“Dark Lady” (Cher song), Barbie: Dark Lady by Cher Dollmation, by Warren Wright (fanvid.)
Jun. 3rd, 2025 12:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
full_metal_ox posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
fancakeFandom: “Dark Lady” (Cher song), Barbie
Pairings/Characters: F/M; F vs. F; Narrator/Narrator’s Partner, Narrator & Madame Fifi (with Madame Fifi/Narrator UST?), Madame Fifi/Narrator’s Partner
Rating: Teen and Up
Length: 3:24
Content Notes: Major Character Death, anti-Romani stereotyping (including the bad word), arson, (toy) Clothing Porn, corny boomer music, dominance-jockeying, infidelity, hootchy-kootch dancing, love triangle, murder, occultism, psychic malpractice, (toy) Scenery Porn, please tell us the cat survived?
Creator Tags: cher, darklady, barbiestopmotion, stopmotion, animation, megotoys, barbie
Creator Links: (YouTube):![[youtube.com profile]](https://youtube.com/favicon.ico)
74renren; (Instagram): ![[instagram.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/profile_icons/instagram.png)
Warrencito
Theme: Female Relationships, Fanvid, Old Fandoms, Non-AO3 Works, Unconventional Format & Style
Summary: A stop motion tribute to the Cher hit “Dark Lady” done with vintage Barbie and Cher dolls with other special guests.
Reccer's Notes: The list of Content Notes should suffice to explain why this song was embraced by a particular sort of overwrought 70’s kid (1); Wright reimagines the cartoon music video that aired on The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour.
(1) Me, for example. Disclaimer: the song has become a guilty pleasure in retrospect not because of its melodramatic nature, but because of the realization that Romani probably caught a lot of grief over it.)
Fanwork Links: Dark Lady by Cher Dollmation, by Warren Wright.
Pairings/Characters: F/M; F vs. F; Narrator/Narrator’s Partner, Narrator & Madame Fifi (with Madame Fifi/Narrator UST?), Madame Fifi/Narrator’s Partner
Rating: Teen and Up
Length: 3:24
Content Notes: Major Character Death, anti-Romani stereotyping (including the bad word), arson, (toy) Clothing Porn, corny boomer music, dominance-jockeying, infidelity, hootchy-kootch dancing, love triangle, murder, occultism, psychic malpractice, (toy) Scenery Porn, please tell us the cat survived?
Creator Tags: cher, darklady, barbiestopmotion, stopmotion, animation, megotoys, barbie
Creator Links: (YouTube):
WarrencitoTheme: Female Relationships, Fanvid, Old Fandoms, Non-AO3 Works, Unconventional Format & Style
Summary: A stop motion tribute to the Cher hit “Dark Lady” done with vintage Barbie and Cher dolls with other special guests.
Reccer's Notes: The list of Content Notes should suffice to explain why this song was embraced by a particular sort of overwrought 70’s kid (1); Wright reimagines the cartoon music video that aired on The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour.
(1) Me, for example. Disclaimer: the song has become a guilty pleasure in retrospect not because of its melodramatic nature, but because of the realization that Romani probably caught a lot of grief over it.)
Fanwork Links: Dark Lady by Cher Dollmation, by Warren Wright.
Catburglar of the Constellations by John C. Wright
Starquest book 3. Spoilers for the earlier books ahead.
( Read more... )
Starquest book 3. Spoilers for the earlier books ahead.
( Read more... )
Last night I finished The Twilight Zone by Nona Fernandez, book #9 from the "Women in Translation" rec list. This book was translated from Spanish by Natasha Wimmer.
The Twilight Zone is a nonfiction book, part memoir, part investigative journalism piece by Fernandez, first published in 2016. It concerns Fernandez's study of and memories of growing up under the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile. The author is haunted by the traumas of the regime, both those she experienced firsthand and those she heard about from others, and the book in some ways feels like an exercise in simply trying to reconcile those feelings.
Fernandez's book is of course very specific to the Chilean experience, and yet core parts of her incisive commentary about both the absurdity and the cruelty of autocracies rings true around the world. The exercises the regime goes through in its constant quest for self-preservation are both ridiculous and brutal, feelings Fernandez captures in her title. The surrealist sci-fi hit show of the 70s fits very well as a metaphor for the often-flailing yet eminently dangerous police state.
