Two Purrcies; Book resolution
Jan. 7th, 2026 04:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mecurtinHis stretched-out left paw is fair warning that Purrcy's fluffy fluffy belly is indeed a trap, reach for it at your peril. But look at that innocent face!
Sometimes you have to prove love by squooshing someone's head, sometimes you have to do it by making someone squoosh your head. It's the 🎶Circle of Squoooosh🎶
My only resolution for 2026: I'm going to keep a list of books I read (only the ones I finish count). Re-reads count. I won't take time to rate, because then I'll slow down & give up on the list (per previous experience). My list on Bluesky starts here
#1. The Heist of Hollow London by Eddie Robson. Post-this-apoc heist, notable for most important relationship being between m & f BFFs. How often does *that* happen?!?
#2. Nine Goblins: A Tale of Low Fantasy and High Mischief, T. Kingfisher. Re-read of the version I have, which I assume is the same as the one coming out this year (??). An early T. Kingfisher, but sets up many of her familiar tropes: more than usually lively skeletons! bodies are full of fluids! never trust a unicorn! war is hell! Someone's got to make food, do laundry, plant things, pay attention to the livestock/children, that's the really *important* work. Never trust an officer. You know the drill.
#3. Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie. Re^nth read, because last week I binged all the *other* Imperial Radch books. This time I made a point of paying attention to clues, and I think Anaander Mianaai is male-bodied, which isn't what I expected -- in the back of my mind, I though the translation convention reflected something about AM, which was then generalized to the rest of the Radch. But apparently not!
Having re-read them all so recently, I conclude this one isn't one of my favorites of the Imperial Radch books, because so much of it is about Seivarden -- who I can't help seeing as looking more or less like Spike with darker hair & skin, a classic fandom woobie wet cat who thinks he's better than you but is still a wet cat. When basically he's an *incredible* snob, and I hate people like & they can't stand me, either.
#4. Guns of the Dawn, Adrian Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky mentioned it on bluesky as a book he's especially proud of, I saw it got good reviews from people I respect, so I bit.
I couldn't completely suspend my disbelief because two things about the war kept making me go whut? whut?
First & most important: if your total war is pre-industrial, you don't mass conscript women for the front lines because you MUST keep them on the farms, size of your home-grow army is limited by number of people needed to raise food, which is at least half the population. If *all* the men are in army or dead the war is already lost, because the country is starving.
If your total war is industrial (WWI+ IRL), you mass conscript or re-purpose women for industry as well as farming, because each front-line soldier has to be supported by so much materiel & logistics.
Upon reflection, this is probably just a symptom of a general problem with books about the past: modern people have *no idea* how large a percentage of pre-modern populations worked in food production. *No idea*. Also in textile production!
The other thing that bugged me started when we learned more about how the war started. (ROT-13 spoilers begin) Gur Xvat bs Ynfpnaar unq gur ehyvat ahpyrne snzvyl bs Qraynaq xvyyrq naq gubhtug ur'q gnxr bire ... jvgubhg svefg yvavat hc fhccbegref sebz gur nevfgbpenpl bs Qraynaq? Ab-bar qbrf gung!
Naq vg vfa'g cbffvoyr sbe gurer gb or n Xvat bs Qraynaq jvgubhg n Qraynaq nevfgbpenpl/byvtnepul, jub qb lbh guvax vf *va* Cneyvnzrag? (let me know if there's a better way to do spoilers).
So I feel kind of like there are aspects of the world-building where I put my foot through the canvas scenery and had to hop around for a bit like that. But I can certainly see what people like about this, and elements that will later grow into more fully mature works: the Carboniferous Levant swamps, for instance, and the very Pratchettian soldiers. But for me it suffers from the feeling that it's a game setup more than a *world*.
Sometimes you have to prove love by squooshing someone's head, sometimes you have to do it by making someone squoosh your head. It's the 🎶Circle of Squoooosh🎶
My only resolution for 2026: I'm going to keep a list of books I read (only the ones I finish count). Re-reads count. I won't take time to rate, because then I'll slow down & give up on the list (per previous experience). My list on Bluesky starts here
#1. The Heist of Hollow London by Eddie Robson. Post-this-apoc heist, notable for most important relationship being between m & f BFFs. How often does *that* happen?!?
#2. Nine Goblins: A Tale of Low Fantasy and High Mischief, T. Kingfisher. Re-read of the version I have, which I assume is the same as the one coming out this year (??). An early T. Kingfisher, but sets up many of her familiar tropes: more than usually lively skeletons! bodies are full of fluids! never trust a unicorn! war is hell! Someone's got to make food, do laundry, plant things, pay attention to the livestock/children, that's the really *important* work. Never trust an officer. You know the drill.
#3. Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie. Re^nth read, because last week I binged all the *other* Imperial Radch books. This time I made a point of paying attention to clues, and I think Anaander Mianaai is male-bodied, which isn't what I expected -- in the back of my mind, I though the translation convention reflected something about AM, which was then generalized to the rest of the Radch. But apparently not!
Having re-read them all so recently, I conclude this one isn't one of my favorites of the Imperial Radch books, because so much of it is about Seivarden -- who I can't help seeing as looking more or less like Spike with darker hair & skin, a classic fandom woobie wet cat who thinks he's better than you but is still a wet cat. When basically he's an *incredible* snob, and I hate people like & they can't stand me, either.
#4. Guns of the Dawn, Adrian Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky mentioned it on bluesky as a book he's especially proud of, I saw it got good reviews from people I respect, so I bit.
I couldn't completely suspend my disbelief because two things about the war kept making me go whut? whut?
First & most important: if your total war is pre-industrial, you don't mass conscript women for the front lines because you MUST keep them on the farms, size of your home-grow army is limited by number of people needed to raise food, which is at least half the population. If *all* the men are in army or dead the war is already lost, because the country is starving.
If your total war is industrial (WWI+ IRL), you mass conscript or re-purpose women for industry as well as farming, because each front-line soldier has to be supported by so much materiel & logistics.
Upon reflection, this is probably just a symptom of a general problem with books about the past: modern people have *no idea* how large a percentage of pre-modern populations worked in food production. *No idea*. Also in textile production!
The other thing that bugged me started when we learned more about how the war started. (ROT-13 spoilers begin) Gur Xvat bs Ynfpnaar unq gur ehyvat ahpyrne snzvyl bs Qraynaq xvyyrq naq gubhtug ur'q gnxr bire ... jvgubhg svefg yvavat hc fhccbegref sebz gur nevfgbpenpl bs Qraynaq? Ab-bar qbrf gung!
Naq vg vfa'g cbffvoyr sbe gurer gb or n Xvat bs Qraynaq jvgubhg n Qraynaq nevfgbpenpl/byvtnepul, jub qb lbh guvax vf *va* Cneyvnzrag? (let me know if there's a better way to do spoilers).
So I feel kind of like there are aspects of the world-building where I put my foot through the canvas scenery and had to hop around for a bit like that. But I can certainly see what people like about this, and elements that will later grow into more fully mature works: the Carboniferous Levant swamps, for instance, and the very Pratchettian soldiers. But for me it suffers from the feeling that it's a game setup more than a *world*.
Write Every day 2026: January, Day 7
Jan. 7th, 2026 10:13 pmtrobadoraThe headache is gone today! My head still feels a bit like it's been through the wringer, but otherwise I feel human again. Phew!
Today's writing
Slow to start, but I hope to write some more tonight. And hopefully tomorrow things will be fully back to normal. Fingers crossed!
Tally
( Days 1-5 )
Day 6:alightbuthappypen, badly_knitted, brithistorian, carenejeans, china_shop, cornerofmadness, goddess47, luzula, sanguinity, sylvanwitch, the_siobhan, trobadora, ysilme
Day 7:china_shop, trobadora
Let me know if I missed anyone! And remember you can drop in or out at any time. :)
Today's writing
Slow to start, but I hope to write some more tonight. And hopefully tomorrow things will be fully back to normal. Fingers crossed!
