I love good guys

We had 20 new Highlander stories in hlh_shortcuts this year. Find them all on the AO3.

Here are some that I, personally, subjectively, enjoyed most:

"Moondance or A Series of Extraordinary Events" by hafital
G, gen; ~19K words
Joyful. This story wraps a final sci-fi Gathering apocalypse -- starring Richie and Methos -- around many independent but threaded shorter missing-scene stories from throughout canon and beyond -- starring Richie and Angie, Richie and Tessa, Richie and May-Ling, Richie and etc. -- and not only delivers a happy ending at the last, but is again and again joyful and uplifting throughout. Each of the embedded stories would be lovely on its own. Yet they're strung like pearls on a necklace, progressing in a line, in a circle, in an orbit. It's more than its parts.

"Duo" by jasmasson
G, m/m; ~3K words
Amusing. A sensible outsider perspective delivers grins as it clashes with not-at-all sensible run-a-day HL canon in the persons of Duncan, Methos, and a hunter. The narrative packs satisfying, appropriately worded, canon references that fly over the head of the perspective character straight to the audience.

"Guests for the Weekend" by Annavere
G, gen; ~8K words
Unexpected. I was taken by surprise by how well this combination of characters -- Amanda, Anne, Richie -- came together in this off-to-the-side whodunnit romp of a mini-vacation for Anne, where the stakes are set by thieves so incompetent and security precautions so lacking that Amanda feels embarrassed and Richie plays the bait.

"Holy Ground" by merriman
G, gen; ~2K words
Historical. Have a Darius-lives scenario, with Methos and early Icelandic history. You're welcome. Bonus: Rumination on how the "Light Quickening" did and didn't do the work of reforming Darius, which he must have thought on often, and which I have opinions about.

Richie & Connor:

"In Good Company" by Teratornis
G, gen; ~6K words
Cathartic. Structured mostly as an action scene, a dojo workout, this piece has Richie process some of his many emotions in the wake of Tessa's death, his own immortality, and his encounter with Annie Devlin.

"Cousin's Retreat" by Sharpest_Asp
G, gen; ~1K words
Companionable. Richie gets to train with Connor for a while, as the audience gets to enjoy comparisons and contrasts between our two MacLeods, and the conviction that Richie is an adopted son of this clan.

Randi:

"The Pitch" by havocthecat
G, gen; ~2K words
Constructive. This piece worldbuilds around Randi across a decade, keeping her consistently canonical as it kneads and stretches her more realistic first-season world until it merges seamlessly with the more fantastic late-season canon, landing her as if fated in Joe's lap as he works to reform the Watchers.

"Behind the Story" by coralysendria
Unrated, gen, ~2K words
Transporting. Step into the heart of second season with the groundedness of first season. Tessa's murder is news; it's part of Randi's job. Tessa is also someone she knew; it's emotionally jarring, and emotion is not something Randi is particularly good at, so she gropes through the culturally prescribed motions until she finds her way to Richie, grieving, stunned, alone. We see Tessa through both of their eyes, Richie in that moment through Randi's eyes, and the world that was canon in those days as it must have been.

hlh_shortcuts has now released 18 of its 20 total 2024 stories. See the list. I expect that tomorrow, Monday, will bring the final releases, to be followed by the event’s traditional author-guessing game.

To my surprise, I’ve received a second story for my fest request this year: “The Pitch” (G, gen, ~2K words). (For a completely spoiler-free reading experience, follow the link now and come back later for the rest of this post.) It stars Randi, supported by Joe, with cameos by Duncan and Methos.

Riding the wave of Randi’s conviction that Duncan could be the biggest story of her career, this piece sweeps from Randi spotting Joe near MacLeod & Noel Antiques, through a decade of dogging the literal and paperwork footsteps of Duncan and his friends, to Joe offering her the biggest story of her life... with one little catch.

This Randi is properly tenacious and perceptive. The story compellingly suggests how very much her interests, talents, and drive converge with the commitments and needs of the Watchers, to the point that it set me ruminating on the meta level where Randi and her local TV station may well have been a certain kind of unwitting structural first draft for Joe and the Watcher organization. (But why not both? ~grin~)

More comments on the story itself, of course! Take a look? Or, if this is not your personal HL flavor, try one of the others!

I won't start reading Yuletide until tomorrow, but I've opened tabs and wanted to share:

Yuletide brings us:

• 2 new Forever Knight stories, one Nick/Natalie and one Nick/Lacroix. Take your pick.
• 4 new works for assorted The Legend of Zelda games (the newest one and the least popular old ones were eligible). I am all agog to read the crossover between Majora's Mask and Columbo. See the list.
• 1 new work for the Doctor Strange comics, this one starring Zelma Stanton, hero librarian! Check it out.
• 0 new D&DC, BSG78, JttW, YB, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish or Dead Poets Society stories. But of course there are other fandoms to check over time, and treats to come.

Plus, HLH_Shortcuts continues to reveal 2 new Highlander stories per day. With 20 total works in this year's collection, we're at exactly 10 revealed and 10 to go, with a wide diversity of lengths, characters, and approaches ... though not a lot of Duncan, curiously, in those I've read so far. Find your favorite.


(A very merry Christmas to everyone celebrating! And warm wishes to everyone, period!)

December 15, 2024 at midnight Central Time is, I presume: today, Sunday, at 9:59pm/10:00pm Pacific Time.

(hlh_shortcuts loading due date) (Who, me, writing up to the last minute?)

UPDATE: It's Eastern Time, not Central Time. So 8:59pm/9:00pm Pacific Time. (I've uploaded a "bus pass." I just need to finish the real ending...)

I've signed up for this year's hlh_shortcuts exchange (see my sign-up) and filled-in my "Dear Author" letter placeholder post (see my letter). Sign-ups close on October 19. Stories come due December 15. Minimum 500 words. I count 14 sign-ups right now.

(BTW, the AO3 system hiccupped -- as it sometimes does -- and dropped Randi from the tag set after she was properly loaded there. If you'd like to read or write Randi this year, please just include her in your request and tags.)

In my letter, I ran fill-tilt jousting at -- totally optional! -- crossover/fusion concepts and regular story scenarios/prompts for possible inspiration. I thought that a few of you might find some of them amusing enough to be worth sharing separately from the context of the letter? Here are excerpts:

( Possible crossover ideas )

( Possible story prompts )

Open for chatting about any of these open-ended possible ideas as ideas (separate from whatever my match may choose to do or not do). :-)