#miamemes

I usually put more effort into pimping my favourite fics of the year, boosting a few new writers in my fandoms, etc. This year, however, I have not, for reasons both within and beyond my control. Which is pretty much my excuse for not Doing Better with writing for the past month or so, but hey. At least there’s this.

.......................................................

1. Best fic(s) you read all year, and why?

How can I even begin to list all the beautiful, shocking, feel-good, feel-terrible-but-in-a-good-way, envy-inducing, page-turning, soul-destroying, fluffy, hilarious, infuriating and horny fics I’ve read this year? I can’t. So I will instead list three that come immediately to mind.

@curator-on-ao3 – The Dismissed Protocol (rated T, VOY, TNG, Janeway & Crusher)

This fic made me angry. So angry that I left a ranty and incoherent comment, slammed down the lid on my laptop and stormed around the house for a bit. Why was I so pissed, you ask? Because this fic hit a good few of my personal triggers around bodily autonomy and the right to make informed choices, and because although the fic ends triumphantly, it’s somewhat of a pyrrhic victory and it left a really bad taste in my mouth. Which, considering this is fiction, is the mark of some really good writing. When it comes to tackling difficult topics with a fresh and thought-provoking perspective, and without opting for the easy answers, Curator never disappoints. This story is just one of many examples of that in her work.

@love-in-the-time-of-kolinahr​ – it will take place without witnesses (rated E, DSC, Pike/Number One)

Okay so let me start by saying it was the author’s fucking EXCELLENT pun of a pseudonym that made me read this in the first place. Then it was the poem they quoted (Discovery by Wislawa Szymborska, which is like a portentous rocket in the guts). Then it was Una’s scales-off-the-eyes, we-are-true-equals, don’t-bullshit-me-lover candidness in the way she sees, talks to, knows Chris Pike. I adore Pike in his laconic-space-cowboy-with-a-heart Disco incarnation, I like him a lot as the CoolDad in AOS, but this fic? This fic gives me smart, forthright, deeply tender Number One, and Pike as the fractured and very human hero I hope like hell we’ll see more of because they are definitely making a Pike series RIGHT? It is written. Anyway… this fic is beautiful and harsh and deft and real and sexy and poetic and at its core it’s about love, and who doesn’t love love?

@captacorn​ – Stars in a Ruined Sky (rated M, VOY, Paris/Torres)

It took me a while to read this one because CaptAcorn was posting it at the same time I was writing my epic, and I had no brain space to maintain a hold on someone else’s dark and compelling plot. But when I picked this one up, I couldn’t put it down. It is AMAZING. A Timeless AU, set in a universe where Voyager crashed and most of the crew survived, this goes where no other 100k+ epic I’ve read before has dared to tread, and it does so without flinching. The details are what make this unforgettable – there’s no magic reset button, so when something bad happens to the crew, there are actual lasting consequences – but it’s the humanity of the characters (if I can use that word to describe a crew that includes aliens) that makes it unputdownable (fuck off, my nana said that’s a word). This is not an AU I want to think happened, but CaptAcorn makes it one that rings true. And I’ll definitely read this again when I have the emotional fortitude for it.

Wow, there’s no Janeway/Chakotay in my top three. What? So here’s a bonus:

Northernexposure’s trilogy – Soft Light, Aftershocks and Resolution (rated E, VOY, Janeway/Chakotay) – three for the price of one! I mean, when northernexposure posts a new fic I race to read it no matter what, but smut! Beautifully written, true to character, sexy sexy smut from one of my all time favourite authors! How could I turn that down?

2. Best fic(s) you published all year, and why?

Mmmyeah to be honest I kinda feel as though my writing peaked in 2017, but here we go.

Desperate Measures (rated E, VOY, Janeway/Chakotay and other pairings) – because there’s angst and smut and the plot is twisty as fuck and I feel like there’s a pretty satisfying payoff. And it’s really long and relies on the reader engaging with my OCs which people seem to have done, which makes me think that if I ever do want to go write another original novel, maybe I won’t want to burn it as soon as I’m done.

This Is The Moment (rated M, DSC, Pike/Tyler) – because these two have exhausting chemistry and I couldn’t not write this but it was hard to make it come out of my brain the way I wanted it. But I’m really happy with it.

