oursin: Photograph of small impressionistic metal figurine seated reading a book (Reader)
[personal profile] oursin

What I read

Finished Saving Suzy Sweetchild, which has our protag not only dealing with the usual movie hassle but being called in to deal with the papers of a suddenly deceased in possibly suspicious circumstances academic, as well as (with the usual cohorts) trying to work out what exactly the game is with the apparent kidnapping for ransom of child star, who is beginning to age out of cuteness. We observe that the classic sleuths may sometimes have had two mysteries on their hands but very seldom had to multitask like this.

Some while ago I read an essay by Ursula Le Guin on the novels of Kent Haruf: I fairly recently picked up Our Souls at Night (2015), which is more or less novella length, as a Kobo deal, and it was well-written, and unusual if very low-key, and I daresay I might venture on more Haruf but am in no great rush to do so.

Then on to Upton Sinclair, The Return of Lanny Budd (1953) - perhaps not quite as good as the earlier entries in the series - some of it felt a bit info-dumpy - Lanny and his friends who are promoting peace face the problem of Soviet Stalinist Communism in the Cold War era. I can't help contemplating them and thinking that they are probably going to be sitting targets for HUAC in a few years' time, because they are coming at the issue from a democratic socialist perspective and I suspect their Peace Program is going to be considered deeply sus by McCarthyism. Also, Lanny jnr is going to be of draft age come the 1960s....

On the go

To lighten the mood, Alexis Hall, Audrey Lane Stirs the Pot (Winner Bakes All #3) arrived yesterday.

Up next

The new (double-issue) Literary Review

Also (what was in the straying parcel last week) Dickon Edwards (whom some of you may remember from LJ days?) Diary at the Centre of the Earth: Vol. 1.

Bundle of Holding: Magical Kitties

Dec. 10th, 2025 02:13 pm
james_davis_nicoll: (Default)
[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll


Magical Kitties Save the Day, the all-ages introductory storytelling game from Atlas Games.

Bundle of Holding: Magical Kitties

What I'm Doing Wednesday

Dec. 10th, 2025 12:27 pm
sage: image of the word "create" in orange on a white background. (create)
[personal profile] sage
books
A Companion to Women in the Ancient World by Sharon L. James (Editor), Sheila Dillon (Editor). 2012. Triggery as hell in the first third. Took a long time to read.

I started Natasha Pulley's Hymn to Dionysus, but it didn't grab me so it's on pause.

yarning
a) Thanks to some links from Petra, I learned to knit a few rows of garter stitch. And yet...it feels wrong. (I'm probably doing it wrong, though my little swatch looks vaguely like it's supposed to.) I found a video on knitting continental, so the yarn is on the correct side for my brain. But it feels weird. Maybe I'm just built for crochet...?

b) I think I've just about got the Vampire Lestat in gold pants crochet pattern complete. I'm testing it, which is a good thing, bc I found some errors. Meanwhile, I'm teasing the art doll on Tumblr ([tumblr.com profile] mostlyvampires), hoping it'll eventually reach interested people. (I'd appreciate a reblog, if you see this! <333)

c) Next up maaaay be creating a red pants version. In the screen grabs from the trailer, that version doesn't have the necklace or microphone...unless I add them. I'm so impatient for more canon to work from! OR a different canon to bite me and demand yarning into being. OR commissions to make dolls of other people from photos. That's a thing I can do & it would be FUN!

d) Saturday evening some lovely anonymouse bought a Made to Order cat stitch scarf from me, but they didn't tell me what colors to use! I messaged them Sunday morning but didn't hear anything all day & hyperfixated on it, as you do. Then first thing Monday, there was a message with colors! So I spent all day Monday working on it, and then part of Tuesday weaving in all the million ends from the 45 color changes. And ouch my shoulder, but I've missed making these, so all in all, it was fun! AND, most importantly, I revised the listing to make it clear that ANY colors are doable, but you have to choose the colors! :g:

e) This is just me being fond, but yesterday someone bought the black sparkly amineko kitty with gold eyes after YEARS of it sitting on my couch waiting for a home. I'm so happy for it! \o/

healthcrap
Thursday's bone scan went fine, though the results weren't great. I may or may not have lost half an inch of height. I didn't stand up straight when she measured me, so I'm hoping not. OTOH, I haven't been exercising, so maybe so. :shrug: Yesterday was the doc appt for filling out transportation forms. I have doubts that it'll be approved, but we won't know til I send it in.

Yuletide
I keep having feelings about my fic, flipping between unutterably anxious and more or less pleased. The betas really helped, and there are many many editing days left between now and Dec 24, so maybe it'll be okay in the end. Monday night, despite my intention to stick it in a proverbial drawer for a few days, I couldn't get to sleep until after I got up and tinkered with it a little more. I keep changing sentences and hoping I'm improving it instead of breaking it. :crosses fingers and toes:

I hope all of y'all are doing well! <333

Fic in a Box recs!

Dec. 10th, 2025 09:55 am
snickfic: (S4)
[personal profile] snickfic posting in [community profile] recthething
There's a bunch of amazing stuff in the FIAB! I've made a couple of recs posts for fics I've loved so far.

My gifts (Red Sonja, Kyle Murchison Booth stories)

Horror fic recs (Cthulhu Mythos, House of Leaves, Original Work)

RIP (Read In Progress) Wednesday

Dec. 10th, 2025 04:43 pm
spiralsheep: Sheep wearing an eyepatch (Default)
[personal profile] spiralsheep posting in [community profile] booknook
It's Wednesday in some localised linear timelines (more or less). What are you reading?
devinwolfi: (BaG)
[personal profile] devinwolfi posting in [community profile] fictional_fans
Be A Goldfish 2026: 1 Jan to 28 Feb 2026
Description: A multifandom, multimedia, make-a-thon! Contributors are encouraged to share multiple works throughout (though not required!), as well as leave many comments on any and all fanworks shared throughout.

There are no sign-ups, check-ins, or discord servers. This is all very low-stakes, go-at-your-own-pace fun. For anyone interested in a bit of structure, there will be a completely optional punch card that you can mark off weekly if you leave a comment on a work or share one of your own. Additionally, we have provided an optional series of weekly prompts in the hopes of inspiring you to experiment creatively and find new fannish heights!


All fandoms are allowed: From megafandoms like Star Trek and Tolkien to that one canceled-too-soon series from the 80s that only you and your closest mutual know about because you're the one who told them about it in the first place, everything that has ever given you that fannish itch is both allowed and highly encouraged (RPF included).

All mediums are allowed: fic, art, meta, web weaves, gifs, playlists, food, fiber or paper crafts, etc. Very multi, very media, very wow!

All text-based entries must be 1,000 words or less, hence the micro aspect of this “bang.” We’re especially encouraging things like drabbles, poetry, ficlets, and of course, non-fic fanworks.

Schedule: 1 January - 28 February 2026
Links: [community profile] beagoldfish, [tumblr.com profile] bag-bang, our 2026 AO3 Collection, and our FAQ

Come join our community and/or drop us a follow on tumblr and, if you feel so inspired, ring in the new year with your fellow fans!

Our poster! )
lucy_roman: (cat)
[personal profile] lucy_roman posting in [community profile] fan_flashworks
Title: Cowley's the Boss
Author: [personal profile] lucy_roman
Rating: Teen and up
Summary: Being in charge of CI5 means Cowley has to treat everyone fairly - even Bodie
Word count: 233

Cowley's the Boss )
james_davis_nicoll: (Default)
[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll


Could safety from the global pandemic be found in desperate flight towards a land of banditry and violence?

To The Warm Horizon by Choi Jin-Young (Translated by Soje)
smallhobbit: (Holmes Christmas)
[personal profile] smallhobbit posting in [community profile] allbingo
Title: Marylebone Monthly Illustrated Christmas Anthology
Fandoms: Sherlock Holmes (ACD)
Ratings: G
Pairings: Dr Watson, Sherlock Holmes, Mrs Hudson, Ferret, Mouselet, Aemelia Vole, Poley the Moley, Ocelot, Sloth
I used a two by two card to provide gaps in the 'Marylebone Monthly Illustrated Christmas Anthology' as follows:

Quick Curtain - A Poem by Aemelia Vole

Bats in the Belfry - A Competition by Ferret

Someone from the Past - Mrs Hudson's Christmas Problem Page

Tea on Sunday - Mouselet's Review of the Year


Yes, typical festive frivolity!

cimorene: Spock with his hands on his hips, looking extremely put out (frowny face)
[personal profile] cimorene
I was just getting really annoyed thinking about how it is not hard at all to wind your own center-pull yarn cake, so why can't mass-produced yarn balls pull from the center? (They can - there are some brands that do - but most of them don't work very well.) I got annoyed enough to just try a websearch for my question and found this forum discussion:

This is a very basic question, but

"...do you prefer pulling yarn from the inside of a skein or the outside? And why? I usually pull from the inside, but the other day I decided to try the outside for a swatch. I have been used to “untwisting” yarn as I knit, but this time it was ridiculous. I ended up winding the skein into a ball from the inside before trying again. (I have a ball winder, but don’t usually use it for hand knitting projects.) [...]"

[Responder B]: "You're correct, it all has to do with the twist of your yarn. Most commercial yarns are meant to be pulled from the inside, but there are so many yarns out there, that is not a rule set in stone. You obviously added more twist when you tried using your yarn from the outside. A yarn butler would help that problem because it allow the skein to roll off the skein rather than it unrolling and slipping off the end which adds a twist. Some low twist yarns or singles yarn you have to be very careful with otherwise you will completely untwist it and it will pull apart while working. Yarn bowls can be helpful with controlling twist as well."


Oh, what. Oh, UGH, that's so annoying! That makes sense, I guess. It just annoys me.

  • Pulling from the center seems more convenient in every respect to me, so why would you design it deliberately the other way? Obviously this isn't self-evident and there must be a lot of people who think it makes more sense or is more convenient to pull from the outside. I hate when my strong preferences are outliers like this because everything is working against me.


  • what the hell is a 'yarn butler'? What an annoying term. I could google it but I didn't.


  • I know about yarn bowls and I always found the concept a little annoying too, because I carry my knitting around in a bag and the bowl is hard, larger than my bag usually, and also frequently breakable. I typically put the skein in my knitting bag and that usually prevents it from rolling all over the place, although obviously it doesn't have the little loop to catch the working yarn and so isn't as effective as the yarn bowl concept.

SAD whining

Dec. 10th, 2025 02:13 pm
cimorene: Abstract painting with squiggles and blobs on a field of lavender (deconstructed)
[personal profile] cimorene
It happens every year at this season that when the sun never comes up properly all day it feels like I have never woken up properly either, but it's always just as frustrating and I'm never prepared. Sigh. Time just comes unglued, because it's overcast all the time and it's only daylight (wan gray daylight) between 9 and 4 at best. A week could be a day long or a month long. It's like I'm dreaming, but not as pleasant, because my hands or feet are usually cold during the day.

Sunlamps have never been very noticeably useful for me, which is extremely depressing, but also not bad enough for me to completely give up on them. The worst part is that regular outdoor exercise probably would help but it's completely unattainable. You might as well tell me that a hundred pushups is the cure.
itsamellama: (Jiggy)
[personal profile] itsamellama
Me, freshly showered with fresh new clothes: Oh nice, it's only raining veeeeery lightly, I can go take a very short walk around the block, get myself a few treats, and then start working when I get back!

The Weather: *pours as I'm getting donuts*

Me, soaking wet at home: ... it was worth it *enjoys a donut and one of two milk teas that had a buy 1 take 1 promo, makes sure to shower AGAIN and change into dry clothes*

:D Super young me would have been bawling on the floor all upset, so I'll take my optimism being happier about having treats as a win mentally, haha.

---

Waking up early continues to elude me, but I have been consistently sleeping around 1am and waking up at 11:30am. Though I notice myself waking up at 4am and 7am...? Maybe that's just my body naturally waking up during my sleep cycles...

Let's see if I succeed at 7am tomorrow then!

(Why yes, I kind of wanted to update everyone on where I've been again, which is funny because that's the LAST post I did too, but let's just dive in and act like I never stopped and maybe I'll continue to update 8D?

hi yes hello i miss you all and i really miss long-form posting!)

workaday Wednesday

Dec. 10th, 2025 06:36 am
marcicat: stress out and throw vase (stress out and throw vase)
[personal profile] marcicat
*Shoutout to the business along my commute route with the Giant Christmas Inflatables. It's your brontosaurus eating a candy cane that's motivating me to get out the door this morning!

Honorable mentions to the following, also providing me workaday motivation:

*I'll be starting the hockey boys audiobook this morning, carplay willing. After an entire day of thinking about it, the anticipation is really building!

*It's holiday lunch day at work. So, free lunch! Hooray! In honor of the event, I'm wearing my cozy holiday sweatshirt. (It has Christmas trees on it.)
22degreehalo: (GBH hotel)
[personal profile] 22degreehalo posting in [community profile] fancake
Fandom: Night at the Museum
Pairings/Characters: Jedediah/Octavius
Rating: T
Length: 10,180
Creator Links: [archiveofourown.org profile] liviapenn
Theme: Amnesty, Cultural Differences, Enemies to Friends (to Lovers), Enemies Working Together, Missing Scenes

Summary: There are secret articles in our treaties with the gods, of more importance than all the rest, which the historian can never know. -- Henry David Thoreau

This hour I tell things in confidence,
I might not tell everybody, but I will tell you.
-- Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself"

Reccer's Notes: This is so much fun, charting the growth in these boys' friendship starting from their trek through the snow in the movie to their awkward, gradual romantic advances post-canon ❤️

Fanwork Links: if this was a cowboy movie (i'd give you my boots)
goodbyebird: Hawkeye: Kate is taking aim. (Hawkeye)
[personal profile] goodbyebird
I'm back at work for a couple of days, so throwing today's rec out early to avoid forgetting and ruining my ten (\o/) day streak.

Chosen by the very first hit of the Random Icon button... *drumroll*

❄️ ❄️ ❄️ ❄️
Rec-cember Day 10


Hawkeye / Thunderbolts
got me thinking she's so cool by [archiveofourown.org profile] explosivesky (6,983 words). Cute, through and through. Since it's December and at one point presents are mentioned, do I get to put another notch under Christmas Recs?
“Yes, I know of Ikea,” Yelena says. “I have been all over the world. I know it is a furniture store.”

“Okay, but have you ever been inside one?” Kate pegs. She even leans closer, as if searching for the crack revealed by the question.

Yelena shifts between feet. “No,” she mumbles grumpily. “I have not been inside one.”

“They have meatballs. Swedish meatballs. They’re delicious. We can get you, like, maybe a bookshelf, or a corkboard, or - definitely a bedspread, I honestly thought that was a large decorative boulder for some reason–”

“You want to bring color into my room, Kate Bishop?”

(no subject)

Dec. 10th, 2025 09:44 am
oursin: hedgehog in santa hat saying bah humbug (Default)
[personal profile] oursin
Happy birthday, [personal profile] cofax7!

Suits : fanfic : Go See the Boss

Dec. 10th, 2025 04:13 am
highlander_ii: Hugh Jackman - b&w image w/ text 'Hugh in black and white' ([HughJ] 003)
[personal profile] highlander_ii posting in [community profile] fan_flashworks
Title: Go See the Boss
Fandom: Suits
Rating: PG-13
Length: short
Content notes: none apply
Summary: Jessica wants to see Mike - he's freaked out.


Go See the Boss )

2025 Away from Keyboard post

Dec. 10th, 2025 09:27 pm
morbane: three exclamation marks, one of which is formed out of two guinea pigs (guinea pig)
[personal profile] morbane posting in [community profile] yuletide
Yuletide is coming! If everything goes well, we will reveal works in the main collection at 9pm UTC on 24 December, two weeks from now. Madness works are revealed a day later.

(Default deadline is 9pm UTC on the 10th; posting deadline is 9pm UTC on the 17th.)

In Yuletide, it's important to leave a comment on your gift (or gifts) to thank your author.

If you think you'll be delayed in commenting until late in the anonymous period (ending 1 January) or maybe not even until well into the new year, you can use this post to OPTIONALLY let your author(s) know about that delay ahead of time. You don't need to give a reason, but an approximate time indication may be helpful. Please include your AO3 name.

Thanks everyone! Good luck with writing, and please consider the beta post or [community profile] yuletide_pinch_hits if you have capacity for beta jobs or pinch hits!

Profile

alexseanchai: Katsuki Yuuri wearing a blue jacket and his glasses and holding a poodle, in front of the asexual pride flag with a rainbow heart inset. (Default)
let me hear your voice tonight

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