books I have read
Sep. 21st, 2025 12:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snickficI have read some books which I had few thoughts or feelings about.
Dark Woods, Deep Water by Jelena Dunato. A varied cast of characters all end up at a haunted castle which won't let them escape. This is dark fantasy with strong but not specifically identifiable fairy tale elements. First person POV with multiple POVs is a struggle, especially when everyone's narrative voice sounds the same. I was disappointed that the naive rich girl whose heart gets broken and then who gets cruelly married off didn't get written with more nuance. IDK. It was fine, I guess.
--
The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister. A family of siblings in rural Virginia with an ancestral charge to protect a nearby bog has to figure out what to do when the bog, for the first time in family memory, does not produce a woman to marry the eldest son.
I read this because I am always on the lookout for stories about people who are raised or sucked into very skewed perspectives, especially when those perspectives are supported by reality - for example, their very real bog-mother here. And this definitely delivered! That said, this feels more like a work of gothic fiction than anything else. Their terrible disintegrating family home just gets worse as the story goes on, and the ending in particular reminds me very strongly of
We Have Always Lived in the Castle.
That said, I am not sure what I am meant to take away for this one. There are definitely themes of ecology and environmentalism, but also this is a family of very real characters with all their various squabbles and relationships. To be honest, when the book was over I was mostly sad about the ending for the two siblings who reminded me so strongly of the spoiler above.
An odd duck.
--
The Immortal Choir Holds Every Voice by Margaret Killjoy. The third novella in the Danielle Cain series, in which Danielle and her group of fellow anarchists tell ghost stories around a campfire. I always enjoy Killjoy's vibe, even when it feels like there's not a ton of substance, like here. And I guess others feel the same, because the kickstarter to fund this blew way past all its main goals. Hopefully that means we'll get more Danielle Cain books in the future.
Dark Woods, Deep Water by Jelena Dunato. A varied cast of characters all end up at a haunted castle which won't let them escape. This is dark fantasy with strong but not specifically identifiable fairy tale elements. First person POV with multiple POVs is a struggle, especially when everyone's narrative voice sounds the same. I was disappointed that the naive rich girl whose heart gets broken and then who gets cruelly married off didn't get written with more nuance. IDK. It was fine, I guess.
--
The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister. A family of siblings in rural Virginia with an ancestral charge to protect a nearby bog has to figure out what to do when the bog, for the first time in family memory, does not produce a woman to marry the eldest son.
I read this because I am always on the lookout for stories about people who are raised or sucked into very skewed perspectives, especially when those perspectives are supported by reality - for example, their very real bog-mother here. And this definitely delivered! That said, this feels more like a work of gothic fiction than anything else. Their terrible disintegrating family home just gets worse as the story goes on, and the ending in particular reminds me very strongly of
spoilers
We Have Always Lived in the Castle.
That said, I am not sure what I am meant to take away for this one. There are definitely themes of ecology and environmentalism, but also this is a family of very real characters with all their various squabbles and relationships. To be honest, when the book was over I was mostly sad about the ending for the two siblings who reminded me so strongly of the spoiler above.
An odd duck.
--
The Immortal Choir Holds Every Voice by Margaret Killjoy. The third novella in the Danielle Cain series, in which Danielle and her group of fellow anarchists tell ghost stories around a campfire. I always enjoy Killjoy's vibe, even when it feels like there's not a ton of substance, like here. And I guess others feel the same, because the kickstarter to fund this blew way past all its main goals. Hopefully that means we'll get more Danielle Cain books in the future.
Question thread #144
Sep. 21st, 2025 03:34 pmpauamma posting in ![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png){kind=small}
dw_devIt's past time for another question thread!
The rules:
- You may ask any dev-related question you have in a comment. (It doesn't even need to be about Dreamwidth, although if it involves a language/library/framework/database Dreamwidth doesn't use, you will probably get answers pointing that out and suggesting a better place to ask.)
