Waiting for the posole we made for New Year's to settle in my stomach and for another reveal for a single-fandom holiday story exchange to reply to those comments, and so the requisite Yuletide reveal post, if somewhat late. In the meantime, happy 2009, and may it be infinitely better than 2008 for everyone, everywhere. A quiet changing of the year here - my mom and I had gone to a funeral for her cousin's husband, and so a rather somber end of year with some perilous driving on the way home, marked with a few Man from U.N.C.L.E. episodes and a small glass of wine, and a cacophony of gunshots and fireworks outside. A calming thought, at least, that they were fired in celebration and not in malice.

And so, my Yuletide offering for this year, Here as on a Darkling Plain, set six years after the end of Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. It's a rather introspective piece, from Guinevere's POV, and although it didn't garner many comments (although several of those comments were quite touching), I'm rather happy with it. My recipient, cheapmetaphor, had asked for a tale rich with detail, which I think I managed, and something well-written, which I truly aimed for. Although this story did the same, statistic-wide, as my other Yuletide offerings, I think this story had more than an inkling of my voice, which I'd like to encourage to come out in future works more than it usually does. And a huge, huge, huge thank you to otahyoni, who was my beta at the eleventh hour, and provided some much-needed trimming and guidance.

Firstly, you are utterly wonderful for writing this Yuletide story for me! My Yuletide story is almost always the first thing I open before everyone else wakes up, and it gives me such a warm, fuzzy feeling. Su much, much gratitude!

If anything in this letter is helpful, then feel free to use it. But ultimately, you should feel comfortable writing whatever works best for you - I know I'm already going to love it.

Generally, I'm comfortable with ratings up to R. NC-17 isn't my thing. I'm slash friendly (I write it myself!) and like my het, I don't go for explicit slash, just up to an R. I'm an equal opportunity prude. :) I like romance when it's untraditional/quirky/witty - Persuasion would probably be a perfect example of my ideal romance in the fandoms I picked. Witty dialogue and canon characterizations are probably my biggest loves, with OOCness probably my biggest 'meh' inducing factor.

For Spooks, the original team of Tom, Zoe and Danny is my favorite. Anything team-fic or with a little OT3ness would be fabulous. Jools Siviter needed to be in waaaaaay more episodes, and so if you could sneak him into a team fic, or even just have him and Tom going at it/USTing after each other, I'd love you to pieces.

For the Bartimaeus Trilogy, oh my goodness, anything would be wonderful. Mid-book or post book with any of the characters in it, especially Bartimaeus. This is one of my favorite books and so any Baritmaeus fic would just brighten my Christmas morning.

Persuasion! It was a tough choice, picking between this and P&P, but what can I say, I'm a sucker for the Navy! A post-book story with Anne and Captain Wentworth aboard his vessel would be fabulous, or anything in a Christmas setting if you wanted something a bit more lubberly!

You must be laughing at my Torchwood request! If you could sneak Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect through the rift that would be amazing, but a good Torchwood teamfic with plenty of Jack would be just as wonderful.

But thank you, thank you, my wonderful Yuletide Santa! *bakes you karma cookies*

This won't make sense to anyone not doing yuletide, but to a certain anonymous reader, here's your letter.

( First, let me thank you muchly... )