firecat | Network

ysabetwordsmith

Here are the location notes for "Each Diverse Human Gift."

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

fanweeklymod posting in

fandomweekly

Since we only have two fills this week, we won't have a voting round. Feel free to post any more fills for prompt #289 over the next couple days; challenge #290 will be up at the usual time, 9pm EST on Wednesday!

lannamichaels

I have had this song stuck in my head on and off for days upon days, so here is a post to maybe make it go awayyyyy

-Lovers in a Dangerous Time

(also randomly having johnny are you queer in my head but at least that one can be banished if I try hard enough)

elasticella posting in

femslashfete

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Current Music: Believer - Sybrid cover

jenab

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

kayla_allen

The overhead light fixture in our kitchen is a four-tube fluorescent fixture that uses 48-inch T12 bulbs. These bulbs last for a very long time. We moved here in 2011, and had never had to replace one of them. This week we finally had a pair of them burn out. This presented a challenge.

( Bulb Replacement )

I found someone selling a box of 30 T12 bulbs on eBay and ordered them. They were not even very expensive. When it arrives, we expect to go ahead and change all four existing bulbs so they are the same K value. At the rate we go through them, I expect this will be a lifetime supply of bulbs, which is good because once they are gone, there are no more.

Had we not been able to source replacements, Lisa was probably going to undertake replacing the ballast and fittings to change the fixture to use T8 bulbs, which you can still buy. It's a lot of work, but she was willing to take a crack at it.

Before you say, "Just replace it with LEDs," note that Lisa can perceive the flicker in LED lights, and it hurts her eyes. Yes, you probably can't see it. She can. It's her house too, and she's the one doing the work, so I do not complain; I just buy the parts and hold the tools.

Current Mood: relieved
Current Location: Fernley, Nevada

ranunculus

This is for

kaishin108 I think you need to replant the iris in your bed. There seem to be some amazing ones out there! This is Day By the Bay.

I don't know the name of this iris, but I have a couple and love them.

got_quiet posting in

beautifulmechanical

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starwatcher posting in

fandom_checkin

This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Monday, February 2, to midnight on Tuesday, February 3. (8pm Eastern Time).

Poll #34176 Daily Check-in

Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 30

How are you doing?

I am OK.
19 (63.3%)

I am not OK, but don't need help right now.
11 (36.7%)

I could use some help.
0 (0.0%)

How many other humans live with you?

I am living single.
13 (43.3%)

One other person.
12 (40.0%)

More than one other person.
5 (16.7%)

Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.

ysabetwordsmith

Read "May we raise children who love the unloved things" by Nicolette Sowder.

Current Mood: busy

osx_daily_feed

Posted by Jamie Cuevas

https://osxdaily.com/2026/02/02/important-software-updates-for-macos-big-sur-catalina-older-iphones-ipads-apple-watch-released/

https://osxdaily.com/?p=133884

Apple has released important software updates to a variety of older devices, including older model Macs, iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watch’s. These new updates are released as macOS Big Sur 11.7.11 and macOS Catalina Security Update 2026-001 Catalina, iOS 16.7.14, iPadOS 16.7.14, watchOS 10.6.2, watchOS 9.6.4, and watchOS 6.3.1. According to release notes from Apple, ... Read More

https://osxdaily.com/2026/02/02/important-software-updates-for-macos-big-sur-catalina-older-iphones-ipads-apple-watch-released/

https://osxdaily.com/?p=133884

ysabetwordsmith

This poem is spillover from the December 3, 2024 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from

fuzzyred. It also fills the "Fresh-baked Bread / Rolls" square in my 11-1-24 card for the Sleepytime Bear Bingo fest, and the "Adaptive Equipment" square in my 9-1-24 card for the People with Disabilities Drabble Fest Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with

fuzzyred. It belongs to the College Arc of the Shiv thread in the Polychrome Heroics series.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

fanlore_tumblr_feed

https://fanlore-wiki.tumblr.com/post/807472877947486208

This Meta Monday, we’re highlighting “Rule 63 and femslash within fandom Women, femslash, trans identities, rule 63/genderswap, and fandom: a not at all definitive essay”, posted in 2014 by Dreamwidth user intransitive. It covers the exclusion of Rule 63—or genderswapped—characters from femslash events.

The essay does not call to abolish this rule, and acknowledges the need to give canonical women a spotlight. It does encourage organizers, when prohibiting genderswapped characters, to check their language for echoes of transphobia and gender essentialism. Intransitive ultimately proposes both types of femslash can coexist.

