ermingarden | Fic Recs: Excellent Epistolary

For International Fanworks Day, I'm posting a few themed rec lists! This one is for epistolary (and epistolary-adjacent) fics, i.e., fics consisting entirely or in significant part of letters, documents, social media posts, etc. – one of my favorite formats!

STAR WARS

Waste Not, Want Not (1.6k) by

carmarthen and

motetus

Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: The Dianoga (Star Wars), Original Characters
Additional Tags: Humor, Worldbuilding, Epistolary, Sanitation, Military, Illustrated, Crack Treated Seriously, Science Fiction, Podfic Available
Summary:

Imperial Sanitation Specialist Yaran Avoset discovers a jam in Death Star garbage compactor 3263827. His superior is not amused. Fortunately, a resourceful man can go far in the Imperial Navy.

Or, how the Death Star got dianogas.

Words by Carmarthen, art by motetus.

Re: FWD: Re: FWD: FWD: FWD: FWD: (1.5k) by 13th_blackbird

Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars: Thrawn Series - Timothy Zahn (2017)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Thrawn | Mitth'raw'nuruodo/Eli Vanto
Characters: Thrawn | Mitth'raw'nuruodo, Eli Vanto, Original Characters, Karyn Faro
Additional Tags: background/implied thranto, Epistolary, Bureaucracy, extremely poor email ettiquette, Supply Officer!Eli AU, forensic accounting, Sting operations, being good at math is sexy, needlessly circuitous plans (tm), karyn faro doesn't get paid enough, Chimaera staff, Comedy of Errors, this is silly, i mean it's just very silly, the height of action in this is an audit, Auditing, imperial supply forms, flirting through invoice comments, Podfic & Podficced Works
Series: Part 1 of bureaucratic nightmares
Summary:

Takes place in a world where Eli Vanto became a Supply Officer and shot right to the top of operations for Imperial Star Destroyer supply in and around Coruscant, and Grand Admiral Thrawn became the same scheming bastard we all know and love.

Emails are exchanged. Funds are embezzled. More emails are exchanged. There's very measured flirting. Jobs are offered and taken. Thrilling stuff.

(See above. Please advise.)

I have acquired a child. (2.8k) by stingrcy

Chapters: 2/?
Fandom: The Mandalorian (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Baby Yoda & The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)
Characters: The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV), and a bunch of well-meaning but confused holonet users, mentions of other canon characters
Additional Tags: Attempt at Humor, Indirect Fluff, Epistolary, ManDadlorian, not explicitly at first but as we go on? ohoHOHO
Summary:

How can I ensure its welfare without having it become attached to me?
Thank you.
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(The r/Parenting AU some people wondered about but technically did not ask for.)

Note: Reads as complete despite chapter marking.

TOLKIEN

Common Counsel (3k) by

bunn

Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Fingon | Findekáno & Maedhros | Maitimo, Fingon | Findekáno/Maedhros | Maitimo
Characters: Fingon | Findekáno, Maedhros | Maitimo
Additional Tags: Epistolary, Letters, First Age, Beleriand
Summary:

A few letters sent between Fingon & Maedhros immediately after Maedhros went East with his brothers to Himring.

It is not entirely clear what the relationship was between Maedhros and Fingon during this period. There appear to be a number of things in these documents that are understood, but not spelled out.

The Sealed Letter (6.6k) by

rhymer

Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Aragorn
Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Letters, POV Outsider, Angst, Framing Story
Summary:

An isolated farmer finds a badly wounded man in a ruined farm. Six hundred years later, a historian researching King Elessar comes across a sealed letter. What links these two events is a story long forgotten.

MÓ DÀO ZŬ SHĪ

在此恭迎夷陵老祖; to yiling laozu, the great and venerable (6.8k) by yiqie

Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV), 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī/Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn
Characters: Lán Yuàn | Lán Sīzhuī, Jīn Líng | Jīn Rúlán
Additional Tags: Epistolary, Urban Legends, Relationship Advice, Post-Canon
Summary:

“You don’t know? In Yiling, there’s a tree at the edge of town, one that stands at the fringes of where the city ends and the Burial Mounds begin, called the Lover’s Tree. They say if you write a letter and nail it to its branches, Yiling Laozu will receive it, and he’ll reply.”

Don't see your favorite here? Link it in the comments!