Discovered in a Livejournal

Just squeaking in, mouse-like...

( Read more... )

Ah, those fencing scenes in Not a Very Civil, Civil Servant. Not nearly long enough, are they? I thought a little extended seasonal pleasure might be had by examining them, and the picture in my last post, in greater detail - *vbg*.

Caveat: I am not a sports fencer, although I did check some information with my nephew, who was on the fencing team at his university. All mistakes are my own of course.

The picture I posted earlier is a publicity still from NVCCS. There are two scenes in the episode where the Lads and Cowley are in fencing whites. One comes soon after the opening credits, the other is right at the end. They serve to provide some expository moments (and eye candy), but they don’t seem to have a great deal to do with the plot. Moreover, there’s some question about the utility of the Lads learning fencing in the first place. I’ve seen comments on a few sites contemplating this somewhat bemusedly – such as the “fascinatingly bizarre” description given to the first fencing scene on Dave Matthews’ Mark-1 website.

In fannish circles, the focus is usually on those nice, figure-hugging whites, rather than the other equipment. I’ve got nothing against that, and I’m not trying to drag you away from your contemplation, I just thought it would be a good idea to review the basics in a relevant way.

( Things you should know about fencing and those scenes in NVCCS, aka 'foils ain’t foils' )

Happy Festive Season all! I hope you had a brilliant time at Christmas and my best wishes for a Happy New Year.

( Musings on the M1 )

( ”Trailer” )

Happy New Year to all. May 2018 bring us good things, and "may the world be kind to you", and your loved ones, particularly if 2017 was tough going.

Over the last few months I've been party to conversations about fic: finding fic, saving it, knowing where it all is, and so on. The Automated Hatstand (AH) ceased to exist in August, but the older Hatstand archive is still operating. Hagsrus has run the Proslib mailing list consistently for the past umpty-thump years (more than a baker's dozen?). However the Circuit Archive (CA) has not uploaded any new stories since 2010 (with a sharp falling off for a year or two before that), and there are stability problems with the ageing software used by the site.

( Other places on the Internet )
Of course there are other sites that have gone away forever, and I think fandom is more conscious than ever that there is very little that is permanent on the internet, especially personal sites, and there are only so many pages that have been captured by the Wayback machine. People want to know where the fic is, and if it is safe there, not for the writers alone, but for the readers too.

So where's this going?

Just before the AH closed its doors in August, I made a list of authors and titles. I then started to cross-match that data with the other main archives, with the aim of figuring out:
- What stories were hosted on the AH?
- Where else are the stories archived now?
- What stories do not appear to be archived anywhere now the AH has been deleted?

I got a list of 728 stories (698 when duplicates are removed). Then I downloaded the story lists from the Circuit Archive, Hatstand proper, Proslib and AO3, and crossreferenced. The upshot: out of 698 individual stories, 150 are not archived anywhere else*.

Because the Circuit Archive has been flaky lately I have done much the same thing for the 1954 files (including art and vids) on that archive. The only difference is that I've run out of time so I have only crossmatched with Proslib and AO3 at this stage. It looks as though there are about 180 stories that aren't archived anywhere other than the CA**. That's a lot of fic potentially gone one day. Anyway...

A crossmatched listing of the fic that was on-line at the Automated Hatstand, together with another list of the fanworks currently on-line at the Circuit Archive as of December 2017, is now available as a shareable googlesheet for your downloading pleasure: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1b8KCbIm1qQszQPq3YDXsZvE9RevRI1QFqmd2Bzz8gV4

The idea is that this becomes a resource that people can use to find out what stories they might be missing, and to decide on the ones they want to find.

I've removed formulae and other columns that might make the individual archive sheets too confusing. I'll progress the other archives when time permits and I intend to keep up to date with both AO3 and Proslib. Ideally it would be better to design a relational database and solidify some protocols to deal with the many slight variances between archives, but I have limited dB access now I'm not working, and most people find it easier to deal with a basic spreadsheet or googledoc.

There is a modified copy of the current Proslib index at http://hatstand.slashcity.net/proslib/dvdindex.html

*I think quite a few people downloaded the pdf's before the archive closed, so if you are after a story you should be able to find it by asking the usual sources.
**Of the "missing" stories, some may be in the queue to be sent out to proslib subscribers, of course, and some may be waiting for authors to tinker with them before uploading to AO3. There is also a very small number locked to members of AO3 only, but that isn't a problem for fans with an AO3 login. I have listed these as "no" against AO3 just in case.

I am going to post the answers to the crossword in a minute, in a separate post behind a cut - but if you're the kind of person who insists on struggling (ah, the masochistic pleasure) - I've updated the list of clues to include the episode title.

Link To Crossword Post

( Enhanced clues beheat the cut )

The first of at least two, hopefully 3 offerings :)

( One I prepared earlier )


( Trailer )

OK, the clues from my story "The Ballads of Billy Redmond" are revealed under the cut. I'm also going to edit the story to put the answers in - they'll remain "highlight to read" so anyone who would still like to have a go (first, second, third attempt etc...) can do so. And with that thought in mind, here are the instructions again, with a little more help for you all:

Within the story there are five clues (I've pretty much given you the answer to the first one). Each is numbered, so you won't have any problems locating them. Each is a song – a title, an artist or a lyric. All the solutions can be found on the Internet (Google, Wikipedia etc). Your task is to identify the songs and the artists, then use that information to work out what Billy is trying to tell Bodie & Doyle. If you get all 5 right you wind up in an interesting place in London, but you need to solve all 5 to find it.

( Answers and picture here )

I'll be unscreening comments later, but I have to do something about dinner first :)

Hello, all – hope you've got your pencils at the ready *g*. This is a short case fic with a difference - YOU do the work. Within the story there are five clues (I've given you the answer to the first one). Each is numbered, so you won't have any problems locating them. Each is a song – a title, an artist or a lyric.

Your task, should you decide to accept it, is to identify the songs and the artists, then use that information to work out what Bodie and Doyle need to know.

You can enter your answers in comments. Comments will be screened until the end of the challenge, at which time I'll reveal the answers and reply to everyone. Have fun!

( The Ballads of Billy Redmond )

( A hint if you need it )


( Trailer information )

What's the time? It's early in the morning for me, but for the rest of you? Fic time, I think!

( The Obedience of Fools )




Here for warnings and such:
( Trailer )