#Twelfth Planet Press

[kitnjon]

I would love if you could recommend some newer modern Jonsa fics!!!!

Hi anon, Sure! Some modern AU's I am reading/read this year

You tend the ash, and I’ll tend the pine by @eruherdiriel

“Are we really never gonna talk about it?” Arya snaps. “We’re all gonna pretend everything is normal and happy when Sansa just got divorced?” “Statistically, it is normal,” Bran says. “The divorce rate is something like—” “It’s not normal! Not for this family, and not for Sansa. True love, forever and always, that’s Sansa.” “Jon isn’t the person she married,” Catelyn chides. “Not anymore.” — Sansa and Jon get divorced, but fully untangling their lives is impossible.

2. all eyes on us by @theshipshipper

Sansa is one of the biggest popstars on the planet, Jon is among the top streamers in Westeros -- and the internet goes wild when their well-hidden connection is uncovered.

3. frozen pines by @cellsshapedlikestars

It hits Jon, then - the sharp smell of ozone. A scent that years ago, he’d become all too familiar with. The aftermath of a lightning strike, the burning of wires. Electricity heavy in the air. The hair on his arms still stands on end. The scar on his hand feels tight. His heart is still pounding. It’s just a storm coming, he tells himself. He’s in White Harbor, not Eastwatch. It’s just a storm. or, the Exclusion Zone spreads for the first time in almost fifty years, with Sansa trapped inside. Jon will do whatever it takes to get her out.

4. tell me, what's the perfect time? by @prclainivrysteel

"I'm Jon," he reaches out for a handshake, "I probably should've led with that." "Yeah, probably," she replies, fighting against the goofy-looking smile that threatens to take over her face, "I'm Sansa." She slips her hand into his. His fingers are calloused, but the way he touches her is gentle. The cold press of his rings sends a pleasant shudder down Sansa's body, making her toes tingle. Jon softly repeats her name. The tips of his ears are red, most likely from the chilly, September winds. He looks away for a brief moment, as if gathering his thoughts, before meeting her gaze once more. "That’s pretty."

5. how she died by @cellsshapedlikestars

She's buried on a cold, dreary day in late January. That’s all Jon can seem to think about at the funeral. It’s too cold, the sky is too grey. Bleak and barren; there isn’t even snow. It’s an inane, intrusive thought. It could rain, at least, he thinks. The sky should weep for her. The universe should mourn. It doesn’t make sense. No matter how hard he tries, he can’t understand why anyone would murder Sansa Stark.

6. i'm on fire by @cellsshapedlikestars

“Okay,” she says, voice shaking. “I’ll do it. I’ll order an escort.” “Are you sure?” Randa asks, eyes wide like she doesn’t think Sansa is. It only makes Sansa’s teeth grind together. “Yes, I’m sure,” she grits out. If Harry wants an open relationship, she’s going to give it to him.

7. trojan horse by @cellsshapedlikestars

He’s only known her for an hour, but he’s pretty sure he’s in love with her.

8. Attorney–Client Privilege by @kit-kat21

No one in her family had ever done this before. Her parents were true soulmates. Sansa hated to admit that she partially blamed them for giving her such high expectations of marriage and love. Her brother and his wife, Jeyne (Westerling), had just celebrated their twelfth wedding anniversary. None of her grandparents, aunts or uncles had ever been divorced. Sansa Stark was the first in her whole family to have this distinct honor. So there was no one she could ask for help or advice. When she told her parents that she wanted to file first, Ned and Catelyn did what they did with all of their children when one of them came to them. They dove right in and helped the best they could. Googling divorce lawyers seemed to be the only thing they could do and from there, they read reviews because just like restaurants and hair salons, divorce lawyers were online-reviewed, too.

9. snow angels by @kingsansa

He finds, as the hairs on the back of his neck rise, as his heart completely fucking nosedives, that her voice is lower than he remembers, but unmistakable all of the same. Sansa Stark stands in the hallway of his shitty, hole-in-the-wall, egregiously outdated bar; unmistakable.

10. Later Nights by @justadram

Her husband, Jon Snow, might be in his off-season--blessedly. But with the Summer Olympics around the corner, her late-night Olympic show producer, Tyrion Lannister, hasn't forgotten about the unlikely Team USA star and their recording-setting ratings in 2022. He has his sights set on a triumphant rematch between the newlyweds any way he can get it.

