Rachel Manija Brown's Blog, page 121
February 26, 2019
Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation, by Michael Pollan
This book was living in the cabin I was staying at last month, and was definitely a good one to read while snowed in as it was all about how to make everything you could possibly want to eat if you were stuck with lots of time on your hands and a well-stocked larder.
This is really two books very awkwardly intermingled; as is usually the case in such works, one is good and one isn't.
The good one is Pollan trying out various methods of food creation with lessons from experts, mostly focusing on ones that have largely fallen out of the common cooking repertoire for modern Americans, such as cheese making, beer brewing, and pickling via fermentation (as opposed to vinegar). He also studies barbecue, bread making, and braising. Those parts were lots of fun and made me want to try some of them out. I'd love to ferment at home in theory, as I like pickles, but the prospect of botulism if I screw up and also having to skim off "hairy mold" EW EW EW makes that unlikely. But I'll definitely give bread making a try.
The bad one is his apparent decision that the book needed more of a high concept than that, leading to his bizarre division of techniques into four elements and then pontificating on how this is very deep. Braising is "water cooking," really? How exactly do you braise without using heat (fire?) And why is barbecue "fire" when it also crucially utilizes smoke (air?) He does say that all of them use all the elements, but that just points out how totally arbitrary and pointless his division is.
Even worse, he connects the elements and techniques to gender. Braising is feminine because the chef who teaches him braising is a woman (Samin Nosrat of Heat Salt Acid) and water is feminine. Apparently fire and air are masculine, so barbecue and bread-baking are inherently and traditionally masculine stretching back for all eternity, and that is why barbecuers and bread bakers are men. Also, that is why Pollan, who is a manly male man, feels most deeply connected to those pursuits and is so much prouder of his bread loaf and feels a deep inherent manly desire to prove his masculinity by photographing his bread loaf for Instagram as proof of his manhood, just like the cavemen did.
I cannot even wrap my head around how profoundly stupid this is. You cannot look at the recent American stereotype of grilling/barbecuing as masculine cooking as proof that "fire cooking" has always been a man's job! Even more stupid (if possible) is his association of bread with masculinity. Baking is traditionally female! Baking cakes is still considered feminine, and the only difference between cakes and bread is yeast, which ought to be considered feminine if you're going to be consistent with your idiotic reductiveness as yeast is alive and women bring forth life. (Not really, as sperm is also alive, but at if you're going to be stereotypical you should at least be consistent.) Basically the techniques Pollan liked best, probably because men taught them to him, are masculine.
To quote an old aunt I knew as a child after she got buttonholed for ages by an annoying bore, "What a stupid story. Dumb, dumb, dumb."
Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation[image error]
[image error] [image error]
comments
This is really two books very awkwardly intermingled; as is usually the case in such works, one is good and one isn't.
The good one is Pollan trying out various methods of food creation with lessons from experts, mostly focusing on ones that have largely fallen out of the common cooking repertoire for modern Americans, such as cheese making, beer brewing, and pickling via fermentation (as opposed to vinegar). He also studies barbecue, bread making, and braising. Those parts were lots of fun and made me want to try some of them out. I'd love to ferment at home in theory, as I like pickles, but the prospect of botulism if I screw up and also having to skim off "hairy mold" EW EW EW makes that unlikely. But I'll definitely give bread making a try.
The bad one is his apparent decision that the book needed more of a high concept than that, leading to his bizarre division of techniques into four elements and then pontificating on how this is very deep. Braising is "water cooking," really? How exactly do you braise without using heat (fire?) And why is barbecue "fire" when it also crucially utilizes smoke (air?) He does say that all of them use all the elements, but that just points out how totally arbitrary and pointless his division is.
Even worse, he connects the elements and techniques to gender. Braising is feminine because the chef who teaches him braising is a woman (Samin Nosrat of Heat Salt Acid) and water is feminine. Apparently fire and air are masculine, so barbecue and bread-baking are inherently and traditionally masculine stretching back for all eternity, and that is why barbecuers and bread bakers are men. Also, that is why Pollan, who is a manly male man, feels most deeply connected to those pursuits and is so much prouder of his bread loaf and feels a deep inherent manly desire to prove his masculinity by photographing his bread loaf for Instagram as proof of his manhood, just like the cavemen did.
