1. The submission deadline for the 4th Asian Women Blog Carnival is coming up; NOVEMBER 1st is just around the corner! Once again, the theme for this edition is storytelling, or reclaiming our selves through our words. Women and men of color and allies are welcome to participate so long as the focus of their contributions is Asian women. The definition of Asian, within the scope of this carnival, includes people from East Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, North Asia, Southeast Asia, Far East, Middle East, Near East and people of Asian descent living in non-majority Asian countries. The definition of women, within the scope of this carnival, includes trans women and cisgendered women. More detailed submission guidelines may be found here.

2. ATTENTION YULETIDERS: dhobikikutti has begun a list of chromatic Yuletide fandoms! This post sums up the reasoning behind it quite well:

First and foremost, I am doing this for myself and others like me who don't often get the opportunity to be fannish online about our source cultures, and rarely see good examples of it being talked about. I am also doing it because I want to find more of us, and lure in other international fans who understandably might perhaps have no interest in fanfiction about English, Western sources, but have never had a chance to see fanfiction written about people like them.

This is why I am centring around non-English (or Indian-English/Chinese-English/etc) sources - where the original creators (authors, directors, actors) seem to be doing an adequate job of representing their story. Yuletide is a celebration of source as much as it is about fandom, and I want to emphasise the sources that should be celebrated, in contrast to the ones that often get talked about instead.

It's rather appalling how often a source that exoticises, flattens, or misrepresents a culture gets picked up and praised over and above more accurate work, and that choice, subconcious as it might be, furthers an agenda of cultural imperialism and colonialism (not to mention racism). For a long time, we sourcelanders and diasporians have had to make do with subverting the source - trying to critique C.S. Lewis's portrayal of the Calormenes or Joss Whedon's erasure of Asians in Firefly or Pirates of the Carribbeans' racist and Magical Negro tropes, through fanfiction that challenges and questions and rewrites.

So please, if you adore source materials and/or characters that are non-Western and non-white, do consider writing about them, and do consider how you're going to portray them. Yuletiders on my flist, you can take this as a challenge: I am going to do my level best to enable you into my obscure fandoms. How are you going to enable me into yours? ;)

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. ( comments)

Title: light all around them
Fandom: Guy Gavriel Kay- The Sarantine Mosaic
Rating: G/PG
Summary: Aliana and Crispin, the days after. Written for telesilla's NYR 2009 prompt; posted here because I couldn't for the life of me stretch it to 1,000 words. /o\ I hope you like this!

( Caius Crispus surveys the dome of the modest church with hands on his hips. )

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. ( comments)

- Shakira!fail on DWTS results show last night = ( this is why i'm hot; this is why you're not. )

seriously, lady, you need to NOT take a page out of Gwen Stefani's book, 'kay? i love you and your music and your GQMF dancing lots, but gimmick!Asians are not cool.

- it's Party of Mock time for this latest gem of misogynist SF bitching. how many ways can these entitled white male assholes come up with to be complete fuckmuppets (tm yuki_onna) on the internet? oh, that's right; COUNTLESS. *is utterly UNsurprised*

- and now for the happy; fellow Yuletiders who haven't already seen this, Yuletide nominations are OPEN! :D mine are as follows:

Saving Face (film)
Guy Gavriel Kay- Ysabel
Patricia McKillip- Riddlemaster Trilogy
Kuroshitsuji aka Black Butler
Shounen Onmyouji
Cain Saga aka Count Cain aka Godchild

how about you? :)

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. ( comments)

as I am taking a brief emotional health break from IBARW. (The post I planned is draining, is all; I shall recommence tomorrow.)

