![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Aaaaand the last ones are up!
12 January 2016 08:07 pmReveals are up over at ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
mini_fest and happy_trekmas, so the last of the four fics I wrote for December fests can now be unveiled! (I know, I know, you've all been waiting, haven't you??)
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nursedarry, whose fault it is that I'm here on LJ at all (smooches her), persuaded me to write for happy_trekmas this year. I wrote "Walk Beside Me", a series of missing scenes (all canon-compliant, natch!) that show the growth of the friendship between James T. Kirk and Spock. You can read it on the fest's LJ site or over on AO3. Rating is G, word count is 4156, and it's TOS all the way, no rebootin' AU here, nosiree bub.
Formini_fest this year I tried a pairing I've never done before (Severus and Petunia) and wrote a story called "A Part of Yesterday." One commenter was kind enough to say that "you made me like the horrid Petunia" :) It's angsty, of course, and bittersweet, but I enjoyed writing it very much since it was something I'd never done before, and I'm pleased with the way it came out. You can read it on the fest's LJ site or over on AO3. Rating is Teen/PG-13, word count is 6651, and it's entirely canon-compliant, so don't expect a happy ending.
(I've also now got myhoggywartyxmas spoof of "The Night Before Christmas" posted on AO3.)
mini_fest and happy_trekmas, so the last of the four fics I wrote for December fests can now be unveiled! (I know, I know, you've all been waiting, haven't you??)nursedarry, whose fault it is that I'm here on LJ at all (smooches her), persuaded me to write for happy_trekmas this year. I wrote "Walk Beside Me", a series of missing scenes (all canon-compliant, natch!) that show the growth of the friendship between James T. Kirk and Spock. You can read it on the fest's LJ site or over on AO3. Rating is G, word count is 4156, and it's TOS all the way, no rebootin' AU here, nosiree bub.For
mini_fest this year I tried a pairing I've never done before (Severus and Petunia) and wrote a story called "A Part of Yesterday." One commenter was kind enough to say that "you made me like the horrid Petunia" :) It's angsty, of course, and bittersweet, but I enjoyed writing it very much since it was something I'd never done before, and I'm pleased with the way it came out. You can read it on the fest's LJ site or over on AO3. Rating is Teen/PG-13, word count is 6651, and it's entirely canon-compliant, so don't expect a happy ending.(I've also now got my
hoggywartyxmas spoof of "The Night Before Christmas" posted on AO3.)
I poemed!!
9 January 2016 07:25 pmReveals are up over at hoggywartyxmas so I can now own up to being the author of The Spoof is in the Pudding, a wizardy riff on "The Night Before Christmas, in which Hagrid and Flitwick eat too much fruitcake with surprising results while Severus and Minerva exeunt, pursued by a waltz.
I was thrilled that my poem was one of the opening day posts for the fest, and I have been truly overwhelmed by the number of positive comments that my little rhyme received. In particular, my recipientmmadfan said that the poem brightened her day twice when she was feeling under the weather. I cannot imagine a higher compliment :)
hoggywartyxmas always has superlative offerings, and the writers and artists this year really outdid themselves. Thanks to the mods for running it yet again, and I am already looking forward to next year!
hoggywartyxmas so I can now own up to being the author of The Spoof is in the Pudding, a wizardy riff on "The Night Before Christmas, in which Hagrid and Flitwick eat too much fruitcake with surprising results while Severus and Minerva exeunt, pursued by a waltz. I was thrilled that my poem was one of the opening day posts for the fest, and I have been truly overwhelmed by the number of positive comments that my little rhyme received. In particular, my recipient
mmadfan said that the poem brightened her day twice when she was feeling under the weather. I cannot imagine a higher compliment :)hoggywartyxmas always has superlative offerings, and the writers and artists this year really outdid themselves. Thanks to the mods for running it yet again, and I am already looking forward to next year!Readapalooza!
8 January 2016 11:42 pmI have read and reviewed every entry in mini_fest -- woo hoo!!! I always try to do that for every fest I participate in; I love getting comments on the things I write, so I try to return the favor.
Sadly, I have not managed to do so yet forminerva_fest or sshg_giftfest, but the year is young :) Of course severus_snape is coming right up and that will no doubt keep me busy for a bit. Still, it's good to have goals, yes?
I've also been busy reading/posting on a group read of one of my very favorite books: Stephen King's The Stand, over on GoodReads. A lot of the participants have never read it before, and since I've read it probably ten or twelve times it's a lot of fun to see how people see it with fresh eyes. The hardest part for me is remembering where things happen in the book, so I know where to use spoiler tags.
I did manage to get quite a bit of reading done over break:
Another excellent collection from master storyteller Neil Gaiman. Some are horrifying, some heartwrenching, some made me laugh out loud, almost all gave me something I didn't expect. I particularly liked "The Thing About Cassandra," "Adventure Story" (one of the lol ones), "Calendar Tales," and "The Return of the Thin White Duke." As a bonus, for those who like that sort of thing, there is a nice meaty introduction, where Gaiman talks about how and when and where each of the stories was written. He also gives some background for his choice of title:
I'd been trying to track down a copy of Lammas Night for ages; it was out of print and super expensive last time I checked. But I got a copy for Christmas from Mr Psmith and ripped through it in about two days. Loved it, though I have two minor quibbles, one related to style and one related to substance. My stylistic quibble is that the book seems to lean more towards tell than show. The tell is done skillfully, and it's hard to see how one might get around it when so much of it turns on historical episodes, but there are parts where it does feel a little slow. I cried at the end; I saw one part coming, hard as it was, but not Richard and Geoffrey volunteering to crew the Prince's final flight My substantive quibble is that I am somewhat bothered by the fact that the sacrifice of the prince is accomplished via a sabotaged aircraft. After all of the emphasis on the importance of the personal connection between slayer and slain, both ritualistically and historically, it felt impersonal to have it happen at such a distance. It met the letter of the requirements -- it was Gray's hand that did the deed -- but it doesn't feel like it quite met the spirit of them. Perhaps if Gray had been piloting the plane and taken it down with both of them aboard? . Those two things aside, I really enjoyed this book. The historical references, some of which are borne out by documented fact (e.g., the popular contemporary belief that Sir Francis Drake rebuffed the Spanish Armada with the help of Britain's witches) are fascinating and make me want to hunt up more information. Whether they were effective or not, I have no doubt that witches of all persuasions across Britain were actively attempting to thwart the Nazis, and Hitler's failure to execute Operation Sea Lion is still something of a miracle.
Augh, poor Gerard!! Seriously creepy and entangled, I totally did not see the end coming. I knew it would be something twisty and weird, but did not suss out the specifics. I got a bit lost here and there in amongst all the names, and at times it was hard to tell what was real (i.e., part of the main narrative) and what wasn't (i.e., part of one of the stories-within-a-story), but overall it was really well done. The stories-within-a-story were intriguing, sort of High Gothic, and made me wish Viola had been a real person and written lots more. A great read for a gloomy snowy New Year's Day.
A very meh version of the town with a dark secret trope. There were no surprises and the story moved at a snail's pace for much of the book.
The fact that I found the bad guys MUCH more interesting than the good guys should tell you something, too.
Short story. Gorgeously lush beginning with the description of the decaying mansion. Screamingly horrifying ending. Brrrrr.
What's funny is that not an hour before reading this, I had read a story with a very similar plot: "Black Dog," in Neil Gaiman's Trigger Warnings (see above).
mini_fest -- woo hoo!!! I always try to do that for every fest I participate in; I love getting comments on the things I write, so I try to return the favor.Sadly, I have not managed to do so yet for
minerva_fest or sshg_giftfest, but the year is young :) Of course severus_snape is coming right up and that will no doubt keep me busy for a bit. Still, it's good to have goals, yes?I've also been busy reading/posting on a group read of one of my very favorite books: Stephen King's The Stand, over on GoodReads. A lot of the participants have never read it before, and since I've read it probably ten or twelve times it's a lot of fun to see how people see it with fresh eyes. The hardest part for me is remembering where things happen in the book, so I know where to use spoiler tags.
I did manage to get quite a bit of reading done over break:
Another excellent collection from master storyteller Neil Gaiman. Some are horrifying, some heartwrenching, some made me laugh out loud, almost all gave me something I didn't expect. I particularly liked "The Thing About Cassandra," "Adventure Story" (one of the lol ones), "Calendar Tales," and "The Return of the Thin White Duke." As a bonus, for those who like that sort of thing, there is a nice meaty introduction, where Gaiman talks about how and when and where each of the stories was written. He also gives some background for his choice of title:What we read as adults should be read, I think, with no warnings or alerts beyond, perhaps: enter at your own risk. We need to find out what fiction is, what it means to us, an experience that is going to be unlike anyone else's experience of the story.
...I wonder, Are fictions safe places? And then I ask myself, Should they be safe places? There are stories I read as a child that I wished, once I had read them, that I had never encountered, because I was not ready for them...They troubled and haunted my nightmares and daydreams, worried and upset me on profound levels, but they also taught me that, if I was going to read fiction, sometimes I would only know what my comfort zone was by leaving it; and now, as an adult, I would not erase the experience of having read them if I could.
There are still things that profoundly upset me when I encounter them, whether it's on the Web or in the word or the world...But they teach me things, and they open my eyes, and if they hurt, they hurt in ways that make me think and grow and change.
I wondered, reading about the college discussions, whether one day people would put a trigger warning on my fiction. I wondered whether or not they would be justified in doing it. And then I decided to do it first.
I'd been trying to track down a copy of Lammas Night for ages; it was out of print and super expensive last time I checked. But I got a copy for Christmas from Mr Psmith and ripped through it in about two days. Loved it, though I have two minor quibbles, one related to style and one related to substance. My stylistic quibble is that the book seems to lean more towards tell than show. The tell is done skillfully, and it's hard to see how one might get around it when so much of it turns on historical episodes, but there are parts where it does feel a little slow. I cried at the end; I saw one part coming, hard as it was, but not Augh, poor Gerard!! Seriously creepy and entangled, I totally did not see the end coming. I knew it would be something twisty and weird, but did not suss out the specifics. I got a bit lost here and there in amongst all the names, and at times it was hard to tell what was real (i.e., part of the main narrative) and what wasn't (i.e., part of one of the stories-within-a-story), but overall it was really well done. The stories-within-a-story were intriguing, sort of High Gothic, and made me wish Viola had been a real person and written lots more. A great read for a gloomy snowy New Year's Day.A very meh version of the town with a dark secret trope. There were no surprises and the story moved at a snail's pace for much of the book. The fact that I found the bad guys MUCH more interesting than the good guys should tell you something, too.
Short story. Gorgeously lush beginning with the description of the decaying mansion. Screamingly horrifying ending. Brrrrr. What's funny is that not an hour before reading this, I had read a story with a very similar plot: "Black Dog," in Neil Gaiman's Trigger Warnings (see above).
I'm supposed to be packing today, because the movers are coming on Thursday and the house is sooooo not ready for them. We have loads of random crap everywhere that has to be dealt with: plastic bags of candle stubs, odd gloves, cracked pots, old shoes, clothes we no longer wear, ancient jars of herbs in the back of the cabinet, mysterious keys that unlock who-knows-what, dessicated magic markers, old cans of paint, and oh, the swarming hordes of dust bunnies...
Le sigh.
I'm also supposed to be writing an article for the next issue of Carpe Nocturne, which is due on Friday, but I can't seem to come up with the hook to make it all fall into place.
Instead of doing ANY of that, I went and signed up for this, because the mods put out a plea for a few more folks to ease their matching, and becausenursedarry taunted me into it:
happy_trekmas is open for signups until October 4th!
Le sigh.
I'm also supposed to be writing an article for the next issue of Carpe Nocturne, which is due on Friday, but I can't seem to come up with the hook to make it all fall into place.
Instead of doing ANY of that, I went and signed up for this, because the mods put out a plea for a few more folks to ease their matching, and because
nursedarry taunted me into it:happy_trekmas is open for signups until October 4th!Well will you look at that
14 September 2015 11:14 pmI'm thrilled to say that we have a truly impressive turnout for this year's sshg_giftfest! Combine that with loads of thought-provoking prompts and the fabulous talent in the signup (some old friends along with, I am pleased to say, some new ones) should make for an excellent fest. Huzzah!!
sshg_giftfest! Combine that with loads of thought-provoking prompts and the fabulous talent in the signup (some old friends along with, I am pleased to say, some new ones) should make for an excellent fest. Huzzah!!
All that and more, here in this very entry!
A friend of mine has opened an Etsy store to sell her awesome fabric tote bags. My favorite is the Star Wars one. If you need a tote bag, make this your first stop.
Signups are ongoing over atsshg_giftfest -- there's still space for both authors and artists/crafters so hop on over! I'm thrilled that we have lots of people returning from last year as well as some new faces. Also signups are open at hoggywartyxmas, so start thinking xmassy thoughts!
This past weekend Mr Psmith and I went to the State Fair where we saw, among other things: llamas, sheep, goats (why are their testicles so enormous? why???), adorable baby piglets and monstrous full-grown pigs, and many many flavors of dairy cow including an adorable Jersey calf being raffled off. I wanted to enter but sanity in the form of Mr Psmith prevailed. As always, the food on offer ranged from standard to startling, the latter including a "Gators and Taters" food booth, kangaroo spiedies, and Shark-on-a-Stick. Sadly, we did not get to see the draft horses -- Percherons, Belgians, Friesians, etc. -- which was our main reason for going, as the barn was closed for some reason, drat the luck. But we did get to see the arts and crafts building (quilts! cross-stitch! handmade lace! paintings on sawblades! tiny model rooms!) and the sand sculpture, which is always amazing. One side showed a train going into a tunnel watched by some woodland creatures, including a very alarmed-looking beaver.
My life continues to be far too busy, and sometime between now and the end of September, we have to pack up our entire house. Eek.
A friend of mine has opened an Etsy store to sell her awesome fabric tote bags. My favorite is the Star Wars one. If you need a tote bag, make this your first stop.
Signups are ongoing over at
sshg_giftfest -- there's still space for both authors and artists/crafters so hop on over! I'm thrilled that we have lots of people returning from last year as well as some new faces. Also signups are open at hoggywartyxmas, so start thinking xmassy thoughts!This past weekend Mr Psmith and I went to the State Fair where we saw, among other things: llamas, sheep, goats (why are their testicles so enormous? why???), adorable baby piglets and monstrous full-grown pigs, and many many flavors of dairy cow including an adorable Jersey calf being raffled off. I wanted to enter but sanity in the form of Mr Psmith prevailed. As always, the food on offer ranged from standard to startling, the latter including a "Gators and Taters" food booth, kangaroo spiedies, and Shark-on-a-Stick. Sadly, we did not get to see the draft horses -- Percherons, Belgians, Friesians, etc. -- which was our main reason for going, as the barn was closed for some reason, drat the luck. But we did get to see the arts and crafts building (quilts! cross-stitch! handmade lace! paintings on sawblades! tiny model rooms!) and the sand sculpture, which is always amazing. One side showed a train going into a tunnel watched by some woodland creatures, including a very alarmed-looking beaver.
My life continues to be far too busy, and sometime between now and the end of September, we have to pack up our entire house. Eek.
Prompting is open!!
2 June 2015 09:17 pmminerva_fest always results in a bouquet of fabulous stories, so run on over and leave some inspiration :)
Minerva_Fest!
featherxquill; art by Kit466 [used with permission])
So many tasty prompts!!!
17 March 2015 11:34 pmThe prompt review post is up over at sshg_promptfest, and there are some excellent ones. As a tribute to Sir Terry Pratchett, the fest particularly invited Discworld crossover prompts and I think we have outdone ourselves. Go ye and marvel!
sshg_promptfest, and there are some excellent ones. As a tribute to Sir Terry Pratchett, the fest particularly invited Discworld crossover prompts and I think we have outdone ourselves. Go ye and marvel!Minerva_fest reveals!
3 November 2014 09:02 pmThe reveals are up at minerva_fest so I can now admit to being the author of "Memento Vitae," which I very much enjoyed writing and which a lot of people apparently enjoyed reading -- yay! As always, this was an excellent fest with many top-notch stories; if you haven't yet checked them out, take time to do so. You will not be disappointed!
Title: Memento Vitae (on LJ) (on AO3)
Prompt #70: Retirement approaches, and Minerva clears out her office at Hogwarts. There are a few objects ('five' is such a traditional fanfic number, but have less or more if you prefer) that hold very, very special memories. While she packs, she remembers those times.
Rating: G
Word Count: 3700
Characters and/or Pairings: Minerva, with memories of many others
Summary: There are things we carry in our hearts that no one else can fully understand. On her last afternoon as Headmistress, Minerva remembers some of hers.
Warnings: None
Author's Notes: I very much enjoyed this stroll down Minerva's memory lane; I hope you do too.
minerva_fest so I can now admit to being the author of "Memento Vitae," which I very much enjoyed writing and which a lot of people apparently enjoyed reading -- yay! As always, this was an excellent fest with many top-notch stories; if you haven't yet checked them out, take time to do so. You will not be disappointed!Title: Memento Vitae (on LJ) (on AO3)
Prompt #70: Retirement approaches, and Minerva clears out her office at Hogwarts. There are a few objects ('five' is such a traditional fanfic number, but have less or more if you prefer) that hold very, very special memories. While she packs, she remembers those times.
Rating: G
Word Count: 3700
Characters and/or Pairings: Minerva, with memories of many others
Summary: There are things we carry in our hearts that no one else can fully understand. On her last afternoon as Headmistress, Minerva remembers some of hers.
Warnings: None
Author's Notes: I very much enjoyed this stroll down Minerva's memory lane; I hope you do too.
Je l'avoue!
4 August 2014 11:38 pmsshg_promptfest was another sterling collection this year; I'm only sorry that my July was such that I wasn't able to give it the attention it deserves. I did manage to look at and respond to all the art, and I hope to work my way through the fics over the next few weeks. Many of my favorite contributors participated, and I'm looking forward to enjoying the results of their creative fabulosity!Now that the Big Reveal is up, I can admit to being the author of "The Heart the Adder Gave Him." Thanks to
palathene for a wonderful prompt that gave me lots of leeway to explore what it might mean for Hermione to suffer a prophetic vision. I'm rather proud of this one :)Title: The Heart the Adder Gave Him (LJ) (AO3)
Rating: PG
Summary: Hermione has made a prophecy about Snape, most of which she doesn’t understand. Snape understands part of it all too well. But what can the rest of it mean?
My meta HP paper
22 May 2014 12:26 pmEver wonder why the Ministry of Magic chose a train as the method of travel for getting to Hogwarts, or why even students from Scotland have to go all the way to London to board? Wonder no more! My paper for the hp_canon_love Meta Fest has posted :)
hp_canon_love Meta Fest has posted :)Molly and Tonks
15 September 2013 01:45 pmReveals went up a little while ago at hp_friendship so I can now cop to being the author of "To Understand and To Be Understood," which explores the friendship between Molly Weasley and Tonks. squibstress (thank you!) wrote the most wonderful prompt which allowed me to incorporate different aspects of friendship, bits of canon, wolves in fairy tales, and some pet theories about magic, power, gender and Muggle-borns. It was great fun to write and I got some lovely thoughtful comments, which is always a joy for a writer :)
Title: To Understand and To Be Understood (on LJ) (on AO3)
Characters: Molly Weasley, Nymphadora Tonks; cameos by Mad-Eye Moody, Fred and George, Dumbledore and one or two others.
Rating: PG
Warnings: Character death (canon)
Word Count: ~8800
Summary: "One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood." -- Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Original prompt, fromsquibstress: "They appear to be close-ish in canon. What kind of friendship is it? A few ideas: Maybe Molly sees Tonks as the woman she might have been if she'd made different choices. Does she urge Tonks to pursue Lupin, and maybe get pregnant, out of supportive friendship, or is it something else? Or take the opposite approach: Molly sees Tonks making the same choices she did, and tries to talk her out of it. Or maybe Molly wants to convince Tonks that she doesn't have to choose one or the other--maybe Tonks has choices that weren't open to Molly."
Author's Notes: Thanks to my speedy and eagle-eyed beta,nursedarry, for her Britpicks and excellent suggestions. Text in bold was taken directly from Rowling's books. Molly's line about having children being "to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body" is from author Elizabeth Stone. The information about what happens when two werewolves mate under the full moon comes from pottermore.com.
hp_friendship so I can now cop to being the author of "To Understand and To Be Understood," which explores the friendship between Molly Weasley and Tonks. squibstress (thank you!) wrote the most wonderful prompt which allowed me to incorporate different aspects of friendship, bits of canon, wolves in fairy tales, and some pet theories about magic, power, gender and Muggle-borns. It was great fun to write and I got some lovely thoughtful comments, which is always a joy for a writer :)Title: To Understand and To Be Understood (on LJ) (on AO3)
Characters: Molly Weasley, Nymphadora Tonks; cameos by Mad-Eye Moody, Fred and George, Dumbledore and one or two others.
Rating: PG
Warnings: Character death (canon)
Word Count: ~8800
Summary: "One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood." -- Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Original prompt, from
squibstress: "They appear to be close-ish in canon. What kind of friendship is it? A few ideas: Maybe Molly sees Tonks as the woman she might have been if she'd made different choices. Does she urge Tonks to pursue Lupin, and maybe get pregnant, out of supportive friendship, or is it something else? Or take the opposite approach: Molly sees Tonks making the same choices she did, and tries to talk her out of it. Or maybe Molly wants to convince Tonks that she doesn't have to choose one or the other--maybe Tonks has choices that weren't open to Molly." Author's Notes: Thanks to my speedy and eagle-eyed beta,
nursedarry, for her Britpicks and excellent suggestions. Text in bold was taken directly from Rowling's books. Molly's line about having children being "to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body" is from author Elizabeth Stone. The information about what happens when two werewolves mate under the full moon comes from pottermore.com.
