Entries tagged with lovelace and babbage

It's Yuletide! The archive is open! And this is what I got as my gift in the exchange:

Fandom: The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage
Title: Beatrice, or, The Mechanical Yule Goat
Summary (as posted on AO3): Charles Babbage constructs a Terrifying Literary Engine, driven by Steam and Diverse Mechanical Linkages, in order to complete his Yuletide assignment. Said automaton proceeds both to irritate the Countess of Lovelace and to destroy much of London.
Hijinks ensue.

The story is here.

There are footnotes! Wonderfully random mathematical, scientific, and literary references! Capering Caprine Yule-Horror!

Let me quote the first two lines:

”BABBAGE!”, screamed Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, down a speaking tube. “WHAT IS THIS ABOMINATION?”

“Which abomination in particular do you mean?” came Babbage’s voice, rendered a bit tinny by its return passage through the same tube.

Delightfully zany, rich in the sort of alternate-historical hilariousness that is so enjoyable in the canon, and Lovelace and Babbage being their wonderful selves. I'm sure many Yuletide authors can relate to Babbage's desire to construct the engine that he did. (I'm wondering if there's any way... Never mind.) And if you want to read it, the canon is delightfully easy to get into: it's a webcomic (available here, and also as a book) on AU versions of Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage, in a timeline where they did construct the Analytical Engine and proceed to have all sorts of steampunk-y adventures in an alternate 1840s London. Much recommended by me.

I haven't yet much read else at the archive, but there are fics in many of my little fandoms, such as Gail Carriger's verse, Wayfarers, and various 19th century literature things. Will be excited to discover them.

According to my dashboard, I also have a gift in the Yuletide Madness collection, but that only opens tomorrow. Looking forward to it!

Dear Yuletide Writer,

First, thanks for offering any of my tiny fandoms! I'll be delighted with a story from any of these. The letters may say more about some than others, but it's not a measure of what I care most about. I made sure I picked fandoms where I'd be equally happy to receive a story. Beyond the Do Not Wants, you can ignore any part of prompt or letter if it gets in your way.

Generally, things I Do Not Want: Incest, rape or non-con, graphic violence and goriness, major non-canonical character death, character bashing. Also no child abuse or animal abuse. And no drastic AU of the high school / college / werewolf / vampire sort, or changing historical to modern or fantasy/scifi to mundane world. Basically, I prefer playing in the world of the canon we know. Generally, I can enjoy the sort of AU where you change a canon event and see what comes out of it, but I have no particular interest in that in these fandoms right now. Also, I don't want the story to promote sexism, homophobia or racism, though in the world of some of the canons it makes sense some characters would have such attitudes.

I'd prefer matching the tone and darkness/lightness level of the canon, though in the case of Custard Protocol I would enjoy a more serious story as well, if that's what flows better for you.

I throw in some ideas both in the prompts and in the letter, but don't feel obliged to fulfill any of them. As long as you write about these characters in these worlds and avoid my Do Not Wants, I'll be glad.

A few things I particularly like:
- female characters who are strong, smart and capable in a variety of ways, not just the traditional-male-hero strong
- strong bonds between female characters
- strong bonds between family members, members of the same crew/team, or friends
- same-sex romance
- expressing feelings through sex
- in pairing stories, I'm equally happy with stories with or without sex. If there's sex, I prefer it not to be the entire story; I'd like to see at least some development of characters/relationship.
- wonder and amazement about the world
- in the worlds where it's appropriate, technobabble / science babble is fun if you can do it, but not required; I don't know much about technology, so you'll be able to fool me easily, though *g*

And, well, anything I listed in the specific prompts and specific parts of the letter.
On to the requests! And because my layout doesn't show LJ cut texts (need to change it as soon as I have the time), the requests are in the following fandoms: Custard Protocol - Gail Carriger, The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage - Sydney Padua, Skuggserien - Maria Gripe, The Wayfarers Series - Becky Chambers. The letter lists them in that order.

( Custard Protocol - Gail Carriger. Primrose Tunstell, Tasherit. )

( The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage - Sydney Padua )

( Skuggserien / The Shadow Series - Maria Gripe )

( Wayfarers Series - Becky Chambers )

Happy Yuletide!

Dear Yuletide Writer