Paste, paste, paste...

It seems that xiaohongshu has led me to a deep rabbit hole. lol

Watching: Thai GL

The Loyal Pin (2024) (mydramalist) (complete)
"Her Serene Highness Aninlaphat, or Princess Anin, and Mom Rajawongse Pilanthita, or Khunying Pin, have been close since they were young. When Princess Anin is fifteen, she must travel to England for her studies, separating the princess from her close friend Khunying Pin by a great distance. The distance, however, allows Anin to come to know herself, to know deep down how she's felt about Khunying Pin without question. Once she returns to Thailand, Princess Anin tries everything to get near to Khunying Pin where she can find the opportunity to confess her love. However, it seems to be an impossible task as Khunying Pin has been engaged to marry Khun Chai Kueakiat."

Us (2025) (mydramalist) (ongoing)
"Twenty-year-old Dokrak decides to take a gap year to find herself after finishing high school. She has a part-time job at a coffee shop in the gallery Art & Us. It's here that she crosses paths with twenty-two-year-old dentistry student Pam, who's a regular at the café, to hit the books. As she gets to know Pam, Dokrak develops a crush. When her brother, however, meets Pam, he falls for her at first sight. Kawi turns to Dokrak, asking her to play matchmaker. Because she loves him and wants to see him happy, Dokrak begins coaching him. As time goes on, however, she finds herself unable to ignore her growing feelings for Pam. Before she knows it, she's fully in love, and Pam is Kawi's girlfriend."

Reading: Baihe
Female General Eldest Princess by 请君莫笑 (Please Don’t Laugh) (trans. meltsmelts, ed. iceiclesified) (novelupdates) (complete)
"To live on in this turbulent world, to take revenge for her family, to seek justice for her entire village of a hundred and eighteen people who had their lives cut short, Lin Wanyue took the name of her younger twin brother Lin Feixing to enlist in the military, vowing to kill every single Hun under the sky. The Empress has passed into heaven, leaving the sixteen year old Eldest Princess and eight year old Crown Prince to depend on each other for survival. The other Seigniors who were older than the Crown Prince look upon the royal seat with ravenous eyes, the position of these two siblings are in a precarious situation."

Clear and muddy loss of love by 请君莫笑 (Please Don’t Laugh) (trans. meltsmelts) (novelupdates) (complete)
"A natural moat called the Luo river split the great land into two. Jing of the north, and Wei of the south.
One was the Prince of the grass plains who had no worries or sorrow. One was a lawful Princess who received exclusive favour of the Emperor. A war turned the Prince of the grass plains into an orphan. She who had laid dormant for ten years had originally planned to become a sycophantic official, to manipulate the enemy kingdom into chaos, but she was appointed as Fuma at the Chionglin banquet. Wait and see, how this debt of grudge from a fallen kingdom and devastated home will be settled."

Note: These two novels are likely to be taken down soon, once the official translated novels are published.

Listening to
Sunny Afro Latin House Mix at a Backyard New York Party | Tinzo (Book Club radio)

So...It's been a while. I was asked to share some recs by eneri, so here they are.

Devil Wears Prada, The
Gravity by janewestin (Miranda/Andy)
Andy is working as the managing editor of Cellular Function, a science journal, when Cassidy Priestley's article is submitted to her journal.

Take Me to the River by spacedmuch (Miranda/Andy)
"With her marriage now in ruins, Andy decides to return to New York to get some answers and hopefully a fresh start. However, things don't go entirely according to plan."

I think these publishing what if's are not new but are new to my recs. :)

Game of Thrones
For Fear Tonight Is All by silberias (Oberyn Martell/Ellaria Sand/Sansa Stark)
"Tyrion knew, as he gazed up at the dark skinned Martell man that this was perhaps his only chance to spirit Sansa out of King's Landing and away from his father's greedy fingers. Tywin Lannister would have married the girl himself if he felt he could have gotten away with it, and so Tyrion knew his own marriage was no protection to Ned Stark's daughter whatsoever.'Invite her, demand her, steal her--whatever you choose, Prince Oberyn, choose it soon. Else my lady wife shall break into more pieces than the stars.'"

Such an fascinating fork in the road, and the world building and pacing keeps it interesting.

Star Wars
landscape with a blur of conquerors by diasterisms (Rey/Kylo)
Rey finds her lost family when she finds an ancient Jedi artifact, and regains her place as Chume'da, the heir of a matriarch-led society. Heirs must marry, and marry well.

