Stuff and Moonshine

The Yuletide fic exchange heaves into view, which means that in a few weeks I’ll likely have to put both Spooked!...in Soho and Gentleman of the Shade on hold for a couple of months (tbh, Spooked!already stalled out a couple of months back), and also that I need to start thinking about what fandoms to nominate. Iirc you can only nominate fandoms that already have at least one fic on Ao3, and fewer than one thousand, I think?

Me: Hey, it would be nice if this story had a brief scene where someone turns on the radio and hears a desperate broadcast from a local late-night DJ who locked himself in the booth when he noticed people acting weird. Sort of a Pontypool shoutout. I’d better check what real-life stations were active on Long Island in the late 1940s.

Internet: The nearest radio stations to the town you’ve picked as your setting were WHLI and WHNY, sister stations both located in Hempstead.

Me: (checks distance on Google maps) Hm, that’s 12 miles from my story location. Maybe it would be better for the broadcast to be perfectly normal, establishing that the problem hasn’t yet spread to the surrounding communities.

Internet: WHLI was a daytime-only station. WHNY was full-time.

Me: Well, this story takes place late at night, so I guess the broadcast had better be coming from WHNY then. What sort of programs did they run overnight?

Internet: Want to know about WHLI? Who sponsored them? Their music programming? Local news stories that put them on the map?

Me: No, I need to know about WHNY.

Internet: Tough luck.

Me: This is for ONE PARAGRAPH.

 Some of the ghosts roaming New York City that night wore what appeared to be the clothes they’d died in; others, in more formal attire, were presumably wearing what they’d been buried in. Many apparitions, especially those whose shape was not very human, wore nothing at all.

Then there were the ghosts who’d gathered near the front door of 550 Central Park West.

This is my first year doing this, so I hope I’m getting it right—

People Will Talk (1951)
Characters: Dr. Noah Praetorius, Professor Lionel Barker
“I've known you intimately for 10 years, and I can't even guess what you were up to the day before I met you.” There’s a lot to unpack there. I’d like to see some pre-cannon for these two, maybe including their first meeting (which from Prof. Barker’s statement, must have been around 1941); maybe some backstory for Barker. Slash ok but not required. Other possibilities: Shunderson as observer; post-cannon (possibly with Noah, Lionel and Debra as OT3) also good, but that’s what I usually write for myself in this fandom, so you may wish to explore other avenues. Original movie viewable on YouTube.


Oz – Baum
Characters: Button-Bright
Button-Bright is an Oz character I’ve always had a bit of trouble getting a handle on – likely because he was introduced as a toddler, then I think Baum must have aged him up to about nine or ten and given him his own spin-off series, before bringing him back as an Oz regular. As a toddler he’s a bit irritatingly oblivious—as an older kid he retains something of his initial stolidity, but it’s become less a matter of “too ignorant to panic” and more “has realized a wait-and-see approach works for him. Looking at him again, he could be read as non-NT – and as the main thing I like about Oz is the theme of integration, characters with fairly different needs making allowances for each other (i.e. the “meat people” need food and sleep, but tend to have better motor skills than the animated-by-magic people like the Scarecrow or the Patchwork Girl), I’d like to see a fic that takes that approach.

The Moonstone – Wilkie Collins
Characters: Mr. Candy, Ezra Jennings, Rachel Verinder
These two are pretty much made for hurt/comfort, but would also enjoy seeing casefic (possibly including Mr. Candy having to be the “face” of the practice because of prejudice against Jennings); backstory (just what was Jennings accused of anyway?); post-cannon angst with Candy mourning Jennings; competent!Candy who is way less frivolous than he seems on the surface. ETA -- I would also be good with Ezra Jennings/Rachel Verinder or Rachel Verinder/Mr. Candy friendship.

Lud-in-the-Mist – Hope Mirrlees
Characters: Ambrose Honeysuckle, Marigold Chanticleer, Nat Chanticleer

General likes, in no order: Mild hurt-comfort; cuddling and fluff; period-specific details; friendship; small, reserved gestures of affection (kissing or touching hands, foreheads, etc.); fat appreciation (WG or feederism not so much); ghosts or supernatural; cozy atmosphere; found family; casefic or plotfic; low-key immortals or demi-mortals passing for human. Crossovers welcome. AUs ok, though would prefer canon.

Do Not Wants: ABO (it just makes no biological sense to me); gore; vore; non-con or dub-con; underage (although age difference between characters who are both definitely adults is ok); fusions.

ETA -- removed Hilda the plus-size pinup -- I think I'd like to offer to write for that fandom.

Last night one of my dreams involved a kind of sorting station full of huge golden capsules (roughly the size and shape of hatboxes, but with rounded edges). The staff said that whichever one was opened would determine the kind of god overseeing our reality. I think they mostly contained atheist or deist universes, with a sprinkling of angry gods, but there was one capsule that would put “Bob the Giant Space Cat” in charge. As they explained this, someone saw the Bob capsule (how they could tell idk as the capsules were all outwardly identical) and made a slow-motion dive towards it. They must have succeeded, for the heavens opened and Bob the Giant Space Cat descended in all His glory. “Welcome to your universe, Mr. Bob,” said the staff. “Would you like to tour the facility?” Then the dream segued to a surprisingly normal narrative about grocery shopping or something.

I already mentioned my recent acquisition of The I Hate to Cook Book. I tried a single-serving version of Grape Cream (dessert – literally green grapes plus enough sour cream to cover them, placed in a sherbet/parfait glass, sprinkled with brown sugar, and chilled for a bit) last night and it was pretty good. An online search suggests this dish is still A Thing in… some parts of America, I guess, although most modern versions appear to add cream cheese and vanilla.

I am still trying to figure out what is a reasonable and appropriate quantity of paprika to add to anything.

RIP Aretha Franklin. Apart from everything else, you were referenced (thoug not by name) in an episode of the animated show The Real Ghostbusters

ETA -- I’ve just realized that I’ve mixed up Susan Sarandon and Sigourney Weaver. Which is awkward, because I've begun doing a The Hunger/Ghostbusters fic which partly involves their characters being mistaken for each other. I guess if they look confusingly alike to me, it's plausible that the rapidly-aging John Blaylock might make the same mistake? I can downplay the resemblance now that he's already made the error and Dana has recognized him and been freaked out at how terrible her erstwhile cello teacher looks.

Unrelated to anything: Costco sells caskets! <

 Lately I’ve been thinking about A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and now I’ve begun wondering just why Titania reconciles to Oberon at the end, except that the plot requires it. I mean, if I had a fight with my husband, and his response was to cast a spell causing me to fall in love with someone else (never mind someone with an ass’s head), then wake me out of it — I’d be even angrier at him.

A glance at AO3 suggests others have asked this question; and a scholarly article on Shakespearean fanfic mentions a piece that was apparently up on fanfiction.net in 2001 that sounds wonderful and sad, but which no longer seems to be there.

(ok really I kind of want Titania to say “wait, the guy with the ass’s head treated me better than you, I’m out of here.”)

And which didn't cross-post from Dreamwidth yesterday because LJ was down.

"And just how long since we landed in Paris?" asked Clara, between bites of the pain béni the Doctor had brought her in token of apology for having let her sleep in so disgracefully late. Though she supposed that with the TARDIS, wasting the day was, well, impossible. She frowned, and didn't know quite why.( Read more... )

So, um, Chapter 1 of my insane crackfic is up. You have been warned.