#I'm thinking maybe one rec post a week? we'll see

[nellasbookplanet]

Book recs: great, unique and creative worldbuilding in sci-fi

A note: most of the books on this list are ones I cherish very highly (some are on my all time favorites list!). A few had a lower overall rating for me personally but still stellar worldbuilding and are of what I'd consider good objective quality even if I subjectively didn’t super enjoy them.

For details on the books, continue under the readmore!

Other book rec posts:

Really cool fantasy worldbuilding

Mermaid books

Dark sapphic romances

Vampire books

Feed (Newsflesh series) by Mira Grant

Zombies and news bloggers and presidential elections, oh my! A look at the world post-post zombie apocalypse, when society has gotten back to its feet but the zombie virus is still very much active. Humanity as a whole has been forced to adapt to the ever-present threat. Largely political, character and worldbuilding focused. There is some zombie action, but it’s far from the central focus.

Shades of Grey (Shades of Grey series) by Jasper Fforde

Walking the very thin line of giving you just enough information to follow the plot and grasp the overall idea of the world, but not enough to create info dumps or hand you answers not yet earned, Shades of Grey presents a world in black and white, where your perception of color determines your place in society. Is it fantasy? Scifi? Post apocalypse? Who knows! I sure don’t! Occasionally it hands you a tidbit of information that seems like a remnant of our world and you feel like you're onto something, but then some pages later said tidbit is turned on its head and you're back to square one. It’s delightful.

This Alien Shore (Alien Shores series) by C.S. Friedman

Space opera in which humanity found a way to faster than light travel and began establishing colonies all over the galaxy, only to belatedly realize the method of FTL caused irreversible mutations and disabilities and leaving their nascent colonies to die. Much later, many of the colonies have survived and thrived, and one has found a new way of FTL travel, allowing an interconnected space society to grow. However, Earth is on the hunt for their method and is prepared to do anything to steal it. Aside from cool worldbuilding, This Alien Shore also features some interesting commentary on disability and accommodation. And there are extra-dimensional space dragons!

Ninefox Gambit (Machineries of Empire trilogy) by Yoon Ha Lee

Military space opera where belief and culture shape the laws of reality, causing all kinds of atrocities as empires do everything in their power to force as many people as possible to conform to their way of life to strengthen their technology and weapons. It’s also very queer, with gay, lesbian and trans major characters, albeit little to no romance.

Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch series) by Ann Leckie

Another space opera, in which sentient spaceships can walk the ground in stolen human bodies, so called ancillaries. One of these ancillaries, the sole survivor after the complete destruction of her ship and crew, is one the hunt for revenge. This series also does very cool things with gender!

The Quantum Thief (Jean le Flambeur series) by Hannu Rajaniemi

Place this one in the category of 'accept that you're gonna be confused as hell and just let the world wash over you'. The singularity has come and gone and humans can now easily upload, download and copy themselves into new bodies, not all of them human and not always willingly. Consciousnesses and time has become something close to currency. Follows a murder mystery on Mars.

Stray (Touchstone trilogy) by Andrea K. Höst

Young Adult. Cassandra accidentally walks through a wormhole and ends up on another planet, where she tries to survive in the abandoned ruins of a long since gone civilization. When rescue finally arrives, she soon finds her troubles are far from over as she gets embroiled in a war between her rescuers and monstrous creatures from dreamlike other dimensions. Mixes scifi elements such as space travel, vr and nanomachinery with fantasy tropes such as psychic powers, monsters, and interdimensional portals.

The Peacekeeper (The Good Lands series) by B.L. Blanchard

Alternate history in which Europe never colonized the Americas. Follow Ojibwe detective Chibenashi as he travels from his small home village to a city of living skyscrapers to solve a murder. While I found the mystery somewhat lacking, the worldbuilding and look at a contemporary North America never touched by European colonization is absolutely aces.

The Prey of Gods by Nicky Drayden

South African-set scifi featuring gods ancient and new, robots, dik-diks, and a gay teen with mind control abilities. An ancient goddess seeks to return to her true power no matter how many humans she has to sacrifice to get there. A little bit all over the place but very creative and fresh.

Leech by Hiron Ennes

I mean, this is probably scifi? Like Shades of Grey it hands you only just enough information to get by, and whether its historical fantasy, an alternate timeline, or futuristic post apocalypse is hard to determine. A sentient hive mind have taken over the entire medical profession to ensure the health of their host species. One of their doctors is sent off to an isolated location where they’re cut off from the rest of the hive mind, only to realize they’re faced with a rivaling parasitic entity.

Children of Time (Children of Time series) by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Millenia and generation spanning scifi. After the collapse of an empire, a planet once part of a project to uplift other species to sentience is left to develop on its own, resulting not in the intelligent monkeys once intended but in sentient giant spiders. Millenia later, what remains of humanity arrives looking for a new home.

Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre

A classic following a healer as she travels a post apocalyptic Earth with an alien dreamsnake to help people. When her snake dies, she must go on a journey to find a new one. The worldbuilding feels fairly vague, but not in an annoying way but in one that makes the world feel vast and mysterious and lived in. Just like in the real world you won’t get all the answers, but you do get the feeling of the world as a whole being much larger than the character and her quest.

The Outside (The Outside trilogy) by Ada Hoffman

AKA the book the put me in an existenial crisis. Souls are real, and they are used to feed AI gods in this lovecraftian inspired scifi where reality is warped and artifical gods stand against real, unfathomable ones. Autistic scientist Yasira is accused of heresy and, to save her eternal soul, is recruited by post-human cybernetic 'angels' to help hunt down her own former mentor, who is threatening to tear reality itself apart.

The Three-Body Problem (The Three-Body Problem series) Cixin Liu

While I felt the characters could’ve been better developed, this is undeniably a well-written novel featuring an alien race and culture developed on a planet vastly different from ours. Firmly in the realm of hard scifi, this is a realistic, fascinating and slightly terrifying look at how first contact may look.

Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente

Eurovision in space! If you lose, humanity is doomed! Good luck! The sentient species of the galaxy have chosen to face each other not in war but in a musical contest, and now humanity is invited to partake. The problem? If we lose, our species as a whole will be exterminated. While I found this book as a whole slightly gimmicky, it’s a fun and flashy experience with some wild and creative alien species.

Escaping Exodus (Escaping Exodus series) by Nicky Drayden

Seske is the heir to the leader of a clan living inside a gigantic, spacefaring beast, of which they frequently need to catch a new one to reside in as their presence slowly kills the beast from the inside. While I found the ending rushed with regards to plot and character, the worldbuilding is very fresh and the overall plot of survival and class struggle an interesting one.

The Stars are Legion by Kameron Hurley

More fucked up biological spaceships, this time all women edition! It’s weird, it's gross, there’s So Much Viscera, it has biotech but in the most horrific way imaginable. Had I to categorize it I would call it grimdark military sf. It’s an experience but not necessarily a pleasant one. Features a mass of slowly dying world-ships, and the conflicts arising between them as they struggle to survive. It’s also sapphic but not what I'd call romantic.

Isle of Broken Years by Jane Fletcher

Young spanish noblewoman Catalina thinks she’s done for when the ship she’s traveling on is attacked by pirates and she’s captured. Things gets worse when the entire crew is stranded on an inhospitable island where time works strangely, dangerous monsters terrorize the woods and something alien stops them from leaving. Strong Lost vibes. Lesbian romance. Admittedly quite indulgent but very fun and creative.

Vagabonds by Hao Jingfang

Slow and long and literary, Vagabonds presents a world a hundred years post a war of independence between Earth and Mars, after which two vastly different societies have grown. A close look at the impossibility of a utopia and how different circumstances allow for different cultures to grow, and how the two aren’t always compatible while neither is necessarily better or worse than the other.

Mortal Engines (Mortal Engines quartet) by Philip Reeve

Young Adult. On a barely survivable Earth humanity has taken to living on great wandering cities, hunting each other across the plains for resources. Tom lives in London, but when he intervenes to stop a murder, he falls off the city alongside a strange and hostile girl on the hunt for revenge. Aside from excellent worldbuilding this also features one of my most favorit female characters ever in Hester Shaw. If you’ve seen the movie, forget about it and read the book instead.

Too Like the Lightning (Terra Ignota series) by Ada Palmer

Centuries in the future, humanity has deliberatly engineered society to be as utopian as possible, politically, socially, sexually, religiously. Written in an enlightenment style and featuring questions of human nature and whether it’s possible to change it, and what price we're prepared to pay for peace, this book is simultaneously very heavy and very funny, and written in a very unique style. While still human, the society presented often feels starkly alien.

A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan duology) by Arkady Martine

Mahit, ambassador of a small station nation, arrives at the heart of the Teixcalaanli Empire, ready to battle for the continued independence of her people. In her head she carries part of the personality of her predecessor, there to guide her. A look at imperialism and the conflicting feelings of hate, fear and even admiration one can have towards empire. Also features a sapphic romance!

Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb series) by Tamsyn Muir

I mean, you're on tumblr, you probably already know about this one. Trust me when I say it's exactly as good as people claim. There are indeed lesbian necromancers is space (quite a lot of them, actually), but also incredible worldbuilding that keeps growing with every new installment, interesting political commentary, morally complex characters with fucked up dynamics, and well-thought out plot that keeps you guessing until the last.

Railhead (Railhead trilogy) by Philip Reeve

Young Adult. Listen, Philip Reeve is so good at absolutely wild worldbuilding, I nearly included a third series of his on this list (hey go look up Larklight okay!). In a future where humanity travel between the stars using not spaceships but a portal-connected system of sentient trains, a young thief and street urchin is hired to steal something off of the Emperor's train.

Bonus AKA I haven't read these yet but they seem really cool

The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon

More AI gods!

A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe by Alex White

Magic in space!

The Genesis of Misery by Neon Yang

Angels in space!

[deandoesthingstome]

Fanfic Writer Wednesday

Morning!

Here's the thing. I was feeling like I might have to skip this week again, which I didn't want to do because I may have to skip next week (due to family vacation; we'll see.)

But this isn't about me. It's about you and me trying to spread some love. Scrolling through the tags of my favorite Army Captain, I came across a self-rec post from @darklydeliciousdesires and I was...intrigued. Mostly because some of the characters were NOT Sy. But I bit, clicked through and found an absolute fucking treasure trove of fic.

You guys. I'm not kidding. The depth of this masterlist of masterlists is mind boggling. It contains more than Henry and Co. but I just never think variety is a problem. To be clear: I only skimmed Henry's lists (oh and maybe I peeked at Tyler Rake because that man can get it, ammiright @littlegreenplasticsoldier ???) (Also sorry: I don't usually drop another blog in the middle of someone else's rec, but I just had to let Ali in on this one.)

Anyway. I am so glad I found this list. Did I mention I'm going on vacation? Need some beachside reading and this will do nicely.

Of the few series I started (Reflecting Light with Sy x OFC) and one-shots (Cotswolds with Henry and Little Whore with Geralt) I read this morning, I can say this: The details are amazing, the storylines hook you, the fucking opening fight scene for Tyler and Liliya in Borne of Bullets and Bloodshed is heart pounding, and the smut is impeccable.

I think this writer has a different focus than me of late, but there is still plenty of Henry and his characters for you to read about and drool over if you haven't already. And if you find a new pretty man to lust over in the process, how can that be bad in the slightest?

Read it, love it, reblog it and shout it to the rooftops. Your local fanfic writer will be forever grateful, I'm sure of it!

And need more recs? Check it out here.

As always...

[matchbookarmy]

Okay, I'm back. Sorry I needed a bit of a break from things. Just from everything. Not this blog but everything in [gestures vaguely] life.

As some of you know, my phone broke back over the summer and I lost all of my open tabs and where I was on my journey. That definitely was a setback and I didn't know how I wanted to handle it.

But now that I've had time to think about it, I've decided to.... restart my journey.

Lol.

Now I know you probably think I'm insane, but here are my reasons. When I first started reading I was only reading MCU based fic because I thought you had to choose a fandom on AO3. It wasn't for a while before I figured out I could just click on the ship's tag and see everything. So I was severely lacking in 616 fic. Also I didn't read everything when I started. I tended to skip AUs, a lot of the more kinky stuff. As I read more I opened myself up to a lot more types of fics.

And then finally my last reason is I want to change the way I interact with fic and fandom. I want to comment more and read WIPs and I dunno. I want to share and spread my enthusiasm. I also want to pull back in some ways, *except* on this blog. I want to get to know you and gush with you all about these two guys we love so much and all the creativity that gets poured into this fandom and this ship and these characters, the blood the sweat and the tears of it all.

So feel free to message me about anything. I try to be good about answering requests, though, I don't always have a fic that perfectly matches what you want.

I was thinking there's the findingstony blog that finds specific fic that you know exists, but maybe this would be a good place for people to submit things that they are looking for that they haven't already found. Like more general requests of tropes or plots that you want to read. Again I'll do my best to match you with something, but I'll also put them out to my followers (I don't have a ton but we'll see what the community can do).

