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(Less Than) 48 Hours to Deadline

The assignments that you received when signing up, and pinch hits #1-96, are due at 9pm UTC 17 December (see countdown). It's nearly here. For most people, it'll be Wednesday. Please check the links!

When you post your story, please make sure...

It is at least 1,000 of your own original words and marked as complete. You can update and edit your story after the deadline, but any version you upload must be a complete story that could be read in that state, with a beginning, middle, and end, and no placeholder text.

It is not posted as a draft. If your work is still in Draft status on AO3 at the deadline, it will not count as fulfilling the assignment, as no one but you can access it. To check if your work is a draft, go to your assignments. If you see a work title and the 'Fulfill' button, your work is a draft and you have not yet fulfilled the assignment. You can also check your drafts at the 'Drafts' sidebar link from your main AO3 page. Fully-posted works can be viewed from your Stats page and from Works in Collections. You can also reach out to mods to check!

It features *all* requested characters or follows exceptions specified in the additional tags ("My gift must feature..."). Please see this post for a reminder of how the additional tags work. Regarding Worldbuilding: if your recipient has not selected characters beyond that tag, whether to flesh out the world using original characters or canon characters is up to you. If they have vetoed specific characters, obey those DNWs.

It does not contain Do Not Wants. Please check that your story does not contain any of the Do Not Wants (DNWs) listed in your recipient's Optional Details. If you have any doubt about the meaning of your recipient’s DNWs, please contact the mods.

Its title and other metadata are not placeholders. Please don't call your work Placeholder Title or Yuletide 2025 Work - upload a title that reflects the unique work. You don't need to write a summary or append detailed tags, but please make sure that if you do include that information, the information is real.

Other important notes

Stay anonymous! Yuletide is a secret exchange. Don't give away publicly what you're writing or who you're writing it for. Don't add your work to an existing series on AO3, or a personal works collection. Don't identify yourself in your author's notes by, for example, linking to your tumblr or dreamwidth.

No AI! This is a creative writing challenge - do not use ChatGPT, Claude, or any other similar generative text tool to write any part of your story, summary, or notes.

Please don’t use author’s notes to apologise for your story, to go into detail about the difficulties you had writing it, or to promise a fix or a continuation.

Please check your story immediately after posting to ensure it is showing up okay.

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new music monday

New Music Monday - 15 December 2025

The regular weekly post for us to talk about any and all of our thoughts about the week's new releases.

Minho - Tempo
Day6 - Lovin' The Christmas
Forestella - Still Here
MJ - Clock
Kim Sejeong - 태양계
Yoona - Wish to Wish

New MVs are also added to an ongoing youtube playlist.

Last week's MVs: 8 December

Feel free to add new comments in the replies for songs/MVs we missed.

[ Rec Something Wednesday | WIP Wednesday | Monthly General Chat | Comment Fest ]

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pinch hits

Posting; Pinch Hit; Betas

The DEADLINE is getting closer and closer!

At deadline time - 9pm UTC on 17 December - your Yuletide assignment must be posted (published, not a draft!) to the Yuletide collection as a complete work.

Before then, we need your help, Yuletide! We have an outstanding pinch hit (#121) for the fandoms:
SMPLive
Roughhouse SMP
Mirai SMP - XYouly
Highcraft (Web Series)

See details here. Please email us at yuletideadmin@gmail.com if you can help, and spread the word if you have friends who might be interested. This pinch hit is due at 9pm UTC on 19 December.

More pinch hits will be advertised at

yuletide_pinch_hits, especially after 9pm UTC on the 17th.

Additionally, we love beta reader volunteers! You can connect with writers at this post by filling out a Google form, or you can join the Discord and keep an eye out for beta requests advertised by members with the Hippo role.

Good luck to everyone facing down the deadline!

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The Ministry for the Future, by Kim Stanley Robinson

After a wet-bulb heat wave kills thousands in India, the UN forms an organization, the Ministry for the Future, intended to deal with climate change on behalf of future generations. They're not the only organization trying mitigate or fight or adapt to climate change; many other people and groups are working on the same thing, using everything from science to financial incentives to persuasion to terrorism.

