dorinda

The authors & artists for Night On Fic Mountain have been revealed! And here is mine, a shocking revelation I am sure:

The Fever of the World (8487 words) by Dorinda
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), Master and Commander - All Media Types
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jack Aubrey & Stephen Maturin
Characters: Jack Aubrey, Stephen Maturin
Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Prison, Delirium, Worry, suspiciously intense gen
Summary:

And everywhere the fire, lighting sky and sea, dappling across the small bobbing faces lifted to the heavens.

He had seen Stephen swimming, hadn't he. He had known Stephen would remember how to float, the way Jack had taught him. Feeling sure, he had floundered past, to get about saving as many as he could. After all, he had seen Stephen swimming.

Hadn't he?

I was assigned lynndyre and waved my hands gleefully in the air; we share a lot of common interests in the Master & Commander universe for sure. \o\ /o/ \o\

She asked for Jack & Stephen and mentioned "suspiciously intense gen" among her likes, so that's the note I tried to hit. It's about worry and need and fever dreams and tender hands-on medical care and Stephen having a plan. And I borrowed Captain Christy-Pallière from the books, because I love him so and why not. :D

I also killed an offscreen OC or two who I actually feel kind of bad about. Nothing to them really, but I'm still like, aw.

And now that I don't have to wriggle about trying not to reveal my own story, let me say that I recommend everything in NofM 2017's Master & Commander tag. There's the examination of canon events through the lens of a full-on soul bond, there's high adventure with giant enslaved sea serpents, there's an underplayed moment in time in which Stephen willingly sacrifices great things for Jack, and to top it all off there's this!:

A Slothful Interlude (0 words) by lynndyre
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Master and Commander - All Media Types
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jack Aubrey & Stephen Maturin
Characters: Jack Aubrey, Stephen Maturin, A sloth
Additional Tags: Friendship, Napping, Art, Ink
Summary:

Stephen finds Jack sleeping.

AUGH SO ADORABLE. So warm and relaxed, with perfect little touches of detail. Recommended for a nice bit of visual therapy.

Duuuudes the Night On Fic Mountain 2017 collection is open, and I got THREE PRESENTS. \o/ Almost Human, AND Rejseholdet, AND a Jack & Stephen treat! Check this out:

...oh wait, huh, weird. I only just now noticed that two of these pieces have no "Share" button at the top. But it shows up on the third one. So the 'share' function can be disabled? I've never seen that option. What's that about, I wonder?

Anyway, no biggie, I shall share the first two the old fashioned way, uphill both ways in the snow:

First, a really lovely romantic piece of John/Dorian art called "Halfway Till Bliss". I adore the differing expressions, and the subtleties of their faces, and Dorian's eyelashes, and John's hair. And KISSIN. <3

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11205894

Then, a wonderfully grounded and real-feeling Rejseholdet story, "The (Irregular) Right Direction": it's set ten years post-canon, with Fischer permanently settled in EU law-enforcement bureaucracy, but with something unsettled and restless humming deep within him. Hmmmm, I wonder what he's still missing? :D

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11209839

And finally, a touching and nuanced Master & Commander (and/or O'Brian books) Jack & Stephen story, "Why Darwin Discovered Evolution", which has a Share button, thusly:

Why Darwin Discovered Evolution (1113 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jack Aubrey & Stephen Maturin
Characters: Jack Aubrey, Stephen Maturin
Additional Tags: London, Evolution, Moths, Night On Fic Mountain 2017, Night on Fic Mountain 2017 Treat
Summary:

1815: Napoleon surrenders, and is exiled to St Helena. The British Navy, after seventeen years of war, retires ships, crews and captains. John Barrow, Second Secretary to the Admiralty, begins a programme of exploration which will last until 1845 and will include, in 1835, Charles Darwin's five year voyage of discovery in the Beagle.

In England, Jack Aubrey languishes on the Captains’ List, and Stephen Maturin chases moths.

Oh, Stephen. He loves Jack SO MUCH. ♥____♥ (And vice-versa, of course. Sigh!)

zomg work is eating my face you guys. Our normal summer spike is 1) early, and 2) more like two shoesful of cleats. Plus this Saturday will be my second working Saturday in a row and involve a (happily very rare) 2-hour-each-way commute.

