Fandom Promo Post

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

Use this post to promote your fandoms to others or to ask for recommendations! Feel free to link to legal sources for your fandoms :)

A non-complete list of things you may want to include:

• Fandom name
• What medium is it and where to find it
• A summary (try to avoid major spoilers)
• Content warnings
• Why you like it

Comments

Imposters (TV)

[mixtapestar]

Just gonna copy over my promo from fffx if that's alright.

Title: Imposters
Media: TV Show
Approx length: Two seasons, approximately 14 hours total
Where to find it: Both seasons are on US Netflix!
What is it, in summary? A show about a con artist who accidentally turns her series of marks into con artists against her. A con artist, Maddie, "who gets involved in relationships with men and women before leaving them 'used and robbed of everything – including their hearts'." (source) In addition to Maddie, the focus of the show is primarily on Maddie's exes, who band together to try to get their lives back, with fun and engaging results.
What do you love about it? It doesn't take itself too seriously, leading to fun and clever stories and cons. The chemistry between the characters is probably my favorite aspect. (Also, this tumblr post is what sold me on it originally.)
What sort of things are you likely to request for it? Cons and heists and silly, fun scenarios. Character- and ship-wise, I'm requesting the exes.
Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfill your requests? I'm good with only including season 1. That's plenty to get a feel for the characters and how they handle the con-artist scene, which are the aspects I love.
Content warnings: There is a failed suicide attempt near the beginning, though it is not gruesome nor do the character's suicidal thoughts linger.

Fence Series

[mixtapestar]

Title: Fence
Media: Comics, YA Novels
Approx length: 4 graphic novels (or 16 issues), 2 young adult novels (368 pages each)
Where to find it:
Graphic Novels: Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3, and Volume 4 (Rivals). All of these also seem to be available to read with a Comixology Unlimited subscription.
Novels: Striking Distance (#1), Disarmed (#2)
What is it, in summary? Fencing, high school boys at boarding school, all the tropes you can fit inside. The main character, Nicholas, is a new but determined fencer, put up against a national champion who he considers his rival but also wants to be his best friend?
What do you love about it? It feels like fanfic in the best way. I love all the tropes, the way each character reacts to competition, their absolute cluelessness when it comes to relationships. The two novels that follow the comics are excellent because they give us a chance to see more of what the characters are thinking now that they're all getting closer to each other.
What sort of things are you likely to request for it? Right now I'm requesting the two primary M/M ships from the series, but if more people get into it in exchanges, I've definitely got some rarepairs in my pocket for the future.
Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfill your requests? Not in this case. I definitely want the novels included.
Content warnings: N/A

Benjamin January Series

[doreyg]

Series Name: Benjamin January - Barbara Hambly
Length: 18 books, most between 200-500 pages
Time Period: 1840s New Orleans
Found At: All books are on amazon!
Shipping Potential: canon f/m, potential for basically anything else you’d like due to the size of the supporting cast
What Do I Ship? Abishag Shaw/Benjamin January. Shaw is a Kentucky policeman who acts dumb, and who admittedly has problems with personal hygiene, but is actually the smartest guy in most rooms. Ben is a 6’3 surgeon turned musician, who is incredibly smart and kind but who also chafes a hell of a lot under the strictures of 1840s New Orleans society. I like how they should be on opposite sides, should really mistrust each other, and yet instead have this slightly odd and really sweet relationship with each other. I love how they trust each other (Shaw somewhat more than Ben, admittedly), I love how they frequently seem to amuse each other and I really love how they just seem to get each other in a really compelling way.

Hannibal Sefton/Benjamin January. Ben remains Ben. Hannibal is an anglo-irish fiddler possibly dying of consumption, addicted to alcohol for at least the first few books and with extremely lovingly described long hair; he is an absolute sweetheart and I love him. I find their friendship really sweet, and I'd love to see that progressing even further. I love how Hannibal is absolutely loyal to Ben, I love how they tease each other so constantly and I love how they always have each other's backs. They're just really adorable with each other, which is nice considering how dark the series can get.
Summary: Benjamin January, a free black man trained as a surgeon but working as a musician, moves back to New Orleans after the death of his beloved wife in France. He wants to live quietly, but crimes keep happening around him with disturbing frequency and - being one of the few people in New Orleans possessed of a brain - he has to keep solving them. He does this with the help of the policeman Abishag Shaw, genius scientist (and eventually his wife) Rose Vitrac, and fiddler (and lovable human disaster) Hannibal Sefton.
Why Do I love It?: I adore the vivid sense of setting, I'm fascinated by the mysteries and I LOVE the characters in it. It's just a really amazingly immersive series, and I can't help but get lost in it every single time I pick it up.