Anyway, I'd like this to be a community to talk about all these things we love. I know I still have 2-3 unanswered asks, and I haven't forgotten them. For the person who asked for heartwrenching angst with or without a happy ending, I'm trying to decide if I want to rec you the most heart-shattering fic I have ever read. 🤔🤔🤔 (Are you open to Tony being evil?)

Anyway, does this restart mean that I may never get to some truly amazing fics at the end of the alphabet? Almost certainly. There are over 55k Stony fics on AO3. The first time I did this was a ship that had about 500 fics. I read them all in a couple months. I'm not going to complain about having too much good stuff.

But you can feel free to send in your own recs as well. Again, I'd love this to be a community, and a conversation.

Okay, well... I'm off to read. A couple of notes.

I will attempt to read every fic. There will be some that I do not finish. It might just be that it's not to my personal taste.

When I say everything, I do mean *everything*, which means that I may rec some fics that have content that you don't like. I will tag my posts accordingly. I'm not here to debate the ethics of fictional depictions of fictional characters in a fictional relationship with anyone.

I'm going to post as I go through. It's just easier for me that way. Also this way you can literally see my journey, lol. Posts will be scheduled for Saturdays, one post per week, unless my drafts start to get really full, in which case I'll bump it up to two posts per week.

Sometimes I may open a fic and save it in an open tag if I'm not in the right headspace for it, or if I want to read it but I'm not connecting with it at the moment. Or, if it's a really long fic, sometimes I'll intersperse other shorter fics in between chapters. So just because I skip a fic doesn't mean I didn't like it, or I thought it was bad.

Though I will give everything a shot, in general, kid fic is just not my thing, so you're unlikely to see many recs with that topic. But feel free to send in your own fic recs if there's something you really love. I'm sure others would love it as well.

I also generally tend to be not a fan of kink involving bodily fluids other than spit, sweat and semen, but I will give them a chance. Just don't expect a lot of recs for those. Also I'm not really a fan of age play. It's just not my thing.

The only hard pass for me is anything that tries to villainize Steve for MCU Civil War. That's a hard no for me.

Okay, I accidentally added a poll and it won't let me delete it, so....

Lmao - that was supposed to say goodness not goddess. 🙃🙃🙃 This is why I don't do polls. I am far too much of a mess to handle this kind of responsibility.

[bi-bats]

asksender reporting for duty! 🫡

for the latest fic ask set: 5, 7, 8, and 15 please!!!

(also, please please take all the rest time you want/need!!! you gave us a Feast, now it is time for rest and recuperation 💕💕💕)

OKAY I'M FEELING LIKE ANSWERING SOME ASKS SO HERE WE GO I'M STARTING WITH THIS ONE FROM AN OLDER GAME BECAUSE IT'S BEEN HERE IN MY ASK BOX FOR LIKE 3 WEEKS

(i heard you say I can take as long as I need in one of your more recent ones, I just didn't internalize it which isn't your fault 💚)

technically the latest fic I had posted when I reblogged this was Scars and Stitches BUT right before that I posted What Are You Waiting For? which is FAR more interesting to me SO I'm answering for that one because rules are fake and I feel like it.

5. How do you decide how long your fics/chapters will be? Do you have a word count goal?

Ha. Ha! I don't decide anything. Do you all think I'm out here deciding that my next update for Know Yourself should be 18k words?? Of course not.

Here's how it goes: I tell any given chapter what I think should happen. The chapter says "hmmmm, maybe. We'll see." Then I beg the chapter to please please please please please not be over 10k words. It gives me a smile like it thinks I'm adorable for even asking when we both damn well know that the chapter will do whatever it wants, and what I want has nothing to do with it. And then either the chapter takes mercy on me (like it did in this fic) or it Does Not (like it is doing in Know Yourself).

7. What part of this fic/chapter was the most fun to write? 

Honestly, the whole first chapter. There's just something about the way it flows that I feel so good about 💚

8. Which line/paragraph are you most proud of? Why are you proud of this? 

But the strangest thing is how everyone believes Jason anyways. Just like that.  Then again, Dick is backing him up, so of course they believe him. Everyone believes Goldie, all of the time. He just flashes that gorgeous smile like a fucking master key, and Jason’s always been a tiny bit jealous that everyone else turned out so goddamn endearing.  Not that being intimidating doesn’t have its uses, but sometimes he can’t ignore how much easier certain things would be if his edges were just a little less sharp.

This whole section. I think it's just that this is one of those thoughts that Jason keeps to himself, even though he thinks it fairly often. It captures a part of Jason I rarely see represented, which is how he came back different and he feels different from the rest of the bats in a lot of ways that strain his relationship with them. (Also, I feel like this reads in his voice really well which is something I sometimes have a hard time feeling like I nailed.

15. What is one question you wish someone would ask you about this work? Ask it and answer it.

There is ALWAYS a question I want to be asked about fics, and it is what songs inspired them! I listen to so much music (Spotify wrapped outed me last year at 84k minutes of listening lmaoo) and I used to write to music a lot but I've been finding it distracting lately.

I still plot to music though, and each of my fics have playlists! I'm gonna link the spotify playlist for this fic here! Top recs from this playlist are:

Lately I haven't Been Sleeping

Hyacinthus

J's Lullaby

-

Thank you for reporting in for an ask!!! I always love seeing you in my inbox and I swear I get excited every time, I'm just bad at answering 😂

And re: your comment at the end, Thank You and everyone who reminded me to give myself room to rest! I don't want to burn out any more than anyone else wants me to burn out, and I appreciate the reminder!! Also preparing the feast was So Worth It, people are still (like literally at this moment I got one) sending in the LOVELIEST comments that are making my day every single time!!

Ily all!!! and Bean I'll see you in like five seconds for your Echo Wife ask I've been vibrating to answer 💖

[danpuff-ao3]

Danni! Where do you get the images you use for your banners? They always look so good and convey such strong vibes! xoxo

Hi there Anon! Thanks so much! I've always envied people who had such cute banners so it feels really good to have ones for myself that I really like now! 😄 The answer is: Canva!

I've only been doing this for like a week but I started getting things setup for @hp-fruit-fest and needed banners! So I toyed around for a few hours one night until I got some images I liked. It was very trial and error, but it was a good starting point since "clean, simple, colorful" was the vibe I wanted.

Once I was more comfortable making images for fest use, I decided to play around some more in Canva for potential story banners. The natural place to start was Contempt. A story I really loved and was really familiar with and was willing to do a lot of trial and error on.

In fact, let me go un-delete some photos so you can see the progression:

My very first thought was to search "red silk" because I liked the idea of it, but quickly nixed it after doing a series of "fabric themed" titles for the series. (The other options I won't show since the stories aren't out yet!) They were cute, but weren't quite right.

Then I moved onto fire. A natural choice imo! Harry our fiery Leo; the fire of his passion, and how it energizes and consumes him. The second image got me to breakdown and pay for a monthly subscription.

On the note of subscriptions: I don't think I'll keep it ongoing, as I think it's a bit pricey for something I don't imagine I'll be using super often outside of my immediate needs. You can create perfectly serviceable images with the free option, but it is annoying that when you search stuff the "pro" options show up as well. I will say if you're tempted by the pro version, do it a month when you have the money to spare and a lot of images you want to make and just do it a month at a time. 🤷‍♀️ But definitely not necessary!

Anyway, so the second image's background tempted me too much at the time, though I'm less impressed by it now. The look of like a fiery sky with stars! That led me to another round of series images that were sky themed. I did keep one image from that round, for the Kinkuary fic I'm posting on the 14th!

After a while I just wasn't impressed with any of the fire images I was creating, and so then I moved onto snake. Specifically: a red one!

I have a lot of thoughts about symbolism in general, but specifically for Contempt. In fact, I wrote a whole meta about it that I soon deleted out of embarrassment. 😂 Maybe I'll put it back up one day, idk, we'll see!

So there's the representation at face value: the snake for Slytherin for Severus. Red for Gryffindor for Harry. Then you get into the symbolism of the serpent (rebirth, eternity, life, danger, lies, evil) and the symbolism of red (passion, courage, anger, danger, violence.) Then the specific connections to the story, with the serpent on Severus' door (and the symbolism of doors being either imprisonment or opportunity.) Then, when discussing the embroidery with Mari (onbeinganangel) I got into the nature symbolism, and how it represented both beauty and brutality, which I associated with their love and their story.

Luckily searching "red snake" landed me the perfect image. Then I spent ages determining the font. Actually what's really missing from the lineup above was a really cool but also terrible font choice. Maybe I should go recreate it just to show you. 😂

Ngl, I still like it, I'm just not sure it's the right mood. 😅

Anyway, by this point, "perfecting" Contempt made me feel much more confident in what I was doing. So I actually spent a lot of time yesterday creating title banners. Only a few I've shared, though! Some I have saved for future "Self-Rec Saturdays" and 2 for the 2 Kinkuary stories that are finished but not yet posted! (Snarry coming on the 14th and Riddledore on the 27th!)

Most of them I had a pretty good idea of images to search for, but for the Swiftly Snarry series I was actually at a bit of a loss. No imagery really stuck out at me, at least nothing I could easily find and use. I did a lot of random word searches. "Headmaster's office", "wizard office", "antique office", "antique desk", etc. I searched "books" and...hmm. Other stuff I'm forgetting at the moment.

I actually found the key image I used for A Chain Reaction of Countermoves first. I had to create a new page to drop the image into so I wouldn't lose it! Then I went back to the page I was working on Clandestine Meetings & Stolen Stares in. The key worked in my head since in the story they're meeting in an inn and the whole "key to my heart" idea. Plus it had the antiquey feel I was sort of looking for.

Settling on the key also made me decide to have a "one object" feel for Clandestine Meetings, so I searched "quill" and...tbh still spent too much time looking, but at least I had an idea of what I wanted after that. Then a matter of choosing the right colors for the font. The font itself was easy enough as it's a text template I like that is easily adjusted for size and color.

Then, last night, while making a "Self-Rec Saturday" banner and testing how the drafts looked on Tumblr...I realized Canva had an option to save with a transparent background! -gasp-

Original Self-Rec banner options:

Which are still cute, don't get me wrong, and maybe I'll use them one day, but the transparent background???? Look!!!!

and:

That was some trial and error of it's own having to check how it would look once on Tumblr, too, with font color (but also remembering I use Tumblr in dark mode hahaha) and image size.

So yeah that's what I've been doing all week. Playing with Canva. 😂

Sooo...

TL;DR: I used Canva. It takes some trial and error and practice to use but once you get the hang of it you can get some cute stuff!

[bookshelfpassageway]

...has anyone ever done podfic of Blue Sky past the first chapter? bc i know there’s the full-cast one that started over a year ago, but... it’s just the first chapter, and it’s been like a year or more.

[splendentgoddess]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then (optionally!) pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love ♥️

Okay! Finally had a minute to sit down and work on answering this! Thanks for the ask @neutronstarchild !! (here's hoping the tag works after I push post, since half the time it doesn't)

I have also just recently received a second one of this ask from an anon, so I hope you see this too nonny!!! And thanks for thinking of me!

Now then, my favorite five fics. Considering I have written 108 fanfics that's no small ask, LOL. But I definitely do have some favorites.

I think the #1 spot has to go to Mating Season because I mean come on. What was just supposed to be a fun five-chapter hentai turned into a 100-chapter epic that took me around two years to write at a pace of posting one chapter a week. Yeah, that fucker ate my life for two years, but it was worth it. I am never, ever, writing a fic live ever again, LOL, so that one will go down in history as the one and only time I was foolish enough to get carried away with the vibes. Pantsing at its finest.

Can I cheat? I'm going to cheat and for the #2 spot I'm actually going to pick all of my Hallow trilogy, because how can I only pick the first story in what expanded into such a wonderful universe? But All Hallows' Eve was the first Halloween fic I ever wrote, and that universe will always have a soft spot in my heart. It has it all. Halloween parties and haunted houses, Inu/Kag love confessions and smexy times, canon divergence 'second jewel shard hunt after Naraku is dead' which was a popular thing to write at the time, youkai in the modern era and Kagome's school friends seeing her be a badass, and pregnancy and a baby! It's a great universe.

In that same vein, I really should pick the entire Secret Santa universe but I'll be good and for #3 I'll just say the original Secret Santa fic instead. I love the whole universe of course (also psssst I'm writing a fourth installment!!!) but the first one is definitely extra special because it contains that whole misunderstanding trope, coworkers where she likes him but he thinks she hates him and much unnecessary heartache ensues. Also, I absolutely love the type of universe where youkai are still around and are basically still youkai just like in canon, and I go back and forth on whether or not hanyou have human rights in this sort of world but I'd like to believe they would, and so in this universe they do and Inuyasha can live in peace among humans. I also love that I made Kagome a pretty fucking powerful miko, with an empathic ability I've not given her in other fics. In Love is Blind she can sense emotions but in the Secret Santa universe she can straight up read a person's soul.

