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Fandom Fifty: #29

2004, juggling three small human beings and a depressed baby!daddy. I actually think this year was okay, for me. I was still sublimating everything into trying to be a good parent.

How many movies will I recall?

( Only 9? Well, 9 I care to write up )

(no subject)

My sister finally came over, if only because she really wanted to get us both to Kaiser and get us both vaccinated for the year before RFK went and made that harder today. That, at least, got accomplished. The poor nurses were obliged to tell me the Covid shot hadn't been approved for people my age, but being presented as my mom's caretaker got them to quickly agree I should get it anyway. I got my flu shot, too, and currently my shoulders are taking turns throbbing a bit, but it's been worse.
We were also hoping to order a new stove, and finally put in for the switch to Fios. But for the latter things went weird, with us being told we had to create a separate Verizon account from the one we're currently getting our landline through, and then being told we couldn't because the email (mom's) was in use. We made the account under my email instead but even then it wouldn't behave itself. So we have given up for the day. Ever since I learned it probably won't even fix our internet problems, I have gotten very tired of all of this. We ended up not ordering the stove either, because apparently I now need to decide which one of the candidates we looked at I prefer. I don't really see much difference.
Next up is actually mom helping my sister by paying off her credit card debts, since that'll make her life post-layoff much more manageable. I'm not sure when any of that is happening, though.

Entry tags:

Big Bang: Serendipity Comes From Defying Expectations [Knives Out | T | Marta/Ransom]

Title: Serendipity Comes From Defying Expectations
Author:

jedibuttercup
Fandom: Knives Out (2019)
Rating: T/PG-13; Marta/Ransom
Warnings/Notes: For the 2025

iddyiddybangbang. A Harlan-Lives AU for Iddy Iddy Bang Bang 2025: an exercise in scheming seen through a limited POV, and warping someone else's path simply by being who you are. :)

Summary: Ransom was the only one of the Thrombeys who hadn't been haunting the patriarch's doorstep with demands and pleas ever since the party. Maybe there was a little more to him than the façade of a spoiled rich kid who valued nothing and no one besides himself. 10,500 words

( Serendipity Comes From Defying Expectations ) (or read at AO3)

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Our Author Appearance Necessity List

It's been a few years since Emily and I did an author appearance, so I dug up this blog from back then just to remind myself. We're going to be at Albion's Fall Celebration this Saturday, on the Courthouse Square. Never mind the weather--we'll figure it out.

I'm sure you all added our upcoming author appearances to your calendars and phones, and possibly had the dates tattooed backward to your foreheads. I mean, all those vendors together--it'll be Indiana's social event of the decade. (Although I'm told the world's biggest greased pig chase and cornhole contest will be next year in Muncie, so we might be in second place.)

If I did post a link to the 10 am - 2 pm event, which includes a classic car cruise-in, food, and almost two dozen vendors, I'd put it here:

https://www.albionstarteam.org/fall-celebration

But I won't. It's our first author appearance since 2022--even before COVID we didn't do them often, so I started a list of what we needed to bring. Then I realized, surely I already made a list? I do that. I went back and sure enough, there it was.

So, what does every good author, and most of the bad ones, need to bring?

1. Books. This is kinda important. If you do a book signing, you should have something to sign.

2. Change. When one goes somewhere to sell books, one must assume some books will be sold. Thus: change for those high rollers who walk around with hundred dollar bills. (I don't know any of them, either.)

3. A calculator or, these days, a calculator app. After all, the whole reason I became a writer is because I can't do math in my head.

4. Tylenol. You'd be surprised. No, probably you wouldn't.

5. A camera. My wife took a photo of me signing a book for an Indiana State Senator who, apparently not having read my columns about politicians, was very nice. You never know what you might get a picture of when you're out in the public.

6. Paper and pens. The pens are to, duh, sign books. The paper is because, even though We'll have phones with us, I don't trust technology.

7. A tarp and an umbrella, if the venue is outside. There's a reason why books aren't usually sold outdoors, but I laugh in the face of danger. Well, I cringe, which looks a little like laughing, if you squint. (I just looked at the forecast, and I'm scared.)

8. Business cards. Emily designed me my very own business card! Sometimes, when it's slow at events, I sneak around the crowds and pull the opposite of pick pocketing, leaving my calling card behind. Come on, you knew that was me.

9. A table and chairs. The basics, right? We bought a folding chair that's so comfortable I'm thinking of throwing away our couch. I can't find it.

10. Liquid refreshments. I'm thinking water. Hey, I don't need any help from alcohol to look foolish.

11. Displays and signs. To display stuff ... like signs.

12. Scotch Tape. It's the author's duct tape.

A lot of that stuff will fit nicely into the totes we bought for the purpose, although, man, books can get heavy when you're carrying them a long way. The good news is, we have actual copies of all our books for the first time, now that Storm Squalls is in print. How about you other authors? What's on your "to-bring" list? And what would you potential readers like to see an author supplied with?

Remember, every time you miss an author event, Edgar Allan Poe rolls over in his grave. You don't want to wake that guy up.

(But if you can't make it, find our books at:)

· 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

· Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/ozma914

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

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

Remember: Some authors only appear on the full moon, so be nice to them.

