Dear Yuletide Entity

[castiron]

In general, I like happy or at least hopeful endings. I'm usually okay with slash, het, or gen; I'm not crazy about 'cest. Gore and graphic violence are squicks; I'd rather not read about any non-con sex that isn't in the source material.

Rumer Godden - In This House of Brede: Philippa's return to Brede after Japan (or non-return, if that's how the muse grabs you) would be particularly interesting, but anything's fine. This is one fandom where I'm not crazy about slash, or at least not anything that goes beyond thoughts; an active sex scene doesn't fit with Dame Maura's leaving the abbey to detach from her romantic feelings toward Cecily.

Alexandre Dumas, Count of Monte Cristo: Same as last time. What I'd really really love is a happy ending for Mercedes. I love this book deeply, but every time I reread, I find myself annoyed about the standard Mercedes is held to, and I want to see her find new hope, love, etc. I want her to be like Ista in Bujold's Chalionverse, receiving grace unlooked-for. That said, it's up to you what form that new hope takes, whether it's the love of God or a hot young man or an unexpected talent.

Louisa May Alcott, Eight Cousins series: Two possibilities particularly interest me, though feel free to chase another plot bunny.

1. Phoebe finds out who her parents were. Were they the scum of the earth, or honest working people who couldn't feed their latest child, or a wealthy young woman who managed to hide her interesting condition long enough to drop the baby off? It's okay if they're not people Phoebe would be proud of, but I'd like Phoebe still to be happy at the end.

2. If you're up for a challenge, want to add to the body of fic starring PoC, and feel like researching 1860s-1870s China and Chinese-Americans, a story about Fun See Tokio (is that even a plausible name??) and Annabel Bliss would be majorly awesome. I've always scratched my head about how that romance is just dropped into Rose in Bloom with no explanation, and I wonder how the relationship would be accepted; Alcott doesn't indicate any issues with it, and I don't know enough about the Chinese experience in New England to know whether that'd be accurate. How did they meet? What do they see in each other? How did they overcome the cultural barriers? -- New England is certainly as exotic to Fun See as China would be to Annabel, even though Fun See's now lived in the U.S. for several years. (Is it still U.S. law at this time that an American woman who marries a foreigner loses her citizenship?) etc. etc.

Oliver Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield

I have no preferences; I have no ideas; I just want fic for this book to exist.