via_ostiense | Reading

Been reading a lot of Herodotus lately. The flight of Hegesistratus made me think of Ewen.

Hegesistratus (100 words) by sanguinity
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Jacobite Trilogy | The Flight of the Heron Series - D. K. Broster, The Histories - Herodotus
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Ewen Cameron
Additional Tags: Missing Scene, Drabble, Angst
Summary:
Ewen Cameron, lame and hunted after his escape at High Bridge, remembers his childhood daydreams.

...now back to finishing Book IX before book group tomorrow!

sholio

hurtcomfortex released today! I happened to be driving a backcountry highway with no cell service at the time (coming home from Mom Things), but it was lovely to find my gifts waiting for me when I got back.

Hold a Candle To (MASH, 3400 wds, gen) delivered some lovely Charles drug withdrawal h/c with teamy affection, and A Way Out (Biggles, 4400 wds, gen) let me roll around in excellent Biggles & von Stalhein enemies-era reluctant cooperation and sympathy. Truly a lovely haul!

rydra_wong

A whole world of games not playable on Mac has opened up to me, and it's Steam summer sale time!

Please rec me your favourite games, bearing in mind that I have very limited reflexes/co-ordination.

(I'm not completely ruling out games involving them, but the threshold for entry has to be very very low. I am currently enjoying Refunct because it allows me to try some simple platforming in a very chill and pleasant environment with no time pressure and no penalties for taking several hundred tries to get a jump.)

delphi

✓

kingstoken's 2025 Book Bingo: Non-Human POV

(I checked this square off my bingo card last time, but this new release arrived with perfect timing, so I'm doubling up.)

Ew, It's Beautiful is the newest collection of cartoonist Joshua Barkman's webcomic False Knees. It contains around 120 short comics, the majority of which were new to me, separated into sections for winter, spring, summer, and fall based on their setting.

The stars of False Knees are usually birds, but there are some cats, insects, and at least a couple of beavers in the mix here. Barkman's art is legitimately beautiful, with a naturalist's specificity and a knack for combining human expressions with realistic animal features, and his writing captures the universal experience of being a small creature in an unfathomably big world. It's full of absurd humour, occasional moments of awe, and recurring bits about the creative process, self-image, and the way friends or family can be on entirely different wavelengths. The comic is where I got my current default icon from, and it almost never fails to bring me a little joy or give me something to appreciate.

( 3 Comics )

petra

( Spoilers )

Current Mood: cringing
Current Music: Singing the Sanctuary Moon theme song

petra

I am deeply ashamed of my country.

Time to go have a party with a group of queer people who are similarly appalled, because we can't do anything but keep on going as our authentic, pissed-off selves.

Current Mood: brb off to babylon
Current Music: When the beating of your heart echoes the beating of the drum

rebecca2525

I'm so excited that you're creating something for me! I know I ramble a lot in my letter, but it's meant to be an inspiration more than anything. I'm not attached to any of my prompts, so feel free to ignore them. The division into art and fic prompts is only meant as a convenience, so feel free to mix and match.

I'm Rebecca on AO3. Treats are welcome.

Contents

DNWs
Albion (Video Game)
Are You Being Served?
Doom (Video Games)
Les fantômes du chapelier | The Hatter's Ghosts - Georges Simenon
A Place Called Glory | The Hell of Manitoba
General Likes

DNWs

I don't have any triggers and I am very hard to squick. There are just a few things I do not want to read about:

death of requested characters
giving requested characters terminal illnesses or unrecoverable injuries
giving requested characters mental illnesses or trauma
trans and asexual interpretations of requested characters
rape/non-con involving requested characters
requested characters cheating on anyone (simply not mentioning canon partners is fine)
unrequested open relationships or poly involving requested characters (simply not mentioning canon partners is fine)
settings AU, e.g. vampires, coffee shop, different time period, omegaverse, soulmate AUs, ... (canon divergence/altering or ignoring canon events is fine)

(There are some canon-specific exceptions listed below.)

Albion (Video Game)

Drirr/Rainer Hofstedt

Requested: Art & Fic

I love the detailed world of Albion, especially the tropic Nakiridaani with all those lush plants and animals and the culture of Iskai. I can spend hours walking around there, looking at stuff and talking to people! (Glow-in-the-dark flora & fauna! Pretty buildings that are actually shaped out of living plants! Iskai magic! The Former's' guild house!)

Drirr has a couple of funny moments that amuse me greatly and I love his impulsiveness and the fighting ability he brings to the party—strong and quick and probably a joy to watch. Rainer I love because he's the level-headed, geeky scientist, and I'm probably the only person who is actually sad when he leaves the party. Together, they make the perfect opposites attract/unlikely couple, and there's a titbit of dialog where Drirr's rash actions and Rainer's prudence clash in a bicker-y way that just hits all my buttons. Add to that the cultural and physical differences and how they start out knowing nothing about each other's species, and it makes me all the more curious to see how anything between them would play out.