Prompts SENT

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

The Brownstone Scrabble Championships (Elementary)

A few of you may remember "Score: Q to 12," in which Sherlock refuses to confine himself to the Scrabble Official Club and Tournament Word List, and Joan refuses to spend any more time trying to make him. (Elementary, Joan & Sherlock, 453 words)

At the prompting of a friend, now there is a sequel, "Score: i√2 to 𓅧," in which the game has continued to evolve. (Elementary, Outsider POV, 221b ficlet)

While I was posting last night, I also archived the DVD commentary I did for "Score: Q to 12" back in 2014. Last month,

mific in

fan_writers was bemoaning the death of the DVD commentary on AO3. And I thought: I've written a bunch, they're just not on AO3; they're all on tumblr and DW. I usually link the main story to them, but I haven't been actually archiving them on the archive site, as I haven't wanted to clutter up the main story with a bunch of extraneous material. But based on that

fan_writers convo, I thought I'd pull this one over as an experiment. Depending on how it goes, I might pull over the rest of my "DVD extras" -- commentaries, deleted scenes -- for other stories, too.

Entry tags:

(no subject)

I liked the Korean movie Phantom (2023) enough that I decided to hunt down the novel on which it's based, Mai Jia's The Message -- in large part out of curiosity about whether it's also lesbians.

The answer: ... sort of! The lesbians are not technically textual but there's a bit of Lesbian Speculation and then a big pointed narrative hole where lesbians could potentially be. It is, however, without a doubt, Women Being Really Weird About Each Other, to the point where I'm considering it as a Yuletide fandom (perhaps even moreso than the movie, where the women are also weird about each other but in a more triumphant cinematic way and less of an ambiguous, psychologically complex and melancholic way. you know.)

The plot: well, as in the movie, there's a spy, and there's the Japanese Occupation, and there's a Big Haunted House where we're keeping all the possible spies to play mind games with until somebody fesses up. Because the book is set in 1941 China, there are actually three factions at play -- the Japanese and collaborators, the Communists and the Nationalists -- and for the whole first part of the book, fascinatingly enough, we are almost entirely in the head of the Japanese officer who's running the operation and choreographing all the mind games in an attempt to ferret out the Communist agent in his codebreaking division. The result is sort of a weird and almost darkly funny anti-heroic anti-Poirot situation, in which Hihara is constantly engineering increasingly complicated locked-room scenarios designed to get the spy to confess like the culprit in a Thin Man movie, and is constantly thwarted by his suspects inconveniently refusing to stick to the script, even when presented with apparently incontrovertible evidence, placed under torture, lied to about the deaths of other members of the party, etc. etc.

The suspects include several variously annoying men, plus two women whom we and everyone else are clearly intended to find the most interesting people there: quiet and competent Li Ningyu, cryptography division head, mother of two, whom everyone knows is semi-separated from an abusive husband, and who somehow manages to keep calmly slithering her way out of every accusation Hihara tries to stick on her; and her opposite, loud bratty chic Gu Xiaomeng, whom Hihara would very much like to rule out as a suspect as quickly as possible because she's the daughter of a very wealthy collaborator, and who seems moderately obsessed with her boss Li Ningyu For Some Reason.

Both book and movie spend, like, sixty percent of their length on this big house espionage mind games scenario and then abruptly take a left turn, with the next forty percent being Something Completely Different. In the film this left turn involves DRAMATIC ROMANTIC ACTION HEROICS!!!! so I was quite surprised to find that the book's left turn ( involves spoilers )

Current Mood: pleased

Entry tags:

ficathon,
podfic

throws rice

After many delays, Just Married finally went live yesterday! And, wow, what a great exchange this was for me. I got three gifts: a Three/Delgado!Master story, a Twelve/Missy one, and a Harry du Bois/Kim Kitsuragi one (with artwork). All of which are great in different ways.

And on top of that, someone as their entry did a podfic of my Disco Elysium story from a previous round, "Do, Did, Will." Which I'd really been looking forward to hearing ever since they asked me for permission to do it some time ago. And they did a great job with it! I especially like the voice they do for Harry, which very much evokes the one I imagine for him in my own head. You know, it's happened several times now, but I don't think I will ever, ever stop getting a huge kick out of people podficcing my stuff. Partly because it's always such a flattering surprise that anybody wants to do it, but also because listening to the result always feels like encountering my own stuff from the outside for the first time. Like, it's this thing that's just out there in the world and I sort of have to actively remind myself that, hey, I did that, I made that story exist! Which is bizarre-feeling and fascinating and cool.

(no subject)

I did look into trying to get tickets for the NYCC live show on the resale, but now I have instead booked a visit to the Critical Role pop-up shop that's going to be in Soho earlier in the month, and booked hotel and train to have two full days in New York. Though I'll have to go up late on Saturday, since SDCC returning registration's that day!
Still haven't booked with Fios. My sister was not up to coming over here this weekend, and while I might try the website by myself again, I'd need a very high-spoons day for that, and those are few and far between right now. It has not helped that situation that the burners on our stove have now started to fail, and to top it off, my headphones stopped working properly today-though at least ordering that replacement was a quick and easy task. But now that I kind of want to get the whole thing done before this trip, that might be enough motivation to order it next weekend if she can't make it here before then.

#ITPE 2025 Letter

Dear podficcer,

I am super excited to hear whatever you have in store for me! I am on tumblr at

blackestglass and AO3 at

blackglass.

