Beyond the Roundels

Challenge #3: In your own space, tell us who, from one of your fandoms, would you most want to have dinner with (or tea, or a random afternoon visit), And why? This could be a creator, an actor, a costumer, a set designer, a director, a character, a composer, anybody! What would you talk about? What are you dying to know?

I'm not sure how much I'd want to have dinner or tea with anybody out of a fandom that I really liked, because it'd just be awkward. But if I could be one of the guests at the same time as them, well... I suppose, honestly, I'm going to give the same answer as before - James Maxwell. I just think he'd be interesting. I could ask him about adapting The Moonstone and The Count of Monte Cristo maybe; that'd be cool. (I mean, I assume that this meme allows for time travel when it comes to dead people, but even if not, I could have an encounter with his ghost, so I'm covered either way. ;-p)

Fictionally, probably the Doctor. Any of them. Not that in that case we'd get to eat the meal because there would inevitably be trouble in the middle in some shape or form. But the possibility would be a bit too hard to resist!

I was badly tempted by littleblackdressex earlier this year, but it was on at the same time as Just Married. (Basically, you request characters you love and get a surprise pairing with them, with a few DNWs/ specifications as to M/F/Any just to avoid too many unpleasant surprises, which is a lovely random and multishippy idea, and I do like random and multishipping.)

And now there's apparently Little Black Dress Flash, taking noms now (till end of sign-ups), sign-ups open tomorrow (in my time zone), I think. And I'm tempted again... and given how little writing I did last week, is that a plan? (I mean, I'm writing this because I don't feel up typing my ficlet just yet.) But otoh, I fail, I default, and it's only a 300 word minimum and all over pretty much within the week, so well out of the way of Yuletide yet.

And I've never done one of them flash exchanges, either...

Anyone else tempted?

So, I continue to feel rotten, even though the weather is giving me a break but hey. ANYWAY, to turn to something more cheerful than weather, illness, and certainly than current news, liadt is running the unconventionalcourtship fest again this summer! Sign-ups open now!

unconventionalcourtship is the ficathon where you take a Mills & Book/Harlequin/Avon type book blurb and then kill it with fanfic use it as inspiration for a fic, as shippy or not, or cracky or serious or not as you please.

It's an old school fest, so you just choose a prompt and sign up for a posting day some time in August and there you are. \o/

Anyway, I doubt I can do it (see above), but in addition to pointing you to it, I have generated some random summaries from the Unconventional Courtship Generator in case anyone is short of ideas. I'm sure these would make great crack fic. XD (On more sensible note, you can also customise it for your own fandoms, too, if you want help with inspiration.)

( a whole bevy of unholy pairings under here )

It's that time of the year again, or past it even. Last year's post is here.

( Annual AO3 Stats, possibly in part a self-fulfilling prophecy )

This one is going around again, and why not, given that icons are 100 x 100 pixel bundles of shiny and joy.

1. Comment to this entry with something silly and I will pick 3 of your icons/userpics.
2. Make an entry in your own journal (or just reply if you prefer) and talk about the icons I picked!

misbegotten chose these three, which are all ones I made:



This is Alfred Burke as Frank Marker in Public Eye from one of the five surviving episodes of S1-3. I loved the light and shadow in the original shot and thought it summed up his shabby outsider persona. The text (which, looking at it now, I think should be a handwriting font and rotated a little) is all made up of Frank-quotes:

"I'm a very small fish in this particular pond, but I've seen things, heard things about people - just people! - that would turn your stomach. But not mine, Mr Clemens, not mine. I do my work, I take my money and I move onto the next foul up, because there always is a next one. And don't think you're the first person who looked at me and wondered what sort of man does what I do. Do you want me to justify it? Go and ask the... undertaker - or the sewerman - or the professional soldier, or the dentist why he does it! Doesn't matter why, Mr Clemens. You need us."

"Have you heard about old heads on young shoulders? Well, you employ me, you get an old head. You get old shoulders, too, but then no-one's perfect."

"If I'm fool enough to take the money, I'll do the job."

"Or perhaps you've seen me sitting here on you way home, didn't like the look of my face and said to yourself, one of these days I'll go in and take a crack at it! Well, go on! Help yourself! I don't like it much more than you do!"

"As long as I don't get thumped and I do get paid!"