Fic Prompts

Cultural differences: Do Iskai kiss? Hug? Dance? Do they have any taboos? Do they have any rituals surrounding sex, dating, ...? Does that lead to confusions or misunderstandings? Maybe there are some gestures that one culture sees as platonic and the other as romantic/sexual and an accidental courtship ensues?
Differences in physique: Exploring each other's differences and loving them, or some awkward moments and creative workarounds. Maybe Iskai go through some sort of heat or Pon Farr and someone has to help Drirr out?
Drirr's tail: It's practically a tentacle—I mean long third arm and hand, so what fun uses for it are there? Is it unusually sensitive, maybe? Do Iskai attach any special meaning to things done with the tail vs with hands, or are there any specific gestures for it that Rainer learns to decipher bit by bit? Apart from sex, it could be good for inconspicuous hand-holding or other displays of affection? Or Drirr could use it to startle Rainer, maybe he finds that fun in a "pulling pigtails" sort of way. :D
AU where Rainer and Drirr already meet during the time when Tom is still in coma: Maybe Drirr is fascinated by this newcomer? How is it for Rainer to see this strange world for the very first time, to try to communicate, to try to learn the first words? Does the Iskai mind-meld help, maybe, and does that spark something between Rainer and Drirr?
Getting closer during a quiet night around the campfire when they are out with the party? I imagine that must be a little awkward, what with the lack of privacy...
Sex pollen/magic/...: There are so many weird plants and so many ancient places with forgotten magic, there's probably some fun stuff around! (I bet it's Drirr who accidentally triggers it and Rainer is pretty miffed about it. Or it's the other way round for once.) Could be something that induces lust, or that forces proximity or other intimate situations or... Maybe something weird/funny happens with some ancient magic designed for Iskai biology but Rainer is human?

Art Prompts

Drirr using his tail to touch Rainer (Sneakily? Boldly?)
A quiet moment at the campfire — leaning onto each other, sleeping close to each other, ...
Running fingers over each other's alien physique
Drirr protecting Rainer from wildlife
Drirr pinning Rainer against a convenient surface
A kiss (What' Drirr's tail doing during this?)

Availability

Albion is abandonware and as such downloadable in various places, and there are walkthroughs, Let's Plays etc available. It's a very long game, but pretty much everything I'm referencing above happens early on and it's not a story that goes very deep into characterisation, plus I'm not wedded to any of the cultural titbits we learn about the Iskai, so I'm good with taking the character archetypes and the basic facts and running with them in any direction you like. (If you do want to go deep into Iskai lore, though, I'm up for that, too!)

In any case, I've collected some resources here

Are You Being Served?

Wilberforce Claybourne Humphries/Stephen Peacock

Requested: Art & Fic

I love how Mr Humphries is so unapologetically himself, love his humour and the camp, love how he always seems to be throwing himself into things and having so much fun. Captain Peacock is the perfect foil with his grumpy, quiet, uptight personality; I'm always intrigued by quiet-waters-run-deep kind of characters and it amuses me greatly how he's perpetually baffled by Mr Humphries' lifestyle (without being judgemental usually). They seem to respect each other–Mr Humphries is the only of the staff that Captain Peacock ever has praise for afair–and canon gives us Mr Humphries' little flirtations here and there that Captain Peacock doesn't seem to mind, so I can imagine that, to both of their surprise maybe, something could develop between them.

Regarding Captain Peacock's wife: I'd prefer if she's either not mentioned, doesn't exist, or that they separated before anything shippy happens.

I love the entire staff and am always happy for them to appear, btw. Other favourites are Mrs Slocombe and Mr Rumbold.

Fic Prompts

Sharing a bed: There are so many moments where the staff have to sleep at the store. Captain Peacock and Mr Humphries should have to share at some point! Alternating the plot of an existing episode? A new scenario? What's Mr Humphries wearing to bed? What does Captain Peacock things of it?
I love the episode where they dance so much (Top Hat and Tails) and I'd love any scene based on that. The dancing leading to realisations? Them discovering they'd love to keep dancing even after the episode? Why did Captain Peacock agree to dance with Mr Humphries in the first place? How did they settle that?
The episode where Mrs Slocombe makes that perfume with that interesting effect (The Sweet Smell of Success)–maybe it hits Captain Peacock and Mr Humphries, like some sort of aphrodisiac or love potion or sex pollen-y stuff?
Mr Humphries helping to Captain Peacock to buy some clothes and that leading to more. Taking measurements, advising him, helping him in the fitting room?
Having to stay at each other's place. There's one episode where Captain Peacock gets thrown out by his wife and needs a place to stay, and one episode where Mr Humphries gets thrown out by his mother... something like that? Ending up liking the arrangement more than they thought? One consoling the other? Drowning their sorrows in alcohol together? Captain Peacock clashing with how Mr Humphries decorates his flat? Or with how Mr Humphries takes over his own place?

Art Prompts

Dancing! (Love the Episode "Top Hat and Tails). Either both of them wearing suits, or maybe Mr Humphries wearing something he'd put on in a gay club? Or a dress?
Helping each other dress: Tying ties, doing up zippers or buttons, ...
Mr Humphries taking Captain Peacock's measurements
Sharing a bed (voluntarily as a couple, or involuntarily?)
Mr Humphries impressing Captain Peacock with one of his skimpy outfits

Availability

A lot can be found on dailymotion. The channel "Britcome One" usually has the best quality, but they rigulously cut off the intro and outro (which were specially filmed for each episode). The episode that started my ship obsession is "Top Hats And Tails". Just look at them! The series is episodic so you can just watch a handful episodes.

Doom (Video Games)

Doomguy/Samuel Hayden

Requested: Art

I love the aesthetics of Doom 2016 especially, the Mars station scifi/indistrial environment. Love Dooguy's preator suit too, idk, all that stuff that it has going on visually. Doomguy's needles violence cracks me up, the way he punches the weapon update drones, or the Argent filters despite being told to carefully disable them.

Curious as to Samual Hayden's deal. He studies the Doom Slayer, he needs/uses him, but it can also easily be read as obsession, a fixation, curiosity... How much is he watching him? What's the deal with the three statues he has in his office? I think they are supposed to be just the suit, but there's nothing to say that Doomguy isn't meant to be in them....

Art Prompts

Samuel watching Doomguy tied up in the lab before he wakes up
Samuel patching Doomguy up, or installing an update on his suit?
Angry sex/hate sex. Don't mind if Doomguy is still a bit beat up from what's going on.
Sexy manhandling (whoever's doing the manhandling :). Maybe Doomguy just straight up shoving a gun in Samuel's face?
Samuel admiring the statues in his office. Maybe very handsyly?

