The Rose's Grove

I got my passport today! I'm absurdly happy about this, despite the fact that the picture is (of course) hideous. I tried so hard to get a good one. But... whatever. ID photos are pretty much destined to be hideous, so I suppose it doesn't really matter. I'm just bitter about the fact that my one ID photo that was actually pretty ended up being my most short-lived - it got broken in my pocket and had to be replaced barely three years later. *Sighs* One of the best pictures ever taken of me.

Anyway. Have been reading a lot of fanfic lately...

(Why no, I'm not procrastinating on my own fic-writing... I'm practicing good academic habits by researching the field before I spend too much energy writing on a subject that someone else has already covered. And it's already saved me some trouble, since last night I discovered not one but two fics dealing quite handily with a subject I thought had somehow been neglected. So clearly this is a good idea. Riiiiiiight.)

...And it occurs to me to make a note of something that once (when I was about 15) seemed very natural to me.

Why is it that fanfic-writers seem to regard rape as the best possible plot device? ( In which there is much discussion of rape as a plot device, and of the fic in which I've recently seen it. )

I can't think of any other worthwhile conclusions or subjects to raise, and my hands feel like they're frozen. I need to pop my laundry into the dryer and go upstairs. I'd be interested to hear what other fannish folk think of all this, though.

In which I am reminded of the umpteen-billionth reason why I don't do cons any more. And am also made to feel smug because I totally knew this was going to turn up on F_W the instant I saw the announcement on fireflyfans.

Hopefully the fact that I haven't seen any enraged personal posts means that no one on my f-list has been burned by this whole mess? Those are some true bastards who did the organizing on this thing. *Shakes head*

In other news, I really need to get out of this horrible winter slump I'm in. I think it's a mild seasonal depression coupled with not having anything scheduled that I need to do... it's been a nightmare trying to get myself out of bed the last week. Once I'm up I'm mostly okay, but until then... yeck. Oh, and sinus joy, of course, on top of that. 'Cause having a cold really helps me feel like I can attack whatever this is with my full vigor, you know. :P At this point, I'm just praying for the solstice to come so that I can know deep in my belly that the worst is over and the sun is on it's way back.

Last night we (including sigel_phoenix, which was a very fun surprise!) went out to Eva, a really nice (no, really nice) little restaurant by our house, for maymargaret's birthday. It was absolutely fabulous. I had gala apple, watercress and goat-cheese salad with walnuts, grilled chicken with butternut squash and wild rice risotto and a chutney that had cranberries, apples, and quince, and a Dry soda (I looooove Dry soda!) in kumquat flavor. My mouth is watering again just thinking about it. Oh, and I had a bit of miss_arel's rabbit, which was quite nice. Somehow, I'd always pictured rabbit being a darker, slightly greasier meat, but it was still quite good. And then we had a raspberry and pear gelato cake, courtesy of nekokoban. Again, wow. Good food all around last night. ♥

Aaaand then I had really strange dreams (dear brain - smushing together all my thoughts of the day, not a particularly fun experience for me, particularly when they involve a half-assed sort-of-crush-thing on a guy at the job I'm quitting. Seriously - just no. I have made enough vague overtures of "me? pay attention to me?" to know that he is not interested. Honestly, I think I'm only interested because boredom and a vaguely interesting geek guy are a bad combination for me). This is not quite as bad yesterday when I awoke with only a vague concept of the dream I'd had, but a solid and certain awareness that, for reasons that remain a mystery to me, I needed to start wearing my ring again. I've done so... and it feels nice to wear it again. But I'm still confused.

Happy Veterans' Day to the other Americans out here on LJ. We may not agree with this or any other war that our country fights, but it's important to recognize the sacrifice of the people who go out there and fight.

Oh yeah. While I'm at it... this happened last year, around Memorial Day, but I didn't get it finished in time. Other than that bit of explanation, I can only say I was in the Comparative Study of Death class at that time, and we were watching a video on the controversy over memorials for the soldiers who died in Vietnam. Which, if you know about one particular of those memorials, you'll find something familiar here.... Anyhow, it's still a little unfinished, but I want to get the damned thing out of my hair, so to speak. So.

Fandom: Firefly
Characters: Mal and Zoe
Women100: 006, Past.
Rating: Gen
Disclaimer: I don't own 'em, Joss (and various associated corporations) do. I don't make money at this, I just like playing with other people's toys. I promise to put them back nicely where I found them.
Title: In Memorium.

( In Memorium )

The 12 characters meme is making the rounds again, and it gives me something to fuss with between tasks, so....

1. Mal Reynolds (Firefly)
2. Marcus Cole (B5)
3. Dana Scully (XF)
4. Zoe Alleyne Washburne (Firefly)
5. Susan Ivanova (B5)
6. River Tam (Firefly)
7. Fox Mulder (XF)
8. Delenn (B5)
9. Inara Serra (Firefly)
10. Badger (Firefly)
11. Tony Foster ('Smoke and...' books)
12. Claire Hansen (Keeper books)

Okay... this whole "you can't copy/paste things from LJ" thing is really getting on my nerves. Maybe if I switch to a different layout... no. Okay, fine. We'll do this the hard way, then. *Growls*

( And the questions )

Because everybody in sf fandom is talking about it... the Hugos. First off, I'd like to note that Browncoats have reason to celebrate - Serenity won whatever-the-heck the Hugos call the film category! Go us. Oh, and if you search YouTube there's a great video of Morena delivering Joss' acceptance speech on behalf of the cast/crew. It's very cute.

Unfortunately, something else that happened at the event kind of ruined my good feelings about this. There's a ton of other wonderful posts about what happened (sigelphoenix in particular, out of people that I know personally), but that one is a good summary, although I somewhat disagree with the writer on what should be done. Internet censuring is not the answer. The answer is a swift and unequivocal response from the professional science fiction community, telling Ellison and the rest of the community that this kind of shit is just not acceptable. And that's exactly what I'm not really seeing, and it makes me unhappy. I know there are a lot of good, well-known and respected male writers of sci-fi out there who are usually on the front lines against this kind of shit, and I'm honestly pretty angry that none of them have said a thing yet. What the fans say, in the end, isn't really an issue here. Ellison is hardly at a point in his career where he gives a flying fuck what the plebes on the internet think of his behavior, if he ever would have (and some vague impressions of his general demeanor give me the sense that he wouldn't have). One would hope that the opinions of his professional colleagues might mean something.

(Also, is it just me or is Connie Willis saying that Ellison has "done worse" even more disturbing than anything else in this whole disaster? If you'll excuse me, I'll just be over here being very glad that I've never read any of his books... and devoutly wishing that he had nothing to do with other things that I love. Ugh.)

Anyway. Fic. It's a bit abrupt and unedited, and I'm sorry that it took me so long!

Quite a while ago, I put out an offer for story requests, and storydivagirl asked for Mal/Kaylee, no bashing of Simon or Inara, and the quote "Why do you put me on a pedestal, I'm so high I can't see the ground below..."

( Simple Dreams )

And, finally, the two Firefly fics, both for 3measures. The first was posted several weeks ago with a very poor ending and some complete lack of good thematic work. Many loving thanks to coralia13 and shinann for beta reading both of these and helping me out!

Title: Sphinx's Riddle (formerly "Of Man and Woman, and Woman again")
Characters: Mal, Zoe, Inara, and River.
Summary: Mal thinks he's got it all figured out, but in the end, the women in his life are beyond his understanding.

( Sphinx’s Riddle )

Title: Camera Obscura
Characters: Mal, Zoe, and Inara.
Summary: A moment of light seen through darkness.

( Camera Obscura )

Fandom: Firefly
Title: "Shore Leave, Chapter 2"
Characters: All (crew)
Warnings and rating: post-Serenity AU, so spoilers... but not the big nasty things. At the moment, thoroughly PG - expect changes in later chapters.
Summary: The crew is under fire from the Alliance again, and in desperate need of a safe haven. Staying with the Cobb family solves one problem, but it might cause more than a few others...
Previous chapter: Chapter 1.

( Chapter 2: To Keep You Warm in Your Travels )

New fic, requested by jayneaintagirl - Happy belated birthday, hun!

You asked for pre-Serenity-Valley Mal, to see a Mal who hadn't been touched by all the horrors of the war yet, and maybe I took that a little farther than you meant. I hope you like it, anyway.

Fandom: Firefly
Characters: Mal Reynolds
Summary and Warnings: Pre-series by a whole hell of a lot. A quick look at a much more innocent Mal Reynolds, back when the whole story was just barely getting started.

( Leaving Home )

So, I'm kind of glad that I sometimes feel the need to look back over old fic-posts... because sometimes I discover some kind of insane mistake that no one pointed out to me. Seriously, please tell me if you ever see something in one of my fics that needs fixing - consider this carte blanche for any of you to slam me with the con-crit. I need it sometimes. Probably a lot of the time.

And so, because it'll bother me until I re-post this properly... #4 from the Music Fic thing a while ago, which somehow got cut off in the middle of a sentence only half-way through. :P

4. La Vie Boheme - RENT
To going against the grain,
Going insane, going mad -
To loving tension, no pension...

( On the Ragged Edge )