Blake & Avery series

[doreyg]

Series Name: Blake & Avery Series - MJ Carter
Length: 3 books, 300-500 pages each
Time Period: 1830s-1840s, India and then London
Found at: all books are on amazon!
Shipping Potential: Canon F/M, M/M and F/M potential
What Do I Ship? Blake/Avery, where Blake is a working class Sherlock Holmes-type figure who is very bitter at the whole world (due in part to being deported to India in his youth and then forced to work for the government) and Avery is an upper middle class soldier who initially seems like a selfish twit but has a heart of gold on the inside. There’s about twenty years between them and they have hundreds of differences, but they end up super loyal to each other - to the point where Avery actually names his son after Blake - and genuinely make each other better people.

I also ship Matty/Helen, who don’t actually meet in canon but who I think could be really sweet together. Matty is an extremely lower class street rat introduced in book two, who has been dealt a hard hand by life but who is still constantly fighting for a better life. Helen is Avery’s canon wife (who he has an extremely complicated relationship with), who is very beautiful and seemingly very vapid but who has a lot of interesting ambition and obviously chafes under the roles assigned to women in that period. I think the contrast between Matty’s lower class struggles and Helen’s upper class struggles could just be really fun!
Summary: Avery, upper middle class twit with a heart of gold, is sent to India by his father to make something of himself. When he’s asked to take a message to the mysterious Blake, a man who has turned his back on the East India Company and British society in general, this triggers a series of events that sends them haring across India in search of a possibly fictitious cult and growing an awful lot closer along the way.

They eventually solve that mystery, but when they reunite again in London three years later they end up having to solve more crimes and also to rebuild their relationship and their own lives along the way.
Why Do I love It?: Interesting plots, Historical accuracy AND a relationship between the two main characters so endearing that I had to keep putting my copy of the book down to clutch my face with glee. They’re just really meaty books that have so many iddy moments in them!

Cadfael Series - Ellis Peters

[doreyg]

Series Name: Cadfael Chronicles - Ellis Peters
Length: 20 books, most under 200 pages
Time Period: 1100s (The Anarchy), England
Shipping Potential: canon f/m, m/m, f/m/m
What Do I Ship? Cadfael/Hugh is my main ship. Cadfael is a monk in his fifties who used to be a crusader and who is now content to solve semi-regular crimes, Hugh is a deputy sheriff (and eventually sheriff) in his twenties who cares very strongly about justice but who is also a born Slytherin. They become pretty much instant BFFs in canon, when Hugh is introduced in book 2, and remain BFFs throughout. They are just INCREDIBLY cute together, and I love them.

I also ship Aline/Hugh/Cadfael. Aline is Hugh’s canon wife and they’re really sweet together, and she ends up having a really sweet relationship with Cadfael too. She’s also so incredibly chill that I can honestly see her discovering that her husband wants to fuck his elderly monk bff, and immediately being completely chill with it. All three of them just really respect each other and care for each other and work together really well, and I think they would also be cute.
Potential Warnings: There’s a brief mention of rape in one of the books, but otherwise these are as light as a crime series can be. There’s also some focus on religion, being that the main character is a monk, but it’s definitely not that heavy.
Summary: Cadfael, monk and former crusader, keeps solving crimes in the town of Salisbury even when he’s supposed to be doing other things. He’s helped by a rotating cast of his friends, allies and enemies.
Why Do I love It?: They're just an incredible amount of fun. They're the perfect mixture of complex mystery paired with just a really reassuring tone/portrayal of the world, and they're the perfect comfort read for a rainy day. I really love the historical setting, I really love the crimes that they have to solve and I especially love the characters and the interactions between them.

