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Friday, January 9th, 2026 02:36 pm
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 11:20 am
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 02:28 pm
Toronto sex store receives letters from U.S. Department of War.
[Grace] Bennett questioned whether or not the American soldiers stationed in Bahrain have been directly notified on what they are allowed to order to the country.
"I don’t know why they’re sending me very cross letters saying, 'Stop sending items that could cause bodily harm to this country,'" Bennett said. "This sounds like a you problem. The call was coming from inside the house."
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 01:11 pm
The Poetry Fishbowl is now CLOSED. Thank you all for your time and attention.
Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! Today's theme is "short forms." I will be checking this page periodically throughout the day. When people make suggestions, I'll pick some and weave them together into a poem ... and then another ... and so on. I'm hoping to get a lot of ideas and a lot of poems.
I'll be soliciting poetic forms of 60 lines or less, so basically below my epic range rather than only the short-short length of 10 lines or less. Free verse below the length limit is also fine. Here are 15 short forms with descriptions. Among my favorite short forms not listed there: hexaduad, indriso, sestina, villanelle. This list of 168 forms is alphabetical. Poets Garrett has my favorite list of forms, including a list of repeating-interlocking forms. Their main page has links to poetic forms of 3-10 lines. Plus a few of my own: A darrow poem is a short, haiku-like musing by dark elves. A khazal is a Whispering Sands desert poem in couplets. A moose track is a repeating-interlocking form. A tweet wire is a tiny 10-line poem designed for Twitter. Some short forms, like haiku and tanka, work well as verses in a longer poem. I have The New Book of Forms by Lewis Turco so most forms should be in there. You can also prompt with a link to any exotic form you find; I collect these things.
In addition to forms, I also need topical prompts. One-word or short-phrase framing will assist in keeping them small enough to fit within the theme. Here is a huge list of common themes. This page of idioms has alphabetical and topical listings. I love writing poems about an individual word; see The Phrontistery (WARNING! Black hole caliber time sink ahead!) for glossaries. Have an orientation that is not well represented in literature? Ask for a sexual, romantic, or other orientation! If it's not on any of my lists, just include a description or link to one. I also list gender identities and my characters with disabilities. Want to help me play with my bookshelf? :D I have The Conflict Thesaurus, The Conflict Thesaurus Volume 2, The Occupation Thesaurus, The Emotional Wound Thesaurus, The Urban Setting Thesaurus, The Rural Setting Thesaurus, The Emotion Thesaurus, The Positive Trait Thesaurus, The Negative Trait Thesaurus, and The Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus. Simply click "Read Sample" and view the table of contents for a list of cool ideas. You can prompt a sestina with six end words; I usually pick 5 short flexible words and one long exotic word, but I'll work with whatever I get. Favorite characters, threads, series, settings, etc. are also fair game but this is NOT the time for long plotty prompts. Consider combining a name or title with a short form, theme, or idiom. If you like to prompt with photos, this is a great opportunity for that. Just type in a topic (see above for possibilities) and click the Image link in your favorite search engine.
( Read more... )
Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! Today's theme is "short forms." I will be checking this page periodically throughout the day. When people make suggestions, I'll pick some and weave them together into a poem ... and then another ... and so on. I'm hoping to get a lot of ideas and a lot of poems.
I'll be soliciting poetic forms of 60 lines or less, so basically below my epic range rather than only the short-short length of 10 lines or less. Free verse below the length limit is also fine. Here are 15 short forms with descriptions. Among my favorite short forms not listed there: hexaduad, indriso, sestina, villanelle. This list of 168 forms is alphabetical. Poets Garrett has my favorite list of forms, including a list of repeating-interlocking forms. Their main page has links to poetic forms of 3-10 lines. Plus a few of my own: A darrow poem is a short, haiku-like musing by dark elves. A khazal is a Whispering Sands desert poem in couplets. A moose track is a repeating-interlocking form. A tweet wire is a tiny 10-line poem designed for Twitter. Some short forms, like haiku and tanka, work well as verses in a longer poem. I have The New Book of Forms by Lewis Turco so most forms should be in there. You can also prompt with a link to any exotic form you find; I collect these things.
In addition to forms, I also need topical prompts. One-word or short-phrase framing will assist in keeping them small enough to fit within the theme. Here is a huge list of common themes. This page of idioms has alphabetical and topical listings. I love writing poems about an individual word; see The Phrontistery (WARNING! Black hole caliber time sink ahead!) for glossaries. Have an orientation that is not well represented in literature? Ask for a sexual, romantic, or other orientation! If it's not on any of my lists, just include a description or link to one. I also list gender identities and my characters with disabilities. Want to help me play with my bookshelf? :D I have The Conflict Thesaurus, The Conflict Thesaurus Volume 2, The Occupation Thesaurus, The Emotional Wound Thesaurus, The Urban Setting Thesaurus, The Rural Setting Thesaurus, The Emotion Thesaurus, The Positive Trait Thesaurus, The Negative Trait Thesaurus, and The Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus. Simply click "Read Sample" and view the table of contents for a list of cool ideas. You can prompt a sestina with six end words; I usually pick 5 short flexible words and one long exotic word, but I'll work with whatever I get. Favorite characters, threads, series, settings, etc. are also fair game but this is NOT the time for long plotty prompts. Consider combining a name or title with a short form, theme, or idiom. If you like to prompt with photos, this is a great opportunity for that. Just type in a topic (see above for possibilities) and click the Image link in your favorite search engine.
( Read more... )
Tags:
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 10:57 am
Once upon a time, the moon Panga was industrial and capitalist and miserable. Then robots suddenly and inexplicably gained self-awareness. They chose to stop working, leave human habitation, and go into the wilderness. The humans not only didn't try to stop them, but this event somehow precipitated a huge political change. Half of Panga was left to the wilderness, and humans developed a kinder, ecologically friendly, sustainable way of life. But the robots were never seen again.
That's all backstory. When the book opens, Sibling Dex, a nonbinary monk, is dissatisfied with their life for reasons unclear to themself. They leave the monastery to become a traveling tea monk, which is a sort of counselor: you tell the monk your troubles, and the monk listens and fixes you a cup of tea. Dex's first day on the job is hilariously disastrous, but they get better and better, until they're very good at it... but still inexplicably dissatisfied. So they venture out into the wilderness, where they meet a robot, Mosscap - the first human-robot meeting in hundreds of years.
I had previously failed to get very far into The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, so I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this novella. It's cozy in a good way, with plenty of atmosphere, a world that isn't quite perfect but is definitely one I'd like to live in, and some interesting philosophical exploration. My favorite part was actually Dex's life as a tea monk before they meet Mosscap - it's very relatable if you've ever been a counselor or therapist, from the horrible first day to the pleasure of familiar clients later on. I would absolutely go to a tea monk.
I would have liked Mosscap to be a bit more flawed - it's very lovable and has a lot of interesting things to say, but is pretty much always right. Mosscap is surprised and delighted by humanity, but I'm not sure Dex ever shakes up its worldview in a way it finds true but uncomfortable, which Mosscap repeatedly does to Dex. Maybe in the second novella, A Prayer for the Crown-Shy.
And while I'm on things which are implausibly neat/perfect, this is a puzzling backstory:
1) Robots gain self-awareness and leave.
2) ????
3)
Maybe we'll learn more about the ???? later.
But overall, I did quite like the novella. The parts where Dex is a tea monk, with the interactions with their clients and their life in their caravan, are very successfully cozy - an instant comfort read. And I liked the robot society and the religious orders, as well as a lot of the Mosscap/Dex relationship. I'll definitely read the sequel.
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 09:58 am
Cut Off (Saiyuki):
Cut Off, by Eleanor K. shrift: Hot. Wrong. Really hot and really wrong. So freaking hot and wrong.
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 11:06 am
( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )
Tags:
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 10:04 am
(Which is def not me procrastinating on homework on the second day of a new term.)
If you use a rich text editor to post to DW so that it does all the coding for you, and you don't have to worry about it, it has the potential to make your posts very difficult to read without clicking through to see the journal in your style. A lot of the rich text editors override the page layouts and styles selected by the user (ie, in this case, me, who is not very tech savvy, so apologies if the terminology is wrong, please correct me in comments!).
To show you what it looks like... ( please click through, rather than expanding the cut tag )
It could also be an issue if you force your font to a particular typeface or size, which overrides people who set their journal style with a typeface/size that they need for accessibility reasons (e.g. low vision or dyslexia).
I'm not trying to call anyone out! (The styles are made up examples.) I don't want to discourage using rich text editors, which make posting so easy for people. I just think that everyone is maybe not aware that this is how their posts look on people's reading page.
I've never used a rich text editor, so I have no idea how to tell it just to post text without modifying the colour/size/typeface, but maybe someone in comments can let me know?
There's probably also a way to make my browser strip out people's customisations, though times I've tried that it's ended up with some pretty odd results, so I gave up on it.
If you use a rich text editor to post to DW so that it does all the coding for you, and you don't have to worry about it, it has the potential to make your posts very difficult to read without clicking through to see the journal in your style. A lot of the rich text editors override the page layouts and styles selected by the user (ie, in this case, me, who is not very tech savvy, so apologies if the terminology is wrong, please correct me in comments!).
To show you what it looks like... ( please click through, rather than expanding the cut tag )
It could also be an issue if you force your font to a particular typeface or size, which overrides people who set their journal style with a typeface/size that they need for accessibility reasons (e.g. low vision or dyslexia).
I'm not trying to call anyone out! (The styles are made up examples.) I don't want to discourage using rich text editors, which make posting so easy for people. I just think that everyone is maybe not aware that this is how their posts look on people's reading page.
I've never used a rich text editor, so I have no idea how to tell it just to post text without modifying the colour/size/typeface, but maybe someone in comments can let me know?
There's probably also a way to make my browser strip out people's customisations, though times I've tried that it's ended up with some pretty odd results, so I gave up on it.
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 11:11 am
Music Meme, Day 17
A song that reminds you of somebody:
When I first came to Chicago in 1981, I stayed with one of the friends I'd made when I attended Suncon, the 1977 world science fiction convention, and my very first convention. His name was Ed Sunden and he was overwhelming. He was awful and generous, outrageous and brilliant, manipulative and kind, and definitely sui generis. He loved music, and he loved introducing me to New Wave music that was definitely new to me - the Police and Elvis Costello among the groups he loved.
His way of introduction? He would tell me to sit down in the tiny living room of the basement apartment he shared with Joan, the woman who became his wife. Or rather, he would order me to sit down, and then he'd put on an LP, or power up a tape he'd recorded on his music system (primitive by today's standards, but incredibly impressive back in 1981.) Sometimes he'd play the same song twice, to make sure I understood the words.
All these years later, and 25 years after he died, it's Elvis Costello's songs that immediately bring Ed and that dim little apartment singing and shouting back into my mind.
I thought of sharing "Oliver's Army" with you, because it's one of the Costello songs that really hit me when I first heard it. Unfortunately, and despite the fact that Costello wrote the song as an anti-fascist tune, it uses at least two racist slurs that I'm uncomfortable listening to these days. He wrote it after being in Northern Ireland during The Troubles, and the Oliver he sang of was Oliver Cromwell, who invaded and conquered Ireland. British fascists have taken Cromwell as one of their own, so Costello's brutal parodying of fascism and how it sucks working class kids into a losing game in this song is close to perfection in terms of the written word. Still, the racial slurs, parodies though they are, made me nix this tune.
In its place, and most definitely one that still makes me think of Ed, is "Pump It Up." Enjoy, and if you want to know my previous answers, go to Day 17, and it will give you access to all the previous songs.
A song that reminds you of somebody:
When I first came to Chicago in 1981, I stayed with one of the friends I'd made when I attended Suncon, the 1977 world science fiction convention, and my very first convention. His name was Ed Sunden and he was overwhelming. He was awful and generous, outrageous and brilliant, manipulative and kind, and definitely sui generis. He loved music, and he loved introducing me to New Wave music that was definitely new to me - the Police and Elvis Costello among the groups he loved.
His way of introduction? He would tell me to sit down in the tiny living room of the basement apartment he shared with Joan, the woman who became his wife. Or rather, he would order me to sit down, and then he'd put on an LP, or power up a tape he'd recorded on his music system (primitive by today's standards, but incredibly impressive back in 1981.) Sometimes he'd play the same song twice, to make sure I understood the words.
All these years later, and 25 years after he died, it's Elvis Costello's songs that immediately bring Ed and that dim little apartment singing and shouting back into my mind.
