Dyce's Fiction

[dycefic]

Information Post

Just to answer a few regular questions:

My Patreon can be found here: https://www.patreon.com/SarahBlackwellFiction

Patron benefits include getting stories a week earlier than on Tumblr, an exclusive story every month (for $5 and above) and personal updates. (I also respond to every comment on Patreon, which I can’t do on Tumblr)

My Kofi can be found here: https://ko-fi.com/dycewrites. No benefits except my eternal gratitude, but you’ll definitely have that!

Writing advice is here and here.

Current Anthology Update: Issues with our house (it’s being sold and our lease is up in the air) and my health and my mother’s health, are making editing tough. However, I’m working on it, the cover illustration is now done (and can be viewed by high tier patrons), and I hope to have pre-orders available soon. 

EDIT: 22 Aug ‘21.

1. Yes, the anthology will be available worldwide. I am currently planning to go through Draft2Digital, which will allow me to make the collection available in both print and ebook through multiple channels, including Kobo and Amazon. 

2. Two readers have approached me about making recordings of some of my stories! They are Old Hunter JT (also a patreon supporter!❤ ) and The Campgrounds, both on Youtube. I was very excited about this, as I know audio is more accessible for some people, and I really hope you guys enjoy the stories. When I have time/energy, I’ll add youtube links to the specific story posts. 

[captorations]

love when characters have to have a domestication arc before you can even consider giving them a redemption arc

[fuckyeahsnackables]

[dycefic]

Look, when he stops pissing in corners and trying to show his affection with gifts of dead animals, then I'll address higher morality. No, wait, first pants. Then higher morality.

[demaparbat-hp]

Slow mornings in Ba Sing Se.

I needed something soft today, so here's a little sketch for @nerdylizj's breathtaking fic Forgetting is a kind of mercy.

[shadytail]

We also figured out—the hard way—that the ancients probably cut each layer of linen to the proper shape before gluing them together. For our first linothorax, we glued together 15 layers of linen to form a one centimeter-thick slab, and then tried to cut out the required shape. Large shears were defeated; bolt cutters failed. The only way we were ultimately able to cut the laminated linen slab was with an electric saw equipped with a blade for cutting metal. At least this confirmed our suspicion that linen armor would have been extremely tough. We also found out that linen stiffened with rabbit glue strikes dogs as in irresistibly tasty rabbit-flavored chew toy, and that our Labrador retriever should not be left alone with our research project.

[krakenartificer]

I love this in every way possible. What is it from? Where can I read more?

[blackcatphysics]

The pitfalls of experimental archaeology and puppies.

[shrewreadings]

link to source:

“Unraveling the Linothorax Mystery, or how Linen Armor Came to Dominate our Lives.”

https://jhupress.wordpress.com/2013/04/24/unraveling-the-linothorax-mystery-or-how-linen-armor-came-to-dominate-our-lives/

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

holy shit read the article. it’s short but wild

[mounmantaka]

We found that even more of a threat than rain was one’s own sweat on a hot day. So, yes, it does need waterproofing, both inside and out. We did a number of experiments along those lines, and found that rubbing a block of beeswax over all sides of the armor provided nice waterproofing. It also makes the armor smell nice! When you wear it for a couple hours, your own body heat softens the glue a bit and makes it conform to your body shape, so it is much more comfortable to wear than rigid types of armor. Our reconstructions weighed about 10 pounds–about one third the weight of bronze armor that would provide the same degree of protection.

Honey i gotta go to war… not to smell my bee armor or hang with the boys or anything no.. uhh we need to uh do war things?

[thefibrarchaeologist]

#i've definitely read this before and i've probably reblogged it before but like.#no one in this thread is mentioning that they actually shot someone with an actual arrow in this armor.#they were like 'we've got to test this in practice' and instead of getting a mannequin or something they had an actual person wear it.

They what?

[classicslesbianopinions]

from the article:

While all of this mayhem (both scientifically controlled and free-form) convinced us that our linothorax was ancient-battlefield-ready, we still felt compelled to try a real-life scenario, so Scott donned the armor and Greg shot him. And while we had confidence in our armor, our relief was still considerable when the arrowhead stuck and lodged in the armor’s outer layers, a safe distance away from flesh.

a good life-size mannequin is expensive but i guarantee it would've cost way less than they were spending on all that linen.

[dr-dendritic-trees]

Academics are just like that.

[doinkdoinkdonk]

via amauryguichon on instagram

[havingrevelations-deactivated20]

oh my god it’s laika day everyone drop what you’re doing… we honour a little dog who was sent up into space 65 years ago today. she was found as a three year old stray mongrel wandering the streets of moscow. her ability to endure hardy conditions got her chosen as the candidate for a journey she was never meant to survive. she passed away seven hours after liftoff. I hope she died dreaming of chasing rabbits up in the stars I love u laika forever and ever

[timelordlettuce]

Never forget, she was loved

She was not killed as an act of cruelty, or simply neglected. People cared about her, and the many space dogs who survived proves it

She was loved

[mckitterick]

[adastra-sf]

great ritual for honoring Laika's memory (from another thread)

[bogleech]

Mosquitoes actually are not replaceable in any ecosystem that naturally has them and that includes replacing them with any of the non biting species because these are the traits that make them so core to food webs:

Tiny

Can use every single pool of moisture to raise generations no matter how dirty and stagnant and low in oxygen

Can fly

Males get by on just sugars

Females take protein from larger animals to manufacture thousands more eggs

All these things combined allow thst ecosystem to make huge volumes of insects from conditions barren to most other macroscopic life. You might think there are other insects that seem to make huge massive swarms out of nothing but there's really nothing that hits all the same qualities *except other insects that also suck blood.*

It's the precise combo of being able to "prey" on things millions of times larger and breed in nothing but a few drops of filthy rainwater or the moisture in a rotten log. That's the most efficient combination for anything that size to multiply that rapidly where nothing else can even survive, except of course the things that can move in because they eat them :)

[bogleech]

A lot of people ask "could they just not be itchy though?" and I regret to inform that isn't actually their doing, there's no evolutionary advantage to making you itchy. That's your own body detecting the intrusion of another creature's saliva into your skin, where it doesn't belong, and reacting with histamines.

