Dear Yuletide Writer(s),
Oct. 24th, 2025 12:44 pmMy AO3 account is
First of all, relax! I'm far from being picky, and I can pretty much guarantee that I'll love whatever you decide to write me. These are nothing but guidelines for you to take to heart or ignore to your heart's content. Also, hey! You're writing me fic! In a tiny(ish) fandom that I adore! That's automatically a good reason for me to love you, no matter what. So, please, keep that in mind. Trust me, you can pretty much do no wrong. ♥
That said, I thought that I'd elaborate a bit on my eight requests in case, like me, you're the type of person who likes to have something to work with. If you're not that type of person, it's totally fine with me if you skip over anything/everything that I've included in this letter. Feel free to use and/or ignore as much of this as you want.
( General Likes/Dislikes )
( Gargoyles (Cartoon) )
( Home Alone (Movies) )
( Hornblower (TV) )
( Peacemakers (2003) )
( Stealing Fire - Jo Graham )
( Titanic (1997) )
( The Wild Robot (2024) )
( The Witch Wolf (Webcomic) )
No matter what, please don't stress out about writing for me. I'll love whatever you give me, so don't worry. Write what makes you happy, and I can guarantee that I'll be happy in return.
Critical Role
Oct. 23rd, 2025 11:55 pm( Rambling under the cut. )
ETA: In retrospect, I was definitely having a mild panic attack for a while there, so I've apparently found a fun new trigger. A friend is sending me some very specific spoilers and timestamps about last night's episode, so I'm going to try it again when I can go in prepared. It's not as bad as it initially seemed, but the way it was handled was definitely... not great.
Fannish Stuff
Oct. 22nd, 2025 08:42 pmD&D starts in about ten minutes, so that's going to take up the right of my night. Tomorrow, I have to finish up my Yuletide letter and sign-up whether my brain likes it or not. It's taking forever because I'm requesting multiple new fandoms this year, so I'm having to write those sections of the letter from scratch, but I'm running out of time so I've gotta get it finished.
Then I desperately need to finish my fic for the Dragon Age Reverse Bang by Saturday at the latest. It's due on Sunday, and both my artist and I are scrambling to finish up. The fic's one of those ones that decided to keep growing and growing on me, as isn't uncommon with that fandom, which hasn't exactly helped.
Come on, brain. Cooperate for just a few days. Please?
What I'm Doing Wednesday
Oct. 22nd, 2025 12:50 pmhealthcrap
The eye is gradually getting better but is still semi-borked. ( cut for mention of weight loss & nausea ) Also, I have some pain in the ass neighbors across the street who stay on their front porch day and night, talking nonstop en español, which is just on the edge of what I can't, at speed, distance, and through walls, understand. Though my brain keeps trying. Annnnd it all interfered badly with my sleep Sunday night. (I had to dig up my earplugs and I was literally *sweating* with aggravation.) OTOH, they have sort of respected quiet hours since late Monday. Trouble is, since the weekend, I'm not sleeping til after 4am now, even with it quiet. Even with going to bed at 9 and trying to read myself to sleep like usual. It's awful. I've already got a sleep disorder. I don't need this on top of it. /extended whine
yarning
Finished the calico cat stitch scarf, made a second one, sold it, and
#resist
Nothing national scheduled yet. Mobilize has lots of small local things on their calendar, though.
I hope all of y'all are doing well! <333
Back in blue
Oct. 22nd, 2025 05:40 pmI am very happy to say that I'll be playing for the Cambridge University Huskies this season.