Fernandez does an excellent job of using her prose to say things not neatly spelled out in words. I was reminded of reading The Things They Carried in high school, and how revelatory it seemed to me at the time how the author could use the style of prose to suggest a character's mental disarrangement without simply saying he was deranged. Fernandez's prose stood out to me in a similar way—how she uses the structure of her words to capture the feelings at play.
Equally compelling is the obviously copious amounts of research Fernandez put into her work. She portrays herself as a woman consumed by a quest to find answers about this regime, and it comes across in her work. Names, dates, places, timelines — Fernandez has clearly put in the leg work to piece together the final days of the highlighted victims of the regime as much as can be done.
However, the book never comes across like a textbook. Fernandez ably weaves her research into a compelling narrative. Neither does she ever seek to blur the line between the facts and her imagination—she keeps a clean line between what she knows and what she wonders, or imagines. Nevertheless, the questions and suppositions that populate Fernandez's mind feel regrettably natural for anyone in the aggravating circumstances of a mendacious autocracy. She does an excellent job of showing how crazy-making it is to live under such a government, where you are constantly being lied to in direct contradiction of visible facts, and yet there seems to be nothing you can do but either accept the truth or taste the knuckles of the regime.
I really enjoyed this read. It breezed by and I can absolutely see what a national treasure Fernandez is as a writer! I would love to see if more of her work has been translated into English; she has a wonderful voice.
For those who don't know, Quantum Bang is a super-sized version of Big Bang (fic productions, not the TV show). Stories are written in a variety of fandoms, and most are epic in length, with a number of art illustrations. Some will eventually appear on AO3, but some remain only on the QB site.
For the next two weeks, two (or sometimes three) stories will be posted each day. Here's a list of the titles, and what fandom is represented, that will be posted.
https://quantumbang.org/2025-posting-schedule/
Every year I tell myself to let people know, and every year I fritter away the time. This year, I'm finally taking a minute to actually make a post. And if you don't see anything that piques your interest, click on the Fiction Index to check out stories from the past six years.
Happy reading!
Fandom: Star Trek AOS (Reboot)
Pairings/Characters: Gaila & Christine Chapel
Rating: Teen
Length: 4,185 words
Creator Links:![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
igrockspock
Theme: Female relationships
Summary: Privacy and fairy tales are two concepts that don't translate well into Orion.
Content notes: This is about Gaila, so there are mentions of enslavement and prostitution.
Reccer's Notes: I am fascinated by stories of how people come to Starfleet and what it must be like to meet people from such disparate backgrounds. This story approaches this subject with grace as Gaila and Christine Chapel become roommates at Starfleet Academy and must figure out each other's very different values and expectations. By opening up to each other, they forge a friendship. I like how creative the author is in describing Gaila's background and culture. The cultural exchange never feels heavy-handed. It's conveyed with tiny, realistic details like borrowing things from someone else's desk.
In addition to the cultural exchange element, the story weaves in ideas of resilience and having the power to change your life.
Fanwork Links: Once Upon a Time. And the WONDERFUL podfic by nickelmountain.
Pairings/Characters: Gaila & Christine Chapel
Rating: Teen
Length: 4,185 words
Creator Links:
Theme: Female relationships
Summary: Privacy and fairy tales are two concepts that don't translate well into Orion.
Content notes: This is about Gaila, so there are mentions of enslavement and prostitution.
Reccer's Notes: I am fascinated by stories of how people come to Starfleet and what it must be like to meet people from such disparate backgrounds. This story approaches this subject with grace as Gaila and Christine Chapel become roommates at Starfleet Academy and must figure out each other's very different values and expectations. By opening up to each other, they forge a friendship. I like how creative the author is in describing Gaila's background and culture. The cultural exchange never feels heavy-handed. It's conveyed with tiny, realistic details like borrowing things from someone else's desk.
In addition to the cultural exchange element, the story weaves in ideas of resilience and having the power to change your life.
Fanwork Links: Once Upon a Time. And the WONDERFUL podfic by nickelmountain.
Mo Dao Zu Shi; Chen Qing Ling: Advance and Retreat, by Zdenka.
