#cs historical fics

[ohmightydevviepuu]

the part of a swan / chapter five

It should be clear that Emma did not, by any means, regret her ruination.  She did not miss the person she had been before that night; the eager, naive girl, brought up always to behave a certain way, to speak softly, to do as she was bidden, to be what she was told.

Emma no longer believed in allowing people to tell her who she could be.

But Killian Jones is not concerned with who she was–he’s interested in who she is. And he might be the only one smart enough to uncover the truth.

chapter one | chapter two | chapter three | chapter four [cover art by @snowbellewells ]

--

There weren’t many places where a known scandal could drink and socialize unnoticed but Emma Swan took solace in the fact that she had created one.  The ladies’ side of The Swan hosted some of London’s best parties and specialized in women’s pleasure of all varieties.  It was a place for drinking, dancing, laughing—away from the notice of Society, not only immune to its censure but uninterested in its very existence.  A haven for privacy, a place to solve problems.

The ladies’ side of The Swan was not a place for being Seen, it was a place for living.

Tonight, however, n the heart of what should have been her sanctum, the most private rooms in the most private part of her club, surrounded by the people who had watched her find her wings and then given her space to fly, Emma was taking solace in rather more murderous musings.

“I’ve read the Scandal Sheet, of course, but I’m given to understand the more interesting story was left off the pages and on the floor of this casino.”  Regina Hood, Lady Locksley, smirked as she leaned forward to collect her cards from the table.  “Along with Amelia’s red dress.”

How unfortunate that murder would be not only unladylike but so terribly messy.  Bad form, indeed.  “It was not on the floor,” Emma grumbled.

read more on AO3

@cshistfic @snowbellewells @kmomof4 @spartanguard @optomisticgirl @wistfulcynic @shireness-says @tiganasummertree

[snowbellewells]

CS Fic Rec Monday: “I’ll Be Seeing You” by: @deckstarblanche

I have only recently begun getting to know @deckerstarblanche and discovering many of her wonderful CS fics. This one in particular captured my imagination and emotions, and has really been in my head ever since. We get to see a lovely historical 1940s version of Emma and Killian, who meet just as WWII begins to loom. They feel a bit like a sweet real world take on the Lt. Duckling version of our favorite couple and it really gave me all the feels. If you haven’t read this one yet - I believe it was part of the @cshistfic event last fall - definitely check it out.

And @deckerstarblanche thank you for the lovely read, I hope you’ll enjoy the bit of cover art for it:

“I’ll Be Seeing You” by: @deckerstarblanche​

[runawaymun]

Not-Yet-Written-Fics Game

Tagged by @camille-lachenille to talk about the various fics swimming around in my soup of a brain that I haven't gotten around to writing anything down about. Y'know, the ones that exist in vivid detail inside my head. So here's a rough list, and you guys can send me asks about them if you want <3

The Kidnap Fam Fic - the one where I finally write down the abduction of Elrond and Elros from Sirion, as I see it, and how 'Love grew' between E&E and M&M, re how Tolkien phrases it, with all the messiness and the fucked-upness and the complex trauma and, yeah, the love.

Celrond get-together enemies-to-lovers speedrun. -- NOT the Celrond arranged marriage AU, of which I have actually written about three chapters. This is, instead, how I see them in a more canon sense.

Rivendell's Tiny Tearaway - another adopted family fic (what's new) but this time it's about Elrond, Estel, and Gilraen.

The Magician's Nephew x LOTR crossover that would make Tolkien spin in his grave and CS Lewis cackle with delight.

Stranger Things x LOTR crossover (mostly centered around One/Vecna and Elrond).

MGME except it's my OC from my sci fi novel.

Celebrimbor Lives AU

Celrondir (Celrond x Lindir) origins fic

Partake Prequel

EDIT: Adding two more that I forgot about

10. The Elrond in Valinor fic + second flight of the Noldor 11. Another MGME but it's just my OCs from my historical fiction novel

Tagging: @lordgrimwing @jaz-the-bard @niennawept @glorf1ndel @raointean @thesummerestsolstice & anyone else who wants to play!

[qqueenofhades]

Hi there! It's been forever since I've sent you an ask (forever since I've even really been on Tumblr tbh), but your name came up as a must read author in a Captain Swan fic discussion. Very well deserved! So my question, though I know you've long moved past the OUAT fandom by now: If you were to recommend just one of your CS fics for someone to read, which would it be?

To be honest, the only CS fics of mine that I still revisit or reread for my own enjoyment, even many years after moving past the fandom, is the Swan and Crossbones crossover series (The Dark Horizon and The Rose and Thorn). I still find that the writing is good (when looking at projects ten years out of date, this is not a guarantee), the plot is compelling, and after all the work I did with OUAT, Black Sails, and original characters/plots to turn it into two long (uh, very long) sagas and a full retelling of Treasure Island, it's just a lot of fun. I did tons of extra historical research for it (even while working on a PhD), I still think most of it holds up, and it was generally just a project that I'm still very proud of. And I think you yourself enjoyed that series -- I remember your comments, and hope you're doing well!

[etirabys]

book review: she who became the sun

Woohoo, this stacked well with reading the "end of Ming, early Qing" stretch of The Search for Modern China. It's set in a similar time period, and Zhu, the "random peasant who turned out to have an amazing knack for leading a rebellion" protagonist, fits neatly into the historical period where many peasants or failed bureaucrats were discovering that this was their calling.

GOOD novel. Chewy. It's good. Had enough crazy brilliant protagonist energy to remind me of the Vorkosigan saga:

"That monk knows exactly what he wants. The night before the battle at Yao River, he asked me to make that gong for him. I made it, he used it, and he won,” Jiao said. “I’ve met his type before. They either go far or die early. And either way, they have a tendency to make collateral damage of normal people.” He raised his eyebrows at Yuchun. “Are you special, little brother? Because if you’re not, I’d watch out."

Will definitely be buying the sequel.

(At this point the review becomes spoilery.)

One of the most gorgeous blood feud I've ever seen! The players in the blood feud are:

- Ouyang, the sole survivor of the massacre of his Han family – begged for his life as a child, was spared but castrated, and has grown up into a fearsome Mongol general

- Chaghan, the high ranking Mongol military commander who did the massacreing

- Esen, Chaghan's son who conforms perfectly to Mongol masculine warrior ideals. Loves Ouyang as a best friend but fails to see, at all, how bitter Ouyang is with his life and how set he is on revenge.

- Wang, Chaghan's half-Han nephew whom he adopted as a son.

Each pair of the above either outright hates each other, OR is plotting the other's destruction despite great love, except Chaghan and Esen. It's fabulous! Ouyang is... oh, just read this short post about CS Lewis's definition of damnation. Ouyang is very damned.

