Reading

Delay & Last Pinch Hit & Treats

As I'm still seeking a pinch hitter and others are working, I'm announcing a collection delay: Crossworks will now aim to open at 5pm EDT on Thursday 30 October.

If you can, please help with the pinch hit below. It is due on 11:59pm EDT, Wednesday 29 October.

PH #2

Art/Fusion, Fic/Fusion: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger, Bionicle - All Media Types
Art/Crossover, Art/Fusion, Fic/Fusion: Ghost Rider (Marvel Comics), Transformers: Prime
Art/Crossover, Fic/Crossover: Tetsuwan Atom | Astro Boy, Portal (Valve Video Games), Metroid Series
Art/Fusion, Fic/Fusion: Ghost Rider (Marvel Comics), Tron - All Media Types
( Read more... )

If you can't help with this pinch hit, please consider treats for other participants! All requests can be browsed here on the app. Treats can be rough sketches or short fics (assuming the recipient has opted into art or fic respectively); they do not need to be fleshed out to the same detail as an assignment.

If you currently have a pinch hit and need more time, please check in with me.

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topic: books

books

The Secret of Chimneys (1925) by Agatha Christie. An adventurous fellow arrives in England set on delivering a manuscript and a batch of illicit love letters and ends up in a wild plot involving a murder, a stolen jewel, and a Ruritanian country in Eastern Europe.

This is one of Christie's light-hearted romps. I definitely read this at some point 25+ years ago but had forgotten basically everything, including how much fun Christie is when she's in this mode. (Aside from the ambiant xenophobia, classism, antisemitism, and some unexpectedly central pro-monarchial sentiments.) I had a great time.

--

Eiger Dreams: Ventures Among Men and Mountains by Jon Krakauer. A collection of essays spanning a wide range of topics at least tangentially related to climbing. As the title suggests, not many women in this book. Overall a mixed bag, as an essay collection is liable to be, and sometimes Krakauer's voice wears a bit thin, especially when he's trying to be funny. OTOH, in the midst of "Tentbound," an otherwise tediously humorous essay on being stuck in your tent for days at a time, we get this passage, the end of which delights me more than I can even articulate:

Boredom presents a very real, if insidious, peril. To quote Blaine Harden from the Washington Post: "Boredom kills, and those it does not kill, it cripples, and those it does not cripple, it bleeds like a leech, leaving its victims pale, insipid, and brooding. Examples abound . . . Rats kept in comfortable isolation quickly become jumpy, irritable, and aggressive. Their bodies twitch, their tails grow scaly." The backcountry traveler, then, in addition to developing such skills as map and compass, or the prevention and treatment of blisters, must prepare mentally and materially to cope with boredome, lest his tail grow scaly.

My favorites out of the bunch are probably "Valdez Ice," about climbing frozen waterfalls; "Club Denali," about people attempting to climb Denali; and "Devil's Thumb," about him randomly deciding at the age of 23 to go to Alaska and solo climb a particular peak. You will notice all of these are about difficult, hazardous climbing in very cold temperatures, aka sort of similar to his Everest book.

In addition, usually Krakauer gives kind of mixed messages about his own climbing, on one hand saying it's an addiction and the only thing he's good at, and on the other hand only talking about how uncomfortable it is and how much he would rather be doing something else, So Devil's Thumb in particular was nice for a story of him actually doing some major climbing and only making a little bit of fun of himself over it.

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X-Files zine - reaching out to authors from the 1990s

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Fandom Gift Basket - due October 25th

fandomgiftbasket is a multifandom gifting fest, where people sign up with information about the fandoms they want and others then fill their requests. A fill must be a minimum of 100 words for fic, 100x100 pixels for graphics or icons (unless specified otherwise), a small doodle for art, or equivalents for other mediums. Read the full rules of the fest here.

In order for this event to reveal, every eligible person who signed up must receive at least 2 gifts.

The current due date is October 25th 11:59pm UTC. You don't need to be signed up or formally claim anything to post a fill.