A novel-length story about finding lost family, arranged marriage tropes and interesting narratives and world building. This was the one work I kept thinking about as I watched the latest installment of the Star Wars movie franchise.

World of Warcraft
Last Resort by sniperct (Jaina Proudmoore/Sylvanas Windrunner)
"The war has not gone well for anyone. The Alliance has three months left before collapse. The Horde is not much better off. With neither victory or death as options, Sylvanas proposes an alternative. A treaty, to ease tensions and open borders, with a political hostage to ensure that both sides stay in line. A marriage with many political implications and Sylvanas would only accept one person. Jaina Proudmoore. And Jaina Proudmoore made for the perfect hostage. If the Alliance moves wrong, Jaina dies. The Horde attacks, and Jaina reduces Orgrimmar to a wisp of a memory in the minds of children. Of course, no one expected Sylvanas and Jaina to be anything more than uneasy partners with each other, least of all Sylvanas and Jaina..."

This was another memorable political marriage trope story that had some interesting tug and pulls.

*looks at lengthy 'to rec' list* Hmm. It's time, I think, to do some recs. I've also done a small update for the Dreamwidth F/F community list due to the influx of tumblr refugees.

Dragon Age
Transfigurations 12:1 by isyche (Leliana/Cassandra)
"Cassandra and Leliana have to ascend the Sunburst Throne together."

Interesting premise, good world building.
Game of Thrones

Keep the Bouquets, Throw Away the Grooms by Netgirl_y2k (Sansa/Margaery)
"The Lannisters meant it as an insult when they arranged the marriage of Sansa Stark to Margaery Tyrell. But is it truly an insult if nobody is insulted?"

The one fic that I think got the wheels turning for a lot of the authors for this pairing...

Those Who Wait by oddcoupler222 (Sansa/Margaery) (note: offline awaiting publication)
"Sansa's ideas for her life were actually fairly simple: finish graduate school and fall in love. In that order and certainly no rush, given that she was barely out of the closet, a little wary from past experiences, and completely hopeless at talking to women. Margaery's plan was much more concrete, with clear steps outlining her path to success and no time or inclination for romance. At least, not for years to come, until her career was well and truly established. Casual and discrete would be just fine with her until then. However, the universe - in the form of a friend and a dating website - has other plans for them."

This one had a fun premise, and the modern translation of the politicking generally came across well.

thoughts of pretty you and me by honey_wheeler (Sansa/various)
"Sansa has missed this, she’s missed soft touches and sweet pleasure and the company of women. She’s missed the heady feeling of power that could only be found in making someone tremble apart with her fingers and tongue."

This one was well written.

Hi. It's been a while...

I'm in the process of clearing up the old dead links from my archives (see cut below) and if you have links that I can use, please let me know.

Two things:

(1)I'm a little wary of linking to archives of locked or deleted journals however, as the author may have intended to erase them for good.
(2)If they've been published I'll link to it below.

( from the notables.... )

Been pretty busy lately IRL, but I'll just share my current tiny rarepair fandom for Femslash February. :D

Mamamoo (wikipedia), whose new album is coming out next week! Very talented group with very strong femslash vibes. lol

Favorite Songs and Covers
( Read more... )

Favorite femslashy Songs, featuring the ship that literally sails itself (MoonSun)
( Read more... )

The Ships
( Read more... )

I've been neglecting dreamwidth lately; I didn't really do a lot of fanfic reading in the past year (mostly due to geopolitics--it felt kind of weird to read about Cold War pairings when there's actual political tensions going on lol); instead I became more active on the r/babymetal and r/sakuragakuin sub-threads on reddit--which has been pretty unexpected. I even went to Japan to catch a concert. :) It's a completely different type of fandom (hey, it's music and idols! -_-;;) but fandom nonetheless; and the threads make it so much easier to keep up with conversations. Sorry, Tumblr; you're pretty but my attention span is zilch on your platform.

Also, if you haven't seen the awesomeness that is Dragon Age Inquisition do consider checking it out; I predict that quite a number of femslash fics will be based off of this one--mostly because some characters have no in-game options for F/F romance. :) I appreciate that. If you wanted to hear some witty (well--maybe snarky) conversation while checking out some of the gameplay I would recommend checking out Geek Remix's Let's Play of it. They're pretty good at figuring out what would feel like stale gameplay for the viewer and showcasing some of the more important dialogues and/or scenes. They dive right in after doing the character creation off screen. They did finish playing it, so I felt like it was a good time to share it. :D And here's their DA:I bingo card while you're at it.

Since I'm posting this I'll post some manga recs here too...



