lb_lee | Reading

What are you working on? What have you finished? What do you need encouragement on?

Are there any cool events or challenges happening that you want to hype?

What do you just want to talk about?

What have you been watching or reading?

Chores and other not-fun things count!

Remember to encourage other commenters and we have a discord where we can do work-alongs and chat, linked in the sticky.

duckprintspress

a guest post by, unsurprisingly, anonymous!

Why Post Anonymously?

Have you ever wanted to write a fic, but the idea of being perceived felt scary? Have you ever wanted to write something strange, or weird, or too kinky, and didn’t want your usual username associated with it?

Boy, do I have news for you.

There are many reasons why someone may want to not have their name associated with a work they want to post.

There are people who are shy, or scared of being perceived, and having a name attached to it may be daunting. There are people who want to explore a theme, genre, or kink, that doesn’t “match” their online persona, or that they’re not too comfortable or familiar with.

No matter the reason, AO3 does not judge, and is here to help.

Ways on AO3 to separate your name from a work

There are several ways to go about posting without it being attached to your account like a pseud. You can create a separate AO3 account with a different email, orphan a work posted under your name, and post under Anonymous.

There are pros and cons to each option:

Having separate accounts gives you full control, but you are managing a whole new account.
Orphaning a work removes you entirely and it is irreversible. You don’t get emails about comments or kudos, you cannot reply to comments unless you’re okay with your AO3 account being associated with it, you cannot edit or change the title, tags, or content, and your name is removed from the work.
Posting or adding your posted work to an Anonymous Collection (such as this one). The story remains yours, you can edit, delete, reply to comments, and if at any point you decide you want to take ownership back, you can always remove it from the collection.

As you can see, posting on Anon gives you a lot of flexibility. You retain full control over the story, can reply to comments as the author (as Anonymous Creator), and you can always take the story out of the Anonymous Collection at any time.

Just remember that if you’re logged in, your Works won’t appear on your dashboard or Works, but don’t panic they’re still there. You can access them by going to your works, then at the top right corner you’ll see a button called Works in Collections, which will include the ones you have in Anon Collections. Alternatively, you can go to your Stats page, where you will find all works associated with your account, anon or otherwise.

A screen capture from the "works" page of someone's AO3 account, with the name and number of works and number of pages blacked out. The "works in collections" button is selected, and four red arrows point to it.

Don’t be scared if you see the author as Anonymous [Your AO3 name], that’s only visible while you’re logged in. If worried you can always check on an incognito tab.

This feature has given me the freedom to poke, and shake out the weird out-of-pocket thoughts lurking in my head without having to explain myself to my friends or user subscribers. And not everyone will relate, but knowing nobody (except the people subscribed to a multichaptered story) is receiving an email when I post has been very healing.

Of course, even as an anon fic, it has to respect AO3’s guidelines and other AO3 users: it must be tagged appropriately, can’t be a placeholder or idea dump, and cannot include anything else not allowed on AO3.

Posting to an Anonymous Collection

To make a posted work anonymous, you have to go to Edit Work, then to the section about Collections, and add it to an anonymous collection.
A screen capture from Archive of Our Own, showing the Post to Collections/Challenges box. The word "anonymous" has been entered into the box, and a list of suggested anonymous collections follows.

To post directly as Anonymous, first you go to an anonymous collection, and find the button Post to Collection.

A screen capture from the Archive of Our Own collection Anonymous, showing the header area of the Dashboard page for the collection. The "Post to Collection" button is pushed down and has three red arrows pointing to it.

You can create a new anon collection, but while the work won’t appear under your name, the collection will. If that is a concern of yours, choose one of the many anon collections available, making sure it is: Open, Unmoderated, Anonymous, but personally I prefer this collection

Hope this information has been helpful to someone. And whether you choose to post on anon or not, good luck!

numb3r_5ev3n

I'm struggling with writing a regular entry. Because I am, as The Kids say, Crashing Out.

Work is an absolute nightmare. Every day I fantasize about ragequitting and just driving out to the lake and planning what I'm going to do with the rest of my life from there. "Driving to Seattle or San Francisco and living in a commune" sounds romantic, but not very realistic.

I've been binge-listening to old recordings of Terence McKenna again, and thinking about how nice it would be to become a professional psychonaut like he was. Maybe in the era of Trump and the Social Media algorithm, it is time once again to Turn On, Tune In, and Drop out.

I have cut out nearly all social media, and I'm trying to limit my time on tumblr just a few hours a week. Because while issues with retaining stuff I read is a known ADHD symptom, I didn't really start to have problems with it myself until the advent of scrolling social media. Which means this has been an ongoing thing for nearly 20 years now. I can read fiction just fine, but I struggle with nonfiction, and I'm trying to fix this. Books that engage the reader directly in a conversational voice are easier than those that don't.

But it's terrible, because I can remember the time when I used to be able to read two or three books a week. And I never really wanted to admit it was a problem when it started to become a problem, or deal with it (because that would mean admitting it had become a problem.) I'm hoping that this is something I can build back up like a muscle.

I need to cut out youtube unless it pertains directly to something I am focusing on or working on, particularly short form videos.

So much stuff seems to be clickbait now. I hate that I can't tell how much of the projected Blue Wave midterm results are real or not, or if we're being psyopped. I've heard "we might flip Texas blue!" so often since 2016 that it feels like a put-on. Don't get me wrong, I got my voter registration sorted out right after I moved back at the end of June, and I'm early voting at the first opportunity I get. I'm just not expecting a miracle. Maybe we flip a few seats. Maybe we get a few people in who aren't Nazis. Maybe even enough people to start impeachment proceedings. I'd settle for that.

Also: I have no interest in remaining on any Web 2.0 social media if they are going to start livestreaming executions. I don't want to be anywhere where I might see anything like that. I heard today that they are no longer planning on doing this with the Fort Hood shooter. Which is a good thing if it's true, despite what he did. We don't need to turn into a place that does public executions. America was guilty of atrocities long before Trump, and will still guilty be long after he's gone. But it's stuff like that which indicates a turn from a failed Democracy into a full-blown Banana Republic.

Tiktok is of course Right Out.

But I need to apologize to all my friends here. Back last June, I rejoined Reddit just to engage with the tech community, and it ended up eating my life to the point of basically being a second job again. So I deleted it for real this time. And I know I suck at keeping up with people at the best of times, and it must feel like I fell completely off the map again and stopped responding to people. But for a few months, Reddit was all-consuming. And it became all-consuming to the point of missing the emails that my cyberalfheim website domain was about to expire. And now I have to deal with the fact that it may have been picked up by either an AI or someone who is opposed to what I was doing with it.

The material is still up at neocities, but this sucks and I hate it that this happened. Six or so years ago I was considering giving it up and just merging that content on with the stuff already at Cyber Arcadia anyway, but I'm sorely tempted to finally dust off the dragoncourt dot org domain I bought three years ago and move it there, no matter who it may piss off.

In other news: I have watched the new Avatar spinoff (Seven Havens) and it's great! It's so obviously influenced by the art style of Jean Giraud/Moebius! It's totally worth seeing. So is American Horror Story's 13th season. Some folks on tumblr are complaining about it, particularly its continuity with past seasons. But I'm just enjoying the ride.

malymin

DogOnline notes:

The Dog cap has increased, though I don't know by how much? You have to pay a fee for every dog past dog #3.
Speaking of, I got two new dogs. Sitara was originally a Husky, but was changed with a D20 into a "Temple Dog", a new Anubis-like breed. Maplesweet was adopted as a Calico Dog, and is going to stay that way.
Halloween items and breeds were dropped, but also some new non-Halloween stuff was dropped too. Some of the new breeds can show up in the Pound - the Scruffy Grey and Scruffy Brown dogs are definitely new. The Temple Dog is another non-Halloween new breed, though IDK if it shows up in the pound.
Bat Dogs, Headless Dogs, Mummy Dogs, and Pumpkin Dogs are all associated with the candy corn transformation item. I've been saving Magic Candy Corns to give to a friend if she joins, because she likes bats.
Once you've had a dog read "Deep Frier Desires" and unlocked "Dogre's Dungeon" in the dungeon-crawling Lonely Tower game, Dogre's Dungeon is a decent places to grind for cash. You get Onions from Dogre himself, and Odd Oil from several random encounters - the two ingredients in Onion Rings, which can sell for $5,600 to $6,720 a pop at the Auction House. Dogre's Dungeon is also one of the three floors that can give you some nice rare books.

As much as I once loved Flight Rising, I feel like it's collapsing under its own accumulated weight right now. The constant output of new breeds, genes, and apparel feels draining, rather than exciting, when much of the gameplay has remained tedious, unrewarding, and difficult to get back into. Gathering food still sucks, Coli still sucks, the Fairgrounds still eat up too much time for too little pay. They released a breed that was Extremely My Shit recently and I barely even cared.

Speaking of virtual pets, Reflet on the hacking/modding Discord has made impressive progress reverse-engineering and re-implementing Petz! They showed off the rebuilt game being opened, playscenes and toys being interacted with, etc the other day. They said the living room mice (simple animalz in anatomy and behavior compared to the adoptable catz and dogz) should be implemented pretty soon, and that once those work it'll be swift progress to start implementing actual petz. Petz, a game that relies on real-world calendars for aging, pregnancy, determining if a pet has been neglected... is affected by the Year 2038 problem, because it stores that information in a 32-bit integer. People have set their computer clocks to 2038 to test it out and the game just Stops Being Able To Run in that year. Anything that allows us to continue to run the game with minimal fuss past that year is going to be a lifesaver, even aside from the modding opportunities that will open up when the project is done.

duckprintspress

8 book covers, three badges labeled Hello my pronouns are and text atop rainbow gradient. The text reads: 37 Books We Love + a play! for International Pronouns Day. The books are: Withered by A.G.A. Wilmot; A Hundred Vicious Turns by Lee Paige O'Brien; Awakenings by Claudie Arseneault; Love, Lies, and Cryptids by M.L. Nolan; Key Lime Sky by Al Hess; Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey; On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden; Homebody by Theo Parish.

10 book covers atop rainbow gradient. The books are: All Systems Red by Martha Wells; Translation State by Ann Leckie; Book Boyfriend by Kris Ripper; The Edge of a World by J.D. Rivers; Worst-Case Scenario by Ray Stoeve; Godly Heathens by H.E. Edgmon; Time and Time Again by Chatham Greenfield; Love, Misha by Askel Aden; The Pairing by Casey McQuiston; The (Most Unusual) Haunting of Edgar Lovejoy by Roan Parrish.

10 book covers atop rainbow gradient. The books are: No. 6 by Atsuko Asano & Hinoki Kino; Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe; The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia; Spell Bound by F.T. Lukens; Boys Weekend by Mattie Lubchansky; Acting the Part by Z.R. Ellor; Wavelength by Cale Plett; Daybreak by Moosopp; Soulstar by C.L. Polk; I Was A Teenage Death God by M.J. Beasi.

10 book covers atop rainbow gradient. The books are: A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers; What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher; Can't Take That Away by Steven Salvatore; Phase Shift by Terra P. Waters; Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse; Dear Wendy by Ann Zhao; When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo; Have You Seen This Girl by Nita Tyndall; Beyond The Binary: Eight Non-Binary Plays from Next Stage Press; Aether Beyond the Binary ed. by Nina Waters.

Wednesday, October 21st is International Pronoun Day, and so we put together a list of books featuring characters who use pronouns other than she/her or he/him – they/them, she/ or he/them, it/its, neopronouns, or anything along those lines – all are included in this list! The contributors to the list are: Lucy K.R., Tryan A Bex, Shadaras, JD Rivers, Rascal Hartley, Shannon, Neo Scarlett, Mikki Madison, Nina Waters, Nova Mason, Terra P. Waters, CarCrash, Linnea Peterson, and 2 anonymous contributors.

Withered by A.G.A. Wilmot
A Hundred Vicious Turns by Lee Paige O’Brien
Awakenings by Claudie Arseneault
Love, Lies, and Cryptids by M.L. Nolan
Key Lime Sky by Al Hess
Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey
On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden
Homebody by Theo Parish
All Systems Red by Martha Wells
Translation State by Ann Leckie
Book Boyfriend by Kris Ripper
Otar’s Universe series by J.D. Rivers
Worst-Case Scenario by Ray Stoeve
Godly Heathens by H.E. Edgmon
Time and Time Again by Chatham Greenfield
Love, Misha by Askel Aden
The Pairing by Casey McQuiston
The (Most Unusual) Haunting of Edgar Lovejoy by Roan Parrish
No. 6 by Atsuko Asano & Hinoki Kino
Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe
The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia
Spell Bound by F.T. Lukens
Boys Weekend by Mattie Lubchansky
Acting the Part by Z.R. Ellor
Wavelength by Cale Plett
Daybreak by Moosopp
Soulstar by C.L. Polk
I Was A Teenage Death God by M.J. Beasi
A Monk and Robot series by Becky Chambers
Sworn Soldier series by T. Kingfisher
Can’t Take That Away by Steven Salvatore
Phase Shift by Terra P. Waters
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
Dear Wendy by Ann Zhao
The Singing Hills Cycle by Nghi Vo
Have You Seen This Girl by Nita Tyndall
Beyond The Binary: Eight Non-Binary Plays by Next Stage Press
Aether Beyond the Binary ed. by Nina Waters

Find these and other books on our Goodreads book shelf, Pagebound list or buy them through the Duck Prints Press Bookshop.org affiliate page.

Join our Book Lover’s Discord server to chat books, fandom, and more!

witchpoetdreamer

www.youtube.com/watch

It's been on my to watch list for a while and tonight was the time to watch it XD

Current Mood: calm

erinptah

Down to 401 fandoms.

Yes, it bugs me that it isn’t a nice round 400! No, I’m not picking 1 more fandom to drop just for the sake of it. There are several that I don’t plan to keep long-term, I’m just holding them until some particular Wrangling Thing gets processed, so it’ll go under the nice round number at some point anyway.

Currently 16 with any tags to wrangle. The biggest backlog is in Madoka Magica, where I’ve been treading very carefully in hopes of not getting Walpurgisnacht-Rising-spoiled by tags. (So far, so probably-good.)

Still no progress on the currently-open AMT requests. Maybe next month.

(In happier news, about half the tags from my first two Can You Find This Fandom posts have been canonized/synned somewhere! So that’s going well, and I should probably make another one.)

armaina

It is so difficult to get others to understand my struggle with recollection with a sequence of letters and numbers, especially people in the tech field when I try to describe my issues with the command line. I keep being talked at that repetition and familiarity are what I need and it works for everyone and I just want hold their face and look at them like 'no. no it doesn't'.

And I'll have people point out 'well you write dialog well' and 'but you code HTML/CSS in text' and it's like... I desperately need you to know it's not the same.

You know why I am so good at dialog? Because the characters are having audible conversations with one another in my head. And when I'm reading, it's converted into 'sound' in my head, it doesn't remain text. It's easier for me to remember the concept and context of a thing, the idea of a thing, than the literal words used to express that thing.

When writing, it's easier for me to write dialog than descriptions because dialog sits in my mind back as audio, even if it's made up, and there's a direct translation of audio to words. But descriptions sit in my mind as pictures and feelings which does not have a direct literally translation. Sure I can list out the objects as they exist, but that isn't exactly very narratively compelling.

And when I'm writing HTML/CSS, I heavily rely on cutting and pasting, autofill, not to mention visual differentiation and indenting to make sure I don't loose my place. But almost none of it I can do from memory. There's a reason why I use Phoenix Code, and not like, notepad, I don't think I'd be near as good at it if I did.

You want to know how I remembered Phone Numbers as a kid? I remembered the dial tone sequences. I could be in a situation where I would not be able to repeat the phone number back or write it down, but get me in front of the phone and i touch the keys and hear the tone and then I remember the sequence without even looking at the numbers. I feel like my brain works in Raster and coding and command lines expect me to work in Vector. Like I know the approximation or idea of the thing, but I don't have the actual file, like the difference between a text file and an image of a text file.

And this makes the command line a nightmare.

For Example, this is the steps one has to take to add a new website to Apache.

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/domain.com/public_html
sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /var/www/domain.com/public_html
sudo cp /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf /etc/apache2/sites-available/domain.conf
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/domain.conf
sudo a2ensite domain.com.conf
sudo service apache2 restart

I absolutely cannot remember this sequence if I were to write it all from scratch without a reference. And its not because I don't understand what is happening, I know exactly what it does!

Make a new directory
Change the owner of said directory to the user account
Copy and paste the default conf file to make a new one for a new domain
Edit the new conf file using Nano
Initialize the new site config
Restart Apache

The problem is, if I were to write all these out from memory it starts to become something like this:

sudo makedir -p /var/www/domain.com/public.html
sudo chown $USER /var/www/domain.com/public_html (this step can often be forgotten entirely)
sudo c p /apache2/sites/default.conf /apache2/sites/domain.conf
sudo nano /apache2/sites/domain.conf
sudo a2??site domain.com.conf
sudo service apache2 restart

And that's on a good day!!!! It feels like how it feels when I'm being asked to spell something without writing it down. Which may I point out, I've been historically very bad at spelling. It is extremely common for me to remember the vague approximate of the letters that exist in the pile of the word but completely loose track of where they are in the sequence they exist. The very act of writing feels like sentence that float above my head that I have to keep leaping up to pull it back down a letter at a time before it disappears from me entirely. It took me till my 30's before I could spell Necessary correctly without spell check, and even then I can't spell it without a visual in front of me.

So once you start getting into commands where it's like ` -u dphp -p` Man like.. I can't.. I can't remember that

d's can be easily mis-remembered as b's, h's, p's can be easily mis-remembered as q's a's o's depending on the text and some letters can be just completely forgotten in the sequence entirely.

In an environment like the command line where there is no room for error, that it must be exact and perfect every time, file paths must mirror 100% what exists it is an active source of stress for me to use the command line. I have to switch my brain into the OCR gear that barely functions. And there is nothing there to remind you or autofill or suggestion when you're typing, something that would remind me the things I'm forgetting, something I rely on heavily when I'm coding in HTML/CSS.

You know how I write anything? How I write this post? How I code? How I write scripts. I jump around! I started in the middle, worked at the beginning, I add to the end, I move things around. I do the same with HTML, too. I edit non-linearly

The command line, is live. There's no previews, no double checking, once it's in, it's in. And if you screw up, sure you MIGHT be able to fix it, but in MANY cases, you can't or might not know there's anything TOO fix until you're so deep into it you don't know where you made the mistake. Deleting files/directories is the most NERVE RACKING thing you can do on a command line, I wish I could do that visually x_x

I know a possible solution to some of this is to get a different shell to do the command line interfacing from, but I don't even know what to use and if any of them has like.. a guide to tell me what it will do before I commit the line to active? like 'these commands will result in this happening' sort of feedback, I'd feel a lot less lost with something like that. x_x

Current Mood: frustrated
Current Music: The Stiletto Formal - Navigating the Formaldehyde Strait

armaina

It gets so difficult to express interest in philosophy because it's so easy for people to get weird about it. Like, I just want to discuss the intricacies of life to both explore and critique, but so many of the people 'into philosophy' (including many philosophers themselves) approach it like unlocking the super special secret code to life that only you the most special and enlightened one could ever conceive of and only those of equal '''''intelligence''''' could ever hope to understand, let alone it perceive it at all.

So announcing you like Philosophy either attracts aforementioned people that really think like that, or makes others believe you are one of those people.

and it's like, man

I just think it's cool to consider why we do what we do and the different perspectives we could have about that.

Current Mood: disappointed

duckprintspress

I have my annual physical this morning, so I'm dubious that I'll have time to post this later, and I'm awake, and had something else to check at my desktop, so might as well get it done now.

1. What are you currently reading?

Tailhook by La Rive Gauche: I'm not sure I'd have launched into this if I'd known it's a spin-off from this author's other title The Approach, which is also being released but by a different publisher. Anyway, regardless, here we are. The pacing is a little weird and I'm left to wonder if it's because some of these events are in the other book, or... if the pacing is just weird. Aside from that, tho, it's decent, and man these two guys have a LOT of sex.
Network Effect (Murderbot 5) by Martha Wells: only about 10% in, I don't have tons of audiobook time so it's kinda slow going. So far, so interesting. It's fascinating to see how Wells plays with the pacing and delves into stuff that'd have been skipped in the novella length ones, now that she's got a whole novel to play with.
天官赐福 vol. 1 revised edition by 墨香铜臭: this whole section is sooooooo rewritten. I've been posting various related stuff in ⁠TGCF and amazing danmeis if anyone (anyone not already there, anyway) is interested.

2. What have you recently finished reading?

Lout of Count's Family vol. 9 by Yu Ryeo-Han: I should have just waited til I had the whole series, every volume leaves me wanting to just keep reading and I can't and it's the worst actually.
Exit Strategy (Murderbot 4) by Martha Wells: I think this is my favorite of the bunch so far tbh
Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory by Martha Wells: it was nice to read an in-verse short story from a different point of view and see Murderbot the way Mensah sees Murderbot. Also the PTSD stuff sure is important in Network Effect...
Wild and Full of Marvels: finished my pre-press full read-through. If all goes as planned this will go to the printer today.
My Isekai Life vol. 12 to 16 by Shinkoshoto and Ponjea: I just want to make it explicit, again, that the speed at which I've been reading this is in no way an indication that it's good, but rather I'm stressed and exhausted and it's like sitting with a bag of potato chips. You know you shouldn't keep going yet you can't eat just one.
Dandadan vol. 19 by Yukinobu Tatsu
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime vol. 25 by Fuse: while debating dropping it I noticed I'm only like 3 volumes from having read all the manga that's out so idk, I might just finish, or I might drop it anyway, but for now I'm giving it at least one more.
My Little Prince vol. 1 by Kjorelo: first of the danmei manhua I'm pretty darn "meh" about. Zero likeable characters. Like, I just don't care about either of these people and I don't care if they get together. I haven't pre-ordered volume 2 yet and I'm definitely waffling on if I'm gonna order it at all.

3. What are you planning to read next?

Novels: The Mystery of the Bitten Peach by Cecilia Tan is next, and then Soul Vibration by Dr. Solo. It's 3 volumes so that'll keep me busy for a bit.

Physical Graphic Novels/Manhua/Manga/Manhwa: I need to read Bedtime Fairy Tales vol. 1 by Yu Ci to help me decide if I'm gonna pre-order additional volumes.

Libby Loans: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime vol. 26 by Fuse and Kagurabachi vol. 8 by Takeru Hokazono are due next, tho neither in under a week. lbr, I'll probably read more My Isekai Life next, it's about all I've got the brain for.

(don't expect to start any new audiobooks any time soon, as Network Effect is very long, and I have no physical library loans rn)

sinistmer

Newest Inktober--the prompt was "sugar skull cat". I had fun picking out all the colors. I didn't really have a plan, but all the colors make me happy.

by me

liondrakes

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Current Mood: contemplative

liondrakes

This essay was cross-posted from my blog on Tumblr. It was originally posted on October 11th, 2026.

Is there a boundary between fact and fiction? I don’t think so. If anything, I think they’re inseparable especially with my own fictionhood and facthood in mind. The glue that holds fact and fiction together are people and their stories or narratives. For instance, stories exist in both spaces. Both are shaped by our experiences, beliefs, biases, desires, and much, much more. Anything can become a narrative, and anyone can be fictionalized by another person as well.

How we frame things can easily blur our relationship between fact and fiction. So, in my opinion: framing fiction as exclusively “not real” undercuts how often fact and fiction interact.

( Lookin' for adventure? Click here! )

Current Mood: contemplative

liondrakes

This essay was cross-posted from my blog on Tumblr. It was originally posted on September 18th, 2026.

I’m gonna be cryptic for a moment.

I feel like if there’s any framework that applies to my experiences universally, especially without the usage of labels, it’s best summarized by this quote from Helen Fulton: “Our sense of reality is increasingly structured by narrative.”

If I were to ignore all the nuances and contexts that inform my ways of being, then it is best described as a steadily unraveling narrative. Narrative is a concept often associated with fiction, and fiction is associated with an “absence” of reality. When something is referred to as a narrative, there’s the implication that it was intentionally crafted and shared for a specific reason. If not spoken in context to fiction and/or storytelling, then this is often taken in a negative context. However, I believe narrative exists in all points of life. Yes, narratives can be controlled just as much as they can be crafted. Through those acts, fact and fiction meet.

Yet, we as individuals create and control our own narratives day-by-day based on our experiences and the decisions therein. It isn’t an inherently negative thing to do, let alone a harmful one. Personal narratives are neutral concepts as far as I’m concerned. Almost everything we regard as a part of our identities and do in association with that shape our personal narratives, and choices— no matter how big or small— direct those narratives as we proceed through life.

If something happens to us, we make choices where we try to navigate the event, our understanding of it and our course of action afterwards. If something sounds similar to our experiences, we make choices that not only determine if we wish to explore it further but also whether or not it applies to us and our world view. If we want something, we make choices where we either recognize and pursue that desire, return to it at a later time or distance ourselves from it completely. Nothing exists in a vacuum.

I made a choice in labeling myself transspecies, specifically transfictional and fictionkin. Why? Because my relationship with fiction permeated my life so much that I decided to continue exploring this overlap between fact and fiction, specifically within myself. I have more understanding on why I have such an atypical relationship with fiction because of the self-discoveries I’ve made, and that relationship existed long before I learned I could be both human and nonhuman. I erased the boundary that separated me from fiction, and I intend on keeping it that way.

My reality exists in a gray area of sorts. I no longer recognize the binaries of “real” and “not real” as concepts. People can easily change what they deem “real” and “not real” if it suits their interests. What people consider “real” can be fashioned into a weapon against other people, as can the concept of what they consider “not real”. Plenty of non-fictionfolk, especially orthohumans, don’t consider fictionhood as “real”, despite partaking in activities and subcultures that easily overlap with fictionhood. Even other alterhumans posture themselves as supportive of us while treating us as an afterthought in the community. Some fictionkind rebuke the idea of being fictional; in their perspective, they happen to exist alongside media that features them. Some fictionkind are impartial to the idea of being fictional and engage with fictionfolk spaces and fandom spaces alike. Much of it can circulate back to how “real”, “not real” and reality as a whole are conceptualized.

For me, fictionhood is the core of my transition. Before I started labeling myself as transspecies, I realized early on how much fiction influences my sense of self. Whether or not my fictionhood was inherent and always here isn’t something I entertain. I know I wasn’t always Sol-El, fictional shapeshifter and extraterrestrial. I didn’t always see myself as fictional, but what matters is that I am fictional now.

I am living fiction. I am meta. I feel stories. I redefine my own stories. I travel to and from fictional worlds subconsciously. I am a fourth wall-breaker. I experience a belonging in worlds and dimensions outside of this one, hence why I am a fictional extraterrestrial. By being living fiction, I can encompass many forms and perspectives, hence why I am a fictional shapeshifter. I perceive myself as completely two-dimensional, unlike the people, places and things I share space with. This is the path I walk in my life because of experiences old and new.

My relationship with fiction has long since evolved and re-shaped my world view. Part of that involved questioning my philosophy on “reality”, how it is quantified and what it looks like for me. What does it look like for you? (Mad Pride also had a huge influence on why my perspectives have changed and is very much related to all of this, but I digress.)

Current Mood: contemplative

duckprintspress

Have you ever had a plot bunny – a story idea you just can’t resist, that keeps spawning new ideas? Plot bunnies can be overwhelming, especially when they keep proliferating and you just can’t seem to figure out which bunny to focus on, what to write, how to get started, or just need a reality check on if the idea is good. If you’ve ever had these problems, then have we got a panel for you!

Topic: So You’ve Been Nipped By a Plot Bunny. Now What?

Description: Congratulations, you have a story idea – often called, jokingly, a plot bunny. But there’s a huge journey to traverse between point A (a story idea) and point B (a completed story). In this panel, we’ll talk about how to get that journey started! We’ll discuss “next steps” on story ideas, how we decide which plot bunnies to raise into full-grown rabbits (or is that taking the analogy too far?), and how we take our ideas and work toward getting them on paper – how we record them, whether we outline and outlining approaches we’ve used, and more. For everyone who has ever had a story idea they really wanted to write, then immediately hit up against a solid wall of “now what,” this panel is for you!

Date: Saturday, October 17th

Time: 9:00 p.m. Eastern (converter)

Panelists: Sage Mooreland, MJ Kiwiana, Dei Walker, and Max Jason Peterson

Join us on Discord and RSVP here!

Interested in our panels? Want to watch our past ones? You can! All our past panels are available to backers at the $10/month level or higher as recordings. Become a backer and join the conversation!

(sorry to post again today, I'm scheduling this for tomorrow on most platforms but I still haven't knuckled down to figure out my Dreamwidth scheduling options)

duckprintspress

We’ve released two new short stories on our Patreon recently. Everyone who supports our Patreon at the $5/month level or higher can read these two stories, and many others, immediately, at no additional cost!

A book cover with a simple, classical motif in shades of ecru and blue. The Duck Prints Press logo, featuring the name of the business, a series of rainbow duck prints, and a white duck, is at the bottom. The title is "Climb Up the Spout Again" and the author is J. D. Harlock. Tags are provided: Historical Magical Realism * Closeted Gay Characters * Fighting Homophobia * Gangs and Organized Crime

Story 1: Climb Up the Spout Again by J. D. Harlock (general imprint)

a young closeted gay man caught in 70s London gang culture struggles to find his way out

length: 15 pages/4,993 words

Excerpt: Winter was the season when South London went to sleep, and the old spirits came alive. I finally felt good about myself again when I knew I still had nothing to be proud of. I made my way home on foot, tapping a beat that had come to me earlier that day like I was the Fred Astaire of the Yardies. It was late, but some ravers still ran around on the street, itching for action, and I wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction. Most lads around these parts knew better than to start something with a member of Calf’s gang on his territory. The rest were tipped off by the bruises on my face and the blood on my collar and cuffs. I felt like I was in West Side Story but looked like something out of The Warriors.

Story 2: Harbinger by Michael Joseph (explicit imprint)

a man born into a family of prophets goes to delivery his oracular words to a corrupt king and finds far more than he ever expected

length: 13 pages/4,544 words

Excerpt: I collected my rucksack from where I kept it in the corner of my bedroom, always ready to leave at a moment’s notice. I kissed my mother absently on the cheek, asked her to give my love to my father when he returned from the fields, but it was all by rote, my mind focused on the task ahead of me. It was nothing particularly interesting: a corrupt king, about to be deposed. Not until I arrived, of course; never before I arrived and told them exactly what was going to happen to them. Sometimes, the messages I imparted were cruel. Sometimes I would have given anything to keep them sealed behind my lips, unspoken and perhaps never to come to pass. It didn’t work like that, of course. It never had. And in this case, with the knowledge the Feeling had imparted on me, I thought I might enjoy seeing this king’s fear as I told him exactly what was going to befall him.

Become a Duck Prints Press Patreon supporter today to read these stories!

What rewards can all backers access immediately upon backing?

All our backers get immediate access to a minimum of 54 short stories
Backers at the $5/month level get access to 73 short stories
Backers at the $10/month level get access to 101 short stories and recordings of our 25 past literary-convention-style panel conversations
Backers at the $15/month level get access to 150 short stories one recordings of our 25 past literary-convention-style panel conversations, and high-quality print-suitable (for personal use!) digital copies of 22 queer artworks
Backers at the $25/month level get access to 168 short stories, one novel, recordings of our 25 past literary-convention-style panel conversations, and high-quality print-suitable (for personal use!) digital copies of 22 queer artworks

and backing also comes with behind-the-scenes access, discounted Kickstarter backer reward levels, coupons for our webstore, and much much more! Plus, it gives that glowy feeling of knowing you’re supporting queer indie publishing, and backing on Patreon helps the Press keep the lights on and enables us to pay our creators more! Are you ready to become a Duck Prints Press supporter? Join now!

duckprintspress

Every Sunday in Schenectady, the M.A.D.E. Market (featuring Makers, Artists, Designers, Etc.!) sets up on Jay Street while the Greenmarket runs around City Hall. I’m attending this market for my third and last time this coming Sunday, October 18th. We’ll be there from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., so if you’re in the neighborhood, I hope you’ll come on out and say hi!

Learn more about the Schenectady Greenmarket and the M.A.D.E. Market!

wolffyluna

Hello, person who is assigned to me or considering making a treat! No matter what you make, I'm probably going to really like it, but I know it's much easier to come up with an idea if you've got some guidance.

Length of prompts is not related to how much I like any character or group, and more related to how much I can ramble about them off the top of my head. Also, feel free to do whatever you want. If for example, I mention wanting fluff for a character, but you have an angsty idea you really want to do, go for it!

My ao3 account and my tumblr are both wolffyluna, if you want to have a look at them to get ideas.

Notes for Pinch Hitters

Heaven Will Be Mine is a visual novel that takes about 6 hours to play through all the routes. Oathsworn is a podcast that is about 80 hours long, but also has free transcripts. Path of Night is a podcast. The current season, which all the characters I am requesting is from, is currently airing a 1-1.5 hour episode every 2 weeks, and is up to episode 22. We Know the Devil is a visual novel that takes 1.5-3 hours to play through all routes, depending on how fast you read.

Contents

Likes:

General Likes
Art Likes
Smut Likes
DNWs

Fandoms:

Heaven Will Be Mine
Oathsworn
Path of Night
We Know the Devil

( Likes and DNWS )

( Heaven Will Be Mine )

( Oathsworn )

( Path of Night )

( We Know The Devil )

erinptah

Hello, fellow Yuletider(s) who share my tiny fandoms! I am ErinPtah on AO3, and here is my wishlist this year.

Honestly, I will probably like anything you write for these series. The Moon Knight and Super Drags prompts are reused from my 2024 letter (I got an Oz fic that year). If you want more prompts for either of those, I also had both my 2023 letter. Haven't requested PSoH for a long time, so I just doubled up on the prompts there.

( Pet Shop of Horrors, Moon Knight comics, Super Drags )

malymin

This tumblr blog is an archive of 00's Oekaki canine OC artwork. (And some feline, dragon, and pokemon OCs... and art not made in Oekaki, but contemporaneous with Oekaki's popularity in Anglophone online spaces.) Year of original publication is included in the tags - 2008, 2006, etc.

Observing these pieces en masse... what strikes you as notable recurring elements of the style of character that we've come to know as "the sparkledog"? What distinguishes them from simply "a mammal that is colorful"?

There's a person on tumblr who I've seen make "sparkle animals" on request, but something about them strikes me as... off. And it isn't a matter of them doing unconventional species like vultures and quokkas. It's something about the markings themselves that feels not-right, in the same way that it itches if I see someone try to pass off a 2000's-2010's moé anime art style as stills from a fictional anime made in the the 1970's in-universe. Or how I'm extremely sensitive to a fictional piece of American animation in an unfiction/ARG project not actually looking like it's from the right time period - like "they didn't usually draw eyes with that much shading yet in our cartoons," or "that's how vector-puppets move, not rubberhose hand-drawn characters." Even as a little kid, I could tell the difference between digipaint and real cells in a cartoon, and other signifiers of "new" or "old" cartoons - though I couldn't always articulate what I was seeing.

Does anyone else know what I mean?

Profile

lb_lee

Table of Contents

Scribbles and Bits

Reading

Just Create - Type Edition

Posting on Anon on AO3

Why Post Anonymously?

Ways on AO3 to separate your name from a work

Posting to an Anonymous Collection

October 2026 progress report.

More Dogonline

Books Recommendations: Characters who use They/Them, It/Its, and/or Neopronouns!

Currently Watching

Fandom-dropping progress, the final check-in

Text and Command Lines

Philosophy

WWW Wednesday

Sugar Skull Cat

On Being A Mule of the World: Reflections on Race, Gender and Species Transition

Fact/Fiction: Defining Existence on the Basis of "Real"

Personal Notes on Reality, Frameworks and Fictionhood

Join Us for Our October Panel: So You’ve Been Nipped by a Plot Bunny. Now What?

Join us on Discord and RSVP here!

New Short Stories on the Duck Prints Press Patreon!

Become a Duck Prints Press Patreon supporter today to read these stories!

The M.A.D.E. Market on Jay Street, Schenectady! (Third and Last Time of 2026!)

Learn more about the Schenectady Greenmarket and the M.A.D.E. Market!

Yuletide 2026

Yuletide 2026 letter

Question for anyone interested

Profile