kangeiko

I have successfully survived the 1 year anniversary. It was as stressful as you would expect, but it was good that we made the trip and did everything we were supposed to. It was also incredibly tiring, and I came back ready for a holiday (and greeted by a lot of people asking "how was your break?" which never ceases to be the worst question. I answered with "it was a family commitment" which seemed enough for people to drop it).

I also managed to get both my space_swap and my smutswap assignments in on time, hallelujah. In fact, the space_swap collection is already open and there are some great works in there! My delicious gift is linked below - it was just what I needed to brighten my day! Lovely, spot-on characterisation of Lister and Rimmer, and a sweet friends to lovers transition (with some self-sacrifice as my bullet-proof kink), it was everything I ever wanted in this ship. <3 Thank you, mystery author!

Decompilation (4958 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Red Dwarf
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Dave Lister/Arnold Rimmer
Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Emotionally Repressed, Friends to Lovers, Self-Sacrifice, Not Without Serious Qualms Though, This Is Rimmer After All
Summary: He had to smile. That ruined everything.

I also wanted to rec a couple of works which you should also check out:

VID: Come With Me Now (0 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Thor (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Heimdall/Thor
Summary: "Heimdall, I know you can see me." A Thor/Heimdall fanvid.

( Embedded video behind the cut ) And -

Access Records (1008 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Star Trek: Voyager
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Seven of Nine & Naomi Wildman, Kathryn Janeway & Naomi Wildman, B'Elanna Torres & Naomi Wildman
Characters: Naomi Wildman, Seven of Nine, Kathryn Janeway, B'Elanna Torres
Additional Tags: Holodecks/Holosuites, Worldbuilding, Friendship, Female Friendship, Mentors
Summary: Holodeck Access Records (Weekly History) - Wildman, Naomi

Both of which are fantastic!


Also, not part of the swap but still a rec I wanted to share, is this wonderful vid for the Ladies of Marvel:



In other fandom news, I signed up for the wipbigbang  with my endless MCU Stony WIP. What does this mean? Well, the good news is, it'll be finished by the deadline, which is great. The bad news is that I can't post anything until the deadline has passed, so there will be a bit of a moratorium on updates until the end of July. However, it should hopefully be accompanied by some lovely fan art, so definitely looking forward to that. Given my sporadic updates over the last few months, I doubt anyone will notice, honestly. (I was aiming to finish it by Endgame, laughsobno. We're going to see Endgame on Sat 27th so I will be buried under a rock Thurs-Sat to avoid spoilers, and will likely then come home and sob and write.)

Finally, I had a bit of an AO3 kudos milestone hit during the last couple of weeks, and it made me realize just how long I've been on AO3. It'll be 10 years this winter. I should do something for that, but I'm at a bit of a loss. Any suggestions?

+ In case anyone outside the US / Canada has been trying to find the Star Trek Shorts, they've just been released on Netflix.

+ I've been listening to Peter Kenny's narration of the Culture books, and it is so good. I am incredibly fussy about audiobooks; I tend to either opt for non-fiction narratives or for full-on radio dramas. The two main exceptions to this are Peter Kenny reading the Culture books, and Michael Jayston reading the George Smiley novels. In both cases, the narration is impeccable - clear, crisp, and with excellent character voices. Both are highly recommended. I also managed to find pretty much the entire set of Culture novels at my local charity store, so I've re-bought them. Yes, I already have them in e-book format, but I pretty much hate e-book format for anything that isn't 1) fic, or 2) novellas or short stories.

+ Well, this preview of Black Widow #1 doesn't fill me with confidence. ( Read more... )

+ Paramount Was Hollywood’s ‘Mountain.’ Now It’s a Molehill. - this is so sad, and I had no idea other than a vague awareness that all the film studios would be under pressure from Netflix and other streaming competition. But the idea that Paramount might close due to the extreme short-sightedness of its managers - and that with it would go decades of cinema history - is such a sad one. (Also, this is the first I'm hearing of a Quentin Tarantino Star Trek, please someone tell me it's just an elaborate joke?)

+ I've finally found a source so I can watch Sun Records. Only watched the first ep so far, but I'm enjoying it. I'm guessing the heavy echoes of Mad Men were deliberately, right?

Day 7

Stretch yourself a little and try something new. Go play in a new fandom or with a new pairing. Try working in a new medium. Or check out some fanworks that are new to you. (The recs from Day 2 might be a good place to start.) Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Yesterday, rather than filling in Day 7, I wrote something new - a rambling Riddler/Joker fic, based on The War of Jokes and Riddles. I'm not ready to post it yet because it's not finished and frankly it's not terribly good, but I'm not going to bin it, either. It's the journey, not the destination, right?

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Day 8

In your own space, post self-recs for at least three fanworks that you created. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

After Day 7, day 8 was very easy. I don't really have favourite fics. I have some I don't like, some I'm downright ashamed of. I have others I'm proud of, or some that I remember working hard on and it's the memory of writing that I focus on. In no particular order, here are some fics I liked creating.

the ripple effect (4316 words) by kangeiko
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Captain America (Movies)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Clint Barton/Laura Barton, Clint Barton & Tony Stark, Laura Barton & Tony Stark
Characters: Clint Barton, Laura Barton, Tony Stark
Additional Tags: Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Fix-It of Sorts, Reconciliation, Tony Stark Is a Good Bro, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Clint sorts out his priorities
Summary: Middle of the night phonecalls rarely bring good news. This one is no different.

Why I liked writing it: my favourite fics are team-as-family fics. I love fics where the team gathers around and supports each other, and where their petty grievances are outweighed and superseded by more important matters. I knew what I wanted to see in a Clint fic, so I wrote it.

and thus the heart (8840 words) by kangeiko
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Formula 1 RPF
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Alain Prost/Ayrton Senna
Characters: Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna
Additional Tags: Mildly Dubious Consent, First Time, Phone Sex, Prostate Milking, Voyeurism, Rough Sex, post-season 1993, pre-season 1994
Summary: Alain retires in 1993. A little after that, the phonecalls start.

Why I liked writing it: I'm going to write porn, I said to myself. I never do that, and I'm going to do it now. And then I'm going to grind them into powder.

up, up the long delirious burning blue (1226 words) by kangeiko
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Top Gun (1986)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Relationships: Tom "Iceman" Kazansky/Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, Charlotte "Charlie" Blackwood/Pete "Maverick" Mitchell
Characters: Pete "Maverick" Mitchell
Additional Tags: Yuletide Treat, War Era
Summary: Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth / And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings ... Maverick is re-assigned to Bosnia. He's not prepared for it, not in the least.

Why I liked writing it: I don't know where this little fic came from, but I'm weirdly fond of it. I feel that writing it helped me set something right in my own head, although I can't remember why that would be. I think I wrote it in between jobs - having finished with one deployment, and starting another, and feeling that little bit closer to burn-out than I would have liked. I think a lot of that came through in writing this.

Sold Under Sin (3038 words) by kangeiko
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Transmetropolitan
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Spider Jerusalem
Additional Tags: Yuletide, Yuletide 2008, Satire
Summary: How to get screwed with your pants on.

Why I liked writing it: I think Spider is my favourite character to write for. 

pirate superheroes (explode things and steal stuff) (1601 words) by kangeiko
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Nextwave (Comic)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Monica Rambeau, Aaron Stack, Tabitha Smith, Elsa Bloodstone, The Captain
Summary: How to put together an elite fighting team. With bonus lobsters.

Why I liked writing it *points to summary*

I'm deep in the MCU rabbit hole at the moment. The fact that there are films released on a regular basis results in both a steady influx of new canon to play with, and also means that I'm not overwhelmed with watching rather than writing. And yes, I am writing. Hallelujah! It has been absolutely ages since I was able to produce anything with any regularity, so let's not look a gift horse in the mouth.

I won't do a 2017 writing wrap-up (I rather feel like March is a teensy bit too late for that), so here is the catch-up for 2018 instead:

Not your average TED talk (954 words)
Fandom: MCU
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark
Summary: Tony is the sort of friend who - if you call him because you feel horrible - will turn up with tequila, a jet pack and a stripper. You'll still feel horrible, but you'll be a lot more entertained during it.

Anyway, Rhodey has enough strippers for the moment, thank you. (The strippers are hypothetical. The jet pack, unfortunately, is not.)

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beggars would ride (4452 words)
Fandom: MCU
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Steve Rogers
Summary: Rhodey really should have had that shovel talk a lot sooner. (Not to worry, he still has a shovel.)a.k.a. Rhodey isn't paid enough to be a couples counselor.

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why, this is hell (nor am I out of it) (3217 words)
Fandom: MCU
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Tony Stark & Avengers Team
Series: Part 3 of pyrrhic victories (things better left unsaid)
Summary: Tony is perfectly fine. He just needs to be left alone to get through this one little problem.

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And the fic I'm trying to write on a weekly basis -

till human voices wake us (40354 words)
Chapters: 10/? (updated weekly)
Fandom: MCU
Rating: Mature
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark, Minor or Background Relationship(s), James "Rhodey" Rhodes/Sam Wilson, Clint Barton & Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes & Tony Stark
Summary: Tony is called out on a rescue mission. Things deteriorate from there.
a.k.a. the holy hell, what's happened to Steve? fic


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I'm also really excited to see that SSR confidential are having a fic exchange - thanks selenak for linking it, I hadn't even been aware of the community before I saw your post and I'm so excited about this!

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The other thing I wanted to mention is that I've recently got back into the DCU, courtesy of Tom King and his magnificent The War of Jokes and Riddles (link is to the amazon listing, but it's basically everywhere as it's one of the new titles). I'd never had even a cursory interest in the Riddler before - too influenced by the animated series, I guess - and he is so beautifully reimagined in this book by both Tom King and the artist Mikel Janin, who give us a physical, intimidating, appealing Riddler, who is still 18 kinds of messed up. I also have a feeling that real people were used as references for the designs of the Riddler and of the Joker, because both looked vaguely familiar. (And I loved their interaction in this; I walked in expecting to be amused, and came out shipping it.)

Bonus points for some absolutely gorgeous depictions of Ivy, as well, who looks like a Mucca painting throughout.

I was so impressed that I've actually dipped my toe in the Grayson series (also Tom King). Now, I've never had any particular interest in Nightwing, but again, King manages to make Dick Grayson interesting and convincing as a Spyral (basically DCU!SHIELD) agent.

Finally, I caught up on the Midnighter Orlando run, and the Midnighter & Apollo book, and I am full of hearts over them. I am re-reading all my old Authority volumes as a result.