graycardinal | Reading

I've kept trying not to think about it, but a lot of the stuff about the Good Omens finale that bothers me has kept going round and round in my head since I watched it. I was just taking to

elisi about some of it, and she mentioned that if she weren't currently in the middle of writing a bunch of other fics, she would be totally up for doing a ficcish re-write of the episode to fix the stuff that annoyed her (which, interestingly, are the exact opposite of the parts that really bugged me). I can only agree, because that's something I've been thinking about a lot, and I've been tempted by it, myself. It's not happening, though. Not because I've got other fics on the go, but because it's a giant project I probably do not have time for, especially as the more I think about it, the more I think I'd really have to re-write the whole thing in order to re-write the end, which is the part I really care about, and I suck at plot. Also because I'm not sure I can bring myself to re-watch it.

But I finally decided that I really did need to just get all my damned thoughts for how I'd want to do it out of my head. So, here they are. The way I'd approach re-writing it to make the ending work for me. Not a completely different ending. Just the things that would need to be expanded, emphasized, and tweaked to make what the ending was trying to do actually work for me the way it's intended to.

And you know what? Having sat down and spewed all of this out, I do actually feel a lot better. Lighter. Less sad. Hopefully it will last. Maybe this can be the version that lives in my head now, and I can pretend it's how the show actually did present things in the full season it should have had.

And even though this was really pretty much for my own benefit, I will also share with the class in case anyone is interested. Although maybe keep in mind that this is probably a lot more on the "raw, unedited brain spewings" end of things than I usually like to post. Except for the footnotes. I totally edited in the footnotes. (Or, in once case, moved a long and clunky parenthetical thought down there. Even if all my other long and clunky parenthetical thoughts stayed where they were.)

( Presenting a little thing called, 'How to fix it' )

Current Mood: better?

AO3 Link | The Right Bait: Zaknafein's Tale (1800 words) by Merfilly
Chapters: 3/3
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series - R. A. Salvatore
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Vierna Do'Urden, Jarlaxle Baenre, Drizzt Do'Urden, Original Drow Character(s), Guenhwyvar [Legend of Drizzt]
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Rape Aftermath, Ensemble Cast
Summary:

With the right bait, even a deadly predator can be captured... or so they thought. In time, this leads to a fuller family than Drizzt could have dreamed of.

The Right Bait: Zaknakein's Tale

"Zaknafein, father of Drizzt and Vierna, I have a question I may only ask once of you. I swear by the life you gave both of your children, I wish you to know freedom. Will you accept life once more, and help guide us, as well as your grandson?"

The man who had known peace since choosing to die in the place of his son very nearly told the known, and despised, voice to drop into the Abyss. Yet, he was a tactician, a man who had learned to weigh all options, determine the least harmful lie, and build his successes from there.

A grandson? His son and daughter named in the request? And any priestess would of course swear by her own life, being as self-interested as they were, but the phrasing of it was so odd.

"I will."

The room was blissfully dark, only three people near him as Zaknafein fully processed that yes, he lived again.

Four, actually, as he turned his head to see the exhausted face of his daughter on the pillow beside his. She gave a faint smile, then closed her eyes, obviously choosing trust for the others present.

The hat and eye-patch — left eye today — proclaimed his lover as one of those other presences. Opposite him was his son, grown strong and more mature in all of his lines. The young drow, likely just of an age to be schooled, was unknown to him, but a death memory flickered up.

Grandson.

"Can't a man come back to life in privacy?" he managed to say, shifting to get upright, at least sitting that way.

Drizzt was the one that moved to help him do so, putting a bolster behind his back.

"Well, someone had to be on hand to protect your daughter, and keep this pair from spiriting you back to their home among the goodly ones," Jarlaxle proclaimed.

Drizzt snorted. "I'd hardly do so, and Kastan, he's teasing."

"Grandfather would be welcome, Father, but that doesn't keep Aunt protected."

Zaknafein's eyes shot to his son in shock, having presumed it was the elder child that had born progeny. Drizzt gave the barest shake of his head about the subject, and he let go of it.

"So where are we?" he asked instead.