Availability

(tbd)

Les fantômes du chapelier | The Hatter's Ghosts - Georges Simenon

Requested: Fic

Kachoudas&Léon Labbé, Kachoudas/Léon Labbé

(Note: My character death DNW and cheating DNW don't apply here.)

I find the book and the character of Léon Labbé very fascinating. The way he is on the one hand so precise, so carefully planning, so arrogant about his own abilities, so successful, but on the other hand pretty much deceiving himself about what he really needs or wants. I think he is so deeply trapped in his unhappy life that he doesn't even realise the depths of his own unhappiness until it all very suddenly starts to go wrong. What struck me about the book is that it's also pretty sensual, for example in the way it lingers on smell or other senses, while outwardly the controlled Labbé is anything but sensual, and nothing in his life is either. It's a contrast that makes me want to poke at it.

His relationship with Kachoudas is so interesting. You have these men that barely talk to each other or interact, but who are both obsessed which each other. They have their daily rituals they perform in an 'apart but together' way, they are always observing each other. The sensual descriptions apply to Kachoudas as well. And then, of course, Labbé gets completely fixated on Kachoudas as if he's the only one who could understand him, the only person that matters, the only one who could save him perhaps (even though he doesn't even seem to respect him much). I think it's telling that Labbé starts to truly break apart the moment Kachoudas dies.

I don't really have prompts, as such. I'd love any kind of encounter between them, whether before or during the book, whether canon-compliant or canon-divergent. How did they get to where they are? Could a difference in their relationship have changed anything at all?

I can easily see some sexual component. Labbé's only positive sexual encounters seem to be with with Mlle Berthe every once in a while, so I can imagine there's the potential for lots of suppression, unexamined desires etc. Honestly, I don't even know what exactly to picture, here. I'm not looking for a HEA between the two. Maybe a one-time thing, maybe some sort of regular thing? I imagine they still barely talk about anything. I wouldn't want noncon direction or Labbé taking advantage of someone who isn't somewhat reciprocating, but I'm on board with all kinds of ill-advised sex, feelings of guilt and disgust, dubcon. Would this change anything about how the story plays out?

Availability

It's a short French novel. An English translation is available, though personally I haven't read it.

A Place Called Glory | The Hell of Manitoba

Clint Brenner/Reese

I just love how much fun these two seem to have in every scene they share. All those smiles and the playfulness and the way they seem to instantly like each other despite now knowing much of each other! <3 I can see anything from casual hookup to romance between those two.

Fic Prompts

Their first meeting at the campfire reads like Reese hitting on Brenner to me, and Brenner at least contemplating it. I'd love anything exploring this, no matter if it leads to sex or not, if it's more flirting or fade to black or whatever. Reese can't possibly know whether his advances would be welcome within just a couple of minutes knowing Brenner — is he so smitten at first sight that he just has to try or is that just his general modus operandi? They don't trust each other yet (sleeping with their guns in their hands!) — does that influence things? (Reese at least seems like a person who finds a bit of risk extra fun...) If nothing happened that night, what's Brenner's fond smile in the morning about?
Their second meeting in the barn and especially the last lines ("coffee's good/see you later") always make me think that now they are definitely making a date for sex, whether or not they already slept together the first night or not. I'd love anything exploring this, be it the actual sex scene or things leading up to this. If Brenner declined the night before, what made him change his mind? Are they sitting through the whole poker game building up anticipation?
I find it pretty funny how the movie wants these two to become friends quickly but can't have them know each other's names. So, trying to fill plot holes with sex, maybe they were expecting an anonymous one-night-stand that makes it awkward to ask for names even when they started growing fond of each other? Resulting in pining while having sex because the other would never etc?
Alternate ending: How would the movie end if Brenner hadn't got back together with Jade? Would they just ride into the sunset together, or would Brenner still try his old running away trick (and would Reese let him?) Celebratory sex?
Post-movie reunion: How do they meet again? I'm up for all kinds of Western shenanigans if you want to go a bit plotty.

Regarding Jade, I'm fine with: ignoring that Brenner got back together with her, fic where Brenner/Reese stays casual and the movie events still happen (with possible threesome in the future?), fic set after Brenner and Jade broke up again, Brenner having feelings for both Jade and Reese, Jade not appearing or being mentioned in the fic at all.

Art Prompts

Strip poker
Riding into the sunset together
Brenner teaching Reese how he makes his coffee
Casual nudity in the wilderness: bathing in a river, laundry day, post-sex cuddling, ...
Kissing/touching/etc while on horseback or right next to the horses

Availability

The movie is up in it's entirety on free Youtube and is 90 minutes long.

General Likes

Any rating works for me, be it for sex, violence, language, or lack thereof. I'm here for the character interactions, and sex can be a great part of that, but isn't necessary for me.

General

getting together
romance
humour
banter & bickering
flirting
a pairing's first intimate moments: touches, kisses, sex, ...
ballroom dancing and slow dancing
friends to lovers
all variations of forced intimacy when they secretly want it anyway: X made them do it/mistletoe/sex pollen/undercover as a couple/fake dating/having to share a bed
games like truth or dare, bets, ...
mistaken for a couple/everyone things they are dating
coming to terms with things: one's past, one's feelings, ...
competence/people being good at their job
matchmaking/friends giving a gentle nudge
feels like an episode/episode related (missing scene, post-ep, casting a new light upon canon events); matching the canon's tone
bittersweet/melancholy atmosphere
geeky/nerdy/techy stuff; science
UST/becoming aware of one's feelings/trying to suppress one's feelings and failing
best buddies or colleagues/acting like a married couple/knowing how to handle each other's quirks/settling into routines
relationships that seem mismatched, unbalanced or unlikely at first glance, but aren't or work out against all odds; unlikely couples complementing each other
keeping romantic gestures under the radar (for example because of period-typical homophobia), relying on subtlety or one's own language; unexpected allies
a silly premise
imperfections/not being conventionally attractive
mixed media
pre-relationship, UST/pining that's not resolved