Responses were varied. In 2019, one femslash event moderator cited the essay when choosing to allow Rule 63.

Want to learn more about this piece of meta? Check out its Fanlore page!

——-

We value every contribution to our shared fandom history. If you’re new to editing Fanlore or wikis in general, visit our New Visitor Portal to get started or ask us questions here!

https://fanlore-wiki.tumblr.com/post/807472877947486208

fanlore_tumblr_feed

https://fanlore-wiki.tumblr.com/post/807434338651291648

transformativeworks:

dramatic-dolphin:
the thing is when people say a specific fanfic trope comes from supernatural they usually mean “it was invented by the supernatural fandom in a fanfic”. on the other hand, when people say a specific fanfic trope comes from star trek, they mean “it was the plot of at least one star trek episode”
Star Trek Tropes & Genres vs Supernatural Tropes & Genres on Fanlore

https://fanlore-wiki.tumblr.com/post/807434338651291648

fanlore_tumblr_feed

https://fanlore-wiki.tumblr.com/post/807385951410225152

An arched doorway with constellation Cassiopeia on the righthand side. “Fanlore Monthly Editing Challenge“ is written on the left side. The background consists of a nebula fading into dark with starry borders.

Returning for 2026, Fanlore will have monthly editing challenges!

Each month, you can earn a shiny new badge for completing the editing task.

February’s editing challenge is create or expand a page related to femslash fandom, in honor of Femslash February!

To find out more about how to participate in the monthly challenges, and how to claim your badges, please check out the challenge’s help page.

—–

We value every contribution to our shared fandom history. If you’re new to editing Fanlore or wikis in general, visit our New Visitor Portal to get started or ask us questions here!

https://fanlore-wiki.tumblr.com/post/807385951410225152

fanlore_tumblr_feed

https://fanlore-wiki.tumblr.com/post/807367084538527744

ALT

Lovers of femslash, yuri, GL, wlw, and all things sapphic, it’s time to rejoice, for Femslash February has returned!

Femslash is a genre of fanworks about women characters in a romantic/sexual relationship, and Femslash February is an annual challenge to create fanworks for these pairings. All month long Fanlore will be spotlighting articles related to femslash fandom, so keep an eye on our social media for more.

In addition to the highlighted articles, we would love your help in expanding the femslash pages on Fanlore. Not sure where to start? Check out our femslash fandom category.

We hope you’ll join us for this year’s month of sapphic appreciation!

—–

We value every contribution to our shared fandom history. If you’re new to editing Fanlore or wikis in general, visit our New Visitor Portal to get started or ask us questions here!

https://fanlore-wiki.tumblr.com/post/807367084538527744

ffw_mod posting in

fan_flashworks

Hi, all!

We previously hosted our achievement badges on image-hosting site Imgur, but on 30 September, Imgur blocked people in the UK from accessing its content. It’s taken us a little while, but we’ve uploaded the badges to a private hosting site.

We’ve updated the Achievement Badges page and the Creator and Community Reports.

How do I update my badge links if I want to do that?
To update your badge links:

Go to the Creator Report and search on your username.

Under Details, click Badges, and then under View, click Badges again.

Result: The badges you’ve earned will display, with a Copy Embed button under each.

Click the Copy Embed button under each of your badges, and paste the embed codes in place of your old badge links.

I can still see my badges! Do I have to update the links?
We have no plans to remove or change the old Imgur links. If you have badges embedded on your profile page or anywhere else, you can leave your badge links as is. But if you do, the badges will not be visible to people in the UK.

mific

Two extraordinary CGI sci-fi vids about the exploitation of a distant alien planet. Extraordinary visuals.

solstice-5 [00.10.37]

solstice-5 forgotten archives [00.11.12]

And a brilliant and hilarious short HR edit that turns the show into a thriller murder mystery.

HR thriller edit

mific

Two hot off the press HR recs, and an older GC one.

cut to the feeling - by Charlotte_Stant, one of my fave authors in HR and HR RPF. For magical realism reasons, 18 y.o. Shane wakes up in the body and life of himself at age 35, married to Ilya. It's brilliant, very funny and just the best "crack taken seriously" imaginable. Also hot as hell. So good.

Torture Me (With All I've Wanted) - by Toomuchplor, also an absolute fave author. 17 y.o. Shane and Ilya end up on a long bus ride together. Under a blanket. Yes, it's super hot but all the details are so lovely, the writing so good. I love it.