Tally
( Days 1-5 )
Day 6:
alightbuthappypen, badly_knitted, brithistorian, carenejeans, china_shop, cornerofmadness, goddess47, luzula, sanguinity, sylvanwitch, the_siobhan, trobadora, ysilmeDay 7:
china_shop, trobadoraLet me know if I missed anyone! And remember you can drop in or out at any time. :)
snowflake Day 4
Jan. 7th, 2026 03:02 pmmelagan
Challenge #4: Rec Your Last Page
Any website that you like, be it fanfiction, art, social media, or something a bit more eccentric!
Not including checking my email, the last pages I delved into were the comment pages of Snowflakes' challenge #3.
I've been making an effort to read everyone's entries and sprinkling comments here and there. So, I poured a cup of coffee and read some of the latest comments this morning. Would I recommend it? Hell, yes.
We're a worldwide, vast community made up of creative, opinionated individuals, yet we all have fandom in common.
Today, it led me to learning a little bit about Twi'leks. (It was referenced in a comment, and my Star Wars knowledge is pitiful, so naturally I had to look it up.)
sex, and slash sex scenes, and Heated Rivalry
Jan. 7th, 2026 12:31 pmthe_shoshannakass recently reminded me of this post I made fourteen years ago(!) titled “sex, and slash sex scenes,” in which I discussed how slash was the only genre of literature I had ever found [at the time I found it, circa 1989] that followed the characters into bed and back out of it; that investigated and demonstrated how the people they were outside of bed were connected to the people they were in bed; that modeled how to be with someone in everyday life, go to bed with them, and then wake up next to them and continue everyday life with them. In slash, "everyday life" wasn't differentiated from "sex life." Who people were outside of bed and during the day critically, obviously, demonstrably influenced how they behaved in bed with each other, and vice versa; but the characters never lost themselves or turned into different (wimpy wispy sappy) people because they had fucked. (Okay, sometimes they did, but those were the bad stories, the ones we mocked.) The two parts of life weren't disjunct; indeed, they were crucially connected, mutually influential, even indivisible. In fact, that indivisibility was often the whole point.Kass wondered how this might relate to Heated Rivalry, which I continue to be moderately obsessed with. I’m really grateful to her for pulling this up (hi,
kass! Thanks!), because I think it relates a lot.
HR has gotten a lot of press for being horny, for being extremely sexually explicit. (And hot. Which there's nothing wrong with. Fiction is often created with a goal of making the reader happy, or sad, or angry, or tense, along the way as part of the experience; "hot" is also a legit way for fiction to try to make the reader feel. Not that I think the people reading this need to be convinced of that!) But the sex is not "gratuitous" (i.e., existing only to make the reader hot); it is absolutely integral to the story being told. The way Shane and Ilya relate to each other through sex is what their relationship is built on. The long, detailed, explicit sex scenes are the places where they (and we) discover how they relate to each other: where Shane learns that Ilya may be an asshole but he is also scrupulously concerned with Shane's sexual consent, where Ilya is charmed by Shane's dorkishly careful folding of his clothes (the moment when, according to Rachel Reid, Ilya fell in love), where they learn to trust each other, to work together; and also where they are most vulnerable to each other and have to deal with that. (Or fail to deal with it. Cf. tuna melts, oh my heart.)
The sex scenes' importance as character development is illustrated in the negative by episode 3, the Kip and Scott episode. We get very little, comparatively speaking, of Kip and Scott in bed, because we don't need it. Kip and Scott have their own issues and concerns, but they're not sexual ones. We see them in bed so that we can see Scott say how into Kip he is, and his own moment of asking for explicit consent; and so that we can see a moment of them laughing together in bed, having fun, which I don't think we see Ilya and Shane doing until episode 6 ("Sir, I'm just the bellboy!"). Other than that we don't need to see the actual sex; the important sexual aspects of their relationship are conveyed by things like Scott flinging himself onto Kip on the couch (can I just say, those eyeglasses give me "sexy Daniel Jackson" vibes!) and by the "Can I fuck you?" "Absolutely" exchanges. The sex scenes in HR overall aren't "gratuitous," as demonstrated by the fact that, when they're not serving plot and character development, they're not there.
