Okay, you guys? Saturday, January 9th, is Severus Snape's b'day, and while there are a number of events taking place online (not least amongst which is the Severus Big Bang, which'll be starting soon), I really want to draw your attention to the Party I'm participating in, i.e., severus_shorts.

This Snape's birthday celebration has two parts. The one I've already prepared for is the Brief Fics Showcase, where already-written anonymous fics will be posted every day for a month. And then there's the 24 hour drawble and ficlet celebration. In the words of the mod:

You are cordially invited to participate in Severus' Shorts' Brief Birthday Celebration! For the 24-hour period of 9 January 2010 (Eastern Time), please help us celebrate Severus Snape's 50th birthday by drawbling and drabbling upon the theme of one, some, or all of Severus' birthdays. No sign-ups or prompt-claiming is required (although prompts have been provided for your inspiration here. Official prompt-claiming is closed, but you may still use any of the prompts, even the claimed ones, so long as you give credit to the prompter in your drawble and drabble/ficlet headers).

To participate in the BBC, post your birthday-themed drawbles and drabbles/ficlets in your journals (as many works as you'd like to contribute), and then link to them in reply to the Brief Birthday Celebration post (note: which will show up on Snape's birthday). At the end of the BBC, a master list of celebrants' gifts to the Snape fandom will be posted in severus_shorts — and then the Brief Fics Showcase will begin!

A full description of both the BBC and BFS may be found in our community profile, and questions about severus_shorts may be directed to severus.shorts [at] gmail [dot] com.

A quick birthday-themed sketch or drabble that you can post on Snape's birthday and then a month of fic to read. Come play!


Severus' Shorts @ LJ: A brief celebration of Severus' birthdays!

This entry was originally posted at http://bethbethbeth.dreamwidth.org/523049.html. | read comments at Dreamwidth. | How to use OpenID

Hi all...

Just a quick heads up that the third round of hp_beholder is on the way. Sign-ups start Thursday, January 28, and I'd love to have as many of you participate as possible (including anybody who wasn't able to sign-up last year because they defaulted in 2008).

You're welcome to share this information with your own f'lists. In fact, please do...the more, the merrier!

Note: For background information relating to the creation of this Fic/Art Exchange, please see the original general information post, but don't trust that post for dates and updated rules

This is NOT the sign-up post: Again...sign-ups begin Thursday, January 28, so you have plenty of time to read the instructions and decide what you're going to request.

( General Information )

( Deadlines )

( The List of characters from which at least one member of your primary pairing must be selected )

( Sign-up Template )

( Sample Sign-up )

( Which Characters Can Be Excluded? )

( Questions and Answers )

Note for 2010: Because of the too-common downtime on IJ - like right this minute, which is why I'm cross-posting to my own journals from Dreamwidth instead of to the Beholder community - I've been considering moving the main posting venue for hp_beholder away from its original home base. Due to the nature of some of the art in this exchange, this Fest really can't take place on LJ (note: this has been edited to make it more clear *g*), and while I'd like to use Dreamwidth, I'm concerned that there wouldn't be enough reader/viewer 'traffic.' If you have any thoughts, feel free to comment below (p.s., For anybody who's considering suggesting an Archive of Our Own, remember that they're not ready to host art yet)

This entry was originally posted at http://bethbethbeth.dreamwidth.org/522822.html. | read comments at Dreamwidth. | How to use OpenID

Okay, so one of the interesting things about backing up all your old stories on the Werewolf Archive (i.e., Aooooooo!) is that you get to read them again and find out that not all of them suck. Like these three loosely connected Due South flashfics (all Fraser/Kowalski) from 2003:

"Preturnatural Guidance"
"Coming Attractions"
"Small World"

*sigh* That was a fun fandom...

This entry was originally posted at http://bethbethbeth.dreamwidth.org/522741.html. | read comments at Dreamwidth. | How to use OpenID

Yes, I'm a little giddy. I've finished writing Lord Bereshti's Concubines. *happy dances* The final chapters are posted; the novel is nearly sixty thousand words and forty thousand of them are dirtay dirtay porn, eeeee.

I never wanted to write Y!A books. Never even wanted to write "plotty story with slashy romance developing throughout and a sex scene or two to spice it up before the end." Not that there's anything wrong with those, but I want to write erotica, and the porn/text ratio of LBC makes me very, very happy. Ten thousand roses of gratitude to fabularasa for incredible beta duty.

