LINKDING

excerpt: Fig. 1. Gold coin, 356 P.F. (post-foundation). Obverse: profile of Auréle, right-facing. Legend: REGENT ETERNAL. Reverse: Tree, fruiting (symbolizing prosperity). This five-sorel piece is in fine condition. The design is sophisticated, improving upon the bronze Auréles minted throughout the 340s. Trees were a common peacetime motif and recur in coinage from Auréle’s accession in 339 onwards. They cut off Auréle’s head and they put it on a pike above the city’s third best bridge. To me, that seemed a shame. I had only just got his nose right. // ➜ SFF short story telling of a year of political upheaval through the eyes of someone who works in the minting of coins ➜ and through the coins' archaeological analysis, in the far future ➜ I love this double-vision on events, what the historians can and can't know through the coins, and the struggles and lives of the people who were just trying to get through those times, the desperation and the personhood ➜ 3.6k words

Summary: <blockquote>Welcome to my seminar, Self-Care Secrets for Immortals! Few foxes make it to over nine hundred years old in this day and age, but you’ll be one of them with four of my time-tested, battle-honed secrets.</blockquote> ➤ the dangers of immortals falling in love with mortals

<blockquote>1. POSTMORTEM EXTRACTION a. Ensure physical vessel is secured in the supine position. Proceed only after confirming vessel is unresponsive by lightly striking facial area. when I was fifteen my younger brother slapped me hard in the face to prove to us both that he was the stronger faster meaner one. in my twenties I took up boxing pretending it was for self-defence but the whole time I was thinking of how my fist would feel against his face even though he was in the army and halfway around the world by that time</blockquote>

<blockquote>Hi, we were both in Central Square on Friday, around 9:30 PM. I’m a tall trans lady with brown hair and glasses. You were standing in front of Sonia with some people. You were looking at your phone and then you looked up at me. Our eyes met for—I’m sorry, I’ve deleted and retyped this a couple times. Our eyes probably met for like a second, from your perspective. Several years ago I stayed at this inn where the innkeeper was this wizened old woman (I know that sounds dopey, but if you saw her you’d be like, “no she’s totally wizened”—serious crone hours in that inn), and I can’t really tell if I upset the old woman or if I did her some kind of favor? She was very hard to understand. Anyway, I have this curse now.</blockquote> ➤ beautiful and interesting

<blockquote>Shen Yuan doesn't remember writing a 300k PIDW fix-it fic, but he must have, because it's been posted to his AO3 account. (He doesn't remember getting an AO3 account either.)</blockquote>

<blockquote>A limerick interrupted by haiku footnotes.</blockquote>

<blockquote>From: Emeka Nwobi Sent: Thursday, November 24, 2034 4:29 PM To: Chukwudi Nwobi <CNwobiby-uh.edu> Subject: Emeka Nwobi has shared the file “Provisional Patent Application For An Eternal Spirit Core Final Draft” with you. Sender’s Note: Please Review The link below only works for direct recipients of this message. PROVISIONAL PATENT APPLICATION FOR AN ETERNAL SPIRIT CORE [Open File] </blockquote>

<blockquote>Today on our program we’re bringing you a three act investigation into a true Chicago legend. It’s a larger-than-life tale of murder, exile, culture shock, and the incredible power of human kindness as we ask the question: did Chicago have its own Canadian superhero in the ‘90s? The answer may surprise you. From WBEZ Chicago, it’s This American Life.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Twelve excerpts from Teixcalaan and from Lsel Station.</blockquote> ➤ every time I read a fic like this, composed of excerpts from various documents, I think to myself that I really need a tag for that but can never come up with one I'm happy with or remember what I've used in the past. SIGH. Anyway this is a truly excellent specimen of the genre!

<blockquote>CROWLEY: I try not to make a habit of gratitude, but I must give our appreciation to everyone out there who’s been listening and subscribing to The Ineffable Plan. AZIRAPHALE: Ooh, yes, we’ve become quite popular, haven’t we? CROWLEY: Yeah, just hit number eight on the advice charts … No advertising at all. AZIRAPHALE: Mm. How … miraculous. CROWLEY: … Aziraphale. You did not. / Crowley and Aziraphale are very possibly the people least qualified, on the entire planet, to start up an advice podcast. But what else is there to do when the world isn’t ending anytime soon, you’re technically on indefinite sabbatical from your lifelong careers, and you need a plausible excuse to spend more time with your best friend who you’re definitely not, absolutely not, maybe just a little, actually maybe overwhelmingly in love with?</blockquote>

<blockquote>Pop-star uber-sensation Jaim Janan rockets off to promote their third album atop a SpaceX Dragon VII capsule today, where they will stream a live musical performance from orbit, some 350 kilometers above the Earth. Before today’s launch, when asked if they were feeling nervous about the trip, the young pop star coolly responded, “Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain’t goin’ away.” It’s not clear how many of Jaim’s obsessive fans, or “Janatics” as they are sometimes known, recognized the star was quoting twentieth-century pop legend Elvis Presley [click for bio]. But by mid-afternoon #TruthIsLikeTheSun was the most popular hashtag on Twitter. —Naydeen Johnson for The Washington Post</blockquote>

