I love Murderbot. And in celebration of its upcoming new television show, I'm currently rereading the entire series. While I recommend newcomers read the books in sequential order, I'm giving them to you from my least favorite to my most favorite. At the time of this post, The Murderbot Diaries consists of seven books.

As a disclaimer, all of these books are bangers. I love every one, but some I love more than others.

( Let's get to it! )

Do you agree? Do you disagree? Which entry in The Murderbot Diaries is your favorite? How optimistic are you about the new Murderbot Diaries TV series?

Current Mood: excited

mahmfic

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lurking_latinist

Fans Fiction (425 words) by lurking_latinist
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Doctor Who (2005)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Lizzie Abel & Hassan Chowdry & Robyn Gossage
Characters: Lizzie Abel, Hassan Chowdry, Robyn Gossage
Additional Tags: Post-Episode: s15e02 Lux (Doctor Who), Metafiction, Experimental Style, Spoilers, Ficlet
Summary:

Robyn, Hassan, and Lizzie decide to rewatch the latest episode of Doctor Who.

Major spoilers for the episode Lux in this fic!

---
I've been lurking here but haven't made a post in quite a while; RL got busier and I haven't been writing as much (or rather, I have, but for professional purposes :P). I miss posting here however and am trying to come back a bit. So I thought I would share this fic! I really loved Lux, and I've written what I think may be the first fic with these three characters in, at least on AO3.

Also... while I hate begging for comments, I did something a little unusual in this fic and would really, really love to know how it landed. (Including if it didn't make any sense!) So while I am always glad for people to read my fics with or without commenting, know that in this particular case, if you do feel motivated to say anything in response, it will be extra-super-duper appreciated. :-)

kantayra

I have officially reached that time of spring when I have way too much to do, and I start thinking "I should totally quit my job because I don't have time to work on top of everything else," because that's naturally the thing that would have to give. 😝 The ephemerals are all coming back almost faster than I can keep track, and the library has decided to simultaneously deluge me with every book I've put on hold over a 5-month period at exactly the same time that I finally ordered in a bunch of other books to read. 😔 Also, somehow I have to find time this week to get my skates sharpened? One of the fun paradoxes of figure skating is that it's hard to find breaks in your skating schedule long enough to get your skates sharpened. Like, I can't do it in the morning before work, because I'm busy skating. And I can't cut out of work. And I can't do it the one evening the skate-sharpening place is open after work, because I have skating at 6 in the morning the day after and need to be awake at 4:45, so I can't stay up late. You see the dilemma. Ah well, somehow I will figure (ha!) it out before my edges get dangerously dull.

Here's stuff that happened this week:

Exchanges due in March/April (the_mane_event, kinkluckydip, smut4smut, wickedloveex, worldbuilding_exchange, unsent_letters_exchange + mystery things I am pinch-hitting or treating for): I'm at 13/13, all done writing! 😊 I also finished the one hard edit/partial rewrite I wanted to do, and I'm much happier with the result now. These will all be revealing over the next few weeks, so I'll do some light edits for typos and whatnot, but I feel very accomplished at getting it all done!

the_mane_event: I have a gift! I don't know why this shocks me, but it does every time: 'Oh right, there is cool stuff to read, too!' I received this lovely Killing Eve fic of Eve/Villanelle: love binds me. My good luck with excellent gifts continues! I'm also mostly through the other things in the collection I know well enough to understand and leave feedback on. I'm hoping to finish up my reading today. This really was such a cool theme, focusing on hair: so much pretty art and interesting metaphors in the fics.

Exchanges due in May/June (hurtcomfortex, pickmeupexchange, idproquo, caseficexchange + mystery pinch-hits and treats): I'm still at 0/4 on this. I did sign up for caseficexchange, and I have a tentative request I'm thinking of gaming for, but I want to do some canon review first. If it works out, though, I think it will be tons of fun! I want to get one of my assignments done this week: there's one where I have pretty much the whole fic in my head, I just need to write it out. There was another one I was trying to write first, but I feel like my idea is kind of 'meh' on that one, and I have tons of time, so I'm putting that on the back burner in the hopes that I get better inspiration.

