silverflight8 | Reading

We finally got around to watching the first Stranger Things new episode drop! Somehow I had remained completely and utterly unspoiled for it, to the extent of having even forgotten that there was a new season until suddenly a post with "stranger things spoilers" arrived on my Tumblr dash and I immediately blocked the tag. So I knew literally nothing.

( Random spoilers in no particular order )

hamsterwoman

I'm giving myself a couple of Taskmaster-free weeks, even though I do have some TM NZ s6 I could catch up on, because Champion of Champions 4 is coming on Dec 22 -- so excite! The poster gives a full look at the costumes, answering the question of whether Mathew was going to wear EVEN SHORTER shorts, and the people on Reddit provided the extra context that John's Freddie's Harlequin outfit is associated with "We Are the Champions", and that Andy is wearing the cricket uniform associated with the one-day cricket as opposed to test match -- and I love the added meanings from these two nerds. (If there's a deep explanation or Maisie's nun or Sam's bellhop, that has yet to be shared. So far the hypotheses seem to be that Sam's is a reference to TM Hotel and Maisie's is going for something that will keep her knickers covered this time, or possibly another classic musical reference, Grease --> The Sound of Music.)

*

In the spirit of catching up on things, I went and got myself up to date on Rivers of London (especially as I'm requesting it in Yuletide and

fandomtrees. This is the first year I've had to catch up on it -- I've had a copy of the novel since early July, on preorder, and kind of forgot that Stray Cat Blues had been out for almost a year when I ordered it in October, and then proceeded to not touch for the next two months. But, well, I'm enjoying this patch of story less than previous ones, I guess, so there's less of an impetus to stay current even though I do still love the characters and the world.

5. Ben Aaronovitch, Stone and Sky -- This one was an odd experience... I've been keeping up with the novellas and GNs, but it's been 3.5 years since I read the last novel, and this one seems to be continuing the trend where it's taking me longer to read each book than the preceding one, in the post-Faceless Man arc of the series: False Value I didn't like that much (relative to the series preceding it), but read in 1-2 days; Amongst Our Weapons I liked more but took several days to finish; and this one I read over the course of weeks, setting it aside and going back to it, and I'm not sure how it compares to the other recent ones for me because it just didn't feel like a Peter book, it felt like something else, and that something else didn't work for me as well as the Peter books, but also it was trying for a different thing. ( More, with marked spoilers )

6. Stray Cat Blues (RoL GN #12) -- it does go well with Abigail's heavier and more independent presence in Stone and Sky. ( But it was mostly meh as a stand-alone story (spoilers). ) Abigail was also the only one whose art I liked in this outing. I mean, I don't read these for the art, but this was more meh/downright ugly than most of these.

*

More year-end meme: ( movies, television, books this year )

*

And, the year-end meme was a good impetus to dust off the fannish goals I'd put together in early January and have not checked in on since end of May, LOL.

( Fannish goals check-in )

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3177/

Luckily, the range is limited by the fact that the square boundary lines follow great circles.

https://xkcd.com/3177/

snickfic

Star Trek: TOS
Cheek to Cheek by

septemberbells
Chapel/Uhura, 100 words. Very sweet. <333

The Haunting of Hill House
Oleander Square by

galaxyofroses
Theo/Eleanor, 2k. Theo returns haunted from Hill House, maybe literally. I love this unconventional form of haunting. This has just great atmosphere, with lovely prose and such elegant imagery.

Original Work
Little Rat by

ChocoChipBiscuit
Noblewoman/The Woman Her Husband Is Having an Affair With, 5k. A noblewoman goes to a her London townhouse, only to discover her estranged husband's newest bed-mate. I enjoyed the hell out of this. I love their dynamic, their mutual respect for each others' worldliness and practicality combined with their attraction for each other. Also: the smut is scorching hot. Just delightful all around.

True Detective: Night Country
All Summer in a Day by

Luna
Danvers/Navarro, 3k. Or: six months later, a reunion. This is the hot, gorgeous, atmospheric, character-driven, immediately post-canon shipfic at that random lake cabin that we all deserved! The writing here is so lovely, and the dynamic between them is complicated and full of sparks. I especially love the Danvers voice here. Wonderful stuff.

spiralsheep

1. If you had to participate in one Olympic event, what would it be and why?
Despite representing my schools in multiple sporting events from the ages of 8-15, especially netball and athletics, I have no idea what events are currently in the Olympics. If I'd trained hard when I was younger I probably could've made it into one of the less popular events for the UK (my cousin did a sport at national level), not ski-jumping though because it's too challenging so Eddie the Eagles's's legend remains safe. :-D

2. What is the one song you always sing along to?
I sing along to almost everything, including scat singing classical instrumental music. I also sing signals to the birbs when I feed them, so they know I've put food out and wasn't merely gardening (but the robin follows me closely when I'm potentially exposing natural food too).