Art specific

stylised or realistic style, clean or sketchy
landscapes and scenery
costume porn
unusual lighting or a strong sense of lighting
contrast
limited colour palette
comics
illustrations to my fic
memes, visual jokes and other funny stuff
silly poses and expressions
relaxed poses, quiet intimacy
small domestic moments of living together, like sharing a bathroom and bedroom, doing chores together etc.
touching, almost touching, being in each other's space
hands
casual nudity
animals

Fic specific

all fic lengths
open or ambiguous endings
happy endings
five times fic
outsider POV: someone else's view on my pairings
plotty fic, case fic, adventures etc (including the shippy part being the B-plot)
descriptions of surroundings, sense of time and place
older characters re-evaluating their sexuality

Sex Scenes

Top/bottom preferences: As to what tab goes in which slot, I don't care at all. As to who's more assertive, I love a give and take between characters.

Random stuff that I like:

hand jobs, frottage, intercrural, blow jobs, rimming, anal, fingering
kissing
exploring each other's bodies with hands and tongues
acknowledging the messier aspects of sex, like spit, sweat, semen (though I do not like including other bodily fluids)
sex that develops spontaneously, diving in and seeing where things take you, trying out stuff and figuring things out on the go
imperfections and loving each other's imperfections
minor mishaps, laughing
bantering/bickering/teasing continuing through sex
those little moments of pause, or guessing, because you can't read your partner's mind—especially if it's the pairing's first time
quick frantic sex, slow sensual sex
touching through clothes
sex with clothes on, sex without clothes on
slowly stripping each other's clothes, quickly scrambling out of clothes
body hair, or naturally smooth skin
altered states of mind acting like a catalyst: adrenaline rush, alcohol, sex pollen... (as long as I can believe they both secretly want it anyway, I'm fine with dubcon-y scenarios)

Common DNWs I'm fine with

Feel free to include if it fits your story/canon!

Any kind of -isms, internalised -isms, offensive language etc; especially for historical settings.
Past relationships (canon and not canon), including past relationships that are important to the characters still. As far as my requested ships are the main focus, I'm fine.
Unrequested background ships
Teenagers (14 and above) havings sex, drinking, smoking, taking drugs
Original characters. As long as my requested characters play a main role, I'm fine. None of my DNWs apply to OCs.
OCs as POV characters. As long as the main focus is on their thoughts on my requested characters, I'm fine.
1st person POV, 2nd person POV
Epistolary fic (be it traditional letters, or mails, chats and texts)
Pre-ship endings, UST/pining that's not resolved. As long as non-platonic feelings are had for requested ships, I'm fine.
Dubcon for requested ships. I want to be able to believe that both secretly want it anyway (I'm very willing to believe this!), and that there isn't one deliberately taking advantage of the other, but I'm fine with all kinds of outside forces, under the influence, things spiralling out of control, ill-advised sex etc.

swan_tower

A Work in Progressby Marie BrennanOh beautiful for spacious skiesand endless stolen landFor purple mountain majestiesabove the slave-chained bandAmerica! America!God’s mercy may we seeAnd crown thy good with brotherhoodfor we, not just for thee.O beautiful for pilgrim feet ---- except those turned away --A thoroughfare for freedom beat ---- to Christian God please pray --America! America!Will you admit your flaws?Confirm they soul in self-control;don’t shrine your sins as laws.O beautiful for heroes proved(including those unsung)Who more than self their country lovedand would not hold their tongue.America! America!The road ahead is long,Till all success be noblenessand right replaces wrong.O beautiful for patriot dreamthat we still work to build,Thine alabaster cities gleam,a promise not yet filled.America! America!God’s mercy may we seeAnd crown thy good with brotherhoodFor we, not just for thee.

sholio

This show is such a freakin' delight.

( Spoilers )

musesfool

The Old Guard 2 aka 2 Old 2 Guard dropped yesterday. I enjoyed it for the most part. ( spoilers )

*

Current Mood: okay
Current Music: Mets vs Brewers on tv

osprey_archer

As always on my birthday, I am having my annual birthday sale. This year, since I’m planning to raise prices post-sale ($3.99 for a novella, $5.99 for a novel), I decided to put everything on sale for one big final blow-out. So currently all my novellas are $0.99, and all my novels are $2.99.

Do you like Cold War spies falling in love on an American road trip, even though they're from opposite sides of the Iron Curtain? Then give Honeytrap a try!

If a Civil War soldier woke up from an enchanted sleep in 1965, how long would it take for him to cotton on that men are no longer allowed to touch? Find out in The Sleeping Soldier!

Are you interested in an m/m World War II retelling of Beauty and the Beast? Then Briarley may be for you!

How about a couple of boys riding the rails and falling in love during the Great Depression? Tramps and Vagabonds has your back.

Do you like watching post-World War I woobies suffer beautifully by the seaside? The Larks Still Bravely Singing may be warbling your name.

More Cold War spies, but this time CHRISTMAS! Deck the Halls with Secret Agents is a holly jolly short return to a favorite theme.

Do you like throuples and World War II and retellings of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight? Then A Garter as a Lesser Gift may be coming to a Green Chapel near you.

Do you like throuples and pining and strawberry shortcake in post-Civil War America? Then give The Threefold Tie a try.

Do you want Cold War spies (again!), but this time they're the leads in the fandom that our two heroines are obsessed with? And kind of role-play as while trying out the joys of "your interpretation of this character is so incorrect" hatesex? Enemies to Lovers is calling your name.

