Turning Tricks

Brushing off the dust

2014-06-02T03:36:25Z

Soooo …. crickets chirp

I've been off the radar for quite some time. My Torchwood fancies have crashed and burned, alas, and I've not found a new fandom that truly catches my eye (I tried, BBC Sherlock, I really did). However, my affection seems to have returned to a very old fandom of mine – the X-men.

Right now, I'm mostly trying to salvage my very old fics that are on the edge of disappearing forever and perhaps to finish some old ones as well. I must admit that the most recent movie did catch stir my fanfic impulses a little bit. However, the relative isolation of the characters – Eric is implied to be pretty alone, Charles has Hank but Hank is still clearly a youngster, not an equal. Logan is likely in the hands of Stryker (I am totally ignoring the Mystique eyes at the end because that blows almost all of Logan's origin story completely out of the green lit water) make figuring out what to write about (as I generally focus on ~~sex~~ relationships) difficult.

Rambling aside, you can find a few more of my antique stories up on my AO3 account here:

Some Nights Not For Sleeping (Logan/Remy, movie-verse ish)
http://archiveofourown.org/works/1728044

Moonlight Serenade (Emma/Jean, comic-verse ish)
http://archiveofourown.org/works/1727900

In the Dark (Scott/Logan, movieverse-ish)
http://archiveofourown.org/works/1727798

Because these are so old, they don't exactly fit with the adjusted canon of the Marvel Movie exceptionally well. But, hey, slash and femslash and history all at once!

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Help end gay 'cures'

2012-07-18T20:46:13Z

The 'gay cure' movement has been taking (thankfully!) hits as leaders in the movement come clean and state the treatments they once espoused don't work (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/07/us/a-leaders-renunciation-of-ex-gay-tenets-causes-a-schism.html?pagewanted=all). Hopefully, in a few years, or a decade, these groups – and their philosophy – will be truly dead but, right now, Desert Stream is touring in ten different countries promoting their awful work.

Help stop them. There's a petition out that will be sent to all ten countries where the organization plans to hold their sessions. The petition needs to be sent to France by Thursday and is still barely over half-way there. If you want to put your name to ending a harmful practice that even their own leaders are beginning to deny, take a look at the petition and see if you want to sign and boost if you can.

http://www.allout.org/en/actions/endgaycures

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Horror Bingo

2012-07-10T18:00:17Z

I've signed up for a bingo - in the horror genre, this time. Also, it seems to have no particular deadlines (which is great for me as my ability to do stuff is pretty limited right now). I'm boosting 'cause ... horror and Torchwood - two great tastes that taste great together (sort of like the burgers in Countrycide).

It's the first year for the horror_bingo folks and there are only a few participants so far (and only one other torchwood person).

Also - some of the Avengers concepts seem ripe for horror. Bruce Banner's situation is perfect for Body Horror and/or possesion, what happened to Loki when he fell off the Rainbow Bridge and ended up in creepy land? Shifting comics from four color to gray and blood red ... seems like a wonderful idea to me!

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Seriously? Teen Wolf?

2012-06-06T22:13:10Z

So, as might be guessed, I'm in a fandom dry spell. While I'm enjoying the Avengers, occasionally watching Supernatural, still dabbling in the dregs of Torchwood etc, etc, there's no active fandom that I'm... active in. Plus also, health, work issues … whinen'cheeze.

But, I started to watch MTV's Teen Wolf, of all things – based on following a hulu link and being bored. And, hey … it's pretty damn good, actually.

The acting is decent, the stories are actually pretty good, and the actors chosen actually look like teenagers, instead of adults whom everyone is pretending are teenagers. The guy who plays Sillinski is quite good, I think. I particularly like the fact that the POV male character isn't yet another brooding, generic looking guy. He's got a big nose and is a little funny looking (but all these youngsters have incredible bodies! Geeze!). All the characters act believably like teens – risk taking, naïve, impulsive, discovering things about themselves and the world, still feeling the assurance of parental protection – even when they know better.

