shadowscast

It's my posting day at Fall for S/X! I've just posted my story:

Longest. Day. Ever.

Rating: Mature
Pairing: Spike/Xander
Length: 14,000 words
Summary: I play with the Groundhog Day trope. Spike and Xander live with the consequences.
Disclaimer: They aren't mine, and I'm not making any money.



What with having a toddler and working overtime and all, this is the only complete story I've written this year. I actually wrote it over the summer and then held onto it until now so that I'd have something for Fall for S/X. Now I'm nervous as hell—I hope it's well-received!

In my latest attempt to efficiently keep track of good stuff I've read, I've just started up a Delicious account. (At http://delicious.com/shadow.fic, because "shadowscast" was already taken, can you believe it?!) Right now all I've got marked are three Harry/Draco post-series fics, because that's what I was reading over the weekend.

I've also done a little poking around at Delicious, and it seems pretty neat. For instance, I can see who else has bookmarked the same fics I've bookmarked, and then see what other fics those same people have bookmarked with similar tags. Nifty! This seems like a promising way to find good fics. (Or at least it will be the next time I have time to read again after today, which is looking like, um, Christmas. Oh well!)

But right away I saw a dilemma -- when you use the site this way, you see the summaries that everyone else has written for their bookmarks. Such as, for instance, details about the plots of stories.

If I write my bookmark summaries with an intended audience of me, I'm liable to include all sorts of plot spoilers for the stories (since I'm trying to give myself the ability to remember which story was which if I want to reread them years from now). On the other hand, if I keep my summaries non-spoilery as a courtesy to other people who might cruise my bookmarks looking for stuff to read, then I also have to make them less informative.

So what I'm wondering is -- is there some sort of established Delicious code of conduct? Rules of etiquette, unspoken or otherwise?

As per my recent habit, I'd like to let you know about a good fic that I read recently: The Worst Journey in the World, which shapinglight wrote for the Plot Without Porn ficathon. Post-NFA Buffy, Spike and Wesley, with sled dogs, bad weather, and a questionable plan. I enjoyed it very much.

***

So, Dreamwidth? How's that going? I still really like the idea of it, and the new reading filter functionality that they're promising to unroll this week sounds very cool, but from the looks of it, my actual flist is still pretty much LJ-based. So I guess my plan for now is to cross-post everything, and leave comments open everywhere. (On the rare occasions when I actually post, that is!)

***

Hey, I'm re-reading the Harry Potter series! I am now halfway through The Chamber of Secrets. I'm enjoying it very much. I'm getting much stronger fic-reading urges than I did the first time through—I think, when all is said and done, that I'm a closed-canon kind of girl. I like knowing the whole original story before I embark on the magical, neverending journey that is fanfic!

I don't think I'm likely to make the leap to writing Potterverse fic any time soon, though. Way too much work to figure out how to sound British enough. It's hard enough managing with Spike and Giles, and at least they're largely operating in an American environment. (Not that I'm American, either—but I can fake it much more easily!)

I was in the mood for Harry Potter tonight, partly because of seeing the new movie a few weeks ago and partly because I was just chatting about it with a couple of RL friends.

So I went browsing through crack_van, and found a story and a vid to enjoy.

The story is The Courtship of Benjamin Jink by atdelphi, and it's Snape/Slughorn slash (seriously!), and the writing is just lovely.

Let me show you a little bit!

( The story is set post-series, so don't click if you're still avoiding spoilers. )

Secondly, a vid: Beautiful Struggle by nightchik. It's a gen vid, not a shippy one, and I'm not sure how to describe it because I totally don't have a language for talking about vids. I just liked it.

***

By the way, I'm writing! I'm working on "That Good Night." It'll be a while still before I have anything ready to post, but I just wanted to let you know. It's not dead, it's just resting!

I'm sitting in an air-conditioned coffee shop drinking a coffee slushie that is probably going to keep me up way too late tonight. And I just wrote a drabble! I hope you like it.

The Happiest Day

They make it through the vows without a hitch. The kiss is beautiful, storybook. Not a dry eye in the house.

Floating across the dance floor with his new bride Buffy in his arms, Angel can’t remember ever feeling so happy before. So perfectly happy.

Later, once everybody’s wounds are bandaged and they’ve taken up a collection to reimburse Willow for the Orb of Thesulah, Angel sits down next to Spike on the steps out back.

Spike raises an eyebrow at him, lights a second cigarette. His knuckles are bloody.

“So,” Angel says, “Tell me about that demon in Africa.”

Yesterday, I completed a fic! ::insert squeal of glee::

It's a standalone Spike/Xander story in which I play with the Groundhog Day trope (a thing I've wanted to do since practically forever). And man, would I like to post it right now! But ... I think I'm gonna wait. I'd really like to participate in Fall For S/X (as I have every year since my Writercon 2 roommates talked me into it, even if in the Autumn of the Newborn Baby I only managed a tiny 200 word-ish slice of life thing in place of an actual fic). And I suspect I'm not going to have a chance to complete anything else before December 21st, keeping in mind my general inability to keep a fic down to less than 10,000 words!