You know it is when there's this new girl in school that you're sooo obsessed with because you both love art, and then you have an obsessive friendship ending in a terrible falling out, and then meet again years later in Florence? Have a gelato with Ashlin and Olivia.

And finally, a couple of oddballs. A retelling of Little Red Riding Hood in pre-Revolutionary Russia! Kind of f/f if you want to be! The Wolf and the Girl features forays both into the Russian forest and the nascent French silent film industry.

Last but not least, if your inner eleven-year-old yearns for a magical timeslip story, there's The Time Traveling Popcorn Ball

beatrice_otter

The hardest thing about writing Peter Wimsey fanfic is the quotes. Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane have an encyclopedic knowledge of the literature of their era (and the literature that was considered classic/important in that era), and quote it often.

Today I posted on the Gaud Squad Discord that it would be awesome if we had a searchable database of the literature and poetry that they knew or could reasonably be expected to know, searchable by keyword and theme, so that one could look things up easily. And that I would be willing to do the data entry, but had not the technical skills to set it up.
supertailz responded by setting up a Notion instance and is noodling around with the technical aspects of it, so it looks like this is happening!

The easy part is getting the literature that Peter and Harriet quote added--all I have to do is read through the books (no hardship there!) and source the quotations. Although I know there are some annotated versions floating around, and if anyone has a copy of the annotations, that would be lovely.

The hard part is getting the right mix of things that Peter and Harriet would have known. Because what is considered "classic literature" changes over time. Some things rise in acclaim, some things fall out of favor. What would be really handy is a curriculum for Eton ca. 1900 and for Oxford ca. 1910, but so far I haven't found anything. Does anybody know how to search "what literary works were considered classics in 1920"? Or have a good list of where to start?

petra

Tl;dr: I liked it a lot.

( Spoilers )

Current Mood: pleased
Current Music: Inappropriate John Williams

thistleingrey

In almost two months, I've read about 15% of Bernard Spolsky's The Languages of the Jews (slowness is a me-issue). By the 15% point, the book has summarized contemporary usage of Hebrew in Israel, then begun examining historical usage of Hebrew from earliest to more recent. So far, Spolsky tries to assert rather than tuck away his assumptions, which I appreciate. I've read some work by philologists and historical linguists on other language families, and a historical treatment by a sociolinguist who's aware of his strengths is a lovely thing.

( a couple of the book's assumptions and something cool it does with them )

osprey_archer

Today is my birthday! Happy birthday to me!

Yesterday I took chocolate white chip cookies to Dulcimer Gathering and everyone played me Happy Birthday. Today, I caught up on my correspondence while sipping my free hot chocolate at Starbucks, then spent the rest of the day happily puttering: a little cross stitch, a little dulcimer, a little reading with tea and the last of the aforementioned chocolate white chip cookies.

Next up: dinner with the family, and then I will be taking them on a tour of the Hummingbird Cottage! This is the first time that my brother and sister-in-law have seen the place with actual furniture, so I also spent some of my puttering time tidying so that everyone will believe that I live in an oasis of peace and cleanliness.

The herbs and the cherry tomatoes are growing well. There are little green tomatoes on the tomato vines now! Also, one of the tomatoes is next to a climbing vine of some variety, which has latched onto the tomato cage and as far as I can see tied itself there. Most impressed with the plant’s knot-making abilities.

rachelmanija

In a prologue that's very Terry Pratchett-esque without actually being funny, an enormous floating tower appears in England, becomes a 12-hour wonder, and is then forgotten as people have short attention spans. Then thirteen random people suddenly vanish from their lives and appear at the base of the tower, facing the command ASCEND.

I normally love stories about people dealing with inexplicable alien architecture. This was the most boring and unimaginative version of that idea I've ever read. Each level is a death trap based on something in one of their minds - a video game, The Poseidon Adventure, an old home - but less interesting than that sounds. The action was repetitive, the characters were paper-thin, and one, an already-dated influencer, was actively painful to read:

Time to give her the Alpha Male rizzzzzzz, baby!

The ending was, unsurprisingly, also a cliche.

( Read more... )

petra

Do not allow ants in your pants. They might bite you on the genitals, which would Really, Really Hurt. They do not make you fidgety; they make you miserable.

Current Mood: learning
Current Music: ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow

lightreads

The Obsidian Tower

3/5. Fantasy about the woman who is the one with apparently necromantic magic in a family of vivomancers, and what happens when the door her family has guarded for thousands of years (they have a stupid rhyme about it and everything) is opened.

I picked this up because I liked her more recent release. This has many of the same good elements: bisexual heroine, complex webs of relationships, actual politics, and interest in friendship and teamwork. But I did not like this one nearly so much. I am generally in a bad mood right now, so take this as you will, but the protag’s repeated emotional victimization by two-thirds of the people in the book (including herself), and how she takes on guilt for basically everything, and her self-sacrificing tendencies really irritated me. I imagine the arc of this trilogy will be towards better relationships and some actual self-worth but meh, I’m not along for the ride.

Content notes: Torture.

lightreads

Hidden Nature

3/5. Her latest romantic suspense standalone about the woman recovering back in her home town after getting shot (she’s natural resources police). She gets interested in a series of disappearances, and also meets the new local contractor.

You know what’s the most starry-eyed fantasy of a Nora Roberts book? It’s not the romance – this one is rather lifeless. It’s not even the ubiquity of honest and dedicated cops (she put a black cop in this one, you guys, if you’re keeping track of Nora Roberts’s flailing and minuscule attempts to grapple with her career of coppaganda).

No, the biggest fantasy is of home renovation that is quick, easy, successful, and beautiful. Mostly done, in this case, by a guy who apparently . . . learned his trade skills in a summer with Habitat for Humanity and that’s it? I have concerns.

