CHECK IN: DAY 7
Jan. 7th, 2026 09:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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writethisfanficWe've had one whole week of 2026 (and I haven't yet had to write the new date once). Has anyone succeeded in writing today?
Question of the day: when dealing with your character's inner monologue, do you tend to favour writing directly reported thoughts (What an idiot, she thought) or indirect thoughts (He was just such an idiot)?
Question of the day: when dealing with your character's inner monologue, do you tend to favour writing directly reported thoughts (What an idiot, she thought) or indirect thoughts (He was just such an idiot)?
Two Purrcies; Book resolution
Jan. 7th, 2026 04:58 pmmecurtinHis 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*.
Snowflake Challenge 2026 Day 4
Jan. 7th, 2026 09:41 pmbrokenmnemonic
Challenge #4: Rec Your Last Page
Any website that you like, be it fanfiction, art, social media, or something a bit more eccentric!
For today's Snowflake challenge entry, I thought I'd flag up Rebrickable. Anyone who's had to take part in the VidUKon quiz in the last few years (or is in my Welsh class) knows I'm a big Lego fan, and I think Rebrickable is a great site for the community. I started visiting the site because I wanted a way to track which sets and spare parts I had, and got hooked almost immediately.
Rebrickable goes well beyond tracking sets and parts; it's a big part of the Lego MOC world (MOC being shorthand for "My Own Creation") where people post up models they've designed, either based on the parts from existing sets completely from scratch, with both free MOC plans available and MOCs you can buy. The site's also regularly updated with both upcoming new official sets and a steadily-growing record of past Lego sets going back to the very first ones. It has a build engine that takes your part lists and set lists and suggests other sets and MOCs you can build with the parts you have.
Beyond this, one of the big reasons I love the site is that it hosts instructions for past sets, including a lot that aren't available on the Lego website, and has links to other sites that also host instructions, helping you build old sets you may have collected the parts for. I'm currently slowly collecting the classic Lego Space sets from my childhood that I wanted but could never afford, and there's a member on Rebrickable who's finding, scanning and uploading hi-quality PDF files for the instructions for these sets, which were on sale from ca. 1979-1988.
I also really appreciate that people involved with the site are digging into really niche areas of Lego history. For example, how many colours do you think Lego parts have been produced in? Have a guess, and then go and look at this Rebrickable Colours page and see how close you were. One of the site admins has a personal project running in which he's hunting down and buying sealed Lego sets of varying degrees of age from long out of production themes in an attempt to identify, catalogue and photograph every shade of pink Lego brick that's ever been produced.
Rebrickable also has regular review articles, essays about bits of Lego history, and a lot of people post workbench posts detailing the things they're doing with Lego. It's a great community hub, and I visit there basically every day.
What Am I Reading Wednesday - January 7
Jan. 7th, 2026 04:30 pmlebateleurWhat I Finished Reading This Week
Nothing, as three of the four books I'm reading this week are over 400 pages long.
What I Am Currently Reading
Skeul an Tavas - Ray Chubb & Nigel Roberts
I tackled most of the first chapter this week.
The Stations of the Sun – Ronald Hutton
I read the chapters on Christmas, the New Year, and Plough Monday.
Mannaz – Malene Sølvsten
This book is a giant, over-the-top potboiler and I am here for it.
After the Forest – Kell Woods
I was suspicious, given the cover, that this would be standard Tor-quality YA dreck, but it is very, very good indeed.
What I’m Reading Next
This week I acquired Ray Chubb and Nigel Roberts's Skeul An Tavas, Richard Marsh's Meath Folk Tales, and Angela Saini's Inferior.
これで以上です。
Nothing, as three of the four books I'm reading this week are over 400 pages long.
What I Am Currently Reading
Skeul an Tavas - Ray Chubb & Nigel Roberts
I tackled most of the first chapter this week.
The Stations of the Sun – Ronald Hutton
I read the chapters on Christmas, the New Year, and Plough Monday.
Mannaz – Malene Sølvsten
This book is a giant, over-the-top potboiler and I am here for it.
After the Forest – Kell Woods
I was suspicious, given the cover, that this would be standard Tor-quality YA dreck, but it is very, very good indeed.
What I’m Reading Next
This week I acquired Ray Chubb and Nigel Roberts's Skeul An Tavas, Richard Marsh's Meath Folk Tales, and Angela Saini's Inferior.
これで以上です。
Snowlake, challenge 3 and 4
Jan. 7th, 2026 01:31 pmhamsterwomanCatching up on the last two days, because ugh, work. Who thought that was a good idea? XP
Challenge #3: Write a love letter to fandom. It might be to fandom in general, to a particular fandom, favourite character, anything at all.
I love reading people’s responses to this challenge (particular highlights on my flist were
muccamukk’s beautiful analogy and author_by_night’s poem “To Fandoms I’ve Only Observed”), but I’ve done this a bunch of different ways for past Snowflakes and was struggling for a new angle. I thought about an abecedarian poem (as I’d done for characters at one point), but had a harder time coming up with a “balanced” list of fandoms in ABC order, about which I’d have about the same amount to say. I finally did settle on an abecedarian idea, just not a poetic one, so: (all links go to AO3 works-in-fandom pages, with a few exceptions)I love fandom ( because fandom is )
Obviously some letters were harder to fill with fandoms than others, but all of this is true, and these are all reasons I love fandom :)
Challenge #4: Rec Your Last Page: Any website that you like, be it fanfiction, art, social media, or something a bit more eccentric!
Maybe I should go through my billions of open tabs and see if there’s something in there worth reccing? (and take the opportunity to close some, lol)
Relevant open tabs (and the reasons I have them open):
fandomtrees spreadsheet of needy trees. Reveals are targeted at Jan 10, but there are still 39 trees short of the goal of at least 2 gifts. (Mine is not one of the needy trees, but it is here.) (Open because I was checking how likely reveals were to be delayed.)( and 10 more links, from general to specific )
My First Posted Fic of the New Year, And It's... This.
Jan. 7th, 2026 02:29 pmastrogirlYeah, what the post title says.
Title: Bill Cipher Is an Outlier and Should Not Have Been Counted
Fandom: Gravity Falls
Characters/Relationships: Bill/Ford (in Bill's mind, at least)
Rating: Teen. Please see tags for warnings.
Tags: Possession, Toxic relationship, Book of Bill-related, POV Bill Cipher, Spiders, Swallowing spiders, Cruelty to animals (spiders), I cannot stress enough that this is about SWALLOWING LIVE SPIDERS – arachnophobes do not come for me because you didn't read the tags!
Length: ~1,100 words
Summary: Ford is definitely going to come around. If everything else didn't do it, the spiders certainly will. Plus, it's just a really interesting thing do in Ford's body.
Author's Notes: Written for Gen Prompt Bingo for the prompt "Spiders (Giant, Radioactive, or otherwise unusual) ." Admittedly, the spiders in this one aren't exactly unusual in and of themselves, but I really think they count as being in the spirit of the prompt.
Bill Cipher Is an Outlier and Should Not Have Been Counted
Title: Bill Cipher Is an Outlier and Should Not Have Been Counted
Fandom: Gravity Falls
Characters/Relationships: Bill/Ford (in Bill's mind, at least)
Rating: Teen. Please see tags for warnings.
Tags: Possession, Toxic relationship, Book of Bill-related, POV Bill Cipher, Spiders, Swallowing spiders, Cruelty to animals (spiders), I cannot stress enough that this is about SWALLOWING LIVE SPIDERS – arachnophobes do not come for me because you didn't read the tags!
Length: ~1,100 words
Summary: Ford is definitely going to come around. If everything else didn't do it, the spiders certainly will. Plus, it's just a really interesting thing do in Ford's body.
Author's Notes: Written for Gen Prompt Bingo for the prompt "Spiders (Giant, Radioactive, or otherwise unusual) ." Admittedly, the spiders in this one aren't exactly unusual in and of themselves, but I really think they count as being in the spirit of the prompt.
Bill Cipher Is an Outlier and Should Not Have Been Counted
Snowflake Challenge 2026-4: Rec Your Last Page
Jan. 7th, 2026 04:15 pmstardust_rifleGoing to be doing this on multiple websites, because I've been splitting my time pretty heavily between a lot of them!
Pixiv:
To(ye)'s monster illustrations and the SCP-style worldbuilding surrounding them are all wonderful and I've really enjoyed slowly making my way through them as Japanese language practice.