It is, as you might guess, loosely based on Teen Wolf, the movie but instead of being a flat-out comedy; it's a drama with some pretty dang dark humor in places. It is, yes, about teenage werewolves and the show does focus heavily on the way teenagers lives go – something I'm usually totally disinterested in; at 40+, high school drama-lama just doesn't cut it for me – but the show doesn't really focus on the drama of bad grades so much as the drama of not getting killed by a supernatural creature who might also be your best friend. Stillinski – the male lead's best friend – really carries a lot of the show's tragedy; while he's the comedic character, he is also the one who really seems to get just how awful some of the things that happen in the show are.

Several of the teachers (high school settings abound) are fascinating to me. The lacrosse/economics guy is great fun and the guy who teaches … history, I think, looks like he may have some intriguing secret in the show.

It's also a moderately decent ensemble show; while there is a clear POV character – the male lead, Scott – other characters have significant storylines of their own, that affect the course of everyone on the show. Even 'the bully' and 'the popular girl' have their own storylines and evidently, the focus of the show may shift to emphasize characters who seemed more supporting cast in S1. It's surprisingly gory and somewhat sexy for a show aimed (I assume) at teenagers but it's oddly … teen appropriate w/o being 'for kids'. The sex scenes are make-out sessions; filmed and treated as hot as if it where Barrowman whipping out his little captain, but everyone is clothed and clearly not having penetrative sex … yet. The gory scenes are usually brief, though shocking.

The werewolf mythology and actions in the show are logical and in-depth, and the reveal of various aspects of the world happen across the course of the movie (and a web-isode), instead of us getting an infodump. The reasons for the actions of the werewolfs in the movie make sense (they are literally stronger in packs, thus driving the need to make more of their own kind), and the reactions different characters have to the discovery of werewolfs are suitable to the characters and help drive story.

It's also an interesting mirror to Supernatural, in Teen Wolf; there are 'hunters' whose family calling is to kill werewolfs. And they do, with the same disinclination to listen or care about protestations of innocence that Sam and Dean show when they deal with monsters. It certainly looks different from the other side. Hopefully, some of the complexity of the hunters will be investigated in S2 – they were mostly background threats in S1.

I also like the fact that, while the show is clearly about the teenagers, the adults are not blank slates with any motivations of their own. They have appropriate and active relationships with their children, are also impacted by the events of the show and several of them are very good actors (the guy who played General Tigue in Battlestar Galactica is going to be the main villain for S2).

I watched several of the interviews with the show creators and they have some interesting takes on what they're doing. It's a horror/drama but they're also looking at comic books in the handling of the werewolf potentials and the conflicts that can come up. They seem to think about things: there's a joke about why the werewolfs always bit the guys they change on the waist – that's it's to maximize the shirt off potential – but the creators said it's because that side of the belly is such a vulnerable spot. Everyone flinches if they get touched there unexpectedly. In addition, they promise … no vampires. Other supernatural creatures, yes, but no vampires, thank god.

The werewolfs in the show are more or less like classic non-Twilight werewolfs. They don't change into actual wolves, rather animal-like people. Old-fashioned, like Chaney and co. I really like the way they are handling the looks, movements and sounds of the werewolfs; their howl is nothing like an actual wolf and the 'lope' (which the directors talk about rather extensively, comparatively speaking) has the proper look of awkward, realistic, but effectiveness. Also old fashioned is the fact that werewolfs cannot easily control their bloodthirsty impulses. The 'bite' is genuinely a burden, if not an actual curse. Ad that to the poor decision making skills of the average teen and you get … well, S2, it looks like.

The show is much less misogynistic than Supernatural (not that there's a high bar there …) and there is a gay character who as actual speaking lines and a vague personality who isn't dead yet. Racially … there is a PoC minor character that seems to have significant information and a few PoCs in the background but it could use some work there. The POV's character is very much 'the girlfriend' there are suggestions that she'll get to be more than that in S2.