Father Brown Series

[doreyg]

Series Name: Father Brown - GK Chesterton
Length: All short stories, gathered into 5 collections
Time Period: 1910s-1920s, mostly set in England
Shipping Potential: m/m potential
What Do I Ship? Father Brown/Flambeau. Father Brown is a catholic priest, Flambeau is the former master thief who he convinces not to be a criminal anymore. Their dynamic is just absolute catnip to me. They start off as enemies, Flambeau even threatens Father Brown with absolute sincerity, but in the end they end up absolutely (and slightly absurdly) committed BFFs who look after each other all the time. I love how Father Brown sees some good in Flambeau, I love how Flambeau is all in regarding his loyalty to Father Brown and I really just love how sweet they are together.
Summary: Father Brown, tiny catholic priest, solves many crimes by being remarkably cheerful about the whole thing. Somehow convinces Hercule Flambeau, initially a super thief, to abandon his life of crime and help him out with catching criminals instead.
Why Do I love It?: They're just so charming! Really comforting and cozy, but also exceptionally well written and with some really interesting crimes. I find them absolutely wonderful, and absurdly enjoyable. I’d recommend the first set of short stories far higher than the following ones, but basically any that feature Flambeau are golden.

Frey & McGray

[doreyg]

Series Name: Frey & McGray - Oscar De Muriel
Length: 6 books, all 400-500 pages
Time Period: 1880s-1890s Edinburgh
Shipping Potential: potential m/m, f/m and f/m/m
What Do I Ship? Frey/McGray to an admittedly slightly frenzied degree. Frey is a prissy English detective, who is ABSOLUTELY a dick on every level but who is still somehow a good human being underneath. McGray is a Scottish detective who is loud, brutish, and with a worryingly intense belief in the supernatural… Which was born from great tragedy in his personal life, and doesn’t stop him from being incredibly kind to people who deserve it. They just have a dynamic that's absolute catnip to me. They're a historical detective duo, they're forced into close proximity to each other while solving cases, they have a certain amount of loyalty to each other... But at the same time they have an interesting amount of hostility between them, a large amount of mistrust and a lot of things to work through. They obviously care about each other a little while still finding each other incredibly difficult, and I LOVE it.

I also ship Frey/McGray/Caroline Ardglass. Frey and McGray remain Frey and McGray. Caroline is the granddaughter of one of the most prominent women in Edinburgh, she’s just as much of a jerk as the other two and also has rather rebellious views on how a woman should behave in society due to her rather complicated family background. I just think they'd be really interesting (and funny) together! Frey is a stuck up jerk with a surprising amount of heart, McGray is an overly impulsive jerk who has a surprising core of kindness and Caroline is a spiky jerk who has a surprising level of loyalty to those she truly loves. I think the combination of all of them together would really piss everybody around them off, and would also lead to all of them having a better time in general!
Summary: Ian Frey, English detective and jerk, loses his fiance and his job on the same day and ends up sent to Edinburgh to help head up a department focused on solving supernatural crimes. There he meets Adolphus “Nine Nails” McGray, Scottish detective (and jerk) with an extremely tragic family history. Together they have to solve potentially supernatural crimes, all while resisting the urge to murder each other.
Why Do I love It?: I just found these books so incredibly gripping. The cases are really interesting, the setting (with its slightest edge of paranormal stuff) is excellent and I just really love all the characters.

[doreyg]

Series Name: Inspector George Gently
Length: 8 seasons, 2-4 episodes a season, 90 minutes per episode
Time Period: 1960s Northumberland and Durham
Found At: first two series free on amazon prime, rest there to be brought
Shipping Potential: canon f/m, potential for m/m and f/m
What Do I Ship? George Gently/John Bacchus. Gently is a grumpy cop in his late fifties/early sixties who is extremely progressive for his time and believes in justice no matter how much it hurts him. Bacchus is a cop in his late twenties/early thirties, who on the surface is a prejudiced dickhead but who secretly has a heart of gold. Together they work out their personal differences and fight crime, and it's GREAT.
Summary: George Gently, one of the few non-corrupt cops on the force, moves up north and takes up a new position when his wife is murdered by his nemesis in a hit and run incident. He initially means it to be one case and done, but when he encounters the young hothead John Bacchus he decides to stick around and see if he can lead him away from the darkside of policing. What follows is 8 series where they deal with various crimes around the Northumberland and Durham area, while also dealing with shifting historical attitudes and their own issues.
Why Do I love It?: It’s just so good! I love the complexity of the plots, I love all the historical flavour and I love the work they put into developing the characters. They’re really engrossing watches, that generally have a really strong sense of what they want to do and how they want to develop both plots and relationships. Just an incredibly fun series all around.

