timeofchange

Hello. This is a friend's-locked journal. If you want to read my fannish and real life rambles, please feel free to post a request in comments to this post.

Is it possible that you missed the new Spuffy community sb_fag_ends?  Well, get on over there.  It's for Buffy/Spike ficlets, and it's just fantastic!

Happy Birthday to two of my favorite LJ peeps, rainkatt , whose birthday was yesterday, and lilachigh , who is celebrating today.  Best wishes for both of you, and lots of yummy cake all year long!

Thank you so much, lyrstzha!

Popping in to wish a very happy birthday to green_maia! I hope you've been having a lovely day.

Hello dear Flist. I will be in Boston Friday afternoon (April 2) through Sunday midday. I am driving a carload of kids up for Anime Boston. I would love, love, love to meet up for a coffee, a meal or just a walk in the park. Please save me from having to spend the entire weekend with the other adult chaperons. Anybody? Helloooo?

Happy New Year, dear friends...er, happy Valentine's Day...er, gosh, look at that snow!. It's just that I kept finding new stories and got distracted. Anyway...

I wanted to send you all a holiday gift, something that keeps on giving, so I'm sending you links to a few older--and maybe a bit obscure--Spuffy fics that are well worth reading or rereading. This isn't a comprehensive list, of course, but each of these stories is a gem of wonderful writing and terrific characterizations. All are complete (except for an unfinished sequel), and all include Slayer Buffy and Vampire Spike (no All Human, in other words). Even though most of these authors have moved on from fandom, send feedback anyway if you like the stories. They will be thrilled to know that their fics are still read and loved. Here are links, short summaries, and maybe a comment. In no particular order:

Paper Promise by Jess Marie (Season 6) Spike's attempt at a non-sexual birthday gift has unexpected consequences. Things heat up when the trio gets involved.

Jess Marie started this story in 2006 and then, after four wonderful chapters, disappeared. Imagine my delight when I found that she recently posted the rest of the story.


Balancing Act by Brynn McK (Season 6) Can a vampire without a soul find redemption? And can the Slayer ever really love him? Angst, drama, Scoobies, minor brain surgery, with a little humor and a few warm fuzzies along the way.

...well, I seem to have reawakened my inner demon, and I’m not sure if I should go with that or not, and it turns out that even after three months away, I’m still love’s bitch, but thanks for asking and how are you?

Brynn McK isn't writing in the Buffyverse anymore, sadly. But this story...ten perfect chapters, and those are happy tears, damn it.

Here is Gone by Terri Botta (post-Season 6) Spike gets a chance to do a few things over again.

A lovely version of the "Spike goes back in time to fix things" theme.


Tainted Blood by Corri (Season 6)Set directly following the events of "Normal Again." Spike is sick. After the gang finally figures out that only Buffy can save him, she has to decide how valuable Spike is to her.

Buffy is pretty heinous at the start of this story, but she gets better. Corri captures her ambivalence very nicely. I especially like how Corri writes Tara and the rest of the supporting cast. Not a Spuffy ending in the sense of true love forever, but very satisfying nonetheless.


Just for Tonight by Dolally (AU Season Five) S/B post The Body/Forever - But Buffy hasn't seen Spike since Lover's Walk so no pesky chip. Glory is still a threat.

While looking for links, I came across this new-to-me story. It was posted unbeataed, and you all know how I hate that, but...the typos are clearly just that. The author has a perfectly good grasp of grammar and spelling. It's another take on unchipped, unreformed Spike falling in love with the Slayer, but well worth reading for this author's unique twist. The story is fairly long, and has a number of surprises. The initial meeting is a bit off-character for Buffy, but I was sucked in by the good writing, and I am glad I kept reading. I love that Spike is not a woobie (well, not much of a woobie). The Scoobies are will written. Dawn is very good. And, in the end, I was convinced by this Buffy. It has an unfinished sequel, After the Fall.



Checkers by Anne Rose (Season 5) Follow-up to Intervention (the Buffybot episode). What happened after Buffy left Spike's crypt? If you prefer not to read on FF.Net, here's a link to her website: Anne's Rose Garden

If only...

Death and Leather by Jessie3 (Season 6) "She only noticed the sent of tobacco in idle minutes, not understanding how she hadn't before." Takes place some time after "Once More With Feeling." Willow and Tara have worked things out, Giles is still hanging around, and Buffy's friends are starting to accept the fact that they ripped her out of heaven.

Short but powerful.

And, finally, welcome back to Sinister Attraction, a marvelous Spuffy archive full of classic stories posted between 2000 and 2003. It is at a new address, and chock full of fantastic--and hard to find--stories.

If you have some beloved older Spuffy stories I haven't included in this list, please feel free to link in comments.

I've been holding onto a fic rec post since before the new year, and I am going to post that, but this isn't it. This is about dishes, specifically the washing of them.

My dishwasher died about 3 months ago, and it's not an option for me to replace it right now (hi there four new tires, hi there winter oil bills). Two people, one being a teenaged boy, generate a lot of dishes. Washing them generates a lot of resentment on my part.

In September Time Jr. started Latin. Stay with me, now, this is related to the dishes thing. The Latin was a disaster from day one. The teacher was well past retirement, and had an unfortunate tendency to ramble on, forget that he forgot to assign homework or tell the class about upcoming exams, and wander off in the middle of class to who knows where. I was not the only parent to call the school with concerns. I tried to convince my son to drop the class, but he was determined to stick it out. A couple of weeks ago he burst into tears and admitted he was completely lost. Keep in mind that he is under an IEP (individualized education plan) due to some neurological issues. I called his guidance counselor and special education supervisor and asked that he be dropped. Of course, it's too late, but...they talked to the head of the world languages department, had a joint meeting with my son, the Latin teacher, and the head of world languages, and agreed to let him drop without penalty and to remove the course from his permanent record. P.S., the Latin teacher is retiring at the end of the year. So, what to do for the spring semester? By some unbelievable miracle, there was an opening in Culinary 1. Understand that Culinary 1 is one of the most popular electives in the entire high school. You usually have to be an upper classman to have any hope at all of getting in. The high school has a commercial kitchen, the teacher is great, and Culinary 1 is all about baking. Cookies, cakes, pastries, filo dough, yum yum yum. Everybody wants to take Culinary 1, from the super brainy honors students to the football playing jocks. Not only do you get to eat what you make, but you get to take the leftovers home...except they never make it home because kids in Culinary 1 are the most popular kids in school. When you have a stash of fresh baked oatmeal raisin, peanut butter chocolate chip or snickerdoodle cookies, everybody is your friend. So, my boy is happy, he loves the class, everything is good.

Yesterday, after my typical long, exhausting day at work, I got home about 6:30, knowing I had to do the breakfast dishes so I could start to make dinner. And...the sink was empty. My lovely boy had seen the dishes, and washed the dishes. In Culinary 1, you have to clean up the kitchen and wash the dishes before you are dismissed. How totally awesome is that?

Hi, Flist. If you know of any LJ fandom icon communities, could you post them in comments? writercon is extending the icon contest deadline due to requests from icon makers for more time, and we want to take this opportunity to reach out to as many fandoms as possible.

BTW, if you haven't figured it out already, I am Communications Chair for Writercon 2009, so expect Writercon posts on a regular basis. It's going to be so awesome!