All in all, I'd recommend it (the whole of S1 is available on MTV and hulu, and the first 2 eps of 2S) giving it a try

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Dog Treat - warning

2012-05-23T01:13:04Z

There's no defined cause yet but there's evidently been an uptick in dog illnesses and deaths after eating a few brands of dog jerky treats. Because the FDA testing can't find the specific cause in the samples it's been provided, they cannot issue a recall and the makers of the food have not issued a voluntary recall.

Unsurprisingly, the treats seem to be made in China. I think, basically, it's a bad idea to eat any food that is imported from China if it's at all possible to avoid it (which isn't so easy).

FDA caution is here: http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm092802.htm

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boost!: Torchwood Collaboration Festival

2012-04-25T02:27:54Z

Brought out of (semi)-retirement by ...

A chance to write with other Torchwood writers! More Torchwood fic! All in one great package!

Sign-ups are still open for the Torchwood Collaboration Festival. This is not like a big bang, where a single writer is paired with one or more fanwork creators (remixers, vidders, artists etc) - this is where writers work together to create a story that each of them might not have done alone.

Stop on by! Take a look! Sign up!

I love collaborative writing and I've signed up for this as soon as I noticed it (which wasn't soon, as I've been off-journal for awhile). The best part of The Virtual Series, aside from the amazing finished work, was the chance to write with other writers - all of them amazing authors (and people!) and all of us with different ideas that managed to come together to create a really well developed piece of work.

I think that collaborative work can be the most rewarding of writing, another mind involved in the process generates new ideas and directions that I couldn't have come up with alone.

I really encourage anyone who likes writing to give it a try - and this fest in particular!

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Removing Google WebHistory

2012-02-27T16:55:39Z

There are only a few days before Google's privacy rules change and, when that happens, you will be unable to delete or clear web history without canceling all google services. However, until then, you can clear your web history by following these instructions:

Daily Mail reports that deleting your browsing history before March 1 when Google's new privacy policy comes into effect will limit Google's ability to track and record your every move online. The process is simple. Follow the steps below:
1. Go to the google homepage and sign into your account.
2. Click the dropdown menu next to your name in the upper-right hand corner of your screen.
3. Click accounts settings
4. Find the "Services section"
5. Under "Services" there is a sub-section that reads "View, enable, disable web history." Click the link next to it that reads: "Go to Web History."
6. Click on "Remove all Web History"
When you click on "Remove all Web History," a message appears that says " Web History is Paused." What this means is that while Google will continue gathering and storing information about your web history it will make all data anonymous, that is, Google will not associate your Web History information with your online accounts and will therefore be unable to send you customized search results.
Google's ability to gather personalized information about you by assigning data to your Gmail and YouTube accounts will remain "Paused" till you click "Resume."

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/320137#ixzz1nbNsnCKt

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WIP Meme

2012-02-24T19:02:06Z

WIP Meme

Some works in progress –

He and Shaya were picking their way down the ridgeline when he heard the high pitched sound of a woman screaming in the distance. Rami threw himself behind a pile of rocks, clutching his Kalashnikov in wincing anticipation of gunfire. There was only the thin, breathless shriek as he pulled his battered binoculars out from under his coat and searched the valley floor below. The cries made it easy to find her, a woman in a dusty blue chadri, hauled immodestly above her knees as she ran flat out across the valley floor.

"Megan," Naz approached to look at the top of her head and her deft hands. The equipment spread on her tables all had labels now; blue for hir, red for human. Next time, Megan promised, Naz would not risk an allergic reaction to the wound kit. Naz appreciated that the poisoning had been accidental. "How common is suicide among humans?"

"Jack," Ianto panted on his knees in a muddy puddle, struggling to tie up a weevil before it woke up and rubbing his nose in a surge of annoyance. "You can't find time to wash your trousers and you're wearing cologne?"

