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scalziwhatever_feed Feb. 2nd, 2026 04:16 pm)
scalziwhatever_feed Feb. 2nd, 2026 04:16 pm)
Author Veronica G. Henry has come up with a library that truly has all the answers, thanks to its ever-evolving AI. Take a tour through The People’s Library in Henry’s Big Idea, and don’t forget to pay your late fees.
VERONICA G. HENRY:
The first time I realized that the past, present, and future can be contained in one essence was when I discovered the library. For in the absence of a more suitable reality, stories can provide a transformative diversion. In quiet moments, when I reflect on seasons of births and deaths and that middle part we call life, I also think of libraries.
I don’t know the when, but I know the where. It was in my hometown of Brooklyn, N.Y. that I first wandered into a library. The details are fuzzy, so I’ll flex a little creative muscle. I was an infant, already curious, definitely precocious. Determined even then to pursue the quest for more. Baby me was swathed tight against the winter cold, nestled protectively in my father’s determined arms. He marched through those painted oak double doors and introduced me to a new world and an obsession that persists to this day.
That’s how I like to remember it, anyway.
Though my career initially steered me towards a decidedly more left-brained path, the love of the written word and fate prevailed. I also became an author, one who alternates drafting my novels between home, the occasional coffee shop and yes, libraries. So it was inevitable that someday, I’d pen a story in the magical setting that planted that literary seed so long ago.
Inspiration struck as it occasionally does for me, in the form of an article. The feature extolled a library in Denmark where you could borrow a person instead of a book. Each had a title: unemployed, refugee, bipolar, etc., and in this mutually beneficial exchange, “readers” learned through conversations that challenge you to confront your own prejudice. Was it true? I didn’t much care. Because there, my friends, was my Big Idea.
The People’s Library was in large part, inspired by that article. If that was the kindling, the technical part of my brain supplied the spark. Though familiar to me, artificial intelligence (AI) was still a relatively new concept for the masses when I began writing. That changed faster than anticipated. Much of what we see today is specialized, task-focused systems that mimic human intelligence. However, its evolution, artificial general intelligence (AGI), is the promise of autonomous learning, thinking, and adapting. Think of AI as a really smart single-focus tool and AGI as analogous to the exponentially more complex functionality of a human mind.
This technology became the backbone of my future library. Only there would be no need to borrow a real person, but instead, an AGI replica of some of history’s most fascinating figures. The virtual personage, or virtus as I call them, were born. There was and still is a part of me that is as intrigued as I am terrified by this idea. I didn’t want to write it. That meant without a shadow of a doubt that I had to write it.
As the core idea solidified, I turned my attention to characters. Was there any doubt that my protagonist would be a librarian? Not for a second. She’d be forced to work in this futuristic library that is in direct opposition to everything she believes in. Echo London, anti-tech synesthete became my curator of The People’s Library. To say that she accepted the role with little grace, is an understatement. I drew inspiration from every librarian I’ve ever met and even Regina Anderson Andrews, the first African American woman to lead a NYPL.
As for the rest of the characters, I had to stop myself from thinking about all the fascinating historical figures I’d welcome the opportunity to chat it up with and focus on those who would best serve the narrative. One of the central questions that Echo wrestles with is human consciousness. What defines it, where it originates, how it exists before it finds its way into a human body. I needed a cast of deep thinkers with specialized skillsets to help her along that journey. So as not to introduce any spoilers, I think it’s best to let you discover the rest of the team organically. They were a ton of fun to research and write.
I’ll close with this food for thought. If you were to visit a future library where you could borrow a living, thinking, seemingly exact replica of a historical figure, would you? And if you did, whose consciousness do you wish you could converse with today?
The People’s Library: Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Bookshop|Powells|Sistah Sci-fi Signed Copy
Title: The Joy of Voyeurism
Fandom: Gourmet Gamer
Content Notes: None applicable
"Rim, why do you like making food for people so much, even if you can't taste it?"
It was Saturday, and Mellina had invited Rim and the other REAL players to hang out again. Rim, of course, had volunteered to let everyone stay at his place while he cooked a delicious dinner.
"Well, it's… I can't let my cooking skills fade away, right? And, when I see someone eating my food, and looking super happy, it's almost like I'm eating the food along with them!"
"Food voyeur," Mellina chuckled to herself as soon as she thought of the name."
Fandom: Gourmet Gamer
Content Notes: None applicable
"Rim, why do you like making food for people so much, even if you can't taste it?"
It was Saturday, and Mellina had invited Rim and the other REAL players to hang out again. Rim, of course, had volunteered to let everyone stay at his place while he cooked a delicious dinner.
"Well, it's… I can't let my cooking skills fade away, right? And, when I see someone eating my food, and looking super happy, it's almost like I'm eating the food along with them!"
"Food voyeur," Mellina chuckled to herself as soon as she thought of the name."
Challenge #8
Talk about your creative process.