11. We Run the Gamut (Let's Run Away) by @hilarychuff

Boy and girl meet. Live parallel lives. And, one day, they start to come together. Scenes inspired by all the different types of love for the Jonsa Valentine's Day Event 2024.

12. Touch me, I’m going to scream by @eruherdiriel

He’s one building away when he sees her—auburn hair in two neat French braids, a grey peacoat on, and hands in green fleece gloves holding a shopping bag that looks heavy. Sansa Stark is walking up the steps of the triple-decker, leaving a sleek, black sedan idling by the curb. Flustered, Jon jogs the rest of the way and reaches the steps just as Sansa raises a hand to ring the buzzer. “Hey,” he says, and she stops her motion. When she turns to him, Sansa’s eyes go wide. “Are you all right?” — Jon and Sansa—how touch evolves between them over the years.

[mindblowingscience]

Currently in the twelfth year of its mission, NASA's Curiosity rover continues to press on while treading the world of Mars, delving into areas no rover has gone before. The latest phase of Curiosity's adventure has brought it to what some scientists believe is the desiccated bed of an ancient river.  As Curiosity prepares to follow Gediz Vallis, as scientists call this winding and boulder-choked channel, it will try to give scientists a look back through time so they can discover how the landform came to be in the first place

Continue Reading.

[jymwahuwu]

@cocosakuya15 for this excellent brainrot. my inner spanking kink is shaking 😩🥺😳😳😳😳💕💕💕💕

TW: yandere, humiliation, kidnapping, failed escape, spanking without consent, forced oral sex

Maybe it's the "payback" you've been stubborn and resistant to before. Whenever guests visit the General's Mansion, Jing Yuan always finds some excuse to punish you - you're flustered and overwhelmed by it.

Jing Yuan gives you a long list to do, such as prepare drinks, cook, show them around the pond or gardens in the mansion, keep nodding and smiling, etc. Rigorous, detailed checklist. In order to avoid punishment, you are doing your best to complete these tasks. A few times, you got away with it, proving that checklists are useful. But mostly, you're bending over and getting spanked in front of his guests. He smiled and slapped your ass, and talked about the development of Xianzhou with the guests. In the loud slapping sound, you sob and shake, but still need to hold the position or it will only be longer and heavier.

Once, you thought you had acted perfectly, but 5 minutes before the guests were about to leave, Jing Yuan found the dust on the table that you didn't wipe off, and started spanking you. There's a mysterious smirk on his face as you sob.

Sometimes you recall the humiliating beginning with deep regret.

-

Jing Yuan is tolerant. If you just disobey his orders and talk back, he will just pat your head, poke your forehead, tell you not to do it again next time, or hold your cheek and kiss you, and non con you All night long 😗 But if you do this repeatedly, don't listen to him at all, keep running away, waving your paws like a little wild kitty that keeps biting-

After you escaped to another planet (for the twelfth time), the general told you that there will be guests coming. You snort and ignore him. Jing Yuan didn't pamper you this time - your mouth was filled with cock, pressed against your tongue, and trained your throat. "Mmmmm!" You choked up tears, salty tears falling on his cock, and the inside of your moist, soft mouth expanded. When those seeds were distributing in your mouth, he put his hand on the back of your head, "Swallow it." He looked down at you, his golden eyes flashed a light. His tone was calm, so calm that there was a strange feeling. You swallowed as he said, sobbing. "Are you still so stubborn? Receive guests, I said. Go prepare drinks."

You wiped your tears, nodded silently, stood up, walked into the kitchen, and took out a drink from the refrigerator. The guests are already here. You've never seen them before - but these people could be high ups in Xianzhou…?

You took the tray, put the drink on the table rudely, and planned to turn around and go back to the room to regain your rebellious courage. Unexpectedly, Jing Yuan's hand grabbed you, put you on his lap, pulled down your panties and started spanking, in front of all the guests. You startled and struggled. "You, what are you doing?!" Those slaps on your butt got harder. You even hear whispers and giggles from the guests, praising the general for his discipline.

Of all these punishments, what you fear most is your reputation - what will they and others say about you? Don't they know you were kidnapped?

What you don't know is that those guests are just actors hired by Jing Yuan. They have a non-disclosure agreement and loyalty to him. The general does not allow any news about you to spread outside. He won't tell you, just for seeing your adorable submission 🥺👉👈

[sightofsea]

your preferred twelfth doctor ship, 108 🫡

for you my fellow twelveclara warrior I give you this. also I apologize for any typos.