Stanton & Barling

[doreyg]

Series Name: Stanton & Barling - EM Powell
Length: 3 books, all 200-300 pages
Time Period: late 1100s (Henry II), England
Shipping Potential: Canon (if brief) m/m and f/m, m/m potential
What Do I Ship? Hugo Stanton/Aelred Barling. Barling is a stuffy clerk who is a bit of a snob all things considered, but has a heart of gold underneath and a really strong commitment to justice (and is also canonically gay, which is nice for detective fiction). Stanton is ten years his junior, a bit irresponsible and reckless... but is super loyal to those he loves and super understanding in so many ways. Together they're absolutely wonderful and I adore them. I love how they banter with each other, I love the quickly growing trust between them and I especially love how they're so very loyal to each other. They truly care about each other, truly regard each other as important and aren't shy about showing it, and I'd absolutely love to see more of their dynamic.
Summary: After fucking up mightily on his last job Hugo Stanton, talented rider, is given the job of messenger to the courts to keep him out of the way. There he meets Aelred Barling, stuffy clerk with many secrets of his own, and the two of them end up assigned to solve a case together. They start off enemies, but as they solve the case they grow increasingly closer and keep working with each other afterwards.
Why Do I love It?: The writing is excellent, the mysteries are really interesting (especially the one in book 2) and I just absolutely ADORE the characters. It's a really interesting, really fun, really diverse series that I absolutely love. And, rarely for detective series, it contains a canonically gay character!

Sam Wyndham

[doreyg]

Series Name: Sam Wyndham - Abir Mukherjee
Length: 4 books (the 5th releasing later this year!), all 300-500 pages
Time Period: 1920s India
Shipping Potential: Canon f/m, potential m/n
What Do I Ship? Sam Wyndham/Surendranath Banerjee. Sam is a jaded British policeman who lost absolutely everything in the first world war and only gained an opium addiction in return, Surendranath is his fresh faced sergeant who is fairly sweet but who definitely is aware of the injustices of his world. They shouldn't be close, they shouldn't really like each other at all, but they just have this really firm bond that's stood up against so many things. I love the loyalty between them, I love the fact that they're able to laugh with each other and I love that they have each other's backs even when the situation is fraught. I also, trying to avoid spoilers, love all the complexity that enters their relationship in book 4 and the way they both react to that.
Summary: Sam Wyndham, hot mess of a human being, is posted to India after the end of the first world war. On his first working day there he’s thrown head first into an incredibly complex crime, and has to solve it with the help of the extremely intelligent - but held back due to the attitudes of his time - Sergeant Surendranath Banerjee. They keep solving crimes together after they’ve solved that one, as their relationship gets ever more complex.
Why Do I love It?: I love the sense of atmosphere, I love the interesting mystery plots and I absolutely love the characters. This is just really gripping from start to finish, really well done and compelling in many ways. It is so good, and it breaks my heart afresh with every new instalment.

[snickfic]

Title: Zone Blanche | Black Spot
Medium: Live action French-language TV show
Approx length: Two seasons, 16 episodes total.
Where to find it: Currently available on US Netflix!
What is it, in summary? French/Belgian police procedural where the female police chief in a tiny isolated French town in the middle of the woods solves strange murders while also trying to figure out what happened to her in those same woods decades before.
What do you love about it? Repressed fucked-up female lead, adorable gay second in command (he literally goes by Teddy Bear), eerie atmosphere so thick you can cut it with a knife, the weird dynamics that grow in a tiny isolated community, and genuine supernatural elements lurking at the edges (and becoming more central as the show goes on).
What sort of things are you likely to request for it? I'm requesting fic about our police chief! I would love gen fic of her with various people, femslash with her canon romantic rival, or fic of any kind about her and the antlered man in the woods. Horror interpretations welcome.
Content warnings: Some murder-related gore, some pretty gory hand trauma as part of the main character's backstory.

Restoration Series

[doreyg]

Series Name: The Restoration Series - Edward Marston
Length: 6 books, mostly 200-300 pages
Time Period: 1660s (Restoration), England
Shipping Potential: Canon f/m, potential m/m and f/f
What Do I Ship? Christopher Redmayne/Jonathan Bale. Christopher is a Cavalier leaning architect who is absurdly cheerful and strangely good at solving crime, Bale is a puritan constable who is described as an absolute giant and who is a genuinely good guy underneath his spikiness. They start off a little tense with each other, one being a Cavalier leaning dude and the other being fairly Puritan, but quickly grow into a really strong and lasting partnership. I think the fifth book calls them "unlikely soulmates", and that's basically the only way I can see them now. I love how supportive they are of each other, how well they compliment each other and how much they just GET each other despite all their differences.

Henry Redmayne/Jonathan Bale. Bale still being, well, Bale. Henry is Christopher’s older brother, and while Christopher is lightly cavalier leaning Henry is a full on libertine who is utterly incapable of making a single good decision. These two really interest me because they have probably the most antagonistic relationship in the books. They disagree on pretty much every point possible (Jonathan is a Puritan while Henry is a libertine, Jonathan seems quite outwardly conservative while Henry is as liberal as fuck, Jonathan is very religious while Henry mainly seems to believe in himself), would never socialise with each other by choice... And yet keep being forced together on a regular basis! I'd love to see the edge between them explored in more detail, and maybe to see how much further it could lead.

Susan Cheever/Sarah Bale. Susan is Christopher’s girlfriend, a highly spirited spinster who is dedicated to caring for her father (the most Purintanical cavalier you’ll ever meet). Sarah is Jonathan’s wife, and is an absolute sweetheart on every level. They both know what it's like to be the slightly exasperated wife/girlfriend, they're both very kind, both very smart and both surprisingly open minded for women of their time. Basically I just think they’d be really cute together, and want them to have a fun time.
Summary: Christopher Redmayne, Cavalier leaning architect, is given a commission to build a house after the great fire of London. When he finds a body in the cellar of the house, he decides that he might as well solve the crime with the help of constable Jonathan Bale. This keeps happening.
Why Do I love It?: I like the little period details, I like the intricacies of the mysteries and I really like how the two come together in a lot of interestingly tense ways. The ways that Puritans and Cavaliers (and even Puritan and Cavalier leaning people!) interact in this series is fascinating to me, and a big part of the reason as to why I keep coming back.

Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins Mysteries

[doreyg]

Series Name: Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins Mysteries - DE Ireland
Length: 4 books, all 300-400 pages
Time Period: 1910s, England
Shipping Potential: Canon f/m, f/m potential
What Do I Ship? Eliza Doolittle/Henry Higgins. I love their mutual chaotic competence, I love their constant childish squabbling and I love that they obviously care quite deeply for each other underneath it all.
Summary: Set after the film My Fair Lady, Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins are estranged and she's working for his greatest rival. The murder of this rival leads to them reconnecting as friends again to solve the case, repairing their relationship and going on to solve several more crimes afterwards.
Why Do I love It?: I absolutely adored these books! I’ve watched My Fair Lady about once, perhaps twenty years ago, but I feel these stand very well by themselves. They’re just so good. The characters are excellent, the plots are the perfect mixture of interesting and complex and it’s all just insanely feel good. I loved all the books, and I would absolutely love to see anything for them!

[snickfic]

Title: Scream (movies)
Medium: English live-action movies
Approx length: Four feature-length movies over a span of 15 years.
Where to find it: Can be rented from Amazon, Google Play, YouTube, etc
What is it, in summary? Slasher horror series about final girl Sidney Prescott, whose story keeps inspiring new killers to try and murder her (in a flip from the classic slasher franchise structure, which largely kept the same killer from one movie to the next with new leads each time).
What do you love about it? I love the development of our main characters over the series, both individually and in their relationships with each other. The movies really focus on Sidney's trauma as the final girl, the different ways that she deals with that trauma, and how she grows and changes as a person. The series is also really fun slasher horror and very meta, commenting on classic slasher tropes (although IMO you don't need to be familiar with them to enjoy the Scream movies). And Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott is just very hot.
What sort of things are you likely to request for it? Femslash between Sidney and the reporter played by Courteney Cox, in tones ranging from h/c to casefic to horror.
Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfill your requests? For a lot of my requests you could get away with only watching the first movie (which tbh is the best one), although IMO the way the characterization builds over the course of the series is one of the best parts.
Content warnings: Lots of bloody murder! Mostly stabbings, but a handful of other memorable kills as well. There's also a very weird sexual backstory about Sidney's mom, including some sexual assault.

[snickfic]

Title: The Perfection
Medium: 2019 live-action movie in English
Approx length: 90 minutes
Where to find it: Netflix worldwide
What is it, in summary? Horror/thriller about the former darling of a prestigious girls' cellist school meeting the current darling, and then Shit Happens.
What do you love about it? Hot canon f/f between the leads, completely bonkers plot that takes a hard swerve about every twenty minutes, bizarre fucked-up codependent relationship dynamics, very satisfying conclusion (IMO).
What sort of things are you likely to request for it? I'm hoping to lure other people into requesting it. :D
Content warnings: ALL OF THEM. Body horror, rape, insects, drugging, amputation, self harm, institutionalization, graphic body fluids, graphic injury, gaslighting. I would say it's technically more of a thriller than a straight-up horror movie, but if you don't like horror, you probably won't like this.

Band of Brothers (TV 2001)

[muccamukk]

Fandom name: Band of Brothers
Medium/Location: Live action mini series of 10 one-hour episodes. On HBO Max, or whatever service offers HBO media, as well as on DVD.
Summary: Follows a company of US Army Airborne Infantry who served in WWII, from training through D-Day to the end of the war.
Content warnings: Because it's a show based on a book based on real people, it's something of an RPF lite thing (especially as many people supplement canon with details from history). There is a fair amount of movie war violence and gore, and some characters die. This is not a show with very many female characters, and there are no major Black characters.
Why I like it: I love it because it's an ensemble cast, and we get all kinds of different people tossed together and learning to function as a teem. The show is heavy on h/c and people supporting each other through difficult times, and with a few exceptions the characters are decent people trying their best. It's really, really slashy, with more or less every kind of m/m relationship you might enjoy. There's also one really great female character, who I will be requesting. I love all the historical details, and feeling of place, and it's really fun if you enjoy a canon that allows you to fill in the corners with your own ideas and research.

I'll also be requesting this for highadrenalineexchange.

The Pacific (TV 2010)

[muccamukk]

Fandom name: The Pacific
Medium/Location: Live action mini series of 10 one-hour episodes. On HBO Max, or whatever service offers HBO media, as well as on DVD.
Summary: Intercut narrative of the lives of three US Marines in the Pacific Theatre of WWII.
Content warnings: Because it's a show based on a book based on real people, it's something of an RPF lite thing (especially as many people supplement canon with details from history). There is a fair amount of war movie violence and gore, and quite a few characters die. There are more female characters than BoB, but they are not the main characters, and there are no Black characters. There is a fair bit of anti-Japanese racism expressed by the characters, which isn't explicitly endorsed by the narrative, but it isn't contradicted much either.
Why I like it: As the title suggests, this show covers a more sprawling picture of the war, following different characters who only tangentially run into each other. There's less focus on the group as a team, and a more in depth look at how the trauma of combat effected individuals, starting before and ending after the actual combat. The teamwork and bond of combat aspect isn't as strongly emphasised as in Band of Brothers, but it's still there, and we get a lot of h/c and a wider picture of these men's lives. It's a lot more emotionally nuanced. There's a lot of really interesting period detail, and as with BoB, there's a lot of room to build your own story, and put new emphasis on the narrative.

I'll also be requesting this for highadrenalineexchange.