I cannot even wrap my head around how profoundly stupid this is. You cannot look at the recent American stereotype of grilling/barbecuing as masculine cooking as proof that "fire cooking" has always been a man's job! Even more stupid (if possible) is his association of bread with masculinity. Baking is traditionally female! Baking cakes is still considered feminine, and the only difference between cakes and bread is yeast, which ought to be considered feminine if you're going to be consistent with your idiotic reductiveness as yeast is alive and women bring forth life. (Not really, as sperm is also alive, but at if you're going to be stereotypical you should at least be consistent.) Basically the techniques Pollan liked best, probably because men taught them to him, are masculine.
To quote an old aunt I knew as a child after she got buttonholed for ages by an annoying bore, "What a stupid story. Dumb, dumb, dumb."
Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation[image error]
[image error] [image error]
comments
February 25, 2019
My Exciting Eating Month
I was recently very inspired by a post Layla made on creating new habits. Rather than making New Year's Resolutions, each month she picks a new thing she wants to do and gives it a try for a month. If it sticks, you continue with it but add a new habit the next month; if it doesn't, you gave it enough of a try that you know whether or not it's something likely to work for you.
This struck me as both fun and more likely to make new habits stick, so I gave it a try. My January choice was "tidy up a little every day." As you have seen, this was incredibly fun and very likely to stick, and I am still at it.
February's habit was "wear something I like that is either a piece of jewelry, or an item of clothing I don't normally wear." I stuck to this one less, largely because of the weather: it was not only quite cold, but I actually got snowed in for a while! (Most of my wardrobe is for warm-to-hot weather, and jewelry gets unpleasantly cold against my skin in cold weather.) But when I did do it, it was a lot of fun, so that's something I'll keep trying.
My upcoming March habit is something I'm very excited about. It's not something I plan to continue in its original form permanently, but rather a month-long challenge that I'd ideally like to continue in a modified form. It's to eat only food that's either already in my pantry, or food I buy at the farmer's market.
I will make exceptions for milk, which is highly perishable and not sold at the market, and food people offer me, like if someone invites me over for dinner or to a restaurant. I'm also going to buy some essentials in advance and replace them if necessary, but only ingredients for cooking, not snacks. (i.e., whole wheat flour.)
I got this idea from a book which I found in a backpack stashed in a closet while tidying up, Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally, by Alisa Smith and J. B. MacKinnon. They're journalists living in Vancouver who were disturbed by an article they read about the length most food they eat travels, which causes a lot of pollution. So they decided to spend a year only only what they already had in their pantry and food which came from no more than 100 miles away from where they lived. MacKinnon was a very skilled amateur chef and they owned a cabin in the woods, so they had a lot of resources many people don't. But it was a fun read, and it got me thinking.
I've already been trying to buy most of the animal products I cook at home from the farmer's market, as I can afford it, for ethical and taste reasons and to support locally owned small businesses - I'd rather eat less of them but have them be of higher quality. I've also already been trying to buy more produce there, ditto though in that case I'm trying to eat more rather than less. I'd also like to eat down the stuff I already have rather than letting it sit forever, degrading in quality. So this will be more of a ramping up rather than a sudden change.
My long-term intent is not to keep this going forever - I love restaurants and am certainly not taking them out of my life for good - but to eat more locally, cook more, and get better at cooking. So I am basing it on "farmer's market" rather than "transported no more than 100 miles" in the interest of not going insane or driving the vendors insane. Also, it's "any farmer's market," not just the two I normally go to, because I think it will be fun to check out some new ones.
I'd also like to try baking my own bread, which I have never done. I will start with commercial yeast, but also attempt making my own sourdough starter. The bread was inspired by a Michael Pollan book I read while snowed in, which I will review separately later as it was both inspiring and accidentally hilarious. (Sneak preview: cooking techniques which Pollan particularly enjoyed learning are ineluctably masculine, and ones which he liked but not to that degree are feminine. Bread baking is a very very manly pursuit, no doubt perfected by manly manly cavemen.)