108. "Is that my shirt?"

"Is that my shirt?"

The question almost flies by Clara's head. She's too invested in whatever's happening on the screen in front of her. Years ago, back when she was nannying and certain people had certain faces, the movements and images were nothing but gibberish. But time and proximity have, like they do to most things, washed away the exciting edges of the unknown. She may not be able to read Circular Gallifreyan, but she knows that certain concentric circles spell trouble. She's seeking them out.

When the question does reach her, she has enough mind to glance at the Doctor, paused at the steps, before returning to her task. "Hm? Yeah." She scratches at her wrists, even though the material is surprisingly soft.

"That's my shirt," the Doctor repeats. "And my trousers. And my jacket--are you dressing up for something?"

"Just told you that, yeah," Clara continues, After a minute, she drags her eyes from the screen. "Ran out of clothes. Doing laundry."

"There's a wardrobe," the Doctor reminds her. 

He's staring at her--he does that. Clara imagines that, for most people, this is what a mouse feels like when confronted with a hawk. She's not most people.

"Yeah, but, y'know," she says. She shifts in place, having enough presence to be a bit embarrassed. She shrugs. "Wanted to see what it was like."

The Doctor sighs, but there's no heart in it. He launches off of the steps and rolls his eyes. "You've done that."

"That was an audition," Clara says. She spreads her arms wide. "This is a dress rehearsal." The Doctor squints at her, not quite getting it. Thrilled at the prospect of a game, Clara grins and smacks her chest, "Here, you play. Be me, and I'll be you."

There's the delicate raise of an eyebrow. "Should I put on a pantsuit and a set of heels?" the Doctor asks.

"If you like," Clara says with a smirk. It's an image she certainly...well, she might be thinking about it, later. "I wouldn't mind." Right, maybe said too much. She stalls around the console, disappearing behind the column rotor and coming out the other end with a horrible Scottish accent and an even worse disposition. "Now then, Clara, all of time and space. Where do you want to go?"

The Doctor gives her a derisive look. "I don't talk like that."

"Of course you don't!" exclaims Clara, still holding onto the accent. She presses a few buttons absently, readjusts the monitor. "You're Clara. And Clara says..." She makes a rolling gesture towards him. The Doctor stares at her, deadpan. She gestures again.

The Doctor rolls his eyes, arms limp at his sides. "Somewhere new."

Clara frowns. "Well that's not very specific, is it?"

The Doctor shrugs. "I'm Clara," he says. "I tend to be vague." Then, as if possessed by a teenage girl at a barista counter, he leans against the console, taking care to have a certain curve in his back and a bit of attention payee to certain features. He rests his chin in his palm. "Take me somewhere new and exciting and full of adventure that'll nearly kill us."

His voice is still the same. Clara scowls and drops the accent. "I don't stand like that."

The Doctor gives an innocent frown. "Ohhh, of course you don't." He gives his best shit-eating grin. "You're the Doctor. And the Doctor says..." He gestures to her. 

Clara doesn't take the bait. "Of course," she says instead, and picks up the accent again. She starts fiddling with the console more, and feels something stir in her stomach the more bothered the Doctor looks. "I'll take you to a planet where they've got starlight instead of waterfalls." She skirts around him, reaching over his shoulder and leaning in close. "Of course, the TARDIS is so tricky so who knows." She flips a switch next to his hand. "Maybe we'll end up in a Dalek fleet somewhere." He stares at her, a little wide-eyed and unguarded. She smiles, feeling something stir in her stomach, before bounding off to the opposite side of the console.

The Doctor un-flips the switch and follows her around. "Or maybe we'll have a normal adventure," he says. "Those do happen." He shrugs. "But then again, I'm Clara, so I don't really like those ones."

Making a full round, Clara flips the switch again. "And I'm the Doctor, so I don't like those ones either."

She makes one more round, the Doctor following close behind, before turning on her heels and placing a hand on the big lever.

The Doctor places his hand over hers, their fingers overlayed almost perfectly. They feel like one hand belonging to two bodies. "I'm a glutton for danger," the Doctor as Clara says. 

Clara as the Doctor grins, raises her eyebrows. "As am I."

They're very close now, the only sounds around being their own breaths and the mechanical whirring of a machine forever out of time.

"And you love it," the Doctor says. 

"And so do you," Clara says.

