Sep. 21st, 2025 10:53 pm
Sep. 21st, 2025 08:34 pm
Fic: A Family Affair (Winslow Boy)
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thisbluespiritAs I mentioned about a month or so ago, I did some AU_gust prompts, starting with flash fic for the prompt Romance, using the UC generator to get a summary for The Winslow Boy. It was a bit of a complicated summary for flash fic, and it's just taken me about, um, seven weeks to straighten this out into being a reasonably more comprehensible bit of AU nonsense than it was at the start. idk why. Anyway, also for ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
genprompt_bingo & two allbingo squares (for two different bingo fests of theirs, that is, I'm not cheating).
A Family Affair (1472 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Winslow Boy (1999)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Robert Morton/Catherine Winslow
Characters: Catherine Winslow, Robert Morton (Winslow Boy)
Additional Tags: AU-gust | August Writing Challenge 2025, Alternate Universe - Regency, Regency, Unconventional Courtship Generator, Accidental Baby Acquisition, Stranded
Summary: Catherine Winslow's day is getting worse by the minute.
genprompt_bingo & two allbingo squares (for two different bingo fests of theirs, that is, I'm not cheating).A Family Affair (1472 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Winslow Boy (1999)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Robert Morton/Catherine Winslow
Characters: Catherine Winslow, Robert Morton (Winslow Boy)
Additional Tags: AU-gust | August Writing Challenge 2025, Alternate Universe - Regency, Regency, Unconventional Courtship Generator, Accidental Baby Acquisition, Stranded
Summary: Catherine Winslow's day is getting worse by the minute.
Sep. 21st, 2025 12:25 pm
books I have read
snickficI have read some books which I had few thoughts or feelings about.
Dark Woods, Deep Water by Jelena Dunato. A varied cast of characters all end up at a haunted castle which won't let them escape. This is dark fantasy with strong but not specifically identifiable fairy tale elements. First person POV with multiple POVs is a struggle, especially when everyone's narrative voice sounds the same. I was disappointed that the naive rich girl whose heart gets broken and then who gets cruelly married off didn't get written with more nuance. IDK. It was fine, I guess.
--
The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister. A family of siblings in rural Virginia with an ancestral charge to protect a nearby bog has to figure out what to do when the bog, for the first time in family memory, does not produce a woman to marry the eldest son.
I read this because I am always on the lookout for stories about people who are raised or sucked into very skewed perspectives, especially when those perspectives are supported by reality - for example, their very real bog-mother here. And this definitely delivered! That said, this feels more like a work of gothic fiction than anything else. Their terrible disintegrating family home just gets worse as the story goes on, and the ending in particular reminds me very strongly of
We Have Always Lived in the Castle.
That said, I am not sure what I am meant to take away for this one. There are definitely themes of ecology and environmentalism, but also this is a family of very real characters with all their various squabbles and relationships. To be honest, when the book was over I was mostly sad about the ending for the two siblings who reminded me so strongly of the spoiler above.
An odd duck.
--
The Immortal Choir Holds Every Voice by Margaret Killjoy. The third novella in the Danielle Cain series, in which Danielle and her group of fellow anarchists tell ghost stories around a campfire. I always enjoy Killjoy's vibe, even when it feels like there's not a ton of substance, like here. And I guess others feel the same, because the kickstarter to fund this blew way past all its main goals. Hopefully that means we'll get more Danielle Cain books in the future.
Dark Woods, Deep Water by Jelena Dunato. A varied cast of characters all end up at a haunted castle which won't let them escape. This is dark fantasy with strong but not specifically identifiable fairy tale elements. First person POV with multiple POVs is a struggle, especially when everyone's narrative voice sounds the same. I was disappointed that the naive rich girl whose heart gets broken and then who gets cruelly married off didn't get written with more nuance. IDK. It was fine, I guess.
--
The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister. A family of siblings in rural Virginia with an ancestral charge to protect a nearby bog has to figure out what to do when the bog, for the first time in family memory, does not produce a woman to marry the eldest son.
