Title: by the fancy tie 'round your wicked throat Fandom: City of Streamers (mods: you can use the Cdrama tag) Pairing: Feng Shizhen/Rong Jiashang Warnings: no spoilers past the first episode, spies and the way their relationships get complicated, manipulative romance between two adults (ages 26/20) but the older one has been hired as a tutor to help the younger get into a better university Length: ~500 words
Summary: Flirting is part of the plan. Feelings are not.
New Life series already!! First episode confirmed to come out tomorrow 5pm BST. Which is right when L and I are checking out a free beginner's swordfighting class, but I'm pretty sure that'll be cool enough to be a good distraction xD
I realized I never posted about this year's April Fool's special episode, Simple Life. It was a lot of fun. Superflat was a good concept to play around with for a one-off. I watched Cleo and Scar and half of Grian's, and then I planned to watch a few more but didn't get around to it and forgot to post about it.
I will be leaving on either Sunday or Monday on an approximately 2-week trip. The main point is a gathering of fandom friends in western Alberta, but I have planned my approach so as to have time to do One Thing in Winnipeg (Manitoba) the afternoon of my first travel day, and One Thing in Regina (Saskatchewan) the afternoon of my second travel day. Then the gathering, and on Sunday the 20th I will head to Drumheller to visit the Royal Tyrell Museum.
I THINK I have my itinerary roughed out for the following week.
-Monday 7/21, drive south across the Canada/US border to Glacier National Park, hike an easy trail
-Tuesday 7/22, drive west to Yakima, WA; no stops planned
-Wednesday 7/23, drive to Olympic National Park, hike an easy trail, look for banana slugs, etcetera, then overnight in Forks or Oil City
-Thursday 7/24, drive south on US-101 and stop at some point to get out and dabble my feet in the Pacific Ocean, before heading inland and stopping short of Portland, OR, probably in Beaverton; might also visit Tillamook Creamery if time permits
-Friday 7/25, drive to Boise, ID, possibly stopping at a winery or two along the Columbia River valley (more research needed)
-Saturday 7/26, drive from Boise, ID to Bozeman, MD, skirting the western edge of Yellowstone en route; might stop for photos but more likely will just drive on through
-Sunday 7/27, drive from Bozeman, MD to probably Dickinson, ND, with a stop en route to sightsee in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park and hopefully see some bison and/or prairie dogs
-Monday 7/28, head home to the Twin Cities; no stops planned
This feels generally doable to me. None of the driving days are excessively long, none of the activities are excessively strenuous, and I will return home before August. Now I have to research national park admission policies and also start making motel reservations. Argh.
The official trailer for the Outlander spin-off, Blood of My Blood, is out, and guess what? There IS time travel!! I won't say who goes through the stones, but if you watch the trailer, you'll find out who it is. Blood of My Blood starts on Starz (in the US) on August 8.
For the first time in forever I have been making The Famous Aubergine Dip (the vegan version with Vegan Worcestershire Sauce, I discovered the bottle I had was use by ages ahead, yay). This required me acquiring aubergines from The Local Shops. There is now, on the corner where there used to be an estate agent (and various other things before that) a flower shop that also sells fruit and vegetables, and they had Really Beautiful, 'I'm ready for my close-up Mr deMille', Aubergines, it was almost a pity to chop them up and saute them.
A little while ago I mentioned being solicited to Give A Paper to a society to which I have spoken (and published in the journal of) heretofore. Blow me down, they have come back suggesting the topic I suggested - thrown together in a great hurry before dashing off to conference last week - is Of Such Significance pretty please could I give the keynote???
Have been asked to be on the advisory board for a funded research project.
With my second load of ordered danmei arriving,1 I came to the bizarre realization that after so many years I’m…buying books with the intention of…reading them? What a paradigm shift!
This isn’t quite 100% accurate, but through my life I was first in the stage of borrowing books from the library and then buying them to keep if I really liked them, then a lot of ebooks, never mind my massive fic reading numbers, and all throughout I’ve also had a strong general practice of buying select books to have for whatever reason, often with not much intention of reading them, at least not anytime soon.2
I do have rules! I’m only “allowed” to collect things that fall within certain parameters, though some of the new ones (danmei, light novels that are horror/certain others) are a bit loose and will need to be tightened up eventually. I don’t have enough space for an infinity of books. I also generally buy ebooks if I can get them DRM-free, and after that, depending on the title, I may go for an audiobook instead if it exists.)
1 These aren’t “large” publishers like 7seas that I can get via my local bookstore but rather Rosmei & Via Lactea etc. and are physical-only (somewhat limited run?) publications. 2 i.e. I somehow randomly decided to start collecting C. J. Cherryh’s sci-fi books in hardcover, and now I’m too far in.
Hello to all members, passers-by, curious onlookers, and shy lurkers, and welcome to our regular daily check-in post. Just leave a comment below to let us know how your current projects are progressing, or even if they're not.
Checking in is NOT compulsory, check in as often or as seldom as you want, this community isn't about pressure it's about encouragement, motivation, and support. Crafting is meant to be fun, and what's more fun than sharing achievements and seeing the wonderful things everyone else is creating?
There may also occasionally be questions, but again you don't have to answer them, they're just a way of getting to know each other a bit better.
This Week's Question: What do you like to listen to / watch while crafting?
If anyone has any questions of their own about the community, or suggestions for tags, questions to be asked on the check-in posts, or if anyone is interested in playing check-in host for a week here on the community, which would entail putting up the daily check-in posts and responding to comments, go to the Questions & Suggestions post and leave a comment.
A Drop of Corruption was as good as y'all said. Loved it at least as much as the first book. Love these characters, this world, those mysteries. I hope we get ten more of them!! At least!!!!!!!!!! And the afterword/author's note at the end was kickass, too.
Yesterday, I finished work early to go to Waiblingen, again to the gallery with the Aiga Rasch exhibition. The first author to continue the Die Drei Fragezeichen/Three Investigators books in German after the American publisher ceased to publish new books, Brigitte Johanna Henkel-Waidhöfer, was doing a reading in the evening. I did not want to be too late as there was no advance ticket sale, and was suspicious of the Stuttgart S-Bahn being Stuttgart S-Bahn, so I opted to go so early that I could explore Waiblingen a bit and then still take another turn through the exhibition before the reading started.
Waiblingen is quite pretty with many old buildings and may well get yet another visit. Signs pointed to a circle walk along the sights you could do, which I didn't think I had enough time for so I just looked around a bit in the area near the gallery, and probably missed out on a lot I'd have enjoyed seeing.
I had been debating with myself a bit whether I wanted to go at all, but I'm so glad I did. I had heard her speak in the Fröhlich and Schwind podcast recently, but I had had no idea that Mrs. Henkel-Waidhöfer is so funny! :-D Starting with poking fun at her very long name, which the lady introducing her had to practice before and is now quite strenuous when signing books. ;-) Really a highly entertaining evening and very well worth leaving my cave for, not a minute of boredom and interesting insights. Alas, a few times I had trouble understanding her (sometimes her voice seems to break a bit?). But I have found a favourite fanfic author on Tumblr, who also visited and the one bit she shared from the event in her Tumblr account was exactly the one info I had really puzzled about after accoustically not understanding, so social media came to the rescue. :-D I got an edition of one of her books I brought signed afterwards, and then the trip home went perfectly smooth with almost zero waiting time between connections, so a perfect day all around. :-)
We are currently having a break between the previous heat wave and apparently an upcoming one, which is so lovely. The early morning swims are actually a bit on the cold side now, but only half the people are swimming compared to last week, so I'll gladly take that for the few days it lasts.
The socks with the little ducks are reunited! I finally found the missing one lying in my closet where I keep my sports bras. Now that I think about it, indeed I took one out when I was holding the pair, I must have dropped it then - no idea why I didn't even remember that when I tried to retrace my steps. Not yet the evidence for the existence of a black hole in my bedroom after all then. ;-)
Nothing to report re: media, as I'm in the middle of a book (Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid) and nothing else! (Aside from a lot of language stuff, many many many language stuff.)
But! Ghost was by! If you recall, I was very worried about her super swollen face last time I saw her (the 21st) and on the 7th she was by, finally. All healed up and everything!
LOL the haze is the petunias she's standing behind - fucked my white balance, but I thought it looked cool anyway:
He's a lonely skateboarding shaman with a winning smile and a way with the ladies. She's a bloodthirsty wisecracking wrestler who hides her beauty behind a pair of thick-framed spectacles. They fight crime!
He's an unconventional soccer-playing grifter in a wheelchair. She's an orphaned foul-mouthed socialite from out of town. They fight crime!
He's an oversexed ninja werewolf fleeing from a secret government programme. She's an enchanted snooty advertising executive with a knack for trouble. They fight crime!
The creative prompt for sunshine_revival was a recipe but I rarely 'do' recipes and am more of 'let's throw these things together' kinda gal. It works most of the time.
The journaling prompt was favourite summer associated foods, so this is just a ramble of Stuff Kat Likes To Eat When It's Too Hot To Eat
Smoothies: I make a big jug of this, breakfast solved for like three days. I tend to default to 'plain yoghurt, frozen berries, honey, water' mix (I don't like my smoothies very sweet) but recently my peanut butter jar suggested that I could add peanut butter to my smoothies and now I Am Intrigued. It feels extremely indulgent tho. Peanut butter and banana smoothie sounds like a desert! But I want to try.
Berries: I have yet to find a berry I don't like in some form or another. It's one of the main things I miss about Finland; ready access to fresh berries, like blueberries from the forest, or various currants and gooseberries from the garden. My local Tesco tends to have berries on discount often if you hit the store at the right time. I've been known to make a dinner out of that.
Salads: Almost anything goes. My veg box is currently delivering so much green leavy stuff I'm shoving it everywhere. I like to throw in protein (chicken, fish, tofu, hummus) to make a lazy meal out of it. Feta cheese is an indulgence. I also like adding pickled/sour things like pickled cabbage or cucumber, kimchi (should make some again), olives, capers etc. Nom. Fruit if I want to get fancy with it. Seeds definitely.
Hummus: I make this quite often, usually heavily lemon flavoured. Oven omelette: Eggs and whatever suitable veg/other things you have (salmon is super nice here). Top with cheese. And add cottage cheese for extra protein and to make it even more filling. Do a whole oven tray (10-12 eggs) and your breakfast/lunch/snack is sorted for several days.
I do also like to barbecue things but can't be bothered to do it just for me. But when dreamersdare and pushkin666 are visiting it is by now a tradition for me to make some salmon bulgogi for the bbq. And I'll probably make some flat breads and tzatziki to, you know, make it fusion cuisine :D
And finally, new potatoes with butter. With some chives. Honestly, so good.
The Vorkosigan novella "The Flowers of Vashnoi" has not been available in a paper version since the Subterranean Press edition sold out. The novella "Winterfair Gifts" has had only scattered paper publication, not easy to find. (Both, of course, are continuously available under their own titles as my indie ebooks, or audio downloads from Blackstone.)
Neither would be economically viable for any pro publisher to handle, but it occurred to me they'd be just the thing to add to my little list of print-on-demand paper editions, including The Spirit Ring and "Knife Children". So I've put them together in a single PoD volume, to be titled Two Tales.
Experience with the long-time reader confusion over the novella "The Borders of Infinity" and the 3-novella collection it's in, Borders of Infinity, made me try to label this paper mini-collection as clearly as possible. We'll have to see how it works out. I'm not yet sure how to make it searchable under either of the novella titles, which is what I suspect most people would first be looking for.
Anyway, I asked artist Ron Miller to do us a cover in the style of my other indie VK ebooks, and here's a sneak peek:
When this paper-only edition becomes available to buy, later this summer, I'll post the ISBN number, which should helps folks trying to order it through bookstores. (Uncle Hugo's will certainly have it; they also carry the other two of my PoDs.)
Episode 1: Feels a little trippy watching this in 2025, having seen all of the first anime years and years ago. I still have 50 chapters to go of the manga. When you look at it the manga really was short. Gosh, Brotherhood came out only 5 years after the first anime ended!
What's also funny is that I'm already really familiar with the opening and ending songs!
Episode 1 is an original episode but it does a great job of showing the problems in the government. The Freezing Alchemist leaving the military after Bradley sent them to massacre Ishvalans and joining the anti-establishment movement, then trying to recruit Kimblee who didn't care about that and just wanted to kill people. Plus the glimpses of something more in flashes throughout the episode.
If I were Hughes I sure wouldn't be able to sleep at the idea of Ed and Al being sent to massacre innocents either. They may be broken but not in that way yet.
We also see that Ed has a long way to go in both experience and knowledge. Although Roy and Armstrong both messed up too;;
Episode 2-3: Honestly kinda don't wanna watch the Liore part, I remember it very well.
I'm guessing Bradley recognized that Ed had been beyond the door when he saw him use a transmutation circle without drawing it.
I wonder what causes a rebound exactly? Trying to put too much into it? Overusing it? Not putting enough??
I am glad Brotherhood is different in where it takes Rose considering what happened to her in the first adaptation...
Can't believe Ed let the fraud go instead of turning him in, but I think it shows even more how much he only cared about the potential philosopher's stone.
Temple of Swoon by Jo Segura is $1.99! I think this is a standalone, but might be related to Segura’s debut Raiders of the Lost Heart.
Her mission: find the Lost City of the Moon in the Amazon rainforest.
His mission: protect the holy temple . . . and his heart.
While her mentor may be the world’s most badass archaeologist, the only thing bad about Dr. Miriam Jacobs are her corny jokes. But when Miri is charged with leading an unmapped expedition through the Amazon for the fabled Lost City of the Moon, she finally has her chance to prove to her colleagues that she’s capable—and hopefully prove it to herself, too.
Journalist Rafael Monfils has joined the archaeological team to chronicle their search for the lost city. Or at least, that’s what they think he’s doing. Rafa’s real goal? Make sure the team does not reach the Cidade da Lua, stopping the desecration of the holy city and protecting his mother’s legacy. All he needs to do is keep them on the wrong path.
If only the endearingly quirky Dr. Jacobs wasn’t so damn tenacious—each of Rafa’s tricks and purposeful wrong turns only seem to fuel her determination. Even worse, he’s charmed by her goofy attempts to channel Lara Croft as they traverse the dangerous Brazilian rainforest. But they’re not the only crew hunting for the lost city, and soon the untamed jungle—and their untamed hearts—might be the least of their worries…
Slightly Married by Mary Balogh is $2.99! This is the first book in the Bedwyn Saga, which is a favorite amongst romance readers. It also has a cover updated, which is…fine? I kind of miss the red and gold.
Meet the Bedwyns…six brothers and sisters—men and women of passion and privilege, daring and sensuality…Enter their dazzling world of high society and breathtaking seduction…where each will seek love, fight temptation, and court scandal…and where Aidan Bedwyn, the marriage-shy second son, discovers that matrimony may be the most seductive act of all.…
Like all the Bedwyn men, Aidan has a reputation for cool arrogance. But this proud nobleman also possesses a loyal, passionate heart—and it is this fierce loyalty that has brought Colonel Lord Aidan to Ringwood Manor to honor a dying soldier’s request. Having promised to comfort and protect the man’s sister, Aidan never expected to find a headstrong, fiercely independent woman who wants no part of his protection…nor did he expect the feelings this beguiling creature would ignite in his guarded heart. And when a relative threatens to turn Eve out of her home, Aidan gallantly makes her an offer she can’t refuse: marry him…if only to save her home. And now, as all of London breathlessly awaits the transformation of the new Lady Aidan Bedwyn, the strangest thing happens: With one touch, one searing embrace, Aidan and Eve’s “business arrangement” is about to be transformed…into something slightly surprising.
RECOMMENDED: The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch is $1.99! New cover! This is a gritty fantasy with an anti-hero protagonist. I loved this book and it’s a lot of fun. I also believe it was recommended by Sarah’s husband on a previous podcast episode. It’s a lot of fun, but definitely is heavy on violence and some gross stuff.
The Thorn of Camorr is said to be an unbeatable swordsman, a master thief, a ghost that walks through walls. Half the city believes him to be a legendary champion of the poor. The other half believe him to be a foolish myth. Nobody has it quite right.
Slightly built, unlucky in love, and barely competent with a sword, Locke Lamora is, much to his annoyance, the fabled Thorn. He certainly didn’t invite the rumors that swirl around his exploits, which are actually confidence games of the most intricate sort. And while Locke does indeed steal from the rich (who else, pray tell, would be worth stealing from?), the poor never see a penny of it. All of Locke’s gains are strictly for himself and his tight-knit band of thieves, the Gentlemen Bastards.
Locke and company are con artists in an age where con artistry, as we understand it, is a new and unknown style of crime. The less attention anyone pays to them, the better! But a deadly mystery has begun to haunt the ancient city of Camorr, and a clandestine war is threatening to tear the city’s underworld, the only home the Gentlemen Bastards have ever known, to bloody shreds. Caught up in a murderous game, Locke and his friends will find both their loyalty and their ingenuity tested to the breaking point as they struggle to stay alive…
The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by C.M. Wagonner is $1.99! This is a described as a cozy fantasy mystery and I know we’ve mentioned this on the site before. Have any of you read this one?
A librarian with a knack for solving murders realizes there is something decidedly supernatural afoot in her little town in this cozy fantasy mystery.
Librarian Sherry Pinkwhistle keeps finding bodies—and solving murders. But she’s concerned by just how many killers she’s had to track down in her quaint village. None of her neighbors seem surprised by the rising body count…but Sherry is becoming convinced that whatever has been causing these deaths is unnatural. But when someone close to Sherry ends up dead, and her cat, Lord Thomas Crowell, becomes possessed by what seems to be an ancient demon, Sherry begins to think she’s going to need to become an exorcist as well as an amateur sleuth. With the help of her town’s new priest, and an assortment of friends who dub themselves the “Demon-Hunting Society,” Sherry will have to solve the murder and get rid of a demon. This riotous mix of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Murder, She Wrote is a lesson for demons and murderers.
When you see a possibly terrifying mythical creature, is your first thought, I’m totally gonna pet that? If so, then Sara Omer, author of The Gryphon King, might have something in common with you.
SARA OMER:
At its core, The Gryphon King is about a horse girl on a quest for vengeance versus a man with cat-related PTSD. But before I can get into the infernal horse and lion biology at play, I have to gush about the monster-riding story more generally.
Just as children wish for puppies, children reading fantasy books wish for dragons. The unbreakable bonds between fire-breathing beasts and reluctant heroes populate epic fantasy stories, but if giant flying lizards aren’t your style, there’s any number of mythic monsters that might be mountable (monster romance implications of that statement aside). I love a dragonrider story as much as the next person, probably more than most people, but there’s a whole ecosystem of underutilized fantastic monsters out there that deserve some time in the spotlight. In the empire of Dumakra in The Gryphon King, there is at least one stable full of flying horses that didn’t ask to be ridden into battle or form lifelong bonds with power-hungry morally gray disaster princesses, but we can’t always fight the fate we’re dealt.
Growing up, having my own horse was as much a fantasy as having my own dragon, but I like to think I lived a tangential horse girl experience. I wasn’t yet in kindergarten when I learned to ride horses, taught by the grandfatherly carriage driver Mr. “Grandpa” Clint, who drove his carriage around the town square. After learning how to drive a carriage at an age that was definitely not road legal (to the chagrin of many other children), Grandpa Clint taught me how to ride a horse at his stable. The horse for the job was an ancient old white gelding living a life of comfort in retirement, and who I enthusiastically urged to a flying gallop my first time on the trail. I had a wonderful time as my mom and Mr. Clint raced after, concerned I would be terrified or die, probably. Surprise, I lived. I think everyone should experience that exhilaration, and a few hundred feet off the ground while you’re at it.
I had a formidable collection (army) of Breyer horses, although unlike Nohra in The Gryphon King, I didn’t grow up with an imperial stable. But some family friends had their own horses and boarded them nearby. Sometimes I would get to go ride or hang out at the stable and in the pastures. Rambo, their stubborn paint gelding, was barely tall enough to even be considered a horse rather than a pony, and I vividly remember a time he got kicked, presumably for being an asshole, and the bloody branding of the hoof that slowly healed. For this and other reasons, I’m convinced every horse is a little like a dragon.
There are multiple breeds of mythic horses I added to the bestiary that is The Gryphon King. Because why stop at sky horse when you can have water horse? And when I really got to thinking about the biology of pegasuses, I wanted to explore their avian side. What better way to celebrate the incredible Eurasian horses and the birds of prey in the region than combine them into one omnivorous monster that has an appetite for blood? As if horses weren’t already dangerous enough, now they really, really want to eat your fingers and the barn cats. And—oh, look—the battlefield became good grazing once the fighting’s quieted down. Really, pegasuses are a little terrifying, and they’re not even the most threatening strain of horse in Dumakra.
The moral is that if you make a bird big enough, humans begin to look like the small animals scurrying through the tall grass, evading tooth and talon. And what’s more terrifying than horse-eagle? Lion eagle.
I have utmost respect for anyone who can make a big cat with a massive wingspan seem docile and friendly; I just think, considering the injuries a falconer could incur and compounding those with what might befall your average lion tamer, you should have to sign a few release waivers to approach a gryphon.
Maybe I made all my animals ferocious because nature is ferocious and dangerous, and when people play at power, they don’t come close to the might of beasts. But their actions have often irreparable impacts on nature nonetheless.
Fear and respect can coexist. Add a little human curiosity, and I would never fault anyone who decided to ride a murder horse. The Gryphon King is for the readers who would go out of their way to pet a man-eating monster, who would risk it all to bond with a creature that could kill them a few different ways on purpose or by accident—I’m a little scared for your wellbeing, but I respect the drive and share the dream.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
teaotter posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
fan_flashworks
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
