#exploring his work is to this day the most fun i've ever had and completely opened my eyes to all kinds of new genres and styles i'm into

[mobius-m-mobius]

I'm not the anon from the first ask but wanted to thank you for your list of Owen recs! Started some today for his birthday and feel like my third eye is open lol, he's perfect as Mobius but I didn't realize how easy and natural his roles come across. The Wes movies you mentioned are new favourites I'll be rewatching often but The Big Year was a real surprise! It's one I would have skipped but was so comforting and reflective and in such an ensemble cast Owen was the best actor by far.

Oh gosh absolutely love hearing this, thank you so much for the ask 🥺💖

I completely unironically adore just about every movie he's ever made so it always makes me happy when people actually go in with an open mind and not, idk, thinking of him in terms of being a meme or something because he's an amazing actor!!

Also so glad you mentioned The Big Year because I totally agree about his acting standing out above everyone else's in a role that would've been really easy to make stereotypical, plus it's one hardly anyone's heard of but super cozy to watch so I couldn't help adding it in. Paint is a similar movie of his that made me reflect back on how I approach life while also wrapping you up in this soft, gentle world so I'd recommend that one as well 🥰

[choochooboss]

Submas sketchdump! Vol. 1

April-June 2022

Literally dumping all the presentable works as promised, whether I'm proud of them or not! This is where I started, even before the first thing I posted online (That subway station one). Many of these are not on Twitter yet so there's lots to see!

The top piece above the header is my very first digital Submas artwork!! I never finished it bc I didn't know how to pull my vision of as I wanted & started modeling the train and didn't finish that either, whoops! I really want to remake this later and make it super cool!

^^^ My reaction to breaking 500 likes & 100 followers in a single day with my first tweet (the battle subway one) all the way back in May!! I was completely floored by all the attention, oh how it skyrocketed my excitement and anxiety! Crazy times, I was so super nervous to be there with so many amazing artists and doubted if I could ever survive there ahahah!! Many had joined the community much much earlier than me, so I had arrived with a late train to PLA/neo Submas hype!

Next up is a bunch of stuff I haven't posted before:

One of my fav sketches! Been saving this for so long bc I really really want to finish this one day!

One of the first submas sketches with an actual story behind it! The subway bosses are running late for their flight because they didn't pass the safety check! The irony!! This would never happen as bosses are always on schedule. But Emmet hadn't noticed a wild Joltik hiding under his coat, so he set up the alarm and they got examined and interrogated of smuggling! How embarrassing for them! The bosses resolved the situation by catching the Joltik, but will they be able to catch their flight anymore?? Maybe if Elesa can distract the stuerts performing the safety protocol for a minute!

More sketchbook stuff...

In case you can't make any sense of it, Emmet's dreaming of different combinations of pokémon. Meanwhile Ingo snores louder than the train! HONK SHOO!

Top 7 every submas fan draws at some point!

Submas trademark posing

submas sleeping in a train

sad Emmet

Emmet with Joltik

Ingo with a cool solo pose

Emmet being chaotic & Ingo reacting to it

a bunch of mirrored submas poses

I sure have a full bingo card lmao, most of them you can see here XD

Next up is a sad man...

Stay strong our friends!

My typical sketchbook pages, crammed and messy as usual. x)

Post-PLA exploration:

A few examples of how my pencil sketches evolve.

I've done so much art experimenting with submas. I really like this black & white painting but I don't think I'll finish it anytime soon.

Where did you go?

The way I draw the twins' faces has changed a lot. They started with softer features and somewhat neutral emotions, because I wasn't as familiar with them or comfortable drawing them yet. Now there's hundreds of submas sketches, and they still keep evolving! My style is also kinda hard to pull off well, so their features differ from picture to picture.

This one was inspired by some submas music videos, can't recall their names anymore. The glowing eerie eyes and yellow&orange + black&white color schemes were neat!

I keep telling myself I need to draw more butlers, these twinks look so lean and neat and have more color and are posh with their monocles and have fun tailcoats!

(...why eyeglasses are not called binocles??)

I was there for the vinegar chaos. Good times!

That's all for now, I hope you got something fun out of this! Still got loads more art to share but I'll save them for another time. Next round I'll bring in my first submas comic!

[theyoungeragrippina]

🫶🏻 15 gentlebeard/blackbonnet fic recs

(17 if you squint)

hey legends, in this bittersweet period where a lot of a us are feeling gutted but simultaneously, rebelliously hopeful, i've emerged from my reading den to showcase to you all some of the brilliant talent we have in this fandom! these fics are some of the best of the best, and i hope you love them just as much as i do! <3

they are all complete, do not feature any ongoing steddyhands/edizzy/stizzy, and are above 20k words.

peruse part 1, part 2, and part 3 at your leisure if you want to compare our tastes/devour more fine literature, or check out my masterlist as an ao3 collection.

adrift between the dreaming seas by @dandy-pirate-time

49k, mature, locked

stede lives a cursed life on a moving island, until the monotony of his days is suddenly interrupted by the fearsome kraken.

this was such a fascinating & incredible idea! i love how it manipulates aspects of the original story and transforms them into parts of the cursed island <3 sweet & unique & magical. i want to hug poor stede.

Five Birthdays and a Funeral by @bizarrelittlemew

58k, explicit

"When Ed and Stede's friend groups merge, they meet at a birthday party, and Stede's life is turned upside-down. As they collide again and again, he not only has to figure out what Ed means to him, but what he means to himself."

stede gets to be oblivious and a bit of a silly goose as a treat. also: treasure hunts, lucius is the best, ed has a cat whom i would die for, such a sweet & heartfelt fic. you will be so unbelievably fond of this version of every character.

The Ghost of Frigate Point Lighthouse by @piratecaptainscaptainpirates

53k, explicit

"When history professor Stede Bonnet goes to investigate rumors of a ghost haunting the local lighthouse, he's thrust into a mystery centered around the ghost of one of the most famous pirates of all time."

was SO eager to read this and it did not disappoint!! it has everything - fun, magic, mystery, tired TA lucius, and a lil bit of seduction. good enough that i am worried the author may actually just be a sea witch recollecting events he personally witnessed.

Haunted by @thepirateroo

60k, explicit

"The Kraken is a famous spiritualist, working the music halls of 1920s London to help families communicate with their dead. But Stede Bonnet knows that underneath the fame and illustrious title, Edward Teach works as a ghost hunter, debunking the spirits he makes his living off."

this is, genuinely, in the top 5 fanfics i have read for any fandom EVER. i wouldn't bat an eyelid if i read this exact work as a published novel in a bookstore. the mystery is so good and had me guessing and re-theorising constantly, the characterisation is brilliant, and the emotions are perfect. i cried, i laughed, i felt sick with worry for the characters, and i couldn't stop reading until i was done.

haunt me, then by @hyruling

28k, explicit

"He releases the ropes slowly, barely registering the burn as they slip through his fingers. Then, fallible as Orpheus, turns to meet his ghost."

post s1 fixit fics ily. everyone needs some therapy. really VERY well written and a joy to read.

Homeward Bound by mari_who

51k, explicit

"In the long-ago year 2000, bouncy blonde boy-band member Stede Bonnet is 17-year-old Edward Teach's gay awakening. Decades later, Ed hears a voice he could never forget."

i said 'ohhh no poor ed/stede' so many times while reading this. a lovely exploration of emotion and human connection, and finding yourself when everyone else has always defined who you are on your behalf.

