lauradi7dw

maevedarcy posting in

So you're looking for a lighthearted book series that's equal parts funny and intriguing, I have THE urban fantasy series for you.

The Georgina Kincaid series is a collection of six(*) urban fantasy novels written by Richelle Mead. The series is written in a first-person perspective following the main character, Georgina Kincaid, who is a succubus with a heart (sort of).

More info with mild spoilers for the first books of the series under the cut.

*The six OG books in the series. Picture from ebay.

The basics

( Read more... )

The characters

( Read more... )

Why you should read it (spoiler free)

( Read more... )

Why you should read it (MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE SERIES)

( I'm serious, I will spoil the first book and part of the series for you. I'm not joking. If you don't like spoilers, do not click )

Where to read
( Read more... )

Did you read it already?
Then please talk to me about it I'm starving!!! Fr there's only ONE fic on AO3 for this fandom that's not a crossover. Let's change that!

mildred_of_midgard

No sooner do I plan two US trips for this year than I start planning two Europe trips for next year!

My boss has approved the time off, so the only uncertainties now are 1) will the economy remain stable enough that I have the money, 2) will the country remain stable enough that I feel safe leaving and trying to re-enter with brown skin.

If both of those conditions are met, here's what I'm planning!

April 18-May 10 (3 weeks)

My partner and I meet up in Europe. We do London, then Paris, then Berlin. I would like to visit some archives in each of those cities and inspect some materials that are too expensive to order as scans, and do some tourism.

selenak is going to try to come up to Berlin from Munich, rent a car, and drive me around to some Frederick the Great-related rural sites in Brandenburg that I can't get to by train or bus. (I don't drive, hence the need for a driver. Also, way more fun to visit these with a fellow salon member!)

Maybe my partner goes to Bonn for some Beethoven tourism, not sure.

Additional possibilities if I have extra time:

Dresden, for the archives. (Yes, I know, normal people go to Dresden for the art and architecture. :P)

Munich: I've been twice, but this time Selena can show me around!

Vienna: I've been, but a close friend I haven't seen in over 10 years lives there, and I could visit the Natural History Museum again with my improved knowledge of geology. My friend says she might come to Munich if I'm there, though, so maybe we'll do that.

July 3 - July 26 (3 weeks)

BFF and I go to Europe. He rents a car, and we drive around to more rural places. As much hiking as my body will allow!

I'm not sure what order we'll travel in or how many sites we'll get to, but high on my wishlist are:

Domremy-la-Pucelle, tiny village in rural France where Joan of Arc was born.

Cirey, where Emilie du Chatelet (pictured in icon) lived with Voltaire.

Swiss Alps hiking. First choice: Tomasee, source of the ~~Rhein~~ Rhine (wow, my German is coming through).

Oxford: Tolkien's grave, and the pub where the Inklings met, the the Eagle and Child aka Bird and Baby. Maybe the Bodleian! (So many museums, so little time.)

York Minster. Architecture! Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell!

Haworth Parsonage. Brontes!

Lake District: Hiking! My favorite ultrarunners think it's awesome, and who am I to question them.

Culloden: Jacobites!

Clava Cairns: Bronze Age burial site near Culloden, so why not!

Glencoe: Jacobites and hiking!

Orkney: Pleeeease let me have time for Orkney, I had such plans for 2018 when my last Europe trip got canceled.

Additional possibilities if I have extra time:

The source of the Danube. (I tried writing "Donauquelle", but I stopped myself. :P)

Steinsfurt, where Fritz tried and failed to escape from his father.

Masevaux, the estate in France he was trying to escape to. (Rottembourg's, for all two of you who know who that is.)

The Giant's Causeway, in Northern Ireland. Geology!

So! I need a stable country and a stable economy. *gives the universe a firm stare*

brithistorian

I've been playing ukulele for years now, but never really felt like I knew how to play. But I just had an experience that really changed the way I feel about it. Back when The Talented Mr. Ripley first came out, I learned the words to "Tu Vuò Fa' L' Americano", and then I forgot about it for a long time. Today S. mentioned the song and I discovered I still remembered the words, so I pulled up the ukulele chords. To my surprise, I was able to play a passable version with literally five minutes!

darkjediqueen posting in

fan_flashworks

Title: Sleepy Thoughts
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: No Warnings Apply
Fandom: S.W.A.T.
Relationships: Donovan Rocker/Molly Hicks
Tags: Established Relationship, Fluff
Summary: They both loved naps, even when it turned to more.
Word Count: 2,905

( Sleepy Thoughts )

cosmolinguist

By lunchtime I was thinking: it feels like I'm getting a migraine...and the massive sudden change in weather would back that up...but... I can't have a migraine! I just had one on Friday!

Yeah that's not how it works. I do feel like it's "not my turn yet," though. Hmph.

And yet here I am to tell you that my favorite musician is being threatened by the administrator of the country he and I are both from, for what Springsteen said in the city where I am now.

I refuse to read any more about this but D, who sent me this link, has been updating me since on it. The Boss keeps saying the government of his country is a threat to life and liberty every night on stage and Trump keeps insulting him on Truth Social: apparently now his skin is like a wrinkly prune.

Today D told me that Springsteen and the E Street Band have released an EP of what Bruce said and a few relevant songs from that first gig outside the U.S.

I listened to (most of) it while I was trying to work this afternoon. I'm just so delighted that it was in Manchester, which prides itself on being a city of rebellious and momentous music. (If only the gig had been at the Free Trade Hall instead of Coop Live! but it still makes me think of Bob Dylan and the Sex Pistols...)

I listened to the introduction, some of the lines I'd read about, and then the song and it struck me that "Land of Hope and Dreams" is a song about Clarence Clemons's death. It couldn't be as good a song as it without stemming from a profound lifelong love that Springsteen talks so movingly about in his autobiography and in Springsteen on Broadway, and that love existed between a Black man and a white man, about whom a Springsteen biographer said "They were these two guys who imagined that if they acted free, then other people would understand better that it was possible to be free."

And the song has taken on this whole new life, which I'm glad of even if I'd rather The Big Man got to live a longer life.

I listened to the intro for the other song, I was trying to eat my lunch and I ended up with my eyes closed, unable to do more than listen and breathe. And after talking for a few minutes, he quotes James Baldwin -- "There isn't as much humanity in the world as I'd like. But there's enough" -- and then says "Let's pray." And for some reason, the next track didn't start. And that was the end of that one. So I just sat there, over my bowl of leftovers, imagining this happening a few miles down the road and a few days ago, I felt like I was there.

But suspended in this weird silence that went on for a long time before I realized that something technological had gone wrong.

I read all about his Catholic childhood in his autobiography and recognized a lot of it myself, but neither of us have retained it. Silent prayer isn't his style. Going right in to the next song is. And that's what he did.

shewhomust

For once it was

durham_rambler who suggested that we take Tuesday afternoon off, and go out. What's more, he knew where he wanted to go: his social media had been showing him pictures of Joe's Pond, and the adjacent nature reserve at Rainton Meadows.

This is post-industrial landscape: the nature reserve was created by the restoration of the Rye Hill Opencast coal mine, and Joe's Pond is a former clay pit, now a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a very pleasant place to walk around on a sunny afternoon. There's a swan on her nest, and another preening by the path, who hissed at us as we passed. There were some coot, but they were camera-shy. The hawthorn was in bloom, and the yellow irises were just emerging.

And we called at a farm shop on our way home.

maevedarcy posting in

fandomcalendar

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

fabrisse

On our drive from Toulouse to our first hotel, bunny rabbits came running out of a field to our right. There were more than 20. I came to a full stop and just let them keep running to their hutch to our left. It was amazing, and I'm so grateful that I didn't hit one.

neotoma being so patient pushing the car out of parking spaces. Bless.

Every single meal, but especially the confit de canard and iles flottant of our first night.

It's not my favorite Paris land mark, but seeing the Eiffel Tower so closely was amazing.

The feeling of relief I felt when I realized Notre Dame would be fine.

Having hazelnut/chocolate ice cream from Berthillon.

Get complimented on my French.

Getting to use my little bit of Dutch, briefly.

Now, I know I haven't written much about Iceland -- which was starkly beautiful -- but that's because I managed to slip in the bathtub and sprain my ankle badly enough that I couldn't walk around Reykjavik with

neotoma. The bruise on the opposite inner thigh is just now fading.

I do want to go back to Reykjavik at some point. It was stunning.

anais_pf posting in

thefridayfive

These questions were suggested by

thegreymouser.

1. What was the best gift you received?

2. What was the worst gift you received?

3. What gift did you wish for, but never got?

4. What was the best present you gave?

5. What was the worst present you gave?

Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.

If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!

profiterole_reads

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning was a lot of fun! But a bit long, they could have cut a few scenes at the beginning of the movie.