And it's illustrated even more in episode 5, which has no sex scenes at all, although Shane and Ilya have sex twice in it. The friend I did the Boxing Day marathon with commented, "We don't need to see the sex, now that they've learned to use their words," and I was like, "Yes! Words like 'Shane' and 'Ilya.'" And of course the sex in episode 6 is warm and playful and emotionally intimate in ways that they've never had before, and it's important for us to see that.
(Check out this paired gifset paralleling the ep 1 and ep 6 blowjobs: almost exactly the same moves, but one in a dark secret hotel room and one in the sunshine they both deserve. My heart.)
There are a lot of other reasons I love HR. I want to have the brain to post about its sound design at some point! But it is a god damn master class in telling a story involving, and through, sex.
(I lost some time trolling icon communities -- remember those? -- looking for a good HR icon, but none of the ones I found really worked for me. So I went with this one, because when the credits rolled on ep 6 as I finished my watchthrough with
dorinda, I punched the air and exulted, "My tax dollars at work!")
Write Every day 2026: January, Day 6
Jan. 6th, 2026 09:20 pmtrobadoraThird headache day in a row; this sucks. (Today is a bit better than yesterday, but I want it to go away! *kicks it*)
Today's writing
Just a little![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomtrees work, but I'm really losing momentum here. :(
(I did finish mycandyheartsex letter last night, at least. Now I just have to hope someone requests something I can write ... Sign-ups are still open until tomorrow, btw!)
Tally
Day 1:alightbuthappypen, badly_knitted, brithistorian, carenejeans, chanter1944, china_shop, cornerofmadness, goddess47, luzula, philomytha, sanguinity, shadaras, sylvanwitch, the_siobhan, trobadora, ysilme
Day 2:alightbuthappypen, badly_knitted, brithistorian, carenejeans, chanter1944, china_shop, cornerofmadness, goddess47, sanguinity, shadaras, sylvanwitch, the_siobhan, trobadora, ysilme
Day 3:alightbuthappypen, badly_knitted, brithistorian, carenejeans, chanter1944, china_shop, cornerofmadness, goddess47, luzula, sanguinity, shadaras, sylvanwitch, the_siobhan, trobadora, ysilme
Day 4:alightbuthappypen, badly_knitted, brithistorian, carenejeans, chanter1944, china_shop, cornerofmadness, goddess47, luzula, sanguinity, shadaras, sylvanwitch, the_siobhan, trobadora, ysilme
Day 5:badly_knitted, brithistorian, carenejeans, chanter1944, china_shop, cornerofmadness, goddess47, luzula, sanguinity, shadaras, sylvanwitch, trobadora, ysilme
Day 6:china_shop, trobadora
Let me know if I missed anyone! And remember you can drop in or out at any time. :)
Today's writing
Just a little
fandomtrees work, but I'm really losing momentum here. :((I did finish my
candyheartsex letter last night, at least. Now I just have to hope someone requests something I can write ... Sign-ups are still open until tomorrow, btw!)Tally
Day 1:
alightbuthappypen, badly_knitted, brithistorian, carenejeans, chanter1944, china_shop, cornerofmadness, goddess47, luzula, philomytha, sanguinity, shadaras, sylvanwitch, the_siobhan, trobadora, ysilmeDay 2:
alightbuthappypen, badly_knitted, brithistorian, carenejeans, chanter1944, china_shop, cornerofmadness, goddess47, sanguinity, shadaras, sylvanwitch, the_siobhan, trobadora, ysilmeDay 3:
alightbuthappypen, badly_knitted, brithistorian, carenejeans, chanter1944, china_shop, cornerofmadness, goddess47, luzula, sanguinity, shadaras, sylvanwitch, the_siobhan, trobadora, ysilmeDay 4:
alightbuthappypen, badly_knitted, brithistorian, carenejeans, chanter1944, china_shop, cornerofmadness, goddess47, luzula, sanguinity, shadaras, sylvanwitch, the_siobhan, trobadora, ysilmeDay 5:
badly_knitted, brithistorian, carenejeans, chanter1944, china_shop, cornerofmadness, goddess47, luzula, sanguinity, shadaras, sylvanwitch, trobadora, ysilmeDay 6:
china_shop, trobadoraLet me know if I missed anyone! And remember you can drop in or out at any time. :)
Dear Purimgifts Author
Jan. 6th, 2026 12:00 pmkassDear Purimgifts Author,
Thank you so much for writing me a story! I love all of these things and I know that whatever you write for me, I will love it too.
In general I am a big fan of: chosen family, happy endings, competence, characters being awesome, theology, snark and banter, kindness. I'm happy with anything that feels right to you given the characters at hand. If you want to cross a given fandom over with Megillat Esther, or with Tanakh in general, that is always my jam. (But you don't have to if you don't want to.)
Write something that makes you happy, and it will make me happy.
Please, no betrayal or unquenchable angst or people being awful to each other or grisly death or anything like that. There's enough of that in RL. Thank you kindly.
In closing: yay Purim! Yay you! Thank you so much!
Kass
( My requests: Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal, Parks and Rec, The Naturalist Society by Carrie Vaughn, Murderbot, The Diplomat, Stardew Valley )
Thank you so much for writing me a story! I love all of these things and I know that whatever you write for me, I will love it too.
In general I am a big fan of: chosen family, happy endings, competence, characters being awesome, theology, snark and banter, kindness. I'm happy with anything that feels right to you given the characters at hand. If you want to cross a given fandom over with Megillat Esther, or with Tanakh in general, that is always my jam. (But you don't have to if you don't want to.)
Write something that makes you happy, and it will make me happy.
Please, no betrayal or unquenchable angst or people being awful to each other or grisly death or anything like that. There's enough of that in RL. Thank you kindly.
In closing: yay Purim! Yay you! Thank you so much!
Kass
( My requests: Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal, Parks and Rec, The Naturalist Society by Carrie Vaughn, Murderbot, The Diplomat, Stardew Valley )
I shouldn't...but Hell Yes!
Jan. 6th, 2026 09:23 ammelaganSo, this 5soulmates challenge popped up on my list. How could I resist it?
I picked Table #10, but there are many others to choose from. This is a multifandom challenge. You can find out more about it here.
5soulmates challenge popped up on my list. How could I resist it?| Table #10 - Touch | ||||
| 01. first touch | 02. touching your soulmate leaves fingerprints | 03. touching your soulmate feels good | 04. touching your soulmate lets them feel what you're feeling | 05. you can only touch your soulmate |
I picked Table #10, but there are many others to choose from. This is a multifandom challenge. You can find out more about it here.
And a Happy New Year!
Jan. 5th, 2026 09:19 pmsmittywingHello Friends! It is 2026 and I am a little horrified I have not posted in over a year but also that's kind of par for the course. I heard through the fandom grapevine earlier tonight that Livejournal might be *going away* so I have imported my entire LJ to DW. I have no idea what's going to happen when they're all smushed together but I thought I would throw out a warning. It's all here but the comments and they're in queue because I treasure the interactions I've had with people in fandom and a ridiculous amount of those happened on LJ.
Love to all!
Love to all!
Dear Candy Hearts creator
Jan. 6th, 2026 12:06 amtrobadoraDear candyheartsex creator,
thank you so much for writing a story or creating art for me! I've requested and received all of these fandoms before - some I've requested for many, many years, and often with the same prompts, because when I really enjoy something, I immediately want fifty more takes on the same thing. *g* So don't worry about repeating things! I'll be absolutely thrilled about anything you can create about the relationships I requested.
