lived in each other's pockets. And the players were big celebrities. The amateurs, particularly, could earn a fortune in sponsorships, but there was a massive class gulf between the amateurs and the professionals. And did I mention that most of the berths would have been two beds to a cabin? The possibilities are endless.
Raffles - E. W. Hornung
Fandom specific DNWS:
N/a
What I like about the fandom:
Raffles! I love how Hornung wrestles with the morality of his antihero, the excitement of the heist, the 'other' cases that Raffles and Bunny take on together (have you noticed how few of the stories are actually straight-forward burglaries? There's only a handful in the entire collection). The window onto society of the time is so interesting, seen as it is from a different perspective that gets into the bedrooms and dressing rooms of the nobility without ever truly entering that part of society. I love all eras of their adventures, but I'd also love to see things spun off from the happier ending of the TV show, maybe with Raffles and Bunny now pressed into service for Queen and Country.
Bunny Manders/A. J. Raffles
What I like about them:
Everything. Just everything. They're so frustrating and wonderful, and so in love with each other and, a bit, themselves. And can Bunny go five words without telling the reader how attractive Raffles is? Really no.
Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch
Fandom specific DNWS:
Nightingale/Peter
What I like about the fandom:
Ben Aaronovitch has somehow taken all of my favourite things - magical realism, excessive levels of detail, murder mysteries, London, architecture and sarcasm - and blended them into a series of books I could reread endlessly. The characters are all so endearing and detailed, the narration is a joy, the theory behind it is both sound and confusing. Could only be improved by the addition of cricket, but that's a very minor omission. You can tell he knows and loves his city
Peter Grant & Thomas Nightingale (RoL)
What I like about them:
I love how well they work together. The mentor-mentee relationship between them is such a delight, especially the way that it's made more complex by the absolutely vast age difference, the class difference and the way that Peter's race and Nightingale's upbringing as a product and tool of the British Empire play into it, and also by Nightingale's memories of his own school days and the friends he lost in the war. I'm a big Nightingale/Mellenby shipper, but even as a friendship I love how his friendship with Peter is coloured by his friendship with David. I also adore that Peter is just irrepressibly, hopelessly geeky, and how often Nightingale has to rein him back in before he gets distracted or cauliflowers his brain
The Will Darling Adventures - K. J. Charles
Fandom specific DNWS:
N/A
What I like about the fandom:
Casefic set in the 1920s? With spies and class conflict and deep survivor's guilt, and a bookshop? I'm so there.
Char: Kim Secretan (The Will Darling Adventures)
Char: Maisie Jones (The Will Darling Adventures)
Maisie Jones & Will Darling (The Will Darling Adventures)
Maisie Jones/Phoebe Stephens-Prince & Kim Secretan/Will Darling (The Will Darling Adventures)
Maisie Jones/Phoebe Stephens-Prince (The Will Darling Adventures)
Will Darling/Kim Secretan & Archie Curtis/Daniel da Silva (Will Darling Adventures)
Will Darling/Kim Secretan (Will Darling Adventures)
What I like about them:
I adore all of these ridiculous creatures. They're so much fun, with all the friction and ruffles and joy between them. The romances are wonderful, the class issues are catnip, the heists amazing. I would honestly be entirely here for a lavender marriage between Kim, Will, Phoebe and Maisie, because I think it would work really well but there would also be some really enjoyable conflicts between them on the way. But also just heists and adventures, and Phoebe saving the day with her cloud of Bright Young Things. I love the 20s, they were such a messy period. Love some Art Deco, Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts, too."
I am incredibly excited to see what you come up with for this exchange. Please note that I am entirely up for anything that is Like This, so if you've seen an idea in one that you think sounds perfect for another canon I've requested, feel free to smash those ideas together. I love crossovers, even with canons I'm not familiar with, as long as the canonical timelines work together and the worlds make sense. Feel free to sneak some recs in there by stealth and I will add them to the pile.
Class
Fandom specific DNWS:
N/A
What I like about the fandom:
This is the Doctor Who spin-off that basically no one has heard of. It was written by Patrick Ness, and is a YA series set in Coal Hill School, now Academy, in the aftermath of the Doctor's many visits. Time has worn thin, and the school now sits on top of a rift in time and space not unlike the one in Cardiff. The difference is that instead of an armed and experienced group of disaster bisexuals, Shoreditch has five teeenagers and a pissed off alien teacher who'd rather not be there to protect it. At the heart of the story are Charlie, an alien prince, and Miss Quill, his enslaved bodyguard who led a rebellion against Charlie's mother (which might have killed his father, depending on how you read it), who are the only survivors of an attack by the Shadowkin that consumed their entire planet. The Doctor saved them and brought them to Earth for a second chance, but they are followed by the Shadowkin, who believe that Charlie can destroy them. Not only do they have to save the world, but Miss Quill has to teach Physics to a load of uninterested sixth formers, and she's not letting Charlie out of his homework just because the aliens attacked before he could get to it.