I loved the butch in the submarine. Now that I'm back home, I've looked her up. She's called Kodiak and she's played by Katy O'Brian, who is a lesbian. <3

pauraque

I picked up this book because I saw it mentioned as an example of the concept that "Hell is locked from the inside." That is, if God is the source of all good, then by separating yourself from God, your existence can have nothing good in it, and that's Hell. You can escape anytime by reconnecting with God.

Lewis explores this idea by imagining himself being taken on a journey from Hell (envisioned as a dreary, lonely, mostly-empty town in perpetual twilight) to the outskirts of Heaven. Here the "ghosts" of those in Hell are met by people they knew in life, who try to persuade them to enter Heaven instead of turning back. This is very much inspired by Dante, and like Dante, Lewis gets a guide: the Scottish fantasy author George MacDonald, who I'd never heard of, but apparently he was a great influence on Lewis. (Has anyone read his stuff?)

So, why would the dead turn back? Well, because it turns out the hard part of getting into Heaven is letting go of all the damaging patterns that made you miserable in life: Abusively controlling people and calling it love. Feeling big by making others feel small. Manipulating loved ones because you're scared they'll leave you. None of this has any place in Heaven, but most of the ghosts Lewis meets are so entrenched in it, blustering in pride or cowering in terror behind their emotional walls, that they'd rather go back to Hell than admit there's a better way.

Lewis keenly observes the lies people tell themselves to justify their own self-destructive behavior, and it's startling how little has changed in 80 years! Some of the ways these characters talk are chillingly familiar. Though I don't share the religious side of Lewis's worldview, we're certainly in close agreement in our understanding of how people lock themselves in their own personal hell on Earth.

The book is short but impactful. Lewis had a gift for viscerally expressing what his faith felt like to him, which is something I find valuable as someone who has never experienced religious faith. Part of why I read is to better understand what it's like in other people's heads, and this book did that for me.

(Oh, and I'm not being snarky by tagging this as fantasy. He calls it fantasy in the introduction! He makes it clear that he's writing imaginatively and not presuming to describe what the afterlife is actually like, because he can't know that. Well, I mean, I guess he knows now...)

brithistorian

Yesterday was L.'s 21st birthday. And of course everyone else was wiped out by flares in their various illnesses. Fortunately, birthdays in our house are low-key affairs: The birthday person gets to choose where we order food from and what movie/show we watch, and then we have cake and ice cream. Yesterday that meant ordering delivery from Burger King and watching Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (which was extremely cheesy and entertaining).

Fortunately, L. has tried alcohol and decided she doesn't like it, so she wasn't missing out by not going out for her first legal drink yesterday, but I still wish her birthday could have been better.

sporky_rat

Muscles are annoying. I understand the biological method by which we develop our muscles after using them; they're still annoying when the delayed onset muscle soreness hits. Which it has, and now my hips and quads and hams are in misery.

I am working on pullups as well, and my deltoids hate me. That's fine, I can hate them back just as equally.

On the more cheerful side of working a body and being reasonably good at it, I have had several people ask me to teach them stretching so they don't do anything awkward to themselves during high impact activity.

Current Mood: sore
Current Location: Rat te Kāinga
Current Music: Cicadas

rebeccmeister

Somehow or another it's almost the end of May, and I only just got most of the tomato plants in the ground yesterday!

The varieties that I transplanted into the wine barrel a week? Two weeks? ago are looking pretty happy.

I planted six different varieties in the main garden bed. There is basically a row in between the mint and strawberry plants where I could fit them in.

I still haven't decided on homes for the last 2 varieties.

Meanwhile, there are little strawberries on many of the strawberry plants.

And flower buds on the raspberry canes.

I probably won't manage to get the soaker hose and timer set up before leaving to bike tour, but the tomato plants will all fare far better in the ground instead of in pots, while I'm away. They had reached the point where I had to water them on the daily, and now they will have access to a ton more nutrients, too.

It will be interesting to see how all these different varieties fare. All of these plants are planted too densely for optimal tomato production, but for whatever reason I just can't bring myself to thin them out too much.

oursin

I initially saw this because somebody on Facebook posted the video: Boyfriend proposed during the marathon she trained 6 months for, and in the list of Inappropriate Times and Places to Propose, while she is actually running a marathon is very near the top, right? it's bad enough for bloke to be waiting with ring and maybe flowers at the finish line (for many observers, marathon proposals are about men stealing the spotlight).

Run, girl, run.