I shall pretend that I am snowed in, with my only snowplowed path leading to the farmer's market.
I am going to try to chronicle this daily, ideally with photos.
Have any of you ever done anything similar? Any advice or simple bread recipes? I don't at all mind spending lots of time kneading - I used to do pottery and very much enjoyed that part, plus I had great grip strength - but the fewer separate steps, the better.
comments
This struck me as both fun and more likely to make new habits stick, so I gave it a try. My January choice was "tidy up a little every day." As you have seen, this was incredibly fun and very likely to stick, and I am still at it.
February's habit was "wear something I like that is either a piece of jewelry, or an item of clothing I don't normally wear." I stuck to this one less, largely because of the weather: it was not only quite cold, but I actually got snowed in for a while! (Most of my wardrobe is for warm-to-hot weather, and jewelry gets unpleasantly cold against my skin in cold weather.) But when I did do it, it was a lot of fun, so that's something I'll keep trying.
My upcoming March habit is something I'm very excited about. It's not something I plan to continue in its original form permanently, but rather a month-long challenge that I'd ideally like to continue in a modified form. It's to eat only food that's either already in my pantry, or food I buy at the farmer's market.
I will make exceptions for milk, which is highly perishable and not sold at the market, and food people offer me, like if someone invites me over for dinner or to a restaurant. I'm also going to buy some essentials in advance and replace them if necessary, but only ingredients for cooking, not snacks. (i.e., whole wheat flour.)
I got this idea from a book which I found in a backpack stashed in a closet while tidying up, Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally, by Alisa Smith and J. B. MacKinnon. They're journalists living in Vancouver who were disturbed by an article they read about the length most food they eat travels, which causes a lot of pollution. So they decided to spend a year only only what they already had in their pantry and food which came from no more than 100 miles away from where they lived. MacKinnon was a very skilled amateur chef and they owned a cabin in the woods, so they had a lot of resources many people don't. But it was a fun read, and it got me thinking.
I've already been trying to buy most of the animal products I cook at home from the farmer's market, as I can afford it, for ethical and taste reasons and to support locally owned small businesses - I'd rather eat less of them but have them be of higher quality. I've also already been trying to buy more produce there, ditto though in that case I'm trying to eat more rather than less. I'd also like to eat down the stuff I already have rather than letting it sit forever, degrading in quality. So this will be more of a ramping up rather than a sudden change.
My long-term intent is not to keep this going forever - I love restaurants and am certainly not taking them out of my life for good - but to eat more locally, cook more, and get better at cooking. So I am basing it on "farmer's market" rather than "transported no more than 100 miles" in the interest of not going insane or driving the vendors insane. Also, it's "any farmer's market," not just the two I normally go to, because I think it will be fun to check out some new ones.
I'd also like to try baking my own bread, which I have never done. I will start with commercial yeast, but also attempt making my own sourdough starter. The bread was inspired by a Michael Pollan book I read while snowed in, which I will review separately later as it was both inspiring and accidentally hilarious. (Sneak preview: cooking techniques which Pollan particularly enjoyed learning are ineluctably masculine, and ones which he liked but not to that degree are feminine. Bread baking is a very very manly pursuit, no doubt perfected by manly manly cavemen.)
I shall pretend that I am snowed in, with my only snowplowed path leading to the farmer's market.
I am going to try to chronicle this daily, ideally with photos.
Have any of you ever done anything similar? Any advice or simple bread recipes? I don't at all mind spending lots of time kneading - I used to do pottery and very much enjoyed that part, plus I had great grip strength - but the fewer separate steps, the better.
comments
February 24, 2019
Today at the farmers market...
...someone mistook us for TWINS.
comments
comments
February 23, 2019
Layla's in town!
With brand new beautiful hair! Something Alex appreciated very much:
Last night her flight was delayed, so we went to Daikokuya, an all-night ramen place. It was freezing cold (Layla found it no more than brisk) but the rest of LA agreed with me, because the place was packed. During our 45 minute wait for a table, we ate half each of a Beard Papa chocolate cream eclair and a Beard Papa strawberry cheesecake tart, then bought Melty Kiss and yatsuhashi at the Japanese market, before finally diving face-first into giant bowls of comforting hot ramen with perfectly soft-boiled eggs.