I just need some air by @cuddlytogas

26k, teen

"Stede Bonnet's been having panic attacks for almost as long as he can remember, suffocated by pressure and expectation... When [he] finally takes his life back — divorces Mary, moves to Melbourne, starts his own event management business — things get better, but he's still no good at parties. He still needs some air, even at the very events he's brought to fruition. Meanwhile, Edward Teach, renowned chef and owner of Blackbeard's Catering, is wondering why the newest bigwig in events still hasn't hired him."

zoomed through this faster than lightning mcqueen. such a lovely writing of stede, ed and the whole crew - it feels like there's depth in every character, even background ocs.

also fantastic australia rep (i was jumpscared by mention of the cotton on group) AND i've been to the bar the final scene takes place at!!!! most exciting reading experience of my life.

i'll be your treasure by @monksofthescrew

48k, mature

"Wasn't the Dread Pirate Blackbeard rumored to have a hoard hidden somewhere near Essex? It's a metal detecting AU. They're detectorists. They fall in love."

i LOVE this fic so much it is just,,,, so sweet. stede does self-discovery and is seduced. ed is a bit of a goose and i'm obsessed with him. doug and mary are lovely. alma is so cool and i love her.

+ the sequel! drift o'er the rolling hills, swim through the briny sea (made me cry. btw. doug keeps being the best.)

The Kraken's Sacrifice by @trinityofone

22k, explicit

"Every year, a person is chosen—supposedly at random—to be sacrificed to the Kraken, to quell the sea's worst storms and to stop the taking of ships... Stede discovers that there is much more to the creature than he was led to believe—and that they have a deeper connection than he could have ever dreamed."

i LOVED this okay. it was funny and sweet and gave an interesting spin to the ed-is-the-kraken genre. get both of these boys some self-esteem asap. also comes with art by @avatoh!!!!!

lovers in a dangerous time by @veeagainsttheday

52k, explicit

pacific rim au - "Edward Teach becomes a jaeger pilot, first with Izzy Hands and later with Stede Bonnet. It’s not easy trying to save the world and falling in love with your drift partner…"

made me feel every emotion under the sun, including foaming at the mouth jealous that i don't have a drift partner. absolutely, masterfully written. i've popped this link first since its the fic that focuses on stede & ed, but it was written as a prequel for:

+ catagory five: a shatterdome romance by @owlinaminor (27k, mature), which focuses predominantly on jim & oluwande, and which i also massively recommend reading (first). it's told through lucius' words and made up of journalistic notes and transcriptions, and its really terribly clever. i knew nothing about pacific rim before this, and now i'm really very invested. if i wrote something this fantastic (& creative & wildly unique) i would never shut up about it.

More of the Gravy Basket than of the Grave by @veeagainsttheday

36k, explicit

"Ed and Stede’s ‘unorthodox friendship’ ended four months ago when Stede left Ed without a word after Ed asked him to run away to a parallel universe with him. They’re thrown back together when they’re summoned to perform a supernatural exorcism at the Hillside Hotel during a blizzard."

this has got to be one of the coolest and most creative fics i have ever had the pleasure of reading. genuinely kept me guessing and so so intrigued, PLUS the most sweet stede & ed dynamic!!!

Nothing Missing in My Life by @semisweetshadow

63k, explicit, locked

"Hollywood action star Ed Teach is bored with his celebrity life. Everything changes when he meets Stede, a sweet extra working on the set of his latest film shoot. Stede doesn't know who Ed really is and treats him like a real person and Ed can't help wanting to keep him."

ed plays an action hero called jeff the accountant, and if that's not immediately the greatest synopsis ever idk how else to win you over. hilarious, clever, & so heartfelt. i gasped and said 'oh no' with a hand over my heart nearly as many times as i laughed out loud.

not pickles by smallestchurch

84k, explicit

"Ed's minding his business when the new neighbor's kid comes around holding a human puppet. It's creepy as hell, but as soon as the kid's father rounds the corner, Ed doesn't mind."

i actually feel a bit ill when i think about this fic because i love it so overwhelmingly. there's family, and healing, and good food and friends, and ed teach and louis bonnet become the dynamic duo they always had the potential to be.

Our Fangs Mean Death by @flawedamythyst

87k, teen, locked

"Master Vampire Blackbeard's afterlife is enlivened by the arrival of a new coven in town, lead by the self-styled Gentleman Vampire. Now here's a Master who doesn't mind shaking things up by wearing clothes 300 years out of date, buying a massive gothic mansion for a lair, and leading the most eclectic coven Blackbeard has ever seen."

ridiculously fun. this is the vampire novel/fic i didn't know i needed and i loved every silly second. stede really gets to fulfil his dad-ness. i'm furious i can't join the gentleman vampires coven irl, will just need to embrace the gothic vampire aesthetic in my own life.

Wayfaring by @justkeeptrekkin

35k, explicit

"The downside to being stuck on a desert island is that Stede's not awfully good at adapting. The upside is that he and Ed can finally have some peace and quiet– that is, if Ed ever wakes up from the gunshot wound in his stomach."

the sweetest desert island fic, feat. the cutest piglet in the world, a little bit of pining, a helpful skeleton named dusty, and some of the best & most accurately written stede and ed content ever (imo).

[psychwxrdd]

MORE STEP BRO DONNIE IM BEGGINGGGGGG

so sorry for taking long sweetheart, i've been working on a lot of requests but i'm really hating everything i write lately. you guys have so many good ideas i wanna write about all of them, at some point i swear i will, just need to work on this because i want it to be good. donnie makes me so inspired y'all can send any requests about him whenever y'all want to !!

Rumours

Summary: Donnie, your step brother, takes you to Middlesex "most haunted house" on Hallowen's night, where apparently, a terrible case of murder happened. He wants to play with Ouija Board. You always believed in demons and evil itself, but never would've imagine it to come this close to you.

masterlist

Warnings: Horror, Demonic Possession, Supernatural themes, Ouija Board, Domestic Violence, Murder, Non Con, 18+

english is not my first language btw, always apologize for any mistakes!

do not read this if any of the warnings makes you feel uncomfortable or triggered. i explore horror, grotesque and dark themes, if you can't stand it, just don't read PLEASE

"Are you sure this won't get us in trouble?" You hissed, already regretting for even suggesting the house near Donnie. You knew he was a freak, knew he would have some stupid idea and he would persuade you to do it, in one way or another. Hands sweating, heart anxious and a belly ache. Felt like you'd die at any second with so much panic.

"Trust me, we're gonna have fun, it's much better than if we just went to some boring party, you wouldn't have a story to tell your kids." He tapped the back of your head and you sighed. You were finally in front of the so called haunted house.

It didn't looked awful, not at all, it was pretty preserved. The rumours said the crime happened back in the late 60s or early 70s, a couple used to live there with their only children. Not a child, actually, probably a teenager or a young adult, you weren't quite sure which one was the "true" history - If anything really did in fact happen, so many different versions were told. They were italians apparently, and the dad was an alcoholic, violent man. You even heard a version telling there was a sister but that she had depression and tried to kill herself, so he send her to a mental hospital. Not because he cared, he didn't wanted people to associate her to them.

Then one day, while his wife and son were sleeping, he woke up and shoot them both. He told the authorities it was the house, that "they told him to do it ", and since they moved in his behaviour had changed completely, making him act like a mad man. No one ever told you the end, what could have possibly happened to him; Was he arrested? Checked in a mental hospital for insanity? Did anyone took it seriously, the possibilty of a possession?

But again, it was just a urban legend. Just some history to tell to your friends in school and make them hold their pee because they are too scared to walk to the bathroom alone. It was stupid to consider and fear this.

"You're coming?" Donnie asked and you blinked, realizing you were thinking too much about it, more than you should. At your big age, shouldn't be so scared of ghost stories.

"Yeah."

"Y'know i won't let anything bad happen to you, first noise and we run as fast as we can" He reassured you, cleaning the Ouija Board with a piece of his shirt. You just nod, too nervous to reply. "Hey, look, we can leave if you're really scared"

"No...I'm not a coward." You tried to act confident.

He opened the door, a sharp sound ringing through the empty, big place. It was definetly very old, smelled like something rotting, something left behind for enough time to be forgotten.