I thought of sharing "Oliver's Army" with you, because it's one of the Costello songs that really hit me when I first heard it. Unfortunately, and despite the fact that Costello wrote the song as an anti-fascist tune, it uses at least two racist slurs that I'm uncomfortable listening to these days. He wrote it after being in Northern Ireland during The Troubles, and the Oliver he sang of was Oliver Cromwell, who invaded and conquered Ireland. British fascists have taken Cromwell as one of their own, so Costello's brutal parodying of fascism and how it sucks working class kids into a losing game in this song is close to perfection in terms of the written word. Still, the racial slurs, parodies though they are, made me nix this tune.
In its place, and most definitely one that still makes me think of Ed, is "Pump It Up." Enjoy, and if you want to know my previous answers, go to Day 17, and it will give you access to all the previous songs.
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 04:30 pm
Eliza and the Duke
Eliza and the Duke by Harper St. George is $1.99! This is book two in The Doves of New York series and came out last summer.
American heiress Eliza Dove was resigned to a polite marriage of convenience…until she spent one wicked night with the Duke.
All hopeless romantic Eliza Dove asked for was one night of adventure. One glorious evening of freedom to explore the dark corners of London with a mysterious stranger before a lifetime trapped in a quiet, respectable marriage of convenience. Except now she wants more. Now she wants him.
Simon Cavell is no gentleman. Known only as ‘the Duke,’ Whitechapel’s prize boxer is one fight away from achieving his goal: to safeguard his late sister’s only treasure and leave the streets for good. He cannot allow some pretty young heiress to spill his secrets, no matter how tempting she might be. In return for her silence, Simon will give Eliza a taste of the darkness…and hope he doesn’t lose his heart in the process.
But one night together could never be enough. And now Eliza has a new plan—an even more scandalous bargain that will either land the heiress her duke or ruin them both.
Out on a Limb
Out on a Limb by Hannah Bonam-Young is $1.99! This is a contemporary romance with a surprise pregnancy after a one night stand. Both of the main characters also have limb differences and I appreciate that being present in the cover art as well.
A hot one-night stand—and an unexpected pregnancy—lead a young woman to someone she can depend on
Winnifred “Win” McNulty has always been wildly independent and not one to be coddled for her limb difference. Win has spent most of her life trying to prove that she can do it all on her own. With some minor adjustments, she’s done just fine.
Hooking up at a costume party with the incredibly charming Bo changes everything. Win finds herself pregnant—and decides to keep the baby. While Bo is surprisingly elated to step up to the plate, Win is unsure of whether she can handle this new challenge.
Together, Win and Bo decide to get to know one another as friends and nothing more while they embark on this parenting journey together. But, as they both should know by now, life rarely goes according to plan.
Love at First Fright
RECOMMENDED: Love at First Fright by Nadia El-Fassi is $1.99! Lara gave this one a B:
I really enjoyed my time with Rosemary and Ellis. Their love is sweet and spicy and so warm. I enjoyed the ghost element too.
She can see ghosts. He’s haunted by his past. Together they will discover a love that is supernatural.
In this cosy and spicy paranormal romance, a successful horror author whose novel is being adapted into a movie clashes with the actor cast as the male lead, all in a spooky mansion filled with ghosts, from the author of Best Hex Ever
Rosemary Shaw’s ability to see the dead has never scared her. In fact, it’s inspired most of her horror novels, the most successful of which is being adapted into a movie, set in a beautiful manor house in the English countryside. A house that old, well, it’s no surprise there’s ghosts. But ghosts are something Rosemary can handle, she’s not so sure how to deal with her infuriatingly handsome leading man, who is all wrong for the role.
Ellis Finch is a Hollywood heartthrob with a secret. He’s tired of playing the action movie hero and would much rather be gardening with his dog Fig. Starring in a historical horror movie might be just the ticket for his new image, until he finds out that the author tried to get him kicked off the show.
Amidst filming for the movie and the chemistry-filled feuding between Rosemary and Ellis, Hallowvale manor comes alive, literally. Trying to balance the mayhem of her writing deadlines, an adorable ghostly dog and a pair of Regency-era women who are definitely nothing more than friends, Rosemary is at risk of telling Ellis her secret, or worse – falling for him.
The Footman
The Footman by S.M. LaViolette is $1.99! LaViolette is the other pen name of author Minerva Spencer. I’ve heard good things about this one and have seen it pop into the SBTB comments from time to time.
Lady Elinor wants nothing to do with love. Her arranged marriage—and one glorious but ill-fated kiss with a handsome footman—cured her of any romantic notions she’d ever entertained. Now a widow, all Elinor plans to do is rebuild her life—without a man in it. She certainly has no intention of falling for the charming and entirely too tempting American who seems so determined to win her favor…
Stephen Worth is no longer the impoverished footman who lost everything because of the impulsive actions of a reckless young lady. Having reinvented himself long ago, his sole focus now is revenge. He’ll do whatever it takes to extract a pound of flesh from all who wronged him so long ago. And if that means ruining the lovely Elinor in the process? So be it.
But it’s not long before Elinor finds herself drawn to Stephen despite her best intentions—and before Stephen starts to wonder if maybe a life with Elinor is worth more than his revenge. Can Stephen and Elinor overcome their painful pasts and take a second chance on love? Or is the cost of trust simply more than they’re willing to pay?
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 12:00 pm
Dear Purimgifts Author,
Thank you so much for writing me a story! I love all of these things and I know that whatever you write for me, I will love it too.
In general I am a big fan of: chosen family, happy endings, competence, characters being awesome, theology, snark and banter, kindness. I'm happy with anything that feels right to you given the characters at hand. If you want to cross a given fandom over with Megillat Esther, or with Tanakh in general, that is always my jam. (But you don't have to if you don't want to.)
Write something that makes you happy, and it will make me happy.
Please, no betrayal or unquenchable angst or people being awful to each other or grisly death or anything like that. There's enough of that in RL. Thank you kindly.
In closing: yay Purim! Yay you! Thank you so much!
Kass
( My requests: Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal, Parks and Rec, The Naturalist Society by Carrie Vaughn, Murderbot, The Diplomat, Stardew Valley )
Thank you so much for writing me a story! I love all of these things and I know that whatever you write for me, I will love it too.
In general I am a big fan of: chosen family, happy endings, competence, characters being awesome, theology, snark and banter, kindness. I'm happy with anything that feels right to you given the characters at hand. If you want to cross a given fandom over with Megillat Esther, or with Tanakh in general, that is always my jam. (But you don't have to if you don't want to.)
Write something that makes you happy, and it will make me happy.
Please, no betrayal or unquenchable angst or people being awful to each other or grisly death or anything like that. There's enough of that in RL. Thank you kindly.
In closing: yay Purim! Yay you! Thank you so much!
Kass
( My requests: Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal, Parks and Rec, The Naturalist Society by Carrie Vaughn, Murderbot, The Diplomat, Stardew Valley )
Tags:
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 04:00 pm
Well. It’s been a wild ride, and I’m not just talking Shane on Ilya’s dick. Just over a month ago, Heated Rivalry slammed into our collective ids like a Texas-sized asteroid. To call it a hit might be an understatement. It’s a phenomenon. Before episode 3 aired, The Onion wrote a satirical explainer for it, which is possibly the clearest sign that you’ve arrived.
I have never seen a show of any kind, much less a romance novel adaptation, drive so many straight men to tears. People all across Canada and the US started referring to December 25th (or the 26th, if you were on the East Coast) as Cottage Day.
So this is it. The finale. The culmination of eight years of hookups and heartbreak. Did Jacob Tierney manage to stick the landing?
I mean. Does Shane prefer being the hole?
We start with Scott Hunter’s speech as he wins MVP at the MLH Awards. We flip between seeing him onstage vs. on the TV screen at the Kingfisher, the queer sports bar frequented by Kip and co. His message about the importance of seeing somebody like him exist in the public eye—look, there’s so much that can be said about what coming out means. In our society it’s mostly about making ourselves legible to straight people, especially those of us who can be mistaken as straight or cis. But it’s also about providing other queers with a template, too. Of showing those who are like us: we exist. You’re not alone. You are lovable. You will be loved.
Side note: I wrote the paragraphs above almost immediately after the finale, and then holiday stuff swamped me for basically a week and stopped any meaningful attempts at writing, but during that time I read poet Laura Sackton’s incredible meditation on what it means to communicate queerness: Queer Syntax is Infinite. Reading it provided me with the strange experience of realizing that someone had just pulled all my thoughts about this from my head and expressed it more beautifully than I ever could’ve.
So to crib a phrase from Sackton: queerness makes queerness possible. That’s it, that’s the thesis of this entire show, its beating heart, and it’s palpable as we follow Shane and Ilya to their retreat to the cottage.
We start with a nervous Shane waiting for Ilya in the airport parking lot, and Ilya needles Shane about his car before he even buckles his seatbelt. Hey, man has a King of Shittalk crown to keep. Shane, bless his extremely straightforward socks, falls for it and defends the honor of his car (“It’s reliable! Good in the snow!”).
“Okay,” says Ilya sardonically, thus nuking Shane from orbit with a single word.
When they reach the cottage, Shane very gallantly takes Ilya’s carry-on, because clearly he, a man recovering from a broken collarbone, needs to be solicitous of his guest, a man who had bruised ribs a month ago. Ilya is prickly about this, but let’s be real, he’s probably melting and thinking “my beautiful boring man is treating me like princess uwu.”
Once they’re inside, Shane treats Ilya to a healthy helping of that autistic rizz by extolling the house’s many virtues, including the quality of its tapwater (“I have my own well. You can see it, actually!”). What the hell, Shane! Going on and on about how good the tapwater is our thing. Stop appropriating Portlander culture!
Ilya allows Shane to go on for a while until he asks Ilya if he’s thirsty. That proves to be Ilya’s breaking point, because he is, actually, but for dick. Cue an adorable stumbling makeout scene, during which they flagrantly endanger a lamp, and Shane squashes Ilya on the couch.
Picking up a fifteen-pound suitcase: no, your ribs are too delicate 
. Supporting 190ish pounds of muscle and bone directly on the ribcage: totally fine, actually 
.
True to form, they both immediately stick their hands down each other’s pants, and Shane confesses: he’s on a hair trigger, because he’s not slept with anyone else since their last time together (presumably the Boston hookup the day Ilya finds out his father is dead). Ilya confesses the same.
*David Attenborough voice* And here we see an example of mutual dickmatization, a phenomenon not uncommon in a bonded homosexual pair during the earliest stages of courtship. Shane and Ilya are highly unusual in that their courtship has been in progress for eight years—an example of late-onset dickmatization. Quite rare, and a true privilege to witness in the wild.
Shane then bashfully proposes that they hold nothing back during their two-week idyll. Truth and vulnerability; no more hiding in the dark, no more masks. Ilya says he’ll do his best, then pulls their attention back to what’s most important: touching each other’s dicks.
Shane offers a variety of options for guest bedrooms. Ilya, a certified Cunning Bitch, makes his room requirements more and more specific until he demands a bedroom with an ensuite bathroom; naturally, Shane’s is the only bedroom that fits. Shane takes Ilya there and tells him with insincere regret that the bedroom isn’t available; Ilya immediately manhandles him onto the bed. Shane, finally overcome by the spirit of improv that infects every Tierney set, gasps, “Sir, I’m just a bellhop! You can’t treat the staff this way!”
Ilya’s growled threats about how exactly the staff like to be treated after all these years are alas interrupted by Shane reaching for the remote to lower the privacy shades. But we’re in a new era: Ilya is tired of railing his hockey husband in the dark. Boning in natural light only. He grabs the remote from Shane and flicks it over his shoulder.
What follows is an almost shot-for-shot recreation of their first blowjob, which as far as a narrative device goes is incredibly effective and also designed to drive all us obsessive fans out of our minds. Sunlight and open affection and uncovered windows in Shane’s personal sanctuary, vs. darkness and resentful attraction and the anonymity of a hotel. The Shane from episode 2 who felt nervous and exposed about all the windows in the Las Vegas penthouse is now happy to have sex with his beloved in a house with walls that are 80% glass.
Jacob Tierney, you didn’t need to take a sledgehammer to our feelings in quite this way, but then we weep with gratitude and say “thank you, sir, please may we have another,” so that’s on us, I guess.
