Patron Saint of Falling Over Things

January Reading (and still catching up on 2022)

Fri, 10 Feb 2023 04:10:24 GMT

January Reading
Trying to do this once a month so that I have a stopping place for my 2022 reading reviews. (How is it February? I don't understand time anymore.)

Reading in February
Black Water Sister by Zen Cho, narrated by Catherine Ho
- ohhh!
- you know the feeling when you've read some books that are okay? And then you pick up one that absolutely sings?
- that's the feeling I'm having right now. It's the difference between making time to read, and not wanting to stop reading.
- Queer main character, stuck in the limbo between college and adult life, has to help her parents move home to Malaysia after a big life upset
- Discovers that the voice in her head is not jetlag or stress-related, but her dead grandmother who (a) knows how to google and (b) is in a war with a gangster (c) over a god
- it's everything about being the child of two cultures trying to find your place
- I'm loving it so far

Finished In January
The Witches of New York by Ami McKay, narrated by Laurence Bouvard
- Gilded Age New York, two witches who run a teashop take on an apprentice
- super queer friendly, with lesbian relationships and also queer-leaning friendships
- didn't enjoy as much as I wanted to
- I'm sad about it, because this book has everything I should have loved: feminist historical takes, queerness, a broad cross-section of Gilded Age society in New York, the business and science of spiritualism, Cleopatra's needle, extracts from newspapers and other media
- I did love the storylines for the three main characters, especially Eleanor (lovely queer Eleanor!)
- but there were so many storylines that I kept losing track
- the narrator did great with the main characters' voices, but everyone else came across as kind of cartoonish, especially male characters
- there were some very violent scenes which were not a good match for the whimsical tone of the main storyline
- idk should have worked for me, might have worked better in paper instead of audio

Seven Devils by Laura Lam, L.R. Lam, narrated by Neve McIntosh
- a little bit caper, a little bit evil empire, a whole lotta spaceships
- this is a big bowl of plot noodles
- each noodle is a really good idea or an interesting character
- but there are so fucking many noodles
- and they all mix together in unhelpful, confusing ways
- the sauce on the noodles is 100% queer found family
- which kept me reading when my concentration drifted
- I don't know why the narration was broadly Scottish but it was a fun twist
- there's a sequel but I doubt I'll feel like noodles too soon, you know?

The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones, narrated by Moira Quirk
- picked up because Moira Quirk
- (whisper beautiful words in my ear, Moira)
- turns out to be a Welsh-inspired zombie fantasy
- main character runs her family's grave digging business, and is a mean hand with an axe
- lots of fun, competently written, with lovely tough ladies fighting zombies and getting shit done
- queer friendly though the main pairing is het
- nothing unexpected but entirely enjoyable

( 2022 Reading Review continues... )

In conclusion, books.

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2022: the year of reading in the pool (Part One)

Fri, 13 Jan 2023 05:53:15 GMT

Things I'm not including here:
- my endless re-read of the Imperial Radch books (It got to the point where I was reciting them along with the narrator, and so I have given them a spell for a while. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it stopped working as a security read for me.)

- my endless re-read of the Murderbot books (I kind of want Murderbot and Jollybaby to go on a road trip, just a murderbot and its crane friend. Maybe they could go to the upcoming Conclave in the Radch novels?)

- books I started but noped out of in the first chapter. (There were quite a few, especially when I fell into a historical murder mystery well.)

- the number of times I had to go back and reread The Locked Tomb books just to figure out what the actual sweet hell was going on. (This was no chore, mind you.)

These are in chronological order, fwiw.

Stormsong by C.L. Polk, narrated by Moira Quirk
- part two of the "We're Wizards and Extremely Gay" series
- aka The Kingston Cycle but I like my title better because it explains EVERYTHING
- book two is lesbians
- there's a lot of sleigh rides with magic foot heaters and fur wraps and huddling for warmth
- also societal oppression of ~~gay people~~ magic users
- love interest is a flapper-adjacent journalist with grit and her own flat
- the first book was all nobility and riches and elves
- this one gets into the gritty reality of the single working woman
- thumbs up for a more developed world structure with social stratification
- bonus points for an underground immigrant witch society
- Moira Quirk, please come to my house and literally narrate anything because I love your voice

The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo, narrated by the author
- I'm normally wary of books narrated by authors? For me, the experience can veer into cringe, I don't know why. Maybe because author =/= professional voice actor?
- Yangsze Choo did great, though, and I am glad I read in audiobook format.
- 1890's Malacca was an amazing setting, and not one I knew much about. Many cultures jammed into a small space, with modernity looming but traditions in every corner. What a great time and place to set a story!
- Li Lan is a teenage girl stuck at home with her father who has let their family's prospects dwindle
- She receives an offer of marriage to the wealthy but dead son of a prominent family
- she doesn't like the dead son much (I agree, he's a big jerk) but it's a chance for her to have a secure future
- so many amazing characters in this. Aunties and cooks and demons and dragons and ghosts and a sweet little spirit horse
- beautiful language, imagery, magic, history
- the underworld! Creepy and systematic, with currency and obligations and oof. It was so good!
- I saw this in a review, and I agree 100%: The overwhelming show-stealer is the setting, the background, the history, the superstition and traditional beliefs of turn-of-the-century Malaya.

Archivist Wasp by Nicole Kornher-Stace, narrated by Abby Craden
- SECRETLY STARRING BUCKY
- okay, not really, but come on, there's a taciturn and traumatised super-soldier, can you blame me?
- the main character is Wasp, and her job as archivist is to catch the ghosts that kind of ooze out of the mountain. In return, she receives tribute from the village that she protects
- the village exists in a crapsack fall-of-civilisation dystopia and it's pretty fucking grim
- I nearly put it down, it was so grim
- Wasp has to fight, Hunger Games style, to retain her position, and it's getting more and more difficult as time and starvation whittle away her strength.
- But she has a plan and it's a smart plan
- She catches the ghost of said supersoldier and bargains with him to figure out why everything went so crapsack
- the front end of this book is really tough, but the back end has so many found family moments and triumphant fist pumping moments that I am glad I persevered
- it's one that I keep checking to see if the sequel is out
- and it is! but not in audiobook, bah.

Hench: A Novel by Natalie Zina Walschots, narrated by Alex McKenna
- massive side-eye for this book
- it's lots of fun
- very clever, knows its tropes
- has everything you'd expect from a Lower Decks-style story about superheroes and their minions
- I especially loved that there was a temp office for henchmen
- but
- it does not stick the landing
- you can't be a villain and the good guy at the same time
- and I understand the ACAB vibe that was going on with the Avengers-esque superheroes, I do
- but you either position your main character as nominally a villain who is more honourable than the superheroes, or an actual villain who does actual evil shit. You can't be both. You have to commit one way or the other.
- this book did not commit and it suffers because of that.
- this makes me sad because the characters were so interesting when they weren't being OMG DARK AND EVIL.
- plus there was a perfectly good femslash ship that never went anywhere and that makes me pouty.
- Warning for some intense (and frankly creative) body horror

Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta, narrated by Catherine Ho and Cindy Kay
- elitist mech pilot school student versus vigilante mech-breaking rebels
- some hefty body modification descriptions that got a bit uncomfortable for me but if you like body horror, it will come across as mild, I think
- super sapphic
- really, so very very very charged
- starts out as enemies to lovers
- excellent world building, faboo supporting characters
- this was a regretful DNF for me
- but don't let it be a dealbreaker for you (A Gearbreaker Dealbreaker! ha!)
- I went through a stage of not dealing with bleak stories
- and this one got too bleak for me
- I think it was heading for a happy place? Maybe?
- but I'm pretty sure that if you like dark stories and struggles and bleakness (lots of people do!) you'll like this one
- it's very competent and engaging!
- I think I've talked myself into putting it back on my TBR to finish off.

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer, narrated by Carolyn McCormick
- Scientific team sent on secret mission to investigate a lush, abandoned weirdness
- big X-Files energy
- delightfully scientific ecosystems
- delightfully elliptic storytelling
- mind-warping on many levels
- quite sad, though? Like low-hanging cloud, there's a life-long sadness to the narrator's voice
- the emotionality is beautifully done, but it was too much for my poor brain, so I'm not planning on picking up the sequels just now
- I read this because I liked the movie well enough but felt that there was more story
- there was so much more story
- I worry about the overall pensiveness of the story dragging me down, so I'm stopping here with the series
- But I can see a time when a certain mood will take me, and it will be good to have that kind of book ready. The sequels aren't going anywhere.

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal, narrated by Meera Syal
- I didn't know anything about this book but it was certainly eye-catching
- I mean, what a title
- ostensibly it's a murder mystery
- but really it's a collection of microcosms that you are invited into: the world of a London Sikh temple, the world of a second-generation immigrant finding her way between two cultures, all the worlds of the Punjabi widows who tell their stories
- to be brutally honest, the murder mystery isn't anything to write home about
- but that doesn't matter, it's barely the point of the thing. It's just the wrapper that ties all these stories together
- Reading in audio made this a wonderful experience, and Meera Syal does amazing work voicing a huge range of characters, from teenagers to elderly widows
- absolutely overdue for a screen adaptation

The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco, narrated by Emily Woo Zeller and Will Damron
- a world where magic is extremely codified and revered, with supporting industries like costumers and jewellers and so on that also use magic. (I love this kind of thing!)
- which naturally leads to outsiders and less-revered methods of magic, which includes our protag, who is a bone witch, which is a combination necromancer/demon fighter/soul stealer, and generally a Very Scary Person
- the world building is beautiful and rich, painted in broad and fine, and there are many, many details that were original and startling.
- THE MIDDLE IS LONG AND BORING
- I was so sad about this because it's a great world! The characters are fantastic! There's queerness and genderfuckery and dance (magic dance!)
- Because the middle dragged so badly, the one annoying thing about the audiobook version started to grind me down
- it was a thing that I told myself I could ignore, because I was enjoying the storytelling so much
- The main character's family all have noun names, right? Fox and Lily and so on.
- The main character's name is Tea.
- which, according to the stated system, would have to be Tea as in the drink, right?
- Not Tea, as in Tee-ah. Thea? Tia?
- I love Emily Woo Zeller. She reads the Machineries of Empire books, and made me love the characters intensely. But the way this book dragged made me need to take a break from her voice for a while, which is sad.
- DNF
- Might go back? When I'm a little calmer and needing less immediate distraction, perhaps.

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune, narrated by Daniel Henning
- To be honest, I picked this book up because I'd just finished Wheel of Time on TV
- anyway TIL that Daniel Henning is not Daniel Henney
- but he's a good narrator
- headdesk
- The premise seemed a bit twee for my personal tastes - a bit Harry Potter/Lemony Snicket
( Cutting for a more unpleasant TIL )

The Library of the Dead by TL Huchu, narrated by Tinashe Warikandwa
- aaaaaah, this was wild and fun!
- near-future Edinburgh, in a kind of post-climate collapse situation, with many refugees living in various camps around the city.
- Ropa is the teenage protag, and she's tough as all get out. She's keeping it together for her family, which consists of her Zimbabwean grandma and her sister. School is an optional extra for her, as she needs to earn a living.
- which she does by carrying messages from the dead to the living
- She is devastatingly ruthless with the dead, and does not give her gift away for free
- She's also fiercely protective of kids younger than her, and demands justice from the bad world that hurts them
- as if this weren't enough
- there is a magical library run by an elitist sect of magicians
- they have nothing but scorn for her hedge wizardry
- it's that fantastic mix of learned magic versus instinctual/cultural/spiritual magic that I loved in Rivers of London
- I would die for Ropa's grandmother, who is a tour de force. And she knits! Knitting magic!
- A truly terrifying monster. I mean. Fucking unexpected and terrifying.
- You can tell from the number of points that this book is utterly jam-packed with plot. Like. Jammed in. So many plot.
- Narration starts a little wobbly, but settles in fast. I couldn't find out if Tinashe Warikandwa is actually Scottish, or just really good at Scottish? Either way, she was very listenable.
- I have the sequel in my TBR.

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I am swimming so good!

Fri, 21 Jan 2022 06:36:05 GMT

Thank you to couplagoofs on tiktok, for this 2022 anthem, and apologies to The Mountain Goats.

I'm not drowning
I am swimming so good
I am having a nice time
This is a good afternoon
I don't want to die
I love living

Tiktok is fun? It's supposedly this den of wanton teenage vipers eating their own tails, and that's one part of it, but to be honest the algorithm is quick to figure out what you want and serve that up steadily. It figured out that I want queer-friendly content and random facts. It is proving to be a nice place to take my poor addled brain for a wee rest.

RAT-us Quo
COVID sure is a thing that is happening everywhere? I am having cognitive dissonance between what is happening all around me (lots of COVID, no access to rapid tests) and what the government is telling pharmacists (It's a mild infection! Only the very sick will get very sick!) It's hard not to fall down paranoid rabbit holes. Why are people acting normal? Why is nobody screaming in the streets about this? I don't understand.

I'm boosted, lilacsigil is boosted. We've upgraded to N95 masks. I've stopped going to the gym. We're not planning to go anywhere besides the supermarket and appointments. I don't think there's much else that can be done at this point. Eventually we'll get it. I just hope that it's a long way off, and a variant that's a little closer to my definition of mild than the government's.

*sighs* I am swimming so good.

Reading Wednesday
Finished Reading
The Animals at Lockwood Manor by Jane Healey narrated by Sarah Lambie
- when last we left the reader, she was pondering whether this was a kissing book
( spoilers on whether this was a kissing book )

The Martian, by Andy Weir, narrated by Will Wheaton
- avoided this for a long time because it seemed so... blokey.
- it was blokey in the sense that it was a bloke's story, but it wasn't bro-ey. Okay, not TOO bro-ey.
- there was still obligatory (and arbitrary) het.
- As long as you're hearing first person, it's okay. The third person sections are DIRE af.
- took a minute to get into Will Wheaton's narration, because the last time I heard his voice, it was as a smarmy villain in Leverage
- he did a great job
- kept forgetting this was fiction, the science was so near-future that it all seemed plausible to me
- the story of how this book got written was as interesting as the actual book
- It was a serial! He had an email list!
- I heard about it on the Cracked Spines podcast, but here's the wiki entry: The Martian (Weir Novel)

Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix, narrated by Tai Sammons and Bronson Pinchot
- I read this because Audible Australia didn't have the furniture store book I wanted to read
- which was Finna by Nino Cipri
- one of the reviews of Finna said, in what I imagine was a pissy voice, "Don't you think we've had enough horror stories set in furniture stores?"
- Interesting that they chose to find fault with the queer furniture store story, huh?
- But I was like, this is a genre now? So I looked for others, and found Horrorstör
- it was good? Not amazing, but definitely fun.
- it knew what it was here to do, and it did that well
- The scariest parts were my mental flashbacks to getting lost in Ikea.
- One of those books that is probably better in paper form, because there apparently are graphics to go along with it
- this would enhance the existential horror, I think
- but the voice used at the start of each chapter to narrate the catalogue was delightful

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams, narrated by Imogen Sage
- this was free so I read it
- and it wasn't terrible
- but the whole time, I wondered why I was reading
- I don't usually read straight history type fiction
- I did love The Professor and the Madman, by Simon Winchester
- and this lies adjacent to that non-fiction tale of dictionaries
- Esme's father is a lexicographer for James Murray, editor of the OED, and she grows in the scriptorium
- she begins collecting the words that are rejected from the dictionary
- all the dictionary stuff was really interesting, as well as the weird little ecosystem of printers and academics involved in editing the new edition
- but there's one thing I need to learn
( cut for me never learning not to do this one thing )

The Final Girl Support Group, by Grady Hendrix, narrated by Adrienne King
- DNF
- I wanted to like this, because the premise is clever: final girls in adulthood, dealing with their traumas with other women like them
- Adrienne King is a fabulous narrator!
- the world building was great, especially the creepy media industry that has built up around the women
- in practice, relentless grim existence is not as much fun to read about, you know?
( Cutting seems like a bad word to use here, but TW for character with cancer )
- there's a TV series planned, though?
- I would check that out, to be honest. It's a really good premise and maybe it could be done better on screen.

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao, narrated by Rong Fu
- imagine that I had just stuck my head in a tumble dryer
- and I am now staring at you with wild eyes and hair still sparking
- maybe also a skull fracture
- that is the emotional experience of reading Iron Widow
- it is a hell of a ride
- not once did I manage to predict a plot point
- that might be my inexperience with mecha type stories
- or a general unfamiliarity with the story of Empress Wu Zetian
- but hotdog! This was wild!
- also, you don't see a f/m/m threesome that's, you know, actually a threesome. And they were adorable together. Soft and tender with each other, wielding angry death with everyone else. A lovely dynamic.
- it was a whole lot of righteous anger in a giant fighting bug
- to quote the author, "ENFORCE YOUR LAST PATHETIC GENDER ROLE, PATRIARCHY"

Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey, narrated by Romy Nordlinger
- it's a queer western! A queer western about librarians.
- it's about finding out you're not the only one in the universe who has ~feelings for their best friend
- the world building was understated but I liked that it didn't have to be explained much
- the setting is a post-civilisation dystopia
- our character runs away to join the Librarians, who travel between towns distributing approved reading material, and are very proper. And probably best friends. Look at them holding hands. Best friends for sure.
( Cut for a surprise reveal )

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, narrated by Frankie Corzo
- This one walks in Dracula's shoes for a while: castle in the mountains, isolated, fog, taciturn staff
- but Noemí is a wonderful protagonist who takes the story in the direction she wants, thank you
- I love that I can almost hear her sigh and shake off her socialite persona because damn it, someone has to save her cousin
- the story takes its time, but in a loving, creepy way. So loving. So very creepy.
- gorgeous language, beautiful things
- there's a certain amount of body horror towards the end
( spoilers are spoiling )
- also there are paper dolls!

Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Sutanto, narrated by Risa Mei
- it's a romance! I don't usually read romance
- but the aunties are fantastic, Meddie is fantastic
- I feel like I've been invited into their world so I better be polite
- Meddie's family is Chinese-Indonesian
- Chinese-Indonesian wedding planners
- it's as amazing as it sounds
- When Meddie accidentally kills her blind date on the eve of a big event, she must ask her Ma and Aunties for help
- while still managing to run a socialite wedding smoothly
- the chaos of this eventually got to me and I stopped reading
- this isn't a DNF so much as a DNF-yet
- it says something about how invested I am in these characters that I can't make myself read about them being in danger, you know?
- I will come back to this one when I've calmed down
- it's so good

Curently Reading
Witchmark by C. L. Polk, narrated by Samuel Roukin
- ahahaha it's so gay
- gay wizards even
- "Help me, Starred One!" *giggles with delight at how everything that is*
- so far, it's perfectly tropey, with forced soul bonds and hidden identities and a murder mystery and some kind of expy elf man
- sort of Edwardian setting
- GREAT WAR DAMN IT!
- okay, not THE great war, but it's definitely meant to parallel WWI, all grim and shellshock
- will I ever learn?
- probably not

Next up
Ugh, too many choices:
- Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots - office temp for super villains
- In Deeper Waters by F. T. Lukens - gay gay pirate romance described as "a frothy confection"
- Terra Nullius by Claire G. Coleman - I saw this promoted as "vampirism as metaphor for colonisation" but now I can't find the review, and I'm wondering if that was a spoiler.
- Matrix by Lauren Groff - it's narrated by Adjoa Andoh! But also, it's Marie de France and 12th Century living, and I don't know how grim it is.

Probably frothy gay pirates. Seems the safest.

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Reading Wednesday that is not really Wednesday where I am

Thu, 25 Nov 2021 06:24:35 GMT

Oh hey, I can do the actual reading post instead of (as well as??) playing catch-up this time...

Just finished A Darker Shade of Magic by V E Schwab, narrated by Steven Crossley
- what a great world/set of worlds
- what a great collection of characters
- what a terrible choice of narration for Lila
- Stephan Crossley does a lot of classical lit, a lot of... ship lit, I guess? Naval adventures?
- he did not do Lila proud
- she can sound scruffy without sounding like... like a comedic cockney urchin
( Spoilers held each other like brothers )

Also just finished (because ADHD)
Tea and Murder: Stories of the Xuya Universe by Aliette de Bodard, voiced by Stefan Rudnicki and Kate Orsini
- oh!
- this is a beautiful universe
- narration is fantastic, voice are lovely, very suited to the world
- the author describes it as ...a timeline where Asia became dominant, and where the space age has Confucian galactic empires of Vietnamese and Chinese inspiration: scholars administrate planets, and sentient spaceships are part of familial lineages.
- I do love me a sentient ship
( Spoilers are sentient and possibly fleshy?? )
- first up is The Citadel of Weeping Pearls
- it's a mystery, with a tiny baby sentient ship (so good! I love the ships!)
- and the Imperial family having regular family issues while a war looms
- It was a good solid story to introduce me to the world
- leaving me free to fully appreciate story #2, The Tea Master and the Detective
- A GENDERFLIPPED HOLMES AU where Watson is a traumatised sentient warship
- Her name is The Shadow's Child and now she makes bespoke tea blends
- IT IS ALL FUCKING MAGNIFICENT
- where are my 5 seasons and a movie

Catching Up on Past Reads
An Unkindness of Ghost by Rivers Solomon, narrated by Cherise Boothe
- Look, this is an amazing book
- I can't overstate how wonderful and creative and amazing
- but it's a generation ship set up like an antebellum plantation society
- the main character is Aster, she's intersex, neurodivergent and brilliant
- I love her
( Spoilers come with all the warnings )

The Last True Poets of the Sea by Julia Drake, narrated by Tavia Gilbert
- got this for free, and downloaded it
- even though it pitches young for YA, the main character has led a wild life
- with lots of sex, drugs and musical theatre
- the language and vibe of the story still felt very adolescent
- but I've watched a whole season of Sex Education
- So I'm getting used to the idea that some teenagers have incredibly wild sex lives
( Spoilers are navigating a teenage storm )

Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko, narrated by Weruche Opia
- oh, wow. This was a wild ride!
- a west African inspired fantasy world
- lots of different nations and cultures
- wonderful narration
- I'm always on board when the reader sings the songs of the story
- magic and spirits and fairies and demons and genies and pretty much everything?
- a fantastic, tropey rulership system
- just a really solid fantasy story
- I will be rolling on to the sequel very soon

Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold, narrated by Grover Gardner
- finally getting to this
- it's been there on my TBR for literally a decade???
- I think I was hesitant because really smart people love these books
- behold my imposter syndrome
- I really liked it?
- I see those Trek bones
- I have a plan c/o branwyn for reading order
- next is Barrayar, then I'm skipping to Brothers in Arms
- this may be controversial to purists, idk

Catching Teller Crow by Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekiel Kwaymullina, narrated by Miranda Tapsell
- retitled in the US as "The Things She's Seen"
- I don't know why, and it doesn't work as well
- so if you buy it in the US, please think of it as "Catching Teller Crow"
- maybe change it with marker
( Not spoilers, just a lot to say about this one )

Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge, narrated by Lesley Sharp
- I didn't want to like this
- I didn't like the voice Lesley Sharp chose for Mosca
- I didn't like Eponymous Clent, he seemed creepy and predatory
- Damn it! She won me over. Or wore me down, which is a better fit for both Mosca and Clent
- In the end, I wouldn't have chosen a different voice for either of them
( Spoilers are dangerously clever )

Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand, acted by a bunch of people
- if you read this one, do it in paper, don't audiobook it
- they tried to make it into an audio drama
- but one voice would have been better
- so it didn't break that dreamy, creepy feeling, like Picnic at Hanging Rock
- it's a good and spooky story
- about a folk band
- a perfect afternoon in the seventies
- and why you shouldn't step in fairy rings

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki, narrated by Cindy Kay
- LISTEN UP
- THIS IS THE BEST THING I'VE READ ALL YEAR
- I'M CALLING IT AS MY FAVE FOR 2021
- trans protagonist
- queer characters every-fucking-where
- aliens run the donut store
- there's a Faustian bargain
- there's music theory and instrument making
- there's universal philosophy
- the professional reviews say "Pratchett!!!" and "Becky Chambers!!"
- but they don't need to
- this book is its own wonderful brand of amazing
- give it to everyone

Currently Reading
The Animals at Lockwood Manor by Jane Healey, narrated by Sarah Lambie
- set immediately pre-WWII
- Hetty is overseeing the evacuation of the mammalian collection from the Natural History Museum
- The daughter of the grand house is very mysterious and beguiling
- not sure if this is sapphic or just fraught
- there are lots of gentle touches and smelling of the other woman's skin, you know?
- very gothic
- has big Rebecca vibes so far

Phew. Made it! All caught up! CAN YOU BELIEVE???

Happy thanksgiving, my USian friends. Travel safe, be safe.

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Most important news: a household ban on the use of 'girthy' to describe bananas

Wed, 17 Nov 2021 03:20:07 GMT

It's been a minute. I'm okay. Just trucking along day by day in this weird post-COVID world. There has been some major depression. I'm still living in Pelican Town pretty much full time. (Where would we all be without Stardew Valley?)

Every day at work is incredibly frantic and I don't really understand why? It's numerically not much busier, but everything is more difficult. It's like someone turned the gravity up, and all tasks are effortful. Not just for me, but for everyone at work. We're all getting mystery illnesses that I can only put down to stress. Kidney stones and cellulitis and shingles. I've cracked two teeth this year.

In better news, the cats are getting friendlier and friendlier, though they're still acquaintances rather than friends. As of today, though, they're acquaintances who sniff each other's butts. Huge strides in cat society.

( Tenuous cat harmony under the cut )

This is technically a reading post. Reading is a thing I can do while working out or crafting or just staring at the wall, so I've actually read a fair bit!

The Just City by Jo Walton, narrated by Noah Michael Levine (Book 1 of the Thessaly Series)
- amazing premise: Athene creates a planned community based on Plato's Republic, then grabs idealists from all parts of the timestream to govern and raise orphan children in perfect platonic conditions.
- did not stick the landing, and the closer I got to the end, the more I felt the whole story start to collapse.
- was still a worthy read, because wow, what a concept.
( spoilers are a thought experiment )

This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron, narrated by Jordan Cobb
- AAAdorable
- a perfect gift for queer nerdy teenagers
- protagonist is a queer nerdy POC teenager
- who happens to have magic plant abilities
- and a weird affinity for poisonous plants
- really creative ideas in this
- tone pitches at the younger end of YA
- without being patronising or saccharine
- kind of a cross between X-Men stuff and magic
- don't usually see mutant/magic kids coming from happy homes
( Keep spoilers out of reach of children )

Velocity Weapon by Megan E. O'Keefe, narrated by Joe Jameson
- Soldier is kidnapped by a grief-mad ship
- Yes, this is a plot in Radchaai dramas
- I think it was probably done better in the Radch
- They would certainly say so, anyway.
( Spoilers saw the target as they went whistling past )

Circe by Madeline Miller, narrated by Perdita Weeks
- gorgeous, dreamy writing
- Real Housewives of Mythology but in a good way
- Circe is compelling, empathetic, a great character voice
- Narration is intimate, enfolding, beautifully done
- Scylla will be in my nightmares forever
- Wtaf happened to Madeline Miller that she thought of this?
- I bet she met something very nasty in the garden, with too many legs and possibly mucous
- Old gods are great and terrible and make the worst relatives
- And new gods are that newly rich family with the big big house and a swimming pool
- while you're stuck in your cave with all your cousins who are also your sisters somehow
- You can tell I devoured this book like it was a big messy delicious peach
( Cut is delicious right up until the last mouthful )

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison, narrated by Kyle McCarley
- First up, I liked this book a lot, jsyk
- but it's not a good one for audio
- not because of the narrator, he was fine. He was great.
- The problem was the abundance of Elvish words
- It took me 2/3 of the book to figure out what was terminology or titles of address, and not actual names
- SO MANY DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE COURT all with different elvish names
- ALL THE SEXY YOUNG THINGS ARE CALLED MIN WHY
- (Min is a pretty sexy name, much sexier than Miss)
- It seems obvious when I write it down
- but at the time I was very confused
- I did enjoy it very much once I realised
- Maia is a true cinnamon roll
- Might go back and relisten now I have a better idea of the language

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, narrated by Yetta Gottesman
- Ohhhhh lovely
- Okay. I think I found a new author to follow
- (Oooh, she has so much to read!)
- This is set in Jazz-age Mexico
- starring a clever maid on a quest
- alongside an ancient Mayan god of death fighting to regain his throne
- and a supporting cast that will dazzle and delight you
- and yet retain historical context
- it's honestly so fucking good
- cannot endorse more highly
- where are my five seasons and a movie???

The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, narrated by Kevin R Free
- caught myself all the way up
- but read the last two out of order, I think?
- didn't matter, I figured it out
- I like Kevin R Free's narration, it reminds me that I have a tendency to slide into a head voice for Murderbot that is distinctly feminine, and kind of pulls me back into an ungendered POV
- Huh, I didn't read them out of order, now that I look on Audible
- Network Effect (the novel) is fantastic, omg, how far our little murderbot has come!
- It still seems to me like Fugitive Telemetry (the novella Audible calls #6 in the series), is set before the novel. There's none of the consequences we see in Network Effect. It's weird.
- I love the series but I am confuse.

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri, narrated by Shiromi Arserio
- *screams in happy lesbian*
- this is very beautiful and very gay
- it has all the fairytale tropes, and an Indian-inspired world
- only gay
- gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous magic system
- I love everyone in this ~~bar~~ novel
- cannot wait for the sequel
( this content warning cut is on fiyah )

The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison, narrated by Imogen Church
- First comes the moment when you realise you're reading Sherlock Holmes wingfic
- Then comes the moment when you say 'fuck it, I'm enjoying it'
- Confused as to why names had to be changed
- and frankly, calling Watson 'Doyle' is a little on the nose
- This is not a Jam Watson though
- He will certainly fuck you up a lot if you cross him
- The good thing about Holmes AUs is picking up on which canon stories are being used
- This was well done in the book! Comfy and familiar, but with interesting twists
- Angel society was beautiful and layered and weird
- It was very clear that this came from the hand that wrote The Goblin Emperor
- Narration was a bit odd, with heavy emphasis on the LAST. WORDS. OF. EACH. SENTENCE.
- It took a while to get used to, but fortunately the drama of the book rose to a point that NEEDED. EMPHASIS.
( Spoilers have unexpected twists )

Stories of the Raksura Book 1 by Martha Wells, narrated by Christopher Kipiniak
- Short stories
- These books are always fun
- I love these poly matriarchal dragon folk
- not much else to say? These books are a known quantity to me
- but if you're into found family, non-human dynamics, magic
- you're probably going to like this series
- and there's a bunch of them yay

Welp, this post has taken me a week to write. I'm going to cut it short here and keep going on a new post that will probably take me a whole week again.

It's still nice to post, I have to say. *waves*

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memes will see me through

Thu, 05 Aug 2021 09:18:07 GMT

Locking down again for a week. I didn't have big plans. I just wanted to go to the gym and the pool. *sigh*

Via misbegotten and used_songs
Google "pulp book cover" + your name and post the results.

This is hilarious. I love it.

Apparently Tess is Andy Warhol's Marilyn smoking a pipe. Who knew?

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Booooooooks

Mon, 05 Jul 2021 06:30:01 GMT

I'm doing Camp NaNo, or at least I'm going to try. *fingers crossed*

Reading
I haven't done a Reading Wednesday for a while, so this could get long. After the ADHD diagnosis, I finally admitted to myself that it's okay that audiobooks have become the main way I read. Now I wonder why on earth I ever felt bad about it? I think I had the idea that... it's easier somehow, and that reading the easy way is a cop-out. Which is everything about pre-diagnosis me: that the easy way is immoral and weak. And now I think it's great that there are adaptive ways to help me do things.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, narrated by Chiwetel Ejiofor
- Chiwetel Ejiofor's voice lifted the audiobook to stratospheric heights. 10/10, would take his spoken tour of halls and giant marble statues a dozen times.

( Spoilers will make a difference to the way you view things so keep out. This means you, lilacsigil )

The Greta Helsing books, 1-3, by Vivian Shaw, narrated by Susannah Hampton
- light and fun to read
- has some definite fanfic bones ("She let out a breath she hadn't realised she was holding.")
- but I forgive because it's nice to know you're with family, you know?
- It gets a bit 'Spot the Monster!' in places, but it's fun

( Spoilers probably don't ruin the experience, but just in case )

Those Who Hunt the Night/Travelling With the Dead by Barbara Hambly, narrated by Gildart Jackson
- have read before, but wanted to listen
- James Asher is one of those hot, quiet, deadly spies, and therefore my jam
- Barbara Hambly pls stop telling how pretty Lydia is. I get it. She's pretty AND smart.
- I mean, I love her already? You don't need to oversell me on her, she's aces
- Simon Ysidro has smoking hot chemistry with the two of them and should get it on a lot.
- A LOT

Gideon the Ninth/Harrow the Ninth by Tamsin Muir, narrated by Moira Quirk
- eeeeeeeeee
- *hugs self and rocks* eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
- Just really good, you know?
- Gideon is my dirtbag hero.

( This cut is torn between 'I pray the cut is shut forever' and 'Spoilers are sexpals!' )

A Dead Djinn in Cairo by P Djèlí Clark, narrated by Suehyla El-Attar
- steampunk alternate Egypt in 1912
- only an hour and a half to listen to
- zippy plot with lots of twists
- delightfully queer
- would read more, which is great because there is more

I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara, narrated by Gabra Zackman
- I don't usually read non-fiction/memoir
- can be too intense for introvert me
- this one had strong connections to the My Favourite Murder podcast so I gave it a go
- 10/10, excellent and surprising
( cut for mention of things the GSK did )

The Daevabad Trilogy, written by S. A. Chakraborty, narrated by Soneela Nankani
- lush as fuck
- epic non-Western mythology and monsters
- magic-mediated medicine is apparently my jam
- non-boring court politics (magic helps, apparently?)
- unexpected undercurrents of colonialism? And environmental issues?
- Book One < Book Two << Book Three
- that's pretty unusual, honestly?
- don't feel ficish about it but would definitely read more

Touchstone/The Bones of Paris by Laurie R. King, narrated by Jefferson Mays
( It's all a bit spoilery tbh )

A Memory Called Empire/A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine, narrated by Amy Landon
- listening in audio means I can't spell anything, sorry
- amazing world building, Aztec space empire and tiny-but-fierce space station holdout
- I mean, really gorgeous, with flowers and beautiful deadly weapons
( Calling this cut Five Spoilers )

In other news, I missed nominations for multifandomdrabble round two, and so there's no Person of Interest to offer. I might still sign up? It might be fun to branch out? *unsure*

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Things on Screens

Thu, 24 Jun 2021 03:00:01 GMT

I got a wonderful gift in the Exchange of Interest:

all I ever meant to do was keep you
It's John and Grace, both separately dealing with their grief - Grace helping out a friend with their art store, John occasionally using the store as a place to warm up. It's wonderful, and full of heart. And clever little plotty twists. It's basically everything I could ask for in a fic. I love my fandom.

Pertinent to the last post about We Are Lady Parts, here are some other medias I have consumed in the past months.

War of the Worlds (2019)
Set in contemporary France, this Anglo-French reimagining of H. G. Wells' classic in the style of Walking Dead follows pockets of survivors forced to team up after an apocalyptic extra-terrestrial strike.

Weird, sometimes terrible and sometimes wonderful. Very violent. I liked the scope of the story, I liked a lot of the survivor storylines, but some of them were just dire.

( spoilery )

Creamerie
Eight years after a viral plague decimated all men, three dairy farmers from Hiro Valley accidentally run over the last surviving male human on the planet.

*nervous gigglesnort* When NZ makes a dark comedy, it's... really dark. This is set eight years after a virus has killed 99% of men. The three main characters are dairy farmers. The ruling body is a group of beautiful blonde women straight out of Mean Girls. The show is very pointy, looking at peformative feminism, fertility politics, mental health. It's really funny, it's really smart, there is a lot of semen.

Basically a rollercoaster between laughing hysterically, dying inside, and wanting to weep. In a good way.

( spoilers )

Shadow and Bone
Very competently done, lots of fun to watch. Don't have fannish feelings about it in particular? But I did enjoy yelling BIN BONS every time Kirigan was on screen. I kind of felt sorry for the volcra, to be honest? And the CGI stag. Poor old stag.

Beforeigners
The series takes place in Oslo, where sudden flashes of light appear in the bay in Bjørvika. People from different time periods—the Stone Age, Viking Age, and the 19th century—suddenly appear in the present. Police officer Lars Haaland meets the first "time migrants", who speak Old Norse.

Nearly two decades later, the so-called "Beforeigners" struggle to integrate into modern Norwegian society. Some 19th-century individuals found work as journalists, office workers, and teachers, while most of the old Norse folk are homeless and sleep in parks. The Stone-Agers mainly live at the fringes and in forests. Some modern Norwegians perceive these "refugees" as a drain on society.

This sounded kitsch as fuck to me, and I avoided watching it for a few months after it came out, because subtitles mean I can't crochet while I watch, so I save those times for things for which I have higher expectations. But then! I figured out how to crochet and read at the same time, so subtitled shows were back on the menu, and I'm glad, because this series was fabulous. 10/10, would watch ten more seasons of this. Second favourite thing this year, next to We Are lady Parts.

( kinda spoilery )

Clarice
*sigh* What a strange confluence of things this was. So much of it was murky and oddly paced. And pointlessly stylised. It was Hannibal, with no plot. And yet, and yet. If the show had been called Ardelia, and been about Ardelia's career path in the shadow of her famous friend, I would have watched it forever.

Ted Lasso
This was sold to me as delivering good feels of a similar calibre to The Good Place, and I was not misled. It's the story of an American football coach imported to the UK to coach soccer, when he has no experience at all.

I was continuously ready to cringe, and I don't think I actually did once? The show is sweet and gentle, without being saccharine or maudlin. I cried, but in a good way. I love every single character, except for the one played marvellously by Anthony Head, and his character I love to hate.

It is truly lovely.

( spoilers )

Onwards and upwards, trying to be more posty!

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We Are Lady Parts

Mon, 14 Jun 2021 11:16:25 GMT

Just popping in to see if anyone else has watched We Are Lady Parts?

And if so, do they want to squee with me about the absolute utter majesty of it?

It's just so fucking good.

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Outside remains lava and perhaps it always was

Fri, 09 Apr 2021 06:38:08 GMT

I'm half-vaccinated, with Astra Zeneca, which has just this morning been restricted to over-fifties thanks to omg clotsplosion. At least I'll be over fifty when I get the second dose?

The first dose gave me the vagues and the shivers, and then on day 7, I got this all-over itch that I thought was psychosomatic until google saved me. Apparently it's more common with the Moderna, but it's a possibility with AZ.

I'm in the middle of organising consent forms and so on for staff members. The clinic suggested that they don't all come up on the same day for their vaccines which is smart. The workplace that vaccinates together will probably have to take sick days together, and that's not functional.

It's weird, the concept of vaccination. I know how it works, I know the science and I'm not an antivaxxer, but it's a strange feeling. I'm carrying a piece of this disease that brought the world to a halt for a year. That's philosophically quite intense, you know?

I've signed up for hurtcomfortex and I'm in a holding pattern for the annual Person of Interest exchange which is upcoming. I got my big bang posted!! I need to post it here, too, but it's over on the Archive, if you're interested in a Woman in the Suit fic. I got the most astounding art from aragarna

Fic is here:
The Mysterious Human Heart in New York (32488 words) by st_aurafina
Chapters: 13/13
Fandom: Person of Interest (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jessica Arndt/John Reese, Jessica Arndt/OFC
Characters: Jessica Arndt, John Reese, Harold Finch, Peter Arndt, Lionel Fusco, Jimmy Stills
Additional Tags: Role Reversal, Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Jessica is the assassin, John is the nurse, Harold is Harold, Intimate Partner Violence, Show-typical violence, Drug Use, Gunshot Wounds, Arson, Rescue, Suicidal Ideation, some stabbing
Summary:

Jessica Reese was never meant to survive Ordos. She might not survive long in New York, not with Kara's bullet in her belly, but she wants to see John one more time, to make sure he's safe and happy.

Harold Finch has a new number: John Arndt, a married ER nurse living with his husband in New Rochelle.

It's a partnership that was meant to happen.

(My art is so pretty!!)

The cats are starting to integrate! I did not expect this to happen. I really thought the house would remain split in half forever. But it's happening, slowly. Amity started to show this amazing, calm gentle body language around Chewie, and he responded with less yowling and more staring. Now, when they're in a room together, he sits quietly, with an astonished expression on his face, like "How did this happen?"

lilacsigil gives me excellent updates on her lunch break, when she tentatively lets them mix freely:

I do love them so much. lilacsigil included.

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Hurt/Comfort Exchange 2021

Mon, 15 Mar 2021 10:30:56 GMT

Hello Hurty-Comforter,

This is the first time I've done this exchange, so please be forgiving if I've messed up the tag situation, or somehow requested two things that simply cannot co-exist. (You asked for forehead kisses? Don't you know these two characters LOST THEIR FOREHEADS IN THE WAR???) Please know that I'm happy for you to write what you want to write. I've requested pairings but I'm happy for them to be anything from the barest hint of a relationship all the way up to naked chained to the wall fucking. I will be delighted to read whatever you write.

Ratings:
Anything from General up to Explicit.

Porn likes:
Rough handling, desperation to get down to boning, tearing off clothes in the elevator, grinding, wall fucking, eye contact, eye fucking, hair pulling, biting, neck kissing, trembling with want, tenderness post all the fucking

Kink likes:
D/s overtones, people comfortable with their kink identities, bondage, ropes, sensation play, orgasm control, impact play

Hurt/Comfort Likes:
I very much lean towards the comfort side of the scale, and while I'm fine with bad stuff happening to the characters I love, I'd really like it to end with comfort.

Particularly faves:
Forehead kissing (provided the characters have foreheads), protective tenderness, small touches, hugs, holding hands, seeking comfort without being able to voice the need, deriving comfort from sitting next to the person who comforts you, deriving comfort from sex with the person who comforts you, not expecting people you love to care for you but they do, being safe and warm after a disaster, people going into battle because their person got hurt, people pulling out all the stops to rescue their people, people being skilful in their field for the sake of helping their people, characters that trust each other despite vast differences

DNW: Non-con (dub-con is okay!), cross-gen, incest, teacher/student, death (especially partner death), terminal illness (especially cancer), angst without resolution, sad endings, embarrassment for embarrassment's sake, humiliation, animal harm or suffering, kinks I didn't ask for

Sentinel/Guide AUs
Alternate Universe - Sentinels & Guides - Sentinel is overwhelmed and needs help
Alternate Universe - Sentinels & Guides - Guides are assigned a Sentinel

Fanlore has a good round-up of what this trope is: Sentinel AU

I'm assigning these tags across almost all my pairings, so I thought I'd condense my thoughts here. I love this trope! I love tenderness between Sentinel and Guide, even when the association was something thrust upon the two of them (for universes where Sentinels are assigned guides, for example.) The Guide might be angry at this unwanted assignment, but can't help but feel responsible for their Sentinel, for example. The Sentinel might resent the Guide they don't think they need, but when the going gets tough, things are so much easier with a Guide than they were alone.

I love Sentinels with enhanced senses and all the sensory overload that comes with that. I love the idea that these abilities take a toll on the Sentinel, and that it's beyond the scope of one (even very determined) person to keep themselves alive and well and functional if they have those abilities. Sentinels need guides, even when they think they don't.

I love an Us Against the World mentality, where a Guide puts the well-being of their Sentinel before laws and regulations, before anything the government requires of them. I love the idea of a Guide taking their mistreated Sentinel and running for freedom, living away from the organisation that controlled them in the past, figuring out a new normal.

Whether Sentinels and Guides are known in this universe is up to you. I love most iterations. If you're heading in a D/s direction, I'm good up to dub con and I've listed kinks above under "Kink Likes". I do prefer Guides that care for their sentinels, whether it's grudgingly or not.

I think what I'm saying is that you can't really overload the tropes here. Sentinel/Guide AUs are a ridiculous concept, I know that, and I still love them to pieces. I'm happy for you to lean into the insanity and go all in with a tropey hurt/comfort story about two people who were made for each other.

( Hannibal, The Black Tapes, The Exorcist, Person of Interest )

Miscellanea:

I have talked about some fandoms more than others, and I've made several prompts for POI. This doesn't indicate a preference for one fandom over another. I will genuinely enjoy fic or art from any of the fandoms requested.

I've used a lot of additional tags, but I intend them as suggestions only. Same for the prompts – they're the things my mind threw onto the page today, they're meant to be guidelines. Feel free to ignore them or pick and choose what suits your needs. Stick to my DNWs and I'll be happy. I love all these characters.

My partner is lilacsigil or laraleftlane and she will be happy to sneakily answer any questions about my likes and dislikes. She will keep this secret from me, (possibly forever, because that's how she rolls.)

For stalking purposes, you can find me most places under st_aurafina. I'm st_aurafina and st-aurafina.

All my previous Dear Author letters are here: Dear Author.

Thank you so much for writing for me! I hope you have a sweet exchange!

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Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp shock

Thu, 18 Feb 2021 06:27:47 GMT

ETA: By the time that this got posted, we're out of lockdown. Masks only indoors or outdoors where social distancing is impossible. I am stiff and sorry from not being able to get to the hydrotherapy pool, but I'm otherwise doing okay.

We're slamming back into Stage 4 lockdown at midnight. So far, I've felt the introvert's euphoria of legitimately cancelled plans, and the horror of watching a perfectly balanced roster collapse as leave is called off. I saw someone on FB refer to this feeling as riding the coronacoaster. It seems right.

Poor hospitality businesses, who were all primed for Valentine's Day.

I could do without all the sniping at Dan Andrews, also. In the middle of a crisis, sniping and trolling is worse than useless. He's not doing a perfect job, but he's doing okay. Fuck sake.

*deep breath*

( The Equalizer )

( WandaVision - spoilers for episodes 5 and 6 )

( Clarice ep 1.01 )

Hurt Comfort Exchange 2021
I have four tabs open at the moment specifically dedicated to nomination for Hurt/Comfort Exchange 2021. It's a tricky sign-up! A high degree of difficulty! So many freeforms. I'm nominating The Black Tapes, the new Equalizer series and Person of Interest. Maybe WandaVision? Maybe Captain Marvel? Maybe Star Trek: Discovery? Oh, oh, maybe A Simple Favour, which was really incredibly gay and fun.

ETA: welp, since I wrote that, I got my noms in, and I'm working on my letter. It's still a really hard sign-up for me though? I never know if I should start with the tag or with the pairing or what the heck. Also I worry about ending up writing the fic in the request - the tags are so thorough. But this year, I'm going to be ready. I'm going to get that sign-up done. *cracks knuckles*

Festivids
A few that I really enjoyed from Festivids.

Monument Valley
A lovely, ticky-tocky vid for a beautiful game:
Sacred Geometry by findmeinthealps (General)

Mallory Towers
This vid is full of pluck! I haven't seen the series yet, but gosh, I really want to now.
try everything (sometimes we come last but we did our best) by itsanizzyb (General)

The Old Guard
Lovely vid with found-family themes. Oh, I love this movie so much!!
Never Look Awayby kaydeefalls (Teen)

Jelle's Marble Runs
This is marble runs and the William Tell Overture. It's a perfect match, and the timing is spot on.
The Marble Overture by cosmic_llin (General)

The Strange Case of Starship Iris
I love vids for non-visual media, because they're usually so clever. This one uses a particularly memorable scene in Season One, and gives you an external POV that somehow makes you feel like you're inside the cockpit of the Rumor. It's really good and made me love the podcast all over again.
Space Bees by cupidsbow (General)

Repair Shop
Two vids for Repair Shop, a show which was my favourite 2020 reality TV discovery. They're both by odessie which surprised me, because they're very different. The first is energetic and full of movement. The second is full of love for the making of things, and I love it.
Back It Up by odessie (General)
Time to Make Sawdust by odessie (General)

Vids!!

I will finish with this excellent kitty photo, with big demon/angel energy:

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Smol linkspam

Sat, 30 Jan 2021 03:11:26 GMT

Wow, two posts in two weeks? It's almost too much!

Work is busy, mostly due to tourists who can't go overseas for holidays. It's okay. I haven't murdered anyone. Yet.

lilacigil and I have been making strata with our leftover bread, thanks partly to kass mentioning it, and also to seeing Sohla El Waylly make it on Food52 . One of the positive things that came out of the Bon Appetit collapse was getting more Sohla content. She's great. Also strata is great - it's like a savoury bread pudding that you can put all kinds of things in. A really good way to clean the veggie crisper drawer in the fridge. We're doing ours with broccoli, frozen peas, mushrooms and spinach. And a mix of feta and shredded mozzarella.

Smol Random Linkspam
Via mergatrude
NITV Top 40 Survival Day Playlist
It was Australia Day/Invasion Day/Survival Day on Tuesday.

From canadianwheatpirates :
When you browse Instagram and find former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's passport number
This was such a weird, simple thing to do. I cannot believe.

Via my casual drifting through Reddit:
Podcasts with female hosts?
I found a bunch of new shows to listen to in this list.

Via my flist during the Snowflake Challenge
Hidden search operators cheatsheet
I've linked this before, but it's so handy! It's like ordering from the secret menu of fic.

Via the_old_guard
The Old Guard 2: The Surprise Hit Film Gets An Official Greenlight For New Sequel
EEEEEEEEEE!!! One of the things I enjoyed very much about 2020, and we're going to get more!

Via topaz119
Mars Rover Soundtrack
Also collected up on Spotify: Wake Up Every Day with Mars Rover Opportunity
I just really love how much people care about the rovers. It's a small joy.

Via lilacsigil pointing me that way:
Rihanna’s January/February Essence Cover Is REALLY Cool
Okay, another thing I enjoyed in 2020 was the way magazines got really inventive with their cover art, whether it was by helping the celebrity to do their own photographs at home, or by doing stuff like this.

olivermoss has a post on the Gamestop/Reddit situation that makes a lot of sense to me:
I am opinionated on the stock market and on social media

Via dine and from Vidukon 2020:
I Will Go Down With This Ship by ace-of-wands
I do love a multifandom vid.

Via dine again ( dine does good linkspam!)
An instagram post about Dr Biden's inauguration evening coat and dress, by gabrielahearst
It's gorgeous. And I am calling her Dr Biden forever, because people were such assholes about it.

Via dine but also everywhere, because Shantytok is everywhere
Nathan Evans Wellerman Family Tree — shantytok mashup/supercut
This is my favourite supercut, because it has dancing. Also, because non-Aussies might not know, the ship's name, the Billy of Tea, is referring to a metal bucket you make your tea in. You hang it over the campfire, when it's boiling, you chuck in your tea leaves, and when it's steeped you swing it in a circle to settle the leaves. Thus: Swinging the billy to settle the leaf tea

theficclub is a bookclub for fanfic. They're collecting recs for the February theme here: Soulmate-Themed Recs Wanted (Fic Club February Rec Call)

(Related: at poi_fanworks I run a Person of Interest bookclub, which will kick off again in February.)

Various Fic and Other Challenges:
Via corvidology

Post about things you love in February. I'm going to try to do this! I love the simplicity of it.

flash_fiction - a new community for drabbles/double drabbles/triple drabbles and flash-fic under 300 words. Weekly prompts here.

fan_flashworks - I should also point out this, which is an all-fandoms multi-media flashworks community. I always mean to write for the monthly prompt but somehow never manage to do so.

starspangledbigbang - a tumblr-run big bang for Team Cap characters of the MCU (linked because I have a Bucky fic I wrote for NaNo in 2014 that I really, really need to finish and post.)

snowflake_challenge is running right now, and also sunshine_challenge is going to run mid-year

homemade2homemade is running this year. It's an exchange for handmade crafted good. I've signed up this year, yay! I'm excited. Sign-up are open!

halfamoon is a 14 day celebration of women in fandom, from the first to the 14th of February. There's a bunch of prompt tables at the prep post:
Prep Post for HalfAMoon 2021

hurtcomfortex has a schedule up. Nominations open in a couple of weeks:
Schedule 2021

lilly_c is garnering interest for a Stargate Big Bang
Stargate Big Bang - planning

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Oh, what a relief

Fri, 22 Jan 2021 06:21:03 GMT

Congratulations, my USian friends. I hope the next four years bring some healing. You guys have fought the good fight. Don't stop? But maybe catch your breath a minute. You're all awesome and I'm glad to know you.

I am plodding along, having worked all the way through the pandemic so far. Australia is doing okay. I'm scared for my non-Aussie friends. These are very strange times. Right now, I'm very grateful that masks are not needed here at the moment except in certain circumstances (supermarkets, hospitals, public transport.)

Obligatory cat photos under the cut.

( A dozen cat photos under here )

A Brief and Incomplete Media Summary
She-Ra
I did not expect to be thwacked upside the head by a Catradora ship, but ( the moment when )

Also, how great was the representation in that show? So. Much. Queeritude.

Revolution of the Daleks
I try to enjoy Doctor Who without reading any reaction posts, because it stresses me out. I enjoyed this? Mostly? I really love Jodie as the Doctor, I love her dynamic with her fam, I love the way she could make friends with a wall. Or a camera. ( I will miss )

The Derry Girls GBBO episode
It was a delight! I love the way they all seemed to drift in and out of character - it makes me think that there's a lot of themselves in their characters. And omfg, Siobhán McSweeney is gorgeous when she's not dressed as a nun. Wow. Which leads me to...

The Great Pottery Throwdown 2021
I've only seen one ep so far, but I love it so far. Siobhán McSweeney is a host. And Richard the kiln master has stepped up to be a judge. I always liked him. And the new kiln master is adorable.

Oof. January. It's January. It's 2021. I feel like I've been sleeping under a hedge for a year.

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OUTSIDE IS LAVA

Sat, 17 Oct 2020 09:05:59 GMT

I'm not doing Yuletide, I'm not doing NaNoWriMo - I'm sad about that but also relieved. I have dropped off posting to podcastjoy as well, which I feel more guilty.

I read this twitter thread by ProfAishaAhmad and empathised with it a lot: The 6 month mark in any sustained crisis is always difficult

I'm getting by, but more and more it feels like I'm jettisoning things that are too much. I need to feel okay about that - it's a global fucking pandemic. As talkingtothesky said, we know we can do these things, we don't have to prove it to anyone. Especially not ourselves.

Work continues, busy and weird. It changes week to week depending on what part of the state is locked down and to what degree. There still haven't been any cases in my small town of a thousand people. Everyone is frazzled. I keep buying take-away dinners for staff members, to help keep the pub afloat. I worry about my staff, especially front-of-shop who meet angry customers head-on.

But cats are lovely, lilacsigil is lovely, my home is lovely and I wouldn't want to leave it even if I could. My ADHD medication is the absolute fucking best. lilacsigil somehow browbeat a private hospital into letting me join their rehab water physio class, so I'm still walking, whereas last lockdown, I ended up using a walking stick as my knees gave up. Things are okay. I'm getting by, and I hope that you are too.

I'm not doing NaNo but I am, surprisingly, working on my 2012 NaNo project. A friend of mine is offering one-on-one novel workshops, and I took her up on it, and it's been astonishingly helpful. I've done more on this project than I have on any other. I've plotted to the end. I'm tweaking character motivations. I'm planning out more stories. It's outrageous how useful it is to be talking to someone, and having that someone keeping notes while I waffle on. I get those notes at the end of a session and I'm always amazed at how much material I've yeeted at her in what feels like a conversation.

(This is her flyer, if anyone is interested. She does NaNo prep, too, I believe:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sXlJblXdqjc5qJ8dZcZ8t6ysehMAxvQuiHP3sN0Wvhs/edit )

I am trying to keep up with my flist and trying to remember to comment in at least a couple of places each day. (And I'm running the POI big bang?? Somehow?? But that's pretty low-key, everyone has been lovely.)

I don't know when I'll be updating again, so I'm going to send all my love to you guys in the US. I will be thinking of you in November, and keeping my fingers crossed for a sane result.

Ohhh, and my icon is from a fantastic bit of graffiti you can see from the highway to Warrnambool. I love it. The other side of the railway bridge says "Wash your hands!" and the top says "Stay safe!"

<3

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Still alive!

Wed, 12 Aug 2020 09:51:13 GMT

Pandemic stuff is ongoing and tiring, but I'm alive and lilacsigil is alive. We are both alive.

We adopted two adult tonkinese cats. It was an exhausting round trip drive into Melbourne before the second lockdown, but it was entirely worth it. Their previous owner was rehoming them because they were not a good mix with the toddler, and now it seems the owner is moving back to Queensland. The kitties are six and five.

( cat spam )

I don't know when I'll have time for another update, as work has been really frantic since the pandemic hit, and doesn't show signs of slowing down. But this was important! And I wanted to note it.

Stay safe. Wear a mask, if you can.

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Happy birthday, fam

Thu, 14 May 2020 06:42:45 GMT

To lurkingcat and thisbluespirit who are my fandom triplets. And muccamukk who almost makes us quads, for yesterday's birthday. I hope you all had a good and safe day. Birthdays are stressful for me, but knowing I have fandom friends out there who share the day really helps.

I had to work, but there was a tray of assorted slices, and I had a bit of the peppermint and a bit of the jelly one.

( Sweet sugary goodness )

For my birthday, I got an official ADHD diagnosis, and am on the path to getting medicated. I'm not really sure what to make of it, at 49. I think it means maybe I can be a little gentler on myself when I lose my socks yet again?

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Fic: Some Assembly Required (Person of Interest, Harold/Grace, Rated Mature)

Tue, 05 May 2020 08:47:00 GMT

Title: Some Assembly Required
Fandom: Person of Interest
Rating: Mature
Words: 3k
Characters/Pairings: Harold Finch/Grace Hendricks
Warnings/Content: Light bondage, sub!Harold, identity crises, kink negotiation
Notes: Thanks to talkingtothesky, lilacsigil and branwyn who all helped me get this fic done.

Summary: Harold is still putting Harold Martin's identity together, and now Grace wants to take it to pieces.

Also at the Archive

( How do you feel about letting me tie you up some time? )

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Baggins

Fri, 01 May 2020 09:13:18 GMT

( cw: cat illness, death )

We loved him so much.

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Spam, spam, spam, linkspam, and spam

Fri, 24 Apr 2020 05:26:21 GMT

BREAKING LINKSPAM NEWS
Leverage Revival Ordered, Noah Wyle to Star
Aaaaaah, I am so excited! More OT3!

It Came from the Twitter
From fail_fandomanon - museum curators post endless creepy dolls and Fiji mermaids, and a witch in a bottle.
#CreepiestObject
CN: there's also a lot of taxidermy here, and some 'this thing is full of worms!' type objects. And eyeballs and things that got eaten by other things.

Via walgesang for Bi in Sci day, a whole hashtag of beautiful queer science heroes:
#BiInSci Day

Via china_shop:
since I’m single in the quarantine I’ve decided to reenact moments from my favorite musicals so it feels like I’m in love — first is LES MISÉRABLES

Diverting Fictions
Via jenett - a lovely little urban fantasy story:
Little Free Library by Naomi Kritzer

Via podcastjoy
18 Fiction Podcast Debuts: March 2020

Via cofax7 who said that if you like murderbots and cat cafes, you'll probably like this. I can confirm that this is accurate:
A Guide for Working Breeds, by Vina Jie-Min Prasad

At Go Fug Yourself, just a bunch of people in the same boat talking about podcasts that are keeping them sane:
Your Afternoon Chat: The Most Diverting Podcasts for These Times

Via the BBC, a new Thirteenth Doctor short story by Paul Cornell:
The Shadow Passes

(There's actually heaps of extras at the BBC page for Doctor Who: BBC 1 - Doctor Who)

Via David Tennant's facebook, this is an fundraising initiative launched by Jennifer Garner and Amy Adams, the upside of which is lots of picture books read by celebrities on Instagram:
Save With Stories

Fictional People Co-Existing With Us in these Difficult Times
From... china_shop maybe? A playlist from the crew at Wellington Paranormal. ('2 Metres Please' is very earwormy!):
Important COVID-19 messages from Wellington Paranormal

You will laugh, you will cry, you will wonder if Amy really is just in the other room:
VIDEO: Arthur Darvill Returns as Rory Williams in ‘Rory’s Story’ – Doctor Who: Lockdown

Rando But Goodo
Vanilla Slice Jaffle:
The Vanilla Slice Jaffle Is Here To Up Your Isolation Snacking
This reminds me of cooking toasted cheese sandwiches on a steam iron wedged between two telephone books during the gas shortages after the Longford plant exploded in 1998. (Omg did I just tell an old person story? Did I just go "Back in the day, I think it was '98, and..." Shit, I'm that old person now.)

Via misbegotten - out-takes from Next Gen edited back into the original source, which made me laugh and laugh:
Star Trek INtakes

Via... not sure, sorry! You can buy girl scout cookies online, since they're not going to be out in public selling them:
Girl Scouts Cookie Care

Via lilacsigil (maybe via laylainalaska ?) handy hints on font choices (ostensibly for book covers, but I'm going to be using them for icons):
300+ Fool-Proof Fonts to use for your Book Cover Design (an epic list of best fonts per genre)

Via facebook, you can still get your Eurovision on this year:
Eurovision 2020 has been cancelled, but here's what you need to do to plan your own watch party

*lines up paper on lectern* I will now answer all your questions on jaffles, and why they are not the same as toasted sandwiches. There must be a complete seal, people! Or your baked beans will run out!

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Hanging in there like a seventies kitten

Thu, 16 Apr 2020 05:07:09 GMT

Would anyone like a postcard? I have a bunch, and if it would cheer you up in your iso-pod, I'd love to send you out something. I don't have time for much right now, but scrawling a short message on a postcard is quite manageable, I think.

Leave your address below (screened, of course), or PM me, or hit me up on discord: Danpants#0070

<3

ETA: I'm definitely posting overseas!

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Exchange of Interest, Linkspam, Super Moon

Wed, 08 Apr 2020 11:04:23 GMT

The Person of Interest Exchange has extended its signup period - please consider joining us! It's a fun exchange.

Here's the new schedule:
Nominations: March 16-20
Signups: March 21-April 11
Matching/Assignments: April 12
Fanwork Creation: April 12-June 6
Fanwork Reveals: June 13
Creator Reveals: June 20

Tumblr: exchange-of-interest/
Dreamwidth: poi_fanworks

LET ME WRITE FIC FOR YOU.

Linkspams

COVID-Adjacent
I can see the whole drunken evolution of this excellent idea and how it went terribly wrong:
Astrophysicist gets magnets stuck up nose while inventing coronavirus device

- con_solation has The Con-Solation Vidshow
The Con-Solation Vidshow will go live Saturday April 4th and will showcase premiering fanvids that otherwise would have premiered at one of the fan conventions that has recently been cancelled as we try to minimize the spread of disease.

- stayinside has a treasure hunt:
Photo Scavenger Hunt - Win a month of paid time for your Dreamwidth

- LGBTQI resources for my Victorian queer friends:
Switchboard Victoria: LET'S STAY WELL TOGETHER

- via rydra_wong - a huge list of free resources:
Give Back - Directory of free products / services available during COVID-19
Two things from there that have been useful for me or people I know:
- Sadler's Wells is running family dance workshops: Take Part: Family Dance workshops
- JigZen (an ios jigsaw game) has paid content free at the moment: JigZen

- speaking of which, Monument Valley 2 is free right now: This Fantastic Game Is Free On iOS And Android Right Now

-Flatten the Curve of Armchair Epidemiology
Dunning-Kruger Effect (DKE) is a phenomenon where people lack the ability to understand their lack of ability. While strains of DKE typically circulate seasonally, a new and more virulent strain called DKE-19 is now reaching pandemic proportions.

- via cofax7: If I Wrote a Coronavirus Episode: Tina Fey, Mike Schur, and 35 more TV writers on what their characters would do in a pandemic.
(Among others, there's a video message from Rogelio from Jane the Virgin, and a ship's log from Admiral Picard.)

- a podcast with 20 second stories to listen to while you wash: Listen, Rinse, Repeat

- Because I went on a deep dive to find the etymology of 'Rona, and failed:
New Words We Created Because Of Coronavirus
(I am delighted by the fact that in a decade and change the babies born right now will be Quaranteens.)

- From lilacsigil telling me about this over breakfast: the actual etymology of Quarantine: quarantine (n.)

From me lurking on Twitter when I should know better:
- AlexThano taught his cat to play noughts and crosses: My cat beat me at noughts and crosses this morning. I am now questioning Why I have a job and he doesn’t. Well played Pete the cat.

-jenks88 has an awesome aunt and uncle:
My Uncle's #IsolationGames during lockdown
(I liked the Frogger setup where she tried to run him over with the mower.)

- from _lizbarr
Which Quarantine Cephalopod Are You?
(I would be vampire squid, if I were isolating.)

Celebrities in Isolation
Via aragarna
Some Good News with John Krasinski Ep. 1
(There's an episode 2 as well, and I'm hoping for more.)

- Sportscasters Are Narrating Daily Life Tasks During COVID-19

- via musesfool (for me, but I think it's been everywhere at this point):
Isolating with the Derry Girls

All I Ask Of You | Phantom London Orchestra | ALW Response Video
This is the Phantom London Orchestra backing Andrew Lloyd Webber, and it's wonderful to see inside their living rooms as they perform.

Just Plain Cool
- Comic Artist Maps the History of Languages with an Illustrated Linguistic Tree

- The Magnus Archives - Fanmade TV Intro by erin_stuart (cw: some slight flashing imagery)

- I remember zefrank doing nature videos from ages ago (did they do the honey badger one?) but this is a recent on on nudibranchs, and honestly, I needed to see some pretty sluggy slugs today: True Facts: Freaky Nudibranchs by zefrank1

- via talkingtothesky
Michael Emerson Praises ‘Evil’ and Reveals the Scene That Didn’t Make it Into the Finale
(spoilery for the finale)

In closing, we went outside to see the super moon. It was very bright. I blinked a lot.

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Exchange of Interest

Mon, 06 Apr 2020 01:40:48 GMT

Hi hi hi, Person of Interest Person!

I'm so excited about this exchange! PoI is my great love, and it is a delight when we all get together to make stuff that celebrates it.

First up: my standard letter disclaimer.

My letter is long, and in it I get very excited and throw a bazillion ideas against the wall. I am not vitally attached to any particular prompt. I just want there to be some potential inspiration available to you if you need it. Please feel free to create as loosely and freely as you want. I will enjoy what you create. Promise.

Things I love in POI fic (mostly cribbed from last year):
- happy endings. I'm mentioning it in specific, because the end of S5 gutted me.
- touch-starved John. John needs (and loves) hugs and hand stroking and face touching, though he would never admit it.
- Harold's many aliases, and stories where Harold and the team go undercover in the mundane world. We've met Harold the excellent concierge and Harold the drycleaner. How about Harold the piano tuner? Shaw the nanny? (John the nanny?! He'd be so good!)
- everyone lives! As I said, S5 was a rough ride for my poor heart.
- Divergent AUs. For want of a nail AUs. Paths taken or not taken, coincidences turning stories around, different approaches to the way characters meet, that sort of thing. What if Nathan survived the bomb, what if John and Kara decided not to kill each other but go on the run, what if Cole survived that shooting and he and Shaw both worked for Finch? That type of scenario is eternally catnip for me.
- All the recurrent characters. Character cameos, numbers coming back into play for various reasons.
- Pertinent flashbacks informing current storylines.
- Harold making tentative emotional connection with the Machine after all this time.
- Fusco and his journey towards being a shining paladin of justice. All the Fusco hero stories!!
- Supernatural stories or stories with mythological characters. Finch is a ghost! Shaw is a woodland elf! Fusco is a druid and talks to the fucking trees! Root is a genie in a bottle, baby! John is a beautiful unicorn pegasus.

Things I don't love in POI fic so much:
- Root and John's canon death. I have a pretty specific squick for grief and bereavement, especially loss of a partner. Please let everyone live in the end.
- I'm not the biggest fan of unresolved angst, so the bleak situation in S5 was kind of a downer for me. I need light at the end of the tunnel.
- Mundane AUs. For example, if your heart yearns to write a tattoo and flower shop au, please let the Machine be sending coded messages via people's ink, and Samaritan killing dissidents with posies.

Ratings: anything from General up to Explicit.

Porn likes: rough handling, desperation to get down to boning, tearing off clothes in the elevator, grinding, wall fucking, eye contact, eye fucking, hair pulling, biting, neck kissing, trembling with want, tenderness post all the fucking

Kink likes: D/s overtones, people comfortable with their kink identities, bondage, ropes, sensation play, orgasm control, impact play

DNW: Non-con (any level of consent up to dub con is fine, though), cross-gen, incest, teacher/student, death (especially partner death), terminal illness (especially cancer), angst without resolution, sad endings, embarrassment for embarrassment's sake, humiliation, animal harm or suffering

( Harold/Grace/John )
( John Reese/Lionel Fusco )
( Lionel Fusco/Everyone )
( Harold Finch & Genrika Zhirova )
( Iris/Shaw )
( Nathan/John/Harold )
( Team Machine WWII AU )
( Harold/John )

Miscellanea

I've been specific about the kind of kink I like, but that doesn't mean you have to write kink. Similarly, I've requested mostly pairings, but I'm very flexible on what constitutes a pairing. If you're happier writing any of those requests on a friendship level, that suits me fine. I love the characters and reading about them interacting with each other, so the degree of intimacy is not the most important part for me. Tl;dr, write gen if you prefer, I can promise I'll love it.

I've written more about some prompts than others, but this is no indication of preference. I would be happy with fic for any of these prompts.

If anything here is causing confusion or you have questions about my likes and dislikes, I'm happy for you to contact the mods, or drop talkingtothesky - talking2thesky a message. She will help you out.

For stalking purposes, you can find me most places under st_aurafina. I'm st_aurafina and st-aurafina.

All my previous Dear Author letters are here: Dear Author.

Thank you, and I hope you have a great Exchange of Interest!

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HELLO YES I AM STILL ALIVE

Thu, 26 Mar 2020 10:11:17 GMT

Work is complete and utter bullshit and now let us never speak of it again.

I've been writing this post since Sunday, and it's nearly Sunday again. What is time? Where am I? I am not completely certain of anything at this juncture.

Linkspam
- a friending meme:

- via topaz119
#readasonnet
Patrick Stewart's gave me chills. Happy chills. He sighs at the end, and I swear I relaxed about ten notches. (What are the units of relaxation? I think of notches on a cog. My cog wheel cranked down about ten notches.)

- Multifandom icon battle going till the 28th.

- via spikedluv
fandom_checkin is a comm with a two part poll to do just that - check in and say you're okay. And then chat in the comments if you want to. I like the low social obligation of the poll - it felt good to tick that box, even when I was finding it difficult to write comments.

- via used_songs I think?
covidcoffeecorner is posting daily chat topics.

- stayinside is for people stuck inside -- because of COVID-19 or any other reason -- who could use some help keeping calm and carrying on.

- via jb_slasher - this made me cry, apparently I needed to hear this from the Doctor (c/o bbcdoctorwho )
Incoming transmission

- via lyr - you can help beat COVID-19 with Folding@home
Coronavirus – What we’re doing and how you can help in simple terms

- On the Person of Interest discord, there's a rewatch for lockdown going on. They're doing an episode a day, and tomorrow's ep will be 1.06 The Fix, with Zoe!! (<3 Zoe!)
Here's an invite to the discord:
https://discordapp.com/invite/7FywuYV

I'm Danpants#0070 on discord, by the way, and I'm always up for a chat, if you're lonely during lock down. I'm working pretty hard at the moment so I might not get back to you right away but I will get back.

In other Person of Interest news, sign-ups are open for the annual Exchange of Interest! It's small and fun and easy going - nominations have closed, but I can put in a good word with the mods, and get anything that's not there added in for you. Every canonical tag is already approved plus a whole lot of amazing pairings:
Exchange of Interest 2020

Come join us!!

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I don't wish to discuss my day at work

Thu, 19 Mar 2020 07:44:12 GMT

So have some linkspam

Isolation Support:
- rachelmanija is offering free copies of her ebooks:
Want a free book?

- so is ellenmillion:
Looking for some escape in these weird and stressful times?

- via eponymous-rose:
The Metropolitan Opera Will Stream Operas for Free in Wake of Coronavirus

- Chris Martin, John Legend, Keith Urban, Ben Gibbard and presumably more:
Musicians Are Performing Concerts in Their Homes During the Coronavirus Lockdown

- Stuck at Home? These 12 Famous Museums Offer Virtual Tours You Can Take on Your Couch

- via fandomtrumpshate
Building the Fandom CDC
a directory of fan creators who are in a precarious position right now

- fansathome
A place for people to share recommendations, fandoms, works, and ways to keep busy while at home!

- fictionalfans has a recs post for long fic to keep you occupied:
Fandom in the time of Coronavirus
Who wants to share recs for fanfic or pairings or canons that are good for while anxious and stuck in the house?

- from podcastjoy
Audio pleasures for self-quarantine
(While I'm reccing podcast lists, here's The Vulture's A 100-Podcast Syllabus Here are the ones worth listening to, which contains a little bit of everything. And from r/podcasts, Best spooky podcasts about real life supernatural or unexplained occurrences.)

Small Cheering Things:
- via fred_mouse - a delightful, silly, loving modern AU, with trans!Jo and Laurie:
Amy Discovers Jo’s AO3 Handle and Drags Her in the March Family Groupchat

- at Digg
Watch Pink The Border Collie Absolutely Destroy The Agility Course At The Westminster Dog Show
(This taught my YouTube algorithm to suggest all sorts of dog agility videos to me, which is no great hardship, to be honest.)

- at YouTube
Ode de Toillette - The Great COVID19 Walmart Toilet Paper Shortage of 2020- Bagpipe Tribute
(I'm not sure I want to know what this will do to my YouTube algorithm, but it's ridiculously cheering.)

- My local vets had to perform surgery on a green tree frog, and I find it to be lovely that they both want to save a frog, and have a technical and adorable method of anaesthetising a frog: Who loves a good fairy tale ending?
(Nothing gruesome - there's a vet nurse holding a frog in her gloved hand, and a frog receiving anaesthetic inside a mask. Frog made a safe recovery.)

- via canadianwheatpirates
The first lines of 10 classic novels, rewritten for social distancing.

- via vass
This extra large Tasmanian echidna from Australia is stealing hearts

- - via vegetarianvampireduck
Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village

Places to Direct Your Creative Energy:
- sholio is hosting a comment fest:
Happy Distracting Comment Fest

- undeadrobins is also:
The Inaugural Kissathon

- lockdownfest
Lock Down Fest (20-30 March)
Lock Down Fest is a non-anon, self-posting, multi-ship and multi-fandom mini fest that is designed to bring comfort to everyone staying indoors under quarantine restrictions at the moment and to all of us experiencing fear because of the pandemic.

- via annleckie
Republic of Two Systems Independence Day Bingo
Hello Citizens it is almost time for the most important day of the year, Republic of Two Systems Independence Day.

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