Just a reminder that all the fanfic I read is on AO3 which stands for Archive Of Our Own. This is a project of OTW which stands for Organisation for Transformative Works. I used to be a volunteer admin and their views and policies are still very dear to my heart. If anyone wants to read my own fanfic contributions you can find them on https://archiveofourown.org/users/moth2fic – a hotch potch of multi-fandom stuff, short and long!
I have read some long (think short novel length) and absorbing fics this month. All highly recommended and you don’t really need to know much about SGA other than that it is sci fi involving colonising an alien city on an alien planet and the central team are John, Rodney, Teyla and Ronon (who replaces Aiden Ford after Season 1).
Turn into something beautiful by blackchaps***** SGA – not only is John a were-cougar, all feline shifters have the gene and will go to Atlantis… https://archiveofourown.org/works/626440
Turn the Tide by Brumeier***** SGA John is a merman and Rodney is tasked with trying to communicate. This was a re-read from ages ago but just as good second time around. https://archiveofourown.org/works/13785420
Checkmate ‘Verse by Bead***** SGA. John is turned into a cat for a month by an ancient artefact. Rodney looks after him. The story is told in short chapters a bit like sections of episodes. Some are from a feline pov… The whole story gave me warm fuzzy feelings and I liked the HEA for John and Rodney in the final chapter. https://archiveofourown.org/works/221898
Where the Brave Dare Not Go by Telesilla***** SGA – an AU so far from canon you could read it as an original work. John is a were-cougar (as in the story by blackchaps). Rodney is a biochemist researching ways to make were cycles easier. http://archiveofourown.org/works/26467
I was supposed to be reading through the Pros big bang stories but had signed up for SGA Secret Santa so was immersing myself in SGA fic instead. My gift fic is now finished and will appear on my site, linked above, when it’s posted on 23rd December) so I will revert to my normal random reading and might even get to the Pros fics – I do have them all downloaded. I can’t give teasers about my fic because it’s meant to be a secret, but as it’s an SGA Secret Santa it will clearly be SGA… And I’ve just realised there will be all the other Secret Santa fics to read…
I also read Small_Hobbit’s ficlets as they appear in my inbox (yes, I subscribe). The human and animal inhabitants of her inimitable version of Sherlock Holmes are producing a pantomime this year based on Noah… Hilarious. https://archiveofourown.org/works/35070046 For those of you who don’t yet know her work, there are voles and mice and ferrets and so on who interact with the humans… No sex, no violence, just lots of fun.
To Brumeier and Small_Hobbit who are friends on Dreamwidth where I crosspost this, a huge thank you for the hours of pleasure you have given me over the year!
Apples, possibly crabapples, spotted locally in November
The excellent.
I should perhaps point out that five stars usually go to things I would read again if I ever have time. That means crime stories and mysteries rarely figure at higher than four.
Unplanned Coda by Kaje Harper***** A lovely ending to the Hidden Wolves series. I’m sad to leave these guys and would happily read more adventures in the same ‘verse.
Dances Long Forgotten by Ruby Moone***** A gorgeous mm twist on a Heyer Regency trope with a 21st century romance framing the story with the hearing of the ghost music that pervades it.
The Lost Ship of the Tucker Rebellion by Marie Sexton***** Brilliant sci fi that ticked all my boxes. The focus is on identical twins Denver and Laramie who have a semi-telepathic connection. There is some romance (mm and mf), lots of world building, and a bit of space opera but not enough to overwhelm the story.
Wed to the Barbarian and The Barbarian’s Vow by Keira Andrews***** High fantasy romance in two volumes. Really gripping and I couldn’t stop reading. This has all the usual ‘tropes’ – huge rough strangers, pampered princes, arranged marriage, plots galore and some really exciting drama but it also manages to smile wryly at itself and ends up explaining that life is not a fairy tale and that people are complicated.
Fragile Magic by Sharon Ashwood***** A rare (for me) five star short story. Selena (half fey) rescues a gargoyle and then of course she needs a vet (enter werewolf Jake). Romance that sparkles and some terrific world building in a short piece. Will definitely look out for this author.
Unwrapping his heart by Vin George.**** At first I thought it was just a sweet and well written story of friends to lovers then the totally believable various family dramas lifted it into the four star class. Lovely.