And so it's gonna be forever has already been reccd by people and is still a WIP damn it, but it's completely addictive. I just loooove fix-it fics, and in this, Ilya dies in the Centaurs' plane crash but is magically transported back to his teens again, reliving his life with all his future memories intact, determined to get it righter this time - and boy, does he make some changes. I could do without a few of the mystical bits but the majority of this fic is like pure crack to me.

mergatrude

I had to use up some leave, so I took two weeks off at the end of January. I spent three days with my sister for her birthday, which included quality time with her cats. :-)

( Photos behind the cut )

suzume posting in

halfamoon

Title: Chocoholic
Fandom: Suikoden III
Character(s): Chris Lightfellow
Rating: G
Summary: Chris can't get a break.

( Sneaking around, Chris finally thinks she's found a good spot... )

ysabetwordsmith

There's a new Greenland Defense Front video, "Not For Sale." :D

Current Mood: amused

alchemicink

Being snowed in my house: fine

Being snowed in my house while listening to a basketball game with repetitive Bojangles commercials reminding me how much I want some fried chicken: torture

alchemicink posting in

halfamoon

The first character who popped in my head for "Guilty Pleasures" was Shizuru and her cigarette smoking habit. (I don't like real life smoking but I do love fictional smoking 😅)

Title: Rising Smoke
Fandom: Yu Yu Hakusho
Character: Kuwabara Shizuru
Rating: G
Length: 100 words
Summary: Shizuru takes a quiet moment to herself
Link: here on ao3 or you can read it under the cut below

( Read more... )

ysabetwordsmith

Some polar bears are getting fatter despite a warming Arctic

Polar bears tell you a lot about what’s going on in the Arctic. When food is hard to find, their bodies show it fast. When hunting gets easier, they put weight back on. Less sea ice has meant thinner polar bears and fewer of them.

That’s what makes the situation near Svalbard – midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole – so unexpected. Despite ongoing sea ice loss, adult polar bears there are not in worse shape.

Many are actually heavier than they were years ago. Extra fat is not a small detail for a polar bear. It often decides whether the animal gets through the year.

This is super exciting because for years I've been reading about Alaskan polar bears starving. If this other population is getting fatter, then maybe there is hope for the species. :D

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

tielan

Yes, I'm back with the Georgian trip!

Day 1: Overview | Day 2: Vashlovani Nature Reserve | Day 3: Jvari Monastery and Svetitskhoveli Cathedral

-----

The night of the Jvari Monastery and the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral (still Wednesday) we stayed in a little vineyard tucked away in the back of beyond, which required a hike along rough tracks and up and down roads. Our luggage was (thankfully) taken by a very old jeep - Soviet era, we were told. It surely looked it!

A B&B up in the mountains

The vineyard had been owned by a former church minister, and they were still doing it up. The road there was a little rough, and a few of the women struggled somewhat with the path.

There was also almost no signal.

But there were kittens!

This night was a particularly bad case of "we can't eat anything, we're too stuffed full of food". I didn't even take photos of the food, I was so full!

And the next morning was no better.

Ruins and vineyards and buildings on the walk back down to where the bus awaited us in the morning:

Thursday: Uplistsikhe

Yeah, it's a bit of a mouthful...

Uplistsikhe Rock Village dates back to the 2nd Century BC, and translates to 'God's Fortress'.

The carvings and design of it indicate both pagan and Christian residency (a pagan temple's fire altars were filled in when the community converted to Christianity and the space used as a chapel/cathedral), and multiple cultural influences from outside Georgia are indicated by its architecture and decoration before it was sacked in the 12th Century by the Mongols.

There was so much of it to see, but we only had an hour, so it was a very truncated tour of a really interesting historical site.

And I spent long enough in the chapel that I and my roomie (only other non-American on the tour, apart from the 'host' who was local, and the 'organiser' who was ) lost the rest of the group on the way out of the site. I found the chapel particularly fascinating to me for the black Madonna-and-Child portrait, the layout of the space, and the "drooping arms" cross symbol, which is representative of St Nino's grapevine cross she carried to Georgia when she brought Christianity to that part of the world.

Oh yes, and the black Madonna and child!

No, not me! (I just realised the juxtaposition of the photos. XD XD)

More seriously, there was a woman in the chapel who was praying or observing her pilgrimage. I had to be quiet while she was there and even after she left, I had to be quiet because there was a woman manning the shop right outside the door. *sigh*

I find it a bit restricting, actually, that the chapels and cathedrals all demand silence of you. There are times for silence, of course. But there's also time to sing and be joyful - to shout to the Lord! To everything a time and a season, as Ecclesiastes declares. I did manage to sing a hymn in a chapel in Positano, Italy and that was fun!