3. Do you wear a seatbelt in the car?
Yes, obv, why wouldn't I? Although, to quote the novel I'm currently reading about post-communist Eastern Europe: "They'd fastened their seat belts, an obvious sign that they weren't from around here."

4. Car, SUV or truck and why?
Feet, bus, train, pedals, trap/horse: in that order. In an apocalypse I'd steal a small electric vehicle with large wheels that could be charged by renewable energy and had reasonably available parts (tyres for a start!), so probably a bicycle and bike trailer.

5. Are you a good/bad driver? Explain.
I'm a good driver, but I'm now medically disqualified from driving on public roads (except farm machinery for which I have an exemption and vehicles that don't require a licence). I can drive multiple different vehicles with wheels numbering between one (wheelbarrow not unicycle) and many-many. Also, I've driven large farm machinery on narrow winding lanes and never squished anybody, which is proof of my good-drivingness. Lastly, I never drove a front-opening bubble car with no reverse gear into a wall while drunk and had to stay there all night until my friends found and rescued me in the morning, lmao.

6. And y'all? :-)

mossy_bench

I saw this fanfic ask game on Tumblr, and rather than wait for someone to send me an ask, I figured I would just answer them all for fun on my own. I've reserved the right to skip questions that don't feel relevant.

( Navel-gazing under the cut )

rocky41_7 posting in

books

Book # (checks notes) 13! From the "Women in Translation" rec list has been The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp by Leonie Swann, translated from German by Amy Bojang. This book concerns a house full of elderly retirees who end up investigating a series of murders in their sleepy English town.

This book was truly a delight from start to finish. I loved Swann's quirky senior cast; they were both entertaining and raised valid and very human questions about what aging with dignity means. It did a fabulous job scratching my itch for an exciting novel with no twenty-somethings to be seen. Now Agnes, the protagonist, and her friends are quite old, which impacts their lives in significant ways. However, I felt Swann did a good job of showing the limitations of an aging body--unless she's really in a hurry, Agnes will usually opt to take the stair lift down from the second floor, for instance--without sacrificing the depth and complexity of her characters, or relegating such things merely to the youth of their pasts.

The premise of this book caught my attention immediately, but after a lifetime of books with riveting premises that dismally fail to deliver, I was still wary. I'm happy to report that The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp fully delivers on its promise! Swann makes ample and engaging use of her premise.

The story itself is not especially surprising; if you're looking for a real brain-bender of a mystery or a book of shocking plot twists, this is not it. But I enjoyed it, and I thought Swann walked an enjoyable line between laying down enough clues that I could see the writing on the wall at some point, without giving the game away too quickly. There are no last-minute ass-pulls of heretofore unmentioned characters suddenly confessing to the crime here! The main red herring that gets tossed in the reader is likely to see for what it is very quickly, but for plot-relevant reasons I won't mention here, it's very believable that Agnes does not see that.

Agnes herself was a wonderful protagonist; I really enjoyed getting to go along on this adventure with her. She had a hard enough time wrangling her household of easily-distracted seniors even before the murders started! But the whole cast was endearing, if also all obnoxious in their own way after decades of settling on their own way of getting through life.

Bojang does a flawless job with the translation; she really captures various English voices both in the dialogue and in Agnes' narration. The writing flows naturally without ever coming off stilted or awkward.

I really had fun with this one, and I'm delighted to here there's apparently a sequel--Agnes Sharp and the Trip of a Lifetime--which I will definitely be checking out.

maevedarcy posting in

icons

see all icons @ my journal

sholio

For reasons not worth exploring at this juncture (i.e. a friend asked which book to start with), I reread Jhereg earlier this week and then promptly tore through Yendi, Dragon, Taltos, quite a bit of Tsalmoth, and am now reading Issola. (Look, they're short books, okay.)

( Spoilers and speculation about Where It's All Going )

narrownights posting in

icons

Here @ My Journal

Current Mood: cheerful

sholio

Continuing with the latest batch; also see previous post in case you missed anything.

9. Biggles/EvS forced to maintain close proximity by mad science

Responding to the prompt call with a Biggles prompt- Biggles and EvS are cursed or exposed to a mysterious mad-science substance that makes them have to maintain physical contact or very close proximity or else suffer increasingly debilitating pain &/ illness the farther they are apart- and now must work together in these constraints to fix this situation

Originally posted on Tumblr

( 900 wds under the cut )

10. Scotland Yard ladies gossiping about EvS

Biggles prompt! The Scotland Yard ladies chatter about that tall, dark & handsome foreign gentleman Mr. Boelke who comes round to Raymond's office once a month. Biggles is Extremely Normal about this.