Potential other exchanges to add to my docket for May/June:
- Pretty much sure I'm in for: seasonsofdrabbles, prisoner_exchange, diegetic_exchange - unless zero other people turn up for all my fandoms, I really want to do all these (and nominations indicate that others are interested)
- Things I'm iffy on but will sign up if there are cool requests: whumpex, saturdaymorningex
- Other stuff that hasn't gone through nominations yet, but I'm hopeful for: summerofhorrorexchange, justunrequitedex, ahorseofcourseexchange
Femslash Salad Bar: Nope, nothing on this! I might end up finishing it in next year's run, lol. 😝

The Untamed: I'm through episode 40! That means that, unless something drastic comes up, I'll finish this week or next week. 🥺 I do not want it to end! I still love it so much! (I do have other items on my viewing docket, but this one will be hard to replace. I do plan to read MDZS too, but my reading docket is also full so that will be a while. I don't know if I can go without my WWX fix for that long!)

Unit One: Finally finished it, only six months late and one horrific medical nightmare later! Yeah, I was watching this mostly because I didn't have any other ideas back in September and Mads Mikkelsen is pretty. He continues to be pretty! But this show was starting to lose it toward the end (and, even at its best, was just a solid procedural), so best that it ended when it did.

Scum Villain's Self-Saving System by MXTX: I got about two chapters into this and am really loving it (all the fandom/fanfic in-jokes 😝) but then I needed to take a break due to incoming library books (which have actual deadlines to read by)...

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsin Muir! This book has been on my radar for years, and I finally got it. I'm not quite halfway through, but am really enjoying this too. I will say, though, that I am much more in it for the plot and puzzles/mystery than the characters, at this point. I know there's tons of F/F shipping for this series, and I can see why, but I'm not sold on that yet. We'll see if it ends up being a book I'm fannish for or just a fun read: still tbd. I am putting the sequel in my library queue, though, for sure. I'd just like to finish SVSSS before reading it.

Ephemerals! Bloodroots are now at peak season. The first wild ginger, false rue anemone, and marsh marigolds are just starting to bloom. The early rue is really close too, and bluebells are starting to come up. Exciting times, all!

Also: I passed 100k posted to AO3 for the year last week! 😊 A lot of that is still unrevealed, but its time will come. I don't know if I'll make 200k, since I'm definitely slowing down, but we'll see.

Goals for this week: 1) Finish at least 1 May/June fic. 2) Work on ideas/canon review/research for 2 more. 3) Watch more (and maybe finish?) The Untamed. 4) Finish Gideon the Ninth.

corvidology

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lezridax

Under construction!

I am currently on vacation. I will have this updated by the end of the day Wednesday, April 23rd at the latest.

musyc

Dear

caseficexchange creator:
Thank you! I'm looking forward to your fic or art!

Musyc ||

willhavetheirtrinkets|| Exchange App

For all my requests, fandoms I've requested a lot over the years have more detail, but I love all my fandoms equally. I recycle my prompts from exchange to exchange, but this doesn't mean I'll only be happy with those specific prompts! I'm just not great at coming up with new ideas. I'd love it if you picked one, but they're only suggestions! If you hit the vibes of my likes, that's all I need. Check out my all purpose letter for a lot of detail if you want more information on what I enjoy.

Both art and fic are beloved as treats for any of my requests! Art likes.