Fixture list (clashes with Kodiaks 2 games in italics)
- 1 Nov 2025 21:00, Cambridge Ice Rink, Oxford Women's Blues
- 15 Nov 2025 23:15, Oxford Ice Rink, Oxford Vikings B
- 22 Nov 2025 20:30, Planet Ice Gosport, Southampton Spitfires B
- 29 Nov 2025 21:00, Cambridge Ice Rink, Birmingham Lions B
- 6 Dec 2025 21:00, Cambridge Ice Rink, Kent Knights
- 24 Jan 2026 21:00, Cambridge Ice Rink, Oxford Vikings B
- 7 Feb 2026 21:15, Planet Ice Solihull, Birmingham Lions B
- 14 Feb 2026 21:15, Oxford Ice Rink, Oxford Womens Blues
- 21 Feb 2026 20:15, Streatham Ice and Leisure, Kent Knights
- 28 Feb 2026 21:00, Cambridge Ice Rink, Southampton Spitfires B
- TBD: Varsity game against Oxford Vikings B
No guarantee I'll be on the squad for any particular game, and Kodiaks 2 will have my priority when there's a clash. But yay, getting to represent my university again.
The Expanse updates
Oct. 22nd, 2025 10:16 amI'm about 150 pages into Abaddon's Gate now. I had to repossess our copy from my niece. I forgot how much tension there is on the Behemoth! I'm all anxious about it again and keep paging ahead to see what happens next. I remember the big elements but not the details. I have watched the one episode that corresponds to this first chunk of the book, lol. I like how they've adapted Bull's book storyline to Drummer's, though I do love Bull himself, and I'm a little sad we didn't get the full scene of him busting the drug dealer. I understand the changes, but that was such a badass moment.
I recognize the actor playing Ashford but can't remember his name. He's doing a great job of being creepy and obnoxious. The dynamics are different of course, because of the switching around of the roles and him being XO instead of captain, but again, the show is getting the vibes right.
I was chatting on Instagram (my author account @l.lynngray, obligatory self-plug) with one of my acquaintances there about why I love The Expanse world, and a lot of it boiling down to the setting, society, and politics being so reflective of our own current world that it feels real. I go on about that there and at my author blog if you want to read there, also in my newsletter.
(This author business stuff is a lot sometimes, but I'm trying to make it interesting and tapping into my fannish skills of going on about things I love.)
***
ION My first missed paycheck happened. I pulled over some funds from my savings to cover bills. Husband and I are okay and assuming that we will get backpay, so here's hoping that proves true. Test driving what being a full time author might be like has been good. I'd need to be more disciplined in some areas, but I could get used to this. The money is definitely not there yet though, lol.
Wrong kind of leaves
Oct. 22nd, 2025 10:00 amLatest in a series of silly non-ice-hockey injuries: I came off my bike yesterday evening on the cycle path through the woods between Madingley Road and Storey's Way. I braked suddenly to avoid an oncoming cyclist, the wheels went sideways on the damp leaf mulch, and I ended up on the ground. The other cyclist was able to stop safely, and made sure to check I was ok.
Nothing is broken on me or the bike, but some impressive scrapes to the elbow and knee I landed on. I went home via the co-op and a supply of comfort food, cleaned everything up, and ate the food.
It's all a bit tender this morning, and rather puts the random ice hockey bruises in the shade.
On the Naming of James Buchanan Barnes
Oct. 22nd, 2025 12:35 am"James" was an incredibly common first name. The Social Security Administration publishes lists of how popular various names have been over the years; in the 1910s, when James and Steve were born, "James" was the third most popular name for boys. 275,000 baby boys were named "James" in that decade, which, given the size of the population, means that there were a lot of James' everywhere. Very common name.
