Dolorous Ett's Bestiary

God, I'm useless. I mean, really, seriously useless. There I was, getting myself all hyped up for Yuletide... and I missed the deadline for application. I didn't even find out it had opened till it was closed, if you know what I mean. OK, there was other stuff going on in my life... but there will always be stuff going on in my life from now on, and I have to get used to it. *kicks self*

Anyway, to divert myself from pointless reproaches, I thought I would just have to see if, with the goodwill of my flist, I can't at least organise a challenge for myself.

Here's the idea - I've put a list of fandoms below the cut, and am hoping some kind readers will offer prompts - even one word will do. I'll try to do as many as I can, though realistically I won't get through them all unless everyone ignores me... 

The fandoms I am offering: 

Cold Comfort Farm
Wilkie Collins - The Moonstone
Wheel of Time
Vorkosigan Saga
Elizabeth Moon - the Serrano books
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
The Archers
Dalziel & Pascoe
Emma's Diary
Charles Stross's Laundry series
Georgette Heyer: The Grand Sophy, Regency Buck
Lindsey Davis's Falco series
The Gruffalo

Odd crossovers are a speciality of the house - the odder the better!

I got a bumper box of CD recordings of Alastair Alexander** McCall Smith's Number One Ladies' Detective Agency this Christmas, and I listen to them while doing washing up, cooking and the like. They are soothing and oddly charming, though there's also something about them that occasionally makes me want to smack McCall Smith very hard around the ear and tell him not to be such a patronising old git because it Isn't That Simple.

I am also rereading Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series in odd moments (notably over lunch, and when I'm too knackered to reach for a Serious Work of Literature, which is all the time right now). The first three books (which really could have used an editor) now behind me, I'm with Rand and Egwene and co in the Aiel Waste (a desert), and having a whale of a time.

The last time I was listening to the No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency CDs I really was very tired indeed, practically asleep on my feet, and the desert scenes involving Mma Ramotswe's tiny white van and pleasant homespun wisdom merged with the deserts of the Aiel Waste, savage blood feuds, a warrior race rent apart by the truth of its origins and lost enchanted cities inhabited by horrors... It was very, very odd. Despite all the sand, these two worlds should never be allowed to collide.

Have you ever started thinking up crossovers, and then backed away in a hurry? 

** I stand corrected, erised1810! Well spotted!