Jack O’Lantern by Fiona Glass**** Suitably creepy Halloween story but I read it on Nov. 1st over coffee! Will bear re-reading next October!
The Left Hand of Dog by Si Clarke**** (also Dare vs the Doll) I wasn’t wild about the short but tried the novel and got hooked. Humour of the Pratchett/Adams kind and fascinating friendships with aliens. Plus, of course, the dog… I have since read the prequel, Stardust Wake, and that deserves four stars too. If you like quirky sci fi, these are for you.
Wolfy by Tia Fielding**** Delightful book about a shifter/human relationship. I wanted more. More about the other wolves and their partners, and how they met, etc. Meanwhile, it filled the gap left by Hidden Wolves.
Romantic Rescue by Blake Allwood**** Blake is an author who can always be trusted to provide three dimensional characters (including the minor ones) and locations. I thought at first that this was going to be merely a sweet romance but there was mystery and danger in plenty before the end. Exciting and satisfying.
Fox and Wolf by Julia Talbot**** (Apex Investigations 1) A group of varied shifters as a detective agency. A gorgeous quote that I have to share: What did you do when you shot a mean tiger and all the bears had crocodile goo on them? That about sums up the plot, too.
The very readable but not special.
The Dragon Next Door by Holly Day*** Sweet story about a guy who wants to get to know his new neighbour. Nicely written but I find I want more than romance from romance stories.
Every witch way by Dakota Chase*** Well written tale of a young witch forced into using her multiple powers. High school settings are not my thing, and even though Diva goes off to Salem to do research there is still a high school vibe. This is not a criticism of the book. It’s just my taste! I suspect older teens would really love it.
Innate Magic by Shannon Fay*** Well written and the magic was interesting, but there was a lot of gratuitous violence and the core romance between Paul and Tonya wasn’t particularly gripping.
Ship Whisperer by Valerie J Mikles*** Competent sci fi and recommended for anyone who likes space opera and lots of future tech. The main character was fascinating. You’ll note from my four and five star recommendations that I like sci fi but I prefer it to focus on people and places rather than battles.
Rewriting History by Alex Jane*** A pleasant story in the new Podlington Village Romance series in which various authors get to play in the Podlington sandpit. Well written but not terribly memorable though I will probably read others in the series. I was curious about the references to Ashington because I grew up just outside a town of that name but got the impression this was not it. Another example of romance that is just romance. Nothing wrong with that, but I want more.
Run for the roses by Elizabeth Noble*** Well written story set in the world of horse racing with a convoluted murder mystery at the centre of the plot. First in the Circles series and another couple look interesting.
Just like cats and dogs by BA Tortuga*** A lot of head hopping, sometimes mid-paragraph, had me confused. Nice concept (cat and dog shifters find romance) and an exciting story.
Elven Duty by Rhys Lawless*** Nice story – not sure whether to get sequel or not but as it’s on KU I probably will. (I also liked their Foxy Heart.)
And lastly, the definitely not recommended
Shift by Heather MacKinnon* I was furious because this was introduced as the first novel in a series but turned out to be just the first three chapters. Just as it was getting interesting (a young woman is mauled by a wolf on a hiking trail then rescued by a brother and sister who talk about their ‘pack’) it stopped and there was a suggestion about clicking to buy the next volume. Even if the volumes were free or in KU I would not be impressed and definitely won’t be following the series on principle. I don’t object to ‘tasters’ but the author/publisher should be upfront about what’s on offer.
Bump in the night by Meredith Spies * Book One of Medium at Large. Confusing and confused paranormal detective story. The characters are insufficiently differentiated so it’s hard to tell who’s narrating each chapter, and the crime that underpins the plot is not well explained. There is some poor writing, including overlong paragraphs with a spoken sentence at the end meaning the reader hasn’t a clue who’s talking or why. I won’t be reading any more and would suggest you don’t, either.
That’s enough for now and I’ll leave fanfic to a later post.
Autumn colours arrived late this year, were glorious for a short time then disappeared rapidly.
