theladysnarkydame

summerofhorrorexchange revealed today! I got an astonishing 15K(!!!) Biggles fic (!!!) which I won't be able to properly start reading until tomorrow, but I cannot WAIT, it looks amazing and I'm dying to read it!

Obligatory reminder that I have a fic in the exchange as well. Deeply mysterious, hid my tracks amazingly as usual. And there is a lovely selection of other horror fic as well!

Earlier today, before all of that, I posted yet another Murderbot TV-verse fic, System // Handshake (2500 wds, gen, post-canon). Summary is spoilery for the finale; it's loosely springboarded off another fic I'd read earlier.

There's also this seriously adorable short interview with the whole Murderbot cast (link goes to Tumblr) in which they talk about playing the Bitter/Sweet game from the show on the set. HOW ARE THEY SO CUTE, I DIEEEEEE

And, longer and more serious, but I really enjoyed watching this David Dastmalchian interview; he talks about the show, as well as some of his other projects (Dune; comic book writing) and is so adorably excited about the show and invested in it.

sholio

Terrible Temperature Flash authors were revealed this evening, and I wrote two not at all predictable fics:

A Touch of Warmth (Biggles books, Biggles/EvS, 1000 words)
This was entirely for the mental image of Erich wrapping his coat around a chilled Biggles. ♥

Taking the Heat (Babylon 5, Vir & Londo gen, 2500 wds)
Londo gets heatstroke on Centauri Prime. This was a treat for the h/c of it all.

sholio

I'm not sure if this is complete enough for AO3, but I got a delicious hurt/comforty prompt on Tumblr, and ended up writing 1800 words for it. (Prompt and fic under the cut.)

Update: Now posted on AO3 as Soft Reboot.

( 1800 words of forced drugging )

sholio

( Spoilers for the whole show )

sholio

Okay, vid-source-assisting enablers, your reward is here. ♥

Watch on YouTube

With every broken bone, I swear I lived. Team/family vid. (Contains some sci-fi violence as per the show, flickering/flashing lights in a couple of scenes, and canon pairings in the background, but it's mostly focused on team + Murderbot.)

Song: I Lived
Artist: OneRepublic
Length: 03:57
AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/67565471
Tumblr: here

Having made this in a fit of exploding feelings today, I plan to get subtitles/downloads up soon (as soon as I remember how to do all of that; it's been ages since I made a vid!).

Temp download: Download from Dropbox (286 Mb, it's huge)

turps

I was at the gym this morning using the lat pull down machine that's in the free weight section. I'd done two reps when one of the muscle guys came over and said he'd noticed I was using a narrow grip, and he thought a different attachment would work better for me. ( Read more... )

Challenge #4

Fun House
Journaling: What is making you smile these days? Create a top 10 list of anything you want to talk about.
Creative: Write from the perspective of a house or other location.

These guys, MCR! I've been enjoying watching footage and seeing new photos from their concert so much. My love isn't as intense as it was in my height of bandom days, but it's still there, and I still think Mikey is hot like fire.

Seeing him with his bro, how happy he looked throughout that surreal, weird and yet awesome show, well it made me smile, too. Also, comments from Gabe and Travis on Mikey's Insta post, it was like being thrown back in time in the best way.

So, lets go old skool and have a top ten ~~plus four~~ picspam. ( behind here )

marthawells

A really thoughtful essay on Murderbot: ‘Even If They Are My Favourite Human’: Murderbot Just Explained Boundaries

https://countercurrents.org/2025/07/even-if-they-are-my-favourite-human-murderbot-just-explained-boundaries/

“I Don’t Know What I Want”: The Line That Changed Everything

In the final moments of the season, Murderbot says: “I don’t know what I want. But I know I don’t want anyone to tell me what I want or to make decisions for me. Even if they are my favourite human.”

This is not a dramatic declaration. It is confusion wrapped in clarity. A sentence that holds discomfort and self-awareness in equal measure. It reflects a truth often ignored in stories about intelligence and emotion: that it is okay to not know, as long as that unknowing belongs to the self. In a world that constantly demands certainty, this line opens up space for uncertainty without shame.

* And a great interview with Alexander Skarsgård!

https://collider.com/murderbot-finale-alexander-skarsgard/

So, it just wants to start fresh and get away, and figure out who it is and what it wants. It doesn't really know that. I quite enjoyed that Murderbot didn't end up having answers to all the questions or knowing exactly what it wants. It's more messy and complicated than that. But it definitely knows that it needs to find its own path and make its own decisions, to make its own mistakes, and not have the Corporation or anyone tell it who it is or what it wants.

sholio

Watch on YouTube

I watched this like 4 times in a row. It definitely contain spoilers, but it's divorced enough from the actual plotline of the show that if you don't mind SOME spoilers and want to get an idea of what the show is like, this might be a nice one to watch. (Warning for some gore.)

On AO3

sholio

scioscribe gave me a delightful Murderbot TV-verse prompt, hidden because it's somewhat spoilery for the finale:

Click to view

Post-finale Gurathin, burdened with all these memories of Sanctuary Moon, still doesn't like the show but now can't resist getting into nitpicky arguments about it on futuristic forums, where he and Murderbot keep crossing paths and gradually realize who they're talking to and get very fond about it without admitting to anything.

( 600 words or so of future fan forum shenanigans )

marthawells

Here's a gift link for the New York Times interview with Paul and Chris Weitz, who wrote, directed, and produced Murderbot:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/arts/television/murderbot-season-finale-chris-paul-weitz.html?unlocked_article_code=1.V08.exvw.M_qE37ROOT58&smid=url-share

turps

I've had a very lazy day today as James has been off doing a community overtime event for work. So, I've been tidying up indoors, given the garden a good soak and got caught up online. Well, the DW posts anyway, I've still got so much TV to watch, and yes, I know, the tiniest violin needed for me.

Tomorrow we're taking my MiL out for a belated birthday lunch, so I've enjoyed the quiet do very little day. Even enjoying the sunshine and the heat, due to not having to actually do anything but waft around in it.

Sunshine revival challenge prompt now.

Journaling prompt: What are your favorite summer-associated foods?
Creative prompt: Draw art of or make graphics of summer foods, or post your favorite summer recipes. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

The first thing that came to mind here was beach sandwiches. Which were the chopped salad cream, egg and tomato sandwiches my mam used to make for us when I was a kidlet. We'd head off to the beach, and have a picnic, and the sandwiches were always soggy, flat, and always had sand in them, no matter how carefully they were handled. But, at the same time, they always tasted delicious, especially so as mam used to buy a carton of chips to share while eating them.

A more up to date summer food. I was in the garden picking strawberries, raspberries, chillis and pea pods yesterday. There aren't that many of them as I only have a small garden, and the tomatoes haven't started to ripen yet. But, I thought the bowl looked pretty.

sholio

I wrote another Murderbot 1x10 episode missing scene.

Echoes (gen, 2500 words, Gurathin-centric)
Summary redacted because of spoilers; basically Gurathin's POV on some of the events of the finale.

A few notes on the fic (spoilery for both fic and episode):

under here

• I kept tweaking Gura's final line to Murderbot, so it might be a bit different if you read an earlier version. (I felt like I needed to soften it from how it originally was. They are hard to write! Especially keeping their edge when they're so soft in the final scene.)

• We know Murderbot has trouble figuring out what it's feeling, but I also think it's very plausible that Gurathin has the same problem, if not as badly. He's repressed so much for so long. Asking himself to identify exactly what emotions he's feeling is something that some therapist or other taught him to do.

• This is not necessary context for the fic and it's entirely subject to interpretation, but what I was thinking when it wrote it is that Murderbot using "its" for augmented humans in its last line of dialogue to Gurathin is actually MB doing roughly the same thing (except more emotionally positive) that Gurathin is doing in the episode of the show where he's arguing with Mensah and calls it "he" and then corrects himself to "it." It's over-identifying and doesn't even realize that it's doing so; I mean, it's worried about Gurathin, obviously, and that's why it's here, but there's also a certain amount of "we are the same kind of creature" going on here, even though it doesn't realize it's relating to him on that level. It knows that he might have damaged himself with the data overload because it also knows that it might damage itself in a similar way, and he has much less storage to handle it. And it's just kind of subconsciously being concerned about him as it might be concerned about a fellow construct, or itself, having taken damage. Of course neither of them parses all of that consciously.

In other events, Terrible Temperature Troubles Flash Exchange revealed gifts tonight! I got two absolutely delightful gifts - An Official Complaint Against the Universe (Babylon 5, Vir & Londo, hypothermia and h/c) and Consequences of Cold (Biggles, Biggles/EvS, snuggling when chilled). I loved them!

And finally,

hurtcomfortex author reveals were tonight. I wrote Sleepover (MASH, 1700 words, Margaret POV) with huddling for warmth and light comfort after nightmares.

marthawells

In Psychopomp, with me, Wole Talabi and Alix E. Harrow:

https://psychopomp.com/fantasy/issue97/interview-with-world-fantasy-finalists-part-one/

And in Scientific American:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/were-light-years-away-from-true-artificial-intelligence-says-murderbot/

sholio

( Finale spoilers )

( Brand new thought about the finale )

SEASON 2 WHEN

sholio

Finished the season finale, immediately turned around and wrote an episode tag.