"A fascinating place called Skullport," Jarlaxle said, dropping on the bed at Zak's hip when Drizzt gave ground. "We have acquired a villa, fortified it, and made it a safe haven for your children to share."

"Vierna is on leave from her duties at the Temple of Vhaeraun," Drizzt said. "I was persuaded to bring Kastan over, as he's been training this last year with me or the Sword Mistress. And my sister does need protection while she recovers."

"I am only here a few days," Jarlaxle decreed. "But my outpost here is aware of the villa, and will keep an eye out for any dangers. Your son," and he flourished a hand in Drizzt's direction, "is known to them, and able to work with them, to a degree."

"Hmm." Zak carefully didn't say anything that might tangle him up too quickly in Jarlaxle's plotting; he had a family to re-learn… or just learn anew. "Kastan, is it? Planning to help your father get me back in shape?"

"If you wish me to," Kastan said, his eagerness mostly masked.

"Good." Zak reached a hand out to Jarlaxle then. "Help me up, old friend," and it felt good to not layer that with the nuances they'd had to use to avoid Malice's suspicions, "so my daughter can sleep. I'll get those tales later, since your time is more limited."

"Gladly." Jarlaxle did so, and didn't even tease much as Zak stopped to embrace his son hard, before clasping the young one's shoulder in passing.

Jarlaxle did leave after a few days, and that let Zak focus on what his new life entailed. He was in one corner of the sofa that was the sole piece of furniture in the main room, tucked against a wall, Vierna wrapped in a quilt with her head on his shoulder. He never would have thought this possible, but not only was he savoring it, but she seemed to be as well.

The other two were in the middle of the open space, practicing footwork of a style that Zaknafein did not actually recognize.

"Tell me your tale, Vierna."

"Not much to say. Your death… your words, maybe? Made me brutally aware of the waste of life. I missed Drizzt, for all I did not yet understand that was what I felt. You not being there actively hurt. And the drawn out war with Hun'ett was… just piling up more deaths.

"And I walked away, once I had the whispers of my Lord encouraging me. Jarlaxle found me in the city I was originally staying in to learn my new place. Once he told me Dinin had secured your body in the House fall, I had a goal, and this place was more suitable to gain the experience and lessons I needed." She then sighed. "We did not expect my brother, my Lord and I."

"He is still strange then?"

"Oh, that's one word for it. He likes going out under the skies of the Surface, and he is entirely too good, but he is my brother, my wean-son, and we have decided that our family comes ahead of deities."

"As long as yours remembers not to set you at odds with me," Drizzt said mildly, showing he was paying attention, even as he kept up the steps of this teaching.

"Goes both ways, brother-mine," she sing-songed at him. Zak had to chuckle at them, before tapping out a question on her arm.

"The boy?"

She considered, then tapped her answer back. "They hunted him, using the boy as bait. Neither the mother nor Briza survived it."

Zak winced a bit; he had no doubt that both women had learned the skill of Drizzt's blades in a swift hurry for endangering any child, let alone one he might have suspected as being his own.

"So how did you come to be here, Drizzt?" he asked, slowly stroking Vierna's hair.

"Went above, with help from the svirfneblin maps and gear. Kastan and I found a human family, protected them from danger, but those who came to investigate helped us find drow like ourselves.

"Kastan needed to be safe, somewhere he could learn and grow strong."

"But Father will be quite happy when he can explore the Surface more," Kastan interjected without a mistake in the complex foot shuffle he was practicing. "He does go, now and then, but never for long. And I haven't lacked for anything, from him, since he rescued me from the one who bore me."

"The followers of Eilistraee have a community nearby. They trade here, and learning of my sister's presence, her need for resources as she grew stronger, led to our choice to ally. I only brought Kastan over this time because we knew it would be soon… and he is able to defend himself adequately.

"Which made the journey safer."

"Looking forward to helping make that skill shine."

Drizzt turned, looking at his father. "No need to push, to rush it, or to be more than firm, not now. Neither of the Twins would ask it of our young."

Zaknafein saw something in that need to speak up, to challenge the way Drizzt himself had learned… and he found that he approved strongly.