"Shit" Donnie muttered. His eyes scanning the whole living room, a bit amazed. If the family stuff was true, then they were surely rich and europeans in fact. He couldn't help but feel disturbed by the slight different tone of colors next to the window, it didn't looked just dirty, it looked like something you can not wash away, something penetrated permanently. Like when you break a glass of grape juice and take too long to clean, like you slept for days and forgot it there.

You were too tense to dive on it, tho. You didn't wanted to think about what was that, maybe just some other dumb teenagers who got inside the house to drink, do drugs or have sex. It could be anything really.

"C'mon, let's do it Donnie"

"What a badass" He smiled, teasing. You just rolled your eyes.

"Should we do it right here or upstairs?"

"I don't know if those stairs are trustable"

"Or are you just scared?"

This time, Donnie stared at you with an annoyed look, making you laugh.

"I don't fear anything."

"Yeah, sure" You crossed your arms. "I wanna see the bedrooms."

Sighing, he just agreed. Very carefully stepping ground by ground, afraid of it might breaking all of sudden. You held his arm, strongly, more scared of falling than of any ghost.

In fact, the house was very big, you would easily live here - if you had the money to afford it in perhaps another life. The first room was probably the guests one. Following to two big bathrooms, one with a bathtub, and more five rooms. It was hard to guess which one could had possibly belonged to any of them. Again, maybe there weren't any of "them".

"Look at this" Donnie grabbed your wrist, and you felt your mouth opening. That room belonged to a teenager, for sure.

Bowie, Morrison, Nick Drake, MLB and Sharon Tate's posters on the wall, cars and trucks miniatures, organized shells of books... Someone surely used to live there.

"You think his ghost will curse us if we steal some...?" He asked, and you tapped his arm.

"Shut up" You were still curious about everything, but mostly, you were paralized by the fear that hit you once you realized maybe the rumours were true after all. "We're playing it here"

He widened his eyes. "...Okay"

"Whats the stare for?"

"I just don't think it's a good idea, you know, if this was really the son's room and if the history is true, we're being hella disrespectful"

You chuckled, sarcastically.

"Are you fucking serious? Donnie this was your idea! It doesn't matter which place from the house, we're already here for only one reason, that would be disrespectful at anywhere!"

He sighed. You wanted to punch him in the face.

"Yeah, but-"

"Cut the "but", don't be a fucking coward!"

Darko's face went to a blank expression. "Okay, i'm not a fucking coward."

You sat on the floor, no longer wasting time. He followed you.

"You know the rules, don't you?" He asked in a serious tone, you nodded. "Answer with words"

"Yes, i know the rules!" You noticed how tense he was by the mood swing.

"Once we start this, you can not leave, not take your finger off of the board, you have to be focused, alright?"

"Alright" you breathed, heavily. You kind of wanted to cry, you didn't even really wanted this in the beggining, Donnie convinced you. Then he gets scared and regret and now he's dead serious, it did something to your brain. You felt like you were about to have a panic attack at any second.

The silence was bothering you, way too much. You wanted to turn your head and stare at the door every 5 seconds, but you couldn't. The only sound in the room was you and Donnie's heavy breath.

"I start" He explained. You just stared at him, your fingers were holding so tight against the board you saw it was white. "Try to control the shaking hands"

You tried your hardest, but it was almost impossible. You were too nervous, even your chin was creaking a bit.

"Dear spirits, we want to talk. Is there any spirit in the room with us right now?"

Nothing.

"Is anyone else here?"

Nothing.

Your hands both stood there, not moving for anything in this world - and out of this world, mostly. Still, nothing happened.

"Is any spirit in the room willing to talk to us right now?"

Then, it moved. It fucking moved. You felt your whole body tingling, your heart beating faster and your hands felt cold. It couldn't be really happenin, could it?

You knew - felt - Donnie was also scared as hell, but he was stronger than you, he tried to be. He wanted to show you he would protect you, that "he had no fear". Fear is not what move us as human beings, he hated that idea.

"Now that you're in the room with us, please, tell us your name"

Your hands both moved to random letters. It didn't made any sense, it seemed like just a bunch of non sense words. You were quick to come with one, it was "bowshed".

You were both paralized in fear, you could feel Donnie's hand sweating.

"How did you died?"

Again, the hands moved to random letters. The same letters. "bowshed".

You could tell Donnie was trying hard to figure out what word was that, what the hell did that meant.

"When did you died?"

The hands moved to the numbers over the board. "31/10/1973"

Your eyes were filled with tears, but you breathed and swallowed, you had to be brave.

"What do you want?" Donnie asked, and you stared at him with wide eyes. The wasn't exactly a proper question to ask to a ghost you invoked, probably.

"Donnie, what are you doing?"

He then took his hands off of the board, all of sudden, standing up, moving towards you so quickly you thought it was inhuman. He grabbed you by the throat.

"Don-" You struggled to finish, chocking on his strong hands "Donnie..."

There was something different about his eyes. It didn't looked dark, or red, or any other color. But it looked like someone else's eyes. It wasn't Donnie, it looked so weird, so disturbing. If it wasn't for his hands on your neck, you would scream in fear.

"Who invited you, bitch?" He hollered, you smelled alcohol and weed on his breath. "Huh?"

His veins were popping out of his forehead in anger, his face looked red.

"Cat got your tongue?" He threw you on the floor and you desperatedly cried and gasped for air, crawling backwards in direction to the door. But before you could get there, you heard it slamming hard.

Donnie, or whoever was that, kept staring at you. He took his belt off, and you frozed, crying hysterically. You were ready to feel the pain against your skin, but then you heard a woman screaming.

You opened your eyes, and the scene in front of you made you feel chills all over your body; Donnie was smiling at you. Not the usual smiles he gave you, this was sinister. You just wanted to run to your mom now, you were in fact a coward, it didn't mattered.

You heard now also the sound of what it seemed to be a boy crying, it was horrible to hear. There was blood all over the floor, you couldn't tell where was it coming from.

Then he suddenly grabbed you, turning you around and pressing your face agaisnt the floor. This couldn't be happening. He sat upon you, lifting your dress up and beating the belt on your ass.

"Gotta teach you some manners, whore. Teach you to not fucking get to whats none of your business"

He hitted, again. Again. Again. Again. The more he hitted you, the more you heard the woman voice's screaming. You never wished so bad to have a nightmare, you wanted this all to be nothing more than a nightmare.

"Please, stop..." You begged, sobbing.

You heard him unzipping his pants. No, no, no, this wasn't happening. You were not there.

"What did you do to Donnie?" you cried, "Where is my brother, what have you done to him?"

He said nothing, only putting your panties to the side and spitting on your clit. He rubbed slowly, and your body reacted slightly, as terrible as it sounds.

He placed himself inside you, and you screamed at his size. "Thats it, my little step sis" You frozed, how the fuck did that thing knew that?

You cried and he held your hair with one hand, pounding into you like you were just as inhuman as him. The pain started to feel like pleasure, somehow, maybe it was just your body protecting you. You never felt so terrified, ever, this was all unreal, this was an horror movie.

It wasn't a movie. It was your life.

"He is dead" He mumbled. "Bloodshed"

Your eyes grew wide. "What...What did you just..."

"Bloodshed. They are all dead."

[nasa]

Next Gen @ NASA: Celebrating National Intern Day

To celebrate National Intern Day, we asked interns to share how they got their internship and their perspective and advice to the next generation of prospective NASA interns.

Meet our interns and check out their suggestions for the next generation.

Sarah Kilpatrick, STDCE-2 Data Intern

Sarah is a summer Surface Tension Driven Convection Experiment Data Intern at NASA. Her inspiration for applying for an internship came from a passion for science from an early age. “I grew up in a family that liked, enjoyed and appreciated science and the fun of it all,” she recalls. “I grew up watching PBS, NOVA, and other science shows, so when I saw NASA had opportunities for students like me, I was very interested.” 

Sarah’s advice to the next generation of NASA interns is one of perseverance and resilience.

Nicholas Natsoulas, Attitude Control Engineering Intern

Nicholas is a summer Attitude Control Engineering Intern at NASA. He wants to contribute to scientific innovation and discovery. “Overall, what inspired me to apply and come to work here was to contribute to the scientific exploration of space while learning about unique perspectives and innovative space discoveries.”

Nicholas’s advice for prospective NASA interns is to make the most out of your time here and to be a curious and eager learner.

“Use all the resources that are at your center and ask questions about projects you are working on. Don’t be afraid to talk to your mentor about your plans for the future and ask for any advice you may need, as they are more than willing to help you during your time here,” says Nicholas.

Nicholas and his mentor, Brent Faller, are using software to inform design decisions on a variety of spacecraft.

Nylana Murphy, former Additive Manufacturing Engineering Intern

As an American Indian College Fund ambassador and a Navajo engineer, Nylana Murphy hopes her internship story will inspire others to pursue a career in aerospace.

After attending the American Indian Science Engineering Society Conference, Nylana secured an internship in the additive manufacturing research laboratory at NASA Marshall.

 “My internships have helped me get to where I am,” she says, “There is a career for everyone, where their dreams can become reality. Those dreams WILL become a reality.”

You might be wondering: what happens after a NASA internship Here’s what two of our former interns did.

Loral O’Hara, Astronaut, former intern

Lorel interned at NASA JPL in 2003, and at NASA Goddard in 2004. She earned science degrees from both the University of Kansas and Purdue University.

As a research and project engineer, O’Hara reported for duty in August 2017 and completed two years of training as an Astronaut Candidate. She is projected to fly in Soyuz missions as a NASA astronaut soon.

If she could go back in time, Loral says she would tell her younger self to enjoy the opportunities that come her way—and never stop looking for new ones. “Enjoy the whole journey of…figuring out what it is that you like to do and exploring all different kinds of things.”

Jeff Carlson, Assembly, Test, Launch Operations Engineer

The “7 Minutes of Terror” video piqued Jeff Carlson’s interest in working at JPL. He thought, "That's the coolest thing I've ever heard of. I've got to go be a part of that in some way." While interning at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, he worked on Starshade, a sunflower-shaped device used to block starlight in order to reveal planets orbiting a star. Later, he went on to work on the team tasked with assembling and testing the “head” and “neck” (officially called the Remote Sensing Mast) for the Mars 2020 rover.

Want to join us in exploring the secrets of the universe? Visit intern.nasa.gov to learn more about open opportunities and requirements!

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

Credits: Isabel Rodriguez, Glenn Research Center intern and Claire O'Shea, Johnson Space Center intern

[martsonmars]

Hello friends! First SSS of the year for me. Also an early post because I want to write after sleeping and maybe some validation early in the day will help 💖 I have six snippets from six WIPs to share (only the fifth one written today, which makes me sad because I really wanted to share new new words, but it's okay) and I want to talk about them, so I'm throwing everything under the cut with the tags.

You can vote for the WIP you'd like me to continue the most (except Like We Had A Clue, because I know people are waiting for an update and it would skew the vote hahaha). Pick one of the other 5! Though as always I'll follow inspiration and not what the people want.

Love you all <3 hope you're taking care of yourself in these trying times.

1. First EGF WIP. I have many ideas for EGF, but considering a) possible writer's blocks, b) exams, c) other non EGF related WIPs, I honestly don't know how much I'll manage to write. This one is the most “urgent” one because it's a collab with @aroace-genderfluid-sheep and he's already done so many cool things for it and I'm so excited!!! The snippet I'm sharing is all I've written for this fic. Oh well!

“You could've at least sent us to Dante's inferno. That would've been intellectually stimulating.”

“This place is plenty stimulating.”

Of course it is. It's a fucking sex dungeon.

2. Second EGF WIP. I shared something from this already. There's hope I'll finish this one because it's short, but knowing myself I can't make promises hahaha.

“I’m sorry,” they say. Their voice is deep and smooth, like I imagine a cello would sound if it could talk. “I don’t think I can have dinner with you tonight.”

I can’t hide how much it stings. Of course my monster under the bed would come out just to reject me.

3. Like We Had A Clue. Chapter 5 is outlined in detail but I'm still struggling so much with it. Have some sentences I might have shared already in the past because I wrote them months ago!

“Are you trying to trap me, Snow? Keep me here to make food for you forever?”

“What if I am?”

I raise an eyebrow. His hand is still on my arm. He lets it fall.

4. WIP I shared from a couple of weeks ago. I want to have fun with this so I'm not forcing myself to write it, but I also really want to finish it. It's a struggle, always 🤣

(There's nothing innocent about four thousand words of Fangvald having a pity wank after Cherry spat on his face and demanded to know the true motives behind his betrayal.)

But it's fanfiction. Exploring fictional worlds and fictional characters and fictional relationships.

It would say nothing about me if he hadn't also linked two of my longest 4am rants about loneliness and deserving love.

5. Mystery WIP. I started plotting it yesterday and I've already lost steam. We'll see if it ever gets written.

25/12, 11:27AM

basiltea: Of course I'll help you.

basiltea: You can't be trusted to handle this alone and make it work.

Excalisbury: I LOVE YOU

basiltea: I'm just saving you from yourself.

6. Picture book story! The issue with this one is that I have to rewrite it completely. I have @johnwgrey's super useful notes, but I hate rewriting and editing with a burning passion, and this story needs so much work it hurts. But I'll do it!

Of course Snow had no reason to trust him. The fact that Baz had decided he’d never even try to hurt him again couldn’t erase five years of antagonism. Especially because Snow didn’t know about his change of heart. (It would’ve been ridiculous. Hey, Snow, I decided I don’t hate you anymore. Quite the opposite, instead. Can I kiss you?)

That was a lot. I feel like Simon and Baz are possessing me because I want to write SO MUCH, I literally can feel the words pushing to get out, but the second I open a doc it all fades out. Ugh. Hopefully I'll be more motivated in the morning.

So many no pressure tags for you lovelies:

@wellbelesbian @urban-sith @tea-brigade @sillyunicorn @mostlymaudlin @facewithoutheart @palimpsessed @otherpeoplesheartachept-2 @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @forabeatofadrum @fatalfangirl @prettylightsbigcity @whatevertheweather @jbrrring @confused-bi-queer @moodandmist @bookish-bogwitch @letraspal @dragoneggos @captain-aralias @takitalks @excalisbury (stealing your @ for Simon's Discord username hahaha) @otherworldsivelivedin @cutestkilla @ileadacharmedlife @gekkoinapeartree @bazzybelle @basiltonbutliketheherb @messofthejess @ivelovedhimthroughworse @nightimedreamersworld @artsyunderstudy @foolofabookwyrm-activated @ionlydrinkhotwater @yellobb @orange-peony @ic3-que3n @whogaveyoupermission @katmiscellanious @yeonjunenby @erzbethluna @larkral @chen-chen-chen-again-chen @shrekgogurt @raenestee @onepintobean @stitchyqueer @hushed-chorus

[krikeymate]

I hold by the idea of Tara and Sam having a off childhood from the jump like the idea that their father would dip completely and not stay in contact with Tara, who as far as we know, is his biological kid, just reeks of “I’ve been searching for a valid way out that wouldn’t make me a complete deadbeat and you just gave me one.” He probably married Christina out of obligation since they were together in high school and fell out of love (if he was ever in) years ago. And I like the idea that Christina was always unstable and Sam was the solid foundation for Tara growing up. Sam leaving knocked Tara off balance and made it easier for someone like Amber to insert herself in Tara’s life (shout out to the tamber crowd tho no shade)

Anon I'm in love with you.

I've mentioned before that I had some really dark thoughts on how their childhood could have been, and I have decided I am going to explore some of them. I've kind of held off on them because they seem to focus more on Tara than Sam, and I don't want people to think I love Tara/Jenna more than Sam/Melissa, because that's just not true, I love them equally. I'm just very cautious of the Sam v Tara attitude that I've seen a lot of. My theories hurt both of them, just in very different ways.

I think you're spot on that Mr Carpenter married Christina out of obligation. Neither of them were in love with each other, they were just having fun, but well shit they're in this situation now. Maybe they were even prom king and queen, jock and cheerleader, a real stereotype. Maybe there was an expectation they would end up together anyway. Christina didn't want a fucking baby at 18 but she really did love Billy and now he's dead.

They make the best of it.

She puts her career aspects on hold, he works in sales and sometimes travels for work. Sam is an easy baby, all things considered. She's a deep sleeper and she rarely cries and it means Christina can continue living her life with barely any interruption. He doesn't care for children, but Sam is his and he can admit she's cute in the recesses of his mind. It works for them, they even settle into the role.

Then one day, Christina learns she's pregnant again.

Despite being relatively content with the life she's found herself in, she's not looking to add to it. She makes the mistake of talking about it with a girl friend over lunch, about how she doesn't want another baby. Sam, who should have been napping, is awake and hears and gets excited. It's all over from there. Her husband finds out and he's weirdly excited about it. He didn't pay attention the first time, content to let Christina do the parenting, but he's ready now. He loves Sam, and he can't wait for the baby.

The enthusiasm doesn't last long.

Tara is a difficult baby.

Born 10 weeks early, it takes a month in the ICU before they can bring her home. Sam nags her to see the baby daily, as if staring at the little thing in the basket sucking on a ventilator is worth wasting her time for. She has problems with her lungs from the get-go. And that's only the start of it. She cries, she doesn't want to feed, she won't sleep. There's constant hospital visits and check-ups with specialists. Her husband decides to go back to work early, escaping across the country, previous sentiments forgotten.

One day she just won't stop crying. She was crying when she left to pick up Sam from school, and she was still crying when she returned. The only thing that stops her from taking a pillow to its face is the sight of her daughter on her tiptoes, reaching through the bars to press chubby fingers to its cheek, cooing at the baby. The thing actually shuts up for once.

Christina offloads most of the parenting onto Sam.

Baby Tara is receptive to Sam because she's gentle and touches her and doesn't yell. Babies are sensitive to emotional cues.

By the time Sam is 10, Christina is gone most of the time, working, or not working, it's hard to tell.

They're both cheating on each other. He gets so mad about the Sam lie because of all the years he wasted stuck with her.

Tara starts pre-school a year late because neither of her parents remembered to enroll her. The school tried to put her in the grade she should be in, but quickly realised that wasn't going to work. Tara was smaller than the other kids, and with her health problems, they decided it was better to downgrade her a year.

Sam does her best to help Tara with school, but she doesn't know about learning disabilities or how to help her.

By the time their father left, Christina did nothing except drop off an envelope of money on the counter monthly and pay the bills. Sam learns to forge her mother's signature to sign off on Tara's medical needs.

[siena-sevenwits]

Jan 4 - Day #5 - A Fortnight of Books

Most thrilling, unputdownable book of 2023?

Sherlock Holmes: The Voice of Treason by Cavan Scott & George Mann

I was at first uncertain whether to count this as a book, as it truly is a long audio drama with lots of Watson narration in between. But Goodreads counts it as a book, it is standard novel length, and I have occasionally counted dramatized books in the past for my challenges. So I am going to include it. This was a fun work, faithful to the original characterizations and time period, though not the kind of mystery Conan Doyle would be likely to write (which is not a must, as far as I am concerned. I was amused that the plot centred around Queen Victoria being kidnapped shortly before her Diamond Jubilee (ahem... sounds familiar...)

But the plot ends up turning on a lot of varied things. Anarchist uprisings in London, Watson's estranged brother Henry's return, a mysterious Australian lady whose letters have all gone missing, and one of the most enjoyable takes on Moriarty I've ever seen. I will say, the plot contrivance of the Prince of Wales ordering Holmes and Moriarty to work together strained suspension of disbelief terribly, and the novel had to cruise on the reader's good will that it was fun to see. I didn't end up minding terribly because Moriarty's scenes, especially with Watson, were very enjoyable (and thank you for giving Moriarty his Irish-isms!) Now, this was NOT a well-structured mystery. It broke a thousand rules. I usually give works inspired by the Holmes canon a pass on this sort of thing, because Doyle doesn't write fair mysteries either, at least by the standards of the Golden Age. I know this is an anachronistic standard to hold them to, but I get on best if I just act like "Sherlock Holmes" is a particular setting and type of adventure story, rather than detective fiction. On this level, the story succeeds, and certainly kept me listening. There were a couple of things I really didn't like - some scattered language, and the author failed to stick the death of an important character in a meaningful or emotional resonant way. But on the whole it was fun and set me off on one of my Sherlock Holmes kicks.

Book that was most outside your comfort zone/new genre exploration?

Le Road Trip: A Traveler's Journal of Love and France by Vivian Swift

I don't read much travel literature as a rule, but I was intrigued by this one. It's a short memoir/art journal of the author and her husband's slow trip through France, interspersed with memories of her experiences there in her twenties. What I liked best about this book is the love of savouring places it communicated - Swift models well how travel should include love for the little things rather than only the spectacular. Her sketch-paintings are evocative too. However, there was nothing that really stayed with me from this memoir, and there was a bit of language midway through that was completely unnecessary. I'd love to experience some really well-written, thoughtful travel literature.

[mania-sama]

If you don't mind me asking, can I ask your top favorite fics that you've written (feel free how much that you want to list)? Why they're special to you? Is there a specific inspiration when you wrote them?

Thanks if you want to answer.....

Hello! Thank you so much for sending in an ask, this is so exciting!! I would LOVE to answer this question!!

I've grown and changed a lot over the years since I began writing fanfiction when I was like, ten years old. Some of the fics I'm going to list aren't objectively well-written or my best work thus far, but they still have a special place in my heart for whatever reason. This question is so fun and I actually think about this all of the time. A lot of my most popular fics are ones that I'm not particularly proud of myself, so I'll gladly take the opportunity to talk about the ones I do like!!

In no particular order:

rule #8 - otherside [Bungou Stray Dogs] -> I wrote this for my Whumptober prompt series (which currently makes up a HUGE chunk of my works right now lmao). The reason I like this so much is mainly because I really enjoyed writing it. I've always wanted to write a fic where a character's mouth gets stitched shut, but I never got / found the opportunity to do so. Then Whumptober came around. I think I executed it well enough, especially since I chose Akutagawa, who struggles with breathing on a good day. If I get to grind my favorite characters through the Whump Machine, then I'm always very happy. I guess I just like this specific trope leaps and bounds better than all of the other ones? X

with every line, a comedy [Genshin Impact] -> I had a lot of fun writing this one, too. I got to explore PTSD in a way I'd never had before, going through the eyes of someone entirely disconnected from the traumatic event but knows the person being affected by it. It's my longest completed work, too; I write mainly short one-shots, around 1-4k words on average. This was a bigger project for me, and the first long-fic I've ever finished. I also used one of my favorite albums for the fic and chapter titles, so every time I listen to the songs, I think of this fic. I just. Really love this fic. X

Dear Kaeya, Signed Diluc Ragnvindr [Genshin Impact] -> I like this fic a lot because it's stylized very differently from everything else I've written. While not being an x reader, it is technically in second person, like I, the narrator, am talking to the reader. It's written in that same "talking" way, too. So I don't use any dialogue tags or anything like that. That is all for the second portion of the fic, though. The first half is made up entirely of letters the Diluc is sending to his adopted brother. I don't write him writing the letters, it's just the letters themselves. You read it like he's talking to you, in a sense, but the reader knows it's directed at Kaeya. It was a very fun and cool way to explore a new writing convention. X

the difference between hurt and injured [Genshin Impact] -> Lots of Genshin, I know, but this was when I was starting to fully fledge as a writer. A lot of my gradual progress can be seen through these fics, and this is a really good one to use as a comparison. This is my first attempt at much more serious writing, I think. It's longer than anything I had written at the time, sitting at a nice 20k words I wrote in the span of a few days. In general, it has a lot of things I really wanted to write about: the failures of the foster care system, complex / failing relationships, and the consequences of failing to act. The title comes from something an old softball coach would say, and I hated it but I could never get it out of my head. So I used it to title the fic, and it relates very well to what happens in the fic. Diluc is the "hurt" portion; he's fine, really, but his stubbornness makes him think his wounds are still bleeding. Venti, twelve years old in this for the sake of the AU, is "injured"; he is not fine. His wounds are bleeding, and he's doing the best he can to patch it up before he bleeds out, but more keep opening and he doesn't know what to do. X

rule #13 - waterfall [Jujutsu Kaisen] -> I like this fic because of the idea, more than anything. I have a very specific image of Megumi falling into a coma after Itadori saves his soul from Sukuna. If I could write this fic a million different times, I would. I simply love this vision. I also got to talk about literature, because Itadori is reading books to Megumi. Another idea I love that I got to convey through this fic is the idea of souls being separated from their comatose bodies. It provides an interesting take on being caught between life and death. I won't lie, I was probably inspired by one of my favorite fics of all time, When I Awake. But I also think it comes from a series I read when I was younger, the Serafina series. In the last book, the main character's body gets split into three different parts: flesh, spirit, and animal. Very interesting, and I think it's stuck with me for all of these years. X

rule #17 - two sides [Genshin Impact] -> Another case of finding a new writing convention. I wanted to focus more on external and internal dialogue to be the main contributors to the story, though I'm not sure how well I achieved this goal. It's crime-focused, and I wanted to slowly reveal the information rather than it being outright known off the bat. I wanted to put these characters who obviously know and trust each other very well into a situation where all of that shatters, where one is at the complete mercy of the other's decision, where both of them are suffering from the same crime, but one of them is the suspect of that crime and the other is the main investigator. SO much fun!! X

rule #26 - gideon [Bungou Stray Dogs] -> This one I debated heavily on adding, but I'm going ahead with it anyway because I happened to realize I really, really love this one. It's just Atsushi and his backstory, but if there were no abilities. He escapes, and Chuuya and Dazai happen upon him on the road. It's simplistic in comparison to some of the others on this list I think, but I love Atsushi and I love his horribly messed-up backstory with all my heart. Along these veins, I'm going to put rule #31 - calamity [X] as an honorable mention. Another horribly messed up backstory where Atsushi stars as the tortured main character, and I happened to really enjoy writing and thinking about it. The final honorable mention is rule #15 - four aces [X] where I toy with Dazai's character, and what it would mean for him to have finally defeated Fyodor. X

Again, thank you so much for asking!! Most of my works are on Ao3, so if you're curious to read more, I have a lot there! Much love <3

[datastate]

1 18 21 30!!!!!!!!!

this got super long, so i'll put it under read more, but thank you so much :] this was fun

What themes would you like to write about that you feel don’t get explored very often?

hmm... this is an interesting one, because i don't consciously think of themes while i'm writing my works. a lot of my ideas are drawn from displaying or testing the limits of what the established world allows, and then working from there. my original works show this off the most, with how much i've had to repurpose my "main cast" :P it's not as though i'd consider my work "meaningless," but i do have a difficult time trying to pinpoint specific themes in my own works. much of it is formed/drawn from grief, and explores as much, but as for what it specifically says about it... i don't know! i feel like i'm too close to really extract a certain meaning from it, especially with my own callous views on mortality - though i suppose even that could have its purpose. after all, if nothing's meant to last, then archive the memory and share it beyond its intended lifetime; this is what human bonds are meant for... or something to that effect <3

What writers have inspired you with their use of language? What are some of your favorite quotes?

okay, so fun fact - when i was younger, my writing style was heavily inspired by animorphs. sound effects within writing and all. i even took on "he swore under his breath" before i truly registered what that entailed (swears = cussing...! woah!) and then i turned 8 and began reading some of my mother's books. jane eyre, pride & prejudice, and... frankenstein. oh frankenstein. i kept revisiting it over the next few years, and that book completely changed how i wanted to approach my ideas and my writing style in general - it was much easier for me to digest the scene descriptors in frankenstein than anything else, though i can't pinpoint exactly why. i felt as if it was finally within my reach to work on more than dialogue exchanges, though it still took much longer to practice envisualizing what scenes i'm writing. i still struggle with it, but definitely less so than i used to! in more recent memory, though... i will say that black sun was my initial spark to finally thinking "i want to write again. i want to make something as meaningful as this again" - specifically in its character introductions being so. striking. i still have to finish the book, but i really admire how distinct each character is and the display of what drives them being clear in how they phrase even the smallest things... it's very interesting to me!!

& i. very rarely write down my favorite quotes, i realize, but upon a glance here are a few that i feel do them some justice :]

“People don’t understand the word ruthless. They think it means ‘mean.’ It’s not about being mean. It’s about seeing the bright, clear line that leads from A to B. The line that goes from motive to means. Beginning to end. It’s about seeing that bright, clear line and not caring about anything but the beautiful fact that you can see the solution. Not caring about anything else but the perfection of it.” — Animorphs, book 30 "It felt good to hear Jake say I was indispensable, but with Jake you could never be sure what was sincere, and what was just expedient. [...] he'd been the leader for a long time now, he'd learned to say what he needed to say. Jake needed me as one of the Animorphs. He liked me, respected me, was happy for me when I was happy. And when he had to, he used me without any regard for anything except winning." — Animorphs, book 33 “I enjoyed this scene; and yet my enjoyment was embittered both by the memory of the past, and the anticipation of the future. I was formed for peaceful happiness. During my youthful days discontent never visited my mind; and if I was ever overcome by ennui, the sight of what is beautiful in nature, or the study of what is excellent and sublime in the productions of man, could always interest my heart, and communicate elasticity to my spirits. But I am a blasted tree; the bolt has entered my soul; and I felt then that I should survive to exhibit, what I shall soon cease to be -- a miserable spectacle of wrecked humanity, pitiable to others, and intolerable to myself." — Frankenstein “Believe me, Frankenstein, I was benevolent; my soul glowed with love and humanity; but am I not alone, miserably alone? You, my creator, abhor me; what hope can I gather from your fellow creatures, who owe me nothing?” — Frankenstein

How do you come up with titles? Do you use placeholders or tend to change your titles while writing the first draft?

i typically leave titles as the very last thing! unless i'm specifically writing something with a line in mind to hold as the title, i usually summarize what i'm writing as the 'placeholder title' ... in fics, i usually draw from songs or common sayings (ie. memento mori, master of none, or even poetry / prayer) - though not all the time. similar to my original stories, i sometimes just enjoy putting together a few words that match it, or have it be symbolized by a single word (*not used for my original stories ... i want it to be more distinct :P)

What is some of the best writing advice you’ve read or received? Why does it work for you?

it's been a long time since i've really read writing advice/overtly received it... even the "you're writing an arc, not a character" isn't advice i received, but just. how i learned to write stories in general? though i suppose it's the closest thing that counts :P i can't think of anything else i'm afraid

[solesurvivorkat]

Here Comes the Sun! (Doo doo doo doo!)

I'm beyond tired of ME saying it all the time, but I have not died, disappeared, or given up!

Longer story short: holidays were hectic but good, and I FINALLY got to start my new position within the company I work for - and though I'm only on my 2nd day of training so far, it's amazing the difference I feel!

It's like a huge weight has been lifted off of my back/shoulders/chest. I'm not stressed at work, I'm not anxious, my trainer is like, the sweetest, most patient and welcoming woman, I'm enjoying all that I'm learning so far and am eager to learn some more, I look forward to the future in my new job, I really think it'll be a much better fit for me and my life, and I hope to be here for a long time to come!

It's nothing personal at all against my previous coworkers... but you ever feel like you're just not you at your job? Like it's turning into someone you don't recognize and/or like? My prior position wasn't an awful one (I've had jobs that were soooo much worse), and it wasn't inherently difficult - but I was doing a lot on my own w/ next to no help (not my coworkers' fault, they had their own duties to do), and it felt like I was on a never-ending treadmill with no end in sight. It was just... so discouraging.

I know I'm still in the 'honeymoon stage' of my new position, and it won't always be perfect/'fun'/easy/etc... but I'm so happy to be here (so far) and it's amazing what a difference I feel now (like a '180').

ANYWAY - I feel like I FINALLY have some decent time to devote to 'Shadow of Steel' again, and am actually getting some MUCH-needed work done on it today! I really, really hope to have a chunk of the 'slightly updated', revamped previous chapters up on Ao3 relatively soon!

As for my other fics... well... I'll be 100% honest, I don't know if I'll ever finish 'The Book of John'. ...Which is really a shame, b/c I seriously had so many plans & creative ideas for that fic (plus, I totally wanted to explore the slow burn that would be John & Sarah in that fic). I'm not 100% cancelling it out just yet, but I'd say it's definitely in the 'limbo/chopping block' area of my writing plans. :-(

'I Need to Tell You' - same as above. I'd say it's around 2/3 of the way finished, so I would really like to complete this one (especially since it's more plausible for John & Sarah to have a happy ending in this one, LOL)... but I don't know yet if it'll happen. We'll see, I guess?

Thank you for hanging in there and waiting patiently, those of you that did... but if you haven't, I don't blame you one bit - but I'd like to hope that you'll give me another chance (someday, heh).

.....And in my mind, Arthur Maxson is waiting outside my door with a baseball bat - since his much-liked girlfriend has been kidnapped for forever now, and he really doesn't appreciate my excuses, LOL. *XD

[bradenthompson]

Book Announcement: Illcontinuum! (available now)

There's something buried under Wishkah Shopping Center.

Or that was the story Junior heard growing up.

Now that Junior's an adult, all his friends have moved away, and all the remaining artifacts of his childhood have been demolished or remodeled, 

Wishkah Shopping Center is all that remains of the world he was once so comfortable living in.

Now Wishkah is earmarked for implosion, and Junior had precious little time to confirm or deny the biggest mystery of his youth.

An eclectic dirge through a sacred retail monolith, equal parts silent and expired yet lively and inexplicable, Junior finds a titanic mall fighting against its own damnation, producing "ghosts" of its previous tenants and slowly revealing the all-encompassing role it had always been playing in his life. All roads leading to the inconvenient reality that Wishkah shopping center isn't the only thing doomed.

illcontinuum.carrd.co

I thought I'd be announcing Illcontinuum was done and available four months ago, but given the release day and the personal circumstances which this book was completed under, time really is just a friendly suggestion.

This is a book that really snuck up on me, fueled largely by the feelings I needed to unpack following my graduation from college last summer. At no other stage of my life, at no graduational checkpoint, did I experience the same listlessness and grief I did in those first few weeks after unpacking my dorm and heading home for good. In my dreams I was back at college but, obviously, that dream college was exactly such. In the days before taking the podium I'd smoke weed and play arcade games downtown (ever spiral before? It's not without fun) -- unpacking, alone, what exactly I was going to miss.

And it was from those liquid lunches (I'd have a bag of funyuns or something from the vending machine) that Illcontinuum took shape. I've long dug on the notion of liminal spaces but, if you'll let me be real, I do not like the popular set of feelings this suburban phantom pain has taken. Why does it have to be scary? Hm? I'll be less of a sass; is horror, or dread, or melancholy, the only valid emotions we can explore regarding the retail/municipal monuments we leave to waste away in the crannies of our minds? I don't think so. I think in-between there's a very real warmth, and if Illcontinuum were to be listed among "new horror novels" I would worry I had done something wrong.

The end result of what proved to be a turbulent drafting process (probably the hardest time I've had writing one book) is what I think is my most complex and satisfying work. Not always clear and not always meant to be taken literally, the novel enters Wishkah shopping center within a few pages and does not leave until the curious and socially diminutive Junior is cracked open, leaking personal gooey stuff all over the tile.

I'm not sure how that last sentence came to be but I can't bring myself to rewrite it. Anyway...

While reading, feel free to replace details. Readers ought to bring themselves to the text regardless, but do not fight the moments where Junior becomes you (not You from Radiosault but you in specific) and Wishkah becomes the mall you remember but will never see again. Ask yourself what it is you'd be looking for were you given the chance to go back. And laugh a little--the book is funny.

Without further ado, enjoy Illcontinuum. And keep in mind the three initials you'll enter at the high score screen. I use BRA.

[ashes-to-anew]

17, 20, and 24 for the ask game

Oh hi Ray thanks for checking in I'm ✨ still a piece of garbage ✨

But beyond that--

17. Name 3 things that make you happy.

The initial three things I was going to mention are way too obvious to anyone who's known me for any length of time (Pokémon, horror movies, chocolate), so I'll go with something else. First up-- stories. In any medium. Movies, books, comics, TV, even just short YouTube video-- I am always enamored by stories. I have multiple swimming around in my head at any point in time, and I love working on them. Even if I'm not creating the story, it's so fun to theorize about where it could go and how it might turn out. It's a bit broad, yes, I know, but they do make me happy.

Secondly, there's this very particular wind chime that my neighbors across the street had while I was growing up. On any sort of mildly windy day, I'd hear the chimes from my room-- granted I wasn't listening to any number of other things. Even now I can hear it quite clearly in my head. They were just something that always stuck out to me, that always reminded me of home. It would keep me company on windy days, and soothe me on stormy nights-- not that I was ever particularly afraid of the rain, but still. I'd love to get one of my own one day, but unfortunately my people skills are not so advanced that I can just go and ask where they got it. Maybe I'll take a picture of it in the middle of the night and ask Reddit.

Thirdly, I really like flannels. Not as much as I like hoodies, but flannels are so nice even if they are tedious to wear.

20. Favorite things about the night?

I can do whatever I want and no one bothers me as long as I'm not being too loud. Night drives and barely crowded roads free for me to roam. Eating fast food at 1:00 in the morning. Listening to the same song on loop for hours. Making hot chocolate or tea before I go to bed. Writing whatever comes into my head because there's no one around to stop me. Feeling completely alone and at peace. Plus, now that I have contacts, I can finally see the stars again. I never knew that I missed them until I could see them again.

24. What’s one thing you’re proud of yourself for?

I've said it before and I'll say it again-- writing is not only my greatest passion, but also my most honed skill. I won't even pretend to be humble about it or try to downplay my expertise as I might with other things I may or may not excel at, because I'm just that proud of it. I love to write, I love to share what I've written, and I love to bust my ass on an essay and get a good grade back despite having procrastinated for far too long. I love to connect all the stories in my head into one tangible web, I love to make things for others to explore, and I love to create something that only I can understand. I love to use the words I've written in my daily lexicon, I love the sound of the keys as I type, and I love to look back at my charming little stories from third grade and see just how far I've come. See how everything that I put into them back then-- my love, my inspiration, the pieces of myself-- remains in them all the same.

I have, and will always be, proud of every single thing I have written.

[elephant-in-the-pride-parade]

2023 year in review: 9, 10, 21

9. What fic meant the most to you to write?

The most meaningful were all the fics for @maliciousalice and @baylardo's Threshold AU (@voyagerihardlyknowher is their art blog that has inspired all the fics!)

Salamorphosis, A take on the AU's premise that Kathryn and Tom partially regress back into their evolved state.