We very loosely follow two very lightly sketched-in characters, an Irish woman who leads the Ministry for the Future and an American man whose life is derailed when he's a city's sole survivor of the Indian wet-bulb event, but the book has a very broad canvas and they're not protagonists in the usual sense of the word. The book isn't about individuals, it's about a pair of phenomena: climate change and what people do about it. The mission to save the future is the protagonist insofar as there is one.

This is the first KSR book I've actually managed to finish! (It's also the only one that I got farther in than about two chapters.) It's a very interesting, enlightening, educational book. I enjoyed reading it.

He's a very particular kind of writer, much more interested in ideas and a very broad scope than in characters or plot. That approach works very well for this book. The first chapter, which details the wet-bulb event, is a stunning, horrifying piece of writing. It's also the closest the book ever comes to feeling like a normal kind of novel. The rest of it is more like a work of popular nonfiction from an alternate timeline, full of science and economics and politics and projects.

I'm pretty sure Robinson researched the absolute cutting edge of every possible action that could possibly mitigate climate change, and wrote the book based on the idea of "What if we tried all of it?"

Very plausibly, not everything works. (In a bit of dark humor, an attempt to explain to billionaires why they should care about other people fails miserably.) Lots of people are either apathetic or actively fighting against the efforts, and there's a whole lot of death, disaster, and irreparable damage along the way. But the project as a whole succeeds, not because of any one action taken by any one group, but because of all of the actions taken by multiple groups. It's a blueprint for what we could be doing, if we were willing to do it.

The Ministry for the Future came out in 2020. Reading it now, its optimism about the idea that people would be willing to pull together for the sake of future generations makes it feel like a relic from an impossibly long time ago.

Current Mood: frustrated

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(no subject)

There's a Cozy Fantasy Book Blast happening, and I picked up Good Neighbours by Stephanie Burgis, and Tsumiko and the Enslaved Fox by Forthright. Speaking of cozy, I had a conversation on the FaRo discord about project-hopping, because while I know I'll return to angsty paranormal romance in future projects and am committed to writing Book Two of Bloodhunt Academy right now, I need to have a cozy fantasy writing project ongoing alongside. The cozy dragon romantasy is what I'm eyeing right now. While they're two different vibes, I'm going to keep them on the same pen name (I looked at my collection of book ideas and realised I'm not a writer who can come up with similar things for long in the first place).
( We've been menstruating so many centuries, and yet. )
How does one go through life WITHOUT feminine rage? Given everything?

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poll: 2025

POLL: favourite releases of October 2025

ONWARDS. The polls for July, August and September are still open. You can make your case for your faves in the comments and if we missed something, you can do a write-in vote in the comments.

Poll #33943 October 2025

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 23

View Respondents

What are your favourite releases of October 2025?

View Answers

&Team - Back to Life
9 (39.1%)

82Major - Trophy
0 (0.0%)

Babymonster - We Go Up
0 (0.0%)

Bae Jinyoung - Round&Round
0 (0.0%)

BAE173 - Turned Up
0 (0.0%)

BamBam - Wondering
1 (4.3%)

BM - Freak (feat. B.I)
0 (0.0%)

Boynextdoor - Hollywood Action
2 (8.7%)

Close Your Eyes - SOB
1 (4.3%)

DKB - Irony
0 (0.0%)

DKZ - Replay My Anthem
2 (8.7%)

Gyubin - Cappuccino
1 (4.3%)

Hearts2Hearts - Focus
4 (17.4%)

Hebi - Be I
0 (0.0%)

HITGS - Happy
0 (0.0%)

Hwasa - Good Goodbye
4 (17.4%)

i-dle - Where do we go
0 (0.0%)

Itzy - Rock & Roll
1 (4.3%)

Jannabi - 첫사랑은 안녕히
0 (0.0%)

Jisoo x Zayn - Eyes Closed
0 (0.0%)

Joochan - Rise and Shine
0 (0.0%)

Jung Soyeon - Moonlight
0 (0.0%)

Just B - Going South
2 (8.7%)

Kang Seungsik - 괜찮은 오차 (Perfectly Imperfect)
0 (0.0%)

Kang Yuchan - Close to You
0 (0.0%)

Kim Lip - Can you entertain?
2 (8.7%)