The only yuri manga that I've been quite excited about in the last few weeks have been Samba's Fluttering Feelings. It's so good, I wish she had an official English translation subscription so I can support her and subscribe to her updates. ^_^ There's 22 chapters out at the moment but I think this site has linked to only the first 5 (I think the fanpage has more). If you understand Korean, here's the official site for this series. [Update 25 June 2015: Someone created an overlay guide and visual guide on how to register and read the chapters on Comico itself!]

As for others...

5 Centimeters per Second by SHINKAI Makoto (artist: SEIKE Yukiko)
"A tale of two people, Tono Takaki and Shinohara Akari, who were close friends but gradually grow farther and farther apart as time moves on. They become separated because of their families yet continue to exchange contact in the form of letters. Yet as time continues to trudge on, their contact with one another begins to cease. Years pass and the rift between them grows ever larger. However, Takaki remembers the times they have shared together, but as life continues to unfold for him, he wonders if he would be given the chance to meet Akari again as the tale embarks on Takaki's realization of the world and people around him."

By the same creator of "Voices from a Distant Star;" it's very good. Prepare tissues for this one.

Real Clothes by MAKIMURA Satoru
Kinue is a saleswoman in the futon section of a department store. Despite her plain clothes and poor makeup, she ends up being transferred to the women’s clothing department, where she has to be trained by her extraordinarily fashionable boss.

Interesting.

If you didn't know, fancake, DW's fanfic reccing community, is covering femslash for it's theme for this period. Be sure to check them out if you haven't already. There's a maximum of 3 recs per person per day. I'm a little surprised but happy that the posts on that community have even become more active than even on pinboard. A lot of the recs are older, which is interesting.

Sadly I haven't really been reading enough lately to contribute any new recs (I've largely been watching Jesse Cox play Wolfenstein instead and lurking on r/babymetal).

I just came back from watching Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which opened yesterday. Went into it with medium expectations and was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. :) Go watch! :D

A Song of Ice and Fire / Game of Thrones
Pride and Pack by ghostrelic (Sansa Stark / Tywin Lannister AU, kudos to telanu)
"Tywin Lannister marries Sansa Stark himself, instead of giving her to Tyrion."

I was pleasantly surprised at the twists and turns this story had. The story structurally felt a little familiar (Snape/Hermione?, Lucius/Hermione?) and I was troubled by several of the sections--please read the trigger warnings as it does mention torture among other things--but it was a gripping read. For those who are new to this genre it's easier to take in if you've finished watching season 2 or later.

Avengers (No Winter Soldier spoilers)
A Widow's Tale by mhalachai (Stargate Atlantis x-over, AU)
This series starts with Steve revisiting Natasha's deep cover past as a Russian spy during the cold war, and deals with its consequences.

A very nice interweaving of the two different fandoms.

Give A Girl A Moment And She'll Take You For All You've Got and the sequel The Right Hand Knows Not by tielan
"Coulson had once made the observation that Darcy Lewis’ ability to beg, bribe, or bully people into her plans was almost a superpower in and of itself. Considering she was walking down a tattered Tribeca street with four women she either barely knew or didn’t socialise with for drinks on a Friday night, Maria could well believe it." The sequel has really awesome action sequences.

Speaking in Foreign Tongues by Rainne (Natasha/Kate Beckett, Castle x-over)
“Sometimes when I am bored, I go to Glechik Café in Little Odessa and pretend to be Muscovite.”

Interesting narrative.

Tomb Raider
Primer: Tetraninja's Tomb Raider Let's Play playlist for eneri and others who's never seen the awesome epic storyline for Yamatai. XD

Gathering Storms by zerrat (Lara Croft/Sam Nishimura)
"In the aftermath of Yamatai, Sam struggles to return to her normal life. Her emotions spinning wildly out of control, Sam finds herself unravelling as the fragments of Himiko's soul within her begin to consume everything that she is."

A nicely written action/adventure that follows the ending sequence of Tomb Raider.

Will be overseas for work so will not be able to respond to any comments for a while. 

Dear readers, may next year be better than all the years that come before it! :D

For this post I thought I'd share some fun shenanigans before Yuletide authors are revealed. :] [edit 5/1/2014: updated authors from anonymous]

Also, does anyone know if Bailey B has an official alternative archive for her works? Her website (the voyager collective) is down...

Reading
What makes a big femslash fandom? Alternately, what makes you interested in a fandom's femslash?
girlgay users chime in.

( Recs: Avengers (1), Kusheline's Legacy (1), Legally Blonde (1), RPF (2) (warning: adult, not work safe!) )