Things I Like: TROPES AND AUS. AWESOME LADIES. CHARACTERS OF COLOR. TEAM/FAMILY HIJINKS AND FEELS. OT3s AND MORESOMES ARE A-OKAY. GEN/HET/FEMSLASH (My slash ships are few and far between). I am here for the happy and the humor and the fluff. I mean, I am okay with angst and will forgive you for the critical hits to THE FEEEELS as long as it's balanced out with levity and has a happy ending. I am okay with any rating from gen to suuuuuuper explicit. I also love filk, so if you wanted to record that for me it would be SO welcome. I love music and sound effects, but if it's under narration, I really need the volume of the music/sfx to be on the lower side in order for me to parse what's being said. I've only written a handful of stuff, and if anyone felt compelled to record some of my fics for Critical Role that I haven't already recorded, that would delight me (I would prefer not to get podfics of anything I've written for the MCU/MCU-adjacent fics I've written only because I've moved on from that fandom)! I'm okay with repods of things I've done as treats, but would prefer not to get them as a main gift.

Do Not Wants: I am not into character death, dub/non-con/rape, explicit violence, ZOMBIES CAN'T DO EM, dystopias, post-apocalyptic AUs, Omegaverse, slave fic, infidelity, soulmates/soulmate mark AUs, and character-bashing. I've also discovered that I cannot listen to extended scenes in which characters are being wrongfully accused with no one to stand up for them on their behalf. I can skim those scenes in text, but it's harder to skip in audio. So maybe no courtroom drama AUs lol. I would prefer not to get cold reads/chatty reads, as I prefer an edited podfic.

Tropes/AUs I am into: Honestly, as long as the tropes/AUs don't fall into any of my DNW categories, you're pretty much good to go. College/High School AUs! My weakness. Coffee shop AUs! SPACE AUs! Regency AUs (omgggggg Regency AUs)! Characters in a different profession AUs! Genderswap/Rule 63/Spectrum slide (choose your favorite term)! Hella into piiiiiining (with eventual resolved sexual tension), failboats in love, fake dating/married, secret dating/married, kidfic/deaging yes do want, forced to share the same bed, huddling for warmth, accidental baby acquisition, etc. If the canon is sad, I prefer the EVERYBODY LIVES/NOBODY DIES AUs.

Fandoms:

Dungeon Crawler Carl: Listen...I know this is a longshot fandom. It's got like, 83 fics and the vast majority is for ships I don't care for. There is no blanket permission anywhere. But....it's where my joy is right now. I don't have any ships in this fandom and am here for the found family and the plucky, fuck-you, triumph of the human spirit. I adoooore Carl and Donut, together and separately. I love their found family and would also enjoy anything about Carl and/or Donut interacting with their friends/family Katia, Imani, Ellie, Zev, and Mordecai. You can ignore my DNWs about violence for this fandom. It's an extremely violent universe and I know what I'm getting into with this fandom.

9-1-1: Tumblr gifsets GOT ME. I don't usually ship slash, but I am not immune to idiots-to-lovers + co-parenting/found family so Buck/Eddie has been very good for me. I would prefer getting together fics over established relationship fics or PWP for this fandom/pairing. The more pining/mutual oblivious yearning, the better. I also like Buck/Tommy! I love all the ladies fandom hates, so please no Ana, Abby, Shannon, Taylor, Natalia or Marisol-bashing. Aside from Buck/Eddie, I would enjoy cute Fire Fam gen fic, Buck being a dad to Chris fic, Hen/Karen fic, Bobby being Buck's dad fic, anything about Ravi, Hen + Chim besties fic, or Chimney-centric fic. I loved Shannon and wish she hadn't been fridged, so I would love AUs where she lives and she and Eddie are amicably divorced and good co-parents. I'd even enjoy OT3 Buck/Eddie/Shannon. I am very sad about Bobby, so would prefer AUs where he's still alive.

The Murderbot Diaries (books): I am SO WEAK for the found family feels in this universe. Anything about Murderbot and its PresAux humans would be very good for me. I am ESPECIALLY invested in Murderbot and its relationship with Mensah and look, obviously I love gen fic, but the way I feel about Murderbot and Mensah is the same way I feel about Joan and Sherlock from Elementary, which is I love them platonically but I'd also love podfic that explores their relationship in shippy or queerplatonic ways. I also really enjoy Murderbot and its prickly relationship with Gurathin, but that dynamic I specifically prefer to be platonic. I really adore stories about Murderbot having a soft spot for all the mini-Mensahs/Mensah children. Murderbot interacting with fauna is also a reliable favorite for me! I do prefer book canon over the TV show canon atm.

The Mandalorian: My tastes for this fandom are very easy. Single Dad Mando raising his Green Baby. That is all I want. I'm not particularly invested in shipping for this fandom. That being said...I don't hate Din/Bo. The loyal-liege trope is one of my bulletproof kinks so uh, Din pledging his loyalty to Bo? Did in fact activate my "I could ship that" senses. I haven't actively looked for any fic, so if you find one you like that you think I'd like, don't let me stop you! I have recently decided I am also here for the Din/Fennec/Boba OT3.

