Two days remaining to leave prompts for mini_fest!!
Five days remaining to sign up for sshg_giftfest, still spots left for both writers and crafters!!

Go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, you know you want to :)

In other interesting news, it turns out that anemones sting you via tiny little hypodermic needles at the ends of their tentacles, if you don't know what to call your academic event there is a flowchart to help you, there is such a thing as color photos from World War I (using potato starch, who knew??), and despite what the ads may tell you, you cannot get an airline flight for 50p:


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Lots of good stuff and great participants already -- don't be shy, come on in :)







Signups open Aug 13-27th

I am beyond thrilled to say that I will be co-modding the sshg_giftfest!!! Signups will begin August 13th -- I hope to see lots of familiar names participating and please spread the word.

I've been an INTJ since the first time I took this test years ago. Julius Caeasar and Michael Corleone, heh heh heh.

It has been a very difficult few days here at Chez Psmith. Mr Psmith's brother G was unexpectedly taken to hospital on Monday morning; things went very bad very quickly, and he died Tuesday afternoon. We are all still a bit numb; it is hard to even know how to think about such a lightning bolt out of nowhere. G was only forty, and leaves my sister-in-law with three little children, our niece and two nephews. I don't know how one explains such things to a child who just wants their daddy to come home. My heart aches for them, and for all of us...

You may have seen the amazing fan-made Harry Potter movie, "For the Greater Good," which brings to life the break between Dumbledore and Grindelwald, and the death of Ariana. (If you haven't seen it, go watch, it's amazing!)

The same folks now want to do a full-length fan film that explores the relationship between Snape and the Marauders, and they've kicked off an Indiegogo campaign to fund it. (Thanks to laralee88 for her post that let me know about it!) I REALLY hope this gets fully funded -- it looks really impressive, from the casting to the planned budget to the special effects. So spread the word :)

My first crush on a fictional man was at about age eight or nine: Prince Gwydion from Llloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain. Well, how could he not be? With his green eyes and wolf-grey hair and the sword and cloak and also hello, a prince, he was everything that a girl bored with sappy Disney royalty would adore. He didn't waste his time rescuing princesses, he was fighting THE LORD OF DEATH, for Merlin's sake. And I loved that he was noble yet accessible: a prince for working days, as it were, not in the least high and mighty, because he didn't need to be.

My next fictional crush was Laurie from Little Women (so sweet and funny and romantic, and played the piano with such passion -- Jo, how could you turn him down?!) closely followed by Dan from Jo's Boys (my black-eyed wounded rebel soul, I'm still sad he didn't win the heart of Bess).

Then I read Dragonsong and fell hard for Masterharper Robinton, with his sharp intelligence, his weakness for Benden wine, his wit and his generous heart; when he and Menolly were alone on the boat in Dragondrums I thought, "At last, at last!!" but the silly tart thwarted me, a betrayal for which I still have never quite forgiven her.

Next: a toss-up between Lord Peter Wimsey -- war hero, collector of incunabula, and sooo very persistently faithful -- and Laurie R. King's Sherlock Holmes. The scene with Peter and Harriet on the bank of the river is one of the all-time sexiest scenes ever, even though they never touch each other, and the night that Holmes tasks Mary Russell with wanting to propose to him caused me to cheer out loud.

You'll notice that Aragorn, Legolas, Boromir, Eomer & Co. are conspicuously absent. They were a bit too distant for me when I first encountered them, I think -- I was eleven, and at the time they all struck me as rather biblical, probably due to Tolkien's elevated language. Snape is also absent from this list since he didn't ring my bell until I saw Alan Rickman. After that it was very hubba hubba, but I don't feel right about including him in this list when it was a real person that actually spurred my interest.

So tell me, who are/were your fictional (book) crushes and why?

Yes, apparently the first Friday in June is National Donut Day (fooled you, didn't I? You thought I meant the other D-Day).

Neither of which are to be confused with National DoUGHnut Day* which is in November. Because donuts are so awesome they need two celebratory days, I guess.

* Until I wrote that I never realized that "doughnut" has the word "ugh" in it. Which is just ridiculous, right? Because NOMZ.

There are some excellent prompts over at the prompting post for hp_silencio. Some would be quite challenging to do without dialog. I shall have to go through some of my Anita Brookner books for tips; she's so good at that.

Also this!!

Minerva_Fest! Prompt Posting Here Through 13 June

(banner by featherxquill; art by Makani)