First fill this out:

SIX PAIRINGS I LIKE:
1) Kira/Odo (I'm into DS9 right now, what can I say)
2) Adama/Roslin
3) Harry/Murphy
4) Aral/Cordelia
5) Ian/Barbara
6) Sam/Sybil

THREE SHIPS I'VE ABANDONED:
7) Doctor/Rose
8) Mal/Inara
9) Cal/Gillian (Lie to Me)

THREE SHIPS I'VE NEVER LIKED:
10) The Middleman/Wendy
11) River/Jayne
12) Eleven/Anyone

TWO SHIPS THAT HAVE PIQUED MY INTEREST:
13) River/Amy
14) Ryan/Esposito

( Then answer the questions. )

The holiday ficcing season is over, and I would like to recommend the various fics I recieved for Christmas presents. I'll just go ahead and do them by fandom, I suppose.

Vorkosigan books
The Rules of Barrayaran Sex, Cordelia/Aral
Oh my god you guys this fic is made of SO MUCH AWESOME, particuarly if you, like me, tend to ship the old-married-couple ships. I asked for Cordelia and Aral being happily married, and my beautiful, amazing, wonderful gift-writer wrote me this... this marvelous work of art. It is full of tiny little touches of joy (Miles' first word being "Dammit", for example, or the entire thing about the socks), and it's SO in-character; it totally feels like scenes exerpted from the books. I just. I cannot. It is so full of joy, you guys. Read it immediately if you have read the Miles Vorkosigan books. If you have not read the Miles Vorkosigan books, read those immediately and THEN read this.

A Safe Bet, also Cordelia/Aral
This is a tag for Memory that I count as mine as well, because it was a deleted scene from Rules originally. It strikes all the same notes as Rules, with some additional emotional notes that don't quite match up. Anyway, it's just as utterly amazing if slightly less funny, and you should go and read it too.

Codex Alera
These aren't fic, but you should go look at them anyway, because they're awesome icons.

Tamora Pierce: Tortall
A Midwinter's Tale. Alanna/George, filled with cuteness and fluff.

Firefly
Christmas on Serenity, genfic set post-Serenity but in denial!verse, which is my personal favorite anyway so. An adorable little slice-of-life family!fic. Has Wash and Zoe, River being River, and Mal getting insulted.

Castle
Christmas Traditions. Genfic, a Castle family Christmas. Includes an awesome nod to the WriteRCastle feed that made me lol.

Stargate SG-1/X-files Crossover
Part one here, part two here. Inspired by the fact that Don S. Davis plays both General Hammond and Scully's dad, written for me by my homie eponymous_rose, made of awesome. Involves Jack being a prankster, jokes about Daniel's approach to aliens, Teal'c having more lines than "indeed," Sam being the responsible adult and slight Mulder/Scully shippiness.


Posts of all the fic I wrote soon to follow.

I am apparently on something of an "INCOME YAY" spree, because in the last three days I have purchased the following.

1) The Sarah Jane Adventures, Season 1. I adore this show in all its Doctor-Who-FOR-KIDZ glory. Plus, you know, Sarah Jane = made of win. She just is.

2) The Aztecs. A very, very early episode of Doctor Who, featuring the Doctor accidentally getting engaged, Susan being almost nowhere to be found, Ian in a very silly eagle suit and Barbara being more awesome than you. Old!Skool companions rock my socks in general.

3) Sense and Sensibility. The Emma Thompson version, thanks. It's faithful to the book in spirit and stars most of my favorite actors, namely Emma Thompson, Mr. Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Imogen Stubbs, Imelda Staunton, Alan Rickman, and Unexpected Hugh Laurie and Laurielet (or so I am told). The only one missing is Mark Sheppard. Oh, and Hugh Grant is in it, but I can get over that.

4) Battlestar Galactica: Razor. BECAUSE I WANTED IT, THAT'S WHY. Also, it has Lee being kinda cool for once and Young!Adama. Plus, you know, more Cain.

5) The Lion in Winter. It was five bucks, guys! Five bucks for Peter O'Toole! Peter O'Toole and Katherine Hepburn and Anthony Hopkins being somewhat subpar but hey he was short on sleep and TIMOTHY DALTON omnomnom and basically I love it. So there.