Things I generally love in any of my requested fandoms:
◈ happy endings ◈ angst or hurt/comfort with happy ending ◈ missing scenes ◈ mysteries (whodunit, cozy, etc.) ◈ 5/n times (+1/n) ◈ outsider pov ◈ friends supporting each other ◈ friends annoying each other (affectionate) ◈ parties and/or gifts ◈ noodle incidents ◈ slice of life ◈ trapped together

Casefic tropes and ideas I love:
◈ Howcatchem over Whodunit
◈ Rashomon-style conflicting narratives (each member of the team tells the story slightly different)
◈ Race against time to: stop the criminal from criming again; stop the execution before the wrong person dies; solve the case before another agency takes over; etc.
◈ Clue-style house party/locked-room mystery
◈ Heists for justice
◈ Characters having an unknown-until-now hobby/interest/skill that leads to a crucial clue
◈ Absolutely positively officially forbidden to XYZ so we're going to do it when no one's looking
◈ Separate cases all turn out to have connections to each other
◈ Even criminals have standards (so they're going to help the heroes)
◈ Friendly competition (team gets a reward) and minor sabotage (how *did* the battery fall out of your phone tsk tsk)
◈ Secondary characters in the spotlight (lab rat/squintern-focused types of stories)
◈ Generally humorous shenanigans

Crime tropes I'm fine with:
◈ Sexual assault/rape (adult)
◈ Murder (adult or child)
◈ Kidnapping (adult or child)
◈ Serial/signature killers

For all fandoms: I'm fine with canon-typical levels of injuries or violence, including that suffered by requested characters. Explosions, GSWs, druggings, kidnappings: All good.

( Requests )

corvidology

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bleodswean

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dannye_chase

Want to write about a haunting? Take inspiration from history

Find six haunted places on my Weird Wednesday blog, with writing prompts:

The Amityville Horror: Infamous American Haunted House

The Mystery of the Moving Coffins: A Locked-Tomb Whodunit

50 Berkeley Square: the Scariest House in London

Borley Rectory: Haunting or Hoax?

Why the Nederlander Theater is Haunted: Chicago’s Little-Known 1903 Disaster

The Haunted Rail: Ghost Trains

A prompt for 50 Berkeley Square

Hold my beer. It’s funny how when you say things like “Nobody can spend a night in this house,” you get a long line of brave idiots volunteering to do exactly that. (There is a related trope, where they absolutely do not volunteer, such as in the story The Vampire and St. Michael, which I found when researching my post on vampires being compelled to count objects.) There are various possible motivations for a character willing to spend the night in a haunted house. It could be money or treasure (as in the movie House on Haunted Hill), bragging rights, an attempt to “cleanse” the house, overconfidence, or curiosity. The idea that someone can experience something life-altering in a very short amount of time is desperately fascinating. Some people are willing to risk death to find out what it is.

DannyeChase.com ~ AO3 ~ Linktree ~ Weird Wednesday writing prompts blog ~ Resources for Writers

bleodswean

The Maiden & Death Installation 1

( Read more... )

beatrice_otter

Hallelujah, Praise the Lord! There's finally a canonical tag for reader-insert fic on AO3!

From the latest admin post:

During this round of updates, we tested a discussion method which permitted many related canonicals to be canonized at once, instead of each canonical having its own separate discussion period. This allowed us to canonize over 200 additional tags from one discussion.
Consequently, we've canonized many additional tags related to Reader-Insert. All Reader-Insert modifier tags will be subtags of Reader-Insert. The full list is available via tag search.

Let us hope that people start using this so that people who want it can find it, and those who don't want it don't have to deal with it!

They're also changing pregnancy canonical tags, so if you've got fic that deals with pregnancy you might want to check it out and figure out if you want to change how you have tagged it.

bleodswean

( Read more... )

bleodswean

I've decided to share this ~~agonizing labor of love love love~~ novella with the flist. A decade old now. Time, and all that hoo-hah she says dismissively. Back in the day, a few of us became OBSESSED with Rico's tattoo. And that's really putting it mildly. He was still earthside then. We created our artworks in his likeness and one of those creations was this story. It went through endless incarnations, but it began with a fandom fic challenge - Spin the Bottle.

