Dark Shadows: Angelique (The Devil Need Not Own You) by Laramie Dean
Aug. 7th, 2025 12:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pronker posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
fancakeFandom: Dark Shadows
Pairings/Characters: Angelique Bouchard/Barnabas Collins, Julia Hoffman, Nicholas Blair, other canon characters
Rating: Unrated; my best guess is T for violence
Length: ~11,000
Creator Links: Link to author's blog
Theme: marriage of convenience, backstory
Summary: The witch Angelique married numerous times throughout her long life and liaisoned even more times. Her great beauty ensured attracting anyone she could use and discard.
Reccer's Notes: Angelique owned many family names throughout the 5 year run of the show, and this story encompasses her entire life from childhood on. The convenient marriage is the one to Roger Collins while she is disguised as occult student Cassandra Blair. This story rocks because literally each of her identities receives insightful exploration, though the main "Pairing" consists of Angelique/Barnabas, the most well-known of her loves. She loves too well and not wisely at all.
Fanwork Links: Angelique (The Devil Need Not Own You)
A new fandom tag, please?
Pairings/Characters: Angelique Bouchard/Barnabas Collins, Julia Hoffman, Nicholas Blair, other canon characters
Rating: Unrated; my best guess is T for violence
Length: ~11,000
Creator Links: Link to author's blog
Theme: marriage of convenience, backstory
Summary: The witch Angelique married numerous times throughout her long life and liaisoned even more times. Her great beauty ensured attracting anyone she could use and discard.
Reccer's Notes: Angelique owned many family names throughout the 5 year run of the show, and this story encompasses her entire life from childhood on. The convenient marriage is the one to Roger Collins while she is disguised as occult student Cassandra Blair. This story rocks because literally each of her identities receives insightful exploration, though the main "Pairing" consists of Angelique/Barnabas, the most well-known of her loves. She loves too well and not wisely at all.
Fanwork Links: Angelique (The Devil Need Not Own You)
A new fandom tag, please?
Tags:
- due: no deadline,
- fandom: multifandom,
- format: bingo,
- format: given prompts,
- format: meta,
- format: recs,
- format: remix,
- format: rewatch,
- format: varied challenges,
- frequency: monthly,
- medium: any/multi,
- medium: art,
- medium: craft,
- medium: fic,
- medium: meta,
- posting: no deadline,
- site: ao3,
- site: tumblr
Captain America: You Would Be In Clover by ChibiSquirt
Aug. 6th, 2025 12:08 pmbeatrice_otter posting in fancakeFandom: MCU
Pairings/Characters: Steve/Bucky, Sam/Steve
Rating: explicit
Length: 127k
Creator Links:![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
ChibiSquirt
Theme: marriage of convenience, pretend couple, happy endings, genderfuck
Summary: Sarah “Gwen” Rogers was nineteen when she married Bucky Barnes, and she knew at the time just how stupid it was: it wasn’t exactly a brilliant move to marry a man who could never love her, even—or especially—when she knew that she was in love with him.
Neither of them could have predicted the war that came, and if they had, then they sure as hell couldn’t have predicted what would happen when Gwen volunteered for Project: Rebirth.
Reccer's Notes: This is one of the more interesting Captain America genderswaps: what would it do to the essential closeness and devotion of Steve and Bucky's relationship if Bucky was 1000% gay, and Steve was a cis woman? But they still cared about each other as much? They decide to get married, to protect Bucky from gossip, and things go from there. This is such an interesting take on their relationship, on how being a cis woman would affect "Sarah" (especially once she wakes up in modern America after being frozen for seventy years), and her relationship with Sam. All while telling the basic events of the movie.
Fanwork Links: You Would Be In Clover
Pairings/Characters: Steve/Bucky, Sam/Steve
Rating: explicit
Length: 127k
Creator Links:
Theme: marriage of convenience, pretend couple, happy endings, genderfuck
Summary: Sarah “Gwen” Rogers was nineteen when she married Bucky Barnes, and she knew at the time just how stupid it was: it wasn’t exactly a brilliant move to marry a man who could never love her, even—or especially—when she knew that she was in love with him.
Neither of them could have predicted the war that came, and if they had, then they sure as hell couldn’t have predicted what would happen when Gwen volunteered for Project: Rebirth.
Reccer's Notes: This is one of the more interesting Captain America genderswaps: what would it do to the essential closeness and devotion of Steve and Bucky's relationship if Bucky was 1000% gay, and Steve was a cis woman? But they still cared about each other as much? They decide to get married, to protect Bucky from gossip, and things go from there. This is such an interesting take on their relationship, on how being a cis woman would affect "Sarah" (especially once she wakes up in modern America after being frozen for seventy years), and her relationship with Sam. All while telling the basic events of the movie.
Fanwork Links: You Would Be In Clover
Star Trek AOS: Strange Fits of Passion Have I Known by waketosleep
Aug. 6th, 2025 10:32 amgarryowen posting in fancakeFandom: Star Trek AOS (Reboot)
Pairings/Characters: Kirk/Spock
Rating: Teen
Length: 4,249 words
Creator Links:waketosleep
Theme: Marriage of convenience
Summary: Kirk nearly turns a simple trade mission into a diplomatic incident. Luckily, Spock will do a lot to cover his captain's ass.
Reccer's Notes: What I love about Kirk and Spock is that there are so many different takes on who they are and how they'd act, and, in the hands of a good writer, every one of those is believable. In this story, Kirk is a totally obnoxious doofus who makes a major diplomatic blunder (as he does) and has to marry Spock to save face and a dilithium trade deal. Spock is tolerant and eye-rolly.
Kirk/Spock is one of my favorite pairings for marriages of convenience because these two are so married already, and they usually have a high degree of love (even if platonic) for one another at the time of the marriage. That quality is on display here.
This is the first story waketosleep wrote in this fandom. It's short and sweet, and worth revisiting even if you read it in 2009 when it was originally posted.
Fanwork Links: Strange Fits of Passion Have I Known
Pairings/Characters: Kirk/Spock
Rating: Teen
Length: 4,249 words
Creator Links:
Theme: Marriage of convenience
Summary: Kirk nearly turns a simple trade mission into a diplomatic incident. Luckily, Spock will do a lot to cover his captain's ass.
Reccer's Notes: What I love about Kirk and Spock is that there are so many different takes on who they are and how they'd act, and, in the hands of a good writer, every one of those is believable. In this story, Kirk is a totally obnoxious doofus who makes a major diplomatic blunder (as he does) and has to marry Spock to save face and a dilithium trade deal. Spock is tolerant and eye-rolly.
Kirk/Spock is one of my favorite pairings for marriages of convenience because these two are so married already, and they usually have a high degree of love (even if platonic) for one another at the time of the marriage. That quality is on display here.
This is the first story waketosleep wrote in this fandom. It's short and sweet, and worth revisiting even if you read it in 2009 when it was originally posted.
Fanwork Links: Strange Fits of Passion Have I Known
Captain America: A Better Version of Our Past by crackdkettle
Aug. 5th, 2025 11:55 pmbeatrice_otter posting in fancakeFandom: Captain America
Pairings/Characters: Bucky/Peggy, Peggy/Steve, Steve/Bucky
Rating: teen
Length: 37k words
Creator Links:crackdkettle
Theme: marriage of convenience, kidfic (has kids, accidental baby), pretend couple,
Summary: The Commandos find Bucky in a Hydra facility just days after Steve crashes. A few months later, Peggy comes to Bucky for help: she’s pregnant with Steve’s child and she wants him to claim the child as his so the SSR won’t experiment on it to try to crack Erskine’s formula. Over the next several years Bucky slowly learns how to navigate the life that was meant for Steve — as a husband, father, and founding member of SHIELD — while never giving up the search for the man he lost and still loves.
Reccer's Notes: I love the way crackdkettle handles Bucky and Peggy's mutual grief, and the different ways they handle it, and the slow course of their healing.
Fanwork Links: A Better Version of Our Past
Pairings/Characters: Bucky/Peggy, Peggy/Steve, Steve/Bucky
Rating: teen
Length: 37k words
Creator Links:
Theme: marriage of convenience, kidfic (has kids, accidental baby), pretend couple,
Summary: The Commandos find Bucky in a Hydra facility just days after Steve crashes. A few months later, Peggy comes to Bucky for help: she’s pregnant with Steve’s child and she wants him to claim the child as his so the SSR won’t experiment on it to try to crack Erskine’s formula. Over the next several years Bucky slowly learns how to navigate the life that was meant for Steve — as a husband, father, and founding member of SHIELD — while never giving up the search for the man he lost and still loves.
Reccer's Notes: I love the way crackdkettle handles Bucky and Peggy's mutual grief, and the different ways they handle it, and the slow course of their healing.
Fanwork Links: A Better Version of Our Past
All About Eve: Till I have the possession of everything she touches by AuKestrel
Aug. 5th, 2025 10:33 pmbeatrice_otter posting in fancakeFandom: All About Eve
Pairings/Characters: Addison DeWitt/Eve Harrington
Rating: Gen
Length: 1634 words
Creator Links:AuKestrel
Theme: marriage of convenience, future fic, kidfic (has kids), small fandom, old fandom, post canon,
Summary: You see, society and theatre (and aren’t they really the same thing? - someone, please, offer Mrs. Albert Knickerbacker her smelling salts) are built on the sand of lies: lies of omission, lies of commission, old-fashioned deceit, dishonesty, and compounded misunderstandings.
It takes only a rudimentary understanding and a halfway-capable grasp of human nature to begin to sift the truth from the lies.
Reccer's Notes: All About Eve is a classic 1950s drama about a young actress (Eve Harrington) who advances her career by playing a sweet innocent, attaching herself to an aging star (Margot Channing, played by Bette Davis), and stabbing her in the back. At the end of the movie, Eve marries a witty, snobbish, and super-queer-coded theater critic (Addison DeWitt). This is his perspective on their marriage and their daughter. The narrative voice is very strong, it feels like the movie.
Fanwork Links: Till I have the possession of everything she touches
Mods, can I get a fandom tag?
Pairings/Characters: Addison DeWitt/Eve Harrington
Rating: Gen
Length: 1634 words
Creator Links:
Theme: marriage of convenience, future fic, kidfic (has kids), small fandom, old fandom, post canon,
Summary: You see, society and theatre (and aren’t they really the same thing? - someone, please, offer Mrs. Albert Knickerbacker her smelling salts) are built on the sand of lies: lies of omission, lies of commission, old-fashioned deceit, dishonesty, and compounded misunderstandings.
It takes only a rudimentary understanding and a halfway-capable grasp of human nature to begin to sift the truth from the lies.
Reccer's Notes: All About Eve is a classic 1950s drama about a young actress (Eve Harrington) who advances her career by playing a sweet innocent, attaching herself to an aging star (Margot Channing, played by Bette Davis), and stabbing her in the back. At the end of the movie, Eve marries a witty, snobbish, and super-queer-coded theater critic (Addison DeWitt). This is his perspective on their marriage and their daughter. The narrative voice is very strong, it feels like the movie.
Fanwork Links: Till I have the possession of everything she touches
Mods, can I get a fandom tag?
SGA: The Convenient Husband by Brighid
Aug. 5th, 2025 11:41 pmmific posting in fancakeFandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, Jeannie, other OCs like John's cousin, mother and sister, and Rodney's nieces.
Rating: Explicit
Length: 12,417
Content Notes: no AO3-type warnings apply
Creator Links: Brighid on AO3, Brighid (aka mz_bstone) on sga_flashfic, librarychick_94 on AO3, librarychick_94 on Audiofic Archive
Themes: Marriage of Convenience, First time, Pining, AU
Summary: A marriage of convenience has some very incovenient complications for Rodney, as he deals with the fact that he's still in love with John Sheppard.
Reccer's Notes: Written for a Harlequin challenge, this has the classic structure with John persuading Rodney to marry him so as to access an inheritance and get control of his family's aeronautics company, and Rodney, who's carried a torch for John since childhood, going along despite fearing John will break his heart. It's mostly a complete AU although Rodney used to be in the Stargate programme, and John used to be in the Air Force, so I guess it could be a very divergent canon-divergent AU. The writing's fresh and amusing and of course it has the requisite happy ending. As it dates from 2005 (and is anyway an AU) several details differ from canon, like Rodney's and John's families. A fun, romantic read, and an SGA classic.
Fanwork Links: The Convenient Husband pt 1 & part 2, and an excellent podfic read by librarychick_94
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, Jeannie, other OCs like John's cousin, mother and sister, and Rodney's nieces.
Rating: Explicit
Length: 12,417
Content Notes: no AO3-type warnings apply
Creator Links: Brighid on AO3, Brighid (aka mz_bstone) on sga_flashfic, librarychick_94 on AO3, librarychick_94 on Audiofic Archive
Themes: Marriage of Convenience, First time, Pining, AU
Summary: A marriage of convenience has some very incovenient complications for Rodney, as he deals with the fact that he's still in love with John Sheppard.
Reccer's Notes: Written for a Harlequin challenge, this has the classic structure with John persuading Rodney to marry him so as to access an inheritance and get control of his family's aeronautics company, and Rodney, who's carried a torch for John since childhood, going along despite fearing John will break his heart. It's mostly a complete AU although Rodney used to be in the Stargate programme, and John used to be in the Air Force, so I guess it could be a very divergent canon-divergent AU. The writing's fresh and amusing and of course it has the requisite happy ending. As it dates from 2005 (and is anyway an AU) several details differ from canon, like Rodney's and John's families. A fun, romantic read, and an SGA classic.
Fanwork Links: The Convenient Husband pt 1 & part 2, and an excellent podfic read by librarychick_94
Shang-Chi: Sing You a Song of Devotion by NyxEtoile and OlivesAwl
Aug. 4th, 2025 10:37 pmbeatrice_otter posting in fancakeFandom: MCU
Pairings/Characters: Katy Chen/Shang-Chi
Rating: Mature
Length: 53k
Creator Links:NyxEtoile, OlivesAwl
Theme: marriage of convenience, AU, going home, friends to lovers, everyone thinks we're dating, competence, characters of color,
Summary: As they walked out, she could feel Shaun stewing and probably pissed off beside her, but he didn’t say anything, so neither did she. Instead she pulled out her phone and googled San Francisco marriage license.
They were in the elevator before he finally spoke. “This is not something I’m willing to let you do.”
“Okay, well, getting deported back to fucking China is not something I’m willing to let you do, so where does that leave us?”
Reccer's Notes: Shaun has a problem with his immigration status. His best friend Katy offers the obvious solution: a green card marriage. This changes many things, but others stay the same. This fic explores Shaun and Katy's life together, from marriage to school to the Snap to the events of the movie, in a fun and engaging way. I love the way both characters are written, but especially Katy--she really gets a chance to shine, when she's not shoved into the Funny Best Friend role.
Fanwork Links: Sing You a Song of Devotion
Pairings/Characters: Katy Chen/Shang-Chi
Rating: Mature
Length: 53k
Creator Links:
Theme: marriage of convenience, AU, going home, friends to lovers, everyone thinks we're dating, competence, characters of color,
Summary: As they walked out, she could feel Shaun stewing and probably pissed off beside her, but he didn’t say anything, so neither did she. Instead she pulled out her phone and googled San Francisco marriage license.
They were in the elevator before he finally spoke. “This is not something I’m willing to let you do.”
“Okay, well, getting deported back to fucking China is not something I’m willing to let you do, so where does that leave us?”
Reccer's Notes: Shaun has a problem with his immigration status. His best friend Katy offers the obvious solution: a green card marriage. This changes many things, but others stay the same. This fic explores Shaun and Katy's life together, from marriage to school to the Snap to the events of the movie, in a fun and engaging way. I love the way both characters are written, but especially Katy--she really gets a chance to shine, when she's not shoved into the Funny Best Friend role.
Fanwork Links: Sing You a Song of Devotion
Endeavour: An Unexpected Family by Pink_Dalek
Aug. 4th, 2025 09:57 pmbeatrice_otter posting in fancakeFandom: Endeavour (TV)
Pairings/Characters: Endeavour Morse/Joan Thursday
Rating: teen
Length: 57k
Creator Links:Pink_Dalek
Theme: marriage of convenience, kidfic (has kids), AU, fork in the road, small fandoms, domestic, friends to lovers,
Summary: An AU starting from when Joan came to Morse's flat in "Harvest." What if he'd told her what he felt wasn't pity? What if she'd told him about the baby? Things could have been very different. No Series/Season 5 spoilers.
Reccer's Notes: In the show, Morse and Joan have a flirtation and chemistry and some light pining, but nothing ever comes from it because we know from the other shows (Endeavour (TV) is a prequel) that Morse never married. Instead, Joan had an affair with a married man, got pregnant, miscarried due to abuse, became a social worker, and married someone else. There are a lot of AUs where Morse and Joan get together, and this is one of my favorites. When he finds out she's pregnant, Morse asks Joan to marry him, and off they go from there. Both of them have a lot to learn about life together, and I enjoy watching them and their children grow and change.
Fanwork Links: An Unexpected Family
Pairings/Characters: Endeavour Morse/Joan Thursday
Rating: teen
Length: 57k
Creator Links:
Theme: marriage of convenience, kidfic (has kids), AU, fork in the road, small fandoms, domestic, friends to lovers,
Summary: An AU starting from when Joan came to Morse's flat in "Harvest." What if he'd told her what he felt wasn't pity? What if she'd told him about the baby? Things could have been very different. No Series/Season 5 spoilers.
Reccer's Notes: In the show, Morse and Joan have a flirtation and chemistry and some light pining, but nothing ever comes from it because we know from the other shows (Endeavour (TV) is a prequel) that Morse never married. Instead, Joan had an affair with a married man, got pregnant, miscarried due to abuse, became a social worker, and married someone else. There are a lot of AUs where Morse and Joan get together, and this is one of my favorites. When he finds out she's pregnant, Morse asks Joan to marry him, and off they go from there. Both of them have a lot to learn about life together, and I enjoy watching them and their children grow and change.
Fanwork Links: An Unexpected Family
Vorkosiverse (Ethan of Athos): Time Enough by fresne
Aug. 4th, 2025 09:26 pmbeatrice_otter posting in fancakeFandom: Vorkosiverse (Ethan of Athos)
Pairings/Characters: Terrence Cee/Ethan Urquhart
Rating: Mature
Length: 20k
Creator Links:fresne
Theme: marriage of convenience, worldbuilding, small fandoms, book fandoms, old fandoms, rare pairings, telepathy, pretend couple, post-canon, family,
Summary: Terrence Cee had spent most of his life feeling like a jumpship caught in the gravity well of a blackhole. Engines on full bore. Only able to keep out of the crushing center, but never able to escape. Now in his new life on Athos, he found himself unsure of how to find a new pace.
Ethan wondered if there was a way to get his love life gestating again. Not frozen like zygotes stored in a bio-freezer against some eventual future.
Reccer's Notes: Ethan of Athos is a largely stand-alone book set in the Vorkosigan universe. It tells the story of Ethan, a reproductive specialist from an isolationist planet that is entirely men (because they believe women are inherently sinful). When they need new ovarian cultures, Ethan is sent off into the larger galaxy to purchase them, and ends up having an adventure. Along the way, he meets a man named Terrence Cee, genetically created in a laboratory to be a telepath, who tried to slip telepathic genes into Athos' ovarian cultures because he believes that if telepaths are a minority, they will always be feared and exploited. Since everyone on Athos reproduces artificially, putting telepath genes in their ovarian cultures will mean that future generations will be entirely composed of telepaths. At the end of the book, Ethan agrees to use the telepath cultures, and invites Terrence to live with him and be a co-parent--a relationship which can be sexual, but isn't necessarily.
This story is a lovely exploration of what happens next. The worldbuilding is excellent, taking the hints from the book and expanding them into a fully-realized world. The characters are all well-written, and the relationships feel real, as Terrence tries to adapt to Athos, and both of them try to figure out what they want from each other and how to work towards it.
Fanwork Links: Time Enough
Pairings/Characters: Terrence Cee/Ethan Urquhart
Rating: Mature
Length: 20k
Creator Links:
Theme: marriage of convenience, worldbuilding, small fandoms, book fandoms, old fandoms, rare pairings, telepathy, pretend couple, post-canon, family,
Summary: Terrence Cee had spent most of his life feeling like a jumpship caught in the gravity well of a blackhole. Engines on full bore. Only able to keep out of the crushing center, but never able to escape. Now in his new life on Athos, he found himself unsure of how to find a new pace.
Ethan wondered if there was a way to get his love life gestating again. Not frozen like zygotes stored in a bio-freezer against some eventual future.
Reccer's Notes: Ethan of Athos is a largely stand-alone book set in the Vorkosigan universe. It tells the story of Ethan, a reproductive specialist from an isolationist planet that is entirely men (because they believe women are inherently sinful). When they need new ovarian cultures, Ethan is sent off into the larger galaxy to purchase them, and ends up having an adventure. Along the way, he meets a man named Terrence Cee, genetically created in a laboratory to be a telepath, who tried to slip telepathic genes into Athos' ovarian cultures because he believes that if telepaths are a minority, they will always be feared and exploited. Since everyone on Athos reproduces artificially, putting telepath genes in their ovarian cultures will mean that future generations will be entirely composed of telepaths. At the end of the book, Ethan agrees to use the telepath cultures, and invites Terrence to live with him and be a co-parent--a relationship which can be sexual, but isn't necessarily.
This story is a lovely exploration of what happens next. The worldbuilding is excellent, taking the hints from the book and expanding them into a fully-realized world. The characters are all well-written, and the relationships feel real, as Terrence tries to adapt to Athos, and both of them try to figure out what they want from each other and how to work towards it.
Fanwork Links: Time Enough
Tags:
Books
Aug. 4th, 2025 12:07 pmsnickficAt long last I have been reading again! A tiny bit, mostly on airplanes!
Wild Spaces (2023), SL Coney. A boy's grandfather unexpectedly moves in and disrupts the boy's contented family life; also the boy might be turning into a monster.
I hated this! Unreservedly! This has pretensions of being literary, the kind where nobody gets a proper name except the dog, and the focus is entirely on small, sad family drama seen through the eyes of someone too young to correctly interpret all the details. The fact that the grandfather eventually turns out to be a shapeshifting eldritch horror who murders the boy's parents and his dog did not make me like it any better. Then the boy, who inherited the eldritch shapeshifter gene, murders his grandfather and reflects he is now alone in the world, an inhuman monster with only a transforming revived dog for a companion. Okay!!!
Deeplight (2019), Frances Hardinge. Born and orphaned on one of hundreds of islands who used to worship sea gods until the gods all killed each other a few decades prior, youngster Hark is determined to save his friend(?) Jelt from himself, the law, criminals who are rightfully angry with him, and being transformed into something unimaginable, all whether Jelt wants to be saved or not.
On one hand, I found the toxic friendship at the center of this story pretty difficult to read. Jelt is such a manipulative asshole, and there was so many points where I just wanted to get Hark away from him. OTOH, the execution is very strong, and I think it's probably a really good theme for kids to read about and think through, so A+ there.
But really what I am here for and the reason multiple people have recced this to me is the stuff with the sea gods, and friends, that stuff is very good. The gods when they lived were all enormous, all different, all awesome and horrible in their own unique ways, and I loved everything about them and how they played into the story. Hardinge's worldbuilding never disappoints, and it's fantastic here while also tying into bigger themes that feel very salient. But mostly: fucking amazing eldritch horrors.
In terms of sheer joy the story brought to me, this is probably now my second favorite Hardinge after Cuckoo Song.
Wild Spaces (2023), SL Coney. A boy's grandfather unexpectedly moves in and disrupts the boy's contented family life; also the boy might be turning into a monster.
I hated this! Unreservedly! This has pretensions of being literary, the kind where nobody gets a proper name except the dog, and the focus is entirely on small, sad family drama seen through the eyes of someone too young to correctly interpret all the details. The fact that the grandfather eventually turns out to be a shapeshifting eldritch horror who murders the boy's parents and his dog did not make me like it any better. Then the boy, who inherited the eldritch shapeshifter gene, murders his grandfather and reflects he is now alone in the world, an inhuman monster with only a transforming revived dog for a companion. Okay!!!
Deeplight (2019), Frances Hardinge. Born and orphaned on one of hundreds of islands who used to worship sea gods until the gods all killed each other a few decades prior, youngster Hark is determined to save his friend(?) Jelt from himself, the law, criminals who are rightfully angry with him, and being transformed into something unimaginable, all whether Jelt wants to be saved or not.
On one hand, I found the toxic friendship at the center of this story pretty difficult to read. Jelt is such a manipulative asshole, and there was so many points where I just wanted to get Hark away from him. OTOH, the execution is very strong, and I think it's probably a really good theme for kids to read about and think through, so A+ there.
But really what I am here for and the reason multiple people have recced this to me is the stuff with the sea gods, and friends, that stuff is very good. The gods when they lived were all enormous, all different, all awesome and horrible in their own unique ways, and I loved everything about them and how they played into the story. Hardinge's worldbuilding never disappoints, and it's fantastic here while also tying into bigger themes that feel very salient. But mostly: fucking amazing eldritch horrors.
In terms of sheer joy the story brought to me, this is probably now my second favorite Hardinge after Cuckoo Song.
Original Fiction; writing-prompt-s: A Reasonable Proposal, by sleeplessspell.
Aug. 3rd, 2025 08:15 pmfull_metal_ox posting in fancakeFandom: Original Work; ![[tumblr.com profile]](https://www.tumblr.com/favicon.ico)
writing-prompt-s
Pairings/Characters: F/M; King Aerlin the Third of Aelren (OC)/Lady Mirena of Lirenthal (OC); various matchmaking OC courtiers
Rating: General Audiences
Length: 1,409
Content Notes: Tumblr fic; court intrigue; the Power of Pragmatism; possible Reality Subtext.
Creator Links: (Tumblr)sleeplessspell
Theme: Marriage of Convenience, Competence, Enemies to Lovers, Original Work, Politics, Women Being Awesome
Summary: A king who doesn't really want to and isn't able to run the kingdom properly catches wind of a noble woman who wants to kill him to take over and he realizes she is extremely competent so he decides to propose to her to save everyone the hassle and they have a surprisingly healthy relationship.
Reccer's Notes: Another hit-and-run gem from prolific Tumblr authorsleeplessspell; it’s complete as it stands, but Tumblore has a way of snowballing in transmission; this may be worth keeping an eye on.
Fanwork Links: A Reasonable Proposal, bysleeplessspell from a prompt by writing-prompt-s.
Pairings/Characters: F/M; King Aerlin the Third of Aelren (OC)/Lady Mirena of Lirenthal (OC); various matchmaking OC courtiers
Rating: General Audiences
Length: 1,409
Content Notes: Tumblr fic; court intrigue; the Power of Pragmatism; possible Reality Subtext.
Creator Links: (Tumblr)
Theme: Marriage of Convenience, Competence, Enemies to Lovers, Original Work, Politics, Women Being Awesome
Summary: A king who doesn't really want to and isn't able to run the kingdom properly catches wind of a noble woman who wants to kill him to take over and he realizes she is extremely competent so he decides to propose to her to save everyone the hassle and they have a surprisingly healthy relationship.
Reccer's Notes: Another hit-and-run gem from prolific Tumblr author
Fanwork Links: A Reasonable Proposal, by
Fancake Theme for August: Marriage of Convenience
Aug. 3rd, 2025 08:35 amrunpunkrun posting in fandomcalendar
fancake is a thematic recommendation community where all members are welcome to post recs, and fanworks of all shapes and sizes are accepted. Check out the community guidelines for the full set of rules. This theme runs for the entire month. If you have any questions, just ask!
Smallville: Omiai by toomuchplor
Aug. 3rd, 2025 09:33 amgarryowen posting in fancakeFandom: Smallville
Pairings/Characters: Clark/Lex
Rating: E
Length: 103,242
Creator Links:toomuchplor
Theme: Marriage of convenience
Content notes: The author has a note for this, but there are two attacks on women, one of which is a sexual assault. These are not graphic, nor do they involve main characters. There is mention of (poorly managed) mental health care facilities and life in them.
Summary: A long story about Froot Loops, celery salt, dorkdom, and -- oh yeah -- marriage.
Reccer's Notes: I first read this fic twenty years ago (!!) on LJ, and loved it. I was skeptical about whether I'd still like it since I'm not into Smallville anymore, and, you know, twenty years. Reader, it is still good. I stayed up late reading. I was nearly late to appointments because I was reading. It's that kind of story. Surprisingly few things seem dated. The phones are not smart, of course, and there's maybe more attention paid to Clark's bisexuality than would occur now. But, other than that, it has held up remarkably well, and only has about five typos. 🥰
Essentially, Lex's father, Lionel, has disowned him, and Lex needs to be married for a year in order to get an inheritance set aside by his mother. Clark needs money for college. They sign an agreement to be married for a year.
The trajectory of the story is absolutely what one would expect from this trope, but what sets the story apart is the quality of the writing. The plot is well thought out and the pacing and character development are excellent. I also appreciate that the supporting cast get their screen time: Pete, Chloe, Lois, Lionel, Mr. and Mrs. Kent. (Lana makes an appearance, but her screen time is blessedly minimal.) The story also takes on issues like Clark's abilities--and the ethics of using them--and his development as a reporter.
There's a good amount of humor in this story, too, which is a bonus. I mean, Clark is such a dork, and it's great. The requisite Smallville farm jokes are here for you.
Fanwork Links: Omiai
Pairings/Characters: Clark/Lex
Rating: E
Length: 103,242
Creator Links:
Theme: Marriage of convenience
Content notes: The author has a note for this, but there are two attacks on women, one of which is a sexual assault. These are not graphic, nor do they involve main characters. There is mention of (poorly managed) mental health care facilities and life in them.
Summary: A long story about Froot Loops, celery salt, dorkdom, and -- oh yeah -- marriage.
Reccer's Notes: I first read this fic twenty years ago (!!) on LJ, and loved it. I was skeptical about whether I'd still like it since I'm not into Smallville anymore, and, you know, twenty years. Reader, it is still good. I stayed up late reading. I was nearly late to appointments because I was reading. It's that kind of story. Surprisingly few things seem dated. The phones are not smart, of course, and there's maybe more attention paid to Clark's bisexuality than would occur now. But, other than that, it has held up remarkably well, and only has about five typos. 🥰
Essentially, Lex's father, Lionel, has disowned him, and Lex needs to be married for a year in order to get an inheritance set aside by his mother. Clark needs money for college. They sign an agreement to be married for a year.
The trajectory of the story is absolutely what one would expect from this trope, but what sets the story apart is the quality of the writing. The plot is well thought out and the pacing and character development are excellent. I also appreciate that the supporting cast get their screen time: Pete, Chloe, Lois, Lionel, Mr. and Mrs. Kent. (Lana makes an appearance, but her screen time is blessedly minimal.) The story also takes on issues like Clark's abilities--and the ethics of using them--and his development as a reporter.
There's a good amount of humor in this story, too, which is a bonus. I mean, Clark is such a dork, and it's great. The requisite Smallville farm jokes are here for you.
Fanwork Links: Omiai
I'm in love with a goddess <3
Aug. 3rd, 2025 05:26 amsorcyressThe last time I saw SJ Tucker perform live, so many things about my life were different.
Last time I saw her live was in 20176, at New York Faerie Fest (an event I'd really love to get back to someday, and I'm kinda bummed the timing just never works out, but end of the school year is _hard_ with burnout). I hadn't realized it was that far back --I did some checking of dates and the like, because sometimes it is very nice to have your entire history stored online1 in an easy-to-access format.
So wow, I can add to the "things that were different last time I saw my favourite artist perform live" that I was technically still employed by the fucking private school. It wasn't just "before the weekend that Everything Changed", it was a whole year earlier than that.
The last time I saw s00j perform live, I was still dating her ex2. :P
And I wasn't dating 60% of my current partners. I was still dating Sparr. I was living not in nBs or DanzaHausa but in ARSES. I did not yet have a therapist, which means Jenn is gonna get a hell of an infodump next week because have I mentioned s00j to her before? not sure!
But anyways, the me who was seeing her tonight was not the same as the me who saw her last, and yet and yet and yet. I didn't cry through the entire show, which is good (there wasn't a space for me to dance, so I couldn't manifest proper my own power to counter hers). I did cry uncontrollably through Little Bird and Wonders, which is good.
She was double-teaming with Ginger Doss, who I'd not heard before, and who has a beautiful voice, the kind that makes fellow enbies perk up and think positive thoughts about what that can mean for them. (The last time I saw s00j perform live, I didn't sing and that's such a fascinating and important shift in my own life).
And the thing that is the same between me then and me now is that she is still my favourite artist. Pretty sure if you'd asked me at any point in these nine years "hey Sor, who's your favourite musical artist" her name would cross my lips. That hasn't stopped or changed. She is still passionately important to me, and her music is still a huge part of who I am.
So it was really fucking good to see her, but honest-to-god, nothing made it as clear how much I have grown-the-fuck-up in the last decade as doing so. Because yeah, I still cried, but after I could hug her and exchange banter and be friendly (she said "hi Kat!" and even if she just got a reminder of my name from the very short guest list, that kicks ass). I'm not ever gonna match a goddess on her own turf, but I've reached a point where I no longer have to be weird about visiting her there.
It's nice to not spend the entire concert sobbing, yanno?
There's another concert tomorrow night (they said, at an hour small enough that tomorrow starts to feel meaningless) and I think it will be nice to go to that too. And it's a good reminder that there've been concerts and livestreams in between and I've been not as good about attending those as I once was, and I should really get back into it.
The me is different, and the her is different (hell, last time I saw her she had not yet made a whole-ass human) but sometimes the mood stays. The good parts stay.
(Persist, resist, and bloom <3)
~Sor
MOOP!
1: Okay, not my *entire* history, but I did see the post I made where I was first squeeing about kissing Austin, and boy, I never have really been subtle about that sort of thing, have I?
2: A thing I'm not sure I've ever connected publicly in this journal, but yeah, if you've been a long time follower and remembered some particular cryptics, that's what it was? Iunno.
SetList:
Roses in the Rocks
Little Bird
[two Ginger songs - She Wolf and Hippie Pocket]
Wonders
Believe in Lullabies
[two Ginger songs - Talisman, Gaia Lives]
La Sirene
Chalk on the Sidewalk
[Ginger/s00j collab - Ma Belle]
Wild Times
[Ginger song - Thankful]
(I originally wrote "as best as I can remember" but hey, when you are crammed up in the very front row, and you notice someone holding a notebook that looks like a setlist and then they foolishly put it down on the ground, you're gonna take a picture. The only memory part was remembering the bits s00j swapped out and what for, but I've got that)
Last time I saw her live was in 201
So wow, I can add to the "things that were different last time I saw my favourite artist perform live" that I was technically still employed by the fucking private school. It wasn't just "before the weekend that Everything Changed", it was a whole year earlier than that.
The last time I saw s00j perform live, I was still dating her ex2. :P
And I wasn't dating 60% of my current partners. I was still dating Sparr. I was living not in nBs or DanzaHausa but in ARSES. I did not yet have a therapist, which means Jenn is gonna get a hell of an infodump next week because have I mentioned s00j to her before? not sure!
But anyways, the me who was seeing her tonight was not the same as the me who saw her last, and yet and yet and yet. I didn't cry through the entire show, which is good (there wasn't a space for me to dance, so I couldn't manifest proper my own power to counter hers). I did cry uncontrollably through Little Bird and Wonders, which is good.
She was double-teaming with Ginger Doss, who I'd not heard before, and who has a beautiful voice, the kind that makes fellow enbies perk up and think positive thoughts about what that can mean for them. (The last time I saw s00j perform live, I didn't sing and that's such a fascinating and important shift in my own life).
And the thing that is the same between me then and me now is that she is still my favourite artist. Pretty sure if you'd asked me at any point in these nine years "hey Sor, who's your favourite musical artist" her name would cross my lips. That hasn't stopped or changed. She is still passionately important to me, and her music is still a huge part of who I am.
So it was really fucking good to see her, but honest-to-god, nothing made it as clear how much I have grown-the-fuck-up in the last decade as doing so. Because yeah, I still cried, but after I could hug her and exchange banter and be friendly (she said "hi Kat!" and even if she just got a reminder of my name from the very short guest list, that kicks ass). I'm not ever gonna match a goddess on her own turf, but I've reached a point where I no longer have to be weird about visiting her there.
It's nice to not spend the entire concert sobbing, yanno?
There's another concert tomorrow night (they said, at an hour small enough that tomorrow starts to feel meaningless) and I think it will be nice to go to that too. And it's a good reminder that there've been concerts and livestreams in between and I've been not as good about attending those as I once was, and I should really get back into it.
The me is different, and the her is different (hell, last time I saw her she had not yet made a whole-ass human) but sometimes the mood stays. The good parts stay.
(Persist, resist, and bloom <3)
~Sor
MOOP!
1: Okay, not my *entire* history, but I did see the post I made where I was first squeeing about kissing Austin, and boy, I never have really been subtle about that sort of thing, have I?
2: A thing I'm not sure I've ever connected publicly in this journal, but yeah, if you've been a long time follower and remembered some particular cryptics, that's what it was? Iunno.
SetList:
Roses in the Rocks
Little Bird
[two Ginger songs - She Wolf and Hippie Pocket]
Wonders
Believe in Lullabies
[two Ginger songs - Talisman, Gaia Lives]
La Sirene
Chalk on the Sidewalk
[Ginger/s00j collab - Ma Belle]
Wild Times
[Ginger song - Thankful]
(I originally wrote "as best as I can remember" but hey, when you are crammed up in the very front row, and you notice someone holding a notebook that looks like a setlist and then they foolishly put it down on the ground, you're gonna take a picture. The only memory part was remembering the bits s00j swapped out and what for, but I've got that)
Summer of Horror
Aug. 2nd, 2025 02:04 pmsnickficDue to the one-week delay, I was out of the country for the entirety of the Summer of Horror anon period and barely managed to even comment on my own gift, must less read anything. I'm hoping to go through and read some other things this weekend. In the meantime, here'd what I wrote and received!
Received:
A Small Price to Pay byStopTalkingAtMe, Re-Animator, Dan/Herbert, 5k. Dan gets impregnated by an eldritch tentacle from another dimension, and Herbert tends to him through the aftermath. So many good Herbert character notes here!! And Dan being an excellent damsel in distress, as always. <3
Wrote:
clean and warm and green, Stardew Valley, Willy gen, 1.6k. I love the apocalyptic vibes in the game the first time the green rain falls, and I really enjoyed taking those to a horror place here.
blood like rot, Dracula Rising (short film), Iosif/Vlad, 2k. The canon is a 10-minute animated prologue to some Dracula TV series adaptation, but the animated bit stands alone pretty well and is very pretty! In the US you can watch it on Youtube after "buying" it for $0. I picked it up in order to write this pinch hit, which is general/liege loyalty kink to the max (as is the canon, for that matter). If that's your thing, you might enjoy this.
Received:
A Small Price to Pay by
Wrote:
clean and warm and green, Stardew Valley, Willy gen, 1.6k. I love the apocalyptic vibes in the game the first time the green rain falls, and I really enjoyed taking those to a horror place here.
blood like rot, Dracula Rising (short film), Iosif/Vlad, 2k. The canon is a 10-minute animated prologue to some Dracula TV series adaptation, but the animated bit stands alone pretty well and is very pretty! In the US you can watch it on Youtube after "buying" it for $0. I picked it up in order to write this pinch hit, which is general/liege loyalty kink to the max (as is the canon, for that matter). If that's your thing, you might enjoy this.