Nominations are closed! Approvals are ongoing.
Sep. 8th, 2025 05:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pumpkinkingmod posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
trickortreatexNominations are closed, but please don't worry if your tags haven't been processed yet. The schedule includes three days for me to finish that up before signups open :)
If I have any questions about the lingering tags, I'll make a clarification post, so stay tuned!
If I have any questions about the lingering tags, I'll make a clarification post, so stay tuned!
Weekend reading pt. 2
Sep. 8th, 2025 07:04 pmtroisoiseauxFinished Bibliophobia by Sarah Chihaya, a memoir about her relationship to books and the ways this has intertwined with her lifelong mental health struggles, leading up to a nervous breakdown triggered by an inability to write her dissertation and resulting in a period where she was literally unable to read anything, which she names "bibliophobia." Each chapter structured around a different piece of writing of some personal significance: the Anne of Green Gables books, Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, A.S. Byatt's Possession, Anne Carson's poem "The Glass Essay", Ruth Ozeki's A Tale for the Time Being, Child Ballad 78 ("The Unquiet Grave"), Helen DeWitt's The Last Samurai. Most of Chihaya's "framework" books(/poems) were ones I haven't read (yet— I've put holds on The Bluest Eye and Possession, both of which I've long vaguely intended to get around to reading), which was an incidental aspect of this that I actually really liked— less, I don't know, distracting? than if she'd been writing about books I personally had a strong connection to...? Interesting to read a book about the things we seek from books - salvation or explanations or distraction or whatever - because the chance of a mental ouroboros (seeking xyz from a book about seeking xyz from books) is high to inevitable.
Yuletide 2025 Sticky Post
Sep. 8th, 2025 01:39 pmyuletidemods posting in yuletide_adminYuletide is an annual fic (1000+ words) exchange for rare and obscure fandoms run through this community and through the Archive of Our Own.
Current phase: Prepare to nominate your fandoms! See what fandoms are eligible here.
Tuesday 14 to Friday 24 October: Sign-ups (end 9pm UTC 24 October)
Sunday 26 October: Assignments out (may be earlier)
Wednesday 10 December: Default deadline (9pm UTC)
Wednesday 17 December: Assignment deadline (9pm UTC)
Wednesday 24 December: Main collection works reveals (9pm UTC)
Thursday 25 December: Madness collection works reveals (9pm UTC)
Thursday 1 January: Author reveals, end of event (9pm UTC)
Schedule, Rules, & Collection [still being tweaked for this year] | Contact Mods | Tag Set | Community DW | Community LJ | Discord | Pinch hits on Dreamwidth
Current phase: Prepare to nominate your fandoms! See what fandoms are eligible here.
2025 Schedule
Monday 15 to Friday 26 September: Nominations (end 9pm UTC 26 September)Tuesday 14 to Friday 24 October: Sign-ups (end 9pm UTC 24 October)
Sunday 26 October: Assignments out (may be earlier)
Wednesday 10 December: Default deadline (9pm UTC)
Wednesday 17 December: Assignment deadline (9pm UTC)
Wednesday 24 December: Main collection works reveals (9pm UTC)
Thursday 25 December: Madness collection works reveals (9pm UTC)
Thursday 1 January: Author reveals, end of event (9pm UTC)
Chat corner 200!
Sep. 8th, 2025 08:36 pmannathecrow posting in dreamwarsHi!
This is the 200th themed chat corner of this community!!!
(...unless I miscalculated somewhere, which, lets be real, has a high possibility. Erm.)
I'm looking at the post I made for the 100th chat corner, and something that I wrote there: "That’s a number with about two more places than what I’d assumed this thing would survive when I started." I don't know how about you, but I'm pretty impressed that we're still here!
Now, it might be because this thing has gotten buried too deep under my skin, and I'll be here for the next decade, whether anyone comes and talks or not...
