rodo | Network

How come it is when a story is "finished" and about to be seen by a second pair of eyes, suddenly you're seeing it as if for the first time yourself and you need to embark on a panicked last minute rewrite to make it yet more finished?

I have noticed the same effect from putting it in the AO3 text box and hitting preview. Suddenly it looks different. Suddenly that sentence I said was fine as is actually belongs in a completely different paragraph. Suddenly there's a much more cogent way to state my theme. And suddenly there's a typo I never saw before.

Anyway, the story in question is now More Done.

troisoiseaux

Read Tied Up in Tinsel by Ngaio Marsh, one of the later installments in her Roderick Alleyn series (published 1972) and set against the backdrop of a country manor being restored by a wealthy eccentric, whose particular eccentricities include hiring a domestic staff consisting entirely of convicted murderers. I enjoyed this one a lot: Alleyn's wife, painter Agatha Troy, is the focal character until he shows up halfway through to figure out whodunnit, and I always love Marsh's Troy-centric novels; the wealthy eccentric was also a really great character. And it is, as the title suggests, seasonally relevant/a Christmas Episode!

Read The Night Guest by Hildur Knútsdóttir (translated from Icelandic by Mary Robinette Kowal), a novella about a woman who is either having a mental health crisis or in the throes of something more supernatural when she finds herself waking up each morning to the increasingly violent aftermath of apparent sleepwalking episodes. Shades of Ottessa Moshfegh's My Year of Rest & Relaxation, but darker/creepier/gorier. Do not read if you are particularly fond of cats. I picked this up after seeing a review from

rachelmanija that both piqued my interest and tempered my expectations, and I'm glad I went in forewarned that the plot's ambiguity is never actually resolved and nothing is explained; I didn't mind the Wouldn't that be messed up? Anyways I'm Rod Serling approach, but it would have been annoying to have expected answers that never came.

Have made some progress in the audiobook of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and this is hardly a new/unique observation, but it really is wild to read the classics that have become so diffused into general pop culture, because you'll be like yeah, yeah, we get it, it's a famous book and then you'll actually read it and it really is That Good???

Current Music: Stalker's Tango - Autoheart

watersword

Hi, there's an active shooter situation on my campus; I'm safe and a couple of miles away. ♥

lizbee

I started playing Assassin's Creed: Unity and realised that I know almost nothing about the French Revolution. We did study it in grade 10, but I missed a lot of time due to a never-identified virus -- I was out for most of the American Revolution and all of the French, and mostly passed the class because I knew more about the Chinese Communist Revolution than my teacher. (It's not her fault, she was an art teacher who was roped in to teach history for ... reasons which I'm sure made sense at the time.)

Anyway, I've decided to fill the gap in my knowledge. I started out by trying to listen to The Rest Is History, a podcast my mum recommended, but the hosts are two English men, and they spend a weird amount of time comparing Marie Antoinette to Meghan Markle, but in a derogatory "maybe we should decapitate the Duchess of Sussex" way that I did not care for.

Then I read The French Revolution by Christopher Hibbert, which I think is from 1980. It was a solemn, dispassionate accounting of events and personalities, but didn't get into the question of, for example, why the Parisian mob went from zero to heads on pikes in the storming of the Bastille.

I've requested an inter-library loan for Citizens by Simon Schama, which I've seen recommended a lot, but I would also be eager to read a history that's not ... British? Because the British, for understandable reasons (I guess) weren't really down with the beheading of the monarch and the end of the monarchy (even though they did it first), and I feel like a pro-aristocratic bias has pervaded a lot of what I've encountered. And obviously the Terror was bad, but, like, maybe Robespierre was an asexual smol bean who was a convenient scapegoat! I'm open to the possibility!

I am open to suggestions, is what I'm saying.

snickfic

All Systems Red (2017) by Martha Wells. A humanoid cyborg created to do wet work jobs finds itself giving a shit about a human research team it's supposed to be protecting on an alien planet.

I can see why people love Murderbot itself; it's a big old angst bucket desperately trying to pretend it isn't one. I've seen people characterize this type as an iron woobie, and it's fandom catnip.