Anyway, there was a tunnel we missed out on seeing because we didn't work out where the rest of the group went, and then we got stuck at the top and ended up having to go back down the way we came, whereupon we met the rest of the group and went along to the bus.

On the way to lunch, we passed through the city of Gori, which is Stalin's birthplace. Many of the older Americans wanted to hop out and have a look at it, and I hopped out because the architecture looked really interesting!

C'mon, tell me this isn't fascinating to the daughter of an architect!

Gori: birthplace of Stalin

The location is the house in which he was born. The neighbourhood was "bought out" (*cough cough* we know how that goes in the west, now imagine it in Soviet Georgia!) and everything else razed to bring you...this edifice of stone and magnificence...

The Americans exclaimed over the details of Stalin's life. Me? I looked around at the architecture (very interesting, oddly beautiful for what I think of as 'communist brutalism') and then out at the public gardens surrounding it, and the Georgian national flag flapping in the wind. And I turned to our Georgia guide, grinned, and said "Stalin would have hated it." And she grinned back.

It was pretty much a fifteen minute stop because we were already kind of late to lunch. But then, we were still kind of full from the previous night and breakfast, so it's not like we were rushing to get to eat!

--

Lunch at Sisters-in-Law winery. The owner used to be in the diplomatic service, but married a guy whose family owned land out in the countryside and now runs a restaurant that they built out of reclaimed everything. All the bricks, all the wood, all the furnishings found and repaired and now reused. It's very permaculture.

books and food and activism against an oppressive government: what it can look like

They're also very socially active (also very permaculture) to the point where they decided to close the restaurant this summer, because they wanted to participate in local protests against pro-Russia government and they were worried about retaliation. That's a dedication to the cause. There were assorted signs and stickers around the place that showed the sentiment of the younger generation about Russia, but the older generations often recall the good times of the Soviet Union and want that back.

Sounds a bit familiar, really.

They definitely had some permaculture books...

Also, there was a wine there that was absolutely amazing, and honestly I'd have shipped an entire crate of it back home except they didn't have any left over from that batch! *sigh*

A beautiful place with a beautiful couple doing good, solid things in the world.

--

Kutaisi
At this point, my memories are growing a little fuzzy. I shouldn't have put off typing this up for so long, and since I've been back, a lot has happened!

But I do remember that the dinner in Kutaisi was a bit ordinary, all things considered...

A walking bridge, quite close to where we were staying, and the last light of day.

kerk_hiraeth posting in

halfamoon

TITLE: The Briefest of Heroes https://kerk-hiraeth.dreamwidth.org/21839.html

PROMPT: Day One - The Innocent

FANDOM: Buffy the Vampire Slayer FutureFic AU

AUTHOR: kerk_hiraeth

RATING: PG-13

LENGTH: 350,

CHARACTERS: OC Pov & Willow/Kennedy

SUMMARY: Amongst all the Slayers born into new powers; what happens to those alone; untrained and unfound. This is an account of one such abandoned innocent.

A/N: This is set in the summer of 2020, in a world where the Buffy/Faith bodyswap of BtVS S4 was not reversed; there is a cold war between the old Council of Watchers and a new Council of Slayers and their allies set up after the destruction of Sunnydale.

This is not a happy tale with a happy ending

This is the link to the original Dec 2020 post in case anyone is interested https://kerk-hiraeth.dreamwidth.org/12156.html

kerk

tellshannon815 posting in

halfamoon

Title: All Things Truly Wicked Start From Innocence
Fandom: Yellowjackets
Characters: Natalie
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Reference to character death, spoilers through S3
Word count: 467
Summary: As Natalie attends a memorial for Javi, she reflects on how he was the only one of them who was ever truly innocent.

( Read more... )

lb_lee

Hey everybody, it's that time again: time to vote for which stuff gets the LiberaPay/Patreon money this month! We've got some new zines/comics on the pile this month, because I finally sold my last copy of Rumbleghost!

As always, anyone can vote (please do!), but LiberaPay and Patreon patrons get double weight for their votes. (Due to Patreon's porn purges, I really encourage you to use LiberaPay, if you get a choice.) If you want to see the blurbs for any of these works, those are here! (You can also leave your requests there; requesting a story or essay is always free!) If you don't have a DW and so can't do the poll, that's okay; just leave your vote in the comments below; anon comments are turned on.

Which works gets the money, and thus posted this month? YOU CHOOSE, readers!

