mrspollifax

1) It's been the kind of week where I drag out the Christmas writing playlist and start outlining Christmas fic BECAUSE. What do you mean it is only September? Bah. I don't care.

2) Also the kind of week where I spent a little time looking through the seriously way back archives on my hard drive and WHOA. I ended up lost somewhere in 2008 and those unfinished fics and bits and pieces of brainstorming are so bad they are hysterical. Every now and then I found a gem of a paragraph or three that made me go, "Oh hey! There is actually some hope for you, earlier me!!" But for the most part, just, bwahahahahaha.

3) I have temporarily abandoned my annual West Wing rewatch because it was only September and I had already watched two Thanksgiving episodes and two Christmas episodes (I skipped Noel) and that just didn't seem right. I realize this is totally in conflict with #1 above, but whatever. Instead I watched Full Alert and Lost City and Fallen/Homecoming (no idea why I went in that order? Reversal of the space time continuum or something).

Castle premiere appears to finally be coming on Monday - haven't decided whether to watch it or make a-loquita watch it first and tell me whether I should?

I don't actually know what else I am watching this fall.

4) Okay, I am ready to go on record about what my actual real-live problem with tumblr is. Nobody talks to me over there? That sounds so whiny when I say it, like ME ME ME FANDOM PAY ATTENTION TO ME!! lol. But seriously, I cannot tell if other people are just all talking behind the scenes or what. Somebody needs to explain this to me, because either I am too old, or too introverted, or just missing the social conventions due to my usual cluelessness about such things. I miss the interesting fannish conversations. Not that I have been that good at holding up my end of them lately, but still.

5) I need drabble prompts or three-sentence fic prompts or something. My brain is stuck in park due to long writing hiatus. Prompts may not help (because sometimes they really don't) but they might? Maybe? Anyway if anyone is interested. :)

1) My Jacob Carter rewatch status = have successfully gotten Jacob turned into a Tok'ra. Which means that next up is Show and Tell after which I will have to talk about some things. I already know this. *g* Though one thought I had watching Tok'ra 1&2 was along the lines of 'a whole lot of Earth's fate totally depends on George Hammond having accurate judgment when it comes to whether any particular batshit crazy idea SG-1 has is the good kind of crazy or the bad kind.'

2) Writing this week (*) and it being the busy, busy month of May = nostalgia week for ficrecs, because I am not reading much and trying to rattle through bookmarks on multiple devices and sites for 'things I have meant to rec but haven't gotten around to yet' is apparently too much effort. I freely admit to cribbing this list from one I already posted a loooooong time ago as a comment somewhere (except updated for AO3 links where I can find them, because this list is so old AO3 didn't exist yet). So. Sam/Jack cabin fic recs:

Concentric Unto Thee (8752 words) by gabolange. Stargate SG-1, Sam/Jack, M. Her attempts at normality have never worked before, and Jack won't stand for any attempts to apply the logic of command to their relationship. Really wonderful, grown-up Sam and Jack working out how to share a life together.

Scenes from a Weekend by karma_aster. Stargate SG-1, Sam/Jack, Teen. Lovely Threads-related cabin fluff with just a touch of bittersweetness.

Biting the Bullet by ijemanja. Stargate SG-1, Sam/Jack, PG-13. Five times Jack O'Neill asked Samantha Carter out, and one time he didn't have to. I'm cheating a little on this one. It's actually a five things, with five Sam/Jack scenes from different AUs, and only the last one is at Jack's cabin. But it's funny and sweet and the characterization is just terrific.

Gravity Sings (7081 words) by stargazercmc. Stargate SG-1, Sam/Jack, M. General Jack O'Neill headed west five months after the world ended. Apocafic. Jack and Sam try to make some kind of normal life after the world ends. I love Jack in this fic especially.

Fantasy (562 words) by a_loquita (which also has a timestamp sequel, Only Sense Left). Stargate SG-1, Sam/Jack, G (sequel is rated T). It’s time for Sam to make a choice. Short but really beautiful; the sort of fic that makes the setting almost another character in the story.

