#areyougonnabe

[nerys-syren]

D'you think that the ep where they go back to the OG Enterprise and Dax fangirls over Spock was like the equivalent of somone from today going back to the Erebus and fangrirling over James Fitzjames

[fansplaining]

Some fangirls would spend entire fan-club meetings doing “Beatle-talk” in their approximation of Liverpudlian accents. They would act out scenes from “A Hard Day’s Night,” or even make up their own scenes, assigning each other Beatles personas, which they would stick with in the long-term. (Pity the girl who got Ringo!) ... Pamela des Barres, the groupie famous for her dalliances with real-life rockstars like Mick Jagger and Keith Moon, recounted her experiences with fantasy ones, too—as a teenage Beatles roleplayer. “We were two girls in a constant state of Beatle skits. I played John and myself, and she played Paul and herself. We could switch personalities with the flick of an accent. We [...] professed undying love with semiperfect working-class Liverpudlian accents. At night, we played all four people at the same time, when we would lie entwined in each other’s arms, pressing our four sets of lips together in an eternal expression of Beatle Love.”

@areyougonnabe's latest for Fansplaining digs into modern-day Beatles shippers and fanworks creators—but she also casts back to the fan practices of the 1960s, particularly the act of “Beatle-play.”

Read the article—or listen to an audio version, read by Allegra herself!

[elizabethminkel]

My latest fandom column for Atlas Obscura is live! This one is on @terrorcamp, a Terror fandom con + polar history conference that truly feels like it straddles both fandom and academia. Many thanks to the brilliant group of people who spoke to me for this piece, especially TC organizer @areyougonnabe, of course!!

There are so many quotes I love, but one of my favorites was from Hester Blum, a Penn State English professor, on how the event reshaped her thinking about current teaching in the humanities:

Watching the presentations from younger fans also made her reassess the way she and her colleagues approach their students; many academics discuss younger generations’ interest in “relatability,” and how it prevents them from engaging with history and literature. “One of the things that this conference made me realize is how fundamentally we have misunderstood what it means to be ‘relatable,’” she says. “And it’s not simply a lack of critical distance or affinity—but the kind of passionate fan response, as something that is deeply critical and deeply thought-through. It was one of those moments that was like, ‘Oh, this can be the future of engagement.’ This was incredible.”

[anotherwellkeptsecret]

New Good Omens Comic!

I will be starting a new Good Omens comic soon! I'm finishing up One Night in Bangor and will be making a PDF version of the entire comic swiftly. Yay!

The next comic will be it's a new craze by attheborer or areyougonnabe on Tumblr. Please give them some love!

Crowley and Aziraphale are very possibly the people least qualified, on the entire planet, to start up an advice podcast. But what else is there to do when the world isn’t ending anytime soon, you’re technically on indefinite sabbatical from your lifelong careers, and you need a plausible excuse to spend more time with your best friend who you’re definitely not, absolutely not, maybe just a little, actually maybe overwhelmingly in love with?

It's a cute fic in script format so I'll be able to add in my own little sprinkles of body language for some extra fun. Tune in soon for the first update!

[jamesfitzjamesdotcom]

Happy birthday to him!

I'm late with my Fitzjames birthday post because I was out all day leading a tour of Hertfordshire to places connected to the birthday boy. 🥳💕 About 20 people attended and it was such a joyful day. Met friends and made new ones. Both Gambier and Coningham descendants were there. The best day celebrating James Fitzjames. 🥹

Pic by @areyougonnabe 🙏❤️

[addledmongoose]

Good Omens Fanfic Friday (30 Aug 2024)

10 Easy Ways To Seduce Your Demon (15K; Rated T) by @waitingtobebroken

Oblivious Crowley is oblivious. After the Notpocalypse, Aziraphale becomes more touchy-feely, uses more endearments, and wants to spend more time with Crowley. What could it possibly mean? By the same author of the marvelous Kidnapping A Supreme Archangel For Fun And Profit series.

***

what a way to make a living (5K; Rated T) by @areyougonnabe

Aziraphale convinces Crowley he needs something to do, so the demon starts driving for Uber. This is partly told from an outsider POV, and it's really sweet and cute. From the author of the hilarious, dearly departed and it's a new craze.

***

Our World Will Change (Part 2 of One life, One love) (14K; Rated T) by @thinkinginscripts

Human AU. The sequel to One life, One love, where Aziraphale and Crowley are slaves who fall in love and plan their escape to freedom. I can't really give a plot for this one without spoiling the first story, but if you've read that one, you'll know what the story is about.

***

And my addiction that started last week, a story I actually considered re-reading immediately after finishing both because of and in spite of the word count.

If He’s Your Cleric, Why Is He Putting Me In His Bag of Holding? (300K; Rated E) by @noodlefrog-omens

Human AU (sorta). That word count could've been twice as long, and I still wouldn't think this book had overstayed its welcome, because I absolutely loved every moment of this D&D-inspired story. Don't worry if you've never played a D&D game in your life; you don't need to know anything about it to follow along. Aziraphale is a cleric for an adventuring party that's been given the quest to go into a dungeon and collect a dragon egg from the deepest level. His party (Gabriel, Uriel, Michael, and Sandalphon) abandons him in the dungeon, leaving him at the mercy of the dungeon's denizens. (By the way, the absolute dumbest thing an adventuring group could ever do is abandon their healer, so you know the level of competence Aziraphale is working with here).

Unknown to Aziraphale, he's being stalked by a hungry mimic named Crowley. When he finds a gorgeous book on a shelf in the dungeon (mimics shapeshift into inanimate objects like treasure to ambush prey), he puts it in his magical bag of holding, unaware the book is a living creature. Aziraphale saves Crowley from suffocation in the nick of time, and the two quickly form a friendship as they go to look for Aziraphale's adventuring group, despite Crowley informing him that they deliberately abandoned him.

Both of these characters are wonderfully realized, and the parts of the story from Crowley's POV as he tries to figure out what he's feeling with Aziraphale are really well done and feel realistic. Crowley doesn't have the words to understand what is actually going on with his feelings toward the humanoid he adores but he knows he feels something, and Aziraphale doesn't think a being like Crowley would ever find a humanoid interesting romantically or sexually.

There are puzzles to solve, traps and monsters to avoid, and enemy adventurers to thwart, and there are two (well, really more than) particular standout side characters: Sister Mary, a nun for a Draconic Order that worships the dragon at the bottom of the dungeon, and a kobold clan that works for the dragon and keeps the dungeon properly stocked in deadly traps. All the kobolds are named Eric.

If you don't want to read any of the monsterfucking/tentacle porn, you can read the entire main plot without encountering anything more salacious than a few cheek kisses. Just stop reading after they leave the dungeon and know they'll go on to live happily ever after. Everything after that is them getting to know each other better without the constant fear of death, showing Crowley the surface world, and figuring out how their relationship is going to work. The porn loosely starts in chapter 31 (of 40) and truly starts in chapter 33.

I don't know if the author has any plans for future adventures with these two, but if he does, I know I'll be there to read them.

[ripeteeth]

last line game

tagged by the incomparable @rcmclachlan , thank you!

rules: share the last line you've written, then tag some people, and have fun

So I recently developed trigger finger in my thumb, which is WILDLY unpleasant, so I haven’t written much, but here are the last line(s) I’ve written on the next chapter of Revachol Calling:

“Kim had been born on January first at the stroke of midnight. Cut in half, with his feet in one year and his head in another.

No wonder he could never seem to make a decision.”

Tagging: @wildcard47 @brawlite @perverse-idyll @danpuff-ao3 @pearwaldorf @darcylindbergh @junemermaid @mia-ugly @soft-october-night @weatheredlaw @racketghost @kiingbooooo @et-in-arkadia @robotmango @fortinbrasftw @areyougonnabe @gullbones @grimdarkfandango @greenycrimson @jesslovesboats @ectoplasm-james @iodhadh @rootingformephistopheles @jaggededges123 @zaxal @veganthranduil @itsevidentvery @iamwestiec @ivorycloudscape @orchisailsa and anyone else who wishes to!

[suddenly-frankenstein]

commission for @areyougonnabe with Deb and Silas on their Canadian Honeymoon! 💚

just chilling and having a good time :)

[haveyoureadthisfanfic]

Summary: “You are clever. Admit it.” Aziraphale let the sword fall from his palm, and raised his empty hand to rub at his face. “Oh, but I’m not,” he said with great passion, his eyes falling shut in what looked like pain. “Crowley, I was so blind—“ Two men, two women, three children, and one entire dog were watching this bit of domestic drama unfold, yet neither Crowley nor Aziraphale seemed capable of realizing they had an audience. It was as if they were the only people in each others’ universes.

