rants and ramblings of utter randomness

In your own space, post a rec for at least three fanworks that you did not create. Drop a link to your post in the comments. See if you can rec fanworks that are less likely to be praised: tiny fandoms, rare pairings, fanworks other than stories, lesser known kinks or tropes. Find fanworks that have few to no comments, or creators new to a particular fandom and maybe aren't well known or appreciated. Appreciate them.

1. Rage and Weakness by tanyareed. due South, Fraser/Thatcher, PG-13.

Yes, these are two stories, but they read more like two parts of a whole, so I'm listing them under one selection. Written when the few Fraser/Thatcher fics out there sounded like they were written by 12-year-old teenyboppers, Rage is a breath of fresh air--a thoughtful, well-laid-out portrait of Thatcher, presenting her as someone in fearful control of her emotions and personal life. When she is assaulted (physically, not sexually--this is not rapefic), she must begin to trust someone other than her own tightly-controlled self.

The second piece, Weakness, is a look at how Fraser and Meg (and also Elaine, who is significant in this story--always a good thing!) deal with their own self-identified weaknesses in relation to the events of Rage as well as in relation to themselves and how they perceive others (and each other). The author shows each character as very human with flaws and hangups as well as the intelligence and wisdom to begin to overcome them. This was one of the very first Fraser/Thatcher fics I read, and it's still one of my very favourites.

Here are the links for Rage chapters 2,3,4, and 5.

Links for Weakness can be found here (easy to locate amongst other stories that you might want to read, too--if anyone would rather have links to individual chapters let me know in the comments and I'll link them).

2. Oklahoma by Amperage and Livengoo. X-Files, Mulder gen. Rated NC-17 for violence.

Summary: "It's 1987 and the Oklahoma cops have an unsolvable case. Fox Mulder, golden boy of the VCU, is called in to stop the murders of children across the state. What he finds takes him places he never wanted to go and forces him to make the pivotal choice of his life."

This is a really old story; I found it last year during a minor resurgence of my (also really old) X-Files obsession. This is X-Files pre-series gen; it reads like a psychological horror novel, with a really fucked-up Mulder investigating a child serial killer who finds a way--real or imagined, we don't know at the start--to get inside Mulder's head and mess with it even further. T.S. Eliot's poetry plays a central role in a wonderfully creepy way. This is Muldertorture (a subgenre I usually run screaming from) at its most Muldertorturous, and definitely NOT for the squeamish. It's also really, really good. I would love to comment on this story at the source, but it was written back when emails were the only way to comment, and I'm not sure the authors would appreciate kudos 16 years out.

3. If You Can See Where You're Going by isiscolo. due South/Wilby Wonderful crossover. Frannie/Buddy, PG.

This fic isn't really unknown, but I haven't seen it recced in a while, so maybe some newcomers haven't read it yet. Isis calls it "probably the most all-out romantic story I've ever written", and it's definitely that, in a really good way. What it is not is a "Frannie-meets-someone-who-looks-like-Fraser-and-they-live-happily-ever-after" story. On the contrary, this story is about Frannie dealing with just that subject--the evolution of her relationship with Buddy goes from a crush on a Fraser clone to a real look at her feelings about lots of things--including Fraser, and including Buddy as a separate person. Buddy's line to Carol "What do you see when you look at me"? is dealt with here, and his line "if you know where you come from, you can remember what you wanted" is turned on its ear. And the framing POV is perfect. So, yeah, it's a romance--intelligent, fun, and damn good. You don't have to have seen Wilby Wonderful to enjoy this fic, but if you haven't, I'll bet you'll want to afterwards. :)

This is one of my comfort stories. I bet it'll be one of yours, too. You can give Isis love here, at her LJ.

Day One: In your own space, post a rec for at least three fanworks that you have created. It can be your favorite fanworks that you've created, or fanworks you feel no one ever saw, or fanworks you say would define you as a creator.

