Via china_shop:

This week I'm reading: the new Murderbot book (came out today)! I'm also rereading Memory (from Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga).

My favorite book of all time is: I'm with china_shop here: "Completely impossible! I can't even name a favourite author."

My current favorite book (read or re-read in the last 3 months) is: I just yesterday finished rereading Mirror Dance (from Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan saga) and remembered how much I love that one!

The last book I bought was: volume 3 of the German translation of Guardian by priest, in a gorgeous hardcover edition.

The first book I bought with my own money was: I'm sure I bought some book or other as soon as I had enough pocket money. How am I supposed to remember that?!

The first book I received as a gift was: I must have been a toddler, how should I know?!

The last book I received as a gift was: I can't even answer this one, LOL. I don't get a lot of gifts, and even if I did, I wouldn't really want books. Book recommendations, definitely! But - how do I explain this? I love books; I read a lot. And I have a long, long list of things I want to read at some point - but what I don't have is enough time or energy to get to most of it any time soon. I can't even manage to consistently keep up with my favourite series these days, and am many, many instalments behind. So I prioritise pretty ruthlessly. I read new things when I have energy for them; I pick out exactly what appeals in that moment. And I'd feel pretty bad leaving a gift book just lying around indefinitely until I eventually get to it.

The last book I borrowed from the library was: IIRC the Judge Dee books by Robert van Gulik, a while ago, for a binge-reread. I used to carry huge stacks of books to and fro all the time, and now (see above) I can't find enough time to get to much any more.

The book physically closest to me right now is: the fifth volume of the Perry Rhodan hardcover edition.

This or that:
Physical book, e-book, or audio: physical book for comfortable rereading, ebook for trying new things or for fanfic canon revision. Never audio; I can't do audio, my attention will drift immediately. (I'm not sure if that's because it's audio, or simply because the speed is so much lower than my reading speed, it's like reading in slow motion. Also, I don't have the spare time!)
Used, new, or fell off the back of the internet: any way I can get my hands on what I want to read
Fiction or non-fiction: mainly fiction
Read at a coffee shop or at the park: neither; I do read when out and about, but that's generally just rereads of things I've read many times before, where I don't mind reading it in snatches. Otherwise, I want to comfortably settle down at home for a proper reading session. (I usually don't like reading things bit by bit! All in one go if at all possible is my preferred method for most fiction.)
Paperback or hardcover: paperbacks are so much easier to handle! I really only get hardcovers for collecting reasons, and that exceedingly rarely.
Romance or Crime: Crime! I like romance in combination with other things, but on its own it doesn't often work for me. Whereas crime fiction is fun in its own right.

Yes or no:
Literary fiction? yes
Sci-fi/fantasy? my one true love! (sci-fi more than fantasy)
Poetry? yes!
Memoirs? hardly ever
Philosophy? yes
Thrillers? absolutely
Chronicles? not sure what that means here
Travel logs? not really
Dialogue heavy? sure, why not

135 years ago today, on 4 May 1891, Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty met their end at the Reichenbach Falls.

Until ACD changed his mind, of course. But it starts here, at the end: the very first we ever hear of Moriarty is the story in which he dies, which is also the story meant to kill off Holmes.

All those years later, the story is still alive, and keeps on going. :D

Happy Reichenbach Day! ♥

Btw, did I mention that I watched the new Young Sherlock show in March? I quite enjoyed it, though it didn't really hit me in the Sherlockian place. Neither its Sherlock nor its Moriarty quite gave me what I want from those characters, though I find it hard to explain how. At any rate, they're very fun characters to follow as they are, so I'm glad I watched!

I also really appreciate that the show has a prominent Chinese character and a whole bunch of scenes with Mandarin dialogue, much of which I could actually follow reasonably well. Xiao Wei and her sidekick Liu Meiyi are an absolute delight, I'd watch a whole show just about them. *g*

And all the Holmes family dynamics were really great; every single person got their chance to properly shine. Such a good ensemble cast! I'm definitely looking forward to season 2, even without the Chinese characters, who seem unlikely to return.

I've been commenting a bit over at polyamships's NSFW 3 weeks 4 dreamwidth posts, and I thought I'd bring some of that over here, because I had more to talk about that wasn't about poly, but more about writing in general.

On the "current favorite poly ship" question I mentioned a ship that's been on my mind all through April - an original trio from an old origfic WIP I last worked on in 2018, and that took over significant parts of my brainspace again this April.

I'd been reading through my old origfic WIPs because March was the month when I suddenly had a lot of inspiration again for the sort of thing I used to write a lot of, back when I regularly wrote origfic - and then this one really hit me hard again.

The basic concept is a clan feud coming to an end when one side is brought down by a third party, and what happens between the survivors and their former enemies. The ship is a V, with siblings from one side and the third from the other. (Side question: am I the only one around here who likes V-shaped ships? They seem to be pretty unpopular in fandom.)

I wrote a significant chunk of this in 2017 and early 2018, and then didn't touch it again until 1st April this year, for reasons I'm not entirely clear on, though falling into Guardian and cdramas in general probably played a part. *g* I have almost 60k now - but I guess if I ever do finish it in any meaningful way, it'll probably be at least 200k. What I have at the moment is basically the minidrama version: all the dramatic interpersonal moments; everything else more or less sketched in. To pull it off to full effect would take a lot of work! And maybe one day I'll manage that work - I do want to; I just don't have the time or energy I'd need. But in the meantime I've been having a lot of fun just adding more to that world and those characters' arcs.

I mean, really, a LOT of fun. My writing in April looked like this:



It's a very rare month when my writing is so concentrated on so few stories! But I had two unrevealed exchange stories to work on, where extensions gave me a lot more time to expand, rewrite, edit and improve - that got a lot of my focus. And then the rest of my brainspace got taken over by that WIP.

And then I was wondering how often that sort of thing happens to other people. So here's a poll for you:

Where has the month gone?! All right, a lot of it has gone into writing, but that surely can't be all ... *looks around, waves at everyone* Hi! I'm still here. *g*

Anyway! I wrote longer stories for fffx and highadrenalineexchange, both of which revealed this month, and fffx has already had author reveals. So now that I'm actually posting, of course this is the first thing to post about!

It took me a while to actually settle on what I wanted to write for this exchange. I had another idea that I hope to tackle some day, but I think I picked the right thing in the end! It came together pretty well once I actually decided.

It's Guardian again, canon divergence during the early episodes - set right after the face-stealer case (episode 4) and before the water kidnapping/Butler Wu case (episode 5). Zhao Yunlan gets to interact more closely with the Black-Cloaked Envoy, rather than Professor Shen, and gains some insights. There is coughing up blood and wound-tending and tea and conversation, and all of it takes place in a very constrained space, because I trapped them together. *g*

If you want, there's even a visual reference for the space they're stuck in, because my beta noted that things weren't completely clear, so I made myself a reference for editing purposes. Have a floor plan!

(And many thanks to china_shop for beta-reading, as usual! ♥)

**

Title: Close the Distance, Lock Us In
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Relationship: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan, Zhao Yunlan & Black-Cloaked Envoy
Characters: Shen Wei, Zhao Yunlan, mini-cameos by SID members
Content tags: Episode Related, Post-Episode 4, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Zhao Yunlan & the Black-Cloaked Envoy, Protective Shen Wei, Hurt Shen Wei, Protective Zhao Yunlan, Trapped Together, Black and White Energy, a bit of Hurt/Comfort, Identity Porn

Summary:

The Black-Cloaked Envoy slammed down into the nondescript little flat like a thunderbolt from the heavens, not a moment too soon.

Zhao Yunlan and the Black-Cloaked Envoy, trapped together early on: how much of a difference can it really make? Turns out, a surprising amount.