You know, I don't think I've ever sat down and thought through my creative process before. This should be fun.
My solo-written fic, as opposed to my cowrites (/waves to
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhi , ilyena_sylph , t_vo0810 and others/) is one of two kinds, usually: either it's written for an exchange fic, or a bunny ups and grabs me. When I sign up for exchanges, I try and craft my sign-up to get specific recipients, although I try and make sure that I can write for all potential recipicients. (I've only hit 'oh God no DEFAULT' levels of DNW a couple of times, which considering my Cursed Exchange Luck, I'm pretty proud of.) Once I get my assignment, I sit with the prompt that calls to me the most, and see what kind of story I can create that fits both the wordcount requirement and what the recip wants. Depending on how much plot there is, I throw myself on rhi's mercy for help, lol.
Once I've figured out what the story is, then I write it. Very rarely, I finish my first draft before deadline; usually I'm butting right up to it. (Being several hours ahead is a wonderful thing, sometimes. It feels like a sneaky little extension, lol.) I use the period between submission deadline and reveals to edit and polish my fic, although (thankfully) I write very clean drafts so there's rarely all that much editing, SPAG aside, to do. Sometimes my brain is a hunk of mouldy cheese and poor
rhi has to talk me down and remind me that I am a good writer and my fic will look better once I have had a snack and a nap. When it comes to non-exchange fic, it usually starts with a bunny nibbling on me. Once the nibbling becomes too hard to ignore, I sit down and write - sometimes just scenes, sometimes snippets, sometimes whole-ass fic. Then I let the for-publishing stuff sit for a few days before going back over it, then getting it beta'd.
Regardless of whether it's exchange fic or for my own satisfaction, there's one step of the process I find utterly loathsome: titles. There's a reason most of my fics have either lyrics or quotes for titles - titling is the worst, even harder than summaries. I am in awe of people who find it easy. But works need titles, alas, and so far I've somehow managed, lol.
And that's my creative process! Feel free to ask me any questions you may have.
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bigglesevents Feb. 2nd, 2026 07:22 am)
sholio posting in bigglesevents Feb. 2nd, 2026 07:22 am)
In spite of the name, gen prompts and fills are completely fine! This is an "anything goes" prompting meme for February.
See our previous prompt posts to see how these have worked in the past. These are based off
threesentenceficathon and similar DW prompting events.I'm not going to get too restrictive with rules; this is a low-pressure, free-for-all fest, and the past ones have gone fine!
* Please warn in the subject line if your prompt or fill contains any of the AO3 content warnings.
* You can include DNWs in a prompt if there's something you don't want to see in a fill - please respect these, if there are any - but also, fills are not generally considered gifts for the person who left the prompt, which means a) you have no obligation to comment on or read a fill for a prompt you left, and b) you leave prompts knowing they might be used as general inspiration, and fills might not adhere closely to the prompt.
* You can fill your own prompt, and multiple fills for the same prompt are fine too. So is using someone else's prompt as inspiration for your own. More cakes!
* You can leave as many prompts as you like (one per comment, please!), with no obligation to fill any. You can also fill prompts without having left one.
* You can crosspost your fills elsewhere, including to AO3 or your own space.
* Anon is on, and anonymous prompts and fills are fine. (I'll turn it off if anyone abuses it.)
This fest will be open for prompts throughout the month of February, and for fills at any time. Go forth, prompt, fill, and have fun!
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I used to love K'NAAN, but I hadn't seen this one, and ran into it because it was a past winner of the award Raye just got for "Ice Cream Man" (the Harry Belafonte Best Song For Social Change Award).
Tags:
As a fan of Golden Age Detective stories I have incidentally read a huge variety of locked room mysteries, even though I don't especially like them more than other mysteries. Occasionally some of them are quite fun, actually, but as you read more and more of them a distinct pattern emerges, and you start just immediately going... Okay, was the murder actually done before the room was locked, or after it was unlocked?
And especially after reading two of John Dickson Carr's exasperating mysteries that are shrouded in heightened spookiness intended to make you wonder whether the solution is supernatural or faked to just LOOK supernatural, only for it to turn out that the corpse was stolen from the locked room before it was locked by the last guy in there, and then that the guy was killed by the last guy to leave before the room was locked (in this case before he was left alone on top of a tower with people watching the entrances).
This must get old even quicker for real fans of the locked room. My impression, without doing any tabulation, is that roughly 95% of locked room murders in GAD are done either before the room was locked or after it was unlocked. This has to take some of the excitement out of it, even if the fan is occupied in theorizing which person did it and exactly how.
And especially after reading two of John Dickson Carr's exasperating mysteries that are shrouded in heightened spookiness intended to make you wonder whether the solution is supernatural or faked to just LOOK supernatural, only for it to turn out that the corpse was stolen from the locked room before it was locked by the last guy in there, and then that the guy was killed by the last guy to leave before the room was locked (in this case before he was left alone on top of a tower with people watching the entrances).
This must get old even quicker for real fans of the locked room. My impression, without doing any tabulation, is that roughly 95% of locked room murders in GAD are done either before the room was locked or after it was unlocked. This has to take some of the excitement out of it, even if the fan is occupied in theorizing which person did it and exactly how.
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Like they would have painted a sinister sixth finger (come on down Mr Cromwell insisting on the warts): Hidden detail found in Anne Boleyn portrait was ‘witchcraft rebuttal’, say historians. Hmmm. Oh yeah? Am cynical.
***
Overlooked women artists (maybe I will mosey on down to the Courtauld....): The Courtauld’s riveting, revelatory and deeply researched show of ten lost female painters looks afresh at the golden age of British landscape art:
Some of Mary Smirke’s pictures were ascribed to her brother and Elizabeth Batty’s entire output was assumed to have been her son’s.
***
Men are poor stuff. Men are terribly poor stuff. Men covertly filming women at night and profiting from footage, BBC finds.
***
The Black Beauty in the White House: this is actually about the famous horse book, which was written in a house of that name. In Norfolk.
This is the story of a child from a coastal town in Norfolk, who would go on to influence life around the world and who is just as famous today. Not Horatio Nelson, but rather Anna Sewell, the author of Black Beauty. She managed to not only influence the lives of people but also horses (and possibly many other animals as well) with the story, published only a few months before her death.
***
This looks fascinating though I need to read it a lot more closely: Right place, right time: Luck, geography, and politics:
On 12th May 2020, Mass Observation collected c5,000 diaries from people across the UK. Many of these diaries mention luck and many of these luck stories are geography stories. Geographers, though, have not written much about luck. In this article, I review the literature on luck from within and beyond geography to construct a working definition and geographical approach to luck. The working definition describes luck as chance, fortuitous, unexpected events that were beyond the control of those for whom they are now significant. The geographical approach distinguishes four geographical aspects of luck: the geometry of luck; lucky places; right place, right time; and the practical sphere.
It’s been shared in many places on my f-list but here again: https://www.standwithminnesota.com/ . 心疼.
Reading Cymbeline with yaaurens and company, mostly striking for the “Fear no more the heat of the sun” song—which works backward in me, calling up the books I’ve read where it’s quoted, including the chilling and well-judged use in Pamela Dean’s The Dubious Hills, and Nicola Marlow singing it and making first her mother and then herself cry with its associations of Jon and Jael.
A couple of Chinese jokes with A-Pei: she’s an expert baker who recently ventured into brownies and then into blondies, which we decided should be called 小金发 in Chinese. Also, an exchange about work thus. Me: I had to translate something about the Abominable Snowman for a psychological test of some kind, can you believe it? What is that, 雪男? A-Pei: lol, that sounds like the husband of 雪女, you know that Japanese goddess Yuki-onna? We’d say 雪怪 for the yeti. Me: somehow I don’t think Yuki-onna has plans to marry a yeti…
I learned from grayswandir that 搞掂 in Cantonese is what you say when you finish a job or a task, and was delighted to discover that the similarly used Mandarin term 搞定, which I already knew, is actually a borrowing from this Cantonese word!
Argument against machine translation #179544: Pink plastic tray with a Kitty-chan theme, which lists as its first raw ingredient 人民解放军, the People’s Liberation Army. Your country needs YOU to be transmuted into Kitty-chan!? I thought, and then figured it out… plastic --> pla --> PLA…
New musical discovery: Piano Sonata #1 by the extremely hyphenated Sophie-Carmen [Fridman-Kochevskaya] Eckhardt-Gramatté , which starts out a la maniere de Bach and very quickly gets much weirder and more Romantic, a lot of fun.
Jiang Dunhao song of the post: 你要的爱, a duet with Li Hao ideal for the combination of their voices.
Once in a way I like to act like the good Japanese housewife I’m really not, and one way is to make buri daikon in the winter—yellowtail and daikon radish stewed with the classic Japanese holy trinity, or rather 3+1, of soy sauce, cooking sake, mirin, and sugar, plus ginger on top. It’s very simple and usually turns out pretty well (see photo below); Y eats most of it, because I’m cursed to like the taste and texture of fish but hate anything that might have tiny bones in it.
Last week I had two in-person events of a purely social nature in three days, which never happens. One was a girls’ night out of sorts, women from the company I used to work at (and still freelance for), some former close colleagues, including Misa who was the most patient boss I could have asked for and Yu-jie who helps me practice Chinese, as well as others I used to know and some I’d never met, about two dozen of us, mostly middle-aged, eating cheap Chinese food and drinking according to capacity and chattering. Someone got me a glass of coffee liqueur with milk which was delicious and evil and I got much tipsier than I usually do. Yu-jie and another Chinese woman, Cho-san (Zhao or Zhang but I don’t know which) and I sat around talking in two languages; Cho-san and I delighted each other because she’d heard of my farmboys and I had heard of her own recent obsession, that hockey gay romance show. (“I know I wouldn’t really meet them if I went to Canada, but I still want to go!” “I feel just the same way about going to China!”). Rina-san, the organizer, played around with the group photo we took to results as shown below (I don’t usually post my own face online but this time I feel I can get away with it, especially since the app didn’t know what to do with me and made me look East Asian like everyone else there).
