Eschewed Obfuscation

Some of these have been sitting in my bookmarks for a while, so I'll try to mention the new stuff first.

* Wyrding Studios is having an end-of-year clearance sale! I have my eye on Skylit Revisited #6, a gorgeous choker-style necklace; but I don't really need to spend $50 on a necklace when I hardly wear the jewelry I already own, so someone else go buy it and remove the temptation.

* Two great stories from Strange Horizons: Meredith Schwartz's How to Hold Your Breath, which packs quite a lot into under 700 words; and a lovely modern fairy-tale from Elizabeth Bear, Love Among the Talus (Mongolian-inspired worldbuilding is a bonus).

* The NYT publishes an interesting college admissions Q&A with reps from Yale University, Pomona College, Lawrence University, and the University of Texas - Austin. It's a representative mix and a good portion of the responses are enlightening; the other portion is amusing in its dodge-the-intent tactics.

* I haven't read Cherryh, but apparently her novels feature an unusual common theme--the rape of men.

* If you haven't seen it already: Every Fanfic Ever Written.

* vagabond_sal summarizes, with a brief anecdote, the Avatar casting issue. shati does the same with a smiley face. And here's how you can help. --I did say some of these links were old.

* *bounce* Also also, people other than my recipient like my Yuletide story! I am so happy inside, because I do like it myself (which is rare). No link, of course, although I welcome guesses. I limit myself to offering only fandoms whose canon I own, which is a decidedly short but secretive list. (And I'm so curious about my own mystery author, because the prose and the characters are just. Perfect.)

Yuletide is due in exactly 10 days, and I haven't written a single word yet. Nor have I even finished rereading the book, although I think I have enough of a refresher to write on. Strangely, I am not yet in panic mode, probably because I'm panicking about other nearer things. And last year, I wrote my fic in two sittings three days before the deadline. I didn't even hate it. Still, I don't know if I can pull off the same feat when ficcing an author I idolize. Not to mention that I have secured a beta in the form of kate_nepveu, so I should be answerable to her and finish my story earlier. I do have some vague noodling, but no concrete ideas--any prompt suggestions, for image/theme especially? I am generally incapable of cramming plot into 1000 words and will not have the energy or willpower to set myself up to write more.


* Almost a month late, but better late than never: POC in SF Carnival, IBARW3 Edition. Blogging about racism isn't limited to one week!

* On SH, William Mingin's review of Realms: the First Year of Clarkesworld Magazine edited by Nick Mamatas and Sean Wallace provides links to free stories, Clarkesworld being a free online magazine. With good taste, I might add--I had read two of the stories in the anthology already from internets-linkage. I skimmed the others, but my favorite is definitely the cutting and powerful tale by Michael de Kler (who is unknown to me), "The First Female President." I admit that I have a weak spot for dystopia politics; still.

* two_star, whom I know solely via yhlee for his awesome song "The Maid of Féil," discusses the look-and-say mathematical sequence and fractalizes it. The result is quite pretty.

* Not atheistic, really--God for the Godless: Salman Rushdie's Secular Sermon.

* Let me Google that for you.

* 28 reasons that Twilight the movie is better than Twilight the book, presented as a picture essay; also, the terribly intelligent helen_keeble with adroit analysis of Twilight's appeal that resonates with me for perhaps obvious reasons.

* For those who care, the College Board's new SAT score choice policy and how it may be no help at all.

* Finally, xkcd posters! This is so going on my Xmas wishlist, if only as a self-reminder. The Online Communities poster would be so much fun to put in my room. And about half the products would be good presents for one programmer-geek friend, but unfortunately (and fortunately) I've already bought his present (it was a lot cheaper too).


A final musing: exactly how much do I love Semagic with quick links, quick user-links, and sensible HTML implementation? Much.

Most of these--and all the ones by people I know, except for "The Last Siren's Song"--were bookmarked before the author reveal. I'm amazed by all the amazing writers on my flist! Stories are alphabetized by fandom. Those marked with a star are suitable even for those with no prior knowledge of the fandom.




Personally, I wrote one full-length story and received one full-length story. My gift fic was Be My Signale, a lovely (NC-17, which is true to canon) story about Phedre, Joscelin, and Melisande. If you're at all familiar with Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel series, go forth and savor!

And my story? A Meeting of Minds, in the Howl's Moving Castle (book) fandom. It's short and rough, as the rough draft was finished about four hours before deadline; and plotless, needless to say. But it's also my second piece of fanfic ever--I swore off it after my first disaster/writing attempt--and the recipient liked it. Isn't that why Yuletide exists, anyway? To give to others.

I just finished drafting my Yuletide story. It's four scenes and barely 1k long. Plotless, too. But the recipient requested R-rated fluff, so I hope I don't disappoint too badly. Off to officially submit! (10-second ETA: Blah, I don't have a title. Le sigh.) Betas, you say? I know not.

Expect a bunch of posts end of this week/beginning of next week, as I have a backlog of books partially-read and reviews partially-written.