We next see the boys on the deck where Shane is very dutifully making eight hamburgers because that’s what the recipe said, okay? Ilya asks him why he didn’t just cut the recipe in half, and Shane doesn’t have a ready answer for him, which proves the stereotypes wrong: not all Asians are good at math, okay! (For the record, I am, or I was back when I took math classes, because I’m an Asian stereotype.)
As they eat their burgers, Ilya asks Shane about his parents; the half-Japanese, half-boring chirp is chefkiss 10/10 and also accurate, sry if it makes u mad Shane. Assorted institutions that catch strays include McGill and the New Yorker (for the second time—also, please, the New Yorker is not the New York Times).
The conversation hits a nerve, however, when Ilya asks Shane whether his parents know he’s gay, and why he hasn’t told them. Shane admits that he probably would’ve told them earlier if not for the fact that the only man he’s seen regularly for the last eight years is Ilya. Ilya points out Shane doesn’t need to provide his parents with a list of the guys he’s fucking, which only goes to show he doesn’t know Asian parents, especially mothers.
Cut to the two boys sitting in front of a bonfire. Ilya asks, incredulously, whether he’s just supposed to look at it. Ilya, babe, as another city kid with zero fascination for fire, I feel you.
But Ilya spoke too soon—his nervous system is plenty excited when he hears the eerie call of a loon and thinks it’s a wolf. It’s an iconic comic moment from the book, and it’s executed flawless in the show as well. Sorry, they’re no longer loons, they’re now officially stupid Canadian wolf birds.
Shane asks Ilya about his family, which leads Ilya to talk about his mother, and he drops an emotional bombshell: his mother died of suicide when he was twelve, and he’d been the one to find her. This scene is one of the most devastating in the episode, rivaling the Russian monologue in the underpass: Ilya with his head on Shane’s lap, the planes of his face thrown into relief by firelight, expression stiff and masklike. His voice is dreamy and distant and sad.
Well. If I ever need to think about something that reliably makes me cry, I now have it!
We cut to morning, to the two of them asleep in the same bed for the first time. Ilya in repose looks like an especially gorgeous Cupid—not the fat baby with wings, but the god who drives Psyche to perform impossible tasks to regain his love.
Ilya says, with sleepy affection, “I like you.” Shane says “I like you, too.” This moment—the first sincere declaration between the two of them in a mutually intelligible language with no attempts at denial or hedging—is probably responsible for, bare minimum, twenty different angels getting their wings.
We move to the couch, where Shane and Ilya are playing a hockey video game; Ilya, naturally, picks the Metros, because he’s King Hater. Shane picks the Raiders and states his intention of destroying Ilya.
“I am you,” Ilya reminds him.
“Well, you’re not anything,” Shane shoots back.
“I’m on the cover of the fucking game!” Ilya retorts while holding the cover of the game to his face, proving that one can be a king and queen at the same time.
And then the phone buzzes. Oh look, it’s Hayden! Shane takes the call because he’s a good friend who wants to check in with his best friend about his new baby. This leaves Ilya at loose ends, and you can absolutely trust him to be able to sit for five whole minutes to let Shane to talk in peace.
Hahaha. Hahahahahahaha. Like fuck you can. Ilya immediately enters chaotic bisexual mode and starts grabbing for Shane’s dick. Shane smacks Ilya away as if he’s an exceptionally large, exceptionally beautiful mosquito. This doesn’t deter Ilya in the least.
Shane pauses the call (the way I sweated over his trust of the mute button) and makes a fool’s bargain with Ilya: if his dick gets hard, Ilya gets to do whatever he wants. Shane states, with the false confidence of the damned, that he won’t get hard.
He of course gets hard. Almost immediately.
What ensues is a disaster of a conversation, in which Ilya gives Shane the sloppiest, loudest blowjob of all time while slapping Shane in the face and trying to stick his fingers in his mouth. Shane saves the situation by doing an absolutely wretched job of sounding normal.
If I were Hayden, I would’ve been like, hey buddy, you at a hot dog eating competition or something? Or are you trying to plunge your toilet there? Why are you spanking wet bread dough over and over again? Those are some concerningly weird noises, bro.
Ilya makes Shane come; Shane places way too much faith in the phone mute button again, and then fobs Hayden off with an unconvincing line about needing to answer the door for an Amazon delivery driver. Brohams, it’s Amazon, they drop the package off on your porch. They don’t need concierge service. But comedy transitions into a tender moment: after Shane hangs up, he immediately pounces on Ilya and wonders why that was so hot. Ilya replies with “Because you like being bad,” before shutting up in mortification because he’s realized what a horrible self-own that is.
Shane, seeing Ilya’s expression, immediately reassures him: that’s not what they have. Not for a long time.
This is the exact polar opposite of the girls are fighting. The boys are…talking? Reaching an understanding? Being so sweet to each other that I’m gnawing on drywall?
We next see the boys kicking a soccer ball around outside because this show doesn’t have the budget to show us Shane’s fancy custom gym complete with practice rink that we get in the books. Ilya points out that he’s going to be a free agent next year, which means he can sign up with a different team. Maybe a Canadian team. Apply for Canadian citizenship so he’s not restricted to a Russian passport. Just, you know. Just musing out loud here.
And then it’s nighttime. They’re looking at their phones while sitting across from each other on the couch with legs outstretched. It’s a posture reminiscent of the gym scene from the beginning of episode 1—except this time their feet are touching.
And, look. I’m not a feet guy. I’m not, like, repulsed by them, but I’m no Quentin Tarantino. So when I say that this is THE cutest toe touches of all time, please take it with the seriousness it deserves. This is the good shit. The uncut stuff. These toe touches have everything: affection, quiet domesticity, assurance, comfort in each other’s presence, and also Ilya bringing up a green card marriage with Svetlana out of fucking nowhere wait what the fuck?
Shane, who is the most wholesome man on God’s green earth, asks Ilya why he wouldn’t marry a woman he’s actually in love with. The fear and uncertainty on his face: heartbreaking. The tears that have welled up in his eyes: making me sob like a little baby. Because what Shane’s actually asking Ilya is: why won’t you make your life easier? Find a girl, fall in love, marry. He has the option to do this while remaining true to himself in a way that Shane doesn’t.
Ilya answers in the most Ilya way imaginable. He rhapsodizes about the gorgeous and sexy women he’s surrounded by—women he enjoys, who enjoy him right back. Except he has a problem: he can’t get over a slow, boring hockey player with beautiful freckles and a weak backhand.
At that last, the other shoe finally drops for Shane, and he smiles. “Do you want that problem to go away?”
No, it turns out. Ilya never wants that problem to go away.
Shane, it turns out, is truly Yuna Hollander’s son, because he stays up thinking deep into the night while Ilya sleeps next to him, until he hits upon a plan. He wakes up Ilya and proceeds to lay out a detailed scheme: Ilya transfers to Ottawa to be closer to Montreal, and they start a charity together. Change the narrative (“what is narrative?” asks an adorable sleepy Ilya, and never have I wanted to swaddle a big-ass grown-ass man in cotton batting more) so that when they’re seen in public or spend a lot of time in the summer together, nobody would bat an eye. And then, eventually, when they retire—they can be together.
Ilya asks Shane, a little incredulously, if he’s really thinking this far ahead. Shane responds: Yeah. For this, he does.
Overcome by his love for autistic hyperfixation, Ilya finally does it: he says “I love you” to Shane—first in Russian, and then again in English.
Shane, shocked, responds with “Holy shit.” Ilya, taken aback, attempts to backtrack and begins to say “I mean—” but before he has a chance to come up with plausible cover, Shane says “I love you” right back.
Sunrise. Ilya sits by the lake when Shane approaches with a blanket and coffee. It’s a beautiful mirror of the Tampa Bay scene: same gorgeous orange light, and they’re both sitting by a body of water, but instead of barely daring to touch fingertips in the sand, they’re cuddled up to each other. The landscape shots here (and throughout the episode) are warm-tinted and gauzy—ethereal, even. The sparkles on the water and the sun through the leaves are exaggerated; every shot feels like a beloved old photo, thumbed through a thousand times and a little sun-faded. It has the effect of making these moments feel outside of time. Magical.
We transition to the two boys making love, bathed in more gorgeous light. After, while they’re cuddling, Shane suggests that they name their charity foundation after Ilya’s mother Irina, and donate their proceeds to mental health causes.
Overcome once again, this time by his other weakness, terminal sincerity, Ilya kisses Shane and tells him his mother would’ve loved Shane the way Ilya loves Shane. And then, at Shane’s request, he demonstrates how to say “I love you” in Russian.
It would be inaccurate to say I’m crying again, because that presumes I’ve stopped ever since the green card marriage conversation.
We move on to a different day. The boys frolic at the lake; Shane grumps at Ilya for getting him wet (lol) because what if his phone had been in his pocket? Ilya mentions, in a non-ominous way, that his phone is on the table (which table? Oh, you know. Table) and has been ringing all morning.
As they make their way back up to the cottage, the camera shows an Ominous Silhouette in the kitchen. The boys, unaware of the unwanted visitor, kiss each other right against the glass sliding door.
And then Jason Voorhees emerges from the dark depths of the kitchen and kills our boys. Surprise, this was actually sneak entry in the Friday the Thirteenth franchise. Look, he’s wearing a hockey mask and everything!
I’m kidding! It’s actually Shane’s dad, who’d forgotten his charger at the cottage (lol) and instead of going into town and buying a replacement he moseys on up to his son’s silent retreat and gets an eyeful. OOPS. Overwhelmed by the sheer magnificence of Ilya Rozanov’s naked titties, he turns tail and drives off.
Shane melts down. He’s been lying to his parents all these years—and holy shit, his mother is going to know he’s gay now. His mother is going to know he’s gay and fucking Ilya Rozanov, which might be the one unforgivable crime for the Metros superfan who is Yuna Hollander. He repeats, over and over, that this is his nightmare. Genuinely he might’ve preferred being machete murdered by Jason over this.
Ilya proves to be a rock. He comforts Shane, shakes him a little and tells him maybe it’s time to wake up, and then hugs him and tells him he’s brave. If you want to torture yourself a little (and by little I mean a lot), contemplate how baby Ilya at various times was alone and terrified and wished there was somebody who could hold him and tell him everything would be okay, but had nobody except maybe sometimes Svetlana.
You’re welcome 
.
They head over to Shane’s parents’ house together. Ilya, in yet another king move, wears a Boston Raiders t-shirt.
When Shane suggests that maybe Ilya should stay in the car when they reach his parents’ house, he’s treated to the most bombastic Ilya eyebrows yet. Truly, it took the power of exasperated love to unlock their full power.
Shane then announces himself in a totally normal and not-at-all awkward way as he walks in the door—“Hi, it’s me, Shane.” You know. Just in case his parents forgot the name of their one and only child, who also happens to be a superstar hockey captain. And then Shane and Ilya proceed to stand exactly like the “mom, I frew up” meme.
Comic moments and postures aside, there’s something heartbreaking about how stiff and formal they are in the moment—if you look at Ilya’s face, it’s basically the dissociating-so-hard-I’m-in-outer-space expression he has in episode 2, post-Sochi Olympics loss.
It’s Ilya’s “shit’s about to go down with parents” face, and that sure does make me feel some kind of way!
Yuna and David are understandably confused—Yuna possibly even more confused than David, because it’s not entirely clear that David has told Yuna anything yet. Shane announces that he’s gay, and then attempts to explain Ilya before settling on “I love him,” which only makes Yuna, certified Boston Raiders Hater
, look even more concerned. (Ilya offering up “lovers” as a word to describe what they are and Shane’s immediate, viscerally disgusted reaction is so funny and again, a little sad, because Ilya is trying, okay, that’s the correct word in Russian!)
They sit down at the table as Yuna and David attempt to untangle timelines. They’ve suspected that Shane might be gay for a while (foreshadowed by the episode 4 “Swedish princess? Really?” exchange between David and Yuna at the restaurant) but the love affair with Ilya has clearly come out of left field—ha ha baseball metaphor in hockey show.
Side note: it’s absolutely hilarious that Ilya achieves first name-basis with them seven years faster than he manages with their son, whom he’s been fucking almost this entire time.
Anyway, the conversation that follows has resulted in two god-tier edits: this edit set to the Wii hold music (love that the Garak and Bashir first meeting video has turned this into a legit genre), and this gifset that somehow conveys the exact same vibe without the music.
Yuna asks Shane if he’s ever done the worst thing she can conceive of: letting Ilya win. Shane shoots back with whether she’s ever allowed David to win at cards; her immediate “I’d rather die” is 10/10, no notes. Way to put it in terms your mom can understand, Shane!
Talk turns to their long-term plan for their relationship; when Ilya and Shane admit that they basically plan to keep their love for each other in the dark until they retire, Yuna exclaims “But no, that’s sad,” which gets across a fact that’s been obscured by their cottage getaway: the boys are in love and are able to openly acknowledge that love between themselves, and with a small, select group of people, but they don’t have what Scott and Kip have. They’re no longer trapped in the closet, but they’re still lingering in the shadows.
David, like many boomer parents, is confused by bisexuality, and brings up Ilya’s reputation as a womanizer. Ilya, immodest beast that he is, acknowledges that yeah he’s got game, but also he’s only ever been in love with one person. Shane says the same, and we get a reprise of the shoe taps from episode 1. The context is different, but they’re once again answering difficult questions under uncomfortable circumstances, and in all the ways that matter, they have each other’s backs.
Yuna, overwhelmed, gets up and goes outside. Shane follows her out.
“I need you to know that I did really try,” he tells her, his face stiff with repressed emotion. “I tried really hard, but um. I just really can’t help it. I’m sorry.”
Yuna is immediately horrified and tells him Shane he has nothing to apologize for. In fact, she apologizes to Shane for making him feel as if he couldn’t tell her the truth. She tells him she’s proud of him, and asks him for forgiveness; Shane forgives her. They both tearfully say they love each other.
Anyway, I guess having a break from crying for about fifteen minutes was pretty nice! Good thing I was wearing a really absorbent cardigan with extra-long sleeves while watching! This scene is for all the people out there who’ve all their lives wanted approval AND an apology from their parents but are never going to get either; ha ha ha this definitely didn’t completely flatten me while simultaneously providing me with vicarious catharsis or anything.
When they return inside, they sit down for a pasta lunch while Yuna re-enters manager mode (bless). She’s talking brand deals, messaging, Rolex, Reebok, pow pow pow—and Shane has to tell her to cool her jets because he’s not ready to come out yet much less talk to fuckin’ Speedo or whatever, Jesus Christ, slow down Yuna.
You know who’s not slowing down, though? Ilya. Not with pasta on the table, baby! He eats like an absolute beast, and it is truly one of the best background comic moments of the whole show, right up there with how Shane says “bye bye” in episode 5 while concussed and high off his ass.
Another great comic moment: when Yuna asks Ilya whether he’d really leave Boston for Shane; never has the implied “you whore” been more loudly left unsaid. Loving her son enough to leave his team and move to a different country is all well and good, but where’s the loyalty to the team that’s drafted you, Ilya, you traitorous slut!!! Ilya is completely unoffended by this.
In fact, Ilya is taking all of this in stride, because listen: nobody is being arrested. Nobody is threatening to forcibly out anyone. Shane is not being disowned. What Ilya sees, basically, is an emotionally difficult moment with fundamentally supportive parents who want nothing but the best for their son, even when their son shocks them and hurts them, or does things they disapprove of.
The emotional stakes are fundamentally different for Ilya—not just because these aren’t his parents he’s having to come out to, but because of his existing family dynamics. Disappointing his parents (well, his father) was the default state when his father was still alive; the best Ilya could ever achieve with him was “well, at least you didn’t fuck up this time.” Coming out to his father has never been an option, which is why his wish in episode 5 that his father could have truly known him cuts so deep: not only is it impossible in death, it would have been impossible in life, too. There’s no possible closure for that kind of grief.
And now here’s Shane, with parents who love him and are manifestly proud of him, and who are all-in on supporting him, no matter what. They don’t approve of Ilya? Get in line! That’s his operating assumption, baby!
When the talk turns to Ilya checking in with Scott Hunter post-coming out, Shane slowly slumps until his forehead hits the table. He’s fine! He’s just freaking out. Just needs some chill forehead-on-table time.
Ilya immediately enters gentle dom mode and talks him down—puts a soothing hand on the back of his neck, reminds him that he’s safe, that his family is there, and his boyfriend.
At the word “boyfriend,” Shane raises his head. Boyfriend??
“I mean, yes, I think, probably,” Ilya replies. Everybody applaud: this bozo has finally successfully asked Shane to be his boyfriend, and he did it backwards and while he was having a panic attack. He gets an A, not just for his effort, but for the sheer number of attempts.
As Shane and Ilya finally leave Shane’s parents’ house, the sense of hope is palpable. The Hollanders are heading over to the cottage for dinner, presumably to talk about the future and to get to know Ilya better. There are multiple emphatic please text before coming over reminders, and I love yous.
And then the credits roll.
Y’all. It’s the best end credits I’ve seen for any TV show. Possibly the best end credits I’ve ever seen, full stop. It’s just the two boys driving off into the afternoon, awash in the most incredible golden light, chatting and holding hands and crying and laughing together, while “Bad Things” by Cailin Russo plays, but it’s more than that. They’ve been through so much; they’ve known each other for so long. They’re finally here, together, secure in their love, with the future unfurling like a golden banner before them.
The last shot we see has Shane and Ilya forming the shape of a heart on the screen. (Hilarious bonus: it looks like Shane is yelling out the logo of Accent Aigu Entertainment.)
What an incredible end to an incredible show.
So that’s it. That’s Heated Rivalry. Hands-down the best romance novel adaptation I’ve ever seen; easily my favorite TV show of 2025; possibly my favorite TV show of all time. I’m already counting the days until season 2 drops.
It feels hyperbolic to say that this show has changed me and how I view TV, but it has. When I heard Heated Rivalry was getting adapted, my immediate thought was “okay wow somebody decided to do this on hard mode.”
And I was right, because I think the show never takes the easy way out—not for anything that counts. And by paying so much attention to so many things, they’ve shown us what’s possible. Yes, you can adapt a romance novel, one that’s intensely internal and focused on the sex, and it’ll be good because it sticks to the romance beats and romance structure. Yes, you can communicate internal states on film if you’re clever with the camera, and also hire world-class actors who put in the work. And yes, on-screen sex scenes can feel intimate and passionate and immediate and real without ever showing us the genitals, because what makes the sex hot, especially in a romance, isn’t the mechanics, but what the sex signifies. Yearning, connection, intimacy. Character growth. Love.
Heated Rivalry has set the bar incredibly high for romance adaptations, and has proven that a romance story, told well, has immense appeal. Let’s hope we get more that are this good.
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 03:17 pm
Though by now it's mostly dispersed - still lying in parts.
***
Yesterday had that exasperating thing of asking what I thought was a question for very specific thing (not even for myself, for someone who didn't have access to this particular knowledge-resource) and got, okay, one really good response that was right on point, and several which demonstrated that actual humans are quite capable all by themselves of hallucinating what the question actually was and providing answers entirely tangential and Point Thahr Misst.
***
I have had to do with this campaigner: ‘Women have to fight for what they want’: UK campaigner’s 60-year unfinished battle for abortion rights over archives of campaigns she was involved in (I even, as I recollect, suggested an appropriate riposte - a bouquet of parsley - to some weird hostile message sent to her by the notorious Victoria Gillick.)
Pretty much her contemporary, I don't think I ever met the recently-deceased Molly Parkin, but I certainly read various of her writings, including most of her various 'bonk-busters' - I'm not sure they entirely fit that category - which seem to have fallen out of print, at least, they do not seem to have enjoyed e-revival.
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 07:25 am
Rogan: We stopped being able to access our desktop computer yesterday. Working on fixing it, but between this and email problems, getting a hold of us online will be difficult until we sort this out. I know this blog is blocked to Mississippi folks but right now it’s the easiest thing for is to access; the broken old smartphone we are using can’t access ANY of our emails.
Once again, BSOD lumbers out of its case, grizzled and twenty years old, to bail my ass out, because at least it can do all my offline stuff.
Those of you with our phone, please use it.
EDIT: desktop and online stuff restored! Still working on email.
Once again, BSOD lumbers out of its case, grizzled and twenty years old, to bail my ass out, because at least it can do all my offline stuff.
Those of you with our phone, please use it.
EDIT: desktop and online stuff restored! Still working on email.
Tags:
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 09:14 am
I updated my sticky post with: PSA: if you get an email out of the blue that is supposedly from me, offering to help you with marketing or other publisher services, or asking for money, it is not me, it is a scammer. Also, if you see me on Facebook or Threads or XTwitter, that's not me either.
This is a very common scam now, one of the many scams aimed at aspiring and new writers.
***
I'm still sick, ugh
***
Nice article on Queen Demon on the Daily KOS:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/1/5/2361356/-The-Language-of-the-Night-Martha-Wells-takes-on-colonization
One of Wells’ most compelling gifts as a writer is the way she interrogates trauma, and trauma is very much in evidence in her recent works, especially in both Murderbot and The Rising World. Where the Murderbot stories form an enslavement narrative as personal journey and healing, the Rising World series applies a wider cultural lens to trauma and loss.
Kai has seen his world ripped apart twice: the way to the underneath, the world of his birth, is shut off; the world of his above existence, the world of the Saredi, is also gone, both of them murdered by the Hierarchs. (You could argue that the third traumatizing loss-of-world is losing Bashasa, but that lies in the gap between past and present narratives.) In the past narrative, a vanquished Kai himself is imprisoned in the Summer Halls until Bashasa frees him and he joins the ad hoc rebellion.
This is a very common scam now, one of the many scams aimed at aspiring and new writers.
***
I'm still sick, ugh
***
Nice article on Queen Demon on the Daily KOS:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/1/5/2361356/-The-Language-of-the-Night-Martha-Wells-takes-on-colonization
One of Wells’ most compelling gifts as a writer is the way she interrogates trauma, and trauma is very much in evidence in her recent works, especially in both Murderbot and The Rising World. Where the Murderbot stories form an enslavement narrative as personal journey and healing, the Rising World series applies a wider cultural lens to trauma and loss.
Kai has seen his world ripped apart twice: the way to the underneath, the world of his birth, is shut off; the world of his above existence, the world of the Saredi, is also gone, both of them murdered by the Hierarchs. (You could argue that the third traumatizing loss-of-world is losing Bashasa, but that lies in the gap between past and present narratives.) In the past narrative, a vanquished Kai himself is imprisoned in the Summer Halls until Bashasa frees him and he joins the ad hoc rebellion.
Tags:
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 03:00 pm
This HaBO request is from Donna, who wants to find this romance:
I need a refresh about a romance novel. Note: I have no time frame of publication.
The couple have a passionate and tumultuous relationship. They have their first child, a boy, who can’t sleep and only cries.
They don’t know why.
Someone asks what are they doing differently.
They swore to never fight in front of the kid.
What?!
He’s heard you arguing from the moment he grew ears! And now you’ve gone all pacific on him? Of course he can’t sleep! Something’s wrong with his parents.
So they start fighting again and baby’s happily dead to the world.
Let’s HaBO!
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 05:52 am
Happy ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
hlh_shortcuts reveal day! It was actually yesterday but I was out of the house and away from my phone the entire day.
This year, I wrote for![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
raine, which was a delight but also a challenge because Raine_Wynd has betaed for me for the last several years. :D
Follow The Gleam (21043 words) by hafital
Chapters: 12/12
Fandom: Highlander: The Series
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Ceirdwyn (Highlander) & Matthew McCormick
Characters: Ceirdwyn (Highlander), Matthew McCormick, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Weird Immortal Happenings, Canon-Typical Violence, Historical Inaccuracy, K'Immie of the week, Literary References & Allusions
Summary:
( Some story writing notes below the cut )
hlh_shortcuts reveal day! It was actually yesterday but I was out of the house and away from my phone the entire day. This year, I wrote for
raine, which was a delight but also a challenge because Raine_Wynd has betaed for me for the last several years. :D Follow The Gleam (21043 words) by hafital
Chapters: 12/12
Fandom: Highlander: The Series
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Ceirdwyn (Highlander) & Matthew McCormick
Characters: Ceirdwyn (Highlander), Matthew McCormick, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Weird Immortal Happenings, Canon-Typical Violence, Historical Inaccuracy, K'Immie of the week, Literary References & Allusions
Summary:
"You are Matthew of Salisbury, and you are an Immortal."
* * *
The story of how Matthew and Ceirdwyn met.
