So, on my latest search through the Vole Pit for something interesting, I run across this little number.
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6184475/1/Harry_Potter_and_the_bspell_b_bbook_b_of_desires
On a cursory Glance, it breaks the laws of Canon, the Church, and good taste. At the most basic level, it's a huge orgy of every het ship you could think of... but for what it does to Fred And George, it deserves to burn.
PS. but Bleepka goggles on beforehand.
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HP badfic (NSFWorB) by
on 2011-04-21 06:55:00 UTC
Link to this
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I forgot my goggles! by
on 2011-04-24 02:07:00 UTC
Link to this
I must have left them in my other pair of jeans.
But I started reading thinking I could handle it anyway. I was wrong. o.o -
Re: HP badfic (NSFWorB) by
on 2011-04-23 20:23:00 UTC
Link to this
Make it go AWAY!!!
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Length... by
on 2011-04-22 02:11:00 UTC
Link to this
Waaaaaaay toooooo loooooong
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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH (nm) by
on 2011-04-21 23:37:00 UTC
Link to this
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+++ Melon Melon Melon +++ by
on 2011-04-21 22:54:00 UTC
Link to this
Ginny... and Ron...
*later*
Fred and George do WHAT!?
*later*
Malfoy... Hermione... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! *points Muggle-Use Wand at fic* CRUCIO!!!!! -
...Is it bad that I'm not fazed? by
on 2011-04-21 21:30:00 UTC
Link to this
I was going to join the Department of Floaters when I finally apply, but now I think that maybe I should join DBS because of my uncanny resistance to squick.
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No, I get what you mean. by
on 2011-04-23 05:38:00 UTC
Link to this
Honestly, after the first few chapters, I got bored of the rinse-and-repeat style of the fic.
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Yeah. by
on 2011-04-23 15:36:00 UTC
Link to this
The entire thing was just an excuse to write porn. Why they had to do it with canon characters when OCs would've worked, I don't know, so...Yeah.
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You should by
on 2011-04-22 18:19:00 UTC
Link to this
If THAT doesn't faze you (I couldn't get past Ginny drinking the potion), you definitely need to spork such stories. There are so many....
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Maker preserve us... by
on 2011-04-21 21:18:00 UTC
Link to this
THE GOGGLES! THEY DO NOTHING!
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What's with all the b's in the title? (nm) by
on 2011-04-21 18:53:00 UTC
Link to this
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Because... by
on 2011-04-22 01:54:00 UTC
Link to this
...the title uses black letters, like this. And, by the way, AAAARRRRRGHGHGHGHGHG!
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That's why we call it The Black Speech. by
on 2011-04-22 04:23:00 UTC
Link to this
This fic's title is written in The Black Speech.
it's all black and stuff. :U -
Am I the only one... by
on 2011-04-25 15:07:00 UTC
Link to this
who feels kinda nerd when I laugh at a LOTR joke or is it usual?
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Nope. by
on 2011-04-26 04:22:00 UTC
Link to this
Is normal around here.
In fact, you laughing at it makes me feel better about being nerdy enough to make that joke in the first place. -
So the b's happen when you try to bold the title... by
on 2011-04-23 00:25:00 UTC
Link to this
...in the actual entry page. Smart people.
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40 chapters of pain by
on 2011-04-21 13:02:00 UTC
Link to this
What have they done to Hermione... What have they done to everyone?!
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Oh dear. by
on 2011-04-21 07:39:00 UTC
Link to this
I, uh, I know the guy who wrote that. He also wrote an Avatar the last Airbender story, a Justice League story, a Star Wars story, and another Harry Potter story that involves time travel back to the year 1976. All of which are just as bad and just as long.
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Oh! Oh, oh, oh oh ohohohohohlOrrr..... *gurgle* (nm) by
on 2011-04-26 00:35:00 UTC
Link to this
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I know what you mean. by
on 2011-04-21 23:28:00 UTC
Link to this
I was surprised to see this on here, or to see that someone reposted it on FF.net. The first time I saw it I didn't really see any mission value in it, though if someone can make a mission out of this, props to them.
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Beta? by
on 2011-04-22 21:14:00 UTC
Link to this
Pretty much exactly what it says on the tin. I've finished my first mission and now I need someone to look it over and tell me what needs fixing =P. (I apologize if there's already a topic for this, but I couldn't find one.)
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I'd be willing to beta. by
on 2011-04-25 05:12:00 UTC
Link to this
My info's on the beta page on the Wiki. Just send me a link to the GoogleDoc, and we can go from there.
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Aagh, Forgot That by
on 2011-04-22 22:37:00 UTC
Link to this
"Tortall" didn't make it past the first draft of that post, silly me. Curse you, lack of an edit button.
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Best to mention the fandom so we know if we can help or not. (nm by
on 2011-04-22 22:34:00 UTC
Link to this
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PPC Permission Request by
on 2011-04-22 21:15:00 UTC
Link to this
I'm formally requesting permission to start PPC'ing.
Link to my writing sample is http://netrebko45.livejournal.com/650.html and I need help getting the LJ-cut to cover the entry. Fic was by my brother to test my skill. -
I have a question. by
on 2011-04-23 02:26:00 UTC
Link to this
Are you having fun? Because I can't tell. I know you've been around a while, but I can't recall seeing you in many threads, and the writing sample seems pretty ho-hum to me. I didn't really notice anything that sets your characters apart from the general milieu--though I suppose it doesn't help that the "badfic" was pre-made for the purpose, which strikes me as bit silly. You even posted your mood as "blah" on the sample. Overall, I'm just looking for any sign that you're really into doing this, and I'm not seeing it. (This is to say nothing of a variety of little errors I did see, like a Tolkien elf saying "Oh my Eru" or putting commas outside the quotes after dialogue lines that already have other end-punctuation.) So, uh, what's up?
~Neshomeh -
Permission apparently Not Wanted That Badly? by
on 2011-04-29 15:45:00 UTC
Link to this
So, just for the sake of a definitive ruling in case anyone else is still paying attention a week out, Permission Not Granted. Feel free to ask again later if I'm wrong and you really want to, but evidence of taking an interest in the outcome would help.
~Neshomeh
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Water fight!!! AKA this is what happens when you... by
on 2011-04-23 17:37:00 UTC
Link to this
put a prank loving teenager in charge of raising kids. Happy Birthday (Rescue-day) to the Still Bellisario kids--Hannah (10), Kyle (9), Kevin (7), and Helen (2)!
"You kids ready for some fun?" Cali shouted.
Roared agreements came from several places around the Lounge.
Cali carefully checked his plans again. Hannah was manning their supply depot in the Secret and Unfindable Cushion Fort that Cali had stolen from Boarder!Miah when he retrieved the lustin she had stolen for the Boarder Shipfest.
Kyle was draped over a rafter with a good supply for his sniper style water gun.
Kyle was barricaded in the corner behind the furniture with various levers and ropes to release the buckets of water, paint, and other things that they had rigged all around the Lounge.
Cali nodded at the big kids and positioned himself and Helen behind a chair. The toddler was dressed in a swimsuit and had a bucket full of water balloons that said Happy Birthday on them.
A group of agents walked into the room and stopped. They seemed to sense something was up.
A giggle echoed ominously, just before Kevin triggered a bucket onto the group.
Cali and Kyle spotted another group and both opened fire on the approaching agents at about the same time.
Helen squealed, jumped up and down, and threw water balloons that landed two or three feet away and rolled the rest of the way into the fray where they remained, resembling Happy Birthday water balloon land mines. -
Count the Infernal Trio in. by
on 2011-04-24 08:09:00 UTC
Link to this
YAY WATERFIGHT!
With the usual water guns, water bombs, etc. aimed at everyone. Beware especially of Krisprolls, he's a mean one. -
Water fight, continued by
on 2011-04-23 18:18:00 UTC
Link to this
Orken was directly under Kevin when he dumped his bucket. Spluttering and soaked, he searched the room for his partner. He had been hoping for a bit of a break, but instead he had been splashed with water, something he viewed as highly unprofessional. "Agent Thomas! Were are you?"
Thomas, who had been hit with one of the water guns, grabbed one of the balloons that had rolled in to the crowd. "Right here, dude!" He tossed the balloon back at Cali, laughing all the while. "Take that, dude!"
Orken, who had spotted the toss, rolled his eyes. There was too much of a crowd blocking the door, so he looked for spot where he could avoid being hit by the water guns. He spotted an easy chair that looked like it would suit his purposes. He did not yet realize it was directly under a bucket. -
hehe by
on 2011-04-23 18:27:00 UTC
Link to this
More giggling preceeded a bucket of blue goo dumping over Agent Orken's head.
Cali spluttered as his mass of blue was plastered to his head by the water, and Helen shrieked, "More, more!"
Meanwhile, Hannah shot Thomas in the back with her water uzi. -
Climbing by
on 2011-04-23 18:59:00 UTC
Link to this
Thomas laughed as he was hit by the blast of water. "Is that all you've got, dude?" Trying to appear as if he was unaffected by the blasts of water, he began dragging pieces of furniture together, and stacking them. He had spotted the buckets in the rafters, and had decided to commender them.
Orken, meanwhile, was trying to wipe blue goo out of his eyes. Angrily, he stood up, making himself an excellent target. "This is not a fair contest at all! Not only is it unprofessional to have such a fight, you are attacking unarmed opponents! I demand you cease fire at once!" -
Re: Climbing by
on 2011-04-23 20:45:00 UTC
Link to this
Hannah turned her uzi on Orken.
Kyle spotted Thomas' assault on the bucket system and switched to his reserve gun filled with oil. He coated the beams above Thomas' head with a few sprays of the oil, and switched back to his rifle to spray at his face with water. -
Whoo! by
on 2011-04-24 01:14:00 UTC
Link to this
Kestrel crouched under a table, sniggering to herself as she hefted a filled water balloon.
Well. Not exactly a water balloon. The bag it had come from had read "WATER BALLOONS" in bright, multicolored letters, but the projectile in the ferret's paws could no longer qualify as such.
Beside her, Adder sighed. "Kestrel," she chided, only half-serious. "That's just mean."
"Cully, I dunno if'n yew got the memo, but I'm a ferret," Kestrel replied lightly. "'Tis me prego-- er, prorego-- me right to be mean." Taking aim, she sprang briefly out of her hiding place and flung it accurately at Cali. "'EADS UP!" she bellowed, shortly before the agent was splattered with liberal amounts of sunshine-yellow paint.
Giggling in spite of her earlier admonishment, Adder pumped her double-barreled super soaker and aimed a stream of water at Kyle. -
Re: Whoo! by
on 2011-04-26 00:38:00 UTC
Link to this
Cali ran his hand through his hair, and slung most of the paint into the room. The paint stiffened his hair into comical anime like spikes. He signaled Kevin to release more buckets.
Buckets all over the room splashed down on agents or on onto the floor.
Hannah threw a pink paint balloon at Adder, and Helen began carefully using the yellow paint drips as finger paint to cover her arms, legs, and belly with paint.
