What I'm Doing Wednesday
Sep. 17th, 2025 05:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
books
still reading Pawn in Frankincense by Dorothy Dunnett. I haven't had the time to really focus on it, so I've been reading Kirk/Spock longfic.
yarning
I finished the crocheted globe for Niece and it looks pretty good. Definitely good enough for a child turning 5, though it's a little unevenly stuffed in a couple of places & I can't get it to shift. Am sad I had to miss yarn group this week, but yesterday I made a 3in diameter moon to go with the Earth. Hopefully it'll all fit in the box.
Yuletide
I nommed:
- The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty. (Amina, Dalila, Raksh, and Jamal)
- Shadow of the Leviathan by Robert Jackson Bennett (Ana, Din, Kepheus)
- A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher (Cordelia, Hester, Richard, Penelope)
- Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher (Anja, Snow, Grayling)
- Dark Olympus series by Katee Robert (Icarus, Poseidon, Hades, Penelope)
sadly, Batman: Wayne Family Adventures and Rivers of London both look too large to nom this year, if I'm gauging them right. Drat!
#resist
October 18: No Kings Day #2
I hope you're all doing well! <333
still reading Pawn in Frankincense by Dorothy Dunnett. I haven't had the time to really focus on it, so I've been reading Kirk/Spock longfic.
yarning
I finished the crocheted globe for Niece and it looks pretty good. Definitely good enough for a child turning 5, though it's a little unevenly stuffed in a couple of places & I can't get it to shift. Am sad I had to miss yarn group this week, but yesterday I made a 3in diameter moon to go with the Earth. Hopefully it'll all fit in the box.
Yuletide
I nommed:
- The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty. (Amina, Dalila, Raksh, and Jamal)
- Shadow of the Leviathan by Robert Jackson Bennett (Ana, Din, Kepheus)
- A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher (Cordelia, Hester, Richard, Penelope)
- Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher (Anja, Snow, Grayling)
- Dark Olympus series by Katee Robert (Icarus, Poseidon, Hades, Penelope)
sadly, Batman: Wayne Family Adventures and Rivers of London both look too large to nom this year, if I'm gauging them right. Drat!
#resist
October 18: No Kings Day #2
I hope you're all doing well! <333
Henry and Alex at sunset by elorberryart (SFW)
Sep. 17th, 2025 01:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
Fandom: Red White and Royal Blue (RWRB)
Characters/Pairing/Other Subject: Henry/Alex
Content Notes/Warnings: none
Medium: digital art
Artist on DW/LJ: n/a
Artist Website/Gallery: elorberryart on tumblr
Why this piece is awesome: A classical romantic painting against the sunset, to celebrate five years of RWRB. Love the colours!
Link: Henry and Alex at sunset
Characters/Pairing/Other Subject: Henry/Alex
Content Notes/Warnings: none
Medium: digital art
Artist on DW/LJ: n/a
Artist Website/Gallery: elorberryart on tumblr
Why this piece is awesome: A classical romantic painting against the sunset, to celebrate five years of RWRB. Love the colours!
Link: Henry and Alex at sunset
Dear ITPE Creator Letter
Sep. 16th, 2025 12:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
First, thanks so much for making me a gift! I'll love whatever you want to make, but here are a few general guidelines about things I prefer and those I'd rather not receive.
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
Murderbot fic recs part 2: Longer iddy h/c & plotty fic [9 fics]
Sep. 14th, 2025 10:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Okay, I couldn't really think what else to call this, because this is mostly just recent fics that I want to roll around in like a kitten in catnip. This fandom has tons of gloriously iddy h/c, casefic, longfic, and plotty WIPs, both of the AU and non-AU variety. So this is some of what's been delighting me lately. All of these are complete unless otherwise noted.
(Also see bookverse short gen in the last post, if you missed it.)
One of the still unfinished WIPs I've been following with enjoyment is this:
Robbing the Hood by
Rilleshka (gen, AU, currently 11 chapters/68K and still updating) - A SPACE PIRATE AU, really well thought out and probably the kind of thing that will sprawl onwards for a long time without any particular resolution, but I'm just enjoying the ride. It's canon divergent rather than a total AU; early in its post-governor-module life, Murderbot ends up on a ship that's attacked by raiders, the crews of both ships are wiped out, and now MB is alone with the grieving bot pilot of the raider ship, and the two embark on a freelance piracy career for survival, eventually ending up falling headfirst into semi-accidentally rescuing human trafficking victims. (The bot pilot is an OC, not ART - ART's around, but essentially this AU is following the widening spiral of various changes that take place due to MB not being around to e.g. help PreservationAux or Tapan's group.)