- You may also answer any question, using the guidelines given in To Answer, Or Not To Answer and in this comment thread.
The rules:
- You may ask any dev-related question you have in a comment. (It doesn't even need to be about Dreamwidth, although if it involves a language/library/framework/database Dreamwidth doesn't use, you will probably get answers pointing that out and suggesting a better place to ask.)
- You may also answer any question, using the guidelines given in To Answer, Or Not To Answer and in this comment thread.
The Pitt Fic: A World Aflame (Abbot/Robby, NC-17)
Sep. 21st, 2025 01:49 amalethiaA World Aflame (45470 words) by Alethia
Chapters: 4/4
Fandom: The Pitt (TV)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jack Abbot/Michael "Robby" Robinavitch
Characters: Jack Abbot (The Pitt), Michael "Robby" Robinavitch, Frank Langdon, Parker Ellis
Additional Tags: Post-Season/Series 01, Complicated Relationships, Hiking, Cabin Fic, There Was Only One Bed, Grief/Mourning, robby has four days off, and is heading for the hills, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Guilt, First Kiss, First Time, Porn
Summary:
Chapters: 4/4
Fandom: The Pitt (TV)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jack Abbot/Michael "Robby" Robinavitch
Characters: Jack Abbot (The Pitt), Michael "Robby" Robinavitch, Frank Langdon, Parker Ellis
Additional Tags: Post-Season/Series 01, Complicated Relationships, Hiking, Cabin Fic, There Was Only One Bed, Grief/Mourning, robby has four days off, and is heading for the hills, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Guilt, First Kiss, First Time, Porn
Summary:
Robby frowned and looked at Jack. "Is it me or are you now off Monday through Thursday?"
"Yeah, I figure we can drive out Tuesday morning and come back in time for my shift Friday night."
Robby's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Did someone invite you to the cabin I rented?" Jack tilted his head and just looked at Robby, silent and expectant. After a long moment, Robby huffed a resigned laugh, like he wondered why he even bothered protesting. "Jack, would you like to come hiking with me?"
No Reservations RPF, Chronicles of Narnia: No Reservations: Narnia, by Edonohana.
Sep. 20th, 2025 11:57 pmfull_metal_ox posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
fancakeFandom: Chronicles of Narnia; No Reservations
Pairings/Characters: Gen; Anthony Bourdain, “Global” Alan Weeks, Todd Liebler, Tracey Godwin, Reepicheep, Aslan, and a cast of colorful Narnian OCs.
Rating: Teen and up (mostly for Bourdain-characteristic profanity.)
Length: 6,228 words
Content Notes: a vast variety of food, some narratively presented as off-putting; drunkenness; smoking; weed (that he doesn’t get to use); Bourdain’s typical abrasive impertinence; Author Showed Her Work.
Creator Links: (AO3)![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
Edonohana; (Dreamwidth) rachelmanija
Theme: Food and Cooking, previously recced for Crossovers/Fusions, previously recced for Small Fandoms, Cultural Differences, Fandom Classics, Older Characters, Research, Worldbuilding
Summary: I’m crammed into a burrow so small that my knees are up around my ears and the boom mike keeps slamming into my head, inhaling the potent scent of toffee-apple brandy and trying to drink a talking mouse under the table.
Author’s Notes: ( Cut_for_length. )
Reccer's Notes: Okay; what’s the September 2025 Food & Cooking theme even for if this classic doesn’t circle around for a threepeat? (Twelve years since the last mention should be a sufficient interval.)
This brilliant crossover, all the more poignant in hindsight, nails both Bourdain’s voice and the Narnian sense of place, painstakingly hitting all the beats: Food Porn; Food Gorn (with the acknowledgement that the difference between the two is in the palate of the beholder); departure from what Diana Wynne-Jones would term the Guided Tour into Parts Unknown, with the aid of knowledgeable locals; hospitality in austere circumstances; martial arts (with thought given to the size logistics!); scary local politics; above all, food as a vehicle of cross-cultural understanding.