The other event was lunch with my former student D; we stay loosely in touch and meet up every couple of years. As usual he did most of the talking, mostly about his work and what he hopes to do, a little about his marriage and the other kids he went to high school with and so on. It’s funny. The gap between teens and early thirties, as we were when I was teaching him high school English, is enormous; the gap between early thirties and late forties, where we are now, is a lot less momentous. We’re not the same generation, but we’ve both lived in other countries, worked various jobs, married, lost a parent, and so on, we can and do interact as fellow adults with shared experiences. At the same time, he…damn, there is no good way to say 甘える in English (or in Chinese as far as I know), he knows I’ll let him get away with things? because I was his teacher when we met, and I’ve known him since he was fifteen, more than half his life. So he can be self-centered with me in a way he might not with someone he’d met as an adult. I’m very fond of him.
Something reminded me of The Young Visiters for the first time in ages, and I looked it up on Gutenberg; didn’t reread all of it but found this delightful romantic passage from near the end. (I think I like “well some people do he added kindly” in particular, but it’s all great.)
Photos: Not a lot this time around, it’s been too cold out to photograph things. Miké-chan enjoying the sun, the front half of a gorgeous Siamese (?) cat which came and chattered at us and looked annoyed when we didn’t respond by feeding it (when humans talk to each other they get fed, don’t they?), the afore-mentioned buri daikon, a bridge and river view, my standard train-station view at sunset (I’m often in this place on the platform and I just like the natural composition it makes), and the promised view of the girls’ night out. 
Be safe and well.
Reading Cymbeline with yaaurens and company, mostly striking for the “Fear no more the heat of the sun” song—which works backward in me, calling up the books I’ve read where it’s quoted, including the chilling and well-judged use in Pamela Dean’s The Dubious Hills, and Nicola Marlow singing it and making first her mother and then herself cry with its associations of Jon and Jael.
A couple of Chinese jokes with A-Pei: she’s an expert baker who recently ventured into brownies and then into blondies, which we decided should be called 小金发 in Chinese. Also, an exchange about work thus. Me: I had to translate something about the Abominable Snowman for a psychological test of some kind, can you believe it? What is that, 雪男? A-Pei: lol, that sounds like the husband of 雪女, you know that Japanese goddess Yuki-onna? We’d say 雪怪 for the yeti. Me: somehow I don’t think Yuki-onna has plans to marry a yeti…
I learned from grayswandir that 搞掂 in Cantonese is what you say when you finish a job or a task, and was delighted to discover that the similarly used Mandarin term 搞定, which I already knew, is actually a borrowing from this Cantonese word!
Argument against machine translation #179544: Pink plastic tray with a Kitty-chan theme, which lists as its first raw ingredient 人民解放军, the People’s Liberation Army. Your country needs YOU to be transmuted into Kitty-chan!? I thought, and then figured it out… plastic --> pla --> PLA…
New musical discovery: Piano Sonata #1 by the extremely hyphenated Sophie-Carmen [Fridman-Kochevskaya] Eckhardt-Gramatté , which starts out a la maniere de Bach and very quickly gets much weirder and more Romantic, a lot of fun.
Jiang Dunhao song of the post: 你要的爱, a duet with Li Hao ideal for the combination of their voices.
Once in a way I like to act like the good Japanese housewife I’m really not, and one way is to make buri daikon in the winter—yellowtail and daikon radish stewed with the classic Japanese holy trinity, or rather 3+1, of soy sauce, cooking sake, mirin, and sugar, plus ginger on top. It’s very simple and usually turns out pretty well (see photo below); Y eats most of it, because I’m cursed to like the taste and texture of fish but hate anything that might have tiny bones in it.
Last week I had two in-person events of a purely social nature in three days, which never happens. One was a girls’ night out of sorts, women from the company I used to work at (and still freelance for), some former close colleagues, including Misa who was the most patient boss I could have asked for and Yu-jie who helps me practice Chinese, as well as others I used to know and some I’d never met, about two dozen of us, mostly middle-aged, eating cheap Chinese food and drinking according to capacity and chattering. Someone got me a glass of coffee liqueur with milk which was delicious and evil and I got much tipsier than I usually do. Yu-jie and another Chinese woman, Cho-san (Zhao or Zhang but I don’t know which) and I sat around talking in two languages; Cho-san and I delighted each other because she’d heard of my farmboys and I had heard of her own recent obsession, that hockey gay romance show. (“I know I wouldn’t really meet them if I went to Canada, but I still want to go!” “I feel just the same way about going to China!”). Rina-san, the organizer, played around with the group photo we took to results as shown below (I don’t usually post my own face online but this time I feel I can get away with it, especially since the app didn’t know what to do with me and made me look East Asian like everyone else there).
