353 | books, Pokémon Shield, and a fic rec
29 March 2026 07:40 pm► Time for my unofficial weekly Pokémon Shield update! I haven’t gotten too far since last update—since then, I’ve beaten the third gym, went around catching a few Pokémon, and now I’m on the road towards the fourth gym. More thoughts in bullet-point form below! ( beneath the cut )
► I have made no progress on Ghost Game, but I do come to you with a completely unrelated fic rec! I’ve spent a little over a week devouring this during my commutes, lunchbreaks, and illicit bedtime reading sessions, and absolutely adored it. The characters felt so vivid and human, and I’m struck by how, despite its length, it never dragged for me, always remaining engaging. The author absolutely ended it at the right point, but at the same time, a part of me felt like I could have continued on reading about Ursula’s life forever and ever. Very good, very satisfying.
The Winter of Widows (ASOIAF, OFC & Historical Ensemble, 583K)
When she awoke to a new life in Westeros, Ursula Mires nearly did the smart thing. Only a year away from becoming sworn to the Faith as a septa and being free to live in relative comfort and safety in one of the more prestigious Reach cloisters, she was content with her lot in life. Her advice, slowly fed to her father over many years, had enabled her family to survive the Dance and rise in station. House Mires had its legacy secured, until tragedy struck early that winter. Now Ursula is heir to a floundering House she does not want, in a war-torn land that she must drag out of the mud. Many ladies are in her position in what maesters would later call ‘the winter of widows’.
Only Ursula knows what is coming next, and she’s not sure if her house will survive it.
Birdfeeding
29 March 2026 12:41 pmI fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches. A flock of blackbirds is flying around and singing.
I put out water for the birds.
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[ SECRET POST #7023 ]
29 March 2026 12:39 pm⌈ Secret Post #7023 ⌋
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
01.

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Notes:
Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 30 secrets from Secret Submission Post #1003.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.
A week in Paris
29 March 2026 06:31 pmBeing dragged reluctantly into the modern world, I ( tried using public transit via smartphone ticketing. )
For me, Paris tourism is typically some combination of walking and Métro around central Paris visiting various attractions and just taking in the environment. We hadn't prebooked much so we had some freedom to go as our whims and increasingly aching bodies would take us. The weather was generally good, I consider us lucky. We kept sufficiently on the beaten tourist path that I scarcely had to ( attempt to speak French. )
The gardens varied rather. Many of them seemed to be wide, dusty, pale gravel paths, lawns, conical shrubs, cuboid trees, statues, hedges with right angles, etc. We wandered through the Jardin des Plantes which at least had flowers, a variety of rather well-grown ones indeed, though no fewer right angles. I think the Japanese might be rather better at the kind of garden I like.
Paris has a considerable abundance of publically accessible magnificent buildings that I enjoy seeing and being inside. ( I enjoyed a few of the museums. )
In this visit, we did not ( eat out at fancy restaurants. )
Last night's return flight was from Charles de Gaulle into Edinburgh so we took our usual commuting route, the train into Queen Street, as part of our journey back home to Glasgow.
Product Review: Miss Jones Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
29 March 2026 09:30 amThe cookie lumps don't spread on their own in the oven, so I flattened them with a spatula after about ten minutes and then let them cook about four minutes longer. They bake up chewy on the edges and nice and gooey on the inside.
I have other DIY doughs I like better, but this is a decent vegan paleo chocolate chip cookie. Miss Jones also has a keto version. I found these at my fancy local natural grocery store.
Current Ingredients: Grain-Free Flour Blend (almond, tapioca, arrowroot), Coconut Sugar, Chocolate Chips (unsweetened chocolate, chocolate liquor, cane sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanilla), Coconut Oil, Water, Coconut Flour, Vanilla Flavor, Salt, Baking Soda, Cream of Tartar.
Gaming
29 March 2026 11:13 amguess I can get where they're coming from, but I don't think the current video game industry crash feels, specifically, "crashier." It feels worse and bigger, most definitely, which is what they meant, I'm sure, but it doesn't really feel much like an actual "crash" at all, at least not in the usual sense of such things.
This discussion post links to the original article about problems in the video game industry.
Nominations Guidelines - Spring 2026
29 March 2026 12:09 pmImportant Reminders
- All character nominations should be disambiguated, for example: Steve Rogers (Captain America (Movies)). Not doing this slows the approval process significantly, so please disambiguate! Characters may be nominated in any/every fandom in which they appear.
- We will not approve broad writer's-choice character nominations (e.g., "Creator's Choice of Demon" or "Any Star Trek Captain"). This is because it requires the mods to have fandom-specific knowledge when checking that gifts are for a requested character during approvals. Instead, please nominate specific characters.
For example, we would not approve "Creator's Choice of Jedi" under Star Wars because it'd require the mods to know/find out which individual characters in a gift are Jedi or not. Instead, we'd ask you to nominate specific Jedi characters. The only fandoms where such broad nominations are permitted are the "Creator's Choice" fandoms (e.g., "Female Character"), since by their nature, character nominations cannot be specific.
- You may nominate up to 10 fandoms with up to 10 characters each.
- Both umbrella fandoms and sub-fandoms are allowed. For instance, you may nominate under Marvel Cinematic Universe or Star Wars - All Media Types. You may also nominate under sub-fandoms such as Thor (Movies) or Star Wars Original Trilogy.
Please remember that if you request Any for an umbrella fandom, you will be requesting any character who appears in any of the fandoms below the umbrella - NOT just characters in the tagset. So if you plan to request Any, you may want to request under a specific sub-fandom rather than the umbrella.
- RPF is allowed. Nominated RPF characters must be famous in their own right, and must be 18+ for modern RPF.
- Crossovers are allowed. Crossover fandoms should be nominated as Fandom A/Fandom B. Character nominations for crossovers should be nominated as Character's Name (Fandom A/Fandom B). For example, if nominating Luke Skywalker for a Narnia/Star Wars crossover, the fandom would be nominated as Chronicles of Narnia/Star Wars, while the character would be nominated as Luke Skywalker (Narnia/Star Wars).
- Recursive fandoms are allowed. The required format is Recursive: Fic/Series title - Creator. Recursive fandoms may be nominated under two circumstances: 1. the creator has posted a blanket permission statement, 2. you are the creator. In either case, please contact us when nominating so that we have the pertinent permissions. Characters nominated under recursive fandoms should be disambiguated with the title of the recursive fandom.
- Since we will be re-using the tagset all year, recursive fandoms will be removed on an as-needed basis between rounds (only if a blanket permission statement comes down, or the creator asks for it to be removed).
- Original Works are allowed. When nominating characters, please disambiguate with (Original Work). If an original character's gender is important to you, please specify it in your nomination. An example nomination: Original Nonbinary Character (Original Work)
- Original characters may also be nominated in existing fandoms. When nominating an original character within an existing fandom, please disambiguate with the name of the fandom. If an original character's gender is important to you, please specify it in your nomination. An example nomination: Original Anbu Character (Naruto)
- Objects/concepts/etc. may be nominated in the character slot for any canon in which they appear. For Original Works, you can make some up if you would like. Some example nominations: Cursed Hat (What We Do in the Shadows (TV)), Magic Mirror (Original Work)
April Game/Drama CD/etc To-Do
29 March 2026 09:58 amAvatar:

A3!/Entertainment Industry
Skill: Move 2 extra tiles (trap tile if Even)
Roll #1:
A 2, prompt: mystery/crime element - Buddy Mission BOND. Using skill as well.
Roll #2:
A 5, prompt: voice drama - Paradox Live.
Roll #3:
A 3, prompt: academy - Tokyo Debunker.
Roll #4:
An 8, prompt: European style - NU: Carnival. Pretty sure this counts.
Roll #5:
A 12, prompt: Mood. Let's do another Wuthering Waves quest.
Roll #6:
A 10 and the end, that went smoothly! Reward, uhh should I try 18TRIP? I don't know what genre it is, I think there's music?
[Mystery/Crime] Buddy Mission BOND
[Music/Voice Drama] Paradox Live
[SPN/School] Tokyo Debunker
[BL/Fantasy] NU: carnival
[Fantasy] Wuthering Waves
[Mobile Game] 18TRIP
x3 mobile games, x1 voice/music drama, x2 game
Blood Drive pinch hits - due March 11
29 March 2026 04:40 pmEvent links: rules, collection
Pinch hit link: prompts spreadsheet (look at the Pinch hits tab)
Due date: 11/04/2026 23:55 UTC
Minimum: 300 words for fic, no minimum for art
Blood Drive is an event to encourage blood donations and other similar acts. Gifts must fit a prompt. To claim a prompt, use the claiming form.
Pinch hit 1
Prompt 8: fic - Black Butler | Kuroshitsuji
Prompt 70: fic - Terrifier (Movies - Leone)
Prompt 81: fic - Supernatural (TV 2005)
Prompt 87: art - Terrifier (Movies - Leone)
Prompt 88: art - Black Butler | Kuroshitsuji
Pinch hit 4
Prompt 33: fic - Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Prompt 80: art - Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Prompt 83: fic - Severance (TV)
Prompt 84: fic - World of Warcraft
Prompt 85: fic - Death Note (Anime & Manga)
2605 / Fic - The Pitt
29 March 2026 10:14 amThe Pitt | Cassie, Gen | ~1700 words | Episode fic for 2.12. Thanks to
(Also on AO3)
( Maybe if Cassie cried, she'd feel better. )
AMA: What’s Your Favorite Duck Prints Press Story?
29 March 2026 09:53 am(Video ID: a white person with short reddish hair, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, sits before a bookshelf and talks. /end ID)
Transcript: So, my next question that I’m answering is, do you have a favorite story, short or otherwise, that you’ve come across through your publishing work?
I’m interpreting that to mean, of the things we’ve published, what I personally liked the best?
Now, obviously, I don’t play favorites as an editor as a publisher. Everybody’s stuff is awesome. I wouldn’t be publishing it if I didn’t think it was awesome. Flip side, I’m still a person. I still have preferences. In general, I tend to prefer mlm/Achillean stuff. I think that – I sort of was scanning through everything I’ve read for the Press.
I think my personal favorite is probably one of the short stories in He Bears the Cape of Stars. Which it – it was – I think the author is Julia Perroni, and it was about, um, a mask maker and tailor and craftsman and the lord who always came to them to have their masks made. And it had a sort of Regency historical vibe, and it was just. That’s the kind of thing I like to read. I really just love stories like that. So I think if I have to pick one favorite, that’s the one that was, like, near and dear to my heart.
It was actually funny, because somebody – I think it – somebody else who read it was like, I didn’t like the ones that were the most, like, traditional, you know Regency romance type stuff, like that one! So, it really – that’s what taste really is. Somebody’s favorite is always gonna be what somebody else isn’t that into. But that story was really in my wheelhouse. I’d read a ton of stories just like that.
Bye!
(not in the recording: the story is Porcelain Skin by Julia Perroni in the anthology He Bears the Cape of Stars. There’s an excerpt here.)
Fic: Three more fills for 3 Sentence Ficathon 2026
29 March 2026 02:37 pmSay twenty-six, twenty-seven years later, Original fic, OCs, 76 words. Future fic. Second person POV. Written for the prompt ‘Any, Any, six-seven’ at the Three Sentence Ficathon 2026.
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Key change, Original fic, OC, 71 words. Written for the prompt ‘Any, any, life is a song’ at the Three Sentence Ficathon 2026.
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Indictment, Original fic, OCs. 111 words. Written for the prompt ‘My songs know what you did in the dark’ at the Three Sentence Ficathon 2026.
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Book Bingo: N2 | Historical (Fiction or Nonfiction) | The Gales of November
29 March 2026 09:38 am
Blurb:
For three decades following World War II, the Great Lakes overtook Europe as the epicenter of global economic strength. The region was the beating heart of the world economy, possessing all the power and prestige Silicon Valley does today. And no ship represented the apex of the American Century better than the 729-foot-long Edmund Fitzgerald—the biggest, best, and most profitable ship on the Lakes.
But on November 10, 1975, as the “storm of the century” threw 100 mile-per-hour winds and 50-foot waves on Lake Superior, the Mighty Fitz found itself at the worst possible place, at the worst possible time. When she sank, she took all 29 men onboard down with her, leaving the tragedy shrouded in mystery for a half century.
In The Gales of November, award-winning journalist John U. Bacon presents the definitive account of the disaster, drawing on more than 100 interviews with the families, friends, and former crewmates of those lost. Bacon explores the vital role Great Lakes shipping played in America’s economic boom, the uncommon lives the sailors led, the sinking’s most likely causes, and the heartbreaking aftermath for those left behind—"the wives, the sons, and the daughters,” as Gordon Lightfoot sang in his unforgettable ballad.
Focused on those directly affected by the tragedy, The Gales of November is both an emotional tribute to the lives lost and a propulsive, page-turning narrative history of America’s most-mourned maritime disaster.
I really enjoyed understanding the economics of Great Lakes shipping, the science of why November is the worst month on the Lakes (not say, January), and the detailed descriptions of what happened on November 9-10, 1975 on Lake Superior (funny how the other 4 lakes retain a form of their Indigenous names; I suppose English speakers didn't want to call it any variation of Gumee or Gami). The author spoke to many, many people with first-hand knowledge of the Fitz, including former crew members, family members of the lost crew, and various people on both ends of the journey who interacted with the Fitz and her crew.
It's amazing that the ultimate cause of the sinking remains a mystery. Weather, obviously, and lack of reliable data about the weather. But also, capitalism, I would say. There were three captains that sailed that day. One of them decided to hell with his bosses and parked his ship in Thunder Bay, even though he knew he would lose his 'on-time' bonus. The second captain and his ship, the Arthur Anderson, survived through pure luck. The third captain, Captain McSorley of the Edmund Fitzgerald, made every possible wrong decision he could have made due to not having the proper data about the storm and topography of Lake Superior.
There was a great deal of information about Gordon Lightfoot and how he came to write the song that has kept "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" in the public consciousness. According to reports, he became very close with the families of the crew.
The one criticism I would have about this book is that it is a little bit disorganized, with a lot of hopping back and forth in time. For instance, Lightfoot is brought up well before the chapters dealing with the sinking, with no indication that he was even aware of the Fitz before she sank. Other than that, I highly recommend it.
And as a footnote, now I know the difference between two 1970s ballads with very similar names: "Brandy" and "Mandy". The lyrics to "Brandy" are printed at the end of the book.
Steering the Craft Chapter 4: Repetition
29 March 2026 09:07 pmI decided to poke my writers block by getting back to this and immediately hit a thick wall of Fear of Failure even though that makes no sense with writing exercises. But I persisted!
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Further west than west
29 March 2026 01:26 pmOther than that, it's been spring cleaning — I cleaned all the external windows and windowsills, including clambering onto the kitchen roof in order to get at our upper floor bedroom windows — classes and swimming at the gym, and batch-cooking. Matthias and I also spent half an hour or so this morning planting wildflower seeds in the front and back garden raised beds, plus beetroot seeds in the vegetable beds. The other seeds that I started off in the growhouse — chives, cucumbers, rocket, salad greens, and spring onions — are coming along nicely, even though it's been cold.
Other good things: Pretty Lethal, the ridiculous black comedy/luridly violent action thriller involving a troupe of American ballet dancers stranded in a Hungarian forest en route to a competition in Budapest, and swept up into a deadly showdown between two rival gangs of goons who want to kill them, one of which is headed up by bitter ex-ballet dancer Uma Thurman (sporting an indeterminate Eastern European accent). The soundtrack is all scores from famous ballets, and all the action scenes involve a sort of intersection of martial arts and ballet. It's as silly as it sounds, and made for a great Saturday night film.
I finished up my Earthsea reread over lunch with The Other Wind, which I think I've only ever read once or twice, but which remains achingly beautiful, like a dragon's half-remembered flight across a sunset sky. I think the peak of the series is probably Tehanu, though, which always renders me awestruck. I have read the Earthsea short story collections at some point, but I don't own copies, so those will have to wait if I want the reread to be fully complete. For now, though, I plan to turn to one of the books from my stack of five from the public library, or possibly Amal El-Mohtar's new short story collection, which I'd preordered and was delivered to me last week.
I hope you've all been having similarly cosy weekends.
