YOU GUYS YOU GUYS YOU GUYS

Okay, so I did who_remix, right, and my offer to write a drabble for anyone who figures out which story was the one I wrote still stands, but that's not the point. So I did who_remix and the entire point of who_remix is that somebody takes one of your stories and writes their own take on it.

So somebody remixed "Listening."

AND IT IS SO FUCKING AMAZING OH MY GOD YOU GUYS.

It just blew me away. The language, the nods to the original story and to the even-more-original show, Johnny, the Doctor, the TARDIS, the shipping, Tegan, just every tiny little thing. I would not change a word of this story, guys. OH MY GOD SO AMAZING. SO AMAZING.

Go ye hence and read it. SO GOOD.

*flails like an idiot some more*

Still bloody sick.

Only posting to recommend gehayi's essay on historical fiction and why it's important to get the facts right. She does a brilliant job of pointing out common errors and the results of them here.

Beings as how I'm writing historical fantasy myself at the moment with a couple of co-authors, this essay struck home in more ways than one, and I highly recommend it to anyone who reads or writes historical fantasy.

I forgive sf_drama for all crimes past and present, imagined and real.

I forgive Twilight for existing.

I forgive Joss Whedon for being a heartless son of a bitch and killing Wash LA LA LA THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN making Oz leave Buffy.

The reason I forgive them all?

Because some marvelous genius cut together some clips from Buffy and Twilight and made "Buffy vs. Edward."

I may have cried laughing.

Amazon.com is stripping the sales ranks from gay and lesbian books. That means, essentially, that gay and lesbian literature will not show up on Amazon searches or their bestseller lists. I am sort of incoherent with anger at this, so I'll let other people do my talking for me.

Such as copperbadge! He talks well. He also has several links to things you can do, such as sending Amazon a letter through the support page (which I have done), signing the petition, or participating in Smart Bitches Trashy Books' Googlebomb.

Amazon Rank

Mark Probst, an affected author, talks about things here.

And Dear Author sounds off here.

You know it's a big story when Sf_drama gets hold of it.

Meta_writer has an alert here and a list of affected books.

And a Real Newspaper weighs in, very articulately.

With Amazon's fail in mind, I think today's daily poet should be Sappho. Don't you?

( A fragment of Sappho )

Pff, yeah, like I could really sleep with Yuletide opening today.

OMG OMG OMG OMG YOU GUUUUUUUUUYS I GOT ARAL/CORDELIA! I GOT THREE ARAL/CORDELIA FICS! And and and and and I GOT SOPHY/ADMIRAL CROFT! Authors, if you are reading this, let me just reiterate how much I love you for writing me fluff for my favorite couples. Because I do. A lot. As if my comments of flail didn't express that enough.

OMG OMG OMG all the fics written for me were awesome and they were fluffy and they warmed the cockles of my withered black heart. I AM SO HAPPY YOU GUYS OMG. OMG. THIS DESERVES THE I LOVE THE WHOLE WORLD ICON BECAUSE I DO. OMG. THREE ARAL/CORDELIA FICS AND ADMIRAL AND SOPHY CROFT NOT WRITTEN BY ME. OMG.

Best. Ficpresent. EVAR.

With the possible exception of The Other Son, because that was just made of complete and total win.

IN CONCLUSION. I LOVE YOU ALL. MERRY CHRISTMAS. OMG.

*goes to reread and flail some more*

ETA: Links to the Fics of Awesome!

Firelight (hardcore fluff and some awesome banter: "Foul! No thinking about work!")
Alone Time (this one features Exasperating!Miles and the best quote ever)
Blundering Tactically (missing scene from ACC, features Silly!Miles and again, awesome banter)
A Letter Full of News (Admiral and Sophy Croft: nails our dear Miss Austen's voice and manages to be shippy for everyone at the same time)

Authors, ILU. Seriously. You may have my firstborn. I wil strive to have quadruplets, just for you.

OMG YOU GUYS.

