doreyg: Naegi from Danganronpa on a red background looking uncertain ([Danganronpa] Naegi)
[personal profile] doreyg
Onto chapter 2 of Master Detective Archives! This time sponsored by beta blockers, which I went on today and are already doing wonders for my anxiety.

Read more... )

See you (hopefully, almost certainly) next week for chapter 3! I am still liking it less than Danganronpa, I think because my emotional engagement is significantly less (I’d be really sad if Yuma died, but tbh he’s the only one I’d bat an eyelid at; and while I academically subscribe to his need to get dommed in enthusiastic style, I still don’t actually ship anything yet), but it is a very competent crime game. I look forward to seeing what comes next.

Dear P4L Exchange Writer

Jun. 30th, 2025 09:59 pm
doranwen: Elliot with Olivia pressed up against him, her hand on his shoulder as she looks down (EO from SVU)
[personal profile] doranwen
I'm so excited about this exchange! I adore EO and am looking forward to getting to write them for someone. I hope you have a blast writing for me!

Preferences )

I haven't requested A/B/O, but you're OK to mix that in with whatever other scenario as long as Elliot's an alpha, Liv's an omega, and Kathy's a beta. (It's pretty obvious that Instinct imprinted on me, lol, isn't it?)

I also didn't request Sharing a Bed but I'm always good with that trope being thrown into any fic.


Below are further thoughts, under various headings.

Some thoughts )


And now for the requested tropes, many of which can be combined:

Tropes! )


Happy writing!
delphi: An illustrated crow kicks a little ball of snow with a contemplative expression. (Default)
[personal profile] delphi
Fandom 50 #22

Day by Day by [archiveofourown.org profile] surprisepink
Fandom: Our Flag Means Death
Ship: Stede Bonnet/Izzy Hands
Medium: Fic
Length: 1361 words
Rating: Teen
My Bookmark Tags: slice of life, romance, humour, happy ending, established relationship, izzy lives, future, flirtation, compatibility, service
Summary: A typical raid for Captain Bonnet and his new first mate.

Excerpt:
“I’m getting the hang of this, if I do say so myself,” says Stede, cheerily.

“And you do.”

“What’s that, Izzy?’

“Say so yourself.” The man looks entirely unimpressed, but it does take a lot to impress Izzy. Stede has accepted it by this point, and knows not to take it personally. Knows, too, that if Izzy actually wasn’t at least a little happy with him, he could leave the ship just about anywhere and find another pirate crew to join. And yet, port after port, he doesn’t.

And all Stede had ever wanted was for people to stay.

This is everything I love about the idea of Stede and Izzy together on the Revenge, with Stede captaining and Izzy serving as his first mate. The way they rile each other up is perfect, tempered to just the right heat by a better understanding of each other. Izzy's ways of trying to serve Stede while keeping his ego in check are moving, and so is Stede's growing sense of what he's doing and what it means.

The story's funny, with a comedic moment early on that made me laugh out loud, and the sexual chemistry between Stede and Izzy absolutely crackles. This one really made my day.

Write Every Day - Final Tally

Jul. 1st, 2025 12:35 am
cornerofmadness: (writing typos)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness

Oh Dorothy

How is this month over already? Here’s the final tally and now we move to [personal profile] nafs’s blog for WED.

I got bunnied by someone’s draw it in your style challenge and they’re allowing stories. 1575 out of the gate

Let me know what day you’re reporting in for. If I've missed you on the tally let me know. Feel free to jump in at any time.

Day Thirty [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] nafs, [personal profile] cmk418, [personal profile] the_siobhan, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] trobadora, [personal profile] ysilme, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] carenejeans, [personal profile] chanter1944, [personal profile] brithistorian,



other days )

Not what I expected to hear

Jun. 30th, 2025 10:47 pm
cornerofmadness: (Default)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness
So I went through the early fog and rain to see the surgeon (at an hour when I usually am waking up so that was a fun drive). He had me up on the table and as I'm getting there, I said I know I'm supposed to be here for the hernia but I have thyroid tumors and here's the report. Do you do that kind of surgery too or do I need ENT? He does it.