And I have a soft spot for First Officer’s Log (rated T, VOY, Chakotay & Tuvok, implied Janeway/Paris), because I just really love Threshold, okay? And while the episode is wack on so many levels there are really dark and heavy themes to explore there which I feel have gone very unexplored and I hope my fic struck that same balance between moral philosophy and holywhatthefuckery.

3. Favourite opening line(s) in a fic you published in 2019:

From Bad Maquis (rated M, VOY, Janeway/Chakotay):

The only thing more restrictive – and bosomy – than this outfit, Kathryn mused as she stared at her reflection, was her holodeck governess costume.



Still, at least she didn’t have to leave her quarters wearing this getup, and thank goodness for small mercies. Because she was on the verge of backing down from this challenge as it was, and Kathryn Janeway did not chicken out. Ever.

I mean, it sets the scene, doesn’t it? Who doesn’t love Janeway in leather.

4. Favourite closing line(s):

This is maybe cheating a little bit because this fic isn’t finished, but this first chapter can stand alone and I won’t be continuing it for some time (first, I have to finish the two prequels, haha). Anyway, these are the closing lines from Inertia (rated T so far, VOY, Janeway/Paris and others):

When the daze clears and Tom looks up to discover that his hovercar is parked in front of an address he’s never visited but has nonetheless memorised, maybe he should feel a little bit surprised.



He doesn’t. No matter how far he tries to go or how long he stays away from her, turning up at Kathryn Janeway’s door is inevitable.

Why do I like it? Well, I have an everlasting appreciation for Janeway/Paris, for one thing. For another, if you read the rest of the story and understand what Tom has just learned, you’ll want to know what happens next. I hope. I sure want to know.

5. The fic that was best received, and your favourite comment(s) on it:

That would be Desperate Measures again. It’s my longest fic by far and I was absolutely bowled over by the response to it, but one of my favourite comments on it is this one:

It actually looks like Janeway is saying gimme and it cracks me up.

Honestly though… the depth and kindness of comments on that fic in particular, the time and thought and effort that people have put into their reviews … it made up for every moment I wanted to chuck it in and never look at that fic again, or any other.

6. The fic you wish had gotten more love:

Honestly, I was surprised there was so little response to my @voyagermirrormarch​ fic trilogy, Heaven in the Shape of Hell. I really thought they’d be crowd pleasers, but it shows what I know, lol. I haven’t even finished the third one because the lack of interest made me wonder if they were just really shite, but I’m not so butthurt about it anymore and I will come back to it someday.

7. How many fandoms you wrote for in 2019, and which inspired you most:

Does Star Trek in all its incarnations count as one fandom? If so, I wrote for two (Trek and Marvel). If all the different versions of Trek count separately, I wrote for seven (MCU, AOS (that’s Trek Alternate Original Series, not Agents of SHIELD), Disco, Mirror, Enterprise, DS9 and Voyager).

Anyway, I guess I’ll never stop being inspired by Voyager, so even if Disco season 3 and the Picard show do nothing for me, I’ll always have that.

8. Your favourite pairing(s) to write for:

I mean, Janeway x Chakotay, for sure. But I’m deeply, deeply invested in Janeway x Paris at the moment.

9. What you’re writing now/next:

I’m struggling through the second part of what was supposed to be my contribution to @25daysofvoyager​. I’m actually going to post the first part once I’m done with this quiz in the hope it’ll kick my ass into gear. I’m also on semi-hiatus from Kinetic Friction, but I’ll be going back to it as soon as I’m done with my 25 Days fic. At some point after Kinetic there’ll be the sequel, and then the rest of Inertia. I’m also contemplating something for Threshold Day, possibly throwing something into @voytalentchallenge​ (don’t count on that one), and I have an idea for a pre-Enterprise D, pre-Voyager meeting between Picard and Janeway (with smut, obvs), plus all the other fics I’m definitely going to write …

And of course there’s my meat raffle. Time to pimp that one again. Donate to AO3 and if I draw your name out of the hat of randomness I’ll write you a fic to your specifications (roughly).

10. Writing goals for 2020 (word count? new fandoms/pairings? anything?):

Here’s a thing. Some questions pinched from other memes, some came from my brain. Feel free to repost with your own answers.

1. Best fic(s) you read all year, and why?

2. Best fic(s) you published all year, and why?

3. Favourite opening line(s) in a fic you published in 2019:

4. Favourite closing line(s):

5. The fic that was best received, and your favourite comment(s) on it:

6. The fic you wish had gotten more love:

7. How many fandoms you wrote for in 2019, and which inspired you most:

8. Your favourite pairing(s) to write for:

9. What you’re writing now/next:

How I feel about Harry:

He is my sweet muffin boy and he represents the best in all of us, not just because he befriends misfits from his position of confidence and strength, but because he doesn't let suffering warp and damage him.

All the people I ship romantically with Harry:

1. Seven of Nine. Honestly, from Seven's perspective he's the perfect guy. He's open about how much he both likes her personality and enjoys how she looks; she'd appreciate that. He's smart enough to (mostly) keep up with her, he'd help her chillax, and he'd be a really sweet first lover. They're close in age but have both been through formative experiences very few people would share, so they'd both probably have little in common with other people close to their ages. However, I don't see them working out in Voyager's closed community. I think in the AQ, once Seven's had a chance to screw around a bit and Harry's come to terms with how different he is and how little he fits into his old life, they'd have a pretty good shot at something beautiful.

2. Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres. While I do ship him with each of them individually, this OT3 is much more pleasing to my brain. Harry needs Tom's rebellious tendencies to offset his ambitious, law-abiding soul, and he needs B'Elanna's sexuality to counter that sheltered prudishness we saw in the first couple of seasons. He also needs B'Elanna's aggression to encourage his self-confidence and Tom's neediness to bring out his caretaking nature. Hary would be man in the middle of the other two when they feud and wouldn't be able to resist trying to fix things between them, but eventually he'd knock their heads together. Harry and B'Elanna would spend entire weekends nerding out over some crazy tech they invented together while Tom played video games until he got so bored his nagging drove them crazy and they went out dancing just to let him blow off some steam. Conversely, Tom and Harry would drive B'Elanna mental with their fixation on boyo holodeck shenanigans when she just wants to get back to work, but they'd tickle her until she stopped growling at them. Each of these scenarios would, of course, end in wild three-way shagging.

3. Derran Tal. I think that relationship was the making of Harry in a way. Sure, she's a terrorist, but some of his best friends are terrorists. Yes, she unintentionally gave him an STD, but he could have put a glove on it. What it did for him - and I wish they'd brought this full circle in canon with Tom's speech in Ex Post Facto ("Someday it will be you, Harry. You'll meet her, and you'll know it's wrong from the first moment you see her, and you'll know there's nothing you can do about it") - was throw Harry completely off balance emotionally, but at that point in his life he had the maturity to embrace it rather than running scared. I still think his "have you ever been in love" rant at Janeway is the best Harry moment in the entire series.

My non-romantic OTP for Harry (I assume this means BroTP):

Can I say Tom and B'Elanna again? Because I love them as platonic buddies possibly even more than I love the idea of them getting naked together, and for much the same reasons.

My unpopular opinion about Harry:

I like that he's the Love Doofus. I enjoy his terrible luck with the ladies. I get that there's a popular fandom view that he's shuffled into that role because he's Asian, and I agree that's fucked, but personality-wise? He's so eager and puppy-like and expressive and nice and those are exactly the kind of guys who are attracted to girls who friendzone them. I don't make the fucking rules.

One thing I wish had happened with Harry in canon:

The obvious answer is a promotion, but I'm going to say I wish we'd got an actual Paris/Kim kiss in The Chute. That episode wasn't gay subtext, it was 48-point bold font in flashing neon red. And imagine the fallout post-Chute with Uptight Awkward Harry not knowing what to do with all his sexy feels for his best bud and Blatantly Bisexual Tom (oh come on, of course he is) trying to be all noble and give Harry space and fretting about what B'Elanna is going to think and you just know there was tons of mutual pining and misunderstandings and eventually rampant boffing.

______

Thanks, @galinaredreznikov!