ETA Part Deux: Okay, so, yeah, my authors probably think I'm crazy, because I left incoherent fangirl reviews about how awesome they are and how awesome their stories are. So. Um. I LOVE YOU ALL. And I'm really not crazy. Just high off the awesomeness and the being up too late. Because you guys are so awesome it makes me giddy.

Clearly.

Yeah, see, guys, this is why I don't drink.

I have quite literally just finished reading what is possiby the most wrenching book I have read in my life (and I took a class on Holocaust literature, guys). It's titled The Book Thief, it's by Markus Zusak, it is narrated by Death, and you should all read it now, because oh, my God. It is wrenching and heartbreaking and beautiful, it made me cry three seperate times. It's all about the power of language, and the beauty and glory and ugliness and horror of humanity, and it will emotionally devastate you, and you will be grateful for it. It hurts so good, guys.

This is also one of the most beautifully written books I have read in... um... ever. Zusak has an incredible command of language. Every word used is so precise, and his voice is so remarkable. Here, see for yourself:

"I am in all truthfulness attempting to be cheerful about this whole topic, though most people find themselves hindered in believing me, no matter my protestations. Please, trust me. I most definitely can be cheerful. I can be amiable. Agreeable. Affable. And that's only the A's. Just don't ask me to be nice. Nice has nothing to do with me."

And that's off the first page. The whole book is like this. It's books like this that make me want to be a writer even more.

I cannot think of a single thing I would change about this book. Not one word. Go and read it. Buy it, borrow it, steal it, I don't care, it is worth whatever you do to get your hands on it.

Someday, when I am rich, I am going to buy all of my jewelry from this woman. I did buy myself a Vorkosigan-themed necklace this time around, because it was freaking gorgeous and surprisingly affordable for my poor-student status. I know that some of y'all reading this are not poor like me, so you might want to go and check out her jewelry sale. Do it quick, though, 'cause it ends on Sunday.

Seriously, though? She makes beautiful jewelry. Bookmark the page. Seriously. Seriously.

And yes, I'll post pictures when I get my shinies of love. Because wow.

I am such a biblophile. My idea of wealth is being able to buy all the used books off Amazon that I want, and being able to walk into a bookstore and walk out again with the kind of haul that I usually get from the library.

Current loves of my life include: John Adams by David McCullough, Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Hall by Stephanie Barron, Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert trans. Francis Steegmuller, Stone Cold Souls by George K. Moffat, Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr.

Also, I'm in love with the Merry Wives of Windsor, and I never ever want the Sarah Jane Adventures to end. Such a good show.

I need a books! icon. I has a books icon!

AWESOME FANMIX IS AWESOME.

I love it when people are willing to make fun of their own fandoms. Especially when it's Twilight.

A lovely feminist poem with a great payoff.
Word up, sister.

1) Ursula Vernon is pissed, and with good reason.

My thoughts on the matter? I believe that no one should constrict or constrain an artist to produce something. This puts me at odds with the publishing industry, somewhat, in that they seem to believe they can contract people to produce a specific product, exactly to their outline (romance industry, I'm looking at you). This isn't completely constraining, though; a writer has to have a certain amount of enthusiasm for the project in order to contract to create it. Writing to prompts is also different, as a prompt will give you an opening, but will not tell you what to write.

On the other hand, I can sort of see where the email writer comes in. Not as regards Billy Collins, of course; he's one of my favorite poets and I find him very accessible. However, throughout my academic career, poetry has had to mean something, and it's usually a meaning completely opposite to what was given. This sort of analytic reading of poetry drives me batty. It implies that for a poem to be a "good" poem, it must be either entirely metaphorical or entirely inaccessible (T. S. Eliot, the Wasteland, I'm looking at you!). Now, most poets don't believe this. See, Billy Collins, Paul Zarzyski, even T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Academics, though, certainly do.

Newsflash, academics: just because something's fun to read doesn't mean it's automatically trash.