"No. It will be good, to take time to see how the mistakes happened, work out better habits with practice instead of force," he told his son, and Drizzt relaxed again.

Privately, Zak was damn glad the boy would stand up so firmly to him… proving the strangeness had definitely survived.

A message had come for Drizzt, and though he'd been loathe to leave the rest of them — Kastan just now training, Zaknafein gathering his stamina back, and Vierna recuperating from performing a resurrection — he had not been able to decline the need for his abilities.

"Go on. I don't need stamina to end most threats," Zak pointed out. "Your sister can and will push past this for spellwork. And your son is already better than third year students."

"I'll return, as soon as I am able," Drizzt promised, before gearing up. Zak wanted to ask questions about the tube of long crossbow bolts, and the slightly curved staff, but he would hold them for later.

Kastan watched his father leave, then squared his shoulders and looked at Zak.

"Teach me more?" he asked, the look on his face one that Drizzt wore when he had set on a course and would not be dissuaded.

"Let's practice that elf style he's been working with you on, see how we can better adapt it," Zak offered, and Kastan nodded.

"I just… he won't let himself go be true to himself, not fully, until he's certain I can protect myself."

"Then, grandson, he's going to be holding himself back a long time… because he loves you, and seeing you grow up matters as much to him as it ever did for me. Only he gets the chance to do so.

"Don't rush finding maturity and skill because you think you're holding him back. He wants to be there for you."

Kastan considered those words, took a deep breath, and then smiled. "Right. Then I need to train up to be able to go with him, to the lighter things he should be doing, as a compromise!"

Zak laughed, low and soft, nodding to the reasoning. He'd never want to go above, but if Drizzt ever needed him to, he would. For now, he helped his son the best he could, by helping his grandchild.

Drizzt slipped in quietly, watching as Kastan and Zak sparred, less a teaching moment and more of a joyful testing of skill. He'd only had to be gone five days, as the trouble had been local and magic had delivered him back here for his quick aid.

He knew both were aware of him, proud that it didn't break his son's concentration, and just enjoyed the scene. He didn't mind when Vierna slipped up beside him, just shifting to be her leaning wall, his arms around her waist for added support.

"Not such a terrible life we have now, little brother?" she asked, rather than fuss at him being so protective of her. She was nearly past the drain, after all.

"When I laid eyes on Kastan that first time, I knew everything had to change. But… I never saw this. I never knew we would be a solid family, in ways that matter."

She leaned back against him, head resting on his shoulder, humming quiet contentment.

"We'll keep this strong," she vowed, and he gave a sharp nod, joining her in that intent.

Got my first raid today! Another small streamer whom I raided some time back returned the favor. Streaming BG3 both yesterday and today, if only because I'm going to be out of town come next Saturday, I got a few more viewers than I have on my non-Dispatch streams before them. Though I also got accosted by at least one more non-bot scammer, possibly two.
As I close in on one trip, I'm also working on the next. I booked my flights to San Diego and back just now. Ended up going with United, like in previous years, but one thing that made me raise my eyebrows was they had no direct flights going either way, and when we'd always taken those in the past. (I also looked into Southwest, who didn't have any direct flights either, but they often haven't.) Hope there are some good options for lunch in the Chicago airport. A layover there might not be a bad idea for me if there are, since I can't eat on planes.

Wagers [Podfic] (44 words) by blackglass, with, with
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Justice League & Justice League Unlimited (Cartoons)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Helena Bertinelli/Vic Sage, Dinah Lance/Oliver Queen
Characters: Dinah Lance, Helena Bertinelli, Oliver Queen, Vic Sage
Additional Tags: Double Dating, Podfic, Podfic Length: 0-10 Minutes, Audio Format: MP3, Audio Format: Streaming
Summary:

A podfic of Wagers by Merfilly.