This morning my friends Halle and Ian and their son, and Layla's friend Jen and I went to NBC Seafood, where there was no line! That was a first. We feasted on sticky rice in lotus leaves, fried taro dumplings, char sir bao, slippery rice wrapped noodles, taro pudding, black sesame pudding, egg yolk buns, egg custard tarts, fried lotus paste balls, steamed sausage rolls, shrimp wrapped in nori and fried, steamed Chinese broccoli, chicken fried rice, shrimp in bell pepper cups, ube buns, and hot black sesame mochi which were so good I wish I'd had twelve of them.
On the way back we stopped at a grocery and were waylaid by small, adorable Girl Scouts. I guess we need some snacks for the plane later on...
The grocery clerk asked if we're sisters. I don't know, what do you think?
comments
Last night her flight was delayed, so we went to Daikokuya, an all-night ramen place. It was freezing cold (Layla found it no more than brisk) but the rest of LA agreed with me, because the place was packed. During our 45 minute wait for a table, we ate half each of a Beard Papa chocolate cream eclair and a Beard Papa strawberry cheesecake tart, then bought Melty Kiss and yatsuhashi at the Japanese market, before finally diving face-first into giant bowls of comforting hot ramen with perfectly soft-boiled eggs.
This morning my friends Halle and Ian and their son, and Layla's friend Jen and I went to NBC Seafood, where there was no line! That was a first. We feasted on sticky rice in lotus leaves, fried taro dumplings, char sir bao, slippery rice wrapped noodles, taro pudding, black sesame pudding, egg yolk buns, egg custard tarts, fried lotus paste balls, steamed sausage rolls, shrimp wrapped in nori and fried, steamed Chinese broccoli, chicken fried rice, shrimp in bell pepper cups, ube buns, and hot black sesame mochi which were so good I wish I'd had twelve of them.
On the way back we stopped at a grocery and were waylaid by small, adorable Girl Scouts. I guess we need some snacks for the plane later on...
The grocery clerk asked if we're sisters. I don't know, what do you think?
comments
Saturday KatMari
Living room one month ago:
Living room today:
Book categories are hardcover/oversize sff, hardcover/oversize mystery and romance, and paperback sff, alphabetized by author. I have too many to arrange them into amusing categories.
comments
Living room today:
Book categories are hardcover/oversize sff, hardcover/oversize mystery and romance, and paperback sff, alphabetized by author. I have too many to arrange them into amusing categories.
comments
February 22, 2019
Friday KatMari
Yes, I am still at it. While in Mariposa I mentioned it to my parents, who watched a few episodes and promptly tidied up some of their stuff, donating clothes and watching videos on how to fold vertically.
As always, please no negativity in comments. Cut for photos of bookcases and cats.
Here is a shot of my kitchen from a month or so ago.
Here is my kitchen today. (Still need a new table and chair. That is way overdue.)
Here is my memoir bookcase, with Jewish, Chinese, and oversize books on top. (Some overflow memoirs are elsewhere.) You can tell when categories change because the alphabet-by-author starts over from the beginning. It goes something like: My Happy Childhood, My Funny Family, I Love My Family, My Fucked-Up Childhood, My Mental Illness, I Loved Someone Who Died, My Exciting Experience, My Exciting Hobby, My Showbiz Career (Dance, Music, Acting, Directing, Writing), I Live Somewhere Cool, My Civilian Wartime Experience, Let Me Tell You About Religion.
Here is my food bookcase, with Japanese books on top. They're ordered more by size than by category, but the categories are How to Cook, I Like to Cook, I Like to Eat, Regional Food Is The Best.
comments
As always, please no negativity in comments. Cut for photos of bookcases and cats.
Here is a shot of my kitchen from a month or so ago.
Here is my kitchen today. (Still need a new table and chair. That is way overdue.)
