We Can't Rewind, We've Gone Too Far

violsva @ 2026-04-18T19:31:00

2026-04-18T23:41:34Z

Two somewhat short smut fics!

New Doors (512 words) by Violsva
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Roaring Twenties Magic - Allie Therin
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Wesley Collins | Lord Fine/Sebastian de Leon
Characters: Sebastian de Leon, Wesley Collins | Lord Fine
Additional Tags: Post-Proper Scoundrels, Oral Sex, First Time Topping, Sexual Inexperience, Mild Smut, Mostly Just Sebastian Having a Lot of Feelings Honestly
Summary:

A snippet of Wesley and Sebastian sharing a bed on the boat trip to New York between Proper Scoundrels and Once a Rogue.

Friends With Curses (920 words) by Violsva
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Edgin Darvis/Xenk Yendar
Characters: Edgin Darvis, Xenk Yendar
Additional Tags: Camping, Curses, Friends With Benefits, Oral Sex, Single Syllable Smut Challenge, Experimental Style, Explicit Sexual Content, Post-Canon
Summary:

Xenk and Ed take their minds off the hard part of their quest.

Non-writing-wise, I have been spinning so much yarn. Tumblr | Ravelry

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Candy Hearts Reveals

2026-02-24T22:23:06Z

So my wife (!!) was here for a week, which was lovely, but limited the amount of time I was willing to spend in front of a laptop. So my candyheartsex reveals post is slightly belated.

Firstly, I received this wonderful fic, with lots of worldbuilding and people trying to sort out cross-cultural relationships and hair petting.

paradise (2522 words) by WolffyLuna
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Original Work
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Original Female Character(s)/Original Male Character(s), Male Drow Used To Being A Disappointment/His Female Captor Who Thinks He's Pretty Great (OW)
Characters: Original Female Character(s), Original Male Character(s)
Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Past Abuse, Age Difference, hair petting, Hugs, Elves, Fantasy setting
Summary:

Rhoklan looked down at the woven liana floor, and held his hands out, palm up.
Every time he apologised, he did that. Real error, false error, something that had nothing to do with him, he always stood like that, hands held out as an offering while he hid his face behind a curtain of white hair.
Suppressed irritation rattled in her chest. The problem was that she could not get angry with him for the habit without him doing it more.
It had taken her a month to work out why. The idea that it would even come up only angered her more. Even if she was purely a heartless pragmatist, why would she strike her secretary’s hands? He needed those to write!

And I wrote for firecat for the excellent prompt "Fairy Prince/Noir Detective", which I used as an excuse to experiment with contrasting prose styles.

Fae Fatale (524 words) by Violsva
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Original Work
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Original Male Character/Original Male Character, Fairy Prince/Noir Detective
Additional Tags: Pre-Slash, Pastiche, First Meetings, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Candy Hearts Exchange 2026
Summary:

It had been a slow afternoon. There had been a lot of slow afternoons lately.

Excellent exchange experience, as usual.

Now I am considering the Single Syllable Smut Challenge, reveals date April 1st. It would be nice if I could manage Phantom Tollbooth or Alice in Wonderland or some other fandom where it would be thematic, but I'm not sure I'm up to that.

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Collecting Alphabets

2026-01-16T22:01:02Z

In the spirit of enjoying the process more than the product, I've been picking up an old hobby this month: collecting alphabets.

I was feeling a bit nostalgic for language learning in December, and I thought that in January I might study Arabic or Mandarin, since I already have textbooks for those, and maybe I should try to keep up my French ... and then I watched Kpop Demon Hunters.

In university I taught myself Hangeul, the Korean alphabet, because it's really cool. It was invented by King Sejong in 1443 specifically so that peasants could learn to read without having to learn Chinese characters.

한글 (Hangeul) doesn't look like an alphabet if you're used to western ones, but each of the character blocks is actually made up of separable letters. So (simplification) ㅂ is b or p, and 비빔밥 is bibimbap, and you can see ㅂ in four places in that word, three times at the beginning of a syllable (upper left) and once at the end.

The thing is, my goal is not actually to learn Korean. If I wanted to be able to have a conversation or watch a movie in Korean, I would need to take a class so I could actually hear it spoken and make sure I was pronouncing the sounds correctly and practice using it with real human beings. It's awkward having both an interest in languages and social anxiety.

If I had done that in university, I might have remembered the alphabet over the intervening 15 years, instead of forgetting 90% of it because all I used it for is sounding out signs.

But I like being able to sound out words, even if I never pick up the vocabulary properly. It makes me feel like I am part of a multicultural society. So I got a Korean textbook from the library, and I'm going through it focusing on learning to read, but also finding out interesting things about Korean language and culture as I go. (Two sets of numbers!)

I thought I still had Korean flashcards I'd made in university, but it turns out they're actually from when I tried to learn Arabic. When I think I've gotten what I can from this book maybe I'll try Arabic again.

About this time last year I read a book on statistics and then one on combinatorics, making notes and doing the math exercises. They didn't stick as much as I hoped they would, but I enjoyed studying them anyway.

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violsva @ 2026-01-05T11:38:00

2026-01-05T16:45:05Z

Everyone misses the book memes, I see. From various:

Grab the nearest book.
Turn to page 126
The 6th full sentence is your life in 2026.

When I first saw this I was in the bathroom with no books ... but with my phone. Here is the sixth sentence from the 126th page of the ebook edition of The Horse and His Boy (which is at the top of the list because I've finished it) as displayed on my particular phone with those particular Libby settings:

This seemed to last for hours.

That is ... not what I wanted, as divination goes...

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2025 Reading

2026-01-01T22:46:12Z

So I saw a few people talking about their favourite books of 2025, and I decided to see if I could actually come up with a (short) list since I generally don’t even try to name favourites.

This excludes rereads and fanfiction, which would about double the list. * indicates books published within the last two years, ~ indicates the last of a trilogy where I also recommend the rest. Listed in order of reading.

~Blood and Ember by Isabel Cooper
The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor by Shaenon K. Garrity and Christopher Baldwin (comic)
Dionysos by Richard Seaford (nonfiction)
~*Viscounts & Villainy by Allie Therin
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
The Adventures of Harlequin by Francis Bickley
*Sorcery and Small Magics by Maiga Doocy (comments here)

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the lesson of the moth

2025-12-11T21:20:58Z

i was talking to a moth
the other evening
he was trying to break into
an electric light bulb
and fry himself on the wires

why do you fellows
pull this stunt i asked him
because it is the conventional
thing for moths or why
if that had been an uncovered
candle instead of an electric
light bulb you would
now be a small unsightly cinder
have you no sense

plenty of it he answered
but at times we get tired
of using it
we get bored with the routine
and crave beauty
and excitement
fire is beautiful
and we know that if we get
too close it will kill us
but what does that matter
it is better to be happy
for a moment
and be burned up with beauty
than to live a long time
and be bored all the while
so we wad all our life up
into one little roll
and then we shoot the roll
that is what life is for
it is better to be a part of beauty
for one instant and then to cease to
exist than to exist forever
and never be a part of beauty
our attitude toward life
is to come easy go easy
we are like human beings
used to be before they became
too civilized to enjoy themselves

and before i could argue him
out of his philosophy
he went and immolated himself
on a patent cigar lighter
i do not agree with him
myself i would rather have
half the happiness and twice
the longevity

but at the same time i wish
there was something i wanted
as badly as he wanted to fry himself

archy

-- Don Marquis

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Puzzle game recs

2025-10-28T01:40:01Z

So 12 Word Searches. I’m so mad about this.

I mean. Five stars. God, I’m furious. It’s so well done. I finished it on my second try, after carefully glancing at non-spoilery discussion, and I’m so angry. Oh my god.

This by the same designer is easier and does not make me want to set them on fire.

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Explore the ruins of a haunted castle

2025-10-13T17:09:50Z

The Haunted Ruin

The castle was haunted long before it was ruined. The family who lived there were plagued by strange events and shadowy visions of a medieval woman. The castle was always cold, windows broke and objects moved by themselves, ethereal voices and music were heard, and the family was known for their volatile tempers. Their reputation declined, and at last, centuries ago, the family line died out, and the castle was abandoned.

Now, the building is in ruins. The upper floors have caved in, leaving strange patterns of rubble which have turned the ruin into a labyrinth. The villagers tell stories of stones moving by themselves, strange shadows seen in the ruins, and visitors disappearing, sometimes permanently.

You are a scholar attached to a nearby university. You have come here to explore. What are you looking for?

The Haunted Ruin is a collaborative interactive ghost story, or, if you prefer, a solo journalling RPG, inspired by the works of M. R. James and others. You will write two linked stories here: the story of your explorer in the (somewhat Victorian) present, and the uncertain, incomplete story of the ghost or the castle in the past.

The castle changes with every visit, so every playthrough and story will be unique. To play, you will need a deck of cards and a notebook. This work is based on the Carta system, from Leon Richardson and Peach Garden Games.

Content warnings: Hauntings, emotional instability, spiders, academia.

The Haunted Ruin on itch.io

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violsva @ 2025-09-27T19:39:00

2025-09-27T23:57:08Z

So in July I got married, which is sufficient excuse for having completely forgotten to mention any of the fics I've posted since February here.

First the weird one. Well, one of the weird ones.

Title: Manifested Under Human Flesh
Rating: M
Fandom: The Great God Pan - Arthur Machen
Characters: Helen Vaughan, various test subjects
Warnings/Enticements: Amorality, Dubious Consent, Mpreg, Fpreg, Non-Consensual Pregnancy, Body Horror, Pretentious Classical References, Suicide, Human Experimentation, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat
Summary: Helen Vaughan is very disappointed in the quality of her materials.
Wordcount: 1355 words

On AO3

Title: That’s What I Fucking Want
Rating: E
Fandom: Red, White, and Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston
Characters: Alex Claremont-Diaz, Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor
Warnings/Enticements: Post-Canon, Praise Kink, Dirty Talk, mild degradation kink, Frottage, Face-Fucking, Explicit Sexual Content, Kink Exploration
Summary: “My praise kink?” Alex shoves himself up on one hand and considers hitting Henry with a pillow. “What? That’s not a thing.”
Wordcount: 2011 words

On AO3

And another little RWRB missing scene: Marshmallow Cream

And just now for Keep Fandom Weird:

Title: Allium flavum subsp. anaphrodisium
Rating: G
Fandom: Carmilla - J. Sheridan Le Fanu
Characters: Mademoiselle De Lafontaine and basically everyone else, briefly
Warnings/Enticements: Canon Divergence, Anticlimax, Libido-killing Pollen, Paternalism, Unhappy Ending, Happier Than the Original Though
Summary: Mademoiselle De Lafontaine saves the day.
Wordcount: 1628 words

On AO3

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April Recs

2025-05-01T17:58:15Z

My comments on reading in April are a couple recs: firstly, The Executioner's Daughter by Ashley Warren. D&D level 3 solo adventure/CYOA story, very cool.

And I have also been greatly enjoying Ballarat National Theatre's podcast production of Persuasion. Highly recommended.

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AO3 Meme

2025-04-01T21:53:50Z

AO3 meme borrowed from castiron.

1. Most Hits: Let Me, as always, with 43,564.

2. Second Most Kudos: Witness and Testimony, also as always, with 2,325.

3. Third Most Comments: Tinsel Show with 72, being a multichapter and also my longest work.

4. Fourth Most Bookmarks: One Turf Shall Serve with 73, which might be higher on the other metrics too if it hadn't been first posted elsewhere for an exchange.

5. Fifth Most Words: Where Both Deliberate, which is the end of a series, with 11,923.

6. Fic With Second Fewest Words (That's Not a Drabble): Rouges Gallery with 105.

7. Seventh Most Common Relationship: Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov, tied with 8 works.

8. Eighth Drabble Posted: Excluding drabble collections, Your Stare Was Holding.

9. Ninth Most Common Character: Lestrade (Sherlock Holmes), tied with 9 works.

10. Tenth Mature and/or Explicit Fic: Tenth posted? We'll go with that. Just How This Would End.

11. Eleventh Most Recent Completed Fic: Blossoms in Ashes, for Yuletide 2023.

12. Twelfth Most Recent Story in Your Sixth Most Common Tag: Where Both Deliberate again, because I used to write a lot of case fic but haven't in a while.

Not looking for my favourite title because seriously, I've had to come up with 293 titles, it's a miracle I haven't repeated any. Also, I suspect I appreciate my puns more than anyone else will.

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March Reading

2025-04-01T19:23:19Z

Next year I may deliberately plan to only reread from December to February. Things are starting to feel much less like I'm fighting my way through molasses.

Recent: As well as fanfiction, The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor was very well done and exactly what it wanted to be.

Read Statistics Without Tears: An Introduction for Non-Mathematicians by Derek Rowntree, very much recommended if that's what you want, I actually wanted combinatorics. And a little more math rather than mindset.

I also read a couple chapters of Georgette Heyer's The Corinthian to check voice for the Hell of the Ball, but didn't really feel the need to keep going. I don't have any nostalgia associated with Heyer so I tend to notice her flaws more than, say, Christie's.

Current: Almost done D&D's Worlds & Realms. I suspect I would find Mordenkainen a lot more irritating if I had not first been exposed to Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. Also Jeannie Lin's novella Capturing the Silken Thief.

Started listening to Re: Carmilla, which is a really good performance. Every time I forget just how soon and how hard Le Fanu goes on the lesbianism.

Future: After Re: Carmilla finishes I will reread this lovely (dark dark dark) fic that breathedout wrote for me for Yuletide 8 years ago.

A bunch of holds on books I started in January and didn't finish are going to come in sometime in April, so we'll see if those do better without the SAD. Hopefully they'll come in before the advance polls, which I will be working.

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The Hell of the Ball

2025-03-13T23:46:38Z

A one page RPG about avoiding people at a Regency party

It is one of the most anticipated nights of the London Season. You are at a fine ball, surrounded by the wealthy and titled, wearing a gorgeous (and extremely expensive) outfit. Hundreds of candles light the room, and a small orchestra is playing a minuet.

You hate it and you want to leave.

Let us be frank: some gentlepersons simply would not enjoy the glittering spectacle of a grand Society occasion—or at least not every night. This game envisions an unwilling, unimpressed, somewhat grumpy participant at the sort of grand rout one sees in hundreds of Regency romance novels, as many of us who read them must admit we sometimes would be.

It is hot, it is loud, it is unpleasant, and someone has just stepped on your foot. Can you find a single moment of privacy at this event?

You will need: A standard deck of 52 cards and a six-sided die.

Free PDF available here!

This is not actually the game I expected to post first. The first game I wrote was The Haunted Ruin, currently in playtesting, but that is somewhat large and I will be charging for it and playtesting and editing take time. And then I had an idea for something a lot smaller, so I accidentally wrote a one-page RPG to test uploading things to itch.io before the large project. So that worked out well.

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February Reading

2025-02-28T23:01:44Z

I am having a lot of trouble both picking up books to start and concentrating on them while reading. Even reading D&D sourcebooks, which is all my brain really wants to do right now, I sometimes have to read a sentence three times for it to penetrate. This is probably seasonal depression.

Anyway, I have still read some.

Recent: I finished Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft earlier this month, straight through, with no particular reason or plans to work on a horror campaign. Enjoyed it very much.

Finished Packaged Toronto: A Collection of the City's Historic Design, which I got from the spacing store last year and have been reading slowly ever since. Vaguely related to Four Apples but also just my city, yay. I would have liked more detail on most things but that's a constant state.

And in my quest for ever-smaller M/M pairings, I have started reading D&D: Honour Among Thieves fic, and I recommend Counterpoint by Geese_In_Flight if you like plot and ethical conflicts and people not talking about their emotions.