Midway through December and I have failed to keep any blog promises so far… I meant to provide a playlist of last year’s December music – family emergencies and family celebrations have conspired to prevent anything from happening. I also intended to provide some Christmas cooking advice and that may yet happen. Meanwhile, I have, later in the month, a holiday story ready and waiting, and will also link to my Secret Santa fanfic once it is posted.
For now, have some reviews of what I watched in November.
Shetland***** (BBC1/iPlayer) Case satisfactorily resolved. Plenty of personal angst for next season.
Keith Jarrett: The Art of Improvisation*****. (BBC4/iPlayer) Repeat of a film I missed first time around. Nice long interviews with Keith and other musicians. I kept thinking how wonderful it would have been to have similar footage on composers like Mozart (Keith’s favourite).
Wheel of Time***** (Amazon Prime) I was excited to see this – I read all the books then gave them to a friend. She has now started a discussion comm (reading/viewing) on Dreamwidth. There are flaws (as there are in the books) but I shall continue. This is Amazon but is a weekly programme. I ended up writing a very angry letter to The New Statesman re a review of episode 1 by a journalist who clearly had no idea about the fantasy genre. I do not usually write to editors…
City Homicide.*** (Amazon Prime). An Australian cop show set in Melbourne. I was hoping for something like Mystery Road. I watched one ep and only carried on to the second because it was a two ep case. Adequate mystery and solution but the detective team was boring.
The Harder They Fall (Netflix) No stars. This is an alternative Western and sounded interesting. I stopped watching and read while husband got to the end. Brilliant acting and direction and fascinating to see black actors in all the leading roles, but the plot was very thin and there was almost non-stop violence so not a film for me. A friend recced it and I will be wary of her recs in future.
Joanna Lumley and the Human Swan (itv hub) Joanna followed the journey of a woman paragliding round Great Britain. No stars. I sat through this (doing other things) because husband is a keen paraglider. I am frequently irritated by Joanna Lumley and on top of her style of presentation we had some fairly stupid commentary about climate change. Yes, cliffs are collapsing but they must always have done so or why would they be there? Worthy but could benefit from some serious editing. I admit I was already a bit upset at the notion of a programme featuring a guy who died in an accident whilst they were filming; we knew from the outset that it was dedicated to him and again, worthy but not something I was happy to watch.
This comes to you from a very snowy UK. The picture is from our garden and was in fact taken a few years ago but the scene today is exactly the same.
I thought I’d better post again before December. You may remember that last year I did a daily post of winter music. I will try to get a playlist of the music I recommended ready for your use but it might be a day or two because real life is quite busy at the moment.
I found daily posts quite hard so this year I’ll do some sporadic posts of seasonal cooking. Then I’ll have a seasonal story for you round about the middle of the month.
Meanwhile, I did a couple of memes I ‘stole’ from a friend (the writer smallhobbit).
1. Did you grow up with your parents together as a unit? Yes until I was sixteen, when my father died. From the age of nine I was at boarding school and only saw them in the holidays and when they visited, once a term. 2. Did you reach adulthood with four living grandparents?
No. My maternal grandfather died before I was born and my maternal grandmother died when I was five. My paternal grandmother died a few weeks after my father when I was sixteen and my paternal grandfather survived until I was twenty.
3. Is your extended family a close one or not? No. Nor is it very extended. My only uncle died before my mother did, in 2005. I have no first cousins but am still in touch with a second cousin and through her hear other news.
4. Does your family have a ‘black sheep’?
Not in recent history. My father’s surname derived from a lowland Scots group of border raiders, so once upon a time, who knows?
5. What is your first memory of a family member that is not your mother(s) or father(s)? We lived with my maternal grandmother until I was three and then when my father (a CoE vicar) got his own parish she moved to live with us. So she was part of my life all the time.
6. What was a skill you were proud to learn as a kid? Not sure I remember, but I do recall being pleased at being a good reader and at learning to read music (my grandmother taught me) at the same time as learning to read.
2. What’s something you used to be good at, but can’t do any more? PE – cartwheels etc… And singing. I used to be in a choir but I no longer have the same range.
3. What’s something you haven’t done in a long time, but you could pick it right back up again with some practice? Piano playing. I haven’t done any since I retired because for various reasons my piano is inaccessible.