On the one hand, so awesome that lots of people are coming and using the things and producing research and whatnot--that's what we're for. On the other hand (har har), I've started having some trouble with my cubital tunnel--the nerve that goes through the elbow and can have trouble if you have to keep your elbows tightly bent all the time, like say when doing a lot of close work at a film inspection bench. Ouch.

Also, I had heard that someone donated a piano to my co-op and they were going to put it in a 'piano room' somewhere in one of the high rise buildings, for lessons or whatnot. How nice, I thought vaguely, I wonder where the piano room will be.

WELL LAST NIGHT I SURE FOUND OUT.

Turns out the piano room is what used to be a bike room, directly beneath my bedroom, and with no insulation (which is why my floors can be painfully cold to the feet in winter as all the heat sucks out through the floor). So at about 1am my floor and bed were suddenly playing me VERY LOUD AND EXUBERANT PIANO MUSIC.

I staggered down and knocked on the locked door, and it was opened by a young blond man who stank of liquor. We discussed how his "creative moment" (his words) unfortunately had to stop because I really had to sleep. To his credit, even when (presumably) literally stinking drunk, his piano playing was really very good, and also he apologized and stopped and I eventually fell back asleep.

So, you know. Lots going on around here.

To end on a bright and less wtf moment: I got my Night On Fic Mountain story done! I made marycrawford come up with the summary, which I recommend--stuck on a summary? MAKE MARY DO IT. It's tagged and titled and posted! So I am happy.

And I have an idea for another story hot on the griddle, which I would love to start chomping on, as soon as work lets up a little bit on my face and my nerves let up a little bit on my arms. Can one use Siri as a speech-to-text writing tool I wonder?

While at work, I took a peek into my email and HEY LOOK MY ASSIGNMENT. Wooooooo! \o/

Assignment Day feels second-only in excitement to Collection-Opening Day. The past couple days have been like an extended Christmas Eve... "Did Santa bring me an assignment yet? How about now?" That feeling of tenterhooks and possibility.

Now I have my assignment, which I can't tell you about or else I'd have to kill you, and I am excited and nervous in the best way. So I better get brainstorming.

Oh, and, the first batch of pinch-hits are out--if you felt like strolling through them, they're here:

https://nightonficmountain.dreamwidth.org/25610.html

Dear author or artist,

Thank you so much for making something for me! Above all, I'd like you to have fun and create something you enjoy, so any other blatherings here are purely optional for reals. Just in case they might help. If you already have an idea, go for it!

Some of my general preferences:

First times. Happy or at least hopeful endings (that doesn't rule out bittersweet or melancholy tones, and needn't be fluffy...just no unalloyed sadness/darkness/loss please.).

I requested slash relationships, though for me that doesn't automatically require explicit sex. I mean, sex is great if the story or artwork calls for it. But don't feel hemmed in; it's entirely up to you. For me, slash is first about the depth of connection and intimacy between the characters, however it's expressed. I am, I admit, a sucker for tenderness. Especially coming from a repressed character for whom tenderness itself is an admission of vulnerability.

Some of the tropes and approaches I enjoy: words that camouflage deeper/unspoken meanings, protectiveness, worry, extreme competence (with honest weakness), hurt/comfort, chosen families, uncovering a secret, partners against the world, nurturing via food/drink/warmth. (Also, in stories I must admit I like past tense, unless there's a reason for present tense.)

Don't be afraid of classic frameworks if you like 'em! I mentioned hurt/comfort, but I also won't turn up my nose at Having To Share A Bed, Huddling for Warmth, Pretend Couple, Undercover as Rentboy, situations where one suffers or sacrifices for the other, rescues, stranded somewhere (idyllic or non-), etc.

A few thoughts by fandom, alphabetically:

( Almost Human )

( Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) )

( Rejseholdet | Unit One )

( The Sting (1973) )

Just a followup, Fic Mountain-wise. I ended up nominating:

* Almost Human, John/Dorian

* Rejseholdet, Fischer/La Cour

* The Sting, Henry/Johnny (and also Kid Twist in the character set)

And I added Nero Wolfe to the Nero Wolfe character set.