CQL (The Untamed)/MDZS: My particular catnip for this fandom is Jiang Cheng/Wen Qing--a badass lady who deserved better gently domming a very angry, emotionally tortured man with lots of AU fix-it fic??? MADE FOR ME. In terms of gen fic, I will HAPPILY accept any fic where the women of CQL/MDZS get to be alive and be awesome. As an oldest Asian daughter, I overidentify with Jiang Yanli and want her to have good things, so JYL centric stories where she gets to have an interior life and an identity outside of taking care of her brothers would be Very Good for me. I also really enjoy shipping her with Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen. What can I say? I want her to be pursued by men of TASTE. And honestly? I will read any femslash pairings with her but I've developed a special investment in JYL/WQ. So basically, I believe in OLDER SIBS SUPREMACY! I am extremely into the big sibs Jiang Yanli, Nie Mingjue, Lan Xichen, and Wen Qing OT4 and any permutation of pairings or OT3s within this OT4. In lieu of the OT4, I will accept gen fic about any combination of those 4 bonding over how much they love their younger siblings. In general, I HAVE A LOT OF FEELS ABOUT ALL THE SIBLINGS. So gen fic about the LAN BROS! THE NIE BROS! THE WEN SIBLINGS!! THE YUNMENG TRIO! I WANT THEM. I WANT ALL THE SIBLINGS TO BE HAPPY! If you'd prefer to do something more canon-aligned, I would like post-canon JIANG CHENG AND WEI WUXIAN TO GET OVER THEMSELVES AND BE BROTHERS AGAIN. I'm also extremely invested in jiujiu!Jiang Cheng and any gen stories about him raising Jin Ling would make me cry many tears. I have also discovered that I am VERY INTO girl-Huaisang because the idea of Nie Mingjue being EXTREMELY PROTECTIVE of his baby sister delights me.......and also I ship it, ahem. I am also very into Huaisang/Zonghui (behold! a rare m/m ship!)--THE BODYGUARD ROMANCE I DESERVE. No canon compliant fic for them, I want Zonghui to be ALIVE and DESPERATELY IN LOVE WITH HUAISANG.

Rogue One: Jyn/Cassian break my heart. THEY ARE SO BEAUTIFUL AND TRAGIC, and naturally all I want are AUs where they get to be PARTNERS/A BATTLE COUPLE/IN LOVE. I do not, under any circumstances, want canon-compliant fic for them. I don't want to be sad about them!!! I'm already sad about them, I don't need more pain! ;_;

Critical Role/The Legend of Vox Machina: For Campaign 1 or The Legend of Vox Machina, you will literally never go wrong with Percy/Vex. Aside from Percy/Vex, I also really like Vex/Jarett, Gilmore/Jarett, Grog/Keyleth, and Kima/Allura. I would also adore gen fic for this fandom because FOUND FAMILY FEELS. I love Percy and Keyleth's friendship SO MUCH, so gen fic for them is especially appreciated.

For Campaign 2, I am basically entirely about Caleb/Jester. And more specifically, what I like about the ship is how much Caleb makes Jester's happiness a priority. I prefer stories which feature Jester's POV or at least a story where Jester's emotions are given priority or equal weight with Caleb's Sad Boi feelings. To put it simply, Jester is my fave, I like the ship because Caleb treats my fave well and I want that dynamic to be front and center.

For Campaign 3, I am super into Fearne/Ashton. Their dynamic is FASCINATING. I also really enjoy Laudna/Imogen.

EXU Calamity left me in shambles emotionally. I'm extremely invested in Laerryn/Loquatious so anything for them would be perfect. I would also love any reincarnation fics for the Ring of Brass or just pre-canon fics in general. Modern AUs where nothing bad ever happens to them? DO WANT.

Dimension 20: I've loved most of the campaigns and sidequests, but fannishly I'm most inclined towards Fantasy High and The Unsleeping City, as well as the Escape to the Bloodkeep sidequest. I am always into the found family and gen shenanigans most of all. As a former church kid, I feel Very Seen by Kristen's evolving relationship with her deities and her queer journey. I love everything about Gilear and if you find fic about his relationship with Fig, I WANT IT. I also love everything about Kingston Brown and would love Kingston-centric podfic. I am EXTREMELY invested in Ricky/Esther and Sofia/Dale, so ship-wise, this is where I live. For the Vile Villains, I just want stories about them being the best evil friends they are. I do enjoy the Lords of the Wing from A Court of Fey and Flowers, so if you'd like to podfic me a story about the cousins being the Messy Bitches they are, I would love that. I enjoyed Mentopolis enormously, and fics about Conrad and The Fix and post-canon fics about The Fix/Pasha would be amazing! Misfits and Magic season 2 set my Sam/Evan ship feels SAILING. I honestly wanted them to get together in season 1 but this season??? Their dynamic??? *chef's kiss* IMMACULATE. Also when Evan asks her if he can be her dog and live in her house??? AWAKENED SOMETHING INSIDE ME. I'm JUST SAYING. Pup play fic exists on AO3...with a bp author... *eyes emoji*

Leverage: Leverage Redemption has reignited the OT3 love and that's mainly what I want. But I also love found family gen and case fic and fun crossovers! Also......Sophie/Harry aka Our Mr. Wilson? I'm ngl, I SHIP IT.

Mass Effect Trilogy- I will forever be aboard the good ship FemShep/Garrus and would LOVE LOVE LOVE podfic for them. I'm also willing to receive cute team gen, fic about KROGAN BABIES, and Tali/Kal Reegar podfic. Also, ANYTHING ABOUT SPACE HAMSTER. I'm not really interested in MaleShep or any of the other romances tbph.