The Doctor stares at her, resolute. "Bit out of character," he relents, his voice near a whisper. "Wouldn't you say?"

Clara swallows. "Yeah," she whispers back. She gives him a sad smile. "The Doctor would never say something like that, would he?"

He gives her his own sad smile. "No," he agrees. "And neither would Clara, I'm guessing."

Clara thinks about a few things, all at once. She thinks about how warm the jacket in on her. She thinks about their knuckles aligning, bone atop bone. She thinks, mostly, about the language of the Time Lords and concentric circles. Always going round and round, never really touching. Words being repeated over and over again until someone decides to move on with the sentence.

"No," she says, and pulls the lever. The Doctor's pushes. It has no choice in the matter.

The TARDIS jolts, and they continue to grip onto the console as one hand. The air around them whines and scrapes once, twice, the very ground beneath them shaking, before the lever is brought up again. Neither can tell if it was pushed, or pulled. 

Clara is the first to withdraw. She's playing a part, after all, and she knows her role well. She has to be the first to withdraw.

She pushes off of the console and to the doors, pulling them ajar. The world outside is bright and alive and strange. It's old hat by now. There's some shouting in the distance. 

Ah, better.

"What about the laundry?" the Doctor asks from the console.

Clara turns back to him and smiles. "I have a feeling it'll be done when we get back," she says, and nods to the world outside. "Come on, Clara, don't you want to see me be clever?"

The Doctor smiles back. "As much as I ever do," he says, and follows her outside.

[laurenmitchellwrites]

Hey everyone! I just posted a new short story on Ko-Fi as a thank you for everyone who has supported me over recent times and longer ago. It's open to all supporters of any amount.

'First Steps' was written as a contribution to Twelfth Planet Press's Mother of Invention, and follows the story of Divi, an artificial intelligence (a real one, not predictive text in a fancy interface) and their perception of who constitutes their family, particularly their mother. I think it is a little bit sad but also hopeful. It's set on a spaceship and there's a lot of queerness among the crew and lots of found family talk beyond Divi's personal experience.

If you've already kindly donated to my Ko-Fi and were logged in, you can access the story at this link. If you're interested but haven't donated, this is a name your own price donation deal. And if you donated to me directly through PayPal or not logged in on Ko-Fi and would like to read it, please get in touch so I can send you a copy of the story directly (I don't expect anyone to sign up for Ko-Fi just to be able to read it!).

[pico-digital-studios]

Into, Across and Beyond! Cast: Nitro/Christopher Smith

Replaces: Insomniac Spider-Man

(Art by BroadwayBash123)

"Since I'm following in my hero's footsteps, I know there's still a lot to learn, even after I've gotten past my depression and fought off all sorts of multiversal-threatening creeps. But one thing's for sure; no matter what happens, I'll always have my friends there by my side!"

Nitro the Hedgehog/Christopher Smith is my own original character based within his own Sonic universe. However, his journey didn't solely start there.

In his youth, he was an actual human, just like you and me. He had a great life going for him; a great education, a loving family, fun friends to hang out with, and even a girlfriend! However, after he got separated from his family in a heartless attack, he ended up in Mobius, where he was found and taken in by Tails and Cosmo.

As the days went on, he aspired to be a hero of his own to help others where he couldn't help his family, which was helped with training from both Sonic and Honey. During this time, he also fell in love with Amy Rose, who reciprocated his feelings sometime after that universe's War for Mobius.

One monster that gave him the worst trouble, though, was Toxinfect, who terrorised Nitro at every opportunity and tried everything to make his life a living hell, even causing a two-month-long apocalypse with him as one of the remaining survivors.

He did manage to turn things around, though, when he discovered a special artefact known as the Sacred Ring, which was way more powerful than Toxinfect and reversed all the damage he did, therefore kickstarting the monster's downfall and descent into pure insanity.

As the next years went on, Nitro met other heroes from a variety of universes and made good friends with them. His siblings, Evo and Rosie, alongside his human girlfriend, Amelia Walten, and mother, Susan, even returned to him over that amount of time. He even gained the ability to switch between his hedgehog and human selves at any time following his first trip outside of Mobius in a while.

But during that time, Nitro was hiding the fact he was suffering from long-term depression, which he finally revealed when a smaller "version" of him from another universe pressed him about the matter. It took a lot of therapy and support for him to overcome it, but he was able to do so in time for a surprise birthday party his friends and family had prepared for him, which he was overjoyed about.

Come More than One Universe, and he, alongside his Errorverse companions (including those from Sonic, Freedom Planet, Undertale, FNF and DDLC), were brought in to help put a stop to the madness going on within the OMT universe.

During his time there, Nitro got to know more about the Blur Gang, even offering to teach CU!Sonia some tricks on how to save the day without getting her hurt. He even got to meet his D-Sides counterpart, Hefty the Armadillo. Alongside them, he helped with curing the high level of multiversal threats that were flocking in.

After everything was said and done, he joined the Blur Gang as its official twelfth member, and even outside of it, he, OMT!Tails and OMT!Mina have since been known to work in a three-member team of their own whenever they can.

I'd say it's a pretty ironic inversion of Insomniac, in a way. While Insomniac Spidey came from a video game and knows it, Nitro's self-awareness comes from being a part-human within the Sonic world.

He's also one of those to have made it through the Errorverse's rewrite with all of his memories intact, allowing him and Amelia to change things up when the times were right. And because of it, their universe became better than it once did, while they continued to lend their support to the Blur Gang as needed.

In terms of romantic relationships, he's got Amy, Amelia Walten and his version of Mina, though he's also found a preference for women older than him to actively avoid any squicky stuff, hence why he's comfortable being around ladies such as Milly in the stories.

Oh, yeah! You guys are welcome to ask me anything you'd like about Nitro, even if it's unrelated to Into, Across and Beyond!. Be it his childhood friends, about his family and other original character companions, etc.

[romilly-jay]

Happy // "This Essay Really Happened" // to me <3

Wee post to mark that an essay I wrote was the featured / subscriber-content / piece for Oct 2024 for Speculative Insight.

Look - here's the screen shot where my piece still leads for the subscriber section of the site (for, I'm thinking, another two weeks?)

I wasn't necessarily going to mention this here again - yet - except that I looked at the archive pattern for this blog and realised I hadn't actually mentioned it all that much in the first place...

This is what Speculative Insight journal says of themselves and couldn't be happier to have been selected as one of their essayists - plus FWIW, absolutely stellar experience working with Alexandra Pierce as editor! Would recommend :)

Speculative fiction;

A type of story set in a world that is different from the one we live in.

Insight:

To have a clear, deep, understanding of a complicated problem or situation.

Speculative Insight:

A journal that explores the breadth and depth of the themes, ideas, and issues of science fiction and fantasy.

Things to know:

Speculative Insight is a feminist journal, although not every essay will be explicitly feminist in analysis. We are anti racism, transphobia, queerphobia, and ableism. Speculative Insight welcomes essays that present non-dominant perspectives and particularly encourages submissions from people from any and all marginalised groups. We will not publish harmful content; articles may include thoughtful discussion that may cause disagreement.

About the editor:

Speculative Insight is edited and published by Alexandra Pierce. As a lifelong lover of science fiction and fantasy, as well as being passionate about history and science, creating a space for SFF-related nonfiction just made sense. Alexandra co-edited the award-winning anthologies Letters to Tiptree and Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia E. Butler (both for Twelfth Planet Press). She was a co-host of the podcast Galactic Suburbia with Alisa Krasnostein and Tansy Rayner Roberts; it ran for a decade and won the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Fancast.

Massive thanks to bedrock supporters:

Tehani Croft * Jaunita Landéesse * Amelia Brown * Katharine (thiefofcamorr) * Crystal Huff * Kirsten Campbell * Nike Sulway * Kathryn MacKinnon * Calen Bender * Alison Proietto * Damien Warman & Juliette Woods * Adeline Teoh * Tansy Rayner Roberts * Chris McLaren * Cat Sparks * Micole Sudberg * Alisa Krasnostein * Nina Niskanen * Jemma Pollari * Devin Jeyathurai * Emily D.E. Bell * Spike *

And the link to the journal for anyone who might Be The Audience - or a possible future provider of SF essay content - yes please!

Anyway, it was genuinely thrilling to see these lil purple text-bites appearing in the ether-web over the few days following publication - here they are in their collected glory, just in case I go back and they've already disappeared...

(which too many of us have learned, I think, the hard way - on which point, RIP Television Without Pity - you were my *favourite*)

[ktempestbradford]

Mother of Invention Essays on Gender, AI, Androids, Allegory, and the Other

Mother of Invention Anthology out soon + essays on Gender, AI, Androids, Allegory, and the Other.