Originally posted on Tumblr

( 500 wds under the cut )

11. Tied to a bed

Biggles prompt! There was only one (piece of furniture sturdy enough to tie a prisoner to and it was a) bed

Originally posted here

( 100 wds under the cut )

sholio

Unless I mistagged it, I don't think I posted ANY of these from the last half-year or so here; so if anything is familiar, I apologize; and otherwise, enjoy.

1. Biggles/EvS: Biggles's friends "subtly" attempting to be supportive

I don't know if you're currently accepting Biggles prompts, but if you are: Algy, Bertie, and Ginger all try to "subtly" feel each other out to make sure no one is going to cause problems for Biggles and Erich (if there were something going on) (which there clearly can't be) (obviously)

https://www.tumblr.com/sholiofic/786139943995064320/i-dont-know-if-youre-currently-accepting-bigglesPosted on Tumblr here.

( 700 wds under the cut )

2. Dramatic dying in Biggles's arms confession (contains no actual death)

Since you're officially soliciting prompts- A dramatic Dying-In-Biggles's-Arms confession on EvS's part turns out decidedly unlike his daydreams and in fact Rather Awkward when he does not, in fact, end up dying after all, having reckoned without certain Biggles-worthy levels of determination to save him.

Posted on Tumblr here

( 700 wds under the cut )

3. Only One (team cuddlepile) Bed

As seen in commentfic here

( 500 words under the cut )

4. Whatever it is that Algy does on the many occasions he's left behind to man the phones.

Originally posted at a bigglesevents commentfest.

( 700 wds under the cut )

5. Algy and EvS caretaking

Hey, if you're still open to prompts, please may I request some Biggles whump, someone beaten up and another taking care of them, maybe Algy and EVS but whoever you like really, thank you!

Posted on Tumblr here

( 400 wds under the cut )

6. Friendly fire with Algy and Ginger

Hi! If you're still taking prompts, how about a friendly fire incident with the Biggles gang? Thanks! :)

Originally posted on Tumblr here

( 600 wds under the cut )

7. Biggles left to die

A new prompt- in their noble adversaries era, EvS leaves Biggles in/places him in a situation he knows would ordinarily merely delay Biggles before an eventual escape- were Biggles not injured or incapacitated somehow, which, when EvS realises is the case, he rushes back from his own getaway to save Biggles. Not that this choice signifies anything regarding his feelings for him.

Originally posted here

( 700 wds under the cut )

8. Erich abandoned by his associates

Biggles/EvS. EvS has not yet defected and is working a job with other Soviet agents in London. Said agents abandon EvS in a sticky situation, leaving him cornered to fight his own way out through British police. Raymond gets word of what’s happened and calls Biggles at Mount Street, who arrives at the scene to talk EvS down and convince him to defect.

Originally posted on Tumblr

( 600 wds under the cut )

(I have another batch from tonight coming soon, but I figured I'd catch up on the older ones first.)

sholio

Jagged Little Slayer by

periru3 and

Tafadhali.
(Link goes to series page; see individual vids for content notes.)

This is an ambitious project to vid Buffy the Vampire Slayer to the entirety of Alanis Morissette's "Jagged Little Pill" album, one vid per song. A wide variety of pairings and characters are represented, and a lot of moods - dysfunctional and sad, uplifting and warm. I definitely have some favorites among these and some that weren't quite my thing (much like the songs on the album itself) but overall, it's an incredibly ambitious project, very nicely done, and there's probably something in here for almost every fan of the show. I didn't even realize I still had this much nostalgia for BtVS - it was one of those shows that I watched and enjoyed, but never really got into the fandom for - but wow, apparently I do, and this is a great tribute to all its ups and downs.

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3176/

Some tires are marketed as 'all-shape tires,' but if driven in a climate with both inverted catenary falls and triangle falls, they wear out really fast.

https://xkcd.com/3176/

full_metal_ox posting in

little_details

https://domestic-medicine.com/

This website is an unromanticized purview of historical health care, with an emphasis on household and community practices shared and recorded by women, along with the overlaps of medicine and cookery.

Author Stephany Hoffelt’s credentials: ( Continue. )

(Content note: Hoffelt, with her lived experience, research into historical context, and insistence upon practical results, has a whole catacomb apiece to pick with both the patriarchal medical establishment and the proponents of a Magical Pagan Witch Sisterhood who got burned by the millions for providing safe and reliable herbal abortifacients.)

yuletidemods posting in

yuletide_admin

Default deadline

The deadline for a simple default on Yuletide is 9pm UTC on 10 December - just under one week from now. Please check the link - this isn't the same time of day as recent years.

The default deadline is the cut-off point for defaulting on your Yuletide assignment without a penalty. This applies if it's your first Yuletide, or if you posted successfully last time you signed up or took a pinch hit. Default before this time, and you're free to sign up again in future. If you're not sure whether the default deadline applies to you, please talk to mods (yuletideadmin@gmail.com).

Sample reasons to default:

You want to

You can't reconcile the canon, your writing strengths, and your recipient's DNWs

Life got in the way

A new installment of canon ruined your ideas

You use generative AI such as ChatGPT, and you just saw the rule that that's not allowed in this event

You can't see how to get the characters to do what you want them to do

You want to

People default every year for a variety of reasons. We don't need to know why, and we wish you well. When we open sign-ups, we recommend that you don't sign up unless you're confident you can write a story by the deadline. But after you've signed up, things may happen, and it's okay to withdraw, if that's what makes sense for you. See full information about defaulting at the FAQ.

To default, go to your assignment at the collection, and press the default button.

Assignment deadline

All original assignments, and all pinch hits sent out prior to the default deadline, are due at 9pm UTC 17 December (which is a DIFFERENT time of day to last year). Countdown

Pinch Hits

We have an outstanding pinch hit at

yuletide_pinch_hits. Please get in contact if you can help!!!

Betas & Beta Help Needed

We warmly welcome beta reader volunteers at the beta post and on Discord. See the FAQ for more information about finding betas if you need one!

Note: on the Yuletide Discord, requests for betas, or for brainstorming help that might give away what you're writing, are handled by DM-ing someone who currently holds a Hippo role. Please read the server FAQ before seeking a beta. Give your Hippo the relevant details and make sure you can receive messages back.

Treats and Posting

Click here for instructions on posting your assignment or treats. If you've finished your assignment and are considering treats, check out the app, and don't forget the promo post where people have advertised their canons. You may find something amazing there! Check out the prompts from pinch hitters too.

Keep Yuletide Madness in mind. The Madness collection is for stories under 1,000 words and stories which do not exactly fit the fandoms and characters requested. These works must still be gifts for other participants.

AFK post

We will also put up an Away from Keyboard post shortly on the

yuletide comm. The purpose of this post is that if people know they won't be able to respond to their gift until late in the anon period, or even until the new year, they can let their author know ahead of time. (Not being able to read and respond until several days after the collection opens is normal, though - many people will have family and other obligations!)

Happy December!

pauraque

This is the fourth and final part of my book club notes on A Thousand Beginnings and Endings. [Part one, part two, [part three.]

I missed this meeting because I was totally exhausted and doubted my ability to form words. I did read the stories, though!

"Daughter of the Sun" by Shevta Thakrar

( This love story had a lot going on and I didn't understand it well enough to summarize it. )

"The Crimson Cloak" by Cindy Pon

( A dawn goddess falls in love with a human. )

"Eyes Like Candlelight" by Julie Kagawa

( A kitsune falls in love with a human. )

"Carp, Calculus, and the Leap of Faith" by Ellen Oh

[Note: This story is included only in the paperback edition, not the hardcover or the ebook.]

( A girl whose mom is pressuring her to become a doctor gets support from her dad. )

the end

There were some really cool stories in here and I'm glad we read them. Not everything was to my taste, but the quality of writing was high. It was great to explore folklore outside of Western traditions and see the connections and contrasts.

The group will continue with As the Earth Dreams: Black Canadian Speculative Stories, which is a title that might be relevant to the interests of a few of you here! It's a brand new collection that just came out this year and I'm really looking forward to it.

rachelmanija

Thirteen-year-old Ali gets a chance to spend the summer with her aunt Dulcie and five-year-old cousin Emma at the family's long-abandoned lakefront property - over the strong objections of Ali's mother, who hates the lake. Ali is delighted to babysit Emma and get out from under her mom's over-protective thumb. But why do both her mother and Dulcie act so weird about the lake and their past there? Who's the mysterious girl who was ripped out of old family photos? And what's up with Sissy, the strange girl who hangs out at the lake and encourages Emma to behave badly and blame it on Ali?