This AU does something that very often doesn't work for me, where the found family consists of mostly different people in this 'verse, including OCs and people who never met in canon. (The first one they rescue is a pre-ART Tarik, left to die after he's injured on a death squad mission.) But it really works for me! The AU takes the time to build up the various AU relationships, and it's rich with worldbuilding on the state of piracy in the Murderbot universe, including a gloriously OTT pirate base and some other interesting locations.
The author also has this wonderfully harrowing (complete) fic from last year:
Undefinable Boundaries (gen, 26K, post-canon)
Murderbot is killed on a mission, but that's not the end; its friends, including ART, Three, and PresAux, try to bring it back and rebuild it. Just incredibly wrenching and painful and sweet, and it does have a happy ending.
Moving on, these are pretty much all Murderbot & Gurathin-centric with lots of h/c. This one just dropped today:
Over Imperfect Bones by
lookninjas (gen, 8K)
A full on idfest of the "trauma-bonded characters refuse to be more than few feet from each other" trope. Something *really* bad happened to MB, we don't know what for a while, but it can't see or speak or move, except one hand, and it will not let go of Gurathin's hand; we don't find out why for a while either. The way this slowly drops the details of what happened to them and lets the reader read between the lines to what everyone isn't talking about is really well done. There's also some nice stuff with ART, Mensah, and Ratthi.
This one is more thriller/plotty action rather than h/c:
Distress Call by
e_va (gen, 9K)
Murderbot wakes up in a cargo container, unable to move, and the only person it can get in touch with is Gurathin, who appears to be on the ship with it. Lots of nice action/spy stuff with bonding and mutual worry.
( A few more plotty and hurt/comforty gen )
(Also see bookverse short gen in the last post, if you missed it.)
One of the still unfinished WIPs I've been following with enjoyment is this:
Robbing the Hood by
This AU does something that very often doesn't work for me, where the found family consists of mostly different people in this 'verse, including OCs and people who never met in canon. (The first one they rescue is a pre-ART Tarik, left to die after he's injured on a death squad mission.) But it really works for me! The AU takes the time to build up the various AU relationships, and it's rich with worldbuilding on the state of piracy in the Murderbot universe, including a gloriously OTT pirate base and some other interesting locations.
The author also has this wonderfully harrowing (complete) fic from last year:
Undefinable Boundaries (gen, 26K, post-canon)
Murderbot is killed on a mission, but that's not the end; its friends, including ART, Three, and PresAux, try to bring it back and rebuild it. Just incredibly wrenching and painful and sweet, and it does have a happy ending.
Moving on, these are pretty much all Murderbot & Gurathin-centric with lots of h/c. This one just dropped today:
Over Imperfect Bones by
A full on idfest of the "trauma-bonded characters refuse to be more than few feet from each other" trope. Something *really* bad happened to MB, we don't know what for a while, but it can't see or speak or move, except one hand, and it will not let go of Gurathin's hand; we don't find out why for a while either. The way this slowly drops the details of what happened to them and lets the reader read between the lines to what everyone isn't talking about is really well done. There's also some nice stuff with ART, Mensah, and Ratthi.
This one is more thriller/plotty action rather than h/c:
Distress Call by
Murderbot wakes up in a cargo container, unable to move, and the only person it can get in touch with is Gurathin, who appears to be on the ship with it. Lots of nice action/spy stuff with bonding and mutual worry.
( A few more plotty and hurt/comforty gen )
Murderbot fic recs part 1: Bookverse Short Gen [9 fics]
Sep. 14th, 2025 10:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
See also my Murderbot recs from May over at
recthething, when I was first getting into it (all bookverse).
So I've been wallowing around in all the good fic in this fandom lately, and I'm finally getting around to posting some recs here. I'll start off with something pretty basic: bookverse gen featuring a variety of characters.
( 9 short bookverse genfics )
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
So I've been wallowing around in all the good fic in this fandom lately, and I'm finally getting around to posting some recs here. I'll start off with something pretty basic: bookverse gen featuring a variety of characters.
( 9 short bookverse genfics )
Just Married
Sep. 14th, 2025 09:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
The
justmarriedexchange revealed today, and I adore my gift!
Precipice (Biggles/EvS, 3300 wds)
Takes a Holiday AU in which things go very differently after Erich goes looking for Biggles when he's hiding in the attic. Incredibly sensual, wonderful character voices and a great sense of their mingled attraction and enmity/distrust; it's tense and sexy and just exactly what I want from them at this point in canon. The author's notes hint at a possible sequel, which I would LOVE and - no pressure! - hope that it does happen someday. <3
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
Precipice (Biggles/EvS, 3300 wds)
Takes a Holiday AU in which things go very differently after Erich goes looking for Biggles when he's hiding in the attic. Incredibly sensual, wonderful character voices and a great sense of their mingled attraction and enmity/distrust; it's tense and sexy and just exactly what I want from them at this point in canon. The author's notes hint at a possible sequel, which I would LOVE and - no pressure! - hope that it does happen someday. <3
Rodney Forgotten *Found*
Sep. 14th, 2025 02:57 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
Looking for fanfic where a scientist decided to get revenge against Rodney by using a device to erase mostly everyone's (on Atlantis) memory of him.