Next month the fabulous Mother of Inventionanthology comes out and I highly encourage you to pre-order this fabulousness if you did not get in on the Kickstarter. It features stories about gender as it relates to the creation of artificial intelligence and robotics by Nisi Shawl, John Chu, Seanan McGuire, Soumya Sundar Mukherjee, EC Myers & many more. Editors Rivqa Rafael and Tansy Rayner Roberts…

[theeditorandnarratorcollaborate]

BookTuber Tuesday - Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia E. Butler

BookTuber Tuesday – Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia E. Butler

These are obviously people who believe in science, are reasonably educated, technologically savvy, readers and often writers of SFF themselves. In India, people like that are not often understood to be conservatives. What the Puppies are really trying to “conserve” is the dominance of white men in the genre. They are “conserving”…

[pers-books]

Advance notice that we will be open for novella submissions in September 2018

Why so much notice? We want new work written for us. And we want this call to to reach far and wide.

We are looking to build a kickass series of novellas that defines and redefines the Twelfth Planet Press brand. We want gritty pieces that challenge the system and punch the patriarchy in the face. We want stories that resist and rebel… and maybe also books that comfort & inspire. For when things are bad out there in the world. We are looking for books that feed the angry soul.

We’re interested in hearing from marginalised writers more generally: for example, people under the QUILTBAG umbrella, including intersex people; people of colour, including Indigenous and Native writers from around the world; and disabled people. That said, we also welcome stories from authors who aren’t marginalised. Please don’t self-reject – we want your stories! If you feel your intersections are relevant to your story, you may mention them in your cover letter, but this is not required. We respect your privacy.

We’re looking for a diverse range of authors, story settings, time periods, cultural backgrounds and protagonists. Magic, history, fantasy, steampunk and science fiction are all welcome. We are also looking for fun, light crime novellas that fit within our Deadlines imprint.

Your novella should be between 17 000 and 40 000 words.

It should be considered fantasy, science fiction, horror, or crime and not published previously in any medium, including limited audience media such as Patreon. Publication is by ebook in the first instance. Payment is by way of an advance of US$300 and royalties of 40% of all monies received by the publisher, paid twice yearly.

Submissions will open on 1 September 2018 and close on 30 November 2018

No multiple submissions or simultaneous submissions. We aim to respond to all submissions by the end of January 2019.

[arctic-hands]

Was anyone going to tell me that Rebuilding Tomorrow, the sequel anthology to Defying Doomsday, has been out for like half a year or was I supposed to find that out while searching Defiant Doomsday in the tags to see when Rebuilding Tomorrow was finally going to be released?

[not-poignant]

I wanted to add re: the science fiction ask, I also am a beta for one of my favourite science fiction and fantasy authors, and good friends, Stephanie Gunn, who - among other things - wrote the f/f novella, Icefall, which features science fiction mountaineering with horror elements, and is simply amazing.

Please read it, it's pretty critically acclaimed. And has been nominated for a ton of awards. :D

[tansyrr]

We’re nearly at the halfway mark of our crowdfunding! This amazing book will feature stories by Seanan McGuire, Kameron Hurley, John Chu, Nisi Shawl and others! Help us make it happen by pre-ordering your copy today through Kickstarter.

[tsanasreads]

Marry Me Mischa McPhee by Kate Gordon

Marry Me Mischa McPhee by Kate Gordon is a contemporary Christmas romance novella. It's not my usual genre (seeing as I'm not a fan of Christmas nor Romance) but I was drawn in by the promise of a queer romance and not too much Christmas. Also, I enjoyed Girl Running, Boy Falling, so why not.

When Maddy discovers a love note scrawled on the toilet cubicle wall at work, she decides to go on a quest to find out who wrote it and to see if, just maybe, it was intended for her. This sweet Christmas holiday romance set in Hobart, Tasmania, is just the thing you need to ease into the festive season this year. BYO cup of hot chocolate and slice of cake!

