rosanicus

Current Mood: hopeful
Current Location: my armchair

I made this account about a decade ago and then forgot it existed; now that I am getting older (ish) and hopefully wiser I am also realising that the social medias du jour are really not my thing. And so I retreat here, to Blogging, a more natural pursuit.

I am a teacher and spend my unwinding time watching the Great British Sewing Bee and writing fanfiction of various levels of obscurity.

My usual internet sobriquet is dotsayers, under which name you can find all fic I willingly claim ownership of on Ao3, and also several thousand tweets and reblogs on the relevant sites.

I was never very good at LiveJournal, but feel free to friend as you see fit - I am hoping to post about books I've been reading as well as any progress I make on my several dozen works-in-progress. I am always hoping to make new internet friends - most of my closest friendships started online!

In a genuine departure from form, I have written fic which I felt was different enough from my usual eclectic mix of nonsense to whack it in the anonymous collection rather than claim it on Ao3. It's Gimlet/Cub impact play fic which does explain that I think.

discipline (1704 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Gimlet Series - W. E. Johns
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Lorrington "Gimlet" King/Nigel "Cub" Peters
Characters: Nigel "Cub" Peters, Lorrington "Gimlet" King
Additional Tags: One-Sided Attraction, Corporal Punishment, Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Dubious Consent, Power Imbalance
Summary:

Gimlet didn't seem offended when he remained silent, at least. He tilted his head to one side, considering.

"I told you when you joined us that you'd come under me for discipline," he mused. It seemed that he was coming slowly to some decision which was, for now, hidden from Cub's perception.

CNTW: not underage here in the UK, BUT definitely a dynamic which I do not endorse in real life

Thought I wasn't going to get much in for this and then I had an insanely good evening yesterday.

What I've Just Finished Reading

Buried: An alternative history of the first millenium in Britain by Professor Alice Roberts
- I bought this after Goodreads pushed my brother's partner's review of it onto my timeline despite the review being several years old. It's an excellent read and I have NO regrets - such a thoughtful and kind examination of historical burial practices, the limitations of archaeology, and the ongoing quest to discover exactly what happened on this little island after the fall of Rome. The second chapter is quite heavy going - it's about infant burials - but the author is upfront about it and even invites you to skip it, which I thought was nice. I did read it though because I wanted to learn more about it and ended up with lots of info about surgical abortions in the Roman era, which was COOL. Honestly, a lot of the info here was just cool to me, I love archaeology and grew up watching Time Team obsessively.
Donut Squad: TAKE OVER THE WORLD by Neill Cameron
- The boys in my class won't stop going on about this so when I saw it half-price at Waterstone's I picked it up (along with an enamel pin of Anxiety Donut, I'm not made of stone) and it is, irritatingly, really funny. It has the vibe of Beano or the Bash Street Kids, which makes sense since it's a compilation of strips from the kids' magazine The Phoenix. The strips are all four panels centering on a particular character or plotline (either world domination by the Donut Squad or the evil machinations of their enemies the Bagel Battalion) and they are genuinely very good. My favourite doughnuts are Sprunky the unpredictable (who does things like write communist propaganda on the walls of Buckingham Palace) and Chalky (the ghost of a murdered Victorian doughnut). It's very silly and it only took about forty minutes to read.
Pride by Eric Huang
- This one was another impulse buy at Waterstone's. It's a picture book about going to Pride as a child with your gay parents, and I loved it. So sweet and gentle in a way which will definitely not appeal to the boys in my class but that's fine, I'll lend it to the Reception teacher who was on our Sherlock Homos quiz team last term. I love children's books which deal with queer identity in this matter of fact way, it gives one a bit of hope.
Biggles Takes It Rough by W.E. Johns
- Reviewed here!
What it was like to be an Ancient Maya by David Long
- Research for next term's History topic and also the only book I could find at Waterstone's about the Maya. The book was simple and easy to follow, being a Barrington Stoke title, and I would describe it as largely inoffensive. It's an underrepresented period in children's books on this side of the Atlantic, abandoned in favour of the more dramatic and bloodthirsty representations of the Aztecs and Inca (I am not immune to the Pachacuti song from Horrible Histories). I learned just enough to discover that the scheme the school buys into has, once again, been massively reductive and occasionally outright incorrect. Great!