(I was very very intense about PE at the time, it still shows a bit. :lol:)



#2 is partly a fic_rush joke because of all the ninja penguins we had at one time. (THe hourly posts used to get more than a little silly!) It's actually from an old sitcom that my sister used to adore called On the Up, and it's something Sam Kelly's character says to scare off some children that are eyeing up the Rolls when he's being chauffeur.



#3 is Georgina Jones (Juliet Harmer) from Adam Adamant Lives! being bright and swinging-60s. "Zoinks!" is one of the things she says that Adam Adamant (an Edwardian adventurer) finds severely unladylike. But he likes her anyway, whatever he says. :D


calliopes_pen chose these three, which are, again, all made by me:



This is Margaret Lockwood from a publicity shot, and I use it for talking about Margaret Lockwood and then also for any old films. She icons well and it's simple but effective and pretty, I think.



A fairly straightforward icon of Suzanne Neve from UFO, I think, and I use it for her sometimes, but because she's also the fancast for Julia from my origfic, this is her looking particularly like Julia and I therefore use it a lot over at rainbowfic.




My Dracula icon! From the 1968 TV version, of course, with Denholm Elliott seducing Susan George. I am judging it, though. I love the crop, but I think I should maybe try to perk up the colouring or contrast a little.

swordzsnorcery also asked for Spaceships:

1. Liberator
2. The TARDIS
3. Star Bug (it's cute)

At this point, though I do like spaceships, I'm not sure I'm attached to any others in the same way?

4. Padme's ship in SW (it's really elegant, I like it)
5. Voyager, maybe? The Millennium Falcon? I don't know.


liadt asked Top 5 humorous reads? I read less humorous things generally, because it takes up a lot of energy to manage to read, even more to feel, and getting my sense of humour to work on top of that is never guaranteed. Anyway, moaning aside, these are therefore almost all very old favourites, but they all still make me smile:

1. The Truth - Terry Pratchett (Discworld, generally, but that's my favourite of the series, probably)
2. PG Wodehouse (there's no point specifying, almost any Wodehouse will do, although I have a particular soft spot for Blandings)
3. The Tough Guide to Fantasyland - Diana Wynne Jones
4. High Rising - Angela Thirkell (made me laugh even while ill; it must be good)
5. Sprig Muslin - Georgette Heyer (Heyer's usually more low-level amusing/witty, but she does have some very funny set-pieces in quite a few of her novels, and the bit where everyone finally catches up with Gareth, Hester, Amanda and Hildebrand (and all their lies) at the inn is a very good one, with a few other smaller funny bits in the run up.)


trobodora wanted Top 5 TV shows:

A tough choice - TV is my medium at the moment, and, in terms of fandom at least, always has been:

1. Doctor Who (despite everything)
2. Public Eye (I was tempted to make it #1 because it probably deserves it, and also I don't like DW at the minute, but I didn't.)
3. Sapphire & Steel
4. Blake's 7
5. Spooks | MI5

But it is very hard to narrow it down only to five, and not even by category.


For hamsterwoman - How about top 5 Babylon 5 characters

This question is a bit like the fruit one - #1 is G'kar, then everyone else, who I like pretty evenly. (More evenly than I like all non-banana fruit, though.) I shall try, however, but it is a bit arbitrary:

1. G'kar
2. Vir
3. Delenn
4. Londo
5. Susan

In other news, I just went for my walk round the block and was rather touched to see that in one of the streets in particular, people had been colouring pictures of rainbows and putting them on the windows with encouraging messages. ♥

el_staplador asked top five planets in Doctor Who

(Well, actually, they asked for top 5 fruits, but mainly anything to do with food is Complicated, but #1 is bananas in case anyone else was filled with the same burning fruit curiosity).

And I was trying to think about this, because New Who must have some good planets, but I think they mostly just have occasional pretty because they rarely have time for planetary world-building, so the only one I can really think of right now is the Rings of Akhaten where you got a feel for a culture and it was interesting. I'm sure there are others! My brain is like a sieve.)