Poll #34175 2026 February Fan Poll

This poll is closed.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 23

View Respondents

Did you toss LiberaPay/Patreon money my way last month?

View Answers

Yes (my votes count double)
5 (100.0%)

What writing gets posted this month?

View Answers

Infinity Smashed: Born Lucky
6 (27.3%)

Reverend Alpert: the Traveling Exorcist
3 (13.6%)

Henchwench for Hire (F/F supervillainy)
4 (18.2%)

Rutless (trans omegaverse porno)
4 (18.2%)

Crazy Boys Get Money (autobio heist)
12 (54.5%)

The Battle-Axe and the Blood-Eater (pseudo-Greco-Roman blood sports)
7 (31.8%)

What art/comic/zine gets posted this month?

View Answers

Cult Comix
4 (19.0%)

Death Watch
6 (28.6%)

Protection
3 (14.3%)

Thrown Away
0 (0.0%)

Sneak Attack!
10 (47.6%)

Barred from Pokemon Forever
13 (61.9%)

Possessions (Rumbleghost)
2 (9.5%)

Crossposts: https://lb-lee.insanejournal.com/12682.html

dreadlordmrson

Okay, welp. I spent the usual "too much" time becoming human this morning.
As in, it is now past noon and no longer morning, even though I woke up at 8.
...past 1pm, as I finish this post...

But here we are, and it's time for some more Sex Kitten practice art.

( Images (sfw) )

lydamorehouse

NOT A LOON. The MInnesota Flag with a list of things that Minnesotans hold that aren't guns, including all the yummy food our immigrant neighbors make and things like candles and blankets.

If you're curious about how things are getting done here, there's a really lovely article by a Minnesotan who is normally a food blogger about something they're called The Cookie Theory of Collective Action: https://snackstack.net/2026/01/30/the-cookie-theory-of-collective-action/ As someone who is doing the majority of her work for the resistance via food justice, I really love thinking about this in terms of cookies.

As I told Colin this morning as I checked in at the Food Communists, it's another day in the revolution, my friends.

None of this is normal, but it's kind of shocking how quickly I feel like I am starting to have a rather routine part to play in the response to this insanity. Pretty much Monday-Thursday sometime after 11:00 am to about 2:30-3:30 pm, you can find me bagging food with the Communists. I found out today, that if I wanted to be insane I could show up as early as 6 am??? I am DEEPLY curious what the operation looks like that early, so maybe I will give it a try to drop in the next couple of days right after I drop Shawn off at work.

Then on Fridays I join my neighbors who are protecting our neighborhod mosque from noon until 2:30 pm.

Every so often, when the time allows, I go sing.

These are my days now.

Today when the Food Communists were looking for people willing to have their pictures taken for an Instagram post, I volunteered because I know for a fact that I've been photographed by ICE agents who were parked in a black Jeep directly across from the mosque a couple of Fridays ago. So, if there is a database of activists, I have joined a proud Morehouse tradition of being photographed by Federal agents. I will not be the first, and, no doubt, I will not be the last. We were talking about all this survalience stuff as we were sitting around eating our food before starting the bagging work and my feeling about it all boils down to: good luck to them. This dissident database of theirs is going to have every single person in Minneapolis/St. Paul in it and 57% is going to be moms/human beings who work from home and the other half is going to be pastors, rabbis, priests, etc. You know, the really scary people. There are community organizers, yes, of course, but if one falls, the rest of us will just pick up the slack. They can't arrest us all.

We did manage to play D&D on Saturday, which was wonderful because it was a great way (at least for me) to spend three hours thinking about something that wasn't .... *gestures at everything in Minnesota right now*

Tomorrow, we caucus!

cosmolinguist

Work team check-in this morning, I dreaded getting asked "How was your weekend, Erik?" My actual weekend: onboarding for new antifascist activities and returning to old ones, across two continents. My answer: "Oh you know, quiet."

I'm not doing anything scary or glamorous btw: mostly I'm in a bunch of Signal chats and standing around having cool conversations with strangers. There really is stuff for everyone to do.

(Including the people who are looking after people like me. I had a bad brain day yesterday and then listened to my parents for an hour and this time it was 100% [cw: MN, ICE, etc.] Details I'd managed to avoid myself, my mom just splurged all over me. My mom was late getting in touch with me because she'd been on the phone to her most annoying sister for the previous hour and, except for this bare fact, didn't even mention it. Normally I'd expect several solid minutes about how bad that was! So I went to bed feeling really down and the people and things that help lift me up are part of the fight too.)

ysabetwordsmith

Today we ordered some landrace seeds from the Buffalo Seed Company. They have a lot of great options. This is also a step toward my goal of planting more landraces.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

fuzzyred

Here is the Janiary goal review. I think I'm off to a good start so far, but there are a few areas I could improve in. For a more detailed examination, look behind the cut.