🌟's GyJo illustrations are the cutest, silliest things ever and I love them so much.
Ao3:
Why one small American town won’t stop stoning its residents to death: or, as the tags elucidate, "Isaac Chotiner interviews the guy who runs the lottery in Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery'".
#footscraygoose: Australian biosecurity laws and the Soulmate Goose of Enforcement trope collide in this epistolary fic.
YouTube:
What if Horror Mascots Were Period-Accurate?: Come for the redesigns, stay for learning about how Bendy from Bendy and the Ink Machine would have gotten fucked by the Hays Code.
The Bird Someone Has To Take When Your Aunt Dies: Technically only lightly fannish, but this made me laugh so hard I had to include it.
Pixiv:
To(ye)'s monster illustrations and the SCP-style worldbuilding surrounding them are all wonderful and I've really enjoyed slowly making my way through them as Japanese language practice.
🌟's GyJo illustrations are the cutest, silliest things ever and I love them so much.
Ao3:
Why one small American town won’t stop stoning its residents to death: or, as the tags elucidate, "Isaac Chotiner interviews the guy who runs the lottery in Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery'".
#footscraygoose: Australian biosecurity laws and the Soulmate Goose of Enforcement trope collide in this epistolary fic.
YouTube:
What if Horror Mascots Were Period-Accurate?: Come for the redesigns, stay for learning about how Bendy from Bendy and the Ink Machine would have gotten fucked by the Hays Code.
The Bird Someone Has To Take When Your Aunt Dies: Technically only lightly fannish, but this made me laugh so hard I had to include it.
Snowflake Challenge #4 - Your Last Page
Jan. 7th, 2026 03:38 pmlebateleurChallenge #4: Rec Your Last Page
Any website that you like, be it fanfiction, art, social media, or something a bit more eccentric!
A lot of fandom takes place digitally, everywhere from the websites where we read, watch, play, purchase, and talk about canon or merch to the computers on which we do much of the writing, watching, reading, vidding, and talking; the ISPs that get us online; and the processors we use to pay for all these things.
The recent Livejournal stuff is a good reminder, should anyone need one, that the majority of these entities do not by any means have users' best interests at heart. So why not make life a little harder for them, and happier for your own privacy and data security.
If you use Windows, here's a useful guide to getting rid of a bunch of the data security-destroying "features" and bloat on that operating system.
And if you'd like to get even more security conscious, The Opt Out Project has an excellent Cyber Cleanse Guide that will make your fandoming--be it consuming, creating, or discussing--a whole lot harder for the big tech and ecommerce giants to track, capture, and mine for your data.
これで以上です。
Any website that you like, be it fanfiction, art, social media, or something a bit more eccentric!
A lot of fandom takes place digitally, everywhere from the websites where we read, watch, play, purchase, and talk about canon or merch to the computers on which we do much of the writing, watching, reading, vidding, and talking; the ISPs that get us online; and the processors we use to pay for all these things.
The recent Livejournal stuff is a good reminder, should anyone need one, that the majority of these entities do not by any means have users' best interests at heart. So why not make life a little harder for them, and happier for your own privacy and data security.
If you use Windows, here's a useful guide to getting rid of a bunch of the data security-destroying "features" and bloat on that operating system.
And if you'd like to get even more security conscious, The Opt Out Project has an excellent Cyber Cleanse Guide that will make your fandoming--be it consuming, creating, or discussing--a whole lot harder for the big tech and ecommerce giants to track, capture, and mine for your data.
これで以上です。
(10 out of 20) Favorite for a Reason - Stargate Atlantis (PG)
Jan. 7th, 2026 04:02 pmgoddess47 in sweetandshort
Title: Favorite for a Reason
Author:
goddess47Character(s): John Sheppard, Rodney McKay
Pairing(s): John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Rating: PG
Length: 328 words
Warnings: none
Notes:
For
mcsheplets prompt #131 - underwearFor
sweetandshort January 2026 prompt - favoriteSummary:
Rodney held up a pair of starting-to-tatter boxers. "This was my favorite underwear."
Favorite for a Reason on AO3
A week after last post
Jan. 7th, 2026 08:39 pmhunninghamMy father-in-law is staying with his daughter for a couple of weeks, so I have swapped one elderly relative for another and come up to Edinburgh to visit my mother. I came up on Saturday, and leaving tomorrow Thursday.