"Vic's being awful quiet."

accessing archived data (1045 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Tron - All Media Types, Tron (Movies)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Tron/Yori (Tron)
Characters: Tron (Tron), Yori (Tron), Alan Bradley, Lora Baines-Bradley
Additional Tags: Epistolary, Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Long-Distance Relationship, Pre-Canon, Movie: Tron (1982), background rising fascism bc of the MCP, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Slice of Life
Summary:

Two paired programs communicate between their work cycles, and unknowingly document the beginning of a new era on the Encom System.

AO3 Link | Ladies to the Rescue (265 words) by Merfilly
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: X-Men (Franchise)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Nathaniel Essex, Emma Frost, Jean Grey, Ororo Munroe
Additional Tags: +Modern Age (1986-Present), Rescue
Summary:

Mr. Sinister expected maybe one of them.

"You think you can beat me?" Mr. Sinister began, as the White Queen assaulted his mind directly, and he focused on defending himself from her probing searches. Just as he managed to push her away from his mind, a second assault began, and Sinister took a physical step away from the fallen Cyclops.

Phoenix. Of course she would come to the man's aid, and he knew he was no match for her. He had a general direction for her, but she was not in his line of sight. Still, an energy burst in her direction should disrupt her long enough for him to snatch his prize and escape —

— and when he brought his attention back as the assault let up, the clouds were thickening with terrific speed, darkening the skies.

Twin psychic blasts, showing neither of his first assailants had been removed from the fight landed, delaying the synaptic impulse of 'move' to the muscles, and lightning lanced down in the next moment.

The back of his mind actually congratulated the trio of ladies before he engaged his escape via a transport device.

Jean looked at Emma, then held her hand out. "You were right; he probably would have been prepared for me, but you managed to wear him down."

Emma actually did return the friendly gesture, glancing over at Scott who was coming around under Ororo's watchful eyes.

"Make sure he doesn't make a habit of needing his lady partners to rescue him?"

"Too late," Ororo said, her voice amused with too many memories, and Jean had to duck her head against her smile.

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Current Mood: curious
Current Music: Due West - Kelsey Lu

It's been awhile since I've done a rec post, but PHM has been inspiring! Presented in order from shortest to longest:

Name Game by Merely_Specters / @merelyspecters - Rocky helps Grace come up with a mnemonic to remember his students' names. Packs a lot of friendship feels and amnesia angst into a small space!

Executor by @goodluckdetective
When Grace's health is really bad after arriving on Erid, he gives Adrian his will and talks to them about helping Rocky if he dies. Somber due to the content, obviously, but knowing Grace survives, there's a lot of sweetness in how they bond over taking care of Rocky.

Enrichment by alatarmaia4
Grace goes swimming in his enclosure, and Rocky is NOT a fan. Cute cute cute.

Witness by Ailren
Tantalizing, painful short AU where Yao witnesses Grace being chased down and drugged. OOF.

what exists beyond, beyond, beyond by tardigradeschool
In which Rocky and Adrian decide to reproduce, but things are complicated by Rocky's radiation damage and Grace not initially understanding he's part of the family. Incredibly sweet and loving story.

Leaving a Mark by @startingatmidnight
Lovely worldbuilding around Eridian markings/tattoos, and delightful Grace-Rocky banter at all times.

No Rest for the Wicked by HeartAway / @melissamceagle
Bittersweet but hopeful AU where Dubois and Shapiro survive - but Grace gets arrested alongside Stratt when the world turns on the project. (Stratt/Grace)

Accident Waiting to Happen by @constantconfusion14
On the way to Erid, Grace gets badly injured while trying to building a xenonite tunnel extension with Rocky. Very classic h/c with a lot of love and trust.

Without a Doubt by voidknight
In which Grace learns proper grammar for the Eridian language - super nerdy, and bursting with the sweetest, sassiest Grace-Rocky friendship you can imagine, and such cool worldbuilding. You WILL tear up over Eridian grammatical certainty. (If you've read this before, the author just added a third chapter a few days ago!)

Saving Grace by CptnBara
Rocky POV on the events of the book. Pitch-perfect Rocky POV, with delightful footnotes and Eridian worldbuilding.

The Long Journey Home by HeartAway / @melissamceagle
Book-verse, slightly AU (I think) in that Grace never updates the Beetles to say he's going back for Rocky, so Earth presumes he's dead when he never shows up… and then he shows up a few decades later with Eridians! I hardly ever rec WIPs, but this one is fantastic: a balanced blend of prose, journalism, and social media, some fabulous worldbuilding, vivid OCs, and of course, the emotional earthquake of Grace's return to Earth, anchored by his deep friendship with Rocky.

Enjoy your reading, and don't forget to comment! Authors are comment-based lifeforms, they need to be fed!

I do think there is a particular charm, a particular interest, in a biographer who is really visibly in love with their subject. Like, you probably wouldn't want it in every biography. But it's nice to know that the author really extremely wants to be there. It gives an enjoyable sort of tension to the reading experience: at what point is the book going to go off-the-rails because the author has spontaneously transmigrated back to 1931 in a doomed attempt to alter the course of history and fix Buster Keaton's Hollywood career with the power of her passion alone? It could happen! It feels like everything has been foreshadowing it!

Obviously Camera Man: Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema, and the Invention of the of the Twentieth Century does not in fact go off the rails in this way, it does actually remain an interesting and readable biography that uses Keaton's life and career as a jumping-off point to explore the times in which he lived. In the book's introduction, Stevens explains that her fascination with Keaton is such that whenever I heard about something that took place between 1895 and 1966, I found myself trying to fit that event or phenomenon into the puzzle of his life and work. (She also uses the introduction to share a poem she wrote about Keaton. It's not bad!) Anyway, this is a pretty fruitful methodology that leads her to down various side paths to explore not just the history of early cinema but other twentieth-century touchstones such as changing child labor laws, vaudeville and minstrel shows, the rise of Alcoholics' Anonymous, and the career of F. Scott Fitzgerald.*

Often these aren't things that directly impacted Keaton -- Keaton never participated in AA, for example; by the time the program started to gain popularity, Keaton had already hit his rock bottom and come out the other side -- but they run along parallel tracks, such that Keaton's life casts a mirror on the phenomenon or vice versa, or there's an interesting alternate pathway to be imagined where they did indeed intersect. Keaton and Chaplin only worked together once, but you can't help but compare/contrast their trajectories; Keaton and Fitzgerald may never even have met at all, but the downward arcs of their careers were both intertwined with MGM executive Irving Thalberg, on whom Fitzgerald based his last novel.

(Also, it can't have helped with Fitzgerald's fascination, says Stevens, that Thalberg was also extraordinarily good-looking, slight-framed and serious-faced, with large, liquid brown eyes and wavy black hair -- an appearance not unlike that of a certain slapstick comedian whose contract his company had just acquired. We DON'T know they met but we DO know that if they did, Fitzgerald would CERTAINLY have thought Keaton was hot!)

It feels, in other words, like exactly what it is -- a book written by a person whose obsession with one individual has led them down a number of other interesting rabbitholes, to fruitful if not entirely cohesive results. If Keaton had been a fictional character, this might have been a 120K fanfic with a number of beautifully researched, oddly specific chapters. Because Keaton is a real person, we got this book. I had a great time!

I left work an hour early the other night after I started to have, um, digestive issues. I don't like to abandon my partners, even for an hour, even though nothing was happening. It's like smacking Murphy (of Murphy's Law fame) right in the face. But at some point bathroom trips stop you from being of any help, anyway.

When I got home, I discovered my wife was also feeling ... digestivy. In fact, we spent the next two days cursing the fact that our house only has one bathroom. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

But with both of us sick, we decided to track down the source. Naturally, I assumed we had the hantavirus. That's the latest in vogue disease: You're not anyone if you don't get the plague that's striking everyone.

But it turns out hantavirus isn't that easy to get, not to mention the symptoms were all wrong. I feel like I've been failed by social media. What the heck was I supposed to do now? Go to a doctor? Do people still do that?

A stomach bug? Maybe, but it didn't feel right. (Actually, everything felt very wrong.) Just the same, I washed and disinfected everything in the house either of us touched. Believe me, it was a chore getting the couch into the washing machine.

