melannen: Commander Valentine of Alpha Squad Seven, a red-haired female Nick Fury in space, smoking contemplatively (Default)
melannen ([personal profile] melannen) wrote2012-01-04 10:18 am

blub.

I have been totally over-socialized since we got back to computer-land - [personal profile] stellar_dust is still home - she is staying for the SHA conference, so we are doing ALL THE THINGS while we have her. (and she has been too shy to contact any of the other dreamwidthers who are going to be there, so if you see this, SHA people, you should totally go find her and say hi) This means that in the past week there has been one all-day visit with cousins, one 24-hour New Years party, one trip to see Anglo-Saxon gold, one yuletide meetup (which she punked out on), and one Sherlock BBC watching party, plus old family friends over all day today, and (hopefully! although I'm kind of assuming there will be a natural disaster or something, given recent attempts) a fannish stitch'n'bitch in Baltimore this weekend.

I plan to spend the rest of January sitting at home working on a quilt and playing with computers, no fear.

Anyway, yuletide reveal: I didn't go to much effort to keep it secret, but I wrote

A Lesson in Natural History (4529 words) by [personal profile] melannen
Fandom: A Night in the Lonesome October - Roger Zelazny, Dream Cycle - H. P. Lovecraft
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jack/Jill, Graymalk&Snuff
Characters: Jill, Snuff, Graymalk, Growler, High Purring One, Gl'bgolyb, Iranon
Summary:

or, Through the Catflap of the Silver Key: in which Graymalk, the Witch's Cat, travels the Dreamlands, and meets a Tomcat, a Watchdog, an Old Wolf, and a Great Many Squirrels; there are two Carcases of Rats (both dead of replete old age), some Riddling, and much Nappery; and an Original Wormius Edition of the Book of Dead Names is most profanely Misused.

...which is an A Night in the Lonesome October fic that really pulls out a lot of the things related to Lovecraft's Dreamlands that were in the book, per [personal profile] lispeth's request and my inclination. (I am afraid though that the Purring One and Growler may have drawn at least as much from the Old Tom and Ponch, because I read ANitLO long before I read any Dreamlands and I already had their characters set in my mind...) It also throws in some random bits of Homestuck mostly because I madly wish that Homestuck fandom would do more with the Lovecraftian elements (does the average Homestuck fan even know who Lovecraft is?)



And then the other one:

Not Made For Any Man: (the moon's last quarter) (17001 words) by faviconmelannen
Fandom: Blossom Culp Series - Richard Peck, A Night in the Lonesome October - Roger Zelazny, Indiana Jones Series, Princess and the Frog (2009), Mary Russell - Laurie R. King, Tarzan - Edgar Rice Burroughs, A Study in Emerald - Neil Gaiman, Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms, Cthulhu Mythos - H. P. Lovecraft
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Blossom Culp, Alexander Armsworth, Graymalk, Snuff, Marion Ravenwood, Original Snake Character, Prince Naveen, Manu the Monkey, Lady Jane Clayton, A Hive of Bees, Jill, Mary Russell, Tiana, Irene Adler
Summary:

Alexander Armsworth is home from college. Blossom Culp hasn't changed nearly as much as he might have hoped she had. A lot of strange visitors are in town, and a lot of strange mutterings. There will be a full moon this Halloween, and a small cat named Graymalk just said "Hello" to Alexander in the middle of the street.

When [personal profile] lispeth requested Blossom Culp, and also requested a Night in the Lonesome October story that told a different game with crossover characters from any fandom I wanted, I knew ... well, I knew I was getting exactly what I deserved, since I basically requested that last year. So I decided to try. I thought I would be able to write about 500 words for every day in October, and finish a short-ish sequel in the same format as the original in about 15,000 words. 17,000 words later, I was exactly 1/4 of the way through.

So I went ahead and put up what I had (it does come to a sort of an ending place, even if very little has been resolved yet) and I am going to try to push on to day 31 by next Yuletide. I have it all outlined, and the structure I borrowed from Zelazny's book actually made it very easy to write - I have it all set up in Scrivener so ANitLO is divided up, one chapter per day, and then I read his chapter to get in voice and get some idea of what I should be working on and where in the story I should be, and then go write the TNMFM chapter for the same day. So HOPING I will be able to finish it, although according to the outline there's some pretty difficult stuff coming up in the moon's first quarter.

And then, what I would really love, is for someone to offer to co-mod a Night in the Lonesome October journal RPG over the month of October, where all the players pick an appropriate crossover or original character, a place and year, and we play it out in real-time. But that's for the future!

Meanwhile, I had to read up on so much canon for this (eight different fandoms, I think, plus the one I haven't brought in to the story yet. Plus Captain America which I watched in between) that I really wanted to talk about but couldn't because YULETIDE, so I will have to work on some of that backlog later.



[I just answered all my comments on the yuletide stories (I think) and somebody left one where they complimented me on my "command of various cannons" and I wanted to reply, "Yes, I enjoy using them to shoot down ships" but decided that was not the appropriate tone, so you get it posted here instead. :P]
seekingferret: Two warning signs one above the other. 1) Falling Rocks. 2) Falling Rocs. (Default)

[personal profile] seekingferret 2012-01-04 10:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Meanwhile, I had to read up on so much canon for this (eight different fandoms, I think, plus the one I haven't brought in to the story yet. Plus Captain America which I watched in between) that I really wanted to talk about but couldn't because YULETIDE, so I will have to work on some of that backlog later.

I had that problem worse than usual this year, because I was writing music RPF, so I not only couldn't talk about the books I was reading, I couldn't talk about the music I was listening to either. That was rough.

[personal profile] coyotegestalt 2012-01-04 11:42 pm (UTC)(link)
If that RPG ever does come into being, I want in!

I've always thought it would be interesting to see them meet again in the 1920s,when I believe there's another Halloween Blue Moon due... allowing for an assortment of pulp-era characters to join in, or later characters set in the period.


(Although, admittedly, this may be partly fueled by my desire to see Phryne Fisher acerbically scold Jack for being so untidy.)

[personal profile] coyotegestalt 2012-01-06 11:27 am (UTC)(link)
One thing I should warn you about Kerry Greenwood's writing, especially her Corrinna Chapman series, but also the Phryne books: her descriptions of food are dangerously apt. Make sure you have some snacks around, or you'll find yourself trying to hold the book in one hand while attempting to assemble a sandwich with the other.
sara: S (Default)

[personal profile] sara 2012-01-05 12:25 am (UTC)(link)
Tell her if she sees me at SHAs to wave or something so she won't be embarrassed on Sunday about not having done it. *GRIN* I'll be there Friday and Saturday.

p.s. I am a tallish short-haired brunette and will probably be wearing a black t-shirt and my cordovan red leather jacket and carrying a green backpack with a State of Oregon badge on one side. I will also have a nametag on that will say "Sara" on it, but that's hardly distinctive. *GRIN*
Edited 2012-01-05 00:43 (UTC)
sara: S (Default)

[personal profile] sara 2012-01-06 06:42 am (UTC)(link)
Well, that's fair. *g*
stellar_dust: Stylized comic-book drawing of Scully at her laptop in the pilot. (Default)

[personal profile] stellar_dust 2012-01-06 12:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Ok! I have a red peacoat and orange backpack, wave if you see me!
sara: S (Default)

[personal profile] sara 2012-01-06 12:47 pm (UTC)(link)
My back is still tetchy so the backpack may stay home today (that will keep me from getting into too much trouble in the book room, at least) and it'll probably be gray pants and a black t-shirt.

I'm thinking the session on St. Mary's and the one on Route 301 plus misc. kibitzing this morning and something else this afternoon, I'm not sure yet.