sholio: Gurathin from Murderbot looking soft and wondering (Murderbot-Gura)
Sholio ([personal profile] sholio) wrote2025-12-12 05:27 pm

Rec-Cember: Two recent short Murderbot gen fics

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 [archiveofourown.org profile] 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 [archiveofourown.org profile] 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: Hand outlines on a cave wall (Cave painting-Hands)
Sholio ([personal profile] sholio) wrote2025-12-12 03:51 pm

A couple of links

[personal profile] 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.
sholio: glittery Christmas ornaments (Christmas ornament 2)
Sholio ([personal profile] sholio) wrote2025-12-11 12:23 pm
Entry tags:

Year in review and next year's plans

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:

grid of 6 covers

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 )
sholio: (B5-station)
Sholio ([personal profile] sholio) wrote2025-12-11 01:46 am
Entry tags:

Babylon 5 fic: Movie Nights

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: Red ball with snow (Christmas ornament)
Sholio ([personal profile] sholio) wrote2025-12-10 05:31 pm
Entry tags:

MASH Christmas fic

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.)
sholio: tree-shaped cookie (Christmas cookies)
Sholio ([personal profile] sholio) wrote2025-12-09 07:09 pm

(no subject)

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 [personal profile] ellenmillion and it was lovely! I need more of that kind of thing.)
pushkin666: (TEXT - be open to whatever comes)
pushkin666 ([personal profile] pushkin666) wrote2025-12-08 09:29 pm
Entry tags:
duskpeterson: The lowercased letters D and P, joined together (Default)
duskpeterson ([personal profile] duskpeterson) wrote2025-12-08 11:39 am

FIC: Emorian borderland (Tempestuous Tours)

The Emorian borderland, like the remainder of the borderland, is famed for the friendliness of its villagers. Despite that, do not be surprised if you are asked to pay for your room and board. Past foreign visitors have often taken advantage of the villagers in order to escape the high price of inns elsewhere in Southern Emor.

In the westernmost villages, you will find a blend of Emorian and Daxion life; though no bards live here, villagers can often be heard singing. As you travel further east, the singing will slowly cease, replaced by talk of blood-lineages and the seven gods and goddesses. You are now in the portion of the Emorian borderland that lies north of Koretia.

The borderland is the only part of Emor where vineyards can be found. Despite the relative coolness of the Emorian borderland, Emor's wines are among the best in the Three Lands. Especially popular is sweetened wild-berry wine (don't try the unsweetened variety unless you enjoy bitter drinks, which you probably do if you're Koretian) and wall-vine wine, made of a mild-tasting grape that grows only in the Emorian borderland.

Farming is also common here. Eastern mainlanders who farm will find much to interest them in these lands that have been plowed since ancient times.

Travelling east, you will eventually reach a crossroads. To travel on to Emor's capital, turn left.


[Translator's note: Hidden Blade shows life in an Emorian borderland village.]

sholio: (B5-station)
Sholio ([personal profile] sholio) wrote2025-12-06 10:43 pm

Rec-Cember Day 4-6: 3 Babylon 5 recs [2 fic, 1 fanart] + a commenting success story

I figured that I'd group these together as they're by the same author. I wanted to talk about this anyway, because this is one of the more gratifying experiences I've had with leaving comments on older fic. Basically, I commented on a long WIP that hadn't been updated in several years, and the author not only wrote the rest of it but ALSO, to my delighted amazement, posted another long fic in the same universe, and started posting some new fanart too. It was wonderful. ♥ Never be afraid to comment even years later; sometimes you not only make someone's day but get lovely fanworks in return.

3 Londo/G'Kar Babylon 5 recs (by the same creator) cut for spoilers )
sholio: (StrangerThings-Steve)
Sholio ([personal profile] sholio) wrote2025-12-05 11:37 pm
Entry tags:

Stranger Things 5x01-04

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: (RoL -- demon trap)
hamsterwoman ([personal profile] hamsterwoman) wrote2025-12-05 09:31 pm

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

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 [community profile] 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 )
sholio: book with pink flower (Book & flower)
Sholio ([personal profile] sholio) wrote2025-12-04 03:09 pm
Entry tags:

Rereading Dragaera

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 )
sholio: aged sepia paper with printed text saying "If undelivered, return to Air Ministry, London" (Biggles-london air ministry)
Sholio ([personal profile] sholio) wrote2025-12-04 02:49 am
Entry tags:

Biggles ficlets from Tumblr part 2

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: airplane flying away from a tan colored castle (Biggles-castle airplane)
Sholio ([personal profile] sholio) wrote2025-12-04 02:41 am
Entry tags:

Biggles ficlets from Tumblr (catch-up edition)

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: Text: "Age shall not weary her, nor custom stale her infinite squee" (Infinite Squee)
Sholio ([personal profile] sholio) wrote2025-12-03 08:51 pm

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

Jagged Little Slayer by [archiveofourown.org profile] periru3 and [archiveofourown.org profile] 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.
sholio: (B5-station)
Sholio ([personal profile] sholio) wrote2025-12-02 06:49 pm

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

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

duskpeterson: The lowercased letters D and P, joined together (Default)
duskpeterson ([personal profile] duskpeterson) wrote2025-12-02 10:09 pm

FIC: From Daxis to Emor (Tempestuous Tours)

North of Border Port lies a beach. Its serene beauty belies its bloody history.

It is here that, on half a dozen occasions, the Daxions beat back the Emorian armies that were intent on conquering Daxis. Finally frustrated by all these attacks over the border, the Daxions undertook an amazing task of landscaping, bringing the Western Ocean several miles inland from where it had lain before. Once the Daxions were finished, their border with Emor had narrowed to a brief passageway between a mountain and the deep Ocean.

Guarding the border has been exceedingly simple since then. Indeed, on the one occasion on which Daxions permitted Emorian soldiers to cross the border – in 976, when Daxis agreed to allow the Emorians to travel south in order to attack the Koretian capital from its naked back – it took so long for Emor's vanguard to pass over the border, one horse at a time, that a concerned Koretian borderlander was able to alert Koretia's council in the south to the coming attack. Alas, his message was not heeded, and Koretia fell to the Emorians.

The Daxions, on the other hand, have not been attacked from the north since they persuaded the Ocean to guard them. Their true vulnerability lies now to the east, which is why Daxis attempts to maintain good relations with Koretia these days.

Because the border is so narrow, you will likely have to wait several hours to cross the border into Emor, during the busy season. You may wish to spend your time exploring the caves nearby.


[Translator's note: That narrow little border causes some trouble for travellers in Breached Boundaries.]

sholio: Gurathin from Murderbot looking soft and wondering (Murderbot-Gura)
Sholio ([personal profile] sholio) wrote2025-12-01 10:10 pm

Rec-Cember Day 1: Rubberducking (Murderbot)

So this is for [community profile] rec_cember, a month-long reccing event that I mentioned a couple of days ago! I don't currently know if there will be roundups or some other way to see what other people are reccing. Weekly check-in posts have been mentioned, but that's all I know about! Anyway, I signed up for daily reccing, so I'll see how long I can keep it up. I will also occasionally round these up over at [community profile] recthething.

(BTW, as per the previous poll, there was enough interest in cutting Babylon 5 spoilers that I will do that, as well as anything else significantly spoilery in my recs for other fandoms.)

I'm starting off on easy mode and reccing a short Murderbot TV-verse fic I read the other day that I enjoyed!

Rubberducking by [archiveofourown.org profile] writingmonsters (Murderbot TV w/some book elements, Gurathin + Murderbot, gen, 979 wds)
Rubber duck debugging (or rubberducking): a debugging technique used in software engineering, wherein a programmer explains their code, step by step, in natural language—either aloud or in writing—to reveal mistakes and misunderstandings.

A cute little slice-of-life genfic in which Gurathin talks through a programming problem by using Murderbot's drone as a sounding board.