Ah, but what of Buchanan, you say! Surely there could be no reason to give someone the middle name "Buchanan" if it's not naming him after someone famous! ... and no, actually. While people sometimes were named after famous people or political leaders (just like today), there's actually a more common reason to do it. It was a fairly common thing in the 19th Century for people to have a "last" name as a middle name, often their mother's maiden name, and people still do that today sometimes. Steve's middle name is "Grant", for example; "Grant" was a relatively common surname but (at the time) extremely uncommon as a first name. Steve was almost certainly given the middle name "Grant" to honor someone whose last name was Grant; it was probably his mother's maiden name. Buchanan is a relatively common Scottish name; it's not one of the top ten or anything, but the Buchanan clan is one of respectable size and power. In the same way, there is a very good chance that James was given the middle name "Buchanan" to honor someone whose last name was "Buchanan," quite probably his mother. And for a first name they gave him the third most common name for boys, and maybe didn't realize that there was a President by that name. Especially if they were immigrants, or weren't very well educated. (A lot of people in that generation had only a grade school education, or maybe a middle school education; only 10% of all 14-17 year olds attended high school in the US in 1900; there were still states where even elementary school wasn't required until 1918!) James Buchanan is not one of the Presidents that people talk about much outside history classes, and even then, a lot of history classes don't go into a lot of detail on him besides "last President before the Civil War." Yes, he was a bad President and one of the reasons the US Civil War became inevitable, but there were a lot of factors that were a lot more important.
I think "we liked the name James, and we wanted to honor his mother's family by giving him their last name as a middle name" is a far more likely scenario than consciously deciding to name their kid after President James Buchanan.
On a completely different note, if you want to write an AU where Bucky escaped Hydra early and made a new life for himself ... there's a late-20th-Century composer named James Barnes. He wrote concert band music. Here are some of his pieces: Symphonic Overture, Symphony No. 2, Third Symphony ("The Tragic"), Fantasy Variations on a Theme by Nicolo Paganini, Alvamar Overture.
(no subject)
Oct. 21st, 2025 04:00 pmsign of the season
Oct. 21st, 2025 11:26 ambooks
Oct. 20th, 2025 08:57 pmThis is one of Christie's light-hearted romps. I definitely read this at some point 25+ years ago but had forgotten basically everything, including how much fun Christie is when she's in this mode. (Aside from the ambiant xenophobia, classism, antisemitism, and some unexpectedly central pro-monarchial sentiments.) I had a great time.
--
Eiger Dreams: Ventures Among Men and Mountains by Jon Krakauer. A collection of essays spanning a wide range of topics at least tangentially related to climbing. As the title suggests, not many women in this book. Overall a mixed bag, as an essay collection is liable to be, and sometimes Krakauer's voice wears a bit thin, especially when he's trying to be funny. OTOH, in the midst of "Tentbound," an otherwise tediously humorous essay on being stuck in your tent for days at a time, we get this passage, the end of which delights me more than I can even articulate:
Boredom presents a very real, if insidious, peril. To quote Blaine Harden from the Washington Post: "Boredom kills, and those it does not kill, it cripples, and those it does not cripple, it bleeds like a leech, leaving its victims pale, insipid, and brooding. Examples abound . . . Rats kept in comfortable isolation quickly become jumpy, irritable, and aggressive. Their bodies twitch, their tails grow scaly." The backcountry traveler, then, in addition to developing such skills as map and compass, or the prevention and treatment of blisters, must prepare mentally and materially to cope with boredome, lest his tail grow scaly.
My favorites out of the bunch are probably "Valdez Ice," about climbing frozen waterfalls; "Club Denali," about people attempting to climb Denali; and "Devil's Thumb," about him randomly deciding at the age of 23 to go to Alaska and solo climb a particular peak. You will notice all of these are about difficult, hazardous climbing in very cold temperatures, aka sort of similar to his Everest book.
In addition, usually Krakauer gives kind of mixed messages about his own climbing, on one hand saying it's an addiction and the only thing he's good at, and on the other hand only talking about how uncomfortable it is and how much he would rather be doing something else, So Devil's Thumb in particular was nice for a story of him actually doing some major climbing and only making a little bit of fun of himself over it.
Story: A Point of No Return (D&D)
Oct. 20th, 2025 11:18 pmChapters: 1/1
Fandom: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Original Half-Elf Character(s) (Dungeons & Dragons)
Additional Tags: Blood, Dungeons & Dragons Character Backstory, Eye Trauma, Magic, One Shot, Serious Injuries
Series: Part 2 of Aurendor
Summary: It was the last thing she ever saw out of her left eye.