Everything important is in the requests themselves, but if you'd like even more info, general likes etc., here you go.
My AO3 account is![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p2.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
Trobadora, and it's set to welcome treats.
General Preferences
( Likes & Dislikes/DNWs )
Fandoms and relationships
In somewhat alphabetical order - note that some sections are expanded compared to the sign-up form:
Jump directly to:
( 绅探 | Detective L: Huo Wensi/Luo Fei, Huo Wensi/Luo Fei & Qin Xiaoman )
( Grimm: Nick/Renard, Renard/Juliette, Nick/Renard/Juliette, Renard & Elizabeth, Renard & Henrietta, Elizabeth/Kelly )
( é•‡é‚ | Guardian (TV): Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan, Ya Qing/Zhu Hong, Shen Wei & Ya Qing )
( Grimm/Guardian crossovers: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan & Renard, Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan & Juliette, Shen Wei & Juliette, Nick/Renard/Juliette & Shen Wei, Renard & Shen Wei, Renard & Ya Qing, Renard/Ya Qing )
( Legend of the Seeker: Cara/Darken Rahl )
( Once Upon a Time in Wonderland: Anastasia/Jabberwocky )
( Sherlock (BBC): Jim Moriarty/Sherlock Holmes, Jim Moriarty/Sherlock Holmes & Eurus Holmes )
( Time Engraver Crossovers: Time Engraver/Zhao Yunlan, Time Engraver/Jiang Yang, Time Engraver/Luo Fei )
( 天涯客 | Faraway Wanderers - priest: Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu )
( 山河令 | Word of Honor: Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu, Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu & Luo Fumeng )
( 长公主在上 | Eldest Princess On Top: Li Yunzhen/Gu Xuanqing )
candyheartsex creator,thank you so much for writing a story or creating art for me! I've requested and received all of these fandoms before - some I've requested for many, many years, and often with the same prompts, because when I really enjoy something, I immediately want fifty more takes on the same thing. *g* So don't worry about repeating things! I'll be absolutely thrilled about anything you can create about the relationships I requested.
Everything important is in the requests themselves, but if you'd like even more info, general likes etc., here you go.
My AO3 account is
General Preferences
( Likes & Dislikes/DNWs )
Fandoms and relationships
In somewhat alphabetical order - note that some sections are expanded compared to the sign-up form:
Jump directly to:
- 绅探 | Detective L: Huo Wensi/Luo Fei, Huo Wensi/Luo Fei & Qin Xiaoman
- Grimm: Nick/Renard, Renard/Juliette, Nick/Renard/Juliette, Renard & Elizabeth, Renard & Henrietta, Elizabeth/Kelly
- é•‡é‚ | Guardian (TV): Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan, Ya Qing/Zhu Hong, Shen Wei & Ya Qing
- Grimm/é•‡é‚ | Guardian (TV) crossovers: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan & Renard, Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan & Juliette, Shen Wei & Juliette, Nick/Renard/Juliette & Shen Wei, Renard & Shen Wei, Renard & Ya Qing, Renard/Ya Qing
- Legend of the Seeker: Cara/Darken Rahl
- Once Upon a Time in Wonderland: Anastasia/Jabberwocky
- Sherlock (BBC): Sherlock/Moriarty, Sherlock/Moriarty & Eurus
- Time Engraver Crossovers: Time Engraver/Zhao Yunlan, Time Engraver/Jiang Yang, Time Engraver/Luo Fei
- 天涯客 | Faraway Wanderers - priest: Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu
- 山河令 | Word of Honor: Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu, Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu & Luo Fumeng
- 长公主在上 | Eldest Princess On Top: Li Yunzhen/Gu Xuanqing
( 绅探 | Detective L: Huo Wensi/Luo Fei, Huo Wensi/Luo Fei & Qin Xiaoman )
( Grimm: Nick/Renard, Renard/Juliette, Nick/Renard/Juliette, Renard & Elizabeth, Renard & Henrietta, Elizabeth/Kelly )
( é•‡é‚ | Guardian (TV): Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan, Ya Qing/Zhu Hong, Shen Wei & Ya Qing )
( Grimm/Guardian crossovers: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan & Renard, Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan & Juliette, Shen Wei & Juliette, Nick/Renard/Juliette & Shen Wei, Renard & Shen Wei, Renard & Ya Qing, Renard/Ya Qing )
( Legend of the Seeker: Cara/Darken Rahl )
( Once Upon a Time in Wonderland: Anastasia/Jabberwocky )
( Sherlock (BBC): Jim Moriarty/Sherlock Holmes, Jim Moriarty/Sherlock Holmes & Eurus Holmes )
( Time Engraver Crossovers: Time Engraver/Zhao Yunlan, Time Engraver/Jiang Yang, Time Engraver/Luo Fei )
( 天涯客 | Faraway Wanderers - priest: Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu )
( 山河令 | Word of Honor: Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu, Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu & Luo Fumeng )
( 长公主在上 | Eldest Princess On Top: Li Yunzhen/Gu Xuanqing )
(no subject)
Jan. 5th, 2026 04:14 pmmelaganWrite a love letter to fandom. It might be to fandom in general, to a particular fandom, favourite character, anything at all.
I'm letting this vid clip show how far John will go for the man he loves.
Write Every day 2026: January, Day 5
Jan. 5th, 2026 10:03 pmtrobadoraMost people find deadlines help them finish things! So do I - but what they mostly do for me is make me start actually working on a thing rather than just noodling around and/or writing bits and pieces. While I do write and finish things on my own, that depends heavily on initial motivation and inspiration - whereas with exchange fics, I often find that when I do start working on something, inspiration comes along anyway. But first I have to get started! - And, well, executive function and all that ... *g*
Today's writing
I still have a headache, and everything is very slow-going, but I'm working onfandomtrees.
(And also on mycandyheartsex letter, which is almost finished ...)
[No question today because headache.]
Tally
Day 1:alightbuthappypen, badly_knitted, brithistorian, carenejeans, china_shop, cornerofmadness, goddess47, luzula, philomytha, sanguinity, shadaras, sylvanwitch, the_siobhan, trobadora, ysilme
Day 2:alightbuthappypen, badly_knitted, brithistorian, carenejeans, china_shop, cornerofmadness, goddess47, sanguinity, shadaras, sylvanwitch, the_siobhan, trobadora, ysilme
Day 3:alightbuthappypen, badly_knitted, brithistorian, carenejeans, china_shop, cornerofmadness, goddess47, luzula, sanguinity, shadaras, sylvanwitch, the_siobhan, trobadora, ysilme
Day 4:alightbuthappypen, badly_knitted, brithistorian, carenejeans, china_shop, cornerofmadness, goddess47, luzula, sanguinity, shadaras, the_siobhan, trobadora, ysilme
Day 5:china_shop, trobadora
Let me know if I missed anyone! And remember you can drop in or out at any time. :)
Today's writing
I still have a headache, and everything is very slow-going, but I'm working on
fandomtrees. (And also on my
candyheartsex letter, which is almost finished ...)[No question today because headache.]
Tally
Day 1:
alightbuthappypen, badly_knitted, brithistorian, carenejeans, china_shop, cornerofmadness, goddess47, luzula, philomytha, sanguinity, shadaras, sylvanwitch, the_siobhan, trobadora, ysilmeDay 2:
alightbuthappypen, badly_knitted, brithistorian, carenejeans, china_shop, cornerofmadness, goddess47, sanguinity, shadaras, sylvanwitch, the_siobhan, trobadora, ysilmeDay 3:
alightbuthappypen, badly_knitted, brithistorian, carenejeans, china_shop, cornerofmadness, goddess47, luzula, sanguinity, shadaras, sylvanwitch, the_siobhan, trobadora, ysilmeDay 4:
alightbuthappypen, badly_knitted, brithistorian, carenejeans, china_shop, cornerofmadness, goddess47, luzula, sanguinity, shadaras, the_siobhan, trobadora, ysilmeDay 5:
china_shop, trobadoraLet me know if I missed anyone! And remember you can drop in or out at any time. :)
politics, porn, true crime
Jan. 5th, 2026 10:57 amrunpunkrunMore screen time. I watched all of these on Netflix.