However, I did not connect with any other part of this novella. It's so damn insubstantial. There are other characters, but they're mostly indistinguishable. There's a strong whiff of claustrophobic found family that made me DNF the one Becky Chambers book I tried, with the same element of "the one character who doesn't buy in without question is treated as an antagonist." There's some worldbuilding, but extremely thinly drawn. The prose is conversational, which can work great in a lot of cases but here just feels like one more missed opportunity to give me anything I might be interested in.

I've read a lot of pro SFF novellas over the years, and I genuinely can't think of one that felt less deserving of its length than this one. You can pack a lot of thoughts and ideas into a novella! But this didn't even try. If it'd been a third of the wordcount, I probably would have liked it pretty well.

I've heard the second and third in the series are the best, and I might try them at some point, but tbh I think I'd have better luck with the show, which at least has real actors to lend some weight and complexity to the characters.

--

The Tainted Cup (2024) and A Drop of Corruption (2025) by Robert Jackson Bennett. The first two books of his Shadow of the Leviathan series, a Sherlock and Holmes riff (or possibly a Nero Wolfe and Archie riff) about an idiosyncratic middle-aged(?) female savant and her long-suffering young gay assistant solving murders in a fantasy world where basically all technology is organic in some way.

These were great fun. Bennett seems really into both cosmic horror (the "leviathans" of the series are mountain-sized monsters that crawl out of the sea and wreak havoc every wet season) and body horror (more terrible plant-related things happening to bodies than you can shake a stick at). Even when this world is running the way everyone wants, it's still so damn weird (complimentary). Augmentations that turn your skin purple and gray! Immortality treatments that stop aging and cause you to just grow forever, like an iguana! The augurs in the second book who pattern-match to such a degree that they can't handle spoken communication: A++, and they reminded me a bit of parts of Anathem.

Ana Dolabra, the foul-mouthed savant detective is far and away the best part. Her assistant Din Kol, from whose perspective the stories are written, is a real sad sack, both due to circumstances and apparently innate temperament, and sometimes that can be a bit of a drag. I also felt like his renewal of purpose in A Drop of Corruption came way too easily; it almost felt like it happened off screen.

Overall, though, these are just a great time. It sounds like Bennett is on a roll, and I can't wait for the next one.

conuly

Watch on YouTube

conuly

The goal is to herd all the "What do you call this?" posts into the comments there. It never ever works. However, they do occasionally get comments like "Here are the answers to the questions you asked rhetorically as an example" and "Why do you keep posting this and asking the same questions" and "There is no such thing as a pork burger".

Yes, Virginia, there is a pork burger. This is why I have a picture of pork burger patties on my phone, so I can post it every time somebody says that those don't exist, or that they "really" mean a breakfast sandwich or a pulled pork sandwich or a ham sandwich or a BLT.

I always want to ask these people who, I guess, don't get out much why they're so sure that anything they haven't personally heard of before must not exist. It's a big old world, but apparently, not so much for them.

(I suppose I can be forgiven for being a bit snippy this time around, I mean, given everything.)

***********************

( Read more... )

goodbyebird

❄️ ❄️ ❄️ ❄️
Rec-cember Day 13

Star Trek (2009 movie)
Lunch and Other Obscenities by

Rheanna (9,717 words). Just a delightful exploration of different cultures colliding.
When Starfleet Academy's Housing and Accommodation Officer—whose name, according to the sign next to her door, was Diane Maza—arrived at her office the next morning, Nyota was already there, waiting.

"My roommate's a sex-crazed exhibitionist with a food phobia," Nyota told her. "You have got to reassign me."

Maza didn't react. She regarded Nyota for a moment with a coolly appraising gaze that seemed designed to silently communicate that she hadn't just seen everything, she'd seen everything plus some other shit as well, and therefore any attempt to shock a reaction out of her was doomed at the outset.

shipperslist

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

sunnymodffa posting in

fail_fandomanon

There are definitely going to be weird teens who want to fuck Seth Rogen pig and call him a poor little oink oink, though.