I don't know if I'm "defined" by anyone, since I write so seldom, but here are three I like:

1. Fraser Being Fraser is a meta on writing Fraser I did for ds_workshop, and it may be the piece I'm most proud of. I think I did a pretty complete character study of Fraser and how to write him without falling into traps of cliché and fanon. I know a lot of people tend to shy away from writing Fraser because they find him difficult to write. He's always been easy for me--it's like he makes camp in my head when I'm writing--so even though I'm not a huge self-pimper (to say the least), I still refer people to this when they're having trouble writing Fraser. Because you can never have too much Fraser.

2 Where the Women Are Strong, the Men are Good-looking, and the Mounties are Above Average. Written for the second DS Flashfiction Badfic Challenge, I had more fun writing this than any other fic I've written, ever. I'm a big fan of A Prairie Home Companion, and I've wanted to write a Guy Noir/dS crossover since a comment conversation I had with isiscolo a few years ago. I was very pleased with the way it turned out and the positive response I got--even my non-fandom pro-writer housemate liked it. :)

3. Light the Sun. dS Seekrit Santa is my favourite fic challenge, and I never miss a year, even when (like this year), I've been away from fandom a lot (POLITICS ATE MY *SOUL*, PEOPLE, and I'm trying desperately to get it back!). This was the first story I wrote for dSSS, back in 2006, and also my first real dS story (aside from one horrible attempt at NC-17 which may have come first but that I'm pretending doesn't exist and you should too). I really like this one--I think I managed to make it sweet without tipping over into sappy, and I even managed to write Vecchio in a way that doesn't make me cringe (note: I love Ray Vecchio so, so much--it's just that his voice doesn't come to me easily).

So, yay, I am now officially registered for con.txt! I've looked at the LJ comm and there's no update on roomshare, etc, since 2010.

Does anyone know if DW has a comm for con.txt? Are any of you guys going? Enquiring minds wanna know.

I sure have! I've participated in Occupy Providence, gone to a couple of marches/rallies, and generally supported them (I'm on their mailing list, have gone to several events at Occupy, etc.). I'd be doing even more if I didn't have my stupid back injury. I've learned a lot about my own feelings about politics from my experience with Occupy, and the ridiculous, horrible way my country is being run, no matter what party is in power. Democrats? Yeah, you're not that much better than the Republicans. I'm really glad I never became a member of the Democratic Party.

I think Occupy is a very important movement--because of Occupy, people in Washington are talking about income disparity again. If nothing else is accomplished (and a lot more has been--support for homeless and foreclosed-upon people, are a couple of big examples), Occupy is changing the national conversation to actually include income disparity and how 1 percent of Americans have 90 percent of the wealth, and how that's a bad thing, both for the poor and middle classes, and for the nation as a whole.

Now that so many Occupy camps have been forced out, the movement is changing, becoming a presence at school board meetings, state legislature committee meetings, even stuff like the Iowa caucuses. Occupy Providence is doing a lot of that, too, and the OP camp is is still going strong as a camp, as well--and keeping Burnside Park cleaner than it was before it was Occupied. Go, Occupy!

( Information you can't afford to ignore )

Arrr, me mateys! It be International Talk Like A Pirate Day!

I think I'm going to unsub from all my political groups on LJ and keep the political stuff mostly on facebook. Not that I won't post or rant about politics at all, but I really want to get back into fandom, and keeping this space as mostly-fannish/semi-personal will help a LOT. I may keep a few of my news feeds, but I can read them on Google, so there's really no need.

I'm going to try to make at least two posts here a week to start with. A lot of fandom is passing me by, and I want back in! So, that's where you guys come in. Tell me important stuff that's going on! Meetups? Challenges? I want to WRITE again! Definitely doing DSSS as usual (the day I don't do that, I'll know I'm out of fandom, and I'm NOT OUT OF FANDOM, DAMMIT), so I have to get in gear! Help, plz?

Now I'm off to the YMCA (cue dorky dancing) to renew my membership. IT'S (ALMOST) AUTUMN AND I'M PUMPED, GUYS! :)