Oh, Ouyang. Women are terrible! The politics.” He groaned. “Consider yourself lucky you’ll never have to suffer this kind of torment.” Esen never meant to hurt, and Ouyang had always taken care to pretend matter-of-fact acceptance about his exclusion from family life. Why should he blame Esen for not reading his mind to see the anger and pain there? But the truth was: he did blame Esen. Blamed him even more than he would a stranger, because it hurt more that someone so beloved should not see the truth of him. And he blamed and hated himself, for hiding that truth.

Ouyang's arc is a superbly executed tragedy. The climax, I think, physically winded me slightly.

And Wang –

This book is primarily about people-who-are-not-fully-men by the Mongol standards of manhood, and of the GNC characters, Wang was the one who struck me as queerest by nature/volition rather than circumstance. His gender is Accountant Who Loves The Arts, and his Manchu relatives HATE him for it. His gender noncompliance seems like "I'm doing this because I really want to and anything else is painful" rather than "I'm doing this because I was castrated" (Ouyang) or "I'm doing this because I was going to literally starve to death unless I latched on to the niche that was meant to be my dead brother's" (the protagonist).

Said GNC people sniff each other out quickly and feel Weird Magnetism. "Like calls to like" is an italicized refrain. In fact, Zhu's nonbinarydar is so advanced that she intuits Ouyang's emotional damage within minutes of meeting him, and feels a magnetic pull to him for the rest of the book. As a shipper, I'm a huge fan. (What I want: Ouyang/Zhu/Ma triad fic.) As a person who yearns for anyone to understand Ouyang, I'm a huge fan. But I'm an anti-fan of "these two people who are very different are of the Same Kind because they don't fit into mainstream culture". Such groupings are politically expedient but I feel allergic to seeing them painted as intrinsic similarities – to say, these two things are the same because they are not X, seems to ontologically center "X vs not X" when the political project should be to dissolve the salience of that division.

Through that strange quiver of connection to the Yuan’s eunuch general, she had seen beneath that carved-jade mask to his shame and self-hate and anger. He had a wound for a heart, and that made him a more dangerous opponent than anyone here realized.

I feel weird writing a paragraph about this, but the book is really explicit that these radically different GNC people are on the same wavelength and I'm like, NO, they're really not!... they could have grown into the weird intense soulmate enemy bond they immediately have in book 1, and that would have felt narratively rewarding to me – recognition through inquiry and (reluctant) empathy and reflection, not, Nonbinary Frog Pheromones

Finally: I loved Zhu's romance arc and childhood trauma and fucking everything. She's ten years old when her father is kicked to death by bandits for not offering them enough food (the whole region is some years into a famine), and by the time she's an adult this feels so faraway that... well, as an adult she sees a food seller at a market being extorted, and the scene goes like this:

“Hey, granny!” Well, less hope for some. Zhu, observing the unfolding human drama, felt a stirring of unease: the memory of something witnessed so long ago that it might as well have been in a past life.

Seriously, the kicked to death thing never comes up again, and the elision is vast and leaves a lot of room for echoes. Similarly – several minutes before being kicked to death, the desperate father, who devalues girl children in a culturally unexceptional way, offers ten year old Zhu as food for the bandits so they'll leave him and his son alone. (This whole scene is amazingly written, and does not get in the way of the inherent intensity and awfulness of this event.) Zhu does not process this onscreen At All. Once her entire family is dead she starts rolling on her journey to becoming a warlord like a polished marble. Said journey involves her taking her brother's place at a monastery and playing at being a not-girl so well that even the heavens won't notice that she's of the Grindable To Nothingness gender, all while having ZERO thoughts about the "eat my daughter and leave us alone" incident. Fucking fantastic.

Anyway, at the beginning of becoming a warlord, she meets Ma, a Girl Who Is Somehow Nice Despite The World Making This Very Hard:

in her face there was such a depth of raw and innocent emotion that Zhu’s eye was drawn as if to the scene of an accident

and

Zhu, watching Ma with an alien ache in her heart, saw the girl turn away at the critical moment [of someone she cares about being executed]. There was nobody to comfort her. She simply folded over onto herself in the middle of that empty bubble in the crowd, crying. Zhu felt a strong protective urge rise up in her at the sight. With alarm she realized it was a new desire, already rooted alongside that other desire that defined everything she was and did. It felt as dangerous as an arrowhead lodged in her body, as though at any moment it might work its way in deeper and cause some fatal injury.

and marries her. I love this, because I'm a huge sucker for "I am a very bad person and I love you and hope you will keep me in line" ships, and this is explicitly part of their deal!

However, after fights about less taboo atrocities, Ma comes back to Zhu after Zhu kills an eight year old Ma is attached to (for being a ?dalai lama? who is inconvenient to Zhu's goals), so it's a little unclear to me how much Ma is going to keep this function.

[hussyknee]

Does reading a lot of books "count" if they're all only popular light-read novels? As opposed to classics and literary fiction and whatever 600-page in-betweens are called. I can tear through all of Cat Sebastian (who's either hit or very, very miss for me) before I can pick up, like, Sharon Kay Penman, even though they're both popular historical novellists, because SKP's are about real historical figures and wars where a lot of horrible things happen to people. So of course my brain is convinced that SKP's novels "count" more than CS's, because it only counts if you have to struggle through an emotional morrass that makes you feel glad to live in climate collapse because at least nobody is sticking people's heads on spikes anymore.

This is also why I can only stand well back from literary fiction and poke it with a stick like I'm waiting for rats and snakes to jump out because, afaik, most of them are about people being sad and ruminating on the Human Condition. I don't get why I have to read about that, given I'm a sad person who's trapped in the Human Condition.

(I sometimes think the people that write these things are either so removed from the unwashed masses that they can look at them like a science experiment or five inches from offing themselves at all times. Presumably some of them are those mythical Normal People who have somehow emerged from the existential soup without any mental illnesses. Idk. How tf do you write fiction about real human pain that isn't even self-indulgent whump fic? I'm still trying to recover from having read Ninety-One Whiskey four years ago.)

You'd think the solution would be to just read some escapist fantasy, except the serious non-YA adjacent stuff that get submitted for Hugo awards (or Netflix and HBO adapations that shit all over the source material) are also about Bad Things Happening To People. I suppose this is better than white Christian manifest destiny bullshit like Lord of the Rings* where Bad Things Only Happened to Boromir, whose fans are the kind of people who think Gone With The Wind is a literary classic instead of Ku Klux Klan propaganda or people like me who are pathologically obsessed with conservative white bullshit**. And yet have I ever picked up NK Jemisin, who seems to be for all intents and purposes the queen of decolonial high fantasy? Of course not. Better to bear that media where Bad Things Only Happen To Imbibers Of This Racist Bullshit, than fly to others Where Bad Things Happen To The Characters that we know not of***.

It's really fucking hard to be extremely mentally ill and have OCD that won't let you DNF stuff that bores and distresses you and makes you think anything that lets you have safe, happy fun is just easy mode riffraff of no nutritional value.