I feel so lucky re: Almost Human! The rule is that in order to qualify, a fandom has to have fewer than 500 stories (complete, in English, 1000 words or over). And when I ran a filter on Almost Human, its total came to 497. Yikes! That was a close one.

So I nominated it immediately. Once approved it gets to stay in, even if 4 more stories roll in in the meantime, and it has been approved. Whew! \o/

I have at last clawed my way out from beneath months of extra work at my job. Sheesh. It was really too much for a while there, and now I am pretty much in disarray. My apartment is a shambles, I haven't had a haircut for far too long, I'm behind on everything, blah blah.

But! I do get today to myself, to think about restful things like stories and writing and whatnot. \o/

On that topic, I noticed that nominations are open for Night On Fic Mountain, until the end of March.

Here's the tagset so far. I can see two things in there I could offer to write (one definite, one tentative), but you need to offer at least 5. So I'd need to nominate three more things. Hmmmmmm, it'll take some thought.

Master & Commander is already in there, to my delight; I'd love to write that some more. I also notice someone has nominated a 2006 movie that klia showed me back in the day, "The Guardian", a slashy movie about Coast Guard rescue swimmers (older grizzled traumatized officer trains troubled young hothead, they butt heads, then they impress each other, until they become super bonded protective pair--you know how those military-slash movies go. :D ). I've never thought about writing it till now, but I'm considering whether I might be brave enough to offer it.

Someone nominated Nero Wolfe, but only Archie/Saul. (Nothing against Archie/Saul of course, I adore Saul, but I don't know if I'd have any ideas for writing it.) Someone nominated Elfquest, but I don't think I could write any of the characters they included; I don't know them well, and don't have any ideas.

I wonder what else I might nominate? And can I think of things that other participants might want to read and/or offer? There are many times I wish I could read minds, and this is one of them.

Authors and artists have been revealed for this year's Night On Fic Mountain exchange (welll, they were revealed a little while back, but then the weekend got away from me and hmm mutter mumble). Here was my contribution:

The Steel-Wire Tightrope (6609 words) by Dorinda
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Sting (1973)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Henry Gondorff/Johnny Hooker
Characters: Henry Gondorff, Johnny Hooker
Additional Tags: Con Artists, 1930s, Rescue, Angst, Misunderstandings, Nonverbal Communication, Drugged Sex, Broccoli Test
Summary:

Henry's in trouble. But when Johnny finds him, that's when their trouble really starts.

Awww yisssss, I got to write The Sting again! \o/ \o/ \o/ I rewatched the movie once during the writing process, and then I rewatched it last week with some friends, just because. I've seen it so many times, and show no signs of burning out or getting tired of it. I love the characters, and the milieu, and how amenable it all is to fannish extrapolation. Robert Redford glows like a sun god and runs like a deer, Paul Newman's eyes gleam a piercing clear sapphire, they both have arms and shoulders to make me weep in the best way, and Johnny and Henry come to care about each other SO MUCH you guys. So much. Not to mention that Henry is an Olympic-class secret worrier. ♥_____♥

Course, in this story, Johnny gets to do most of the worrying for a change. Just for a nice switcheroo. But this is my second story in which I was reminded that AO3 does not have a plain old "Drugged" tag! I mean, wat? "Drugged Sex", sure. But not just "Drugged". Which seems SO WEIRD, given the venerable age of the trope, you know--'oh no my partner got knocked out and doped and now I must rescue him', which was canon all the time at least back in the day, and which lends itself so well to tender h/c, and then perhaps sex that is not itself Drugged Sex, because everyone is now sobered up. So I used the Drugged Sex tag, even though that is not precisely how it goes (it sort of is at first, and then it isn't, and I think the story explains itself best).

Is there a way to propose they set up a canonical Drugged tag? I am ashamed to admit that my knowledge of the inner (or, in fact, outer) workings of the AO3 tag system is not the best.

Anyway, I'm excited to have had a chance to write these guys again! I fell into a weird throughline blockage during the writing process, but mary crawford and klia got me out of there and fixed it up, and I am really happy about it.

I am on vacation (a long-awaited and hard-earned vacation, in my opinion), and am finally unwinding from recent stresses. It feels luxurious and cherry-on-top to ALSO now get MULTIPLE gifts from this year's Night on Fic Mountain small-fandom fic and art exchange!!

New this year, you could ask and offer art as well as fic if you wanted, so in my requests I checked the art box as well as the fic box. And I got three pictures and one story, every single one of them an utter delight!:

Protect (0 words) by Anonymous Edited to add: the artist has been revealed as MissHammer
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Almost Human
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Relationships: Dorian/John Kennex (implied)
Characters: Dorian (Almost Human), John Kennex
Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Digital Art, Angst
Summary:

Dorian is doing everything he can to keep John warm and his blood from spill out, while they wait to be found.

~~~~~~~
A beautiful angsty hurt/comfort image, with protective-Dorian who you can tell is experiencing a flood of emotion, with injured-John held so tenderly in his arms. SNIFF! But the author was kind enough to reassure me in an author's note that they will be rescued. \o/


Dubious Angel of My Better Nature (0 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Aubrey-Maturin Series - Patrick O'Brian
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jack Aubrey/Stephen Maturin
Characters: Jack Aubrey, Stephen Maturin
Additional Tags: Art, Pencil
Summary:

Stephen and Jack

~~~~~~~
A sketch of Stephen Maturin, with Jack silhouetted in the background. Such lovely detail, all of which combines in a very Stephen-like tone and pose, and I swear that Jack is CHARACTERIZED by the simplest touches in a little silhouette.


And then two Aubrey-Maturin Star Trek AUs, one art and one story:

(Edited to add: turns out all of the below are by lynndyre)

U.S.S. Surprise (0 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Master and Commander - All Media Types
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jack Aubrey/Stephen Maturin
Characters: Jack Aubrey, Stephen Maturin
Additional Tags: Art, Ink, Alternate Universe - Space, Star Trek AU
Summary:

Stephen brings home alien animals~

~~~~~~~
Science-officer-naturalist Stephen is cradling a little alien creature that obviously loves him but is dubious about starship-captain-Jack who wants to pet it, which is SO accurate to the books, and so adorable!!


In Good Company (925 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Master and Commander - All Media Types
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jack Aubrey/Stephen Maturin
Characters: Jack Aubrey, Stephen Maturin
Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Imprisonment, Friendship, Alternate Universe - Space, Star Trek AU
Summary:

Stephen and Jack, and an evening in an alien jail.

~~~~~~~
Wounded starship captain Jack, and Vulcan-hybrid Stephen, stranded in a cell on an alien world, looking after each other. So many little touches perfectly translated into the Star Trek setting, such well-characterized interaction and hurt/comfort, SO satisfying, om nom nom nom.

Pardon me while I wallow about in my embarrassment of riches! *flings handfuls of Fic Mountain around like confetti*

Dear author or artist,

Thank you so much for making something for me! Above all, I'd like you to have fun and create something you enjoy, so any other blatherings here are purely optional for reals. Just in case they might help. If you already have an idea, go for it!

Some of my general preferences:

"First time" stories. Happy or at least hopeful endings (that doesn't rule out bittersweet or melancholy tones, and needn't be fluffy...just no unalloyed sadness/darkness/loss please.).

I requested slash relationships, though for me that doesn't automatically require explicit sex. I mean, sex is great if the story or artwork calls for it. But don't feel hemmed in; it's entirely up to you. For me, slash is first about the depth of connection and intimacy between the characters, however it's expressed. I am, I admit, a sucker for tenderness. Could be from an already-openly-tender character , or a repressed character for whom tenderness itself is an admission of vulnerability.

Some of the tropes and approaches I enjoy: words that camouflage deeper/unspoken meanings, protectiveness, worry, extreme competence (with honest weakness), hurt/comfort, chosen families, uncovering a secret, partners against the world, nurturing via food/drink/warmth. (Also, in stories I must admit I like past tense, unless there's a reason for present tense.)

Don't be afraid of classic frameworks if you like 'em! I mentioned hurt/comfort, but I also won't turn up my nose at Having To Share A Bed, Huddling for Warmth, Pretend Couple, Undercover as Rentboy, situations where one suffers or sacrifices for the other, rescues, stranded somewhere (idyllic or non-), etc.

A few thoughts by fandom, alphabetically:

( Almost Human )

( Aubrey-Maturin Series - Patrick O'Brian )

( Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) )

( The Sting (1973) )