danveresque | Reading

trobadora

Many thanks to sakana17 for offering to host WED in February! We'll continue next month over at sakanawords. :D

This morning I had the plumber in to have my my gas boiler serviced and the flue replaced. "Oh no, you don't need to remove the stuff under it, it'll be fine," they said. - Never mind the stuff directly under the boiler, the entire room ended up covered in dirt.

Mystery of the day: am I developing a cold, or did I just breathe in too much dust/soot? /o\

Today's writing

More exchange fic wrangling.

Tally

( Days 1-25 )

Day 26:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

luzula,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 27:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

luzula,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 28:

china_shop,

trobadora,

ysilme

Let me know if I missed anyone! And remember you can drop in or out at any time. :)

princessofgeeks

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Current Mood: curious

writerlibrarian

Teacher stuff

I’m giving my second class today. We are week 3 and things are going fine, I’m ahead in writing the material needed (2 weeks ahead). I’m enjoying being busy again but not too busy.

Reading

I finished these:

The Apothecary Diaries v.1. It was really good. I read it in French and got v.2 from the library. It’s in my PAL.

Heaven Official’s Blessing v.8. The series is done. I’ve gotten the first volume of the manhua. It is also in my PAL.

Faux-semblant/Smoke screen. Horst and Enger second book in the Alexander Blix and Emma Ramm series. This is Nordic noir at its best for my taste. Yes there is violence but it’s not graphic violence, the investigation has multiple branches, both characters are strong and not helpless. The rhythm and pace of the story grabs you at the first chapter and lets you go and the last line. It’s a page turner and no sleep night type of read. The French translation is well done. The third book is not available in French yet but is in English. I will wait for the French edition.

La course contre l’amour de Valentina Tran. This is a romantic YA graphic novel just in time for Valentine’s Day. It’s apart magical realism, part romance, part coming of age story. It’s well written, beautifully drawn. I spent a really nice evening reading it.

Watching

I finished Love Between Lines and it was so so good, Green flag, HE. Loved it.

I started an old one The Spirealm so far I like it (4/38 episodes). I got the translated novel on my Kindle too. It’s creepy enough but not too creepy. It probably will be an open ended ending. I haven’t been spoiled.

Crafting

Last Friday was our first crafting evening of 2026. I worked on my fox 🦊 crosstitch. This coming Friday is knitting. I’m making progress on the baby blanket I have one month left to finish it. The baby is arriving in March.

princessofgeeks

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Current Mood: awake

troyswann

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Current Mood: head down, onward

princessofgeeks

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troyswann

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Current Mood: Ahahahahahaaaaa

trobadora

We're nearing the end of the month, and I don't believe we have a host for February yet. Who's up for hosting?

Today's writing

Mostly structural work on an exchange fic, trying to wrangle it into a viable shape.

Tally

( Days 1-25 )

Day 26:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

luzula,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

trobadora

Day 27:

china_shop,

trobadora

Let me know if I missed anyone! And remember you can drop in or out at any time. :)

rydra_wong

Sequel to this post.

( Cut for US politics, violence )

https://www.standwithminnesota.com/

princessofgeeks

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Current Mood: curious

princessofgeeks

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Current Mood: awake

princessofgeeks

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Current Mood: ecstatic

luthien

It looks like parts of western Victoria have recorded the state's hottest ever temperature today. Right now, it's 48.9C, or 120F in the old money.

The forecast is for 42C/107F here tomorrow, which will be bad enough. I'm really glad I don't have any appointments until Friday. I'm not planning to budge from the house. I'm worried about fires, though. Where I live is just far enough from bushland that I don't have to worry about them for myself, but god. There were 900 buildings lost and a big chunk of land all burnt out in the heatwave a few weeks ago, when there were dozens of fires burning across Victoria and New South Wales.

How many fires are there going to be in this sort of heat?

(And still we have politicians trying to say that this is normal. I saw one leader of a far right less-and-less-fringe party call climate change 'rubbish' today. I won't dignify her words by attaching her name to them, but if you're Australian I'm sure you know who I'm talking about.)

luthien

I wrote a couple of fills for

threesentenceficathon. There could be more, but for now there's these two:

She Knows
Fandom: The Scarlet Pimpernel
Pairing: Percy/Marguerite
Rating: M
Prompt: she knows

( Read more... )

Rumours
Fandom: Heated Rivalry
Characters: Hayden & Shane (Shane/Ilya implied)
Rating: G
Prompt: Have you heard the rumors about us?

( Read more... )

mific posting in

fancake

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, Ronon Dex, Teyla Emmagan, Anne Teldy, Carson Beckett, Radek Zelenka, Jennifer Keller
Rating: Explicit
Length: 18,013
Content Notes: Graphic depictions of violence. Jeannie, Rodney's sister, has died long before the story starts. Academic ethics are somewhat compromised!
Creator Links: Telesilla on AO3, helens78 on Audiofic Archive
Themes: Crack treated seriously, First time, Friends to lovers, Animal transformation, Werecreatures, Complete AU, Interspecies pairing, Research, Worldbuilding (I had difficulty finding actual tags to reflect some of these because while there's a minor character werewolf in this, most of the Weres aren't wolves.)

Summary: John Sheppard has had over twenty years to come to grips with the fact that every four or five weeks, he turns into a mountain lion. Like most Were, he accepts that that's just the way it is, and so he's not particularly interested when he learns that researchers at the local university are trying to to develop drugs that will help Were control their cycles. Then he meets Dr. Rodney McKay, a brilliant but irascible biochemist with reasons of his own for spearheading the university's Were research and John suddenly finds himself struggling with more than just his attraction to McKay.

Reccer's Notes: Werewolves, or in this case, Werecreatures in general, are a popular crack fantasy trope. This story's excellent as it turns the fantasy trope into a real minority of individuals having Were genes, forced to change cyclically to an animal form. In this story's interesting worldbuilding, Were are discriminated against and find it hard to get jobs and live as full members of society. John is a werecougar and he meets Rodney who's a scientist running a research trial to test a new drug intended to suppress mandatory cycling. The story is crack "taken seriously" as there's no fantasy element. This is a genetically-driven thing, with Were a slightly different species to humans. Their cycles vary according to gene expression, and aren't moon-driven. Plus, in this world, Telesilla shows the politics of discrimination against Were, with John initially resisting the research as he's angry that they're yet again being viewed as humans with a sickness that needs treatment. The story has lots of plot and drama, a great developing relationship with Rodney, and a satisfying conclusion. Very much recommended!

Fanwork Links: Where the Brave Dare Not Go, it's locked to AO3 so here's a Wayback link
Excellent podfic by helens78 here

luthien

I've been intending to put together a Heated Rivalry recs post, but I think this one needs its own.

Haydenov Phone Swap by icopythefax is a series of three stories, and the premise is what it says on the tin:

After a mix-up leaves Hayden with the wrong phone for three days, he ends up learning more about Ilya Rozanov and his secret girlfriend, Jane.

The first story, I Like Jane For You, is told from Hayden's POV. Initially, I had to suspend my disbelief a bit that:
1. They would accidentally swap phones in a bar,
2. Neither phone had a passcode,
3. They would wait three days until they could meet up and swap the phones back, and
4. Neither of them saw fit to tell Shane about the phone swap.

HOWEVER, once you just roll with the premise, this story turns out to be an excellent outsider POV fic that is both humorous and heart touching.

But the second story, Do Not Text Jane, oh MAN. It's the same sequence of events as in I Like Jane For You, but told from Ilya's POV, and it is a fantastic character study of Ilya. As well as explaining WHY he didn't tell Shane about the phone swap, it also shows just how much he loves and misses and thinks about Shane ALL THE TIME, as well as his more general loneliness and need for some proper friends. (It's probably not too much of a spoiler to say that he ends up with some, though the number remains debatable in the third story. Don't worry, it will make sense once you get there.)

SO YES, then there's the third story, Please Be Normal About This, set a couple of years later:

After the events of I Like Jane For You, the public reacts to Rozanov and Pike as secret friends. Conveyed through text threads, social media, and news articles.

Okay, so this is hardly the first story in this sort of format that I've read in this fandom, but it's the only one I've read multiple times.

Samirant and I read it together in chat and kept exchanging quotes as we went. It's so clever, and utterly hilarious. Ilya's media statement in Chapter 2 in particular is one for the ages, but it's truly one of those stories that if I tried to quote all my favourite lines I'd be pretty much quoting the whole story.

I have a tag on tumblr called Read This - and yes, yes you should.

trobadora

Hi! Someone please tell me where I can buy some extra hours for my days ...

I'm a bit behind on a few things, and nothing is going very quickly, but I'm catching up! This week will be busy both at work and otherwise, but my schedule should be regular again overall, and check-in posts should go up at the usual time.

(I also haven't done this week's Guardian rewatch yet, but soon, I hope!)

Yesterday's and today's writing

Some much too slow writing yesterday; an alibi paragraph for today. Faster and more substantial writing tomorrow, I hope, because the next deadline is close ...

Tally

( Days 1-20 )

Day 21:

alightbuthappypen,

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 22: