Trash time
Jul. 2nd, 2025 07:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lea_hazelNow, first of all, the very first chapter features a fairly lengthy (PG-13) bath scene of the male lead. Some of the fan websites feature gaggles of straight dudes gently losing their marbles over this (largely positive). As a first impression, it definitely gives the vibe that "this one is for the girls and the gays", and I can understand why the fic fandom for this book is huge.
Second. No one warned me? Clyde Trashcount or whatever his name is? Is a fucking princess. Like, this character is a princess who just happens to be of the male gender but yeah, otherwise, a princess. No, I can't really explain it any better than that.
Third or whatever, cats and dragons, so yeah, those are both good reasons to read a book, for sure. Cats and dragons. Catlike dragons, also.
A minor quibble is that, as far as I can tell, every single character has eyes the exact same shade of gray-black. To the point that I briefly entertained the idea that the hero is the bastard half-brother of the protagonist. But no, this appears to be simply a stylistic art choice.
(morning writing, f&f, yard, critter watch)
Jul. 2nd, 2025 09:44 amelainegreyYesterday's research dive was into how the heart works specifically - i knew generally, - so i could understand Dad's echo report that has found the mitral valve failing (prolapsed) and blood being back washed into the lung. And i've read up on the surgeries and what could happen if he doesn't opt for treatment. The recovery period is daunting. It seems he'll need people to stay with him, where people are me and my sister perhaps? Although i can hardly care for myself....
I rush ahead though. His next study is on the 29th, his consult (i will join him that day) is on 6 August.
I am off work again, but this time with no health emergency, just a long break over the fourth of July holiday. Rest. And i should go use the weed burner since we had a quarter inch of rain last night. And the mowing that i need to do. Thank heavens there's plenty i can do with the wheeled string trimmer, for which wet grass is not a challenge. I did some mowing last night with the grass mower. Too much of the grassy zones in the orchard have gone over to stilt grass. If i could be confident of rain, i'd scalp everything and hope the fescues would get ahead.
Meanwhile, blueberries are coming in fast; mulberries are ripening, too. Might get enough mulberries to make a dehydrator tray worth while in the next few days. And figs are ripening, to my startlement. The persimmon has dropped lots of fruit, self thinning, still looking loaded. The single remaining Aunt Rachel's apple has fallen from the tree, and i found it with a worm sticking out and wriggling. Fie. One Grimes Golden apple remains: this is mainly due to the late frost, but generally i do not have a good site for apples.
I found one of the Tahitian squash vines had actually set a fruit, as big as a usual mature summer yellow squash already. I picked it to eat now, expecting i will see more fruit to allow to grow to winter keeping sizes. The yellow butter cube squash have had male flowers like mad, but no fruit. The plants have stayed tiny.
The Early Girl tomato has some nice set green fruit; the Better Boy has started as well. A forest of Matt's wild tomato volunteers have come up in the past weeks and i intend to move them to a place with high deer exposure in the hopes that they'll accept some pruning.
One of my new native shrubs, a St John's Wort "Sunburst", was pruned back severely by deer. I think it will be for the best, but i am miffed as it seems they never browse the many wild St John's worts.
A doe has been visible in the yard periodically - somehow i manage to dissociate the sight of the doe from the herbivory in my mind -- and cotton tails have been common disappearing into high growth. Haven't seen the hawk. Humming birds are visiting the glads and hummingbird mint, clouds of tiger swallowtails on the Joe Pye weed.
I missed seeing my nephew D, niece S, and sister in law M last week as their visit coincided with Christine in the hospital. I had thought S & M would be here this weekend, but no. They will be with nephew Z in Tampa. D is in ROTC training and i will get to see him on his return with my brother.
I worry about my siblings' job/financial situations. If i lost my job today, i think Christine and i could limp by with retirement savings. (I don't know how easily i could transfer my experience into something generally employable.) But my siblings are looking for work, more or less, and i don't get the sense it's an easy time to look.
Kink Hub Theme of the Month: "Sex on the Beach"
Jul. 2nd, 2025 03:36 amsmuttymcsmutface posting in ![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png){kind=small}
dw_community_promo
Links:
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
kinkhub | Community Rules | Posting Guidelines | Monthly Themes & Free-For-All | July: Sex on the BeachDescription: Kink Hub is an 18+ comm for anything kink fic, where you can self-promote, share and rec fanfics of all fandoms and original works. RPF is welcome.
For the month of July, the theme for all shared fics is "Sex on the Beach", which means any kinks related to outdoor fun (no actual beach required) and/or alcoholic beverages (no cocktail required). If you've written or read fics featuring any related kink, you're very welcome to share the links to them in this comm.
WIP Big Bang/ WIP Reverse Bang 2025 - Snippets Submissions Are Live!
Jun. 30th, 2025 08:17 pmpenaltywaltz posting in wipbigbangFic snippet submissions and art snippet submissions will be on different forms, and both forms will be listed here in #announcements on the Discord as well as pinned under the pinned Schedule/FAQ post on Tumblr and pinned to the top of the Dreamwidth page as a separate post under the Schedule/FAQ (since a lot of you are on Tumblr I'm also going to have a post with the links I'll reblog every day the submissions forms are open, just in case people can't see the secondary pinned post).
Fic writers are to submit at least one but at max three snippets between 500 to 1500 words (if it goes over or under a bit that's fine). You may also submit them using Google Docsor Ellipsus (with the GDocs/Ellipsus option you can put all three snippets in one document and put the link in the first section and N/A in the other two sections, or you can do separate doc for each section and post each link in an individual snippets section...just make sure your artist can view them without haing to get your permission first!). The Google form collecting snippets does not italicize/bold/underline your text automatically when it's submitted; you can either use HTML coding to indicate where italicized/bolded/underlined text will be or submit it as a Gdoc link.
For those submitting art project snippets, you only have to supply one snippet to an image hosting service/YouTube/sound hosting service and provide a link to it, but you must provide the snippet when you submit the snippet form. If you want to provide more than one snippet you may, but it's not required.
Both snippet submission forms will be asking for general information about your fic/art project. You'll have two sections for content warnings (one for AO3's general warnings as a checkbox option and a section to write in any other warnings or things you want artists/writers to be aware of), a section for a summary of your project, the title, the rating and I think one other section. Please make sure to include all the fandoms your project is working in by FULL FANDOM NAME (not nicknames/abbreviations, as we use a script to put the claims forms together and I've got anywhere from 245 to 675 potential participants this round).
If you need to make any changes the the description info after you've submitted the form email the mods ASAP so I can edit the specific claims info in the spreadsheets we'll be generating before the claims list gets made via script. If you need to edit snippet stuff, email the mods with the subject line information listed in the first section of this post, as fic snippets will not be included in the claims listings (art/fanvid/filk snippets are included in the claims info so as I said before, you must include a snippet in your WIPRB form).
Any other questions you may have feel free to bring up in #mod-questions/asks/comments below. The form will stay open until midnight/early morning July 11th!
Here are the links to the submission forms:
Rebuilding journal search again
Jun. 30th, 2025 03:18 pmalierak posting in dw_maintenanceMeanwhile search services should be running, but probably returning no results or incomplete results for most queries.
Readercon 2025 Schedule
Jun. 30th, 2025 03:50 pmoracneMy schedule is finalized! I didn't list participants in case there were changes.
Who will I see at Readercon next month?
The Works of P. Djèlí Clark
Salon I/J Friday, July 18, 2025, 1:00 PM EDT
Our Guest of Honor P. Djèlí Clark rounded out his first decade as a published author with a Nebula and a Locus for his fantasy police procedural novel, The Master of Djinn, and both those awards plus a British Fantasy Award for his monster-hunting novella Ring Shout. His short story "How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub" is short-listed for the Hugo this year. As a History professor at University of Connecticut, he investigates the pathways leading from West African storyteller/poets (griots, a.k.a. djèlí) to the American abolitionist movement. Help us celebrate the works of our honored guest!
The Purposes of Memorable Insults in Sci-Fi and Fantasy
Salon I/J Friday, July 18, 2025, 5:00 PM EDT
Some of the most quotable lines in science fiction and fantasy are zingers. Wit can do a lot to build a character, a world, and a universe, and has the ability to either support or undermine reader expectations. This panel aims to explore and elaborate on the use of wit—and especially takedowns—in literature, exposing how a verbal jab can serve as more than just a punchline.
Moving from Traditional Publishing to Self-Publishing
Salon G/H Friday, July 18, 2025, 7:00 PM EDT
It's becoming increasingly common to hear of authors whose self-published work was so successful that they were picked up by a traditional publisher. But what of the authors who have gone the other way, by turning their backs on traditional publishing and going into self-publishing? Panelists will survey the varying reasons for making this transition, how authors have navigated it, and what this might say about the state of publishing overall.
Kaffeeklatsch: Victoria Janssen
Suite 830 Friday, July 18, 2025, 8:00 PM EDT
Meet the Pros(e) party
Salon F Friday, July 18, 2025, 10:15 PM EDT
Program participants are assigned to tables with a roughly equal number of conferencegoers and other participants, and then table placements are scrambled at regular intervals so that everyone gets to meet a new set of people in a small-group setting. Think of it as a low-key sort of speed dating where you need never be the sole focus of anyone's attention, and the goal is just to get to know some cool Readerconnish people. Please note that this event will include a bar and is mask-optional, unlike most other programming.
The Works of Cecilia Tan [I'm moderating this one]
Salon I/J Saturday, July 19, 2025, 12:00 PM EDT
Our Guest of Honor, Cecilia Tan, has a publication history that spans Asimov's, Absolute Magnitude, Ms. Magazine, Penthouse, and Best American Erotica, among others. Writer and editor of science fiction and fantasy, especially as they intersect with erotica and romance, she is also the founder of Circlet Press, an independent publisher that specializes in speculative erotica. Her own writing earned a Lifetime Achievement for Erotica in 2014 from Romantic Times magazine. She also contributes to America's other pastime, baseball, in her role as Publications Director for the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). Come hear our panel discuss Cecilia's many talents and accomplishments.
Un-Kafkaesque Bureaucracies
Salon I/J Saturday, July 19, 2025, 7:00 PM EDT
In fiction, bureaucracies are generally depicted as evil in its most banal form, yet many of the actual bureaucracies that shape our lives exist to protect us from corporate greed. How can—and should—we tell other stories about bureaucrats and bureaucracies, particularly as the U.S. stands on the precipice of disastrous deregulation? And might fantasies of bureaucracy (such Addison's The Goblin Emperor and Goddard's The Hands of the Emperor) be the next cozy subgenre?
The Endless Appetite for Fanfiction
Create / Collaborate Saturday, July 19, 2025, 8:00 PM EDT
In an article of the same name (https://www.fansplaining.com/articles/endless-appetite-fanfiction), Elizabeth Minkel discussed how "2024 was the year [fanfic] truly broke containment—everyone seemed to want a piece of the fanfiction pie, leaving fic authors themselves besieged on all sides." Attempts to steal and monetize fanfic proliferated, as did reviews treating living authors as distant and unreachable. What do these trends say about larger changes in attitudes toward stories and creators? How can fans of all kinds nurture supportive connections to authors?
Extra-long-weekend mishmash post: office furniture, phone keyboards, family, hair, lilacs...
Jun. 30th, 2025 02:30 pmumadoshiscruloose and I both booked today off. I haven't managed a whole lot of manga work yet, but hopefully between today (as soon as I finish this post) and tomorrow I'll get a reasonable amount done. While I'm doing at-my-desk things, scruloose is working on the next step(s) in getting a dedicated hose set up for our individual townhouse.Last night we finally got around to switching the desk chairs in our offices, ( cut for the uninterested )
It occurred to me very late in the game that I might do better at spending non-work time at my desk (where, y'know, most of my writing used to happen) if I didn't hate my chair; I've been attributing the fact that I spend 95% of my evenings down in the living room these days to the fact that Sinha's such a lapcat, and that's definitely a huge factor, but...being able to sit comfortably in here would sure help.
Another pleasing tech-related development has to do with my phone keyboard. ( again, cut for the uninterested )
Speaking of things that feel so much better now, Saturday also involved Ginny chopping my hair off for me. I've been leaving it alone (other than the undercut) since whenever the last time we buzz cut it was, and maybe a month ago I found that it was long enough to easily ponytail. That was pleasantly novel for about a week, even though the front bits weren't long enough to get into the ponytail and quickly started to need clips or something when it got hot. By last weekend, I was very, very done with the whole thing, and this weekend Ginny was able to deal with it. Such a relief.
My younger nibling and their spouse of eight months or so stopped by a few days ago to pick up a few years' worth of my spare comp copies from Seven Seas. Only one box, since I've technically scaled back my freelance workload (and I think there's also a backlog of comps that I should be getting sooner rather than later), but a hefty box that was bulging a bit at the seams, so it's nice to have that all sent off to a new home. It was lovely to see my nibling and meet their spouse, however briefly. (They politely rolled with the "we're going to stand in our driveway and chat while masked and overheat more than a little" element.)
A final thing before calling this a post and getting to work: last weekend
scruloose and I gave the Sensation lilac a long-overdue aggressive pruning (and it should probably get the same amount cut out of it in a year). The poor thing was all spindly limbs and mostly-high-up blooms, so hopefully this will help it for next year.( But what to do with the mutant hybrid? )