( Some story writing notes below the cut )
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 09:13 am
Doubtful as it may be under present conditions to find encouragement in anything of military origin unless it's the USS Princeton in 1844, about twenty-seven seconds into the two minutes' patriotism of Warship Week Appeal (1942) I cracked up.
Two hundred feet exactly of no-credits 35 mm, the object in question is a trailer produced for the Ministry of Information, essentially the same concept as the film tags of WWI: a micro-dose of propaganda appended to a newsreel as part of a larger campaign, in this case a sort of public information skit in which it is supposed that Noël Coward on the Denham sets of In Which We Serve (1942) is approached by Leslie Howard, slouching characteristically on with his hands in his pockets and his scarf twisted carelessly label-out, anxious to discuss a problem of National Savings. "How do you think we can make an appeal so it won't quite seem like an appeal?" With limited screen time to realize their meta conceit, the two actor-directors get briskly down to explaining the mechanics of the scheme to the British public with the shot-reverse-shot patter of a double act on the halls, but the trailer has already dropped its most memorable moment ahead of all its instructions and slogans, even the brief time it rhymes. Diffident as one end of his spectrum of nerd heroes, Howard apologizes for the interruption, excuses it with its relevance to naval business, and trails off with the usual form of words, "I'm sure you won't mind—" to which Coward responds smoothly, "I'm delighted to see you. And I know perfectly well—as we rehearsed it so carefully—that you've come to interview me about Warships Week." He doesn't even bother to hold for a laugh as Leslie snorts around his unlit cigarette. It doesn't all feel like a bit. The interjection may or may not have been scripted, but Coward's delivery is lethally demure and his scene partner's reaction looks genuine; for one, it's much less well-timed or dignified than the smile he uses to support a later, slightly obligatory joke about the income tax, which makes it that much more endearing. It's funny to me for a slant, secondhand reason, too, that has nothing to do with the long friendship between the two men or further proof of Noël's deadpan for the ages: a dancer with whom my mother once worked had been part of the company of Howard's 1936 Hamlet and like all the other small parts, whenever her back was to the audience and the Hollywood star was stuck facing the footlights, she tried to corpse him. One night she finally succeeded. Consequently and disproportionately, watching him need the length of a cigarette-lighting to get his face back, I thought of her story which I hadn't in years and may have laughed harder than Leslie Howard deserved. If it's any consolation to him, the way his eyes close right up like a cat's is beautiful, middle-aged and underslept. It promotes the illusion that a real person might say a phrase like "in these grim days when we've got our backs to the wall" outside of an address to the nation.
Not much consolation to the MOI, Warship Week Appeal accomplishes its goal in that while it doesn't mention for posterity that a community would adopt the ship it funded, the general idea of the dearth of "ships—more ships and still more ships" and the communal need to pay down for them as efficiently as possible comes through emphatically. It's so much more straightforward, in fact, than I associate with either of its differently masked actors, I'd love to know who wrote it, but the only other information immediately available is that the "Ronnie" whom Coward is conferring with when Howard courteously butts in is Ronald Neame. Given the production dates of their respective pictures, it's not difficult to pretend that Howard just popped over from the next sound stage where he was still shooting The First of the Few (1942), although he is clearly in star rather than director mode because even if he's in working clothes, he is conspicuously minus his glasses. What can I tell you? I got it from the Imperial War Museum and for two minutes and thirteen seconds it cheered me up. Lots of things to look at these days could do much, much worse. This interview brought to you by my appealing backers at Patreon.
Two hundred feet exactly of no-credits 35 mm, the object in question is a trailer produced for the Ministry of Information, essentially the same concept as the film tags of WWI: a micro-dose of propaganda appended to a newsreel as part of a larger campaign, in this case a sort of public information skit in which it is supposed that Noël Coward on the Denham sets of In Which We Serve (1942) is approached by Leslie Howard, slouching characteristically on with his hands in his pockets and his scarf twisted carelessly label-out, anxious to discuss a problem of National Savings. "How do you think we can make an appeal so it won't quite seem like an appeal?" With limited screen time to realize their meta conceit, the two actor-directors get briskly down to explaining the mechanics of the scheme to the British public with the shot-reverse-shot patter of a double act on the halls, but the trailer has already dropped its most memorable moment ahead of all its instructions and slogans, even the brief time it rhymes. Diffident as one end of his spectrum of nerd heroes, Howard apologizes for the interruption, excuses it with its relevance to naval business, and trails off with the usual form of words, "I'm sure you won't mind—" to which Coward responds smoothly, "I'm delighted to see you. And I know perfectly well—as we rehearsed it so carefully—that you've come to interview me about Warships Week." He doesn't even bother to hold for a laugh as Leslie snorts around his unlit cigarette. It doesn't all feel like a bit. The interjection may or may not have been scripted, but Coward's delivery is lethally demure and his scene partner's reaction looks genuine; for one, it's much less well-timed or dignified than the smile he uses to support a later, slightly obligatory joke about the income tax, which makes it that much more endearing. It's funny to me for a slant, secondhand reason, too, that has nothing to do with the long friendship between the two men or further proof of Noël's deadpan for the ages: a dancer with whom my mother once worked had been part of the company of Howard's 1936 Hamlet and like all the other small parts, whenever her back was to the audience and the Hollywood star was stuck facing the footlights, she tried to corpse him. One night she finally succeeded. Consequently and disproportionately, watching him need the length of a cigarette-lighting to get his face back, I thought of her story which I hadn't in years and may have laughed harder than Leslie Howard deserved. If it's any consolation to him, the way his eyes close right up like a cat's is beautiful, middle-aged and underslept. It promotes the illusion that a real person might say a phrase like "in these grim days when we've got our backs to the wall" outside of an address to the nation.
Not much consolation to the MOI, Warship Week Appeal accomplishes its goal in that while it doesn't mention for posterity that a community would adopt the ship it funded, the general idea of the dearth of "ships—more ships and still more ships" and the communal need to pay down for them as efficiently as possible comes through emphatically. It's so much more straightforward, in fact, than I associate with either of its differently masked actors, I'd love to know who wrote it, but the only other information immediately available is that the "Ronnie" whom Coward is conferring with when Howard courteously butts in is Ronald Neame. Given the production dates of their respective pictures, it's not difficult to pretend that Howard just popped over from the next sound stage where he was still shooting The First of the Few (1942), although he is clearly in star rather than director mode because even if he's in working clothes, he is conspicuously minus his glasses. What can I tell you? I got it from the Imperial War Museum and for two minutes and thirteen seconds it cheered me up. Lots of things to look at these days could do much, much worse. This interview brought to you by my appealing backers at Patreon.
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Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 08:52 am
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 08:40 am
I haven’t done this year-end meme in several years, but this year seems like a good time to bring it back.
1. Your main fandom of the year? Murder, She Wrote. Out of 21 fic, 12 of them were in this fandom (solely, or as a crossover), plus the 14 ficlets I wrote forhalfamoon.
( more back here )
1. Your main fandom of the year? Murder, She Wrote. Out of 21 fic, 12 of them were in this fandom (solely, or as a crossover), plus the 14 ficlets I wrote for
halfamoon.( more back here )
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Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 07:51 am
Snowflake Challenge 3: Fandom Love Letter
You know, I struggled with this one, because I've already said so much before. Then it hit me.
To The Fandoms I've Only Observed
I was very lost when it came to LOST
An island, a guy named Locke
"Stop comparing it to Survivor, I beg of you"
Every day saw new userpics, tags, memes
Then cries of rage when the final episode aired
I listened and nodded in sympathy
Supernatural: This one I sometimes watched
Hopping in the Chevy Impala
With Sam and Dean
Bobby, John, Castiel
I kept a quiet distance, true
Yet even I shipped Destiel
I learned it was Downton Abbey, not Downtown Abby
(Sweet summer souls)
Stranger Things happened, and the internet
Excitedly gabbed and wrote about Mike, Will, Steve and El
MCU took center stage, with its heroes and villains
What We Do in the Shadows remained a mystery to me
But it certainly sounded entertaining
No, these fandoms are not mine
They may be one day - but also
May never be of further interest
Yet I have a soft spot for them
Or at least, what I know of them
I love ships I've never set foot on
I love blorbos I've never met
I love that I can know these people
The joy, excitement, heat is infectious
Making me smile, giving me light
It's a pleasure to come along for the ride
You know, I struggled with this one, because I've already said so much before. Then it hit me.
The poem below isn't my best poetry. It's more vibes I'm going for.
To The Fandoms I've Only Observed
I was very lost when it came to LOST
An island, a guy named Locke
"Stop comparing it to Survivor, I beg of you"
Every day saw new userpics, tags, memes
Then cries of rage when the final episode aired
I listened and nodded in sympathy
Supernatural: This one I sometimes watched
Hopping in the Chevy Impala
With Sam and Dean
Bobby, John, Castiel
I kept a quiet distance, true
Yet even I shipped Destiel
I learned it was Downton Abbey, not Downtown Abby
(Sweet summer souls)
Stranger Things happened, and the internet
Excitedly gabbed and wrote about Mike, Will, Steve and El
MCU took center stage, with its heroes and villains
What We Do in the Shadows remained a mystery to me
But it certainly sounded entertaining
Now Heated Rivalry's the talk of the town
Fans declaring their love for Ilya and Shane
We mustn't forget Scott and Kip's smoothies
Hockey might be on ice, but there's plenty of heat
According to the folks on tumblr
No, these fandoms are not mine
They may be one day - but also
May never be of further interest
Yet I have a soft spot for them
Or at least, what I know of them
I love ships I've never set foot on
I love blorbos I've never met
I love that I can know these people
The joy, excitement, heat is infectious
Making me smile, giving me light
It's a pleasure to come along for the ride
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Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 07:19 am
I hit Price Chopper and the Pharmacy while I was downtown and did some drive-thru banking on the way home. I did a load of laundry, hand-washed dishes, emptied the dishwasher, went for several walks with Pip and the dogs, hard-boiled eggs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, placed some online orders, and scooped kitty litter. We had leftover lasagna for supper.
I finished my book! I watched some HGTV (Hometown is back!) and an ep of Secrets of the Zoo. Dr. Pol was my evening background tv.
This was day 1 of trying to eat a little bit better and making sure I went on walks instead of slacking. One thing I purchased to try was the Hood brand cottage cheese already mixed with peaches. It was awful. Tasted like they added a lot of sugar to it. I guess I'll be buying a whole container of cottage cheese and a can of diced peaches and making my own again, instead. (My concern was that I wouldn't finish it and it would go bad, but that concern pales in the face of how much yuck I felt putting that other stuff in my mouth.)
Temps started out at 18.9(F) and reached 23.9. We got about an inch of snow over the course of the day.
Mom Update:
Mom sounded really good when I talked to her. ( cutting because I spilled some emotion )
I finished my book! I watched some HGTV (Hometown is back!) and an ep of Secrets of the Zoo. Dr. Pol was my evening background tv.
This was day 1 of trying to eat a little bit better and making sure I went on walks instead of slacking. One thing I purchased to try was the Hood brand cottage cheese already mixed with peaches. It was awful. Tasted like they added a lot of sugar to it. I guess I'll be buying a whole container of cottage cheese and a can of diced peaches and making my own again, instead. (My concern was that I wouldn't finish it and it would go bad, but that concern pales in the face of how much yuck I felt putting that other stuff in my mouth.)
Temps started out at 18.9(F) and reached 23.9. We got about an inch of snow over the course of the day.
Mom Update:
Mom sounded really good when I talked to her. ( cutting because I spilled some emotion )
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 11:14 pm
Hello Purimgifts Writer!
Thanks for signing up to this exchange and offering to write for me. I’ve included a couple of suggestions for things I’d love to see but those are all just if you want extra guidance. Feel free to do whatever you like but please don’t include ships I haven’t listed. ^^;;
In general, I like dark, angsty, emotionally-heavy pieces. Or comedy or found family!
If you're writing ships, I'm not interested in fluff, but I love unhealthy relationships, obsession, addiction, emotional manipulation, blackmail, guilt, coercion, abuse of authority and hate-flirting/black rom.
I also really like AUs, but please no mundane AUs (office, flower shop, coffee shop, no powers, etc). I prefer AUs of the canon, like what-if X happened or didn't happen.
Outsider POV or minor character POV is awesome!
