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Fandom: FAQ: The "Snake Fight" Portion of Your Thesis Defense (short story on McSweeney's, which you can read here)
Characters: All original student and professor characters.
Rating: Gen
Length: 2,954 words
Content Notes: No Archive warnings apply. There is discussion of snakes and snake-fighting, as well as a couple images, but nothing violent.
Creator Links: AO3 profile 
Themes: Mentors and protégés, gen, epistolary, humor, fandom classics

Summary: It is the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and a student needs a snake for her defense.

Reccer's notes: If you saw the fandom name and was like, "What the fuck?", I implore you to read the original short story. It's a very quick read and EXTREMELY funny - and this fic just makes that even better. If you were aware of this fandom already, then it's nearly pointless for me to talk about this story since it's such a quintessential Yuletide fic. You truly can make fanfic out of anything, and sometimes it's the weirdest, most random fandoms that create the most brilliant fanworks. As someone who just finished their Master's degree, I can confirm that this is genuinely just what grad school is like. I'm sure I drove my thesis advisor bonkers with all the panicked emails, and this story captures the madness of university regulations and bureaucracy. I think emails between myself, my committee, my advisor, and our department's admin probably shaved ten years off my total lifespan. This story is short, hilarious, and one of the best things Yuletide has ever produced - and there are a couple podfics of it too!

AO3 link.

(This will need a new fandom tag - I'm not sure if we should have one for just this story or for McSweeney's pieces in general.)

Fandom: Knives Out movies
Characters: Father Jud Duplenticy, Bishop Langstrom
Rating: Gen
Length: 4,625 words
Content Notes: No AO3 warnings apply. PTSD and abuse.
Creator Links: AO3 profile.
Themes: Mentors and protégés, gen, trauma and recovery, 

Summary: Following his killing of an opponent in the boxing ring, Jud Duplenticy begins suffering from nightmares. Years later, after the events at Our Lady of Fortitude, the nightmares return.

Reccer's notes: This is a short and sweet fic focusing on Jud's trauma following his ordeal at the hands of Rev. Wicks and the murder investigation, and his relationship with Bp. Langstrom. I loved Langstrom in the movie and wished he had more scenes, since I thought his and Jud's interactions hinted at a really interesting history - Jud says Langstrom's stuck his neck out to help him before, and Langstrom would certainly be aware of Jud's past and likely played a role in helping him move past it. This fic scratches that itch, and paints a lovely portrait of the men's friendship and the way Langstrom has been a trusted mentor to Jud, and the way their relationship would be affected by the events of the movie.

AO3 link.