( January Goal Review )

Current Mood: happy

ysabetwordsmith

Today is cloudy and cold.

I fed the birds. I've seen a large flock of sparrows and a male cardinal.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 2/2/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I put out more birdseed and a new peanut suet cake.

EDIT 2/2/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 2/2/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 2/2/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 2/2/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Thanks to

nsfwords, the series Quixotic Ideas is now up to date. \o/ This is upbeat fantasy with magic integrated into everyday life.

Current Mood: accomplished

princessofgeeks

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Current Mood: annoyed

rfemod posting in

rarefemslashexchange

There are six pinch hits available, four new and two recurring. They will be due at the same time as assignments, on February 6th, 10PM PST. [Countdown] [In Your Timezone]

To claim a pinch hit, you can comment on this post (comments are screened) with your AO3 username and the pinch hit # that you want or you can reach out via email at rarefemslashexchangemod@gmail.com. While you can comment anonymously, please remember that you won't be able to get notified or see the reply.

If you are a pinch hitter who hasn't signed up for the exchange or someone who would like to treat a pinch hitter, there is now a post for Pinch Hitter Prompts.

( Pinch Hit #5 (fic): Psychonauts (Video Games), Umineko no Naku Koro ni | When the Seagulls Cry, Dragon Ball, Tekken (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics) )

( Pinch Hit #6 (fic): 전지적 독자 시점 - 싱숑 | Omniscient Reader - Sing-Shong, 내가 키운 S급들 - 근서 | S-Classes that I Raised - Geunseo, Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga, Cage of Roses (Visual Novel), Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer, 恋与深空 | Love and Deepspace (Video Game) )

( Pinch Hit #15 (fic): Alien Stage (Web Series), Avatar: The Last Airbender (Cartoon 2005), Nana (Anime & Manga), 凸变英雄X | To Be Hero X (Cartoon), 时光代理人 | Link Click (Cartoon), Death Note (Anime & Manga), 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù )

( Pinch Hit #16 (fic, art): Girls5eva (TV), Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019), Stranger Things (TV 2016), Ted Lasso (TV), We Are Lady Parts (TV) )

( Pinch Hit #17 (fic, art): Warhammer 40.000: Rogue Trader (Video Game), Baldur's Gate (Video Games), Stardew Valley (Video Game), True Detective (TV 2014), Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023), Doctor Who (2005) )

( Pinch Hit #18 (fic, art): Original Work, Ancient Greek Religion & Lore, Pluribus (TV 2025), A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, DCU (Comics), Stardew Valley (Video Game), Baldur's Gate (Video Games) )

rionaleonhart

Batch five of fills for the

threesentenceficathon! I'm having such a great time with this.

( Ace Attorney, Apollo and the judge, 200 words, prompt: the judge declares the witness guilty. )

( Ghost Trick/The Goes Wrong Show, Sissel and Robert, 320 words, prompt: after midnight. )

( Assorted ficlets for the Goes Wrong Show, mainly Chris and Robert, 700 words total. )

I got a comment on the ficathon saying 'Your fic has actually gotten me into the Goes Wrong Show and it's also absolutely hysterical', and it made me smile so hard. By my count, I've now got... twelve or thirteen people to watch The Goes Wrong Show, I think? I'm dragging everyone into this pit with me.

neilgaiman_feed

https://journal.neilgaiman.com/2026/02/thank-you.html

posted by Neil Gaiman

It’s been a while since I've posted anything anywhere, but I didn't want to let any more time go by without thanking everyone for all your kind messages of support over the last year and a half.

I've learned firsthand how effective a smear campaign can be, so to be clear:

The allegations against me are completely and simply untrue. There are emails, text messages and video evidence that flatly contradict them.

These allegations, especially the really salacious ones, have been spread and amplified by people who seemed a lot more interested in outrage and getting clicks on headlines rather than whether things had actually happened or not. (They didn't.)

One thing that's kept me going through all this madness is the conviction that the truth would, eventually, come out. I expected that when the allegations were first made there would be journalism, and that the journalism would take the (mountains of) evidence into account, and was astonished to see how much of the reporting was simply an echo chamber, and how the actual evidence was dismissed or ignored.