Needs 2 gifts:

#1 - Hazbin Hotel, Slow Horses [art, podfic of own works, recursive fic of own works], Overwatch, Death Note, The Letter (Video Game) [art]

#2 - Attack on Titan, Honkai Star rail, Free! Iwatobi Swim Club [fic, art]

#3 - Wahkonda (Band), Springtime (Band), Mind Your Language (TV) [fic, art]

#4 - Given [fic, art], Jujutsu Kaisen, Wind Breaker [fic]

#5 - Balan Wonderworld (video game), Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo!, The Spectacular Spider-Man [fic, art]

Needs 1 gift:

#6 - Charmed (1998), W.I.T.C.H. (Cartoon), Black Magician Series - Trudi Canavan [fic, art, interactive fiction]

#7 - The Black Dagger Brotherhood (TV), The Black Dagger Brotherhood (TV)/Sons of Anarchy (Crossover), The Black Dagger Brotherhood (TV)/Sons of Anarchy/The Vampire Diaries (TV) (Crossover), The Black Dagger Brotherhood (TV)/The Vampire Diaries (TV) (Crossover), The Fall Guy (2024)/The Vampire Diaries (TV) (Crossover), La La Land (2016), La La Land (2016)/Song to Song (2017) (Crossover), Logan (2017), The Originals (TV)/The Vampire Diaries (TV) (Crossover), Song to Song (2017), Sons of Anarchy, Sons of Anarchy/The Vampire Diaries (TV) (Crossover), Tenet (2020), The Vampire Diaries (TV), The Wall (2017) [fic, moodboard, vids]

#8 - Omega Mart [art], Avalon: Web of Magic, Homestuck and Hiveswap, Wayfarers Series - Becky Chambers, My Immmortal (fanfic), Uma Musume: Pretty Derby (game & anime) [fic, art], Angel: The Series [fic, art, graphics]

#9 - Pokémon (Anime), Teen Titans (2003), The World Ends With You, Initial D, LOVE ME HARD - Jerry Heil (Music Video), The Seven Deadly Sins, Beyblade Burst (S2/Evolun), Metal Fight Beyblade (Beyblade Metal Saga), Belle (2021), JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Toonami [fic, meta], Beyond the Universe (2022), Black Dynasty Series by Marilena Barbagallo [fic, meta, fanmix]

#10 - Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light, Cherry Ames - Helen Wells/Julie Tatham, Fairy Tail, Voltron: Lion Force (1984), Baby-Sitters Club - Ann M. Martin, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Star Trek: Picard, He-Man (1983 cartoon), Clue/Clue Master Detective board games, Marvel What Ifs, Chalion Saga, Jem and the Holograms (Cartoon) [fic]

#11 - Bullet Train, Kraven the Hunter, Gladiator II, Nosferatu, 28 Years Later [fic, art, podfic]

#12 - The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton novel & 1983 movie), Tex (S.E. Hinton novel), That Was Then, This Is Now [fic, art, podfic, meta, ship manifesto], Trigun & Trigun Stampede, War and Peace (Leo Tolstoy novel) [fic, art, podfic]

#13 - SaGa Frontier / Romancing SaGa Re;univerSe (SaGa series) [fic, art], Fire Emblem: Genealogy Of The Holy War, Tales Of Destiny, Tales Of The World: Radiant Mythology, Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade, Fire Emblem Gaiden (Katsuyuki Ozaki novelization), Dragalia Lost, Guardians Of The Cosmos, Granblue Fantasy [fic]

#14 - The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension, literally anything featuring Miguel Ferrer, Dishonored, Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, Saints Row [fic, art]

#15 - Sk8, The Coffin of Andy and Leyley, Winx Club [fic, art]

#16 - Alice in Borderland (TV series), X (X/1999)/Tokyo Babylon, Ring 0: Birthday, Dune, Mortal Kombat, Marvel Cinematic Universe [fic, art]

#17 - Hazbin Hotel, Golden Sun, BCV: Battle Construction Vehicles [fic, art]

#18 - Carnival Row [fic, art, meta], Cat’s Eyes (TV 2024), 사랑의 불시착 | Crash Landing on You (TV) [fic], 무빙 | Moving (TV) [fic, art], Snowdrop [fic, fanvid, art]

#19 - Five Nights at Freddy's, Kingdom Hearts, Portal 2/Portal Stories: Mel [fic, art]

#20 - The Hypnotists series (Gordon Korman), Masterminds series (Gordon Korman) [fic, art, animatic], The Owl House, Stranger Things [fic]

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Tvmovie20in20 • Round 21

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Disney_20in20 • Round 14

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due South/C6D Big Bang Complementary Claims Open!

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💙💛 Sign-ups open! ~ Ryomina Exchange 2026 💛💙

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Oz Magi: A Holiday Season Shankfest

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Star Trek Holidays Noms and Sign Ups OPEN

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Doodle 4 Doodle 2025 - nominations are open!

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Current Mood: awake
Current Music: Little Big Town - We Go Together

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It's Agatha Christie time!