We drink a lot of iced tea, and have a habit of sharing it between us. The way I see it, we sleep together anyway--if one of us had a bug, we'd share it by snoring. Her snores are kind of cute. Mine once broke a bedroom window. But after a few days we were feeling relatively better, and I haven't heard of anyone else having this particular distress, unless you're counting what was coming out of that Artemis rocket.

When we finally settled on a cause, I realized we'd never be able to convince anyone.

In recent weeks we've been trying to eat better--more healthy, balanced, all that crap I spent my life avoiding. It was either one of two things: The sudden change in our eating habits, or some kind of bad germs in some food we aren't used to.

I'm still not sure if my job was trying to kill me off, or attract me back to cover shifts.

We had salad and baby carrots as an appetizer, three meals in a row.

So I told Emily it must be listeria, and that we had in fact ingested big heaps of green letteria, which is a legitimate medical term I just invented. The only glitch in that theory is that all the symptoms didn't quite line up, but if it keeps me from having a salad before pizza I'll just muddle through.

But we're all better now, other than the allergy attack when I mowed the lawn, which I guess could also be blamed on green growing things. As a compromise, yesterday we had a pork roast with potatoes and carrots, and at work I ate an apple, orange, and a handful of M&Ms. Okay, a bowl full.

It's all about moderation.

If you’re feeling well enough, here are some places to find us and our books:

· Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

· Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

· Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

· Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

· Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

· Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

· Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

· Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

· Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

· Substack: https://substack.com/@markrhunter

· Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

· Audible: https://www.audible.com/search?searchAuthor=Mark+R.+Hunter&ref_pageloadid=4C1TS2KZGoOjloaJ&pf

Remember: Books have no calories. I mean, unless you eat them.

Current Mood: lethargic
Current Location: the couch
Current Music: John Williams

Intro/FAQ

And we have come to my last day hosting for this round! As always, it has been a pleasure to hear what you've been working on and help cheer you on.

Starting tomorrow,

dswdiane will host for us! Everyone gang over there to finish the month!

My check-in: Held a ribbon cutting-ceremony for a new story by writing an alibi sentence. ("You have surely heard, Maria, that a Royal Navy captain is married first and foremost to his kraken?") Also wrote an AO3 summary for another story, and did some light editing on a third.

Day 15:

acorn_squash,

badly_knitted,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

dswdiane,

goddess47,

ofmonstrouswords,

sanguinity,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 14:

acorn_squash,

badly_knitted,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

dswdiane,

goddess47,

ofmonstrouswords,

sanguinity,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 13:

acorn_squash,

badly_knitted,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

dswdiane,

goddess47,

sanguinity,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

( More days )

When you check in, please use the most recent post and say what day(s) you’re checking in for. Remember you can drop in or out at any time, and let me know if I missed anyone!

Still very, very slowly working through this Gen Prompt Bingo card from last round. I think I've kind of gotten stuck on second person for a bit now, for some reason. Probably because so many people hate it, and I am nothing if not a contrary soul when it comes to these things. Anyway, have a small bad guy character study thingy, or something.

Title: Not Easy Having Yourself a Good Time
Fandom: Gravity Falls
Characters/Relationships: Bill Cipher
Rating/Warnings: G-rated, no warnings unless you count, y'know, destroying an entire dimension
Tags: character study, second person
Length: ~650 words
Summary: Says he's happy; he's a liar.
Author's Notes: Written for Gen Prompt Bingo, for the prompt "anhedonia (lack of pleasure)."

Not Easy Having Yourself a Good Time

Current Mood: okay

Mark Russell (illus. Steve Pugh), The Flintstones, Vol. 1 & 2 (2017)

Two volume collection of Mark Russell's run of The Flintstones, in which Bedrock is a satire of late-20th-century US society. Fred and Barney struggle with the guilt of having participated in an unacknowledged genocide during their military enlistment; consumerism is rampant; the electorate is easily led; Mr. Slade and his rich friends are out for nothing but ever-increasing wealth; and the Church of Gerald is making it all up as it goes along. Guest appearances by Carl Sagan, Tony Danza, and the space aliens who use Bedrock as a party planet for spring break.