Special shout out for Lesson Plans, A look at Season 7 in the AU. This was a joint fic with @jellybeansarecool completed in June of this year (I can't believe that's in the 2023 column. that seems like forever ago!) It filled me with so much joy The longest collaboration I've ever done and made a wonderful friend out of the effort.

For Just One Day Let's Only Think About Love, A threshold AU style ending for the book To Lose the Earth

Tête-à-Tête, Killing game AU with some Kathryn/Karr which was a really fun tragic romantic angle to explore for Karr's character.

Brumating in a Winter Wonderland, A fluffy post-Endgame homecoming oneshot

Lost and Found (Happy Birthday Alice!), which I have been enjoying for the final week of 2023. A fun adventure-family-hurt/comfort fic with some salamander transformation shenanigans.

10. What fic made you feel the happiest to work on?

I answered this in this post - but it was every word I managed to put down for Unbroken. I'm so close to done with that one, I can taste it!

21. Share your favorite piece of dialogue.

This exchange between Commander Tyssess and Admiral Janeway is from the Prodigy fic The Timepast (Set on the Voyager-A, post season one):

“Mr. R’El participated in the planned course adequately. Although his on-duty attitude could use some work.” “I’ll say.” The admiral snorted as Tysess settled into an armchair. She reviewed the PADD, adding. “I have had interns shadowing me wax on about my accomplishments and my service record and tout their own intelligence and their parris squares trophies until they were blue in the face. But never in my life have I had a young man waste his entire command rotation sighing over a girl.”  Tysess and B’Elanna shared a look. “Admiral. Permission to speak freely?” Tysess asked. “Denied.” Tysess took a long sip of his own coffee and carried on anyway. “You and R’El deserve each other.”

[leavingautumn13]

WIP asks 15, 18, and 21

15. In as vague of terms as possible (to avoid spoiling), how do you anticipate this chapter/fic to end?

Bittersweetly. The main plot of Fo4 is actually really sad in my opinion, and the game itself doesn't really explore the things I would have liked it to, especially not emotionally. So, I'm writing this fic where I get to have fun and be super granular and worldbuild and get into the sole survivor's head and stuff--but at the end of the day I still think it's a tragedy.

18. Share the scene you just wrote, written from another character's POV.

The only two POV characters are Nora and Nick, so this isn't the most recent scene I've written, just the most recent where they're together. This is from Nora's POV; the original scene is from Nick's. TW for some mentioned violence and death.

“How are you feeling?” Valentine asked lowly.

Tension made her chest and shoulders ache, twisted her stomach into a knot. How was she supposed to answer that? Losing Dana, Shaun, hell, everyone she’d ever known, and waking up two hundred years in the future, completely and utterly alone—that was terrifying to the point of being incomprehensible, and that was an understatement.

But she’d had a goal: find her baby. And she hadn’t been alone for long.

Now her best lead was dead and she was no closer to Shaun than she had been when she first stepped out of the vault months ago.

She didn’t feel like anything, which meant she felt like too much. She felt like radio static, maybe, like her head was stuffed full of gauze. Like she needed a shot of something strong and alcoholic, or another one of Valentine’s cigarettes. Like she needed to crawl back into the vault cryopod and sleep until she finally woke up from this fucking nightmare. Like she wanted—needed to beat Kellogg to death for a second time for taking away all that was left of her family.

That last one. The thought was frightening but she didn't have the energy to analyze it right now, and Valentine was still watching her from the corner of his eye, waiting for an answer.

She curled and uncurled her fingers at her side. “Like I want to break something,” she said, as honestly as she cared to. “Or scream.”

21. Share 3 songs that would belong on a playlist for this chapter/fic.

Dirt Poor Robins - Wax Cylinder Sonata

Metric - Clone

Florence + the Machine - Various Storms & Saints

(Here's the full playlist!! I'm working on art for it atm so stay tuned for that!!)

[ahiddenpath]

For the ask the fic writer meme!

3, 4, 24, and 26!

Hi Sloane, thanks for the ask <3 Answered beneath the cut :D

3.) Describe the creative process of writing a chapter/fic

I have a neat writing process post here! It basically goes like this:

-Idea dump, mostly focusing on themes, where characters are now vs where I want them to be, what everyone is feeling/struggling with, etc

-Several drafts

Check the post out if you're interested, I included the entire process for a chapter of PdA with PDFs of the idea dump and drafts.

4.) Where do you find inspiration for new ideas?

I hope this doesn't sound too weird, but I'm not a big... Fan of? Believer in??? Inspiration. Ideas are a dime a dozen, and everything has been done before. What matters is the execution, which requires showing up and doing the work reliably- and never waiting for lightning to strike with ideas or a certain mood/desire to create.

Yes, I'm painfully aware that I'm the least exciting human ever, lol!

Generally, my issue is deciding which of an endless pile of concepts to work on. Once I've done that, the concern is effective project management. How do I see this new concept to its completion in a (hopefully) reasonable amount of time?

Allocating finite time is probably the most challenging part of life in general!

24.) Worst writing advice anyone ever gave you?

Ohhh man, this one is really fun!

My blissfully naïve fourteen-year-old self made the mistake of printing the first few chapters of my novel in progress and taking them to high school, where I showed them to my friends. I received an absolute cacophony of feedback that ranged from strange to mean, but most of it was simply... People projecting the story they wanted onto the story I was writing for myself.

The bit I remember today concerned my main character. She was young and had lived a physically pampered but emotionally neglected life. Circumstances sent her on a journey, and she chose a calm, sensible horse as her mount. And though she had only ridden in leisurely group settings, a friend insisted that... Um, well, if I didn't plonk her onto a stallion that no one else could control, I was bowing to the patriarchy. Yes, my friend wanted a horse girl story, lmao!!!

Joking aside, exploring strength in women and girls is the most resounding theme of my writing. I'm not looking down on the badass woman character type, but I am keen to show that there are so many kinds of strength. Obviously this is true for everyone, but women are so often neglected in entertainment, and their stories are the ones I most want to tell.

What I'm getting at here is that you should never mistake someone else's preferences for meaningful criticism/advice. The ability to deliver meaningful writing criticism is learned, and not many people are trained in it. Most audiences regurgitate their own preferences when asked, and that has nothing to do with your story.

If that sort of dialogue interests you, pursue it! But I'm generally wary of seeking criticism unless I have some sense of the person's literary background and how they engage with media.

26.) Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

Hahaha, in terms of writing it? Probably Voices. Voices was a year-long exercise in developing character voice. I followed the six oldest Chosen and Eimi through a Japanese school year, writing a journal entry from one of the kids every day. EVERY DAY. FOR A YEAR. A JOURNAL ENTRY.

I leaned heavily on tropes because there was no time to plan, lol! I flew by the seat of my pants for a whole danged year!!!! In a lot of ways, it's my least favorite fic, because there was just no time! But it was a huge challenge, and frankly, audiences love tropes. It was popular with a lot of my readers. It's also probably one of my more shippy offerings?

Seeking Resonance is a stand out for me in the sense that it took me three years to nail the climax and decide how I wanted the last 20% of the story to wind down. THREE YEARS of thinking and exploring and simmering! But I genuinely could not have made a product I was happy with without quietly tending to it. Honestly, sometimes I think we need to... I don't know, grow or learn something or experience something??? Before we can be where the story needs us to be, as a person.

Oh, but that doesn't mean we should wait to start the story! The three years of thinking on it were definitely work and part of the process.

So You Were Alive was an interesting one in that I sat down and wrote the whole dang thing in under two hours. Like, within two hours of starting, it was published, with all the images and everything. At the time, the Kizuna feels were strong. The imagery and some of the dialogue from the first reboot episodes fed right into the Kizuna feels, and before I knew it, I was clicking the publish button!

Note that none of these are my favorite or best fics, in my opinion. But they are standouts in regards to the process.

Thank you so much, this was fun!