I read this because I am always on the lookout for stories about people who are raised or sucked into very skewed perspectives, especially when those perspectives are supported by reality - for example, their very real bog-mother here. And this definitely delivered! That said, this feels more like a work of gothic fiction than anything else. Their terrible disintegrating family home just gets worse as the story goes on, and the ending in particular reminds me very strongly of
spoilers
We Have Always Lived in the Castle.
That said, I am not sure what I am meant to take away for this one. There are definitely themes of ecology and environmentalism, but also this is a family of very real characters with all their various squabbles and relationships. To be honest, when the book was over I was mostly sad about the ending for the two siblings who reminded me so strongly of the spoiler above.
An odd duck.
--
The Immortal Choir Holds Every Voice by Margaret Killjoy. The third novella in the Danielle Cain series, in which Danielle and her group of fellow anarchists tell ghost stories around a campfire. I always enjoy Killjoy's vibe, even when it feels like there's not a ton of substance, like here. And I guess others feel the same, because the kickstarter to fund this blew way past all its main goals. Hopefully that means we'll get more Danielle Cain books in the future.
Tags:
Sep. 21st, 2025 08:22 pm
LJ IDOL, WEEK 10.
xeenaIntrigant: a person who intrigues. a person who pursues by secret means.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
It happens every few days, without fail.
I lose control.
I go on a binge.
I abstain as long as I possibly can, and sometimes I manage to do so longer than others, but deep down I know it will be just a matter of time before I relapse all over again.
In the earlier days, I was naively of the belief that this was something I would be able to stop eventually. That I could do it once a week and get by.
I would convince myself of it during that in-between period. There would be no more repeat performances, I would be able to fulfill my desires with smaller doses until I didn’t need to do it anymore.
I could stop any time I wanted to, I knew I could.
Whenever I was able to exert that willpower for a higher number of days than before, I would grow more sure of myself.
I had finally gained control, I was sure, I had rid myself of the habit.
I was wrong, obviously.
The longest I ever managed to last without doing this, once I started, was two weeks.
Two weeks of pure hell.
The blowout that followed was colossal when I finally broke down and let myself do what my every fibre of my being was begging me to do.
I’ve never let myself abstain for more than a few days since then.
There's just no point.
I know I’m living on borrowed time if I’m honest. Eventually someone is going to notice something.
I’m quite surprised that no one actually ever has yet; but then again I suppose it’s not really that easy to pick up on unless you know what signs to search for; and most people aren’t actively looking.
It’s not as if I don’t hide it well either. It’s been ten years since this started, so I’ve had plenty of practice, after all.
Sure I look tired sometimes, drawn, a little thinner. But doesn’t everyone at some point?
This has been a part of my life for a decade, and will be for more to come, I am well aware of that.
The constant hunger gnawing away at my insides, burning deep inside of me always wins out and always will.
I always sate it.
Such is the life of an addict.
It’s unlikely to end at all, or well, if it does.
Still, a part of me that wants to believe this could work out; that I could get a happy ending at some point, even though I am painfully aware that happy endings were never meant for people like me.
Such is the life of a monster.
That's what some people would call those of us driven by a compulsion to keep tending a voracious hunger that is never and can never truly be satisfied.
I can stave it off for a while, as I often do - temporary starvation always makes the next time that much better too - but sooner or later I have to indulge again.
I have to gorge myself.
To glut.
To feed.
Such is the life - or rather, afterlife - of a vampire.
fiction.
..... or is it?
Week 10 and I hadn't written a vampire story yet. Obviously had to fix that!
Sep. 21st, 2025 10:10 am
Fannish 50 Challenge 2025: Post # 29: Illinoiis Fandom (political)
ride_4everI'm a proud born-and-bred Illinoisan, a State where there is so much opposition to the Orange-Tinged Dictator. A number of you may know of the ways that my State's Governor -- JB Pritzker -- stands against the Dictator. A number of you may know that Illinois was the very first State to pass legislation opposing book bans in libraries. A number of you may be aware of the Dictator's recent direct threats of war against Chicago with his AI-generated image of Chicago in flames and his "Apocalypse Now" references. A number of you may already have seen Illinois Senator Karina Villa confronting ICE agents and telling them "This is my city. Get out of my city...." but I want to make sure that she gets seen and hopefully this video gets spread.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/TZQlqpogGWk
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/TZQlqpogGWk
Tags:
Sep. 20th, 2025 10:45 pm
stopover on the marsh
chanter1944Made it back to Fond Du Lac County. Staying the night, then heading home, to hopefully be on the isthmus by noon tomorrow. I've showered (nothing wrong with anywhere we stayed, but I've been wanting to shower in surroundings where I know who else has been using the tub, the towels, etc), laundry is in, and good gosh, I'm tired.
More later. For now, ZZZZZ.
More later. For now, ZZZZZ.
Sep. 20th, 2025 04:54 pm
Fannish 50 Challenge 2025: Post # 28: due South fandom: annual Ray Vecchio Day
ride_4everSeptember 21 is considered to be Ray Vecchio's birthday and is celebrated annually by due South fandom as "Ray Vecchio Day". This is a day to show RayV some love by posting a RayV-centric fanwork or meta or recs related to Ray Vecchio or David Marciano (tag it as being for Ray Vecchio Day 2025).
Posting to the collection is now open at Ray Vecchio Day 2025 Collection on AO3 and a master list will be assembled on September 28th.
Posting to the collection is now open at Ray Vecchio Day 2025 Collection on AO3 and a master list will be assembled on September 28th.
Sep. 20th, 2025 07:40 am
checking in from Duluth, MN
chanter1944On the penultimate leg of the trip. Heading for the marsh after walking a local lake trail and hopefully avoiding rain. More when I'm back in marsh country. It's been an excellent trip so far!
Sep. 18th, 2025 12:47 pm
Old Green Eyes: the US Civil War's Strangest Ghost
dannye_chase
On this day in 1863, the US Civil War’s Battle of Chickamauga began. The two-day battle had nearly 35,000 casualties—the second-highest in the US Civil War, after Gettysburg. The Confederacy won the battle, but ultimately lost the war.
If ghosts are created by trauma and tragedy, then battlefields would make for heavy hauntings. Civil War battlefields are no exception—Chickamauga’s got the usual phantom sounds of canons and fighting, ghostly lanterns of grieving family members come to find their dead soldiers, and even a White Lady searching for her lover. But then there’s one guy that just doesn’t fit.
Old Green Eyes is pretty much just that—green eyes, floating in the woods. Sometimes he’s got a body, and sometimes that body is human-like, but most of the time, he’s just a pair of glowing eyes. And nobody seems to know what the guy is doing there. What on earth does he have to do with the Battle of Chickamauga? Or anything else?
Check out the blog post for the whole story and some ghostly writing prompts, such as:
The blood cries out. When you think about disembodied glowing eyes in the woods, a human ghost is not what first springs to mind. So perhaps the trauma at Chickamauga attracted something else to the blood-soaked woods: a demon. There are a lot of ways to use this idea in a story. Perhaps the demon is an active malevolent presence that threatens people who live nearby, or at least those who walk through the woods. Or perhaps he’s just doing his own thing, enjoying the 160-year-old battlefield and ignoring present-day folks. Or maybe over 160 years, he’s become sorrowful at what happened in those woods and now he’s protective of the locals.
DannyeChase.com ~ AO3 ~ Linktree ~ Weird Wednesday writing prompts blog ~ Resources for Writers
Sep. 18th, 2025 01:28 pm
Fannish Fifty #40: Blessed Maiden AU Snippets for Ficwip's Word Game Wednesday
Sep. 18th, 2025 01:54 pm
the new game that's held my attention best all year ...
taichara... is a Fire Emblem fangame called Eliwood's Outrealm Adventures.
Yes, it's essentially what it says on the tin. With a slew of bodies from across the franchise. And a kickoff that, for a for-funsies fangame, was honestly a clip in the mouth and I'm actually really, really enjoying this.
Alas I will probably not trigger more than one gaiden chapter.
Alas it's only fourteen maps sans gaiden chapters.
There's probably a greater (~deeper~) observation or lesson or something in this fact somewhere, but I don't have the energy to be arsed to find it right now.
Yes, it's essentially what it says on the tin. With a slew of bodies from across the franchise. And a kickoff that, for a for-funsies fangame, was honestly a clip in the mouth and I'm actually really, really enjoying this.
Alas I will probably not trigger more than one gaiden chapter.
Alas it's only fourteen maps sans gaiden chapters.
There's probably a greater (~deeper~) observation or lesson or something in this fact somewhere, but I don't have the energy to be arsed to find it right now.
Sep. 17th, 2025 10:26 pm
hola méxico
snickficToday I need to share with you the two best bits from the Mexico gigs, both on the second night, Sept 13.
ITEM ONE:
Here is a video of Noel directing the crowd to do the poznan, which is the Manchester City football club's special celebration dance. Liam's been having the crowd do it the whole tour, but this time he talked Noel into doing the explanation for the first time.
So much to observe here:
- Liam: "I've seen you do it," probably referring to this memorable occasion when Noel definitely did not do it.
- Noel greeting them in Spanish.
- Noel: "Not asking you to do the okey-cokey." 😅
- Noel explaining the correct process very clearly and efficiently, which is not something one would ever say about Liam's approach.
- But best of all: Noel saying "The big man doesn't ask for much," and then pausing to laugh at the utter and profound absurdity of this remark.
ITEM TWO
And here is Noel miming that Liam should throw his sombrero to the crowd (having already thrown his maracas and tambourine), and Liam handing it to him so HE can throw it. This is also the first time Noel's thrown anything on the tour AFAIK.
They're just having so much fun together and being so charming about it. Incredible. Not in our WILDEST DREAMS did any of us in the fandom dream anything like this was possible.
ITEM ONE:
Here is a video of Noel directing the crowd to do the poznan, which is the Manchester City football club's special celebration dance. Liam's been having the crowd do it the whole tour, but this time he talked Noel into doing the explanation for the first time.
So much to observe here:
- Liam: "I've seen you do it," probably referring to this memorable occasion when Noel definitely did not do it.
- Noel greeting them in Spanish.
- Noel: "Not asking you to do the okey-cokey." 😅
- Noel explaining the correct process very clearly and efficiently, which is not something one would ever say about Liam's approach.
- But best of all: Noel saying "The big man doesn't ask for much," and then pausing to laugh at the utter and profound absurdity of this remark.
ITEM TWO
And here is Noel miming that Liam should throw his sombrero to the crowd (having already thrown his maracas and tambourine), and Liam handing it to him so HE can throw it. This is also the first time Noel's thrown anything on the tour AFAIK.
They're just having so much fun together and being so charming about it. Incredible. Not in our WILDEST DREAMS did any of us in the fandom dream anything like this was possible.
Tags:
Sep. 18th, 2025 07:22 am
AKC Courtneyyyyyy Culture Festival #195: Ogoe Haruka
sonofgodzillaOgoe Haruka debuted as part of NGT48 in 2018, which was something of a troubled year for the group to say the least. You know that story by now. She debuted on stage on 24th December with the kenkyuusei's production of PARTY ga Hajumaru yo, and then, in 2020, two years and a day later, as a Christmas present to us all, the group's second generation was announced and Harurun became one of its shining stars.
The writing was probably on the wall as NGT have always been a smaller group in relation to the other sister groups, but with Harurun and her peers all joining in for the release of Sherbert Pink and this single being the first new material in a year since everything that happened and the group were promptly dropped by Sony and picked up by Universal, it was clear that they were going to have to look to their second generation to drive them forward after the loss of several prominent members and Yukirin's time as a concurrent member now at an end if they were going to win hearts again. NGT48 needed the public to believe in the new members, and, in a way, they did, or at least some of them did, and that spending power was enough to get Sherbert Pink pretty high in the charts—to number two, in fact, only kept from the top spot by the massive popularity of boy band, SixTONES. For the whole year that followed, NGT continued to build on the attention of that moment, and when the next single was announced in 2021, it was revealed that Harurun would be the centre.