What I'm Reading Now

STILL Blood on Satan's Claw, I promise I'm reading it on and off it's just heavy going while we wait for the teens to get on with the rituals.

What I'm Going To Read Next

I plucked Mountains of the Mind by Robert Macfarlane off my bookshelf this morning and am very excited to get into it! I fucking love Robert Macfarlane, The Wild Places is one of my favourite books ever.

Finally read the Biggles with the funniest title!

It's a fun one, bu t I do object a bit to Biggles' extreme ignorance in the matter of what could a group of career criminals POSSIBLY want with a REMOTE SCOTTISH ISLAND full of PEAT while they're transporting BARLEY in via boat. Hmm Biggles I don't know, it's just such a mystery. He clearly overcame his alcoholism in the interwar period and then decided he would be deleting the concept of alcohol from his brain, relearning it every time it comes up on a case and then deleting it again.

Some other notes:

Obviously I adore Bertie in this. He is trying so hard to have a fun time and Biggles won't stop reminding him that he is "working" and needs to "do work". Meanwhile he would much rather be fishing for lobsters, residing in a castle, and possibly engaging in some like deerstalking. The bit where he catches the crab, stands around for a bit being sad about the lack of lobster, and ends up launching the crab at a baddie by accident is absolute peak WEJ comedy and I adored it. A good one for Bertie laughs, not so great for Bertie having much to do on page - although he and Rod did get to go fishing and caught a good amount of delicious fish, so score one for them.
Ginger also has a variable time in this one. I really loved the note about his new lighter which Bertie gave him and he uses so often &Co have started teasing him about it. Given that he doesn't smoke I have to imagine he is really getting contrived with his excuses for using it, which is a fun little thought experiment. He also got conveniently kidnapped in a way which advanced the plot, so he's really on a tear here.
LOVED Biggles' occasional bitchy asides here. His reply to Bertie about the castle are really excellent, as is his ongoing frustration with Rod's desire to go in guns blazing. He's trying so hard to be a perfect example of modern policing and people will not stop carrying around shotguns, locking him into ancient kitchens, and shooting at his besties. A little bitchiness is very excusable.
The presence of the Navy in this is so much fun. I loved when the team showed up to rescue the scuppered boat and we got the 'frogman' getting suited up - LOVE the term frogman. It's so whimsical. And the fact they showed up literally minutes after Bertie threatened the baddies with them on no evidence whatsoever was extremely good.

Overall, I did enjoy this one. It's slow to start and is a bit lacking in actual drama and intrigue, but I did wake up at half past five this morning and spend 45 minutes reading this instead of scrolling through YouTube shorts, so I appreciate it on that front at least. I may write a missing scene at some point of them all huddling for warmth in the lean-to and/or getting up to the things that the title implies (for those of us with dirty minds).

This week I watched the hot new flavour on my Tumblr dashboard, HBO's new medical drama The Pitt. It is VERY good and I am now suitably obsessed.

This is the first fic I've written for it but I don't think it'll be the last. The sad eyes have bewitched me body and soul.

singing in unison (5132 words) by dotsayers
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Pitt (TV)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Jack Abbot & Michael "Robby" Robinavitch, Jake & Michael "Robby" Robinavitch, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Characters: Dana Evans, Jack Abbot (The Pitt), Michael "Robby" Robinavitch, Dennis Whitaker, Samira Mohan, Trinity Santos, Cassie McKay, Melissa "Mel" King, Jake (The Pitt), Perlah (The Pitt)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Medical Jargon, Whump, Hurt/Comfort, POV Multiple, No Beta We Die Like. Well. A Lot Of People, Aftermath of Violence, Gunshot Wounds, Canon-Typical Violence
Summary:

Leah's sick the night before Pittfest. Robby gets his ticket back.

( Sneak peek )

The parents at school very kindly gifted my WIFE and I a Foyles gift card as a wedding gift (we're married) (it's great), and with it I bought several books. One such book is the Penguin Weird Fiction anthology, which I miraculously read after a horrible reading dry spell.

My taste in short stories is definitely suited to this book. There's a good mix of authors in here, stories I've heard of and a few I hadn't. In the tradition of my old Goodreads reviews I will therefore present a power ranking, least favourite to most, because I enjoy putting my opinion on the Internet.

DNQ: A Wicked Voice by Vernon Lee
The only story I completely bounced off. Something about the narrative voice really annoyed me and I couldn't get past it :( Maybe one day!