He examines me. The actual hernia is actually very small and not in need of surgery (yay) but the real problem is that collagen disorder of mine (the is it Ehlers Danlos or is it something related debate). The aponeurosis that holds the right and left abdominal muscles together (the linea Alba) has pulled apart, a diastasis. They don't operate on that because it's not a hole. That said if I lie back and tense those muscles you can see my stomach like the xenomorph baby is about to pop out. Guess that's something to get used to.

On the other hand, he was STUNNED at how piss poor the ultrasound was from my local hospital. He was rather angry about it. Me too. I said this is why i'm here. He wants another one now but that means staying here all summer (and I have commitments that won't allow for that) because the new ultrasound can't be scheduled for a couple weeks and then if the surgery isn't soon after the insurance goes 'oops you waited too long.'

The surgery is detailed here He doesn't say I need surgery but I know the answer is very likely because I am having obstructive/compressive issues with my esophagus and evil little dog will concur, I'm starting to get a hoarse voice when I talk.

I'm done by 930 in the morning so I go to the coffee house and start a story I said I wasn't going to write last night (I need to be stopped, ha)

I hit TJMaxx which has everything I wanted, two different bamboo utensil organizers (since the mouse pooped on the ones I have and will be tossing), a dish drainer (I need to toss mine) and wood hangers because omg the current flocked ones (which I used to love) are so cheap and breakable I'm over it.

You know I try to avoid politics (for my own sanity more than anything) this article annoys me while on one hand I hope that he does end anyone who votes for this bill but in reality it's a perfect example of the problem with many political systems. At the end of the day most are plutocracies. Most of us remember when Musk was the darling of the democrats only to have him flip and do so. much. fucking. damage. this year. But he's not wrong about this bill. If it does go through I hope every last one who votes for it is never reelected because their base will be hurt by this as much as the democrats. I knew Musk and Trump would flame out, their egos are far too big. It was faster than I thought it would take but longer than I wanted it to take. Sigh.


And of course it's Music Monday. I'm doing the alphabet again concentrating on the last 5 years but you can share whatever you'd like. We're up to the letter M

M is for Music )

Bite Me

Jun. 30th, 2025 10:42 pm
autobotscoutriella: Franziska von Karma with her arms folded (AA Franziska 2)
[personal profile] autobotscoutriella
bite me

Summary: "Don't tell me you've never had a hickey before, Fran."

"Don't be foolish, Ema Skye." Franziska has not, in fact, had a partner dare to leave teeth marks on her skin before, but that is irrelevant. "How am I supposed to go out in public like this?"

Fandom: Ace Attorney
Characters: Ema Skye/Franziska von Karma
Rating: M
Warnings: None
Notes: Written for "100 words of hickeys" over on FFA. I like these two, they're a lot of fun to bounce off each other.

actually it's 350 words of hickeys )

Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Jun. 30th, 2025 09:58 pm
chomiji: An image of a classic spiral galaxy (galaxy)
[personal profile] chomiji

The Earth is ruled by the authoritarian Mandate, which like all such governments is constantly alert for threats to its stability. This extends to its scientific research: although the Mandate has explored space and discovered a number of exoplanets (a few of which have some form of life), it still insists that scientific discoveries must support the philosophy of the Mandate, which holds that human beings are the pinnacle of creation and that other life forms must all be in the process of striving to achieve that same state of being.

Ecologist and xeno-ecologist Arton Daghdev chafes against both these mental manacles and the Mandate in general. Some time before the story opens, he becomes part of a cell of would-be revolutionaries. After discovery of his improper views and rebellious actions, he is sentenced to what is meant to be a short life assisting research on the planet Imno 27g, casually known as Kiln for the strange clusters of pottery buildings scattered over its surface.

