brightknightie

hlh_shortcuts '25 sign-ups are open through this Saturday, October 11. Last year, I flat forgot to request/offer Grace, and Randi was accidentally glitched from the tagset, but I just now checked and they seem (haven't submitted yet to confirm) to both be available this year, yay! (Thank you, mods.)

I would like to not regret missing characters this year. So I'm pre-compiling a list of all my possibilities (may not use them all, but these are my candidates). If you're interested, let me know of any characters you think I might want to request or offer who are not yet here...?

( List )

Some of you might possibly be interested to know that

trickortreatex is currently looking for pinch-hitters for The Lost Boys (movies) and "Buffyverse" (TV), among other fandoms. Due October 24. Minimum 300 words (yep, 300). Read their post.

Here are some recent fannish things I've happened to see and would like to share!

Spotlight: I'm continuing to play The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and (of course) loving it. I'm mid-game-ish now, facing vicious white Bokoblins but only my third red-maned Lynel, having maxed my stamina wheel but only half of my hearts, triggered all the Divine Beasts quests but freed only one, and am single-handedly juicing Hyrule's economy through the purchase of bomb arrows. ( Read more... )

Ficathons, fests & communities

Create & engage
- hlh_shortcuts, the annual Highlander exchange, has sign-ups through 10/11; due 12/15.
- yuletide_admin, the massive annual small fandoms exchange, has sign-ups through 10/24; due 12/17.
- smallfandombang, the small fandoms big-bang, has author sign-ups through 10/31 and author sign-ups through 11/01.
- ladiesbingo, a bingo challenge for relationships between women characters, runs from September through March.
- austenexchange is hosting a prompt-fest through 12/16 to celebrate Jane Austen's 250th birthday.
- janeuary-month is a daily-themes Jane Austen fanworks event throughout January '26.
- latetreatbonanza is designed to help motivate folks to finish late gifts, with a collection, deadline, and reveal. Works due 12/24.
- communal_creators, a community for mutual encouragement among creators, runs its current round through 10/15.
- pinchhits is a forum for pinch-hits in exchanges. For example, tardis_festivities and rarepairexchange are seeking pinch hitters.
- whenisitdue tracks many more events than I note here!
Enjoy & share
- fancake (themed fanfic recs); October theme: "uncommon settings"
- gensplosion (gen fanfic recs)
- het_reccers (m/f fanfic recs)
- fanart_recs (fanart recs)
- recthething (fanwork recs)

Sidelight: I've removed Doctor Strange from my comic shop pull-list and replaced it with the upcoming Nova series. Doctor Strange's current author focuses on Stephen as a detective, which is classic and welcome, but has relocated him away from his stomping grounds and supporting cast, which isn't. I am only tangentially aware of Nova, but Jed MacKay will write this series, and his writing single-handedly brought me back to reading monthly comics, so... Fingers crossed!

GameStop is having quite a sale on assorted toys and toy-like accessories. I haven't been in a GameStop in forever, but when I stumbled across the news, confirmed on their website, that they had marked some TLOZ amiibo down to $5.99 (from the usual $15-40), I wrestled with myself for a few days and then let myself swing by after work on Wednesday... "swing by" in the sense that they have closed so many that the nearest was actually twenty minutes away in even good traffic.

At this particular shop, the discounted sale merchandise included shelves and shelves much taller than me jammed with a wide assortment of Funko Pops, "Buy 2, Get 1 Free."

The amiibo selection was ever so much smaller, of course, and had no TLOZ amiibo that I don't already have (not that I have that many! they had only two). They'd likely sold out days before. This is probably for the best! If they had had the Guardian amiibo for $5.99, as shown on their website (normally $35+), I would have bought it to use in BOTW for the precious ancient-tech goodies drops as I play, but then I would have had a villain toy to deal with. ;-)

On the up side, I am duly reminded not only that physical GameStop stores are a thing, but that a big part of their business model is second-hand stuff. Good to know!

In case anyone here missed the news elsewhere,

killabeez announced

hlh_shortcuts 2025, the annual Highlander fanfiction exchange on the AO3. I'm glad to have it to look forward to. I loved to read it for years before I began writing for it, and since I started writing for it, I've written some things that I'm very satisfied with.

Sign-ups will be October 1-11, with assignments out by October 14, and submissions due December 15. As usual, the first story will be revealed on December 20, as the winter solstice is Duncan's birthday, and subsequent stories will be revealed a few per day as long as they last, to be followed by the author guessing game.

seasonsofdrabbles has revealed its creators (very short anon period for very short fics). I wrote these two:

"Even the Smallest Possibility"
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
(G, gen, 100 words; Link, Revali; Minish | Picori legend)

"Reasons to Visit the Library"
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
(G, gen, 100 words; Link, Zelda; King Rhoam's secret study)

The folks who wrote so nicely for me, as previously posted, are now known to be

kay_obsessive ("Legacy") and

samifer ("Refuge"). Many thanks to them! And also thanks to

senmut for generously beta-reading for me.

Here are some recent fannish things I've happened to see and would like to share!