Weirdly poignant, uncomfortably on the nose, and I ache for Bowling Ball and his best friend the Vacuum Cleaner (an armadillo and miniature elephant, respectively--I'm a little surprised I can't find fic of them!) Also, someone had too much fun writing puns for all the background signs.

Mariko Tamaki (illus. Steve Pugh), Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass (2019)

Delightful graphic novel providing an alternate origin story for Harley Quinn, in which she is an at-loose-ends Gotham High School student, taken in (commendable) by a drag queen and taken in (reprehensible) by the Joker. Her best friend Ivy (who has not yet taken on he 'Poison' moniker) is a shining example of a teenage activist, working to save the neighborhood (and the drag queens, and the community garden) from gentrification, teaching Harleen about intersectionality and community organizing as she goes. The Joker, sheltered by his family's millions, walks away free at the end--or would have, if not for Harley deciding she has her own scores to settle...

Beautiful, understated art by Steve Pugh, and Harleen is an absolute delight. (She is also a nightmare child! But she is above-all a delight and a pleasure to have in ~~class~~ the drag club.) Sadly, this volume appears to be an outside-of-continuity one-off, because I would happily read more.

Ronald Wimberley, Black History in its Own Words (2017)

Cartoons of Black celebrities and historical figures, each with an inspiration quote of theirs. The art is simple and impactful, the quotes powerful, and the selection of figures is an interesting mix of people I was and was not familiar with.

Originally a series published at The Nib for Black History Month 2014 and 2015; Wimberley drew an additional series just for this book in 2017.

Merlin Sheldrake, Entangled Life, The Illustrated Edition: How Fungi Make Our Worlds (2023)

Author's abridgement of the original edition, but jam-packed with stunning photos of fungi, many taken with an electron microscope. I really liked that the edition was laid out to really let you enjoy the photographs (pages and paragraphs ended at the same time, making it easy to really look at a photo before you turned the page). Flipside, what I wouldn't have given for endnotes! Quite often the author mentions some cool thing in an offhand way, but you're left to do all the sleuthing on your own, with no hints as to sources. Maybe someday I'll read the full version, in order to get the more in-depth versions of all these stories.

Remy Charlip, Arm in Arm (1969)

Delightfully witty and playful picture book. Text and illustrations intertwine to craft narrative inversions of each other, and sometimes straightforward old-fashioned puns and jokes. A classic, and I'm rather surprised I didn't first encounter it on my mother's bookshelves.

Lois McMaster Bujold, The Vor Game (1990)

Another read-aloud-over-dinner-prep book. Re-read for me; first read for

grrlpup. Grrlpup and I skipped the early Miles novels because she struggles with MilSF, but we looped back to pick up this one before starting Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen. Vor Game is a stronger novel than I remembered, although there's still that strange shift in register between the Kyril Island and Hegen Hub sections. Grrlpup liked it because it has so much Gregor content (although she would have liked a lot more!)

Between one thing and another, I haven't been playing much of Dragon Age: Origins since I started it ages and ages ago, but I did reach one milestone today: I reached the part where it started requiring more memory to run on a modern computer than it wants to allow itself, forcing me to scramble to figure out why it was crashing and than how to install a mod/patch that would get it to just use the extra memory. Just as well I'm not streaming it right now. Also, I'm pretty sure I've finally started the game's proper plot. I currently have a fluctuating crush on Alistair, who is my main candidate for romancing at the moment, but I probably should meet the other characters before making that decision. Also, the more he and Morrighan snipe at each other, the more I wonder if I should just ship them together instead.
Also, a week before I head down to Atlanta! I've actually joined a discord for people going to the live show, and I might be doing a meetup with some of them at the aquarium, though the plans for that don't seem to be concrete yet. Though this weekend I also feel like I should book my flights to and from San Diego; it's closing in on two months before that as well.

beccadg is needing our support, folks!

Her GFM.

If you can share, that would help. If you donate, hit me up for a drabble if you share a fandom with me.

Intro/FAQ

Starting on May 16,

dswdiane will host. That's two more check-ins here (this one + tomorrow), and then we'll all gang over to their place to finish the month!