DO NOT WANT:
mistreatment of a mentally disabled person
animal abuse/death
A/B/O
age play
sexualization of children
soulmates
reincarnation
pregnancy
polyamory
heavy religious themes (mentions are okay, please not an entire thing about religion though)
office/coffeeshop AUs
Scholomance - Naomi Novik:
SHIPS: Gwen/Ophelia, El/Orion, Aadhya/El, Liu/El, Liesel/El, Chloe/Aadhya, Liu/Chloe, Liesel/Chloe, Balthasar/Ophelia,
Aadhya (Scholomance) - I love her and her family and everything about her. Write me anything you want. Only please avoid her dead sister, that’ll wreck me.
Chloe Rasmussen - Chloe crushing on El a little, Chloe dating Aadhya or Liu, Chloe joining in actively on the raising of the Golden Enclaves, Chloe’s multiple attempts to befriend Orion when they were younger out of real gratitude and the failure thereof?
Liu: The little story about her and her cousins was the cutest. I'd really some more family stuff with her and the freshman twins, maybe their POV on her and El? I ship Liu/El hard too, so an AU where El is a malificer and Liu teams up with her would be great, or something where Liu befriends her because she is taking the malificer path and thinks El is too, but then realizes her mistake but by then it's too late because she's in love?
Galadriel "El" Higgins - I love AUs! Maybe where Ophelia finds Galadriel young and/or where El is raised with the Sharmas? Where she does go evil? Where she’s the school hero from the start and Orion is weird loner with a mal-obsession? Where she actually does show off her powers (accidentally?) in the first year and everyone is terrified except Orion and her original squad?
Liesel - future fic where she DOES take down the Domina of Munich and her father and her father’s wife! Doesn’t have to be death, I am fine with exposure and shaming. I just want to see Liesel get some vengeance for her mother.
Ophelia Rhys-Lake - I ship her with Gwen, if you feel like writing that! If not, I’d love scenes of her seeing Orion grow up and realizing he’s not right, or AUs where she gets her hand on El and raises her alongside Orion or warps her into a maleficer only to have El take her down anyway.
Temeraire - Naomi Novik
SHIPS: ...I'm mostly ship neutral here, I just like gen with the dragons. The dragons are my favorite characters, I'll be honest, and their interactions with their humans or each other.
Iskierka — I LOVE HER, SHE’S SO COOL. Her bickering with Temeraire is always hilarious and also her dressing up of Granby. Something that hits both of those, or her being a matchmaker with Temeraire, or jealous of Perscitia getting so much attention/time from Temeraire, would be great!
Perscitia is best dragon, no arguments allowed. I’d love to see people sucking up to her to try to become her captain and Perscitia shutting them down. Or friendship fic with Lady Allendale would be awesome!
Or Pemberton!Emily Roland: another admiral? YES PLEASE. Or maybe even higher in rank? I love her to pieces.
Alice Pemberton - Okay, this is ridiculous, but hear me out -- Pemberton as an aviator or a Member of Parliament. I would LOVE to see her getting some power and cutting people dead with her perfect manners and austerity. Especially working as a team with Perscitia!
Animorphs:
SHIPS: Rachel/Tobias
Anything Rachel-centric. I love Rachel so much. I love her fierceness, I love her courage, I love her bleak self-knowledge and how she charges ahead anyway. She is my favorite character, forever and ever, and her death shattered me as a teenager. I would love some pieces where she gets to be happy, maybe female friendship with Melissa or Cassie or even Toby?
Nothing set post her death, please. Let her live, let her be happy, gods, her death still guts me.
- Rachel/Tobias is my OTP so please don't split them up.
Stranger Things:
SHIPS: None, please. I just need Kali-centric fic so badly.
She was so badass -- she broke out alone, she ran her own gang, she got revenge and fought so bravely -- and then she DIED and I will never ever stop being mad about it.
I'd love fics set at any point of her life, something that captures how brave she was and how unflinchingly she faced the truth of what must happen for the world to be safe. AU where she and El both survived, then ran away together would be cool, or when she was a tiny kidlet, or her brave escape, or finding the other members of her gang. Anything as long as Kali's alive.
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 12:00 pm
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Admin Post: GYWO 2026 Pledges: Ten More Days
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 04:37 am
There are 10 DAYS to make your pledge for getyourwordsout 2026. We will not accept any pledges made after January 15. You MUST PLEDGE to be a member. (If you are listed on the 2026 Writers list, you’re good to go.)
To pledge, you must fill out the GYWO 2026 Pledge Form found on the Pledges & Requirements post. (Linked below!)
Have you pledged?
Read the Pledges & Requirements post before committing to your writing goals for the year & then fill out the GYWO 2026 Pledge Form (linked at the post!)
Have you requested membership to the Dreamwidth community?
Request Membership
Have you confirmed your pledge was processed?
Check the 2026 Writers list
getyourwordsout 2026. We will not accept any pledges made after January 15. You MUST PLEDGE to be a member. (If you are listed on the 2026 Writers list, you’re good to go.)To pledge, you must fill out the GYWO 2026 Pledge Form found on the Pledges & Requirements post. (Linked below!)
Have you pledged?
Read the Pledges & Requirements post before committing to your writing goals for the year & then fill out the GYWO 2026 Pledge Form (linked at the post!)
Have you requested membership to the Dreamwidth community?
Request Membership
Have you confirmed your pledge was processed?
Check the 2026 Writers list
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Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 09:00 am
Happy New Year!
It’s a short and sweet release week for books on our radar, though things do beef up as we progress through the month.
What books coming out this week are on your TBR pile? Let us know in the comments!
Only On Gameday
Author: Kristen Callihan
Released: January 6, 2026 by MIRA
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romance
An ALL-NEW sports romance from New York Times bestseller Kristen Callihan with high emotional stakes and a slow-burn, steamy heat level.
A “fake” fiancée is just the trick to help a bad-boy football player clean up his image. Trouble is, there’s nothing fake about the way August feels about his “pretend” fiancée.
August Luck is on the brink of greatness: top NFL draft pick, a great team, multiple corporate sponsorships, but he keeps messing it up with bonehead moves. After his latest shenanigan goes viral, everyone is telling him to get his act together.
Penelope Morrow grew up with August. Their mothers were best friends. Unfortunately, Pen always fled the room with a look of disapproval on her pretty face whenever August was around. But Pen has a problem too: she inherited her grandparent’s house and can’t pay the estate tax.
On a whim, August decides a temporary public engagement is the solution to both their problems—he’ll pay her taxes, and she’ll help his image. Win-win.
But, when it comes to Pen, nothing is certain or safe. Because Pen isn’t so reserved anymore. This time, she’s smiling back at him. And he likes it. A lot. Will they each survive the ruse unscathed?
Game on…
Kristen Callihan has returned to sports romance!
Remember That Day
Author: Mary Balogh
Released: January 6, 2026 by Berkley
Genre: Historical: European, Romance
Series: Ravenswood #5
A soldier and a pacifist make the unlikeliest of pairs, but when attraction sparks, there’s nothing that can prevent their love from igniting.
Winifred Cunningham, the adopted daughter of a portrait painter, hopes that her new close friend, Owen Ware, will soon ask for her hand in marriage. But when Owen introduces Winifred to his elder brother Nicholas, the late Earl of Stratton’s second son, the slow burn of attraction between them begins.
Nicholas is a cavalry colonel—a hardened soldier whom Winifred at first despises. She finds him intimidating and cruel-looking, while he finds her strange and startlingly forthright. During a summer at Ravenswood, however, Nicholas and Winifred are unwillingly thrown together on several occasions, until they realize the passion that drives their disagreements is not due to dislike—it is because of attraction.
Winifred still awaits Owen’s proposal, and Nicholas has made his intention to marry his commanding officer’s daughter quite clear. With allegiances to other marriage prospects and brotherly bonds at risk, not to mention the age difference between them, Nicholas and Winifred know it would be wholly improper to pursue a romance…
And yet, romance is irresistible. Perhaps even inevitable.
New Mary Balogh! This is book five in the Ravenswood series.
The Storm
Author: Rachel Hawkins
Released: January 6, 2026 by St. Martin's Press
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
St. Medard’s Bay, Alabama is famous for three things: the deadly hurricanes that regularly sweep into town, the Rosalie Inn, a century-old hotel that’s survived every one of those storms, and Lo Bailey, the local girl infamously accused of the murder of her lover, political scion Landon Fitzroy, during Hurricane Marie in 1984.
When Geneva Corliss, the current owner of the Rosalie Inn, hears a writer is coming to town to research the crime that put St. Medard’s Bay on the map, she’s less interested in solving a whodunnit than in how a successful true crime book might help the struggling inn’s bottom line. But to her surprise, August Fletcher doesn’t come to St. Medard’s Bay alone. With him is none other than Lo Bailey herself. Lo says she’s returned to her hometown to clear her name once and for all, but the closer Geneva gets to both Lo and August, the more she wonders if Lo is actually back to settle old scores.
As the summer heats up and another monster storm begins twisting its way towards St. Medard’s Bay, Geneva learns that some people can be just as destructive—and as deadly—as any hurricane, and that the truth of what happened to Landon Fitzroy may not be the only secret Lo is keeping…
Rachel Hawkins returns with another thriller.
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 08:48 am
Useful to have diplomatic relations
Leda Hacker, in guise as Larry Hooper, took a final look around the studio of the daguerreotypist Vohle. Fancied that she had investigated all the possible hidey-holes where he might conceal evidence that 'twas he behind this matter of acquiring evidence for extortion. Had even, proceeding very delicate, gone about probing the insides of his daguerreotype machinery – for the industrious apprentice of that prime ken-cracker Laffen was up to all the tricks! But found naught but a very great deal of saucy pictures and stereoscopic slides.
Examining these as closely as she might with her dark lantern, while ensuring that no ray of light would draw unwanted attention, she was like to think that all those depicted were volunteers that had been very carefully posed. For her own experience of having been took – an entire chaste portrait, as an excuse for visiting the studio during daylight hours – had shown her that while mayhap 'twas not quite the like of sitting to an artist to be painted, the subject was required to keep still for what seemed an entire tedious while.
No, while she fancied the Vice Society might have some concerns over his trade – though as these things went, Leda fancied that he had what one might consider a very artistic touch. One did not pass as much time as she did with Lady Bexbury and her circles without acquiring some notion of how such matters might be judged! –
But unless he had some other lair, this was a false trail, and she might even, perchance, commend Vohle’s services to dear Bert that he seemed entire suitable to record Bert himself as the Duchess of Clerkenwell Green and other members of his sisterhood decked in their finery.
Well, time to hook it.
The first thing to do, after stowing certain tools of the trade in a satchel, was to very carefully wipe the blackening from her face, just as Laffen had taught her, and check in her little hand mirror, that was of all sorts of use.
Then, pulling her cap into a jaunty angle, here was Larry Hooper went further into Seven Dials to go take a glass or so in Black Tom’s, greet old acquaintance, see what Tom’s missus was cooking –
So Larry stepped in to the bustle of that tavern, and the two parrots squawked and Poll said somewhat exceeding coarse, while Zanty added somewhat that being in Greek, one could not tell whether 'twas coarse or not. There were several young swells that supposed they was seeing life here looked very jealous at that mark of familiarity – Larry gave 'em a brief glance.
Hah: young Rich Osberton and that set that had used to hang about him and Mr Peter Reveley afore he married Osberton’s sister. No great harm in 'em.
Tom had a glass of gin – the good genever! – already poured for Larry, and remarked that we was quietish the night, dared say Mr Barron would look in later.
Came bustling out Tom’s missus, with a plate of – la, was that pierogi? – yes, here she was telling the tale of how Mrs Barron, Ludmilla Kaminski that was, had been teaching her the art, and she fancied these had turned out well but would appreciate Mr Hooper’s verdict –
Larry took one, and popped it into his mouth, chewed with a savouring expression and declared that she had quite got the touch of it – perchance not quite yet to that of Mrs Barron, but excellent good – and would take the plate –
Looked around and there were very few empty spots –
Hah, will go make civil to Thad –
For there was Thad Mallen, one of Nat Barron’s chief henchmen, sitting alone, looking morose. In a dangerously louring way, for Thad was reckoned not one to meddle with.
So Larry went over there with platter and mug in hand, greeted Thad, that started, and nodded perchance afore had give the matter any thought, so Larry sat down.
Thad went punch him rather half-hearted upon the shoulder in greeting – Thad and Jem and others of Nat’s boys that had been wont to know Leda as Bet Bloggs in the days when she had walked the streets of Seven Dials were a deal happier to treat her as Larry rather than Leda. Sure they had come to consider Bet a prime confederate at that time when Art Colley and Rodge Hossen had been endeavouring a coup against Nat Barron, but even did they not know of Nat’s later design to wed Bet, having noted what a useful creature she was, there was a lingering uneasiness after she had fled Seven Dials at the prospect.