I might've waited longer to make a post, but I just finished The Listerdale Mystery, which is a collection of twelve short stories, and I had such a fun time I had to post ASAP! It's different from the previous short story collections I've read in that only one is a proper murder mystery, while the rest are murder without the mystery, murder adjacent, or do not come anywhere near murder at all! (Look at me being so excited, when it may turn out Christie has plenty of these.)

Some of the stories were centered on a twist that, by virtue of being a short story, made the twist far more important to the story itself, like anthology episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents or Twilight Zone (in terms of story structure, but with mundane concepts instead of fantastical). By the time I got to story ten there were some tropey repeats, especially featuring a man being pulled into an adventure by mysterious girl, but overall it's a fun mix and I really enjoyed myself.

Only caveat I would say that classism is particularly strong throughout in terms of justification for certain characters' successes or assumptions being proven right, but sometimes it seems earnest and others it seems ironic. I say that because another repeated topic of the stories is to not believe that people are who they say they are without proof, but the working class characters who get scammed this way tend to be rescued by their honesty, while the upper class characters who get scammed are either able to brush it off or are able to notice just enough truth through the scam to be rewarded by it.

Particular shoutouts to:

The opening "The Listerdale Mystery", about a widowed mother who finds a house for rent that seems to good to be true; the story is, if you think about it for two seconds, a ridiculous concept, but it's a particular kind of romantic id that you'd be well used to if familiar with Bollywood films and I found it kinda charming for that;

"Philomel Cottage", the most Alfred Hitchcock Presents of the bunch, with a recently-married woman realizing that her new husband might be planning to murder her;

"Accident", where a retired inspector suspects that a neighbour is a twice-murderess who is going to kill her current husband and wants to try to prevent it, ( spoilers )

Besides that, I've also read two more Christie short story collections, both of which are Poirot collections and thus more traditional mysteries: The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding and Murder in the Mews. The best thing about short Poirot stories is that Poirot can show up at a scene of the crime, take one turn of it and solve the mystery immediately. Which is neat!

In Christmas Pudding, I did like the one about the elderly estranged twin men, which kind of deceives you into thinking it'll be a switcheroo between the twins but is actually a switcheroo of a different kind. But quite a few (three, I think) stories involve disguises to make the murder appear to have happened differently or at a different time, and it kind of kicked my disbelief a bit too hard, especially the one that hinges on the murderer leaving it to chance that another character won't see the body after the murder.

Murder in the Mews has four short stories, with three being meatier than the fourth, and they’re kind of bound together with the theming of the "crime" isn’t exactly what it looks like. Well, the third one, "Dead Man's Mirror" is way more in line with Christie's precise murders, right down to the layout of the room being key to what's happened, but all of them are in the same realm. The only qualm I'd have is with the last one, "Triangle at Rhodes" which is the shortest of the lot and the assumptions are a bit of a stretch for me, in terms of what Poirot observes of the relationships that's happening vs. what we the reader are shown of those same relationships.

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Crossworks - Crossovers/Fusions - Due Oct 22 - Post-Deadline

crossworks

Crossworks is a gift exchange for fusion or crossover fic or art, where a gift must combine two fandoms from one of a recipient's requests (participants make several sets of requests).

Our main deadline has passed and pinch hits are urgently requested. Works are due 11:59pm EDT 22 October, or negotiable. Works must be complete, 1,000 words+ or a piece of complete artwork, must depict a combination of two canons from the same section of the recipient's requests, must stand alone, and must be wholly the creator's own work.

Please contact me at the

crossworks community to claim!

PH #2

Art/Fusion, Fic/Fusion: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger, Bionicle - All Media Types
Art/Crossover, Art/Fusion, Fic/Fusion: Ghost Rider (Marvel Comics), Transformers: Prime
Art/Crossover, Fic/Crossover: Tetsuwan Atom | Astro Boy, Portal (Valve Video Games), Metroid Series
Art/Fusion, Fic/Fusion: Ghost Rider (Marvel Comics), Tron - All Media Types

PH #5

Fic/Crossover: ONE - Cheesy Hfj (Web Series), ねこあつめ | Neko Atsume: Kitty Collector, Toy Story (Movies), Solaris - Stanisław Lem
Fic/Crossover: To the Moon Series (Video Games), Inside Out (Pixar Movies), Mindplayers - Pat Cadigan, Solaris (2002)
Fic/Crossover: The Greengage Summer - Rumer Godden, Monsieur Spade (TV), Song of the Sea (2014), Trouble With Lichen - John Wyndham