Life as a prisoner on Kiln within the research enclave is brutal in all the ways any such prison can be, when the prisoners are nothing but human-shaped machinery to accomplish the goals of their jailers. The Mandate's leadership has absolute control over who among their prisoners lives or dies, and if anyone should harbor the intent to escape, the environment outside the base is all too lively. The death rate among the workers is appalling, but new shipments of convicted crooks and malcontents arrive all the time, so it hardly matters.

None of the weird aliens seem to be builders of the sort needed to create the clusters of mysterious structures or indeed intelligent in any way beyond, perhaps, the level of social insects on Earth. Yet somehow the small, dysfunctional cadre of scientists on Kiln must serve up the desired tidbits of discovery to keep their commandant happy with them: evidence that there once were intelligent humanoids on Kiln.

Cut for more, including some spoilers )

I am an emotional person, and I want to like at least some of the characters about whom I'm reading. Daghdev is prickly, snarky, and fatalistic — but then, he has cause. He's also an unreliable narrator who only reveals to the reader what he wants, when he wants. The situation is really excruciating: people with a deep dislike of body horror might want to avoid this book. And there is not, in fact, a happy ending (at least not IMO).

On the other hand, this is very well written. For me, it moved along at a fantastic clip, and when I went back to check some particulars for this write-up, I found myself reading far more than I had intended because the story caught me up again. Some of the scientific ideas reminded me of other works (Sue Burke's Semiosis surfaced in my thoughts a couple of time), and sometimes I was reminded of something more elusive, a source that I can't recall. Does anyone else who has already read this have thoughts on the book's likely ancestors?

From my viewpoint, this was one of the most "science fictional" of this year's finalists. I think it might be my first choice in the vote.

The Mysterious Ouija Board

Jun. 30th, 2025 04:15 pm
dannye_chase: (Default)
[personal profile] dannye_chase
 

On this day in 1890, the Ouija Board had its commercial introduction as a harmless parlor game.

A Ouija board is a rectangle of wood or cardboard printed with the alphabet, the numbers 0-9 and the words yes, no, and goodbye. Players put their fingers on a triangular planchette and ask questions of the spirits, who answer by moving the planchette around the board. Of course, we know how this goes: it’s malicious entities who respond and then they kill everybody. That’s the trope. But it wasn’t always like that.

The Ouija began as a benign religious practice of Civil War-era Spiritualists, who were seeking to contact beloved family members who had died or met the more horrifying fate of vanishing into the theater of war. The board’s darker reputation began with the 1973 movie The Exorcistwhich showed demonic consequences for playing.

Check out the blog post for more on the mysterious talking board, plus writing prompts, such as:

Call in the spirits. The Ouija board was built for necromancy: divination (seeking supernatural knowledge) from the dead. Of course, the practice of begging data from the dearly departed began long before the board came about. But the Ouija makes it easy. So let’s dial up the deceased.

(Pro-tip: You can DIY a Ouija board by drawing numbers and letters on a flat surface and using an upside down glass as a planchette.)

Possibilities for benign contact include loving family members who pass on reassurances about the afterlife, ghosts with info on random stuff like lottery numbers, ghosts of murder victims who wish to name their killers, or creative types who want to help you write novels (looking at you, Patience Worth).

But of course, you can also phone up the fiendish: convicted killers, undiscovered killers, relatives you thought were kind who were actually killers, ghosts who like mean pranks, ghosts who just plain hate the living, and the biggest danger: dead dudes who would like to live a second life. Possession by spirits is a favorite Ouija trope, and you often get there by breaking a rule while playing the “game,” which can be anything you like: don’t play alone, don’t try to contact the very recently dead, don’t play without a piece of iron in your pocket, etc.  