BUT, you do come! And you do talk! Thank you all for that, and I hope it's fun, or enriching, or maybe just rewarding in some way. :)
No prompt this week, but I'd love to know if there is some discussion, or comment, or a Dreamwars-related moment that stayed with you as a good memory. Or perhaps, something you'd like to experience here, realistic or not. I'm curious!
Eligible Nominations for Yuletide 2025
Sep. 8th, 2025 10:28 amyuletidemods posting in yuletide_adminYuletide is a fanfic exchange for rare and tiny fandoms. When you nominate, please follow these guidelines to help us approve and organise fandoms.
We have not made any changes to eligibility this year. However, we made a few major changes last year, loosening our requirements around the scope of individual nominations for anthologies and RPF. You’re now welcome to nominate anthology canons (where multiple short installments of canon are different stories) by their overarching title, but if one person nominates an anthology canon, and another nominates individual installments of that canon (episodes, or skits, or stories) we will bring this up for discussion when clarifying nominations, and will approve one or the other, not both.
Similarly, you can nominate an RPF tag that covers a large profession or long period of history if you want, provided that the number of qualifying works under that tag on AO3 is under 1,000. However, if two people submit RPF fandoms where one fandom is a subset of the other, we will bring this up for discussion when clarifying nominations, and approve one or the other, not both. We strongly encourage you to coordinate your nominations with fellow RPF fans - a coordination post will be posted here shortly.
( Here is what can be nominated for Yuletide 2025! )
( The Evidence Post )
Schedule, Rules, & Collection [still being tweaked for this year] | Contact Mods | Tag Set | Community DW | Community LJ | Discord | Pinch hits on Dreamwidth
Please either sign in to comment, or include a name with your anonymous comments, including replies to others' comments. Unsigned comments will stay screened.
We have not made any changes to eligibility this year. However, we made a few major changes last year, loosening our requirements around the scope of individual nominations for anthologies and RPF. You’re now welcome to nominate anthology canons (where multiple short installments of canon are different stories) by their overarching title, but if one person nominates an anthology canon, and another nominates individual installments of that canon (episodes, or skits, or stories) we will bring this up for discussion when clarifying nominations, and will approve one or the other, not both.
Similarly, you can nominate an RPF tag that covers a large profession or long period of history if you want, provided that the number of qualifying works under that tag on AO3 is under 1,000. However, if two people submit RPF fandoms where one fandom is a subset of the other, we will bring this up for discussion when clarifying nominations, and approve one or the other, not both. We strongly encourage you to coordinate your nominations with fellow RPF fans - a coordination post will be posted here shortly.
( Here is what can be nominated for Yuletide 2025! )
( The Evidence Post )
Please either sign in to comment, or include a name with your anonymous comments, including replies to others' comments. Unsigned comments will stay screened.
Quadralien (1988)
Sep. 8th, 2025 09:01 ampauraqueIn this Sokoban-like sci-fi puzzle game, aliens have boarded a space station in orbit around Jupiter and sabotaged its nuclear reactor. It's far too dangerous to go in there yourself, so you get a crew of remotely controlled droids that you can use like roombas to clean up the radiation from the different levels of the station and confront the (Quadr)alien menace.
This is a new game to me, suggested byzorealis. I've played some hard games from this era but this one is pretty wild. The main challenge is that the core temperature is constantly rising, so in between pushing stuff around trying to collect and dump radioactive waste, you also have to find coolant barrels and push them into various chutes. In later levels the "entropy" gauge also quickly rises if too many objects/aliens are moving at once, so you have to stop that too. If either gauge goes critical, you die. Oh, and you have only a limited pool of energy for your droids that drains whenever you do anything. And sometimes when you do nothing. Good luck!
( cut for length )
You can play Quadralien in your browser, though note that it defaults to the CGA version. If you want the one shown here (which you probably do, not least of all because CGA does not have enough colors for the radioactive tiles to be visibly green), use the "game executable" dropdown to select VGA.
This is a new game to me, suggested by
zorealis. I've played some hard games from this era but this one is pretty wild. The main challenge is that the core temperature is constantly rising, so in between pushing stuff around trying to collect and dump radioactive waste, you also have to find coolant barrels and push them into various chutes. In later levels the "entropy" gauge also quickly rises if too many objects/aliens are moving at once, so you have to stop that too. If either gauge goes critical, you die. Oh, and you have only a limited pool of energy for your droids that drains whenever you do anything. And sometimes when you do nothing. Good luck!( cut for length )
You can play Quadralien in your browser, though note that it defaults to the CGA version. If you want the one shown here (which you probably do, not least of all because CGA does not have enough colors for the radioactive tiles to be visibly green), use the "game executable" dropdown to select VGA.
Revisiting My 2015 Reading List
Sep. 8th, 2025 08:02 amosprey_archerWhen I was first compiling my reading lists, I kept thinking, “Oh, I’ve been meaning to read more by that author! And that one! And that one!” At last it occurred to me that it might be useful to compile a list of those authors from each year and then, you know, actually revisit that author’s work.
When I compiled the first list for 2012 (the first year I have complete enough records to make it worthwhile), it ended up including three Rosemary Sutcliff entries, and I realized that if I didn’t take evasive measures I would probably end up with twenty Rosemary Sutcliff books in a row in the 2013 list. So I refined the parameters: each author gets only one listing per year.
I’ve already read my way through 2012 and 2013 and most of 2014 (still waiting for Elizabeth and Her German Garden! Come on, library!), but it occurred to me that it might be fun forthwith to share my lists as I work on them, and also a good chance to get input if I’m still deciding which book to read for an author. So! Here is the 2015 list. The crossed-out entries are the books I’ve already read for this list.
Jacqueline Woodson – Peace, Locomotion
Rosemary Sutcliff – Little Hound Found
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn – In the First Circle or Cancer Ward. I have both on hold, so we’ll see which gets in first
Zilpha Keatley Snyder – Today Is Saturday (a book of poems. Possibly Snyder’s only book of poems?)
Ruth Goodman – How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England
Ngaio Marsh – A Wreath for Rivera
Sarah Rees Brennan – Long Live Evil
Dick Francis – Whip Hand
Margaret Oliphant – probably Kirsteen, although the library has a number of others, including Phoebe Junior and Salem Chapel. Also a bunch of biographies? I hadn’t realized Margaret Oliphant wrote biographies.
Elizabeth Gaskell – Gothic Tales
Andy Weir – Hail Mary
When I compiled the first list for 2012 (the first year I have complete enough records to make it worthwhile), it ended up including three Rosemary Sutcliff entries, and I realized that if I didn’t take evasive measures I would probably end up with twenty Rosemary Sutcliff books in a row in the 2013 list. So I refined the parameters: each author gets only one listing per year.
I’ve already read my way through 2012 and 2013 and most of 2014 (still waiting for Elizabeth and Her German Garden! Come on, library!), but it occurred to me that it might be fun forthwith to share my lists as I work on them, and also a good chance to get input if I’m still deciding which book to read for an author. So! Here is the 2015 list. The crossed-out entries are the books I’ve already read for this list.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn – In the First Circle or Cancer Ward. I have both on hold, so we’ll see which gets in first
Zilpha Keatley Snyder – Today Is Saturday (a book of poems. Possibly Snyder’s only book of poems?)
Sarah Rees Brennan – Long Live Evil
Dick Francis – Whip Hand
Margaret Oliphant – probably Kirsteen, although the library has a number of others, including Phoebe Junior and Salem Chapel. Also a bunch of biographies? I hadn’t realized Margaret Oliphant wrote biographies.
Andy Weir – Hail Mary
Hugo Homework (from four months ago)
Sep. 7th, 2025 09:36 pmmuccamukkI read these back in May, and my memories are not 100%. Here's my best stab at the three noms for best novel, one for novella, and one tangential to the Lodestar.
A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher, narrated by Eliza Foss & Jennifer Pickens ( Read more... )
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley ( Read more... )
Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky ( Read more... )
The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed ( Read more... )
Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger, narrated by Kinsale Drake ( Read more... )
A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher, narrated by Eliza Foss & Jennifer Pickens ( Read more... )
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley ( Read more... )Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky ( Read more... )
The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed ( Read more... )
Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger, narrated by Kinsale Drake ( Read more... )Two Prompt Fests
Sep. 7th, 2025 03:03 pmmuccamukkspook_me posted: Spook Me Multi-Fandom Ficathon 2025All fandoms are welcome. Stories can be Gen, Het, Slash or Femslash. All ratings are accepted.
We have TWO new Creatures this year: RAVEN and GRAVEYARD
I have royally failed at this the last like five years, but I do want to keep trying. It's really my favourite prompt fest.
fandomgiftbasket posted: Spreadsheet of All RequestsHere is the spreadsheet of all requests!
Link.
There are two sheets on it. The first one is a list of all baskets sorted alphabetically by username, and this is where I'll keep track of the number of gifts. The second is every single fandom request posted individually in alphabetical order, for ease of finding. If you spot anything missing or any mistakes, let me know ASAP.
I don't have a basket this year, but hope to maybe write drabbles or something? Possibly?
Weekend reading
Sep. 7th, 2025 11:19 amtroisoiseauxI picked up an eclectic haul at a used book sale yesterday and have already finished two of them:
- I Am Morgan le Fay by Nancy Springer, which is more or less equal parts Arthurian retelling, non-Arthurian influences (Celtic mythology; Child Ballad 37/Sir Walter Scott's "Thomas the Rhymer"), and a certain type of 90s/00s(?) Amethyst-Eyed Teenage Girl Protagonist fantasy novel (affectionate) (but also, literally, Morgan has emerald-green-and-amethyst heterochromia, which is how you know she is fey/magic/special) (STILL AFFECTIONATE, I would have eaten this up with a spoon in middle school). Enjoyed this a lot! ( ... )
- The Magicians: Alice's Story, a graphic novel spin-off of the Lev Grossman trilogy by Lilah Sturges (writer) and Pius Bak (illustrator); this is a re-write of The Magicians (as in, the first book in Grossman's series— this is very much based on the book rather than the TV show, which was occasionally disorienting: why is everyone white??) from Alice's point of view, which actually resolves a lot of my issues with the novel, i.e., the insufferableness of Quentin as a main character and the fridged girlfriend-ness of Alice's storyline.
The rest of my haul was: a copy of Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster which was, per its inscription, a 1946 Christmas gift from the original owner's aunt; two Patrick O'Brian novels, including The Unknown Shore, his pre-/proto-AubreyadRPF historical fiction of the Wager mutiny, having read David Grann's nonfiction account earlier this year; and a biography of Sir Bernard Spilsbury (The Father of Forensics by Colin Evans), who I mostly know about in the context of his tangential involvement in Operation Mincemeat. So stay tuned!
- I Am Morgan le Fay by Nancy Springer, which is more or less equal parts Arthurian retelling, non-Arthurian influences (Celtic mythology; Child Ballad 37/Sir Walter Scott's "Thomas the Rhymer"), and a certain type of 90s/00s(?) Amethyst-Eyed Teenage Girl Protagonist fantasy novel (affectionate) (but also, literally, Morgan has emerald-green-and-amethyst heterochromia, which is how you know she is fey/magic/special) (STILL AFFECTIONATE, I would have eaten this up with a spoon in middle school). Enjoyed this a lot! ( ... )
- The Magicians: Alice's Story, a graphic novel spin-off of the Lev Grossman trilogy by Lilah Sturges (writer) and Pius Bak (illustrator); this is a re-write of The Magicians (as in, the first book in Grossman's series— this is very much based on the book rather than the TV show, which was occasionally disorienting: why is everyone white??) from Alice's point of view, which actually resolves a lot of my issues with the novel, i.e., the insufferableness of Quentin as a main character and the fridged girlfriend-ness of Alice's storyline.
The rest of my haul was: a copy of Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster which was, per its inscription, a 1946 Christmas gift from the original owner's aunt; two Patrick O'Brian novels, including The Unknown Shore, his pre-/proto-Aubreyad
Island of apples, baskets of pears
Sep. 7th, 2025 04:02 pmdolorosa_12Fruit trees have very much been the theme of this weekend. Someone was giving away pears from a box in their front garden on my return walk from the gym yesterday, and another person was giving away apples when I passed on my way back from the pool this morning. Yesterday afternoon Matthias and I scrambled around on a ladder, and even in the tree itself, picking all the bramley apples from the tree in our back garden. Now two shelves, plus the vegetable crisper in our fridge are entirely filled with apples. Last year they lasted us from August to March!
Everywhere in our house, there are little scattered clusters of fruit — a trio of pears and two large tomatoes ripening on the front windowsill, bowls of apples on the kitchen table, a handful of black cherry tomatoes on the kitchen windowsill in between the indoor plants — like votive offerings to household or harvest gods.
In general, the garden is making me very happy.
If that wasn't enough, after breakfast today, Matthias and I walked out to Little Downham, past hedgerows laden with sloes, rosehips and ripe blackberries, until we got to the community orchard, and filled his backpack with yet more apples and pears. The leaves are yellowing at the edges, and the air has that slightly crackly, woody autumnal scent, although it's still as warm as ever.
Last night, Matthias and I rewatched Casablanca, which I had last seen about twenty-five years ago. It really is that good, and I cried buckets, of course (although about the politics, more than the interpersonal stories). It's extraordinary to me that it was made not post-WWII, but in 1942 — an incredible act of hope and optimism, and faith in human effort turned collaboratively towards an existential struggle. It is of course incredibly emotionally manipulative, but sometimes I just want to see a bunch of traumatised exiles stand up to totalitarian bullies, you know?
( This week I finished three books )
In the time since I started writing this post, the UK government sent me its (scheduled, warned-for) blaring, vibrating phone test emergency alert, and the sky outside has turned from burning blue to cloud-covered grey. The weekend is winding down, and gathering itself in, like a blanket thrown over tired legs.
Everywhere in our house, there are little scattered clusters of fruit — a trio of pears and two large tomatoes ripening on the front windowsill, bowls of apples on the kitchen table, a handful of black cherry tomatoes on the kitchen windowsill in between the indoor plants — like votive offerings to household or harvest gods.
In general, the garden is making me very happy.
If that wasn't enough, after breakfast today, Matthias and I walked out to Little Downham, past hedgerows laden with sloes, rosehips and ripe blackberries, until we got to the community orchard, and filled his backpack with yet more apples and pears. The leaves are yellowing at the edges, and the air has that slightly crackly, woody autumnal scent, although it's still as warm as ever.
Last night, Matthias and I rewatched Casablanca, which I had last seen about twenty-five years ago. It really is that good, and I cried buckets, of course (although about the politics, more than the interpersonal stories). It's extraordinary to me that it was made not post-WWII, but in 1942 — an incredible act of hope and optimism, and faith in human effort turned collaboratively towards an existential struggle. It is of course incredibly emotionally manipulative, but sometimes I just want to see a bunch of traumatised exiles stand up to totalitarian bullies, you know?
( This week I finished three books )
In the time since I started writing this post, the UK government sent me its (scheduled, warned-for) blaring, vibrating phone test emergency alert, and the sky outside has turned from burning blue to cloud-covered grey. The weekend is winding down, and gathering itself in, like a blanket thrown over tired legs.