But here was Larry, that came put certain business in the way of Grigori the pawnbroker and fence – for there was Matt Johnson’s agency commissioned to recover certain items of sparkle, no questions asked, for reward – and various other matters where 'twas entire useful to have diplomatic relations with Nat –
Larry was entirely the accepted habitué of Nat’s manor!
How now, Thad, how goes it? Sure, let me refill your glass – waving to Tom, that came very brisk –
Thad groaned, and enquired how that prime example of womanhood, Mrs Halloran, did? Was that wretch her husband still in life?
Larry suppressed a grin. For some while now Thad had been, one might only say, quite desperate in love, with Tess Halloran, of the Matt Johnson agency. Had encountered her when commissioned to present in the character of a concerned male relative when her husband in the penitentiary had been give out desperate sick and calling for her, that had been suspected some ruse. But whatever he had aimed at, the sight of Thad was like to put a halt to his plans!
Had not merely subsequently escorted Tess about to various places of entertainment, but had, through Larry, offered that there was ways, even within penitentiary walls, of disposing of her husband. That had, aside from his wicked embezzling ways, been a horrid cruel beast to his wife, that the law of the land considered a deal lesser matter.
O, entirely in health – she was in Yorkshire at present about certain cases – the wretch still lingered alas –
Thad renewed the offer that did one have the right acquaintance, 'twas no matter at all to arrange – he made a throat-cutting gesture –
This was, Larry understood, a very chivalrous offer – would be drawing upon as 'twere stored up credit – might require some matter in due course of reciprocation –
However, one had to wonder whether Tess was at all inclined to tie herself up – in hallowed or unhallowed union – with a man again. Her husband had been such a brute that must give a woman pause.
But – leaning back, looking at Thad, that never looked aught but grim – while was very noted for his ways of dealing out lessons on Nat Barron’s behalf, and occasional dispatching fellows, did not recall that he was one that was particular given to being violent to women except, it might be, in that line of duty.
Could look into that –
Should go make civil to Lil and Joan, am I in these parts, said Larry, rising. For her old friends from the street-walking days would very like know somewhat of that!
So he walked through the streets and alleyways, nodding to this one and that and occasional stopping for rather more in the way of greeting, until he reached the ‘ccommodation house that Lil and Joan now managed, instead of walking the streets. And had rose to be considered among Nat Barron’s counsellors in matters about women – Nat had come to apprehend that whores learnt a deal of men when they were about their trade, that might be most material to his interests!
Found Joan a-sitting at the entrance – it was a great comfort to see how well Joan looked these days, now that she did not have to be on the streets in all weather – went spend some weeks at the seaside in Dolly Mutton’s Home in the summer – been looked over by a proper physician – 'twas not consumption as they had feared but not dared speak of, but a persistent bronchitis, that this new way of life greatly ameliorated.
No Lil?
Joan grinned. Law, 'tis the time that peeler of hers gets off duty – and even is he now advanced to sergeant –
Larry whistled.
– still has the greatest notion to Lil, 'tis quite the regular thing these days.
Larry grinned back and said, must come very useful! And asked more generally after business, as was only civil, before proceeding to the question of whether there was aught known to his detriment of Thad’s behaviour towards women.
Joan pursed her lips and looked thoughtful before saying that sure Thad’s looks did him no favours –
Indeed the picture of a villainous fellow in a melodrama!
– and all know his trade, though there must be more to him than that, does Nat hold him in such high esteem –
Indeed so! Thad had been a very useful confederate against Art and Rodge, more than one might have guessed.
– but there has never been any trouble with any of the girls – and was there anything at all about these parts I cannot fathom it being kept secret –
Larry nodded. So I might give him a good character to this lady he takes a notion to!
Joan guffawed and remarked that he was also said exceptional neat at his job.
So 'tis give out!
Mayhap Thad was give to being somewhat dour but from Tess’s telling of it, her husband had shown all charm and bonhomie, very persuasive in the matter of selling spurious railway shares, and had been an entire brute behind closed doors.
It was not so late that she might not take an omnibus to Clorinda’s pretty house, where she found her dear love still up – sure Sophy would chide – and in somewhat of a fret, with a letter in her hand.
Here it appears I must to Shropshire about some business over the mine, and thus disturb the solitary retreat of that agreeable lady Miss Kirkstall –
Leda went to kiss her and assure her that her presence would make that retreat entire perfection. And that she dared say that Miss Kirkstall was already being invited to tea-parties – to dine quietly as befitted her mourning condition – &C – by what constituted the society in those parts.
Oh, indeed you put it aright! La, I am a foolish Clorinda. A new face is ever welcome there.
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 07:55 am
Warm as life | Kaijuu No. 8 | Kafka/Reno/Narumi, Reno/Iharu, Kafka/Hoshina | 7.3k words (WIP, 4/7) | rated M
Summary: The new threat posed by No. 9 weighs heavily on everyone. Under these circumstances, emotions run high and what starts as a way of relieving stress can easily bloom into unexpected feelings. Some people find that easier to admit than others.
Read it on Dreamwidth or AO3.
Summary: The new threat posed by No. 9 weighs heavily on everyone. Under these circumstances, emotions run high and what starts as a way of relieving stress can easily bloom into unexpected feelings. Some people find that easier to admit than others.
Read it on Dreamwidth or AO3.
Tags:
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 01:54 am
For 2025, I posted 8 fics and one WIP in progress, which is a pretty good output for me for recent years.
( The fics )
Meanwhile, I have some long WIPs I'm working on, even aside from "Long, Long Way to Go."
+++
One of the LJ accounts I'm trying to import, Aya's, has failed at the "Verifying username/password" stage four times, and since nothing else happens without verification, nothing is importing. DreamWidth Support says it's probably an issue on LiveJournal's side; hope things work out for you! Which is not helpful. The other LJ account I did, Schuldig's, didn't have this problem. WTF do I do now?
Wait for another time, I guess, and see if a different day makes a difference. I'll have to manually keep retrying, since the verification attempt is a one and done thing. It failed. Oh well.
+++
A longtime fandom friend of mine has gotten into The Pitt, and I managed to catch the last two episodes of season one during an HBO marathon this weekend. It's fun having a fandom in common I can talk about with her again.
+++
I put up my 2025'sthreeforthememories post.
( The fics )
Meanwhile, I have some long WIPs I'm working on, even aside from "Long, Long Way to Go."
+++
One of the LJ accounts I'm trying to import, Aya's, has failed at the "Verifying username/password" stage four times, and since nothing else happens without verification, nothing is importing. DreamWidth Support says it's probably an issue on LiveJournal's side; hope things work out for you! Which is not helpful. The other LJ account I did, Schuldig's, didn't have this problem. WTF do I do now?
Wait for another time, I guess, and see if a different day makes a difference. I'll have to manually keep retrying, since the verification attempt is a one and done thing. It failed. Oh well.
+++
A longtime fandom friend of mine has gotten into The Pitt, and I managed to catch the last two episodes of season one during an HBO marathon this weekend. It's fun having a fandom in common I can talk about with her again.
+++
I put up my 2025's
threeforthememories post.
Tags:
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 09:28 am
Tags:
Monday, January 5th, 2026 10:35 pm
snowflake_challenge has posted prompt #3, asking us to talk about the things we love about the communities that we are part of, or about the properties we form our communities around.Challenge #3:
Write a love letter to fandom. It might be to fandom in general, to a particular fandom, favourite character, anything at all.
( It's often the people. )
The best thing I like about fandom is that it grows and evolves and produces new stories and new interpretations of stories, and new tropes and new ways of telling stories and smashing them together. The next best thing about fandom is how many people there are in it who are there to have a good time and to make community with others. Yes, there are always going to be people who feel like they have to defend their territory against all comers, or who loudly proclaim that their way is the only way and all others must yield, but most fans that I've encountered seem to be less concerned with purity, fortresses, or defense and are instead more concerned with community, mutual aid, sharing, and trying to encourage people who are in the fandom to stay in it or to getr even deeper into it. Maybe I just have good people around me and I've avoided the people who want to drag me into wars, but even if that's the case, the last thing I love about fandom (for this entry, anyway) is that it tends toward self-correction, and with time and maturity, most fen who stay, grow in ways that make their works better and their communities better.
Tags:
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 12:02 am
These poems were written outside the regular prompt calls. They have been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred.
( Read more... )
fuzzyred. ( Read more... )
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 12:00 am
A NASA satellite caught a giant tsunami doing something scientists didn’t expect
When a huge earthquake struck near Kamchatka, the SWOT satellite captured an unprecedented, high-resolution view of the resulting tsunami as it crossed the Pacific. The data revealed the waves were far more complex and scattered than scientists expected, overturning the idea that large tsunamis travel as a single, stable wave. Ocean sensors confirmed the quake’s rupture was longer than earlier models suggested. Together, the findings could reshape how tsunamis are modeled and predicted.
When a huge earthquake struck near Kamchatka, the SWOT satellite captured an unprecedented, high-resolution view of the resulting tsunami as it crossed the Pacific. The data revealed the waves were far more complex and scattered than scientists expected, overturning the idea that large tsunamis travel as a single, stable wave. Ocean sensors confirmed the quake’s rupture was longer than earlier models suggested. Together, the findings could reshape how tsunamis are modeled and predicted.
Monday, January 5th, 2026 10:52 pm
Tags:
Monday, January 5th, 2026 09:40 pm
As usual, ordered by first visit and asterisks indicate multiple separate visits.
2025 got my travel ramping back up (finally), even though I only went to two conventions and one of them (Worldcon) was literally in my city (between my apartment and my usual airport, though technically there's also an airport with international service between my apartment and downtown -- LKE). Two overnights from delayed flights; both would have stuck me at DTW (Romulus, MI) except that for the second one I was able to rebook on the next morning's IAD-SEA nonstop instead.
The big trip was Kraków and environs, with a bonus pair of overnights in Calgary because business class YYC-KRK was literally half the price of SEA-KRK or YVR-KRK. Having NEXUS made a Canada stopover easy; though I kinda miss the old iris scan kiosks, the new facial recognition ones are a lot faster.
Cambridge, MA*
Seattle, WA*
Romulus, MI
Arlington, VA*
Calgary, AB, CA*
KL678 YYC-AMS
Kraków, PL*
Jaworze, PL
Balice, PL
Sneads Ferry, NC
Minneapolis, MN
Harrisonburg, VA
Sterling, VA
Port Townsend, WA
SeaTac, WA
Tysons, VA
Airports (connection-only*, new to me@): BOS, SEA, DTW (should have only been a connection, sigh), DCA, MSP, YYC@, AMS*, KRK@, ATL*, ILM@, IAD.
2025 got my travel ramping back up (finally), even though I only went to two conventions and one of them (Worldcon) was literally in my city (between my apartment and my usual airport, though technically there's also an airport with international service between my apartment and downtown -- LKE). Two overnights from delayed flights; both would have stuck me at DTW (Romulus, MI) except that for the second one I was able to rebook on the next morning's IAD-SEA nonstop instead.
The big trip was Kraków and environs, with a bonus pair of overnights in Calgary because business class YYC-KRK was literally half the price of SEA-KRK or YVR-KRK. Having NEXUS made a Canada stopover easy; though I kinda miss the old iris scan kiosks, the new facial recognition ones are a lot faster.
Cambridge, MA*
Seattle, WA*
Romulus, MI
Arlington, VA*
Calgary, AB, CA*
KL678 YYC-AMS
Kraków, PL*
Jaworze, PL
Balice, PL
Sneads Ferry, NC
Minneapolis, MN
Harrisonburg, VA
Sterling, VA
Port Townsend, WA
SeaTac, WA
Tysons, VA
Airports (connection-only*, new to me@): BOS, SEA, DTW (should have only been a connection, sigh), DCA, MSP, YYC@, AMS*, KRK@, ATL*, ILM@, IAD.
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 12:02 am
verb intr.: 1. To oscillate, waver. 2. To be poised or balanced.
Monday, January 5th, 2026 09:14 pm
Picked up from argentum_ls:
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Turn to page 126.
3. The 6th full sentence is your life in 2026.
"Of course there'll be a lot of people." -- All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot (1972)
argentum_ls:1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Turn to page 126.
3. The 6th full sentence is your life in 2026.
"Of course there'll be a lot of people." -- All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot (1972)
Tags:
Monday, January 5th, 2026 11:29 pm
Tags:
Monday, January 5th, 2026 09:45 pm
This poem is spillover from the February 4, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from fuzzyred. It also fills the "nostalgia" square in my 2-1-25 card for the Valentines Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It belongs to the Trichromatic Attractions thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.
Warning: This poem contains intense and controversial topics. Highlight to read the warnings, some of which are spoilers. It includes sobriety issues, angst, failed coping skills, self-loathing, difficulty planning, frustration with new skills, and other challenges. If these are sensitive issues for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before reading onward.
( Read more... )
fuzzyred. It also fills the "nostalgia" square in my 2-1-25 card for the Valentines Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It belongs to the Trichromatic Attractions thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.Warning: This poem contains intense and controversial topics. Highlight to read the warnings, some of which are spoilers. It includes sobriety issues, angst, failed coping skills, self-loathing, difficulty planning, frustration with new skills, and other challenges. If these are sensitive issues for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before reading onward.
( Read more... )
Tags:
Monday, January 5th, 2026 11:03 pm
Happy 2026!
So yeah! There were my favorite fanworks of the year. I hope I have an even more productive 2026.
I'm still trying to get used to the fact that it's 2026. I've been having a real difficult time these past few months, and I've been very dissociative so it's hard for me to process the passage of time. But man, it's a new year, which means it's time to look back on the previous year's fanworks.
In 2025, I wrote 127.8k words. It was the first year I actually tracked every word I wrote, but I'm pretty sure it's the most productive year I've ever had. I'm really proud of myself for that. I have 6 pages of fic written in 2025, so instead of listing them all, I'll just list my favorites for each month.
( Read more... )So yeah! There were my favorite fanworks of the year. I hope I have an even more productive 2026.
Tags:
Monday, January 5th, 2026 09:45 pm
Event: Just the Tip! Flash Exchange
Event link: Just the Tip Collection
Pinch hit links:
IPH #1 - Stranger Things (TV 2016), Push (2009), Original Work
IPH #2 - สิงสาลาตาย | Goddess Bless You From Death (TV), KinnPorsche: The Series (TV), Stranger Things (TV 2016), 천둥구름 비바람 | Thundercloud Rainstorm (TV), Thai Actor RPF, We Are คือเรารักกัน | We Are (Thailand TV 2024)
IPH #3 - Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga), Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal, Gravitation, Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V, Xiaolin Showdown (Cartoon), Aladdin (Cartoon 1994), 幽☆遊☆白書 | YuYu Hakusho: Ghost Files (Anime & Manga), Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, Dude That's My Ghost!
Due date: January 12 at 10 PM EST
Claim by sending a PM towestiec or an email to toastedanon+jtt@gmail.com with your ao3 username, an email address, and the pinch hit you are interested in claiming.
Event link: Just the Tip Collection
Pinch hit links:
Due date: January 12 at 10 PM EST
Claim by sending a PM to
westiec or an email to toastedanon+jtt@gmail.com with your ao3 username, an email address, and the pinch hit you are interested in claiming.Tags:
Monday, January 5th, 2026 10:12 pm
TNG season 1: "Conspiracy"
Onward for 36 icons featuring beardless Riker and Enterprise glamor shots.
Onward for 36 icons featuring beardless Riker and Enterprise glamor shots.
Monday, January 5th, 2026 10:07 pm
"Conspiracy" is a weird episode. I don't know why I got the urge to rewatch it, much less icon the heck out of it, but here we are.
( Onward for 36 icons featuring beardless Riker and Enterprise glamor shots )
( Onward for 36 icons featuring beardless Riker and Enterprise glamor shots )
Tags:
Monday, January 5th, 2026 09:55 pm
More Input
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1b of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1038
[Monday, May 11, 2020, just after dawn]
:: Aidan returns, and finds Ed waiting for him. They have a conversation that the older man did not expect. Part of the Edison’s Mirror universe. ::
Ed stared up at Aidan, then slowly crossed his arms.
Just as slowly, the boy shook his head. “No. I’m coming with you. If something… bad… happens to him, or has already…” Brow furrowing, Ed met Aidan’s gaze. “Can you sense him? Reach out to him?”
Aidan swallowed. “No. Which is why I want you somewhere safe before --”
( Read more... )
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1b of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1038
[Monday, May 11, 2020, just after dawn]
:: Aidan returns, and finds Ed waiting for him. They have a conversation that the older man did not expect. Part of the Edison’s Mirror universe. ::
Ed stared up at Aidan, then slowly crossed his arms.
Just as slowly, the boy shook his head. “No. I’m coming with you. If something… bad… happens to him, or has already…” Brow furrowing, Ed met Aidan’s gaze. “Can you sense him? Reach out to him?”
Aidan swallowed. “No. Which is why I want you somewhere safe before --”
( Read more... )
Tags:
Monday, January 5th, 2026 08:44 pm
Stole this from lebateleur
Your main fandom last year?
Sherlock Holmes, various adaptations but Holmes in general
Your favorite movie watched last year?
I didn't watch many, but I would say K-Pop Demon Hunters, it's very fun.
However, I also watched all the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films this year and my favourites were The Spider Woman and The Woman in Green.
Your favorite book read last year?
If I can chose a children's book, I'm going to say Basil of Baker Street. I was delighted by it, so many Holmes references, and a good little mystery and adventure story.
Your favorite TV show of the year?
I watched the good chunk of the Granada Sherlock Holmes series year, and I loved it! It's very book accurate, and where they did makes some changes it works out well.
Also, Interview with a Vampire season 2 was fantastic!
But also, I'm currently working my way through Heated Rivalry and I'm enjoying it so far.
Your favorite video game of the year?
I didn't really play any games this year unfortunately. I started The Beekeeper's Picnic, but unfortunately never finished it, but hopefully some day.
Your favorite song, album, or artist to listen to this year?
Song: Golden from K-Pop Demon Hunters (it is such a great sing-along, belt it out type of song)
Album: K-Pop Demon Hunters Soundtrack (so many great bangers on that, although my choices were also slim because I didn't listen to many full albums this year)
Artist: The only one that comes to mind is Chappel Roan, although I think she was more 2024 than 2025, but I was still listening her quite a bit at the beginning of the year
Favorite podcast of the year?
Sherlock & Co (although, I've fallen behind on it). I also enjoy If Books Could Kill.
Your best new fandom discovery of the year?
I guess falling into Sherlock Holmes fandom this year was unexpected, and something I really needed this year to distract me from stuff going on in my life. One of my fave Good Omens authors starting posting Granada Holmes related stuff and it got me to check out the series and I've been in thick of it ever since. I loved the Sherlock Holmes stories as a teen, and there has been some comfort in returning to what I previously loved only in a different way.
Your biggest fandom disappointment?
No real major disappointments I can think of, but that's mostly because I've been sticking with older completed series recently so no newer series that are cancelled after only one season like previous years.
Your TV boyfriend of the year?
John Watson
Your TV girlfriend of the year?
Svetlana from Heated Rivalry, maybe?
Your biggest squee moment of the year?
Can I tell you how times I rewatched The Empty House and the scene where Watson finds out Holmes is alive? Way too many times!
Fandom resolutions for 2026?
I have a lot of IRL stuff happening this year, so I'm putting no pressure on myself when it comes to fandom.
Your biggest fannish anticipations for the new year?
I have no idea, I didn't expect to fall into the fandoms I did this year, so I'm sure I'll be surprised again this year.
lebateleurYour main fandom last year?
Sherlock Holmes, various adaptations but Holmes in general
Your favorite movie watched last year?
I didn't watch many, but I would say K-Pop Demon Hunters, it's very fun.
However, I also watched all the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films this year and my favourites were The Spider Woman and The Woman in Green.
Your favorite book read last year?
If I can chose a children's book, I'm going to say Basil of Baker Street. I was delighted by it, so many Holmes references, and a good little mystery and adventure story.
Your favorite TV show of the year?
I watched the good chunk of the Granada Sherlock Holmes series year, and I loved it! It's very book accurate, and where they did makes some changes it works out well.
Also, Interview with a Vampire season 2 was fantastic!
But also, I'm currently working my way through Heated Rivalry and I'm enjoying it so far.
Your favorite video game of the year?
I didn't really play any games this year unfortunately. I started The Beekeeper's Picnic, but unfortunately never finished it, but hopefully some day.
Your favorite song, album, or artist to listen to this year?
Song: Golden from K-Pop Demon Hunters (it is such a great sing-along, belt it out type of song)
Album: K-Pop Demon Hunters Soundtrack (so many great bangers on that, although my choices were also slim because I didn't listen to many full albums this year)
Artist: The only one that comes to mind is Chappel Roan, although I think she was more 2024 than 2025, but I was still listening her quite a bit at the beginning of the year
Favorite podcast of the year?
Sherlock & Co (although, I've fallen behind on it). I also enjoy If Books Could Kill.
Your best new fandom discovery of the year?
I guess falling into Sherlock Holmes fandom this year was unexpected, and something I really needed this year to distract me from stuff going on in my life. One of my fave Good Omens authors starting posting Granada Holmes related stuff and it got me to check out the series and I've been in thick of it ever since. I loved the Sherlock Holmes stories as a teen, and there has been some comfort in returning to what I previously loved only in a different way.
Your biggest fandom disappointment?
No real major disappointments I can think of, but that's mostly because I've been sticking with older completed series recently so no newer series that are cancelled after only one season like previous years.
Your TV boyfriend of the year?
John Watson
Your TV girlfriend of the year?
Svetlana from Heated Rivalry, maybe?
Your biggest squee moment of the year?
Can I tell you how times I rewatched The Empty House and the scene where Watson finds out Holmes is alive? Way too many times!
Fandom resolutions for 2026?
I have a lot of IRL stuff happening this year, so I'm putting no pressure on myself when it comes to fandom.
Your biggest fannish anticipations for the new year?
I have no idea, I didn't expect to fall into the fandoms I did this year, so I'm sure I'll be surprised again this year.
Tags:
Monday, January 5th, 2026 07:10 pm
After a full week without water in the kitchen, the plumber cameth on half an hour's notice from the property manager and was horrified to hear about it, but he was swift and competent and we have a new and working faucet, which was all the problem turned out to be. Hestia made herself invisible in the bedroom throughout the proceedings. I washed a fork without first boiling water and it felt like a big deal.
I just finished reading David Hare's A Map of the World (1983), whose device of examining an interpersonal-political knot through the successive filters of the roman à clef, the screen version, and the memories of the participants reminded me obviously of similar exercises in metafiction and retrospect by Tom Stoppard and Michael Frayn, double-cast for an effect at the end approaching timeslip such as works almost strictly on stage. I did not expect to find some fragments preserved in an episode of The South Bank Show, but there were some of the scenes with Roshan Seth, John Matshikiza, Bill Nighy, Diana Quick. I wish I thought it meant there were a complete broadcast I could watch, but I'm not even finding it got the BBC Radio 3 treatment. More immediately, it reminded me of how many of the stories I read early were about stories, their propagation and mutation, their conventions, their shifting distances from the facts. "And, in time, only the bards knew the truth of it."
The problem with the denaturing of language is that when I say tospatch that the political situation is insane, I don't mean it's a little far-fetched, I mean it is driven by wants and processes that are not rational and it is exhausting to be trapped inside someone else's illness.
I just finished reading David Hare's A Map of the World (1983), whose device of examining an interpersonal-political knot through the successive filters of the roman à clef, the screen version, and the memories of the participants reminded me obviously of similar exercises in metafiction and retrospect by Tom Stoppard and Michael Frayn, double-cast for an effect at the end approaching timeslip such as works almost strictly on stage. I did not expect to find some fragments preserved in an episode of The South Bank Show, but there were some of the scenes with Roshan Seth, John Matshikiza, Bill Nighy, Diana Quick. I wish I thought it meant there were a complete broadcast I could watch, but I'm not even finding it got the BBC Radio 3 treatment. More immediately, it reminded me of how many of the stories I read early were about stories, their propagation and mutation, their conventions, their shifting distances from the facts. "And, in time, only the bards knew the truth of it."
The problem with the denaturing of language is that when I say to
spatch that the political situation is insane, I don't mean it's a little far-fetched, I mean it is driven by wants and processes that are not rational and it is exhausting to be trapped inside someone else's illness.