Author: @areyougonnabe

[radiojamming]

Question: do you know about many polar expeditions or just the doomed/mummy-producing ones? My wife is reading a book on the Endurance/Shackleton and I was wondering if you knew any cool facts I could impress her with.

AGH I ALMOST MISSED THIS

I do know some stuff about Shackleton! And other polar exploration attempts! And failures! So all my facts are just kind of general knowledge pool stuff, but I'd also happily call on lovely people like @areyougonnabe, @bluebluebacchus, and @simplyirenic who know so, SO much. (Full disclosure: my interest in expeditions increases dramatically depending on how many mummies are involved. Or frozen people in general. RIP Émile Danco, ilu every day.)

Polar bear liver is so high in vitamin A content that consuming certain amounts could potentially kill you. As William Stillwell says, "A single polar bear liver (about 500 g) has an astonishing 9 million IU of vitamin A, and acute human toxicity occurs at about 300,000 IU!" And Joe Schwarcz: "You could eat it. If you are lucky, you would live to regret it."

Roald Amundsen sailed on the Belgica to Antarctica and survived by eating raw penguin when virtually no one else would. According to Madhouse at the End of the Earth, he was pretty hype about the challenge of daunting, maddening survival and tbh was kinda into it.

There's a really great food called hoosh. The continental dish of Antarcticaaaa~!

James Clark Ross (of Ross Ice Shelf fame, among soooo much other stuff) was called "the handsomest man in the Navy".

The hut from Shackleton's Nimrod expedition is perfectly preserved well over a century later.

JUSTICE FOR MRS CHIPPY

[cactusspatz]

June recs

June was full of Neil Gaiman fandoms: first I rewatched Good Omens S1 (S2 on Friday!!!) and then plowed through my backlog of fic to read, and then I watched The Sandman. So there's six Good Omens recs, two Sandman recs, and one lone but lovely Goblin Emperor rec.

GOOD OMENS

Demonology and the Tri-Phasic Model of Trauma: An Integrative Approach by Nnm / @mouseonamoose Amazing story about Crowley going to therapy, from his therapist's POV. The author clearly knows their stuff and Aubrey is a vivid character in her own right with her own journey to go on. This one's been recced all over, but it really is that good.

dearly departed by attheborder / @areyougonnabe In which Crowley gets discorporated and many shenanigans ensue - the London occultist underworld, lust-demons, Hell bureaucracy, Aziraphale vs loopholes, fake marriage, and of course, a happy ending. Slightly morbid at times but a fun hilarious romp.

Temptation by out_there / @out-there-tmblr Lovely look at Crowley tempting Christ (as he mentions to Aziraphale), and the lasting effect it has on him.

the deft, sweet gesture of your hand by deadgreeks / @mortuarybees Post-S1, Crowley turns up injured at the bookshop and Aziraphale takes care of him. Such a tender romance, such warm h/c. Poetry! Knitting! Pining! Ferociously protective Aziraphale!

Hell to Pay by battle_cat / @fuckyeahisawthat "In the midst of the Great Fire of London, Crowley does an emergency good deed too undemonic for Hell to ignore." Wistful h/c.

Lead me to the banquet hall by obstinatrix & wishwellingtons In which Crowley doesn't eat around Aziraphale because he has too many Feelings about it - and then Aziraphale finds out. Creative, delightful, hot, and well-characterized!

You can also find my older Good Omens recs on Pinboard!

SANDMAN

Spite (Is As Good A Reason As Any) by Blue_Sunshine In which Hob doesn't just build an inn and pine after 1989, but hires Johanna Constantine to help him track down Dream. Great AU in many directions, and the Hob-Johanna friendship is a complete scene-stealing delight. (If you like them as much as I did, there's another WIP that just finished: Totus Mundus Agit Histrionem, which kicks off with Johanna rescuing Hob from a demonic possession.)

Passing the Time by Anonymous Dream passes time in the fishbowl by quietly terrorizing his guards. (The author tagged this 'Dream is petty and terrifying' and I couldn't agree more.) Viciously funny but also a little heartbreaking.

GOBLIN EMPEROR

Between the Grave and the Well by Sphragis "In which Iäna Pel-Thenhior catches a fever and Thara Celehar catches feelings." Gorgeous hurt/comfort-y get-together that really captures the characters and the world.

[chiropteracupola]

IT IS GONNA TAKE AN ACT OF GOD TO REMOVE THE STICKERS OFF OF THIS IPAD CASE!!

sticker origins under the readmore:

red jaguar: equator coffee

beam me up scotty, first rodeo, qr code (open if you dare): made by @alizuriacrow

art jam, betty the yeti, teacup cat, puzzle heart, deer: made by high school friends

strawberry, insects: odd dot antiquarian sticker book

livesey, penguin time, pullings: made and printed by me

tiffany aching: made by @potato-lord-but-not

william bush: hornblower screenshot printed by me

krlx heart: redactedville midwestcollege

pizza ray: gift from a friend (provenance unknown)

academic heart: university of chicago

surfboard seal: made by @/getblobbedcomics on instagram

hodgson's weird outfit: edit by @/areyougonnabe, printed by me

mary the ghost: edit by @/i-was-bored-so-this-happened, printed by me

holographic skeletons: michaels? i think?

rei, pride flag: found it on the floor

[fansplaining]

We're thrilled to publish our newest piece—this time by a returning writer. @areyougonnabe first wrote for us about Tumblr back in 2020 (and also was one of the podcast's final guests this year before we went on hiatus). Now she's back with a deep dive into contemporary classic rock fandom—the shippy, transformative kind—and the interesting temporal shift that happens within historical RPF:

Today’s young Beatles fans can consume every atom of sound and image from the 1960s, but however fond they are of Ringo’s silly tweets or Paul’s new music, there’s a line of demarcation somewhere in the past which spiritually separates then from now. Real-time, ongoing celebrity pop culture can be full of anxieties, but an older band’s story can be more like reading a book that was already written. 

Read or listen to an audio version via the link above—and to support more in-depth fan culture journalism, consider becoming a patron!

[sharkselfies]

🎶✨when u get this, list 5 songs u like to listen to. then, send this to 10 of your favorite blogs (positivity is cool)🎶

thank you @beeseverywhen for the tag! here are some Songs

1. Clean Slate by The Mountain Goats (new song! i still have to find time to listen to the whole new album)

2. Theme from PSB by Public Service Broadcasting (this band takes old radio broadcast recordings and turns them into music, it’s really cool)

3. Chaise Longue by Wet Leg (i will never forget Christos saying he liked the music at Terror Camp)

4. Fish Bowl by Kero Kero Bonito (of Flamingo fame, i like that one too)

5. make me feel so… by Montaigne (she was my top artist last year and may win again once wrapped comes around!)

no pressure, but if you’d like to share some songs, tagging @blue-bismuth @paramaline @so-i-did-this-thing @jesslovesboats @gullbones @simplyirenic @stovepiperat @madnessandsmiles @areyougonnabe @jopzer

[yeats-infection]

@piovascosimo and @elena-ferrante both tagged me to share songs that come up on shuffle for me; i don't use spotify so i don't have a liked songs playlist, so these are just some songs i've been listening to lately:

"the visitors" by abba ... they played this between sets when i saw blur in july; i was desperately trying to shazam it the entire time and it finally worked at the very end thank god, have been listening on repeat since then

"on a ragga tip" by sl2 ... also shazammed in london when beta and i found ourselves at a family-friendly outdoor sunset rave on hampstead heath

"low flying jets" by heatmiser ... have truly been listening to this record all summer; every song is of course good but this one is my favorite

"i promise" by radiohead ... heard on KEXP and has reawakened my lifelong radiohead standom

"to hell with good intentions" by mclusky ... i had a dream like six weeks ago that jimin from BTS died and it was revealed that he had secretly been a former member of mclusky... so i figured i had better start listening to mclusky...

"i hate milk" by air miami ... this album was just reissued and is really wonderful

"emperor's new clothes" by sinead o'connor ... she just had so many great songs but this one is really special, it's so personal, and her conviction is so inspiring

"detroit swing 66" by gomez ... i've been listening to this album a lot this year... it's really good and i think quite underrated

"dying in may" by the clientele ... also heard on KEXP; from their new album

"parasite" by nick drake ... i have honestly mostly been listening to pink moon on repeat all summer and this is my favorite song on it!

tagging @tobermoriansass @areyougonnabe and @floggingink <3

[wwwdotstardotnet]

yes it’s march but i need everyone ever to read this fic by @areyougonnabe because it’s so FUCKING CUTE.