“No Reservations: Narnia” has the additional distinction of being RPF that not only reached but impressed the subject:
“This is astonishingly well written with an attention to detail that’s frankly a bit frightening…I’m both flattered and disturbed. I think I need a drink.”—Anthony Bourdain.
Fanwork Links: No Reservations: Narnia, byEdonohana for innocentsmith; cover art by moonblossom_graphics.
Pairings/Characters: Gen; Anthony Bourdain, “Global” Alan Weeks, Todd Liebler, Tracey Godwin, Reepicheep, Aslan, and a cast of colorful Narnian OCs.
Rating: Teen and up (mostly for Bourdain-characteristic profanity.)
Length: 6,228 words
Content Notes: a vast variety of food, some narratively presented as off-putting; drunkenness; smoking; weed (that he doesn’t get to use); Bourdain’s typical abrasive impertinence; Author Showed Her Work.
Creator Links: (AO3)
rachelmanijaTheme: Food and Cooking, previously recced for Crossovers/Fusions, previously recced for Small Fandoms, Cultural Differences, Fandom Classics, Older Characters, Research, Worldbuilding
Summary: I’m crammed into a burrow so small that my knees are up around my ears and the boom mike keeps slamming into my head, inhaling the potent scent of toffee-apple brandy and trying to drink a talking mouse under the table.
Author’s Notes: ( Cut_for_length. )
Reccer's Notes: Okay; what’s the September 2025 Food & Cooking theme even for if this classic doesn’t circle around for a threepeat? (Twelve years since the last mention should be a sufficient interval.)
This brilliant crossover, all the more poignant in hindsight, nails both Bourdain’s voice and the Narnian sense of place, painstakingly hitting all the beats: Food Porn; Food Gorn (with the acknowledgement that the difference between the two is in the palate of the beholder); departure from what Diana Wynne-Jones would term the Guided Tour into Parts Unknown, with the aid of knowledgeable locals; hospitality in austere circumstances; martial arts (with thought given to the size logistics!); scary local politics; above all, food as a vehicle of cross-cultural understanding.
“No Reservations: Narnia” has the additional distinction of being RPF that not only reached but impressed the subject:
“This is astonishingly well written with an attention to detail that’s frankly a bit frightening…I’m both flattered and disturbed. I think I need a drink.”—Anthony Bourdain.
Fanwork Links: No Reservations: Narnia, by
Mo Dao Zu Shi; Chen Qing Ling: Comfort Food / 有可能的夜晚, by Irrelevancy
Sep. 20th, 2025 03:31 pmfull_metal_ox posting in fancakeFandom: Mo Dao Zu Shi; Chen Qing Ling
Pairings/Characters: M/M; Song Lan | Song Zichen/Xiao Zingchen; Song Lan | Song Zichen, Xiao Xingchen
Rating: General Audiences
Length: 3,632 words
Content Notes: No Archive Warnings Apply, determinedly Taiwanese cuisine, Food Porn because the author inexplicably omitted that tag, racist microaggression (a character recounts getting renamed by his exchange host family.)
Creator Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, First Meetings, Taiwan, Street food, chinese diaspora feelings and food as love language, SongXiao Feast
Creator Links: (AO3)Irrelevancy; (Tumblr) ![[tumblr.com profile]](https://www.tumblr.com/favicon.ico)
touchmycoat
Theme: Food & Cooking, Cultural Differences, Fluff, Going Home, Identity, Modern AU, Slice of Life
Summary: Flirting and cultural reclamation via Taiwanese street food. Songxiao modern meet-cute.
Author’s Notes:
For the #songxiaofeast on twitter, thanks for organizing the event~!!!! There's so much great art in the hashtag *~* love me some food love....