Kino - Dirty Boy (feat. Jamie, UWA)
0 (0.0%)

Le Sserafim - Spaghetti (feat. j-hope)
6 (26.1%)

Lee Changsub - Trickle Down
0 (0.0%)

Libelante - Diamante
0 (0.0%)

Lucy - 사랑은 어쩌고
0 (0.0%)

MEOVV - Burning Up
3 (13.0%)

Miyeon - Reno (feat. Colde)
2 (8.7%)

Nchive - Luv + Me
0 (0.0%)

NEXZ - I'm Him / Beat-Boxer
0 (0.0%)

NiziU - Emotion
0 (0.0%)

NMIXX - Spinnin' on it / Blue Valentine
12 (52.2%)

Onewe - Maze
3 (13.0%)

OX:N - Swirky
0 (0.0%)

Roy Kim - No Words Can Say
0 (0.0%)

Tempest - In the Dark
2 (8.7%)

Trendz - Crime
0 (0.0%)

Twice - Me+You
1 (4.3%)

TWS - Overdrive
2 (8.7%)

TXT - Can't Stop
1 (4.3%)

U-KNOW - Body Language
0 (0.0%)

VVUP - House Party
0 (0.0%)

W24 - I Gotta Feeling
0 (0.0%)

WEi - Home
0 (0.0%)

Wonho - If you wanna
3 (13.0%)

Xdinary Heroes - ICU
3 (13.0%)

XIKERS - Superpower (Peak)
2 (8.7%)

Xiumin - Overdrop
1 (4.3%)

Yuta - Ember
4 (17.4%)

Zerobaseone - Iconik
2 (8.7%)

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Default deadline passed (and deadline change reminder)

The default deadline has passed! Defaults after this date will require a New Year’s Resolution fic before you can sign up again. See more info about defaulting at our FAQ.

Original assignments and pinch hits #1-96 are due in a little over 6 days, at:

9pm UTC, 17 December
See when that is in YOUR timezone
See countdown

This is an international exchange, and deadlines are given in UTC/GMT. This deadline is also at a DIFFERENT TIME OF DAY to deadlines we've used in recent years. Please click the links and check when the deadline is for you. We appreciate it!

Good luck to all writing, and especial thanks to everyone tackling pinch hits! Check out

yuletide_pinch_hits for requests currently in need of writers.

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The Night Guest, by Hildur Knútsdóttir

An Icelandic horror novella translated by Mary Robinette Kowal! I had no idea she's fluent in Icelandic.

Iðunn experiences unexplained fatigue and injuries when she wakes up, but is gaslit by doctors and offered idiotic remedies by co-workers. (Very relatable!) Meanwhile, she's being semi-stalked by her ex-boyfriend/co-worker, her parents refuse to accept that she's a vegetarian and keep serving her chicken, and the only living beings she actually likes are the neighborhood cats that she's allergic to.

After what feels like an extremely long time, it finally occurs to her that she might be sleepwalking, and some time after that, it finally occurs to her to video herself as she sleeps. At that point some genuinely scary/creepy/unsettling things happen, and I was very gripped by the story and its central mystery.

Is Iðunn going out at night and committing all the acts she's normally too beaten down or scared to do while sleepwalking or dissociating? Is she having a psychotic break? Is she a vampire? Is she possessed? Does it have something to do with a traumatic past event that's revealed about a third of the way in?

Other than the last question, I have no idea! The ending was so confusing that I have no idea what it was meant to convey, and it did not provide any answers to basically anything. I'm also not sure what all the thematic/political elements about the oppression of women had to do with anything, because they didn't clearly relate to anything that actually happened.

Spoilers!

( Read more... )

This was a miss for me. But I was impressed by the very fluent and natural-sounding translation.

Content note: A very large number of cats are murdered. Can horror writers please knock it off with the dead cats? At this point it would count as a shocking twist if the cat doesn't die.

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afk post

2025 Away from Keyboard post

Yuletide is coming! If everything goes well, we will reveal works in the main collection at 9pm UTC on 24 December, two weeks from now. Madness works are revealed a day later.

(Default deadline is 9pm UTC on the 10th; posting deadline is 9pm UTC on the 17th.)

In Yuletide, it's important to leave a comment on your gift (or gifts) to thank your author.

If you think you'll be delayed in commenting until late in the anonymous period (ending 1 January) or maybe not even until well into the new year, you can use this post to OPTIONALLY let your author(s) know about that delay ahead of time. You don't need to give a reason, but an approximate time indication may be helpful. Please include your AO3 name.

Thanks everyone! Good luck with writing, and please consider the beta post or

yuletide_pinch_hits if you have capacity for beta jobs or pinch hits!

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10yrslater

151209 - "Sing For You" by EXO

a classic exo winter ballad :)

this will probably be the last 10-years-later post here for now. the idea of switching platforms every year amuses me, so these may continue on bluesky in 2026... but the vixx anniversary gifsets will continue on tumblr!

Watch on YouTube

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new music monday

New Music Monday - 8 December 2025

The regular weekly post for us to talk about any and all of our thoughts about the week's new releases.

WayV - Eternal White
Allday Project - Look At Me
KIIRAS - Kiirasmas
Doyoung - Promise
Daesung - 한도초과 (Hando-Chogua)
Jinyoung - Christmas Fever
Sorn and Minnie - Reservations
Kang Daniel - Backseat Promises

New MVs are also added to an ongoing youtube playlist.

Last week's MVs: 1 December

Feel free to add new comments in the replies for songs/MVs we missed.

[ Rec Something Wednesday | WIP Wednesday | Monthly General Chat | Comment Fest ]

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November books

Artists in Crime - Ngaio Marsh
The Chosen and the Beautiful - Nghi Vo
Ocean's Echo - Everina Maxwell
Foxhole Court - Nora Sakavic

( small month )

Current Mood: okay

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Adaptation

( Processing family stuff )
I finished A Curse So Dark And Lonely and... guess what y'all... I ship the prince and the commander //faceplams //shrugs

I meannn. SPOILERS but likeeeee.

The commander is the only one left by the prince's side, and stays loyal to the prince even after the prince transforms into the Beast and kills most of the commander's family. Stays loyal to the prince even when the prince attacks him in Beast form, keeps trying to get himself hurt in the prince's stead, and tries to fake his own death to avoid interfering in the prince's future...

The prince is all "sobs I'm so mean to you why don't you hate me" and the commander is all "I gave you my word, my prince" ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

The commander has risked himself to protect the Beastly prince at each transformation, season after season, and this book tried to convince me that a girl who was trapped in the Beast's castle in just ONE season gave the prince True Love?? Excuse me, do you see the commander and the prince??? THAT'S TRUE LOVEEEE

Ahem. Anyway I borrowed the second book in the trilogy, A Heart So Fierce And Broken, because obviously I need to ship the prince and commander more. The first book ended with the commander faking his own death and the prince being heartbroken, though, so I'm just hoping they don't stay separated throughout the second book, I don't have the patience for that.

In other news, I renewed my BookBrush subscription, which pinches, but I need it for my indie author projects. I also renewed my premium Dreamwidth account (yay for the points bonus!) and deleted a few icons. I'm thinking of moving my monthly payments for my author website to yearly, as well. We shall see. I was looking into moving my author newsletter from Substack to PencilBooth, which is also free. But PencilBooth doesn't have a welcome email, just a welcome message. And I can't make do with just a welcome message when I need to remind people who download my reader magnets from Bookfunnel promos who I am. I need pictures and links, not just a paragraph of text. So still using Substack for now.

My tummy hurts for hours every day and I'm glad I'm not working, but I want to write more than I am now. I want to rest and then write, not just rest and then rest some more. The FaRo discord I'm part of does FaRoWriMo every month, in which you choose your word count goal for the month and track it together on a collective spreadsheet where we each get a column (and talk and support each other in the dedicated discord channel) and I'm considering modifying my goal. I want to sigh, but I also feel fortunate about being able to rest, but I guess disappointment and relief can coexist.

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poll: 2025

POLL: favourite releases of September 2025

We continue! The polls for July and August are still open. You can make your case for your faves in the comments and if we missed something, you can do a write-in vote in the comments.

Poll #33916 September 2025

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 22

View Respondents

What are your favourite releases of September 2025?