Kyle took a blast of water to the face from Adder's gun, and then returned fire. -
Hee. by
on 2011-04-24 15:39:00 UTC
Link to this
Nurse Val, laughing merrily, fled past them, pursued by Cheri and Luna, both of whom were wielding comically oversized water pistols. Unfortunately, they weren't looking where they were going, and before she could stop herself Val had run directly through the stream of water from Adder's super soaker. Spluttering and wiping her hair out of her eyes, she was pounced on by Cheri and Luna, ending up in a heap.
Another water balloon narrowly missed them and splatted against the wall. The contents of this one were too sparkly to be water.
"Molly, what have you been told about throwing Water around?" Val shouted. "That stuff's sticky when it dries! Use water with a small 'w'!"
Molly Rath pouted, dropped her bag of water balloons, and drank the bottle of Sue blood instead. -
Lurker attack! by
on 2011-04-26 02:54:00 UTC
Link to this
Karen snuck into the fray, getting thoroughly soaked. She had her own idea of how to hijack the buckets...
"COOKIE SNEAK ATTACK!!" Karen screamed, throwing a cookie like a shuriken at a bucket directly over Agent Orken's head. It tipped over, spilling soft yellow feathers onto the agent below. Orken, being coated in sticky blue goo, quickly turned into a chicken.
Karen grinned and began to look for another bucket... -
New Guy Lurker Attack! by
on 2011-05-02 19:59:00 UTC
Link to this
((If I'm not supposed to be here, just ignore this))
Gretalis, the new guy, had abandoned whatever it was he was doing earlier so as to join in the battle. At the moment, he was going to town with a grenade launcher that fired water balloons. He had no particular target. He just sprayed and prayed.
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Art! by
on 2011-04-23 21:35:00 UTC
Link to this
Too much free time plus pencil and paper equals doodles of my agents. I hope you enjoy my daft scribblings.
Danny and Laura - http://poorcynic.deviantart.com/gallery/?catpath=/#/d3ep30g
Gremlin and Xericka - http://poorcynic.deviantart.com/gallery/?catpath=/#/d3ep3ga
Xericka relaxing - http://poorcynic.deviantart.com/gallery/?catpath=/#/d3ep3n8 -
Re: Art! by
on 2011-04-27 00:06:00 UTC
Link to this
Hey, those are pretty darn good! :D Great job!
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Re: Art! by
on 2011-04-24 16:53:00 UTC
Link to this
Awesome!
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Thank you! (nm) by
on 2011-04-26 03:31:00 UTC
Link to this
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Interlude! by
on 2011-04-24 06:03:00 UTC
Link to this
Guvnor of Space and I are pleased to share an interlude we've titled Dirty Laundry, starring Agents Ilraen and Orken. For those keeping track, this takes place shortly after Nume and Ilraen's last mission, which happened late summer of 2010, so before any of Orken's appearances so far.
Speaking just for myself, some of you may notice (probably with relief) that I've finally given up on Comic Sans MS. Let me know how Trebuchet MS works for you.
Concrit is welcome, as always.
~Neshomeh and Guvnor -
*Animorphs fanboy squee* by
on 2011-04-26 21:16:00 UTC
Link to this
This is just great! I love how it starts with two characters who feel they should be antagonistic, but as they talk, they realize that they have no real reason to hate each other. It's kind of a beautiful thing. I'd love to see Ilraen and Orken do a mission together sometime. Maybe to Animorphs, so Orken can observe Ilraen acquiring and morphing a Yeerk?
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You're in luck! by
on 2011-04-27 06:03:00 UTC
Link to this
We are seeking an appropriate badfic for the purpose. {= ) A crossover, to be precise. What 'verses just depends on what's out there. I worry that between Orken's determination to be professional and Ilraen's general avoidance of conflict it might actually go too well, so we may have to wait for something particularly aggravating--messing with canon relationships would do it for Ilraen; I'm not sure about Orken, though. We'll see!
I'm glad you enjoyed the story, and you seem to have gotten out of it the same things that I do, which is really cool. Thanks for commenting! ^_^
~Neshomeh -
*recalls one book where Cassie becomes a Yeerk* (nm) by
on 2011-04-27 00:03:00 UTC
Link to this
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Aye. But I meant: by
on 2011-04-27 02:50:00 UTC
Link to this
In that book, the characters did start out as antagonists, and the Yeerk came to accept a changed viewpoint. Here, we have characters who only hate each other because they think they're supposed to, but discover that, thanks to the harms they suffered at the hands of bad writing, they actually have a lot in common, and realize there was no reason to treat each other cruelly in the first place.
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I actually wasn't trying to imply anything. by
on 2011-04-27 03:36:00 UTC
Link to this
I just vaguely remembered the book.
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Me too by
on 2011-04-27 00:33:00 UTC
Link to this
"The Sickness." Yeah, that's one of my favorites. I also liked "Visser."
Yeerks! Yay... -
I do this myself occasionally, but... by
on 2011-04-26 20:11:00 UTC
Link to this
...you overuse certain phrases like 'of course,' 'in fact,' 'apparently,' etc. They add unnecessary words to the story diluting the story and slowing things down with pauses. If you go back and read sentences that include such phrases in most cases you'll find it reads just as well, if not better, without them. (Upon reading the rest of it, I find that this only applies to the introductory paragraphs and mostly disappears later on, but then the introduction is very important).
The rest of my comments reflect what you already acknowledge yourself in the actors note at the bottom. It's a very serious exposition heavy work that probably dragged on a bit too much.
If you want a good introduction to the two agents and backstory behind the Animorphs continuum, this is certainly a gem though. :P -
Hmm. by
on 2011-04-27 05:43:00 UTC
Link to this
That was me, then, since I did the intro. I'll keep an eye on that in the future.
What specifically dragged? The canon backstory bits?
Thanks for reading and commenting. {= )
~Neshomeh -
Mostly the canon backstory bits, yes. by
on 2011-04-27 18:37:00 UTC
Link to this
BTW - I still think Guvnor needs to come up with more silly backstory incidents then just the Plutonium incident :P
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Approval by
on 2011-04-26 03:45:00 UTC
Link to this
I would like to say, this is brilliant! Like many, I too read Animorphs as a child, and this encounter is one I have never thought of before. What would an Andalite and a Yeerk say to each other? Fortunately, thanks to you, I have a fair idea now!
Hmmm...I would also like to request you two make another story about Ilrean and Orken. They would be the most unlikely of friends in their home 'verse, but in the PPC...well, anything's possible! -
We're definitely thinking about it. by
on 2011-04-27 05:31:00 UTC
Link to this
Specifically, a co-mission. We'll have to find a suitably irritating crossover first, but it's something we'd like to do. {= )
Meanwhile, thanks! Keep in mind that it would probably be rather different and end far less well between any other Yeerk and Andalite. There are some fairly special circumstances in play here. Still, I'd like to think it COULD happen in canon, maybe with sufficient time between the war and the story. Like old war vets getting together 30 years later or so. After enough time, the fact that you were in the war means you have more in common with your former enemy than you do with most others. Some on both sides would be able to see that, I think.
~Neshomeh -
Well done! by
on 2011-04-25 23:22:00 UTC
Link to this
I really like this interlude. You've got a good balance of both humorous moments and more dramatic fare. The dialogue between Ilraen and Orken was interesting and well-constructed. I particularly enjoyed how neither side really held the moral high ground. It just goes to show the complications inherent in the PPC's ragtag-misfit-type organization.
There were admittedly times when I felt like you were force-feeding me canonical information, but those moments were relatively inoffensive and over very quickly. I look forward to your next mission/interlude with bated breath. -
Thanks! by
on 2011-04-26 02:34:00 UTC
Link to this
Actually, since you mention it, how would you like to beta my next mission? I was going to e-mail you at some point, but this seems as good a moment as any. In this case, it's a co-write with Tungsten Monk, set in Middle-earth with a main character that's supposedly Harry Potter. I warn you, it's long. We're currently working on cleaning it up and trimming it as much as we can stand, but it's still likely to be upwards of 25,000 words (we may release it in two parts). Would you be up for it? We'll probably be ready for beta next week or so, but I think I remember seeing that you're doing another beta, so whenever you're done with that would be fine.
As for this, thanks again. Gray morality is fun, and it's actually one of the really good things about the Animorphs 'verse--the good guys are kind of jerks, and the bad guys are kind of sympathetic.
~Neshomeh -
Sure! by
on 2011-04-26 23:27:00 UTC
Link to this
I'd be happy to help with a beta.
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Great. {= ) by
on 2011-04-27 05:07:00 UTC
Link to this
I think your e-mail is on the wiki, so I'll drop you a line when we're ready. Thanks again!
~Neshomeh -
Cool! by
on 2011-04-25 11:53:00 UTC
Link to this
I read a lot of the Animorphs series when I was a kid, so this makes me smile. Lots of potential for these characters.
What I liked most about this short was that it really showed the potential for HQ to be wacky and interesting, yet also give way to the fact that it bridges all gaps for all species in all continua. It's a discussion about canon, that shows the point of view of each character, as facilitated by the wacky go nuts setting that is HQ.
So nice to see people are taking advantage of the setting so well! -
I'm glad you liked it. by
on 2011-04-25 21:41:00 UTC
Link to this
As far as I know, we are the first people to use the (or a; I'm not sure there aren't more than one) HQ laundry room in a story. Once the idea came, though, it was perfect for this. I'm glad you seem to find the tone of the story well-balanced, too. Hopefully it works as an instance of being fairly serious while still keeping in the PPC spirit. {= )
~Neshomeh, who should add the laundry room to the wiki for future reference. -
That was interesting. :) by
on 2011-04-24 08:43:00 UTC
Link to this
I know nothing about the Animorphs continuum beyond what I've learned reading your pieces, Neshomeh, but even so you've explained it all well enough that I understood the issue in this interlude. And I very much enjoyed seeing the Agents work things out between themselves. The PPC's awesome for letting people who would normally be mortal enemies on principle actually get to know each other. :)
Great job, guys! -
Thank you by
on 2011-04-24 20:21:00 UTC
Link to this
Pretty much what Nesh said. Orken is, at the very least, afflicted by human desires. Half human is probably about right, even though he would likely never admit it.
Also, I'm glad it makes sense. That's always a plus. -
Thanks! by
on 2011-04-24 18:59:00 UTC
Link to this
I don't know if this could only happen in the PPC, but it would sure be a lot harder anywhere else. Being orphans of badfic actually gives these two some common ground that they'd never have in canon, and of course Ilraen wasn't really indoctrinated with the rest of his species' prejudices. For practical purposes, he's at least half-human mentally, even as Orken is about half-human due to living as one physically. Topics for future conversations, perhaps.
I'm glad it all makes sense. I imagine Orken helped out a lot there, explaining "his side" to the stupid, ignorant Andalite. *g*
~Neshomeh
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Reading suggestions by
on 2011-04-24 16:30:00 UTC
Link to this
I have, somewhat uncharacteristically, found myself in dire lack of reading materials. As soon as I found this was the case, something told me this might be the right place to ask for book suggestions. I prefer fantasy and sci-fi, but realistic fiction is okay so long as it isn't totally OMG SRS BSNS and such.