4. What can you teach others to do? I was a teacher so all kinds of things including: understanding grammar; various maths skills; how to review or critique something; how poetry works; how to read music. In craft terms etc. tatting, reading music, various papercrafts.
5. What would you like to learn next? I would like to learn more skills with graphics programs.
Boring thrillers: a contradiction in terms? It’s something I’ve been promising to write about for a while now.
I like crime stories but I’m quite fussy about them. To begin with, I want to be in the position of the detective, amateur or professional, and I don’t appreciate being given the criminal’s pov, or some prologue that gives the solution away. I like being asked by the author to investigate alongside the detective and draw sensible conclusions then check them against the eventual ending. I like it when the author plays fair – no deus ex machina at the last minute and preferably no ‘well they were insane and nobody knew’. ( I read a couple like that recently.) I don’t like things that are too gruesome as we ‘watch’ though I don’t mind the investigation of gory crimes. Nor am I keen on really cosy mysteries, partly because I don’t often find them realistic; most investigation is done by professionals, either police or private detectives, not by amateurs.
Having said all that, I’m fairly careful about what I buy or borrow, and always read the blurb. I don’t read many reviews, in case of spoilers. I look at the first couple of pages and if an entire novel is clearly going to be in present tense I tend to turn away. Not a criticism because it’s clever and I know there are people who enjoy it – I’m just not one of them. It’s also a literary ‘trend’ and that’s something I don’t want in my genre reading.
However, recently I have read a number of thrillers that passed all those initial tests and then turned out to be totally uninspiring.
There are the police procedurals that are more about the procedure than the crime. I really think we can skip too much time explaining how a police station works. Even differences between different countries can be covered very briefly. Forensic science labs likewise. I want results and then the detective’s reactions to them.
Some stories have so many characters and so many threads introduced very early that my brain switches off. I have no objection to a cast of hundreds if they’re brought in gradually!
Then there are crime stories that are more about the detective than the crime. Yes, I want an interesting detective so that they come alive on the page and engage my sympathy, but I really don’t want chapter after chapter about their family or their problems till it detracts from the main plot.
That brings me to another kind of boring – boring detectives. I don’t necessarily want a superhero (in fact I don’t much like superheroes) or someone with so many quirks they aren’t real, but I do want them to stand out from the crowd. The same goes for their partner or sidekick. I’m happy with them finding romance – with each other or elsewhere – but again, it shouldn’t overwhelm the plot.
I love most Scandi-Noir on TV but have tried some Scandinavian novels and found them lacking. I think the actors and directors must bring extra life to the characters when books are used for series.
So when I give four or five stars to a crime story you’ll know it has passed all my tests. I’ll mention a few writers I love: Charlie Cochrane and RJ Scott both write mm romantic crime mysteries. KJ Charles does the same and includes magic. Phil Rickman’s Merrily Watkins series is wonderful, as is Ian Rankin’s Rebus. My comfort reading includes Lindsey Davis’ Roman detective Falco. There are others but this isn’t a critique or review post. It’s just to explain why sometimes in my reviews I talk about thrillers being boring.
And you know, when I invest time (and money) in a thriller, the last thing I want is for it to be boring!
Every October a writing community I belong to on Dreamwidth runs a monsterfest. The mods give a number of prompts and the members can write to those, rec appropriate things they’ve read or watched or just discuss the monster/legend in question. All the prompts concern fantasy creatures of one kind or another.
I don’t always write but this year I did and my contributions – all short ficlets – are now on AO3. At least one will be expanded and turned into a novella (or even a novel) eventually.
I find writing drabbles and ficlets to prompts a very good writing exercise. Everything has to be finished quickly, must stand alone and should be accessible to readers with no prior in-depth knowledge of the topic. That’s harder to achieve than it sounds.
Some members write fanfic responses. All mine are inspired by various fandoms but are not specific. The pieces reference well known legends, and none contain any sex or violence. The last paragraph leads back here, to the short story I gave you for Halloween.
You can follow the link to my contribution but if you like monsters I suggest you also check out the collection because there are a lot of good stories there from this and previous years.
A very photoshopped version of a photo of the big window arch in Bolton Abbey.
