winter_elf | Reading

.... but much more slowly. I reread Vallista this past week, and that book sure hits different in a few ways after reading Tsalmoth!

( Spoilers for both Vallista and Tsalmoth )

runpunkrun posting in

fancake

Fandom: Stranger Things
Pairings/Characters: Will Byers/Mike Wheeler
Rating: Explicit
Length: 26,183 words
Creator Link:

mistresscurvy
Theme: Amnesty, First Time, Canon LGBTQ+ Characters, Research, Futurefic, Friendship

Summary: "Did it ever occur to any of you that I might not want to have my only sexual experiences be with someone who isn't actually interested in me?" Will asked.

He was met by three identical looks of confusion. "I mean, it would still be sex," Dustin said finally.

Reccer's Notes: Set after a season four where, yes, a lot of people died. But the kids are seventeen now, and Mike and Will are both virgins, which Mike is very concerned about: Cue the 80s teen sex comedy. Unlike much of that genre, though, this isn't gross or embarrassing, and everybody's having a good time. I adored Will here, kind of baffled by what Mike's gotten them into, yet excited about it too, and it's wonderful to see him stand up for himself, confident enough to be honest about who he is and what he wants. Plus it includes the entire crew, even Argyle!

Fanwork Link: Like a Virgin

melagan

I've made gloves for family, but this is the first time I've made some for me!

I'm recovering from a 24-hour (nasty- sooo nasty) stomach bug and all I want right now is a cozy Christmas-y McShep fic to make me feel better.

Yes, that's blatant begging. Aided by Chkc's wonderful Chibi art.

kass

I haven't listened to Night Vale in a few years, but I happened to see this mentioned by one of the creators on bluesky and I am listening now and it is so weird and delightful.

Welcome to Night Vale, ep 280: The Story of Hanukkah

I'm not sure I knew that Cecil and Carlos are both canonically Jewish? (Or at least -- Cecil has a bubbe and a zaide, from whom he inherited a chanukiyah?) Though I suppose the fact of a floating cat named Choshech should've tipped me off.

(Needless to say, the story of Chanukah articulated in this episode does not initially seem to have anything to do with Chanukah. But stick with it. It's wonderful.)

full_metal_ox posting in

fancake

Fandom: Mo Dao Zu Shi
Pairings/Characters: Gen; Lan Xichen & Lan Wangji; Lan Xichen & Wei Wuxian; background Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian; background past Lan Xichen/Jin Guangyao; Lan Xichen, Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian, Jin Guangyao (in past anecdote)
Rating: General Audiences
Length: 2,495
Content Notes: No Archive Warnings Apply, eating one’s feelings, food as mnemonic trigger, innuendo, mourning, snarky food criticism
Creator Tags: Post-Canon, Food as a Metaphor for Love, Xichen Week 2020
Creator Links: (AO3)

dragonofeternal, (Dreamwidth)

dragonofeternal, (Tumblr)

dragonofeternal

Theme: Amnesty, Food & Cooking, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Family, Post-Canon, Trauma & Recovery

Summary: Food can do more than just feed- it nurtures the soul and the bonds between people.
In which Lan Xichen briefly leaves his seclusion to taste Wei Wuxian's cooking and awakens warm memories of meals long passed.

Author’s Notes: For SetsuntaMew.

<3 For my lovely wife, who inspired this when we talking Xichen feels over spicy Korean BBQ.

Reccer's Notes: When Lan Wangji checks up on Lan Xichen in his seclusion, Wei Wuxian comes along—bringing his idea of a care package. Despite Wangji’s apprehension, the Fires Of Yunmeng Cooking prove just the thing to help his despondent brother come to terms with his complicated feelings about fellow Yunmeng boy Jin Guangyao—prompting memories of their adventures (and meals) together.

(An added bit of poignancy is that Lan Xichen is being served this bittersweet nostalgia by a man who now bears Jin Guangyao a family resemblance.)

