"I believe he's calling your ideas the bastards"

[mooging]

I have spent the last few days having my brain eaten by Havemercy, the first book by Jaida Jones (ladyjaida, she of Shoebox notoriety) and Dani Bennett (danibennett). Most of you have already experienced me metaphorically shoving this book at your faces, but I felt compelled to make a post about it, because, OH MY GOD.

Also, you all need to read it as of yesterday. Here is a summary I wrote, ganked from a comment in sophieisgod's journal:

This book is literally the only thing I have been able to think about since I read it, like, a month ago, and I can't start talking about it too much because in one of the comments I left someone about it I exceeded the LJ comment character limit by, like, a lot (e.g. the limit is 4300, I used 12,560). The really really condensed version of the plot is that the Volstov and Ke-Han empires have been at war for a while, only right now there's a kind of peace/lull, in which two scandals happen in the main city of Thremedon: one is that the most unruly/rebellious member of the Dragon Corps, a group of 14 men who fly metal dragons made by magicians as part of the Volstov defences, insults a neighbouring country's diplomat's wife and as such, the Dragon Corps are monitored by a 'Versity (the equivalent of a university) student who is supposed to give them 'sensitivity' training at the same time as observing their behavior in the Airman (the building they all live in) for his thesis, and, two, that the Margrave Royston ('Margrave' meaning a magician who has served the Esar, the ruler, well in a time of war) is found to be having a homosexual relationship with a prince of a neighbouring country - a country which does not allow homosexuality, and thus Royston is banished from Thremedon to stay with his brother in the country, where he meets Hal, a country boy who loves to read. PHEW. However, there's more to the war than meets the eye immediately, and the book, told from four alternating POVs - Royston, Hal, Rook (the headstrong airman) and Thom (the 'Versity student), explores the war and the relationships between the main characters, and it is basically amazing.

AND I HAVEN'T EVEN MENTIONED THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE DRAGON CORPS, HOW REMISS OF ME - they are like a big gang of idiots with horrifically strong personalities, all thrown together and told to get along, and, er, this does not work. AND I LOVE THEM.

TL;DR: SHORT VERSION - GAY MAGICIANS AND METAL DRAGONS. READ IT NOWWW. It takes a bit longer to get into than some books do, but this is because you are immediately introduced to four different characters who have four different ways of looking at the world, and knowledge about the world, and so the first few chapters are quite heavy on the confusion/world-building factors, but, honestly, it is so good that that doesn't seem to matter.

AND ROYSTON IS MY FAVOURITE.

READ ITTTT.

A big thanks goes to twicetheheart31 who has been joining me in writing epically long comments about this book, and to whom I say BALFOURRRRR, because I am re-reading it now and HIS GLOVES. Oh, hey, do some of you not know what I'm talking about? READ THE BOOK.

No, no, I will not stop talking about this book until everyone I know has read it.

Moving on: icon meme time! I have two of these to do, and another cold, wth body, and so this seemed like the right day to play.



MAH ICONS.

default	oldest	newest
saddest	happiest	angriest
cutest	sexiest	funniest
fave ship	fave fandom	fave animated
best quote	best textless	best stolen idea
use the most	favorite

HOW MANY ICONS DO YOU HAVE: Right now, 86.

OUT OF HOW MANY AVAILABLE ICONS SPACES: 113, but only for, like, another few weeks, and then I will go back to having 30 out of 30 available icon spaces. It was fun while it lasted! (Er, this isn't one of those things, where, like, I say I haven't got [blank] on lj and then some anonymous person gets it for me, akjhdjakhd, I am rubbish at communicating)

IF YOU COULD BUY SPACE FOR MORE, WOULD YOU: ALL YES, ALL THE TIME.

DO YOUR ICONS MAKE A STATEMENT: That.. I am ridiculous, I like nice colouring and textless icons unless they're a quote icon, and, er, I am still ridiculous?

WHAT FANDOM DO YOU HAVE THE MOST ICONS OF: Harry Potter (including Shoebox icons)

AND THE SECOND MOST: The League of Gentlemen jadkjagdjagd

WHAT SHIP DO YOU HAVE THE MOST ICONS OF: I... don't tend to have ship icons? Or at least, I don't seem to have many in this batch. Or, okay, having just had another look, I have one icon in a few ships, if that makes sense? Like, for each ship I have one, maybe two icons. But they're all spread out! I have two icons of Holmes and Watson that I can take or leave as being shippy, much like I can take their relationship as is in canon or I can slash them, and, er, I have one Sam/Gene, which, again, I can take either way. OH HANG ON, most of my Shoebox icons are between Remus and Sirius, even if they're not overtly shippy, so my answer to that question is SHOEBOX, because it/everything is a ship I believe in.

ARE YOUR ICONS MADE MOSTLY BY OTHER PEOPLE: A big, big yes. I used to make more before I got this Mac, for which I have no editing software.

DO YOU MAKE ICONS: I did (and would still do, had I got something to make them with).

ARE THEY ANY GOOD: Er. Well, I use them, but I wouldn't make a post of them - they can be a bit hit and miss, you know?

ANIMATED ICONS ARE: AWESOME, but then when I use them, they annoy me. I like looking at ones that other people have!

Coding can be found here

Some notes: my favourite icon changes, like, hourly; I am aware that is not the meaning of animated that was meant, but I don't have any animated-in-that-sense icons; choosing these was a wrench - for saddest icons, it was so nearly this one - - and this indecision happened a couple of times, so if you really want to know my other choices for whichever category, do ask (er, that is, if anyone is still reading this: I expect not, because, damn, this is a lot of irrelevancy) etc etc.

And this one too:

1. Reply to this post, and I will pick six of your icons.
2. Make a post (including the meme info) and talk about the icons I chose.
3. Other people can then comment to you and make their own posts.
4. This will create a never-ending cycle of icon glee.

miss_atom gave me

1.
Okay, so this is an illustration of Lucifer Box, the main character in the Lucifer Box series (surprisingly) by Mark Gatiss. He is a secret agent for His/Her Majesty's Secret Service. He starts off as a young Edwardian spyyy, in The Vesuvius Club, and in the sequel, The Devil In Amber, it is the thirties and Lucifer is middle-aged and having to come to terms with the fact that he isn't the Hot Young Thing in the agency anymore, and then in Black Butterfly, it is the fifties (-ish) and Lucifer is an old man (which, by the by, upset me so much more than was actually reasonable) and dealing with, in Gatiss' words, the fact that he can't think of anything worse than being 'venerable'. ALSO DID I MENTION HE IS BISEXUAL AND JUST HAS ALL THE SEX, BECAUSE HE IS AMAZING? BECAUSE THOSE ARE TRUE THINGS. One of the chapters in The Devil In Amber opens with (paraphrased) '...I left the embrace of young Rex (sucked off and buggered, if you must know)'. akjshdjkdjh LUCIFER I HEART YOU.

Er. Anyway. That's why I have that icon. Because I heart Lucifer.

2.
ajshdjkahdk ALIENNNN. Okay, so, the Alien franchise was one of my first - if not the first - big fandoms for me. I think it pre-dated The X-Files in terms of I-went-mental-over-this. I read all the websites I could find, and then that got me into really loving Sigourney Weaver, and I have this icon because it is coloured beautifully and jakshdkjhfk RIPLEY, she really made me believe that I could do something, if that makes sense? Oh strong female characters, I have always been drawn to you. Because I am ridic.

3.
LOL MERLIN. That was basically my reaction to this icon, which takes a touching scene in which life and death for Arthur and Merlin hangs in the balance and turns it into their having a date in a restaurant. Which is MORE CANON THAN ANYTHING EVER. And it made me laugh :DDD

4.
True story: I watched Finding Nemo for the first time with my dad and my step-mother, and when this scene appeared, with the WHALE NOISES, I nearly exploded from trying not to laugh out loud. It made me laugh more than anything I had seen recently (at that time), and, and, shut up, Finding Nemo is awesome.

5.
Oh, my god. The White Witch was such a massive favourite of mine growing up, and. And. Look at this icon. SHE HAS A SWORD AND A WAND AND SHE IS NOT ONLY WEARING A CHAINMAIL DRESS BUT ALSO ASLAN'S FUR, OKAY, SHE WEARS OTHER PEOPLE'S GODS BECAUSE SHE IS THAT FIERCE. I clearly don't react very rationally to this scene. I came out of the film and just babbled, "two swords, chain-mail dress," at my mother for the entire drive home. ajhskjdhjk TILDA.

6.
Because Battlestar is basically this icon but occasionally with people and space-battles. Oh centurions, you are so shiny and chromatic.

That was a lot of words about nothing! Well done good werks to me. Here are some miscellaneous words:

- Today, in an effort to provide my cold-ridden self with some good noms, I made some banana bread, only I modified the recipe to include pecans and dairy-free chocolate chunks, and it is indeed good noms. NOM NOM NOM.

- I am currently enjoying the benefits of having an 90 day free introductory period to LoveFilm, which I am abusing by using it to watch things I just wouldn't pay money for and also indulging in the fact that I am apparently entirely ridiculous and currently only want to watch ridiculous things. What I have at home right now: The Rage in Placid Lake, Wild Child and Mulan. OH YEAH, I'M COOL.

- I am pretending that if I don't think about the exams, either they won't happen or I won't freak out. Either of these two options is an acceptable outcome.

- HAVEMERCY, EVERYONE, GO AND READ IT. The paperback version comes out in July, and so does the sequel, jkadajhdjkg, I am so excited.

One last meme, edited because I have done this one a freaking zillion times, and you don't want to hear the same thing from me, like, again:

Comment on this entry, and I will:

1. Associate you with something - fandom, a song, a color, a photo, a word etc.
2. Tell you something I like about you.
3. Tell you my favorite user pic of yours.
4. Rec you something on the internets to go and look at.
5. In return, you must can post this in your LJ, if you feel like procrastinating too.

- Let me know if you comment which (if either, or indeed, if you choose both) meme you'd like to play along with.

♥♥♥