8. The Call of Cthulhu by HP Lovecraft
This is my first Lovecraft story and honestly I'm disappointed by how sane the narrator remains for the whole thing. The racism was more intertwined with the narrative than I expected which gave the whole thing an unpleasant aftertaste, unsurprisingly. I enjoyed the epistolary elements though, and it's nice to have a reference point for all the Lovecraftian media made in response.

7. Where Their Fire is Not Quenched by May Sinclair
I think this one is about the perils of retreating into piety after treating other people badly and/or being sinful, which is less effective as someone living in 2025 who thinks Oscar Wade sounds like a bit of a cunt. The protagonist's growing terror and disorientation was effective though, and I loved the gut punch of an ending.

6. Kerfol by Edith Wharton
Would've enjoyed this more if it went full Martin's Close with the historical part of the narrative. The ideas behind this were more interesting than the execution, I think, but I did like the ideas!

5. The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe
It's dramatic, it's hard to parse, it's got horribly long sentences and obvious social commentary. It's got literal death gatecrashing a party to say Fuck The Rich. It's a great time and I'm glad I read it - probably my favourite Poe I've read yet, although Amontillado is obviously close at heel.

4. The Monkey's Paw by W.W. Jacobs
I mean obviously this one is a banger. I've read it several times and every time I'm struck by how genuine the bond of love is between the parents and son before it's all destroyed by an understandable greed. Endlessly parodies and imitated but ultimately that last image of the open door - damn. Really good.

3. The Horror of the Heights by Arthur Conan Doyle
Realistically this isn't better than The Monkey's Paw but it's a speculative piece of horror sci-fi from ACD about a pilot that finds a sky jungle at 40,000 feet and then gets killed by massive sky jellyfish. So it's a yes from me, gang. I didn't realise until the pilot mentioned unscrewing his "air bag" that the aeronautics was mostly theoretical as well, so kudos to ACD for some very plausible technobabble.

2. Couching at the Door by D.K. Broster
HAUNTED FUR BOA. This is an oversimplification but it's true, so. I am yet to read Flight of the Heron despite a combination of desire and motivation so thus is my first Broster foray and I had a FANTASTIC time. It's such a potent mix of deserved retribution and undeserved manipulation, a real Jamesian wallop at the end with the return of A Creature and a wonderful amount of implication and subtext as to what exactly Augustine Marchant has been up to in Prague...

1. Oh, Whistle, and I'll come to you, my lad' by M.R. James (my beloved)
We all knew this was coming. I adore MRJ and this really is one of his best. It's funny in a dry and understated way, it contains many references to MRJ's hatred of golf, and it also happens to be genuinely frightening, both in its descriptions and in the way it builds that sense of unease in the environment and the things that Parkins shrugs off and the audience Just Knows is going to go badly for the poor professor. I like Parkins! I hope he and the Colonel had a lovely assignation on the links and he returned to Cambridge a better and less cynical man.

What I've Just Finished Reading

Two books this week! I read The Missing Page (the next Steeley adventure) on the train to London, which was an enjoyable little yarn. I really do love Tubby's narration, it feels so companionable, if a bit lacking in homoerotic thoughts about Steeley this time. The mystery, such as it was, was fine, and I liked Mrs Ridgeley a lot. I think WEJ's biases about women come out a lot more in these books, especially regarding which ones he treats respectfully and which he doesn't. Usually the sign of a Bad Woman is that she's old, large and drunk, which is a bit of a stock character now in Steeley despite only being four books in.

On the train back from London, I read Fighting Proud: The Untold Story of the Gay Men Who Served in Two World Wars by Stephen Bourne, as recommended by

black_bentley while we were perusing the IWM bookshop. Buying it helped to ameliorate the impact of the two Canelo Biggles editions I also picked up (Secret Agent and Goes to War, two faves) and I really loved the reading experience. It's a moving overview of the lives of a number of queer servicemen (the book briefly acknowledges the existence of bisexual men and then uses gay as an umbrella term), including two members of the Endurance expedition, and I was extremely pleased by the inclusion of a chapter on Ken 'Snakehips' Johnson, who I became briefly obsessed with after reading Moon Over Soho for the first time and still have in my Spotify rotation. It's what I wanted Bad Gays to be structurally, but clearly has the aim to inform rather than analyse. I think I'd quite like to read an analytical companion to this book now!