For those of you who wanted LBC to be complete before subscribing to SL Publishing, your wisdom is evident; I don't like reading WIPs myself, not until they're done. For those who would like to read now, a one-month subscription ($8.95 U.S.) to the site will allow you access for one month to everything published so far on the site, including all 60k words of Lord Bereshti's Concubines (plus works by five other authors). (Yes, you can save everything for future re-reading!) We authors at SL Subscriptions are paid in a percentage of subscriptions for every month that we post new chapters--so, yeah, if there's a spike in January subscriptions, I'll know I did my part. ^_^

And for those who are undecided, well, not much else I can say; the novel has to stand as its own temptation. You can read the first three chapters for free on the site and see. The summary once more:

Silvian is the favorite concubine of a wealthy lord. When a new, reluctant concubine is added to the collection, Silvian takes it upon himself to save the new one from his fears, with unplanned results.

Warnings/enticements: explicit sex, yaoi, strong language, dubious consent, bondage/punishment kink.

And in February, I'll begin a new erotic novel. Mwah.

First set of holiday drabbles, in thanks for the snowflake v-gifts! I decided to do all the HP ones first, and tomorrow or soon I'll tackle the other fandoms. They're all rated, oh, about R.

( For cluegirl: Remus/Lucius, St. Andrew's Cross )

( For christwise: Regulus/Remus, hair )

( For ella_bane: Draco/Hermione, potion )

( For the_flic, accioslash, and persephone_blue: Snape/Harry, Detention Served universe )

( For ll24ever: Remus/Sirius/Harry, ribbons )

First off, I'd like to give thanks, once again, to the lovely no-longer-mystery author who wrote "Home is the Hunter" (Graveyard Book) for me. Thanks, Jain!

As for the story I wrote...heh, I have to say that this was a slightly odd year for me.

( Some thoughts about my experience with this year's assignment, the fandom source for which is apparently the most famous thing that nobody's ever heard of )

Ff you're one of the few people who are familiar with D.H. Lawrence's novel Women in Love and would like to take a look at my story...

Title: "Something Final and Infallible"
Characters: Rupert, Gerald, Ursula
Words: 2172
Notes: As per one of the recipient's requests, this is a post-canon story that mostly ignores the final chapter of the novel.

Summary: In which Gerald awakes to a world much warmer than the one he remembered, Rupert gets more than he knew he wanted, and Ursula is rather more insightful than she's ordinarily given credit for.

(This way to the story...)

This entry was originally posted at http://bethbethbeth.dreamwidth.org/522345.html. | read comments at Dreamwidth. | How to use OpenID

So, what did I write for Yuletide? One full-length fic and two Madness ficlets.

Master Li and Number Ten Ox fandom (Bridge of Birds and sequels, Barry Hughart):
The Huli Jing
jenqzy asked for "a new brief Li/Ox adventure," in the style of the books. Thank you so much for the inspiration; I wouldn't have dared to try to create it if you hadn't asked! 3475 words.

Baccano! fandom:
When They First Met
Miaou Jones asked for Isaac/Miria fic, and anythingbutblue and bananastasia said they wanted fic of how Isaac and Miria might first have met. I've had my "isn't it obvious?" opinion on that since the first episode. 523 words.

WALL-E/ Battlestar Galactica crossover:
Souvenirs
ageorwizardry wanted to see these two fandoms come together, so I had just enough of an idea to make a ficlet out of it. 286 words.

Thanks to everyone who commented; every one of the reviews had me squeeing!

Especially of interest to (me!) people using Archive of Our Own Collections like yuletide:

* Limitations removed from the 'works' page for collections. You may now see all works saved to a collection. (my note: i.e., not just for yuletide2009 or yuletidemadness2009 individually)
* 'OR' option added to filters - you may now select (for example) multiple fandoms to filter on (which means you can now select "or, then tick your ten favorite fandoms in the works filter and get a return of all of those stories)

Wheee!

***

In other news, I've still barely read anything fannish, but I have done all my grading, have prepped for next term (including ordering books and writing syllabi), have met with friends (yay!), have cooked many meals (including that traditional American Jewish X-mas dinner: Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding *g*), have seen part one of Doctor Who's "End of Time" (which...sorry, folks, I liked it, including Mr. Crack!Boy's hair), and saw Sherlock Holmes (liked that too - very much, in fact - despite having held 'omgwtf?' feelings since seeing the first trailer).

Happy New Year, my lovelies!

( Thanks to mcamy for the one-day-early icon, adapted from her earlier Nine-to-Ten icon *g*)

This entry was originally posted at http://bethbethbeth.dreamwidth.org/522218.html. | read comments at Dreamwidth. | How to use OpenID

HAI!

Hope everyone's holiday season has been a joyful one, at least for the most part. :D

I have been in a rare festive mood of late. I don't normally like Christmas and all its trappings, however, this year I feel a fog lifting. It's all good.

I have plenty to post about, meta and stories and things, but I just wanted to pop in and share my annual gift wrapping.

As I've noted previously, every year, I choose a 'theme' for wrapping. Usually something sets me off, earlier in the fall, and I like the look of it so much I want it for Christmas. This normally turns out to be a severe exercise in patience, because the colours and/or theme I want is usually nowhere to be found when I want it. Though it often turns up in all its glory a season or two later. <--- I can now prove this, as I have posted for two years, and this year, as seen ALL over, you can find the colour BLACK all over the goddamn place in Christmas decorations:

In 2007, I posted my first ever show of gifts here, the theme of which was "Black Tie/Tuxedo". You can see them here: 2007 Christmas Wrap. You will note that I struggled to find black anything at that time. However, this year, it's at IKEA, Walmart, The Bay, you name it, you can find it. Bastards.

But I digress. Last year, because there were too many choices for colours my final choice was the absence of colour. The theme was "Winter Wonderland". (2008) .

This year, I wanted to be responsible and RECYCLE some of the excessive amounts of wrap and ribbon and such from the last two years, specifically using the silver and white from the years previous. I struggled to find a highlight colour this year, but what finally set me off what an advertisement for Vodka. HAHHAHA. So I decided upon "Martini" using chartreuse as my focal point to offset the silver (dirty) and white (clean). Of course, finding a decent paper in that particular colour was damned near impossible, thought the accoutrements were plentiful, thank goodness.

That said, the chartreuse was far too beguiling, I couldn't stop using it in excess, which turned the tables from "focal" to "primary".

So my theme this year then became "Absinthe". ;P

Not terribly dial up friendly, sorry.


( My wrapping, let me show you it )

I would also like to take this time to thank the following folks who still sent me a card, despite my non card sending fail:

joanwilder for her card of stick figure awesome! ♥
dacro for her sick card of the new OTP she wants me to ship (Filch/Umbridge FTW)
meredyth_13 and hubby for the lovely card. <--- roomies also say "♥"


Happy New Year, everyone! End of year post of doom to follow later this week. *nods*

Posted on DW because I can't be arsed to get Semagic. :)

My first batch of yuletide recs, which have been fairly random (i.e., I haven't read all the stories yet in any of the fandoms I'm reccing)

( Body Worlds Exhibition, Black Books, Casablanca, Casino Royale, Discworld, District 9, Earthsea, Fairy Tales, RPF - Classical Rome, Temeraire )

This entry was originally posted at http://bethbethbeth.dreamwidth.org/521845.html. | read comments at Dreamwidth. | How to use OpenID

(Because the holidays should bring gifts. Particularly smutty ones!)



Chapter 19 of Lord Bereshti's Concubines is up.

( Teaser below the cut )

For those of you who have been waiting for Lord Bereshti's Concubines to be completed before subscribing, the last two chapters will be posted in January. I'll have a post within the next week or two that will plug the whole thing, and, I hope, will entice readers.

Many, many thanks to my mystery author for a really excllent Graveyard Book story: "Home is the Hunter". It's future!fic (...exactly as I'd hoped for, almost as if the author had some magical way of knowing what I wanted! *g*), with a perfect reunion between the now-grown Bod and silas.

***

BTW...yes, the archive has been slow as molasses since opening (comment links being the worst, I think), and there are things that are missing (e.g., multi-fandom reccers like me miss the ability to click on multiple fandoms and get a single page of returns featuring thirty fandoms' worth of stories to read instead of having to search on one fandom at a time). [And yes, I might have already whined about some things this morning in a filtered post somewhere *g*] .

However! I've never seen Fest mods so professional, coders so fast to fix bugs, or a support team for any archive (or almost any website, really) so quick to respond to queries/complaints. My hat would be off to all of you if I wore a hat, but as it stands, all I can offer is:

\o/ \o/ \o/

This entry was originally posted at http://bethbethbeth.dreamwidth.org/521712.html. | read comments at Dreamwidth. | How to use OpenID