Content notes: Violence, murder, usual killer POV grossness.

spiralsheep

- To Read shelves 1 July 2025 count is 69 (down from 90 on 1 Jan), so hypothetically less than six months of reading.

- Reading: 74 books to 2 July 2025.

72. Fashionable 2025 numerical typo 3, the second from Inventing the Renaissance, which is a good ratio considering the quantity of words and dates in this doorstop, "Marcellus II (1501-5)", nope, but the idea of a Boss Baby Ghost Pope in 1555 is amusing.

00. My third DNF of 2025, on short story 4 of 14.

73. Thirsty Mermaids, by Kat Leyh, 2021, comics (adult), 4.5/5
In search of booze, a found-family pod of three merfolk take their fun and friendship to the human seaside, or rather shoreside, where they discover dreadful human inventions such as "capitalism" and "jobs". They also discover they can't just go back to being mermaids. This story is very much about the diverse friends they make along the way, lol. Warning: yes, Kat Leyh who helped create Lumberjanes but this is a grown-up comic.

- To Read [ALLCAPS in original typography]: y'all will be pleased to know I've acquired a 1959 girls' own comics annual with stories titled "The GAY ADVENTURERS and the Roman Curios" and "Friends of The GAY HIGHWAYMAN", and a 1960 annual featuring "Baffled by Those Two Boy Campers".

sholio

Technically this was yesterday, but I climbed a hill and had an eagle fly past me. (The hill is the Bodenburg Butte in Palmer, AK.)

Photo from a high vantage point, looking down on farms and fields stretching to blue mountains with their tops covered in clouds. Small figure of an eagle is visible against the clouds.

I realize the eagle is more like a dot, but if you've tried to take a quick photo of a bird, this is without zoom (I was just trying to snap a fast shot without completely losing the experience of having an eagle flying in front of me) so it is actually very close! After it flew past, I turned around and two teenage guys were standing above me, having just descended from the top and watched it too. "Sick," one of them said in obvious delight, and we nodded at each other.

I'm down in Southcentral doing Mom Things. Mom has been moved out of the rental where she was living since last August, and she was supposed to go home via helicopter today, but the weather was a problem. But that's why I reserved two extra days at the Airbnb beforehand, just in case. Tomorrow we try again! She was very respectful of my space today - I think she recognized that I was planning on having the evening to myself tonight and it didn't happen - and I wrote both fanfic and original fiction, and took a long walk to sort some plot things out in my head. Thursday I go home, and perhaps drive the Denali Highway on my way, if the wildfire smoke isn't too bad.

musesfool

Last night I watched a cute movie on Netflix called Nonnas about that restaurant on Staten Island that hires grandmas as chefs. Lorraine Bracco, Brenda Vaccaro, Talia Shire, and Susan Sarandon play the nonnas, and Vince Vaughn plays the guy opening the restaurant. It's kind of a nice mellow detox from The Bear in terms of a bunch of Italian-Americans yelling at each other in a restaurant kitchen. *g* Plus a really horrifying rendition of capuzelle, which is a roasted (or baked?) sheep's head, which is one of those dishes I try to forget knowing about. Anyway, the restaurant still exists, and now it has grandmas from all different backgrounds who cook there (a review of the real restaurant).

Today was my Monday, and tomorrow is my Friday at work. I could get used to a 2 day work week!

*

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: Sugar We're Going Down - Fall Out Boy

swan_tower

Death in the Spires, K.J. Charles. An excellent historical mystery, straddling the turn of the nineteenth century into the twentieth. Years ago, an Oxford student was murdered in his room; thanks to one small detail of this case, the surviving members of his group of friends know that one of their number must have done it. But no one has ever been convicted.

The detail in question felt slightly contrived to me, but I accept it as the set-up for what is otherwise an engaging story about personal relationships. The novel proceeds in two parallel tracks, one building up the history of these friends at university, the other showing what's become of them since the murder. It does the thing a dual-timeline novel needs to do, which is keep suspense around the past: yes, we know who's going to get murdered, but the lead-up to that matters quite a lot, first as we see how this group coalesced into such brilliance they were nicknamed the "Seven Wonders," and then as we see how things fell apart to a degree that you can form plausible arguments for basically anybody being the murderer. (I say "basically" because it's deeply unlikely that the protagonist, who is digging back into the case against the advice of everyone around him, is the killer. There are stories that would pull that trick, but this never pretends it's one of them.)

I found the ending particularly gratifying. The past sections do enough to make you like and sympathize with the characters that finding out who's responsible is genuinely a fraught question; once the answer comes out, there's a deeply satisfying sequence that tackles the question of what justice ought to look like in this situation -- for more than one crime. Those who deserve it wind up with their bonds of friendship tentatively healing after years of rift. I got this rec from Marissa Lingen, and she tells me there will be a sequel; I look forward to it enormously.

( Read more... )

osprey_archer

This week I’m doing Wednesday Reading Meme a day early, as tomorrow is MY BIRTHDAY and I will therefore be frolicking through birthday festivities.

Books I Quit Reading

Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge, which I’ve meant to read for ages because it’s been recced to hell and back. It’s an excellent example of literary fiction, which unfortunately means it’s reminding me why I don’t read much modern literary fiction, which is that I find it depressing. Olive is just so mean?? She’s so contemptuous to her husband in chapter one that I was actually rooting for him to ditch her and run away with his pharmacy clerk, and I never root for male characters to leave their wives.

I read a few more chapters, but then I realized I was actively dreading picking it up again, and life is simply too short.

What I’ve Just Finished Reading

Nothing this week! The birthday festivities have already begun, and I spent the weekend in Bloomington, meeting a friend’s new baby and having cocktails at a speakeasy, where we had the best seats in the house watching the bartender make the drinks. He had a wonderful contraption for blowing a giant smoke-filled bubble over a drink, which clung to the rim of the glass until you popped it, and then the smoke wisped away in the dimness of the bar.

What I’m Reading Now

Hilary McKay’s The Time of Green Magic, which is a magical house children’s fantasy, and I LOVE a magical house children’s fantasy. Gorgeous. The heroine is already slipping into the books she reads, tasting the sea salt on her lips. Excited to report back.

What I Plan to Read Next

Blue Balliett’s Out of the Wild Night.

delphi

Fandom 50 #22

Day by Day by

surprisepink
Fandom: Our Flag Means Death
Ship: Stede Bonnet/Izzy Hands
Medium: Fic
Length: 1361 words
Rating: Teen
My Bookmark Tags: slice of life, romance, humour, happy ending, established relationship, izzy lives, future, flirtation, compatibility, service
Summary: A typical raid for Captain Bonnet and his new first mate.

Excerpt:

“I’m getting the hang of this, if I do say so myself,” says Stede, cheerily.

“And you do.”

“What’s that, Izzy?’

“Say so yourself.” The man looks entirely unimpressed, but it does take a lot to impress Izzy. Stede has accepted it by this point, and knows not to take it personally. Knows, too, that if Izzy actually wasn’t at least a little happy with him, he could leave the ship just about anywhere and find another pirate crew to join. And yet, port after port, he doesn’t.

And all Stede had ever wanted was for people to stay.

This is everything I love about the idea of Stede and Izzy together on the Revenge, with Stede captaining and Izzy serving as his first mate. The way they rile each other up is perfect, tempered to just the right heat by a better understanding of each other. Izzy's ways of trying to serve Stede while keeping his ego in check are moving, and so is Stede's growing sense of what he's doing and what it means.

The story's funny, with a comedic moment early on that made me laugh out loud, and the sexual chemistry between Stede and Izzy absolutely crackles. This one really made my day.

petra

And were too afraid to ask (100 words) by Petra
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala & Sabé
Characters: Padmé Amidala, Sabé (Star Wars)
Additional Tags: Drabble, Sex Education
Summary:

Padmé skipped health class and did double diplomacy instead.

*

Come as you are (100 words) by Petra
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Chalion Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Female Character
Characters: Original Female Character(s)
Additional Tags: Drabble, Yuri, Theology
Summary:

Who the Mother loves; who the Bastard loves.

*

Belated discovery (100 words) by Petra
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Cyteen Series - C. J. Cherryh
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Catlin AC-7892 II/Ariane Emory II
Characters: Ariane Emory II, Catlin AC-7892 I
Additional Tags: Drabble
Summary:

For the prompt, "What took you so long?"

*

Pasta e amore (100 words) by Petra
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: due South
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Elaine Besbriss/Francesca Vecchio
Characters: Francesca Vecchio, Elaine Besbriss
Additional Tags: Drabble, Disney References
Summary:

"Aw, c'mon." Frannie holds out a forkful of capellini to Elaine. "We can make it work."

*

Palimpsest of self (100 words) by Petra
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Trek: Discovery
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Michael Burnham/Mirror Philippa Georgiou
Characters: Michael Burnham, Mirror Philippa Georgiou
Additional Tags: Drabble, Yuri
Summary:

Michael and Philippa compare scars.

*

Tea, tea, and tea (100 words) by Petra
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Tales of the City Series - Armistead Maupin
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Anna Madrigal & Mary Ann Singleton
Characters: Mary Ann Singleton, Anna Madrigal (Tales of the City)
Additional Tags: Drabble
Summary:

Mary Ann has tea with the landlady.

*

Her favorite curse (100 words) by Petra
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan & Alys Vorpatril
Characters: Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan, Alys Vorpatril
Additional Tags: Drabble, Sex Education
Summary:

Cordelia wants to go shopping for a different body part this time.

*

Lie down with actresses (100 words) by Petra
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Hornblower (TV), Slings & Arrows
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Kitty Cobham/Ellen Fanshaw
Characters: Ellen Fanshaw, Kitty Cobham
Additional Tags: Drabble
Summary:

Ellen takes a trip.

*

A union in partition (100 words) by Petra
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Slings & Arrows
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Anna Conroy/Maria
Characters: Anna Conroy, Maria (Slings & Arrows)
Additional Tags: Drabble, Morning After
Summary:

Anna wakes up.

Current Mood: incautious
Current Music: It's eternally hard

musesfool

Recs update ahoy:

unfitforsociety has been updated for June 2025 with 15 recs in 3 fandoms:

✭ 13 Batfamily
✭ 2 Percy Jackson crossovers

✭

I'm not sure why I went looking for PJO crossovers but I'm kind of glad I did?

Anyway, I took today and Thursday off and I'm looking forward to this 2 day work week. *g*

✭

Current Mood: okay
Current Music: Texarkana - REM

anehan

I'll Have What He's Having by Adib Khorram
M/M romance. DNF'd in chapter 7. No complaints about the plot, the setting, the characters, etc. The reason for the DNF was the amateurish writing. It's got infodumping, characterisation with a capital C, cringy sex. I felt like I was reading Khorram's daydream about what a cool life would be like. And the frustrating thing is that I think all of these issues were solvable with the help of a good editor. As it is, it's not worth bothering with.

The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer
This, on the other hand, is extremely worth bothering with, because it's fantastic. Sci-fi mystery/thriller, with a smattering of M/M romance. I recommend not spoiling yourself for the plot twist beforehand, though from experience I can say that even if you do get spoiled, it's still worth reading.

A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett
The second book in the Shadow of the Leviathan series, and just as good as the first. Mystery with thoughtful depictions of power, responsibility, and the danger of good intentions.