Jack's hands stilled for a moment. "I'm not wearing cologne."

I've never been off planet, you know," she shuddered, ruffles fluttering. "I don't think I could, I'm not brave enough, not like our hero." She beamed at Alonso then. Alonso's ears went red, as reliable as sunrise.

Jack managed to wedge in a smile while Daimead batted her pink tinted eyelashes at him before she rushed on, in her sweet, slightly breathless voice. "We were all so terrified when we heard about the Titanic -- it was all over the newscast, and oh, it was his first voyage ever -- and then we received the subspace notice from the Shadow Proclamation," Daimead's voice rose, suddenly sharp and clear, though her gaze never wavered from Jack's face, and he subtly scanned the crowd to see who it was she was really talking to.

A couple of transit inspectors were walking down past them, their green and gray uniforms seemed everywhere -- on the platforms, in the cars, checking IDs and helping people on and off the platforms. They were polite enough but far too many people hunched their shoulders or ducked their heads as they passed. Jack watched Munro tuck his face against little Alin's dark hair as, Jack realized, he'd done every other time inspectors had come near. It hid the gleaming silver of his cybernetics from easy view. Jack also realized now what hadn't seemed important before; everyone sorted out for special treatment in customs had been cyborgs of one type or another.

There was before and after. Before Jack had died and after he'd returned. Before the Doctor had saved Jack's life and after, when he realized the consequences. Before, when he couldn't feel Jack like a live wire in his mind and after, when he couldn't stop touching that presence, working it like a sore tooth. Jack wasn't Gallifreyan but, after the Gamestation, he rested at the edge of the Doctor's awareness like a distant light, faint, flickering but persistently there. He wanted to hold his hands out for it, to grasp at that alien awareness, but the Doctor was pretty sure that would be a bad idea.

Boredom was the worst. Boredom made the Doctor want to do things he shouldn't and the TARDIS wasn't the refuge it once was, with Jack on board. He prodded and poked at the TARDIS' vortex stabilization controls and prodded and poked at the little knot of jack-ness in his mind.

"Dammit!" Jack yelped, jerking up and banging his head on the console he was arms deep in, and glared. "Would you stop that!"

It was going around. Doing the meme allows me to avoid doing the work!

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tentacle fest images

2012-02-22T21:54:31Z

Tentacle_fest is having their spring fest in March and, in honor of that, and avoiding work, I've made several 2012 tentacle fest banners and icons. I hope to make more, without dates on them, as well. Feel free to snag, if you like – and if you like writing or reading about tentacles, join tentacle_fest!

Tentacle fest is here: http://tentacle-fest.livejournal.com/
I don't know if they have a DW mirror.

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Fic: Club Reunion, torchwood, Jack/John, mature

2012-02-11T17:17:05Z

Name: xtricks
Kink: rough sex
Fandom: Torchwood
Story Title: Club Reunion
Character/Relationships: John Hart/Jack Harkness
Notes: this was for a kink_las that I dropped out of, but I never posted the story elsewhere (that I can find, anyway). So, here it is!

It was the smell. Real alcohol made from the piss of a billion dead yeasts, fear and sweat and stinking perfume because these savages had crap noses, and someone had pissed herself when running for the door, poor slag. A blood bath would just make everything that much better, like the wine in the soup, like the toke after the fuck, like ... whatever. John had two guns in hand and he wasn't afraid to use them. Helloo 21st Century. Johnny's here.

It was the smell. Familiar as a warm hand in the fucking dark. A fuck in the dark and John grinned into the mirror as the pheromones in the air came to him like a whisper. It was the smell of his own skin after days and weeks and months and years together -- the two of them so close their mouths tasted the same, their skin smelled the same, their dreams were the same. The floorboards rattled as they rushed together.

It was the taste. Hot and heavy, and the bite of teeth and the push of a tongue John missed like it had been ripped out of his own mouth. Wool under his hands and Jack was already hard, he could smell it. Fucker. He wasn't that easy.

The first punch was another kiss, bloody and hot. And the second and the third, and he twisted to take the kick to his balls on his thigh because yeah, he loved a bit of CBT but it was too early in the night for a stomp on his nuts. The flash of a tongue, fuck Jack knew how to use it, and the soft give of his belly over John's shoulder, then a kidney blow across his back that had John on the floor, arse in the air.

Then it was a knee and a boot, a fist and heavy breathing on his neck, and Jack's bloody grin and John punched his cock -- not too hard. Not yet. He wasn't the only one who liked a bit of CBT and the hitch in Jack's breath told him that hadn't changed.

It was the pain. Bright like stars in his eyes when they slammed into the bar, his split lip throbbing and swelling just like his cock. Jack's hands were leaving bruises 'he was here, he was here'. John hissed, then laughed in Jack's face. Jack rutted against his hip, even as he twisted his hand in John's collar, trying to choke the life out of him.

When they crashed into the dimness behind the empty bar, John made sure he was on top. They grappled, wool and leather, boots thumping clumsily against each others' shins. John got his fucking leg over on Jack, groaning, huffing a laugh at Jack's deeper, longer groan. He pushed down harder, grinding cock to cock, clenching his fists in Jack's good-boy coat, bashing his head to the floor. John could feel the jerk and shiver as Jack's eyes rolled, dazed. "Spread 'em wide, baby," he hissed. Jack bared his teeth then threw him off, the bastard, but then John punched him across the jaw, across the bar, and the shot glasses were lined up like tenpins. He scored every one and glass glinted like needles in Jack's hair.

They could've gone all the way. They should've but the doors crashed wide and Jack's heat and attention went away, leaving John abandoned in the cold. John narrowed his eyes at all the pretty tits and faces lined up against him, then smiled, teeth bared.

It was the smell. Jack on his skin, his blood in John's mouth, the two of them the same where it mattered, underneath.

END

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Club Reunion?

2012-02-11T00:55:36Z

In which I illustrate my lack of organizational skills ...

Did I ever post at Torchwood story called Club Reunion, that anyone remembers? It was jack/john.

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!boost: Fandom Helping ...

2012-02-08T21:33:12Z

For anyone who might be interested in using the collective energy that fandom can muster there is …

fandom_helps fandom_helps, info here. I believe they have an LJ as well, for more traffic.

It's a community created to generate fandom donations to charity. This round the charity the community supports is Planned Parenthood.

Like most fandom charity events, you post your willingness to create some fanwork (text, image, soundtrack, etc) and hopeful folks bid – with their money going to the charity sponsored by the community, in this case.

I've become quite enamored of the way that fandom raises complex issues, and put their money where their mouth is in many cases. Anyone who's interested in participating might want to cruise on by and see if there's anything they want to bid on, or toss in your creative hat for others.

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Uh, guys? (slighty NSFW)

2012-02-06T04:41:16Z

This picture is too great to be believed! (but not me, alas)

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Boost: Abandoned Kitty in GA needs home

2012-02-06T03:09:25Z

Boosting a cat needing a home in the ... N.Ga near the TN line (I'm copying this verbatim as I'm not actually sure where these are supposed to represent) but I'm pretty sure it's Georgia as they're referencing Atlanta, GA.

Seems like the cat was abandoned by the previous owners, seems friendly and healthy, with amber eyes and fur. Meret can't keep the cat indoors for various reasons and is looking for someone who can and she is willing to provide some transport, within reason.

Even a temporary take-in/foster home would be good as it's outdoors and the weather is getting colder soon.

Anyone in the area who wants a cat? Or can foster one for a bit? Or know someone in the area who can?

Here's the reference posts:

http://meret.livejournal.com/997603.html
http://meret.livejournal.com/998226.html

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The Komen Issue

2012-02-03T21:44:39Z

… and putting your money where you really want it to go

I'm very glad to see that Komen has (for now) reversed its decision to defund Planned Parenthood – particularly at a time when so many people go without insurance, PP is one of several organizations that provides critical services (not just to women, men can go there for sexual health issues as well).

Like a lot of cynical liberals, I have doubts that this will last for long, or that the whole debacle was anything but a political one. Between the hiring of Handel as their policy director and their blatant ignoring of the rule they created except for PP, I expect they'll try another way to cut PP out of their funding stream as soon as people have moved onto the next outrage of the day.

OTOH, I'm very glad to see that PP received a huge uptick in donations directly. I think they made up the potential yearly loss from Komen in a few days.

But it did bring up an issue that I've been thinking about lately:

Where to put money when you want to help someone.

You can donate directly to Planned Parenthood; your charity dollars do not need to be 'passed through' Komen or anyone else's criteria (political or otherwise) to reach them. For those of us who are pro-choice, this also means your money can be used to provide abortion services where needed – which is not true of public funding, or (I think) Komen's dollars either. If you're anti-choice, then funneling your money through Komen or similar may be an advantage, as you can be sure it won't be used for abortion services.

Still – there are so many ways, now, to give money directly to the organization, the event, the business, or the person you want to help that I'm seriously beginning to wonder what the value is of aggregate charity organizations.

I complain endlessly about the negatives surrounding mass media control of creative works (TV, books, movies etc) and recently, I gave a chunk of money to Journey Quest – a pretty hilarious, pretty good comedy series about a group of fantasy adventurers questing for the Dungeon of All Dooms (or some dooms, but that's not as catchy, is it?).

I've also started to emphasize buying things from Esty and other direct marketers of goods, self-published books instead of from publishing houses, and so on.

I've donated directly to Planned Parenthood and to a few other specific charities that provide services I agree on. With Kiva, and Kickstarter, I can also donate my money to precisely the person or business I want to help, knowing that 100% of my money goes to that person/business. And, like a lot of fans, I have given money to people in need, directly, as I can and as those needs become visible to me.

When some of charities spend less than half their received dollars on the actual charity, it seems a no-brainer to skip giving money to an organization that's going to skim off the top of my dollars.

I'm coming to believe, at least as someone as relatively 'net savvy and connected as I am, that skipping things like Komen in favor of PP or Kiva, or a fan who is directly asking for needed medical help is the best use of my sparse dollars.

I don't think that's true for everyone. Not everyone has the time, the energy, or the skills to make sure they're not being scammed and it is still true that these large aggregate charities can pull more resources together in mass situations but the aggregate model is based on a system where communication and research was much harder, and reaching the target audience of a charity was almost impossible for an individual … but that has changed a lot over the last few years and it's worth looking at that change to see what model of giving suits each person best.

For my part, I'm trying really hard to direct my money 100% at the artist, organization, business, person or charity I'm trying to help – I don't want someone else to say what's an appropriate use of my dollars. Cutting out the charitable (and businesses like Amazon) middle-man is one way to do that.

ETA: Okay, this is kind of creepy, to be honest. The Komen foundation has sponsored a pink lacquered pistol as part of their fund raising efforts. I'm not terribly big on pistol ownership (I believe that hunting weapons should be allowed as they have some other purpose besides the sole one of killing humans, which is not true of pistols) in general but for an organization dedicated to saving lives, sponsoring a pistol - a weapon that can't be used for anything but killing humans strikes me very much the wrong way.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/komen-foundation-offers-pink-hangun-hope-edition-174123450.html

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Boost: Pornspiration

2012-02-03T16:33:35Z

For all those porn writers and porn writer wanna-be's and … well, most anyone who likes to read or write porn.

There's; pornspiration.

It's a community dedicated to writing porn! And in the best way: inspirational photos *cough*, quick prompt fests, hand-holding and cheerleading, meta on writing porn and how, and other really fun, interesting things.

Right now they're running a 'Pop Your Porn Cherry' series of posts. If nothing else, go to read their example letters, they're a hoot.

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Rec: A Good Girl's Education by a Bad, Bad Boy - John_lzhc

2012-02-01T01:11:14Z

http://archiveofourown.org/works/259556/chapters/405693

This is a nice PWP River/Eleven pegging, genderplay, etc story I stumbled over and thought I'd boost a little. Fun to read, and I'm quite taken by the little blue dress.

I have no idea who the author is in LJ land, though they said they got the idea from eleventy_kink so they must have an LJ somewhere. They also said this was their first porn story and they deserve great props for such a lovely first!

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Fic: Blood of Eden

2012-01-30T18:27:46Z

Title: Blood of Eden
Authors: xtricks& 51stcenturyfox
Length: 29,912 words
Rating: R, mature: sex, themes
Summary: A series of mysterious deaths lead the Torchwood team to a honeymoon resort on a distant isle and the secret to one of the 21st century's most explosive changes.
Characters: Jack, Ianto, Gwen, Martha Jones, John Hart
Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Gwen/Rhys, Jack/Gwen, Ianto/OMC, Jack/OFC, Jack/Ianto/Gwen
Warnings: Pregnancy, body horror, involuntary drugging, dubcon, mentions of suicide, minor character death - Note: these are warnings for people who have triggers, but aside from the sexual content, there isn't anything depicted in this story that couldn't be shown/mentioned in a Torchwood episode.

Story notes: Thank you to beta babe neifile7 and to copperbadge. Translation credit: verasteineSet after Series 2.

Blood of Eden 1
Blood of Eden 2
Blood of Eden 3
Blood of Eden Epilogue

Foxy and I have been working on this story for … quite a while. Now, it's done! It's a case-fic dusted nicely with porn. It's been a long time since I've written an nice case oriented story. It'll be loaded on Foxy's journal and on my AO3 account. You can comment here if you like, but it might be nice to keep comments mostly on Foxy's journal so we can have them in the same place.

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Dr Who Video?

2012-01-28T01:28:28Z

I seem to have lost this ...

there was a video someone made that was along the lines of 'old doctors never die, they just watch their reincarnation on TV as a musical' - and it was the 9th doctor, watching 10.

Anyone?

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http://xtricks.dreamwidth.org/85813.html: link to the original post

FYI: delicious

2011-09-28T20:16:33Z

I'm not involved in delicious but the transition to the new owners is evidently rather trauma inducing for fandom due to a huge host of changes, not the least of which is the non-recognition of the '/' in pairings. Some people have lost links or entire accounts.

Supposedly this link will tell you how to recover lost accounts,: http://brownbetty.dreamwidth.org/541789.html

ETA: no, DW is not changing owners/anything else. I just can't brain today (or most days, lately, frankly).

Please comment on Dreamwidth because it isn't run by the Russian Mob!
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Ranty mc-rant, non fandom related for once!

2011-09-23T23:14:36Z

I hate this new fucking insurance and the new doctor I've got.

They don't call me back and when I do, then they tell me some of my test results were abnormal and they in addition referred me to a neurologist who sees only epilepsy patients – which I am not – and the only other neuro there 'never prescribes narcotics' because obv, after 40 years of migraines I wouldn't have run through all the preventative medications available, or not be aware of the rebound risks of using narcotics.

Which leaves me to find a nero I can see who isn't going to treat me like I don't know what I'm doing. Assholes.

Please comment on Dreamwidth because it isn't run by the Russian Mob!
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PayPal: wow! They did it! (follow up)

2011-09-22T01:07:59Z

Honestly - I didn't expect PayPal to actually respond to the petition or the request from AllOut but they did!

PayPal severed business relationships with four anit-gay hate groups: http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2011/09/paypal-boots-four-hate-sites.html

This didn't get a lot of attention in fandom, as far as I could tell, which was a pity since the best way to strangle groups like that is to deny them their money. PayPal is the domiant 'net provider of money exchange and hopefully this will help crimp these people's businesses.

This is a follow up to my post here: http://xtricks.dreamwidth.org/84319.html

Please comment on Dreamwidth because it isn't run by the Russian Mob!
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Describing POC in fiction writing

2011-09-17T18:32:16Z

A couple of blog posts on describing POC and/or skin color in writing. The first one is a series of examples the author feels are good, the second is a critique of the way people write skin tone type descriptions of people (particularly the exoticizing of POC features). I've always been ... leery of describing someone who is (not-white) via some sort of skin tone/eye shape/hair texture description and I, like most white people, generally don't describe white people based on skin tone/hair texture/eye shape as they are the 'default'. But OTOH, when I'm writing about Tosh, or Martha, or Mickey, or Tish I don't want to erase their race and ethnicity either, which has been the most frequent result of my stories involving POC characters. In much of my Tosh fic, for example, unless you know the character, you would probably assume she's white -- except for her name. So, it's still a what do I do? issue for me. It's a particluar problem in porn, where exoticizing and lush descriptions are common and can become potentially offensive (the constant comparison of dark skin tone to food is evidently overdone and annying to at least some POC).

One thing I really noted was interesting about nkjemsin's essay is that her descriptions of skin tone/eyeshape/hair texture/color are almost all grounded in the world's ethnic or racial groups -- which I think is a good thing, it forces the writer to place the POC character in the world as opposed to a floating, exotic person who is just there to be not-white.

http://nkjemisin.com/2009/04/ways-to-describe-characters-of-color/

http://zvi.dreamwidth.org/507806.html

I am practicing, mostly through Jack's POV, at least I can say in the example I have so far, all the new characters are described, including the 'white' person in skin tone and etc. And, be deciding I was going to place a dark skinned character in a generally pale skinned extended family, I had to decide how they 'got there' and that made me develop some of the social habits of the culture in an interesting way, IMO.

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YA lit and queer representation

2011-09-16T17:33:08Z

I know there are quite a few readers and writers of YA fiction out in my flist and as part of the blow-up around the straightening of queer characters in YA fic that came up a couple of days ago, this post happened.

http://www.malindalo.com/2011/09/i-have-numbers-stats-on-lgbt-young-adult-books-published-in-the-u-s/

It's a statistical analysis of gay YA lit out there for quite a few years (for the US). It does show that they are being published … as less than 1% of YA fic. I do believe there is also a list of books somewhere in the blog or comments so for folks who are looking to see what's out there, they can check that out for reading options.

It's not of huge matter to me, I don't read YA fic as I find it too heteronormative even when there are queer characters in it (I guess I've gotten radical in my old age) but I imagine it might be useful or important to others.

Thank you, merzibelle for the correction: the issue that stimulated this number crunching post is between two authors and an agent they shopped their novel too, not a publishing house.

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PayPal and Gay Activism

2011-09-16T16:14:35Z

While it's true that electronic petitions have limited impact, sometimes they are the only or best known way to show support and provide any pressure at all.

PayPal, which is ubiquitous in internet financial transactions has, as part of its TOS, that they may not be used to distribute money for groups that support hatred or violence. AllOut, a queer activist group has contacted PayPal and requested they stop serving several hate mongering groups, such as the Americans For Truth who are, among other things, honoring Scott Lively, who evidently was a major force behind Uganda's gay killing laws.

I'd suggest both signing the petition and sending an individual email to PayPal (or all three).

The article about the issue:
http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2011/09/homofascists-target-paypal.html

The PayPal petition:
http://www.allout.org/en/actions/paypal/taf

If you want to get individual contact with PayPal, their contact page is here (courteously provided by the hate group Americans For Truth ;) )
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/helpscr?cmd=_help&t=escalateTab

And PayPal's blog is here:
https://www.thepaypalblog.com/contact-us/

Please comment on Dreamwidth because it isn't run by the Russian Mob!
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