Antennapedia

Title: Sparks
Pairing: Giles/Xander
Rating: FRT
Summary: Giles and Xander attempt to figure out what happened in Willow's last moments on the cliff. Something strange, that's for sure.
Warnings: The aftermath of character death, sort of.
Word count: 4200

The lights had burned out when Willow's last act had surged power through the town and wreaked its anti-havoc.

Remember the surreal post-Grave Giles/Xander I mentioned I was working on for the h/c ficathon? This is that story, somewhat streamlined, though still strange and surreal. I cannot possibly explain where it came from. We can only hope that nothing else comes from that place ever again.

The Oz/Xander smut look a left turn at Albuquerque and I couldn't get it unbollixed. I gave up the struggle this morning and finished this instead. But I hope to get the O/X with a G/X chaser finished soon. I have a number of stories that are one good writing session away from being postable: there might be ficspam soon. Tremble in fear and flee!

Hey, is it hobgoblinn's birthday? It is! Happy birthday to you, and happy mother's day as well, to one of the most intrepid, dedicated, and thoughtful mothers I know.

"An Antique Roman", a story about Ethan's troubling yet somehow satisfying take on "Amends", got two shouts out this weekend: it got the nod in Round 8 of the forbiddenawards along with the marvelous "The Giles Thing" by drsquidlove and "Sometimes A Cigar" by allyndra. And then firefly_124 fangirled it! My weekend is made!

Many thanks to sniggs for the prompt (Angel? to be shouted at? hmm!) and to emmessann for the beta ("get Buffy out of this story" in more diplomatic terms, which was exactly right).

Then when I re-scanned it (as my species of OCD moves me to do) I edited out an Americanism in Giles-speak. Sigh. We conjugate "to get" differently from our cousins. And we give "different" a different preposition, too. Among a myriad other small things to get right. If I get 50% of them right in a story, I feel like I'm doing okay. Thus I come right back down to earth.

Either two short stories or one longer one for spring_with_xan later today. I was the king champeeeeeen of procrastination yesterday, so I'm still frantically typing today.

And speaking of spring_with_xan, check out nwhepcat's ficlet yesterday, written to my promptlet: "Roadside Assistance". I nurse a secret passion for the Citroen. Though if Tony Head had had his way, Giles would have been riding a bike with a sidecar in the early seasons. I think... that needs to be written.

fannish5's question this week: What 5 series/books/movies can you rewatch/reread time and again?

1. Dorothy Sayers, Murder Must Advertise or The Nine Tailors
2. John M. Ford, The Final Reflection
3. John Galsworthy, The Man of Property and its 1967 BBC adaptation
4. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
5. Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice.

Some of those choices need no justification (e.g., the best novel in the English language, plus Sayer's best, plus the best TV show evar). Mike Ford's Klingon novel might need justification for people who think that Trek tie-in books were always the flat-rate crap they are now, and for people who haven't read any of Ford's writing. Galsworthy I can't justify, but I love him and his d—d screamers! and Edwardian sentimentality anyway.

Random link for today: video of a notable walk. Mr Pedia says, "I wouldn't make that walk without a jet pack."

Hey! summer_of_giles has plenty of open slots this year. Go sign up to snag a day for your very own. Last year's fest was great, and I expect to see more great stuff this year, too.

Normal Antenna service resumes more or less now. I'll probably have to work all weekend, but that happens every so often. Sigh.

What's interesting this week? I have the new Bujold sitting on my living room sofa waiting as a treat for when I finish the stories I need to post on Sunday. That's interesting!

Let's try this iMix thing. All the cool kids are doing it, and if there's anything I am, it's a trend-follower. Here's what I listened to while writing "Dust On His Hands From the Sky". ( Behind le cutZZ0r... )

Best BPAL review ever: The Antikythera Mechanism. Bronze gears spin inside a polished wooden case, and an entire universe dances within. Teakwood, oak, black vanilla, and tobacco.

And I tell you, the scent is worth the review. I'm happy with all of the Steamworks scents I've tried so far. Aelopile is citrus + amber. The Obsidian Widow is dark and mysterious and fabulous. Galvanic Goggles are worn by a dangerous well-dressed man. But the Antikythera Mechanism is, in addition to a neat artifact, an awesome scent.

And speaking of ancient Greece, I celebrated my earlier post about projects by working on something else entirely. ( A snippet after the cut... )

I've spent the last week not really thinking about fandom because of the exigencies of work, which was busy in unusual and time-sensitive ways last week. Somewhat unpredictably, or I would not have booked myself with fannish obligations I was entirely unable to meet. Gah. Sorry.

I have read almost nothing this week. Yesterday I got into the bath for a very long soak. In the bath, I read Trudi Canavan's The Magician's Guild, which was a pleasant and uncomplicated YA-ish fantasy novel. The good guys are good, the bad guys are bad, the hero is never seriously challenged, and there were no layers below the surface. Which means I could scream through it at high velocity and rediscover my functioning brain. While soaking and drinking a margarita. I am ready to resume fandom. (Just in time for some really charming unfunny business. WTF, fandom, WTF.)

( State of the projects, May 2008... )

And now I catch up on the wonderful things you have all posted for the h/c fest which, um, I seem to have failed utterly with.

1. Oh my god, my head hurts. Three days running now. Make it stop.

2. This week turns out to be pretty hellish and overscheduled and stressful, so all my plans for reading, writing, posting, responding to comments, and being present in the slightest have been overturned. I hope to ficspam on the weekend.

3. Rock Band is a fabulous team-building tool. No joke. All ages, all backgrounds, all levels of willingness to faceplant in public. Except that I have another blister on my thumb. Something's seriously wrong with my technique.

This Giles/Xander thing is going to be too weird to post. Not a lot of hurt/comfort in it, for one thing, plus... it's surreal. The Giles/Ethan ficlet is doing okay, though.

I have no idea what I'm going to do with the Giles/Snape prompt. Er. Um. Maybe I'll write Giles and Death having a cup of tea instead.

In addition to writing a very strange story, I've been drinking tangerine juice mixed with soda water and grenadine. And browsing hilarious pagan bric-a-brac on Amazon: start with one of the more absurd Fluffy Fairy Tarot decks, and go from there. I wish I weren't so addicted to pretty art on stupid cards. I am, however, completely looking forward to the Slayer's Tarot, as designed by Rachel Pollack. I've got some of her Tarot books, and (as you know, Bob), I'm a big fan of Unquenchable Fire.

- Respond to all the comments on my remix story.
- Work out.
- Shower and dress. Preferably before the afternoon turns the corner into "late" and "time for tea".
- Finish this very strange post-Grave G/X story I'm supposed to post tomorrow for the Giles hurt/comfort fest.

Am distracted, however, by working on a better information design for my fic archive site, with a mind toward some designs applicable to larger archives. Step one is to learn what Prototype can do for me.

Title: What Friends Are For (Flow My Tears Remix)
Author: antennapedia
Summary: Xander takes steps to make sure he remembers what he needs to.
Characters: Xander Harris, Willow Rosenberg
Rating: PG/FRT (for a tiny bit of language)
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon’s, not mine
Original story: ”What Friends Are For” by nwhepcat
Notes: Many thanks to my husband for the close beta-reading and for pushing me to crank up the intensity.

I swear to you that every word you’re about to read is true.

nwhepcat and I remixed each other this year. Heh! Though I do hope, for variety's sake, she draws a different name out of the hat next year. Gotta feel like being persecuted to get me every year :)

( Notes on my remix experience... )

Wesley Wyndam-Pryce vs Raymond Shaw: discuss.

It's absurd, because I have only one of five hurt/comfort stories written, and because I have as yet not started my spring_with_xan story (due May 11). But I'm already fussing about my summer_of_giles story. There are a bunch of possibilities, some of which are scarier than others.

So! A purely advisory, I-promise-nothing poll, ( after the cut... )

In other news, I'll be at constrictcon this year. Have booked all things that need booking. Hrm, except perhaps for a rental car.

Was tagged by beatrice_otter, therefore: List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're not any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now, shaping your spring. Post these instructions in your LJ along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they're listening to.

Silversun Pickups, "Lazy Eye", Jason Bentley remix
Kiln, "Airplaneshadows", from Dusker
Caspian, "The Dove", from The Four Trees
Hammock, "Blankets of Night", from Kenotic
Helios, "Velius", from Unomia
Jon Hopkins, "Cerulean", from Opalescent
INXS, "Afterglow", Randy Boyer & Eric Tadla remix

These songs are all from my current writing playlist.

Hey, peeps! Check out what an intrepid remixer did with "Substitute" (gen, Xander, Giles, post-Becoming): "Copper and Moonlight" (The Mimi and Rudolfo Remix)". The remix shifts the points of view to Giles as he gets through the day after "Becoming". Ouch. And ouch again.

The very handy remixredux08 tagging system means that it's easy to find all the Giles stories. Check 'em out. Remix is tons of fun.

Since I have not yet recovered from writing and loathing my remix story, I meme mindlessly at you. Via synecdochic: Quote a bit of my fic at me. Find that one story of mine that you really like, and find a sentence or a paragraph that presses your prose-buttons in the right way, and comment here with it. Don't care how long or short.

Also, a May 2 prompt slot is still empty. Giles/Ethan h/c, anyone? And now, before I head off to read in the bath, I leave you with these timeless words:

( What were the skies like when you were young? )
Write me songfic for that.

( Woez! I'm tinkering with my writing computer... )

So! I am writing my own angsty Giles/Spike prompt for the hurt/comfort fest due at the end of the month. There are lots of unclaimed prompts, you'll notice, and a few days that won't have so many fics posted. Here are the dates that need more:

April 28 (Giles/Xander) [claimed: G/X post-Grave]
May 1 (Crossovers and Giles/Joyce) [claimed: Giles/Snape post-Gift]
May 2 (Giles/Ethan and Giles/Anya) [claimed: G/E post-Grave]
May 3 (Giles/Wes, Giles/other) [claimed: G/Wes post-Connor]

Tonight only! First-come first-served! Pick one prompt from each of those four days and I'll write it. (Er, not the Life on Mars prompt because I am only vaguely aware of what LoM is. Enthusiastic explanations in the comments welcome!) Probably it'll get a shorter response, 1500 words or something. I kinda enjoyed that ficspam thing I did in November, and would love to do it again.

Fang Fetish Awards round 8 winners were announced. This was their Mystical Origins round, with a section for Dawn and Connor stories. (Dawn seems to have been more popular than Connor.) "Fenrisulfr" was nodded to as runner-up for Best Dawn Pairing. The winner in that category was "Key to My Heart" by Spikeslovebite (Dawn/Xander).

( The banner... )

I'm kinda curious myself what happened the next morning.

Can has commentfic or other distracting/cheering/motivating entertainment?
ETA: My new web app framework! Disclaimer: need to be at least this nerdy to laugh.