If you've ever been bit hard enough by a cat, dog or even human you may notice a similar effect!

[kyanve]

I remember having a conversation with someone about my hummingbird banding volunteering and how the data went toward support for conservation efforts among other things.

They were all for that, and loved hummingbirds and supported it!

And made a quip about how the only thing they wanted to see extinct were mosquitoes and small biting insects/fruit flies.

40 to 60% of a hummingbird’s diet, and their main source of other nutrients, is small, soft bodied insects.

Including mosquitoes and fruit flies.

They had a massive struggle not wanting to accept that no fruit flies and mosquitoes = no hummingbirds.

[headspace-hotel]

Bluebirds also eat tons of mosquitoes!

[itznarcotic]

[tayne-dot-exe]

[spirantization]

I see some people in the notes thinking that this is the Death card, but it's not. It's much funnier. It's the Five of Cups, upright, which symbolizes like. Loss. Disappointment. Emotional Suffering. You thought you were going to get something and then you didn't. Even more hilarious than Fox News bringing in a tarot card reader for Trump in 2024 is that same tarot reader immediately flipping over a card that says LOSER.

[sherlock-on-a-case]

Like to charge, vote to cast, god I'm tired

[xerxesmon]

Maybe I DO believe in tarot...

[aknolan]

You know, in all the posts I've seen about how great Leverage is (which are the posts that got me to watch the show!) there's one part of it that doesn't really come up. They take down the bad guys, and that's really cool, and the characters are incredible, and that's also really cool.

What gets me the most though? Is the jobs where they make things better.

The jobs where they do still take down the bad guys, give them their due, stop the harm. But they also make things better.

Sometimes it's small things, like the Tap Out Job where the guy they help gets to run the boxing club going forward, keep his people safe. The checks they sometimes give at the end of an episode, with a suggestion of what to use it for, fall into this theme.

Slightly bigger, you get things like the Underground Job where the mine will have proper safety equipment now and an owner who will keep it that way. Or the Blue Line Job, which comes with a show of solidarity between the guys that fight each other on the ice - but not when it could kill one of them. Not once they know. And now they'll make sure no one faces that risk again.

On a personal level, there's the Carnival Job, where a father ends up connecting with his daughter again by the end.

And then there's the episode that got me thinking about this.

The Gimme A K Street Job.

For once, they're doing a (mostly) legal job. And the end goal is simple: get laws into place so teenage girls won't get hurt from the lack of safety regulations.

And they do it.

And going forward, no more teenage girls are going to break their bones because they landed on a mat that doesn't give anything except the illusion of protection.

Leverage is different from the typical crime solving show because of the robin hood angle, sure. But it's also different because every now and then, they don't just catch the bad guy. Every now and then, they make things better.

[ifightformyfriends]

[aconfusedsquirrelsstuff]

I came across this in a book I'm currently reading and it's really stuck in my mind and I wanted to share

'Sheep in Wolf's clothing' by Judith Duffey 1986

I don't know if anyone on here is going to be interested I'm this piece or anything but I wanted to share as it struck me an an amazing piece of textile art

[elodieunderglass]

@sliceofpearpie

[jtightpants]

[ralfmaximus]

Reblog to come play this stupid homemade board game we're all making.

[jarenka]

The worst thing about piece of children media becoming popular among adults is the fact that adults fucking hate that they are not the part of the audience.

They start to write stupid ass meta how all adults in said piece of media are bad because they allowed children to be in a dangerous situation.

They want big rational worldbuilding.

They want adult characters to have their own sideplots with their own adult problems.

Dudes, there are zero children who after reading a book about their peers saving the world said: "Meh, I wish adults in this book prevented children from going to this dangerous adventure, I would rather read how economics in this world works and also about this adult character's divorce".

[hal-1500]

[mildmayfoxe]

we developed powerful teeth and jaws to rend the flesh of the devious sourdough loaf

[beaft]

my mythology pet peeve is when someone describes a scenario in which they keep nearly getting something and then having it snatched away, and everyone's like "one must imagine sisyphus" no!!! one must imagine TANTALUS!!! sisyphus = being made to perform a pointless, aggravating task over and over without ever making any progress. tantalus = being offered a glorious reward only for it to vanish as soon as you reach for it. they are NOT the same

[dastardlydorito]

[moringmark]

[runcibility]

I liked this post, scrolled for like another minute before I went “SHIT FUCK SHIT” and scrolled back to reblog it

[quadriviummuse]

I always reblog this one when I see it on my dash. When someone posts their own art, writing, or music here they are really hoping you will share it.

[willgrahamscock]

the funniest part of my trans journey is being horrendously depressed about not having a penis and having no clue that women don’t feel this way

[willgrahamscock]

[willgrahamscock]

#damn I wouldn’t recover from that

I haven't