Um...I think that covers everything. Thanks in advance! -
Maybe these will tickle your fancy. by
on 2011-04-27 20:29:00 UTC
Link to this
I know I prefer sci-fi and fantasy as well, and these two series are the ones I always love coming back to:
"Raven's Shadow" and the sequel "Raven's Strike" by Patricia Briggs. Very good. I didn't even know there was a sequel for a long time, but I just kept reading the first one over and over again.
"First Truth", "Hidden Truth", "Forgotten Truth", and "Lost Truth" by Dawn Cook. I read the last one first, and while it was wonderful, I needed to read the other three to explain stuff. It's still one of my favorite series ever. It's not really heavy, but it's interesting and touching. Same with Briggs' two.
These both have tons of magic in them. Definitely good fantasy works. You should really look them up. =) Hope I helped.
~*P Raven -
I'm helpful, really. by
on 2011-04-27 09:58:00 UTC
Link to this
Probably one of my all-time favorites is a book by Barry Hughart, called Bridge of Birds. It's a novel "of an ancient China that never was", and feels like a fairy tale and a myth and a mystery all rolled into one neat, clever package. The plot is beautifully woven together; I can't think of a single throwaway mention off the top of my head. Further, no matter how many times I read it, it's one of the books that never fails to make me emote. Be emotional. Something.
Might be hard to find, though. I think it was published in the 80s and every bookstore I go to has no copies. :/ Only drawback.
Hmm. Read Kris Longknife books at all? By Mike Shepherd. Basically, daughter of a politician announces 'well, this is fun and all, but I'm joining the space Navy, seeya Dad.' Intrigue and action ensues. Remarkable because I usually dislike the books have a military focus, because I've experienced that they tend to go gunsgunsguns military is awesome guns solve all problems check out how amazing our guns are aren't they fab, but somehow either these books just straight up don't go for the technobabble and guns route or I missed it somewhere in the characters and plot. First book's called Mutineer. -
Fantasy Suggestions by
on 2011-04-26 18:55:00 UTC
Link to this
The Song of Ice and Fire series by George RR Martin of course a great series if you haven't already dabbled in it. Magic is very subtle and rare, and mostly lends itself to political intrigue and world building. Four books so far with the fifth promised to come out soon. It's recently been recreated as an HBO series which just started airing.
I've been reading Steven Erickson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series. It's a high magic setting with tons of characters, and every single one of those characters is a fantastic badass in one way or another. Plots get layered thicker and thicker and Xanatos Gambits abound. Each book is huge and there's like ten of them so it'd keep you busy for awhile. -
Suggestions by
on 2011-04-25 18:13:00 UTC
Link to this
SRS BSNS is a no go? There goes my blanket recommendation of 1984.
What else? Hm, if you have time, Stephen King's /The Dark Tower/ series is an interesting Sci-fi/fantasy combo. It's really long, but if you have time, it is pretty good, especially the earlier books.
On top of that, I can recommend pretty much anything he has written as at least okay ish. His non-horror is better than his horror in my opinion. Specifically, I'd recommend /The Green Mile/ and /Four Seasons./ The second one is a collection of four novellas, including my favorite thing he has ever written, "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption."
I'd also recommend /Lord of the Rings/ but I'm assuming you have already done that.
Oh, and how does one do italics on this board? -
Ukiah Oregon series by Wen Spencer by
on 2011-04-26 06:18:00 UTC
Link to this
The titles are Alien Taste, Tainted Trail, Bitter Waters, and Dog Warrior.
These are some extremely well written books. A fast, fun read. These are some of my favorite books.
Here is an official description of Ukiah:
Ukiah Oregon has never had a normal life. As a child, he was found running with a pack of wolves. Captured, he was adopted by a lesbian couple and civilized. He works now as a private investigator and expert tracker in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is gifted with photographic memory, keen senses, and the odd ability to detect things down to a cellular level. -
Thanks by
on 2011-04-25 20:21:00 UTC
Link to this
Well, I've already read 1984 and LOTR, so no need to worry there. And italics are to begin and to end (without the spaces, though).
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Need edit button by
on 2011-04-25 18:14:00 UTC
Link to this
It's /Different Seasons./ I saw the mistake as soon as I it "Post Reply"
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*joyful asplosion* by
on 2011-04-25 16:05:00 UTC
Link to this
The Orphan's Tales duology by Catherynne M Valente. The prose is kinda heavy, but it's really good. It's about this girl with stories tattooed on her eyes telling a boy who might be the heir to the Sultanate stories in the garden. The stories are really complicated, because a character in a story will start telling a story about a character who tells a story and so on and so forth, but it's basically about *deep breath* sea-faring saints, dead stars, firebirds, tree-girls, dead cities of artists, dead cities of detritus populated by ghosts who kidnap children to mint bones into coins, seventh-seventh sons, huldras, manticores, a glaistig eunuch, a girl made of tea, and a lot more. (Also, if you don't mind a certain amount, of, um, sex scenes, try her stand-alone Palimpsest, which is about a sexually transmitted city.)
And if you like sci-fi, Cyteen is really good too. And the Morgaine series, although it's a little bit of both there. -
*attempts to dodge miscellaneous flying goblin bits* by
on 2011-04-25 20:32:00 UTC
Link to this
Sounds like a modern take on Arabian Nights to me. Not saying that's a bad thing, but it just strikes me as a lot to live up to.
Also, you mentioned Cyteen and Morgaine. What are they about? -
Tried any Scott Lynch? by
on 2011-04-25 15:41:00 UTC
Link to this
He writes the Gentleman Bastard Sequence. It has a lot of swearing and violence, so if you're easily squicked or offended it's probably not for you, but it's got ludicrously complex plotting, beautiful description, and some awesome one-liners.
-
Re: Reading suggestions by
on 2011-04-25 03:33:00 UTC
Link to this
I personally like the Leviathan series, but it's less sci-fi and more steampunk/alternate history. It takes place in World War I, and the first book actually starts shortly after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The story follows his (made-up) son Aleksander Ferdinand, and a member of the British Royal Air Force, Dylan Sharp. The thing about Dylan, and don't worry this isn't a spoiler to anyone at all, is that his real name is Deryn Sharp, and he is a she. It also has some real world parallels, explained at the back of both books, and the unique thing about the story is that instead of Allies Vs. Central Powers, it's Darwinists Vs. Clankers. Darwinists are those who use genetically engineered animals for warfare and everyday things, like a flying whale or dogs that can sniff out hydrogen leaks, while Clankers are countries that use machines for warfare and everyday things, like Walkers for transportation or a giant mechanical spider with cannons on top of it. The Unites States use a combination of the two, in case you were wondering.
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Wow. by
on 2011-04-25 20:23:00 UTC
Link to this
Just...wow. That description was just...completely beyond words. I have to check this out.
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O.O by
on 2011-04-26 06:15:00 UTC
Link to this
Really? Awesome. Thank you for the compliment.
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I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but... by
on 2011-04-24 22:42:00 UTC
Link to this
Here are a few sci-fi/fantasy stories that not very many people seem to have stumbled across and which I think are pretty good. Not particularly deep reading, but fun.
Tanith Lee's Silver Metal Lover and Metallic Love are sci-fi romances involving an alternate earth, future technology, and humanoid robots.
Eric Flint and David Freer's duology (?) of Pyramid Scheme and Pyramid Power are fun, if not particularly accurate, romps through Greek, Egyptian, and Norse mythology. If you want, the first one can be read free online here.
Also, if you don't mind wandering over to the young adult section, the Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede and Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising sequence are pretty good. -
Exactly what I'm looking for, actually by
on 2011-04-24 23:34:00 UTC
Link to this
I've already read Enchanted Forest and Dark is Rising when I was younger, but I'll give the others a try. Thanks very much.
P.S. FYI, I looked it up and duology is correct. -
Small suggestion by
on 2011-04-24 20:27:00 UTC
Link to this
Read The Moon Moth by Jack Vance. I'm not a huge Vancian but I do like this short story of his... I should read more of his stuff. >_>;
-
If you don't mind a slight amount of squick... by
on 2011-04-24 18:49:00 UTC
Link to this
...then try "The Chronicles of Amber" by Roger Zelazny. It's kind of an old series, but it's pretty good. Basically, the one true world is Amber and all the other worlds in in the multiverse are just 'shadows' of it, except for Chaos, but that's a whole 'nother can of worms. Anyway, the first book starts with the main character waking up in a hospital with amnesia. (Yeah, it's a used beginning, but it works quite well.)
It can get kind of- well, quite a bit- squicky at times, though. If you don't mind a spoiler, I could tell you the squickiest part and then you could decide if you want to read it or not. -
I'll take the spoiler. by
on 2011-04-24 19:39:00 UTC
Link to this
My tolerance is fairly high for certain types of squick, but other varieties, not so much. I'd really appreciate a heads up so I can decide for myself.
-
Alright, here goes... by
on 2011-04-25 15:05:00 UTC
Link to this
The first half of the books are told from the point of view of Corwin. The second half are told from the point of view of his son, Merlin.
Merlin is the son of Corwin and Dara.
Dara is Benedict's great granddaughter.
Benedict and Corwin are half brothers.
Yeaaaah.
Then Corwin is in love with his sister, and it's pretty much canon that Julian is in love with his half sister. So basically, mild incest, but nothing graphic.
It's a really messed up family. -
Ick. by
on 2011-04-25 22:29:00 UTC
Link to this
Well, as long as it doesn't get graphic I should be okay...
Um...It doesn't get graphic, does it? -
Nope. by
on 2011-04-26 00:57:00 UTC
Link to this
No graphic stuff.
That's probably the worst part of the whole series- other than that, the characters and plot lines and settings are actually very intriguing. -
Recommendations by
on 2011-04-24 18:04:00 UTC
Link to this
The Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan - Not for everyone. I like it but some don't. It slows down after the first three books, which turns a lot of people off.
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson - This one has a lot of SRS BSNS and really gets pretty dark at times, especially in the First Chronicles. It is still an excellent series and I highly recommend it.
The Deathgate Cycle by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman - Quite good. The ending is a little flat, but the rest is very enjoyable.
-
Hello, I guess? by
on 2011-04-25 06:26:00 UTC
Link to this
Hi. A new newbie has appeared! ;] I've actually read the original PPC fics a while back but only just now decided to stalk this board and introduce myself. On FanFiction.net my (current) pen name is Kitty's Muse, but on many sites I'm KittyKat1001001 (as no one EVER claims that username except myself, heh). I'm an (almost) adult who used to be obsessed with Twilight more than a year ago (and wrote some horrible fanfiction that I refuse to think about to this day) and I'm currently obsessed with Hetalia. Thanks to you guys and your stories I found out what a Mary Sue was all those long (and dark) months ago and so figured out that I was writing quite horribly at the time. (In fact, I might use one of my Twilight OCs as an agent later on...) I'm also Kitty in IAHF, for anyone who knows about that. (I saw Karen Elaine DuLay around on here, hence why I mentioned that. ;]) Also, I tend to be a bit of a Grammar Nazi at times. I... don't think I have any questions at this time. So hi? :]
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*pops in late* by
on 2011-05-04 22:41:00 UTC
Link to this
I've had the tradition of handing out graduated cylinders, so... *tosses* Whenever you get around to creating Agents and obtaining Permission... well, I'll be in need of a couple of Agents for something in third trimester.