Spotlight: I don't subscribe to Netflix, so I assumed I was going to miss out on K-Pop Demon Hunters. But then they released widely in cinemas for one weekend only and I happily got tipped off in time. I liked it even more than I thought I would! K-Pop isn't my genre, but thoughtful magical-girl adventures? Well, yeah. Imagine that the original Sailor Moon manga and the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show had a daughter and appointed High School Musical her fairy godmother. K-Pop Demon Hunters is joyful, hopeful, and deeper than it looks. It's a packed 90 minutes, with nothing missing and nothing to spare. (And I really enjoy "What it Sounds Like.")

Ficathons, fests & communities

Create & engage
- trickortreatex, where every gift is a "trick" or a "treat," has nominations through 9/08, sign-ups through 9/18, due 10/24.
- yuletide_admin '25 is underway. Nominations through 9/26; sign-ups through 10/24; due 12/17.
- fandomgiftbasket, a gifting fest a la Fandom Stocking/Trees, has sign-ups through 9/05 and reveals 10/12.
- fandommixtapeex uses songs as exchange prompts. Nominations through 9/09, sign-ups through 9/21, due 11/16.
- fffx, the "Five Figure Fanwork Exchange" (10K+ words), has sign-ups through 9/07; due 1/24.
- aspecex is a fic exchange themed on asexuality/aromanticism. Nominations through 9/17; sign-ups through 9/20; due 10/07.
- no_true_pair's 8-Character Challenge somewhat resembles Into A Bar, but everyone gets matched with everyone via distinct prompts.
- 10itemsorless is for ships with >10 works on the AO3. Sign-up through 9/06; due 10/25.
- 1character is a challenge community in which you claim a character and a prompt set and write 50 one-sentence micro-fics.
- fandomwithbenefits is a low-commitment, no deadlines, monthly challenge/interaction community.
- drabbleonficathon is a prompt-meme challenge. Prompts close 10/01; fills open now and indefinitely.
- dreamwars is a community for all Star Wars.
- vampiremedia is a community for all vampire media.
- seasonsofdrabbles has released its summer event and will de-anonymize the works today.
- pinchhits is a forum for pinch-hits in exchanges. For example, wipbigbang is seeking pinch hitters.
- whenisitdue tracks many more events than I note here!
Enjoy & share
- fancake (themed fanfic recs); September theme: "food & cooking"
- gensplosion (gen fanfic recs)
- het_reccers (m/f fanfic recs)
- fanart_recs (fanart recs)
- recthething (fanwork recs)

Sidelight: Those who enjoy the ongoing Aurora webcomic by Red of Overly Sarcastic Productions (online | hardcopy) might like to know that Red is currently selling a pack of 4 character pins (Kendall, Alinua, Erin, and Falst). Shop the OSP store. Red's custom pins are always limited time, limited stock (though occasionally some do come back for deals around US Thanksgiving time, I wouldn't depend on that). I plan to put Kendall and Alinua on my work backpack.

seasonsofdrabbles released its summer game today (356 works in 199 fandoms). I received two The Legend of Zelda works, both thoughtful, exquisitely poignant, and very much to my taste:

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
"Legacy"
100 words, G, gen; Hero's Shade | Hero of Time | Golden Wolf
The author offers a different, compelling source for the Hero's canonical regrets than fandom often assumes.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
"Refuge"
200 words, G, gen; Malon & Link
The author shows, from Malon's perspective, what her farm and friendship offered Link in his darkest hours.

This “15-minute challenge” is filtered…

( links to past installments )

( the usual details )

I imagine that several of you will be interested to learn that there's a new

vampiremedia community, devoted to "all things vampires." It's currently running a recommendations event. :-D Enjoy!

It's not for me, of course. Each to her own! I don't want to yuck your yum! Please skip the rest of this post if it bothers you that not everyone enjoys vampires.

I hope that it's okay to say, here in my own journal, that I personally find no appeal in vampires as a trope. As a metaphor, sometimes! But, mostly, it's just not for me. I love Forever Knight for its complex interplay of history, mystery, and metaphysics, with what I continue to insist, against all fandom opposition, are its beautiful and rich themes of choosing the hard right over the easy wrong, self-sacrifice over selfishness, salvation over power. And I love Dracula by Stoker as B-grade imperial-panic Victorian literature that tapped into our common humanity at a depth it had no right to yet absolutely owns. I appreciate Carmilla by Le Fanu as literary innovation and accomplishment... BtVS and AtS, of course, for their early excellencies that you know well... the UK version of Being Human... a nod to Tanya Huff... and that's it. That's all. You may notice that none of these stories try to suggest that vampirism is a good thing.

(I opened Twilight once and retreated before the acute adverb poisoning. I'm pretty sure that I was too born too old to enjoy Twilight.)

Profile

Amy

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Style Credit

Style: Swim in the Sea for Modular by branchandroot
Resources: Tip My Hat

Page generated Wednesday, October 8th, 2025 05:54 am

I love good guys

Recent

HL characters to not forget this year

TrickOrTreatEx seeking pinch-hits

Fannish options & enthusiasms | October 2025

GameStop sale on FunkoPop and amiibo

Looking forward to HLH_Shortcuts '25

Seasonsofdrabbles summer '25 reveals

Fannish options & enthusiasms | September 2025

Seasonsofdrabbles work reveals

Fanfic workout buddies #309: “had been sincerely apologetic”

New "vampiremedia" community

Profile

Expand Cut Tags

Tags

Style Credit