#philomytha

[black-bentley]

For the WIP meme - follows on? Not that I'm predictable about my favourite books or anything...

of course you're not ;)

so, you've definitely seen bits of this and I think I might have shared some of it in the WEJ discord :D it's a sort of alternate opening to Follows On, which grew out of an idea about EvS possibly singling out individual guardsmen by picking the ones who'd been doing as guardsmen have traditionally done to earn a bit of extra money... selling it in the park.

I can't say I had EvS/Ian Ross fic on my bingo card, but sometimes that's just how it goes /o\

Ginger and Bertie were out fetching coffee and sandwiches when the 'phone on Biggles's desk rang. After a brief conversation, in which he said little, he hung up, grimacing. Algy lit two cigarettes, handed one to Biggles, and waited. "That," Biggles said after a moment, "was Guardsman Ross, ringing from a call-box with some information he didn't care to share with me while his C.O. was in the room. Apparently, Hugh Macdonald had been… supplementing his income. The old-fashioned way." "Nice to know regimental traditions are being kept alive in the modern age," Algy observed drily. "I'm glad you find it funny," snapped Biggles. "For Pete's sake, keep your hair on. I'm guessing Macdonald wasn't the only one, and not the only culprit who's gone AWOL?" Biggles shook his head. "Then that must be how our old pal von Stalhein's singling them out," said Algy. From the disapproving expression on Biggles's face, he had arrived at the same conclusion, for all he looked as though he would have liked to contest it. "Picking the ones likely to be susceptible to his ignoble advances." Algy tried to keep the amusement out of his voice as best he could, but the idea of the stiff-necked Prussian engaging in furtive assignations behind bushes really was too ridiculous for words. "What about Ross?" he asked. "Has he been working overtime as well?" "He says not," replied Biggles. "Or at least not until Macdonald took off. Then he reckoned hooking up with von Stalhein was his best chance at tracking his friend down; but he had no way of contacting him and didn't even know what he looked like. So he went where Macdonald had gone, and made himself available." "And von Stalhein came calling." "So it seems," Biggles agreed grimly. At that point the others returned and, once their makeshift meal had been disposed of, Biggles filled them in on his most recent conversation with Ian Ross. Bertie shook his head in dismay, clearly finding the whole idea thoroughly distasteful. Algy could sympathise; he wasn't sure he wanted to think too closely about it himself. Ginger, on the other hand, looked mildly curious. Suddenly, Algy had a horrible feeling he knew exactly what Ginger was about to say, and wished he was close enough to kick him in the ankle. "D'you reckon they actually did it? Ross and von Stalhein?" Ginger asked, confirming Algy's fears. "Or would he have skipped the pleasantries and gone straight to desertion?"

Thanks for the ask! <333

[dotsayers]

Since bb has helpfully already take filth and ted scott, I am going to point hopefully at Biggles Meets The Family :-)

yay! this is what i usually refer to as the yugoslavia fic and has not been actively worked on in Months, but yesterday i realised that i could restructure it to include ginger and bertie and am now much more motivated to continue, so, fingers crossed 2025 is the year of frau lowenhardt

“Not always surprising, if he was in dense woodland or a mountainous region,” offered Biggles. “Even in Central Europe we have seen cases of men missing for months in a square mile of forest.”  “This was no such case,” said Frau Lowenhardt. “I have no real political skill, I am afraid. But my late husband was related to a man who now holds a position with the government, and so I was able to discover the truth of the matter. My brother is missing, certainly. But there is no effort to rescue him. He has been abandoned as an asset, and if he miraculously appears, he will be executed. It has been assumed that he was compromised on this mission, and in such cases there is no mercy given.” “No,” murmured Biggles. “No, there is not.” “If it was only this,” she continued, after a long moment. “I would accept it. My brother has been doing dangerous work his whole life. His death would be terrible, but I could mourn. But when I was told that my brother had been abandoned in such a way, my son was making his own plans. He listened to the call, and when he realised what had happened, he packed himself a backpack and when I awoke he had gone.” “To find your brother, I presume.”  “His note said as much.” Frau Lowenhardt rummaged in the handbag which hung from one thin shoulder. It was of old, cracked leather but to Biggles’ eye it looked as if it was of an expensive make. She extracted a sheet of lined paper, clearly torn from an exercise book. “Look at this.” Biggles accepted the note, unfolding it with careful motions. The writing was neat in a schoolboy-ish way, easy enough to read if with occasionally creative spelling. He scanned it quickly. The boy – Fritz, he saw from the valediction – made pains to soothe his mother’s worries, apparently in the sincere belief that he would be completely safe with the protection of his raincoat and an army knife left by his father. He was making for Zagreb, which he believed to be where his uncle was posted, and would write again once he could find a post-box. It was dated three weeks previously. “You have raised a very brave son, Frau Lowenhardt,” said Biggles.