Chinese glossary at end lolol, and is this all a shameless marketing ploy for Taiwan night markets? yes.
…The menu (a twitter thread w pictures) (Unfortunately no longer accessible—FMO.)
大腸包小腸 (dà cháng bāo xiǎo cháng): "little sausage wrapped around a big sausage" lol
蚵仔煎 (ó-à-tsiān): oyster pancake. I'm using the Taiwanese romanization here because it better captures that Hokkien pronunciation. Ningxia Night Market seriously has the best ones.
臭豆腐 (chò dò fǔ): stinky tofu!! I think it smells delicious; don't be like SL eat it normally without that crazy amount of sauce nkfsjdfds
肉圓麵線 (bà wán miàn xiàn): meatball & rice noodles. Two separate things but they're typically sold together. Meatball is always pronounced in Hokkien and sometimes rice noodle is too (mǐ suǎ)
豆花 (dòu huā): tofu pudding. It's not too sweet and it's sooooo refreshing to have on a hot taiwan evening with ice!
雞蛋糕 (jī dàn gāo): egg cake! They're seriously very good but a hit-or-miss from street vendors lmfao.
Drop a comment~! Happy feastings!!!!!!!
Reccer’s Notes: Taiwanese bartender Song Zichen, taking both pity on and a fancy to diasporic American tourist Xiao Xingchen, proceeds to initiate him into the ways of local street food (as both a welcome into his heritage and a courtship overture.) This fic, stuffed with delicious Unresolved Sexual Tension, serves as a reminder that the Sinosphere is a very big and diverse place, and brought an outpouring of nostalgic yearning for the Taste Of Home from diasporic commenters.
(And Ningxia Night Market needs to hire Irrelevancy as a publicist, dammit; I was fervently wishing my neighborhood had something like that up the alley!)
Fanwork links: Comfort Food / 有可能的夜晚 (AO3-locked.)
Pairings/Characters: M/M; Song Lan | Song Zichen/Xiao Zingchen; Song Lan | Song Zichen, Xiao Xingchen
Rating: General Audiences
Length: 3,632 words
Content Notes: No Archive Warnings Apply, determinedly Taiwanese cuisine, Food Porn because the author inexplicably omitted that tag, racist microaggression (a character recounts getting renamed by his exchange host family.)
Creator Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, First Meetings, Taiwan, Street food, chinese diaspora feelings and food as love language, SongXiao Feast
Creator Links: (AO3)
Theme: Food & Cooking, Cultural Differences, Fluff, Going Home, Identity, Modern AU, Slice of Life
Summary: Flirting and cultural reclamation via Taiwanese street food. Songxiao modern meet-cute.
Author’s Notes:
For the #songxiaofeast on twitter, thanks for organizing the event~!!!! There's so much great art in the hashtag *~* love me some food love....
Chinese glossary at end lolol, and is this all a shameless marketing ploy for Taiwan night markets? yes.
…The menu (a twitter thread w pictures) (Unfortunately no longer accessible—FMO.)
大腸包小腸 (dà cháng bāo xiǎo cháng): "little sausage wrapped around a big sausage" lol
蚵仔煎 (ó-à-tsiān): oyster pancake. I'm using the Taiwanese romanization here because it better captures that Hokkien pronunciation. Ningxia Night Market seriously has the best ones.
臭豆腐 (chò dò fǔ): stinky tofu!! I think it smells delicious; don't be like SL eat it normally without that crazy amount of sauce nkfsjdfds
肉圓麵線 (bà wán miàn xiàn): meatball & rice noodles. Two separate things but they're typically sold together. Meatball is always pronounced in Hokkien and sometimes rice noodle is too (mǐ suǎ)
豆花 (dòu huā): tofu pudding. It's not too sweet and it's sooooo refreshing to have on a hot taiwan evening with ice!
雞蛋糕 (jī dàn gāo): egg cake! They're seriously very good but a hit-or-miss from street vendors lmfao.