Sissy's real identity won't come as a surprise to any readers over the age of 10, but there are some genuinely chilling moments and Hahn's trademark realistic family dynamics and exploration of guilty secrets and how parents' childhood trauma gets passed down to their children. I actually got stressed out reading about Ali trying to protect Emma while Dulcie blames Ali for all the weird stuff going on and accuses Ali of refusing to take responsibility for anything. (In fact, Dulcie and Ali's mom are the ones who are failing to take responsibility and projecting it on the kids.)

A good solid middle-grade ghost story with unusually complex family dynamics.

onethinginaday_feed

https://onethinginafrenchday.podbean.com/e/des-noms-de-femmes-scientifiques-sur-la-tour-eiffel%c2%a0-rencontre-avec-beatrice-marticorena/

Dans quelques jours, il y aura une annonce à propos de la tour Eiffel ! Nous allons découvrir les 72 noms de femmes scientifiques qui vont être inscrits sur la tour.

Béatrice Marticorena, scientifique au CNRS a participé à une commission d'experts. Elle nous raconte dans cet entretien le projet, à quelle ambition il répond, qui en a eu l'idée et qui l'a porté.

Elle aborde aussi le parcours pour devenir scientifique en France.

Bref, c'est passionnant de l'entendre parler de ce projet qui mêle les femmes, les sciences et la tour Eiffel.

Cet épisode est l'occasion idéale de découvrir le vocabulaire scientifique, l'histoire de la tour Eiffel, mais aussi des phrases complexes.

N'hésitez pas à envoyer un message si cet épisode vous a plu sur www.onethinginafrenchday.com

https://onethinginafrenchday.podbean.com/e/des-noms-de-femmes-scientifiques-sur-la-tour-eiffel%c2%a0-rencontre-avec-beatrice-marticorena/

sholio

A G'Kar vid! This well edited vid does a marvelous job of hitting the grace notes of G'Kar's arc without exactly recapping it. (Does definitely contain spoilers.)

Vid by

sandalwoodbox - I think it was Tumblr where I originally saw this, but it's posted on AO3 here.

Watch on YouTube

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silver

August 2025

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Page Summary

sholio - Stranger Things 5x01-04
hamsterwoman - Reading: catchin up on RoL, and year end meme (movies, television, books)
xkcd_feed - Chessboard Alignment
snickfic - fic recs: femslash
spiralsheep - In which the Friday Five tempts me to break my posting fast
mossy_bench - Fanfic ask game except I've already asked myself the questions
rocky41_7 in books - Recent Reading: The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp
maevedarcy in icons - 23 League of Legends icons: Xayah and Rakan
sholio - Rereading Dragaera
narrownights in icons - 55 Pokemon Icons
sholio - Biggles ficlets from Tumblr part 2
sholio - Biggles ficlets from Tumblr (catch-up edition)
sholio - Rec-Cember Day 3: Vid(s): Jagged Little Slayer (BtVS)
xkcd_feed - Inverted Catenaries
full_metal_ox in little_details - Resource: Domestic Medicine.
yuletidemods in yuletide_admin - Oncoming default deadline
pauraque - A Thousand Beginnings and Endings, ed. Ellen Oh & Elsie Chapman (2018) [part 4]
rachelmanija - Deep and Dark and Dangerous, by Mary Downing Hahn
onethinginaday_feed - Des noms de femmes scientifiques sur la tour Eiffel : rencontre avec Béatrice Marticorena
sholio - Rec-Cember Day 2: Vid: Not Gonna Stop Me Getting Through (Babylon 5)

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Page generated Dec. 6th, 2025 10:10 am

silver

Reading

Stranger Things 5x01-04

Reading: catchin up on RoL, and year end meme (movies, television, books)

Chessboard Alignment

fic recs: femslash

In which the Friday Five tempts me to break my posting fast

Fanfic ask game except I've already asked myself the questions

Recent Reading: The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp

23 League of Legends icons: Xayah and Rakan

Rereading Dragaera

55 Pokemon Icons

Biggles ficlets from Tumblr part 2

Biggles ficlets from Tumblr (catch-up edition)

Rec-Cember Day 3: Vid(s): Jagged Little Slayer (BtVS)

Inverted Catenaries

Resource: Domestic Medicine.

Oncoming default deadline

Default deadline

Assignment deadline

Pinch Hits

Betas & Beta Help Needed

Treats and Posting

AFK post

A Thousand Beginnings and Endings, ed. Ellen Oh & Elsie Chapman (2018) [part 4]

Deep and Dark and Dangerous, by Mary Downing Hahn

Des noms de femmes scientifiques sur la tour Eiffel : rencontre avec Béatrice Marticorena

Rec-Cember Day 2: Vid: Not Gonna Stop Me Getting Through (Babylon 5)

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August 2025

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