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

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.

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!!

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!

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.

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.

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.

This year I requested Band Sinister by K. J. Charles, Dimension 20: A Court of Fey and Flowers, The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen, the Roaring Twenties Magic series by Allie Therin, The Immortals Quartet by Tamora Pierce, and "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. 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, 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, incest, or graphic depictions of rape or gore or torture. See a couple of the specific fandom notes for exceptions.

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

( Dimension 20 (Web Series) )

( Roaring Twenties Magic - Allie Therin )

( Tortall - Tamora Pierce )

Finally, my two vaguely femslashy horror fandoms (with the DNW exceptions):
( The Great God Pan - Arthur Machen )

( The Yellow Wallpaper - Charlotte Perkins Gilman )

Here are some recs for the 3 Sentence Ficathon! This is even less comprehensive than my 3SF rec posts generally are, because work. The last post of my own fills is back here.

Random order, not enough of them to bother with cuts or separating by fandom. Format is title [if any], fandom, characters, prompt.

Make your choice, adventurous Stranger, Narnia, any, eventually, life returns to Charn by syrena_of_the_lake

Narnia/This Tumblr Post, Peregrine Falcon, clueless Pigeon, I'm so embarrassed by syrena_of_the_lake

Like a Waking Dream, Greek Mythology, Ariadne/Dionysus, drink with me by vialethe (rated E)

anthropomorphic, Yuletide & 3SF, 3SF is the chaotic crazy drunk relative by vialethe

Charming But Unsettling, 3/5 Stars, Dracula, ensemble, Dracula is convinced to give up his territorial ambitions and converts his ancestral castle into a charming B&B (anonymous)

Neko Atsume, Snowball | Shironeko, 'oh, there's a cat.' (anonymous)

Hamlet, Hamlet, liturgy of the hours by ernest

Eventually you have to acknowledge that you're never going to finish the giant smutty epic you started six years ago, and that you should just post the perfectly good sex scene that's been sitting around mostly finished on your hard drive for most of that time. Because it's perfectly good smut and hopefully it will make other people happy!

(Technically there's another increasingly fragmented 5k or so of this, so further chapters are theoretically possible but unlikely.)

Title: Are You the Answer?
Rating: Explicit
Fandom: Marvel Post-CA:TWS Nostalgia
Characters: Clint Barton, James "Bucky" Barnes, Natasha Romanov
Warnings/Enticements: MCU Post-TWS Nostalgia, Deaf Character, Oral Sex, Anal Sex, Explicit Sexual Content
Summary:
Clint and Bucky hook up.

That’s it, that’s the fic.
Wordcount: 2897 words

On AO3

threesentenceficathon is happening again—or in fact has been happening for most of two weeks now, but I haven’t gotten around to posting about it. Full time work is theft (Proudhon, 1840).

Here’s mine so far, all from the first post although the second post is open for prompts now.

( The Blue Castle (2) )

( Carmilla (2) )

( Band Sinister - K. J. Charles )

( Dimension 20: The Ravening War )

Title: Giving off Sparks
Wordcount: 982 words
Fandom: Marvel Something-or-Other
Rating: T
Relationships: James “Bucky” Barnes & Clint Barton
Characters: Clint Barton, James “Bucky” Barnes
Warnings/Enticements: Alternate Universe - Vampires, Angst, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Hopeful Ending
Summary:
“Are you here to kill me?”
“You know I’m not.”
“Can’t blame a guy for hoping.”

So here’s my trickortreatex fic!

I got two gifts this year: Curd-Cutting by Fioment, which is an excellent exploration of an incident in Colin Provolone’s personal history with the Bulbian Church.

And venus febriculosa by summerstudie, which is a Carmilla fic which I also love and recommend, but it’s dark somnophilia from the rapist’s PoV, so don’t click unless you want that.