Sugardy Candy

Hope everyone had a good break so far!

I'm feeling... a lot, from the year 2020 has been, even though me and mine have been terrifically lucky so far where Covid-19 is concerned. But I do feel a lot less energetic and am generally unenthused about things. Plus RL has been busy like whoa for six months, I feel like I'm burning out. Dunno how the next year will be, still plenty of things to come. Waiting for the vaccine being one, though my guess is that it's gonna take months before non-medical people in my country get to be in line for it.

Anyway!

Yuletide was both exciting and a little frustrating, due to the abovementioned busy like whoa. To my delight, I did get a History3: Make Our Days Count fic Five Years Later, the Way Things Should Have Been which has Xiang Haoting/Yu Xigu by iamtheenemy (Steph). Thank you so much, Yuletide author. It was a lovely surprise!

Also came across:

How to Thrive in the Cloud Recesses, MDZS Q, by donutsweeper


Castle Sonas, Hotel Del Luna, by AJHall, which is so good.

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Also I stress-wrote a drabble fic: Wei Wuxian and vampires which was an outburst, to be frank. If only RL frustrations are so easily gotten rid of.

Happy 2021, everyone.

Yuletide reveals:

So much thanks to Kisuru for Stomp the Butterfly's Wings to Dust and adevyish for After the Storm, both TB/X fic focusing on Subaru. Subaru's one of those characters that, I dunno, seems so typically CLAMP-ish stereotypical yet when you think about, there's so much more potential for him to be otherwise. So it's always cool to read about future!Subaru.

As for me, I wrote Mei Changsu Plans for egelantier, a Nirvana in Fire fic that takes place before the series starts, i.e. my take on how Lin Shu becomes Mei Changsu becomes, well, Mei Changsu.

It's actually (sort of?) incomplete, in that I meant to examine more of how that happened, but my time got sucked up by work. Which is why the fic is mostly of people talking than actual plotty stuff taking place. It's also a sort of sequel to Homecoming Surprise, which I wrote to qualify for Yuletide.

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Not written for Yuletide, but such a delight: Accustomed To Disguise, Nirvana in Fire, Lin Shu aka aka/Jingyan, by emilyenrose

Written for Yuletide: Eye of the Tiger, Calvin & Hobbes, by tielan

From bibliogramma: "100 MUST-READ SCI-FI FANTASY NOVELS BY FEMALE AUTHORS" by Nikki Steele. Interesting list, I guess.

Bolded the ones read, commented on a few. I've read about a quarter of the list, which sounds about right, as my taste in sci-fic/fantasy runs mostly to the lighthearted.

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*side-eyes*: They missed out The Changeover by Margaret Mahy. And The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper.

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Have dominion, Queen Helen, Magician's Nephew, Narnia, by edenfalling

God Save the Queen, RPF, Captain America et al, by copperbadge

Only Begotten and sequel, Whosoever Believeth, Lucifer/Damian crossover, and something like, canon is its own warning?, by astolat

A list:

1) Is it just me or has March been a really long month (and is still not over)? I've been to the wake of a friend's mum, to prison (work-related), to court (both subordinate and high, also work-related), transferred to a different mail system, witnessed an eclipse (sorta), wrote fic, missed a tutoring session out sheer exhaustion, reacted (or not reacted) to news reports on terrorism and disasters, and replaced all the furniture in my room (I did not know I owned that many books). Not to mention AlphaGo v Lee Se-dol.

2) Speaking of Lee Se-dol (or as some websites have it, Lee Sedol), AlphaGo won the game by defying basic human instinct. That post is useful for people like me, whose strategic gaming skill only extends to tic-tac-toe. Kinda fun fodder for fic too, methinks.

3) Read The Bone Swans of Amandale, by C.S.E. Cooney, which was recced on Asking the Wrong Questions, mainly because the book cover reminded me of the last scene in Bridge of Birds. It is actually a re-telling of Pied Piper, and a rather good one. Enjoyed the narrator Maurice, fascinated by the Nicolas the piper and between being put off and impressed by Dora Rose. Nice touch with the three children. Wished there was more of the villain.

4) Read A Queer Trade by KJ Charles. I read her Magpie Lord series previously, didn't know there were new stories set in the same universe. The ML series was a little over the top, but gave me the feeling that a crossover with Zen Cho's Sorcerer to the Crown would be great fun.

5) Speaking of period fiction (or not), here's an atypical introduction to the laws of Singapore (tho' this was taken from a case I was reading this week):

The island of Singapore was part of the territorial domain of the Johor Sultanate before 1824 when its sovereignty was ceded to the British. As a British possession, its inhabitants were subject to English principles of law. However, it was not until 1826 when the Second Charter of Justice (“the Second Charter”) introduced the entire corpus of English law (common law, equity and English statutes of general application) to Singapore so far as it was applicable to the circumstances of Singapore and its inhabitants and subject to such modifications as those circumstances might require (as the courts later held its effect to be such). The consequence of this development was that the general law was applicable to all except where the customs and personal laws of the inhabitants required that the general law be modified to suit their circumstances.

Yadda, yadda, you kinda see this general gist whatever case you're reading: criminal, civil, family, procedural rules, etc. With some modification it'd make a great period fantasy setting: colonial powers try their best, but they didn't count on what the natives had up their sleeves. Hehe.

Occupational Safety, Poe, Finn, Star Wars VII, by shadydave

The Importance of Being Edited, Miles Vorkosigan and fanfic, by shimotsuki

Thanks to nineveh_uk for alerting to the fact that there are Daddy-Long-Legs fanfic:

Dear Walt, Judy/Jervis, Daddy-Long-Legs, by Bookwormsarah

The Diary of Julia Rutledge Pendleton: Excerpts, Daddy-Long-Legs, by shealynn88


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Read Kings Rising by freece aka C.S. Pacat. I was annoyed that it'd been 2 Feb here for hours and I had to wait on Amazon's timezone for it, but then it downloaded and I was happy. Repeats to self: Laurent is the blond one; Damien, no, Damon, no, Damen is the dark-haired one. Blondie is from Vere, Damen is from Akielos. Yup, gotcha.

I'd read a few chapters of Captive Prince back when it was still on LJ, and liked it... sort of. The story was interesting, though slavefic isn't really my kink, but it was fun to read. Only I kept mixing up the two main characters. Not due to any fault in the characterisations, but due to my facility for confusing d/l/m/r sounds. Dalen, Daren, Ramen, Laumen, Lauden... it was frustrating. With constant reminders to self (see above), though, I worked though that, and got three books' worth of entertainment. ( spoilery? More opinions than about plot )

Meme! Though a bit irrelevant, seeing as I haven't written much fic for years.

Make a list of:

Ten things that you think are common in your fic:

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Ten things you think are uncommon in your fic although commonly found in fic in general:

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Ten things you wish were more true of your fic (just ten?):

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I finally found it! MV of 张学友's 《不想这是场戏》 a search complicated by the fact that I couldn't even figure out how to romanise Cantonese, and didn't remember the exact title, and Jacky Cheung has too many songs and MVs. Resolution isn't that great, but yay anyway. What I really love about this is that the male character (Cheung himself, as presumably himself the famous singer) and the female character do not end up together. They had a few moments of chemistry while practising their dance, and that was it. The end was lovely.

And goodness, does Jacky Cheung look so young, or is it just me?

YO, K2tog (it's like a code), Arthur/Eames, knitting, Inception, by lazulisong

Early Reunion, AU, Valka, Stoick, How to Train Your Dragon, by Raberba girl (Raberba_girl)

Through The Spines Unfurling (Five Things You Should Know About Cacti), Lee/Gaara, Naruto, by mstigergun. This is a fic of beauty.

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Have been watching the 2014 Romance of the Condor Heroes. 神鵰俠侶 is one of my favourite novels out of Jin Yong wuxia novels (I also adore 鹿鼎記 and 倚天屠龍記), and I have a soft spot for the televised versions, however ridiculously the condor is portrayed. When I first read the novel and came across the description of the giant condor, I assumed it was fake as I could not conceive of a bird that huge. Then I read more about birds and realised sure, they could be really big and perhaps Jin Yong just wrote about a slightly mutated version (you see where my X-men knowledge kicked in). (The novel describes a "man-sized" bird.)

The limits of special effects meant that early televised versions did have a man-sized condor, sort of like Big Bird that flapped fake-looking wings and did most of its flying off-camera, or in the distance. One took it on faith: this is TV, you are reminded while moping your heart out for the doomed romance of Yang Guo and Xiaolongnu. Then the 2006 China-made version featured a condor that Yang Guo could ride on could beat off dozens of men with its wings (my error - thanks for pointing that out, sabriel!). The 2014 version has one that humans could stand on, as though the bird was one of the Monkey King's magical clouds. That wingspan does not, even to my amateur eyes, look anything wide enough, and I'm vaguely dissatisfied that from being Yang Guo's friend, the Giant Condor has become something of a transportation device. Even if they needed to get to Xiangyang quickly. Seriously, they have qinggong, use it!

Long fics:

Law Like Love, John/Sherlock, Sherlock, by PlaidAdder. I really like the fact that it's written in reverse chronological order. Part of the Wild About Harry series, earlier parts of which I've recced before.

Crown of Thorns [The Walls, the Wainscot, and the Mouse] 'Verse, Crowley, Aziraphale, Good Omens, by irisbleufic.

Lilies at the Funeral, Miss Marple/Return to Night (Mary Renault) crossover, by legionseagle. It's on her website so I can't put down any comments as I would have done if it were on LJ or DW or AO3 or ff.net ( Read more... )

Merry Christmas to all those that celebrate it; happy chocolate day to all those who don't.

Yuletide is also unveiled, and there's such a staggering variety that I can only bemoan my media illiteracy. Haven't read a lot so far as I've been watching the Sherlock mini-episode.

But Yuletide also. Among them:

The Birds and the Bees, Kitty Charing/Freddy Standen, Cotillion by Georgette Heyer.

Out of Sorts, Evelyn/Kit, twincest, False Colours by Georgette Heyer

Two in the bush, Sorry/Laura, The Changeover by Margaret Mahy

On Bigness, Zhuangzi

1) Random question: Do you use the shift key for capital letters or the caps lock key? Was watching classmates typing notes yesterday (finally deciding to sit at the back row instead of front) and noticed (a) a few using the shift key and (b) others typing with two fingers.

2) Am I old school to assume that you ought to have keyboarding skills?

3) Lost my kindle last week by stupidly putting it down in a fast food place and not realising it until 2 hours later. By then, of course... >_> I'm by turns tickled and alarmed to think that someone is reading Skyfall slash on it. (Got kindle deregistered but its contents are there. Didn't lose data, though; I backed up my kindle just a few days before.)

4) Have excuse now to buy a Paperwhite, even though it hits a bit at my finances.

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Cold Burn, Sherlock/John, magical AU, Sherlock BBC, by anactoria

The Not Remotely Secret Memoirs of Alexander the Great, Aged 13¾, by arysteia