View Answers

ACE (VAV) - Eres Tu
0 (0.0%)

Aespa - Rich Man
4 (18.2%)

Aimers - Called Game
0 (0.0%)

ALL(H)OURS - Ready 2 Rumble
0 (0.0%)

Ateez - Ash
10 (45.5%)

AxMxP - I Did It
0 (0.0%)

Badvillain - Thriller
1 (4.5%)

Chaeyoung - Avocado (feat. Gliico) / Shoot (Firecracker)
1 (4.5%)

Changjo - Trapped in My Head
0 (0.0%)

Chanyeol - Zuruiyo
0 (0.0%)

Chen - Arcadia
1 (4.5%)

CIX - Wonder You
0 (0.0%)

Corbyn Besson, Tzuyu - Blink
1 (4.5%)

Cortis - Fashion
2 (9.1%)

Day6 - Inside Out
3 (13.6%)

Dayoung - Body
4 (18.2%)

Doh Kyung Soo - Dumb (feat. Penomeco)
1 (4.5%)

from20 - Social
0 (0.0%)

FTISLAND - Monochrome
0 (0.0%)

Genblue - Badass
0 (0.0%)

Haechan - CRZY
1 (4.5%)

hanhee - So Blue
0 (0.0%)

Hearts2Hearts - Pretty Please
1 (4.5%)

Hyolyn - Shotty
0 (0.0%)

IDID - 제멋대로 찬란하게 (Chan-Ran)
0 (0.0%)

Illit - Toki Yo Tomare
4 (18.2%)

izna - Mamma Mia
0 (0.0%)

Jang Wooyoung - Think Too Much (feat. Damini)
0 (0.0%)

Jinny - Everglow
0 (0.0%)

Jun K - R&B Me (feat. Changbin (Stray Kids))
0 (0.0%)

Junhee - Umbrella
2 (9.1%)

Kang Daniel - No Day
0 (0.0%)

KickFlip - Band-Aid / My First Love Song
0 (0.0%)

The KingDom - 화월가 (Last Flower)
3 (13.6%)

Lee Junyoung - Bounce
0 (0.0%)

LUN8 - Lost
1 (4.5%)

Momoland - Rodeo
0 (0.0%)

Monsta X - N the Front
7 (31.8%)

Nana - God
0 (0.0%)

NCT Wish - Color
4 (18.2%)

Orbit - Too Loud
0 (0.0%)

OX:N - Love +
0 (0.0%)

P1Harmony - EX
2 (9.1%)

Plave - Hide and Seek
0 (0.0%)

POW - Wall Flowers
2 (9.1%)

Primrose - Love Your Flower
0 (0.0%)

S.Coups x Mingyu - 5, 4, 3 (Pretty woman) (feat. Lay Bankz)
3 (13.6%)

Soorin - Sure Thing
0 (0.0%)

Suho - Who Are You
1 (4.5%)

Taemin - Veil
5 (22.7%)

TIOT - My Pride
0 (0.0%)

Treasure - Paradise
1 (4.5%)

tripleS ∞! - Password
1 (4.5%)

TWS - Head Shoulders Knees Toes
1 (4.5%)

UNIS - Moshi Moshi
0 (0.0%)

Wendy - Sunkiss
0 (0.0%)

Woodz - I'll Never Love Again
6 (27.3%)

X:IN - RRRUN
0 (0.0%)

XG - Gala
1 (4.5%)

Yerin - Awake
0 (0.0%)

Youngbin - Freak Show
0 (0.0%)

Yuqi - M.O.
2 (9.1%)

Zerobaseone - Iconik
4 (18.2%)

Entry tags:

Oncoming default deadline

Default deadline

The deadline for a simple default on Yuletide is 9pm UTC on 10 December - just under one week from now. Please check the link - this isn't the same time of day as recent years.

The default deadline is the cut-off point for defaulting on your Yuletide assignment without a penalty. This applies if it's your first Yuletide, or if you posted successfully last time you signed up or took a pinch hit. Default before this time, and you're free to sign up again in future. If you're not sure whether the default deadline applies to you, please talk to mods (yuletideadmin@gmail.com).

Sample reasons to default:

You want to

You can't reconcile the canon, your writing strengths, and your recipient's DNWs

Life got in the way

A new installment of canon ruined your ideas

You use generative AI such as ChatGPT, and you just saw the rule that that's not allowed in this event

You can't see how to get the characters to do what you want them to do

You want to

People default every year for a variety of reasons. We don't need to know why, and we wish you well. When we open sign-ups, we recommend that you don't sign up unless you're confident you can write a story by the deadline. But after you've signed up, things may happen, and it's okay to withdraw, if that's what makes sense for you. See full information about defaulting at the FAQ.

To default, go to your assignment at the collection, and press the default button.

Assignment deadline

All original assignments, and all pinch hits sent out prior to the default deadline, are due at 9pm UTC 17 December (which is a DIFFERENT time of day to last year). Countdown

Pinch Hits

We have an outstanding pinch hit at

yuletide_pinch_hits. Please get in contact if you can help!!!

Betas & Beta Help Needed

We warmly welcome beta reader volunteers at the beta post and on Discord. See the FAQ for more information about finding betas if you need one!

Note: on the Yuletide Discord, requests for betas, or for brainstorming help that might give away what you're writing, are handled by DM-ing someone who currently holds a Hippo role. Please read the server FAQ before seeking a beta. Give your Hippo the relevant details and make sure you can receive messages back.

Treats and Posting

Click here for instructions on posting your assignment or treats. If you've finished your assignment and are considering treats, check out the app, and don't forget the promo post where people have advertised their canons. You may find something amazing there! Check out the prompts from pinch hitters too.

Keep Yuletide Madness in mind. The Madness collection is for stories under 1,000 words and stories which do not exactly fit the fandoms and characters requested. These works must still be gifts for other participants.

AFK post

We will also put up an Away from Keyboard post shortly on the

yuletide comm. The purpose of this post is that if people know they won't be able to respond to their gift until late in the anon period, or even until the new year, they can let their author know ahead of time. (Not being able to read and respond until several days after the collection opens is normal, though - many people will have family and other obligations!)

Happy December!

Entry tags:

Deep and Dark and Dangerous, by Mary Downing Hahn

Thirteen-year-old Ali gets a chance to spend the summer with her aunt Dulcie and five-year-old cousin Emma at the family's long-abandoned lakefront property - over the strong objections of Ali's mother, who hates the lake. Ali is delighted to babysit Emma and get out from under her mom's over-protective thumb. But why do both her mother and Dulcie act so weird about the lake and their past there? Who's the mysterious girl who was ripped out of old family photos? And what's up with Sissy, the strange girl who hangs out at the lake and encourages Emma to behave badly and blame it on Ali?

Sissy's real identity won't come as a surprise to any readers over the age of 10, but there are some genuinely chilling moments and Hahn's trademark realistic family dynamics and exploration of guilty secrets and how parents' childhood trauma gets passed down to their children. I actually got stressed out reading about Ali trying to protect Emma while Dulcie blames Ali for all the weird stuff going on and accuses Ali of refusing to take responsibility for anything. (In fact, Dulcie and Ali's mom are the ones who are failing to take responsibility and projecting it on the kids.)

A good solid middle-grade ghost story with unusually complex family dynamics.

Entry tags:

The Age of Miracles, by Karen Thomas Walker

A sensitive, well-written novel about a young girl coming of age at the end of the world. 11-year-old Julia lives in California suburbs with her doctor dad and fragile mom when the Earth's rotation begins to slow, and gradually gets slower and slower and slower.

Days and nights stretch out. Birds fall from the sky. Some people become severely ill, apparently from disruption of circadian rhythms. Crops fail. But life goes on, and Julia experiences all the ordinary milestones - a first love, her parents' marriage breaking up, becoming more independent - against a backdrop of larger loss and change. It

This is an apocalypse novel almost entirely without violence, apart from some light persecution of a scapegoated neighbor. There's some death, but it's all from natural or accidental causes. It's science fiction but marketed as literary fiction, and feels a lot more like the latter. The book has that melancholy, nostalgic, sepia vibe of looking back on times when you knew something was wrong but were young enough to be focused mostly on yourself, and knowing you'll never be that innocent ot experience the same time or world again.