The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett
DNF'd at 16%. This isn't so much an anti-rec as it is a warning, because I think The Game of Kings really requires you to have a better grasp of British history -- especially the Anglo-Scottish Wars -- than I do. It assumes you have a lot of background knowledge about the people and the events, and if you don't, it's often dull reading. It might have got more interesting later on, but there are too many books I really want to read for me to bother finding out.

Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy
As far as I can remember, the only work by a Russian author that I'd ever read before this was a short story by Anton Chekhov, which we had to read at school. The reason I picked Kreuzer Sonata up was because I was going to see a ballet based on it soon after, and I'm glad I did. It deals with domestic violence, and yet it's a surprisingly easy read. Anyway, I've now read both a short story and a novella by a famous Russian author. What's next, a whole novel?

(The ballet was good, too, though I think the choreographer had mostly missed the point of the novella.)

unfitforsociety

Batfamily

Blood of the Covenant by

Chemical_Processes
Working as a street fighter in the Iceberg lounge, Jason manages to attract all the wrong sort of attention. Tense, believable AU where Jason never becomes Robin but eventually gets tangled up in Bat business anyway.

Can't Raise Hell as a Saint by

historical_allusions
When an adult Jason Todd is thrown into the past, he must balance raising his childhood self with reinventing his vigilante personae, all without revealing his knowledge of the future...

A task made infinitely more difficult when he starts changing things in the past and attracts the attention of a young Batman and Robin. Compelling time travel adventure for Jason.

Damian's Secret Friend by

LakeAwen
5 times Damian's family panicked over him sneaking out, and 1 time they found out who he was meeting. Oh heart.

the picture frames have changed and so has your name by

Zahri
There's something wrong with Dick.

Tim thought everything was getting back to normal. Bruce was alive and back in their timeline, the Birds of Prey were once again operating out of Gotham, Dick had the city well under control as Batman and even Damian had been less obnoxious than usual.

And then during a firefight at a warehouse by the docks, Tim was almost hit by a flying boomerang. And Dick never noticed.

When something is wrong with your big brother, who else do you turn to but your big sisters? Interesting casefic with real emotional stakes, plus the Birds of Prey!

Purr-ple Power by

Cephalogod
In which Batman thoroughly rejects young Stephanie Brown's attempts to join the vigilante lifestyle, but Catwoman is much more willing to take on a protege.

Especially a protege with a demonstrated talent for getting under Batman's skin.

The Bats aren't going to know what hit them. This series is super cute!

The Right Substitution is Key by

AddictedApple
When Batman and Nightwing disappear, Tim recruits up and coming crime lord Red Hood to fill in as Batman. Hijinks ensue. This is a lot of fun.

The Road to Recovery. by

orpheusaki
I enjoyed these two (unconnected?) stories of Bruce and Jason reconciling and getting to know each other again.

Rotten Work by

ManURonaldo
Dick is supposed to be on a boring stakeout assignment. Jason complicates that. <333

Shortcut to Maturity by

Isonian
Jason is just trying to survive on the streets of Gotham--made slightly more difficult by the fact that some gang has apparently decided to make him their most wanted person. Until he befriends a kid-who-definitely-isn't-Robin, who promises to help him reunite with his dad. And, well, Jason's not in the habit of accepting favors. But maybe it would be worth it, just this once.

Featuring ghosts or zombies or hallucinations, misunderstandings (both unintentional and entirely intentional), lots of identity shenanigans, and some discussion of dads. I really enjoyed this team-up between feral street kid Jason and hiding-he's-Robin Tim!

A Tale of Two Memoirs by

goldenraeofsun
Batman's tell-all memoir is about to publish. Normally, Bruce wouldn't care about the 100th Batman parody to hit the shelves. But when he gets his hands on an early sample, he finds this memoir contains a troubling amount of truth about him and his family.

Bruce can't let this stand. As he knows better than most, the only way to squash a scandal is to create an even bigger scandal. Dominate the news circuit. Take up all the publisher's publicity resources. Sure, he has never written a book before, but how hard can it really be?

Well, as Clark tells him, those are some famous last words, Bruce. Oh my heart...

Third Robin Tales by

weekend_conspiracy_theorist
Currently a series of semi-connected scenes within a world where Bruce encountered Stephanie as Spoiler before Tim decided that if no one else was going to be Robin, then he had to. Tim and Steph found each other anyway. This AU is a lot of fun, with excellent Steph & Tim interaction.

told the world i had a plan by

a_alene
Three glimpses into an AU where Jason survives Ethiopia and comes home. I enjoyed them!

two can keep a secret by

carolinaa
Steph doesn't tell anybody that her mom died. Everyone's always bitching and moaning about cleaning up her messes, so Steph handles this one all on her own.

No problem. Ouch. Oh Steph...

✭

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: I'd drive all night just to get back home

unfitforsociety

Crossovers

Percy Jackson/Avengers

Can I Write 'Tried to Rob Tony Stark' On My Resume? by

hyperInactive
Percy was at least happy that this wasn't a prophecy. Stealing back some demigod weapons from a mortal? Sure, Iron Man was a superhero and a genius, but after dealing with Gaea, that was nothing. They just had to steer clear of anyone who might recognize them, and they were positive that they could pull it off easier than most of their quests. And potentially land Leo a job, while they're at it.

But Percy should have known better. Nothing is ever that simple for a demigod. This is a lot of fun!

✭

Percy Jackson/Batfamily

The Acolyte by

Anonymous
The war ends. Kronos falls.

Percy is tired. He's tired of being the leader, the hero, the general, the prophesied. He's tired of fate. He's tired of the Gods.

Good thing the Gods can't reach Gotham. Long, interesting crossover where Percy flees to Gotham and ends up involved with the Bats.

✭

Current Music: I'm Not in Love - 10cc

Fic Prompts

Art Prompts

Fic Prompts

Art Prompts

Art Prompts

Fic Prompts

Art Prompts

Links

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags