Dear all,

Following the move of the LJ servers, I've decided to cease cross-posting to LJ. All my entries will still be made on DW, and possibly some entries may be cross-posted to LJ, but these will be so few to be almost non-existent. Personal posts & photos will be removed from my LJ. If you follow me on either platform, please treat my DW account (also under kangeiko) as the active one.

Thank you.

My dear Yuletide author,

Firstly, my sincere apologies for not updating this at the same time as the requests went out - hopefully this is not too late.

Secondly, please do not stress about the fic, I'm pretty eclectic in my tastes and as long as you enjoy writing it, I am sure that I will enjoy reading it.

But a vague encouragement is no one's friend, so here are some specifics -

Things I like:
Long, plotty fics and character development. If I have to choose between smut and character development or some in-character dialogue, I'll always choose the latter. I love the relationships between characters - the long histories, the in-jokes, the little barbs, the petty annoyances and the deep trust. I've picked characters that tend to be part of a double-act, so anything drawing on them relying on each other, interacting beyond their comfort levels, defending each other, would be welcome.

I also love ensemble fics. I love the bit characters, the peripheral characters that have beautiful story arcs that perhaps don't get as much attention as our main leads. So if your heart lies in writing gen fic, then please go ahead.

I love episodic fic, or case fic - I have requested fics in fandoms where there is an element of police work, or mystery solving, or problem solving. I love "baddies of the week" and solving the crime and saving the day and snarking at each other while doing so.

I'm comfortable with m/m, f/f, m/f, and any other combination, as well as a gen fan, so please write what you are comfortable with.

Things I don't like: character-bashing, "it's all X's fault", or fridging female characters if you go for the slash route. I'd also like to request no graphic non-con (referring to it if it's part of a case is fine, but no graphic descriptions) and no child or animal death, please.

My requests:

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Partners Fisher, Jack Robinson, Dorothy Williams

I would love an episode-type fic, with Phryne and Jack (and Dot?) teaming up to solve a murder. Or anything with character studies, or gen friendships fics, would also be very welcomed.

Life on Mars
Gene Hunt, Sam Tyler

I'd welcome any episode-style fic for these two. Or something tentatively shippy? I do like Ashes to Ashes, but I would prefer to keep the nihilistic aspects of the world away from LoM, which I recall with a certain fondness (and no devils, deaths or monsters feature). So - something vaguely optimistic, if not necessarily fluffy?

The Laundry Files - Charles Stross
Bob Howard, James Angleton

James Angleton is fine and busy terrorising junior staffers, I won't hear anything to the contrary.

In other words, anything set pre- The Rhesus Chart would be very welcome! Maybe Bob really DOES need to attend a training course and it's not a deep cover? Maybe Angleton struggles with some parts of humanity more than others? Maybe the Auditors pay a visit? Anything in the tone of the books would be great!

Red Dwarf
Dave Lister, Arnold Rimmer

I would love anything set during the first few (1-6) seasons. If you feel up for it, something shippy would be very welcome. Maybe Rimmer finally does something nice for Lister? Maybe the GELFs pursue them (hjinks etc)? If slash isn't your cup of tea, anything gen-friendship would be welcome.



This entry was originally posted at DreamWidth. There are comments there. Comments are welcome at either journal.

I've spent the last week in a haze of "am I really on holiday?" followed by "I am so tired and must sleep", so I haven't had a chance to post about the awesome history exchange, which went live a week ago. Authors have already been revealed. I haven't had a chance to go through all the wonderful fic, but historical fiction is my go-to happy place, so I'll be making my way through them in the coming days. But before then, a couple of recs.

So, first up is my lovely gift fic:

Light before us (555 words) by sevenofspade
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Ancient History RPF
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Livia Drusilla, Octavia Minor
Summary: Livia visits her sister-in-law.

This is such a great fic, I love it! Livia is so calculating and thoughtful in this, and I loved her slow assessment of Octavia, and their almost-truce. Beautifully done.

One other recommendation:

Reine Mère (10908 words) by Selena
Chapters: 3/3
Fandom: Historical RPF, 16th Century CE RPF
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Catherine de' Medici & Elisabeth de Valois, Catherine de' Medici & Claude de France, Catherine de' Medici & Marguerite de Valois, Claude de France & Marguerite de Valois, Henri II de France/Catherine de' Medici, Catherine de' Medici & Diane de Poitiers, Catherine de' Medici & Francis I. of France, Henri II de France/Diane de Poitiers
Characters: Catherine de' Medici, Élisabeth de Valois | Elisabetta di Valois, Claude de France (1547-1575), Marguerite de Valois, Mary I of Scotland | Mary Queen of Scots, Diane de Poitiers, Francis I. of France, Felipe II de España | Philip II of Spain, Henri II de France, Gaspard de Coligny, Henri IV de France, Henri III de France, Clarice Strozzi de' Medici
Additional Tags: Mother-Daughter Relationship, Motherhood, Power Dynamics, Character Study, Female-Centric, Parent-Child Relationship, Parenthood, Daughters
Summary: Catherine de' Medici and her daughters: what forms a woman, a mother, a queen?

I adore Catherine de' Medici and Selena captures her perfectly here - her ambition, her ruthlessness, and her weaknesses, left tender and exposed in the shape of her children. I loved her relationship with Margot most of all.

I also wrote a fic for this exchange -

i have cut a ribbon of skin from another man's body (4333 words) by kangeiko
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Ancient History RPF, Greek and Roman Mythology
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Olympias/Zeus, Olympias/Philip II of Macedon
Characters: Olympias, Zeus, Philip II of Macedon
Summary: She meets the god four times in her life, in four different guises.

I'm really glad I managed to finish this in time. The submission turned out to coincide with my first week back from the US, so I was burning the candle at both ends, so to speak. Many thanks to rhodanum for hand-holding as well as a sterling beta job.



This entry was originally posted at DreamWidth. There are comments there. Comments are welcome at either journal.

I'm numb. Numb or just not processing this.

I remember feeling like this when I was on holiday and the London riots broke out. I felt so helpless. I'm stuck halfway across the world and I want to cry, and everyone is greeting me with a cheery smile and a "Happy Friday!" NO, don't you understand, everything is awful and is just going to get worse.

I'm so, so angry. All those idiots who voted to leave because they thought it would benefit them or because they thought it would never pass, or because they thought it would be 'a laugh'. All those who are complaining that they were lied to, when - consider the source. At some point, you have to accept responsibility that you listened to Nigel Farage and to Britain First and to the EDL and decided to be a xenophobe and ignore the reams of experts telling you that you're fucking up. Coalitions of doctors, teachers, economic experts, industray leaders all lined up to say you're going to do the country and the world an injury, and did anyone listen? "Everyone is at fault except me, because I didn't think my vote was actually a vote."

And then you have places like Cornwall. Where they voted overwhelmingly to leave, and then went - "hold on, but we still keep all that EU money we get every year, don't we?" No, Cornwall. What you've voted on is to land the UK into a 2 decades-long recession, and to bear the brunt of it. Because no one is going to give you anything. You think Farage or Johnson have any interest in sending money your way? You will sink further and further into deprivation and I would have more sympathy if you hadn't done this to yourselves.

I am so tired of people refusing responsibility for their own stupidity. The tens of thousands googling "what will leaving the EU mean" in a panic after they've already voted and the result has been called. Those who argue that somehow we're in a better negotiating position for having given away everything that matters. And that cunt Farage, for saying "without a shot fired" after a political assassination not even a week ago. The white rose from Jo Cox's memorial is still fresh on my bureau. And he sits there and disrespects her life, and her death. It's inhuman.

And yeah. Boris Johnson. A man so self-serving that he attached himself to a campaign he doesn't believe in, assuming it will fail but he can paint himself as the underdog. Guess what, Boris, you fucked the country. You and Cameron will go down in history as the politicians who killed off Great Britain.

Finally, what does this mean going forward? Well, if the EU has any sense, they will slap the most punitive measures imaginable on the UK. They have to persuade other countries where the Right is on the rise that breaking away causes more harm than their xenophobia can stand. They need to be able to point at the broken ruin of Britain and use us as a warning for all others. This, and only this, may stem the domino effect from spiralling out of control. Because of this happens, it won't just be Europe - every other major trading bloc will be dragged in and the recession might be world-wide and lasting. So yeah, to save everyone else, the EU will need to gut the UK. And I am strangely ok with this. Because you know what, we fucked up. I know that those fo us who voted remain, we tried, but it wasn't enough. And so we have to all share in the punishment of it.

So I'm calling it. Up to two decades of recession so severe it might be a Depression. Scotland becoming independent. A united Ireland (with more sectarian violence as a result). Spain taking Gibraltar (and everyone going willingly). A fracture between the trading bloc of London, Manchester, Newcastle and the xenophobic, angry countryside, sliding ever more into complete economic ruin. Millions of forcibly repatriated pensioners previously retired in Spain suddenly dumped on our doorstep. The loss of qualified people - a shortage of plumbers, of builders (because we're drowning in housing, right?), or nurses, of young, motivated workers. Rage by the young at what the old have done. Punitive politics. I was surprised that the student loans didn't trigger it, but it won't be far behind - a political party championing the rights of the young at the expense of gutting old age provision, pensions, etc. Not getting to power, but getting enough traction to stoke further resentment. And meanwhile. Those tariffs, blocking every attempt at trade. Every attempt at growth. For decades. Because what do we have to negotiate with?

Some lawyers are saying that Johnson et al can now stall indefinitely - nothing can legally compel them to press the Article 50 button. This is true. But what does delaying mean? If somehow Johnson can manage a political about-face and call a second referendum once the awful, punitive terms are known, that may be the only way forward. More young voters will be enfranchised, and hopefully the idiotic element will have managed to kill itself by playing in traffic. But how realistic is that? We couldn't even get this right the first time.

Yeah, I'm one of the lucky ones. I have dual nationality and thus will retain my European passport. You can bet that I will be making sure it is up to date.



This entry was originally posted at DreamWidth. There are comments there. Comments are welcome at either journal.

Thank you so much for offering to write for one of my favourite historical characters! You'll notice that all of my requests are about powerful ladies vilified in the popular media and in later times (what can I say, I have a type).

I won't give too much detail here as optional details are truly optional, but just a couple of ideas if you're wondering in what direction to take it.

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This entry was originally posted at DreamWidth. There are comments there. Comments are welcome at either journal.

Continuing on from Part 1 -

Season 2
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This entry was originally posted at DreamWidth. There are comments there. Comments are welcome at either journal.

I am firmly convinced that if I can just wish hard enough, I can fall asleep at whatever time I need to. Sadly, this is 100% not the case and combining night travel with jet lag means that I require naps during the day and then can't get to sleep.

I did manage to get quite a bit done today though - a business meeting this morning which was helpfully frank and open, followed by lunch and shopping with someone I met last night. One of the nice things about travel is that you get to meet so many other fellow travelers! This particular travelers was a French woman living in Belgrade. We bonded over cheese.

Anyway, we found a nice restaurant for lunch and had a delicious steak salad for lunch, and then found a couple of shops selling traditional arts and crafts. I am sadly allergic to the hats and slippers (as there is a high wool content) but I did buy a couple of things. Tomorrow I will try to get some more work done, and also go for a bit of a wander again. I did think about possibly leaving the city to go exploring (the countryside is magnificent) but I haven't organised anything and on Sunday it might be tricky to get sorted. No reason not to explore the city though.

Anyway, a few photos from Bishkek thus far.

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My Russian studies continue apace. I was able to ask about slipper sizes and order dates, so I guess I'm making progress? Kyrgyz slippers, by the way, are works of art:



The above are from some international fashion house, but you get the idea. The ones listed on this site are actually a lot more representative. They are made from a sort of woolen felt, and are incredibly sturdy and warm. I'm sadly allergic to wool so could only admire from a distance, but the French lady I was with bought a pair in deep purple, with a printed pattern across the top. Should you want your very own, the linked shop has an Etsy page. Because of course it does.

We actually walked past a Soviet plane on our way home. I wanted to take a photo but I wasn't sure if it was in front of a military installation or not (i.e. whether the building behind it was military) - I've found a couple of tourist photos of it online so I guess it's safe to photograph. I may go back tomorrow and get a snapshot. So strange to be walking by with shopping and suddenly walk past one of these...



This entry was originally posted at DreamWidth. There are comments there. Comments are welcome at either journal.

Rather belatedly, I noticed that selenak did an excellent job of eviscerating Den of Geek's terrible list of best Babylon 5 episodes.

So I've decided I'm going to make my own list, with much better criteria. (No Technomages allowed. Shoo.)

I'll start with Season 1.

Season 1
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This entry was originally posted at DreamWidth. There are comments there. Comments are welcome at either journal.

I arrived in Bishkek a few hours ago. Er... 15 hours ago? I arrived at 5am local time, but it was only midnight on my body clock. By the time I arrived at the hotel, half-dead with exhaustion (the stop-over in Moscow was for some reason particularly grueling this time around), it was already breakfast time. So... I ate breakfast, and then went to bed. I went to the office in the afternoon, so now my brain is telling me that it's lunchtime, and my eyes are telling me that it's dinner time. Either way, I had a very delicious meal. I'm staying in some standard chain hotel, but the nice thing (as well as the frankly palatial room) is that there is a rooftop terrace with a view across the city. Of course, it's an ex-Soviet city in the throes of a construction boom, so the view is mostly of half-finished towering buildings, but I suppose we can't have everything.

This month is going to be one solid block of travel time. I'm only in Bishkek for a few days, before I have to head back and go on to Germany. After that, the US (DC and NYC). I'm half excited about being on the move again, and half terrified of the inevitable jetlag.

That said... I'm not tired? I don't know if this is because I had a vitamin B12 shot a few hours before getting on the plane. My arm is bruised and swollen but I feel rested and awake. And like I could sleep well this evening.

There is a not-so-small part of me that is wondering if this is because I have left the anxiety of my job in London, and all I have to be anxious about when out and about is not getting lost. (My Russian stretches to asking for directions, but not necessarily understanding the answer. Although I have been told that I have an absolutely beautiful accent when asking for Krassnaya Ploshit, so if I ever need to find Moscow's Red Square, I'll be able to do so with impeccable diction. And the set off in the wrong direction.)

Anyway, small fandom note, when I was on the plane I watched Deadpool as the in-flight film.

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This entry was originally posted at DreamWidth. There are comments there. Comments are welcome at either journal.

I introduced a couple of friends to Babylon 5 recently, and I have been watching the show alongside them. I didn't realise that this was fairly wide-spread; evidently, the 20th anniversary has brought about a resurgence of interest!

We've covered Season 2, and are in the middle of S3 thus far. Some thoughts, with the benefit of hindsight:

1) I used to draw hearts around Delenn and Sheridan, then went through a phase of having absolutely no interest in them. I've come back around to being very interested in them again, primarily because of the utter respect on both their parts for the other. They are very different, and yet they respect those differences and try to accommodate them. I don't know whether it is a case of television moving towards bombastic, dramatic relationships and away from quiet build-ups, or whether this was always somewhat rare to see, but it strikes me as something I no longer see on screen. Even on shows where there is ostensibly a slow-build, it feels more like a will-they/won't-they dynamic, rather than a gradual growing together. Maybe I'm just getting old, but I do like it.

2) I'm more and more convinced that there was an intention to do something with Talia's arc rather than just leave it hanging. Did we ever see this resolved in a novel? I know that Bester references her later on in Dust to Dust but I feel that his comment is more designed to provoke.

3) I really, really appreciate the creation of the different races. Yes, we have the main players, but we also get to see the other races fleshed out until you can spot them. OK, maybe I never learned the name of the fishpeople, but I remember Ambassador FishPerson being concerned with Homeguard terrorism. I can spot the unfortunate Markab, the garrulous Drazi, the curiously identical-looking Brakiri. (I think it's established that the Drazi don't have any females - or that they reproduce in a non-binary way, anyway - but is it ever explained about the Brakiri? Or have I selectively not noticed any female Brakiri?) And the Hyach (Hyatt? No, that's a hotel chain) and the Pak'Ma'Ra and so forth. Even if they are not one of the main races, from very early on they have a coherent look which helps the station to feel real.

4) I've discovered the Babylon 5 audio guide podcasts and they are excellent! Great discussion for each episode, and suitable for both new viewers and those doing a re-watch. (They have a loud noise to indicate the start of spoilers.)

5) You can now find a whole bunch of convention videos online! The 20th anniversary con panels are mostly on YouTube (here, here, here and here... and here, here) but here are also some 1990s clips. I haven't watched them so I can't swear as to the quality, but it's nice to see them!

6) I feel like more than a couple of governments have watched this show and thought, "yes, the Earth Alliance approach to things is actually pretty great, we should totally implement that at home." Some of it is even worse. I'm fairly certain that Donald Trump's speeches map word for word against Londo's most bombastic, aggressive declarations. He is, after all, going to make the Centauri Republic great again.

7) Julie Musante would have been hired by David Cameron's team in seconds.

8) I really like how we see representatives of the Earth Alliance and they're not all American? There are people from all across the Alliance.

9) ... I miss Andreas.



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