The other event was lunch with my former student D; we stay loosely in touch and meet up every couple of years. As usual he did most of the talking, mostly about his work and what he hopes to do, a little about his marriage and the other kids he went to high school with and so on. It’s funny. The gap between teens and early thirties, as we were when I was teaching him high school English, is enormous; the gap between early thirties and late forties, where we are now, is a lot less momentous. We’re not the same generation, but we’ve both lived in other countries, worked various jobs, married, lost a parent, and so on, we can and do interact as fellow adults with shared experiences. At the same time, he…damn, there is no good way to say 甘える in English (or in Chinese as far as I know), he knows I’ll let him get away with things? because I was his teacher when we met, and I’ve known him since he was fifteen, more than half his life. So he can be self-centered with me in a way he might not with someone he’d met as an adult. I’m very fond of him.
Something reminded me of The Young Visiters for the first time in ages, and I looked it up on Gutenberg; didn’t reread all of it but found this delightful romantic passage from near the end. (I think I like “well some people do he added kindly” in particular, but it’s all great.)
Bernard at once hired a boat to row his beloved up the river. Ethel could not row but she much enjoyed seeing the tough sunburnt arms of Bernard tugging at the oars as she lay among the rich cushons of the dainty boat. She had a rarther lazy nature but Bernard did not know of this. However he soon got dog tired and sugested lunch by the mossy bank.
Oh yes said Ethel quickly opening the sparkling champaigne.
Dont spill any cried Bernard as he carved some chicken.
They eat and drank deeply of the charming viands ending up with merangs and choclates.
Let us now bask under the spreading trees said Bernard in a passiunate tone.
Oh yes lets said Ethel and she opened her dainty parasole and sank down upon the long green grass. She closed her eyes but she was far from asleep. Bernard sat beside her in profound silence gazing at her pink face and long wavy eye lashes. He puffed at his pipe for some moments while the larks gaily caroled in the blue sky. Then he edged a trifle closer to Ethels form.
Ethel he murmured in a trembly voice.
Oh what is it said Ethel hastily sitting up.
Words fail me ejaculated Bernard horsly my passion for you is intense he added fervently. It has grown day and night since I first beheld you.
Oh said Ethel in supprise I am not prepared for this and she lent back against the trunk of the tree.
Bernard placed one arm tightly round her. When will you marry me Ethel he uttered you must be my wife it has come to that I love you so intensly that if you say no I shall perforce dash my body to the brink of yon muddy river he panted wildly.
Oh dont do that implored Ethel breathing rarther hard.
Then say you love me he cried.
Oh Bernard she sighed fervently I certinly love you madly you are to me like a Heathen god she cried looking at his manly form and handsome flashing face I will indeed marry you.
How soon gasped Bernard gazing at her intensly.
As soon as possible said Ethel gently closing her eyes.
My Darling whispered Bernard and he seiezed her in his arms we will be marrid next week.
Oh Bernard muttered Ethel this is so sudden.
No no cried Bernard and taking the bull by both horns he kissed her violently on her dainty face. My bride to be he murmered several times.
Ethel trembled with joy as she heard the mistick words.
Oh Bernard she said little did I ever dream of such as this and she suddenly fainted into his out stretched arms.
Oh I say gasped Bernard and laying the dainty burden on the grass he dashed to the waters edge and got a cup full of the fragrant river to pour on his true loves pallid brow.
She soon came to and looked up with a sickly smile Take me back to the Gaierty hotel she whispered faintly.
With plesure my darling said Bernard I will just pack up our viands ere I unloose the boat.
Ethel felt better after a few drops of champagne and began to tidy her hair while Bernard packed the remains of the food. Then arm in arm they tottered to the boat.
I trust you have not got an illness my darling murmured Bernard as he helped her in.
Oh no I am very strong said Ethel I fainted from joy she added to explain matters.
Oh I see said Bernard handing her a cushon well some people do he added kindly and so saying they rowed down the dark stream now flowing silently beneath a golden moon.
Oh yes said Ethel quickly opening the sparkling champaigne.
Dont spill any cried Bernard as he carved some chicken.
They eat and drank deeply of the charming viands ending up with merangs and choclates.
Let us now bask under the spreading trees said Bernard in a passiunate tone.
Oh yes lets said Ethel and she opened her dainty parasole and sank down upon the long green grass. She closed her eyes but she was far from asleep. Bernard sat beside her in profound silence gazing at her pink face and long wavy eye lashes. He puffed at his pipe for some moments while the larks gaily caroled in the blue sky. Then he edged a trifle closer to Ethels form.
Ethel he murmured in a trembly voice.
Oh what is it said Ethel hastily sitting up.
Words fail me ejaculated Bernard horsly my passion for you is intense he added fervently. It has grown day and night since I first beheld you.