So it seems to me that this is more a problem of how we read than of how we write. If we cannot enjoy something, we tend to say that it sucks and throw it away. Okay, fine, whatever, you're not constraining the author at all, you're simply exercising your right as the audience to ignore them. However, when you then say that because you don't like it, nobody else can because it's trash, and the author must immediately change their ways, then it becomes a problem.

2) Sherwood Smith, on writing and memory

For me, the books that bring back my childhood most clearly are The Neverending Story, the Hobbit, and Tamora Pierce, most especially her Alanna series. I can remember sitting on my bed, curled up around my teddy bear, reading with absolute amazement. The idea that somewhere there were people that dreamed just like me was such an irresistable one. I remember being absolutely stunned that people could dream like that, the same way I did. Up until then, I thought I was alone. I think that's when words became my friends. The Neverending Story in particular made me feel as if I could quite happily spend the rest of my life stuck in a book.

I've never lost that feeling, not really. You may have noticed. :D

Goddamnit, universe! Just once I'd like to keep a good sulk instead of getting it ruined by Neil Patrick Harris looking very dapper indeed. And singing about shoes.

Ten Times Trouble got recc'd on Calufrax!
*flails*

LOOK WHAT PRIS MADE ME! *dance* It's an icon off one of my fics, so's you know. The fic is called Practicality, it's a drabble, whatever, IT'S AN ICON OMG OMG OMG LOOK. *flail*

Title: Amor est Vitae Essentia
Author: bibliophile1887
Fandom: Doctor Who, First Doctor
Spoilers: A bit for The Romans, a bit for The Rescue, but come on, these episodes aired in 1965. I doubt they count.
Author's Summary: Written for the_chestertons ficathon for tigerkat24 who asked for UST. I hope this will suffice. The title is Latin for "Love is the essence of life."
Reasoning: Well, it's really, really cute. There is UST and flirtation and not-quite-RST and oh such cuteness. Plus, yanno, Ian and Barbara in love. And it was written for me. It's lovely and you should read it if you are at all familiar with Ian, Barbara, Vicki, One, or any combination of the above.

Amor est Vitae Essentia

OMG OMG OMG NEWSIES MACROS. With bonus Ianto!
Also a really cute otter macro, but the Newsies macros are cooler for sheer rarity.

*pimp pimp* Go sign up! Write moar fic!

I like these way too much. Sarah Jane is made of serious kinds of awesome, and the kids are so cool! I sympathize with Maria a lot, Luke is so goddamn cute and oh, Clyde, never ever change, you are so awesometastic.
I can't wait until Sarah Jane shows up on series four of Doctor Who. I hope the kids come with. Luke and the Doctor would have such a talk, and Maria and Clyde could kick a lot of ass without anyone's help.
...actually, Luke, Clyde, Maria and Sarah Jane could defend the earth about six times better than Torchwood could. Hell, they defeated the Slitheen with more efficiency than the Doctor did.
*snuggles them all and watches the next episode*

It's official. There is nothing cuter than David Tennant dancing like a total dork.
And nothing hotter than Alan Rickman tangoing. I can has?

Edit: That is in fact the right video: let it load all the way and then skip to 1:45 or so to see the sex on legs.

I'm starting to think I write too much.

( Homage, for gypsy )

( Four Lies and a Truth, for Pris )

( Trees and Malcolm Reynolds, for Megan, who never said thank you, tsk )

( Fear Her, for The Boy )

( In Which Wash Is Up Much Too Late, for Liz )

( Care and Attention, for Kristina )

( Nick/Danny drabble for Gypsy )

( Trading Headaches, for Puck )

( What Love Is, for El )

And some pimpage.
Doctors, Doctor's Girls and Doctor's Boys, by Mimi~na.
David Tennant and Kittens.
Harry Dresden meets the Doctor.
A Christmas ficlet for me, from Liz; Zoe/Wash.
Amusing poem.
A two-sentence ficlet from Gypsy.