What I'm Reading Now

LMAO I'm not really reading anything at the moment due to work feeling a bit like a slow-motion car crash (very stressed, bullying situation being dealt with, children all falling out simultaneously, new planning structure still to implement...) but I have hopes for finally reading Persuasion which has been hanging about one chapter down for about three years.

What I Plan To Read Next

Making plans for these things is generally useless BUT I did receive a copy of Where The Golden Eagles Soar from Archie this weekend so I might crack that open.

London was delightful, by the way! It was lovely to meet

gattycat and

tweague, and to see black_bentley and Archie again. Getting the VC gallery tour from BB is an experience not to be missed, so it's a shame the gallery is closing this year due to what I can only assume is Tory nonsense.

A real game of two halves this weekend! And a lot of catching up from the past month...

Starting with the bad, I finally finished reading Bad Gays: A Homosexual History. I didn't like it! Annoyingly, I was initially really excited to read it (three years ago, when I started reading...) because I'd listened to and enjoyed a few episodes of the podcast, but as a book it felt poorly structured and I really disliked the way it subconsciously draws equivalence between varying levels of 'badness', as if being a Nazi and being mildly kinky are equally worthy of inclusion in this book's bloated, YFIP list-esque chapters. Not a fan.

In the Biggles world, I read Sergeant Bigglesworth, C.I.D., Biggles' Second Case, Biggles of the Interpol and Biggles in the Baltic. I really enjoyed them all, with Interpol being probably the least favourite due to inconsistency between stories, and my favourite being Baltic. I'd been putting it off due to the Evil vS, but it's a really cracking adventure and features such breathtaking insane thrills that I just can't resist. The bit at the end where Raymond admits that everyone thought they'd be dead in a day was truly fantastic, Biggles was SO CROSS. I hope they got at least a few days to unwind after this, but knowing Biggles he probably got involved in bringing down a spy ring while trying to walk in the park.

CID and Second Case were fun adventures as well. I love Bertie becoming an integrated member of &Co, I really do love him, and the drama and whump potential was really good stuff for my id. I do wish the polar bears had been given a bit more play, but to be fair I always feel this way about giant animals in Biggles books. I admit it's been long enough now since I read them that I only have faint memory of the actual plot, but the huge pit of Chekov's land mines was probably the highlight, especially when they vaporised a Nazi.

Finally, I read Hungerstone by Kat Dunn, which was excellent. It pushed me past two of my misgivings, which are that I usually bounce off first person POV (with the notable exception of Rivers of London, and now this!) and also that I haven't always enjoyed ambiguity in fiction. But here it is: an ambiguous gothic novel in the first person which had me up past midnight to finish it. Lenore is a fantastic protagonist, closed off and traumatised and working so very very hard to win a game rigged against her. The point where she snaps is built up to with such fantastic tension that the pay-off had me actually clapping in delight. The structure where nearly every chapter ends with a hook for the next also worked extremely well, to the point I was turning to my partner basically every chapter to say 'You won't BELIEVE what happened NOW'. Extremely readable, slightly haunting, highly recommended.

I have committed Worrals smut and I am PROUD.

out on the deck (2475 words) by dotsayers
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Worrals Series - W. E. Johns
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Betty "Frecks" Lovell/Joan "Worrals" Worralson
Characters: Betty "Frecks" Lovell, Joan "Worrals" Worralson
Additional Tags: Roleplay, Surveillance, Book: Worrals Flies Again, Established Relationship, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot
Summary:

"You know," murmured Frecks. "I think I'd be quite suspicious if I didn't hear anything over my special covertly installed microphone."

What I've Just Finished Reading

Four books this week! First up: the Ted Scotts.

I read The Lone Eagle of the Border, Over the Jungle Trails, and Lost at the South Pole. Unfortunately at this point the shine has very much worn off the Ted Scott... coin...? and therefore I am slowing down in my consumption of this formulaic children's adventure series, possibly to a full stop. These three were variously annoying and racist, although I did enjoy South Pole for what it was. As always, the subject of the title came into play about 2/3rds of the way through, and the whump potential of getting lost at the South Pole was resolved in maybe half a page despite them being lost for THREE DAYS!!!

They have also been getting progressively less amusingly homoerotic and more focused on American Exceptionalism, which, ick.

On the plus side, I also returned to the warm, comforting embrace of & Co with Biggles Takes Charge.

tweague was singing its praises on the Discord some time ago (echoed by many others!) but my copy was stuck at my parents' house after a late eBay delivery, so I was only able to get my grubby hands on it this past weekend.

Friends, this book is SO good. A podcast I like once described the experience of watching a poorly remastered film as like 'watching Seinfeld while sitting in an inch of ice-cold water', and I thought about that simile a lot while reading Ted Scott. Ultimately the trappings of Ted Scott are the ice cold water which reminds me constantly that instead of Ted I could be reading about BIGGLES and ALGY and THE REST OF MY GOOD FRIENDS. It was a genuine joy to follow Algy on his trip to La Sologne, where he got rapidly involved in countering an assassination plot involving - who else? - Erich von Stalhein, in one of his many 'fuck I hate my life' appearances in the series. They got some quality hate-flirting in early on, and I was absolutely screaming over the scene where Algy calls Biggles just to have him persuade EvS that Algy's not fibbing about his purpose in being in France.

Just an absolute blast end to end with some delightful subterfuge and a general commitment to the bit which I really, really missed.

OH ALSO: we finished reading The Strangeworlds Travel Agency in class. The children seemed to like it well enough but - predictably - are much more openly enthusiastic about the next reading book (Who Let the Gods Out by Maz Evans), which features extensive fat jokes in the first chapter. Not really feeling it but I didn't choose the books, so I'm soldiering on.

What I'm Reading Now

Technically Sergeant Bigglesworth, C.I.D., although I haven't touched it much since before I started Takes Charge. And I did get Edward Said's Orientalism off the shelf again, although that does not serve as a guarantee that I'll read any of it.

What I Plan to Read Next

Some more Biggleses! I am behind and wish to submerge myself in the oeuvre once more. I also have a deep desire to reread the first few Worralses, again inspired by the Discord, hence the icon.

What I've Just Finished Reading

Picture the scene. I am on Faded Page, trying to find a reference in a Gimlet book so I can write absolute filth with moderate canon accuracy. While looking for said Gimlet, I am distracted by the cover of a book on the front page of the site which has an aeroplane on it.

Eight days later, I have read seven books.

The Ted Scott Flying Stories are a collection of 20 books published by the Stratemeyer Syndicate between 1927 and 1943. They are perhaps the most formulaic books I've ever read while also being patently insane by turns, and I am becoming convinced that the homoerotic subtext was actually intentional on the part of at least one of the ghost-writers, because I can't believe it could be by accident.

Ted Scott begins the series as a young man with a thirst for aviation but no money to learn. By the end of the first book (Over the Ocean to Paris) he is the most famous pilot in the world, and a national hero, all because he met a young millionaire (Walter Hapworth) who - within about six hours of meeting him - decided he NEEDED to pay for his flight training, and then later for all the expenses related to attempting the first ever transatlantic flight, which amounted to about thirty thousand dollars. By the fourth book he has learnt to fly so that he can go with Ted on long distance flights, alone, and by the fifth book Ted is calling him by his first name. The WEJ Discord has been witness to my ongoing breakdown over this, which started as kind of a joke and is now firmly embedded as canon in my heart.

Every book opens with a summary of the events of the entire series, which is useful because so far one of them has been so racist I actually gasped and I wouldn't wish that on anyone (Rescued in the Clouds, which is a shame because it also features Ted rescuing two pilots in midair from a burning plane). Ted is a charming enough protagonist on his own, modest to a fault and generally baffled by how much attention he gets for being The Best Pilot On Earth. I think this is probably due to the authors trying to set him up as a role model for the young male audience while also getting in some American Exceptionalism (there are a few wincingly earnest speeches about how America is The Best Nation and should therefore Win At Aviation) but it makes it much easier to root for him than heroes in other contemporary series from the syndicate, which I've looked through and immediately had to turn away from due to Bad.

I have thus far read the first seven books and can comfortably class these books as Easy Reads. They are somewhere sub-Biggles in complexity and have a sort of breathless plotting style which is admittedly starting to grate at my nerves, especially with regard to Sudden Fog and Dangerous Storms, and since the author was never a pilot there is also a paucity of interesting details about flying which weren't directly plagiarised from contemporary magazines. The real draw is, of course, the slash potential.

( A selection of quotes which are fun both in and out of context )

I only have about five more available to me before I'd have to actually buy a physical book, which is a barrier to entry I don't think Ted Scott will successfully clear. However, I do heartily recommend the first and third books at the very least if you're in the market for Plane Adventures And Light Slash. It's been a real experience, and I thank the Discord for their enthusiasm in embracing the concept of the sexting tube (it's a long story).

What I'm Reading Now

Obviously the next Ted Scott (The Lone Eagle of the Border, or Ted Scott and the Diamond Smugglers).

What I Plan To Read Next

PROBABLY TED SCOTT, let's be honest. I also have Sergeant Bigglesworth, C.I.D. on the boil, and a copy of the Sir Patrick Moore book Mission to Mars in my work bag.

It has been a While since I last made a reading post, so I will begin with a brief round-up of all the books I read over the Christmas break (spent luxuriously flopping on my parents' sofa for the most part, interrupted by a lovely day including meeting up with

philomytha).

Primarily, I was reading Gimlet. Philomytha did a good round up post about the series recently, but I really did enjoy the process of reading them even when I was cringing my way through looking through my fingers at what was going on. My favourites of this batch (which began with Mops Up) were Mops Up, Gets the Answer, Lends a Hand and Bores In. I did unfortunately get invested in horrible one-sided (or is it) Cub/Gimlet and will be posting some words on that subject whenever Gimlet deigns to participate in the story.

I also read the new Taskmaster book 'Absolute Casserole', which was a fun read and involved the sort of statistics which I enjoy - low stakes but with a real passion behind it. I would recommend it to fans of the show, especially if you're curious about the original Edinburgh version. Incredibly, I discovered via this book that one of the parents at work was IN THE ORIGINAL LIVE SHOW. Madness.

Now onto the title of the post!!!

regshoe made a list of Yuletide recs after Christmas which I perused with interest, and the story for '-- And a Perle in the Myddes' was intriguing enough that I bought a copy of an anthology containing it on eBay, and having now read the whole book I can conclusively say: WORTH IT.

( Read more... )

Long story short: it's a very good book. Each story is very different, which doesn't always work for me in an anthology, but the unifying theme of illusion was strong enough to make each story make sense on its own and as part of an anthology.

This is very much a product of conversations on the discord as well as with bb and gatty. So you can blame everyone AND me for this!

Just under 1000 words of Nigel 'Cub' Peters being miserable while Ginger tries to be sympathetic.

( Read more )

In the spirit of take your problems to fandom day (which is every day), I have afflicted EvS with an ocular migraine (possibly not the clinical term).

bones don't rust (2807 words) by dotsayers
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Biggles Series - W. E. Johns
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: James "Biggles" Bigglesworth & Erich Von Stalhein
Characters: Erich von Stalhein, James "Biggles" Bigglesworth
Additional Tags: Whump, Hurt/Comfort, Headaches & Migraines, Post-Book: Biggles Buries A Hatchet, POV Multiple
Summary:

It is an unfortunate truth that, in general, the first sign of something going terribly wrong is usually easy to ignore. A forest fire begins with a spark, to be sure, but it is equally true that personal failure is foreshadowed by the tiniest of incidents.

For Erich von Stalhein, former Soviet agent, the first sign was a dropped cup of coffee.

What I've Just Finished Reading

Gimlet Mops Up, The Ravensdale Mystery and All's Fair, all by W.E. Johns (as is to be expected at this point. Mops Up was a very enjoyable tale, and once again delivered Gimlet whump in spades - I think WEJ just enjoys hitting him over the head from time to time and honestly I can't blame him (sorry Gimlet, ILU really!!). The plot moved along at a fair clip and there was a decent amount of action as well as a bit of espionage with Cub's trip to the church. Speaking of, the chapter title 'Cub Goes To Church' really tickled me. We also got some fun Copper and Trapper bits, although Trapper continues to be the most weakly characterised of all the cast due to his main trait being 'has a French accent, is happy to murder', as opposed to characters like Cub ('is young, happy to murder, in love with Gimlet'). Speaking of I am starting to shamefully ship Cub/Gimlet in a one-sided and hopeless way which Gimlet would be horrified to find out about. Cub goes out for a drink with Ginger and ends up trying to commiserate about age-gap crushes. Unfortunately Ginger has levelled up the relationship and has to try and conceal that fact for as long as possible.

The Werewolves were described in a suitably creepy fashion and their use of knockout gas was an effective way to incapacitate the characters in a believable way. The scene at the Lorrington Cottage Garden Show was great, and also the fact that the Lorrington Cottage Garden Show is a thing in this book I can mention brings me great joy. WEJ seems very attached to Gimlet as landed gentry trying to Do It Right, which is probably some sort of Imperialist impulse but I can't get over the idea of Gimlet, freshly scrubbed clean of Nazi blood, turning up to award a rosette for Best Lamb In Show to a rosy-cheeked child.

The Ravensdale Mystery was a delightful surprise! A girl's school story which I can happily rec to my mum, we follow Joan Scott - a previously sickly child who grew up in a colonial state (wherever did he get that idea...) - who has finally started school after years of reading books on her own. Her father is in Intelligence and her mother isn't mentioned, but one hopes that she's alive even against all the odds. Joan is a lovely lead character, so very clearly a teenager with a lack of experience in the world but still very intelligent and adventurous in a way which surprises even herself. She self-consciously thinks she doesn't have friends - especially Diana, who is described as a quintessential British schoolgirl, being attractive and very good at sports but not much for her lessons. Diana is also said to rib younger students a lot in a good natured way, which Joan objects to. Despite all this I do believe that she has a pash on Joan and her actions in the last part of this novella definitely bear it out. Joan/Diana 4ever.

Joan's adventure begins when she is hiding in a gorse bush to avoid Diana and her friend Tick, and ends up witnessing her French mistress - the only teacher she doesn't get on with, of course - emerge from Ravensdale, an area the headmistress has declared off limits for students. This kicks off a very fast-paced mystery involving German spys, secret messages and hidden passages. It's great fun, and I have no doubt it's part of a genre of WW2 story which I just haven't come across in my reading before. I would happily read a dozen more of these and honestly it did remind me a bit of Murder Most Unladylike, which is all to the good!

All's Fair was a bit rubbish.

What I'm Reading Now

Technically Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries, but after a strong start for me where I read about eighty pages in a day I've completely fallen off it. I really enjoy Emily's narrative voice so I'm hoping I'll manage to re-engage with it without too much trouble. Also a Biggles Buries A Hatchet re-read, as a treat, which I believe was spurred by the point last week that a child in my class threw a shoe at me.

What I Plan To Read Next

Since Christmas is coming up, I might go back to Connie Willis's Miracle anthology of short stories, which I got off my parents but haven't read since I was about fourteen and couldn't appreciate all the nuances. Possibly also going to dive back into some of my British Library Tales of the Weird, since I have about six I haven't finished yet after a strong period with Botanical Weird and Weird Trees.

THE RPF FIC IS FINISHED!!

Behold, in all its glory.

A preview:

♠️aroacepilot posted

okay but WHEN will ao3 stop synning Aviation RPF with 20th Century CE RPF as a whole because i am SICKKKK how many times do i have to scroll past that fucking sexy times with wangxian knockoff about the zodiac killer when all i WANT is biggles in another silly little situation

142 notes | 4 replies

#like be fucking fr #in before the AO3 Is Run By Volunteers Theres A Firefox Extension blah blah blah #can i not bitch on my own beautiful little blog #aviation rpf

🌈jamesbigglesnerf replied

idk about the synning situation but speaking of a silly little situation did you read my new fic………

♠️aroacepilot replied

@jamesbigglesnerf noooo i’m trash and work deadlines are killing me this week im saving it for a really hard week

🌈jamesbigglesnerf replied

@aroacepilot i SUPPOSE i’ll forgive you. but just remember that it involves biggles in naaaarnia

✈️planejane replied

@jamesbigglesnerf mate that fic is PERFECTION. can’t believe you got a sopwith camel to land at cair paravel and it actually felt plausible

What I've Just Finished Reading

Our class book in Year 5 this term is L.D. Lapinski's The Strangeworlds Travel Agency, which I had vaguely heard of but not read. However, after reading three (3) chapters to the class last week I took it home, bought the sequels and read all three books in their entirety over the weekend. They're middle grade low fantasy books about a twelve year old girl who, after moving to a new council house with her parents and baby brother, stumbles into a travel agency which turns out to be filled with suitcase-based portals to other worlds.