The rest of the cast are great. There's April, who's carer for her badass disabled mum, a folk singer, and also dealing with Doctor Who-style shit, Ram, who is dealing with some Doctor Who-style shit, Tanya, who is grieving her dad and struggling to fit in as a scientific prodigy doing her A levels early and as a black teenager in London, and Matteusz, Charlie's Polish boyfriend who's dealing with homophobic parents and the effects of the Brexit vote.
This show deserved more than one series, but all it got was the 8 episodes, 6 hours long, so definitely worth checking out.
Matteusz Andrzejewski/Charlie Smith (Class)
What I like about them:
They're such a wonderful, well-balanced couple, even so young. They both bend and flex with each other, accepting and supporting each other but also challenging when needed. I would love to see them outside of the madness of those few months in the show, given the chance to breathe and experience the challenges and opportunities of that cusp of adulthood.
Crossover Fandom
Fandom specific DNWS:
N/A
What I like about the fandom:
I love all kinds of crossovers and am always open to crossovers I've not prompted between fandoms I've requested. My favourite kind is those where both canons coexist in the same universe, like Vera and Lewis having to work together on a case that touches both universities or the Doctor landing on THEDAS.
Lord Peter Wimsey (Lord Peter Wimsey) & Psmith (Psmith)
What I like about them:
I have not yet read either of these, but have promised to do so my reveals. All I've been told is that I should read them because they are right up my street.
Marjory Jackson (Psmith) & Marjorie Blaize (David Blaize)
What I like about them:
I have't read Psmith yet, but have promised to do so. Marjorie Blaize is my darling, though. I want her to find happiness and joy and adventure and pople who appreciate her.
Mike Jackson/Rupert Psmith (Psmith) & Archie Curtis/Daniel da Silva (England Series)
What I like about them:
I have't read Psmith yet, but have promised to do so. Anything that involves Archie and Daniel is automatically going to be the sort of chaos I am entirely here for.
Mike Jackson/Rupert Psmith (Psmith) & Oth: Worldbuilding (Chrestomanci)
What I like about them:
I have not yet read either of these, but have promised to do so my reveals. All I've been told is that I should read them because they are right up my street.
Saul Lazenby (Green Men Series) & Frank Maddox (David Blaize)
What I like about them:
Frank needs friends. That is my only thought. Again, I have not read the Green Men series, but I have been told in very vague and excited terms that I need to get on that
David Blaize - E. F. Benson
Fandom specific DNWS:
N/A
What I like about the fandom:
David Blaize is an absolute joy. I owe whoever recommended me the series a huge amount, although I still disagree with their assessment that it has too much cricket. The characters are just lovely people who have gentle adventures and disagreements, and even when it rains it's just a reason to have a good hot bath. I have read right through to the end of David of Kings, although I've not yet read David and the Blue Door, so anything from during the canon or into their future is right up my street. Frank is wonderful and needs someone to love him, and whilst I'd rather that be David I will accept anyone who accepts and loves him
Char: Frank Maddox (David Blaize)
What I like about them:
Please give Frank all the love he needs. I love how he tries to do the right thing and be a good person and make up for his mistakes, and how he's so desperately in love with David and so worried about but resigned to losing him. He's an archaologist and cricketer, and honestly I could not have invesnted a character more perfectly targeted at my id. If you want to work cricket in there, obviously I will owe you my soul.
Char: George "Bags" Crabtree
What I like about them:
I love Bags. He's such a lovely character and so funny. Devoted to David, who often doesn't deserve it, but so cheerful and solid throughout. I love that he goes on to stand for parliament in what was a really tumultuous time in UK politics. I'd love to see something historical about his politics, with or without the ensemble cast.
Char: Margery Blaize (David Blaize)
What I like about them:
My beloved. Margery Blaize is based on Benson's sister Margaret, who died tragically young between the publication of David Blaize and David of Kings, but she was a famulous woman. A writer herself and an archaeologist, she was the first woman to get a licence from the British Government to dig in Egypt, where the whole family joined her and she met Janet, her dig assistant and romantic partner for several years. I would love to see a story written about Margorie that pays tribute to Margaret or is somehow inspired by her. I do, however, also just love her in general. She's solid and reliable and funny, and I can see her getting involved in all sorts of 1920s politics and arts movements.
David Blaize/Frank Maddox
What I like about them:
David is just sunshine personified, and Frank needs that. The relationship between them in the books is wonderful, I love the hero worship morphing into real and lasting friendship, and the genuine love between them. I'm so here for David getting a clue, however long that takes, and for them to find happiness together
Hughes/Frank Maddox
What I like about them:
Ugh. My poor boys. These two deserve to find happiness and live their truth, and I would love to see them live it together. Even if Hughes isn't much of a cricketer. They both have a lot of baggage to work out. It'd be interesting to see how they framed their experiences within the contemporary theories of Uranian love and the burgeoning understanding of queer sexualities. Not really interested in modern AUs for this, but I could probably be persuaded.
Discworld - Terry Pratchett
Fandom specific DNWS:
N/A
What I like about the fandom:
These books are just such absolute comfort reads from start to finish, but my favourite section is the Industrial Revolution stories (The Truth, Going Postal and Making Money particularly, plus Night Watch) that deal with urban development and social revolution and all of that juicy mess in a city that is at the same time wonderfully real and absolute nonsense. It's a delightful opportunity to dig into some really nerdy interests and understand it through a different lens, whilst also making some very silly jokes.
Char: Moist von Lipwig (Discworld)
What I like about them:
I love him. He's such an idiot. That combination of adrenaline junkie and practical, ridiculous administrator plus the absolute competence? Catnip, honestly.
Char: Original Entrepreneur Character (Discworld)
What I like about them:
The Discworld is such a good opportunity to take your niche interest and make it weird. Please, infodump at me. Write the truly nerdy, over-researched story of your heart and I will join you in it. I already loved stamps before I read going Postal, but I had no idea how much more I could love them and I definitely knew nothing about banking. I will follow wherever you lead
Oth: Worldbuilding (Discworld)
What I like about them:
The Discworld is such a good opportunity to take your niche interest and make it weird. Please, infodump at me. Write the truly nerdy, over-researched story of your heart and I will join you in it. I already loved stamps before I read going Postal, but I had no idea how much more I could love them and I definitely knew nothing about banking. I will follow wherever you lead
King of Avalon: Frost and Flame
Fandom specific DNWS:
N/A
What I like about the fandom:
It makes no sense, but it compels me. It’s a bog standard fantasy world with refugees to rescue, treasure to find, frost basilisks, orks, centaurs and orthoses and now Unmelted to fight. Also, for some weird reason it has Mulan and Santa as unlockable characters. There’s also a plotline about Mordred trying to claim the throne of King Arthur and a war among the Knights of the Round Table, I’m not sure how that’s supposed to relate to the Sir Orlando storyline because, quite honestly, it’s kicking my ass and I can’t get through it. It’s a very silly mobile game and the reason I’ve done barely any reading or writing for weeks.
Lord Blacksmith/Orlando the Nightshard (King of Avalon)
What I like about them:
It's a bit of a chosen one narrative, a bit of a 'us together against the world', a bit of a second chance. You play as a blacksmith whose town is attacked by the Unfrozen. Just when all hope seems lost, a knight and his men arrive with a dragon egg, help you to defend the city, and then guard your retreat as you flee to Dragonshield with the egg. You become the lord of Dragonshield and a dragon rider, but you can't stop thinking about the knight who saved you. Then, of course, he turns up and everything is complicated because he's now cursed. This game has no plot or worldbuilding, you never even get to fly your dragon, but it has such a glorious opportunity for pining and grief and angst. Rip my heart out and feed it to my dragon, honestly. Make me cry. Make me curse your name. And then make it better.
Magic in Manhattan - Allie Therin
Fandom specific DNWS:
N/A
What I like about the fandom:
I just have so many feelings about this series. It's got everything. Historical detail, interesting characters, well-plotted adventures, angst, romance, hurt-comfort. The New York setting is one I'm not that familiar with, and I love that she gets out of the usual corners to explore the local area.
Rory Brodigan/Arthur Kenzie (Magic in Manhattan)
What I like about them:
I can't decide whether my pull quote for these two is "Tell him to stop. I'm angry with him and he's breaking my heart" or "I'm not over-protective." "You won't let me walk on the outside of the pavement." "There are some really bad drivers around here." I love this series in general, the worldbuilding and the historical details, the diverse and believable cast with strengths and weaknesses that are the flip side of the same coin, but Rory and Arthur have rapidly wormed their way into my heart as my favourite couple. Arthur's protectiveness, Rory's abandonment issues, the class divide, the height difference and size kink, it's all absolute catnip. They work really well together and I love seeing that side of them as much as the adorable fluff and found family vibes. Historical detail always gleefully appreciated, but not necessary.
