Time Travel Made Easy

Fuuuuuuck this week.

Some stuff that's been in my brain lately- most of it came off my reading list over the past month or two, and I keep going back to it.

Serious things:

Wikipedia article on Limerance (obsessive romantic love) and How to Keep Someone With You Forever (defining the qualities of a Sick System).

Great, Now I Hate Everybody (Harriet Jones, on discovering activism and dealing with assholes); The Lost Airbender (Hal Duncan takes on the Avatar movie, and how "cultural appropriation" is an inadequate term for dealing with these issues; he gets a little heavy into theory and technical jargon, but god, I just want to eat his brain for its delicious thinky thoughts); Stop Telling People To Love Their Bodies (on body image and privilege; there's a lot of good discussion in the comments and I'm still parsing my thoughts; maybe more on this later).

Less serious:

MONACLE SMILE (the Old Spice Guy is on an Internet!); firstpersonporn (there is nothing about this community that is not awesome). Aaaand Florence + The Machine - Rabbit Heart, because I've been listening to the whole album pretty much nonstop since I bought it, and this is one of my favorite tracks.

And, of course, in a general sort of way I am always reading Shakesville and Slacktivist for tasty political and anti-oppression and literary criticism tidbits, in addition to reading Fugitivus and Hal Duncan's blog on a semi regular basis.

elisem is having a sale on her gorgeous gorgeous jewelry! Pendants! Earrings! Nifty hairsticks! Steampunky goodness! Octopi! Steampunky octopi goodness! Sale ends Tuesday, and there's still a whole bunch of stuff yet to be posted.

I don't need any more jewelry, really, and I certainly don't need any more necklaces or pendants, but Songs in the Key of Desert makes me swoon a little. *sigh*

Oh, god, this week. *eats brains, shambles away* Since I'm having such a gflkarargghhble week, I am sharing some things that make me happy.

Here are three novel length, mostly professional grade original slash stories found on teh intarwebs, in order from longest to shortest:

The Administration by Manna Francis
This is actually several novels worth of stuff, and dozens of short stories and supplementary one-offs as well- there's enough of The Administration to keep one occupied for quite some time. The story is three parts future dystopian crime drama and cyberpunk corporate espionage thriller, two parts character-centric dark romance (and I'm using "romance" very loosely, here, because it has all the wrong connotations for the kind of relationship that the main characters have), with some moderately kinky sex and an awesomely developed cast of characters thrown in for flavor. Basically, it's plotty, it's hot, it's well written, it's long, and I still love it even after numerous rereads, and I very rarely feel that way about things I find on the internet.

Shadow of the Templar by M. Chandler
And now for some lighter fare- this is a four book series about an art thief who does consulting work for the FBI in exchange for a pardon, and the FBI agent who puts up with his shennanigans. ...in bed. *cough* It's basically everything I wish White Collar were, except not quite because I love White Collar the way it is, even if it is occasionally like a wayward child I want to give a lollipop to. ...um. SotT is awesome! And full of capers and witty banter and explosions and amazing characters whom I love and wish to squeeze into little bits. The first book is not as amazing as the books that follow it, but it's short and tasty, and the series just gets better as it goes on.

Outlands by maldoror_gw
Okay, so the other two stories are professional grade and are available in dead tree form for money; this is an in-progress thing that does feel a lot more like fanfic in terms of style and scope. Which isn't to disparage the writing quality in any way, because the writing is excellent- but it is the story of a man who gets dropped into an alternate universe where he discovers he has super magical powers and befriends a powerful political entity.

Now take that idea- which is the foundation of so many terrible self inserts, and I should know, because I've written some of them- and subvert it to make it logical and well thought out and awesome. The super magical powers are the result of an advanced degree in mathematics- and he can't even use them, because he has no idea how to. And the alternate universe is populated by a smorgasbord of ancient Earth cultures- he ends up in the middle of a war between Assyria and Rome. Actual research went into the portrayal of these ancient cultures, too, which makes me all sorts of happy.