6) ALL YOUR MIDDLEMAN DVDS ARE BELONG TO ME. \m/

Bye bye, income. It was nice knowing you.

ETA: My daddy took me to the bookstore. :D :D :D And every time my daddy takes me to the bookstore, he buys me books! *is daddy's little girl and not ashamed*

7) Sex With Kings, which is a wonderfully wonderful history book about kings' mistresses through the ages. I love it so. It's very funny and brilliantly researched, and less depressing than the sequel, Sex with the Queen.

8) Ciaphis Cain: Hero of the Imperium! It's a Warhammer novel, but I've had it recommended, so I read the first few pages. I got Miles Vorkosigan vibes off it from a mile off. So, I bought it. We'll see if the Miles-vibes hold.

Post one or more sentences from each of your WIP's because if you do you might be magically inspired to finish them.

( Hoo boy. )

( There turned out to be so many that I ended up splitting them into fanfiction and original fiction. )

11 and 17 may actually end up being the same story. I'm still percolating that one.

Also, if you can guess the fandom for the fanfics, I will... I don't know, do something nice for you. Maybe write you a drabble. Be careful: some of the obvious ones are less obvious than they look. :D

Anyway, which ones intrigue? Any of them look like I'm wasting my time?

Medium: Books
Fandom: Lois McMaster Bujold’s Miles Vorkosigan series
Subject: Miles Vorkosigan
Title: Remember the Name
Warnings: Spoilers abound.
Notes: So I usually include bonus songs on my fanmixes. In this case, however, I couldn't choose. So on this one, you get three. Also, this is far from chronological and the quotes aren't all from Miles; I put it together in a way that made sense at the time. Much like Miles. Enjoy!

( Behind the cut: links, lyrics, pictures, explication. )

I finished reading a biography today, about the same time as Miss Cam sparked a new meme here after this fandom secret and this long discussion bordering on wank (randomly, I love how everyone pulled out their favorite female character icons in that thread). It was fortuitous timing, so now I'm going to tell y'all about women I admire, who may or may not be fictional. I'd stick with fictional women, but again, the biography. I do hope you'll talk about women you admire, too. I think we can't talk enough about women we admire.

( I've restrained myself, with great difficulty, to one per fandom. )

Looking back at these women, and at the ones who didn't make the list (Zoe Washburn, Inara Serra, Dana Scully, Virginia Wolff, my Doctor Who gals), I can see a couple of trends. I tend to admire smart women, who can maintain strong and loving relationships, but neither quality is a deal-breaker if it's lacking (Kaylee, Karrin Murphy). I admire women who are women, not men with breasts. I admire women who aren't afraid or ashamed of their sexuality. I admire women who are more than competant, women who hold their own and demand respect. I admire exceptional women who aren't afraid to be exceptional.

I feel like today, most women and girls are afraid to be exceptional. I don't know why this is so, or why women get boxed into subordinate roles that they aren't comfortable with or happy in. I feel like every girl should know that she can be exceptional, and I feel like these woman are a good start.

In short, I admire exceptional women, and I have every intention of being one.

What women do you respect? Why do you respect them?

ETA: Honorh talks about the same thing here, and so does selenay936.

Title: There's Nothing You and I Won't Do
Fandom: The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold
Pairing: Aral and Cordelia Vorkosigan
Theme set: Delta
Rating: PG-13.
Warning[s]: Sexuality, violence, but nothing graphic. SPOILERS UP TO DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY.

( Read more... )

Soooo a while ago I wrote a Vorkosiverse fanfic entitled A Brother Is Born For Adversity. It's not great, not bad either, but not great. I had fun writing it, people seemed to have fun reading it, everything is good, and it faded off the radar, so I assumed that was that.

Apparently not.

Turns out someone translated it into Russian.

Yeah, I don't know.

In slightly less boggly news, Snark and Explosives was a runnerup for best Classic Who crossover in the Children of Time awards. So yay!

Anderyn on fandom_stocking gave me the excuse I needed to write this. All silliness can be blamed on me. Unexpected Plot should be blamed on my darling beta, Priscillie. Awesome should be directed to Anderyn. Thanks muchly!

Title: Without Absolute Evidence (1/?)
Fandom: Doctor Who/Vorkosiverse
Spoilers: Through The Doctor Dances, for the Whoniverse, and through Barrayar for the Vorkosiverse. Fairly big spoilers for Barrayar, actually.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: "That is part of the pleasure of friendship: trusting without absolute evidence and then being rewarded for that trust." --David Shore
Part One: in which Jack Harkness gets arrested and meets an old friend.

( Remind me how we got into this. )

WARNING: HERE THAR BE SPOILERS for everything under the sun that I write about. Seriously.

( Fic )

( Fanmixes )

( Q&A )

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.

Medium: Books
Fandom: Lois McMaster Bujold’s Miles Vorkosigan series
Subject: Cordelia Naismith/Aral Vorkosigan
Title: There’s Nothing You and I Won’t Do
Warnings: Huge spoilers for Shards of Honor and Barrayar.
Notes: I know, I know. I ship this like burning and it won’t go away. So, you get another fanmix (in the possibly futile hope of making somebody write me some fanfic?). With bonus Kou/Drou! And yes, I’m very fond of Vienna Teng. So should you be.
Everything's behind the cut as usual.
Companion to falling is like this, which has been reuploaded just because I love you.

( There's Nothing You and I Won't Do )

"When he is wounded, I bleed."
-Abigail Adams to James Lovell, regarding her husband John Adams, in a letter dated spring of 1781

"But when he's cut, I bleed."
-Cordelia Naismith to her mother, regarding her eventual husband Aral Vorkosigan, Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold


Lois, I see what you did there. Please tell me that was on purpose. Please, please, pretty pretty please, I will love you forever no really. Because that would be awesome made of awesome made of pure fucking win.

Also because the Adamses were basically real-life Vorkosigans, minus the cutting off of heads and plus several more children. Another reason why I ship it?

Dear Vorkosigan Saga Fandom:

Is it too damn much to ask for some Aral/Cordelia fanfiction?

Seriously! They've been quite happily married for thirty years, they've successfully parented lots of kids both belonging to them and not, they've survived God knows how much shite, and they're definitely still having sex. There is so much potential! Not to mention opportunities for porn![1]

So why is there no fic?

Disgruntled;
me

[1]On a related note, why is all the porn slash.

Take a look at this cover. That is A Civil Campaign, one of the more recent books in the Miles Vorkosigan saga. Looks like an okay cover, doesn't it? Kind of cheesy, but hey.

Now realize that the couple in the center is meant to be Miles and Ekatarin. Now remember that Miles Vorkosigan is four foot nine. Now remember that Miles should therefore be on an eye level with Ekatarin's breasts and thus looking at them far more obviously. As if that's possible.

Also remember that neither Ekatarin nor Cordelia is blonde, but that's neither here nor there (black-haired and redhead, respectively, in case you're curious. Even more egregious because "roan-red hair" is one of Cordelia's stock descriptions).

1. List your top seven ships
2. Put all of them in order of your love for them; 7 to 1, 1 being your favorite.
3. Name their fandom.
4. Supply photos for said people.

( These are really in no particular order: I ship them all about equally. AKA, like burning )
And, of course, the traditional ( Super Secret Really Really Really Embarrassing Slash Ship below the cut. )

Title: A Brother Is Born For Adversity
Summary: Being a Brief Correspondence between Lady Cordelia Vorkosigan and her Brother, Benedict Naismith, following Shards of Honor.
Author: TigerKat24
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: The Vorkosigan saga and all its characters belong to Lois McMaster Bujold. I am but a humble student playing in her sandbox. I lay no claim to anything here except, perhaps, Ben's general character.
Notes: It's always scary writing in a new fandom, isn't it? On top of that, this is unbeta'd since my regular betas either haven't been introduced to the Vorkosigan saga (not for lack of my trying) or haven't read Shards of Honor. Please be gentle with me.
Cordelia's brother is mentioned a couple times during the series, but never by name, and we never meet him. So I decided to give him a day in the sun. This was the result. Pretty much all details about him have been made up by me.

( Cordy, what the hell were you thinking? )

Medium: Books
Fandom: Lois McMaster Bujold’s Miles Vorkosigan series
Subject: Cordelia Naismith/Aral Vorkosigan
Title: Falling Is Like This
Warnings: Huge spoilers for Shards of Honor.
Notes: A soundtrack for a love story. All quotes are from Shards of Honor, by Lois McMaster Bujold, and thus spoil the book very badly.

( falling is like this )