I was a journalist once, and I have enormous respect for journalists, so I've been hugely heartened by the meticulous fact and evidence-based investigative writing of one particular journalist, whom some of you recently brought to my attention, who writes under the name of TechnoPathology.

I've had no contact with TechnoPathology. But I'd like to thank them personally for actually looking at the evidence and reporting what they found, which is not what anyone else had done.

If you are curious about what they've uncovered so far, this clickable link takes you to really good investigative reporting: https://technopathology.substack.com/p/neil-gaiman-is-innocent-introduction

It's been a strange, turbulent and occasionally nightmarish year and a half, but I took my own advice (when things get tough, make good art) and once I was done with making television I went back to doing something else I love even more: writing.

I thought it was going to be a fairly short project when I began it, but it's looking like it's going to be the biggest thing I've done since American Gods. It's already much longer than The Ocean at the End of the Lane, and it's barely finished wiping its boots and hanging up its coat.

And I spend half of every month being a full-time Dad, and that remains the best bit of my life.

It's a rough time for the world. I look at what's happening on the home front and internationally, and I worry; and I am still convinced there are more good people out there than the other kind.

Thank you again to so many of you for your belief in my innocence and your support for my work.

It has meant the world to me.

https://journal.neilgaiman.com/2026/02/thank-you.html

twistedchick

This is a poem, but it was posted as an image, so please click to read it..

ETA: Since the original link didn't work, I am linking to my FB page.

buttonsbeadslace

we did some prep for the B2 proficiency level exam that we're going to be taking at the end of February, for which we read an exerpt from Corazón Tan Blanco by Javier Marías. The point was that there were some words missing and we had to fill them in, multiple choice, and that went all right. But I don't even care about that because I had some sort of epiphany about past tenses, the way that they're used in this exerpt is so skillful. There's one bit that just blew away. But to tell you more details, I first have to tell you that this exerpt is about a suicide.
( Read more... )

badly_knitted posting in

drabble_zone

Title: Starless Nights
Fandom: The Fantastic Journey
Author:

badly_knitted
Characters: Varian, Scott, Willaway, Fred.
Rating: PG
Written For: Challenge 487: Stars.
Setting: After the series.
Summary: Night on the island is different from anything the travellers have ever seen.
Disclaimer: I don’t own The Fantastic Journey, or the characters. They belong to their creators.
A/N: Triple drabble.

Starless Nights

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

vriddy

K-9 author posted super cute chibi art of Kagari earlier this year, which led to conversations about what his hair colour even is anyway. This is my answer!!

Suits like a charm | K-9 | Fujimaru/Kagari | <500 words | rated G

Summary: Fujimaru dyes Kagari's hair for him.

Read it on Dreamwidth or on AO3.

smbc_comics_feed

Posted by Zach Weinersmith

https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/private

Click here to go see the bonus panel!

Hovertext:
The twist is that her father is named Mechavac-9000.

Today's News:

https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/private

susandennis

These days in the Pacific Northwest are rainy and cloudy in the morning and sun shiney in the afternoons. Kind of perfect. And perfect for swimming but I think I'm going to pass today just because. Maybe.

On Sundays I generally stay in my apartment (Bonny calls it hibernating) and enjoy the heck out of that. And some Mondays, like today, I just want more. I don't have anywhere I need to go except maybe downstairs to pick up Amazon packages. If they come to the lockers, I pick them up. If they are dropped off at the front desk, they get delivered in the afternoons. I never know until they get here which way they are going. Usually it's lockers, but sometimes...

My latest obsession is makers on YouTube. I watch on my TV. There's the one very excellent guy, Pask Makes, from Australia who does fascinating work and makes great videos about them. He has a ton of videos and he's fascinating. And it seems way more productive than my previous obsession with watching Instagram videos of small children speaking in British accents. (Chances are they are actually British and not cheeky American or Canadian children with great linguistic chops but who really knows???)

I am caught up in the weirdest book. And I can't quit it. I'm a bully killer no personal life loaner thriller kind of reader. When I want something light, I go for a police procedural. This book is characterized as 'delightfully charming' something I am pretty sure I've been vaccinated against. And, yet... One sentence leads to the next and I have lost my will to stop. The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett.

So I have plenty of entertainment and not massive chores that need doing and no one who's counting on me for anything. Perfect.

ansible_feed

https://news.ansible.uk/a463.html

brightknightie

Here are some recent fannish things I've happened to see and would like to share!