<blockquote>Is The New Prince K Here To Stay? Exclusive interview by Hani Sereson I’m late for my interview with Prince Kiem, everyone’s favourite royal, because I get lost. He and his partner have moved to a bigger suite of rooms in the other wing of the palace, with two studies, their own kitchen, and a spare bedroom. “I don’t really use the kitchen,” confesses Kiem when he sees me looking, “but Jainan makes me breakfast sometimes.”</blockquote>

<blockquote>Katherine Climpson explores the documentation of an unusual example of medieval matrimony.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The night she left to follow the King, it wasn't raining or anything like that.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The thrilling sequel to Coco that you've all been waiting for! Miguel visits ... wait for it... wait for it... A LIBRARY. Or : Miguel probably can't prove that Ernesto is a murderer, but stupendous fuckbucket is still on the table.</blockquote> ➤ ohhhh dang this fic is INCREDIBLE

<blockquote>Wherefore art thou, Romeo? New York Magazine March 13, 2045 Let’s get the obvious out of the way: yes, in Broadway’s latest iteration of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is an alien. And no, that doesn’t necessarily make it worth the ticket price.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The ATF has questions about how some explosions on Greendale's campus tie into the local rumors of a cult led by Troy Barnes. The study group has answers. Sort of.</blockquote>

<blockquote>One man can alter the course of history. A random encounter leads Duv Galeni to change his mind and return to Komarr.</blockquote> ➤ aaaaaa this is so great!! actually challenging the unchallenged imperialism of the original books!

<blockquote>The otome community uncovers the mysteries of the Nikiforov-Katsuki Route, one of the most difficult and overly-complicated routes in a game supposedly just about ice skating. mysticdabber okay so I've literally conquered every other route on this damn game but yuuri keeps flat out rejecting me?? I've hit like 7 different Friend routes 50 times?? What does he want?? How high are his standards?? I'VE DONE EVERYTHING FOR YOU YUURI ALL I WANT IS YOUR HEART</blockquote> ➤ the one where yuri on ice is a dating sim.

<blockquote>What's the most important thing that happened in 2048?</blockquote>

<blockquote>The Mars Light began as a ten-minute short that Bryan Sebold made without a crew after wrapping his Google fantasy series Anvil of the Sun. Now it’s a five-part documentary, which NASA Films released today online and in select theaters. Mr. Sebold spoke with me via Skype about shooting remotely on Mars; about working with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which runs the Mars Rover project for NASA; and about what the Mars Light is, which the documentary reveals for the first time. </blockquote>

<blockquote>This is in a mode called “columns” which, as it was described to me on a panel in SFContario, is written so that the left and right columns make sense alone, and the poem read as a whole (left to right) makes a different kind of sense. The lines in the middle go in both separate columns. It wasn’t hard to write, but it was hard to format — thanks to Mack Muldofsky for special help with that! The first column is the ancient world, the second column is the Renaissance rediscovery of it. Read down each side, and then across.</blockquote>

<blockquote>This is a food blog, not a disease blog, but of course the rumors all over about bird flu are making me nervous. I don’t know about you, but I deal with anxiety by cooking. </blockquote> ➤ the chronicles of a family dealing with an epidemic as told through a food blog. This worked REALLY WELL and by the end I was SO ATTACHED to everyone in the story and ughghgh I hope everything does work out for them in the end

<blockquote>Darcy I have strong opinions Liza Benítez Nope, you are mean. Darcy I’m sure my dedication to giving you feedback is terribly offensive Liza Benítez well one day I’ll figure out your motives Darcy Will you now?</blockquote> ➤ oh no how does this au work SO WELL. It continues a little past the point where it needs to, where it's just pointless relationship fluff, but it's just YEAH.

<blockquote>A classic work of Fire Nation Empire-era propagandist theater, rediscovered.</blockquote>

<blockquote>'The epic popularly known as The Lord Of The Rings is at heart a simple adventure story and has no real historical relevance.' Do you agree? Discuss with reference to Cox et al. (Essay set for first year undergraduates at the University of New Bree, F.A. 3011)</blockquote>

<blockquote>> enter the Mairie You see M. le Maire sitting at his desk. He is wearing a green coat. He is very attractive. > wait to be noticed M. le Maire ignores you.</blockquote>

<blockquote>When the comic first went up, it just showed two people sitting on a beach. Every half hour (and later every hour), a new version of the comic appeared, showing the figures in different positions. Eventually, the pair started building a sand castle. There was a flurry of attention early on, as people caught on to the gimmick. Readers watched for a while, and then, when nothing seemed to be happening, many wandered away—perhaps confused, or perhaps satisfied that they’d found a nice easter-egg story about castles. But Time kept going, and hints started appearing that there was more to the story than just sand castles. </blockquote>

<blockquote>Because how can Cecil not be the type to plan his perfect wedding with Carlos. It doesn't have to be an actual wedding, just a tour of his wedding scrapbook or something. Maybe Carlos stumbles across it at Cecil's place.</blockquote> ➤the fill for this prompt is multimedia, including a carefully created pinterest

<blockquote>You know what they say: the more things change... (Carol stays the same.)</blockquote>