burning at the centre of time

FORTHCOMING I promise.

Title: Optic/Nerve
Author: Rhi (rhivolution/rhipowered)
Fandom: Dhalgren - Samuel R. Delany
Rating: Mature
Warning: I chose not to use archive warnings on this, only because all of the warnings therein don't really define the sense of this fic. It's a confusing somewhat problematic shambles (in keeping with canon). Denny is underage, but that really doesn't apply to this story, so I left it out.
Relationships: Kid/Lanya/Denny
Summary: "This is not a poem. It is a very shabby report of something that happened in the year of Our Lord it would be oh-so-nice to write down, month, day, and year. But I can't."
Notes: For seekingferret in the Kaleidoscope Fanwork Exchange Autumn 2011. 1518 words.

Read at AO3


Additionally...this is not a fic to read if you haven't read canon. Seriously, it barely makes sense if you have read canon. I...have rarely written an unreliable narrator on purpose before, and it's a trip and a half.

And the canon...the canon is problematic-on-purpose, and not for everyone by any stretch of the imagination, certainly not for people who have assault and/or racism and/or anti-gay triggers. In his attempt to deconstruct myths both ancient and modern (of the stereotype sort), Delany plays with all of those things. Alternately, some people aren't triggered by any of that but really don't get it and find Dhalgren to be utterly hopeless and OTT.

It is, but there's a point to it--the deconstruction of the modern city and descent into chaos sort of demands that. (And the theme somehow seems exceedingly relevant to the current economic debacle.) Somehow there's seriously interesting worldbuilding going on, and a really great meditation on being an artist of any variety (Delany would probably hate to know that I didn't revise this fic much at all. If for some reason you're acquainted, please don't have him read it). I went with the latter theme in my writing, and I'm trying to decide if telling people what I meant by it is ruining the whole thing. If you're interested in knowing, please drop a comment.

I've made a Dhalgren inspired fanmix as well, but I'm too tired to upload the cover art right now as I've cooked a whole turkey dinner and am wiped. Soon.

And if you haven't looked at mific's art for me, please do.

Briefly, before I go make dinner:
I want to know who the person is who keeps leaving Tom Quinn/Adam Carter Spooks prompts in Porn Battle. Ze has left two amazing ones this time around and I had a hell of a good time writing one in PB IX.

I haven't decided if I'll pick the T/A duo one up yet, by the way.

But this means that Reg and I are not the only people who ship this and and and...WHO ARE YOU, PERSON? I want to hug you and talk about Tom Quinn: Woobie Spy.

(coming soon: festivids recs)

Whee, the Where No Woman New Year Exchange reveal was early, because it's a holiday weekend in the US.* I wrote AOS sorta-femslash for the first time ever...

Title: Sunshine on Leith
Author: rhivolution (rhi)
Fandom: Star Trek AOS
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: (skip) Non-explicit references to slavery and non-consensual sex.
Summary: The turning of a year: what happened to Gaila and Uhura between the fall of Nero and the relaunch of Enterprise.
Notes: Written for lilbreck in the Where No Woman NYE. Additional notes in end of text at AO3. 4078 words.

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There is totally a fanmix coming for this one, as well as an annotated version. 'Cause while it is only 4K, for me that is Epic Fic, and a lot of thinking went into this one, including consideration of disability and Trek's Issues with aliens. And, uh, the Proclaimers. Shut up.

Also, I've only had one drabble requested for my More Joy Day giveathon. MOAR DRABBLE REQUESTS PLEASE.

* Fun fact: we never got MLK Day off when I was in school, it being classed as an observance day in Wisconsin public schools. I believe each district determines whether or not it's a day off.

Righto, after waffling back and forth on it for months, and weighing various opinions...no Yuletide for me.

In the end, while I'd like to do it (despite a few concerns), my issues are three-fold and strictly personal:
- In the past, my choices for YT have been kidlit or lit-based fic, and I like it that way.* I like to write it and I like to receive it. But while I know my rare sources, they can be a massive pain to track down for a refresher, especially seeing as I am no longer North America-based and not connected to a library system like Milwaukee County's (which is, frankly, really good).
- I'm already doing two year-end exchanges (festivids and where_no_woman's New Year one), and I've lost two weeks to feeling like toasted crap from the flu.
- My name for YTs past is one I'd rather not use for fic writing anymore.

So! Not saying don't do it. Do do it! Just that I think I can't do it myself and produce good work. I think some of the suggestions for rarefic/rare pairings exchanges at a different time are good, and I hope to see something come to fruition.

* Slightly stunned to see The Lone Gunmen on the list this year, I remember when we were HUGE. I should write LGM fic again someday, KICKING IT OLD SCHOOL.

Title: Iowa Stubborn (parts 1&2)
Fandom: Star Trek: AOS
Rating: PG
Length: 1468 words
Characters: Gen; Winona, Sam, and Jim Kirk.
Notes: AU where Winona Kirk is of Tamil descent, written for the dark_agenda Racebending Revenge Ficathon. Beta by boosette. Further notes on my concept and research are here at AO3. If you have concerns about this fic or find it problematic, please let me know. I would like to listen and revise my work.
Summary: Nila Kirk has no good reason to return permanently to Riverside, Iowa. She does, anyway.

Iowa Stubborn, parts one and two at Archive of Our Own

(Meta post later.)

I...am really, really torn and frustrated by the h/c debate. I know people with firm opinions on various sides of the issue, and I keep reading everyone's things and thinking ze's right, then no, ZE's right too, and then well, ze makes some very good points...

This may be a bit awkward because I don't have the spoons and I am not entirely clear on my feelings about the overall issue.

I do know that I think it was a pretty fucking thick idea to come up with a whole load of topics in regards to this.

Compartmentalizing h/c like that boils the issues and identities of those of us with [bingo square whatever] down to generalities. It's also like O HAI ISSUE FAIRY flying around with a wand and bopping characters; it takes an excellent and thoughtful writer with lots of resources to provide accurate context and representation. I don't think this is impossible, simply very difficult. This issue's been discussed well by other people, and I don't think I need to reiterate that much more. In fact, as I worked on this, dirty_diana said it pretty well.

But, stepping back from my own position as a PWD, it is also harmful to the work of authors who are approaching h/c from the general sense of writing emotional navigation through difficult times. This can be done and done well, working through relatively common experiences and canonical moments; we all experience fear and we all experience emotional pain, regardless of any conditions we might have or circumstances we might be in.

Forcing the author to push through highly difficult topics isn't a writing exercise in this case, but a constraint, pushing hir into situations that are entirely too complex to do negotiate under limitations, without the resources that ze would need to succeed.

In other words, I don't speak for everyone, no one does. And maybe I'm alienating people by saying that I think on certain levels h/c is entirely acceptable, and maybe I'm alienating people by saying that I, like others, really really have a hard time with even the idea of potentially being misrepresented.

And maybe I'm alienating people by being a waffler.

But my big problem: bingo, in this case. It's detrimental and wrong to those of us who face certain issues, and it's detrimental to writers. It has illuminated an issue that needs to be discussed, but it needs to be out of the way, because the air is not clear. For a start, I am seeing a big conflict arising from the fact that we do not have a definition here: what is h/c? People are not all working from the same playbook.

If we can figure THAT out, maybe we can decide what the fuck needs to happen next in this discussion, like, what is appropriation? what is acceptable use? what can people do to prevent hurt?