[tanoraqui]

I feel like "stay up most of the night reading fanfiction just to feel alive" is not a thing I should be doing with my life

[sixth-light]

philomytha replied to your post: @philomytha asked for Peter and Nightingale in...

Thank you! He does clean up well, doesn’t he :-D (Reading with R4 on in the background with Tories squirming and writhing on James Naughtie’s hook, so doubly satisfying)

In case it’s not totally obvious, during the moment when Peter is having class anxiety about Nightingale’s opinion of his appearance, Nightingale’s inner monologue is something like “A+ WOULD BANG WAIT NO CAN’T THINK THAT FOCUS THOMAS FOCUS”

[black-bentley]

The book meme - 3, 12 and 14?

3. What were your top five books of the year?

Oh no, this is a hard one /o\ I'm not sure I can actually put these in any particular order, but here they are...

The Liar by Stephen Fry - one of my favourites of all time, I re-read it for about the hundredth time a couple of months ago and I still adore every word.

Temeraire by Naomi Novik - with huge thanks to you for the rec <333 I'm now completely obsessed with them.

The Masquerades of Spring by Ben Aaronovitch - I just love it completely, especially That Scene. You know the one I mean.

In Memoriam by Alice Winn - another re-read, this was probably my favourite book of last year and it's just so heart-wrenchingly lovely.

Aces Falling by Peter Hart - because I wouldn't be me if there were no aeroplane books on here ;)

12. Any books that disappointed you?

A few :( Winged Victory was a bit of a let-down, but I think that's mainly because I'd seen it being SO hyped as the definitive work of fiction on WWI aviation, and I'm just not sure I think it's as good as other people do. If Will Dean's The Last Passenger hadn't been a library book I'd probably have launched it across the room at the big reveal, it had a really promising opening but just didn't work for me. The Betrayal of Thomas True by AJ West is one of those books that on paper should have been right up my street, but I didn't really get on with it.

And you already know how I feel about Ace With One Eye (although that wasn't so much a disappointment as even worse than I expected) and Adrian Smith's biography of Mannock ;)

14. What books do you want to finish before the year is over?

I've only got a couple actively on the go at the moment, I'd like to finish Endurance by Alfred Lansing, and Ben McIntyre's Double Cross. And I should really get round to reading Winter's Gifts by Ben Aaronovitch so I can take it back to the library! /o\

Thank you for the asks! <333

[dotsayers]

Working through the Biggles characters and I need to be very predictable here - von Stalhein for the bingo?

also wavered on 'canon isn't real if i don't look at it'

[dotsayers]

11 and 24, please?

11. What fic was the most satisfying to finish writing?

oh man, there were a few fics this year which i was banging my head against the wall over! but i think the most satisfying to finish has to be my terror big bang fic, because i was terrified i'd have to default last minute and bring shame upon my family

24. What's something that surprised you while you were working on a fic? Did it change the story?

well presently i am working (slowly!) on my biggles-and-frau-lowenhardt team-up fic, and the thing that surprised me was learning a lot about the history of yugoslavian tourism in the 1950s. which helped the story enormously because i'd been scratching my head over how to get them to evs in the first place, and now i could just have them on a commercial flight! very excited to get back to this one in 2024, it's going to be Long and Involved

[dotsayers]

Oh, more fun! What about 2, a compelling argument for why your fave would never top or bottom? IAnd/or 17, there should be more of this type of fic/art?

thank you very much for sending some numbers, it's 11pm and i know that i won't have the bravery to answer this in the morning so here we go!

2: i've never found top/bottom arguments in fandom super compelling (possibly it's the ace spectrum in me) but i will give this the old college try!!

clearly worrals would never bottom. she is deeply invested in doing things Her Way or the High Way and if we're going by the traditional definition of top/bottom (nice dichotomy now what lies outside it etc etc) i really feel that she would struggle very hard with letting someone else take charge in bed. frecks is fine with this but sometimes has idle fantasies of pinning worrals down in bed and making her take a ten minute break from the exhausting job that is Being Worrals. bill finds it unbearably sexy and probably suggests pegging to worrals after they get married (if indeed they make it to the altar without him being damselled Again)

(i contemplated writing something about biggles here but i really don't think he would have a strong preference. as funny as the conversation he had with evs about it might be)

17: my position is that biggles fandom needs All The Art always, but especially lacking imo are good group shots of &co. and really just images of the main cast that aren't completely insane (looking at you, sontaran erich)

fic wise i think the interwar period is underserved! but i have no doubt fandom will redress the balance eventually (once my plans for world domination through biggling at last come to fruition)