Jun. 1st, 2025 02:28 pmfull_metal_ox posting in fancakeFandom: Mo Dao Zu Shi, Chen Qing Ling
Pairings/Characters: F/F; Madam Jin/Yu Ziyuan; Madam Jin, Yu Ziyuan, Jiang Cheng
Rating: Teen and Up
Length: 600
Content Notes: adultery (mentioned), angst, arranged marriage, bereavement, generational trauma, heteronormativity, marriage politics, possible (unexpressed) adult-> minor pining
Creator Tags: 5+1 Things, Drabble Sequence, Zǐdiàn (Módào Zǔshī) - Freeform, Canonical Character Death, Socially Imposed Heterosexual Marriage, Background Relationships
Creator Links: (AO3):Zdenka
Theme: Female Relationships, Arranged Marriage, 5+1, Mutual Pining, Pining
Summary:
Five times Madam Jin saw Zidian on Yu Ziyuan's hand, and one time she saw it on her son's.
Notes:
Written for femslashfete for the prompt "artifact."
Reccer's Notes: Zdenka manages to cram so much into 600 words: an exquisitely painful soromance fulfillable only through generational proxy, imposed in turn—and the reader has the added pang of knowing what’s going to become of that couple.
Fanwork Links: Advance and Retreat, byZdenka.
Pairings/Characters: F/F; Madam Jin/Yu Ziyuan; Madam Jin, Yu Ziyuan, Jiang Cheng
Rating: Teen and Up
Length: 600
Content Notes: adultery (mentioned), angst, arranged marriage, bereavement, generational trauma, heteronormativity, marriage politics, possible (unexpressed) adult-> minor pining
Creator Tags: 5+1 Things, Drabble Sequence, Zǐdiàn (Módào Zǔshī) - Freeform, Canonical Character Death, Socially Imposed Heterosexual Marriage, Background Relationships
Creator Links: (AO3):
Theme: Female Relationships, Arranged Marriage, 5+1, Mutual Pining, Pining
Summary:
Five times Madam Jin saw Zidian on Yu Ziyuan's hand, and one time she saw it on her son's.
Notes:
Written for femslashfete for the prompt "artifact."
Reccer's Notes: Zdenka manages to cram so much into 600 words: an exquisitely painful soromance fulfillable only through generational proxy, imposed in turn—and the reader has the added pang of knowing what’s going to become of that couple.
Fanwork Links: Advance and Retreat, by
Our theme for June is female relationships!
That's any kind of relationship—platonic, romantic, professional, familial, adversarial—between characters who identify as female.
The tag for this round is: theme: female relationships
If you're just joining us, be sure to check out our policy on content notes. Content notes aren't required, but they're nice to include in your recs, especially if a fanwork has untagged content that readers may wish to know about in advance.
( Rules! )
( Posting Template! )
( Promote this round! )
Wicked: Galinda "Glinda" Upland & Elphaba Thropp (Official)
May. 31st, 2025 09:02 pmroseburst posting in fandom_icons
GLINDA & ELPHABA @
roseburstsWicked: Galinda "Glinda" Upland & Elphaba Thropp (Official)
May. 31st, 2025 09:02 pmroseburst posting in icons GLINDA & ELPHABA @
roseburstsA Nervous Splendor: Vienna 1888/1889 by Frederic Morton
A discussion of Vienna before, around, and after the suicide of Crown Prince Rudolf.
Discusses all sorts of people. Some famous, some to be famous, others never to be more than footnotes. Creates a mood piece, possibly shaded. Discusses politics and arts. How the Hapsburgs set about modernizing Vienna by tearing down its walls, and more.
A discussion of Vienna before, around, and after the suicide of Crown Prince Rudolf.
Discusses all sorts of people. Some famous, some to be famous, others never to be more than footnotes. Creates a mood piece, possibly shaded. Discusses politics and arts. How the Hapsburgs set about modernizing Vienna by tearing down its walls, and more.
Please join us for the weekly TS chat on Saturday, May 31st, at 7 pm Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)/19:00 UTC. That could be as early as 12 pm if you’re on the west coast of North America, or 3 pm if you’re on the east coast, or 8 pm in the UK, or early Sunday morning in Australia or New Zealand.
We’re in the usual place: http://us25.chatzy.com/81935648447483. There’s nothing to download or install, just choose a name and a color and click on “join chat.”
It’s a fifth Saturday this week, so it’s time for Pimp Your Fandom. What have you been reading or watching lately that you want to share about, and why would TS fans enjoy it?
See you there!
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Rating: Explicit
Length: 14,383
Content Notes: mild, essentially harmless exploitation of a baby by Rodney (the baby's well cared for)
Creator Links: Helenish on AO3, dodificus on AO3, dodificus on the Audiofic Archive
Themes: Angst with a happy ending, Kidfic (has a child), Pining, First time, Friends to lovers, AU: fork in the road
Summary: It was easy to imagine fucking Rodney, the way he'd groan and clutch at John's arms and be too bossy about the whole thing; it was easy to imagine the problems it could cause.
Reccer's Notes: This is a cut off from Earth AU with the focus on John Sheppard's angst, pining and denial, but the ending, contrary to the title, is not unhappy. We follow John who's unwillingly and increasingly attracted to Rodney (but initially there's no way he'd ever let Rodney know). John tries to pretend he doesn't have feelings for Rodney while being tormented by jealousy, especially when Rodney temporarily cares for a refugee baby, partly as a "chick magnet". Helenish writes pining, self-deluding John brilliantly and this is another tour de force, packed with plot, UST, frustration, humor, and finally, finally, a happy ending, even though they're squabbling and miscommunicating throughout.
Fanwork Links: Your Inevitable Unhappy Ending on AO3
And the podfic read by dodificus is here
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Rating: Explicit
Length: 14,383
Content Notes: mild, essentially harmless exploitation of a baby by Rodney (the baby's well cared for)
Creator Links: Helenish on AO3, dodificus on AO3, dodificus on the Audiofic Archive
Themes: Angst with a happy ending, Kidfic (has a child), Pining, First time, Friends to lovers, AU: fork in the road
Summary: It was easy to imagine fucking Rodney, the way he'd groan and clutch at John's arms and be too bossy about the whole thing; it was easy to imagine the problems it could cause.
Reccer's Notes: This is a cut off from Earth AU with the focus on John Sheppard's angst, pining and denial, but the ending, contrary to the title, is not unhappy. We follow John who's unwillingly and increasingly attracted to Rodney (but initially there's no way he'd ever let Rodney know). John tries to pretend he doesn't have feelings for Rodney while being tormented by jealousy, especially when Rodney temporarily cares for a refugee baby, partly as a "chick magnet". Helenish writes pining, self-deluding John brilliantly and this is another tour de force, packed with plot, UST, frustration, humor, and finally, finally, a happy ending, even though they're squabbling and miscommunicating throughout.
Fanwork Links: Your Inevitable Unhappy Ending on AO3
And the podfic read by dodificus is here
So, most of you know that I visit Cindy most afternoons. (She doesn't always feel well enough for a visit.) Somewhere in the past couple of years, we switched from watching Lucifer and me reading fanfic, to me reading novels.
Cindy prefers romantic suspense, or action-adventure-romance. Other genres are okay, if there's at least a little M/F love interest. Sometimes, of course, there's more than a little.
Now, picture this: Cindy's lying in bed. I'm reading aloud, with my voice a little louder than normal, because Cindy's hearing is decreased. Her husband Carl may be shopping, or at the shooting range, but is usually doing housework or woodwork. Occasionally he comes into the bedroom for something he needs, or to tell Cindy something.
So, he's barefoot, walking down a carpeted hall; we don't know he's coming until he appears in the doorway. And, far too often, he appears -- and has heard as he approaches the doorway -- just as I'm reading a slightly (or more than slightly) salacious line.
Yesterday, it was, "Locating a skull had been difficult, Amelia reflected, but finding a codpiece had been considerably more of a challenge." He literally appeared at the doorway just as I said, "codpiece."
*facepalm*
We all had a good laugh; Cindy and Carl aren't at all stuffy, and Carl likes to tease about things like that. (He said, "Yeah, it would be!") But still, I'd rather he walked in a couple of sentences earlier, when I was reading, "It showed another extremely handsome young man dressed in the ancient Italian style."
Good grief! Who knew reading aloud could be dangerous?
(The book is Second Sight by Amanda Quick, aka Jayne Ann Krentz. Set in the late 1890's, a woman photographer is making a series of art photographs of "Men of Shakespeare." The skull was for Hamlet, the codpiece for Romeo. That's not the point of the book, but the mystery centers around photography, so her work is discussed.)
https://fairfieldpublishing.com/cozy-mystery-sale-may-2025/
For 99 cents, a selection of Cozy mysteries, and some series. As far as I can tell, the sale ends Saturday at midnight, USA mountain time, Greenwich -7. (There's a countdown clock on my page. I have no idea if that's adjusted for different time-zones, or the same for everyone.) Happy reading.