Fanwork Links:
The Spice of Life by

dragonofeternal
Collections: Lan Huan Protection Squad.

full_metal_ox posting in

fancake

Fandom: Green Hornet (1966 and 2011 versions), Batman (1966), Al Hirt (musician), Bruce Lee
Pairings/Characters: Gen; Britt Reid | Green Hornet, Kato, Bruce Wayne | Batman, Dick Grayson | Robin, cameo by Beatrix Kiddo | The Bride (Kill Bill), Black Beauty is practically a character, right?
Rating: General Audiences
Length: 3:03
Content Notes: Rapid flickering image shifts; earworm hazard.
Creator Links: (Instagram)

Dorodigital; (YouTube)

Dorodigital
Theme: Amnesty, Crossovers & Fusions, FANCAKE IS FIFTEEN, Fandom Classics, Fanvids, Older Fandoms, Underloved Works

Summary: What started out as an attempt to learn flight of the bumble bee on the trumpet evolved into a fascination with the green hornet theme song. Although the show featured one of my favorite Martial Artist ..Bruce lee..the main attraction for me was the frentic trumpet solo performed by another hero of mine Mr. Al hirt. This song was also used in the motor cycle scene in kill bill. I was delighted to learn that they were making a movie version in 2011 starring Seth Rogen and Jay Chou..Alas there could be only one Bruce lee as well as one Al hirt. However I decided to perform this cover in tribute to Al and Bruce...Enjoy

Reccer's Notes: Two great tastes that taste great together: against a montage of thrilling stunts and snappy dialogue, trumpeter Ricardo Dowridge multiplies himself into an orchestra to celebrate his musical and martial heroes.

Fanwork Links:

Watch on YouTube

One man’s Green Hornet.mpg, by Ricardo Dowridge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8UVF7tkdRw

Current Music: Inherent in the subject.

full_metal_ox posting in

fancake

Fandom: The Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, Oingo Boingo
Pairings/Characters: Gen; background F->M (Emily ->Victor); Jack Skellington, Bonejangles, and the whole Halloween Town and Underworld crews.
Rating: Teen and Up
Length: 4:22
Content Notes: canon-typical death, undeath, decay, dismemberment, creepy-crawlies, monsters, and Body Horror.
Creator Links: (YouTube)

DylanWhitesChannel (formerly ~~weareactualsize~~
Theme: Amnesty, Crossovers & Fusions, FANCAKE IS FIFTEEN, Fandom Classics, Fanvids, Older Fandoms

Summary: Oingo Boingo's "Dead Man's Party" mashed with "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Corpse Bride." All copyrights held by original owners. Happy Halloween.
(HD re-edit from my weareactualsize channel)

Reccer's Notes: Although this repost is dated 27 October 2014, the original on White’s now-defunct previous channel dates from circa 2010. This fusion is a relentless tour-de-force of music synced to visuals synced to lyrics; Danny Elfman’s having scored both movies creates a certain built-in compatibility, and Oingo Boingo’s Halloween anthem makes for an Elfman trifecta.

Fanwork Links:

Watch on YouTube

Dead Man’s Party, by https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndhDaEqjKAc

snycock posting in

ts_bluejungle

Please join us for the weekly TS chat on Saturday, December 13th, at 7 pm Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)/19:00 UTC. That could be as early as 11 am if you’re on the west coast of North America, or 2 pm if you’re on the east coast, or 7 pm in the UK, or Sunday morning in Australia or New Zealand.

We’re in the usual place: http://us25.chatzy.com/81935648447483. There’s nothing to download or install, just choose a name and a color and click on “join chat.”

It’s time for our postponed episode watch! We’re up to Season 2 Episode 5 – Payback. Come and find out all about Jim’s love of motorcycles when he was in high school…

Also, the 20^th year of TS Secret Santa is underway! You can find all the collections here: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/2025_TheSentinel_Secret_Santa/collections

See you there!

sholio

As I don't have the bandwidth for a lot of reccing tonight, here are two quick recs of short Murderbot friendship gen from the last couple of days that I enjoyed. Both of these are more bookverse than show-based.

Ransom by

BoldlyNo (400 wds, Gurathin-centric)
Augment-based ransomware! What a terrible/brilliant idea. This is short but complete-feeling and satisfyingly whumpy.

The Truth, Bitter as It Is by

HonorH (900 wds, Gurathin & Murderbot)
An even worse truth comes out about Ganaka Pit. I went into this fic worried that it would be terribly depressing, but it's not; it is much sweeter and kinder than it has to be.

sholio

amperslashexchange just announced a collection delay and still needs pinch hitters! See if there's anything you can pick up here - there are some with bigger fandoms as well as some small fandoms.

Romance author Fern Michaels died recently, and I enjoyed reading this old article from early in her career (NYT archive article from 1978, not sure if it's paywalled). I didn't know that Fern Michaels started off as a writing duo of two different women! Apparently the one who eventually became "the" Fern Michaels took over the pen name later, but at the point this article was written, they only had three books out. The article is not at all disrespectful, and I was interested in the details of how the two women chose to position themselves in the market, which reminded me of our brainstorming process for Zoe a bit:

“There used to be a market for the little 60,000‐word romance with no plot,” Mrs. Anderson said, “but our publisher has become very demanding.”

Fern Michaels's books usually end up containing about 250,000 words.

Mrs. Anderson credits the success of the books to the authors’ attitude about women. As she put it:

“We don't have women love men who brutalize, beat and brand them. Our women don't put up with that.”

Anyway, I enjoyed this look at the state of the genre circa 1978, as well as the very early days of an author (or authors) who became a powerhouse in the 1980s-2000s romance scene.

pedanther posting in

fancake

Fandom: Tangled
Pairings/Characters: Flynn Rider/Rapunzel
Rating: General Audiencees
Length: 714
Creator Links:

lalaietha
Theme: Amnesty, Old Fandoms, Comfortfic

Summary:
"You know," Eugene's voice comes from the side of the tower, "I am really out of practice in climbing up sheer rock-faced walls and across rickety shingles. D'you think I should start a workout regimen again? I mean, I'd kind of let it slide because these are skills commonly associated with thievery and I'm all reformed, but - "

Reccer's Notes:
In which Rapunzel is feeling overwhelmed by her first birthday celebration that involves more than one person and a chameleon, and Flynn offers sympathy and helpful(?) advice.

Short and sweet, and seemed appropriate for Fancake's birthday.

Fanwork Links: The Next Birthday on AO3

sholio

I normally do this at the end of the year, but I'm doing it early this year because I'll be out of town 'til the 27th, and I don't really expect much to change; all my publications for the year are publicated. See the tag for previous years' updates!

This year's cover grid:

3 full-length novels, 2 novellas, 1 collection. That's honestly much better than I was expecting; I spent most of the year clawing my way back from burnout, and the final two books were slammed out at the end of the year when suddenly my creative brain came back online.

( Checking in with last year's plan )

( Next year's plans )

( Edited to add: one more thing )

runpunkrun posting in

fancake

Photograph of a grinning Shiba Inu dog wearing a pink party hat with a 15 on it. Text: Happy Birthday, Fancake. On this day in history, jerakeen made the very first post to this comm. Happy birthday to us!

To celebrate fancake's fifteen years of operation, we're taking a two-pronged approach, with thanks to full_metal_ox for suggesting the second prong:

post recs to the comm for fanworks published in 2010 for amnesty (if all else fails, theme: old fandoms should probably cover you, but consider also theme: favorite fanworks, theme: fandom classics, and theme: underloved fanworks)
comment on this post with what you were into when you were fifteen—or what you were into fifteen years ago—what you're into today, and how your tastes have changed—or not!—over the years, or share your thoughts in your own journal and leave us a link here in the comments
a secret third thing???

Happy birthday, Fancake! Thank you for making this comm a community. 🎂

mrshamill

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

sholio

I finished something I started a while back!

Movie Nights (2735 words) - Babylon 5, seasons one to five
Summary: Just a bunch of aliens getting hooked on each other's trashy serial media.

sholio

This is actually something I wrote last winter, February or so, when I was bingeing MASH. I figured that although I could post it at the time I wrote it, I could also wait and post it at actual Christmastime.

Goodnight Moon (1816 words) by Sholio
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: MASH (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce, Charles Emerson Winchester III, B. J. Hunnicutt, Minor Characters
Additional Tags: Christmas, Missing Scene, Episode: s09e05 Death Takes a Holiday
Summary: Hawkeye makes a discovery. (Missing scene for 9x05 "Death Takes a Holiday," the season 9 Christmas episode.)

22degreehalo posting in

fancake

Fandom: Night at the Museum
Pairings/Characters: Jedediah/Octavius
Rating: T
Length: 10,180
Creator Links:

liviapenn
Theme: Amnesty, Cultural Differences, Enemies to Friends (to Lovers), Enemies Working Together, Missing Scenes

Summary: There are secret articles in our treaties with the gods, of more importance than all the rest, which the historian can never know. -- Henry David Thoreau

This hour I tell things in confidence,
I might not tell everybody, but I will tell you.
-- Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself"

Reccer's Notes: This is so much fun, charting the growth in these boys' friendship starting from their trek through the snow in the movie to their awkward, gradual romantic advances post-canon ❤️

Fanwork Links: if this was a cowboy movie (i'd give you my boots)

sholio

Daily updates for Rec-Cember are going about as well as anything daily usually does for me, so I think I'll switch to weekly posts - say Thurs or Fri. That sounds like a plan.