Dragon Age (2 or 3)- Again, I'm mainly interested in FemHawke or FemInquisitor. My VERY FAVORITE DA2 pairing is Hawke/Varric, but I also enjoy Hawke/Sebastian, Merill/Carver, and Isabela/Fenris. Anders can be around but I'd rather he not be a major character. (I'm not asking for Veilguard podfic specifically, but in the event you're podficcing Hawke/Varric fic that's post-Veilguard, I want the AUs WHERE MY MAN IS ALIVE. plz ;_;) My VERY FAVORITE DAI pairing is Inquisitor/Iron Bull--like, that was my gateway into the DA spiral bc I wanted to Ride the Bull. I don't mind Inquisitor/Cullen but I don't read a lot of fic for them because there's just...too much and it's hard to separate the wheat from the chaff iykwim. I'd rather not have Solas present as anything other than an ensemble character. As always, aside from these specified pairings, I also super enjoy cute gen fic and I have the very softest of spots for Cole, so anything about people being kind to Cole is my jam.

Red vs. Blue- York/Carolina is still the Tier 1 OTP. AUs or fix-it canon AUs for them please, because I'm so sad about them ;__; BUT--I recently caught up on the seasons I didn't watch after they killed my boy and uh...I AM ON BOARD THE WASH/CAROLINA SHIP I HAVE MANY FEELINGS ABOUT THEM. Also, Caboose is my One True Love, so Caboose-centric gen fic is everything I could ever want.

Fullmetal Alchemist (anime/manga)- Roy/Riza were my first OTP, in the sense that I only ship them together and not with anyone else. I want them to be in love. It can be set pre-show, during the show, post-show, or in a wild AU--as long as they're in love you cannot go wrong with me. Whether they're desperately pining for each other or happily married, as long as I am DROWNING IN FEELINGS about how much they love each other I will be so so satisfied. LET MY BABES BE IN LOVE, THAT'S IT.

I also really love Lan Fan/Ling Yao, and I also SUPER ENJOY Lan Fan/Ling Yao/Greed. IT IS THE BODYGUARD ROMANCE I DESERVE AND WANT.

Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku- This is a longshot fandom, but sob, I love Hirotaka/Narumi and would love podfic for them. I would also be okay with OT4 podfic for Hirotaka/Narumi/Kabakura/Hanako, bc fandom has opened my eyes to the polyamorous possibilities and on rewatch, the OT4 vibes are REAL.

Spy x Family- another longshot fandom, but I am, as always, into the found family-ness of it all. I also SUPER ship Loid/Yor and would love podfic for them. Bond is Best Boi so fics from his POV would be fantastic!

Elementary- Joan and Sherlock are my OTP. I am a-okay with stories involving them being platonic bffs, but if it's shippy you will own my soul forever. FICS ABOUT CLYDE WOULD BE LOVED AND PETTED AND CLUTCHED CLOSE TO MY HEART.

Ouran High School Host Club (anime/manga)- a small fandom, I know, but I would love anything involving the Host Club being their RIDICULOUS OVER-DRAMATIC SELVES and having WACKY ADVENTURES. Also leaning more gen, rather than shippy with this fandom. That being said, my preferred pairings are Mori/Haruhi and Kyouya/Haruhi if you can't find anything that works for you. In terms of OT3s, I do like Kyouya/Tamaki/Haruhi!

Tortall (Protector of the Small books specifically)- I am all about Keladry. KELADRYYYYYYYYY. KEL BEING AWESOME. KEL BONDING WITH ALANNA. KEL AND HER BOYS. KEL AND HER PEOPLE AT NEW HOPE. Gen is fantastic, but you should know I ship Kel/EVERYONE. I wrote a manifesto about her with fic recs here.

Avatar: The Last Airbender- I've been on a Zuko/Katara kick lately, so please indulge my feels for this ship, plz and thanks.

The Punisher/Daredevil series specifically- Frank/Karen. Period. End. I'd prefer you steer away from stories where she's Perfect Pure Karen who's put on a pedestal--what I like about this ship is that they see each other's darkness, recognize it, and accept it.

I think that's about it. If you want more information about my tastes, my recs tag on tumblr, or my recs tag on

het_reccers is a good thing to trawl through. :D And if you have any questions, feel free to comment anonymously.

Giving:
Aside from the fandoms/characters/ships outlined in my letter, I'm also willing to create in:
911: Lone Star
MCU (movies up to Shang Chi, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Hawkeye--I haven't seen any of the other Disney+ series)
DCU comics (Batfamily, pre-Infinite Crisis Teen Titans, pre-Infinite Crisis Birds of Prey, Batgirl (Cassandra Cain run), Justice League International)
DCU animated series (Teen Titans (original series, not Teen Titans go), Young Justice, Batman, Justice League, Justice League Unlimited)
The Martian (book/movie)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV series)
Firefly (TV series)
Good Omens (all canons)
Miraculous Ladybug
Stargate Atlantis
Naruto, Bleach, Sailor Moon, Gundam Wing, Inuyasha (anime only)
Enchanted Forest
Figure Skating RPF
Spirited Away
Sleepy Hollow
Brooklyn Nine Nine
Calvin and Hobbes
Sense8
The Good Place
Untitled Goose Game
Mulan
Carmen Sandiego (any adaptation)
The Mummy
The Queen's Thief
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Bridgerton

Entry tags:

Fic: The Question Ain't If But When [M; Expend4bles; Lee/Barney]

M; Expendables 4; Lee Christmas/Barney Ross, 4700 words. Soul bond AU.

After all, there was nowhere Barney Ross could go that Lee Christmas couldn't follow. Not anymore.

The Question Ain't If But When

(For

flawsinthevoodoo in

raremaleslashex)

Entry tags:

scavengers reign

(no subject)

We watched Scavengers Reign because it was enthusiastically recommended to

genarti as fun animated science fiction about being stranded on an alien planet with interesting alien biology. Which is true! This is not incorrect! Not Mentioned was the extent to which it is also very definitely lovingly animated body-and-survival horror ..... every time we watched we checked in with each other like 'still good to proceed? not too much eugughghhhhhh?' '[grimly] let's watch at least one more episode and see what happens,' and in this way we eventually crawled through all twelve episodes.

NONETHELESS I do think it was very good, once we acclimated to the eugughghhhhhh factor. (I ended up higher on it than

genarti did, in some part because I liked the ending for my favorite character better than she liked the ending for hers.) The first episode introduces you in media res to the several sets of people stranded on this planet that the show will be following:

- Sam and Ursula, an older man and younger woman traveling together, who've developed a plan to bring down their heavily damaged ship, the Demeter,, still in orbit around the planet with most of the crew in cryosleep; Ursula is fascinated by the planet and interested in learning more about it, while Sam is laser-focused on Getting Out Of There
- Azi, a motorcycle butch who's been in crop-growing survival mode supported by (a) Levi (unit), a pleasant manual labor robot whose behavior is becoming increasingly altered by some kind of planetary growth thriving in its innards
- Kamen, alone and still trapped in his escape pod, on the verge of death until he encounters a telepathic creature that brainwashes him into symbiotic/parasitic collaboration, and yet somehow his biggest concern is still His Divorce

Over the course of the story, we learn through flashbacks more about who these people were on the Demeter and what happened to strand them on the planet, while they cope (or don't) with the various challenges of the planet and the hope of escape provided by the Demeter. The real fears that the show evokes, IMO, are isolation and transformation -- being, yourself, transformed without your knowledge or consent, or, perhaps even worse, seeing your only companion changing into something unrecognizable and untrustworthy. These are things that scare me personally very much and so I often found this a very scary show! But -- like Annihilation or Alien Clay, the two other stories that Scavengers Reign reminded me of the most -- it also evokes the flip side of this fear, the beauty and wonder of the transformative and strange. The animators loved animating these weird alien ecosystems.

You can watch the trailer here:

Watch on YouTube

(The trailer is very clear and accurate to the amount of body horror in the show. From this you will be able to tell that we did not in fact watch the trailer before we began the show itself.)

A second season was planned, but has not been ordered and may never be made; IMO the first season does stand as complete but I would very much like to see the second season and I hope it happens.

Current Mood: bouncy

Entry tags:

Avoiding the Kick Zone

Emily works at a saddle barn, guiding trails at Pokagon State Park here in Indiana. Emily is, shall we say, height challenged. I don't believe it's PC to say "short" anymore. But one thing I've learned from watching her work is that she knows how to get much bigger animals to do what she wants.

She knows how to get me to do what she wants too, but at least I don't have to wear a bridal. Well, except that one time.

I've learned a lot about horses from talking to her and watching her work. Horses are even a large part of my mystery/humor/supernatural novel We Love Trouble, which I hope you all get to read someday. She'll have to be listed in the book as "technical consultant".

Did you stick your tongue out at me, young man? Um, young horse?

That's why I know about the Kick Zone.

If you walk behind a horse, you either want to be right behind it, or drop back about a mile and a half. If you're close, but far enough away that the horse can wind up for a kick, you might soon find yourself landing in a tree.

You don't want to be in the Kick Zone.

Earlier this year I drove to Pokagon to pick up Emily. It gave me a chance to introduce myself to the new mule, who Emily described as "rather large". The Saddle barn had two mules. Freddy, who had his own Facebook and Instagram accounts before he passed, was normal sized. for a mule. The other one I hadn't seen yet, but as I walked up to her I imagined what Freddy said at first sight:

"It's a giant! Mulezilla!"

That's Molly with Emily, and no, this is not a trick of perspective.

Molly is the tallest equine animal in the Midwest. Horses and mules are usually measured by hands, but Molly is eight legs tall. Petting her was like trying to put out a forest fire: It's hard to tell where to start. It takes Emily five steps to get into her saddle, with the first step involving the word "trampoline" and the last step being to put on a high-altitude oxygen mask.

I'm just sayin', big mule.

After we got to know each other, Emily untied Molly and led her toward the barn, past me, which is okay because I'm to her side as she goes by. But that was when something spooked her. The mule, I mean, not Emily. The animals know better than to pull away from Emily, but the plastic bag, or crunched leaf, or perceived insult made her swing her back side around until it was aimed at me. The mule, not Emily.

I was in the Kick Zone.

There's only one thing to do: Flee. I backpedaled, reaching approximately warp 9 in half a second. Even the USS Enterprise can't reach that speed by going backward, but I did. Of course, the Enterprise might accidentally back into the Klingons, and I'd hate to fill out that road rage report.

Directly behind me was the end of the hitching line. It was a plastic pipe, maybe four inches in diameter, with the end aimed right at the small of my back like a police battering ram. Only less fun.

Molly with the offending railing end.

I did not scream when I backed into it at Warp 9, which, as you'll remember, is very fast. I did say something, which I'll just code as "Klingon! Oh, Klingon!"

I said "Klingon" several times.

The moral of this story is "situational awareness". It's also that you should keep ibuprofen, ice, and that green stuff from the chiropractor close by at all times. The chiropractor should also be close by.

Molly never kicked. I suppose her mind was on whatever spooked her: a candy wrapper, a passing mosquito, maybe the realization that Lost will never make sense. The hitching post just laughed off the incident. I drove us home with no problems, although it took several people to pry me out of the car and carry me to the couch. I'm now working on the outline of a novel about evil hitching posts that attack the unwary, and I'm calling it "Post Ghosts". M. Night Shymalan already has the movie rights.

Yes, horses do appear in some of my books, specifically the Storm Chaser series. Find them all here:

· 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

· Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/ozma914

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

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

Remember: Just thinking about horses costs money for a horse lover, so help us with sales and reviews!

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Broadly speaking, I liked Star Wars: The Mask of Fear, the first book in a planned trilogy of Star Wars Political Thrillers pitched as Andor Prequels, For Fans Of Andor.

This one is set right after the declaration of the Empire and is mostly about the separate plans that Bail Organa and Mon Mothma pursue in order to try and limit their government's whole-scale slide into fascism, with -- as we-the-readers of course know -- an inevitable lack of success. It is of course impossible not to feel the weight of Current Events on every page; the book came out in February '25 and so must have been complete in every respect before the 2024 elections, but boy, it doesn't feel like it. On the other hand, it's also impossible not to feel 2016 and Hillary Clinton looming large over the portrayal of Mon Mothma as the consummate politician who is very good at wrangling the process of government but whom nobody actually likes.

That said, as a character in her own right, I am very fond of Mon Mothma, the consummate politician who is very good at wrangling the process of government but whom nobody actually likes. With her genuine belief in the ideals of democracy and her practiced acceptance of the various ethical compromises that working within the system requires, she makes for a great sympathetic-grayscale political-thriller protagonist. I also like the portrayal of her marriage in this period as something that is, like, broadly functional! sometimes a source of support! always number three or four on her priority list which she never quite gets around to calling him to tell him she's back on planet after a secret mission before the plot sweeps her off in a new direction, oops, well, I guess he'll find out when she's been released from prison again!

Anyway, her main plot is about trying to get a bill passed in the Senate that will limit Palpatine's power as Emperor, which involves making various shady deals with various powerful factions; meanwhile, Bail Organa has a separate plot in which he's running around trying to EXPOSE the LIES about the JEDI because he thinks that once everyone knows the Jedi were massacred without cause, Palpatine will be toppled by public outrage immediately. Both of them think the other's plan is kind of stupid and also find the other kind of annoying at this time, which tbh I really enjoy. I love when people don't like each other for normal reasons and have to work together anyway. I also like the other main wedge between them, which is that both of them were briefly Politically Arrested right before the book begins, and by chance and charisma Bail Organa joked his way out of it and came out fine while Mon Mothma went through a harrowing and physically traumatic experience that has left her with lingering PTSD, and Mon Mothma knows this and Bail Organa doesn't and this colors all their choices throughout the book.

Bail Organa's plot is also sort of hitched onto a plot about an elderly Republic-turned-Imperial spymaster who's trying to find the agents she lost at the end of the war, and her spy protege who accidentally ends up infiltrating the Star Wars pro-Palpatine alt-right movement, both of which work pretty well as stories about people who find themselves sort of within a system as the system is changing underneath them.

And then there is the Saw plotline. This is my biggest disappointment in the book, is that the Saw plotline is not actually a Saw plotline; it's about a Separatist assassin who ends up temporarily teaming up with Saw for a bit as he tries to figure out who he should be assassinating now that the war is over, and we see Saw through his eyes, mostly pretty judgmentally. I do not object to other characters seeing Saw Gerrera pretty judgmentally, but it feels to me like a bit of a cop-out in a book that's pitched as 'how Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, and Saw Gerrera face growing fascism and start down the paths that will eventually lead to the Rebel Alliance' to once again almost entirely avoid giving Saw a point of view to see his ideology from within. But Star Wars as franchise is consistently determined not to do that. Ah, well; maybe one of the later two books in this trilogy will have a meaty interiority-heavy Saw plotline and I'll eat my words.

(NB: I have not yet seen S2 of Andor and I do plan to do so at some point, please don't tell me anything about it!)

Current Mood: anxious
Current Location: Around

Entry tags:

Call For Books, and Authors Make Appearances!

I can type again! .... some.

A few author appearances are coming up:

On September 20 we'll be at Albion's Fall Celebration, which is on a Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Lots of vendors, plus a car show, all on the Noble County Courthouse Square in Albion. We plan to have all of our books available, and fingers crossed for good weather. Honestly, outdoor appearances make me very nervous, what with rain and all the paper.

https://www.albionstarteam.org/fall-celebration

On September 28th Emily and I are going to be guesting on the Easily Distracted by Cemeteries podcast, in a discussion I suspect will involve ... cemeteries. They're based not far from Diamond Lake, which, along with its accompanying hill, has a rich tradition of the supernatural.

https://rss.com/podcasts/easilydistractedbycemeteries/

"Join us as we discuss cemeteries, ghosts, and the antics of those visiting cemeteries with many distractions and laughs along the way."

We're starting at 2 p.m., but I assume this isn't live. I'll let you know when I have a broadcast time.