Is it perfect? LOLL, no. Do I have the ability / energy to rework it? Nope. But -

I love it, it's mine, I made it, a treasure in an old cigar box under my bed. And now I'm gifting it to all of you. It will take 13 days to share it, and I will post daily.

kantayra

Yeah, I got almost nothing done last week. The competition left me way more tired than I anticipated, and then I had a huge work presentation on Thursday which basically ate up my mental energy all week, and then Friday I took off to walk around the arboretum with my mom and look at ephemerals, so I didn't get much written. But, y'know, I built in a buffer for that, so it should be okay.

Here's where I am:

Exchanges due in March/April: the_mane_event, kinkluckydip, smut4smut, wickedloveex, worldbuilding_exchange, unsent_letters_exchange + unnamed things I am pinch-hitting or treating for. First of all, I'm dividing up these bullets by due date now, since that's the way I think of them. I'm now at 12/13 on these, and the 13 is a treat so it doesn't need to get done, but I really want it to. I need to do some edits on these this week, including at least 1 that needs a hard edit. So my goals are: finish the last treat + do the hard edit.

Exchanges due in May/June: hurtcomfortex, pickmeupexchange, idproquo, caseficexchange (still in sign-ups): I'm currently at 0/4 on these (and more will crop up inevitably, with incoming exchanges + additional PHs/treats I decide on). My goals on this are: finish 1 assignment + complete sign-up for caseficexchange.

Other exchanges that are on my radar and I might pick up for May/June: seasonsofdrabbles, prisoner_exchange, diegetic_exchange, sakuraexchange, whumpex, saturdaymorningex. There's zero reason for me not to do drabbles. Prisoner, I think, is a shoo-in given that Hannibal & Ace Attorney are two of my big fandoms. Diegetic has potential, but I need to think on it more. Sakura, Whump, and Saturday Morning are going to depend a lot on other people's requests: if I see cool requests, I'll jump in.

Femslash Salad Bar: Nope, didn't get anything done on this (shockingly)!

The Untamed: I'm now through episode 34! Finally back in the present day. Also, Jin Ling has a FLOOFY DOG and I want to floof it! 🥺

So, fun story: Back before Christmas, I threw a bunch of "trapped together in a location" murder mysteries on my library queue, and one had a ginormous queue and I finally made it to the front on Friday, which was the worst timing possible, of course. But I did get Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson and read that this weekend. It was actually my favorite of all the books I read in this category. The set-up was super fun, and the characters were great. The larger mystery was less fun than reading how everyone killed someone in some way, but still entertaining enough for a weekend.

I also have Scum Villain's Self-Saving System by MXTX now and am starting to read that! I'm only, like, 4 pages in, though, so nothing exciting to say so far, other than it seems funny.

Spring ephemerals! We saw tons of snow trilliums and pasque flowers at the arboretum, hooray! Plus pussy willows, which are FLUFFY. We also went to our local waterfall on Sunday, and the skunk cabbages and bloodroots were both blooming there. And we've now got hepatica blooming in our yard (plus tons of wild ginger coming up). It looks like the next two weeks will be the big ephemeral explosion here. Very happy to see everyone back!

Goals for this week: 1) Finish March/April treat, 2) Edits for March/April fic, 3) 1 fic done out of May/June set, 4) Sign up for

caseficexchange, 5) Finish Unit One (need to return that to library), 6) Watch more of The Untamed, 7) Start reading SVSSS.

corvidology

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evandar

Dear Author,

Thank you so much for writing for me! I'm really excited to see what you come up with.

This letter contains a list of Likes and DNWs as well as a couple of prompts. If none of the prompts catch your eye, then write whatever you like. As long as it doesn't hit any of my DNWs, we're good.

( Read more... )

And that's it! That's the letter. Thank you again for writing for me - I'm really looking forward to reading what you create.