1. Have purchased and devoured Jaidani's SHADOW MAGIC, OMG! SO GOOD. SO SO GOOD. I MIGHT LOVE IT EVEN MORE THAN HAVEMERCY, FOR SRS. If any of you guys have read it, BRING ON THE SQUEE. :D SUBTEXT! SUBTEXT EVERYWHERE, IN LARGE AND SPARKLY LETTERS! (I am resisting thremedon at the moment, as I don't want to accidentally spoil anybody.) Also, I have some flaily race-related thinky-thoughts (of the win variety) just waiting to emerge, so, y'know, let me know when more of you guys have read it! A party of one ain't a party. *g*

2. Also! I received a NYR story today: Deserving, by mechaieh! It's Haru wo Daiteita, and features Yoshizumi, and is just about making my life- outside of the aforementioned, anyway. ;)

PS- I have been failing MASSIVELY at reading things other than ibarw lately, so please hurl your links at me: fic must-reads, personal posts, lulz, macros, music/picspams, rants, whatever. I promise I'll play catch-up after this week is over! &hearts

ETA: WIRELESS!FAIL, omg. Have been trying to post this for an hour.

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. ( comments)

Title: piece of sky
Fandom: Stigma
Rating: PG
Pairing: Stork/Tit
Summary/notes: This was written as a Yuletide Treat for Cyn! Post-manga, not particularly spoilery.

( Tit can be found at the library, usually, surrounded by dust and books. )

this week shall be the week of reposting, before i dive into research for a thousand paper cranes and forget all such mundane tasks! i may or may not make multiple posts, for the sake of getting this over with faster; feel free to ignore these, particularly if you've read them already. *g* ♥

so, let the spamming commence!

Title: like a whole almond
Fandom: Wild Adapter
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Kubota/Tokito
Summary/notes: This was written for tehlils in this year's Yuletide; the title is borrowed from Pablo Neruda's Sonnet XI. Thanks to L for the beta!

( It's a grey day in Yokohama when Kubota decides to go out for the latest products at Seven Eleven, the overcast skies resembling nothing so much as industrial smog. )

still at 110 words, oh dear god, thanks to holiday craze and this extremely addictive series: Shadow of the Templar. original novels, FBI/cops-and-robbers type capers, full of hilarious and awesome (and quite omnisexual) banter! GO. READ. (well, provided you don't have Yuletide looming over your head like i do.) i was literally up until 5am to finish them on a work-night.

goal: 400-500 more words today, finish tomorrow. *bites nails* thank goodness i don't have much to do at work today, despite the holiday party i can't get out of tonight.

ETA: also, big thank yous to louiselux and lovingyouin1963 for the lovely cards! seriously, flist, you guys are awesome. &hearts

okay, so i should really get back to my go_exchange fic, but! first things first:

( Dear Yuletide Santa, )

ack! i am so sorry, school is totally taking over my life. i hope you haven't been worried or stuck with questions-

( dear Yuletide santa, )

again, sorry for the lateness. i really hope you have fun with these, whichever one you choose!

so i'm sure you've all been bored out of your minds by the lack of fandom, right? ;)

Title: love, do you remember my name
Author: glass_icarus
Written for: riverlight (Yuletide 2006)
Fandom: Guy Gavriel Kay- The Fionavar Tapestry
Rating: PG-13/R?
A/N: Many thanks to lynnmonster for her enthusiastic and very prompt betas! Also, many thanks to riverlight for requesting and allowing me to play in such a lovely fandom.

( Warnings for the uninitiated: very spoilery! )

the unveiling of yuletide authors allows me to, first, announce that i wrote love, do you remember my name, a story based in Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar universe!

and, second, since it is no longer surprise-spoiling, i also wrote a gift-fic for all Yuletiders!

Title: The Longest Road
Fandom: Guy Gavriel Kay- The Fionavar Tapestry
Rating: G/PG
Warnings: Spoilers through the third book, plus canon character death!