DannyeChase.com ~ AO3 ~ Linktree ~ Weird Wednesday writing prompts blog ~ Resources for Writers

 

A quick summary of Link Click

Jun. 30th, 2025 06:33 pm
outstretched: Please do not take! (PKMN ♥ [etc] FURRETS WAYLT)
[personal profile] outstretched
Hi! If you're reading this post, then you're probably one of my friends who I'm trying to coax to read the fic I just wrote, even though you don't know anything about Link Click. You don't have to know much! Please read my fic about gender, it's the second longest thing I've ever written and I worked so hard!! Here's a quick summary that should cover everything you need to know:

Read more... )

July's Bingo

Jun. 30th, 2025 06:04 pm
cornerofmadness: (Default)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness
It's the winter in July fest at [community profile] allbingo. Here's my card

Fruit Cake Oranges Party Shopping Decorating
Blankets Feast Pie Snuggling by the Fire Panettone
Wooden Shoes Hot Cocoa FREE SPACE Bacalao Hats
Yule Log Pig Roast Silver & Gold Midnight Kiss Peppermint
Feast of the Seven Fishes Baking/Cooking Food Board Candles Hiding Gifts

BtVS Fic: Infected

Jun. 30th, 2025 06:39 pm
badly_knitted: (Rose)
[personal profile] badly_knitted
 


Title: Infected
Fandom: BtVS
Author: 
[personal profile] badly_knitted
Characters: Buffy, Giles, Scoobies, Angel.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1112
Spoilers: Earshot.
Summary: Slaying a demon leaves Buffy with an exciting new power that ends up being more of a curse.
Written For: Prompt 180 – Eavesdropping at 
[community profile] fandomweekly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own BTVS, or the characters.
 
 


Ficlet: Another Fine Mess

Jun. 30th, 2025 06:31 pm
badly_knitted: (Cross Puppy)
[personal profile] badly_knitted
 


Title: Another Fine Mess
Author: 
[personal profile] badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Jack, Team.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 667
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: Ianto hadn’t been gone long, but the team had still managed to cause chaos.
Written For: 
[personal profile] templefugate’s prompt ‘Any, any, “You've gotta be kidding me!”’, at [community profile] threesentenceficathon.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
 
 


Write Every Day Day 30

Jun. 30th, 2025 12:21 am
cornerofmadness: (writing king1)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness

I believe I started with Stephen King, seems good to end with him too

How is this month over already? I’ll be back tomorrow with the final tally. And on July first we move to [personal profile] nafs’s blog for WED.

It was an editing day Got about 600 words and the penultimate chapter of Dandelions posted.

Let me know what day you’re reporting in for. If I've missed you on the tally let me know. Feel free to jump in at any time.

Day twenty -nine [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] the_siobhan, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] trobadora, [personal profile] ysilme, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] carenejeans, [personal profile] chanter1944,



other days )

Writerly Ways

Jun. 29th, 2025 10:00 pm
cornerofmadness: (Default)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness
I almost went for links only but I started reading today a revised edition (I think it's moving from self pubbed to traditional) of a novel called Pantomine by L.R. Lam and the main character is intersexed (and apparently the series had been popular)

This seemed like the best thing to end Pride month on. Lam goes on to talk about what the series meant to fans and why it was being revamped and rereleased and they mentioned something I've been talking a lot to [personal profile] evil_little_dog and [personal profile] sysann recently. I've mentioned it here before. There is no ONE right way to be something.

Lam put it as 'no group is a monolith' and my works won't be for everyone. I feel that was most likely added to the author's preface because of the hate you can get on social media (someone eld and I both followed on YT/FB committed suicide in part over the pressures and the hate directed their way last week). I wish fans could understand that. All too often you get people tearing down someone because the experience they read in the book was not their experience and therefore not valid.

It's hard. You know you can't please everyone. You don't want to accidentally hurt a group of people. On the other hand, people do need to realize that their way isn't the only way either. For example (which I used before) several years back pre-Covid my local writers group had four trans members. Not one of them had the same path or level of acceptance from friends and family so when I see someone screaming 'that's not how it is to be trans' I think of this. By this hard stance, you're saying only one of those four people are right.

And it's not limited to that of course. You pretty much name a group or career and someone will be there to screaming that's not how it's done. So how, as an author, can you minimize that?

Do your research. Provide sources in the author's notes if you can. Get sensitivity readers if you can (which isn't always easy or affordable especially if you're a self pubber). Know you can't please everyone. Do your best.


Open Calls

Of Love & Dragons Love stories between dragons and humans (Dragon lords, princesses, etc)

Twisted Dreams Press is open to Horror Novels and Novellas

Horrorsmith Fear Forge Horror Novels


Bullet Points Volume 11 Dark military science fiction

Infested Publishing Is Open To Novels and Novellas from UK Authors

Ongoing Submissions: GRADEside Middle Grade & Young Adult Horror

A Breath of Time Love where time itself is conquered (time travel, time bending, etc)

Diabolical Plots 2025 Window Science fiction, fantasy, horror (everything must have a speculative element, even horror).

25 New Literary Magazines (Seeking Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry)


Flame Tree Publishing they have a couple of open calls


From Around the web


How Writers Can Stay Hopeful in a Tough Publishing Climate

Need a Good Book Editor? Top Up-to-Date Recommendations

The Power of Reddit: Reach Millions Through Ask Me Anything Events (I had never even thought of using Reddit)

The Secret to Avoiding the Sagging Story: What Makes a Good Middle

Notes from the Editor’s Desk: June 2025

4 Unique Writing Habits of Famous Writers

Ten Books in Ten Years: A Conversation with Indie Author Tank Gunner


6 Steps to Self-Publishing a Book.

Marketing Planning For First-Time Authors

From Betty

Six Common Problems in Short Stories

Eleven Signs Your Story Depicts Abuse

Do You Really Have to Use a 3-Act Structure in Fiction?
Reader Friday-That Stinky Mood

The 3 Components that Keep Your Story in Balance

Silence the Inner Critic

Series Words of Wisdom

Help! My Romance Draft Is a Mess (Now What?)

Writing 101: Semi-Colons & Other Tricky Punctuation Marks

Should You Write What You Know or Aim to Experiment?

How to decide if a writer’s retreat is right for you

Not Every Quirk Is a Flaw: How to Identify a True Character Flaw in Storytelling

Three Questions Writers Can Ask When Feeling Overwhelmed or Confused
lebateleur: Ukiyo-e image of Japanese woman reading (TWIB)
[personal profile] lebateleur
...with June's falling on this weekend. It was grand. There were four of us at final count; we sat down to read at 11:30 and didn't stop until 6:15 pm. The only time anyone spoke was when one of us got up to get more tea and asked if anyone else wanted any, too. I love that I can do this, and that I know multiple people who are also happy to spend their weekends doing this. (And it's even better now because having those other people with me means that when I sit down to read a book, I actually read the book, instead of pushing through a page or two and then picking up my phone "for just a minute" and doomscrolling updates about things I have no ability to affect for hours on end.)

I finished Kara Cooney's When Women Ruled the World, which was an incredibly frustrating book and Maggie O'Farrel's Hamnet, which was an incredibly good one (but which left me as melancholy as if I had doomscrolled the news for hours on end).

Afterwards we popped over to Near BBQ and introduced one of the SSRers to one of the employees, a Geek BBQ alum whom we hadn't seen in ages and with whom it was great to catch up. Then we walked SSRer A to the metro, with a short interlude to kill 30+ lanternfly nymphs on the way.Read more... )

All in all, a pretty good weekend.

これで以上です。

hockey draw - woot!

Jun. 30th, 2025 09:12 am
tielan: (SGA - john)
[personal profile] tielan
I made foccacia. It was good.

We also drew our hockey game on Sunday! 1-1!

(We won for the first time a couple of weeks back and it was Very Good.)

hockey report )

I've spoken about how this is a tricksy year for hockey in a post earlier this year. But I am enjoying some of the games, even when we're getting beaten. And we are improving.

But it can still be frustrating to see players who aren't ready for this grade (and aren't improving) struggle in the face of it.

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