It's really hard to pick just one fic amongst all my canon divergence and canon compliant inserted-scene fics to choose the #4 favorite but I think that honor has got to go to An unexpected request. Canon compliant, it tucks in neatly between manga chapters 519 and 520. This one has always been a little extra special to me. The summary says it all: Faced with the realization of just how dangerous, how potentially deadly their situation is about to become, Kagome approaches Inuyasha with an unexpected request. Will he comply? Maybe once he gets over his shock. After all, who wants to die a virgin?

*whistles innocently*

I think for the #5 spot I'm going to have to pick After The End: New Beginnings which is my one true post-canon universe. (*cough* YnH doesn't count *cough*) Okay we'll call it my post-manga universe, because it follows the manga canon, anyway. This story takes us through Kagome's return after the three-year separation, and the whole thing is really a final chapter insert because the closing lines in the story are the closing lines of the final manga chapter, with a happily married Inu/Kag standing together on that hill overlooking the countryside and Kagome's thoughts going Inuyasha and I...are bound to tomorrow. And while it's only this one story so far, I have many, MANY plans for many, MANY sequels. I've legit been going through my old ass files for old ass story ideas and seeing what I can chop shop to make work in the ATE universe instead, and I've plotted more than I've ever plotted before because I have multiple sequels outlined in order with key points that need to happen in certain stories as hints for other things in later stories. I'm also paused in the middle of a reread/edit on that one because I switched gears to start working on the 4th Secret Santa fic (which will be called No More Secrets) but after I get that one finished and posted, a freshly edited After The End will be the next fic going up on AO3. I really want to give that universe the majority of my attention.

[struggle-but-its-all-ocean-floor]

Honestly, I want to be excited for BTS's solo careers but I'm just not that interested in them yet. Maybe it's too soon. I'm curious about what kind of music they'll release, what their performances will be like, what their promotions will look like, what kind of image they'll cultivate, etc., but it's not really something that I can look forward to yet.

For example, I've never really cared for J-Hope's solo music so this album announcement doesn't excite me. I was looking forward to D3 but now that it's an album and not a mixtape I wonder if BTS will feel more pressure to do well commercially and if that will change the content of their music. I wonder if "D3" will be less Agust D (I think it won't be Agust D at all anymore) and more in the style of Seesaw and recent songs he's produced for others.

I'm scared I won't like their music, because individually BTS's tastes vastly differ from mine. If Jin's album is a ballad album which includes songs like Moon, I'm not sure how much I will enjoy that. I have liked V's solo songs so far but not really the ones he shares on Weverse or IG.

I'm also kind of afraid that they'll change? That I won't be able to recognize them anymore, or that they'll grow distant from each other, or that I will grow distant from them.

I'm kind of excited to see Jimin dance solo and to hear Jungkook sing, but I also fear disliking JK's music because I love Still With You, but My You and his songs recs are not my style at all.

What saddens me the most is not the lack of OT7 music, but losing their group dynamic. I hope Hybe will upload lots of Bangtan Bombs and that the members will do lives together from time to time and post photos with each other. Their bond is one of the best parts of them and a huge source of comfort to me. Since we're losing their performances, I hope we will have some OT7 content at least. That's what saddens me the most. Not being able to see the seven of them chat and have fun together. And not getting new performances sucks too, but I think solo performances can possibly make up for it.

The enlistment thing is also very scary. There's allegedly going to be an announcement next week... If they go separately how long will it take for a group comeback? I guess I just have to be patient. One thing at a time...

It's funny that in his last vlive JK said he didn't know if he could go on variety shows without the members... That's another example of BTS giving me mixed signals about going solo. If he knew he'd have to promote his album, wasn't he expecting to do some form of variety content?

Anyway, these are my thoughts and fears. V said 90% of Army will support them whatever music they make, but I'm not sure it's fair of him to ask that of us. I will listen to his music, but I became a fan of BTS, not solo artists. I don't think I have to listen to their music and watch their content if I don't enjoy it. But BTS are all funny and interesting on their own, so I'm not saying I won't. He's just expecting too much of us. We don't have to like anything they put out. But he probably didn't mean it that way.

I'm scared of change. It feels like BTS are slipping through my fingers. They're growing up and soon will be so caught up in their personal lives that we'll no longer get to enjoy BTS the way we did. Seeing them together made me believe in love and friendship, and made me feel less lonely too, so the thought of losing that is what's so scary and sad for me. They couldn't spend every day together forever, right? I kind of wanted them to. I wanted their friendship to be like that. They aren't growing apart, but real friendships always take a backseat to family and a career. That's life. I'm not counting on ever having a family so I think I'll be lonely. I'm not good with friendships either.