1. Kaldor (we never even see it but it and its dangerously robot-dependent culture, decadence, art deco creepy robots, and snarky politicking is totally real and my fave. Bonus points because of Kaldor City)
2. Varos (again, we get a sense of its history as a prison colony, where it came from, and Etta and Arak's 'chorus' like function adds more. Not that I'd like to live there. I wouldn't want to live on Kaldor, but it'd be way better than Varos. Provided the robots weren't trying to kill you or Uvanov wasn't after your job or something).
3. Gallifrey (it's a stuffy old place, but pretty in New Who and we see a lot of it and who does not love the many Accessories of Rassilon? "I didn't know he was musical...")
4. The Rings of Akhaten
5. Inferno!Earth

(I am probably forgetting things here, but in my defence most DW classic planets are just a quarry again. The Doctor's always, like, "I'll take you to an amazing holiday planet!" and then you wind up in a quarry/Antarctica/Wales or you make it to the amazing holiday planet only to find it's being invaded. etc.)


lirazel asked for Top 5 Press Gang characters and while I'm sure Lynda would be totally okay with them all being Lynda, I shall not do that:

1. Lynda Day (I expect there probably is someone out there who might have a fave PG character who isn't Lynda Day, but not necessarily more than one and it certainly isn't me)
2. Kenny Phillips (so nice teddy bears sneer at him)
3. Colin Mathews (is Colin)
4. Spike Thomson (Lynda would be cross if we left him off)
5. Sam Black (I'm very sorry they couldn't get Gabrielle Anwar back for S3-5, even if Julie is also v good)


swordznsorcery asked B7 episodes:

1. Blake (I'm sorry, but yes!)
2. Star One
3. The Way Back
4. Rumours of Death
5. Orbit (Probably? At this point it gets tough)

Memed from tumblr, for distraction:

Ask me my top 5 of anything and I'll answer.

ETA: Preferably fannish!

Oh, this came back around, and who can resist a meme where everyone else gets to do the work?

1.Give me a list of two or more characters (same fandom, multiple fandoms, whatever, it's up to you, doesn't have to be a shared fandom, just whoever you want to write).

2.I'll use them to generate you 3 prompts from the Genremixer!

3. Go write tropey flashfic from any or all of them & link back here.

All profit with ficlets and drabbles! (Or if nothing else, amusing prompts to distract us all at the very least.) \o/

I wrote these up last weekend, ready to post in the week when I was too tired to post anything else, but, er, I was too tired. Never mind...


For persiflage_1 - 5. The brash, loud one, mid album:

I am really stuck as to what fic this would be, which is a good start to the meme. Do I write brash, loud stuff? Have I ever?

Maybe Six fic? He is brash, it's true so perhaps Biggest Bang in History (Six/Jack, although it is only a ficlet) or Mistaken (Six/Rose. Because someone bet me a fiver I couldn't do it, so I did.)

I'm not sure either of them really meet the description, though. Whatever fic it is should probably also go on forever, or feel like it.


8. The one only you like, you insular weirdo:

OTOH, there are so many candidates for this one, I don't know where to stop. I checked of the fully-fledged pieces hanging about in the low-end of the kudos range, and probably Loose Ends (or Five Times Pieces of Silver Changed Hands), which is actually pretty good, I think, but I can't really blame people for not wanting to read fic for The Power Game.

And even less people want to read my Level 7 David Collings slash, Exercise in Futility, either, what a shocker. (Weirdly the even more obscure, originally even less popular Children of the Damned Alfred Burke/Alan Badel slash one seems to have 4 whole kudos now and was four pages in. I must have complained about it in this sort of meme question before now, because I don't think anyone else cares about CotD. I mean, I only accidentally wrote it because I was so bored with the bits that didn't have Alfred Burke in that writing it in my head was how I made it through the film.)

Oh, oh, and in things that I feel people ought to like, because the fandom needed it is Midwinter Night, my Nina/Vincent/Jimmy huddling for warmth fic for Manhunt even if it is, to be fair, chiefly bickering. Unfortunately, the fandom consisted of just me again, so I have to appreciate its necessity by myself. And I do. ;-p


From el_staplador - 7. The bitter one about your ex/former manager/cat:

I've never written a bitter fic about an ex or cat or even a former manager but it is fair to say that while By the Book (hetswap origfic) is about a Librarian who summons a demon and they both get more than they bargained with end shippiness, it does also have government ministers who want to make budget cuts to libraries getting what they deserve among many other bits of ex-librarian bitterness. It was very cathartic! Hopefully also funny. People liked it. But, um, yes. :lol:


auroracloud - 9. The genre-hopping crossover hit:

So We Meet At Last. When it comes to popularity, my Miss Marple dusts Dracula ficlet is apparently what's going to be inscribed on my fannish tombstone.


astrogirl: 11. The anthemic final track:

I'd complain that this is a mean one to choose, except that I straight away chose it for theseatheseatheopensea, so what can I say? (It does sound ominous, though!)

I'm not entirely sure what kind of fic this should mean exactly, but going through them, I decided on instinct that maybe it could be Autumn Mourning (The Falling Leaves and Elephants Remix), a B7/DW crossover remix. With much death to cover the ominosity.


theseatheseatheopensea - 2. The obscure early one no one bought at the time:

I think all the really obscure ones have stayed un-bought. I went back to Teaspoon, but back then I used to just delete the unpopular ones. My oldest fic of my current writing incarnation is this Five/Tegan one, which isn't on AO3 because I think it'd need reworking, though.


4. The slushy one:

Oh, I don't think I've ever really done slushy. I mean, I would die of embarrassment or something. I think maybe I Shall But Love Thee After Death (Eight/Romana) was probably the lightest and shippiness thing I can think of, and it even has love poetry in it. But it's not slushy. ;-p


For hamsterwoman - 3. The "experimental" one, written when you were possibly on some substance:

There are rather a lot that could count as this, even though I have never written while under the influence of any other substance. Writing while really ill and befogged sometimes has the same effect, though, and probably about all my early S&S stuff would qualify - Awakenings, The Cornfield, A Tear the Sun Lets Fall?

And I did once, while very ill, write Kandyman fic which probably comes into some sort of special category of its own.


For john_amend_all - 10. The one where you tried to be "modern":

I have always tried to be fully modern when writing Adam Adamant Lives! even taking into account the sensibilities of the stranded Edwardian Adventurer, the first of which was a ficlet, Fancy Dress Escapade, which I wrote after about five minutes of watching it.

(That is totally what that question meant, right?)


For luthien - 1. The popular, catchy one:

So We Meet at Last again. I've written more popular ones, but pretty much all of those were for an exchange of some kind, and not some random ficlet written in five minutes for two comparatively obscure fandoms. But, hey.

For snowflake_challenge - Challenge #6: In your own space, make a list — anything between one and ten things is a sweet spot, but don't feel constrained by that! - of things that you wish existed in fandom or elsewhere, or that you'd like someone to make for you.

I mainly want more anything for or anyone into my ridiculous obscure old telly fandoms, especially the ones with James Maxwell in, but that is too unreasonable to ask.

So:

1. I have a Dear Author tag which contains all my previous exchange letters and therefore details of Things I Like, why, and in what ways I would like All the Fic. Especially if it has James Maxwell in, obviously or by stealth. :-D (Other things are good! I want All The Things when I'm not at my most tired.)

2. Comments on my fic. If I have Thoughts on things, that tends to become fic and because I am actually a lot more shy than I may appear while babbling on the internet, I have always used that as my prime way into talking to people and making friends, and given my shaky concentration, I'm bad at doing it from the other way round (although I hope to improve again soon).


But, funnily, I was about to post this, so I shall include it! I was going back through all my editions of the 15 Characters Meme (and the 12 Characters thing) and noting down things that really should exist, whether as a begging list or a reminder to self, I cannot say, but I think, given this topic, it should go right here! So:

3. All these things should totally exist somewhere, right?


a. The Master goes to Granny Weatherwax's used vehicle lot to purchase a vehicle. Long John Silver offers unsolicited advice about it.

b. Ace, Sapphire, and Cally spend the night in a haunted house.

c. Violet Crawley is made supreme ruler of the globe.

d. Rupert Giles & Violet Crawley get thrown back in time to 1066 in a freak accident. The fate of England rests on the shoulders of one or both of them.

e. Zen & Holly are stuck in a museum after closing hours (presumably ancient exhibits in a technology museum, long forgotten...)

f. Harry Pearce, Esme Weatherwax, and Jane Marple are alone in a house/other building of your choice. It is a dark and stormy night. There is a thunderous knock on the door followed by the sound of feet running away. When they open the door, there is a baby in a basket, and voila, one tiny child has three of the best and scariest godparents ever. Do not mess with them.