So hey you guys, does anybody know for sure if Fall for S/X is happening this year?

Okay, in other news, as soon as I finished writing my own Spike/Xander story, I went off and read somebody else's! So now I have a rec for you:

Xander Harris vs Destiny by cordelianne, reremouse, and savoytruffle

Okay, not that there are probably many people on my flist who missed this when it first came out, but still! I just read it this morning, so I'm reccing it, darn it. It's a lighthearted, sexy road trip with a mystery built in. Or something like that, anyway! And it all makes sense in the end. (And oh man, now I understand the title!)

ETA: I have a Fall for S/X posting date—September 23rd. Woot!

I just saw the new Star Trek movie, and enjoyed it muchly.

So now I'm wondering where to go for a quick fix of meta and squee related to the movie. (I'm assuming there can't be much fic yet, but I'm sure there's some in the pipeline!) Thing is, what with Star Trek being pretty much the mother of all fandoms, I have no idea where to start looking! So, how 'bout it, my poor neglected flist; can you help me?

Okay, I have a Dreamwidth journal. Yay! Same name as always: Shadowscast.

I really like what I've seen of Dreamwidth so far. I like their diversity statement, and how seriously they seem to take it. I like their plan to grow carefully, to stay ad-free, to be truly open-source. I like the careful, thoughtful way they seem to be going about making changes.

Perhaps I'm just a starry-eyed optimist! We shall see.

( More details about my intentions, for those who care... )

Hey there, world! I'm still not posting very much. Sorry! I am writing, I am, (on rare occasions) and eventually I will post something, even!

I'm also not reading very much. But, happily, tonight I have insomnia! (No, really, there's a happy ending here!) So I came online, and saw shapinglight's rec for Angel's (Not So Much) Inner Monologue by girlpire. And truly, it made my night.

Warning: if you happen to be reading it in the middle of the night, and there happen to be sleeping entities in your immediate vicinity such as spouses, toddlers, and/or random house-guests, you may have to go to great lengths to stifle your delighted laughter.

The last time I posted a chapter of That Good Night, I said that I hoped to update again in less than a year. I am happy to say that I have met that goal! Yippee! (Keeping the bar just high enough that I can comfortably walk under it.)

Thanks as always to yourlibrarian—beta-reader extraordinaire—and also to any readers out there who haven't given up on me yet!

( Previously in the Fragments-verse.... )


And now, the new chapter!

Title: That Good Night (part 13 of ?)
Rating: NC-17 (barely)
Pairing: Spike/Xander, ensemble
Summary: A couple of years post-NFA, Spike is human, and it isn’t working out so well. He and Xander are currently in Sao Paulo, where Willow has just had a baby and a new vampire problem is looming.
Warnings: This story will get dark at times. Definitely angsty, h/c with lots of hurt. Character death will most definitely be threatened, and I'd rather not say what comes of it (though if you're terribly worried, ask me privately).
Disclaimer: They're not mine, and I'm not making any money.


( Chapter 13 )

Not that I expect LJ to go kablooey any time soon, but just so you know: I have an InsaneJournal account, also under the name Shadowscast. I've been sporadically using it as a mirror ever since Strikethrough, and I guess I'll continue to do so.

Not that anybody's asked, but I thought a few of the letters in the Buffyverse Alphabet could use a bit of explanation.

( Author's notes, ahoy! )

You know how sometimes you get a silly idea in your head, and you can't let go of it until it's done?

So I bring you: A Buffyverse Alphabet (in the style of Edward Gorey's Gashlycrumb Tinies):

A is for Anya, who died being brave.
B is for Buffy, crawled out of her grave.
( Read more... )

ETA: If you're bewildered by any of these, I made an explanatory post here!

ETA2: tarotgal has made one for Highlander!

In 2008 I wrote:

Sunshine, for fall_for_sx.

Chapter 12 of That Good Night.

And that's all, folks!

Hey, for having a new baby (now 14 months old) and working full time since August, I think it's not so bad.

Dear Joanna: oh my goodness, thank you!!! That was a wonderfully sweet surprise to find in my inbox.

We have something in common—my little guy loves the Sandra Boyton books too! (His favourite of the ones we have is Moo, Baa, La La La.)

I hope you have a very happy New Year!

Oh, look, it's nearly 2009. How did that happen?

I have a plan for the new year, and that plan is: I'm going to participate in fandom, a little! Read my flist once in a while, browse some communities, read a bit of fic, post every once in a while, and, hey, write! I'm working on the next chapter of "That Good Night" now, and I think I'm well on my way to meeting my stated goal of posting chapter thirteen less than a year after chapter twelve. Yay!

See you around!