Hostage: The British Prime Minister's husband is kidnapped in French Guiana while working with Doctors Without Borders. I watched two episodes across several days, mostly for Julie Delpy as the President of France, but I just didn't care about these people's problems. And then Julie Delpy did a public end-run around the prime minister to get French troops stationed on English soil to stop migrants from entering France from the channel and my entire being just shriveled up and died with how much I didn't like that.
Minx: The evolution of an erotic feminist magazine in the early 1970s. A fun and raunchy show that wants people to succeed and be kind to each other—mostly. The main character, Joyce, is kind of a pill, but part of the fun is watching her become more flexible as she's exposed to new perspectives. The first season is about building a team and putting a magazine together, but the characters lose their way in the second season as they give in to fame and power (or are alienated by it) and the show similarly becomes muddled; appropriate, maybe, but it also felt very unfocused and even cruel at times, quite a departure from the first season. Contains: drug use, nudity, and lots of dicks.
The Staircase (2022): The thing about The Staircase (2004) is that it will make you detest Michael Peterson. Did he kill his wife? Well, an owl certainly didn't do it. Guilty or not, the man is an odious narcissist, and Colin Firth nails him right down to his way of speaking. So I hated him immediately of course. But not in a fun way. The series also stars Toni Collette! And wastes her! Outside of a death scene so raw I wanted to look away, she mainly spends her time drinking and being quietly sad, except for a scene with a leaf blower and two more death scenes that are similarly awful, but similar enough to the first that it kind of dulls the effect over time. The whole thing is pretty tedious, which might be excused in a documentary, but not in a drama. If you've seen one The Staircase, you don't need to see the other, and really, you probably don't need to watch either. It was really great to see Juliette Binoche again, though. Contains: a lot of blood; violence.
Hostage: The British Prime Minister's husband is kidnapped in French Guiana while working with Doctors Without Borders. I watched two episodes across several days, mostly for Julie Delpy as the President of France, but I just didn't care about these people's problems. And then Julie Delpy did a public end-run around the prime minister to get French troops stationed on English soil to stop migrants from entering France from the channel and my entire being just shriveled up and died with how much I didn't like that.
Minx: The evolution of an erotic feminist magazine in the early 1970s. A fun and raunchy show that wants people to succeed and be kind to each other—mostly. The main character, Joyce, is kind of a pill, but part of the fun is watching her become more flexible as she's exposed to new perspectives. The first season is about building a team and putting a magazine together, but the characters lose their way in the second season as they give in to fame and power (or are alienated by it) and the show similarly becomes muddled; appropriate, maybe, but it also felt very unfocused and even cruel at times, quite a departure from the first season. Contains: drug use, nudity, and lots of dicks.
The Staircase (2022): The thing about The Staircase (2004) is that it will make you detest Michael Peterson. Did he kill his wife? Well, an owl certainly didn't do it. Guilty or not, the man is an odious narcissist, and Colin Firth nails him right down to his way of speaking. So I hated him immediately of course. But not in a fun way. The series also stars Toni Collette! And wastes her! Outside of a death scene so raw I wanted to look away, she mainly spends her time drinking and being quietly sad, except for a scene with a leaf blower and two more death scenes that are similarly awful, but similar enough to the first that it kind of dulls the effect over time. The whole thing is pretty tedious, which might be excused in a documentary, but not in a drama. If you've seen one The Staircase, you don't need to see the other, and really, you probably don't need to watch either. It was really great to see Juliette Binoche again, though. Contains: a lot of blood; violence.