***Still trying to figure out where Guy Gavriel Kay fits in. Without, you know, just reading the damn books.

**Tbh the reason conservative white bs is so appealing is because conservatives genuinely believe in the Just World theory. They rationalize the chaos of reality by assuming that the world used to make sense and work the way it should until Bad People happened to it, and it can be restored to its rightful glory if we can just root out all the shit that upended the old order. That's fascism in a nutshell and why its so deeply seductive even to people suffering under it.

*No, I'm not going to explain why LoTR is smuggling white supremacy. Y'all care more about defending the intentions of white men living in the fading era of the British empire than understanding how they could possibly have internalised white Christian supremacy that informs their writings about Fair, Enlightened Folk of the West yearning for a mythical past where they reigned supreme. Figure it out.

[kazoosandfannypacks]

Just the Way We Roll by kazoosandfannypacks

Pairing: Captain Swan Rating: General Audiences Word Count: 3K Summary: Killian Jones is just a simple teenager trying to navigate life. But when his brothers try to help him talk to his crush, it doesn't quite go as planned. Author’s notes: [In this fic, Liam II is named William, and Emma and Henry aren't related.] I feel like "Killian as a middle sibling" isn't a dynamic used nearly enough in fics, and decided to play around with "his brothers try to help him flirt and it doesn't go well." Taglist: @zahara @kmomof4 @jonesfandomfanatic @booksteaandtoomuchtv @jrob64 @tiganasummertree @anmylica @teamhook @undercaffinatednightmare @gingerchangeling @lonelyspectator @caught-in-the-filter @ultraluckycatnd @cs-rylie @silver-the-phoenix @pawshapedheart  [if you’d like to be added to or removed from this list, hmu in my dms or askbox!] Also on Ao3!

 Being an older sibling seemed easy enough. Having people who always look up to you, paving your own path, never living in someone else's shadow- it all comes so easy to the oldest sibling.

 Being a younger sibling didn't seem too hard either. Your parents are more lax on the rules, they make less mistakes because they've learned from how they messed up your older siblings, and you've got older siblings to look out for you.

 But being a middle sibling was difficult. Keeping an eye out for your younger siblings, living in the shadow of your older siblings- your parents still messing up with you, yet having expectations for you from your older siblings. It was the worst of both worlds- but after ten years of having a younger brother and seventeen of having an older brother, Killian was used to it. He'd gotten used to the fact that William would beg to tag along anywhere he went. He'd gotten used to the fact that Liam would always be around to tease him. He'd gotten used to the hand-me-downs and the handing-down, to needing advice and then giving advice, to being annoyed by his younger brother and annoying his older brother.

 But if there's one thing he didn't think he'd ever get used to, it was his brothers' outgoing natures. To William and Liam both, a stranger was just a friend they hadn't met yet, whether it was a kid William met at the McDonald's playplace or a new employee Liam met at the local ice cream stand. Liam's charisma and William's enthusiasm were enough to charm the hearts of any stranger.

 Killian, however, was not so gifted at meeting new people. For one thing, he didn't really need to be- Liam's friends had always accepted him as part of the group anyways- and for another, he didn't usually care to. He wasn't a huge fan of talking to people, never knowing what to say, or how to say it, or when- it was easier if he just didn't talk at all. He had plenty of online friends, anyways, from his RPG groups and writing circles, and he'd always been content with just that.

 That is, until his older brother dragged him along with him to the local pizza parlor for dinner. Their mom was away for the night (and their dad had been away for much longer,) and Killian had been looking forward to spending an evening in, planning on proofreading a manuscript one of his friends had been begging him to beta.

 Unfortunately, Liam had decided they'd have much more fun going out for pizza that night, and William agreed- much to Killian's dismay. So, instead of reading his friend's historical fantasy WIP while listening to his favorite gaming soundtracks, he found himself eating pizza with his brother, in a seat much too close to the nearby jukebox, which was playing "What's New, Pussycat" for what seemed like the twenty-first time.

 But he didn't mind it nearly as much as he thought he would. After William had devoured a couple slices of pizza, he'd run off to play at the arcade consoles with a new friend he'd made. Liam then began talking with Killian about some of their friends, and Liam's upcoming victories as captain of the football team, and which of the Spiderman movies was the best adaptation.

 But what really made him enjoy his time- or, at the very least, made him stop wishing that he was back home by himself- was when he noticed some girls from school, sitting at a table across the way- one of those girls being the new girl, Emma Swan.

 If ever there was a person Killian was scared to talk to, it was Emma Swan. Her golden hair and charming smile were enough to turn loose the butterflies in his stomach- but her confidence, even in her new surroundings, combined with how quickly she'd fallen in with some of the cooler girls- altogether she was too cool for him to even think about talking to her.

 Fortunately for Killian, girls like her didn't tend to notice guys like him, so she didn't notice how much he was staring at her from his seat behind the jukebox.

 Unfortunately for Killian, big brothers always notice when you're crushing on someone.

 "Does she go to our school?" Liam asked.

 Killian turned back to Liam, trying to pretend he hadn't been staring at Emma- the last thing he needed was Liam meddling with his fantasy.

 "Who?" Killian asked.

 "That girl you haven't been able to take your eyes off since she came in."

 "I don't know what you're talking about." Killian said, making the mistake of glancing back at Emma and her friends- and seeing her laugh at one of her friend's jokes, which brought a tell-tale smile to his face.

 "Killian Jones," Liam said, "you are the worst liar I've ever met."

 "Am not!" Killian said.

 "You like her," Liam smiled.

 "She's just a girl from school," Killian said, "she's new; I barely know her."

 "What's stopping you?" Liam asked.

 "From getting to know her?" Killian asked, half laughing.

 "Just go over there and talk to her," Liam said.

 Killian knew Liam was only trying to be supportive, but at the same time, he could've said "just go jump in a pit of razor blades" and Killian would've been more willing to oblige.

 "Talk to her?" Killian asked, "me? It's not that easy."

 "Why not?" Liam asked, "just go over and say 'hi.'"

 "Maybe the captain of the football team can do that," Killian said, but "I don't think I could…."

 "Exactly, don't think," Liam said, standing up, "just do it.  Thinking's what gets you into trouble."

 "What?" Killian asked, his brother already having walked around the table to the jukebox.

 "This'll be your song," Liam said, putting a few quarters in the slot, "it'll boost your confidence."

 "What song?" Killian asked, getting up to look at the jukebox, knowing there was no point in trying to stop his brother when he had his mind made up.

 "Our jam," Liam put a hand on his brother's shoulder, "That's Just The Way We Roll."

 "Jonas Brothers?" Killian asked, "You want me to talk to Emma with Jonas Brothers playing in the background?"

 "Only thing better than the Joe Bros is the Jones Bros," Liam wiped a dab of sauce off Killian's face, "even if one of them needs a little more confidence."

 "I still don't know about this," Killian said.

 Their conversation was interrupted by William, who'd apparently exhausted all his arcade quarters.

 "Do you have any more quarters?" William asked Liam, "Henry and I ran out."

 "Who's Henry?" Killian asked.

 "My new friend," William said.

 "How'd you like to help your brother make a new friend now?" Liam asked William.

 "You?"

 "I don't need your help," Liam said, "but there's a pretty girl over there who's caught Killian's eye, and he needs our help to impress her."

 "I don't need…"

 "Okay!" William said, "what do you need me to do?"

 "Just follow my lead," Liam said, "and make Killian look good."

 "You got it!" William said.

 "I woke up, on the roof, with my brothers," the jukebox played.

 "That's your cue," Liam said. He put his hand on Killian's shoulder and pushed him ahead of them, towards Emma and her friends.

 "I wonder how much paperwork goes into disowning your older brother," Killian thought, as they got closer to the table and he still didn't know what he was gonna say.

 The girls at the table stopped talking and looked up at them, their eyes quizzically fixed on the Jones brothers.

 "Hi," Killian said, his stomach in knots and shoulders tense, "I uh, we go to the same school."

 "Emma, is it?" Liam reached around his brother to shake Emma's hand, "I'm Liam."

 "No need to introduce yourself," one of the other girls, whom Killian recognized from the cheerleading squad, interrupted, "I think we all know the captain of the football team when we see him."

 "Anna, right?" Liam asked, "Kristoff's girlfriend?"

 "That's me," Anna nudged the girl next to her, "and this is my sister, Elsa." 

 "A pleasure to meet you both," Liam said, flashing a dazzling smile at Elsa, then turning slightly to Emma, "and have you met my brother, Killian?"

 "I've seen you around," Emma smiled a little, not at Killian, "I didn't pick up on the familial connection, I guess."

 "Jones is a fairly common last name," Liam said, "and Killian hasn't picked up on nearly as much of the family charisma and charm as I have."

 Even if Killian had found his voice, he couldn't've argued with that.

 "And I'm William!" William piped in, "I'm their brother!"

 "Oh?" Elsa smiled at the child, "are you on the football team too?"

 "I don't even go to your school!" William said, "but I go to all of Liam's football games. I'd go to Killian's games too, if he was good at sports."

 "What part of 'make Killian look good' does he not understand?" Killian thought, before realizing it was probably the word "Killian."

 "Yet another thing that didn't run in the family," Liam smiled.

 "Would you guys like to join us?" Anna asked, sliding herself over and pulling her sister along with her, "I'm sure we can make room for you."

 "We'd love to," Liam said. He slid into the now-empty space in the booth, next to Elsa.

 Killian took a seat in the booth next to Emma, feeling a little too uncomfortable to even look at her.

 "This was a bad idea," Killian thought, sitting at the edge of the booth, hoping his cheeks weren't red from either embarrassment, awkwardness, or any more stray pizza sauce.

 Whether fortunately or unfortunately, Killian wasn't quite sure yet, but either way, William crawled under the table and popped back up between Emma and Killian, taking a seat between them.

 William tugged at Killian's sleeve and motioned for him to lean down. Killian did so, and William cupped his hands around his ear to whisper to him- but when you're ten years old, it's hard to tell the difference between "whispering" and "talking so loud the whole restaurant can hear it." Unfortunately for Killian, William did the latter.

 "Is she the girl you can't impress?" William asked, his voice somehow a million times louder than usual, "the one you needed our help with?"

 Killian blushed a little, glancing up at Liam and reading his expression, knowing that it was definitely loud enough, at the very least, for the whole table to hear.

 "I never said that," Killian scratched the back of his neck, behind his ear.

 "Shhhhh!" William reminded him they were supposed to be whispering, "you didn't, Liam did, remember? He said you need more confidence and there's a pretty girl you can't impress without our help."

 Killian hid his face in his hand, wondering now how much paperwork went into disowning himself.

 Liam pulled a few quarters out of his pocket.

 "Why don't you head back to the X-Wing Fighters game?" he asked, handing William the quarters.

 "Okay!" William said, "Nice meeting you girls!"

 "It was nice meeting you too," Anna said, as William crawled across Killian, adding injury to insult as he left the booth.

 Killian looked at Emma out of the corner of his eye, and behind her soda sipping straw was a sympathetic smile.

 "Great, just what I need," Killian thought, "she probably feels sorry for me."

 Killian hunched his shoulders and looked away from her, intently studying a stain on the table. He then remembered what Liam said about the song playing on the jukebox, and listened closely to the lyrics now playing.

 "If we lose, all the girls, they'll be laughing"

 "They'll be laughing pretty soon here if I open my big mouth and say something stupid," Killian thought.

 He looked up at his brother and took heart, knowing that at least one of the Jones brothers knew how to function in society.

 "I don't see how Liam got all the charisma and charm." Killian thought, "I want to go home- or, at least, go sit at the table behind the jukebox like none of this happened. I don't know how to talk to people, let alone girls."

 "So, do you ladies come here often?" Liam asked.

 "Anna and I do," Elsa said, "our favorite weekend hangout- this is our first time bringing Emma along with us though."

 "I just moved in a couple weeks ago," Emma said, "Anna and Elsa've been helping me adjust pretty well though. Our parents have apparently been friends since before any of us were born."

 "Glad to see you're, uh, well adjusted so far," Killian said, wondering if that sounded as awkward as he thought it did once he'd said it.

 "Thanks, I guess," Emma said.

 "Have you stopped by Scoops and Shakes yet?" Liam asked Emma.

 "Not yet," Emma said, "Elsa and Anna told me it's the best ice cream place in town though." "A slight understatement," Liam said, "one of the best on the planet. Perhaps my brother and I could you treat you ladies there tonight?"

 "Sounds pretty cool," Elsa said.

 "That was an ice one," Liam smiled.

 Emma groaned and rolled her eyes as Anna and Liam laughed.

 "I've got snow problem coming up with them," Elsa said.

 "You're quite clever," Liam smiled, then glanced at Killian, a look in his eyes that said he'd forgotten his role as wingman, but was just remembering it.

 "Care to join us at Scoops and Shakes after this?" Liam asked Emma.

 "I don't know," Emma said.

 "I'm sure my brother would be glad for your company," Liam smiled.

 Emma looked at Killian, expectantly, and he realized now he'd have to say something to her- something smooth, calculated, charming, cool- like Liam would. He opened his mouth to speak, but couldn't come up with anything.

 "That's it;" Killian thought, "I'm stopping by the county offices tomorrow and disowning myself. I'll go join Uncle Nemo's shipping company in Maine, never look back."

 "No, I, uh," Killian stammered, wondering how to avoid coming on too strong without avoiding coming on at all. "I might be able to uh," he made the mistake of looking at Emma, rendering himself entirely speechless at the sight of her smile.

 "You're really pretty," Killian mumbled.

 "What was that?" Emma asked, her tone not revealing if she liked what she heard.

 Killian covered his tracks- but covered them with the dirt beneath his feet, digging himself into a deep hole.

 "I said I need to use the privy!" Killian said, even louder than William had "whispered" to him earlier. He got up from his seat quickly, and ran to the bathroom.

 He shut the door of one of the bathroom stalls, not needing to use the bathroom, of course, but needing to step back and think, and wondering if his mom would still write to him if he ran away to Maine.

 "Curse that brother of mine," he muttered to himself, "why can't he understand that we're not all like him? I can't be him."

 But maybe that was Killian's problem. Maybe he was trying too hard to be like his brother- so much so he was neglecting to be himself.

 But if he was really gonna be himself, he'd be in his room right now, by himself, perfectly content to stay that way.

 When he left the bathroom, he saw William and his new friend playing at one of the arcade consoles, and figured it was as good an excuse as any to keep stalling.

 "How're you doing, kid?" Killian rubbed his little brother's hair. "Putting that Imperial Scum in their place?"

 "No!" William said. "We can't seem to get past this TIE Interceptor."

 Killian smiled. Taking on a whole fleet of TIEs was easier for him than trying to woo a girl.

 "May I?" Killian asked.

 William quickly stepped off to the side, and Killian took his place in front of the console. As he'd suspected, he did pretty well taking down the enemy invasion, and soon lost himself in the rush of the game and the cheers of the younger boys.

 "I think I got it from here," William smiled, pushing his big brother out of the way, "thanks!" "Man, we never could've gotten this far without your brother!" Henry told him.

 Satisfied that he'd at least done something right in the last ten minutes, he turned around, with a smile on his face. He quickly realized, though, that he hadn't noticed another spectator to his game- until he turned around and almost ran into her.

 "That's some pretty good shooting there, Red Five," Emma smiled.

 "I, uh," Killian took a deep breath, "I didn't peg you for a Star Wars fan."

 "Why not?" Emma crossed her arms, "because I'm a girl?" "Of course not," Killian said, "it's just rare to meet someone else who shares my interests, especially someone as cool as you."

 "You think I'm cool?" Emma asked.

 "Yeah," Killian said, "not many people can claim good looks alongside knowing Luke Skywalker's callsign."

 "I think someone else here can," Emma smiled.

 Killian blushed a little, his mouth an open smile as he thought of what to say next- not of what his brother would say next, but what he would say next.

 "Do you game as well?"

 "Sometimes," Emma said, "though I'm not very good at it."

 "Have you ever played the Fallen Order games?" "Haven't had the time or motivation yet," Emma said.

 "Liam and I have them on the XBox," Killian said, "If you'd ever did have the time or motivation, I'd love to show you."

 "Sounds like a date," Emma said. 

 "Only if you wanted it to be," Killian said, shyly looking down at his shoes.

 "Speaking of dates," Emma said, "did you wanna join the others over at Scoops and Shakes? I hear it's the best ice cream on the planet."

 "Liam was being facetious when he said that," Killian said, "but it is one of the best on a student's budget." They started to walk away, but he suddenly remembered his little brother.

 "William," Killian turned back to his brother, "time to go."

 "Go?" William asked, not turning his back on his game, "already? Five more minutes?" Killian rolled his eyes, then mouthed "watch this" to Emma.

 "We're getting ice cream," Killian said.

 "Finish it for me!" William jumped away from the console as Henry stepped into his place.

 "You got it, Gold Leader," Henry said, "may the force be with you!"

 "May the force be with you!" William called back, already past Emma and Killian and on his way to the door.

 "Shall we?" Killian asked, holding a hand out, gesturing in front of them.

 "Yeah," Emma smiled, and, much to his surprise, took Killian's hand in hers.

 He blushed, hoping his hand wasn't sweating too much, having never held hands with a girl before.

 As they rejoined with the others, Liam nodded at Killian and gave him a discreet thumbs up, to which Killian nodded in return.

 Killian looked back over at Emma and smiled a little, realizing that he wouldn't've gotten this close to her if Liam hadn't pushed him, and that maybe, just maybe, he didn't need to disown himself just yet.

[scary-grace]

fic writer tag game

I got tagged by @mirkwood-hr-department for this game several days ago and at long last I have time to sit down and do it, so --

How many works do you have on Ao3?

Sixty as of Halloween night!

What's your total Ao3 word count?

1,958,061. And we're not even halfway through Kairos. Yikes.

What fandoms do you write for?

The Tolkienverse (namely the Hobbit) and My Hero Academia.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

i ain't changed, but i know i ain't the same -- bnha erasermic hanahaki fic

seeking a friend for the end of the world -- barduil zombie apocalypse au

Kairos -- barduil SLOW burn historical haunted house romance set in 1977

Show Me My Silver Lining -- bagginshield band AU (my first grown-up fanfiction)

more than words can wield the matter -- after the Elves return to their forest at the conclusion of the Battle of the Five Armies, a certain elf starts writing Bard some very questionable letters

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I usually don't respond to them in thread, but I thank everyone for them in the author's note of the next chapter, and I respond to specific questions there or on Tumblr!

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Undoubtedly i'll follow you into the dark. For now.

What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Show Me My Silver Lining. For now.

Do you get hate on fics?

I used to get it, back when I was writing on fanfic.net. I get the odd inexplicable comment these days, but so far I've been lucky on Ao3.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I write smut. I think. Mostly it's the nonexplicit variety, but I recently started using the three Cs when needed, so maybe it's explicit now?

Do you write crossovers?

I do not! The closest I've ever come to a crossover is naming all the non-canon background OCs in my BNHA fics after characters from a certain other manga. Nobody's guessed what it is yet.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

No to that as well!

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! My collaborators include incredible writers like @lonelyheartsmotel, @dogblessyoutascha, and @corndog-patrol!

What's your all-time favorite ship?

Barduil, no contest. The sheer number of words I've put into that pairing is unreal. The fact that I even have another ship is thanks to the sheer power of @corndog-patrol and e-girl!Mic.

What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I intend to finish them all, and am trying to finish at least two this week. But as for unpublished stuff, probably the barduil 'a quiet place' AU. I didn't make it too far, and I definitely lost motivation.

What are your writing strengths?

I think I'm pretty solid at writing plot. Nothing makes me happier than leaving foreshadowing lying around and seeing if readers catch it.

What are your writing weaknesses?

As evidenced by my Ao3 word count, I'm not very concise.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I don't think I've ever tried it. I usually indicate dialogue that's supposed to be in another language with italics.

First fandom you wrote for?

Marvel. On fanfic.net. Dark times.

Favorite fic you've written?

Mm, I think Kairos is still my crowning achievement. But I have to say that I'm really proud of Love Like Ghosts, the first fic I ever wrote entirely in the Notes app on my phone and the first fic where I avoided ever using the main character's name.

I'll go ahead and tag @dogblessyoutascha @phantombstone @sophsiaaa and @melkors-defense-attorney!

[thisonesatellite]

@wistfulcynic tag-summons me and of course i answer. Not least because she has written some of my favorite stories of all time. 😘

Rules: Go to your published works on AO3 and list the first fic you ever published there, the last fic you published, any fic that you wrote for a fandom/ship only once, your favorite fic you wrote in the fandom/ship that has the most works, the fic you wish more people read, the fic you agonized over the most, the fic that sprang fully formed from your mind without any effort, and a work you are proud of—for whatever reason. <3

OK -- rubs hands. Here we go.

First fic: The road, taken (OUAT /CS)

Look. i was never going to write. i was never even going to get an AO3 account. But then i did (honestly, i'm not even sure why i decided to apply), and then i had this random thought which would not leave, and after three days of constantly imagining Emma and Killian meeting in a bar fight, well--- i wrote it.

Mostly to get it out of my head.

This fic shows very clearly that i was not yet a writer, but i think it also shows the things i would eventually gravitate towards (plot and realistic dialogue underpinned with Feelings), as well as my absolute and unwavering commitment to HEAs, you feel me.

And four short years later here we are, with four fandoms and 37 fics. What have i done.

.

Last fic: despite all my rage (stucky)

My latest OTP Bucky/Steve hath taken me over and this fic is the perfect illustration of the dangers of telling anyone about anything at all, because i mentioned working on an MMA documentary to @angelicalslayer and she said, "ooooh, stucky cage fight fic!", and then THIS HAPPENED.

i am not sorry.

.

Only once: Actually, i have two fandoms i dipped into only once.

we build our lives out of chaos and hope (dramione) a sort of homecoming (Leverage)

The dramione fic is an EWE exploration of Draco's and Hermione's lives, both of which get stuck after the war ends and remain in limbo for a decade until they are thrown together by chance. After which they are forced to work out their issues and also face a new threat.

Dramione had the great misfortune that i slid into stucky immediately after i discovered it and got stuck there (hehe). i have been trying to claw my way back to dramione ever since -- i have a really epic fic idea already in mind which i would LOVE to write. Unfortunately i am horribly linear and cannot do more than one fic at a time, and people keep bullying me lovingly into stucky events, so i won't get around to it until next year. But i will write it. i loved writing chaos and hope.

The Leverage outing? i don't know what happened. Stress, too much work, real life drama, and stucky cage fight plot boas came together and needed an outlet, and suddenly i had a Leverage fic.

i am once again not sorry.

.

Fave fic in most works: we kill the flame (OUAT /CS)

CS is my most prolific OTP so far - although i no longer write it - and this fic i think was by far my best outing. i built an entire world for it, during which i realized i love world building even though it's a ridiculous amount of work that takes a ridiculous amount of time. And this particular sandbox i built is my best one.

Cyberpunk dystopia, plot, action, Feelings, more plot, more action, and then a HEA -- i put all my favorite things into this one, and even viewed from a distance of nearly three years, i still love it.

.

Fic i wish more people had read: Truth or Consequences, New Mexico (stucky)

i realize that Western AUs are not everyone's cup of tea, so i get why this one is bringing up the rear, it's just that i put so much work into the historical accuracy and transposing the canon into post-Civil War America that i kind of wish more people had given it a try. But i do get that this is a matter of taste.

i'm not angry or disappointed or anything, i loved writing it, and i worked with incredible people ( @angelicalslayer again, she is just that fabulous), as well as participated in my first bang ever, so it was totally worth it. Besides giving me a whole new appreciation for people who write historical fiction, bc omg the work.

.

Fic i agonized over the most: if you live by the word, you die by the pen (OUAT /CS)

The plot. OMFG the plot. The plot got so loose.

Look. i love wrangling my plot boas, OK? i complain about them a lot, because they always try to strangle me, but all in all i love it.

But. This fic. First of all, i tried a whole new style (noir -- basically stumbling around in the footsteps of Dashiell Hammett and James Ellroy) AND murder mystery AND magic AND linguistics AND battles AND upwards of eight main protagonists (how very LA Confidential of me) and anyway, i nearly didn't survive it.

The only reason i did survive is @wistfulcynic (because she always is) and she is also the only reason that the result is in any way worth reading (BECAUSE SHE ALWAYS IS). In this case she worked harder than ever, but also i tempted her with a linguistics component, because that is how you get the linguists to help you.

.

Fic that sprang fully formed: a handful of dust (stucky)

i had already left CS and found dramione and was nearly done with writing chaos and hope when i re-binged CATFA and CATWS for the n-th time and finally decided to check out the stucky ficdom. And promptly got sucked into the best vortex ever.

And then this fic just sprang up in my head. No warning. i looked up and there both bois were, looking at me in challenge, going, 'are you going to write us a different post-Potomac ending or what', and really--- what was i supposed to do but nod and write it?

So i did.

And i've been HEA-ing them ever since. (Usually after sending them through various types of AU hell, but as long as they end up happy together, who's counting?)

.

Fic i'm proud of: all

Look. i'll be honest. i'm proud of all of them, ngl. My writing is not as easily accessible as many others' -- both in style and in subject matter -- but i absolutely love the process of writing and i am proud of every fic i managed to finish and put out there.

.

Absolutely no pressure tags: @ohmightydevviepuu, @bittersweet-in-boston, @cable-knit-sweater, @mxaether, @greekgeek24 , @angelicalslayer 💖

[pursuitseternal]

10 Movies

Tagged by @iamstartraveller776 , and very excited. Here are Ten Movies, not ranked in order of love. Always depends on my mood, my patience, and my exhaustion levels 😆

1. Beauty and the Beast: honestly, probably where part of my affinity for fictional aggressive, dark-haired men came from.

2. Ever After - definitely a formative piece for my love of historical romances!

3. Phantom of the Opera - DEFINITELY where my love for fictional, aggressive, dark haired men comes from +musical genius #sexual awakening

4. Pride and Prejudice - another historical romance classic. Also, THAT HAND YOU KNOW THE ONE.

5. Emma (2020)- newer, lovely score, lovely actors, plus there is a scene where Mr. Knightly just LAYS ON THE FLOOR, longing for his love

6. The Two Towers- Helm’s Deep. That’s it. That’s the reason.

Bonus gif because it’s also part of sexual awakening… maybe collectively.

7. Wolfwalkers - I have loved all the movies from this studio, but this ONE lives rent free. It’s honestly why three of my fics have WOLVES in them, ngl. It’s so good.

8. Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe- my first fantasy love as a child. I also love the friendship between CS Lewis and Tolkien, just two besties getting drunk to talk theology and fantasy world building.

9. Les Miserables- Can’t go wrong with the musical or the movie… Hugh Jackman or Liam Neeson. A great example of the power of redemption. Also the MUSIC.

10. Immortal Beloved - lots of Beethoven and boobs. That’s pretty much the whole film.

[I hit the limit for images, but I’m not gonna trade Aragorn opening the doors for one of Gary Oldman… seems just.. wrong]

Tagging for fun and no pressure:

@jurassiclexie @jhalya @meohme-thedorklord @eowyn7023 @somebirdortheother @penelopeisshipping

[childotkw]

Hi! I was re-reading Divorce Au and Serpent in these still waters and I was wondering if you had any fem!harry rec? I've been looking for a fic that really similar to your SITSW and I can't find it its so frustrating! Anyway love your AU! (That CS snippet with Voldy grabby hands was everything!)

Hello! The last fem!Harry story I remember reading and really liking was The Historical Importance of Runic War Warding in the British Isles by samvelg.

It's not like SITSW unfortunately - no time travel in that one from what I recall - but it's got a massive amount of world building.

There was also Metamorphosis by pampelmusen. I read the first few chapters aaggeess ago. Harry's about fifteen when she trips back in time and she gets put at Wools' Orphanage, and Tom's his usual self but would we want him any other way? It was pretty good from what I remember.

[ohmightydevviepuu]

the part of a swan / chapter seven

It should be clear that Emma did not, by any means, regret her ruination.  She did not miss the person she had been before that night; the eager, naive girl, brought up always to behave a certain way, to speak softly, to do as she was bidden, to be what she was told.

Emma no longer believed in allowing people to tell her who she could be.

But Killian Jones is not concerned with who she was–he’s interested in who she is. And he might be the only one smart enough to uncover the truth.

chapter one | chapter two | chapter three | chapter four | chapter five | chapter six [cover art by @snowbellewells ]

--

Morning came, followed by the post.

It was Anton who brought it in and handed it to Lord Locksley, looming over her desk with something approximating worry.  He glanced down and then quickly back at her:  “It’s from Jones.”

It was a parcel, neatly wrapped and tied; Emma let her fingers play idly with the string as she took it, her eyes closed as she stroked down one loop of the bow and refused to consider that he might have tied it himself—and surely he had, to protect its contents if nothing else—or to let herself think of anything else he might be capable of with his clever hands and nimble fingers.

Magic.  They had made magic in the darkness.

But she affected boredom as she took the parcel.  “Thank you,” she said to Robin.

He only leaned closer.  “Are you—quite well, Emma?  You look rather peaked.”

Her head throbbed.  Her eyes watered.  Her mouth did not bear thinking of and all she wanted was something to wash away the dryness.  “I’m fine,” she said.

“Are you drunk?”  His worry did not lesson but it was joined by amusement in his voice.

“No.”  Not anymore.

continue reading on AO3

for @snowbellewells and @kmomof4 and @spartanguard and @tiganasummertree and their amazing feedback. for @shireness-says and the legacy of the @cshistfic. @mariakov81 @lfh1226-linda @motherkatereloyshipper @julesep3026. for @wistfulcynic, @optomisticgirl, @svenjaliv, @thejollyroger-writer -- let's smash these writing goals !!

[snowbellewells]

A Birthday Gift for the Amazing Krystal @kmomof4

Krystal @kmomof4 -- I tried and tried to come up with just the right sort of story to write for your birthday, or rec list to make of your works, or gift to send to you in the mail, but nothing seemed quite right. Then an idea finally struck me. I hope you will enjoy it, and that maybe it will feel like the gift keeps on giving as it unfolds: A Krystal's "Choose-Her-Own-Adventure" Story!!! (I don't know if you remember those books where you, the reader, got to choose the different turns it would take at various points in the story.) I'm hoping to gift you a story where you get to choose the pieces and parts you'd like, and I'll craft something that goes along with what you suggest.

So, to start us off message me, or send me an ask, or e-mail me (or whatever you would like :) and answer these questions to start with, and I'll do my best to get your adventure on its way....

Sorry it's so late in the day, but I hope it's been a wonderful birthday for you. You deserve all the celebration possible!!!

Questions to start under the cut:

Overall Type of Fic You Want: Canon Compliant/Missing Moment Canon Divergent Modern AU///Enchanted Forest AU Historical AU Movie/Show/Book AU Other (another type you would prefer)

Other Relationships to Include Besides CS: Captain Cobra Captain Charming daddy!Charming mama!Snow CaptainBook BrothersJones Other (your choice)

Side Characters to Work In: Will Tink Grumpy Elsa Ruby Jefferson Other (your choice(s)

Relationship Tropes to Use: Slow Burn - Mutual Pining Enemies to Lovers Soulmates Childhood Sweethearts Forbidden Love Princess/Pirate or Royal/Commoner Musician or Actor/Actress Other (up to you)

Plot Elements to Include: Bed Sharing (Only One Bed) Isolated or Trapped (huddling for warmth) Love Potion Truth Serum Pregnancy (accidental or planned - you choose) Natural Disaster (shipwreck/fire/flood/etc.) Other

[kmomof4]

Tag Game

Rules: Go to your published works on Ao3 and list the first fic you ever published there, the last fic you published, any fic that you wrote for a fandom/ship only once, your favorite fic you wrote in the fandom/ship that has the most works, the fic you wish more people read, the fic you agonized over the most, the fic that sprang fully formed from your mind without any effort, and a work you are proud of- for whatever reason.

I was tagged by @spartanguard and @wistfulcynic. Thank you so much ladies!!!!

First fic: True Love Song After being a member of fandom for nearly three years, and spending all that time swearing I'd never write, it took a lot of hand holding, encouragement, and cajoling from hollyethecurious and winterbaby89 to get me to actually post this thing...

Last fic: Into the Light my entry for this years CSSNS, inspired by the 1987 movie The Lost Boys, starring Kiefer Sutherland, Jason Patric, Dianne Wiest, and Edward Herrmann.

Only Once: All my fics are for Once, but I do have a few fics for other ships besides CS... A Family Affair series features the love stories of triplet sisters Emma, Regina, and Ruby, and their older brother David. Love Between the Pages is CS's story. Killian is a bestselling author that is writing a book on Emma's late husband Neal Cassidy, NASCAR darling killed on the track. He didn't plan on falling in love with her. Dance With the Gypsy is Ruby and Graham's story. She falls in love with Graham Humbert, the producer of her new Broadway show, Secrets. Clipping an Angel's Wings is Regina and Robin's story. Hollywood star Regina hires Robin to find and keep her safe from a stalker. And finally, David and Mary Margaret's story is told in A Spy Finds a Home. Dr. Mary Margaret Blanchard hires international spy David Nolan to find and save her parents who've been kidnapped by a terrorist organization.

Favorite fic for the fandom I've written in most: That is TOUGH... UGH!!!! That is REALLY tough!!!!!! Ok, you know what? I answered an ask from @kazoosandfannypacks a couple of weeks ago of my five favorite fics, and I couldn't even limit it to just five. So if you're really interested, you can find that ask and answer here. But I really couldn't pick just one between any of them, sorry, not sorry...

The fic I wish more people read: Is it fair to say all of them? 🤷🏻‍♀️ But that said, it's always thrilling whenever I get a notification that any of my fics gets a new like, kudos, or comment.

The fic I agonized over the most: Two fics immediately come to mind... Choices and Of Darkness, Vampires, and Soulmates. Choices because first, it was for wistfulcynic, and second, I had a very specific plan for how I wanted the fic to go. I wanted to include all the underrated CS canon Neverland moments that I adored, but also smut. And including all those canon moments in the fic meant that there was NO WAY in my mind that canon Emma would have approached Killian in that way. So it took me about a month to figure out how to keep all those canon moments and make the ending of the fic true to who they both were at that time in the show. ODVS I agonized over because it was the first fic I'd ever written that came completely out of my own head, from start to finish, no inspiration at all, and I had NO IDEA how hard it was to translate my vision onto the page. PLUS the fact that I had to actually connect the different time periods. And finally the level of historical detail I ended up including was just... 😳 oof... So yeah, I agonized over ODVS the most. It took me a full seven months of active writing and hollyethecurious and wistfulcynic about deserve co-writer status for everything they did to help me finish it.

The fic that sprang fully formed from my mind without any effort: Oh, that's easy! The Moon... Tells the Sea. @allons-y-to-hogwarts-713 shared a moodboard with me that she was working on for CSSNS20, and the full plot for a fic to go with it just poured out of me. She was almost as excited as I was for the fic, so I started writing. It ended up being a decent length one shot, but I think I had the whole thing written in 2-3weeks? Somewhere in there. Anyway, that was a fun one.

A fic that I'm proud of, for whatever reason: This one is pretty easy, too. Although the answer is kinda long... For someone who swore for years that she'd never write, the fact that I've published 39 fics in 4 1/2yrs makes me pretty proud. But that said, I'm probably most proud of the Family Affair series, linked above. I'm proud of it for a couple of reasons. First, that I was actually brave enough to really write it. The idea for the series came to me before I wrote my first MC, but given the fact that it was 4 different love stories, that would necessitate 4 different couples, plus the fact that we're a CS fandom and who from the CS fandom would be interested in reading a Red Hunter, OQ, or Snowing fic, the whole idea was pushed to the back of my mind for TWO YEARS before I actually started writing it. And the response BLEW ME AWAY!!! I'm eternally grateful for that! That's the first reason I'm proud. The second reason is that I remained true to my original vision of the interconnected stories of four siblings. I had several folks tell me over the course of the year I spent writing these fics that they'd love to see the stories as CS fics instead of the other siblings- particularly the OQ and Snowing fics. And as a reader, I completely get it. The plots of both of them would have been SO GOOD as CS fics, and I KNOW that I would have DEVOURED them both as such. But as the writer, I wanted the interconnected stories because of how much I loved the source material and the interwoven plot of the estrangement between the oldest and their father that I also wanted to tell. And again, I was stunned at the response I received for the other stories. The entire series is high up on my personal favorites list. In fact, I adore this universe so much, that I've written a Christmas fic set a year after David returns home and Regina and Robin were married that will be dropping on Christmas Day.

Thank you again for the tags, Kait and Saira!!! 😘

Now my turn to tag! @hollyethecurious @snowbellewells @winterbaby89 @whimsicallyenchantedrose @jrob64 @cs-rylie

[sabraeal]

I hope you will take this as a fun opportunity and not an annoyance but I was wondering if you had any book recs? I generally read fantasy and have been trying to break into Adult Lit over YA (while still liking YA and hoping to find adult novels with the same engaging settings and brisk pacing but with more advanced prose). Really liked Spinning Silver and Uprooted by Naomi Novik this year, and my favorites of your fics are Seven Suitors (obligatory), pacific rim au, and the snow queen one. I’ve never really read romance before but I’m willing to give it a try, especially if there’s other genre elements at play as well. Do you have any directions you could point me? I appreciate it!

Oh, I always love giving book recs, and thank you so much for giving me some preferences because it's so much easier to direct people when I know what they already like!

My current favorite YA author right now is Frances Hardinge, who writes truly magnificent prose and absolutely amazing worlds. If you like All That Remains, you will probably love the emotional devastation that is The Lie Tree, and a few of my other favorites are Gullstruck Island and Cuckoo Song. If you are a fan of Terry Pratchett, you also can't go wrong with her Fly By Night duology. Genevieve Valentine is another YA author I highly recommend; Mechanique is probably my favorite, but the Persona series is also top notch, and The Girls at the Kingfisher Club has a vibe that cannot be beat.

I haven't yet read Spinning Silver but Uprooted is also a fav of mine; I have a deep love of fairy tale retellings, or stories written to be like fairy tales. On that thread I definitely recommend the Winternight trilogy by Katherine Arden (I have a few quibbles with the story, but the writing is solid and the first book had me captivated for a good 3/4ths of it), The Orphan's Tales by Catherynne M Valente, plus A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C Bunce (her Thief Errant series also lives RENT FREE in my head at all times).

Seven Suitors was fleshed out with Regency mores in mind, inspired by by historical mystery novels I read in that time period, plus some fantasy with more rigid social structure. The Crown & Court duet by Sherwood Smith is something I would consider formative for my writing in that quarter. For something actually regency set, though definitely not the same genre, I would recommend the Sebastian St Cyr series by CS Harris, which are mysteries set in Georgian London, featuring a brooding hero who starts off with an equally brooding, star-crossed actress as a lover...only to have the rug pulled out beneath him by the daughter of his father's long-standing political rival.

My scifi chops are rather thin-- I love the genre but I find lots of the deeper cuts here get too info-dumpy for me on the hard science level-- but I can definitely recommend The Expanse series by James SA Corey (as well as pretty much anything Daniel Abraham writes in the fantasy genre)

As for All That Remains, there are several extremely painful fantasy series I could recommend, because I love having my heart torn out, stamped on, and then taped back in. Guy Gavriel Kay is a great writer for that-- I suggest starting at Lions of Al-Rassan and then working your way forward through that setting by publishing date. The aforementioned Daniel Abraham also is amazing at this; The Seasons Quartet is a decades-spanning series that will truly make your tear out your hair at the end of each book. NK Jemisin is also amazing, The Broken Earth trilogy is where I would start out for intense heart-stomping.

[4getfulimaginator2022]

Saving Prince Killian by Commandante Theresa. CS AU (no magic) with Prince!Killian and Princess!Emma. When Princess Emma's romantic dream of marrying Prince Killian finally comes true, she discovers they are married in name only. He has fallen into a life of vice & debauchery, infatuated with his mistress, the infamous, manipulative courtesan Milah. Only True Love can save him from darkness & Milah's evil influence to become the noble Prince he was meant to be.

Comments: I literally sought this one out to re-read it just last week! It's like a historical romance - funny, smart and smoking hot. I 100% recommend it! So...I was rustling through my Amazon Drive uploads, since Amazon Drive is being retired at the end of 2022, and look what I found! I made a heap of CS fic banners back in the day, and I decided I'm going to do a series of fic recs and repost all these. Some of these lovely writers are still on Tumblr, while others never were. I'll tag everyone I can. Please reblog!!! Please share them. They are wonderful stories.

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