dhampyresa

Prompt 8 for this year is "Talk about your creative process." which made me realise it's been a while since I've had a Story Song. Usually when I have a story I'm working on I have a song that goes with it, that echoes some aspect of the plot, setting or character (dynamics) and yet lately... Nothing. Maybe that's why everything has been feeling so empty and been so hard to write?

ANYWAY all this is a long-winded way to ask for music recs.

I was so disappointed by this book.

Part of this is on me: I had somehow gotten it in my head this was modern day and was looking forward to seeing how "hivemind took over the entire medical profession undetected" aspect of the premise would play out. The setting is not modern day, it's set some indeterminate amount of time (over 500 years) after some sort of apocalypse (fair, and an interesting setting itself) and people are aware to varying degrees aware that there is Something Wrong TM with the Institute.

The main part of the disappointment is that the book keeps bringing up concepts and then... Not Doing Anything with them. Spoilers from here on out. Our PoV character loses access to the hivemind fairly early on. Helen's miscarriages and/or the twins having supernatural powers never goes anywhere. The baron seems aware that he is hosting pseudomycota and even might be working with it? Let's never speak of this again! The idea that "If you’re born in Verdira, you die in Verdira" is brought up and we get told what happens is someone born there tries to leave, but that goes nowhere. /End spoilers

It is so disappointing and frustrating. It all just goes fucking nowhere!

Also I found the written accent annoying.

I did enjoy the hivemind parts, I guess.

Gave blood/blood products four times!

Looking at my 2025 storygraph extract, about 80% of what I read was fiction comics and I basically have nothing to say about any of it. In fact I have very little to say about my reading this year in general. Not sure if it's because almost everything I read had no substance or if I had no substance. Possibly both.

My resolution for 2026 is to breathe fresh air every day, even if I can't make myself go outside.

I really enjoyed watching Andor, overall. I did think there were a few places where the pacing dragged a bit and it wasn't as mindblowingly great as the hype made it sound like it would be, but it was still very good! The bits on Ghorman were kind of annoying because the Ghor language sounds so much like French but isn't French, I felt like I was taking crazy pills hahaha. Favourite episode was either the prison break or the Kleya flashbacks episode. I agressively Did Not Care about Syril or his mother, but every other character was at least interesting. I love Cassian, Vel and Cinta, but I think Kleya might be my favourite. I want to rewatch Rogue One, now.

A novel I recently finished reading ¹ has a bibliography at the end. It's a couple pages long, divided into sections ~~and the first book on it is Marx's Kapital, lol~~.

¹ "Paresse pour tous" (Laziness for all) by Hadrien Klent

Have you ever read a novel with a bibliography? Do you read the bibliographies in general?

Meme taken from

fiachairecht

Rules: How many letters of the alphabet have you used for [starting] a fic title? One fic per line, 'A' and 'The' do not count for 'a' and 't'. Post your score out of 26 at the end, along with your total fic count.

A — Apotheosis (Secret Wars (Hickman/Ribić 2015 mini-series); Doom & Strange; gen; 1k)
B — Between the Devil and the Dust (Star Wars, sequel, prequel and original trilogies; Rey, Luke & Anakin; gen; 7k)
C — Coming Forth by Day (MCU Black Panther & Ancient Egyptian Religion; Shuri, Killmonger & various assorted gods; gen; 25k)
D — The Devil Went Down to New Jersey (Hamilton musical; Burr; gen; >1k)
E — Every Heart That Beats For Liberty (Rogue One; Jyn & Ensemble; gen; 4k)
F — Five people on StarKiller Base who didn't listen to Anakin Skywalker (and one who did) (Star Wars, prequel and sequel trilogies; Anakin & Force Awakens ensemble; gen; 3k)
G — God Games (Ambition (ESA Short film); Apprentice & Master; gen; >1k)
H — The Hawk and the Bat (Marvel 616 & DC comics; Steph Brown & Kate Bishop; gen; 7k)
I — If at first you don't succeed... (Try. Try again.) (Ancient Rome RPF; Original female time traveller; gen; 4k)
J
K (I do have one piece of art, but the meme specifies fics)
L — Lies told by firelight (Loki Agent of Asgard; Verity & Loki; gen; 2k)
M — Mirage (Star Wars sequel trilogy; Rey; gen; 3k)
N — Nameless (Ancient History RPF; Hannibal Barca/Scipio Africanus; >1k)
O — Out of the Cold (Captain America and the Winter Soldier; Original female penguin scientist; gen; 6k)
P — The Public Thing (Star Wars Clone Wars; Rex/Riyo Chuchi; 30k)
Q — Qabârum (MCU & Ancient Mesopotamian Religion; Gamora & Natasha Romanov; gen; 3k)
R — Retrograde (Marvel comics; Valeria Richards; gen; 3k)
S — Strange Aeons (Marvel comics; Victor von Doom; gen; 7k)
T — The Tale of Lightsabre the Blue (Star Wars sequel trilogy; Rey & Ensemble; gen; 3k)
U — The Uncertainty Principle (Marvel comics, Young Justice cartoon & thought experiments; Cassie Lang & Wally West; gen; 3k)
V
W — We built this city on rock 'n' roll (Sucker Punch movie; Rocket; gen; 1k)
X
Y
Z — Zero Sum Game (Secret Wars (Hickman/Ribić 2015 mini-series); Victor von Doom; gen; 1k)

21/26 (116 fics on ao3 -- I have 122 works on there but 6 are art)

I THINK I MIGHT LIKE GEN

In episode 3 of the Moon Knight TV show, there is what is explicitly called "a meeting of the Ennead". Also explicitly, the following gods are present: "Horus, Isis, Tefnut, Osiris and Hathor". Now, I know the Ennead occasionally includes Horus the Elder, so sure, why not.

But Hathor?

Afaik, the Ennead is Atum; Shu and Tefnut; Geb and Nut; (Horus the Elder), Osiris, Seth, Isis and Nephtys. Am I missing something? (Probably.)

*plays La Marseillaise on the kazoo*

Wish I could blame being tired on giving platelets earlier this week, but no, it is La Maladie TM. And the less said about that the better.

Things I've been enjoying recently:

- L and I finished watching Arcane recently and now I have brainrot.

- T and I are watching Andor (currently on s2e3). It's fine? With occasional moments of great, but somehow I expected more. Hype got me, mea culpa.

- The colours of K-Pop Demon Hunters made my brain go brrrrrrrrrr.

- I've fallen back into the SCP Foundation hole, to no one's surprise. My hole, made for me, etc. I wonder if I could make a rec list?

- The pilot for Knights of Guinevere was fun!

- The first 5 seasons of the White Vault podcast (I've not listened to more yet). I'm not sure it does anything new with eldritch beings but it is well done.

- Did I ever do a proper rec post for the music of The Mechanisms? I should.

- October means it's Short Box Comics Fair. As ever I don't know where to start.

- The two issues of the Sing O Muse zine.

- The Missing Madonna is a true crime podcast mini-series that's not about murder.

There should be more. But alas.

Anyway, soon the yuletide tagset will be out and that's kind of like a rec list, innit?

Update: I can create polls, but not make them useable (I have a free account which means I shouldn't even be able to do this much, if I understand this correctly).

I've been sitting on this fic for far too long and at this point it is melting out of my eyes. Hopefully posting it will give me back brain power.

Coming Forth by Day (24977 words) by sevenofspade
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Black Panther (Marvel Movies), Ancient Egyptian Religion
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Erik Killmonger & Shuri
Characters: Shuri (Marvel), Erik Killmonger, Bastet (Ancient Egyptian), Set (Ancient Egyptian), Tanit (Carthaginian Religion & Lore)
Additional Tags: written before Wakanda Forever, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Summary:
Shuri and the others don't go to the Jabari following Killmonger's murder of T'Challa, and the gods take a more active role.

This fic was started shortly after the first Black panther movie came out and I have ignored all MCU canon since. Nothing but the movie and myths, babey!

This fic is, to me, "Shuri vs the gods of pre-dynastic Egypt", but that's not entirely accurate. The existence of Bast is attested since at least the IVth dynasty (Old Kingdom). I thought it was prior to Narmer's unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, but I can no longer find the source. I've chosen to interpret this, in the context of the MCU, as meaning she was brought there by Wakandans.

Additionally, predynastic Egypt has kings known as Scorpion, Double Falcon and Crocodile, a list of names in which "Black Panther" would fit perfectly.

Seth dates back to Naqada III (predynastic Egypt), Neith to the Irst dynasty (Thinite period), as does Khnoum.

I have also chosen to use the French names of the gods because I'm French ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The gods of Ancient Egypt, with very rare exceptions, are associated with one or more animals. These animals are all real and known animals.

Except for the sha, Seth's animal.

There are several theories as to what animal the sha is meant to be. The one I most believe in and have chosen to use for this fic -- under the name "seteshin" is that it is a (sub-)species of canid, gone extinct in Ancient times, as happened to Ovis longipes palaeo-aegyptiacus, itself linked to Khnoum.

I'm sure I'll close this window and be reminded of something I meant to say, but alas I have a headache and must away.

1. I feel like if you're chronically ill you should get exempt from being non-chronically ill.

2. I thought I was better, but then I got irrationally grumpy over a book review having the "The Art and Making Of Arcane" in their background. It's no one's fault the French edition is out of print, I just wish I had that book.

I've mentionned a couple times on this journal that I was writing a pair of Natasha and Gamora fics about them escaping the Soul Stone via different afterlives, and now here they are!

Once More to See the Stars (9759 words) by sevenofspade
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Gamora (Marvel)
Additional Tags: Inferno (La Divina Commedia | The Divine Comedy - Dante Alighieri), Body Horror, Fix-It
Series: Part 1 of katabasis
Summary:
Natasha died on Vormir and awoke in the Suicide Wood of Dante's Hell. With Gamora's help, she made her way out.

Qabârum (3012 words) by sevenofspade
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Gamora (Marvel), Natasha Romanov (Marvel)
Additional Tags: Mesopotamian Mythology - Freeform, Body Horror, Fix-It
Series: Part 2 of katabasis
Summary:
For Gamora, the Soul Stone looked like Irkalla.

There's no real order to read them in -- they're added to the the series in the order I wrote them in, but reading them the other way around works too.

I had loads of fun writing a more poetic style than my usual in the Natasha fic. You get points for spotting the Hadestown reference, bonus point for the Galavant reference and mega bonus points for the (translated) Brassens quote.

Sort of spoilers for the Natasha fic, I guess

I link Thor to Charon, not Phlegyas, because of the Etruscan psychopomp Charun having a hammer.

Sort of spoilers for the Gamora fic, I guess

I got the tidbit about Mesopotamians burying their dead beneath their homes from Dominique Charpin's "La vie méconnue des temples mésopotamiens" ("The unknown life of mesopotamian temples"), specifically the section on the temples of Nergal.

I'm so happy I've finally managed to finish and edit and post fics! It's been... way too long.

Couple days ago I was hanging out with a friend and she got distracted by texting her phone. I asked if it was about [specific thing going on in her life] but no. No. Instead she was talking to ChatGPT.

Feeling very "what’s even the point of me" over it. Much existential dread very depressed, wow.

The more Arcane I watch, the more convinced I am that Viktor's last name is Frankenstein. The ~~Modern~~ Arcane Prometheus!

I wear a brace most of the time rn because of wrist tendinitis, which means drawing isn't just a matter of grabbing a sketchbook and pencil and go anymore. I have to undo and remove the brace -- which doesn't take very long, but it's enough of a roadblock that I have time to consider if I should do it (probably not). I end up not drawing as much as I want to and WOW a lot of stuff I usually watch on youtube feels so much more boring and I retain so much less of it when I'm not drawing at the same time.

Unrelated, but I can't decide and want opinions: is saint worship a form of ancestor cult?

Gonna run the Ukraine auction again.

If anyone wants to run a similar event (watermelon_auction?), I'm happy to share whatever I can (my backend post-automating code is already available here, though I haven't used it since).

So I have tendinitis in my wrist, which means I now need to wear a brace. This is really annoying because it gets in the way of doing anything. I can't draw with it on :( Even typing is a fucking hassle. Wearing it in the heat makes me feel like a sausage. A sweaty, sweaty sausage.

One of the books I'm reading right now is Anne Crignon's Une belle grève de femmes: Les Penn Sardin, Douarnenez 1924 (A women's strike: The Penn sardin [1], Douarnenez, 1924). I'm two-thirds of the way through and it has been really good book so far.

[1] "Penn sardin" is Breton for "sardine head"; it's the name of the headdress for women of Douarnenez and, by extension those same women.

There is one thing, though. Because of the time/place the book is set in (Brittany, 1920s) the book occasionally uses Breton -- the dominant language in that era/area -- to transcribe the exact words of slogans, songs, announcements, etc. Now. I speak a little Breton. A very little Breton, but enough to know that "Pemp real a vo" did not translate directly to "twenty-five sous per hour" -- "pemp" means five, not twenty-five. It bugged me enough that I eventually went and got my Breton-French dictionnary: a "real" is worth five sous. A literal translation would be "Five five-sous we'll get" (the "per hour" is implied).

There was another moment where I also had to fetch the dictionnary because I got tripped up by sentence structure in the Breton vs the French translation. So I would appreciate literal translations as well as accurate ones -- though possibly this is mostly because or where my language skills are: were I better or worse, I'm not sure I would have cared or noticed.

What is your preference for in-text translations? Literal, accurate, both? A secret other option?

Is it too hot (hot damn) and you would like a break? You would, in fact, not mind if you got so cold your teeth chattered? Consider: PLATELETS DONATION!

They take the blood out, they spin it around, they put it back in!

Not really a snowflake challenge entry

Leech, by Hiron Ennes

Bye 2025

Short TV show review: Andor

Bibliographies for fiction

A(o3)lphabet

Is there an Ennead I don't know about?

FUCKING CLOWN COUNTRY

Aten't dead

Oh hey I can make polls!

My Khepri amulet is in my other pants

Grump grump

Katabasis

Robot > Me

I've just finished s1e6

Insight, or something

It's Alive!

A sweaty sausage

Additional literal translations, yes or no?

Innovative cooling

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