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: Hanoi - Vietnam
Current Music: Ain't No Love in Oklahoma - Luke Combs

rhodanum

Chapters: One-Shot
Fandom: Trigun
Rating: M
Relationships: William Conrad & Vash the Stampede
Characters: William Conrad, Vash the Stampede, Rem Saverem (mentioned)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon: Trigun Maximum (Manga), Grief/Mourning, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Night Terrors, Suicidal Thoughts, sharing a folding bed with a matricidal plantling, Conrad's life as a piece in the theater of the absurd

Summary:

Something awful and acidic like bile rises up in his throat and Conrad swallows it back as he looks down at the small, slight form next to him. This being beyond true human understanding. This ahriman, a spirit of wrath come to claim its due.

This murderer, his dear friend's blood all over his hands.

Additional Notes: Conrad and a young Vash on the World's Worst Road-trip. Read here @ AO3.

Current Mood: quixotic

ladyjax

Oakland is having a special election so that we can elect a new mayor. Our previous one got pinched in the FBI raids that took down her partner and then her administration. Per usual, I am working a voting center. Three days instead of four which I actually appreciate.
The two front runners are Loren Taylor (booooo) and our former Congresswoman Barbara Lee. There's at least four other people running; although someone may have dropped out. But the real race is between Taylor and Lee and now we've got dark money apleanty in play.
I still harbor a great deal of resentment that Newsom didn't just appoint Lee to fill in our open Senate seat and now we're stuck with Adam Schiff. The fix was in on that one and Katie Porter was not wrong when she talked about how the Senate campaign spun out. I don't care what anyone says, that shit had Pelosi's fingers all over it and her ass needed to have retired years ago.
Gav (I can call him Gav because right now he has veered back over the line to frat boy) is doing whatever Gav does. He's doing podcasts with right wingers, all of whom deserve a punch in the face (we're past the point of being polite with these assholes). However, he's also giving the hoodlums in the District the finger. At the moment, he is not selling us out completely. HOWEVER:
California is in grave danger from the wingers as we head towards the midterms next year and the governorship after that. This is where I am going to get a little shouty: California is not blue; we're reliably purple and downright red in big swaths in the state. What saves us collectively is that there's a super majority in our statehouse on the Dem side keeping things in check however, that could change.
No firewall holds forever. If you want things to change, then show up and help change it. I have no time for people who want to do a protest vote; do that shit on your own time. Also, educate yourself on what it takes to get a third party on the ballot and then ask yourself why your favorite third party candidate never shows up to run for city council or even dog catcher but will always show up for the Big Job.
The California Secretary of State website actually has a list of third parties going through the process of getting certified in the state. Look at that - knowledge!
A friend hipped me to The Phoenix Project, a group that is tracking billionaire money in San Francisco politics. They have two Astroturf maps, one for Oakland and one for San Francisco that identify the groups operating under various names that sound nice but are a cover for getting a foot in the door. Loren Taylor is part of Empower Oakland. I already knew they were hinky but it goes deeper than that and it's frightening.
I have thoughts about the recent protests that took place but I'm going to keep most of them to myself, except to say: anyone notice how the cops didn't show up to beat anyone's head in or snatch them off the street? Ask yourself why and then ask yourself how long that's going to last. At some point, whiteness or certain types of it will no longer protect one's body. Its just a matter of when.

dannye_chase

Hey, y’all, it’s Weird Wednesday! Where on some Wednesdays, I blog about weird stuff and give writing prompts.

Today: Benjamin Bathurst: How to Become an Enduring Mystery in Just 10 Seconds

Welcome to Weird Wednesday! Today we’re going to follow a guy around a corner and see him vanish forever. Sound fun? Let’s get started.

In 1809, Europe was in the midst of the Napoleonic Wars. 25-year-old Benjamin Bathurst was a British diplomat sent to Austria to do diplomat things against the French that did not end well, and thus he needed to hurry home. It was thought the safest route from Vienna to London would pass through Prussia. Unfortunately for Bathurst, the route turned out to be terminally unsafe.

So why is the death of a random diplomat in dangerous territory still so famous? Because Bathurst didn’t simply die. He vanished. And according to legend (popularized by writer Charles Fort), he did it in a rather spectacular way.

