firecat

”Let’s Talk About Magic Dick Theory in ‘Dune’” by Brian Phillips

Brian Philips is a writer for The Ringer. His article describes an exciting idea that he unearthed by hanging around university libraries, and now wants to share with the unsuspecting world: “Magic Dick Theory holds that chosen-one narratives [in science fiction & fantasy] are actually about adolescent boys’ relationships with their, um, sexuality. […] essentially, the acquisition of magical powers in these stories is a metaphor for entering sexual maturity, and that one of the functions of these stories is to give readers a spectacularly dramatic framework for processing masturbation.”

He proceeds to give examples: Harry Potter and his wand, Paul Atreides and his worms, while uttering apologies for being the person to bring you this take on SF&F that you “will never be able to un-encounter.”

He goes on to explain that Dune partially subverts the “chosen one” narrative and is critical of it. Then he shares another theory of his: there is a “strange genre of modern stories that I think of as cake narratives…A cake narrative is a story that critiques a thing while also offering you all the pleasures of that thing.”

I’m glad someone informed me that Homer is a modern writer.

…

OK, I t’s not like I think everyone who writes about SF&F should already know about fanfic (or Homer), but there’s something adjacent to male answer syndrome in the way this writer takes personal credit for these theories (the closest he comes to citing other people’s work is to say “spend enough time bumming around university libraries and you’ll eventually come across the argument that…” as if the dust in said libraries agglomerates to the point that it develops sentience and generates theories all by itself, which languish in dark corners until uncovered by intrepid pop-culture journalists.

It makes me want to write an article about how I’ve discovered this amazing secret about sportsball. Who knew?! — sportsball is an elaborate metaphor for male sexuality. (They pat each other’s bums! They jump on top of each other! And have you SEEN the shape of a baseball bat?)

candyheartsex is a multifandom exchange with a low minimum to encourage treating. It has temporarily replaced Chocolate Box Exchange for the last two years.. Around 500 people signed up and wrote almost 800 works works in 430 fandoms.

I wrote Disa/Durin/Elrond from LOTR:Rings of Power.

I was spoiled rotten and received four gifts! Three for Shadow & Bone (two Aleksandr/Alina, one Jesper/Wykan) and one for Altered Carbon (Kovacs/Ortega)

What I wrote:
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What I received (alphabetical by title):
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Media Consumption for February 1–7

My annual-or-so stab at doing a meme adjacent to Reading Wednesday. Maybe I can keep it up this year.
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In January I posted several works outside of exchanges:
—Lucifer TV, Lucifer/Ella, rating: Mature, for fandom_empire prompt “Luck”
—Venom (Marvel), Eddie/Venom, rating: Teen & Up, for fandom_empire prompt “Werewolves”
—Loki TV / His Dark Materials fusion, Loki/Sylvie, rating: Teen & Up, fandomtrees gift
—Original Work, incubi/young sorceress (M/M/F), rating: Explicit, for kinkhub theme: Hot & Cold

Details:
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Challenge #4: IceBreaker Challenge! Tell us about yourself.

15 or so mostly-fandom-adjacent facts about me
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I will happily babble away about pretty much anything on the Interests list of my DW profile.

Fannish interests include: Lucifer, Sherlock Holmes, Star Trek, Babylon 5, the Loki-centric portions of MCU. My fanfic is at firecat — viewer discretion advised.

The webzine Them reports that Good Omens and Our Flag Means Death shipfics are on top of AO3’s list of most popular ships, and heads the article with cute pix of Stede/Ed and Aziraphale.

https://www.them.us/story/fan-fiction-2023-queer-ships

It appears the count was conducted by pairing. I wonder where OFMD would be on the list if all the Izzy fics were included.

The article also mentions the author of the Potterverse unfavorably.

And it says that Kirk/Spock from the Star Trek movies were a new addition to the top pairings. REALLY?!

snowflake_challenge is an annual January celebration of fandom, fan works, and getting to know other fans & creators. There are fifteen prompts covering a variety of topics.

Snowflake challenge #1: Update your fandom information

I tweaked my DW profile, and when I went to read what other people say about their fannish interests and activities, I noticed that I feel less settled than others about exactly what I’m doing fannishly. I can say what I *have* done and a little about what I *do* but not so much about wha I *will do*. Maybe that’s because I’ve been doing it for less than five years.

Anyway, I started posting fanfic in spring 2020 and I’ve posted coming up on 1m words at AO3 (firecat ). I’ve been a dabbler (I’ve written in almost 120 fandoms) but I also have some faves — my most-written fandoms and characters have been Lucifer TV, the Loki-centric portions of MCU and other Loki variants, ancient Greek myth, John Constantine, Jack Harkness, Sherlock Holmes, and Star Trek (original series and Next Generation). I’m fond of crossovers. I’ve participated in a lot of exchanges. I tend toward explicit smut and sf/fantasy/horror, but other genres and less explicit works are respectably well represented.

My Dreamwidth journal has lately been mostly fannish stuff but I sometimes post about my life or stuff I’ve come across that made me think.

What are your thoughts about the phenomenon/communities of fandom today?

Nicked from kingstoken

I have a blackout — I filled all categories on the card except for one (book from my birth year). OK, you could side-eye my choice of book for the craft/hobby/cookbook category, but Moby Dick does have recipes and how-to’s in it.

Of the substitute categories, I filled all but one, Disabled Author — and I’m pretty sure I covered that category but I didn’t research which authors I read are/were disabled.


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This is a dump of most of what I watched this year, with brief comments/reviews. If you consumed any of these I’d enjoy it if you told me what you thought (positive or negative). If you want me to say anything more about them let me know!

Movies

20,000 species of bees
Part of Frameline queer film festival. Lucía is an eight-year-old AMAB girl. During a summer in a village house linked to beekeeping, she explores her femininity. The film and the actress who played Lucia won tons of awards. Filmed in Basque country.
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I’ve got a Scroogey mood going on for three reasons.
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