My check-in: A couple of paragraphs, plus some notes.

Day 14:

Day 13:

acorn_squash,

badly_knitted,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

dswdiane,

goddess47,

sanguinity,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 12:

badly_knitted,

china_shop,

carenejeans,

cornerofmadness,

dswdiane,

glinda,

goddess47,

sanguinity,

trobadora,

So. I just watched what Amazon is apparently for some reason still calling "Season 3" of Good Omens. And, well. Yeah.

( Spoilers, albeit kind of vague ones )

Current Mood: disappointed

Intro/FAQ

My check-in: Long brainstorming convo with my other cheerleader last night. If we have not solved my problems, we have clarified objective and means. Today I followed up 150 words of notes and 500 words of story.

Day 13:

china_shop,

sanguinity

Day 12:

badly_knitted,

china_shop,

carenejeans,

cornerofmadness,

dswdiane,

glinda,

goddess47,

sanguinity,

trobadora

Day 11:

acorn_squash,

badly_knitted,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

dswdiane,

glinda,

sanguinity,

sylvan_witch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

It's photo Wednesday again, or whatever day you happen to be reading and I happen to be posting. Staying on a schedule has turned out to be harder than I thought, especially since I'm editing one book and still working on the first draft of another.

The subject wasn't hard, though, because as I looked through old photos I found a number that had two things in common: old or unusual vehicles, taken at an inopportune time. In other words, snapshots. For instance, in the above photo I was taking pictures of an unusually large load that was being escorted through town at the time. Then I caught sight of this car, which I've seen drive through town many times, but never managed to capture before.

It was the same in this case. (I was stopped!) I had already brought out my phone to get the car ahead of me, when I saw an Avilla Fire truck go by and tried to get them both in the frame. Which is dumb.

(By the way, these were all taken at least a couple of years ago, so ignore the license plates.)

Elvis has stopped for Starbucks!

This truck, you'll agree, can go for hundreds of miles with that spare tank on its back.

A pretty much normal car, but as I was photographing it, it was photographing me.

I was parked right outside my job as I arrived for my shift. I didn't bother to ask the other dispatchers if anyone could afford it.

This was apparently just being used as a passenger car. I never saw the driver, so I can't tell you if it's his or hearse.

Emily and I both like camping, so I showed her this. But she said no.

In my unpublished novel We Love Trouble, a couple and their dog travel around in a huge RV towed by an equally large pickup truck. I'm thinking of going to a former fire truck as above, but the logistics of maneuvering that thing around are pretty intimidating.

You can’t find our cars here, but here are some places to find us and our books:

· Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

· Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

· Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

· Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

· Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

· Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

· Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

· Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

· Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

· Substack: https://substack.com/@markrhunter

· Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

· Audible: https://www.audible.com/search?searchAuthor=Mark+R.+Hunter&ref_pageloadid=4C1TS2KZGoOjloaJ&pf

Remember: You can read in cars, too.

Current Mood: lethargic
Current Location: outside
Current Music: Driving My Life away

Intro/FAQ

My check-in: A paragraph, so far.

Day 12:

glinda,

Day 11:

acorn_squash,

badly_knitted,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

dswdiane,

glinda,

sanguinity,

sylvan_witch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 10:

acorn_squash,

badly_knitted,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

dswdiane,

goddess47,

sanguinity,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

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Gray Cardinal @ AO3

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This is a fanfic journal. I'm interested in a wide variety of fandoms as well as in meta- and theoretical discussions; see my interests list for specific fandom categories. Comments, critiques, recs, reviews, and the like are always welcome.

March 2026

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All My Life is Circles....

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How To Fix It

The Right Bait: Zaknafein's Tale

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Podfic!

Unsent Letters: My Gift

X-Ladies Ficlet

3W4DW book meme

Project Hail Mary recs

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Medical Diagnosis: Death by Healthy Food

Write Every Day: Day 15

Back To The Bingo Card

Recently (hah!) Read

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Pass the Hat

Write Every Day: Day 14

Well, That's That

Write Every Day: Day 13

Old and Strange Vehicle Photos

Write Every Day: Day 12

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March 2026

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