Sinbad (TV 2012)

[muccamukk]

Fandom name: Sinbad
Medium/Location: Live action TV Series, of 12 45-minute episodes. On CWSeed and Amazon Prime in the US, as well as on DVD.
Summary: Fantasy series about the nautical voyages of a Basrah street rat and a motly crew he ends up stuck on a boat with. Together they attempt to learn team work, and fight gods and monsters out of legand.
Content warnings: There is a mild cliff hanger at the end of the show, but it's not a huge thing, just set up for the next season. Episode two has some weird sexism, and is just generally bad. I'd rec skipping it, even if it does guest star Sophie Okonedo. On the whole, the show is not actually good in terms of having a coherent plot, or plots that made sense, or decent CGI, or good dialogue (though there are some fantastic bits in there), but it's on par with cheesy '90s fantasy shows, so if you liked those, this is great. Several of my faves are written out part way through the series.
Why I like it: I adore this show for being a super cheesy Xena-style fantasy show that had zero shits to give in regards to production values or plot, but is shot in gorgeous Malta, has a great cast who are often eyeliner-positive/shirts optional, and if nothing else means well. There's a lot of learning to be a team, loyalty kink, h/c, people trying to redeem themselves from past mistakes, an fantasy trope soup. There's just about any kind of ship you care to ship happening here, and also Naveen Andrews without a shirt (guest stars were paid in tickets to Malta, and we have a lot of fantastic one-off characters, like Nikki Amuka-Bird as a mad scientist). There's a tonne of room to flesh out stuff the show didn't quite cover, and I'm very into the people from all different cultures stuck together on a boat aspect.

I'll also be requesting this for highadrenalineexchange.

We Are Lady Parts (TV 2021)

[muccamukk]

Fandom name: We Are Lady Parts
Medium/Location: Live action TV Series, of 6 30-minute episodes. On Channel 4 in the UK, Peacock in the US, Showcase in Canada. I know it's out in New Zealand and Australia, but not sure where.
Summary: Feel-good comedy about an all-female Muslim punk band trying to get off the ground in contemporary London. We throw together five very different women, mostly focusing on the character arcs of the lead guitarist who joins early in the show, and the front woman and lead singer who's trying to hold the whole thing together.
Content warnings: I have something of an embarrassment squick and was fine with it (there's a super awkward date scene in episode 2 that was the worst for me), but other people have said it's really hard to get through.
Why I like it: There's lots of friends trying to support each other, plus conflicts where all the characters have valid but different points of view, learning and growing. It's got a great soundtrack, where the actors do play and sing both original songs and covers of classics. Is really funny, and there's just a whole lot of love. There is also a queer character, though she's not as much of a focus as I'd like.

I'll also be requesting this for highadrenalineexchange.

[seal_nonnie]

Title: Mysterious Benedict Society - Trenton Lee Stewart
Media: 3 books (each 400-500 pages), with an additional sequel and prequel of about the same length. (There has also been a very recent Disney+ adaptation of the first book, which I have not yet seen.)
Summary: Four kids - all exceptionally bright and all, for various reasons, alone - must band together to infiltrate an evil school and save the world.
Content warnings: some light violence
Why you like it: This is one of the first pieces of media that I felt really "got" me as a kid, and the main four resonate with me to this day. The Mysterious Benedict Society are all very smart, but they're also different kinds of smart: Sticky has an eidetic memory, Kate is physically skilled, Constance is very advanced for her age (and also a telepath), and Reynie is an all-rounder.
There is a heavy emphasis on problem solving, and the leads often think of different solutions. Also a bit of fun wordplay, some of which is invoked in text and some of which is left up to the viewers to notice.
Heavy emphasis on found family; the kids all start out alone, but they find friends and family along the way.
And, because most of my noms up to this point have centered around her: The Great Kate Weather Machine! Kate Wetherall is one of the four main leads and my personal favorite; as a young child, she ran away to the circus where she learned all sorts of useful skills, from balancing tricks to handling birds of prey. She's generally the most bubbly of the four but has a deep-seated need to be needed and fear of abandonment. Also, she carries her various gadgets in a bright red bucket, which I always found cool and which she also uses as a weapon in its own right at one point.