I think what I'm finding is that writing one rec is actually not much less work than a batch of them, and the batch style is more fun for me because I don't feel like I have to come up with as much to say about each individual fanwork. Even though I know I could just yeet the link on DW and flee. Why are brains.

I'm really enjoying the event, though!

(In other news, it is cooooooold, and I am struggling with motivation for Christmas. Maybe I need to write some Christmas/holiday/winter fic. I went to a holiday concert this weekend with

ellenmillion and it was lovely! I need more of that kind of thing.)

22degreehalo posting in

fancake

Fandom: Baldur's Gate 3
Pairings/Characters: Wyll/Astarion
Rating: T
Length: 25,638
Creator Links:

partingxshot
Theme: Amnesty, Black Characters, Characters of Colour, Character Development, Established Relationship, Family, Just Plain Fun, Marriage, Outsider POV, Politics, Post-Canon, Unconventional Format & Style, Working Together

Summary: You are ULDER RAVENGARD.

Your son is completely besotted with his fiancé, but you can’t figure out the appeal. He’s spoiled, and petty, and seems chiefly concerned with draining the Ravengard coffers. You are, frankly, at your wits’ fucking end.

Surely the only solution is to declare an INSANE SECRET WAR on him before he can ruin the MIDWINTER'S EVE BALL. This cannot possibly backfire.

[A choose-your-own-adventure Astarion son-in-law simulator. Happy Holidays! Or possibly the opposite of that.]

Reccer's Notes: This is just so much fun 😄 The notion of how Astarion would fit in at Wyll's childhood home is a common topic for Wyllstarions, and this is such a fun take on it!! It's remarkably coherent no matter which paths you take, and there are so many fun running jokes or weird endings to find! (And also, if you enjoy the writing style... Might I have a particular webcomic called Homestuck to recommend? Because it was very clearly an inspiration :D)

Fanwork Links: Glad Tidings

I need a Baldur's Gate fandom tag please, mods!!

22degreehalo posting in

fancake

Fandom: Blackadder Goes Forth
Pairings/Characters: Blackadder/Darling
Rating: T
Length: 20,605
Creator Links:

nomadicwriter
Theme: Amnesty, Casefic, Cuddling Snuggling & Bed-Sharing, Enemies to Lovers, Enemies Working Together, Forced Proximity, Historical Settings, Just Plain Fun, Old Fandoms, Rare Pairings, Pretend Couple, Small Fandoms, Time Travel, Uncommon Settings, Undercover as a Couple

Summary: Darling's remarkable resemblance to French traitor the Duc de Darling - no relation - sees him unwillingly sent to infiltrate a German-occupied château. Blackadder accompanies him even less willingly, especially when he learns exactly what it is they're looking for.

(Baldrick is also there, but no one bothered to find out if it was willingly or otherwise.)

Reccer's Notes: This is just so fucking good. It has been an age since I last watched Blackadder but this fic brought me all the way back immediately: the character voices are just chef's kiss! It really feels like it could've been a special episode, except with added totally in-character shippiness! 10/10, perfect characterisation, perfect dynamics, perfect silliness, no notes ❤️

Fanwork Links: General Relativity

Profile

winter_elf

January 2014

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Page Summary

sholio - The chaotic Dragaera reread continues
runpunkrun in fancake - Stranger Things: Like a Virgin, by mistresscurvy
melagan - something to go with the socks
kass - Night Vale
full_metal_ox in fancake - Mo Dao Zu Shi: The Spice of Life, by dragonofeternal
full_metal_ox in fancake - Green Hornet; Al Hirt; Bruce Lee; Batman (1966): One man’s Green Hornet.mpg, by Ricardo Dowridge.
full_metal_ox in fancake - The Nightmare Before Christmas; Corpse Bride: Dead Man’s Party, by Dylan White
snycock in ts_bluejungle - Weekly chat reminder
sholio - Rec-Cember: Two recent short Murderbot gen fics
sholio - A couple of links
pedanther in fancake - Tangled: The Next Birthday by lalaietha
sholio - Year in review and next year's plans
runpunkrun in fancake - Fancake is FIFTEEN
mrshamill - On grief and a rotten year
sholio - Babylon 5 fic: Movie Nights
sholio - MASH Christmas fic
22degreehalo in fancake - NATM: if this was a cowboy movie (i'd give you my boots) by Liviapenn
sholio - (no subject)
22degreehalo in fancake - BG3: Glad Tidings by partingxshot
22degreehalo in fancake - Blackadder: General Relativity by Nomad

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