Oh said Ethel in supprise I am not prepared for this and she lent back against the trunk of the tree.
Bernard placed one arm tightly round her. When will you marry me Ethel he uttered you must be my wife it has come to that I love you so intensly that if you say no I shall perforce dash my body to the brink of yon muddy river he panted wildly.
Oh dont do that implored Ethel breathing rarther hard.
Then say you love me he cried.
Oh Bernard she sighed fervently I certinly love you madly you are to me like a Heathen god she cried looking at his manly form and handsome flashing face I will indeed marry you.
How soon gasped Bernard gazing at her intensly.
As soon as possible said Ethel gently closing her eyes.
My Darling whispered Bernard and he seiezed her in his arms we will be marrid next week.
Oh Bernard muttered Ethel this is so sudden.
No no cried Bernard and taking the bull by both horns he kissed her violently on her dainty face. My bride to be he murmered several times.
Ethel trembled with joy as she heard the mistick words.
Oh Bernard she said little did I ever dream of such as this and she suddenly fainted into his out stretched arms.
Oh I say gasped Bernard and laying the dainty burden on the grass he dashed to the waters edge and got a cup full of the fragrant river to pour on his true loves pallid brow.
She soon came to and looked up with a sickly smile Take me back to the Gaierty hotel she whispered faintly.
With plesure my darling said Bernard I will just pack up our viands ere I unloose the boat.
Ethel felt better after a few drops of champagne and began to tidy her hair while Bernard packed the remains of the food. Then arm in arm they tottered to the boat.
I trust you have not got an illness my darling murmured Bernard as he helped her in.
Oh no I am very strong said Ethel I fainted from joy she added to explain matters.
Oh I see said Bernard handing her a cushon well some people do he added kindly and so saying they rowed down the dark stream now flowing silently beneath a golden moon.
Photos: Not a lot this time around, it’s been too cold out to photograph things. Miké-chan enjoying the sun, the front half of a gorgeous Siamese (?) cat which came and chattered at us and looked annoyed when we didn’t respond by feeding it (when humans talk to each other they get fed, don’t they?), the afore-mentioned buri daikon, a bridge and river view, my standard train-station view at sunset (I’m often in this place on the platform and I just like the natural composition it makes), and the promised view of the girls’ night out.
Be safe and well.
Tags:
(flowing_river posting in pinchhits Feb. 2nd, 2026 05:11 am)
flowing_river posting in pinchhits Feb. 2nd, 2026 05:11 am)Event: Traumatic Experiences
Event link:traumaticexperiences
Pinch hit link: Current Pinch Hit Post
Due date: February 10th at 8PM PST
traumaticexperiences is a (psychological) trauma themed multifandom exchange. We have 2 new pinch hit and 6 returning pinch hits! You must write a fanfiction that is a minimum of 1000 words and include a requested fandom, relationship or solo character, and freeform in your fill.
Assignment Requirements
PH 2 - Dredge (Video Game), Trigun (Anime & Manga 1995-2008), 間の楔 | Ai no Kusabi (Anime)
PH 5 - Dial M for Murder (1954), Home Before Dark (1958), The Country Girl (1954)
PH 6 - Given (Anime), 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen (Anime), Wind Breaker (Anime), Outlast (Video Games)
PH 7 - Four Assassins (2011), RoboCop (Movies 1987-1993), Half-Life (Video Games), Crossing Jordan (TV 2001)
PH 8 - The Defenders (Marvel TV), Charmed (TV 1998)
PH 10 - The A Word (TV), I Was a Teenage Exocolonist (Video Game), 崩坏：星穹铁道 | Honkai: Star Rail (Video Game)
PH 16 - 原神 | Genshin Impact (Video Game), Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, 崩坏3rd | Honkai Impact 3rd (Video Game), 魔法少女育成計画 - 遠藤浅蜊 | Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku | Magical Girl Raising Project Series - Endou Asari, Marvel 616, Evillious Chronicles
PH 17 - NoPixel (Web Series), 仙王的日常生活 | The Daily Life of the Immortal King (Cartoon), 文豪ストレイドッグス | Bungou Stray Dogs, Undertale (Video Game)
For more details/to claim, view the pinch hit post.