Let’s join in on the night of Nov 25, 1809: Bathurst and his personal secretary, whose name is Krause, are traveling in Prussia under assumed names. Pretty wise in wartime. They stop at a post house in the town of Perleberg to get fresh horses for their carriage. They dine at the nearby White Swan Inn, and afterward Bathurst goes into a private room and writes a bunch of letters.

The new horses are ready at 9 p.m. Bathurst comes out of the inn to get into the carriage, and then Krause comes out of the inn to get into the carriage, only Bathurst is not in the carriage. Bathurst is, in fact, nowhere.

Check out the blog post for the whole story and some writing prompts, such as:

History’s mystery. What if the problem is not that you don’t see a missing man, but that you see him too much? A residual haunting is like a recording that plays over and over on the site of an emotional event. So say you’re a traveler stopping for fresh horses at a small inn, and while hanging out in the courtyard, you see a man in an expensive coat that’s a decade out of style. He walks around your carriage and then vanishes. When you run shrieking to the inn, the staff says, Oh, yeah, that’s Bathurst. His ghost shows up once in a while to disappear and we still don’t know what the hell happened to him. How maddening would it be to watch the vanishing over and over, and still not have a clue about where he went?

DannyeChase.com ~ AO3 ~ Linktree ~ Weird Wednesday writing prompts blog ~ Resources for Writers

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August 2024

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Page Summary

themorikelife - Ranking The Murderbot Diaries Based on My Own Ambiguous Tastes
mahmfic - Dear fandom5k author,
lurking_latinist - Fic: Fans Fiction (G, Lizzie & Robyn & Hassan, 425 words)
kantayra - I need more hours in my days, yo
corvidology - Forgot to mention this one...
lezridax - Sakura Exchange 2025: Letter
musyc - Caseficexchange 2025 Letter
corvidology - Haven't posted one of these in a while: Exchange info
bleodswean - TheMaiden&Death ~ Installation 3
dannye_chase - Writing prompts for hauntings
bleodswean - TheMaiden&Death ~ Installation 2
beatrice_otter - Reader-Insert Canonical on AO3 at last!
bleodswean - TheMaiden&Death ~ Installation 1
bleodswean - Maiden&Death
kantayra - Okay, so... I was tired /excuse
corvidology - I know the truth when I read it... ;D
evandar - Sakura Exchange Letter
rhodanum - [fic] » for he had made death [Trigun]
ladyjax - Doing my bit for Democracy (as it stands)
dannye_chase - Benjamin Bathurst

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Just Married - A Marriage Trope Exchange

Member Posts

Ranking The Murderbot Diaries Based on My Own Ambiguous Tastes

Dear fandom5k author,

Fic: Fans Fiction (G, Lizzie & Robyn & Hassan, 425 words)

I need more hours in my days, yo

Forgot to mention this one...

Sakura Exchange 2025: Letter

Caseficexchange 2025 Letter

Haven't posted one of these in a while: Exchange info

TheMaiden&Death ~ Installation 3

Writing prompts for hauntings

Want to write about a haunting? Take inspiration from history

Find six haunted places on my Weird Wednesday blog, with writing prompts:

A prompt for 50 Berkeley Square

TheMaiden&Death ~ Installation 2

Reader-Insert Canonical on AO3 at last!

TheMaiden&Death ~ Installation 1

Maiden&Death

Okay, so... I was tired /excuse

I know the truth when I read it... ;D

Sakura Exchange Letter

[fic] » for he had made death [Trigun]

Doing my bit for Democracy (as it stands)

Benjamin Bathurst

Hey, y’all, it’s Weird Wednesday! Where on some Wednesdays, I blog about weird stuff and give writing prompts.

Today: Benjamin Bathurst: How to Become an Enduring Mystery in Just 10 Seconds

Welcome to Weird Wednesday! Today we’re going to follow a guy around a corner and see him vanish forever. Sound fun? Let’s get started.

Check out the blog post for the whole story and some writing prompts, such as:

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August 2024

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