Orwell would be fascinated.

All the fail_fandomanon Rules and Information (and Ban Requests): https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/1076.html. The short version: no embeds, don't out people's real names, don't be that much of an asshole, body fluids are off topic, Mods reserve the right to freeze, screen, and delete the fuck out of stuff. FFA discussion covers a wide variety of topics and has a very flexible view of 'fandom' that includes politics, current events, and cooking techniques. FFA is a Choose NOT to Warn experience. Meme away.

Other posts on meme:

Personal Issues, Off Topic Conversation, Religion, & Everything Else post (PP #31)
Fic and WIP Post
Book Clubs, Watchalongs, & Readalongs
Prompt & fill fests: for FFA Post #1000, FFA's 10th anniversary, FFA Post #1500, & FFA Post #2000

Search

Unofficial FFA archive & search: Dememe.info Username/password pairs are nonnie/pony, nonny/seal, or ayrt/velociraptor. As of 2025, Dememe is geoblocked for the UK.
If you have a DW account, you can use DW's content search. Don't forget to tick the box to search in comments. You can also use FFA Rocks.

Related communities and additional resources

New unofficial FFA wiki (archive: ffawiki_backup)
New unofficial FFA Writers Tips & Recs wiki
Unofficial Fyeah FFA tumblr
Unofficial FFA recs list
Unofficial FFA Discord Chat
DW Blocker link & tips and now New! 2024 Updated DW Blocker Guide
How to link to another account on DW or other sites. If you don't want to create a clickable link, type a backslash (\) before the @.

Meme rules do not require spoiler cuts. But here are two ways to make them:

HTML-5 (recommended)
<details> <summary>spoiler title</summary> Some spoilery content. </details>	Demo: spoiler title Some spoilery content.

Alternative for inline spoiler-cuts - details here
<div tabindex="-1"><b>spoiler title</b><div>Some spoilery content.</div></div>	Demo: spoiler title Some spoilery content.

If you would like to be banned to avoid anonfailing, please leave a logged-in comment at the rules post. It will be automatically screened.

Next post: will open when this posts hits 5000
Previous post: https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/713796.html#comments
Regular view - First page: https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/714023.html#comments
Regular view - Last page: https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/714023.html?page=999#comments
Top Level view - First page: https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/714023.html?view=top-only#comments
Top Level view - Last page: https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/714023.html?view=top-only&page=999#comments
Flat view - First Comment: https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/714023.html?view=flat#comments
Flat view - Most Recent: https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/714023.html?view=flat&page=999#comments
Dememe flatview emulator is at https://dememe.info/flat_view (same login as the regular Dememe info above).

These topics are banned:

'Which topics belong on main meme'
the game Hogwarts Legacy
discussion about current events in Israel and Palestine
US Politics

Only one clearly named top-level thread for each of the following topics:

Disruptive and Provocative Opinions (DAPO)
sexual abuse and rape culture
UK Politics
Russia's invasion of Ukraine and related current events

Discussion of UK politics related sexual abuse and rape culture should go into one properly labeled subthread.

settiai

I started this past Thursday night's episode of Critical Role before crashing at the break because I desperately needed sleep as I knew that work would be hell on Friday. And then, to the shock of no one, I didn't manage to finish the episode yesterday because work was, in fact, hell.

So let's pick up again now that it's properly the weekend, shall we?

As with previous posts about the current campaign of Critical Role, this will be a combination of quotes, random thoughts, and some speculation. And it's obviously full of spoilers (albeit vague ones in places).

( Spoilers under the cut. )

Current Mood: accomplished

ysabetwordsmith

Human brains light up for chimp voices in a way no one expected

Humans may carry ancient neural traces that let us recognize the voices of our primate cousins.

Humans don’t just recognize each other’s voices—our brains also light up for the calls of chimpanzees, hinting at ancient communication roots shared with our closest primate relatives. Researchers found a specialized region in the auditory cortex that reacts distinctly to chimp vocalizations, but not to those of bonobos or macaques, revealing an unexpected mix of evolutionary and acoustic influences.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today is cloudy and cold with copious snow. This has wiped out our plans to visit a holiday market. :(

I fed the birds. I've seen a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, at least one female and four male cardinals, a mourning dove, and a tiny wren clinging to the bathroom window as it probed the edges for hibernating insects.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/13/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/13/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/13/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

rionaleonhart

In twenty-five years of writing fanfiction, I think this might actually be the most obscure fandom I've ever written for. I hope there's someone in the world who's interested in reading this!

Be aware that this fic contains major spoilers for Death Trick: Double Blind, which is a mystery game and is best played unspoiled.

Title: Invisible Touch
Fandom: Death Trick: Double Blind
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Detective/Magician
Wordcount: 1,100
Summary: The Detective and the Magician get to know each other a little better.

( Invisible Touch )

runpunkrun

We have these envelopes I use to half-assedly organize coupons. After our local Kroger analogue recently remodeled, I had to rename some of the envelopes because they dissolved the "natural" section—where I did most of my dairy-free, gluten-free shopping—and moved those products around the store.

So now the "deli & meat" envelope has "dairy & non-dairy" added to it, which amuses me every time I get it out because "dairy & non-dairy" encompasses everything in the universe.

douqi

One of my (many) unattractive traits is my obsession with William Morris' and Emery Walker's Kelmscott Press. It is my eternal sorrow that almost none of their books are available as facsimile editions that retain the original (very beautiful) typesetting and illustrations. The most high-profile one I'm aware of is the Kelmscott Chaucer, facsimile editions of which were published in 1974 by Basilisk Press, and more recently in 2002 (as a limited edition, bound in goatskin) and 2008 (as a standard edition) by the Folio Society. Periodically, I trawl the internet for these, then gaze sadly at the astronomical prices for the 1974 and 2008 editions for a long while before closing the browser tab.

It was on one of these trawls that I learned that a facsimile edition of another Kelmscott Press book, The Poems of John Keats, had been published as a facsimile edition by Nottingham Court Press in 1979 (it seems to have been sold in unbound form). A search revealed that the average copy seemed to be selling between £200 to £250... until I came across a listing with no pictures other the plain outer binding, and no reference to the Kelmscott Press in the description. But the listed date of publication, the name of the publisher, and the name of the editor (F.S. Ellis) were all correct. The stated price was £15, so I decided to take a punt. I didn't want to ask the seller further questions that might make them realise what they had on their hands.

The book arrived today, so I can now confirm that I am, in fact, the proud owner of a facsimile edition of the Kelmscott Press Keats for the low, low price of £15.

Title page from the Nottingham Court Press facsimile edition of the Kelmscott Press Keats

alchemicink

This week: Zeztz wraps up the meteor mission; Miss Scarlet examines people who don't quite fit in with traditional societal expectations; and Ultraman Omega gets an unpleasant wake up call

This week's quote is a chilling line from Omega. Spoilers, as always, below:

Zeztz (episode 13)

( Read more... )

Miss Scarlet and the Duke (season 1, episode 2)

( Read more... )

Ultraman Omega (episode 22)

( Read more... )

musesfool

Fascinating read here: Whose League Is It Anyway? on Defector. The comments are mostly worth reading too - I especially liked this one: "One of the reasons that collective bargaining exists is that it channels labor into a well-controlled process of negotiating and grieving within a framework that still respects the legitimacy of capital and is willing to enforce its prerogatives with violence."

I also added both books discussed in the post to my to read list: Every Day Is Sunday: How Jerry Jones, Robert Kraft, and Roger Goodell Turned the NFL into a Cultural & Economic Juggernaut by Ken Belson, and Lords of the Realm (about baseball) by John Helyar.

Also, I don't know who Maggie Nelson is (I am old), but I thought this was a really good piece of criticism of her new book: Maggie Nelson Sputters And Stalls In ‘The Slicks’, which is apparently a (hamhanded and faily) attempt to parallel Taylor Swift with Sylvia Plath. I mean, I'm not going to lie, I enjoy many of TSwift's songs and I'm not a huge fan of Plath's work, but come the fuck on!