-
There's another Hetalia fan here now and I missed its intro? by
on 2011-04-27 21:33:00 UTC
Link to this
WATASHI NO BAKA! *slaps self*
ANYhoo.
Welcome to the Board! Please deposit your sanity in the provided receptacle. *indicates bucket marked "Warg Fodder"* You shan't need it here.
Or, you know, whatever. -
Hello and Welcome! by
on 2011-04-27 20:33:00 UTC
Link to this
Welcome to the Board, where people are friendly, Sues are vanquished, and newbies are embraced with love! ^^
(At least, I hope so. I'm probably still classed as newbie myself right now. Heh.)
Anyway, welcome! ^^ -
Hi! by
on 2011-04-26 07:33:00 UTC
Link to this
Have a pet cat, a tinfoil hat and a strangely large gnat.
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:D by
on 2011-04-26 06:34:00 UTC
Link to this
You all are being so awesome! (I didn't know which one to reply to so I just replied to the main post.) Thank you for all of the various gifts (cyber ones are just as awesome as those in real life! ;]). And I'm glad to see that there are some other Hetalia fans on here. (I've read lots of other things too but I'm just a LITTLE obsessed right now...) I could just tell Karen easily 'cause her name was also the same. Glad to see other IAHFers/people/what-have-you!
As to the Twilight OC that I might use as an agent... Well... Heh. She's actually an elf (not even of LoTR origin!) in the fic that bears her name. Luckily I gave her a revamp (no pun intended) and so she'd be mostly a sort of joke. I might also use my self-insert (I'm guessing those are okay, right? Let me know if I'm wrong!) but only after she's 'graduated' from IAHF. This is mainly because I find her warped nature highly amusing and might make references to that 'time period' of her life. I still have lots of time though, right? ;] -
HIHIHI! by
on 2011-04-26 06:20:00 UTC
Link to this
I present you with grillable foodstuffs, buns, BBQ sauce, and utensils. Now you can have barbecues on your tall ship!
HEE. I'm reading about you then. I have IAHF on alert. :D -
Hello! by
on 2011-04-26 06:10:00 UTC
Link to this
From one newbie to another, I welcome you to this board. Here, have an entire tyrannosaurus fossil, blasted with a shrink ray to be portable. You're my first ever welcome, honestly.
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Welcome! by
on 2011-04-26 04:08:00 UTC
Link to this
Here, have a pretty feather!
*also slightly obsessed with Hetalia* I think it scarred me a bit mentally, but other than that it's funny Cx
Oh, and I'm a Grammar Nazi sometimes too ;P -
Good to have you a-Board! by
on 2011-04-26 01:48:00 UTC
Link to this
Welcome, new friend! Have a scratching post!
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Greetings! by
on 2011-04-25 23:34:00 UTC
Link to this
Well met, rookie! Please enjoy this novelty foam cowboy hat as a welcoming present.
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Welcome Rookie! by
on 2011-04-25 22:34:00 UTC
Link to this
I brought chocolate! :D
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Hello! by
on 2011-04-25 19:11:00 UTC
Link to this
Hi! Nice to meet you! Hope you have fun here!
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Welcome, delicious friend! by
on 2011-04-25 17:34:00 UTC
Link to this
Welcome! Have a hat knit from only the softest pelts of cute animal friends! Sure to keep you warm in the darkest and coldest of badfic!
And don't worry about any dark past here. I'm sure almost everybody has some. Ugh... cursed were the days in which I used to write bad Yu-Gi-Oh Mary Sue Action/Adventure... -
Have a Bengal Tiger! by
on 2011-04-25 16:32:00 UTC
Link to this
Don't feed it Sues or Stus.
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Hello! by
on 2011-04-25 15:13:00 UTC
Link to this
Here you have a bottle of sparkling goo. I strongly advice not to drink it.
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Velcome to ze board! by
on 2011-04-25 15:10:00 UTC
Link to this
Have some duct tape and pepper spray, you really can't go wrong with that.
Don't worry, we all had our bad writing phases at one point or another- for most here, it's fanfiction. For me, it was original fiction. God, I sucked.
Anyway, welcome again! -
Re: Hello, I guess? by
on 2011-04-25 12:42:00 UTC
Link to this
Hi, have some fudge!
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Hello Fellow Hetalia Fan! by
on 2011-04-25 12:28:00 UTC
Link to this
Welcome to the Board!
Here, please have some chocolate, and enjoy your stay! -
So you are that kitty. by
on 2011-04-25 12:28:00 UTC
Link to this
Welcome to the board, then. And have this cookie.
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Welcome, here's a tall ship. by
on 2011-04-25 09:55:00 UTC
Link to this
Fair winds!
Now you can throw BBQ parties! -
Hello! by
on 2011-04-25 07:02:00 UTC
Link to this
Here, have some snacks and water!
PS: Karen's not the only one with an OC in IHAF, because I've also put two OCs (Carolina Brown and Dorothy Brown) in it. Unlike you two, however, I have not put in an avatar of myself in the fic.
PS: Which Twilight OC do you have in mind?
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Hello, all you happy people. by
on 2011-04-25 16:55:00 UTC
Link to this
'Sup, guys? My name is Herr Wozzeck, and I sort of just stumbled across this place. Good thing I did, too.
I'm a fanfic author myself, perhaps best known in fanfiction circles for my fairly long Mass Effect SI "Mass Vexations" and its sequel. IRL, I'm a student who is studying music composition at the moment and hoping through a whole series of delusions of grandeur to eventually write for one of the world's major orchestras. My interests lie in gaming (chiefly with stuff like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Dead Space, and other things), zombie fiction, movies, and other stuff, and I run a film criticism blog on Blogspot called, appropriately enough, Herr Wozzeck Reviews.
And I'm also a nut for 20th Century concert music by the likes of Varèse, Schoenberg, Berg, Webern, Stockhausen, Boulez, and Ligeti. If you recognized at least one of those names without having to go to Google, you deserve a massive cookie. And if you don't know... go check 'em out. Give them a chance, because atonal music needs more love in this world.
So yeah... That's all for me. I hope to have a good time here. =D -
Helooooo by
on 2011-04-27 21:36:00 UTC
Link to this
Welcome to the Board! Please deposit your sanity in the provided receptacle. *indicates bucket marked "Warg Fodder"* You shan't need it here.
Also, here's a "get out of glomp free" pass. -
Welcome, here's a tall ship. by
on 2011-04-26 07:38:00 UTC
Link to this
Fair winds!
Now you can throw BBQ parties! -
Hello! by
on 2011-04-26 07:33:00 UTC
Link to this
Have a pet cat, a tinfoil hat and an old mat.
-
Hello! by
on 2011-04-26 03:39:00 UTC
Link to this
Have some snacks and water!
-
Good to have you a-Board! by
on 2011-04-26 01:52:00 UTC
Link to this
Wilkommen, new friend! Have a Violin Staff! It's excellent both for playing a strings instrument or beating down Sues...musically.
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Welcome! by
on 2011-04-26 00:58:00 UTC
Link to this
Heh, is it just me or a lot of people suddenly joining? (Or is that what it's normally like here?)
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Greetings! by
on 2011-04-25 23:33:00 UTC
Link to this
Well met, rookie! Always nice to see another gaming enthusiast about the place. Please enjoy this N7 helmet as a welcoming gift.
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Greetings! by
on 2011-04-25 23:29:00 UTC
Link to this
Have an absurdly long multi-colored scarf.
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Welcome! by
on 2011-04-25 22:33:00 UTC
Link to this
Bio-fan myself, I got two Mass Effect-verse and a Dragon Age-verse agent in the oven actually. Maybe we'll get to do a joint op sometime. :)
*high-fives* -
Re: Welcome! by
on 2011-04-25 22:54:00 UTC
Link to this
*high fives back*
Yay to fellow Bioware fans!
Hm... A joint op sounds like a lot of fun, but I'm usually pretty busy. Still, if you run into anything particularly bad I'd be more than happy to do a joint op. =D -
Hoo-rah! by
on 2011-04-25 23:03:00 UTC
Link to this
I'll let you know if I do. ;)
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Have a Cheetah! by
on 2011-04-25 20:48:00 UTC
Link to this
Don't feed it Sues or Stus.
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Hello there! by
on 2011-04-25 18:34:00 UTC
Link to this
Welcome to the Board! Here, have some chocolate, and enjoy your stay!
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Welcome then. by
on 2011-04-25 18:22:00 UTC
Link to this
Have a cookie.
Also, your nick brings back memories from the Literature class. -
Literature class? by
on 2011-04-25 19:14:00 UTC
Link to this
Let me guess... you were reading Woyzeck in that literature class.
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Merry dweebs are we! by
on 2011-04-25 18:01:00 UTC
Link to this
Well, not dweebs exactly, but it sure sounded nice in the subject line!
I hope you have lots of fun here too-- we're a silly lot, but amiable enough. -
Re: Hello, all you happy people. by
on 2011-04-25 17:09:00 UTC
Link to this
Hi! Have some fudge!
I normally listen to local classical station KVNO (www.kvno.org). Their playlist tends to be earlier periods, but I'm pretty sure they've run some Schoenberg and Webern. But most of my listening time is at work, and of course customers tend to show up when they're announcing what's playing next ;) . -
Re: Hello, all you happy people. by
on 2011-04-25 17:21:00 UTC
Link to this
Thanks! :D
Yeah. I checked out one of their playlists just now, and if they have run some Schoenberg or Webern I wouldn't be surprised. They've got quite few new music people on there (Michael Torke was mentioned at one point) as well as some of the bigger names of 20th Century music (I caught a mention of Bartok in there), so that sort of lends itself to that direction.
You seem to be blessed with a really good classical station. =D
-
Mass Effect Badfic (Get your hard hats) by
on 2011-04-25 20:22:00 UTC
Link to this
Okay. I'm here for less than a day, and already I have a badfic to share with you guys. But I've been acquainted with this for a while, even going so far as to have a [currently] two-part rant journal on DeviantArt to go on about how much I absolutely despise this fic, so...
This fic is really, really bad. Yeah, okay, the spelling isn't actually as horrible as you'd think, but it does have a Black Hole Sue, poorly paced action scenes, major character derailment, and absolutely no grasp of narrative structure.
The thing that REALLY makes it a badfic, though? It's essentially a fanfic full of politically-based author filibuster, and in that regard it's absolutely SHAMELESS. I can't adequately describe how badly it manages to mess up the Mass Effect canon as a result, so I'll just let you see that for yourself:
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6765057/1/The_Patriots
And the craziest part? It's still in progress.
Get out the hard hats you would use for reading Ayn Rand. This one's gonna hurt. -
New Fic Location! by
on 2011-04-28 22:59:00 UTC
Link to this
Okay... so he took down the link on FF.Net.
Fortunately, though... being the masochist that I am, I posted it to a Googledoc. So you can now find it here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cJSTDFy9cD2ZCnY2nl1XjFd6XvoPLzOoM9n9rjCVBX8/edit?hl=en -
Mmmm no. by
on 2011-04-30 19:26:00 UTC
Link to this
Bad taste in this case.
The author has already shown that he's interested in improving and becoming a better writer, and even states on his second story that he's put up in its stead that he's interested in improving it and removed the first.
'And Herr Wozzeck I would like to apologize for everything I said, you got me seeing red and that isn't good for me. I hope that we can meet on neutral ground on this and not try and strangle each other.'
I'm not sure what you said in your review to him, but I hope it was constructive, and not derogatory and entirely aimed at putting him down.
Don't try and sell a half story to us next time, and it's in better taste to drop the subject on the first story you linked instead of keeping it alive when the writer deletes it and makes an effort to improve and apologize. -
Actually, sort of, but you've got a point. by
on 2011-04-30 23:41:00 UTC
Link to this
I sincerely doubt he's actually interested in becoming a better writer: a lot of things about his second story reek of trying to kiss the ass of near-on everyone in fanfiction.net's ME fandom if you have a clear idea of what he was like and why he took down the original story in the first place. While his first story was still up, he consistently ignored concrit, to the point that he didn't even reply to some people. The only things he responded to were snark/political statements in a review, and he almost always attacked the views of the other person he was talking to, even when they were on the same side of the spectrum. He repeatedly denied the conservative subtext his first story had, so it probably means he's blind to the myriad problems in his writing. And as of this posting, many of the problems that were independent of the conservative subtext (such as poor pacing, no sense of narrative structure, bad/stereotyped characterizations, and implausible things happening according to the canon he's working in) are still present in this new story of his, and they don't show any signs of going away.
Also, the biggest reason he took down his first fic was because he couldn't take the hatedom that had started accumulating around it. Trust me, he told several people (including myself) that it was the biggest reason why he took it down in a series of PM's. He actually worded it more like he wanted to quit, so I was amazed that he even posted the second story to begin with.
What he's referring to is nothing in any actual reviews I wrote: it was general hostilities that occurred between the two of us. And he started the fire, I didn't: I left a review saying that 'hey, there are too many political overtones and it's to this thing's detriment'. It was pretty calm, collected, and fairly constructive.
Of course, when I cited the Tea Party and the Vietnam War as two examples of reasons why America wasn't the greatest nation in the world as his pro-America undertones were saying, he went to town tearing me apart for "liberal" views that I never actually said I had. (He literally opened that reply with "How dare you accuse the Tea Party as a bad thing".) That led to a mildly snarky reply where, honestly, I said a thing or two that I probably shouldn't have said. In the reply to that, though, he had the nerve to say that he respected my opinion, when it was clear that he really didn't. That was where I stopped giving thought to being polite and got outright hostile with him, so what followed after that was what he's referring to. I think stating that I had an overreaction is putting it mildly, now that I think about it. But for me, there's a special place in hell for people who attack your views and then say they respect them. That pretty much fueled the hostilities, as well as the fact that I refuse to be respectful to anyone who can't be bothered enough to treat people's opinions with any form of respect (especially when they deny their disrespect).
I think a large part of why I saved the documents after he took it down was actually kind of personal, as was reuploading it to the internet. Thinking about why I was so pissed off about it, I realize I have no need to constantly re-upload stuff. So... I took it down from Googledocs.
But if you think I'm the only one who took things out of hand, that's not actually true: he overblew some things about the whole fiasco too. He claimed that I had called him a facist, a bigot, and a racist despite the fact that I never used any of those terms to his face or otherwise-- and he knew it, too.
If we do meet on neutral ground... he might strangle me anyway. Mostly because I'll start the conversation by scolding him rather harshly for the naming habits of his characters. But know that I won't scold him because they're inherently awful: it's more because said habits are extremely dangerous to him and to other people he knows IRL. -
Aha. by
on 2011-05-01 04:39:00 UTC
Link to this
This is why you don't sell only half a story.
The fact that he's starting a second story despite the first one is more suggestive than you think it might be; it's saying he's still interested in giving it a shot. Everyone needs a different way to be initially approached when it comes to constructive reviews, and in this case the fact that you went after his reasoning as well didn't work out.
One step at a time, one step at a time.
But it's a good thing that you admitted to your part in it and where you misstepped, as well as clarifying why he left a bad taste in your mouth.
That said, taking stuff to PPC for exclusively personal reasons because you're angry with the person behind it rather than the writing being the main reason isn't a good thing; we're not bullies and we don't target people specifically because we have personal issues with them. If you do, it's probably a better idea to find something else to poke at. -
Indeed. by
on 2011-05-01 05:17:00 UTC
Link to this
I see your point on the starting the second story. For now, though, I'm not holding my breath that he actually will improve in writing style. The fact that his second story greatly tones it down on the pro-conservative subtext is honestly a step forward, but it's not a big enough improvement to cover all the other errors I mentioned before. Trust me, I do think the writing was genuinely bad, even before the hostilities began. So until he gets to those errors as well...
As for everything else... I'll curb sending stuff out of creator anger in the future. -
Jeez... by
on 2011-04-29 21:43:00 UTC
Link to this
I lost track of the document. Somehow.
Still, here's a new link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FyeLiuwYdfGuHFu6fHCCr-SVjpNgmPxywQVdbAeziLQ/edit?hl=en&authkey=CKLgq94H# -
Oh my Lord! by
on 2011-04-26 17:40:00 UTC
Link to this
All right, the initial premise seemed fine, but the sheer amount of political bias, extreme OOC-ness and lack of narrative structure is just unbelievable! Nay, inexcusable!
Killit! Kill it WITH FIRE!! -
Good Grief by
on 2011-04-26 04:02:00 UTC
Link to this
I skimmed through maybe the first paragraph and winced. I have no idea what Mass effect is, but....dang.
Welp, that's what the PPC is here for! -
Yikes. by
on 2011-04-25 23:39:00 UTC
Link to this
Fouled up canon history, political and religious mouthpieces, chest-thumpinig rhetoric... that's going to be one hell of a cleanup job. And what did the author do to Shepard?! *headdesk*
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On Shepard. by
on 2011-04-26 18:47:00 UTC
Link to this
As the player character isn't Shepard's personality completely open to interpretation?
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Well... by
on 2011-04-26 19:52:00 UTC
Link to this
To an extent. I for one tend to think that an extremely Renegade interpretation of Shepard gets pushed a little far-- actually, make that way too far-- when he kicks all of the crew of the Normandy off, and then goes on threatening to rape one of his former crew members for absolutely no reason whatsoever in the middle of a firefight.
Also, there is absolutely NO reason that can make any amount of sense for Shepard to become a punch-clock villain for anyone who isn't Cerberus. -
Not quite. by
on 2011-04-26 19:13:00 UTC
Link to this
Shepard's personality is limited by the parameters of the Paragon and Renegade paths. Players do not have complete and total freedom in this regard. Even the most hardcore Renegade!Shep has his or her limits, as can be seen in the Overlord DLC. THIS particular Fic!Shepard is so far beyond the pale it's frightening.
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I cannot let this thing live. by
on 2011-04-25 22:25:00 UTC
Link to this
I will take the case!
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an extra (kind of scary ) charge by
on 2011-04-28 18:18:00 UTC
Link to this
So, it's obvious that he's partaking in fan wank, right?
It's worse than you think. The OC's are ALL a case of Write Who You Know. Trust me, I only just found that out definitively. -
Thank You. by
on 2011-04-25 22:29:00 UTC
Link to this
Please make it impactful, I don't want any more sins commited against my favorite RPG either.
-
... by
on 2011-04-25 22:13:00 UTC
Link to this
...
...
This will not stand. -
I don't know jack about Mass Effect... by
on 2011-04-25 22:05:00 UTC
Link to this
But I can still tell this is bad. I just skimmed it, and it's just beige prose through and through. I advise anyone who decides to claim this to bring caffine (for the boredom) and antidepressants (for the rest).
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Re: I don't know jack about Mass Effect... by
on 2011-04-25 22:11:00 UTC
Link to this
I'd also recommend bringing some brain bleach or some of that Bleeprin stuff I've seen mentioned around here: some of the developments are so startlingly idiotic I'm shocked that I've still been updating my rant journals as consistently as he's been updating this badfic. And it's not exclusive to the stuff that violates ME canon, either; it's also a lot of the other things that show up. (The naturalization part? *shudders*)
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About the rant journal thing... by
on 2011-04-25 22:21:00 UTC
Link to this
I'd personally suggest you stop. Getting too hung up about bad fanfic is a recipe for disaster, because there'll always be more of it somewhere. The author has obviously refused to listen to concrit, so you're really just wasting time if you continue to go on about it. This is just my opinion, I'll admit, but I am speaking from experience here.
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Yuck. by
on 2011-04-25 21:43:00 UTC
Link to this
Yuck. That's bad. And it has what I feel is the Super Badfic Indicator in it-- shallow author wank, without appealing to the feelings and interests of others.
I think it might even be worse in a canon like Mass Effect, which is Bioware and has so many choices to make... you can do what you want... and you choose THIS? :
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I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! by
on 2011-04-26 23:20:00 UTC
Link to this
Hello, I'm back, not much else to say.
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Welcome back! by
on 2011-04-27 22:17:00 UTC
Link to this
Have a Dramatic Longcoat! It flutters dramatically (even if there isn't any wind) when you need it too.
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Hey by
on 2011-04-27 21:39:00 UTC
Link to this
Does the "Warg Fodder" bucket have your sanity in it yet? If not, you know what to do. *indicates bucket*
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not really by
on 2011-04-27 22:18:00 UTC
Link to this
I let mind mind wander a while ago and it never came back.
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Re: I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! by
on 2011-04-27 15:07:00 UTC
Link to this
Hi, have some fudge!
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Welcome back, here's a tall ship. by
on 2011-04-27 09:12:00 UTC
Link to this
Fair winds!
Now you can throw BBQ parties! -
Welcome! by
on 2011-04-27 03:38:00 UTC
Link to this
You aren't by chance the Jimbo from QC are you?
http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=180
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Welcome back. by
on 2011-04-27 03:17:00 UTC
Link to this
I don't know who you are, but that's not stopping me! =D
Here, have some Varèse for the road:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGFLUerbLhk -
He has returned. by
on 2011-04-27 01:27:00 UTC
Link to this
Who was he again. Seriously though good to have you back.
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Have a Peregrine Falcon! by
on 2011-04-26 23:56:00 UTC
Link to this
Don't feed it Sue or Stu meat.
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New Mission by
on 2011-04-27 03:44:00 UTC
Link to this
The first thing I'd like to say is, even though I posted a new mission just eight days ago, it had been finished since the end of March. There was just a bit of a delay with beta stuff. So I've been working on this mission since then, and it's now all ready for release.
Stargate, T-Rated
Agents Orken 7861 and Thomas Greenwall brave bad grammar, a fake prophecy, Rodney bashing, and an unintentional Blackhole!Sue in 'Sleeping Sue and the Eight Minis.'
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1ZhwpLifhjjQ6bDWMjOTaUKfCXPWaiP6g9ziOOMr6mns
As the title implies, the sporked fic generated eight minis. Seven are up for adoption.
Mini-Wratih:
Altaeran
Altaerans
Asusrans
Dr, Weir
Ronnon
Mini-Unas:
Col. Crater
Lt. Colonel Samantha Cater (Adopted by Caddy-shack)
Sg-1
As always, crit is appreciated, as are general comments. I can't get better at this if you guys don't tell me what I'm doing wrong! -
Re: New Mission by
on 2011-04-28 06:26:00 UTC
Link to this
- The Suethor's name, ChayaAmidala, wants me to read "chlamydia" instead.
2. I'm afraid you've made a mini yourself: "Sheppad's legs where suddenly tied together with twine." ("Where" should be "were" there, too.)
3. "Science Lad wants to battle! Science Lad sent out Magnemite!" You have to admit, it totally sounds like a Pokémon trainer class.
- The Suethor's name, ChayaAmidala, wants me to read "chlamydia" instead.
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Guvnor Uses Typo Fix! by
on 2011-04-28 12:45:00 UTC
Link to this
It's super effective!
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Question by
on 2011-04-28 04:33:00 UTC
Link to this
I really don't want to post my missions (when I get Permission for them) in the Pit, so where do you post yours, and how can I post stuff there?
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Re: Question by
on 2011-04-28 15:16:00 UTC
Link to this
A lot of people use LiveJournal as well, and it's also free.
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A combination by
on 2011-04-28 05:05:00 UTC
Link to this
I keep the actual missions in Google Docs. It's very simple, and it takes three seconds to edit typos. I also have a Freewebs sight, where I have all my missions linked.
Google docs is easy. Go to Google, click the "more" tab on the top, scroll down, and click on "documents." Create an account, and the rest is pretty easy.
Freewebs is very user friendly and took me a grand total of ten minutes to figure out. -
Gracias! by
on 2011-04-28 18:14:00 UTC
Link to this
Thank you kind sir!
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Very excellent mission by
on 2011-04-28 03:04:00 UTC
Link to this
There was a lot I liked about this mission. It is probably the best mission I have read in a long time. Hats off to you for slogging through that horrible grammar and canon warping.
Likes: The cold mite. Maybe. That was great.
That Thomas kept repeating his name and RC number. I had never really thought about what to do in that kind of situation, but that seemed to fit perfectly.
The quotes were well balanced by action, and thoroughly contributed to the mission.
The way you give point of view to the minis. I am especially liking O'Neil. I wonder what evil plots he has in store for Thomas now that he has confirmed that Thomas is humoring him, and not actually understanding his speech.
The agents' personalities are really coming together. Either of them separately I don't think would be very entertaining, but the two of them together balance very well.
I hate it when fanficcers engage in Rodney bashing, so I was glad to see how angry Thomas got about that.
I'm glad that you saved the Science Lad with the Simgen--that was really bad.
I was with Thomas on being ready to pulverize the Sue, but in the end, I agree with Orken. It was a thoroughly satisfying ending.
Improvements: There were a couple of places where the bolding of the quotes seemed to drop for a word or two.
I know they collected the minis at the end of the mission, but I was wondering all throughout where the minis were. Did they just leave them where they found them and go back? That would be fine with me, but I wasn't very sure.
Thought: What would happen if two minis fell in love and started a family according to whatever means was normal for their species, would they have little mini children? I've got Hauk'Tauri, and I've been wondering what would happen if he and Col. Crater liked each other. :D -
Oh wow. How did that happen? by
on 2011-04-28 03:44:00 UTC
Link to this
That comment was from me. To Guvnor. I guess I was thinking about talking to him and typed his name in?
I don't know.
Anyway, that was not a very nice comment by Guvnor to himself. That was me, Miah, being derpy. -
Improvements by
on 2011-04-28 03:18:00 UTC
Link to this
"Improvements: There were a couple of places where the bolding of the quotes seemed to drop for a word or two."
That was on purpose. The unbolded words were mine, used to make the quote fit with the action. I'll see if I can avoid that in the future, but I really wanted to use a couple of the quotes, and couldn't have otherwise.
"Improvements: There were a couple of places where the bolding of the quotes seemed to drop for a word or two."
That was what I was going for. Dragging around eight minis would have bogged things down. I will try to make that more clear in future missions, should I do that again.
"Thought: What would happen if two minis fell in love and started a family according to whatever means was normal for their species, would they have little mini children? I've got Hauk'Tauri, and I've been wondering what would happen if he and Col. Crater liked each other. :D"
This is an interesting thought. Perhaps a thread should be started about it?
Also,does that mean you want to adopt Col. Crater?
Thanks for the comment! I'm glad you liked it. -
Typo by
on 2011-04-28 02:47:00 UTC
Link to this
Look around for the string "voice voice". I think that's a typo.
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Fixed by
on 2011-04-28 02:57:00 UTC
Link to this
Thanks for the catch.
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I think you created another mini yourself ;-) by
on 2011-04-27 07:49:00 UTC
Link to this
Mini-Wratih should be mini-Wraith.
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Good to know... by
on 2011-04-27 12:59:00 UTC
Link to this
...for future reference. The cursed lack of an edit button means I can't fix it now. I was never real clear on the rules for that. I capitalized it because the was a heading.
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It was more... by
on 2011-04-27 18:09:00 UTC
Link to this
... the 'Wratih' part.
hS -
Wow by
on 2011-04-28 02:34:00 UTC
Link to this
I honestly could not see anything wrong with that word.
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What cursed lack of edit button? by
on 2011-04-27 17:57:00 UTC
Link to this
I see it right here.
It's just a matter of making sure to use the preview button and checking carefully. -
Pretty sure he means after it's already been submitted. by
on 2011-04-27 18:42:00 UTC
Link to this
Also the post reply message is doing something really fruity. It's nesting your message a couple of times in itself.
Apparently it's an image? Did you do that yourself? -
My point still stands. by
on 2011-04-27 19:07:00 UTC
Link to this
He could have easily caught it if he went through with bothering to preview the message and look it over completely before just posting it blind.
It's not that hard to put the teeniest bit more effort into making sure things are spelled correctly or that links and such aren't screwed up. -
Remember when... by
on 2011-04-28 09:31:00 UTC
Link to this
... spelling mistakes were all Toey's fault?
hS -
Effort by
on 2011-04-28 02:35:00 UTC
Link to this
July, I did preview it and look it over. I did not see it. It is one spelling error, of a word not caught by spell check due to the 'mini' prefix. My point about an edit button still stands.
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Mini of a Mini? by
on 2011-04-27 15:44:00 UTC
Link to this
Oh God...the mini of a mini...what would it be...? An even smaller version of the typical mini? Something else? @.@
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I'd say a mega. by
on 2011-04-27 20:32:00 UTC
Link to this
But, since it's a mega of a mini, then it would just be a normal-sized whatever it is. See, you can't have a mini-mini-Wraith. The two minis cancel each other out, see?
Admittedly, that explanation isn't correct logically or grammatically, but it would probably be more amusing. It's probably best to avoid things going recursive as well. Anyway, a mini-mini would probably get stepped on or something as soon as it got into HQ.
On the other hand, mini-mini kind of rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? -
A micro. by
on 2011-04-27 15:52:00 UTC
Link to this
Enough said, I think.
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Bad G1 Transformers Slash (neither safe for work nor brain) by
on 2011-04-27 20:56:00 UTC
Link to this
Okay--so I'm one of those long-time readers, first-time posters. It's, um, lovely to ... meet you all, I guess?
Anyway. One day, a classmate of mine showed me something a former friend of hers wrote a few years ago: http://www.mediaminer.org/fanfic/view_ch.php?cid=558608&submit=View+Chapter&id=159340
I'll admit, it's not the worst fic I've ever read. It's not terribly long, and I'm actually pretty happy with spelling and grammar for the most part. BUT. What the author managed to pull off with Optimus Prime, Megatron, Starscream, and UNICRON (yes, you read that right) is just, just ... eurgh, as Lavender Brown would say.
*shudders*
Goggles are highly recommended. -
Hello! by
on 2011-05-04 12:47:00 UTC
Link to this
Have some snacks and water!
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Welcome, here's a tall ship. by
on 2011-05-03 10:20:00 UTC
Link to this
Fair winds!
Now you can throw BBQ parties! -
Re: Bad G1 Transformers Slash (neither safe for work nor brain) by
on 2011-04-28 15:14:00 UTC
Link to this
Hi, have some fudge!
I'll pass on the link, if you don't mind. I don't see the appeal of even good slash, so I steer clear of anything flagged as bad slash. -
(not enough caffeine yet) by
on 2011-04-28 15:15:00 UTC
Link to this
Er, that's "pass on the link" as in "not clicking, thanks", not as in "relay to others".
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Hey, it's a new guy! by
on 2011-04-28 01:46:00 UTC
Link to this
And he's already got... what honestly isn't really that bad. It at least understands proper grammar and story structure, which is a marked improvement over the badfic I tend to see these guys sporking.
Either way, nice to see you here! =D Here, have some Berg for the road:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQYNIfxLqw8 -
Hola! by
on 2011-04-28 00:02:00 UTC
Link to this
Hello fellow new poster! (Though it sounds like you were around here for much longer than I was.) And you already found a possible badfic. Not bad! (And since I know next to nothing about Transformers I probably won't read it...) Here, have an extra pair of socks- you never know when you'll need socks. They can be even used as (improbable) weapons if you feel a need to improvise!
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Hmm... by
on 2011-04-27 23:52:00 UTC
Link to this
You might want to be careful about this one. There's a lot of stuff on the internet that are intensely squicky but not badly written per se; the spelling and grammar is good, the characters still retain most of their personality, etcetera. You may find what's being described distasteful, but unless it's being described badly, we can't really spork it. A fic can be NSFW, but still SFB, if you understand me.
I don't really know much about Transformers canon, so I can't give a judgement on how in- or out-of-character everyone is. My advice is just, as I said before, proceed with caution. This 'ere might be a tricky one.
P.S. Newbie, eh? And a former lurker, for that matter? Well, welcome to the club, and have a fuzzy scarf for your sins. -
Greetings! by
on 2011-04-27 22:24:00 UTC
Link to this
Lovely to meet you!
Here, have a Dramatic Longcoat - for all those moments when you need something swirling in the wind dramatically. Even if there isn't any wind. -
Welcome by
on 2011-04-27 22:18:00 UTC
Link to this
Wow, wasted no time putting up a possible badfic, did you? I'm still trying to find a particularly bad one to help out the PPC agents. In any case, welcome! Here, have a portable HAL 3000.
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HQ question by
on 2011-04-27 23:02:00 UTC
Link to this
The wiki says that HQ is 6-dimentional, what does this mean?
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Where that comes from. by
on 2011-04-29 17:18:00 UTC
Link to this
Neshomeh was right, it's the Playscriptes. Specifically the second one, and even more specifically, scene 3:
~~~~~~~~~
Daisy: Let's see. You know about the three so-called 'physical' dimensions, yes?
Alex: Up and down, side to side, and back and forth, yes. And the fourth one is time. But what about the other two?
Daisy: Very good. The other two, then, are probability and consciousness.
Alex: But that can't be right. You can't move in consciousness, or probability for that matter. [Pause] Can you?
Daisy: Agent Orange, you move in probability every time you go into an alternate fic-verse. And, to a lesser extent, every time you use a portal. It's the difference between the probability of you being at one end over the other, and the ability to change those probabilities, that make them work.
Alex: Portals change probabilities? But they can't do that without changing the laws of physics. If they try, they make a-
Daisy: Plothole, yes. Not many people know this, but portals were originally made from plotholes. In fact, as I've just explained, they still are.
Alex: [Nods slowly] All right. Probability, yes. But what about consciousness?
Daisy: Alex, you already know about this one. How do you get between places in HQ as fast as possible?
Alex: You don't pay attention to the route. Everyone knows... oh. Oh
Daisy: Exactly. A move 'backwards' in consciousness, that is, a move towards the unconscious, tends to make the route shorter. I say tends to, as there are some places, such as where you first met me, where it is still necessary to be on the right floor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So, 1 (left-right), 2 (up-down), 3 (in-out), 4 (time), 5 (probability), 6 (consciousness). They proceed to use carefully tuned alcohol to get around quickly.
Of course, it's possible HQ has more dimensions - but 6 is all the Flowers can see. (And no, I don't /think/ they can see time directly - but time's always the odd one out).
hS -
How to explain it... by
on 2011-04-27 23:49:00 UTC
Link to this
Headquarters exists in six dimensions. The world that humans can see and move around in is in three directions. You know, 3d.
HEY YOU GUYS. SLIGHT SPECULATION TIME. LET ME KNOW IF THIS SOUNDS ABOUT RIGHT:
It's very hard to imagine, but think of it this way: Somebody tells you to move in a direction that is not forward, back, sideways, up, or down. You can't actually do that-- that's the three dimensional world we live in. But the Flowers can move in those other directions at will, and see in them too. Headquarters is also built in those other directions that most people can't see or comprehend.
Really, part of the reason why Headquarters is hard to navigate is because humans (and others) in HQ may be moving in those other directions in any given time and not know it. So when you think you're turning left, you may actually be turning something you think is left, but is really not left, right, up, down, sideways, forwards or back. The not-left direction may look and seem left to you, but it's not. It's a totally different way.
Hence the wrong turns and how paying attention while walking gets you nowhere. If you can't even comprehend the direction you're supposed to go, sometimes just not caring where you go can allow you to take that path that you don't even know is there... -
Some of it was defined in the Playscriptes, I think. by
on 2011-04-28 06:09:00 UTC
Link to this
I seem to recall that probability and consciousness were two of the extra ones.
~Neshomeh -
Re: Some of it was defined in the Playscriptes, I think. by
on 2011-04-28 07:32:00 UTC
Link to this
I thought the fifth one was imagination. You know, in reference to the Twilight Zone. I think it's explained at some point in the Reorganization or the Crashing Down.
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Oh, and time makes six. (nm) by
on 2011-04-28 06:10:00 UTC
Link to this
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you're right by
on 2011-04-28 00:20:00 UTC
Link to this
I looked on wikpedia and found this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-dimensional_space
really interesting stuff. -
I tried to read the wiki link and it just made my head spin. (nm by
on 2011-04-28 18:52:00 UTC
Link to this
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HQ isn't six dimentional... by
on 2011-04-27 23:38:00 UTC
Link to this
It's six dimensional, but that's a whole other story. And what it means is that it's really, really, really hard to find your way around.
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Hello all! by
on 2011-04-28 18:07:00 UTC
Link to this
Well, hi everybody! Or maybe perhaps hello again? I believe that I have myself an interesting situation.
Back in 2008, I applied for Permission, and if memory serves, I was granted it, but I failed to do anything and simply went away. But now I find myself interested again! I'm not sure how this would be handled, but I'm going to assume that I'm a prospective member again, and will lurk for a month before requesting anything.
Basically, I was here, joined, did nothing, disappeared, and now two years later I'm trying again. It's blank slate time! -
Welcome back! by
on 2011-05-04 12:49:00 UTC
Link to this
Have some snacks and water!
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Welcome back, here's a tall ship. by
on 2011-05-03 10:23:00 UTC
Link to this
Fair winds!
Now you can throw BBQ parties! -
It's You!! by
on 2011-05-02 02:38:00 UTC
Link to this
How are you gentlemen!!
All your Mad Red Hattie are belong to me.
...I regret nothing. If you like, I will be your official guide through the wilds and perils of PPCdom. :)
Just watch out for the ypurs. They bite. Well. Nibble, anyway. ;D -
Welcome by
on 2011-04-30 00:07:00 UTC
Link to this
Here's a kunai/chain. Good for GETTING PEOPLE OVER HERE a la Scorpion. :P
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Hello! by
on 2011-04-29 17:00:00 UTC
Link to this
Hi! Hello! Aloha! And a bunch of other greetings of varying levels of formality and sanity!
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Ahoi Thar! by
on 2011-04-29 15:29:00 UTC
Link to this
Have a conical hat and a mouse!
The conical hat is made of tin foil and duct tape, so it keeps the conspiracy theorists (as well as most physical-based damage) out!
The mouse has got jellyfish DNA, so it glows in the dark! -
Re: Hello all! by
on 2011-04-29 14:44:00 UTC
Link to this
Hi, have some fudge!
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Welcome! by
on 2011-04-29 11:23:00 UTC
Link to this
Have a pet cat, a tinfoil hat and a little spat.
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Hi! by
on 2011-04-29 04:26:00 UTC
Link to this
Um... What can I give you that you don't already have? Oh, yes. Have some chipás.
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Good to have you a-Board (again)! by
on 2011-04-29 04:23:00 UTC
Link to this
Welcome, new friend! Have a deck of enchanted playing cards, which should not be confused with an enchanted deck of playing cards. If any of the cards go missing, don't worry. They'll come back eventually.
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Heh. Sounds like something I'd do. by
on 2011-04-28 22:49:00 UTC
Link to this
Welcome back, have some sharpies and a screwdriver!
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Fellow Newbie! Well sorta...hm. What would we call you? by
on 2011-04-28 18:49:00 UTC
Link to this
In any case, have a cookie! No, a whole batch! They're burnt, but that just makes it easier to break Sue bones with them! Also, I've sharpened the edges. :D
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Hello! by
on 2011-04-28 18:39:00 UTC
Link to this
Here, have some Prokofiev for the road:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fdVbOJrLS4 -
Have a Bengal Tiger! by
on 2011-04-28 18:26:00 UTC
Link to this
Don't feed it Sues or Stus.
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Re: Have a Bengal Tiger! by
on 2011-04-28 18:28:00 UTC
Link to this
KITTY
I will not let the Sues or Stus near it. -
Hahaha... by
on 2011-04-28 19:03:00 UTC
Link to this
I forgot to put my name in the author slot for that reply.
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Slight trouble with LiveJournal... by
on 2011-04-28 18:57:00 UTC
Link to this
Hey, I attempted to set up a LiveJournal account just now, and couldn't. It said I had to prove I was human, but I couldn't see anything where it said to prove I was human, and after several tries I still have no idea how to create an account. Anybody know what my problem might be?
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Hoorah! by
on 2011-05-01 01:56:00 UTC
Link to this
I have a LiveJournal now!....so, how do I use it?
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Looks like it's been fixed. by
on 2011-04-29 01:04:00 UTC
Link to this
I just went on and set up an account for myself (Tumblr is blocked at my school, but LiveJournal isn't). It worked just fine. If it still doesn't work, maybe try using Chrome?
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Hmm... by
on 2011-04-28 23:42:00 UTC
Link to this
Livejournal's support page has the following right at the top:
"Users attempting to create new accounts are currently unable to due to issues with the presentation of the Spam challenge (CAPTCHA) Developers are currently in the process of investigating and will restore this functionality as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience, and we apologize for the inconvenience. "
So it looks like the only thing to do right now is wait. -
They've had some issues. by
on 2011-04-28 19:47:00 UTC
Link to this
I've got to go, but here's just what I can find quick. http://mysouth.su/2011/03/livejournal-has-undergone-the-most-powerful-ddos-attack-in-its-history/
http://news.yahoo.com/s/zd/20110408/tc_zd/262935
http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/view/17176/russian-government-blamed-for-livejournal-ddos-attack/ -
Hm... by
on 2011-04-28 19:19:00 UTC
Link to this
What's your internet browser?
I use Internet Explorer, and apparently there's supposed to be an image that shows you something to write down. The problem was that the image was blocked by my browser's security settings, and I think the message that scrolled at the top of the screen said something about the image not matching up to some kind of security certificate or something.
Either way, it's probably your browser's security settings.
If you use IE, it should flash you a message at the top of the page saying they had to block some content, and usually they'll tell you to click something to disregard that particular security setting. If you don't, I'll defer to the judgement of others. -
Much thanks by
on 2011-04-29 02:21:00 UTC
Link to this
I thank you all for the wonderful advice. I'll wait a bit before trying again. Thanks so much!
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Definately sounds like a Browser issue. by
on 2011-04-28 19:21:00 UTC
Link to this
You can always try Firefox or Chrome instead of messing around with the security settings on IE.
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Nope. It's an LJ issue; right on the support page. (nm) by
on 2011-04-28 23:43:00 UTC
Link to this
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Permission Request for Tangodown! by
on 2011-04-29 19:11:00 UTC
Link to this
Howdy!
Here's my permission request. For characters, I currently have these two, although more probably will follow later. For convenience, and viewing ease, as well as formatting, I'm putting them on Tangodown! as pdf files.
The two characters I have current descriptions for are named Pam and Cliffy. Detailed descriptions are available on both links, and I'm working on hand-drawn illustrations for both of them. I have a full Character Design Reference poster for Pam as well, which is available on request over IRC only due to the large size of the file and the limited amount of bandwidth on my webs account. Both characters have a list of supporting characters that they were designed to be used in conjunction with (but are capable of functioning without), as well as very brief summary of each one.
The last character I have considered writing is a character named "Pants McGee" who will be a "completely faceless, nameless generic protagonist meant as a stand-in for the audience to insert themselves into" that becomes self-aware of his own lack of characterization and develops his own unique personality, traits and identity as a character over the course of his adventures, also based partially on the fact that he starts with little or nothing and must figure it out himself. Due to the genericized nature of "Pants" however, I cannot do any designing of the character at this moment.
Since I like writing the missions collaboratively --I just find it more fun that way-- I left them unattached to any particular department. I'm going to cast them as contract workers that just go wherever they're needed, so it would be easier for me to justify bringing them to different departments to work with other people's agents more easily.
For first missions, I already have two done up; Both of these were done as collaborations with other people that had Official Permission. I wrote the bulk of the narration, and we both wrote our respective characters' parts, dialogue and actions. Only one is available online at the moment, and it is the second in the series, which will be titled Tangodown! and hosted on its own webs account.
Call of Duty: Mushy Warfare Too
This one was done as a collaboration with Techno-Dann, featuring his characters Dann and Sarge, and my character Pam Ritchie. It takes place in the Call of Duty continuum, more specifically Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and I'm not exactly sure where the story's set because there's really no continuity or reference to the original canon material at all. Credits and acknowledgements are given at the beginning, and citations are at the end, along with a short four-paragraph essay by me "Post-Carnage Report with DML" on romance and characterization and a Technical Q&A section. I intend to include similar sections on any and all missions I write.
Approximately 13.4k words.
Link to Tangodown!
Citations are given in the pdfs. Let me know if I missed anything and I'll add it in. -
Hmm. by
on 2011-05-03 23:28:00 UTC
Link to this
Note: I am not a Permission Giver, nor do I reflect the opinions of Permission Givers.
You're definitely off to a good start. Pam is an interesting character who has a great deal of potential in terms of both humor and drama. I look forward to seeing her future adventures. It should also be noted that your attention to detail and willingness to go the extra mile are admirable qualities.
That being said, I had some pressing concerns run through my mind while reading this. People have already mentioned the formatting stuff, so I won't say anything about that. What I will say is that the text felt very dry and clinical, especially when you were unloading all the various military weapons specs. It's great that you're specific and everything, but there is such a thing as going too far with non-plot related information. The audience doesn't really need or want to know what kind of carbine stock Pam has on her rifle or what company made her grenade launcher. It messes up the pacing of the story and, frankly, it's a little dull. You've got to learn to trim away some of those extra details.
Anyway, not too shabby overall. I look forward to seeing what you do in the future. -
Re: Hmm. by
on 2011-05-04 06:26:00 UTC
Link to this
Thanks. The character itself has been through numerous iterations because I wasn't sure how to write it at the time of its creation; the choice to write a character completely different from me, with completely different issues, completely different expectations and with a completely different worldview was a challenge I wanted to take on, and I'm glad it seems to be turning out well so far. I'm also glad the extra parts I put into the episode did not go unnoticed, as well.
I'll see what I can do in future episodes about all the weapon talk; part of the thing behind Call of Duty is that they occasionally do spend a bit too much time focusing on the weapons and equipment to try to make things seem more 'authentic' and it's embarrassing when they get things wrong or when things look out of place, or have been inserted for rule-of-cool. I could and probably will tone that back for other or future episodes that aren't so modern or military-oriented; you're not the only person that's told me that my attention to the weapons and equipment specifics goes slightly too far.
I'm not exactly sure what you mean by 'dry and clinical' at the moment; occasionally I try to go for a somewhat sarcastic tone of voice when writing (a good example of this would be describing the way the law of lost plot critical items could have obfuscated something), but I felt that in this application it was best to keep the narration laid back, somewhat objective and down to earth, even if I did load it up with a lot of superfluous detail. -
Okay, let's look at this... by
on 2011-05-02 23:57:00 UTC
Link to this
You have a title page. You have a table of contents. You have authors notes. You have multiple chapters. A short essay on characterization afterwards. Technical questions. A link to us. And finally, a bibliography. A goddamn bibliography.
Tell me, DML, does overacheiving come naturally to you, or are you intentionally trying to make me look and/or feel bad?
Jesus.
(Oh, and the mission was good too. My only comments have to do with formatting, rather than actual content. You seem to be indenting rather sporadically, which tends to be slightly distracting (for me, anyway). Same with the little section break things. Three asterisks or summat would make it much more clear that it's a new section of ths story. It's not really something to be too concerned about, it's just something you might want to watch out for in the future.)
Hope I helped,
L'Homme Arbre -
Re: Okay, let's look at this... by
on 2011-05-03 02:18:00 UTC
Link to this
Howdy! Thank you very much, the feedback is appreciated.
I'll try to fix up the indenting. I suppose I could put soft linebreaks after each one, as well if that'll help clear things up, and I'll replace the horizontal rules with the asterisks next update, which should be soon. I just have a couple minor changes to make and I'll reupload the PDF.
I like to go a little further when I write. Felt kinda odd not to include those extra features for an entry that size, so I added them, although it's something of force of habit. -
This situation amuses me highly! by
on 2011-05-02 20:11:00 UTC
Link to this
I'm not a Permission Giver, but I adored DML's work, and I am very impressed by his ability to not only talk about guns and other setting technicalities but also TEACH them to the audience if they don't know, rather than just dump it all out there.
But I see two comments of people who would otherwise give Permission stating that they feel weird doing so because they are biased for DML-- one because Dann was in the mission, the other because Makari's been pals with him or something.
DML! I think we know the solution here! You got to stop being so darn popular! ;) -
Re: This situation amuses me highly! by
on 2011-05-04 06:31:00 UTC
Link to this
Heh. I know just how to do that.
(insert ragequit and Internet dramaz here.)
That ought'a do it!
Jokes aside, thanks, much appreciated. I love talking about little details, and it makes me feel great when my audience understands them (but does not feel patronized or talked down to), as well. -
Wow! by
on 2011-04-29 20:00:00 UTC
Link to this
Unfortunately, I'm running out the door and don't have time to go over everything thoroughly, but I am somewhat in awe of the effort you've put into all this. I'm not sure how necessary it is (since when do pop culture references and in-jokes need works cited pages?), but it IS kinda cool. The first part of the mission at least had me laughing pretty consistently, though your paragraphing is not so consistent. I'd personally take Dann's involvement as a recommendation in any case.
More on this later. Meanwhile, any PGs with free time wanna have a say?
~Neshomeh -
Okay, I've seen enough. by
on 2011-05-04 16:19:00 UTC
Link to this
Permission granted! This seems like a good fit. {= )
~Neshomeh -
Re: Okay, I've seen enough. by
on 2011-05-04 18:48:00 UTC
Link to this
Thanks, Neshomeh!
-
Oh look, free time. by
on 2011-05-02 06:29:00 UTC
Link to this
I am in awe of DML's attention to detail, and I find his writing highly entertaining, always a recommendation. I'm not sure I should be the one to give the yea/nay, as I have talked to him somewhat about it and am uncertain that I can be all... y'know, unbiased and such, like I theoretically ought be. Or something.
Anyway, he's got my vote, but I think I ought not be the final word? Neshomeh? Come back? We adore you? In the way that won't get a disapproving Phobos staring at us? -
Don't think I can myself, but... by
on 2011-04-30 00:33:00 UTC
Link to this
I'm entirely in favor of granting DML Permission. He writes well (if slightly verbose at times), and definitely gets what we do here. I don't think I can give Permission myself due to potential conflicts of interest, but yeah. Thumbs up from here.
-
Thanks, sketches are going up now. by
on 2011-04-29 22:38:00 UTC
Link to this
Thank you, Neshomeh and JulyFlame!
The sketches are going up now. So far only Pam's is nearing completion; the rough pencilling is finished, and I'm adding ink by using a tablet. Cliffy's will be on the way but I have a bit of a backlog of work I've got to get through and don't want to start multiple projects I can't finish.
http://delta-mike-lima.webs.com/apps/photos/ -
Not a PG, but want to chime in. by
on 2011-04-29 21:50:00 UTC
Link to this
This is quite amazing work, excellent job.
(Julys vote yes even though they don't have a vote.)
-
Mission Plug! Az and Boston! And the Cadfael Sue! by
on 2011-04-29 23:10:00 UTC
Link to this
Az and Boston get a Mini and a New Recruit!
And if anyone here wants Former Sue Chiara McLean, feel free to claim her. She's not actually all that bad, just completely out of place in 12th century England. -
Excellent! by
on 2011-04-30 19:26:00 UTC
Link to this
I would suggest that you have a beta give it a going-over next time--there were a couple of mistakes like "baring" for "bearing"--but overall, I enjoyed it very much. It's a treat to see someone else who knows Cadfael . . . though the existence of Cadfael Sues continues to baffle me.
You also took an interesting tack with the mission which I enjoyed: the obvious respect for the canon brother, to the point of possibly disobeying the Duty in order to keep a promise to him and to a deity, really underlines the purpose and commitment of the PPC. In the end, it's all about respect for the original stories. Kudos!
And I'd love to adopt Chiara, but I already have more characters than I know what to do with. XD Besides, I don't think she'd get along with the ancient Greek. -
Thank you! by
on 2011-04-30 23:19:00 UTC
Link to this
I did, actually, have about four people read through this one, but there are always things that slip through the cracks. *sigh*
But yes, I had a lot of fun doing this, and I'm glad there are at least a couple people on the 'Board who know Cadfael. If I find any more Minis, do you want one?
For some reason it seems to me that the fandom is so small and obscure that it wouldn't attract the kind of people who are interested in writing Sues. Sadly, however, this is not the last one that I have lined up. *wanders off muttering that King Stephen did not have a little sister* -
Re: Thank you! by
on 2011-05-01 03:12:00 UTC
Link to this
Yeah, that always happens . . . I'm still finding mistakes in stories I published years ago. *facepalm*
I'd love to have a mini if you find one, though I can't promise to put him in with the rest of my agents. :D Nevertheless, I daresay I can find something for a twelfth-century monk to do . . . -
Good mission! by
on 2011-04-30 03:52:00 UTC
Link to this
I liked the twist with having to keep the Sue alive.
-
Black on grey... by
on 2011-04-29 23:22:00 UTC
Link to this
...it just doesn't work. :( Could you possibly change the type color to white or some other not-dark color please? I don't think my eyes can handle it, so I'm afraid I'll have to wait a bit to read the fic.
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Oh god, it's doing it again? by
on 2011-04-30 02:18:00 UTC
Link to this
I'm sorry. That's... just something LJ seems to like to do to me. I'll go fix it.
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Oh, that's much better. Thanks! by
on 2011-05-01 03:02:00 UTC
Link to this
Awesome job! I love how you had to keep the Sue alive instead of killing her. Did you intend to do that from the start, or did it just happen?
~* Raven -
It just sort of... happened. by
on 2011-05-01 03:52:00 UTC
Link to this
I went over it a couple of times, and realized that the Sue was just sort of annoying, not really bad. It was just sort of.... Meh. And then the main character was so out of it that he saw my Agents, and then one thing led to another. *shrugs*
It was fun, though! -
I see it as black on black... (nm) by
on 2011-04-30 02:17:00 UTC
Link to this
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Re: Black on grey... by
on 2011-04-30 01:15:00 UTC
Link to this
Highlighting everything on screen makes it readable, but one more vote for a type color change, please?
Interesting mission, I've been fond of the Cadfael novels for years. I have no idea where the Suethor got the idea that anorexic would be seen as beautiful in the 12th century, Someone built like that would never survive childbirth, her relatives should have shoved her into a convent and used a normally-proportioned sister or cousin for the marriage alliance.