Here is my memoir bookcase, with Jewish, Chinese, and oversize books on top. (Some overflow memoirs are elsewhere.) You can tell when categories change because the alphabet-by-author starts over from the beginning. It goes something like: My Happy Childhood, My Funny Family, I Love My Family, My Fucked-Up Childhood, My Mental Illness, I Loved Someone Who Died, My Exciting Experience, My Exciting Hobby, My Showbiz Career (Dance, Music, Acting, Directing, Writing), I Live Somewhere Cool, My Civilian Wartime Experience, Let Me Tell You About Religion.
Here is my food bookcase, with Japanese books on top. They're ordered more by size than by category, but the categories are How to Cook, I Like to Cook, I Like to Eat, Regional Food Is The Best.
comments
Emma in Winter, by Penelope Farmer
This is a sequel to The Summer Birds, in which a group of children learn to fly, among them the sisters Charlotte and Emma Makepeace.
It’s now winter, and none of them can fly anymore. Charlotte is away at boarding school, and Emma is rattling around Aviary Hall, lonely and unhappy. Meanwhile, fat and clumsy Bobby Fumpkins, who once flew but was always the straggler vainly trying to be a welcomed member of the group, is also lonely, eating to soothe his unhappiness without recognizing that’s what he’s doing. Emma, like the other kids, is casually mean to him, lashing out at others (not just him) to soothe her unhappiness without recognizing that that’s what she’s doing.
Bobby and Emma begin to share a strange dream, in which they fly every night over a mysterious and shifting landscape. Their shared efforts to understand what’s happening and why lead a prickly but very real friendship, which in turn leads to emotional growth and the beginnings of maturity.
I was waiting with some dread for Bobby to learn not to eat to soothe himself and so slim down as a symbol of his maturing. Neither happens, though he does develop a better relationship with food in other ways – rather than just eating compulsively and alone, he discovers that food can also be used to emotionally bond with others. This comes to a lovely understated climax when he’s unhappy, automatically grabs some peppermints, and gives one to Emma before popping the other in his mouth.
The beginning of the book is rough going due to the realistic depiction of being twelve and miserable and doing things that only make it worse for yourself and others. Once Emma and Bobby make friends, it’s much more enjoyable reading, though its pleasures are the homey ones of friends and self-discovery rather than the transcendence of flight. Their dream-flights are strange and a bit abstract; they're atmospheric but the payoff didn’t 100% work for me as the emotional weight felt like it should be on something else.
( Read more... )
Not as transcendent as The Summer Birds but still interesting and worthwhile.
Emma in Winter[image error]
[image error] [image error]
comments
It’s now winter, and none of them can fly anymore. Charlotte is away at boarding school, and Emma is rattling around Aviary Hall, lonely and unhappy. Meanwhile, fat and clumsy Bobby Fumpkins, who once flew but was always the straggler vainly trying to be a welcomed member of the group, is also lonely, eating to soothe his unhappiness without recognizing that’s what he’s doing. Emma, like the other kids, is casually mean to him, lashing out at others (not just him) to soothe her unhappiness without recognizing that that’s what she’s doing.
Bobby and Emma begin to share a strange dream, in which they fly every night over a mysterious and shifting landscape. Their shared efforts to understand what’s happening and why lead a prickly but very real friendship, which in turn leads to emotional growth and the beginnings of maturity.
I was waiting with some dread for Bobby to learn not to eat to soothe himself and so slim down as a symbol of his maturing. Neither happens, though he does develop a better relationship with food in other ways – rather than just eating compulsively and alone, he discovers that food can also be used to emotionally bond with others. This comes to a lovely understated climax when he’s unhappy, automatically grabs some peppermints, and gives one to Emma before popping the other in his mouth.
The beginning of the book is rough going due to the realistic depiction of being twelve and miserable and doing things that only make it worse for yourself and others. Once Emma and Bobby make friends, it’s much more enjoyable reading, though its pleasures are the homey ones of friends and self-discovery rather than the transcendence of flight. Their dream-flights are strange and a bit abstract; they're atmospheric but the payoff didn’t 100% work for me as the emotional weight felt like it should be on something else.
( Read more... )
Not as transcendent as The Summer Birds but still interesting and worthwhile.