Spotlight: I'm four episodes into the new Marvel Wonderman. It reminds me again how much I wish we could go back to "television" releasing one episode per week, many episodes per year. This streaming model doesn't allow viewers to build relationships with characters or each other. I can't consume or contribute to any discussions yet, because I've seen "only" four episodes (in less than a week). And by the time I catch up, everyone will have moved on. Granted, I feel strongly that Disney/Marvel should have approached its TV shows, from the start, as an anthology series, a la PBS's Masterpiece or The Wonderful World of Disney. That's a familiar model viewers would have understood and known how to engage with. Retrofitting it now as "Spotlight" may be too little, too late. I'm not asking that every story run for seven seasons, of course! But a big part of what makes TV different from movies, and precious to us, is the stories' presences in our lives as we live them through time.

Ficathons, fests & communities

Create & engage
- halfamoon, the 14-day challenge celebrating female characters, is in progress!
- small_fandoms has a drabble-athon throughout February. ("Smallness" here is not by Yuletide metrics, but by reasonableness and on the honor system for present participation.)
- pinchhitbingo is a rolling challenge to help out communities and support fellow fans by filling pinch hits (that is, exchange drops and unmatchables).
- videogamefanworks is a community for sharing assorted fanworks and fanwork recs for any video game or visual novel.
- allbingo's February theme is "Valentine's Day" (love and loss).
- trope_of_the_month's February theme is "Aliens Made Them Do It" (your choice of "it").
- pinchhits is a community for posting needed fills for exchanges. For example, traumaticexperiences is currently seeking pinch hitters.
- whenisitdue tracks many more events than I note here!
Enjoy & share
- fancake (themed fanfic recs); February theme: "inept in love" (fka "idiots in love")
- gensplosion (gen fanfic recs)
- het_reccers (m/f fanfic recs)
- fanart_recs (fanart recs)
- recthething (fanwork recs)

Sidelight: I've begun playing Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical, which is a choose-your-own-adventure visual novel murder mystery urban fantasy Greek gods retelling with full-on musical numbers that you direct and redirect as they are sung. So far, so good. Not good, it has no key to the chapter controls anywhere I can find. Three chapters in, I'm still struggling. I am not at all a savvy gamer, but this seems... not entirely my fault? A key to the controls, somewhere in the settings menus, is not an unreasonable ask, even for a multi-platform game, is it? (What is the tab sequence?)

swingandswirl

Snowflake Challenge: A flatlay of a snowflake shaped shortbread cake, a mug with coffee, and a string of holiday lights on top of a rustic napkin.

Challenge #8

Talk about your creative process.

You know, I don't think I've ever sat down and thought through my creative process before. This should be fun.

My solo-written fic, as opposed to my cowrites (/waves to

rhi ,

ilyena_sylph ,

t_vo0810 and others/) is one of two kinds, usually: either it's written for an exchange fic, or a bunny ups and grabs me.

When I sign up for exchanges, I try and craft my sign-up to get specific recipients, although I try and make sure that I can write for all potential recipicients. (I've only hit 'oh God no DEFAULT' levels of DNW a couple of times, which considering my Cursed Exchange Luck, I'm pretty proud of.) Once I get my assignment, I sit with the prompt that calls to me the most, and see what kind of story I can create that fits both the wordcount requirement and what the recip wants. Depending on how much plot there is, I throw myself on rhi's mercy for help, lol.

Once I've figured out what the story is, then I write it. Very rarely, I finish my first draft before deadline; usually I'm butting right up to it. (Being several hours ahead is a wonderful thing, sometimes. It feels like a sneaky little extension, lol.) I use the period between submission deadline and reveals to edit and polish my fic, although (thankfully) I write very clean drafts so there's rarely all that much editing, SPAG aside, to do. Sometimes my brain is a hunk of mouldy cheese and poor

rhi has to talk me down and remind me that I am a good writer and my fic will look better once I have had a snack and a nap.

When it comes to non-exchange fic, it usually starts with a bunny nibbling on me. Once the nibbling becomes too hard to ignore, I sit down and write - sometimes just scenes, sometimes snippets, sometimes whole-ass fic. Then I let the for-publishing stuff sit for a few days before going back over it, then getting it beta'd.

Regardless of whether it's exchange fic or for my own satisfaction, there's one step of the process I find utterly loathsome: titles. There's a reason most of my fics have either lyrics or quotes for titles - titling is the worst, even harder than summaries. I am in awe of people who find it easy. But works need titles, alas, and so far I've somehow managed, lol.

And that's my creative process! Feel free to ask me any questions you may have.