g. Charley Pollard and Clara Oswald go into business together

h. Ros Myers is catapulted into another dimension where they meet the good/evil mirror version of their friends. (With bonus debate as to whether this would therefore be the mirror dimension where everyone was fluffy and into kittens and then Ros would have to kill them all, or if Ruth would be a megalomaniac she needed to defeat.)

i. A Bill Potts/Kara Danvers College AU where Bill is teaching physics and passing on the wonders of the universe, Sam Vimes is teaching a criminology course that is turning out to be way more hands on and practical than the university was up for, Kara is teaching a journalism course and is really nervous about it and her first few lectures do not go well, since they involve public speaking. She keeps winding up in Bill's study for biscuits and sympathy. Bill is very helpful and is developing a serious crush. (It'd be adorable only with bonus Vimes. What's not to like?)

j. The Sixth Doctor and Zelena Mills have to fake a relationship.

k. Kara Danvers/Obi Wan-Kenobi, and/or this impressively pretty, explosive and effective sedoretu comprised of Dayna Mellanby & Kara Danvers, Kara Danvers/Bill Potts, Kara Danvers/Obi-Wan Kenobi, Dayna Mellanby/Bill Potts and Dayna Mellanby/Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Bill Potts & Obi-Wan Kenobi. It would involve a lot of handwaving, but is that not what fic is for?

l. Kara Danvers and the Sixth Doctor are entered in the Great British Bake-Off. (Optional: Orac is a guest judge and Servalan is trying to sabotage the whole thing.)

m. The Twelfth Doctor and Cora Mills are now buddy cops.

n. Twelve and Henry VII are running a coffee shop that lives off the attraction of Twelve's terrible customer service and Henry's excellent book-keeping. (I don't know what kind of AU it is, but I'd read it.)


(I'd like to point out that I did write the one where Donna Moss got locked in the wine cellar with Eight and One and the one where Henry VII and Ace went on a (kind of date; stuff blew up anyway), and more or less the Jenkins and Twelve find a stray kitten, if you substute 'baby winged horse' for kitten, so I have done my part, or some of it, anyway...)

End of year fanfic meme stolen from tumblr - give me a number and I'll answer the question. (#20 is making me laugh. I often wonder what the view looks like from a megafandom...)

1. favorite fic you wrote this year
2. least favorite fic you wrote this year
3. favorite line/scene you wrote this year
4. total number of words you wrote this year
5. most popular fic this year
6. least popular fic this year
7. longest completed fic you wrote this year
8. shortest completed fic you wrote this year
9. longest wip of the year
10. shortest wip of the year
11. fandom you enjoyed writing for the most this year
12. favorite character to write about this year
13. favorite writing song/artist/album of this year
14. a fic you didn’t expect to write
15. something you learned this year
16. fic(s) you completed this year
17. fics you’ll continue next year
18. current number of wips
19. any new fics to start next year
20. number of comments you haven’t read
21. most memorable comment/review
22. events you participated in this year
23. fics you wanted to write but didn’t
24. favorite fic you read this year
25. a fic you read this year you would recommend everyone read
26. number of favorites/bookmarks you made this year
27. favorite fanfic author of the year
28. longest fic you read this year
29. shortest fic you read this year
30. favorite fandom to read fic from this year

1. Commentfest with a fairy tale/fae theme spotted around and about: November Nymphs & Nixies.


2. I have my Yuletide assignment and it's a nice one, so fingers crossed, I can do something with it! (I haven't yet, though.)


3. In my Dracula giffing, I have now achieved Dracula (1958), although most of the gifs are still pending in my queue or hanging about in my drafts over at tumblr. In the meantime, have a Peter Cushing or two:

( Cut for a Van Helsing or two )


4. I also did these gifs from Spiders (2000) an SFF/Horror film starring a young Lana Parrilla as UFO-obsessed college reporter Marci Eyre. It promised to be terrible in exactly the right enjoyable way and it was. I would say have some gifs of a young, geeky Lana vs a giant mutant spider from space, but I'm sorry, I edited out the spider. I have priorities. They don't have eight legs.

( Cut for Lana Parrilla in glasses shooting things )

Other than that, I've been pretty tired and had an appointment, hence gifs. Tragically no James Maxwell ones, though. This year is very short on James Maxwell and it's an unfair thing, but OTOH, it had Lana vs a Giant Spider, so I suppose that is something.