#hoochieblues

[barbex]

Books of 2024 (2023 or close to it)

@hoochieblues tagged me to list books and in that moment I immediately forgot about any book I have ever read. Did I even read a single book in 2023? But thank you for tagging me, I'll do my best.

“the game is to share 9 of my favourite books from the last 12 months, or 9 books on my tbr list for this year”

I'm tagging: @mareebrittenford, @dyrewrites, @tryingtimi, @tsuraiwrites, @midnightprelude, @lesetoilesfous, @tarysande

Let me list nine books I liked, I don't know if I read them all in the last 12 months, I just went to my Kindle and picked what sparked a good memory.

Band Sinister by KJ Charles M/M romance, regency historical Lots of pining and repressed feelings in this one, until it leads to wonderful sex and love. Kj Charles knows how to do it.

A Game of Hearts and Heist by Ruby Roe F/F romance, fantasy Fast paced and very sexy fantasy heist. So much sex that even I, certified smut queen, sometimes thought "Now? Really? Don't you think you're kind of busy right now?" But I enjoyed it a lot and there's two more books in the series.

Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree cozy fantasy with a little F/F romance, fantasy This book has started a whole new trend of cozy fantasy. This is a story about what happens if the barbarian warrior lady hangs up her sword and opens a cafe. The romance is not the main story. I would have wished for a bit more introspection from the main character but I know how difficult it is to write a stoic character who doesn't want to think about feelings.

The Calyx Charm by May Peterson M/M romance, trans main character, fantasy, magic Beautiful prose! Sinister magic, darkness and families at war. Two characters so very much in love, the transwoman loved and accepted by her lover. This is the second or third book in a series but I read another book in the series and it didn't feel all that connected. And the prose was not as pretty as in this one.

Unmasked by the Marquess by Cat Sebastian NB/M romance, regency historical The main character uses she/her pronouns but I read in an interview with Cat Sebastian that, would she write the book today, they would probably use they/them pronouns. But it really doesn't matter much for either main character, the main male character already falls for the nb character when they dress and act like a man. A high stakes regency romance with the expected societal problems and lots of love.

Taji from Beyond the Rings by R. Cooper M/M romance, science fiction This book is so good! Cultural differences between species making romance and connection dangerous, feelings, sex, and politics raising the stakes every minute. I read this book again right after I finished it, it was so good.

The Elf Tangent by Lindsay Buroker F/M romance, fantasy A fun story about a human princess who loves mathematics and an elven warrior, trying to stop a war from happening. Nerdy and clever heroes with a bit of enemies to lovers.

The Hidden Moon by Jeannie Lin F/M romance, set in historic China This is like book five of a series but that didn't hinder my enjoyment. A woman, too smart for her own good, trying to solve a crime in a time when women were not allowed to do anything, especially not investigate assassinations and talk to street scoundrels. Or fall in love with said scoundrel.

---

Phew. That was a lot. Happy reading.

[faux-fires]

WIP ask meme

Tagged by @ranilla-bean, thank u!

Rules: Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! Then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

my ATLA one is, uh, pitiful and mostly different flavours of the same thing after i got bitten by one really detailed idea that wouldn't let me go, but is also frankly daunting in its scale:

my Dragon Age folder is much WORSE due to a combination of my naturally unhelpful inclination toward names and its many years of experience:

(yeah, I write in notepad. i believe in gambling on my inability to spell.)

many of the DA ones are published, because I don't practice file hygiene and clearly marking completed fics vs incompleted. some are probably easy to guess but good luck with such helpful and illuminative titles as 'muttermutter' 'cute' and 'hawke rising from the trash'.

anyway, tagging (from my most recent activity page mwahaha): @mikkeneko, @sulkybender, @hoochieblues, @pinkbalrog and @missingrache!

if you don't have any WIP art or fic i challenge you to talk about your favourite fic or art piece and why you love it so much. no escape!

[aria-i-adagio]

Last Line Game

tagged by @atypicalacademic tagging @hoochieblues @motherofqups and @ankoku-jin

Evyn slept fitfully. He woke before Sindre, coming to gradually, aware first of the thumping of a heart beneath his ear and coarse hair under his cheek, then the heavy arm wrapped loosely around him. Sindre was as warm as ever. With the blanket over them, he was almost too warm.

[highwayphantoms]

Tagged by @flashhwing!

Rules: In a new post, show the last line you wrote and tag as many people as there are words.

"So long as you stick with me, you'll be fine."

I have an exchange fic in progress and I have this, so. this is what you get because it’s not seekrit 😂 well, it is, but only because it’s a wip and I don’t usually share wips lolololol

okay so that’s.... ten tags. hmm

@hoochieblues @crescentbunny @inquisimer @nirikeehan @leonidskies @thedastrash @dulcidyne @sulky-valkyrie @jeriais @dismalzelenka

obviously no pressure if you don’t wanna play <3

[midnightprelude]

Ten facts!

Thanks for the tag @hoochieblues!

For my eighth birthday my dad bought me a very lovely version of the Lord of the Rings and I felt guilty I couldn’t really get through it until I was much older.

I’ve spent an ungodly amount of hours playing RuneScape. I’ll bust it out occasionally when I’m at my parents’ house over the holidays now that there’s an iPad version.

My mom was a Girl Scout troupe leader and was a damned good one. We did all kinds of cool stuff like traditional camping (which actually, I hate), horseback riding (I loved), engineering competitions, sewing, volunteering, etc. I get really sad when girls say their Girl Scouts just ate cookies.

My mom had serious health problems when I was about 10 and my parents sent me to the counselor about it. I hadn’t fully processed that she could die until then and it was a bit much. 😅

I have a doctorate degree in a type of engineering. I… don’t really use the subject of it at all in my job? Some of the soft skills, though.

My first trip abroad was a 3 month research internship in India. Got into a HUGE fight with my parents over it. Everything turned out fine in the end.

I’m a dog and cat mom and a dog and cat aunt. :)

I sang with my choir at Carnegie Hall once. It’s really dusty.

I used to tell people I wanted to become a cardiothoracic surgeon. I did (or thought I did), but I was also a pretentious little shit from the middle of nowhere and felt like I needed to impress everyone.

I have a rosemary plant that’s survived three moves. It’s been through some tough spots, but has managed to scrape by, the scraggly little bastard.

Tagging @johaerys-writes and @baejax-the-great if you’d like to share random tidbits about yourselves.

[tea42]

Tag game

Thank @hoochieblues and @wardenkay for the tags! If you are reading this convider yourself tagged! No pressure though!

were you named after anyone?

   Nope, and also sorta myself?

Last Time I cried?

   this year when I came out to my dad about my sexuality and gender

do you have kids?

   Two little kiddos who keep me hopping

do you use sarcasm a lot?

   Not really.

what’s the first thing you notice about people?

    Posture/stance, both as a way to like gauge their intent and mood and also I  can’t help but analyze movement

what’s your eye color? 

    blue/grey

scary movies or happy endings? 

    happy endings more but I do love some types of horror

any special talents? 

    Figuring out how to move heavy things by myself?

where were you born? 

    Southern USA

what are your hobbies? 

    drawing, painting, writing, nerding out stuff like DA and Star Trek, gardening, going in the woods and looking at plants/animals there, fiber-crafts, making cloths(mostly for the kiddos now), home improvement projects/tinkering (minor woodwork, restringing lamps, installing french drains etc.), cooking, fencing

have any pets? 

     a snake

what sports do you play/have you played?

    Soccer was my favorite as a kid. I  played tennis in high school, badly. I played ultimate Frisbee in college. I’m currently fencing but still very much a novice.

how tall are you? 

    5′6″ but I have ‘the slouch’ and am working to uncurl my upper spine

favorite subject in school? 

     anatomy and art

dream job? 

     the healthcare job I went to school for but only part time so I can write/paint my own stories

[dreadfutures]

Six Questions

Tagged by @hoochieblues​​ ! miss you friend

Last Song: Adderall - The Six Sevens

Last Show: UHHHHH.... I haven’t watched tv.....in...

Currently Watching: I’m currently binging all of Jacob Geller’s youtube channel.

Currently Reading: The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony (reread)

Current Obsession: Souls games

Unrelated Obsession: The Fall 2006. You’re never gonna get me to not have it buzzin in the back of my head

[lesetoilesfous]

Bounty on their head for Anders (from bad things bingo)! Very predictable probably, sorry 😅

@hoochieblues

Thank you both so much! I went A Direction with this but I hope you like it!!

(If you’d like me to write you a dragon age fic, send me a prompt from here!)

@dadrunkwriting

@badthingshappenbingo

Fandom: Dragon Age 2

Pairing: Kanders

Characters: Anders, Karl

Tags: pre-DA2, derogatory reference to sex work, casual reference to sexual abuse, graphic reference to sex / implied sexual abuse

Rating: Mature

“How much did they put on him this time?”

Karl is trying and failing to write an essay. He has been trying and failing to write an essay all morning. It’s supposed to be an article he’s hoping to submit to the Aequitarians on the use and limitations of Force Magic. It’s supposed to be good. He thinks it could have been. Except that Anders made his most recent escape attempt 52 hours ago and Karl has not been able to sleep, eat or write since. The pair of templars making no effort to keep their voices lowered where they’re standing against the wall opposite his table aren’t helping.

“Three. Gold. Pieces.”

The first templar lets out a low whistle that echoes strangely against the metal of his helmet, and Karl imagines Anders laughing at that and trying to hide it, and his heart clenches in a terrible twist in his chest. He keeps moving his quill above his long since abandoned parchment, the ink on its tip drying black like old blood.

“Aren’t they worried that’ll start a bidding war? Men have been killed for less.”

Karl presses his teeth together until they squeak to stop himself from crushing the feathers of his quill. He’s ruined too many, and Owain won’t forgive him another broken pen. The second templar speaks again - Karl thinks it’s Istyn, but it’s always hard to tell under the steel masks of their helmets.

“At this point, Greagoir’s counting it. Getting that piece of shit caught between two sellswords fixes his problems for him. And saves us another blighted trek through the bleeding wilds.”

Karl shuts his eyes, and images Anders with a rusty blade protruding from his chest, brown eyes as wide and young as they had been the first time he’d met him, when he was 13 years old and hadn’t spoken to anyone for a year. He puts down his quill. There’s the soft sound of cloth padded footsteps elsewhere in the library, and the sound of Annelise coughing. She hasn’t taken well to Fereldan winters.

Feeling as if he’s being puppeted by blood magic, Karl gets numbly to his feet and picks up his books, moving them to the wrong shelf and making a mental note to apologise to Tiffany later as he moves closer to the templars.

Number one, who Karl is beginning to think is Kay, makes a soft grunt of sympathy and leans back against the wall, folding his arms with a clank of armour. “As if we’d get that lucky. He’ll probably make them all his bitches and show back up with a fucking harem.”

Karl’s hand freezes, sweating, around the cloth bound cover of the book in his hands. He stares at the bookshelf, and tries to hear the sound of his breathing over the rushing of blood in his ears. Istyn snorts, and Karl tries not to jump at how close and loud it sounds. He does glance back over his shoulder, but neither templar is looking at him. The templars at Kinloch had long since decided that Karl was rarely a threat, and they paid him an according lack of attention.

“You kidding? Three gold pieces. You could retire on that, if your standards are low enough. Not even Anders gives head that good.”

Kay laughs. “Would you do it? Take the three gold, or keep him as your own personal cockwarmer?”

Istyn hums, and Karl tries to ignore the heat prickling up the back of his neck and the rising tension of his magic. The book in his hands is crumpling under supernatural force, hidden by the shelf.

Eventually, Istyn speaks. “I’d keep him. Not him, specifically, but hell. Anyone with an arse that tight. It’s like a wife who can’t complain.”

Kay clicks his tongue. “See that’s the problem with nobility. You forget, three gold pieces will get you a hundred whores. And no chance of them turning into a fucking demon.”

Istyn roars with laughter, then, startling a new Dalish apprentice who’d been brought in a few weeks back. With a scrape of metal on stone like nails on chalkboard, the pair of them push away from the wall and walk further into the library.

Karl stands next to the bookshelf for a long time. The thin letterboxes of light at the top of the bricked up windows have gone dark and orange on the walls by the time Annelise gently touches his arm, her nose red with what was either hayfever or a cold.

“Karl. Are you alright?”

Karl blinks, and becomes suddenly aware of the numb pins and needles in his hands and feet. He lets go of the book on the shelf. There’s a thumbprint shaped indent in the cover. “I’m - I’m fine.”

The worried frown on Annelise’s brow doesn’t ease. Karl follows her gaze to the floor beneath his feet, where the tile of stone on which he’s standing is fractured in a hundred fissure lines as if it had been hit by a sledgehammer. Karl assembles his features into an appropriate expression of surprise.

“Oh. How strange. I'll make sure to tell someone about that.”

[bettydice]

Another commission, this time for @hoochieblues and their Dragon Age fic Feasting on Dreams (go read!!!)!

This commission was right up my alley and I really had to restrain myself to not add even more strings. Thank you so much for commissioning me!

[dismalzelenka]

Ooh, 29, 30 and 33 for the relationship asks if you haven't done them yet, please :)

Thanks for the ask!! I haven't done these yet. 30 is great. 👀

The biggest compromises Journey and Anders have to learn how to make for their marriage to survive the events of TPWIB actually have somewhat to do with the things that drew them to one another in the first place.

As I mentioned in the previous post, Anders adores Journey's particular brand of reckless bravery. She has a tendency to throw caution to the wind and just Do The Thing that really revs his engines so to speak. Unfortunately, her almost dying in his arms fucks that up for him a bit. She's always been sort of larger than life to him, untouchable almost, with this insane sort of luck that finally almost runs out one day. And that's the day he realizes after Karl he absolutely cannot handle losing a second lover to battlefield casualty. (Which. Ok. That's valid.)

This leads to him getting really controlling at times and making decisions for her instead of involving her in them, and it turns into a repeating problem because he convinces himself he's protecting her and then makes big dumb life choices without involving her (read: without her convincing him he's being a self sacrificing dumbass).

Their compromise is that she agrees to be a little more careful and think things through more, and he agrees to rein in his tendency to be really controlling and actually talk things through with her when decisions involve the both of them.

OH BOY.

The level of petty here is debatable depending on who you relate with the most in this scenario, but Journey and Nathaniel at some point discover they are on opposite sides of a bitter sports rivalry.

He's a diehard Denerim Mabari fan and she's been a Redcliffe Rams fan her entire life. Feral Dan the Fighting Mabari and Lord Woolsley the Demon Ram do not get along. The day these two teams play each other in South Regionals is the day poor Anders basically retreats into the kitchen and hangs out with (gets drunk with) Velanna and commiserates with her about being the Not Sports Fan in the relationship while his partners yell at the TV and each other in the living room and Sigrun watches with glee from the sidelines.

Anders and Journey are both very physical, fairly promiscuous people. It's one of the many reasons they're extremely compatible — casual sex is a thing they both engage in frequently. Shit, they started out banging casually before feelings happened. So even after they start dating and get married, they still hook up with other people separately and together and it's never really a Thing. They just discuss it with each other and are careful and respect each others' boundaries, but to be honest there aren't many outside of "tell me where you're going and how I can reach you in an emergency" and "use protection." This is a side of him that gets buried after Karl and Justice that she sort of quietly draws back out of him. It's something Justice frowns on at first but realizes is something that helps Anders and keeps him grounded and himself when shit hits the fan and begrudgingly accepts.

Emotional attachment is dicier. It's what makes finding out he and Nate were together while she was away kind of painful to accept at first, and also why it was so hard for her to admit she and Nathaniel kissed before she left. It's also part of what makes finding out about Karl so hard for her. Like, her husband kept the fact that he had a dead fiancé from her for ten years and clearly never intended to ever tell her at all had the secret not come out, which sucked enough, but then she's also having to contend with the idea that she's not the first person he's been this head over heels for. Because when it comes to emotional attachment, he was her first.

So I guess jealousy tends to come up more between them when things get hidden, and part of the implication is that these things are worth hiding in the first place.

With Nathaniel, as the third partner who comes into the relationship four years after Anders and Journey have been married, he's got a bit of insecurity about his place between them that makes him actively push Anders away for a while when Journey gets back. He can handle pulling away from Anders and remaining friends. He can't handle the thought of being a token in their marriage or coming between them or eventually being thrown aside for the sake of an established relationship, and it takes him realizing he's in love with Journey too before he's willing to admit he could make it work with the two of them.

Eventually they take advantage of shady Warden legal loopholes and effectively add Nathaniel to their marriage legally and are like congrats loser you're stuck with us forever now 🥰

Ask me about my ships!

1, 8, and 35 can be found here.

[becauseanders]

🦄- What fictional animal would you be if you could choose? Why?

🧐- Share a random useless fact that you know.

✏️- Share a no-context line from a current WIP you’re working on.

for the ask game if you want :)

thank you for asking! and to @lilyaceofdiamonds for also asking 🦄!

🦄: miyuki from atla. i am sure this is asking for, like, a species and not one actual specific, individual animal, but i'd be miyuki. because she's a cat who is well loved and cared for, and that's what i want to be in real life anyway, and who is also apparently some kind of insurrectionist and i love that for her.

🧐: i saw this and of course then magically every single snippet of useless trivia i possess instantly left my brain and has yet to return, lol, except that the name of the continent on which dragon age takes place is called thedas because in planning it stood for "the dragon age setting" and then they just never changed it, and i do enjoy that little tidbit very much

✏️: “So this is gonna sound weird but…I’m really proud of you for being so upset with me.” (next chapter of Where I Want to Be, which i swear will happen…eventually…i mean, depressive episode-fueled writer's block can't last forever, right?)

[monsterthalia]

For the WIP game, "possible" or "elegant"?

(Ha, so this isn’t actually a Dragon Age WIP - it’s a vampire-regency-secret agent fic based on a tabletop I play. These two characters are supposedly on opposite sides but are far too distracted by their UST. He has just caught her sneaking into a ball, and has been successfully flirted into helping rather than turning her in.) The hands gripping her were shaking slightly, she realised, and the deep breath Isidore took shook as well. “You’re here for the Daywalker rings?” he said softly. Prudence nodded, and he let out a defeated laugh. “You’re going to be the death of me. Pretend to swoon, and I can take you into the private areas.”

She snorted a little. “Just swoon, just like that? Being a delicate female, and all that.”

“I can give you reason if you’d prefer.” She was about to laugh, or roll her eyes, when she read the absolute sincerity in his eyes.

Mouth suddenly dry, she could just about make herself nod. “All right then, Romeo. Sell it.”

Her permission had barely left her lips before he had swept her up against him and kissed her, deeply and with an intensity tinged with desperation, as though she was the air he’d breathe, the ocean he’d drown in. His fingers slid into her hair, dislodging pins holding her elegant hairstyle in place, as his other pressed at her waist, holding her close and gently sweeping her back until he was holding her in a perfect dip. It’s a cover it’s a cover it’s a cover she chanted to herself, even as she clung to him in turn, gasped into the kiss, and felt her head spin, suddenly lightheaded and giddy -

Oh right, it was a cover. Rather than fight the lightheaded feeling, she embraced it, letting it fill her mind with bubbles and perfectly fell back into a swoon.

[faux-fires]

2024 books

Tagged by @ranilla-bean on a book meme, because rana loves making fun of me and my colourful bookcase and my habit of buying new books when I haven't read all my old books if the covers are shiny enough. It's a problem. i got a new bookcase over christmas and she's already full to the 3rd shelf with new books. 😭😭😭

anyway "the game is to share 9 of my favourite books from the last 12 months, or 9 books on my tbr list for this year" and i opted 9 on the TBR list because i spent most of last year reading somewhere between 5-6 million words of zukka fanfic and i can't put THAT in a 3x3 grid on tumblr!

(1. Babel by RF Kuang 2. She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan 3. The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter 4. The Traitor (Baru Cormorant) by Seth Dickinson 5. Poems of the Sea edited by Gaby Morgan 6. Ode to the Sea edited by Howard Watson 7. Inuit Folktales collected by Knud Rasmussen 8. Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey 9. Chinese Myths & Folk Tales adapted from various - as far as i can tell - out of copyright translations)

this isn't in any particular order other than the first two - i've wanted to read babel since rana finished it and gushed at me about it, SWBTS is getting some BANGING fanart drawn for it and i would be lying if i said i was immune to fanart propaganda on the dash - and the others have been on my tbr list forever or are vaguely in line with an idea i have for the zukka big bang. always good to stock up!

tagging: @carabas, @hoochieblues, @mikkeneko, @flashhwing and @kj-likes-dogs!!

[aria-i-adagio]

WIP Ask Meme

Bold of you to think I'm organized enough to have a WIP folder @hoochieblues.

Rules: Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! Then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

I'm adapting these to brief descriptions. If there are any ongoing files in my GDrive I'll include the title/first line, but those are temp then everything moves to Scrivener.

Tagging: @atypicalacademic @motherofqups @niffty24, @ankoku-jin and @hollyand-writes

Here's what we have going on right now:

(In addition to the super fun work of writing my own bloody geometry textbook because the major publishers can't be bothered to do it decently/even vaguely in line with the current academic standards.)

Thrift Shop Vikings continues. It is cringe, it is dark, it is... hopefully actually decent. It has also grown from, "eh, think I can make the Nanowrimo draft into a decent short novel" to "yeah... this is going to be three genre length novels." I want to say I'm 80% of the way to beta-reader ready draft of Act 1, but I'm scared of jinxing myself. (That said, if anyone is interested in not quite Game of Thrones level dark fantasy, with yours truly treating crack [omegaverse] seriously, HMU. This is... not for everyone, and much darker than the fic I've written.)

Once Sindre had recovered enough to not feel that he needed to sleep until the end of days and the final battle, he began waking with the sun. Misery barely described... There's an idiom: as useless as nipples on a man

Where the Elfroot Grows is not dead. It is just percolating. In fact, recently Jeanne has been very loud about being the POV character for the arrival back at Skyhold. Also, the fish out of water appeal of forcing Rhys though Halamshiral is just too damn much. Also, I feel entirely empowered to make up my own canon now.

Jeanne became one of Rhys's primary minders Scene: Getting Hawke moving Rhys wakes to a kiss pressed to the back of his neck Adrian's arm remains extended R&D Ocean

On that note, I'm not really filing the serial numbers off WTEG per se, because I think I've backed far enough up to basic fantasy tropes. Or maybe I'm filing the serial numbers off, IDK and IDC. Either way, I'm at the world-building, occasional scene writing, creating lore, boning up on history and anarchist theory stage of taking the elements I particularly like and running with them, while paying more attention to consistent characterization and general coherence in terms of theory and theology. Currently has more of a steampunk vibe, as I can't quite pull off the level of 'sweeping social change more than mage rebellion' with a thoroughly medieval world-build. I would get into my Xnity, but to the left, meanderings here, but it would turn into a thesis. Anyway, both this and Thrift Shop Vikings are engaged with the idea that anyone who believes god is on their side is as dangerous as hell, just in very different directions.

And @hollyand-writes I really do have enough of an outline for Gatsby meets Kirkwall to get somewhere with it. Just maybe not until the school year is over. Every time I drive past the road named for the local moonshiners I'm reminded/start thinking on it.

[highwayphantoms]

last sentence challenge

rules: post the last sentence you wrote (fanfic / original / anything) and tag as many people as there are words in the sentence.

I haven't actually written much lately lmao but here, let me go find the last thing I did any scribbling on LOL it's short

“You make a good point.”

Five words, five tags! As usual don't feel like you have to play if you don't want to <3

@hoochieblues @vrokroa @jeriais @sulky-valkyrie @replicatortrash