I'm in a little bit of a rush this week - the end-of-year stuff's coming up at work and I've got a heavy slate for both writing and reading right now. (Particularly reading - I've got to get my current priority queue cleared before the rush of Jinglemas stories!) And that's without talking about the usual stuff for December! Busy, busy month.

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I've mentioned before that sometimes the criteria connecting two stories are weird. Usually it's straight forward like 'stars the same character' or 'shares genres'. Other times you get real oddballs like 'griffon-centric stories that are used as a lens to look at real world cultures' or 'has cover art of two women swing

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So most of you are probably aware that I've been part of the Jinglemas team for the last few years. For those who aren't: Jinglemas is the site's annual holiday story exchange. Put your name in, write a short story for someone else, and get one back - simple as that. (And as of right now, you have ONLY TWO DAYS TO SIGN UP. SIGN UP NOW. We're in the final push - we've averaged around 115 participants for the last

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So I've talked a bit before about my queue for this blog: I keep 10-20 weeks of pairs in a reserve shelf and generally pull from there as the mood takes me or as a situation comes up. Sometimes that ends up with sets that sit for quite a while because the right moment just doesn't arrive. It doesn't mean they're not good, it just never seems like the right time - maybe they're serious and I already did several serious ones lately; maybe they're being saved for a special occasion; maybe I'm just

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Right now, we're at a bit of a crossroads in terms of seasons. We're just past Halloween and all the creepy, scary things that implies. And now the great Christmas juggernaut is moving into gear, preparing to crush us all under its inevitable wheels of cheer.

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So last week's lead story Heartless wasn't originally intended to be part of that pairing. I'd had it slated for several months to appear along side today's lead story but ended up separating it once AltruistArtist got theirs out. It just matched much better to me.

But I also couldn't just let the other story languish - so it's today's starter.

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It isn't often I pick a connecting theme for two stories and then realize I can't actually use it. Not because it's bad or unworkable, but because it actually spoils the stories. So I'm not really sure what I can say about them together - as it is I'm probably gonna have to drop spoiler bars at least in the second one. I guess the best I can say is that it's about the Crystal Empire alicorns and their relation to antagonists? (Note from later on: why do I pick stories that are so hard to talk

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Here there be dragons.

Not quite the usual kind, though - we're not talking Spike or even Garble and Ember. These dragons are more the traditional sort, both integrated with a little alt-u magic. But just as important as the dragons is their treasure and the hoards they accumulate. These two examples have... well, somewhat unique treasures. But I'll let the stories get into those specifics.

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Y'know? I don't think I've really got a lot to talk about this week. There's no real deep message or reasoning behind this week's pair of stories, nor is there a really big thing to natter on about. Aside from HEY IMPOSING SOVERIENGNS IS HAPPENING it's pretty steady.

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It's Spooky Season! And it's only right I do something with the proper tone. So this week let's talk about vampires bat ponies! You know them, you love them, they're on the very edge of canon! 

And let's have some fun to start with a favorite of mine: Princess Trixie of Transylmaneia by AlexTFish.

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