( When the wandering fire strikes the heart of stone, will you follow? )

ETA: A huge thank-you to charlotteschaos for my lovely Yuletide gift! :D

to use crowley's word for it.

school progress:
- finished my last classes of the day/semester!
- somewhere around the halfway point on the first draft of my lab research paper? it probably needs massive editing, but.. sigh.
- have not studied for orgo.
- or molecular bio. EEK!

asian american studies paper progress: (yes, this needs its own checklist)
- watched saving face (dir: alice wu)-- btw, if you've never seen it? it's a TERRIFIC film, enormously funny- particularly if you're chinese/understand mandarin, but worth a watch even if you aren't/don't.
- watched wedding banquet (dir: ang lee)
- read the book of salt
- read dogeaters-- not sure i'm going to use this one, though.
- exhausted printing quota on articles from jstor! have read 3.5 out of 8.
- as of yet, have no thesis. this could be a problem.

exchange progress:
- go_exchange is done at last! woot! huge, huge thanks to Amy for the quick beta; you're a lifesaver. &hearts &hearts
- still somewhere around the halfway point on yuletide. it's going on the backburner in favor of my school papers for the moment, but i'm anticipating a quick finish after my run to the library sometime this thursday. i loved, loved, loved the prompt and the fandom, so i really hope to do them justice!
- still have to get on rs_small_gifts, but again, it shouldn't be a problem. small i can do, see? :)

asdf;laksd;glkh!)(*#%(@*! my go_exchange fic is almost done. almost. i am going to die of fic and finals, i swear to god. (probably not in that order though.) any beta volunteers...?? *puppy eyes*

still haven't gone to library for yuletide source, or research materials for that final paper for asian american studies that's due on wednesday... yeeeeah. *headdesk* ARGH. why are classes not over yet?? why why why? and why the hell is my lab research paper due the day after my asian american studies one?

*goes to boil head in books*

aaaaaargh. i hate hate hate the running-up-til-finals weeks...

( cut for school and other madness )

in other, more interesting (i.e. fandom) news... my go_exchange fic is still stalling, despite the fact that i've an extension till the end of the week. i've got somewhere around 600 words, including footnotes, but somehow i'm still stuck. am in much better shape in terms of yuletide, though i still haven't had the time to go to the library and review my source. NGK.

also, i went down to chinatown yesterday and got my hair permed curly for the first time evar. i am teh crazy.

ETA: i forgot i had an sbp procrastination!icon. &hearts
ETA 2: go forth and anony-love! :D (though to be honest, i wasn't all that anon.)

slightly belated, but HOMG. the yuletide prompts i got were lovely, and in a lovely (and actually-familiar-and-well-loved) fandom! :D :D and i kind of, sort of have ideas in the works already.

also, i'm still thinking about what to do for my go_exchange fic. i kind of have ideas for that, too.

ALSO, on an unrelated note, my sirius/deth [note: that's not a fandom-type slash!] plotbunny is beginning to chew on my brain of late. would anyone be interested in beta-ing when i give in to exam procrastination and actually start it? *puppy eyes* i understand about the crazy life issues, etc.; i myself am quite crazy- clearly, as i'm ficcing in the wrong season. ;P but! if you do have time, and are interested, poke me with a comment, and we can talk further via email. :)

so, thanks to musesfool, i've just wasted a glorious 20 minutes signing up for yuletide, and OH THE GLORIOUS BOOK FANDOMS! orson scott card, susan cooper, robin mckinley, philip pullman, patricia mckillip, GUY GAVRIEL MCBLOODYKAY... why, why, why is there so little love for these beautiful universes?? even narnia gets very little in the way of actual fandom attention, compared to rabid tv show mania, good omens (which, granted, pterry + gneil = OTP), and the yawning maw which is harry potter. and while the genius of JK Rowling, at least, shall go undisputed by me, all of the above authors have created universes which i find much richer and far more compelling.

especially as, within the first five minutes of scanning yuletide fandoms, i already have a massive complicated crossover plotbunny involving sirius and deth and the veil and riddles (brownie points if you've any idea what i'm babbling about), and i rarely ever have inspiration on such a scale.

all of which is to say, of course, where is the obscure fandom love?? trot it out! bring it up! link recs, write stories, i don't care. i just want to see more than pop culture, even if it does include the pretty boys of supernatural (which i have read, but never watched).