They're very good books, page-turners with thoughtful plotting and excellent characters, and the casual way they approach queer representation is super refreshing to read. There are crystal caves and thieves' guilds and adventures on the high seas in a disintegrating soap-bubble of a world. There's a spooky lighthouse. There's baby lesbians! I will definitely be buying hard copies of the second and third books to add to my book corner, although it's overflowing quite severely already...

The third book in particular handles grief and mourning in a really beautiful way as well as having an excellent resolution to three books' worth of buildup to the potentially multiverse ending threat. Really I just enjoyed a book with a character being offhandedly trans and gay and also - crucially - a bit of an annoying prick due to being eighteen years old. I relate to Jonathan Mercator an unfortunate amount.

What I'm Reading Now

Technically Gimlet Mops Up, although it's taking me a while to get back into it.

What I Plan To Read Next

Possibly going to dive back into The Hands of the Emperor, which is a proper doorstopper and therefore intimidating. I also do want to read a couple of Biggleses due to I-Miss-Biggles-Disease, which is chronic and painful. Ysande's post about Buries a Hatchet also has me tempted to reread... we'll see what happens.

Well. Here we are!

the black sky and all those lights (6211 words) by dotsayers
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Biggles Series - W. E. Johns
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: James "Biggles" Bigglesworth/Erich von Stalhein, Erich von Stalhein/Original Male Character(s)
Characters: James "Biggles" Bigglesworth, Erich von Stalhein
Additional Tags: Porn With Plot, Under-negotiated Kink, Dubious Consent, Aftercare, Enemies With Benefits, Bittersweet, pre-defection, Kink Discovery, Ambiguous/Open Ending
Summary:

“Bigglesworth,” said von Stalhein, his tone curiously flat. His coat had seen better days; his suit was neatly kept but severely out of fashion. His walking stick was absent and he carried no umbrella despite the inclement weather. “I might have guessed.”

“Erich,” said Biggles. “I hope you’ve been keeping well.” He lit a fresh cigarette for himself, then another. Von Stalhein accepted it when offered, taking a swift and heavy drag, but did not reply. His cheekbone was rapidly purpling; Biggles could just see the edge of a bite mark beneath his collar.

Many thanks to

black_bentley who absolutely saved my life with her cheerleading during the writing process. I began writing this for Smut4Biggles months ago and posted the first section as a fill, but the second half battled me until I realised what it really needed was undernegotiated bondage.

No. 29: FATIGUE

Labyrinth | Burnout | "Who said you could rest?"

~300 words, Steeley & Tubby, Murder by Air

Feeling thoroughly worn out, I flopped down in a chair, put my feet up in another and went fast asleep. The last thing I remember was Brian doing the same thing while Steeley paced impatiently up and down smoking a cigarette.

( Read more... )

No. 22: BLEEDING THROUGH BANDAGES
Tourniquet | Reopening Wounds | "Oh that's not good."

266 words (a Biggle! Unintentional but I'm claiming it), Algy & Mohamad Khan, Terai-fic

( Read more... )

Okay so this one is just fully a Biggles The Thing AU. Given that The Thing (1982) is one of my favourite films of all time this seemed sort of inevitable.

Warning for implied major character death (both during the story and... let's say imminently following the story.)

No. 21: BODY HORROR
Body Horror | Tattoo Gun | Spirit Possession | “Let the bedsheet soak up the tears.” (Apparat feat. Soap & Skin, Goodbye)

300 words, Algy, nebulous point in canon

( SORRY )

Profile

rosanicus

May 2025

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
				1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30	31

Syndicate

Page Summary

Style Credit

Style: Poppy Fields for Compartmentalize by timeasmymeasure

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page generated Jun. 13th, 2025 03:00 am

Recent Entries

Sticky: About Me

Fic: discipline

Wednesday Reading Meme

Biggles Takes It Rough

Fic: singing in unison

Weird Fiction: An Anthology

Wednesday Reading Meme

Reading Updates

Fic: out on the deck

Wednesday Reading Meme

Wednesday Reading Meme

Faithful Jenny Dove (and other books...)

Ficlet: not quite alike in dignity

Fic: bones don't rust

Wednesday Reading Meme

fic: The Special Air Police: A Micro-Fandom Primer

Wednesday Reading Meme

fic: the black sky and all those lights (Smutvember!)

Whumptober 2024 Day 29: Fatigue

Whumptober 2024 Day 22: Bleeding Through Bandages

Whumptober 2024 Day 21: Body Horror

Profile

May 2025

Syndicate

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags