books and smells 12/16/2018

Terror fandom has finally reached par with Richard II on my AO3 page for most works! I know Histories would still win out if considered with other sub-fandoms (the Henrys, Richard III, etc.) but The Terror is easy to write lots of drabbles for. I'm working on Yuletide treats in the home stretch here, but I have my wisdom teeth coming out tomorrow and I'm more than a little scared how that will go or how productive I will be in the aftermath.

Current reading:

I'm... super dissatisfied with Sarah Weinman's The Real Lolita, from the title on down -- it could be an okay book about the abduction of Horner and her later life, or a pretty good book about Nabokov's writing processes, but her way of writing about abuse is phenomenally awkward (I don't mean "awkward" as in "cringey and creepy", more like... clumsy, I guess) and I'm not pleased with other aspects either. I'm also listening to Pale Horse Rider by Mark Jacobson, a work about the conspiracy theory impresario William Cooper, which I'm finding much more satisfying if grim. Next up is Lindsey Fitzharris' The Butchering Art, which... I think I originally bookmarked for Goodsir fic purposes, or maybe for Romantic fic purposes, but my last ongoing medical-history read (Wendy Moore's The Knife Man) is just a little too full of surgical details for me to handle in audio.

BPAL's Yules have been up for a while now and a few of them are headed my way.

- Hearthflame and Incense: Crackling almond wood and the deep sweet smoke of burgundy pitch, Austrian amber resin, black copal, and frankincense.

- Vital Fluid: The breath and tears and pulse of all life; the fluid that flows through all creation, permeating space and time and spirit: olibanum, red benzoin absolute, labdanum, betel leaf, galbanum, mastic, and angelica.

- Eighth Lash: Matted fur, oakmoss, and clove.

I love the An Evening With The Spirits line, so I'm especially excited for that. I'm also looking into getting the goods to make decants/imps of my own perfume oils, so hopefully more on that topic will be coming later.

Do any of you like crystals, rocks, other cool natural phenomena, etc.? I'm looking to pick up a few, because I think they're neat, but I'm not sure where to shop and my previous hookup, Bekkathyst, doesn't have many of the things I'm looking for right now. Give me recs or tell me about your collection of neat rocks!

Transformative Works Policy

My transformative works policy is "yes, please, have at it!". Consider this carte blanche. You have my blanket permission to podfic/remix/illustrate/translate/make fanmixes for/otherwise transform any of my fic, with the caveat that you include a link back to my original work. I would also appreciate, but do not require, a comment/email linking to your work. You can email me at skazka.9000@gmail.com or comment here if you have any other questions.

If I've taken down a fic you liked from AO3 or DW (even one of my earlier fics prior to 2008) and you'd like a digital copy for posterity, please feel free to email me. I'd be more than happy to share a copy for personal enjoyment if I have one. (Ditto for fanmixes.) If a fic of mine's been taken down/locked away in the Ska vaults for whatever reason and you've got a copy you'd like to share with other fans on a one-to-one basis, feel free to do so, but please do not straight-up upload my unaltered fic to other archives or sites, even with a link, or share its complete text elsewhere without permission from me.