PH #6

Fic/Crossover, Fic/Fusion: 盗墓笔记 - 南派三叔 | Daomu Biji | The Lost Tomb - All Media Types, 太岁 | Tài Suì - priest
Fic/Crossover, Fic/Fusion: 盗墓笔记 - 南派三叔 | Daomu Biji | The Lost Tomb - All Media Types, 叛逆者 | The Rebel (TV 2021)
Fic/Crossover, Fic/Fusion: 镇魂 | Guardian - priest, His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Fic/Crossover, Fic/Fusion: The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester, 盗墓笔记 - 南派三叔 | Daomu Biji | The Lost Tomb - All Media Types
Fic/Crossover, Fic/Fusion: 镇魂 | Guardian - priest, KPop Demon Hunters (2025)
Fic/Crossover: 盗墓笔记 - 南派三叔 | Daomu Biji | The Lost Tomb - All Media Types, X-Men - All Media Types

PH #8

Fic/Crossover, Fic/Fusion: モノノ怪 | Mononoke (Anime & Manga), 蟲師 | Mushishi (Anime & Manga)
Fic/Crossover, Fic/Fusion: Lancer (Roleplaying Game), Infinite Revolution: Overdrive (Roleplaying Game), I Was a Teenage Exocolonist (Video Game), Wayfarers Series - Becky Chambers
Fic/Crossover, Fic/Fusion: Pressure (Roblox), Lancer (Roleplaying Game), Mystery Flesh Pit National Park - Trevor Roberts, Carrion (Phobia Game Studio Video Game)
Fic/Crossover, Fic/Fusion: Psychonauts (Video Games), Dandadan (Manga), CAIN (Roleplaying Game)
Fic/Crossover, Fic/Fusion: Norfolk Wizard Game (Web Series), Columbo, Deltarune (Video Game)
Fic/Crossover, Fic/Fusion: Kill Six Billion Demons (Webcomic), Lancer (Roleplaying Game), CAIN (Roleplaying Game)
Fic/Crossover, Fic/Fusion: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga, とんがり帽子のアトリエ | Tongari Boushi no Atelier | Witch Hat Atelier (Manga)
Fic/Crossover, Fic/Fusion: 悪魔城ドラキュラ暁月の円舞曲と蒼月の十字架 | Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow & Dawn of Sorrow, Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Fic/Crossover, Fic/Fusion: Any Other Fandom I've Requested in CW2025, Any Other Fandom I've Requested in CW2025 (Select ONLY In Combo With AOF Tag & No Other Fandoms)

Current Mood: hungry

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Amadeus

A friend and I had a loose resolution to check out more non-pop orchestral performances next year (since the ones we've gone to so far have all been for pop culture music, eg. movie and video game soundtracks), so she shared the 2026 season for the Malaysian Philharmonic and I thought maybe I'd check out their upcoming Mozart concert which is in conjunction with his 270th birthday.

Coincidentally, or maybe not because of said birthday, there's a new adaptation of Amadeus! Looks like a miniseries instead of a movie, but still, excitedly hopeful!

Watch on YouTube

Current Mood: hot
Current Music: Luciano Pavarotti - La donna è mobile

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Book Log: Where am I Now?

I must've gotten Mara Wilson's memoir Where Am I Now?: True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame during one of my trips to UK, because it has a price tag in pounds, but heck if I can remember when. What I do remember is that I put the book at the back of the drawer because I was annoyed and/or upset at her for something she'd said online. I no longer remember what it was! So I suppose it's time to be reading.

There is a feeling at the start that Wilson was way too young to be writing a memoir, but upon reading it it does make sense, because the bulk is about her time as a child actress and the fallout of that into the neuroses of teenhood and young adulthood. And going through that same thing we all do, where in growing up we become conscious of certain kinds of privilege we don't have and having to reckon with that, except Wilson's realization of the importance of looking traditionally pretty isn't just about trying to fit in and get friends, but also to get acting work. (Ow.) She namechecks as specific examples her peers Kristen Stewart and Scarlett Johansson who beat her to roles and did get to make the transition to acting adults, and her raw frustration that this was not something she could balance out with talent.

Tangled up in that is the intense celebrity-adjacent subculture of growing up in Burbank, California surrounded by peers who want to "make it" into the business and thus have feelings about those who do when they do not. Mean girl culture in a greater Hollywood setting, baby! (Ooofff.) This is probably the most fascinating section of the book to me, of how that world warps the expectations of children and teenagers who feel they're in the pipeline to showbiz greatness. Also, by her reckoning, there's lore than the Californian school subculture of show choirs that she participated in was what inspired Ryan Murphy to make Glee, though that may be more guesswork than cold hard facts.

