Lit a fuse in my heart, devouring

I've got salted caramel fudge from the Christmas market, and a cup of smokey tea, and it's been a very satisfying weekend.

I've spent much of my time doing nothing but writing — I've now got a complete draft of my Yuletide assignment fic, which I'm going to sit on for a couple of days before getting stuck into editing. At this point, therefore, it looks likely that I'll be able to complete at least two of the three treats I've been planning since I first browsed the letters app.

I also finally broke my reading drought with House of Hunger (Alexis Henderson), a melodramatic gothic novel loosely drawn from the real-world historical figure of Elizabeth Báthory. (When I say 'loosely,' I mean that the setting has been changed from early modern Hungary to a sort of featureless generic industrial fantasylandia, and that all nobility in the world are literal vampires, with an entire social ecosystem of exploitation set up to meet their need for blood.) It was exactly the ludicrous sort of thing I wanted to read on a cold, dark November afternoon, so it suited me perfectly.

I know I promised a roundup of links to all the various new newsletters to which I have subscribed, but it's going to have to wait. I have, however, put together something of a linkpost, as my number of currently open tabs really needs to decrease!

I've heard that some people have fled Twitter for Dreamwidth, and, as always, there's a lot of (hopefully) helpful advice floating around about how to get the most out of our little community here:

Via several people in my circle, galadhir's post about how to get established on Dreamwidth, and a Twitter exodus friending meme hosted by xancredible.

I enjoyed this interview with Ada Palmer — it teased out some interesting elements about the Terra Ignota series, and the things that motivate and intrigue Palmer as a writer, academic, reader and fan. (It also unintentionally reinforced several of my frustrations with the Utopians in the Terra Ignota series — or perhaps more specifically the reception of them by readers — but that's nothing new.)

The fandomtrees fest is happening again this year, with signups running until 7th December. If you want a fairly low pressure fanworks fest, I'd highly recommend it, and you've still got a few weeks before making a firm decision.

One of the newsletters to which I recently subscribed was Griefbacon, on the recommendation of Amal El-Mohtar. The most recent post (issue?), An Incomplete List of Things That Twitter Was showed me that I had made the right decision. I can't relate to a lot of the specifics listed in the post, but the overall sentiment resonates.

I really enjoyed this collection of Hebrew and Arabic poems by Jewish women living in Al Andalus (note that they appear at the second half of a longer newsletter post; the first half is all about reproductive rights in the United States, so if you prefer not to read about that, you'll need to scroll down to the second half of the page)

My mum sent me this incredible video of a huge hailstorm in Sydney, in slow motion.

My stocks of both links and fudge are running low, so I'll leave things here, finishing my tea and watching the birds flitting around the back garden.