Awesome, if you will forgive me for saying so, is awesome. I really like this song a lot, I really like the narrative of the video. It feels not so much like a comeback story but a focusing anew on what is at the heart of Akimoto's storytelling, the drama of youth. With the added real life friction of Kato Minami's previous demotion following comments about graduating members and her final return to the regular members, Awesome is a celebration of the group and an attempt to use the good will towards their new members, particularly Harurun, to bolster faith in the group as a whole. Ponkotsu na Kimi ga Suki da followed in the same year with Harurun again serving as the group's centre, and whilst sales of the single continued to be strong, the top spot eluded them once more. More and more first generation members were also graduating during this moment, meaning that the focus on Harurun and her peers was all the more intense. It was around this time that I returned to NGT, that I began to take them seriously again, and I cannot complain that Harurun was not the centre again for the following year's single, Wataridoritachi ni Sora wa Mienai, because Homma Hinata deserves her time to shine. Seldom few have worked harder for this group than Homma Hinata. I digress.
As NGT settled into averaging a single a year, Harurun appeared in the senbatsu but again wasn't selected as the centre for Nakai Rika's farewell single, Ano sa, Iya Betsuni..., for obvious reasons. She still appeared as centre on a number of backing tracks though, and last year brought us Isshun no Hanabi, in which she shared the limelight alongside fellow Tochionger Seven cast member, Otsuka Nanami, and third draft member, Fujisaki Miyu.
At the end of last year though, on 31st December, Harurun finally said good-bye to NGT48, moving onto new things and new career choices. Whilst the history of NGT is mostly glossed over, I think we all owe a debt of gratitude to members of the second generation, members like Ogoe Haruka who really kept pushing ahead when a lot of popular opinion was against them. It's because of Harurun and her peers that we still have NGT, and I am tremendously grateful for that.
The writing was probably on the wall as NGT have always been a smaller group in relation to the other sister groups, but with Harurun and her peers all joining in for the release of Sherbert Pink and this single being the first new material in a year since everything that happened and the group were promptly dropped by Sony and picked up by Universal, it was clear that they were going to have to look to their second generation to drive them forward after the loss of several prominent members and Yukirin's time as a concurrent member now at an end if they were going to win hearts again. NGT48 needed the public to believe in the new members, and, in a way, they did, or at least some of them did, and that spending power was enough to get Sherbert Pink pretty high in the charts—to number two, in fact, only kept from the top spot by the massive popularity of boy band, SixTONES. For the whole year that followed, NGT continued to build on the attention of that moment, and when the next single was announced in 2021, it was revealed that Harurun would be the centre.
Awesome, if you will forgive me for saying so, is awesome. I really like this song a lot, I really like the narrative of the video. It feels not so much like a comeback story but a focusing anew on what is at the heart of Akimoto's storytelling, the drama of youth. With the added real life friction of Kato Minami's previous demotion following comments about graduating members and her final return to the regular members, Awesome is a celebration of the group and an attempt to use the good will towards their new members, particularly Harurun, to bolster faith in the group as a whole. Ponkotsu na Kimi ga Suki da followed in the same year with Harurun again serving as the group's centre, and whilst sales of the single continued to be strong, the top spot eluded them once more. More and more first generation members were also graduating during this moment, meaning that the focus on Harurun and her peers was all the more intense. It was around this time that I returned to NGT, that I began to take them seriously again, and I cannot complain that Harurun was not the centre again for the following year's single, Wataridoritachi ni Sora wa Mienai, because Homma Hinata deserves her time to shine. Seldom few have worked harder for this group than Homma Hinata. I digress.
As NGT settled into averaging a single a year, Harurun appeared in the senbatsu but again wasn't selected as the centre for Nakai Rika's farewell single, Ano sa, Iya Betsuni..., for obvious reasons. She still appeared as centre on a number of backing tracks though, and last year brought us Isshun no Hanabi, in which she shared the limelight alongside fellow Tochionger Seven cast member, Otsuka Nanami, and third draft member, Fujisaki Miyu.
At the end of last year though, on 31st December, Harurun finally said good-bye to NGT48, moving onto new things and new career choices. Whilst the history of NGT is mostly glossed over, I think we all owe a debt of gratitude to members of the second generation, members like Ogoe Haruka who really kept pushing ahead when a lot of popular opinion was against them. It's because of Harurun and her peers that we still have NGT, and I am tremendously grateful for that.