My mother doesn't need much help, so most of what I do is sit with her and listen. I have brought my laptop with me, and am also working while I'm here - this helps, it gives us a break from each other. I have also watched far too many episodes of a TV show called Bargain Hunt, and another show about house-hunting and lots of weather reporting. All the exciting weather is in the highlands, here it's just freezing temperatures & sleety rain. We've been to Tesco, where we managed to mislay each other, and my mother was horrified by the price of frozen mashed potatoes. The USA is gangstering into Venezuela.
It's been long visit, I'm not sleeping well, and I'm feeling very worn.
My mother doesn't need much help, so most of what I do is sit with her and listen. I have brought my laptop with me, and am also working while I'm here - this helps, it gives us a break from each other. I have also watched far too many episodes of a TV show called Bargain Hunt, and another show about house-hunting and lots of weather reporting. All the exciting weather is in the highlands, here it's just freezing temperatures & sleety rain. We've been to Tesco, where we managed to mislay each other, and my mother was horrified by the price of frozen mashed potatoes. The USA is gangstering into Venezuela.
It's been long visit, I'm not sleeping well, and I'm feeling very worn.
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
H.R. 1936 - No Invading Allies Act
Jan. 7th, 2026 02:58 pmaurumcalendula in thisfinecrewI also ran across H.R. 1936 (No Invading Allies Act) that was introduced by Seth Magaziner (D-RI) in March, and it sounds like it might be useful to contact Reps about: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1936
(the summary isn't up for some reason, but the full title is 'To prohibit funds for the Armed Forces to engage in operations to invade or seize territory from Canada, the Republic of Panama, or the self-governing territory of Greenland.')
(the summary isn't up for some reason, but the full title is 'To prohibit funds for the Armed Forces to engage in operations to invade or seize territory from Canada, the Republic of Panama, or the self-governing territory of Greenland.')
FIC: Things Wondrous and Divine
Jan. 7th, 2026 12:07 pmdelphi in ourflagmeansgayTitle: Things Wondrous and Divine
Relationship: Frenchie/izzy
Rating: Mature
Word Count: ~1300
Content Info: AU: Izzy Hands Lives
Summary: The crew puts in for repairs at what turns out to be a bioluminescent bay, but Izzy and Frenchie aren't messing around with any Natural Phenomena. Or, the one where Izzy appreciates Frenchie's cynicism.
Notes: Written for![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p2.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
caladria as part of the 2025 Canyon Christmas exchange.
Dreamwidth Link
AO3 Link
Relationship: Frenchie/izzy
Rating: Mature
Word Count: ~1300
Content Info: AU: Izzy Hands Lives
Summary: The crew puts in for repairs at what turns out to be a bioluminescent bay, but Izzy and Frenchie aren't messing around with any Natural Phenomena. Or, the one where Izzy appreciates Frenchie's cynicism.
Notes: Written for
Dreamwidth Link
AO3 Link
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.)
FIC: The Voyage of the Unicorn
Jan. 7th, 2026 11:55 amdelphi in ourflagmeansgayTitle: The Voyage of the Unicorn
Relationship: Izzy/Crew (most notably Lucius, Frenchie, Wee John, Archie, Fang, and Jim, and a reference to a past with Ed)
Rating: Mature
Word Count: ~1900
Content Info: AU: Izzy Hands Lives
Summary: Fifty one-sentence stories for fifty prompts, following Izzy’s post-series life aboard the Revenge.
1. Swords
The love of a crew can’t change him into something he isn’t, but their hands right his edges like a whetstone and their words leave behind the gleam of oil on steel.
Notes: Written for the1character challenge.
Dreamwidth Link
AO3 Link
Relationship: Izzy/Crew (most notably Lucius, Frenchie, Wee John, Archie, Fang, and Jim, and a reference to a past with Ed)
Rating: Mature
Word Count: ~1900
Content Info: AU: Izzy Hands Lives
Summary: Fifty one-sentence stories for fifty prompts, following Izzy’s post-series life aboard the Revenge.
1. Swords
The love of a crew can’t change him into something he isn’t, but their hands right his edges like a whetstone and their words leave behind the gleam of oil on steel.
Notes: Written for the
1character challenge.Dreamwidth Link
AO3 Link