I also read or reread a bunch of short stories: more than half of The Bone Key (great as always, would have finished it if not for library holds), "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (definitely an early 19thC New England gothic story), and Mistakes Were Made by coveredinfeels (awesome. I don't know Dragon Age beyond watching consultingpiskies play a few times, so I can't speak to canonicity, but lots of fun and set in my favourite kind of modern AU).

Current: This is the part where I feel like nothing's happening. I am flipping through various D&D sourcebooks and reading the sequel to Counterpoint, above. Other than that, I have not made much progress with Middlemarch, and I read the first 15% of The Teller of Small Fortunes and I like it, there's no reason for me not to read it, but I haven't got back to it. Maybe because I haven't spent much time on public transit (I wrote that yesterday, but today I was on public transit and the focus still wasn't really there).

Future: I have got The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor out of the library again.

I have a Jeannie Lin novella out from the library, I have various fics lined up, and I am wondering if audiobooks would be more manageable right now. Alternatively I am considering taking March off from expectations.

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violsva @ 2025-02-24T16:46:00

2025-02-24T21:50:35Z

candyheartsex authors have been revealed, so here is the gift I wrote for VanaTuivana:

Title: the eldritch light of sundown
Rating: T
Fandom: Original
Characters: Superhero, Supervillain
Warnings/Enticements: Injury, Hurt/Comfort, First Kiss
Summary: “Look, Nick? Can I call you Nick? Or Nicholas? I swear this isn’t a trap or something, I don’t know what you’re afraid of, but can you at least give me a Tylenol before the interrogation? And maybe do something about the stab wound, I don’t know? It feels serious. I can talk while you’re stitching it up or whatever.”
Wordcount: 2830 words

On AO3

I had a lot of fun with the characters and worldbuilding for this one (basically putting the X-Men and a warlock of the Great Old One in a jar and shaking).

And I received if I need your help by goseaward which is a great Band Sinister AU, it is exactly what I wanted and I really love how it's done, highly recommended.

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January Reading

2025-02-02T23:32:04Z

Okay, I am going to write a January books post even if I feel like I haven't finished anything.

Recent: Because I have in fact finished The Ironmaster's Tale, Swordheart, and Blood and Ember. Swordheart was on hold for most of December because the climax had a lot of emotions and I did not feel up to that. But I did in fact get myself to finish things, one of which was not a reread. Also some fic.

Current: I borrowed Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft from a friend and I have been reading so many game sourcebooks. Also Grizelda's Guide to Ghost Hunting, which I bought last October from Bundle of Holding and then completely forgot about, whoops. It's very good.

I am halfway through a bunch of things, some of which are getting regularly picked up and some not so much. Nature Tales for Winter Nights edited by Nancy Campbell has some nice sections.

I did in fact start Middlemarch, through the Serial Reader app, which has segments a little shorter than full chapters. However it's been a while since I caught up so we'll see. I do really like it, although in a "/o\ oh my godddddd Dorothea" sort of way.

Future: I have a book on Chinese knotwork, although currently my nonfiction reading brain is taken up with TTRPGs. And on the theme of ghosts I might reread The Bone Key by Sarah Monette.

Sometime this month my holds on Shoestring Theory by Mariana Costa and The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong should come in.

Oh, also I finished a Discworld ficlet yesterday.

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3SF, briefly

2025-01-28T18:19:48Z

threesentenceficathon is still running, but I wrote one (1) fic and one (1) prompt and then stopped. I'm not sure why, writing in general has been going well, but oh well. Here it is.

( Narnia )

Recs, all about cats:

Narnia, any, "self portrait"

And my prompt: Any, Any cat, starving!!

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Dear Confectioner:

2025-01-07T22:42:40Z

Hi! Thanks so much for writing for me, and congratulations on your evident good taste!

If you want to benignly internet-stalk me to get an idea of my interests, Tumblr and AO3 are probably a better idea than DW. Though I have been book blogging recently.

I have requested Band Sinister by K. J. Charles, the Roaring Twenties Magic series by Allie Therin, Tortall by Tamora Pierce, and Tam Lin by Pamela Dean. I am happy with any fic rating or length, and welcome extra treats.

A large and random list of things I like in general: worldbuilding, hurt/comfort, huddling for warmth, teamwork, competence, adventure, lesbians, ethical dilemmas, loyalty conflicts, people being clever, twisty plots, gender issues, sibling or sibling-like relationships, epistolary fic, backstory, pining, physical affection, queerness, philosophy, romance, UST, found families, mythological and literary allusions, polyamory, slash, het, femslash, passionate platonic friendships, hidden worlds, cities, wilderness travel, banter, complicated plans, beautiful landscapes, angst, puns, magical realism, history, social class issues, older women with major roles, case fic, period accuracy, gen, smut, pwp, diversity of opinion, secret identities, fairy tales, specific sense of place... Feel free to use any of these, don't try to use all of them.

DNW: Child- or pregnancy-focused fic, high school AUs, fic entirely centred around a wedding or wedding preparation or Valentine's Day, incest, or graphic depictions of rape or gore or torture.

Fandom specific thoughts and optional details:
( Band Sinister - K. J. Charles )

( Roaring Twenties Magic - Allie Therin )

( Tortall - Tamora Pierce )

( Tam Lin - Pamela Dean )

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December Reading

2025-01-04T21:00:03Z

So the problem with using New Year’s as a time to take stock and make plans or to set a pattern for the year to come is that generally I spend New Year’s celebrating Christmas with whichever part of my family I didn’t see earlier in the month. So I’m not in a familiar space and often I don’t even have my laptop with me, which has, for example, the .txt file where I keep track of my reading.

Luckily this month that wasn’t complicated.

Recent: I listened to the audiobooks of Allie Therin’s Roaring Twenties Magic series again, while sewing. This was exactly what I needed and I enjoyed it very much.

That’s it, that’s all I finished this month.

I did reread “Christabel” on the subway one day, and I bought waayyy too many books and read some scholarly introductions to 18th century literature.

Current: I’m almost done rereading The Ironmaster’s Tale.

I am about halfway through Isabel Cooper’s Blood and Ember, which is the conclusion to a fantasy trilogy. I’m enjoying it, but I won’t finish it before I need to renew it.

But at least I can renew it, while The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper and Freya Marske’s Swordcrossed (both of which I’ve just started) have holds on them and I also probably won’t finish them before they have to go back. Oh well, I can put more holds on.

Future: I might just reread Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots. That sounds like it’d be great right now. Also there was an excellent Yuletide fic for it.

Beyond that I might try to space things out a bit more. I may be hitting a point where I can only focus on one or two books at once, which would be weird.

Posted later here because like hell was I dealing with html tags on a touchscreen keyboard. But also I have now given my sister her Christmas present so I have posted quilt pictures on tumblr!

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Blue Castle fic

2024-12-08T01:53:36Z

Write what you know, I guess. I like piecing quilts more that Valancy does, though.

Title: In the Lighted Palace Near
Rating: G
Fandom: Blue Castle - L. M. Montgomery
Characters: Valancy Stirling, Barney Snaith (or someone very like him), Valancy Stirling's awful relatives
Warnings/Enticements: Pre-Canon, Daydreaming, Canonical Family Dynamics, Chivalry, Fairy Tale Elements, Sewing
Summary: A tired knight rides up a winding road to a faint prospect of sanctuary.
Valancy pieces a quilt.
Wordcount: 1323 words

On AO3

I also wrote a sexy Carmilla drabble for Wanksgiving.

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November Reading

2024-12-05T00:55:52Z

Post delayed by a vacation and then PMS. More thoughts than usual, though, and anyway it's definitely in time for Reading Wednesday.

Recent: Finally finished My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness, but fast enough that things did not really sink in, or not all at once. It was good, interesting cultural differences and similarities, probably won't read the sequels.

Reread Steadfast, by Mercedes Lackey. This is not a good book, people. I knew that when I started it. In terms of pacing and plotting and unnecessary digressions and historical accuracy and giving agency to characters it is very very badly done. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Which is maybe what I need, given how much I get tied into knots about the free fanfic I write for fun needing its theme to be supported by a coherent narrative arc.

I read some of T. Kingfisher's commentary on fairy tales in The Halcyon Fairy Book and most of Lace Making by Eunice Close (published by a tiny Canadian press in 1975, don't go looking for it). I tried to reread The Bacchae for catharsis purposes, but it was a not-great Victorian translation and I didn't get very far. I did find out that Alan Cumming played Dionysus twenty or so years ago and the trailer for that is on Youtube.

Read A Phantom Lover by Vernon Lee, which was good for what it was but I did have to force myself to it. On the drive with consultingpiskies I finally managed to articulate that I am just not up to unfamiliar fiction right now, and maybe that's okay.

I read all of May Morris: Arts & Crafts Designer at the library, which is the book of an exhibition of her work and was absolutely gorgeous and also gave me feelings about her relationship with her father, so that was great. And on the theme of the English Arts and Crafts movement, English Embroidered Bookbindings by Cyril Davenport, which might have been improved with more practical knowledge of embroidery but was generally good.

Also read Meet Me on the Other Side by Sparklepocalypse, RWRB 1890s cowboy AU. I could be nitpicky about a couple historical attitudes but basically this is just a really good romance novel and I liked it.

Current: Rereading Swordheart by T. Kingfisher. I really want to know more about the Temple of the White Rat's embroiderer(s). Like, maybe Zale does their own embroidery, but in that case I would have expected them to take a project along for the wagon ride. For a while I was carrying this around with me everywhere, but now that I am getting to the climax things are going more slowly.

Just gave 3/5 of my library books back unstarted due to the fiction realization above. I have two digital craft books to flip through, and also some from the Antique Pattern Library, and Chats on Old Lace and Needlework by Mrs. Lowes. Look, basically what I want to do right now is get overwhelmingly caught up in craft projects and never talk to anyone ever again. I won't, because there is Christmas shopping to do and people I am trying to make friends with and so forth, but that's probably where my head's going to be all month.

Various RWRB fanfics going on still. Oh, and there's been more Madame C—. Thank god for Madame C—.

Future: I still have The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor by Shaenon K. Garrity and Christopher Baldwin out from the library, which really does seem fun but I don't know if I have the brain for it. I would also like to get through more of my AO3 Marked for Later list before Yuletide adds a bunch to it, but, well. (I didn't sign up for Yuletide this year, not because I didn't think I could manage it but because I suspected I would hate the process, and that was a good decision.)

If all else fails I will relisten to the Roaring Twenties Magic audiobooks while sewing.

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Trick or Treat 2024 Reveals

2024-11-07T21:24:43Z

So a lot of people have been posting pictures of pretty things and cute fluffy animals right now, and I am extremely grateful for that. And if you need more cute fluffy animals, I do have a kitten tumblr.

But on the other hand, trickortreatex author reveals were today. So if you feel like what you need right now is some dark fucked up escapism, well, then have I got a fic for you.

(And when I say escapism ... well, that would be a spoiler.)

Title: The Marriage Beneath the Shade
Rating: Explicit
Fandom: The Great God Pan - Arthur Machen
Characters: Rachel M., Helen Vaughan, various nymphs, satyrs, etc.
Warnings/Enticements: Horror, Dubious Consent, Missing Scenes, Body Horror, Transformation, Dreams, Pretentious Classical References, Orgies, Erotic Asphyxiation, Masturbation, Dirty Talk, Explicit Sexual Content (involving teenagers), Dead Dove: Do Not Eat
Summary: Her memories of those days were often confused. It was a blissful confusion, though. All of that summer felt like a dream, a very physical embodied dream.
Wordcount: 5593 words

On AO3

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October Reading

2024-11-04T02:08:34Z

I've been having trouble sitting down to actually write this. It's almost as if I'm under a lot of stress right now. I wonder what uncontrollable near-future political event that could be about.

Recent: I reread a horror novel at the start of the month which will become evident after Trick or Treat author reveals.

Finished How To by Randall Munroe and Unmarriages by Ruth Mazo Karras. Also Biggles Buries a Hatchet, all basically good, discussed in last post.

Got a lot of knitting done while reading M. R. James on The Wanderings and Homes of Manuscripts, which was perhaps not the M. R. James I would expect to read in October, but nonfiction is easier right now. It's very affected by being written immediately post-WWI.

On which note, just now finished The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal by K. J. Charles, right under the wire before it has to go back to the library. Enjoyed it and also very much appreciate the list of referenced Victorian ghost stories in the Acknowledgements.

Also lots of Kinktober.

Current: Still skimming through Painting Nature in Watercolour with Cathy Johnson, whose style I like. Writing style, I mean, but also the watercolors.

I read a third of The Silvered by Tanya Huff and liked it enough to put it on hold again even though my ability to focus on new long fiction isn't really there.

Rereading Steadfast by Mercedes Lackey. Mrs. Pollifax is still continuing slowly.

Have I made any progress on the paper books I have out from the library? No.

Oh, I skimmed the beginning of The Blue Castle recently because I had a fic idea, and I will need to read some Victorian medievalism to get a voice for that.

Future: The Halcyon Fairy Book by T. Kingfisher will probably come in soon. I also want to find another nonfiction book to read at North York Central library to distract from jobsearching. I have a giant list of options, which doesn't necessarily help.

Otherwise not sure whether I will be fine reading normally or want lots of comfort reading. I am looking forward to starting a long RWRB historical AU.

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violsva @ 2024-10-31T16:19:00

2024-10-31T20:27:23Z

trickortreatex fics are revealed! I got three delightful little treats. Two of them are sweet fluffy Dimension 20 fic, and the other one is ... not. All are recommended.

Advisor's Advice, Dimension 20: A Court of Fey and Flowers, 572 words: Between running their respective Courts Andhera and Binx have been busy! When they plan to meet at the next Bloom starting soon, Andhera seeks advice from Advisor.

Cheerful Contentment, Dimension 20: A Court of Fey and Flowers, 300 words: Binx works on a project and then has tea with Andhera.

Ritual, The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen, 300 words: Before the little creek was where Helen told her to stop.

ETA: Another one! Come to Me, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 200 words: The hour is late...

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September Reading

2024-09-30T19:12:38Z

Recent: Mostly fanfic, but I did finish Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience, and had a bunch of thoughts. I don't think there was much attention paid to the order of the poems when I studied some of them in university, and that felt very relevant when actually reading the whole thing. (Although he did change the order occasionally, so.)

Tried and didn't get anywhere with a bunch of things, which is frustrating but I suppose to be expected right now.

Current: Randall Munroe's How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems, which is sitting in the kitchen and gets picked up whenever I'm waiting for my tea to steep. More comfort rereading.

Started Biggles Buries a Hatchet, but it's set in, or at least near, a gulag so it's not going very fast.

Did a lot of reading in Unmarriages: Women, Men, and Sexual Unions in the Middle Ages at the library, which has been great. Oh, and I read two academic articles, on Rapa Nui history as indicated by genetics and palaeolithic textiles. I miss my pensive citadels.

I'm flipping through a lot of craft books, usually ones I've read before or at least by familiar authors, and those probably won't go in the books file but they're very relaxing.

Also, mom went through the some of the old newspapers in the kitchen, which means I dug out (and then immediately spilled tea on) two magazines I'd been reading and maybe I will get back into those.

Future: I gave My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness back to the library early August when it became clear I wasn't going to finish it then, but I just picked up the hold again today.

I need to reread a certain Victorian horror novella for exchange reasons, so probably Thursday I will sit down and do that and make notes.

And then I've got a fantasy novel with a trope that is Exactly my thing on Libby, but we'll see how that goes. And if it doesn't, I got Swordheart by T. Kingfisher for my birthday yesterday so I can reread that.

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