The highly recommended:
The Scarlet Dress by Louise Douglas***** An elegant mystery set on the Severn Estuary. Beautifully told and beautifully resolved. Old bones are found under a funfair that is being demolished. Not a police procedural but as the evidence unfolds the reader feels like a detective.
Stalked by Shadows, Marked by Shadows, Conventional Shadows (newsletter novella) and Possessed by Shadows by Lissa Kasey***** An exciting paranormal mm romance series set in New Orleans. The characters (including the minor ones) are beautifully realised and the ghosts and/or demons are interesting and chilling. I bought the first volume then signed up to the newsletter and read the other two novels on KU. I’m so glad somebody (forgotten who) recommended the first! This was my pre-Halloween reading and it was truly memorable.
The recommended:
The I Hate To Housekeep Book by Peg Bracken**** A re-read. This time around (I’ve read it at about 10 yearly intervals) I was struck by the quaintness of some of the things – hat wearing, using canned soup in dinner party recipes, husbands who are not involved in housekeeping, etc. But there are still some good ideas!
Love’s Heirloom by Blake Allwood**** A great sequel to Love’s Legacy – it was good to see more of the same characters. There was a spooky element too so it was perfect reading for Halloween. This author writes beautifully but like all of us has the occasional typo – I blame our word processor spell checks which don’t quite grasp homonyms. Anyway, I hope Blake won’t correct this one because it had me smiling all day: ‘Desolate planes interrupted by the occasional mountain.’ I’m delighted to see there’s a further volume in the Big Bend series.
Monster in the Maze by Fiona Glass**** is a delightful short story featuring a grand country mansion with extensive gardens (echoes of December Roses), a lord of the manor, a reliable gardener, and of course, a monster.
A Spell for Master Vervain by Lee Welch**** Another good short story. I almost wanted it to turn into a novel or at least a novella. A student with a crush on his tutor uses a spell to summon an incubus. What could possibly go wrong?
Island Detective by Sue Brown**** Sixth in the Isle of Wight series. Nice sense of place and an interesting cast of characters who form a group of families and friends. An interesting first case for Olaf’s new venture as a PI.
Fathers of the Bride by Marshall Thornton**** Funny and romantic story about a divorced gay couple planning their daughter’s wedding. I’m not usually ‘into’ humour as the focus of romance novels but this had me both laughing and hooked.
Torn by Louisa Mae*** Paranormal Halloween romance novella. Intriguing story but the constant tense switching made it hard for me to read. .
The Flat Tyre by Stella Shaw (Tom’s Tricks #1)*** Quite a nice introduction to a new rent boy series – a short story which didn’t really go far enough in character development. I might read more to see what happens. Well written and constructed.
The Hidden Girl and Other Stories by Ken Liu*** The first couple of stories in this well written sci fi collection were impressive but gradually all the tales seemed to merge into a long rant about modern society, extrapolating from current trends. One, at least, was more of a political debate disguised as a story rather than a story with an underlying political point to make. I like my sci fi to have a message but it shouldn’t overwhelm the fiction aspect.
Abandoned:
Her Perfect Family by Teresa Driscoll. If I don’t care who, why, how, etc. by p 36 I’m not going to. I think it was going to be supposed to be a thriller.
Fanfic
I got three birthday gift fics in October – all of them delightful!
Doin’ Okay (But Not Very Well) by Brumeier****https://archiveofourown.org/works/34142959 8720 words. SGA – Evan sees a murder. Probably sufficiently AU for the uninformed reader to enjoy though the cameo roles for other characters add to the interest.
A wildly photoshopped photograph (mine) of autumn trees.
Highly recommended:
Manhunt***** (itv hub) Martin Clunes in Season 2 of the drama based on real life police investigations.
Code of a killer***** (itv hub) Dramatised version of the first case to use DNA ‘fingerprinting’.
The Long Call***** (itv hub) Fascinating new detective series from Anne Cleeves who also wrote the novels that underpin Vera and Shetland (we’re watching the latest seasons). Martin Shaw appears in a very different role. The lead detective is gay in a perfectly ‘ordinary’ and uneventful gay marriage which I think adds to the series enormously, sending a clear message to viewers. The case, however, centres round his estranged family’s church, and his relationship with his mother comes into play.