Wilson specifically lived through some rough times (including the early death of her mother), but she got out of showbiz with relatively less trauma than other child actors, but it's still only other child actors who could understand what it was like to grow up in that environment and have so much of your personality and looks dissected by people who don't know you. Also, to have creepers think it's fun to ask a child questions about mature topics they haven't yet grappled with. Toxic and sadly familiar.

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Seasons of Drabbles - Fall Round: Signups and Nominations Open!

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Rarest of Rarepairs 2025

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Craigslist Thanksgiving Date Fest

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Halloween Horror Bingo 2025 - Last Day to Sign Up

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pinch hits

Main Deadline Passed; Repeat Pinch Hits

The main deadline has passed, and works look VERY EXCITING.

We have no new pinch hits to report, but we have some earlier ones! Please reach out if you can help with any of these. To claim, please comment below, including your AO3 name and the number/recipient name of the pinch hit you would like to claim. Comments are screened and I cannot reply directly to anonymous comments, but you're welcome to include an email.

These pinch hits are due at 11:59pm EDT, Wednesday 22 October.

PH #2

CLAIMED - PH #5

Fic/Crossover: ONE - Cheesy Hfj (Web Series), ねこあつめ | Neko Atsume: Kitty Collector, Toy Story (Movies), Solaris - Stanisław Lem
Fic/Crossover: To the Moon Series (Video Games), Inside Out (Pixar Movies), Mindplayers - Pat Cadigan, Solaris (2002)
Fic/Crossover: The Greengage Summer - Rumer Godden, Monsieur Spade (TV), Song of the Sea (2014), Trouble With Lichen - John Wyndham
( Read more... )

CLAIMED - PH #6

Fic/Crossover, Fic/Fusion: 盗墓笔记 - 南派三叔 | Daomu Biji | The Lost Tomb - All Media Types, 太岁 | Tài Suì - priest
Fic/Crossover, Fic/Fusion: 盗墓笔记 - 南派三叔 | Daomu Biji | The Lost Tomb - All Media Types, 叛逆者 | The Rebel (TV 2021)
Fic/Crossover, Fic/Fusion: 镇魂 | Guardian - priest, His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Fic/Crossover, Fic/Fusion: The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester, 盗墓笔记 - 南派三叔 | Daomu Biji | The Lost Tomb - All Media Types
Fic/Crossover, Fic/Fusion: 镇魂 | Guardian - priest, KPop Demon Hunters (2025)
Fic/Crossover: 盗墓笔记 - 南派三叔 | Daomu Biji | The Lost Tomb - All Media Types, X-Men - All Media Types
( Read more... )

CLAIMED - PH #8

Fic/Crossover, Fic/Fusion: モノノ怪 | Mononoke (Anime & Manga), 蟲師 | Mushishi (Anime & Manga)
Fic/Crossover, Fic/Fusion: Lancer (Roleplaying Game), Infinite Revolution: Overdrive (Roleplaying Game), I Was a Teenage Exocolonist (Video Game), Wayfarers Series - Becky Chambers
Fic/Crossover, Fic/Fusion: Pressure (Roblox), Lancer (Roleplaying Game), Mystery Flesh Pit National Park - Trevor Roberts, Carrion (Phobia Game Studio Video Game)
Fic/Crossover, Fic/Fusion: Psychonauts (Video Games), Dandadan (Manga), CAIN (Roleplaying Game)
Fic/Crossover, Fic/Fusion: Norfolk Wizard Game (Web Series), Columbo, Deltarune (Video Game)
Fic/Crossover, Fic/Fusion: Kill Six Billion Demons (Webcomic), Lancer (Roleplaying Game), CAIN (Roleplaying Game)
Fic/Crossover, Fic/Fusion: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga, とんがり帽子のアトリエ | Tongari Boushi no Atelier | Witch Hat Atelier (Manga)
Fic/Crossover, Fic/Fusion: 悪魔城ドラキュラ暁月の円舞曲と蒼月の十字架 | Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow & Dawn of Sorrow, Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Fic/Crossover, Fic/Fusion: Any Other Fandom I've Requested in CW2025, Any Other Fandom I've Requested in CW2025 (Select ONLY In Combo With AOF Tag & No Other Fandoms)
( Read more... )