It is a complete story
I don't remember where I read it or who authored it
Thank you for your help
Tumblr meta on 90s TV
Sep. 13th, 2025 10:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I fell down a rabbit hole this evening reading the comment reblogs on this Tumblr post on 90s TV. I ended up deciding to copy some of them here to save them from the inevitable linkrot and post decay.
https://www.tumblr.com/laylainalaska/794609119262900224
Original post:
I don't agree with every single point in every reblog. I also think there's quite a bit of TV now that still does most or all of this, though usually it's the dramas and procedurals rather than scifi, and a lot that's not great about 90s and earlier TV. But there is also a lot of food for thought in here, so I just threw a bunch of the comments into this post to mull over.
The asterisks separate out each different reblog; basically each is its own separate comment, generally in dialogue with the original post rather than each other.
Thoughts are welcome!
( Under the cut )
https://www.tumblr.com/laylainalaska/794609119262900224
Original post:
I don't know what those '90s sci Fi TV writers were putting in their shows but I wish they'd start doing it again
#they de-escalated the stakes every once in a while so that you can see what the characters are like when they're not under duress
#they made statements about the world through allegory
#they invested in depicting developing friendships and relationships between their characters
#they assumed that their audience was paying attention to the screen and wanted to be there
#and that their audience has enough intelligence to follow narrative clues and even sometimes to predict the ending
#dont even get me started on this i will go ALL DAY
I don't agree with every single point in every reblog. I also think there's quite a bit of TV now that still does most or all of this, though usually it's the dramas and procedurals rather than scifi, and a lot that's not great about 90s and earlier TV. But there is also a lot of food for thought in here, so I just threw a bunch of the comments into this post to mull over.
The asterisks separate out each different reblog; basically each is its own separate comment, generally in dialogue with the original post rather than each other.
Thoughts are welcome!
( Under the cut )
The Fandomening
Sep. 13th, 2025 12:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Whumptober ficlet status: 12/31 (4 Biggles, 2 Bab5, 6 Murderbot)
I put in a tentative signup for
trickortreatex. This is the first time in at least 3 years that I'm not requesting Biggles, because greerwatson (of "Unrequested Nazis Are Awesome, Actually" fame) usually does this exchange and I don't want to accidentally summon her. :P However, it's early yet and I'm still adding fandoms, so I'll see if I feel like it's worth the risk later on. (I don't really mind so much being assigned to her as a writer; I can always write the minimum and leave it anon. But ugh.) Also, while my motivation is - let's be real - mostly avoiding Greer, it made me realize that I've requested Biggles in every exchange since spring 2022 and it might be fun to cast my net wider this time, and request some fandoms I haven't asked for in a while.
Also, I put in a signup for
spook_me, the annual Halloween/horror challenge with art prompts that I've been doing every year, or at least most years, since their very first round back on LJ in the late 2000s.* True, my years of finishing anything for it are relatively rare, but it's genuinely one of my favorite events of the year, and I will be very sad whenever they stop doing it.
*(Edit: their first year was - HOLYSHIT - 2006, I found their master list on LJ, and I did actually write for it that year. I thought I remembered participating in the first one! This means this is their 20th year, and I've signed up for most of those years. What even.)
**(Edit2: The first spook-me signup post from 2006. I completely forgot that early on, they asked you to veto what you *didn't* want to write for, and then assigned you a creature and art prompt!)
In other news, Casefic Exchange revealed! I wrote Smuggler's Beach, a 13K post-Buries a Hatchet Biggles/EvS fic that is basically Biggles Goes Alone but with Erich along this time.
I put in a tentative signup for
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
Also, I put in a signup for
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
*(Edit: their first year was - HOLYSHIT - 2006, I found their master list on LJ, and I did actually write for it that year. I thought I remembered participating in the first one! This means this is their 20th year, and I've signed up for most of those years. What even.)
**(Edit2: The first spook-me signup post from 2006. I completely forgot that early on, they asked you to veto what you *didn't* want to write for, and then assigned you a creature and art prompt!)
In other news, Casefic Exchange revealed! I wrote Smuggler's Beach, a 13K post-Buries a Hatchet Biggles/EvS fic that is basically Biggles Goes Alone but with Erich along this time.