Emma in Winter[image error]
[image error] [image error]
comments
February 21, 2019
Russian Doll (Netflix TV) SPOILER POST
Here is the spoileriffic discussion post for Russian Doll! Please feel free to discuss any aspect of it in comments.
If you have not yet seen the show, I highly recommend not spoiling yourself. It's not just that there's twists, it's that the entire show is a process of discovery.
comments
If you have not yet seen the show, I highly recommend not spoiling yourself. It's not just that there's twists, it's that the entire show is a process of discovery.
comments
My Chocolate Box stories
I wrote three stories for Chocolate Box this year!
Watch For Me By The Moonlight. Original fiction for the pairing Female Wounded Stranger/Female Homesteader.
It involves a snowstorm, and I was RL snowed in when I wrote it! Sherwood and I left Mariposa three days later than we'd originally intended, and only barely made it out in the very brief window of time in which some snow had melted, much more had been shoveled, and more snow hadn't had a chance to accumulate. It was starting to snow again when we left, and by that evening there were three more inches on the ground.
The Life of a Cell. Annihilation (movie). The being that leaves the Shimmer carries with it some of both Lena and Dr. Ventress.
Sisters. Shadows of the Apt, by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Che and Tynisa as young girls, standing up for each other.
Huge spoilers for all stories below cut - they're short, please read any first if you plan to read before clicking. ( Read more... )
comments
Watch For Me By The Moonlight. Original fiction for the pairing Female Wounded Stranger/Female Homesteader.
It involves a snowstorm, and I was RL snowed in when I wrote it! Sherwood and I left Mariposa three days later than we'd originally intended, and only barely made it out in the very brief window of time in which some snow had melted, much more had been shoveled, and more snow hadn't had a chance to accumulate. It was starting to snow again when we left, and by that evening there were three more inches on the ground.
The Life of a Cell. Annihilation (movie). The being that leaves the Shimmer carries with it some of both Lena and Dr. Ventress.
Sisters. Shadows of the Apt, by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Che and Tynisa as young girls, standing up for each other.
Huge spoilers for all stories below cut - they're short, please read any first if you plan to read before clicking. ( Read more... )
comments
February 20, 2019
Chocolate Box Recs
I got four fantastic stories for Chocolate Box this year!
Once and Future. Dark Tower - Stephen King. The ka-tet explores some more, and finds a different kind of tower. Lovely Mid-World story with the requisite bonding, eerie imagery, and metafictional elements.
Tech Support. The Punisher. David is the Punisher's tech support. That's okay. It's fine. Hilarious and poignant and all things wonderful.
born with the gift of a golden voice. The Stand - Stephen King. Larry is touring Las Vegas when the superflu hits. Flagg finds him in a hotel room. Beautifully written, and fucking creepy in the very best way.
Long Way Down. True Detective. Rivers of history inside of every human being. Gorgeous imagery, perfectly in-character Rust/Marty
Art Recs (all worksafe; some kissing with clothes on):
Left-Hand Man.. The Dragon Prince. Harrow and Viren kissing.
it's all been done.
Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett. "You go your way, I go mine, but I’ll see you next time ..."
SSSS Homage to Peter Max. Stand Still Stay Silent. The whole crew, done in the style of Peter Max, the noted psychedelic artist, best known for his work on the animated movie "Yellow Submarine."
Ebb and Flow. Wonder Woman. Darling it's better, down where it's wetter ;)
I Have Loved the Stars Too Fondly. Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Rose and Paige Tico.
Comic Book Rec (generally work safe; making out but no full nudity)
Union of Heart. Original Fiction. When the recently widowed Duke of Bridgewater discovers he has inherited a cotton mill where the workers are striking, he decides to investigate the conditions of the workers and meets the impulsive Edward Mann, the union leader for his mill.
A delightful 11-page comic book romance for the pairing "Impulsive Trade Union Leader/Recently Widowed Young Duke."
Fic Recs (don't need to know canon):
Lace. Words: 470. Ephie is dressed in traditional Lephratan style, and is ready to meet her bride. NOTE: You used the magic phrase: costume porn. If someone says they’re open to costume porn, I must satisfy them! Original F/F. Sensual and sweet; as promised, the costume porn is excellent.
Fic Recs (better if you know canon):
get a little closer, let fold. Annihilation (2018 Garland). Anya can't get the way Josie smells out of her head. F/F. Tagged "porn without plot," but it's actually a fantastic example of how to convey character, atmosphere, theme, and setting by means of sex. Really well-done.
Three Times Lucky. Defenders. There is no such thing as luck, no such thing as magic fish, and Jessica wants a refund for this day. Short and hilarious; more fish jokes than you can shake a pole at.
Challenge Accepted. Iron Fist (TV). Misty doesn't have the Iron Fist, but she has an iron fist. G-rated but nonetheless extremely hot F/F, well-characterized and well-written.
Steady Gun Hand. Iron Fist (TV). Infected bullet wounds and heart to heart talks while hiding out from gangsters in Indonesia: just another day on the Rand-Meachum road trip of self-discovery. Great hurt-comfort, wilderness survival, characterization, and snarky dialogue.
I wrote three stories this Chocolate Box if you want to take a guess.
comments
Once and Future. Dark Tower - Stephen King. The ka-tet explores some more, and finds a different kind of tower. Lovely Mid-World story with the requisite bonding, eerie imagery, and metafictional elements.
Tech Support. The Punisher. David is the Punisher's tech support. That's okay. It's fine. Hilarious and poignant and all things wonderful.
born with the gift of a golden voice. The Stand - Stephen King. Larry is touring Las Vegas when the superflu hits. Flagg finds him in a hotel room. Beautifully written, and fucking creepy in the very best way.
Long Way Down. True Detective. Rivers of history inside of every human being. Gorgeous imagery, perfectly in-character Rust/Marty
Art Recs (all worksafe; some kissing with clothes on):
Left-Hand Man.. The Dragon Prince. Harrow and Viren kissing.
it's all been done.
Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett. "You go your way, I go mine, but I’ll see you next time ..."
SSSS Homage to Peter Max. Stand Still Stay Silent. The whole crew, done in the style of Peter Max, the noted psychedelic artist, best known for his work on the animated movie "Yellow Submarine."
Ebb and Flow. Wonder Woman. Darling it's better, down where it's wetter ;)
I Have Loved the Stars Too Fondly. Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Rose and Paige Tico.
Comic Book Rec (generally work safe; making out but no full nudity)
Union of Heart. Original Fiction. When the recently widowed Duke of Bridgewater discovers he has inherited a cotton mill where the workers are striking, he decides to investigate the conditions of the workers and meets the impulsive Edward Mann, the union leader for his mill.
A delightful 11-page comic book romance for the pairing "Impulsive Trade Union Leader/Recently Widowed Young Duke."
Fic Recs (don't need to know canon):
Lace. Words: 470. Ephie is dressed in traditional Lephratan style, and is ready to meet her bride. NOTE: You used the magic phrase: costume porn. If someone says they’re open to costume porn, I must satisfy them! Original F/F. Sensual and sweet; as promised, the costume porn is excellent.
Fic Recs (better if you know canon):
get a little closer, let fold. Annihilation (2018 Garland). Anya can't get the way Josie smells out of her head. F/F. Tagged "porn without plot," but it's actually a fantastic example of how to convey character, atmosphere, theme, and setting by means of sex. Really well-done.
Three Times Lucky. Defenders. There is no such thing as luck, no such thing as magic fish, and Jessica wants a refund for this day. Short and hilarious; more fish jokes than you can shake a pole at.
Challenge Accepted. Iron Fist (TV). Misty doesn't have the Iron Fist, but she has an iron fist. G-rated but nonetheless extremely hot F/F, well-characterized and well-written.
Steady Gun Hand. Iron Fist (TV). Infected bullet wounds and heart to heart talks while hiding out from gangsters in Indonesia: just another day on the Rand-Meachum road trip of self-discovery. Great hurt-comfort, wilderness survival, characterization, and snarky dialogue.
I wrote three stories this Chocolate Box if you want to take a guess.
comments