Arrow (~2K words, gen, Mensah & Gurathin)
Set right during/after the end of the last scene in the episode.

I also saw on Tumblr that it's been renewed for a season two. Something delightful to look forward to!

marthawells

The new Murderbot short story is up at Reactor Magazine:

Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy

https://reactormag.com/rapport-martha-wells/

Edited by Lee Harris, art by Jaime Jones.

And Murderbot was renewed for a second season!

https://deadline.com/2025/07/murderbot-renewed-season-2-apple-tv-1236453764/

“We’re so grateful for the response that Murderbot has received, and delighted that we’re getting to go back to Martha Wells’ world to work with Alexander, Apple, CBS Studios and the rest of the team,” Chris and Paul Weitz, said in a statement Thursday.

sholio

I ended up nominating a few things for Enemies to Lovers (hush, I'm using it as a bribe for finishing my other assignments xD) and this made me spend some time thinking about which of my ships actually qualify - I had some trouble coming up with a third fandom, and trying to figure out where exactly I'd draw the line. (Like, I wouldn't call Sam/Bucky E2L - more like people who mildly antagonize each other to friends/lovers. But some might!)

So I got to wondering how other people define it. I selected check boxes since some people might have more than one answer. I mean, *I'm* not even sure where I fall in all of this!

Poll #33342

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 59

View Respondents

How would you define Enemies to Lovers? (or Enemies to Friends, if you're not a shipper)

View Answers

Must try to kill each other (or at least want to), or be on opposite sides of a conflict with life-or-death stakes
21 (35.6%)

Rivalries like sports rivalries are fine, but there needs to be a strong personal element and/or unhealthy fixation on each other (not just regular sports team conflict)
26 (44.1%)

Any kind of rivalry or antagonism will do
12 (20.3%)

For me it's about the Vibe™ - from distrust/antagonism to trust, whatever form that takes
26 (44.1%)

I do not accept it as proper E2L if there's any softening at all - they must remain antagonists
0 (0.0%)

I know it when I see it but don't get too fussed about definitions
9 (15.3%)

My thoughts are too complex for your ticky boxes (answer in comments)
2 (3.4%)

Not my trope so I don't care, but I want to click something.
3 (5.1%)

turps

I've just had a good lymphedema appointment. ( cut for details )

It was the second new day and time weight management class this morning, and along with two new people a few more of the regulars turned up, which was great. We talked about getting back on track if you've lost progress, and goodness knows, been there and done that multiple times.

It was a good talk, though as usual dominated by the overbearing couple. The exercise part was good, too, with a lot of arm strength focus. So my arms felt like spaghetti afterwards.

Something of interest, in a few weeks or so Rosie is going to offer exercise only sessions on our original Monday time, and also on a Thursday evening, which is great, but also a lot of classes. I'm not sure if I'm going to all three yet, but I really appreciate they're putting on these classes for free.

Rosie finally asked if the gym staff would put a sign on the door asking people not to come in while a class was in progress. She said she was fuming last week at the woman who arrived really early and walked through the middle of the class and then just stood watching as she waited for her own group to start. That must have been the straw that broke the camel's back because yeah, there's now a sign saying keep out.

More gym stuff, which I'll ( cut for those not interested )

sholio

I have discovered Enemies to Lovers exchange. o deer.

THAT being said, I really need to put a cork in the new exchange signups for a bit. Summer of Horror and Temperature Flash both reveal somewhere around this weekend, as well as that being the Casefic submission deadline. I have a pinch hit, I have things to edit, and I haven't even started Just Married.

Today it's rainy AND smoky, a wonderful combination.

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theladysnarkydame

Black Ink on White Paper

July 2021

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Page generated Jul. 22nd, 2025 04:02 pm

Oh what a world my parents gave me

Still, I think I'm doin' fine

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Summer of Horror and other fun things

Temperature Flash fic reveals

Murderbot ficlet involving spies and forced drugging

Stray Murderbot thoughts

Murderbot fanvid: I Lived

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More Murderbot Articles

Murderbot fanvid rec: Bohemian Like You

Murderbot fanficlet: Sanctuary Moon forum flame wars

Murderbot Interview

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Another Murderbot TV fic, Temperature Flash, and Hurt/Comfort-Ex

Two new interviews

Murderbot season finale (1x10)

Starting to think I need a Murderbot icon

New Murderbot Short Story

Enemies to lovers

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July 2021

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