BTS going on a break just feels so personal. Because I'm the same age as them. They're moving on but I'm always stuck in the same place. I guess that's why it's hard to feel happy right now.

[literali1110]

Thanks @poppypickle for the tag! Started a new post because the other threads were getting long, hope that's ok!

Name or preferred nickname: Li (nickname just because my real name is pretty rare)

Pronouns: she/her

What's the story behind your username: some weird combination of my name and the word Literally 😅 I actually wanted it to sound more like Literary because I made it up before posting my first fic but literali fit better with my name. Sometimes I wish I could change it but...it's probably too late now! 1110 is my bday :)

General location: Eastern hemisphere. How's that for general? ;P

Tell us something cool about you in real life: my background is in science and I'm starting a new job soon I'm pretty excited about working on developing a gene therapy drug!

Favorite Chenford moment: this is hard but I think I'm going to be cliche and say the moment he saves her in 2x11 just because of how he's holding on to her for dear life. And just the whole arc of him feeling responsible for what happened to her - GOLD.

Here are some of my first thoughts I shared on a chat after I saw that episode:

"OMG the rookie 2x11 WOW I already knew what the storyline was but to actually see it - the way they had no music at the end/just lucy singing 🥺

And then TIM was the one who found her and got her out and preformered CPR including MOUTH TO MOUTH (which I'm pretty sure you're not really supposed to do anymore so that was totally for the drama/fans) and then she was sobbing and he HELD HER, I wish could hear what he was saying to her there, and the he stayed by her bed the WHOLE night 😍😍😍 "

Moment that made you start shipping them: I started watching already knowing about the ship and I binged the show in about a week (thru 3x04 I think) but I don't think I really saw them with potential to be a couple (at least not at that moment in time) in the very beginning - Tim was, well, an ass, for a while. But then Lucy stood up to him with Isabel and I think 1x20 is when I really felt more strongly about them as a couple. In S2 their relationship definitely felt like it was in a new place and let's talk about 2x03 THE BET because that, I feel, is a HUGE sign from the writers that Chenford was going to be a thing. The looks she gives him in the episode? Please.

And then came 2x11 and you already saw my thoughts on that above and I think by then I was fully on board the Chenford train! And of course reading all the great fic about them just made me love them and want them together even more!

Who you think will realize they have FEELINGS first:

I think I agree with what I've seen a lot of people say - that Tim will realize first (maybe when Lucy goes UC?) But he'll wait for Lucy to make the first move. And after her "confession" she seems pretty unaware of her feelings so we'll see when that happens...

Favorite character who isn’t Lucy or Tim:

Jackson or Angela.

But also Nyla!

And Kojo ❤️

Favorite Chenford headcanon:

I love that everyone decided they're going to have a daughter. I love that they have a dog together - I'm not sure if they're at the place where they take hikes together just yet but I'm sure Lucy dogsits sometimes and begs Tim for pictures.

They're gonna be surrogate parents to Tamara for the rest of her life.

They're gonna be aunt and uncle to angel and Wesley's kids and vice versa.

And they're never gonna stop trying to one up eachother, always challenging one another and setting up little pranks!

Do you write fics/make gifs/make vids/do something else cool? You’re awesome! Share your stuff:

I do have a few Chenford fics - I'm LiteraLi on AO3. I also have a few more ideas I'm working on, although I'm a slow writer and a procrastinator but I don't think you've seen the last of me yet!

Fic you’re rec’ing the most right now:

At the top, I gotta rec anything by @fromiftowhen and @universallongings . Then, anything by @farfarawaygirl @firstdegreefangirl @crose84 @toews-a-peek @jakelovesamy @asroarke and @poppypickle .

Special shout out to Beach Relaxation (A Guided Meditation by Tim Bradford) that @crose84 wrote in response to a promt for me - you must check it out, it's the sweetest thing ever!

But seriously there is sooooo much good fic out there and I'm sorry if I didn't mention anyone by name - just scroll through the chenford tag on AO3 and you'll be sure to find some amazing fic!!

Tag another Chenford fan to fill this out: @lupin72 who gets allllll the credit for introducing me to this ship!

And anyone who wants to do it!!