***

To revert to that discussion about The Right Sort of Jawline and Breathing Properly the other day, TIL that mouth taping is (still) A Thing, and Canadian researchers say there’s no evidence that mouth taping has any health benefits and warn that it could actually be harmful for people with sleep apnea.

***

Since I see this is dated 2020, I may have posted it before: but hey, let's hear it for C18th women scholars of Anglo-Saxon Elizabeth Elstob, Old English scholar, and the Harleian Library. I think I want to know more about her years in the household of Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (1715–1785), duchess of Portland, who I know better through her connection with Mrs Delany of the botanically accurate embroidery and collages of flowers.

***

I like this report on the 'Discovery of Original Magna Carta' because it's actually attentive to the amount of actual work that goes into 'discovering', from the first, 'aha! that looks like it might be' to the final confirmation.

glitteryv posting in

recthething

Every Thursday, we have a community post, just like this one, where you can drop a rec or five in the comments.

This works great if you only have one rec and don't want to make a whole post for it, or if you don't have a DW account, or if you're shy. ;)

(But don't forget: you can deffo make posts of your own seven days a week. ;D!)

So what cool fics/fancrafts/fanvids/fanart/podfics/other kinds of fanworks have we discovered this week? Drop it in the comments below. Anon comment is enabled.

BTW, AI fanworks are not eligible for reccing at recthething. If you aware that a fanwork is AI-generated, please do not rec it here.

aurumcalendula posting in

baihe_media

I just saw that Rosmei posted cover art for The Creator's Grace on Twitter and Bluesky

james_davis_nicoll

Who is the secret traitor? The former boy wonder, the wonder girl, the alien princess, the cyborg, the shape-shifter, the spooky witch, the speedster, or the geokinetic who frequently brags about being evil and betraying the team?

The Judas Contract by Marv Wolfman & George Pérez

reblogarythm

I was going to be brave
by Anand Giridharadas
https://the.ink/p/i-was-going-to-be-brave
step 1: be brave. step 2: ???
via rss
Strikes aren’t selfish: they’re a last resort.
by Kim Siever
https://albertaworker.ca/politics/strikes-arent-selfish-theyre-a-last-resort/
solidarity!
via rss
Asterix & Obelix: The Big Fight | Official Trailer
by Chabat, Oullion, Bloch, et al
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPNrWvatXiU
apparently this is a thing! looks fun?
via going looking after hearing about it
Lachrimae Caravaggio (Hespèrion XXI)
by Jordi Savall et al
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoK8eTqHzak
in case you're wanting a bit of early music
via wanting a bit of early music
Math and the Museum
by James Propp
https://mathenchant.wordpress.com/2025/05/21/math-and-the-museum/
an excellent discussion involving museums of uncertain area, beavers, and ceramic tiles
via rss

mildred_of_midgard

I woke up at 4 am after 4 hours of sleep, and when at 6 I realized I wasn't going to sleep any time soon, and it also wasn't raining yet, but was perfect running weather (8, cloudy, windy--you could see the storm moving in with the looming dark grey clouds), I decided to go for it.

I got in 1 hill rep. Physically, my cardio was up to 2 (not sure about 3), mentally...on the principle that any running is better than no running, I'll take it. But my goal is 2 tomorrow.

In other news, I have managed to make good progress on Peter and Fredersdorf, and check enough other items off my todo list, that I'm not feeling maxed out for the first time in a couple of months, maybe all year! I still have a ton of decluttering to do, but it's coming along, and if I can just get enough sleep, I'm hoping to be able to 1) take long walks once the weather is clement again, 2) read books again, 3) practice German and French. (ETA: Oh, and geology, of course!) Maybe I'll even manage to make one of the posts I've been meaning to that isn't either running or the big family move. I know I'm a bit monotonous lately, but I have a lot of interesting stuff going on--just no time to write it up!

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lauradi7dw

May 2025

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Network

Pimp: Georgina Kincaid Series (Richelle Mead) by maevedarcy

Travel

Wow! I feel really good about that!

S.W.A.T.: Fan Fiction: Sleepy Thoughts

“news with a beat”

Joe's Pond

Four Or More 2025 Bingo

Moments that stick with me

The Friday Five for 23 May 2025

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning

The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis (1945)

Big day yesterday

Self propulsion is a crock

Tomato time [gardening]

Oddments

Community Recs Post!

Cover Reveal for The Creator's Grace (造物的恩宠)

The Judas Contract by Marv Wolfman & George Pérez

What I saw on the web on 2025.5.21

Better than nothing

Profile

May 2025

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