Drop a comment~! Happy feastings!!!!!!!
Reccer’s Notes: Taiwanese bartender Song Zichen, taking both pity on and a fancy to diasporic American tourist Xiao Xingchen, proceeds to initiate him into the ways of local street food (as both a welcome into his heritage and a courtship overture.) This fic, stuffed with delicious Unresolved Sexual Tension, serves as a reminder that the Sinosphere is a very big and diverse place, and brought an outpouring of nostalgic yearning for the Taste Of Home from diasporic commenters.
(And Ningxia Night Market needs to hire Irrelevancy as a publicist, dammit; I was fervently wishing my neighborhood had something like that up the alley!)
Fanwork links: Comfort Food / 有可能的夜晚 (AO3-locked.)
Fic posting: Quiet Breaks, Numb3rs
Sep. 19th, 2025 05:20 pmrhiQuiet Breaks (1864 words) by Gryphonrhi
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Numb3rs (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Ian Edgerton, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Inkvent
Series: Part 1 of drowning in your doubts
Summary: Ian hasn't talked to either Eppes brother since they hunted down a black box together. He's been a little busy with this.
communal_creators is running! spook_me
prompts are here. Fall is coming! More fic to write. In the meantime, I hope y'all enjoy this one.
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Numb3rs (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Ian Edgerton, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Inkvent
Series: Part 1 of drowning in your doubts
Summary: Ian hasn't talked to either Eppes brother since they hunted down a black box together. He's been a little busy with this.
communal_creators is running! spook_me prompts are here. Fall is coming! More fic to write. In the meantime, I hope y'all enjoy this one.
(no subject)
Sep. 18th, 2025 10:41 pmgoneahead 960.
I scoop morning into my breakfast
bowl. no milk, no sugar, just cold
montana wind and rain clouds, with
a dash of birdsong and mountain.
a friend told me this weekend that
they could never live this way, too
little room, too few roots. I think its
little room, too few roots. I think its
all a matter of what you pack; fewer
clothes, fewer pots and pans. more
room for a muddy heart and restless
boots and a cereal bowl of cold
montana sunrise, sweetened with
a dash of birdsong and mountain.
961.
961.
Demeter
One of those days, when the dirty snow
of midwinter is a forgotten promise,
and death sits at the back of the bus.
Every intersection is full of the thin
hungry, the morning news said city council
council is considering emergency
sacrifices.We cross the ice-locked river,
every stop closer to my apartment
reminds me of how frightenly light my
my grocery bag is. My co-worker
keeps insisting the goddess will return.
of midwinter is a forgotten promise,
and death sits at the back of the bus.
Every intersection is full of the thin
hungry, the morning news said city council
council is considering emergency
sacrifices.We cross the ice-locked river,
every stop closer to my apartment
reminds me of how frightenly light my
my grocery bag is. My co-worker
keeps insisting the goddess will return.
I clutch my groceries and try to
believe—
ATLA: Heat, Wait, Steep, Repeat by Haicrescendo
Sep. 18th, 2025 11:22 amsinesofinsanity posting in fancakeFandom: Avatar the Last Airbender
Pairings/Characters: Zuko, Iroh, the GAang in the background
Rating: G
Length: 2,889 words, 19min 30s
Creator Links: Haicrescendo
Theme: Food & Cooking, character development, family, families of choice, going home, missing scenes,
Summary:
[Zuko’s greatest failing, not his only but just one that stands out the most in a very long list, is that he’s never known quite what he had until it’s gone. Or, on the opposite hand, he covets the things that don’t matter, that seem to matter so much at the time and turn out, in the end, to be something that Zuko’s made up in his head.
And then Zuko finds, of all things after it all, that he misses Uncle Iroh’s tea.]
Or,
Zuko screws up his life and in the process of fixing it, figures out some tea wisdom along the way.
Reccer's Notes: This story is so beautiful and gentle. I absolutely love seeing how Zuko's growth and character development is mirrored with his finally learning to make a decent cup of tea. Plus the neat detail of how he despite learning from and trying to emulate his uncle, he makes it his own way. Zuko and Iroh's relationship is lovely in this too. Just an all around lovely story. klainelynch does a beautiful job with the podfic as well
Fanwork Links:
Heat, Wait, Steep, Repeat
and the Podfic both on AO3
Pairings/Characters: Zuko, Iroh, the GAang in the background
Rating: G
Length: 2,889 words, 19min 30s
Creator Links: Haicrescendo
Theme: Food & Cooking, character development, family, families of choice, going home, missing scenes,
Summary:
[Zuko’s greatest failing, not his only but just one that stands out the most in a very long list, is that he’s never known quite what he had until it’s gone. Or, on the opposite hand, he covets the things that don’t matter, that seem to matter so much at the time and turn out, in the end, to be something that Zuko’s made up in his head.
And then Zuko finds, of all things after it all, that he misses Uncle Iroh’s tea.]
Or,
Zuko screws up his life and in the process of fixing it, figures out some tea wisdom along the way.
Reccer's Notes: This story is so beautiful and gentle. I absolutely love seeing how Zuko's growth and character development is mirrored with his finally learning to make a decent cup of tea. Plus the neat detail of how he despite learning from and trying to emulate his uncle, he makes it his own way. Zuko and Iroh's relationship is lovely in this too. Just an all around lovely story. klainelynch does a beautiful job with the podfic as well
Fanwork Links:
Heat, Wait, Steep, Repeat
and the Podfic both on AO3
hola méxico
Sep. 17th, 2025 10:26 pmsnickficToday I need to share with you the two best bits from the Mexico gigs, both on the second night, Sept 13.
ITEM ONE:
Here is a video of Noel directing the crowd to do the poznan, which is the Manchester City football club's special celebration dance. Liam's been having the crowd do it the whole tour, but this time he talked Noel into doing the explanation for the first time.
So much to observe here:
- Liam: "I've seen you do it," probably referring to this memorable occasion when Noel definitely did not do it.
- Noel greeting them in Spanish.
- Noel: "Not asking you to do the okey-cokey." 😅
- Noel explaining the correct process very clearly and efficiently, which is not something one would ever say about Liam's approach.
- But best of all: Noel saying "The big man doesn't ask for much," and then pausing to laugh at the utter and profound absurdity of this remark.
ITEM TWO
And here is Noel miming that Liam should throw his sombrero to the crowd (having already thrown his maracas and tambourine), and Liam handing it to him so HE can throw it. This is also the first time Noel's thrown anything on the tour AFAIK.
They're just having so much fun together and being so charming about it. Incredible. Not in our WILDEST DREAMS did any of us in the fandom dream anything like this was possible.
ITEM ONE:
Here is a video of Noel directing the crowd to do the poznan, which is the Manchester City football club's special celebration dance. Liam's been having the crowd do it the whole tour, but this time he talked Noel into doing the explanation for the first time.
So much to observe here:
- Liam: "I've seen you do it," probably referring to this memorable occasion when Noel definitely did not do it.
- Noel greeting them in Spanish.
- Noel: "Not asking you to do the okey-cokey." 😅
- Noel explaining the correct process very clearly and efficiently, which is not something one would ever say about Liam's approach.
- But best of all: Noel saying "The big man doesn't ask for much," and then pausing to laugh at the utter and profound absurdity of this remark.
ITEM TWO
And here is Noel miming that Liam should throw his sombrero to the crowd (having already thrown his maracas and tambourine), and Liam handing it to him so HE can throw it. This is also the first time Noel's thrown anything on the tour AFAIK.
They're just having so much fun together and being so charming about it. Incredible. Not in our WILDEST DREAMS did any of us in the fandom dream anything like this was possible.