You may remember our story about the Yuletide fan fiction exchange last year – a collection of thousands of stories from “rare” fandoms (you’ll see no Star Trek or Harry Potter here!) that launches annually on Christmas day.

Again, there are a lot of stories from source you probably thought you’d never see. Texts from Cephalopods seems to be the star of this year’s fest so far – a story based on, of all things, a YouTube video titled octupus steals my video camera and swims off with it (while it’s recording). Because apparently it is a well-established fact in marine biology that the octopus is the drunk texter of the cephalopod family.

Speaking of YouTube, there are stories based on My Drunk Kitchen, Epic Meal Time (a Harry Potter crossover – accio calories, hater!), Charlie the Unicorn, and Jane Austen’s Fight Club. And you’ll also find stories inspired by Twitter feeds, tumblrs, and ice cream flavors.

Of course, the quirky and off-beat are fun, but the real magic of Yuletide is in the less popular of the rare – that book series you loved as a kid but never thought you’d see more of, or the movie you really thought could use a sequel. Or maybe you’re worried about the fact that your favorite show is on hiatus and want to read more in the meantime. There are 1457 fandoms in this year’s collection, something for everyone. And being hosted on Archive of Our Own (a project of the fanworks nonprofit Organization for Transformative Works) means that everything is easily searchable and contains clear ratings and warnings (in case you’re worried about Rule 34).

Basically, its the most wonderful time of the year for fan fiction aficionados.  Happy holidays!