Sunset and Spritz with a good fic

Hi. Pull up a chair and stay a while.

[estherlune]

[bajoop-sheeb]

PLEASE for the love of the universe read anti-colonial science fiction and fantasy written from marginalized perspectives. Y’all (you know who you are) are killing me. To see people praise books about empire written exclusively by white women and then turn around and say you don’t know who Octavia Butler is or that you haven’t read any NK Jemisin or that Babel was too heavy-handed just kills me! I’m not saying you HAVE to enjoy specific books but there is such an obvious pattern here

Some of y’all love marginalized stories but you don’t give a fuck about marginalized creators and characters, and it shows. Like damn

[spid3rgrrrl]

If anyone has any recommendations give them to me please!

[bajoop-sheeb]

Gladly! The pieces on this list aren’t limited to specifically anti-colonial science fiction and fantasy, but they do center related and relevant topics, themes, etc.

Anything by NK Jemisin. She is the best speculative fiction writer of her generation and probably the best speculative fiction writer alive. She is easily one of the best writers working right now, across all genres. That’s not hyperbole. She deserves all the hype.

Anything by Octavia Butler. She needs no introduction. Her short fiction is incredible; “Bloodchild” is one of the pieces that inspired me to write.

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon. Excellent. Just read it.

The Radiant Emperor duology by Shelley P. Chan. It broke my heart and it'll break yours.

Babel by RF Kuang. You’ve probably already heard of this book because Harper Voyager marketed the shit out of it and was right to do so. It’s very, very good. Kuang writes a compulsively readable story, that’s for sure.

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo.

So Long Been Dreaming: Post-Colonial Science Fiction and Fantasy (anthology) edited by Nalo Hopkinson.

Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora (anthology) edited by Nalo Hopkinson.

Severely underhyped books of assorted speculative genres:

The Blood Trials by NE Davenport. Given the current chokehold romantasy has on the public it’s insane to me that this book hasn’t sold a billion copies.

The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez. It’ll change you.

The Tiger’s Daughter by K. Arsenault Rivera.

The Lesson by Caldwell Turnbull.

Read widely. Read diversely. People of the Caucasian persuasion need to stop getting pissy when the story doesn’t immediately center them and they don’t automatically relate to everything the character says and does and is. Just let yourself get swept in the story—even if it touches on (gasp!) racism—and maybe, just maybe, it’ll reveal something to you.

Or maybe not! Marginalized sff authors do not have to and should not have to educate their readers. But if I see one more white person complain about how Black characters are fundamentally annoying because they complain too much I’m going to fling myself into the sun

Thanks for coming to my ted talk I didn’t want to do it but here I am

[wakandama2]

Oh! Please read EVERYTHING EVER WRITTEN by P. Djèlí Clark y'all! but start with this book first!

This is the epitome of Black Steampunk. It so refreshing to see science fiction written and just beautifully and authentic displaying of black culture(locations, language, practices, belie, ect) like black culture is extremely relevant and refreshingly written in this story. It even has some thrill of historical/ancestors revenge, along with messages of life and healing in it. It has all kinds of Black diaspora and queer rep in it too!

[memegetter]

try also the House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard x

[almightaylor]

Okay this: ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Bet he could also do this: ⬇️⬇️⬇️

[almightaylor]

Firstprince late night spontaneous date and it’s just alex and a guitar, lots of cuddles bc henry says he’s “cold” but really just wants alex in his space, deep talks, pizza and a half-assed charcuterie board, getting tipsy on white wine, stealing kisses off each other, henry getting crazily turned on by little filthy stuff that alex occasionally whispers in his ear, more cuddles, debating whether their theme song is can’t help falling in love or get low and alex argues “it depends on the mood baby” then henry rolling his eyes but kisses alex anyway, them trying to slow dance while humming and their tipsy ass falling over together, prolonged eye contact, sloppy kisses that gets too handsy until they both decide that it’s time to head to the bed

(i’m crying in the club rn)

[spock-shock]

I know "60s housewives who invented slash fanfiction" has taken on a life of its own as a phrase, but Kirk/Spock didn't really exist until the 70s and THOSE WOMEN HAD JOBS. They were teachers and librarians and bookkeepers and scientists and they damn well spent their own money going to conventions, printing zines, buying fanart and making fandom happen. Put some respect on their names.

[spock-shock]

Salute to our troops (70s careerwomen who put their hard-earned dollars into homemade gay erotica)

[mrsmarymorstan]

It was women with secretarial jobs doing a lot of the heavy lifting, if memory serves correctly.

They had training in type setting, could churn things out quickly, knew how to organise mailing lists, and had easy access to Expensive High Tech like photocopiers.

Boss make a dollar, she makes a dime. That's why she's printing Kirk X Spock zines on company time.

[myteavsricochet]

so achilles and patroclus when?