The Monstrumologist Series

[sheeon]

Series Name: The Monstrumologist Series — Rick Yancey
Medium/Length: Four YA Novels, roughly 300-500 pages each
Where to find it: The series is widely available in print and can be found wherever you get books!
What is it, in summary? The Monstrumologist series, a horror fantasy that takes place in late 1880s America, revolves around Will Henry and Pellinore Warthrop, the two of them seeking out monsters for study, following Will Henry's point of view as he acts as Warthrop's assistant and becomes further exposed to the horrors in the world. Each book gets progressively darker, with Will Henry and Warthrop's bond becoming strained as Will Henry grows older.
What do you love about it? The bond between Will Henry and Warthrop is the centerpiece of the story for me as a fucked-up codependent relationship, but there's also the excellent horror elements with a strong gothic vibe throughout the entire series.
Content warnings: There's a fair amount of gore and murder. It also involves themes of PTSD and trauma throughout.

[seal_nonnie]

Title:39 Clues Series - Various Authors
Media: Books, all of which are in the 200 page range. My requests will be focused on the first series, which is 11 books long, and the second, which is 6.
Summary: Travel adventure YA. In the first series, siblings Dan and Amy race other teams around the globe to collect clues and uncover the mysterious and far-reaching history of the Cahill family; in the second, the Cahills must unite against a common enemy.
Content warnings: non-graphic but plentiful violence, including murder
Why you like it: The worldbuilding is very open and allows for a lot of creative side stories. The first series in particular builds up intrigue well, establishing a lot of questions but answering them very satisfactorily.
The characters are a wonderful, tropey mess, and their relationships are fun and complicated.

The Guns of Navarone (1961)

[muccamukk]

Fandom name: The Guns of Navarone (1961)
Medium/Location: Live action movie, 2-hour run time. Can be rented on youtube, etc.
Summary: A ragtag commando team raids a fictional Greek island in an attempt to disable a Nazi gun emplacement.
Content warnings: Lots of people get shot, one person gets dismembered, and there's some torture.
Why I like it: As a 1960s action movie, it's pretty bog standard: the cast, music and location are great, but it's doing what it does competently and not a lot more. As a homoerotic art film, it's an underrated masterpiece. The whole film is absolutely boiling with repressed sexual tension in a way that's really quite striking. There's also a tonne of unresolved plot threads and places to write fic about, and some pretty fantastic h/c.

I'll also be requesting this for highadrenalineexchange.

The Reckoning (2003)

[muccamukk]

Fandom name: The Reckoning (2003)
Medium/Location: Live action movie, 2-hour run time. Can be rented on youtube, etc.
Summary: A defrocked priest falls in with a travelling theatre company, and together they solve crime. Set in 12th-century England.
Content warnings: Some pretty graphic violence, major character death, also a fair amount of discussion of sexual violence against children.
Why I like it: Something of an odd period piece, but one that really gets the past is a different country vibe where the characters really do seem to have a different world view. It has an intriguing focus on society's outcasts, where everyone doesn't quite fit into the world, but the outcast society still has a stratified world of its own. Also there's a lot of gender play, the leads (played by Paul Bettany and Willem Dafoe) are really slashy.

I'll also be requesting this for highadrenalineexchange.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

[muccamukk]

Fandom name: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Medium/Location: Literary fiction novel of about 300 pages. Available where books are sold, your library etc.
Summary: Set before, during and after a pandemic sweeps across the world. The survivors try to find their way in a reshaped world, some forming a travelling Shakespeare company, and connections from the past keep weaving through the story.
Content warnings: Like 95% of everyone dies in a pandemic, including major characters, there's also violence, sexual violence (mostly off page/referenced), a cult, suicide, and some ableism (essentially people with disabilities do not fare well in post-apocalyptic world). The world building is more impressionistic than anything in places.
Why I like it: Despite the everyone dying, it's a weirdly optimistic book. We get a lot of small communities trying to find a way forward in the post-flu world, and different views of what works and what doesn't for leadership. I really love how the story is about the importance of art, and how the definition of art can be Shakespeare or Star Trek or someone's personal comics project, and how each of those can have a different legacy. There's a strong emphasis on kindness and justice and beauty.

I'll also be requesting this for highadrenalineexchange.