"All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses"

October 19, 2020 6:02 PM

Four sweet pieces of fan fiction in which characters watch election returns come in. The one for which you least need to know the underlying canon: "A Great and Gruesome Height" by Jae Gecko, a queer romance that pays homage to the Dar Williams song "Iowa" along with The West Wing. "It's 1998, Josiah Bartlet is the Democratic nominee battling sitting Republican President Lawrence Armstrong for the Oval Office, and back in Iowa, Republican campaign coordinator Megan Richter is about to fall from a great and gruesome height." (This is a Yuletide story, and you can sign up for this year's Yuletide exchange between now and 9am UTC on 26 October.)

Another West Wing piece: "Election Days" by Raven (singlecrow), which puts the team in a Star Trek future, administering a Federation-wide election. "Someone on some godforsaken little moon out towards the Beta Quadrant is applying for certiorari because [the candidate] once took an undocumented transporter and thus is legally a clone."

If you enjoyed Dykes to Watch Out For, take a look at "Five New Love Truths You Need To Know" by sprat (unfortunately missing the illustrations it had when first published), about a trans teen figuring out dating.

Anyway, it's all dark on the second floor because everybody's down in the living room, where the TV is, crowded in anxious and sweaty on the couches and the floor and wherever they can fit, eating vegan nachos and watching the results come in. Janis was there for a while and it felt like being in a rollercoaster during the climb to the top, when everybody's breathless and grabbing each other's arms and clinging on like that could save you, laughing and waiting and terrified. The polls say it's going to happen but what if the polls are wrong? So they're here to get the news together, no matter what...

And, if you enjoyed The Colbert Report and Jon Stewart's Daily Show, and you're comfortable with fanfiction about celebrity personas, check out "Silent" by Erin Ptah, an alternate reality piece in TDS-TCR FPF fandom. "In 1998, the staff of The Daily Show (including star correspondent Stephen Colbert) gets a new addition: deaf writer Jon Stewart."

Several of the writers had noticed the silent conversation by this point, and decided it was more interesting to look at than the show's fuming host or irate co-creator. Kilborn hadn't realized anything was going on until this moment. "What?" he demanded, snapping out of the argument to glare suspiciously at Jon. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing to do with you!" said Stephen quickly. "He was laughing at something I said. I am the funniest person here, after all, so it's only natural." He fell without thinking about it into the habit of signing along as he spoke. It was the easiest thing to do at home, where the deaf people did best with ASL and the hearing people weren't necessarily looking at you. Even if you were as fabulous as Stephen.

Kilborn's brow furrowed. "You can do sign language?"

"Yes," said Stephen, though the sign he made along with it was Obviously. "If I make sure he always knows what's going on, will you quit worrying about him?"

posted by brainwane (13 comments total)

Content note for a transphobic slur in "Five New Love Truths".
posted by brainwane at 6:43 PM on October 19, 2020

I used to write for Yuletide all the time, and I know it’s going on still but somehow now that I’m not lurking in fan communities on LJ I just can’t seem to get into the spirit anymore.
posted by PussKillian at 7:11 PM on October 19, 2020

Whoops, hit post before saying I’m going to run off and read now. Yuletide produces so much great stuff.
posted by PussKillian at 7:12 PM on October 19, 2020

I've never participated in yuletide but now that I'm not hanging out on livejournal with the book fandom people anymore I'm *more* tempted. My chance to find out who else read Neal Stephenson's Anathem in the year of our lord 2020.
posted by subdee at 7:33 PM on October 19, 2020 [1 favorite]

Though I haven't checked the nominated fandoms list yet so not sure it's even there...
posted by subdee at 7:34 PM on October 19, 2020

Hmm, Anathem fanfic...

- Raz/Lio?
- Jad / alt-Jad / other Jad?
- Raz / Yul?
- oooh, some daddy action with Orolo / Raz

Show me what you can do with that chord & sphere... thousands of years of bored, horny monks and their experiments in newmatter masturbation live within you now.
posted by sixswitch at 11:34 PM on October 19, 2020 [1 favorite]

I mean it feels like it could easily turn into The Erotic Adventures of Erasmus which seems boring
posted by sixswitch at 11:35 PM on October 19, 2020

On the other hand, we’ve got in-universe canon saying AU is canon... welcome to the Plurality of Worlds Bathhouse, gentlemen, ladies*, and enbies...

*haha it’s a Neal Stephenson novel there are none
posted by sixswitch at 11:37 PM on October 19, 2020

“A series of controlled nuclear explosions went off, propelling him off me and into the ceiling at a considerable fraction of the speed of light, or at least that’s how it felt, although the lack of deadly radiation and his presence snoring in my arms a few minutes later suggested that I might rather have lost my grip on the Narrative for a few moments.”
posted by sixswitch at 11:46 PM on October 19, 2020 [1 favorite]

Oh, Jae Gecko is marvelous. I used to hang with her on LJ a lot but she's drifted away since LJ imploded.

Anyway, she's one of my favorite writers ever: check out her TWW but also her Friday Night Lights fic. She's so good.
posted by suelac at 9:41 AM on October 20, 2020

SIGN UP FOR YULETIDE!!!!
posted by Tesseractive at 7:56 PM on October 20, 2020

I signed up for yuletide!!!!!!!!!!!

Unfortunately Anathem was not there, because I didn't nominate it :(

Cryptonomicon was there, and so I have requested something set in the present day, because I want to know what these hackers from 1999, who believed in the "Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace" version of internet and specifically in the power of encryption to free people from oppressive governments, would make of the internet as it exists today.

Clearly metafilter is where all the people who read Anathem in 2020 (or earlier) hang out, love you guys <3
posted by subdee at 10:30 PM on October 21, 2020

I've written for Yuletide before and it was neat! I am attempting to reduce how many responsibilities I sign up for at the moment, so I'm not signing up to participate in Yuletide this year, but if I have time I may write a supererogatory Treat.

Reminder: people write gift stories for each other outside of Yuletide, and there are many other vid and fic exchanges/festivals that aren't Yuletide! I find out about those exchanges via Dreamwidth Community Promo, Fandom on Dreamwidth, and Fandom Calendar (which overlap somewhat).

(I have read Anathem, for which there are five existing works on Archive Of Our Own, and would enjoy reading a gen piece about people learning and teaching things in a math.)
posted by brainwane at 8:54 AM on October 22, 2020