[petite-madame]

Twitter Artworks 2024

I don’t post everything on Tumblr, I tend to post more sketches/artworks on Twitter. Here is the list so far for 2024 if you are interested (I’ll update it throughout the year, it if I post something new ❤)

Art dump - John Watson. Two illustrations of John (one dealing with the loss of Sherlock after The Fall and one during his time in Afghanistan)

Illustration of Sherlock holding white flowers (done for the Twitter chain: "To get this >> I had to survive this")

Illustration of Sherlock wearing a T-shirt "That's what I do, I play violin and I know things" (posted on February 21st for "the 221 day" on Twitter)

If you want more:

Twitter Artworks 2022

Twitter Artworks 2023

[blackheartbiohazards]

➡️ Content warnings on fiction are a courtesy. 

➡️ Not every medium of fiction and storytelling has or is expected to have content warnings or extensive tagging.

➡️ Print novels do not traditionally warn for content in any way.

➡️ Until AO3 came along, fanfiction did not traditionally warn for content in any significant way.

➡️ An author is only obligated to warn for content to the degree mandated by the format they publish their fiction on.

➡️ Content warnings beyond the minimum are a courtesy, not an obligation.

➡️ 'Creator chose not to warn' is a valid tag that authors are allowed to use on AO3. It means there could be anything in there and you have accepted the risk. 'May contain peanuts!'

➡️ Writers are allowed to use 'Creator chose not to warn' for any reason, including to maintain surprise and avoid spoilers.

➡️ 'Creator chose not to warn' is not the same thing as 'no archive warnings apply'.

➡️ It is your responsibility to protect yourself and close a book, or hit the back button if you find something in fiction that you're reading that upsets you.

➡️ You are responsible for protecting yourself from fiction that causes you discomfort.

[jackwolfes]

thinking about that post of people assuming ao3 has an algorithm and also about how bonkers persistent the view is that ao3 is social media lite. like with startling regularity I get comments saying something along the lines of "it's probably weird to comment on a fic this old--" no it isn't!!!! this is an archive I am literally just assuming you searched for a selection of specific tags or sorted by kudos or looked back on my pseud or any other number of completely normal ways to use an archive site ?? kill the tiktok ghost in your brain and comment on old stuff it's NOT weird

[naryrising]

Guess how many people contact us regularly to ASK for us to have an algorithm, go ahead. Because it's many. And I always take a little bit of enjoyment in explaining that no, we're not going to build a system to recommend fics to you based on your kudos, because for one thing that would be extra work, and for another thing that would require us to be tracking and using a lot more of your data than we want to. We actually do not want to monitor that people who liked Fic A also liked Fic B, or that people who like the tag "butt plugs" might also enjoy the tag "anal fisting", or whatever other nonsense seems to be the expectation these days. I already know enough (more than I'd love, in a perfect world!) about people's reading habits, and I don't want to have that knowledge deployed via algorithms on the Archive just because someone really wants an automated conveyer belt of content being streamed directly into their feed based on us extrapolating from their most commonly used tags or their most frequently visited works or whatever.

(I also do not want to imagine how many people would contact us to yell at us the second they got a 'bad' recommended fic. "I can't believe that you recommended this to me, you monsters!")

Anyway here's my favourite sentence to include in my answers: "We hope instead that users will take control of their own experience using the Archive, and choose for themselves what works they wish to view or not view." Apparently a novel view in this day and age.

[sainamoonshine]

Good lord there are so few places left on the internet that function the way websites were originally supposed to work -- that is, a tool that shows me specifically the things I asked it to show me, with the unsaid but implicitly understood related concept that if I didn't ask to see something, I neither expect nor want it shoved at me. (There can be an option to see random things, but choosing to use that option is still something I need to choose, on purpose.)

Otherwise the website becomes a tool that does not do exactly and only what I asked it to do -- therefore, a defective tool. One that is not under my control and is not particularly useful to me, or fun to use, or even safe.

Like legit I've had people laugh at me for being upset that social media feeds no longer show me only the stuff of people I've followed. Most times it doesn't even show me that stuff at all, even mixed in with the "recommendations". Either I need to mega-super-follow them, or I need to block everyone else. Like, what the fuck. When did social media become opt-out. When did "follow" stop meaning "I would like to see this person's posts or the posts in this tag or the posts about this subject" ???

what the fuck is "follow" even supposed to mean, or to do, now??? If the button no longer serves a purpose, then at least be honest about it!

Anyway this is why AO3 is a place of solace because it's one of the only rare places left where I can open up a menu, choose an option, and then the websites does the thing I asked it to do and no other fuckery.

[spirantization]

I really deeply appreciate the storytelling craft that has gone into ensuring that David Tennant is the Doctor forever, and can appear at any time without requiring weird timeline shenanigans. This is fan service, yes, but I'm certain the #1 fan this is servicing is in fact David Tennant.

[gerardpilled]

sad reality of the fanfic-to-published work economy is that the weirdest people are willing to do it. that's why there's now hundreds of shitty no plot cishet hate-to-love enemies-to-lovers books that are ex reylo fanfic. and it's not even good. that's because the people who wrote book-quality steve/bucky and kirk/spock fic are too normal to think to themselves "i should get this porn published". they're too busy working in local government offices

[evanzbuck]

Alex moves to stand over him, looking down at that soft pink mouth. He feels himself standing at a very tall, very dangerous precipice, with no intention of backing away.

↳ for @nelsonnicholas @sunshinestrand

[lllemonsoda]

Happy new year!! Here is some sort of pride & prejudice firstprince <33

[havanasroses]

firstprince — what more can i say?, falsettos

[zmoknus]

you could say it's 2024, and nobody knows they're engaged!

🎉happy new year🎉

[meraki-yao]

If someone doesn't do something about this soon I think I'll go insane

I MEAN LOOK AT THIS. JUST LOOK AT THIS.

[swissmissficrecs]

Top 10 Sherlock fics by kudos in 2023

Top 10 fics completed in 2023 that garnered the most kudos on AO3. Excluded: chaptered "fics" that are actually collections of standalone ficlets and crossovers that are mostly about the other fandom. Fics that began posting earlier (in some cases, years earlier) obviously have the advantage of more time to rack up kudos. Kudo counts as of 2 Jan 2024.

1. 1,720 kudos: The Case of the Man Who Was Wanted by MyDearLadyDisdain (232K, M, Sherlock/Harry Potter) After an inexplicable case in Surrey, Sherlock is after the strangest criminal he's ever encountered: a mass murderer, that has eluded the authorities for almost 14 years. Unfortunately, Sherlock Holmes is the only one that can see right away that this Harry Potter character is completely innocent. And hang on, is that tea set floating?

2. 1,682 kudos: Shift by stopthat (48K, E, Johnlock) Sherlock is tired. John senses a shift.

3. 1,102 kudos: Ride On by Silvergirl (38K, E, Johnlock) After the disastrous reveal at the Landmark, John tells Sherlock there can be no excuse for what he’s done, and no forgiveness. Sherlock leaves London and starts a new life, and not even the British Government knows where. It’s up to John to track him down and make things right, with a trip around the world and a clue only John would recognize.

4. 851 kudos: Till Death Do Us Part (Not Yet, Not Yet) by Civilized_muppets (8K, T, Johnlock) In which Sherlock and John have been married for years, not that any member of the yard has ever heard of John, much less that Sherlock was married at all, until John is kidnapped from Afghanistan.

5. 797 kudos: The story of the Forgotten Wallet. by Headphones_on_the_Skull (25K, E, Johnlock) Just some dirty Alpha/Omega Johnlock porn.

6. 788 kudos: Nothing to Celebrate by DiscordantWords (30K, M, Johnlock) Sherlock Holmes is back from the dead. Things only get worse from there.

7. 726 kudos: A Tale of Two Soldiers by batslikepastel (14K, T, Johnlock, Jolto, Mystrade) It's Christmas, and Sherlock and John are finally flatmates again after the tumultuous events of the previous year. But a sudden revelation about John's sexuality and James Sholto's unexpected presence throw a wrench into Sherlock's plans, and his jealousy threatens to overwhelm him even as John remains blithely oblivious. Their relationship has reached a turning point, and the ball is in John's court now.

8. 671 kudos: Nightjet by khorazir (22K, M, Johnlock) Officially deceased for eighteen months and still looking for the last remainders of Moriarty’s criminal empire, an exhausted Sherlock boards a night train in Germany to bring him to his next hunting ground. Due to a mishap with the sleeper cars, he is forced to share a compartment with a stranger – who turns out to be not quite as strange as Sherlock thought. The universe isn’t lazy, after all …

9. 646 kudos: Our Love Keeps the Things It Finds by her_ladyships_soap (25K, T, Mystrade) Everyone has a soulmate. Everyone. It's simple human biology. Over the course of every person's life, they develop tattoos of the things their soulmate loves most. Though he has always disliked the concept, Mycroft Holmes is painted from head to toe with dozens of brightly-coloured tattoos. Greg Lestrade, once-firm believer and hopeless romantic, has just nine. They are all quietly sophisticated, sketched in smooth shades of black and grey and easy to hide. Neither of them has gained a tattoo in years. But when they both suddenly find new markings, things finally fall into place.

10. 636 kudos: In Fine Spirits by EventHorizon (189K, M, Mystrade, Johnlock) A very upscale bar/private club needs a bartender and scruffy, punky Greg Lestrade is certain he has the right skills (and needs the job), so walks in to apply in person. He didn't realize that someone else he knew works there, also. Though… 'knew' probably isn't the proper term for a one-night stand where you didn't even learn their name during the fun…

[khorazir]

Whoa, this is a surprise. I never expected any of my stories to show up in a ‘Most Kudos’ list. Thank you so much, folks.