Event link:
traumaticexperiencesPinch hit link: Current Pinch Hit Post
Due date: February 10th at 8PM PST
traumaticexperiences is a (psychological) trauma themed multifandom exchange. We have 2 new pinch hit and 6 returning pinch hits! You must write a fanfiction that is a minimum of 1000 words and include a requested fandom, relationship or solo character, and freeform in your fill.Assignment Requirements
PH 2 - Dredge (Video Game), Trigun (Anime & Manga 1995-2008), 間の楔 | Ai no Kusabi (Anime)
PH 5 - Dial M for Murder (1954), Home Before Dark (1958), The Country Girl (1954)
PH 6 - Given (Anime), 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen (Anime), Wind Breaker (Anime), Outlast (Video Games)
PH 7 - Four Assassins (2011), RoboCop (Movies 1987-1993), Half-Life (Video Games), Crossing Jordan (TV 2001)
PH 8 - The Defenders (Marvel TV), Charmed (TV 1998)
PH 10 - The A Word (TV), I Was a Teenage Exocolonist (Video Game), 崩坏：星穹铁道 | Honkai: Star Rail (Video Game)
PH 16 - 原神 | Genshin Impact (Video Game), Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, 崩坏3rd | Honkai Impact 3rd (Video Game), 魔法少女育成計画 - 遠藤浅蜊 | Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku | Magical Girl Raising Project Series - Endou Asari, Marvel 616, Evillious Chronicles
PH 17 - NoPixel (Web Series), 仙王的日常生活 | The Daily Life of the Immortal King (Cartoon), 文豪ストレイドッグス | Bungou Stray Dogs, Undertale (Video Game)
For more details/to claim, view the pinch hit post.
Tags:
(jazzyjj posting in awesomeers Feb. 2nd, 2026 06:55 am)
jazzyjj posting in awesomeers Feb. 2nd, 2026 06:55 am)It's challenge time!
Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.
Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished!
Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!
Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.
Go!
Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.
Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished!
Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!
Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.
Go!
Tags:
counterpane [koun-ter-peyn]
noun
a quilt or coverlet for a bed; bedspread
examples
1. The heavy cotton impervious counterpane is bad, for the very reason that it keeps in the emanations from the sick person, while the blanket allows them to pass through. Notes on Nursing: What It Is, and What It Is Not 1860
2. A thin counterpane of blue check gave a rather pleasing finish. Prisons and Prisoners: Some Personal Experiences 1914
origins
1425–75; counter- + pane (in obsolete sense bedspread); replacing late Middle English counterpoynte < Middle French contre-pointe quilt, alteration (by association with contre- counter- ) of cou ( s ) tepointe, coitepointe < Latin culcita puncta pricked pillow.
noun
a quilt or coverlet for a bed; bedspread
examples
1. The heavy cotton impervious counterpane is bad, for the very reason that it keeps in the emanations from the sick person, while the blanket allows them to pass through. Notes on Nursing: What It Is, and What It Is Not 1860
2. A thin counterpane of blue check gave a rather pleasing finish. Prisons and Prisoners: Some Personal Experiences 1914
origins
1425–75; counter- + pane (in obsolete sense bedspread); replacing late Middle English counterpoynte < Middle French contre-pointe quilt, alteration (by association with contre- counter- ) of cou ( s ) tepointe, coitepointe < Latin culcita puncta pricked pillow.
Tags:
Updating my online academic publications list (and also offline CV), adding my book chapter in the latest Scottish History Society Miscellany volume. Rather marvelling that I am still publishing, as my neurological disease progresses. But still enjoying, and it helps me.
Did people notice I finished the Spy Who Loved Me (which has not aged well!). Do we have a next book?
It's been a rough week.
Queens has been so badly plowed and cleaned after last Sunday's major snowfall. Some people haven't bothered to try to get their cars out yet, a week later, while some who have left mountains of snow still in the spots and/or the spots were plowed shut. There are so many spots you could usually park in that are currently about 8 inches of iced-over snow and sludge instead right now. The city of New York seems to think this is good enough. Individuals have cleared sidewalks because the city would fine them, but corners and intersections have mounds of snow and pitfalls of slush. None of it is melting away because it's been well below freezing every day since. Night temperatures have often been or "feel like" below zero in Fahrenheit. Bitterly cold.
To cut through the ever-thicker crust of ice on these snow/sludge mounds, I drive the edge my shovel down as hard as I can, then stick my whole body weight down on the back end as hard as I can. That lets me chip away a bit. Deep under that, the snow is like flour.
I've been strategic about taking my car out and trying to get back to my neighborhood early-ish. My snow boots have died horribly, with the sole of one separating off completely and subjecting my foot to the outdoors, and brick and mortar stores don't carry them. Trying to figure out what's a decent boot for the price online is rough, and my feet aren't standard so I worry something I buy sight unseen won't fit and will need to be returned.
Queens has been so badly plowed and cleaned after last Sunday's major snowfall. Some people haven't bothered to try to get their cars out yet, a week later, while some who have left mountains of snow still in the spots and/or the spots were plowed shut. There are so many spots you could usually park in that are currently about 8 inches of iced-over snow and sludge instead right now. The city of New York seems to think this is good enough. Individuals have cleared sidewalks because the city would fine them, but corners and intersections have mounds of snow and pitfalls of slush. None of it is melting away because it's been well below freezing every day since. Night temperatures have often been or "feel like" below zero in Fahrenheit. Bitterly cold.
To cut through the ever-thicker crust of ice on these snow/sludge mounds, I drive the edge my shovel down as hard as I can, then stick my whole body weight down on the back end as hard as I can. That lets me chip away a bit. Deep under that, the snow is like flour.
I've been strategic about taking my car out and trying to get back to my neighborhood early-ish. My snow boots have died horribly, with the sole of one separating off completely and subjecting my foot to the outdoors, and brick and mortar stores don't carry them. Trying to figure out what's a decent boot for the price online is rough, and my feet aren't standard so I worry something I buy sight unseen won't fit and will need to be returned.
(casemod posting in caseficexchange Feb. 2nd, 2026 06:51 pm)
casemod posting in caseficexchange Feb. 2nd, 2026 06:51 pm)You guys did the unthinkable… We have no unmatchables!
Check your cubby holes, letter boxes, under your doormats, your pockets and wherever else you happen to receive your mail because… your assignment is here!
Assignments are due on Friday 1 May at 11:59PM EDT. [ In your timezone + Countdown ]
Please ensure you post to our AO3 collection and that your work has a recipient!
What's coming up next:
Thank you again to everyone for being so enthusiastic about the exchange! Have fun being devious! 🩷
- Commissioner Clawseau
Check your cubby holes, letter boxes, under your doormats, your pockets and wherever else you happen to receive your mail because… your assignment is here!
Please contact me if:
- Your assignment does not match your offers. Please email gumshoeagency@gmail.com with your AO3 name, your recipient's AO3 name, and a description of the issue so I can sort this out for you. Please do this ASAP.
- You have questions for your recipient! Please email gumshoeagency@gmail.com with your AO3 name, your recipient's AO3 name, and your question. If you'd like to send dummy questions through because you want your gift to be a surprise, please feel free to do this.
Assignments are due on Friday 1 May at 11:59PM EDT. [ In your timezone + Countdown ]
Please ensure you post to our AO3 collection and that your work has a recipient!
A few reminders:
- If you need a refresher, please review the rules/guidelines. I recommend reviewing about assignments, our medium requirements, posting, extensions, and defaulting. If you're interested in treating, please review the treating section of our guidelines for minimum requirements.
- Please unlock and complete letters by Monday 9 February so your creator and anyone looking to treat you can access your additional information. I will not be deleting letters from sign-ups or emailing participants about these.
- Please do not include any self-deprecating comments in your author's note and any identifying information, such as social media links. I will not be accepting works into the collection that contain any of these. Be proud of your work! Such notes negatively impact the recipient's experience and set a tone for the work that is not true!
You can add your social media links once the exchange is over! (I highly encourage you to do this! Just don't do it now.) - The collection is moderated. I cannot access drafts, so please be sure to press "submit" when your work is completed.
I will review these to ensure that they match the request and meet the bare minimum requirements (i.e. completed work, no copy/pastes of the same word over and over, etc.). If you find your work is sitting in the moderation queue for more than three days, please email me your AO3 name and the title of your work so I can check to see if I have simply misread it as a draft.
Once your work has been accepted, you are welcome to continue editing it until the assignment deadline. I will only be accepting works that are completed, so please do not mistake this to mean that you can submit a half-created piece of work. It needs to be complete and able to go live at any moment!
Please ensure you do not accidentally delete half your assignment as I may not be able to catch this at the time of reveals. (Save a copy of your assignment somewhere!) - You are allowed to gift to the collection a work that fits a fandom and relationship that was nominated but not requested. (If you are aware of my AO3, please do not add me as a recipient to it.) Please make sure to leave a comment in your author's note that this is a gift for the collection so I know not to email you asking if you forgot to add your recipient. (Once accepted, feel free to remove your author's note.)
- We have an extension deadline, which is Friday 15 May at 11:59pm EDT. This is the only extension that will be given. (Extenuating circumstances are excepted. Pinch hits taken after this deadline may receive an extension depending on where we are at in the last phase.)
- We have a deadline for non-guaranteed requests to add fandoms to meet the 3 unique fandoms minimum requirements, which is Friday 15 May at 11:59pm EDT. I will not be accepting any additions to requests after this date. Please only reach out if you are a pinch hit.
- If you are a pinch hit and you find that you have remained unclaimed for a few weeks, you are more than welcome to email me at gumshoeagency@gmail.com with additional requests. I will update your sign-up when I am about to post pinch hits, so please be aware you may end up claimed before then! (It's happened!)
I ask that the Casefic Exchange community remains positive about pinch hits; being a pinch hit is a great opportunity to be selected by a sleuth who didn't have time to sign up for the round, but still wishes to craft you a deliciously creative case to solve! - Please whitelist gumshoeagency@gmail.com as my emails are finding themselves getting cosy in some junk folders! If your creator has a question, you'll definitely want to answer!
What's coming up next:
- Initial pinch hits will be posted in 24-48 hours.
- A beta post.
- A pinch hitter's treats post.
Thank you again to everyone for being so enthusiastic about the exchange! Have fun being devious! 🩷
- Commissioner Clawseau
Tags:
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