On October 30, from 6-7:30 p.m., we'll be at the Assembly Room of the Community Learning Center in Kendallville. I'll be giving a talk, then hosting a Q&A. But on the brighter side, I'm told there'll be drinks (non-alcoholic) and snacks. I'm reasonably certain I'll be able to string two words together, maybe three.

https://thecommunitylearningcenter.org/

This will be a ticketed event, which wasn't my idea, and please show up! It's to cover the CLC expenses, and it's a pretty great organization. The Community Learning Center is at 401 E. Diamond Street, in the old Kendallville High School, which was more recently the old Kendallville Middle School.

Hope to see everyone there, which would be quite a crowd. But if you can't make it ours books are all available online, pending operations by Skynet:

· 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

· Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/ozma914

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

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

Remember: Fresh air never hurt anyone. I mean, outside of blizzards. And heat waves. And ... never mind.

bikes and stuff

(So much for that daily posting thing - I've already skipped a few without meaning to. /o\)

Today I rode an e-bike for the first time. Useful for the hills, for sure, but it wasn't as much fun as a regular bike, so I don't see myself doing that often.

Last spring I signed up for a local rent-a-bike service, and ever since then I've been riding bikes a lot again, after a break of something like 15 years. (That was about when my bike got stolen, and I didn't buy a new one because I didn't and still don't have a good place to put it.) I still like biking a lot, though I'm glad I no longer have to in the winter, the way I used to when I was still biking to uni. *g*

I've also been walking a lot again this summer, so overall I've been getting a lot more exercise than I used to! Which, alas, did not turn out to be an unmitigated good. (Turns out that more physical activity makes me hungrier - shock, horror! - but not exactly in proportion. I'd really rather keep fitting into my clothes, and also I don't want not be constantly hungry. So less activity might actually be better. Since we're heading into winter and I don't like going out very much when it's wet and/or cold, I guess I'll see!)

(no subject)

the rash is inverse psoraisis... and I have taken the blood screen tests (7 vials of blood!) if my blood chemistry is within specs I am might get a biologic treatment, but, then, Pharmacy has to approve it, and considering their track record in trying to kill me, I not getting my hopes up.

my 2nd CT scan was ambigious and I seeing pulmonary on monday, so they calling it ground glass opacity for now which is medical jargon for... yeah, something there dont know what it is... sigh.

still struggling, still depressed...

Entry tags:

politics

(no subject)

Between having 90 hours of use/lose leave to burn before the end of the year and the thought that the Pentagon might be a headache to deal with today (I thought there was a good chance Trump would show up for the memorial ceremony at the last minute just so noone would be prepared for the building traffic being halted over it), I am taking today and tomorrow off, staying at home and watching the skating from Bangkok in the mornings. Although it was maybe a touch odd watching Yanhao Li's short today. (Will they always insist on adding vocals to Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close programs?) Though I should probably go buy new walking shoes at some point. My current pairs are literally falling apart.
Somewhere in there my sister will also be coming over to help us sign up for Fios. Though she has bigger problems than us right now. Tuesday along with the rest of her division PBS laid her off from her main job. She'll still do contract work for them, hopefully, but that's a major blow, leaving her once again at the mercy of a gig economy that's only going to get worse. She also has to take my mom to get her flu/Covid shots, which she at least is undisputedly eligible for starting next week. Perhaps she'll even be here for the Fios install, although I intend to be either way.
I, on the other hand, remain gainfully employed at what is soon to become the Department of Making War on Those Americans Trump Doesn't Like. (And who knows what he'll use that asshole's death as an excuse for.) When I first said after the election I was going to look for another job, mother and sister alike urged me to stay there. I think they realized right away what I didn't want to: that I'd be safer there than anywhere else.

words, counted

Today I finally updated my word count spreadsheet, for the first time since March.

Nothing but alibi sentences for most of that time, now all typed up and word-counted. Turns out (not entirely unexpectedly) July and August this year were my second- and third-worst writing months ever since I started documenting my writing ... Time to get out of that slump NOW.

Does anyone have tips for restarting? I think I could use some ...

ETA: Specifically, what I'm struggling with is that I've been writing no more than a sentence or three at a go, for much too long, and now I'm out of the habit and can't seem to go beyond that without a major effort. *grumbles*

Dear FFFX writer

Dear

fffx writer,

thank you so much for writing a gift for me! I'll be absolutely thrilled about anything you can create about the relationships or worldbuilding themes I requested. and everything important is in the requests themselves, but if you'd like even more info, general likes etc., here you go.

My AO3 account is

Trobadora, and it's set to welcome treats.

General Preferences

( Likes & Dislikes/DNWs )

Fandoms, relationships, worldbuilding

In somewhat alphabetical order - note that one of them is expanded compared to what's in the sign-up form:

Jump directly to:

Christabel/Grimm crossover: Worldbuilding
绅探 | Detective L: Huo Wensi/Luo Fei
Grimm/Guardian (TV) crossover: Nick Burkhardt/Sean Renard/Juliette Silverton & Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan, Worldbuilding - expanded
Nantucket Trilogy - S.M. Stirling: Kashtiliash & Raupasha
长公主在上 | Eldest Princess On Top: Li Yunzhen/Gu Xuanqing

( Christabel/Grimm crossover: Worldbuilding )

( 绅探 | Detective L: Huo Wensi/Luo Fei )

( Grimm/Guardian crossovers: )

( Nantucket Trilogy - S.M. Stirling: Kashtiliash & Raupasha )

( 长公主在上 | Eldest Princess On Top: Li Yunzhen/Gu Xuanqing )