#2021 reverse bang

[aristocratic-otter]

Howdy y'all!

It seems like I can only find the wherewithal to post on Sunday these days. Please don't stop tagging me for Wednesdays, though! I have hope that I'll build up the free time for it again!

Thanks to @prettygoododds, @you-remind-me-of-the-babe, @larkral, @wellbelesbian, @artsyunderstudy, @nightimedreamersghost, @rimeswithpurple, @shemakesmeforget, @whatevertheweather, @ileadacharmedlife, @facewithoutheart, @cutestkilla and @alexalexinii for tagging me over the last couple of weeks!

First things first, To Heal A Broken Mind is in the homestretch, y'all! It ought to be done in the next two weeks, and then goes to my beta, and then I finally get to share it with @yellobb-old and the rest of the world! Here's a bit of softness from the final chapter:

“I love you!” I blurt, and then squeak and hide my face in his shoulder. But he doesn’t let me hide, just chuckles and lifts my head up so I’m facing him again. . 

“I love you too,” he says solemnly, and I feel tears burn at the corner of my eyes. “But hold that thought. After tomorrow, say it to me again. And I’ll do the same. And we’ll start our new life…or, at least, my new life, with you in it. For good this time”

Westward Son is also on the downhill slide, both in the story and in the completion of it! I estimate that the final chapter will go up before November. Here's our crew getting to know a new friend:

Acorn knows where all sorts of forest gleanings may be had. He shows us berry bushes that still have ripe fruit, though chilled by the frost. He digs up squirrel hordes of acorns (his namesake, he chuckles), along with other nuts and seeds. And, while he is strictly a plant eater, he isn’t offended when we hunt the beasts of the forest. He even shows us the best places to set traps or string fishing lines. 

When I ask him if he’s bothered by us eating meat in his presence, he’s philosophical. “Should I grow angry at the puma or the wolf because they consume the beautiful deer and rabbits? Their needs are not mine, and so I am content with eating differently from humans, because I am not human.”

The next chapter of Saving Simon Snow is coming soon, lol (and so is Simon) (warning for smutty snippet below):

It’s harder than you’d think to roll your eyes and sneer in disgust when the love of your life is rocking in and out of you, and you feel so full that you’re certain you’ll burst. But I put in the work. 

“Consummated? You’re a moron, Snow,” I grumble, even as he steadily takes me apart. 

He laughs. “I feel like you should call me Simon when I’m fucking you,” he says, panting. 

“You’re a moron, Simon,” I repeat obediently. 

Here's a little bit of tension from Snow Fox (next chapter also up in a day or two!)

Gareth comes into view, his pistol now pressed to the back of Malcolm Grimm’s head. “I tied up the Lieutenant, Sir. Shall I give the rest of these blackguards the same treatment?”

Forgive me, Baz.

“As you please,” I tell Gareth, keeping my tone light. “And no need to be gentle.”

From my CORB, The Heart in The Well, Baz is in a spot of trouble.

A sharp pain in my skull, and I found myself facing a hobgoblin. He was holding me up by my hair. Hobgoblins are related to goblins, but their skin is more greenish-grey than green, and they’re far uglier. But they eat people, just like their prettier cousins. I wondered if I was about to be their next meal. 

I hoped they’d choke on me.

From what I am currently calling "Simon the TikTok Dancer" (which will absolutely not be its final name), try to guess who Simon's teacher is 😉

At least Snow’s obvious progress makes what I have to tell him tonight easier. I’ve been dreading it all day. San Diego State University starts up again on Monday, and so our dance season is over. I have to say good-bye to Snow, at least for the school year. 

I indulge myself in watching him dance, not eager to bring down the mood already. 

I can see spots where his control is rough, and areas where he needs more precision, but truly, he’s already beautiful to watch.

And finally, a little Simon and Baz bonding from Stars, Flowers, and Children:

Simon is bubbling over with excitement, and I can’t help being infected with his enthusiasm. The moment we reach the pond, he spins to face me with a wild grin and says, “We’ve found Blackbeard’s lagoon, Baz! His buried treasure must be nearby!” 

I stare at him. What on Earth is he on about?

Simon’s smile fades a little. When he speaks again, it’s in a softer, more coaxing tone. “Come on Baz. Haven’t you ever played a game of make believe?”

Is that what this is?  “I didn’t grow up around many other children,” I admit, stiffly. 

Simon’s expression softens into something that looks very much like pity. It’s intolerable. 

I'm actually posting well before midnight for once, so I'm going to tag generously. Welcome and join me if you'd like, friends!

@angelsfalling16, @aroace-genderfluid-sheep, @annabellelux, @bazzybelle, @bloodiedpixie, @bookish-bogwitch, @carryonsimoncarryonbaz, @captain-aralias, @cosmicalart, @confused-bi-queer, @dragoneggos, @erzbethluna, @frjsti, @fatalfangirl, @gekkoinapeartree, @giishu, @hushed-chorus, @ionlydrinkhotwater, @ivelovedhimthroughworse, @ileadacharmedlife, @j-nipper-95, @jbrrring, @jasonfunderberkerthefrogexists, @krisrix, @larkral, @letraspal, @martsonmars, @messofthejess, @melodysmash, @moments-au-crayon22, @moodandmist, @mostlymaudlin, @onepintobean, @prettylightsbigcity, @palimpsessed, @sillyunicorn

[yorknewauction]

Yorknew Auction 2021 Masterlist Part 2

Artist 4: @lost-in-the-simp-sauce

Writer: @shalnarkonice

Artist 5: royalbloodtea

Writer: @czesca

Writer: @full---ofstarlight

Artist 6: @mae-berry

Writer: @chuuyasboots

[marvelreversebigbang]

Pinch Hitter Claims Are Now Open!

Pinch Hitter Claims will be open for the next 5 hours!  Please view the remaining available art here!

Pinch Hitter sign ups are still open!  You can sign up here!

~The Mods

[rose-madder-gaze]

I was going through my Drive and realized that I never shared my unused sketches for last year’s FFXV Reverse Bang. They are now up on Patreon, including the Gladio and Luna one that didn’t make it to submissions 💛

Image description: A close crop of a sketch that shows several people inside of a car. The one visibly looking at the viewer is Coctura Arlund; out of frame, she is hanging onto the grab handle for dear life. End ID.

[fledglingdoodles]

WOWIE It’s been over three years almost since the last time this fic updated - but as we all know, life finds a way…to get in the way of things, BUT! My collaboration with PercyByssheShelley from the @do-it-with-style-events 2021 Reverse Bang finally has its third and final chapter posted!

Go send Bysshe some love, as they were the one who had to go back through the written draft and zhuzh it up to get the chapter ready for posting (all I had to do was embed the illustration). And an especial shout-out to @chernozemm for commenting a very nice comment that ultimately compelled me to reach back out to Bysshe. I am so happy that this story finally got the conclusion as planned!

[aftgficrec]

I'd like to give a huge shoutout to the organisers and participants of @aftgbigbang 2024

Congratulations everyone on another fantastic fest and I urge everyone to go check out the collection of amazing fanfiction on AO3.

https://archiveofourown.org/collections/AFTGBigBang2024

There’s so much to celebrate in our talented fandom, including these yearly collaborations between writers and artists! Readers, below are links to this year’s and previous fandom Big Bangs and Reverse Big Bangs (where artists provide the story prompts). Enjoy! -A

AFTG Big Bang Collections:

tumblr @aftgbigbang

2024

2023

2022  

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

AFTG Reverse Big Bang Collections:

tumblr @aftgreverse

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

[sandwitchstories]

Sandwitchstories Master List

I think I am at that point where I need to make one of these!

List will be kept up to date with new links added as I post them!

Fics are sorted by fandom, character, and the pairings are labeled and they are clearly marked SFW/NSFW. Read at your own risk! lol I hope you enjoy your trip into my brain rot!

Fandoms I currently write for: Jujutsu Kaisen (JJK), Demon Slayer (KNY), Fairy Tail and Buddy Daddies

List is under cut as it is over 50 fics now!

Dividers by @xxbimbobunnyxx and @thecutestgrotto

Jukutsu Kaisen (JJK) Fics

Satoru Gojo

Kintsugi (Satoru Gojo x Y/N - NSFW - Winner of 100 shares poll)

Ryomen Sukuna

For Better and For Worse (Sukuna x Y/N - NSFW)

But When It Comes To You (Sukuna x Y/N - NSFW)

Daddy Duty - Series (All of my Dad!Sukuna shorts in one location! Only thing they have in common is Dad!Sukuna x Y/N - SFW)

Daddy's Girl (Head Canons about Dad!Sukuna - Part of Daddy Duty Series - SFW)

Precious Two (Dad!Sukuna Drabble - Part of Daddy Duty Series - SFW)

Becoming Papa (Head Canons Dad!Sukuna - Part of Daddy Duty Series - SFW) NEW- 8/25/2024

Beautiful Dichotomy (Head Canons Dad!Sukuna - Part of Daddy Duty Series - SFW) NEW- 9/23/2024

Demon Slayer (KNY) Fics

Kyojuro Rengoku

Five Seconds (Kyojuro Rengoku x Y/N- NSFW) - NEW posted 8/31/2024

What He Likes (Kyojuro Rengoku x Y/N- NSFW) - NEW posted 8/11/2024

Stress Relief (Kyojuro Rengoku x Y/N - NSFW)

Challenge Accepted (Kyojuro Rengoku x Y/N - NSFW)

Safe In The Arms Of Love (Kyojuro Rengoku x Y/N - NSFW)

Twin Flames (Kyojuro Rengoku x KNY OC, Rengoku Demon AU - NSFW - Multiple Chapters- Ongoing)

Hot For Teacher (Kyojuro Rengoku x Y/N - NSFW)

The Frog(tied) Princess (Kyojuro Rengoku x Y/N - NSFW - Sequel to Hot For Teacher but can be read alone)

Grown Up Birthday Blues (Kyojuro Rengoku x Y/N - Happy Birthday, Kyojuro! - NSFW)

Wildfire (Kyojuro Rengoku x Y/N - NSFW)

Fools Rush In (Kyojuro Rengoku x Y/N - NSFW)

The Queen of Hearts (Kyojuro Rengoku x Reader - Modern AU- Multi Chapter - WIP- Tease)

Forever In Love - Chapter 1 - A Helping Hand (Kyojuro Rengoku x Female OC - Kimetsu Academy AU - Contains NSFW) NEW - Posted 8/12/2024

Sanemi Shinazguawa

Accidentally Happily Ever After (Sanemi Shinazugawa x Y/N Surprise Pregnancy - NSFW - Three Chapters- Completed)

Say It (Sanemi Shinazugawa x Y/N - NSFW)

A Cure for Restlessness (Sanemi Shinazugawa x Y/N - NSFW)

Shinjuro Rengoku

A Father's Love (Shinjuro Rengoku x Y/N - SFW) - Head cannons about Shinjuro getting a 2nd chance

The Shy Guy (Shinjuro Rengoku x Y/N - NSFW)

Buddy Daddies

Bitey Daddies (Vampire AU- SFW)

I'm no hero, and I'm not made of stone (Kazuki Kurusu x Rei Suwa - SFW)

I Choose You (Kazuki Kurusu x Rei Suwa - SFW)

Jump Around (Rei Suwa - SFW)

The Diabolical Grandpa (Kazuki Kurusu x Rei Suwa SFW)

Fairy Tail

Erza Scarlet

A Game of Facades (Erza Scarlet x Jellal Fernandes - Evil Erza AU- Event: Fairy Tail Reverse Bang 2022 - CW: implied sexual content)

3G: Gay Girls Ghost Hunting (Erza Scarlett x MiraJane Strauss - for the Fairy Tail Reverse Bang 2022- SFW)

Laxus Dreyar

The Little Spoon (Laxus Dreyar x Orga Nanagear - SFW)

Electric Love (Laxus Dreyar x Freed Justine - SFW)

Sting Eucliffe and Rogue Cheney - SFW Collection

Lost and Found (Sting Eucliffe x Rogue Cheney - SFW - first meeting - Shadowlight week 2021 Day 1- Prompt- First)

The Story Of Us (Sting Eucliffe x Rogue Cheney- SFW - Collection Link. Individual links are below)

A Bet On Love (Sting Eucliffe x Rogue Cheney - SFW - Story of Us)

There is love (Minerva POV after returning to Sabertooth - Story of Us - SFW)

There will always be rocks in the road ahead of us (Sting Eucliffe x Rogue Cheney - Engagement- Story of Us - SFW)

Groomzilla (Sting Eucliffe x Rogue Cheney - Story of Us - SFW version)

Chaos, Cookies, and Casseroles (Sting Eucliffe x Rogue Cheney - Story of Us - SFW)

Your love is like glitter (Sting Eucliffe x Rogue Cheney - Valentine's Day- Story of Us - SFW)

The Tiniest Tiger (Sting Eucliffe x Rogue Cheney - Proud Parents - Story of Us - SFW)

Stinge Eucliffe x Rogue Cheney - Event: Shadowlight Week 2023 prompts- (SFW & NSFW)

Anything For Love (Day 1 Prompt -Dare- Sting Eucliffe x Rogue Cheney - SFW)

The Monster Mash (Day 2 Prompt - Thrill/Undress - Sting Eucliffe x Rogue Cheney - NSFW)

Showtime (Day 3 Prompt - Watching - Sting Eucliffe x Rogue Cheney NSFW)

Lion Bears, Bugs and Potions OH MY! ( Day 4 Prompt- Monsters/Potions - Sting Eucliffe x Rogue Cheney - SFW)

In Your Love (Day 5 Prompt - Sweet/Spice - Sting Eucliffe x Rogue Cheney - SFW)

Sting Eucliffe x Rogue Cheney NSFW One Shots

A Little Bit Older On This Roller Coaster (Sting Eucliffe x Rogue Cheney NSFW)

Groomzilla (Sting Eucliffe x Rogue Cheney NSFW)

You're the night, You're the light (Sting Eucliffe x Rogue Cheney NSFW)

Totally Worth It (Sting Eucliffe x Rogue Cheney NSFW)

Simply Eerie-sistable (Sting Eucliffe x Rogue Cheney - Halloween - NSFW)

Sex For Breakfast (Sting Eucliffe x Rogue Cheney NSFW)

Feel The Beat Of My Heart As The Count Down Starts (Sting Eucliffe x Rogue Cheney - New Years - NSFW)

Fairy Tail x OC and Honorable Mentions (These are from my very early days in fic writing. I may revisit these someday)

Enchanting Dragons (Rogue Cheney x OC - Dragons AU- contains some NSFW)

Kids, Cats, and Dragon Slayers- Oh my! (Sting x Rogue x OC - poly family, contains some NSFW)

By The River (Rogue Cheney x OC - contains some NSFW)

Magic and Mayhem (Rogue Cheney x OC - Mob AU)

Truly Madly Deeply (Rogue Cheney x OC- NSFW)

The Welcome Home Dance (Rogue Cheney x OC- NSFW)

The Sweetest Taboo (Sting Eucliffe x Rogue Cheney x Yukino Aguria- NSFW)

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Solar is a market for (financial) lemons

There are only four more days left in my Kickstarter for the audiobook of The Bezzle, the sequel to Red Team Blues, narrated by @wilwheaton! You can pre-order the audiobook and ebook, DRM free, as well as the hardcover, signed or unsigned. There's also bundles with Red Team Blues in ebook, audio or paperback.

Rooftop solar is the future, but it's also a scam. It didn't have to be, but America decided that the best way to roll out distributed, resilient, clean and renewable energy was to let Wall Street run the show. They turned it into a scam, and now it's in terrible trouble. which means we are in terrible trouble.

There's a (superficial) good case for turning markets loose on the problem of financing the rollout of an entirely new kind of energy provision across a large and heterogeneous nation. As capitalism's champions (and apologists) have observed since the days of Adam Smith and David Ricardo, markets harness together the work of thousands or even millions of strangers in pursuit of a common goal, without all those people having to agree on a single approach or plan of action. Merely dangle the incentive of profit before the market's teeming participants and they will align themselves towards it, like iron filings all snapping into formation towards a magnet.

But markets have a problem: they are prone to "reward hacking." This is a term from AI research: tell your AI that you want it to do something, and it will find the fastest and most efficient way of doing it, even if that method is one that actually destroys the reason you were pursuing the goal in the first place.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/security/engineering/failure-modes-in-machine-learning

For example: if you use an AI to come up with a Roomba that doesn't bang into furniture, you might tell that Roomba to avoid collisions. However, the Roomba is only designed to register collisions with its front-facing sensor. Turn the Roomba loose and it will quickly hit on the tactic of racing around the room in reverse, banging into all your furniture repeatedly, while never registering a single collision:

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2021/04/when-ais-start-hacking.html

This is sometimes called the "alignment problem." High-speed, probabilistic systems that can't be fully predicted in advance can very quickly run off the rails. It's an idea that pre-dates AI, of course – think of the Sorcerer's Apprentice. But AI produces these perverse outcomes at scale…and so does capitalism.

Many sf writers have observed the odd phenomenon of corporate AI executives spinning bad sci-fi scenarios about their AIs inadvertently destroying the human race by spinning off in some kind of paperclip-maximizing reward-hack that reduces the whole planet to grey goo in order to make more paperclips. This idea is very implausible (to say the least), but the fact that so many corporate leaders are obsessed with autonomous systems reward-hacking their way into catastrophe tells us something about corporate executives, even if it has no predictive value for understanding the future of technology.

Both Ted Chiang and Charlie Stross have theorized that the source of these anxieties isn't AI – it's corporations. Corporations are these equilibrium-seeking complex machines that can't be programmed, only prompted. CEOs know that they don't actually run their companies, and it haunts them, because while they can decompose a company into all its constituent elements – capital, labor, procedures – they can't get this model-train set to go around the loop:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/09/autocomplete-worshippers/#the-real-ai-was-the-corporations-that-we-fought-along-the-way

Stross calls corporations "Slow AI," a pernicious artificial life-form that acts like a pedantic genie, always on the hunt for ways to destroy you while still strictly following your directions. Markets are an extremely reliable way to find the most awful alignment problems – but by the time they've surfaced them, they've also destroyed the thing you were hoping to improve with your market mechanism.

Which brings me back to solar, as practiced in America. In a long Time feature, Alana Semuels describes the waves of bankruptcies, revealed frauds, and even confiscation of homeowners' houses arising from a decade of financialized solar:

https://time.com/6565415/rooftop-solar-industry-collapse/

The problem starts with a pretty common finance puzzle: solar pays off big over its lifespan, saving the homeowner money and insulating them from price-shocks, emergency power outages, and other horrors. But solar requires a large upfront investment, which many homeowners can't afford to make. To resolve this, the finance industry extends credit to homeowners (lets them borrow money) and gets paid back out of the savings the homeowner realizes over the years to come.

But of course, this requires a lot of capital, and homeowners still might not see the wisdom of paying even some of the price of solar and taking on debt for a benefit they won't even realize until the whole debt is paid off. So the government moved in to tinker with the markets, injecting prompts into the slow AIs to see if it could coax the system into producing a faster solar rollout – say, one that didn't have to rely on waves of deadly power-outages during storms, heatwaves, fires, etc, to convince homeowners to get on board because they'd have experienced the pain of sitting through those disasters in the dark.

The government created subsidies – tax credits, direct cash, and mixes thereof – in the expectation that Wall Street would see all these credits and subsidies that everyday people were entitled to and go on the hunt for them. And they did! Armies of fast-talking sales-reps fanned out across America, ringing dooorbells and sticking fliers in mailboxes, and lying like hell about how your new solar roof was gonna work out for you.

These hustlers tricked old and vulnerable people into signing up for arrangements that saw them saddled with ballooning debt payments (after a honeymoon period at a super-low teaser rate), backstopped by liens on their houses, which meant that missing a payment could mean losing your home. They underprovisioned the solar that they installed, leaving homeowners with sky-high electrical bills on top of those debt payments.

If this sounds familiar, it's because it shares a lot of DNA with the subprime housing bubble, where fast-talking salesmen conned vulnerable people into taking out predatory mortgages with sky-high rates that kicked in after a honeymoon period, promising buyers that the rising value of housing would offset any losses from that high rate.

These fraudsters knew they were acquiring toxic assets, but it didn't matter, because they were bundling up those assets into "collateralized debt obligations" – exotic black-box "derivatives" that could be sold onto pension funds, retail investors, and other suckers.

This is likewise true of solar, where the tax-credits, subsidies and other income streams that these new solar installations offgassed were captured and turned into bonds that were sold into the financial markets, producing an insatiable demand for more rooftop solar installations, and that meant lots more fraud.

Which brings us to today, where homeowners across America are waking up to discover that their power bills have gone up thanks to their solar arrays, even as the giant, financialized solar firms that supplied them are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, thanks to waves of defaults. Meanwhile, all those bonds that were created from solar installations are ticking timebombs, sitting on institutions' balance-sheets, waiting to go blooie once the defaults cross some unpredictable threshold.

Markets are very efficient at mobilizing capital for growth opportunities. America has a lot of rooftop solar. But 70% of that solar isn't owned by the homeowner – it's owned by a solar company, which is to say, "a finance company that happens to sell solar":

https://www.utilitydive.com/news/solarcity-maintains-34-residential-solar-market-share-in-1h-2015/406552/

And markets are very efficient at reward hacking. The point of any market is to multiply capital. If the only way to multiply the capital is through building solar, then you get solar. But the finance sector specializes in making the capital multiply as much as possible while doing as little as possible on the solar front. Huge chunks of those federal subsidies were gobbled up by junk-fees and other financial tricks – sometimes more than 100%.

The solar companies would be in even worse trouble, but they also tricked all their victims into signing binding arbitration waivers that deny them the power to sue and force them to have their grievances heard by fake judges who are paid by the solar companies to decide whether the solar companies have done anything wrong. You will not be surprised to learn that the arbitrators are reluctant to find against their paymasters.

I had a sense that all this was going on even before I read Semuels' excellent article. We bought a solar installation from Treeium, a highly rated, giant Southern California solar installer. We got an incredibly hard sell from them to get our solar "for free" – that is, through these financial arrangements – but I'd just sold a book and I had cash on hand and I was adamant that we were just going to pay upfront. As soon as that was clear, Treeium's ardor palpably cooled. We ended up with a grossly defective, unsafe and underpowered solar installation that has cost more than $10,000 to bring into a functional state (using another vendor). I briefly considered suing Treeium (I had insisted on striking the binding arbitration waiver from the contract) but in the end, I decided life was too short.

The thing is, solar is amazing. We love running our house on sunshine. But markets have proven – again and again – to be an unreliable and even dangerous way to improve Americans' homes and make them more resilient. After all, Americans' homes are the largest asset they are apt to own, which makes them irresistible targets for scammers:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/06/the-rents-too-damned-high/

That's why the subprime scammers targets Americans' homes in the 2000s, and it's why the house-stealing fraudsters who blanket the country in "We Buy Ugly Homes" are targeting them now. Same reason Willie Sutton robbed banks: "That's where the money is":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/11/ugly-houses-ugly-truth/

America can and should electrify and solarize. There are serious logistical challenges related to sourcing the underlying materials and deploying the labor, but those challenges are grossly overrated by people who assume the only way we can approach them is though markets, those monkey's paw curses that always find a way to snatch profitable defeat from the jaws of useful victory.

To get a sense of how the engineering challenges of electrification could be met, read McArthur fellow Saul Griffith's excellent popular engineering text Electrify:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/12/09/practical-visionary/#popular-engineering

And to really understand the transformative power of solar, don't miss Deb Chachra's How Infrastructure Works, where you'll learn that we could give every person on Earth the energy budget of a Canadian (like an American, but colder) by capturing just 0.4% of the solar rays that reach Earth's surface:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/17/care-work/#charismatic-megaprojects

But we won't get there with markets. All markets will do is create incentives to cheat. Think of the market for "carbon offsets," which were supposed to substitute markets for direct regulation, and which produced a fraud-riddled market for lemons that sells indulgences to our worst polluters, who go on destroying our planet and our future:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/14/for-sale-green-indulgences/#killer-analogy

We can address the climate emergency, but not by prompting the slow AI and hoping it doesn't figure out a way to reward-hack its way to giant profits while doing nothing. Founder and chairman of Goodleap, Hayes Barnard, is one of the 400 richest people in the world – a fortune built on scammers who tricked old people into signing away their homes for nonfunctional solar):

https://www.forbes.com/profile/hayes-barnard/?sh=40d596362b28

If governments are willing to spend billions incentivizing rooftop solar, they can simply spend billions installing rooftop solar – no Slow AI required.

Berliners: Otherland has added a second date (Jan 28 - TOMORROW!) for my book-talk after the first one sold out - book now!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/27/here-comes-the-sun-king/#sign-here

Back the Kickstarter for the audiobook of The Bezzle here!

Image:

Future Atlas/www.futureatlas.com/blog (modified)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/87913776@N00/3996366952

--

CC BY 2.0

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

J Doll (modified)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blue_Sky_%28140451293%29.jpeg

CC BY 3.0

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[indelibleme]

Detective Conan | Magic Kaito Fic Recs

I've realised I write consistently for only one fandom at any given time (DCMK lol), so here are some of my (completed!) works that I'm quite proud of! (Titles in order of posting, newest to oldest)

Yōkai? Ryōkai! : Chps 1/1. 12k words. KaiShin. Shinichi and Kaito finding a place with each other while solving a yokai murder mystery. (Written for the DCMK Secret Santa Event 2023!)

All Things Bright And Beautiful : Chps 1/1. 15k words. KaiShin. In which Prince Kaito and enemy Knight Kudo Shinichi really have no business falling in love, stuck on the brink of a political firestorm, but they do so anyway. Enemies to friends to lovers. (Written for the DCMK Secret Santa Event 2022, rated E)

Wilting Beauty, Blooming Nightshade: Chps 7/7. 22k words. KaiShin. Hanahaki AU! Kaito has been pining for nearly 5 years now, as the flowers he coughs out reminds him. Caught in a murder mystery on a cruise liner, he has (probably) his last chance to confess his feelings. (Written for the KaiShin Reverse Bang 2022.)

Includes 4 gorgeous pieces of coloured artwork and 5 sketches by my artist partner of the event @rux363

Two Is Company : Chp 1/1. 2k words. KaiShin. Post-canon slice of life, where Kaito and Shinichi meet as professors in a university.

The Ace Up Your Sleeve: Chps 7/7. 16k words. KaiShin. Post-canon. Kaito attempts to play detective when a case involving a BO member surfaces after years of inactivity. And the enemy is not who he expected at all. (Written for the KaiShin Reverse Bang 2021)

Under The Full Moon: Chps 1/1. 4k words. Gen fic. There is a ghost on the loose, with spirit detectives Kudo and Hattori on the case. Kaitou Kid would just like to get out of this mess. (Written for the DCMK Halloween Exhange 2020)

In the Name of Science! : Chp 1/1. 1k words. Crack fic. Humor. Akako and Ai decide to collaborate on a project, and Hakuba suffers for it.

Jar, Not Jewel: Chp 1/1. 1k words. KaiShin. A take on the acquisition of Pandora, and its aftermath. (Written for a Fandom Games event on Tumblr)

Hyacinths and Roses : Chp 1/1. 5k words. KaiShin. A heist stake out and a police stake out cross paths. A thief is asked to "lend a hand" in help. (Rated E)

A Case of Identity: Chps 10/10. 49k words. KaiShin. Identity reveal AU. Post-Conan, Shinichi meets Kaito, as Ran's to-be-boyfriend.

Silver Bullet: Chps 3/3. 7k words. Vermouth, on meeting the two most important people of her life.

Kindly Cruel: Chp 1/1. 2k words. KaiShin. Detectives are like sharks in the ocean, ruthless hunters after blood, and Shinichi especially so.

[bulkyphrase]

Cap-IM Rec Week - Cap-IM Sunday

It's day 7 (the final day) of @cap-ironman's rec week event! Today's recommendations feature stories created for previous Cap-Iron Man events. Thanks so much to them for organizing this event, and all the other events that inspired the following fics!

I Look and in the Mirror the World Shatters by @navaan, art by Caz and KakushiMiko (616, Mature, 25,807 words)

Created for: 2022 Captain America/Iron Man Big Bang

Summary: After Pleasant Hill, Civil War II and right in the middle of Secret Empire, Steve Rogers (the real one) comes back and realizes a copy of himself is now leading HYDRA and has taken over the world. With Tony dead and only an AI copy of him existing and nobody trusting the face of Steve Rogers, he decides to make things right and help the heroes trapped inside and outside the planetary field. One way to do it: Infiltrating HYDRA by playing the role of the other him. What he finds is more than he bargained for.

Tabula Rasa by @sineala, art by @veryvincible (Captain America Corps, Explicit, 37,819 words)

Created for: Captain America/Iron Man Reverse Bang 2022

Summary: Sometimes superheroes save the world. And sometimes they're too late. Captain America's longtime villain Superia had a plan for revenge. She stopped the Avengers from ever finding Steve in the ice, tore the Avengers apart, and turned the world into her own personal authoritarian dystopia. A team made up of Captains America from across the multiverse came to set things right: they united all the remaining superheroes, took down Superia, and made sure the world would find Steve again. Tony spent Superia's hellish reign as her prisoner, a suicidally-depressed disembodied brain trapped in a jar for years on end, begging the Avengers to kill him and put him out of his misery. The Captain America Corps instead gives him his freedom, a brand-new body, and even the Avengers -- including his very own Captain America. But Tony's not entirely sure he wants to be here. He's walking wounded, and he thinks some wounds are too deep to heal. He thinks there's no chance the Avengers will ever be what they could have been. He thinks there's no way Steve will ever be the friend and partner he could have been on so many other worlds. Luckily for Tony, Steve happens to disagree with that.

More below the cut!

A Little Confused But He Got the Spirit by jellybeanforest (@jellybeanforest-a-go-go) (MCU, Mature, 3,298 words)

Created for: 2021 Captain America/Iron Man Holiday Exchange

Summary: On their third date, Steve decides to come clean about his lycanthropy. Tony is surprisingly understanding, almost too much so. Based on a prompt by DepressingGreenie.

on the inherent homoeroticism of cake decoration by Welcoming_Disaster (@welcomingdisaster) (616, General Audiences, 8,191 words)

Created for: 2020 Captain America/Iron Man Holiday Exchange

Summary: “She’s matchmaking, Barton,” Carol sighed. “We,” Thor corrected, thumping himself hard in the chest, “art matchmaking.” “Who, Cap n’ Tony?” Clint asked, his mouth full. “Cap and Tony,” Janet confirmed, cutting herself a thin slice of egg and gently depositing it on her whole grain avocado toast, “it’s getting ridiculous.” “Wait, I thought they were—“ Clint frowned, glancing around the room as though to confirm. Nothing but confused faces met his questioning gaze. “Huh. I really thought they were fucking.” “And there is the crux of the issue,” Jess licked a bit of spaghetti sauce off her lip. “Aye,” agreed Thor, “there’s rub.” ----------- The team tries to set up Steve and Tony. Things don't go as planned.

An Error in the System by orphan_account, art by Jellybeanforest (@jellybeanforest-a-go-go) (MCU, Mature, 45,224 words)

Created for: 2020 Captain America/Iron Man Big Bang

Summary: When the Avengers faced Ultron, they believed that Vision completed his task to lock Ultron out of the internet. After Sokovia, no one thinks that Ultron survived. Everyone is wrong. Ultron’s code persists, hidden in the deepest trenches of the internet. Soon, it rises to cause chaos around the world and the only way to stop a catastrophe is to meet Ultron face to face. But Ultron is computer code – elusive, persistent, and viral. The only way to confront him is to meet the AI on equal footing within the bowels of the internet itself. Steve and Tony enter the virtual world of Ultron’s mind, passing through the rims to get to the center Hub of the AI’s existence. Along the way they face challenges and nightmares, hardships and truths. Truths that hurt and haunt them. Now they have to deal with a genocidal killer AI, and a truth that could destroy them. Steve blames himself for everything that went wrong with his relationship with Tony, but that doesn't mean he isn't still hoping and pining for someone who will never love him in return.

The Fabric of Reality by Neverever (@captainneverever), art by Jayjayverse (616, Mature, 26,210 words)

Created for: 2019 Captain America/Iron Man Big Bang

Summary: Tony loves being Iron Man and the Avengers. But anyone can see that the Avengers are struggling as a team. While he helps Jan solve their problems, Tony meets freelance Artist Steve Rogers. Tony believes that everything is going to turn out great -- the Avengers will pull together, Tony has a gorgeous boyfriend, and the supervillains will be defeated. What more could the modern superhero and CEO want out of life? Except that Tony has a few secrets that threaten to undermine his happiness. For one thing, Tony remembers that Captain America was an Avenger when everyone else thinks he died at the end of World War II. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

The Don'ts Of Dating (And How They Can Win You A Man) by Mozzarella (@muchymozzarella), art by @acachette (Marvel, General Audiences, 5,162 words)

Created for: 2019 Cap-IM Reverse Bang

Summary: In which Steve Rogers fills in the Don't column of "Cosmo's Dos and Dont's of Dating" and somehow makes it work, while Tony Stark marvels at the fact that he's picking this weird (yet unbearably sweet) artist from Brooklyn over Captain Goddamn America. AU where Tony is known as Iron Man but Cap's identity is secret even to the other Avengers.

The Moon and the Sea by @dirigibleplumbing, art by Bella (MCU, Explicit, 81,058 words)

Created for: 2018 Captain America/Iron Man Big Bang

Summary: Steve has lived his whole life in the coastal California town of Nublado. He’s spent the last few years trying to move on from a traumatic event in his past, and he finds new joy when he befriends—and quickly falls for—reclusive local billionaire Tony Stark. Then Tony abruptly breaks things off and won’t reply when Steve reaches out. Steve’s friends Clint and Nat have his back, at least. But… is someone following him everywhere? What’s with the human teeth Steve and his friends found while they were out fishing? How did the Scarlet Witch know so much about him? And why are there so many crows around?

Tony Stark and the Subterranean Escapade by @veldeia (Iron Man Noir, Teen And Up Audiences, 20,279 words)

Created for: Captain America/Iron Man Bingo 2016

Summary: Soon after the end of the War, a French cave explorer contacts Tony for help concerning a mysterious artifact found deep underground. It's time for a new era of adventures for the hero of Marvels, together with his friends, including a certain war-time acquaintance named Steve Rogers, with whom he has grown quite close. Bingo fill for the prompt "Infinity Gems (Make Life Difficult)”

Dreams of War, Dreams of Liars by @teaberryblue (MCU, Teen And Up Audiences, 34,438 words)

Created for: 2014 Captain America/Iron Man Holiday Exchange

Summary: When Steve succumbs to a malevolent attack that puts him permanently to sleep, the only way to wake him up is to unearth a technology that hasn't been used in twenty years. Welcome back to Dreamvision, Tony Stark. This is an MCU canon-compliant story that incorporates the science of Inception, rather than a straight-up AU or crossover.

Phantom by Del_Rion, art by Gabbi (MCU, Mature, 28,426 words)

Created for: Cap/Iron Man Reverse Bang 2013

Summary: After Steve gets mysteriously possessed by dark magic, the Avengers must contain the situation and save their leader without losing their own lives in the process. Steve keeps escaping, however – and unerringly migrates towards Tony every time. Written for: Cap/Iron Man Reverse Bang 2013. Story based on & inspired by the beautiful art by the talented Gabbi!

If Through a Door by jibrailis, art by tripperfunster (MCU, Explicit, 44,036 words)

Created for: Cap/Iron Man Big Bang 2012

Summary: Tony is accused of murder on an alien planet; Steve marries him to bring him home.

[aristocratic-otter]

Hello all! Well, COVID has passed me, not with a bang but with a whimper. I.E., I got it, I think (never tested positive), but with very very faint symptoms, and I'm fine now, so phew. Also, I'm going to see the Book of Mormon this week (the play), so I'm hyped right now!

Thank you to all who've tagged me in the last week. Even when I don't have time or feel up to posting, I love reading what y'all are doing. It's so diverse and interesting!

My thanks to: @j-nipper-95, @artsyunderstudy, @aroace-genderfluid-sheep, @nightimedreamersghost, @cosmicalart, @larkral, @angelsfalling16, @wellbelesbian, @cutestkilla, @confused-bi-queer, @hushed-chorus, @bookish-bogwitch, @ileadacharmedlife and @you-remind-me-of-the-babe.

There'll be no snippet from Westward Son this week. Not that I'm not making progress (I am), but everything I've written this week is extremely smutty, lol.

From my Age of Sail AU, which now has a name! It's Stars, Flowers, and Children, from the Dante quote: "Three things remain to us from paradise: stars, flowers, and children." It's extremely fitting, as you'll eventually see.

The Snip:

I don’t look at Baz. I’m feeling a little tetchy after being so soft with him. After a moment, he rolls back onto his back as well. Neither of us talk about it. But just as I’m drifting off, I’m almost certain I hear him whisper, “Thank you.”

Every night, for years afterward, I always give him a hug and a kiss goodnight.

From: To Heal a Broken Mind (coming down to the wire on this one!)

I want Baz. I want to wrap myself around him. I want to pull him inside of me so that our two hearts merge into one. 

He wants it too. And I’m too weak to deny him. To deny myself the comfort of his arms tonight. 

From Saving Simon Snow (I've hit a rough patch, but I think there will be a new chapter sometime this week):

“Shit,” he hisses. 

I spin to face him, half expecting a monster to have burst out of the fixtures and attacked him. But he’s fine. There’s no monster. Just Baz. Who for some reason is glaring at this very pretty bed. 

From Snow Fox (Next chapter definitely up this week!) (TW: for emetophobics):

“Basilton, what are you—” my father says, frowning. 

Before he can finish, though, Tarleton sends me a cocky grin and says, “I could land that hit with my eyes shut, Mr. Pitch.” 

“Show me?” I breathe, biting my lip as if enthralled by him. I’m not. I’m disgusted. If he tried to kiss me, I might vomit in his mouth.

From this year's CORB, The Heart In The Well (the name just came to me, I can't explain why it takes months for some fics and days for others!)

“This is your fault!”

Baz crosses his arms over his chest and narrows his eyes at me. “Really, Snow,” he drawls. I swear he sounds posher the more annoyed he is. Which is quite a trick, given that he’s sitting in the dirt, his stork legs stretched out nearly from one side of the well to the other, and wearing a dirty and tattered Watford uniform. 

Still he manages to look better than me.

Aaaand...a tease from something I've been calling "Simon as a TikTok dancer" (but which is absolutely a lot more than that):

Shepard smiles at my apparent interest. “This footage still needs a lot of editing before I can post it. But we post it on the internet, which is a way everyone in the world can see it if they want. And if enough people see it, we might get noticed. And we might start making money. More than the tips we get for our live performances at least.”

Half of what he says is nonsense to me, but I’m quivering with curiosity now. 

(and no, this isn't the mystery project I've teased. Which makes this...wince...my seventh WIP)

Tags and High Fives to everyone above and :

@angelsfalling16, @bazzybelle, @carryonsimoncarryonbaz, @dragoneggos, @erzbethluna, @frjsti, @fatalfangirl, @facewithoutheart, @ionlydrinkhotwater, @ivelovedhimthroughworse, @jasonfunderberkerthefrogexists, @krisrix, @messofthejess, @moments-au-crayon22, @alexalexinii, @moodandmist, @mostlymaudlin, @prettylightsbigcity, @rimeswithpurple, @raenestee, @thehoneyedhufflepuff, @theearlgreymage, @tea-brigade, @technetiumai, @upuntil6am, @whogaveyoupermission, @whatevertheweather, @yellobb-old.

[yorknewauction]

Yorknew Auction 2021 Masterlist Part 1

Artist 1: @shirangou

Writer: @subdee

Artist 2: @tokaritoo

Writer: @angrymachi

Artist 3: @helenawa-art

Writer: sakushoujo

Writer: @storybookprincess

[dragonagefanevents]

Dragon Age Fan Event Listings

The beauty of fan events is that they are run by fans.

Including you.

▸What are the types of fan events? - #education

▸Start a new event! - #how tos (coming soon)

▸Ask Box - send us advice, or ask for it!

▸Blog Tag List

Below is a list of all Dragon Age fan-run events we can find. The links should bring you to the most recent iteration of the event. Where possible, the time period the event covers is listed next to the event.

Want to get an event listed? Check out the link and submit. Look here for multi-fandom events, or more events in general.

Event Masterlist - #compendium

Bangs

25k Big Bang (July - November)

10k Big Bang (March - April)

Dragon Age Reverse Bang

Exchanges

Arlathan Exchange (April - June)

DA Polyshipping (August - November)

Handers Exchange (March - May)

Templartations Exchange (March - May)

Black Emporium Rare Pair Exchange (June - September)

Platonic Ideal Gen Fic Exchange (December - February)

Smutquisition (January - March)

Theme Weeks/Months

Krem Week 2024 (July 22 - 28)

City Elf Week (August 5 - August 11)

Zevwarden Week (2024 dates TBD)

Tranquil Week (August 25 - 31)

Sera Appreciation Week (Oct 13 - 19)

Kink Memes

Dragon Age Kink Meme (Dreamwidth) | DAO | DA2 | DAI

Zines

Dragon Age Flower Zine (Creation Period)

Wanderers Zine (Creation Period)

Dragon Age OC Zine (Mod Apps Open)

Alistair Zine (Creation Period)

Special Events

Dragon Age Drunk Writing Circle

Dragon Age Annual (2025 Production Period)

Dragon Age Create-A-Thon (Begins Sept 15 2024)

Reddit Weekly Dragon Age Writing Prompts

Unofficial Dragon Age Day (Dec 4)

Solavellan Day (April 11)

Past Events

Retired Bangs

DragonAgeBB (last: 2015; formerly on LJ and elsewhere)

Retired Exchanges

Demands of the Qun (Qunari)

A Paragon of Their Kind (DA Dwarves)

Solas Lovers

Hightown Funk (Varric/Hawke)

Retired Theme Weeks/Months

Autumn of Anders (Anders Appreciation Event)

Dalish Week

30 Days of Dorian (Dorian Appreciation Event)

Dragon Age Fan Week (2013)

Cullen Appreciation Week (2019)

Cullen Week (2021)

14 Days of DA Lovers

Fenris Appreciation Month (2017)

Rylen Appreciation Week (2018)

Sera Appreciation Week (2019)

Sub!Solas Week (2016)

Past Zines

Adoribull Fairytales

Age of Romance Zine (Incomplete)

ApprovesGreatly (Incomplete)

Andoralis Zine

Arcana: A Dragon Age Zine

Arlathvhen Zine (Incomplete)

Beyond the Veil Zine (Zine)

Bring Down the Sky Bioware Fanzine

Dragon Age 2 10th Anniversary Zine (Zine)

Dragon Age Codex Zine & Myths and Legends Zine

Fortitudo Dorian Artbook

Good for Each Other (Adoribull Zine)

In Peace, Vigilance Zine

Insufficient Skill Fanzine

Legend Mark Zine

Lotus and Root OC Zine

Love Across Thedas Zine (Zine)

Na Via Lerno Victoria (Fenris Zine)

Patron of the Arts Zine

Rebel Hearts Handers Zine (Zine)

Road to the Imperium Zine

Solasmancy Zine

Sunlight (Anders Zine)

The Coming Storm Zine (Ukrainian Zine)

The Dragon Age Zine (Russian Zine)

The Keeper's Codex Fairy Tale Zine

The Unsung Dragon Age Zine

The Zevran Zine (incomplete)

Thedosian Archives (incomplete)

to be happy (FenHawke Zine)

Wicked Eyes: A Dragon Age Finery Zine

Year of the Mabari (Incomplete)

Other Past Events

Dragon Age Calendar 2018

Dragon Age Calendar 2021

For Fans by Fans - Fan Forge

[agent-jaselin]

Reverse Bang 2021 pic, which I somehow forgot to post -.-

[1dficfests]

No Deadlines:

🗓 Larried In Vegas Fic & Art Fest @larriedinvegasficfest (ao3)

🗓 1000 Feelings For Which There Are No Names @1000feelingsfics (ao3)

🗓 1D Dick Prints & Grey Sweatpants Fest @ 1dgreysweatpants (ao3)

🗓 Harry Is Louis’ Baby Fic Fest @harryislouisbabyficfest (ao3)

🗓1D Handkerchief Fest @1dhankyfest​ (ao3)

Coming Soon:

🔔 HL Mpreg Fic Fest @hlmpregficfest​ (autumn)

Prompt Submissions:

💡Villain Harry Fest @villainharryfest (sign-ups: 10th November)

💡Purely Smut Fic Fest @purelysmutfest (until: 4th December)

No Sign-Ups Necessary:

⏳1D Trick Or Treat Fest @1dtrickortreatfest (until: 29th October)

Sign-Ups:

⌛Omega Harry Fest @omegaharryfest (until: 30th October)

⌛Louis Rare Pair Fest @louisrarepairfest​ (stay open, due: 1st November)

⌛1D One Liner Fic Fest @1d-oneliner-fest​ (stay open, due: 4th November)

⌛One Direction Big Bang @onedirectionbigbang (authors until: 4th November, artists until: 2nd December)

⌛The Show Fic Fest @theshowficfest​ (stay open, due: 9th November)

⌛Not Just Smut Fic Fest @notjustsmutficfest (until: 17th November)

⌛1D Christmas Fest @1dchristmasfest

⌛Zayn's Album Fic Fest @zaynsalbumsficfest (due: 12th January 2024)

⌛1D Song Fic Fest @1dsongfest​ (stay open, due: 25th February 2024)

⌛1D Alpha Louis Fest @1dalphalouisfest​ (stay open until: 30th June 2024)

Writing:  

📝Bottom Harry Fic Fest @bhficfest​ (posting: 13th November)

📝1D Daddy Bratty Fest @1ddaddybrattyfest​ (posting: 1st December)

📝1D Rom-Com Fic Fest @romcom1dficfest​ (posting: 6th December)

📝1D Soulmate Fest @1dsoulmatefest​ (due: 31st January 2024)

📝Second Time's A Charm Fic Fest @secondtimesacharmfest (due: 6th March 2024)

📝1D Dystopian Fest @1ddystopianfest​ (due: 28th April 2024)

📝1D Teamwork Fest @1dteamworkfest ​ (due: 31st May 2024)

Fics:

📚1D Reverse Bang @1dreversebang​ (ao3)

📚Not Just Smut Fic Fest @notjustsmutficfest (ao3)

📚Secret Larry Valentine @secretlarryvalentine​ 

📚Girl Direction Femslash Festuary @girldirectionfest​ (ao3)

📚Top Harry Fic Fest @topharryficfest (ao3)

📚Harry Rare Pair Fest Round 3 @harryrarepairfest (ao3)

📚1D Religion Fest @1dreligionfest (ao3)

📚Omega Harry Fic Fest @omegaharryfest (ao3)

📚One Direction Big Bang Round 6 @onedirectionbigbang (ao3)

📚Faith In The Future Fic Fest @faithinthefutureficfest (ao3)

📚Momrry Fic Fest @momrryficfest (ao3)

📚Loummy Fic Fest @loummyficfest (ao3)

📚Wankfest @wankersday (ao3)

📚1D a/b/o Fic Fest @1daboficfest (ao3)

📚1D Pride Fest @1dpridefest (ao3)

📚Zouis Fic Fest @zouisfics (ao3)

📚1D Astro Fic Fest @1dastroficfest​ (ao3)

📚Title and Trope Fic Fest @titleandtropeficfest​ (ao3)

📚1D Tour de Fic Fest @1dtourdeficfest (ao3)

📚1D Watersports Fic Fest @1dwatersportsficfest​ (ao3)

📚Wordplay @wordplayfics​ (Poem, Run, Stable, Forge, Constraint)

📚Bottom Louis Fic Fest @bottomlouisficfest​​ (ao3)

📚Seven Seas of Harry and Louis Fest @sevenseasofharryandlouis (ao3)

📚1D Country Fic Fest @1dcountryfest​ (ao3)

📚Omegaverse Kinktober @omegaversekinktober23 (ao3)

2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017

Last updated: 27th October 2023

Please let me know if I’m missing something!

[you-remind-me-of-the-babe]

Another lovely year in this wonderful fandom. Here’s a little recap of how my year went:

My Writing:

Depth of Reason - Mature - 70k

How to Avoid a Scandal - Teen - 43k

Episode 3: The Diplomat, A Star Trek Redemption story - Teen - 13.5k

This list is much shorter than my list of fics written in 2022, but my fics last year were much shorter. Also, this word count is deceptive, because I wrote about 22k of Depth of Reason last year and about 20k of How to Avoid a Scandal last year as well. But! My writing goals this year were to finish these two WIPs and not take on any other projects until they were finished and I very nearly did that! Took on two projects (and more below), but I still finished these before the year finished, so pretty good!

Total words:

About 83k. Last year was more like 120k.

Other works:

Podfic of Petrichor - Teen - 34 minutes

Themes:

Finishing long works apparently! One was for my 2022 COBB and the other for my 2022 CORB. Even though these were started last year, they are the longest things I wrote since my first fic (49k) back in the second half of 2021.

Also, trying new things! Writing sci-if and recording a podfic felt very outside my wheelhouse at the time, but ultimately, I’m glad I went for it.

Top 10 fics I read in 2023:

Someone Wicked - Explicit - 60k by @artsyunderstudy

Three Months or 3,000 Miles - Gen - 3k by @larkral and art by @theimpossibledemon

Blood, Salt and Hummingbirds - Teen - 32k by @hushed-chorus

Restoration Ecology - The REmix (Baz’s version) - Explicit - 62k by @royalasstronaut

Good at Something - Explicit - 19k by @larkral

A Gift From the Propheseals - Mature - 6.5k by @skeedelvee with art by @letraspal

What Remains After the Storm - Mature - 86k by @hushed-chorus art by @erzbethluna

To Do, to Know, to Want - Mature - 8.5k by @facewithoutheart

Mishaps on Zoom - Explicit - 10k by @eelwinks

Swords Into Plowshares - Teen - 6.5k by @ileadacharmedlife

WIPs I’m excited to keep reading in 2024:

I Knew A Boy, I Knew A Man - Teen, by @shrekgogurt

Hiding Out In The Open - Mature, by @cutestkilla

A Little Bit Deadly- Explicit, by @emeryhall

Basil Pitch’s Diary - Teen, by @bookish-bogwitch

Other notable fandom things:

I helped to run @carryon-reverse-bang again with @angelsfalling16 as well as helped to put on a new event this year, @caught-on-tape-fest with @cutestkilla and @sillyunicorn

I met up with fandom friends while on a trip this past summer. Making personalized friendship bracelets as gifts, doing fic readings and crafts, and putting on our own Lady Ruth style tea party were some of my fave moments <3

I did a book club style reread of some of my fave fics with friends. I hope we do a few more in 2024!

It’s safe to say I engaged with this fandom everyday of 2023. I might get quiet on the main Discord server or Tumblr, but I’m certain I read, reblogged, wrote, DMd or otherwise participated in some way, shape or form throughout the entirety of the year.

Goals for 2024:

Read more fic! This fandom has such a wealth of works, my TBR list is a mile long and isn’t organized. I’d like to formally rework my AO3 bookmarks to exclusively show recs and either utilize the Marked for Later function or make a spreadsheet or something to better organize a proper TBR list so i don’t lose track of what I want to read next. Currently, having a dozen tabs open on my phone and another dozen on my iPad doesn’t really work well. If anyone has a brilliant system you’d suggest, please enlighten me!

I also want to read all of my physical canon books this year. I’ve only ever listened to the audiobooks! I’m currently reading my anniversary edition of Fangirl. (I think this is the prettiest book I’ve ever owned.) Up next, the Fangirl Manga, followed by the trilogy and Snow for Christmas.

More fandom meet ups! Already planning for June…

I don’t have any writing plans currently, so we shall see if/what I decide to create. I have a few ideas rolling around in my head, but nothing I’ve felt urged to put down in words. I’m sure I’ll write something, I just don’t know what it’ll be yet.