This was a quirky fun read with a diverse cast and a bisexual protagonist. I admit that part of my amusement when reading this book was at some of the silly things Maddy did or didn't notice other people doing. In some books this sort of thing annoys me, but it worked well in this one since it was very clear when and with what Maddy was being distracted. Although we only see Maddy over a short period, we get enough background context to see how much she's grown as a person over the past few years. Her mix of confidence and insecurity underscores this, also, her general character traits mesh well with the story and its development. And I was amused with how she kept going back and forth on the gender of the mystery person she was trying to track down. This was a fun read and I recommend it to anyone who likes light and fluffy romance stories with a bit of a Christmas theme. I'm not about to immerse myself in the genre, but I enjoyed reading Marry Me Mischa McPhee and it made me laugh a few times. I will certainly be keeping an eye on Gordon's future output. 4 / 5 stars First published: December 2018, Twelfth Planet Press Series: No. Format read: ePub Source: ARC from Publisher Disclaimer: Note that the author and publisher are friends of mine. Nevertheless, I have endeavoured to write an unbiased review. Content imported from Blogger https://ift.tt/2LjhS6e. If you would like to leave a comment, please do so at the aforementioned link.

[catboydogma]

lay on, lay on, lay on

day 1 prompts: wings, pining

cross-posted to ao3 + codywan week22 masterlist ! 

wc: 1423

tags: cuddling, fluff

“Commander,” the General said. His voice was quiet with sleep but as distinct as if they were standing at a holotable strategizing. “If you do not move in the next two clicks, I shall shove my boot so far up your arse that Wolffe shall feel it.”

Cody blinked awake. A lurching sense of vertigo accompanied the pitch dark pressing in on all sides. He was warm and slightly sweaty and something smelled like dried grass and deciduous-sweet sap.

Ah.

He lifted an arm and turned onto his back once more. The General wiggled back with a groan. He threw out a hand to stop himself from toppling off the narrow cot and nearly tipped the entire thing over in the process.

“I can sleep on the ground,” Cody said for the twelfth time in the last eight hours. He could sleep outside, even. He could go take a few watch shifts. He could even muscle his way into the nearest tent, which happened to contain five-odd Lieutenants. He could sleep anywhere that wasn’t here.

“It’s too cold out.” The General sighed and there was a feathery flump. “If you open the flap now, you’ll freeze to death. The same goes for the ground, unfortunately.”

Cody could see indistinct shapes now: his vision was sharper than a baseline Human’s and there were two moons out tonight. The General had one massive wing awkwardly pinned beneath him and the other spilling off the edge of the GAR-issue fold-up cot. It was the only such cot that was used in the 212th Battalion, as far as Cody knew, because the General was the only such person in the 212th that happened to come with an extra pair of appendages that made sleeping on the ground or in a bedroll near impossible.

The problem with this situation was twofold. First: a sudden and intense cold snap had necessitated consolidation and redistributing of supplies, ie the sharing of tents to prevent freezing one’s balls off. Second: Cody’s bedroll had, earlier this rotation, suffered in a tragic freak accident that rendered it unusable. He had thought nothing of it when the swarm of omnivorous, sharp-beaked birds had attempted to swarm them before the General had warned them off with a truly terrifying rattle-shriek that was even still bouncing around in the back of his head. Cody was no stranger to roughing it and he’d slept on more grounds of more planets than he’d had hot meals.

Unfortunately for at least two people involved, this meant that the ground was somehow both freezing and soaking wet. Even with the waterproofing that the tent ostensibly provided. Fortunately, the General was provided a tent of his own by dint of rank and aforementioned species-specific physiology.

This would not have been a problem if Cody did not, as Wolffe so tenderly put it, have a massive boner for Jedi High General Obi-Wan Kenobi.

“Sorry.” Cody lay on his back with one hand on his chest and the other firmly tucked under a thigh. It had started to drizzle. Light patters of sound fuzzed in the background like static feedback. Someone in a tent to the East was snoring loud enough to resurrect Prime.

He could stand. Cody was good at standing. He could stand for hours, in fact, in full kit and maybe that was just what he needed to do—

The General sighed quietly and turned onto his stomach so he could fold one wing to his back and stretch the other out. Cody turned his head to look at him and found that the General was already looking. The whites of his eyes gleamed faintly.

“Don’t be,” the General said, wings shuffling with a quiet susurrus. The flash of his teeth as he spoke matched the flash of the creamy white bars at the tips of his primaries and secondaries. His General’s wings were similar to that of an owl’s and were meant for gliding and swooping. They were a tawny auburn a shade cooler than his General’s hair and were almost twice Cody’s own arm span and taller than a clone trooper when folded.

“I don’t mind if—”

“I don’t mean to—” Cody shut his mouth with a click. General Kenobi was still just looking at him, mouth half open and hair falling in a shadowy puddle on the cot below him. The General had ceded the blanket to him, citing that his wings and heightened metabolism would keep him warm. This close, Cody could see the fine tremble in his General’s primaries wasn’t his breathing but a barely-suppressed shiver. He drew the blanket up and settled it over the both of them. Cody’s own warmth was more than enough for the both of them.

“My wing fell asleep,” the General said. He had his head still pillowed on one arm but the other was curled against his side, fingers slightly splayed and nearly brushing Cody’s shoulder. “And you wouldn’t respond to bribery nor appeals to your better nature.”

“I don’t have a better nature,” Cody automatically said.

“I suspect that’s due to all of your nature being better than most,” Obi-W—the General said. His voice was warm and quiet. It was unbearably intimate and Cody realized, belatedly, that their faces were centimeters apart: that his General’s eyelashes brushed Cody’s brow when he blinked. “I’m sorry for waking you. I suspect you already know, but you’re a cuddler in your sleep, Cody. It’s endearing, really.”

What Cody wouldn’t give for the ability to spontaneously implode.

“I don’t mean to crowd you.” Cody found himself matching the General’s tone. It felt hard not to when he was sleepy and warm and his General was right there, wings falling and rising with each measured breath and—

“You never do,” Obi-Wan said. He shifted to nudge the side of his pinky against Cody’s shoulder, hand still splayed across the rough fabric of the cot. “You aren’t. I feel like I’m the one crowding you.”

“No,” Cody immediately said. “You don’t.” Obi-Wan’s wings were large enough that the man—already tall and lanky—took up more room than a trooper even in full gear but he was always circumspect about his surroundings, courteous and attentive and—

Obi-Wan exhaled, slow and quiet. Cody’s attention was arrested by the sudden fall of his hair across Obi-Wan’s forehead. They were both stripped to undersuit and undertunic, respectively, and Cody was starting to feel the warmth of Obi-Wan’s skin seeping through. They weren’t touching other than the pinky Obi-Wan had nudged up against Cody’s deltoid. He’d had more contact with his General—carrying or being carried, sheltering from blast radii, crashing together when a lartie got hit—but this felt different. Worse. Better. More. Cody felt like his entire body was a livewire attuned to the sound of Obi-Wan’s breathing and the graceful sweep of his wing curving to the line of his spine.

“We might have more room if we were to… consolidate,” Obi-Wan said after a moment. They could only keep up pretenses for so long. Cody was caught in Obi-Wan’s orbit, or maybe it was the other way around, and the drag of him felt like the sink of a gravity well.

“I’m not going to lay on top of you,” Cody immediately said. Obi-Wan could bear his weight just fine, but Cody thought he might pass directly into the Force (do not pass Coruscant, do not collect largely metaphorical backpay) if he popped a boner while laying on top of his—on top of the General.

“Alright,” Obi-Wan said agreeably, “and how do you feel about being laid upon, Cody?”

Cody made a speedy cost-benefits analysis of this strategy and let the little status indicating wheel in his brain spin wildly for half a moment. “That would work,” he said evenly.

“Jolly good,” Obi-Wan said. On the plus side, this meant that any potential boner Cody might have sported was no longer a problem. On the other hand, which was now buried in the warm ruff of feathery skin between Obi-Wan’s wings touching Obi-Wan’s bare back and—

“This works,” Cody said after a moment into Obi-Wan’s shoulder. He couldn’t think of him as just the General like this, not with Obi-Wan’s warm, feathery weight pressing down on him and Obi-Wan’s soft, slightly sweaty hair pressed to his cheek and jaw. Obi-Wan only made an agreeable noise and shuffled his wings in a contented manner, now spread out over both sides of the cot and spilling out from under the blanket.

[laurenmitchellwrites]

Publications

2014: ‘Latency’ in Continuum X Conbook

2015: The Triad Trial, Less Than Three Press. Currently out of print.

2016: 

‘Pictures and Memories’, Less Than Three Press. Currently out of print.

‘Tea Party’ in Defying Doomsday, Twelfth Planet Press

First edition of The Fear Collectors, self-published via CreateSpace and Kindle Direct for final project of Master of Communication. Currently out of print.

2018: ‘Island, Ocean’ in Capricious Magazine: The Gender Diverse Pronouns Issue

2019: Revised edition of The Fear Collectors, Shooting Star Press