Land of Sky Blue Waters by sam938. Stargate SG-1, Sam/Jack, PG-13. Thor doesn’t beam Jack up until a week later. Sam accepts the offer to go fishing, but things don’t necessarily work out the way they’re planned. A what-if AU where Sam goes on that fishing trip with Jack (but it's mostly UST, not what you're thinking at all! hee). I like this because they both get to be smart, and I think it's a good look at what they have in common and what they don't and why they still work.

There are like 80,000 other fics that could be added to a cabin fic rec list but I am resisting the urge because things to doooooooo. If anyone felt like suggesting a theme for next week's list I wouldn't complain because I do not think next week will be any less busy.

(*) Dear people out there who write X thousand words per day, I remain simultaneously envious and in awe of you. Two days ago I wrote 900 (!!!) words. Yesterday I netted about 100 new words after stab-stab-deleting about a third of that 900. This is an example of REALLY PRODUCTIVE for me, the kind of really productive that means things like my household chores aren't getting done. Writing more than that is very very rare for me and generally results in HELLO ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?? emails/texts. lol.

I was thinking some quasi-thinky thoughts about modern science fiction and J.J. Abrams and Joss Whedon and how as much as I love the messier stuff, I do sort of miss the old days when it was okay for at least some sci fi to be more idealistic and archetypal and just less dark and complicated. And I was thinking about posting about that, but it's Friday and the weather is cold and gross and idk, those thoughts are just way too heavy for today.

So instead I was looking again at this fabulous picspam that a_loquita posted for supplyship's birthday yesterday. And when I got to the cap of Castle and Beckett and the Nebula 9 set, I thought to myself, "Somebody should totally write the Space Cops AU for Castle! With aliens and space stations and ratty old falling-apart spaceships. She can still solve crimes in her fabulous high heels. Because it would be awesome."

Someone should write me a little bit of that in the comments. Really!! Or tell me about that AU you've secretly always wanted to read/write. Or rec your favorites. Those sorts of AUs seemed to be everywhere in the SGA McShep fandom a while back, but not as many in SG-1? Although having only just typed that sentence, I've already thought of four really good ones - at least two of which I know I have recced on this journal before - so maybe I'm wrong about that. Anyway. Fringe in Space? CSI Stargate? That Castle High School AU? Every fandom has a high school AU - there must be one out there already. *g*

1) Music rec to start the week: NPR previews The Avett Brothers' upcoming album, The Carpenter. *grabby hands* I LOVE The Avett Brothers.

2) Had the viral crud most of the weekend (stupid way to spend a holiday weekend!). Watched a lot of SG-1 (okay, that part was less stupid). This show is like crack, how did I forget that? Would like to say in particular that after watching Fallen/Homecoming, I am once again very sad that we didn't get to keep both Jonas and Daniel. Corin Nemec and Michael Shanks really played well together on screen. It would have been fun.

Also Sam and Jack's old-married-people spat in these episodes amuses me a bunch. Look, we are annoyed and picking on each other in public but we are still standing on top of each other for half the episode. Because they cannot help it. Hahahaha.

3) Who else is watching Doctor Who? ( cut for a little spoilery comment about the premiere )

4) Speaking of Doctor Who, I was accidentally spoiled for a really, really important plot point over on tumblr this weekend. I should have known better, but ... idk. I have gotten pretty good at unseeing the Fringe spoilers, because at this point I have seen all the episodes enough times (except for one beyond-the-pale gross one from season one that I will never, ever watch again) to pick up pretty quickly that I haven't seen these particular pictures before and skip over them. This method is ineffective with any other show I'm watching right now, sadly. I had just finally wrenched my old-fogey brain around to start to embrace the idea of tumblr, but the spoilerphobe in me may win out and force me to abandon ship.

5) Hoping my brain will wake up and the germs will clear out soooooooon. Things to do, things to do....

First, and most importantly, a ficrec. Because a_loquita wrote me fic! Sam/Jack fic! Really fabulous Sam/Jack fic, though of course that is a given considering the source. *g* The fic is The Plan, and it is cabin fic (squee) and you should all go read it right now because it is wonderful. And also because I said so. ;)

Second, things teevee. ( And other stuff I shall ramble about under here .... )

1) I have been holidaying excessively and as such am behind on comment replies and the like. I will catch up! Soon! In the meantime, I hope everyone who celebrates something this time of year has had a lovely, festive time, and if you don't, I hope the rest of us were not too, too annoying in our insanity.

2) Speaking of annoying, how late can one post Christmas-related fic without people pointing and staring? Like, is February okay?!? Lol. Maybe I should give up and go for Christmas in July.

3) Schmoopy (Sam/Jack) fic re-reads for my omg-frustrating kind of afternoon:

Just Around the Eyes by Alli Snow - Third party meddling, oh yes.

The Goldilocks Phenomenon by syxp - Happy Christmassy fic!

Whoops by Jojo - Okay, this kinda might be my all-occasions go-to fic.

A Job Well Done by Jemima Pereira - I have seen other fics by this writer recced, but not this one, and that makes me sad. So go read it if you haven't.

Okay, I could list more, but I have to go make dinner so that's as far as I've gotten. Feel free to add to the pile! *g*

Book meme! I actually did this the other day but hadn't gotten around to posting it yet. Seen a bunch of places.

( meme here! )

In things totally unrelated, last night I started trying to bring some order to the chaos that is the fic-writing portion of my hard drive. It's less that the folders aren't organized – I have a system, although I suspect it wouldn't look like a system to anyone but me, and I usually follow it, except when I'm in a hurry to save something – and more that I have so many unfinished fics and bits of fic that when I'm feeling uninspired, I just bounce around from one unfinished project to the next and basically make no progress.

Anyway, now I have a spreadsheet! With word counts and notes and file links and copious self-snarking and blaming of other people, hehe. It already has an intimidating amount of entries, and I'm not actually done adding stuff yet, but it is much easier now to navigate the jungle. *feels accomplished*

(Also I am not starting anything new until I finish some of these, or at least consign a few of them to the folder of death. I am not.)

1) A couple of links I ran across on 50books_poc that I think might be of interest to some of you (if you haven't seen them already):

fox1013: Awesome Non-White Children's Lit: An Introduction

jadelennox: awesome children's and young adult books by authors of color and with characters of color

2) Whenever I actually get time to sit down and read (argh!) there are apparently tons of commentfics over at carnivalofsquee. Hooray! If there's any remote chance that anyone reading this has no idea what I'm talking about, go over here.

3) I shall begin tormenting you with garden pictures soon. I might not have, but ziparumpazoo said she wanted some, so I'm using her as an excuse. *g*

4) To whichever folk/folks were so very sweet as to nominate some of my fics for the SGFA, thank you so much! Seriously, that's amazingly kind of you.

5) On that subject, um ... I suspect this question is going to sound crashingly stupid no matter what the right answer is, but I really don't know. One of the fics that was nominated was this Cassie five things. In my head I think of this fic as gen, because it's not a romance, it's a character study and about Cassie's experience living on Earth - but she does get married (to some unnamed off-screen guy) and have (mostly off-screen) kids. So does that mean it's not? Helllllp.

Okay. So I was just poking around on my hard drive, trying to find a text file that has a post that I wrote half of yesterday and wanted to finish. It was really clever and witty! It would have impressed you all!

Actually, no. It had fannish questions to which I need answers and a lot of outrageous flattery so that you all would feel loved and therefore come give me answers.

I can't find it, but that's really not important.

( Under here, more on hard disk archaeology, and the only one of the questions I actually care about in the short term )

(Now edited for much better icon!)

Also ETA: Any aggravation evident in the above list is totally directed at my own brain and not at anyone who has used Thor as an excuse for any activities whatsoever. *g*