Anyway, I continue to find my subscription to Defector worth it, even if I don't read it as often as I'd like.

In other news, I was up early this morning, because the super said he was going to stop by to install my new apartment doorbell (when they put in this app-based front door system, it for some reason caused the bells at the apartment doors to stop working), but he hasn't shown up yet, and I'd be very surprised if he does at all. Oh well, I will try again when I'm off next week. Maybe 3rd time is the charm!

*

Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Music: Dancing in the Flames - the Weeknd

minoanmiss

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

Current Mood: hopeful

oursin

I think this is an absolutely terrible idea, and that they should be giving book tokens, and, okay, maybe recommendations, but letting people choose their books:

30 authors on the books they give to everyone

I am in particular stunned by the choices of Some People, e.g. Colm Tóibín's Christmas Downer:

There is a book I buy as a present that never goes out of fashion. It is The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford.... the extraordinary plot creeps up and bites you before you know where you are. The narrative curls and twists; the narrator knows too much or too little. But at some point the appalling and ingenious nature of the treachery – what is called “cheating” nowadays – becomes apparent and you feel that you have been let in on some intriguing and explosive secret. It is perfect, thus, for Christmas.

I am also beswozzled by what Tessa Hadley considers comfort reading: Rumer Godden??? Okay, some of her works fall into that category, but on the whole I would not consider the ones she does name - The River in particular - exactly comforting.

Much as I love them, I would not press into anyone's hands Middlemarch, The Fountain Overflows, Cold Comfort Farm or The Pursuit of Love, urging that they they must read this.

I am reminded of GB Shaw's rewrite of the Golden Rule, about not doing to others as you would be done by, as tastes differ.

Take it away, Sly and the Family Stone!

Current Music: Everyday People

Profile

Rodo

rodototal.neocities.org

November 2025

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
					1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30

Page Summary

annavere - More done
troisoiseaux - Recent reading
watersword - (no subject)
lizbee - Please recommend books about the French Revolution
snickfic - Books: Murderbot, Shadow of the Leviathan
conuly - (no subject)
conuly - So, over at /r/Englishlearning there is a weekly "What is this thing" post
goodbyebird - (no subject)
shipperslist - brothers in arms (a 100 cql/mdzs ships fic)
sunnymodffa in fail_fandomanon - FFA DW Post #2399 - Orwell didn’t die just so Seth Rogan could get an erotic pig tag on AO3
settiai - Critical Role: Campaign 4, Episode 9
ysabetwordsmith - Science
ysabetwordsmith - Birdfeeding
rionaleonhart - Fanfiction: Invisible Touch (Death Trick: Double Blind, Detective/Magician)
runpunkrun - there are two kinds of products in the world
douqi - The Time I Scored a Kelmscott Press Facsimile Edition of Keats for £15
alchemicink - "our purpose is not to save" (Weekly TV reviews)
musesfool - "You can hug it out, or you can pick up a bat."
minoanmiss - The same thought as Longfellow
oursin - What, to absolutely EVERYONE???

Style Credit

Base style: Ciel by carisma_sensei
Theme: Aranel by nornoriel

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page generated 2025-12-14 12:10 am

my circle

Network

More done

Recent reading

(no subject)

Please recommend books about the French Revolution

Books: Murderbot, Shadow of the Leviathan

(no subject)

So, over at /r/Englishlearning there is a weekly "What is this thing" post

(no subject)

brothers in arms (a 100 cql/mdzs ships fic)

FFA DW Post #2399 - Orwell didn’t die just so Seth Rogan could get an erotic pig tag on AO3

Critical Role: Campaign 4, Episode 9

Science

Birdfeeding

Fanfiction: Invisible Touch (Death Trick: Double Blind, Detective/Magician)

there are two kinds of products in the world

The Time I Scored a Kelmscott Press Facsimile Edition of Keats for £15

"our purpose is not to save" (Weekly TV reviews)

"You can hug it out, or you can pick up a bat."

The same thought as Longfellow

What, to absolutely EVERYONE???

Profile

November 2025

Links

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags