Trotcon, July 15-17 · 12:09am Jul 12th, 2022
I expect to give a talk on the structure of fimfiction at Trotcon this weekend, assuming I finish it in time. It's basically what I posted in Author clusters question.
I expect to give a talk on the structure of fimfiction at Trotcon this weekend, assuming I finish it in time. It's basically what I posted in Author clusters question.
Note: collateral to the story discussed here, I was drawn into some of the online offerings of historian Ada Palmer. Consider this also a recommendation of her stuff, staring with her series on what led to Machiavelli writing The Prince and in the process inventing modern political science and consequentialist ethics, her "Sketches of a History of Historical Skepticism," and her
I'm giving / helping give 3 talks / panels / events in the next 2 weeks, at Trotcon and Bronycon:
Humans are weird. Sometimes they like to do painful or frightening things: ride roller-coasters, eat the extra-hot buffalo wings at Duff''s, climb mountains, watch horror movies.
That Princeton fan-fiction course that covered "The Magician and the Detective" finally posted my interview on their blog… 2 weeks after the course ended, so nobody read it. But you can! It was posted here, but no point going there. You can’t leave comments there, and the slightly-improved version is right here:
And another three stories for today:
Mortality Report by Bad Horse
Family by EchoWing
In Celestia We Trust, All Others Pay Cash by Georg
Mortality Report by Bad Horse
(Sad)
Princess Celestia writes a report to her teacher on what she has learned about mortality.
I love art in many forms. I admit I find it difficult to appreciate works such as 'Voice of Fire' but some of that comes from not knowing the artist's intent behind the piece. I personally don't derive anything from it, but perhaps if I had the perspective and knowledge of what the artist was trying to convey, I might have a different opinion.
I'm leading to the fact that I often find strange works of art beautiful. In this case, carved citrus peels. Hear me out.
Awesome episode today, I think, no spoilers in this blog tho, because... Bronycon Panels!
Bad Horse's latest article brought up a lot of good points about common unintended themes in genre fiction, and when he got to Horror, the blood drained from my face. Here's what he said:
And another 3 stories... getting close to 100 done, aren't I? Don't worry, I have something planned... But, enough about that. Here are today's:
Somewhere Only We Know by PatchworkPoltergeist
Nightmare's End by EchoWing
Breaking Peeved by Bad Horse
I remain alive, and as of June 13th am now the number of symmetries in a cube.
I will be at Trotcon.
Please contact me if you're there! (Or even if not, that's okay too.)
I might do an author party. I'll announce it with another post. Signal boost would be useful.
Okay, a lot obsessive. I'm working on my first serious (though still partially a comedy) story in a hot fucking minute, and it's basically six thousand words of Trixie and Starlight talking to each other (and Twilight at the end)
I've always struggled with writing characters accurately. They tend to talk more like I do. For example, Starlight says "I mean" like six or seven times. She does say that phrase at least once from a preliminary exploration, but I need to go deeper.
Yesterday, I was thinking “Man, Bad Horse released another new story, but I’ve already got my review post done. Well, might as well read it and get started on the next set of Read It Now Reviews.” Then I realized there were a few recent stories I’d been putting off reading, that were all short, and one thing lead to another…
And now I’ve got a complete review set for today! Funny how that works.
NOTE: In the course of meeting so many people over a weekend, some names inevitably slip one's mind, no matter how hard one tries to remember. In such cases, names are replaced by question marks. If any owners of those names are reading this, by all means send me a reminder.
For a similar reason, these are presented out of chronological order.
* * *
Day one. Pascoite is giving out free samples.
This was actually supposed to be Read It Later Reviews #50, but I just posted a Read It Now set yesterday and then Bad Horse came out with a story a day later. As this set had an empty space it in, Read It Later #49 got bumped down the line. So this set actually contains four older stories, plus Bad Horse’s new one.
I’m cheating a bit. Deal with it.
Today’s stories:
Harissa by Orbiting Kettle
So I've been reading pony fanfiction for over four years now. That's... about a quarter of my natural life.
Fuck, I've wasted my life the best years of my youth gone I don't even-
Okay, that out of the way.
I'd like to make a compilation of some of the authors that made me want to be the author I have not yet become.
Back in April, I started on a set of Read It Now reviews. I ended up reading a couple stories for it, and then forgetting I had started a review set and never finishing it.
Today, as I went to read some recent stories, I realized that I had an unfinished review set, and as it wasn’t really quite timely, I merged it into this.
I managed to get sick this last weekend. It was a really rapid onset; within three hours I went from feeling totally fine to shivering uncontrollably, my head, shoulders, and arms aching, and a 102.8F fever which persisted for two days, along with some wonderful intestinal symptoms.
And then, today, I felt way better. Go figure.
Oh well, onto the pony fanfiction!
Today’s stories:
Farewell by obabscribbler
X is a Changeling by Minds Eye
Apparently getting sick means that after I recover, I become more powerful productive.
I knew it was worth picking up the Anime Protagonist perk at level 1.
Today’s stories:
Heat of the Summer’s Sun by Rocinate
Ten Degrees by Bachiavellian
X is a Changeling by Wanderer D
In Memoriam by Bachiavellian
The Magician and the Detective by Bad Horse
As promised last weekend, I posted a story this week:
I Can Explain!
by Titanium Dragon
Teen, Sex, Comedy
1,033 wordsRarity explains to Sweetie Belle what the Cutie Mark Crusaders saw when they walked in on her and Applejack.
It was totally innocent. Really!
Getting back into the swing of things! Five new stories, five new reviews, all in the span of just a couple hours of work. Glad to see a number of folks are writing new stuff, as I’m always happy to see things from folks I follow.
Today’s stories:
A Flim Flam Family Affair by bookplayer
Is It Real? by Majin Syeekoh
The Truth Is… by naturalbornderpy
Miracle by Winston
Do That Again by Bad Horse