firecat

Comment on my stories Twice-born and If Not Victory:
“My name is [redacted], and I am a research assistant at [a university] in the Netherlands. I am reaching out to kindly request your permission to include some sentences in an academic publications analyzing how characters die in fanfiction of Greek and Roman myths”

This describes the study the team is doing.
https://golemlab.eu/about/

‘The goal of GOLEM is to model the evolution of fiction in the context of digitalized and datafied culture, the so-called “digital literary sphere”’

January 27, 2025

Firecat: OMG! Why am I only now hearing about this TV show Watson? I’m so out of touch!

Wikipedia: Watson is an American television series created by Craig Sweeny which premiered on CBS on January 26, 2025.

Firecat: Oh…OK then.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watson_(TV_series)
It’s on Paramount+

Happy New Year!

In 2024 I stopped posting each work as it was released, so instead I made a roundup by month in reverse chronological order.

DECEMBER
A Bloody Cheek (Mind the Gap Flash, Bond(Craig))
https://archiveofourown.org/works/61414504
( Read more... )

As my readers might know, I'm nonbinary transmasc, around two years on T. My body shape usually gets me clocked as female, and I'm growing a beard but it's still pretty sparse.

I recently had to have a routine colonoscopy done in the hospital because I have sleep apnea. My medical forms included an option for specifying my gender identity and pronouns. I put nonbinary and "they/he."

So I'm in the prep ward, wearing a KN95 mask, and several nurses are doing things like putting in an IV and asking me questions about my meds and medical history. They are all using "she" to refer to me. I don't correct them because I just want the procedure over with.

Then another nurse comes in, I think the one who is going to be assisting during the procedure. She calls me Mr [Lastname]. Then she notices the other nurses using "she," so she also starts using "she".

After the procedure I'm being taken care of by a different set of nurses. My mask is gone. They are all using "he" to refer to me. I don't know if this is because they read my chart more carefully or if my scraggly facial hair tips me over to the other side of the binary appearance-wise.

Anyway, I found it amusing and interesting.

>1 million words of fanfic posted between April 11, 2020 and October 12, 2024. Go me!

Neil Gaiman was recently accused of sexual assault. I’ve been consuming his works and occasionally reading his blogs for 25 years. I’ve gradually lost some of my respect for him as a person but I think The Sandman and American Gods are really great works and he has created some absolutely amazing characters.

Opinions and discussion of sexual assault after the cut. No SA details in the post, there might be details in the comments, if any.
( Read more... )

Over at 3weeks4dreamwidth some folks have donated Dreamwidth points to be gifted. They can be used for extra features for your Dreamwidth account. If you want to receive some points, go on over there and leave a comment.

https://3weeks4dreamwidth.dreamwidth.org/12100.html

Media consumption for March 10 - 30. Have you consumed any of them?

• Ken Follett, The Hammer of Eden (audiobook)
  
• Michael Twitty, The Cooking Gene (audiobook)
  
• Nnedi Okorafor, Ikenga (audiobook)
  
• MJ Carter, The Strangler Vine (ebook)
  
• Catch Me If You Can (2002 film)
  
• Queen Cleopatra (2023 docudrama miniseries)
  
• The Bear (2022 TV series)
  
• Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? (2022 mystery miniseries)
  
• Love & Leashes (2022 film)

( Read more... )

Politically engaged readers in the US who contribute financially: How do you decide which election campaigns to give money to? I’m getting about a dozen requests a day and I’m so sick of them I’m disinclined to support any, but that doesn’t feel wise. I believe in supporting my representatives but it also seems like a good idea to support key races elsewhere but I don’t know how to decide which ones. I’d rather pick a few to focus on than give small amounts to all of them.

This is one of the best critiques I’ve ever read of the current state of scientific research and communication. It makes me want to figure out how to help communicate science to non-scientists in ways that don’t distort the science or its strengths and limitations.

https://undark.org/2024/03/08/interview-paul-sutter-science-trust/