Enjoyed:
Concert for George**** A concert given as a memorial for George Harrison, introduced by Ravi Shankar whose daughter Anushka conducted the backing orchestra and played sitar. A repeat from years ago but I didn’t see it first time around. I haven’t made a note of where this was shown but it might have been Sky Arts in which case for people like me who don’t subscribe to Sky there’s no catch up service.
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie**** Lovely story based on a true one about a gay teenager who wants to go to the school prom in a dress. However, it’s a musical and the music was less than memorable. I watched it on Amazon Prime.
What we do in the shadows**** (Shown on BBC). This is the NZ film that spawned the TV series (which I haven’t watched). Quirky and ‘different’ – vampires flat sharing in modern Wellington. Stand-offs with werewolves. Some echoes of Being Human. I won’t bother with the series because you can overdo some jokes but I enjoyed this for Halloween viewing.
Disappointing:
Jack the Giant Slayer*** Take some good actors (including Bill Nighy and Ewan McGregor), give them a rubbish script and poor direction plus cardboard scenery and make a kind of version of a fairy tale… Disappointing to say the least.
I wrote a story for Halloween. It’s about 6k long and it’s free. You can look along the tabs for the Free Stuff page or you can just follow the link here!
It’s a contemporary paranormal mm romance set in Northumberland National Park. Werewolves and ghosts against a background of heather!
My usual editor (m.a.naess) helped put right the bits I’d left in confusion. Many thanks to her! She is worth more than her weight in gold!
Then I had to get a WordPress chat person to sort out why I was failing to put the link on my page correctly. They ended up editing it for me and have left me with some study materials… I think WordPress, along with Facebook, Microsoft Office and other sites, now have so many bells and whistles it’s almost impossible for the ordinary home user to keep up!
Anyway, I’m glad I got this loaded in good time for the Halloween weekend. Enjoy!
I had a birthday recently. And no, I don’t share the date on social media because I believe that’s a first step to identity theft. My daughter brought a delicious coffee and walnut cake but I wanted to try to reproduce a childhood favourite and merge it with a Portuguese favourite. My mother called her version Hedgehog Cake, and the Portuguese sell theirs as Chocolate Salami. I consulted various recipes and ended up tweaking till I got this which was both easy and superb.
Fridge Cake
Really easy to make.
Ingredients:
Condensed milk. I used a ‘normal’ small tin which is about 375g. Make sure it’s condensed, not evaporated – they’re using similar tins.
Butter. I used half a block of salted butter. About 110 g or slightly more. (A normal block is 250g)
Chocolate. I used 2 bars of dark chocolate – about 100g each.
Biscuits. I used half a packet of Marie biscuits. Any plain biscuits would do, including digestive.
Mini marshmallows. A large handful.
Sultanas. A large handful.
Method:
Put the biscuits in a polythene bag and crush with a rolling pin (or a heavy bottle) – you don’t want small crumbs but check for big bits that haven’t broken up properly. Add the marshmallows and sultanas and shake the bag to mix.
Prepare a container. I used a loaf tin but a deep foil tray or a deep plastic box would do – it’s not going in the oven. Line it with foil. This is important. It’s not to protect the container, it’s to help get the cake out when it’s set. So it needs to line the base and long sides and hang over the top.
Do all this first so that everything’s ready when the melt mixure is done.
Put the condensed milk, the butter (cut into cubes) and the chocolate (broken into pieces) in a pan, preferably non-stick. Use a low to medium heat and stir constantly but slowly while everything is melting. It doesn’t take long.
Once it’s just a gooey brown mix, add the contents of the poly bag and stir again.
Pour into the foil lined container, using a spatula or spoon to get it all, smooth the top, and put in the fridge. At least overnight and preferably about 18 hours. My mother’s was quicker but she used a shallow tray.
Turn out onto a flat board using the foil to help. I used a small chopping board but the lid of a plastic box would also work. Keep covered in the fridge. Slice as needed. It sets even better as it keeps and will slice easily with a sharp knife.
My mother covered hers with a layer of melted chocolate which I think is OTT but it’s up to you and your tastebuds. The Portuguese use a sausage shape and coat it in gold or silver wrap which you peel off each slice as served.
Jay's World 