Original Work
Fandom specific DNWS:
N/A
What I like about the fandom:
Chances are that if I'm requesting original work it's because I saw the tag and had no ideas for it but wanted to read it immediately. In general I love excessive worldbuilding, complex relationships between characters, expansive and diverse casts, and lush descriptions I want to roll around in. Heavily geeky background knowledge is my catnip, and I love in-universe documents and different narrative styles. Basically, my fandom likes are similar to my OW likes
M!Edwardian Cricketer/M!Journalist (OW)
What I like about them:
So the thing you need to understand about cricket, even now, is that they're away for a really, really long time. The tour of 1928 left London on the 15th September and returned on the 20th April. That's 7 months away from home. They didn't reach Australia until the 16th October - a month at sea. They lived in each other's pockets. And the players were big celebrities. The amateurs, particularly, could earn a fortune in sponsorships, but there was a massive class gulf between the amateurs and the professionals. And did I mention that most of the berths would have been two beds to a cabin? The possibilities are endless.
Raffles - E. W. Hornung
Fandom specific DNWS:
N/a
What I like about the fandom:
Raffles! I love how Hornung wrestles with the morality of his antihero, the excitement of the heist, the 'other' cases that Raffles and Bunny take on together (have you noticed how few of the stories are actually straight-forward burglaries? There's only a handful in the entire collection). The window onto society of the time is so interesting, seen as it is from a different perspective that gets into the bedrooms and dressing rooms of the nobility without ever truly entering that part of society. I love all eras of their adventures, but I'd also love to see things spun off from the happier ending of the TV show, maybe with Raffles and Bunny now pressed into service for Queen and Country.
Bunny Manders/A. J. Raffles
What I like about them:
Everything. Just everything. They're so frustrating and wonderful, and so in love with each other and, a bit, themselves. And can Bunny go five words without telling the reader how attractive Raffles is? Really no.
Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch
Fandom specific DNWS:
Nightingale/Peter
What I like about the fandom:
Ben Aaronovitch has somehow taken all of my favourite things - magical realism, excessive levels of detail, murder mysteries, London, architecture and sarcasm - and blended them into a series of books I could reread endlessly. The characters are all so endearing and detailed, the narration is a joy, the theory behind it is both sound and confusing. Could only be improved by the addition of cricket, but that's a very minor omission. You can tell he knows and loves his city
Peter Grant & Thomas Nightingale (RoL)
What I like about them:
I love how well they work together. The mentor-mentee relationship between them is such a delight, especially the way that it's made more complex by the absolutely vast age difference, the class difference and the way that Peter's race and Nightingale's upbringing as a product and tool of the British Empire play into it, and also by Nightingale's memories of his own school days and the friends he lost in the war. I'm a big Nightingale/Mellenby shipper, but even as a friendship I love how his friendship with Peter is coloured by his friendship with David. I also adore that Peter is just irrepressibly, hopelessly geeky, and how often Nightingale has to rein him back in before he gets distracted or cauliflowers his brain
The Will Darling Adventures - K. J. Charles
Fandom specific DNWS:
N/A
What I like about the fandom:
Casefic set in the 1920s? With spies and class conflict and deep survivor's guilt, and a bookshop? I'm so there.
Char: Kim Secretan (The Will Darling Adventures)
Char: Maisie Jones (The Will Darling Adventures)
Maisie Jones & Will Darling (The Will Darling Adventures)
Maisie Jones/Phoebe Stephens-Prince & Kim Secretan/Will Darling (The Will Darling Adventures)
Maisie Jones/Phoebe Stephens-Prince (The Will Darling Adventures)
Will Darling/Kim Secretan & Archie Curtis/Daniel da Silva (Will Darling Adventures)
Will Darling/Kim Secretan (Will Darling Adventures)
What I like about them:
I adore all of these ridiculous creatures. They're so much fun, with all the friction and ruffles and joy between them. The romances are wonderful, the class issues are catnip, the heists amazing. I would honestly be entirely here for a lavender marriage between Kim, Will, Phoebe and Maisie, because I think it would work really well but there would also be some really enjoyable conflicts between them on the way. But also just heists and adventures, and Phoebe saving the day with her cloud of Bright Young Things. I love the 20s, they were such a messy period. Love some Art Deco, Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts, too."
